Key West Island News

Key West Island News connects Key West residents and friends of the island, fosters our One Human Family culture and advances understanding of shared goals for our island community

Linda Grist Cunningham | Columns and news analysis

Key West Island News editor Linda Grist Cunningham has written more than 4,000 columns — in print and on the web — since 1968. She hates writing and is compelled to do it anyway.

Dear Connor | As the American democracy unravels, can there be hope for your future?

American history is filled with "times like these." Three times we have been here. I believe we will be OK. Though my rage boils over too often, I believe in Americans-in-the-middle. I believe there are extremists on the right and the left -- and I believe they do not, do not, represent who we are as a people. They get the attention and the headlines today; spoiled children clamoring for their own ice cream cone, unwilling to share and willing to fight to the death to keep what they believe is theirs and theirs alone. Getting through this transition will not be for the faint of heart. But get through we will. Finish the column

Linda Grist Cunningham | Nov 2, 2018

5 ways to avoid a Key West rental scam

High season rule: Ain't no sweet deals on a Key West vacation rental. Five things to do before you hand over your credit card to a scam. Finish the column

Linda Grist Cunningham | Oct 26, 2018

From the Porch: Need your help: Why would anyone want to live in Key West?

Help me out here: We keep asking: How can we get people to come here? How can we improve the "experience" for our visitors. Ought we not be asking instead "what must we do to become a place where people want to live"? There are a bazillion unscientific surveys that say Key West is a "top 10 this-that-and-the-other," but those things are always about why VISITORS want to be in Key West. I think we should ask: Why one would choose Key West as the place to move to be a teacher, doctor, lawyer, business owner, cop, firefighter, etc. You know, the kinds of jobs and professions that make a little-town-big-city a great place to put down long-term roots. Finish the column

Linda Grist Cunningham | Oct 15, 2018

From the Porch: Need your help: Why would anyone want to live in Key West?

From the Porch | Egads! Meet the kitten who made me buy a teal Key West cane

Retail shopping in Key West is, to say the least, limited unless one is in search of T-shirts, tropical tourist paraphernalia and exceptional art work. None of which does a thing for a sprained ankle. So I wasn't particularly hopeful that I'd find a cane, or if I did, that it would (a) fit, since I am barely five-feet-in-flip-flops; and (b) have a touch of panache. Figured I'd buy a can of spray paint if the functional black needed spiffing. Finish the column

Linda Grist Cunningham | Oct 10, 2018

A selection of LGC’s columns

Dear Connor is a collection of columns Linda writes for her grandson, Connor. Though he may never read them, they help her make sense of the world. Hurricane Irma includes the columns and news stories she wrote during the September 2017 storm, when she and John Teets created and managed the Key West Hurricane Irma Facebook page that reach almost a million readers over three weeks.

Dear Connor

Nov20182

Dear Connor | As the American democracy unravels, can there be hope for your future?

By Linda Grist Cunningham

American history is filled with "times like these." Three times we have been here. I believe we will be OK. Though my rage boils over too often, I believe in Americans-in-the-middle. I believe there are extremists on the right and the left -- and I believe they do not, do not, represent who we are as a people. They get the attention and the headlines today; spoiled children clamoring for their own ice cream cone, unwilling to share and willing to fight to the death to keep what they believe is theirs and theirs alone. Getting through this transition will not be for the faint of heart. But get through we will.

Finish the column

Jan201723

Dear Connor | The day the young ones took charge

By Linda Grist Cunningham

History will remember the march as the coming-to-power of Xers and Millennials. Though there were aging baby boomers aplenty in the crowd and at the microphones, the marches around the world saw these elders step aside to open the way for younger women.

Finish the column

Nov201612

Dear Connor: Breaking the loop of endless despair

By Linda Grist Cunningham

The 2016 presidential election will, on hindsight, be recognized as the precursor to the catalyst that ignites the transformation of America from fragmented, angry and disillusioned into cohesive, collaborative and powerful. America will move away from six decades of tearing down to four decades of building up and then we'll start the process over.

Finish the column

Nov201612

Dear Connor: There’s no shaking off the coal dust

By Linda Grist Cunningham

We will draw the line at the hard-core wingnuts at the fringes. I'm not inviting willful haters to my table. They're not welcome. Period. We need to do whatever we have to to keep the haters corralled. And we must recognize there's such a thing as hate born of unknowing.

Finish the column

Key West Hurricane Irma

Sep201823

Hurricane Irma: 9-23-17: Closing up shop. Saying Godspeed. Going home to the Cat 5s

By Linda Grist Cunningham

When we launched Key West Hurricane Irma, our online news coverage, we weren’t sure when “quit” would happen. We were confident we'd know. Today is the anniversary of knowing. It was time to wish our house guests farewell and Godspeed.

Finish the column

Sep20187

Hurricane Irma | One year ago, we awaited the storm

By Linda Grist Cunningham

Why did so many decide to stay on the island, defying the mandatory Hurricane Irma evacuation orders and flirting with destruction? The answers are as complicated as the Keys. Re-reading my 2017 columns reminded me just how powerful we were as an online community. To each of you who followed along, who shared your stories and your tears, I say "thank you." It was a tough time. It's been a tough year.

Finish the column

Hurricane Irma | One year ago, we awaited the storm

Aug201831

Hurricane Irma | How did news coverage get so confused?

By Linda Grist Cunningham

By Sept, 5, 2017, five days before Hurricane Irma battered Key West and the Florida Keys, I was swearing -- or at least muttering unpleasant comments under my breath. I was, as some will remember, visiting my mother in the Shenandoah Valley and...

Finish the column

Aug201820

Hurricane Irma | Are you ready for the anniversary?

By Linda Grist Cunningham

Sunday. Aug. 20, 2017 -- exactly one year ago -- was a perfect island beach day. High temps in the upper 80s, low humidity -- at least for us -- great breezes and sunny skies. No storms on the horizon; all quiet off the shores of Africa from...

Finish the column

Hurricane Irma | Are you ready for the anniversary?

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LGC Says

LGC Says is a collection of columns, essays and short stories written by Linda Grist Cunningham. The collection includes letters to her grandson and coverage of Hurricane Irma.

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