Sheela was born and raised in South Berkshire county, and is a long time language teacher and grant writer for youth-serving nonprofits. As a writer, with an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, she’s interested in education, issues of inequality, and literature. She is a Moth Story Slam winner and Grand Slam participant, and runs, with Joey Chernila, story nights at Fuel Bistro in Great Barrington. She lives in West Stockbridge with her husband and three children.
Friday, 13 Apr 2018 - The Railroad Street Youth Project’s South Berkshire Community Health Coalition is partnering with the Center for Motivation and Change in New Marlborough on a three-part training for parents who are concerned about their child’s drug and/or alcohol use.
Monday, 19 Feb 2018 - 'This structure means families, school and health care staff work together and support for children is aligned at home, school and in the community.' --Muddy Brook Regional Elementary School Principal Mary Berle
Wednesday, 7 Feb 2018 - Would that all history were put across this way, and would that Americans were taught the simple, brutal, unadorned truths of our collective pasts, as they happened, and not as we would want them to have happened.
Sunday, 21 Jan 2018 - This is not a whodunit thriller; the first line is “The baby is dead.” By the end of page two, readers are clear who’s killed him.
Tuesday, 26 Dec 2017 - It’s a tricky business, the building issue, but it’s an opportunity, ultimately, to create the space that would move programming forward. The structure of this building is a real barrier to innovation. -- Amy Rex, principal of Monument Mountain Regional High School
Sunday, 19 Nov 2017 - Only 15 percent of Berkshire Hills third graders met or exceeded expectations in reading ability, compared to a state average of 47 percent, with 25 percent meeting the same threshold in SBRSD.
Tuesday, 31 Oct 2017 - Liberals have not come up with, and do not seem to be working toward, a common vision that any and all American citizens would be welcome to get on board with.
Monday, 25 Sep 2017 - There are more than 900 kids living in poverty in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding the Berkshire Museum where veiled protesters have decried the ‘tremendous loss’ of paintings.
Saturday, 16 Sep 2017 - "The writer is in the business of making discoveries, and whatever we can do to help her make those discoveries is fruitful. But the writer must surprise herself." -- Poet Jayne Benjulian
Sunday, 3 Sep 2017 - It’s unusual, if not unheard of, for four distinct organizations to join forces on such a long-term, time and manpower-intensive venture, especially on a shoestring budget.
Tuesday, 15 Aug 2017 - From September to June, one of every three students at Muddy Brook and one of every four at Monument Valley receives two meals for free or reduced price per day. That translates to 100 meals missing for those families, per child, during the 10 weeks of summer vacation.
Sunday, 14 May 2017 - “The kids come home filthy dirty and falling asleep at the dinner table, and that is what summer camp should be.” -- Kim Hamberg Wilder, mother of two boys and a sales associate at Barnbrook Realty
Monday, 20 Mar 2017 - “Daddy’s Home 2” will star Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini and John Cena, with two big gun additions of Mel Gibson and John Lithgow.
Saturday, 18 Mar 2017 - “This proposal would devastate working families. It is painfully short-sighted and makes a mockery of the President’s promise to make our country safer and to support inner cities and rural communities alike.” -- Jodi Grant, Executive Director Afterschool Alliance
Wednesday, 15 Mar 2017 - "I Am Not Your Negro" is a masterpiece of fleshed-out storytelling, presented through a collage of images. It runs like a journey through James Baldwin’s astute mind.
Saturday, 11 Feb 2017 - White trash: He and she are our neighbors and fellow citizens, and their inability to make a decent living in this town is due to attitudes and policies far outside their control.