This Sunday, Sept. 30, The Martha’s Vineyard Art Association and the Old Sculpin Gallery are holding an opening reception for the exhibit Artist Reflection: Scenes along the Shore with paintings by Meg Mercier. The show runs from Sept. 29 until Oct. 8 along with a continuation of Fish Stories the 2012 Fishing Derby Show.

Tomorrow, Sept. 29, the Chilmark Preschool is holding a photo shoot to benefit the school’s violin program. The shoot is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with 15 minute increments. Many of the slots have already been taken but there are a few still remaining. There is an additional shoot on Sunday, Oct. 14.

In 2005 my sister Molly, then 12 years old, caught an enormous striped bass. It was so big when she finally hauled it onto the boat she backed away from it in fear and almost fell head over heels off the side of the boat into the churning ocean. I remember her telling me she thought she had caught an alligator. It is a story that has been told over and over again since then: a 12-year-old girl catching a giant bass and winning the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby.

John Hersey was a master at both fiction and nonfiction writing. He wrote more than 20 books, including Hiroshima, a short but searing account of the effects of the atomic bomb as seen through the eyes of six survivors. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944 for his novel A Bell for Adano.

The Aquinnah zoning board of appeals this week denied two variances for an Aquinnah property owner who wants to build a bridge or culverts across land he owns off Moshup Trail. James Decoulos, a Cambridge engineer, has been trying to win the right to build a house on the two-plus-acre property for 14 years.

With high levels of nitrogen in Sengekontacket Pond threatening everything from marine life to property values, state and local environmental officials have outlined an aggressive plan to clean up the pond that ranges from diverting wastewater from several watersheds to designating the entire pond as a district of critical planning concern.

Island veterans are invited to a town hall meeting next week to discuss the new contract for on-Island medical care.

The meeting will take place at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at the American Legion in Vineyard Haven.

The fall sitting of Dukes County superior court begins next week at the Edgartown courthouse, with several criminal and civil trials on the preliminary docket. Criminal cases currently scheduled for trial include that of a Vineyard Haven man charged with rape.

The bay scallop season is set to open in Edgartown for family scallopers on Oct. 1.

Acting on the recommendation of the shellfish committee and shellfish constable Paul L. Bagnall, the Edgartown selectmen approved dates for the scalloping season on Monday. Recreational scalloping begins Oct. 1, with all areas open and a limit of one 10-gallon wash basket per week.

Six of seven schools on the Vineyard were given top rankings based on results from annual statewide standardized tests, which were released this week. The West Tisbury School received a commendation for high achievement on performance, while Tisbury School second-graders were the second highest performers in the state on the English portion of the test.