Yankee’s Best Picks

Yankee Magazine’s Travel Guide to New England has named 81 local establishments in Massachusetts as Best of New England — Editors’ Choice winners for 2011. Four of them are on the Vineyard: Mansion House in Vineyard Haven (best spa mud); Edgartown and West Tisbury (best striper fishing); Net Result in Vineyard Haven (best picnic sushi); and Smoke ’N’ Bones in Oak Bluffs (best Island barbecue).

The magazine is sold on newstands.

When Elizabeth Murray was 16 years old, she had already seen far too much of the unforgiving side of life, and she had begun to ask herself if what she knew was all there was. What she knew was that she’d recently buried her mother, who died of AIDS, in a donated pine box with her name misspelled on it. Mr. Murray’s addict father, who was suffering from AIDS himself in a homeless shelter elsewhere in New York city, could not attend. Ms. Murray herself had dropped out of high school and was homeless.

Beatlemania at the Oak Bluffs School

It is billed as O.B.eatles, and when you get past the oddity of the name it is actually quite accurate. The kids at the Oak Bluffs school have been eating the Beatles.

The Vineyard Playhouse is getting set for their summer season. And as a spring teaser they are presenting a staged reading of Dick and Lola, a new comedy by Debra Monk at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 20 and Saturday, May 21.

Fundraiser to Fight Cancer

Each year for the past 25 years the Martha’s Vineyard Cancer Support Group has hosted a benefit party. This year’s event is called An Evening under the Stars and takes place on Thursday, May 19 from 6 to 9 p.m.

The fundraiser takes place at the Granary Gallery, 636 Old County Road in West Tisbury. As this is the 25th anniversary celebration expect an extra special evening dedicated to those fighting cancer.

Green Gathering

When going green it’s not enough to just think green. You have to drink green, eat green, talk green and, perhaps most importantly, get like grapes by going green in bunches.

And how to do this exactly? By showing up at the gathering of the green on Friday, May 20 at the Island Cohousing Commonhouse, 17 Rock Pond Road in West Tisbury.

Art of the Process

Island-raised artist Susan Johnson’s exhibition of impressonist works, Martha’s Vineyard Landscapes: Paintings & Drawings, will be on display at the Chilmark Library through May 19 during normal hours. A reception for Ms. Johnson is slated for Saturday, May 14, from 3 to 5 p.m.

Compassion is not a quick fix to social injustice and prejudice in the world. It grows too slowly within people. But without compassion there is no hope of real change. And building lasting change is the true base line of Untouchable Voices, a play written by musician Tabea Mangelsdorf and actress Anna Procter.

Name That Bird

Long before there was Twitter, there was Birdathon. On May 13, Mass Audubon kicks off its 24-hour Birdathon in which teams contend to spot the most species in the state. This fun annual event, for people of all abilities and ages, offers birders and nature enthusiasts the opportunity to participate in friendly competition while raising funds for Mass Audubon.

Brad Pitt made fly-fising look so easy in A River Runs Through It. Dappled sunlight on blond hair, the big smile and a slight flick of the wrist to set a fly lure right on the lip of a hungry trout. Oh, if that’s all it took.

Thankfully, for the rest of us mere mortals looking to get out from under a tangled mess, help is on the way. On Saturday, May 14 from 8:30 a.m. to noon John Kollett and Sandra Demel at the Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club will host a workshop for all levels.