I’m disheartened at recent news reports concerning an epidemic of Maine service workers being subjected to verbal abuse by rude customers. The saddest part is that for many Mainers, service industry work is all that is available. Gone are the days when a young Mainer did not even have to finish high school to land […]

Yogi Berra famously said: “It ain’t over till it’s over.” An entrepreneurial friend amended that with: “And even then it might not be over.” While our Afghanistan catastrophe is winding down, I fear our departure may not be the end of the story. Afghanistan has more than 14 distinct ethnic groups. The Taliban are Pashtuns, […]

I don’t recall Mike Tyson being a philosopher. By the time the Tyson era emerged, I’d thrown in the towel regarding any further interest in prizefighting. But a recent op-ed on The Hill noted this elegant observation: “Everyone has a plan – until they get punched in the mouth.” Succinct, that.  It was brought up […]

I remember asking for a stuffed polar bear for my 10th birthday. I had passed by one in a store, and it was so cute and fluffy that I had to have one. His name was Snow and I used to pretend that he roamed through the icy lands of my imagination. Little did I […]

Greg Kesich’s Aug. 22 column suggested that the hardhat that U.S. Rep Jared Golden wore at an event at the Piscataqua River Bridge was part of “a costume” and “just for show.” The fact is, that hardhat was given to the congressman by a proud member of the Laborers’ International Union, representing the dozens of […]

If you had an opportunity to save a human life, with no harm to your own, would you do it? Think of a 6-year-old child, cancer ravaging his body, who has to be out in public. Maybe he is on his way to the hospital or to see a doctor. Maybe he just needed to […]