02.27.2021 Columns Column: Spreading joy through The Giving Pears Project Elizabeth Lopez had always kept her health issues private. As a photographer who specializes in weddings and family portraits, she worried about how clients might perceive her if they...
02.20.2021 Columns Column: Time-traveling back to Oceanside The car I was sitting in along with my two sisters, Debbie and Joanne, suddenly stopped. “There it is!” Debbie announced. “Where?” I asked, puzzled. “There!” she answered, pointing...
02.07.2021 Columns Column: February contains some surprises The smallest in the family, but unique among its siblings for much more than size. And the only shape-shifter, changeling and magician, which every now and then becomes larger,...
01.14.2021 Columns Column: A selfless young man gone far too soon Mark Rolle couldn’t help but laugh when a somber moment took an unexpected turn. He stood in front of mourners gathered inside Our Lady of Good Counsel R.C. Church...
09.11.2020 Columns Column: Our family’s little heart warrior I’ll always cherish the moment I read my daughter her first book. I held her in my arms, careful not to disturb the array of wires connected to her...
07.19.2020 Columns Column: In 1764, Native Americans asked for help that never came In 1764 something happened in Southold that received almost no attention in the narrative put forward by early town historians. Those historians wanted to celebrate the “founding families,” to...
07.05.2020 Columns Column: The names that represent a story we can’t tell Across the country and across Long Island, America’s past is being examined, thought about in a very different light, criticized and, in some cases, kicked to the curb. Symbols...
06.15.2020 Columns Guest Spot: After 50 years, where are my former students now? In 1970, I was a newly minted third-grade teacher in Bushwick, Brooklyn. My students were Black and Latinx, living in crowded apartments, relying on school meals to hold back...
05.24.2020 Columns Column: A special grave marker for ‘Pop-Pop’ Something was missing. When 10-year-old Namiah Santacroce looked down at the gravesite of his late great-grandfather, Tom Santacroce, there was no indication at all of who was buried there....
04.19.2020 Columns Column: Social distancing back during an era of war The letters from a distant land began with the same salutation: “Dearest V —.” Wherever George Withers traveled across Europe during World War II as a soldier in the...