Joyce Carol Oates published her first book in 1963. Since then she has published over 50 novels, as well as numerous volumes of short stories, poetry and nonfiction. She has won the National Book Award and been nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize. She has also taught at Princeton since 1978, helping to start the careers of numerous young writers, or at least get a few undergraduates to pay more attention to their sentences.

Folksinger Greg Brown got his first professional gig in the 1960s at the age of 18 and later became a record producer. He will be performing at Union Chapel.

Cole Bilodeau of Oak Bluffs has been named to the dean’s list at Bentley University for the spring 2012 semester.

Dewberries do it delectably! These little berries are delicious off the vine an can also be destined for drinks and dessert.

The sky turned steel gray and then black. The thunder thudded to the northeast. The black clouds rolled in, bringing the booms and cracks closer. Lightning flashed all around. All at once the sounds of hail pelting on the roof stunned me. Several birds caught my eye as I looked out the window. First, a killdeer that was driven to earth by the hail that I observed­ — half jumping, half flying over the bank into the rosa rugosa for protection.

I needed to be talked down from the cliff several times this week. Between the vole damage in my vegetable garden and the replacement of dried and dead annuals at the job sites, I saw the entire summer as futile.

Stone Wall Show

Photographer Mariana Cook first noticed the timeless beauty of stone walls when her neighbor’s cows broke through the one that separates their properties in Chilmark.

“I realized how beautiful the wall was, and started wondering about who built it, and how the stones [were put together],” she said.

For many, the word opera evokes images of ornate costumes and talented vocalists singing to their tragic deaths. So it may surprise some to learn that Italian composer Giacomo Puccini ended his career with Gianni Schicchi, a farcical comedy. The libretto will make its way to the Island next week, when Wendy Taucher Dance Opera Theater stages a full production at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs. The hour-long opera, Mr. Puccini’s only comedy, begins when a wealthy man, Buoso Donati, leaves his fortune to the church, instead of his family.

Daniel Beaty is a man of many talents. And in his off-Broadway, award-winning play called Through the Night, he is a man of many men. Tonight, July 27, Mr. Beaty is bringing this one-man performance to Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs, courtesy of Monina von Opel.

“I’ve been watching his career evolve over time,” said Ms. von Opel. “I like to watch people evolve. I am very interested in the creative process.”

Anyone can watch the world change and stare with wonder. But for Carolyn Forche this wonderment turned her into a poet.

“I publish a book every decade or so,” said Ms. Forche. “They reflect changes in my life and concerns and interests, and formal changes as well.”