I’m thinking about autumn. I’m thinking about how the leaves paint and brighten the sky, how foliage rainbows reign everywhere, in the azure blue above, in the yellows and oranges, in the burning-bush reds, and how, as poet Mary Oliver wrote, “Look, the trees are turning their own bodies into pillars of light, are giving […]
Lakes Region opinion
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Mainewhile: Cultural perspectives deepen our connections
Recently in our home we’ve had a lot of conversations about culture and our identity within it. As a nation, we seem to be neck deep in this question: Who are we really? Can we hold on to the truths we once deemed self-evident and do the hard work to bring those into being? Or […]
advertisement
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Life Unwound: Out of the mouths of babes comes love and acceptance
I know some kids who know some things. I know kids who have not forgotten their in-born innocence, boys who play with dolls and girls who rule their own lives. I know a 9-year-old who played while her dad was at work. When dad came home, he high-fived her and said, “You were awesome today.” […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Mainewhile: School crisis merits deployment of National Guard
This past winter, as our hospitals began to buckle under the strain of COVID, Gov. Janet Mills took a bold step and activated the National Guard to help. Guard members were deployed to hospitals across the state, temporarily taking over nonmedical duties to allow medical staff to focus their efforts, ensuring that communities continued to […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Life Unwound: Having a happy birthday is all about perspective as you age
My granddaughter exclaimed, “It’s February, my birthday month. I’ll be 7! I can’t WAIT to be older!” Me? “March, ugh, my birthday month!” What a difference! I notice more gray sprouts at the temples, more wrinkles, more age spots on my hands. The effect of longtime living in gravity takes its toll; my flesh sags […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: BLM should learn to be more like MLK
Martin Luther King Jr., a reverend who charted a colorblind approach to racial injustice, was a man of honor. Read his famous speeches and you will be in absolute awe. Oh, how we need a King now. He’d set race-baiters everywhere straight. He’d tell them to love their fellow, flawed human beings as individuals, not […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Mainewhile: Goldfish experiment is food for thought
I had planned to write this week about the new guidance on masks and the omicron variant. I think it is positively astounding how fast scientific research is moving and tracking the virus as it morphs and changes – and knowledge is power, right? Given that the data is pretty clear that this variant requires […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Life Unwound: Poetry helps balance the meter of life
The first time I heard the word plethora, I sat in a teacher-development intensive course to practice stress reduction for my life passages, body aches and pains, aging, the slings and arrows the universe sends us all. I had completed years of study to learn to help others do the same. Our teachers talked about […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Life Unwound: Autopilot default prevents us from staying present
I walked into the funeral chapel at 4 o’clock to visit before the service at 5 for a longtime friend, Mary. I saw bright bouquets with heartfelt notes lining the walls. I felt the touch of Mary’s son Tim’s hug. The scent of lilies filled the room. I heard the family greet friends, some saying […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Post-pandemic depression rears its ugly head
When I was younger, my aunt suffered postpartum depression, a condition new mothers may battle that, according to Webster’s, is “a mood disorder involving intense psychological depression that typically occurs within one month after giving birth, lasts more than two weeks, and is accompanied by other symptoms such as social withdrawal, difficulty in bonding with […]