My goal this Christmas season is to watch as many movie versions of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” as possible. As with most of my aspirations, I’m lagging far behind. So far, I’ve only seen two – the one with Patrick Stewart as Scrooge, as well as the 1984 classic with George C. Scott. It’s […]
Lakes Region Weekly opinion
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Golden age of home delivery is now
We are living in the golden age of home delivery. This time of year especially, delivery trucks are frequent visitors to our neighborhoods, delivering those Christmas shopping deals for online buyers. These modern-day Santa’s helpers include perennial delivery stalwarts: Big Brown, as the United Parcel Service is affectionately called, FedEx and the granddaddy of all […]
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Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Universal Notebook: Just another snow job
Trump supporters like to call liberals “snowflakes,” suggesting that we are too sensitive and fragile. We in turn call them “deplorables,” because they are so callous and insensitive. As the first snow fell last week, I was reminded that there really are a lot of snowflakes in Maine, by which I mean people too young […]
Posted inLakes Region Weekly
Letter: Balentine needs better schooling on Thanksgiving, socialism
“White man speaks with forked tongue,” Chief Joseph Thanksgiving! What a perfect time to extol the wonders of capitalism (avarice, envy, greed and gluttony) and to castigate the horrors of socialism (a system in which the production of goods and services is a shared responsibility of a group of people). Mr. Balentine’s rosy picture of […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Help Gov. Janet save the planet
Gov. Janet Mills is going to need Mainers’ help if she is to achieve her plan to make Maine carbon neutral by 2045. It’s time to think big because we have only nine years, maybe 12, to reverse the curse of global warming. It’s time to not only think drastically but act that way, too. […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: Enjoying the collective unconscious
With any luck, this will be the last column based on my recent illness. As I look back over six months of hospitalization, operations and complications, what I find most interesting is the time I spent unconscious. The mind plays tricks on us. When Carolyn drove me to the hospital in Brunswick, I remember driving […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Life Unwound: Balancing grief and gratitude
People in my town leave the scenes of accidents. Neighbors in the nearest city fight over shelter sites. The opioid epidemic grows statewide. Mass shootings sweep the country. Climate despair goes global. Countries compete in the space race. When I expand outwardly from here to there, this to that, often I see only the mess […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: Making nice with ICE
Last weekend I had dinner at an oyster bar in Burlington, Massachusetts. As we walked across the parking lot, we could see a crowd of people down the street. When we were seated, I asked our server what was going on. “Oh, it’s probably a protest,” she told me. “There’s an ICE office just down […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Remembering Pilgrim pride, part II
As we gather with family and friends this week giving thanks to God for the abundance we enjoy, Thanksgiving is also a chance to remember the foundations of American civilization. The Pilgrims, who have taken on mythic proportions almost four centuries after landing in Plymouth, came to the New World from England to find religious […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: Impeachment, past and present
Yes, yes, I know I promised not to write about our sorry excuse for a president until he is removed from office, but I look at this as a column about impeachment, not about he who must be impeached. The country is pretty evenly split on impeachment with a slight majority (51%) favoring an inquiry […]