Books & Ideas
Seriously, what could be a funnier title than Robert Frost’s Answering Machine? by Daniel Waters (Indian Hill Press, $15). The West Tisbury wit-man, known far and wide as D.A.W., has been posting his quatrains in The Vineyard Gazette, Yankee Magazine, and on N.P.R. When we hear his doleful voice – Disney could cast him as Eeyore in the Winnnie the Pooh cartoons — reading his own hilarious, too-true verbal apecues on the air, we pat down our desks for a pen so we can share the ditty with friends.
Like this one entitled Cricket
Is there any relationship more complicated and, when it works, more rewarding, than the mother-daughter bond? Two authors with strong Vineyard ties have approached this essential kinship from both sides, from the formative years, and during the final years.
How do Jules Feiffer’s early comic strips hold up after half a century? For over 40 years, beginning in 1956, his provocative, often ironic cartoons appeared weekly in the Village Voice. Fantagraphics Books has just published Explainers ($28.99 hardcover), a complete collection of the first 10 years’ worth, from 1956 to 1966. The strips deal with politics and the battle of the sexes in an era when intellectuals obsessed about Marx and Freud and when humor might arise from observing hypocrisy in people’s politics and their intimate relationships.
West Tisbury Free Public Library hosts an evening with emeritus professor of SUNY/Buffalo, Herb Foster on Monday, August 11, at 5 p.m. Mr. Foster will discuss and sign his latest book, Ribbin’, Jivin’, and Playin’ the Dozens: The Persistent Dilemma in Our Schools.
Prior to his 28-plus years at SUNY, he spent 17 years as a teacher and administrator in the New York city public schools. At present, he is co-president of the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, trustee of the Edgartown Public Library and trustee of Martha’s Vineyard NAACP.
The executive director of J Street, the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement, Jeremy Ben-Ami speaks tonight, Friday, August 8, at 7 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center.
The Martha’s Vineyard NAACP and the Oyster Bar & Grill are presenting a series of four summer luncheons with guest speakers who have made successful careers in broadcasting entrepreneurship, in organizational management and human resources, in writing, and in medicine. Lunch and dialogue is open to all. The events are at 12:30 p.m. at the Oyster Bar & Grill at 57 Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs. Cost is $30 per person per luncheon, to benefit the Island branch of the NAACP.
The speakers will be as follows: