Wednesday, October 21, 2026
The stakes are high, because A.I. is the first technology in a long time that can favor the little guy. For most of the last century, size was destiny. A big company could afford an IT department, in-house lawyers, a finance team and analysts poring over its data, and the corner store could not.
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.
Recently I had the chance to attend a tribute to Howie Rose at CitiField, honoring his almost four decades as the iconic voice of the Mets. Rosemary and I have enjoyed a friendship with Rose and his wife, Barbara, over the years, and Howie invited us to the ceremony. Being a loving grandmother, Rosemary deferred to our grandson Jack, who’s a dedicated Mets — and Howie Rose — fan.
For Kristen Roberts and Maria Nulty, an Oceanside connection began in childhood, took a yearslong detour and eventually led them back to the same school hallways — this time as kindergarten teachers, helping a new generation of students begin their own educational journeys.
The Island Park PTA hopes to make sure every child can participate in the holiday festivities through its first Halloween costume drive, an initiative that has drawn strong community support and inspired new partnerships to help local families.
For more than four decades, Michael Schnall helped shape the Island Park Library into a cornerstone of the community. Now, his legacy will be remembered in the building he helped bring to life.
