College Level Reading Comprehension Test.....

             

I don't know if they do this anymore, but there used to be a Reading Comprehension segment in the SAT used as a benchmark for college applications.  I suspect the whole idea has been spit-canned as oppressive and discriminatory and anti-anything else you can think of.

For our purposes here, if you wish to gain admission to the Other Side School of Advanced Reality, you will still have to sit for a test which measures your abilities in this area, along with others.  We think it only fair to give you a sense of what the Reading Comprehension challenges will look like.

Please read the following passage once carefully.  After you have done so, proceed to the related multiple choice questions.  You may not use your phone or any other digital aide, and you may not converse with your fellow test-takers.

You have a total of 5 minutes to read the passage and answer the questions.  Begin on my mark.....GO!

The evacuation of interior essences and normative, disciplinary assumptions of gender cores and consistencies has been critical to the shift in postmodern queer theories from biological and psychological determinisms to analyses of social norms and their complex roles in the formation of gendered identities. At the theoretical level, our efforts to clear away foundationalisms and evacuate interior essences have left us with an expanded vocabulary for talking about discursive and social complexities. I will argue here, however, that lesbian and gay work fails at times to realize its potential for reconceptualizing the complexities of identity and social relations, at moments when, almost in spite of itself, it at least implicitly conceives gender in negative terms, in the terms of fixity, miring, or subjection to the indicatively female body, with the consequence that escape from gender, usually in the form of disembodiment and always in the form of gender crossings, becomes the goal and the putative achievement.

Question 1:  Would you want to attend a college where the faculty talks and writes like this?

Question 2:  How many times did you refer to the dictionary you had hidden up your sleeve?

Question 3:  Do you think an exorcism could heal the psyche of the individual who wrote these words?

Question 4:  How much would you and/or your parent(s) be willing to pay for an education at the author's institution?

Question 5:  How much weed would it take for you to mellow out after reading this passage?

Question 6:  Which of the following best describes "the evacuation of interior essences?"  (No write in answers allowed.)

Question 7:  Would you be better off or worse off after matriculation at such an institution?

Question 8:  Which major would this brief narrative best be a core element of?

Question 9:  How many times have you experienced disembodiment?

Question 10:  Have you ever practiced safe disembodiment?

Question 11:  Did your partner give you verbal consent?

Question 12:  Did you find it rewarding and pleasurable?

Question 13:  If you could disembody the author, which method would you choose?

Question 14:  Can you believe people who write such swill actually earn more than you will ever dream of making?

Choices for all questions, because coming up with targeted choices for each individual question called for us to care more than is humanly possible, are shown below.  Besides, you're probably too mentally adrift to deal with a different set of answers for each question.

a) Wanna, like, hook-up tomorrow night?

b) Wow, this dude smokes some awesome weed; can I get me some?

c) Like, get totally serious!  I could, like, care less.

d) Can I just, like, get a participation certificate?

Closing editorial note:

In case you think the reading passage is something plucked out of a parallel universe in which breaks with reality are the norm, you would be so incredibly wrong.  The passage is actually written by someone who has risen to the highest level of Academia....and presides over an institution most would consider in the same "peer group" as Brunswick's beloved Bowdoin.

So put that in your bong and smoke it.

A Poppycock Pop-up!

It's widely accepted that Academia, for purposes of this discussion, in the form of small, elite, highly selective private colleges, plays a leadership role in defining correctness in all things political; justice in every stitch of our social fabric; variations of expression and companion language in all things gender related; and most of all, providing safe spaces and places of refuge to all who set foot on their campuses.

In the latter case, we've actually seen a sign marking a "Place of Refuge" in the Moulton Union on the Bowdoin Campus.

Inspired by these realities, we went out on a limb and submitted a brief Letter to the Editor to The Ostrich.  Surprise of surprises, they published it today.



The text of the letter is as follows:

Bowdoin College, here in Brunswick, is surely among the wealthiest institutions in Maine. Its capital assets, combined with its endowment, total well over $2 billion, and conversely, its non-profit status subjects it to very little in tax obligations at all levels. 

Bowdoin prizes its stature as a paragon of diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism. It seeks to infuse its students with a lifelong commitment to advancing the common good and a devotion to service to others. 

Its facilities are expansive and ever-growing. Housing, food services, field houses, gyms, ice rinks, common/social spaces, museums, arts rehearsal spaces (remember Longfellow Elementary?) and others too many to list define the luxurious accommodations on campus. Medical and counseling services are part of the basics on campus, as are focus centers serving various minorities. 

Given the above, shouldn’t it be expected that Bowdoin will publicly step up to the challenge of welcoming and providing for the needs of refugees and asylum seekers now arriving in Maine from other U. S. locations? The College has the expressed mission, the financial wherewithal, and the spacious and varied facilities to take this challenge on with grace and aplomb.

In the same vein, Colby and Bates should be stepping up to the pressing needs as well. Perhaps the office of Governor Janet Mills could call upon leaders of all three to inspire them, seek their help, and convince them that others need them like never before. Wouldn’t it be something to see these three historic, mission-oriented colleges practice serving the common good as they have long preached?

We're delighted they consider us a legitimate purveyor of local journalism.  Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

Chasing “likes”– but at what cost?

We imagine many of you are hooked on the various ‘social media’ addictions of our day….sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and who knows how many more.

Here at Side, we’ve steadfastly avoided even creating accounts on such sites, and we regret it not one bit.

You don’t have to look very far or wide to see just how much damage these attention traps have visited upon our culture and our social graces, in spite of the advantages many claim they offer. 

One of the traps they suck users into, as we understand it, is the constant search for “likes.”  Try to find a web site for a new restaurant to check out their menu, and you’re almost always going to find a Facebook page instead, and a request to “like us on Facebook!”

We were recently reminded, however, that there is more than one type of “like.”  Including, we suppose, many we haven’t thought of.

The one at the top of our mind at the moment, though, comes to us compliments of the Bowdoin Orient….the campus newspaper operated by students.  It seems a campus ethnic group invited an “edgy” comedian to entertain on campus, and said comedian violated many of the modern day taboos held sacred by fragile elite college students.  You know, micro-agressions, triggering, oppression and all the rest are always ready to show up when thin lines are crossed.

You can read the entire article here:

https://bowdoinorient.com/2019/04/19/asian-heritage-month-guest-comedian-criticized-for-offensive-language/

In case you don’t care to, which wouldn’t surprise us, we give you this brief excerpt:

“David Zhou ‘21 said any commedian should be better about knowing the audience.  He should have known that if you come to a liberal arts college and start making like offhand jokes about like sex, race, gender, like, you’re going to get slapped,” Zhou said.

How’s that for “likes?”  Three in one sentence!  So David, a Bowdoin sophomore, is already up in the like stats before posting anywhere.

The overarching point in all this for us, however, is the apparent fact that a second year student at an elite, highly selective liberal arts college speaks with all the linguistic polish of valley girls from Southern California. 

Given that his higher education has a price tag of more than one-quarter million dollars for a Bachelor’s degree, isn’t it reasonable to expect he could utter such a brief thought without using conversational crutches?

While the editors of The Orient didn’t seem concerned enough to edit his words on his behalf, we have to wonder how the faculty and administration of the Ivory Tower will deal with this reflection on their English curriculum and teaching rigor.

Perhaps they’ll have to set up a program of “Like-aversion Therapy” for those so-afflicted, similar to the stuttering problem many of us saw in our youth.

We can’t wait to see, like, how they deal with this, like.

Technorati Tags: Bowdoin,likes

How about a few laughs?

  

After what we’ve been through in the way of traumatic consequences of the recent storm, we think it’s time for everyone to get a few yuks.  Most of us can only be serious and stressed out for so long.  Thank goodness we have Bowdoin College, and your ever watchful correspondent, to bring you a little levity.

                

As usual, we picked up the latest edition of the Bowdoin Orient when we enjoyed our lunch at the Big Top Deli yesterday.  Our state of mind lightened up measurably when we turned to page two and read the “Security Report.”  Herewith the items that gave us the greatest amusement:

• A student reported a squirrel acting odd near the south door to Winthrop Hall.  (From what we’ve read over the years, it would make more sense to have a squirrel report that a student was acting odd near any door of any campus building.)

                    

• An officer checked on the condition of a student who reported an adverse reaction to marijuana edibles.  (Apparently, cause and effect are not part of the rigorous curriculum offered at Bowdoin.)

       

We can only wonder whether the odd squirrel behavior and the marijuana edibles are connected.  Shirley the Bowdoin Security Office is looking into this possible connection.

And here’s one more:

• An intoxicated student (ya think??) walking past a security officer yelled “f**k security!”  The student offered to write a sincere letter of apology.  (Good thing it’s a “sincere” letter, or it might have seemed a hollow gesture.)

Don’t lose sight of the fact that twenty years from now, these very students could well be billionaire hedge fund managers, or be managing the 401(k) assets of your progeny.  What a comforting thought.

Changing subjects a bit, the paper included a feature article on what we used to call a “senior” in an item titled “Portrait of an artist.”  The subject student identifies as a writer of creative non-fiction, a skill she has advanced in her time at Bowdoin.

Harking back to the earlier post in which we highlighted “intersectionality,” we find the caption for her photo particularly timely:

“CREATIVE NONFICTION: Through writing, Carly Berlin ’18 grapples with the intersections of her identity as a southerner in New England with a Jewish upbringing and a rich family history.”

Now we’re forced to contemplate whether our introduction of the subject in that prior post might leave you grappling; we certainly hope not.  But if you are, that diagram we included should help you untangle yourself.

The main reason we pass along this item is because we found the interview included several repeated words and or phrases that struck us as verbal tics entirely inappropriate to one who considers herself a writer, and hopes to work in the field.  Especially one completing her fourth year at a paragon of elite liberal arts education.

Just for fun, why don’t you take a quick read to see if you  notice what we did.  You can find it here:

https://bowdoinorient.com/2017/11/03/portrait-of-an-artist-carly-berlin-18-on-writing/

I think, like, that our reaction may have something to do with, like, our odd way of seeing things. 

We’re curious to know, like, what you think.

Technorati Tags: Laughs,Bowdoin,writing,squirrels,marijuana

Technorati Tags: Laughs,Bowdoin,writing

Time for a little vocabulary work…

 

One of the consequences of the Social Justice Warrior environment we live in is a simultaneous revision AND expansion of the classical “English” vocabulary most of us grew up with.  Keeping track of the various new terms and their implications can leave one feeling, well, verklempt.

The item we’re about to pass along is something of an embarrassment to us, since it reports on events taking place at our Alma Mater.  To be clear, we graduated from Rutgers more than 50  years ago, and it was a much different place when we were there.  It was established in 1766, before our country’s founding, and nearly 30 years before Bowdoin College came into being.  When we attended, the student body numbered 3,000, and the campus ambience was reminiscent of the Bowdoin you know today, complete with a quintessential “quad,” and original buildings of architectural distinction.

Sadly, that Rutgers is no more, and it hasn’t been the Rutgers we knew for decades.

So anyway, here’s the item we’re passing along to help you develop your vocabulary, and your understanding of the cultural narratives coming out of academia in this age.

http://quillette.com/2017/10/29/get-bus-get-shouting-free-speech-rutgers/

It’s a pretty long read, but in our view, is illuminating, especially if you aren’t WOKE to campus shenanigans these days.  Vocabulary, what passes for reasoning, and any number of other vageries are discussed.  But if you don’t feel up to trudging throught it all, make sure you at least get your arms around the concept of intersectionality, which is the au courant buzz-word in social justice rhetoric at the moment.

The article includes this illustration, which we present separately here in hopes you can read it a bit more easily.

We hope you can determine how many of the various “intersecting axes” it takes to indentify YOUR unique place in the galaxy of oppression, and once you do, please write back to us so we can publish what will surely become the replacement for your old fashioned genealogy.  No more “23 and me.”  You just need to fess up to all the parameters that make you an enemy of social justice, in a way you simply cannot overcome.

Don’t you wish your parents had spent $60,000 a year to send you to college to become this enlightened?

And aren’t you glad that the students of today, who are marinating in this mumbo-jumbo, are “our future?”

Is this a great country or what?

Technorati Tags: Social justice warfare,academia,mumbo-jumbo,our future

Oh you kids!

             

We find much that goes on at Bowdoin to be absolutely maddening, insane, and dissonant on any number of levels.  Thankfully, those precious little Polar Bear Teddies are also capable of tickling our funny bones, especially when their antics invite interpretation in the context of their privileged, elite, super-bright qualities.

           

Herewith the latest example of Friday Night Funzies, Fresh from Friday’s edition of the Bowdoin Orient.  In the official campus Security Report, no less.

Sunday, October 1

• Students in Osher Hall reported that someone threw a poutine container at a first floor window.

We don’t know whether this outrageous act will be referred to Brunswick’s Human Rights Task Force, but the ethnic and cultural appropriation implications of the act certainly raise a red flag for attention by elected and appointed Municipal officials.

Tuesday, October 3

• A fire alarm at Fairley (sic) Field House was apparently caused by shower steam and overpowering men’s cologne.

Here again, the HRTF may want to take a look at this incident, and the insensitivity of Bowdoin’s security personnel.  The use of overpowering fragrance is troubling enough for its microagressive potential, but the stereotypical characterization of the fragrance in today’s gender non-normalized world is particularly troubling.  This one may call for bringing in specialized consultants to conduct language sensitivity training, along with a fragrance desensitizing class.

Friday, October 6

• An officer checked on the wellbeing of an intoxicated student sleeping on the front lawn at Quimby House at 1:00 am.

Finally, the kind of good old-fashioned campus hi-jinx we can relate to.  No word on whether the responding officer asked if the student found a towel over the door-knob to his room, and in keeping with age-old roomie messaging, felt he had no other choice but to hit the lawn.

                      

Technorati Tags: Bowdoin,campus security,growing up Polar Bear

The hell with it; it’s time for Brunswick to go big in the virtue signalling sweepstakes.

     

In yesterday’s post, we made this declaration:

We’ll close with a proposal of our own.  In keeping with the times, we propose that the town council, town manager, and anyone else in attendance at council meetings “take a knee” for recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance before meetings.

This would be a way for all attending to “show solidarity” with those who have no appreciation for the country in which they live, or those who dedicate their lives to protecting it from all enemies foreign and domestic.  Surely everyone at the meetings is oppressed in some way or another, just like the students at Bowdoin.

Upon the due reflection that suggestion warranted, we realized how underwhelming it is, especially for a “get right with the world” town like Brunswick.  We’ve got to signal our humility and deference to the high command of the Social Justice Warfare Brigade that occupies our territory.

        

While taking a knee at council meetings is a start, if an amateur one, it’s time to step up our game…to move up to the pro ranks in showing our disdain for all things oppressive, traditional, historically based, offensive, patriotic or otherwise associated with what used to be called the Land of the Free.   You know, the one time “Good Old USA.”

God Bless America?  Yankee Doodle Dandy?  George M. Cohan?  Binary genderism?  Lady Justice and blindness before the law?  It’s time they all be tossed aside in a great tidal wave of political correctness, and washed out to the sea of yesterday.  We believe we have just the kind of leadership here in America’s perfect little town to make it happen.  Our one time Lake Basebegone can become a “shining city upon a hill” - Lake Justicebecoming.

The new plan we envision is multi-pronged.  With assistance from the local social justice militia, Brunswick can be the first to celebrate an annual Abject Humility Day, in which every town resident, visitor, and worker will take a knee for four hours.  Kids in our schools, all the teachers, and the administration are expected to show us the way.

  

The second facet should be a weekly Abject Humility Hour.  While the day of the week and the hour should be a matter of public discussion, we prefer the daylight hours so all can be seen in their observance.  Perhaps Fridays from Noon to 1 pm as a start.

This would be a perfect time for members of Sanctuary Brunswick to lay their gifts of food, housing, clothing, and other necessities of life upon an appropriate altar under the Gazebo on the Mall.  Afterwards, they can hear confessions from the truly penitent on how they transgressed in just social behavior in the week past, and hand out lists of penitent offerings required to atone and “get right with the left.”

    

We’re confident that leaders amongst our governing and peace and justice elite will want all outdated symbols of the “Old Brunswick,” like American Flags, Maine Flags, and other relics of the old way, be flown at half-staff, if not burned, during the weekly hour of humility and the annual day of penitence.

We hope, and beseech these same thought leaders to grant exemption to active and retired members of our armed forces, and active and retired first responders, even though they have all too often been used as the tools of oppression.  At least in the minds of those who hold sway in public opinion these days, along with the emerging cultural revolution, and purge of all things emblematic of old school American and Western history.

      

As for us, we hope you won’t mind if we stick our necks out in resistance to the “new way” being imposed upon us.

Perhaps one or two of you will even join with us in a celebration of the best that American once was, and especially honor those who carry her banners, no matter the personal sacrifice it requires.

Maybe we can fend off the end of American History for a little while longer.  It won’t be easy, will it.

Technorati Tags: social jutice,taking a knee,annual rite of humility

Brunswick Town Council gives short shrift to indigenous peoples, and other signs of the times. Plus a proposal of our own.

   

Observers in town were given fair warning by local cultural elites that they would press the town council to pass a resolution declaring the second Monday in October to be Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Brunswick.  And so lookouts were posted to watch for smoke signals above the McLellan on Monday, September 18th indicating the outcome of the proposal to do so.

As we might expect, our town councilors signaled their virtue by approving the resolution proposed by the gaggle of community organizers who carried this forward.  Surprisingly, however, the vote was not unanimous.  The BDN opened their article with this:

BRUNSWICK, Maine — Adding to a roster of Maine communities passing similar resolutions this year, the Brunswick Town Council on Monday voted to adopt a resolution recognizing the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, while continuing to acknowledge the federal Columbus Day holiday.

The council officially voted 8-1, with Councilor Dan Harris opposed, to adopt “a resolution to acknowledge Maine’s Indigenous Cultures,” and to recognize the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Harris, a prime mover behind the creation of our town’s Human Rights Task Force, inexplicably voted against the proposal.  We can only wonder what hidden anti-nativist bias hides deep within his otherwise multi-cultural, social justice driven soul.

The most troubling aspect of the council’s action, however, is the lack of respect they showed towards the indigenous peoples relative to the Cubans who prospered here before unknown invaders massacred them and drove them away.

    

http://www.timesrecord.com/news/2017-03-24/Ticket/Cuba_Week_in_Brunswick_March_26_April_2.html

The Cuban peoples, or Cubanistas as some call them, are honored with a full week of celebration every year in Brunswick.  Restaurants feature Cuban dishes in tribute to these pioneers, and there is even a monumental art piece in the downtown area – the “Dance of Two Cultures” mural on the side of the former Treworgy furniture store.

We don’t know how this shameful imbalance in reverence towards those who courageously occupied these lands before the modern era was allowed to pass without objection from our betters who pride themselves in their multicultural bona fides and unquestioned impartiality.  We trust that appropriate correctives will soon be prescribed for all who perpetrated this injustice.

     

As if this major breakthrough in community standards wasn’t enough, we now learn that some of the very same cultural beautifiers of our once fair town have another proposal to put forth if we are to achieve the greatness they have in mind for us.

This report appears in today’s Ostrich:

Advocates want Brunswick to welcome immigrants

No push yet for sanctuary status in the community

BY NATHAN STROUT

Times Record Staff

BRUNSWICK

An advocate group wants the town of Brunswick to adopt a resolution welcoming immigrants but stopping short of declaring the community a sanctuary city.

Sanctuary Brunswick organizer Rosalie Paul called the resolution “a step beyond just a feeling of goodwill” at a meeting with advocates and town officials on Wednesday.

“It’s important for our immigrant communities to feel welcome not just in Lewiston, but anywhere in Maine,” said Bright Lukusa of the Immigrant Resource Center of Maine.

The proposed resolution states that Brunswick “welcomes immigrants and all new residents and visitors to our community, and supports their paths toward citizenship, recognizing the extraordinary efforts and resilience of the individuals who move to our community under the most difficult of circumstances, and who face barriers including unfamiliar language, culture and divisive political rhetoric.”

The loaded words in the report are “no push yet for sanctuary status….”  Which is another way of saying the water drop treatment is just beginning.  Turns out Selma Sternlieb had authored an op-ed in The Ostrich on behalf of Peace Works Brunswick that ran on September 20th.  It included this passage:

With the belief that we must not stand by and allow brutal immigration policies to go forward while our brothers and sisters are suffering, a group of us, calling ourselves Sanctuary Brunswick, is planning a Community Conversation on Wednesday, September 27th at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church to address this question: What would it mean for Brunswick to become a welcoming community offering sanctuary to immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees?

And then this further detail:

The panel will consist of representatives of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the town council and town manager’s office, the Brunswick police department, the Lewiston High School International Club, United Somali Women of Maine, and the religious community.

In fact, eye-witness accounts report that councilors Sarah Brayman and Kathy Wilson, Town Manager John Eldridge, and Police Cmdr. Mark Waltz were in attendance from Brunswick Town government.

We note that neither today’s article nor last week’s op-ed suggest that those promoting the approach are volunteering their own funds, vacant bedrooms, personal food supplies, or other signs of welcome to those they propose to help.  As the old saying goes, it’s pretty clear that what they really want is to be generous with the shirts off others’ backs.  In other words, they wish to impose their voluntary kindness as an obligation upon town residents.

It’s clear they will soon push for sanctuary city status, regardless of Cmdr Waltz’ view that doing so would be problematic.  This is tantamount to proposing that laws that have been on the books for decades not be enforced because they don’t like them and consider them to be unfair.

So much for being “a nation of laws,” and “equal protection under the law.”  It used to be that if you didn’t like a law, you were supposed to work with the lawmakers to have it changed.  But that can be a big pain in the butt, so why not just have officials vote to ignore the law so you can feel better?

We won’t even discuss the Maine Open Meetings Law, which on the face of things, appears to have been violated here.  At least four town officials attended the “panel meeting” which clearly discussed town policy.  Three officials makes it a meeting requiring official public notice by the town, and we didn’t find the session on the town calendar, or any other indication that the town was fulfilling its obligations for public notification.

Hey; as long as we’re in the mood to comply onty with those laws that we like, what’s the big deal?

     

We’ll close with a proposal of our own.  In keeping with the times, we propose that the town council, town manager, and anyone else in attendance at council meetings “take a knee” for recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance before meetings.

This would be a way for all attending to “show solidarity” with those who have no appreciation for the country in which they live, or those who dedicate their lives to protecting it from all enemies foreign and domestic.  Surely everyone at the meetings is oppressed in some way or another, just like the students at Bowdoin.

Come to think of it, have they taken down all the US Flags on campus yet?  And is each day begun with the student body taking a collective knee on the quad?

Let’s hope so; Brunswick could use the good publicity.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,sanctuary city,taking a knee,idigenous peoples

AABBB: All Aboard Brunswick’s Breez Bus!

              

We know it’s a bit early to judge the success of the new Metro Breez service between Brunswick and Portland, but we can’t help but wonder how the lovely ladies of All Aboard Brunswick are coping with the new approach to inter-city transport.  Are local pharmacies running short on smelling salts?  Or bicarbonate of soda?  Is Hannafords seeing a decline in demand for bubbly and caviar? 

If nothing else, at least Staples should see slight growth for printing new stickers for the ladies to hand out to Brunswick’s always faithful but unrealistic transport groupies.

If so, we wouldn’t be in the least surprised.  The schedule and route flexibility of the Breez service simply blows away Downeaster service between Brunswick and Portland, and by extension, between Brunswick and Boston.  Not to mention the same for Freeport and Yarmouth.  The Breez will get you to Portland for $3, with far greater schedule and stop location than the Downeaster could ever hope to offer.  We can think of no credible reason to choose taking the Downeaster to Portland over the Breez other than fanatical devotion to trains, which in many places in the world, makes one a “foamer.”

For those who want to go to Boston, there is no reason to select the Downeaster as the way to get to Portland as part of that journey.  Taking the Breez to Portland, aside from its far more frequent runs and drop off choices, will get you to the Portland Transportation Center (PTC) where all the options for heading further south open up.  You can choose a Concord Bus to take you directly to your gate at Logan Airport, or choose the Downeaster to drop you off at North Station, where you can get to your downtown Boston destination by other means.

Let’s be honest.  Frank Lee, the combination of the Breez to Portland with the options for getting to Boston from the PTC simply cannot be matched by Downeaster service.  We expect the latter will soon have to put special fare discounts in place to compete with the Breez.  This would increase the annual subsidy required for the train, which if Portland North service were discontinued, could be used to more than cover Breez operations.

This situation is a perfect illustration of why passenger rail service has all but died over the last several decades; it simple doesn’t make sense from any perspective in all but the very fewest cases.  Digging heels in and demanding that no matter the evidence, the Portland North train service must continue, is a breach of the public trust, hanging on to a legacy boondoggle that benefits the few at the expense of the many.

The condition of our roads, bridges, and the rest, especially locally, should make it clear to all but the most gullible and intransigent that it’s time to acknowledge the mistake that was made and correct it.

We don’t see how anyone could look at the details available here and conclude otherwise:

http://gpmetrobus.net/

We could simply copy the schedules and route graphics, but that won’t suffice.  You need to look at the information yourself.

Technorati Tags: Brunswick,transportation,Downeaster,buses. public transit,MetroBreez

Bowdoin spares Brunswick from national embarrassment

 

Although in truth, their actions may draw attention to our lovely and perfect little town, given the nature of the “news industry” (formerly journalism) these days, and its scouring of the internet for juicy tidbits.  Especially if they come on the backs of other blockbuster stories.

 

Out of an abundance of concern, we presume, and no doubt paralyzed by fears of incoming student unrest, a shortage of safe spaces, places of refuge, a run on counseling services, stuffed animals and coloring books, and other stability and tranquility preservation modalities, Bowdoin administrators must have conducted a “tossing” of the campus in a manner worthy of official thought police.  They must have been looking for the slightest mention of or artifacts that might be construed as official recognition of any person, act, or portrayal relating to or referencing the Civil War era, and specifically, those who were on the side of the South.

Intent on signaling their virtue, and to prevent this elite and harmonious area from becoming a stop on the road out of Charlottesville, the Administration contacted Maine’s major print media outlet to tell them of their due diligence and resulting purge from public display of anything that might cause shame to rain down upon “Fort Bowdoin – Headquarters of the 1794th Northeastern Social Justice Warfare Command.”

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/08/19/bowdoin-college-is-moving-confederate-memorial-plaque/comments/

We can’t help but wonder whether the process also discovered all sorts of things that will require degendering. 

Calling the HRTF!  Have you scrubbed the town from stem to stern?  Shirley there must be numerous offensive items everywhere if you look hard enough.  And those looking to be offended victims will, we assume, look hard enough if not too hard in their search for validation and new-found stature in the pantheon of PC.  Curtis Library, here they come!

What about the 300 year old First Parish Church?  Is your record clean?

How about those of long ago who wore cotton clothing?  And who dug up the clay to make all the bricks in Brunswick buildings?  What basics of our lives back then originated in the south, and were the fruits, at least in part, of slave labor?  Did anyone eat citrus grown in the south?

Well, you should get the point.  It’s like the game “Seven degrees of Kevin Bacon.”  If you think about it enough, you can usually connect one thing to some other random thing with fewer logical steps than you might guess.

And cultural purges, in particular those driven by political correctness and social justice concerns, could easily become the subject of party games and chit chat nationwide.

One can only wonder how long it will take Bowdoin’s bleachers to go through the library, faculty offices, the bookstore, student housing, administration buildings, and any other places where books and other materials may contain reference to historical events or individuals that could be an embarrassment to modern day sensibilities, and more importantly, to the pristine reputation of the college as a leader in political correctness, no matter what that might entail in knowledge management.

And we’re just talking about one old college in Maine.  The search for virtue has only just begun, as demonstrated here:

http://www.pressherald.com/2017/08/19/whats-a-jefferson-davis-plaque-doing-in-joshua-chamberlain-territory/

                               

Let the games begin!

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