Edgartown: Snow Days

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Super Bowl 50 is on the television as I write this week’s column, awaiting round two of February’s attack on Punxsutawney Phil’s claim of an early spring. School is already canceled for the day tomorrow. Facebook and other forms of social media certainly beat the fire horn of my youth announcing snow days! I love the extra day this weekend, but will be singing a different tune in June.

The Island Wide Youth Collaborative is sponsoring a series of educational groups for adolescents focusing on the effects of substance use and abuse. The group, Pathfinders, is designed to engage and inform students who have a desire to explore their relationship with substances. The goal of the group is to increase the participants’ knowledge and understanding of the impact of substance use in their lives and expose them to alternatives to using drugs and alcohol. Island-based activities focused on confidence building and highlighting local supports for those in recovery will be built into the curriculum. Each group meets twice a week for six weeks. The group began Feb. 8, and will meet Mondays from 11:30 am to 1 pm and Thursdays from 3:30 pm to 5 pm. There will be no group over the February school break. For more information, please contact the Island Wide Youth Collaborative at 508-693-7900, ext. 401, or Amy Lilavois at MVRHS at 508-693-1033, ext. 291.

A new exhibition will open at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum on Feb. 12 at 4 pm. “Inventive Islanders” shares a few stories of the Island’s many inventors, from those improving on existing tools to those who dreamed up new and strange devices, and even one who made fantastical machines just for the pure joy of it. It also delves into the inventions they created, including a cigar-smoking automaton (1904), an “artificial ear” (1902), a one-seated “aeroplane” patented by a Broadway actor (1910), and a flying car called an “airphibian” (1950).

The inspiration for the exhibit dates to 2010, when Chris Baer, chair of the art, design, and technology department at MVRHS, discovered that Google had posted a massive database of records from the U.S. Patent Office. “You could do a search on anything — a town, or a name. For me, at first, it was just the fun of exploring the old patent database online,” says Baer. His research led to a 2010 article in the museum’s scholarly journal, “The Dukes County Intelligencer,” and inspired the exhibit.

The exhibition will focus on a few key Island inventors, including John Painter, Orin Norton, Charles and Richard Shute, Elisha and Ben Dexter, John Crowell, William Barry Owen, Robert E. Fulton Jr., John Holmes, Abner West, and Moses Adams. “What we’re fascinated with,” says Assistant Curator Anna Carringer, “is putting these people into the context of what the Vineyard was like at the time when they were inventing these cool things. We’ll be seeing an entirely new aspect to the lives of some Vineyarders that we thought we knew.”

“Powerful Tools for Caregivers” is a free series of six self-care education sessions designed to help family caregivers handle the unique challenges of caregiving.

A new series of “Powerful Tools for Caregivers” will be held March 7 to April 11, 2 to 4:30 at Up-Island Council on Aging — Howes House. All attendees must register. Call Mary Holmes at 508-560-6012 or PowerfulToolsMV2016@gmail.com

The MVRHS musical production of “Chicago” will light up the stage this weekend at the PAC. The Performing Arts Group of MVRHS will perform the award-winning musical under the direction of theater director Brooke Ditchfield. Ticket sales are $10 general admission, $8 for students, and are at the door on the day of performances. Concessions will also be available. Shows are Friday and Saturday evenings at 7 pm and Sunday afternoon at 2 pm.

That’s about all for this week. Don’t let anyone dull your sparkle!