Arts & Life
Profiling ‘The Raider’: New book by UMass history professor Stephen Platt explores the life of a celebrated but unconventional Marine
By STEVE PFARRER
Stephen Platt, who teaches 19th and 20th century Chinese history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, made a significant name for himself with his two last books.
Fabric of history: PVMA painting included in the Met’s ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’ exhibition
By CHRIS LARABEE
As the national art and celebrity worlds coalesced at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Met Gala in early May, the exhibition coinciding with the event at the nation’s most-visited museum also featured several local ties.
‘My heart requires it’: Pioneer lesbian singer-songwriter Linda Shear will perform benefit show in Northampton, May 31
By CAROLYN BROWN
Celebrated lesbian singer-songwriter Linda Shear will play a benefit show for Straw Dog Writers Guild on Saturday, May 31, at 4 p.m. at Northampton Center for the Arts.
‘Irving Berlin’s View of East River’ films in western Mass: Behind the scenes of an indie film set in the Valley
By EMILEE KLEIN
“Reset!”
In heavenly harmony: The Singing Priests to perform at Our Lady of Peace in Turners Falls, May 22
By DOMENIC POLI
It’s long been said that to sing is to pray twice. And a group of Catholic clergymen in western Massachusetts that truly takes that sentiment to heart is slated to spread some cheer in Franklin County later this month.
Speaking of Nature: Celebrating 28 years of Speaking of Nature: A new resolution for the future of my bird-watching
By BILL DANIELSON
Last Saturday was a bit of a milestone for me. It might easily have come and gone without me realizing it, but thanks to my obsessive record keeping I happened to see a notation in the pages of my 2025 field diary and avoided an embarrassing oversight. Last Saturday marked the 28th anniversary of Speaking of Nature, an event that I don’t think I could have ever imagined back in 1997 when I sent in my first column.
Through their eyes: Granby documentarian highlights missing, murdered Indigenous women with new film, ‘1200+’
By EMILEE KLEIN
AMHERST — In 2013, Canadian police estimated that there were 1,181 unresolved cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada. The number today is closer to 4,000.
Emily Dickinson Museum celebrates completion of reconstructed Carriage House, which now houses visitor center
By CAROLYN BROWN
AMHERST — On the eve of the 139th anniversary of the death of acclaimed poet Emily Dickinson — arguably the town’s most famous resident — the museum named in her honor marked a significant milestone of its own on Tuesday.
Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: A blooming ribbon leads the eye: Landscape architect planted 1,500 daffodils in Amherst’s Orchard Arboretum
By MICKEY RATHBUN
In the Orchard Arboretum, a little-known public garden in South Amherst, a living work of art is making its debut this spring. “I call it a daffodil ribbon,” explained Richard Waldman, a retired landscape architect from New York City who conceived of the project two years ago and has finally brought it to fruition.
‘So much pride when people ask where I’m from’: ‘Hacks’ creator, Lucia Aniello, reflects on western Mass upbringing
By CAROLYN BROWN
The shows “Broad City” and “Hacks” take place largely in New York City and Las Vegas, respectively, but they have a local connection: each show’s executive production team includes Lucia Aniello, a producer, writer, director, and showrunner who grew up in Hadley.
From corsets to Spanx: Historic Deerfield opens the season with ‘Body by Design: Fashionable Silhouettes from the Ideal to the Real’
By CHRIS LARABEE
There’s no need to don your corset or three-piece suit for Historic Deerfield’s opening exhibition this season.
The bomb that never dropped: New book details how Massachusetts planned during the Cold War
By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN
Northampton author Joshua Shanley says he gets a scary feeling when entering some of the defunct Cold War buildings still standing across Massachusetts.
‘Herself to the End’: Northampton woman’s book details partner’s end-of-life decision to stop eating and drinking after Alzheimer’s diagnosis
By CAROLYN BROWN
NORTHAMPTON — In the face of an incurable and progressive illness, what would your next step be?
Baking the world a better place: Local gay-owned baking company to give out free breadsticks at Hampshire Pride
By CAROLYN BROWN
One of this year’s biggest Hampshire Pride sponsors is a local company that’s giving the festival plenty of dough – in more ways than one.
Resonating through generations: Lady Pills releases new concept album, ‘Renowned in the Roaring Twenties’
By CAROLYN BROWN
A recording artist is connecting her family’s western Massachusetts roots to her new album.
Let’s Talk Relationships: Uncovering the roots of negative self-talk: What you say to yourself echoes in your relationships
By AMY NEWSHORE
Our thoughts and beliefs about ourselves greatly impact how we feel and act in our close relationships. Humans are the only species that engage in “self-talk.” Many of us find ourselves having both positive thoughts about ourselves (for example, “I feel proud for what I just accomplished”) and other times negative and self-defeating thoughts (such as, “I am not attractive enough”). In my work with couples, it is often the derogatory self-talk that each individual engages in that contributes to the difficult and painful dynamics between partners.
Here to help the community’s artists: Human Scale Art Space aims to advance visual arts in the Pioneer Valley
By CAROLYN BROWN
It’s not uncommon for a small nonprofit not to have a physical space. It is, however, ironic when that nonprofit itself is called Human Scale Art Space.
‘Art in the Age of Human Impact’: New exhibition at UMass explores complex relationship between humans and nature
By CAROLYN BROWN
The total impact that humans have had on the environment may be hard to measure, but a new exhibition at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s University Museum of Contemporary Art, running through Friday, May 9, aims to show some of that impact and create conversations about how artists respond to it with their work.
‘A woman who should be remembered’: New play about the life of Frances Perkins, the brains behind FDR’s New Deal, April 5 and 11
By MADISON SCHOFIELD
Who was Frances Perkins? A one-woman play penned by a UMass academic exploring the life of the first female Secretary of Labor is set to take the Ashfield Congregational Church stage in April.
Prompts to help light writers’ ways: Author and coach Jena Schwartz’s ‘Fierce Encouragement’ an insightful guide
By CAROLYN BROWN
Author Margaret Atwood supposedly once said, “If I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.” With a new book, “Fierce Encouragement: 201 Writing Prompts for Staying Grounded in Fragile Times,” author and writing coach Jena Schwartz wants to inspire writers to build their own creative practices, no matter if the result isn’t entirely perfect.
