Category Archives: tourism
Our Challenge
When the Obamas vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, they don’t stay as long as the Clintons did. This is good, not because I begrudge the president a long vacation but because it gives the press corps less down time to run … Continue reading
Moth
When summer arrives, I put my blinders on. I stop reading bulletin boards and the newspaper event listings. My year-round Vineyard brain can’t take in that many options, and my year-round Vineyard income can’t afford them anyway. Last night, however, … Continue reading
Tripod in the Backseat
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a fiction writer came from a theater director. “Make interesting choices,” he said. What’s an interesting choice? One that opens up possibilities. Watch a good improvisational theater troupe at work. Its … Continue reading
Reality
I still can’t wrap my head around the phrase “reality TV,” or the culture that came up with it, or the way it rolls trippingly off our tongues as if it makes sense. What will scholars from a different space-time … Continue reading
Virtual Vineyard
A couple days ago I posted “Docu-soaping Martha,” a letter of mine published four years ago in the Martha’s Vineyard Times. It got more hits in a shorter time than photos of sunset, snow, and/or Travvy. Thus encouraged, I’m here … Continue reading
Docu-soaping Martha
This letter of mine was published in the Martha’s Vineyard Times for March 9, 2009. The paper’s previous two issues had noted that a “docu-soap” called The Vineyard was slated to be filmed on, you guessed it, Martha’s Vineyard. Four … Continue reading
Theme Park Farming
Long time ago, like about 1988, I had this idea: build a Martha’s Vineyard theme park in Falmouth. People could loll on virtual beaches, buy picture postcards and Black Dog T-shirts, and thrill to a hair-raising simulated moped ride on … Continue reading
Seasonal
Most of my time on Martha’s Vineyard I’ve lived in year-round neighborhoods. Mind you, with a couple of exceptions these wouldn’t be recognized as “neighborhoods” by most urban and suburban dwellers, not least because the dwellings are too far apart. … Continue reading
September
September looms large in the year-round Vineyarder’s calendar. A popular 1990s bumper sticker read PRAY FOR SEPT.! and in small print underneath: M.V. Year-Rounders Trying to Deal with Summer. September, we like to say, is when we get our island … Continue reading
Sorry, Mr. President
I’m not going to be out there on South Road waving when your motorcade goes by, and you won’t notice me craning for a glimpse of you when you visit the fair or hit the fairways or check out some … Continue reading
From the Seasonally Occupied Territories . . . 