Columns
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•January 21, 2026
Propaganda Stirs Up Colonists
The ideas put forth by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence weren’t new. Six months before in a local Cumberland County newspaper, The Plain Dealer, the editor stated the ideas that…
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•January 21, 2026
New Lingo Is Old Already; Cold Winter Keeps Producing for Surfers
I don’t know if you heard this week, what with the stable genius administration dominating the international news cycle, but the Gen Z term “six seven” is officially dead. Not to worry, kids will…
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•January 20, 2026
Superflu to Tsunamis: The Column Takes Off Stopping in ‘The West’
There’s a mugger of a bug cycling about out there, wearing a gray hoodie that reads “Gotcha!” It’s the flu de jour.
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•January 14, 2026
Looks Like Rain: Deadheads Everywhere Sing Somber ‘Fare-Thee-Well’ to Bob Weir
“But I’ll sing you songs, written in the letter of your name. The rain is gonna come, oh, it surely looks like rain,” our now-late Bob Weir lulls, drawing thousands upon thousands of loyal listeners…
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•January 14, 2026
Is It Rebellion or Revolution?
When the first SandPaper went to press in July 1976, my column dealt with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. In the issues that followed, I was able to deal with the events of…
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•January 8, 2026
2026 Has Been Cold and Flat; That Pattern Change Starts Now
Here it is, my first column of 2026, which is odd because it feels like the fifth week of January already. This year, so far, the waves have yet to hit 2 foot, and the temperature has yet to hit 33.…
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•January 8, 2026
Adjust Your Helmets: The New Year Poised to Get Bumpy and Loud
I approach 2026 with a guarded enthusiasm – and an apolitical apprehension.
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•January 7, 2026
How Hard Did You Study?
Well, 2025 is finally over! The Eagles are in the playoffs and luckily the Giants and Jets still call themselves New York. But before we start thinking about the new year there is some unfinished…
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•December 18, 2025
On a Mission: Sifting Beach Sand for Any Plasticizing
Well, it’s that time of year when The SandPaper takes a little siesta – with some fiestas thrown in for the holidays. We’ll be back on the streets in the first full week of January, though major…
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•December 18, 2025
Dissecting the Layers of Christmas Vacation, the Year in Swells
Does anyone else have a hard time deciding what length holiday string lights to buy when your tree lights don’t work from last year? A string of 100 bulbs is only a few dollars more than 50 bulbs.…
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•December 17, 2025
This Season of Giving, Support Independent Music
As we close in on 2026, the time has come for The SandPaper to be tucked in for a little winter nap while the staff spends some much needed downtime with loved ones for the holidays.
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•December 17, 2025
How Much Do You Remember?
As the days of December grow shorter, all minds turn to the NFL playoffs and who made the final 12 in college football. But there are two other major events that take place during the month: The…
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•December 13, 2025
Did It Seem Like Everywhere in the World Had Waves Except LBI?
Boy, the ocean got quiet for a while there. That stretch from mid-November into December we are normally awash in quick-moving nor’easters, south swells and/or clean groundswell, but from Nov. 16 to…
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•December 11, 2025
Fast Start to Frigidity Points to More Cold … or Record Warmth
I already hate the feel of winter and we’re not even there yet, at least not in calendar times.
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•December 10, 2025
Trash + Treasure Offers Hope, Humanity to Pierce Virtual Reality
Who else feels as though each passing year since the doldrums of 2020 has evaporated exponentially faster than the one before? It makes sense if we consider the fact that pandemic times forced the…
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•December 10, 2025
Digging Up History of Shore Privateers
This is the third and final part in a series.
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•December 9, 2025
Nowhere to Hide: Unblinking Eyes of AI Upon Us Every Turn
LICENSE TO LOOK IN: Sir AI is up and about during this heavily driven holiday season. Our vehicles are being closely watched – sometimes tracked – at every turn.
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•December 4, 2025
The Colonists Get a Navy – of Sorts
During the first months of the American rebellion, the rebel focus was upon turning the local militia surrounding Boston into a trained army. The Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia paid…
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•November 27, 2025
What Might Happen If New Jersey’s Coast Was Open to Offshore Drilling? Waves Quality Over Quantity
The last few weeks have been a bit quiet in our area – pleasantly quiet, I would say. Not much surf; not a whole lot of weather haymakers or huge newsmakers.
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•November 26, 2025
East and West Jersey: Civil War?
Today as we look back on the events leading up to American independence, it’s easy to say which side you would have been on. Winning has a way of doing that. But if you were alive in the fall of…
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•November 26, 2025
Bite of Bloodworms Could Assist Building a Well-Fanged Android
Decently painful. That’s how I describe the poisonous four-fang bite of a larger bloodworm, the size we use for bass bait.
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•November 20, 2025
Making No Cents: Treasury Department Pulls Plug on Pennies
DEAD COIN WALKING/CIRCULATING: The penny is dead. The last was stamped out this month, leaving us with a measly 300 billion still in circulation, waiting to be lost to “erosion” (U.S. Mint term).
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•November 17, 2025
It’s Kinda Involved: Centuries-Old Roots of Ye ‘Dude’ Term
For unknown reasons, I began researching the roots of the well-worn word dude. What a long, strange trip it became.
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•November 13, 2025
Settling Into the Happy Winter Season With a Great Run of Waves
I certainly hope everyone got out and enjoyed Saturday for the lovely day it was. Even Sunday was nice minus some rain showers. Monday was decent, and the waves were firing.
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•November 12, 2025
Fighter Planes’ Recovery Thwarted
A May Speakeasy article in The SandPaper by Garrett Filemyr about a little-known 1945 mass air crash in Ocean County started a deep dive into the facts. After coming up short searching Wikipedia and…
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•November 6, 2025
They Are Out There: Hundreds of USOs Just Off Our Beaches
The ocean at press time (Tuesday) is rather remarkable in an unremarkable way. It’s as flat as the proverbial IHOP pancake. It passes as Lake Atlantic.
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•November 6, 2025
Digging Into WWII Fog Disaster
The May 26 issue of The SandPaper ran a Speakeasy column by Garrett Filemyr that described a tragic aviation disaster that took place near Seven Bridges Road in Tuckerton in March 1945. A quick look…
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•November 1, 2025
With Wind Turbines Sinking, Nuclear Efforts Lighting Up With Jersey Fully on Board
We had that rollicking October nor’easter followed by over a week of excellent west-wind sunniness. Now, we’re getting squeezed by another rousing northeast blow. It amounts to sandwichness.
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•October 30, 2025
Weather Patterns We Just Can’t Shake
Did any other surfers get that feeling last week that the stretch of bad luck, bad sand and bad vibes was over? Yes, the sandbars were absolute hot garbage at most spots, but we had a few breaks…
