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Israel-Palestine: In search of our shared humanity
Like so many people around the world, my family has been quietly mourning the unspeakable suffering of Israelis and Palestinians since Oct. 7. On that day, which will live in infamy as Israel’s 9/11, Hamas terrorists from the occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza murdered some 1,400 Israelis, both civilians and soldiers, and took hundreds more hostage. […]
When government works
Did you ever hear someone complain about government? Did you ever hear someone not complain about government, more like it? From the diner to the debate stage and across social media, it has become a ritual, almost reflexive, practice among Americans to pooh-pooh all things emanating from Washington, D.C. In fact, listening to the recent […]
Will America ever be a meritocracy?
When I was in high school and starting to think about college, my father told me a story about a wealthy family we knew. The parents had decided their son should attend Dartmouth College and made a $100,000 donation in advance of his application. But his academic credentials were too far off the mark and […]
Time for a ‘live free’ energy policy
I recently met with the owner of an advanced manufacturing company here in southern New Hampshire to discuss energy independence. His operation uses over 15 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year to keep the production lines humming and his more than 500 highly skilled workers employed. That’s as much electricity as roughly 2,000 New […]
The persistent and pernicious gender pay gap
Call me biased, but my daughter is clever as can be. She’s devouring chapter books and spelling up a storm at the age of 6, long before I learned to read and write. If she gets tired of her brothers buzzing around her as noisy make-believe planes and trains, all she has to do is […]
How racism hurts us all, including racists
An accomplished chef settles in New Hampshire. He breathes new life into an old diner in a struggling downtown district. Mindful of his context, he maintains the same menus and decor. The chef is “Black” but the food and vibe he is serving are “white.” Things are going fine. Five months later, in April of […]
Electric rates are spiking. Do renewables help or hurt?
Late last month, the New Hampshire Department of Energy presented a long-awaited report on the costs and benefits of local renewable energy to ratepayers. It was the latest in a long line of studies by energy regulators and analysts in other states examining the value of solar net metering on the grid. The results were […]
Serena Williams: The power, and danger, of a single story
Earlier this month, we joined with millions of other sports fans in watching Serena Williams play the final match of her dazzling tennis career at the U.S. Open. We ooh’d and ahh’d as she served up 11 aces to her opponent’s three, adding to her record stockpile of 4,131 aces since 2008 alone. We cowered […]
COVID in Black and white: A Juneteenth reflection – commentary
“When white folks catch a cold, Black folks get pneumonia.” We’ve known this old adage for years but never before did it strike so close to home as it did last month when COVID finally caught up with our interracial family. First, a little background. Since the global pandemic began in March of 2020, my […]
Maple SOS: How to save our syrup – commentary
Since before my children can remember, our family has engaged in a certain springtime ritual as authentic as New Hampshire, and older still. Sometime after Valentine’s, as the days are getting longer and the temperatures start to rise, we gather up our dented metal pails and spiles from the garage, rinse them off, and ready […]
Commentary: Commissioner Edelblut, please don’t whitewash history at our children’s expense
This month, the New Hampshire Department of Education under Commissioner Frank Edelblut released four 3-minute videos which, it claimed, “provide a robust and complete story of American history and the Black American experience.” The taxpayer-funded videos were created in partnership with “1776 Unites,” a collection of essays in the conservative Washington Examiner whose stated goal […]
Commentary: Memo to state lawmakers: If Maine can do it, so can we
This year, our family decided to cross the Piscataqua River and spend the holiday in Maine – a first for me as a committed Granite Stater. Although I maintain that New Hampshire’s mountains, moose, and maple syrup are unrivaled anywhere, I have to admit that I was impressed by Maine’s recent record on environmental protection. […]