Jerry Markoski: Don’t submit. Resist

“Stand for something, or fall for anything.”

Columnist Daniel Cantor Yalowitz: The positive power of memory

By DANIEL CANTOR YALOWITZ

“Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us.” — Oscar Wilde

Guest columnist William Lambers: Decoration Days After Civil War Inspired Memorial Day

By WILLIAM LAMBERS

The origins of Memorial Day can be found in the hearts of grieving families after the Civil War. Casualties were felt in almost every community. While the nation healed, families were trying to cope with the devastating loss of loved ones.

Eve Brown-Waite: What’s hiding in the One Big Beautiful Bill

Hidden somewhere in the 1,000-plus page, “One Big Beautiful Bill” — among the tax breaks for billionaires, drilling and mining rights on public lands, and cuts to Medicaid and SNAP — there is also a golden ticket for Trump himself. It is here, in a section that reads, “No court of the United States may use appropriated funds to enforce a contempt citation for failure to comply with an injunction or temporary restraining order if no security was given when the injunction or order was issued ...”

Trouble Mandeson: Kudos to Valley Medical Group

Kudos to Valley Medical Group for 25 years serving the community. I’ve been a patient there for 20 years and these days it seems a privilege to have health care, much less a primary care physician with a ratio of 1,580:1 (patients:doctors) in Franklin County.

The World Keeps Turning: Another Memorial Day, and the war machine is still winning

By ALLEN WOODS

During a career spanning World Wars I and II, development of nuclear weapons in the 1940s, and the frantic arms race of the 1950s, no one knew more about the power of the U.S. military and the industries that manufactured its weapons than Dwight Eisenhower. He steadily rose through the Army ranks until his appointment as Supreme Allied Commander of all forces in Europe in WWII, and then directed the operations which finally defeated the forces of Hitler and Mussolini. He resisted calls to run for president in 1948 and became President of Columbia University instead, hoping to promote “the American form of democracy” through education, and helped establish an institute to “study war as a tragic social phenomenon.”

My Turn: The life and death of a cookbook

By SUSAN WOZNIAK

It was 1976, an election year as well as the first year of my marriage. We were to live in an apartment complex. The apartments had two bedrooms, an overly large living room, a closet disguised as a kitchen and just enough space for a table for four adults. In other words, pretty much the opposite of what I would choose. I visited on a weekend three weeks before the wedding and suggested we look in a neighborhood established during the early years of the 20th century. “But my mother picked this out for us,” he said. “A place for the elderly,” I answered.

Lawrence Pareles: Senator Schumer must step down as Senate minority leader

I’m deeply disappointed, angry, and sad about what recently happened with the U.S. government funding bill — instead of blocking the Republicans’ terrible budget bill, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer helped them pass it. This gives the Trump/Musk administration free rein to continue dismantling our federal government for another six months without getting anything in return. Sen. Schumer should step aside as leader. And every Democrat in the Senate should tell him to step down now while they make plans for new leadership. I’m seeing our democracy slipping through our fingers, and want the Democratic Party to fight harder before it’s too late. So I’m calling on Senate Democrats to elect a leader who will stand firm to stop the Trump/Musk takeover.

Margaret Smith: Helping our immigrant neighbors

In his May 17 column titled, “Paths to advocate for humane treatment of immigrants,” writer Judson Brown tells us ways we can be helpful to our immigrant neighbors, including recent refugees. Brown reports that, under Trump, federal funds have been cut off to the three local agencies that led resettlement efforts for refugees — Ascentria Care Alliance (a Lutheran organization), Catholic Charities, and Jewish Family Services of Western Massachusetts. Brown highlights some of the groups who have arrived recently and have been living here legally, and he points out the Trump administration’s “systematic effort to destroy seemingly almost all sanctioned pathways to legal residency by folks seeking a better life here.”

My Turn: Retirement planning

By AMHAD ESFAHANI

In the first class on the first day of the first semester of my first year of college, wisdom itself spoke to me in the guise of a quirky, bald professor. Sociology 101, or so it would seem, typically sets the stall out for many a wannabe political theorist, but on this occasion, I was told that my generation would inherit the earth. Well … maybe not in so many words, but here’s the short version.

Peter Stevens: Silence on war in Gaza a betrayal of humanity

Shame on the United States for its deafening silence in the face of the ongoing savage and relentless war being waged against Palestinians in Gaza. As the world witnesses the ever-mounting civilian casualties, the wanton destruction of homes, hospitals, and schools, the withholding of food aid, and the desperate cries of the Palestinian people, the U.S. government’s refusal to speak out or act decisively is a stain on its conscience and its global standing.

Miriam and Mike Kurland: Our congressional delegation must fight for everyday people

We are writing to urge elected officials to do everything in their power to protect everyday people in our community instead of enabling President Donald Trump's tax breaks for billionaires and corporate polluters.

Karl Meyer: Shocked by SWAT team response

I was shocked seeing half a dozen fully-outfitted SWAT team members pointing automatic weapons and moving on a local home in the Recorder. There’d been a break-in with an alertly responding occupant quickly escaping; stating they’d seen a weapon. That lengthy vigil ended with tear gas and the suspect in custody.

Shirley Majewski: Dog shelter in Deerfield

I had to laugh when I read about the protest from the neighbors on Plain Road East in South Deerfield about the traffic concerns and noise. We also live in South Deerfield on a street with three houses and get over 1,000 cars, trucks, buses, and farm vehicles daily plus we have noisy AMTRAK.

My Turn: Investing in the common good: Why funders back AmeriCorps

By PHILLIP RINGWOOD

At a time when our country faces increasing inequality, growing instability, and the weakening of social ties, it’s easy to despair at the scale of the challenges. But for those who believe in the power of collective effort, AmeriCorps offers a solution for progress.

My Turn: Gov. Healey makes an undemocratic wrong turn

By ANN DARLING

I’ve gotta hand it to Gov. Maura Healey. She’s running a sharp strategy to get nuclear power back in the mix of Massachusetts power sources.

Pushback: 50 ways to site your solar

By AL NORMAN

A year ago, state Sen. Jo Comerford sent a letter to the Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, regarding energy infrastructure siting and permitting.

My Turn: Let Americans choose clean energy

By JOHANNA NEUMANN

Wind and solar power reduce our dependence on polluting fossil fuels, with big benefits for our environment and health. That’s why it’s welcome news that Massachusetts ranked 5th in the nation for electric vehicle charging ports and 11th for solar generation at the end of 2024. Here in the Bay State, and in fact, across the country, renewable energy technologies have grown rapidly over the past decade.

Norman Schell: Reparations? Let the Democratic National Committee pony up!

John Brown, speaking at his trial for treason in fomenting a “slave rebellion” in 1859: “I am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done.”

My Turn: A year after UMass’ mass arrests, the damage lingers

By NANCY E. GROSSMAN

In the end, the dispute came down to about 15 tents and a fence loosely constructed of wooden pallets that had collectively been up for less than a day. But this small encampment was enough to trigger an ill-considered decision by first-year UMass Amherst Chancellor Javier Reyes that cost taxpayers more than half a million dollars and drove a likely permanent wedge between the administration and some of the UMass community.