Grief can take a great many forms. It can be a wordless cry or a heavy silence. Grief is a human, sometimes ugly thing. It is uncomfortable and, in the course of our lives, unavoidable. In the Jewish tradition, families who are grieving a loved one sit Shiva — removing themselves for a time from […]

Well, well, well… look at what’s transpired in Trump World over the past few days. Two of Donald Trump’s most ardent defenders have decided to switch teams and testify against the former president. Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro have agreed to take last-minute plea deals, turn state’s evidence, and testify against their former boss. Chesebro […]

THE CONVERSATION — Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, two people charged in Georgia with racketeering and other crimes alongside former President Donald Trump, have accepted plea deals that let them avoid the jail time their original charges could have imposed. In exchange, they each agreed to provide testimony in the case. The Conversation U.S. asked Cynthia Alkon, a law professor […]

THE CONVERSATION — The 2.2 million people who live in Gaza are facing economic isolation and experiencing incessant bombardment. Their supplies of essential resources, including food and water, are quickly dwindling. In response, U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged US$100 million in humanitarian assistance for the citizens of Gaza. As a scholar of peace and conflict economics who served as a World […]

“This may be the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades,” says a top U.S. banker. American constitutional government halts, blocked by the failure of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives to compromise and resume their role in government. The process of government becomes hostage to a small group of extreme […]

Are these people insecure or something? Did they suffer from some sort of childhood thing? You know who I mean — the word snobs. Word snobs are people who dearly love to partake in what is a normal exchange of ideas and conversations among friends or colleagues and to then deliberately drop in a word […]

A number of years ago, when a group of us were trying to envision and plan for what would become The Gathering Place (TGP), one of the goals that we set forth was that it should be a community. Everyone who participated would feel and, in fact, have ownership of it. We did not want […]

We have the opportunity on Nov. 7 to replace the state’s two profit-driven, investor-owned utilities with Pine Tree Power, a nonprofit utility owned by us, the consumers, not wealthy shareholders. By voting ‘yes’ on Question 3, we will not only ensure better rates for all Mainers and fewer outages, but we will also ensure that […]

If you’re driving west on River Road toward Durham, look carefully to your right just beyond the overpass and you might see a small white fence. If you get out of your car and get up close, you’ll see a sign at the top of that fence that reads, “Hartwell & Little Yard Cemetery.” A […]