This is for real: Rupert Murdoch will soon launch a new platform, Fox Weather. Wrap your head around that one. Brian Wieser, a prominent media analyst, said it best the other day: “How do you address the fact that weather changes are caused to some degree by humans when you have a media property with […]

May 25, 2013: Bowdoin College Commencement. Rai Miller, a psychology major/sociology minor from Birmingham, Alabama, gave an inspiring speech entitled, “Rising from Fear: The Unyielding Power of Self Belief.” She spoke first about her mother’s unwavering belief in her and her brother. Rai then admitted that her own confidence had been shaken during her early […]

“Shared values.” We hear them mentioned by leaders trying to find common ground despite deep political divisions. It’s a nice thought, but it lacks an explanation of just what those values are. Of course, everybody reveres the Constitution, though we cannot agree on what many parts of it mean. The most important message may be […]

Reject the CMP corridor In 2018, while guiding a commercial raft down the Kennebec River, I first learned of CMP’s proposed transmission corridor. At a later NECEC informational session, we were essentially told the CMP corridor was a done deal. Since that time, our goal was to educate the public on the negative impacts of […]

It’s been a tumultuous year. If one thing has become clear during this global pandemic, it’s that keeping the economy, education, healthcare, and community support systems in motion has hinged on our ability to connect to fast, reliable internet. Internet connectivity should be seen as an essential service, and all people should be empowered to […]

Oasis Free Clinics is a non-profit, no-cost primary care medical practice and dental clinic, providing exceptional, patient-centered care to uninsured members of our community. At Oasis, we often talk about the compassionate and respectful care that our volunteers and staff provide to our patients. One area we infrequently discuss is the quality of care our […]

Good-faith disagreements are a normal part of society and building strong relationships. Yet it’s difficult to engage in good-faith disagreements on the internet, and people reach less common ground online compared with face-to-face disagreements. There’s no shortage of research about the psychology of arguing online, from text versus voice to how anyone can become a […]