Category Archives: public life
Disaster Drill
Whenever a hurricane barrels up the East Coast or a blizzard bears down on New England, a few panicky friends halfway around the country are sure that Martha’s Vineyard is about to be flooded off the planet. True, on a … Continue reading
Reactivity
I can’t say that everything I know I’ve learned from my dog, but Travvy has taught me a lot, and not just about dogs. Travvy is reactive. I didn’t know what reactivity was before a dog trainer put a name … Continue reading
Runners’ Field
On my recent, and still ongoing, cleaning/rearranging/excavation jag, I rediscovered my buttons. I hadn’t lost my buttons, exactly, but two bowls of them were hidden behind my old chair. I’d forgotten them. I dumped them out, thinking to dust them … Continue reading
Mediation Training
I spent the last two weekends training to be a mediator. Career change? Not quite. As the instructors and coaches, led by veteran mediator and retired law professor Ed Greenebaum, pointed out several times, we’ve all been mediating all our … Continue reading
Inaugural
In my 11 years (1969–72 and 1977–85) as a resident of Washington, D.C., I never went near an inauguration. The inaugurations that took place during my residency were for Nixon (one) and Reagan (two), which is to say nothing to … Continue reading
The Year That Was: Politics
As 2012 coasted to a close, I had the feeling that for me it had been a marking-time year, a pretty good year, but one in which I was pretty much standing still. Reviewing a year’s worth of blog posts … Continue reading
MV Stuff 4 Sale
Last February, having been on Facebook for just over a year, I blogged about why I liked it. I listed four Vineyard-specific things I liked. One of them was MV Stuff 4 Sale. Kim Hilliard, massage therapist and musician, had … Continue reading
Incumbency Helps
For the last week all the pundits and politicos have been tripping over themselves to analyze the election results. I’m itching to analyze something, but enough is enough, right? However, no one has attempted to analyze the results of the … Continue reading
Should We Be Required to Vote?
Most U.S. presidential elections, the turnout hovers somewhere around 50 percent of all eligible voters. This year was no exception. After most U.S. elections, some USians notice that in Australia voting is compulsory. The turnout in Australia’s 2010 elections was … Continue reading
My Lord, What a Morning!
I’m stealing the title of my 2008 post-election blog. This morning is even better. In 2008 I went to bed before the results were all in. Around 5:45 a.m. I woke up. From my election day blog: 5:45 a.m., November … Continue reading