Tina Carson

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Racisms

May 9, 2024 | thebollard.com | Samuel James |Tina Carson |Leo Hylton |Al Diamon

The racist traditions at Bowdoin and Bates Whenever education is proposed as the solution to racism, my face gets hot. I guess the idea is supposed to be that racists just don’t know any better because racism is a default human setting that can only be undone by white elite institutions. The opposite of all that is usually true, and maybe the best way to explain is with a story that begins with a guy named Jeff. The thing about Jeff is that he was destined to be a big deal.
No Parking While Poor

May 6, 2024 | thebollard.com | Chris Busby |Tina Carson |Leo Hylton

Portland’s predatory vehicle-registration crackdown targets renters and workersNo, it’s not just your pot-headed paranoia: the City of Portland really is hunting down and punishing its poorest residents while giving the wealthiest a free pass. The tenants and workers whose rent checks and labor are the true engine of Portland’s prosperity are being soaked by the city to avoid angering landlords and homeowners whose status as such exempts them from the same fines, fees and fears.
Shining Light on Humanity

May 6, 2024 | thebollard.com | Leo Hylton |Chris Busby |Tina Carson |Al Diamon

Fake Friends and Furry Companions “A friend who stands with you in pressure is more valuable than a hundred ones who stand with you in pleasure.” — Edward Bulwer-LyttonFake friends expose themselves in times of trouble. Real ones do, too. Allegations of animal abuse, prison rape and bestiality in prison make great headlines. And when this “news” is “confirmed” by a prisoner, those accused of these deplorable acts are automatically found guilty in the court of public opinion.
Politics & Other Mistakes

May 6, 2024 | thebollard.com | Al Diamon |Tina Carson |Leo Hylton |Samuel James

The key to LockmanLarry Lockman can tolerate people — so long as they’re white, Christian, cis-gendered, heterosexual, American citizens and Republicans of the MAGA persuasion. Or they could be neo-Nazis. Lockman’s disdain for anyone he perceives as different from himself manifests itself in, among other diseases, homophobia, racism, xenophobia, misogyny and egotism. But it doesn’t explain how he got that way.
Gender Defiant: Raising a Trans Teen

May 6, 2024 | thebollard.com | Tina Carson |Leo Hylton |Al Diamon |Samuel James

A vote for love or deathIn just six months we’ll be voting for president again. Is your stomach in knots, too? We’re fast approaching that gruesome night when we’ll all watch the screens and twitch at the numbers, regarding our fellow states as if they were red- and blue-jerseyed sports teams playing for the truth and our survival. This certainly is no game, my friends, and we must think clearly when we cast our votes. Because there are lives at stake. Specifically, my child’s life.
Racisms

May 6, 2024 | thebollard.com | Samuel James |Tina Carson |Leo Hylton |Al Diamon

WTF? WTF!I’ve been writing about race for a long time, and every once in a while I still have a WTF moment. I had two last month. The first one actually starts back in January, when the Maine press reported on a spate of anti-Semitic graffiti from Brunswick up to Camden. It was happening so often that an armed Bath police officer was posted outside the Beth Israel Congregation.
Gender Defiant: Raising a Trans Teen

Mar 5, 2024 | thebollard.com | Tina Carson |Samuel James |Al Diamon |Leo Hylton

Mercy and Medicine While standing in line at CVS waiting to find out the status of one or more prescriptions, I feel at one with everyone: the vacant young woman behind the counter who can barely muster the resolve to ask for my birth date one more time; the pharmacist stationed behind her, filling bottles and stapling prescription instructions to bags while talking into the phone wedged between his ear and shoulder; the folks patiently waiting for their Covid shots; the older man who’s just...
Shining Light on Humanity

Mar 5, 2024 | thebollard.com | Leo Hylton |Samuel James |Al Diamon |Tina Carson

“And He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.’” — Genesis 4:10-11, (New King James Version)As we step into this year’s Black History Month, I find myself in a place of reflection and rage. I look around at the systems and structures in our society and ask myself, Why?
Racisms

Mar 5, 2024 | thebollard.com | Samuel James |Al Diamon |Leo Hylton |Tina Carson

It’s time to police the policeWhen the BLM protests of 2020 were met with police brutality, the point was proved. Being responsible for police, city governments across the country knew they needed to do something, but resisted change. This was done either outright or with empty promises, and Portland, Maine was no different.
Politics & Other Mistakes

Mar 5, 2024 | thebollard.com | Al Diamon |Samuel James |Leo Hylton |Tina Carson

On March 5, you’ll be asked to go to the polls and choose nominees for president of the United States from a dwindling selection of inflatable pool toys and thrift-store underwear.