Archive for ‘Opinion’

  • What Does Love Look Like?

    By Susan Meeker-Lowry My earliest memories, dating back to when I was a toddler, took place outdoors, mostly in the woods, often next to a stream or river so crystal clear every rock and pebble were visible. I even remember drinking from these waters with my father’s blessing. My whole family went camping quite frequently, […]

  • Pushing buttons in the dark

    I hate my watch. I just bought it, and I hate it. I knew I’d hate it when I bought it because it’s the same watch that I had for the last three years and I hated it the whole time; but I lost the first one coming out of the shower recently, so I […]

  • Red-bellied visitor

    On chilly winter days, we find ourselves watching our bird feeders more than usual, but we have not yet tired of seeing our favorite regular visitors. A busy flock of more than forty goldfinches dominates the scene most of the time. Half a dozen of them hold onto the feeder, lounging on the little perches […]

  • Black ice at the morning rush

    It was the pickup truck time of morning. Winter sun barely pinking in the low east. The air raw. Men in flannel shirts and work boots poking along in the gloom, sipping coffee, already thinking about the far end of the day. In the beds of their trucks: tools and ladders and tarps and lumber […]

  • Education reform vital to Maine’s economic growth

    By Rep. Mike McClellan I recently participated in the Maine Development Foundation’s bus tour for state legislators, which brought us to several businesses, large and small, to hear the concerns of Maine’s entrepreneurs and innovators. One of the themes I heard consistently was that our education system is not effectively preparing our students for the […]

  • Winter Bird Watching

    An intrepid group of about 20 birders went out to do the annual Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 28. Mid-winter is a challenging time to look for birds in Maine, and all fall, folks around here had commented on the scarcity of feathered visitors, especially at feeders. We suspected that mild weather had allowed birds […]

  • Towards a Bi-Partisan Budget

    Deliberations on closing the hole in the Department of Health and Human Services budget are at a critical juncture right now. In order for any piece of legislation to go into effect immediately, including budget votes, it needs a vote of two-thirds in both bodies of the legislature. If it only receives a majority, then […]

  • Increasing World Population: More Human Misery and Animal Cruelty

    By Kenneth Roy This coming spring readies itself for the annual seal hunt in Newfoundland, Canada. This despicable event only serves to satisfy human vanity. Last year’s hunt killed 37,609 seals including 1,700 ragged jackets (molting seals under three weeks old). Each year, thousands of seals are clubbed and shot to death in Canada for […]

  • Buttons, levers and cranks, oh my!

    From his bed in the old family farmhouse on the eastern shore of the Hudson River, my great, great, grandfather (G3) rose before dawn each morning to tend his fields and orchards and care for his livestock. His was honest work, sweat-of-the-brow work, muscle and sinew work, work that muddied the boots and tore the […]

  • Looking for DHHS funding solution

    For the last few weeks, I have mentioned that the legislature has been told that we have to make cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), but that we have not gotten a clear idea of the real numbers that make these cuts necessary. Over this last week, we finally have some […]