Even in a time of coronavirus, the Berkshires are a deeply creative place. Actors and dancers are creating new work. Artists are teaching workshops. Farmers markets are moving online. BTW has been gathering them in one virtual space.
READ ARTICLEStories of the Week
MCLA and Berkshire museums bring energy in hard times
This spring, museums in the Berkshires are moving online. Cultural and creative places have faced abrupt disruption, and they are cutting back, but at the same time they are reaching out.
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Berkshire shops and locals rally in the pandemic
As the coronavirus pandemic has taken hold this spring, people across the Berkshires are finding ways to help — from a distiller making hand sanitizer to restaurants to farmers markets.
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How do we respond as Massachusetts starts to reopen?
The governor’s announcement this week allows some local places to begin to reopen, and it raises questions for all of us as. And as I talk with you about the community, it raises questions for me.
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Berkshire creative places are adapting to a virtual world
I’ve been talking with Berkshire creative places as they try to navigate in the physically distanced world coronavirus has created and reconnect online.
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From the summit of Berlin Mountain I can see across 24 years
Last time I climbed Berlin Mountain was 24 years ago at dawn. It was my first week in the Berkshires, in the first days of my first year at Williams College, and this weekend I stood on the summit again.
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How do we garden in the pandemic?
“… For example, snapdragon flowers will only open if stepped on by a bee of just the right weight.” Wing and a Prayer native plant nursery offers thoughts on gardening, even in the pandemic, and I’m looking for local places where I can find seedlings.
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Local shops and makers are moving online
At the holidays, my sister and I were talking about the challenges of finding local businesses online— but we didn’t expect this kind of trial by fire. The coronavirus pandemic has suspended local shops in the Berkshires, but they are adapting.
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Jacob’s Pillow adapts to the coronavirus pandemic
Jacob’s Pillow has had to adapt to the coronavirus, like many creative places who are doing what they can to care for their artists, staff and communities.
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Coming round the mountain at Pleasant Valley
It was a Saturday in the middle of May, and the day was warm in the sun, and I decided to take a walk at Mass Audubon’s Pleasant Valley Sanctuary in Lenox. It didn’t go as planned — gloriously.
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Mass MoCA shapes a community and me (BTW column)
The coronavirus pandemic is putting a strain on many artists and museums and creative spaces. Last week Mass MoCA explained how they are responding. It shakes me as a writer in the Berkshires. And I’ve been thinking about all the reasons why.
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Coltsfoot blooms in early spring
The first adventuresome blossoms of the tiny yellow dandelion mimic we call coltsfoot come up in March, and a April settles in, masses will appear along the banks of gravel roads.
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Holding on in a time of coronavirus
Why am I remembering those afternoons, baking in the old kitchen and singing along to Hair — why am I remembering that tonight, in a pandemic, when I and everyone around me are stunned and scared?
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