Someone recently asked me, “What do you worry about?” I worry that we will forget to be kind. At the end of his broadcast, Lester Holt urges, “Take care of yourselves and each other.” Sometimes I hear it as “Take care of eeee chuthur.” Sometimes I laugh. Then I realize that I worry about this […]
Forecaster Opinion
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Over Easy: One last column
Dear reader: When J.D. Salinger retired many years ago, he announced that he wasn’t planning to stop writing completely, but he was no longer going to write “for publication.” Of course, being a famous and wealthy writer already, it’s not too long a jump for him to cut the cord of crass commercialism, as his […]
advertisement
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Mainewhile: A greener future could be our lot in life
What a strange, strange summer! Several record-breaking heat waves followed by a downright chilly Fourth of July. Strange. Out west, roads are buckling and berries are literally cooking while still on the bush. Drought, health warnings, wildfires, crops dying. Climate change is no longer a looming threat. It’s here. According to Climate Central, “By 2050, […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Through My Lens: The Eid of the vaccinated
There is a different calendar Muslims around the globe are looking at this week. The Islamic lunar calendar, called the Hijri. We are in the month of Dhul-Hijja, which is the time of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. The 10th of Dhul-Hijja, which is July 20, is the beginning of the celebration of […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Superintendent’s Notebook: Food Service team essential to learning
Our main job as a school district is to educate students, but they can’t do their best learning if they’re hungry. That’s why our Food Service team is such an integral part of our educational mission. More than half the students who attend Portland Public Schools come from food-insecure families. They depend on the thousands […]
Posted inCoastal Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Forecaster Sports, Northern Forecaster, Portland Forecaster, Southern Forecaster
Tri for a Cure hosts part-virtual fundraising event in South Portland
The annual fundraiser for the Maine Cancer Foundation had to go virtual due to the pandemic last year, but this time around there will be one component, a 5K road race, that participants may do in person if they wish on July 18.
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Life Unwound: Appreciating life’s moments
I sit on gray stones at half-tide on Maine’s stunning rocky coast. Golden rays shine on blue water. The same sun greens the tree-lined shore. I read Mary Oliver’s poem, “Summer Day”: I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Forum: We are all ‘real’ Americans
John Balentine recently defined the role of government under our Constitution as follows: “Our government’s lone job is to ensure individual rights to speech, worship, peaceable assembly, private property and a host of other liberties” (“Here’s Something: Do you still desire freedom?”, July 1). Lone job? The Preamble of the Constitution laid out quite clearly […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Post-pandemic depression rears its ugly head
When I was younger, my aunt suffered postpartum depression, a condition new mothers may battle that, according to Webster’s, is “a mood disorder involving intense psychological depression that typically occurs within one month after giving birth, lasts more than two weeks, and is accompanied by other symptoms such as social withdrawal, difficulty in bonding with […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Mainewhile: Replica of Columbus’ ship has no business on Maine’s shores
The Penobscot Maritime Heritage Association is hosting a festival of tall ships, and it is causing some waves. The issue is the late inclusion of a boat named Nao Santa Maria, a replica of one of the three ships sailed by Christopher Columbus. Initially, I wasn’t going to write about this because the organizers of […]