We are this week’s editors for Sophomores Speak Out. We are sophomore members of the class of 2010. This week we have a range of topics. All of our writers have strong opinions: Abbey Etner is passionate about dancing, Troy writes about Island restaurants, Haley Pierce explores the motivations for kids to do their work, and Jesse Shayne is excited about the Celtics. All these students chose to write about things that are a part of their lives. We hope readers enjoy.

— BreAnne Russell and Troy (85) Small

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We Love Food

Mysteries of Vineyard forests were revealed in a walk last Sunday afternoon at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary. More than 10 naturalists took a walk with Beth Schwarzman, a Falmouth writer, geologist and savant who, like a detective, can read the hidden tales within ancient landscape.

Every forest has a tale, Ms. Schwarz-man said, though it may not be an obvious one. In this region, the natural progression of plants is towards forest — so whatever its previous use, land left alone becomes forest. What plants dominate that forest can offer clues to its past life.

West Tisbury Library Hosts

Community Poetry Reading

The West Tisbury Public Library invites poetry lovers of all ages to listen or to read aloud at an open poetry reading on Sunday, Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. Organized and hosted by Shelton Bank, these twice-yearly library poetry readings are a longstanding West Tisbury tradition.

The Island was on a roll Friday night at the Viva La Vineyard casino night at Outerland sponsored by the Island Affordable Housing Trust.

Money was raised for an Island family needing a few thousand dollars to get over the top of their mortgage needs, a hard-working single mom won the $500 Hinckley’s gift certificate for most chips, and 125 Islanders got dinner and two and a half hours of nonstop music from drummer Jerry Bennett and his Sultans of Swing.

On Sunday, Nov. 11, children and their parents will bring homemade lanterns to gather at North Tabor Farm for the annual Lantern Walk. This is a seasonal festival celebrated by Waldorf communities, honoring ancient traditions of carrying light into the darkness of the coming winter.

Two leaders of the new generation of very talented Irish musicians — pipe and flute player Louise Mulcahy and fiddler Oisin Mac Diarmada — perform a concert of traditional music at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3, to finish off this year’s outstanding Irish music series at Katharine Cornell Theatre on Spring street in Vineyard Haven.

This spectacular pairing of two All-Ireland Champions promises energy and creativity in their playing combined with a true love and respect for the tradition.

Oldies Night

Because he believes classic rock n’roll is ageless, deejay and James Dean impersonater Ray Whitaker hosts a night of boppin’ to the oldies on Saturday, Nov. 3 at Outerland. Called Burgers, Brew and Bop, the benefit event begins at 7:30 p.m. The guest with the best costume wins dinner for four at Gigs Bistro, and second place costume winner receives two tickets to an Outerland show.

Tickets are $10, and include a donation to Vineyard Nursing Association.

Equestrian Benefit

An auction and party with food, music, raffles and Clarence (Trip) Barnes 3rd will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, at the agricultural hall in West Tisbury to benefit American Horse Trials Foundation and Olympic equestrian hopeful Robyn Hanover. Admission is by a $15 donation. More information is available by calling 508-693-3922.

Marsha Winsryg first went to Africa over a decade ago. She went armed with curiosity and a passport. She came back with friends, photographs and a big box of carved figurines she had promised a young merchant she would sell in the United States before sending the profit back to his small crafting village in Zambia.

Between 1968 and 1972, nine American spacecraft voyaged to the moon, and 12 men walked upon its surface. They remain the only human beings to have stood on another world. The film In the Shadow of the Moon brings together for the first, and possibly the last, time surviving crew members from every Apollo mission that flew to the moon, and allows them to tell their story in their own words.