“I love Paris in the summer, when it sizzles .…”
I’m goin’ down
In case you somehow missed the breaking news, we live in a global world economy. I’m not sure when experts discovered the world was global, but it was definitely before Columbus, and I were in kindergarten. As for economics, in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue looking for an express rout…
Dear mainstream media: Please retire the word “conservative.”
On a perfect bluebird day (recognizing that at sea almost nothing is ever perfect; we were a little light on wind), the schooner American Eagle sailed southward through the Fox Island Thoroughfare and Leadbetter Narrows and into Hurricane Sound. She anchored about a hundred yards off the mai…
In this space, we will always present a shield in protection of the First Amendment.
Candidates near and far have been reaching out to this newspaper, trying to get a sense of which way the political winds are blowing.
Every spring at commencement time, Poor Elijah waits for his phone to ring. He figures sooner or later the world will tire of famous people and give him a call.
Any time the international community convenes to talk about climate change, there’s a predictable mix of criticism and encouragement. This month’s 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Declaration, commemorating the United Nations first official gathering to discuss the “human environment” and w…
Postmodernism is a big, cumbersome word, but that’s fitting because the concept is big and cumbersome.
The installation of a historic site marker in Windsor honoring a Negro woman slave has been long overdue, and accolades are owed to those who moved the project to completion. But while a 2-foot by 3-foot, bronze plaque is inadequate to memorialize any life, the state of Vermont and the marke…
The last 18 months of American politics may very well be the poster child for this quote: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” frequently and mistakenly attributed to Edmund Burke. Its origin is more likely from an 1867 inaugural address at the Un…
I was away when news of the SCOTUS leak went viral. I hadn’t watched TV for a week and barely signed onto social media, but when I did, I read astute and deeply troubling reactions to the policy document designed to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has been considered established law for 50 years.
I originally wrote this to introduce a couple of my pro-choice paintings, Trust Women and My Body My Decision. I posted a version of this message May 4 on Facebook, after it was leaked that Roe v. Wade would be overturned by the Supreme Court. I have sent a copy of this message, along with c…
There is no time to sit around and wait
This year, Vermont legislators made record investments in our rural communities, agriculture and the environment. Based upon Gov. Phil Scott’s proposals, legislators allocated dollars to farmers, producers and those making their living off the land.
Getting stuck on the title page when you’re reading an education article is easier than you might think, especially if you’re as cranky as Poor Elijah. The title itself, “Top 10 Challenges Facing Educators,” was annoyingly predictable. If dogs wrote education commentaries, we’d be talking ab…
Jeff Danziger's take ...
On the off chance you missed it last week, a Virginia jury agreed with Johnny Depp that Amber Heard intentionally and maliciously defamed him in her Washington Post 2018 op-ed entitled “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”
My first full-time job began on a hot, humid Monday morning, barely a week after high school graduation, marking the first time in my life I would be deprived of summer vacation and burdened by the expectations of others. In fact, I’d never before contemplated remaining in one place for eigh…
The following is an address of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, president pro tempore, on the epidemic of gun violence in America. It was presented on the Senate Floor on June 8:
It was compelling even if the images — visual and spoken — were awful.
Another day, another Newtown: When news of another school slaughter broke, this time again in Texas, the bile that rose in my throat was as bitter as the memory of Columbine, Newtown, Parkland — and the other grievous incidents of gun violence in schools, all 554 of them since Columbine, as …
Two weeks ago, an Israeli appeals court overturned a lower court’s position, which had questioned the long-standing ban on non-Muslim prayer on “Temple Mount” in Jerusalem, the raised platform which is called Al-Haram al-Sharif (The Holy Sanctuary) in Arabic. Yes, you read that right: the Is…
Landing the first several trout of the season usually requires concentration enough to — at least temporarily — relieve me of the cascading thoughts that lately take me on distressing side trips: flights of fancy pitting us against insurmountable odds, facing unsolvable problems. Releasing a…
Candidates for federal and statewide offices, as well as the Vermont Legislature, have been getting an earful from residents, especially Vermonters living on fixed or low incomes. The struggle of inflation is real.
When I was a young man attending Harwood Union in the late-’90s, I/we (the boys who hunted) would leave our guns in our vehicles, parked on school grounds, while school was in session, in preparation for hunting after school hours. In fact, my car at the time was an old beat-up Saab, and I w…
Opinions can get complicated in my public school classroom, especially when students ask me what I think. That’s because I won’t tell them until they’ve done their best to argue things out and support their own opinions. Part of my job as a teacher is teaching them how to think, and learning…
During the early-1950s, I spent several months living and working on a small ranch in west-central Texas. I was the only Anglo working there — and a New England Yankee, at that. My only contact with the outside world was the news from Dallas on the radio at breakfast. Monday morning’s broadc…
My Grandmother Libertoff, a stern and unhappy divorced woman, lived in a basement apartment in what is now called the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn, New York. The absence of any natural light — the dwelling had no window — created a rather gloomy ambience. and for some unexplained reas…
The contradictions are nothing short of astonishing. The same contingent who can — without any apparent difficulty — simultaneously oppose both birth control and abortion; who are outraged at the suggestion of institutional racism while actively working to disenfranchise millions of Black vo…
Last winter, a friend of mine slipped on ice and fell hard onto pavement. She was stunned, and might have lain there a while, but a passerby spotted her and, in spite of her protests, got her to an aid station, whence she was whisked to a hospital for treatment and evaluation. By chance, she…
This weekend we remember those who have fallen while serving our country. The holiday, originally known as Decoration Day, started after the Civil War to honor the Union and Confederate dead.
Ten years ago in the wake of Sandy Hook, a plaintive headline begged, “Can we now talk about guns?” It was a response to the perennial assertion, offered chiefly by Republicans, that the grief-stricken, furious aftermath of tragedy isn’t the best time to craft firearms regulations.
As the science behind fetal development becomes more understood — when an unborn child can feel pain, show brainwave activity, or form functioning organs, etc., — it makes sense that we are all taking a fresh look at policies surrounding abortion. In many states, this knowledge, new since 19…
Get ready, get set and go, is the usual refrain as river users are off at the start of river season on Memorial Day.
On a day that feels like a negotiated settlement, judicially mandated compensation for the deep winter and even deeper mud, some still clinging to the sides of the car, I meander upstream, through the twisting channels of Kingsbury Branch as it slowly makes its way into North Montpelier Pond…
About a week ago, Robert Reich published an insightful essay in The Guardian U.S. edition titled “The second American civil war is already happening” (May 11). At one point, he comes up with a pithy turn of phrase to make a key observation: “The red ZIP codes are getting redder and the blue …
This past week in Vermont in mid-May, temperatures are into the 80s. I was still watching out for frosts in early May, so the speed of the transition has been stunning.
We are living in challenging times. Certainly, there are plenty of things to be stressed about, and we are often left wondering when this merry-go-round of chaotic news cycles will subside long enough for us to stop and smell the lilacs.
Public education reform travels under aliases. In the 1980s, advocates borrowed corporate jargon and billed it as “school restructuring.” Through the intervening years, restructuring schools has given way successively to “school improvement,” “reinventing” schools and “transforming” schools.…
We certainly live in divided times, but this is nothing new. Divisions ebb and flow, and we are currently at another high point. Sometimes, I wonder if the “United” in USA is aspirational or a depressing joke. Luckily, I do see some glimmers of hope, in Vermont and in my home state of Michig…
About a month ago, I opined in this space about the most likely cause of the disintegration of our democracy; to wit, stupidity. I received no comments, positive or negative; but this week, to my delight, my opinion was supported by none other than Jonathan Haidt, most notably the author of …
Here we go again. The so-called experts in psychiatry charged with updating the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) — the less than empirical “bible of psychiatry” that clinicians rely on for reimbursable diagnoses — have decided that six months, maybe a year if they’re generous, is su…
Recent Rutland Herald commentaries regarding abortion and other reproductive health measures, have been written by men who cite various claims — without providing substantive evidence of personal experience or professional expertise regarding these issues. Their claims are offensive to me, n…
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Five Questions With
Just over three months ago we started “Five Questions With ...” to put a human face to this pandemic. Today marks the final installment in this stage of the project, but it will continue with a new set of questions more focused on Vermont’s recovery. Here, Paul Costello, of Montpelier, offer…
Marlee Brunton, of Middlesex, talks about the pandemic and its effects on her family.
Marlee Brunton, of Middlesex, talks about the pandemic and its effects on her family.
Alayna Martel, of Barre Town, is a registered nurse at UVM Medical Center. She talks about how, as a frontline workers, her life has been affected by the pandemic.
Gayle Townsend-Lang, of Rutland, works full time wearing many hats for the Rutland City Public Schools as “Miss Gayle.” Here she talks about how she has been affected by the pandemic.
Stefanie Schaffer, of Rutland, talks about how she has been coping with self-isolation and dealing with the pandemic.
Stefanie Schaffer, of Rutland, talks about how she has been coping with self-isolation and dealing with the pandemic.
Yankee Notebook columnist Willem Lange, of East Montpelier, talks about how he has been affected by self-isolation and the pandemic.
CPA Thomas Lauzon, of Barre, discusses how his life has been affected by the pandemic and self-isolation. Earlier this spring Lauzon was named to the governor’s Economic Mitigation & Recovery Task Force.
Chrispin White, of Rutland, discusses how he has been adapting to self-isolation and how the pandemic has been affecting him.
Christina Sweet, of Rutland, discusses how she and her family have been affected by the pandemic and self-isolation over these months.
Educator and Vermont Mountaineers General Manager Brian Gallagher, of East Montpelier, discusses how the pandemic has affected his life. Earlier this spring, the Mountaineers’ organizers announced they would cancel the 2020 season.
Cat Heatley, of Rutland, talks about how her life has been affected by the pandemic in recent weeks.
Cat Heatley, of Rutland, talks about how her life has been affected by the pandemic in recent weeks.
Salon owner and fitness instructor April Rogers Farnham, of Plainfield, talks about how she has been affected by self-isolation.
Barre Partnership Executive Director Tracie Lewis talks about self-isolation and how the pandemic has been affecting her life.
Montpelier writer Thomas Greene discusses how he has been affected by self-isolation and the pandemic.
Drew Smith, of Rutland, talks about self-isolation and how the pandemic has affected his life.
Jessica Van Orman talks about her experience in self-isolation and how the pandemic has affected her life.
Artist Jen Rondinone, of Rutland, reflects on self-isolation and how the pandemic has affected her and her family.
Mark Breen, the "Eye on the Sky" guy from the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, shares his thoughts in self-isolation and how the pandemic has been affecting his life.
Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe discusses how self-isolation and the pandemic have affected his life.
Executive Director of the Paramount Bruce Bouchard, of Rutland, talks about how his life has been affected by the pandemic and its consequences.
WDEV radio talk show host Dave Gram, of Montpelier, talks about the pandemic and how it has been affecting him and his life.
Stay-at-home mom and low-income advocate Roni Lynn Shrout, of Montpelier, discusses how the pandemic has affected her family.
Carrie Allen, of Rutland, explains how she has been coping with self-isolation and what she hopes will come from it after the pandemic is over.
Vermont cartoonist Tim Newcomb provides a bit of levity to his answers about self-isolation and how he is coping.
Recovery Vermont’s Melissa Story, of Montpelier, shares her thoughts on self-isolation and how it has affected her.
Major Jackson is a poet and professor at the University of Vermont. He lives in South Burlington.
Former governor Jim Douglas shared his thoughts on self-isolation.