OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: A duty to society
At Thanksgiving, I have the tendency to think about things like the greater good. Though I'm a realist, I still have a streak of optimism, and I choose to look for the best in people. I haven't seen e...
November 25, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: Reality check
I'm no fan of Mark Zuckerberg. He so often comes off as entitled and hypocritical that it's hard for me to take him seriously. Yet this summer, I joined Facebook after years of resistance so I could s...
November 18, 2020
Thank you, vets
My grandpa was a funny man. He could tell a story that would have you giggling by the second sentence because you knew there was going to be a great payoff (my brother Corey takes after him in that ma...
November 11, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: The unwanted
As you read this, I'm most likely still asleep after a long night of watching election returns and editing while also working on my blog, watching a movie, and trying to fit in a little time with my R...
November 4, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: Love of country
Just before the Fourth of July this year, I ran a column on patriotism. I had so hoped that perhaps we might have improved at least a little bit since then, but alas, no. My Facebook feed and comment ...
October 28, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: The wrong word
Heterophemy (HET-uh-ruh-fee-mee), noun: The use of a word different from the one intended.
Occasionally I'm asked to give some sort of public presentation. In most cases, I decline, and heterophemy i...
October 21, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: Give it a rest
I'm tired.
No, not just because my brain won't shut up at night and let me sleep, though that has at least a little to do with it. It's the laughing at my attempts to sleep that annoy me the most; it...
October 14, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: Fear itself
In a month when the weather has finally turned cold, bracketed by full moons at its beginning and end, and during which we celebrate Halloween, how better to chip in than to explore words related to f...
October 7, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: The lost year
When we look back on 2020, how will we see it?
As a year when lawlessness took hold? Regardless of party, you probably will, but it won't be your own party you see as having any guilt. If you see not...
September 16, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: Your point is ...
No one who knows me could mistake me for caring what this or that political party says about itself or the other party. That is, unless it's a talking point that's an outright lie or at the very least...
September 9, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: Worth voting for
As I prepared to repost yet another definition from Grandiloquent Word of the Day on my Facebook account over the weekend, I was struck by the realization that so many interesting words have to do wit...
September 2, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: Hijacking hype
No one of conscience could say that they support child exploitation. Yet QAnon’s hijacking of the human trafficking issue gives that impression: If you don’t believe what they say, you think sex traff...
August 26, 2020
OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Military needs mail | Wonky shower head | Takeout containers
Military needs mail
Wait until our deserving military members overseas and families in the states get reduced mail service at an unacceptable level. The U.S. Capitol will explode with complaints. Vet...
August 25, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: Show of hands
A lot of journalists, by the very nature of their jobs, are word nerds. We're constantly trying to think of just the right words to convey the facts of the matter at hand in news stories, or our opini...
August 19, 2020
OPINION | BRENDA LOOPER: No foolin'
I've long been an advocate of fact-checking, which is why I often am accused of being a "damn librul." Sure, I'm liberal on some matters, but I'm conservative on others; very few people are all libera...
August 12, 2020