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By Credit search: For the Valley News

By WILLEM LANGE

 It was always a pleasure, at the beginning formation of Boy Scout meetings, to respond to the command, “Report!” with, “All present or accounted for, sir.” Now, over 75 years later, it’s still very satisfactory to count noses in the airline gate area...

By DAN MACKIE

Shockingly — SHOCKINGLY — I haven’t heard back from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas about my offer to put him up for a week or two for an Upper Valley vacation with certain, albeit limited, luxury elements.He has been kicking back with...

By WILLEM LANGE

It’s often characterized as a British officers’ drinking song, but it’s hardly that. “The Anacreontic Song” was the official song of an 18th century club of London “wealthy men of social rank” that met monthly for banquets, musical performances and...

By WILLEM LANGE

The other day — a bluebird day if ever there was one: temperature in the 70s; bright blue sky, robins on the lawn, coltsfoot rioting along the driveway — I shuffled tentatively across the newly mud-free yard to the barnlike garage where the cars have...

By WILLEM LANGE

If there were a Shakespearean stage direction for the arch-conservative wing of American politics as it is currently constituted, it would be: “Exeunt stage right, scattering petards.”How in the world any group can expect to prevail consistently among...

By WILLEM LANGE

American Airlines Flight 6059 to Burlington swung wide over Lake Champlain and approached the airport from the north, delightfully early, explaining without words why we were early: a strong south wind all the way from Philadelphia. A wheelchair was...

By WAYNE GERSEN

Here’s a thought experiment. What if, after Roe v. Wade was decided, humanity decided that additional research on birth control was too contentious to explore. In such a world, Roe v. Wade would be the final word on the question of when life began...

By STEVE NELSON

Whew! The educational landscape is certainly being affected by climate change. Political climate, that is. In the Twin States the issues are volatile, although quite different depending on which side of the Connecticut River.On the east side, the New...

By MIKE SKINNER

The forms are everywhere on my desk; one page even threatened to fall on Larry, the little Chiweenie dog sleeping on his king-sized tuffet next to me. A green Yeti coffee cup held down one pile of disheveled papers; I’d had the overhead fan on to dry...

By DAN MACKIE

On a recent night as we watched the NCAA basketball tournament, I blurted out to myself and the universe, “Now why didn’t I play college ball?”It was an ironic lament, about the road not taken, the ball not dribbled.My wife, Dede, lowered her knitting...

By WAYNE GERSEN

Yesterday afternoon I read The Brilliant Inventor Who Made Two of History’s Biggest Mistakes, an article about Thomas Midgley, Jr. that will appear in this weekend’s NYTimes Magazine. Written by Steven Johnson, the article offers a history of...

By JONATHAN STABLEFORD

Who doesn’t feel at least a little discomfort reading a book that messes with time? Film can have the same effect, or a series you are streaming when it’s not clear if something is happening now or in the past or future. Disorientation can be...

By MICKI COLBECK

Folks living anywhere near the town borders of Strafford have long been aware that Coburn’s General Store is our social hub. When the virus stopped cultural gatherings in the Upper Valley, we got by, having Melvin and the gang at our neighborhood...

By WILLEM LANGE

The switch from nursing home to personal home went off without a hitch. The multiple family members here to help effect it then left one by one, till I’m down to: Kiki; Herschel, my four-wheel, silk-smooth walker; and Hagar, the hybrid SUV parked 2...

By RANDALL BALMER

“You won’t like my campaign,” Jimmy Carter warned Vernon Jordan of the United Negro College Fund toward the conclusion of Carter’s second run for governor in 1970. “But you will like my administration.” When Carter was sworn in as governor on Jan. 12,...

By WILLEM LANGE

January 2023 was a month of Sundays, ending abruptly on the 29th with a fourth and final Sunday fall on ice underfoot. My friend Bea and I left my house for church that morning, and that was the last time I saw the house till the day after yesterday,...

By WAYNE GERSEN

On Friday, a multinational crew of four astronauts arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) about 250 miles above the surface of the Earth to replace a crew that has manned this orbiting laboratory since Oct. 5. Because this is the seventh...

By NARAIN BATRA

What would have happened if the West under the determined and compassionate leadership of the United States and President Joe Biden had not promptly come to Ukraine’s rescue when Russia launched its savage and horrendous attack a year ago? Or perhaps,...

By MIKE SKINNER

I sat around a campfire a few years ago with six new friends, who shared their interesting backgrounds with one other. One of them asked what I had done for a living, and I sheepishly gave some highlights. Another then commented how smart I must be to...

By HENRY HOMEYER

Winter drags on, even though the days are getting longer. The sun is often lurking behind gray clouds, and on a good day we only get about 9 hours of light. I do miss the colors of summer, so I keep fresh cut flowers on our table – even though I have...