Many thanks to Edith Wacksman for her Sept. 11 letter, “I don’t feel myself to be ‘from away.” My family has been in Maine since the 1700s and when I first moved back to Maine in 1976, after college and my first job, I loudly bragged about my native status. However, I soon realized how […]

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, countless articles have been written about him. Most simply mention he was a conservative activist, as if he advocated for traditional conservative principles like small government or individual liberties.  What’s often left out are his actual words, perhaps because they aren’t suitable to print. About Black people he […]

Learning more about the idea of blue states uniting to support each other, if they were to financially secede from the federal government, has been fascinating.  A so-called “soft secession.” Canada annexing Maine for its 11th province was definitely an attractive idea, albeit remote, after the 2024 election. But I was recently reminded that blue states […]

The GOP has recognized that education poses a challenge to its agenda. In response, it has appointed figures like Linda McMahon, known for her background in the World Wrestling Federation, as secretary of education. Funding for public schools has been systematically reduced. At the same time, sympathetic courts have facilitated the redirection of public resources […]

I’m old enough to remember, during the Second World War in Brunswick, Maine (where I’ve lived all my life), everybody from the right and the left joined together as one fighting fascists and Nazis — not to mention the Japanese. I have had relatives who served with Joshua Chamberlain in the Civil War. They also […]

I was appalled at Sunday’s headline about MaineCare (“As it grew, MaineCare became a breaker of budgets“). Saying it’s health care that is breaking the budget is saying that health care is not a priority for the people of Maine. People will die. Health care is a priority, and we need to reframe how we […]