Meet Your Favorite Freelance Writer for 2023:
Jon Fassnacht
Penning mainly features for Berks County Living, writer Jon Fassnacht certainly does it with flair. Get to know your Favorite Freelance Writer for 2023 a bit better, here.
Q: How did you get your start with Berks County Living? When was that?
In between jobs in March 2022, I needed something to keep me busy. My wife had a relationship with Berks County Living through her position at the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance. She reached out to see if there was any freelance work available. Thankfully, there was, and I started writing for the magazine. Soon after that, I began working for Alvernia University’s marketing and communications department. My new bosses were kind enough to allow me to continue writing for BCL on the side. I love to write, and I don’t get to do that much of it at my full-time gig, so this provides a nice balance.
Q: What kind of writing have you done for the magazine?
I write features that often incorporate multiple smaller stories, profiling people or businesses in the area. For example, I recently wrote a piece on three Berks residents who made big career changes, finding success in their new ventures.
Q: What is your favorite story you’ve written and why?
It’s hard to choose a favorite. I’ve loved talking to dozens of amazing people in the area and chronicling their experiences. But two features have stood out for me. My March 2023 Health Heroes piece profiled three Berks residents who persevered through almost unfathomable amounts of mental and physical pain, dealing with it in a productive manner that benefited the greater good. A beloved philanthropist is alive today because a longtime family friend donated TWO of his organs. A woman who lost her son 30 minutes after welcoming him into the world funneled her grief into starting a foundation that assists others experiencing what she went through. Now she’s the happy mother of a healthy girl. It was an honor to write those stories. I hope I did them justice.
And my August 2023 spotlight on Keith Haring’s enduring legacy in Berks was aided by three fascinating interviews. I spoke to the founder of the New Arts Program who mentored Haring when he was a shy high school student in the ’70s, and the former Kutztown mayor who almost single-handedly brought the Keith Haring Fitness Court to Kutztown University’s campus, a few blocks from where he grew up. It also allowed me to reconnect with longtime Reading Eagle co-worker and friend George Hatza, the Eagle’s entertainment editor for many decades. Like Haring, George shuttled back and forth between Berks County and New York City in the 1980s, and his perspective, which felt almost tailor-made for the subject matter, tied the story together even better than I had hoped.
Q: What do you enjoy in your free time?
Spending time with my wife, Leah, and my 7-year-old daughter, Blake, tops the list. They make me a better person. I’m a fitness nut, frequently at the gym, riding my bike, or running. I also love to compete in races and came in first overall in one of them for the first time earlier this year. I’m a huge music fan — I don’t have one favorite artist; I might be able to narrow my favorites down to 20 — and a bookworm. We love to travel, though we haven’t been able to do as much of it since Blake came into our lives. And though I’ve cut way back on the amount of live sports I watch, I still follow the Philadelphia teams, especially the Eagles.
Q: Anything you’d like to say to those who voted for you?
There’s no accounting for taste, I guess. In all seriousness, any recognition is always much appreciated. It makes me even more excited to continue to tell the stories of Berks Countians.
