. In the 2000 box office hit “Pay It Forward,” a Social Studies teacher tasks his Junior High class with creating an idea that will change the world. The young lead character Trevor, designs a plan to “pay forward” any good that he receives. But, not before he confronts his teacher with a fair amount of skepticism. “Are […]
Norman Vincent Peale, author of the best-selling book “The Power of Positive Thinking” once said, “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” Christmas most certainly waved its magic wand over Nantucket this week, because everywhere you look there is holiday beauty. Driving through downtown last night, I […]
. It’s easy to become contemplative about how lucky we are to live in a country where freedom is a fundamental right as we sing along to Lee Greenwood’s legendary ballad, “God Bless The USA.” He ruminates that if tomorrow everything he owns were gone and he was left with nothing but his children and […]
. In his 1985 Billboard hit single, “Small Town,” John Mellencamp recounts that he was “born in a small town and will probably die in a small town…had a ball and seen it all in that small town.” He concludes that he can’t forget where he came from or the people who love him because […]
. The author Ann Patchett wrote, “To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall.” Her words epitomize how those of us left behind on Nantucket right now feel about not only the weather, but our […]
. John Travolta and Olivia Newton John, in their iconic roles as Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson in the hit movie Grease, reminded us there are a million reasons to love summer, not the least of which is falling in love…and “oh oh those summer nights.” Together, they “went strollin’ and drank lemonade, stayed out […]
The beloved Fred Rogers once said of his neighbors, “The underlying message of the Neighborhood is that if somebody cares about you, it’s possible that you’ll care about others. ‘You are special, and so is your neighbor’ – that part is essential: that you’re not the only special person in the world. The person you […]
. Award winning author Orson Scott Card once said, “Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” It is the hallmark of a gifted author…the ability to see “the story” in everyday circumstances, surroundings, faces and […]
. If you’re a wine enthusiast, you likely loved the 2004 box office hit, “Sideways.” The cult favorite flick made us all a little embarrassed to drink Merlot for awhile and enticed us to give its cousin Pinot Noir a shot at stardom. Virginia Madsen’s character Maya, reminded us that wine “is a living thing […]
. John Dewey once wrote, “Democracy must be born anew every generation and education is its midwife.” With a similar sentiment, Thomas Jefferson famously declared that “information is the currency of democracy.” As I sat in the jam-packed Nantucket high school auditorium last week for the Annual Town Meeting, I was inspired by the many […]
