Category Archives: Posts

New Citizen life being born in Wellfleet?

Something new, an unprecedented form of citizenship, may be taking shape in Wellfleet, the Little Town That Could. It’s not clear even to those who are part of its emergence (including this writer) what this new thing is, or might be. At this point it could go in any of several directions, become this or […]

Nukes and tourism

Have nuclear power plants have begun to have an effect on tourism? I’m not just talking about Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, or Fukushima; I’m not aware that any of them were big tourist destinations even before their disasters. My wife and I have spent time in France for many years. I’ve always loved the French […]

124: older can be better

Congratulations to Harwich on defeating the initiative to “improve” Route 124. A predictable reaction to the decision in a letter to this paper complained that the existing road is scandalously old, dating back to the 1920s. Sometimes we carelessly use “older” as a metaphor for incompetent, as if newer always means better. But the argument […]

Iraq : once more unto the breach? (seriously?)

To intervene or not to intervene. It’s one of the great issues of our time for the few countries powerful enough to consider such a thing. But Iraq for a third time? This should be an easy decision. Iraq’s history is once again not going the way we’d like it to go (those of us […]

Community Policing: problem concept?

On June 16th (7 pm, Senior Center) Wellfleet will hold a forum on “community policing.” It’s a well-intentioned effort to address current concerns about our town’s policing, “worrisome incidents” as one citizens put it. But the very concept is a problem. According to Wikipedia, “Community policing, or community-oriented policing, is a strategy of policing that […]

Cops and community: what style of policing do we want?

It’s not a rumor that there are rumors going around town that our police are getting tougher, more zealous. Overly zealous. I have no personal experience of this myself, but the rumors probably don’t come from nowhere. What is being alleged is conceivable. And if true, it raises issues that should be addressed at the […]

The human interest of the Tiger Woods saga

The Tiger Woods story—it’s not about golf. It’s a sports story but not only a sports story. It’s also one of the great human stories of the past couple of decades: the Tiger Woods miracle—and now, in a way just as compellingly, its apparent collapse. It’s hard to think of anyone who has achieved such […]

Lifespan statistics: we’re kidding ourselves

There’s a lot discussion these days, as boomers hit retirement age, about how boomers have a whole other phase of life to look forward to, a whole new shot, time for second careers, and so on. Many more years than their parents or grandparents of serious living. All such upbeat talk starts with the premise […]

Harwich beachfront owners may be legal but they’re wrong

I’m sorry to see Harwich town meeting decide not to defend traditional public access to Bay View Road beach. It’s hard for a town to go up against the determined wealthy and their lawyers. It would in any case have been a tough fight in the courts. Owners have sought to restrict public use of […]

Battle of the billionaire titans

One email response to my recent column lamenting our democracy morphing into oligarchy (plutocracy, corporatocracy, what have you) went, more or less: Hey Mr. leftwing columnist, how come you’re complaining about Koch brothers money playing a role in government? There are plenty of rich progressives throwing their money’s weight around. What about them, hunh? And […]