This past May, my wife and I decided to fix up our house on Martha’s Vineyard in order to put it on the market. I came up in May, while my wife Gail came up a month later.

The following won first place in the annual Della Hardman Day essay contest held among juniors at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School.

On a snowy Thursday in early March, as another promising storm descended upon a winter-worn Island, the stage lights at the Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse were burning brightly in preparation for the rehearsal of a reading of Twelve Angry Jurors.

The Vineyard should be a refuge from stress, an Island oasis where Islanders and off-Islanders can recharge their batteries.

Because the recent announcement of a long-awaited nuclear accord with Iran happens to coincide with the publication of my book, The Overthrow of the Persian Peacock Throne, I am compelled to comment.

I’ve spent a lot of time on a lot of sailboats. I have read about them and talked about them with naval architects and boat builders. But I still don’t understand most advertisements for them.