Sunday, November 2, 2025

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

HomeLife In the Berkshires

Life In the Berkshires

THEN & NOW: Mount Washington’s South School

The South School location was moved several times during the 1800s. According to "History of Mount Washington, Massachusetts" by Evelyn Shearn, the building was repaired, painted red, and moved to its present location in 1895.

BITS & BYTES: Ulysses Owens Jr. at Tanglewood; Jazz at Norman Rockwell Museum; Ecological symposium at Berkshire Botanical Garden; Vincent Valdez at MASS MoCA; Candlelight concert...

Three-time GRAMMY™ Award-winner Ulysses Owens Jr. is a powerhouse drummer, producer, and educator known for his thrilling performances and innovative approach to jazz.

BITS & BYTES: Jaye Alison at Stockbridge Library; Dawn Nelson at Future Lab(s); Christopher St. Clair Boswell at Becket Arts Center; Kyle Turgeon at...

“It seems incomprehensible that dialogue and diplomacy are not more fervently pursued to avert such senseless loss of life,” said artist Jaye Alison.

BITS & BYTES: The Carle After Dark; Close Encounters with Music presents ‘The Golem’; Neo-Noir at The Triplex; OLLI presents Marty Baron; Emily Arnold...

“The Museum will transform into a playground of wonder, celebrating the mysteries of night, the sparkle of dreams, and the magic of timeless tales,” said The Carle’s Executive Director Jennifer Schantz.

BITS & BYTES: Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band at Fisher Center; Amy Ryan Band and Dusty Wright Four at Spencertown Academy; Lexi Weege at...

Bridging diverse legacies, the vital present, and an exhilarating future of Indigenous peoples in jazz, the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band is an ensemble of Native and Indigenous jazz musicians from across Indian Country.

EYES TO THE SKY: Notes for transitional moments — Sun, moon, planets, stars for all ages

Without the necessity of adjusting daily routines to allow for stargazing when nightfall is late, as in summer, now it is easier to include children in both morning and evening “eyes to the sky.”

BITS & BYTES: Berkshire Carousel events; Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center presents Wu Man and Sandeep Das; Guild of Berkshire Artists at Art on Main; Laura Dickstein Thompson at...

Berkshire Carousel presents a weekend of events to close out their 2025 season, celebrating a ridership that grew to over a thousand each weekend.

BITS & BYTES: TRIBE at Kaatsbaan; WAM’s elder ensemble at The Foundry; Jeong Han Kim at The Clark; OLLI presents Barbara Viniar; Chelsea Gaia and Eden...

Continuing Pitts’s research exploring Black embodiment, aliveness, and human connection, “Marks of RED” is an Afrofuturistic meditation on the “womb space,” divining the effect that memory has on our experiences, senses, bodies, reality, and our imaginative possibilities.

BITS & BYTES: London’s National Theatre at The Mahaiwe; Project SAGE presents ‘Another Body’; Lenox Library presents ‘Hear Me’; Poetry readings at Mason Library; John...

Five-time Olivier Award winner Imelda Staunton (The Crown) joins forces with her real-life daughter Bessie Carter (Bridgerton) for the very first time, playing mother and daughter in Bernard Shaw’s incendiary moral classic.

BITS & BYTES: Caleb Teicher and Nic Gareiss at Jacob’s Pillow; Ruckus with Davóne Tines at The Clark; Berkshire Bach Society presents Peter Sykes; Mary DiPaola at...

Experience a breathtaking evening of dance rooted in time and place–a festive dialogue of sound, movement, and corporeal rapport.

THEN & NOW: Former train station in Lee

The station and a neighboring freight building played a major role in the town’s economic development, bringing paper products, foodstuffs, and quarried marble to nationwide markets, as well as bringing tourists, vacationers, and seasonal residents to area estates, summer homes, and hotels.

BITS & BYTES: Cricket Creek Farm Fall Picnic; ‘Eva’s Promise’ at Yiddish Book Center; 2nd Street at Wander; Guy Mendilow and Regie Gibson at Adams...

The public is invited to Cricket Creek Farm to enjoy delicious food, gorgeous views, animal visits, paintings of New England by Linda Fardella, and family-friendly activities on the lawn and inside their historic event barn.

BITS & BYTES: Portraiture at Sandisfield Arts Center; Masquerade ball at Ventfort Hall; Pittsfield Halloween celebration; Hilda Banks Shapiro Community Day; Mason Library open house;...

The exhibition features artists working with portraiture across a range of mediums, considering the idea of the portrait as more than a representation of physical likeness — as a possibility for deeper engagement and vantage into an inner world.

BITS & BYTES: Rennie Harris at The Mahaiwe; Sandglass Theater at Adams Theater; Rumbo Tumba at The Foundry; Natalia Bernal and Jason Ennis at Becket Arts...

Celebrated choreographer Rennie Harris returns to The Mahaiwe to lay down his three laws of hip-hop—individuality, creativity, innovation.

WHERE WE ARE: Historian Gary Leveille

I chose Gary as one of my first profiles in my "Where We Are" series because I know I am not alone in finding “Then & Now” delightful, and I wanted to learn more about the man behind it.

BITS & BYTES: Guild of Berkshire Artists at Berkshire Humane Society; Gypsy Layne Adams Theater and The Foundry; ‘The Thanksgiving Play’ at Ghent Playhouse; Vagabond Ball at The...

A portion of each will be donated to Berkshire Humane Society, a nonprofit providing compassionate and responsible care for all animals.

NATURE’S TURN: Cover crops and other late-season marvels

I write as the first predictions of overnight temperatures in the 30s have appeared.