Tag: Massachusetts

  • Issue:

    A cultural exchange you can taste — Fermentation festivals

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    Mass., Vermont festivals celebrate the variety of fermented foods By TRACY FRISCHContributing writer GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.   Real Pickles, a worker-owned cooperative based in Greenfield, Mass., was among the vendors at last month’s Berkshire Fermentation Festival in Great Barrington. A similar event is planned this month in Poultney, Vt.Courtesy photo/Chris Gauthier When many people hear read more

    A cultural exchange you can taste — Fermentation festivals
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    Berkshire Theatre Group celebrates local creativity

    November festival gives stage to artists of the Berkshire By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass.   Members of Funk Box Dance Studio perform on the opening night of last year’s Made in the Berkshires Festival. The festival, which showcases local artists, is scheduled for Nov. 11-13 this year. Courtesy photo/Michelle McGrady After a summer cultural read more

    Berkshire Theatre Group celebrates local creativity
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    2016 election preview

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    Here are the candidates and referendum questions on ballots for the Nov. 8 federal and state elections across the region. Because of space limitations, uncontested races are not included. A guide to political party abbreviations is at right. Incumbents are marked with an asterisk (*). Polls are open on Election Day from 7 a.m. to read more

    2016 election preview
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    Raids show the failure of marijuana prohibition

    The military-style helicopter hovered low over a house in Amherst, Mass., last month, its blades whirring as two men crouched in its open doorway, apparently aiming a thermal-imaging device at the back yard below. Within 10 minutes, several law enforcement vehicles arrived at the home, and State Police collected the illegal contraband they had found: read more

    Raids show the failure of marijuana prohibition
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    At this cafe, repairs are on the menu

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    Pittsfield group counters throwaway society by fixing household items By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass.   A volunteer helps to repair a broken picture frame at the Pittsfield Repair Cafe. Every month from March through October, the group gathers to fix household items that might otherwise wind up in landfills or remain stashed unused in read more

    At this cafe, repairs are on the menu
  • Issue:

    Nick Cave — A troubled heaven on earth

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    Artist’s massive wonderland at MoCA confronts themes of racism By JOHN SEVENContributing writer NORTH ADAMS, Mass.   A detail from “Until,” Nick Cave’s upcoming installation at Mass MoCA, reveals an elaborate landscape built from kitschy items the artist collects on secondhand shopping sprees — items that sometimes raise troubling themes related to race. Douglas Mason read more

    Nick Cave — A troubled heaven on earth
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    Eggs, farms and the law

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    Mass. ballot question launches debate on agricultural practices By JOHN TOWNESContributing writer PITTSFIELD, Mass.   Sara Housman, the marketing manager at Wild Oats Market in Williamstown, shows off some of the co-op’s locallly sourced eggs. The store only sells eggs from cage-free hens under a policy adopted in 2006. A November ballot question aims to read more

    Eggs, farms and the law
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    Ruth Reichl, locally sourced

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    A world-class foodie finds a feast in Columbia, Berkshire counties By STACEY MORRISContributing writer HUDSON, N.Y.   Ruth Reichl took up full-time residence at her weekend home in Spencertown after Gourmet magazine, where she’d been editor for a decade, abruptly closed in 2009. Now she forages locally. Richard Sands photo Great food has been at read more

    Ruth Reichl, locally sourced
  • Issue:

    Common Folk Collective builds a community through art

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    Common Folk collective aims for permanent role in North Adams By JOHN SEVENContributing writer NORTH ADAMS, Mass.   The Common Folk artist collective, which has hosted a series of arts and community events over the past year around North Adams, has a new home on Main Street downtown. Courtesy photo With its new location at read more

    Common Folk Collective builds a community through art
  • Issue:

    Staying true to the best in film

    New director keeps tradition alive as Images Cinema nears 100 By JOHN SEVENContributing writer WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.   Images Cinema got its start in 1916 as the Walden Theater, a silent-movie house on Spring Street in Williamstown. When Doug Jones took over as director of Images Cinema two years ago, he began to look to the read more

    Staying true to the best in film