Wiscasset and some of our other towns have serious things on their plates this summer, from schools’ future to the immediate crisis Bill Pearson reports on this week, several area eateries’ shortage of staff and even food. I have no answers, so let’s take a break for something I sometimes like on a plate, or in a bag, or a white box with red lines like at a fairgrounds: The french fry.

Why? What possible relevance could fries that have to anything? Tuesday, July 13 was National French Fry Day, according to nationaldaycalendar.com. I also had an editorial to write, and was looking for lighter fare than some of my recent topics here.

We know fries’ dark side. Depending on how they are cooked, they may not be great for you. If they are so bad for you that you must not have them, you have my sympathy. I used to eat a lot more of them. And sometimes I have gone years without them. These days, for me, once in a while is about right.

For me, they are about the nostalgia, remembering fries and the rest of a fast food meal after a childhood day at the beach with my grandparents; or fries with gravy at a bowling tournament in Canada.

The childhood-nostalgia connection works with other foods, like fresh peas I would eat standing in my father’s garden.

Fries can also serve in an analogy. If you don’t change the grease, they won’t be as good. And if you don’t pay attention to politics, local or national, those won’t be as good, either.