Heard on Main Street: Don’t make old people mad. We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to tick us off.
Liz White’s “Othello” is a production of the Shearer Summer Theater, filmed 1962–66 on Martha’s Vineyard. This special treat will be shown tomorrow, Friday, August 11, at 7:30 pm at the M.V. Film Center. Elizabeth (“Liz”) Shearer White was an independent film producer and founder of the Shearer Summer Theater on Martha’s Vineyard, known for her stage production of Shakespeare’s “Othello” with an all-Black cast. She had been an actress and dresser on Broadway before returning to Oak Bluffs, where she grew up, and formed one of the first summer theater groups on the Island. The theater group was active from 1946 up until the 1960s, featuring African American residents and vacationers.
Marsha Winsryg will share photos and stories of her 20 years in Zambia working with the African Artists Community Development Project at the Mama Bakhita Cheshire Home and the Zambezi Communal Farm, at 6 pm on Tuesday, August 15, at our library. The farm was begun in 2020 as a response to exorbitant rises in food prices in Zambia during the pandemic.
As a fan of lighthouses and pictures of them, I enjoyed seeing the work at Louisa Gould Gallery last weekend. I did like Paul Beebe’s Edgartown Light in what appeared to be sunrise, and another at midday, as well as Anna Grandin’s Gay Head Light and a softer view of the Edgartown Light. There were also some beautiful paintings of the ocean, and a few ships.
Livingston Taylor will be at the Old Whaling Church on Friday, August 11. He has been a professional musician for more than 50 years, performing, songwriting, and teaching, with more than a hundred shows a year. Livingston has written Top 40 hits recorded by his brother James Taylor, and has appeared with Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Fleetwood Mac, and Jimmy Buffet. He has been a professor at Berklee College of Music for 30 years. Liv is an airplane-flying, motorcycle-riding, singing storyteller.
What do you really know about ticks? Dick Johnson will discuss different ticks and tick-borne illnesses on Martha’s Vineyard, as well as the alpha-gal red meat allergy, on Saturday, August 12, at 10:30 am at the Edgartown library. He will share ways you can protect yourself, your family, and your pets from ticks. Public health biologist Patrick Roden-Reynolds will also be there.
Edgartown library also offers an online 50-Plus Job Seekers Networking Group on Wednesday, August 16, at 9:20 am. This is every first and third Wednesday of the month through December. If you are seeking a new career, unemployed, re-entering the job market after a long employment gap, or recently retired, this is for you. There will be a new topic covered in each session. Registration is required.
My children’s great-grandfather was George G. Gifford of West Tisbury. A couple of their Gifford cousins and families are visiting this week from New York and New Hampshire. It was lovely to see them, and to learn something new from their father George Gifford, son of Willis. The house on the State Road owned by George and Georgene Gifford was built with a kit purchased from Sears & Roebuck for $1,700.
Kids over 12 who might like to help at the fair should get in touch with the Vineyard Conservation Society at sophiejmv@gmail.com. Or call the Ag Society at 508-693-9549.
The Ag Fair starts next week, and is our Island party. Let me know if you see something that should be in the news.
Happy anniversary on Monday to Skip and Carol Bailey. Big bunches of birthday balloon wishes go out today to Benjamin Koster. Wish the best on Sunday to Goodie Stiller Corriveau. Leigh Smith will celebrate her 96th birthday on Monday with her family. Braden Kuehne also parties on Monday.
Heard on Main Street: A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
