Sunday, June 22, 2025

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

Scott Christianson

Scott Christianson is an award-winning writer, journalist, filmmaker and activist who moved to Great Barrington in 2012. He is the author of more than a dozen books and hundreds of articles for The Nation, The New York Times, Washington Post and other publications. He lives with his wife, Tamar Gordon, an anthropololgist, and their son Jonah Christianson, a retired wrestler.

written articles

A bad hair day for N.Y. Rep. John Faso

March 24 may be the date that made him a one-term Congressman. With his abrupt decision to support the American Health Care Act, the freshman Republican congressman from Kinderhook engaged in a stunning series of betrayals.

Donald Victor, 82, community photographer and “Mystery Man”

Don Victor lived an extremely active life, and was always on the go. He was seldom without at least one camera around his neck.

REVIEW: A Man and His Camera: From Lenox to Harlem

James Van Der Zee was born in Lenox to highly cultured parents who had worked as household servants to President Ulysses S. Grant in New York City.

W. E. B. Du Bois: All signs indicate it’s time to forgive the great man’s flaws

It’s time for his hometown to recognize Du Bois as “its Leonardo Da Vinci,” and get past the enmity of the McCarthy era.

Don Victor leaves a legacy of friends and photographs

Don Victor has left behind a treasure trove of images documenting everyday life in this place.

Julian Bond and W.E.B. Du Bois

Civil rights activist Julian Bond died August 15, at the age of 75. In 1969, he delivered the keynote speech at the dedication of the W.E.B. Du Bois homesite in Great Barrington.

When Du Bois lived here

Du Bois stands as a towering figure in American history. A product of the local public school, from which he was the first black graduate of the high school, and a fixture of several local institutions, his legacy here has nevertheless triggered debates.

How’s the Confederate Flag a “State” issue?

Over time, racism has proved hard to eradicate and the Republican Party has done a 180 and increasingly resorted to countenancing and upholding white supremacy as a means of gaining political power.

Our very own Mass. imprisonment

Prison reform in the age of our own Mass. imprisonment has become a low-priority issue for today’s brand of timid political activists, who often seem more concerned about their own comfort than they are about the greater good of the society.

Du Bois comes home from the grave

For unknown reasons, Yolande’s grave was left without a headstone. Her grandchildren were unaware of where she was buried, until her grandson Arthur McFarlane II was informed of it during a visit in 2012.
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