https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/08/21/opinion/chapel-woods-maine/ We stow all our gear in fanny packs and day bags and head into the woods. I am 8 years old and my brother is 11. It is summer break, and we are headed out once again into the sprawling woods that is our backyard in New Gloucester, Maine.  The forest starts in a dense grove of hemlocks with dappled sunlight creeping through the overstory. A stream cuts through the stand, opening up the canopy and allowing the s

As we close out the school year, graduation events and parties abound. I attended the Gray-New Gloucester High School graduation as a teacher, where I had the honor of seeing six of my seniors, who have overcome unimaginable odds to finish their high school experience, walk across the stage. Many of them would not be graduating at all if it were not for the tireless dedication of the teachers, guidance counselors, social workers, and administrators who gave countless hours be

https://www.pressherald.com/2024/12/29/opinion-do-not-give-up-on-your-neighbors/ When other systems fail, I hold onto the hope that our shared humanity will save us. I am engaged in an unspoken sign war with a neighbor. In 2020, we put up a Black Lives Matter sign at the end of our driveway; our neighbor responded by promptly putting out a Trump sign. After Jan. 6, he took it a step further and crossed out “Pence” on his sign with spray paint. A few years prior to this, he ha

https://www.pressherald.com/2024/02/21/opinion-consider-motherhood-by-the-numbers/ 15: Number of minutes that my boss talks during an...