Michael O’Looney: The federal government’s current shutdown has put the Democrats in a quandary. Republicans blame them for the budget impasse, even though President Donald Trump is on record as having said repeatedly that the president is always to blame whenever there’s a shutdown.
Herbert Rothschild: Is it possible to write columns about torturing people in Guantanamo or eliminating the U.S. Agency for International Development without alienating those who are OK with such actions?
Amy Greenwold:This is a very divisive topic with a huge amount of misinformation published. I commend your editor for including this “Viewpoint” piece, “In Defense of Israel.”
Trisha Vigil: While closing the government may seem a national rather than a local issue, to Rogue Valley residents, it is clearly a local issue.
Herbert Rothschild: I didn’t get a good read on whether my classmates acknowledge how pervasive the effects of racism still are and the imperative to address them.
Herbert Rothschild: Whether visualization and intention by themselves can effect broad social change is impossible to determine, but the question merits sustained consideration.
Rabbi Jackie Brodsky: As many seem to have forgotten or denied, the current war in Gaza was started by Hamas terrorists breaking a ceasefire on Oct.7, 2023, when the worst attack on the Jews since the Holocaust took place.
Herbert Rothschild: A culture of peace exists in a community when mutual care and respect characterize the relationships among all its people and between them and the environment on which they depend.
Trisha Vigil: That Trump is threatening our environment and health in the Rogue Valley should be obvious to all. Where is our congressman?
Herbert Rothschild: The worst encounter between an aid flotilla and Israeli forces preventing it from reaching Gaza took place in 2010. Israeli naval commanders from speedboats and helicopters boarded the Mavi Marmara, one of six ships in a mostly Turkish flotilla. Nine aid activists were killed on board and a 10th later died from his wounds. Ten Israeli servicemen were wounded, one seriously.
As of Nov. 3, Ashland Community Food Bank has a new director at the reins. Catie Mahoney will serve in the role with guidance from outgoing director Amey Broeker, who will officially retire on Dec. 31 after serving in the food bank role since 2022.
The Ashland City Council will review a proposal from a potential provider to oversee its extreme weather shelter during its regular business meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
The Ashland Independent Film Festival has added a second screening showcasing Indigenous filmmakers on Sunday, Nov. 23.
Three and a half years into the war with Russia, Ashland violinist and longtime music teacher Faina Podolnaya is still finding ways to help Ukrainian refugees.
Herbert Rothschild: As the number of ads in The New Yorker has shrunk, it seems as if the wealth of its readership has concentrated, just as one might concentrate the flavor of a sauce by reducing it on the stovetop.
Local artist MaryAnn Shank will share the thoughts behind her newest novel “Sor Juana, My Beloved” at Bloomsbury Books Jan. 26. Shank is a finalist of The Isabel Allende Most Inspirational Book of the Year 2025 award, awarded by the International Latino Book Association.
(It’s free)
