Town Column : Chilmark
By Jacqueline Sexton
Published: October 23, 2008
Late news for anyone reading the paper early this morning: The African American Community Development Project will hold its annual meeting this morning at 42 Skiff Avenue in Vineyard Haven at 10 am. Discussion will center on organizational needs, especially bookkeeping, for the project that has expanded beyond the simple means of its early beginnings. Anyone interested in helping develop markets for African artists and educational and medical development for African children is welcome. Questions? Call Marsha Winsryg at 508-693-4059.
When the world is too much with us, as it certainly has been for the past two weeks and will be for the foreseeable future, it helps to go outside, find a place that suits you - a beach, a field, a grape arbor or just the back steps - and immerse yourself in the minutiae of the natural environment, a little like a meditation. Watch the hummingbirds sip from the blossoms on the butterfly bush. (They start at the tip and work their way down, a neat job of stripping.) Or count the legs of a honey bee attacking some grapes. If you sit very still, it will probably leave you alone. The immensity of the natural world with its predictable cycles of decay and regeneration puts into perspective all the unforgivable things a handful of unscrupulous people have done.
We're lucky to have so many spaces for contemplation all over Martha's Vineyard, thanks to the visionaries who started the various nonprofits devoted to preserving the land.
We congratulate Emily Bramhall, whose attachment to the land is deeply felt and steadfast, on being the new president of the Sheriff's Meadow Foundation (SMF) whose 50th anniversary will be celebrated next summer with a function at the Allen Farm. The foundation has also planned a series of guided walks, free and open to the public, for next year through the various properties they own or have conservation restrictions on. These include, in Chilmark, Quansoo Farm, Middle Road Sanctuary, and Wades Field, and Priscilla Hancock Meadow.
The creepy time of year when ghouls and ghosts stalk the shadows provides distraction of another sort. The firefighter's annual Halloween party at the community center will take place from 5 to 6 pm on Friday, Oct. 31. Katie Carroll is organizing the party, as she usually does, and asks that people willing to bring dessert or snacks call her at 508-645-3638 or email her at squidrow@vineyard.net. The party is for children in town through the fifth grade but older children are welcome, as are adults, who can see firsthand the latest thing in costumes, some with what I think of as high-tech touches, like flashing red lights on the heels of sneakers.
Church-goers will celebrate the 37th annual harvest supper at the United Methodist Church (the Stone Church) in Vineyard Haven this Saturday, Oct. 25, with two seatings, at 5 and 6:30 pm. Please call Karen Jaffe at 508-693-3784 if you would like to help. For tickets, call Barbara Donald at 508-693-1493 or Elaine Nelson at 693-8860.
The Stone Church will also be the venue for Brian Wren's discussion of his new book, "Advent, Christmas and Epiphany: Liturgies and Prayers for Public Worship," next Wednesday, Oct. 29, from 4 to 5:30 pm.
