Though I am most definitely a person of color, it is not at all unusual for me to be surrounded completely by white people.  Bohemians, artists, and writers, yes.  Non-Christians and even atheists, oh yes.  Queers, honestly, most of the time.  And surprisingly, a lot of my friends are relatively well off.  About half of my peers are Ivy League graduates, own property, or have six-figure jobs, and among those who are broke, it would be tough to find an instance where it isn't primarily by choice.

I was thinking about this recently as I wandered around Nantucket island, a sweet little spot just 30 miles out to sea and less than an hour by plane from New York or Boston.  Pretty as a picture with gray-shingled cottages dotted along numerous sandy beaches and bike paths, this is the idyll that inspired Nantucket Nectars, Vanessa Noel stilettos, and Plum TV.  So why did I find the place so precious, so smug, so awful?

Then it dawned on me.  It's not the whiteness or the wealth I find so alienating; it's the oppressive preppiness.

As a fashion aesthetic, I dig a splash of preppy.  The occasional Lacoste vintage polo, yes.  And a pastel Lilly Pulitzer print blazer on a hip-hop mogul is fabulous!  But preppy straight up without irony is so blah.  Like on a white button-nosed blond mom with four equally WASP offspring and matching husband, preppy seems totally flavorless and status quo, like a beige monotone in a sea of white noise.

Though Nantucket is packed to the rafters with Americans who can no longer afford to go to the Caribbean, the locals tell me it's in crisis.  Speaking to a taxi driver (they sure love to blab here), I was informed that there are 350 houses for sale on the island.  That's a lot.  Apparently, the crisis is a combination of two demographics.  One is wealthy people who bought vacation homes here who have decided it was a mistake, perhaps because it's too expensive to upkeep or they've found that coming back here isn't as easy as it seemed (though the air time to Nantucket is under an hour from New York or Boston, flights are often delayed or canceled due to fog).  The second demographic selling are locals who can no longer afford their mortgages, just like Americans in every part of the country.  But it's a rotten time to sell. which means it's a great time to buy if you're looking for investment properties.

Because Nantucket could change for the better, now that Europeans are starting to visit.  Why not, it's practically free for them, right?  And the novelty of chocolate-covered cranberries and a pair of Nantucket Reds from Murray's Toggery Shop must amuse them to no end, just because they originated here, not Europe.  There are a few edgy shops like Current Vintage (refurbished Lilly Pulitzer and other chic vintage dresses plus fine wines) and Posh (fine handcrafted jewelry).  Topper's at the Wauwinet resort is Zagat's top-rated restaurant in all of Massachusetts.  And if you can't afford to stay at the fanciest digs on the island, the Wauwinet, you might opt for the boutique hotel meets country inn Veranda House, or if you have a dog in tow, my favorite, the Woof Cottages at the Boat Basin.

Nantucket also has a surprising not-so-secret history that inspired the great novel Moby-Dick and the more revealing In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, which proves these people are survivors.  Turns out the locals on the island are the descendants of cannibals.  Apparently, all the men would go to sea on the whaling ships, leaving the women alone to run the island for two years at a time (perhaps this is why the females here tend to be sturdy and tough).  In 1821, the whale ship Essex was struck by a possibly vindictive sperm whale and the surviving crew were adrift and starving.  They resorted to cannibalism, eating crew members who died, but even that wasn't enough.  So they drew straws to decide who would be killed for food and who would have to kill him.  The poor lad to be sacrificed was Owen Coffin, the captain's young cousin that he'd been sworn to protect.  Not long afterwards, they were rescued and had to return home and face their families.  Seven men total were eaten during the 95-day ordeal.

For more general information about visiting Nantucket, see the official Nantucket Chamber of Commerce website: www.nantucketchamber.org.