June is here. In Maine, that usually means days at camp, visits to the beach, hikes, bonfires and lobster dinners. This year, June also means a new stage in the state’s reopening plan. With a pandemic going on around us, it’s hard to know exactly how to act or how to spend our time, but […]
Forecaster opinion
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Mainewhile: White Mainers have a lot of work to do
The “centuries-old pandemic,” as I have heard racism described, is killing us. All of us. I had decided to use my column this week to give space, not to my thoughts, but to the words of people of color who are acting in the now because in working with the Wabanaki communities, I learned that […]
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Posted inForecaster Opinion
Here’s Something: Protesters wrong to call for Jennings’ ouster
Protests calling for change in how Maine and other states police the black community took a surprising and disturbing turn last week as protesters in Portland turned their ire toward the widely respected city manager. Portland Mayor Kate Snyder and other members of the Portland City Council came to the defense of City Manager Jon […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
The Universal Notebook: Who was that unmasked man?
This pandemic is twisting us all into ethical knots, one of the knottiest of which is whether and when to wear a face mask. Masks have come to symbolize the partisan divide in this sick society of ours. One day last week, I stood in line at Home Depot in Topsham. The majority of the […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Over Easy: Virtual graduation speech to the virtual class of 2020
Dear graduates, You will be the first graduating into a world of face masks and gloves and the end of trust between the government and the people. Off to a good start, you may think. And I hate to be the one to pull your face mask off, but here’s the real scoop: None of […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
The Universal Notebook: Play ball!
Among the things I miss most because of the pandemic is baseball. It’s June. I should be watching high school, college, minor league and major league baseball live and in person, but instead I am watching World Series reruns and the Korean Baseball Organization playing in empty ballparks. Baseball is my favorite sport. I wasn’t […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Here’s Something: It was the best, worst of weekends
Thank goodness the SpaceX Dragon capsule made it safely off the ground to successfully dock with the International Space Station last weekend. If not for that monumental achievement, the weekend would have been one of the most tragic and depressing in American history. Similar to the opening line of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Life Unwound: We all need scaffolding
When my grandchildren arrived, they began a fort-creating project from the stockpiles of forest debris. The 9-year-old twins, Walker and Taylor, started a teepee-ish design and dug deep for scaffolding: “We need a long bough to stand up for the roof.” Five-year-old Brooke balanced gray stones for decoration in tiny corners. Almost-8-year-old Lawson lugged huge […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: Conspiracies ‘R’ US
The appeal of conspiracy theories is that they allow frightened people to dismiss unpleasant realities and weak people to feel superior, as in they know the real story. Lately, the same tinfoil hat brigade that peddled the evil idea that the Newtown school massacre didn’t really happen has been pushing a couple of other malevolent […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Pandemic worth writing poems about
We’re all having trouble coping with the health and economic ramifications of the coronavirus, but some are having more difficulty than others. Of course, there are the folks getting sick and dying. At last count in Maine there were about 75 people who have succumbed and about 1,900 who have contracted the disease. Then there […]