05.29.2020 Columns Gimme Shelter: Locked up Am I the only one who thinks Zoom meetings are like visiting day at Sing Sing? There, in front of you, is a person whom you know and who...
05.24.2020 Columns Column: The current phase of mourning We’ve been doing this for two months now. At first it was scary, but there was a sense of determination and perhaps a bit of adventure. The Island needed...
05.22.2020 Columns Suffolk Closeup: Moving away, moving out Is Suffolk County to become a sanctuary for some New York City people because of the COVID-19 pandemic? There are indications that this is happening. “It’s Time To Get...
05.22.2020 Columns Richard’s almanac: Memorial Day weekend 2020 So, the official opening of the summer season is this weekend. But more importantly it’s this country’s Memorial Day weekend with Memorial Day on Monday, May 25, a time...
05.21.2020 Columns Codger’s column: My president These days, even Codger needs reassurance. He has Crone, of course, and Cur II, and Cat and Crunch with their families through cyberspace, but sometimes he needs to reach...
05.15.2020 Columns Charity’s column: When COVID came for Mother’s Day The novel coronavirus derailed the two-week Chinese Lunar New Year, shut down Easter and Passover, and cast a shadow on the month-long celebration of Ramadan. But when the virus...
05.10.2020 Columns Richard’s Almanac: Shelter Island is alive, if remotely For a while last week I thought we were getting closer to summer when we experienced great warm weather. I walked along the beach. Felt great. Didn’t think about...
05.03.2020 Around the Island Mashomack Musings: Muskrats — What’s in a name? When it comes to names, some animals seem to have drawn the short end of the stick. Muskrat roughly translates to “smelly rat.” The first half of their name...
05.03.2020 Columns Suffolk Closeup: Sen. Gillibrand calls for a ‘U.S. Health Force’ Not prominent amid all the other news about the COVID-19 pandemic is the introduction of legislation by Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-New York), in concert with a senator from Colorado,...
05.01.2020 Columns Column: Running with your brain If, instead of a photo of running accompanying this column, a picture of President Trump appeared. Your reaction to the photo — good, bad, indifferent — would be instantaneous...
04.30.2020 Columns Prose & Comments: A question of balance By Stephen Gessner Throughout the history of democratic countries there’s always been a tension between, as the Declaration of Independence states, “…unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty...
04.30.2020 Columns Suffolk Closeup: Every crisis is an opportunity Voices from around the world — including one from a Suffolk County professor deeply involved in work at the United Nations — see the COVID-19 pandemic as a turning...
04.29.2020 Columns Coping with the crisis: How to help our children The mental health effects of shelter-at-home orders are impacting all of us on the Island. Some groups are struggling more than others. Parents with small children are having a...
04.29.2020 Around the Island Mashomack Musings: A pest or a delight? Conservationists loathe it, but locavores embrace it. I’m talking of course about garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), a flavorful plant that was introduced to the United States by European settlers...
04.26.2020 Columns Gimme Shelter column: What we share I walked into the factory with the rest of the day shift. I was thinking how difficult the work would be today, but was happy I had a job...
