For the first time in ages, the race to be the East End’s member of the House of Representatives feels like it is about something big — freedom.

Who knew that after Uber and Lyft took over the roads — and helicopter-flight apps took over the sky — that the bays and harbors would be next? That is apparently what the Suffolk Legislature has noticed coming.

Everything is a scam. That is what I tell my friends, family, and co-workers about basically anything that comes in from an unfamiliar number or email address. “Never answer the phone,” I say to them.

No one says “doggie bag” anymore. And who thought we’d have an opportunity to use the word “catafalque” in 2022? Also on my imaginary list of trendy words of the year, I nominate the phrase “out of pocket.” Everyone is saying “out of pocket” right now, but everyone is using it to mean something different.

Autumn has its music too, Keats said, though it’s not all that melancholic at the moment to my mind because, with 11 high school teams to cover, I must be nimble.

Star readers have much to discuss.

One hundred years ago, Thomas Moran, eminent painter, prepared to leave East Hampton. Seventy-five years ago, deep-sea fishing enthusiasts hailed the Shinnecock Inlet, “that priceless gift of the hurricane of 1938 to Long Island.” And more.