Announcing Sienna

Suzanna and Kevin Crowell of Edgartown announce the birth of a daughter, Sienna Rose Crowell, born on Nov. 9, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Sienna weighed 7 pounds, 7.4 ounces at birth.

Hello, Danielle

Ana Paula Cardoso and Leandro Cardoso of Edgartown announce the birth of a daughter, Danielle Ramos Cardoso, born on Dec. 17, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Danielle weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces at birth.

Welcome, Kavã

Patricia Gomes deOliveira and Rene Abrev deOliveira of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a son, Kavã Oliveira Abrev, born on Dec. 20, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Kavã weighed 8 pounds, 9.4 ounces at birth.

Hello, Tauras

Ellen and Tauras Biskis of Chilmark announce the birth of a son, Tauras Kasiulis, born on Dec. 22, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Tauras weighed 10 pounds, 11 ounces at birth. He is welcomed by brother Kestutis and sister Graina.

The Real King Kong

Robert C. Hayden, president of the Martha’s Vineyard branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), was honored during the National Alliance for Black School Educators’ annual conference recently held in Indianapolis, Ind. Executives from Exploritas (formerly Elderhostel) presented Mr. Hayden with the Asa Grant Hilliard III Exploritas Award for Lifelong Learning.

Wine, Beer Sales

On Tuesday, Gov. Patrick signed legislation allowing the Tisbury board of selectmen to place the question of whether or not the town’s restaurants can sell beer and wine on the ballot at their next annual town election.

State Rep. Timothy Madden, who filed the home rule petition, said, “I am happy to help give Tisbury the opportunity to have a healthy debate on both sides of this issue, and after last year’s vote it will be interesting to see this year’s outcome.”

American Tower Company, the concern that wants to build a distributed antenna system (DAS) to improve cell phone coverage in the three up-Island towns, has submitted a letter to West Tisbury suggesting that its application does not need review by the town zoning board of appeals.

Dated Dec. 14 and written by American Tower attorney Alexander P. Gamota, the letter claims that approval is required by the town selectmen but not the zoning board of appeals.

The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival’s Family. Film. Feast. series continues this holiday weekend at the Chilmark Community Center with Why Wait?, a program of family friendly shorts featuring Lost & Found, based on the book by Oliver Jeffers.

The Saturday, Dec. 26 evening begins at 5 p.m. with dinner prepared by a local chef using food donated by Island farms; dinner is $10 for adults, $5 for children. There will also be a musical performance by a Vineyard musician, followed by the film; all tickets are $6, available at the door.

The wall calendar that hangs beside the kitchen telephone, or on the wall behind the home office desk, is a dutiful thing. First and foremost, it lays out the days of the month with the pleasant organization of a numbered grid, so that we might make plans, set goals and schedule the chaos of our lives to the best of our ability, however futile such endeavors may be.