Floyd Memorial Library Podcast

Today on the Floyd Memorial Library Podcast, we’re turning the microphone around for a very special episode. Since its beginning, this podcast has focused on the stories of the people who make up the North Fork community. Over 244 episodes, Christopher Bianchi has had the opportunity to sit down with artists, historians, community leaders, longtime residents, and people from all walks of life to h...

Today on the Floyd Memorial Library Podcast, I’m joined by Margaret Rose de Cruz for a conversation about healing, community, and our relationship with the world around us. Born in Philadelphia to an Irish mother and Filipino father, both of whom worked in healthcare, Margaret’s journey has taken her from Philadelphia to Brooklyn and eventually to Greenport, where she settled in 2014. Since then,...

Today on the Floyd Memorial Library Podcast, we're joined by Ann Hurwitz, an educator and longtime member of the Southold community. Raised in New York City, Ann grew up with a strong connection to her family history and ancestry, while spending nearly every weekend throughout the year coming out to Southold. Her professional life was spent in education, including many years at Bank Street Sch...

Today we're joined by Mark Moffett, an entomologist, explorer, author, and photographer whose work has taken him around the world studying the complex societies created by animals. From ants in the desert to elephants in Africa, wolves in Yellowstone, bats in Trinidad, and sea turtles along the Georgia coast, Mark has spent decades observing animals in their natural environments and asking wha...

Today on the Floyd Memorial Library Podcast, we're joined by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, one of New York's longest-serving statewide elected officials. Since taking office in 2007, Comptroller DiNapoli has overseen the state's finances, safeguarded the New York State Common Retirement Fund, conducted audits of state agencies and local governments, and worked to promo...

Today we're joined by Mary Korpi, author of The Lady Lighthouse Keeper and a docent at Horton Point Lighthouse. Through her work welcoming visitors and sharing the history of one of the North Fork's most recognizable landmarks, Mary developed a fascination with Stella Prince, the only woman to serve as lighthouse keeper at Horton Point. That research eventually became The Lady Lighthouse K...

Today we're joined by Allan Wexler, an artist whose work exists at the intersection of art, architecture, design, and everyday life. Raised in Connecticut, Allan developed an early fascination with the built environment and the ordinary objects that shape our daily routines. Over the course of a career spanning more than five decades, he has created sculptures, installations, and conceptual wo...

Today I’m joined by Carole Monsell for a conversation deeply rooted in the history and spirit of Greenport. We talk about her family ancestry and the generations of connections her family has to the village, along with what it was like growing up in Greenport and watching the area evolve into what it is today. Carole shares memories from her school years, the changes she’s witnessed throughout the...

Today I'm joined by Marc Sokol, a longtime technology entrepreneur, investor, and community leader whose career spans some of the most transformative decades in the history of computing. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Commack and Silver Spring, Marc began programming at just 15 years old, eventually leaving the Illinois Institute of Technology at 19 to work as a software engineer during the ea...

Today I’m joined by DJ Henry Eau, a familiar presence across the North Fork’s music scene, someone whose work has quietly become part of the rhythm of the place. But before the late nights and packed dance floors, there’s a deeper story, rooted in family, small business, and growing up on the North Fork, in a community where people tend to know each other. In this conversation, Henry reflects on h...

Today, I’m joined by David Higbee, who was born and raised in Greenport and whose roots in the village run deep. In our conversation, we talk about his family ancestry, his memories of growing up in Greenport, and the path that eventually took him away. We also explore his return in the 1990s and how the village had changed in his absence, what felt familiar, what didn’t and his reflections on wha...

Today on the podcast, I’m joined by Janice Claudio, Chair of the Greenport Historic Preservation Commission. Greenport is a place where history isn’t just something you read about, it’s something you walk through. From its maritime roots to its architecture, the village carries layers of its past in plain sight. But preserving that history, while also allowing a community to grow and change, is no...

Today on the podcast, I’m joined by writer Caroline Sutton, author of the essay collection Eyes in the Soles of My Feet. In this book, Sutton invites us to slow down and reconsider the natural world, not as something distant or separate, but as something we’re constantly moving through, often without noticing. Her essays ask deceptively simple questions, when is a weed not a weed, when is a pest n...

Today on the podcast, I’m joined by Captain Matt Ketcham, Owner of Peconic Gold Oysters. Matt grew up on Long Island and developed an early connection to the water through fishing and boating. After studying at the University of Rhode Island and spending time working as a charter boat captain in Peconic Bay, he eventually turned his focus to aquaculture, launching Peconic Gold and becoming part of...

Today’s guest is someone whose story truly reflects the spirit of hard work, creativity, and community that defines the North Fork. Born in Pakistan and raised half a world away from the East End, Choudry Ali eventually made his way to the North Fork, and in 2007 took a leap of faith that would forever change a beloved local institution in Mattituck. When he purchased Magic Fountain, a summertime...

Today I’m joined by Agathe Snow, an artist whose life has moved between worlds and mediums. She spent part of her childhood in Corsica before moving to New York at eleven, an age when everything feels heightened and unsettled. That early shift between cultures, languages, and identities, would quietly shape the way she sees the world. Before she ever imagined becoming an artist, she was immersed i...

Today I’m joined by Caroline Nadeau, Chief Compliance Officer and Director of Program Operations at The Butterfly Effect Project. A North Fork native, Caroline reflects on her roots here, the experiences that shaped her path, and what ultimately brought her back home. We talk about her work at BEP, the impact of programs that support and empower young people more broadly, and how the organization...

Today I’m joined by Maria Rivero González, CEO of RGNY Wine, a winery whose story spans generations and geographies, from northern Mexico to the North Fork of Long Island. Maria grew up in a family where wine was part of everyday life. Her family began making wine in Parras, Coahuila, widely considered the oldest wine-growing region in the Americas, and what started as her father’s passion would e...

Today’s guest is Perry Bliss of The Old Field Vineyards in Southold, a place that’s been farmed by her family for more than a century and has played an important role in the story of North Fork wine. Perry grew up on this land, returned to it, and helped guide The Old Field through generations of change, from vegetables to vines, from family tradition to modern winemaking, all while staying deeply...

Today I’m joined by Bob McInnis, who many of you know as the North Fork’s go-to marketing mind behind some of our most recognizable local businesses and organizations. Bob is the founder of McInnis Digital, where his team helps clients grow through smart websites, search and AI optimization, social media, email marketing, automation, and both print and digital advertising, along with photography a...

Today’s guest is Patricia Hammes, a Greenport resident who has played a central role in shaping conversations about growth, planning, and community life in the village. Patricia brings a background that predates her time on the North Fork, and that broader experience has informed her work locally, most notably through her service as Chair of the Greenport Planning Board, where she has dedicated a...

Today, we’re joined once again by Michael Zweig to revisit a pivotal decade in the life of the North Fork, the ten-year struggle for its character and economic base, from 1985 to 1995. Michael first visited the North Fork in the 1960s, returning more permanently in the 1980s, at a moment when the future of the region was very much an open question. Would the North Fork follow a path of planning, a...

Today I’m joined by Judy McCleery, photographer, writer, longtime community leader, and a lifelong North Forker whose story is deeply woven into the fabric of the East End. Judy takes us back to her family’s arrival on the North Fork and her upbringing in Mattituck, sharing vivid memories of growing up here and how that sense of place shaped who she would become. From her years at Mattituck High S...

Today I’m joined by Gerald O’Hara, author of Breaking the Mauser Rifle. What began with a week spent with his grandparents in Ireland in 1985 grew into a thirty-year journey to record and preserve a family history shaped by the Irish War of Independence and the divisions of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Drawing on family memory, inherited stories, and recorded voices, Gerald traces not only his own fami...

Today I’m joined by Shawn Petretti, Superintendent of the Mattituck-Cutchogue Union Free School District. Shawn’s journey in education has taken him through nearly every level of school life, from teacher and dean to principal and now superintendent, giving him a leadership perspective shaped by years in classrooms and close connection with students and families. We begin by talking about where Sh...