by kenneth lee warner

I live here. And, I’ve noticed that a lot of people aren't aware that the United States even has a North Coast, but it stretches along that big puddle called Lake Ontario that separates us from our Canadian neighbors. It’s part of the largest freshwater source in the world and I've lived within ten miles of it for all of my life.

Now, I live on it in a little village called Fair Haven just 60 miles east of Rochester and a little Northwest of Syracuse.

It’s called that because a “fair haven” is what it has historically been for sailors. And, it is for me, too. Because of the sand bars its bay rarely ever roils up like Lake Ontario and it’s one of the most beautiful and best-kept secrets in New York State. I live here in a 900+/- sq. ft. cottage from the last century – dubbed "The Alamo" – where I’m making my last stand in life as a writer, sailor, and still, community activist. We share this tiny lot with our 31-foot sailboat – the Irish Samurai – the name of which comes from my half-Japanese Mother and my mostly Irish Father. And, we also have some remarkable gardens tended by my domestic partner, friend, companion, co-conspirator, and (it turns out) the real love of my life, Cate.

We cook. We make Wine. We garden. We walk. We fish. We read. We sail. We live happily ever after, and I write.

I’m “retired” now, after almost three decades of politics and working for Labor Unions on behalf of working families. And, I’ve worked on political campaigns in one way or another since I was 18 years old.

In my life, I’ve experienced political assassinations of our leaders, rioting on the streets of our neighborhoods in Rochester, devastating economic recessions, and the Vietnam War. So, these days may not seem to me to be the most difficult times we’ve lived through … but they are certainly the most dangerous to our democracy and way of life.

I used to do a lot of writing – as an author, sometimes speechwriter, editor, freelance journalist, and community blogger for Rochester’s daily newspaper the Democrat and Chronicle.

Now, I write mostly online on Medium and on this website. It gives me an outlet for my creative side and it provides me an outlet for the knowledge I’ve learned over the last 50 years of political campaigns.

I’m writing some essays about winning them in my newsletter FIRST TUESDAY.  And, as the words scroll off the page, this is where you can find some of (what I hope is) wisdom, hard-earned of those long days and nights.

You can contact me in any of the following ways:

email: ken@irishsamurai.com

Text me at 585.355.8538