Members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) sent a strong message about their desire for change last week, voting by a wide margin to elect Tobias Vanderhoop as the new chairman of the tribal council.

At dusk, one by one,
hundreds of gulls fall
out of the leaden sky
onto the lake, already
beginning to close
its lid for winter.

We call them
by their names,
recognize bill color,
molt, age, species —
see everything
but living beings —
finding their spots
for the night, calling out
to kin, to neighbors.
Afloat on freezing waves,
they turn together
into the north wind.

A large green binder rested on Lorraine Clark’s kitchen counter this week, the pages filled with requests for bicycles, toys, books, art supplies and blankets.

Ten years ago this week, the Massachusetts 
 Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Goodridge versus Department of Public Health, effectively setting off a marriage revolution that today appears to have reached some sort of tipping point even as the effort continues state by state.

I was 23, a senior at CCNY in New York city, on that Friday — again this year the date falls on a Friday — and had come home to our apartment after my morning classes for a quick lunch. The television was on in the background as I made myself a sandwich.

For 50 years the smoking of marijuana has been a major issue in our country. The idea that marijuana should be considered a medication is a fairly recent addition to the debate. It is a clever addition, however, because “medicines” are good and should be available to those who need them.

A week after attending the West Tisbury Congregational Church service on Sunday, Nov. 10, to hear guest pastor Rev. Reebee Girash give a sermon explicitly focused on actively responding to the climate crisis, one striking impression still seems central to all the others.

From the Vineyard Gazette edition of Nov. 29, 1963: Like the rest of the world, the Vineyard was stunned by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy last Friday afternoon.

Twelve years ago while studying the walking districts of Vineyard Haven, I became aware that the A&P (now Stop & Shop) parking lot would become a new town square with shops surrounding and connecting Main street to the ferry and the harbor.

Thanks for all the kind words in person and comments on the internet from friends and acquaintances new and old, congratulating me for bringing Martha’s Vineyard radio back on air. Few people are more pleased with this news than me.