My Catholic nun elementary school teachers were disciplinarians. Without question, they were the toughest formal education teachers. Although I spent only four years in Catholic school, plus time in Catechism school, I have fond memories of the nuns I encountered. More to the point, I am grateful for the nuns' life lessons.

The first quarter or trimester of the school year has come and gone, and the autumn has clearly given way to the winter. Clocks have been turned back, the daylight hours have become shorter, and people across Maine and New England are preparing for what is sure to be an impressive season of snow and cold.

In a Nov. 4 BDN OpEd, Bloomberg columnist Noah Smith asserts that the 1950s are greatly overrated and those of us who harbor ”wistful” recollections of that era are engaging in “rose-tinted sentimentality.” Smith either wasn’t living in the 1950s, or, if he was, certainly wasn’t living in rural or small-town America. Some of his points are historical fact, that pollution was a problem and there was a lack of equal economic opportunity for minorities.

Freddie Gruber was a great drum teacher. If you have a great teacher in your life, no matter the subject taught, then Freddie Gruber won’t be a total stranger.

In the last column I discussed tips for locating the surnames of female ancestors. This can often be a difficult and long task.

For years, following politics in the United States has felt -- at least to me -- like trying to take a refreshing sip of water out of a high pressure fire hose. In other words, overwhelming, painful, and ultimately unsatisfying.

Ben Grant, the former chair of the Maine Democratic Party, is running for state representative for House District 41 in Portland. Grant, an attorney and PTO board member among other things, is trying a novel approach to fundraising for his race.

This past Wednesday I arrived at Museum L-A for Executive Director Rachel Desgrosseilliers’s “Grateful for Rachel” retirement party. She is a Maine treasure who created a model of historic and cultural preservation that can, and should, be duplicated in communities statewide.

This week I had a great discussion up at Blair Hill Inn and Restaurant in Greenville with business owners, residents, development leaders and local lawmakers. We focused on ideas and strategies for economic growth in rural Maine, particularly Western Maine.

There are currently 17 candidates running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, and there seems to be a little something for everyone?

Members of the Maine Legislature, judges and the governor deserve a raise -- not because they’re all great at their job, though many are, but because they are woefully underpaid for the difficult work that they do.

Finding the maiden name of a female ancestor can be a challenge. Men’s names were recorded in town vital records but the wife was usually listed by her given name only.

On my October 13, 2019 return drive home from St. Petersburg, FL, I decided to detour a bit to visit my Uncle Bob’s grave in Auburn, MA. Uncle Bob was a profound influence, equal to, in some ways greater than, my parents’ influence in my life.

Most people in this country don't trust the media. Gallup, which runs an annual tracking poll on public perception of the media, asks a rather simple question every year. "How much trust and confidence do you have in the mass media -- such as newspapers, TV and radio -- when it comes to reporting the news fully, accurately and fairly?"

As we put Election Day 2019 in the rearview mirror and look forward to 2020, here are 20 election thoughts for your consideration.

When I was a younger, more avid book collector, I dreamed of living in a home with a personal library, my books catalogued on floor-to-ceiling dark wood shelves in sections: history, music, politics, biography, and a special spot for books of collected letters, journals, and diaries of notable writers and politicians. John Steinbeck’s “Journal of a Novel,” President Reagan’s “The Reagan Diaries,” and “Selected Letters of William Faulkner,” for example.

I know I have said this before, and I will likely say it again, but neither side in the American political debate takes government finances seriously. One party pretends to care about deficits and (rightly) lowers taxes while (wrongly) allowing spending to continue to grow exponentially. The other party pretends that our debt problem doesn't exist, and proposes ever more creative ways to make it significantly worse.

There's a real race going on in Maine's 2nd Congressional District where Republicans will pick their nominee to face U.S. Rep. Jared Golden next year.