Anybody out there have a problem with people who constantly expect to be rescued? Who are absolutely dead certain they’re entitled to be rescued? I’m not talking about those of us who occasionally appreciate having firepersons save us from our burning homes, or having physicians rescue us from dying of an unpronounceable disease or having […]

This is the 500th piece I’ve written for the “Just a Little Old” column. When I began the column, I explained the inspiration for the title. Twenty years ago I was at a wedding in Oregon. My 2-year-old granddaughter Emma looked at me and said, “Dee, you’re old!” I pointed to my father, then in […]

What is gleaning? It falls into that broad category of words that you kind of know that conjure indistinct images of vaguely familiar activities like, say, glamping, galivanting, larping or loitering. Yes, perhaps you’d know it if you saw it. Or perhaps not. Really, it’s a simple idea betrayed by an overly abstract word, quite […]

One thing is sure about Joe Brennan, who died last week at age 89 — he was like no other Maine politician, before or since. Brennan was the first governor from Portland (1979-87) since Percival Baxter nearly 60 years earlier, his temperamental opposite — a working class scrapper vs. Baxter’s polished, upper-crust style. Governors from […]

“Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day” is on April 25th, and I think we should try something different this year: Let’s take our daughters and sons to grandma’s. The Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day Foundation says that April 25 is designed to be more than just a career day — […]

An adjudicated rapist, who was recently held liable by a jury for physically invading a woman’s bodily autonomy, has now taken it upon himself to opine about how government can control women’s bodily autonomy. Before we even begin to analyze Donald Trump’s announcement of his stance on abortion this week, we do need to stipulate […]

I don’t blame the public for not wanting to put the Republican Party back in power in Washington. As the GOP proved again in the House this week, it’s incapable of accomplishing anything of importance. This week, the big vote was over the reauthorization of a reformed version of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — […]

THE CONVERSATION — When former President Donald Trump soon returns to court in New York City, there are likely to be few visual surprises. Trump’s hush-money trial before New York Judge Juan Merchan is scheduled to start with jury selection on April 15, 2024. Monday’s scene will likely echo the one from 2023, when Trump walked past […]