Linda Grist Cunningham | Columns and news analysis
Linda Grist Cunningham | Columns and news analysisKey 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’s White Street (Knight) Pier | Brutalist landmark with fish and a view to Cuba
In Key West, a town that makes a decent chunk of its living touting historical stuff to visitors, you'd think there's gotta be a reason for that quarter-mile-long highway of concrete at the end of White Street. You know, like there once was a fishing village or a...
Been down on Key West’s Duval Street? You might be wishing for cruise ships
I hollered last weekend at two cyclists who were blithely pedaling the wrong way on Fleming near the intersection with Duval. They came ripping out of the entrance to what is one of Key West's loveliest (and likely expensive) vacation rental houses, turned left...
Key West street grid: Do you head north to Miami or east?
Key West's street grid sets the GPS in my head spinning catawampus. Embarrassing though it is to admit it, I'm one of those geographically challenged people who, yeah, gets lost in a paper bag. Eyes roll and sighs escape when a frustrated Ranger Ed says things like...
Want to be a Key West character? Here’s how the pros do it
Miss Andie opens the wooden door at the tiny Fleming Street bar, white lace curtains poking from a bag tossed over her shoulder. Key West sunshine floods the cool, inner dark. There’s a cheer from the bar when she walks in; everyone wants a hug in her warm, generous...
Key West jobs openings go begging; would $30 an hour fill them?
Here's a math word problem for you: If the median price of a house is $799,000, how much does the minimum hourly rate of pay need to be to live in Key West? Let me save you the trouble of finding a calculator. You and your partner both need to make $26.90 an hour,...
Key West is never going to be “post-Covid-19,” so let’s figure out our “next life”
Clueless Key West girl. I did it again. Hopped on an elevator in Miami Tuesday sans mask. Oblivious of naked face until a mom and her little ones, all masked, even the toddlers, stopped and looked at me funny. I did that goofy thing of pulling up my shirt, got off and...
Dear Connor
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.