Voter turnout for elections is alarmingly low, sometimes so low that it brings into question whether those elected can really claim to represent the people. Why is that? What is going on that dissuades eligible voters from bothering to show

Everbody stops doing whatever they’re doing and stands silently for two minutes once a year on November 11, or on whatever day near that date is convenient for such a disruption of their activities. Usually there are bugle calls, flag

Two weeks ago, in a 12-to-6 vote, the mayors of MRC Pontiac passed a motion to contract a consulting firm to produce a business plan for Pontiac’s proposed garbage incinerator project. Of the $120,000 contract, $100,000 was drawn from MRC

At the regular public meetings of MRC Pontiac’s Council of Mayors, there is a section of the agenda dedicated to mayors providing updates on current and upcoming events and activities in their respective municipalities. In the October meeting, a common

With ongoing wars worldwide, soaring grocery prices, impossible housing costs, disillusioned youth, political dysfunction, and linguistic and religious intollerance, it’s easy to get caught up in the news and social media negativity and too easy to let ourselves get trapped

Increasingly in our society, the norm is becoming “instant outrage” in so many situations. They are banning books: people get outraged. They are not banning books: people are outraged. People get outraged because they heard other people are outraged and

For some in this world, having fertile soil capable of producing food would be unimaginable. Access to fresh, drinkable water would be a blessing. Electric lights would seem like a miracle. In parts of the world, things that seem commonplace

This is National Newspaper Week, and it arrives at a time when newspapers are in crisis. Communities across the country are waking up to the news that their local paper has closed up shop, once and for all. Just as

A local farmer once told me the story of how his ancestors came to be here. As I remember it, his great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was awarded a plot of land after the area was surveyed in the 1830s. The man set off

Long before the company formerly known as Facebook appropriated the term “Meta” as its moniker, it meant something more. Or, at least, it was supposed to. Meta meant the explicit details within the margins. The family birthdays written in the