Surely Long Gone
East Hampton Village
October 6, 2024
Dear David,
I was on a stool at the bar in a still very active East Hampton restaurant where a friend worked: Even from inside, one could see that it was a remarkably clear evening, and a plan to canoe across the pond was made, rental canoes secured by phone. From the opposite side of the highway, we quickly launched our way through a tunnel of leafy trees to move past the Creeks, where several guards with guns in hands waved us on and across the pond to the area with expensive homes. I will never forget the orange setting sun on one side, the white rising moon on the other, both seeming precisely the same size, like mirrors of each other. There was, at that time, surely long gone, a small raft for mooring, and across the road large step stones leading up to the beach access. After finishing an already-opened bottle of red we set out for the return trip in the slowly growing darkness, the guards no longer in evidence. We entered the tunnel of trees to exit back to the highway. What we didn't know was that a large group of Canada geese had settled in for the night on the tree branches. We clearly startled them and the entire group flew out of the tunnel just feet above out heads, loudly honking and wings beating. Today, years later, recounting this still gives me chills.
FRED KOLOUCH
The Invisible Hand
Amagansett
October 4, 2024
To the Editor:
Last week, Kirby Marcantonio fluently advocated in the Letters column for his employer-owned housing project, and again assured us that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds: "Will [workers] be protected from avaricious employers? Yes." How, exactly? He works in a bathetic case study of a restaurant owner housing an irreplaceable chef, "prized” like a “precious jewel." Kirby thus seems to offer two coinciding guarantees that nothing terrible will ever result from your boss being your landlord: the high morality of employers, and the invisible hand of the marketplace.
Seriously? Both arguments were already trite and unbelievable when Henry Ford made them a hundred years ago. Whalebone Workforce Housing is really just a profitable real estate project being spun as something more. The best one can say about it: At least it's not an insensate boondoggle like the senior center. But that's not very much.
For democracy in East Hampton,
JONATHAN WALLACE
Ambitious Expenditure
Amagansett
October 7, 2024
Dear David,
I am writing to express my concerns regarding the proposed increase in East Hampton Town's budget, which seeks to bust the tax cap with an 8-percent hike. While I understand there may be valid reasons behind the need for increased funding, such as providing necessary salary raises for our dedicated town employees, it is crucial for the town board to also explore more cost-effective alternatives before resorting to significant taxation.
One major area of concern is the plan to build a new $28-million senior center. While I fully support our community's seniors, as I am one of them, and believe in providing them with excellent resources, I am skeptical about the extreme size of the building as well as the feasibility of staffing the facility. We've seen a similar situation unfold before with the Y.M.C.A. facility and Sportime, where the town had to give control to private groups due to staffing issues and the inability to maintain the facilities. It's essential to learn from past experiences and plan sustainably for the long term.
Moreover, the proposal to construct a nearly $2-million roundabout at the intersection of Stephen Hand's Path and Long Lane raises questions about fiscal priorities. More economical solutions, like Sagaponack-type speed bumps or four-way stop signs, should be considered viable alternatives to enhance safety without such a hefty price tag.
It seems this town board has a tendency to opt for more expensive projects rather than exploring simpler, cost-effective solutions that could achieve the same objectives without excessively burdening taxpayers. This inclination toward ambitious expenditure often surpasses budget limits, placing a financial strain on residents due to the resultant tax hikes.
I urge the town board to conduct thorough evaluations and engage the community in meaningful discussions about these projects. Cost-benefit analyses and transparence in decision-making will not only foster public trust but also ensure judicious use of taxpayer money.
Sincerely,
RONA KLOPMAN
Save the Triangle
Springs
October 7, 2024
Dear Mr. Editor,
Hope all is well at The Star. Just for the record, the book I dropped off for you, "Memories of American Yachting," was by no means meant to be a jab at you due to the fact Cerberus was on the beach all summer. It was simply a gift for the bookshelf on board. As you know, there are good years and bad years in boating. I spent a summer tinkering with my generator to no avail and finally pulled it out, found the problems, reinstalled, and now it purrs like a kitten.
Anyway, on a more serious note, the concerns over the Sherrill Triangle seem to have faded. They should be real and concerning. The fact that the town wants to remove the nature-preserve designation is alarming. Presented as a resolution which I am sure will pass, because that's what the town board wants. That will allow them to move forward, with or without public approval, with their ill wishes. To me, the green triangle is the gateway to Three Mile Harbor and Springs. Far better than a traffic circle. One of the bigwigs mentioned public safety. Really? When traffic is backed up into the traffic circle from the two lights on North Main Street, you call that safe? I say, "Save the triangle."
As always, best regards.
America and Americans first,
JEFFREY PLITT
Long-Eared Bats
October 7, 2024
Dear Reader,
Regarding the 14 acres purchased by the Town of East Hampton on Abraham’s Path -- the land that is officially described by three recent town environmental assessments as a habitat for the federally declared endangered northern long-eared bat: Some are saying that the Town intends to declare that acreage a nature preserve and refuge. Wow. There’s also a contrary rumor that the board wants to hire some sketchy environmentalist company to swear that there are no bats there.
It’ll be interesting to watch the developments.
Sincerely,
PATRICIA HOPE
Not a Wedding
Amagansett
October 7, 2024
Dear Mr. Rattray,
Beautiful weekend, wasn’t it? Raining today (Monday), but we’ve needed it. I was doing some work in our backyard Saturday when I heard horns blaring on Main Street in Amagansett. I assumed it was a wedding, so I walked around the house to have a look. Guess what? Not a wedding.
It was what I guess you’d call a Trump parade. Dozens of cars and trucks flying American flags and Trump flags, leaning on their horns. I later heard that a good friend of mine, who’d been walking along Main at the time, was screaming F-bombs at the passing vehicles.
As you know, I’ve written a book called “Uniting the States of America – A Self-Care Plan for a Wounded Naiton.” In the introduction, I describe a brief encounter with a neighbor which took place as I was finishing the book. I’d told him the title and his immediate response was, “Good luck with that.” Meaning, it ain’t gonna happen. Saturday’s parade, and my friend’s response to it, are the kind of things that shake my confidence in the possibility that it could happen -- that we might feel like “One Nation” again. Because neither of those actions, the parade or my friend’s response, could be described as a political discussion or debate. Neither could be described as an attempt to win votes for one side or the other. Each could only be viewed as a “Go ____ yourself” messages to the “other side.”
Is the very idea of “Uniting the States of America” even remotely possible, or just a fantasy? To me, it’s not just possible, it’s critical. The book is dedicated to our youngest grandchild, who will be my age in the year 2098. What kind of country, and world, are we leaving behind for her, and for your kids and grandkids, when we’re gone?
In less than two years, we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of our nation. America’s Constitution is the longest-serving document of governance of any country in the world -- we should be proud of that fact. I could go long and deep on this topic, Mr. Rattray, but I’ll just stop here and make the pitch: On Saturday, October 19, I’ll be giving an “Author Talk” at the Amagansett Free Library starting at 3:30 p.m. I hope you’ll be able to make it. I’m sure there’ll be a lively discussion about the state of our union and the election that’s nearly upon us. And a reading of a few passages from the book that fixes everything. For those interested, the hardcover will be available for purchase at the library. I should also mention, as I have previously, that it can be found at BookHampton, on Amazon, and in the “Bookshop” at bookbaby.com. See you on the 19th.
To the future,
LYLE GREENFIELD
Lowly Peasants
Springs
October 7, 2024
To the Editor,
Both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates are all in on giving taxpayer dollars to families to have more children, $3,600 to $6,000 for each new child born. The Republican candidate is also in on giving taxpayer dollars to people to have in vitro fertilization.
Our planet is already overpopulated. These policies would only make matters worse. Is anybody aware that it's getting crowded here on Earth? Does anybody wonder why the Earth is warming? More babies is the last thing we need. Politicians, the media, and even the laymen seem to be oblivious. We are brainwashed into a culture that is failing.
Perhaps we need a president that would do the exact opposite and give money or other incentives to people who don't have children, for doing their part in saving the planet.
All you animals out there, listen up! You better make room, because the humans are coming. We deserve to live more than you. You’re nothing but lowly peasants, just animals. We are human beings, yes, that's right, we're different from you. See? We're going to Heaven when we die. You guys don't have souls, and you're just gonna turn back into dirt when you die, so that makes us special. It gives us permission to take your territory, to take your home, to take your food, to take your water, and to take your babies. After all, we need that space for our babies. To hell with you and your babies; you're just animals so lowly beneath us, and if you think our conscience ever bothers us, think again. We have religion!
Since Earth is the only known planet to have life on it, maybe we better be careful not to destroy it. I'm just talking common sense, like the kind of sense you don't really have to think a lot about, "common" meaning "easy." The fact that we are causing so much change to the Earth in so many ways is a clear indicator that we have overpopulated it.
Change has happened so fast in the past few hundred years, and it's taking off like a rocket. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, maybe we better figure out how to control it.
The next president of the United States should stop babbling about creating more children and start a worldwide campaign to save the Earth by depopulating the planet. They should bring it up at the next United Nations meeting, giving a serious speech on the matter. Maybe the idea will catch on among other world leaders and or the general public, and maybe, just maybe, we can save this beautiful world.
JEFF HINES
Mother Nature Wins
Amagansett
September 29, 2024
To the Editor,
First and foremost, a congratulations to my father-in-law for winning again at the largest clam contest. This event is a fun family tradition. Perhaps the harbor gets dredged someday. Napeague Harbor being dredged correctly? We won’t start holding our breath.
Seeing some other editorials, it’s just how true the area has changed over the decades and it was an interesting take to read in Guestwords about “the End of the Hamptons.” Might be for the best in a town that, to the best of my knowledge, is still touting we have “10 percent” left of buildable land. Are we sure this number hasn’t changed in almost a decade? I’ve been asking since 2021 about that 2015 number.
No change yet to zoning. But, as we’ve learned from the hierarchy from some boards as of late, nothing can be stated aloud unless one is being "polite” and “positive.” It would seem, as already done at public meetings, any criticism locally is not met well from the dictatorship. The stoic nature is all you will be greeted with as if talking to a Moai on Easter Island. Gone are the days of duty with publicly elected officials. This is what happens when monopolies are allowed to run wild. Truth dare not be spoken, dissent shall not exist.
Unless in a book or movie. Then that is the equivalent of being heralded with trumpets of the archangels, the arrival from upon high.
Nonetheless, only day 2,258 with an obstruction in the middle of Bay View Avenue. Sept. 19 last year had Peter Van Scoyoc bring forth a resolution to the East Hampton Town Board. This was for a declaratory judgment against the appropriate parties who block Bay View Avenue in Suffolk County Supreme Court. A year has gone by and we wait for more meetings for a homeowner who wishes to put a home on stilts. See Rodanthe, N.C. with the most recent storm. Mother Nature wins against houses on stilts again and again.
Still here,
JOE KARPINSKI
Hurricane Patterns
Westhampton
October 7, 2024
Dear David,
Climate change, global warming, call it what you will. I've been warning others since 1968 that it's a snowball rolling downhill and gathering more and more momentum. Slowing it down is not the answer: We must reverse it! Helene is the new normal, and you ain't seen anything yet.
This is a season with the craziest hurricane patterns I can remember. None are coming up the coast as they have for as long as we've kept records but are, instead, veering out to sea to threaten Bermuda. Two hurricanes headed toward the United Kingdom, something I don't remember ever happening before, and never came close to our coast. Should we be thankful? I'm not, when we're experiencing a nearly summer-long drought out here on the East End of Long Island.
With land platelets rising from the lessening weight of melting glaciers while simultaneously adding weight to the ocean platelets that are sinking while the ocean level is simultaneously rising, one can expect to experience seismic activity unlike anything we've ever known.
Google Cunbre de Vieja. It's an island in the Canaries that experienced seismic activity the year I was born, 1949, that sheered the mountain off so that there is nothing holding it to the island. Should future seismic activity rock that island and the mountain slide into the sea, a tsunami of biblical proportions will kill a billion-plus along the Atlantic basin with the largest wave hitting the mid-Atlantic to New England states. The tsunami will not stop till it reaches the foothills of the Catskills.
With forest fires burning our carbon-absorbing forests faster than we can grow trees, plastics altering the evolution of every species on this planet, and humans incapable of agreeing on causes, effects, and solutions . . . we certainly face interesting times.
Truly,
LANCE COREY
Clam-Related
Springs
October 5, 2024
To the Editor,
The Largest Clam Contest on Sept. 29 held at the Amagansett Life-Saving Station was a joyous community event. All those involved in making it happen deserve high praise.
The former Coast Guard station was open for us to learn of its importance over the years and to see its many historical treasures. There were picnic tables and benches out front where we could enjoy the various clam-related foods being offered without charge: raw clams on the half shell, clam pies, clam chowders, as well as other delights, including soft drinks and even hot dogs.
The only disappointment for me was that a couple of gentlemen arrived sporting MAGA clothing. Make America great again? This event was a perfect example of how great America is.
Please be sure and vote in the coming election.
DAVID WHITE
How Sad They Are
Springs
October 6, 2024
Dear David:
Part One.
A look at a New York City absentee ballot is shocking. There are 14 races for elected office and only four have two candidates running. Ten races only list a Democratic party candidate -- they are unopposed by a Republican or any other challenger. There are "big names" besides Harris -- Trump: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand running against Michael Sapraicone, Congressman Jerrold Nadler running against Michael Zumbluskas, State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal against Emily Yuexin Miller, and Democratic Assemblywoman Linda B. Rosenthal running against herself on the Working Families ticket. These alternatives are, basically, political strangers.
What happened to "our Democracy" that Nancy Pelosi, et al., keep screaming about? New York is the biggest city in the U.S.A. Are ideas so stifled and the wheels of government so locked that any non-Democratic Party person can't even mount a campaign? Are there no new ideas or alternative platforms or programs worth discussing?
The three nonpresidential candidates have been in office a long time. Gillibrand was appointed to the Senate in 2009 (15 years) and before that served two years in the House. Nadler has been in Congress since 1992 (32 years) and Hoylman-Sigal was elected a state senator in 2012 (12 years ago). Their challengers are almost unknown, let alone champions of political policies.
I remember when East Hampton was primarily a Republican town. There were passionate discussions about issues as Democrats took over. It's pretty quiet now. Are we all just exhausted and willing to take whatever choices we're given -- no matter how sad they are?
Part Two.
On the upside, The Wall Street Journal Magazine has Ina Garten on its cover this week. There's a good accompanying article and many warm, smiling, friendly photos of the great gourmet. It was a true pleasure to see her smiling face -- signally a happy, accomplished person of merit.
For several years now, almost every national magazine -- from Vogue to The New York Times -- has featured sourpussed, bored, indifferent, or in-your-face models posed in unnatural postures wearing drab outfits. Sometimes the photos have been so distorted that it was impossible to see the lines of the clothing they featured. It didn't matter much because the clearly anguished models wearing them were so off-putting that I just turned the page or put the publication down.
I once had the pleasure of being at Ms. Garten's home here in East Hampton. She was as gracious as her summer garden was full of beautiful flowers. Bravo to the photographer, Dan Martensen, and the editors for giving us some life-affirming pictures of a real person who exudes warmth and great pleasure in the work she has mastered.
If only our politicians could appear as trustworthy.
DONALD SUSSIS
Women's Protector
Springs
October 7, 2024
Dear David:
Donald Trump now projects the notion that he, and only he, is capable of being women's protector. In a recent rally he professed that women "will no longer be abandoned, lonely, or scared. [They] will no longer be in danger. Why? You will be protected, and I will be your protector."
This from the man who has continually bragged about being the only one to overturn the protection Roe provided for women's reproductive health care. In its place, he would have us believe that he created a "beautiful" world in which women's health care would be protected by the states.
How has that "beautiful" world turned out for women (or families)? After Roe was overturned, total abortion bans went into effect in 14 states. Nine of these have no exceptions for rape.
In the post-Roe era, pregnancy has gone from being a miracle of family-building to a health care crisis for women. Reports continually multiply, describing both fatal and near-fatal experiences suffered by women who have been denied maternal health care caused by the fear the medical community sees in the state abortion bans Mr. Trump extols.
And then we have the victims of rape. A recently published study mounted by the Centers for Disease Control concluded that one in 20 women in the U.S., or more than 5.9 million women, experienced a pregnancy from either rape, sexual coercion, or both during their lifetimes.
In the post-Roe world, researchers have attempted to quantify the number of pregnancies that have resulted from rapes in states with a total ban -- and the numbers are staggering. A new study estimates that more than 64,000 pregnancies resulted from rape between July 1, 2022, and Jan. 1, 2024, in states where abortion has been banned throughout pregnancy in all or most cases. Of these, nearly 59,000 are estimated to have occurred in states without an exception allowing abortions resulting from rape. As a result of these state-imposed bans, these victims likely will be forced to bear the child of their rapist -- which in some cases was the victim's parent. This result is simply barbaric.
G.O.P. lawmakers all crowed that the overturn of Roe would result in the promotion of the family miracle. Well, not so fast. Following the overturn of Roe in June 2022, tubal ligations -- commonly known as getting one's tubes tied -- and vasectomies spiked abruptly among 18 to 30-year-olds, the age group that is more likely to have an abortion. On top of that, state abortion bans have cast doubt on the legality of common fertility treatments, such as in-vitro fertilization or intrauterine insemination because both often result in the destruction of a fertilized embryo.
So, Mr. Trump would have women believe that only he can protect them from the health care nightmare for which he has so proudly claimed responsibility.
From the cheap seats, it's hard for me to understand how anyone concerned about women's health care or whether individuals should have the responsibility to make familial decisions, like when and/or how many children to have, can vote for a Republican who would have the government decide those rights.
Sincerely,
BRUCE COLBATH
You Like That?
Montauk
October 4, 2024
Dear David,
The Federal Emergency Management Association is broke, so says Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The border is closed, as thousands just kept coming in, comments puppet Mayorkas. He set off outrage when he told reporters that FEMA "does not have the funds" to see Americans through the rest of this Atlantic hurricane season -- after draining his department's emergency kitty this year to address the migrant crisis. F.Y.I., there's another storm, Hurricane Kirk, moving in and behind him is Leslie.
Homeland Security has allocated $640.9 million this year in FEMA-administered funds to aid state and local governments coping with the influx of asylum seekers.
In two years, more than $1.4 billion has been turned over to programs (FEMA) to support nonfederal entities that are taking care of migrants.
The Biden-Harris administration took more than a billion tax dollars that had been allocated to FEMA for disaster relief and used it to house illegal aliens, how do you like that?
Vote for Harris and you will get more of this. She is promising you the world and you will get swindled all over again. Think about you, your children, and grandchildren. Don't be so stubborn with remarks, “I vote Democrat/Republican only,” be a person with smarts. Vote with respect.
In God and Country,
BEA DERRICO
According to FEMA, the $640.9 million made available to organizations sheltering noncitizen migrant arrivals was sourced from the Shelter and Services Program, “a completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress” that “is not associated in any way with FEMA’s disaster-related authorities or funding streams.” Ed.
Flavor of Kool-Aid
St. Petersburg, Fla.
October 4, 2024
Dear Editor:
Project 2025, a 900-plus-page document, is a highbrow political blueprint most people can't plow through, drafted several years ago by a conservative right-wing group called the Heritage Group, that the Left claims President Trump will use to push his conservative agenda, if elected. He isn't an author or contributor to Project 2025 but there are people who worked in his previous administration who are. Throughout the document, the word “Trump” appears 312 times, mostly in context to the previous “Trump administration.” He's quoted directly once in the entire document as a footnote:
"Tonight, I am also asking you to pass the United States Reciprocal Trade Act, so that if another country places an unfair tariff on an American product, we can charge them the exact same tariff on the exact same product that they sell to us." -- President Donald J. Trump, 2019 State of the Union Address.
In the same document, President Biden is mentioned 375 times, mostly in the context of the “Biden administration.”
I would argue that the Biden-Harris administration fully executed their own extreme unpublished, sneak attack Project 2025 in 2020 when Biden signed a flurry of executive orders in his first 100 days in office, mostly dismantling many of President Trump's policies, including halting the construction of the border wall, imposing a mask mandate on federal property, canceling the Keystone XL pipeline, reversing Trump's ban on transgender Americans joining the military to access free medical procedures to transition, permitting noncitizens to be included in the Census, undoing Trump's expansion of immigration enforcement, revoking a Trump administration order creating an industry-led apprenticeship program, and revoking a Trump-era proclamation that limited legal immigration during the Covid-19 pandemic, just to name a few.
These actions are the consequences of an election. Doesn't every political party, once in office with all the power it affords them, implement their own playbook?
Basically, when Republicans are in power, they want to restore family and family values as the centerpiece of American life, dismantle the administrative state, defend the nation's sovereignty and borders, secure God-given individual rights, and boost the economy by imposing fairer, reciprocal trade agreements and cultivating natural energy resources.
And when the Democrats are in power, they want to increase government spending, overreach, and overregulation (the administrative state); blur the lines of family, gender, and parental control; use immigration as a generational scheme to ensure a Democratic “one party” control; eliminate God-given individual rights and replace them with the Communist ideology for the "greater good," and fund foreign wars and raise taxation to increase government revenue. And, yes, use taxpayer's money to pay for abortions, chemical and medical. Because killing natural-born citizens makes more economic sense than importing grown, foreign, noncitizen workers complete with baby photos but no valid documentation.
The Left can scream all they want about Project 2025, but the reality is their radical, extreme blueprint for the last four years has been the country's cultural and economic demise. Pick your flavor of Kool-Aid on November 5.
CAROL DRAY
Save the Free World
Montauk
October 1, 2024
To the Editor,
Trump's presidency -- for four years and no new wars in the world. Iran just bombed Israel with the cash Biden allowed them to access through the Biden-Harris Build Iran Back Better Plan. Meanwhile, Harris is campaigning on the idea that Trump will get us into World War III. Save the free world. Vote Trump 2024.
DAVE SCHLEIFER
Mr. Ponytail
North Haven
October 5, 2024
To the Editor,
The daffy Mr. Ponytail, D.B.A. Jonathan Wallace, the ancient hippie with the worn out 1960s backpack, has now proclaimed (Letters, Oct. 3) his connection with the great names of Judaism past but, at the same time, has never, ever uttered a word of concern over the victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre or the security concerns of Israelis faced daily with threats of extinction. Mr. Ponytail continues to deny what is evident on college campuses today -- florid antisemitism practiced by student and faculty goons, some even claiming dispensation because they assert their Jewishness by reminding all of their participation in the ritual of Bar Mitzvah. You obviously have no feeling of appreciation and awe toward those who established the State of Israel in 1947-48 against the Arab armies that came to destroy the nascent state. A final point. We will no longer respond to your letters. You are, in our opinion, nothing more than a Jewish quisling.
DAVID SAXE
MITCHELL AGOOS
East End Jews for Israel
I Waxed Poetic
East Hampton
October 6, 2024
Dear David,
In the midst of this charged national election and devastation by Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, plus hateful petrol being thrown on the Middle East by those who will never want peace, a quiet night was very much in order. Tuesday was that night. A most engaging and delightful hour called “Author Talks,” hosted by Loring Bolger and the Springs Library, featured Celine Keating, a former Montauk author, interviewed by Biddle Duke. "Stark Beauty of Last Things" is Celine's novel, set in Montauk and worth a read. Local issues, climate change, big building versus preserving a valued way of life, relationships, and mostly a reverence for nature is all packed in a moving story. Tuesday was just the escape I needed, though, make no mistake, looming in the back of my mind my mind was the painful vice-presidential candidates’ debate to come hours later. At least those who attended Celine's talk could relish that delightful time at Ashawagh Hall and sleep that night. The debate I turned off at 10 p.m. because it was too charged with such blatant lying that I couldn't watch it anymore. It would be detrimental to my sleep. I think a lot, too much, and sometimes that can be exhausting. Still, I wouldn't trade my pensive moments for ignorance, even if to some that is bliss.
Something came to me this morning when a favorite show I enjoy called “Sunday Morning” was not on. How rude, I thought, as a football discussion was now happening and the Jets game would be aired at 9 a.m. So instead I sipped my tea and kept reading Ina Garten's memoir, "Be Ready When the Luck Happens," which is also a great escape. I remember the Barefoot Contessa shop on Newtown Lane. I worked down the street at the Buttery. Anyway, I love a backstory and Ina's is lovely and also troublesome. Childhood trauma isn't easy to leave behind and marriage isn't Barefoot in the Park. Like a deflated soufflé, a relationship can go pear-shaped in a New York minute if nobody is watching the store, as it were. Ina's honesty and chutzpah, and her husband, Jeffrey's, steadfast love and support is a grand tale. There's recipes, too.
But what came to me this morning was Tuesday night at Ashawagh Hall, and all that talk about "community and imagination," a big component of Celine's book and comments from locals in attendance. Was there ever true community in our country? Sometimes it's hard to remember. I have that kind of photographic memory, “a gift and a curse," that transports me right back to specific times, which I remember vividly. So I can "see" and remember when people appreciated other; people who looked and lived differently, but we were all busy working and living and cooking and our kids played together, and somehow there wasn't such obvious and palpable hate around. I know in my human fiber that we can be a unified country again, if we'd only make it so. Who, like me, has that hopeful vision? I'm venturing, many.
My father used to tell me when I waxed poetic, or basically disagreed with him, "You live in a dream world." I'm not insulted anymore; that's a boon to a "natural-born writer," as a writing professor recently told me I was. I gulped. I'm not used to accepting compliments because I wasn't raised that way. But I am wired to take chances and use my creative mind to see possibility when it enters the room. I knew before I moved out here from Brooklyn that it was the right choice, even when it wasn't a feasible thing. And when it separated my husband and I for long stretches, that was hard. We had family here and others visited often, so that helped. But mostly I had community -- where I found good friends that are dear to me to this day and my kids found lifelong buddies. I imagined the life we made here way before it actually became a dream come true. And like Ina's story and in Celine's novel, life isn't a smooth or straight path. There often isn't one answer, either. But it takes imagination to get there. I'm pulling and manifesting for that in November. And help to all the people down south who desperately need it. And peace in the Middle East and a free Ukraine. And our own country proud and free, united again in hope and honor and community. I have to envision this; I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't.
Godspeed,
NANCI LAGARENNE
Published 1 month ago
Last updated 1 month ago
Letters to the Editor for October 10, 2024
October 10, 2024