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By Al Norman Over a period of seven years, I criticized former Governor Deval Patrick for rarely mentioning the elderly in his annual State of...

By Al Norman In October of 2016, before Donald Trump became president-elect, The Atlantic magazine published an article called “Trump’s Graying Army.” “Senior citizens are his...

By Al Norman When state budget projections turn south, money for the elderly and disabled should be protected from cuts. Usually in the fall, state officials...

By Janice Lindsay Woodchucks do it. Bats do it. Chipmunks and jumping mice do it. Bears do it. I want to do it, too. I want...

By Al Norman The home care program in Massachusetts has been described as a service in which low-income older women are taken care of by...

By Al Norman A new policy brief released in mid-August by the state’s Health Policy Commission (HPC) underscores the importance of dental health—one of the...

This year, Mr. Peanut, that smiling peanut-shaped humanoid decorating food packages that contain Planters Peanuts, turns 100 years old. To you, he might be a...

Several years ago I bought a kitchen stove during the “sales tax holiday” in Massachusetts. Most years I ignore the “holiday” on sales tax. But the kitchen stove was a purchase I needed to make, so I waited for the tax free weekend. In my case, the retailer who sold me the stove did not benefit from the “holiday”---because I was going to buy it anyway, and all I did was time my purchase to avoid taxes. It was only the taxpayers who got the short end.

A few days ago, as I was leaving my doctor’s office, I saw an older woman sitting just outside the front glass doors of the medical center, holding her cane in front of her. She looked like she was waiting for a ride. It was a hot day, and she appeared to have been sitting there for a while. “Are you ok?” I asked her. “Is someone coming to pick you up?” She looked up at me. “Are you going to the [name of assisted living facility]?” she asked. “Yes,” I said. “It’s a little off my drive home, but can I give you a lift?” I introduced myself, we shook hands. She told me her name was Susan.

I’m no visionary, but in one way I’ve been way ahead of my time. In the vanguard. One of the first. An innovator. That is in the realm of reusable shopping bags. Thirty or thirty-five years ago, the Vermont Country Store, one of my favorite catalog companies, sold canvas shopping bags. I was tired of accumulating all those paper grocery bags and I bought two VCS bags.