West Tisbury: A whole week seems like a treasure

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—MV Times

It’s stayed cold enough that our latest snow still coats the grass and crunches underfoot when I walk outside. Ice patches and ruts coat the driveway and paths through the yard. At last, it feels like winter.

This week is school vacation week for Island kids. I hope they get good sunny days to play outside, then to make a welcoming warm spot inside. A whole week seems like a treasure as it begins. I hope everyone will feel they have plenty of time to recoup, that time won’t rush by too quickly.

Tara Whiting-Wells has set the ballot for our annual town election this April. Cindy Mitchell is running again for her three-year seat on the select board. There are three candidates for the one-year position: Jim Klingensmith, Christopher Lyons, and Jessica Miller. No one took out nomination papers for open seats on the board of assessors or finance committee. Either someone will have to run a write-in campaign, or the select board will have to appoint someone to fill those seats after the election.

The Ag Society has announced this year’s Fair Poster Contest. Submissions are due by April 1. Take a look at their website for instructions.

Beloved postman and incredible draftsman Jack Ryan will be the featured artist at the West Tisbury library this month. He will be at his opening on Monday, March 7, from 4 to 5:30, to speak about his work, answer questions, and receive accolades. Please come and see his show.

Leslie Baker, CM, was awarded third prize for her oil painting, “Falling Out of Grey I,” at the current Copley Members Winter Show. If you get to Boston, the show will run through March 26 at the Copley Society at 158 Newbury St. For those who prefer to stay at home, the exhibition may be viewed online: copleysociety.org/exhibition/members-show-winter-colors.

Leslie is a Copley Master, thus the CM designation after her name and signature.

A Paul Karasik cartoon fills the Sketchbook page of this past Sunday’s New York Times Book Review. It’s called “Writer’s Block,” and depicts a range of possible alternative lines of work for authors had they not become writers. Take a look.

Tom Dresser is at work on a new book, “Martha’s Vineyard in the Roaring Twenties.” He is looking for Islanders’ stories and photographs from that period, especially references to Prohibition, flappers, and the effort to secure the right for women to vote. Please contact him at thomasdresser@gmail.com

Elexis Wildanger is opening up her home for the fourth annual Foster Parent Recruitment event, to be held on Saturday, March 12, 11 to 1 o’clock. You may call or text her at 508 326-1155 for information and directions. She has devoted herself to this cause, citing a need for safe and caring homes for Vineyard kids.

My condolences to the family and all of Chilmark for the passing of Everett Poole. It seems like every week brings news of the loss of another of our Island’s notable residents. 

When I ran into Kim Cottrill the other day, we reminisced about the old days and old ways, so many of these larger-than-life figures who typified the Island over our lifetime. I wonder who from our generation will today’s children choose to venerate and admire? I can’t imagine any of us coming close to the iconic stature of Everett Poole or George Manter or Arnie Fischer or Ted Morgan or Edo Potter. The closest I can think of is Jim Athearn, who with his wife and family has supported and totally changed Island agriculture. Dennis DaRosa was definitely Mr. Oak Bluffs. Lenny Jason? Ron Rappaport? Interesting to contemplate. But that is for others to decide.