Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Fire Island to Bushwick

All good things must come to an end as the all too overused cliche goes. I will board the ferry in less than an hour and will return to Bushwick after nearly four months on the beach. I have honestly been ready to leave Ocean Beach and especially the house in which I have lived for several weeks, but it as truly been a great summer. Below is a commentary I wrote for the Fire Island News that we unfortunately did not have enough room to publish. See you on the flip side!


The end of the summer always presents a bittersweet pill to swallow. The nights grow a bit less balmy with each passing day and the vast majority of Fire Islanders will soon return to the mainland with a myriad of memories that defined their summer on the beach.

I will soon return to Brooklyn, but it remains an honor and a privilege to have had the opportunity to manage this season’s Fire Island News. A handful of my own myriad of memories include the annual Invasion of the Fire Island Pines, watching the sunrise over the beach at the Pines Party, the Fire Island Dance Festival and riding out a particularly nasty June squall line on a water taxi somewhere between Sailors Haven and Ocean Bay Park on the Great South Bay. Fire Island remains one of the most unique places in the world, and its people are certainly among the most interesting and dynamic.

To spend a season on the beach as an openly gay 27-year-old man is certainly one of the most amazing experiences of my life—for one I feel truly blessed. I was truly a pleasure to deliver what I hope proved a quality publication that brought the beach’s unique identity to Fire Islanders and visitors alike. Cheers to a great season and to a happy and healthy off-season.

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