Education Trifecta
Every day I receive emails about education issues from a variety of sources. But it’s not everyday that I receive links to three articles that spark the outrage and amazement I felt last Monday. It…
Category: Op/Ed by Gorrell
Three Cheers for Stigma and Shame
Started my life in an old, cold, rundown tenement slum My father left, he never even married Mom I shared the guilt my mama knew So afraid that others knew I had no name I…
Just Say No To “Newspeak”
That thought ran through my head while I endured a day-long training session on addiction and recovery. I remembered our former First Lady’s anti-drug campaign slogan: “Just Say No.” The trainer did a good job…
Sowing & Reaping
Question: What do actress Lori Loughlin, Sara Lawrence College administrators, and the government of Finland have in common? Answer: They are current reminders of the eternal wisdom found in the Bible. Specifically, Galatians 6:7: Be…
Ax The Tax
Even the Father of this Country doesn’t get his own holiday. Although Washington’s Birthday is still listed on the official federal government holiday calendar, the Uniform Monday Holiday Act implemented in 1971 moved the celebration…
The Economics Of Hate
In Econ 101, students (with the notable exception of New York’s “It-Girl” politician, who clearly slept through that class at Boston University on her way to a cum laude B.A. in economics and international relations),…
Going Postal
One good thing about the Post Office — it’s over 200 years old and yet it’s never been hindered by progress. That’s a tired, old joke on a soft target. But as with any good…
Harper’s Folly
Had he not been eaten, the boy who cried “Wolf!” would have grown up to be a meteorologist. Winter storm “Harper” was a bust. Predictions of 1-2 feet of snow made over days as the…
Fergus Falls, Revisited
Kids today might not believe that once upon a time people used encyclopedias – volumes of books often a decade old – to look up information about people, places, or things.Way back in 1977 the…
Hunting For Civility
You’ve reached a certain age – or at least a certain level of crankiness – when your rants start off with “I’m old enough to remember when…” I say that more often these days. It’s…
The Midterms: A Postmortem
America was born of revolution and hardened by a bloody civil war that moved us closer to the ideal of a more perfect union. We saved the world by defeating Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, and…
Shocked, Shocked Over Electricity
It’s never a good sign when a newspaper article starts out like a magician’s act. Journalists should not imitate the art of the illusionist; namely distraction and trickery to make the audience believe the unbelievable.Last…
Lessons Of Innocence
Leave it to Senate Democrats to degrade the proceedings of the “World’s Greatest Deliberative Body” beyond their 1991 low-point discussing “pubic hair on a Coke can.” When the stakes are high, Democrats go low. Advice…
Killing The Golden Goose
Two weeks ago in this space I asked, “What’s the Matter with New Hampshire?” The question was aimed at unhappy and confused Republican voters who, according to a poll, thought it would be a good…
What’s the Matter With New Hampshire?
by Ken Gorrell,Weirs Times Contributing Writer In his 2004 best-seller, What’s the Matter with Kansas?, Thomas Frank questioned the sanity of social-conservative voters who, he contended, voted against their economic best interests by voting for…