Friday, May 9 I think my biggest disillusionment with the political system came in ninth grade. We were holding an election for class president, and I was hoping one of the candidates might have a brilliant plan to make my first year of high school much better than it had started out. I had just moved to a new school, the past few months had not been easy for me, and I wanted new leadership   Full Story

Thursday, May 8 Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts is a top-tier school with a remarkable story. It was founded as an all-women's college in 1871, one year before Susan B. Anthony was arrested for attempting to cast a ballot in the 1872 presidential election. Nearly a half-century before they were guaranteed voting rights by the 19th Amendment, women were blazing a trail to   Full Story

Thursday, May 8 Toward the end of last summer, I noticed that my car's air conditioner didn't seem to be functioning the way it should. While it would blow some cool air, it wasn't chilly enough to make it comfortable for the occupants of the vehicle. So as soon as this year's weather started to warm up, I took it to the repair shop.   Full Story

Saturday, May 3 The "Younger Voices" series in the North Adams Transcript is one of the best ways to let young voices be heard. (No, they did not pay me to plug it.) But the truth is, the audience I would want most to reach probably won't come in contact with the Commentary page very often. The majority of kids don't actually love reading a book, newspaper or magazine, unless it happens to   Full Story

Saturday, May 3 The news today is brought to you by LegalBriefsdotcom. Don't wait till you're standing all alone wearing nothing but your legal briefs: Find the right lawyer for your case today at Legal Briefsdotcom... For Cable Access Channel 15 News, I'm your host, Johnnie Carrier. Barack Obama's campaign looks to start the momentum machine back up again after having it stalled earlier   Full Story

Friday, May 2 Editor's note: We are pleased to welcome Michael Williams of Williamstown as a new columnist. Mr. Williams, who recently challenged the Transcript to provide more local columnists with a liberal point of view, was the only one who responded to our invitation for such columnists to come forward.   Full Story

Friday, May 2 I'm not Amish. I have to remind people of this occasionally, because when they see the beard and hear how much technology I refuse to use, they just naturally presume. ("Thou art incorrect," I say.) Of course, as soon as they see me try to raise a barn, they'd realize if I am Amish, I'm not very good at it.   Full Story

Friday, May 2 I've been around for awhile, and I thought I had seen just about everything, but I was wrong. While driving through Wilmington a few days ago, my wife decided she needed to pick up a few things at the town's only supermarket, so I pulled into the parking lot, and we proceeded to the store.   Full Story

Thursday, May 1 Old news: The Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. is Barack Obama's pastor. While pastoring Obama's church, Wright said, "God damn America" and called the USA "The U.S. of KKK A." By now, Obama's promise of a "post-racial" candidacy seems like it's from another lifetime. As in, oops, that one didn't work out.   Full Story

Wednesday, April 30 We've been going through the Vault's files of clippings and brochures at the North Adams Public Library and were interested to discover that more than 25 years ago, a local agency was exploring the idea of using geothermal heat from the Hoosac Tunnel to provide heat for certain locations in the city!   Full Story