Ed Ackerman

Jan 17, 2025 | citizensvoice.com | Ed Ackerman |Pittston Progress

The Brooklyn guy, by way of Jersey, couldn’t resist. We met at the Red Mill Tavern a few years ago to catch up over a beer. He was hungry and asked for a menu and I knew what was coming. “What’s a cut of pizza?” he asked. He knew damned right well what a cut of pizza is. He’d lived around here for more than 10 years. But still he laid that ole “It’s supposed to be a slice of pizza” line on me. In spite of myself, I explained that a pizza pie comes in slices, and a tray of “square” pizza comes in cuts.

Jan 15, 2025 | citizensvoice.com | Ed Ackerman |Pittston Progress

“My God,” I thought as I did the math while walking into St. Anthony’s Church to pay respects to Tony Massara, “Massara’s has been part of my life for 65 years!”Tony, who died on Jan. 6, and his wife, Gilda, operated Massara’s for at least 40 of those years, but it was Tony’s father, Jimmy, and mother, Margaret, who were in charge when our family moved to Butler Street, just three doors away, and I became a regular along with every other kid in the neighborhood.

Jan 10, 2025 | citizensvoice.com | Ed Ackerman |Pittston Progress

The start of a new year is a marvelous time to dust off the ole bucket list and contemplate which ones might be attainable during the next 12 months. I have a problem with that, however. I don’t have a bucket list. What I do have though is something I call my Reserve Bucket List. These are all the things I hope I never have to do. It started a couple of years ago when I was flying back from Los Angeles after visiting my daughter.

Jan 10, 2025 | citizensvoice.com | Ed Ackerman |Pittston Progress

A few days before the college closed for Christmas break, I was in the hallway of the building where my office is located talking with my daughter on my cell when a fellow came in holding his little boy by the hand and headed toward the office of one of my colleagues. It is not unusual to have parents as students at a community college. The average age of a Luzerne County Community College student, in fact, is 27.5 years.

Jan 8, 2025 | citizensvoice.com | Ed Ackerman |Pittston Progress

The title “Why Sinatra Matters” caught my eye a few years ago in a little bookstore in Tunkhannock. It was the author, Pete Hamill, however, that caused me to buy it. I began reading and marveling at Pete Hamill’s writing when he was a columnist for the New York Post. His column when my friend John Cotter, then city editor at the Post, died in 1991 at the age of 48 brought tears to my eyes.