Opinion
Old Houses, Living History
There is something sad about an old house being torn down; it’s like a friendship that suddenly disappears, leaving behind only memories and melancholy.
One of the most hallowed of Halloween traditions — the one that makes mere mortals susceptible to vampires because it involves not fake blood but the real stuff — is the carving of the pumpkin.
When my two daughters were young, I would take my life in my hands by taking my knife in my hands and attempting to carve a pumpkin without either: (a) severing a major artery or (b) doing such a horrible job on the face that the girls would giggle and say, “That pumpkin looks just like Dad!”
Toma
From the Vineyard Gazette editions of October, 1982:
STANDOUT TEACHER
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
John Morelli was not the only great teacher I had at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, but he was the one who understood me best. I loved him very much.
During my senior year I discovered Jack Kerouac and begged Mr. Morelli to let our class read On the Road. It was new to me and I was excited about it. He ordered a box of copies and when the box arrived he let me open it.
Editors’ Note: This marks the second year for the Gazette to sponsor Sophomores Speak Out, a special current events feature written by the sophomore students in Elaine Cawley Weintraub’s global studies class at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. Sophomores Speak Out will appear regularly on the Commentary Page throughout the school year.
Anthropologists call them social nodes — the places where a community’s social cement is stirred, where folks get to know each other during the spontaneous expression of life’s routine. Our churches, libraries and town halls serve this purpose, of course, but so do more informal locations like our parks, walkways, forest trails, beaches and general stores.