Category Archives: Columns

The Declining Reputation of War [op-ed CCT 13 November 2012]

Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day; it marked the end of what was known as the World War, when it was the only one, or the Great War. The verdict is in: the Great War wasn’t worth it. At least so you’d have to conclude from its treatment in popular culture. “Downton Abbey,” the […]

November 14, 2012 – 6:35 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Contradictions of Sharing Territory [CCT op-ed, 30 October 2012]

There are so many wildlife stories in these parts this newspaper could run a whole section on the subject right along with the sports section. Whether it’s songbirds, coyotes, washed ashore dolphins, or the seals, sharks and bear that have been preoccupying us in recent months, the deep story connecting all the stories is the […]

October 31, 2012 – 6:34 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Election: Clueless on the Outer Cape [op-ed CCT 16 October 2012]

From this perch on the outer edge, America, that vast ..um…inbetweenness that separates the coasts, can look like a murky cauldron being stirred by others. Who knows whats going on in there? As I write, half the news stories are about how although there were no gaffes, no game-changing disclosures in the recent presidential debate, […]

October 17, 2012 – 10:33 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

A case for a tax break for Wellfleet’s fulltime residents? Maybe [op-ed CCT 2 Octover 2012]

Some of my best friends are non-resident taxpayers. Really. A proposal to give Wellfleet’s full-time residents a property tax break has stirred some of the most heated conversation heard around here in some t ime The relief, which would be accomplished by charging non-residents and fulltime residents at different rates, giving it a bit of […]

October 3, 2012 – 5:23 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

New challenges to schoolism [op-ed CCT 18 september 2012]

Well, back-to-school season is well-launched. The children are all back in the designated school buildings, handed off to the professional educators for another nine months. (Isn’t education a great thing; and what would we do without all that taxpayer- funded baby sitting?) The idea that it should be the fulltime job of all young people […]

September 20, 2012 – 11:30 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

911 conspiracy theory–too dangerous to believe? [op-ed CCT 4 September 2012]

“9ll truth…The Experts Speak Out,” a movie on the alleged conspiracy to cover up the truth of the 911 attacks, showed recently in the Wellfleet library. (It’s available on YouTube.) I was vaguely aware that there was some controversy but I was shocked to learn that according to reputable polls a majority of Americans don’t […]

September 5, 2012 – 10:34 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (1)

Summer magic at Newcomb Hollow; one beach, two worlds [op-ed CCT 21 August 2012]

Early summer evenings we sometimes take chairs to one of Wellfleet’s ocean beaches and perch there above the surf sipping a drink and staring out. The last of the daytime beachgoers get in their final plunges. A local comes for a ritual early evening immersion, a fisherman casts a line. Vacationers prepare fires for an […]

August 22, 2012 – 8:01 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Little town, big tourist summer op-ed CCT [7 August 2012]

Midsummer’s evening, the sounds of summer wafting dreamily over the tree tops on the warm summer southerly. It’s irresistible. We are drawn, like the kids at the Pied Piper’s piping, to the tourist life over at the harbor. This romancing of us that transforms our town each summer. And it’s a familiar refrain each year: […]

August 8, 2012 – 11:25 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Dune shacks: private use to continue [op-ed CCT 24 July 2012]

At long last, the 50 year squabble over the Provincetown dune shacks may be simmering down, with an agreement signed on May 18. To the outside observer not conversant with the issues, the conflict must seem much ado about very flimsy architecture. The term “shack” is not false modesty. “Hovel” or “hut” would do as […]

July 25, 2012 – 9:13 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Correct English: a line in the sand [op-ed CCT 26 August 2008]

I’m sitting around a fire on the beach with a couple of writer friends contemplating the end of the world. Sort of. The blaze we stare into seems a good metaphor for the voracious computerization that is consuming writing as we know it (books and newspapers and such). We lament the erosion of language itself, […]

July 20, 2012 – 12:01 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)