Category Archives: public life
Vineyarders Sing, Loud and Clear
If this heading doesn’t make sense, see my most recent post, “Do You Hear the People Sing?” Or just read on. On Monday, advocates for the Martha’s Vineyard Housing Bank were staring down a make-or-break week, though no one was … Continue reading
Do You Hear the People Sing
Housing bank votes start next week, when four island towns — Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, and West Tisbury — hold their annual town meetings (ATMs), and three of the four (all except Tisbury) hold their elections two days later. ATMs … Continue reading
Have Faith. Keep Going.
Friday night I went (via Zoom, of course) to the M.V. Hebrew Center’s annual service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. When I first attended a few years ago, I knew next to … Continue reading
Privacy? Muwahahaha . . .
The other day I came across a clever aphorism so of course I did it up pretty and posted it on my Facebook timeline as “Quote of the Day: “Dance like nobody’s watching. Email like it may one day be … Continue reading
Happy Fifth of July
In 1852, Frederick Douglass declined to address a Fourth of July celebration. On July 5th he explained why, in one of the greatest speeches of all time: “What to the Slave Is Your Fourth of July?” That speech sparked a … Continue reading
Other Than That, Mrs. Lincoln . . .
It’s taken rather longer than expected for the ship to come in but come in it has. From what I hear on social media, people not only across the country but around the world are cheering, setting off fireworks, and … Continue reading
October License Plate Report
October is a boring month in the license plate game. A reliable nothing-burger. How reliable? Well, from 2012 through 2019 the only year anything new showed up in October was 2016: the sighting was Montana. Which makes this October even … Continue reading
Stillness in the Wind
Dylan’s “When the Ship Comes In” has been running through my mind for the last several days. I know it well enough to sing it as I walk, fudging some of the lyrics and mis-ordering some of the verses, but … Continue reading
Why You Should Vote YES on Question 2
Question 2 on the Massachusetts general election ballot is about Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV), so this is primarily for Massachusetts voters. I do believe, however, that RCV is an idea whose time has come. It may be coming to your state … Continue reading
Black Lives Matter @ 5 Corners
I just read Isabel Wilkerson’s new book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Like her first book, The Warmth of Other Suns, it’s a mind expander. Did you know that in establishing their diabolical caste system, the Nazis looked for … Continue reading
From the Seasonally Occupied Territories . . . 