Change Is Good

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I would like to give the readers the perspectives and feelings of my family and many of my friends who were born and raised here.

Preserve Our Town

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

F rom behind a closed door, and to the untrained ear of a reporter, it sounds like The Omen soundtrack. In fact, the Island Community Chorus is rehearsing an aria from Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the most ambitious piece director Peter Boak’s choir has attempted in its 11-year history.

“The fire descends from heaven!” calls the director. The assembled hundred-or-so altos, basses and sopranos, blast the line around the back room of the Performing Arts Centre.

Webster’s Dictionary defines the term harbinger as “a person or thing that comes before to announce or give indication of what is to follow.” If someone had either the time or inclination to search the various newspapers of this country, they would be hard-pressed to find any publication that uses the term harbinger more than the Vineyard Gazette in late winter and early spring — referring, of course, to the magical harbingers of spring.

Tagging Vineyard Osprey:

Expert Explains Research

Rob Bierregaard, who has been studying the osprey population on the Vineyard for more than 35 years, will speak about the raptors in a lecture at the Wakeman Center off Lambert’s Cove Road in Vineyard Haven on Saturday, April 12 at 7 p.m.

Mr. Bierregaard is speaking in conjunction with the annual osprey festival sponsored by Mass Audubon’s Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown.

Island celebrations of National Poetry Month continue with Vineyard Slam’s first open reading of the 2008 season at Che’s Lounge on Main street in Vineyard Haven, tomorrow, Saturday, April 12.

Starting at 7 p.m., student and adult poets are invited to read from their original works in both open microphone and slam formats.

The slam is open to everyone, students and adults, spectators and participants. Those who wish to read can sign up at the door.

The suggested donation is $1.

The French comedy-drama Le Heros de la Famille (Family Hero) is this weekend’s offering from the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society, screening Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven.

Executive chef James McDonough of the Beach Plum Inn will demonstrate how to prepare salmon cakes with Frangelico cream sauce on Wednesday, April 16, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library, as part of the library’s chef series.

In the middle of a neighborhood of strangers sat an empty lot filled with garbage. The lot looked like no place for a garden. But one day, a young girl with a handful of bean seeds and nowhere to plant them took a chance and cleared a small space among the garbage. She dug into the soil and dropped in her seeds.

Teen Girls Group

The Adolescent Balance Living Experience (ABLE) program — offered through the YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard for girls ages 11 to 14 — is seeking referrals for the spring session which begins Monday, April 14. This group is free of charge and meets twice a week for eight weeks. ABLE focuses on healthy nutrition and exercise, as well as how to stand up to bullies and be a good friend. Please call Nisa Kontje at 508-566-0464 to register.