Welcome back measles, pertussis, varicella! Hey, polio! What’s new, meningococcus? Say their names. Fun fact: Measles requires over 95% immunity to not propagate. Morbidity and mortality are not confined by state borders. Thanks anyway, anti-Hippocratic Joseph Ladapo and lawyer-playing-mad-doctor RFK Jr.; epidemiology cannot be Sharpied away. Stay vigilant and take care of one another. Mia MariettaGorham

As a small-time musician, I have little place in the conversation, but I must express that I am disturbed by the pattern I am sensing. The killing of Charlie Kirk in Utah has led to condolences, thoughts and prayers from politicians in Maine, far beyond any for the victims of recent atrocities or tragedies that […]

A friend and I recently drove to Mackworth Island to see “Deep Blue Sound,” a play about islanders grappling with a sea change — the absence of whales that had always returned, until they didn’t.  Although written about Puget Sound and its orcas, the play felt at home on an island off our shore, in […]

Americans like me, who are paying attention to the atrocities being perpetrated against the Palestinian people, are outraged and ashamed over our government’s continued support and funding of this genocide. According to a television report from Israel’s Channel 12, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said that President Trump is fully […]

I was shocked and disgusted to read the lead article in the Sept. 12 Portland Press Herald on the murder of Charlie Kirk. While it warranted major coverage, you chose to take an almost positive spin on it, noting how young conservatives in Maine admired him for his views. Charlie Kirk spouted many reprehensible views […]

I’m fascinated by the appointment of young Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head of the medical directorship of the country. Surely everyone should save a great deal of money on health care by finding and applying some: “Eye of newt, and toe of frog,Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,Lizard’s leg, […]

I believe that we need voter ID in our state. We need to show identification for any bank transaction, to obtain a driver’s license, for travel, and sometimes even to get an account at a local water district. Why wouldn’t we want to have identification as a normal part of voting — this most important […]

Republicans promised Americans that Donald Trump was the next best thing to sliced bread. Why does he seem to be more like limburger cheese gone bad? Where did he promise that he would operate the U.S. government as he did Trump Inc.? He is no longer the actor playing the kingpin on “The Apprentice,” theatrically […]