Dear Anthony, I would like to offer my condolences. I’m the sort of person who always says “I’m very sorry for your loss” as soon as I learn of a death, or in your case, two recent deaths. How I wish I’d done this last night during the Select Board meeting, but I was so […]

Read more "Open Letter to Anthony Ansaldi"

Dear Christine, Why is Littleton Apothecary not open? The town entered into an HCA with Littleton Apothecary in May 2020. The state gave the Apothecary its provisional license in November 2020. The Planning Board detailed what you’d need to do to open in September 2021. You have been given all the permission you needed to […]

Read more "An Open Letter to Christine Nordhaus"

We have a strong cultural identity as Americans to each has the intrinsic ability to be our own best advocates. If something is a challenge, it is to be conquered. If adversity rears its head, it’s only a matter of self-determination to persevere. When life knocks you down, you just pull yourself up by your […]

Read more "Boots with Straps Long Enough to Strangle Frauds"

My favorite time of year to write is autumn. Something about children returning to school and the weather encouraging hibernation stirs up a feverish desire to put words on the page. While I have several manuscripts I could work on (edit, revise, review, reread, more editing), I’ve created a new set of characters and a […]

Read more "And So Begins a Season of Writing"

When my town’s recreation and community education department sent out an email looking for instructors to teach classes during the spring and summer, I drafted three proposals. To my surprise, all three were accepted; and, if people sign up, all three will run. Although I’m looking forward to facilitating a conversation about the divorce process […]

Read more "Tell Your Story: Space is Limited"

In my kitchen, right above the oven, I have these words on a plaque: Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people. Everyday, at least once, I read Eleanor Roosevelt’s words and assess, based on what my mind is discussing (usually with itself), the quality of my thoughts. Six years ago, […]

Read more "What Discussion Does Your Mind Have?"

https://jennabrownson.substack.com/Happy2022 It’s not too late to subscribe to GINNED UP. And for a very limited time, your subscription will be half off the standard annual subscription rate. Subscribe now, and you will get access to the archives, where all the previously published episodes are stored, and then, every Monday, you will receive a new episode […]

Read more "Looking for an Incentive to Read More in 2022?"

On Thursday evening, I received another letter threatening a lawsuit, summarized with “please be informed that absent the immediate removal of your writings from the Internet  . . . a lawsuit will follow.” We live in a nation where we each have been promised the inalienable right to free speech. I’m exercising this right. And […]

Read more "To the Threats, I ask, “Is Life Not a Hundred Times too Short for Us to Stifle Ourselves”? ~ Friedrich Nietzsche"

On July 19th, just hours before I’d published even one word of Episode 1 of GINNED UP, I received a letter from an attorney. This attorney represents a person integral to my memoir. The salient part read as follows: “If you publish or in any way promote false and defamatory statements or information of and concerning (my […]

Read more "The Looming Threats of a Lawsuit"

As you may recall, seven years and some months ago, I resigned my elected seat on our town’s Board of Selectmen. What you likely do not know is that just a few weeks after my resignation, a then-sitting board member called to warn me that The Boston Globe would likely be calling for my comment […]

Read more "To the People of My Hometown"