Opinions

By Susan Harper

Having started a new part-time job last week, I had to miss the reception for Buzzie Hardy, so I lost that chance to express my gratitude to him. I’ll just have to do it here and embarrass him publicly. As my mother used to say, no good deed goes unpunished – and to me it seems that Buzzie’s 22 years as our mayor amounted to one enormous good deed.

In these days when there is so little trust in government, we’ve been very fortunate to be able to trust in ours, and to know that the person at the helm was not only honest, but also serious, competent, dedicated, and accessible. In a small town, I suppose the mayor is accessible by definition, particularly a mayor who owns and runs a business on the main street of town. But Buzzie has always made that open-door policy look like the most natural thing in the world, so it was easy not to contemplate what it must have cost him, especially as a devoted family man, to work full-time running his own business and also have the responsibility for the welfare of the whole town on his shoulders. [Full Story »] 

By Susan Harper

When I was 22 and flying to exotic locales as a Pan Am flight attendant, I picked up more than Parisian lingerie and duty-free perfume.

My glamorous acquisition from Iran was an intestinal fungus, and I walked (and flew) around with it for months before the Flight Service people pointed out to me that I’d lost so much weight my skirt was falling off. [Full Story »] 

By Susan Harper

My sister discovered Starbucks years ago. In her business travels throughout the country, she found that the green sign with its twin-tailed mermaid promised reliable quality and friendly faces everywhere she went, and she began telling us that all she wanted for Christmas or her birthday was a Starbucks gift card. And when Commerce got its own Starbucks, she began introducing all of us to its many attractions. Our parents grumbled disapprovingly about paying two (or three, or five) dollars for a coffee drink, but after a few double chocolatey-chip frappuccinos they stopped grumbling, and Starbucks gradually became the destination of choice when one of us needed a lift or a special treat. [Full Story »]