Tiffany Smalley yesterday was awarded her undergraduate degree from Harvard University, and with it the distinction of being the first student from the Wampanoag nation to do so since its first Native American graduate, another Vineyarder named Caleb Cheeshateaumuck, graduated in 1665.

The Martha’s Vineyard Center for Living held the first in a series of five cultural luncheons, this one featuring the Contributions and Influence of the Wampanoag, on Nov. 13 at the Grill on Main in Edgartown, with a meal including traditional foods carefully selected and prepared by chef Anthony Saccoccia and his staff to represent a traditional meal of the Wampanoag.

Tables were decorated with a floral arrangement by Ellen O’Brien. Those sitting at specially marked seats each won a bouquet at the end of the day.

Martha’s Vineyard’s Indian tribe rejected a $1 million inducement to drop its objections to the proposed Cape Wind development in Nantucket Sound, in the interest of preserving a cultural tradition which some tribal members deny even exists.

The offer from Cape Wind was made during a series of meetings convened by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in Washington in January this year. Both the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), and the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe were offered $1 million each, to be paid in installments over 20 years.

Federal Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar came to the Vineyard and Cape Cod on Tuesday to consult with Indian tribes opposed to the Cape Wind development, then held a press conference on the wind farm site in Nantucket Sound to say that the meetings had not decisively moved his view of the project.

Secretary Salazar said he was “very bullish” about the future of offshore wind energy in general, but that all options were still open regarding Cape Wind’s plan to build 130 turbines on Horseshoe Shoal.

T omorrow when the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe’s fifth annual powwow begins, it will be with the Grand Entry, when members of different tribes from all over New England proceed into the arena at the Aquinnah Circle, that grassy open meadow near the Cliffs, to music and drumming. All spectators stand in welcome.

The Aquinnah Cultural Center has opened a new exhibit, celebrating the history of the town through voices.

The center is located on the cliffs, at the homestead of the Vanderhoop family. The beautiful white house which now has a role of preserving the town’s history has stunning views of the shoreline. This is the cultural center’s fourth summer, and the latest exhibit is for all who care about Aquinnah and its rich history.

The Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities has awarded matching grants totaling $48,645 in support of eight humanities projects in communities across the state. Five of the grants, totaling $33,645, were made under the theme Liberty and Justice for All for projects that explore these fundamental principles in American political life and their interplay, past and present.

While the vestiges of hurricane Hanna whipped rain onto the Aquinnah Circle and sucked at the canvas tent covering Saturday’s annual youth powwow, inside spectators dropped bills on the grass for fancy dancer Savannah Maher, 13, from Mashpee.

Rarely using more than the balls of the feet inside her moccasins, champion dancer Savannah swung and hopped her way around the tent, sending blue and yellow ribbon work flying out from her tribal dress. Dots of make-up spread out symmetrically from each eye and a single scalp feather shot up above her fabric-adorned braids.

Bureaucratic black holes, poor communication and a lack of tact that borders on comedic are to blame for a series of recent misunderstandings between the Aquinnah town government and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).

The first fiasco began in late July when building inspector Jerry Wiener sent a letter tribal chairman Cheryl Andrews-Maltais citing the tribe for violating town zoning laws and the state building code on three building projects.

Follow the drumbeats to the Circle at the Aquinnah Cliffs on Saturday, Sept. 6, from noon to 6 p.m. for the annual powwow with the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah).

There will be traditional dancing and drumming, Native American exhibits, arts, crafts and food, all sponsored by the Tribal Youth Program.

Gates open at 10 a.m. Grand entry is at noon. Follow the signs; parking is free, with a free shuttle to and from the Cliffs.