Columns

Board not accountable

Whenever the topic of mental health or mental illness is in the news, it is seldom a good thing. The mass killings at a Florida high school by a sick and troubled youth wrought moments of national grief over yet another preventable tragedy. If only 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz had received the counseling and support he needed, 17 students and teachers might still be alive today.

When I sit down to write my column, I draw on experiences in my life and hope they connect with you as a reader. I describe my writings as Erma Bombeck-like, a humor/slice-of-life commentary (and then have to explain who Erma Bombeck was to anyone younger than myself), but I hope you have felt that I am honest and as open as privacy allows.

Divisive statements

Open letter about school safety

Events at the Windsor Senior Center

A survey of our nation’s newspapers in the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida school shooting massacre last week found a resounding unified message from editorial pages of all sizes, locales and political persuasions across our country.

All you readers out there know by now that I’m constantly at war with the technology that infiltrates the lives of my two teenagers. Their cell phones are my worst enemies, my son’s Xbox coming in second. I often write about my frustration with competing for their attention and their lack of participation in our house.

The shooter has mental health issues. Duh, I think anyone who perpetrates a mass shooting has mental health issues.  I also believe most of us have mental health issues. The rest of us work at keeping ours under control. The problem is that it is getting harder and harder to do that.

It was Valentine’s Day, it was Ash Wednesday, and that evening the Golden State Warriors lost to the Portland Trailblazers in an exciting baskeball game. But there was an infinitely greater loss that day — 17 precious ones were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Yes, we had another mass shooting at a school in America.