Second Acts: Courtney Daly’s second thought
‘Second Acts’ stories are about people who followed one career or profession or path, but found it was not their passion, not their fulfillment. And then somehow, the “magic” of the Vineyard gave them...
Second Acts: Zachary Townes
“When I grow up, I want to be a policeman.” Think of how many little kids say that. Most, as they get older, find other paths, and rarely look back. But not Zachary Towne: “Growing up...
Second Acts: Stephanie Browne
Stephanie Browne’s labor of love — introducing others to the joys of good wine — has brought together two very significant, but seemingly unrelated pieces of local history. First, the name of the Island:...
Second Acts: Morgen Schroeder
“If I can wax poetic about cheese for a second …”
After you study civil engineering in college, and pursue a career in construction in Dallas and commercial real estate in New York, it should...
Second Acts: Lucian Nastasi
Lucian Nastasi considers himself lucky. Lucky that he was raised by a loving Romanian family who valued education. Lucky he learned to speak English starting in the second grade (with help from the Cartoon...
Second Acts: Jovana Balaban
How does a young woman from a landlocked Eastern European country, educated to become a literature and language teacher, end up a serial entrepreneur on the Island of Martha’s Vineyard? Jovana Balaban’s story is...
Second Acts: NaDaizja Bolling
From as long as she can remember, NaDaizja Bolling spent her summers on Martha’s Vineyard. Raised near Boston, she went off to Syracuse University to study public health, but came back to the Vineyard...
Second Acts: Irene Ziebarth and Doug West
Doug West began coming to Martha’s Vineyard in summers as a kid, back in 1952, and later his family bought a cottage in Oak Bluffs. When he met Irene Ziebarth in California, she had...
Second Acts: Jocelyn Coleman Walton
“My grandmother, Luella Coleman, came to the Vineyard as a domestic and through perseverance and vision, she bought a house. And I spent every single summer here from my first birthday in 1940. I've only missed...
Second Acts: Jennifer DaSilva
For most people, taking a work break means not working. But for Jennifer DaSilva, it means coming up with her next line of work. That’s how she went from corporate attorney to Martha’s Vineyard...
Second Acts: Heidi Feldman
Usually this column is about someone who, at some point in life, finds a new and different path — a second act. But today’s installment is no mere second or even third act. Heidi...
Second Acts: Debbie Hale
“From the first time I tried it, it spoke to me; it just spoke to my soul and made me look at everything differently.” Debbie Hale was a business manager, a self-described left-brained person....
Second Acts: Jason Mazar-Kelly
Downward dog. Form 1040. Chakra. Itemized deductions. Asana. Total taxable income. Mantra. Quarterly estimates. Namaste. Yoga and tax jargon — terms you don’t often see together. Almost cultural opposites … but they come together...
Second Acts: Leigh Cormie
It seems Leigh Cormie was destined to end up on Martha’s Vineyard. He certainly didn’t plan it. If his itinerary from Czechoslovakia, where he’d been working in a brewery, back home to Australia, hadn’t...
Second Acts: Whitney Hanschka
In the mid-1980s, Whitney Hanschka graduated from Stanford University in mechanical engineering — the stuff of aerospace, biotech, and robotics — no doubt on a path to change the future. Today, Whit Hanschka is...
Second Acts
This installment of Second Acts started out as a profile on Steve Ewing, dockbuilder-poet. If ever there was a Vineyarder finding his “other self,” it’s Steve, a man who drives 20-foot pilings into sand...
Second Acts: Sometimes they come early
Often it takes years to find your second act. A lifetime of living or working in one direction, and finally discovering your inner calling or goal. But sometimes … sometimes … it happens early,...
Second Acts: Gerry Yukevich
Is there something that is inherently Martha’s Vineyard that fosters the freedom to pursue our other selves — our talents, drives, and passions? The fisherman who becomes an oil painter. The investment advisor/birdwatcher. The...
Second Acts: Bob Avakian and Barbara Reynolds
Is it something in the air we breathe? Or the light that shines here? Is it literally being an island, floating freely away from the constraints of the mainland? Is there something that is...