Not the news

I don’t normally make use of this space to write about what is in the issue that follows. For some months, however, online versions of the New York Times have featured a link with a headline along the lines of “Here are eleven great stories that have nothing to do with politics.” 

Which got me thinking about this issue. We, too, have lots of great stories that have nothing to do with politics. There’s a lovely piece by Elizabeth Hawes, for instance, about David R. Foster and his beautiful new book, A Meeting of Land and Sea. Among many other things, the book is about the steady erosion of the Island due to long-term sea level rise. But I can assure you it has nothing to do with the likely acceleration of that process due to America’s recent decision to abandon efforts to slow the pace of climate change.

We also have, by coincidence, not one but two remarkable portraits of families that have made outsized contributions to the economy and culture of the Vineyard. Cronig’s Market is celebrating its centennial this year, and Phyllis Meras took a look at the first Cronig on the Island, Samuel, who also happened to be the first person of the Jewish faith known to have made a permanent home here. He was followed shortly by the Brickman and Hall families, and a Jewish community was born. Writer Alexandra Bullen Coutts and photographer Elizabeth Cecil, meanwhile, worked together to create a remarkable portrait of the Larsen family, who among them own four of the Island’s best-known fish markets. The fact that all of these families arrived on the Vineyard in the twentieth century from – the horror! – foreign countries is not intended as a commentary on the anti-immigration rhetoric of today.

In our cover story, meanwhile, Erin Ryerson reported on the seemingly inexorable rise in tick-borne illness on the Vineyard, and the toll it can take on chronic sufferers. But don’t worry, it has nothing to do with access to health care. The piece also looks at research into genetically modified mice as a potential tool in the fight against Lyme disease, which, trust me, doesn’t raise any questions about the wisdom of gutting federal spending on scientific research or the Centers for Disease Control.

Nor does Libby Ellis’s profile of the remarkable artist Frances McGuire say anything one way or another about support for the arts.

So fear not! We have a magazine full of great stories that have nothing to do with
politics. But fair warning: there is an excerpt from Susie Middleton’s newest cookbook
that is a full-blown call to action.

Together, yes we can make toast great again.