It’s not July, but it seems like July. It used to be that some things that happen only began to happen in mid-summer, but not this year, no sir. Things are happening now. We can remember when the masses were blooming in the seventh month of the year, while this year, in the fifth month, they are congregating. From the Skiff avenue end of Lagoon Pond they have arrived — massive influxes of what appear to be brown clouds of death. The algae blooms are here.

I arrived on the Island as a twenty-something in the early 1980s and found a fledging art scene and stunning, unlimited beauty. There were a handful of galleries, one of which accepted me, but the bulk of my work was sold in New York. Little by little, independent art shows sprang into existence along with more permanent galleries. The all-Island art show was one such show, and the Family Planning art show was another.

Enough is enough. West Tisbury selectman Richard Knabel has been using the newspapers for his own personal crusade against the roundabout. In his most recent diatribe he writes that “had there been a ballot question in Oak Bluffs, I would venture to say the result there would not have been materially different from the roughly three-to-one landslide against it in the other towns.” His posturing is more akin to the morning pundit talk show hosts on who is going to win the presidential election in the fall.

One of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous speeches before the Civil War concluded: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Sage words then and now. For much of our history, differences of opinion made us stronger and the American character matured. The founding fathers gave us the gift of their wisdom and foresight. I think they would be displeased with our current president who seems more comfortable playing up our differences rather than trying to bind us together.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People released on May 12 a resolution supporting marriage equality. At a meeting of the 103-year-old civil rights group’s national board of directors, the organization voted to support marriage equality as a continuation of its historic commitment to equal protection under the law.

The following is an open letter to Cape and Islands state Sen. Dan Wolf: The Web site ae911truth.org is made up of a group of 1,700 nonpartisan, licensed architects and engineers who have challenged the official 911 Commission Report, arguing that the report’s conclusion is not only from an engineering point of view unprecedented and impossible, but that the report itself is fraudulent and misrepresentative of the facts and not inclusive of all the facts and evidence that had been made available to the commission