L E T T E R S
GAVE THE SHIRT OFF HIS BACK

To the editor:

I want to say "thank you" to an unnamed Nantucketer who made my family's vacation wonderful. His friendliness and generosity reflect well on everyone who lives on the island.

My wife and I flew to Nantucket on Cape Air with our one-year-old daughter. A short way into the bumpy flight on the eight-seater plane, our baby got airsick and threw up all over herself and my wife. With our diaper bag stowed in the wing, we searched in vain for some napkins or anything to clean ourselves up.

The man sitting in front of us offered up his sweatshirt. I refused, but he said the shirt was from his company and he had another at home. It was a heavy, fleece sweatshirt - it did the trick on the airplane, and I enjoy wearing it now that it's been thoroughly washed. The sweatshirt was from Sea View Window Cleaning. I never caught his name, but some Nantucketer was generous enough to literally give us the shirt off his back and I'll never forget him. That simple act of kindness colored my whole trip and has left me with a warm feeling about how thoughtful people can be.

To that great mystery man, my whole family thanks you, and I'll think of you every time I wear my Sea View Window Cleaning sweatshirt. To anyone on Nantucket who owns or manages property, if you ever need a window cleaner, you can't go wrong hiring a person with that much goodness in his heart. Sincerely,

- Allen Mattison Bethesda, Maryland THANKS FOR SUPPORT

To the editor:

I would like to thank all the families and business that supported this year's first annual World Walk for Breastfeeding. I truly appreciate the families that spent time and money to support La Leche League and the mother to mother support it offers.

The walk and our local La Leche League group are a success because of the dedication and support of these families. We simply couldn't have done it without you. I would also like to thank the following business that were very generous with their donations to support the walk.

My thanks to Annye's Whole Foods, Bartlett's farm, Bookworks, Marine Home Center/ Bayberry Classics, and Rachel Dixon of Sconset Massage.

My hope is that next year's walk will be an even bigger success and that all mother's know that La Leche League is here to offer information and support to all mothers for however long they choose to breastfeed. My thanks again.

- Sunny Daily La Leche League Leader STOP THE WAVE-ONS AND WHIP-OUTS To the editor:

Stop the wave-ons and whip-outs.

I am a native islander who recently left the Boston police department after over 20 years. I am astonished by on-island driving. I had seen these patterns in the suburbs of New Jersey and Connecticut, but now islanders are doing it. It's like a bunch of parade clowns are here on spring break or a hundred cowboys are amok. They make up laws as they drive around.

There is the "Little Traffic-cop Wannabee Wave," and There's the "Lightning Whip Out."

These are both "Violations of Right of Way" and both pre-suppose that people cannot drive without aid.

The first oddity is the "Little Traffic-Cop Wannabe Wave," in which people assume that if they are driving along and see someone waiting to pull out they should slam on their brakes to let them out. "Waiting to pull out" are the operative words here. People just want to drive without the dramatics, without everybody making up their own "feel good" variations on honest-to-God laws. People driving behind the frantic waver have a right to expect the smooth and orderly flow of traffic.

Being kind to person "A" at the expense of "B, C, D and E," who are perplexed and slamming on their brakes behind you is rude. Patronizing the person who is watching traffic to see when he/she can pull out, who expects you to continue driving past, only to find you stopped and waving to them, is obnoxious.

Oddly, when these wavers find themselves stopped by traffic and someone is trying to pull out into stopped traffic they'll crowd in and will not let the person out - which shows that their actions are not about being kind, they are about feeling special.

I sometimes wonder if the wavers think about their invaluable traffic assistance and picture someone at three in the morning with no traffic anywhere waiting for some waver to come by and signal to them that it is okay to pull out. I just want to wait until the coast is clear, not to interrupt anyone, not to mess up traffic patterns and to pull out when it is safe. But, that's just me, the all-American boy.

Now, if traffic is heavy and the person has been sitting there in an impossible situation, maybe this dangerous move would be acceptable on a rare occasion.

The second strange thing is another failure to grasp who gets to go where, and when. When a person is turning left onto a secondary road or into a parking lot and there is someone trying to pull out and turn left - that person pulling out has to wait until the person turning has turned. But, they don't wait their turn. Rather, they do the "Lightning Whip Out" and cut off the person smoothly making their turn. Then, the drivers who are making their turn, with traffic proceeding in an orderly fashion behind them, have to swerve and lock up their brakes, as do those behind them.

Did these Cowboys just make that up? You have to wait until the intersection has been cleared to enter into it. People pulling out never have the right-of-way. Never.

Could we stop the "Little Traffic-Cop Wannabe Wave-Ons," and the "Lightning Whip Outs?" You're not only taking the law incorrectly into your own hands, you're taking people's lives into your hands, and I do not see that you are up to the task.

- Scott Taylor SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

To the editor:

In last week's Independent a letter was written to the editor and signed Jason Meister. I am Jason Meister and I never wrote any letter to the Independent in my life except this one. The letter is a forgery. I would like to set the record straight.

The views in the forged letter are not mine. I support the 2 percent Land Bank tax because I am in favor of conservation and I am very happy that almost half the island is in permanent protected trust.

Further, I do not at all agree, as is set forth in the forged letter, that we now have a soft market. On the contrary, as a Nantucket real estate broker, I can tell you that the market has been good, particularly at the high end which remains very strong. For example, a house on four acres at Middle Valley Road sold along with a vacant lot on .33 acres at 48 Shimmo Pond Road for a total of $20,890,000.

Because the inventory levels on Nantucket while up slightly can't really substantially increase like other mainland markets, there is no real risk of any significant decline here, and consequently the market here is still robust. Let's not forget that there is not one U.S. real estate market but in reality hundreds of completely separate and independent regional markets and sub-markets. While all those markets are affected by some of the same factors, like the overall health of the U.S. economy, unemployment rates, geopolitical events and interest rates, the simple fact of the matter is that the number one factor is and always will be good old supply and demand.

Unlike regional markets like South Florida and Las Vegas, where high rise vertical construction and horizontal sprawl can and has resulted in 600 to 700 percent inventory increases, nothing like that has happened or ever could happen on Nantucket. Of course, we have no high rises here so developers cannot add hundreds or thousands of units in one fell swoop and, as everyone knows, there is for all practical purposes no land available for subdivision and an inconsequential number of vacant lots.

Further, overall economic conditions are good, with strong corporate profits, the DOW has stabilized over 11,000, unemployment is at record lows and interest rates have leveled off and will likely decline in the mid term. Finally, people continue to love Nantucket for all that it offers, pristine beaches, a quaint and beautiful town, historic architecture, gourmet dining, comfortable summer weather, fishing, golfing, boating and conservation areas. So with supply constrained and demand strong, I am expecting a very strong Season in '07.

It remains a mystery to me why someone would forge my name to a letter to the editor. Perhaps, someone is trying to maliciously injure my reputation by attributing to me views I do not possess. I intend to get to the bottom of this and hope this unfortunate soul stops impersonating me.

I suggest the newspapers be very careful and speak to anyone they think has submitted a letter before publishing it. Unfortunately, I was not called before the letter was published. Again, the market is strong and I support the 2 percent tax.

Thanks for allowing me to set the record straight.

- Jason Meister THE LANGUAGE OF FORCE

To the editor:

I have already danced around the fact that one cannot design a building on paper. That while the paper lies there dead - while the ideas in the owner's mind twist and reshape and make corrections even before copies of the plans are printed. Building is dynamic. Alive.

If people build for themselves or speak directly to the craftsmen who will build for them the thing they build is uniquely suited to them.

One of the beauties of being human is that when a person builds with their family and friends, with the people who will share the space with them, then what they set out to build and what they actually build are totally different and this is as it should be. As they build and consult with each other they will invariably see many improvements to their original design and will make those corrections. Each element of whatever is being built is deeply felt and full of meaning.

For example, if I build an entry to my home I will naturally make it sheltered from driving rain and snow. I will give it windows for a view, and so that I can see visitors, and to keep the temperature regulated. I will put a bench inside so that we can take off muddy boots and will make a spot wide enough for a drying umbrella.

There will need to be a place for parcels being delivered. Often a child's bicycle or two may be corralled there for the night. It would be helpful to have a wide 36-inch door and a storm door.

There should be pegs for coats.

If I am waiting for someone and the weather is bad I will be glad for a place of shelter from which I can see the driveway. I'll want shelves to rest my groceries on, or to put things on which I will want to remember to take with me, or to have guests take with them.

If, as I am building this entry, my grandmother has a stroke and is sent to my house in a wheelchair to convalesce, I certainly will want a ramp right away. If I have to ask committees for permission and it comes down to my grandmother's wellbeing versus a committee, it will quickly occur to me how little I want to check with others to provide what I know needs to be provided.

The only reason we have such difficulty on Nantucket is that we are being taught to give up our lives a little insidious inch every day.

I often mention building or buildings when I write because building has always been the basis of the Nantucket culture, of the genius that is a man, or a lady, with a hammer, nails, sweat and an idea.

In our expression of our lives, in our buildings, we see a very real contrast between how we used to be able to live and what we are presently reduced to. We cannot freeze time. We can free people from this terrible set of processes that have claimed our lives on island before the language of joy that onisland builders used to use as their blueprint winks out entirely and is lost to all but the dreamer - and the dreamer cannot bring the dream into our lives because he or she is constrained by force.

It would be nice to remove the language of force that has reduced all we try to do. But, first we have to see it as force and to realize how it has crept into every aspect of our lives, and to realize that it is new and that a few have foisted it upon us without our permission. All are losing but a few - and those few are not very nice people.

- Marjorie Collins