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by Emily Thurlow | May 2, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
Finding mental health support can be tricky, but can be even more so when you can’t find a therapist who looks like you or shares in a similar life experience. With the lack of clinical representation and cultural competency in the field, Black, Indigenous and People...
by Kate Ashford | May 2, 2023 | Uncategorized
NerdWallet Many older adults are using medical marijuana to treat a variety of conditions, but experts say that conflicting laws, unclear safety standards and complicated rulemaking processes mean it could be years before Medicare may cover the drug.One in five...
by Jennifer Levesque | May 2, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
“Do you want to absorb the musical equivalent of a York Peppermint Patty? A rich, chocolatey yet also refreshingly minty sensation that filters through your nervous system like a blast of Arctic air to every forgotten corner of your body and soul?” The press release...
by Advocate Staff | May 2, 2023 | Uncategorized
Amherst 1 Mass Alternative Care Inc. 55 University Dr.413-377-6240 massaltcare.com 2 Pleasantrees422 Amity St.413-213-5055enjoypleasantrees.com/ ma/amherst 3 Red Cardinal328 College St.413-253-1733red-cardinal.com 4 Rise Holdings 169 Meadow...
by Monte Belmonte | May 2, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
Perhaps it’s an exaggeration to call it a genius move. But about 15 years ago I institutionalized a weekly wine tasting into my job as a radio host. Every Thursday afternoon at 12:30, I would descend the stairs into the basement of State Street Fruit Store, Deli Wines...
by Jarice Hanson | May 2, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
Editor’s note: The Advocate is pleased to introduce a new theater writer. Jarice Hanson was a professor in the Department of Communication at UMass Amherst, and has been active in theater in the Valley and beyond for over 30 years. She’s a member of AEA, the...
by Bob Flaherty | May 2, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
“It was my duty,” said UMass junior Liz Mawrey, upon taking the reins of a legendary but nearly dormant outfit that fought to reform brutal and inane marijuana laws for over 30 years. In the fall of 2021 a post appeared in the Campus Pulse looking for people to join...
by Advocate Staff | Apr 6, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Film, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Years ago, when he signed up to take an online screenwriting class taught at Holyoke Community College, Nathan Graham Davis had no idea he might find himself eventually penning the script for a Hollywood thriller. And Davis, who lives in...
by Advocate Staff | Apr 5, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
By SCOTT MERZBACH Staff Writer BELCHERTOWN — In the summer of 1971, Michael Corbett, a visitor to the Stone House Museum, arriving with his girlfriend, signed the guestbook and toured the historic building at a time when it still housed three antique powder horns,...
by Melissa Karen Sances | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
It’s the coldest night of the season, so cold that the wind stings, so cold that our photographer’s lenses need time to thaw, so cold that from the bar of the Marigold, you can’t see the street because the doors are coated in ice. But inside. Inside is a window into...
by Bob Flaherty | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
As we settle into this brave new world that has us purchasing pot as naturally as picking up doughnuts Sunday morning, there are a lot of people, then and now, who never cared much for the “purchasing” part. Whether it be at that nice clean dispensary down the street...
by Monte Belmonte | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
Don’t believe everything you read. As a matter of fact, stop reading this right now or you could be subject to the persuasion of the published word. However, if you find comfort or guidance from others’ opinions, especially when it comes to wine, read on. When you...
by Steve Pfarrer | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
When Barack Obama was elected president in Nov. 2008, Ousmane Power-Greene recalls having a terrible thought: that a racist might try to assassinate America’s first Black president, or maybe his whole family. Perhaps that was an overly morbid vision, Power-Greene...
by Advocate Staff | Mar 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
A couple years ago, Forbes Library received a $10,000 donation from a donor who wanted to remain anonymous but also wanted the money used for a very specific purpose: to broaden the Northampton library’s permanent art collection.More specifically, says Lisa Downing,...
by Advocate Staff | Mar 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
Amherst 1 Mass Alternative Care Inc. 55 University Dr.413-377-6240 massaltcare.com 2 Pleasantrees422 Amity St.413-213-5055enjoypleasantrees.com/ ma/amherst 3 Red Cardinal328 College St.413-253-1733red-cardinal.com 4 Rise Holdings 169 Meadow...
by Steve Pfarrer | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
It’s no secret that the U.S. railroad system, which a century ago had the largest passenger service in the world, looks very different today. Though the nation’s freight system is still significant, passenger service has long since been eclipsed by automobile and...
by Jennifer Levesque | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
It’s been just about three years since COVID made its appearance, and life as we all knew it changed its course. You still see people wearing masks outside their houses and there are more people who don’t leave the house much at all these days. For instance, I have...
by Advocate Staff | Feb 9, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer A couple years ago, Forbes Library received a $10,000 donation from a donor who wanted to remain anonymous but also wanted the money used for a very specific purpose: to broaden the Northampton library’s permanent art collection. More...
by Advocate Staff | Feb 9, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer In a long career that’s seen him win a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, and a boatload of praise, Williamsburg writer Tracy Kidder has tackled a number of different subjects: the computer revolution, elementary schools, civil war...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 31, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Review, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Robert Harris is the author of a slew of bestselling thrillers and historical novels, covering ancient Rome, World War II, contemporary politics and more. According to one count, he’s sold over 10 million copies of his books, a number of...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 31, 2023 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Time was when Rachel Portesi did much of her photography using Polaroid film. She loved the immediacy of the image, the way each photo was different and often didn’t quite match what her eye had seen, and what she calls “the feeling of...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 27, 2023 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer A few years ago, Luc Abbott, a marketing consultant who works with various clients in the area, decided to produce an online guide of regional businesses and organizations that, broadly speaking, embodied progressive values and...
by Emily Thurlow | Jan 13, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
For the better part of the last 36 years, all the world’s been a stage for Chris Rohmann. The Advocate’s longtime theater critic has had a front seat view to thousands of plays in the Valley. With that seat, he has penned his perspective on performances, previewed...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 13, 2023 | Uncategorized
Amherst 1 Mass Alternative Care Inc. 55 University Dr.413-377-6240 massaltcare.com 2 Pleasantrees422 Amity St.413-213-5055enjoypleasantrees.com/ ma/amherst 3 Red Cardinal328 College St.413-253-1733red-cardinal.com 4 Rise Holdings 169 Meadow...
by Max Bowen | Jan 13, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
November 2018 was a momentous time for Massachusetts. That’s when the state officially joined the retail marijuana business, some two years after voters said they were cool with recreational cannabis sales by overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure. Northampton,...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 13, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines, Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
Earlier this month, I quit my job — a job that I still very much loved — in an effort to bring myself into a better work/life balance. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. When I walked out of the office for the last time, I went home and opened a...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 13, 2023 | Uncategorized
I filed my first article for the Advocate in May 1986. This one is my last.After 36 years and some 2,000 reviews, previews, features, interviews and musings, I’m giving up my ticket to the critic’s proverbial aisle seat and taking my place in line at the box...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 13, 2023 | Articles, Featured, The V-Spot, Uncategorized
Hi Yana, I have no problem with giving myself an orgasm with a vibrator on my clit, but I’ve never managed to orgasm with a partner. I’m OK with that — I’ve greatly enjoy partnered sex without orgasm, but I’d love to broaden my orgasmic horizons. Even bringing the...
by Steve Pfarrer | Jan 13, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
When she looks back at how her band first found its footing, Nerissa Nields sees one club in particular at the center of that story: the Iron Horse Music Hall. From the time The Nields, the Valley folk-rock band, formed in the early 1990s, the Iron Horse became the...
by Chris Rohmann | Dec 13, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck, Uncategorized
One night last month I was at the Academy of Music for a show, and there, behind the concession stand, was Nikki Beck. “Are there three of you?” I asked, amazed. She laughed and said, “Probably.” Nikki is one of the busiest theater people around. You’ll never see her...
by Chris Rohmann | Dec 4, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck, Uncategorized
In this season of entertainments that cater to our appetite for cozy tradition (I’m talking about you, Nutcracker, Messiah and Christmas Carol), two shows next weekend hit the nostalgia nerve from a different angle, adding a holiday-themed sequel to a classic love...
by Steve Pfarrer | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Uncategorized
Growing up in Springfield, Aprell May knew a few bits and pieces about her Native American ancestry. But it was not something that family members talked about much. In fact, May says that for years she thought of herself as a “Lost Bird” or a “Missing Feather”...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 2, 2022 | Uncategorized
Amherst 1 Mass Alternative Care Inc. 55 University Dr.413-377-6240 massaltcare.com 2 Pleasantrees422 Amity St.413-213-5055enjoypleasantrees.com/ ma/amherst 3 Red Cardinal328 College St.413-253-1733red-cardinal.com 4 Rise Holdings 169 Meadow...
by Brian Steele | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
City councilors have begun to gather public input on the subject of imposing a cap on the number of marijuana dispensaries that are allowed to open in Northampton, including Florence and Leeds, but action on any formal proposal is not yet in sight. The City...
by Jennifer Levesque | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
The dose of nostalgia you get from toy gawking — in my opinion — is like no other. Whenever I’m on a Walmart or Target run, I have a tendency to gravitate toward the toy aisles to see what new Marvel action figures line the shelves – yes, I am that person. This time...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Featured, The V-Spot, Uncategorized
Editor’s note: this article originally ran June 10, 2019. Hi Yana, Over the course of the last couple months my partner’s sex drive has slowly fallen off, and is now creating tension in our relationship. We’ve been together for nine months, and...
by By Monte Belmonte | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines, Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
While getting out my glasses (wine glasses, not reading glasses) and preparing to write this column, I had a new email message from the mailing list of Four Seasons Wine & Liquors in Hadley. While most of their subject lines read “For The Woman You Love: Wine...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Stagestruck, Uncategorized
Next month on area stages (and a screen), three shows featuring women front and center, bucking prejudice, expectations, even labels. Plus, a musical farce with a woman in a beard. That one first. “Die Fledermaus,” the fall offering from Valley Light Opera, is the...
by Max Bowen | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
From giving Springfield residents the chance to start a career in the cannabis industry to giving back to the city, Payton Shubrick has a number of goals as the owner of 6 Brick’s, one of the city’s recent dispensaries to open. The business is named for the...
by Bob Flaherty | Aug 26, 2022 | Articles, Featured, News, Uncategorized
In short, there’s simply not A more congenial spot For happily ever aftering Than … here … in … OK, our little Happy Valley ain’t exactly Camelot, but it’s got a lot going for it. Even in the midst of quarantines and arguing over masks and...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 26, 2022 | Articles, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
We lost a bright light on our local music scene with the recent passing of musician Kate Lorenz. Her brother Matt Lorenz (The Suitcase Junket) announced the loss via his Facebook page saying that she had died unexpectedly two weeks ago. Kate and Matt Lorenz along with...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 26, 2022 | Uncategorized
Nearly six years after voters approved legalizing recreational marijuana and almost four years since legal sales began, Gov. Charlie Baker this month signed into law the first major step of its kind by state government to bolster the nascent industry and tear down...
by Monte Belmonte | Aug 26, 2022 | Articles, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
When I go to Pita Pockets in Northampton I always get the shawarma pocket, hot. When I go to Mesa Verde in Greenfield, I always get the blackened chicken burrito with chipotle sour cream. When I go to Captain Jack’s in Easthampton, I always get “Just Clams.” I am a...
by Dusty Christensen | Aug 26, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Uncategorized
Stephen Parmenter married his wife Nina on a special, palindromic date: Nov. 11, 2011. Read another way: 11/11/11. So as the couple’s 11th anniversary approaches, Parmenter knew his anniversary gift to his wife had to be special. Nina is originally from Vietnam,...
by Bera Dunau | Aug 26, 2022 | Articles, Featured, News, Uncategorized
Cafe Balagan, the Main Street coffee shop associated with the Balagan Cannabis dispensary next door, has opened for late-night service. Rachael Workman, one of the owners of Cafe Balagan and Balagan Cannabis, said that she and her fellow owners, who are all in their...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 26, 2022 | Uncategorized
2020’s Summer of Rage following the murder of George Floyd — another “last straw” in response to police killings of Black men — gave rise to much soul-searching in many areas of American society, including the theater community. Some of the fruits were on view this...
by Jennifer Levesque | Aug 26, 2022 | Articles, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
Neon FaunaLeather Motel “Pinned Butterfly” the opening track and first single off of Neon Fauna’s second full length album Leather Motel sets the energetic mood immediately with this experimental album. When I say experimental, it’s not just in reference...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 26, 2022 | Uncategorized
Amherst 1 Mass Alternative Care Inc. 55 University Dr.413-377-6240 massaltcare.com 2 Pleasantrees422 Amity St.413-213-5055enjoypleasantrees.com/ ma/amherst 3 Red Cardinal328 College St.413-253-1733red-cardinal.com 4 Rise Holdings 169 Meadow...
by Emily Thurlow | Aug 26, 2022 | Articles, Featured, News, Uncategorized
When she was 10 years old, a fourth-grade teacher asked Debora Bridges during a classroom lesson “what it felt like to be a slave” as a “little colored girl.” It happened in 1961. In Amherst. Although her mother and grandmother were able to scrounge up an apology...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Aug 26, 2022 | Articles, Featured, The V-Spot, Uncategorized
After over a decade of doing this work, I firmly believe that everybody who is interested in having sex wants to be good at it. Or, at the very least, they want to have sex that is good rather than sex that is not. Meaning, we are motivated to experience good...
by Dusty Christensen | Aug 26, 2022 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
The first time lifelong Holyoke resident Damaris Aponte sold marijuana, she was 14 and growing up in a city deeply impacted by the so-called war on drugs. She saw many people she knew get arrested on drug charges, and her own brother was killed in the city’s...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 20, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck, Uncategorized
Just about the only things Shakespeare & Company’s two current productions have in common are fresh air and trees. The Bard’s sun-and-shadow comedy Much Ado About Nothing sprawls over the outdoor New Spruce Theater, the set’s Italianate columns backed by a grove...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 12, 2022 | Uncategorized
After a year on the front lines, Jason Zvokel traded in his 15-year career as a Walgreens pharmacist for a different kind of drugstore: a marijuana dispensary. Now instead of administering vaccines and filling prescriptions, he’s helping customers make sense of...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 12, 2022 | Uncategorized
Systemic problems require systemic solutions. If the country has at long last realized that the war on drugs, the school-to-prison pipeline, the “tough on crime” policies, and “welfare reforms” that deny people convicted of felonies housing, jobs and continuing...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 12, 2022 | Uncategorized
It wouldn’t be accurate to say Scott Tulay is moonlighting. The Northampton architect spends a good number of his evenings and weekends drawing, and he earns some money from it, but drawing is much more a passion for him than a second job.Then there’s the connection...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 12, 2022 | Uncategorized
When she was studying voice, piano and composition as a college student, Beau Flahive was thinking of a possible career as a performer. She was already playing in rock bands and jazz ensembles to help pay for college, and the idea that she might teach music, she says,...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 12, 2022 | Uncategorized
Once June came around, I realized that this year, more than any other year, has flown by in a blink of an eye. I hadn’t even had a chance to make summer plans yet, but at the same time I was anxious for those summer plans I would come up with on a whim. In my opinion,...
by Monte Belmonte | Jul 12, 2022 | Articles, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
Why, then, the world’s mine oyster, Which I, with sword, will open. — William Shakespeare from The Merry Wives of Windsor Scott Soares’s world is an oyster. Well, his world when he is not being appointed by Presidents Obama and Biden to be USDA...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 12, 2022 | Uncategorized
After shutting down two years ago, then edging back with skeleton seasons last year, theaters in the region are back at full capacity this summer, for the most part with vax-and-mask policies still in place.Here are some of the shows I’m looking forward to seeing up...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Jul 12, 2022 | Articles, Featured, The V-Spot, Uncategorized
Hey Yana, I’ve been in a serious relationship for almost two years now and am only now feeling strong flare-ups of intense insecurity around sex. My partner and I have been having sex every day at least once a day, if not two or three, consistently for the...
