Julia Rappaport
This week is Bay State Bike Week, according to the press release that landed in my inbox this morning.
Everyone from Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to local commuters should do their part to raise awareness and keep Massachusetts clean, the press release said. I too should take action.
The thing is, I can’t.
I’m a 25-year-old Vineyard girl who cannot ride a bicycle.
I have just returned from a week on Martha’s Vineyard — a glorious week full of morning walks on the beach and films at the film festival and cold beers at the Newes with friends I miss so dearly. And, after my week was up, I drove onto the ferry, reluctantly, but with a stiff upper lip, to return to Boston and work. For the first time ever, I had a front row parking spot on the boat. It was a five o’clock boat and, as I watched the late afternoon sun slip into the harbor, I cried.
The program that connects Island residents with affordable health insurance has been forced to cut its staff and operations, as of the start of this year. Facing a shortfall of $80,000, Vineyard Health Care Access program director Sarah Kuh this week appealed to add an article to all town warrants asking taxpayers to make up for losses from shrinking grants.
“We have lost employees and we’re more restricted in the services we can provide,” Ms. Kuh told a panel of town leaders at a meeting of the All-Island Selectmen Wednesday night.
One summer, I lived in a little house off Vineyard avenue in Oak Bluffs. Away from the sea breezes with no air conditioning in the house, I took up walking each evening after work. I told myself it was to drive less, but really it was out of sheer excitement and curiosity. For an up-Island girl, the downtown novelty of Oak Bluffs never wore off. So I walked down June avenue to the Lagoon. I strolled up School street (which no longer houses a school), to get a new book at the library, or just to see who was out and about.
It may not be the most controversial thing on the ballot, but the race for the Dukes County Commission is probably the most complicated.
There are three seats to fill; terms for John Alley of West Tisbury, Leonard Jason Jr. of Chilmark, and Roger Wey of Oak Bluffs are all ending. Mr. Wey is not seeking reelection.
Voters will see three names on the ballot when they vote Tuesday: John Alley, Leonard Jason and Linda Sibley, a former county commissioner from West Tisbury.
The smell of newsprint is hard to describe — pungent, inky, old, dusty — all of the words fit but none is exactly right. And that is frustrating because the smell of newsprint is the smell of words.