Bone Marrow

Next weekend offers two opportunities for Vineyarders to test their ability to donate bone marrow, in the Save Giovanni’s Friends Bone Marrow Drive.

A simple cheek swab procedure will be performed by Caitlin Raymond International Registry. According to state law, your health insurance must pay the donor fee, and if you don’t have health insurance, it’s free.

Before Tuesday’s book launch at the Bunch of Grapes, the audience was issued an unusual instruction for such an event. They were asked not to seek to get their copies of the book The Coldest Winter, signed by the man launching it, Ward Just.

The reason was obvious, but sad. Mr. Just did not write the book. His good friend David Halberstam did, but he died in a car accident in April this year.

Vineyard Dance

Vineyard Dance begins their fall classes on Monday, Oct. 1, at Nathan Mayhew Seminars on North William street in Vineyard Haven.

Classes for adults and teens are offered in modern dance, modern jazz, ballet and floorbarre.

Younger students may enroll in creative movement, modern dance and ballet.

Call 508-693-2257 for more information.

Habitat Seeks Volunteers

Habitat for Humanity of Martha’s Vineyard has started another home in Vineyard Haven for a deserving family that already has been selected. The organization is seeking volunteers to help keep the building cost down to keep the price to the family as low as possible.

Construction days will be Fridays and Saturdays starting Sept. 28. Habitat is seeking experienced volunteers for the first weekend and maybe the second as the organization will be putting the cap on the foundation.

There are two kinds of Shakespeare fanatics: The first group is down with the concept of William Shakespeare having written all the plays attributed to William Shakespeare. The second group believes anyone but William Shakespeare wrote the canon of sonnets and plays: It could have been Will’s young patron, the third earl of Southampton, or the proven Christopher Marlowe, or even Queen Elizabeth I in a secret need to hone another dimension of her marvelousness.

The playwright steals — lines, plots, anything that works. The playwright uses historical events, fashioning his own take on the characters within those happenings. He finds whole scenes come to him in his dreams. He writes fluidly in iambic pentameter. He doesn’t mind getting bawdy. The playwright is?

William Shakespeare, sure. But there is another correct answer: Robert Brustein.