As we head into the sunburn season, did you know you should apply sunscreen 30 minutes before going in the sun? It is more effective if it has been absorbed by the skin, and should take about one ounce, or two tablespoons. Don’t forget back of legs, feet and toes, ears, neck, hairline, and even the parting in your hair. Reapply at least every two hours, whatever it says.
Sunday afternoon at 2, you can enjoy a reading by poet Rose Styron at our Vineyard Haven library. (The library opens at 1:30.) She has published three books of poetry: “From Summer to Summer,” “Thieves’ Afternoon,” and “By Vineyard Light.” She also collaborated on translations of two books of Russian poetry, and edited a volume of the selected letters of her husband William Styron. This event is free, and refreshments will be served.
“Go Set a Watchman” was the novel Harper Lee submitted to her publishers before “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Assumed lost, the manuscript was discovered in 2014. It features many of the characters from “To Kill a Mockingbird” some 20 years later. Next Tuesday at 7, enjoy free popcorn, lemonade, and Gregory Peck in the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird” at the Vineyard Haven library.
Get ready for the Philip Weinstein seminar to study Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” in September and Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov” in November at the Cornell Theatre. Registration begins in August at the Vineyard Haven library; you should start reading now.
“Recent Revolutions in Biotechnology and Medicine” with Professor George Church is now available on the MVTV website for streaming. You also might enjoy looking at the website pged.org from the Personal Genetics Education Project. Remember the map George showed us with the one red dot on the Vineyard? Add your own dot after you have taken a brief quiz on genetics.
On Tuesday from 5 to 7 pm at Stina Sayre in Edgartown, see fashion photos by Randi Baird. This the first of the Summer Arts and Fashion Series that Stina Sayre Design presents in support of the Martha’s Vineyard arts community. Future events include “Ice and Flow Fashion Show” on August 4 to benefit Friends of Family Planning Martha’s Vineyard, “Painted Scarves” (August 10) and “Portraits of Island Women” (August 22 in Vineyard Haven). More at 508-684-8606.
David McCullough will speak Tuesday at 7 pm at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury to benefit the West Tisbury library. He will talk about the research behind his new book “The Wright Brothers.”
My New Zealander friend Joan Druett has a blog, “World of the Written Word,” and lately included a great story by Lesley Walker. She was here a year ago in Vineyard Haven Harbor to sail on the Charles W. Morgan to New Bedford. Lesley has been researching whaling and her great-grandparents, who lived on Sunday Island in the South Pacific. This piece has personal encounters with whales recounted by her great-grandmother Bessie. See joan-druett.blogspot.com for 27 June.
From their island home, Bessie and her brothers and sisters “watched the whales’ annual migration from the Antarctic waters … to the warmer waters of the tropics and back … with calves in the autumn … the children watched their antics in delight, fascinated by the fountain-like spouts.” Bessie remembered a whaler “telling the story of the Great White Whale, Moby Dick, ‘that bit whaleboats in half and crunched them to pieces in his awful jaws’ … [Bessie] recalled a special moment when … she and her sisters … climbed down the cliff to [see the whale] … rolled on her side ejecting milk directly into the mouth of her 20-foot long calf … An encounter with a school of humpbacks during a fishing trip with her father and brothers was more frightening. The whales appeared from behind the island, leaping high and swimming in wide circles around the rowboat … When one leapt out of the water and crashed back down close to the boat, their father yelled for them to row for their lives … the boat could well have been smashed.” What enthralling tales. I only hope Lesley Walker shares more.
Make time to take advantage of the long list of authors speaking at the Martha’s Vineyard Book Festival at the beginning of August. The programs on August 1 at Edgartown and 2 at Chilmark are free, with a long list of wonderful writers. Most impressive is the opening reception at the Chilmark Community Center on Friday, July 31, at 5:30 pm. Ta-Nehisi Coates, a national correspondent for The Atlantic, and NPR host Michele Norris will discuss “Whatever Happened to Post-Racial America?” Tickets are $50 for adults, and $25 for students with ID; they can be purchased at bookfest.bpt.me.
The West Tisbury Congregational Church hosts the annual Blueberry Festival a week from Saturday, July 18, from noon to 4 pm. Enjoy blueberry treats from smoothies to blueberry/peach cobbler, and lots of blueberry muffins and scones. Mark your calendar now.
Congratulations to Steve and Judy Nichols today. They mark 59 years together.
Big bunches of birthday balloon wishes go out today to Brigitte Lent and her daughter Petra Lent-McCarron. Wish the best tomorrow to Bette Jette and Laura Christina Jahn. Sunday belongs to Betsey Mayhew. Best wishes for happy days go to Nevenka Daniels on Monday. Cord Bailey and Michele Jones will party on Tuesday. Happy birthday to Jocelyn Ciancio Broadley on Wednesday.
Heard on Main Street: Did you see the Grace Church monster lobster roll in the parade?