Edgartown firefighters have been busy battling blazes — one in the early morning hours last Thursday at Schoolhouse Road and the other Monday evening on Teaberry Lane.

There were no injuries in either incident, and firefighters are credited with saving the homes and helping to save several family pets.

The owners of the Home Port, who completed their purchase this month of the long-running Menemsha seafood restaurant, plan to make few changes in their first season.

Susan and Robert Nixon bought the restaurant from William and Madeline Holtham on Feb. 10, paying $2.3 million.

The Nixons, who also own the Menemsha and Beach Plum Inns, plan to retain elements from the old restaurant, from menu to staff and hope that customer loyalty for the business, which has been going since 1931, will prevail.

The Martha’s Vineyard Women’s Network will host Lynn Switanowski of the Boston-based Creative Business Consulting Group to present an interactive seminar titled Embracing the Economic Challenges of Today, aimed at discussing how businesses can thrive during economic downturns and recessions if they know the right strategies to use.

The Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank announced this week that it will consolidate its two Vineyard Haven branch offices. The downtown Main street branch will be closed while the larger branch office (formerly the Cooperative Bank headquarters) at the corner of Main and State Road will become the sole Vineyard Haven branch, with its on-site parking and drive-through teller lanes.

The Lonesome West, a play by award-winning playwright Martin McDonagh, is being performed at the Katharine Cornell Theatre this Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Kristian Seney is directing, and the cast includes Chris Brophy, Rob Myers, Katharine Pilcher and Xavier Powers.

Hamilton College Dean’s List

Genevieve Flanders, the daughter of Joy and Steven Flanders of Chilmark, and Samantha Rabin, the daughter of Karen and Steve Rabin of Edgartown, have been named to the dean’s list at Hamilton College for the fall 2008 semester.

Bridewater State Dean’s List

Colleen Campbell was recently named to the dean’s list for the fall 2008 term at Bridgewater State College. She is the daughter of Ruth and Scott Campbell of West Tisbury, and is majoring in sociology.

Anna and Jim Greene of West Tisbury announce the birth of a daughter, Floreana Jade Greene, born on Feb. 18, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Floreana weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces at birth. She is welcomed by her big sister, Tikopia Greene.

Alishay Arrives

Brigette Gibson and Moe Johnson of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a daughter, Alishay Marie Johnson, born on Feb. 2, 2009, at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Alishay weighed 8 pounds, 13 ounces at birth.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is the oldest and largest United States grassroots based civil rights organization. It was founded on Feb. 12, 1909, by a multi-racial, multi-ethnic group of progressive thinkers and activists of varying political and religious backgrounds including Ida Wells Barnett, W.E.B. Dubois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, and William English Walling. They came together and all were committed to forming an organization dedicated to answering the call of justice.

Witness to the Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, by Barbara Bick, The Feminist Press, $14.99.

History has left us the chronicles of a number of intrepid women of the West who have traversed the Near and Middle East. In this tradition, but surpassing it in many ways, Barbara Bick of Vineyard Haven has written Walking the Precipice: Witness to the Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan, a testimony for our time. It is a lucid, passionate and at times harrowing political book written on behalf of the women of Afghanistan.