Archive for the ‘Martha’s Vineyard’ Category
July 28, 2017
A gray, foggy morning yielded to a fairly sunny, rather cool afternoon; whenever the sun slipped behind a cloud I was tempted to come into the house from my perch on the deck while the cleaning crew spiffed the house.
Now, with cottage clean, I am sitting at the dining room table, sliders open to the deck. Birds are singing and music from the 1940’s is playing on my Echo.
Returning from the Vineyard Tuesday, I made myself a martini, wrote a poem, and found myself purchasing Christmas presents from a site that emails regularly, from which I buy irregularly and, yesterday, had some things I wanted. Saying there were only four available, I pounced. I think they were being clever as the number available never went below four.
Insane for Christmas shopping in July? No. It saves so much stress come November. In January, I saw something I thought would be perfect for my friends, Nick and Lisa, and thought: if not now, when? And, you know, I have been back to that store several times and not seen the item again.
All this, the creek and future Christmas shopping, visiting my friends on Martha’s Vineyard, is very hygge. And I need all the hygge I can get.
Monday or Tuesday I received a scree from a relative who supports Trump that was filled with things that made me flinch, a repudiation of most of the things I think are advancements. Should we go back to the days of a segregated America?
And while I look out at my sun kissed creek, I read that Ventura County, just north of Los Angeles, has published a 252-page pamphlet on how to deal with a North Korean nuclear attack. That was something I needed to read a couple of times. Hawaii is also preparing for such an event and I am holding my head to keep it from exploding.
Somewhere along the line in my now longish life, I read that one of the contributing factors in the fall of Rome was lead poisoning. Romans lined their wine amphorae with lead which leached into the wine they drank and we all know lead poisoning isn’t good.
Sperm count has dropped by 50% in the western world in the last forty years. Gives me pause to wonder what historians will say about the cause. Pesticide poisoning? Another reason?
President Trump addressed the Boy Scout Jamboree this week. What you thought of his speech probably depends on which side of the political spectrum you are on.
Speaking of our President, his relentless attacks on Attorney General Sessions seem to have many Republicans up in arms, particularly in the Senate where Sessions was a member for a lot of years and it’s a tight club.
Republican Senator John McCain, with whom I have often not agreed [particularly in his choice of Sarah Palin as his VP choice], made a speech for bipartisanship after returning from surgery for a brain tumor. If you want to both hear and read what he said, click here. It reminded me of the times I have liked him.
Our president is not going to allow transgender individuals to serve in the Armed Forces. It’s not necessary for me to elucidate the storm that has created, not the least of which happened in the Pentagon, caught off guard by a Twitter announcement of a policy change.
The president made mention of medical costs for transgendered individuals which turns out to be less than what the Army spends on Viagra each year.
The cynic in me feels it was announced to please his base and divert attention from all the White House chaos.
Hello, Anthony Scaramucci!
The world in which I live seems so mad on so many levels that I am grateful I have the ability to sit here and look out at my canopy of green, look down into my creek and see the bottom of it through the clear, clear water, that I can listen to music and celebrate it, that I have had the chance to stare out at Edgartown harbor thanks to the kindness of my friends who invite me to visit them, that, even though I think the world right now more mad than it has been since my adolescence, I have places and moments of refuge.
Tags:Anthony Scaramucci, Brad Pitt, Christmas in July, Claverack, Claverack Cottage, Claverack Creek, Donald Trump, Echo, Edgartown, Fall of Rome, General, Jeff Sessions, John McCain, Martha's Vineyard, North Korea bombing, Obamacare, Sperm Count, technology, Transgender military ban, Trumpcare, Ventura County
Posted in 2016 Election, Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Education, Elections, Entertainment, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Hygge, Life, Literature, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Matthew Tombers, Media, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
July 22, 2017
It is Saturday afternoon; I am sitting where I have been sitting every afternoon since arriving on Martha’s Vineyard, on the veranda of my friends’ home, gazing out at the harbor, listening to the sound of boats motoring. There is almost no wind and so the sailboats, if moving at all, are using their motors.
It was early that I woke this morning, nudged into wakefulness by a text on my phone. A second text banished sleep and I laid in bed and read the NY Times, edging into the day with the Food section. Hard news seemed too much for the early hour.
Joining my friend, Jeffrey, we went over to Behind the Bookstore to pick up some things to take to their outpost up in Vineyard Haven where Igor made me a powerful coffee drink with a hint of lavender. Back at BTB with some needed ice, I soothed the caffeine edge with a mimosa.
Now, I am back in my favorite spot, reading science fiction short stories before starting the mystery I purchased at Edgartown Books this morning, “Moriarity,” about which I had read good things earlier in the year. Yesterday, I finished a trifle of a mystery just before a marathon nap.
Jeffrey calls this the “land of off.” It is; I am very “off.” It is a comfortable house in both physical terms and the graciousness of my hosts. As I wandered into the kitchen to make myself a sandwich, I appreciated that.
Later in the day, I looked at the news and winced. Today’s twitter storm seemed to be all about our President telling the world that he absolutely has a right to pardon anyone he wants, including himself.
Witnessing these things results in some attitude I have yet to describe, a mélange of incoherence, amusement, fear, incredulity and amazement. There must be a word for it somewhere.
A friend forwarded me an article today; it is a portrait of the man who is leading a prayer group that includes most of our President’s cabinet. It seems he believes God only hears the prayers of Christians. My friend is Jewish. Her only comment: Oy!
I concur.
Sean Spicer left the building yesterday, resigning after the elevation of Scaramucci to the office of White House Communications Director, a move with which Spicer had vehemently disagreed. But he was named and Spicer left, replaced by Sarah Huckabee Sanders. It is hoped Melissa McCarthy can do as good a job with her as she did with “Spicey.”
The NY Times published a scathing, oh, really scathing article called, “The Mooch and the Mogul.” You can read it here.
Googling for an article that praised Scaramucci’s appointment, I found little. The closest was this, an article in Forbes, by Nathan Vardi. You can read that here. It’s not that great but best to be found. Apparently, the NY Times called him “the mooch” because that’s his nickname on Wall Street.
Meanwhile, Congress has put together a package of sanctions against Russia that our president is not going to like. It has broad bi-partisan support. Imagine that?! Insiders think the president won’t veto it despite how much he dislikes it.
John Heard, the father in the “Home Alone” movies, passed away at 71, while recovering from back surgery. R.I.P.
And R.I.P. to Jamel Dunn, a disabled Florida man who drowned while five teenage boys recorded his demise, laughing and taunting him, doing nothing to help him. They posted the video on YouTube and didn’t bother to alert authorities. Florida police are searching for a statue by which to charge them.
It is a story which saddens me, sickens me and causes me to wonder about my fellowman.
Tonight, I will say a prayer for Jamel Dunn and for the souls of the young men who laughed while he died and light candles next time I am in church.
Tags:Behind the Bookstore, BTB, Edgartown Books, Florida drowning, Forbes, Home Alone, Jamel Dunn, Jemal Dunn, John Heard, Land of Off, Martha's Vineyard, Nathan Vardi, NY Times, President's Cabinet, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Scaramucci, Sean Spicer, Spicey, The Mooch and The Mogul, Vineyard Haven
Posted in 2016 Election, Civil Rights, Columbia County, Elections, Entertainment, Hudson New York, Hygge, Life, Literature, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Matthew Tombers, Media, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
July 20, 2017
Edgartown harbor shimmers below me; boats bob at anchor on a quiet, very warm afternoon on Martha’s Vineyard – the warmest day I have experienced in the half dozen or so summers I have visited the island. Seated in the shade, with a soft wind blowing off the water, it is tolerable though earlier today most people seemed intent on finding air conditioning, crowding cool restaurants and shops.
Last year I was here to help with my friends’ bookstore, Edgartown Books. This year, I am here for just a week, to relax, read, relax some more, eat, perhaps sail a bit with my friends, eat, relax, sip a martini, read, a wonderful and undemanding rhythm; my friend Jeffrey calls it “the land of off.”
Reading was too wearying for me and I went to my room and promptly napped, waking just in time for a conference call.
Sadie, one of the two Bernese mountain dogs who live here, is recovering from back surgery, making slow and steady improvement from a bad fall some months ago. Every day, she has water therapy in the pool.
Far above me, a bi-plane circles, taking sightseers on an aerial tour of the island. It is soft, bucolic and very, very far from the madding crowd.
Which is why it is very nice, in these strange times, to be in “the land of off.” The amount of news consumed is less. Last year, the kitchen television played CNN. This year, old movies run constantly. In the background of my morning coffee, “The Great Race” played, starring Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis.
Finishing a trifle of a murder mystery by a woman who seems to knock off a book a month, I felt content with little demanded of me.
An exegesis of political affairs is a shade depressing, to make mild of a situation now more astounding by the day.
Donald Trump, Jr. is being described as a “good boy,” a “nice young man” though he is scraping forty and has five children. It is a time honored American defense used by the Kennedys when Teddy drove off a bridge not far from where I sit and a young woman died, Mary Jo Kopechne, lest we forget her name. It is a time-honored defense for American men though not for women. Ponder that.
Railing to the New York Times, Donald Trump, has declared he would never have offered Jeff Sessions the job of Attorney General if he had known he would recuse himself from the Russian investigation. Sessions has said, post Trump’s remarks, he’ll stay as long as “it’s appropriate.” Geez, I don’t know if I would stay when I knew I wasn’t wanted, especially so publicly unwanted.
Today, at noon, Trump celebrated the six-month mark in office. You make your own decision on how well he has done. We are one eighth of the way through his Presidency.
In Palos Verde, CA, forty-one-year old Chester Bennington, lead singer of the group Linkin Park, was found dead, an apparent suicide, succumbing to the demons he was open about but could not, it seems, master. Rest in peace.
Twenty-two years ago, I was in Australia when OJ Simpson was acquitted of murdering his wife Nicole and her friend, Ron Goldman. Today he was granted parole from a prison sentence resulting from an armed robbery. He should be released in October.
Seeking comfort, I watch the newest season of “Midsomer Mysteries” and anticipate the return of “The Last Tycoon,” starring Matt Bomer and Kelsey Grammer, about a movie studio in the 1930’s, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s last, unfinished novel.
It seems no wonder to me, we are immersing ourselves in some of the best television in history; we need escape, diversion and pleasure from a world that is more than untidy.
So, I sit, on my friends’ deck, watching boats bob at anchor or scud across the bay, with birds chirping while Sadie is ministered to, the future feels far, far away and the present oh so pleasant.
Tags:Chester Bennington, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Edgartown, Edgartown Books, Jeff Sessions, Kelsey Grammer, Linkin Park, Mary Jo Kopechne, Matt Bomer, Natalie Wood, Nicole Brown, OJ Simpson, Ron Goldman, Russians, Teddy Kennedy, the land of off, The Last Tycoon, Tony Curtis
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Hollywood, Hygge, Literature, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Matthew Tombers, Media, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Russia, Social Commnentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
June 12, 2017
It is delightfully quiet as I sit on the deck, the fierce heat of the day receding and all the noise of the city left behind. About four o’clock, I returned to Columbia County from four days in the city, a delightful time, packed with adventures and sights and people. And I was glad to return to the quiet of the cottage and knit it all together.
The occasion of my trip was that it was my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding anniversary. They were married in New York four years ago and return every year to celebrate. Last year, I was absent, selling books in Edgartown, on Martha’s Vineyard.
This year, I was present. On Wednesday, they went for a private celebration of their anniversary while I had dinner with my wonderful godson, Paul Geffre. We had a wonderful dinner and then went to the Parker Meridien for after dinner drinks with Joe and Deb, who had not met him.
Joe, Deb and I went, over the days of the visit, to the Intrepid, Ellis Island, the site of the deadly Triangle fire, to “Spamilton,” which Deb and I enjoyed more than Joe as we got the Broadway references.
As I type, the Tonys are being broadcast and I am not watching. It seems more important to gather myself together after these hectic days, wonderful, full of visiting and fun and feasting and I’m sure my waist has expanded and I must handle that.
Today, after Joe and Deb had left for the airport, I brunched with old friends from California, one of whom has residences in both places and Meryl and Ray, who were in for a visit and work for Meryl.
Before I met them, I had a quick coffee with my bestest friend, Nick Stuart [Lionel, you are more than friend; we are family of choice], and we spoke of things and we talked about how I have been working on living in an “attitude of gratitude,” appreciating the good things in life and not yearning after what I don’t have and celebrating what I have, which is quite, quite wonderful.
Deb and Joe gave me a wonderful book about hygge and I laughed at getting it because I have been writing about hygge ever since I heard about it and, gosh, don’t we need it now.
At this moment, I am having a very hygge moment. Sitting on my deck, the creek is calm, birds are chirping. My neighbor’s dogs are romping some distance away. Far away there is a sound of a truck traversing the road a third of a mile away and I am not caught in the cacophony of New York, which is wonderful and now wearying for me.
When I was moving to DC, I lived for a time in an apartment in Georgetown, across from Dumbarton Oaks, and thought: wow, Mathew is getting to live in some of the great cities of the world. That has continued. And now, in the third act of this life, I am always glad to return to the quiet and the hygge of the cottage.
At dinners and brunches, we all discussed the political madness of our time, which is, at least to me, the most serious since Watergate, and all wonder how we got here and where will we go. The Democrats are in disarray; the Republicans fleeing or feeding the strangeness that is Trump [the kindest way I can describe this presidency].
The Clinton impeachment was a distraction, a hounding of a serial sexual player who didn’t want to admit in public what we all knew.
This is not a distraction. It is serious. This is Watergate level.
Theresa May in the UK, having lost [and it is almost impossible to believe she did] her gamble to get a greater majority to support her Brexit negotiations, was described tonight in some UK papers as “dead woman walking.”
Macron, in France, has seized the government in a way no one has since De Gaulle [I think] and we have a new day there. Angela Merkel looks to be re-elected in Germany. The political scene is exciting, if more than a bit scary.
Tags:Bill Clinton, Columbia County, Deb Tombers, Edgartown, Ellis Island, Hudson New York, Hudson River, Hygge, Intrepid, Joe Tombers, Macron, Martha's Vineyard, Meryl Marshall-Daniels, New York City, Paul Geffre, Spamilton, The Tonys, Theresa May, Triangle Fire, Trump
Posted in 2016 Election, Brexit, Claverack, Entertainment, Greene County New York, Hudson New York, Hygge, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Matthew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
November 6, 2016
It is fall like but not November fall like. In Minnesota my brother went to a football game wearing Bermuda shorts; it was 75 degrees there. In Claverack, it scraped 65 and I was warm in my pullover fleece.
When I left home this morning, I wandered the Farmer’s Market, picking up a few things I craved like the Sea Salt and Onion cashews from Tierra Farms and some of their Free Trade Honduran coffee. Meandering over to the Red Dot, I had the omelet of the day and then went wandering the streets of Hudson, marching up one side of Warren Street and returning on the other side, an adventure that took me three hours.
There are all kinds of changes on Warren Street and while I have been aware of them, I haven’t walked the street the way I used to when I first arrived here. Some antique stores are gone and seem to have been replaced by clothing stores. Several times I thought I could be in SoHo in Manhattan.
A fancy pizzeria has opened and Olde Hudson has expanded beyond belief. Dena, who owns it, is a friend so I had seen that.
Many of us have been joking lately about the number of expensive cars seen on the street. Not so long ago I spotted a Ferrari parked on Warren Street as I was on my way to meet Larry Divney for lunch. We both said it was the beginning of the end.
When I arrived here fifteen years ago there were no expensive cars on the street. My Acura was an anomaly for the time as was Larry’s Infiniti.
Hudson is becoming a destination. For better or worse. Better for my house value but perhaps worse for those who liked the edge Hudson had when I arrived, a little bit of rebelliousness that was a treasure.
The center of it was the Red Dot, owned by Alana Hauptman who is the Texas Guinan of our town. Don’t know Texas Guinan? She ran the hottest speakeasies in New York during Prohibition. After 16 years, the Dot is still here and still a center of life in Hudson. And Alana is our Texas Guinan.
And walking Warren Street today, I was astounded by the changes. To think that I would be thinking it was a bit like SoHo, which is where I was living when we bought the house, is something I would never have thought then. Sometime, long after I am gone, it will be a lot like Provincetown, I suspect. Or Edgartown on The Vineyard. It’s becoming that kind of place.
But will never be exactly that kind of place. That’s what makes Hudson so special.
There were Porsches everywhere on the street today. When I went back to the Dot after my tour of the street I ran into James Ivory, the director of films like “A Room with a View.” He’s become a bit of friend, has been at parties at my home and dinners too, and one Christmas I spent with him at his house. With Alana…
It has been an interesting escapade to have lived here through all this, to witness the transformation of a community from rough and tumble to almost respectable. It was and is an artist’s haven, a place where writers and painters and actors gather.
Across the river in Catskill, there is the Bridge Street Theater and I went last week to a performance of “Frankenstein.” It was brilliant. And I mean brilliant. Steven Patterson, who did every role, was as riveting as Paul Scofield [“A Man For All Seasons”] when I saw him in London on my first trip there. It was a forgettable script but his performance was transcendent. Steven Patterson’s performance was like that.
Transcendent.
John Sowle directed. Equal kudos to him.
Tonight, I am not talking about politics or world events. I can’t tonight. We are at the near end of the most awful political period I have ever experienced. No matter who wins, the contentiousness will not end.
The creek at night.
Tags:Alana Hauptman, Bridge Street Theater, Edgartown, Frankenstein, Hudson, Hudson Farmer's Market, John Sowle, Olde Hudson, Provincetown, Red Dot, Soho, Steven Patterson, Texas Guinan, Tierra Farms, Warren Street
Posted in 2016 Election, Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Elections, Entertainment, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Life, Literature, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
July 11, 2016
I have moved from seaside to creekside. In front of me tonight is not Edgartown harbor but Claverack Creek, having returned home from Edgartown on Friday, just as Lionel and Pierre arrived to help me celebrate my return.
It has been nearly a week, perhaps more, since I have written. The events out in the world beyond my safety zone of Edgartown and Claverack, have left me…
You know, I am out of words for the events we’ve had. I don’t know what to say, not at all, not at all.
A black man dead in Baton Rouge, a black man dead in Falcon Heights, MN and five dead police officers in Dallas. As I sat down to write, my phone chirped to let me know that two bailiffs in Berrien County, Michigan were dead, along with the gunman. A deputy sheriff was in stable condition.
Eight Somali are dead from a suicide bomber.
My head and heart reel.
We all must realize we live in a time of madness or we live in ignorance of the world. But then, perhaps, it has always been a time of madness.
The pudgy little dictator who rules North Korea who has devised some interesting ways of ridding himself of people he doesn’t like, is having a temper tantrum because the US is putting in a missile shield in South Korea.
Now he is threatening that if it happens, he will reduce South Korea to a nuclear wasteland. If he does that, I doubt the radiation will stop at the border and he will find his “kingdom” littered with corpses, too.
Kim Jong Un is a bully with nuclear weapons and not much common sense. This isn’t good. And he has closed the only communication channel he has had ßwith the US.
David Cameron is resigning on Wednesday and Theresa May will become the next Prime Minister of Great Britain as they and the rest of us cope with Brexit. The opposition Labour Party is in chaos too and another woman may take over leadership of it. Jeremy Corbyn is seen as having done too little to help the UK stay in the EU and Angela Eagle is seen as being the person who will succeed him, once he realizes he is a morte canard, which he hasn’t yet.
The evening sun is glittering on the creek and I find myself looking at it, the way I looked at Edgartown harbor, as a reminder that despite what we do, the world has its places of beauty that help us compensate for the madness around us.
The US is boosting troops in Iraq as the march goes on to retake Mosul from IS. In South Sudan we are evacuating our people because war has renewed there.
The Japanese have been through their own moratorium and the result is there may be changes to their constitution which will allow Japan to build up its military. They are afraid of Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, an area in which the Chinese feel like they are victims and not aggressors.
While all of this strum und drang is playing out on the world stage, out in outer space, a probe has arrived at Juno, a moon of Jupiter, one second late after a five year journey. And that blows my mind. It will explore Juno and Jupiter and may help us understand the beginnings of our solar system.
This wonder is happening while murder walks the land. How bizarre…
And I am thinking of going online and pre-ordering a Cozmo, a little robot that promises to be to robotics as the Commodore 64 was to computing — a break through. Cozmo promises to be a great robotic companion and you can program it from an app.
Yes, need to have one. I don’t have a pet anymore and am not thinking of getting one and Cozmo may just be the answer to a companion in my house on the creek where I sit and enjoy while the world seems too mad for words.
Tags:Angela Eagle, Baton Rouge, Berrien County, Claverack, Cozmo, David Cameron, Falcom Heights, Hudson, IS, Jeremy Corbyn, Juno Probe, Kim Jong - Un, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, North Korea, Obama, THAAD, Theresa May
Posted in 2016 Election, Claverack, Columbia County, Entertainment, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
July 1, 2016
It is a bucolic time of day on Martha’s Vineyard; the sun is beginning to set. A sailboat has gone by, heading to the north. Its sail is designed like a huge American flag while moving to the south is the Edgartown Water Taxi, ferrying people to their docks. The light is a marvelous gold and the water is steel blue. Jeffrey’s sailboat rides at anchor directly in front of me, looking stately. The scene is peaceful, other worldly, of another dimension than the rest of the world.
The rest of the world is not peaceful.
Britain is in spasms. Boris Johnson, former Mayor of London, a prime supporter of Brexit, poised and desiring to be the next Prime Minister, found himself outflanked by the man who was to have been his campaign manager, Michael Gove. Long saying he was not aspiring to higher office, he released a statement hours before Boris was to make his speech announcing that he was seeking to be Prime Minister saying that he could not support the former Mayor of London and that he was running for the position himself.
As Boris’ father said, “Et tu, Brute?” It was an act worthy of Shakespeare. Boris then announced he was not seeking to be PM.
A nasty race is ahead for the Tories with Boris gone and characters worthy of “House of Cards” rend against each other.
The Labour Party is also rent. Their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has been given a “no confidence” vote by his party and it seems every politician in Britain is urging him to depart but he clings to his position with a kind of astounding ferocity surprising in so absolutely colorless a man.
Turkey says that the bombers in the terrible attack at Istanbul’s International Airport were all from the former USSR and were directed by IS out of Raqqa in Syria, their erstwhile capital. One of the victims was a father attempting to prevent his son from joining IS.
Tomorrow is July 1st. A hundred years ago marked the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in WWI. In the eighteen months it raged, there were a million casualties. Today Prince William, Prince Harry and Princess Kate were there to honor the dead, to let the world know they were not forgotten. In the first day of fighting, nearly 60,000 were wounded and a third of those died. During those awful eighteen months “the flower” of English youth died in one of the bloodiest, if not the bloodiest, battle in all of history.
The Taliban killed 33 Afghan police recruits today, a number that is dwarfed by that of the Battle of the Somme, but like the English, French, South Africans who died in France in 1916, those 33 had families, wives and children perhaps, lives that will never be found again.
Hopefully found again will be a commerative coin given by President Obama to the country’s oldest Park Ranger, 94 year old Betty Reid Soskin, who was attacked last night in her apartment by a young man who punched her and robbed her. She wants the world to understand she is not a victim but a survivor. 94!
I am winding down now as the harbor slips into a soft silver lavender light. Faraway, a dog barks, a soft breeze is blowing off the harbor. I am far away from all the madness. A week from tomorrow I leave to return to my cottage, itself a haven from the madness.
Tags:Betty Reid Soskin, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Claverack, IS, Isis, Jeremy Corbyn, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Michael Gove, Obama, Syria, Turkey bombings, USSR
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, Brexit, Claverack, Daesh, Elections, IS, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Mideast, Obama, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Syria, Taliban, Uncategorized, World War I commentary | Leave a Comment »
June 25, 2016
It is a relentlessly beautiful day on Martha’s Vineyard.
Yesterday, I awoke and, in a habit I am attempting to break, reached for my phone and realized a new text message had come in while I was sleeping. It was from my friend Nick [though calling him “friend” underserves our relationship]. He is in the UK awaiting the birth of his first granddaughter. His text was the way I heard the news of Britain’s decision to exit the EU.
I literally shuddered.
The unthinkable has happened and, as predicted, world markets tumbled, crumbled, tanked, take any word with a downside meaning and apply it to the markets and that’s what happened on Friday though the US was down only about half of what other markets were.
The Republican presumptive nominee for President, The Donald, was in Scotland when the Brexit results were announced. He trumpeted it as a harbinger for his own campaign in the States. He was making these statements from his golf course in Aberdeen. Scotland did not vote to Brexit and is thinking of a new referendum on independence from England so it can get back in the EU.
As is Northern Ireland, which also voted to stay and is now thinking of slipping away from Britain and maybe reuniting with Ireland. Some in Northern Ireland are scrambling to see how to get Irish passports as Ireland is an EU country.
The British young are crying out to the older voters who went for Brexit: you stole our future.
David Cameron will step down by October as Prime Minister. Boris Johnson, who campaigned for Brexit, is being chatted up to be the new Prime Minister. Formerly Mayor of London, he is both flamboyant and eccentric, a bit like our Donald.
Jeremy Corbyn, who leads the opposition Labour Party, is facing a coup attempt based on what is perceived as his failure to do enough to stop Brexit.
Brexit is a crisis that will unfold in the weeks to come, will have ramifications of huge magnitude here in the states and which changes history.
The Donald gave a press conference while in Scotland. Read a transcript of it at this link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/06/24/donald-trumps-brexit-press-conference-was-beyond-bizarre/
It lends credibility to Arianna Huffington’s belief that The Donald is acting like a sleep deprived human being. He’s proud that he only sleeps four hours a night and at his press conference, he did sound like a person who lacked the ability to connect the dots in his remarks.
Interestingly, many Evangelical leaders who did not support Trump are now climbing aboard Trump’s Evangelical Executive Advisory Board. Of course, they are not endorsing him but only “advising” him, hedging their bets against whichever way the wind blows.
Back here, at least 26 are dead in West Virginia’s devastating floods. One of them was four year old Edward McMillon, swept away even as his grandfather chased him, almost caught him and lost him. The town searched and found him in a creek that is normally only a few inches deep but had gone to six feet in the storms.
A house in flames floated down a swollen creek in what has been the worst flooding in the state in a hundred years.
Two are dead and several wounded in a shooting at a hip hop dance studio in Fort Worth. It was an apparently a party the owner hadn’t authorized; the studio is a non-profit to help kids stay out of trouble.
In Kern County, CA 46 square miles are burning, only 5% contained and two are dead, 100 homes lost and another 1500 threatened.
So goes our world, this early afternoon on the 25th of June.
Right now I am looking out across the carefully curated flowers at my friends’ home and am about to go down to the bookstore to see if they need help. Both the cafe and the bookstore were jamming today.
Brexit and The Donald and politics and evangelicals all seem very faraway and I am going to allow myself to feel faraway from them today and savor the moment. I said to Jeffrey, “I woke up happy.” And that’s what I am going to choose today.
Tags:Arianna Huffington, Boris Johnson, Brexit, David Cameron, Donald Trump, Evangelical Executive Advisory Board, Jeremy Corbyn, Kern County Fires, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, The Donald, West Virginia Flooding
Posted in 2016 Election, Brexit, Elections, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
June 18, 2016
It has been five days since I’ve written a “Letter.” I’ve done some other writing but nothing that faced the world in which we live. The death of Jo Cox, a Member of Britain’s Parliament, murdered in her district affected me deeply, a tearing of the barely forming Orlando scar off my physic skin.
Her name was vaguely familiar. The man who has been arrested for her murder apparently shouted “Britain first!” repeatedly as he shot and stabbed her. She was campaigning against “Brexit,” the vote for which will happen next week.
When arraigned, John Mair, the alleged killer, gave his name as “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain.”
A man described as gentle by his neighbors, he suffered mental health issues, assuaging them with volunteer work. He also was in some way affiliated with a neo-Nazi group out of America.
Jo Cox’s death affected me because…
Because it was one more example of the politics of hate in which we are all mired, because it happened in Britain where political verbal vitriol has been honed to a fine edge but where rarely are political differences manifested in physical actions. Perhaps over football but not politics.
And that is probably an Anglophile’s rose colored glasses view of British politics but it does seem rarer there that they have such events as Orlando, much rarer.
In the days following Orlando, a California pastor preached that all LGBTQ folks should meet the same end as the Orlando victims. We should all be killed off. It is not the first time in my life I have heard people call for the slaughter of the LGBTQ community but it seemed more painful this time. We have come so far from when I was a boy.
On Thursday, in a conversation with my friends, Medora and Meryl, I told them that it was on how far we have come that I had to choose to focus or my sadness would be unbearable. It had seemed an impossibility that in my lifetime gay individuals could exercise the right to wed. And now we can.
I did not think in my lifetime I could speak openly of my feelings to friends who were not of my own community.
Yet these things have happened. In my little world of Columbia County, New York I have seen the changes over the fifteen years I have been there, the opening of the community and the general acceptance by “locals” to outsiders and to outsiders were “different.”
We think the world is changing and changing for the better and then there is an Orlando, ripping at the sense of safety creeping into the world. And then come the stories of people who remain fearful, even in New York, because a show of same sex affection could mean violence.
Only since Orlando have I come to know that the LGBTQ community is, far and away, the group that is most likely to experience hate crimes.
There seems to be some movement about more control over assault rifles. One small step, one hopes. I had thought there would have been movement on that after the slaughter of the innocents in Newtown. There wasn’t but now there might be.
Young Christina Grimmie, a “The Voice” alum who was shot to death last Friday by a deranged fan who then killed himself, was buried yesterday. She, too, was killed in Orlando.
Disney there has been putting out signs to warn tourists about crocodiles and snakes after a two year old was hauled off and killed by a crocodile last week, an adorable young boy.
In Nigeria, eighteen have been killed by Boko Haram.
Belgians have arrested twelve in “terror raids” and Iraqi forces say they have retaken most of Fallujah.
Where have all the flowers gone?
To graveyards, every one…
I am sad but am choosing, must choose, not to feel hopeless and powerless. It is beautiful outside, another in a day of beautiful days on Martha’s Vineyard. The world is better than it has been, in many ways. And I must remind myself of that.
Tags:Boko Haram, Brexit, Claverack, Columbia County, Donald Trump, Fallujah, Hudson, IS, Isis, Jo Cox, John Mair, LGBT, LGBTQ, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, New York, Nigeria, Obama, Orlando, The Donald
Posted in 2016 Election, Columbia County, Daesh, Elections, Entertainment, Gay, Gay Liberation, Gun Violence, Hudson New York, IS, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Nazis, Nigeria, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
June 14, 2016
Yesterday, as I suspect most people did, I woke to the horror of the Orlando massacre. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I kept wondering if I was actually reading what I was reading.
Of course I was.
Not long ago I emailed a friend, now living in Florida, that I felt furious and, at the same time, numbed. I am angry and do not know a single thing I can do that will actually help affect any kind of real change. A New Yorker, both my Senators support more stringent laws regarding guns. It will do no good to write them. Obama sits on my side of the issue.
And any letter I write to a Republican, I fear, will lend no weight. I have tried. Somehow I end up on their mailing lists, thanking me for being a supporter. When Bush was President, I wrote a letter demanding he not invade Iraq. For years, I received Christmas cards and photos of W. and Laura, thanking me for my loyalty to them.
Same with my local Congressman…
They are not listening.
It is twilight here on Martha’s Vineyard. A few boats skiff across the harbor. From where I sit, I can see the Edgartown lighthouse. I am sipping a glass of wine, lost in the quiet and the beauty, furious and numb.
As I was not needed at Edgartown Books, I headed out in my car today, turning left at the end of the driveway and letting fate take me where it will. For awhile, as I drove, I listened to NPR programs doing an exegesis of yesterday’s tragedy, the worst mass shooting in the country.
As he holed up with terrified people, Omar Mateen, the shooter, called 911 to let them know he was doing this because he was pledging allegiance to IS, calling the Boston bombers from its Marathon his “brothers.”
As I listened, the portrait of Omar Mateen was beginning to reveal itself to those who were attempting to figure out what had happened. He was American born, apparently radicalized via the Internet, probably bi-polar, an abusive husband, worked for a security firm, had been interviewed at least twice by the FBI because of statements he made or actions performed.
He bought his guns legally. He bought his guns legally, after all that. He killed 49 people and died himself. 53 others are wounded.
He was offended by seeing two men kiss. But his parents didn’t think he was unhinged.
Trump tweeted in peacock pride about being right about Muslims except Omar Mateen was born in America of Afghan parents. He was a US citizen by birth, no act would keep him out. He didn’t come here perverted. He was born here and was perverted by God knows exactly what…
He attacked a gay nightclub, Pulse. It is Gay Pride Month. It is also Immigration Month. It was Latin night at Pulse. Kill two birds with one stone? Hate amplified?
As I drove the island today, I felt lonely, in the way I felt lonely when I was young and watched as Viet Nam unfolded before me and about which I felt powerless until I played hooky from school and joined a march against the war.
We have no marches these days. We don’t gather together to scream against the violence. Perhaps that is why I felt lonely today; I have comrades but we do not come together, we do not march together, we do not sing songs of protest together against the outrageousness of the time in which we live.
Sitting here, watching the pink tinged sky while a small boat motors across the harbor, I am still numb and I am still furious. What do I do with this?
And in the back of my head, all day has been the thought: where have all the flowers gone?
Tags:Boston Marathon Bombing, Donald Trump, Edgartown, Gay, Gay Pride, Hudson, Immigration Month, Iraq, IS, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Obama, Omar Mateen, Pulse, The Donald, Where have all the flowers gone?
Posted in 2016 Election, Afghanistan, Daesh, depression, Gay, Gay Liberation, IS, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Media, Mideast, Obama, Politics, Social Commentary, Television, Trump, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Letter from the Vineyard 
Letter from Claverack 07 28 2017 Needing places and moments of refuge…
July 28, 2017A gray, foggy morning yielded to a fairly sunny, rather cool afternoon; whenever the sun slipped behind a cloud I was tempted to come into the house from my perch on the deck while the cleaning crew spiffed the house.
Now, with cottage clean, I am sitting at the dining room table, sliders open to the deck. Birds are singing and music from the 1940’s is playing on my Echo.
Returning from the Vineyard Tuesday, I made myself a martini, wrote a poem, and found myself purchasing Christmas presents from a site that emails regularly, from which I buy irregularly and, yesterday, had some things I wanted. Saying there were only four available, I pounced. I think they were being clever as the number available never went below four.
Insane for Christmas shopping in July? No. It saves so much stress come November. In January, I saw something I thought would be perfect for my friends, Nick and Lisa, and thought: if not now, when? And, you know, I have been back to that store several times and not seen the item again.
All this, the creek and future Christmas shopping, visiting my friends on Martha’s Vineyard, is very hygge. And I need all the hygge I can get.
Monday or Tuesday I received a scree from a relative who supports Trump that was filled with things that made me flinch, a repudiation of most of the things I think are advancements. Should we go back to the days of a segregated America?
And while I look out at my sun kissed creek, I read that Ventura County, just north of Los Angeles, has published a 252-page pamphlet on how to deal with a North Korean nuclear attack. That was something I needed to read a couple of times. Hawaii is also preparing for such an event and I am holding my head to keep it from exploding.
Somewhere along the line in my now longish life, I read that one of the contributing factors in the fall of Rome was lead poisoning. Romans lined their wine amphorae with lead which leached into the wine they drank and we all know lead poisoning isn’t good.
Sperm count has dropped by 50% in the western world in the last forty years. Gives me pause to wonder what historians will say about the cause. Pesticide poisoning? Another reason?
President Trump addressed the Boy Scout Jamboree this week. What you thought of his speech probably depends on which side of the political spectrum you are on.
Speaking of our President, his relentless attacks on Attorney General Sessions seem to have many Republicans up in arms, particularly in the Senate where Sessions was a member for a lot of years and it’s a tight club.
Republican Senator John McCain, with whom I have often not agreed [particularly in his choice of Sarah Palin as his VP choice], made a speech for bipartisanship after returning from surgery for a brain tumor. If you want to both hear and read what he said, click here. It reminded me of the times I have liked him.
Our president is not going to allow transgender individuals to serve in the Armed Forces. It’s not necessary for me to elucidate the storm that has created, not the least of which happened in the Pentagon, caught off guard by a Twitter announcement of a policy change.
The president made mention of medical costs for transgendered individuals which turns out to be less than what the Army spends on Viagra each year.
The cynic in me feels it was announced to please his base and divert attention from all the White House chaos.
Hello, Anthony Scaramucci!
The world in which I live seems so mad on so many levels that I am grateful I have the ability to sit here and look out at my canopy of green, look down into my creek and see the bottom of it through the clear, clear water, that I can listen to music and celebrate it, that I have had the chance to stare out at Edgartown harbor thanks to the kindness of my friends who invite me to visit them, that, even though I think the world right now more mad than it has been since my adolescence, I have places and moments of refuge.
Tags:Anthony Scaramucci, Brad Pitt, Christmas in July, Claverack, Claverack Cottage, Claverack Creek, Donald Trump, Echo, Edgartown, Fall of Rome, General, Jeff Sessions, John McCain, Martha's Vineyard, North Korea bombing, Obamacare, Sperm Count, technology, Transgender military ban, Trumpcare, Ventura County
Posted in 2016 Election, Civil Rights, Claverack, Columbia County, Education, Elections, Entertainment, Gay, Gay Liberation, Hollywood, Hudson New York, Hygge, Life, Literature, Martha's Vineyard, Mat Tombers, Mathew Tombers, Matthew Tombers, Media, Political, Political Commentary, Politics, Social Commentary, Trump, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »