Faded Beauty

New School Year Begins

Picture it this way: If a doctor, lawyer or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn’t want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher’s job. 

Murder on MV

From Gazette editions of September, 1935:

It’s nearly that time of year. Yellow busses roll, the flashing lights warn caution. Maybe there’s a bigger message here. We’re in the Internet age and bullying has come full circle. Even while school was out this summer, Newsweek ran a piece about how to curb school bullying in Massachusetts. There was a picture of one of the bullies accused in a suicide of a high school teen in this state. She was wearing a Black Dog sweatshirt. That gave me pause to think.

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

The following letter was sent to the president, vice president and board chairman of The Trustees of Reservations, signed by 27 Chappaquiddick residents:

REQuiEM FOR VALORA

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Last Monday the schooner Valora was lost after she broke from her mooring outside Vineyard Haven and went up on the breakwater. Friends often heard me say that you never really own a boat like Valora, you just take care of her for future generations. I certainly expected her to outlive me — sadly, this will not be so.