Deborah Lee Luskin
It doesn’t have to be this way
This month marks 10 years since Tropical Storm Irene swept through the state, washing away roads, bridges and homes, downing power and phone lines, and leaving behind a mess.
And in Newfane, in the face of this natural disaster, residents pulled together to help one another.
Be a patriot. Be altruistic.
The common good matters — especially if we want to stop the pandemic and reopen commerce and communities
Americans who object to wearing a mask, claiming it's an infringement on their civil rights, are not patriots no matter how many flags they pin to their lapels. The Bill of Rights enumerates our protected freedoms, but nowhere does it grant a citizen the right to harm others. Wearing...
Democracy requires vigilance. I haven’t quit checking the news.
I was checking the news so I could say: ‘This is it — now I can quit.’ But how could I, when an unruly mob stormed the Capitol?
No one could be more surprised than I to be jonesing for Trump, but I'm still checking the news compulsively. I thought I was going to kick my thrice-daily news meals plus snacks, eager to see what the new outrage might be, the newest lie. I first planned to...
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Our best, imperfect, option
To members of the Newfane Selectboard: At the Dec. 7 meeting, I outlined three options for holding Town Meeting safely on March 2, 2021. 1. We can hold the budget and policy portion of our Annual Town Meeting from the floor as usual. However, according to the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, we would have to comply with mandatory health and safety requirements from the CDC, the Vermont Department of Health, the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, and...
Improving communities, reinvigorating the electorate
Of all Donald Trump's abuses of power, the use of unmarked law enforcement officers (LEOs) against U.S. citizens in Portland, Oregon, is the one that makes me want to curl up in a hole or flee. Unidentified LEOs tear-gassing and abducting citizens exercising their First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly too closely resembles the Nazi Party's brownshirts who helped Hitler come to power through brute intimidation and disruption. To hear this president then say he...
It’s taking a lifetime to correct this bias
How is it that until this year, I didn't know about Juneteenth, the anniversary of the day the news of the Emancipation Proclamation made it to Texas, then a remote outpost? How is it that until this year, I didn't know that Juneteenth has been a state holiday in Vermont since 2008? How is it that I grew up celebrating not just Christopher Columbus's “discovery” of America, but also the man himself, a man who enslaved the residents who were...
For women with an abusive partner, a pandemic heightens the risk of assault
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, part of an annual campaign to raise public awareness about sexual assault and sexual violence. It's not a month of celebration, but one of education about both the prevalence of sexual violence and about ways to prevent it. Our plans to host a writing workshop for survivors of sexual violence to tell their stories has been postponed, as has the public reading we were to hold next week. This column was originally going to...
'Telling Our Stories' free writing workshop will give voice to survivors of sexual abuse
A year and a half ago, I received an outpouring of support when I published my story about both being sexually abused by my grandfather as a child and about Vermont Public Radio not allowing me to use the word “grandfather” to identify my abuser. I was also the recipient of many, many confessions of untold abuse. Ever since, I've been thinking about a way to help others break the silence that keeps this kind of abuse secret - and...