The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the oldest and largest United States grassroots based civil rights organization. It was founded on Feb. 12, 1909, by a multi-racial, multi-ethnic group of progressive thinkers and activists of varying political and religious backgrounds including Ida Wells Barnett, W.E.B. Dubois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, and William English Walling. They came together and all were committed to forming an organization dedicated to answering the call of justice.

Witness to the Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, by Barbara Bick, The Feminist Press, $14.99.

History has left us the chronicles of a number of intrepid women of the West who have traversed the Near and Middle East. In this tradition, but surpassing it in many ways, Barbara Bick of Vineyard Haven has written Walking the Precipice: Witness to the Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, a testimony for our time. It is a lucid, passionate and at times harrowing political book written on behalf of the women of Afghanistan.

The Vineyard is an ideal place for stargazing, and of course comet-gazing. The skies are dark, and unlike in urban and suburban areas on the mainland, light pollution is not a problem.

Comet Lulin is fast-moving. Last week, the comet resided in the zodiacal constellation Virgo. This week it resides in Leo and next week it moves into Cancer. That is a lot of space to cover.

Sometime around Christmas a letter appeared in the Gazette from a “lapsed Methodist.” I’ve thought of it on and off for the past few months as I pondered what was the point in keeping open and attending the Chilmark Community Church, which happens to be Methodist. Could doing good while serving on community boards replace the experience of church going as the lapsed Methodist suggested? My friends asked, “Why do you bother with going to church, especially when it is such a hassle?”

KEEP HOSPICE SEPARATE

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I am not surprised to hear that the Vineyard Nursing Association is adding Medicare hospice services, even though they have been assuring the board and directors of Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard for several years that they are not. It is vital to recognize the difference in the level of care being offered by the VNA and Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard. It would be better for this community if these apples are not all in one big VNA basket.

Angels of the Morning

Why does the Vineyard Nursing Association want to get into the hospice business, when there is already a hospice on the Island?

The answer is not completely clear yet.

The brightest planet in the western sky is about to dramatically shift its place in the heavens. You have seen it if you have been outside after sunset. Venus is a spectacle, the brightest “star” in the sky.

Scallops in the White House

Dear Mr. President: We read in The New York Times last week about your first state dinner, and we loved the kitchen tour that Mrs. Obama gave to culinary students and her comments about eating locally grown foods. And we read that the first dinner included Nantucket scallops, a favorite of yours, Mrs. Obama said.

How Old Are You?

From a February, 1991 Just a Thought column by Art Railton:

You’re getting old if you can remember when:

You came to the Vineyard on a steamer, not a ferry, and she landed at Oak Bluffs. But not in a slip.

And a few folks, the rich and adventurous, arrived by seaplane, flying from Woods Hole and landing in Vineyard Haven harbor.

And if you said you were going to the “crick,” you didn’t have to explain where it was.

Trail of Lawsuits

Moshup Trail is an ancient place, named for the legendary giant of the Wampanoags, the indigenous people of the Vineyard. Its windswept, salt-blasted heathlands are rare and unlike even any other rare place on the Island. The clean air is washed with salt and the light that plays across the trail has a quality all its own. Perhaps it is the absence of trees, the extreme western exposure, or the spirit of legendary giants.