It is a picture perfect 4th of July in picture perfect Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. Happy 4th, everyone! I hope it is picture perfect wherever you are…
Yesterday, as I was shuttling back and forth from the bookstore, I kept thinking how carefully curated Edgartown is by the town fathers.
Joyce had a half price bookstand on the porch of the bookstore and they cited her for having that; it was too unseemly for the town. It now rests in a corner in the bookstore.
It feels like they all went to the Walt Disney School for Civic Perfection.
Visually stunning, the little town of Edgartown, is a haven for preppies. In town, we are awash in pastel and Lilly Pulitzer. I had forgotten that salmon was the color of choice for WASPS.
Oak Bluffs is much more diverse than Edgartown, and each part of the island has its own feel. Edgartown is prep, all the way. I think that Igor and Mischa, the two baristas at “Behind the Bookstore” are the two edgiest characters in town and loved by everyone. There is no doubt that “BTB” has the BEST coffee on the island.
There will be massive fireworks, I understand, though I am not sure I will be seeing much of them as I am closing the bookstore tonight, a role I frequently play. Last night we closed at ten and I didn’t get back until 11:30 and didn’t unwind enough to sleep until one. Ten percent of the day’s take was done in the last hour as folks wandered in after dinner to have books to read this beautiful 4th.
There is an interesting opinion piece in today’s NY Times about the Declaration of Independence being partly driven by a fear of Indians and slave revolts. You can find it at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/opinion/did-a-fear-of-slave-revolts-drive-american-independence.html?_r=0
It is fascinating, interesting, explanatory and gives me cause to think, which is good in an opinion piece, whether at the end you agree or not.
The British, in attempting to quell the rebellion, were agitating both American Indians and slaves.
Yesterday, Jeffrey, Joyce and Joyce’s niece, Julie, and her husband, Mark, along with Joyce’s sister, Elyse, went clamming and came home with 219 of them, near a house record. Before I leave for the store, there will be a feast of them and other things before Mark and Julie fly back to New York and I leave to deal with the madding crowds that will be roving Main Street after dinner.
And as we celebrate, I am also taking a minute to bow my head in memoriam for the 200 plus dead in the bombing of a marketplace in Baghdad as Ramadan nears its end. And for those who were killed in Holey’s Cafe in Dhaka by six armed men, in turn killed by security forces. At least several of the attackers came from elite families, without want and well-educated. Their families are left without explanations and with tremendous guilt at their sons’ actions.
The Paris attacks, 9/11, the Madrid train attack and all other killings on Western soil are terrible and damning and yet I keep being reminded by things like the marketplace bombing in Baghdad that IS is mostly killing other Muslims.
Now, as I sit on the veranda, overlooking Edgartown Harbor, that world of violence is far away. Boats motor or sail by with easy grace on still water, birds chirp, the sun shines, American flags wave in the light breeze. It is a day the town fathers of Edgartown could not have choreographed better. Uncle Walt would be proud…
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Tags: 4th of July, Baghdad, Dhaka shootings, Edgartown, Edgartown Books, Holey's Cafe, Iraq, IS, July 4th, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Ramadan, Walt Disney
This entry was posted on July 4, 2016 at 6:55 pm and is filed under 2016 Election, Civil Rights, Daesh, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Television, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Letter from the Vineyard
Letter From New York 07 04 2016, via the Vineyard… A 4th that Disney would be proud of…
It is a picture perfect 4th of July in picture perfect Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. Happy 4th, everyone! I hope it is picture perfect wherever you are…
Yesterday, as I was shuttling back and forth from the bookstore, I kept thinking how carefully curated Edgartown is by the town fathers.
Joyce had a half price bookstand on the porch of the bookstore and they cited her for having that; it was too unseemly for the town. It now rests in a corner in the bookstore.
It feels like they all went to the Walt Disney School for Civic Perfection.
Visually stunning, the little town of Edgartown, is a haven for preppies. In town, we are awash in pastel and Lilly Pulitzer. I had forgotten that salmon was the color of choice for WASPS.
Oak Bluffs is much more diverse than Edgartown, and each part of the island has its own feel. Edgartown is prep, all the way. I think that Igor and Mischa, the two baristas at “Behind the Bookstore” are the two edgiest characters in town and loved by everyone. There is no doubt that “BTB” has the BEST coffee on the island.
There will be massive fireworks, I understand, though I am not sure I will be seeing much of them as I am closing the bookstore tonight, a role I frequently play. Last night we closed at ten and I didn’t get back until 11:30 and didn’t unwind enough to sleep until one. Ten percent of the day’s take was done in the last hour as folks wandered in after dinner to have books to read this beautiful 4th.
There is an interesting opinion piece in today’s NY Times about the Declaration of Independence being partly driven by a fear of Indians and slave revolts. You can find it at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/opinion/did-a-fear-of-slave-revolts-drive-american-independence.html?_r=0
It is fascinating, interesting, explanatory and gives me cause to think, which is good in an opinion piece, whether at the end you agree or not.
The British, in attempting to quell the rebellion, were agitating both American Indians and slaves.
Yesterday, Jeffrey, Joyce and Joyce’s niece, Julie, and her husband, Mark, along with Joyce’s sister, Elyse, went clamming and came home with 219 of them, near a house record. Before I leave for the store, there will be a feast of them and other things before Mark and Julie fly back to New York and I leave to deal with the madding crowds that will be roving Main Street after dinner.
And as we celebrate, I am also taking a minute to bow my head in memoriam for the 200 plus dead in the bombing of a marketplace in Baghdad as Ramadan nears its end. And for those who were killed in Holey’s Cafe in Dhaka by six armed men, in turn killed by security forces. At least several of the attackers came from elite families, without want and well-educated. Their families are left without explanations and with tremendous guilt at their sons’ actions.
The Paris attacks, 9/11, the Madrid train attack and all other killings on Western soil are terrible and damning and yet I keep being reminded by things like the marketplace bombing in Baghdad that IS is mostly killing other Muslims.
Now, as I sit on the veranda, overlooking Edgartown Harbor, that world of violence is far away. Boats motor or sail by with easy grace on still water, birds chirp, the sun shines, American flags wave in the light breeze. It is a day the town fathers of Edgartown could not have choreographed better. Uncle Walt would be proud…
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Tags: 4th of July, Baghdad, Dhaka shootings, Edgartown, Edgartown Books, Holey's Cafe, Iraq, IS, July 4th, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Ramadan, Walt Disney
This entry was posted on July 4, 2016 at 6:55 pm and is filed under 2016 Election, Civil Rights, Daesh, IS, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Television, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.