Melissa Ortiz

Melissa Ortiz


  • July 4, 2023

    Why the SCOTUS Olmstead decision matters

    As a former high school teacher, the refrain of "I can't wait to move out on my own!" is a familiar one when students vent about their parents, who probably heard the same thing themselves after pronouncing a disciplinary measure or eve...

  • June 3, 2023

    C. Boyden Gray: statesman and champion of the underdog

    History is a funny thing. We tend to choose what we want to remember and how we want to remember it, leaving out things and people that are inconvenient to our narrative.  Such is the story of C. Boyden Gray — whom we lost recently...

  • May 24, 2023

    How electric car propaganda preys on the disabled

    Chicken Little, a beloved character from children's literature, was famous for his frantic warning that the sky was falling because an acorn fell and hit him on the head.  He convinced a small group of friends to believe him, and they set...

  • May 12, 2023

    Success story: Legalized killing shot down in Maryland

    In one of the most epic U.S. Senate hearing exchanges in modern history, then-secretary Hillary Clinton practically yelled at her questioner, "What difference, at this point, does it make?!" While she was being questioned about a specifi...

  • May 8, 2023

    Land of opportunity...but not for all

    Moving is a hassle for everyone.  But the usual headaches and heartaches of relocating to a new place — finding a new home, packing and unpacking, and getting settled into a new community — are usually offset by the opportunitie...

  • March 3, 2023

    Oh, the Places I Might Go!

    A longtime lover of all things Dr. Seuss, one of my favorite books is “Oh, the Places You Will Go!” It is a popular gift for graduations and other milestone celebrations, but it resonates with me because it is all about traveling and adve...