Opinion

Guest columnist Tom Waskiewicz: Roots of wisdom — How small farms preserve their way of life in western Massachusetts

By TOM WASKIEWICZ

Small family farms are more than businesses; they are a way of life, shaped by generations of experience, sacrifice, and resilience. Every field plowed, every seed planted, every harvest gathered carries with it the wisdom of those who came before. But there’s no handbook for passing down this knowledge. Instead, it happens in the quiet moments — side by side in the fields, in conversations at the kitchen table, in the habits formed over years of hard work.

Connie Kruger and Susan Tracy: Support Jones Library renovation and expansion

We have always been in favor of the Jones Library renovation and expansion. We think the improvements to the HVAC system and teh climate controlled space for Special Collections alone make it a worthwhile project. The addition of dedicated children’s and tenn space, in addition to the expanded ESL space and teh new display space for teh African American Civil War tablets, speaks to those citizens in our community whose interests and needs can be easily overlooked. The fact that the renovation doesn’t use fossil fuels and advances the building to a net-zero structure gives it another great advantage over the current structure. 

Eli Tannenbaum: Fighting money in politics: Democracy’s overlooked challenge

As pro-democracy protests spread across Massachusetts and the nation, many still overlook a primary ailment of our broken democratic system: in today’s elections, the candidate with the most money almost always wins. Campaign finance reform seems impossible, especially since the 2010 Supreme Court decision, Citizens United, which ruled corporate spending limits unconstitutional. As a result of Citizens United, political power in America has shifted dramatically towards wealthy corporations and billionaires. Americans on all sides of the aisle have lost trust in our democratic process — a February poll found that 72% of Americans see money in politics as a “very big problem,” more than any other issue polled.

Benjamin G. Clark: McGovern’s complacency a reflection of our failing system

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern’s complacency and inaction felt less like a personal failure and more like a symptom of the Democratic Party itself. Instead of providing clarity or hope, the recent town hall at UMass Amherst on Wednesday seemed to be just another reason to disengage from the dire state of American politics completely.

Guest columnist Kristin DeBoer: Let’s stand together for the valley you love

By KRISTIN DEBOER

Guest columnist U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey: Fighting for our farmers

By U.S. SEN. EDWARD J. MARKEY

Western Massachusetts farmers are used to facing and overcoming challenges — from late frosts and damaging storms to droughts and soil erosion, and more. What they’re not accustomed to is the president of the United States standing in their way of earning a living and bolstering our local economies.

Stephen Armstrong: Bird flu, RFK Jr. and the price of eggs

If I had one wish for government officials (not that I have only one), it would be that they understand exponential equations.

Frances Henry: Ignorance on parade

In today’s news is announced widespread elimination of an “alphabet soup” of divisions and programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Georgia. When government agencies and scientists are categorized as alphabet soup, I know ignorance is on parade. Eliminated has been the Division of Violence Prevention, part of the injury center at CDC. I know the people wielding power do not know, nor do they care, about the leadership of this division across all forms of violence from suicide to elder and child abuse, domestic abuse, sexual violence.

Guest columnist Ryan Voiland: Slashing of farming, food support senseless

By RYAN VOILAND

The following speech was delivered by Ryan Voiland at a farmers’ rally opposing cuts to USDA and other federal programs that are negatively impacting farms and agriculture in the region and around the country. The rally took place on Sunday, March 23 in front of Hadley Town Hall.

Guest columnist Shalini Bahl: Beyond boycotts — Mindful spending’s real impact

By SHALINI BAHL

Elisa K. Campbell: Thoughts on driving through Northampton

Recent discussion in the Gazette about the Main Street project causes me to think it may not be too late for me, a non-Northampton resident, to comment. I live in Amherst. I shop occasionally from a few stores in Northampton; more often, I go there to cultural events at the Forbes, or the Academy of Music, Look Park or Smith College.

Angela Parker: A favor to ask — remember those fighting long Covid

I was ordered into medical quarantine on Friday the 13th of March 2020. Nothing could have prepared me for the next several days, weeks, and months ahead … let alone years. I watched the sun go down from my bed as I binge-watched stupid pet videos for serotonin and escapism while fighting off death for eight nights.

Guest columnist Kathy Gregg: Anti-antisemitism: Trump’s double-cross on college funding

By KATHY GREGG

Guest columnist Suzanne Stillinger: ‘Homeland’ will stay on my classroom bookshelf

By SUZANNE STILLINGER

Letter: Fighting antisemitism must not be a pretext to rollback fundamental rights

The government’s detention and threatened deportation of Columbia University student activist Mahmoud Khalil is a five-alarm fire for freedom of speech in the U.S. Instead of claiming that Mr. Khalil engaged in criminality, the government says it wants to deport him because it doesn’t like what he said.

Karin Lee: In support of DEI

‘Arlington Cemetery scrubs links deemed diversity” is the headline of a Washington Post article reprinted on Page A6 of the March 15 Gazette. The article explains how the Department of Defense has deleted internal links directing users to graves of notable Black, Hispanic and female veterans, as well as eliminating content on the Civil War. No longer can we easily find content that highlights leaders of color or women.

Judith Davidov: How could this happen?

In 1975-76, I was a Fulbright scholar in Germany, teaching for a year at a German university. It was close enough in time to the Holocaust to stir feelings of fear (some professors still dressed up in SS uniforms on weekends).

Guest columnist David E. Sullivan: A duty to call out demeaning immigrants and the rule of law

By DAVID E. SULLIVAN

The following was excerpted from a talk given by Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan at the Northampton St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast at the Hotel Northampton on Monday, March 17.

Kip Fonsh: Down the Trump hole of fascism

We have descended down the deep hole of fascism. The guardrails have been stripped away and we are in grave danger of becoming an authoritarian state. Democracy will die down this hole. I am perplexed as to what 77 million Americans were expecting when they voted for this man. To make matters worse, he has brought in his sidekick, Elon Musk, an ununelected man with a chain saw to obliterate our government and our democracy. And this man with his chain saw has fired thousands of government workers, men and women who daily keep the system going.