covid-19 crisis 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 Addiction Treatment Reaches Fever Pitch During COVID-19 Pandemic

Blog May 12, 2021

On Mother’s Day Eve, a steady rain drizzled down on dozens of candles as, one by one, they sparked to life — lit and held by friends and family left behind by victims of addiction.

Huddled under umbrellas, they came together in Good Ground Park in Hampton Bays, some opting to speak to the group while other remained quiet, somber and reflective — but all with the common goal of remembrance.

With the exception of last May, the candlelight vigil has been organized annually by the Southampton Town Addiction and Recovery Committee, which honored local lives lost to COVID-19 on Saturday night, as well as overdose deaths — a statistic that had seen dramatic improvement in recent years, until the pandemic hit.

The Man Behind The Van: A Look Inside The Interlibrary Loan System

Blog April 14, 2021

Tyrell Jasper closes his eyes, leaning back in the driver’s seat as an audio book plays softly in the background. The North Ferry rumbles beneath him, somewhere between Shelter Island and Greenport, a crisp sea breeze swirling around his unmistakable, bright blue van.

Along its side, the wrap reads, “Public Libraries of Suffolk County” — hinting at the service the vehicle and Mr. Jasper, senior driver for the Suffolk Cooperative Library System, provide. But for many who don’t know him, his job remains a mystery, as do the inner-workings of the interlibrary loan system.

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.

A Change of Perspective: Matthew Raynor Turns Sight from Sea to Sky through Drone Photography

Blog October 7, 2020

The open sea is an endless source of inspiration, energy, mystery and wonder. It conjures fear and curiosity, longing and serenity. It is equally relentless and soothing, unforgiving and welcoming — a character that has touched, and taken, endless lives.

For Matthew Raynor, it was nearly the latter.

Even after a swim gone wrong left the former commercial fisherman paralyzed from his chest down in 2019, his love for the water — and capturing it through his camera lens — persists, though it has taken on a new shape and approach.