Super Tuesday

More than once it has been called the purest form of democracy. And while some may quibble with the adjective, there is no doubt that annual town meetings — in all their messy, colorful, argumentative and sometimes droning-on-at-length glory — remain at heart one of the finest examples of democracy at work.

Tuesday marks the launch of the full political season on the Vineyard with three annual town meetings set to take place on the same night in Edgartown, West Tisbury and Oak Bluffs.

Mill Pond

Spring didn’t fool around on Tuesday, April Fool’s Day. Instead, quite properly, the month of golden daffodils and forsythia and of plump, furry pussy willows arrived with a warm rain. The month’s arrival could have been heralded by sun, but that has come since — to show off the greenery and the buds and the first flowers that the rain has nurtured.

Farming the Land

The agricultural renaissance on the Vineyard has shown the Island not only is a fertile place to raise crops and livestock, but also a place where a thriving informal network of woman farmers has grown.

The resurgence, in fact, taps some very old roots. When Vineyard men went to sea in past centuries, Vineyard women ran the farms.

Finding Common Ground

Dr. Martin Luther King said it forty-five years ago: “At eleven o’clock on Sunday morning when we stand and sing and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segregated hour in this nation. This is tragic. Nobody of honesty can overlook this.”

Fearless Whaler

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of March, 1908:

The bark Wanderer is being fitted for a whaling voyage and will be commanded by Captain George Fred Tilton, the hero of the long walk from the Arctic, bringing the news of the disaster of the whaling fleet, the winner of horse races, and the successful whaling captain.