Many people don’t know that in 1939, just as World War II was dividing the countries of the world into Axis versus Allied, another conflict was threatening to divide the United States in two. It was over the date of Thanksgiving. Patricia SandersPatricia Sanders lived in Globe from 2004 to …
Op-Ed/Letters
November, 2022
August, 2022
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31 August
Let It Rain
It’s been a dry summer, but this week where I live, we’re finally getting some rain. Some people have complained because they want to be outdoors, but I love the rain. After living fifteen years in Arizona, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of rain. Around the time it …
July, 2022
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26 July
When the Ground Shifts Under Your Feet
Railroad tracks are great places to camp, I’ve heard. They’re flat and usually level, you have open sky above, and when you hit the sack, you can nestle cozily between the sleepers. It’s just, sometimes you’ll start to feel a vibration under you. Or you get a kind of presentiment, …
May, 2022
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30 May
Science Discovers the Secret to Happiness
Yesterday I finally did the laundry after procrastinating for a long time, so this morning I woke up to clean clothes to choose from, and I can’t tell you how happy that made me. Simple pleasures. We’re all always chasing after happiness, but I’ve noticed that as I get older, …
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2 May
The Taste of Change
Bananas used to be better back in our great-grandparents’ day. They tasted better and had a nicer texture, and didn’t bruise so easily. The old bananas were a kind called Gros Michel (Big Mike, in English). But a fungus killed all the Gros Michel plants starting in the 1890s. By …
March, 2022
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22 March
The Colors of Hope
Have you ever been to a butterfly pavilion? I went to the one in Scottsdale years ago. It was just after I left Reevis Mountain School, where I’d been living for six years. I was full of feelings of transformation, new beginnings, and freedom. I wandered around the pavilion among …
February, 2022
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23 February
Mysterious Lights in the Sky
A couple of months ago, I got to see one of the Starlink satellite trains entering orbit. Starlink is Elon Musk’s system of satellites that are supposed to provide Internet access all over the world. SpaceX has been launching rockets full of satellites for the past three years. Each rocket …
January, 2022
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19 January
Talking Politics
Jan. 10 marked the beginning of Arizona’s 2022 Legislative session, which will be fraught with ultra-partisan politics in a state where many elected officials have bought into the fiction that Joe Biden is not the duly elected president of the United States. Under normal circumstances, the legislative process is an …
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11 January
Potentially devastating school budget cuts
*Reprinted with permission. By Former Superintendents, Jim Rice and John Pedicone Many people may not be aware of an impending education funding crisis that threatens to cripple public schools across Arizona. There is a state process known as the aggregate spending limit, which is part of the state budget. The Arizona Constitution established the …
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11 January
Could a spending limit created over 40 years ago force schools to close this Spring?
Arizona’s schools may be forced to close as early as April 1 this spring. Not because of COVID this time, but because of a perfect storm of problems with our state’s school funding system. (Funding that by the way, despite recent increases, still ranks as the lowest in the nation). The irony is that this spring, school districts are …