Citizen Columnists

Two of our local theater companies filled out their 2011-2012 season with charming low-key ensemble pieces. Both close their runs this weekend. “Steel Magnolias” — the title itself has become famous for its association with Roslyn Carter, and the story ...

Consumers seem to be getting back in the borrowing game. Coinciding with the advent of the recession and lasting through most of 2010, consumers shed household debt by the billions, paying down and closing credit card accounts, delaying big ticket ...

I guess you would have to live under the proverbial rock or be an awakening Rip Van Winkle not to know that this Sunday is Mother’s Day. It would be hard to miss the myriad of print advertisements, television commercials ...

It was a treat to see the production of “Our Town” put on by students at the Rhodora J. Donahue Academy on May 4 and 5, that classic play by Thornton Wilder about everyday life in the fictional town of ...

Recessions are officially defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth; in other words, reported Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expressed as a dollar number, actually declines. Recovery, therefore, begins when the GDP number increases.

It has been said that within Collier County, there exists three “black holes.” They are economic development, fire district consolidation and charter government. The three issues are frequently talked about, studied, analyzed and debated but nothing of substance ever comes ...

Want to look “cut and trim?” Depend on exercise and good diet, and avoid shortcuts — they can have adverse effects on your body and overall health. Common bad shortcuts are: dangerously high heels, too tight clothes such as belts, ...

There is something that puzzles me. Florida Power & Light (FPL) announced they would install a “smart meter” on each home, which would read the usage every month electronically rather than have a meter reader go to each and every ...

Foot-stamping, singing along and even getting up to dance with the cast may not be what comes to mind when you think of “Shakespeare,” but from now on, a performance at Ave Maria University of the comedy “As You Like ...

Fifty years ago I received my acceptance letter for admission to the City University of NY (CUNY), along with notice of the tuition due for the first semester — $24. Yes, that’s right, $24 per semester ($48 annually) was the ...

Of all of our modes of transportation there is probably none that we take more for granted than the elevator. For me it is my most used form of public transportation and least intrusive.

There are always a lot of good news items to talk about these days. To start off, the community center at Eagle Lakes Community Park is going to be a reality. It has been 6 long years of fighting to ...

Words have explicit meanings, sometimes many. Look up the word “run” in the Oxford dictionary. There are 12 definitions of “run” as a verb and 13 as a noun. But even with 25 possibilities, the specific meaning is usually understood ...

There are many reasons to be upset with a federal government that has made a mess of just about everything — energy, healthcare, homeownership, taxation, immigration, deficits and debt, the economy, etc.

There is much to admire of Gulfshore Playhouse’s very professional production of Tennessee Williams’s classic “A Streetcar Named Desire.” The physical aspects of the production are all excellent — the evocative set, the lighting, the period costumes, the sound, not ...