Stories,photos

124 results total, viewing 51 - 60

Friends from Yale days (left to right): Joel, Jim and the writer.

They were my Yale classmates and roommates long, long ago. I took the train to New Haven for a trio reunion/rendezvous on a fine fall day, with egrets on the blue water under the azure … more

Mike Fink | 10/2/19

Snapshot of the magical frog in the pond behind the inn in Vermont.

As time goes by – a look in both directions

Almost like the other new year on the secular calendar, we look backward as well as forward in the “What I did this summer” back-to-school essay assignment. We drove … more

Mike Fink | 9/13/19

From a Caribbean island to Rhode Island, ties that bind

I’d been planning my pilgrimage to the place where patriotism was born and bred: the bleak, black isle of Sint Eustatius. “Don’t go there, there’s nowhere to swim, nothing to see, nothing to do,” advised a pair of sophisticated travelers I sometimes see at the pool at the local Marriott. “Cruise ships avoid it altogether,” they claimed. more

Mike Fink | 8/1/19

An unexpected adventure leads to a treasure chest

That old coastal postal road along the way to the Towers in Narragansett: it sums up the history of South County, as it is commonly called in the towns with their wee shopping centers. Once in a while during antique auto shows, I spot a very early motorized fire engine, an elegant miniature marvel! Or a fine roadster proudly maintained by its current chauffeur, who drives the sporty masterpiece of yore. more

Mike Fink | 7/5/19

Riffing on the natural world with a Jewish zookeeper

I drove down Broad Street to the entrance to the Roger Williams Park Zoo to meet up with zookeeper Jeremy Goodman, and to discuss Torah with him, before Shabbat and on the brink of Pesach. … more

Mike Fink | 5/2/19

All of us, in our own time and way, experience an exodus

Jacob Lawrence painted and illustrated the great migration of the African-American population, from south of the Mason-Dixon line northward and eastward, in a noted series currently on … more

Mike Fink | 4/4/19

Fate brings Greta Garbo closer to me

“There’s a divinity that shapes our ends.” – Shakespeare. I had been trying for years to cross paths with the “divine .” Well, destiny recently brought me pretty close to that dream. I had a cup of coffee with her great-niece at a Swedish café in Providence. more

Mike Fink | 2/28/19

Mike Fink’s lapel pin as mentioned in his column.

The hidden reason for my flashy attire

It ain’t easy being a liberal arts teacher at a design school. What you try to convey is an introduction to cultural concerns, or perhaps an invitation to use critical and appreciative … more

Mike Fink | 1/31/19

An astonishing documentary and two surprising books

It used to be that documentaries didn’t draw crowds to cinemas, but that’s changed. Now they’re often the best surprises of the year. This past year, I … more

Mike Fink | 1/10/19

My sorrows, my peevish annoyances, my kvetches

One of the pleasures of passing beyond the security of the middle years allotted to us is giving full voice to your petty grievances with hopes that they will be listened to, respected, even … more

Mike Fink | 12/20/18