Beautiful Sight
Montauk
January 26, 2026
Dear David,
I personally want to thank Henry Uihlein for the outstanding Christmas decorations he installed at the harbor. Without a doubt, the harbor was a beautiful sight to see. Each year, Henry adds more and more beauty to his decorations. Thank you.
Best,
BEA DERRICO
Narrative Breakdown
Amagansett
January 22, 2026
To the Editor:
One of the pleasures of a lifetime of reading is when unrelated works sync up, providing puzzle pieces which unexpectedly fit together. French historian Ernest Renan, in his 1882 essay “What is a Nation?,” said that nations consist of people who remember certain things and forget others together — nations are narratives.
Joseph Tainter, an American college history professor, published a book in 1988, “The Collapse of Complex Societies,” which justly should have become a classic (but it was a bad time in history for his kind of brilliance and is worse, of course, today). Tainter said that nations and empires end when the benefits of belonging are exceeded by the costs, and there are alternative nations or systems which offer a better ratio. Tainter is effectively describing what happens when the Renanesque narrative starts to fray.
I am thinking about this because last week’s Star contained some examples of the breakdown of the East Hampton narrative. Christopher Gangemi in a front-page article, “More Change at the Building Department,” describes how the agency has been gutted by resignations. In the letters column, Jeff Bragman describes how the town failed to act when the new owner of a Further Lane plot violated the conditions of the property’s variances and permits, then moved to dismiss a neighbors’ lawsuit, “thereby effectively surrendering its enforcement powers [and] all[ying] the town squarely in support of the alleged offending neighbor.”
I think I invented (but may have appropriated) a truism: “In order to salute a flag, I need to know what it stands for.” The town hasn’t stood for anything in a long time, because the people who run it don’t.
The inevitable renomination of Kathee Burke-Gonzalez for supervisor seals the deal: We will resolutely deny the obvious until someone comes along, Tainter-style, with a stronger narrative (in the case of the town, any at all). That is what Jerry Larsen hopes to accomplish, but his (as I have said in other letters) is a Trumpian narrative.
What is happening here resembles events at the national level to some extent. Kathee has simply let the Renanesque narrative slip away, while President Trump is ripping it to shreds.
Having vowed years ago to live as if I were an optimist, I hope in the years to come we will remember, at both levels, why we wanted to live together, in these places.
For democracy in East Hampton and America,
JONATHAN WALLACE
Shockingly Behind
East Hampton
January 24, 2026
Dear Editor,
Years ago, I proposed a relatively simple solution to the lack of affordable housing in East Hampton. The demographics of the town showed the year-round population was aging. In 2010 the over-65 residents were about equal to the under-18 residents. One could project that those numbers would increase over time. Today the over-65 population is more than double the under-18 population. In the village, the majority of residents are over 65.
Older adults don’t need four and five-bedroom houses. They don’t even need three-bedroom houses. They can comfortably live in one or two-bedroom apartments, provided they are within close proximity to services.
Had East Hampton concentrated on high-density housing for the elderly, it could have freed up those large, no-longer-maintainable houses that are more appropriate for families.
Unfortunately this does take political leadership. The town can’t be run on the basis of what is good for the second-home market.
The fact that the town has turned building a senior center into a 13-year architectural statement project costing millions of dollars while achieving little or no increase in needed senior services should have been addressed in a more-responsible political manner.
That is the core of the housing problem. This town is shockingly behind the rest of the United States in providing these services and the political intelligence to do so. Frankly, it is a shame that no politician has come forward to address this situation.
We have at our senior center an excellent nutrition program with a dedicated staff. Talented and successful members of the business community are more than willing to lend their support to these efforts. The senior community itself contains artists, authors, investors, and a large number of accomplished and skilled individuals whose wisdom East Hampton would do well to retain.
Instead of up-zoning or down-zoning what is needed is high-density senior housing located in close proximity to hamlet services and more basic senior services to keep seniors from just cashing out with their property assets and selling to the highest second-home bidder.
The major mental obstacle that prevents political leadership from solving the housing problem, in my opinion, is the notion that providing senior services and building senior housing is welfare. It isn’t.
We don’t consider education for children welfare, and we shouldn’t consider getting old and needing transportation to the supermarket welfare. You are going to get old and you better get used to it. Abandon your youthful immaturity.
By giving seniors the option of downsizing, by providing them with services in smaller accommodations near [other] services and by allowing them to rent out their houses to year-round working families at affordable rates, East Hampton can become a better community.
Sincerely,
PAUL FIONDELLA
Should Not Stifle
Montauk
January 26, 2026
Dear Mr. Rattray,
Jerry Larsen wants to run for supervisor. Hardly a surprise. The town and county Democratic committees oppose his candidacy and favor the current supervisor. Also not a surprise.
In East Hampton, for years registered Democrats massively outnumber registered Republicans and Conservatives. That reflects a long-standing strategy to register second-home homeowners from Manhattan and Brooklyn and other points westward to vote here, thereby ensuring that Democratic candidates for local office are heavily favored to win a general election.
The real contest takes place if and when there’s a Democratic primary.
The town and county chairpersons and their committees dislike primaries because it threatens their control. Also not a surprise.
Note: I was a member of the town and county Democratic committees until I resigned last May and am currently an unaffiliated East Hampton voter.
The county and town committee chairs want to have their cake and eat it too. Their argument, equally hypocritical and disingenuous, distills to:
It’s okay (even smart) to register part-time residents to vote here, thereby putting a thumb (or more) on the scale in favor of Democrats in November. But it’s not okay to encourage local, year-round resident, unaffiliated and otherwise-affiliated voters to register, as is their legal right, as Democrats and vote in the primary.
A party that champions democracy should not stifle it within our community. Without opining on the candidacies of the supervisor and the mayor, the committees and their chairs would deprive the rest of us of our right to elect our local leaders. That’s an anti-democratic disservice to us all. Sadly, not a surprise.
JONATHAN YELLEN
Give a Choice
East Hampton
January 25, 2026
Dear David,
In Thursday’s edition of your paper, there is a story about Democratic leaders accusing me of party raiding.
This is not about national politics, party labels, or ideological battles playing out in the news. This is about East Hampton, our town, our neighbors, and who should be leading our community. Democratic primaries exist for one reason: to give Democrats a choice.
In East Hampton, whoever wins the Democratic primary will win the general election. That makes the primary the election that matters most. Every Democrat, and every eligible voter who chooses to enroll, deserves a voice in that decision.
Encouraging participation in a primary is not “party raiding.” It is democracy. New York State election law explicitly allows eligible voters to change their enrollment so they can vote in the primary of their choosing. That process exists to expand participation, not to protect incumbents or silence challengers.
My goal is simple: to unite this community and ensure that as many local voices as possible are heard before a decision is made about who will lead East Hampton for the next two years.
One thing Supervisor Burke-Gonzalez and I do agree on is this: She should run on her record. That record deserves full scrutiny by the voters. It includes more than $11 million spent on airport litigation that has left the town under a temporary restraining order; the Truck Beach controversy, resulting in a $1 million fine and a finding of contempt of court; $1.3 million spent on a senior center project that never materialized; the four-year delay and continued uncertainty at Cantwell Court; the $4.2 million spent on the failed 66 West Lake Drive purchase; the collapse, backlog, and rumors of corruption of the town’s Building Department; the walkout at the tax receiver’s office, the walkout of the town attorney’s office, and, of course, all this while hitting us with a 16 percent tax increase that pierced New York State’s 2 percent tax cap two years in a row. These are local issues with real consequences for residents, taxpayers, and families.
This primary should not be decided by a small group behind closed doors, nor should participation be discouraged out of fear of competition. The voters of East Hampton deserve the final say, openly, fairly, and at the ballot box.
Democracy works best when more people participate, not fewer.
Respectfully,
JERRY LARSEN
Slick Operators
Springs
January 23, 2026
To the Editor,
After 40 years in Springs, I am determined not to let the slick operators with their tourist traps get to me. But it’s getting harder.
DANIEL FRIEDMAN
Lower Than Average
Sagaponack
January 22, 2026
To the Editor,
Amazing how some can create the most disgusting lies to distort facts, truths, and the explicit and clear information found with a simple question to Google, etc. People also ask: “Is Palm Beach, Fla., a safe place to live?”
Palm Beach has a significantly lower overall crime rate (3.26) compared to the national average (33.37), with particularly low rates of violent crime (.43) and property crime (2.82).
But maybe there are all sorts of bad guys just living there. But how can they afford it?
Nah, just lies to misinform!
LOUIS MEISEL
Glaringly Absent
East Hampton
January 24, 2026
Sir,
Representative Nick LaLota’s Jan. 21 email to constituents reads like a press release from a partisan echo chamber, not a serious accounting of what Long Island is actually experiencing. It is packed with inflated numbers, selective citations, and victory declarations that collapse under even minimal scrutiny.
The claim that Republicans have delivered clear “wins” for Long Island would be more convincing if families here actually felt them. Housing remains unaffordable, mortgage rates are still punishing for first-time buyers, and grocery and energy bills are hardly the relief tour Mr. LaLota describes. Promises of “expected” savings and “projected” benefits are not wins — they’re hypotheticals.
On immigration and the economy, Mr. LaLota recycles Republican Party talking points while ignoring complexity, timelines, and inconvenient facts. Inflation didn’t fall because of congressional virtue. Mortgage rates didn’t move because of political confidence. And citing partisan sources doesn’t turn spin into truth.
Glaringly absent is any acknowledgment of the damage President Trump continues to do to America’s credibility abroad. While Mr. LaLota cheers “unity,” Trump was busy embarrassing the country on the world stage at Davos — alienating allies, flattering autocrats, and reinforcing the perception that the U.S. is governed by grievance rather than seriousness.
Long Island doesn’t need slogans or self-congratulation. It needs honesty, affordability, and leadership grounded in reality, not campaign-style emails pretending ideology is the same thing as results.
Sincerely,
ANDREW VAN PRAAG
Hoodlums Don’t Stop
East Hampton
January 26, 2026
To the Editor,
I am woke. When our government calls a citizen that they have just murdered a terrorist we know it is they who are the terrorists and cruelty is their point.
I am woke and stand with the courageous citizens of Minneapolis, New Jersey, Portland, the Ukraine, Canada, Greenland, and Denmark, and all who stand against the tyrant.
I am woke, and I know that hoodlums don’t stop — they are stopped.
TOM MACKEY
Authoritarian Sieges
North Haven
January 26, 2026
Dear David:
Will our representative, Nick LaLota, speak out against this? We will!
Another murder and cover-up was committed by the Stephen Miller-ICE-Donald Trump terrorist syndicate. ICE keeps invading our communities, terrorizing and killing. Then political hacks immediately push out official lies by Trump, Kristi Noem, and others.
Alex Pretti was a well-known respected Veterans Affairs I.C.U. nurse. He was attempting to assist a woman attacked by ICE. He can be seen in clear videos holding only a cellphone in one hand and nothing in the other. He was first pepper-sprayed by ICE, then knocked down and frisked. After ICE removed his concealed legally registered weapon, ICE shot him dead multiple times. Videos confirm this sequence.
We heard years of “conservative” blathering supporting the National Rifle Association and universal gun rights as being constitutionally protected. Citizens are allowed weapons for defense, and in theory, in case their government turns against them.
These videos show no evidence Mr. Pretti confronted officers, or attempted to access his weapon. It has become routine for Trump and his mob to immediately issue boldface lies like the version that claims Mr. Pretti was a “domestic terrorist” and, as a Veterans Affairs I.C.U. nurse “came ready to kill as many officers as possible.”
The actual transcript of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s fantasy announcement is a perfect match to the announcement by Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino: “An individual approached U.S. border patrol officers with a 9 mm. semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm this individual, but the armed suspect reacted violently. Fearing for his life and the lives of his fellow officers around him, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics were on the scene immediately and attempted to deliver medical aid to the subject, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The suspect also had two magazines with ammunition in them that held dozens of rounds. He also had no I.D. This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.”
Video evidence clearly shows these statements to be false. No honest federal investigation was allowed, and all physical evidence was immediately removed from the area, away from the local police’s ability to independently investigate. The murdered nurse, Mr. Pretti, was actually left unattended without medical aid.
These authoritarian sieges are directed toward law-abiding progressive communities that Trump thinks are disloyal to his agenda. It will continue to spread further, with more innocent people being killed and maimed. We cannot continue to stand for this situation in any community.
Miller and Trump use ICE to incite riots to justify a desired military takeover of local law enforcement. They hope to use the Insurrection Act of 1807 to bypass the Posse Comitatus Act (1878) that limits the president’s deploying the U.S. military to enforce either civil law or criminal law within the United States.
MAGA politicians like Nick LaLota are allowing this, and do not represent the majority of our community. They must challenge this out-of-control administration immediately.
Please keep calling your senators at 202-224-3121. Enough is enough!
ANTHONY CORON
Lethal Violence
Amagansett
January 25, 2026
Dear David,
Watching the terribly sad news from Minneapolis, I could not help but compare the brutal ICE crowd-control tactics with those of the police in London, where I lived for almost 25 years.
There, demonstrations are held almost every weekend with some newspapers noting in advance the locations and causes promoted. As one can imagine, the London Police have an exceptionally difficult time maintaining order, but I have never heard of a gun being fired at a protester no matter how disruptive.
To me, it shows how good policing by a force familiar with their charges can maintain law and order without the need for lethal violence. Contrast this to the ongoing scene in Minneapolis where an outside armed force is made to “control” demonstrators, and you have a recipe for disaster.
GERALD PANE
Defense of Democracy
East Hampton
January 26, 2026
Dear David:
Now Alex Pretti is dead. The contrast between federal shock troops’ brutal, unjustified execution in Minneapolis on Saturday of Alex Pretti, a 37-year old intensive care nurse with the Veterans’ Administration and Friday’s massive, peaceful demonstration and economic boycott, where tens of thousands of Minnesotans gathered in a frigid downtown Minneapolis for ICE Out Day (reportedly the largest union action in state history) sums up the battle between tyranny and democracy.
The struggle between facts we all see and regime lies we know to be preposterous plays out as well. As is their standard knee-jerk response, Donald Trump and his regime lied about the victim and the circumstances of the killing, lies that are laid bare because the tragedy was captured on video from multiple angles.
These videos and sworn witness testimony contradict the accounts of Homeland Security officials — offered shortly after the tragedy occurred — who said that Mr. Pretti approached Border Patrol agents with a handgun and the intent to “massacre” them.
Footage of the encounter shows the man was holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, when federal agents took him to the ground and shot him. Witness testimony stated that at no time did Mr. Pretti “brandish” a weapon. And, most importantly, witnesses testified there was an utter lack of provocation on Mr. Pretti’s part.
The Trump administration would have Americans believe that the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti are justified by its mission to rid America of the “worst of the worst” undocumented immigrants. Minneapolis has become ground zero for its purported crackdown. Now, it is plain that the administration’s war against Minnesota has nothing to do with immigration.
Late Saturday, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, telling him ICE would pull out if he met a list of unrelated demands, including the release of voting files. Mr. Trump is tilting against Minnesota’s windmills because he lost the vote in that state in each election. Now, it’s time for retribution for the insult.
Ms. Bondi’s letter pulls back the Trump curtain — any shred of doubt that the Minnesota attack had nothing to do with immigration or safety vanished in the face of Ms. Bondi’s shameful act of what amounts to extortion.
That Americans are being tortured — and dying — in Mr. Trump’s reign of terror is of no moment to the administration.
State and local officials appear serious and well-positioned to control the situation and pursue justice in the face of Trump’s violence. The rest of us need to internalize Minneapolis’s heroic defense of democracy and do our part to rise to the defense of all Americans.
Sincerely,
BRUCE COLBATH
Life Had Meaning
St. Petersburg, Fla.
January 22, 2026
Dear Editor,
With every needless death, there is a tremendous desire to point fingers and lay blame.
Two women, on separate days and occasions, chose to leave their home and loved ones to participate in a politically charged protest they didn’t figure would be the last day of their lives. They woke, had coffee, dressed and prepared to be out in the elements, if necessary, for their cause. They texted, “See you later” to their mothers, called in sick to their jobs, walked the dog, and fed the cat. They filled their water bottles from the Brita and stuck protein bars in their backpacks.
Maybe they kissed the top of the head of a small child before they walked out the door. Maybe they gave thanks to God for another day.
They drove to the gathering of others like them overcome with a great sense of euphoria and purpose. They belonged. Here, life had meaning. This is what made it all worth it — to be in the center of something important, to be a cog in a wheel, to stand up to the machine. Their voices would be heard loud and clear, and the injustices would stop.
Two men, on separate days and occasions, woke and prepared to go to work. They showered, dressed in uniforms, and inspected their lifesaving gear. They checked their text messages, paid the mortgage bill from their online banking account, kissed the worried cheeks of their wives, gassed up their vehicles, and drove to where they were told to report for duty that day. Maybe the thought crossed their minds to call in sick, turn around and surprise their wives with a special lunch date. Maybe they said the Lord’s Prayer as they loaded and locked their weapons.
The two men understood their assignments but the two men didn’t think they’d take the life of another on that day in the act of duty. They didn’t figure that in one split second their own lives would never be the same again.
Four ordinary souls bonded forever in uncommon circumstances. They didn’t know each other existed until one frozen moment in time. A single syllable was never exchanged between them. But two souls lost their lives staring into the eyes of two complete strangers. And every single one of them made regrettable, last-minute, tragic decisions fulfilling their sense of purpose and duty: Ashli Babbitt, U.S. Capitol Police Lieut. Michael Byrd, Renee Good, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer Jonathan Ross. Four people condemned by public opinion for being simple humans. A bad decision, if it doesn’t kill you, may follow you the rest of your life. It’s good to remember sometimes that simply choosing to do nothing is the best choice of all.
“You may succeed in making another feel guilty about something by blaming him, but you won’t succeed in changing whatever it is about you that is making you unhappy.” — Wayne Dyer
CAROL DRAY
Rise to Power
East Hampton
January 22, 2026
Dear Mr. Rattray,
In the late 1940s, the Hungarian Communist leader Matyas Rakosi supposedly coined the phrase “slicing salami” to describe the strategy of eliminating any political opposition by cutting it off “slice by slice” as the way to establish a dictatorship. Adolf Hitler’s rise to power is a perfect example of “slicing salami.”
When it was founded in 1920, the German National Socialist Workers’ Party had no power. Hitler used his oratory talent to attract members by emphasizing nationalism while vilifying anyone not belonging to what he called the “Aryan race.” In 1923, Hitler led a coup attempt to gain power, failed, and was sentenced to prison. While in prison, Hitler realized that eliminating the opposition could not be accomplished in one bold stroke. It had to be done by “slicing salami.”
Upon his release from prison in 1924, Hitler began his plan to take power bit by bit. His plan involved adhering to the law and gaining power by appealing to the voters. His strategy worked as his party received over six million votes in 1930 compared to less than one million only two years earlier. Slice by slice, Hitler then managed to erode democracy until it was just a hollow facade. He suppressed any opposition, whether in the government, the courts, the media, or the public so that it was eventually silenced.
Fast-forward to today. After his failed coup attempt by inciting rioters to attack the Capitol in 2021, Donald Trump and his advisers decided that “slicing salami” would be a better approach to gaining power. Like Hitler, Trump first rose to power through an election using MAGA as his base. Since then, Trump has mimicked Hitler’s actions by slicing away at any opposition to consolidate his power. His actions have at times been successful, as media outlets, law firms, and corporations have decided to capitulate rather than confront.
Although their rise to power has much in common, there is one significant difference between Hitler and Trump. Unfortunately, Trump has never gone to prison for the crimes he has committed. Hopefully, one day he will before the opposition is completely silenced.
SALVATORE TOCCI
The Bait and Switch
East Hampton
January 20, 2026
Dear David,
I just sent a small political contribution to a guy named Ryan Crosswell. I never heard of him before today. Then I learned that he, just one among thousands pushed out of the Department of Justice for failing the Trump loyalty test, had developed the case against Venezuelan banker and billionaire Julio Herrera Velutini for bribing the former governor of Puerto Rico.
Mr. Croswell is the same guy who refused to drop the federal charges against Eric Adams when Adams went full-Trump. Apparently, Mr. Crosswell believes in the rule of law. He is now running to unseat one of the Republican House members who can’t find a voice to object to Trump’s grifting, disdain for law, and geopolitical mayhem.
Mr. Velutini’s daughter made a $2.5 million donation to Trump’s super PAC. Trump then pardoned both Velutini and the former governor just before the trial was to start — this a day or two after issuing subpoenas to the head of the Federal Reserve for doing his job, a move that rocked the financial community.
Since 1913, the Federal Reserve has been independent, by law, of presidential meddling. That fact underlies the phrase, “Sound as a dollar.” Amazing that Trump didn’t know that. Once that edifice of trust collapses, it is gone for good. Like deer in headlights, Republicans in Congress are immobilized in the fog of MAGA.
A 37-year-old American mother was killed in the street, and our Justice Department declined even to investigate and condemned her as a radical terrorist before the smoke had cleared from the gunshots. Doyenne of ICE, Kristi Noem, sporting one of her spotless cowboy hats, declared that every ICE agent enjoys total immunity.
Not so long ago, nobody in the United States expected to be immune from prosecution. That is a mortally reckless thing to tell an aggressive young man with a gun on his hip in a volatile crowd. What could go wrong?
Mr. Velutini and numerous other criminals with deep pockets walk free without paying restitution to those they defrauded. Vladimir Putin would blush if this record of corruption made the Russian news. That’s why Putin controls the media and jails his detractors, a project Trump has been chipping away at for the last year. I keep hoping the fog of denial will fade from Trumpist minds.
Democracy and the rule of law can be slow and frustrating. But it eventually responds to the will of the people; it self-corrects. An example of that was the bipartisan bill to reform immigration laws, which was poised to pass under Biden before Trump killed it for political advantage.
By now, the bait and switch of the Republican project to convince Americans that Trump would restore the American dream is obvious: $800 million and counting for a naval blockade of Venezuela which the big oil companies then told him they did not want. So Trump diverted the money from pirated oil to Qatar accounts that Trump himself controls.
Trump’s fiasco on Greenland and thuggish invasions of American cities should make it clear that “No more foreign wars” and “America first” were empty slogans fed to him by cynical political handlers.
The Republican health care bill, a unicorn for 20 years, is nowhere to be found.
Twenty billion taxpayer dollars went to prop up Argentina’s friendly autocrat, on the heels of tariff-screwing American farmers, thereby diverting billions in American sales abroad into the coffers of Brazilian and Argentine farmers. Four billion dollars in personal self-enrichment Trump has gleaned by trading American interests for his international projects and insider favors, his crummy kickback for a $1 trillion in tax breaks for the top 1 percent (his campaign financiers) in the Big Beautiful Bill.
Four and a half percent of the world population lives in the United States. Trump’s delusions of grandeur somehow have convinced him he can eviscerate all of our alliances and trading partnerships and dominate a world of eight billion enemies. He has an excuse: He is insane. But we are corrupt and weak if we let him do it.
I keep hoping to see a letter in The Star that begins, “I voted for Trump, because men shouldn’t play women’s sports, but enough is enough. He must be impeached.” Crickets. Not one voter with buyer’s remorse about this preening kakistocrat? Horrifying.
DON MATHESON
Symbol of Hatred
North Haven
January 25, 2026
To the Editor,
We are responding to the vapid and smug letter of Jim Vrettos (Dec. 25).
What evidence is there that this antisemitic miscreant has satisfactorily demonstrated that he has been “restored” in the eyes of the Jewish community? We see none set out other than he is old and sick.
The swastikas that he painted throughout Montauk were a symbol of the racial hatred and the systematic extermination of six million Jews. It is a comprehensive symbol of evil, of an ideology that led to the Holocaust.
As such, this symbol strikes a deep, historical fear in Jewish people as a powerful symbol of hate and terror. It is akin to what the hangman’s noose is to African-Americans. Against this, a five-day sentence is insulting to the East End Jewish community.
As far as we are concerned his body and soul (if he has one) deserve to rot.
East End Jews for Israel,
DAVID SAXE
MITCHELL AGOOS
The War I Lost
Springs
January 20, 2026
To the Editor,
Regarding Jonathan Silin (Jan. 15, “Still Working?”): I picked up the tangible version of The Star (the paper of record) this week for two reasons. First, every time I do (probably eight times a year cover to cover) it not only updates but furnishes me with a sense of community and solace knowing that one of the last great American small-town papers still exists. But the primary reason I grabbed a copy was I suspected that the editorial, bound to be a passionate one, might help me and my grossly vacillating thoughts regarding what’s going on in Minnesota with ICE.
Though I profess to be an old-school Boston Democrat as my grandfather was, especially with age, I can find myself nodding along in solidarity with the most-ardent right-wing conspiracy theorist. At the time, it made sense to me: “You’re right. They did not have enough gas to get to the Moon back then.”
Pathetically, I have always been a political chameleon. The marine world that I work/play in is largely hard-working blue-color, self-made men, who, every one of them, are far better citizens than me, most of whom voted for Trump. Up until lately, I often had a “good enough for them, good enough for me” attitude, agreeing to simplicities like, “Why should my tax dollar pay for their health insurance?”
I have always liked cops, and I know ICE agents are not cops and many are poorly trained want-to-bes. The fact that the overzealous officer yelled, “Fucking bitch” after pumping three bullets into a fairly benign person (come on, no one thinks she planned to run him over) speaks volumes; he certainly was not a renaissance man. Nevertheless, they have been deputized, as it were, to be U.S. law enforcement. So, for me to survive, I have to consider them cops. And she seemed, while clearly annoying, to be executing what seemed to be the beginning of a perfect three-point-turn.
For the most part I deeply appreciate cops. They see terrible things on a daily bases: suicide, teenagers killed in horrible car wrecks, and kids who overdose on drugs. A routine traffic stop is fraught with peril. And, considering the alternative, we need them (If a cop yells “Stop!” I’m stopping — it has to be that way. But do they have to wear those intimidating masks if they are really doing noble, good work? Batman did.
As always, Mr. Rattray delivered perspective and a firm point of view. While I’m still a vacillating jellyfish, I respect and admire his resolve.
After I read that, I was looking to be lifted from the somber subject of civil war and tyranny by turning to the adjacent “Guestwords” column, hoping for some pithy witticisms from a local writer that I often find there. I really had some belly laughs here. And I like to think that I provided some as I penned a few myself.
Instead I found an even-bleaker essay by Jonathan Silin regarding the inevitable stages of aging including but not limited to loss and regret. Yuk! I’d rather go back to reading about the wayward lesbian disrupter attempting to run over the untrained, deranged, epithet-screaming, gun-firing, want-to-be rent-a-cop. I had just begun to forget I turned 60 last June. It’s actually a very good essay written by an academic who was also an elementary teacher for 10 years, with plenty of insight both wordy and personal.
To combat walking toward the light of geriatric hardship, I had begun to stick a needle filled with 110 mg. of testosterone into my flabby, cellulite-ridden ass once a week for the simple possibility of a stirring in my erogenous zone.
The article forced me to take stock; reminded me that I have no kids, never really had a career to speak of, and my dwindling resources (the lion’s share inherited) will evaporate soon in a spiraling sea of self-gratification. I found the sad piece almost as intrusive as those awful medical ads that are forced on us by big pharma.
Basically the message that I heard was (a) aging is not for pussies, and (b) we have to be willing to pivot and recreate ourselves, playing the hand we’re dealt, no matter how weak the hand with every stage, i.e.: middle and old, age 85 and below, etc., and, finally, take stock and relish your accomplishments over the years. In many ways at 60, if not officially geriatric, I am close.
I take some happiness in the fact that the war is over and I lost. Although my greatest award in life was a sportsmanship award, a published letter to the editor of Teen Beat magazine, and finally, a poorly received book/memoir (made into a film named “Trainwreck”) about overcoming dyslexia or, as my friend said when I bragged about getting a six-figure book and movie deal with a major publisher, “No one cares about dyslexia; they would rather read a book about gingivitis. Basically you overcame very little to accomplish nothing.”
Truth is I have to kind of accept this. And rather than try to fix it, carry it with me somehow into the challenges of old age with some degree of dignity. That’s rough. But there’s also good news with age. We don’t have to be cool at 60, and acute hypochondria slips away at 60, at 40 years old we’re all hypochondriacs because there is so much at stake and it’s the bottom of the eighth inning, as it were. We could still pull it off.
Even though the front nine did not go so well, the back nine might. We could still make it in show business. We could still land a babe, get married, and have a kid.
Getting some horrible disease would sideline you from recognizing those milestones; alas, they never came to be, the milestones or disease.
At 60 you don’t have to be tough. That’s a relief. I was never a tough guy, but at 60 I’m no longer expected to be able to kick someone’s ass. On the contrary, one would look stupid trying to kick someone’s ass at 60. It would be a spectacle like two homeless guys fighting.
We all have to adjust to different stages in our lives, as Stevie Nicks eloquently sings/writes about in “Landslide.”
We men certainly have to grow up. My God, I know too many 70-year-old men still drinking, popping pills, and chasing much-younger skirts. Some have the audacity to adopt 6-month-old golden retriever puppies that will surely outlive them and their decadent lifestyles.
P.S.: Keep your eyes peeled for my next op-ed, “Guestwords,” or Teen Beat Mag piece, “GerryOxy: an inside look at the very real East End geriatric drug cartel.”
JEFF NICHOLS