Opinion

Guest columnist Rudy Perkins: Dangerous resolution pins ‘aggression’ on Iran

By RUDY PERKINS

 Both the Iranian government’s bombing of Israel and the Israeli government’s bombing of Iran are extremely perilous for the Middle East and the United States. That is why the dangerously one-sided U.S. congressional resolution, H.Res. 1143,...

David Kirk: Northampton schools spending beyond means

Many thanks to Bill Dwight for his guest column providing background info about the school budget [“How to make sense of Northampton’s school budget dilemma,” Gazette, April 20].We now all know the school has added 99 positions since 2014 (including...

Richard Clifford: We all need to look in a mirror first

No matter a person’s bias against another due to gender, religion, race, sexuality or politics, not one person has the right in our truly free country to wound, impair or abuse another. We all put on our socks the same way. No matter your wealth,...

Columnist Carrie N. Baker: A moral justification for civil disobedience to abortion bans

By CARRIE N. BAKER

Over the last several years, in response to abortion bans and restrictions, advocates around the country have developed an alternative supply network for abortion pills outside of the medical system and the law. As a lawyer and law-abiding citizen, I...

Guest columnists Ellen Attaliades and Lynn Ireland: Housing crisis is fueling the human services crisis

By ELLEN ATTALIADES and LYNN IRELAND

 Vacancies at programs operated by human services providers — despite some progress over the last two years — are still much too high. More than one in four direct support professional positions in adult residential and day programs for people with...

Lora Sandhusen: Discourage ultra-wealthy consumption habits with carbon tax

In Russ Vernon-Jones’ column “Solving humanity’s shared climate crisis” [Gazette, March 14], he advocates funding green projects for the Global South by taxing the ultra-wealthy. Why? Because “that’s where the money is.” In response, guest columnist...

Guest columnist Jena Schwartz: Things I have not said

By JENA SCHWARTZ

 I continue to be consumed by the Israel-Hamas war. I read, watch, write, pray, dream, agonize, and do my best to engage in intentional and nuanced conversations about it. And yet there remain things I have not said.Or things I have said by...

Wendy Parrish: Northampton Volunteer Fair

Volunteers help make Northampton run! They save us tax money, help us to know our neighbors, and provide an outlet for us to help others using their skills. And the best part is that we can fit the volunteer work around our schedules, rather than the...

Guest columnist Rob Okun: Still No. 1 in male mass shootings 25 years after Columbine

By ROB OKUN

 Fortunately, there wasn’t a copycat mass shooting to grotesquely mark the 25th anniversary of the Columbine massacre on April 20, 1999. But just as we can be certain there will be another solar eclipse, it’s only a matter of time before a hail of...

Guest columnist Oriel Strong: Think impossible thoughts

By ORIEL STRONG

Mariel E. Addis’s April 17 guest column “Under siege from all sides” was heartfelt and thought-provoking. I share Addis’ foundational ethic that we must resist ranking any human being as better or worse than another. Trans and gender-nonconforming...

Guest columnist Barry Hirsch: Palestinians should turn to Israel for real path to peace

By BARRY HIRSCH

Last month, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Mohammad Mustafa to be the new prime minister. Here is the speech I would love to hear him give: It is time that we admit that we made a mistake in 1948 when we decided that Israel...

Patricia Crosby: Meeting of Friends call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza

By PATRICIA CROSBY

 As Friends (Quakers), we respect the humanity of all people, which is why we have sought nonviolent responses to conflict anywhere. Our experience teaches us that violence only creates hatred, fear, hopelessness, and endless new cycles of war and...

Columnist Richard Fein: National debt — A threat to our nation’s future

By RICHARD FEIN

This is an update on a column I wrote last year about a threat to our future well-being: the national debt. To summarize, unless the debt crisis is brought under control soon the future will be much more difficult for you, your children, grandchildren...

My Turn: The pecking order revolution: Massachusetts’ fight for animal rights

By ROB MOIR and MIKE SALGUERO

 Massachusetts residents care about the living conditions of egg-laying hens, veal calves, and pigs. In November 2016, voters passed Ballot Question 3, the Massachusetts Minimum Size Requirements for Farm Animal Containment. With a sweeping majority...

Kate Hamel: We need grassroots democracy

We need grassroots democracyThe current emphasis on federal politics over state politics is slowly killing the nation and its people. The Founding Fathers believed in a union of states, each with its own governing body and unified by a shared...

Adam Siegel: For Lease

We had a pretty little gift shop in Amherst, briefly. Botanica, open for about six months, attracted a lot of business … on the day it closed. When everything went on sale. Let's do better Amherst.Adam SiegelAmherst

Columnist Andrea Ayvazian: Standing as witness to Armenian martyrs

By THE REV. ANDREA AYVAZIAN

My sister Gina had the proclamation framed and she displays it prominently on her wall. It means so much to our family. The Proclamation of the City of Northampton marking Armenian Martyrs’ Day, dated April 24, 2018, is signed by then-Mayor David...

Taylor Guss: Northampton's zoning should align with its climate goals

Humanity is currently facing the crisis of a generation with climate change. We exceeded 1.3 degrees Celsius of warming in 2023, just shy of 1.5 degrees, the threshold scientists warn could have catastrophic consequences for the planet. Northampton...

Guest columnist Bill Dwight: How to make sense of Northampton’s school budget dilemma

By BILL DWIGHT

 Before 2013, our school budget process was an annual exercise in misery. Then it wasn’t. Now it is again. A review of the history can help get us back on track.Proposition 2½ limits to 2.5% how much Massachusetts cities can annually increase their...