A brilliant gift for someone special: an affordable membership to one of our wonderful South Fork cultural institutions.

In a scathing denunciation of the Department of Homeland Security, a United States District court judge excoriated Immigration and Customs Enforcement for what he called the inhumane and unlawful treatment of people held at the Alfonse M. D’Amato United States Courthouse in Central Islip.

Life was slower here in the 1970s, and streaking, of all things, more prevalent.

The holiday is a good time to remember that life was more communal centuries ago, lived out in the street and on the commons, often with alcohol.