Opinion
My Turn: Guilty or not guilty?
By GENE STAMELL
My mother was a big advocate for guilt. “Guilt builds character,” she would say. “If you feel some guilt, you will become a better person.” I’m not sure her opinion influenced my choice of spouse, but my wife of 43 years once told me that she has...
Columnist J.M. Sorrell: Sneetches on the beaches
By J.M. Sorrell
Ray Bradbury’s classic book, “Fahrenheit 451,” shows a dystopian fascist future where people take pills and watch state-run TV to stay compliant in a world where books are outlawed and burned when found. The only hope for the future of humanity is the...
My Turn: Tech gadgets and the classroom
By STEPHEN HUSSEY
The recent column “Chalk Talk: An AI earthquake in eduction” (Recorder, Jan. 21), betrays the peculiar assumption that whatever new toy tech has trundled out has to be worked into the nation’s classrooms whether we like it or not. This nearly...
My Turn: A call to protect my friends in Palestine
By SHERRILL HOGEN
I was in Palestine last October. It had been three COVID years since I had seen my adoptive family there. I prepared for the trip by buying gifts for all eight of them: my “sister,” her husband, their six grown children, and innumerable grandchildren....
McCarthy and the debt ceiling
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy: If you want to sit down with President Joe Biden to talk about lifting the debt ceiling, you pledge that Social Security and Medicare would not be cut. Really?Social Security and Medicare have nothing to do with the...
Local to Global: Greenfield Shops for Peace
By H. PATRICIA HYNES
Signs abound in Greenfield’s downtown shop windows, among them PEACE, ART NOT WAR, FOOD FOR ALL NOT WAR, SOLAR NOT WAR, MAKE TEA NOT WAR. Why have so many shop owners and institutions, including the Greenfield Library and Greenfield Community...
My Turn: January thaw
By JUDY WAGNER
So for a while it looked like all of January was going to be a thaw. Once, the January thaw was a short reprieve, a brief reminder that winter would eventually end. This year after one hard cold snap we were left wondering when winter might begin.One...
Ghandi and civilization
Makes sense … sadly. In our current U.S. of A., political, social, and supposedly philosophical society, this astute reply to a journalist’s question was given by Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi. Journalist: What do you think of western civilization?...
Greenfield should consider existing police staffing models
Why not follow or try the local police staffing model that is being successfully used by by both Deerfield and Montague to keep each of their town's 24-hour police coverage ? A small base staff for the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift and then backups are...
New forest visioning process may be needed
I am writing in response to several letters arguing either management or no-management as the best path to protect Massachusetts’ forests. It seems more reasonable to think that both approaches need to be taken into account. In fact, this was the...
Advice for the mayor
I have been a supporter and a long-time friend of Mayor RoxannWedergartner. I have some advice for her. It is time to give Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. walking papers. The man has cost the town a lot of money. He was found guilty of racial bias by...
Wild forests play an important role
It is important when reporting on Gov. Maura Healey’s planned logging moratorium, to include the importance of keeping our forests wild for the benefit of the people, who should be the ones to benefit from our public lands. While it is true that some...
My Turn: We all wear armor
By CAROLE GARIEPY
We all wear armor, yes we do. Sometimes we wear a full suit, sometimes just a small breastplate. A recent trip to the Worcester Art Museum made me think about armor in a broader way.The museum was gifted with the vast armor collection from the Higgins...
My Turn: East-west rail and the wonders of Swiss transit
By Jonathan Kahane
Grüezi mitenand. After a three-year hiatus, I find myself back in Switzerland again visiting family and friends. Before Covid, I would come here to enjoy camaraderie, alpine vistas, skiing, hiking, chocolate, watches, cheese, it’s touted “purist...
Dropped Senior Center services
The recent firing of a dance instructor at the Greenfield Senior Center brings to mind the similar actions of the same director in forcing the shut down of free tax preparation a few years back.At that time, theses services were provided at the old...
As I See It: Why we fail our New Year’s resolutions
By JON HUER
The Week magazine (Jan. 20) has an interesting article on why people fail with their New Year’s resolutions (80% of them by February). Why do we fail to maintain our own self-promises?Naturally, the Week magazine asks psychologists who typically...
Connecting the Dots: Group action is a time-honored tradition
By JOHN BOS
Our embattled planet’s capacity to sustain humankind’s “lifestyle” is about to run out.Global warming has increased the number of extreme weather events around the world by 400% since the 1980s. Countries really do know how to stop these events: just...
Seeking veterans for war memorial
I am writing as chairman of the Bernardston Veterans Memorial Committee. We are in the process of updating the Veterans Memorial in Cushman Park and will be adding names to honor those that have served since we dedicated the current memorial, in 2002....
John Howard: Induction stoves are safer and save money
There’s been a lot in the press about how bad gas stoves are for your health. They can cause asthma in children and have other gases which are not terribly good for adults (www.ecowatch.com/gas-stoves-asthma-children.html). Using the range exhaust...
My Turn: FERC is failing New England’s Great River
By KARL MEYER
On Jan. 12, 2023, Vince Yearick, director of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Division of Hydropower Licensing, gave a new fat gift to FirstLight Power for its Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station in Massachusetts. Parent-owned...
