Peter Grier
The Christian Science Monitor
Baltimore, MD, United States
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Past articles by Peter:
Pond life: Shoebert the seal and the delights of a New England vacation
Shoebert the seal crawled up a drainage pipe and into an office park pond, entrancing a Massachusetts city. → Read More
Public education, democracy, and the future of America
Do Americans agree anymore that public education is fundamental to democracy? Part 1 in a series. → Read More
Columbine. Sandy Hook. Parkland. Uvalde. What do we do now?
Can America break free of its cycle of anger, despair, and inaction on mass shootings? → Read More
A new Iron Curtain? How Russia’s invasion will reshape the world.
It will likely create a new Iron Curtain, but one that will be as much a mental divide as a geographical barrier. → Read More
The Supreme Court and vaccine mandates: Three questions
The Supreme Court Thursday blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for large employers. What happens now? → Read More
Hamilton the donkey and hope for heritage breeds
As a rare donkey turns 3 months old in Vermont, fresh hope for a heritage breed. The Poitou breed dates to the Middle Ages and is an important artifact of agricultural history. → Read More
Super chicken: How Henry the hen became a preschool crossing guard
A rescue chicken named Henry wears a fluorescent vest and struts around the parking lot at a preschool in Newstead, New Zealand. → Read More
North vs. South? America’s political split may now be urban vs. rural.
The 2020 census shows the starkest geographic and political divide in America may now be between urban and rural areas – not between North and South. → Read More
This trucker blocked traffic. Mainers gave him lobster.
When a crew hauling a prefab building to the Bar Harbor hospital in Maine got stuck twice, blocking the roads, residents rallied in support, not anger. → Read More
Can you spell ‘amazing’?
Displaying only one of her many talents, 14-year-old Zaila Avant-garde won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee – and then took a celebratory twirl. → Read More
‘The poet’s bird,’ summer afternoons, and hope in a time of troubles
In warmer months, hermit thrush song is one of the glories of the woodlands of northern America and Canada, and has inspired a number of poets. → Read More
Of lilacs, Memorial Day, and remembrance
As a child my wife gathered armloads of lilacs on Memorial Day to place on Civil War graves in her small Massachusetts town. → Read More
Census mystery: Were Latino residents undercounted?
It’s an American mystery: Why didn’t the census count more people? Yes, the once-every-decade U.S. head count, released earlier this week, showed that the resident population of the country did increase. As of April 2020, it’s up 7.4% from 2010, to 331,449,281 people. But that’s the slowest rate of growth since the 1930s, when America was battered by the Great Depression. And some of the states… → Read More
Chauvin convicted: Why this big trial broke from pattern
Sometimes the law and justice are two different things, as several other “trials of the century” have shown. → Read More
Abe Lincoln and the Suez Canal – how they’re connected
Honest Abe was a riverboat man in his youth. He remains the only president with a patent, for helping free boats from sandbars. → Read More
A bow-tied tale of dogs that found a home
Well-dressed dogs are finding homes, thanks to Sir Darius Brown, a New Jersey teenager who makes and donates handmade bow ties to animal shelters. → Read More
Democracy after 2020: ‘Beleaguered but not defeated’
In a pandemic year of insecurity, democracy’s defenders faced many setbacks and defeats. But democracy is “remarkably resilient,” says Freedom House. → Read More
Alex Trebek’s suits were sharp. Now they’ll help homeless men stand taller.
Alex Trebek’s suits have been donated to charity by his son and “Jeopardy!” producers to help formerly homeless or incarcerated men dress sharp. → Read More
In his wake, Trump leaves vulnerabilities of democracy exposed
The Biden transition is now officially underway, but President Trump’s attempts to discredit the election pointed to cracks that need strengthening. → Read More
Post-truth politics: As Trump pushes ‘fraud,’ partisans pick their own reality
The Trump campaign’s many lawsuits have virtually all collapsed. When Americans can’t agree on the truth, what does that mean for democracy? → Read More