Northampton History ❥ Finding Ways to Remember
Mar
11
2013
Note 23, History For an upcoming issue of Preview Massachusetts Magazine, I was in Northampton interviewing a chef and a restaurant owner this week. It’s a space he relatively recently took over and we were recalling together what it had been in its last incarnation. That evening, my husband and I strained to recall what [continue reading]
Great Halls & Great Spaces in the Pioneer Valley
Jan
14
2013
Mash Note No. 21: On Great Halls and Great Spaces The day after Christmas, my daughter Saskia and I took the grandparents to the Eric Carle Museum. For the most part, we followed Saskia’s lead: a juice box and pretzel snack in the cafeteria, a book perusal session in the library, and a puppet show. [continue reading]
Community in the Happy Valley ❥ Helping Friends and Neighbors
Oct
8
2012
Note 18, Community Recently, a friend of my third boy had a medical emergency. This is a lifelong buddy, who lives a hop, skip, one street crossed and a jump away so that play can flow like a helix from one abode to the other and back again. During the crisis, friends began to rally. [continue reading]
Affirming What’s Essential ❥ Love in Western MA
May
14
2012
Note 13, Civil Rights in Lesbianville The other day I was at our co-op and listening in at the checkout on a conversation between friends about exercise classes. The two women were lesbians and here, where we live in the town that earned its Lesbianville moniker long ago, that’s unremarkable. It struck me that I [continue reading]
A Year And Today in Paradise ❥ Comfort Spots in Northampton
Apr
9
2012
Note 12, There’s No Place Like Home The twelfth Mash Note to Paradise! Really? Over this past year in these notes I’ve loved our bike paths and our college town-y-ness, our farms and our farmers’ markets, our give back mentality and our reverence for all sorts of families and our indie vibes. Much as I [continue reading]
Gender, Family and Love in the Pioneer Valley
Mar
12
2012
Note 11, Openness About Gender, Family & Love Although Northampton Pride is a ways away, there’s an admirable flexibility about how we think of families and love and gender and identity in these parts that I can’t take for granted. Every single time my preschooler is playing family and says something like, “I’ll be the [continue reading]