It’s been 30 years since Times Review Media Group honored its first people of the year.
Published only in The Suffolk Times that first go-round, the list of honorees was top ped by overall Person of the Year Linda Graham. Ms. Graham, a mother of five and co-founder of the Southold Hospice in Progress program, had died just one month earlier in a tragic crash at the age of 44.
Veteran Long Island journalist Steve Wick has joined the staff of Times Review Media Group as executive editor. READ
Even to this day, with kids, a wife and a home of my own, every single phone call with my father ends with the same parting words: “Be careful driving.”
I could call my dad today and tell him I’ve decided to move to a tree house in the forest, where I’ll live off the land and avoid using anything that runs on an engine and the old man would still utter that last line before hanging up.
I was 16 years old the first time I consumed alcohol in the presence of an adult. Around that same time, I began asking strangers outside the King Kullen in Wading River to purchase beer for me. I can’t recall a single time I went home empty-handed.
That was 1995 and, boy, have things changed since then.
As you read this, I want you to picture me by the pool, sunglasses (and, of course, shirt) on, soaking up the sun in Florida.
OK, now for those of you still reading — the hardcore readers who weren’t instantly turned off by that boastful first sentence — please understand I need this vacation right now.
After two days of non-stop politics I was extra fired up to watch the AFC and NFC championship games Sunday.
But a little before the first game started, I had a visitor. It was that same nasty guy who’d been dropping in on various friends, family and colleagues last week. You know, the guy who has everyone running to the bathroom, their butts on the toilet seats and faces in a garbage pail. I like to call him Flu Diamond Phillips, but maybe you know him as Flu Reed or Captain Flu Albano?
My son is spoiled.
I talked a big game before he was born. “Any kid of mine better get used to hearing the word no,” I’d say. “I’m going to limit the TV, the toys and the sweets.”
Then my wife gave birth to him three years ago and he’s been calling the shots ever since.
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 be the next president of the United States.
My initial reaction to the news a few weeks back that Facebook had added six new reaction buttons to serve as alternatives to “liking” posts was that it was about damn time. In the days that followed, however, I’ve clicked the new options a grand total of zero times.
Jen Becker making hats for newborns and preemies at her home in Southold this week.
At 4 a.m. the morning after my son was born, a nurse ducked into the room as my wife and I were falling asleep and gave him his first bath. When she was done, she swaddled him up tight and placed a red, green and white knit cap on his tiny bald head.
It was two days before Christmas and baby Jackson had his first hat. Even with a dresser drawer full of infant caps, the hospital freebie kept his skull warm long after the holidays.
Perhaps it’s because it was made by hand, or maybe just because it was sturdier than the others, but we loved that darn hat. While we realize he’ll never wear it again, there’s no way we’re tossing it in the garbage any time soon.
It turns out we’re not alone. (more…)