Louise Mathews

Louise Mathews retired from a career in community colleges, and before that, theater. A 13-year come-by in Beaufort, she has been a dingbatter in North Carolina and an upstater from New York.

Elegy for the trees

I know developers replant trees, but many years must pass before a tree provides the benefits of “air quality, stormwater management, wind buffers, increased property values, and cooling effects to our homes and communities …” as the Port Royal Tree Ordinance states. To paraphrase the poet, Joyce Kilmer, “Essays are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.”

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Pope v. President

Mr. Trump must recognize the utility of peace with the Pope if he plans to retain Catholic voter support in November 2026. Apologizing would go a long way to rehabilitating his image. No one is asking him to kneel on the church steps in Canossa and ask the Pope for forgiveness as Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV did in 1077. A simple expression of regret and sorrow would do.

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Iran’s “Great Satan” strikes back

Whether or not Iran has enough weapons-grade uranium to imminently attack is not the question. Is a small cancer tumor an imminent threat to a person’s health, or should the medical team wait until it is big enough to actually kill the patient? As it has proven for almost half a century, the Iranian regime is a cancer on the world, and the United States finally has a President with the resolve to excise it.

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Hell hath no fury

Over the last two weeks, one of the more meaningful moments of the war on Iran was the celebration of the Iranian people when they learned of the death of the longtime tyrant, Ayatollah Khamenei. I was particularly impressed by the women who jubilantly burned their hijabs.

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Preparation time

As I wrote in my first article, there is more to life than politics. There will be plenty of opportunities to reflect on government officials and 2026 elections as the year progresses. Now is the time to appreciate the natural world’s prelude to heaven: spring and the glory of Easter.

Preparation time Read More »