Inspired by the inaugural run of the new Burlington-New York Amtrak service in July, the author reconstructs his first trip from Waterbury to New York City’s Penn Station when he was 8 years old.
Bill Schubart: A Vermont train journey in 1953
Author: Bill Schubart
Bill Schubart is a retired businessman and active fiction writer, and was a former chair of the Vermont Journalism Trust, the parent organization for VTDigger.
Bill Schubart: Crime and punishment issues continue to confound Vermont
Crime is nourished by untreated mental health, poverty, hunger, substance abuse, and a tidal wave of available guns and unwanted children. What if we addressed the elements that feed crime, instead of just locking up offenders?
Bill Schubart: It’s past time to rethink how Vermont health care is evolving
We must make choices about what matters in our society. Population health encompasses almost all aspects of the social safety net. If health care is to aim for population health, it must start with support services in the communities being served.
Bill Schubart: The temptation in the desert and the overturning of Roe v. Wade
There’s rampant hypocrisy in using religion to enhance privilege, power and profit to engineer a white Christian theocracy in America, in direct contravention both of the Constitution and the most basic tenets of Christianity.
Bill Schubart: Will artificial intelligence make life better or just make business more profitable?
Artificial intelligence holds promise in many areas, but if it’s designed solely to wring human costs out of business enterprise and gather personal data to be remarketed at a profit, it will not serve humanity well.
Bill Schubart: Thinking about complex problems, we could find simple solutions
We have the opportunity to do more with what we have rather than to build costly new infrastructure. We have the native skills to adapt to new opportunities. We just need the leadership and imagination to realize the opportunities in front of us.
Bill Schubart: Vermont needs to exert better control over its complex systems
Count the number of people in our emergency rooms, homeless shelters and prisons. That will give you an idea of how well we are managing our complex systems.
Bill Schubart: Should we expect a tsunami of unwanted children?
With Roe gone, states will have more control over women’s bodies than a woman herself. Would men tolerate this?
Bill Schubart: Health care is a self-driving truck with no GPS
UVM Health Network’s role is in question; health care system is fragmented; state leadership is missing. Who’s looking out for Vermonters’ well-being?
Bill Schubart: Homage to the Sisters who have served Vermonters
Vermonters of all faiths owe a great deal to the many orders of nuns who have been an important part of the fabric of our state.
Bill Schubart: The power of the lemonade stand
Should politics be a commitment to community service and well-being, or to the personal accretion of power and wealth? We see this ambiguity playing out daily in the politics of our country and of Vermont.
Bill Schubart: Our communities, our schools, our children
We need to rethink our school systems, with a focus on the role they play in the well-being of our small towns and how they prepare succeeding generations for a complex and ever-changing world.
Bill Schubart: Focusing on three points could really help fix Vermont
Connecting the dots between learning, well-being and justice is the basis for a vision that truly improves the lives of Vermonters.
Bill Schubart: That Tim Newcomb political cartoon
The job of the political cartoonist is not to bring aid and comfort to the rich and powerful, but rather to convey another perspective on their works, a graphic commentary.
