Renaissance House, a retreat for artists, celebrates its fifth year of survival with a benefit spoken word show on Friday, Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, and the public is invited to read.

To many, the idea of doing a tour of duty in Iraq is no laughing matter. Yet for Jim McCue, along with fellow Boston comedian and friend Joey Carroll, that’s exactly what it is, as they perform stand-up comedy to bring smiles and laughter to the troops’ otherwise very serious lives.

Now the Boston comedian and author of book Embedded Comedian, Jim McCue, performs with The Sopranos’ Frank Santorelli and the Island’s Marty Nadler, on Saturday, Sept. 22, at Outerland at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport.

World According to Alan

Documentary photographer Alan Brigish of West Tisbury will present a slide show entitled Eye Contact: Faces from Around the World on Wednesday, Sept. 26, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Free Public Library.

Mr. Brigish has traveled the globe, taking photographs of people wherever he goes. The event is free and sponsored by the Friends of the Chilmark Public Library.

Eat your heart out, Nicholas Sparks.

Derby angler Janet Messineo last week found her second message in a bottle from an Island student.

Mr. Sparks’s popular novel by the same name about true love found by a woman who finds a message in a bottle may not be the stuff from which award-winning striped bass are found, but the derby weigh-in station was abuzz Sunday morning when Ms. Messineo popped in with a carefully sealed Snapple bottle enclosing a note.

A MedFlight helicopter had a bumpy landing at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital Friday evening when a piece of tarp covering contruction materials was sucked off the ground and got caught in the chopper’s propeller, forcing it to land partially off the heliport.

Hobbit in Edgartown

It’s Tolkien Week, and the Edgartown library is celebrating the stories of J.R.R. Tolkien, creator of the Hobbit books and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, through Sept. 23.

The library will screen an animated version of the Hobbit story at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 18, in the children’s room. This film is suitable for third-graders and up.

Vineyard Women’s Network

Hosts Meeting Next Week

The Martha’s Vineyard Women’s Network will hold its first meeting of the season on Sept. 25 at the Grill on Main in Edgartown on Tuesday, Sept. 25 from 7:30 to 9 a.m.

Jean DiGiovanna, founder of ThinkPeople, will explore the importance of goal setting as an approach to business planning. Ms. DiGiovanna will advise attendees on keeping their business “on the right track” with measurable and proven goal-setting tactics.

Peace Rally

The Martha’s Vineyard Peace council is organizing a peace rally at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 15, at what the council calls Peace Corners (Five Corners) in Vineyard Haven. It will coincide with rallies across the U.S. For details, call Chris Fried at 508-693-7741.

Featherstone likes to take chances.

Several years ago Featherstone Center for the Arts introduced a gallery show featuring out-of-the-mainstream art, filled by artists who practiced what they felt was important, not what sold.

The show proved a success, and now Featherstone devotes one gallery show to the unconventional art created by Island artists. Titled The Other Side of Vineyard Art: Not Beaches and Boats, this year’s exhibition opens this Sunday, Sept. 16 with a wide array of creations, many never before exhibited.

Linda Greenlaw Talk

Lobster boat captain and author Linda Greenlaw speaks on fishing and lobstering issues at Tisbury Waterways Inc’s 2007 annual meeting. It is Friday, Sept. 21 at 5:30 p.m. at the Tisbury Senior Center 5:30 pm. Free admission and all welcome. For details, call 508-696-1893.