A story that has long haunted me is called to mind by recent events. In 1614, Thomas Hunt, an English explorer and trader, was ordered by his captain, John Smith […]
Op-Eds
MAKING SENSE OF MAGA
The Real American Story
The Democrats lost in 2024 because they are on the wrong side of the narrative
A lie could travel from Maine to Georgia whilst truth was drawing on her boots. —attributed to John Randolph, 1844 A friend returned from a motorcycle trip last fall and […]
OP-ART
Lady Liberty Wants to Go Home
TOUGH GUYS
On Power and Stupidity
We kids were not dumb, but we let ourselves be led
I remember hanging out on the corner with the tough guys, waving at passing cars, preening for girls, bumming Winstons, planning turf fights. Stupid stuff. I once was arrested for […]
TREES THAT FEED US
Why the Woods Must Be Burned
The National Seashore needs a fire management officer and crew
Last month, at Fort Hill in Eastham, a fire crew carried out the first prescribed burn in the Cape Cod National Seashore since 2021. It’s a moment I’ve been watching […]
INCANTATION
The Poem as the ‘Enemy of Despair’
Czeslaw Milosz knew that poets make dictators nervous
The history of the poem as an art form is very long, reaching back to at least 4000 BCE. It’s not surprising that the means by which the poem expresses […]
OP-ART
When the Sky Is Falling
BEEN THERE, DOGE THAT
Efficiency Without Effectiveness Is a Nightmare
We should be inspiring, not firing, federal workers
I will now sheepishly admit that when it was first announced, I was jealous of the DOGE — President Trump’s so-called Dept. of Government Efficiency. When I worked for the […]
OP-ART
Women Rising Up: Truth
WATERCOLOR
See Not, Hear Not, Speak Not
DISSENT
Deconstructing The Brutalist
It’s a murky, pretentious film with a tenuous Wellfleet connection
I’ve been mulling why it is that The Brutalist has captivated film critics. At three and a half hours, it’s a weighty film, and much was clearly invested in the […]
OP-ART
Hope
VOICES OF FAITH
‘Be Merciful to the Stranger’
Only as a united front can we realize Dr. King’s dream
Every day since last week’s inauguration, we have heard of the dismantling of another initiative that was put in place decades ago to end institutional racism and hiring practices that […]
OP-ED
A Night to Remember
When I moved to Wellfleet 20 years ago, I went to get a library card. The librarian volunteered a bit of local flavor to me, the newcomer. “In Wellfleet,” she […]
RECKONINGS
The Unfinished Work
Dr. King’s last question remains: ‘Where do we go from here?’
The unfinished work that Abraham Lincoln referred to in the Gettysburg Address has been on my mind lately, as have the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. […]
