Columnists criticize a lot. I think it’s part of the job description. We also need to know when praise is due. In these pandemic times, Bethel schools are doing well. Some of the reasons are fortuitous: our state is sprawling, uncrowded, sensibly governed, and relatively isolated. The Canadian border is practically closed; New Hampshire’s circumstances […]
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Tree Talk: Solar collectors
Years ago, during a trip to Epcot in Florida, while riding what-used-to-be the Exxon-Mobile attraction, and going back in time to the dinosaur age, I remember hearing “the sun is the source of all energy on earth”. I had never thought of it that way before, but I realized it was true. Lately, we’ve been […]
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Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, The Bethel Citizen, The Franklin Journal
Movie Review: Judas and the Black Messiah
One good thing about the year 2021 in movies is that we might get two Oscar seasons. Usually the deadline to qualify for a year’s Oscar race is the end of the calendar year, so December is often loaded with awards-chasers. But because there were so many releases pushed back in 2020, the Academy has […]
Posted inThe Bethel Citizen
Education: Poli Sci
The foundation texts of American politics are obvious: The Declaration, The Constitution, The Federalist. Let’s add a new (2020) Dover book, The Anti-Federalist Papers. After all, The Constitution was debated; why else the newspaper advocacy that became The Federalist? The Constitution was a compromise. The Declaration consists of a two paragraph philosophical introduction and a […]
Posted inThe Bethel Citizen
Backyard Reflections: Nature for nature’s sake
Yesterday a friend mentioned that she was thinking about what she could do to help with Climate Change when she looked out her window and noticed a cluster of trees on her property. Trees! Carbon sequestration is part of the solution, she thought suddenly. After listening to this soliloquy I instantly agreed. Every person who […]
Posted inThe Bethel Citizen
AFCI news
A recent Sun Journal article reported from the Maine DHHS that while COVID vaccine supply is still limited, the pace of vaccinations has been increased and now includes those over 70. Some of our lucky community neighbors have already received theirs, and many more of us are watching for more information. Here are some good […]
Posted inThe Bethel Citizen
Mahoosuc Bird Notes: Vagrants
Have you heard about the rare Redwing spotted last weekend in Capisic Pond Park in Portland? It was hanging out with a group of Robins eating sumac and multiflora rose fruit. A Redwing is a European thrush that looks a lot like an American Robin in size and shape. Maine Audubon reports that this […]
Posted inThe Bethel Citizen
Education: Evolution continues
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, by Charles Darwin, M.A. (1859). Long Victorian titles summed up whole books. Darwin seldom used the term evolution; he spoke of “descent with modification” via natural selection. Useful variations, struggling for existence over time, […]
Posted inAdvertiser Democrat, The Bethel Citizen, The Franklin Journal
Movie Review: The Little Things
We all know that 2020 was a weird time for the movie business (as well as every other business), but the weirdness started back in January, before everything went haywire. “Bad Boys for Life” made $206 million at the domestic box office and wound up as the biggest theatrical release of the year. Obviously that […]
Posted inThe Bethel Citizen
Education: Evolution
I’m studying science (see previous column), but I’m still an historian. I look for foundational texts. Physics? Nature and Nature’s Laws lay hid in Night; GOD said Let Newton Be! And all was Light. That’s fine, but the Principia Mathematica is beyond me; ditto the “popular” works of Einstein and Hawking. Biology? Yes, I can […]