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Irish Going Strong, Says the Good Fairy

Mike O'Brien 0

By Don O’Brien (*Blog Editor’s note: this article was first published in the Burlington Free Press on 3/17/1950.) ’Tis a curious tale the White Thatch has for you this day…

Listening to Michael Cohen

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By Gary Topping– Like many Americans, I was transfixed recently by Michael Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee.  I didn’t listen to the live testimony as my wife and…

Middlebury monuments- the poet and the pastor

Mike O'Brien 0

By Michael Patrick O’Brien Growing up in a divorced family, without a father, I still had many father-like figures. Two of them died before I was born, a poet and…

Arguing About Religion

Mike O'Brien 0

By Gary Topping– My friend and fellow blogger George Pence recently turned me on to Bishop Robert Barron, whose “Word on Fire” ministry has made him an apostle of social…

Great O’Brien Moments with Mr. Lincoln

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By Michael Patrick O’Brien– I shook hands with Gerald Ford after he left office and with Ronald Reagan before he took it. I’ve seen Bill Clinton’s cat, chatted with John…

The Extraordinary Virtue of Decency

Mike O'Brien 0

By Gary Topping– Bobby Jones, the great American golfer of the 1920s, was as much a founder of the sport in this country as Babe Ruth was to baseball and…

Chicken Fat for the soul

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By Michael Patrick O’Brien– The snowy frozen January and February weather each year brings me fond memories of…Chicken Fat. When the cold winter conditions limited our access to the outdoor…

HBO’s Rome: An Appreciation

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By Gary Topping– My wife and I are in the midst of our umpteenth annual re-watching of Rome, the magnificent HBO series, the two seasons of which first aired in…

My whiteface scandal

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By Michael Patrick O’Brien– Recent news headlines tell the stories of red-faced politicians apologizing for appearing in blackface sometime during their foolish youthful past. Unfortunately, I have to join the…