All Stories

our picks for the week of August 6 through August 12

Outer Cape Calendar Bucket List (Thurs) The public art collective Illegal Art will stage a fully permitted event on Thursday, Aug. 6, from 5 to 7 p.m., at Provincetown Town […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — On a calm, sunny day, the word was out among fishermen: big schools of Atlantic bluefin tuna were active and feeding just a few miles off the backside […]

PUBLIC HEALTH

PROVINCETOWN — Massachusetts is ramping up efforts to find positive cases of coronavirus. Asymptomatic screening programs are being expanded around the state, and Provincetown recently announced it will begin a […]

CORONAVIRUS

EASTHAM — Two town residents tested positive for Covid-19 after a house party in Chatham that resulted in at least 13 positive cases, according to Health Agent Jane Crowley. Crowley, […]

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

TRURO — Health and Conservation Agent Emily Beebe told the zoning board of appeals last week that the proposed treatment system at the 39-unit Cloverleaf development would reduce nitrogen in […]

THE COVID EFFECT

Rumors started to circulate last week that a rash of Wellfleet restaurants had closed due to positive Covid-19 tests among staff. According to public notices from restaurateurs, Mac’s Shack closed […]

TECHNOLOGY

While debates about in-person schooling rage and doctor visits go virtual, Outer Cape towns are negotiating the next decade of internet coverage in the area. Contracts between the individual towns […]

ENVIRONMENT

With summer well underway, higher temperatures coupled with nutrient overload in kettle ponds and lakes brings the dangerous return of cyanobacteria blooms, also known as blue-green algae. As of Tuesday, […]

HELMSMEN AT PLAY

PROVINCETOWN — It’s been a while, but the Provincetown Yacht Club’s summer racing season is back on course. The hiccups started July 11, when excess wind postponed the third leg […]

PERSONAL HISTORY

TRURO — As my close friend and neighbor calmly explained to me on the phone that he had a high fever and was showing potential coronavirus symptoms, my eyes drifted […]

IN MEMORIAM

Fewer and fewer people these days have a clear idea of who Harry Kemp was. Some might recognize his name from Harry Kemp Way, the road in Provincetown where Outer […]

BODY/MIND

“Practice makes perfect” or “10,000 hours to become an expert” — we like to believe that if we do something long enough, we conquer it. Then we can set it […]

HELP LINES

Editor’s note: In the Aug. 6 print edition of the Independent the Well Line’s phone number was incorrect. The correct number has been substituted below. WELLFLEET — “We all have to go […]

ASSESSING THE RISK

Fall sports will most likely be much different than ever before this coming season. The Mass. Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) officially voted on July 15 to move the start date […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Aug. 4, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

In last week’s column, I wrote that I thought I had seen it all, only to watch a man with a scuba mask dive off his paddleboard to swim with […]

WORKOUT WOES

PROVINCETOWN — It happened just weeks ago, when he was shopping: Lorenzo Wigfall pulled on a pair of jeans and realized — to his horror — that it was too […]

COCKTAIL HOUR

The fleeting joy of summer is something we wait for all year here on the Outer Cape and, yet, it is almost gone before we know it. Right now, August […]

PLANTCRAFT

Solar dyeing starts with a gathering: deadheaded blooms, freshly unfurled petals, bright green leaves. Dyer’s Coreopsis, Queen Anne’s lace, and Rudbeckia. My garden shears make quick work of the task. […]

GALLERY

Collaboration among innovators, designers, builders, and television executives built the 2020 This Old House Idea House, the first of its kind on Cape Cod. It started with a design by […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, Aug. 6 Board of Assessors, 9 a.m. Public Pier Corp., 11 a.m. Zoning […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, Aug. 6 Climate Action Committee, 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 11 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover your mouse over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen, and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

artists

In 2007, painter Michele Harvey, whose breathtaking oil landscapes of forests in the early morning mist commanded high prices at her galleries in New York City and Provincetown, found her […]

galleries

Painter Christopher Sousa, whose exhibit, “All the Time in the World,” will be at William Scott Gallery from Friday, Aug. 7, through Aug. 19, does not paint what he considers […]

painters

“Since 1990, Punchinello has always been included as the primary actor in the narrative of my paintings,” Patrick Webb says. Though Punchinello is a classic commedia dell’arte character, Webb depicts […]

Editor’s note: 75 years ago this week,the United States became the only country in the world to deploy nuclear weapons against civilians, dropping atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima(Aug.6, […]

OP-ED

Climate change is a clear and present danger to our community and to humanity as a whole. We are digging a hole for ourselves by continuing to produce greenhouse gas […]

SKETCHBOOK

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TEACAKE'S TAKE

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NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Our Sun signs, along with the rest of our charts, are imprinted at birth in that first moment of independent existence. We are free to begin the process of personality […]

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

People get annoyed when they don’t get their paper. I guess it’s good to be up there with coffee in our neighbors’ hierarchy of needs. While there are some things […]

The Virus and FedEx To the editor: In recent weeks, as the temperatures have spiked and the streets have filled to whatever extent they have this year, I have noticed […]

TIDE CHART

Provincetown and Wellfleet Harbors High tide Low tide The Sun A.M. ft. P.M. ft. A.M. ft. P.M. ft. Rise Set Thu P’town 1:41 10.3 2:14 9.3 7:59 -0.1 8:11 0.6 […]

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from July 27 to July 31, 2020. PROVINCETOWN July 29. Scott A. Allegretti and James B. McNeilly to Ross J. and April […]

John Kaschak, 74, who spent over 50 years on Cape Cod, died on July 14, 2020, in Harwich. The cause was lung cancer, said his brother, Frank. The son of […]

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS Provincetown Tennis Club front desk staff member needed. Answer phones, make reservations using our computer system, answer member questions. 10-15 hours a week, $20/hour. Call the club to arrange […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Jessica Brilli’s ‘Idle Time’ A show of new work by artist Jessica Brilli, “Idle Time,” will open on Friday, Aug. 7, at Kobalt Gallery at 366 Commercial St. in Provincetown. […]

where's waldo?

Fishing heated up with the weather this past week. Striped bass have not gone into their summer doldrums and are feeding during the day in large concentrations all along Beach Point […]

THE NEW NORMAL

PROVINCETOWN — The goal is clear and workable: at some point, we’ll be able to systematically screen for coronavirus, identify asymptomatic carriers early, and effectively squelch community spread. What we […]

POLICING PART 2

Sorting out the truth about racial profiling and policing on the Outer Cape is no easy assignment. But the explanation given last month by local police for disproportionate arrest statistics […]

NO FREE LUNCH

After a kitchen worker tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, the region’s entire federally supported free lunch program, which spans Harwich to Provincetown, was shut down on Monday. Thirteen staffers […]

LEARNING

A group of anonymous women have sewn two masks for every Provincetown student for their return to school in September. But whether students will actually come back to wear them […]

WAITING GAME

EASTHAM — The Rock Harbor parking lot and boat ramp are expected to be accessible at last next week, according to Harbormaster Scott Richards. “The project is near completion and […]

CANDIDATES

The public will have its first chance to meet the three Truro town manager candidates, who are profiled below, at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 4, in a virtual meeting. […]

GALLERY

The July 21 dedication ceremony for two new Cape Cod Habitat for Humanity homes in Wellfleet was virtual, but still celebratory, marking the culmination of a construction effort that started […]

BEEKEEPING

Deep into summer, beekeeping on the Outer Cape is mostly a waiting game. The queen has been laying since April; the hive population is perhaps 60,000. Though we’re in a […]

KITCHEN TABLE

Growing up in Oklahoma I could never have imagined eating a fish with the head still on. Like most Americans in landlocked states, when I was a kid, I expected […]

CROSSWORD #12

The July puzzle from Sophia Maymudes. Need some answers? We send out the solution in our Friday newsletter. You’ll find the signup for our newsletter right here on our home […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

CLEMENTINE VALTZ / STUDENT & WRITER / WELLFLEET Clementine Valtz decided, as a junior, to apply to college. If accepted, she would skip her senior year at Nauset Regional High […]

BASEBALL

Major League Baseball (MLB) returned to play last week with no fans in the ballparks but plenty of people watching on TV from their living room couches. Some of those […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Every 29½ days, the Moon goes full in the sign directly opposite the Sun, currently in Leo. Full Moons are an exercise in self-examination and this full Moon, in Aquarius, […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, July 28, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

MOVEMENT

While plenty of people here are devoted to daily swims, I meet many who haven’t gone in the water for years. They’re too busy. They think it’s a vacation thing, […]

DEVELOPMENT

EASTHAM — Despite concerns about potential conflicts of interest, Scott Kerry, Eastham’s town moderator, will remain chair of the town’s T-Time Development Committee. The T-Time committee voted unanimously to maintain […]

BUDGET CHECK

Eastham Eastham Is ‘Well Positioned Going Into This’  By Ryan Fitzgerald EASTHAM — The town’s finance director, Rich Bienvenue, presented a revised fiscal year 2021 budget proposal to the select […]

SOCIAL MEDIA

Five years ago, Andrea Sawyer was asked to be a moderator of the Provincetown Community Space (PCS) Facebook page by a friend who was giving up the position. Sawyer thought […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Wednesday, Aug. 5 Historic District Commission, 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6 Board […]

CURRENTS

Truro Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, July 30 Zoning Board of Appeals, 5:30 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From wellfleet-ma.gov, hover your mouse over a date on the calendar on the right of the screen, and click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

GALLERIES

“It sort of annoys me when people say, ‘I don’t want to be seen as a gay artist,’ ” Forrest Williams says. “There’s an incredible tradition of homoerotic art.” Williams […]

PAINTING

Since Lorraine DeProspo moved to Provincetown year-round almost two years ago — for nearly two decades, she split her time between here and Montclair, N.J. — she has noticed a […]

DRAG

“Cacophony is all about enjoying the moments we have,” Courter Simmons says of his drag persona, Cacophony Daniels. “I’ve always wanted her to be the kind of person you get […]

MIXED MEDIA

Even before her mother, Michele Antoinette Pray-Griffiths, died in the summer of 2014, writer-photographer Rachel Eliza Griffiths was shooting black-and-white self-portraits, positioning herself in locations that resonate with history, memory, […]

BOOK REVIEW

Long ago, my children and I celebrated at the library whenever we came across a favorite picture book by Arnold Lobel. No matter how many times we read it, The […]

ARTS DURING COVID

Could this be a new age for chamber music? With small ensembles and limited audiences, chamber music certainly seems more Covid-friendly than, say, Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand.” But what […]

COVID PORTRAIT #3

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THE YEAR-ROUNDER

Look at what you are holding in your hands (or reading online). It is the creation of a group of people dedicated to bringing you the stories of the Outer […]

OP-ED

Every day, some ridiculous or explosive or dangerous or miraculous thing happens with our teenagers. I wish I could sit them all down and tell them about John Lewis. A […]

STEAMERS

Gossip Superspreader by A. Crock

VIGNETTE

Mother Duckie by Daniel Dejean

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Several readers sent us an article published this week in CommonWealth magazine titled “As local news withers, we’re losing sense of identity.” The author, Bruce Mohl, reports the stories of […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Cloverleaf Won’t Help Seasonal Workers To the editor: Re last week’s two op-ed columns [July 23, page A3]: Sen. Julian Cyr, perhaps the best elected official in the state, beats […]

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS Provincetown Tennis Club front desk staff member needed. Answer phones, make reservations using our computer system, answer member questions. 10-15 hours a week, $20/hour. Call the club to arrange […]

Thomas “T” Gandolfo of Provincetown and Gulfport, Fla., died on July 19, 2020, in Gulfport following a short illness. He was 75. Born in Methuen in 1945, Gandolfo combined the […]

Frank Hogan, a Provincetown native who was an accomplished collector of art and antiques and had an art gallery in Orleans until about a decade ago, died early in the […]

HOME

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from July 20 to July 24, 2020. PROVINCETOWN July 20. Emanuel D. Berger and Nicholas P. Klesaris to Kenneth […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of July 30 through August 5

Outer Cape Calendar An Artist’s Lot The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod is hosting an online silent auction starting on Thursday, July 23, at noon through Sunday, Aug. 9, at […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Now Screening: ‘Clay,’ Short Film on Potter Steve Kemp Michael Cestaro was born and raised in Eastham, graduated from Nauset Regional High School in 2004, and left for college in […]

THE WATERFRONT

PROVINCETOWN — An evening aboard the schooner Hindu, watching the sun slip behind the monument and clouds light up like giant hydrangeas, has been a Provincetown tradition since 1946. Generations […]

ADDICTION

PROVINCETOWN — Though crystal meth has long been a fixture in Provincetown’s drug scene, the rest of the Cape is experiencing its first big brush with the extremely addictive stimulant. […]

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

TRURO — As opposition to the design of the affordable housing project known as the Cloverleaf continued last week, the developer responded to wastewater concerns and objections by the disability […]

CORONAVIRUS

WELLFLEET — There were no positive Covid-19 tests among the 987 people tested in Provincetown and Wellfleet during a two-day period in June, the Independent has learned. The tests, administered […]

CIVICS

As the future of the U.S. Postal Service, which President Trump has called “a joke,” continues to be ominously clouded, a key group of the service’s users on the Outer […]

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

TRURO — Janice Sommers and Janice Walk have called Sally’s Way home from its beginnings — going back to 2012 when Truro’s long-awaited affordable housing development was just a sandy […]

WHILE I WAS SLEEPING

Legendary music agent Elliot Roberts, who died a little more than a year ago, was the best kind of friend, wickedly funny, warm and engaged, and always with the most […]

SQUID INK

WELLFLEET — I parked at Newcomb’s, front row for a surf check, and had not yet left the car when my friend Al walked over, rubbing the head of his […]

BABYCAKES

Olya Lowen Belmer was born on July 11, 2020, at the Montreal Royal Victoria Hospital in Canada. She gestated in Wellfleet, though, where her father, Aaron Richmond, was in residence […]

GALLERY

Besides providing a first impression, the front door of your home can also establish its aesthetic. And if you believe in feng shui, the front door provides the portal for […]

GARDEN VARIETY

TRURO — On a sunny hill overlooking Cold Storage Beach in North Truro, Gunter Hanelt, a jeweler by profession, tends to more organic treasures. His overflowing vegetable garden boasts sugar-snap […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, July 21, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

The dog days of summer are certainly upon us, and summertime fishing and whale watching are in full swing. Striped bass have been biting despite the July heat, which typically […]

VOLLEYBALL AND BEYOND

Many arriving on Outer Cape beaches this summer are bringing beach games with them — a reflection of people’s widespread but pent-up need to interact. Several popular beach games are […]

LOST & FOUND

Container gardening doesn’t have to be traditional. Clay pots filled with tomato plants and geraniums are just fine, but a few blossoms or mosses set in castoff containers can be […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The Sun has entered Leo, the fifth sign of the Zodiac, which spans the midsummer weeks and the heights of the season. As Leo is also ruled by the Sun, […]

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

PROVINCETOWN — On Aug. 5, 1910, after three years of construction, Provincetown’s Pilgrim Monument, commemorating the first landing place of the Mayflower Pilgrims, was dedicated by President William Howard Taft […]

WELLFLEET — The local source of free clothes is available again. Mass Appeal reopened on July 14 after months of being closed because of the coronavirus. Mass Appeal’s hours are […]

PROVINCETOWN — Outer Cape Health Services, which operates urgent and primary care clinics in Provincetown, Wellfleet, and Harwich, is encouraging its primary-care patients to schedule routine health care appointments previously […]

HERRING RIVER

The Friends of Herring River has a new survey for the public about the Herring River Restoration Project in Wellfleet and Truro. The survey is part of the project’s permitting […]

CIVICS

WELLFLEET — Plans for the 2020 annual town meeting are at last set. Almost five months after the meeting was originally to have taken place, it will be convened at […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, July 23 Visitor Services Board, 10 a.m. Public Pier Corp., 3 […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, July 23 Climate Change Action, 10 a.m. Friday, July 24 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, July 23 Natural Resources Advisory […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

GALLERIES

“We’re here to communicate,” says Dave Laro. “We are all trying to make sense of this world we were born into.” As an artist, Laro tells stories by collecting old […]

What would Hans Hofmann think of Zoom? That may sound like a silly question, but it’s one that is conjured up by Laura Shabott’s paintings at the Berta Walker Gallery […]

ARTISTS

If you’re a baseball fan, William Ciccariello’s paintings of players will soar like a home run sailing over the Green Monster, up into the light and then gone, into the […]

BOOK REVIEW

Sylvia A. Harvey, in her book The Shadow System: Mass Incarceration and the American Family, offers a crash course on the gruesome realities of American prisons. Beginning with her own […]

GALLERIES

“I love this place,” Angela Russo says of Provincetown. Russo is a photographer and the gallerist of Angela Russo Fine Art/Karilon Gallery, the cozy art-bedecked space at 447 Commercial St. […]

SKETCHBOOK

John Lewis, Good Trouble, by Mark Adams

OP-ED

TRURO — In early June, many Outer Cape Codders joined in our shared reckoning over the crisis of white supremacy and racial inequity in this country. After the protests, many […]

VIGNETTE

Vignette by Daniel Dejean

OP-ED

PROVINCETOWN — The Independent’s July 9 front-page story on the effects of the coronavirus crisis on dogs, “Pandemic Is No Treat for the Four-Legged,” fell into a common and unfortunate […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Last week, Publisher Teresa Parker wrote about the financial challenge of launching and sustaining a high-quality newspaper without sufficient start-up capital, and then finding ourselves smack in the middle of […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Visiting Truro While Black To the editor: We appreciate the Independent’s attention to race-based discrimination and reports of racial profiling on the Outer Cape [July 2 and July 16]. In […]

CLASSIFIEDS

JOBS Provincetown Tennis Club front desk staff member needed. Answer phones, make reservations using our computer system, answer member questions. 10-15 hours a week, $20/hour. Call the club to arrange […]

OBITUARY

Henrietta L. Jakubowski, 91, of Provincetown and Jupiter, Fla., has been called “Hy” for as long as she could remember, and the moniker certainly fit her infectiously happy personality. She […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from July 13 to July 17, 2020.  PROVINCETOWN July 13. Christopher T. Kenyon and Steven R. Poyner to Brown Street Cottage LLC. […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of July 23 through July 29

Outer Cape Calendar The Pearl Can’t Help It Music at the Wellfleet Pearl is back! The Aaron Norcross Trio performs Sunday, July 26, at 3 p.m. at 250 Commercial St. […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Supremely Nostalgic Group Show at Albert Merola The Albert Merola Gallery will present a new group show, “Reflections of…,” opening Friday, July 24, and on view through Aug.12. Featured are […]

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

We went to press with our first weekly issue on Oct. 7, 2019, a little over nine months ago. Our business plan said we needed $375,000 in the bank.We had […]

RESIGNATION

PROVINCETOWN — Robin Craver was hired as Provincetown’s town manager by the select board on Jan. 13, 2020. Her contract included a six-month probationary period, after which, if she were […]

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

TRURO — The zoning board’s review of the proposed 39-unit Cloverleaf affordable housing project will not be completed in time for developer Ted Malone to apply for state funding before […]

BLACK AND WHITE

TRURO — Last July, N.K., a University of Chicago professor here on vacation, took a right at the entrance to Corn Hill Beach in Truro, put her towel down, and […]

HEALTH

PROVINCETOWN — Health care is rarely simple. The question of who can access it, where, when, and for how much often gets a conditional and specific answer that’s different for […]

COUNTY SEAT

PROVINCETOWN — The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates adopted a resolution on June 17 questioning the legality of Gov. Charlie Baker’s Covid-19 response. The Outer Cape’s delegates opposed the resolution, […]

INVESTIGATION

PROVINCETOWN — When accusations of discrimination and failure to address racially charged incidents at the Fine Arts Work Center became public last month, the organization’s board responded with a letter […]

HOT WHEELS

“Bikes are the new toilet paper,” said Bill Meadows, who owns Ptown Bikes. That’s the big joke in his business. The national surge in interest in biking has definitely found […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

The fish seem to be settling into a fairly normal summer pattern lately, unlike most of their human counterparts. Striped bass can be found in good numbers from the Cottages […]

MASKED

On a hot Sunday in July, a walk down Commercial Street in Provincetown brought photographer Edward Boches mask-to-mask with a slow summer-paced wave of humanity. Whether seated in the shade, […]

MEET THE MAKER

I learned the basics of turned wood bowls in junior high school wood shop, and the challenge of it has fascinated me ever since. But college, then family, and my […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, July 14, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

SUMMERTIME BLUES

TRURO — Like many men of his generation, my father was not much of a cook. He was good with burgers and steaks and made a fine tuna salad. But […]

HISTORY UNMUDDLED

WELLFLEET — On the official seal of the town of Wellfleet, a party of pilgrims rows ashore in a dinghy as a crowd of indigenous people wait on the beach. […]

TRURO HISTORICAL SOCIETY

TRURO — A new virtual exhibition opening Friday, July 17, at the Highland House Museum celebrates Truro’s history through paintings on a surprising kind of canvas: ceramic plates. “Looking Back, […]

MUSICIANS

Eleanor Dubinsky is a polyglot in every sense of the word. She sings in four languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English. She plays the cello and the guitar. She’s lived […]

SCHOOLS

While Massachusetts students may return to the classroom in some form in 2020, it is looking like approval for the Nauset Regional High School building project will have to wait […]

PROVINCETOWN — Thirty percent of registered Provincetown voters cast ballots in the June 30 annual town election, in which incumbent select board members Robert P. Anthony and Louise Venden squared […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, July 16 Board of Health, 4 p.m. Zoning Board of Appeals, 6 p.m. […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, July 16 Climate Action Committee, 10 a.m. Town […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

PAINTING

Painting is the sole focus of artist Midge Battelle’s work these days. Known as a photographer and respected curator in the Provincetown art scene, she considers her current artwork the […]

MUSEUM-GOING

Returning to the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, after several months without setting foot in an art museum, feels like coming home: white walls sprinkled with paintings, the sound of […]

SCREENINGS

Mya Taylor, who is receiving this year’s Next Wave Award at the Provincetown International Film Festival, has a burgeoning career as a transgender performer in Hollywood. But before her breakthrough […]

BOOK REVIEW

In 1972, James Baldwin wrote “The Shot That Echoes Still,” a painful and personal essay for Esquire magazine reflecting on the assassinations of Malcolm X in 1965 and Martin Luther […]

VIGNETTE

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SKETCHBOOK

Watercolor lesson on the bank of a Great Pond. Massachusetts common law tradition says that any pond over 20 acres is a Great Pond and is a Commons, held by […]

DUNE TOWN

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

‘Redeem the Dream’ To the editor: Dennis Minsky’s column in the July 9 Independent [“A Higher-Stakes July 4th, ” page A3] spoke to me. This past July Fourth, being like […]

CLASSIFIEDS

TOURS Hopper House Tours reopen. You stay safe in your car, following the guide’s car, using a provided two-way radio. This unique experience takes you on back roads and to […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from July 6 to July 10, 2020. PROVINCETOWN July 7. Kevin Bazarian and Jose Perez to Matthew and Joseph Chartier Petrells. 446 […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The new moon on the cusp of Cancer and Leo clears the air for fresh perspective. It’s time to forgive and forget what’s past and focus on what’s to become […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of July 16 through July 22

Outer Cape Calendar Streaming Readings The Wellfleet Public Library is hosting a virtual poetry reading on Zoom with Heather Corbally Bryant, Tzynya Pinchback, and Lynne Viti, on Thursday, July 16, […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

In-Person Classes Return to Castle Hill Following its success with virtual classes this summer, Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill is reintroducing in-person instruction, starting in August. Classes […]

SCIENCE AT RISK: PART 3

This is the third and final article in a series on the Cape Cod National Seashore’s science program. It explores why science matters at the Seashore and why it’s at […]

CORONAVIRUS

PROVINCETOWN — As the crowds of visitors grew larger and tensions mounted last week, the select board held an emergency meeting on July 2 at which Police Chief James Golden […]

BAR ASSOCIATION

PROVINCETOWN — Gov. Charlie Baker’s reopening plan puts restaurants on one side of a line and bars on another. Restaurants can be open now for outdoor dining, indoor dining, and […]

LAND USE

EASTHAM — The 11 acres of town-owned property on Route 6 that once was the T-Time driving range might become a regional swimming pool, community center, commercial kitchen, affordable housing, […]

HOUSING

TRURO — Following years of noncompliance with its orders, the board of health took decisive action on June 30 against the owners of the Truro Motor Inn by not renewing […]

BACCALAUREATES

PROVINCETOWN — Fourteen eighth-grade students celebrated their completion of the Provincetown Schools International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program on June 22. They walked down the front steps of the school, past the […]

LIBERTY & JUSTICE

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DOG DAYS

WELLFLEET — Though canines won’t be receiving a stimulus check, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been affected by the coronavirus crisis. Because of your dog’s acute ability to sense stress […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, July 7, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

This Fourth of July on the waterfront was certainly different than any other I have experienced in all my years here. The vibe was low-key, and it was very sad […]

THE UN-VIDEO GAME

With team and televised sports fading out over these past four months, determined athletes have sought out new activities. Marla Rice and her husband, Kevin, who live in Wellfleet, decided […]

DOVETAIL JOINT

The question: I’d love to create a patio in my yard. Can I do it myself? While you can do some of the work toward putting in a patio, you’re […]

GALLERY

It seems no Cape Cod home is complete without an outdoor shower. Coming home from the beach with sandy feet and wind-strewn hair and heading straight for it is a […]

ARCHITECTURE

“It is unusual for a high school to have an architecture program,” says Peter McMahon, the founding director of the Cape Cod Modern House Trust (CCMHT) and co-author of Cape […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

With the full moon behind us and Mercury stationing direct this weekend, we heartily welcome some emotional reprieve and levity. But not so fast! The tough lessons of the past […]

KITCHEN TABLE

Potato chips were practically invented for this moment in history. They are an irresistible escape from everything difficult about responsible grown-up life. But salt- and fat-wise, it can’t be entirely […]

COCKTAIL HOUR

It was the year of the Chicken Dance and I was studying abroad in the old university town of Salamanca, Spain. Dictator Francisco Franco had been dead just a few […]

CIVICS

WELLFLEET — There is a new select board member in town, and he comes from a long line of Wellfleet civic leaders. Ryan Curley, 36, says he is a 15th-generation […]

GREENING

The Swapshop Ecology Action (SEA) Prize, awarded by the Wellfleet-based nonprofit Cape Cool, goes to graduating Cape Cod seniors who have demonstrated dedication to environmentalism both inside and outside the […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, July 9 Planning Board, 6 p.m. Public Pier Corp., 3 p.m. […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, July 9 Zoning Board of Appeals, Cloverleaf hearing, […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, July 9 Dredging Task Force, […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

GALLERIES

Visiting the Rice Polak Gallery in Provincetown after three months without live art is a surreal experience, from being presented with hand sanitizer and plastic gloves at the door to […]

MOVIES

According to Lisa Viola, artistic director of the Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF), she and her staff and the Provincetown Film Society’s new CEO, Rachael Brister, were halfway through preparations […]

QUEER LIT

In the introduction to Written in Invisible Ink: Selected Stories, by Hervé Guibert, the late queer literary hero of the AIDS era, translator Jeffrey Zuckerman writes that in French, “invisible […]

HEY DAHLIN’

Wanted: Gender-nonspecific “soft butch” having most qualities of a classic soft butch (you know what they are). In addition, applicant must be mature, firm but kind, must like people, but […]

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

The Fourth of July has come and gone and I am not quite sure what to make of it. There was celebration and merriment — always a good thing, I […]

VIGNETTE

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STEAMERS

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

What’s the most fun part of starting a newspaper? Thinking about what to put in it. We knew from the start that our home territory was the Outer Cape, four […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Parking and Elitism in Wellfleet To the editor: Your letter from the editor in the July 2 issue misrepresents the intention and impact of the policy to restrict parking at […]

CLASSIFIEDS

FOR SALE 2005 Toyota Camry. High mileage but runs well. Body condition fair. One owner, asking $1,900. Please call (508) 487–4225, or email [email protected] [7-30] Complete set of law books. Dated 1874 to 2014 and in […]

Josephine “Joie” Deall was born Oct. 4, 1935, in Brooklyn, N.Y., and spent her childhood in various neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Long Island. After living with dementia for the last […]

A loving father, grandfather, and friend, George Ralph Bertrand died on June 19, 2020, at age 73. He was born in Cherry Hill, N.J., and raised in Springfield. He moved […]

Mary Louise “Mary Lou” (Ferreira) Rose, 88, died at her home in Truro surrounded by family on July 2, 2020 after a brief illness. She was the wife of Austin […]

Damian Joseph Silva, 20, of Wellfleet, died unexpectedly on June 24, 2020. No cause of death was given. He was the son of Cassandra Silva and the older brother of […]

Anthony Philip Samuel Brill, of New York City and North Truro, died on June 30, 2020 at the age of 55 after a four-year battle with colon cancer. Known to […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from June 29 to July 2, 2020. PROVINCETOWN June 29. CHR RPR LLC to Melanie L. Reveal. 43 Race Point Rd., Unit […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of July 9 through July 15

Outer Cape Calendar  Mixed Media Maleness Catch the “Modern Male II” show at Steve Bowersock Gallery at 373 Commercial St. in Provincetown, featuring artworks of all media submitted from across […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Show of Eight Women Artists at AMP A group show of eight artists — Dianne Ayott, Midge Battelle, Barbara E. Cohen, Anne Corrsin, Phyllis Ewen, Kathi Robinson Frank, Nancy Rubens, […]

HARD (AND SOFT) LICKS

The warm temperatures and the parade of cars could mean only one thing. It was time to stop standing at the kitchen counter eating ice cream straight out of the […]

INVESTIGATION

EASTHAM — Virginia Reynolds was working in the summer of 2018 at Bayside Consignment, a now-defunct shop on Route 6, when, she says, Barbara Niggel, the owner of the building, […]

POLICING, PART 1

As conversations about racism and police brutality have spread to every corner of the country, including the Outer Cape, police data have been at the root of efforts to expose […]

ADDICTION

Gov. Charlie Baker signed an executive order on March 15 expanding access to telehealth services for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis. His action has the potential to make Medication […]

REOPENING

PROVINCETOWN — Many of Provincetown’s most iconic experiences are phase three businesses that could, if statewide indicators stay on the right track, be reopening on Monday, July 6. Phase three […]

ELECTION

TRURO — Voters said no to hiring four new firefighter-paramedics and purchasing a heavy-duty tractor trailer for the DPW at the June 30 town election. Only 469 or 24 percent […]

HOUSING

TRURO — The proposed affordable housing complex known as the “Cloverleaf” will have the cedar shingles and painted trim that have typified other housing developments by the Provincetown-based Community Housing […]

SHORE ROAD

NORTH TRURO — The very first time I drove into Provincetown I took the shore road, of course. Right away, I knew I was entering another reality. At first, I […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

NANCY CIVETTA / SHELLFISH CONSTABLE / WELLFLEET In early July, things are different on Wellfleet’s shellfish flats. Even as restaurants begin to open more fully across the commonwealth and country, […]

PORTUGUESE FESTIVAL

The harbormaster’s launch returns to the pier on Sunday after a sunny midmorning on the rounds with the Rev. Hugh McCullough, affectionately known as Father Mick. Though the event was […]

ART OF TEACHING

Massachusetts had the ninth-highest turnout of voters ages 18 to 29 in the U.S. in the 2018 midterms — a 17.3-percent increase over their participation in 2014. While that’s good […]

SWIMMING ALONE

The ocean defines the Outer Cape, but by some reckonings, swimming pools are beginning to come in a close second. That would be an exaggeration, but whether it’s for fear […]

INDEPENDENCE DAY

With social distancing regulations yielding no town-organized fireworks shows, local authorities expect to work extra hard this July Fourth to defuse illegal ones. In Wellfleet and Truro, particularly, the police […]

WILDLIFE

The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes investigates a suspicious incident involving a jellyfish in “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane,” a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published in 1926. […]

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

Residents of and longtime visitors to Truro are surely familiar with a grisly, dark chapter of the town’s recent past involving Pine Grove Cemetery. Even now, decades later, just reading […]

THE BANANA MAGNATE

On a July day precisely 150 years ago, a Wellfleet sea captain unloaded a cargo that would shape the course of history. By bringing the first bananas into the U.S., […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

Things are beginning to look a little more normal on the waterfront. More and more boats are starting to open up and operate. The Bay Lady began sailing tours, and […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, June 30, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

SAILING

When the Covid-19 pandemic touched down in full force, it made quick work of the Provincetown Yacht Club’s summer calendar. Spring meeting? Canceled. Season kickoff? Canceled. Sailboat racing clinic? Zoom-ified. […]

MILLION-YEAR PICNIC

The stars of summer have returned! Step outside after dark and look east, about halfway up the sky. You’ll see three bright stars that form a triangle. If you’re not […]

In the first round of this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) draft, 35 percent of the players selected were alumni of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). June 13 would […]

GALLERY

Remote work and distance learning have chained us to our devices and Zoom rooms. But now that it’s summer, camping offers outdoor low-tech liberation. Campgrounds are, by nature, well designed […]

DEVELOPMENT

EASTHAM — There’s been a meeting of the minds between Tim Klink and the residents of Wiley Lane, the cul-de-sac behind the Route 6 property he wants to develop. Rather […]

CIVICS

In the current round of local town elections, it appears that about 90 percent of the votes were sent in by mail. And if the Covid-19 pandemic continues into the […]

ACCIDENT

WELLFLEET — Kathleen Kusiak, 55, of West Newton was struck by a car when she turned north on Route 6 from Main Street at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 28, according […]

CRIME

PROVINCETOWN — The 80-year-old owner of George’s Pizza, who was punched in the face Saturday night by an allegedly unruly customer, still had ringing in his ears days later, according […]

UPDATE

TRURO — The body that washed up on beach in North Truro on June 9 has been identified through dental records to be that of Marc-Olivier Czarnecki, a 51-year-old math […]

STUCK

PROVINCETOWN — When her red convertible got stuck in the mud on a dirt road on the Truro-Wellfleet line, Marla Perkel, 84, survived the night by walking, napping, and finally […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, July 2 Scholarship & Trust Administration Committee, 3:30 p.m. Zoning Board […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov. From there, follow the “helpful link” to Truro Channel 18. Thursday, July 2 Truro Energy Committee, 8:30 a.m. […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, July 2 Housing Authority, 10 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

GALLERIES

Down a long, winding dirt road, deep in the woods of South Truro, lies the studio and home of printmaker Vicky Tomayko. She has lived and worked there surrounded by […]

PHASED AND CONFUSED

Currently in Massachusetts, you can dine indoors at a restaurant, you can attend church and even sing there, but you’re still not officially permitted to attend an outdoor performance of […]

BOOK REVIEW

Lulu Miller calls David Starr Jordan, the protagonist of her book Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life, “David.” Born in the […]

TOWN SPIRIT

“I Am a Town” would sound like a boast from almost anyone but photographer Mischa Richter. Modest and soft-spoken, Richter has long regarded Provincetown as his home. The subjects of […]

VIGNETTE

Naturists by Daniel Dejean

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

The first time I really focused on the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, I was about eight years old. The rabbi explained that the two […]

STEAMERS

Gazed and Confused by A. Crock

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The Fourth’s familiar festivities yield to more practical and sober affairs. Instead of fireworks and fanfare, the lunar eclipse in Capricorn casts a pragmatic light upon limitations in terms of […]

Mark Stevens died on June 15, 2020, at the Wichita Falls, Texas, home of his brother Brian Stevens, surrounded by family. He was 51.   Mark had fought a brave battle […]

Evalyn Margaret Wood of Orleans died on June 15, 2020, holding the hand of her devoted daughter, Margaret “Peggy” McClellan of Wellfleet. She was 101. A remarkable, talented, and humble […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

“The coronavirus pandemic has provided an opportunity for communities to act on their most exclusionary impulses,” writes Andrew W. Kahrl in an essay titled “Who Will Get to Swim This […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

For a 24-Hour Mask Rule To the editor: The best defenses we have against the coronavirus are mask wearing, social distancing, and hand washing. Yet as businesses open and more […]

CLASSIFIEDS

RETAIL & OFFICE SPACE Wellfleet office/studio spaces with a view. Two year-round side-by-side 10’ x 11′ office/studio spaces; adequate privacy for separate businesses or open the door for collaboration. Great view […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from June 22 to June 26, 2020. PROVINCETOWN June 23. Michael MacIntyre Living Trust Agreement Dated April 2, 2008 (Michael MacIntyre, trustee) […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of July 2 through July 8

Outer Cape Calendar Party to Go-Go The Crown & Anchor in Provincetown, in collaboration with Live From Provincetown, will be celebrating Independence Day online with its Freedom Virtual Beach Party […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

                Impressions of Cape Cod: Local Color Photographer Lee Glickenhaus has a decidedly unpretentious take on his artistic vision. He may be inspired […]

PORTUGUESE FESTIVAL 2020

TRURO — Valentina Cook-Wheeler isn’t one to talk about herself. But she does have some stories to tell. Although she lives in Truro now, she is not only a third-generation […]

REPORT-A-POTTY

While much of the Cape economy is in the crapper due to coronavirus-related shutdowns and restrictions, porta-potty companies are flush. That’s because in a summer when Covid-19 has heightened fears […]

CORONAVIRUS

PROVINCETOWN — For four weeks now, Provincetown has detected zero new cases of coronavirus. Memorial Day weekend came and went. Phase two of the statewide reopening was announced; lodgings, retail […]

SANS BEACHES

WELLFLEET — For those who don’t own property here, the chances of finding a parking spot at an oceanside beach have just gotten smaller. The select board voted unanimously on […]

OBITUARY

PROVINCETOWN — As the 35th-anniversary issue of Provincetown Arts, the glossy and scholarly annual journal of Outer Cape art and literature, was preparing to go to press on June 20, […]

BABYCAKES

Giligilao “Gili” Peregrine Portnoy was born on May 5, 2020 to Galiguy “Akay” Inariki Yan of the Taromak Rukai tribe of Taiwan and Caleb Portnoy of Wellfleet. Gili’s grandparents are […]

GALLERY

A window box filled with flowers can give a plain clapboard exterior a season’s worth of charm. Settie Dixon, owner of Gardens by Settie, has good advice about planting container […]

GROWING SEASON

After a pre-season full of uncertainty and adjustment, welcome seeds of normalcy are sprouting at the Provincetown and Truro farmers markets, though at both, new restrictions and guidelines have reconfigured […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, June 23, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

MOVEMENT

Do you remember your first bike? Mine was blue, big banana seat, flowered basket perched on the handlebars. I remember that feeling of freedom it gave me. I could go […]

PLANTCRAFT

By the time Emily Dickinson was 14 years old, she had compiled a collection of over 400 pressed flowers and leaves. “Have you made an herbarium yet?” she wrote to […]

Crossword

Need some answers? We send out the solution in our Friday newsletter. You’ll find the signup for our newsletter right here on our home page! This page is available to […]

PAGES

What aspect of life pre-Covid do people miss the most? Extroverts might say bars and clubs, but more introverted types might yearn for the hours they leisurely spent among bookstore […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

The big news on the waterfront is Gov. Baker’s extending phase two to July 6, which keeps most passenger-carrying vessels, including our whale watch boats, tied to the dock for […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

Sister Moon, herald of intuition and emotion, is supercharged following the solar eclipse in Cancer. Her angles to the other planets this week will be extra challenging for some and […]

TEACAKE'S TAKE

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HISTORY

PROVINCETOWN — This year marks the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing in Provincetown and the first encounters between the newly arrived Europeans and the indigenous people who lived here. […]

REAL ESTATE

After a pandemic-induced crash in spring real estate sales, brokers now report that the market has come roaring back. May statistics for Cape Cod and the Islands, released on June […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — The $2 trillion CARES Act turns three months old this week, and the relief programs it created have all had rough rollouts. The payroll loans, disaster loans, and […]

CORONAVIRUS

WELLFLEET — The 449 free Covid-19 tests conducted at Outer Cape Health Services here on June 17 and 18 have so far showed zero positive results. Wellfleet’s clinic was one […]

QUEER HISTORY

The history of the gay liberation movement is usually told from the point of view of those at the center of the action, from the Mattachine Society and Daughters of […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, June 25 Charter Compliance Commission, noon Planning Board, 6 p.m. Public […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov. Thursday, June 25 School Committee, 5:15 p.m. Zoning Board of Appeals Cloverleaf Hearing, 5:30 p.m. Friday, June 26 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, June 25 Natural Resources Advisory […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take […]

SKETCHBOOK

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BLACK LIVES MATTER

“Lock your door.” That was the first insidiously racist thing my body remembers hearing. There were other words, heard earlier. Subtle, belittling generalizations. Words that didn’t match up with what I knew […]

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OP-ED

In 1872, Congress authorized the reorganization of the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the refurbishing of old and building of new stations along the Atlantic Coast. The waters off Cape Cod […]

ARTISTS

“This isn’t new to me, and I’m tired of it,” says painter Joseph Diggs, a Cape Cod native. He’s referring to the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Diggs […]

ELEMENTS OF STYLE

At four by five feet, His First Voyage, by Charles Webster Hawthorne, is an imposing painting. Its figures are roughly life-size. The subject is, seemingly, just a domestic scene. A […]

QUEER ‘I’

Pride, being one of the seven deadly sins, has good and bad sides to it. It’s like patriotism. To the extent that it means self-love and self-respect, it’s essential and […]

GALLERIES

In his career-long exploration of the coyote in Native American storytelling, painter Duane Slick often takes the image of a coyote head and obscures it. In the process, he explores […]

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

I am perplexed that the Lower Cape Ambulance Association (LCAA), a regional nonprofit that has existed since 1937, is losing support and no one seems to be fighting to preserve […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Charting the Epidemic To the editor: Sunday, June 21, marked the 100th day of the Covid-19 epidemic on Cape Cod. The first confirmed case was reported on March 14 and […]

CLASSIFIEDS

FOR SALE 2002 Toyota Tacoma pickup. Reliable, comfortable, automatic, 4-cycle truck with only 37,000 miles. Silver, 2-dr. 4-seat, 2 front buckets, upholstered, sliding back window. Short bed w/snap cover. No […]

Richmond Randolph Bell, beloved Wellfleet patriarch, died in his sleep at his second home in Norwich, Vt., on June 14, 2020, of lymphoma. He was 95. Rich was born on […]

Historian and biographer Robert Dale Richardson III died on June 16, 2020 at Cape Cod Hospital from complications suffered after a fall. He was 86. He was born in 1934 […]

HOME

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from June 15 to June 19, 2020. PROVINCETOWN June 18. Stephen J. Madden Jr. Trust of 2005 (Dean Ross […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of June 25 through July 1

Outer Cape Calendar Super Bollen East End Books Ptown is hosting a virtual book event with Christopher Bollen, writer of A Beautiful Crime, a twisty, Ripley-esque grifter novel, on Friday, […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

AMP Gallery Reopens With Group Show AMP Gallery is opening its first show of the season with a reception on Friday, June 26, 6 to 8 p.m. at 432 Commercial […]

EMERGENCY SERVICES

TRURO — Voters here will be asked to permanently increase the town budget on June 30 so it can hire four new firefighter-paramedics, a move that would beef up the […]

AT RISK AT WORK

PROVINCETOWN — Short-term rentals bring in visitors and help pay the town’s bills. Year-round rentals are the endangered species that we keep trying to preserve and expand. Seasonal rentals are […]

BUSINESS

Cumberland Farms, along with other convenience stores, is one step closer to selling alcohol and upending the current system of liquor sales licenses. The Mass. Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) on […]

MOST UNHAPPY FELLOWS

PROVINCETOWN — This should have been a banner year for the Fine Arts Work Center, one of the town’s most important cultural institutions, with its faculty of renowned writers and […]

SUMMER

EASTHAM — If you live here, you’re tired of hearing it: “This town has no center.” Except, of course, it does. Its formal name is the Eastham Center Historic District, […]

RENTAL HEALTH

WELLFLEET — Short- and long-term rentals might look very different next summer, and it has nothing to do with Covid-19. The town’s health and conservation dept. has drafted regulations that […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — The Outer Cape is not a highly diverse place. When it comes to sexual orientation, Provincetown has a higher concentration of LGBTQ people than almost anywhere — but […]

FIRST PEOPLES

A federal judge ruled in favor of the Wampanoag Tribe of Mashpee on June 5 in a suit the tribe filed against the Dept. of the Interior, which had attempted […]

HOME IMPROVEMENT

Laurence Young of Provincetown had windows in his condominium dating back to the early 1980s, and electric heat upstairs that was expensive no matter how sparingly used. That changed in […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

The Provincetown waterfront remains quiet, as commercial fishing boats go about their business of lobstering and scalloping, but the rest of the fleet is essentially tied to the dock waiting for […]

STILL CELEBRATING

Editor’s note: The profiles of some of this year’s Outer Cape high school graduates were missing from our June 4 special section. Here are a few of them. Anna Rogers […]

DOVETAIL JOINT

The question: We’ve been living with a dirt driveway for a while now. We like the natural look of it, but it requires a lot of maintenance. It’s time to […]

GALLERY

Fathers Day marks a migration from the man cave into the great outdoors. The traditional time to set up a gathering space around the grill, this year it’s more about […]

RECREATION

Summer recreation programs are fun for local kids, but also important because they provide jobs for teenagers and child care that helps working parents get through the summer months. But […]

LOCAL JOURNALISM PROJECT

This week the Independent welcomes five young journalists from across the country to its first summer fellowship program, made possible by donations and grants to its nonprofit Local Journalism Project. […]

FATHERS DAY

TRURO — When Michael Holt was growing up in New York City, his summer weeks in Truro were “like a trip to the Garden of Eden.” It was here that […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, June 16, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The Sun crosses into Cancer, heralding the start of summer with an abundance of solstice light. It’s a time of rooting, nurturing, and feeling … quite a change from Gemini’s […]

KITCHEN TABLE

If you don’t get out to the garden to thin your row of carrots right now you will end up with runty twisted results, carrots unsuitable for prizes at the […]

VIRTUAL ARTS

It wouldn’t be summer on the Outer Cape without courses. And, fortunately, though indoor courses in art and writing are not in the offing at this stage of the coronavirus […]

MEMORIES

WELLFLEET — “A Norse god,” his wife, Gloria, said of him — sometimes with a wry smile. With a tall, straight physique and a leonine head, handsome at 88 years, […]

YOUTH PRIDE

For many in the LGBTQ community, annual pride events commemorating the Stonewall uprising of June 28, 1969, have constituted their first euphoric moments of connection, of celebration, of feeling recognized […]

NAUSET SCHOOLS

EASTHAM — The four towns of the Nauset Regional School District may not have to vote on the high school building project until next spring. Last week, the regional school […]

RENTAL RULES

With the statewide ban on short-term property rentals lifted on June 8, Outer Cape vacationers and property owners must adjust to new safety guidelines. Massachusetts requires proprietors of lodgings — […]

WORKING OUT THE KINKS

EASTHAM — Willy’s Gym claims it is now eligible to reopen when all gyms and fitness centers are permitted to do so under phase three of Gov. Charlie Baker’s reopening […]

UPS AND DOWNS

WELLFLEET — The UPS Customer Center at 131 Ansel Hallet Road in West Yarmouth, once busy shipping packages all around the Outer Cape, now houses halted conveyor belts, silenced machines, […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Thursday, June 18 Board of Health, 4 p.m. Zoning Board of Appeals, 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 22 Select Board, 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 23 Public Landscaping Committee, 4 […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov. Friday, June 19 Board of Library Trustees, 11:30 a.m. Monday, June 22 Zoning Board of Appeals, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Friday, June 19 Wellfleet COVID-19 Needs Response Task Force Community […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely. Thursday, June […]

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

The immense corpse lay on its back on the upper beach, eyes heavenward, although unseeing.  Its full abdomen, up-thrust chin, bristly whiskers, and jowly throat suggested a human quality; if […]

SKETCHBOOK

Mark Adams Sketchbook

STEAMERS

Table for Phase 2 by A. Crock

VIGNETTE

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LEZ IS MORE

“Remember, son,” he said with an earnestness that boggled my 10-year-old brain, “girls love it when you open the door for them.” It was my friend’s dad, and he was […]

GALLERIES

“I love processes,” Truro artist Deb Mell says. “I keep thinking of more complicated and time-consuming ones. That makes me happy.” Which is not to say that Mell’s work appears […]

BOOK REVIEW

In the months after the murder of black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014, historian Walter Johnson began work on The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and […]

RECORDINGS

Wellfleet singer-songwriter Alex Brewer’s new album, Unquoted, is a tribute to his community. Brewer is fascinated by artistic scenes — Paris in the ’20s, Laurel Canyon in the ’60s — […]

AUTHORS

In her latest book, Bunny, Mona Awad has crafted a darkly funny horror story about female friendships, class anxiety, art, and academia that has been likened to Heathers, Mean Girls, […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

This week we were confronted with a tough choice at our less- than-nine-month-old newspaper. We were offered a full-page ad that we decided we had to turn down. Full-page ads, […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Start the Conversations To the editor: When I was 12 I began to sit in on civil rights protests every Saturday with our local NAACP Youth Council. On Monday evenings […]

CLASSIFIEDS

RETAIL SPACE Wellfleet retail space available. Two-room, seasonal retail space in an excellent location at 326 Main St. Was the iconic Chocolate Sparrow candy store. Call for details: 508-349-1372. [7-2] SUMMER […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from June 8 to June 12, 2020.  PROVINCETOWN June 11. David J. Elliott to Katherine, Elizabeth, John, and Sam Mullan. 37D Court […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of June 18 through June 24

Outer Cape Calendar Island Treasure The Friends of Herring River invite you to take a free virtual tour of Wellfleet’s Bound Brook Island on their website, herringriver.org/Videos. Originally created for […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Encaustic Show at Bowersock Gallery The ancient medium of encaustic jumps into the 21st century with the live-stream opening of the “Mesdames of Wax” from the Bowersock Gallery in Provincetown. […]

FOX NEWS

PROVINCETOWN — Carrie Medina Notaro first noticed the female red fox in her East End neighborhood in early January and began having “conversations” with her. This page is available to […]

CIVICS

WELLFLEET — Maria Broadbent, the town manager of Berwyn Heights, Md., will be Wellfleet’s next town administrator. The 54-year-old was picked over current Dartmouth Town Manager Shawn MacInnes in what […]

THE NEW NORMAL

PROVINCETOWN — The Outer Cape’s economy is opening back up. The streets are showing signs of life, as lodging, outdoor dining, and retail resume after a three-month hiatus. Workers and […]

ENVIRONMENT

EASTHAM — Stephen and Mimi Henning own a small house off Steele Road on about a third of an acre. Built in 1935, it has two bedrooms and a bathroom, […]

UPDATE

EASTHAM — A final inspection by the town’s health, fire, and building depts., scheduled for Wednesday, June 10, could lead to the reopening of Willy’s World and Conference Center, which […]

#BLM

A quickly organized protest sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis drew about 15 people to the Children’s Garden in Truro last Sunday. The group […]

DRIVE-IN DIPLOMAS

Photos by Nancy Bloom Teacher Alexis Mathison takes a picture of a picture. That’s graduate Kara Moore on the outdoor screen at the Wellfleet Drive-In. Friends found each other for […]

ENVIRONMENT

President Trump announced on Friday, June 5 that he would allow commercial fishing in a conservation area 130 miles southeast of Cape Cod. Scientists and fisheries advocates here agree the […]

VIEW FROM THE HIVE

A honey bee colony’s plans and those of its beekeeper often diverge, and those disparate intentions of bee and keeper can confuse and confound the objectives of both. At no […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, June 9, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

ON THE LANDSCAPE

There is a little bird that lives in the woods. It nests low to the ground, at the edges of clearings. It is about the size of a sparrow. The […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The Gemini Sun is square to a Mars-Neptune conjunction in Pisces, amplifying your powers of positivity for all to behold. Careful! Good vibes are honey to negative flies and you […]

KITCHEN TABLE

I know June is pretty much the end of the line for oranges. But I am sure that there are still a few to be rummaged up on countertops across […]

LOST & FOUND

As you prepare outdoor living spaces for the summer, it’s a good time to be on the lookout for materials that might be repurposed into tabletops. Marble and granite slabs, […]

LIBRARIES

All four Outer Cape libraries began curbside services last week, although Provincetown library staff are calling it “street-side,” because they don’t have a curb. Directors Amy Raff of the Provincetown […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

PROVINCETOWN — The hot news on the waterfront this week is that the seals are back, and so are the white sharks. A gray seal with a rather large shark […]

RACKET REPORT

Pickleball is helping Sheila Garry get back to a sense of normalcy. She says that’s what almost everyone who’s coming back to the sport is talking about. On June 1, […]

COVID-19 FALLOUT

WELLFLEET — AmeriCorps member Corrine Losch received an email on May 15 telling her she had two weeks to move out of the Wellfleet house where she had been lodging […]

CLIMATE CHANGE

EASTHAM — There are 350 property owners who live along Bridge Road, Smith Lane, Samoset Road, and Dyer Prince Road in Eastham. Nearly 40 residents participated in a virtual public […]

CIVICS

PROVINCETOWN — David Panagore, the former town manager, has been appointed as an alternate on the finance committee, raising the ire of part-time resident taxpayers once again. Panagore, the town […]

ON THE WATERFRONT

PROVINCETOWN — An attorney for two fishermen whose dockage fees were raised this year is charging the Public Pier Corp. with Open Meeting Law violations and with changing the rules […]

THE SEARCH

TRURO — A body found on the bayside beach here early Monday, June 8, is thought to be that of Marc-Olivier Czarnecki, 51, who was missing for 17 days following […]

SELECT CANDIDATES

PROVINCETOWN — After three years on the finance committee and three years on the select board, Louise Venden is running for a second term. Venden owned a nine-room guest house […]

SELECT CANDIDATES

PROVINCETOWN — Bobby Anthony, 74, a retired police chief and native of Provincetown, hopes to win a third term on the select board in the June 30 election. A Vietnam […]

SELECT CANDIDATES

PROVINCETOWN — As the one new candidate running against two incumbents in this year’s town election, Austin Knight has some criticisms of the current select board. Knight and incumbents Louise […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting, go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, June 11 Planning Board, 6 p.m. Wednesday, […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov. Thursday, June 11 School Committee, 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, June 16 Cemetery Commission, 10 a.m. Board of Health, 4:30 p.m. […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, June 11 Cape Cod Commission, 3 p.m. Nauset Regional […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely. Thursday, June […]

BLACK LIVES MATTER

I am outraged and I am terrified. I am outraged by the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville, and so many other black American citizens. We […]

VIGNETTE

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COVID PORTRAIT: EMERGENCE!

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OP-ED

The Provincetown Public Pier Corp. board, all volunteers, is trying to bring consistent application of rules and regulations to the pier, as well as rate increases that will meet the […]

ARTISTS

“I am constantly drawn back to the figure,” says Ray Wiggs. “There are many subjects that I enjoy painting. However, the figure has always been alluring to me, because no […]

BOOK REVIEW

With so much reading time between gardening days and walks to the bay in my privileged Eastham world, I was fortunate to have picked up Isabel Allende’s newest work of […]

AUTHORS

Wellfleet comes vividly to life in Christina Clancy’s The Second Home, a gripping novel about a family and second chances. The story centers on an inheritance dispute, which, for a […]

STREAMING

The Last Dance The 10-episode documentary miniseries is available to stream on espn.com or ESPN apps. There’s much to learn in The Last Dance, the ESPN miniseries on Michael Jordan’s […]

MUSICAL THEATER

All through the month leading up to their final realization that The Sound of Music, this year’s musical at Nauset Regional Middle School, would not be performed, the members of […]

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

In 2014, after the shooting death of Michael Brown, 18, by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer who was not indicted for the killing, Elenita Muñiz, a blue-eyed Puerto Rican and […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

‘El País Esta Vivo’ Al editor: Desde España estámos mirando y no sólo es espantoso, es también contagioso. Aquí la extrema derecho, PP y Vox, sigue subiendo y siguen descaradamente […]

CLASSIFIEDS

RETAIL SPACE Wellfleet retail space available. Two-room, seasonal retail space in an excellent location at 326 Main St. Was the iconic Chocolate Sparrow candy store. Call for details: 508-349-1372. [7-2] SUMMER […]

OBITUARIES

Robert Bruce Corea died on June 3, 2020, at Harbor Point in Centerville, where he had been in hospice care for four months. He was 76. Bruce was a native […]

Provincetown native Elena Curtis Hall, 74, died on June 2, 2020, at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis after a prolonged illness. Elena was the daughter of the late Preston and […]

HOME

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from June 1 to June 5, 2020. PROVINCETOWN June 1. David K. Mattila to Lawrence M. Barat. 343 Bradford […]

OBITUARIES

Betty Godwin Balch, 96, died peacefully in her sleep at her assisted living home in Bradenton, Fla., on May 25, 2020. She and her late husband, John Louis Balch, had […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of June 11 through June 17

Outer Cape Calendar Art of Social Distancing Artists Megan Hinton and Paula Erickson found a rusty metal office desk at the Wellfleet Dept. of Public Works yard off Pole Dike […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Diane Messinger’s Art Is Contagious A painting by Truro artist Diane Messinger has been accepted in a juried virtual show, “We Are All Contagious,” presented by the UMass Dartmouth University […]

HUMAN RIGHTS

WELLFLEET — Protests against police brutality following the May 25 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis were not confined to America’s major cities. About 150 people marched through Wellfleet last […]

THE WATERFRONT

PROVINCETOWN — The Public Pier Corp. has raised the slip fees on seven MacMillan Pier tenants and rescinded permission for the Mayflower II to land here in September. The Pier Corp. board also […]

SCIENCE AT RISK: PART 2

This is the second in a series of articles on the Cape Cod National Seashore’s science program. It explores why science matters at the Seashore and why it’s at risk. […]

SUMMER

EASTHAM — The town has mapped its beaches, ponds, and landings and their parking areas with an eye to allowing socially distanced fun this summer. The exercise revealed that “we […]

PHASING IN

PROVINCETOWN — Outdoor dining for restaurants, new picnic areas on town property, an experimental car ban on Commercial Street, and extra oversight of the excursion fleet were all approved at […]

THE HAIL MARY

WELLFLEET — The Beachcomber, the Pearl, and Mac’s Shack will ask the select board on June 9 to be allowed to serve alcohol outdoors. Each restaurant hopes to set up […]

SHELLFISHING

WELLFLEET — Vacationers and visitors received another blow from the select board last week — a ban on seasonal recreational shellfishing permits. On top of the short-term rentals ban through […]

GRADUATION

  2020 class advisers Jennifer Stevens, Kate Blascio, and Jessica Reeves hand out caps and gowns, supervised by Savannah Stevens, age five. (Photos Nancy Bloom)   Libby Chase arrived by […]

CLASS OF 2020

Editor’s Note: For the beautiful cover illustration to this section of the paper, by NRHS art teacher Amy Kandall, and an introduction to this collection of pictures and words collected […]

VALEDICTORY

I am the ceramics and painting teacher at Nauset Regional High School. Normally, each day, 125 students come to my classroom studio, where I try to create a vibrant and […]

ART SEEN

PROVINCETOWN — As of this week, art lovers can stroll past many of Provincetown’s galleries without getting up from their living room couches. A new website, ptowngallerystroll.com, was launched by […]

COCKTAIL HOUR

Memorial Day, marking the unofficial start of summer, has come and gone this year in a way unlike any before: no crowds, no traffic, no large gatherings. Only the middling […]

MAKER SPACE

My studio was a gift from my parents. It was built in 2017 with an inheritance I received after my mom and dad both died within four months of each […]

GALLERY

Leaving Wellfleet for her freshman year at UMass Amherst, Kenna Valli packed hundreds of pictures of family and friends, painstakingly arranging them in her dorm room with the approved adhesive. […]

BODY/MIND

I’ve learned some things navigating this new normal as a single person living in a one-bedroom apartment. One is that there are things we can do to adapt and get […]

COURT OF LAST RESORT

There is one good thing about life without professional basketball to watch. Memories of driveway and schoolyard games come along to fill the void. Playing five-on-five basketball is not advisable […]

DUNE TOWN

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Navigating by the Stars

Friday, June 5, brings a lunar eclipse in the sign of Sagittarius. Eclipses speak to the relationships between different areas of our lives and any lack therein. The sign of […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, June 2, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

TOWN ELECTIONS

All citizens are encouraged to vote by mail this year. To do that, however, a registered voter must fill out and mail in an absentee or early voting application, and […]

CIVICS

PROVINCETOWN — The Outer Cape’s health agents’ duties range from enforcing food and water safety to supporting emotional connection. Their jobs touch on sex, rats, and sewers. And that was […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting, go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Thursday, June 4 Public Pier Corp., 3 […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov. Thursday, June 4 Select Board, 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 9 Select Board, 5 p.m. Wednesday, Jun 10 Planning […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Thursday, June 4 Coastal Resiliency Grant Listening Session, 10 a.m. […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on the meeting agenda for information about how to view and take part remotely. Thursday, June 4 Zoning Board of Appeals, 5 p.m. […]

WATERCOLOR

The late George Floyd, against a background of all the states’ flowers. This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

They were feathered jewels moving through the trees, gifts from the Southern Hemisphere and our Southern states, most on their way north, here on the Cape for a few days […]

ARCHIVES

If ever there were a match made in heaven, it was six years ago, when Chuck White walked into Angel Foods in the East End of Provincetown and asked for […]

POETRY

Ed Meek’s fourth book of poetry is all about cycles. High Tide, which Aubade Publishing will put out in July (its May launch was postponed due to the coronavirus), takes […]

MUSIC

Every September since 2014, a group of friends — Malcolm Pollack, Kemp Harris, Carl Sturken, Ray Castoldi, Gary Lue, and others — journey to Star Island, one of the Isles […]

QUEER ‘I’

To understand why Larry Kramer was a great artist and a singularly influential activist, you have to examine how much the world has changed from plague to plague, HIV to […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The first weekend in June is traditionally when our local public high schools — Nauset Regional High in Eastham and Cape Cod Regional Technical High in Harwich — hold graduation […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

A Hard Look at Ourselves To the editor: What do we do when confronted with the terrible news of the actions and inactions of the Minneapolis police officers that led […]

CLASSIFIEDS

THANK YOU The children of Bernard N. Santos thank our family and friends for the prayers and cards of sympathy on the passing of our Dad. We appreciated the little […]

OBITUARY

Sheila E. (Lussier Costa) Silva, 77, of North Truro died peacefully on May 27, 2020, at Harbor Point in Centerville, where she resided for the last year. She was the […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from May 26 to May 29, 2020. PROVINCETOWN May 26. Equity Trust Company Custodian (Robert A. Newell IRA, trustee) to 3 Harbor […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of June 4 through June 10

Outer Cape Calendar Pier Pressure The Addison Art Gallery in Orleans will make a donation to the Eastham, Wellfleet, and Truro public libraries for every Paul Schulenburg painting sold through […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Film and Wine Paired in Virtual Series Marc Strauss, Michael Rose, and Wellfleet Preservation Hall are presenting the virtual series “Film & Wine” on Zoom every other Tuesday through July […]

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

PROVINCETOWN — On March 27, Gov. Charlie Baker issued an advisory that travelers into Massachusetts from other states should self-quarantine for 14 days. At that time, New York State was […]

VIRTUAL MEETINGS

For the past eight years, John has made coffee, opened doors, and greeted people as they entered the Wellfleet First Congregational Church for the weekly Saturday night Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. […]

HEALTH

Outer Cape Health Services, the major provider of health care for the four Outer Cape towns, continues to operate its three clinics with reduced hours, staffing, and salaries, a result […]

CIVICS

WELLFLEET — The number of people viewing and participating in virtual select board meetings here in recent weeks is breaking the board’s attendance records. Since the Wellfleet Select Board began […]

WILDLIFE

PROVINCETOWN — Memorial Day weekend may have been quiet for some, but Herring Cove Beach was the scene of almost daily drama caused by at least one aggressive coyote, which […]

SEARCH

PROVINCETOWN — Carole Madru of Hyannis, whose body was found on the beach in North Truro on Saturday, May 23, had parked her car at Elena Hall’s waterfront parking lot […]

BUSINESS

EASTHAM — After an informal poll of the planning board revealed that four of six voting members — one short of the needed supermajority — would approve Barbara Niggel’s application […]

STEAMERS

Swipe Nope by A. Crock

WATER SAFETY

Scientists have reassuring news for Outer Cape residents and visitors who are worried about contracting coronavirus from swimming in ponds and in the ocean and Cape Cod Bay. There is […]

THE REOPENING

PROVINCETOWN — This week and next, town governments on the Outer Cape will be rolling out changes to traffic flow, restaurant rules, bathroom arrangements, and dozens of other adjustments to […]

RARA AVIS

on Tuesday, May 26, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. A late Bufflehead was reported in North Truro. A King Rail was […]

GALLERY

“Buy your second home first” is a popular piece of advice. For Jenny Shaw and Matt Bowman, who live in Quincy, purchasing their first home in Eastham made a lot […]

MILLION-YEAR PICNIC

This month we reach the summer solstice. June 20 will be the longest day of the year and start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

Memorial Day weekend has come and gone, and all the questions about how busy the waterfront would be have now been answered. It’s not looking good. On top of the Covid-19-related […]

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

WELLFLEET — In a pretty little corner of town, there is a small, ancient burial ground, its scattering of headstones nestled amid the scrub oak leaves and pine needles. In […]

OFF THE PATH

In March, Susan Goodspeed set out to hike the Appalachian Trail for the first time in her life. “I researched the heck out of it,” Goodspeed says. “I don’t have […]

FIRST PEOPLES FOLLOW-UP

A U.S. district court judge has chastised attorneys for the Dept. of the Interior for filing an “incomprehensible” memorandum in a case that threatens the tribal sovereignty of the Mashpee […]

MATTERS OF FAITH

“New occasions teach new duties,” James Russell Lowell declared in a poem from which was drawn a familiar hymn, “Once to Every Man and Nation.” That sentiment is providing a […]

CLASS OF 2020

WELLFLEET — Gov. Charlie Baker’s Covid-19 recovery guidelines, issued on May 18, stated that “drive-in theaters are allowed to operate only for the purpose of showing movies.” That left some […]

FUTURE SHOCK

EASTHAM — In a few decades, some of Eastham’s most used roads could be underwater. The town, in coordination with environmental consultants from the Woods Hole Group (WHG), has studied […]

PUBLIC TRANSIT

Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (RTA) is providing rides to 600 to 800 people a day. As one of the only public transit options […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting, go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Follow the link to the agenda for […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and find meetings on the lower right of the home page. Click on the agenda of the meeting […]

currents

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held online. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in for instructions on how to participate. Tuesday, June 2 Select Board […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are being conducted remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and […]

VIGNETTE

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OP-ED

Both the federal government and the state of Massachusetts are waging a heartless war on immigrants. While the Trump administration actively blocks asylum seekers, imprisons families, deports unaccompanied children, and […]

TEACAKE’S TAKE

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Navigating by the Stars

In terms of astrology, the planets can be seen as dynamic reference points. The angles, or aspects (square, conjunction, etc.), they make to one another create shapes of energy across […]

PERSONAL ESSAYS

In his moving and beautiful collection of essays, I’ve Been Wrong Before, Evan James reflects on the time he spent in a myriad of places around the world — San […]

MYSTERIES

The Matinée Murders, the newest in Jeannette de Beauvoir’s Sydney Riley series of mystery novels, may be a work of fiction, but it is full of real people and takes […]

INDIE SCREEN

Goodbye, Wendy Darling, Tiger Lily, and Tinkerbell. In Benh Zeitlin’s Wendy, a fantasy riff on J.M. Barrie’s iconic literary creation, Peter Pan, the restlessness of young Wendy (Devin France), a […]

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

People often ask us why the Independent doesn’t always cover certain stories that fill the daily papers and TV news — stories that punctuate everyday life and can be exciting. […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

‘This Planetary Moment’ To the editor: In only a little over six months, the Provincetown Independent has managed to establish itself as an indispensable lifeline and anchor to this extended […]

CLASSIFIEDS

THANK YOU The children of Bernard N. Santos thank our family and friends for the prayers and cards of sympathy on the passing of our Dad. We appreciated the little […]

J. Austin Pinkham Jr. of Harwich died on May 2, 2020, at Cape Cod Hospital following years of multiple health issues. He was 89. J. was born on Dec. 12, […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from May 18 to May 22, 2020. PROVINCETOWN May 18. Kathleen McGinley to Steven Sean Timothy Vojtasko. 616 Commercial St., Unit 2, […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of May 28 through June 3

Outer Cape Calendar Animal Magnetism As part of Payomet Performing Arts Center’s “Early Stages” series, on Friday, May 29, at 10 a.m., Wellfleet musician and poet Alex Brewer, the host […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Swim for Life Does More Than Tread Water Instead of having a crowd of people running into the bay at Provincetown’s beach, this year’s Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla, […]

LAUNCH HOUR

Some Memorial Day rituals have not been canceled. Here’s Jen Nichols, at the launch at Pamet Harbor in Truro last Sunday. For families, the rules are easy to follow; click […]

SEASONAL PROSPECTS

PROVINCETOWN — Phase one of the governor’s reopening plan began on Monday, but for the Outer Cape’s hospitality-driven economy, the big changes will come with phase two. That’s when renting […]

ECONOMY

Gov. Charlie Baker’s extension of the ban on short-term rentals until at least June 8 takes a bite out of one of the biggest pieces of the Outer Cape’s economic […]

DISTANCE

WELLFLEET — Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday, without providing evidence, that social distancing at beaches means blankets must be 12 feet apart — at least during phase one of the […]

SCHOOLS

Keep those corsages and graduation cards handy. Nauset Regional High School is planning a prom and a graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020. “The last week in July, we’re […]

NEVERMORE

In March, a pair of ravens built a large nest under the eves at Provincetown Town Hall, but then abandoned it — and their eggs –– after a major storm […]

OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

LENNY FEDERICO / RECYCLER & TEACHER / WELLFLEET Lenny Federico has just returned to Wellfleet to begin his eighth summer on the job at the town’s recycling bins. Here’s Lenny […]

PEOPLE

You may not know her by name, but Lilli Osowski is one of Provincetown’s busiest residents. A senior studying health technology at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School, she works […]

Crossword

The May puzzle from Sophia Maymudes should be done on dry land.   Need some answers? We send out the solution in our Friday newsletter. You’ll find the signup for […]

KITCHEN TABLE

These are the bars I’ve been making. They’re from what was supposed to be the May “travel” issue of Bon Appétit — an issue they seem to have hastily renamed “Recipes […]

GALLERY

Lilacs are in bloom and hummingbirds have returned. A catalog arrives showing vast outdoor rooms, outfitted with weatherproof versions of every indoor luxury. But keep on the sunny side: it […]

DOVETAIL JOINT

The question: I’m thinking of buying an old house. It will need a lot of work, and I want to do much of it myself. I’m especially interested in whether […]

MOVEMENT

Gardening is good for the soul. But if you don’t pay attention to good body mechanics, it can be hard on your back — or your knees, wrists, and elbows. […]

FARMERS MARKET

Photos and text by Edward Boches It was a windy but gloriously sunny opening day at the Wellfleet Farmers Market last Wednesday, May 13. Shoppers and vendors alike wore masks, […]

Navigating by the Stars

As the Sun enters the sign of Gemini, things begin to look light and bright — um, seasonally speaking. For us mere mortals who must endure the whims of unseen […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, May 19, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

LIVE PERFORMANCES

Tupelo Music Hall in Derry, N.H., hosted a public concert last Saturday that was safe enough for a sizable audience to be there live during the pandemic. How was that […]

HEALTH

After multiple extensions, open enrollment for health insurance is set to end on Monday, May 25. It’s not too late to get help with signups for health insurance, and people who […]

CIVICS

Provincetown: The April 6 annual town meeting is now scheduled for Sept. 21 at 6 p.m. The town election will be held June 30. Truro: The April 28 annual town […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting, go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Follow the link to the agenda for […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live, go to truro-ma.gov and find meetings on the lower right of the home page. Click on the agenda of the meeting […]

currents

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held online. Go to wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the individual meetings for instructions. Thursday, May 21 Dredging Task Force, 11 a.m. Local Housing Partnership, 4 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead While town hall is closed to the public, meetings are being conducted remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document […]

MEMORIAL DAY

Even in our current predicament, there’s no stopping nature. The daffodils have come and gone, and now the beach plum is fully abloom. The lilacs have begun to release their […]

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

I will miss the throngs on Commercial Street in the center of town: the hubbub, the chatter, the flow of people, the animated wave of humanity — young and old, […]

COVID PORTRAIT

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TELEVISION

You can take Jerry Bruckheimer to Carnival, but you can’t take the Hollywood out of Jerry Bruckheimer. The blockbuster producer (Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, Flashdance, Bad Boys, Pirates of […]

ARTISTS

The current work of Truro-based artist Robert Cardinal is a solid series of mature paintings, simple scenes of manmade objects in nature. His harmonious compositions blend complementary colors with definite, […]

BOOKS

The writer Nick Flynn, whose work has been published in the New Yorker, Esquire, Paris Review, and a dozen books, came of age as a poet in Provincetown. He was […]

Obituaries

Edward G. Vitale of Wellfleet, known to all as Ted, died on May 1, 2020, at age 56, after his second valiant battle with cancer. Ted was a professional actor […]

Obituaries

James Kevin Stinson-Johnson, 61, died peacefully in his Provincetown home on May 11, 2020, after struggling with multiple system atrophy. Kevin’s smile and easygoing nature charmed one and all. He […]

Obituaries

Jacqueline Ann Enos, a loving sister and aunt, died on April 25, 2020. She was 52. Born on Dec. 23, 1967, at Cape Cod Hospital, Jackie grew up in Provincetown. […]

Walter Adams Bingham Jr., known to all as Bing, died on May 13, 2020, in Duxbury from chronic lymphocytic leukemia. He was born on Aug. 27, 1930, in Orange Memorial […]

Marie Carnevale “Ann” Rogers, 75, a compassionate noni, mother, teacher, and friend, died on May 13, 2020 at her home in Eastham after managing cancer for over 15 years. Born […]

Charles Gibbs “Charlie” Munroe, 77, of Wellfleet, died on April 29, 2020, after a battle with cancer. He was born on March 12, 1943, at Cape Cod Hospital and was […]

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

The most surprising thing about this newspaper, for someone outside it, is probably how we pick what to write. The process shocked me when I first saw it, and I continue […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dealing With Our Own Failures To the editor: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently claimed there was “enormous evidence” that Covid-19 originated in a lab in China. Few would dispute […]

CLASSIFIEDS

CRAFT Signs and Graphics from P’town to the Berkshires! Hand-carved signs and complete graphic design services. Shop signs. Storefront and window banners. Decals. Vehicle lettering. Covid-19 sign specialists. Carved and […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from May 11 to May 15, 2020. PROVINCETOWN May 15. Vasilios Patrinos to George Tobin. 15 Cottage St., Unit 4. $370,000. May […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of May 21 through May 27

Outer Cape Calendar Single Lutz Starting off its 2020 season virtually, the Schoolhouse Gallery is offering an online show of small works by painter Sarah Lutz, at galleryschoolhouse.com/small-paintings-sarah-lutz/. Lutz is […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Chevy Wins a Bevy of Awards The Independent’s staff photographer, Nancy Bloom of Truro, shot this image of a 1961 bubble-top Chevy last October in front of the Bluebell, one […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

Gov. Charlie Baker had his reopening update news conference on Monday, May 18, and a lot of strict limitations on boats for hire are still in place. As I understand […]

MEMORIAL DAY

With a strong crew, a family sets out on an excursion around Truro’s Pamet Harbor. In Provincetown, Mike Winkler’s crane service places Flyer’s shuttle in the water. Boating is allowed […]

RECOVERY

PROVINCETOWN — The town’s Recovery Coalition is working on a phased reopening of Provincetown’s economy that depends on knowing how many people are here. That won’t be easy. This page is […]

QUIET SUMMER

PROVINCETOWN — With a flat tone and zero arguments, the select board on Monday rescinded parade permits and banned the use of town property through Dec. 31, in effect canceling […]

THE UNCOUNTED

The self-reported response to the U.S. Census from the Outer Cape has been extremely low so far — under 25 percent for all four towns. Truro’s rate is the second […]

THEATER COMPANIES

WELLFLEET — After the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater announced on May 5 that it was postponing its entire 2020 season of productions until 2021 due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the […]

STICKER SHOCK

WELLFLEET — In an effort to reduce crowding on town beaches, Wellfleet is moving the start date for requiring beach parking stickers forward 30 days, to May 20. And only […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

PROVINCETOWN — The much quieter than normal waterfront businesses are anxiously waiting to see what Gov. Baker does with the current stay-at-home and social distancing policies. It has given boat […]

SIGNS OF SPRING

This season, the Wellfleet Farmers Market is going to be one of those places where life’s new rules seem weirdest. The place to go to get your hands-on local produce […]

VIGNETTE

Vignette by Daniel Dejean

AQUACULTURE

WELLFLEET — This town’s signature day will be missing in 2020 due to fears about the spread of Covid-19. The select board voted on April 28 to ban public uses […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — Bringing a business back from a dead standstill is hard enough. But the problems surrounding that effort during the Covid epidemic are so fiendishly interwoven, they resemble the […]

FROM A DISTANCE

EASTHAM — Elementary students and teachers won’t be returning to school this year, but the community is trying to help make the most of the situation. There were cheerful waves […]

GOING GREEN

Golfers can rejoice, as their green canvases have reopened. Gov. Charlie Baker announced on May 7 that golf courses, which had previously been required to close, could begin reopening across […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, May 12, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

RESILIENCE

WELLFLEET — Schools are shut for the rest of this term, at least, but that doesn’t mean Outer Cape high school seniors and their families won’t have a chance to […]

HALL OF FRAME

When it comes to framing art, my goal is always to enhance the piece and not distract from it. What’s fun about my job is that I never know who’s […]

GALLERY

Different from artworks in galleries, our home collections are more personal and varied. And in a gallery, little distracts from the art, while at home, it has to contend with […]

DISPATCHES

As we move toward a new normal, locally and globally, strict lockdowns are being modified, masks have become a fashion trend, and the Outer Cape enters the season that once […]

DEVELOPMENT

EASTHAM — Developer Tim Klink of Coastal Companies failed to persuade the zoning board of appeals on May 7 to overrule the building commissioner’s decision that Klink’s proposed 16-unit Route […]

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

WELLFLEET — Officials are pumping the brakes on the 95 Lawrence Road affordable housing project due to the delay of town meeting. The use of town-owned land at that location, […]

AT THE LIBRARY

EASTHAM — The town’s library closed to the public exactly two months ago, but staff have been busy providing online options for patrons and planning for the day when the […]

CURRENTS

All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Follow the link to the agenda for instructions on […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live: go to the town website, truro-ma.gov and find meetings on the lower right of the home page. Click on the agenda […]

currents

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held online. Go to Wellfleet’s town website wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the individual meetings for instructions. Thursday, May 14 Nauset Regional School Committee, 6 p.m. Friday, May […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are being conducted remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and […]

SURFING

The moment: a slice of time of uncertain length, liberated. A sampling of the river, defined not by length but by its content and significance. The internet says a moment […]

SKETCHBOOK

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MIDDLE SCHOOL MORNINGS

For the first 10 minutes of each school day, the Provincetown Schools Middle Years students — grades six, seven, and eight —write in their journals about their experiences living through […]

POETRY

Slip a pair of scissors in your pocket, my son. Lace your thumb and pointer through the hand holds. Steady! Leave the realm of your home, out the front door, […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

With Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto gone retrograde this week, our collective momentum might stall out in the midst of adjusting to a new (temporary?) normal. Meanwhile, the Moon’s tryst […]

ARTISTS

When we enter this world as newborns, we experience our surroundings visually as forms, shadows, and, gradually, shades of color. We recognize our mother’s face before all else, then become […]

THINKERS

The 2020 Broto Art-Climate-Science conference will take place virtually on Saturday, May 16, and Sunday, May 17. This year’s theme is “Time Sensitive: Exploring the Nexus of Art-Climate-Science & Deep […]

MUSIC

One day a few years back, during a particularly snowy winter, jazz musician Bert Jackson sat on the couch in his Brewster home, picked up his guitar, and composed a […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

If you want to know what’s really killing America’s newspapers, read the May 7 report in the New York Times titled “Push for Profits Left Nursing Homes Struggling to Provide […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Context Is Important To the editor: I found the headline “Day-trippers Uninvited to Wellfleet Beaches” in your May 7 edition [page 5] misleading and hyperbolic. I think context is important. […]

CLASSIFIEDS

THANK YOU Mama Mia, Michael. Thank you for delivering deliciousness to our door. And the lemon tart. We think you’ve finally found a dessert that’s up there with your pastas […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from May 4 to May 8, 2020. PROVINCETOWN May 4. Marion Serelis to Robert B. Sieban Jr. Trust (Robert B. Sieban Jr., […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of May 14 through May 20

Outer Cape Calendar Four Memorial Trees Last week, Margaret Murphy and Trees Provincetown, with the help of Ken MacPhee of Bartlett Tree Experts, planted a paperbark maple at the Provincetown […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

When Sheltering Is Not So Safe Playwright Candace Perry writes that “a portion of the Clothesline Project has been hanging in our yard in Wellfleet. We take in the shirts […]

SCIENCE AT RISK: PART 1

This is the first in a series of articles on the Cape Cod National Seashore’s science program. It explores why science matters at the Seashore and why it’s at risk. […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — Memorial Day weekend is two weeks away, but there is no official guidance yet on whether anyone will be allowed to come here. Since March 31, a standing […]

ARS INTERRUPTUS

PROVINCETOWN — The Fine Arts Work Center notified participants in its summer workshops by email on April 29 that the entire program had been postponed until 2021 due to the […]

SUMMER 2020

WELLFLEET — Summertime is coming but the living is far from easy. The expansive Outer Cape beaches may seem the perfect social distancing paradise, but the Wellfleet Select Board is […]

RELIEF

PROVINCETOWN — The coronavirus-induced collapse of the economy has people everywhere reaching for lifelines, from unemployment to SBA loans to MassHealth. At the edge of this scene is a group […]

MILES APART

A mask gets pushed aside, though six feet of separation were kept, for a taste of summer on a sunny Saturday. (Photo Nancy Bloom) This page is available to subscribers. […]

EASTHAM 400

EASTHAM — As a gallery of works by the Eastham Painters Guild rolls by on the screen, your eyes are held by those of Aspinet, the Nauset sachem who befriended […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

PROVINCETOWN — The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is no closer to opening up nonessential businesses and relaxing social distancing rules than it was a week ago. Last week, I wrote about how […]

LOST & FOUND

I discovered one of my favorite floor lamps in a barn, coated in dust and dirt. I took it home and cleaned it up. All it needed was a coat […]

GALLERY

While new gardeners are just now considering what to plant for the season ahead, their more experienced neighbors are already tending tomato seedlings in the greenhouse. Fluctuating temperatures and blustery […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, May 5, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

COCKTAIL HOUR

The possibility of facing a virtual Mother’s Day celebration certainly adds a layer of complexity to a day that, for many of us, already carries heightened emotions, from poignancy to […]

KITCHEN TABLE

Dinner at Prune was supposed to be a big deal. The kind of thing certain types of freelancers in New York saved for. So it was a bit disappointing to […]

SUMMER OF NO BALL

The boys of summer will not be coming to the Cape this year. The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) canceled its 2020 season on April 24. The news, though expected, […]

THIS THING CALLED LOVE

EASTHAM — Most young couples start their journey together in excellent physical health. Making a promise to support each other “in sickness” comes at a time when serious illness feels […]

CREATIVE ISOLATION

Sisters Violet and Hazel Yingling of Truro were going to go all the way to Paris, France, on an extra-special vacation this spring. They had to put their trip on […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The energy of the Full Moon in Scorpio this week will linger for days to come. You may feel like a pressure cooker of emotions. Instead of blowing your lid, […]

WELLFLEET — The Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater announced on May 5 the cancellation of its 2020 summer season, in recognition of “the need to take a proactive stance to slow […]

EXTRA CREDIT

The Provincetown Public Schools and the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School in Harwich both have middle school programs, but they have taken different approaches to grading since the schools were […]

CURRENTS

Three Dems and Two Felons on County Ballot Three Democrats are expected to be on the ballot for county commission in the Sept. 1 primary. Provincetown resident Cheryl Andrews, 60; […]

UNEASY BEING GREEN

The Wellfleet Farmers Market will be the first to open on the Outer Cape this season, on Wednesday, May 13, from 8 a.m. to noon. Like other local greenmarkets across […]

CURRENTS

Covid-19 Update As of May 4, 2020, Provincetown had one confirmed active case of coronavirus and one death from complications related to Covid-19; 26 additional cases were considered recovered and […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held remotely. To watch live: go to the town website, truro-ma.gov and find meetings on the lower right of the home page. Click on the agenda […]

currents

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held online. Go to Wellfleet’s town website wellfleet-ma.gov and click on the individual meetings for instructions. Thursday, May 7 Housing Authority, 10 a.m. Dredging Task Force, 11 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Town Hall is closed to the public. Meetings are being conducted remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a particular meeting to read its agenda. That document will […]

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

The howling wind against my window reminds me of the coronavirus. Ruthless and breathtaking, neither storm nor plague has a master. Mindless and amoral, they go about their business with […]

FROM THE HELM

It was the 2 a.m. deck watch change. I looked up to see a 40-foot wall of water just before it came crashing over us. In that instant, I knew […]

DUNE TOWN

Dune Town by JAK

UNMASKED

The Real You by Ellen LeBow

On the Outer Cape, Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday of May, is typically the time when stores and restaurants reopen and the spring thaw starts in earnest. Snowbirds, both […]

In the course of an artist’s lifetime, a recurrent theme may emerge almost of its own accord, with an urgency that cannot be ignored. That has certainly been the case […]

AUTHORS

Provincetown takes center stage in Jamie Brenner’s latest novel, Summer Longing, a follow-up to The Forever Summer, which is also set here. Brenner writes novels about families and relationships, page-turners […]

DOING GOOD

Among the institutions stepping up in the Covid-19 crisis, like hospitals, police and rescue squads, schools, and grocery stores, you might not think of a music conservatory. But the Cape […]

INDIE SCREEN

The circus of ironies, secrets, revelations, redemptions, and moral victories in the documentary Circus of Books is dizzying, especially since it’s the story of a gay porn emporium that opened […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

The response of the federal government and of our local institutions to the greatest health and economic crisis of our lives has revealed many fascinating stories. One is the government’s […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Alone No Longer To the editor: When I read K.C. Myers’s story about domestic violence [April 30, page 4], I thought to send mine to you. I was sexually and […]

CLASSIFIEDS

TAKING CARE Free Love for Your Hair. Rising Organics Hair is offering free FaceTime and phone consultations with advice on caring for your hair. Learn which color kits to buy, […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from April 27 to May 1, 2020. PROVINCETOWN April 27. 446 Commercial Street LLC to Robert J. Harms and Bradley L. Horner. […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of May 7 through May 13

Outer Cape Calendar Power Pointe Along with the Metropolitan Opera, another major Lincoln Center institution, the New York City Ballet, has gone virtual as well. Now through May 29, the […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Virtual Drag Race With Mackenzie It’s become something of a Provincetown tradition: RuPaul’s Drag Race screened live on a big TV at Pilgrim House or the Crown & Anchor Cabaret, […]

John Brewster Hopkins, 71, of Truro died on April 23, 2020, in San José, Costa Rica, after holding on for weeks following a bodysurfing injury on Valentine’s Day at one […]

Claudia Jean Martin of Provincetown died on May 1, 2020, after a brief illness, following a stay at Bourne Manor for rehabilitation. She was 74. She was born in Provincetown, […]

RESILIENCE

Even with the new emphasis on handwashing, some people can’t wait to get their hands dirty again. This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get […]

ECONOMY

Editor’s note: This story has been updated as of Saturday, May 2. PROVINCETOWN — The $310 billion that was added to the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) by Congress last week […]

WATERFRONT

EASTHAM — The project to repave the parking lot and replace the boat ramp at Rock Harbor is not going to be done until June 30, according to Doug Cameron, […]

PLAYBOOK

PROVINCETOWN — The select board has ordered the wearing of face masks starting Friday, May 1, in all Provincetown businesses and by everyone outdoors on Commercial Street between Bangs and […]

TRANSFERENCE

WELLFLEET — When it comes to recycling, each Outer Cape town does it a bit differently. This has made the need to adapt systems in response to the coronavirus vary […]

BODY/MIND

“I’m exhausted. I’ve done absolutely nothing.” This is what I hear from friends, students, and family. I say it, too. We’re exhausted, but worried we’ve somehow missed the mark. Why […]

VIGNETTE

Hairdresser by Daniel Dejean

MISSING LINKS

Golf has always been a game of patience. During the coronavirus crisis, it still is, but in a different sense: local golf courses have been closed since Gov. Charlie Baker’s […]

SOIL BUILDERS

Outer Cape gardeners can get restless counting the days until they can safely set out their tomato seedlings. But seasoned local growers have some advice on what to do right […]

DOVETAIL JOINT

The Question: Now that we’re inside these four walls all day, I’m noticing so many things we ought to fix up. Our list is long and we can’t decide where […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

Another week has gone by, and we are still living in a world where social distancing is very much a part of our day-to-day lives. At this point, it’s time […]

MILLION-YEAR PICNIC

I no longer know what day of the week it is. I have friends and family across the street, or right upstairs, that I haven’t seen in weeks. My wife […]

PLANTCRAFT

EASTHAM — My garden is popping with bright green life as perennials wake: lemon balm, mint, oregano, chamomile, echinacea. The sight is soothing, and it brings to mind the ways […]

KITCHEN TABLE

If soup is comfort food, cream of tomato must be the comfiest. Grilled cheese with tomato soup has been the number one requested meal at our house for the last […]

GRAVEYARD SHIFT

If town records offer little detail about the “fearful and fatal sickness” on Cape Cod during the late winter and early spring of 1816, the cemeteries are a melancholy testament […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, April 28, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

DISPATCHES

Several weeks after U.S. states have gone into lockdown, the Independent continues to follow friends and family across the globe as they cope with the challenges of living through the […]

SIGNS OF LOVE

Preschool teacher Nancy O’Connell joined a crowd of Eastham Elementary School teachers, students, and parents, who gathered at drive-by distance to wave and cheer one another at First Encounter Beach […]

MOVING MILESTONES

Teachers from Cape Cod Regional Technical High School honored all nine seniors from the Outer Cape with a surprise house-to-house parade on April 28. (Photo Nancy Bloom)   This page […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

As we languish in lockdown, tempers and temperatures rise alike. Meanwhile, certain planetary motions stoke our emotional fires. Will internal friction lead to combustion? As our frustration builds, it is […]

RECOVERY

PROVINCETOWN — The Provincetown Recovery Coalition created by Town Manager Robin Craver had its first meeting on April 22. Its goal is to move from creative thinking on distancing-while-open to […]

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

After Gabbe Rowland escaped a violent, abusive boyfriend, the police and courts got involved. The man who terrorized her is serving a six-year sentence in state prison. But the only […]

PROVINCETOWN 401

PROVINCETOWN — Construction on the long-planned inclined elevator that will link the Bas Relief Park to the base of the Pilgrim Monument is set to begin on May 18. The […]

RESILIENCE REPORT

EASTHAM — Dorothy Burritt, director of the Eastham Council on Aging, is looking on the bright side. “I think the best thing I’ve seen is how our entire community is […]

ENVIRONMENT

Celebrating the 50th Earth Day last week required environmental organizations across the Outer Cape to get creative. Both the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown and the Eastham Conservation Foundation […]

TRURO — Vietnam veteran, peace activist, construction worker, and farmer John Hopkins died on April 23, 2020, at Hospital CIMA in San Jose, Costa Rica. He was 72. Hopkins, who […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held remotely. To watch a meeting go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. Follow the link to the agenda for […]

CURRENTS

Meetings Ahead All meetings are being held remotely. Go to the town’s website, select “remote meeting information,” then follow an additional link for instructions on watching and participating. Monday, May […]

currents

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held online. Go to Wellfleet’s town website and click on the individual meetings for instructions. Thursday, April 30 Town Administrator Screening Committee, 2 p.m. Cape […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are being conducted remotely. Go to eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16 and click on a meeting to read its agenda. That document will provide information on how to view and take […]

REFLECTIONS

WELLFLEET — We built her in a garage in Syracuse, N.Y., a 23-foot cat ketch dory, small for a cruising boat. Ignoring Capt. Nat Herreshoff’s dictum that the only suitable […]

HEY DAHLIN’

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OUTER CAPE PORTRAIT

Molly Shafnacker has been making lemonade stands with friends since she was 11 years old. Here’s Molly in her own words, recorded last fall. Listen to the recorded interview here. […]

BOOK REVIEW

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Eric Eyre braids together two riveting stories in Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight Against the Drug Companies That Delivered the Opioid Epidemic. Numbers are […]

CHILDREN’S LIT

Picture yourself taking an unhurried walk through a wildflower garden with a small child. You slow down as the child examines the curve of a leaf, the shape of a […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

A few months ago, I wrote in this space about why we put “Provincetown” in the title of our new publication rather than call it the “Outer Cape” Independent. That […]

CLASSIFIEDS

TAKING CARE Free Love for Your Hair. Rising Organics Hair is offering free FaceTime and phone consultations with advice on caring for your hair. Learn which color kits to buy, […]

OBITUARY

PROVINCETOWN — Bernard N. “Barshie” Santos of Provincetown died on April 22, 2020, at Wingate of Harwich. He was 91. Born in Provincetown, the son of the late Antone and […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from April 20 to April 24, 2020. PROVINCETOWN April 21. Friedrich Pangratz and Albert Martinez to Fadi G. Hanna. 82 Commercial St. […]

Know when to hit the flats

our picks for the week of April 30 through May 6

Outer Cape Bulletin Home Plates The Truro Historical Society, with the help of Jobi Pottery, is hoping to auction off hand-painted plates made by local artists during its gala this […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Three Days of Virtual Love A three-day-long virtual arts festival, “Home Is Where the Art Is,” is a benefit for the Cape Cod Arts Relief Fund, hosted by the Arts […]

ENVIRONMENT

With the ongoing pandemic, scientific research has been interrupted across Cape Cod. Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary has placed five staff members on partial furlough due to funding freezes, […]

HEALTH

PROVINCETOWN — The novel coronavirus threatens us all — but not equally. Since the earliest days of the outbreak, scientists and ordinary people alike have hunted for information about who […]

CIVICS

WELLFLEET — Town Moderator Dan Silverman was supposed to be calling the annual town meeting to order this coming Monday evening, April 27. Instead, Wellfleet’s town government is trying to […]

HEALTH

Dentistry is one of the most high-risk professions when it comes to disease exposure, but Outer Cape dentists are still finding emergency work to sink their teeth into. Dr. Scott […]

LEARNING

EASTHAM — “School’s out forever,” Alice Cooper declared. Not exactly, but the new normal for learning in Massachusetts — virtual lessons via the internet — will now continue through the […]

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

Spring has been a very confused season so far. As I write this, snow is falling in the western hills of Massachusetts as well as my winter home in the […]

AT THE VET

People with pets that need veterinary care will find limited services and new protocols in place at Outer Cape clinics during the Covid-19 crisis. Most of what’s new will feel […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — Business owners are getting creative with plans for surviving what has been a devastating spring and will be a slow summer. This page is available to subscribers. Click […]

CIVIL WAR

Newspaperman Roger Hawthorne presented a letter to the Provincetown Board of Selectmen in November 1961, urging the board to recognize the 100th anniversary of the “Trent Affair” with a proclamation […]

GALLERY

We wonder about the season ahead and what we’ll find at the other side. There are surely lessons to be learned from the historic houses around us and the people […]

THE VETERAN

It’s Monday, Oct. 8, 1956, and New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen is throwing a perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series. A 26-year-old […]

VIEW FROM THE HIVE

Connecting with nature is one benign, widely practiced, and evidently very effective way of coping with anxiety. In Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, Ishmael, instead of “stepping into the street, and methodically […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, April 21, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

ON THE LANDSCAPE

The lawn. A tightly cropped, cleanly edged area of neat green. An outdoor carpet for lying on and looking at. A lawn is deeply ingrained in our culture as an […]

DOING GOOD

Wild Care, the wildlife rescue center in Eastham, is open, but due to the Covid-19 crisis, staff are working remotely and the organization’s capacity is limited, according to a press […]

DIY

There’s something magical about watching the slow-motion world inside a snow globe. Ready to put winter behind us, we decided on glitter as a good ingredient for a springtime version. […]

STEAMERS

Illiberated by A. Crock

RESILIENCE REPORT

Chris Czekaj slept next to a 3D printer for the first two weeks of April. It wasn’t because he was lonely in isolation, but rather because he had volunteered with […]

ENDURANCE

TRURO — On World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 1990, Stephen Kovacev’s partner, Kevin McLean, a ballet dancer, died of AIDS. “I met him in ’82,” Kovacev told the Independent. “He […]

Staying safe at the post office can be stressful these days. As an alternative, you can sign up for Informed Delivery, free from the U.S. Postal Service (informeddelivery.usps.com). You’ll get […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From provincetown-ma.gov, click on the calendar or the list on the meeting you’re interested in. When event details are in view, click on the link provided. From there […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From truro-ma.gov, click on “remote meeting information” on the lower left. The next page will prompt you to click again for a pdf document with instructions for viewing […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From wellfleet-ma.gov/calendar, click on the meeting you’re interested in to open its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely. Thursday, April […]

currents

Eastham Meetings Ahead From eastham-ma.gov/calendar-by-event-type/16, click on the meeting you’re interested in to read its agenda. That document will provide information about how to view and take part remotely. Thursday, […]

NOISEMAKERS

WELLFLEET — When I first heard about the howling in Wellfleet, I was skeptical. I had seen a post on Facebook’s Wellfleet Community Space asking people to “share the love” […]

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

Exactly 400 years ago this coming November, the good ship Mayflower sailed into Provincetown Harbor and anchored (a fact infuriatingly underreported in our national media). There were 102 souls on […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

The Sun enters Taurus this week in the 8th House of Sex, Death, and Other People’s Money. Whether you are mourning the death of loved ones or the demise of […]

SKETCHBOOK

This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

BOOK REVIEW

Drag queens are a familiar part of street life in Provincetown, and thanks to stars such as RuPaul and his Drag Race reality show, they’ve become a familiar part of […]

ARTISANS

Cape artisans who work in jewelry and stained glass rely heavily on craft shows and stores to sell their work. With things shut down during the coronavirus crisis, and the […]

HEAVENLY CUTS

On April 7, America lost singer-songwriter John Prine to Covid-19. He was a giant in the world of country and folk music — genres that, it may surprise some to […]

SOCIAL STUDIES

In a matter of weeks, reality has lost its familiar form. Invisible threats fill the air, smearing door handles and packaging, reshaping even the most minor intimacies — the touch […]

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

Before there was Zoom and FaceTime, there was real life. A place where we talked. And as we did, we communicated so much more than our words alone. In conversation […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Trump and the Coming Election To the editor: I am a retired lawyer who spent 49 years with two large firms. Real estate lawyers in both firms used to regale […]

CLASSIFIEDS

POETRY It calls to me this Provincetown / when hearts and souls are weary / It calls to me this Provincetown / thru winters bleak and dreary / Come walk […]

Know when to hit the flats

HOME

Real Estate Transactions Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from April 13 to April 17, 2020. PROVINCETOWN April 13. Michael A. Valenti Jr. and Robert Peter Tosner to […]

film

All movie theaters are closed in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

our picks for the week of April 23 through April 29

Outer Cape Bulletin Timeless Traviata The Metropolitan Opera continues to stream live performances from the past for free, with a new selection each day at 7:30 p.m., such as the […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Its Concerts Canceled, Outer Cape Chorale Keeps Zooming On March 9, the board of the Outer Cape Chorale decided to cancel the group’s upcoming rehearsals and concerts, even though the […]

CIVICS

TRURO — The Truro Select Board had one topic on the agenda for its April 9 meeting: to discuss and respond to two articles in the April 2 edition of […]

ESSENTIAL KINDNESS

PROVINCETOWN — Many studies have shown that acts of kindness cause the brain to release calming and happiness-boosting hormones. Psychologists say the result can feel like a runner’s high. This […]

ECONOMY

Update: On Thursday, April 16, the Small Business Administration stopped accepting PPP loan applications because the $349 billion appropriation was exhausted. Congress is currently negotiating over an extra $250 billion […]

CIVICS

WELLFLEET — Town Administrator Dan Hoort has asked the Outer Cape’s state legislators to try to get Beacon Hill to consider a radical remedy for the possibility that the traditional […]

PANDEMIC

Health care facilities around the country are scrambling to deal with the influx of Covid-19 patients, but hospitals on Cape Cod are better off than most. A recent study by […]

CLEAN WATER

EASTHAM — Those weren’t frackers drilling for oil last week along Nauset Road at the Salt Pond Visitor Center. Instead, workers were injecting emulsified vegetable oil as a permeable reactive […]

GALLERY

Working from home. Like it or not, it’s a new reality for many of us. And while some may be lucky enough to have a dedicated space with an actual […]

STEAMERS

Off the Wall by A. Crock

BABYCAKES

Greyson Ethan Estey was born on Feb. 19, 2020, to Ethan Estey and Keri Stebenne of Wellfleet. His maternal grandparents are Roger and Shirley Stebenne of North Attleboro and his […]

Hey Dahlin'

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MEET THE MAKER

When I was eight years old, my mother taught me my first basic crochet stitches, thereby connecting me to a long line of crochet blanket makers in my family. When […]

MOVEMENT

Running has great appeal in the age of coronavirus. Here on the Outer Cape, you can probably set out on a run right outside your front door. It doesn’t require […]

Obituaries

WELLFLEET — Bruce Drucker, who died at Cape Cod Hospital on April 7 at age 75, was at the pinnacle of his career as a lawyer 20 years ago. The […]

KITCHEN TABLE

The vegetable garden is in a spring shambles. But some parts of it are waking up all on their own. I can see from inside the house that the parsley […]

CREATIVE ISOLATION

Do you have the capacity to look around your own home and back yard and find exquisite beauty in it? Seven-year-old Anwyn Davis of Wellfleet has invented a way to […]

RARA AVIS

Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, April 14, included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]

DOWN THE ROAD

On April 19, 1897, the first-ever Boston Marathon was run, with John J. McDermott winning the race in a time of 2:55:10. This year, runners are facing another first-ever event: […]

VIGNETTE

Daniel Dejean Vignette

THE SCUTTLEBUTT

As we begin another season on the waterfront, it would be an understatement to say its start, if it ever happens, won’t look like any other previous season’s start. Our […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — The calendar of events that structures summertime in Provincetown has been nearly wiped clean. Bear Week, Family Week, and the Provincetown International Film Festival have all been suspended […]

IMMIGRATION & COVID

The Mass. Dept. of Public Health reports that people of color are disproportionately affected by coronavirus, with Latinos and blacks accounting for 23 and 18 percent of Covid-19 cases despite […]

PRESERVATION

WELLFLEET — The house at 20 Briar Lane is architecturally significant, with both Greek Revival and Gothic Revival elements. It is also the hoped-for location for two year-round businesses and […]

RENOVATION

EASTHAM — The Nauset Building Committee has requested an extension from the state of the deadline for getting four towns’ approval for the proposed renovation of Nauset Regional High School. […]

CANDIDATES

PROVINCETOWN — Austin Knight is not exactly saying “I told you so,” but he did try to warn the town about the legal ramifications of firing former Police Chief Jeff […]

currents

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held using videoconferencing. To join a meeting live, click on the link to the meeting on the town’s home page calendar at provincetown-ma.gov. To watch […]

currents

Meetings Ahead All meetings are being held remotely. For viewing information go to the town’s website, truro-ma.gov, and look on the left for “Remote meeting information.” Tuesday, April 21 Truro […]

currents

Meetings Ahead All meetings are held remotely. To watch or participate in meetings live, go to the town website, wellfleet-ma.gov, and click on the link to the meeting in the […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Town Hall is closed to the public. Meetings are being conducted remotely. Check the town’s website, www.eastham-ma.gov, for information on meeting schedule changes and how to view and […]

SKETCHBOOK

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OP-ED

EASTHAM — My grandfather was a Congregational minister. I never met him. He died of pneumonia in the 1920s. Two stories I heard growing up about Robert Hillis Goldsmith: in […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

With the Moon coming into relation with multiple planets this week, our emotional lives may feel more strained than they already are. Dear Reader: Channel that frustration. It is OK […]

MUSICAL VIRTUALITY

“Begin staggered, play as written, see what happens.” These are the instructions at the beginning of Elena Ruehr’s most recent composition for string quartet. Titled Zoom, it’s intended to be […]

MEMOIRS

Paul Lisicky could not have known that his newest book would be released in the midst of a global pandemic. And yet it’s apropos that the publication of Later: My […]

INK

In 2009, Kris Smith launched two brave new ventures in Provincetown. One was Coastline Tattoo, his tattoo studio, at 290A Commercial St., at the end of the Bob Gasoi Memorial […]

INDIE SCREEN

There’s no question that Greta Gerwig’s adaptation (as screenwriter and director) of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel, Little Women, is a coup. A story known for its warmth and memorable […]

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

One of the best reasons to be a journalist is to be forced to remain calm in the midst of crisis in order to do your job. It doesn’t always […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Retelling the Story To the editor: Celebrating Passover is indeed a challenge this year [“Year of the Plague,” April 9]. But such challenges are in fact central to the story […]

CLASSIFIEDS

TAKING CARE Dental Emergencies. Dr. Scott Allegretti would like the community to know that, although the office is closed, we are here for you, providing information and consultation by phone. […]

Obituaries

Serge Jean Luc Le Gendre of Provincetown died on Feb. 27, 2020. He was 55. Born in New York City, Serge lived most of his life in New York, but […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from April 6 to April 10, 2020. PROVINCETOWN April 9. Kenneth Grandberg, Marcy Dagostine, and Rebecca Dagostine to Nicholas J. Riley. 953 […]

Know when to hit the flats

film

All movie theaters are closed in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

our picks for the week of April 16 through April 22

Outer Cape Bulletin A Free Lunch in Truro The Truro Community Kitchen is serving hands-free takeout meals to those in the community most in need, Sundays from noon to 2 […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

Miss Richfield 1981 Goes Bingo Bonanza In case you were wondering, Miss Richfield 1981 is doing just fine during the pandemic, thank you very much. To keep herself busy, she’s […]

RESILIENCE

TRURO — For the people who grow vegetables and manicure lawns, it’s definitely not a garden variety spring, as the coronavirus closes retail garden centers and seed catalogs are selling […]

COVID & HEALTH

Covid-19 is a brand-new disease with many unknowns. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites a lack of data on special risks for pregnant women and infants, but with […]

HOME SCHOOLING

School’s out for at least a month and half. That news would normally be heralded by kids as manna from heaven. But distance learning is presenting plenty of frustrations for […]

PUBLIC SAFETY

Local police officers and first responders are doing what they can to maintain their own health while they continue working to keep the public safe during the coronavirus pandemic. The […]

ECONOMY

PROVINCETOWN — The Small Business Administration (SBA) has given birth to twins. Two huge, messy loan programs with complex instructions and chaotic rollouts have been dropped on its doorstep — and […]

VIGNETTE

Daniel Dejean Vignette

COME SUNDAY

How we worship is so personal to each of us. Some worship quietly alone. Many people connect through others in their churches. However or wherever we do it, on a […]

SKETCHBOOK

Spring Peepers by Mark Adams

CHILD CARE

EASTHAM — With their facilities closed in the wake of the pandemic, some child care providers are still working to support their clients. Case in point: Cindy Horgan, executive director […]

MENTAL HEALTH

Four weeks into school closures, parents and kids are struggling with disrupted routines, financial stress, and health concerns, and there are no easy answers. “We are all in uncharted territory,” […]

FEEDING THOSE IN NEED

Starting last Sunday, the Truro Community Kitchen began serving hands-free takeout meals curbside to those in the community most in need, weekly from noon to 2 p.m. at the Box […]

DOVETAIL JOINT

The Question: We’ve been saving to make some home improvements and want to go forward. But we’re concerned about the economy and want to make sure we do this intelligently. […]

THE WAITING SEASON

EASTHAM — Nauset Regional High School junior Kurt Thomas has kept himself busy these last few weeks preparing for the spring baseball season. “I’m actually very lucky — I have […]

Crossword

The March puzzle from Sophia Maymudes should be done on dry land. Need some answers? We send out the solution in our Friday newsletter. You’ll find the signup for our […]

NAVIGATING BY THE STARS

In the wake of a Libra Full Moon, our inner resources for creating order from chaos are supercharged. How do we render nourishment from what seems harsh on the outside? […]

D.I.Y.

Who knows what the next few months will bring? Planting a garden is one way to cope with so much uncertainty. You’ll put your mind to taking care of plants […]

KITCHEN TABLE

The nettles are up! I’ve never been so grateful to see a wild green. Nettles sting, yes. But they’re free and prolific. And right now, they’re tall enough to harvest. […]

PANDEMIC

PROVINCETOWN — John Perrone, 70, whose passion for and knowledge of Motown attracted fans from all over world, died of the novel coronavirus on April 5, 2020, the same day […]

LONG ARM OF THE LAW

TRURO — A new exhibition is being created at the Highland House Museum. Its purpose is to reframe the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of European settlers […]

CORONAVIRUS

PROVINCETOWN — The Ptown Covid-19 Task Force came together a month ago as a channel for volunteer energy to help deal with the coronavirus. The pandemic creates challenges across many […]

POLITICS

The race is on for two Barnstable County Commission seats, and two experienced Outer Cape politicians are among the contestants. Former Select Board Member Cheryl Andrews, 60, of Provincetown, announced […]

ZONING

EASTHAM — The zoning board of appeals has decided that no more storage units will be coming to North Eastham. At its April 2 meeting, the board unanimously voted to […]

currents

Meetings Ahead All meetings will be held using video conferencing. For details: provincetown-ma.gov/27/Town-Boards and from there click on Upcoming Meetings. Thursday, April 9 Planning Board, 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 13 […]

currents

Meetings Ahead From the town’s website, www.truro-ma.gov/, click on Remote Meeting Information for updated details on how to view public meetings. Thursday, April 9 Select Board, 10 a.m. Tuesday, April […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Meetings are held by videoconference. On the town’s website, wellfleet-ma.gov, look on the right side under the calendar and click on All Upcoming Events for a calendar of […]

currents

Meetings Ahead Town Hall is closed to the public. Meetings are being conducted remotely. Check the town’s website, www.eastham-ma.gov, for information on meeting schedule changes and how to view and […]

SURFING

We knew the waves were good. The surf reports showed it. There was a big south swell sweeping in from the Indian Ocean onto the reefs to the west. The […]

THE YEAR-ROUNDER

“A man who carries a cat by the tail,” wrote Mark Twain, “learns something he can learn in no other way.” I have shelves and piles of books in our […]

OP-ED

WASHINGTON, D.C. — If I had to pick the one thing that has changed most in the 28 years I’ve been coming to Truro, it would be the fear factor. […]

DISPATCHES

This week, the Independent offers dispatches from readers with a strong Cape connection who are living in other areas of the U.S. that are currently the hardest hit — places […]

APPRECIATION

My father, the painter Wolf Kahn, died at home in New York City on March 15, 2020, on the eve of my birthday, and just days before the city was […]

SCULPTURE

Akiko Jackson is a second-year visual arts fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Her first fellowship year was 2013-14; the day she returned, this past October, Jackson […]

TV SERIES

Tiger King Streaming on Netflix; one season, seven episodes The documentary series Tiger King tells the stories of several exotic animal zoo owners, mainly focusing on one, Joe Exotic (real […]

PUBLISHING

Of the billion-dollar romance novel publishing business, gay male romance books make up a small fraction — $20 million. But for a one-man imprint like Robert Winter Books, it’s a […]

APPRECIATION

Renée Simon, who died on March 17, 2020, was my best friend. We met about 50 years ago and had many things in common. We were both born in 1937. […]

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

I’m writing this on the eve of the one holiday that has inspired us to sustain a kind of religious ritual at our house: Passover. The seder, which was a […]

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Where Are the Tests? To the editor: On Jan. 20 a 35-year-old man in Washington state returned from visiting family in Wuhan, China. He became the […]

CLASSIFIEDS

MUSIC Music Lessons. Learn guitar, voice, piano, or ukulele while you isolate. All ages and levels welcome. Individual instruction, via internet. First lesson is free. Call, email, or text Walter […]

Obituaries

Antoinette “Toni” Marsh of North Truro died on March 29, 2020, at Seashore Point in Provincetown after a long illness. The wife of Raymond Marsh, she was 80 years old. […]

HOME

Recorded at the Barnstable County Registry of Deeds from March 30 to April 3, 2020. TRURO March 31. Garran Realty Trust (John W. Garran Sr. and Tamson A. Garran, trustees) […]

Know when to hit the flats

film

All movie theaters are closed in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.

our picks for the week of April 9 through April 15

Wagner and Mozart The Metropolitan Opera continues its daily streaming of live performances from the past through April 19. Each day, from 7:30 p.m. till 6:30 p.m. the next day, […]

Arts Briefs and Listings

The Porkchop Express Does the Cooking at Home WOMR has asked its DJs to write to the Independent and describe the experience of recording at home, since Outermost Community Radio [&helli