Islands are everyone’s favorite symbol for a microcosm – except for John Donne, who famously said that no man is an island. Phil Crossman’s new book, “Observations” makes a good argument for both.

The original plan was a collection of columns Crossman had written as the “Observer” for Vinalhaven’s weekly newsletter. The Wind’s appearance every Thursday is an event eagerly awaited by residents and visitors alike, not least to see what topical issue the Observer will submit to the lens of his droll, but kindly, humor.

Going through back issues of The Wind and other island newspapers, Crossman found so much good material that he expanded his book’s scope to include all previous attempts at a Vinalhaven broadsheet and the news it contained.

At this point it is reasonable to ask if the comings and goings of life on one small island will be of compelling interest to anyone else. After all, typical personal notices in The Wind are often along the lines of this one: “Thanks for that thing you did for me the other day up at you know where. It was a big help. Signed: You Know Who.”

The answer – if the reader has any interest in human interaction, community, historical progress, or just fine story-telling – must be a resounding yes. If you, like old John Donne, are “involved with mankind,” you will find “Observations” a rich treasure of comedy and tragedy, news and reminiscences, and a ton of colorful characters.

It begins in 1884 when two local businessmen announced publication of The Wind, A Mid-Ocean Journal devoted to Home News. Four printed pages enlightened its readers on subjects such as “The Net Business” (net knitting, especially for horse nets to keep off flies, was a major island industry), and “The Value of a Woman” (“a handy thing to have in a house. …she will tell you all about yourself and more, too.”) The standard of writing was of a high order, as in this line from a piece called “We All Have Faults”: “Where I could not see the fool’s cap, I have nevertheless heard the bells jingle.”

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The year 1884 saw a severe outbreak of measles, which made the Mid-Ocean Journal a “good, often grim, but pragmatic, read,” comments Crossman. The first Wind lasted until the publishers discovered their hopes of making a profit were unfounded, a mere seven months. They signed off, incidentally, with the future Vulcan greeting from “Star Trek”: “Live long and prosper.”

A Vinalhaven Review was even more short-lived, as was The Messenger. Undaunted, the original publishers of The Wind tried once more with The Vinalhaven Echo. Hot news, such as a shyster vamoosing, and recollections of early settler life were varied with a section, “Men of Vinalhaven,” with such masterful observations as “there is an expression in his face that casts vague suspicions that he would take the upholstered chair if there was only one in the room.” After 15 months, the Echo disappeared, too.

Fast forward nearly 50 years, and another would-be publisher started printing the Vinalhaven Pilot on a press made out of junk material. Before it ended its two-year run, the Pilot had established a fine no-nonsense tone. Regarding daylight savings time, “Some time ago, as in most everywhere, the clocks were put ahead an hour, Vinalhaven followed suit. A couple of weeks was enough, enough is plenty, and plenty is too much, so on May 17, the Town voted to go back to sensible time.”

All this was but prelude. “Vinalhaven got its second wind, so to speak,” writes Crossman, in 1974 when Ray Blaisdell came to the island as part of the Maine Seacoast Mission. Since then, “over a thousand weekly issues of the Wind have rolled off its presses.” Unlike its predecessors, it has never sought to make a profit, relies entirely on volunteers, and maintains Blaisdell’s original relaxed editorial philosophy: “What appear as errors are put there on purpose so those who need something to complain about will find it easily.”

The author/editor has chosen his material carefully. Organized by year, island events unroll for the reader in real time. Life’s full dynamic range is captured, its woes as well as its joys, but wherever possible, with a good face on it. When the power plant was on its last legs and had to provide electricity to Vinalhaven and neighboring North Haven alternately, a man started cooking lasagna on one island, then rowed across to the other to finish it off when the power switched.

The highlight of the book are Crossman’s own columns, with their delightful reminiscences of a misspent youth on the island, jocular sparring with other businesses (he owns the motel and a gourmet wine store), and sage advice on life’s more general questions.

Islands really are a microcosm, and “Observations” is as interesting and familiar a chunk of life as you could hope to find.

Thomas Urquhart is a former director of Maine Audubon and the author of “For the Beauty of the Earth.”


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