Opinion- Page 2

Generations: The Illusion of Personal Control

July 24, 2026

Our bodies belong to us, yet mostly they are strangers. They drop bad news when they feel like dropping it and rarely let us know too much beforehand. They never ask. The Buddhists don’t talk so much about “my body” as they…

Opinion

Generations: The Cost of Going to School in Belmont

April 28, 2026

Attending Belmont High School feels a bit like a monthly subscription. Although public school is supposed to mean free education, our high school is set up like a “freemium” service, where the best features are locked behind a paywall. Whether it’s on…

Opinion

Generations: The Optimism of a Quiet Spring Morning

April 23, 2026

Here is a usual kind of spring: in my yard, where all the good soil has disappeared, where nothing grows out of what’s left, where hoping that October bulbs will rise in May is just looking for heartache, here in this yard,…

Opinion

Generations: The Benefits of Keeping Empty Squares

April 22, 2026

I have a precarious relationship with my calendar. I keep a digital calendar, of course, but our family also has an old-school paper calendar hanging on the wall (this year it features photos from the Webb telescope). We all write our meetings,…

Opinion

Garden Gems: Mud Season is for Potting Up Houseplants

April 6, 2026

All Posts Spring is here and “the world,” to quote E.E. Cummings, “is mud-luscious.” As gardeners, we are aware! We long to get out in the garden and sink our hands in the earth but know we must wait for drier, warmer…

Opinion

Generations: Keeping Calm, Carrying On in Face of Lockdown

April 3, 2026

My parents went to school in the 1950s, when they had to participate in the (in)famous “duck and cover” drills. The idea: Hiding under your desk made you safe from a nuclear attack, important at the height of the Cold War. As…

Opinion

Generations: We Didn’t Panic. And That’s What Scares Me.

April 3, 2026

It happened again. I was sitting in my 11th grade English class last month when an announcement came over the intercom: “We are entering shelter-in-place,” a deep, urgent voice warned. I was immediately spooked. So was most of the class. My teacher…

Opinion

Ask Lisa: Should Teenagers Learn to Push Through?

March 26, 2026

When teens falter and opt out of an obligation, how do we best support them—by honoring their withdrawal, or by urging them to work past inner misgivings and fulfill their original goals? That’s the question behind a parent’s concern: My 14-year-old recently…

Opinion

Generations: If Not You, Then Who?

March 20, 2026

It’s late, and I’m lying down in bed with my phone inches away from my face, scrolling endlessly. Story after story pops up. A headline screams about violence and war. A mother cries on my screen, talking about how she cannot afford…

Opinion

Generations: Language Fluency Hones Mental Acuity

March 6, 2026

After the gold watch and the farewell luncheon, some of us turn to the next worry: cognitive loss. Experts (and plenty of non-experts) have laundry lists of preventive strategies. They pop up in newspaper columns, podcasts, the psychology section of the bookstore,…

Opinion

Garden Gems: Regional Group Spreads Native Plant Seeds to Support Pollinators

March 5, 2026

Back in COVID times, many of us discovered new activities in quarantine. Some of us learned a new craft or tended sourdough cultures, while others turned to outdoor pursuits. I was decidedly in the second camp; I remember posting a photo of…

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