We asked our reporters to look back over the stories we published in 2022 and choose some of the things newsmakers told them this year. Here are some LINES they haven’t been able to forget. —The editors
Kristen Becker on the importance of providing experiences of connection and intimacy outside of bars (from “$3.7 Million Donation Will Buy Summer of Sass a Home” by Paul Benson, Sept. 8): Becker wants to loosen the links between queer identity and alcohol. “We don’t all have to be broken gays by 35,” she joked.
Elizabeth Otto on what the scholars at this fall’s Modern House Trust residency were learning (from “In the Wellfleet Woods, Relics of the Bauhaus Avant-Garde” by Sam Pollak, Dec. 15): The Bauhauslers who vacationed on the Cape were known to swim, sunbathe, and walk naked along Newcomb Hollow Beach — much to the chagrin of local families and their children, who were “about crotch height with all these beaching Europeans,” Elizabeth Otto said.
Joe Navas on how a runner learned to manage the anxiety that once drove his use of alcohol as a go-to remedy (from “Learning Moderation From Marathons” by Jasmine Lu, Jan. 20): Navas learned to push himself to the edge, then recognize he was there and let it go, reeling himself back in. “Over time,” he explained, “I became more intimate with that feeling. With anxiety, it was the same thing: recognize it before it took hold, let it go, and relax.”
John Gauthier on why he would like Wellfleet to buy his campground and create year-round and workforce housing (from “Wellfleet’s Sept. 10 Campground Vote Hinges on Septic Waiver” by K.C. Myers, Sept. 1): “I don’t want to be a Truro, where the town is dark from October to May because no one is in all the $6-million mansions,” Gauthier said. “The Truro police have to ask permission to go out of town to get a cup of coffee. We don’t want that.”
Wendy White on why painting is held is such high esteem compared to other art forms (from “Wendy White Puts Painting in Its Place” by Abraham Storer, July 14): “I’m a little skeptical about whether all those accolades are fair. It’s just a bunch of marks, whether it collects into an image or doesn’t.”
