The Universal Notebook: How things have changed
Legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes is just the latest sign that America is becoming more liberal every day. Smoking pot is one of the...
The Art of Healing: An introduction
I grew up as an avid reader, writer, and wannabe ballerina. My favorite element to evoke was a “hauntingly beautiful” feeling. I saw “hauntingly...
The Universal Notebook: ‘A reasonable police officer’
Last week a jury in Minneapolis unanimously found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of murdering George Floyd, a Black man suspected of passing...
Politics & Other Mistakes: Break up the blob
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (motto: Not Particularly Healthy and Nobody is Too Sure About the Human Part, Either) is a...
The Universal Notebook: Charter schools are public schools
There is a liberal bias against charter schools that I once shared and no longer do. LD 604, An Act to Promote Accountability in...
Politics & Other Mistakes: Old and in the way
It was November 1994, and I was standing outside a polling place in southern Maine interviewing folks as they prepared to cast their ballots...
A View from the Hill: See a gull? Give it a break
I once hired a young reporter who turned out to have studied ornithology.
Whenever a fellow reporter would write “seagull” in a story — we...
Our Viewpoint: Primary importance
A third of Maine voters are shut out of an important part of Maine’s election process because they are not registered in a political...
Politics & Other Mistakes: Assorted anomalies
Maine’s lame excuse for spring has arrived. Time to clean the fungus out of my in-box.
Cinematic tax breaks
There are a few things on which...
The Universal Notebook: What does it mean to be non-essential?
As the worst of the pandemic quarantines and lockdowns begin to fade in the rearview mirror, millions of Americans must be asking themselves what...