Science has been on my mind quite a bit lately, primarily because of the dangerous anti-science mentality of the present administration. Be it measles, the proven carcinogenic effects of certain pesticides...…
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richard derosa
It is county fair season. A time I look forward to every year. This year more than most. Why? Because after a day at a fair, especially watching so many young people attend to and show their animals, it restores my sense of faith in this country’s inherent goodness and potential.…
My life-long amateur studies of the natural world, particularly birds and plants, with a special affinity for ferns, have convinced me of the validity of evolution. So, in my predictably quirky way of explaining away my wealth of eccentricities, my sense is that as one ages—evolves, that is—getting to chores in a timely way is not as necessary as it used to be.…
The current redistricting mania now the rage, despite the moral and legal questions it raises, has given me some ideas. I have wondered in what ways such behavior might be extrapolated into other exigencies of everyday life.…
Several mornings ago, while on my morning perusal about the place, I chanced on seeing a tree swallow slip out of the nest box on the far side of the upper hill. Talk about being excited! I hurried back to the house to share the news with Sandy.…
A colleague recently suggested—after a bit of a brouhaha about opinion pieces versus reporting—that we might consider penning an editorial explaining where our content comes from and how it is positioned in “The Freeman’s Journal,” “Hometown Oneonta” and on our website AllOtsego.com.…
Walter Lippman warned against the “tyranny of the majority” quite some time ago. As he puts it, just because you have the numbers does not mean you are right.…
I really do not care whether one is a Democrat, a Republican, or an Independent. Frankly, when one’s thinking is confined within the borders of an intransigent ideology, discourse of any kind is precluded.…
As long as we are here, we will garden. We just need to pare down to what is more manageable. We spent so many years adding gardens that taking them out does leave a bit of a bitter taste. But life is all about change, about waxing and waning...…
I just finished reading Richard DeRosa’s “Hawthorn Hill Journal” and found myself smiling as he captured the fear that grips anyone who chooses to step “into the arena,” to borrow from Teddy Roosevelt.…
