With all the news of droughts throughout the United States, Ken Burns’ “THE DUST BOWL” will grab your attention.

The show chronicles years of disastrous dust storms that forced people to leave their homes and farms.  Burns interviews 26 survivors and shares photographs and rare movie footage.

You can join Ken Burns for a live YouTube discussion about ‘The Dust Bowl’ Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. ET. Submit your questions on Twitter using #DustBowlPBS  and watch live at  www.youtube.com/pbs

The program premieres this weekend — Nov. 18 and 19 from 8–10 p.m. on PBS affiliate WQLN-TV.

Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa.

The man in sneakers and a cardigan often came into our house. I was probably more impressed with Mister Rogers than my kids, and PBS invites everyone to add a comment to “Mister Rogers Inspiration: Share yours, then pass it on!”

You can share your Mister Rogers memory, here on Facebook or Twitter. Visit  pbs.org/misterrogers or use the hashtag #thanksmisterrogers. Fred Rogers hosted the program from 1968–2001.

Born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, he was instrumental in changing TV broadcasting for children, and he did it from WQED-TV in Pittsburgh. Weekly themes were fairly common. Each show featured the trolley, a trip to the Neighborhood of Make Believe where memorable  puppets  – with Mr. Rogers voicing many of them — taught us many lessons.

If your family grew up with Mr. Rogers, a visit to the PBS site of Mr. Rogers’ house will bring back memories of the man who created a worldwide neighborhood with simple messages in a home setting.

Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa.

Marc Brown is in town, and I’m proud to say I lived right across the street from his former elementary school. My kids attended the same middle school that he did at Westlake,  and there were plenty of inspirations in those schools that appeared in his books.

Lakewood Elementary, Brown’s grade school, was one of those many red-brick buildings that outlived its service, and Millcreek tore it down in the early 1980s. It was located right across the street from Lakewood United Methodist Church. Fortunately, the playground remained and has seen many improvements over the years.  My kids all but lived at that playground playing basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball and more. Westlake Middle School also has some tremendous improvements, but it’s the same place Brown found inspiration for his books. We never met Brown, but in meeting his characters and reading about where they came from, we all felt connected.

My kids grew up watching Arthur on WQLN-TV. We also read the books, along with Mercer Mayer’s book series Little Critter, some of the cutest books ever, and my kids still remember the books and illustrations. You can see, Mercer has a sense of humor — I saw the look on this book cover many times when little my Eckert critters were sent to bed. We still have the books.

If you need some ideas to read to your kids, the Arthur series and Little Critter are two of my favorites. For more on Brown’s visit to Erie, read Sean McCracken’s story here.