Category Archives: Commentary

Thoughts on all other things

Stand with the theater kids as they stand up to censors

Posted on May 31, 2023 by michaelstephendaigle

Cheers to some  Fort Wayne, Indiana high school thespians who defied religious censors and the local school board, which banned the play, by performing it on their own outside the  school. The play featured roles  of interchangeable sexuality and clearly … Continue reading →

Posted in Bergen County Cooperative Library System, Commentary, Greater Lehigh Valley Writer's Group, Hackettstown Public Library, http://www.sallyember.com, Imzadi Publishing LLC, Michael Stephen Daigle, New Jersey, Parsippany Public Library | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Old newspaper columns reveal how little has changed

Posted on April 27, 2018 by michaelstephendaigle

Cleaning up I found some newspaper columns I wrote in 1995-96 for the Courier-News. Opening that manila envelope containing a few columns and letters of thanks was like opening a time capsule. The items included a letter from a Frenchtown … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Leave a comment

A more perfect union

Posted on August 16, 2017 by michaelstephendaigle

Travelers slide into the South on Route 81 and into the American Civil War. The wondrous and beautiful Shenandoah River Valley was home to four years of that war from 1861 to 1865, and in the end was subjected to … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Leave a comment

American carnage

Posted on January 20, 2017 by michaelstephendaigle

In order to see the doom we are facing during these trying times, one must venture out to find it. The American carnage is everywhere. So drive I did along roads crowded with those fleeing with their families for anyplace … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged | Leave a comment

Hey, Congressman, time for a more perfect union

Posted on January 13, 2017 by michaelstephendaigle

This is a letter to my Congressman, Leonard Lance of Hunterdon County, N.J. I’ve been disappointed with your voting record for a number of years, and after writing this I can’t even threaten to stop voting for you since I … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Leave a comment

Celebrate Ravi (and thanks for letting me participate)

Posted on May 18, 2016 by michaelstephendaigle

About a dozen years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing a young woman from Mendham, N.J. who had started a remarkable journey: Opening an orphanage in the Kopila Valley, Nepal. Later, when the world became aware of Maggie Doyne’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, www.michaelstephendaigle.com | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What the ghost putter says about presidential politics

Posted on January 26, 2016 by michaelstephendaigle

In a way, the talk by the keynote speaker at a recent business lunch was like one of those Facebook click-bait links with the headlines that warn you, for example, You Have Been Drinking Your Coffee Wrong All These Years. … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Leave a comment

Ravi

Posted on December 31, 2015 by michaelstephendaigle

He was just a little boy from a poor country far away. Most of us could not find it on a map if we tried. It would have been so easy to dismiss him as just another poor kid in … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Michael Stephen Daigle, www.michaelstephendaigle.com | Tagged , | 41 Comments

‘Changes:’ Me live on a podcast at 10 a.m. Wednesday. Oh, my

Posted on September 28, 2015 by michaelstephendaigle

I am appearing on a podcast at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30. The show is called “Changes” and is the production of Sally Ember … author and blogger… see: http://www.sallyember.com. We will talk about writing and a host of topics … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Fiction, http://www.sallyember.com, http://wwwmichaelstephendaigle.com, Michael Stephen Daigle, Sally Ember | Tagged , | 1 Comment

From blight to hope in 25 years

Posted on February 10, 2015 by michaelstephendaigle

These are the places we drive an extra block to avoid, the dark places with plywood for windows, broken siding for walls, knee-high grass. The blocks of hollow storefronts, locked gated doors, “For Sale” signs angled on brickface. The places … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment