The Fabulous 413

We're creating the spaces for community to come together.  In the Berkshires, it's found in one of the country's oldest public gardens. The Berkshire Botanical Garden is getting ready for the autumn with its yearly celebration of the season, and will host its annual Harvest Festival this weekend. We speak with executive director Mike Beck about the festivities that people can experience on their g...

We're diving full on into the arts today, and bringing them from afar. On Thursday, Oct. 9, the Fine Arts Center at UMass Amherst will be launching its 50th anniversary season with an intrepid look at the very nature of our disposable inclinations. "Poems of Consumption" explores consumer culture post-COVID through electronic music with lyrics rooted in Amazon product reviews. The performance is t...

Today we're speaking with two folx making big plans for the future.  In Northampton, Smith College has just announced it's The Next 150 Pledge, wherein undergraduate students from families making less than $150,000 per year will have free tuition to the institution. We speak with current  president of the college, Sarah Willie-LeBreton, about this initiative through the lens of the alumnae and cur...

We’re looking at the many ways we care for each other. Including the connections between that care and the land. The novel "Harvesting Legacy: A Farm’s Journey" explores the fate of one farm as its steward ages and is no longer able to care for the parcel in his age as he once was. The book looks at the choices and paths afforded to him and we’ll speak with its author Michael Hutton-Woodland about...

This weekend sees two days of community storytelling that is focused on the experiences of women told in their own time and words. The Tell Her This podcast comes to Bombyx in Florence for two days of very different live storytelling experiences. We speak with its creator Rochelle Rice about the importance of these stories to the ways we learn about ourselves, and teach those coming after us about...

We’re taking a hard look at our communities to see where we might grow and grow better.  In Springfield for the past 50 years, that’s meant MLK Family Services , who’ll bring back their Social Justice Awards on Oct. 18 . But celebrating the change-makers in our area is far from all they do at the center. We're joined by President and CEO Shannon M. Rudder, and Ariana Williams, chief of public heal...

We’re doing the stuff of big kids, because it’s good to remember that keeping a little youth in your perspective is a very good thing.  In Easthampton, we visit everyone’s houses to experience a city wide music celebration. The 3rd annual Easthampton Porchfest takes place Saturday, Oct. 4, now with three centralized neighborhoods to explore western Massachusetts sounds in. We speak with organizers...

Science and the arts combine voltron-like, which is a reference that dates us, but bear with. We’re off to Westfield to see the farm stand created when two science teachers made an enemies to lovers story real, and use their day jobs to make the growing better for the planet. Kosinski's Farm Stand may have started with a rivalry between a blueberry and a strawberry farm, but today it’s fruit, prod...

We’re headed for the hills, which are full of community! Including a health center that’s been keeping the folx in the many-hidden hilltowns healthy. Hilltown Community Health Center got its start 75 years ago tangentially through a campaign of a former Red Cross nurse, but over the years has outgrown its Worthington origins, into much more. We speak with doctors Michael Purdy and Debbie DiStefano...

Today is full of intrigue. Pulitzer Prize winning author Alex Storozynski joins us to talk about his academic exploration of free speech in the Eastern Bloc, which in turn leads him to incredible discoveries about his own family and their impact on both WWII and the modern day. all of which can be found in " Spies In My Blood: Secrets of a Polish Family’s Fight Against Nazis and Communists ," his...

We’re uncovering histories, and doing some exploration. In Ashfield this weekend, you’ve got the chance to preview a new work about the long lasting effects of slavery on the American landscape. "Seeing Violet" is a new play about the repercussions of one couple discovering their own connection to the triangle trade through a series of revelations at their home, and how that influences their inter...

This is what democracy looks like. How so? Well it’s in mutual aid and there’s a local organization that’s been helping the folx of the community through too many programs to list here. And that organization is about to experience a change in leadership. Community Action Pioneer Valley has thrived under the for the past 14 years under the guidance of Clare Higgins who’ll step down this month. We’l...

Today there's books, and ideas, and great music to accompany both.  In Lenox, 16 authors will gather to have live real conversations on a wide range of topics in order to encourage more healthy discourse. The Writers, Ideas, and Thinkers Festival , or WIT as we colloquially call it, starts this Thursday, and we’ll speak with The Author Guild’s director of programming Bernard Schwartz about the fol...

We’re covering the full breadth of the bay state and a pinch of the sky.   Mass Humanities has begun to honor those with particularly interesting and important stories to tell about and to Massachusetts, and their second honoree might be best known for Shipping up to Boston. Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphys will receive the honor and we talk with the man himself as well as Brian Boyles of Mass Hu...

We are in the North County of the Berkshires as we say goodbye to summer, and hello to Fresh Grass. This Friday, Saturday and Sunday The FreshGrass Music Festival at Mass MoCA in North Adams will feature grassroots music from a swath of diverse genres. And today on the show we’ll hear music from Juno Award, Americana Music Award, and Steve Martin Banjo Prize winner Allison DeGroot , whose new Fres...

Today is jam packed, with theater, books, and government.  One of those things is not like the others, but accidentally ties them together, as Congressman Jim McGovern explores the fallout of free speech in this country as censors come for Jimmy Kimmel,  the UN’s recent declaration of Israeli actions as Genocide, and much more.  There’s a book fair this weekend in Northampton that’ll encourage you...

Today we explore stars of screen, stage, page, and mutual aid.  On the page, we’re taking one from the Shelburne Falls Welcome Committee , who are co-hosting a benefit for immigrant rights this weekend with the  FCCPR Rapid Response Network . "It Can’t Happen Here: A Benefit for Immigrant Rights" is an event that will bring together activists, poets, musicians, storytellers, and even immigration l...

We’re helping our neighbors today in their passion, and in their hungers, and their survival. For survival we head to Mohawk Regional School where tomorrow the Mary Lyon Association is hosting a Resource Fair to connect community members with local resources and services, including SNAP/HIP, fuel assistance, literacy programs, senior services, and much more. And we’ll chat with CEO Kristen Baker a...

Schools are a hot topic for this year's election cycle. And in Franklin County, there’s a big shift that may be on the horizon. Faced with a declining school-aged population, 6 towns are seeking to create a sustainable educational future by merging into one regional district. We’ll speak with Six Town Regionalization Planning Board members Greg Snedeker, Deb Potee, and Deb Loomer as well as Gill M...

We conclude our week of chatting with the 4 potential Mayors for Northampton who’ll be on the preliminary ballot this coming Tuesday. Jillian Duclos is pivoting from her role at the Downtown Northampton Association to seek the seat of leadership for the city of Northampton. The only renter of the 4 candidates shares with us her perspective on the place of small businesses in the future of the city...

Today we sit in the backyard of our third candidate seeking the position of mayor in Northampton as we spend this week conversing with all 4 of the folx on the preliminary ballot this coming Sept 16th. Dan Breindel has worn many hats in his career, but it’s the unanswered questions of himself and his neighbors that put him on his current path. We’ll hear about the choice to seek the mayoral seat i...

Our chats with the candidates for Northampton mayor continue with David Dombrowski , a Northampton native and former police officer looking to fill the seat and address the issues he sees within the city including concerns over Picture Main Street, revitalizing the local economy, examining the housing and financial woes of the city and more.  We’ll also head to Amherst to find out more about a new...

Today, we’re starting a deep dive into the politics light portion of our ethos, because Northampton has a heavily contested mayoral preliminary going on right now. So for the rest of the week we’ll be chatting with each of the four contestants in that particular race.  And today we’ll start those conversations with the woman who currently has that seat: Gina Louise Sciarra . We’ll explore how her...

We’re digging into a bit of delicious history and listening to decades of dedication  We sit with Mother-Son authors Jyoti and Auyon Mukharji, who’ve combined their talents to release the cookbook Heartland Masala . The book is an amazing and tasty snapshot not just of cultures meeting within one family, but of history, and interpersonal connections, with Jyoti’s incredible career trajectory from...

Today we get to play explorers: in our glasses, in our ears, and on our stages.  Tomorrow evening a work highlighting the experiences of women in an ongoing conflict overlooked by many will be presented at Holyoke Media. An Epic of Violence brings the stories of Sudanese women in their mother tongue to the stage through a company of six actors for a theatrical production and we’ll talk with the wr...