Opinion
Column: Accountability for evangelical sexual predation
By Randall Balmer
Public disgust over the scourge of sexual assault in religious institutions has focused on the Roman Catholic Church, and not without reason. But sexual impropriety has infected other religious groups as well, including those associated with...
Forum, Feb. 23: Introducing Rocket for Hartford Selectboard
Introducing Rocket for Hartford SelectboardI’m writing regarding my candidacy for Hartford Selectboard.I hear that people are curious, and I understand why. Who is Rocket? Is this a prank? Who is this person? I’d have the same questions!In 2015, I...
Column: Gathering under one small star
By MARY K. OTTO
This is what I know: On a cold, sunny morning a few weeks ago when I had returned from my walk, I brewed coffee and brought breakfast to my writing table, as I do nearly every morning. I had been immersed for several weeks in the collection 100 Poems...
Column: The wit and wisdom of Louie Gohmert
By RANDALL BALMER
Louie Gohmert, Republican member of Congress from Texas, announced last week that he was giving up his seat to run for attorney general in Texas.At the very least, this should be entertaining.Gohmert is widely considered the dumbest member of Congress...
Column: The vicious hit that changed football
By RANDALL BALMER
Oct. 20 marks the 70th anniversary of one of the ugliest chapters in the desegregation of college football.In many ways football was ahead of other team sports in North America in racial integration. At the professional level, Charles W. Follis became...
Forum, Aug. 27: Metastatic prostate cancer can be tamed
Metastatic prostate cancer can be tamedTouched as I was by staff writer Anna Merriman’s story of Paul Wildasin’s life as a father, theologian, environmentalist and Woodstock community member, I was pained to learn that he died of metastatic prostate...
Column: Inside the Mormon money machine
By RANDALL BALMER
James Huntsman wants his money back. We’re not talking here about a refund for a defective car battery or food processor. We’re talking about millions of dollars that Huntsman claims to have donated to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
Column: Assault on public education shifts to the states
By RANDALL BALMER
For those of us who care passionately about public schools, the departure of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education comes as a relief. Unfortunately, due to the Supreme Court’s misguided Espinoza v. Montana decision, defenders of public education...
Column: The lessons of the pulling boat
By WILLEM LANGE
Foghorn? Right here! Give it a toot; make sure it’s working. Thank you. Bilge pump? Port side of centerboard trunk. Is it working? I don’t know. Two plastic buckets? Right here! Fill one of ’em to check if the bilge pump’s working. Good. Charts?And so...
Jim Kenyon: Controversial alumnus, donor puts a black mark on Dartmouth College
By JIM KENYON
When I saw a construction crew toiling away this summer on the facade of the Black Family Visual Arts Center in Hanover, my spirits soared.Could Dartmouth actually be removing the Black name from one of its leading downtown buildings?No such luck.On...
Column: Why Belleau Wood matters
By MADELEINE JOHNSON
On Nov. 11, 2018, President Donald Trump was scheduled to observe the centenary of World War I’s armistice in the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial, where the dead of the Battle of Belleau Wood are buried. At the time, I and a dozen other...
Column: High school hallways may be a danger zone
By PAUL KEANE
Every year for 25 years I spent 189 days inside a school building. That’s 4,725 days, according to my calculator. So I’m familiar with the territory. That’s why I’m concerned about bringing students back to school when the COVID-19 shutdowns finally...
Column: Those liberal Southern Baptists
By RANDALL BALMER
The Southern Baptist Convention has gone liberal. That’s the message of a new, insurgent group of right-wing Baptists called the Conservative Baptist Network of Southern Baptists. This group of pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention announced the...
Editorial: Walmart strains police resources
Walmart’s blue-light special is no bargain for either shoppers or taxpayers. Unlike Kmart’s iconic old promotion, the Walmart blue-light special, which is being rolled out in the Upper Valley and across the country by the end of this month, does not...
Column: Revival or rerun? Return of the televangelists
By RANDALL BALMER
In case you hadn’t noticed, the televangelists are back. They may be less obvious than before, because they have taken advantage of a fractured media landscape. Whereas during their earlier heyday, the 1980s, they competed in a less crowded field and...
Column: Remember the true meaning of Memorial Day
By MEAGHAN MOBBS
If you’ve lost someone to war or conflict, every day is a kind of Memorial Day. For the rest of us, once a year we are called upon to actively honor the sacrifice of our uniformed men and women who’ve died in service to our nation.People have a...
Column: Is anyone truly a native of anywhere?
By MICKI COLBECK
Last month I wrote a piece for the Valley News called “Snow labors; or, becoming a Vermonter.” Not surprisingly, a few emails arrived attempting to educate me about who can be called a Vermonter. All good-natured, they were written by people who had...
Editorial: The lingering damage of an old criminal record
Before he became a country music superstar, singer and songwriter Chris Stapleton was in a bluegrass band called The SteelDrivers. Several songs on their first two albums involved young men interacting, not happily, with the criminal justice system....
Column: The Men Killed on a Single, Bloody Day in Vietnam, and the Haunting Wall That Memorializes Them
Joel Achenbach
John H. Anderson Jr. had just turned 20 years old when he arrived in Vietnam on the last day of April in 1968. Like so many of the 500,000 Americans who served in Vietnam in 1968, he’d been drafted.The young soldier, who lived in Wellsville,...
Column: The Rise of Fascism in 1930s America
Seva Gunitsky
The violent white nationalist rally in Virginia has reawakened simmering fears of American fascism. But the roots of these feelings — and the militant organizations that promoted them — did not begin with the election of President Trump. The last time...
