Arts & Life
Putting the students front and center: What can education can look like without high stakes testing?
By DOUG SELWYN
Ballot Question 2 passed with more than 59% of the vote, ending the MCAS as a graduation requirement in Massachusetts. Students will still take the MCAS, beginning in grade 3 up through high school, and they will still be required to pass their high...
‘Beautiful disasters’ inspire monthly storytelling series in Greenfield
By AMALIA WOMPA
By creating monthly storytelling open mic sessions for community members to share their most disastrous moments, The LAVA Center provides an opportunity to “learn things about people that wouldn’t normally come up in conversation,” in the words of...
Faith Matters: A light that the shadows cannot overcome: Blue Christmas services offer us a space to bring our collective grief
By PASTOR BENJIMAN DURFEE
During the last two months of the year, we’re usually overwhelmed with messages to be jolly, we’re expected to show up for events with cheerful smiles, and we’re constantly surrounded by the joyous sounds of the holiday season. And while this is a...
They get along swimmingly: 2025 calendar celebrates Franklin County YMCA water fitness class
By EVELINE MACDOUGALL
A rollicking group who bonded through a class at Franklin County’s YMCA in Greenfield have produced a calendar for 2025 that celebrates beautiful humans in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Let’s meet some water nymphs who could grace your wall if you get...
Valley Bounty: It’s the season of tree-ditions: Kingsbury Christmas Tree Farm in South Deerfield offers cut your own and pre-cut varieties
By JACOB NELSON
The Christmas season, for people who celebrate, tends to be full of traditions. Maybe it’s watching the same corny holiday movies every year. Maybe it’s making Grandma’s special cookies, a yellowing index card with her faded cursive handwriting...
Sounds Local: He’ll play anything you want: Stephen Kellogg will perform an all-request show at Shea Theater, Dec. 19
By SHERYL HUNTER
Singer-songwriter Stephen Kellogg has never been afraid to take risks in his over 25-year career. In addition to writing honest folk-rock songs that connect with listeners, he is a natural storyteller, which has led to him giving a TEDx Talk, writing...
Speaking of Nature: Introducing the Birch Perch II: Making improvements to my bird observation venue
By BILL DANIELSON
My last visit to the Thinking Chair occurred on Sunday, Oct. 20. It was a bright, sunny day and there had been a frost during the night and this produced some interesting effects on the remaining leaves down in the meadow. The following Saturday was...
Conversations over candy-making: Sharing beloved holiday food traditions
By TINKY WEISBLAT
I recently put out a call on Facebook for local folks who have beloved holiday food traditions. I received a lot of responses, some of which will appear in this paper in the weeks and years to come.Jeanne Douillard of Greenfield remembers both...
She’s hooked on nature: Wendell resident celebrates beauty through rug hooking
By EVELINE MACDOUGALL
Phyllis Lawrence creates stunning works of art using strips of fabric; a few other materials appear in her work, too, like beach stones and feathers. It boggles the mind to consider that such masterpieces can be trod upon, but walking on Lawrence’s...
Let’s Talk Relationships: How to handle feelings of shame: The holiday season can be a triggering time for many
By AMY NEWSHORE
Shame is a topic not easily talked about. And that is why I feel enthusiastic about writing about it. That’s my thing — discussing and writing about topics that we often hold at arm’s length and don’t dare think or talk about.But why am I choosing to...
Beehive drama comes to Ashfield: ‘To Serve A Hive’ will be staged at First Congregational Church, Dec. 14
By MADISON SCHOFIELD
For one night and one night only, the First Congregational Church of Ashfield will be hosting a performance of “To Serve A Hive,” a queer political thriller and a climate crisis drama set in a beehive.Changing climates, dwindling resources, and an...
A poet of memory and more: Elaine Reardon will read from ‘Stories Told in a Lost Tongue’ at the Greenfield Public Library, Dec. 11
By TINKY WEISBLAT
This paper once had a book reviewer devoted to poetry, Trish Crapo of Leyden. A poet herself, Trish was better qualified to write about poetry than I.Unfortunately, at this point I’m the only regular book reviewer the Recorder has. I don’t have a...
Faith Matters: Civility still counts: A call for respect and dignity in our discourse
By THE REV. JULIE G. OLMSTED
I have watched and listened over the past several years, as public discourse and the language used by elected officials and their followers has steadily slipped into a kind of exchange that once would have never been allowed to see the light of day....
Sounds Local: Community Chorus celebrates with holiday concert on Sunday: Plus, She Said transforms into Psychedelic Farmgirls
By SHERYL HUNTER
The Franklin County Community Chorus will raise its voices together in song and welcome in the holiday season when it holds its annual winter concert on Sunday, Dec. 8, at 3 p.m. at the Greenfield High School. The chorus will deliver a program of...
Speaking of Nature: Spotting the bird with the ‘X-factor’: The absolute worst time to be without a camera
By BILL DANIELSON
It was the morning of Thanksgiving Day and I was up early. Guests were still asleep and I was done with the morning chores. A pot of fresh coffee had been brewed, a fire was crackling happily in the wood stove (front doors open so the fire was...
Relief from the over-the-hill blues: Recipes for a party and some special Brazilian cheese puffs
By TINKY WEISBLAT
Sometimes the introductory essays I write for this column seem at first to have nothing to do with food. I promise that if you read patiently, you’ll get a recipe at the end of this one.A couple of months ago, as I was giving a talk to a library about...
A celebration of history-making women: The Rockwell Museum exhibits over 200 of Anita Kunz’s portraits in ‘Original Sisters’
By DON STEWART
She’s the first woman, and the first Canadian, to present a solo exhibit of her work at the Library of Congress, and two of her paintings can be found at Washington’s National Portrait Gallery. You’d recognize Anita Kunz’s often satirical works from...
Up to 50 critters at a time: Amelie Dricut-Ziter runs the Leyden Center for Wildlife Rehabilitation
By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN
When an opossum isn’t just “playing possum,” Amelie Dricut-Ziter, who runs the Leyden Center for Wildlife Rehabilitation, is there to help. At her home in Leyden, Dricut-Ziter has created space for injured or sick wildlife. Some are animals that...
Valley Bounty: ‘If you need something, come on over’: Hillside Farm’s offering is just about as fresh as you can get
By JACOB NELSON
In South Deerfield, the North Main Street bridge over the railroad tracks has been closed for repairs since May. “I was joking that we’re probably the only ones on this street happy about the detour,” laughs Kelly Kicza.That’s because cars have been...
Drum roll, please: Longtime UMass percussion instructor Thom Hannum inducted into Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame
By CAROLYN BROWN
Thousands of University of Massachusetts Amherst students have learned from percussion instructor Thom Hannum, whose 40-year career at the college included a tenure as the assistant director, then associate director, of the Minuteman Marching Band...
Your Daily Puzzles
An approachable redesign to a classic. Explore our "hints."
A quick daily flip. Finally, someone cracked the code on digital jigsaw puzzles.
Chess but with chaos: Every day is a unique, wacky board.
Word search but as a strategy game. Clearing the board feels really good.
Align the letters in just the right way to spell a word. And then more words.
