Friday, March 20, 2026

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

HomeLife In the Berkshires

Life In the Berkshires

BITS & BYTES: Arcis Saxophone Quartet at the Linde Center; Onnis Luque at Art Omi; ‘Prairie Project’ at The Triplex; Alicia Svigals and Donald...

The Arcis Saxophone Quartet, named after Munich's iconic Arcis Street, has emerged as one of the world's most vibrant and active classical ensembles.

EDGEWISE: A Berkshire Muslim explains, ‘Je ne suis pas Charlie’

It is a sad commentary on our society — and even our own little neighborhood here in the Berkshires — that a local woman who felt strongly enough about the offensiveness of Charlie Hebdo’s mockery of Islam to write about it for EdgeWise, still felt she could not risk attaching her name and face to her opinions.

A clear-cutter’s dubious claims

By my lights, the clear-cutters bought some lake-side property and, regardless of any consequences or precautions against polluting a water supply, decided it was their right actually to see the lake.

EDGEWISE: Charlie Baker comes to town

I have to say that my heart sank when I heard Baker begin his reply to the question by saying that he believes “pipeline capacity needs to be expanded to bring natural gas from Pennsylvania into our state.”

Culinary Adventures: Daire Rooney, resourceful chef at locally sourced Allium

There is a fresh menu every day so no matter how regularly you dine at Allium, there’s always something new to taste. "I like food that’s fun and interactive." -- Allium chef Daire Rooney

Connections: Corporations gilding the preservation lily

The return of the Gilded Age: Right now the 80-acre Southmayd estate on the river in Stockbridge is for sale for $11.5 million. If a developer purchased the former cottage, and proposed a high density development, after approving Elm Court, on what basis could the Select Board turn down development of the precious Stockbridge Ox Bow?

Hour of the wolf

Some tribes believed that wolves were men’s souls. Imagine them, circled around a campfire, startled, doubtful, apprehensive, and thrilled at the same time as they listened to the pack abroad in the January moonlight.

EDGEWISE: New Year’s Day is every day

There is no astronomical reason to begin the calendar year in January. The custom dates back to the Romans, who set the New Year to begin in the month of January, which celebrates the two-faced god Janus — one face looking back into the past, while the other peered forward into the future.

Culinary Adventures: Oakhurst Diner in Millerton, New York

Once upon a time, an original box car diner, made in New Jersey in the 1940s, it was brought to Millerton to replace an inn owned by the Hotchkiss family that had burned down. Today, much of the original diner remains the same, so you’re forgiven if you feel as if you’ve entered a time warp.

Connections: Second Coming of the Gilded Age

The United States does rank high in one category. Among 139 countries, according to the United Nations, we rank 12th in inequity. The Inequity Adjusted Human Development Index measures the extent to which human development is thwarted by inequitable distribution of wealth, health services and education. Evidently we do exceptionally well thwarting our citizens.

Lifeworks: A Zumba and Yoga studio thrives by serving young families

By transplanting and re-envisioning the child-friendly studio model she found in Israel to the Berkshires, Ilana Siegal has found her calling: “My priority is to make everyone who walks in here feel as if they are treated as full human beings.”

EDGE WISE: Happy holidays? Yes, happy holidays

I hope that this holiday season and throughout the year, we remember that giving can begin with how emotionally generous we are to ourselves. If we each take a deep breath and remember this, everyone else in our lives will feel the beautiful effects of that most important generosity.

Happy New Year – past and present

In young adulthood, you imbibed your way past any sense or inhibition, danced yourself into a good lather, and got to kiss your neighbor’s wife at midnight.

Culinary Adventures: The eponymous Preservation Society and P.S. Bistro

Chef and owner Christophe Jalbert places a high premium on local ingredients on his menus. In a short time that he has owned the former Route 7 Grill, Jalbert not only developed solid relationships with 40 or more farmers in the area, but the people who come to his restaurants expect locally grown food prepared to show off its high quality.

Connections: The Hawthorne Effect – does surveillance modify behavior?

In this world with crime cameras on every corner, cameras on police officers’ shoulders, and a camera phone in every hand, it would be nice to believe that filming/watching is a tool for the improvement of the human race. And yet…  

Voices from NESAWG, Part II: The pragmatic professor

"The veterans of the 'back to the land' movement who are now in their 70s didn't even know what a business plan looked like when they started out. But younger people today have way more business acumen. We sold the idea of using climate friendly biomass fuels for heating greenhouses by demonstrating that it would help their bottom line." -- UVM Extension Prof. Vern Grubinger

Voices from NESAWG: The young farmer and the future of food

The first of two reports from the Northeast Sustainable Agricultural Working Group(NESAWG): A centerpiece of NESAWG’s plan is the "50 by 60" program, which plans that by 2060, 50 percent of the food produced in the northeast should be consumed in the northeast. Tom Kelly of the University of New Hampshire envisions a tripling of New England acres under cultivation from 2 to 6 million.