Right now as I drive around the Vineyard, I suddenly feel disoriented and for a moment not sure where I am. I experience this unexpected disorientation despite my having belonged to Dukes County Search and Rescue, the U.S. Army, and still a Boy Scout. Sure, I am aging. However, all appears okay with me. Much of what was a familiar landscape appears to be different from what I am accustomed to. After some reflection, I realize that it is the environment around me that has changed. Some leaves have dropped and, in some cases, leaves changed color.

With President Obama soon to arrive on the Vineyard, it seems appropriate to look back at an earlier visit. For instance, I was surprised to read and find a Yiddish word linked to our black president. To wit: The Chilmark Tavern’s advertisement in the Vineyard Gazette of August 28, 2009, noted that, “Obama Schlepped Here.” Naturally, because of my interest in Yiddish, I called Judy Russo, the then owner of the Chilmark Tavern, and learned that Obama did not schlep to or eat at the tavern.

I learned about buying and selling Woof Tickets while teaching graphic arts in the New York city public schools. In my students’ neighborhood, if you were able to intimidate someone, that person bought your Woof Ticket. To survive in such a neighborhood, a student had to be able to sell but never buy a Woof Ticket. Buying and selling Woof Tickets also extends into the world of adults and politics. In fact, in one case, selling a Woof Ticket may have achieved a seat on the Supreme Court.

I was reading The New York Times on the bus from the Palmer avenue lot to Woods Hole to take the ferry to the Vineyard when the woman sitting next to me profiled me and said something about my being a New Yorker. I responded to her smile, and said, “Yes, but I was a Brooklyn boy.” I then asked her how she knew I was from the Big Apple. She responded: “The way you fold your newspaper.” I guess she knew what she was talking about since she seemed to be in her 60s and was a real estate agent in New York city and the Vineyard.