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By TIMOTHY FLYNN

By MORNING STAR CHENVEN

As a 65-year-old woman who has lived in western Massachusetts for 47 years, I have seen my share of political crises in this country. But never — never — have I witnessed such a brazen, coordinated attack on our democracy and our communities as we are seeing today. This isn’t just about political differences; it is about the systematic dismantling of government institutions that serve and protect us all.

On Tuesday, March 18, people were already lining up at the doors of the Greenfield Middle School at 5:15 p.m. so they could get a seat for the town hall with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern hosted by Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution.

By JUDY WAGNER

Oh, days of uncertainty! By nature, March leaves us in doubt. To look at the landscape is to see uncertainty and confusion. Is the grass greening or is it my willful imagination? Will it stay warmer or will we be blanketed in snow again? Are the tree buds swelling or staying firmly, tightly, safely wrapped?

By BARBARA A. ROUILLARD

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.

A community circle practice, “Centering Social Activism,” will be held on Wednesday, March 26, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Northfield First Church. Guided by church member Jennifer Smith, we will share and examine our reactions to changes happening in our country right now.

There has been an unrelenting assault on our culture and our country since the inauguration of the present president and his administration. By design: trying to overwhelm our capacity for reaction and response and resistance. By design: trying to convince us that we are powerless. They know what they are doing.

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

By RUSS VERNON-JONES

To my Republican friends — congratulations, you have owned us libs. Eventually though, you may come to notice that you are also owned.

I am writing to express my gratitude to the offices of Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, as well as state Reps. Katherine Clark, Bill Keating, and U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern for taking the time to meet with me this week to discuss the passage of the Safe Step Act, investment in headache/pain research through the NIH, and robust funding for headache care for our veterans.

I think it’s time for fewer terms, young blood and fresh ideas in Congress, including politics. I think it’s time to clean house of corruption and the mess of both the Democratic and Republican parties. It’s about time we hear the unenrolled politicians’ voices and they come out to run against the two-party system.

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).

I had decided the times we live in now would be remembered as “The (2nd) Dark Ages.” But every day, as news stories about executive orders to suffocate another government agency surface, there’s always the civics lesson disclaimer that “only Congress can abolish a government agency,” followed by the phrase “but in the meantime … ” firings and funding stops effectively make it impossible for agencies to provide needed services to citizens.

By MARGOT FLECK

By DR. JULIA FISCHER

By WALLIS REID

By CARL DOERNER