President Obama today is faced by two implacable enemies. Outside our borders there is radical Islam, which hates him as the leader of the secular Western world. Within there is the extreme conservative alliance, dedicated to defeating any attempt he makes to solve national problems.

As some of you may know, I have been operating for two years, along my with partner Melody Cunningham (widow of the late, great reggae legend, Peter Tosh) a Jamaican-style food truck (Irie Bites) out of Vineyard Haven. Recently, a golden opportunity has presented itself.

Oak Bluffs have you no pride? This is a town that depends on tourism and yet our beaches are a mess. Even on a good year they are covered with unsightly seaweed.

The following letter was sent to the state Department of Transportation highway director.

This letter is a plea for help and cooperation from the state of Massachusetts concerning a serious and potentially fatal situation we have here on Martha’s Vineyard regarding our sidewalks and bicycles.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of experiencing the new complimentary bus service to Boston. It is a perk that comes with the purchase of a round-trip ticket on the Seastreak fast ferry to New Bedford. The bus meets the Seastreak ferry in New Bedford and proceeds nonstop to South Station in Boston.

It’s the busy season. We all know and feel it. What do we love about this Island? We love that even in June, on a Saturday, we as a community find time to honor accomplishments and celebrate!

A giant thank you to Islandwide emergency personnel for greeting the state champion Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School boys’ tennis team in such a special way on Saturday evening.

Thank you to the Tisbury police department and officer in the school, Scott Ogden, for an amazing Bike Rodeo at the Tisbury School on Saturday, June 15. Dozens of students came with their families and passed the safety course. Many received new helmets donated by the police department along with free backpacks, hotdogs and hamburgers cooked by their principal John Custer.

To get into shape for my upcoming wedding in May, I joined the YMCA. On one of my first visits, I stepped off the treadmill, stumbled over my brand new gym shoes and fell with a loud thwack! against a nearby piece of equipment. I assured the gathering crowd that I was okay.

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of June 1932: Dropping the Hedge Fence lightship and the substitution of a buoy, and the removal of the keeper at Cape Pogue Light, making this an automatic light station without a tender, are two of the measures being considered by the United States Bureau of Lighthouses. The changes would be made in the interest of the economy, under pressure from the government’s retrenchment program.

Polly Hill’s vision of growing an arboretum began in 1957 and the 70-acre garden that is her legacy first opened to the public 15 years ago. The mission of the Polly Hill Arboretum is simple; to share plant knowledge with students of all ages. Polly’s voice is still sometimes heard on the local NPR station saying, “Educate yourself. Learn. That’s the fun. The learning is the fun.”