News
News of the Weird: Cashing In
By 2009, when Zimbabwe’s central bank gave up on controlling inflation, its largest currency was the 100 trillion-dollar bill — barely enough for bus fare in Harare and not even worth the paper needed to print it. However, that 100 trillion-dollar note has...
Book Review: ‘Camouflage Country,’ adventures in surrealist America by Easthampton’s Bosworth
Mel Bosworth caught the writing bug early. In fifth or sixth grade, he told his mother about an idea he had for a newspaper column and she immediately brought him down to the newspaper’s office to pitch the column to the editor. He spent the following summer producing...
‘Gross Negligence’ Alleged in Death of UMass Lab Monkey
By Peter Vancini An animal welfare watchdog group is alleging that “gross negligence” led to the death of a research monkey in a UMass Amherst animal care facility on Oct. 15, 2015. The marmoset was severely burned while it recovered from surgery. The incident was...
Oh, Honey: Can spoonfuls of the all-natural sweet stuff help ward off allergies?
Ah, spring: The time of year when nature wakes up from its deep winter slumber: birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and allergy sufferers are miserable. A runny nose, itchy eyes, and constant sneezing are facts of life for the nearly 8 percent of Americans that...
Between the Lines: Allies, Give Money, Support — and Silence
There are a lot of allies living in the Pioneer Valley — we’re a woke bunch.The Valley is home to many people who are allies of the LGBTQ community, Black Lives Matter, feminists, workers’ rights and social justice causes, people with disabilities or mental illness,...
News of the Weird: People With Issues
Pixee Fox reported in May that she was recovering nicely from cosmetic rib-removal surgery, performed by one of the few doctors in the world who offers it, Dr. Barry Eppley of Carmel, Indiana. Though she has had more than a dozen “beautifying” procedures,...
The List: Pioneer Valley Farmers Market Where and When 2016
It’s time, everyone! Spring is well under way and summer is just around the corner (or maybe it’s already here, judging by last week’s heat wave). Time to supercharge your shop local skills and hit the streets (and fields, and parking lots) for the Valley’s spring and...
W_iting in Vain? If it can’t fix the marquee ‘A,’ what’s the Calvin Historic Preservation Fund fee for?
Brian Cooper has what seems like an obvious suggestion when it comes to fixing the C_lvin Theater’s marquee: Use money collected through the $2 “Historic Preservation Fund” fee attached to every Calvin ticket sold to buy a new one.The letter “A” has been missing from...
The Perks and Price of GREEN Building: You don’t need a lot of money to live eco-friendly, but it helps
When Ray Sebold set out to build his environmentally-friendly dream house in Montague, he knew he would have to do it on the cheap.“By no means are we rich,” Sebold says. “There’s no family money involved here. I personally have more skills than money.”Seabold, 64, is...
Between the Lines: If You’re Defending Columbus, You’re Not Paying Attention
Here are some things that, if you do them, should disqualify you from ever having a national holiday in your honor:Driving civilizations that once consisted of millions of people to near-extinction through starvation and murder;Enslaving people to force them to work...
Club Life: Happy Brffday to the Queen of Crossplay; Lamb of God Tribute, more
Happy Brffday, GirlThe self-anointed Queen of Crossplay (a blend of cross dressing and cosplay) Serenity Lockhart is having a birthday party Saturday night at Gateway City Arts in Holyoke and everyone is invited. Dress to impress Her Majesty and to coordinate with the...
Go: Paradise City Arts is Back – With 250 Artists!
Springtime in Paradise One of the biggest arts fairs in New England makes its annual spring stop in Northampton this week, with over 250 artists from every corner of the country showing work in ceramics, painting, decorative fiber, art glass, furniture, jewelry,...
Guest Column: Will You Take My Disease Seriously Now? Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Last fall, when the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced they would finally help the 1 million to 2.5 million Americans with the disease commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome, patients hoped this would be our moment of recognition — like when the NIH...
CHART Who Charges the Highest Concert Ticket Fees in the Valley?
By Kristin Palpini After looking into what the Historic Preservation Fund fee charged for admission to Calvin Theater concerts is for, Advocate staff wanted to know how fees compare around the area. Below is a comparison of the fees charged for upcoming shows at area...
O’Cannabis: Snacks ‘n’ Snags – Stoner eats; the march toward marijuana legalization hits a bump
The hungry stoner is a crude cliche. Ravenous, bug-eyed, slovenly, and insatiable is how the type is usually portrayed in pop culture. The truly initiated, however, know that while weed can bring on a powerful case of the munchies, it’s nothing to go all reefer...
News of the Weird: Medical Miracle
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign announced they had recently transmitted high-speed digital data through slabs of pork loin and beef liver. The signal cleared the muscle and gristle so cleanly that it permitted streaming of high-definition...
Scene Here: Junior Jiu Jitsu / Warriors in Training
Through the open door of Springfield’s Virtue Brazilian Jiu Jitsu come the sounds of little bare feet rapidly thumping on gym mats. Inside, Kym Sturdivant’s watchful gaze over the tiny fighters is sober. Arms raised, the grade-school grapplers circle each other,...
PUBLIC ART MAP: Stop and Smell the Creativity, Valley Art Outside
We walk, bike, and drive past it all the time, but the abundance of art decorating the Valley’s streets deserves more attention than a fleeting glance. There is some amazing work sticking it out in the rain, snow, and sun just to inspire. To bring more attention to...
Scene Here: Sunshine and Smokes
It’s 8:30 a.m. and the sun already feels warm on Main St. in Springfield’s South End. Birdsong can be heard beyond the roar of a passing bus. Across from a patchy, untended lot enclosed by a chainlink fence, children in backpacks skip along the sidewalk, weaving...
Proper ‘Grammer: For one Valley newcomer, singing telegrams is both an art and a business
Adhamh Roland has the look down pat: black-jacket tuxedo, bowler hat, and a friendly twinkle in his eye that speaks volumes. “Yes,” his smile says, “I have an accordion. Yes, I show up unannounced, bearing a special message from someone you know. And yes, I’m going to...
Five Things to Love About Agawam: There’s a lot happening in this community — and we’re not talking about Six Flags
Don’t misjudge Agawam’s quiet streets as a sign that nothing is going on. There’s a lot happening in this community — and we’re not talking about Six Flags.Agawam Cinemas: It’s more than nostalgia that draws people to the newly re-opened Agawam Cinemas; it’s...
From Our Readers: Assault on assault weapons; Fossil fuels run UMass
Assault on Assault WeaponsEditor’s Note: Earlier this month, residents of Longmeadow voted on three proposed measures to ban all assault weapons from the town, keep a more detailed catalog of guns kept in town, and to ban any firearm from public buildings and...
Between the Lines: Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable
Last October, I sat among hundreds of Springfield public students in the dark of the downtown venue CityStage. We had gathered for a touring performance, created by Double Edge Theatre of Ashfield, called The Grand Parade (of the 20th Century). It was a delightfully...
News of the Weird: Google Sees the Future
Google filed a U.S. Patent Office application on April 28 for a vision-improvement device in liquid form that, once inserted — i.e., injected directly into the eyeball — solidifies into not only a lens replacement for the eye, but an instrument that carries its own...
Down to Earth: Fair pay for natural treasures – Coke calls Northampton’s water fee a ‘burden’ all the way to the bank
It’s one of the things we need most for survival, yet take most for granted. We need it to drink, to cook, to bathe, to brush our teeth.Water.We’re blessed to live in a zone of abundant rainfall, and the Mill and Connecticut Rivers pour through the Valley. But even...
Arts & Culture: Holyoke Rocks with Western Massive Fri. and Sat.
Holyoke Rocks The enterprising staff at Gateway City Arts always seems to be revving its engines, pushing the canal-side arts center to host the most fun and interesting programming in a rapidly-evolving downtown Holyoke. This weekend, they’ve outdone...
A Game Night to Get Excited About: Puzzled Escape Games in Easthampton
The timer started when the door closed, and for a moment it was very confusing. Inside Puzzled Escape Games’ first escape room, the Advocate staff stood frozen like the Scooby-Doo gang before a haunted house — silent, wide-eyed, and a little hungry (it was dinner...
Club Life: OMG Ya’ll! Aaron Carter and his Puzzling Neck Tattoo Are Coming to Holyoke
OMG, ya’ll Frost your hair tips, put a logo across your rear, and dig out your puka shell necklace because it’s 2000 again and Aaron Carter is coming to sing at the Waterfront on Main Street in Holyoke Saturday night. It’s being promoted as a “girls night out”...
See it now! Holocaust survivor portraits by Nazi daughter
Stories in Strokes The Abraham Project, developed by German artist Marlis Glaser over the past 10 years, contains more than 200 drawings and paintings of Holocaust survivors and their children in Israel. Glaser based each of these artworks on narrative...
Best Of 2016 Photo Booth Pics: Do you know this crazy person?
At the Best of the Valley 2016 winners’ party at the Log Cabin in Holyoke last week, there was a photo booth. Hundreds of the community’s top community leaders and business owners were there. Here is what...
How’s the Air (and water, soil, animals, and plants) Down There? The state of the Valley’s environment
With winter gone and Earth Day a recent memory, it seems like a good time to check in on the local environment before we all head outside to play in the sun again. Area environmental specialists say the Valley is full of environmentally conscious folks, which is...
From Our Readers: Random acts of kind driving! Pot is not harmless May 12-18, 2016
Pot is not harmlessIn March, I was invited by community members to speak to students at Mount Holyoke College about the current science of marijuana, an issue I have devoted much of my career to understanding. I was surprised and saddened that a letter writer from...
Between the Lines: Are Students in Springfield Risking Their Health for an Education?
Hundreds of Springfield children spend seven hours a day, five days a week, nine months out of the year at German Gerena Community School, which may or may not have a severe mold problem, depending on who you ask.According to parents and community leaders, including...
News of the Weird: Jail Is Hell
The eye-catching Vietnamese model and Playboy, Venezuela edition, Playmate Angie Vu complained to the New York Daily News in April that her five-plus months in jail in Brooklyn have been “torture” and “cruel” because of her lack of access to...
Out in the Cold: 1 in 5 homeless youth are LGBTQ
Today is Luis Colon Castro’s 21st birthday and he’s been homeless twice in his life. The other five people sitting around the table at Out Now, a Springfield advocacy group that provides a safe space for queer youth, listen empathetically as Luis, a thin man in...
News of the Weird: That’s Entertainment, Baby!
By Chuck ShepherdOne notably hypersuccessful YouTube channel — 700,000 subscribers — features Lauri Vuohensilta of Finland pulverizing various objects such as a bowling ball, in a 100-ton hydraulic press. Said Vuohensilta, “I think it’s built into every...
Between the Lines: Can Longmeadow Ban ‘Assault Weapons?’
Longmeadow residents have the opportunity this week to ban all assault-style weapons and large capacity magazines from their town. Residents at Town Meeting will vote on 31 articles Tuesday, May 10, including three that deal with gun ownership. The proposed measures...
Your Friendly Guide to Pride
It was Northampton that held the first Pride march in the area, and those who participated walked down the Main Street of a very different America. The year was 1981. Non-heterosexual citizens held virtually no legal protections as employees, as tenants, as...
Scene Here: Gorilla Fingers in the Mist
At Extravaganja 2016 at Northampton’s Three County Fairgrounds, the crowd is as high as the marijuana-leaf balloon floating overhead. About 24,000 red eyes look on as local musicians blast out funky jams and marijuana-tinged tunes. Police officers meander in pairs...
Women in Comics: Profiles of Pioneer Valley artists breaking into the boy’s club
When Melissa Lewis-Gentry walks into a comic book store, it’s not to shop for her boyfriend or her dad. Still, she’s sometimes received that way, despite being the manager of a comic book store herself.Once regarded exclusively as the fodder of wide-eyed grade-school...
News of the Weird: The Internet’s Promise Fulfilled — For Men
Japan’s Tenga toy company appears to be first on the market with a virtual reality bodysuit (for use with the Oculus Rift “Sexy Beach Premium Resort” 3-D game) containing a genital stimulator and the sensation of “groping” breasts —...
Letters to the Editor: Divestment victory at UMass? (April 28-May 4, 2016)
So, that’s what victory looks likeDivest UMass supporters are close to victory. [“Scene Here: #DivestTheRest,” April 21-27, 2016.] What kind of victory? Well, as you explained in last week’s issue, a $5 million divestment from “dirty-energy...
Scene Here: Afternoon Nighthawks
A crisp smack of cold beer hits my palate; a dark, hearty rye. I’m engulfed by laughter and spirited conversation, lost in the dull roar, a wave washing over me. A sudden crash, a peaceful respite as it rolls back, redoubling its efforts at sweeping me away …...
Between the Lines: Is For-Profit Higher Ed Rigged?
One of the benefits of living in Massachusetts is enjoying a swell of liberal pride when one of our politicians takes a stand for the people. It’s why we elected Liz Warren and Ted Kennedy, Barney Frank and Silvio O. Conte (yes, he was a Republican, but with a soft...
We Can Do It! V-Spot sex advice columnist Yana Tallon-Hicks has made it her mission to get us all to O-Town
Climbing the stairs to V-Spot sex columnist Yana Tallon-Hicks’ apartment, I wasn’t sure what to expect.Would there be a lot of framed Georgia O’Keefes on the wall? A swing hanging in the bedroom? Penis-shaped drinking glasses? I was sort of right.There are no...
Guest Column: Gains for the LGBT Community Must Include Gay People of Color
By Louis F. Graham The LGBT community came out of 2015 feeling great for the many steps toward equality the nation had taken that year: the Supreme Court decision granting gay and lesbian couples the right to marry, the increasingly favorable national public opinion...
Five Things to Love About Millennials
Millennials get a lot of criticism for being narcissistic, lazy, and entitled, but we think this is a misconception — just like it was when people said the same things about the last generation, and the generation before that, and the one before that. In fact,...
Best of the Valley: The Intangibles
In this week’s Advocate, you’ll find the winners of our annual Best Of the Valley Readers’ Poll, a who’s who and what’s what of the top people, places, and businesses Western Mass and Southern Vermont have to offer. Thank you to everyone who voted. We can’t produce...
Letters to the Editor: Get real about pot, local suicide prevention – April 21-27, 2016
Time for truth in cannabis scienceThe other night, I attended a lecture at Mount Holyoke College by Dr. Jodi Gilman, neuroscientist and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. Her talk was advertised as a broad overview of the science of marijuana, focusing on...
The Panama Papers or How to Hide Millions
Have you heard about the Panama Papers? The largest leak to the media ever … that is getting little attention in the media. This is surprising because so far the Panama Papers have revealed a blueprint of how the wealthy and elite hide their money from taxation...
Down to Earth: Right whales feast on the Cape, but for how long?
About 500. That’s smaller than Smith College’s first-year class by 100 and it’s a tenth of the entering class at UMass. It’s also the number of right whales known to be alive in the entire world. These huge creatures — second in size only to the blue whale...
The Cottage Street Shuffle
The Cottage Street Cultural District in Easthampton has long been known for its quaint New England setting at the base of Mount Tom and, in recent years, as a burgeoning arts community and a hotspot for unconventional artisanal businesses. As a result of the growth...
News of the wEiRd: The Power of Precedent
Department of Veterans Affairs employee Elizabeth Rivera Rivera, 39, was fired after her arrest, followed by a February guilty plea, for armed robbery, but when she was sentenced only to probation, an arbitrator ordered the VA to rehire her — and give her back pay she...
Between the Lines: Load Time – Push Play on Hilltown Broadband
If you think of Internet speed as a flying mode of transportation, most of us are on a rocket with broadband while many people living in the Hilltowns are stuck riding a roofless biplane, aka DSL.If you’ve never heard of DSL, or the shrieking grating noise a computer...
Yoga instructor Brandon Compagnone Wants to ‘Unstick’ You
The power vinyasa class hasn’t even begun and most around me — 50 bodies with mats no more than an inch apart — are drenched with sweat. As we struggle through the humidity-induced delirium in the 93-degree room at Northampton’s Shiva Shakti, tonight’s teacher...
Park It … In a Garage
Residents and patrons of the South End have been complaining for months about jersey barriers outlining MGM Casino construction, blocking access to the most convenient parking spots in the neighborhood. Do they have a legitimate beef? Yes! Before MGM came to town,...
Between the Lines: Suicide’s Shameful Stigma
Suicide is the epitome of hopelessness. It’s a last resort for people who believe that there is no chance of life improving. Options for help can seem unavailable or unfathomable.If there is an antidote for suicide, we have yet to find it. But we can be fairly certain...
UMass Prof. Sabella Works Toward Help, not Persecution, for Prostitutes
Imagine a world where perpetual punishment for nonviolent crimes was prioritized over treatment. A world in which victims were prosecuted before they were offered options for recovery. Unfortunately, for victims of prostitution, this is the harsh reality. But for...
O, Cannabis! The State of Pot in the State
With an estimated 800,000 weed smokers living and toking in Massachusetts and a likely heading for the November ballot question that could bring recreational marijuana to the state, we figured there’s a demand for some pot talk in the Valley. Enter “O, Cannabis,” a...E-Edition
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