Ode to Old Long Island

Recently on American TV we’ve been bombarded with Reality shows. JERSEY SHORE, GENE SIMMONS, and a various variety of remote American lifestyles such as SWAMP PEOPLE, HOG HUNTERS, and REDNECK HAND FISHING. All well and good if they portray the subjects correctly. Now they turn to Long Island NY with LONG ISLANG PSYCHIC and others. Yes we have those people who reside on the western fringes of Suffolk County but the true Long Islanders live to the East. Before the Long Island Expressway and the Sunrise highway flooded the natives with all ethnic groups from the boroughs of NYC. My paternal ancestors landed on the North Shore in 1674. Of English Scottish descent my family married into German and Polish groups who landed in the late 19th century. All of us were the farmers and fishermen, clammers. scallopers, and craftsmen who built the original Hamptons. Yes we worked as the domestics to the Gold Coast, maids, nannies, tradesmen and consistently we saved their lives when their arrogance made them think they were stronger than the ocean riptide. I’ve sailed with my father on his fishing boat out to the canyon, saw whales breach the waves and got my nutrition from the sea, bays and local farms. We even spoke a language that the city folk could not understand called Bonack. Now the Image of Long Islanders has been corrupted by the Joey Buttafuccos and Amy Fisher images. Perhaps I’m a dinosaur but I loved my home. I grew up in paradise riding my horse in the pine barrens, clamming for my dinner, swimming and surfing THE THREES. Please believe me when I say we are not psychics,or oversexed teenagers who shoot the competition. We were softspoken people who did their jobs with pride. We are not the loudmouthed residents who think that the latest hairdo or getting a manicure is more important to their image than taking the time to smell the tide change, feel a nor’easter approaching or feasting on steamed lobster, clam,and corn.