She is the only one left.

The Charles W. Morgan is the last surviving wooden whale ship, and while she has rested at a shipyard in Mystic, Conn. since 1941, her Vineyard ties are long and as intricate as a clove hitch knot.

Built at a New Bedford shipyard that was owned by a Chilmark family, her first captain and many of the crew were from the Vineyard.

And now a Vineyarder is leading the fund-raising effort to restore the Charles W. Morgan.

War is a force that gives her meaning.

Growing up in a liberal community outside of Washington, D.C., Cindy Kane began her artistic life as a drawer. “I always had my hand on a pen,” she said. She is now a painter, but said aspects of her early art are still present in her work today. “My art has always been narrative, never abstract,” she said. “I’ve always been a storyteller in my paintings.”

Sharon Robinson, author of Stealing Home, a memoir of her family life with baseball dad Jackie Robinson, held court last Friday at what’s becoming the Island’s clubhouse, The Oyster Bar & Grill. From weddings to fundraisers, the trendy eatery at the top of Circuit avenue in Oak Bluffs, with high wooden booths and brown satin curtains that put you in mind of Renoir and absinthe-sippers, has hosted a string of special events. This past Friday it was the scene of Ms. Robinson’s talk, the third in a NAACP series of summer luncheons.

The Holmes Hole Sailing Association continued its summer season of handicap sailboat racing from Vineyard Haven Harbor with a Thursday night race on August 14 and a Sound race on August 17.

Kristin Johnson, executive director of One by One, will be guest speaker at the Faith Community Church outdoor service on Sunday, August 31. Ms. Johnson’s talk is titled Leaving Lesbianism. She is a graduate of Anderson and Columbia University and Gordon-Conwell Seminary in South Hamilton. Having taught at the Savannah School of Design and Boston University, Ms. Johnson now travels nationally as a church speaker. The service begins at 10 a.m. next to Jardin Mahoney Nursery at the corner of Vineyard Haven and County Roads. A luncheon will follow the service with questions and answers.

The cost of war can’t be measured solely in dollars and cents, nor only in lives lost. These numbers don’t tell the whole story because they don’t reflect another cost, the emotional scars war leaves behind. And often these scars are never truly revealed, and the stories behind them are left untold. This was not the case last Wednesday, when an attentive audience at the Katharine Cornell Theatre listened as a veteran of the Iraq war offer a chilling, impromptu account of his experiences.

During the day Che’s Lounge is a quiet coffee shop with second-hand sofas and deep, sometimes springless armchairs situated at the back of an alley off Main street Vineyard Haven. In the summer months some of this furniture is dragged out under a canopy where a few regulars nurse lattes.

But by night it is one of the Island’s principle music venues.

Poetry for Survivors

Registration has begun for Sound/Body/Love/Poem, a six-session series of gently erotic writing workshops with Samantha Barrow for survivors of sexual abuse. Sessions run Saturdays from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Registration required; space limited. Classes begin Sept. 6. Sliding scale fees range from $185 to $250. For details, call 215 605-7752 or e-mail Poet@SamanthaBarrow.com.

On August 31 and Sept. 7, Trinity Episcopal Church will welcome as priest and celebrant the Rev. Dr. Edward W. Rodman. For the last 22 years he has served Trinity as a member of its team of clergy during the summer season. The church is located in Oak Bluffs across the street from the Steamship Authority Wharf. Services begin at 9 a.m.