Arts
Speaking of Nature: Is this Grackle really common? Behold the bird’s colorful iridescence on a sunny day
By BILL DANIELSON
After a while, one learns what to expect with each month and each season. July is going to be hot and humid, October will be colorful and somewhat melancholy, January will be cold and sleepy, and then there is March. March is the month for which the...
A tale of murderous indifference: ‘The Zone of Interest’ offers a view of the Holocaust as chilling as its architects
By STEVE PFARRER
Hannah Arendt famously coined the term “the banality of evil” in her book on Adolph Eichmann’s trial in Israel in 1963, where the former Nazi official, a key organizer of the Holocaust, presented himself as a bureaucrat who was “just doing his job” in...
Faith Matters: Recommended for ages birth to resurrection: God’s love in inclusive of all
By STEVE DAMON
‘I’d like to invite the young and the young-at-heart to come on up,” I bellow as I skip, jog, crawl, roll, saunter, or … whatever … up to the United Church of Bernardston alter, every Sunday morning at approximately 10:50 in the morning, 9:50 during...
Valley Bounty: Fermentation meets cooperation: Real Pickles in Greenfield supports and supplies the regional food system
By JACOB NELSON
A knock on the door interrupts the conversation. Someone is here to trade cheese for Real Pickles’ fermented veggies.Kate Hunter, a marketing coordinator, assistant sales manager, and worker-owner at Real Pickles, gets up to confirm the terms. Out the...
Franklin Medical Reserve Corps podcast bolsters emergency preparedness
By GRACE LEE
Franklin Medical Reserve Corps volunteers Denise Schwartz and Carmela Lanza-Weil have the answers to all your in-case-of-emergency questions and more in “Prep School: A Readiness Podcast.”With the first episode having been released on Nov. 29, 2023,...
Focus on Your Health: Pulmonary health is attainable: If you struggle with shortness of breath, pulmonary rehab can help
By ANITA FRITZ
National Pulmonary Rehabilitation Week happens in March, so it’s a good time to think about your pulmonary health.If you or someone you know has shortness of breath because of lung problems, pulmonary rehabilitation can help.Whether you want to manage...
Confidence and vibrant colors on display: Longtime art educator exhibits her work at Wendell Free Library through April
By DOMENIC POLI
It turns out that those who teach can also do.Longtime art educator Karie Neal is “fairly new” at creating her own work and has her first full exhibit on display in the Wendell Free Library through April.“It’s small, but it’s a good start,” she said...
All maple syrups are not created equal: A brief history of the sweet stuff we make from sap
By TINKY WEISBLAT
March is Massachusetts Maple Month. Farmers in our area are working around the clock to turn the sap that flows from maple trees into the sweet elixir that New Englanders prize year round.It’s not just full-time farmers who make maple syrup. My friend...
Cultivating curiosity in the great outdoors: Grower of native plants creates curriculum for school children
By EVELINE MACDOUGALL
We celebrate today’s Spring Equinox with Colrain resident Jocelyn Demuth, who designs curricula to encourage Massachusetts children to improve environmental health.Through her “Five hundred Yard Field Trip” website, Demuth provides teachers with free...
Speaking of Nature: One lucky duck: Stumbling upon an entire flotilla of Common Mergansers
By BILL DANIELSON
It was a rainy Sunday morning at the beginning of March and I was suffering from cabin fever. It hasn’t been a particularly cold winter, but I had been cooped up nonetheless. Saturday had gone by without incident, like so many Saturday’s since the new...
‘All the world’s a stage’: Inaugural Montague Shakespeare Festival takes over Shea Theater with performances and workshops, March 18 to April 7
By JULIAN MENDOZA
In terms of timeless relevance and impact, it’s tough to argue that any writer has had more of a lasting legacy than William Shakespeare. For this reason, veteran thespian Kenny Butler argues there is never a bad time to delve into his world of words...
Facing history: Wendell Historical Society grapples with some challenging facts of their building’s history
By BELLA LEVAVI
With the first anniversary of the Wendell Historical Society approaching on April 1, the Society's President, Edward Hines, went searching for the history of the building that the society calls its home.Last July, the society purchased the former...
Lamenting language loss: Where would national identity be today if Irish was still spoken in Ireland?
By ROSEMARY CAINE
The 2019 Green River Festival had Rhiannon Giddens as the headliner on the last Sunday afternoon.I was intrigued by her background: a banjo player, violinist and singer, an ethnomusicologist trained in opera at Oberlin College, a charming beauty and...
Faith Matters: Supporting life after jail: St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ashfield hosts ‘Moving Forward: From Incarceration to Community’ April 13
By HETTY STARTUP
There are many citations about prison fellowship and ministry in the Bible, including the Psalms, the Book of Isaiah and perhaps most well-known, chapter 25 of Matthew’s gospel.At St. John’s Episcopal Church this spring, the teachings are being taken...
Sounds Local: Don your St. Patrick’s Day green: Where to celebrate the holiday this weekend in Franklin County
By SHERYL HUNTER
St. Patrick’s Day is the day when we love to celebrate everything Irish. We eat corned beef, raise a pint of Guinness, and get all decked out in our best green outfits. Of course, there is music involved in these celebrations, be it traditional Celtic...
A bread that unites us all: For St. Patrick’s Day, a savory soda bread with cheese and chives
By TINKY WEISBLAT
I think of my mother and her grandmother whenever I get ready for St. Patrick’s Day. I forage in the basement for my light-up shamrock (which a neighbor whom I shall not name says makes the house look like a low-rent tavern). I affix it to a window,...
Nature Photo Contest
Speaking of Nature: Bring the birds to you: A behind-the-scenes tip of nature photography
By BILL DANIELSON
Every week, rain or shine, winter or summer, I try to find something fun, interesting and positive to talk about in my column. This is actually an easy thing to do, but what can be somewhat problematic is finding a photo that will pair nicely with the...
Creating with childlike wonder: Solo show by aritst Mary Frongillo on display in GCTV lobby this month
By BELLA LEVAVI
Artist Mary Frongillo loves to play and employs play to understand the world around her.Frongillo is the first featured lobby artist of the year at Greenfield Community Television (GCTV), located at 393 Main St., with her solo show, “Shapes in Space,”...
Faith Matters: All are welcome at Open Table: One effort to nurture respectful conversation among those who may see the world differently
By JAN FLASKA
I often ask the students I teach to tell me which fruit was forbidden by God in the Garden of Eden. A quick, abrupt answer is speculative: “Apple!” A thoughtful answer obligates us to read the source, which states that it is not specified. Now the...
