From deviant to decriminalized: The surprising progressive roots of the War on Drugs
By ROBIN GOLDSTEIN For the Advocate Since the birth of the progressive era, western Massachusetts has been a hotbed of progressive activism. But some of that activist history might surprise you. Progressivism was a Protestant social reform movement that swept America...
Stagestruck: A Woke Thanksgiving
The Thanksgiving Play, by Larisa FastHorse, is a sharp-edged satire on well-intentioned but misguided attempts at telling the “real” Thanksgiving story. It was among last season’s most-produced American plays. And it’s one of the funniest I’ve encountered in years.
Stagestruck: Halloween & Other Horror Shows
It’s the time of year for werewolves and witches, costumes and candy – and, in this especially bloodcurdling season, tricks and Trump – so this weekend area theaters are offering an autumn harvest of howls and horror.
Stagestruck: Immersion By Proxy
You approach the theater, open the stage door, and step back in time. You’re in STAGEHAND, the latest immersive theater experience cooked up by John Bechtold and Eggtooth Productions.
Stagestruck: Roe in the Balance
Just as the U.S. Senate is poised to confirm a “pro-life” justice to the Supreme Court, where abortion rights hang in the balance, WAM Theatre is poised to launch a play about Roe v. Wade.
A Movement’s Moment: How Springfield is responding to a scathing DOJ report
Across Court Square in the city of Springfield the words, “BLACK LIVES MATTER,” are painted on Court Street in 20-foot-tall, bright yellow letters — a powerful symbol of a movement that has taken on a new urgency nationally and in our own backyard in this chaotic year...
Changes in policing under way in other communities
Meanwhile, activist groups across the Pioneer Valley such as “413 Stay Woke, Stay Active,” have been calling on cities and towns to make reforms, whether by divesting funds from police departments or finding new alternatives to existing systems entrenched in systemic racism.
Despite setbacks due to pandemic, future bright for budding cannabis industry
More than 60 stores are now open statewide, including some 15 in Hampden, Hamphire and Franklin counties, with many more in the pipeline both locally and throughout the state.
Vision 2020: Not what we had in mind
So far, 2020 has included a sick convergence of grotesquely global-scale problems one after another, and the fact is that instead of planning for them, our leaders either actively buried their heads in the sand (coronavirus, climate change) or conspired to make matters worse (stealing another Supreme Court seat).
A Guide to Local Cannabis Dispensaries
A list of local cannabis dispensaries that are currently open in the Pioneer Valley.
How Northampton helped the women’s suffrage movement cross the finish line
The success of the women’s suffrage campaign, which had begun 72 years before in 1848, was thought unlikely in 1916. It was unprecedented when it occurred in 1920 in the face of the post-war depression, rising anti-immigrant sentiment and labor unrest, and the third wave of the pandemic.
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Staff Picks: Drag Brunch, Breastless, Hip Hop and ramen,
Drag Brunch with Hors and Friends for Franklin County Pride at Hawks & Reed // SATURDAY You can support Franklin County Pride and your local drag queens on Saturday morning in downtown Greenfield with a special drag brunch featuring the always magnificent and...
The V-Spot: How Can I Be Poly, With A Heart?
Hi Yana,I'm in my early 30s and have been polyamorous for a couple of years. Not long ago my wife of 13 years and I split. Now I'm kind of going through a dating/poly crisis. I strongly identify as poly despite not really having a primary relationship. Here's the rub:...
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Stagestruck: Imperfect “Nonsense”
My brother is the world’s biggest P.G. Wodehouse fan. Well, maybe not the biggest — he’s got legions of competitors for that title — but big enough to have come up from his home in New Jersey to accompany me to the American premiere of a new Wodehouse-derived play....











