Opinion
Dear President Obama:
With so many top-notch advisors to routinely advise you, how audacious of me to think I might offer some nugget that might get your attention, yet I believe citizen perspectives can be instructive.
To do something big and to do it now, at a time of national economic peril is the thing great presidencies are made of. You are correct. The state of the economy does call for action, “swift and bold,” and you say on your Web site that you will act, “Not only to create jobs, but to lay a foundation for growth.”
It was the right thing to do.
This past April we sold our primary residence outside of Boston and moved the proverbial lock, stock and what seemed like 47 barrels to Vineyard Haven. At the same time, we told friends that we also intended to sell the house we’ve had in Menemsha for 24 years. We decided it was time to live permanently on this Island. But the only way we could seriously entertain that notion was to live within walking distance of a town that breathed life more than four months of the year.
From a 1991 Just a Thought column by Art Railton:
Most of us have moments when we feel more important than we really are. It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally a certain smugness takes over. And why not? We’re living in an age of conspicuous self-importance. It’s the current talisman.
HELPING HANDS
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
Dinner for Eight
The view of the Elizabeth Islands was breathtaking. The food delicious. A group of friends gathered to enjoy a meal and talk about their grandchildren, summer and ultimately, President Obama.
If you see one bark beetle and you are an entomolo gist, you know immediately you’ve got big problems. Those beetles can eat an entire forest.
I’ve long thought that we are making a mess of Island roads — a widening here, a widening there and the Island rural character slowly dribbles away. I’ve looked diligently to see whether these changes were just products of inattention or a real contagion bent on making Martha’s Vineyard look more like everywhere else.