Carrie Mae Weems is internationally known for her work in audio, digital images, video, and above all in photography. She has created Resist Covid: Take 6, a new public work, with messages for surviving in this hard time.
Read articleLife in these hills goes back thousands of years in wide spirals of stories. Here we honor human stories, from the Mohican people who live and return here today to Elizabeth Freeman and W.E.B. DuBois, people who have come from many parts of the world to work here in the mills, and to live in the cities and the hills today, and many more.
W.E.B. DuBois strengthens the soul of a community (February 17 newsletter)
This morning I remembered a day in July in a garden along the Housatonic River. A woman was singing in a strong, rich alto, leading a spiritual in the W.E.B. Dubois memorial garden, and we were thinking about how he felt about the town where he was born.
Read articleBlack in the Berkshires: Revealing the past enlarges the future
Frances Jones-Sneed has walked along the Housatonic River, finding and telling the stories of black men and women in the Berkshires who have reshaped this country since this country began.
Read articleWill Amado Syldor-Severino speaks to silence
Will Amado Syldor-Severino, a senior fellow with Americorps Massachusetts Promise, is holding his three-week-old son, Abi, on a winter day, as he talks about diversity, his work with local teens and painful issues too often left unsaid.
Read articleWendy Red Star re-imagines care of Native objects and stories
Artist and curator Wendy Red Star, Mass MoCA and MCLA will host a virtual roundtable exploring the ways museums can re-imagine care for Indigenous objects.
Read articleMartin Luther King in the 21st century
We honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this week. And what do we tell each other this year, as we think of him? … As I look ahead tonight, I remember Ross Gay telling the story of a fig tree growing in Philadelphia.
Read articleUnison 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 articleExpress delivery: Creative places, shops and artisans welcome the holidays (December 16 newsletter)
The lights are on. Holiday trains are running on the Hoosac Valley Line, and up and down the county downtowns, shops and artisans are trying to face December with a glimmer.
Read articleThe 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 articleReclaiming Land, Reclaiming the Body: Z Estimé and Roots Rising
Z Estimé reflects on their experience with Roots Rising and the importance of connecting their body’s health with the environment.
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