Arts
A varied and appealing ‘American Table’: New book from the Smithsonian looks at American history through the lens of food
By TINKY WEISBLAT
Food connects Americans to each other and to our history. Those connections were highlighted in a recent book and a library talk. The book is “Smithsonian American Table: The Foods, People and Innovations That Feed Us,” (Harvest) by Lisa Kingsley in...
The family that builds together: Bernardston’s Van Natta family are DIY superstars
By EVELINE MACDOUGALL
The Van Natta family home on Parmenter Road was the second house built in Bernardston, and walking through their 1747 residence imparts a feeling of time travel, given centuries-old aspects as well as evidence of dozens of changes over many decades....
Speaking of Nature: Molting for amore: Spring has arrived and male goldfinches are starting to molt into their nuptial plumage
By BILL DANIELSON
It just so happens that I am a creature of habit and I always write my column on a Thursday. On this particular morning I find myself luxuriating in an unexpected, but most welcome, deviation from my normal routine. A huge winter storm has arrived and...
For all the bragging rights (and one trophy): The winners of this year’s Valley Voices story slams head to a final competition
By STEVE PFARRER
The assignment is pretty straightforward: tell a concise story about your life, in no more than five minutes, that reflects a certain theme.The challenge is in telling that story with enough heart, spirit, verve, humor or whatever else you can conjure...
More than man’s best friend: Emotional support dog brings priceless comfort to Greenfield teen with PTSD
By DIANE BRONCACCIO
Zeal, a soulful-eyed chocolate lab, may well be “man’s best friend” to 15-year-old Rain Sanborn. But if all goes well, Zeal will also be a great comfort to the boy who suffered through years of trauma and anxiety brought on by a near-fatal ski...
A workplace from hell: Amherst filmmaker Matt Heron-Duranti is part of the team behind independent film “Another Day in America”
By STEVE PFARRER
There’s been a lot written about the problems that have plagued many American workplaces in the wake of the pandemic, from employees insisting on continuing to work at home to offices that have mirrored the polarization and social conflicts plaguing...
Let’s Talk Relationships: Talk to me like you love me: How to use words to love your partner better
By AMY NEWSHORE
As time goes by in a relationship, and partners get to know each other more, there will be inevitable hurts, disappointments and upsets. This is what happens when we share our life with another human being. We each come from our own backgrounds,...
Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: What good is an herbarium? Herbariums, like Emily Dickinson’s, are an essential resource for scientists
By MICKEY RATHBUN
The word “herbarium” sounds a bit quaint, even antiquated. We may think of Emily Dickinson’s herbarium, which she created during her year at Mount Holyoke in 1847-48. Although she had begun studying plants at age 9 and was helping her mother in the...
Faith Matters: ‘A place where there is no man’: A call to realize that we are the ones we have been waiting for
By JASPER LAPIENSKI
“In a place where there is no man, strive to be a man.” (Avot 2:6)If you take just the second half of this statement, it sounds uncomfortably familiar: Be a man. We hear that a lot these days. Real men don’t cry; be a man. Shoulder the burden. Do your...
Sounds Local: Coming out in her own time (signature): Kim Chin-Gibbons to release first single as solo artist, ‘7848’
By SHERYL HUNTER
Kim Chin-Gibbons of Amherst has been playing in bands for over a decade. Most know her from her work with ZoKi, a group she co-founded with Zoe Lemos of Ashfield when they were in their teens and students at the Institute for the Musical Arts (IMA) in...
‘The butler did it’: A story about ‘Jeopardy,’ body image and tomato sauce
By TINKY WEISBLAT
I frequently wow my nephew as we compete to yell the answers to the questions (or rather the questions to the answers) on “Jeopardy” at the television set. My secret is that I have had way too much schooling and have read way too many books.I was...
How and why does wood burn? A basic scientific explanation to help you better heat your home, build the best fire
By STEVE THOMAS
A significant number of people in this area burn wood to heat their homes, including a number of new arrivals who may have much interest in doing so, but little experience. Accordingly, I thought it would be worthwhile to write about this subject as...
Speaking of Nature: No power, no problem: The late-March storm that set a new record
By BILL DANIELSON
As seems to be the case more and more often, March went out with a bang. And, in agreement with my assessment of the year from last week’s column, it seems only fitting that we experienced our most major winter storm of the season in what was...
What does freedom look like today? 7 Black American artists interpret the meaning of emancipation
By DON STEWART
Through July 14 at the Williams College Museum of Art you can view new works by seven of today’s leading Black American artists in “Emancipation: The Unfinished Project of Liberation.” The show, “conceived as a commemoration of the 160th anniversary...
Faith Matters: Never-ending love is the message of Easter: As Jesus’ disciples of today, spreading this love is our mission
By THE REV. DR. CANDI ASHENDEN
Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and many little children in our towns will wake up to discover that the Easter Bunny has arrived while they slept and hidden real and/or plastic-colored eggs around their living rooms or yards, perhaps along with some little...
Assessing student assessments: Part one of a conversation about the complicated issue of assessments in our schools
By DOUG SELWYN
One of the responsibilities and challenges of every society is to educate their young people so they are ready to assume their roles as adults in the community. There is not one way to do this, and societies make choices based on their values, their...
Book Review: A boy who found salvation in comics: Author of autobiographical graphic novel ‘Hey, Kiddo’ to give talk in Greenfield on Tuesday
By TINKY WEISBLAT
‘Hey, Kiddo” came out in 2018. I was inspired to read it last week when I learned that its author, Jarrett Krosoczka of Florence, will be visiting Greenfield this coming Tuesday, April 2.I haven’t read a lot of graphic novels (I’m too old!), but I...
Sounds Local: Thriving on a riff: Percussionist Tony Vacca brings Fusion Nomads to Hawks & Reed this Friday for ‘a magic carpet ride’
By SHERYL HUNTER
‘From the first time a musician went beyond his or her home village, or region, or nation,” percussionist Tony Vacca says, “music has been an ever-expanding, multi-culti hybrid of instruments and ways to play them.” According to Vacca, that is the...
‘No bunnies in the Bible’: Unpacking the myths and history of hot cross buns at Easter
By TINKY WEISBLAT
When I was a child, I loved embracing spring at this time of year by eating a hot cross bun. I still do.Hot cross buns are sweet, yeasty rolls traditionally served toward the end of Lent, specifically on Good Friday. The cross of icing that tops them...
Sowing the seeds of recovery: Greenfield-based Recover Project supports sobriety through community gardening program, Garden Path
By EVELINE MACDOUGALL
The benefits of gardening are widely known, but there’s one aspect readers may not have considered: gardening can offer a path to sobriety, especially when undertaken with friends. Some members of the Greenfield-based Recover Project are spending time...
