Last Saturday night a large group of men, women, children and babies filled all the pews at St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in Greenport for the 8 p.m. Spanish Mass. Benches at the rear of the church were filled, and the foyer by the doors that open onto Main Road was standing room only. READ
When my wife, Vera, first proposed having a yard sale, I gave her a one-word response.
“Ugh.”
The thought of dragging every item that no longer has value to us out of the house so total strangers can walk up and down our driveway confirming my suspicions that they have no value to anyone else either was just plain depressing. READ
Not that long ago, many longtime residents and farmers rarely saw deer on their properties. Farmers could maintain their crops without the fear that herds of deer would devour their plants and destroy acres of produce and fruit trees. READ
My wife always fires back the same wisecrack each time I make a joke about her joining a concert band. For example, we walked past the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts during Tuesday’s Fourth of July parade, where a concert band had assembled in front to fill the morning air with patriotic tunes as the fire trucks and dancers and Boy Scouts marched by. READ
When I started dating my wife in July 2010, my timing couldn’t have been better.
The Mets were 47-39. While not a bad record, it was the point in the season when my favorite baseball team’s annual slide was set to begin. READ
A wave of panic rushed through my body as my co-worker handed me his cell phone. My mind raced through all sorts of possibilities of what I was about to hear.
It was five years ago on a Saturday night in Saratoga Springs. I was settling into the cocktail hour at our annual New York State Press Association convention before the final dinner and round of awards. The weekend festivities were drawing to an end and I was relaxing with a glass of wine, mingling with my fellow writers.
We are living in truly dark times.
Our institutions and traditions, handed down in America through the generations, are now under assault and seem unsteady, not able to withstand the shock of a new authority sweeping away what once we held as inviolable. READ
In 2009, shortly after New York State passed the ill-advised MTA payroll tax, I found myself in a conversation with a campaign staffer for former state Senator Brian Foley. Mr. Foley had voted in favor of the plan — which added a payroll tax to local businesses in an effort to balance the MTA budget — despite concerns from constituents across Suffolk County who felt they were underserved by the agency. READ
