Category Archives: Op-Eds

Tidings of Comfort (Food) and Joy

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Editor’s Note: We are delighted to re-publish this mouth-watering piece by our friend and former colleague at ‘Main Street News,’ Linda Ahnert of Old Lyme. She wrote it back in 2005 but has recently updated it for us.

In England, ‘Figgy pudding’ has morphed into the traditional Christmas pudding pictured above, which is served in all parts of that country on Christmas Day. Photo by Hello-I’m-Nick on Unsplash.

“There’s a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy, when they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie” . . . and, of course, “Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe help to make the season bright.”

Have you ever thought how many food references there are in Christmas songs? It runs the gamut from figgy pudding to popcorn! And food plays a starring role in many Christmas stories and in our own memories.  

​I was about 10-years-old when I received “Little Women” as a Christmas present. It is the beloved book about the four March sisters growing up in New England. As the story opens, it is a Christmas during the Civil War and the March family is living in straightened circumstances. But when the girls hear of a needy family in the neighborhood, they gladly give up their Christmas breakfast to feed the hungry children. Even self-centered Amy sacrifices her favorite things—“the cream and the muffins.”

Jo March laments, “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.” And for most of us, Christmas wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have some particular food in the house during the season.

Holiday cookies are a signature Yuletide food … both to give and receive! Photo by Joshua Doherty on Unsplash.

​For instance, one of my early food memories of Christmas is tangerines and walnuts.  My paternal grandparents came to this country from Germany.  On Christmas Eve, everyone would gather at their home.  I remember my grandfather playing the mandolin and singing “Stille Nacht” and other German carols.  My grandmother decorated the buffet in the dining room with evergreen boughs.  Interspersed in the greens were tangerines and all varieties of nuts in the shell.  Before we left, my grandmother would stuff our mittens with the fruit and nuts.  

​Another family that I spent many hours with as a child were the Ingalls in the “Little House” books.  How I loved reading about the adventures of Laura, Mary, Carrie, Ma, and Pa as they crossed the prairie.  The author, Laura Ingalls Wilder, describes the delight of the children one Christmas morning.  The girls have reached into their stockings to find shiny tin cups and each has a “long, long stick” of peppermint candy, striped red and white.   

​But their stockings weren’t empty yet.  The girls pull out small packages and unwrap them to discover heart-shaped cakes.  “Over their delicate brown tops was sprinkled white sugar.  The sparkling grains lay like tiny drifts of snow.”  It might be a simple Christmas on the frontier, but the girls can’t imagine being any happier.  

​Across the pond in Merrie Olde England, Charles Dickens included numerous descriptions of food in “A Christmas Carol.”  You may not look forward to your weekly trips to the Big Y but, trust me, your mouth will water reading Dickens’ descriptions of the produce in the London grocery shops at Christmas.  

​And who could forget the account of the Cratchit Christmas dinner? (“There never was such a goose.”)  To complement this “feathered phenomenon,” Mrs. Cratchit “made the gravy (ready beforehand in a little saucepan) hissing hot, Master Peter mashed the potatoes with incredible vigor, Miss Belinda sweetened up the apple sauce  . . .  ”

“Some hot mixture” … or cold … Who can ever refuse a holiday-themed cocktail? Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash.

​Bob Cratchit rolled up his threadbare sleeves and “compounded some hot mixture in a jug with gin and lemons, and stirred it round and round, and put it on the hob to simmer.”  In 21st century parlance . . . I’ll have what they’re having.

​Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” is an autobiographical story set in rural Alabama in the 1930s.  It opens on a November morning when the elderly cousin who is raising seven-year-old Buddy announces that “It’s fruitcake weather!”  For Buddy this means the official start of the Christmas season.  They begin the yearly ritual of gathering pecans in an old buggy and scrimping together their meager funds to buy the ingredients to bake 30 fruitcakes.  

For days “eggbeaters whirl, spoons spin round in bowls of butter and sugar, vanilla sweetens the air, ginger spices it; melting, nose-tingling odors saturate the kitchen, suffuse the house, drift out to the world on puffs of chimney smoke.”  When the work is done, the “cakes, dampened with whiskey, bask on windowsills and shelves.”

​In our family, too, the holiday season always began on a November day.  A week or two before Thanksgiving, we would receive a package of pecans from Louisiana. They were from the trees in my aunt’s yard, and she sent them each year in time to bake our holiday desserts.  My mother was born and raised in Louisiana, and it wouldn’t have been Christmas in our house without cornbread and pecan pies.  

​And so, gentle readers, whether your Christmas traditions include roasting chestnuts on an open fire or whipping up a batch of wassail, may God bless us, everyone. 

Editor’s Note: This is another offering from our friend and Linda Ahnert of Old Lyme.

Op-Ed: ‘Why Do They Believe They Need a Gun?’ Thoughts From Across ‘The Pond’ on America’s ‘Gun Culture’

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Editor’s Note: We received this opinion piece from a reader in England.

Photo by Bo Harvey on Unsplash.

I’m not sure how welcome a contribution from overseas will be. After all, criticism from outside can tend to overlook shortcoming closer to home. But the so-called “gun culture” of the USA (which I’m certain doesn’t affect the whole population) is one of the consistent puzzles that baffles us on this side of ‘the pond.’

Owning a gun for hunting, or for shooting at the range in a rifle club, seems perfectly normal – although, in reality, what proportion of gun owners actually do use their firearms for this purpose?

And how many just buy a gun because they “want one”? And is it really so that some members of the public actually own a gun for supposed self defense? At home? Or do they actually take it out with them? I suspect this idea astonishes non-Americans more than anything

The question we in the rest of the world always ask is “Why do they need a gun at all?”

Or “why do they believe they need a gun?” What it is about this owning a lethal weapon, or a whole arsenal of them?

We never seem to get any answers – not sane ones anyway.

Apart from in certain trouble spots or former trouble spots around the world, this “gun culture” is unknown.

In my entire life (I’m British incidentally and almost 72, having always lived in England), I’ve never met a single person who owned a firearm – and as far as I can see, that’s perfectly normal outside the US.

Presumably this would be unlikely in the US, with 400M guns in circulation? But that’s well over one each for every man, woman, child and baby! I read last week that 42% of American households own a gun. I thought it a misprint. No! 4.2% surely? Or 0.42%?

That is simply jaw-dropping. Impossible, surely?

Doubtless every possible reason is being thrown about in your country at the moment for the reason(s) behind America’s incomprehensible “gun culture.”

Are we really being asked to believe that a constitutional clause drawn up in the 1770s – intended to apply to 1770s life and conditions – is still trotted out as a reason for this madness?

Overall, I suspect it’s the general standard of education in the US that’s at fault in the long term. (Not with fine universities but with the ordinary education across the board). With any reasonably-educated person, the penny would soon drop.

Of course, it’s hardly the fault of the poorly-educated that they are so. But if educational standards were raised right across the board, the worst of the problem would disappear – in time.

Every gun shop would eventually go out of business. The very notion of an accessible gun shop in a main street or shopping center (sorry, mall) is utterly unknown in most of the civilized world. It needs a very, very long-term goal. And that’s got to be education I think.

Until then, the gun culture will ensure mass murder continues indefinitely in America. The terribly sad certainty is that there are little school children who play, laugh and learn at school today, who will shortly be riddled with bullets.

A certain fact.

The very idea of having to “protect” or “secure” a school is lunacy! Policemen actually allocated to a school? What??

There’s no point at all in trying to keep guns only in the hands of the sane and away from the mentally ill. In any other country in the world, the acquisition of guns by the public would simply be considered utterly insane anyway.

It’s your business, not ours, but your friends over here are long past scratching their heads. We tend to tap them knowingly now.

After four years as a rogue state, the rest of the world had looked forward to America catching up with civilization again, but every time absolutely nothing – nothing! – is done after these senseless tragedies, we begin to wonder. Unfortunately, the expression one hears about the US again and again these days is “backward” or “third world.”

Yet it needn’t be so, surely?

Written not in anger or even as criticism – just so sadly.

Op-Ed: Are We a Civilized Country?

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Lest we forget … then Selectwoman Mary Jo Nosal  led a group of local citizens including former Old Lyme Selectman, the late Mervin Roberts (in foreground) to Newtown, Conn. to offer Old Lyme’s sympathies in respect of the 26 teachers and students killed Dec. 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School. File photo published Dec. 2012.

Editor’s Note: Tom Soboleski of Ivoryton, Conn., submitted a powerful op-ed to LymeLine.com after the Sandy Hook massacre. We published ‘Proposed Path to a Safer Society’ on Dec. 20, 2012. In light of yesterday’s tragic events in Uvalde, Texas, Soboleski contacted us yesterday to ask if we would consider re-publishing it and we immediately agreed. He has added a new introduction.

Are We a Civilized Country?

Eighteen school children murdered in Texas. What kind of society do we live in? What kind of society tolerates school children being slaughtered; not to forget the hundreds of others in Buffalo and numerous other cities? Clearly we are an uncivilized society; one that is disintegrating more by the day.

Ten years ago I wrote the following in reaction Connecticut’s own incomprehensible nightmare.

Nothing has changed. We’ve become numb and routinely tolerate the slaughter of innocents. I stand by every word.

Proposed Path to a Safer Society
(First published on LymeLine.com Dec. 20, 2012)

Sandy Hook School is an earthquake that shakes the soul of human decency. My response:
I acknowledge the right to have a hunting rifle and a pistol for self-defense. The right to self-defense is a root of liberty. Equally important is a coincident right of people who choose not to own a gun: the right to live in a safe and secure society.
This right is an indisputable expectation.
While I realize this is an ideal that will be difficult to fulfill, we must, for the sake of human decency, respect, and compassion, strive to create such a society. To not strive for this goal is disrespectful and inconsiderate to all people who want to live in peace.
My proposal to create an environment that begins to lead our society down this path is as follows:
1. A gun is not sporting equipment. To equate a gun to sports is akin to saying it is no different than a tennis racquet or basketball. This is an insult to humanity. There is no comparison because their designed purposes are so different – fun and games versus a killing implement.
2. Any weapon that is capable of firing multiple rounds in rapid succession should be outlawed to anyone other than military, law enforcement or security personnel. No one in a civil society should have such a weapon, for its sole designed purpose is to kill. For hunting and self-defense, there should be no need for anything more than a single-shot pistol or rifle.
3. Any weapon that uses multiple round magazines or any type of device that loads more than six bullets at a time should be outlawed. Reasons stated in item 2.
4. Anyone caught in possession or ownership of these outlawed weapons and ammunition would be in violation of the law and should be punished with extensive community service or imprisonment.
5. Anyone who currently owns such weapons described in item 2 should be paid to turn them in. They should not be grandfathered.
6. Extensive background checks should apply to 100% of sales in any form for the purchase of legal pistols and rifles.
7. A permit is required to fish. A permit should be required to purchase ammunition.
8. Internet sale of any weapon and ammunition should be illegal.
I urge everyone with a strong opinion on this subject to voice their opinion to their representatives and senators. Time is of the essence. Do not let this moment and these memories fade.

Op-Ed: Eliminating Mask Requirement in Lyme-Old Lyme Schools is Premature, Shortsighted

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Compared to the peak of the Omicron surge three weeks ago, case numbers are decreasing — both locally and nationally.

Compared to where we were before Omicron — from summer through Thanksgiving — case numbers are still high.

With that said, we are seeing fewer people getting COVID, and that positive trend is likely to continue. The period of the pandemic where masks are required is definitely drawing to a close.

Recently, the school board and the superintendent announced that they are lifting the mask requirement on February 28th. There are a range of problems with their communication, including the fact that they will stop reporting positive cases in schools in a timely way this spring, but this piece focuses on the specific issue of the mask requirement.

The decision to eliminate the mask requirement — made largely without feedback from the larger school community — is premature and shortsighted. Unfortunately, both their choice and the process of making that choice are consistent with the district’s refusal to commit to layered mitigation strategies throughout the pandemic, and especially during the recent Omicron surge.

Since January 2 and February 18, 2022, the district has reported 138 people who have tested positive for COVID. Because the district chooses not to do systemic testing in schools, the real case count is probably higher. But the reality is we don’t know what’s happening in the schools relative to COVID. The lack of testing, the continued positive cases, and the generally vague communication from the district doesn’t create trust.

Students and staff are on winter break from February 18th through the 28th. Lifting the mask requirements on February 28th means that students will be bringing back any exposure that they might have had over their holiday and dropping it into the school environment. This is incredibly unfair to people who take reasonable precautions, because in a pandemic individual choice impacts community realities.

Because the superintendent and school board are choosing to lift the mask requirement on the 28th, they are making schools the place where risk and benefit both get inequitably redistributed. People who haven’t taken precautions against COVID, and people who aren’t wearing masks, will expose people who have taken precautions to greater risk. Conversely, those who have taken precautions and weak masks are actively creating a situation where everyone has lower risk of exposure — including those who take no precautions.

This is where the lie of “individual responsibility” against the backdrop of a global pandemic becomes obvious: we have a collective obligation to each other, and people can use their individual choice in a way that undermines the long term safety of the larger community.

Lifting the mask requirement now disproportionately and unfairly impacts people who need to take additional precautions because they are immunocompromised, live with someone who is immunocompromised, or is at a greater risk for negative outcomes from COVID.

The way forward is obvious: keep the mask requirement in place a few weeks longer, into mid-March. This approach gives cases an additional few weeks to subside, would allow the weather to become warmer so people can make more use of outdoor spaces, and would avoid the impact of people bringing their exposure back to the schools after the break.

Additionally, the district should put a mask requirement in place for the week following Spring Break. Cases have generally surged after breaks, and we have no reason to assume differently.

And, of course, if case numbers don’t subside in schools, or if we have another spike in cases when the next variant arrives, we need to look at layered mitigation strategies, including improved air filtration and requiring mask use.

Everyone wants to return to some version of “normal” – whatever that is. But by prematurely removing masking requirements, the district ensures that any return to “normal” will remain more elusive than it needs to be.

Editor’s Note: This is the opinion of William Fitzgerald of Old Lyme. 

Op-Ed: Lampos Makes His Case, ‘I’m Not Running “Against” Anyone, But Rather “For” Old Lyme’

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Jim Lampos

Editor’s Note: This op-ed was submitted by Jim Lampos, who is the Democratic-endorsed candidate for Old Lyme Selectman and also for one of the two seats on the Old Lyme Planning Commission.

I am honored to be on the ballot for Old Lyme’s Board of Selectmen this November 2nd.  The Board of Selectmen has been meeting since our town’s founding over three hundred years ago, and our democratic institutions predate the founding of our nation by over a century.   Indeed, Old Lyme has one of the oldest continuous forms of democratic government in the world.  As a historian, when I read meeting records in our town hall archives I am struck by the degree to which decisions made long ago continue to resonate and influence our daily lives. From mundane tasks such as building roads and bridges to the pressing issues of the day, addressed in the Lyme Resolves of 1766 which outlined principles that still guide us, one thing is clear: Things we do and say in our civic life matter. And sometimes, it’s the things we don’t do or say that matter even more.  

Our times call for a broad perspective, and a willingness to listen, learn, and adapt.  As a small businessman who has successfully navigated the challenges of the Great Recession, the early days of the pandemic, and now the disruptions of the re-opening—I know that each day will present a new set of challenges that will call upon all of my skills and life experience. 

The education and training that has served me well as a businessman is even more applicable to the job of selectman. I received my B.A. in political sociology from Brandeis University, graduating Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa. I was awarded a Kaplan Fellowship to attend the New School where I received my M.A. in policy analysis and was inducted into Pi Alpha Alpha, the national honor society for public affairs and administration. I worked on various urban renewal and planning projects in New York City, such as the successful redesign of Union Square Park, and served as Director of Development for Community Access, a nonprofit agency building housing for the homeless and mentally disabled. I am currently serving as an alternate on Old Lyme’s Planning Commission, and along with running for selectman I am also running for a full term on the Planning Commission.

I was born and raised here in Southeastern Connecticut, and have been living in Old Lyme for over 40 years—first as a summer resident, and since 2005 as a full-time resident with my wife Michaelle and our children Phoebe and Van. We chose to live in Old Lyme for the same reason so many others do: the transcendent beauty of our natural environment, our excellent school system, great institutions such as the Florence Griswold Museum and cultural events such as the Musical Masterworks concerts, and most of all, the proud tradition of our civic life. I’m not embarrassed to say that I love our town, and I’m not speaking rhetorically when I say that I’m not running “against” anyone, but rather “for” Old Lyme. In that spirit, I am reaching out to all residents regardless of party affiliation and asking for your vote.  

In the coming years, we will be facing challenges that we’ve never faced before. The “disruptive” technologies that have upended so much of our economy and daily lives will soon be transforming real estate and development. Climate change will be placing much of our low-lying coast in peril and testing our infrastructure. These challenges will require creative, forward-thinking solutions, backed by the support of informed and unified residents if we are to maintain our treasured small-town ambience and sense of place. We must look to the future, respect the past, and work to preserve our natural environment and natural resources. We must support our arts community and all of our businesses, including the farms which were so invaluable to us during the pandemic. We must continue to invest in our schools and find ways to develop new housing opportunities in neighborhood-appropriate ways so that our young families can stay here and our older residents can retire here in comfort and security, and we must do all of these things while being mindful of social equity and justice, because that is who we are as a community. I believe that my running mate, first selectwoman candidate Martha Shoemaker, and myself, along with the entire Democratic ticket, are uniquely qualified to guide us through the coming decade and make our town an even greater place to live. 

I look forward to seeing everyone on the campaign trail, and to serving our town on the Board of Selectmen and Planning Commission.