Opinion
By accident of birth or some would say by destiny, my generation is about to live through yet another sea change of consciousness in this great experiment called the United States of America.
Noisy Gli de
From the Vineyard Gazette editions of June, 1983:
When I sat down to write this graduation speech, I did what any child of the nineties would do in my situation — I went on Google. I typed “best graduation speeches ever” into the search tab and spent the next two hours watching low-quality YouTube videos of commencement speeches by Steve Jobs, Will Ferrell and other people I have nothing in common with.
First of all, welcome families and friends. Second, congratulations class of 2008. And third, I love you. My fellow graduates, we have been so fortunate in knowing each other. We have spent the last four years watching each other excel at what we love, whether it is academics, theatre, the school newspaper, sports or music. You all amaze me with your individual talents and leave me in awe at the thought that the next four years will only include two of you. I want to take this opportunity to let you all know how irreplaceable you and our Island are.
Welcome. We’re here today to get approval to leave this place. To be told that we’re done, al fin, la fine. But if we were to place this summer, right here, on a timeline of the things that our class will create, the ideas that our class will manifest, the places that our class will go, you would find that we, the class of 2008, are not done.
Learning the Ropes
Training young men and women in maritime skills would seem to be a natural and logical endeavor on an Island seven miles out to sea.
Yet while the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School has offered courses in culinary arts, horticulture, automobile service and repair and carpentry, the school has not offered comparable maritime courses.