This is the place I come to feel ordinary--no funny looks, no muttering, no clutching of purses. Okay there is an occasional reminder that we're not 100% "there" but I'll take the 95% feeling of being just another man when I'm on the Vineyard.

At least nowadays people have the sense and the discretion to keep their biases hidden. But if you roll back the plastic wrap --- ! I have a now departed WASP friend, had a summer home in Chilmark, descendant of a famous 19th century publisher, who was in his cups one night and he griped to me and another friend, "Too many Jews in Chilmark these days." I reminded him he was making this observation to two Jewish women, but he was too smashed to care.

The Island has always been an open, loving, living heart of a place. Openness and acceptance abound here.

This Catholic girl is thrilled to be clumped with the blacks and the Jews! As for those "elite" club's, I'm with Grocho Marx on that ~ "I wouldn't want to be a member of a club that would have me as a member!" phooey to them! Great article Holly.

Great to hear from you, Maribeth! Seems to me Catholics were made part of the In Crowd when JFK became president, and we know Obama has given African Americans a huge boost! Now all we need is a Jewish prez and a woman prez. Just don't anybody suggest Joe Lieberman for a future ticket! (I believe even Joe Lieberman these days wouldn't put forward Joe Lieberman!)

Really cool mini history lesson! I also love the diversity on the island. Can't wait to come back :)

I have traveled over 15 countries. When I "traveled" I didn't stay at the local Hilton with guided tours. I traveled on my wits and often worked with locals. In Algeria's fringe of the Sahara, I spent a few days chained in animal harness with three other laborers. We walked in circles chanting while our human energy turned two huge stones that pressed oil from olives. The men I worked with were paid fifty cents ($.50) a day. We were allowed one half-hour break to drink olive oil and eat bread we dipped in olive oil. I've worked on farms in New Zealand; taught English in Morocco; repaired cars in Spain; plowed fields with camels in Mauritania near a war zone where gun fire kept me awake at night; lived outside for two years while traversing America by horseback - speaking at universities, civic organizations and places of worship of "all" kinds; working on farms and ranches punching cattle, mending fence, fixing water-pumping windmills, rounding up and training horses - the list goes on.

I've traveled to Israel amongst the Jews, Druze, Palestinians, and Bedouins; in Algeria amongst the Berbers and Muslims, and Morocco and its strange desert dwelling blue-black people with no recorded language. The one thing I have learned - birds of similar feather often to flock together for survival. It is a basic instinct.

Yes, it is great to beat the drum of civility and equality relative to our island utopia. However, it's just a ferry ride to another reality.

Hi Holly,
Two points:
first, anti-semitism is still rampant in Edgartown, according to at least one recent candidate for public office.

It was certainly worse: case in point, my aunt and uncle came to Edgartown in July of 1955 for their honeymoon, and were treated so badly they have never come back, not even to visit me or other lifelong friends who live here.

Second example, I have heard from several Jewish friends in Chilmark that they first tried to buy property in Edgartown in the '60s or '70s or '80s and were told they were not welcome. The irony is that their real estate in Chilmark appreciated more than Edgartown did during the same period!

Love your column! but don't think people are any less tribal and exclusionary than they ever were, not at heart. At least some people have the decency not to be open about their prejudices these days.

And of course, there are some people who do have open hearts -- the diversity is one of the reasons I wanted to live here, another being the strong sense of community in general, and the strong artistic and creative community, which I have never found in any of the other 20-some places I lived before I moved here...

Miriam and I visited Martha's Vineyard in 1993 with our newborn daughter Cecilia. Miriam had visited the island in her past but this was my first. The experience I had then and every Summer since has made me realize the better side of all people. In my brother's words,"the Vineyard is the most "civiliized" place I have ever visited." We have made many friends and have wonderful memories of our Summers on the beaches of Martha's Vineyard.. We have since that first visit bulit a home near the walking beach and renovated the old Miriam Walker cottage in East Chop. We will one day retire and hope that our children and grandchildren will enjoy the Vineyard just as we have.

Ellen, thanks for your interesting comments. I've also heard from black friends about their families being asked to leave Edgartown beaches back in the 1950s. So when Dorothy West wrote that the town didn't cease to be a WASP bastion until the late 1930s, she was probably showing a premature optimism.

I have found the island has greater diversity as a community than any other place I have lived, but there will always be some who mark their merit by putting others down. Look at the variety of responses here. Some defensive, some idealistic, some embracing, some still feeling the lash of exclusion. What we build as community will only be sustainable, if it is diverse and cooperative -- because all of us bring our different strengths to the gathering.

@Sam -- you think the only thing many of us hold against Mitt Romney is his whiteness? Dude! I've voted for plenty of white guys in the past, starting with supporting my parents' bid for Adlai Stevenson (I was pretty little).

Oh Holly, Catholics being in vogue is so 1963! Apparently, JFK's being elected was some strange cosmic fluke. Would love to see a female president AND a Jewish president, better yet ~ let's start seeking out a dynamic female, jewish female politician that we can start grooming this very moment! 2016 is just around the corner!

But I repeat myself ~ ;)

Walter Isaacs
Holly, I love your column. You are a breath of fresh air, not just via the Patch, but anywhere. With regard to Sam Hustan; He's all wet and misguided. I'm not voting for Romney, because he's unable to relate to folks who are not not like him. He's disingenous, and pretends to care. His beliefs are changeable as winds around the Island. He lies too easily. He was not a job creator as governor of Massachusetts, which ranked 47th in job creation during his tenure, etc. I could go on and on. I admit to being a selective racist. (I don't like stupid people). Naive or ignorant is OK, but intelligent folks who should know better and make baseless statements are a boil on society. Despite that admission, Romney's color has nothing to do with my dislike for him. As a deceitful and clever multimillionaire, He has a lock on stupid.
That's why I'm not voting for him. (Sam, don't let my surname fool you).

How about a female Jewish Republican for President? That will tell the tale.

You want an example of divisiveness? Read Sam's comments, then compare them to the other 9 or 10.

Barbara, that would be a funny combination! I might even vote for that candidate!

Another cool thing about the Island is that there isn't that much to-do about the people who have money and the ones who don't. There's not much of a class distinction, at least it didn't seem that way to me when I lied there

Cindy, I think you meant to say "when I lived there"; you were never much of a liar, you old truth-teller, you!

Great article with a bad yet provocative title, so I guess that works for engagement..