There is something so fantastic, so inspiring about the start of a new year. I mean, I know that in purely scientific terms, Jan. 1st is just another day. But it doesn’t feel that way. It feels like the moment for fresh starts, new beginnings, like the whole world is a blank slate just waiting […]
Forecaster Opinion
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Over Easy: ‘Inaugural’ – a poem
‘Twas the night before inaugural, and at the White House the soon-to-be Ex-president was feeding fake news to a pack of reporters. Though the hour was late and the votes all collected, the Ex-president still claimed to win the election. “Of course it was rigged,” he said in a tweet, “it’s the greatest fraud in […]
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Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Predictions from the all-knowing Magic 8-Ball
When I worked at Current Publishing, a family of weekly newspapers covering southern Maine before the company was sold in 2015 to the Forecaster family of publications (which is now owned by MaineToday Media), we had a fun newsroom tradition of asking the Magic 8-Ball to predict events for the following year. Reporters and editors […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Mainewhile: And then there’s the pie
Hey everyone, how were your holidays? I am willing to bet they were a bit weird, probably not at all the way they usually are, or the way you wanted. I missed my family, I missed the board games. I even missed the ritual of trying to get comfortable at night in the near-tropical heat […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Life Unwound: Resolve to simply be still in 2021
New Year’s Resolutions? Oh my, not again. Every year. And every year they fail because we (or maybe I) resolve to do something in the future. In 2021, I will finally (fill in the blank) lose those last 5 pounds. I will … I will, I will. What if we resolve to do something that […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Mainewhile: Time for GOP to ‘bell the cat’
My grandparents were Republicans. My mom’s parents. I actually don’t know what party my father’s parents claimed. But mom’s parents were staunch and proud Republicans. Technically, my mom was, too. When she and my dad married, they flipped a coin to decide who would register with which party, each agreeing to choose one so they […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Guest Column: Trump order to pull troops out of Somalia a green light for terrorists
On Dec. 4 President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defense to withdraw troops and assets out of Somalia by early 2021. The U.S. has been in Somalia directly or indirectly since the war on terror was announced by President George W. Bush. The main objective of the U.S. was preventing Somalia from becoming a […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Vaccine is best Christmas gift ever
The No. 1 thing we should be thankful for this holiday season is the speedy delivery of an effective COVID-19 vaccine. The proverbial and actual shot in our arms comes courtesy of Operation Warp Speed, the most remarkable and effective private-public partnership the nation has seen since World War II. The scientists at Pfizer, which […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Mainewhile: Hanukkah could include a new miracle
Happy Hanukkah to all of you who will be celebrating the holiday. Because this festival of dedication runs in accordance with a calendar different from the Roman one we use to chart our Monday through Sunday schedules, the exact start and stop dates for this eight-night-long celebration change from year to year. This year, Hanukkah […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Superintendent’s Notebook: Bus drivers are key ambassadors for Portland schools
The yellow school bus is an iconic symbol of public education. But those vehicles would have no meaning without the people behind the wheel: school bus drivers. Our bus drivers typically are the very first Portland Public Schools staff that many of our students encounter as kindergartners. And each day, as they transport students in […]