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Columnists

Gristmill: The Halfway Club

What exactly does it mean when you can’t finish a book — not once, but over and over again?

Oct 8, 2020
The Shipwreck Rose: Things I Didn’t Do

“Cancel” is the word of the year, and not just in the social-shunning sense.

Oct 8, 2020
The Mast Head: Reconnecting

Since we are all still feeling our way around remote work and online meetings, I thought that I would ask my high school junior for a few tips.

Oct 1, 2020
Gristmill: Fear of Flying

The airline industry may be on the verge of collapse, but once upon a time pilots were celebrities, dating movie stars, driving fancy cars — hold the autopilot, thank you very much.

Oct 1, 2020
The Shipwreck Rose: Sweater Weather

A creeping dread — of finding ourselves homebound again, wearing fuzzy slippers and harassed expressions around the kitchen table, bickering about who ate the last Klondike Bar — has driven me to wallow in as much outdoor time as I possibly can before the temperature falls.

Oct 1, 2020
The Mast-Head: Sign of the Times

This is a column about poop trucks.

Sep 24, 2020
Gristmill: Tour No More

I was limited to 20-minute segments of highlights over a small laptop screen, but even that couldn’t diminish the pleasures of the Tour de France.

Sep 24, 2020
The Shipwreck Rose: Love Thine Enemy

I am extremely bent out of shape about the apparent near-future extinction of the Atlantic right whale.

Sep 24, 2020
Relay: One Lucky Lady

If I could only get to Abraham’s Path and make it across the railroad tracks without the tire rim shattering, I would be okay.

Sep 17, 2020
The Mast-Head: Mailboxes Missed

There was a fair bit more activity in front of the Star office when the Methodist Lane United States Postal Service mailboxes were inaccessible during work on the railroad trestles nearby.

Sep 17, 2020
Gristmill: Home Alone

What happens when your children go back to school after six months of family time at home?

Sep 17, 2020
The Shipwreck Rose: The Dark End of the Street

I’ve just come from chasing my son as he set off double-quick for his first day in Mr. Tupper’s fifth-grade class at the John M. Marshall Elementary School.

Sep 17, 2020
Gristmill: Slumberland

It took a global pandemic lockdown for me to finally appreciate my father’s lifelong predilection for napping.

Sep 10, 2020
The Shipwreck Rose: Bad Words

Some people have “sensitivities” to particular sounds or to the fabric content of sweaters. I myself have a pretentious sensitivity to trendy words.

Sep 10, 2020
The Mast-Head: Unnerving Mail Mysteries

First cellphone service, next the U.S. mail. It’s no wonder Americans’ trust in public institutions is not stronger.

Sep 10, 2020
Gristmill: It’s Not Easy

Dominic Smith, the good-guy left fielder, first baseman, and designated hitter for the Mets, broke down when discussing the implications of the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Sep 3, 2020
The Shipwreck Rose: Low-Class Fish

The problem with buying good, fat Maine lobsters is that no one in my household will eat them with me.

Sep 3, 2020
The Mast-Head: Contact Is Curative

Something I noticed only recently about the pandemic is that I felt significantly more animated after talking with a friend or even making a work call.

Sep 3, 2020
Gristmill: Up Close and Personal

Monday night’s opening of the Republican National Convention raised important questions every American must ponder.

Aug 27, 2020
The Shipwreck Rose: Before and After

Graduation was held at the Hayground School in Bridgehampton on Saturday evening, and the parents kind of fell apart.

Aug 27, 2020
The Mast-Head: False Sense of Security

Nearly every morning since the middle of March, I get up, make coffee, feed the dogs, and look up the previous day’s coronavirus numbers.

Aug 27, 2020
Gristmill: When the Going Gets Weird

When reality throws you for a loop, there’s always the escapism of the Great American Comic Book.

Aug 20, 2020
The Shipwreck Rose: Must Haves

Like many of us sinners, I spend too much time shopping on the internet.

Aug 20, 2020
The Mast-Head: Text Markers of Age

Searching for something for our weekly “Recovering the Past” contest, I found a photograph I had taken in August, almost exactly 30 years ago today.

Aug 20, 2020
Gristmill: Spirit of Crazy Horse

I’ve been waiting for someone to say something to me about the “Free Leonard Peltier” shirts I’ve been wearing.

Aug 13, 2020
The Shipwreck Rose: Shadow World

One of the greatest compensations for losing sleep on squad night is driving home through empty streets and then walking slowly up to my stoop from the driveway in the still of the night.

Aug 13, 2020
Relay: Good Connection in Power Outage

The novel coronavirus, ever refracting normalcy, casts an eerie glow on the path ahead.

Aug 13, 2020
The Mast-Head: Safe at the Rail

Some people just will not wear masks. This struck me on the Cross Sound Ferry on my way back from Massachusetts.

Aug 13, 2020
The Mast-Head: Stinging Summer

I texted a neighbor the other day asking how the mosquitoes were over her way. Lucy, who usually has a decent amount to say, responded with just one word: bad.

Aug 6, 2020
Gristmill: Re-Meet the Mets

What to make of the Amazin’s in this weirdly brief and virus-plagued season?

Aug 6, 2020