Receives Degree

Devon Dennis of Vineyard Haven was awarded a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Florida State University during the university’s December 2007 graduation ceremony. She graduated summa cum laude. Ms. Dennis has been accepted for admission to the University of Tennessee College of Law for fall 2008.

Vineyard residents are invited to attend a free workshop on Friday, March 14, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the large dining room at Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

The session will demonstrate how music can provide relief from depression and anxiety, malaise which can be caused by the isolation of Island life during a cold, gray winter.

The workshop will be presented by Karen Wacks, a professor at Berklee College of Music.

Marc Songini, author of The Lost Fleet, a Yankee Whaler’s Struggle Against the Confederate Navy and Arctic Disaster, will speak on Whaling Heroes from Martha’s Vineyard when Sail Martha’s Vineyard hosts its final winter fireside dinner and lecture at the Black Dog Tavern on Thursday, March 13, at 6 p.m.

Mr. Songini will cover such heroes as the Jernegan cousins, Nathaniel and Jared, who with their wives and families on board ship, faced mutinies, shipwreck, Arctic destruction and more.

Welcome, Ethan

Angeline Weir of Oak Bluffs announces the birth of a son, Ethan David Weir, born Feb. 25 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Ethan weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces at birth.

A special March reading series beginning next week will give Islanders the chance to know the work of some of the nation’s most talented emerging writers.

The West Tisbury Library, in collaboration with the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, will host readings every Wednesday in March at 5:30 p.m. featuring one poetry fellow and one fiction fellow from the renowned center for up-and-coming writers and artists.

Vineyard Masonic Lodge

Schedules Open House

The Vineyard’s masonic organization, Oriental-Martha’s Vineyard Lodge A.F. & A.M., will hold an open house tomorrow, Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The lodge is on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, across the street from the intersection with County Road.

“The lodge is open to all,” said Worshipful Master Leonard (Lenny) R. Verville. There will be a reception, a video explaining the organization, and refreshments.