In October of 2022, national and international media reported that graduate students at the University of Southern Maine walked out of my class and demanded that I be replaced as their instructor because I stated that there are “two sexes with variation.” Three separate investigations into my conduct that day were initiated by a student […]

I was sitting in a coffee shop yesterday when a couple with two young children came in to warm up. They placed their order and sat near me. Suddenly, there was a piercing shriek from the boy, who was probably 5 or 6 years old. There was nothing apparent to cause this outburst, which ended […]

Can a president-elect simply speak a new federal agency into being? President-elect Trump apparently, like a dictator, believes he can, and that agency is the Department of Government Efficiency. No president can simply do this, but if anyone has said so to Trump he apparently isn’t listening. He’s had these flights of fancy before. Calling […]

I concur with Dr. Sarah Alvarez regarding the superior care one receives from a direct primary care practice (“More Mainers should consider direct primary care,” Dec. 30). For a time, I was a direct primary care patient and insured through Taro. I enjoyed the easy access and relationship with my doctor. However, I turned 65 […]

An old woman who lives in the West End Sees neighborhood walks as a godsend. But when ice isn’t cleared With bad falls to be feared, She cusses neighbors to no end. Neighbors, let’s please do our civic duty and keep us all safe. Happy New Year. Kate Reilly Portland

The juxtaposition of two local guest columnists (Stephen Heinz of Cumberland Foreside and Laura Fralich of New Gloucester) in the Dec. 29 Opinion section couldn’t have been better. The Heinz piece first: “Are we just talking to ourselves in these pages?,” followed by Fralich’s “Do not give up on your neighbors,” gave well-written responses for […]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Donald Trump roundly criticized China for all of its real or apparent misdeeds, and his outrageous campaign statement was to impose tariffs on China. His alter ego, Elon Musk, must not have been listening to the president-elect spouting his wrath toward China. Musk, […]

A recent letter expressed anger about the Christmas/holiday “problem” (“Happy holidays? Bah humbug!” Dec. 19). In 1964, in my segregated Virginia high school, I wrote a paper about American holidays, using mostly one small library book. I learned that early Christians chose Dec. 25 since there was already a pagan (meaning non-Christian) holiday called Saturnalia […]