The 142-year-old newsprint pages are fragile, even crumbling, but you can still read the news, the first draft of history for 1866. My wife and I were antiquing on the Connecticut shore when we came   Read More »

Our most profound phrases of democracy — "We the people," governments "deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," "Of, by, and for the people" — bequeathed to each   Read More »

If John Ramos is anything, he's an upbeat cheerleader for Bridgeport's schools, an advocate extraordinaire for urban public education. His mantra, delivered with gusto since arriving here as school   Read More »

Taped to my computer every day as I write and edit is this from the writer Ursula Le Guin: "There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no societies that did not   Read More »

The parents were pondering how to make their children's lives better. It was the ninth of 20 sessions at the Parent Leadership Training Institute of Bridgeport and I was there to speak on the   Read More »

I looked out the bedroom window early Friday morning to a beautiful winter landscape, slipped into a pair of fur-lined boots, opened the door downstairs to the fresh air and heard the crunch of new   Read More »

The Bush administration, the most secretive society since Skull & Bones, has shut out the American people once again. After President Bush signed into law just a few weeks ago modest changes to the   Read More »

In this space two weeks ago, I mentioned that a white woman who embezzled more than $160,000 wasn't going to jail but a black woman convicted of bribing a state senator with $3,000 is going to jail.   Read More »

Stratford should reconvene a charter revision commission to fix the snafu on who's in charge if the mayor isn't around. But I'm not sure how often we need to re-examine how we are governed.   Read More »

Yesterday at 1:08 a.m. the winter solstice occurred. The earth tilted 23 degrees away from the sun in our Northern Hemisphere, bringing us once again our shortest day and longest night.   Read More »

At Quinnipiac University, the editor of the student paper was threatened with losing his job for 1) wanting to cover important issues on campus, and 2) publicly   Read More »

Last Sunday a group calling itself Poets & Writers for Avery assembled at the Litchfield Inn to raise money for Avery Doninger, the high school kid punished for what she wrote.   Read More »

I spoke to a news writing class at Fairfield University on Friday filled with erudite young women who know how to ask penetrating questions. We talked of man's first known written story, "The Epic of   Read More »

Gaiety filled the restaurant where my wife, Jacky, and I were dining out. Rob and Diane Szymaszek love to join us. They enjoy good food, good wine, good conversation.   Read More »

So, a sitting United States senator is being drummed out of the world's greatest deliberative body for tapping his foot up and down in an airport men's room stall.   Read More »

Can there be too much democracy? When 1,051 people stop a town's budget for the fifth time — by three votes last time — I begin to wonder. What if the people voted on the federal budget?   Read More »

Before Mel Morgan was a soldier, he lived across from the pickle factory, a short bike ride across the railroad tracks from my house. His tiny but neat front yard hosted one of those trees that   Read More »

I have fished streams without thinking of eternity. But fishing at the lake with its blue depths, mile-wide expanse, and gently rolling waves you can feel the tug of generations.   Read More »

It looks like it's time for everyone to dig their heels in again on gay marriage. The Connecticut legislature could make U.S.   Read More »

The imposing red brick house where Ann Smith grew up is now a bed and breakfast. We stayed there last week. The side yard sits alongside the Erie Canal. A steep bank leads down to its muddy waters. A line of cherry trees once marked   Read More »

Writing is hard work. Good writing is really hard work. The other day, Tyler Davis of Bethel, age 6, oldest grandson to this scribbler, understood clearly the concept of hard work at a keyboard.   Read More »

Today we introduce our ethics code patterned on the national journalistic ethics codes. Many newspapers have their own set of ethical principles for their reporters, photographers and editors.   Read More »

Hello. I thought I'd introduce myself. Who is this new editor of the Connecticut Post? He's a happy husband, father of four grown daughters, and grandfather to two little boys. I've been getting paid to put one word after another in print since 1969, the year Barbara Ann, my first daughter, was born.   Read More »

As we all know Connecticut was the first state to legalize gay unions by legislative vote   Read More »

There is no question our world is shrinking, the information age is expanding, what were far off lands are now only hours away or instantly seen on   Read More »

So many grownups today think they are being ever so responsible by making sure kids are supervised at all times. Speaker of the House James Amann is   Read More »

There is no question our world is shrinking, the information age is expanding, what were far off lands are now only hours away or instantly seen on   Read More »

Staring at a blank computer screen can be intimidating. It reminds me of a blank sheet of paper, pen in hand. Remember handwritten letters? Just a   Read More »

Bridgeport Schools Supt. John J. Ramos needs to tell the public that he has suspended two school principals, Andrew Cimmino at Hooker School and   Read More »

With the approach of the solstice bringing us winter's long nights so that, as everyone knows, Santa has time to make all his rounds; with this year   Read More »