Columns

I loudly slapped closed the cover on my laptop, startling my housemate working in the recliner next to me. Jerked out of whatever she was working on at the moment, she snapped, "What was THAT?"

The humidity is off the charts. My garden is overgrown and the buds on my flowers are begging for consistent sunshine. I have read a lot — so much that the librarian knows me by name when I run into her at the supermarket.

Get a piece of paper and draw a horizontal line. Above the line, write the word "fortune." Below the line, write the word "misfortune." In his analysis of fables and myths from around the world, the late novelist Kurt Vonnegut discovered a pattern.

Next time you approach a river, get close to the water. Wade in and lean forward as the current tugs at your legs. Listen carefully and you may hear the river singing a sad song, one we are finally heeding.

I sometimes sit and think about the people I have met, the recipes they have shared with me, and the interesting roads folks have taken to Harpswell.

Many of us have seen what happens when, without thinking about it, we jam a stick in the spokes of comprehension for some unprepared clerk.

As the old saying goes, a community cannot exist without a school, a fire department and a library. Libraries are a hub of the community, providing an avenue for lifelong learning, personal growth and community engagement.

Graduation season, for those of us cheering from the stands, is thrilling. That moment when the person you root for walks the stage means everything.

Scoops happen. In journalism, a "scoop" is the publication of a news item before a competitor. Most of the time, the Harpswell Anchor doesn't have to worry about scoops. The Anchor is the only news organization with a regular presence in Harpswell.

"Someday you will all miss this." That was my dad, speaking to my siblings and me at supper the day after a harrowing night. We all looked down at our food and rolled our eyes, thinking he was out of his mind.