You know it’s a bad sign when it’s only the beginning of June and you just want to go to bed for a week. Every year I forget that the beginning of the summer is worse in some ways than the height of it. Of course we reach critical mass with other humans in August, but I find that every June my to-do list is ridiculously long, and everything on it must be done before July 4. At least by August I have given up trying to be productive during the day and I just go to the beach. But in June I could work all day and still not be caught up.
The Aquinnah Cultural Center is opening this Saturday, June 11, at 1 pm. Now everything really is up and running at the Cliffs. They will be open every week, Wednesday to Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm. Come and get a tour of the Vanderhoop homestead, and see what life was like in Aquinnah way back in the day. Regular-admission prices are $5 adults, $3 seniors, and $3 children. For information on summer events at the ACC, please call 508-645-7900, or email at aquinnahcc@gmail.com.
The library will host story time and the afterschool club today at 3:30 and 4 pm, respectively. There will be a craft on Saturday, and it is almost summer reading time. Come in and see if the shirts have arrived yet, and find out what the theme is.
There will be a Women-Only Self-Defense Class this Saturday, June 11, from noon to 3 pm at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School to benefit Martha’s Vineyard Community Services Connect to End Violence program. The event will be held at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School gymnasium. It is open to women and girls, ages 12 and older. The participation fee is a suggested donation of $25, with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting Connect’s victim and survivor services. For more information, or to register for this exciting and empowering event, please contact Isadora at 774-549-9667, ext. 106, or at ibrito@mvcommunityservices.com.
I know it seems like a long way off, but the fact is July 4 is less than a month away, so be prepared because: The Old South Road Neighborhood Association will be hosting the 13th annual Fourth of July Children’s Parade on Monday, July 4, at 11 am. If you would like, you can start at 10 am at the Goldfield-Mannion house (5 Old South Road) for face painting and general frivolity. If you have a “float,” you can start lining up at the top of the hill at 10 am. Then at 11 am sharp, the parade will start. So get out your best red, white, and blue costumes and start planning your float, because we don’t mess around in Aquinnah, we take our fun seriously. And we don’t discriminate; everyone’s invited.
Former Aquinnah summer resident Siobhan Wescott has been visiting here this past week; there have been sightings of her at the Aquinnah Shop. She came east for her 10-year medical school reunion (Harvard: she won’t tell you herself but she’s really smart). I am completely jealous that Nonie Madison and her cousin, Amera Madison, went to see Beyonce last Friday at Gillette Stadium. I’m not even sure I can bring myself to ask them how it was, because the answer is, of course, “Amazing!” How could it be anything but? I am jealous, but I am also glad that these two got out and had some fun off-Island before it gets too busy around here.
