If you haven’t already seen it, you should Google “Jeff Daniels, greatest country” and watch his wonderfully impassioned and articulated rant as news anchor Will McAvoy on the pilot episode of HBO’s “The Newsroom.” Speaking and acting words written by screenwriter/producer Aaron Sorkin (“The West Wing,” “The Social Network”), Daniels’ McAvoy unloads on a college […]

The Aurora shootings threw a monkey wrench into my original plan, to fill this space with a bit of lighthearted self-deprecation about making the non-Mainer rookie mistake of choosing midday on a weekend in the height of tourist season to pop into L.L. Bean for a pair of pants I didn’t really need. Perhaps people […]

From the minutes of the Town Council of (fictional) Meddywock, Maine: July, 2012 The Chair: Would everyone please take a seat? It looks like we have a quorum, so let’s begin. The meeting will come to order. The clerk will record the proceedings. Clerk: I’ve got the machine turned on. Go ahead, Jim. The Chair: […]

Imagine my surprise at seeing an alternative paper in the most liberal city in the state using the word “sissies” in a column headline. I cannot imagine a writer or editor in 2012 that does not understand the impact or damage words like this one can have on youth questioning their sexual identity. Sissy is […]

As everyone has noticed there is a lot of construction happening around South Portland from the bridge to Cape Elizabeth. I live at the end of Walnut Street near the cul de sac. They have torn parts of our street up on a few different occasions, I assume to work on either the gas or […]

When Angus King took office as governor, the state had a surplus in the budget. When he vacated the Blaine House, King left a $1 billion shortfall for incoming Gov. John Baldacci. That shortfall was carried through Baldacci’s term. Maine cannot afford a spender like Angus King as our senator in Congress. Angus is a […]

Wowee, what generosity! The people of Yarmouth rock! We came as happy tourists, visiting a gaggle of relatives in Freeport when cousin Zebulon told us about Free Chair Night in Yarmouth before the parade. As he explained it, you go the night before and you’ll see an amazing array of chairs laid out along the […]

I’ve made an observation about Edgar Allen Beem’s weekly column. Even though I rarely agree with anything he writes, I find his columns entertaining just the same. My observation is not about what he writes, but rather his photograph. Instead of making eye contact with his readers, in the photo he is looking off to […]

This is in response to Carmen Melito’s letter last week, if 18-year-old brains are really so undeveloped, then why are they able to have the right to vote and go “fight for our country”? If they are able to be given a gun and make decisions about who, how and when to shoot over in […]

Freeport’s “Hometown Celebration”on July 7 was an impressive first-time collaboration between local nonprofits, school organizations, and local businesses. Volunteers of all ages from Durham, Freeport and Pownal mobilized amazing energy to host this event, intended to celebrate our community’s evolution over the past century from a “mill town” to the vibrant, diverse, and welcoming place […]