Articles
MELTing the Pain Away: Breakthrough self treatment to relieve chronic pain
Kerrie Bodendorf, a 47 year-old mother of three from Westfield, had all but given up hope of finding relief for her debilitating chronic back pain, which often confined her to her couch for weeks at a time. But in 2010, she accidentally stumbled onto a self-treatment...
Between the Lines: E-ZPass and the Impending Robot Takeover
I’m soon going to have to decide if a pull towards convenience outweighs my fear of a total robot takeover of the world as we know it. I may get an E-ZPass transponder. The decision should be made simpler by the fact that the state of Massachusetts isn’t...
Between the Lines: Domestic Violence in the Next Tent Over
A few weeks ago I was at a campground when I heard something going on in the adjacent tent: a woman’s voice softly saying “ow” and “you hit me,” and every now and then a muffled grunt from a man. I was alone and I froze, hoping things wouldn’t escalate. They didn’t. I...
The V-Spot: I’m Dating Three Women; Does That Make Me Polyamorous?
I’m a 38 yo male currently involved with three women. One is a long distance relationship. We met at a concert and had one night together and stayed in touch. We speak regularly on various chat and texts. Two is a nonsexual relationship. She spends the night and...
Scene Here: The Force … Is Getting Sleepy
More than 100 people stake out a plot of land at Pulaski Park in Northampton on this crisp Wednesday night for an outdoor screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. At the event kicking off this year’s Northampton Film Festival, people dress as Luke, Leia, Han, Chewy,...
Backtalk: Immigration celebration, saving water, and love for old lesbians
Celebrate Immigration I think the people of Northampton and the whole Pioneer Valley should take the lead and turn the arrival of refugees to our area into a celebration. Our country’s founding principles are based on no discrimination. Instead of fearing these...
Brace Yourselves: Nostalgia is Coming
Fall in Love Now that I spend a good five minutes a day sweeping dry leaves out of our back entry, I think it’s safe to finally say it: autumn is upon us. And I’ll take it, dry leaves and all. Nestled between the smothering humidity of our summer and the desiccating...
News of the Weird: Insanity Defined
Police and prosecutors in Dallas, appropriately sensitive at having been the site of the 1963 killing of President Kennedy, have apparently taken out their shame on assassination buff Robert Groden. As the Dallas Observer reported in September, Groden has been...
Third Eye Roaming: Amherst yoga leader aims to move minds
Whether he’s working with homeless veterans, prison inmates or queer and trans people in his yoga classes and buddhist teachings, Jacoby Ballard emphasizes the struggle is “part of the journey.” “There’s actually beauty that you have to offer because of that path,” he...
Astrology: Love warriors and love worriers
ARIES (March 21-April 19): What’s the difference between a love warrior and a love worrier? Love warriors work diligently to keep enhancing their empathy, compassion, and emotional intelligence. Love worriers fret so much about not getting the love they want...
Astrology: Pisces dreams of Robin Hood/Peter Pan superduo
ARIES (March 21-April 19): At a recent party, a guy I hardly know questioned my authenticity. “You seem to have had an easy life,” he jabbed. “I bet you haven’t suffered enough to be a truly passionate person.” I didn’t choose to engage him, but mused to...
Fractured Together: The Art of Lyle Kleinhans
Lyle Kleinhans focuses his work on abstract representations of people that highlight the conflicts, questions, and confidences behind their exteriors. Jagged and strict lines are offset by wildly brooding color that sucks the viewer in and haunts them long after....
The V-Spot: SOS! I’m Spaced Out During Sex
Yana, I need your expertise!I’m a 19-year-old guy in a hetero relationship. I was pleasuring my partner last night and I realized I stopped being present and could not become present again. She picked up on it and, well, I really wanted to be present for it but I...
I Love a Parade: UMass Homecoming
This weekend UMass is celebrating Homecoming with a bunch of events: our top pick is the Homecoming Parade leading up to the clash between UMass and Tulane at McGuirk Stadium in Amherst Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The parade starts at 10:30 p.m. and will feature...
Back Talk: We’re already paying for Trump; Jewish Child Care Association apologizes
In Defense of Robert MosesLena Groeger says that Robert Moses designed public work projects to exclude and isolate specific groups of people [“Discrimination by Design: From health care to toilets to Snapchat; life is designed to benefit certain people,” Sept. 22-28,...
Local Book Reviews: The Wobblies in Their Heyday and Finding Wonders: Three Girls Who Changed Science
The Wobblies in Their Heyday: The Rise and Destruction of the Indistrial Workers of the World During the WWI Era, by Eric Thomas ChesterLevellers Press, levellerspress.comIn the early 20th century, when unions in the United States were fighting pitched battles with...
Stagestruck: Million Dollar Duo
As it happens, two different productions of the same show open on area stages on the same day this week. On Wednesday, Million Dollar Quartet premieres in the Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, and the Majestic Theater in West Springield...
Stagestruck: Full Immersion
I was intrigued by the description of The Water Project in the press release I received: “Live theater joins forces with the Pioneer Valley’s thriving independent music scene in this original immersive production. … Immerse yourself in the currents of time in this...
Go: Northampton Film Festival, Sept. 28 Through Oct. 2
Northampton Film FestivalSept. 28 – Oct. 2For four days, at locations across Northampton, the modern film festival will be redefined with free public screenings of films, virtual reality experiences, games, and participatory film projects.Tickets are $10 for a...
Coming Out to Your Husband: ‘Old Lesbians’ talk life before Pride
When she was 37, Edie Daly came out as a lesbian. It was 1974, in the suburbs of New York City. Firmly ensconced in a 17-year marriage to a man, Daly had three children. The woman she fell in love with — a co-worker at a local school — also had a husband and four...
Cocktail of the Month Club: Cranberry Cinnamon Whiskey Sour at Osteria Vespa, Amherst
September marks the end of the summer and evenings are starting to bring with them a subtle autumn chill. Chase it away with this month’s cocktail, a cranberry-cinnamon whiskey sour that’s sure to warm you up, brought to you by Josh Draghe, head bartender at Osteria...
Five Things to Love About Hadley
Too often, small town bucolic Hadley gets confused for what’s on Route 9. Yes, the congested commercial stretch is the town’s main artery, but not its heart. There’s a lot more going on in Hadley than waiting to get over the Coolidge Bridge at rush hour. Food Hadley...
Basemental: Our Club Runneth Over
This Friday night, Sept. 23, there are at least six shows I want to attend. It wouldn’t be surprising if some touring band squeezes in a last-minute basement show. There are other bars and venues, too — Ben Folds is playing the Calvin, for one — and maybe a festival...
Canciones Criollas, a night of Latin food and music, Thursday
Canciones Criollas Thursday offers a festive evening of Latin food and music with Criollo Clasico Trio, one of the most eclectic Caribbean musical ensembles touring today. Sliding playfully between Latin, classical, Afro-Cuban, and jazz, the band — led by famed Puerto...
Scent-sational, the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Fest this weekend in Orange
Scent-sational The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival markets itself as “the festival that stinks.” So really, how could we resist? But even if sniffing and hefting around bags of aromatic bulbs isn’t your idea of a fun time, there’s still good reason to hike up...
Stagestruck: A Spectacle in Springfield, Rural meets urban as Double Edge Theatre comes to town
I usually find Double Edge Theatre on their home turf — at The Farm in rural Ashfield — where they live and work and, every summer, perform a “traveling spectacle” that takes audiences on an episodic journey around the spread. But last week I encountered...
Play it Again, Sheldon, The Red Guitar at the Shea
Play it Again, Sheldon John Sheldon has latched himself to so many meteoric musical acts, it’s a wonder that he hasn’t ascended beyond our earthly ears completely. Thankfully, he retains an intimate connection to the Valley, despite his years writing and playing for...
The Other World War II Club, artists regroup after war and call it The ‘Cobra’
The Other World War II Club In the years following the Allied victory in Europe, young artists came together seeking a creative space to begin again. The “Cobra” movement became that unique meeting point. Cobra artists were a diverse lot, but many shared an interest...
Between the Lines: Get Serious and Vote
Good God, please vote in November. If you are not yet registered, and you’re a Massachusetts resident, you have until Oct. 19 to get your registry card at any Town Hall, Registry of Motor Vehicles, or government office that provides public assistance. You can also...
Scene Here: Lesser Evils
“The mythology is hold your nose and vote for the lesser evil and things will get better. “Lesser evil” politicians have been speaking for us and they are bought and paid for by their corporate influences consisting of “predatory banks, the fossil fuel...
Down to Earth: Sustainable Farming 101, Five College farms face challenges teaching the next generation about food
I arrive at Book and Plow Farm to find production farmer Tobin Porter-Brown on a tractor, forking a pallet of canvas sacks off a pickup truck. He’s wearing a Book and Plow shirt, khaki shorts and thick boots that will later serve him in better stead than my sandals...
Back Talk: How About Some Decent Health Care Over Here?
Gratitude’s Nice, Affordable Healthcare is BetterThis past Grandparents Day some grandparents across our nation might get a telephone call or a note from a loved one. It is more important to focus on more crucial issues facing older Americans.Retirement and how to...
The V-Spot: I’ve Had Enough With Vaginismus
Editor’s Note: Sexual trauma addressed in this week’s column.Hi Yana,I really appreciate your column and the work that you do. I have a really embarrassing sex problem. I was sexually abused throughout various parts of my life, starting in my childhood and going into...
Stagestruck: In the Heat of the Night
Thank you, Barrington Stage Company, for reviving this past summer’s hit play American Son. Thanks because I missed it in July and was glad of the opportunity to catch up with it during its brief return engagement. And thanks, too, because this run (through Sept. 25)...
Hot Damn! Sunderland’s ChiliFest is Coming
Hot Diggity Could it be that the lingering heat wave of the past week was due to the potency of the peppers newly ripening at Kitchen Garden Farm in Sunderland? Probably not, but we hear these little devils are hotter than ever — and just in time for ChiliFest....
Rock in the Woods: Wormtown Music Fest in Greenfield
Worm, Baby, Worm Smell that brisk fall air coming down from the mountains? It’s nearly fall, which marks the return of the Worm. Now in its 18th year, the Wormtown Music Festival hosts a weekend of music on the wooded grounds of Camp Kee-Wanee on the Green River....
Learning Falconry with Chris Davis
Call of the wild At the edge of a shady green grove in Hadley, light streams through the forest canopy in thin shafts. It speckles the grassy floor below, where three large birds of prey sit awkwardly, tethered with thin leather straps to their short wooden perches....
Nightcrawler: Weather or Not
Could you be… won’t you be… my neighbor? It’s an indelible marriage of image and song performed daily by Fred Rogers on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood as he shed his business casual attire and slipped into his favorite sweater and sneaks. He was an...
Staff picks: Get out there with Rob Schneider… or tubas
Rob Schneider at Hu Ke Lau • Thursday I saw Rob Schneider at the Hu Ke Lau a few years ago. I left feeling I had my fill of his weird comedic persona. Former SNL regular and a staple in pretty much every Adam Sandler movie known to man, he brings out the dumb giggles....
Drones on the Horizon: What It Means for You
On August 29, new Federal Aviation Administration rules governing the commercial use of small unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, took effect nationwide. Part 107, as it’s known, represents the inaugural effort by the FAA to regulate the commercial use of airspace by...
Stagestruck: Read, Not Dead – Valley playwrights’ scripts come to life
For the six members of the Northampton Playwrights Lab whose plays are having staged readings this weekend and next, the performances represent the first public airings of new scripts and newly revised older work. Some are brand new, having received feedback and...
BTL: UMass Labor Center Lessons, Academic Disneylands Must Go
The American workforce is at a crossroads. Shaken to its foundation by the Great Recession, the economy is slowly rebuilding — and we’re making some seriously wrong moves. Over the last 30 years, the number of people in labor unions has decreased by half. U.S. CEOs...
Stagestruck: A Voice of Gladness
If you’re like me, you studied William Cullen Bryant’s poem “Thanatopsis” in high school English class, and haven’t given it or its 19th-century author a thought since then. Well, I paid the man and his work a return visit the other day at his hillside homestead,...
News of the Weird: These Shoes Weren’t Made for Walkin’
The upscale clothier Barneys New York recently introduced $585 “Distressed Superstar Sneakers” from the high-end brand Golden Goose that were purposely designed to look scuffed, well-worn and cobbled-together, as if they were shoes recovered from a...
The V-Spot: My 2-Minute Orgasm
So, I was masturbating last night and set a timer. It took me under two minutes to orgasm. However, when someone else in involved, it takes forever or doesn’t happen at all. I can count the times it’s happened on two hands.Every time I masturbate it’s like...
Sunday: For the Love of Spock film screening
Live Long This photo from the ’60s was so cute, we couldn’t not share it. It shows Adam Nimoy enjoying time with his dad, Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy. In 1966, his father originated the role of Mr. Spock, the human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise — a...
Frank Ward’s 46 Years of Holyoke Photos
Hey Look, Holyoke! In his 46 years of photographing Holyoke, HCC art professor Frank Ward has expanded his initial vision of the downtown project from one portrait at a time to one street at a time. “I have seen that Holyoke offers a microcosm of the world,” he...
Cinemadope: Transitions
When your life seems fairly well set in its ways, change can be hard. Actually, change can be terrifying. You might have a family that you love and a job that you look forward to, and something can still seem not right. Accepting that — in other words, accepting our...
Nerding Out With: The Stormtrooper Next Door
Tom Marinone Jr. grew up on Star Wars like you and I grew up on breakfast, lunch, and dinner. “I’ve been hooked ever since A New Hope came out,” he says. That was in 1977, when Marinone was six years old. Now he’s 45. When his midlife crisis came around, he knew one...
Review: Minyan by John J. Clayton; Divorce and Its Children
MinyanBy John J. ClaytonParagon Housejohnjclayton.comJohn Clayton, professor emeritus of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has devoted much of his time in the last several years to writing short stories that have appeared in publications like...
Alien Volcanoes, Re-growing Spines, and Invasions: Awesome, Local Science
SCIENCE! It’s all around us, particularly in the Valley where members of the Knowledge Corridor continue to bang out some heady innovation. Check out what they’ve been up to lately: 14 Patents for UMass: In 2015, the state’s flagship university in Amherst received 14...
Springfield Museums Kicks Off Smithsonian Week
Museum Mind-Meld The Smithsonian Institution plays a huge role in making downtown Washington, D.C., so fun and educational for families, since its museums of Natural History, American History, Air and Space, American Art, and more are all free admission. To celebrate...
LipBomb: Nice Pin; Patriotism is Action, Not Accessory
A new column by area students on the topics that matter to them most. Want in on this? Email editor Kristin Palpini at editor@valleyadvocate.com. A national flag is a symbol of a country’s history. In the United States, the 13 red and white stripes represent the...
Pour Man: Finally, A Sweet Wine That Delights
When someone suggested that I try MAN Family Wines’ Chenin Blanc, my first reaction was that I don’t like sweet wines. Although Chenin Blanc grapes are often used to make excellent sweet wines in France and elsewhere, I was assured I’d find this South African offering...
BackTalk: A New Slogan for Trump, The Clintons by Andrew Loyd Webber
Editorial Art Did you know Cinemadope columnist Jack Brown is also a talented illustrator? See his Trump campaign poster and more Brown art at jackjohnbrown.com. The Rich Get Richer If you ask enough people in our community if they’re able to sustain...
Free Will Astrology: Sept. 15-21, 2016
ARIES (March 21-April 19): What should you do if your allies get bogged down by excess caution or lazy procrastination? Here’s what I advise: Don’t confront them or berate them. Instead, cheerfully do what must be done without their help. And what action...
The Melvins: The Advocate Interview
The Melvins occupy a strange space in the rock music landscape. They’re revered by fellow musicians and rock nerds as pioneers of the ’80s grunge rock scene, as original and weird today as they were 30 years ago, yet they fly largely under the radar of most...
Selected Poems from the Amherst Poetry Fest (Sep. 15-17)
We Kindly Stop For Emily If “poetry is everywhere; it just needs editing,” as the late, great James Tate once asserted, then we’ll never run low on good fodder for verse. What we do risk losing, from time to time, is our appreciation and respect for the eternal,...
Dirty Dozen Brass Band Brings the Funk to Holyoke
Give Us The Funk The New Orleans jazz scene didn’t see Benny Jones coming. Back in 1977, he and members of the Tornado Brass Band created a new ensemble, called the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, with an eye to revolutionize old sounds. The music they played combined funk...E-Edition
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