May 25, 2013: Bowdoin College Commencement. Rai Miller, a psychology major/sociology minor from Birmingham, Alabama, gave an inspiring speech entitled, “Rising from Fear: The Unyielding Power of Self Belief.” She spoke first about her mother’s unwavering belief in her and her brother. Rai then admitted that her own confidence had been shaken during her early […]

“Shared values.” We hear them mentioned by leaders trying to find common ground despite deep political divisions. It’s a nice thought, but it lacks an explanation of just what those values are. Of course, everybody reveres the Constitution, though we cannot agree on what many parts of it mean. The most important message may be […]

Reject the CMP corridor In 2018, while guiding a commercial raft down the Kennebec River, I first learned of CMP’s proposed transmission corridor. At a later NECEC informational session, we were essentially told the CMP corridor was a done deal. Since that time, our goal was to educate the public on the negative impacts of […]

It’s been a tumultuous year. If one thing has become clear during this global pandemic, it’s that keeping the economy, education, healthcare, and community support systems in motion has hinged on our ability to connect to fast, reliable internet. Internet connectivity should be seen as an essential service, and all people should be empowered to […]

Oasis Free Clinics is a non-profit, no-cost primary care medical practice and dental clinic, providing exceptional, patient-centered care to uninsured members of our community. At Oasis, we often talk about the compassionate and respectful care that our volunteers and staff provide to our patients. One area we infrequently discuss is the quality of care our […]

Good-faith disagreements are a normal part of society and building strong relationships. Yet it’s difficult to engage in good-faith disagreements on the internet, and people reach less common ground online compared with face-to-face disagreements. There’s no shortage of research about the psychology of arguing online, from text versus voice to how anyone can become a […]

Pressure on Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to step down will likely grow now that the court’s session has ended. Breyer, 82, joined the court in 1994. His retirement would allow President Joe Biden to nominate his successor and give Democrats another liberal justice, if confirmed. Supreme Court justices in the U.S. enjoy life tenure. […]

Today, I wrote a letter to Gov. Janet Mills urging her to sign into law LD 1708, An Act to Create the Pine Tree Power Company, which sends this important issue to the voters via direct ballot. I have been a participant in PUC regulatory cases for 23 years, representing all Maine consumers, as an […]

Recent headlines trumpeted Republican Paul LePage’s entry into the 2022 governor’s race against incumbent Democrat Janet Mills. If both candidates stay in – and Mills surely isn’t going anywhere – the outline of the results aren’t difficult to discern.  LePage, who benefited from multi-candidate fields in plurality contests in 2010 and 2014, never won a majority of the vote.  Mills won a seven-way Democratic primary in 2018 using ranked-choice voting, and in […]