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Michael Dobie

Michael Dobie

Newsday

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The jury took an oath, and delivered

Back in the mid-1980s, I was summoned to Bronx Criminal Court to serve as a juror. I drew a gun possession case in which two young men riding in a...

02.06.2024 8

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Ode to a comma, restorer of order

There isn’t much that leaves me gobsmacked. Chalk it up to nearly seven decades of observing my fellow humans, particularly the last decade or so...

19.05.2024 40

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Dealing with death on this Mother's Day

12.05.2024 50

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Questions in the wake of Bobo's death

The death last year of Bobo the giraffe was a sad affair. That feeling was rekindled when the story reemerged this past week with a U.S. Department...

05.05.2024 30

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Another virus, another shaky response

A virus spreads, its method of transmission is unknown, testing is sporadic, results are not shared with enough speed or detail, government agencies...

28.04.2024 20

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Path of totality is locus of obsession

A phrase making the rounds these days is wonderful in its fluidity: The path of totality. It sounds like a description of the damage field caused by a...

07.04.2024 8

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Call for help from the long tail of COVID

You scan the photos and smile. She's a little girl making funny faces. Sitting on your daughter's shoulders in a chicken fight. On the field in...

31.03.2024 9

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Unhappy report for our young people

When we were kids, it seemed like we were always outdoors. There was a band of boys my age and we had a routine. One would go the back door of...

24.03.2024 20

Newsday

Michael Dobie

An altered photo betrays trust in reality

A photo sits on a shelf. Or hangs on a wall. Or nestles in a scrapbook with a collection that tells the story of a life. You study them for...

17.03.2024 10

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Mammoth mistake to recreate the past

I remember the picture books, the broad pages and sweeping landscapes, the colorful depictions of Earth thousands of years ago, the rocks and ice...

10.03.2024 3

Newsday

Michael Dobie

What's the legacy of Mitch McConnell?

A great many things came to mind for a great many people this past week when Mitch McConnell announced he would be stepping down this fall as leader...

03.03.2024 3

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Space exploration is having a moment

Even admitting all the difficulty we humans have recognizing when something is having a moment, and acknowledging all the times we get it wrong, it...

25.02.2024 6

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Navalny offers a lesson in toughness

Sir Edmund Hillary was the first human to stand atop the tallest spot on Earth when he stepped onto the summit of Mount Everest on May 29, 1953,...

18.02.2024 20

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Learning about life from Joni Mitchell

The first notes were not perfect, a touch flat, off the familiar line of melody. But as the chair in which the singer sat swiveled to face the...

11.02.2024 5

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Seeking Earhart, pushing limits

Ingenuity died in the heavens this week. On Mars, specifically. This is not some grasp at celestial metaphor. Ingenuity, the little helicopter that...

04.02.2024 5

Newsday

Michael Dobie

A lesson in the fight to save a species

Extraordinary problems require extraordinary solutions. Often, these challenges elicit the best from us humans. Such certainly has been the case...

28.01.2024 20

Newsday

Michael Dobie

A remarkable moment after 22 years

Something remarkable happened this week. More than 22 years after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, New York City officials said they had...

21.01.2024 9

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Eras end and begin, what era are we in?

Sometimes the end of an era smacks you in the face. Sometimes it just slips away, so quietly that it takes us time to realize that it's over. Eras are...

14.01.2024 10

Newsday

Michael Dobie

A doorway beckons, offering warmth

It’s just a doorway to a house. Over the years, one of many doorways to many houses. It beckons, as doorways do. But whatever the doorway in...

24.12.2023 40

Newsday

Michael Dobie

2023: The year that was in a puzzle

20.12.2023 10

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Welcome the ghosts that come to visit

I'm looking forward to welcoming my ghosts again. They always come this time of year. They're not the haunting kind, except in the sense of how much I...

17.12.2023 5

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Gaining perspective on birthrate crisis

I held my two newest grandchildren this week. It was exhilarating. And soothing. And nourishing. And instructive. When you hold a newborn, nothing...

11.12.2023 10

Newsday

Michael Dobie

Word of the year is a little befuddling

Obsolescence creeps in on little cat feet. One watches for signs. A creak in the body here. A memory escaped there. A fluidity of movement...

11.12.2023 7

Newsday

Michael Dobie

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