The Northcountry Chronicle

A Critic in the Peanut Gallery

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by W.D. Ehrhart Recently, I received an e-mail from an Austrian man I’ve known for over 40 years. Let’s call him “Adi.” Here is what he wrote: “Greetings from Austria across the wide wild waters to my U.S. friends. Peace be with you, and strength. I shall open my heart, ventilating my anger and frustration. The U.S. was so much part of my life and my job [as a student and then professor of American literature]. Whatever shortcomings there were, my attitude was always, always positive. Even during the Vietnam War, when a whole generation—my generation—forcefully opposed it. Also, the U.S.A. has been kind to …

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Serving Our Nation and Protecting Our Freedoms

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by W.D. Ehrhart I recently received an invitation from my Congresswoman, Mary Gay Scanlon (D, Pa. 5th Dist.), to participate in something called the Veterans History Project. Her letter begins: “Our veterans and fallen service members put their lives on the line to serve our nation and protect our freedoms, so it is important that we preserve their stories for our nation’s history and to foster community among our veterans. That is why I am pleased to announce my office’s participation in the Veterans History Project (VHP) run by the Library of Congress.” The problem here is that most veterans since at least the end …

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Who Would Jesus Vote For?

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by W.D. Ehrhart I recently had lunch with a man who’d grown up in my home town. I don’t know him well, but I’ve known him for 70 of my 77 years. He is a good and decent man, a husband, father, and grandfather fully engaged in the life of his community. Before we ate lunch, he bowed his head and folded his hands in prayer. And when we parted, he whispered in my ear, “Remember the empty tomb,” a reminder that Christ Is Risen and alive in this world. But this man also voted for Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024, and has …

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Redefining Progress

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by Jean Stimmell Driving to an early morning appointment in Boston, my son and I got mired in rush-hour traffic made worse by an accident: the trip took over 2 1/2 hours. Miles of backed-up cars, holding their passengers hostage in exhaust-polluted paralysis, the opposite of the sparkling air and open spaces we left behind in Northwood. It was the final straw for me. What an idiotic way to live. In that instant, I saw how absurd our modern world has become. In my mind, the main villain is our blind devotion to progress. It is, without doubt, our secular religion, preaching that our lives …

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“There Is No Safe Place to Hide”

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by W.D. Ehrhart In recent years, I have been writing frequently in support of the people of Palestine. A few years ago, I was introduced to the poetry of Mosab abu Toha by my Jewish American friend and university professor Ammiel Alcalay, and have written about Mosab and his poetry on multiple occasions, especially taking note of his two books in English, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear and Forest of Noise. But my connection to what is happening in Gaza and the Occupied Territories became much more personal this past spring through another friend of mine, the American playwright Naomi Wallace, who …

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Whitewashing America

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by W.D. Ehrhart Anyone paying any attention at all to what’s been happening in this country since January 2025 has to be aware of the ongoing and vigorous efforts of our Whitewasher-in-Chief to purge American history of anything that isn’t thoroughly upbeat, positive, and—well, let’s be honest here—white. Nothing negative. According to him and his minions, this country is and always has been pure as the driven snow. Like the anthem says, “Land of the free, and home of the brave.” Thus, various Smithsonian museums must remove the Gay Pride flag, Rigoberto Gonzalez’s painting of immigrants crossing our southern border, Hugo Crosthwaite’s images of Dr. …

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