Opinion
We are all broken. Some have just a dent in the fender; others need a whole new transmission. We are dinged, bent, damaged, hurt, cracked, confused, crushed and cut to the quick. Because life will sometimes do that to you - to me - to all of us. It changes us. It challenges us. It tosses us into the deep dark waters during a violent tempest because we were meant to whirl with the waves and experience the storm. And the storm changes us in ways we never would have imagined. It leaves us broken - in tiny or all-encompassing ways. We often try to hide this. The broken pieces that reside within us. But people are smart. They see through our forced smile, our tra...
When my kids were little, they often came to me with “what ifs.” What if the school bus starts to fly? What if we ate dessert first? What if God never invented rabbits? Or ice cream? Or trees? Or bikes? Or the rain? What if my hair turned into spaghetti noodles? What if all the gra...
Editor, Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s been rather hot of late. True, not record-breaking heat as in California and Nevada, but still, unusual for its tenacity. This is pretty much what scientists have been telling us to expect as we continue to emit carbon-trapping gasses into t...
Editor, Paper maps are passe. Or are they? The Heritage Foundation, under head Kevin Roberts, produced a 920-page road map outlining a radical agenda for Christian nationalism. Far from “conservative,” it calls for the dismantling of our institutions by the mass firing of civil servants, repla...
As a parent, grandparent, and advocate for public education, I am urging you to support Shannon O’Brien for Superintendent of Schools. Shannon is the only candidate who can bring the change we desperately need to support our teachers, parents, and students. Under Elsie Arntzen’s leadership, Mo...
As hard as I try, in the privacy of my own being, not to get caught up in the scathing absurdities of the moment — e.g., the presidential election, America’ looming fascism, our love of money and war (to name a few) — yikes, here I am, caught up in it all. And all I can do is reach for a...
Editor, Our nation is at a point of desperation. We could be losing our democracy, our personal freedoms, and our country’s values. We are facing the possibility of falling under a dictatorial form of government. As I write this, Donald Trump seems to be the Republican candidate for president who...
My grand daughter likes to watch a certain movie - over and over again. In it, the protagonist belts out a message in song: Let it go. There’s lots to be learned from Elsa. We should all be better at simply letting it go. Letting things go. Letting the past go. Forgive. Forget. Lik...
Editor, Fake News: The “new newspaper” suddenly appearing in our mailboxes is fake news personified. You’ve seen it. “The Montana Independent” is a new monthly “Montana” paper. Umm? It comes from DC, not Montana. And lo and behold a quick search will tell you it i...
When my kids were babies, I took lots of photos – always hoping to get the one perfect shot. This was during the prehistoric, pre-digital age, when cameras required film and film required developing. You couldn’t take a million pictures and preview them on your screen. You had to send them away a...
