Terry Cowgill

Mar 9, 2025 | tdcowgill.substack.com | Terry Cowgill

Call it the law of consequences, unintentional or not. But this tiny international community on the US-Canada border has seen life at its public library rattled by the changing of the guard at the White House some 600 miles to the south. The Haskell Free Library, which straddles the international border between Derby Line, Vermont, and Stanstead, Quebec, is a majestic stone and brick building of Victorian design.

Feb 21, 2025 | tdcowgill.substack.com | Terry Cowgill

My continued apologies for failing to keep up with the world in this space. My recovery from my broken hip is proceeding but more slowly than I had anticipated. The grinding world of medications, physical therapy, home exercises, my glacial bone healing and the dizzying pace of unfolding events make it very challenging for me to keep up. For paying customers, I have suspended payments until I’m ready to get back in the game on a more regular basis.

Feb 11, 2025 | tdcowgill.substack.com | Terry Cowgill

In the years since I became a journalist in 1996 covering local affairs, and later as a columnist for CTNewsJunkie opining on state politics in Connecticut, I’ve often been frustrated by the slow pace of reform. Most of the time I attributed the lack of progress to those who prefer the status quo or to those who have the most to lose in the face of reform. But even when things didn’t go my way, I still had confidence in our institutions. I was always convinced the center would hold.

Feb 6, 2025 | tdcowgill.substack.com | Terry Cowgill

Many of you are already aware, but to my readers and subscribers who aren’t friends or acquaintances, or who don’t follow me on social media, I apologize for being out of action since the middle of last month. While visiting my dear friend Rob Marks from my high school days in Massachusetts, I fell and injured myself pretty badly. Earlier, my friend and I had spent much of the afternoon touring the magnificent Durham, North Carolina, campus of Duke University, his alma mater.

Jan 12, 2025 | tdcowgill.substack.com | Terry Cowgill

Since at least 2015, it has felt like the United States is on fire — politically and socially. The combination of Donald Trump, his supporters, his opponents and social media, have combined to create the tinder-dry conditions for political arson. Now that America’s second largest population center is literally on fire, some folks are showing their true colors. As is often the case, the platform for the hate is social media and — surprise, surprise — the haters mostly refuse to use their real names.