The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor was established in 2006 with a mission to “collect, preserve and share the stories of Purple Heart recipients from all branches of service and across all conflicts for which the award has been available.” The museum is tucked away in New Windsor, NY, adjacent to the New Windsor Cantonment site, the last encampment of the Continental Army at the end of the Revolutionary War. Peter Bedrossian, program director, took time to answer some questions, while show

Countless Revolutionary War stories are filled with instances of honor, bravery, patriotism, heroism and even personal sacrifice by soldiers whose names aren’t as recognizable as those of Washington, Jefferson, Adams or Franklin. Today, May 3, 2016 members of the Daughters of the American Revolutions traveled from all corners of New York and some surrounding states to honor the hero of one such story, Margaret “Captain Molly” Cochran Corbin, on the 90th anniversary of her re-interment. Though th

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and while sexual violence can be an uncomfortable subject, Kelly B., a psychology student at Empire State College, has stepped out of her comfort zone to address several university and college forums about suffering through multiple sexual assaults and enduring the horrors of sex trafficking.  Kelly’s rapt audiences are often stunned as she recalls years of childhood neglect, domestic violence, homelessness and recovery from drugs and alcohol. Sharing thes

In my family, there is a dreamy, fairytale story about how my 3rd great-grandfather, Jesse Archer, returned from the Civil War to Noble County, Ohio where he met the sister of a fellow soldier (also from Noble County, Ohio) and subsequently married her in 1870.  The sister was named Nancy Jane Wickham.  Indeed, on several pension papers, both Jesse Archer and the brother Jacob Wickham appear together, being discharged within a month of each other in 1865 so this would lead credibility to that ro

Does this house look familiar?  It might.  There is definitely ‘something’ about this house. Why, it could very well be in your town! Or perhaps you might have drove by one that looked like it in a town nearby.  But no, THIS house is on Main Street in Ashville, Ohio and this is a painting that hung on the walls of that house. Archie Stewart, his wife Clara Lou and their three girls all lived in this house. As a young father and husband, Archie used to fret a lot about whether his job at the gas

Sometimes there are dark things in your family tree that aren’t talked about – things that when you stumble upon them positively blow you away.  Such a thing happened to me about a month ago when I was meandering down the Archer branch of my tree.  The deeper I dig, the more enthralled I become. As a child, I knew “something bad” had happened to my great-grandfather, Glenn Archer Stewart.  My great-grandma Rosa May Stewart had lived with a man named Leonard Hochmuth for eons and while he loved

Touching all ages, sexes and ethnic groups, the obesity epidemic has grown into a serious concern for today’s health professionals. A revealing study conducted by the Center for Disease Control and The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2009-2010 concluded with the staggering statistic that nearly 70 percent of Americans are considered overweight and obese. This means that two out of every three adults are overweight, one out of every three adults rate as obese and one in 20 adu

If your health resolutions for the new year have already flopped, now is the perfect time to re-start! March is National Nutrition Month and Empire State College’s Student Health Weeks are underway at five different locations, offering students a chance to sample healthy snacks, check their body fat and blood pressure, get a chair massage and even skin screenings for sun damage. Themes of the Student Health Weeks are just a small peek at what lies in store for ESC’s fourth annual Health and Wel

I very rarely tell this story but I realized last night when I replied to my friend Ashley’s YouTube video that perhaps this woeful tale might actually help someone who is on the fence about bariatric surgery.  Though it was my heart attack scare on Valentine’s Day of 2015 that ultimately put me on the road to my surgery, this incident here was the day it really hit home that yes, I may be fat but I was being mistreated, abused and publicly being fat shamed.  To make matters worse, it was by peo

We recently went back home to Ohio to visit family and while we were there we stopped at Steak & Shake for a quick lunch. Across the aisle from us was a lady in her mid-20’s and a her young son who was about 4.  He was sitting happily there, munching on a pile of fries and wearing the weird Steak & Shake hamburger hat they give kids while his mom wasn’t paying one iota of attention to him since she had her face glued to her iPhone. I don’t know what started it but somehow, the kid starts crying