Mark Marchand blog

Remembering my meeting with John Lewis, the iconic civil rights warrior

Post published:July 30, 2020

The Daily Gazette newspaper in Schenectady, N.Y. published a column I wrote, recalling my meeting with John Lewis in 2013 and reflecting on his career in the wake of his passing. He was a guiding light for me, and he will be missed. GUEST COLUMN: A brush with greatness: John Lewis was a guiding light Late civil rights leader shared his wisdom July 29, 2020 For The Daily Gazette When civil rights icon John Lewis died July 17, I couldn’t help but think about how the flow of time relentlessly severs links…

The walking venture and road trip as salves for the COVID-19 blues

Post published:July 10, 2020

The notion of solo walks and road trips as a cure for the pandemic blues occurred to me as I saw an uptick recently in readers visiting my blog here. Most navigated to posts on some of my personal travel exploits, especially New York City walks across the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges and a hike from Penn Station to the Guggenheim Museum on the upper East Side. Many visitors pointed their browser to the post on the book I wrote about my long, itinerary-less drive down U.S. Route 1 from Northern Maine to Key West during the summer…

Last chance drive…

Post published:March 29, 2020

“Church closed. Keep praying.” The sign on the front lawn of the Pittsford Congregational Church UCC in Pittsford, Vermont said it all. As the pandemic expands, social distancing is a must, more gathering places are closed—but keep the faith. So few words, but so much meaning. I glimpsed the sign driving north March 18 on U.S. Route 7 during a solo, mental-health sojourn through Vermont to the Canadian border and then south toward home through Upstate New York. I needed a change of scenery and succumbed to my persistent wanderlust to drive…

The opioid crisis: words matter

Post published:March 12, 2020

This is an Op Ed I researched and wrote, which appeared in the Times-Union newspaper of Albany, N.Y. today. A link to the original post is at the end. Words and language are powerful tools at our disposal. That’s why I’ve spent a fair amount of my life writing, reading, teaching, and studying our amazing English language. Coupled with multiple platforms we use to exchange words – ranging from print to social media to the internet itself – we swap ideas, information, thoughts, multi-media and so many other forms of communication instantly…

Beware the broken heart

Post published:February 20, 2020

There is such a thing as broken heart syndrome. This realization followed a recent New York State Writers Institute event featuring cardiac expert Sandeep Jauhar, M.D., Ph.D. I enjoy listening to and talking with scientists and doctors who have a knack for helping the masses understand science and medicine. I wasn’t disappointed by Jauhar’s talk. I came away with new appreciation for an organ so complex that it was the last holdout for organs that could be surgically repaired. For centuries, doctors found ways to operate on almost every organ in the human body—except the live…