Stories,photos

128 results total, viewing 51 - 60

In our chemically altered landscape, signs of Eden

“Privilege.” What does it mean? The help at Frenchman’s Creek – a manicured and gated community in Florida’s Palm Beach – come from such … more

Mike Fink | 2/6/20

The artistry of making the best of what’s left

Janus was the two-faced divinity of ancient Rome, facing backward and forward. The past and future, left and right profile, double homily and divided. If someone is described as … more

Mike Fink | 1/8/20

The years come and go, but Mom endures in my thoughts and being

I was born in the month of Sagittarius: I am a centaur, half horse, half archer, aiming high. I get the horse half from my mom, Betty C. Fink: she loved to draw and sculpt equine … more

Mike Fink | 12/9/19

A little less ‘progress’ would do us a world of good

Our collective human problem is not how to save the planet for us ... but rather from us! We must back off from “civilizing” the poor troubled planet, and leave some space to … more

Mike Fink | 10/31/19

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

Friends once and forever

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