A moment of awe; a time for transformation
The moon moved slowly between the sun and earth, obscuring the light of the sun. The sky dimmed, and the temperature dropped. A strange dusk fell across Chilmark atop Peaked Hill, one of the highest...
View ArticleThe migrants on the bridge: A follow-up
Anyone who casually follows the news knows that on March 26, a 984-foot container ship sailing under a Singaporean flag smashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, sending it into the...
View ArticleTown meetings shouldn’t be a snoozer
Updated, April 18 Town meeting is one of New England’s proudest traditions, and the most hands-on form of democracy in which Islanders can participate. Unlike voting in presidential elections, which...
View ArticleHow to address a national crisis: Chronic absenteeism
American students are skipping school in record numbers, a crisis that is so acute that it became the lead story in The New York Times recently, as well as the subject of the Times’ podcast series, The...
View ArticleThrough the rancor, Chilmark finds compromise
It’s been quite a week in the news. The U.S. House of Representatives finally put aside its deep divisions to sign an aid package that will save untold thousands of lives in the grinding war in...
View ArticleTortured Poets ‘Taylored’ for our needs?
And who’s going to hold you like me? And who’s going to love you, if not me? I laughed in your face and said, “You’re not Dylan Thomas, I’m not Patti Smith” This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel We’re modern...
View ArticleThe good, the bad, the sad: Newspapering for 40 years
Now, 40 years since its founding, The Martha’s Vineyard Times once again doubles down to its news-gathering overwatch on Islanders’ behalf. And once again, although a new crowd is at the controls, the...
View Article‘A Timely Issue’
The front page of the newspaper has yellowed into a sepia tone in the frame that hangs in my office overlooking Vineyard Haven Harbor, but the words feel like they are still unusually current. That...
View ArticleThe Times’ first editorial
Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from an editorial printed on the front page of the first published MV Times newspaper. The paper came out on Thursday, May 3, 1984. We are republishing in...
View ArticleThe new EPA emissions rule
On April 25, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued far-reaching new rules concerning coal-fired power plants: They must capture the air pollution that they produce, or they will have to shut...
View ArticleEveryone should have access to treasured Chappy beaches
The natural splendor of the beaches on Chappaquiddick attracts swimmers, hikers, anglers, sunbathers, birdwatchers, and sunset — or sunrise — watchers. For generations, Martha’s Vineyard residents and...
View ArticleSteamship shows its arrogance … again
In the news last week, the Steamship Authority administration recommended providing a permit to a New Bedford company to deliver freight trucks from the South Coast city to the Island on a year-round...
View ArticleOn this frenetic holiday, pause for Memorial Day’s true meaning
Here comes the sun. Or at least, that is the hope for this Memorial Day weekend, as the unofficial start to the summer season gets underway. College graduations are mostly over, and students are...
View ArticlePiecing together a broken life
The Island is left trying to piece together the broken shards of the life of Jared Ravizza. Every corner of the community seems to be struggling to understand how the 26-year-old who washed ashore on...
View ArticleThe Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ‘is here to stay’
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is the brainchild of Elizabeth Warren. As a Harvard Law professor, she spearheaded the drive to protect consumers seeking credit to purchase a home or...
View ArticleDistrict attorney and sheriff need to stop squabbling
Back in 1958, John Leo Brady was convicted of first-degree murder in Maryland. During his trial, Brady admitted that he had taken part in a botched carjacking, but insisted that his co-defendant,...
View ArticleHarborWorks and sailing into the future
The view from the publisher’s office of The Martha’s Vineyard Times looks out over the weathered, gray-shingled boatyard of the world-renowned Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway, and beyond that, the...
View ArticleA study in contrasts: Two firearms cases
Island hunters and gun owners will be very interested in two cases the Supreme Court ruled on last month involving the possession of firearms. They had opposite outcomes. One involved a 2018 Executive...
View ArticleMeasuring our Island by how we treat the least fortunate
There is a hidden trend on the Vineyard that the public and advocates worry is growing more troubling. We reported last week on an increasing population of people experiencing homelessness on the...
View ArticleSaying Goodbye
I am leaving, moving off-Island. For good. A new home, a new town, a new state. I have, in a sense, been voted off the Island by the myriad of issues and inconveniences so familiar to those of us who...
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