As an independent, nonpartisan news outlet dedicated to diverse community voices, The New Bedford Light welcomes guest essays. Opinions expressed in our Community Voices essays are those of the individual writers
In addition to our longer Community Voices essay series, we welcome short comments related to our news coverage and all aspects of life in New Bedford. Use our online comment form; send your thoughts via email to voices@newbedfordlight.org; or share them on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Comments to The Light: Climate change education, septic regulations hit home
Reader: “I knew about the concept and causes of climate change, but I was assuming that the world leaders were in charge … I realized how wrong I was.”
Comments to The Light: Neo-Nazis, Carol Pimental and Ash Street draw intense reaction
Selection of letters and online comments from readers show a community engaged, involved, and demanding better
Opinion: ‘Strategy’ to protect right whales from offshore wind development is recipe for extinction
“The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s ‘strategy’ is cover-your-behind political chicanery in service of the offshore wind industry’s furious rush toward cashing in on enormous amounts of public monies.”
Differing reactions to the Z renovation: ‘Money well spent’ … ‘What a money pit’
Community weighs in on $31 million renovation plans to overhaul the Performing Arts Center.
Reader reactions to State Pier plans are as mixed as city is diverse
Congratulations, skepticism, excitement, criticism … Readers had a wide variety of reactions and thoughtful commentary.
Essay: Faithful friend brings New Year’s message to The Ancient Scribe
No doubt something really big will happen here, sooner or later. Maybe it will be the wind industry but maybe it’ll be nuclear fusion, sooner or later. We’ll see. Foreign investment is big in our fishery. Let’s see how much capital gets invested in wind.
Opinion: Condemn hate speech, don’t give it a platform
The argument in the Old Rochester School District that all voices need to be heard — no matter how bigoted, homophobic, outlandish, or lacking in factual basis — is extremely damaging.
Letters to the Light: Offshore wind concerns, the future of women’s reproductive rights, and one reader catches a squirrel in the act
A call for transparency to address wind delays; and how about a regional approach to protecting wildlife?
Essay: ‘Guy from the newspaper’ offers opinion on housing crisis — ‘No doubling and tripling’ rent
Joseph Quigley, a tenant featured in The Light’s housing crisis series, also suggests “No blind buyers. People should know who their landlords are.”
New Bedford fisherman’s essay unleashes flood of comments
“My skipper friend whose family had fished for generations said, simply, that oversight is necessary because the fishermen wouldn’t self-limit their take and were taking everything that they hauled.” — Reader Stephen Mello
Commentary: Fishing rules are strangling honest, hard-working, blue-collar fishermen
I’m not a fortune teller; I’m just a fisherman. I have no vested interest, other than it’s a job. My job employs thousands, and that keeps those lives turning. When the last fish is landed, it’s all over.
Essay: ‘We’re all in recovery’ — reflecting on Gerald Ribeiro 20 years after his death
Though Gerald wanted to help concerned people understand why and how other people became addicted to drugs, he most sought to reach addicted individuals at their lowest to offer compassion, hope, and a path to treatment.
Opinion: Let’s talk turkey this Thanksgiving
While we crave meaningful relationships with those around us, we are often scared to engage in the meaningful conversations that could create those bonds.
Opinion: Encouraging signs for the future
Bristol County will now have a sheriff who will honor the oath of office, respect the staff and make every effort to provide the incarcerated and detained an opportunity to become contributors to the community and not be re-offenders.
Essay: I raised money for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico
“My teachers have always told me that I can use my voice for good, and this year I actually did just that.” — Xavier Echevarria-Mojica, a high school student at Global Learning Charter Public School
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If you have a short comment, a first-person essay, a poem or a topical opinion piece, an image, a short video — or some other form of creative expression — you’d like to share, please submit it here or email us at VOICES@newbedfordlight.org. We want to hear from you. Comments must be civil and will be edited for clarity and length.
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