Hello Everyone, from Marty Luster

I’m happy to be the newest member of the GMG team.

Joey has already told the story of our, shall we say, impetuous, move to Gloucester from the Finger Lakes of New York last month, so I thought I’d fill in a few of the details.

I am a retired (dare I say it) attorney and (this is even worse) politician. However, for the past nearly 7 years I was the co-editor, and a photographer, reporter, distributor and fundraiser for Positive News U.S. PN is a remarkable print (circulation 20,000) and online (www.positivenewsus.org) publication produced in Ithaca, NY and Bolinas California.  Our move from Ithaca made it sensible for me to step down from my PN activities and I did so—just in time for GMG to come along and fill the gap.

Photography is my main avocation (www.photonewsservice.com) and I have been a sailor and boater since age 16. I am currently boat less for the first time in 34 years, but I expect that will change pretty soon. That works out fine because Barbara and I need the time to explore and learn about our new home and community. We are thrilled with what we have seen so far.

Barbara and I met when she was in junior high and I was in high school in Queens, NY. We were married 46 years ago. Since then we have lived in Manhattan, Queens, Long Island and, for 34 years, in Trumansburg, NY. Barbara is a retired R.N., an outstanding chef and a prolific and talented quilter. She is an extraordinary mother to our two children, Brian [http://amovablebridge.wordpress.com/] (Brooklyn) and Ann (Jamaica Plain) and the world’s greatest grandma to our 4 grandchildren, Priva, Yitzchak, Shanti and Raj.

I look forward to contributing what I can to GMG and the broader Gloucester community.

Here’s my first little tidbit.

Simple Pleasures

“Our life is frittered away by detail.  .  . Simplify, simplify.” Henry David Thoreau

That’s true. So why did he say it twice?