My Turn: Growing pains

By JOANNA BUONICONTI

 I felt tears pricking my eyes. “We’re just talking in circles now,” he said, as he got up from the sofa to leave.I’d been crying a lot the past week and a half after the first guy I had ever seriously dated got a job offer that he needed — a job...

From Global to Local: Women to the fore with moral vision

By H. PATRICIA HYNES

Pick up any liberal U.S. newspaper today and there are reams of columns speculating on the fate of our country. What will happen and how quickly to our country with Donald Trump as president and a cabinet of billionaires as they destroy an already...

Jeremy Williams: Embracing love, gratitude and inclusion

What keeps my positive spirits alive every day are the spirits around me. Surrounding myself with like-minded entities really uplifts my energy levels. Having much gratitude for what I do have keeps me grounded for anything that comes my way.When we...

Pamela Lerch: Apartment building limitations important

I want to thank Greenfield City Councilor Wahab Minhas for asking the City Council to reconsider its vote on Dec. 18 to remove the limit on the number of apartments in multifamily buildings.I would hate to see Greenfield try to emulate the residential...

Walt Gorman: Enjoyed holiday My Turn

I very much enjoyed the Dec. 21 My Turn by Gill resident Gary Bourbeau (“Trashing thru the snow, as MAGA rules the day”). But another letter writer didn’t find it funny. In fact, he called it “MAGA hate and intolerance” and “devoid of any moral...

Columnist Daniel Cantor Yalowitz: Praise be given to … and for …

By DANIEL CANTOR YALOWITZ

We’ve said our goodbye’s to 2024, a year many couldn’t wait to see end. And still, many are dreading the anticipation of the year ahead. I’d like to put both on temporary hold in order to offer gratitude for a few local events and people whose...

My Turn: Killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO sparked long-overdue dialogue about greed. We need to keep talking.

By SARENA NEYMAN

Call him a hero or villain, but the man who killed the United Healthcare CEO struck a nerve, exposing a deep rage shared by many Americans across the political spectrum — an anger at an industry that earns obscene profits from the suffering of others....

Jon Hochschartner: Public funding needed for cultivated meat production

As the U.S. Department of Agriculture mandates testing of milk for bird flu, our political leaders should support increased public funding for cultivated-meat research. For those who don’t know, cultivated meat is grown from livestock cells, without...

Don Ogden: No way for Kittredge Estate

The recent column “Forward is the right way for Kittredge Estate” [Recorder, Dec. 16] could be re-titled “Deception is the wrong way for Kittredge Estate.” Writer Joshua Wallack claimed, “we received hundreds of DMs and emails of [Leverett] residents...

The World Keeps Turning: Has ‘big insurance’ declared war on unhealthy Americans?

By ALLEN WOODS

No one except the most extreme political or religious fanatics encourages or embraces murder. Its prohibition is a bedrock value in every society and stated explicitly in laws, and religious and moral teachings.But, of course, there are exceptions....

Judith Truesdell: What’s historical about the Zion Korean Church?

The Dec. 11 Recorder reported that the Historical Commission, under Greenfield’s demolition-delay ordinance, was going to delay demolition of the former Zion Korean Church because the church, which is now owned by the YMCA, was historically...

Chris Ethier: New zoning rules harm taxpayers

Why are Greenfield’s zoning rules being rewritten to benefit developers at the expense of the taxpayers? This is happening now! The newly proposed Stone Farm lane development includes 24 condo units followed by 20 one- and two-family homes. The family...

Dan Allie: Westfield opposes placing lithium storage battery facility over aquifer

The Westfield City Council passed a resolution opposing the Mass. Department of Public Utilities exempting a proposed lithium battery storage facility from the city’s Water Protection District zoning ordinance, and placing 219 stand-alone containers...

Alden Booth: Holiday piece lacked tolerance, sensitivity

I’m responding to a recent My Turn by my fellow Gill resident, Gary Bourbeau. The writer is the minister of the church in our town common and I assume he considers himself a civic leader of sorts and a Christian. The piece that he submitted to the...

Daniel Popowich: Holiday piece not worthy of publication

I was a longtime Franklin County resident and, while living there, a Recorder subscriber. Though I now live out of state, the Pioneer Valley is near and dear to my heart and a feeling of “home” comes over me on my frequent visits to western...

Be Ferrante: Condo development will ruin neighborhood

My husband and I live in a neighborhood against Rocky Mountain Park in Greenfield. The main road going through is Stone Farm Lane. Private property at the end was sadly sold this past summer to Valley Community Land Trust. They have leased over 7...

My Turn: Systemic racism and our collective humanity

By AMHAD ESFAHANI

 Earlier this year, at a gathering near the coast, I met a photographer who had recently spent some time documenting first-hand the ongoing Palestinian conflict. In our conversation, he asked me, “what can be done to help heal the intergenerational...

Leo Ojala: Jimmy Carter

He didn’t lie to the American people.Leo OjalaShelburne

Sherrill Hogen: War machine over homes — Time to reorder our priorities?

Is it any wonder that homelessness, in the richest country in the world, grew by 18% this year, according to a Dec. 28 AP story in the Recorder? And that’s on top of last year’s 12% increase.The U.S. is not in the business of building affordable...

My Turn: Abortion pills are here to stay

By CARRIE N. BAKER

In November 2022, a group of anti-abortion doctors and a dentist filed a lawsuit in Amarillo, Texas, challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone in 2000. They asked the court to ban the medication...