Well here we go again, another November and several more citizen initiated referendum questions on the ballot; one specifically aimed for York County. While I understand that Maine citizens have the constitutional right to partition their government in order to address certain issues, concerns or even to repeal a law instituted by the Legislature, the […]

This past summer I was invited to teach literary interpretation and academic writing at a small Reformed-Christian seminary outside of Seoul, South Korea. At the close of two intense weeks of instruction, which consisted of six hours of lectures and discussion each day, I was ready to decompress. My hosts recommended that I visit the […]

Editor, I am writing a reply to your Sept. 28, 2017 column in the JT Beacon.  I know it was meant to be funny; but I found it to be disturbing.  I have a cat and I have a bird feeder in the yard.  I love my cat and I love the birds. I adopted […]

It’s no secret; technology is changing the way we do things. I don’t trust myself to get dressed in the morning before checking my weather apps (I have three). And I’m not sure how I survived prior to having the find my family app at my fingertips. But retailers are attempting to influence us in […]

Is the traditional college doomed? More and more people think so. Massively open online courses are threatening to shake up higher education by bringing primarily non-credit courses from college professors to the world at no cost. The California state senate, however, has passed a bill to encourage its universities to develop MOOCs and other online […]

On Election Day, Maine holds a popular vote on whether to expand Medicaid. No other state has done that. The expansion would cover an estimated 70,000 people who don’t have health insurance. The decision embodies two key elements of most government actions: there’s no free lunch and nothing is decided once and for all. After […]

I was young when I first heard the phrase “The clothes make the man.” Even then, as a kid, I didn’t buy it. The man makes the man, I thought; the clothes merely prevent him from being naked. Clearly not everyone shares this opinion. My workplace has an extremely lax dress code — the only […]

Well here we go again, another November and several more citizen initiated referendum questions on the ballot; one specifically aimed for York County. While I understand that Maine citizens have the constitutional right to petition their government in order to address certain issues, concerns or even to repeal a law instituted by the Legislature, the […]