You can feel it. The air has a crispness to it, the sunlight slants at a different angle, the breezes mean business. Summer is coming to a close and autumn is on our doorstep. Usually, this is my favorite time of year. Soup and pumpkins, sweaters and cider. Usually, this is when we are stocking […]
Forecaster Opinion
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Over Easy: Just like in the movies
I had a childhood friend who based his preference for movies on whether the movie was in color or in black and white. When we would make plans for going to the Apollo Theatre for a Sunday matinee, he would ask, “Is it in technicolor?” Didn’t care what it was about (a John Wayne war […]
advertisement
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Pandemic pet peeves, part II
This week’s Here’s Something continues a three-part series concerning pet peeves inspired by life during the coronavirus. Without further adieu, let’s get to it: It’s severely frustrating, five months into this outbreak, that we don’t even know where this new coronavirus originated. Was it from the “wet markets” in Wuhan, or was it deliberately or […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion
The Universal Notebook: Veterans for Trump?
A few weeks back I saw a car at an ice cream stand with a Go Army sticker and a Trump-Pence sticker. I wanted to ask the driver how anyone in the military could support a draft dodger like Trump, but I didn’t want to disrespect the elderly vet. How any active duty military or […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Life Unwound: Shifting tides
My son Zac published a note and recipe in the very fun book, “Tasty Pride: Seventy-five Recipes and Stories from the Queer Community.” He wrote: “Growing up in an almost unnervingly progressive and accepting home meant that coming out was, well, underwhelming. My ‘Yep, I’m gay’ moment unfurled over Chinese takeout. My mother asked, “Do you […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Forum: Wellness and distance learning
As North Yarmouth Academy prepares to welcome students back to campus full time on Sept. 8, it is important to reflect on lessons we learned that will continue to benefit our students well into the future. In March 2020, the entire world was thrust into a period of distance learning. This represented a major challenge […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Superintendent’s Notebook: Congratulations to the class of 2020 – and their teachers
Commencement this month for our approximately 500 graduating seniors was two months late and held outdoors, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the drive-in ceremonies at Ocean Gateway for Portland, Deering and Casco Bay high schools were as inspirational as graduations every year – maybe even more so. I’ve spoken at commencements for four years […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
The Universal Notebook: America needs a sabbatical
In my Aug. 4 column, I urged that schools remain closed until the coronavirus pandemic is over. Teachers shouldn’t have to risk their lives and parents shouldn’t be caught between worries about the health of their children and the need to get back to work. But if your primary interest in education is child care, […]
Posted inAmerican Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Lakes Region Weekly
Here’s Something: Pandemic pet peeves, part I
To say the COVID-19 outbreak has negatively impacted the general populace would be an understatement of gigantic proportions. Just recently we heard from the Centers for Disease Control that a full quarter of young people ages 18-24 have considered suicide in the past month. Mental health in all sectors of the populace is suffering, according […]
Posted inForecaster Opinion
Mainewhile: Shark-punching husband isn’t the only hero
Finally! At long last, in this crazy world of extreme tragedy, crisis and division, finally we as a nation, as a globe, have something on which we can agree: The Australian man who punched a shark to save his wife is dreamy. I am sure by now you’ve seen the story, yes? OK, if not, […]