After the years following the recession that began in 2008, when the Vineyard as well as the nation remained mired in day-to-day survival, 2012 felt like a shift in a new direction. There was a slight uptick in economic optimism and a move toward planning for the future. Questions of character and big house debates revealed that the main topic was no longer unemployment and how to make ends meet, although these issues still remain, but how Vineyarders define themselves and their community.

With the end of December comes the annual temptation to sum up the calendar year. But if the past 12 months offer any instruction, endings are just a prelude to new beginnings. In 2011, projects that lay dormant for years were revived (and sometimes reviled). Noble works sunk by a leaky economy were given new life. Coastlines eroded and beaches formed anew. Heroes returned. Protests resumed. Events seemed to transpire in a kind of cosmic roundabout.

The following are the most popular stories on the Vineyard Gazette's website from 2011, based on page views.

In her summation of the Martha’s Vineyard economy, presented to an audience of Island businesswomen in November, Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce executive director Nancy Gardella labeled herself an optimist. For certain sectors, she said, things were going well. Very well.

On July 8, four days after the devastating fire that burned Café Moxie and the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, Tisbury defiantly held its summer street fair. Gazette photographer Jaxon White captured the event with a shot of an eight-year old girl on Main street, beaming through new front teeth and swirling a balloon. Her name was Hope. Hope Alwart.

And there was a single-frame metaphor for 2008, adversity and hope.