EDITORIALS
Living in a Symbol
Like a blind date you’d rather not remember, we now know the Hamptons are not a place either of the expected candidates for the presidency wants to be associated with. Barack Obama’s campaign is apparently demurring at offers of summer fund-raisers here, and, though John McCain appeared at an event in Water Mill on Saturday, his people downplayed it to the point of absurd silence.

Curb the Curb
The editors of this newspaper have been accused of Luddite tendencies, if not outright curmudgeon-slash-fogey-dom, for at least half a century, piping up as we like to do to voice objections to seemingly innocuous public improvements that, in our view, don’t improve anything. (We gripe about the proliferation of unnecessary signs, cluttering up what’s left of the pastoral scenery. Driveway gates — a thorn in the side of emergency service crews — get our dander up, too. And how about the odd reconfiguring of traffic lanes on Main Street a few years ago, which we still haven’t quite gotten over?

Limiting Signs
Just who took down a hand-painted sign decrying the new Surf Lodge that appeared at the western edge of downtown Montauk is a mystery. Some credited the removal to the East Hampton Town Police Department, but it was gone by the time officers got there. Others thought Surf Lodge management might have taken it.

COLUMNS
Connections | Helen S. Rattray.
Have Another Slice
That every meal we ate in China ended with watermelon was a curiosity that became a joke.

The Mast-Head | David E. Rattray
Turkeys and Cicadas
While visiting friends in Sag Harbor on a recent afternoon, I noticed a strange loud sound coming from the trees.

Point of View | Jack Graves
Satirically Speaking
Whenever I have an urge to be satirical, Mary puts forth a modest proposal, to wit, that I wait until the yen passes, her reason being that she’s afraid some people will think I mean what I say, which, of course, if you’re writing satirically, would be quite the opposite of your intention.

GUESTWORDS | By Jane Hastay
Turtle Diary
One Sunday in late June, I was driving west from Montauk after playing two services at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church, where I’m the church organist.

Relay | Virginia Garrison
Strigil, Xebec, And Yataghan
I would like to start a zoo for words on the brink of extinction, or at least the ones I think ought to be preserved.