Opinion

Guest column: Turning from rage to mourning

By SARENA NEYMAN

 We have just elected a cruel and ruthless monster who represents the worst of humanity and I feel my blood vessels pulsing with rage. I’m boiling with fury at the ignorant, mean-spirited electorate who were duped into thinking that a billionaire...

Darcy Dumont: Bike buses go viral ... why not here?

By DARCY DUMONT

It may seem odd not to address the expected reversal of progress on climate and what that will mean at home and abroad, but pardon me while I take a breath. My latest thought is to simply to keep moving in a positive direction, doing whatever we can...

Anthony Fyden: Playing politics with public safety

So, let’s get this straight — a violent international fugitive, wanted for committing assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in Massachusetts, was finally arrested. Northampton and Amherst officials, including two new police chiefs, want to...

Felicity Hardee: Anonymous criticism of school superintendent ‘abhorrent’

Anonymous letters are abhorrent. However, the hypocrisy of the Amherst Pelham Education Association in criticizing the “low tactics” of the correspondence disparaging Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman is truly stunning. Many of us remember that, in the...

Marilyn and Jeff Blaustein: Spreading disinformation about the Jones Library

Recently at the Amherst Farmers Market, we approached people with a sign that said, “Stop the Library Demolition.” We pointed out that their statement is simply not true; the library is not being demolished but renovated and expanded. The person we...

Why we lost the future

By LOU CONOVER

The Democratic Party is consumed with its defeat. The discussion goes back and forth between finger-pointing, navel gazing, terrified wailing, and depression. Of course there is a recognition of what victories there were and a renewed determination...

My Turn: Whoever dies with the most stuff does not win

By JOHANNA NEUMANN

 Holiday time is nearly here. I’m so excited about filling my home with the smell of balsam fir and baking cookies and the sounds of my boys singing along to Chipmunks Christmas carols.I am not, however, looking forward to the crescendo of holiday...

Richard Bogartz: No such thing as might have been

By RICHARD BOGARTZ

My favorite spiritual teachers teach what happens in the world is simply what happens. It is what it is. How we react to what happens, what we make of it, how we evaluate it, how it annoys us, whether we want it to not be what it is, label it bad,...

Elizabeth Vierling: UMass child care lacking

I was interested to see that UMass is apparently planning to build an expanded child care facility [“Child care lack leaves hundreds waiting on list,” Gazette, Nov. 9]. I question if the plans are “expansive” enough.It is distressing that UMass finds...

Brian Cooper: Not just ‘cultists’ who voted for Trump

I found it ironic that on his way out the door, longtime Gazette columnist John Shreirer bemoaned that he wasn’t able to convince the “cultists” not to vote for Trump [“I’m Done,” Nov. 11]. For the past eight years or so, the writer has consistently...

Rebecca Nordstrom: Good news for the Jones Library

I was pleased and relieved to hear the news that a bid for the Jones Library renovation project has come in within the budget. Libraries are important to our democracy, and the proposed renovations will protect and expand this precious resource so it...

Guest columnist Tim Nixon: Let’s stop getting gaslit by the right

By TIM NIXON

If Kamala Harris had won the 2024 election, the next months would have been filled with a cycle of headlines about voter fraud. They would have stemmed from complaints from Republican leadership and lawsuits backed by powerful donors (along with a...

Columnist Russ Vernon-Jones: Not giving up on the climate

By RUSS VERNON-JONES

The election of Donald Trump is catastrophic in so many ways. It will mean untold suffering for many people and for our country as a whole. It also will be disastrous for the global climate crisis.We are at a moment in history when the entire world...

Guest columnist Henry Lappen: How are trees lining the streets of Amherst?

By HENRY LAPPEN

 How many trees grow along the streets of Amherst? What’s the most common species? Are our street trees healthy, and how does the climate crisis affect them?The town of Amherst recently attempted to answer these questions and more. With funding from...

Columnist Johanna Neumann: Rush for energy-hungry data centers is folly

By JOHANNA NEUMANN

For the past two decades, America has accomplished a minor miracle. Despite a growing population, ballooning home sizes, a spike in the number of electronic devices we own, and more, electricity demand has remained largely stable. That’s a testament...

Bailey Richard and Isabel N. Grace: All things must pass

We wholeheartedly support Amherst-Pelham Regional School District Superintendent Xiamara Herman’s proposal to close the middle school and have the district’s seventh and eighth graders taught in the high school building.We have it on excellent...

Meg Hart: Heartfelt thank you for supporting the ABC Fall Foliage & Cider Run

The Amherst Committee for A Better Chance (ABC) would like to express profound gratitude to the community for their overwhelming support of our traditional annual fundraising event, the Fall Foliage & Cider Run, held on Oct. 19. With almost 500...

Sanford Lewis and Jody Shapiro: ‘Quabbin: The next generation’?

The Quabbin Reservoir was built from decisions in Boston that led to the literal destruction of four western Massachusetts towns. The benefit to thirsty eastern Massachusetts was at the expense of those western Mass. communities.Today Massachusetts is...

Columnist Russ Vernon-Jones: Incredible benefits of cleaner air under threat with Trump

By RUSS VERNON-JONES

When we think about the climate crisis our minds often, quite rightly, go to how greenhouse gas emissions are causing the global temperature to rise, causing catastrophic storms, floods, fires, and hunger. What we sometimes forget is that burning...