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Nin Privitera, former Fredonia resident, offers some offbeat takes on recent headlines: — A humanitarian group recently presented Pope Leo 14th with a gift of a green orb. You know, you can call me crazy, but I’ve always seen the Pope as a blue orb kind of guy. — According to a scientific research group, reading books can slow the aging process. But the bad news is that, by reading this quippie, even though you are laughing uproariously, you still aged about 13 seconds. — President Trump had promised that a November election victory for Republicans will allow the federal ...

The surreal Republican Convention in Dallas

“Surreal” is a subjective term describing something that is beyond normal reality...like something out of a dream. That is the way it seemed with the special Republican Convention called by President Donald Trump last week in Dallas. It wasn’t a serious political convention with any real substance. It was a Trump pep rally—a call to the MAGA troops not to look at the price of gasoline or the ongoing war in Iran...but to think about all of the good things going on like the new ballroom at the White House, a new arch near the Potomac, or the U.S. getting oil from Venezuela as ...

County needs to invest surplus in people

Money is a funny thing. When you don’t have enough, we grumble. When we have too much, folks argue what to do with it. So, it seems to be true with our County Legislature. I’ve read the various articles and comments in The Post-Journal and OBSERVER for the last few months and it is becoming clear that there are differences of opinion as to how to use the $30 million overage in the fund balance. This is money that is not used in the annual budget but a separate account for emergencies or future projects. As a school superintendent, this was a common practice. We never knew when ...

School year’s start brings trip down memory lane

As another school year begins I am always reminded of my first-grade year and my teacher Mrs. Toni Harris. I believe that my education started at the tail end of a very unique era in American education. I learned to read from primers that described Spot, Dick, Jack and Jane engaged in ...

Atrocious bridge Troll was finally won over

It’s no secret that people read less today. It’s a slow process, and we live in a fast world. There might be, however, a growing appetite for shorter readings. The following is an example of the genre called flash fiction — stories of less than a thousand words. It’s a parody of a classic children’s story. Location is everything, and the troll who lived under the wooden footbridge was shrewdly aware of that fact. On hot days, fish lollygagged there in the shaded waters, easy prey for his quick, thorny hands. At night, he slithered up the creek banks where he hunched in the ...

Marijuana decisions are ‘unwise policy choices’

I write as a former marijuana user and a concerned member of our community to strongly oppose the legalization of marijuana and the proposed opening of a retail store here. These steps are not merely unwise policy choices — they are dangerous, both practically and spiritually. From personal experience I know that marijuana dulls the mind, weakens judgment, and opens the door to habits and influences that are difficult to reverse. What begins as recreation often erodes clarity, motivation, and spiritual discernment. Introducing a commercial outlet that normalizes and profits from this ...