About the publication

A question I can’t leave alone.

I’m Paula Clark, a writer and editor in Maine. I’m also an American with questions about the events shaping the country I live in.

I’m not a historian. When a story makes me wonder how we got here, I start reading. Sometimes the answer takes me back decades. Sometimes a law or a decision I’d never heard of helps explain what I’m seeing now.

Reflections and Rabbit Holes is where I work through those questions. I bring my experience as a researcher and writer, along with my own opinions and the concerns that sent me looking in the first place.

A conversation worth having

I think of these essays as the conversations we have across a kitchen table, when something in the news bothers us enough to ask what’s going on. I want to give those questions the time and attention they deserve.

I’ll link to the evidence I’m drawing on and make clear where I’m offering my own interpretation. Where I don’t know something, I’ll say so. History can help us recognize a familiar pattern, but the differences matter, too.

My hope is that understanding more about how we got here will help us think more carefully about where we’re going.