Monthly Archives: August 2017

In defense of Columbus Day

Earlier this week, the Bangor City Council decided that Columbus Day, a federally recognized holiday, should in fact be Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Despite protestations from the council that it wasn’t trying to “replace” Columbus Day (which they can’t do anyway, it being a federal holiday), the choice to recognize and celebrate the newly designated Indigenous […]

Do you answer hate with hate?

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Those words, rather famously, come from Martin Luther King, Jr., first spoken in a sermon he gave in 1957, and then printed in his 1963 book Strength to Love. The sentiment is classic King. It is a […]

Stop trying to save us from ourselves

“The science is clear. Raising the tobacco purchase age to 21 will save and improve lives.” This definitive statement was the closing argument in an editorial published Tuesday in the Bangor Daily News. As is the case virtually any time the words “the science is clear” appear in the middle of a political debate, the […]