The final Sunday in February brought a blizzard.
This week schools are closed, and many are off-Island. May they return safely with stories of their travels and funny adventures.
Our power is out, trees are down, and it is still snowing and blowing and the woodstove is humming and warming a pot of water.
It was a relief to wake up knowing I’d gotten up in the night and shoveled snow away from the storm door so we aren’t trapped. The wind has blown drifts of snow halfway up the living room windows. The deep snow is not fun for my pup.
In the hours before the snow started to fall, every seat was filled at the last Winter Table community supper at Stillpoint. Thank you, Willy Mason, Betsy Carnie, and Ben Robinson for conceiving this combination of music and meals created from imperfect-in-some-way ingredients donated by local farms and grocers.
We stand on the shoulders of and next to one another. [Such as] Marianne Goldberg, who wanted to catalyze creativity, conceiving Pathways Arts as a way of keeping the light on in Chilmark. Some still remember hearing Tom Rush perform in what is now the Chilmark Tavern in the early 1960s.
Health and weather permitting, there will be an Offering of Music and Light at the Chilmark Community Church this Sunday, March 1, at 5 pm, followed by a supper reception. These evenings came out of Lia Littlefield Kahler’s desire to offer music to help those who struggle in the winter depression.
Love and prayers for Warren Doty, who encouraged us to continue.
Friday, Feb. 27, 1 to 3 pm. Rebecca Gilbert and I will host another Slow Stitching Circle at Pathways. Some bring knitting, and some stitches. Inspired by donated strips of material, I’m practicing making a braided rug.
Tuesday, March 3, after the community supper at 6 pm at the Chilmark Community Church, Pathways will host readings, following a presentation via Zoom by Rebecca Kauffman, author of “The Reservation.” The novel is about a dozen restaurant workers striving to get food on the table. The doors at Pathways open at 7 pm, and readings start at 7:30. Get there early to sign up and read your writing.
It is powerful to see how many ways and venues offer us the chance to share experiences, challenge assumptions, throw away misperceptions, and hear the truth of one another’s experiences, while leaning into building stronger foundations for our community.
On Feb. 18, Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois said, “I think it is important to be a student of history. If you have the courage to confront all of our past –– the good and the bad, the hopeful and the messy –– history has the power to inform a better future.” And he cautioned, “One enduring human truth –– injustice can become a genetic condition we bequeath on future generations, if we fail to face it forthrightly.”
It is delightful to note that Bret Stearns has become a police officer in Chilmark. He has been, and will continue to be, a valuable resource to the entire community.