Author Archives: Brent

War between religion and secular culture

From all the emphasis on the Charlie Hebdo massacre as an attack on free speech, what’s getting lost is the reality of this as a battle in the contemporary war of secular culture vs. religion. From my admittedly incomplete perusal of online news sources, the magazine has it in for Christianity as well as Islam. […]

January 15, 2015 – 4:34 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Sharing the world with temptation

Among everybody’s New Year’s resolutions is surely turning over a new leaf on the opiate epidemic. 40 years into the War on Drugs the drugs are still winning. According to recent alarming coverage in this paper, they are on the offensive here on Cape Cod. In fact the campaign we’ve been waging on this major […]

January 8, 2015 – 8:02 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Nuclear power is dead

The most compelling argument for closing Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant for those off us nearby and downwind is that it should never have been built there in the first place with “no escape from the Cape” (and none imaginable). Although the worst case scenario is unlikely, the consequences are so devastating and terminal, it seems […]

January 1, 2015 – 2:08 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

The Christmas revolution

It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times. That paraphrase from that other Dickens novel pretty much sums up Christmastime. Christmas is full of contradictions, contrasts, conflict: some of the most dismal weather of the year vs. the demand to be jolly. The darkest month, the holiday lights. Death of the year but […]

December 24, 2014 – 2:48 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Other kinds of racism

As the supporters of Elenita Muniz suggest, there is racism beyond that overt racism of which Muniz’s outraged critics protest themselves innocent. As part of the discussion of other forms of racism, I offer the following from my racial past. In high school in the 1950s, my English teacher told a story on herself: She’s […]

December 20, 2014 – 11:27 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Orion, Apollo and the Model T

Want to know what’s weird? My 27 year-old son calls, wants to know if I’ve been watching the Orion test launch. He’s been up since seven to watch with his four year-old son. “Dad, you’ve got to see this. This Orion mission will be to our generation what Apollo was to yours.” TV coverage has […]

December 12, 2014 – 2:08 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

The politics of an apolitical movie

If you’ve been wandering around in a post-election funk, shaking your head, beseeching the heavens (Why? Why?), I’ve stumbled upon a small source of comfort. If you are seeking a clue to what seems like the maddeningly illogical Republican victory, I recommend “St. Vincent,” the feel-good Bill Murray movie appearing in local theaters. “St. Vincent” […]

December 4, 2014 – 9:30 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Black Friday eating the Thanksgiving turkey

Forget about “The dingo ate your baby.” Black Friday is eating your Thanksgiving turkey. Thanksgiving has always had an unhealthy (and lord knows unsustainable) emphasis on consumption. But there has always been, along with the gobbling, a shot at some creative ritual, an element of mindfulness, rising to the occasion with heartfelt toasts. Sure, the […]

November 29, 2014 – 9:03 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

More accidents: what’s going on?

Still more accidents on route 6, two within a couple of hours and a couple of hundred yards of each other last Saturday. Another fatality. Middle of the day, off season. Can’t blame tense tourist traffic this time. Early in the day to be driving drunk. These added to the two big ones in the […]

November 21, 2014 – 12:49 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

P’town leaders can’t afford to live in the town they lead.

After a long and exhaustive, as well as exhausting, search Provincetown recently chose a new Town Manager. But the newly anointed one turned them down. Reason? Can’t afford to buy a house in town. Couldn’t he find a cheaper place elsewhere and commute to work? Maybe, but that wouldn’t be allowed. P’town requires its town […]

November 16, 2014 – 2:18 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)