You've probably heard us say, "When you support WPSU, you become a producer at the station."

But what does that actually mean?

Well, we wanted to show you.

When our team sat down to plan the programming for this drive, we decided that we wanted to celebrate you and all the great content you've made possible.

So in WPSU, Your Station, Your Stories, you'll see stories that have been produced as digital first pieces, as well as some clips from some of your favorite broadcast programs.

You'll even get to learn about some of the other ways WPSU and, by extension, you serves our region, by hosting community events and providing free learning resources to kids and adults.

And this is only a small sample of the hours upon hours of great local programming WPSU has been able to produce because of support from viewers like you.

We hope the next hour is a powerful reminder that WPSU is your station.

And we are honored to be able to share your stories.

24 00:01:06,328 --> 00:01:07,792 [MUSIC PLAYING] 26 00:01:08,780 --> 00:01:14,470 So we're at the St. Metz Church in Baileyville.

The church is quite old.

It was built during the 1860s, and it was a Presbyterian Church for many years, for about 100 years.

32 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:26,560 A great bit of our family history is here, and that's why I love it so much.

So our grandparents were married here.

My brother and his wife were married here.

I was married here.

Both of my nephews were married here, so we just have such great history in this place.

The church came into our possession in 1964.

The congregation had dwindled down to about five or seven participants.

And then, eventually, they decided to put it up for auction.

So our grandparents bought it in 1964 for about $4,500.

Lo and behold, my parents were going through a divorce in 1968, and my dad needed a place to live.

And his parents agreed to let him buy the church.

And then the decision was made that we were going to move in with our dad into this place.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 52 00:02:25,130 --> 00:02:28,530 My first memories are coming down here and going, "What is my dad doing?

Why are we taking this project on?"

I mean, I think it was a complete mistake.

The place was in disrepair.

These pictures really to me is what I remember when I first walked in when I was a little kid.

Yeah.

Obviously, it's in disrepair.

It looks like the church pews have been removed.

But you can see the ceiling.

You can't see the beams.

This is before Dad tore the ceiling out.

It was very dusty, and the carpet's ripped up.

We would work on the weekends with our father, pulling nails out of the floor.

So it looked like a church but made for some good ghost stories.

The actual bell from the original church, we have.

It's a solid brass bell, and it's absolutely gorgeous.

If Dad said, "You guys said you're going to be up at 7:30, and we're going to work," he'd ring the bell.

Man, we're going to work.

This picture probably does it the best justice of what it was like in the late '60s and '70s.

That means a lot to me because that's what it looked like when we lived here.

That's pretty cool.

The rebuilding of this church was very cathartic.

And I think with every nail that was pulled and new nails that were put in this building, the three of us really bonded together.

That's why this place is so special to us.

We literally rebuilt all of our lives right in this building.

87 00:03:53,892 --> 00:03:55,368 [BIRDSONG] 89 00:03:56,860 --> 00:04:00,120 Our dad was a World War II veteran.

He was in the Army Air Corps, so these guys came out of a war, back to State College.

These guys are mid 20s coming out of World War II.

What did they have to lose?

95 00:04:12,890 --> 00:04:15,560 Their attitude was, I'm going to take chances, and I'm going to be a little bit crazy.

You know, what are you going to do to me?

I'm going to have fun.

The way he kind of rolled, he could have run with the Rat Pack, my dad.

He could have run with Sinatra and those guys.

He would have fit right in.

He just lived larger than life.

They called him St. Metz of Baileyville.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 107 00:04:34,280 --> 00:04:37,520 St. Metz of Baileyville was really our dad's nickname.

He had sweatshirts made up.

So I think it was more like if people were going to a bar, you have to have a logo.

And that was really the logo, and that's what he was called.

113 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:51,767 I think that kind of became our family crest.

It's tongue in cheek, of course.

Yes.

Yes, yes.

There was not a lot of sainthood going on here, I don't think.

A, it was the '70s, which was a great decade by the way.

And, B, we just had a real unorthodox parent.

He was this crazy fun guy that everybody knew, and they had parties out here.

It was like "Cheers."

You've got all the walks of life that would show up.

I know there was a party one time that I wasn't here, but I heard of about a guy riding a motorcycle around the living room.

[MOTORCYCLE REVS] 129 00:05:19,850 --> 00:05:21,650 So I've heard from a lot of people that have had fun out here.

132 00:05:34,450 --> 00:05:37,840 Karen Walls found connection to both family and community by becoming a volunteer firefighter in the Logan Fire Company No.

1 located in Bellefonte.

My grandfather was Robert Beals.

He was a volunteer firefighter in the Marion Fire Department over in Western Pennsylvania.

He was one of the founding members, and he was also fire chief for 15 years.

He had a fire truck that sat beside the driveway all our life.

It was always a memory that when you think of Grandma and Grandpa's farm and going to see them, you always think of the fire truck sitting there.

My family growing up was very community oriented.

Our parents instilled that very early on that we should be involved in the community and helping.

Probably just the last five years, I felt like I needed to be more involved in the community, a little bit more rooted in the community.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 154 00:06:35,550 --> 00:06:39,280 Walking my dog, I walk by the fire department all the time.

And so I wonder what all that would entail.

I wonder if I could even physically do that.

Then I reached out, and they got back to me very quickly.

And I think in joining the fire department, I really did not know what to expect.

[BUZZER ALARM] 162 00:06:55,355 --> 00:06:58,850 Fox 5610 to [INAUDIBLE],, an automatic fire alarm.

Company 1, Company 2, do.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 166 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:07,790 There were a lot of times where I thought, I physically could not do this.

There were definitely times where I had more self-doubt that I could do it than everybody else around me.

You're in that group, and no one wants anybody else to fail.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER] 174 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:24,727 Everybody in the fire department wants everybody to do well, even if they're in a different company or different age group because we never know on what call we're all going to be working together anyway.

I found that I can physically do some things that I thought there was no chance I could do.

Once I kind of saw, OK, maybe I can do this, it very much became, OK, I want to make sure I achieve this.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 185 00:07:46,420 --> 00:07:48,730 It's given me a whole different family of people that I might not have known or interacted with before.

As I've moved a lot for my job, that's something I've been missing.

Helping with the Logan Fire Department, I feel like it's just kind of reconnected to me to my community.

I really love my community.

We always joked, my grandpa and I both loved to wear hats.

I think he would be most proud of that hat that I wear now, a helmet.

The first time I met Karen, I found a very enthusiastic individual.

I knew she would go far in the fire service.

She is a very strong individual.

She's great at what she does.

She's caring.

She's kind.

And I think she's exactly what a volunteer firefighter needs to be.

207 00:08:34,220 --> 00:08:36,659 It takes a lot of dedication, a lot of training.

People don't realize the amount of training that goes into being a firefighter.

You put in 180 hours of training just to become a firefighter in the state of Pennsylvania.

As payment for that, being it's volunteer service, is the pride.

If it's gone through your family, you're carrying on a family tradition.

I'm fourth generation.

I grew up in the firehouse.

A lot of the old-timers that are still there remember me as a young kid, running around the firehouse, babysitting me when my dad would go out on calls.

It's been in my blood all my life, and it's just something I always wanted to do.

224 00:09:17,300 --> 00:09:21,050 I come from a very education-based family, so law school was the expected thing to do.

I enjoyed being a good student, and law school did feed that academic and intellectual side of me.

But then there's that heart, passion side, which was the dance.

[DRUMS BEATING] 232 00:09:39,670 --> 00:09:43,180 So I needed to find a way to fuse that.

And up, drop, move just the torso, no arms.

Having this opportunity to teach and use dance as research and all of the things that I'm able to do with this position has been the perfect melding of who I am.

Right, turn, step to the right, right now.

[DRUMS BEATING] 241 00:10:04,790 --> 00:10:06,650 Through my teaching, I talk about how the relationship between professor and student is reciprocal.

And it's a beautiful experience to exchange energy with them.

246 00:10:16,910 --> 00:10:19,600 It's not about me coming with this almighty knowledge and just pouring into you and you receiving it.

It's about us having a relationship and learning from each other so that we can go out and make the world a better place through our artistic expression.

[DRUMS BEATING] 254 00:10:35,750 --> 00:10:38,400 And breathe, arms come down, and shake it out.

OK, let's spread out.

I have been at State College for the past 20 years.

When I first came here, I was looking for opportunities to really replicate the experience that I had going to my mother's dance studio, but I didn't find them.

And after doing that for a while, it's, like, what am I doing to contribute to something that I felt was needed.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 266 00:11:02,780 --> 00:11:05,120 A few years after I was here, I connected with a learning enrichment teacher, Debra Daggs.

And she invited me to Mount Nittany Middle School to do an African dance workshop.

And those workshops over the course of years continued to grow and build, and that turned into us inviting students to be a part of Roots of Life.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 275 00:11:29,140 --> 00:11:32,740 Roots of Life is an arts education program that is housed in the State College Area School District.

We use the arts and literature and history to build original productions together.

It's open to students who are in grades 4 through 12.

We have students of all abilities, all backgrounds, and all identities.

And we invite them to bring whoever they are and connect through the art.

Please enjoy us as we use these elements to reflect on yesterday, experience today, and transform tomorrow.

Harambee!

[MUSIC PLAYING] 289 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,090 I observed dance being the base of it, but then it becoming so much more.

It became about community building.

It became about normalizing diversity.

If you were to come to one of our Saturday rehearsals, it would not look like we are in a predominantly white school district.

You would see students from different ages and backgrounds and cultures and abilities coming together.

[APPLAUSE] 300 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,390 If you want to challenge yourself and do a little more-- These young minds are the future of our world.

And one of the first lessons I teach is you have power to make a difference.

3, 2, 1.

There might be things in your life that you might not like, but you are worthy.

And there's something that you can give back.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 310 00:13:50,030 --> 00:13:50,690 Hello.

I'm Elaine Meder-Wilgus, and I'm so thrilled to be here joining you from the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross WPSU Production Studio.

You know what time of year it is.

It's time for us to encourage, to welcome, to remind you that this station depends on folks like you who aren't just viewers but become members by calling 1-800-245-9779.

The content tonight is extra special because it's folks like me and other sustaining members or people who give one-time gifts who made tonight's content possible.

I know you want to get in on that action because you've enjoyed what you've been watching tonight.

So please call 1-800-245-9779, or you can go online to WPSU.org.

These stories are from our neighbors all over the region.

And this is what we love about our public television station.

It shows us us.

We want you to be part of that.

Isn't that right, Tamra?

Hi.

Thanks, Elaine.

Yes, I am Tamra Fatemi.

I'm the events coordinator here at WPSU, but I am also a longtime sustaining member of the station.

And I love the fact that we are doing more and more local content here at WPSU, and it is because of people like you and our other members and sustainers who help to fund this local content and local programming.

The stories that you just saw included some fabulous dance from Kikora Franklin.

Isn't she amazing?

And the Roots of Life organization that she heads up, those kids have come and performed at some of our station events.

And they are just so excited to perform what they've learned and to be a part of our community.

Another one of the stories you just saw was about the volunteer firefighters in our Keystone Stories programming.

My son-in-law is a volunteer firefighter.

And I know from things that I've learned from him that it takes so much time and effort and years and years of training to do this.

And did you know that in the state of Pennsylvania, the vast majority of our firefighters are all volunteer?

There are very few paid firefighters in the state of Pennsylvania.

So it's a long and arduous process to become a volunteer firefighter, and it's so important to our communities, who otherwise would not have that service available to them.

So all of these stories, as Elaine mentioned, are about your local community or our area community here in our WPSU footprint.

And it's so fabulous to be able to tell those stories, thanks to people like you.

Coming up, you are going to also see some information about WPSU's virtual field trips, which I was a part of.

And it's been wonderful to be able to make these virtual field trips for students in our area who might not be able to go out and actually go to these places.

They can watch this content right in their classroom.

We offer this to schools, homeschooling families, just anyone who would like to see it.

So those are also on the app that you can get if you become a Passport member through your membership with our station.

For only $60 a year, or $5 a month, you can become a Passport member, and it's such a fabulous thing to have.

You might only have 10, 15, 20 minutes in your day where you're looking to fill some time.

Maybe while you're having lunch, you can go to your computer or your television and access these wonderful short stories, where you're going to get the whole story in just a much briefer time than watching an entire hour-long show or half-hour long show.

So, please, go to your phone, your computer, whatever you want to go to right now, and contact us to become a member of WPSU.

And I'm going to give it back to Elaine.

Thank you, Tamra.

Tamra also is on some of this content as well.

It's pretty exciting to be among royalty, WPSU royalty here.

Your station, your stories, that's not just a slogan.

That is the truth, and your dollars go into telling these stories.

We're so proud of the crew and the staff here at the station because they reflect us.

They reflect us not only back to us, maybe people we don't know, of course, but they challenge us as well.

If you love the content that you want to see here on your station, become a member.

Be one of the people that makes this magic happen.

1-800-245-9779.

We've got some new Keystone Stories that are going to be coming up in the fall.

They're going to include a unique community service project, immigrant stories from new neighbors to the region, polkas, community theater, state parks, and libations.

That's just a small taste.

And that's what we're showing you this evening is how this storytelling is part of the larger programming of this, your public television station.

Now there's a special couple we want you to spend a few minutes with, who have a passion like no other.

Let's roll that and enjoy this.

429 00:19:08,196 --> 00:19:10,180 [MUSIC PLAYING] 431 00:19:12,670 --> 00:19:15,880 Every year, once September, October rolls around, we set up an outrageous Christmas display in our yard.

The first thing we do is we get all the old decorations out.

Then we test everything.

If something is not working, we'll fix it.

And then probably by the first week of November, we'll start putting decorations out.

OK. We turn it on Thanksgiving night.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 442 00:19:47,980 --> 00:19:49,660 Aren't these stories fun?

I mean, we learn so much when we go out into our local communities in our local content, through the membership of people like you.

When we do our Keystone Stories or our Our Town series, we interview people from the communities.

And we come up with these really interesting hobbies and things that people do.

You're going to see coming up, Adventures in Privy Digging.

That came from an Our Town series, and you're going to love it.

It's an amazing story.

It's got a little bit of an "ooh" factor, but I think you're going to love it, so, please, watch that.

Become a member.

Be a part of the family.

Help to support local content and local programming here at WPSU.

Just give us a call at 800-245-9779.

It only takes a few minutes.

It's so easy to do, and it'll make you feel so good to be a part of your local public media station.

466 00:20:49,406 --> 00:20:51,891 [MUSIC PLAYING] 468 00:20:53,890 --> 00:20:55,420 My name is Frank Harchak.

I'm a bottle collector and a privy digger.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 472 00:21:04,030 --> 00:21:07,000 Privy digging is digging out old outhouses.

474 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:13,760 I'm always a little bit nervous because when you mention digging out old outhouses, people look at me like is he a goofball.

But when I was younger, I'd go walking through the woods, hunting or taking a hike and seeing an old bottle laying in the woods.

And it was neat to bring it home and do the research on the history of the bottle because every bottle tells a story.

484 00:21:40,010 --> 00:21:44,450 I find things from the mid 1800s and early 1900s.

I've found medicine bottles, horseshoes, crocks, soda bottles, ink bottles, household artifacts.

You name it, you can usually find it in a privy.

489 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,120 When I started digging privies, I got very interested in our local history because the bottles that I found told the history of my town.

I would find shoe polish bottles.

That more or less told me that they went to church every Sunday.

I found little olive oil bottles.

That usually told me that Italian people lived there.

And medicine bottles, that told me what illnesses they had.

I find ink bottles, and that usually tells me that they were probably immigrants that came here, and they sent letters back to their homeland.

Plus, I found a lot of money in the privies.

What would happen was they would go in and pull their bib overalls down, or the women would pick up their dress.

The money would fall out of their pockets and go through the cracks.

And 130 years later, we would find the money.

508 00:22:58,620 --> 00:23:00,050 [MUSIC PLAYING] I've been doing this for over 20 years.

It's exciting.

It's a great hobby.

Privy digging is probably the last treasure hunt here in the United States.

515 00:23:22,010 --> 00:23:22,510 Hi.

My name is Deborah Miller, and I'm here to talk about the Kane Manor Inn.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 520 00:23:28,270 --> 00:23:31,900 The Kane Manor Inn is a 19th Century historic residence here in Kane.

It was the family home of General Thomas Kane, who is the founder of our town, and his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Kane, and her family.

So one of the really cool things about the Kane Manor Inn is that we are on the National Register of Historic Places, and this place is so well-built.

It was actually designed by two really famous architects that were in Philadelphia in the early 1900s, late 1800s, named Cope and Stewardson.

They were famous for building places like Princeton University, buildings on that campus, Bryn Mawr University, which are fantastic places, and the building certainly shows that she was built really well.

It sits back at the edge of the forest.

It is on originally 250 acres that was owned by the Kane family.

Our 10 acres are a little island that we live on and where the property is, that goes back the whole way into the national forest.

We have two different buildings.

Our main building is an 18,000-square-foot home, and that was the original residence.

We have 10 guest rooms, each with a private bath, and we have numerous common areas.

We also have a separate guest house with five rooms and an apartment.

We can accommodate up to 15 rooms for various guests over any particular time.

So my husband and I were looking at some bed and breakfast opportunities in the Hershey area, where we used to live.

I decided, well, let's broaden our search a little bit.

And so I went on a website for bed and breakfasts that are for sale in Pennsylvania.

And this one popped up, the Kane Manor.

We met the previous owner, and he was amazing, told us so much about the place and its history.

We saw a lot of potential.

The folks here have such great energy.

They have such vision, and we love the innovation and everything that they were bringing to it, and it really-- that and the property just kind of solidified it.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 566 00:25:41,020 --> 00:25:43,600 The Constitution became the official framework of the young United States in 1788.

The new national government sought to assume all war debts accrued by the 13 states during the Revolution.

This strategy was chiefly promoted by Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury.

Whereas founding father Thomas Jefferson envisioned a nation of virtuous self-reliant farmers, Hamilton aspired to forge a country fueled by industry, exports, and government collaboration.

The two men engaged in fierce rhetorical battles, with slanderous, partisan news outlets backing them up.

Sound at all familiar?

Reluctant to raise high taxes already on the books, Hamilton set his sights on whiskey manufacturers as a fresh stream of revenue.

His intention was to tax not the sale of whiskey but its very production.

Not anticipating the hostilities to follow, Congress passed the Excise Whiskey Tax of 1791.

Its ripple effects would be far-reaching and incite violent division.

Farmers of Western Pennsylvania had feared such a move for years.

In the western part of the Commonwealth, grain cultivation was a pillar of commerce.

Whiskey had multiple applications beyond merrymaking, and everybody of all ages drank it, even children.

Furthermore, whiskey was a form of currency, used to pay off laborers and contract employees in rural areas.

All in all, the alcoholic spirits were easier and more lucrative to transport than raw grain.

The excise tax upended that tradition, and there'd be hell to pay.

604 00:27:24,242 --> 00:27:25,685 [MUFFLED VOICES] 606 00:27:27,128 --> 00:27:29,052 [MUSIC PLAYING] 608 00:27:31,940 --> 00:27:34,820 Welcome, everybody, to the Elk Country Visitor Center, here in Benezette, Pennsylvania, which is the heart of Pennsylvania's elk country.

Elk were a native species to Pennsylvania long ago.

As a matter of fact, hundreds of years ago, they were found in all parts of Pennsylvania.

Their numbers were at one time over 100,000.

But due to European expansion, habitat loss, and overhunting, the Eastern Woodland elk, which was the native species, were extrapated from our state, which means removed, in the 1860s.

Then we didn't have any elk in Pennsylvania for about 50 years.

Thanks to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, they were reintroduced to our state from 1913 to 1926.

During that time, they went out west, and they live-trapped Rocky Mountain elk and brought them back in several shipments by train to Pennsylvania and then released them.

Since then, they've now grown to about 1,400 animals, and we now have elk roaming and thriving in 10 of our counties in this part of north central Pennsylvania.

632 00:28:52,250 --> 00:28:54,840 Drive-in screens are built in many different ways.

Some are made of wood or metal, and some are made of cinderblocks, like this one.

But you might be surprised to find what's behind this screen here at the Moonlight Drive-In in Brookville.

The screen's always an inquisitive thing because everybody doesn't understand.

Most drive-in theaters have a steel structure as a screen.

Here at the Moonlight Drive-In, we're actually projecting on concrete block.

You'll be able to see from the side of the screen, it's 14 feet deep.

It was made to house three apartments on the inside.

I don't know if they were going to rent them or whatever.

It was never finished.

The roof rotted.

The wood fell apart, and that was the end of that.

They never did the apartments.

When you go behind this wall, this is where I spend my time because I live here.

I actually had a mobile home here because I used to live 60 miles away.

Traveling back and forth got to be a bit much, so I got a mobile home, put it here, so I could stay overnight when I needed to, not travel as far back and forth.

Not only do I spend my time here, you can see I have ducks.

We have chickens.

We have goats, and I have one secret pet, but you'll have to meet him first.

[ROOSTER CROWING] 665 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:10,900 Come on.

Let's go.

Move.

Come on, grump.

Move, move, move, move, move, move, move.

OK, go.

That's Vinny.

When you're in the house, he's in your lap, just like a dog, oh, yeah.

Yeah, you can't sit without him being on top of you, huh, Vinny?

People think pigs are dirty and smelly, and he doesn't smell, and he's not dirty.

He's a great kid.

He's really, really a good kid.

681 00:30:50,190 --> 00:30:52,080 Come on in, Jack.

I think everybody I've ever brought in here has done that look, and they can't understand how they're inside of a screen.

I mean, that's just a fact.

687 00:31:02,030 --> 00:31:07,290 This is what I call the drive-in room you come into.

My other drive-in theater in 1996 was picked as one of the top 10 drive-in theaters by Playboy magazine, the Galaxy Drive-in.

This sign was made by Budweiser.

I've had that for a long time.

This door here goes right out towards the snack bar.

This is my living room.

I call it the mafia room.

You'd never guess, would you?

I initially put an office in here because I needed a place to work.

700 00:31:44,490 --> 00:31:48,222 And then upstairs is two bedrooms and a bathroom.

And there you go.

You can see my yard.

I'm always a music nut, so I always have to have music on.

And everybody laughs, but I'll let you hear this.

[JOAN JETT, "I LOVE ROCK 'N ROLL"] Everybody says those are small speakers, but, no, I have a subcabinet under the steps, so that's why you can feel the bass.

I'm a lighthouse fanatic.

I love the ocean and things like that.

These are all pictures that I took.

You can see how many different lighthouses I've been to.

I think I've been in about 50 of them.

I've even been awarded the Key to the City by the mayor of Brookville.

So not too many people can say that, but I was.

You're sitting inside of a screen.

It's just unique.

Not too many people can say that, huh, Vinny?

[MUSIC PLAYING] 722 00:33:36,300 --> 00:33:36,870 Hi.

My name is Kim McMullen, and I am a community volunteer here for WPSU.

And I sure am happy to be here today because you are watching some amazing programming that's part of the Digital Series.

Not only does WPSU bring you national programs, which we all know about, and quality journalism, relevant news information, but also a lot of great local content, local being Pennsylvania, Centre County.

All of the counties that WPSU serves are part of these unique short what they call the Digital Series.

These are available online, and you've just watched some really great stuff about privy digging.

Who knew, right?

Past PA, lots of really great content and a lot of great stories.

We've got something to show you in a bit, a portfolio called I'm Your Neighbor.

But this is just all part of new, local, digital content that WPSU has invested in to bring you some really fun stuff that has to do directly with Pennsylvania.

The number to call is 1-800-245-9779, and we really appreciate you being here to share this content and to see what is going on behind the scenes at a station like WPSU.

It means a lot to us to have you become a member, to be part of the family, and then you give us time back when you watch this great programming that you made possible.

I'm going to tell you a little bit more about that in a bit.

We've got some great gifts for you.

But the greatest gift is that you become a member, and you become a part of this family so we can continue to bring you such great content.

I'm here in the studio today with Don.

Thanks, Kim.

I'm Don Bedella, director of Business Support here at WPSU.

I hope you're enjoying this local content that we produce here at WPSU, your public television station.

We're currently producing the next in our Our Town series called Our Town, Big Valley.

Big Valley is the communities of Reedsville, Allensville, Belleville, over in Mifflin County and part of Huntingdon County.

And if you just saw the piece on privy digging, that piece actually kind of was borne out of the Our Town series, where one of our producers was talking to Frank, the gentleman in the Adventures in Privy Digging piece and found out about this hobby of his, and that's how it happens.

It's stories.

It's talking to members of our community, and, certainly, we're excited to learn the stories of the Big Valley when we produce the next series in Our Town.

I was at the first community meeting in Big Valley, and it's great to see the members of the community come out and tell us their stories.

And we love to tell stories.

That's what we do in public television.

And what you help us do when you become a member is help us to tell more stories from throughout our 24-county coverage area.

So we ask you to become a member at 800-245-9779, or go online to WPSU.org.

When you become a member, you have access to PBS Passport.

At the minimum level of $60 annually or $5 per month Sustainer, you have access to PBS Passport, where you can see much of the programming that you're watching right now, elements of these local productions that we have done here at WPSU.

And you can watch full episodes, like the Local Groove.

You can watch the documentary, Why We Dance, about the dance marathon and the Our Town series, as I alluded to earlier.

And that's at the $60 level or $5 per month Sustainer.

If you don't have a smart TV and you need access to a streaming service like PBS Passport, you can go to the $120 level or $10 per month Sustainer, and you'll get the Roku Express.

And, basically, this hooks up to your TV and gives you access to streaming services, like PBS Passport.

And you can with your member benefit, you can watch programming like what you're seeing here tonight, and that's at the $10 per month Sustainer or $120 per year level.

But you have to become a member at 800-245-9779 or go online to WPSU.org.

Kim.

Thanks, Don.

Another great example of this Digital Series that you just saw was Past PA, and you saw a program about the Whiskey Rebellion.

There's also another series, I'm Your Neighbor.

This is about a lot of really interesting people that live right here in Central Pennsylvania, and we'd like to show you a clip.

This is a feature on Claire Lorts in Boalsburg, and she does woodworking.

And I think after you see what she does, you'll want her to be your neighbor.

I experimented with 30 different woods, the thickness of the wood.

I wanted to have something really lightweight and delicate that was elegant but sturdy enough.

And so it's this process, similar to what you would do when you're developing a new protocol in the lab.

It's this process of cutting out a design and breaking it at different locations, writing it down.

This is what I did.

This is how it turned out.

Don't do this.

Here's a different direction.

841 00:39:28,710 --> 00:39:32,190 If you enjoy stories like that and want to see more stories, we do have Keystone Stories, Season 3, in production right now, and it will feature topics like unique community service projects, new neighbors, community theater, state parks, libations, and polka.

And I believe a good friend of mine, "Big Moose," up in DuBois, and if you're in DuBois, you might know who "Big Moose" is, especially if you're a polka fan-- I think is featured in that, according to one of our producers.

These are the stories that we tell here at WPSU from throughout our 24 counties.

And we ask you to help us continue programming like this with your support by becoming a member right now at 800-245-9779, or you can go online to WPSU.org.

Coming up, we're going to be seeing a story about girls wrestling in Pennsylvania, once again, one of the stories that we tell here on public television at WPSU.

Become a member now, 800-245-9779.

Thanks for your support.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 865 00:40:41,981 --> 00:40:43,900 That's where we work.

So today is the Girls High School Wrestling State Championships at Central Dauphin High School.

We are just 15 minutes down the road from Hershey, PA, in the Giant Center, where the boys had their state championship the past few days.

And today is an opportunity for all the girls to compete for their state championship.

[MUFFLED VOICES] 875 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:12,010 The attitudes around girls in the sport have changed drastically just in the past decade or so and even the past few years.

When I was a father for the first time, I probably wasn't sitting around wondering what wrestling tournaments my kids were going to go to because I have all girls.

And now three out of my four wrestle.

The sport is really dear to my heart, and I have a lot to share.

But the caveat is always that they don't listen to me, so it doesn't really matter so.

888 00:41:42,510 --> 00:41:44,520 It wasn't people outside the sport that was holding our sport back.

It was people with inside the sport.

[MUFFLED VOICES] 893 00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:54,350 Coaches have been our biggest assets and sometimes are our biggest detriment because of change, change of mindset, change of heart, and maybe fear, fear of how do I coach a girl.

They're not used to that.

I'm Rob Waller, and I run the All-American Wrestling Club in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

I've been coaching for 50 years.

I have four daughters and two granddaughters, one of which wanted to wrestle.

I was reluctant at first.

I'm an old-time guy, but my daughter said, you coached all these years, and you won't coach your granddaughter.

I said, I just feel-- anyway, I'm coaching her and now a bunch of girls.

Girls are extremely comfortable, and they work hard.

911 00:42:39,497 --> 00:42:40,830 I have an athlete entered today.

Her name is JL Miller.

At 170, this girl is a three-time state champ, three-time formal all-American, three-time Freestyle State Champion.

From Punxsutawney, JL Miller.

[CROWD CHEERS] 919 00:42:53,910 --> 00:42:55,440 She's just a dream to coach.

I put her with my best boys, and she makes them better.

That's the way it should be.

You have to make sure that you are on point when you're coaching women, from an organizational standpoint, from a communication standpoint.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 927 00:43:14,580 --> 00:43:18,150 And they also, which I love this by the way, they tell you what they feel.

So if there's something that they don't like, we're going to have a conversation about it.

I think it was just a matter of people kind of opening their minds and just being able to see that, oh, yeah, girls belong here, too.

And, oh, yeah, girls are wrestlers, and this makes sense.

937 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:40,550 1, 2, check, check, hey.

939 00:43:44,780 --> 00:43:48,680 On this episode of the Local Groove Presents Mama Corn from Central, PA. How is that level?

943 00:43:59,830 --> 00:44:01,600 "Seeing You Again," here we go, boys.

1, 2, 3, 4.

[MAMA CORN, "SEEING YOU AGAIN"] 947 00:44:09,700 --> 00:44:12,550 (SINGING) Seeing you again, something that I'd rather not go through.

Seeing you again will make me realize how much I loved you.

I'm guessing I can't run away forever.

Some night, I'll see your face out in the crowd.

When I try to sing the songs, I break down and cry at just the thought of seeing you again.

Seeing you again is something that I couldn't bear to do.

956 00:44:46,100 --> 00:44:50,090 Seeing you again is bound to break a lonely heart in two.

958 00:44:53,078 --> 00:44:56,564 Seeing you again could make a man regret the things that he has done to you, just the thought of seeing you again.

962 00:45:08,410 --> 00:45:10,960 Her long blond hair and soft across her tenderness, and her dark brown eyes haunt me in the night.

When I wake up from the dreams, I break down and cry from just the thought of seeing you again.

Seeing you again is something that I couldn't bear to do.

968 00:45:29,918 --> 00:45:34,220 Seeing you again is bound to break a lonely heart in two.

970 00:45:37,088 --> 00:45:39,200 Seeing you again could make your man regret the things that he has done to you at just the thought of seeing you again, at just the thought of seeing you again.

975 00:46:09,190 --> 00:46:12,070 Food, a basic necessity.

We all need nutrients to survive and thrive.

Whether your meals come from the field, the fridge, the treasured family recipe, or the takeout menu, something special happens when we come together and share a meal and a common bond.

Culinary Connections is where we celebrate the people and places that use food to connect with the world around them.

Today, we'll introduce you to Hitham Hiyajneh, owner and operator of Pita Cabana, Yallah Taco, and more.

His passion for Middle Eastern cuisine mixes cultures from around the world for delicious results.

Hitham Hiyajneh, welcome to the Culinary Connections kitchen.

Thank you so much.

He'll show you how to make a Lebanese staple, Tabbouleh.

991 00:47:05,200 --> 00:47:06,700 My name is Hitham Hiyajneh.

I'm a father.

I'm a food entrepreneur.

I'm originally from Jordan.

Actually, I'm a mix with Jordanian-Lebanese.

My mom's Lebanese.

My dad is Jordanian.

I've been in this country technically since 1989.

I lived here more than I lived in my original country.

Food is my passion and making a difference.

That's why creating new products, creating new food, and always evolving as you go.

Hitham arrived in the US in 1989 at the age of 20.

They sold me on the idea when you come to America, you have money is everywhere.

You get a girlfriend.

She spends money on you, and so that's not what the America dream is.

I mean, there's truth to that in some way in Hollywood but not technically in reality.

When I came to America, I had $400 in my pocket.

I went to University of New Hampshire, Manchester, and suddenly I want to go to start school.

It's like, OK, we need $20,000.

Like, $20,000?

I don't have $20,000.

I have $400.

And they told me, Hitham, you can delay, go try and save the money, and come back.

I never went back because I don't have the $20,000.

And then I started working odd jobs, working in a bakery, worked as a waiter.

I did very well.

I made very good money because I was good at it.

I even learned how to bartend.

I did all these different odd jobs, trying to always be how can I make my life better.

Combining his skills in sales and food, Hitham started his first restaurant in State College, Pennsylvania.

Pita Cabana is my vision of a Middle Eastern food accessible to American palate.

Pita Cabana is the name.

Pita is the Lebanese.

Cabana is the Spanish word for the cabana, and that's a place of fun.

It's a place for you to enjoy the Middle Eastern food and have an experience, too.

Pita Cabana was to me, like when people come to my house and eat our Middle Eastern food, that's the kind of food I serve to them.

I wrap it.

I put tacos, like Arabic tacos.

We don't have tacos in the Middle East.

What we have is the flatbread technically.

When we use tacos, we have pockets from pita pocket.

But here we don't use pita pockets.

We use pita tacos, but it's Americanized a little bit for the American palate.

Like, an example, we have an Arabic shawarma.

Some people put cheese.

Middle East would never put cheese on a shawarma.

But in America, they like cheese, and we put cheese within the shawarma.

But we do Arabic burritos, we call them.

We put rice.

Middle Eastern would never put rice into a sandwich.

[MUFFLED VOICES] The Arabic shawarma, we buy bone-in meat, like legs and leg quarters and breasts.

We need the flavor.

We tried it with boneless.

It didn't work with the bone because they need that skin.

And then we marinate it overnight for 24 hours minimum, or sometimes it goes up to 48 hours, 60 hours.

And then we build it into a gyro shape, a mix of breasts, boneless legs.

And then we put it on a roaster, slow-roasting cooking, and slice it.

It's amazing.

When it comes first time, the first cut, it's a dream.

And we put it into the Arabic shawarma sandwich because that's actually a flatbread, like our pita bread.

And with garlic mayo, we make it in house and a side of fries and a garlic mayonnaise.

It's amazing.

It's a good sandwich.

1079 00:50:11,488 --> 00:50:13,280 We used to have a chalkboard here actually.

Behind this one is a chalkboard.

People used to draw their own things.

But like a lot of people left it dirty and stuff like that.

It costs to wipe it.

I thought that we were going to present-- show something that State College is about and like our culture, Penn State, where there's a lot of people from different parts of the world.

This is a 10-piece, 20-foot piece will represent the world because it has technically most of every culture, from actually over the mountain of Japan all the way to the Eiffel Tower in Egypt and Big Ben and Cyrus the Great and pasta.

There's food presentation and culture presentation in the whole thing in here, even India.

There's Indian over there, and I think this represents what State College is about, with the university culture.

And it brings us all together, and Pita Cabana is the place where you want to be, to feel the world, even our food does not present the whole world.

But we have part of the presentation in here.

The other artwork-- you can see the tables was designed.

Actually, it's kind of a fun thing because we don't want to be just like heritage and stuff.

This is a fun thing.

You can see SpongeBob Squarepants for the kids because we have a lot of children here, and I present my children.

It's a fun place.

That's why I call it the present the best food in State College and a fun place for people to be in.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 1115 00:51:56,680 --> 00:51:57,180 Hi.

I'm Don Bedella, director of Business Support here at WPSU.

I hope you've enjoyed these local stories.

We just saw some of Culinary Connections, one of our new shows, which is out in the field at restaurants throughout the area but also right here in the studio on our kitchen set.

And Local Groove Presents, that's a new music series that has been a spin-off of our radio program, the Local Groove.

And also the piece on girls wrestling and, once again, diverse stories that we are telling from throughout our 24-county coverage area.

And we can only do that because of the support from you, the member of WPSU.

Membership is the most reliable form of funding that we have here at WPSU.

We can count on the fact that you are going to support this local programming because it means something to you, and you want to become a member of this station.

And you can do that right now by calling 800-245-9779 or go online to WPSU.org.

We saw that clip of Mama Corn in the Local Group Presents.

There are four episodes of the first season of the Local Group Presents from the Sorters from up in Towanda, PA; Mama Corn from Altoona, Centre County area; Cass and the Bailout Crew from Williamsport or Billtown, as you might call it; and Hannah Bingman from Boalsburg in Centre County.

And there's another season of the Local Group Presents coming in the fall.

Once again, these types of programs happen because of your support so consider becoming a member right now to your public television station, WPSU, by calling 800-245-9779.

And I'm joined in the studio by my friend and colleague, Jessica Peters.

Thanks so much, Don.

Yeah, you know, over the past couple of years, there has been a lot of feedback from our members, saying that it would be great to see more local programming on WPSU.

And so we as a station have responded, and there have been so many fantastic pieces that have been produced.

And it's a different world, that we don't have to produce a half-hour or an hour-long broadcast of a program but rather we have these shorter five, six, seven, eight-minute clips that you can find on the website, or you can find on the PBS app, telling all of these local stories, a variety, diverse set of local stories from all across our 24 counties.

But your membership support is the foundation of what makes that possible so that we can continue to share these great stories.

So give us a call right now, 1-800-245-9779, so that we can continue to tell the stories from all across Central PA. You can also go online to make that gift at WPSU.org.

Now a lot of these programs, like I said, you can find on the PBS app.

You can not only find the programs that you saw on this program, but there are so many other local productions from WPSU that you can find as part of your PBS Passport member benefit.

That starts out with a gift of $5 Sustainer monthly or a one-time annual gift this year, if you need to renew your membership or you're a first-time contributor of $60.

What you're seeing on your screen, those are all WPSU-produced programs that are on the PBS app.

But there's also the national programs.

There's Masterpiece and Finding Your Roots and Nova and Nature and nightly the News Hour is put on the PBS app.

And a lot of those programs are available to our members exclusively through the Passport benefit.

So this is a great time to jump on board and to become a supporter of WPSU, 1-800-245-9779.

Don.

You know, you saw the segment of Culinary Connections.

And what I love about Culinary Connections is that it gives you a glimpse of the restaurant on their home turf and also has the segments here in the studio with Tamra Fatemi talking to the restaurateur and talking about one of their dishes.

So I've kind of said, it's not just a cooking show.

You learn about the dish, and you learn about what they're cooking.

But you're also seeing that story behind the restaurant, and I love that, and I love that type of programming that we bring you here at WPSU.

And if you want to support that and support those stories, and Jessica talked earlier about some of the pieces that we do with our Digital Series, that's not even a half-hour or hour-long program.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we released a segment on Moonstock Concerts that happened at a home here in Centre County.

And they are concerts that go throughout the summer, and we learn about that in this short digital piece that you can find on our website.

And, once again, it's programming that you're helping support here at WPSU by calling 800-245-9779.

And speaking of digital shorts like that, one of the pieces that you might see is one that we're about to see a clip of here, about a couple that builds tiny homes, and let's take a look at that.

Man, I feel like I'm doing exactly what I am supposed to do.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 1233 00:57:45,405 --> 00:57:48,720 Our dream is to potentially have a community someday and to be able to custom build for people to help them follow their dreams, too.

We're living our tiny house dream.

[MUSIC PLAYING] 1239 00:58:04,730 --> 00:58:08,270 Again, just a short little sneak peek as we're wrapping things up here during this program.

But you can go online to make your gift any time at WPSU.org or call 1-800-245-9779.

This is your station.

These are your stories.

And here at WPSU, we are proud to be able to share those stories to our community, stories made possible by your viewer support, by your financial contribution.

1-800-245-9779, join the community of WPSU.

Help us to be able to continue to tell these stories from people all across our area, from all walks of life, from all backgrounds.

Join our community today, 1-800-245-9779.

Thanks so much.