Regarding the secretive Mr. X's article ["Working the Night Shift," The Commons, January] I'm not worried about "whom are you protecting" [Letters from Readers, February], but rather the precedent that you are setting. I have lots of things I'd like to comment on - anonymously! - but don't dare because of how small this community is (and my lack of a backbone).
I recall five years back the Reformer had a column where you could call in and state your opinion - anonymously - and they would print it! You finally had the voice of the working class commenting on things. I loved it! It was clear to me that working-class people don't have the time or skills to craft clever opinions on issues, and now they had a forum.
I'm not sure if it was the anonymity of the column or the ease of stating an opinion that attracted the (assumed) working-class writers, but they were clearly in my memory more conservative views than the Reformer or The Commons have. They were the voice of Vermont people without college degrees or trust funds.
So since you have set a precedent, how about it? Can I submit some secretive editorials? How about a call-in editorial line for those who "mite knot be abell to rite sew well"?...
The principal of a former student on probation for his role in a racially charged altercation at the Brattleboro Transportation Center last year says the youth broadcast a public message for no reason other than apologizing to the community for his actions. Larry C. Pratt, 18, of Guilford "knows...
A personal library of books that once served as intellectual fuel for a deeply influential economist and his linguist wife will find a new home at Marlboro College, which has received the collection of Catherine and John Kenneth Galbraith, who maintained a home in Townshend since 1947. Marlboro College...
I find it frustrating that there is always something missing from articles about the Vermont Yankee nuclear power station. We read that the Vermont legislature will vote (this session, or, perhaps more likely, in the 2010 session) about whether to allow VY to operate for another 20 years beyond March of 2012. No particular, consistent, ongoing mention is made of VY's highly radioactive waste. We read that the Vermont Public Service Board will decide whether to issue VY a Certificate...
The main message the band Jatoba brings to their audience, according to Jason Scaggs, is “just to have a good time." Scaggs describes the lineup of the local string band and the way he and his two fellow musicians, John Jamison and Jeff Richardson, create their sound. "I play guitars and banjo. John plays the mandolin, guitar, and the sitar, which is a classical Indian instrument,” Scaggs says. “Jeff plays the upright,” Scaggs continues. “As a trio we definitely strive...
I recently heard three independent filmmakers from Vermont lament both the difficulty of maintaining independence in an industry dominated by Hollywood, and the imperative to do so. Jay Craven, of Kingdom County Productions in the Northeast Kingdom, said, “We have the right to tell our own stories.” A year earlier, I'd heard John Elder, writer, teacher, and sugar-maker, speak about how commodity maple sugar operations are edging out Vermont's independent sugar makers, essentially shifting the landscape of opportunities away from...
Our new president and savior smokes. This is not good. I can picture him slipping one of his secret service agents a fin so he won't tell Michelle that he is copping a cigarette in the Rose Garden. Even then he may be taking a big chance. Would you like Michelle Obama to catch you breaking the rules? Neither would I. I would recommend that if Barack is jonesin' for a butt, he should switch to cigars. Nothing says I...
I'm no Pollyana, but I think there may actually be some hope on the horizon when it comes to health-care reform. For one thing, the system as we know it is so broken there is only one way to go, and that is toward viable systemic change that will improve access, and hopefully quality care, for measurably more people. We also have in our new leadership people who understand the issues, care deeply about them, and believe that health care...
Your article on the town meeting campaign to replace Vermont Yankee ["Voters in 45 towns statewide to discuss Vermont Yankee decommissioning," The Commons, February] fell far short of the usual standards of thoroughness and accuracy that we have come to expect of The Commons. While I am the coordinator of the Town Meeting Campaign to Replace Vermont Yankee, the fact that I am also on the board of Vermont Independent Media, the publisher of this paper, should have been reason...
On Feb. 25, the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution sponsored a talk in Brattleboro by Dr. Wilfred Eisenberg, a German pediatrician who has treated children and families who were victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. He lectures widely on the effects of nuclear energy on children. Dr. Eisenberg started by describing a normal morning in their German household when he went out to their garden to pick herbs to garnish their bread and butter. Later that day he learned...
On the heels of taking home two prizes from the New England Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest from an awards ceremony in Boston on Feb. 8, The Commons, which has served readers in Windham County since 2005 as a project of Vermont Independent Media, has relaunched its Web site, www.commonsnews.org. The goal of the new site, in limited operation since Feb. 16, is to offer more meaningful coverage in between the paper's monthly print issues, Editor Jeff Potter said. The...
As a Jew, I have long been a proponent of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And so, in the wake of the violence in Gaza, I have watched in horror as the cycle of war continues, with no end in sight. At the same time, I am deeply distressed to watch the imagery of the Holocaust become an ever-more-virulent weapon against the Jews who survived it. For the past several years, I have seen Israel likened to the...
As the days get longer, and the sun gets stronger, we may breathe a collective sigh of relief thinking that the worst of winter may be behind us. Certainly our neighbors who have spent the winter making do without a roof over their heads are looking forward to more tolerable weather. And while we should all be proud of the way our community has banded together to provide overnight shelter and hot evening meals for the homeless through the heart...
With the current economic crisis looming so large in our daily lives, let us not forget that the war in Iraq still continues. President Obama's plans for withdrawal still call for tens of thousands of troops to remain for years. As of Feb. 28, 4,253 U.S. soldiers have been killed in the war. And a recent analysis of studies by John Tirman in The Nation show that the number of Iraqi civilian casualties is around 1 million, with up to...