When writing an article for any publication, the author has only one goal in mind—to create an inviting entry point into the story that follows. Katie McFadden, our acclaimed local RT writer and editor, always displays a mastery of the written word in her articles with her use of colloquial and everyday language you can really sink your literary fangs into. 

Katie's lead sentence to her most recent article in the July 25, 2019 edition of the RT ("Stop and Shoppers, Meet Marty") was no

Contrary to popular belief, I am not a dyslexic insomniac agnostic who lies awake at night wondering if there really is a Dog. On the other hand, ever since Super Storm Sandy, I have become a bit of a weather geek, prone to rising early each day to check weather data provided by the National Weather Service, NOAA, the National Hurricane Center and other various weather analytic sites and, of course, the climate bible itself, "Weather for Dummies." 

Unlike many of my friends and neighbors, I

The last couple of days have been nothing if not hectic.

Another Easter has come and gone. The family spent an enjoyable day together at my oldest daughter's residence over in Rockaway, where we feasted on lamb chops, shrimp, pasta and salad, accompanied by a wide selection of fine wine. Truth be told, I am not a great lover of wine and my entire life experience with the juice of the fermented grape revolves my youthful involvement with such upscale spirits as Ripple, Thunderbird, Mad Dog

The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing was celebrated this past Saturday (July 20) by many around the world who, rightfully, recognize the feat as one of America’s greatest achievements. But alas, the social justice sotted journalists out there, whose lack of historical context and ignorance of true oppression makes their reality bubble impenetrable, just had to find fault with it. The complaint is now that NASA and its Apollo program's misogynistic gender bias kept women from going

By now most of you who actually take the time to look for this column at the back of The Rockaway Times each week are aware that I have not penned anything of note over the past several weeks. The whispers surrounding the reason for my absence were numerous and often outlandish—drugs, arrested, abducted by aliens, bitten by a duck, etc. To all of you rumor-mongers out there, you're all wrong. I was simply busy immersing myself in the today’s new "Green" movement and allowing my environmental

Next Monday, April 8, I will be celebrating the 69th anniversary of my arrival on this planet back in the early 50s. You might think that is a rather odd way to describe my birthday but then again, my dear mother always maintained that I had been "dropped off by the "little green men." I always assumed that she was jokingly referring to those irascible imps of Irish folklore, the leprechauns but, as it turns out, way back then, flying saucers were all the rage. What with Hollywood's "The Day