Category Archives: public life
Now Filming in West Tisbury
Seen from a distance, Martha’s Vineyard looks bucolic, homogeneous, and maybe even a little boring. Up close it’s much more interesting. The best way to understand what the place is about, how it works and how it doesn’t, is to … Continue reading
Voter Seeks Information
In the midst of what has to be hands-down the most bizarre presidential election campaign of my lifetime, I’ve had a “compare and contrast” track running in my head: How are national and regional politics like and unlike politics on … Continue reading
Post-Primary Day
On our morning walks, Travvy and I usually head toward the state forest, via Pine Hill, Halcyon Way, or the Dr. Fisher Road. Yesterday we struck out in the opposite direction, across the Island Farms subdivision to State Road and … Continue reading
My Vote in the Balance
I haven’t exactly been following the presidential primary campaign, but I’ve found it pretty hard to ignore, not least because I hang out on Facebook. My Facebook friends have interesting opinions and post links to interesting stuff. Massachusetts allows “unenrolled” … Continue reading
Jump Start
This past weekend the temperature took a deep dive to 8 or 9 below zero Fahrenheit. That’s about –23 Celsius. I’m learning to do approximate Celsius-Fahrenheit conversions in my head. In winter I like Celsius better because it makes it … Continue reading
Political Packaging
“What is a fascist — other than someone you don’t like?” That’s how the great Jack Reece (1941–1997), my Modern European History professor at the University of Pennsylvania, opened his lecture on Nazism and Fascism. Nervous tittering rippled through the … Continue reading
November 11
Veterans Day 2015. Blustery and wet on Martha’s Vineyard: the parade was cancelled, and the annual ceremony was moved inside to the VFW hall in Oak Bluffs. November 11 was my uncle Neville’s birthday. He was a gentle, soft-spoken guy, … Continue reading
Going to Church
When I moved to Martha’s Vineyard, I wasn’t surprised by the number of churches. The town I grew up in west of Boston, population about 10,000, had one for every denomination I’d ever heard of at the time (which isn’t … Continue reading
Sonnets on a Planning Board Meeting
In “Small-Town Journalism in the ’80s,” guest blogger Eileen Maley recalled covering “West Tisbury’s planning board meetings, where much of the action took place. Overflow crowds showed up to hear proposals to chop up large plots of land for housing … Continue reading
Small-Town Journalism in the ’80s
Guest blogger Eileen Maley was the first Calendar editor of the Martha’s Vineyard Times. I was the second. If it hadn’t been for Eileen, I wouldn’t have wound up at the Times at all: at a West Tisbury town meeting ca. 1987, this woman I … Continue reading
From the Seasonally Occupied Territories . . . 