The Supreme Court’s June decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, allowing businesses to refuse to serve same-sex couples based on religious objections, took me back to a day in […]
Op-Eds
OP-ED
Trying to Help and Getting It Wrong
What a painted pond turtle on Mill Road taught me
Driving down Mill Road in Eastham a few weeks ago, I spotted a painted pond turtle on the pavement. Being a human who has enjoyed enough success, by my modest […]
LETTER FROM ACROSS THE POND
The Loss of Enchantment
The pink river dolphins don’t dance anymore
I think I might have been around 16 years old, so my cultural indoctrination was well underway. For years, I had been a devotee of Jacques Cousteau and his beautiful […]
KEEPING WATCH
Holtec Threatens a Common, Open-Access Resource
Reflections of a retired English teacher
We Americans, whether as individual consumers, small-business owners, or CEOs of large corporations, are locked in a free market system that rewards the exploitation of a wide swath of open-access […]
TAKING BACK CHILDHOOD
Children’s Play in Violent Times
It’s not a stretch to connect the loss of play with the rise in mass shootings
With more than one mass shooting per day since the start of 2023, many of us are asking what causes this extreme violence, most of it perpetrated by young people. […]
LETTER FROM ACROSS THE POND
The Menstrual Minstrel Visits Scotland
Jay Critchley and Lady Tampon Liberty ask, ‘Have we lost our desire for eternity?’
Scotland was the first country in the world to mandate the free provision of period products, and so it was a most fitting place for the second annual conference of […]
HEALING
Remembering a Beloved Pediatrician
A bench at the Wellfleet marina stirs thoughts of Henry Seidel
I have planted three pink geraniums in the flower box next to Dr. Henry Seidel’s memorial bench at the marina overlooking Wellfleet Harbor. They are pink because I remember Dr. […]
OP-ODE
Provincetown and the Grecian Urn Dilemma
To a troubled American, the town offers a spiritual gift
Late in Covid’s first October, my wife and I stuffed three days of provisions into a picnic cooler, downloaded two long audio books, and drove from Austin, Texas to the […]
OP-ED
There’s No Going Back
In search of recovering our ‘regular lives’
A recent exchange with a friend I hadn’t talked with in a while started in the usual way: “Hope you are doing well.” I’ve been thinking about his reply: “We’re […]
AFTER TOWN MEETING
Why We Have to Talk About Short-Term Rentals
Rebuilding a year-round community requires action on all fronts
I grew up in Provincetown and returned home last year after graduating from college. Though I had no plans to get involved in town politics or government and wondered about […]
VIEW FROM THE BALCONY
The Tornado at Town Meeting
The short-term rental clash left a bad taste in many mouths
Last week’s annual town meeting in Provincetown was a doozy — an efficient, productive one-night affair punctuated by a 90-minute tornado that swept over the warrant’s three short-term rental (STR) […]
THE SCUTTLEBUTT
The Whales and the Wind Farms
The arguments over strandings are weakened by lack of evidence
The development of offshore wind farms as a solution to our desperate need for renewable energy has become a hot topic, and endangered whales have gotten caught up in it. […]
KEEPING WATCH
Either Way: Taking a Broader View of Human Variation
Reflections of a retired English teacher
In 1969, when I was 19 and rode a motorcycle, there was a highway sign on Route 6 in North Truro alerting drivers that they could get to Provincetown by […]
OP-ED
Giving Before We Take
A prescription: notice what the trees and terns seem to know
I found myself skipping out to the mailbox on a recent bright day. Skipping is not as easy as it used to be, but the drive is long, and I […]
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Away With Me
A meditation on ‘advance planning’
I knew there were not enough dead people in Provincetown to make their disposal profitable. I discovered recently that the same is true for Wellfleet. (Forget Truro — it’s a […]
