Category Archives: public life
Martha’s Vineyard Basketball
Slightly adapted from the review I just posted on Goodreads . . . No, I’m not a sports fan, but my fascination with the Vineyard and anything related to race and class is insatiable, so I had such hopes for … Continue reading
Measles on the Map
Measles came to Martha’s Vineyard earlier this month. An off-island child, presumably here on vacation, was taken to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and diagnosed with it. Before, measles was deep background for most of us. Now it occupies a prominent … Continue reading
Singing After Charleston
I wrote this for the little blogsite I maintain for the U.S. Slave Song Project. I sing in the project’s Spirituals Choir, and yesterday we traveled off-island to sing at a Unitarian Universalist church in Canton, Mass. A moving and … Continue reading
Gay on MV
I started this post last fall, after the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce blogged about “LGBT MV.” I’ve been poking and prodding it ever since. What used to be called Gay Pride, then Gay and Lesbian Pride, then LGBT Pride, … Continue reading
Memorial Day
Memorial Day on Martha’s Vineyard is the quasi-official beginning of “the season,” which is to say the season of crowds, traffic, and unaffordable housing. As elsewhere in the U.S., schools, banks, government offices, and many businesses are closed. Parades are … Continue reading
Housing 101
How bad is the housing situation on Martha’s Vineyard? In recent memory (which is to say mine, which goes back 30 years), it’s never been good. No situation is “good” where about 20 percent of the population has to move … Continue reading
Focus on Journalism
Twice a week the Vineyard Gazette sends out an e-newsletter that includes links to interesting stories in the current paper and a short editorial commentary. A few weeks ago, the newsletter included an open invitation from publisher Jane Seagrave: the Gazette was holding an “informal … Continue reading
All Hail Kale
I know some people out there still believe there’s some kind of barrier between social media and the F2F world — you know, the physical world where people meet face to face, like at town meeting — but on Martha’s … Continue reading
Town Meeting 2015
It’s town meeting season on Martha’s Vineyard. Four towns held theirs this past Tuesday, including my town of West Tisbury. Aside: In Vineyard newspapers, ATM is shorthand for “annual town meeting.” We know it doesn’t always mean “automatic teller machine,” just the … Continue reading
My Martha’s Vineyard
Originally posted on From the Seasonally Occupied Territories . . .:
Which Martha’s Vineyard do you live on? All the road maps and atlases agree that there’s just one Martha’s Vineyard, but none of us live on those maps. I’m talking about the…
From the Seasonally Occupied Territories . . . 