Rick Gray
Phoenix
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Articles by Rick Gray
Column: A Re-Reading for the Season
I am a re-reader. Over the decades, I’ve acquired a small “shelf” of favorite books which I re-read often.
Guest Column: What Mr. Lincoln Said
In these uncertain times, we – the American people – seem very confused about what we want in terms of good government. Which means, though we sometimes pretend otherwise, we don’t seem to know what we want from ourselves. Right now, most of us insist we want democracy. Many on Team Red seem to believe that the last presidential election was stolen – which, if true, would have been a huge denial of basic democracy.
Column: Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself
For some time now, this newspaper has kindly run regular opinion pieces I’ve submitted. In this season of gratitude, I’d like to express my appreciation for this opportunity – and to set forth for readers the overall perspective from which I will write in future.
Guest Column: Remembering the Rough Rider
October 27 marked the 165th birthday of one of my favorite Americans – our 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt. I became a fan in my second year at the University of Virginia, thanks to an inspiring course on the Progressive Era taught by Professor William Henry Harbaugh, author of perhaps the best one-volume Roosevelt biography. Harbaugh’s biography was assigned reading for that course, and I’ve re-read it often since.
Column: Something Missing
Last Friday, at the Post Office, I received my ballot for next months’ election. Which excited not the slightest enthusiasm in my very political soul. If you’ll bear with me, I’ll explain. My earliest political memories center on the morning of November 8, 1960. Election Day. My dad, a 42-year-old lawyer with political aspirations, awakened me before dawn and went downstairs to fix breakfast while I – moving as quietly as possible - shrugged into warm clothes and brushed my teeth.
Column: Over-Tourism
I bought my present home in Cannon Beach in 2018. A lifelong Virginian, I decided to move, in my mid-60s, because – like some character in Chekhov – I felt stuck. Cannon Beach seemed my best hope of getting unstuck. In 2011, I’d spent two summer months here – recovering after several years of caring for my mother as her mind slowly slipped away. Three wise women – my sister, first cousin, and best friend – had told me I was killing myself.
Column: Advice from Ben Franklin
Last winter, I attempted to start a book club devoted to serious non-fiction. A goodly number of citizens – from as far afield as Astoria – expressed interest, so we began meeting monthly at the Tolovana Arts Colony. Our selections included a new biography of Samuel Adams – about whom few of us had previously known much – and a colorful history of the Roaring Twenties, a period most history courses skip lightly over.
Column - 2024: An Alternate Scenario
Here is a tentative, very cautious word about the 2024 Presidential election. I think I’m detecting signs that we might have a chance to vote – for once – without having to choose between what Captain Jack Aubrey would call “the lesser of two weevils”. Maybe, just maybe – over the next few months – we’ll catch a break. Polls suggest that three in four Americans would prefer not to have a Groundhog Day rerun of Biden vs. Trump.
Theatre At It's Best: Agnes of God
In the last edition of the Gazette, I let myself go on the subject of American theatre – why it’s in trouble, and why it deserves to be. These questions are part of a larger theme I often explore in my writing, i.e., the decline of our national culture because of a long-term trend toward treating people like infants. We see this in two major forms: preaching and over-protection.
Column: Theatre That Matters
I grew up enjoying theatre, but – aside from playing the lead in an elementary school production of Peter Rabbit – acting never formed part of my plan. In high school and college, that plan was law – then politics. During my law school years, my sister, the English major, managed to turn me on to Shakespeare – something no teacher or professor had done. But whenever I went to the theatre, I was an audience member. I had a plan. Well, we know what John Lennon said about life and plans.
Gray: Opportunity awaits on SCHOA board - The Daily Independent at YourValley.net
Most of our greatest blessings in life only come to us after we make a commitment. We see that in our marriages, our children, a job we work at and turn it into a career. First, we must see the value in it, then we must make the commitment. Shortly after we moved to Sun City, I started reading about the need for people willing to volunteer to serve on the board of the Sun City Homeowner’s Association.
Guest Column: A very Oregon reform
When I moved to Cannon Beach, five years ago, it wasn’t just for the beauty of our North Coast. I was also drawn by Oregon’s reputation for bipartisanship and public-spirited, innovative government – the qualities which made possible legislation like the Oregon Beach Bill. In 2018 — when I decided to move — that sort of political culture seemed like a dream.
Guest Column: A Very Oregon Reform
When I moved to Cannon Beach, five years ago, it wasn’t just for the beauty of our North Coast. I was also drawn by Oregon’s reputation for bipartisanship and public-spirited, innovative government – the qualities which made possible legislation like the Oregon Beach Bill. In 2018 – when I decided to move – that sort of political culture seemed like a dream.
Letter: Thinking Anew
Between February and August of this year, I was a candidate for the Oregon House of Representatives. I dropped out, reluctantly, for practical reasons. My present intention is to learn the lessons of an unsuccessful effort, and run again in a few years. But for now, I have time to study other elections – especially those for Cannon Beach’s Mayor and City Council. These races promise to be fascinating. With a majority of our five-member Council to be chosen, there’s an abundance of options.
Buyer, beware: Arizona's deregulation plan could skyrocket your power bill
As Biden’s to 8.5%, the highest level since 1981, families are struggling to make ends meet with rising rent prices, grocery bills and gas costs. Despite this, the Arizona Corporation Commission doesn’t mind exacerbating the economic pain many are feeling through its efforts at deregulation, and Arizonans need to realize this move has failed to produce a successful record in any of the states that have incorporated it. House Bill 2101 is an effort to stop those efforts.
Democrats want big-government price controls on prescription drugs. Tell them no Original
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s not-so-subtle thumbs down to President Biden’s multi-trillion dollar spending package days before Christmas may have killed the Build Back Better Act (what Republicans call the Big Government Socialism Bill) in 2021, but will this hold in 2022? Liberal lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are already looking for ways to resurrect the Build Back Better agenda, including bringing back a provision that wants to put government in charge of prescription drugs.
Build Back Better's clean energy mandate is a bad deal for Arizona
Progressives in Washington, D.C., are still trying to persuade their Democrat colleagues to pass an enormous budget reconciliation bill, and a controversial set of energy mandates within the package recently took center stage in our nation’s capital.
Sen. Gray: County board must stop ‘stonewalling’
By Rick Gray There has been a lot in the news about the State Senate’s efforts to audit the 2020 general election. But the recent filing in Superior Court by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors seems like one more effort to win not in court, but in the court of public opinion. Throughout this process, the Board has been trying to portray the Senate as the big, bad villain in this election drama.
Hospital welcomes new doctor
By Rick Gray Raised in a smaller town in central Texas, David J. Cummings, MD, is excited about the opportunity to practice medicine in Van Horn. “I always wanted to work in a rural community where I could develop long-term relationships with my patients and care for them across a wide range of illnesses and injuries,” said Dr. Cummings.
In giving, we receive a greater gift
By Rick Gray Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019 | 2 a.m. Editor’s note: As he does every August, Brian Greenspun is taking some time off and is turning over his Where I Stand column to others. Today’s guest columnist is Rick Gray, general manager of entertainment operations for Wynn Las Vegas. I was never a person who regularly donated my time or money to a charitable cause. Courtesy Rick Gray and his daughter, Zan, on her wedding day.
TRAINING DAYS A word from Rick Gray
I couldn’t possibly catch my old readers up on over a year of my life, so if you’ll permit me, I’ll narrow it down to the first nine days of March, which I might call “Training Days.” On March 1, I flew to Denver, where I joined a thousand other volunteers from 32 countries for three days of training by Al Gore and his Climate Reality team. As soon as we “graduated,” I caught a red-eye to West Palm Beach to see my St. Louis Cardinals play three spring training games.
Columnist: Gun violence requires common sense and common ground
Any productive attempt at working together to address the prevalence of firearms and the frequency of mass shootings in the United States must start with an examination of the Second Amendment: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”Extremist gun rights advocates argue that the Second Amendment conveys an unlimited right that cannot be regulated, even in the most modest of ways.
Listen! | Village News Online
This will be my final column for the year. By long-established tradition, the proprietors of the Village News compile a year-in-review issue for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day – giving their readers a welcome opportunity for reflection, and their columnists a brief respite from facing the blank page. I’ve been searching for a topic which does justice to both Christmas and New Year’s. Here’s what I came up with: Christmas is a special time for listening.
Ending America’s Gun Fetish
Last week, in this space, I argued that the new terrorist tactic of shooting up places where innocent people gather – the tactic of Paris and San Bernardino – seems likely mark a change in the debate over this country’s gun laws. It should never have taken this long.
Pigeons | Village News Online
This week, I am finally getting around to signing my first formal will. It seemed about time. During the initial drafting process, I included a gift to one institution of higher learning. I felt very pleased about this – until the recent eruption of campus protests. But two weeks ago, I decided to make a change. The modest gift I had designated for the institution of higher education will now go to a community theatre. I feel considerably better about this new bequest.
Beyond the Usual Suspects
Last week, in this space, I urged parents of college-bound children to free themselves from the “common wisdom” which decrees that only schools with familiar names be considered. With nearly 2400 four-year colleges and universities in the US and Canada – to say nothing of those serving the other 95% of the planet – it’s distinctly possible that your child’s perfect match is a school you haven’t heard of yet. But where does one find such schools? You might start with a few lists.
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