Christine Noyes: Vote Davis for Select Board in Orange

I am writing in support of Julie N. Davis for Select Board in the Feb. 5 town election in Orange. Julie’s commitment to the betterment of Orange is evident by her volunteer efforts with several town organizations. Due to her organizational and...

Tamara Grogan: Not so easy for refugees to get fuel assistance

I read the opinion piece “Fuel Assistance for Who?” [Recorder, Jan. 21] and respectfully disagree with its premise. I’ve tried to get fuel assistance (for Afghan refugees specifically). It’s hard! The application process asks for a lot of paperwork...

Robert Fairchild: Have we forgotten compassion?

It amazes me that someone can complain about fuel assistance to “refugees” and close out their letter asking how “cruel and unfair can human beings be to other human beings?” [“Fuel assistance for who?” Recorder, Jan. 21]. Does the writer not see the...

Guest columnist David Hernández: Climate, refugees, and the golden rule

By DAVID HERNÁNDEZ

Political hypocrisy is the norm for our times. One shameful example of partisan duplicity is the persistent xenophobic vilification of migrants and asylum seekers arriving to the United States in order to boost one’s political scorecard. Two repeat...

My Turn: The perfect retirement

By MICHAEL FLECK

Most people consider Secretariat to be the greatest racehorse who ever lived. If you watch the grainy YouTube video of his final race of the Triple Crown, you might not believe your eyes: He won that race by an astonishing 31 lengths, and his official...

Abby Escobar: Evidence lacking for fuel assistance claim

I recently read an opinion piece in which the writer states that the people at fuel assistance “Give assistance to all these ‘refugees’ that come into the state before the people that were born in Massachusetts.” [“Fuel assistance for who?” Recorder,...

Annette Pfannebecker: Congress must find solutions to stop death toll in Gaza 

Ten U.S. senators joined Sen. Bernie Sanders to pass Resolution 502B© under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. This resolution simply asks the State Department for a report on human rights records of any country receiving U.S. military assistance....

My Turn: The question never asked or answered

By CARL DOERNER

The Sept 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center echoed a devastating coup on Sept. 11, 1973 supported by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, by General Augusto Pinochet against the elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile. In retaliations,...

My Turn: No justice, no peace, no ‘victors’

By PATRICK MCGREEVY

Fifteen years after the 1607 founding of the New World’s first permanent British settlement at Jamestown, a group of Powhatan warriors attacked white settlers, killing almost 350. The brutality of the attack stunned settlers, and inspired the...

Peggy Davis: Remembering Dwayne Brewington

I learned with great sadness of the passing of Dwayne Brewington. One moment stands out in my mind when I think of him. We attended a Martin Luther King Day event a number of years ago, bringing a foster child with us, about eight years old, who had...

Kathryn Aubry-McAvoy: In the kitchen

What a delight it was to read Tinka Weisblat’s article “In the Kitchen with Fannie Farmer,” (Recorder, Jan. 17). My mother, Dorothy Moore Aubry, was a proud 1945 graduate of Miss Farmers’s school. Mom was a fine home cook and a bit ahead of her time...

My Turn: Losing my tribe over Gaza

By SARENA NEYMAN

For me, being Jewish was never about religion or Zionism. My Holocaust survivor parents sent me to Jewish day schools and Zionist summer camps, but none of that stuck. I haven’t set foot in a synagogue for decades and have always been critical of...

My Turn: How to make dual stream recycling work for Greenfield

By SUSAN WORGAFTIK and PAUL JABLON

At the Jan. 17 City Council meeting, Department of Public Works Director Marlo Warner and grant writer Athena Bradley presented an overview of the EPA recycling contract that Greenfield has been awarded. The presentation clearly outlined three...

Verdi Pocius: Fuel assitance for who?

I am quite upset with fuel assistance. They give assistance to all these “refugees” that come into the state before the people who were born in Massachusetts and have lived here all their lives. Yes, that means nothing. We were told there were...

Marguerite Willis: Dr. Peabody’s Way-Back Machine

Please give me a few moments as I enter Dr. Peabody’s Way-Back Machine.Sometime within five years and before 2008 I encountered as a School Committee member a new line item in Hawlemont’s school budget: Homeless children charge. I noted to those in...

Candy Johnson: Amazing care at Baystate

I am writing to let our community know of the amazing care I received at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield. I had surgery Thanksgiving week and was seven days in the hospital and five days in the ICU. I had the best care by caring and...

Joan Marie Jackson, Mitchell Speight, Al Norman: Time to end ‘home equity theft’

We would like to thank the Greenfield Recorder for including a newsworthy quote from 2023 exposing the unconstitutional, immoral actions of Greenfield in taking more than what is owed for delinquent property taxes, like other municipalities across...

Gary Seldon: Our river, not their reservoir

FirstLight’s Northfield Mountain pumped storage facility is a vile affront. It’s death and destruction. Profits are extracted, dead fish, and a crippled river are left behind. As if it was OK, I had become accustomed to its ongoing operation. Had...

Connecting the Dots: Do as I do, not what I say

By JOHN BOS

There’s a quote on my crowded bulletin board full of prompts and reminders about life questions. One of the quotes is by Richard Bach, born the same year I was, in 1936. “Here,” he wrote over many years ago, “is the test to find whether your mission...

The World Keeps Turning: Who’s ‘soft’ on communism now?

By ALLEN WOODS

“Red-baiting” — accusing someone of being “soft on communism” or having murky “connections” to communist groups or individuals — has been an effective tactic for Republicans for nearly a century. It’s a simple way to put opponents on the defensive,...