I’ve recently returned from several weeks in France, attending the World Conservation Congress. Before departure, I applied to have my analog proof of vaccination — a CDC card — converted to a French pass sanitaire. I received a QR code which I then stored in a special mobile phone app…

Name an intense feeling and I’ve had it this week. A recent study describes 27 distinct categories of emotion, listed below. Since the polls began closing on November 3rd, 2020, I’ve been cycling through most of them. Admiration — Reporters are working overtime, seem to be tireless, and project calm…

If this isn’t robocalling why do I feel like an automatron? For seasonal volunteers working to get out the vote, and their unwitting victims. “Hi [name], this is [your name] reminding you that it is election day. If you need directions or times for your local polling place, go to…

How did I get here?! — I just realized that I live on Hate Cove, or at least very near it. We have lived in Newbury, Massachusetts, for 25 years but I only just noticed Hate Cove on a map of our local waterway, the Parker River. …

There is a clear choice, but not for the reasons you think. People want a government that will improve their lives, and are hard-pressed to know how to get it. Pundits and propagandists divide the world into a MAGA monolith and a socialist mob diametrically opposed to it. The reality…

Explaining our current politics to a child is hard, since we don’t really understand it ourselves. A child asks, “Why is Trump so bad? I hear all these things and I don’t understand.” This young person, I’ll call her Ginnie, is trying to make sense of everything that is swirling…

How America can defeat a virus and prepare for the other crises that are coming — First, we hope for the swift return to health for Donald Trump, his wife, staff, journalists, senators and the more than 150,000 other Americans who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past three days. No one deserves to get this virus. No one. It has been quite a week…

Though most Americans understand the central purpose of the Declaration of Independence, many may not realize that nearly half of the text comprises a list of indictments against an autocrat. Though never named, the document implicates George III, the King of England. Here we update the Declaration for our time…