Thursday, October 8, 2026
National Newspaper Week, Oct. 4–10, is an opportunity to focus attention on something Long Islanders experience every day but can easily take for granted: the value of having journalists paying attention to your own community.
Recently I’ve come to believe that the strongest influence on developing human beings is the times in which they live. Try as I might, summoning all the empathy I possess, I simply can’t know what it was like to endure the London Blitz during World War II. Or the Dust Bowl in America, or the Holocaust, all of which changed the way people lived and thought.
This year’s crowd at John Burns Park was the largest ever. Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joe Saladino and Firefighter Ken Haskell, Tom and Tim’s brother, spoke. There was mournful violin music, stirring patriotic songs sung aloud and prayers from local clergy. I was privileged to be asked to speak. The ceremony concluded with a helicopter dropping white roses on the crowd. It was particularly moving afterward to talk with family members and friends of 9/11 victims who were once again reliving the horrors of that fateful day, but had never lost their faith in America.
For years, Oceanside High School math teacher Rocio Saborido has heard students pose an eternal question about the arcane figures and symbols they struggle to master in her classes: “When will I ever use this?” Saborido found an answer in something many of them already had in their hands — energy drinks.
Mount Sinai South Nassau will rally support for its next chapter of cardiovascular services at its annual “Soiree Under the Stars,” with this year’s gala benefitting the hospital’s “Bringing Heart Home” campaign.
The Oceanside Community Warriors recently gathered with local families, scouts and community members for a cleanup at Detective Luis G. Alvarez Memorial Park, continuing an effort to keep the special Oceanside gathering place beautiful and welcoming.
