What the election means to me: One candidate would trim citizens’ choices

The most impactful class I ever took was “The Construct of Race in the United States.” It was taught by two history teachers at the public high school in Stowe that I attended from 2018 to 2022.

My passion for politics started early. I was seven when my family attended a fundraising event for the Obama Victory Fund at the Sheraton Hotel in Burlington. At first, the setting was loud and overwhelming, but silence fell over the crowd as soon as the … (read more)

For the better part of the past eight years, different aspects of my identity have been used as weapons in the tug-of-war between the two major factions of American politics.  

This election year, 2024, also marks the end of my four years studying abroad in a U.S. college. Four years at Middlebury was four years under the Biden administration as a noncitizen, a student from China.

Our family recently enjoyed an epic trip to California — a trip that lasted two weeks and spanned 6,500 miles.

“I’m Professor Van Winkle — you can call me ‘Rip.’” That’s how I introduced myself this fall on Sept. 9 at 9 a.m. to 16 fresh-faced Middlebury College first-year students.

My sainted mother, the original Jane Lindholm, had an aphorism for every occasion and loved to trot them out. She was a regular Ben Franklin, and I was a gold mine for this predilection, given my adolescent indifference to manual labor and disciplined eff … (read more)

I was excited to tell you how much my family has loved watching “Life on Our Planet,” the new Morgan Freeman-narrated nature doc on Netflix — a great activity for the whole fam! But then we watched the final episode, and it wasn’t fun and fascinating anym … (read more)

As the oldest of eight children, I’d like to think I’ve imparted some wisdom onto my younger siblings over the years.

“Hello, my name is Amie, and I have a sock problem.”

This one’s gonna hurt. Our beloved cat, Bart, was hit by a car last week. He didn’t make it.

I’m trying to break my newspaper habit. For all of my adult life, I have read a newspaper, real newspapers, made out of paper, newsprint. Hard copy. 

I have often thought that humans have an innate desire for communion and communication with other creatures.

Years ago, when I was the mom of a toddler and a preschooler, I bought a large whiteboard calendar at TJ Maxx because I thought it would bring order to the chaos of my life.

How can something so small and angelic be such a little devil?