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Guestwords

Guestwords: Time to Name a Thing

On the evils of Christian nationalism.

Feb 27, 2025
Guestwords: For Freedom and Reform

Georgia is at a crossroads, and its citizens have taken to the streets in a relentless fight for democracy, freedom, and Euro-Atlantic integration.

Feb 20, 2025
Guestwords: All Shook Up

On earthquakes, literal and artistic, and how art has the power to not just reflect the times, but shape them.

Feb 13, 2025
Guestwords: Why I’m in Jail

Two years have passed since I started my adventure teaching memoir writing behind bars. It’s like group therapy without the therapist.

Feb 6, 2025
Guestwords: Pacific Palisades, 1957

Before the fire — memories of an idyllic California childhood.

Jan 30, 2025
Guestwords: R.I.P. Danny Murray

It’s been a long, lousy month since Danny Murray of the Fairway restaurant passed away.

Jan 23, 2025
Guestwords: Is That All There Is?

Finding resolve and relief in the music of Peggy Lee.

Jan 16, 2025
Guestwords: Giving Pigeons Their Due

Pigeons are among the least-valued birds. But the more you know about them, the more you value them.

Jan 9, 2025
Guestwords: Grandpa & Izzy

The best thing about growing up in the same house in Queens with my grandparents was how Grandpa revealed himself to be a storyteller like no other.

Jan 2, 2025
Guestwords: Moses & Me

First I hated driving the Cross Bronx Expressway. Then I discovered many other ways to hate it in “The Power Broker,” Robert Caro’s monumental biography of Robert Moses, the designer of it and so much else affecting our transportation lives.

Dec 19, 2024
Guestwords: A Glossary of Bodily Functions

The Great Chain of Being — a scatological take.

Dec 12, 2024
Guestwords: Beautiful People in an Ugly World

I recently traveled alone to the West Bank of Palestine for three weeks to teach a course in documentary filmmaking. This is what I saw.

Dec 5, 2024
Guestwords: The Hamptons Pride Names Project

This Friday through Sunday after Thanksgiving, a new chapter of Hamptons Pride history will be written in the East Hampton Presbyterian Church, as quilts from the National AIDS Memorial will be on display.

Nov 27, 2024
Guestwords: Soup Dreams

A writer looks forward to the intimacy, quiet, and soul nourishment of winter.

Nov 21, 2024
Guestwords: Faith and Politics

There are people in my Protestant church tradition who will say you shouldn’t mix politics and religion. But that’s impossible. The teachings in Scripture in any of our religious traditions call for responsible action based on central affirmations of faith.

Nov 14, 2024
Guestwords: Once in Paris

Memories of a time abroad that taught one writer how to truly experience travel.

Nov 7, 2024
Guestwords: See You November 7

Proposals for some development regulations that just might save this place are up for a public hearing with town board members next Thursday, Nov. 7, at 6 p.m. at Town Hall.

Oct 31, 2024
Guestwords: Pity the Bees

Thoughts on a neighborhood spraying of pesticides, weekly through the end of December.

Oct 24, 2024
Guestwords: Trump and the SALT Cap

In 2017, the Republican Congress capped the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction. Then-President Trump eagerly signed it. This cap has severely hit Suffolk residents’ net income and the region’s economy.   

Oct 17, 2024
Guestwords: Pet Peeve

The Hampton Jitney’s video of tips and rules sends a regular rider over the edge.

Oct 10, 2024
Guestwords: The Reunion

The Patchogue-Medford High School class of 1962 gathers, and a novelist gets to thinking.

Oct 3, 2024
Guestwords: The End of the Hamptons

It can happen here: Applying a professor’s Tourism Area Life Cycle metric is revealing, bordering on bracing.

Sep 26, 2024
Guestwords: The Microplastics Problem

Plastics come from multiple sources and have been accumulating in the environment for at least 70 years, since they came into our lives.

Sep 19, 2024
Guestwords: August Memories

Remembering the first time I came to the East End 30 years ago also rekindles thoughts of the skyline of India, and my home country’s independence.

Sep 12, 2024
Guestwords: Another Softball Sunday

Around 9, cars start pulling up and guys meander onto the field, one by one, groggy and disheveled, animated by caffeine and muscle memory. They soft-toss and take B.P. and let the weight of the week rise into the morning mist.

Sep 5, 2024
Guestwords: Tomatoes: A Marriage

When are our words about a garden, and when are they about our relationship?

Aug 29, 2024
Guestwords: Removing Your Unconscious

A tricky procedure, but one that will undoubtedly take a weight off your shoulders.

Aug 22, 2024
Guestwords: The Great Blackout of ’03

It’s hard to forget the surprising togetherness and making-do of New Yorkers plunged into darkness in the worst power outage in American history.

Aug 15, 2024
Guestwords: Pardon Me, Have We Met?

I am a single, cisgender female, American of African descent, of a certain age, with no children or a partner. And I matter.

Aug 8, 2024
Guestwords: Author! Author! Reader! Reader!

In 2013 I was obsessed with being an Authors Night author in support of the East Hampton Library. Here’s an inside-the-tent look at the Hamptons’ ultimate book party and benefit.

Aug 1, 2024