Who in America Is Bowling Alone?

SOMERSET, Pennsylvania — When you walk into the Terrace Lanes bowling alley on Pennsylvania State Road 31, the first thing you will see is Althea Shaw’s broad smile. Her warm greeting has a way of making customers, both regulars and first-timers, feel as though they belong.

“The Sleek Family opened up their doors in November of 1995,” Shaw told me. “I started exactly one year later, and I have been here ever since. As far as I am concerned, it is the best job I could ever hope for. I get to meet new people all the time, see regulars almost every day, and a lot of the regulars started here with their parents when they were just 3 years old.“It was noon on New Year’s Eve, and Terrace Lanes was filling up quickly. There were several local families who piled in with their small children, followed by a group of teenagers and the …