Pat Hynes: Why feminists are silent about Oct. 7 

Daniel Brown’s My Turn “Why are feminists silent about Oct. 7?” [Recorder, Jan. 4] accuses feminist activists, including those who stand for peace on the Greenfield Common and publish editorials in the Recorder, for not speaking out against the...

Paul R. Olszewski: Fiscal responsibility needed in Deerfield 

The second special election vote in Deerfield scheduled for Jan. 16 seeking approval to borrow up to $5 million through debt exclusion has caused these comments. The first vote on Dec. 5 did not approve the borrowing request. Not pleased with the...

Bill Beckett: Massachusetts should follow Maine on heat pumps

The analysis of some of the glitches Massachusetts is currently encountering in our drive to cut greenhouse gas emissions by switching to heat pumps illustrates the complexities of installing a new home heating and air conditioning system (“Public...

Eve Brown-Waite: Trashing feminists doesn’t help stop violence against women

A few questions after reading the recent My Turn disparaging Valley feminists [“Why are feminists silent about Oct. 7?” Recorder, Jan. 4]. First to the writer of that particular piece: Were you hoping to contribute anything useful to the conversation...

Judy Bennett: Consider Fresh Air Fund this summer

As far away as it seems, the summer sun will be here before we know it, and so will an incredible opportunity to make a difference in a child’s life. The Fresh Air Fund, an esteemed nonprofit organization founded in 1877, provides this opportunity by...

Randy Kehler: Leading with love

Until I’d read Sara Schley’s Jan. 2 column in the Recorder, “Planting Dates,” nothing I’d previously read or heard about the horrendous, ongoing Israel/Hamas all-out war in Gaza gave me any real hope of a possible near-term — or even longer-term — end...

Noel Gomez: Christmas dinner much appreciated

I would like to thank the South Deerfield Senior Center for the delicious Christmas dinner Chet Sokolosky delivered to me and my wife. My Christmas birthday was so much better when people like these step up. To everyone who cooked or packaged these...

Guest columnist William Lambers: Basketball can save lives from hunger again

By WILLIAM LAMBERS

Both the college and pro basketball seasons are heating up now with games every day. I was watching my alma mater Mount St. Joseph University play Bluffton University of Ohio and wondering if basketball could draw attention to global hunger. There are...

My Turn: Shaped by the stories we tell

By MARGOT FLECK

There is much talk today about “toxic masculinity,” but I wonder, is it inevitable in this competitive culture that many boys grow up emulating the most aggressive, non-empathetic men among us?Salmon Rushdie wrote: “I have always been inspired by...

My Turn: Who doesn’t want to use a walker?

By RUTH CHARNEY

Granddaughter on phone: “She’s really mad.” Daughter: “I hear her. She’s yelling.”Son on phone to sister: “What a jerk.”Grandma J: “I hate it … It’s … red. I hate it red. Send it back.”Grandma Judy is older than me and I am old. She has survived...

Louise Amyot: Time to get involved

With a new city government team newly inaugurated, hope is in the air so it seemed a good time to check out the city’s opportunities for us to get involved. A quick look at the greenfield-ma.gov website showed an impressive list of openings for...

Theodore Moser: Fear and humanity

In 1933, in his first inaugural address, Franklin Delano Roosevelt asserted, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself …” Fear can paralyze and radicalize. George Creel and Edward Bernays used the Committee on Public Information to prove this...

Elaine Fronhofer: Medicare Advantage policies put profits over people’s care

Al Norman’s Jan. 2 column “Medicare Advantage, and disadvantages” focused on an issue that other local activists, including Valley Action and allied Indivisible groups in New York, have been hard at work on for nearly a year. Thanks to his...

Esme Franklin: Column unfairly targets women

In response to Daniel Brown’s column, “Why are feminists silent about Oct.7?” Recorder, Jan. 4, the writer’s generalized accusation that feminists are committing violence against the Israeli women brutalized on Oct. 7 (or at the very least, that women...

Connecting the Dots: Climate crisis Christmas

By JOHN BOS

This Christmas past I found myself searching for light at the end of the climate crisis tunnel. It was during the week of the shortest day and longest night of the year, a time when ancient holy people lit “yule logs” to push back the darkness and...

The World Keeps Turning: The myths of the Midwest

By ALLEN WOODS

It’s near the end of pandering season in my home state of Iowa — a political season rather than a meteorological one, also occurring in New Hampshire and other states every four years. Suddenly, for a short period, a few states are awash in...

Karl Meyer: Choices in our democracy

“We the People.” Those words have defined ourselves, our collective rights and freedoms since the Constitution was signed in 1789. Though its source is unclear, I’ve always believed, “With great freedom comes great responsibility.” As the 2024...

Todd Damon: Trump is not Hitler

I feel like we are living in increasing dangerous times. The “stop Trump at all cost” movement, fueled by hate, continues to escalate its attacks on the former president.We are now being told, around the clock, that Trump is a Hitler. The same man...

My Turn: Death of children too high a price

By CLAUDIA LEFKO

The U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child issued a statement on grave violations of children’s rights in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory on Oct. 13. “We reiterate that the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) requires States...

My Turn: The heartbreak of addiction

By SUSAN AVERY

Dear Son: My December birthday came and went last week. I thought I might’ve heard from you, but I did not. And then came Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and as family and friends gathered at home to celebrate, there was something missing; I didn’t...