On the off chance that you ignored the cover of this month’s issue and flipped feverishly to this page in order to see what pearls of insight might await you at the editor’s letter, I would like to remind you that this year is Martha’s Vineyard Magazine’s thirtieth year of publication. And that while we will be marking the anniversary in various ways over the course of the year, in this issue we devoted most of the feature well to looking back fondly.

Paul Schneider

This issue marks the beginning of the thirtieth year of publication of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine, which first went on the stands in the summer of 1985. Thirty years is a long time when looked at forward. If I’m still editing this magazine in 2045, I’ll not just be lucky to have a great job, I’ll be lucky to be breathing.  

Paul Schneider

Put higher prices than you oughtOn things you wish you’d never bought,And early birds before the saleStill fight to own them, tooth and nail.

D.A.W.

The iconic Bob Marley said, “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” If Bob had lived on the Vineyard, however, he might have added, “As long as the music doesn’t rely on a seasonal economy, in which case you might feel some pain.”

Charlie Nadler

Exactly seventy years ago this season, Nelson Bryant of West Tisbury was in Europe, having dropped by parachute into German-occupied Holland. “On December 17, my regiment wasordered to prepare for immediate movement to the Bulge and I was apprehensive as we rushed to gather weapons, ammunition, clothing, and K-rations,” he wrote in his new memoir, Mill Pond Joe.

“I had wanted to jump into Normandy and Holland, but the thought of more combat, particularly in winter, depressed me.”

Paul Schneider

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