By: Dani Langevin – July 2014 When you fall love at the same time that your mother is dying, do you focus on love’s beginning or life’s end? In 1994 my heart was ripped in half by the two most important women in my life. Nothing, in my previous twenty-nine years, would have prepared me […]
By: Dani Langevin – June, 2014 Ten years ago last month the wonderfully forward thinking SJC made marriage open and equal to all adult couples that want to spend a lifetime together. Ten years ago this month on June 26 I married my amazing wife, Michelle. And I’m sure, much to the dismay of our […]
By: Dani Langevin – May, 2014 Last month, Paul Murano’s column on clarifying the issue of homosexuality was run right next to mine, appropriately so. I’d like to add more clarity to what Mr. Murano had to say. He talked about issues, “purposely obscured by those pushing an agenda to justify a lifestyle.” First of […]
By: Dani Langevin – April, 2014 When I was in third grade, just eight years old, I had a huge crush on Nicky (Nicole) Dalby. Nicky was this Alice in Wonderland look alike with blond hair, big blue eyes and dimples. I fell for her the first time she walked into Mrs. Brennan’s class after […]
By: Dani Langevin – March 2014 *WINNER OF A VALLEY PRESIDENT’S AWARD* I am married. I guess you could say I am ‘in a marriage’. I am not in a gay marriage, just like I don’t live in a gay house or drive a gay car. My parents weren’t in a heterosexual marriage nor are […]
By: Dani Langevin – February, 2014 The gay community is just as diverse and varied as our heterosexual counter community. I would also venture to say that we are probably a bit more unique and colorful. I am painfully aware that those who are not part of the gay community have never had a ‘close […]
By: Dani Langevin – January, 2013 Last month Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan posted an article on Facebook about a gay teacher who had been fired from his position at a Catholic school. Just as Tom hoped, the comments came flooding in fast and furious and with a great deal of misplaced passion. The perspective […]
By: Dani Langevin – December, 2013 In 1927, fifty-five year old Andrew Kehoe, school board treasurer in Bath, Michigan shot his wife, fire-bombed his own barn then set off a bomb at the Bath Consolidated School killing thirty-eight school children, six adults and injuring fifty-eight others. It was and still remains the deadliest act against […]
By Dani Langevin – November, 2013 This is the mission statement of the Common Core Standards (CCS) that has been adopted by the Massachusetts Department of Education. “The Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to […]
By Dani Lanvgevin – September Too many of us find ourselves divorced. For those of us with children, this means that we may find ourselves looking for another partner who will be able to love us, as well as our children. Too many times, however, people only settle for the first part. This is not […]
By Dani Langvin – July 2013 It’s time to think outside the igloo. We, here in the Merrimack Valley, live in an area of extreme weather patterns. Summers can be excessively hot and wet or dry, and winters are snowy and unpredictable. Because of these extremes, schools have been shut down due to flooding (a […]
By: Dani Langevin – June, 2013 When parents are denied the right to have contact with their children you have what is called Parental Alienation Syndrome or PAS. This is not simply a burden that an alienated parent must bear, but their children too, must deal with being forced to live without one of the […]
By: Dani Langevin – May 2013 “Derek” is a forty-eight year old divorced father of two who has not seen, heard from or spoken with his two children ages 13 and 10 since June 11, 2011 due to, what he claims, is a corrupt court system that is skewed in favor of mothers. When I […]
By Dani Langevin – April 2013 Why do some people “fear” having a gay child? Most don’t really think they will. Most people assume that their children will be heterosexual, but when the topic is breached, I’ve heard many parents confess that they would be very uncomfortable or unhappy if they had a gay […]
By: Dani Langevin – Valley Patriot Lesbian Columnist March 2013 I was angered the other morning, while eating my breakfast and watching the early morning news, to hear about the hate crimes that had been committed last month at Oberlin College in Ohio. According to the New York Times, “The incidents included slurs written […]