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Image provided by: Suffolk Cooperative Library System
is of for The last swims of summer, and a high school reunion As sure as swallows come back to Capistrano, after Labor Day yellow school buses return to the streets of Long Island. If the arrival of Labor Day makes you feel summer is over - as it does for me - the sight of school buses, even in last week's perfect weather, leaves not an iota of doubt. School's open and sum- mer is gone. The day school began I was at the beach swimming in the Sound off West Meadow. I had very little com- pany, in the water or on the sand. A woman I know reclined at water's edge in a beach chaise, sun tanning and reading the Times. When I came out, after a long, delicious swim along the deserted beach in the direc- tion of Crane Neck, she said, \September is the best month of the whole summer. Nobody's here.\ Well, that last part is true. But September at the beach has too much poignancy to be the best month. At least for me. The onset of September, and Labor Day in particular, signals the end of our only carefree season and I do not like to let summer go without a struggle. So, as of the time I'm writing this, I've gone for a swim on 11 consecutive days. The weather has been flawless (see, there is an upside to drought) «and the water 1s perfect -- warm and bracing at the same ume. I relish every moment, all the more because I know it's coming to an end. Through these wonderful days time didn't seem anxious to move. That suited me fine. But occasional- ly I had the feeling of being poised on the crest of a roller coaster ride, that frozen instant before the down- ward plunge begins. So I swam day after day, as if repetition would stay the flight of summer, slow down the passage of time. Of course this was pure illusion. Time proceeds methodically. And if there is any single measure of how fast and far it has flown, it might be a high school reunion. Last Friday evening, after my swim, I went up to the Meadow Club for the reunion of my Port Jefferson High School class. (I graduated in 1950. You can do the math.) Originally the reunion was scheduled for funch time. Apparently enough class members convinced the reunion committee that we could, indeed, stay awake after sundown, and the event was moved to the evening. Through a stand-up cocktail hour we old grads shook hands, embraced, kissed, grabbed little hot-dogs-in-pastry from proffered trays and bellied up to the bar. It was heartening to see these retirees, your correspondent included, putting the stuff away as if it were mid-century again and a whole world stretched before us. There was much glad-handing. accompanied by heads lowered to not-so-surreptitiously read name tags. \Great to see you again ... Bill.\ I heard lies, including some whoppers, being told all over the room. In the spirit of things. I told a cou- ple myself. \You haven't changed a bit ~ **You look fantastic.\ As we drank and got reacquainted a young enter- tainer played keyboard. Eventually, at a signal from waiters, he stepped to the mike and issued a challenge that set some gray-haired oldsters grumbling: \Folks let's see if you can find your way to the tables.\ After dinner the young man played and sang with a pleasant voice. But his songs weren't the ones we'd Signals ae\ [OJcecasionally I had the feeling of being poised on the crest of a roller coaster ride, that frozen instant before the downward plunge begins. BY JOHN MCKINNEY grown up with When | asked for some tunes of the 40s and 50s, he looked blank Could it be. I asked myselt. he didn't know such immortal classics as Hou Much Is That Doggie In the Window, Mule Train, If 1 Knew You Were Comin I'd've Baked a Cake, and Fm My Own Grandpa Top of the charts, in those distant days Upon reflection, it was fortunate he didn't know them Time may have flashed back for an evening, but it was soon off and running again Next morning, red and yeltow leaves were showing in the tops of maples So, in for another swim. There won't be many more good days. Check us out: ads to blogs to late-breaking news Hooray! Now we are up on the Internet with our entire newspaper. A great deal of time, effort and money have gone into developing this ability to repro- duce our paper, page by page, with all the stories, pho- tos and ads intact, on our website. We're excited that we're finally able to do this because we see this offer- ing, which we call \pic paper\ since each page is repro- duced as if a picture of it had been taken, as serving a real need. When the reporters and editors of The Times- Picayune, the daily in New Orleans, tried to cover the Hurricane Katrina story even as they had to evacuate themselves and their families (who had taken refuge in the newspaper building during the Monday night hurri- cane) from their offices that were fast filling up with water, they were unable to print a newspaper on the conventional printing press. The press was under water. Making their way through the flooded streets in delivery trucks they wrote and posted the details of _ they onto their website from their laptop computers - which operated on batteries and ultimate- ly with the use of a generator. There was no newsprint edition until Friday when they finally were able to share another newspaper's presses, but the news, photos and wamings were posted on the website each day and even each hour. While most people lost their Internet connection, some did not and were alerted to life-threatening situa- tions throughout the city. That information was appar- ently the only inside information available to the resi- dents of the stricken city. The fact that there is another possible communica- tions channel has many advantages short of the extreme Between you find me if: We hope you like our latest offering. Like everything else we do, it's to better communicate the news. Please let us know. BY LEAH S. DUNAJEF situation that occurred in New Orleans and along the Gulf coast. If the mail delivery of the newspaper should be late, or a power failure at the printing plant delay the printing of the newspaper, the information is now Oon the website in a timely fashion for readers to see. For someone who has moved to Arizona or someone else who is checking out our community prior to a possible move from Arizona, or New Zealand, for that matter, the picture of the town we live in is there for all to see. For the advertisers, it is a bonanza. Their ads appear exactly the way they do in the newspaper, and although it pains us to say this, not everyone might read the newspaper every week. Our readers usually see the paper when they go home at night or before they go to work in the morning. But now, since many people get on the Internet only at work, the ads are being read dur- ing the work hours as well. \Aren't you afraid you will lose your subscribers?\ we have been asked. No. The fact is, it's casier to read a newspaper in print form than on the computer screen. And the tabloid size newspaper is easy to handle and more portable than even the lightest laptop. Also, the pic paper will be up on the Internet by noon on Thursday, but as you know. the newspaper hits the stands and the post office carly in the morning. We believe subscribers will contimue because they will get their news first - including clas- sified and real estate offerangs - in the newspaper. But for the generation that does everything on their computers, the pic paper provides an opportunity to catch up on local news. By the way, we will continue the late-breaking news function that the website affords us between weekly publications of our newspaper. Viewers of our website will get both daily, late-breaking news and the weekly content. They will also get the blog - short for web log - in which they can post comments anonymously if they so choose. These blogs have proven intensely pop- ular. For your information, the latest tally of viewers of our websites is 104,241 for the month of August. That's not bad for the dog days of summer. The website address is www.tbrnewspapers.com. We hope you like our latest offering. Like everything else we do, it's to better communicate the news Please let us know. TIMES BEACON RECORD eprom agt ano propucmion r -g ‘ y pag MANAGER Joshua Diamant Devid A, Leaman Robin Lemkin li733or~gmfliomww0rdmpby EDITOR Charles Morgan Vincent Campagna CLASSIFIEDS DIRECTOR our news office 1t 67 Main Street, Northport. The opinions Proven Kathy O'Sullivan Janet Fortura Ellen Segai Times Beacon Record Newspapers arc published _ Elen Bercel Szabeth Sobel Bath Heer Mason Mary Fiorentino every Thursday. PRODUCTION EDITOR Mare Hewitt CIRCULATION MANAGER Am:msoxmwmms3. Nyssa Cutler John Westerman Karen Pack Diane Wattecampe Telephone: (631) 751-7744 | Web » timesofnorthport.com SPORTS EDITOR \C ADVERTISING DIRECTOR BUSINESS OFFICE ONLINE EDITOR Robert O'Fiourk mm Mag Melengone John Springer Nino Ruigi Barbara Newman Butcher SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER Mary Chirichoia Ten! Caruso
