Change is driven by the young, not us grizzled elders

Recently I wrote in this space about how humans are born into this world unfinished, requiring a long childhood to learn the norms and practices of their particular community. For the community to thrive, what we pass on to our children must change in step with societal changes. This unparalleled ability to change, as psychologist Alison Gopnik tells us, “is the most distinctive and unchanging thing about us, allowing us to thrive no matter what challenging circumstances we had to face over our long evolutionary history.”1 But societal change isn’t driven by our grizzled elders but by our children. As sociologists like Tressie Cottom tell …

Read more

Mother’s Day

Dear Editor: Mother’s Day. I read a lot of science fiction. It has come a long way from space monsters to political commentary. Human beings are diverse. We have an odd sex life, compared to other species of mammals. We can get pregnant any month in the three decades we are fecund. It used to be shameful for a woman to not be pregnant after her first menses. That may seem like ancient history, but the nagging from would-be grandparents shows it is not. When I was raised, and schooled, in the Catholic faith, I remember Pope John XXIII, who was in office when I …

Read more

Harassment In Spain Of The Lawyer For Catalan Pro-Independence Politicians

To the Editor: Gonzalo Boye is the lawyer for the President of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, and members of his government, who, in 2017, accompanied him to Belgium after holding a referendum on Catalan independence. They went into exile in Belgium because they saw that the Spanish justice system would condemn them even though organising referendums is not a crime in the Spanish penal code. This is exactly how it turned out, because the Spanish justice system sentenced the members of Puigdemont’s government who stayed in Catalonia to between nine and 13 years in prison. Thanks to the work of lawyer Gonzalo Boye and the international …

Read more

A Little Civil Debate

To the Editor: President Biden has consistently promoted bipartisan support for legislation that would help solve America’s pressing problems. This is a laudable aspiration and necessary to overcome the dreary legislative deadlock that has hamstrung public policy. Bipartisan solutions, however, require two parties that share a vision of the common good and participate in reasoned analysis to achieve compromise solutions. It is questionable whether these elements exist in the political discourse of the Trump era. The greatest impediment to bipartisanship is the Trump-dominated Republican Party. It has degenerated into tribal loyalty to Trump and has become solely focused on the preservation of its power. It …

Read more

Youth Protest Bank of America Funding Fossil Fuels

Bedford, N.H.—On Saturday evening a group of high school activists from the 350NH Youth Team and members of Extinction Rebellion met at the Bank of America in Bedford to protest the bank’s involvement in funding the fossil fuel industry. Speakers urged for the end to the money pipeline from banks and other firms that keeps the fossil fuel industry afloat even as our society has increasingly recognized the environmental costs of fossil fuels. The event was both virtual with a Zoom call run by youth team members and in-person where participants drew in chalk along the sidewalk near the bank. Nikhil Chavda, sophomore at Coe …

Read more

Bayonet Etiquette

“You can get a lot done with a bayonet, but sitting on one is uncomfortable”– from Secondhand Time, Svetlana Alexievich I. Things you can do with a bayonet Kill people. Persuade people to do things they don’t want to do by threatening to kill them. Control unruly crowds by threatening to kill them. Control peaceful crowds by threatening to kill them. Control your wife by threatening to kill her. Rob a bank or convenience store by threatening to kill the clerk. Wave it in the air on your front porch or in your backyard to demonstrate your manliness. Eat peas with it (this one’s challenging). …

Read more