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...

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...

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...

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: 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...

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...

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...

My Turn: We need community care, not self-care

By MORGAN SHEEHAN

It is not time for a spa day.Self-care. Me time. Wine o’clock. Pants that make your butt look fabulous.None of that is going to help.Robert Putnam tried to warn us in 2000 with his book “Bowling Alone,” early in the crisis of American loneliness, but...

Wendy Robinson: Landslide?

In the Dec. 4 Recorder, a letter writer states that the presidential election was an “Electoral College landslide” [“Looking forward to Trump at the helm”]. This claim has been repeated many times, along with claims of the president-elect having a...

Donald Moskowitz: Navy needs ships

My U.S. Navy continues to be overstretched across the oceans of the world against our potential enemies of China, North Korea, Russia and Iran.Our 11 carrier strike groups should be deploying for about six months at a time, but are now deploying to...

My Turn: Scraping bottom of the barrel?

By JUDITH TRUESDELL

 Donald Trump’s pick for the top law enforcement official and top Defense Department official in the country seem glaringly lacking in respect for the law when it applies to them or their prospective boss.Matt Gaetz, who has withdrawn himself from...

Guest columnist Joe Gannon: Hard truths or easy lies after the election

By JOE GANNON

While the shock wears off, again, from our presidential election, it is a suitable time to just take a breath before we decide — that is, lock down — our reaction.And we do decide our reaction. We will throw up our hands, rip out our hair, or just...

Ahmad Esfahani: Government, religion a dangerous mix

Curiously enough, “hate speech” might be something that doesn’t truly exist in our reality. Reflecting upon cross-Atlantic buzz in recent days, mumblings of blasphemy among our British cousins leaves little to be despised. Labour MP Tahir Ali has...

Eric Bright: Trump will be seen as status quo

On Dec. 3, 1860, President James Buchanan delivered his State of the Union address justifying the fugitive slave laws, denying the right of the territory of Kansas to abolish slavery, and blaming Northern abolitionist agitators for inciting slave...

Jeremy Williams: Those who hold the strings

I’ve always been fascinated by how the whole system works. You have the masters and you have the puppets. Those who pull the strings and those who are strung along. The small groups of people having the say over the larger groups of people who don’t....

My Turn: Rituals, rivalry and Thanksgiving reflections

By JOHN R. CHAMBERS

 After a decade-long hiatus, our family decided to have Thanksgiving in our hometown of Greenfield, where my mother still resides on the same street she purchased with my dad in 1974.The family group chat started with the menu and who would make what,...

Lyle Hughes: Real Americans voted for Trump

Last month, real Americans voted for Donald Trump, and angry women and weak men voted for Kamala Harris. Thankfully, Democrats got creamed, and Trump’s common-sense agenda resonated with over 76 million Americans who are sick and tired of failed...

Todd Brown: Supporting independent pharmacies and partnerships to serve their communities

In recent years, independent pharmacies in Massachusetts and around the country have closed up shop at alarming rates, leading to pharmacy deserts in too many areas around our state. As the health care system becomes increasingly consolidated, it’s...

My Turn: This will never be forgotten

By PATRICK MCGREEVY

 Imagine this: A man with an automatic rifle kills a woman in downtown Chicago. He runs into a church, with police in pursuit, bolts the door behind and holds 30 worshipers at gunpoint. The police chief arrives and demands the gunman surrender. When...