I suppose you want to hear a Christmas story. “It was Christmas in prison and the food was real good, we had turkey and pistols carved out of wood… ” That John Prine song will be 40 in the New Year. Twenty years ago this month I wandered through parts of the Midwest humming that […]
The long nights of the year are upon us and the diversity-celebrating, non-denominational holiday lights of Burlington wink on in the late afternoon as the sun sets not far from where it rises, off in the mountains to the south (first Green, then Adirondack). The kitchen is the warmest room in the house, with the […]
With this post, my New Year’s resolution is complete. (Just in time to start working on a new one.) I promised myself in January that I’d pay more attention to the world immediately around me this year and would dedicate my first commentary of each month to that topic. Although most of these comments have […]
Attention sociologists: How would you like the rare opportunity to study what happens when 400 vulnerable children in seven states are taken from what is universally acknowledged to be the most supportive foster-care program in the country and placed into the care of already-overburdened government agencies in their respective states? Track their outcomes five, ten […]
Happy Thanksgiving. It’s a bright sunny morning in northwest Vermont and if we had huge balloons shaped like cartoon characters, we would absolutely have them inflated and crashing into trees and traffic lights, so I’m grateful for my municipality’s modesty. I’m grateful my state was prepared for this year’s big storm and even more grateful […]
Status Report
I’ve shoveled three times today, so far. Big flakes are supposed to keep falling from the sky for the next two days. I checked my neighbors’ house – they’re out of state for the holidays and now trapped in the Midwest – to make sure their pipes don’t freeze. So far, so good. So far […]