Shouldn’t we be asked how we feel about a Town Hall lawn makeover?

An article in the “Banner” was the first this Wellfleet citizen heard of the plan to re-design Town Hall lawn. According to the story, something called the Wellfleet Arbor Committee, a private entity, took it upon itself to come up with the makeover, then brought it to the selectmen, who approved. A key point was […]

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April 7, 2017 – 2:16 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Device devotion: addiction? Or the Future?

Recently I read yet another newspaper story on parents worried about their kids’ addiction to screens. The twist in this particular story was about how parents are having a hard time maintaining credibility when they themselves spend on average nine hours a day online. Some of the families in the article arrive at a compromise: […]

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March 23, 2017 – 3:58 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged | Comments (0)

THE NORTH KOREA PROBLEM—WHAT’S THE LIBERAL SOLUTION?

A few days ago the New York Times ran a long piece on the North Korea problem ( usually characterized as rogue nation threatens US and world peace). North Korea has apparently been making impressive progress developing nuclear missiles capable of bombing the West Coast of the U.S., (Silicon Valley. Hollywood). According to the story, […]

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March 12, 2017 – 2:23 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Trump supporters: explain your complacency.

A month into the Trump p residency, his supporters have remained a mostly silent minority. When they speak it’s often to mock the alarm of crybaby liberals as hysteria, the whining of bad losers, a “perpetual tantrum,” as one local writer put it. Trump won the election, they remind us. Why are his opponents carrying […]

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March 3, 2017 – 5:32 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged | Comments (0)

Lament of a UConn women’s basketball fan

I’ve been very lucky in the sports teams that geographical proximity has given legitimate claim on my fan devotion. When I was a kid it was the Yankees in the prime of their dynasty. By the time the Red Sox finally started winning World Series I had been long installed in New England. Which residency […]

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February 20, 2017 – 1:41 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

UNDERMINING THE MARIJUANA BALLOT VOTE

It’s surprising how tolerant we seem to be of all the tinkering with the people’s decision to legalize marjjuana. The ballot measure, passed by a convincing majority of 54% to 46%, is called a “law” in a recent AP article and yet state lawmakers (and police chiefs) are treating it like a very rough draft […]

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January 16, 2017 – 4:26 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

One cheer for compartmentalism

Watching pro football is not like the ancient Romans watching gladiators killing each other in the coliseum. But it’s not so very different either. Especially now that we know the systematic, longterm, life-shortening physical toll taken on players. Nevertheless, I notice that I go on rooting for the Pats. A part of me shows up […]

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January 9, 2017 – 3:01 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Resolutions. And counter-resolutions

While a lot of us are making our annual resolutions to lose weight, the president-elect has been resolving on a larger scale. Reverse the Affordable Care Act, make climate change denial the country’s official policy, circle the wagons against the alien threat, and, in some strange dance with his Russian counterpart, take us back to […]

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January 4, 2017 – 1:24 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged | Comments (0)

Cumberland Farms winning the battle vs. Wellfleet

Maybe it’s legal. But it’s wrong. And Bad. A company shouldn’t be able to ride roughshod over the wishes of a whole town. A few years ago, Cumberland Farms petitioned the Town of Wellfleet to enlarge the existing store on Route 6 and add a gas station. At a well-attended hearing, citizens were overwhelmingly opposed […]

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December 28, 2016 – 10:18 am | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Rendering unto Trump at Christmastime

The last two years I broke with my tradition and didn’t do a holiday season column. Last year I felt I needed to write on the reaction to the Paris terrorist attacks. The year before it was a local racism issue that bumped Christmas from this space. And now, with Trump ruling our attention, my […]

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December 22, 2016 – 1:54 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , | Comments (0)