Martha's Vineyard Megan Dooley

Chappy Native Pens Kids’ Book, Talks About Growing Up Different

Megan Dooley | Thursday, December 17 2009 - 1:04pm

As a student at the Edgartown School, a counselor once told Chappaquiddick native Stephanie Duckworth-Elliott that she wouldn’t go to college, and implied that Ms. Duckworth-Elliott would not achieve in life. The young girl had a background and home life that already separated her from other kids her age — she was a member of the only Wampanoag family living on Chappy at the time, and raised primarily by her grandfather — and the counselor’s prediction made her feel even more detached from her peers.

Authors

Irish Spellbinder’s Memory Tale Sounds Note of Faith at Playhouse

Megan Dooley

Director Joann Green Breuer is a bit vague when it comes to describing the themes at work in her Vineyard Playhouse performance of the Brian Friel play Faith Healer. It’s not that she’s trying to be evasive, it’s just that the subject matter itself is sometimes vague, subjective and difficult to describe.

Shakespeare for the Masses Takes The Tempest to the Lighthouse

Megan Dooley

There is some belief that Shakespeare’s The Tempest was intended to be set on Martha’s Vineyard. This theory is based on the rumored friendship between William Shakespeare and Bartholomew Gosnold, the explorer who discovered the Vineyard in 1602. Of course, those rumors are impossible to prove, but they do provide an interesting link between one of the most celebrated poets and playwrights of all time, and the Island where we so often stage revivals of his work.

Lines from Behind Bars Lend Insight

Megan Dooley

By MEGAN DOOLEY

The book is called Poems from the Gray Bar Hotel. The title refers to the nickname that inmates have given to the Edgartown House of Correction, where West Tisbury poet laureate Fan Ogilvie held poetry classes last winter. But Mrs. Ogilvie said the jail is more like a revolving door for prisoners with haunted pasts who often can’t seem to get out of their own way.

Island Schools Aim For Race to Top Funds

Megan Dooley

By MEGAN DOOLEY

Of the $250 million in federal grant money awarded to the state of Massachusetts for improving education in the much-publicized Race to the Top program, the Martha’s Vineyard public school district is expected to receive some $100,000 over a period of three years, Vineyard schools superintendent Dr. James H. Weiss said this week.

Mr. Weiss said the allocation of money to different school districts across the state depends on a number of factors, including the size of schools, poverty levels and test scores.

On the Campaign Trail, Deval Patrick Pauses on Island to Defend Wind Plan

Megan Dooley

During a brief public appearance on the Vineyard on Saturday, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick defended his plan to allow large-scale commercial wind development off the Island. And he insisted that Islanders still have a say in shaping the future.

“It’s really up to Martha’s Vineyard to decide what is right,” he told a small gathering of print, radio and television reporters following a tour of the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

Aquinnah Cultural Center Hosts Native a Cappella Song Group

Megan Dooley

At an annual Native American speaker series held at Tufts University last winter, Aquinnah Cultural Center program director Linda Coombs saw a performance by a women’s musical group that simply blew her away. Of course, she wasn’t yet the program director at the time, but when she took on the role in May of this year, she knew she wanted the group, Ulali, to be part of the cultural center’s summer season schedule.