By Jim Heffernan Neoliberalism is a name for the general policy of cutting taxes, cutting regulation, and cutting benefits that has infected us for the last 50 years. It has transferred a…
Category: Guest Column
WORDS OF WISDOM: Searching for Truth
OIOpublisher By Neal Lemery I keep learning the important lessons of life, again and again. My guardian angel must think I’m a difficult student–certainly a stubborn one. A recent news story caught…
I’ve been thinking … about whooping cough, vaccines & family history
By Jim Heffernan I’ve been thinking about whooping cough (pertussis), vaccines and family history a lot lately. I was reminded of whooping cough by a newspaper story about how whooping cough cases…
BOOK REVIEW: The Serviceberry – Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer
By Neal Lemery This brand new book is a delightful and fresh look at our relationship with nature and with ourselves. It explores the idea of a gift economy, rather that the…
Heard on the Bench: “America Isn’t Ready for a Woman President.”
By Jim Heffernan I’ve spent most of my “bench time” this summer and fall at the Democrats office in town. Most of the conversations I had were with like-minded people who were…
BOOK REVIEW: The Truth About Immigration by Zeke Hernandez
By Jim Heffernan This is an excellent book written by a man who immigrated here from Uruguay in 2000, riding on a student scholarship and visa. He pursued his education earning a…
BOOK REVIEW: Civil Unity – A Radical Path to Transform Our Discourse, Our Lives and Our World
By Jim Heffernan Laura recommended this book to me and decided to give it a try. I was slow to warm to the book, but I grew to love it. I believe…
I’ve been thinking … About the election
By Jim Heffernan I’ve been thinking a lot about the presidential election that just happened. I’m gob smacked! I was expecting the opposite result. I should have known. I saw it happen…
WORDS OF WISDOM: Finding Some “Me Time”
By Neal Lemery November seems to have moved in like the frenzied autumn storm of a few nights ago, foreshadowing the arrival of the season. The days and weeks this past month…
TRYING TO SEE: Hey, How’d We Get Here?
By Michael Randall In 1911, German-born sociologist Robert Michels described what he called “the Iron Law of Oligarchy” to which all human societies must succumb, including representative democracies like our own. The…