What does one do after being sighted in spandex on the boardwalk? Well, head out of town up to Newport, Rhode Island naturally, to close up the cottage for the season! Having never been to the former playground of the rich and famous, I packed up the mermaid and our fins and headed northeast to see what a real mansion looked like.

First of all, whoever drew up the state lines for Connecticut should have shortened the state. It’s simply too long. But the reward is that Rhode Island is not, and

This past week, we lost a local who came here from far away. He passed way too young and left two sons and a wife. He is the epitome of the American Dream, arriving here from his native Philippines finding work, a wife, a family and a whole new life. I listened to the eulogy delivered by his two sons and realized I only knew him slightly, as a neighbor and friend, but what I knew of him was true.

He was the type of person we aspire to be, but sometimes fall short of. He worked several jobs

Van Morrison sang those words nearly 50 years ago and it remains his highest charting single ever. But I am talking about Domino Sugar, the company started in 1799 by British merchant, William Havemeyer. In 1859, William and brother, Frederick, set up shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn right on the East River. The building is landmarked today, although Domino moved out years ago and the buildings there were sold to developers, who promised that if they were able to develop the site for condos that

I could not imagine leaving home and starting over in a new country. The United States is a country of immigrants and their traces are everywhere, especially here in New York. To make the transition easier, when the migrations were large, the communities assembled together in neighborhoods and made it look like home. I recently took a stroll that reminded me of this fact. And as I strolled through some of the neighborhoods, it occurred to me that actually I may be the stranger.

I left my

Last Tuesday was the last Open Mic at Connolly’s for the summer of 2018. The results have been catalogued by Professor Squid and made available on SoundCloud. The kindly Professor runs, in my opinion, the best Open Mic in Rockaway, attracting both first-timers and truly talented individuals. There are a group of regulars that come every week, sometimes playing the same songs, sometimes venturing into parts unknown, and then there are the drop-ins, who come for a night or two and light up the

Addiction is a horrible thing. It robs you of your most valuable asset: your soul. Rockaway goes through spurts of having to deal with this problem, and the problem takes many forms. Sometimes people don’t like to talk about it because of shame or fear, but if not dealt with, it can destroy lives. I am a big believer that it’s ok, no actually necessary, to talk about.

There are many programs around to help deal with the issue, some work, some no matter how good the intention, never take hold