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Friday, March 19, 2010

In today’s newspaper is an overview of the Island Plan, the product of four years of study and discussion by our community. The plan describes some of the key challenges the Island is facing and outlines the community’s vision for a better future.
» Full Story By James A. Athearn

Tom Osmers was a fisherman and a passionate advocate for small-scale fishing. He urged the adoption of “intentional inefficiencies” in fishing technology, recognizing that truly sustainable fishing requires us to look at not only how many fish are caught, but also how and where they are caught. He railed against the injustice of rewarding fishermen with allocation based on fish caught while their fishing gear remained at sea even after the fishermen returned to port. He was angered by the wastefulness of regulatory discards, and frustrated by the fact that fluke were discarded in tremendous numbers simply because they were not considered a groundfish. Tom witnessed the collapse of groundfishing on Martha’s Vineyard and fervently believed that restoration required protecting the local fish and supporting the communities. His perseverance earned him the nickname The Codfather.
» Full Story By Aaron Dority

Commentary from the Vineyard Gazette Archives

Friday, March 12, 2010

Beginning back before television, before news and images came to us instantaneously as they do now, literally in the palm of our hand and from thousands of sources, the world was brought to us by LIFE magazine.
» Full Story By Liz Durkee

Consider All Possibilities • Reality Not Rhetoric
» Full Story Letters To The Editor

The following letter was sent to the Edgartown selectmen from members of the Chappy Path Steering Committee.
» Full Story By Dick Knight

This week our class learned about World War I. We are starting a project on war and how people have been treated, which then led to a discussion of the Boston Globe article headlined The Untouchable Mean Girls, about a 14-year-old girl who moved from Ireland to Massachusetts with her family this past fall. Phoebe Prince was a nice, beautiful and smart girl who came to America lacking an understanding of our teen culture, and her life ended in despair. Phoebe had no idea what she was walking into. She was a freshman dating a senior football player, which meant that she was a threat to the other girls also known as the “mean girls.” They decided to show Phoebe her place and make her pay for what she had done.
» Full Story

Friday, March 5, 2010

It’s funny the memories we keep. There are the expected ones: a first kiss, college graduation, family holiday celebrations. And the not so expected: a sunrise beach walk alone on Christmas morning, the feel of the stiff Florida grass on bare feet used to the Vineyard’s downy lawns.
» Full Story By Julia Rappaport

The America’s Cup is named after the schooner America, the first winner of the sailing regatta match around the Isle of Wight in England in 1851. The cup is the oldest active trophy in international sport, 45 years older than the modern Olympics. Both contests took place last month, and while many flocked to Vancouver for the winter games, I headed to Valencia, Spain for the sailing. It was a tough call, as I had taken pictures at the half-pipe in Salt Lake in 2002, which was thrilling, but I had to witness this special America’s Cup. The 33rd Cup would be like no other.
» Full Story By Louisa Gould

The eye of the beholder, that’s where they say the beauty lies. Maybe this is why the conundrum of wind energy being wrangled within our Island newspapers and e-mail threads has no apparent clear answer.
» Full Story By Gary Harcourt

Friday, February 26, 2010

This past Friday the Vineyard Gazette detailed the plans of Vineyard Power, the Island’s first energy cooperative, where predevelopment financing of $17 million is underway, and a “feverish scramble for members” (today’s $50 cost becomes almost 20 times that in four years) promises that those who’ve signed on by August will have input into where the turbines will be located.
» Full Story By Helen Shwiesow Parker

The other night a friend from New York city called to see how I was doing. About a year and a half ago, my wife and I and our two small children moved from New York to the Island. It had been a tough transition for me. At a party last winter I spoke to a woman about my difficulties. She nodded gravely, then said almost off-handedly, “I know how you feel. It took me 15 years to settle in.” She walked off to get another drink. I headed to the bathroom and wept.
» Full Story By Bill Eville

My grandfather, Charles Shearer, was born into slavery. Henrietta Shearer was of Native American and African American descent. They were both educated at Hampton University. My grandfather graduated from Hampton. They both did, as a matter of fact. That’s where they met. She stayed on as a matron. And he stayed on for years there, at Hampton, teaching. They both also taught at schools in Lynchburg.
» Full Story

February is Black History Month. It was first established in 1926 by Dr. Carter Woodson, a professor at Tulane University, who “strongly believed that documenting black history and educating the public were both vitally important ingredients to the progress of race relations and the progression of the lives of black Americans.” As a class, most of us believe that Black History Month is very important and that there should be more celebration and respect paid to black Americans. Today there has been a tremendous change for all citizens of America. The country has gone from  scarcely making it as the first English settlers arrived to then becoming nearly the richest country in the world. I personally believe that throughout our great growth and tremendous jump on life, the country that once consisted of all different cultures and populations lost the meaning of America. Despite our color, or where we came from, nearly all emigrated to America in search of freedom and a better life. And still the nation went against the main reason they came to America in the first place, ostracizing other immigrants, especially Africans. Black history is unquestionably worthy of a month to be celebrated.
» Full Story

Friday, February 19, 2010

Today I heard that Samuel Jackson died. I immediately thought to myself, oh, what a loss to his family and the town. I remember Sammy as a main character in my life growing up in Edgartown. He was Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer rolled into one.
» Full Story By Tom Bennett

Editor’s Note: The following is an edited excerpt of an interview done in 2004 by Linsey Lee with Leona Coleman Flu, the daughter of the first black stage manager in the Boston theatre district. A summer resident of Oak Bluffs from childhood on, Mrs. Coleman now lives in Atlanta, Ga. The interview is published in Ms. Lee’s book More Vineyard Voices; it appears here with permission from the author, who heads the Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s oral history center.
» Full Story

I had my first taste of salsa dancing at a nightclub in Florida. A friend and professional dancer took the lead and spun me around a crowded dance floor, careful to catch me from crashing into other couples as my unreliable feet stumbled to maintain some sense of rhythm.
» Full Story By Megan Dooley

Friday, February 12, 2010

As a Vineyard summer resident and owner of a small oil and natural gas exploration and producing company in Midland, Tex., I have followed with interest the public debate on both the Cape Wind project and the efforts of the state of Massachusetts to allow wind turbine development in state waters close to the Vineyard’s southwest shore.
» Full Story By Robert E. Landreth

Editor’s Note: The following is an edited excerpt of an interview done in 1996 by Linsey Lee with Dean K. Denniston, son of the late Oscar Denniston. The interview is published in Ms. Lee’s book Vineyard Voices; it appears here with permission from the author, who heads the Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s oral history center.
» Full Story By Linsey Lee

As a Vineyard summer resident and owner of a small oil and natural gas exploration and producing company in Midland, Tex., I have followed with interest the public debate on both the Cape Wind project and the efforts of the state of Massachusetts to allow wind turbine development in state waters close to the Vineyard’s southwest shore.
» Full Story By Robert E. Landreth

With Valentine’s Day on Sunday, it’s all hearts and flowers — and chocolates — right now. Here on the Vineyard, the chocolates are Chilmark Chocolates, of course. Like most of us, I indulge whenever I can. I know that First Lady Michelle Obama is speaking out these days about obesity, but her main concern is with children. Senior citizen that I am, I am relatively unconcerned about gaining weight. At least I was, until I went on a chocolate-eating binge last month in Belgium. I ate some pretty trendy chocolates.
» Full Story By Phyllis Méras

In December a member of our sophomore class, Kunal Datta,  traveled to his homeland of India. While he was there our teacher had asked him to take a few minutes each day and write down some observations about differences between the United States and India, especially in education.
» Full Story

Friday, February 5, 2010

The Vineyard has a way of attracting people with big personalities and big ideas. Some stay forever, some make a mark and move on, but the biggest leave something behind that forever changes the place.
» Full Story By Mary Breslauer

U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made a big point of saying recently that wind development had to be done right and in the “right places.” No one can disagree with those sentiments, and they were certainly issued for public consumption. However, the Minerals Management Service (MMS), which is under his control, doesn’t seem to have heard him, or perhaps just tuned him out.
» Full Story By Richard Knabel

There were so many Dan Aronies. And on Jan. 29 at 1:21 in the morning on the fullest, brightest moon of the whole year, one month after his 38th birthday, with his brother and his father present, we lost them all.
» Full Story By Nancy Aronie

Mental illness affects not only the person who is ill, but their families and loved ones as well. The National Alliance on Mental Illness of Massachusetts is sponsoring a free family-to-family educational course for family members of individuals with a serious mental illness.
» Full Story Letters To The Editor