Robert (Bob) Carter Hayden Jr. died Jan. 23. His serendipitously popular saying, “know your history” dovetails nicely with this Black History Month.

An elephant in the classroom / Unheard voices from slavery / So essential to understanding / How past is prelude / To inequities we now see.

There are times when forth-coming events cast their shadows before them, and one becomes acquainted with the motto of the Boy Scouts — “Be prepared.”

The recent blizzard here on the Island took me back in time, to my life as a child growing up in Garrison, N.Y. before sailing brought me to the Vineyard.

Here’s the ultimate coffee table book for every home in New England.