Opinion
From ed to op-ed and beyond.
Browse all Opinion stories below or dive into a topic:
HISTORY OF SCIENCE
How Critical Race Theory Explains a Harvard Professor’s Error
Reflections of a retired English teacher
In June 1935, Wellfleet summer resident Carleton Coons, a Harvard University professor and archeologist, helped supervise the excavation of Native American remains, stone weapons, and shell fragments in the Hemenway’s […]
TEACAKE’S TAKE
Conservation
LETTER FROM THE ARTS EDITOR
Self-Editing
I was always taught that a good writer takes a complex topic and reduces it to its most essential elements. Working at the Independent, I’ve learned that a good editor […]
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters, July 1, 2021
From Ronald R. Fichtner, Ronald A. Gabel, Mike Rice, and David Pines
About Those CDC Data To the editor: Your June 10 Letter from the Editor [“The CDC’s Garbage Data”] could have benefited from more far-reaching explanatory and investigative journalism. Like all […]
QUEER ‘I’
My Own Private Stonewall
52 years later, the spirit of rebellion lives on
I’ve always best expressed my personal take on life through the movies I’ve watched — a quirk of memory rooted in my media-obsessed consciousness. For example, there’s a scene in […]
SKETCHBOOK
Juneteenth in Provincetown
VIGNETTE
Going Out Again
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Blessing the Fleet
A tradition that still has meaning in this town
The things we celebrate reveal a great deal about us: who we are or who we would like to be. This weekend is the Portuguese Festival and the Blessing of […]
OP-ED
Alloparenting and Survival
An evolutionary perspective on cooperative caregiving
Surrounded by juveniles, that’s what we are. Whether it’s the ruffled chickadee balancing on the railing or the catbird that can’t stop singing. One of the thrilling things at this […]
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Drama on the School Field
We have not one but two of our annual town meetings happening this Saturday, in Wellfleet and Truro, so fans of pure democracy will have to choose which one to […]
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters, June 24, 2021
From John Cumbler, Dennis Clark, and Steven Thomas Oney
Don’t ‘Go Paperless’ To the editor: In the midst of the confusion caused by the Covid virus and Wellfleet’s financial muddle, someone in town government forgot to notice that the […]
STEAMERS
Lobsterman Roll
Juneteenth: A True Story
THE YEAR-ROUNDER
Grave Thoughts
A composition on the inevitability of decomposition
The weather was strange that March day I first visited my future grave. The morning was clear and balmy, but by afternoon the sky had turned steel gray, and, as […]
