Letters to the Editor – Oct. 31, 2019
Hazards from shared use of our roads by bicyclists and automobiles At the Selectboard meeting of October 14, I…
Shutting down the Merrimack coal-fired power plant
The Merrimack power station in Bow, New Hampshire, is the last big coal plant in New England, and it doesn’t have a shutdown date. Instead it has huge heaps of fuel leaching into the banks of the Merrimack River.
We built the American Empire
Just as the Romans built their empire, we built ours. And who are we? We’re the beavers, of course. Well, I’m “Beaver” anyhow. My friends were “Moose,” “Elk,” “Horse,” Mouse and “Rat.” And that only covered the southwest section of my hometown in Minnesota. I had a friend named “Mule” (Actually, his full moniker was “Francis the Talking Mule,” and he lived in the southeast quadrant, which meant we were rivals when it came to sports.).
Fall brings fires to light and books to read
Today has been the most beautiful fall day. Orange, yellow and green leaves radiant with sunshine…blue sky…fields stretching out into the distance, dotted here and there with rolled up bales of hay…the occasional cow…a little chill in the air; sweater (not quite jacket) weather. I just went for a stroll down the road and collected a handful of leaves to send to my oldest son, who has just relocated to a California beach town…and now here I am, thinking about books I have read recently.
Letter To The Editor – Oct. 3, 2019
We want to thank you for the wonderful write-up on wonderful tomatoes. We used Rosemary Zezulinksi’s prize-winning tomatoes at our Monday Munch today. We featured Chea Evans’ great article (Town, Sept.19, 2019) next to the menu, so people knew the story behind the great tomatoes they were eating in the featured menu item: fresh tomato pie.
Three 2019 fiction favorites for your fall reading list
While we still have a few months to go, there are a few books that I already know will make my favorites of 2019 list. It has been a great year for fiction, and these three books were five-star reads for me. When I think about what makes a book memorable, not only is it completely engrossing while I am reading it, but I think about it long after I have finished it.
War, from Da Nang to Madison and back again
Oh yes, I remember now. It was Woodstock 50 years ago, and for me it was also Vietnam three years before that. I managed to hit both places at a time in my and my country’s life when the toll of these phenomena on what had been a long-standing culture was visibly alive and swayed differently in the minds of citizens. One said, “Go kill an evil enemy.” The other said, “No, that in itself is evil. If you’re going to kill anyone, make it one of those so-called leaders who feel it incumbent to make killing and dying a badge of honor.”
Book review: Wild at Heart by Alice Outwater
Alice Outwater (the younger daughter of Alice Outwater senior) has published her fourth book, Wild at Heart (St. Martin’s Press). In it she looks at the interplay between the natural world that she calls “wildness” and what human nature has done to modify it in order to make parts of it what she terms “wilderness.” We have taken what is wild, exploited it for our benefit, and now, she says, we need to redeem what we have done.
On Books – Sept. 19, 2019
A couple of weeks ago my daughter and I took a summer’s-end jaunt up to Montreal. It was a lovely, short trip. We discovered such a good restaurant, Jatoba, that we went to it both nights we were there, saw the Thierry Mugler exhibit (but only once) that a friend of mine had raved about, and wandered around the Plateau area, as well as Old Port. On one of the afternoons, my daughter opted to rest for a bit, and I (not one for resting much) headed out to (you guessed it) a nearby bookstore (Indigo, on Sainte-Catherine Street).
Ach due lieber! Das ist ein guter brau!
Once again, a book has done me in – that is, it has revved up my memory, which at my age can tend to fire on only a half a cylinder sometimes and last for little more than 10 seconds or until I try to recall what I just said. Well, this book, though, brings my early life into perspective, not only because it’s set in the area in which I grew up but because it focuses on a product of that area that overshadowed the tracts of cow pasture and soybeans
Book sale thank you
In spite of record-setting heat, the 2019 Friends of the Library Books Sale was a big success. Books bought, ice cream, eats and drinks enjoyed, e-bikes tested, overall a great day!It’s impossible to express how grateful we are for everyone’s participation in this annual event on the Town Green. The book donations were plentiful, thanks to generous community members, and meticulously sorted, thanks to the fastidious ladies and one gentleman, many of a certain age.
The delights, and dangers, of summer reading
For the past few weeks, having had (for too many of these beautiful days) a series of headaches, it occurred to me that I might try PT. I know a PT person who is very good—I’d been to her before for other issues—and someone had suggested to me that she might be able to help with my headaches, so I made an appointment and went.
My own Front Porch Forum
Last week was our annual family gathering on Martha’s Vineyard—family being four generations between ages six and 92. My wife’s family has owned a cottage in Oak Bluffs for 50 years, and once my father-in-law gave up farming and work for the State of Connecticut, he and my mother-in-law spent most summers there with visits from the rest of us and ultimately weeklong reunions of the clan. (My Scots relatives and Mel Gibson would have been proud.)
Democracy is our responsibility
Celebrating our nation’s birthday on July 4th reminds us how lucky we are to live in a country built on democracy. We must also remember that our democracy was formed and is maintained by active participation of the governed, namely us. When we see that our government is taking us in a wrong direction, it requires us to speak out and take action to affect change. Peaceful protest is one kind of action.
Jack Fairweather book launch “one of the best”
Jack Fairweather launched his new book, The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz, at a party on Thursday, June 20, hosted by Mika and Jack Frechette at their Stoneledge Farm in Ferrisburgh.
Rolling Thunder, bombs and music
It was 1975, and the now Nobel Prize laureate Bob Dylan decided he wanted to do a concert tour, barnstorming the country with a batch of fellow (and lady) musicians in what last Sunday’s New York Times calls an “Anarchic Medicine Show.” Martin Scorsese has made a movie of it that chronicles what Allen Ginsburg describes as “a circus atmosphere, dog and pony show.”
Movie Review: Blade Runner
Blade Runner, released in 1982 but set in 2019, is regarded as one of the greatest all-time science fiction films. It has a 90 percent critics rating and a 91 percent audience rating (from 337,019 audience members) on Rotten Tomatoes and is available for purchase or rent on Amazon Prime and YouTube.
A resistance fighter in Auschwitz, and lessons for our time
The story is thrilling: a Polish man voluntarily goes to Auschwitz, and forms an underground resistance within the confines of the concentration camp, then makes a daring escape. On one level, Charlotter Jack Fairweather’s new book “The Volunteer” is an exciting nonfiction account of a little-known World War II hero who risked everything to let the world know of the atrocities taking place behind the camp’s walls.
Letters to the Editor
I want to thank The Charlotte News for its reporting on the ash tree removal RFP, which I believe has been generally accurate and fair. In the most recent article on the subject, however, “A promise to change the process, with some issues unresolved,” there are some inaccuracies that I think need to be corrected.
Meet Libby, and book recommendations from Charlotte librarians
Happy May! Are you excited for summer reading? I love reading on vacation. But I don’t like running out of books, so I always used to end up traveling with a whole stack of books with me, which takes up quite a bit of room. While my love for hard-copy books will never go away, I have become an ebook reader convert in the last couple of years. And the biggest reason I switched: the Libby app.