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By ANDY MORRIS-FRIEDMAN

In 1993, while visiting our niece at Smith College, I noticed that strangers in town smiled at me as we passed. Cars stopped for pedestrians in the crosswalks! Dazzled and delighted, I fell in love with Northampton. Twenty-five years later, seeking a lively, welcoming community in which to grow old, Will and I moved to Northampton. We haven’t been disappointed.

I promised the editor that I would not write another letter about Trump for four years, because he (Trump, not the editor) is just too depressing.

I am writing to express my pride as a resident of Ward 3 in having Quaverly Rothenberg as my City Council representative. There’s an often quoted phrase that appears in the classic movie “Inherit the Wind” — that the job of a journalist is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted. I would say it is also the job of a good politician. (We all know there are many politicians who do exactly the opposite.)

By MARIETTA PRITCHARD

Are we getting stupider? David Brooks writes in the New York Times that stupidity has come to define our politics. Even intelligent people can also be stupid, he argues. They can come to believe in conspiracist theories and make decisions against their own interests.

By SARA WEINBERGER

Dear Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde,

By LEIGH GRAHAM

We are learning more about the dangers of plastic in the environment, most recently in alarming reports of microplastics in human brains. Our day-to-day existence is completely entangled with plastic — from packaging, bottled water, toys and building materials to automobiles and electronics.

By DEB HENSON

I am writing this to my fellow residents of this wonderful city to voice my bewilderment and disappointment regarding this year’s budgetary actions by the mayor, supported by many city councilors, that gutted Northampton school funding. The resulting loss of many teachers and paraprofessionals is unfathomable to me given this city’s apparent value in public education.

By THE REV. ANDREA AYVAZIAN

On Feb. 8, I was asked to speak at a rally in front of City Hall in Northampton intended to energize our common resistance to the multiple horrors being unleashed by Donald Trump and the oligarchs who surround him. After I spoke, several people suggested that my speech should be published because it had been helpful to them. My thanks to those who sought me out to say: Share your message.

By OLIN ROSE-BARDAWIL

In the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, one of the groups to that came out in strongest support for Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas was the American evangelical Christian community. In light of the events, this was a completely understandable response; Hamas’ attacks on Israeli soil were beyond tragic and were particularly alarming among American Christians and Jews, for whom Israel is of unique religious significance.

By DR. DAVID GOTTSEGEN

The week of Jan. 20, 2025, made history in a way few Americans realize. For the first time in 128 years, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, originally called Public Health Reports, was not published due to a gag order placed on all federal agencies by the new president.

By TOLLEY M. JONES

Resistance is not new to Black people. White people who profited from their abuse and dehumanization of every aspect of our people — from the horrors of the Middle Passage, to the beating, branding and lynching of Black humans, to the use of our hair and skin to make furniture and shoes that still exist to this day — believed that applying enough torture and inhumanity toward these stolen people would crush our spirits and provide them with a docile flock of Black slaves forever.

Given his actions, there can be no doubt that Donald Trump is bent on increasing the power and authority of the president well beyond the limits set by the Constitution. Virtually no Republican office-holder is courageous enough to resist this usurpation of power, despite their oath to “support and defend” the Constitution.

To answer the question, where does the money for foreign assistance really go, think about these facts.

In a recent article, John Hornik, a former chair of the Amherst Housing Trust, incorrectly asserted that the university “has severely restricted housing for families on campus while only providing a small boost in graduate student housing” [“Nonprofit developers say cost, siting chief barriers to affordable housing in Valley,”Gazette, Jan. 29]. While housing availability and affordability are undeniably challenges that must be addressed, both locally and statewide, UMass Amherst is working to provide concrete solutions.

When Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-LA, became a medical doctor in 1983, earning a degree from LSU School of Medicine, he had to have sworn to uphold some iteration of the Hippocratic Oath. Not all medical schools share the same language, though most people assume that “do no harm” is elemental. Perhaps it’s only aspirational; after all, everyone — no matter their profession — inevitably does harm in the execution of their work.

By KAREN GARDNER

Why Rod, I’m so glad to hear from you. What’s up? I’m calling to thank you for referring me to your psychiatrist, Dr. Freud. Remember recently when you were losing what was left of your mind? That’s when you told me about him and how helpful he was. So, I called him up and have been seeing him ever since.

Seeing many kids struggle in the post-pandemic moment, and with so much uncertainty with national politics, it is reasonable to turn to our closest elected officials and confirm that we’re on the right path. So, as a Northampton public school parent, I’ve paid close attention to the discussion over education funding in our city. I love our public schools, and believe they are the backbone of our city.

I am writing to enthusiastically endorse Laurie Loisel in her recently announced candidacy for Ward 3 City Council. I had the pleasure of getting to know Laurie when we both served (she as president) on the board of the local nonprofit Council of Social Agencies, which serves as a resource and network for Hampshire County human service providers.