Tag Archives: community
“We Used to Vacation” and Other Lost Summer Rituals
I headed into the kitchen for my morning coffee, and flicked on the radio. A song recorded by The Cold War Kids was on, called We Used to Vacation. A great lost summer ritual. In the past week, I’ve been … Continue reading
Happy Earth Day, Jamaica Bay!
It’s more than just a body of water or a marsh ecosystem–Jamaica Bay is an integral part of the environment in the Rockaways. No matter how you enter or leave the peninsula, or spend your days here, you see the … Continue reading
Wisdom and Folly in Action
James A. Garfield, who served as U.S. President for six months in 1881, once said: “all free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.” This week’s vote on Participatory Budgeting projects in the 32nd Council … Continue reading
Inspired at the Laundromat
There they go again! The unsung elves of our cherished local Rockaway Artists’Alliance have toiled to create inspiring public art in some of the most unexpected places. Discovering this kind of public art adds to the offbeat joy of living … Continue reading
Drum Roll, Please…
After three years of thinking about it, and six months after contracting to produce it, I am close to finished with writing Images of America: Rockaway Beach, to be published by Arcadia Publishing Company in June, 2012. The cover mock-up has … Continue reading
Working Artists Enliven Labor Day Weekend
It’s that holiday celebrating American workers–the ones who make the cars and run the hospitals, plus the creative geniuses who draw and write and paint. We’ve still got plenty of those, even if fewer of us have actual paying jobs. … Continue reading
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?
I couldn’t resist featuring the stunning hydrangeas of Rockaway Park in the header photo this week. These bushes are located in the gardens that surround the apartment building at the north end of Memorial Circle (Rock. Beach Blvd. between Beach … Continue reading
Is Independence a Fiction in Bloombergville?
Independence Day is one of those American holidays celebrated with disparate emotions among the populace. Are you part of the investor class or a wage earner? Wage earners live for the weekends, particularly the three-day ones. Those of us who … Continue reading
Got Activism? Clearwater Festival 2011 Breaks Records
They say that rot is rampant in the social fabric, and all the heroes have died. A decade ago, columnist Russell Baker commented aptly that the few American heroes left in sports, politics and business all “came down with terminal … Continue reading
Something There is That Loves a Wall
In his poem “Mending Wall,” Robert Frost fixed on the forces of nature that bring down garden walls, and how neighbors come together to repair them. On Saturday, May 21, residents of Rockaway Park focused on how to rebuild their … Continue reading
Oy Vey Rockaway 