Published Articles - Mark Marchand blog

Map of broadband availability and gaps in the Adirondacks.

Broadening access to high-speed internet

Post published:August 18, 2023

This article was recently published in the Adirondack Explorer magazine, focusing on the federal, state, and local effort to expand the availability of Broadband in the six-million acre Adirondack Park region. A direct link to the story in the magazine is at the end. The article and graphic are copyright Adirondack Explorer. Broadening access to high-speed internet August 13, 2023 Graphic by Carin Lane While broadband is available to most Adirondack residents, gaps remain By Mark Marchand Not since railroads and highways transformed access to the Adirondacks has the region stood…

Commentary: Don’t mistake tweeting for activism

Post published:April 11, 2023

(Editor's note: This commentary I wrote appeared in the Times-Union daily newspaper of Albany, N.Y. on April 11, 2023) Sub-head: After a tragedy like a mass shooting, we post, share and break out the sad emoji. That's fine — but if we want things to change we can't stop there. Mark Marchand April 11, 2023 Has social media “venting” replaced meaningful action? The posts, reactions and tweets start within seconds after the latest tragedy. Within hours, the posts pick up speed, galloping through the Wild West that is social media. The latest…

Cover of the new book on Albert Einstein's life: "Einstein - The Man And HIs Mind."

Book Review: A photographic tour of one of the world’s greatest minds

Post published:March 3, 2023

By Mark Marchand If you stare long enough into his eyes in the many photographs of the man, you might begin to see faint images of atoms splitting … light waves being bent by the sun’s gravity … equations rolling by … a man descending in an elevator … or even musical notes dancing across a staff. This man is Albert Einstein, who peers at us from a new collection of photographs taken over a lifetime during which his “thought experiments” and other work shook the foundations of physics and…

Reflections 0n life chained to the phone

Post published:October 24, 2022

In 2017 I was struck by how students at the universitywhere I teach were often ignoring personal contact(s) while focused solely on their phones. One particular incident led me to craft a short piece for The Drabble website - which challenges authors to submit stories of 100 words or less. They accepted it and published it. The content is below, along with a direct link to the site: Lives Short-Circuited by The Screen APRIL 3, 2017 ~ THE DRABBLE By Mark Marchand It’s a rainy Wednesday afternoon at the university where I teach. As I enter…

1968: The lunar orbital plan profile for the manned Apollo 8 shuttle - its proposed trajectory around the moon to assess potential landing sites for future Apollo missions. (Photo by MPI/Getty Images)

Commentary: For a break from despair, look around and look up

Post published:May 27, 2022

My guest commentary was published in the Times Union of Albany, N.Y. on May 22, 2022 Getty Images Are we as a species so mired in our current misery that we’ve metaphorically taken our eye off the ball that could help us? The existential crises demanding our attention pummel us continually. Grim news of the deadly global pandemic, accelerating climate change, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, political maneuvering aimed at autocracy, paycheck-eating inflation, and other calamities pile up daily. It’s easy, then, to understand why so many of us think we live…