LAURELA Magazine from MOUNTAIN the Heart of Western PennsylvaniaPOST Hit Me With Your Best Shot! International Videographer Eric Pensenstadler Brings His Film Magic Home to Western Pennsylvania Take Five Minutes Fireside Fiction A Tiger Walks Among Us: The Fabulous Fabian of Fayette County Senior Moments JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009 FREE Every Story Begins At Home. January/February 2009 - 1 2 - January/February 2009 LAUREL MOUNTAIN POST “What lies behind us, and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” elcome . – Ralph Waldo Emerson JAN/FEB 2009 MOUNTAIN VIEWS W(Volume VI, Issue 1) Cathi Gerhard Williams The Laurel Mountain Post is a bimonthly publication designed to focus on the people, places and events of Westmoreland County and the surrounding areas in the heart of western Pennsylvania. We print stories about Love Is All Around Us real people and their daily lives; feature lo- cal merchants, craftsmen and professionals; When people ask me how I came up I will always prefer the living that takes I LOVE that everyone in my fam- present short pieces of art & literature; and with the idea to create the Laurel Moun- place in small towns like the ones we ily is a patient of the down-to-earth never lose sight of what makes this area a great place to call home. tain Post, I usually start with a com- have here in Pennsylvania. There are Dr. Howard Bursch. Not only does Most of our writers are not professional plicated answer. But part of my story so many things to love about living he remember who I am, but he also reporters, but accomplished local practitioners is very simple. This magazine is basi- here, and Valentine’s Day seems like knows all of our long medical histo- with years of experience in their respective cally an enduring love letter to my a perfect reason to share some of them ries by heart. His office is right fields who bring credibility and personality to every article. In October 2006, the BBC News hometown. with you . around the corner from mine (and quoted us as “the voice of Pennsylvania.” I never thought of myself as so is my awesome dentist, Dr. being from just “Derry” as much Mucci), so an appointment Laurel Mountain Post as Westmoreland County and doesn’t mean that I waste a P.O. Box 227 western Pennsylvania. My child- half day out of work. 206 Weldon Street hood life experiences were defi- I LOVE that we have “real” Latrobe, PA 15650 nitely not confined to the town- restaurants here, not just a ship surrounding our farm bunch of chains. My family eats 724-537-6845 (which had a Derry address, but Gino’s pizza every week, and the a Latrobe phone number). My St. Vincent Gristmill brews the Cathi Gerhard Williams Nan and Pap lived in New Derry, best cup of coffee with their own Editor & Publisher while my Grammy and Pappap’s beans. Palombo’s always has [email protected] house was in Cooperstown, just great dinner specials, and Joe down the street from my elemen- at the Tin Lizzy martini bar Briana Dwire Tomack tary school. My best friend was never forgets that I like Marketing Director in Ligonier, and we always went peaches (not cherries!) in my & Business Manager shopping in Greensburg. Pitts- mixed drinks. [email protected] burgh was home to our favorite These are just a few of my fa- sports teams, and Indiana was vorite things, the list you quote Proud members of the Latrobe, not a state, but rather the town when asked what you miss Ligonier, and Strongland where everyone went to college. about home when away from it. Chambers of Commerce, After I, too, graduated from But most importantly, it’s the The Pittsburgh Advertising Federation, IUP with bachelor’s and master’s tangible proof of the LOVE and The Pennsylvania degrees, I moved away to North around us. People who LOVE Newspaper Assocation Carolina. I tried to make a new what they do make us happy as Special thanks to our home for many years, but it customers and friends; people advertisers for supporting never seemed quite right. I who LOVE where they live take this community publication! missed too many things, people care of their home and usually and places – and was never com- stay a long time, treating us www.LaurelMountainPost.com fortable in the south. I shared to history and character. many phone calls and emails I invite each of you to stop with old friends throughout the and think about your own LOVE years, and they usually ended with dis- I LOVE that my son isn’t taught list for western Pennsylvania. Then cussions about all the things that by a bunch of strangers – I had some send me your favorites so I can share were so great about western Pennsyl- of the same teachers, went to school them with our readers as we continue vania – especially compared to where with others, and the rest know who I to celebrate our home in every issue we were “now.” Many of us had gone am. There is comfort in that for me – of the Laurel Mountain Post. to larger, more impersonal locations and a reminder for him not to misbe- Our distribution of 15,000 reaches where we were always “strangers in a have, or I’ll know about it before he As the Troggs sang in 1967, beyond Westmoreland County into the strange land.” We lived in brand new gets off the bus in the afternoon. Love is all around neighboring counties of Allegheny, transient, starter neighborhoods I LOVE that I can go see and talk It’s written on the wind Washington, Armstrong, Bedford, It’s everywhere I go Cambria, Indiana, Somerset and Fayette. where people and businesses were to a real person when I need help – In 2006 our web traffic increased by constantly moving in and out. Rela- not a cost-effective call center in In- 53% and continues to grow. Every day, more and more readers and advertisers tionships never developed or were lost dia I can’t understand. Chad at Verizon across western Pennsylvania are in the journey toward “bigger and bet- always patiently explains how to use discovering the Laurel Mountain Post. ter” things. my new cell phone, and Bob Appleby Cities are nice places to visit, but solves my computer nightmares. Every Story Begins At Home. January/February 2009 - 3 Hit Me With Your Best Shot! by Cathi Gerhard Williams Fairy tales do come true – at least “That really opened up my video time grammy-award winning Eric and Marger hired one per- for local brides, with the help of a career,” he explained. “I realized that Latin American artist Juanes son for the handheld camera, set local wedding videography com- video was a part of touring.” that is perhaps most significant up tripods, and did their own editing. pany. Owned and operated by Eric Eric toured with David for Eric. He joined a local company The wedding video process they de- Pensenstadler, a 1993 graduate Copperfield for the next three on the Juanes crew and met his veloped came from what they felt of Norwin High School, Video Ho- years, and mastered his craft. wife, Marger. At the time, neither was important and natural. rizons LLC brings professional, “I do what makes sense in my photojournalistic style to wedding signature, creative style.” videos. Drawing on years of expe- Eric and Marger do all of their rience in the music industry, Eric wedding videos together as a hus- and his wife, Marger, create beau- band/wife team. Not only does it tiful video storybooks of that spe- help keep costs down, but they cial day. It’s a far cry from drunk know how each other works after wedding guests and relatives with two and a half years together – so shaky handheld video cameras! things run smoothly. Eric’s interest in video produc- Marger, who has sinced tion began as a St. Vincent Col- learned English by taking some lege student majoring in liberal classes at the YWCA and simply arts and communication. He was being immersed in our culture, working for the campus radio/TV is also an event planner and station with a developing inter- bridal consultant at MB Bride. She est in nature photography and has evolved with their company to lighting design, when Alanis work with bridal parties on their Morrisette performed at the dresses and tuxedos. school during his junior year. He Together, Eric and Marger get persistently offered to assist the the best shots to create beautiful, stage crew, and eventually was “I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn a lot of different things from visual memories that last a life- a lot of different people and cultures. I’ve been able to incorporate all of these influences allowed to help tear down the into my personal work. After my time as the camera operator on David Copperfield’s time on film. lighting. One discussion led to tour I established Video Horizons, LLC and was not impressed with the current For more information on Video another, and he was offered a wedding videography in western Pennsylvania. I thought that I could offer more to Horizons, LLC, visit their website: Pennsylvania’s brides and grooms, and so now my wife and I work together to create chance to intern for a summer some of the area’s most beautiful and professional wedding videos!” – Eric Pensenstadler www.videohorizonsllc.com or call with the professional company in their south Greensburg studio at Cleveland, OH.