Ida Ayres never served a day in the armed forces, but at 95, she knows plenty about the sacrifices of war. “Through six wars, I have been the daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother of family members who served, or are serving, their country,” Ida told me. During World War I, Ida’s father, Sam DiRenna, […]

“How dare you attack the physical appearance of another person,” fumed Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, after GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized the appearance of another female House committee member. Greene’s statement might have had racial overtones. Greene had lashed out against a colleague’s eyelashes and Ocasio-Cortez’s retort, dissing Greene’s figure, both crossed a “redline” […]

Across much of North America, May is a great time to start an outdoor vegetable garden. Soil temperatures have warmed up enough to allow seeds to germinate outside, and the danger of frost has passed. One of the joys (and frustrations) of gardening is that there’s always something new to learn. Every year, you’ll face […]

Every month, Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program publishes its “Top 5”: a list of the current five most-requested items in the food pantry. Although the items vary over the course of the year, there are some familiar mainstays: canned soup or stew, peanut butter, dried pasta. Our community members and donors have said across the […]

A lot of new-age, feel-good gurus are telling us these days that if we want to feel good (or feel anything at all) all we have to do is to “act as if.” In other words, if, for example, we’ve just heard that a gargantuan many tentacled parasite hairball gacked up by a passing canine […]