Category Archives: musing
Neighbors
For more than 40 years I’ve made virtually all my own bread. For the last almost 10, I’ve used sourdough almost exclusively. Today Alabama voters go to the polls to elect a new U.S. senator. There’s a connection between these … Continue reading
Late October on the Line
My #1 technique for surviving reasonably sane in these bizarre, bewildering, and outrageous times is to relish as much as possible the small satisfactions of daily life, like walking with my dog, working on my novel, baking bread (and occasionally … Continue reading
Gun Store on Main Street
Early this past week an email went round with the subject line “Gun Store on Main Street.” It started thus: “It can’t happen here”… Sinclair Lewis Or could it? There is a proposal in the works to open a guns … Continue reading
Statues
I’m more than half Southern on my mother’s side, but I grew up (and have lived most of my life) in Massachusetts, so until pretty recently I was able to think of Confederate statues as mostly a matter of heritage … Continue reading
Gossip
Gossip is widely assumed to be, by definition, frivolous, erroneous, and/or malicious. Call it “orally transmitted information” and it gets more respect. My first few years on Martha’s Vineyard I didn’t believe people who said they rarely read the local … Continue reading
Insider, Outsider
When Senator Elizabeth Warren came to the Vineyard for a town hall last month (see “The Line, the Hall, and the Senator” for details), an estimated 1,000 people filled a hall whose official capacity is about 800. When my four … Continue reading
Some Personal History
Here’s an addendum of sorts to “Tolerant, Up to a Point,” posted yesterday. During the discussion of the Vineyard’s lesbian and gay history at the Spectrum Film Festival, an audience member mentioned Margaret Webster (1905–1972), the eminent Anglo-American actor and theater … Continue reading
Into the Mud
The title of my first novel, The Mud of the Place, came from its epigraph, a quote from a 1994 interview with the late poet-writer-activist Grace Paley: “If your feet aren’t in the mud of a place, you’d better watch where your … Continue reading
Against Perfectionism
On January 30 I finally did the deed: I changed my voter registration from Unenrolled to Democrat. Written confirmation from the town clerk’s office was dated the 31st. A very small step for a woman, so it seems, but to … Continue reading
Beginner
Once upon a time I must have made New Year’s resolutions. Who hasn’t? I doubt I kept many of them. Who does? It’s a cliché how much exercise equipment winds up in the classifieds by the first of February. I did … Continue reading
From the Seasonally Occupied Territories . . . 