Author: electferrence

CLICK HERE TO READ AN EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK Butler isn’t far from here. Last weekend, the town gained a permanent association with an assassination attempt on former president Trump. One man lost his life simply for being there, and two will face a lifetime with scars, inside and out. I write about violence in … Continue reading On Violence

Almost a decade ago, we replanted our front yard in native wildflowers. It’s pretty awesome. The positive impact on pollinators and birds is quite obvious. We get all manner of neat insects, and butterflies, and bees, and birds, all year long. The yard itself shifts constantly through seasonal color schemes. Spring blooms with white petals, … Continue reading Front Yard Meadows

Well, it’s been a long road to this point. I’ll spare you those details (for now!). But the official publication date for I Hate It Here, Please Vote For Me: Essays on Rural Political Decay is almost upon us. August 1 is the day. Have you seen the fantastic cover? WVU Press has done an … Continue reading Here Comes the Book!

We're into 2021 now, and everything is done and dusted with the political campaign. But everything is not done: join me for the next step in taking charge of a better political future for Northwestern Pennsylvania by subscribing to my new free weekly newsletter over on substack. I'm thinking of it as the new, mostly-written-word … Continue reading Mondays With Matt v2.0

We didn't win. And that's a bummer. But we worked hard, stayed off the low road (even when the trolls hurled flaming poo sandwiches at us), and ran a campaign of ideas. So the election is over, and we might be stuck with the same useless rep in District 6, but things are looking up … Continue reading The End of the Road…And…Then…

Throwback Thursday: I wrote this in April of 2020, about the ways the legislative majority was *already* failing the Commonwealth in its cynical Covid response. Sadly, it remains true, and apt, and a signal that those reps are never in our corner. They wasted the summer, and workers and businesses are suffering because of it. We all suffer their false representation.

First the tl;dr...watch the video, even just a few minutes. You will get an immediate sense of how different we are. I truly appreciated the civility of the discussion, but there were also mega fireworks under that surface. In the annotations that follow, I will explain several key moments, add context and commentary, and shine … Continue reading Matt v. Brad: An Annotated Forum

This is an origin story. Of the forces of hope and action facing off against the banality of an evil so mediocre it defines itself only through opposition to the greater good. Super Ultra Liberal Left Man will never submit to the morass of despair cultivated by the Mediocre Right Wing. (Pause narration: so, yeah, … Continue reading Super Ultra Liberal Left Man!

Showing up. Not much could be more important for a representative. The entire job is to show up for your district, and to use your position to advocate for your neighbors. Unfortunately, some politicians get so cozy in their jobs, or view their role in such cynical terms, that they show up in ways that … Continue reading Showing Up

In 2019, thanks to the nearly-unanimous Act 3, the Eastern Hellbender became the official state amphibian of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. One of the six no votes in the PA House? Yeah, that would be our incumbent. And as foolish and short-sighted as that vote happens to be, it's also a great opening into an … Continue reading Voting Against Hellbenders