Village Times Herald

Smith Haven Mall Carnival is back from July 10 to July 20.

Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove hosts a Dreamland Amusements Carnival from July 10 to July 20. Enjoy summer fun for the whole family with exciting midway rides and games for all ages and carnival eats.

Unlimited ride wristbands (for riders 36″ & taller) are $42 on site ($40 cash price) or online before 5 pm Thurs., July 10 for $29 each, 2/$55 or 4/$99.

Ride tickets are also available on the midway. Online pre-sale special: $45/50 tickets + 1 free ride. (Rides take 2 or more tickets each.)

Visit the website for coupons for $5 off regular-price ride wristbands, $5 off a 50-ticket Super Saver Family Pack, and $2 off a $10 food purchase.

Hours are 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday; noon to 11 p.m. on Saturday; and noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday. Parking is free. .

Guests under 18 must be accompanied by an adult age 21+. Please check the website for event updates before attending the carnival.

For more information, call 866-666-3247, visit www.dreamlandamusements.com or click here.

 

 

By Emily Mandracchia

Known across the island for its extravagant proms, Ward Melville High School’s prom committee, comprised of students and staff, and involved parents came together to send off the class of 2025 on June 26. This year’s theme was based on Lewis Carroll’s seminal novel “Alice in Wonderland,” featuring luminous, fairy-lit drapes of ivy and bold flowers at the entrance, retro clocks and furniture, garlands made of playing cards and even the Cheshire Cat.

As usual, the school’s prom has long been anticipated as a highlight of the academic year — a longtime favorite event where friends and family members even tuned in on the annual YouTube live stream to watch their loved ones walk the red carpet. 

Among those attendees were graduates Althea Grubbs-Aubrecht, Haverford College class of 2029, and Oliver Wu, valedictorian, Princeton University class of 2029. Grubbs-Aubrecht and Wu, pursuing liberal arts and public policy, respectively, recount some of their favorite memories of their high school lives leading up to the magical night. 

Starting with the Melville signature red-carpet walk, Wu recounts that “it was funny seeing the people in my limo become super stressed just before we were about to walk the red carpet.” While some students opted for vintage sports cars, perhaps rented or from family, limousines and even motorcycles, others sought out utility vehicles like the fire truck or the ice cream truck; “everyone ‘slayed’” either way, according to Wu. 

“I was really nervous leading up to it,” said Grubbs-Aubrecht. “But my boyfriend, Ben, and I were able to pull off a double twirl in front of the audience. It was a really special moment.” Grubbs-Aubrecht’s boyfriend, Benjamin Hoffman, is also among those in the graduating class and is attending Hofstra University as a music business major. 

The DiCarlo Food service truck even made a big appearance, where a man dressed as Buddy the Elf lowered seven students from its rear platform. A dropoff involving Lightning McQueen from the Pixar movie “Cars” also elicited goodhearted laughter and roars of cheer from the crowd.

But the occasion was also sentimental, enabling students to reflect on the bonds they’ve spent over a decade cultivating. “While we were lining up before doors opened, everyone was outside taking pictures with each other, and it was really really sweet,” Wu said. In a culture that increasingly revolves around technology and has become a part of routine for the generation, casual, silly and even “bad” photos become relics that today’s teenagers will cherish for a lifetime. 

Seeing all the decorations, Grubbs-Aubrecht mentioned how special it was to her and others that the prom committee worked so hard to make the school look “completely unrecognizable.” She said it “really felt like a scene from [the] Lewis Carroll novel.”

The decorations she mentioned encompass those from the drink bar, featuring antique teapots and silverware, gold candelabras and bold berry-colored flowers to match the “Wonderland” aesthetic, adding vintage glamor to the prom’s celebratory flair, to the black-and-white tiled floors, funky clocks and ornate photo frames which added to the funhouse charm of the story everyone knows and loves.

Wu also offers his testimony on the final product, citing that the design was truly “otherworldly” and the effort of the prom committee is not one that should go unnoticed. “I heard so many people commenting how they couldn’t believe this was the same school they’ve been attending for years.” 

One of Grubbs-Aubrecht’s favorite recollections comes from the girl’s bathroom, which was also decorated with the same gusto as the hallways and the main room where students ate and danced. 

“I was giving and receiving compliments to and from girls I’d barely spoken to before,” she said. “We were all touching up our dresses or our makeup together. It was nice to be girls together one last time.”

Wu recalls being in party mode all night and said he didn’t do much reflection during the event, but walking through the setup again at the end to take last pictures and driving home as he listened to Lorde’s newest release, he realized for the first time that prom was “one of the last times [he will] ever be with a lot of these people. And it was so good.”

Moving to the dance floor, the two remember some fan-favorite songs of the night. While ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” is a classic spanning generations of school dances, Wu argues that Travis Scott’s “FE!N” was the song that really got people moving. 

“It’s really funny — everybody went crazy for ‘Carnival’ by Kanye. That ‘TikTok Rizz Party’ thing did a number on us,” she said. “Tiktok Rizz Party” refers to a video that went viral on the platform in 2024 and has amassed tens of millions of views. “Songs like that are the best, though. Everybody knows the lyrics, the dance floor is moving; it’s so much fun.”

The hard work of the prom committee and the enthusiasm of the students are what made it such an “incredible” night to remember, according to Wu. Grubbs-Aubrecht calls her experience at the prom a “fitting sendoff.” 

Given Ward Melville’s rigorous curriculum, formidable reputation in STEM, sports, the language arts and music and student outcomes, it is no wonder the output for a celebration made just for the students to feel special for one last hurrah together was so grandiose and intricate. Whether attending with sweethearts or friends, another prom is in the books for Ward Melville as a night to remember.

For more information, visit the school website: www.threevillagecsd.org. 

Rob Von Bernewitz, TVHS cemetery chair opens the ceremony. Photo courtesy of Beverly C. Tyler

By Beverly C. Tyler and Scott Ferrara

A dedication and presentation was held this past Saturday, June 28 at the Old Bethel Cemetery for Abraham Tobias who died on Dec. 23, 1898, aged 65 years. Organized by the Three Village Historical Society and descendants of Abraham Tobias, the ceremony at his grave was conducted by members of the Society of the Grand Army of the Republic Post-210. As part of the tribute, a GAR star was ceremonially placed beside his gravestone in Stony Brook, a recognition made possible through the coordination and dedication of his descendant, Simira Tobias.

Grave of Abraham Tobias, Old Bethel Cemetery

At 24, Corporal Abraham Tobias, son of Jacob and Rachel Young Tobias, served honorably with the 26th regiment, United States Colored Infantry, from January 1864 until the end of August 1865, when the regiment was mustered out. Cpl. Tobias fought in several key battles in South Carolina where the regiment lost 30 men and two officers killed in action or mortally wounded.  During the regiment’s 1864-1865 deployment, they lost a total of five officers and 145 enlisted men to combat, disease, drowning and other causes.

GAR spokesman, George Munkenbeck, noted that Tobias must have been considered a good leader of men, as he was promoted to Corporal within two months of his service. Tobias’ story, later used as an obituary, was printed in the “The Port Jefferson Echo,” December 24, 1898. It stated:  “Setauket – Abram Tobias, a resident of this village and a veteran of the Civil War, we fear is fighting his last battle. He is confined to his bed with little hope of recovery. That he is a colored man detracts nothing in these days from the need of praise due him and all who in those perilous times risked all for home and country.”

The commemorative event featured a ceremonial demonstration by the GAR, including a live-fire Three Volley Salute using a black powder rifle.

Members of the GAR Post-210 honor Corporal Tobias.

Several community leaders delivered remarks, including Suffolk County Legislator Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), Setalcott Tribal Chairs Helen Sells and Robert Thompson, Setalcott member Chiitra Wells, Rev. Lisa Williams of Bethel AME Church, and Town of Brookhaven Historian Barbara Russell. Sells noted that Abraham, as well as many other men and women who joined the fight in all the wars, did so for the community, not just for the African American community, but for everyone in all communities. 

Based on census records, Tobias probably lived with his family in East Setauket. The 1850 census lists his father, Jacob, a waiter; his mother Rachel; Samuel, 24, boatman; Silas, 21, boatman; Abram, 20, farm laborer; and Isaac, 14, farm laborer. The 1865 census for Jacob and Rachel listed only Abraham and Isaac living in the household.

A film commemorating the USCI’s 26th Regiment, called “Civil Warriors,” was released in 2011.   

Beverly Tyler is Three Village Historical Society historian. Scott Ferrara is Three Village Historical Society Archivist.

From left, Owen Timm, Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro and Matteo Gravinese. Photo from TOB

Brookhaven Highway Superintendent Daniel P. Losquadro recently awarded two local high school seniors with $500 scholarships from the Suffolk Country Highway Superintendents Association.

The recipients—Owen Timm, a Ward Melville High School senior, and Matteo Gravinese, a senior from Rocky Point High School—both plan to pursue careers in engineering and were selected as recipients of this year’s awards.

“Each year, the quality and quantity of applications we receive for the Highway Superintendents Association scholarship increases, making the selection process more and more challenging,” said Superintendent Losquadro. “Owen and Matteo have extremely impressive resumes and high school course loads. I wish them both all the best as they continue their education and hope they will return to Brookhaven to pursue their engineering careers and share their talents with us.”

LIMEHOF 2025 scholarship award winners and LIMEHOF representatives at award ceremony. Photo from LIMEHOF

Students from Wading River, Port Jefferson Station, Greenlawn, Farmingville, Rocky Point, Plainview, Freeport, Huntington, Center Moriches, Great Neck and Bay Shore honored

The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame (LIMEHOF) in Stony Brook recently awarded ten $1,000 scholarships to ten graduating students from across Long Island planning to major in music, music education and the performing arts. Also, for the third year in a row a Pat DeRosa Memorial Scholarship was awarded in memory of LIMEHOF inductee Pat DeRosa.

“These students have not only shown talent and passion, but they’ve made the significant decision to continue their journey by majoring in music or theater in college,” said Tom Needham, LIMEHOF Vice Chairman. “One of the things I like to tell the students is that many of the artists we’ve inducted started their musical careers when they were their age, and that’s very true, so a lot of these kids we’re giving scholarships to, could in fact one day become future hall of fame inductees themselves.”

In addition to awarding the scholarships, three of the students performed on the LIMEHOF stage. William MacIntosh and DeAndre Simmons each performed on their violins and Alyssa Wong sang “Dying ain’t so bad” from Bonnie and Clyde.

“It really impresses us to hear and learn about the commitment of these students here on Long Island,” said Paul Graf, member of LIMEHOF Education Advisory Committee. “Thousands of students are graduating this month and here we found eleven that are above and beyond. It was exciting to meet them, talk with them and learn about their lives and their commitment to music and music education.”

LIMEHOF has awarded tens of thousands of scholarships to Long Island high school students since its inception. The students submit applications that are judged by LIMHOF’s education committee, chaired by board member Tom Needham. Students from schools in Queens and Brooklyn are eligible to apply in addition to those from Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

For more information about LIMEHOF’s scholarships and educational programs visit https://www.limusichalloffame.org/scholarshipsgrants/

2025 LIMEHOF Scholarship Winners

Eden Yiya Hu (Wading River, Shoreham Wading River High School, Violin)

Elliot Jaklitsch (Port Jefferson Station, Comsewogue High School, Cello/Horn)

Justin Lowenhar (Greenlawn, Harborfields High School, Musical Theater- Tenor)

William MacIntosh (Farmingville, St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip, Violin)

Maya McCarthy (Rocky Point, Rocky Point High School, Mezzo Voice, Violin, Piano)

Romy Park (Plainview, Plainview-Old Bethpage High School, Viola)

Ashley Retzlaff (Freeport, Freeport High School, Mezzo Soprano, Musical Theater)

DeAndre Simmons (Huntington, Huntington High School, Violin)

Mackenzie Sweeney (Center Moriches, Center Moriches High School, French Horn)

Alyssa Wong (Great Neck, Great Neck South High School, Musical Theater)

2025 Pat DeRosa Scholarship Winner:

Athanasia Kacharaba

Athanasia Kacharaba (Bay Shore, Bay Shore High School, Saxophone/voice)

About the Pat DeRosa Memorial Scholarship

Mr. Pat A. DeRosa performed for many years from Manhattan to Montauk and beyond. He taught music in Huntington and South Huntington and in 2018 the Guinness Book of World Records named him the “World’s Oldest Professional Saxophone Player”. (101 years old and still playing in 2022). Additionally, he was inducted into the Long Island Hall of Fame and the South Huntington Hall of Fame.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in South Huntington, Pat picked up a saxophone in the Bowery with his mom at the age of 12. After High School, he worked at Grumman before he was drafted into WWII where he played with the Glenn Miller Army/Air Force Band.

After the war, he played at The Latin Quarter and the Copacabana as well as other NYC clubs while attending the Manhattan School of Music where he received a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in English Horn and Oboe. He played with Tommy Tucker, Tex Benecke, Lionel Hampton amongst others while on the road stopping to make a movie in Hollywood where he was invited to have lunch with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. When he returned home, he was introduced to John Coltrane and they played duets together for three years.

Most recently he could be seen playing with his daughter, Patricia DeRosa Padden of Montauk, on piano and his granddaughter Nicole DeRosa Padden, also of Montauk, on vocals and flute as well as sitting in with numerous bands on the East End and Western Suffolk.

Pat retired from teaching in 1978 but his students continued to contact him often. This Memorial Scholarship has been set up for a High School Senior to continue their studies in Music on the saxophone or woodwind instrument. The criteria includes a 95 or above in Music and a 90 overall average. An essay should also be provided by the student to show why they would like to continue to pursue music.

About LIMEHOF

Founded in 2004, the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the idea that Long Island’s musical and entertainment heritage is an important resource to be celebrated and preserved for future generations. The organization, which encompasses New York State’s Nassau, Suffolk, Queens, and Kings (Brooklyn) Counties, was created as a place of community that inspires and explores Long Island music and entertainment in all its forms.  In 2022, LIMEHOF opened its first Hall of Fame building location in Stony Brook, New York. To date, the organization has inducted more than 130 musicians and music industry executives, and offers education programs, scholarships, and awards to Long Island students and educators.

###

 

Fireworks in Port Jefferson for Independence Day in a previous year. Photo by David Ackerman

The two-party system is embedded into every political conversation. When a politician, local or federal, is the subject of a news article, their name is followed by a “D” or “R”. To many, the difference means much more than it should.

The emotions tied to those two letters may be negative or positive, ranging from dislike to amenable trust, and stem from sincere concern for our community and country.

The distrust one may feel for the opposite party can border on dislike and, encouraged by the acrimony of their counterpart, can lead to fiery animosity. Fueled by the anonymous, fearful rhetoric of digital echo chambers and by the open hostility of today’s leaders for whom compromise has become synonymous with weakness, parties can become identities. An attack on an identity becomes personal. The understanding that each party desires a better America, that the whole reason for the parties is to ensure that the government works for the benefit of the people, is lost in the combative, competitive trading of attacks, verbal and political.

The Fourth of July is a holiday for Americans–not just for Republicans or Democrats. We can all celebrate the entirety of America and its history, not just with and for those who agree with us or who are members of the same party. 

It honors the history we all share as citizens; the birth of this nation and the structure of our democracy allows us all to have a say in its future. This Independence Day, we should reflect, not only on our nation’s history, but on how that history informed the issues that characterize present day politics. Our constitutional rights, what it means to be an American, what it means to live in a democracy: these are all questions that previous generations of passionate people have grappled with over the last 249 years. How do we interpret them today? How do we balance defending our country with the unity of cultures inherent to our country’s founding, sealed in the words, “we the people”?

On Thursday night, red, white and blue fireworks will explode in the sky, our nation’s flag will be splayed across hats, bathing suits and shirts. Firecracker popsicles will be in our freezers as we fire up our barbecues. Most Americans will be celebrating, and no one, not Democrat or Republican, can begrudge the other the right to do so. On this day, let’s remember that this country belongs to all of us and together it’s much stronger when we work together. Let’s not become so accustomed to divisiveness that we ignore the voices and hopes of our fellow Americans. Let’s remember why we celebrate and, hopefully, allow that history to infuse our beliefs with some empathy, as the day marking U.S. Independence reminds us how much we can accomplish when we work together. 

Photo by Raymond Janis

Rallies should be covered

The assertions in Mr.  Ceo’s letter to the editor in last week’s edition (Times Beacon Record, 6/26) was wrong for several reasons. First, the No Kings rally which I attended along with hundreds of others was in our area and deserved newspaper coverage. If the rally were espousing another political point of view with which I may disagree, it would also deserve coverage. A newspaper cannot be expected to report only news with which readers may agree. As for the claim that the participants in the rally were “misguided,” what could be more American than rallying for democracy over a monarchy. Our founders staked their lives on it. 

Second, he is wrong about masks and other efforts to control COVID. At that time COVID was a mortal danger.— Many people died. An unmasked person with COVID was a serious threat to me. That makes it not a matter of personal choice but a matter of public health. A person’s choice not to wear a mask was a threat to all around him or her. Because it was a matter of public health, it was not, and should not have been, a matter of personal choice. Your liberty ends when your actions threaten me. That is why we have laws against drunk driving and smoking in public places. The same is true of the need to have children vaccinated before they enter school. Unvaccinated children may infect others with serious diseases. 

Adam D. Fisher 

Port Jefferson Station

TBR needs to cover rallies

I take exception to the premise of the letter writer in last week’s Times Beacon Record who complained about your coverage of the No Kings rallies (“Local community paper should cover community events,” June 26). When thousands of Long Islanders show up on a cold and rainy Saturday to protest the actions of the current White House administration, that’s newsworthy. The protests were national in scope, with seven in Suffolk County, including Port Jefferson Station. How much more local can you get? All Long Island media outlets, both print and broadcast, covered the rallies. The TBR would have been remiss in not doing so.

The letter writer labels the No Kings rallies as “ineffectual protest that accomplished nothing.” That’s his opinion. Those who braved the inclement weather on June 14 to voice their disagreement with the current President and his administration would no doubt disagree.

The letter writer compiled a laundry list of the deprivations we all experienced during the COVID shutdown: closed schools, businesses, houses of worship and so on, citing this as evidence of “real dictatorship.” First of all, much of this occurred during the final year of the first Trump administration. Let’s recall that our nation was facing an unpredictable and fear-inspiring pandemic. Measures were taken that now may appear  unnecessary in hindsight, but represented a good faith government response to COVID at that time. Some actions were right, others wrong. Perhaps many of us, including the letter writer, survived the pandemic because of the correct government actions.

 Martin Skrocki

 Wading River

Local papers need to cover local rallies

To the Editor:

I beg to differ with Rick Ceo, who writes in a June 26 letter that TBR newspapers shouldn’t have covered the “No Kings” protest in Port Jefferson Station.  It is precisely the function of local newspapers to hold the government accountable by reporting on controversial topics and events within our local communities.  Unfortunately, over the past few decades hundreds of local papers have either been shuttered or reduced to little more than boosterish rote reports on parades, street fairs, ribbon cuttings, or excerpts from press releases put out by local officials.  The resulting blackout of incisive reporting is not healthy for a constitutional democracy. 

I wonder if, during a Democratic administration, coverage of a local protest by right-leaning demonstrators against its behavior or policies by TBR newspapers would so “irritate” and “rankle” Mr. CEO.  He states that TBR should not have reported on the local “No Kings” demonstration because it was a “totally ineffectual protest that accomplished nothing.”   Maybe he should re-read the First Amendment, with its clause guaranteeing “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Mr. Ceo inaccurately claims that the parade celebrating the US Army’s founding was planned during the Biden administration.  Actually it was Trump who proposed it, in his first administration.  I’m old enough to remember the 200thanniversary of the Army’s founding (1975).  There was no large-scale military parade in our nation’s capital.  There has never been a large-scale military parade of this type, costing some $45 million and unconnected to the end of a war, held in Washington, D.C.  Such parades, with their reviewing stand and massive display of tanks, missiles and other military hardware are typically held in Moscow, Beijing, Pyongyang, or Tehran, not in Washington, D.C.  That is why one protester stated, “we don’t do dictator parades.”

As for Mr Ceo’s gripes about supposedly “dictatorial” measures put in place to combat COVID-19, perhaps he thinks he might have done a better job protecting the American public from a pandemic that ended up killing over a million Americans.  Good government means balancing individual rights against the well-being of the community at large.  All of the measures he mentions: masks, social distancing, vaccination, preventing large-scale gatherings particularly indoors, proved essential to slowing the spread of that highly contagious disease in a population with no immunity.  The biggest problem was the politicization of those measures.  For all his exaggerated boastfulness, Trump never brags about the best thing he ever did, namely Operation Warp Speed, which fast -tracked the development of a vaccine, saving countless lives.  Why? Because it doesn’t fit in with his political agenda, which is based on falsehoods, conspiracy theories and magical thinking about health and individual rights.

David Friedman 

St. James

No Kings protest is an important local story

In a recent letter (“Local community paper should cover community events,” June 25), Rick CEO criticized this newspaper for covering “left-leaning causes” like the No Kings protest, arguing that it should instead focus on what he considers more deserving topics, such as the Port Jefferson mayoral race.

In fact, the Port Times Record provided excellent coverage of the recent mayoral election, which is how I know that just 1,724 people voted. By contrast, the No Kings protest drew roughly twice that number of participants in Port Jefferson alone. Across Long Island, more than 35,000 people took part in a dozen related demonstrations, joining 4 to 6 million Americans at over 2,000 locations nationwide. Going by numbers alone, the protests were arguably more newsworthy than the election, not less so. Fortunately, this paper had the capacity and judgment to cover both stories well.

Mr. Ceo is, of course, entitled to his opinions. He is free to argue (however unconvincingly) that public health measures like mask mandates and quarantines amounted to tyranny, while anonymous federal agents abducting people for indefinite detention in foreign gulags without due process does not. What he is not entitled to do is urge a community newspaper to suppress coverage of a major local contribution to a national civic movement. That suggestion reflects an illegitimate, anti-democratic impulse—-precisely the kind that makes peaceful, patriotic protests, like those held on June 14, so important.

John Hover

East Setauket

To the Editor

The North Country Peace Group has been an integral part of our Three Village and Suffolk County community for 23 years. We are a grassroots group of local community members who came together in 2002 to protest the Iraq War and continue to stand for peace and justice. We do advocacy work promoting policies supporting peace. Throughout the years we have worked on the following issues: Say No to War, lessen the threat of nuclear proliferation worldwide, fight for the rights of our immigrant families and neighbors, bring the war dollars home to our communities, defend our democracy from authoritarian threats to our Constitution, support Black Lives Matter and join with local environmental groups seeking justice. 

We work together promoting nonviolent activism advocating for peaceful resolutions for a just society. At a pivotal time, with uncertain challenges, together we can serve the common good, working to preserve our democracy with equality and justice for all. We strive for a more just and equitable world and community by promoting peaceful solutions to conflicts.

 Join us every Saturday on Route 25A and Bennetts Road in Setauket from 11:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the south side of 25A near the CVS store. Everyone is welcome. 

Bruce K. Barry

NCPG Member 

East Setauke

WRITE TO US … AND KEEP IT LOCAL  

We welcome your letters, especially those responding to our local coverage, replying to other letter writers’ comments and speaking mainly to local themes. Letters should be no longer than 400 words and may be edited for length, libel, style, good taste and uncivil language. They will also be published on our website. We do not publish anonymous letters. Please include an address and phone number for confirmation. Email letters to: [email protected] or mail them to TBR News Media, P.O. Box 707, Setauket, NY 11733

 

METRO photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

Two-year olds, or, as in the case of our children, three-year olds do it readily.

You ask them for something, like a hand to cross the street, their patience while you finish your breakfast, or a moment of quiet so you can conclude a phone call and the loudest and most insistent word in their vocabulary erupts through their mouths: “Nooooooo!”

It’s one of the defining elements of the Terrible Twos, when the power, the independence, and the assertion of no becomes leverage, a game, and, perhaps, a way to seize a moment or more of control when their parents are making just about every decision for them.

Somewhere along the line, we become socialized and the idea of saying “no” to everything, or even to many things, becomes problematic and potentially ostracizing.

Peer pressure makes the declaration that you have to study instead of going to the beach with all your friends less understandable and acceptable.

Saying “no” can lead to all kinds of questions.

“You seriously think what you’re studying is so important?”

“You think what you’ll learn is going to help you get into a better school?”

“Wouldn’t it be more fun to hang out with us and throw a frisbee on the beach?”

So, the “no” response gets shelved, especially in social circles.

It’s ironic and unfair to parents, of course, that the times we want our children to say “yes,” they are comfortable telling us “no,” but when we want them to say “no,” they suddenly become much more pliable.

Anyway, back to the concept of no. So, many years ago, my wife and I were scanning the movie listings, back in the days when our dates involved going to a film, eating popcorn and then discussing the character, the plot, the theater and the entire outing for hours afterwards.

We decided on one of the many Batman films, and after some back and forth, found a theater with a viewing time that worked for us. I remember sitting through the movie, shaking my head at the plot, shrugging at the action, and wondering when the film would end.

After some discussion, we realized that neither of us wanted to see the movie and we were both going because we thought the other one was interested.

Nowadays, when we’re making decisions, we can cut straight to the chase.

“Wait,” one of us will say, “is this Batman?”

It’s a quick and easy opportunity to share our genuine interest in an optional activity.

We have become so refined at our willingness to share what we think at the risk of disappointing the other person that we give a percentage of Batman. A 50 percent is a shrugging indifference, while a 90 percent is a strong preference to find an alternative.

I’ve heard people these days use the words “or no” at the end of questions when they’re trying to make a decision.

“Do you want to go to a diner after we’re done with this work?” one of them will ask.

When the decision takes too long, someone will say, “so, are we going to the diner or no?”

The “or no” part seems superfluous. The question has two answers: yes or no. Yes, I know, like our Batman discussion, someone could say, kind of or maybe, or 63.49 percent yes, but, generally speaking, yes and no are the likely replies.

Maybe the “or no” phrase is a way of making it socially acceptable to say a word we overused and now, perhaps, underuse: no. By adding “or no,” the questioner encourages a companion to share a genuine opinion about getting a grilled cheese with fries at the diner.

The “or no” option increases the sincerity in the search for an honest answer.

Rarely, of course, does someone say, “do I look good in this, or no?” or “does my new haircut suit me, or no?” Perhaps the context for the use of the or no phrase reflects how confident the speaker is in receiving a negative response.

Hearing the phrase “or no” means the listener hears the word before saying it, making it easier to restart the planning process.

That two-letter word can help people avoid activities that neither of them really want to do in the first place.

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief,
Publisher

Given all the chaos, both globally and domestically, in today’s world, it is surprising that the stock market is back to just about where it was before the decline started with the pandemic. So what does that tell us about investing, and especially about investing in stocks?

According to Charles D. Ellis, a Wall Street guru, who has written a new book called, “Rethinking Investing: A Very Short Guide to Very Long-Term Investing,” it’s not what is happening in the world at any given moment that matters, according to him. The magic element for financial success is time. When most people think of long-term, they may think five years, maybe ten years. Ellis is talking 60 years.

So who has a 60-year horizon?

There are two ways to answer that question. If you are in your 20s when you start investing, and if you believe in the incredible returns you get from money compounding as you reinvest the dividends over the decades, you can realize significant wealth by your 80s. 

In other words, let’s say you buy a stock or an index fund at $100 that pays a five percent dividend when you are 25. A year later, you have $105, if you let the principal compound, meaning, you automatically reinvest the dividend into more stock. You now have more dividends from more stocks to reinvest after the second year, and so it goes. The dividends keep increasing as the number of stocks increase and perhaps also appreciate—most of the time. If the stocks should drop in price for a while, the dividends get to buy more stocks at the cheaper price.When you are in your 80s, you will be a happy camper if your stocks remain untouched for 60 years.

This is good advice for those in their 20s, or thereabouts, today.

If you are older, the other way to think about a 60-year time horizon is if you consider that you are investing for your grandchildren, who have a long-term future. Of course, they would have to leave the stocks untouched to allow them to compound, so you need to explain this essentially passive strategy to them. They would hope to make enough money from their day jobs to pay their bills so they can let their inherited investment  compound undisturbed.

Low-cost stock index funds that are diversified are a recommendation from Ellis. They reduce the risk of picking the wrong individual stocks, and they do as well as the overall market. And the overall market, over the long-term, is a winner. From January 1926 through March, 2025, the annualized return for the S&P 500 (a combination of selected stocks) was 10.43 percent, according to analysts. That includes the several severe market declines, over those years, that are overcome with long-term investing. While that’s almost 100 years, if we look over the past 60 years, the number is almost the same: 10.46 through June 20.

That means, an investment would have doubled in less than 7 years, on average and that repeated doubling continues. Further eye-popping statistics: The cumulative return for the S&P 500 for those 60 years was…wait for it… 38,881.17 percent. Yes, really! So, if you had invested $1000 60 years ago, it would be $390,000 today. Woulda! Coulda! Shoulda!

That said, losses over a one year period happen 30 percent of the time for all stock portfolios. And according to analysts, for an investor to have withstood all the losses since 1926, they would have had to hold the S&P 500 for 13 years.

For all of the above statistics and information, I am grateful to The New York Times’s writer, Jeff Sommer, who likes the way Ellis thinks, as reported in his column, Strategies. This appears in Sunday Business each week. Thank you, Jeff. I like the way you think.

METRO photo

Plants need stems to survive. They provide structural support and connect the roots to the leaves and flowers, making it possible to bring water, nutrients and sugars throughout the plant.

Similarly, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) serves a critical function for society.

As with the rest of a plant, STEM is not the only part that nourishes our culture, but it does offer critical support that makes it possible to adapt to future challenges and to push the frontier of human knowledge.

This week, we and scientists around the world celebrated the long-anticipated grand opening of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, a telescope and camera so advanced that it has already spotted 2,400 asteroids we hadn’t previously seen.

This state-of-the-art camera was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, making it possible to see deep into space and to ask questions about changes around us as well as dark matter and dark energy.

“NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory reflects what’s possible when the federal government backs world-class engineers and scientists with the tools to lead,” Harriet Kung, acting director of the DOE’s Office of Science said in a statement.

Indeed!

This project echoes some of the cutting edge science efforts that the federal government supported after World War II.

STEM funding supports translational research, which addresses questions like what molecule can scientists target to slow or stop the progression of cancer or what plant genes can enhance resistance to disease or environmental extremes. It can also support basic research that explores what causes a cell to divide, to die, or to differentiate.

Both of these areas of research have led to important discoveries that have contributed to society. Researchers credit their achievements with the opportunity and knowledge they received from previous generations of scientists who, like runners in a relay race, pass the baton to the next generation of great thinkers and explorers.

Science funding has among the highest returns on investment of any federal funding, Cutting funding to areas like the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and other federal programs can impede the ability of science and society to grow and respond to change.

The current budget proposal for 2026 suggests a 40 percent cut to the NIH, which would reduce the number of institutes from 27 to eight. Yikes!

Further up the chain, societal growth also depends on supporting the education of students who can go from a classroom where they learn about what’s known to a field where they can rewrite the textbooks they had studied.

Canceling grants to STEM education not only threatens the students who miss out on chances to learn, but also society, which won’t benefit from the spark of inspiration these students receive.

The federal government must continue to invest in STEM. The future growth of our society – with businesses, cures for diseases and an expanding knowledge base that enables us to live healthier and better lives – depends on it.