Prose & Poetry Tuesdays

Weekly through April 22, 2025

Not many Island event series begin in the fall and continue through the spring. Prose & Poetry Tuesdays at PathwaysARTS in Chilmark is one of them. For this, we are grateful. Evenings usually begin with a featured writer and then the mic is open.

Christmas in Edgartown 

December 12 – 15

Edgartown decks its halls once again for the forty-third annual celebration, which includes such events as the lighting of the Edgartown Lighthouse and breakfast with Santa, featuring what everyone knows is his favorite food: pancakes.

The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival

March 26 – 30, 2025

Catch a lineup of entertaining and thought-provoking films as the festival celebrates a quarter-century of cinephilia. Films will be shown at two locations on the Island: the Capawock Theatre in Vineyard Haven and  the Grange Hall in West Tisbury.

What to Eat

Tyler Potter, chef-owner of The Swimming Pig catering company, flexes his not-just-pork skill set with a Thursday night supper series at S&S Kitchenette in Vineyard Haven. Each night features a different theme, including fast food, Italian, and omakase. Nina Levin of Stoney Hill Pizza will provide the pastries. Potter credits S&S Kitchenette with providing a home for chefs such as him and Levin who don’t operate their own brick-and-mortar locations. The series runs through December 19. Make a reservation by emailing tyler@theswimmingpigmeats.com or via Instagram @theswimmingpigmeats. 

What to Do

On a frosty day this winter, we’ll be bundling up in our coats, but Island sheep will be taking theirs off. Meet at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury on February 1 to see an expert shearer in action at the Sheep Shearing Shindig. It may still be weeks until the first snowdrops emerge from the ground, but the shindig – along with the extra spring in the sheep’s step once they ditch their heavy coats – helps us imagine warmer weather. And don’t worry, shorn sheep can handle the cold until then.

What We’re Listening To

Dust off your guitar and open up your favorite cookbook because the Chilmark Potluck Jam is back. Amateur and professional musicians alike do their best to entertain folks of all ages, and everyone is invited to bring a dish to share. Meet at the Chilmark Community Center to enjoy the local talent – both musical and gastronomical – on the following Saturdays: November 30, December 28, February 8, and March 29 from 6 to 10 p.m. 

What to Read

The Martha’s Vineyard Cookbook: 100 Recipes from the Island’s Restaurants, Farmers, Fishermen & Food Artisans by Julia Blanter (Rizzoli, March 2025)

Julia Blanter, an Australian writer living on the Island, has compiled a collection of Vineyard stories and recipes for dishes including Brazilian Flan and the Agricultural Fair–favorite Espresso Float (although that recipe seems fairly straightforward). Make one of the butter-forward dishes – Brown-Butter Lobster Rolls or Roasted Clams with Hot Sauce Butter and Honey-Herb Vinaigrette – and then digest while following plans for locals’ and visitors’ “perfect days” on the Island. Juli Vanderhoop, owner of Orange Peel Bakery in Aquinnah, wrote the foreword and Island photographer Jocelyn Filley took the photos. The March publication date will give us time to dream of summer flavors.

Murder, Mayhem, and Madness: 38 Criminal Tales of Old Martha’s Vineyard by Chris Baer (Self-published, 2024)

There’s Serial and My Favorite Murder. There’s The Staircase and In Cold Blood. What is it about true crime stories that keep us coming back for more? Whether it’s the curiosity, the catharsis, or the can’t-look-away train wreck effect, people are clamoring for more tales of humanity’s darkest moments. If you love to cozy up on the couch, leaves or snowflakes falling outside, and read about murders, misconduct, malfeasance, and malefaction, storyteller Chris Baer has you covered with an encyclopedic compendium of Island true crime. From arson to smuggling, from the 1600s to the twentieth century, Murder, Mayhem, and Madness takes readers through macabre Island misdeeds and mysteries. 

What to Watch 

Vineyard filmmaker Ollie Becker is back with the second installment in his three-part documentary series about Island great ponds. The first episode, Great Ponds: On Our Watch, provided a history of the ponds, the challenges they face, and what’s being done to protect them. The second episode, Great Ponds: Finding a Better Balance, follows those working to mitigate the current and future effects of climate change and development, including increased levels of nitrogen from septic systems and landscaping runoff – and to revive the herring, shellfish, and eelgrass populations that live in these delicate ecosystems. 

This episode will be available to stream from Circuit Arts, the nonprofit that runs The Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival, in November. Go to circuitarts.org to view.

Numerology

$998,100 - Median home value in “the micropolitan area of Vineyard Haven, Mass.,” which includes the Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands, according to The New York Times.

11 – The times you have to divide the median home value to get the area’s median income. 

9 – The times you have to divide San Francisco’s median home value to get their median income. What a steal!

“Something is either true or it’s not true.”   

– Texas county commissioner James Noack on the decision to return Colonization and the Wampanoag Story (Crown Books for Young Readers, 2023), by Linda Coombs, Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal member and historian, to library non-fiction shelves after it had been deemed fiction following a citizen’s complaint. 

What You Missed

Who’s Steering the Ship?

The Steamship Authority is facing a $3.5 million operating loss – that much is clear. But the way they plan to address it has flipped and flopped. First, wide-ranging rate increases were proposed. Then, a couple of weeks later, some were dropped. Finally, in November, most rate hikes were locked in, effective January. Even more hikes are promised in the future. All this back and forth is making us seasick.

In Poor Taste

Nearly five years ago, Allison Burger and Mary Beth Grady put their beloved Chilmark Chocolates to bed. Now, like a bad dream, the company name seems to have been wrenched from its final resting place. Jason B. Teuscher of New York – a man with no known connection to the original business – applied for a trademark on the name, and an uncanny website riddled with stock images and typos claiming to be the candy company has appeared. Burger and Grady confirmed that this new iteration has no connection to their company, but the end of this story remains to be seen. 

A Dream Deferred

It’s not just milk and gasoline that costs more on the Island. A new regional high school could cost about 30 percent more than it would on the mainland, said Chris Blessen of Tappé Architects. That price? A cool $223 to $427 million, according to an estimate that the architecture firm presented to the high school building committee this fall. The project may need to be downsized to get approved by voters.

Is Not a Dream Denied

While a new Tisbury School was recently completed after starts and stops, another building project has hit a roadblock. An affordable senior housing development in West Tisbury, approved in 2021, has been stalled while the town deals with funding and design issues. Jessica Miller, a select board member, said the intention is to “hit a very momentary pause.”