UNDERNEWS: Surprise of the day

March 5, 2025

Surprise of the day

Town of Freeport:Congratulations to Kathy & Sam Smith, who were presented with the Freeport Citizens of the Year Award at the March 4th, 2025 Town Council meeting.

Sam Smith - I first summered in Freeport, ME in 1946. Before my parents started their organic Wolfe's Neck Farm in the 1950s, I was feeding three pigs every day and at the age of 13, learning how to drive a six wheel truck (including double clutching) We moved full time to Maine in 2009.

When I think about how my youth experience affected me I recall Jimmy Mann who taught me farming and Harry Parker who helped me learn how to sail. These were skills that didn't invite mere words, but demanded real solutions. This dramatically changed as I lived most of my adult life in Washington, where talking your way out of a problem was standard practice. Fortunately, in Maine I had learned how to deal with reality.

1 comment:

Tom said...: Congrats to you bothfor your example of what a citizen should be and how we can preserve pur democratic way of llife!; March 5, 2025 at 10:46 AM

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ABOUT THE EDITOR

The Review is edited by Sam Smith, who covered Washington under nine presidents, has edited the Progressive Review and its predecessors since 1964, wrote four books, been published in five anthologies, helped to start five organizations (including the DC Humanities Council and the DC Statehood Party), was a plaintiff in three successful class action suits, served as a Coast Guard officer, and played in jazz bands for four decades.

A truly independent journalist with his feet firmly grounded in the reality of neighborhoods and everyday people. -- Patrick Mazza, Progressive Populist

A truly original voice in American journalism: humorous and plain spoken and filled with common sense -- Jay Walljasper, Utne Reader

Inimitable -- Mother Jones Magazine

Sam's a cynical cat -- Marion Barry

Sam's one of the few independent voices left. The press today is either extreme or special interest or else just establishment, an extension of the corporate spirit -- Sen. Eugene McCarthy,

One of a small group of whites with whom many blacks would trust their political lives - Chuck Stone, Washingtonian.

A reputation for wit, intelligence and anger. -- Claude Lewis, Chicago Tribune

Smith is an island of reason and information in a sea of narcissistic blather. -- City Paper, Washington

Whatever the debate, the Review's sharp critiques encourage us to look out our window, notice and act upon what we see, and also to look further -- to the rest of the country and globe -- to see how the organized big world interacts with our more spontaneous small worlds. - Utne Reader