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Scene Here: Shamrock in the Wind
I’m at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and there are more plastic cups whipping down High Street in the wind than there are people waiting for the parade to turn the corner. I’m beginning to think the parade has been delayed by the 30-plus mph wind gusts, when I spy some...
The $5 Trillion Debt: Do white Americans owe their black neighbors for slavery?
It was on a year-long walk retracing the path of slavery between Africa and the United States that Teegrey Iannuzzi says she finally woke up. She was taking part in the Interfaith Pilgrimage of the Middle Passage, a walk retracing the trans-Atlantic slave trade...
Hurray? Despite a considerable pay gap, Massachusetts lands second best state for women
Deshanay Gonzalez, 21, of Holyoke, stands near Ingleside Mall’s Aeropostale, rocking her nine-month-old daughter, Rose, in her stroller. “There’s plenty of opportunity here,” she says. “It’s our time. It’s time for women to take over.” Rose senses her mother’s gusto...
Jinkies! Why won’t the Scooby-Doo Five College myth go away?
Urban legends travel through towns faster than an alligator in the sewer. They’re intriguing, they have a distinct air of truthiness to them, and they provoke strong reactions. Did you hear about Richard Gere “gerbiling?” Can’t remember who told me, but, like,...
A Literary Sorceress: Northampton writer Kelly Link makes strange things happen
Kelly Link’s stories are weird in the best possible sense of the word. They often take place in unusual settings that aren’t quite like consensus reality — a hotel hosting a superhero convention, a summer house inhabited by mysterious and possibly malevolent...
Between the Lines: Hands Off My Stuff! Politicians’ emails are public business
Politicians skirting public record laws by conducting public business on private email accounts is becoming a scandal celebre. That Hillary Clinton kept a few private email accounts and used her own server may not seem like a big deal. But it is. Politicians’ emails...
Beerhunter: Tips for your next brewery tour
Up in Vermont there’s a glow-in-the-dark circus party at the end of the world. Neon streamers and Mardi Gras beads hang all over the place. Colorful string lights set the room aglow. Some visitors hunker down at the long bar counter, but others try on jester hats,...
The V-Spot: Bumming About Cumming
Dear V-Spot, I’m very different with different women, in respect to how long I last before ejaculating. Wildly different. With some people I go quick, with some I have complete control and could go for an hour or two, getting off whenever I feel like it. With some...
Galloping With the Bronies
Granby High School senior Dylan Bellerose browses the graphic novels section of the Holyoke Barnes and Noble. He’s wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with a purple unicorn intensely focused on a tome, along with the bold words: “Read. You have to do it. It says so in...
I Spy: Blarney Blowout
This year’s Blarney Blowout on March 7 attracted thousands of revelers to downtown Amherst and the UMass campus. This photo was taken during a concert at the Mullins Center where Kesha, Juicy J, and Ludacris performed. How many cell phones can you spot? Find the...
Vintage Style
I had a friend in high school who refused to let Mother Nature be the boss of his wardrobe. Matt sported jean shorts into December, refused to wear anything sturdier on his feet than sneakers, and didn’t like how he looked in hats. Warmth is a state of mind, he would...
Street Style
Antonio Johnson From his black chukka boots to his triangle Levi’s hat, Antonio Johnson is the definition of suave. We ran into him at Savers in Springfield. Everything he’s wearing he bought second-hand, he says, except for the sweater vest. “This sweater I’ve had...
Dive! Five unpolished gems with cheap drinks and charm to spare.
Everyone has a favorite dive bar; a place you can go in your old jeans and sweater, have a beer for under $3 and watch some “Wheel of Fortune” with townies looking to unwind. Dive bars — and we use the term lovingly — tend to be physically and metaphysically secluded....
Madame Barfly: Mix It Up, Take a Shot
Shots cut to the chase. Whether you need some quick courage for that karaoke performance or don’t want a drink that sloshes on your dancing shoes, shots are great when you want to get that buzz rolling in one fell shoot. So, why not make it delicious? When it comes to...
News of the Weird: Sue Thyself
The Utah Court of Appeals ruled in February that Barbara Bagley has a legal right to sue herself for her own negligent driving that caused the death of her husband. Typically, in U.S. courts, a party cannot profit from its own negligence, but Bagley is the official...
Death and Cake: At ‘death cafes’ people discuss death in order to live better
At a recent gathering in a second-story studio in downtown Northampton, Daniel Lombardo of Westhampton read a story about twin fetuses discussing life after birth. One thinks there will be life after delivery, related Lombardo, while the other isn’t so sure....
Our Martians: 100 people picked to go on a one-way trip to Mars are already a little alien
I stood in the below-zero wind, my dog circling — quickly — to find the right spot. High above the blue glow of moon on snow, far Jupiter shone. It went crisply about its business of marching at barely perceptible speed, of turning its eye upon us. Someone trundled by...
Politics, Now With Even More Money! State law raises max per-person donation to $1,000; not every donor – or politician – is on board
When Adam Cohen contributed $500 to Michael Bardsley’s mayoral campaign in Northampton, he said he wasn’t expecting anything in return. Neither was his wife, Jendi Reiter, when she donated $500 to the campaign, he says. Cohen, a blogger and leader of the North Street...
Adopt-A-Hydrant Northampton residents clamor to claim orphan hydrants
Dear diary, Today white stuff started falling from the sky — again. Burying my stout, red body deep beneath the stuff, but at least it’s hiding the chipped paint LOLZ. Snow, is what the double-stems walking by call it as they roll it up in their cloth-covered spigots...
Putting Lipstick on a Slog: 17 ways to enjoy the rest of your winter and get ready for spring
As New England natives, we’d like to humbly challenge T. S. Elliot’s assertion that “April is the cruelest month.” It’s March. The month is a tease, punishing snow and winds one minute and green leaves coaxed by a soft breath of spring emerge in the next. March...
Between the Lines: SEX! Now that I’ve got your attention, SEX! The importance of The V-Spot
Since returning The V-Spot sex advice column to the pages of the Advocate earlier this month, I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from our readers. Most are thrilled to have a sassy sexpert closing out the paper every week. Others question why a newspaper would dedicate so...
Coming Up Short: Howard Street correctional center in Springfield needs $6 million to make way for casino
I n the midst of plans to vacate a building recently purchased by MGM Springfield, Hampden County Sheriff Michael Ashe got some bad news: funding had fallen through for the relocation of the Western Massachusetts Correctional Alcohol Center . The 29-year-old minimum...
Dishing on Dishes: The stories behind five Valley signature plates
Coco & The Cellar Bar Easthampton The dish: Buttermilk Fried Chicken Simple is best Fried chicken may seem an odd fit for a gourmet menu, but Coco’s co-owners, cooks — and husband and wife — Roger Taylor and Unmi Abkin have embraced its simple pleasures....
The V-Spot: Hopin’ 2 Open
Dear V-Spot, My husband and I were married in May. We’ve been together for eight years. He’s leaving in April for a year-long residence out of state. I’d like to be able to have a “monogamous-ish” (thanks Dan Savage) type thing while he’s gone. How do I bring that up...
Cookie Clash: Which chocolate chip cookie is the ultimate in the Valley?
The lines were drawn. On one side, #TeamChewy and on the other, #TeamCrunchy. The Advocate’s chocolate chip cookie Taste-off was about to commence. Who would have suspected the ubiquitous and beloved chocolate chip cookie would yield such feuding within our normally...
Where Food is King: Tully McColgan trades nighttime hotspot for world food drive-to
Owner Tully McColgan and head chef John Peter Wentworth say they’ve spent so much time together getting their business — King Street Eats — off the ground, that they’ve come to look alike. “People think we’re brothers,” Wentworth jokes. The two have turned the former...
Beerhunter: Lager Gets Crafty
In the warm, bright tasting room of Fort Hill Brewery in Easthampton, my friend took a sip from a sample glass and frowned. He took another and made the same face. “It’s a lager,” I said. “They’re all lagers here.” He looked surprised. Then he finished his drink and...
Scene Here: A Spot for Tea
Kevin Gutting Photo
Out of BIDness: How messy signatures and sloppy administration sank Northampton’s downtown improvement district
Even as Northampton community leaders craft plans to invigorate downtown without the fee-charging district a judge declared “null and void” in November, resentments simmer and questions swirl about what killed the 5-year-old Business Improvement District. Amid the...
32 Ways to Tell You’re a Real Northamptoner
You call the WWII Club “The Deuce” You have male friends who wear clogs You know why the guy at Joe’s Pizza is wearing a sombrero You miss Pleasant Street Theater You’ve taken a side in the “Hamp” v. “Noho” debate You see a man in a dress on the street and...
Cinemadope: Just Kidding, youth movies and cat cartoons
For parents of school-age children, February break can be a trying time. Personal days at work have likely been put to use to cope with blizzards that never appeared, and the winter wind that creeps in during the middle of the month means that our energetic kids are...
Scene Here: Locked Away
I have only one recurring nightmare. I find myself in prison. Charged with a crime I cannot discern, I’m locked away from family and friends by thick plastic walls. The clear walls are smeared with a thousand fingerprints obscuring my view of the sweet blue sky. Jack...
The Other Good Life: Pioneering back-to-the-landers Helen and Scott Nearing lived in the shadow of Stratton Mountain before it was a ski resort
Stratton Mountain sits some 45 minutes north of Brattleboro. The drive up state Route 30 encapsulates much of what visitors and residents alike love about the Green Mountain state. The single lane road follows the meandering West River alongside the Green Mountain...
Sexpert Yana Tallon-Hicks is back: You Found The V-Spot, but What About the G-Spot?
Editor’s Note: Back by popular demand, Yana Tallon-Hicks returns with The V-Spot, the Advocate’s weekly sex and relationship advice column. She received her undergrad in sexuality studies and sex education and worked as a sex educator/sales associate at various sex...
All Single and Nowhere to Mingle: Springfield has the most young, single people of any U.S. city, but where are they?
If you’re seeking a sweetheart in advance of Valentine’s Day, it would seem logical that your best shot at finding love would be to go to the city with the highest concentration of singles. According to the U.S. Census, 78.46 percent of Springfield residents between...
Uplift: Pole dancing for mind, body, and spirit
“Get your spots ready for butterfly,” Barre and Pole owner Tekla Kostek tells her students during a pole tricks class last Wednesday. The eight women stand two-to-a-pole and watch as Kostek demonstrates. Kostek positions herself next to the pole. She bends her right...
Scene Here: Pre-Blizzy Tizzy
Amanda drane photo
Madame Barfly: Well Booze or the High Road? When you’re young and/or broke it can be tempting to drink the cheapest booze around
We’ve all heard the rumors about the havoc cheap booze can wreak, but is that even true? Can you drink inexpensive alcohol all night without head-pounding, toilet-hugging consequences? The downside to drinking cheap alcohol is considerable: principal among the...
Stories From the Storm: Before the storm, a homeless man settles in on the streets of Northampton
The first snowflakes begin to fall Monday night. It’s my cue to head into the gusty blizzard, geared with elbow-high gloves and the coziest scarf I could find, in search of the city’s homeless. How are they faring, outside in this storm? I walk several frosty laps...
Making It Up: Solo actor Seth Lepore courts uncomfortable moments onstage
Photos by Jerrey Robers and James Heflin For a lot of people, it’s the stuff of anxiety dreams: a mic awaits on a stage. An expectant crowd is staring at you. You don’t have a script, even if you’ve done some homework — you just have to talk. That scenario is, says...
Between the Lines: The Vagina Dialogues
The show must go on, as they say — until it’s gone on long enough. On Jan. 14, the student-run Project Theatre group at Mount Holyoke College canceled its annual production of Eve Ensler’s play The Vagina Monologues, opting instead to write and produce a new show of...
Scene Here: Catching Cold
Wind whips across the ice on the Oxbow in Northampton. Under a bright, cold sun, shadowy figures stand against a stark panorama of frozen river, snow-decked mountains, and frosted gray sky. It’s 25 degrees. Viktor Biley, 17, is rubbing his bare hands together. It’s...
Falling With Grace: The art of contact improvisation
Contact improvisation isn’t just dance without choreography, it’s life — a microcosm illuminating a way to be in the world. “Who you are as a person is who you are as an improviser,” says Nancy Stark Smith, part of the group that spawned the improvisational...
Building a House of Song: Violinist Jason Kao Hwang brings his improv-based Sing House to town
The range of New Jersey violinist Jason Kao Hwang’s composing and playing is remarkable. At one end of the spectrum, there are completely composed pieces of “new,” or contemporary classical, music. At the other, you’ll find his improvised ’70s and ’80s work with...
Poems for a Small Town: The Amherst Live Poetry Prize Finalists
Amherst Live is an every-so-often “live magazine show.” In it, host and executive director Oliver Broudy, an author and former Paris Review managing editor, presents a series of interviews, talks, and performances. The idea is to look more closely at the big ideas...
We’ve Got a New Website and It’s a Little Slice of Heaven
Man, that old website of ours was up for a while, and it wasn’t getting any prettier with time. It was like Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries before Julie Andrews showed up. You’d land on the site and be, like, meh. Thankfully our Web elves have been hard at work....
Moving On: Springfield’s Performance Project and First Generation are losing their home.
It’s the kind of story we will, inevitably, hear again. When any big development imposes a new footprint on an already-established area, people get displaced and property changes hands. Five Taylor Street, in Morgan Square, where Springfield nonprofit arts...
Scene Here: Big Easy Brunch
Remember that first wash of Technicolor in The Wizard of Oz? That’s what it’s like to step off the grayscale street and into Chef Wayne’s Big Mamou in Springfield. This little New Orleans-style restaurant is stranded on a run-down industrial block of Liberty Street,...
Nightcrawler: Bawdy by Nature, Berkshire burlesque group; Cantalini performs solo, duo, and with his trio
In the spirit of the performers they honor and emulate, the Berkshire-based Gypsy Lane burlesque troupe takes the show on the road this weekend. The campy cast of cabaret characters makes its debut at Norfolk, Conn.’s storied Infinity Music Hall & Bistro Jan. 22,...
Tased and Confused: Debate rages over whether stun guns do more harm than good
One hit from a Taser sends 50,000 volts of electricity coursing through the body. Oliver Rich, of Hatfield, sustained far more than that one night in 2010. Following a traffic stop in Greenfield, Rich was tased at least five times over the course of a few minutes. The...
Is That a Threat?: Chicopee man posts Facebook reference to cop killings, finds himself at center of Internet dragnet
Not much is known publicly about Charlie DiRosa. He’s 27 years old. He lives in Chicopee. He has a tattoo of the word TABOO across his throat in thick, rainbow-colored block letters. And no one but DiRosa knows what he was thinking on Dec. 21 when he posted “Put Wings...
Epic Chowder Smackdown: Old school fish shop takes top honor
Schermerhorn’s Seafood Restaurant clam chowder, Holyoke Score: 4.5 Price: cup, $3.99; bowl, $4.99 The judges found this chowder deliciously creamy and well-balanced. Amanda: Everything a clam chowder should be. You could actually smell the clams. Kristin: The clams...
Five Things to Love About Springfield: Springfield has had its share of hard times over the years. But haven’t we all?
Yes, Springfield has had its share of hard times over the years. But haven’t we all? Look, we’re kind of sick of defending our fair city to people eager to cite high rates of unemployment, murder and poverty, but reluctant to actually get downtown and walk around. You...
Cinemadope: Don’t Mess with Dad
Any career that lasts long enough is sure to have its share of ups, downs, and surprises. Sometimes we come out on top, sometimes we fall flat on our face. Most of us, though, have the blessing of soaring or falling with a bit more privacy than the actors and...
Quotables: The best lines from the past week
Editor’s Note: Quotables is an occasional feature showcasing some of the snappiest and interesting things Valley folks said in the press in the past week. “I don’t feel that a cartoonist should have to live in fear for what they do. The artists should have the right...
Pleasant Street’s Future
Northampton — Mary Finn, co-owner of the Optical Studio on Pleasant Street and the building that houses it, is not happy about plans to develop a large affordable housing complex that, if carried through, could dwarf her two-story building. The complex — a $20 million...
Now Pulling Into the Station … Or Not: New Amtrak Route Opens New Platforms, Closes Others
At the Amherst train station, one of the last waves of home-bound college students stood scattered across the small platform, many for the last time. Amtrak’s Vermonter line has pulled out of Amherst for good, rerouted now through Greenfield, Northampton, and Holyoke....
Humanity on a small scale
S c ulptor Marilyn Andrews began making and selling stoneware in 1976, but something changed when she started to work seriously with clay. “I like clay because working with a material that undergoes such radical changes, and working in three dimensions, helps me...
Nuclear Wasted: No Fond Farewell to Vermont Yankee
After 60-plus years pumping out energy and radioactive waste, the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is in the process of decommissioning. Protesters have been advocating for the plant’s shutdown since before it opened in the ‘70s, citing the environmental threat...E-Edition
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