A long time ago, in another life, I recall how my stomach cringed when I heard a colleague saying, “Oh, I have all the Macs and the O’s. How is anyone supposed to teach them math?”

One day last month close to five inches of rain fell on Martha’s Vineyard. In Chilmark alone it caused a five-foot wide, four-foot deep sinkhole on State Road, the collapse of a two culverts and the dirt road to Lucy Vincent Beach, the collapse of an old granite bridge and the closure of South Road near the Allen Farm due to an impassable puddle.

Suddenly it’s flooding everywhere, all over the world — and it’s no fluke.

Oprah Winfrey’s show on May 4 honored the Freedom Riders on the 50th anniversary of their historic bus ride to desegregate public areas in the South.

Thirteen young people, many students, both black and white, boarded two Greyhound buses in Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961 with the goal of riding to New Orleans. They were organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

A large brigade of Island firefighters, wearing their dress blues and standing straight and true, flanked the steps of the Old Whaling Church last Saturday afternoon, a fine May day flecked with sunshine and breezes. Joe Cressy would have called it a sailor’s day and he would have been right. Joe was right about everything — on this point there was general agreement amid laughter and tears, poetry and music at his memorial service on Saturday.

CLINIC IN CRISIS

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

This is a crisis — our clinic is at risk.

Family Planning of Martha’s Vineyard has been providing reproductive health care to Island men, woman and teens for nearly three decades. In 2010, our community clinic provided safe, confidential and affordable care for over 1,000 clients, greater than eight per cent of the total year-round population.

Memorial Day 2011

Disability Program Grants

The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation is accepting inquiries for its next cycle for grants to help those with intellectual disabilities. Organizations located in Barnstable, Nantucket, Dukes or Essex counties serving children, adolescents, and young adults to age 26 with intellectual disabilities that address one or more of the Foundation’s funding priorities may be eligible for funds. The deadline for inquiries is June 8, 2011. Visit thetowerfoundation.org online for more information.

The student newspaper of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, the High School View, has for the sixth consecutive year earned a highest achievement award in scholastic editing and publishing from the New England Scholastic Press Association. The award was one of nine accolades that coeditor in chief and senior Kira Shipway accepted on behalf of the student staff at the annual conference held May 6 at Boston University.

The County of Dukes County held a Benefits Fair for municipal employees last Friday, to give employees and their dependents the opportunity to talk one-on-one with representatives of health, dental and life plans, deferred compensation plans and the retirement system. The event also offered hearing and skin cancer screenings well as a blood pressure check.

The Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce has announced the winners of the 2011-2012 Island Book cover art contest. All sixth graders were invited to submit their creations on the theme of Island Grown. The following artists were chosen:

Belle Dupon of the Martha’s Vineyard Charter School; Susa Breese of the Martha’s Vineyard Charter School; Brahmin Thurber-Carbone of West Tisbury School; Noah Hoyt of Oak Buffs School; Samuel Graber-Hahn of Tisbury School and Daniel Gaines of Edgartown School.