Arts & Entertainment
In his 1841 essay Circles, the transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson celebrated the moment when a visionary rises up amongst us. “By a flash of his eye,” wrote Emerson, the artist “burns up the veil which shrouded all things, and the meaning of the very furniture, of cup and saucer, of chair and clock and tester, is manifest.”
Springtime’s probably my favorite season for biking on the Vineyard. The colors and sounds and smells are just the antidote to a long, gray winter; or, if you’re a seasonal resident like myself, it’s a great time to get reacquainted with New England. The weather’s cool enough to pedal fast without overheating, you don’t have to carry as much water, and the traffic is still relatively light. Of course, you do have the drawback that, of the vehicles that are on the road, most of them are landscaping trucks.
On April 4, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Minnesingers performed at the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association Festival, and despite this being their first return to the festival in ten years and singing pieces of the highest-rated level of difficulty, they excelled, and were awarded by the association a bronze medal. Congratulations go out to the Minnesingers; their director, Janis Wightman and their accompianist, Melanie Sroka.
What signals the beginning of spring like butterflies breaking forth into the warm breeze?
While school is out, April 20 to 24, giant butterfly puppets will be hatching out of West Tisbury, as Island puppeteers April Thanhauser and Marsha Wynsrig lead a team of youngsters in a week-long puppet building workshop.
Our Island Club, the consumer savings program that also raises monies for Island charities, has distributed its 2008 donations.
In the program’s three years, more than $85,000 had been distributed to over 140 organizations. The club includes more than 3,000 members who can save at more than 125 Island businesses.
Our Island Club is providing scholarships to Featherstone Center for the Arts, Permanent Endowment Fund of Martha’s Vineyard, the Farm Institute, Vineyard Nursing Association and Community Services/Early Childhood Development.
Eight Island kids participated in a dance competition Tuesday morning at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square in New York city as a part of the Pimple Blocker Battle, hosted by Clearasil. The competitions pits five dance crews against each other to become the first Clearasil Dance Crew.
