Commentary
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?
Those iconic words have rattled around in the back of my head for more than four decades. It never crossed my mind I would someday reach that milestone. Sixty-four! Why that borders on the upper end of middle age, for goodness sake. But here I am, ready to face the music, so to speak.
Past Loves
From Gazette editions of February, 1936:
Affordable Housing’s Changing Landscape
She was an Oak Bluffs selectman and I was a cub reporter for the New Bedford Standard Times. The year was 1973. Geraldyne DeBettencourt had recently been elected as the first woman selectman on the Vineyard. It was quite a milestone when you think about it now, especially placed in the context of nearly four decades ago when Island government was a dyed-in-the-wool, old-boy network. My professional world too was heavily populated by men, most of them kindly, small-town newspapermen who were willing to take me under their wing.
T here are many bird-watchers on the Vineyard. They come from all walks of life from architects to zookeepers. Some are liberals, some conservatives and maybe some are even Tea Party members. They have different ideas on what the definitions of conservation, ecology and green living are. The issue of turbines for the generation of electricity has caused some discomfort among the ranks.
A year ago, a group of students of Brazilian ethnicity decided that they wanted to educate the school about Brazilian culture. Through hard work, charm and community support they created the first-ever Brazilian awareness day at the regional high school.