High Ground

My husband and I sit in cones of electric light,

reading in down-filled, chintz-covered armchairs

in our pretty little parlor in our pretty second home.

The tinnitus of crickets and the hiss of the sprinkler system

seep through screened doors and windows.

Thousands of miles away people are drowning.

In droves. For days. They stuff rags under their doors.

Hello everyone. We have another batch of pieces for you to read. For the last couple of weeks, the sophomore classes have been learning about the Holocaust and many of our class are giving feedback on that topic. We are writing personal opinions and feelings about that topic; after looking through all of the pieces, I really liked Gail Herman’s piece. Having learned about the subject myself, I feel I can relate to what she says. The quote she uses that we can bomb the world into pieces, but not into peace, is powerful and says it all for us.

T he best kinds of stories about your kids are those that you wouldn’t remember unless you wrote them down. In 1993 Adam was 13 and we had just given him permission to go places on his own.

The summer season began when the squid started to bite. I knew it had come when Adam’s clothing got all mucked up with ink and slime. His hands would be stained black. This began happening every day.

ACTIVISM AT WORK

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Planting Trees

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of May, 1933:

A conservation army, numbering 219 men, will arrive on the Island today to take up the work of reforestation in the state reservation under the federal plan for relieving unemployment. This army is one that has been through the preliminary course of training at Camp Devens and will be in the charge of a captain and two lieutenants of the regular Army, besides a detail of military police.

It was a spectacular crash, the first I’d ever seen. Two cars, at the intersection of State and Old County Roads, hit like billiard balls and bounced straight backwards. Happy for all, the only injury was a young passenger in one car who sliced up his forehead. Pieces of cars were all over the road, and in typical Vineyard fashion motorists began stopping and running to assist. The EMTs soon arrived, calm returned, the debris was kicked off the road and we all went on about our business.