Notes from a snowbird
Today is a typical Florida day. The sun is shining, the temperature warm and balmy, and lizards are scampering about. Warmth is pervasive, and ocean walks beckon. Here in mid-winter, residents go to the beach. Fancy shops...
Chanukah, Christmas, and Chwanza?
Maybe if Kwanza was spelled with a “C”, it would not be considered an exclusively “Black” holiday. It is one of the kindest and least mythological of all the winter solstice holidays. It says...
Light in the darkness of anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism was an all-too-common experience during my childhood years in the U.K.
Each Friday night, as we walked home from synagogue in our beautiful countryside hometown of Bournemouth, England, we'd encounter the local young people,...
A Frankensteinian solution
Gone are the days when you could put the carcass of a dead bird on the table and have everybody ooh and aah at the sight of the shiny, crackling, crisp skin.
Remember the Charles...
Empty houses on Martha’s Vineyard
Did you notice that smirk on people's faces when they said, “So you live on Martha's Vineyard. What did you think of all those immigrants they sent there?" It's a trick question. Be careful...
The ringing of the bells
As soon as I heard of the Fourth of July massacre in Highland Park, Ill., I called my 94-year-old cousin, Gene, who had grown up there. We have been especially close, as I spent...
Peter Ochs, a tribute
Longtime Aquinnah resident Peter Ochs, who died on April 11 in Vienna, Austria, was a Gay Head original.
Thirty years ago, my wife and I bought the lot in front of Peter’s house, and immediately...
Parade returns to Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day
The small town of Ballina in County Mayo, Ireland, erupted with joy on March 17, celebrating the first parade honoring Ireland’s patron, St. Patrick, since 2019. With flags flying and traditional music playing, the...
The real reason Malcolm X was assassinated
“You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear
You’ve got to be taught from year to year
You’ve got to be carefully taught.” –Rodgers and Hammerstein, “South Pacific”
Most people are taught to think. They may...
A chance at the hot seat
“How in the world do you get these gigs?” was the text I received from my brother living in San Francisco after I returned home from Martha’s Vineyard.
When I grew up in the Boston...
Tree lobby: Where do we grow from here?
The recent news of tree cutting and replacement planting raises the question, Do we have a plan for our future treescapes? No, the simple answer is, the Island’s insular town administrators plan and plant...
Christmas again
When I was a child, my mother and I used to get our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. We took the straggly ones that were left abandoned on the sidewalk for free. We adopted...
‘Storm Lake’ revisited, and your community newspaper
Who will make the checks at City Hall? Who — among America’s great din of flackery and cant — will tell us in plain language what’s actually going on?” –John Carroll, former editor...
Assimilated
It was a big word for a small kid. I just wanted to know why I was the only Jewish kid in my class who did not go to Sunday school. Later I wanted...
So long, Governor
https://www.tiktok.com/@marthasvineyardtimes/video/7019389976982998278When the Steamship Authority switches to its fall schedule as of Monday, the Oak Bluffs terminal will close for the season, all trips will be in and out of Vineyard Haven, and the “workhorse”...
Heritage Trail is long, winding, and unfinished
What began as a hopeful promise to a small boy many years ago has grown beyond both his and our wildest dreams. Those long-ago conversations when we had an ambitious vision to create a...
Three years as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer
I write this inspired by a New York Times op-ed earlier this year, “Should Young Americans be Required to Give a Year of Service?” I also note that this week marks the 60th anniversary...
‘Jaws’ fan caps off a Vineyard visit
Just when you thought it was safe to ride the No. 5 bus from the Aquinnah Cliffs …
Let me rephrase. It is perfectly safe to ride that bus, as well as all of the...
Donald H. Lyons: An appreciation
Curiously, the ministry of a small town newspaper to its readers is not so very unlike the ministry of a small, like-minded congregation united in need. Bear with me on this. In each case,...