Opinion

The World Keeps Turning: Follow the money

07-04-2025 5:00 PM

By ALLEN WOODS

In the movie dramatizing the Watergate scandal, a secretive informant meets a reporter in a dark parking garage and advises him to “follow the money” in order to unravel the mystery involving a botched robbery directed by Richard Nixon’s White House. The actual events (testimony from White House lawyers, a mysterious 18-minute gap in the Oval Office tapes when the crisis was discussed) might have been even more sensational than the movie, but the movie phrase had legs. It is now a directive for understanding controversial government and business actions.


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My Turn: Dalai Lama an inspiration at 90

07-03-2025 9:40 AM

By TSULTRIM DOLMA

I want to say happy 90th birthday to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, whose birthday is July 6. He has been my inspiration since I first went with my father on a religious pilgrimage to Lhasa, Tibet, at about age 7 in the early 1980s. It took us about three months to walk there from our village in the Khampa region of eastern Tibet. When we got inside the Jhokang Temple, I was truly amazed to see huge statues and also pictures on a wall of the Dalai Lama and other religious leaders.


Guest columnist William Lambers: Celebrate America by saving our humanitarian tradition

07-03-2025 9:39 AM

By WILLIAM LAMBERS

One of the great things to celebrate about America is our tradition of generosity in feeding the hungry. We are the nation that has saved millions of lives from starvation going back decades. When there are cries for help from abroad, we take action.


My Turn: We’re so much better than this

07-03-2025 9:38 AM

By ALAN HARRIS

Welcome back to the dystopian present. While you were out, I began to lose my senses in a vast dysphoria of events ranging from descriptions of non-livable conditions in supposed migrant detention centers. Stephen Miller wants 3,000 victims plucked from the fields and warehoused in unlivable conditions: packed together on floors, inadequate health care, “the worst conditions…” It’s another big example of the problem. Violence against the innocents. I tried to imagine what it was like and had to stop. The New York Times article describes “one toilet for 35 to 40 men, who had no privacy.” That’s what’s happening.


Charlie Hale: The cost of cutting science — empty shelves

07-03-2025 9:37 AM

Picture this: you’re in the grocery store, a few years in the future. The shelves in the produce section are sparse — wilted lettuce, knobby potatoes, and withered corn look like the best options. Apples, oranges, and bananas have disappeared entirely. And your cherished coffee beans? You’d have to take out a second mortgage to afford them.


My Turn: Bankruptcy reinforces importance of buying local

07-02-2025 2:13 PM

By ANNA MAUNZ and CHRIS REID

Since we built our first greenhouse in 2013, Bare Roots Farm has grown from a seedling of a dream into a sustainable family business tucked into the hills of western Massachusetts. We’ve hauled plants to and from farmers’ markets and garden centers while pregnant, through life with small children, and while juggling other midwifery and carpentry jobs to make ends meet — because our neighbors and customers kept telling us our seedlings were worth it. You saw value in what we grew, and that faith pushed us through the lean years. That faith enabled us to pivot during the pandemic to sell only from our farmstand and to local garden centers and co-ops.


Columnist Joanna Buoniconti: The value of the simplest moments

07-02-2025 11:53 AM

By JOANNA BUONICONTI

Every summer, usually towards the beginning of June, my close family and I embark on a week-long excursion to the beach. The people included in this exclusive list are: my mom, my mom’s partner, grandma, my three cousins from Texas — how many of them that come each year varies — and my aunt. We cram into one house, there are bodies everywhere, and no one has nearly enough personal space.


My Turn: Questions of self-expression

07-02-2025 11:53 AM

By JOHN CLARK

The June 28 Recorder feature “LIFE’S A DRAG!” was interesting. I believe everyone deserves the right to express themselves, yet this right comes with the responsibility of considering potential consequences. My 80 years have shown me that multiple truths often exist side by side; life is unavoidably complex. Before I address the subject of drag queens, I’d like to offer my perspective as someone who for decades has lived outside the box.


Pushback: No (French) King protest

07-01-2025 5:43 PM

By AL NORMAN

One of the most controversial strips of land in Franklin County is the Route 2A/French King Highway. Walmart, the retail king, lost two superstores on the French King. Greenfield Town Council in 1993 created a “green entryway” corridor overlay to “minimize strip development and traffic congestion.” Decades later, it was shrunk to almost nothing as part of a deal to build a new public library.


Lillian Cartwright: What's in a name?

07-01-2025 5:41 PM

Plenty. On June 27, 2025, President Donald Trump's Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth changed the name of U.S. Navy Ship Harvey Milk to U.S. Navy Ship Oscar V. Peterson. Harvey Milk you will remember was a gay activist and the first openly gay person to serve on the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco. He and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated on Nov.  27, 1978 by a fellow supervisor, Dan White. The back story on Harvey Milk's life underscores how egregious the name change is.


Jeremy Williams: Whatever happened to truth?

07-01-2025 5:41 PM

Remember the day when truth actually mattered? Well, apparently those days are long gone. It has been proven that if you continue to lie to someone over and over, they eventually start to believe it. I know this is true, and here's the proof: Donald Trump is currently sitting in the White House. Considering he lied 30,000 times his first time around says a lot about little human minds. These were all fact-checked lies, so he gets a pass on none of them. So let that sink in for a moment. We recently watched as 77,000,000 people voted for a proven chronic liar He lied to their faces constantly, yet this is their man. Truly mind-boggling as to how many souls are lost.


My Turn: Fireworks a health hazard

07-01-2025 5:39 PM

By TOM NEILSON

With all of the research on the public health dangers of air pollution that has been submitted to and shared with the Board of Licensing Commissioners (BLC) and Fairgrounds management (FM) over the last two years, I don’t understand the reasoning behind again siting fireworks in the middle of a residential neighborhood on July 4. This exposes everyone downwind to toxic air.


Erdmute White: Puffer’s Pond

06-30-2025 11:29 AM

It is hot and people look for relief and it is difficult to find a refuge. Puffer’s Pond is neglected by the town of Amherst. The “no swimming” signs from last year were still on their posts. There are no trash cans close to the beach area and the littering has begun. Dogs are a constant issue, they defecate and pee where people will put their blankets. Dogs also get into dog fights, like last evening. Loud music is played whenever.


Todd Damon: Purity spiral theory on display

06-30-2025 11:29 AM

Victim culture and the “woke” purity spiral that has swept the nation and helped to destabilize communities is running out of gas. The vast majority of Americans can’t distance themselves fast enough. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a purity spiral is a theory where increasingly extreme views and behaviors are rewarded, while nuance and dissenting opinions are punished. This moral feeding frenzy along with horrible policy ideas united Americans against this radical craziness.


My Turn: The endurance of truth

06-30-2025 11:27 AM

By EDWARD DOWD

Recently an acquaintance told me an unusual story about a local elementary school student being allowed, during class, to identify as (act like) a pet cat. The acquaintance went further to marvel at how the school was allowing the child to use a litter box. He reported that his source (a woman in a local barber shop) had firsthand knowledge of this as her daughter “knew” the female student involved. After making this report my neighbor shook his head in disbelief and said, “can you believe they allow that?”


My Turn: Somerville gets it wrong on battery storage

06-30-2025 11:24 AM

By MICHAEL DECHIARA

In his June 18 column on battery energy storage systems (BESS), Joe Curtatone seeks to establish his community credibility, claiming that he understands local needs since he was mayor of Somerville [“Renewable energy and battery storage is the affordable choice for families. How do we get it right?”]. Unfortunately, the author misses the mark because he doesn’t know western Massachusetts communities and what underlies our concerns about the siting of energy storage systems. Further, some of his claims are inaccurate and insulting to those of us working for the best future for our communities.


My Turn: Resignation, Juneteenth departure explained

06-29-2025 12:00 PM

By MPRESS BENNU NEMBHARD

To the wonderful citizens of Greenfield: Greetings! My name is Mpress Bennu Nembhard, and I would like to clarify the events that occurred on Saturday, which led me to resign from the Human Rights Commission and discontinue my involvement with Juneteenth (under Moving Mountains Media). As most of the community knows, I am the president/CEO, marketer, producer, facilitator, and sole brain power behind the Greenfield Juneteenth Celebration, which has taken place for the past four years. What started as an idea has grown into a community event that isn’t only recognized in Franklin County but now throughout the Pioneer Valley. In the four years we have had entertainers and vendors from Hampden and Hampshire counties, Vermont, New York, and New Jersey. But most importantly, Greenfield Juneteenth gained attention throughout the Pioneer Valley because it showed who we are as a community and how we have evolved by being the only Juneteenth celebration in Franklin County.


My Turn: ‘A republic, if you can keep it’

06-28-2025 9:04 PM

By DANIEL A. BROWN

(The Scene: Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1776)


My Turn: Feeding the hungry a sacred obligation

06-28-2025 9:03 PM

By RABBI JAMES GREENE

“Breadline Blues” — one of the haunting anthems of the Great Depression — tells the story of a man who saw all of his fellow “good folks” in distress at the changing economic collapse. The person in the story is an everyman; a worker looking for a better life who even after all his efforts is still stuck in a breadline. His story echoes from our past to this moment, as Congress considers deep cuts to food-assistance programs that millions of Americans rely on today.


My Turn: It’s time for reusable take-out containers

06-27-2025 1:40 PM

By DARCY DUMONT

Though much could be said about the Trump administration’s retreat from climate action and the disappearance of funding to state and local governments, there is still a lot we can do on a local level without needing any government action or funding.


Your Daily Puzzles

Cross|Word

An approachable redesign to a classic. Explore our "hints."

Flipart

A quick daily flip. Finally, someone cracked the code on digital jigsaw puzzles.

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Chess but with chaos: Every day is a unique, wacky board.

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Align the letters in just the right way to spell a word. And then more words.


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