pt at large

First hay, Westport, MA

A field of hay swept into windrows is an iconic image that connects Westport with its agricultural past. The dry final week of June has been ideal for taking in the first mowing and a busy week for Jim Wood of Adamsville Road. After the mow, Wood’s tractor pulled a teddering machine through the field to fluff up the hay and hasten drying. Here he drags a hay-rake through the field making orderly windrows of hay.  A few hours later, Mr. Wood’s hay-baler compacted several hundred bales which were loaded into a barn for the cattle’s winter feed for a Drift Road farmer.

4th Annual Westport River Run: Racers and Lollygaggers paddle to the Head

From 36 pound Kevlar kayaks that skim the water like dragonflies to pedestrian green canoes that can carry the whole family plus a picnic basket, the 4th annual River Run Race had it all. With sunny skies, a gentle breeze, and an incoming tide to boot.

The 11 serious kayaks and canoes in the Challenge Race, an 8.5 mile route from the staging area at Hix Bridge south to Gunning Island then north to the Head of Westport, got underway in orderly fashion at 10 a.m.

Order, however, was not the word a casual observer might have chosen to describe the starting line for the Family Fun race just north of Hix Bridge.  A constellation of sixty-four swirling, pirouetting kayaks and canoes filled with exuberant crews with good intentions and dubious paddle coordination might be more accurate. Looking at the starting line from a perch atop Hix Bridge looked like three score of boats in spin cycle. By 10:30 a.m., race director Sam Ladd had coaxed enough order into the line to send them off to their reward (lunch) at the Head of Westport 3.5 miles away.

By noon, paddlers had been cheered past the finish line at the grassy knoll at the river’s edge near County Road. The youngest - 3 years old- to the oldest - often their grandparents- were rewarded with cold soft drinks, sandwiches, pizza, and watermelon. As was evident in the laid back medal ceremonies, this was as thoroughgoing a multi-generational event as one will find in Westport.

With such perfect conditions for four years in a row, it’s clear that organizers Anne Fitzgerald and Larry Hookey, co-hosts Sam Ladd of Osprey Sea Kayaks, and the Westport River Watershed Alliance have connections in high places.

Osprey monitors check for chicks on the Westport River

Osprey papas and mommas screeched and swooped in the cobalt blue skies.  Below them, a team of osprey monitors from the Allen’s Pond Wildlife Sanctuary was inspecting the contents of their nest and the parents weren’t happy about it. Holding a pole to ward off dive bombing parents intent on protecting the nests, Osprey Monitor Andrew DeLong and volunteer Alan Poole took turns climbing a ladder to count the number of eggs and chicks in 14 of the osprey platforms on islands and marshes on the East Branch of the Westport River.

The inspection was the second of a four part annual program that has tracked the osprey population since Gil and Jo Fernandez began rejuvenating the faltering local colony in the 1960s. The late legendary couple imported healthy eggs from Chesapeake Bay to replace the DDT weakened eggs produced by the local nesting birds. The osprey now flourish here.

During the cold, gray days of March, the first winged pairs arrived on the river from astonishingly distant winter habitats as far flung as Brazil.  By April, monitors completed the first part of the program by determining exactly which of the 83 platforms on the East and West Branches of the river were occupied.

The Tuesday May 24th assessment was to determine how many pairs were incubating eggs. Most nests contained three warm, chestnut brown, speckled eggs. Scrawny, grayish brown one to three day old chicks with eyes closed and beaks open were noted in several nests.

“The osprey population here is the longest monitored bird population in the world,” Poole said as he, DeLong and navigator George Yeomans shuttled between islands and marshes in the flat-bottomed outboard borrowed from the Westport River Watershed Alliance.

Dr. Poole, editor of “Birds of North America Online” (bna.birds.cornell.edu) has been monitoring ospreys here while pursuing a doctorate in Woods Hole (Boston University Marine Program) in the late 1970s. He’s lived part-time in Dartmouth since the early 1990s.

“Osprey can recognize landmarks from here to Brazil. They even recognize boats they associate with nest visits and generally ignore other boats at a similar distance, “ Dr. Poole said. They get riled up when the monitor’s boat approaches the nest.

This reporter was startled to hear a swoosh of feathered wings distressingly close over his head as he busily lined up a photo of the monitors setting up a ladder to climb one of the platforms. Within minutes of shoving off from marshy shores, one or both parents alighted upon their nests to reconnect with their eggs.

This is Mr. DeLong’s fledgling year as an osprey monitor. As soon as he saw the part-time job posted on the internet, the Warwick, Rhode Island resident knew he wanted it. Next April, Mr. DeLong, a retired inner-city social worker in Providence for 25 years, and his wife will be off to Africa as Peace Corps volunteers.

“It’s been a pretty steep learning curve for the past two months,” he said as he and Mr. Poole compiled data. “ This is an excellent place to work. The community avidly supports the effort and they’re really knowledgeable.”

Through June, Allen’s Neck Wildlife Sanctuary monitors will continue slogging out to the islands and marshes to count how many eggs hatch. The final part of the program will count how many pairs successfully raise their fledglings.

“Success takes luck, skill, and a lot of fish,” said Dr. Poole.

Tony Soprano and Harold Pinter: No Man’s Land

Sunday, June 10, 2007 - a day to embrace uncertainty. The least of my worries, as I await the matinee of "No Man’s Land" at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA, is that I won't grasp the meaning of Harold Pinter’s play. 

Pinter is the heavyweight champion playwright of pauses, loose context, and ambiguity. I realize I’m in over my head going in. If everyone’s candid, I’m not alone with this line of thought. One of the only things  generally agreed upon is that age and mortality are what’s on Pinter’s mind in "No Man’s Land". How appropriate for today.

I’m not worried about being boxed out by Harold Pinter this afternoon. No. My main concern is what’s going to happen to Tony Soprano tonight. I know that I’m not alone here, either. The average viewer-ship of every “The Sopranos” HBO episode is between 10 and 12 million people. Tonight is the last episode - ever.

I’m not worried that I’ll feel intellectually inadequate here. I’m taking comfort that I know ahead of time that Pinter leaves holes in the plot big enough to drive one of Tony’s waste management trucks through. I can embrace ambiguity on the stage. The uncertainty about Tony's fate is what gnaws at me.

Tonight, Tony Soprano is in No Man’s Land. Death looms. His inner circle, goombahs like grim-faced Silvio and man-child Bobby, has been whacked. Tony is in hiding. He's never seemed so vulnerable.

Tony can’t seem to escape his DNA. For every step forward toward a moral life, he’s made several backward. The alpha dog in him won't die - but Tony might tonight.

I know why I care about some of Pinter’s characters. Why do I care about Tony? He's an emotionally stunted bully. So why do I keep rooting for him to show me that he’s “basically a good guy,” as he’s told his therapist Dr Melfi? I want to believe in redemption for Tony - and by extension - for me. Tonight I get the answer.

As I write this note to myself just before Pinter’s play begins at 2 pm, I can hear the stonecutters tool boring into polished stone. I can see a slab of granite resting atop the fresh soil over Tony’s cold, dead body. As one of Pinter’s characters will say in the play, “There’s a place in the soul where no human being can trespass.”

What has Tony’s self-insulation into No Man’s Land cost him? What does it cost any of us? Trust or trespass? Love or rejection? Life or death? Tony finds out tonight. The rest of us have to wait.

Memorial Day, May 28, 2007, Westport, Massachusetts

Town officials, civil servants, politicians, and veterans salute as a band plays "America" at the conclusion of Memorial Day ceremonies for the nation's veterans.

Pizzazz was added to patriotism as the 215th Army National Guard Band from Fall River marched the route and delighted onlookers with snappy versions of martial music.

School Committee  member Russell Kleber, Representative Michael Roderiques, Select Board Chair Veronica Beaulieu spoke briefly at ceremonies at Beech Grove Cemetery. Veterans Agent Ron Costa has already invited the band to return to next year's parade.

Memorial Day, May 28, 2007, Westport, Massachusetts

Westport School Committee member Russell Kleber aimed his remarks at youngsters in the crowd by explaining a brief history of Memorial Day.

Representative Michael Rodriques, Wesport Select Board Chair Veronica Beaulieu and veteran's representatives also briefly spoke at the Beech Grove Cemetery ceremony. The parade was organized by Westport Veteran's Agent Ron Costa.