N MAGAZINE Winter 2022

The Community Foundation for Nantucket partners with you to strengthen our community, now and for future generations through informed philanthropy and community leadership.

To make a gift, visit cfnan.org, or hold your phone camera up to our flowcode:

INTERIORS

CONTRIBUTORS

Meet some of the talented folks who made this winter issue possible.

NUMBERS

A numerical snapshot of Nantucket in the late fall.

NEAT STUFF

Susan Lister Locke unveils her “Seaquins” and Seascapes collection.

NTOPTEN

All the must-dos and mustsees for your holiday season on Nantucket.

NGREDIENTS

Proprietors partner Anna Worgess shakes up something to keep you warm this winter.

NECESSITIES

Add these items to your winter wishlist.

KID’N AROUND

A rundown of activities to keep your little ones busy this winter.

NTERIORS

Behold the Verellen showroom at Eleish Van Breems Home.

Island fashion heats up the winter

NEEDTOREAD

Listen up to the power of sound healing. NBUZZ 38

34

All the news, tidbits and scuttlebutt courtesy of the Nantucket Current

NOSHNEWS

Check out Tim’s top ten reads of 2022 along with his recommendations for this winter. How staffing challenges have crippled many island restuarants.

Healing Through Sound

NSPIRE

42 48

BRUSH WITH GREATNESS

Why Meghan Weeks might be the next big name coming out of the Nantucket art scene.

ROCK’N’ROLL RABBI

The unlikely musical past of Nantucket’s Rabbi Gary Bretton-Grantoor.

COURAGE UNDER FIRE

How Nantucket’s Person of the Year Nate Barber battled the blaze of the Veranda House.

SPECIAL DELIVERY

How do you get a 375-pound slide to Nantucket from war-torn Ukraine?

ON THE COVER

In recognition of his uncommon heroism during the Veranda House fire this summer, Nantucket Fire Department Captain Nate Barber appears on this winter cover as N Magazine’s first inaugural Person of the Year. Photo by Kit Noble.

Meghan Weeks Brushes With Greatness

COLLISION COURSE?

New data indicates that Nantucket's population may soon exceed its carrying capacity.

NQUIRY

VIEW FROM ACROSS THE POND

After a tumultuous few months, British Ambassador to the United States Dame Karen Elizabeth Pierce shares her thoughts on the future.

HEAD CASES

Dr. Michael Lewis reveals shocking findings in how to treat traumatic brain injury.

TAKING CHARGE

Incoming president Amy Lee discusses her plans for the future of Nantucket Cottage Hospital.

Meet the Rock'N'Roll Rabbi

NVOGUE

103

NHA

113

A look back at aviation past courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association image archives.

NUPTIALS

128

Jessica Berson Weaver and Joseph Peter McCann tied the knot on Nantucket.

NOT SO FAST

A quick chat with Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s Santi Scheurell.

LEADING

Nantucket has no shortage of remarkable people, but each year there is inevitably one person whose actions, deeds, or accomplishments most signifi cantly impacts the island. For this reason, we have launched a new annual feature at N Magazine cel ebrating Nantucket’s Person of the Year. The choice for our first Person of the Year Award recip ient is Nantucket Fire Department Captain Nate Barber, whose quick thinking and selfless heroism saved lives and helped avert a major tragedy on the island. The fire department and numerous ci vilians also played a key role in preventing what could have been a serious disaster. Nate Barber is a shining example of someone whose actions speak louder than words. We are proud to have him as our first Person of the Year.

Additionally, a new leader has just arrived at Nantucket: the new president of the Nantucket Cottage Hospital (NCH). Amy Lee takes over the helm of the NCH, following the skilled leadership of interim president Dr. Jeanette Ives Erickson. Lee comes to the island from the Maine health care system, and also has experience working in a hospital in Vail, Colorado—a community which shares many similarities to Nantucket. Lee and her husband Jon, a volunteer fireman who plans to get involved with our local department, are eager to serve the community.

Another leader in the medical arena is Dr. Michael Lewis, who has pioneered a remark able treatment for traumatic brain injuries using Omega-3 fatty acids. A West Point graduate who served in the military for more than thirty years, Dr. Lewis has become an outlier in the medical field by promoting a protocol that has helped improve the lives of severely injured individuals, from football players to combat veterans.

EXAMPLE by

Another leader who has found herself in the line of fire is the British Ambassador to the United States, Dame Karen Pierce. A woman with abundant style and sub stance, Ambassador Pierce is immensely popular in the U.K. and has impressive dip lomatic credentials from posts around the world. It is now arguably the most tumultuous time in Britain’s history since World War II, and Ambassador Pierce sat down with us to share her views on the daunting challenges Britain is facing both at home and abroad. When it comes to spiritual leaders on Nan tucket, few can match the resume of Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor of Nantucket’s Shirat HaYam congregation. Outside of his inspiring work as the president of the Nantucket Interfaith Council, Bret ton-Grantoor is a talented musician who has jammed with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Dweezil Zappa. Here on Nantucket the so-called “Rock’n’Roll Rabbi” can often be found performing services with his guitar on Jetties Beach.

BRUCE A. PERCELAY Publisher

As we enjoy this holiday season on Nantucket, let us celebrate the many leaders and heroes among us. They are a significant part of what makes Nantucket one of the most remarkable places in the world.

Charity GRACE MOFSEN

Charity Grace Mofsen captures the island of Nantucket in all its glory. With a particular affinity for astrophotography, she believes there is always light, if you have eyes to see it. From fine art land scapes to fun portrait sessions and creative product photography, she finds joy sharing her love of Nantucket with the hope that others will also cherish the is land’s natural beauty. Featured in Framebridge’s “Black Artist Spot light,” her work speaks to [wo] man’s connection to the cosmos. Describing her style as meditative, Mofsen highlights the beauty of the island’s contrasts–the solitude of the off-season and the joy of summer, the colors of the light and the wisdom of the night. Recently, Mofsen produced a photo essay reprinted in this issue that captures Nantucket’s vital workers.

Greta FEENEY

Greta Feeney studied creative writing at Bennington College, and voice at the Juilliard School. After performing at the San Francisco Opera for 15 years, she returned to the east coast to complete a doctoral degree in music, and now teaches and performs in the greater Boston area. A dual resident of Nantucket and Concord, MA, she draws inspiration from Concord’s history in the transcendentalist movement, and is writing her first novel, a work of historical fiction about a male soprano castrato set in 18th century Venice. A frequent contributor to N Magazine, Feeney examined new data indicating that the island may become overpopulated in the near future.

Larry LINDNER 3

Larry Lindner is a New York Times best-selling writer who also penned a nationally syndicated column for The Washington Post for several years. His work has appeared in publications ranging from The Los Angeles Times to The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, and O, the Oprah Magazine. Currently, he serves as executive editor of Your Dog and Catnip, monthlies put out by Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. For this winter issue, Lindner profiled Nantucket’s “Rock’n’roll Rabbi” Gary Bretton-Granatoor.

NANTUCKET BY THE

N UMBERS

2 hours

The time it would take the fast ferry to reach Nantucket if new proposed speed restrictions were implemented by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to protect critically endangered right whales.

65,000

New H-2B visas to be added by the federal government for temporary workers for the new fiscal year, hopefully creating more long-term stability for Nantucket’s immi grant workers.

91The number of permits for house moves issued on Nantucket so far in 2022, a 378% increase from the 19 permits issued a decade ago.

Number of reported vehicle break-ins off Old South Road in the month of September.

Opening price per pound of Nantucket Bay Scallops.

1:24

Islander Joseph Zieff’s winning time for this year’s Nantucket Half Marathon.

$10,000

The first-place prize at the Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Pitch Competition, taken home by Nicko and Amy Fix for their “Broke Da Mouth Salsa” product.

7.5 Million $

The listing price of Flowers on Chestnut, the downtown flower shop, by its owner of 35 years Michael Molinar.

33 Million $

The selling price of a waterfront compound on Hulbert Avenue, coming in at one of the largest home sales in island history.

Using precious metals, high quality colored gemstones and Diamonds, Susan Lister Locke is inspired by nature, color and the ocean that surrounds her.

Paraiba Tourmaline set in 18kt Gold “Georgette” Band

Seascape Cuff Bracelet

18kt Gold Seascape Bangles

Scattered with 4.57 carats of rare, oval Brazilian Paraiba Tourmaline or brilliant cut Diamonds

20ct Rubellite set in 18kt Gold

The “Seaquin” Collection by Susan Lister Locke includes an array of rings, earrings, charms, bracelets and necklaces, all crafted in 18kt Gold—beautiful treasures to wear or share this gift giving season.

Tanzanite Cushion Cut 18kt Gold Drop Earrings Lapis and 20kt Gold Bead Necklace Tanzanite set in 18kt Gold “Georgette” Band Blue Sapphire “Bubble Flower” Bracelet

Visit in person Susan Lister Locke Gallery 28 Easy Street Nantucket MA 508-221-0531 Or online Susanlisterlocke.com Also featuring the Artwork of Anne Marie Bratton

Trio Earrings

Green Tourmaline Four Band Ring

2 1

SCROOGE, THE MAGICAL HOLIDAY MUSICAL AT THEATRE WORKSHOP OF NANTUCKET

NOVEMBER 18 – DECEMBER 10

Bennett Hall

Get in the holiday spirit with this adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol” that the whole family can enjoy. The show brings joy, humor and introspection and reminds us all of what is most important in life heading into the holiday season. The two-hour show runs from November 18th to December 10th. For more information, visit theatrenantucket.org.

WHITE HERON THEATRE’S SUMMER SEASON

July 5 - Aug 10

DADDY LONG LEGS

Directed By Michael Kopko

A delightful musical set in turn-of-the-century New England. Fun for the whole family!

July 19- Aug 18

NOEL COWARD’S PRIVATE LIVES

Directed By Mark Shanahan

A comedic masterpiece featuring 3 Tony-Nominated actors, with a Gala Benefit Grand Opening July 20th.

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION’S FESTIVAL OF WREATHS

NOVEMBER 19-26

Come celebrate the start of the holiday season by viewing a stunning collection of homemade wreaths crafted by vari ous Nantucket residents, local businesses, nonprofits and schools. The gallery, free for NHA members and island residents, will be on display from November 19th to the 26th, apart from Thanksgiving Day. For more information and hours, visit nha.org.

THE 21ST ANNUAL COLD TURKEY

PLUNGE

NOVEMBER 24 AT 10:00 AM

Children’s Beach Take on the goosebumps and shivers for a great cause by jumping in the crisp Nantucket Harbor this Thanksgiving! Proceeds benefit the Nantucket Atheneum’s own Weezie Library for Children and its ability to provide free programs and resources year-round. For more information and to register, visit nantucketatheneum.org.

A NANTUCKET CHRISTMAS CAROL AT THE WHITE HERON THEATRE

Aug 22 - Sept 25

Aug 30 - Sept 15

ABOUT ALICE

NOVEMBER 25 – DECEMBER 3

THE 48TH ANNUAL CHRISTMAS STROLL WEEKEND DECEMBER 2-4

EVANSTON SALT COSTS CLIMBING

Directed By Leonard Foglia

Don’t miss this world premiere preview! The humorous & poignant story of Calvin Trillin & his wife.

There is nothing quite like this classic Christ mas tale in your local theater. Come see Ebenezer Scrooge’s story come to life in a show beloved by kids and adults alike. It will run from November 25th to December 3rd, and this is your last time to see the show before 2024 as it is moving to a biennial schedule. For more information and to pur chase tickets, visit whiteherontheatre.org.

WHITE HERON

Theatre Company

Directed By Dustin Wills

Heartbreakingly funny, a grown-up story of love, hope, climate...and change.

The Nantucket Chamber of Commerce organizes this annual holiday celebration with something for everyone. From the arrival of Santa Claus off a Coast Guard vessel to Christmas carolers on Main Street to festiv ities among local business and restaurants, the Nantucket community joins together for a weekend of good cheer. For more informa tion, visit nantucketchamber.org.

ARTISTS ASSOCIATION HOLIDAY

SMALL WORKS

NOVEMBER 25 – DECEMBER 23

Looking for the perfect stocking stuffer?

Or want to finally fill that empty spot above your mantel? The Artists Association Holiday Small Works exhibition provides the perfect opportunity to start collecting some of the island’s top artistic talents. For more information, visit nantucketarts.org

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY

NOVEMBER 25 AT 4:30 PM

Top of Main Street

As soon as Thanksgiving passes, the Christ mas season begins! Join in this beloved tradition to hear Christmas carols sung by Nantucket High School students and to watch the long-awaited lighting of the large tree at the top of Main Street to ring in the holiday spirit. For more information, visit nantucketchamber.org.

NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION’S FESTIVAL OF TREES

DECEMBER 2-31

Nantucket Whaling Museum

Come see the Whaling Museum become a winter forest from December 2nd to the 31st, celebrating the Christmas spirit. Trees on display were created by local artists, chil dren and nonprofit organizations. For more information and hours, visit nha.org.

ANNUAL RED TICKET DRAWING –CHRISTMAS EVE

DECEMBER 24, AT 3:00 PM

Top of Main Street

Support local Nantucket businesses for a chance to win big! Every $25 spent at participating stores from November 1st through December 23rd earns you one Red Ticket entered in the raffle from the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce. Cash prizes consist of five $1,000 winners and one $5,000 winner. For more information and the inside scoop on Double Red Ticket shop ping days, visit nantucketchamber.org.

313 Dunbar Road, Palm Beach

Beautiful In-Town, Lakefront home as seen in Architectural Digest. This gorgeous Mediterranean Villa features stunning water views, Lake Trail access, and Intracoastal boat dock. With interior design by AD100 designer, Martyn Lawrence Bullard, this estate has been beautifully updated with light and bright interiors and spectacular architectural details throughout. Fantastic outdoor living spaces including large interior courtyard with fireplace, columned loggia with commanding views of the Intracoastal, summer kitchen, and serene pool area with gorgeous tropical landscaping. Exclusive Offering - $39,700,000

NANTUCKET LANDING

A VERELLEN SHOWROOM ARRIVES ON ISLAND AT ELEISH VAN BREEMS HOME

In a new adjacent space to their waterfront store, Eleish Van Breems has opened an Eleish Van Breems Studio showroom of Verellen, the Belgian designed and American conceived furniture line. For designers and consumers alike, the new design studio has an extensive selection of in stock and ready to be delivered collection of Verellen furniture, including sofas and chairs upholstered in beautiful Belgian linens, along with handcrafted walnut and ash lamps, coffee tables and chairs. It is a bastion of sustainable and sleek contemporary designs balanced with a unique selection of lighting, rugs, Gustavian antiques and furniture by mid century Scandinavian design masters that Eleish Van Breems is known for. “All are welcome to explore!” states Edie Van Breems. “We are so excited to share the beautiful world of Verellen on Nantucket.”

The Paola Chair has hand hammered solid metal legs and luxurious double needle stich detailing.

Scandinavian vintage glass from Edie Van Breems and Rhonda Eleish’s collections are always on display.

The dramatic I-Beam table and chairs are bench-crafted with sustainably harvested hardwood walnut.

Dip Dyed Alpaca Throws are Edie and Rhonda’s suggestions for warm and cozy Nantucket nights.

5

A collection of painted beechwood Swedish candlesticks adds drama to any table.

6

Unusual art, such as this Horse Sculpture made of copper and paper, is always in the mix at Eleish Van Breems.

Photography by 20th century photographer Alan Fontaine captures the high of the glamour 1950’s – 80’s.

Scandinavian Rugs are noted for their beauty and functionalism.

PROPS

Proprietor’s partner Anna Worgess has the perfect cocktail to warm up your winter

INGREDIENTS

1.5 ounces Apologue Persimmon Liqueur

1 ounce Angel’s Envy “Unity” Single Barrel Bourbon 1 ounce Cardamaro

3-4 dashes orange bitters

twist

DIRECTIONS

Measure the three spirits into a mixing glass, add ice and stir until well chilled.

Strain into a martini glass or coupe.

Top with 3-4 dashes of the bitters.

Lightly twist orange zest over the cocktail to express any oils.

FUN FACTS

The Proprietors partner Anna Worgess crafted this cocktail using Angle’s Envy “Unity” Single Barrel, a liquor she also had a hand in blending here on Nantucket. •

Apologue Liqueurs is a Certified B Corporation that uses only natural, non-GMO ingredients out of Chicago and attempts to source all of its persimmons locally.

First released on Nantucket, Angel’s Envy “Unity” Single Barrel was blended by The Proprietors partner Anna Worgess and local liquor rep Dave Lower and is currently available only in New England. This limited Nantucket bottling will be continued and available through the spring.

Cardamaro is an Italian wine-based aperitif, similar to vermouth and infused with cardoon and blessed thistle (both plants related to the artichoke) that results in a lightly bitter flavor.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

BAMBOO BATH CADDY

Bath time has never felt so relaxing! This Monsuri bamboo tray features a sleek, elegant design that holds all of your products – book, iPad, glass of wine – while you unwind.

MONSURI @monsuri_lifestyle

MAMACITA: RECIPES CELEBRATING LIFE AS A MEXICAN IMMIGRANT IN AMERICA

In this inspiring and creative Mexican cookbook, Andrea Pons takes you on a journey through flavor, family, and her immigration story. With 78 easy and delicious recipes from three generations of women in her family, this cookbook offers you a taste of authentic Mexican cuisine!

WINTER

WISH

HACIENDA LX SLIPPERS

Made with premium full-grain leather and lined for warmth with genuine Texas shearling, this is the ultimate slipper for all-day casual comfort. Complete with memory foam-lined footbeds, you’ll never want to take these off!

HARI MARI • @harimari • harimari.com

LISTINEZ WASHABLE SILK PRINTED LONG PJ SET

Nantucket with them at all times?

SEAMAN SCHEPPS

@seamanschepps seamanschepps.com

Made from 100% cotton canvas, the Maria Mitchell Association’s soft dog beds, available in two sizes and styles, are machine washable, durable, and the best gift for your Nantucket-loving pet! Paired with the accompanying clay stone bowl with hand-drawn designs – which is dishwasher and microwave safe – and you’ve got the perfect set.

MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION

@mariamitchellassociation • mariamitchell.org

WHISTLEPIG DOUBLE MALT RYE

– 18 YEAR,

A dream to wear and a dream to wash, these velvety smooth Eberjey PJs are made from 100% washable silk and are bluesign®-certified, hypoallergenic, and thermoregulating. Grab a pair of this perfect set to take you through the seasons!

EBERJEY • @eberjey • eberjey.com

4TH EDITION

A show-stopping gift and collectors’ whiskey, WhistlePig Double Malt Rye is the brand’s longest-aged rye whiskey, reaching new heights of complexity with a finish in Pedro Ximenez Sherry Casks. Each edition is presented with a handmade glass topper designed in Shoreham, Vermont and crafted by independent, family-owned glass makers.

WHISTLEPIG

@whistlepigwhiskey • whistlepigwhiskey.com

Sussek

Kid' N AROUND

HAPPY HOLIDAYS WITH THE DREAMLAND STAGE COMPANY

Celebrate this holiday season with Dreamland Stage Company’s production of A Charlie Brown Christmas Based on the famous television cartoon, this produc tion, featuring a live jazz combo, is the perfect holiday show for the whole family. Be sure not to miss this performance which opens December 8th and runs through December 18th. For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit dreamlandstagecompa ny.org. Also, you can follow @nantucketdreamland.

NHA’S FESTIVAL OF TREES IS A WINTER WONDERLAND

The Nantucket Historical Association is excited to host its 29th annual Festival of Trees. The Whaling Museum will transform into a winter wonderland for the month of December, with more than 80 trees designed and handcrafted by local merchants, non profit organizations, artists and children decking the halls. This is an island tradition not to be missed! The trees will be on display from December 2nd through December 31st from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Marine Home Center has been graciously sponsoring this event since 2009, so admission is free to all NHA members and Nantucket residents. For more information, please visit nha.org or call 508-228-1894.

CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS AT BARNABY’S TOY & ART SHACK

Barnaby’s Toy & Art Shack, located at 12 Oak Street in downtown Nantucket, is offering a variety of art classes for children ages two and up for Thanksgiv ing and Stroll, including Holiday Ornaments, Ginger bread Houses and Holiday Winter Wonderlands. As well, Barnaby’s doors are always open to drop in and create works of art any time of day.

Barnaby’s toys have also been carefully select ed for the holiday season as they strive to provide functionality, hands-on interactive play and enter tainment. Also, don’t miss Barnaby’s Art Kits to Go! Please visit the full calendar of programs at barn abysnantucket.com. Call them at 508-680-1553 or email at barnabyack@gmail.com. Be sure to follow @barnabystoyartshack.

EXPLORE THIS WINTER

The Linda Loring Nature Foundation offers yearround opportunities for exploration and adventure. Bundle up and hit the vast expanse of trails while reading the Story Walk or looking for winter ducks on Long Pond. Be sure to visit their bird feeders to see cardinals, chickadees and other winter residents. Their trails are open daily (yearround) from sunrise to sunset at 110 Eel Point Road. For trail guides, visit LLNF.org.

WINTER STARGAZING WITH MMA

One of Nantucket’s special, must-do activities is visiting the Maria Mitchell Association. The Nat ural Science Museum and Loines Observatory are open and ready to welcome and connect you to the nature of the island. At Loines Observatory, enjoy a magical tour of the night sky with the MMA’s profes sional astronomers, offered every Thursday evening. Other programs include feeding the animals, ma rine biology, bird walks, lectures and art classes for learners of all ages. For more information, please visit mariamitchell.org and follow them @mari amitchellassociation.

HOLIDAY SHOPPING AT PEACHTREE KIDS

Peachtree Kids, located at 19 Main Street, has you covered for all your holiday shopping needs this sea son. From Christmas pajamas and outfits to winter clothing essentials, Peachtree Kids offers a perfect selection for children ages 0-12. Peachtree Kids is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. or vis it them online at peachtreekidsnantucket.com or call 508-228-8555. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram @peachtreekidsnantucket!

Sound Strategy

INTERVIEW BY ROBERT COCUZZO PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

Agustina Barragan shares the power of sound healing

What are the benefits of Sound Healing?

Some of the benefits are the creation of resonance. The body has the ability to effortlessly receive a set of frequencies that are either harmonious or desinent to the body's natural cellular frequency. It helps to restore balance and health. The application of sound frequency has the intention to restore harmony in the human’s mind, body and soul.

What are some of the surprising conditions Sound Healing can treat?

On a body level, it helps to reduce pain or discomfort, using, for instance, a tuning fork. On the mind, sound has the ability to shift the nervous system from a stress response to rest and digest, restore, relax and repair. It reduces or eliminates emotional pressure stored at a cellular level and subconscious. It transforms consciousness, opens the channels to access to altered states, allowing for new information or messages to be received.

Can you receive Sound Healing over ear phones or does it have to happen in person?

Sound Healing can have a great impact even if we listen to a recording. Binaural beats, Theta waves, Alpha waves create deep healing. Chanting

a mantra has incredible benefits. Listening to our own unique sound will bring balance immediately.

What is something that would surprise people about the power of Sound Healing? How quickly it works! We all like to see fast results.

What do people underestimate when it comes to the role of our ability to hear in healing?

I would say the ability to get out of the chatter of the mind and simply feel. Sound Healing is more about feeling with all senses, rather than trying to make sense of what we hear. The physical body will send signals, sensations and that is what needs to be heard. There is a lot of information there.

Are there any other important parts to Sound Healing that people should be aware of?

Yes, there are. The power of the spoken word. Our personal sound and vibration. What do we commu nicate? How do we do it? What do we choose to say to ourselves and others? We can receive the healings from external sound, but awareness of the spoken word could be a great way to start a healing process.

Maria Agustina Barragan (Ay Agui) has been practicing and studying different yoga modalities and healing therapies for the past seven years.

She is a certified KRI Kundalini instructor, completed level 1 in Naad Yoga (sound vibration), hatha yoga and recently completed Level 1 in Bioneuroemocion. She shares her passion and devotion for meditation, breathing techniques, sound and mantra through her dynamic and unique classes at Supta Yoga Nantucket as well as online and private sessions.

Maria Agustina Barragan at Supta Yoga where she teaches a number of different yoga modalities as well as sound healing

nbuzz

STEAMSHIP CAPTAIN COMES TO PORT

Steamship Authority captain Robert Si card walked off the M/V Gay Head in Hyannis in late October to the sound of the vessel’s horn blaring, friends waiting to hug him, and a tear in his eye. And for good reason. After 47 years plying the waters of Nantucket Sound, Cap tain Sicard was calling it a day. There were mixed emotions as he retired from Steamship Authority, he said, but ul timately it was time to move on. "I’ll miss it," Sicard said, "but life is all about memories, and I have those." Growing

up in Fairhaven, Sicard loved being on the water from a young age. After near ly five decades as a Steamship Authori ty captain, he said he still loves the job. Sicard logged thousands of trips to and from Nantucket during his 47 years with the Steamship Authority, carrying count less passengers, vehicles, and freight to the island. “It’s a nice place to have an office,” Sicard said of the wheelhouse atop the Steamship vessels. “When you pull away from the dock, you’re your own boss.”

MASS STRANDING

Island anglers witnessed a mass stranding of menhaden—commonly known as bunker—on October 22 at Great Point, where hundreds of the bait fish beached themselves as they were being hunted by bluefish. Allyson Bold was at Great Point that afternoon, when she noticed something she had never seen before. "I witnessed the strangest phenomenon at Great Point today: hundreds upon hundreds of bunker – I’m guessing chased onto the beach by bigger fish," Bold said. "I probably threw 200 to 250 fish back into the water, but there were hundreds more."

LAND BANK BUYS POLPIS HARBOR PROPERTY

A big year for the Nantucket Land Bank continued on Oc tober 19, as it announced one of its largest acquisitions of 2022: a 5.6-acre waterfront parcel along Polpis Harbor for $7 million. The property at 244 Pol pis Road includes an existing dock and a 2,000 square-foot home, which will either be moved and re purposed for employee housing or declared surplus and made avail able through a public bidding pro cess. The family of the seller, Reid

White, had owned the property since 1947, and the Land Bank thanked them for “embracing the vision of Land Bank ownership and facilitating additional public water access for future generations.” Nantucket Land Bank executive director Jes se Bell said the property had not been on the market, but they had a mutual connection with the family which led to the Whites contact ing the Land Bank about a poten tial sale of the waterfront parcel.

REPORTED BY THE NANTUCKET CURRENT

STEAMSHIP

RAISE RATES

2023

It’s going to cost you more to get to and from Nantucket in 2023. The Steamship Authority’s Board of Governors voted unanimously in October to implement rate hikes on both its Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard routes to help offset increased fuel costs, as well as other expenses related to terminal maintenance and vessel dry-dock for its aging fleet. The board decided against raising the rate for vehicle excursion fares for year-round residents of the islands, which will remain unchanged.

CONSIDERED FOR NATIONAL KENNEDY BUNKER HISTORIC LANDMARK

President John F. Kennedy's doomsday bunker in Tom Nevers has certainly seen bet ter days. The Cold War relic was recently vandalized, and remains off-limits to the public. But the bunker at the former Navy Base property along Nantucket's southeastern shore is nonetheless be ing considered for a National Historic Landmark designation by the Nation al Park Service (NPS). The Kennedy presidential bunker in Tom Nevers and its sister bunker on Peanut Island in Florida are among 24 properties across the country with significant connec tions to the Cold War that have been identified by the NPS as potentially worthy of the prestigious designation. The Tom Nevers bunker was built during the Cold War as a potential evacuation site for President John F. Kennedy in the event of a nuclear con frontation with the Soviet Union. Nantucket's Navy Base was chosen as one of the two locations for evacuation bunkers, given its proximity to Kennedy's summer compound in Hyannis. The Quonset hut was buried under sand, lead, and concrete, with a design based on bunkers that had survived nuclear tests at detonation test sites in Nevada.

ON THE MARKET FLOWERS ON CHESTNUT

A downtown Nantucket institution, Flowers On Chestnut, hit the market this fall and is being listed for $7.5 million. But owner Michael Molinar, who just celebrated 35 years in busi ness, told the Current he’s committed to finding a buyer who will continue running it as a flower shop. “This town has been good to me, and we provide a service to a lot of people from the day they're born to the other end of life,” Molinar said. “We’re not just going to close and I’m going to go home and quit. We’re going to find the right person to take over. I want a flower shop downtown and I’m not in any hurry to sell.”

The shock and awe in the Nantucket real estate market continued this fall, when a waterfront compound on Hulbert Avenue sold for a whopping $33 million, one of the largest home sales in island history. The adjacent properties at 63 and 63.5 Hulbert Avenue closed together on Monday, and were sold by Bruce Failing Jr., a managing partner with the investment firm Alerion Part ners, and his wife Leigh Failing. The Failings had owned the property since 1985, when they purchased it for $1.6 million, according to land records. The buyer is listed as an LLC registered to California attorney Stephen Ricks, but the true identity of the new owner is not yet known.

WRITTEN BY TIM EHRENBERG

BY KIT NOBLE

Ehrenberg

SCAN

TIM’S TOP TEN BOOKS OF 2022

TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW by Gabrielle Zevin

DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver TRUST by Hernan Diaz

THE MEASURE by Nikki Erlick

TAKE MY HAND by Dolen Perkins-Valdez HORSE by Geraldine Brooks

THE LATECOMER by Jean Hanff Korelitz

ALL THE BROKEN PLACES by John Boyne

OUR MISSING HEARTS by Celeste Ng

AN IMMENSE WORLD by Ed Young

BOOKS TO LOOK FOR IN 2023

HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE by Grady Hendrix (January 2023)

I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU by Rebecca Makkai (February 2023)

HELLO BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano (March 2023)

THE WAGER by David Grann (April 2023)

DEMON COPPERHEAD

BY BARBARA KINGSOLVER

What perhaps may be my favorite book of the year is a reimagining of Dickens’ David Copperfield in modern day Appalachia. Barbara Kingsolver, author of The Poi sonwood Bible, returns to shelves with Demon Copperhead. This is my ultimate type of book, a literal Dickensian epic, that follows the main character throughout their life. Meet Demon, with hair as bright as a copper penny and a voice as spunky and memorable as any character Dickens ever created. I will never forget Demon Copperhead and his saga of institutional poverty, foster care, child labor, and addiction.

MAD HONEY

BY JODI PICOULT AND JENNIFER FINNEY BOYLAN

I have always been the biggest fan of Jodi Picoult’s courtroom novels, and yes, there is a trial in this book to keep you on the edge of your jury seat. However, it is the characters in this one that kept my eyes stuck like honey to these pages. This moving novel, co-authored with Jennifer Finney Boylan, is seamless storytelling about authenticity, identity, and belonging. Similar to many Jodi Picoult novels, this one has the power to change opinions, create empathy, and connect us all.

ALL THE BROKEN PLACES

BY JOHN BOYNE

I recommend John Boyne’s nov el The Heart’s Invisible Furies every chance I get, but his new est All The Broken Places is a new one to discover this month. The book returns to characters we first meet in Boyne’s best seller The Boy in the Striped Pa jamas. Gretel Frensby, daughter of a Nazi commander of a notorious extermination camp, must face questions of guilt, complicity, culpability, and grief through-out her life. Moving back and forth in time from Gretel’s girlhood in Germany to present-day London, you won’t be able to put this one down.

NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO PANIC

BY KEVIN WILSON

Now is the time to run to Mitchell’s or Bookworks and get the new novel by the author of Nothing to See Here, Kevin Wilson. It was called the Coalfield Panic of 1996; two teenage misfits who create an unsigned poster with an enigmatic phrase attached to it and the small Tennessee town goes berserk won dering its origin and meaning. Fast forward to twenty years later and a journalist is trying to put the puzzle pieces together and solve the mys tery of what happened. This book is fun and quick, but also explores deeper themes of young love, the power of art, memory, and identity.

DEATH ON A WINTER STROLL

BY FRANCINE MATHEWS

This new addition to the Merry Folger mystery series features three of my favorite things: Nan tucket Island, Christmas Stroll, and a murder mystery. Picture it. It’s Stroll weekend and the island is overtaken with a large-scale production company and Holly wood stars, plus the Secretary of State is visiting with her family and security detail. Add in two murders, and beloved police chief Merry Folger has her hands full in this twisty, well-written whodunnit, complete with island nostalgia and holiday flair.

FOREVER

and Each Other

BY LARRY LINDNER, DANNY ROBERT SHAW, RON DANTA

I love dogs! I didn’t know this sentiment about myself until I got my own pup, Simba. This book is for dog lovers everywhere or for anyone who wants and needs a smile on their face this holiday season. It’s a true story about res cue, but not just the saving of over 13,000 abandoned furry friends, but a rescue of oneself: acceptance, kindness, connection, and love. I have always thought dogs have the power to teach us something about ourselves and this book is perfect paw-stamped proof.

HOME: How We Turned Our House into a Haven for Abandoned, Abused, and Misunderstood Dogs―

STAFF INFECTION

WRITTEN BY ROBERT COCUZZO

Emerging from the pandemic, staffing shortages have plagued restaurants across the country as unprecedented numbers of restaurant workers opted not to return to their jobs after shutdowns were lift ed and restaurants were reopened. According to the Na tional Restaurant Association, four out of five restaurants were understaffed this year, resulting in reduced hours of operation, reduced items on the menu, and reduced seat ing capacity. In the worst instances, restaurants couldn’t open at all. On Nantucket, that national trend was only exacerbated by the island’s housing crisis. Even if restau rant owners could somehow lure their staff back to the dining rooms and dish pits, many restaurants had nowhere to house the workers.

“Nantucket is such an amazing place in the culinary world, but the struggle to retain talent is primarily due to the lack of tenable housing situa tions for talented people,” explained Orla Murphy LaScola, the co-owner of Proprietors. Like many owners

struggling to keep their restaurants staffed, LaScola and her partners have purchased staff housing and secured expensive seasonal rentals for employees who couldn’t afford them otherwise. “All we want to do is serve food and drinks,” LaScola said, “but now we are landlords as well.”

David Silva, the owner of Galley Beach and After house Seafood Bistro and Wine Bar agrees. “Restaurants are left with the difficult decision to purchase housing, which is very tough, if not impossible, for the indepen dent operators to afford,” he said. “Strangely, the most expensive ingredient in any dish you order on Nantucket is most likely the employee housing.” Despite owning a number of properties for staff housing, including one he purchased just last year, Silva was forced to close Galley Beach once a week this summer to give his skeleton crews a chance to catch their breath. “This had never happened in my twen ty-five years of owning Galley Beach,” he said. In the case of Afterhouse, Silva was forced to take even more drastic measures by not opening at all.

The staffing dilemma, along with the housing crisis, reflects changes in the restaurant industry as a whole. “In both front of house and kitchen,” said Chef Michael Getter, the owner of Dune, “there aren’t any young aspiring cooks who want to be chefs, or to work with great chefs and ingredients.” Getter indicated that many of those applying for kitchen positions do not possess the same passion and drive as cooks in the past, who came to the island to apprentice under experienced chefs. “COVID seemed to have taken the remaining profes sional waiters out of the pool as well,” Getter said. “Thank God for the Eastern European workforce; they have saved Nantucket restaurants, because the American college kids that used to flock to the island every summer are gone. I don’t know where they went,

but they aren’t coming to Nantucket.”

Some of the island’s most popular restaurants today, such as Nautilus or CRU, are owned and operated by people who started as waiters, bartenders, humble cooks and front of the house managers.

— David Silva, owner of Galley Beach and Afterhouse

If the apprenticeship tradition on the island is lost, diners should prepare for the menu to shrink in the years to come. “I found the best solutions for us have been to really work to improve the CRU

company culture so it is an appealing and rewarding work environment and continue to strive to build a strong team that will attract others,” said Jane Stoddard, the co-owner of CRU, who employs roughly 130 people each season, all of whom need housing. “Additionally, making employee compensation, benefits and work lifestyle top priorities for the business has played a big role in our employee retention.” Indeed, to secure what talent can still be found in the job market, island restaurant owners need to offer not only housing, but also competitive compensation packages that often include health insurance and retire ment plans.

Operating a successful restau rant on Nantucket has always been a risky endeavor. As one longtime restauranteur once described, it’s like sailing a boat that’s full of holes, plugging those holes with money, and then hoping that you have some money left over at the end of the year to show for it. And as we’ve seen this past summer, many of those sailboats end up sinking entirely. Now, with staffing shortages preventing establishments from running at full capacity, matched with the profound burden of adding a mortgage to the balance sheet (not to mention the ev er-rising food costs), island restaurants are facing a mighty tall order to survive in the years to come, unless affordable housing becomes more than just a rare special on the menu.

“Restaurants are left with the difficult decision to purchase housing, which is very tough, if not impossible, for the independent operators to afford...Strangely, the most expensive ingredient in any dish you order on Nantucket is most likely the employee housing.”

GREATNESS

WRITTEN BY ROBERT COCUZZO PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

WHY MEGHAN WEEKS MIGHT BE THE NEXT BIG NAME COMING OUT OF NANTUCKET’S ART SCENE

Art investors are always looking for that undiscovered talent who is poised to become the next hot artist to collect. The case could be made that that moment is about to happen for island painter Meghan Weeks. Although she’s been part of the Artists Association for twenty years—since the ripe age of fourteen—Meghan just started painting professionally full time this fall, thus turning her lifelong side hustle into an around-the-clock career. When considering what this thirty-six-yearold painter has already achieved with one arm tied behind her back—racking up a number of awards while painting only 20 percent of her time—one can just imagine the breadth and depth of artwork that she’s about to unleash.

Julija Mostykanova Feeney first came to Nantucket from a tiny village in Lithuania. Now she's one of the island's most sought-after artists.

Meghan Weeks painting en plein air on Nantucket

Meghan’s journey toward this full-time pursuit began many years ago on Nantucket. “Growing up surrounded by a community where art is touchable and accessible was such a huge point in my own growth as an artist, realizing that this was something that people actively participate in and do,” says Meghan, whose family goes

back generations on Nantucket. “I remember hopping out of the pharmacy with my ice-cream cone as a kid and seeing someone painting on Main Street. It didn’t seem like too much of a leap to get from what I was doing in my sketchbooks to making something that would hopefully bring joy to other people.”

“Meg truly specializes in en plein air painting a la Monet…Meg paints the Nantucket of today. The real places in fully faithful detail.”

Indeed, at the age of ten, Meghan strutted into Kath leen Knight’s gallery on India Street, where she often loitered to gawk at the artwork, and pitched the owner on her pieces. “I’m painting these shells with acrylics,” she said to Knight. “Would you ever be interested in selling them?” Perhaps appreciating the girl’s gumption, Knight agreed to offer them for $10 a piece, giving Meghan 50 percent of the earnings. “So I got over the fear of putting my nose out there and trying to show my work early on.”

Though she can technically trace her start as a professional artist back to Knight, Meghan was reluctant to pursue painting full time. While an undergrad at Yale, she first planned to double major in art and physics. “Yale’s studio program didn’t have a lot of space for repre sentational art at the time,” she said. “So I ran away from it for a bit and jumped into archi tecture.” After Yale, she pivoted once again by pursuing a master’s degree in curating at The Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She then spent a year as an artist-in-residence in Scotland, an experience that led to meeting her husband, before putting her master’s degree to

work at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Muse um in Boston. For the past ten-plus years, she has worked as a curator at the Boston Public Library’s historic McKim Building. “I’ve al ways been steering in another lane close to art, dipping back and forth into it,” she reflected. “A lot of my craft comes through osmosis, being around wonderful paintings and drawings and having a really keen interest in how the thing was made.”

— Robert Frazier, the artistic director of the Artists Association of Nantucket.

Meghan’s landscape and architectural paintings evoke a dis tinct time, place and atmosphere. There’s an organic quality to her brush strokes that render familiar locations such as Brant Point, the Oldest House and Madaket Bridge with both nostalgia as well as a fresh reinterpretation, as if one is seeing the place for the very first time. “We have a number of outdoor painters on Nantucket, but Meg truly specializes in en plein air painting a la Monet,” said Robert Frazier, the artistic director of the Artists Association of Nantucket. “Meg paints the Nantucket of today. The real places in fully faithful detail. Considering how fast things change here, the island we take for granted now will become the how-it-usedto-be we’ll likely miss in fifteen or twenty years. That will be recorded on her canvases. As with earlier Nantucket artists like Anne Ramsdell Congdon or Bob Perrin, those enduring images should have lasting value unaffected by trends in the art scene.”

“As an artist, it’s important to be sight specific,” Meghan ex plained. “I don’t take any liberties. I try to capture exactly what’s there at that moment in time, with all its grimy glory.” Meghan’s use of color captures light in a way that engag es all the senses. One can smell the briny air of the Madaket morning, can feel the humidity in town at the height of summer, or hear the water lapping under the hulls of the boats in the harbor. “I think a lot of the subjects I work on, particularly with architecture, I’m coming to with an appreciation for the story of the place or the building,” she said. “I’m not looking at the subjects as shapes and colors; I’m looking at them as places that have meaning, a history and a story.”

Perhaps above all emotions, Meghan hopes her pieces convey a sense of gratitude. She counts herself extremely fortunate to be part of this community of artists on Nan tucket, which has fostered her innate talents since she stumbled out of the pharmacy as a kid and encountered her first plein air painter. In addition

to the decades of sup port she received from the Artists Association of Nantucket, for which she now serves on the board, Meghan has also trained under such island masters as Thomas R. Dunlay. She currently shows at Robert Foster Fine Art as well as at the Artists Association. “There is a communi ty of artists on Nantucket that is professional and active and engaging the island in an intimate way,” she said. “If anything, I want to be part of that conversation and bring more attention to Nantucket art.”

TUNE N

Part of the magic of Nantucket has always been the fascinating people that this faraway island attracts. From titans of industry to media moguls, A-list actors to

RABBI THIS

ROCKS!

WRITTEN BY LARRY LINDNER PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

Who would have thought that the rabbi strumming a guitar on Jetties Beach while leading his congregation in tuneful prayer has rocked out with the likes of Jimi Hendrix drummer Tony Beard? Or that this same rabbi, who currently serves as president of the Nantucket Interfaith Council, has jammed with former Rod Stewart guitarist Jeff Golub? Or performed with Eric Clapton bass accompanist, Sue Williams, among others? Who would have thought that Nantucket’s rabbi has done gigs with members of the Saturday Night Live band and sometimes heads to L.A. to play guitar onstage with Frank Zappa’s son Dweezil? That’s the so-called double life of Gary Bretton-Granatoor, the rabbi who has been leading Friday night Shabbat services every summer on the island for the past nine years.

Most weekends, his congregation, Shirat HaYam (Hebrew for “Song of the Sea”), shares space with the Unitarian Univer salist Meeting House on Orange Street. There, as on the beach, his guitar is slung across his chest. Happen on any of his ser vices, and you might hear music reminiscent of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and other folk rock giants of the late 1960s and 1970s. A service might feature some music that’s Broadway-influenced as well. As Bretton-Granatoor explains, this can be chalked up to the movement for Reform Judaism in the late 1960s, which helped fuel a rebellion against “the cantorial music we grew up with in synagogues.”

The unlikely musical career of Nantucket’s Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor

— Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor

“We adopt the popular music of the time and add Hebrew liturgy to it, and that becomes Jewish music.”

Adapting prayers to popular music styles of the day is not new to the religion. Jewish people have tapped into the local cultures they have found them selves in throughout the diaspora, Bret ton-Granatoor says. “We adopt the popular music of the time and add Hebrew liturgy to it, and that becomes Jewish music. One of the most popular ways of singing Judaism’s most important prayer, the Shema, is in three-quarter time, like a Vi ennese waltz. There were Jews listening to Viennese waltzes and putting the liturgy to that music. Some prayers are like German march tunes—that’s what people heard; that’s what they were listening to.”

It’s all a far cry from the hard-driving rock you might hear coming from Bret ton-Granatoor’s guitar when he’s on stage, but both types of music are used to engage people, to enhance a shared experience.

Bretton-Granatoor first picked up a guitar when he was seven, after going to a friend’s birthday party. “The entertainment was some guy with an electric guitar,” he says. “I remember staring at the guitar and the amplifier and being transfixed.” Fast forward to the ripe age of eleven, when he was already in a garage band and playing for money at parties and school dances. “We did everything from Moon River to The Doors’ Light My Fire to some Beatles,” he notes. By age twelve he had a manager, who signed him after hearing him play in his bandmates’ basement. The manager booked them a wedding at the Pakistani consulate, lots of gigs at the Star of India restaurant in New York City, and many other engagements. Playing rock and roll—and jazz—put him through college and seminary.

Today, Bretton-Granatoor says, “If I am leading services, it is always with a guitar.” On Friday evenings when he takes things outside to Jetties Beach, he brings along a sound system. The rabbi has what he calls “an amazing clarinet player” named Howard Bloom, who often accompanies him by the gentle surf. “We stand in front of the lifeguard station and do a Friday night service that ends right around sunset. We’ll get a crowd of people.” Indeed, people gather on beach blankets and lawn chairs.

Back at the meeting house, he might

be joined on piano or cello by Mollie Glaz er, who used to be the artistic director of the Nantucket Community Music Center. On the high holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which take place in Septem ber or October depending on the Hebrew calendar, Bretton-Granatoor will have three or four musicians on different instruments. His aim, he says, is always to create “an accessible and inspiring experience.”

When Rabbi Bretton-Granatoor is not playing music, he is often helping people in need. As president of the Nan tucket Interfaith Council, he’s involved in providing assistance to islanders who might be struggling financially for food, fuel, rent money, and getting back and forth to Boston for medical care. He was also the founding chair of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing, in addition to serving as the Director of

“Interfaith” is an important word for the rabbi, because creating dialogue and action around issues that affect people from all cultures helps mitigate what he calls the “human trait” of xenophobia. “At the taproot of prejudice is ignorance,” he says. “I don’t know you and you’re different, so therefore I don’t like you.” But interfaith involvement in social justice causes is the opportunity to meet human

“Music is a language of collaboration, not just between musicians, but also between musicians and composer, and musicians and audience.”

— Rabbi Gary Bretton-Granatoor

beings in their own space, and learn about them while they learn about you. It breaks down the ignorance, which breaks down the prejudice, all in service of creating a better world.

“Imagine if you had one of those thousand-piece jigsaw puzzles and you dumped it out on the table,” he says. “Ev ery single piece is unique unto itself. And the goal of putting together the puzzle isn’t getting a pair of scissors and making it all fit easy, but to figure out where one unusu al piece fits with another. All of a sudden, something beautiful is occurring. You’re creating something bigger, but at no point did any of these individual pieces give up its uniqueness. God had the power to make us all alike, if that’s what God wanted. But He left it to us to figure out a way that we can all respect each other, how we can all work together.”

Interfaith Affairs for the Anti-Defamation League. In his interfaith work, he has met with such luminaries as King Abdullah of Jordan, Pope Francis and the two popes before him, Jimmy Carter, former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, Turkey’s president Recep Erdogan, and the list goes on.

Bretton-Granatoor says the music is an interfaith endeavor, a puzzle to put to gether, too. “Music is a language of collab oration,” he points out, “not just between musicians, but also between musicians and composer, and musicians and audience.” In other words, everyone is making and cel ebrating the music. Without a willingness to come together, the music falters and the best notes are lost.

Rabbi Bretton-Granatoor meeting with Pope Benedict XVI

SUPPORT THE SENATE PROJECT

Our goal is to re-introduce civil debate and the value of reaching common ground among those of different parties and with polar opposite views. Inspired by the legendary relationship between Republic Orrin Hatch and Democrat Ted Kennedy, we are helping heal the great divide in the United States Senate which is currently the most serious since the Civil War.

Along with our broadcast partner Fox News, The Senate Project is hosting a series of great debates, two of which have already been aired and have proven their effectiveness in creating dialogue and positive interaction between individuals who otherwise may have only met in disagreement.

To learn more, including how you can support The Senate Project and its role in helping preserve and protect our Democracy, please contact our Executive Director Adam Hinds at 413-522-6655 or email adam.hinds@emkinstitute.org

EDWARD M. KENNEDY INSTITUTE FOR THE U.S. SENATE

PERSON YEAR of the NANTUCKET’S

Nantucket is an island of remarkable people, but each year there is inevitably one person whose actions, deeds or accomplishments makes him or her stand out. As our first Person of the Year honorary, N Magazine has selected Nantucket Fire Department captain Nathan Barber for his heroism during the Veranda House fire. Barber was selected by the N Magazine staff after consultation with various members of the Nantucket community.

UNDER FIRE COURAGE

Nantucket Fire Department Captain Nate Barber exemplifies the best of Nantucket

WRITTEN BY ROBERT COCUZZO PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

Nate Barber standing inside the Nantucket Fire Department facility

In the week after the fire, Nate Barber didn’t believe what had actually happened. He heard himself recounting what he remembered from that morning in July and worried that he might be lying. Was that what really went down? he thought to himself. Had he really climbed into a three-story burning building wearing nothing but street clothes and sneakers? Had he really kicked down doors, fought through flames and rescued people from the blaze? The scenes were vivid in his memory, almost like watching a movie. He could see himself doing all these things, but it felt like he was ob serving another person entirely. Amid the fire and chaos, a switch had flipped in Nate Barber’s mind not to think, but to act—and that made all the difference.

In the months since the historic Veranda House hotel burned to the ground, taking two other nearby buildings with it, Nate Barber’s heroism has been cor roborated by the dozens of people who witnessed him in action firsthand. There was the hotel guest who Bar ber encountered first at the scene after he ran to the fire from down the street where he had just picked up coffee. Barber was trying to move the man back from the blaze, but he wouldn’t budge. He was struggling to communi

cate until he finally indicated that his son was in the burning hotel. “As soon as he said that, everything changed,” Barber recalled. “I felt obli gated to find his son. I am a firefighter. I am in this situation. I had to do something.”

Barber tried to enter the three-story hotel from the bottom floor, but after getting through the door and finding the stairs, the smoke was impene trable, blinding and suffocating. He returned to the street where the father was waiting for him. “My son is in room 224,” he yelled, pointing to the sec ond floor. Barber instinctively grabbed a table and slid it against the side of the hotel. He leapt onto the table and then climbed up onto the first deck, from which he managed to hoist himself up onto the second-story deck. “There was a point, as I was climbing the roofs, thinking, ‘Wow, that worked,’” he recalled. “I was able to do it. I was able to do it the first time. And I remember thinking, ‘I guess I’m going to do this…because it’s working.’”

Barber jumped through a second-story win dow and landed on a bed. Opening the door to the hallway, he was met with another wall of smoke.

“Nate jumping on the roof and through windows, that’s all just incredible acts of heroism.”

— former Nantucket Fire Chief Steve Murphy

He turned in the direction of the fire, making his way to a staircase where he heard voices. Two people were climb ing the stairs. Barber yelled for them and led them to a window at the top of the stairs. Outside the window was another roof, where miraculously, a bystander named Peter Georgantas had managed to lean a neighbor’s ladder for them to escape. “Things just kept working out,” Barber reflected. “I got lucky. God’s will maybe. But things just clicked.”

After confirming that the man in room 224 had escaped safety, Barber proceeded to go room to room, kicking down doors, to make sure there was no one left behind before leaving the hotel. Despite severe smoke inhalation and exhaustion, he then joined his fel low firefighters who had since arrived on the scene, donned his turnout gear

and began fighting the blaze. “Nate jumping on the roof and through win dows, that’s all just incredible acts of heroism,” said former Nantucket Fire Chief Steve Murphy who re tired in September. “Containing it to what they did was a herculean feat. They’re all my heroes.”

This was not the first time that Nate Barber looked death in the eye. As a firefighter for the past fifteen years, he’s had at least two other terrifying episodes that still haunt his dreams. There was that flam ing propane truck—“basically the big gest pipe bomb in the world”—as well as that fire at the Summer House three years ago when he found himself alone inside the building engulfed by flames. Yet perhaps his closest call came out side of the line of duty.

“When I was diagnosed with cancer,

that was a really dark period,” he said. “Those first couple days were scary. My kids were in diapers at the time. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me and to them.” In 2019, Barber was diag nosed with seminoma, a form of testicu lar cancer, the cause of which was later connected to the fire-retardant chemi cals in his firefighting turnout gear. (In recent years, a national campaign was launched by NFD Captain Sean Mitch ell to rid this toxic gear from firefight ers across the country. Mitchell pointed to Barber as the original inspiration.)

Nate Barber standing amid the destruction of the Veranda House fire months later

“Things just kept working out. I got lucky. God’s will maybe. But things just clicked.”

— Nate Barber

“That was a really challenging period of my life,” Barber said. “Emotionally and physically.” Much like his motivation to enter the Veranda House, Barber drew strength from a little boy in fighting his cancer. “I was in the waiting room and I was sitting next to an eight-year-old who had brain cancer,” he recalled. “The kid wasn’t crying. He was stoic. He was tough. And he made me tough. I looked at him and I thought to myself ‘I’m thirty-eight years old and I’ve had thirty more years of good health than this kid. If he can do it, I can do it.’”

Barber made a full recovery but never forgot the care givers who helped save his life. During the early days of the pandemic, when Nantucket’s hospital and front-line workers were desperate for personal protective equipment, particu larly face masks, Barber and his wife and extended family turned his woodshop into a mask-making operation. They sewed thousands of masks and helped launch an island-wide effort to fill the PPE gaps for front-line workers as well as the rest of the community.

“You can rely on this community and lean on it,” Barber said. “My wife and I want to con tribute to this commu nity however we can, whether that’s being a firefighter or coaching baseball.” Or in the case of the pandemic, rolling up their sleeves and making masks.

“I don’t think that my life has changed at all,” he said. “It’s nice when people look you in the eyes and shake your hand and say thanks. That’s more than enough for me. I feel appreciated in this town.”

— Nate Barber

In the months since the fire, Barber has received a num ber of recognitions and awards for his heroism, everything from the Eagan Maritime Lifesaving Award to a special con gressional commendation presented by Representative Bill Keating to a personal visit from First Lady Jill Biden. “People have been really appreciative of not only what I did,” Barber said, “but what the entire fire department did that day.”

Indeed, the Veranda House was but one of many instances this year in which the absolutely critical role of the Nantucket Fire Department was put on full display. While the depart ment managed to meet those demands, Barber worries that the island’s ongoing population boom will soon outmatch its capacity to respond. “Nantucket is not your small-town com munity that needs an EMT once and a while,” he said. “We’re servicing hundreds of thousands of people. We’re handling brush fires, dump fires. I think a lot of people think of Nan tucket as a small town, but on Saturday in July it doesn’t feel that way.”

While the Nantucket Fire Department might currently lack in the quantity of its personnel, Nate Barber exemplifies their quality. Humble and self-effacing, Barber seems allergic to false modesty and is genuinely unaffected by all of the at tention he has received for his valor. “I don’t think that my life has changed at all,” he said. “It’s nice when people look you in the eyes and shake your hand and say thanks. That’s more than enough for me. I feel appreciated in this town.”

GRAND SINGLE FAMILY OPPORTUNITY ON THE FIRST BLOCK OF COMMONWEALTH AVENUE

Generational opportunity on the first block of Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay. Built in 1864 as a grand residence, this 8,000+/- sq/ft brownstone presents a rare opportunity to create a custom home in one of the most sought-after locations in Boston. Available for the first time in 50 years, this six-story property with elevator overlooks the Commonwealth Avenue Mall and is steps to Public Garden & Newbury Street. Offered at $9,250,000.

There are few investments on Nantucket that generate a higher return than the kids who utilize the Boys & Girls Club. Our programs are designed to encourage teamwork, a sense of personal respon sibility, caring for one another and caring for our island’s environment.

The Boys & Girls Club also allows parents to perform their jobs during the day which is essential to a func tional economy on Nantucket which benefits us all.

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How do you get a 375-pound slide to Nantucket from war-torn Ukraine?

Getting anything delivered to Nantucket can feel like a gamble. Look no further than this spring when UPS forgot to make advanced reserva tions with the Steamship Authority and had to resort to hiring a fleet of tugboats to get their trucks on island for a sense of the logistical challenges of shipping here. Now imagine trying to ship a 375-pound hunk of twist ed metal the size of a baby giraffe to Nantucket from a war-torn country 4,600 miles away. It’s nothing short of a mission impossible.

That was exactly what Chris Yates and his team from Nantucket Cares accomplished this September when they successful ly transported a metal slide from the bombed Ukrainian village of Irpin to the Whaling Museum on Nantucket. Riddled with bullet holes and shrapnel scars, the children’s slide served as a visceral reminder of the violence taking place every day in Ukraine at the hands of Russian forces. When the slide was subsequently brought from Nantucket to Washington, D.C., as part of the Ukraine Action Sum mit, Congressman Bill Keating indicated that the slide stood as the first piece of evidence of war crimes.

ROBERT COCUZZO & JASON GRAZIADEI PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

Although the slide alone conjures a range of emotions, considering its unlikely journey from being plucked from its cement pilings in Ukraine to being reassembled weeks later on Nantucket boggles the imagination. Who exactly does one call in Ukraine to quarter back this effort? What delivery company is possibly willing to drive through a war zone to get anything but the absolute necessities in and out of the country?

As you might imagine, it takes a person with a unique set of skills and background to accom plish this—and that person is Chris Yates.

There is an unmis takable air of mystery when talking to Yates, particularly when he explains how he manages to navigate through hot zones around the world. One might be quick to assume he’s ex-mili tary. Yates, who owns East Wood Trading Company on Nantucket, is indeed from a decorated military family—his older brother, for instance, was a sniper in the Marine Corps—but he’s one of the few of his family to never have served in any branch of the military. Instead, Yates’ abili ty to operate in war-torn countries comes from a number of unlikely careers.

Decades before he was importing rare

pieces of wood to Nantucket from far-flung countries around the world, Yates had become an expert in all kinds of delivery. Indeed, his resume reads like that of three or four men, beginning when he was twelve years old and would cut down Christmas trees on his family’s farm outside of Washington, D.C., and drive them into the city with his father’s truck to sell them door to door.

Fast forward ten years and Yates launched an enormously successful pizza franchise in D.C. that delivered thousands of tasty pies across the city. Owning multiple homes in his early twenties, Yates was living the high life, but he ultimately sold his stake in the pizza franchise, moved to Las Vegas and started a sports marketing agency called Par that was dedicat ed to delivering sponsorship deals and contracts to big-time athletes, most of them golfers. A one-man outfit, Yates devel oped a lucrative roster of clients that included the ever-colorful PGA champion John Daly. The business was thriving, the sky was the limit, but then 9/11 happened. Overnight, sponsorship deals for anyone but A-list athletes dried up and forced Yates to close his shop.

Yates with Galia Koteva who served as the logistics coordinator for the effort to bring the slide to the U.S.

— Chris Yates

“I thought, how is the world standing by and allowing these atrocities to take place?

I saw that slide and thought it was a symbol that could bring that point across.”

While he was trying to figure out what to do next, Yates reconnected with an immigration lawyer who used to help him get work visas for his employees back at the pizza franchise. Having had her business also upended by the September 11th attacks, the lawyer told Yates about a new opportunity she had discovered in which a retired doctor was creating a recruiting agency dedicat ed to delivering nurses and doctors from abroad to understaffed hospitals in the United States. Intrigued, Yates looked into the business and found that these kinds of agencies recruited from Romania,

bilingual doctors and nurses? The former doctor who was launching the company thought Yates was crazy, but agreed to fund the operation, making Yates executive director and an equity holder. The next thing he knew, Yates was in Mexico City with an interpreter and security detail recruiting hundreds of medical professionals.

So began a heady two years of romping around Mexico in search of doctors and nurses. Everywhere he went, Yates garnered attention, much of it unwanted. Here was this gringo offer ing a golden ticket to the United States.

pulled him aside and said he was trying to get a shipping container full of flak jackets into Mexico to help fight the cartel. Could Yates help him with that? Long story short, Yates found a way— again and again.

“I enlisted retired defense con tractors and prior military sub ject matter experts specializing in reconnaissance and frontline supply chain logistics to form a warehouse and humanitarian aid supply chain to all regions of Ukraine, but first and foremost, to the most heavily engaged areas.”

How Yates ended up on Nantuck et was an act of fate. Or what he calls Montezuma. Revenge. After two years in Mexico, he suddenly came down with life-threatening salmonella. When he got back to the United States for treatment, doctors informed him that the concentra tion of salmonella was so high that it seemed unlikely that it came from spoiled food. The only other explanation was that he

mission to get that equipment and bring it back out of there.”

To recover, Yates went to Nantucket where his extended family own Yates Island Gas. A six-month stay turned into twenty years and yet another hugely

— Chris Yates

Chris Yates

Scenes from the Nantucket Cares mission in Poland this spring

The slide set up in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill during the Ukraine Action Summit

by the people desperately fighting back against the Russians, or those simply trying to survive.

Building on the connections he had made in Warsaw with Nan tucket Cares, Yates hatched a plan to launch humanitarian aid centers in Ukraine, working with contacts on the ground in the war zone. “I enlisted retired defense contractors and prior military subject matter experts specializing in reconnaissance and front-line supply chain logistics to form a warehouse and humanitarian aid supply chain to all regions of Ukraine, but first and foremost, to the most heavily engaged areas,” Yates said. “We met and formed partnerships with Alex [Korbut], a man serving as Ukrainian liaison with the front line and hardest hit areas in need. We started moving eighteen tons of medical supplies we had procured with the help of “JT,” our logistics specialist retired recon specialist into those areas to start.” From there, the group went to the

— Chris Yates

successful company, East Wood Trading Company. With much of his lumber coming from Europe, he has developed several relation ships in counties like Poland and Ukraine over the last twenty years. When Russia attacked Ukraine, Yates was quick to get involved. He joined a small group of Nantucket residents known as Nantucket Cares led by Tom McCann and headed to Poland in April on a twoweek humanitarian mission to bring aid to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war. After listening to the refugees they encountered in Poland, Yates and the other members of Nantucket Cares were determined to do more. They wanted to bring aid directly into Ukraine, where larger aid groups were still struggling to deliver the items that were most needed

Yates and the Nantucket Cares team transporting the slide to Washington D.C. as part of the Ukraine Action Summit

“Some residents were not happy we were removing this war crime evidence, and some were very grateful and hoped our idea would in fact prove to help them.”

Ukrainian cities of Irpin and Bucha, discovering that residents were in dire need of food, water and every day necessities. Korbut and other volunteers on the ground helped Nantucket Cares get connected with the Irpin Bible Church and the local city government.

Yates’ connections on the ground were recording videos of the devastation they found in Irpin—where hundreds of people had died amid the Russian incursion—when they came across a neighborhood that had been bombed. A series of buildings, now aban doned, surrounded a playground where the slide was located. “I thought, how is the world standing by and allowing these atrocities to take place? I saw that slide and thought it was a symbol that could bring that point across,” Yates said. “I made it my mission to get that equipment and bring it back out of there.”

With the help of Korbut and the son of the pastor of Irpin Bible Church, as well as local Irpin officials and a former neighborhood resident named Victor, the process of removing the slide began in coordination with Yates and the Nantucket Cares team back in the U.S. The chari table fund Oberig-26 was also instrumental in organizing the trucks and drivers that would be necessary to move the slide. “Some residents were not happy we were removing this war crime evidence, and some were very grateful and

hoped our idea would in fact prove to help them,” Yates said. “As one might imagine, they were apprehensive about trusting us af ter what happened to them.”

Island resi dent Galia Koteva served as the lo gistics coordinator for the effort to bring the slide to the U.S. Yates said Koteva sent and fielded roughly two hundred emails with Korbut, as well as border crossing agents and an international aid coordinator, to get the slide to Poland, then eventually to Boston and finally to Nantucket.

After its time in Washington, D.C., the slide is continuing to tour the country, serving as a fundraising tool for Nan tucket Cares and a way to raise awareness around the fight in Ukraine that shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Most recently, there’s been talk about bringing the slide to Art Basel, where the fundraising opportunities are immense. Yates believes the slide’s ultimate destination should be the Smith sonian or possibly a war crimes museum. No matter where he and the Nantucket Cares team decide to send it, they can rest assured that Yates will find a way to get it there.

The slide during its first stop at the Nantucket Whaling Musuem

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WRITTEN BY GRETA FEENEY PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

New data points to an overpopulation problem on Nantucket in the near future

For over a decade, Nantucket has been the fastest-growing county in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. For some, rapid population growth signals progress, promising a stronger postCOVID economic recovery. Others point to the is land’s finite natural and human resources, continuously strained by a red-hot real-estate market that exacerbates the worsening housing crisis and a comorbid dearth of skilled workers to meet the growing needs of year-

round and seasonal residents.

An airport without enough jet fuel, inadequate sanitation infrastructure at billion-dollar beaches, and too few firefighters to protect the major assets of the wealthy? While end-of-days geopolitical rhet oric might seem out of step with day-to-day life on this tiny piece of paradise thirty miles out to sea, there are real concerns for island residents when it comes to unfettered population growth.

The overcrowded scene at Nobadeer Beach this summer

In July, the Nantucket Community Data Platform re leased its latest population analysis. The numbers are still being mulled over by local officials, as the island absorbs the aftershocks of a busy summer season that in cluded a rash of freakish car ac cidents, multiple petty crimes, and two massive fires. The fires were fought heroically by an un derstaffed fire department, whose efforts—but for providence and a spell of timely rain—could easily have been overwhelmed by blazes swift and powerful enough to sub sume large swaths of the island. Much in line with what we have all been feeling, CDP’s new Nantucket data set points toward a trend of continuous, exponential growth—confirming a 73.6 percent increase in the peak population since 2014, which, unchecked, will nearly double again in eight years. While a trend-line isn’t necessarily predictive—it doesn’t

mean the peak population will reach 100,000 people by 2030—based on CDP’s air-tight, peer-reviewed process, it certainly looks that way.

“Some of the insights show a trend which is provocative, around which leaders can say, ‘If this growth continued to be a reality, what does it mean for the systems on the island? What does it mean for drinking water, waste, public transportation, schools, tourism, traffic?’”

— Alan Worden

Town officials, already tasked with resilience planning and mitigation efforts aimed at protect ing Nantucket's infrastructure and coast al ecosystems from the inevitable im pact of climate change, must now also consider the implications of population surges of this magnitude. With the grid locked clash of interests in the housing market still very much at play, how can Nantucket plan ahead and avoid becom ing a proverbial canary in a coal mine to other coastal communities facing a sim ilar confluence of challenges?

Alan Worden, founder and CEO of CDP, considers the results of the study. “Some of the insights show a trend which is provocative, around which leaders can say, ‘If this growth continued to be a reality, what does it mean for the systems on the island? What does

it mean for drinking water, waste, public transportation, schools, tour ism, traffic?’ And so we do this not as an academic exercise—we do it as a very practical exercise where leaders can engage with reliable, high-confidence data and ideally do their jobs better.”

As restaurants face the challenge of finding adequate staff housing, an increase in visitors in need of dining options points to a growing demand for pre-packaged foods, which will in turn negatively impact the island’s waste stream and landfill capacity.

An increase in peak-season traffic can present logistical impediments to effective law enforcement, especial ly first responders like firefighters, who are already too few in number and are facing the additional infra structural challenge of inadequate fire hydrants to protect homes in more remote neighborhoods.

Matt Fee, owner of Something Natural, opines on CDP’s latest find ings: “These figures also confirm the difficulty we all are having attracting and retaining staff. More visitors and fewer employees isn’t sustainable.”

Fee cites traffic and degraded water quality as ongoing concerns listed in the town’s Comprehensive Com munity Plan. “Hopefully CDP’s population data, confirming what we are all feeling, will help build the political will to have the tough conversations about what is neces sary to retain or enhance the quality of life for all residents.”

But what is the actual tipping point, and is there such a thing as a real constraint? “It’s not the ferries,” says Worden, “and it's not the air lines, either. In fact, flight service

“These figures also confirm the difficulty we all are having attracting and retaining staff. More visitors and fewer employees isn’t sustainable.”

— Matt Fee, owner of Something Natural

to and from Nantucket is set to ex pand.” Without restrictions on trav el to and from the island, the data speaks directly to pressures and constraints felt by the year-round and seasonal labor forces—an 18 per cent increase in yearround workers has been offset by a 13 percent reduction in temporary workers. This means that the average peak-season worker is now serving more than twice the number of individuals they did in 2014, a problem seri ously exacerbated by the housing shortage. According to Worden, “An overcrowded classroom anal ogy is not inappropriate here.”

But for many year-round and long-time residents, overcrowding is not just an analogy—it’s a real ity ironized by the island’s accom modations toward certain demo graphics, whose empty homes and corporate de facto hotels serve as echo chambers to the continuous call for affordable housing. Afford able housing is key to attracting and retaining a vibrant middle-class community of skilled and essential workers, without which a univer sal erosion of the quality of life on Nantucket is inevitable.

While continuous growth in the tourism sector means more con sumer spending to fuel the econo my, it also invariably brings along a host of undesirables: crowded streets, noise, pollution, car acci dents, and crime. A workforce that includes adequate police, firefight ers, teachers, and public and health care workers is critical to prevent Nantucket’s slide into a dystopic, gated community—a Dickensian juxtaposition of the very rich and the very poor, where we find our selves looking backward rather than to the future.

“An overcrowded classroom analogy is not inappropriate here.”

— Alan Worden, founder of Community Data Platforms

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INTERVIEW BY BRUCE A. PERCELAY

Alongtime visitor to Nantucket, Dame Karen Pierce is the British Ambassador to the United States. With her cunning intellect and colorful personality, Ambassador Pierce has won broad support in the United Kingdom for both her charisma as well as her skill in navigating complex international issues. Since joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office more than forty years ago, she has blazed her own trail while representing the United Kingdom around the globe. N Magazine interviewed Ambassador Pierce on a wide range of issues, from the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, to the new prime minister, to the serious challenges facing Britain and the world beyond.

Britain is going through a remarkably unsettled period, with its third new prime minister in less than two months. What can Britain say to the world to demonstrate that its political system is stable?

Throughout the last year, the U.K. has remained a steadfast partner to the U.S. and a force for good globally. For business and investment, the fun damentals of the British economy remain strong – and the World Economic Outlook forecasts that the U.K. will have the fastest growth of all G7 countries in 2022. As a security partner, we are a permanent member of the Security Council alongside the U.S. and are a leading member of NATO. We remain absolutely committed to sup porting Ukraine and standing up to aggressive, autocratic regimes. Britain’s standing on the world stage has not and will not change.

A conversation with the British Ambassador to the United States, Dame Karen Elizabeth Pierce

Given the changes in leadership and political direction, does Brexit look like a good idea in hindsight or is it something that will negatively impact U.K. going forward?

The government remains committed to the 2019 mandate that brought them into office. As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in his first address from Downing Street, he is absolutely committed to building an economy that embraces the opportunities of Brex it where businesses invest, innovate, and create jobs. And I think that the strength of the United Kingdom’s response to the war in Ukraine has shown that as a security partner and ally, we are as capable and reliable as ever.

Another major development this year was the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. How will history remember Her Majesty?

I’d like to start by echoing what President Biden said: that she de fined an era. He was absolutely spot on. The post-World War II era from 1952 until now has always known the Queen. She traveled to something like 126 countries. She was present at the founding of

the United Nations. She met thirteen of the fourteen U.S. pres idents during her reign. She met an enormous number of world leaders. When you saw the Queen, you really thought of her as the embodiment of the United Kingdom and all its history. But at the same time, she was also a remarkable individual. She had a great sense of humor and a mischievous smile. She was pretty smart about people and events. She could put her finger on the essentials of things.

Could you share any personal anecdotes you have with her?

When I became ambassador, because of COVID, I couldn’t go back for an audience, which is what ambassadors usually have with the Queen or the King when they’re appointed. So, I did it over the telephone. We had about an hour’s conversation about American politics. She had a deep interest in American history and asked me some pretty good questions. She really did feel that it wasn’t just a question of common kinship and common heri tage. It absolutely was an issue of common values. The Queen had this great praise that the values set out in the Magna Carter were vividly restated by the Founding Fathers.

The void that is created by the Queen’s passing is very hard to fill, particularly at a time when there are so many other challenges to life in Europe, and in Britain in particular. What is the psyche of the British people right now?

I wouldn’t say there’s a void. It is a feature set down in many philosophical and psychological works. “The king is dead. Long live the king.”

kindly attended—that helped people very much come to terms with the passing of the second Elizabethan era. The king was pro claimed in the middle of all this right away, across all the realms. We’ve received many messages of support for him. I think the mood of the British people is to celebrate the Queen’s life and to look forward with the new king to tackling some of these big challenges we’ve been talking about.

What additional means should the United States and the United Kingdom undertake relative to ensuring that Russia is either defeated or kept in check in their aggression against Ukraine?

I think both of us are doing an enormous amount already. And I want to pay tribute to President Biden’s leadership on this and

are saying to the Russians that it’s time to get out of Ukraine, but also saying to the Russians that they don’t want to see any more Russian adventurism in the rest of Europe because the Balkans [and] places like Georgia and Moldova are at risk from Russian actions.

We have to keep up the pressure where we can intensify sanctions. A lot of peo ple are skeptical about sanctions, but the point here is that the sanctions are there to degrade Russia’s ability to fight the war by denying them access to finance, deny ing them access to high-grade technology, and stopping them from resupplying the invading armies. And to that extent, the sanctions are working.

Do we try to bring China on board with the objective of containing Russia?

The formal investiture of Ambassador Pierce at Buckingham Palace; Ambassador Pierce with Nancy Pelosi after a moment of silence in honor of the late Queen Elizabeth II; Ama bassador Pierce with President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden as they sign the condolence book for the passing of Her Majesty the Queen.

In many ways, that is the point. And I think the fact that there was a week-long mourning, and you saw the coffin come down from Scotland to lie in state in Westminster Abbey for people to go and pay their respects, then you had that enormous state funeral—which President Biden

the nearly $50 billion that the U.S. and Con gress have committed to help Ukraine with its defense. I think there is a need to continue supplying high-grade weaponry for defen sive purposes. I think there’s a need to do more internationally, so that other countries

That’s a very good question. It’s one that ex ercises London and Washington, but also Paris and Berlin and Brussels and New York. The Chinese took a decision a while ago to invest heavily in the Russian re lationship. It’s important to them. At the same time, we believe that they obvi ously, fundamentally condemn changing borders by force. And they know that Russian war crimes, Russian aggression, Russian attacks on nuclear power plants are something that they need to be con demning; otherwise, people will assume that the Chinese support them. And that’s not a position China is comfortable with. So I think we need to go on talking to Chi na about this and confronting the Chinese with just what the Russians are doing and urging them not to give the Russians any support.

(Clockwise from the top)

What is the strategy of the U.K., the U.S. and allies with respect to reducing dependency on Russia’s energy supply?

Well, it would be wrong of me to pretend this is an easy problem to solve, because as we’re seeing, it’s very difficult. Argu ably, it should have been done many years ago, and even more arguably, we shouldn’t have got ourselves to the point of dependency on a country like Russia that doesn’t play by the international rules and doesn’t want to. That’s the point of Russia’s dis ruption at the moment.

“The Russian invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated and aggravated trends that were already there… The energy and food crises caused by the Russian invasions are obviously acute problems that are on everyone ’s minds.”

We have a number of elements in the strategy, some of which, I have to say, will take a few years to come to fruition. Some of it is around a transition to nuclear energy. Some of it is around more liquefied natural gas [LNG]. We, the Brits, have been working with the Americans to ship LNG from the U.S. I’ve seen the port in Balti more to the U.K. and then by pipeline to other places in Europe, including Germa ny. Some of it is around accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels in general. Some of it is by getting oil producers to re lease more gas and oil onto the market and looking at our own strategic reserves. It’s something the G7 countries are working very hard on at the moment. I think there is universal will among the G7 to take this forward. Some of the details are complicat ed, but we have people working on this day and night.

The euro and the pound are being battered right now at a time when Britain and the continent need as much export help as possible. Does this create a downward spiral that is difficult to contain where exports are becoming less and less competitive?

I think a lot of things are coming togeth er. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated and aggravated trends that were already there. So, obviously, as peo ple came out of the pandemic and things struggle to get back to normal and you have to look at supply chains, that’s one set of problems. The energy and food cri ses caused by the Russian invasion are obviously acute prob lems that are on every one’s minds. And as we struggle to deal with all of this, as you say, you see these fluctuations in currencies and world markets.

I’m not an econ omist, but I think the economies, fundamen tally, are reacting to events here rather than have long-term struc tural weaknesses that need resolving. The energy dependency is obviously the most chronic of those weaknesses, but I think we will find a way forward. So I don’t think it’s inevitable, even if there is a short-term dip. The forecasts show, in a couple of years, things getting better. The challenge for governments, of course, is that they’ve got to get their people through the winter with a difficult energy situation.

Between inflation, the potential of rationing oil and soaring food costs, it’s a perfect storm. Suffering among large groups of people can cause social unrest. How concerned are you about the economic hardships triggering more serious political divides in the U.K. and beyond?

If you start with the world, the food se curity issue is a huge one for a lot of de veloping countries. Grain is now being shipped out of Ukrainian ports, thanks largely to the UN and to Turkey, who have put a good plan together. But those coun tries, in my view, need to be saying to the

Russians: “We want you to enable grain to flow freely from the Ukrainian ports.” Grain is not a sanctions issue. The export of grain is solely about the Russian block ade of parts of the Black Sea. So those countries need to come together and tell the Russians they want to see food secu rity relief at scale. And then, I think, that will be an enormous help with the food security side and global inequalities that flow from that.

Whenever you have economic down turns, as you say, you have to look for signs of wider political unrest. I think ev erybody does realize, coming out of the pandemic, that we are in times that are unprecedented in recent years and that

“We need to handle the Chinese carefully. We don't want to accidentally provoke the very things we ’re trying to avoid. ”

things will be difficult for a while. So I think there’s a greater realization. And we’re not expecting big problems in the U.K. Nevertheless, it’s something that all governments, including the British government, keep on their risk registers. And we will, in the U.K., be looking at ways that we can help ordinary house holds with their energy bills.

People are concerned that China is inspired by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, vis-à-vis Taiwan. The failure of the Russian invasion is undeniable, and the coalescing of allies against Russia has probably been the only positive outcome of all of this. What’s your feeling about the likelihood that China will make a move on Taiwan?

I think the Chinese have watched very closely at what’s happened: both the fail ure of the Russians to achieve their mili tary aims and the coming together of the

international community, particularly those countries that have the biggest share of the global economy. Sanctions would affect China also, and China can conceive the extent of those sanctions that would be available in the event of an invasion of Taiwan. I don’t want to spec ulate on the timing. We obviously watch what happens in the South China Sea very carefully. It’s very interesting the condemnation of the Chinese overreac tion to the Pelosi visit, these heavy-hand ed military exercises around Taiwan. And predictably, it’s had the effect of even more par liamentarians wanting to visit Taiwan. We need to handle the Chinese care fully. We don’t want to accidentally provoke the very things we’re trying to avoid. We do, in my view, need more channels of communi cation with the Chinese, private chan nels, to avoid miscalculation. But I think, in terms of our firmness, U.S. firmness, international firmness about no invasion of Taiwan—that’s holding up very well and that’s very visible to the Chinese. They will take that into account.

In terms of the local economy, the U.S. doesn’t always perceive England as an innovator and a country that is at the cutting edge of technology. However, under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, there was a very ambitious plan to increase the U.K.’s role in science and technology. And I’m curious to get your take on how the U.K. expands its role in science and what part that expansion takes on providing future economic growth from a country that was formerly heavily industrialized. I’m going to take issue with your

description of us as not being innovators. There’s a lot to Britain’s credit on the inven tion side, including things like the jet engine. Where Britain has traditionally fallen down a bit and is not like America is in turning that innovation into operational use, into manu facturing, being able to use these innovations at scale. That’s why the Boris Johnson report you referred to put so much emphasis on

cyber. And that also has a military defense manifestation through NATO. So there’s a lot to do there. And I think, in addition to leading the fight to support Ukraine and in addition to leading work on the cost-of-liv ing crisis, the prime minister is going to have this very high on his agenda.

The U.S. has always been seen as the beacon of democracy for the world, but the country has gone through a period that we have never seen before with a level of division and instability that is not only of concern domestically but internationally. How does this impact the U.K.?

“Around the world, it’s fashionable to say democracy is in retreat. I don’t believe that, but we're not doing enough to bring it to the fore perhaps.”

technology and not just science. It isn’t only about the pure science. It is about finding applications and putting those to use. It’s about finding the money, venture capital or elsewhere, to fund those big developments.

We’ve started a new tech partnership with the United States. It’s something that President Biden and Prime Minister Johnson signed last year, when President Biden paid his first vis it to the U.K. And that enables cooperation across a whole range of new technology like AI [artificial intelligence], like quantum, like

America had been this beacon of democracy, as you say, and that’s what we had all looked up to. And it’s very sad to see any of that falter, but it’s not endem ic. I believe it’s a short-lived blip, the things that happened on January 6th. Now, it’s for America itself to deal with those events. It’s not for foreigners to intervene. But I think American institutions and the American spirit are strong enough to get to a good an swer on that in a way that does credit to the cause of democracy.

The Hess Twins inside the Sister Ship where they have performed this summer

Ambassador Pierce speaking to a pilot during a tour of the USS Gerald Ford

Around the world, it’s fashionable to say democracy is in retreat. I don’t believe that, but we’re not doing enough to bring it to the fore perhaps. And open societies are a theme that most people in Britain really, really ral ly to. It’s one that speaks to something in the British psyche. And they will want to do all they can to support work around the world to promote liberal democratic values.

You have held diplomatic posts all over the world. Have you ever seen the world in a more dangerous or unsettled state that it is now?

I wouldn’t use superlatives about this, just because our own experience is obvious

ly limited by what we’ve personally seen. I think, if you look at history, since the Second World War, there have been lots of turbulence. In the States, you had Mc Carthyism. In the U.K., you had the Brixton riots. There were various other things that happened in Europe and in Japan and elsewhere. We’ve had wars in Africa.

“

I am optimistic about our ability to meet these challenges and turn them around. I think you see the same in America, but I think it's a particularly British strength to get opportunity out of adversity, even if there are setbacks in the short term.”

We’ve had dictatorships in places like Spain and Portugal. We had the Vietnam War. Things happen. And it’s our job as government servants, as [the] public sector, to try and put a shape on them, assess them and find ways of managing them. What I do think is unprecedented is the rise of China. That is very much a phenomenon of the last twenty, thirty years. And that, we’ve never had to contend with before. So you have a more assertive Chi na at the same time as you have a more aggressive Russia. And now they are out to contest the rules of international affairs, if you like. So I think we have to be on our guard against that.

We’ve talked a lot about the challenges that are readily apparent, but what are you most optimistic about?

I am optimistic about our ability to meet these challenges and turn them around. I think you see the same in America, but I think it’s a particular ly British strength to get opportunity out of adversity, even if there are setbacks in the short term. You obviously saw that in the Second World War, but I think you see it in all sorts of other areas, that Britain is fundamentally a pragmatic and problem-solving nation. We thrive on being able to have problems to solve and come out with ideas. We then worked with our allies, of course the United States, to turn them into reality. But I think that’s one of the things that’s in the British DNA.

I think the other thing is a very strong belief in freedom. That, obviously, is shared with the United States. It goes back to Alexander Hamilton’s “We think in English.” We think the same way about the rule of law and about freedom within the law. I think those are very important qualities. And I do want to come back to this open societies point. I think there’s a deep belief in the U.K. that open societies do deliver better for ordinary citizens. And I think we want to work on showing that that really is the case. We’ve changed a lot of our devel opment aid approach so that we can more quickly and flexibly help those countries trying to get their economies on track. And I think that sort of pragmatic approach to some of these problems is going to continue. And that’s what keeps me going.

Ambassador Pierce with Admiral Sir Tony Radakin during the Atlantic Future Forum

Ambassador Pierce making a toast celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

(Above) Ambassador Pierce about the USS Gerald Ford; (left) Senator Menendez and Senator Risch presenting Ambassador Pierce a condolence book from the US Senate after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

*This interview has been edited due to space constraints.

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HEAD CASES

INTERVIEW BY BRUCE A. PERCELAY PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

Dr. Michael Lewis is pioneering a surprising treatment for traumatic brain injury

After serving in the U.S. Military for thirty-one years, Dr. Michael Lewis has emerged as a leading expert in treating traumatic brain injury. Now the president of the Brain Health Education and Research, which he founded in 2011, Dr. Lewis has helped pioneer a revolutionary protocol that uses Omega-3 fatty acids to repair the injured brains of everyone from combat veterans to car accident victims to football players. Despite compelling studies and stories of remarkable patient recoveries, Dr. Lewis has faced a tremendous amount of resistance from the broader medical community. Dr. Lewis spoke to N Magazine about the potential of this treatment and why it has not been embraced by modern medicine.

Dr. Micheal Lewis during a recent visit to Nantucket where he spoke about his groundbreaking research around treating traumatic brain injuries.

What’s your connection to Nantucket?

My first introduction to Nantucket was when I was a physician in the Army and I used to do a lot of con gressional delegation travels. Around 1998, I came up with a group of senators and congressmen for Cana dian-U.S. parliamentary meetings a couple of days in the offseason on Nantucket and it was fantastic. Fell in love with it then and never had the opportunity to get back after that until just this past summer when my fiancée, who grew up on Nantucket, arranged a Make-A-Wish trip for her daughter to see the Boston Pops per form in August. And we were able to spend five fabulous days in Nantucket.

You have developed a specialty as a doctor in the military. Explain what first got your attention about brain injuries or what led you to begin to focus on this subject.

After a number of years overseas, I was sent to teach at the military’s medical school in Bethesda, Maryland. Iraq and Afghanistan were going on, and we had wounded warriors all around us. The question [of brain injuries] became a little bit more urgent. What can you do to

help with these soldiers now? I went to the head researcher at the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center and said, “Is anybody looking at the use of omega-3s like you would get for fish oil to help our soldiers recover from traumatic brain injury?” And he thought about it for a second and he goes, “No, why don’t you?”

What possibly triggered the notion in your mind that omega-3s can be used to treat concussions and brain injuries?

The seminal event was the Sago Mine accident in West Virginia in January of 2006. There were around 13 miners trapped a mile down underground in the coal mine. By the time the rescu ers reached them—more than forty hours later—there was only one guy left and barely alive. Methane poison ing, carbon monoxide poisoning. His whole system had shut down. He was inches away from death and [Julian Bailes] the neurosurgeon at West Virginia University, after attempting

“...an 18-year-old kid was in a really bad car accident and the parents were told [that] he had no chance of surviving.

I convinced the neurosurgeon, ‘Why don’t we try copious amounts of fish oil down his feeding tube?’ And that kid went to his high school graduation about three months later.”

later and has gone on to live a relatively normal life.

I assume that’s where you began thinking about omega-3s?

I heard about that story of Julian Bailes, and eventually I got connected to him and just started asking him questions about why can’t we do this for trau matic brain injury? Not long after that, I had a similar case fall into my lap when an 18-year-old kid was in a really bad car accident and the parents were told to pull the plug because he had no chance of surviving. I convinced the neurosurgeon, “Why don’t we try copious amounts of fish oil down his feeding tube?” And that kid went to his high school graduation about three months later.

What about omega-3s prompted the doctor to try them?

all the possible interventions to save him, started pour ing omega-3s, fish oil, into his feeding tube. He walked out of the hospital a couple months

There are two aspects of omega-3s. A huge one is inflam mation. Omega-3s can really help calm inflammation. The brain is made of fat, and there’s principally three main types of fats that are the most important. Cholesterol is a huge one, but there are omega-6 fats and there are omega-3 fats. So I believe, in a sim plistic approach, what he thought to do was flood [the boy’s] body and his brain with what it took to make the brain in the first place. And that was omega-3 fats.

The effectiveness of administering Omega 3s to traumatic brain injury victims has been studied with combat veterans

Fish Oil

Explain your role in trying to spread the knowledge of the impact of this approach and why isn’t it more widespread.

Initially, because I was not a neurologist or a neurosurgeon or a biochemist, I had to relearn from medical school days what omega-3s were. Why are they important? How do they work? And so I had to seek out the people that really knew that. And it turns out, as far as omega-3s and trau matic brain injury go, there was nobody.

Julian Bailes, the neurosurgeon in West Virginia, was about the only one that had done any research on it. But I also got connected with a leading researcher in Bethesda at the National Institutes of Health, and we started to look at some things. The first big publication we did

or Iraq could use to start that therapy as soon as possible. In fact, I ended up pat enting that concept and started working with a German company to develop it commercially. So I went in about five different directions. I came up with what I call the Omega Protocol, which

resistance from the medical field and the scientific community has been nothing short of amazing. I literally told by the military medical school if I wanted to continue the line of research on omega-3s that I needed to go somewhere else; they would not support me.”

is the idea of a loading dose for a week or two of higher-dose fish oil for some body who can swallow and walk and

It was actually profound. The lower the omega-3 levels in a soldier’s blood, the higher probability it was that the death was from a suicide. It was a very care fully done study looking at the blood levels. All the blood levels we were able to obtain had been obtained within about three months prior to somebody commit ting suicide. Of course, they didn’t know they were going to commit suicide at that time.

This past September, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was suspected of having a concussion in a game, but then was allowed to play four days later and was hit again. There was a sense of outrage among the NFL Players Association because he may have had two concussions in a week.

The real simple rule of thumb is if you have any doubt there was a head injury, you always take the player out of the

blood would be correlated to suicides in active-duty soldiers. Meanwhile, I was continuing to develop the concept of using it directly for traumatic brain injury, but not just in the ICU after a bad accident.

How so?

I had the idea that we could put omega-3s into an intravenous formulation that a medic on the battlefield of Afghanistan

most people are very deficient in omega-3s. And so my idea was how do we flood the brain quickly as possible to make a difference? And the amazing things that I found out early was people notice a difference in one or two days.

So did you determine a correlation between suicide rates and low omega-3s?

game. You don’t let him back in the game. And generally, we know that it takes a good two weeks for the head to recover in just a mild injury, let alone one that’s a little more severe. But to let somebody back in a game four days later, this was the worst-case scenario.

“The

Dr. Micheal Lewis on Nantucket

Ryan Shazier, probably the best linebacker in the game at the time, tackled a receiver coming across the middle and didn’t get up. Something happened in his neck that he was paralyzed from that moment. I texted the Steelers’ long time neurosurgeon Dr. Joe Maroon—if you saw the movie Concussion, he was one of the characters in that film—“You need to get him on a really high dose of fish oil right away.”

“The resistance from the medical field and the scientific community has been nothing short of amazing. I literally told by the military medical school if I wanted to continue the line of research on omega-3s that I needed to go somewhere else; they would not support me.”

Joe was out of the country at the time, but a couple days later he called me up and asked, “How much again?” I put people on nine grams of fish oil to start, but Ryan Shazier said, “No, I’m taking more.” He was taking 40 grams of fish oil right away. That was one of the things that literally got him off the table and got him walking again.

We see football suicides like Junior Seau and others. I know Boston University has a big center that analyzes the brains of players that have died prematurely. When they do these post-mortems, do they track whether all these players have low omega-3s?

As far as I know, they do not track it. I’ve proposed it a variety of different times and different studies. I’ve been doing this about fif teen years now. First of all, no pharmaceutical company, no nutritional company’s ever going to be interested in spending the millions of dollars to get the science settled on this because you could buy fish oil anywhere. It has that generic problem. But you would think that the

government would have an interest. We’re talking about nutrition. We’re talking about something that’s essential for the body and the brain to function.

You’ve been met with a lot of resistance?

The resistance from the medical field and the scientific commu nity has been nothing short of amazing. I was literally told by the military medical school if I wanted to continue the line of research on omega-3s that I needed to go somewhere else; they would not support me. And it was because I had a five-cent solu tion to a problem that they were getting tens of millions of dollars a year to study.

Outside of traumatic brain injury, do you think omega-3 can be helpful in depression, Parkinson’s disease and strokes? Is there a broader application?

That’s not just my opinion. There’s some very good science that has been done to look at everything from ADHD as an example, or the role that omega-3s may play in depression and other mental health issues. Almost every one of the studies is dramatically positive. It all makes sense to me as to why. Underlying most disease processes, the brain is not exempt from this inflammation. Omega-3s are one of the best ways we can go about bringing down or decreasing inflam mation and treating a lot of symptoms, whether it’s from a traumatic brain injury or PTSD or depression or ADHD.

Have you ever been involved in treating a football player sidelined by severe injury?

Former Steelers’ linebaker Ryan Shazier benefited from Omega-3s after a devastating injury on the field.

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TAKING CHARGE

INTERVIEW BY BRUCE A. PERCELAY

Amy Lee takes over as president of Nantucket Cottage Hospital

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE

Amy Lee is the new president of the Nantucket Cottage Hospital and comes to the island after serving as the Chief Operating Officer of Central Maine Medical Group in Portland. She has also served as Director the Vail Valley Medical Center in Vail, Colorado, a community which bears many similarities to Nantucket both economically and in its inaccessi bility during challenging weather conditions. Lee comes to the NCH at a time of increasing financial pres sure on medical institutions across the country and a growing housing shortage on the island. N Magazine sat down with Amy Lee to discuss her impressions of Nantucket and her future vision for the hospital.

Amy Lee outside Nantucket Cottage Hospital's Percelay Pavilion this fall

From a medical standpoint, have you ever seen the kind of extreme wealth disparity that we have on the island?

In a previous life, I actually worked for Vail Health. So I was up in Vail, Colorado. I lived in Beaver Creek, Colorado. A lot of the same type of situations apply. It’s a mountain resort community, very seasonal touristy and the disparity in the population with a large group of individuals coming to work during the tourist season. And then, of course, the year-rounders that were up there. In Beaver Creek, there were fifty families that lived there full time, and we were one of those families. So we got to experience that, which was part of the draw for

“The facility is just absolutely beautiful...And it’s also really interesting when you walk in and people are very proud of this building.”

— Amy Lee

Nantucket, because I think it was an amazing place to live, and the passion of the community to really provide services and be inclusive of the entire population in one way or another and really help each other out was amazing.

Labor shortage, particularly in the world of nursing, is affecting every hospital in America. It is magnified on Nantucket because we are an island and housing costs are extremely high. What are your thoughts on how to manage this dilemma?

Unfortunately, there’s not a magic wand, but I think it’s a multifaceted effort to recruit people, in that the way that you’re very transparent

when you are recruiting and you’re showing them all the different as pects of the island, what there is to offer, the lifestyle. So if you’re looking for those individuals that that really appeals to, that helps. And you use your community members— the nurses that live here, the people that have started maybe as an MA [medical assistant] or some other type of role in the hospital and worked their way up—just so that they can share those stories [and] that helps show the commitment and the draw. It truly is the passion of the individu als that helps recruit, so you have to make sure they’re the faces of your recruitment efforts to do that. It is also looking at who lives here and how we can grow them.

You were fortunate to come after the new hospital was built. Tell us your impressions of the facility.

The facility is just absolutely beau tiful. I think coming from central Maine where the infrastructure is aging very significantly, it was a treat to see so many new buildings. And it’s also really interesting when you walk in and people are very proud of this building. From the ferry ride over to walking into the building, I’ve had people tell me stories of their connections to this hospital. Even if it was something very small, it’s still very meaning ful to them. That was a wonderful feeling. You know that the hospital is more than just a building—even though it’s a gorgeous building.

Have you had exposure to Mass General prior to this and how do you plan to utilize or expand the relationship?

With my previous position, we were actually an affiliate of Mass General and they were a great partner. That was, again, another appealing part

of this position, because to know that although the island is small, the hospital is small, there is an incred ible amount of resources with this type of relationship that we have with Mass General. The amount of

— Amy Lee

services and resources that we can offer to patients is incredible. It’s so much more than what most people have, and I think we’re very fortu nate for that.

Unlike Vail or most other locations, we’re thirty miles out to sea and there are times when the fog rolls in or there’s a storm or there are weather conditions that prevent anyone from leaving the island even if they want to. Have you encountered a situation where you are the first and last medical resource for a population?

Definitely. Vail is a good exam ple. If the pass is closed and there is a fog or a large snowstorm, the patients are your responsibility because there’s no place else for them to go. Even in Maine, it was the same situation depending on the weather. You have to figure out how to take care of those patients, whether it’s electronically, so you have those connections to a higher level of care, or whether it’s just counting on the knowledge of your team. And that’s where I think Nantucket is very fortunate, because the depth of knowledge and expe rience that some of these providers have is great. And then the connec

“Nantucket is very fortunate because the depth of knowledge and experience that some of these providers have is great. And then the connections that they have with Mass General also helps significantly.”

tions that they have with Mass General also helps significantly. So even if we couldn’t get a patient over to the mainland, there’s lots of resources to take care of them until we can do that. I definitely think that knowing that we have those resources makes being thirty miles out to sea a little bit easier.

Being part of the community in this particular position is important, as this is a highly visible role and a very tight community. What are your thoughts on how you become a leader and an integral part of Nantucket?

Part of the draw of coming here was the tight-knit community. In doing research for any position, you look at the community needs assessment and you look at how involved people are. On all three of those points, there’s so many resources and so much information. We’ve already signed up for Festival of Wreaths and Festival of Trees and a couple of the other programs. My husband is a firefighter and so he’s still going back to Maine for

“We really need to make sure that we're in the community and providing those resources in the most efficient way possible so that we can touch the most people.

— Amy Lee

Amy Lee inside Nantucket Cottage Hospital

a while to support his fire station there. But he’s already had so many people that have been very welcoming and it has really helped our transition because they’re willing to give us time.

Let’s fast forward five years from now, what would your definition of success be after having been here for a period of time?

People were very transparent with what they felt like the needs for the community were. Those aligned with what I re searched and really thought that the com munity needs.It comes down to mental health, substance use disorder programs, and how we help the population age at home as opposed to going to facilities or moving off island. I think housing has

come up so many times even with us since we’ve been here for two weeks. And I think [in] working with our community partners, success would be really giving alternatives and figuring out how we can provide those services as a community and not just through the hospital.

What do you think is the biggest challenge that you are going to face as head of the hospital?

Getting the right resources to the people. Because it is a disparate population and there’s health literacy issues, there’s just that fear of reaching out. We really need to make sure that we’re in the community and providing those resources in the most efficient way possible so that we can

touch the most people. I think that’s in credibly important. And I think especially things like mental health where there’s a stigma. You have to be very inclusive and careful so that people feel that they can access those resources.

What excites you most about being here?

The energy. I love the passion. I think most of the people here have made the choice that they want to live here and so they’re very passionate about their community and where they live. I love that energy. We’re very grateful to be here and we want to make sure that we leave a lasting mark on the community and that we’re here to really become part of this and enjoy every bit of it.

“We’re very grateful to be here and we want to make sure that we do leave a lasting mark on the community and that we're here to really become part of this and enjoy every bit of it.”

— Amy Lee

Scan to watch a video of our nurses in action

JACKET AND PURSE: CURRENT VINTAGE SHIRT AND PANTS: WHEAT WOODEN BRACELET: CURRENT VINTAGE GOLD RING SHOWN LEFT: SUSAN LISTER LOCKE

NECKLACE: THE VAULT GOLD BANGLE AND RING SHOWN RIGHT: SEAMAN SCHEPPS

EARRINGS: SEAMAN SCHEPPS

SHOES: MILLY & GRACE

EARRINGS: SEAMAN SCHEPPS

BRACELET AND RING SHOWN LEFT: SEAMAN SCHEPPS

BRACELET SHOWN RIGHT: CURRENT VINTAGE

FUR STOLE AND NECKLACE: CURRENT VINTAGE

DRESS: WHEAT

SWEATER: REMY COAT: WHEAT

NECKLACE, RINGS, EARRINGS: ICARUS & CO. HEADBAND: MURRAY'S TOGGERY SHOP JEANS: WHEAT

HEADBAND AND PANTS: WHEAT SWEATER: MILLY & GRACE RING AND EARRINGS: THE VAULT NECKLACE WORN AS A BRACELET: HEIDI WEDDENDORF

Festival of Wreaths

19–26 Festival of Trees December 2–31 29TH ANNUAL Presents

Closing Party: Friday, November 25, 5–7pm

Chaired by Barbara Clarke

This community-driven event at the Whaling Museum features an array of beautifully crafted wreaths made by islanders, local businesses, non-profits, schools, and organizations all available to buy through and online and in-person auction. Closed Thanksgiving Day.

Preview Party: Thursday, December 1, 6–8pm

Chaired by Donald Dallaire and David Handy

TIME

FLIES

A look back at the island’s aviation past courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association’s photo archives

A crowd of passengers, waiting on the tarmac, to board a North east airlines plane, at the Nantucket Memorial airport in 1959

Robert L. "Pop" Young, in flying gear, beside plane, Member of the 356th fighter squadron, U.S. Army Air Corps.

Bi-plane in a field with a crowd of people, a photographer, and some children. First commercial flight to Nantucket.

Coast Guard seaplane landed at Childrens Beach, 1926.

Coast Guard plane landed at Childrens beach, 1926.

Executive airlines plane on the runway, with passengers boarding in 1970s.

Crashed U.S. Army Air Corps fighter plane piloted by Robert L. Young. March 16, 1944

Class trip from Nantucket High School on a Northeast plane in 1950s.

An unidentified pilot standing in front of his plane in 1940s.

An Iberia Lineas Aereas De Espana Lockheed Constellation plane with three tail stabilizers on the ground at the Nantucket Airport in 1950s.

U.S. Army Air Corps 356th fighter squadron crew and plane, "Bo-Yo."

U.S. Navy planes on island during World War II in 1940s.

Taken at Nobadeer Airport, a group of men, including the pilot, standing in front of an airplane in 1930s.

Wreckage of plane that crashed in water near Coatue, April 17, 1918.

Passengers at the airport, boarding a plane on Sept. 1, 1968.

Flight attendant and man standing out side Northeast Airlines plane, 1950s.

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FOGGY SHEET

Earlier this summer, the back lawn of the Great Harbor Yacht Club became a showroom featuring some of the island's most stunning classic cars. GHYC members were invited to submit their vehicles, provided the cars were older than twenty-five years. Gleaming in the sun on a picture perfect afternoon, the GHYC car show was a preview to some of the cars we might see at the Daffodil car parade this upcoming spring.

GREAT HARBOR YACHT CLUB CAR SHOW

Photography by Bill Hoenk

FOGGY SHEET

The Nantucket Shorts Festival was held at The Dreamland earlier this fall. The festival celebrates short-form movies of two- to ten-minutes in length that are either starring or inspired by Nantucket. Founded in 2013 by five local Nantucket artists, the Nantucket Shorts Festival allows both experienced and amateur filmmakers to be selected to present their art on the big screen at the Dreamland. A jury screens each submitted film and selects the top films to appear at the festival. This year's winner was Mark Kiefer for his film "Or, the Whale."

NANTUCKET SHORTS FESTIVAL

Photography by Kit Noble

FOGGY SHEET

This

NANTUCKET RUNS ON WORKERS

fall, Nantucket Current photographer Charity Grace Mofsen captured the many faces of Nantucket's work force in a photo essay titled "Nantucket Runs on Workers." From landcapers to truckers, cashiers to bartenders, Mofsen celebrated the people who are working hard behind the scenes to keep the island functioning.

Photography by Charity Grace Mofsen

FOGGY SHEET

Held at the end of September at the Nantucket Yacht Club, the Scallopers Ball is one of the primary fundraisers for the Shellfish Association, which has a mission to "preserve and protect Nantucket’s harbors, water quality, and shellfish resources" and works collaboratively with organizations across the island to address issues impacting the health and sustainability of the island's harbors.

THE SCALLOPERS BALL

Photography by Laurie Richards

In Broad Daylight

In Broad Daylight

Comfort of a rental home with the service of a hotel

Broad Daylight

New to the Maury People Sotheby’s International Realty rental portfolio is an exciting location offering a front row view of Broad and Federal Street from a meticulously restored Victorian home. This fully equipped home sleeps eight comfortably with 4 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms.

New to the Maury People Sothebys rental portfolio is an exciting location offering a front Broad and Federal Street from a meticulously restored Victorian home. This fully equipped eight comfortably with 4 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms. Enjoy the covered porch or have your the private, bricked patio and rose garden. Additionally, there is parking for one vehicle and your Street includes daily maid service. This property is owned and operated by 21 Broad

New to the Maury People Sothebys rental portfolio is an exciting location offering a front row view of Broad and Federal Street from a meticulously restored Victorian home. This fully equipped home sleeps eight comfortably with 4 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms. Enjoy the covered porch or have your morning coffee in the private, bricked patio and rose garden. Additionally, there is parking for one vehicle and your stay at 19 Broad Street includes daily maid service. This property is owned and operated by 21 Broad Street.

the Maury People Sothebys rental portfolio is an exciting location offering a front row view of Federal Street from a meticulously restored Victorian home. This fully equipped home sleeps comfortably with 4 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms. Enjoy the covered porch or have your morning coffee in bricked patio and rose garden. Additionally, there is parking for one vehicle and your stay at 19 Broad Street includes daily maid service. This property is owned and operated by 21 Broad Street.

Call for more details or to book.

Call for more details or to book.

Lucie Cristler, Broker

Lucie Cristler, Broker

Enjoy the covered porch or have your morning coffee in the private, bricked patio and rose garden. Additionally, there is parking for one vehicle and your stay at 19 Broad Street includes daily maid service. This property is owned and operated by 21 Broad Street.

lucie@maurypeople.com | 508.241.2997

lucie@maurypeople.com | 508.241.2997

Call for more details or to book.

Lucie Cristler, Broker

lucie@maurypeople.com | 508.241.2997

Maury People Sotheby’s International Reatly | 37 Main Street, Nantucket MA 02554 | 508.228.1881

Maury People Sotheby’s International Reatly | 37 Main Street, Nantucket MA 02554 | 508.228.1881 | maurypeople.com

Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated. Equal Housing Opportunity.

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Trailing

OffINTERVIEW BY ROBERT COCUZZO PHOTO BY TIM EHERNBERG

A QUICK CHAT WITH NANTUCKET COTTAGE HOSPITAL’S SANTI

SCHEURELL

What’s one thing that most people don’t know about you?

For a good part of my childhood, I spent almost all my time doing gymnastics, more specifically power tumbling! I had the chance to compete in two national cham pionships and loved flipping and twisting across the floor.

You were recently elevated to vice president of Support Services at Nantucket Cottage Hospital (NCH), where you have worked for nearly a decade. What contribu tion to the hospital are you most proud of?

I am very proud of the work I have done in helping bring various departments across the hospital together to solve difficult prob lems. More specifically, working on projects to support our patients throughout the pandemic was particularly rewarding as it really showed the power of teamwork and the impact that NCH has on the community.

In your life outside of NCH, you recently launched a ready-todrink cocktail called Nantucket Ōshen Brew that was featured at the Chamber of Commerce annual Pitch Competition at the Dreamland.

How did this recipe come about?

Creating unique and delicious ways to bring family and friends together has been a part of my life since I was a child. Countless summers were spent with my grandma in the kitchen making everything under the sun to share with family and friends who would inevitably arrive to the kitchen to enjoy! I have spent the past few years experiment ing with various fermented creations that included sourdough, kimchi, kombucha, and finally I found my way to Jun Kombu cha and from there the Nantucket Ōshen Brew recipe was born.

If you were put in charge of putting together a time capsule so that people could understand Nantucket two hundred years from now, what three items would you put in it?

1) A selection of books from Mitchell’s written by local Nantucket authors. It would include fiction and nonfiction and would showcase not only Nantucket but some of the current events and culture that exists today.

2) Fisher Real Estate’s end of year report for 2022 to showcase what houses looked like as well as the crazy prices that some of these estates were sold for.

3) A collection of Nantucket Bay scallop and oyster shells, unique to the island, and [I would] hope that they continue to thrive two hundred years from now and they aren’t a relic of the past.

What’s your favorite Nantucket

Stroll ritual?

Sunday brunch is a must during our Nantucket Stroll and has been a part of our tradition for many years. It’s a great time to catch up with friends in town for the weekend and then spend the afternoon strolling through downtown enjoying the open shops and restaurants.

You and your husband Tim—our trusty Need to Read columnist—are originally from Wisconsin. What’s one part of Wisconsin that you wish existed on Nantucket?

Friday night fish fry! Nearly every Wisconsin town has a restaurant that serves a fish fry on Friday nights, and when we are back in Wisconsin, I always try to have it at least once. In high school, I worked at a supper club that had some of the best, and I will always remember the Friday night rush of people waiting to get their favorite order.

What’s an often-overlooked island activity that you would recommend to someone visiting Nantucket for the first time?

One of my favorite summer nights is heading out to ’Sconset to The Summer House for cocktails and the piano sing-along. The space transports you to a different era, and the atmosphere always promises a great summer night!

What’s one piece of advice that you live by?

Enjoy the little things in life, love one another deeply and appreciate the wonders we have all around us each day.

What’s one thing you can’t live without?

Apart from my loving husband and adorable dog, I absolutely love chocolate and more specifically chocolate chip cookies; it would be a tough life to live without fresh-baked cookies!

What’s the best way to enjoy the winter on Nantucket?

Tim and I love the winter on Nantucket because it is so starkly different than the summer. We often fill the warm months with friends and family visits, beaches and restaurants, and so the counterpart of winter is so enjoyable. Our favorite winter day might consist of hot yoga in the morning, followed by me cooking a delicious meal while Tim delves into the latest new book that arrived that day, all while our little dog Simba is curled up enjoying the sun—rinse and repeat.

21 Broad

76 Main

Advisors Living

Barrow Interiors

Bradford & Lowry Interiors

Carolyn Thayer Interiors

Christian Angle Real Estate

Community Foundation for Nantucket

Compass - Siu Fu Lau Team

Compass - The Nantucket Advisory Group, Shelly Lynch, Marybeth Gilmartin

Current Vintage

Douglas Elliman - Lydia Sussek

Edward M. Kennedy Institute

First Republic Bank

Fisher Real Estate

Geronimo's - Cold Noses

Great Point Properties

Heidi Weddendorf

J. Pepper Frazier Co.

John's Island Real Estate

Jordan Real Estate

Maggie Stewart Events

Maury People - Chandra Miller, Morgan Pomfret

Maury People - Bernadette Meyer

Maury People - Craig Hawkins, Bernadette Meyer

Maury People - Gary Winn

Maury People - Lucie Cristler

Maury People - Marybeth Gibson

Melissa David Salon

Nantucket Cottage Hospital

Nantucket Current

Nantucket Historical Association

Nantucket Sound

Nantucket Stone

Pumpkin Pond Farm

Sotheby's International Realty - T odd & Frances Peter

Susan Lister Locke

The Dreamland

Whitehall

William Raveis Nantucket

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FINGERTIPS

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