Latest in a series of posts on Bethlehem Moments
“Without a shared history, we are not a true community.”
Well, if not, why not?
The Bethlehem Moments are mini-essays on Bethlehem history from 1741 to around the 1960s, delivered during public comment at City Council meetings and then published here on Gadfly.
The series of Moments is meant to generate a sense of community.
Without a history we are just an atomized assembly of individuals who happen to live in an arbitrary area.
When you do a Moment, you “own” a piece of the past, you become one with a piece of the past.
We’ve done 20 Moments so far. Alan Lowcher will do #21 on the occasion of next week’s Council meeting.
I’m under house arrest, and one of the things I’m doing is reading the 1968 history of Bethlehem.
In the next post you’ll find a “Guide to Bethlehem History.” Libraries are closed, but some of the books can be ordered online, and full texts of at least two can be found online. In addition, there are some valuable web resources.
So you could also be doing some reading about Bethlehem history during this forced hiatus in our workaday lives.
And you might also be thinking about finding some “moment” in our history to add to the work of your fellow residents.
Gadfly’s modest goal, he says with a smile, is that everybody do a Bethlehem Moment — and that he lives to see it.
In the second next post you’ll find a brief information document about the project.
Gadfly’s looking to fill slots in June and July and August. And is ready to help you.
His mailbox is open: ejg1@lehigh.edu
