09.23.2017 Columns Column: Fresh & Co. flap is nothing new for Orient residents A colleague of mine at this newspaper used to refer to the North Fork’s easternmost hamlet as The People’s Republic of Orient. The implication was that residents of Orient...
11.23.2016 Columns Column: Time for turkey, football and ‘Gilmore Girls’ I’ve always looked forward to Thanksgiving weekend. In high school, it signaled the start of basketball season. In my early 20s, I’d get together with friends every Black Friday...
11.09.2016 Columns Parpan Column: Notes from a historic election night Shortly before my head hit the pillow at 2 a.m. Wednesday, I scanned Facebook to see how my friends were reacting to the news that Donald Trump would likely...
09.10.2016 Columns Parpan Column: More hot air coming from your monitor I was in the early stages of a fantasy football draft when I first noticed the code red alert at the top of the television screen: It called for all...
08.27.2016 Columns Parpan Column: Important victory for young people interested in organ donation I remember the day I became a registered organ donor. I was 23 years old and a few months removed from leaving the State of New York for sunny...
03.15.2016 Sports Column: Finally, a college sports team to call our own Watching the Stony Brook men’s basketball team fall behind by double digits early in the second half of the America East championship game Saturday, I felt something I haven’t...
02.07.2016 Columns Column: A later school start time makes a lot of sense My mornings start the same way each day. Thump. Thump. Mama. Dada. Mama. Dada. (Repeat, repeat, repeat …) This happens sometime between 4:45 and 6:45 a.m., pretty much without...
01.04.2015 Columns Parpan Column: 2014 was a year full of tragedy There is a common misconception among the public that the media enjoys reporting bad news. That’s simply not true. I’ve seen a certain look on enough reporters’ faces when...
11.23.2014 Columns Suffolk Closeup: A post-mortem for Dems This space was devoted last week to the negative advertising, the “attack ads” or election by character assassination, which dominated the 2014 election in Suffolk County, the state and...
09.27.2014 Columns Parpan Column: Our op/ed section will miss Mr. Meinke The voice on the other end of the phone spoke in a deliberate manner, demanding to be heard. “My understaaaanding is that you are the person I now need...