Opinion
Sometimes a person is awakened from a dream by the very thing he is dreaming about. For some veterans I know, the deafening chop-chop of helicopter blades takes them back to Viet Nam. For us, the din of the blades and the intensity of lights so bright they bathe the island in daylight means someone is in trouble.
Only Islanders — all Islanders everywhere — can truly know the ordeal of coming and going from their sheltered grounds to the mainland with its big-box stores, opera houses and airports.
If a contest exists to measure the misery quotient of such a trip from Island to city and back again, I’d like to enter my recent ordeal as a perfect example of the worst of all time.
The rain that fell last week
pounding against the skylights and windows
should have been snow,
whispering the secret of Winter.
But here we are,
The Vineyard waterfront community lost a friend last week. Michael J. Syslo, 60, of Chilmark was always at the bow when it came to the biology of lobsters and the science that goes with the waterfront.
When word of his death last Tuesday, Jan. 29, reached the Island, the news passed quickly by phone and by word of mouth. The waterfront community is close. Everyone agreed; Mike was too young to be crossing the bar.
Today the music dies on 92.7 FM when the signal formerly owned by Island-centric WMVY will pass to WBUR, a Boston-based National Public Radio station. Those of us accustomed to filling our homes, our offices and especially our cars with the eclectic blues-folk-rock sounds of WMVY will have some adjusting to do.
The results of the Boston Globe Scholarship Art Awards are in and once again Vineyard students did very well. This year was in fact the best ever as thirty-three Island students were honored for a total of forty-one awards. The acknowledgment spanned nearly all art mediums imaginable including photography, drawing, writing, painting, ceramics and jewelry.
Examples of these awards can be seen on the Commentary Page in today’s edition.