A year ago, as we faced the lengthening shutdown and the disappearance of what we had thought would be our first big period of growth as a young newspaper, we […]
Editorials
REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK
Tax, Build, or Say Goodbye
In September 2000, I landed in Aspen as the first snow of the year dusted the Rockies and the Cape Cod Times was finishing a series on the Cape’s affordable […]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
The Cost of Misplaced Caution
“What the hell is going on in Wellfleet?” is what we’ve heard in recent weeks from various readers. It’s a good question. We’ve tried to look into the town’s financial […]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Remembering Chuck Strum
Our friend Merrill sent us a kind note the other day about the things she enjoys in the Independent, including the obituaries. I’ve already written about why people shouldn’t have […]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Righting the Township
At the April 13 meeting of the Wellfleet Select Board, after observing that Town Administrator Maria Broadbent’s summary of a financial audit was “very alarming,” the board’s chair, Michael DeVasto, […]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
History Lessons
One of the Independent’s contributors whose work is especially enlightening is Amy Whorf McGuiggan, who writes the Graveyard Shift column. She never fails to come up with a good story […]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
The Lawyer’s Feint
Ben Zehnder is mad at me. He’s well known as the go-to lawyer around here if you need a variance, or if you have gotten into a fight with a […]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
The Art of Being Free
After we sent the paper off to the printer last week, I picked up the April issue of The Atlantic that somebody left on the kitchen counter. It was folded […]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Madam, I’m Adam
Our once-a-month crossword, by the talented Sophia Maymudes, is very popular. And so, I have begun looking into the possibility of finding some new types of puzzles or word games […]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
People, Not Numbers
My cousin David is a professional gambler. He fervently believes that every human problem can be expressed in mathematical terms, and thus solved with mathematical logic. He has been wildly […]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Sunshine Week for the Press
Two months ago, I wrote about a flap we had with the new Wellfleet town administrator, Maria Broadbent. She had given one of our reporters a hard time about releasing […]
LETTER FROM THE ARTS EDITOR
The Horror! The Horror!
Perhaps the biggest illusion perpetuated by the movie business is that film shoots — the nuts and bolts of producing movies and television — are glamorous and fascinating. In fact, […]
LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
Good Business, Bad Faith
The Independent’s mission is to produce truth-seeking reporting on the Outer Cape. But we have another purpose that extends beyond the Orleans rotary: to help change what is happening to […]
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
These Data Are Ours
Our world is built on streams of data, beaming into headsets and printers and our ever-present phones. Twitter can predict what I will read; TikTok knows how to make me […]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Helping and Hurting
Twenty-three years ago, I spent a memorable long weekend at the J. Erik Jonsson Center in Woods Hole, a classic old Cape Cod mansion with commanding views of Quissett Harbor […]
