David Simon to speak at Williams College
Williamstown — Baltimore-based journalist, author, and television producer David Simon will present a talk entitled “The Audacity of Despair” on Wednesday, Sept.14, at 7:30 p.m. on the MainStage of the ’62 Center at Williams College.
Simon was born in Washington and later moved to Baltimore in 1983 to work for the Baltimore Sun as a crime reporter. His narrative nonfiction work “Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets,” an account of the year he spent with the Baltimore city homicide squad, became the basis for an NBC drama which Simon wrote and produced in 1995. Simon later created the critically acclaimed HBO drama “The Wire,” which studies the relationships between Baltimore law enforcement and city institutions like the illegal drug trade, school system, print news media. Simon served as writer and executive producer for HBO’s “Generation Kill,” a miniseries following U.S. Marines in the first 40 days of the invasion of Iraq, and co-creator of “Treme,” which depicted New Orleans residents rebuilding their lives after Hurricane Katrina. Simon then wrote the miniseries “Show Me a Hero,” which focuses on efforts to desegregate public housing in Yonkers, New York, from 1987 to 1994.
The talk is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar. For building locations on the Williams campus, consult the online map or call the Office of Communications at (413) 597-4277.
–E.E.
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Eighteenth annual Monument Cup
Great Barrington — The Monument Cup Soccer Committee will host the 18th annual Monument Cup, a 3-on-3-soccer tournament for youth players, on Saturday, Sept. 24, at Monument Mountain Regional High School. All teams (three to four players) are guaranteed at least three matches with the top four teams in each division advancing to the semifinals. The finals for each division will be played under the lights. The entry fee to participate the Monument Cup is $80 per team and the registration form can be found online. For more information, contact Matt Naventi at (413) 243-1559 or mnavanti@monumentcup.org.
–E.E.
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Multicultural BRIDGE to honor Rev. Natalie Shiras
Lenox — On Sunday, Oct. 9, at 3 p.m. Multicultural BRIDGE will present a concert at Ethelwynde to benefit its Social Justice in Action program featuring Dr. Yeou-Cheng Ma and accompanist Elinor Abrams Zayas. The concert will honor retired Rev. Natalie Shiras, who, along with her husband, Rich Lumma, will soon move to California.
Dr. Yeou-Cheng Ma, a graduate of Radcliffe College and Harvard Medical School as well as Shiras’ former college roommate, works with children with developmental disorders in the Bronx; performs as a chamber musician; and teaches violin, viola, and chamber music with the Children’s Orchestra Society. Her recent interests include optimizing communication in all children, exploring the relationship of music to young children’s temperament, and using music as a means to find the “inner language” of children who have difficulties in verbal communication. Dr. Ma is the sister of cellist and composer Yo-Yo Ma.
Elinor Abrams Zayas is a pianist from Long Island, New York. She studied at the Juilliard School, and the Manhattan School of Music with Constance Keene and Robert Helps. Specializing in the music of Spain and the Americas, she has performed as a soloist, and as a chamber musician with her trio Nepenthe; with the duo Cross Island with cellist Suzanne Mueller; and with the clarinetist Tom Piercy.
Tickets for the benefit are $100. Those interested in attending should RSVP to sjia@multiuclturalbridge.org by Friday, Sept. 16. For more information, contact Multicultural BRIDGE at (413) 394-4029.
–E.E.
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Made in the Berkshires’ ‘CROP’ calls for artists
Pittsfield — Regional visual artists working in any and all medias are invited to apply for inclusion in the upcoming exhibition “CROP | New Works from the Berkshires,” which will be presented as part of Berkshire Theatre Group’s sixth annual Made in the Berkshires festival Friday, Nov. 11 – Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Colonial Theater.
Co-curated by Carrie Wright and Rebecca Weinman, “CROP” aims to highlight the diversity, breadth and depth of artists working in the region. Emerging, mid-career and established artists who reside, work or otherwise have strong ties to the Berkshires and adjacent areas are invited to submit. Works may be in any medium and are not limited to a particular style or genre. Those interested may apply via email to mitbvisual@gmail.com with three to five works as .jpg files (300 DPI and no larger than 1200px in width or height), artist’s statement, email address, website, and mailing address by Monday, Sept. 26. Artists will be notified by Monday, Oct. 3 if their works have been selected for inclusion.
For more information about “CROP,” contact mitbvisual@gmail.com.
–E.E.
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Maggie Mailer to exhibit paintings at Hudson Valley Community College
Troy, N.Y. — The Teaching Gallery at Hudson Valley Community College has announced that “Floating World,” an exhibition of paintings by New Lebanon artist Maggie Mailer, will be on view Thursday, Sept. 15 – Saturday, Oct. 22. Mailer will discuss her work on Thursday, Sept. 15, from 3 – 4 p.m. in the Bulmer Telecommunications Center‘s auditorium, with a reception following from 4 – 6 p.m. in the Teaching Gallery. Both events are free and open to the public.
The paintings in “Floating World” are richly layered, ambiguous landscapes that bravely embody the artist’s willingness to trust her viewers. According to the artist, the title refers to the “floating world” of 18th century Japanese Ukiyo-e prints, a worldview based on hedonism, pleasure and escapism. Born in 1971 in New York, Maggie Mailer received a B.A. in English literature from Columbia University in 1993. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally, and has work in the collections of Rachel Maddow, Jimmy Buffett, and the Norman Mailer Center and Writers Colony in Provincetown, Massachusetts. She has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and, in 2009, became the first artist-in-residence at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Her work has been featured in Art New England, the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times.
For more information, call (518) 629-8006.
–E.E.
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Waste oil and paint collection scheduled
Lenox — On Saturday, Sept. 17, from 8:30 – 10:30 a.m., the South Berkshire Household Hazardous Waste Collaborative will hold a paint and oil collection for the 15 participating towns of Alford, Becket, Egremont, Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Monterey, Mount Washington, New Marlborough, Otis, Richmond, Sheffield, Stockbridge, Tyringham and West Stockbridge. The Center for EcoTechnology will coordinate the collections.
Acceptable materials are oil-based paint, stains, paint thinners, spray paint and turpentine, as well as waste motor oil. No other type of oil or fuel will be accepted. Latex paint will not be accepted at this event. Empty cans can be recycled with scrap metal. Empty cans of oil-based paint, stains and solvents as well as dried-up cans of latex paint can be disposed with the regular trash.
Those interested in participating in the event must register online or contact Coryanne Mansell at Coryanne.Mansell@cetonline.org or (800)-369-3333 x238 by Friday, Sept. 16. Residents from communities that are not participating should call their city or town halls for information about hazardous household product collections.
–E.E.
