Dylan Thomas
The birds of the winged trees flying my name Above the farms and the white horses I rose in rainy autumn And walked abroad in a shower of all my days. – Dylan Thomas
February 26, 2010
News Update: Saturday, February 27 – Basketballers Stopped in Second Round
The dream season for the the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys’ basketball came to end earlier today, as the Vineyarders lost a hard-fought and high-scoring thriller at Wareham by a final score of 92-75 in the second round of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Assocation tournament.
With the loss, the Vineyarders finish the…
Parents Share Coffee, Ideas With Principal
It’s 8 a.m. on a cold and rainy Tuesday morning and regional high school principal Steven Nixon is seated at the head of a conference table in the school’s library conference room. He leans back casually in his chair as he speaks to a room full of parents about enrollment and scheduling. These are some…
Klezmer Jam: Musical Mishmash
For a week during the holidays this winter, Michelle Jasny left the Island for a camp in the Catskills. Armed with her accordion, she joined some 300 people at KlezKamp, a weeklong retreat for klezmer musicians. Though she’d been playing for nearly a year, and also has a background in piano and guitar, Ms. Jasny…
New Director Aims to Make History Hip
As Island residents go kicking and screaming into the future, the Martha’s Vineyard Museum has always served as a refuge in turbulent times. Here the centuries mingle and Island life never changes. In one room, romantic maritime tableaus etched by idling seamen in the jawbones of sperm whales recall the glory of Martha’s Vineyard’s seafaring…
Myers Brothers Offer a Glimpse of Island Music, Past and Future
The crowd at Che’s Lounge sang along Saturday night, as brothers Dave and Rob Myers brought a cornucopia of music and nostalgia to the underground coffee shop in the alley off Main street in Vineyard Haven.
Many of the Island’s seasoned musicians showed up at Che’s; for them, it was a step back…
Farm Institute’s Community Supported Agriculture Program Gets a Little Meatier
“We let pigs live like pigs,” says Matthew Goldfarb, executive director of the Farm Institute, the nonprofit that runs the Edgartown-owned Katama Farm.
It’s an allowance that benefits animals and farmers alike: by the time the pigs leave the paddock later in the spring, the soil will be ready for reseeding. Meat-eaters benefit…
Planning Board Is Edgartown’s Lone Contest on Ballot
Most town office seats will be uncontested in the Edgartown annual town election this year, with the single exception of the planning board.
Dudley Levick 3rd and Michael McCourt will vie for a one-year planning board term. Mr. McCourt was appointed an interim member of the board in December to complete the unexpired…
Library Reading Series
Library Reading Series
The Martha’s Vineyard Library Association in collaboration with the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, presents a free winter reading series featuring some of the center’s poetry and fiction fellows. The readings, held throughout the month on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m., begin March 4 at the West Tisbury library and…
Blogging for Klutzes, and More
A small group of Islanders spent the six-week winter term for the Adult and Community Education (ACE MV) program preparing for spring in Nicaragua. Some were busy studying the history of Latin America and the Caribbean; others enrolled in beginner Spanish or took a one-day training workshop for teaching the English language through the arts.…
Legislative Delegation
Legislative Delegation
Cape and Islands Rep. Timothy Madden and Sen. Robert O’Leary will be on the Vineyard on Monday, March 1 and will be holding open hours at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven from 3 to 5 p.m. To schedule an appointment, please call legislative liaison Nell Coogan at 508-693-3200.
Hospital Health Fair
Hospital Health Fair
The annual Martha’s Vineyard Hospital health fair will be held on Saturday, March 13 from 8 a.m. to noon. The fair will include screenings and exhibits designed to increase awareness about health issues, promote healthy lifestyles and highlight all the health services and medical programs available throughout the Island and…
House Tour
House Tour
South Mountain Company of West Tisbury will host a deep energy retrofit house tour on Sunday, March 6. Learn how a house can be renovated for profound energy-use reduction, increased comfort and greater durability. Meet at 11 a.m. at the Red Beach parking lot off Lobsterville Road in Aquinnah. A free…
West Tisbury and Oak Bluffs See Contested Races for Selectmen
The town election season this year will feature contested races for selectmen in Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury, as a full slate of candidates vie to fill the seats of two outgoing incumbents.
In West Tisbury, selectman Dianne Powers decided not to run again after serving a single term on the three-member board.…
Selectmen Nix New Tour Busses
Oak Bluffs selectmen on Tuesday rejected three applications for new tour bus companies in town, postponed action on a request from the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital for permits for four fuel storage tanks, one of which is 38 years old, and agreed in principal to a new reverse 911 system to alert residents via cell phone,…
Farm to School Food Bill
Farm to School Food Bill
Company Moves to Island
Company Moves to Island
Event Management International, an event marketing company, has recently relocated from Connecticut to the Vineyard.
The company, now located in Edgartown, was established in 1989 and specializes in the creation, marketing and management of special events, meetings, conferences, conventions, product promotions, hospitality, team building, fund-raising and incentive…
Haiti Relief Continues
Haiti Relief Continues
The Martha’s Vineyard Fish Farm Haiti Project is holding a Haiti relief drive that runs through Feb. 27. Rainy season is approaching, and large emergency relief tents are a first priority. Also needed are donations of a generator, tarps, rope, blankets, sheets and towels in excellent condition, medical equipment and…
Census Explained
Census Explained
It is time for the census. Learn more about the process on Tuesday, March 2, at 7 p.m. at the Vineyard Haven library when census bureau representative Gordon Bryden presents a talk: The 2010 Census: It’s in Our Hands.
Mr. Bryden will discuss the upcoming count, its importance to…
Wharf Renovations
Wharf Renovations
The Wharf Restaurant and Pub on Main street in Edgartown is closed for renovations until St. Patrick’s Day, Wednesday, March 17.
Wildlife Walk
Wildlife Walk
Older adults are invited to take an easy walk on the trails of Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary on Wednesday, March 10, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Naturalist Susie Bowman leads the walk, exploring the new vistas opened up in the absence of leaves. The walk will be followed by hot beverages…
United Way Grants
United Way Grants
Women’s Network Social
Women’s Network Social
Are you an Island woman coming out of winter hibernation and looking to reconnect? The Martha’s Vineyard Women’s Network is hosting a social event at Alchemy in Edgartown on Thursday, March 4, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Meet up at the upstairs bar, bring your business cards and a friend.…
Oscar Nominated Shorts
Oscar Nominated Shorts
Tonight, Feb. 26, the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society presents a special screening of all 10 2010 Oscar nominated short films at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven. Split into two screenings, the night begins at 5:30 p.m. with the top five animated shorts, followed by the top five live-action…
Yard Accepting Applicants
The Yard, the Island’s choreography and performing arts center in Chilmark, is accepting applications for performers, students and professionals in their summer programs.
Applications for the Bessie Schönberg Choreographers’ Residency are due by Saturday, March 6, while the deadline for residency dancers and the new dancers’ work-study program registration is April 20.
Gentle Yoga
Gentle Yoga
A new gentle yoga class with instructor Carol Vega Aranzabe, designed for beginners or those with osteoporosis, starts Thursday, March 4, at 4 p.m. at the Tisbury senior center. Yoga practice can help those with limited mobility increase self-awareness, release tension and stress, stretch and strengthen tight or weak muscles. Preregistration…
Help for Food Addicts
Help for Food Addicts
Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous holds meetings every Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. at the Baptist Church Parish House in Vineyard Haven. The organization offers a 12-step program for people suffering from a wide variety of food addictions, including cravings for sugar and flour that can trigger unhealthy eating cycles.…
Wind Work Group Meets
Wind Work Group Meets
The work group formed to help develop the Wind Energy Facilities Siting Plan for Dukes County will meet on Thursday, March 11, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Commission Office in Oak Bluffs.
Jenny Seward to Wed
Jenny Seward to Wed
David and Jenny Seward of Vineyard Haven are proud to announce the engagement of their daughter, Seniel Victoria Seward, to Andrew Joseph Hannagan, son of Candy and Chandler Lincoln of Edgartown.
Island Students Recognized At Academy Science Fair
The Falmouth Academy this week announced the Vineyard winners at the academy’s science fair.
Seventh grader Eli Hanschka, son of Nancy Tutko and Whit Hanschka of Vineyard Haven, won fourth place in the middle school (grades 7 and 8) for his research into the effect of water pH on the germination of bean…
Edgartown Honor Roll
The following Edgartown School students received honors for the second quarter of the 2009-2010 academic year:
Eighth grade high honors: Rae Filley, Alice Keenan, Charlotte McCarron.
Eighth grade honors: Caroline Gazaille, Sarah Parece, Sarah Strem, Sophie Ulyatt, Zachary Wannamaker.
Seventh grade high honors: Aubrey Asbmun, Alec Cobban, Quinn Cobban,…
Oak Bluffs Honor Roll
The following Oak Bluffs School students received honors for the first trimester of the 2009-2010 academic year:
Eighth grade high honors: Katherine deBettencourt, Shannon Ferry, Brian Fraser, Benjamin Lukowitz, Emily Hammett, Matthew Marchand, Sam Permar, Paul Robinson, Sara Thompson, Molly Wallace, Emma Yuen.
Eighth grade honors: Tyson Araujo, Samuel Burke, Emelia…
Three Tastes of Italy
Three Tastes of Italy
Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard and Jan Buhrman will present a series of three Italian culinary experiences, Italy at Your Table, during the first weekend in March.
Sophomores Speak Out
February is Black History Month. It was first established in 1926 by Dr. Carter Woodson, a professor at Tulane University, who “strongly believed that documenting black history and educating the public were both vitally important ingredients to the progress of race relations and the progression of the lives of black Americans.” As a class, most…
Notes from Island Washashore: To Cope, Try the Tree Chair
The other night a friend from New York city called to see how I was doing. About a year and a half ago, my wife and I and our two small children moved from New York to the Island. It had been a tough transition for me. At a party last winter I spoke to…
Stop, Watch, Look and Listen! The Wind Train Is Coming
This past Friday the Vineyard Gazette detailed the plans of Vineyard Power, the Island’s first energy cooperative, where predevelopment financing of $17 million is underway, and a “feverish scramble for members” (today’s $50 cost becomes almost 20 times that in four years) promises that those who’ve signed on by August will have input into where…
Gazette Chronicle: Land of Elves and Fairies
From a Gazette edition of 1930:
There is no place on Martha’s Vineyard that seems so far apart from the earth as Cedar Neck, the miniature promontory that juts it cedar and juniper crested bulk into Lagoon Pond.
Letters to the Editor
SHACK OWNERS REACT
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
Two of the selectmen have decided to make the shack owners in Menemsha insure the lots they lease from the town, even though the town already has insurance. I called the two selectmen that voted for this and was told they are doing this for…
Hermits of the Bog
Hermits of the Bog
At Shearer Cottage, Blacks Were Welcome
My grandfather, Charles Shearer, was born into slavery. Henrietta Shearer was of Native American and African American descent. They were both educated at Hampton University.
Tisbury’s Good Idea
Tisbury’s Good Idea
The Tisbury selectmen are on the right track as they begin to explore the idea of a two-town venture in shellfish management with their neighbor, the town of Oak Bluffs. In a working session last week the selectmen began a conversation with Oak Bluffs shellfish constable David Grunden about the…
Island Anglers Land Fair Share of Fishing Awards
Vineyard fishermen did well in the state’s annual saltwater fishing contest, with six Island anglers taking prizes at an event held on Valentine’s Day at the Eastern Fishing and Outdoor Exposition in Worcester.
The state keeps tallies for the largest fish taken in a wide array of categories from Jan. 1 to Nov.…
Aquarium Verifies Visiting Pinniped as Harp Seal
Last Wednesday evening Kathy Cerick and her family were walking on Lobsterville Beach near Dogfish Bar when they spotted a seal. It did not move when they approached it, so they took photographs and called the police who called the New England Aquarium. Ms. Cerick later received a call from the Aquarium asking her to…
Live from La Scala
Live from La Scala
Board Begins to Plan New Police Station
Over the strong objections of one, two West Tisbury selectmen on Wednesday voted to create a new committee to explore the idea of building a new police station to replace the current headquarters next to the Mill Pond.
Chairman Dianne Powers and selectman Jeffrey (Skipper) Manter voted to create the committee, but selectman…
Census Recruiters Reach Out at Job Fair
Census recruiters are hard at work on the Island getting the word out to Islanders that jobs are still available for 2010 census takers. They set up a booth at the Portuguese American Club for the Big Chili Contest in late January, had a table near the finish line at last week’s road race, and…
Washed Ashore, Lost Sea Turtle Found Friends
The long journey of a Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle named Shellbey came to a sad end early this month, when the turtle was found dead in an isolation tank at its temporary home at the University of New England’s Marine Animal Rehabilitation Center in Biddeford, Me.
Fortunately the family that found the turtle…
Signs or Icons? State Shrugs
The hand-painted wooden signs which feature a small bunch of grapes at the top are a signature feature on the Vineyard, replicated in postcards, on T-shirts and refrigerator magnets. Usually they hang from ornate metal posts. MassHighway installed most of these signs over 25 years ago, although many of them have been repaired or replaced…
Crow Hollow Farm Future is Uncertain
With the future of Crow Hollow Farm in West Tisbury hanging in the balance, the town planning board this week approved a complicated agreement that will allow the owners of the farm to create a three-acre lot around the existing farmhouse that has been held by the Look family for generations.
The decision…
Coast Guard Search and Rescue Sees Giant Leap of Technology
On March 25, 1990, the call came over the marine radio channel 16. “This is the fishing vessel Sol e Mar,” said a frantic male voice. “We’re sinking. We need help now!” Then the line was cut and there was only static.
Coast Guard radio monitors on the Vineyard and Nantucket tried to…
Boys Advance in State Tournament
The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys’ basketball team defeated a determined team from Rockland at home last night by a final score of 70-62 in the first round of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament.
The game was played before a standing-room-only crowd in the high school gymnasium — it may be…
Tribal Member Disputes Claim of Sacred Ground
Adding another twist to the high-stakes gamble for who will win the right to use the ocean waters around the Vineyard for industrial wind power development in the name of green energy progress, a formerly prominent member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) has publicly disputed the claim that Nantucket Sound is sacred…
The Vineyard Gardener
By LYNNE IRONS
My kitchen sink is clogged! I am using the time while waiting for the plumber to monitor my water usage. I have been hauling the dishpan outside and emptying it on the garden. I use a biodegradeable soap (Shaklee Basic-H) so it is perfectly fine on the still dormant plants.…
Oak Bluffs
TOM DRESSER
508-693-1050
(tomdresser@aol.com)
I’m back! Once again, Holly Nadler has skedaddled off to sunny California with her new bridegroom, Jack Shea, in tow, and yours truly will fill in her weekly column, to the best of my ability, for the next four weeks.
Short and Sweet
It really does take its sweet time.
There is no rushing maple syrup. Like time and tides, this special nectar waits for no one. Only temperature and trees can decide when it’s time to tap.
And I think that they have decided that the time is right. In late February and early March,…
West Tisbury
JOHN S. ALLEY
508-693-2950
(alleys@vineyard.net)
It’s been a ghost town all week, largely because of school winter vacation. Many people left Dodge for a warmer climate, while others have gone up north to ski. Even the usually busy Bob over at Reliable Market in Oak Bluffs reports a slow-down…
Vineyard Haven
Nancy Gardella
508-693-3308
(vhavenvgazette@yahoo.com)
Welcome to the world, Thomas Dommerich Dunn! Thomas was born on Monday, Feb. 22 at 2:30 p.m. He weighed in at 6 pounds, 9.5 ounces, and is 19.5 inches long. Thomas is the son of longtime seasonal Islander Jessie Slocum and her husband Brett Dunn.…
Full Moon and Saturn
The full moon, the Mud Moon, appears next to the bright planet Saturn on Monday night. The two are in the zodiacal constellation Virgo, and there could not be a better pair to open a new month and herald the approach of spring.
Edgartown
KATHIE CASE
508-627-5349
(kathleencase@comcast.net)
As I sit here the rain is coming down sideways and it has not stopped in a while. The forecast is that tomorrow is going to be even harder falling rain and wind. So the best outlook is it could be snow but instead the…
Winter Watcher Woes
It is that time of year again — a season when I truly become a bird-watcher with disambiguation (split personality). One of my alter egos is excited by the return of red-winged blackbirds, common grackles, and to a considerably lesser degree brown-headed cowbirds, to the Vineyard. The red-winged blackbird males are perched on high grasses…
Chilmark
JANE N. SLATER
508-645-3378
(slaterjn@comcast.net)
Congratulations to Eric and Marguerite Cottle, who celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on Feb. 25. They are Chilmarkers with deep roots in Chilmark history. For years they were active in the community and they have many friends who send them many happy wishes.
Welcome Molly
Welcome Molly
Nicole Carey and Benjamin Knight of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a daughter, Molly Juniper Carey-Knight, born on Feb. 17 at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Molly weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces at birth.
Please Adopt Us
Pearl, our little old white lady cat, is back at the Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard shelter looking for a new home; her adoptive friend had to give her up, so she had a taste of a new home and is now looking for another one.
