News
Between the Lines: Make Trump King — Seriously
Every morning at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II’s first order of business is to meet with her hairdresser. She drinks from bone china, eats breakfast served by footmen in tailcoats, wanders the grounds, and reads fan mail. Throughout the day, people bow. People...
Lip Bomb: I Wanted to be the Cool Grandpa
High school sucked for me. Before college, I had no friends. My days consisted of going to school, talking to almost nobody, and coming home to do almost nothing before bed.In the midst of all this nothing, I had time to think up a glamorized chain of events that I...
O, Cannabis!: Getting the Best Deal on Medical Marijuana
If you get up real close to the New England Treatment Access medical marijuana dispensary in Northampton, you can smell the earthy aroma of cannabis through the brick walls. Established in 2015, NETA’s Conz Street dispensary is, so far, the only medical Mary Jane shop...
News of the Weird: Democracy in Action
While “democracy” in most of America means electing representatives to run government, on Nov. 8 in San Francisco it also expected voters to decide 43 often vague, densely worded “issues” that, according to critics, could better be handled by the professionals who...
Sweep it Under the River: Berkshire County’s Battle with GE Over the Housatonic River Cleanup Continues
Decades later and General Electric still hasn’t remedied its contamination of the Housatonic. Woods Pond in Lenox is the picture of quaint backwoods New England: the kind of place leaf-peepers flock annually to the Berkshires to behold. The golden yellows and...
Timeline: GE’s Housatonic Cleanup Has Dragged on for Decades
The Housatonic River in Massachusetts and Connecticut has been polluted by suspected human carcinogen – and known cancer-causing agent in animals – since the 1930s when GE used the lubricant during transformer manufacturing at its Pittsfield plant. And the...
Back Talk: Fight for Health Care, Feeling Bad for Trump
Enough Disappointment to Go AroundI was sorely dismayed by the publication of your editorial as if Hillary Clinton had won (“Between the Lines: What Might Have Been,” Nov. 9-16, 2016). I am a supporter of Mrs. Clinton, but your decision to print the column you’d hoped...
Nerding Out: Fungus Passion
Dianna Smith walked to her third floor office at her home in Leeds to sort a collection of dried fungi. The specimens were picked during a workshop on identifying native fungi she teaches through her club, the Pioneer Valley Mycological Association. (Mycology, as you...
How to talk politics with your family on Thanksgiving: an Advocate chat
The Valley Advocate is starting up a new feature: chats! Our inaugural chat will be about mixing family and politics during Thanksgiving. If you want to hear about some of our coping strategies, read on! The conversation has been lightly edited. dave.eisen (Dave...
Between the Lines: One Nation Under Trump?
Hillary Clinton voters: It’s time to get on with it. Donald Trump is our next president, whether we like it or not, and the great American experiment in democracy is going to continue. Please, stop protesting the free and fair election of Donald Trump and petitioning...
Fentanyl Found in Nearly 75 Percent of Massachusetts Overdose Deaths
The deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl has largely outstripped heroin as the leading cause of opioid-related deaths in Massachusetts, according to state data. Experts say the powerful drug, considered to be up to 50 times as potent as regular heroin, has been has been...
News of the Weird: The Nanny State
New York City officially began licensing professional fire eaters earlier this year, and classes have sprung up to teach the art so that the city’s Fire Department Explosives Unit can test for competence and issue the E29 certificates. In the “bad old [license-less]...
If You Brew It, They Will Come: Tree House Brewing in Monson attracts international recognition
It isn’t hard to pick Dean Rohan out of a crowd. He’s the tall guy with glasses in the muck boots and ratty work pants. And he’s wearing a red T-shirt with his own face on it that reads “I’m with Dean.” Today, he’s overseeing the arrival of a tanker truck filled with...
Scene Here: Atop Long Mountain
Room to Breathe What pairs well with local beer and wine this week? My opinion: some peace and quiet. It’s not always appreciated, or sought out. But after a nightmare of an election season — full of vitriol, lies and low blows — I was feeling a serious need to go...
Dry Weather, Drought a Mixed Bag for Northeast Vineyards
Grape harvests are underway at vineyards in the Northeast where unusually dry warm weather this summer was ideal for growing grapes. But in parts of New York and southern New England, where drought struck, some growers are seeing decreasing yields. New York, the...
Back Talk: Facebook Salutes Trump
Facebook Salutes TrumpEditor Kristin Palpini’s lament over Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump in “Between the Lines: What Might Have Been” drew a bunch of comments:William G. Petrone: Trump won not because people liked Trump but because people did not...
Between the Lines: What Might Have Been
Editor’s Note: As an American woman who believes that words matter, I feel like I matter a little less today. Below is the editorial I was planning to run to applaud the first female president of the U.S., Hillary Clinton. It seems poignant to publish it, still. To...
News of the Weird: Can’t Possibly Be True
Kids as young as 6 who live on a cliff top in China’s Atule’er village in Sichuan province will no longer have to use flexible vine-based ladders to climb down and up the 2,600-foot descent from their homes to school. Beijing News disclosed in October, in a...
Down to Earth: Is the Valley Prepared for Another Flood?
Just across from one of my favorite writing spots — the window counter at Northampton Coffee — I can see a dark mark on the former lumber building: “Flood Level — 1936.” When I walk past, the mark is almost a foot over my head. After writing, I often hop on my bicycle...
Real Wine and Beer Pairings for Real Life: because Steel Rail needs Skittles
Talk to Pour Man Warren Johnston if you want excellent suggestions for which wine to serve at your next dinner party. Hit up Beerhunter Hunter Styles to find the best brews to drink with your buds. But if you want to know the best way to pair wine and beer with the...
Back Talk: A Totally Rigged Election and What’s Worse, Hillary or the Flu Shot?
Totally RiggedThank you, Editor Palpini, for the recent article about the “rigging” of the election (“Between the Lines: Are the Elections Rigged?”, Oct. 27-Nov. 2, 2016). It is indecorous in the extreme for Republicans to stoke the public’s fear of this possibility...
Staff Picks: Pajama Slave Dancers and Gourmet Mushroom Dinners
Prozacs/Pajama Slave Dancers • Saturday Shenanigans Pub in Westfield is the place to be Saturday night if your heart is made of punk rock. For the first time in 30 years, Pajama Slave Dancers come back to their roots and perform in their original birthplace. If that...
Election Over; Fight On: How to work against some of the president-elect’s most odious plans
Deep breath: Donald Trump will be the president of the United States come January. The man who’s got a date with the Oval Office may be a silver-spoon clutching, bankruptcy-filing, Mexican, Muslim, Chinese-hating, tax-dodging, student-swindling, reality TV star, but...
Don’t Light Up Yet: Recreational marijuana in Massachusetts is going to roll out slowly
Before you step outside puffing on a celebratory fattie, know that, despite the vote on Tuesday, recreational marijuana isn’t legal in Massachusetts, yet.That’ll happen on Dec. 15, when the ballot measure goes into effect. And even when Dec. 15 comes, the state is...
From Coal to Sol! Holyoke’s Mt. Tom Generating Plant is making the switch to solar, but its dirty past lurks
It was an intense meeting in the winter of 2015: On one side of the room sat the owners and operators of the Mt. Tom Generating Plant, a coal-fired power station on Route 5 in Holyoke. On the other were 60 community members and environmental activists. Carlos...
Fire! Fire! Get Your 2016 Presidential Election Commemorative Poster at the Advocate
For the 2016 presidential election, Valley Advocate arts and production director Jennifer Levesque designed two posters: one for each candidate. The winner of the election got their poster on the cover (and back) of this week’s Advocate. Download Trump, but...
The Last Unicorn: The Platinum Pony Will Not Reopen
It’s official: Easthampton’s Platinum Pony has taken its last ride. The business’ former owner Kristen Davis announced that the bar, which closed its 30 Cottage St. location last fall following a suspected electrical fire, would not reopen as planned. The Platinum...
Springfield Police Shake-Up: City Council says it has the votes to overhaul the department
In the wake of complaints about officer discipline, the latest development in a long-running dispute over organization of the Springfield Police Department is going down: City Council President Michael Fenton said that he has the votes necessary to shut down the...
News of the Weird: Religion Adapts to Technology
A network of freelance Buddhist priests in Japan last year began offering in-home, a la carte services for those adherents who shun temples through Amazon in Japan, quoting fixed fees and bypassing the usual awkward deliberation over “donations.” And in September,...
Back Talk: Vote no on Question 2; Haunted by meat
The low standards of charter schools I couldn’t believe it when I heard from the MTA that charter schools are not required to hire certified teachers, unless English as a Second Language/English Language Learners (ESL/ELL). They don’t even have to hire teachers with...
Beyond the Flu Shot: There’s more than one way to boost your immunity this cold and flu season
The upcoming winter months prompt the return of the flu shot — and disagreements between alternative and traditional medical professionals, and even the general population, about its importance. Reminders of the flu vaccination for Pioneer Valley residents become more...
Extra Credit on the Charter School Question: Follow the Money
At some point over the past few weeks, each of the four Nov. 8 state ballot measures stirred up mixed feelings in me (yes, even the weed one). But no issue had me more conflicted than Question 2, which proposes to authorize the state Board of Elementary and Secondary...
Scene Here: Easthamptonshire
If Frodo had been living in Easthampton’s new Mill 180 Park when Gandalf stopped by, he probably would have turned down the wizard’s all-powerful ring. Hidden inside an old mill building — with food, lawn games, coffee, beer, and wifi at your fingertips — it’s already...
News of the Weird: Pot for Pets
As nine states next month ask voters to approve some form of legalization of marijuana, a “new customer base” for the product — pets — was highlighted in an October New York Times report. Dogs and cats are struck with maladies similar to those that humans...
O, Cannabis: Worried About Weed? Then Legalize It
A stoner buddy of mine recently shocked me when she said she has no intention of voting on Nov. 8. Weed is already practically legal, she argued, and both the presidential candidates are duds. I reminded her that Question 3 on the ballot may set more humane standards...
Between the Lines: Are the Elections Rigged?
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has spent the last several months asserting that the Nov. 8 election will be rigged against him.He doesn’t have any evidence to support this claim — except for all the polls that say the real estate developer and reality...
Lip Bomb: Is This What I Signed Up For? What happens when college isn’t ‘perfect’
Remember applying to college? I’m sure you recall the glossy promotional packets you received in the mail from schools trying to win your application. There was always a picture on the front that looked like this: a group of college age kids sitting in a circle on a...
Back Talk: Charter schools and third party candidates, questions this years election brings
Charter schools hurt larger society Certain institutions should always be public. Social Security, prisons and education are three of them. We dodged a bullet when Bush wanted to privatize Social Security. People realized that the financial industry would be taking 31...
Best of 2016 Readers’ Poll Winners (Now a Board Game!)
Game by Kristin Palpini, Kyle Olsen, Jennifer Levesque, and Hunter Styles In celebration of the Annual Manual — a condensed version of the Advocate’s yearly Best of the Valley Readers’ Poll — we’ve created a board game featuring some of the Best Of...
Gasoline Alley: Joe Sibilia’s dedication to Springfield fuels new business and entrepreneurial spirit
On an unseasonably warm day in late September, Joe Sibilia is roaming the Gasoline Alley mill building complex on Albany Street in Springfield. The 59-year-old is wearing a pair of loose fitting yoga pants and his body and shaved bald head have been tanned to a deep...
Back Talk: Climate change, pipe-dreams, and kids with weed
Bad Seeds? Kids and Weed Comments left on “Bad Seeds: Will legal recreational weed lead to more stoned students?” at valleyadvocate.com. Paul Hurteau: Ask a politician if they are pro-choice … Wait for their answer and then ask them about marijuana. Ian James:...
News of the Weird: Extreme Hobbies
John Weigel and Olaf Danielson are engaged in a frenzied battle of “extreme birdwatching,” each hoping to close out 2016 as the new North American champ of the American Birding Association, and a September Smithsonian piece had Weigel ahead, 763 to 759. Danielson is...
BTL: Seeing Is Believing, Springfield needs to release police video
Video footage has emerged in court proceedings that defense attorneys say shows Springfield Police Det. Gregg A. Bigda threatening two teenage suspects in an encounter last winter. According to local media reports, the lawyers who obtained the videos said they show...
At Smith College Friday: The Founders of Black Lives Matter
What Matters The Meridians symposium at Smith College is all about “celebrating women of color feminist scholarship, art, and activism of the ’80s and ’90s to inspire and embolden us in precarious times.” This season’s keynote speakers are dual forces to...
Bad Seeds: Will legal recreational weed lead to more stoned students?
Rachel Desmond had her first smoke when she was 16. For the next six years, marijuana was a big part of her life. “It was easy to get,” she says, sitting outside of the Frost Building at Holyoke Community College, where she is studying. And she says she needed it to...
Between the Lines: Valley Series Exposes Poor Treatment of Immigrant Workers
The dream of America, for most immigrants, is the dream of a better standard of living, earned through hard work in a country where employment laws apply to all regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation — or immigration status.Equal treatment is a cherished...
Back Talk: Cyclists Beware and Holyoke Charter Schools
Vertical Grates a Danger to Cyclists The last part of my bicycle commute from Greenfield to Gill is the Gill-Montague Bridge. I had been enduring black hole potholes, asphalt that was worn down to dirt, and trucks and cars barrelling within feet of me. My vision of...
Down to Earth: A Vote for Clinton is a Vote for the Environment
Our natural environment needs us now, and the stakes have never been so stark. I’ve been frustrated this election season at how little attention the environment has gotten. In the first presidential debate, moderator Lester Holt didn’t ask a single question about...
News of the Weird: Frontiers of Science
Large kidney stones typically mean eye-watering pain and sudden urinary blockage until the stone “passes” (often requiring expensive sound-wave treatment to break up a large stone). Michigan State University urologist David Wartinger told The Atlantic in September...
Q&A: The World According to Dar Williams
Dar Williams came to the Valley in 1992 to put down roots and start a career. Between then and when she left in 2000, she became a bonafide folk rocker, touring on a wave of good gigs that carried her to a breakout moment in 1996 with Mortal City, an LP that became an...
Got Weed Questions? Advocate-sponsored marijuana legalization forum Thursday, Oct. 6
Marijuana legalization is up for a binding vote on Nov. 8, and people still have a lot of questions about what legal weed would mean for Massachusetts’ residents, economy, and law enforcement. On Thursday, 7 p.m., Oct. 6 at Greenfield Community College, the Valley...
Not Just Duck Lips and Avocado Toast: Instagram for Western Mass Artists
Jeff Kelley, a Northampton post officer and owner of the Instagram account @postaljeff, scrolls through months of his posts, reaching a series featuring a red phone. He stops at a post with the phone dangling off a tree by the cord, it was photoshopped by another...
Bike On: Massachusetts invests in bike lanes, but construction funding dips
Massachusetts is among the top five states where bicycle ridership is growing, but it lags in developing the infrastructure to keep riders safe.The lack of bike lanes and trails is a nationwide problem. Massachusetts ranks 15th in the nation for the most bike...
Deported from a Sanctuary?
The debate over immigration reform isn’t new, but it’s taken center stage in the 2016 presidential campaign. Republican candidate Donald Trump has made it a central part of his campaign and recently made headlines when he vowed to cut funding to so-called “sanctuary...
Scene Here: Rent Rally
Several dozen protesters gathered this past Friday at Mason Square in Springfield, chanting What Do We Want? Affordable Housing! When Do We Want It? Now! and carrying signs down State Street — through one of the city’s most blighted neighborhoods — to Court Square in...
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...
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...E-Edition
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