long island Archives » Page 4 of 7

‘I’m Rising’: Susie Roden Kickstarts Fundraiser, While Facing Breast Cancer For Third Time

Blog February 24, 2021

When Susie Roden treated herself to a belated birthday massage on Monday morning, it certainly felt relaxing, but also a bit odd — considering she could only lie on her side, not her stomach.

Just 11 days earlier, the president of the Coalition for Women’s Cancers at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital had endured a partial mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, navigating a third bout with breast cancer that comes exactly 30 years after her first.

And it has only reinforced why she’s dedicated her life’s work to the cause.

Patricia Lynch, Fearless Journalist Who Took Down Cult Leaders, Dies At 82

Blog February 23, 2021

If not by face, Patricia Lynch was known by name — and reputation.

She was a force, a fearless investigative journalist who exposed cults and their leaders for “NBC Nightly News.” As one of the first women in her field, the two-time Emmy Award-winning producer blazed a path for women in male-dominated television news, splitting her time between New York and Southampton, and drawing ire as a hotly contested local figure here.

She owned who she was, through and through.

Family Unearths Grave Of Long Lost Sister At Southampton Cemetery

Blog February 9, 2021

Eric Wright saw the year first: 1946.

He gasped and steadied himself with a deep breath before calling out to Janet O’Hare and her husband, Scott, their eyes fixated on the frozen ground of the Southampton Cemetery — searching, wishing, hoping.

“There’s one here!” Mr. Wright shouted, the O’Hares racing over. “I can’t read the name yet.”

The cemetery superintendent plunged his hands into the grass, pulling tuft after tuft from the cold soil, unearthing a long lost cast iron plate. Rinsing it off with water as Mr. Wright dug with a shovel, Ms. O’Hare stepped back, speechless, and looked at the name: Barbara J. Nothnagle.

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.

East Hampton Library Digitizes Whaling Log Collection, Largest Of Its Kind On Long Island

Blog January 26, 2021

While the East Hampton Library had its doors closed to the public due to COVID-19 restrictions, the staff of the Long Island Collection was busy at work on a long overdue project: scanning all of its historic whaling logs in full, thousands upon thousands of pages, which are now available to read online.

And when Andrea Meyer, head of the Long Island Collection, flips through the archive, the librarian feels like a green archivist all over again.

“When you get something like these whaling logs, that numbness wears off,” she said. “That exciting, amazingness comes back. It’s like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s not just another 1690s land deed. Oh wait, this is really cool.’ And you stop and you go, ‘Wait a second, there’s something wrong with me that I think, “Just another 1690s land deed.”’”

Andrea Spilka, Tireless Civic Advocate for the East End, Dies At 72

Blog January 12, 2021

The Southampton Town Board meeting room was packed, buzzing with energy ahead of a particularly controversial Planning Board hearing. Everyone was watching everyone, surmising their stance by the company they kept, when Andrea Spilka walked through the door — and immediately locked eyes with Robin Long.

In front of the entire room, the two women threw their arms around each other, until Ms. Spilka pulled away from the Planning Board member.

“Oh my God, am I gonna get you in trouble?” she asked.

“You know something? I can handle it,” Ms. Long replied. “Let them talk — I’m taking my hug.”

Recalling the story years later, she is eternally grateful that she did.

“I would never have given up that hug,” Ms. Long said, “because that hug, I can remember it forever now.”

In an unexpected blow to the East End community, Ms. Spilka — a steadfast civic leader, role model and friend — died on December 28 after a short bout with metastatic lung cancer and was buried on January 3 at Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Queens.

‘Fish & Men’ Exposes Brutal Truths Within Seafood Economy

Blog December 2, 2020

When Darby Duffin and Adam Jones set out to make their first documentary in 2013, they had no choice but to go big. It’s what the story deserved.

Over the next six years, their journey took them cross-country and overseas. They accrued nearly 400 hours of footage and earned the trust of tight-knit communities up and down the New England coast, compiling nearly six-dozen interviews with men and women who bear their souls to the camera — detailing how they’ve put their lives on the line to feed their friends and family.

For fishermen in the United States, this is the reality of the wild fishery collapse — where only five species make up over 85 percent of the American seafood diet, and 91 percent of the country’s inventory is imported. That is six billion pounds of fish — a staggering number made more offensive by the fact that some of that seafood is caught in the U.S., shipped to Asia for processing and then imported back, just to save a buck.

Safina, Paladines, Cirino Look Toward Future Of Conservation, And Back At Their Beginnings

Blog October 13, 2020

For many conservationists, devoting themselves to the natural world has a simple origin story. And for a young Carl Safina, it all started with the singing canaries in his childhood apartment in Brooklyn.

25 Years Later: A Look Back At the Sunrise Wildfire

Award-Winning Blog August 22, 2020

It came like a great storm.

The skies darkened, smoke filled the air, the noise almost deafening. When he saw the flames, Dean Culver dropped to the pavement, too far from his car to seek proper shelter.

And then, in an unexpected move, the flames jumped.

In an instant, the wall of fire leapt from treetop to treetop, skipping over the 400-foot-wide asphalt span that is Sunrise Highway — its 200-foot-tall flames unable to burn the road, or even lick the army of firefighters flattened up against it.