Berkshire Magazine

15/11/2024

Old Mill Road Recording is thrilled to announce the release of “Keep Moving Forward,” a new EP from Benjamin Lerner, a Vermont-based recording artist, recovery advocate, writer, radio host, and social media content creator. “Keep Moving Forward” is the first of three forthcoming consecutive EP releases, the titles of which are derived from the closing message of Lerner’s popular CLEAN Column in The Vermont News Guide:

“Keep moving forward.
Run towards the truth.
Don’t quit before the miracle happens.”

Check out the video of “Love Is Free” from the new EP, which is available now on all streaming services. The link to all that is benjaminlerner.com

11/11/2024

Here’s a sneak peek into the Holiday issue of Berkshire Magazine, which will be released this week! Read “The Power of Listening,” a feature article on Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Forrest Gander, written by Scott Edward Anderson. The link to the story is https://www.berkshiremag.com/post/the-power-of-listening. TOMORROW, Tuesday, November 12, Gander will be at MCLA in North Adams for a reading of his just-released book, “Mojave Ghost: a Novel Poem.” The 7 p.m. reading, free and open to the public, will be held in the Atrium of the Center for Science & Innovation on the MCLA campus, as part of the college’s Visiting Writers Series. Gander also will spend the day with students in host Professor Zachary Finch’s classes. “The basic gesture of my writing is a listening,” Gander writes in an essay. “The great capacity of language is to bring us into proximity with one another.” Read the story and attend tomorrow evening’s reading …!

08/11/2024

Using the existing structure, this expansive home in a pastoral setting was a full renovation of an entire home. The team at Jack Miller Contractors raised the ceiling in the common area, finished the basement for additional living space, and added several rooms including a guest wing and a garage with a guest suite. They also constructed a large deck that runs the full length of the house, plus an outdoor living area, for a true Berkshire experience in the natural landscape. For more info or to plan your next house project, visit jackmillercontractors.com. (Sponsored)

08/11/2024

❤️ 🌲

The 2024 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is set to arrive in New York City from West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the family donating it shares the story behind their special connection to the giant spruce. NBC’s Joe Fryer reports for TODAY.

03/11/2024

Opening preview of Jeffrey Gibson’s Power Full Because We’re Different, at MASS MoCA. Incredibly power full.

30/10/2024

This Saturday at 11 a.m., Miss Phoebe Jordan will be honored at a family dedication through the unveiling of the inscription on her gravestone to mark the historic vote she cast as the first woman to vote in a presidential election in the U.S. in 1920. This dedication event will happen at the cemetery of her hometown of New Ashford, in the Berkshires. At the conclusion of the unveiling of the gravestone inscribed by Berkshire Monumental Works, there will be a reception at the New Ashford Town Hall with coffee from Jake’s Java and cookies made from Phoebe’s very own recipe. More info here: https://www.newashford-ma.us/miss-phoebe-s-jordan-family-dedication/ .... And make sure to read the book released in September, “The Phoebe Jordan Story: The First Woman to Legally Vote in a National Election,” by Richard Lindstrom.

29/10/2024

On our morning walk in West Stockbridge, we come across this: preparations for this beauty to be transported to Rockefeller Center to be this year’s coveted Christmas tree! The Norway spruce is the first tree to hail from the state since 1959. The process [for this year’s Tree] began in July 2020, according The Center Magazine. From the interview with Erik Pauze, the Rockefeller Center’s head gardener: “I came from getting gas after staying overnight tree searching. I saw the beautiful Norway Spruce as I drove down the road, and it was right in front of me. I knocked on the door and met Earl Albert. I asked if he would someday consider donating the Tree to Rockefeller Center. His answer was immediately yes.“ The 74-foot tall tree will be cut down next week and begin its 140-mile to Midtown. It will be wrapped with over 50,000 multicolored LED lights and crowned with a Swarovski star, and it will be lit during a live TV broadcast on Dec. 4. 🌲 ⭐️

22/10/2024

Norman Rockwell Museum commissioned Anita Kunz to create three “Berkshire Sisters,” significant women tied to our region whose portraits will be featured in the upcoming exhibition at the museum. Thanks to Kunz’s generous donation, these portraits will enter the museum’s per- manent collection. Top row from left, Elizabeth Freeman, the first African American woman to successfully file a lawsuit for freedom in the state of Massachusetts, and novelist Edith Wharton, the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Bottom row, Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohican Indians. Anita Kunz: Original Sisters Portraits of Tenacity and Courage, opens Saturday, November 9, at the museum in Stockbridge. Approximately 240 Sisters portraits will be on view at the Norman Rockwell Museum, accompanied by brief written profiles compiled by the artist. A self-portrait also will be exhibited of Kunz from her forthcoming Fables book. Read the feature story, Anita Kunz’s Original Sisters,” in the Fall issue of Berkshire Magazine.

18/10/2024

Celebrate the season at The Williams Inn! 🎄✨ Host an unforgettable holiday party with a festive cocktail reception, gourmet buffet, and indulgent desserts for just $55++ per person. Exceptional food, personalized service, and lasting memories await—book your holiday celebration today! Go to https://www.williamsinn.com/holidaypartypackages2024/

06/10/2024

Deadline to enter this year’s Berkshire Magazine photo contest is tomorrow, Monday, October 7. Winning photos will be published in our Holiday issue, and there is a prize for first place! Link for more info and to enter is berkshiremag.com/photo-contest

05/10/2024

“We always say that almost every day brings a teachable moment, and that is certainly true now,” says Alan Miller, who founded the News Literacy Project (NLP) in 2008 and who has a home on Hayes Pond in Otis. “I’ve often said that I wish that I looked a little less prescient and the need was a little less urgent, but we are where we are, and events just continue to underscore that being news literate is an essential life skill in this digital age.”

NLP is a national education nonprofit that works with educators and journalists to offer resources and tools that help students learn how to separate fact from fiction. Its mission is to advance the development and teaching of news literacy in K-12 education, and its goal is to have all students in the United States skilled in news literacy before they graduate high school, giving them the knowledge and ability to participate in civic society as well-informed, critical thinkers. (NLP also creates resources that are applicable to or useful for people of all ages.)

As a journalist, news literacy standards are incredibly important to me. I have heard of NLP, and my interest was heightened considerably after a talk that Miller gave at the Stockbridge Library with former Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron, who lives in Stockbridge and has been featured in Berkshire Magazine. The informative, passionate talk in a room packed with people only illustrated the interest in and urgency of discerning fact from fiction.

Read more in “Fact or Fiction?” In the Fall issue of Berkshire Magazine, written by Berkshire Magazine Editor-in-Chief Anastasia Stanmeyer. The link to the article is berkshiremag.com/post/fact-or-fiction

First photo: Students use NLP resources at Hollywood High School in California in May 2022, photo by Matthew Smith for NLP.

Second photo: NLP founder Alan Miller and former Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron hold a talk on NLP at Stockbridge Library, photo by Katherine Newell Smith.

05/10/2024

We’re over the moon to see milk from our Berkshires sold in Boston.

02/10/2024

🎃 Halloween is on the way, and Berkshire Food Co-op has the perfect locally grown pumpkins for carving or cooking! 🎃 Support local farmers by grabbing your pumpkin and making this spooky season even more special. 🍂 (Sponsored)

01/10/2024

Now that was fun! Congratulations to this year’s Berkshire 25. A celebration was held last night at Barrington Stage’s Boyd-Quinson Stage. The evening was filled with laughter, gratitude, and appreciation for these beautiful people. Thanks so much to State Rep. Smitty Pignatelli, the Master of Ceremonies, and to everyone who shared in this joyous occasion! 📷:

28/09/2024

What a spectacular talk with Rachel Maddow and Tony Kushner this morning … and the second day of the Authors Guild Foundation’s WIT Literary Festival is well underway! 📷: Nick Burchard