coronavirus Archives » Michelle Trauring

From the Great Beyond: Christopher Allan Brings Psychic Readings to WHBPAC

Blog July 28, 2021

Every waking moment, Christopher Allan lives with an inescapable white noise, like a refrigerator humming, or background music at the supermarket.

When he tunes in, the quiet sharpens into focus. His physical world fades away. And, in a meditative state, he hears them — the voices whispering in his ear.

They belong to mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, lovers and friends, all attempting to communicate from what Allan calls “the great beyond” — with he, a psychic medium who claims to communicate with the dead, as their conduit.

“I think it’s important to show that there are no such things as goodbyes and that love simply doesn’t die,” Allan said, “and I’m merely an instrument to convey that message.”

East End Hospice Reflects On Kanas Center’s Five-Year Anniversary

Blog April 7, 2021

Clorinda Bonaccorso watched her sister’s face as the hospital palliative team delivered the grim prognosis. Joanne Seguino’s stage four lung cancer, which had metastasized to her liver, was not responding to chemotherapy in the way that they had hoped — and she had two options.

The first was to continue treatment, which would confine her to bed and give her a maximum of five months to live. The second was to let the disease run its course.

Ms. Seguino locked eyes with Ms. Bonaccorso. “You know what to do,” she said.

“I saw the doctor in charge, and I said, ‘My sister wants to go to hospice — East End Hospice, Kanas Center, no other,’” Ms. Bonaccorso recalled. “When she got there, they were remarkable.”

She paused. “They were just remarkable — again.”

Remembering A True Sag Harbor Character: Renowned Decoy Carver, Robert Hand Sr., Dies at 77

Blog In Memory February 3, 2021

Every afternoon, like clockwork, Robert Hand Sr. could be found relaxing at his kitchen table in Sag Harbor, watching the birds through the window.

He knew them all. For the renowned decoy carver, they were his friends, his muses, his inspiration — and, in turn, he was their biggest fan.

But in recent weeks, the birds have gone without an audience. Mr. Hand died on January 11 after a cardiopulmonary arrest due to COVID-19 pneumonia at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, according to his eldest son, Robert Hand Jr. He was 77.

Finding Beauty in the Fire: ‘East End Collected6’ Endures Against Pandemic Backdrop

Art Blog February 2, 2021

When Patrick J. Peters III picks up the phone last Friday afternoon, he is standing in front of an 80-square-foot canvas, staring at a cacophony of color — and, within it, two dichotomous dragons.

The first is black and red, greedy and fear-driven, overshadowed by the beast behind him. She, on the other hand, is vibrant and playful, her taloned hand plunged deep into her foe.

And, out of the struggle, comes energy and light.

The East Hampton Press Person Of The Year: Holly Wheaton

Blog December 28, 2020

Holly Wheaton does not own a single little black dress or power suit. Those days are long behind her.

More than two decades ago, the Springs native traded in her sleek Chicago wardrobe for flannel shirts, blue jeans and work boots when she moved back home to join the ranks of the Springs Food Pantry that her mother, Betty Reichart, had started in 1992 — a time when feeding over 200 families was unimaginable.

But that is precisely what Ms. Wheaton faces today.

Bullies Worse Than Virus: Southampton Family Navigates Brutal Backlash From COVID-19 Diagnosis

Award-Winning Blog December 22, 2020

Dressed in a medical gown, mask and face shield, Stratis Morfogen had poked his head into his 14-year-old daughter’s bedroom to check on her — when he saw tears streaming down her face.

By way of explanation, she simply handed him her phone.

“F you, Bea! I have to quarantine because of you,” one TikTok user wrote. “Bea this is your fault!” another said on Instagram.

And then came the comment section — brutal, relentless finger-pointing at the Southampton eighth-grader who had tested positive for COVID-19 less than two days earlier and complied with contact tracing.

East End Clergy Brace for Restricted Holiday Season

Blog December 2, 2020

For nearly two decades, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Southampton had never once locked its doors, keeping them open for rest, prayer, solace and peace 24 hours a day, seven days a week — with no exceptions.

It was a tradition born from the devastation of September 11, 2001, a time when religious, spiritual and agnostic individuals alike needed guidance, or simply a place to go, following the terrorist attack on New York City that day, just 90 miles away.

Weighed down by uncertainty and fear, parishioners sought a similar degree of comfort when the COVID-19 outbreak reached the East End this past March. Some turned to their houses of worship as beacons of hope — and, in the case of St. John’s, knew the doors would always be open.

Until they weren’t.

Protests and Pandemic Lead Bridgehampton Photographer Back Home

Award-Winning Blog October 5, 2020

Six days out, one day in.

For Lori Hawkins, the words became a mantra. They were her schedule, a repetitive routine. A source of comfort and reassurance, stress and depression. An escape, a homecoming, her sense of normalcy.

For the last six months, that one sentence defined her life. And it has led to the most fulfilling photography series of her 20-year career.

“I feel like I’m creating my best work ever,” Hawkins said from her home in Bridgehampton. “I feel like I’m more focused on telling stories.”

The Classically Social American Hotel

Blog July 30, 2020

When Ted Conklin first walked through the front door, he saw a canvas.

The year was 1971, but inside the neglected brick building, it might as well have been the turn of the 20th century — between the gas lamps, rusted coal stove, outhouses in the back and an all-pervasive layer of dust that he could scoop with a snow shovel.

Still, he wanted it.

Conklin envisioned what the place would become, both the establishment itself — now, famously, The American Hotel — and Sag Harbor, then a depressed village following back-to-back economic downturns, first as a whaling port and then as an industrial hub.

“It hadn’t really been touched since a renovation they might have done in the 1870s — 1900 maybe,” Conklin said of the building. “So I started in on the rebuilding of it, as something that would be functional. I was just in a survival mode for the first 20 years, and now I’m back in survival mode. It’s like being a kid again.”

New York City Galleries Find a Home on the East End

Blog July 23, 2020

Despite a legacy that includes contemporary giants such as Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein, Lee Krasner and Robert Rauschenberg — who all famously lived and worked here — high-end New York galleries have largely shunned the East End as a serious year-round art destination, until an international pandemic buoyed it to the surface.

Gone are the days of summertime pop-up galleries, many of the converted newcomers agree. Now, they’re finally here to stay.

“I’d like to say this was one big strategic decision,” said Gordon VeneKlasen, managing partner of Michael Werner Gallery, three days after opening the new East Hampton space. “But in fact, it was sort of an instinctual thing. It seems so obvious now.”