On this windswept isle with its sparse natural vegetation, I rarely experience the kind of autumns I so fondly recall from my Ohio upbringing. Piles of leaves, collected where deciduous trees grow abundantly enough to drop them in large quantities, rarely last more than a few minutes on Nantucket when buffeted by our stiff northeasterly blows.

Still, after almost two decades here I’ve grown to savor the pronounced, singular events of life on Nantucket, especially in the colder months. Twice in recent weeks, I was awakened by battering winds, which would certainly be called early-season Nor’easters, rumbling against my apartment windows and thumping nearby utility wires in a booming, concert-like cacophony. I sleep better on such nights.

Environmental writer Peter Brace reminds readers of the sometimes troubling impact of strong winds on the island landscape, in his revisit of efforts by Baxter Road residents to preserve their homes through the ‘Sconset Beach Preservation Fund. For better or worse, much of the island cast an advisory vote this past spring for letting nature take its course out there. We also recognize the realities of current events and economic circumstances beyond the island but greatly affecting us, too. But even in such times, opportunity persists on Nantucket, and now might be the moment for those with the means to find their Nantucket dream home.
Comfort and cheer embodied the spirit of Nantucket’s Monaghan sisters, who settled here in the 1920s and created the marvelous, whimsical home known as Greater Light, the historic property now under the stewardship of Nantucket Historical Association and set for restoration. Echoing the Monaghans’ practices, we invited four island couples to Greater Light for an imagined holiday party, in colorful fashions befitting the season and available at Nantucket retailers.

We also recognize the great variety of merchandise available from Nantucket’s dozens of merchants, in holiday gift buying guides throughout this issue. In those displays, you’ll find home décor, wearable goods, services, food and wine and a myriad of other suggestions priced from high to low. Of course, it’s the people of Nantucket who are often the most memorable part of life here. We feature two of those special people in this issue. Two-time Tony Award winner Judith Ivey calls ‘Sconset home for part of the year. Accomplished classical violinist Armen Ghazaryan now makes Nantucket his year-round home.

Even those most comfortable with Nantucket’s “other season,” as local photographer and author Cary Hazlegrove has dubbed it, need some time off. Hazlegrove transports us to sunny Spain with her images from a tasting of Spanish wines earlier this year. With Hyannis as the portal to the mainland for most of us, we also visit the cheerful Wianno Grill, located on the airport rotary there. Whatever your plans for the holidays and winter months ahead,on island or off, we wish each and every reader a happy and prosperous New Year.

Bill Ferrall
Editor-in-Chief

Literati Redux

By Genny Garneau

According to conventional wisdom, teenagers rarely lack for artistic expression. That axiom should be proven again this year at Nantucket High School when the creative literary publication Literati is slated to appear with its second edition in early 2009. As it did with the first edition of Literati, N Magazine will once again sponsor and print the journal and help with distribution. Not that the group producing this version of Literati hasn’t already proven its creative mettle.With an editorial board headed by Shantaw Bloise, who was recently crowned the high school’s 2008 Junior Miss, the staff also includes Charley McGowan, Zatrick Pinkney, Sam Toole and Annie Seager.

Each is already active in informal arts activities including writing poetry, visual arts and photography. Poetry, short stories, photography and original artwork will fill the pages of Literati, all produced by Nantucket High School students from upper grade levels.

The board will make selections and put the magazine together for a December 1 ship date to the printer. “I enjoy having a role in projects that are for art,” said McGowan, who is looking forward to reading poems and producing photographic images for the publication. “As we’ve watched the progress of the second edition of Literati, we are delighted at the vision and creativity of the students,” said N Magazine Editor Bill Ferrall.

“Our high school is a diverse bunch of kids, and we need a voice,” said Bloise. “Writing has always been my passion,and I wanted to bring Literati back.” The word diversity comes up often when speaking to the editorial board, which as focused on looking for submissions from many different groups within the school to represent a variety of authors from different ages, genders, races and cultural groups.

Guiding Hand

English teacher Anne Phaneuf will advise the current Literati group. “I got involved because the English Department has always wanted a literary magazine,” explained Phaneuf. “It is only going to succeed if the kids are into it.”

The effort is classified as an “exhibition project” by the school, with lead students receiving independent study credit. “They need a teacher to act as a mentor,” said Phaneuf, explaining how independent study projects are structured at the school.

Started in 2006 by then-high school seniors Maggie Andrews, Fraser Long and Eric Reinbergs with N Magazine as their sponsor, the attractive publication offered a vehicle for students to showcase their work not just for the school community but for the whole island. Copies of the publication were distributed island-wide on N Magazine racks. Bloise approached Phaneuf to see if Literati could be re-launched as an exhibition project, and Phaneuf was delighted.

“It is the kids’ ideas, the kids’ energy, but they aren’t publishers. So it is great that N Magazine is helping to get it published,” offered Phaneuf. Bloise has asked other teachers to appeal to their students for submissions. The magazine helps to meet the needs of many kids for a chance to express their creative voices, Bloise noted. All of the work is done by the students. The magazine will be distributed in town and to select local shops.

Bloises’ Poise

By Barbara Gookin

In all of its 31 years, Nantucket Junior Miss has never had an African- American recipient until now. Winning a robust $9,400 in award money during the Nantucket High School scholarship competition for senior girls, Shantaw Samantha Bloise secured the Junior Miss title at the “Rockin’ in the USA” themed show in November.

Bloise, who lives on Nantucket with her aunt while her parents live in Jamaica, is proud to represent the diverse culture of Nantucket. In her self-expression answer during the competition, she stated, “Nantucket’s strength is in the closeness of this diverse community.”

The Junior Miss Program is a significant part of a participant’s senior year. Typically, the contestants begin their preparations over the summer, doing community service and ice breaking activities with their peers as well as attending regular rehearsals for the fitness, talent and self-expression portions and general choreography of the show. During the talent portion of the evening, she will achieve whatever goals she sets for herself.”

Other winners in the competition included Samantha Reis, who secured the first runner-up; Alexandra Kopko became second runner-up. Lia Newman and Adelle Beaumont rounded out the third and fourth spots.

Flying Down South

More than 15 years ago, Herb Cabral started Ocean Wings charter plane service with one Piper Aztec twin-engine aircraft. This fall, the Nantucket native expanded his company’s service to the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic, after recently purchasing a King Air and a Cessna 402C. Now, his fleet is up to six planes-three 402.0

s, one Cessna 414, a Piper Seneca and a King Air 100-used for serving business and leisure communities to and from the Cape and Islands as well as Tortola, St. Maarten, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Virgin Gorda, Anguilla, Nevis, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and Puerto Rico. Operating out of Nantucket, New Bedford and Martha’s Vineyard, Ocean Wings emphasizes safety and continued training. For more, visit them at oceanwingsaircharter.com
800-253-5039.

New Directions

By Marli Guzzetta

In the off-season, island organizations regroup, which often means a change of leadership. This fall, the Nantucket Film Festival, the Artists’ Association of Nantucket, the Community Foundation of Nantucket and Nantucket Arts Council have all reshuffled their decks. Here’s a look at who’s in and who’s out.

• At the Nantucket Film Festival, producer Colin Stanfield replaced Jill Burkhardt as the event’s Executive Director. Stanfield produced the American Film Institute’s 2005 SilverDocs festival and managed international programs for the Gotham Independent Film Festival. Burkhardt moved over to chair the NFF’s Board of Directors.

• Cecil Barron Jensen became the new Managing Director of the Artists’ Association of Nantucket, where she will oversee the AAN’s Joyce and Seward Johnson Gallery as well as its permanent collection, manage its staff and contribute to fundraising and special events. Formerly, Jensen worked for four years as Director of Development at Nantucket New School.

• Gage S. Dobbins left her position as Director of Development for the Nantucket Conservation Foundation to assume a newly created role as Assistant Head for Development and Communications at Nantucket New School. The position incorporates those fulfilled by former Director of Development Cecil Barron Jensen and also assumes new responsibilities associated with admissions, enrollment and communications - including the management of all development, marketing and advertising efforts. She’ll also supervise program planning, oversee volunteer staff and help with the admissions and enrollment process, while acting as a primary spokesperson for the school in conjunction with Head of School, Dave Provost. As of press time, there was no announcement of Dobbins’ replacement at NCF.

• Society photographer and “Mahon About Town,” Gene Mahon replaced Reggie Levine as president of Nantucket Arts Council. Webmaster of the popular mahonabouttown.com and N Magazine contributor, Mahon is a long-time resident who has been involved with the arts community and has been a jazz club owner, photographer, promoter and volunteer.

TheAckHack

By Barbara Gookin

The first Saturday of November marked the first cross-island hack from Madaket to Siasconset. The hack, an equestrian term for a lengthy trail ride, was coordinated by Linda Ryder and Debbi Deeley Culbertson in celebration of her birthday.

Culbertson and Ryder, both year-round Island residents, had been hoping to make this journey for several years. They had participated in other hacks with the Green Mountain Horse Association in Vermont and had always wanted to coordinate a Nantucket hack. Much preparation was involved with choosing the route, trying to connect trails, beaches and dirt roads over mostly conservation land, with just a few crossings over pavement.
There were six riders and horses in all.Prior to getting started, several of the horses were trailered to the west end of the island. The ride itself began at Culbertson’s stable near Madaket Harbor on Tennessee Avenue. From there, they crossed Madaket Road and headed over the Massasoit Bridge, following the southern coastline to Surfside. They headed north on trails and crossed Old South Road near Lover’s Lane and made their way to a lunch break at Altar Rock.

After a respite where horses were given hay and water, the hack continued east toward Hoicks Hollow, crossed Polpis Road, continued to the Atlantic Ocean and ended at Sankaty Light.

“It was the most wonderful feeling, on such a crisp clear day,” remarked Culbertson. Ryder added, “We’re so fortunate to have so much available open space to ride.” Culbertson and Ryder were accompanied by other women with whom they regularly ride with including Cindy Von Kampen, Alicia Ranney, Lori Janowiec, and Janine Christensen. The group plans to make this an annual charitable event and grow it each year.

Glory Games

Nantucket has been the meet-up point for a couple of recent successful authors. In the 1958 National
Football League, Nantucket seasonal resident Frank Gifford was the quarterback of the New York Giants who defeated Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts in overtime to a national television audience of millions.

It was a game that changed football’s popularity in this country forever. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist David Halberstam, who was also a longtime resident of Nantucket, had just begun collecting material to write a book documenting that pivotal game when a 2007 car crash took his life. Gifford, who had been helping Halberstam with research, stepped up to complete the volume titled “The Glory Game.” Gifford’s voice gives the recounting an anecdotal, insider’s tone to the November release.

In other Gifford news, Frank’s wife, Kathie Lee Gifford, a past cover subject of N Magazine, recently invited year round Nantucket resident and now successful book personality Connor Gifford, 27, to appear on “The Today Show”-Gifford is co-host of the show’s fourth hour-to discuss the book he co-created with Victoria Harris. “America According to Connor Gifford” distills great moments and lessons in America’s history down to a concise few words by Connor, who has Down Syndrome. The book has been well received, and Connor, who is not related to Frank and Kathie Lee, has received invitations to appear all over the country as a result.

Connor’s father’s hometown of Perrysburg, Ohio, even invited him to ride in its Veteran’s Day Parade. But even with all of the fanfare, Connor has still found the time to fulfill his island obligations, recently advocating for the Halloween campaign for healthy treats by the Nantucket chapter of Sports and Therapeutic Accessible Recreation (S.T.A.R.).

Both of the Gifford books would make wonderful holiday gifts with a Nantucket connection. Check island merchants Bookworks or Mitchell’s Book Corner for the volumes.

By Marli Guzzetta
Photography By Nathan Coe

If you’ve had the opportunity to witness Armen Ghazarayan curved into his violin, eyes closed as he plays, you might have wondered how Nantucket laid claim to a musician trained for the world stage.

Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Ghazaryan studied in the rigorous Russian conservatory system. He had trained under such notables as U.S.S.R honored teacher Karp Dombaev, Vladimir Spivakov and Victor Khachaturian, before receiving an internship in 2004 with Nantucket School of Music for four and a half months.

“You just feel it right away - is it yours or no?” the 27 year old said of his immediate connection to Nantucket. “Nantucket was for me. I knew this right away. “As a teenager, I always wanted to see the United States. It was a dream,” he continued. “I never thought I’d be living here.”

After returning home, Ghazarayan won second prize in the Amadeus International Competition in Belgium, which put him within recruiting range for various symphonies around the world.

He received his PhD from Komitas State Conservatoire in 2005, after which the Miami Symphony Orchestra brought him back to the U.S. While in South Florida, Ghazaryan also became the first chair violinist for the Miami Lyric Opera Symphony and a guest in the Hollywood, Florida Philharmonic.

Former Nantucket School of Music Director Gerry Mack was a little incredulous when at the end of 2006 Ghazaryan said he wanted to move from Miami to make Nantucket his home.

“I asked him, ‘How can you do this?’” Mack recalled. “And he said, ‘I loveNantucket and want to be there. Can you get me a job?’” This is not to say that Ghazaryan doesn’t hold a deep affection for his native country. He describes it with lyrical reverence, speaking with a careful and gentlemanly affectation.

“The famous singer, Daniel Decker, he has a beautiful song about Armenia, where he says Armenia means second chance to people, because that’s where civilization started for the second time, where Noah’s ark landed on Mount Ararat, according to the Bible,” Ghazaryan said. “I certainly consider that place blessed like no place else in the world. I’ve felt the energy from the ground.”

Ghazaryan is sensitive to his surroundings. After a few years in Miami, he was eager to get back to the first American city he’d ever visited and loved.

“I always call Nantucket my first love,” Ghazaryan said. “For an artist, it’s a very inspiring, special environment. Pablo Casals, a Spanish cellist, moved to Puerto Rico because he thought that a small island is the right place for his inspiration. To createmusic.To be by himself. Probably, that is the same situation with me here.” The musician said that his two years on island have allowed him to “regroup.”

“I became more relaxed,” he said. “I changed as a professional, as a performer. You can’t miss all this beauty. It’s going to affect your playing, your emotions. Generally, it’s about inspiration. If the artist is inspired, there’s music.”
Ghazaryan said that he doesn’t have any musical goals other than to grow, improve
and teach.

For more on Nantucket School of Music, Ghazaryan and other faculty of Nantucket School of Music, visit nantucketschoolofmusic.org or call 508-228-3352.

By Peter Brace

Fred Singer and his family have photographs of their house at 63 Baxter Road from the days when people rode horses along the ever-dwindling bluff trail that’s still open to public pedestrian travel.

What’s left of the ‘Sconset Bluff Walk that traverses the Singers’ and 31 more properties from the top of North Gully Road north to Bayberry Lane - erosion having erased the trail from the 19 properties beyond 71 Baxter Road leading up to the former site of Sankaty Head Lighthouse - endures as a popular tourist attraction and is part of the charm of Nantucket’s eastern-most village, which has existed since the 1600s.

Singer is a member of the Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund (SBPF), which Nantucket voters, a bed of blue mussels and a proposal for a coastal management plan have pushed back on its heels since last winter.

“You can’t replace tradition and history,” said Singer of the possible loss of the trail and homes along the bluff from ongoing erosion.

“Only two families have owned our house in over a century,” explained Singer. “These traditions, these historical properties are worth fighting for. They were not just built five years ago; they are integral to the history of the village. The irony is that there are lots of possible solutions. We could put boulders along the bluff like they do elsewhere in the country, we could nourish the beach, but right now it’s total paralysis.

“As the political fever around this subsides, maybe residents and the town council can prevail,” said Singer hopefully.

Homeowners stymied

The summer of 2008 brought Nantucket one of its slowest summer tourist seasons in history.With charter fishermen reporting great fishing for striped bass and bluefish along the island’s eastern shore, many of them feared future fishing would be harmed by SBPF’s planned dredging of sand to help widen the ‘Sconset Bluff beach several hundred feet into the ocean.

For now, those anglers expect good fishing to continue in that area as the SBPF beach nourishment project idles after being squelched on several fronts. During hours of exhaustive, posterior-numbing public hearings before Nantucket’s Conservation Commission from spring 2007 through early 2008, coastal engineers and biologists unloaded reams of minutiae on everything from marine bird, plant and animal species, sand grain size compatibilities, dredge ship styles, currents, mitigation strategies and erosion dynamics.

In the end, SBPF withdrew its application from the Conservation Commission in face of mounting opposition and is now mulling its options. From the sound of things lately, it doesn’t seem likely that the ocean-side Baxter Road residents and their off-bluff supporters will be doing much of anything other than maintaining their current bluff “terracing” installations.

They certainly won’t be finishing their plans to dig up 1.9 million cubic yards of sand from a shoal three miles off Sankaty to rebuild their beaches from the lighthouse down to Codfish Park, at least not until the town and the state complete coastal and ocean management plans, respectively.

“We have no plans [right now],” said SBPF Executive Director Cheryl Bartlett, who is on leave from her erosion battle to work public relations for Boston’s Department of Public Health. “What’s been going on is we’ve been looking at all the options.

I guess we’ll always look at beach nourishment as an option. We’re looking at what kind of short-term things we can do while we wait for the coastal management plan. Beach nourishment may have some role in this.”

“What we learned through this is there are limits to the ConCom’s jurisdiction, that just because they permit a project, doesn’t mean that this project is going to be in the best interest of the island’s citizens,” said D. Anne Atherton, treasurer of the Coalition for Responsible Coastal Management.

Although SBPFmostly discounts its significance while project detractors stress its importance, the discovery of blue mussel beds on the shoal-mining site was cited by the opposition as an example of marine life in the area that could be damaged beyond just the burying of sponges, sea worms and rockweed.

A resounding “No”

Further pulling SBPF down into the morass of a ‘no-action’ alternative was Question Five on this spring’s Nantucket town election ballot, which asked, “Shall the Town of Nantucket allow the Siasconset Beach Preservation Fund to construct upon, and nourish, the Townowned coastal beaches on the East side of the Island?”

A resounding 2,864 voters said “No” to SBPF while 470 said “Yes,” results that came after what many local observers thought was one themost heated political campaigns on Nantucket in recent memory.

“I think it’s very sad that the referendum ever happened because it wasn’t part of the normal process,” said Kermit Roosevelt, a founding member of SBPF and resident of the bluff. “On the contrary, it seems to me it was designed to short circuit the process, which it did. It was asking people to make an advisory decision on something before it was mature.” The third leak in its foundering boat and the one that is preventing SBPF from doing anything but maintain its existing installations, was an effort spurred on by Town Clerk Catherine Stover-acting as a private citizen-for the town to produce a coastal management plan through this year’s annual Town Meeting.

The article called for the cessation of all erosion control projects on the east shore until the end of 2010 when that plan would be presumably ready.
“I am, of course, very disappointed,” said Singer. “Beach nourishment is successfully done in hundreds of communities across the United States. I personally have visited many of them. Why Nantucket is the only place in the world where it is not possible to implement a proven solution is baffling. Unfortunately, this particular project became a lightning rod for a lot of other issues. It’s sad we missed this opportunity for a win-win. The problem is not going away whether we ignore it now or not.”

Wary opposition

Several weeks before Nantucket’s town elections on April 15, island residents began receiving post cards in their mail from SBPF. One showed a blonde woman holding her infant child over her head, on a beach nowhere near the shores SBPF wanted to save proclaiming, “I want my kids to enjoy ‘Sconset Beach…just as I did.”

Another showed a father and his son, both in shorts, skipping along in breaking surf on an unidentified beach with the words, “I’m pro-environment and pro- Nantucket” at the top of it.

As the postcards filled mailboxes and post office boxes around the island, survey workers hired by SBPF canvassed the island informing islanders on the community benefits of their project and SBPF’s environmentally friendly stance.

That campaign elicited confusion and disgust from many and in response hatched the political action committee Coalition for Responsible Coastal Management, which adopted the slogan, “Ask any Fisherman: Beach nourishment is bad for ‘Sconset.” The group’s sole mission was to get out the “No” vote on Question Five. The Coalition struck a chord of widespread dissent for many year-rounders, who while claiming to be sympathetic to the plight of their wealthier neighbors along Baxter Road dismissed the massive project as one done for mostly private interests with inadequate regard for negative environmental impacts.

Many perceived that SBPF was putting concern for their property above interest in preserving public lands and waters. But what became abundantly clear was that beach nourishment as a method of erosion control was not something most Nantucketers were willing to embrace.

“I’ve been very involved in the community for 20 years, with a whole host of issues, and I have never seen the uniform agreement on something among all different parts of the community [like] I did for this,” said Atherton. “I’ve been thinking, ‘Why was there such widespread response to this proposal?’ I think it was because Nantucket citizens have great respect and reverence for environmental conditions that make Nantucket Nantucket and they don’t want to interrupt them.”

Underscoring the Coalition’s victory was the unanimous Town Meeting “Yes” vote on Article 67, which initiated creation of the town’s coastal management plan and automatically put on hold all erosion control projects on town-owned properties, which includes much of the beaches in front of Baxter Road, leaving SBPF to beef up its terracing installations and its members to consider other options.

“It’s sort of self-help for individual homeowners and if it turns out there is no possibility of doing beach nourishment, it is entirely possible that some of them will resort to ‘hard armoring,’” said Roosevelt.

Shoring up

SBPF originally installed terracing consisting of large sheets of coir fiber made of coconut husks. The coir fiber sheets, like large fishnets, were folded accordionstyle from the toe of the bluff up the face, with each fold filled with sand.

Pressure treated four-inch-by-four-inch posts are used to hold the coir fiber mats and sand in place, along with 16-inch wide pressure- treated planking attached to the posts to further strengthen these bulwarks. SBPF also placed sand-trapping plastic Dune- Guard fencing at the bottom of the bluff to help shore up the toe of the bluff.

Recently, members have put in jute fiber bags filled with sand, sewn together and secured in a similar fashion. Right now, this is all that stands between members’ properties and the ocean. But all of those erosion abatement measures permitted by ConCom could be in jeopardy now before the raging nor’east- ers that regularly whack Nantucket during the winter.

Stover has filed since filed another warrant for the special Town Meeting scheduled for next spring, a law that could end all SBPF erosion control activity. Her article asks voters to terminate SBPF’s license from the town to use the public beach along Baxter Road and requires SBPF to remove its entire beach dewatering equipment, Dune-Guard fencing and bluff terracing. If voters adopt this Stover article, the bluff and beach below it could be left unprotected, with property owners forced to take the future of their homes into their own hands. SBPF’s beach nourishment as a trial run for saving other dwndling parts of the island such as Sheep Pond Road and Smith’s Point in Madaket could lose support as an island-wide option.

“I think it is potentially a good idea to have a comprehensive solution,” said Singer speaking of the town’s coastal management plan proposal. “We are approached daily by other parts of the island worrying about their coastal shores. They were hoping we could be a test situation since we had agreed to finance it all privately. As I said, it’s a myth this issue is going away politically or legally, it’s just a matter of time before a crisis forces action, and then, of course, we won’t have the benefit of time or large private financing support.”

Common ground?

There is, of course, always hope. “A number of individuals have approached us and said they are not opposed to some sort of compromise,” said Roosevelt, “and we are optimistic that once we’re through with this coastal management plan, a compromise can be reached, and we take this as a very positive sign.”

The ‘Sconset bluff residents have so far signaled their unwillingness to follow the lead of growing numbers of Smith’s Pointers who lack the funds for a coordinated effort, so are now in various stages of relocating their cottages either further north of the advancing ocean or to new lots well inland. Many Baxter Road residents lack deep enough lots to move their houses, and some have already moved their houses once or twice.
Meanwhile, Bartlett and members of SBPF take heart in the knowledge that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is working on a statewide ocean management plan mandated by the state’s Oceans Management Act of 2008, which would probably supersede local legislative efforts. Signed into law in May by Governor Deval Patrick, the act does prohibit the mining of offshore sand but exempts projects including SBPF’s that were permitted by the state prior to its adoption.

“I think that a holding program of toe protection is about the only thing we can do until such time as we can see what the coastal management plans will provide,” said Roosevelt. “It’s interesting noting that there is only one coastal management plan in the state and that the coastal management plan addresses the issue of erosion and that the preferred method of beach erosion control is beach nourishment.”

SBPF, which acknowledges that it is examining all options at this point, believes that by the time the town’s coastal management plan is in place they will have found some sort of a method that works for its members and is tolerable to the island as a whole.

Singer stressed that he is optimistic about finding some common ground between SBPF and their opposition, knowing full well that the Baxter Road neighborhood won’t be the only loser as the Bluff crumbles away.

“Again, if my house goes, the rest of ‘Sconset is likely to suffer hundreds of millions of dollars in lost taxes and the destruction of traditions that are over a century old,” said Singer.

“I hope that is not the case. Right now, the only sure winners are going to be lawyers and the special interests who make their money around the conflict. That unfortunately is all too often what happens. But I am hopeful a win-win can be negotiated.”
Peter B. Brace is the environmental, and growth and development writer for The Nantucket Independent. His articles can be found at www.acknews.com.

Tony Award winner Judith Ivey talks about the roles she’d like to play and why her latest work as a director appeals to her so much.

By William Ferrall

A few years ago on Nantucket, the Tony Award-winning actress Judith Ivey performed a onewoman, 12 character play-in-progress called “Women on Fire.” The title could aptly describe many periods in Ivey’s four-decade career on stage, screen and television.

That was one of very few public appearances as an actor that Ivey has made on Nantucket, where she and her husband the film and television producer Tim Braine, along with their two children, have inhabited their ‘Sconset cottage for a few weeks most summers since 1993. In fact, even Ivey’s fans might not recognize her out and about on Nantucket without the highly-coiffed hair and stylized make-up that define many of her professional roles.

In coming months, Ivey’s public profile heats up with three projects that will bring her back to Broadway, for her first time there as a director, and back onto regional and Off-Broadway stages.

Next February, a musical version of the 1976 play “Vanities,” with Ivey as its director, opens at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre. In the spring, she’ll retake the stage herself as Amanda in “The Glass Menagerie” at New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre. She’s then set to reprise her role as advice columnist Ann Landers in the one-woman play “The Lady With All the Answers,” next fall Off Broadway at New York’s Cherry Lane Theater.

Not that things have ever cooled down much for Ivey in the minds of theatergoers and viewers who have long admired her tough and impassioned portrayals of everything from broads and vamps to refined women of elevated character.

Early on, a degree of raunchiness in her stage characters served Ivey well. She won her first Tony Award in 1983 for playing Josie, a sexual extrovert in “Steaming.” Her second golden statue came in 1985 for her realization of a go-go girl in “Hurlyburly.”

Since then, a slew of television, movie and stage roles have softened her image a bit, often into a more proper but strong-willed middle-aged lady. A notable exception to that mellowing came during her stint for the 1992-93 television season as the perky B.J. Poteet on the last season of “Designing Women,” where she replaced Delta Burke.

That part remains one of the many episodic television jobs she has worked including leading parts in the 1990 series “Down Home” and the 1995 series “The Five Mrs. Buchanans.” In recent years, viewers might recall Ivey as Lorraine on “Frasier” or as the mother of Grace’s future husband, Leo Markus, played by Harry Connick, Jr., on “Will & Grace.”

On bigger screens, Ivey has appeared in a couple of dozen films including “Flags of our Fathers,” “Washington Square” and “”Brighton Beach Memories.” In 2003, she won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for her work in the short film “What Alice Found.”

Challenges

As an actor, Ivey loves the half-hour sitcom. “It’s a great schedule and a chance to pick through things and work them out,” she said over lunch this summer at Nantucket’s Even Keel Café. “Plus it has the challenge of breaking the usual format, of trying new things.”

During that same encounter, Ivey showed a glimpse of being tough in life as in her art. When I mentioned that I’d once been a stringer for People Magazine, she recounted how another reporter for the same publication several years ago seemed more interested in gossip about her predecessor on “Designing Women” than in her.
In response, Ivey cut him off and ordered him out of her house. I was dutifully forewarned.

On the other hand, Ivey’s softer side showed in response to my predictable comment about the paucity of prominent new acting roles for women of “a certain age.” At the age of 57, she conceded that she’s worried younger writers and producers especially in film and television might not know of her. “For every ten roles for women of our age,” she said with a laugh, “Meryl Streep is offered six of them.”

Ivey’s growing string of directing jobs-last spring she directed the new play “Soccer Moms” Off-Broadway, following several directing stints for regional theaters-fills whatever gaps come up in landing meaty performance roles.

“I’m often more intrigued by directing,” she noted. Comedian Kevin Flynn, Ivey’s friend and fellow Nantucket summer resident, underscored her skill as both a director and an actor. “Her husband Tim first suggested that she might want to direct my one man, ‘Around the Kitchen Table’ for HBO,” recalled Flynn.

“I was not familiar with her work at that point. I just knew that every girl in my acting class thought she was the best and wanted her career.

“For a week and a half she worked with me and was so inventive, so resourceful, so much fun. She became a great friend of mine almost immediately. Thank God, I never saw her [acting] professionally because I would have certainly been intimidated. After seeing her on stage some months later, I was blown away. She walked out on stage and
controlled the theater: powerful, strong and in-the-moment, just amazing.”

Many other theater fans agree. Even when the written material sometimes falls short of Ivey’s talent, observers usually make a point of praising her. “Ms. Ivey, as always, has vitality and skill to spare,” wrote Ben Brantley of The New York Times in reviewing her solo role as Martha Mitchell in the short-run 2004 play “Dirty Tricks.”

As with Mitchell and Ann Landers, Ivey said she is often drawn to powerful but “funny and poignant” characters. Among famous roles she’d like to tackle someday after the classical American part of Amanda in “Menagerie” is Shakespeare’s Gertrude in “Hamlet.”

As if the breadth of Ivey’s career to date weren’t wide enough, her net has cast her on several occasions into roles in musical theater, where she has shown an exceptionally moving singing voice. For a 2001 Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies,” she took the role of Sally Plummer, a married and disillusioned ex-chorus girl. If you’re at all susceptible to being moved emotionally by a great voice, search youtube.com for her rendition of “Losing My Mind.” Ivey’s aching and haunting voice will stay with you long afterward.

Photography by Ron Lynch

Inspired by the namesake location for our holiday fashion feature, we invited four Nantucket couples to shine and share their love for each other in ‘Greater Light,’ the historic Howard Street property owned by Nantucket Historical Association and slated for restoration next year. Our couples were clearly charmed and charming in fashions chosen from Nantucket sources by Nantucket Style Council.

Judith Wodynski, the NHA’s Director of External Relations, wears a Margaret Loves blue dress, $700, a black cashmere tie wrap, $235, an Erickson Beamon pearl necklace, $975, and Gabriel Sanchez pearl drop earrings, $975. All from Cote d’Azure.

Her husband Michael Wodynski wears a Ralph Lauren black suede jacket, $995, Ralph Lauren green corduroy trousers, $98, and a Vineyard Vines Christmas tie, $75, all from Murray’s Toggery Shop.

Gussie Beaugrand, prominent volunteer for Hospice Care of Nantucket,wears a red and gold brocade jacket from Haberdashery, a Margaret Lovessilver skirt, $400, from Cote d’Azure, vintage brooches and beads in acombination necklace, $335, and Lauren Merkin silver gray clutch, $185-245, both from Blu.

Her husband Ken Beaugrand, partner in Nantucket Real Estate and an NHA Board member, wears a Murray’s Toggery blue sports

coat, $695, a Ralph Lauren red, knitted vest, $125, and a Murray’s Toggery Christmas bow tie, $50. All from Murray’s Toggery Shop.

Longtime NHA volunteer and needlework artist Susan Boardman wears a black Tomasz  Starzewski jacket, $995, black Tomasz Starzewski skirt, $725, and a Vassilisa scarf, $525, from Legends. Her

Christian Lacroix shoes, $725, are from Addison Craig. Her vintage brooches and beads in a combination necklace, $335, are from Blu.

Her husband Bill Boardman wears a Ralph Lauren gold suede jacket, $995, a Ralph Lauren green shirt, $98, and a Murray’s Toggery bow tie, $45, all from Murray’s Toggery Shop.

Rebecca Bartlett, Bartlett’s Farm controller and chairman of this year’s NHA Festival of Trees, wears a Donna

Ricco cranberry dress, $158, a Hannah Blount silver necklace, $330, and Donald Pliner silver pumps, $260, all from Hepburn. Her Lauren Merkin silver and gray clutch, $185- 245, and satin stretch cuff with vintage brooch, $225, are from Blu.

Her husband John Bartlett, CEO of Bartlett’s Farm, wears a Pendleton Plaid jacket, $225, a Vineyard Vines Christmas tie, $75, a Ralph Lauren white button-down shirt, $85, and Castaway red corduroy trousers, $135, all from Murray’s Toggery Shop.

Preserving Greater Light

In 1929, sisters Hanna and Gertrude Monaghan arrived on Nantucket and transformed what was then a pig barn into an eclectic, ornate summer home with lofts, iron grills, stained glass windows, gingerbread woodwork, frescoes and antiques. Their artistic soirees and their world travels that brought back adornments to “Greater Light”-named after the Quaker concept of the spirit that resides within each of us-make this a very special Nantucket property to preserve for future generations.

The NHA’s Phase I restoration is underway, with hopes to finish the project by 2011. Visit nha.org to learn how you can help continue the whimsy and magic of Greater Light.

Sources

Addison Craig, 0 Washington Street, 508-228-1899, addisoncraig.com. Blu, Cambridge Street, 508-325-6980. The Haberdashery, 9 Centre Street, 508-228-2100. Hepburn, 3 Salem Street, 508-228-1458. Cote d’Azure (formerly Island Cashmere), 32 Centre Street. Legends, 0 Washington Street, 508-228-7818. Murray’s Toggery Shop, 62 Main Street, 508-228-0437, nantucketreds.com.

Special thanks to Peter Greenhalgh of the NHA for location styling, and Nantucket Style Council members Beth English of currentVintage, Azra Wilmott-Smith of Legends, Kim Pizzitola of Blu and Cheryl Fudge of Cheryl Fudge Designs. For the holidays, consider a donation to Hospice Care of Nantucket at 508-825-8235 or visit hospiceofnantucket.org.

Barbara Halsted, Principal of Fenwick House Designs, has been a member of ASID since 1980. A summer resident for many years, she left her design practice in Washington, D.C. 15 years ago to live full-time on Nantucket.

Donna Elle opened her firm Donna Elle Designs in 1994 after running an upholstery and drapery workroom. Elle studied at Rhode Island School of Design and is an Allied member of ASID.

By Lyndon Dupuis
Photography by Jeffrey Allen

We shelter magazine addicts-whose drugs of choice are Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, Veranda and Elle Décor, to name a few-have witnessed a sea change in interior design over the past five or six years. Presaged well before the turn of the new century by designers such as John Saladino and Thomas Pheasant, a new clean, well-edited look has emerged, replacing the overwrought interiors of the Mario Buatta school of design.

Barbara Barry, Victoria Hagan, Barry Dixon and others have ushered in a new aesthetic that shows no sign of waning soon. We spoke with two popular Nantucket designers, Barbara Halsted and Donna Elle, to learn how they interpret trends for 2009 and what influence these trends is having on Nantucket homeowners.

N: No doubt the biggest trend today is designing “green.” In fact, in a recent seminar I attended, Alexis Contant, vice-president of the Boston Design Center, declared that “Eco-friendly design is beyond a trend. It’s now part of our lives forever.” Has this become a part of Nantucket’s ethos?

HALSTED: We are definitely embracing green design. Part of the movement is recycling, and Nantucketers still love antiques, perhaps the ultimate in recycling in a broad sense.We are using lots of bamboo and reclaimed lumber for N: No doubt the biggest trend today is designing “green.”
In fact, in a recent seminar I attended, Alexis Contant, vice-president of the Boston Design Center, declared that “Eco-friendly design is beyond a trend. It’s now part of our lives forever.” Has this become a part of Nantucket’s ethos?

HALSTED: We are definitely embracing green design. Part of the movement is recycling, and Nantucketers still love antiques, perhaps the ultimate in recycling in a broad sense.We are using lots of bamboo and reclaimed lumber for ELLE: We still see lots of white but we are painting color on many walls. People still love and need lovely color-just not so much on upholstery.

N: Even in the huge “Great Rooms”with beams?

ELLE: They don’t have to be all white. It’s very pretty to paint from the plate height down in a soft, soothing color.

HALSTED: We are using lots of color on beautiful rugs. In fact, that is where so much of our color and pattern plays now. The most gorgeous rugs, especially custom-designed and custom-colored, are enormously popular. Also, Stark has a wonderful collection of Chinese rugs. Oriental rugs always stand the test of time.

N: How is technology affecting design?

HALSTED: We have a lot more flexibility. Everyone buys flat screens, for example, so we don’t need a large armoire to house the television. So much of our technology works wirelessly; we no longer have to plug everything into something else to make it work. That means that the printer doesn’t have to be right next to the computer, for instance. They can talk to each other across the room.

N:What has happened to the traditional Nantucket design of blue and white, bead board and all of that?

HALSTED: It’s still around. You can see blue and white any day of the week on Nantucket, but my clients aren’t asking for it.White, especially crisp woodwork and paneling will never go out here.

ELLE: We are using more v-groove paneling today and usually on the diagonal or horizontal. It’s less formal. We are opening up space, and we are opening up ceilings.We love those beams, either in old houses or new construction.We usually paint the beams, and the current trend is to stain the floors a very dark espresso brown. They ground everything and the contrast is wonderful.

N: How do dark floors work in a beachy atmosphere?

ELLE: We apply six coats of water-based urethane, and then the clients just let the sand come in. So what if the floors become a little worn looking. The byword is ‘casual.’ We are still doing some Nantucket painted floors; in fact we sometimes even continue the spatter paint tradition. It’s a great look and a bathroom is the perfect place for a whimsical, painted floor.

N: Thank you both for taking the time to chat with me. You have been informative, and your passion for what you do really comes through.

Barbara Halsted may be reached at Fenwick House Designs, 8 South Prospect Street, Nantucket, 508-325-6710. Or visit fenwickhousedesigns.com.

Donna Elle Interior Design is located 9 NobskaWay, Nantucket, 508-228-4561. Or see donnaelle.com.

By Susan Fernald
Photographs by Laurie Richards

Just inside the polished mahogany doors of theWianno Grille, Angela Angelini or her perpetually cheerful husband Rick Angelini often greet customers by name while showing their genuine delight at seeing the arrivals.

As you’ll discover, this sophisticated, nautically themed bar and grill is also comfortable and homey. Settle into a bar stool or booth here for a while, and you’re apt to become a regular at this establishment alongside the rotary at Hyannis Municipal Airport, the busy air travel portal to Cape Cod and the Islands.

The Angelinis are familiar faces in the Cape Cod non-profit and culinary scene. Rick has twice served as Interim Director for the Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce and is a steadfast member of the United Way Board. Angela is a Trustee of Cape Cod Community College and holds a culinary degree from its Zammer Hospitality Institute.

Quintessential restaurateurs, the two are often seen à deux tending to Wianno-catered non-profit events in the area. During a recent visit to Wianno, Eastman, owner of Howard Boats in Barnstable Village, started off by striking a pose near the inviting brick fireplace, with a cantaloupe martini du jour.

Greta Gustafson, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for New Seabury on Cape Cod, joined me for a lightly dressed lobster martini studded with artichokes and roasted red pepper slivers. They were succulent and generous. Like me as a Nantucket native, Eastman and Gustafson have long-standing connections to the island, and we enjoyed finding where our lives intersected as we settled into a booth bravely upholstered in white leather.

Peter builds small traditional sailboats, including the Indian and 12′ to 14′ catboats. “They are stocking stuffers really,” he said with a grin, explaining that a snapshot of a finished boat is often stuffed into the Christmas stockings of those who get one of his boats as a gift. Gustafson visited Nantucket in her teens and later with her sister who lived on Nantucket for 25 years. Enviably, she now splits her time between Mashpee, Massachusetts and Vero Beach, Florida.

Eastman’s fried calamari and baby shrimp, accompanied by finger peppers and organic greens dressed in lemon aioli, arrived along with tapas for my companion Russell Greenhouse.

Soon, all of us set about happily sampling bites to accompany a Bigfire Oregon pinot gris, which proved to be crisp, delicious and fruity with a touch of musk. Executive Chef Michael Pirini, a graduate of culinary school Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, has 16 years of experience. His many inspired tapas dishes offered us a warm sampling of rustic flavors in duck sausage wrapped in puff pastry, Asiago-stuffed mushrooms and sweet chili peppers stuffed with blue cheese and pistachios.

A pan-roasted arctic char, with tomato-bacon butter sauce and warm Tuscan white beans and spinach sauté, was superb. The grilled beef duo of bacon-wrapped petit tenderloin with mustard bourbon glaze and short ribs, along with Dijon-horseradish cream, and rosemary and sea-salt roasted baby potatoes, were a carnivore’s delight.

Eastman and Gustafson couldn’t resist the veal sirloin medallions served with roasted shallots, caper berry lemon sauce, and veal and sage ravioli-”the perfect accompaniment,” enthused Eastman and Gustafson. Silence fell over the table as we tucked into our respective meals and sipped a 2005 Saint Francis “Wild Oak” old vine zinfandel. It is a happy group when all agree that we each ordered the perfect dish.

Saving a bit of room for dessert, we ordered four to share. The peach tiramisu, while juicy with fresh peaches, was unable to sway me, a die-hard tiramisu traditionalist; a panna cotta with fresh blueberry sauce was lovely. Creamy and quietly bursting with flavor, the caramel cheesecake, trickled with fudge sauce was really quite good. If this all sounds like damning with faint praise it is only because the brownie a la mode wowed us all.

wiannogrille.com
380 Barnstable Road, Hyannis
508-778-5587

Created with the Nantucket firm Verde-an environmentally focused design and build company founded by Rebecca Weld, Ian Konecko and Burr Tupper-the Green View advocates making the island a healthier, more sustainable community for generations to come.

By Rebecca Weld & Burr Tupper
Photo by Cary Hazlegrove

When scallop rakes replace fishing poles on Nantucket, we turn our attention to the holiday season ahead. Our approach to the next couple of months can help to set the tone for a lower-impact and earth-conscious year to come. Gift giving should not burden us with more stuff, but instead brighten and enrich our lives. Forego the plastic trinkets and give gifts that care for family, friends and the earth.

Think local first to support our island economy. Order books from local bookstores, pick up your iPod accessories from our electronic stores and give locally produced spirits. During our Stroll celebration, head upstairs to the Preservation Institute: Nantucket on Centre Street for the annual Nantucket Artisans Collective craft show and sale, where local artisans showcase their wares.

Consider giving services as gifts: They give twice by supporting the local providers and benefiting recipients. Buy a gift certificate for a massage and spa treatment, yoga lessons, a delicious dinner out or local plants and trees at island nurseries for spring, or book a fishing charter. Offer your own time with a card redeemable for a few hours of babysitting, moving help or whatever skills you have to offer.

If your own interests have changed, wrap up those knitting needles, put some new line on that forgotten fishing pole, or clean up that surfboard under your deck and pass it on. Your knowledge combined with an unused piece of equipment could be the gift of a lifetime.

Check out nantucketreuseexchange.com, local classifieds or ebay.com as great sources for used goods.

Less packaging

If you shop via the Internet, try to combat the carbon impact of your purchases. If you plan on personally wrapping and resending gifts, opt to This year, we offer our new Green View column to suggest ways for those who live on or visit Nantucket to adopt environmentally sensitive practices and products. Have the vendor fill the entire order before it’s shipped. Smaller objects require less energy to travel, so think light when ordering from far away. If you’re able, simply send a personal card and have the gift ground-shipped directly to the recipient. Remember that overnight shipping has five times the environmental impact as ground shipping.

At this time of year especially, our mailboxes fill up with catalogs, but you can limit them. It takes 14 million trees to produce the mail-order catalogs we receive annually in the United States. Along with direct mailings, catalogs account for more than 4 million tons of CO2-emitting landfill mass. Encourage the catalogs you like to use recycled paper; get off as many mailing lists as possible. The non-profit Co-op America encourages catalog companies to print green and advises about green businesses that you can support.

Also consider giving charitable donations in honor of someone on your list. Let your choice reflect the personal taste of the recipient. Grandma might not get Surfrider Foundation, but she may well appreciate a gift to Meals onWheels in her name. Consider local green groups, including Nantucket Conservation Foundation, Sustainable Nantucket or Maria Mitchell Association. Visit nantucket.org on-line for an extensive list of other local non-profits, many of which benefit the environment, children or the arts.

Whether it’s Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, or Yule time there will be gifts to wrap and halls to deck. Americans throw away 25 percent more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s than any other time of year. The result is about 1 million extra tons of trash each week-not a very merry picture.

Decorate paper bags with potato stamp, save the comics papers, gather cloth scraps, or adopt reusable shopping bags as alternatives to conventional wrapping. If you’re a purist, look to wrapping paper that is recycled. On Nantucket, Parchment carries a nice selection of those.

Two online sources are perennialpaper.com and greenfieldpaper.com.While you’re at it, try the Sellotape brand of adhesive, made from biodegradable plant cellulose. When entertaining, set the holiday mood and table with conscious choices. Biodegradable hot and cold cups, flat ware, and plates can be found at biodegradablestore.com. Local cranberries and fish bring wholesome goodness to the table. Again, Cisco Brewers and Triple 8 Distillery on Nantucket offer plenty of homemade libations to keep the party going.

Written By Marli Guzzetta
Photography by Cary Hazlegrove

Jorge Ordoñez is the William Randolph Hearst of the Spanish wine industry. He grew up as the son of a wine distributor in Malaga, Spain at a time when Spanish wine was perceived by Americans to be no more than cheap sherry and Rioja. He became the man who has almost single-handedly created a global demand for Spanish wines by setting high standards for wine growing, production and distribution.

Although Ordoñez has a unique calling in the world, he retains close ties with Massachusetts. In addition to marrying a Bostonite, Ordoñez has based his company, Fine Estates, in Dedham, Massachusetts. He also has a large number of friends on Nantucket, including Cinco Restaurant owner Michael Sturgis and Nantucket Wine Festival bigwigs, who named Ordoñez 2008 Luminary of the Year.

While talking with Ordoñez at the 2008 Nantucket Wine Festival, Sturgis mentioned that he would be hosting a Spanish wine tasting for 20 people at the island home of Duff and Bunny Meyercord-an item Sturgis donated to a Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum auction.

“I asked if he would be generous enough to donate a wine,” remembered Sturgis, who hosted a tasting with Ordoñez at Cinco earlier in the year as a fundraiser for Nantucket Arts Council.

“Jorge turned to me and said, ‘You will not be doing a Spanish wine tasting; you will be doing a Jorge Ordoñez wine tasting.’ Not only did he donate all of the wines, he donated all of his best wines. He’s always been very, very generous.”

Jack Guinan, Ordoñez’s right hand man in the States, flew to Nantucket with an array of spectacular wines: whites by Cenit, Godeval and Naiades, and reds that included El Puntido’s 2004 Rioja, Can Blau’s 2004 Monstant, El Nido Clio 2004 and El Nido El Nido 2005. The last two wines in particular have become worldwide sensations. El Nido’s winemaker is renowned Australian Chris Ringland, whom Ordoñez hand-selected.

“That’s Jorge,” Sturgis said. “He doesn’t just bring in a good wine maker; he brings the best winemaker in the world for that grape.”

At the wine tasting, the party was most impressed by the Eli Nidos, which Sturgis called “cult wines.”

“In most places around the world, 90 percent of vineyards are irrigated. In Spain, it’s rare. The terroir is slate, gravelly. By not irrigating the wines, they make for a small berry, so what you’re getting is a very small production per acre of wine of very intense grapes, most of which are hand picked. They undergo a severe triage before they go into the wine. Right now, everyone wants to study Spanish wine.”

And thanks to Nantucket’s erudite grapevine, islanders enjoy the opportunity to learn from the man who is writing the curriculum.