In September 1960, I pledged the Zeta Psi fraternity at Bowdoin. (In those days, 95 % of the students joined a fraternity.) As one of 27 Zeta Psi pledges, I had to go through “orientation” or, if you prefer, hazing. Most of it was harmless stuff like having to wear a sign with my name […]

  The Food Pantry program at Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program has had 7,700 visits in the first nine months of 2021. A number this large is hard to wrap your head around. As an agency we are used to dealing in thousands: Thousands of meals served, dollars raised, or pounds rescued. But we know […]

Democrats can certainly try to convince themselves that the Virginia gubernatorial defeat is no big deal. All kinds of rationales are available. For instance, the incumbent president’s party has lost 11 of the last 12 gubernatorial races. Virginia, when choosing its chief executive, tends to vote against Washington’s “in” party. And Terry McAuliffe, the losing […]

This is being written before the election, but appearing after it, leaving me in the gray zone most of us have inhabited throughout the pandemic – now dragging on into another winter. Prolonged uncertainty is hard to bear, but the “certainties” some of us have decided on are far worse, distorting the world’s politics, and […]

November has arrived and things are going to really get hairy now. Every November, two charitable organizations I like, Movember and No-Shave November, raise funds by encouraging people to not cut or shave their hair. Movember began in Australia in 2003 when two friends joked about bringing back the mustache (or “mo”) as a male fashion trend. Inspired […]

Last Tuesday night was our sixth wedding anniversary, so we decided to celebrate at one of our favorite restaurants — Montsweag Restaurant in Woolwich. The two of us went through the Falmouth school system together for 13 years, then didn’t see each other until 45 years later when a reunion brought us together. We did […]