Sunday, February 9, 2025

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

Bits & Bytes: E-ZPass at 4-H Fair; new trees in GB; ‘Samsara’ at Six Depot; Frederick Pollack poetry reading; mountaintop removal mining lecture; photography exhibits at Sohn Fine Art

MassDOT is in the process of transitioning to All Electronic Tolling (AET) on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

E-ZPass to be available at Berkshire County 4-H Fair

State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier.
State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier.

Pittsfield — State Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier and Angelica Paredes of the Berkshire County 4-H Fair Association have collaborated to bring the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s (MassDOT) E-ZPass Van to the Berkshire County 4-H Youth Fair on Saturday, Aug. 20., from 10:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. in order to distribute free transponders for the Massachusetts Turnpike.

MassDOT is in the process of transitioning to All Electronic Tolling (AET) on the Massachusetts Turnpike. MassDOT intends to test AET software during the summer of 2016 and activate AET by the end of the year. A previously scheduled “go live” date in the month of October will occur if software testing goes as planned before September.

AET gantries, placed over the road and equipped with sensors, will electronically register tolls from vehicles that pass under any gantry. Drivers will no longer have to stop at a toll plaza and will be able to maintain a safe highway speed.

If a vehicle has an E-ZPass transponder, the toll will automatically be charged to the customer’s E-ZPass account. If a vehicle does not have a transponder, cameras mounted on the gantry will capture a photograph of the vehicle’s license plate and the registered owner of the vehicle will be sent an invoice. Pay-by-Plate users will pay a surcharge.

Drivers who currently have no E-ZPass transponder are encouraged to obtain one. Applicants must bring vehicle registration and $20 (by credit card or check only) to open an E-ZPass account, along with photo identification to obtain a transponder. The transponders will be issued for free and the $20 account fee will be used to pay charges for Massachusetts Turnpike travel.

–E.E.

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New trees on Stockbridge Road

A young Sargent crabapple tree outside of Wonderful Things on Stockbridge Road.
A young Sargent crabapple tree outside of Wonderful Things on Stockbridge Road.

Great Barrington – In coordination with the recent planting of more than 80 trees along Main Street, the town of Great Barrington and the Great Barrington Tree Committee have planted eight new trees along Stockbridge Road in order to further extend the scenic environment of Great Barrington.

The trees and (dogwood, cherry, red maple, serviceberry, redbud, crabapple, red oak, and lilac) were made possible by a $2,000 Urban and Community Forestry Challenge Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, which was then matched in contributions of professional guidance, materials, labor and care from Dennis Gibbons Landscapes, Ward’s Nursery, Great Barrington Tree Warden Tom Peretti, the Great Barrington Department of Public Works (DPW), and the Tree Committee.

All trees were planted with the approval of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the business owners whose properties the trees abut. The DPW has been watering the trees weekly since their June planting and will continue to do so for their first six months in order to ensure that they are properly established and healthy.

–E.E.

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WAM Theatre to present reading of ‘Samsara’

Lauren Yee.
Lauren Yee.

West Stockbridge — WAM Theatre will continue its 2016 Fresh Takes Play Reading Series with “Samsara” by Lauren Yee, directed by WAM Theatre Co-Founder Leigh Strimbeck, on Sunday, Aug. 21, at 3 p.m. at No. Six Depot Roastery and Café.

“Samsara” focuses on Katie and Craig, who are having a baby with a surrogate who lives in India. A month before the baby’s due date, Craig travels to the subcontinent where he meets Suraiya, their young and less-than-thrilled surrogate. As all three “parents” await the baby’s birth, flights of fancy attack them from all sides.

Playwright Lauren Yee holds degrees from Yale University and University of California, San Diego, and is currently a member of the Ma-Yi Writers’ Lab and a Playwrights’ Center Core Writer. Her play “Samsara” has been a nominee for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the L. Arnold Weissberger Award. Another of Yee’s plays, “The Hatmaker’s Wife,” was an Outer Critics Circle nominee for the John Gassner Award for best play by a new American playwright.

Tickets to “Samsara” are $20 each. Seating is limited. For more information and tickets, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or contact WAM Theatre at (413) 274-8122.

–E.E.

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Frederick Pollack to read poetry

A Poverty of WordsLenox – On Sunday, Aug. 21, at 3 p.m., the Bookstore will present poet Frederick Pollack, who will read from his most recent collection of work, “A Poverty of Words.” Pollack is an adjunct professor of creative writing at George Washington University and the author of two book-length narrative poems, “The Adventure” and “Happiness.” His work has appeared in the Hudson Review, Salmagundi, Poetry Salzburg Review, Main Street Rag, Fulcrum and others. The reading is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call the Bookstore at (413) 637-3390.

–E.E.

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Mountaintop removal mining lecture

Jim Hecker.
Jim Hecker.

Stockbridge — Jim Hecker, an attorney with public interest law firm Public Justice in Washington, D.C., will present a lecture and PowerPoint presentation about mountaintop removal mining on Sunday, Aug. 21, at 12:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Stockbridge. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Hecker earned his undergraduate and law degrees with honors from the University of Illinois. He received the Sierra Club’s William O. Douglas award in 2009 for his work on mountaintop removal mining. In the 26 years that Hecker has been with Public Justice, he has litigated citizen suits in 14 states under federal environmental statutes regulating clean air, clean water, hazardous waste and coal mining.

For more information, contact the Church at (413) 298-3137 or Madonna Meagher at (413) 528-6842.

–E.E.

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Two photography exhibits at Sohn Fine Art

"Still Life With Hot Dogs" by Stephanie Blumenthal.
“Still Life With Hot Dogs” by Stephanie Blumenthal.

Lenox — Sohn Fine Art Gallery presents the photography exhibitions “Illumination” by John Atchley and “Vanitas” through Sunday, Sept. 25. A reception for both exhibits will be held Saturday, Aug. 20, from 4 – 7 p.m.

John Atchley graduated from Yale University with a master’s degree in photography in 1972. After Yale, Atchley set aside the camera for nearly 40 years. By that time the digital revolution was well underway and Atchley started to see that the same subjects he had started with could be reinterpreted in intentional camera movement, out-of-focus images, long exposures, and camera apps. He has been featured in almost 50 exhibitions since he re-emerged as a photographer in 2010. “Illumination” features photography re-explored through light, abstraction, and alternative materials and processes such as gold leaf, fabric and mixed media.

A contemporary view on 17th century still-life paintings from the Netherlands and France, the group show “Vanitas” re-explores beauty, decay, life and death through modern issues. A departure from the traditional still life with fresh flowers, decadent objects and ripe fruit, vanitas still lifes represented objects symbolic of the pursuit of earthly goods and reminders that every living thing is impermanent and transient. The exhibition features photography by Stephanie Blumenthal, Steven Duede, Marsden Epworth, Eric Korenman, Allan Markman, Anne Mourier, Cecilia Schmidt and Kevin Sprague.

For more information, contact Sohn Fine Art at (413) 551-7353 or info@sohnfineart.com.

–E.E.

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The Edge Is Free To Read.

But Not To Produce.

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The Edge Is Free To Read.

But Not To Produce.