The arc of time
The passage of time is a continuum, and it is relentless. After a year of the spread of a deadly disease, shootings of unarmed Black Americans, protests in major cities, wildfires in the West,...
Sign of the times
It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time — with the right message.
As an unpublished author, I've written hundreds of thousands of words that nobody, except for a...
RIP, City Upon a Hill
Going back to Puritan New England, Americans have considered themselves the rightful beneficiaries of God’s grace. We entered into a contract with God — we do the right thing (maintain a just, democratic republic),...
I got vaccinated this week, and here is what I learned
As a volunteer nurse, I was fortunate to get vaccinated for COVID-19 this past week. I counted 17-plus healthcare workers directly involved in a safe and seamless process that was completed in 30 minutes....
Not for nothin’, but you heard it here first
President Trump saved his worst for last — hopefully — as he careens out the door in the next seven days.
As White House staffers and administration bigwigs beeline for the exits and Trump’s social...
Capitol crimes
President Donald Trump should be removed from office, either by the 25th Amendment, impeachment, or resignation. He was already a destructive force to our republic long before Wednesday’s insurrection inside the U.S. Capitol, but...
A vision for 2021
Looking back at the previous year and looking ahead to the new year is nothing new, but this year it’s taken on a whole new dimension.
The previous year has left a lot of us...
The year things changed
Leading up to Christmas in 2016, life — as the T-shirt says — was good. Though I was in between full-time jobs after taking a buyout from the Cape Cod Times, I’d landed an interesting gig...
The persistence of a paranoid style
A standard definition of paranoia is when a person experiences a deep, anxious fear of threats or conspiracies founded on delusion and irrationality. In a now-famous 1963 lecture at Oxford University, Columbia University historian...
Transparency matters
We’re all ready to purge ourselves of 2020 — the pandemic and the four years of lies coming from the Trump administration. And while we’re all looking toward better times and brighter days, if...
A gift for the holidays: Knowing what matters most
Do you know “what matters most” to you in life? Do those who care about you know what you want them to know?
Holiday seasons are full of family and friends. The shared joys of...
Open magistrates’ hearings
We understand why some clerk magistrate’s hearings are private. Accusations are easy to make. Providing evidence to back up those accusations is more difficult, and you don’t want to sully the reputation of an...
Restaurants need our help
We’ve already lost at least four year-round restaurants to the pandemic — at least temporarily. The Ritz is taking the winter off because it was down to two staff members. Seaweed’s, a new, promising restaurant,...
Restoring a depleted healthcare workforce
The COVID-19 pandemic has directed unprecedented resources to advance research and recovery efforts at incredible speed. Yet this necessary challenging of resources has taken a toll on assets that aren’t created in a lab:...
Lost opportunity
What happened to Danielle Clermont when she was a candidate for a job as a Tisbury Police officer in 2017 was wrong. What happened to her when she was a candidate for a job...
The new Congress, the next president
In the days before the next Congress convenes on Jan. 3 and the inauguration of the new president, 17 days later, the House and Senate have their work cut out for them. Not only...
The middle of a conversation
The election results should have come as a relief, but it hasn’t been the salve I had anticipated. I’m struggling with the fragility of the basic proposition of American democracy, of elected representation that...
Doesn’t pass sniff test
The owner and managers of the Mansion House Inn — Sherm, Susan, and Josh Goldstein — are dedicated business leaders of the Island community. Let’s get that out there up front.
The town’s select board did them...
Violating law and principle
As of now, the Trump campaign has lost more than 30 lawsuits, and won two on minor technical grounds, with no impact on the number of votes either President Trump or President-elect Joe Biden...
A selfish act
Vogue magazine, what were you thinking?
We were flabbergasted when the first reader sent us a link to the Vogue article about a fall wedding on the Vineyard, when it appeared online Nov. 16. Then...