An article about Lisbon, Portugal, in the Aug. 17 New York Magazine made me think about Maine in general and Portland in particular. It seems that between one-third and one-half of working class housing in some parts of Lisbon have been converted to hostels, hotels and Airbnbs, driving local people out of the city. Sound […]
American Journal Opinion
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Maine could be a country
We were sitting outside the snack shack at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Harbor last week when my mother, a resident of the smallest state in the Union, said something we’ll both long remember: “Maine could be a country,” the keen observer from Rhode Island said as we chomped on an oatmeal cookie […]
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Posted inAmerican Journal
Letter: Make well, not war
John Balentine says “…Trump fittingly invoked a wartime analogy.” (“Rise from your foxholes, teachers,” Aug. 13) Secretary of Defense Mattis asserted that defunded State Department diplomacy would mean he’d need more ammo, his way of urging peace as preferable to war. But let’s employ Balentine’s war metaphor. How’s that Commander-in-Chief doing? In eight months, American […]
Posted inAmerican Journal
Letter: Brenner willing to do the hard work as state senator
I first heard of Stacy Brenner through her work with Maine Farmland Trust and Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Organization. I have since then learned more about her through her work in the community with local schools and hosting summer camps. When the pandemic hit, she stepped up and returned to nursing to pitch in, […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Pandemic pet peeves, part II
This week’s Here’s Something continues a three-part series concerning pet peeves inspired by life during the coronavirus. Without further adieu, let’s get to it: It’s severely frustrating, five months into this outbreak, that we don’t even know where this new coronavirus originated. Was it from the “wet markets” in Wuhan, or was it deliberately or […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion
The Universal Notebook: Veterans for Trump?
A few weeks back I saw a car at an ice cream stand with a Go Army sticker and a Trump-Pence sticker. I wanted to ask the driver how anyone in the military could support a draft dodger like Trump, but I didn’t want to disrespect the elderly vet. How any active duty military or […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: America needs a sabbatical
In my Aug. 4 column, I urged that schools remain closed until the coronavirus pandemic is over. Teachers shouldn’t have to risk their lives and parents shouldn’t be caught between worries about the health of their children and the need to get back to work. But if your primary interest in education is child care, […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Pandemic pet peeves, part I
To say the COVID-19 outbreak has negatively impacted the general populace would be an understatement of gigantic proportions. Just recently we heard from the Centers for Disease Control that a full quarter of young people ages 18-24 have considered suicide in the past month. Mental health in all sectors of the populace is suffering, according […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Rise from your foxholes, teachers
There are three kinds of employees in these pandemic times: essential workers, nonessential workers and those stuck in between. Workers considered essential by the government include nurses, grocery store employees, delivery drivers, first responders and others who are needed onsite for the operation of life-sustaining sectors of the economy. They have been going to work […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: Being and nothingness
The recent hot spell may partly explain why I find myself in such a listless state of mind lately. I was going to write about some pressing issue of the day, such as whether the United States can recover from another four years of Donald Trump (A: Not in my lifetime.), but that will have […]