On the Beat: ‘Outsider’ finds welcome on the Rock

You’ll never be accepted unless you live there.

That was the advice I got from some on the North Fork before transferring from the Times Review Mattituck office to Shelter Island.

Undaunted, I made the change and on December 1, 2011, started my tenure here.

Forewarned, why did I take the assignment?

There are many answers, starting with a belief that no matter what you hear from others, you need to approach changes with an open mind. Someone else’s experience might not be yours — especially if you don’t bring preconceived notions to new situations.

Another reason was purely selfish. For 12 years, I had covered Greenport Village and its various boards; four of five North Fork school districts; police and courts; fire and park districts; hospitals; and whatever else didn’t specifically fit into another reporter’s beat.

On Shelter Island, I would have a single school district, one fire district and a handful of other boards.
Simply speaking, after a dozen years of working full-time days and three to four nights a week and frequent weekends, I would have more time at home. Hallelujah!

And how’s that working for you? my friends would ask.

Wonderfully. My very understanding partner had adjusted to my long hours and was tolerant of the many activities I had to pass up because of my work load. And when I was home, it wasn’t unusual for me to want to do little more than sleep, having expended all my energy at work.

Now we’re able to enjoy the normalcy of a schedule that requires many fewer work nights.

But what about all those warnings of how I would find the Island impossible to cover because I would be viewed as an outsider? And besides, they said, Islanders don’t care about news.

What I knew coming in was that the Reporter had employed a series of young staffers who had been here only a short time, barely giving readers a chance to become acquainted with them before they moved on to other pastures. There was a need for steadiness and experience, both of which I knew I could bring to the job.

Second, having spent a dozen years covering Greenport Village, I understood the mind set of Islanders who consider themselves unique. Greenporters, after all, want to be understood for all that makes them special from residents of Southold Town.

Islanders, I quickly learned, represent a wide spectrum, from some who have resumés posting extreme accomplishments to those who may not boast of sterling resumé credentials, but are fascinating in their own right. You need only read profiles that have appeared under the bylines of Carol Galligan, Peter Boody and Charity Robey to learn that there are so many interesting reasons to get to know residents here.

And as for an appetite for only light fare, I have found Islanders to be as hungry for real news as any readers I have ever served.

Islanders are an interesting and interested group of people.

I grew up in a small New England city — perhaps not as small as Greenport or Shelter Island — but small enough to know that while outsiders might have considered us hicks, we were as well informed, and in many cases, better informed than some of our big city cousins.

When I moved to New York City, I quickly learned how provincial some city folks could be. People who lived in Manhattan didn’t go to the outer boroughs and took it for granted friends from Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island would come to them.

People from Brooklyn didn’t go to the Bronx because it was “dangerous” and people from the Bronx didn’t go to Brooklyn because it was “dangerous.” How little they knew of the treasures to be found outside their own neighborhoods.

Many didn’t even know Manhattan. As the outsider, I was the one my city friends would call when they had out of town company because I could take them on a city tour, understanding such facts as how Fifth Avenue divides east from west. I was the one who knew where neighborhoods like Tribeca, Hell’s Kitchen, Clinton and even Dumbo were. And I knew what made each neighborhood unique.

Many New Yorkers get on a subway where they live, travel underground to where they work and have no idea of where they have been during the journey.

People are erudite or provincial based not on where they’ve lived or even been educated but how curious their minds are.

I have also found Islanders to be accepting of the fact that I am neither a native nor a transplanted resident.

Rather, I ride North Ferry to come here. A special word needs to be said about those gracious workers on Shelter Island ferries. In the worst of weather, they are consistently friendly and courteous. They were among the first to make me feel at home here and while I know those on North Ferry better than South Ferry, I have found the same graciousness on occasions when heading to the South Fork.

Day by day, I discover new areas of beauty on Shelter Island — some I have passed before but not taken the time previously to appreciate. Now that I’m here regularly, I see all that makes this Island so special.

As for Islanders not accepting outsiders, I would guess that it was about five years of covering Greenport before I found people knew me well enough to call with story ideas and news tips. It began to happen on the Island in less than two years.

While I might like to take credit for that, a large part of the reality is that unlike our Mattituck office, the Shelter Island office is something of a community center. Working on the North Fork, I seldom had interviews in the office. Here, many people consider this office as much their home as ours. They stop in regularly to talk and readily offer to come here for interviews.

Thank you for making me feel at least like an honorary Islander — one who treasures the beauty of this place and its people. My gift to you in return is to continue to cover this Island in a balanced and honest way, with a deep-seated belief that my job is to serve residents with the knowledge and understanding of events they deserve to receive.