Kudos and gratitude to our very own Skip Finley who is responding to the call of books, movies and plays. A serial entrepreneur if there ever was one, he is pressing forward in every dimension on his forthcoming book on black whaling captains. This is all very exciting because on the open sea black whalers were able to enjoy a sense of freedom not enjoyed on land. Skip teases us: “Whaling wasn’t about fishing, it was about oil. Between 20 and 40 per cent of whalers were black, and the danger and difficulty of the business produced the opportunity for 64 of them to become captains, beginning even during the days of slavery and continuing to the end of the industry.” Cannot wait to read the book!

This search for higher heights has caused him to pass up this weekly column and has given me the opportunity to pinch hit for this summer. Skip can never be replaced as he did a terrific job keeping the Island updated with history, interesting people and providing commentary on special events. We wish him every possible success.

The call for me is humbling because this is the column that was begun in 1968 by the most royal of Vineyard royalty, Dorothy West. Her brilliant writing honed by her time in New York during and after the Harlem Renaissance captivated many including the late Jackie Kennedy Onassis, the editor of her last book, The Wedding. As events unfolded they were both in their final stages of their careers and their mortality. Dorothy’s last column at the Gazette was in 1993 and Jackie died in 1994. The Wedding was published by Doubleday in 1995 and Dorothy died in 1998. The column was picked up by Della Hardman and she was succeeded by Bettye Foster Baker before Skip began writing the column in 2012. All the successors to West’s column have left an indelible footprint on the printed pages of time and deserve our strong applause.

Next Saturday, before you are treated to delicious frosted sheet cake slices under the tent at Ocean Park, you will hear a presentation by Dr. Carol Anderson at Della Hardman Day. Come Savor the Moment.

In the afternoon on August 3, professor, political commentator and author Michael Eric Dyson will headline a panel with Harvard’s John Stauffer and Boston University’s Saida Grundy at the Union Chapel speakers series.

This past Saturday, Vivian Male transformed the Island House into a supper club, singing popular hits past and present. This was a prelude to the speaking that she and others will do at a scholarship benefit for her former boss and mentor, the late Sen. Edward W. Brooke 3rd, organized by Brooke acolyte and fraternity brother Miniyard Culpepper. Both will be joined by a stellar panel of local and national speakers. The fundraiser will be at Lola’s on the afternoon of August 16.

Attorney Jennifer DaSilva has announced that she is open for all business real estate at Ocean Park Realty.

Paradise on earth is the Vineyard experience. Enjoy it as life is fleeting!

Send Oak Bluffs news to [email protected].