The Key West Mystique
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.
Key West Fantasy Fest | How long can it hold on?
Since 1979, Key West's Fantasy Fest has been the gorilla of annual events. Created by a small local group as a way to jump start the island's late summer doldrums as hurricane season came to a close and before the snowbirds migrated south, Fantasy Fest brings...
Covid cancels your Key West plans? Pack up for Fort Zach
We'd weathered the will-it-won't-it forecasts of Tropical Storm Fred and made it to the window between never-came-here Tropical Storm Grace and we were headed to Snipes. Then came the text: "I am so very sorry but your captain just tested positive for Covid. And my...
Key West Covid: Folks, it’s time to slap some masks on
I swore when I sat down I wasn't going to type a word about Covid-19. I was going to write about trees. (Love them; have never seen a thing as lovely as a tree, etc.) Maybe about those cute little "park-lettes." (Make sidewalk dining and sidewalk walking compatible.)...
5 (slightly) annoying Key West things and how to get over them
Let's get this out of the way first. What with climate change, Covid-19, and a global plethora of crumbling cultures and governments, not to mention that Amazon Prime's two-day delivery guarantee is now akin to "someday, for sure, but definitely not today," I really...
Key West Covid: Be safe. Surround yourself with old, masked boomers
Here we are smack in the middle of "freedom summer," the mythical promise that by the time school started mid-August in Key West, we'd be rocking and rolling toward a Covid-19-free (or at least manageable) holiday season with hugging, kissing and up close and...
Summer in Key West: Things no one wants newcomers to know
Summer in Key West is not for the faint of heart. Unless you were born and raised on tropical summers, nothing much prepares you for that after-dark moment when you leave the house to walk the dog. Oh, you acclimate eventually, but I suspect for most of us, we look at...
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.
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.
Dear Connor: Nine promises that we will be OK
Being OK doesn't mean the next several years will be moonbeams and unicorns. The next decade will be harsh, unsteady, inexplicable and frightening. We will, as a country, walk with that awesome shadow of the valley of death. History tells us that we must face our worst selves before we can create our best.
Hurricane Irma | In September 2017, Linda Grist Cunningham created and launched a Facebook Page that aggregated news coverage during Hurricane Irma. She was off-island at the time visiting her mother in Virginia. Her husband remained in Key West. Over the three weeks that she and her partner journalists John Teets maintained around-the-clock coverage, they reached almost a million people around the world. These are the columns she wrote each day. Hurricane Season is always June 1 – Nov. 30.
Hurricane Irma: 9-23-17: Closing up shop. Saying Godspeed. Going home to the Cat 5s
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.
Hurricane Irma | One year ago, we awaited the storm
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.