My Turn: Out of touch government real lesson of election

By KEVIN LAKE

After spending too much money and too many hours on the campaign, I felt stunned at the outcome. But as I thought more, I realized that the outcome had really been decades in the making and all the “inside baseball” Democratic commentary about the...

Mary Collins: Imaginative collective nouns

A collective noun is that fun aspect of grammar which denotes groups of animals, people and things. Perhaps you’ve heard of a gaggle of geese, a parliament of owls or a convocation of eagles.I have created collective nouns for people in professions...

Barbara K. Seamon: Support pancreatic cancer bill

Thank you for your Nov. 26 article, “Legislation takes aim at pancreatic cancer.”I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September of 2023. I was told if I didn’t have chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery ASAP I would be dead in six months. I was...

Thom Martens: Appalled by UMass men’s basketball coaching style

As a UMass alum, longtime basketball fan, and human being, I am appalled by the behavior of the UMass basketball coach, Frank Martin. His screaming in the face of his players in front of an arena full of fans is nothing less than abuse, not to mention...

My Turn: Are these the ‘King’s Pines’ or the ‘People’s Pines’?

By BRUCE SPENCER

The colonists had not been long in New England before they noticed that there were tall conifers rising above all others as groups or groves of column-like trees. When word got back to England concerning these majestic trees, they soon became the...

My Turn: Kingdom of Trump

By PAUL GUIMOND

At the Constitutional Convention (May - September 1787), Benjamin Franklin made the following comment: “The first man we put at the helm, will be a good one. Nobody knows what sort may come after.” I seriously doubt that the founding fathers could...

Jim Bates: What would we do without plastic?

Let me continue highlighting the hypocrisy of our state and local government. No, I am not writing about our governor protecting people who crossed our border illegally who committed felonies from deportation.As many residents of Franklin County are...

Deb Lane: Cheers to the ShelburneTown Highway Department

Sending out a thank you to all the crew of the Shelburne town Highway Department who worked so hard to plow and sand our roads after our first snowfall. They are a small, hard-working group who did an amazing job cleaning the roads in preparation for...

Noel Gomez: Things the public doesn’t know

Next time Veterans Day comes around think of the 2,000 or so of us Marines who’ve been waiting three or more years for compensation from cancer from the drinking water at Camp Lejeune North Carolina.What a rotten way to treat us after we put our lives...

Todd Damon: Wants more of Trump’s America

If this is Donald Trump’s America, I want more of it. After years of doom and gloom politics and being shamed, for wrong think, we now have a reason to celebrate. MAGA is unapologetically alive, well and celebrating. The Trump dance has popped up...

Ruth Witty: Of oil and ancient lands

Regarding the letter “Tragedy of Palestine still being written,” [Recorder, Dec. 2], the writer implies Zionists wanted “to plant the Western flag in the oil and gas rich Arab world.” Well Israel has no oil, but please don’t let facts get in the way...

My Turn: Reality and fantasy in our teetering democracy

By KATHE GEIST

So, we have a once and future president who is an adjudicated criminal and sexual predator, was impeached twice during his first term, cannot tell truth from fiction — like many of his followers — and is incapable of governing competently and...

My Turn: Mass. DEP and the fate of New England’s great river

By KARL MEYER

On Oct. 10, Tim Jones, acting director of the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Waterways and Wetlands, presided over an “information” session in Turners Falls to field a skeptical public’s questions about its 401 Water...

Amy Gordon: More than 7 million people

I am wondering what the families of the more than 7 million people who have died from COVID as of April 2024 think about the notion that COVID was/is a hoax, and wondering why people think that, and wondering who they think benefits from promoting...

Don Ogden: Mass Audubon speaks to language in new clean energy law?

I’ve just read “Law looks to minimize land use concerns,” (Recorder, Dec. 7) and was reminded of our next Enviro Show Quote of the Week by John Paul II: “The Earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say...

Bernadette Jones: Reverse HIP cuts

I am very upset that the state’s Healthy Incentives Program was cut dramatically. The program has been extremely successful in helping hungry people get healthy fresh produce and at the same time benefiting small farmers.News about the large increase...

Guest columnist Daniel Cantor Yalowitz: Holding steady in turbulent times

By DANIEL CANTOR YALOWITZ

Upheaval. Chaos, confusion. Radical change. The “New World Order.” The “new normal? However we frame it, we are in turbulent times — and are headed for more of the same.Do we need to adjust to it? Or do we make the changes needed to maintain our...

My Turn: What patriotism means to me

By BARBARA A. ROUILLARD

For Veterans Day 1964, around my 10th birthday, the VFW sponsored an essay contest, “What Patriotism Means to Me.” Any elementary or junior high student in our town could enter.My family didn’t have much disposable income, so whenever there was a...

My Turn: Bike buses go viral ... why not here?

By DARCY DUMONT

 It may seem odd not to address the expected reversal of progress on climate and what that will mean at home and abroad, but pardon me while I take a breath. My latest thought is to simply to keep moving in a positive direction, doing whatever we can...

The World Keeps Turning: The turkey and the elephant

By ALLEN WOODS

I was blessed to celebrate what many think of as a “traditional” Thanksgiving: we ate turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin pie and lots more, resulting in a few naps afterwards in front of the TV football game. Our...