0 Black Point Beach Lot, Parcel 3 in Chilmark sold for $317,000 on August 10.

Each week the folks at Cinema Circus show a series of short films on Wednesday evenings at the Chilmark Community Center. The films begin at 6 p.m., but at 5 p.m. the circus — complete with jugglers, face painters, stilt walkers, food and music — gets under way.

An advanced screening of the films was arranged. In a world with few certainties, the kid critic is the critic to trust. This week’s reviewer is Tobias Henry Lash Roberts aka Tobey (age 7).

Fish Wish (Dir. Josephine Gutianjo / Canada / 2007 / 2 min.)

Diplomacy and Iran

On Thursday, August 23, Alan Dershowitz will give a talk at the Hebrew Center entitled Is J Street’s Position on Iran Good or Bad for Israel? J Street is a lobby group that, according to Mr. Dershowitz, “believes that diplomacy and sanctions alone can deter Iran from developing nuclear weapons.” Mr. Dershowitz is not convinced of this stance and recently he had a discussion with President Obama outlining his views. On Thursday night Mr. Dershowitz reports back to the Vineyard what took place during this conversation.

Coastal Pond Discussion

On Thursday, August 23, beginning at 4:30 p.m., Dr. John Todd leads a discussion entitled Stewardship of Martha’s Vineyard Waters, in particular the problems faced by the coastal ponds in the region. The talk takes place at the Tisbury Senior Center and is co-sponsered by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and Tisbury Waterways Incorporated.

Stagestruck

The Orleans Arena Theater on Cape Cod wasn’t the first summer stock theater, but it was the first “in the round” theater that operated only in summertime. The Arena’s history is told through dramatic reenactment, historical photos and former resident interviews in Stagestruck: Confessions from Summer Stock, which will be screened this week. The film is a nostalgic look at the Orleans Arena Theater which operated from 1950 to 1976. Author and playwright Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., an Orleans Arena Theater alumnus, is featured in the film.

Poetry Reading

The last literary event of the summer at the West Tisbury Library is a joint poetry reading with part-time resident Fanny Howe and visiting writer Katie Peterson. Ms. Peterson’s debut poetry collection, This One Tree (2006), was awarded the New Issues Poetry Prize by William Olson. She teaches in the English Department at Tufts University.

Fanny Howe has written over 20 books of poetry and prose. She lives in West Tisbury and will be teaching at University of Massachusetts Boston in the fall.

Dance Theatre Breaks Down Barriers

Dance Theatre of Harlem was founded in 1969. At the time it was comprised of African American artists who were barred from U.S. ballet companies because of the color of their skin. Its mission over the past four decades, as stated on its website, has continued to be to “present a ballet company of African American and other racially diverse artists who perform the most demanding repertory at the highest level of quality.”

When the Allen Farm’s 165-foot meteorological tower went up a couple of years ago in front of our Chilmark property, I wondered what the future would be like if a wind turbine were built. Our Vineyard history, especially the exquisite beauty and peace of our hilltop home, has been precious to us. My husband’s ancestor, John Eddy, first came to the Vineyard in 1660 as a blacksmith. More recently, my husband has enjoyed the company of five generations of his family here.

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of August, 1912:

The Chappaquiddick beach illumination and boat parade was a magnificent spectacle. The harborfront was gay with lanterns moving to and fro and the U.S. revenue cutter Acushnet and state steamer Lexington were anchored off the beach

My Vineyard hikes take me to many beautiful sites. I enjoy seeing the diversity of landscapes, many influenced by their agricultural past. A frequent plant I encounter in abandoned farm fields is northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica, now Morella pensylvanica). Quick to reclaim open pastureland, the shrubs have the unique ability to fix their own atmospheric nitrogen through specialized structures called root nodules. The nodules contain the nitrogen-fixing bacteria Frankia. This mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship allows bayberry to grow in soils with low fertility.