Opinion
Often lost in the debate about the pros and cons of developing new sources of energy production is the critical importance of conserving our existing energy reserves by promoting conservation and altering personal consumption habits. Energy conservation — increasing the efficiency of energy use to produce more output for the same consumption — must be part of the conversation if we are to overcome the unprecedented energy challenges we face globally and locally.
At the Table
From Bill Caldwell’s 1983 “The Day After:”
Please pass the bicarb. That second round of pie a la mode was a mistake. Indeed the entire notion of acknowledging nature’s kindness by feasting may have been a mistake. The Pilgrims should have celebrated by fasting. Something is missing from this eyewitness account of the first harvest festival:
Pierre Bonneau was in Paris teaching a full immersion language course for the University of Arizona when he got an e-mail from his wife back in Tucson. It contained an advertisement for a French teacher at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School and a brief note: “The kids and I have thought about this — you need to apply here.”
The summer traffic jam is past, but I’m not yet used to the novelty of finding parking in front of the places I want to go. Leslie’s, the Reliable, the Steamship Authority lot. Space! But I got through this season without losing a fender, my temper or my driver’s license; well, you can’t lose what’s gone, namely your temper.
Thanksgiving gets people thinking about birds. For most folks it’s about eating one, the one upside down on the dining room table, with side dishes of tradition, heritage, community, family, good friends — all cause enough for gathering and celebration. As a former restaurateur living in West Tisbury is fond of saying about the entirety of life itself, “It’s all about the food.”
PROTECTING ANTIQUITY
Editors, Vineyard Gazette: