DYING DIFFERENTLY

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

As with the Moshup Trail heathlands, Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard is a rare and unique species in our world today. It deserves the same kind of consideration and intentional support to preserve its place in our community.

The town of Oak Bluffs is proud to be “StormSmart.”

Or rather, the town is on its way to gaining said smartness. Being StormSmart has to do with one of those scary, invisible truths that no one wants to think about: sea level rise. And the debate is over. No matter how well the human race conserves energy from here on in, the sea around us will rise. Conservative estimates show the sea rising at least three feet over the course of this century, not including the impact of the planet’s rapidly melting glaciers.

The Legend of Moshup is an ancient creation story from the Wampanoag oral tradition. It tells of the giant Moshup, the personification of the immense forces of nature, deciding to settle here after a long journey, and dragging his foot to separate Martha’s Vineyard from the mainland and plow up the Cliffs of Gay Head. Scraps from his dinner table are the fossilized bones and teeth of ancient life forms found there.

Thrifty Shoppers Suffer for Saftey

Hilarious Parties

From Gazette editions of March, 1959:

There’s a squirrel hanging about in my yard, and I’m not pleased to have him there. Once, I saw squirrels as playful creatures with fluffy tails and great enthusiasm for life, leaping from limb to limb, bounding over lawns, searching out acorns. All bushy tailed and beady eyed, they were amusing characters in the story books of my childhood. But my feelings changed.