Articles by Jonathan Cortez

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] Starting school later seems to be a topic that floats around the district. Although I believe it would have benefits, I don’t think it’s a change our school district could radically make. I won’t argue that starting high school later would probably lead to better academic success. There’s no shortage of evidence suggesting a later start time would lead to increased performance based on some sciencey stuff that says teenagers have trouble falling…

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] Tuesday, I got to work after being sick for a day and spending the storm sleeping and eating soup. I checked our twitter feed and found this gem: “Residents trapped in collapsed structure undermined due to flooding on River Rd, Ellwood City.” Was it a breaking story that I missed and needed to rush to complete? Then, I noticed something odd about it. It included a picture of the intersection of Lawrence and…

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] A few years ago, the Ellwood City school board examined the possibility of merging with Riverside. The notion never gathered enough momentum to move beyond the idea stage. With ever declining populations and an increasingly difficult financial situation for public education, I think that a merger will eventually become a necessity. It’s advantageous for the two districts to take the initiative and make a plan to merge within the next five years. There…

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] I’m guessing a lot of Ellwoodians, probably the majority of Ellwoodians, won’t vote today. I’ve never voted in a local election. However, I’ve gotten a bit interested in local politics- interested enough to take 10 minutes to vote. In national elections, there’s no shortage of excuses to not vote. Between gerrymandering, the electoral college, and the general feeling that both parties and all politicians are corrupt, it’s easy to make an argument that…

[Statements, opinion, and views expressed in this column are those of the author named and are not necessarily those of the EllwoodCity.org and Thought Process Enterprises team.] I had a nightmare once that went as follows. I was driving with my friend and a Nickelback CD was playing. My friend said, “Why are we listening to this? Why do you own this?” I said, “It was only two dollars, and there’s some songs on it that I think are okay.” Then I woke in a cold sweat. The point made is that there is a notion that some music is…