Category Archives: public life
Tam Lin Goes to a Selectmen’s Meeting
How is writing about Martha’s Vineyard like a puppy chasing its own tail? Real life inspires fiction and fiction starts looking like real life and pretty soon you’ve forgotten which came first. Round and round and round . . . … Continue reading
Tam Lin Starts Socializing
Good dog trainers emphasize the importance of early socialization for young puppies, with a focus on the first three months (13 weeks). Travvy’s early socialization was mostly hit-or-miss, which most likely contributed to the, uh, challenges we had later with … Continue reading
April License Plate Report
A pretty spectacular month! The April scorecard: D.C., West Virginia, Nevada, New Mexico, Minnesota, Hawaii, Mississippi, and Missouri. West Virginia, Hawaii, or Mississippi! Any one of the three would be cause for celebration, but all three in one month? I … Continue reading
Yes to the Housing Bank
Spring is town meeting season in New England, and that includes Martha’s Vineyard. Four of the six island towns — Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, and my town of West Tisbury — hold their annual town meetings (ATMs) next Tuesday, April … Continue reading
Post-Election Pep Talk
Yes, it’s a bummer that Beto didn’t win in Texas, and the voter suppression that went down in Georgia should infuriate anyone who believes in representative government, but if you’re disappointed in Tuesday’s election results and you’re not a Republican, … Continue reading
2018 Election Roundup, Part 2
Part 2 of my 2018 Election Roundup is devoted to the three questions on the Massachusetts ballot. Part 1 was devoted to the candidates. For a detailed description and complete text of each one, along with an argument for and an … Continue reading
2018 Election Roundup, Part 1
I’ve been planning an election-round-up blog post but was going to do it closer to election day. Then I was reminded that early voting is already under way: in Massachusetts it started this past Monday and continues through November 2, … Continue reading
Vote Like Housing Matters
I’m working on an election roundup post and pep talk, but a story in the Cape Cod Times caught my eye yesterday and pissed me off enough that I’m devoting a post to it. I hadn’t paid all that much attention … Continue reading
Repairing the Bike Path
“Infrastructure” comes up in political conversations a lot these days, and with good reason: infrastructure is crucial to the smooth running of any enterprise, but it often gets short shrift when it comes time to budget money for it. Why? … Continue reading
Standout Saturdays
The weather for last Saturday’s “Stand Up!” standout was pretty lousy, but more than a dozen of us braved the rain and chill and stood out anyway. Plenty of passing motorists honked their support. The organizers — a bunch of … Continue reading
