Category Archives: public life
Frederick Douglass, from 1852 to 2020
So many annual summer events have been cancelled due to COVID-19’s imperative to avoid large crowds. Way back in March I wondered if the annual July 4 reading of Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” … Continue reading
Voting in the Age of COVID-19
For the first time in anyone’s memory, and maybe the first time ever, West Tisbury held its annual town meeting (ATM — and yes, cash gets dispensed here, but not the way you non–New Englanders may be thinking!) in another … Continue reading
Juneteenth 2020
There’ve been Juneteenth celebrations on Martha’s Vineyard before, but Friday’s was by far the biggest and most diverse. We gathered at Veterans Park in Vineyard Haven, then marched — well, “walked” is probably the better word — the three and … Continue reading
Standing Up for Black Lives
Even when you think you get it, watching a police officer murder a black man on video is shocking. Even when you think you get it, watching two white men take the law into their own hands and stalk and … Continue reading
This Ride Is Just Beginning
Sometimes you pick your issues. Other times — and I’m coming to believe that this is by far the more common scenario — the issues pick you. About a year ago news surfaced that drivers for the Vineyard Transit Authority … Continue reading
Co-op
Sunday afternoon I delivered orders to two MVY Co-op members, one in Chilmark, the other in Aquinnah. It was a glorious day for a drive up-island, and anything past the West Tisbury–Chilmark line is off my psychic map. That means … Continue reading
April License Plate Report
Fewer cars on the road, and I’ve been driving less than usual — in the age of COVID-19 I attend meetings without leaving home — but I still scored two plates: North Carolina near the beginning of the month and … Continue reading
About That Rally . . .
From a distance Martha’s Vineyard, like planet earth, looks like a tidy, cohesive whole. That’s the front side of the knitting. Since not long after I arrived on Martha’s Vineyard, I’ve found the backside more interesting. On the front the … Continue reading
Shopping
Short version: It’s strange and (almost) normal at the same time. We’ve been living with stay-at-home orders for more than a month now, and what I’ve realized is that I’m pretty much a stay-at-home person. Except when I’m not. I … Continue reading
Viral
“Going viral” has been idiomatic English for quite a while. Just about everybody, or everybody with an internet connection, knows what it means: a meme or image, story or video, goes viral when it’s diffused far and wide through the … Continue reading
