Eight tall forms stand in a wide circle like dolmens. They are metal frameworks 8 feet high and bright with color. They are holding glasswork, ceramics, encaustic protected in wax … and all of them will stand up to the weather.
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It’s all about soul (October 21 newsletter)
I was looking for a trail head on Bee Hill Road when I stumbled on the overlook above Williamstown Rural Lands, and the hillside was bright in the sun.
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A Rhythm of Resilience—Maxine Lyle brings Step Show to Williams
Rhythm is in the backdrop of our everyday lives — in the pulse rushing through our bodies, the sound of our feet striking the earth, the cadence of our words. Insistent and universal, rhythm is the language of Step — a percussive dance genre rooted in an African American history […]
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In Bridge’s Happiness Toolbox, youth celebrate their own stories
On a sunny morning, a group of young people stood in the meadow below an open ridge, reading a poem that Theresa (Miller) Beaudieu, a member of the Stockbridge Munsee Community Band of the Mohicans, wrote and set here in 1997 …
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Berkshires in Covid-19
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.
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Roe and reproductive rights take a virtual stage at WAM
Late night in a pizza parlor in Dallas. 1970. On the radio, Janice Joplin is singing with rising chords and the raw edge in her voice to a man who will not hear her. Two women are talking. And a national movement is about to change.
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Freedom of body and freedom of mind (October 15 newsletter)
High on Pine Cobble the color is deepening. When I climbed up a few days ago, the maple and beech and birch were in a glow, and I wandered along the ridge for awhile just breathing. In 20 years I had never walked the class of ’98 trail.
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Emerging Berkshire entrepreneurs build ingenuity with EforAll
We are carefully spaced on the terrace in a garden, and the maples are scrims of color. Three mentors are giving time to sit with me over almond-flour scones and spin ideas together.
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Live poets at Chesterwood feel the pull of current change
In these short weeks before the election, Western Massachusetts poets come together at the historic home and studio of the sculptor of the Lincoln memorial, to share work that feels relevant to this time and in that place.
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Gotland sheep grow silver fleece and grassland
Laura Gates lives at Shepherds Craft Farm in a house she and her husband built themselves, with tall windows and beams of honey-golden wood, and she can look up on a fall morning to see silvery Gotland ewes grazing in the field.
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According to all sources the street’s the place to go …
The power went out. The storm blew in, short and sudden. The maple outside the window was blowing like embers in a stiff wind. … The barometer’s getting low this week, and women’s voices are rising. (Oct. 7 newsletter)
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Trinh Mai and fellow artists weave immigration and family stories
In her studio in southern California, Trinh Mai Thạch turns to show a life-sized portrait of her husband in an artwork inspired by prayers of protection and migration. She plans to bring her work the country.
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Hubbard Hall lifts past and present voices for women’s rights
Women are talking in a public hall, debating passionately. They see the country at a turning point, shaken by an impeachment, an upsurge in violence and disputes over immigration and voting. It’s 1894 — and it’s today.
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Joy Harjo and Layli Long Soldier share loss and strength in poetry
Surrounded by the crumbling world, women begin to sing. The world as they’ve known it has ended, and yet there is movement, and growth, and the promise of new life.
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Looking for fall brightness on the back roads (Oct. 1 newsletter)
Color has come all at once this weekend. … The leaves let the light through, and here for a stretch the woods are rich and sunlit and almost too bright to look at. I can’t ever take it for granted.
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