~a column by Colleen O’Brien The prescience of George Orwell in his novel 1984 is eerie in 2019. Seventy years after its 1949 publication in England, we live with cameras that watch us at stoplights and in stores; cyberspace technology that checks our emails; phones that track our whereabouts from within our houses and autos into the world of roads…
Read MoreCategory: Opinion
“You gotta give the world credit for beauty.”
Quote from Thomas McNulty, narrator in Sebastian Barry’s novel Days Without End ~a column by Colleen O’Brien That is a truth: the world is beautiful. Sometimes the very beauty before me, alongside me, across the street – it makes my heart burst, brings tears to my eyes even as it lightens whatever my burden of the day is. And sometimes…
Read MoreLooking for a one-night stand?
~a column by Colleen O’Brien I’m always on the lookout for a compelling book that I can devour in one night. It hardly ever happens anymore. I used to be able to pick up a murder mystery and toss it off before 4 am. Then I became tired of murders, what with cats solving them and A to Z series,…
Read MoreIdle moments
~a column by Colleen O’Brien In a moment of boredom, I decided to find something interesting to read on the internet. My advice to you is: Don’t go there. A few examples: “Stunning photos reveal what life was like 50 years ago.” This must be for those who weren’t alive then. We who were would not find the pictures “stunning”…
Read MorePTSD
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Last week as Hurricane Dorian crept west from the mid-Atlantic toward the U.S. southeast coast, gaining power by the mile to menace whatever would be in its path, my friend JD took to her bed.
Read MoreHave a newspaper day
~a column by Colleen O’Brien This column is going to start off sounding political but read on. It will swerve to something more palatable: breakfast. To know what‘s really going on, I listen to or read online all the news sources – MSNBC and FOX, The Beast and The Guardian, Epoch News and the NYTimes, National Review and The New…
Read MoreLetter to the editor – Barb Brooker
Iowa – Number 1 in stink To the editor, The paragraph below is from the latest issue of RV Daily Tips newsletter (https://www.rvtravel.com/rvdt1159/), a very popular publication among RVers. “I am totally disgusted with the powers that be who have let this happen to an otherwise beautiful state. Last night my husband and I stopped at a rural home of…
Read MoreFit for all? Or All in a fit?
~a column by Colleen O’Brien I was introduced to two informative pieces of journalism recently, both from current publications of the 161-year-old New York Times. This newspaper is the much maligned, much vaunted and must-read daily voice by those who feel a need to be in the know around the world. It claims to print “All the news that’s fit…
Read MoreA life lesson long in arriving
~a column by Colleen O’Brien Months ago – years ago, now – I began a rapid slide into a low-grade fever that I called “This can’t be happening in my country.” After two years and nine months after an official election on top of months of what for any other candidate would have been really bad press, I’ve finally found…
Read MoreWarren speaks to full house in Jefferson
~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline It was standing room only for the Elizabeth Warren town hall meeting hosted by the Greene County Democrats at History Boy Theater on Aug. 8 in Jefferson. Chris Henning, Greene County Democratic party chair, introduced Warren. Warren, senior senator from Massachusetts, is competing for the Democratic nomination for president in the 2020 election. Warren spoke…
Read MoreDelaney promotes ‘common sense stuff, not huge change’
Democratic presidential candidate John Delaney over the past two years has listened to hundreds of voters at comparatively small campaign events, and he has his own version of what they’re looking for. “They’re looking for a steady set of hands on the economy. They’re not looking for someone who’s going to cause upheaval in the economic policy with some of…
Read MoreScholten’s campaign launch includes stop in Jefferson
Greene County Democrats got a preview of J.D. Scholten’s campaign for the Fourth Congressional District seat Tuesday at Greene Bean Coffee. Scholten on Monday announced his candidacy, with the New York Times and the Sioux City Journal breaking the story prior to a planned launch in Sioux City. Scholten ran against Rep. Steve King in 2018 and came closer to…
Read More