Matthew 5:14-15 NIV
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
I named this website The Center City Christian because I went to a church in Allentown for seven years. And I’m riding on the bus through the city right now, appreciating how the code of the streets is just a little different. Like the encryption is unique—just on a smaller scale, like Little Apple to Big Apple. I see the old historic homes and wonder what they looked like in their heyday. That is what The Skilled Craftperson Project was originally based on—revitalization. But I also like it the way it is now—that was a different time meant for a different generation.
The scientific method of one element combined with mined iron ore, I am not certain of. But the chief industry in Pennsylvania was steel. Bethlehem Steel in the Lehigh Valley rivaled by Andrew Carnegie’s U.S. Steel in Pittsburgh (PA had it cornered). In the 1990’s, the Clinton Administration introduced globilization. The theory was simple—maximize profit margin by lowering manufacturing cost—outsourcing overseas. The backdoor (both literally and figuratively) that nobody saw coming was that the industry would stay overseas. And the United States would slowly become a consumer society.
I moved to the Lehigh Valley in 2003. I heard the worst of the city’s depression was in the late 1990’s (a few years earlier). I was also told the the economy began to exit in the 1980’s—perhaps a precursor to globilization. But the Lehigh Valley was my home then, and it feels like home once again. I attached some photos walking around Levitt Pavilion—a fun hangout spot to get a drink and watch a concert during the summer months—an attraction which was built around the strongest Bethlehem Steel buildings.
