Opinion
The Vineyard is usually spared the most oppressive days of summer but this week has been an exception with sweltering heat and humidity up Island and down, the kind seen more typically on the mainland. Who turned off the breeze? Not a breath of air could be had, or so it seemed at times.
At the Oak Bluffs board of selectmen meeting last Tuesday, July 9, our selectmen cheerfully voted to sacrifice safety in favor of cramming in 15 extra diagonal parking spots on Sea View avenue, from the Lookout Tavern down to the bottom of the hill, and changing four-hour parking to two-hour parking, thus doubling the amount of backing up done, potentially into children on bikes, scooters, skates and in buggies.
In 1953 a few children from Fall River, some in wheelchairs and some wearing braces, clambered off the ferry and found freedom for the first time on the Vineyard. Sixty years later, Camp Jabberwocky is still changing lives.
Officially known as the Martha’s Vineyard Cerebral Palsy Camp, this extraordinary program gives adults and children with severe disabilities a few weeks each year to experience all the joys of summer — swimming, dancing, fishing, parasailing, painting, horseback riding, to name a few.
Ordinarily a rare sight on the Island, wood lilies are blooming in profusion this year in many places, including in the fields at Waskosim’s Rock Reservation, a Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank property.
The showy red-orange wood lily occurs in dry woods throughout southern New England; its entire range runs from southern Ontario to North Carolina and Kentucky. The bulbs were once gathered by native Americans for food.
Here comes another dog story but who doesn’t love dogs? I want to tell you about Lucca who died in early June. She was a Siberian Husky that we adopted on a cold, snowy Super Bowl Sunday back in 2010. We were never sure of her actual birthday so we celebrated before the football game.
The African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard began as part of a promise to a little boy, and in 1998 the Shearer Cottage was dedicated as the first site on the Trail. The ambition was to reach a total of eight sites. That there were many stories was obvious, but the depth and range of the experiences that make up the tapestry of the African American experience on Martha’s Vineyard was amazing. From fugitive preachers to nationally known politicians, all the struggles and triumphs of people of color were part of the story of this Island.