Eclipse watchers found they didn’t have to see totality to be moved by the celestial wonder, and many found that for a brief moment in a crowd of strangers, all that divides us floated away. The feeling didn’t last.
Closer to home, Karen Read’s murder trial made worldwide headlines. Shelters overflowed while affordable housing remained elusive. MCAS foes seemed to have done their homework in pushing a winning ballot initiative. The New England Patriots parted ways with Bill Belichick, and the Boston Celtics held the NBA championship trophy high.
No slow news days this year — anything but. University presidents fell as campus protests raged. President Biden hit the wall, Kamala Harris eyed the glass ceiling, and Donald Trump rose again. Hunting for a meme? Try “childless cat ladies.”
Yet every step of the bumpy way, our readers reminded us that the public discourse remains healthy and the debate goes on. Here’s a look back at 2024 as seen through an excerpted collection of letters to the editor.
— Matthew Bernstein, letters editor
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JANUARY: Claudine Gay out at Harvard; Belichick out in Foxborough; rent bidding wars
So at Harvard they shower Henry Kissinger with praise, but they find a way to denigrate and dispose of the first Black female president of the university because of some missing footnotes and some unpopular replies to sensitive queries? I so wish Claudine Gay would have barreled through this barrage of baloney and stood her ground. That would have been her victory. It would have been difficult, but many lesser individuals have done it. (Liz Casey)
Claudine Gay’s testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on Dec. 5, 2023, led to the end of her tenure as president of Harvard University. Haiyun Jiang/Photographer: Haiyun Jiang/Bloom
While many may have been ecstatic to hear that coach Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots were parting ways, I felt distraught. Belichick provided the franchise with a level of stability and leadership that will never be replicated. In a world where many people constantly change how they appear to others, Belichick never wavered from staying true to himself. Superstardom didn’t matter, and neither did feeding media narratives. There was only one goal, year in and year out: bringing home the Lombardi Trophy in February. (Brianna Silva)
Instead of a game of musical chairs for would-be renters, let’s create a sort of “Game of Homes” in which participants really get down and dirty, pitting their strategic skills, cunning, and, of course, weapons in a real fight to the signed-lease finish. This would make a perfect entry into the reality TV world. We’ll watch the battles rage among modest-income aspirants, twentysomethings backed by wealthy parents, and people with three jobs who still can’t put food on the table. And we’ll get to see the interiors of loads of Boston-area apartments most of us can’t afford! (Daphne Bishop)
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FEBRUARY: Hur report flags a Biden warning; Steward Health Care melts down; teachers go on strike
A special prosecutor appointed by the administration’s attorney general has raised a question that has seemed obvious to even the most partisan Democrat: that President Biden is failing and is not up to the job. Robert Hur has done Democratic voters a favor. We need to stop viewing Biden through the lens of being better than Trump and instead start asking ourselves whether he is up to the job for another four years. (John J. Clifford)
A thorough independent investigation of Steward Health Care is needed to determine whether funds that should have been invested in essentials such as life-saving equipment and payments for supplies, staffing, and rent were instead used for executive bonuses, directors’ fees, and stock dividends. This is a job for federal and state officials and investigators, but my vote goes to the Globe Spotlight Team. (Lorna Fredd)
Thanks to a Globe front-page story for adding another dimension to my retiree-grandmother identity: “militant.” I’ll own that with pride as a voting member of the Massachusetts Teachers Association who believes that paraprofessionals should get a living wage, teachers deserve compensation for hours that include so many more tasks than when I taught, and educators deserve respectful family leave benefits. My eyes always pop at the Globe’s characterization of workers who benefit from union organizing. You can call this grandma a militant any day! (Martha Matlaw)
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MARCH: defying state’s housing law; shelter crisis; Karen Read murder case
State Senator Lydia Edwards says that Milton’s vote against rezoning under the MBTA Communities Act makes it look as if the town’s residents are “scared of outsiders.” The real problem? The accessibility of the MBTA service that’s supposed to be a central feature of the law. Because so many people will choose Interstate 93 over Milton’s woeful public transit, the law won’t serve its purpose and instead will send even more traffic onto the clogged routes out of Milton. Fix the T and the votes will follow. (Laura Murray-Tjan)
The state is about to tell families again that there may be no room for them in emergency shelters. Expect more homelessness. Because where else do you go when the last refuge is taken away? The street. (Georgia Katsoulomitis)
Karen Read left the Norfolk County Superior Court in Dedham after another day of jury selections in her murder trial on April 17. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff
The only thing I have come to believe in the sad and sordid story of the Karen Read case is that I do not believe anyone who is involved. (Shannon Goodwin)
APRIL: the eclipse; campus protests
My husband is on the sixth floor in post-op after cataract surgery. The nurse points me to the window. I put on the glasses and watch the eclipse event unfold. The surgeon comes in to check on the patient and congratulate him on successful surgery, then stands next to me, puts on glasses, and looks at the eclipse. The nurse asks my husband, “Do you want to see it, too?” We help my husband up, and with glasses covering both his left eye patch and his right eye, for which he had cataract surgery a month ago, he stares at the eclipse. The moon and sun align as collectively we watch this natural phenomenon with a burst of optimism. (Claire Laton-Taylor)
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Students at Tufts, MIT, and Emerson are beginning encampments in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza who have reportedly faced six months of indiscriminate bombing and intentional starvation at the hands of the Israeli government. These actions are inspired by Columbia University, where more than a hundred protesters were arrested. The suppression of legitimate pro-Palestinian speech is undemocratic, distracts needed attention from the escalating conflict in the Middle East, and, ironically, creates space for hateful ideologies like antisemitism to gain a foothold. Support for Palestinians must be accepted as a legitimate political position in this country. (Nathan Foster)
MAY: GOP hones its message on abortion; Trump convicted
The chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee said, “We’re advising our candidates first of all to take a position on abortion that best matches the state they represent.” This proves what many of us have known all along about Republican politicians: They believe that abortion should be illegal in all cases except when it endangers the life of a vote. (Dominic Cucé)
Donald Trump prepared to make comments to members of the media after a jury convicted him of felony crimes for falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election, at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30 in New York. Seth Wenig/Associated Press
Let it never be forgotten that on May 30, 2024, Donald Trump was convicted by a jury of his peers and that the individuals who were seated on this jury were accepted by both the prosecution and the defense as impartial and capable of rendering a fair decision based upon the evidence presented to them. The Republican Party now faces the historic but dubious distinction of nominating a convicted felon and serial liar for president of the United States. (Martin Yaseen)
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JUNE: Alito flies a flag; the Stones rock Foxborough; Hunter Biden on trial; Celtics champs; Biden stumbles in debate
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham referred to the flying of the insurrection symbol, the upside-down American flag, at the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito as “not good judgment.” Going outside in subzero temperatures without a hat or gloves is not good judgment. Getting your boyfriend’s name tattooed on your arm when you’re 14 is not good judgment. What Alito did points to the justice’s inability to do the only thing his job requires: make highly educated, highly informed, thoughtful, and carefully considered judgments that will affect the lives of millions of people, now and in years to come. (Naomi Angoff Chedd)
Two days after the Rolling Stones concert at Gillette Stadium, my knees were still creaking. But that night, I felt immortal, just like Mick Jagger. If he can sing, dance, strut, shout, and give witness, well, so can I. (Karen Algus)
Either Hunter Biden and Donald Trump were both victims of miscarriages of justice or both were rightly convicted by a jury of their peers. There can be no other alternative. (Brian Pomodoro)
My wife, who is not a basketball fan, saw Jayson Tatum being interviewed after the Celtics won the championship. She was impressed with how down to earth he is. These Celtics respect their opponents, their coaches, the fans, and the game of basketball. They all proved that you can be a nice guy and still finish on top. (Ken Slaughter)
Jocardo Ralston, 47, a Pennsylvania resident and supporter of President Biden, watched the presidential debate between Biden and Republican Donald Trump at Tillie’s Lounge on June 27 in Cincinnati. Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press
After his performance on the debate stage in Atlanta, I don’t think there is any other choice but to replace President Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket. There is still more than a month until the convention and more than four months until the election, so it is certainly possible. But time is of the essence. (Cathy Putnam)
JULY: Trump assassination attempt; Harris ascends; ‘childless cat ladies’
The use of violence as a political weapon is never acceptable. An assassin’s bullet is not the way to prevent a Trumpian dystopia. It ought to go without saying that violence begets violence, and one shudders at the prospect of a series of assassinations across the American political landscape. No, as much as one might loathe the former president, his defeat must come by way of the democratic process that we embrace and he abhors. (Michael Knosp)
President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have done a great job over the past three and a half years. This campaign should be a slam dunk: democracy vs. fascism. Biden trusted Harris to be his running mate in 2020; it’s time to trust her to carry on his legacy of hard work, legislative success, and decency into the next four years. (Andrew Maynard)
JD Vance, take note: Childless or not, millions of us cat ladies and our cats are ready to pounce with claws out. (I. Bornstein)
AUGUST: Mass. legislative session fizzles at the finish
In most jobs, the person who decides whether to hire and fire you and the person who controls your pay are the same person: what we call a boss. However, in the Legislature, there’s a split: The people who hire and fire you are your constituents, who can exert that power every election, and the people who decide your pay are the legislative leadership, who can dole out the perks with chairs, vice chairs, and other positions. The collective boss of “we the people” needs to do more to remind legislators whom they ultimately serve. (Jonathan Cohn)
SEPTEMBER: State Police recruit dies in training
It is unconscionable that a young man, training to be a Massachusetts state trooper, could die as a result of what officials described as a “defensive tactics training exercise.” That is a peculiar euphemism for a recruit’s allegedly having been pummeled to death. The current training protocol for State Police recruits is abusive, cruel, and dehumanizing and needs to be overhauled ASAP. (Leslie Shapiro)
OCTOBER: MCAS put to a vote
How we love numbers, data, ratings, lists, and rankings. They provide a sense of certainty in our uncertain lives. But no standardized test, or single assessment of any kind, is good enough to determine whether a child is qualified to graduate from high school. We need to look at the total picture because no student is standard. After all, we aren’t educating widgets. (Bill Schechter)
NOVEMBER: Trump wins; Moulton stirs debate
Like it or not, most Americans were in the mood for John Wayne movies. Democrats offered “Sesame Street” episodes instead. Therein hangs the tale — and the election. (Richard Chait)
Donald Trump was elected by the popular vote and the Electoral College, by Americans who were looking for a change in the way our government is run and the policies that define it. (Paul Faenza)
Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a concession speech on the campus of Howard University in Washington on Nov. 6. Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press
Of all the reasons given for Vice President Kamala Harris’s election loss, one remains largely unmentioned: old-fashioned male chauvinism. Strong women have been elected to lead democratic nations throughout the world, yet we remain the conspicuous exception. We preach a lot about inclusion in our democracy, but we still have a long way to go. (Kate Robinson)
Representative Seth Moulton is clearly upset at his party’s poor showing in the election, and in an embarrassing fit of pique, the congressman (and grown man) directed his rage not at the failures of his own party but at students at play — children, in other words. And not just any children, but trans children, who already suffer some of the highest rates of bullying and suicidal ideation in the country. (Mark Sheridan)
It is possible to be totally supportive of transgender youth and also have concerns about girls competing in athletics against those who were born male. To deny or ignore the legitimacy of parental concerns about such competition — and to shame those who express such concerns — is the same kind of reflexive arrogance that cost the Democratic Party millions of votes. Unless we are willing to appreciate and discuss legitimate concerns of others, satisfactory solutions to issues will evade us and we will retreat to our echo chambers. (Daniel L. Goldberg)
DECEMBER: Biden pardons son Hunter; health insurance CEO killed
In the debate over President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter, let’s not lose sight of how important clemency, record sealing, and second chances are to countless other people across the country. People from powerful and wealthy families may not have to worry about getting a job or becoming homeless, but there are millions of others who desperately need second chances. (Ventura Dennis)
I can understand the anger at insurance companies that deny necessary health services and medications, but murder is definitely not the solution. I am appalled and embarrassed that so many people are cheering the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and making the suspect in his fatal shooting into a folk hero. This is not the way to spur a debate about the health care system. (Nancy Robertson)