Radcliffe Party

All Radcliffe and Harvard-Radcliffe alumnae and their guests are invited to a party on Monday, August 18, from 5 to 7 p.m. on the porch at 143 Munroe avenue, East Chop, Oak Bluffs.

Bring an hors d’oeuvres dish if you come. Beverages will be provided. Please call Wini Young Blacklow at 508-693-3346 or Claire Richardson Bennett at 508-627-7121 for directions.

Singer-songwriter Bella will be performing a bossa nova show at Che’s Lounge every Tuesday through August at 7 p.m.

Called Bossa on the Moon, the show includes original songs and classics of samba, jazz and blues that Bella swings on her guitar and her cavaquinho, a soprano Brazilian guitar.

On the set list there will be sweet summer treats like Samba Chocolate and Samba Noir by Bella, and standards such as The Little Boat and Fly Me to the Moon with a bossa arrangement.

Stephanie and Floyd Rance are parents of six-year-old, though their child is a film festival. And this year, their Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival is pitching a family-friendly theme: there will be a new focus on children’s entertainment, and new limits on language in the selections.

The Rances, who own Run and Shoot Filmworks in New York city, are the organizers of the film festival which begins today and runs through Saturday. Films will be shown in Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven.

Edgartown native Emily Hartford is nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for outstanding ensemble for her work in The Night of Nosferatu, which was produced by Rabbit Hole Ensemble (online rabbitholeensemble.com).

The nominees were announced at a sold-out event on July 21 that was attended by over 500 artists and guests. The Awards will be presented on Sept. 22 at a ceremony held at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

On Wednesday morning, August 6, at 6 a.m. the Martha’s Vineyard Peace Council invites the Island to gather at sunrise by the Gay Head Light atop the Aquinnah Cliffs.

This will be the group’s 31st consecutive remembrance of the August 6 atomic bombing in 1945. Each person will be given opportunity to offer a word, share a song, to pray and to be silent. The hope is that by recalling the horror of nuclear war, any war or violence those in attendance may become more fully committed to a peace founded on justice and sustained by good will.

Rev. Dr. Dorothy W. Tatem

Will Preach at Union Chapel

The Rev. Dr. Dorothy Watson Tatem will be the guest preacher at Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs this Sunday, August 10. An organ prelude by Garrett Brown begins at 9:40 a.m. and the service starts at 10 a.m.

Union Chapel is at the south end of Kennebec and Circuit avenues.

At the 2008 San Diego Comic Con, West Tisbury’s Paul Karasik won a prestigous Eisner Award. Mr. Kararsik’s book I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets won the award for best archival collection. Mr. Karasik will release a second volume in 2009 for The Complete Fletcher Hanks. Volume 2 will be titled, You Shall Die By Your Own Evil Creation. Friday at 5 p.m. at West Tisbury library he will talk graphic novels with Jules Feiffer, then sign books, with refreshments.

David Lebedoff is a Minneapolis attorney, political figure and writer known for provocative thinking. In the interest of full disclosure, he is also an old friend.

Jamestown and Captain Bartholmew Gosnold, the Buried Truth, is the title of a free talk by archaeologist William Kelso on Thursday, August 7, from 5 to 6 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library.

Bass Talks Side Effects

Pulitzer Prize nominee Alison Bass will discuss her book Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial, today, August 5, at 5 p.m. at the West Tisbury Free Public Library.

Side Effects is based on a true story of a landmark case that exposed greed, corruption and negligence in the pharmaceutical industry.