From the Gazebo

This week From the Gazebo speaks to Great Barrington Selectboard Chair and Berkshire Hills Regional School District School Committee Chair Steve Bannon. Bannon considers whether he’s a real local, his path to public service and what’s changed about it in the past decade or so. He also talks current events, such as what’s going on with the Housatonic Water Works crisis, Question 8’s proposed cannab...

Nadia Milleron is on the November 3 ballot in Massachusetts's First Congressional District. Village Green is publishing this conversation because voters should know where candidates stand. Her views are her own. Congressman Neal was offered the same opportunity by email, but his office did not respond to the invitation. SHOWNOTES: Nadia Milleron's campaign website Get full access to The Village Gr...

SHOWNOTES: Tickets for Fodder at Greenagers on Sept 27. Mother in Virginia arrested for allowing her competent child to walk to a pond. (We didn’t discuss this story but it’s crazy and people should know that this can happen.) The Anxious Generation , by Jonathan Haidt Get full access to The Village Green News at thevillagegreennews.substack.com/subscribe

SHOWNOTES: WEBSITE FOR UPDATES ON THE NEW MONUMENT MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECT A map of the South Pacific region, where Sheela served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Papua New Guinea, and Peter served in the Marshall Islands. Get full access to The Village Green News at thevillagegreennews.substack.com/subscribe

This episode is brought to you by Julie Haagenson of New Pathways , through which she offers individual coaching and group coaching, organizational facilitation. She’s writing a book on the human advantage, on which skills and attributes are going to be most in demand in the coming AI age. SHOWNOTES: HARVARD BUSINESS IMPACT STUDY MONTESSORI EDUCATION METHOD RUDOLF STEINER EDUCATION METHOD JULIE HA...

From the Gazebo is underwritten this week by Greenagers, whose campus at April Hill in South Egremont is a center of connecting local youth to conservation, sustainable farming, hands-on trades education, and environmental leadership. Greenagers reaches over 1,000 students countywide with education to inspire an environmentally engaged youth and citizenry. Their farm at April Hill produces more th...

This episode is brought to you by the Literacy Network , celebrating 35 years of service to the Berkshires with 1:1 tutoring for adults who need support with basic education or to improve their English. LitNet is excited to share that they will be opening a new Learning Center in Pittsfield later this month. LitNet has a substantial wait list of ready learners who need volunteer tutors, so contact...

Thank you to the Village Green subscribers who tuned into the Village Green’s very first live conversation! My apologies for glitches and bad lighting on my part. This was my first go at video so am working out kinks! Chris Meador and I had fun, and covered a wide range of questions related to AI, from educational uses to the data center question to which jobs are likely to be the most AI-proof. I...

Sheela sits down with Yes and Thinking's Chris Meador, local AI consultant, for a wide-ranging conversation about the most controversial technology of the 21st century, and comes out of it feeling, well, pretty good about it. Episode brought to you by Great Barrington Public Theater's new play iBoss, by Thomas Kee, opening July 23. Get full access to The Village Green News at thevillagegreennews.s...

Show Notes: Some of the venues we mention in our conversation. COMMUNITY Great Barrington Car Show, this year on Thurs, August 6th Guilder Pond, Mount Everett Alford Springs, BNRC CULTURAL Great Barrington Public Theater Chesterwood Berkshire Theatre Group: BTG Plays Summer Shakespeare and Company: Riotous Youth Summer Camp The Mount Bidwell House, in Monterey FOOD Southfield Store Bistro Box Yumm...

This week’s episode features local independent journalist, philatelist (you’ll have to listen to find out what that means), muckraker and editor of Reason Gone Mad , Bill Shein. He talked to the Postmaster General at a recent stamp convention, and he gets in the weeds on his latest reporting on the complicated history of 343 Main Street in Great Barrington and its adjacent plot of land, which now...

THIS EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY GREENAGERS Greenagers runs employment and education programs designed to support youth, environment, and community all at once. Conservation, Agriculture, and Trades training programs pay youth ages 14-24 to build trails, grow food, and build and repair local infrastructure. All programs are educational, by paying youth for this work we ensure young people have su...

Welcome to mushroom week at From the Gazebo, where the morels are having an excellent year. This week on From the Gazebo Sheela and Erik Also discuss what happened during the six + hours of Great Barrington’s 2026 town meeting, and welcome their first guest, local mycologist John Wheeler, who answers your mushroom questions. SHOW NOTES TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON’S INFORMATION ABOUT THE RESIDENTIAL T...

Just 2 episodes in, we’ve reached 900 downloads. We’ve been having so much fun we’re taking From the Gazebo (FTG) to twice-monthly episodes, and in this, our 3rd episode, Erik and I talk amongst about ourselves about our Village Green stats, my recent story on the state of cannabis and give a preview on the subject of an upcoming episode on birds and birding. SHOWNOTES From the Gazebo’s mentions a...

The Village Green News is supported by paid subscribers. Please become a paid subscriber to keep this local podcast going and please share it with your people. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to never miss an episode. * In this week’s episode Erik and Sheela discuss some bits of news from South Berkshire county and whether or not it makes sense to let ticks and bears keep you out...

From the Gazebo is the podcast of the Village Green News. Each month hosts Sheela Clary and Erik Bruun -- and/or their guests -- will talk about issues of interest and concern to South Berkshire County, Massachusetts. In this, our first episode, Sheela Clary and Erik Bruun talk about the state of vultures, ice cream and disagreement in Great Barrington, among other things. Referenced: So Co Creame...