Discover More from This Category: Commentaries
Homelessness is a crisis of housing, not unhousable Vermonters
December 15, 2022
By Anne Sosin Editor’s note: This commentary is by Anne N. Sosin, a policy fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences at Dartmouth College. A recent Vermont Public story profiled a home health worker who, after nearly 30 years of steady service, now earns $18 per hour. That…
Higher education has barriers
December 15, 2022
By Dylan Giambatista Editor’s note: Dylan Giambatista is a former Vermont state representative, past trustee of the Vermont State Colleges system, and alumnus of the Community College of Vermont. Imagine being a college student who’s trying to get ahead but faces obstacles at every turn. Maybe it was a late phone bill, an unexpected closure…
Maybe it is time to slow down and take a second look
December 7, 2022
By Don Keelan Editor’s note: Don Keelan of Arlington is a retired certified public accountant. Recently, numerous media stories have covered the troubles at many of the country’s top tech companies. Christopher Mims’ recent Wall Street Journal piece, “The Myth of the Tech God Is Crumbling,” notes, “America’s biggest tech companies have collectively lost more…
A late fall and ‘shifting baseline syndrome’
November 30, 2022
By Andrew L’Roe Editor’s note: Andrew L’Roe has lived in Addison County since 2016, and works at the Regional Planning Commission. He serves as the chair of the Middlebury Conservation Commission and enjoys getting out on the Trail Around Middlebury nearly every day. The ginkgo tree at the end of my street finally dropped its…
A person may well be biologically transgender from birth
November 23, 2022
By Seth Steinzor Editor’s note: Steinzor lives in South Burlington and is a poet, woodworker and retired attorney. He worked for 32 years in the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. The uproar over a trans student on the high school volleyball team in Randolph evokes memories for me of my own involvement in our society’s complicated,…
Let’s talk about Covid mitigation in our schools
November 9, 2022
By Life Legros Editor’s note: LeGeros, a professional educator who lives in Duxbury, sits on the steering team of the Waterbury Area Anti-Racism Coalition and is a member of the Harwood Union school board. The views expressed here do not represent any organizations with which he is affiliated. Community means being there for each other,…
Funding for area seniors hasn’t kept pace with costs, needs
October 26, 2022
By Mark Boutwell Editor’s note: Mark Boutwell is executive director of Senior Solutions, the Council on Aging in Southeastern Vermont, headquartered in Springfield, Vermont. The upcoming state and national elections offer voters a chance to reset priorities and focus on true pockets of need, one of which is providing for older adults. Federal funding for…
Elective abortions: Dangerous misinformation vs. the facts
October 19, 2022
By George Till Editor’s note: Rep. George Till of Jericho is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist who has served in the Vermont State Legislature since 2008. Till is also an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the UVM School of Medicine. A lot of misinformation is being circulated regarding Article 22/Prop. 5, which will appear as…
Community living is not for everyone
October 12, 2022
By Kevin Manna and Allen Rothman Editor’s note: Manna is the director at Pinnacle Condos in Killington and Rothman is the director at High Ridge. So, you want to live in a condominium complex? Do you know what you are getting into? The recent surge in condominium sales has brought about a lot of “impulse”…
Political skills make democracy work
October 6, 2022
By Lee H. Hamilton Editor’s note: Lee Hamilton is a senior advisor for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for over 30 years. It sometimes seems that Americans are hopelessly divided by politics, but I believe it will take politics to make our country…
The voters’ vital role
October 6, 2022
By Angelo Lynn Editor’s note: Angelo Lynn is the editor and publisher of the Addison County Independent, a sister publication to the Mountain Times. As we enter the final weeks before the Nov. 8 elections, both state and national, let’s all reflect on one point that should, by now, be uncontested: Who you vote for…
It’s time someone pushed back on aquatic misinformation
September 22, 2022
By Mary Jo Teetor Editor’s note: Mary Jo Teetor of Poultney, a longtime member and trustee of the Lake St. Catherine Association, where she is currently the treasurer. She is on the water quality committee and has been a lay monitor on Lake St. Catherine for more than 20 years. There have been so many…
Access for all birthing Vermonters
September 14, 2022
By Jess Kimball Editor’s note: Jess Kimball is an administrative assistant at The National Midwifery Institute and managing editor of the Journal for Pre and Perinatal Psychology. Jess runs a private practice, Jess Kimball Wellness (formerly Sunflower Postpartum Care LLC), providing families with birth and postpartum doula support and lactation counseling. She is also a…
Trump’s troubling trove
September 14, 2022
By Angelo Lynn Editor’s note: Angelo Lynn is the editor and publisher of the Addison County Independent, a sister publication to the Mountain Times. The latest news that a top-secret document describing a foreign government’s military defense readiness, including its nuclear capabilities, was found among the documents at ex-president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence is the…
Vermont’s opportunity to ensure accessible electric vehicles — for consumers and climate
September 7, 2022
Editor’s note: This commentary is a joint op-ed from Vermont Natural Resources Council, Vermont Conservation Voters, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, Conservation Law Foundation, Vermont Chapter of the Sierra Club and Vermont Public Interest Research Group. When it comes to getting where we all need to go — which often needs to be by car…