Politics & Other Mistakes: Plate tectonics
Maine has a long history of ugly license plates. Who can forget the ill-considered potato plate (is that a turd?), the supposedly humorous black...
Politics & Other Mistakes: Discrimination report card
It’s Black History Month, time to assess how much racism Maine has been spewing out lately.
The answer: quite a bit, which seems to be...
The Universal Notebook: Talk to the dead
My father would have been 99 on February 10 had he not died four days short of his 90th birthday back in 2014. My...
Letter: A fan letter to Edgar Allen Beem
I loved Ed Beem's column in the Feb. 8, 2023 edition (titled "Phone-free driving"]. Thank you. I needed that; could have written it....
The Universal Notebook: Too late for gun control
In the first few weeks of 2023, some 69 people were killed in 39 separate mass shootings in this country. The shooters were ages...
Unpacking the Sausage: Share this with someone you want to know better
This is for Hayleigh, and Will, and Kari, and everyone else I wish I hadn’t left on “read.”
Isolation is the worst self-fulfilling prophecy.
Something drives...
Politics & Other Mistakes: Bad bet
So far, Maine hasn’t required consenting adults to obtain a license to have sex. But it’s only a matter of time before some enterprising...
Letter: In praise of the Phoenix and Ladd
Thank you for the Phoenix, I make a point of picking it up and reading it every week. While I subscribe to the Press...
The Universal Notebook: Phone-free driving
Hard to believe that I was 50 years old before I got a mobile phone. For 50 years I managed to survive without a...
Politics & Other Mistakes: Referendum revulsion
Nothing’s better for democracy than misusing it to ask voters to make decisions on complex issues they don’t know squat about. That’s how the...