January Thaw

To be sure, Islanders worry about global warming, but when the weather turns from bitter cold with temperatures in the single digits to a balmy fifty degrees — as it did between last week and this — well, they might put the worries aside for a day or two.

Tisbury Tilting at Windmills

The decision by the town of Tisbury to challenge the state school funding formula in court is a wasteful expenditure of public money and a near-certain recipe for deepening the rift among the six Island towns over how they divide their payments for the high school budget — precisely at a time when a regional approach and mindset are needed.

Comparing the Ferries

Nine months ago, the Steamship Authority ferry Island Home replaced the ferry Islander on the Woods Hole-Vineyard Haven route. Now that Vineyarders have had some time to ride the new vessel, how does she stack up against her venerable predecessor? In what ways does the vessel excel the Islander, and where does she lag behind?

A New Energy Course

With the passing of the holidays, winter stretches out before the Vineyard. Islanders bracing themselves for the season’s short days, long nights and pervasive isolation are facing an added burden this year: heating costs forecast to rise twenty-five per cent over last year’s levels.

Of Bells and a Thousand

Years of Peace

The calendar points to the moment of Monday midnight, to the tolling of the Island bells, to that time in our lives when old becomes new and we wonder what lies ahead. These are the days just before and just after the first bell strikes that we find most appropriate for that old and familiar greeting spoken so comfortably and without rancor. Happy New Year is the refrain now heard across the Island, in every corner of every Vineyard township.

Christmas 2007

The sound of December has been the scrape and rumble of the snowplow along Island roads, accompanied by the howl of the Montreal Express. The winter solstice is tomorrow and cold weather has arrived with a vengeance. Island homes are hung with wreaths and white lights abound, warding off the darkest season with cheerful winks and twinkles through pine boughs, bare branches and ship masts on the harbors. In the inky night sky, the moon is waxing and due to be full on Christmas Eve.