Tonight while a mob is attacking government buildings, while I am sitting safe by the fire at the foot of a mountain in a town where I know college students have been threatened a mile away and somehow stood tall and gone on, I am reading Danusha Lameris’ poems for the first time.
Read article
Unison stronger than fission: Poetry and art hold a light in hard times
Artist Trinh Mai and poet Shann Ray have created a book of words and paintings probing a world where the beauty of high canyons and loving relationships can exist at the same time as fission and division.
Read article
NightWood turns the Mount into a new world
This winter, the Mount will transform Edith Wharton’s gardens and grounds with NightWood, a landscape of mystery and fantasy, doors into other worlds, journey and night.
Read article
The Mohican nation honors their homeland with WAM Theatre
Heather Bruegl imagines Mohican people telling Mohican stories and histories, on Mohican land. She is the cultural affairs director for the Stockbridge Munsee community of the Mohican Nation, and she talks with me, and with WAM Theatre, as they prepare for this weekend’s performance of ‘The Thanksgiving Play.’
Read article
NightWood transforms the Mount (November 18 newsletter)
Torches flicker in a long curve into the darkness — a quarter-mile of oil lamps lighting the road. The Mount is a new place tonight. Firelight lines the path between the pine trees, and a bass beat begins to rise …
Read article
Acclaimed writer Danielle Evans navigates grief and strength
On a fall evening, acclaimed writer Danielle Evans is talking about her newest book with a clear eye and compassion, humor and deep sadness.
Read article
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.
Read article
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.
Read article
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.
Read article
John Steinbeck calls attention to fall color on the back roads
If I could be anywhere in the world today, I’d be here. I might be here in 1960, when John Steinbeck drove through with Charley (his dog) in the cab of his truck.
Read article