03.28.2026 News Guest Column: Letters to myself A friend who took a writing course had an assignment to write a letter to her younger self, offering words of wisdom from her “older” self. I recently celebrated...
03.14.2026 Columns Guest Column: A visit to County Clare for St. Patrick’s Day There was music along the street. A faint, insistent melody of fiddle, pennywhistle and the muffled thump of a handheld drum sounding through the main street of Ennistymon, County Clare,...
03.07.2026 Guest Spot Guest Column: Thank you, Mrs. M. According to the New York State Union of Teachers, slightly more than one-third of the state’s public school educators are set to retire soon or already have. Add to...
02.28.2026 Guest Spot Guest Column: Winter sports and brave attempts I was glued to the Winter Olympics, which I like more than the summer games. That’s probably because I was raised in Ohio, where it’s winter most of the...
02.14.2026 Opinion Guest Column: An old ode to iceboating in Orient With iceboating returning to Orient’s Hallocks Bay this winter for the first time in more than a decade, thanks to sustained freezing temperatures, Orient residents John and Joyce Holzapfel...
02.07.2026 Guest Spot Guest Column: ICE and Long Island Although a thousand miles separate Minneapolis and Suffolk County, there are Suffolk connections to the protests in Minneapolis in which Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot to death...
01.31.2026 Guest Spot Guest Column: Snow speech I was thinking the other day when the snowstorm was on its way about the Sarah Palin/William Shakespeare nexus, which led my mind to wander. This will make sense...
01.24.2026 Guest Spot Guest Column: On being an introvert I am not one, but many people I love are. Sometimes it’s difficult for me to understand why they just don’t want to “go out and play.” Being an...
12.27.2025 Guest Spot Guest Column: Endgame for English? Gather round all tribal members of the Misanthropes, Cranks, Boors, Pedants, Malcontents and Grouches. Please be seated. Is that everyone? Yes, you in the back, the Nitpickers, will you...
12.20.2025 Guest Spot Guest Column: The anguish of family estrangement This holiday season brings joy to many and sadness to some. But those suffering from family estrangement experience a different kind of sadness. It’s a loss that’s often incomprehensible,...
12.13.2025 Guest Spot Guest Spot: The tapestry of self Recently, I attended Bill Bleyer’s presentation on East End whaling, carrying his inscribed book, “Long Island and the Sea: A Maritime History.” Bill autographed it with, “Everywhere the sea...
12.06.2025 Guest Spot Guest Column: Always look on the bright side I am the poster child for “Always look on the bright side.” That song from Monty Python’s movie was the theme for my weekly commentary on WLIW radio, back...
11.15.2025 Columns Guest Column: Shutdown As I’m writing, the government is shut down. Hopefully, when you read this it’ll be functioning again. Though I’m not sure how we’ll be able to tell. Oops, did...
09.27.2025 Columns Column: Tales out of (Sunday) school Author’s note: Names have been changed to protect the innocent, who are now fully grown and walk among us. “This isn’t going to end well,” I was warned by...
09.03.2025 Columns Guest Column: Totally hacked I just read a time-saving, moneysaving hack: “Need a moisturizing treatment for your hair? Skip the salon and reach into your refrigerator!” Sounds simple enough, but time-saving, money-saving hacks...