JANE N. SLATER

508-645-3378

(slaterjn@comcast.net)

Wow, Dec. 7! How many of you out there get that feeling in your stomach when you hear that date? I was 7 and my mother reassured me that Pearl Harbor was a long way from Chilmark, but I found the news very frightening just the same. What an era began that day. So many recollections of the war years in Chilmark come to mind: the sounds of heavy planes flying over, throbbing engines heard offshore at night, and the scratchy radio reports every evening.

Wise Use at the High School

Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School principal Margaret (Peg) Regan is a stand-up person who was forced to make hard choices this year about the high school budget.

Death by Committee

The idea of forming a special commission on agriculture for the Vineyard is on the table for discussion, and while the concept of an advocacy group to promote the interests of farms and farmers is sound and timely and should be a top priority — the last thing the Island needs is another committee.

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission hosted a recent Saturday morning workshop to discuss the idea. Spokesmen from other agricultural commissions around the state spoke about their experiences.

Homemade From the Heart

Retailers expect Americans to plunk down nearly five hundred billion dollars this holiday season. Some economists argue this holiday splurge is inefficient and full of wasteful white elephant gifts.

One study tried to put a value on the sentiment of gifts.

Economists created an auction offering college students money for their Christmas presents, asking them to split their price into material and sentimental value. On average, sentimental value accounted for about half the total.

“What is Hanukah?” the Talmud asks. It is a story about the miracle of oil and light, is the answer. We may ask, however, so what is a miracle? And do we believe in miracles anyway?

Jewish commentators have wrestled with the question of the miraculous for at least 2,000 years. Some commentators understand the miracle as a manifestation of God’s omnipotence in the form of the suspension of natural law. The parting of the Red Sea, the manna from heaven, Joshua ordering the sun to stand still at Givon are all examples of such classic miracles.

50 Years Ago

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of December, 1957:

GREAT POND PROTECTION

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

A copper-white streak across the field,

Darting through dunes, power to wield . . .

A Brittany spaniel at home on the moors

Not of French, but Vineyard shores.

Like a king atop ridges he’d survey his land,

Alert ears, tail — and again sail the sand.

When he did pause and gaze with amber eyes

Upon those he loved, with his soul so wise . . .

’Twas clear Copper to no other could compare:

The brightest planet in the evening sky is the red planet Mars. The planet is brilliant, close and a spectacle in the east in our evening sky. Mars is 54 million miles away, awfully close for a planet. Mars is closest to the Earth on Dec. 18, and in opposition Dec. 24.

In 1932 a small group of Oak Bluffs ladies met to organize a club that would sponsor the homemaking programs of the Dukes County Extension Service with an emphasis on community service. That club is still alive and flourishing 75 years later, and is still dedicated to helping those around them. The formal name of the club is the Ogkeshkuppe Homemakers Club, Ogkeshkuppe being the Indian name for Oak Bluffs meaning wet or damp thicket or woods. The homemakers have thrived for so long because their main focus is to help others — and they succeed brilliantly.