Archive for ‘Opinion’

  • The Black Side: A hard but valuable lesson

    By Perri Black The ongoing partial government shutdown makes me angry. It seems that the “powers that be,” who are immune to its effects, are playing politics with little consideration for how it impacts people’s lives. One of the random talking heads out there in TV land called the whole situation “asinine” — I call it […]

  • Earth Notes: The more I learn…

    “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.” — Mark Twain By Alice Darlington “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.” Every day I agree more with Mark Twain. Every day I read about some new atrocity and retreat into the soft fur of my dog. […]

  • Small World — Our culinary calendar

    By Henry Precht BN Columnist How many times a week does your wife ask you what day it is? Or vice versa, how many times do you ask her the same question? These questions are almost certain to be part of your conversation if you are, like us, retired and without steady — or unsteady […]

  • Our View: Vote will significantly shape Bridgton’s future

    Tick…tick…tick…tick… For Bridgton, a day of reckoning is approaching. When local voters head to the polls on Tuesday they face a critical decision in regards to Bridgton’s immediate and long-term future. Three referendum questions will shape whether Bridgton moves forward in terms of economic growth and environmental protection, or whether the town halts its potential […]

  • Small World: Our first president’s last words

    By Henry Precht BN Columnist Our present president is not especially celebrated as a widely read or scholarly leader. Coming to his defense, I would imagine that he is familiar, however, with the advice George Washington bequeathed to his 40 or so successors in the presidency. “Avoid,” he advised them, “entangling alliances.” The first president […]

  • Small World: Wisdom down the street

    By Henry Precht BN Columnist We needed the exercise. So, despite the summer-like heat, my wife and I went for a therapeutic walk in the neighbor-hood. It’s a quiet place, just over the District of Columbia border in Maryland. It’s a place of smallish houses shaded by oaks and maples, mostly dating from the 1930s […]

  • Small World: The classic drama of today’s politics

    By Henry Precht BN Columnist For fans of classic Greek drama these are the best of days. You must be in paradise or at least in the box seats. The struggle between Judge Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser, Professor Christine Blasey Ford, has all of the essential ingredients of a play by Sophocles or one […]

  • Earth Notes: Climate change

    By Rev. Robert Plaisted What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? That classic paradox dates back at least to the ancient Greek philosophers. The historic solution has been that an irresistible force and an immovable object cannot exist in the same space and time; therefore, one or the other must give way. […]

  • On My Corner: Some enduring stories

    By Bob Casimiro Les Misérable by Victor Hugo is one of the enduring classics, and an obsession of mine. In addition to reading Hugo’s novel (1961 edition), I have Graham Robb’s biography of Victor Hugo, seen the musical/play, watched the original movie and the 1978 remake, and I play the music at home, in my […]

  • Earth Notes: Forest bathing

    By Joyce White When I first heard the term “forest bathing,” I had images of naked people frolicking through the woods. Or maybe splashing in a forest brook. Or maybe even stretched out on sun-warmed pine needles, perhaps even taking a snooze — but not in blackfly season. Or winter. But no, “forest bathing” is […]