News Hounds: An Accidental Newspaper Life On Martha's Vineyard

by Doug Cabral

Overview

News Hounds is an illustrated, amiable comic memoir about a weekly newspaper editor's life on Martha's Vineyard. Through all the years of editing and owning newspapers on the Vineyard, Doug Cabral enjoyed a generous assist from​ ​the dogs, the small host of them that made his family's house their home, plus the odd and occasional cat and a selection of the beasts of the field, the air, and the forest who, for some reason, claimed a shockingly large relative share of his attention. It's an odd, intimate, behind the headlines account of an accidental career in newspapering and the peculiar, insular, and notorious place where this career unfolded. Oh, and working together, he and the creatures strike glancing blows at genuinely important people and stories, such as the practice of journalism, of politics, of development regulation, of exalted visitors, and of prolific turkeys. Often, the stories celebrate – and, infrequently, deplore – the lives of the non-human critters with whom Doug lived. The impulse to follow their lead was importunate and compelling. The critters were interesting, never critical – though occasionally sorely disappointed with him – often comforting and amusing. They, especially the cast of dogs that marked the passing years of his family’s life, were not political, they did not debate or vote, or write angry letters. They didn't make budgets or develop property or decide the tax rate, but they rewarded frequent consultation and offered useful advice, and they ignored, correctly so, much of his foolishness. They complicated his life with their comings and goings and their occasional waywardness and downright peccadilloes, but they never complained when he put words in their mouths or made their opinions his own. What more could a newspaper writer yearn for?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781483573779
Publisher:	BookBaby
Publication date:	05/23/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	196
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Doug Cabral has lived on Martha’s Vineyard for nearly fifty years. For most of that time he has been a newspaper editor and owner, eight years as managing editor of the Vineyard Gazette and twenty-eight as editor and, beginning in 1991, owner of The Martha’s Vineyard Times. He retired from The Times in 2014. He lives in Vineyard Haven with his wife Molly and pugs Teddy and Scout.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 Mr. Big 1

Chapter 2 Missing Links 10

Chapter 3 Siren Call 17

Chapter 4 Pasha Had a Plan 23

Chapter 5 Newspapering 30

Chapter 6 Dogs Are Thankful Too 40

Chapter 7 Left to Our Own Devices Amidst The Fog and the Squalls 45

Chapter 8 Death on Doors 51

Chapter 9 Islanders Put Up Their Dukes 55

Chapter 10 Class Distinctions 65

Chapter 11 Detour 74

Chapter 12 Back on Course 87

Chapter 13 We're with Them 97

Chapter 14 Making Something of Himself 101

Chapter 15 Raising the Bar 113

Chapter 16 Jim and Jerry 122

Chapter 17 Cord by Cord 128

Chapter 18 HillBill 133

Chapter 19 Islanding 141

Chapter 20 Knock at the Door 154

Chapter 21 Turkey Mania 162

Chapter 22 Boot Hill 169

Chapter 23 We Meet on the Stairs 179