I have often wondered what a town meeting would be like if the purpose was to educate the voters so that we can make good decisions. Now, after the Oak Bluffs special town meeting held on Nov. 8, I know.

There were 10 articles before us, the most important of which was number two — a budget reduction in the amount of $303,861. Given an overall town budget of $25.3 million, it seemed a small thing. But it was a teachable event and Bob Whritenour, our interim town administrator, took the best possible advantage of it.

The idea for OWS MV (Occupy Wall Street- Martha’s Vineyard) first appeared as an image of a can rolling down a hill. The hill was the enthusiasm I felt all around me as people took to the streets to restore our democracy. The can represented a simple idea — a photograph of people congregating in some visually iconic place to support the Occupy movement in each of the Island‘s six towns. Let’s publish these photographs, I thought, wherever appropriate — on Web sites, on social media like Facebook, in newspapers.

By SAM LOW

The West Tisbury Library kicked off the first event in their Speakeasy series of talks by writers at State Road Restaurant on Wednesday afternoon.

By SAM LOW

Dick Everett is a polymath. He’s a sailor, an inventor, a restorer of antique houses and steam engines. He can build a boat, blacksmith almost anything, and he fashions parts for model airplanes to tolerances that would split a human hair many times. He’s a longtime member of the Society of Antique Modelers and has built model airplanes for national and international competition most of his life.

One hundred years ago, the community of Harthaven in Oak Bluffs was established when William H. Hart purchased the first parcel of land bordering Farm Pond. On Saturday, about 300 people joined to celebrate that event at the home of Walt and Mary Lee Gifford which was built by Jim Hart, one of the founder’s sons. The Harthaven centennial was much more than the normal gathering of a clan — though it certainly was that.

By SAM LOW

I remember jumping off the old little wooden bridge that used to cross over to get to the beach by Young’s old house. Also digging the best steamers in that little waterway.

— Polly Pease