Vol. 119 No.5
THE BACK MOUNTAIN'S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1889
February 3 - 9, 2008
The
DALLAS POST.
SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DALLAS AND LAKE-LEHMAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
Dr. David Wright, associate professor of history and chairman of
the history department at Misericordia University, has published
a book on musical rock lyrics.
MU prof puts ‘rock
info history lessons
By REBECCA BRIA
rbria@timesleader.com
He’s a history professor, but
not a boring, old man who looks
like he fought in the Civil War.
David C. Wright, Ph.D., an as-
sociate professor and chair of the
history department at Misericor-
dia University, can be found in his
office dressed casually, yet pro-
fessionally, wearing an earring
and with his long, gray hair
pulled back into a ponytail. Up-
beat music without words quietly
plays in the background and mul-
tiple framed pictures of children
line a shelf.
Wright presented “The Phe-
nomenology of Loss and Yearn-
ing: Nostalgia in Rock Music Lyr-
ics” in November at the 18th An-
nual Mid-Atlantic Popular/
American Culture Association
Conference in Philadelphia.
The paper examines rock mu-
sic lyrics over the course of dec-
ades from the 1960s to the pre-
sent. He specifically looked at
themes of loss, yearning and nos-
talgia and found it to be wide-
spread in the music. Wright says
music often becomes a hit be-
cause of its nostalgic lyrics which
include loss of home, love, time,
death and things one never even
had. Anticipatory nostalgia, or
thinking about losing what one
has now, also runs rampant in the
lyrics.
Wright focused on rock music
to maintain concentration in one
area and chose rock because it is
popular and widespread. He se-
lected lyrics from musicians such
as Neil Young and Don Henley
and was surprised when he didn’t
find much nostalgia in Bob Dylan
lyrics.
While at the conference,
Wright presented his work for 20
minutes, receiving good re-
sponse and great discussion. He
was encouraged when he heard
people in other presentations re-
ferring to his presentation.
The professor is in the stages of
expanding his paper on nostalgia
in music lyrics to include other
genres of music and more recent
examples of music. He plans to
submit his revised work for publi-
cation to the “Journal of Popular
Music.”
Although Wright is not a musi-
cian, he did play the saxophone at
one time and listens to almost ev-
ery type of music expect for met-
al and “commercial country.” He
even likes techno, though he ex-
plains there are different types
and what he listens to is not the
kind of music played at clubs.
Wright is thinking about teach-
ing “The History of Utopia,”
“The History of African Ameri-
can Music” and “The History of
Rock and Roll Music” but has
been holding back for one reason.
“I'm a little concerned because
when you get into popular cul-
ture areas, young people are im-
patient with what they don’t
like,” Wright said.
Although Wright has not
shared his paper with his stu-
dents, many of them know about
it and find it neat that their pro-
fessor has written about rock mu-
sic.
“I think they think history pro-
fessors write about wars,” Wright
said. “I've never written anything
about war. History’s about every-
thing people have done.”
Stacy Orr, a senior history ma-
jor at Misericordia, wants to read
her professor’s paper.
“Everybody likes rock music,”
Orr said. “It’s interesting.”
Wright presented “Gibson’s
‘Sprawl Trilogy.’ Utopian Sparks
midst the Dystopian Ashes” at
the 32nd Annual Meeting of The
Society for Utopian Studies in To-
See ROCK, Page 6
According to www.nfl.com, the New York Giants have not been in the Super Bowl since Super Bowl
XXXV in 2001 when they were defeated, 34-7, by the Baltimore Ravens. The team has not won the big
game since it beat the Buffalo Bills, 20-19, during Super Bowl XXV in 1991. The New England Patriots
won Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005 when they conquered the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21.
Pete Klein is root
By REBECCA BRIA
rbria@timesleader.com
oday is the day foot-
ball enthusiasts have
been anticipating for
the past year: Super
Bowl Sunday. Pizza
eateries will be extremely busy
with take-out orders and super-
markets and beer distributors
will be crowded in the hours and
days before the game. Homes,
bars and restaurants in the Back
Mountain will be full of eager
fans and party-goers, each cheer-
ing for one team.
But just what team will that
be?
Peter Klein, 68, of Dallas, will
be rooting for the New York Gi-
ants. Having seen between 30
and 40 Giants games in person,
Klein may be one of the biggest
New York Giants fans in the area.
“I never liked the Eagles or the
Steelers,” he said.
Originally from Kingston,
Klein first took an interest in
football while a student at King-
ston High School. He was a fan of
the Cleveland Browns until he
moved to New Jersey in 1960 and
lived only 35 miles from Yankee
Stadium, the previous home of
the Giants. The Giants quickly
Peter Klein, of Dallas, an ardent Giants fan, shows off his favorite sweatshirt.
‘Giant’ fan
ing for New York today
YOU WATCH
Super Bowl XLII at University of
Phoenix Stadium, Arizona
Sunday, Feb. 3
FOX Television
6:30 p.m.
became Klein's favorite team be-
cause they were the closest to
him and, at that time, tickets
were often available.
Klein saw his favorite Giants
game in the early 1960s when the
Giants hosted the Cleveland
Browns. Sleet had fallen the
night before and the stadium
seats were covered in ice, a bless-
ing for Klein who enjoys games
played in bad weather. The Gi-
ants won that game, 17-10.
“I was a Giants fan at the time
and was still a Browns fan,”
Klein said. “I got to see my favor-
ite two teams play. And it was in
gnarly conditions.”
While working for Bell Labs in
New Jersey, Klein lived at an Air
Force base along the coast of Cal-
ifornia for one year. Because not
everyone could get NFL games
on their televisions those days,
he and some co-workers, who
were also Giants fans, found a
place to watch the games.
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
“On Sundays, we knew that in
San Bernardino they had televi-
sion that carried NFL games,” he
said. “We used to drive there,
take a hotel room, watch the
game in the morning and drive
home. We would drive 70 miles
inland just to watch the Giants
on Sundays.”
When the team moved into Gi-
ants Stadium in 1976, Klein saw
one or two games that season
but tickets soon became hard to
come by as season ticket holders
bought out all of the seats in the
stadium.
Luckily for Klein, his daugh-
ter, Pam Patterson, of Morris-
town, N.J., is also a diehard Gi-
ants fan. Patterson was offered
two season tickets from a neigh-
bor who had four and, for five or
six years, would take Klein to the
games when her husband was
not available.
Klein moved to Connecticut in
1993, but still lived just 40 miles
from Giants Stadium. When he
moved back to the Wyoming Val-
ley after retiring five years ago,
most of his Giants memorabilia
went in the trash but he’s still a
huge Giants fan.
His favorite Giant these days is
See GIANT, Page 8
Kristen Billek, whose
family had owned
Trucksville Pharmacy for
over 50 years, an-
nounced recently that
the pharmacy has
closed. Billek is the Ex-
periential Coordinator at
Wilkes School of Phar-
macy.
CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK/ FOR THE DALLAS POST
After 50 years, Trucksville Pharmacy closes
“It wasn't a quick decision; it was a long process
Billek family had owned
business since 1982 when
Neil Billek purchased it.
By REBECCA BRIA
rbria@timesleader.com
After over 50 years of ser-
vice to the Back Mountain
Community, the Trucksville
Pharmacy has closed.
According to Kristen Bil-
lek, owner and pharmacist,
the pharmacy closed its doors
for the last time on January
15.
“It wasn’t a quick decision;
it was a long process between
myself and my family,” Billek
said.
Billek, 35, of Kingston, says
the family decided to move
on before it was forced to.
Family members have re-
between myself and my family.”
Kristen Billek
Pharmacist
ceived multiple phone calls
and cards at home wishing
them well.
Trucksville Pharmacy
opened more than five dec-
ades ago by Harry Holak,
who lived across the highway
in Trucksville. Billek’s father,
Neil Billek, purchased the
pharmacy from Holak, his
cousin, in 1982.
Having grown up in the
pharmacy, Billek wanted to
be a pharmacist for as long as
she can remember. In 1990,
she graduated from Wyoming
Valley West High School and
went on to pharmacy school
at St. John’s University in
New York. Everything
seemed to be falling into
place. But things were about
to change.
In September 1996, just
three months before Billek
graduated from pharmacy
school, Neil Billek died. To
the surprise of many custom-
ers, Billek walked into the
pharmacy to work the day af-
ter her father died.
“I felt my father had such a
connection with the commu-
nity that that connection
came down onto myself,” Bil-
lek said.
With the support of its
strong customer base, the
Trucksville Pharmacy contin-
ued on. The pharmacy was
run by fill-in pharmacists un-
til Billek came on board full-
time in mid-1997. Billek’s
mother, Ann, became the
backbone of the pharmacy
and Billek’s sister, Sarah, ran
the front counter. Sarah was
at the pharmacy so much, she
kept a crib in the back room
for her daughter, Anabell,
now 6 years old. Billek’s other
sister Abby and brother
Drew, live out of town but
See PHARMACY, Page 5