British neurologist and bestselling author Oliver (Awakenings) Sacks noted that enjoying art is not just a visual experience — it’s an emotional one: “In an informal way I have often seen quite demented patients recognize and respond vividly to paintings and delight in painting at a time when they are scarcely responsive to words and disoriented and out of it. I think that recognition of visual art can be very deep.”

Like your tiles more exotic than Scrabble? Join the mahjong games at the Vineyard Haven Public Library on the last Saturday of each month — mark your calendar for next Saturday, April 30 — from 2 to 4 p.m.

Beginners and players of all skills are welcome. Newbies can receive teaching on how to play along with a handout with all the rules.

There are many variations of Mahjong. Nevermind the many modern twists; this is old school play, the traditional Chinese version of the game using Henry Snyder’s rules and simplified scoring method.

Let Freedom Ring

Islander Mev Good will tell the story of two people, one white and one black, and their shared pursuit of freedom, in A Daughter of a Slave Gives Me My Freedom: A Personal Account, his talk on Tuesday, April 26, at 7 p.m. at the Vineyard Haven Public Library.

Salsa for Seniors

The Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living urges Vineyarders to participate in Sharky’s Cantina’s dine-to-donate evening on Tuesday, April 26. Sharky’s owner JB Blau will donate 15 per cent of the food sales from both Sharky’s Cantinas, on Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs and Main street in Edgartown, to the center’s efforts to enrich the lives of Island seniors.

Every Tuesday Sharky’s benefits a different nonprofit organization.

“Each food item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles,” writes Steven L. Hopp, Barbara Kingsolver’s husband, in the first of a series of sidebars sprinkled throughout her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, the account of their family’s attempts to eat locally. “If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.”

Max Eagan has been appointed executive chef at the restaurant at Lambert’s Cove Inn, with a new menu and a newly decorated dining room.

He will be responsible for menu planning and execution as well as day-to-day operations of the kitchen culinary staff, reporting to the proprietors, Scott J. Jones and I. Kell Hicklin, with a sideline to general manager, Michael Rego.

Mr. Jones said of the young chef, “Max’s culinary brilliance is complimented by his travels, creative energy, hard work and his love of Martha’s Vineyard.”