Category Archives: Posts

Nantucket’s school-age population growing, Cape’s shrinking. What’s going on?

“School boom on Nantucket; Student population soars as immigrant population takes root.” Who knew? It was interesting to learn from Saturday’s “Cape Cod Times” front page story that while Cape schools are shrinking, part of the much-lamented youth flight, Nantucket’s are bursting at the seams. “Some public schools on Cape Cod have closed as families […]

September 15, 2014 – 10:20 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Rooting for the deadly underdogs

September averages the busiest month for hurricanes. This year, however, for the second year in a row, the news is the lack of the huge and often deadly storms. You can detect the note of disappointment as weathermen and weather journalists watch those low pressure “waves” coming off the west coast of Africa, encountering hostile […]

September 10, 2014 – 11:32 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

How badly do we want to save lives on Route 6?

Two bad Route 6 accidents in Wellfleet within three days in mid-August injured several, killed one (the second fatality in two years) and tied up traffic for hours. As we say after every such terrible accident, this is unacceptable. The next selectmen’s meeting focussed on what to about Route 6. As Rep. Sarah Peake, who […]

August 31, 2014 – 2:18 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

NStar spraying and our curious lack of curiosity

NStar, persevering in its bad neighbor policy, has publicized a list of the next victims of its herbicide spraying of plants in its power lines right-of-way. All Cape towns have officially objected to this practice, along with all our legislators, but the virtually universal condemnation falls on deaf ears. The reason for objections are clear: […]

August 21, 2014 – 7:43 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged | Comments (1)

Knowledge addiction–a problem needing a 12-step solution?

It’s a familiar scenario. Friends sitting around, question comes up: hey, what was the band in that song? What’s the name of the actress in that movie we saw the other day? and what else did she appear in? And someone is on it with the smart phone, producing relief within seconds…Ahhhh. The thirst for […]

August 12, 2014 – 2:36 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Against Civilization—really?

One of the fundamental ideas of our life, it seems to me—so fundamental that it is not so much an idea as a given, just the water we swim in—is that civilization is a good thing. Built into the definition of the word as usually employed are “ improved,” “refined,” “more highly developed.” Even “more […]

August 5, 2014 – 11:51 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Illegal Immigration: a heart problem

It’s heartening to see all the letters shaming the protestors of immigrant children being received at Camp Edwards. Clearly, for many of us, humanity trumps nationality or legality, at least for children. Our nation’s illegal immigration problem is often posed as a leaky border problem. It may be more of a heart problem. It’s not […]

July 28, 2014 – 10:42 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged | Comments (0)

WHAT-WE’RE-COMING-TO-DEPT. “Spartacus”

Late in the evening, tired, our guard down, we plop in front of the TV looking for a little entertainment. We give “Deadwood” a try. People seem to like it. This version of a frontier town has virtually everyone issuing the f-bomb every other word (surely a contemporary overlay; was vocabulary so impoverished then?). And […]

July 22, 2014 – 5:37 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Kline House: Class struggle in Truro

Truro’s protracted battle with the Klines continues. The latest chapter, reported on in the Times on July 6 is the $178,000 it has cost so far to enforce the law—that is, tear down this house declared illegal by the courts—and whether the town can afford to go on enforcing its own zoning. Christopher Lucy, former […]

July 15, 2014 – 11:11 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Michael Moore’s story of capitalism: the only one?

Speaking, as I was in a recent column, about stories of our nations’ meaning, stories we can—or cannot–imagine being taught in the schools, or without embarrassment telling our children. In 2009 I did a column about Michael Moore’s movie with the ironic title, “Capitalism: a Love story.” This movie is the most powerful and inspirational […]

July 10, 2014 – 10:39 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)