Editor

Arts

A Native Son Returns to the 4th Annual Kent Film Festival

Ethan Mechare, an actor, writer and filmmaker who grew up in Falls Village, CT, where his mother is now the First Selectman, is returning home from California for the Kent Film Festival. His documentary, Work Harder (click on the title to see the trailer), which chronicles the lives of Acela

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Community

Is The Mount Haunted?

The Mount, author Edith Wharton's splendid 1902 Lenox property, wasn't the first great estate built as a diversion from an unhappy marriage, nor will it be the last.  But haunted?  Apparently there's sufficient evidence to warrant an investigation by a t.v. show called

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Arts

A Conversation with "House of Cards" Author William D. Cohan

Author William D. Cohan, our neighbor in Columbia County, was an investment banker for 17 years before he left Wall Street and wrote his first best-seller, The Last Tycoons.  On Saturday evening, March 28, he will be at the Hammertown Barn in Pine Plains to talk about his latest

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Parties

Berkshire Grown Celebrates at the Red Lion Inn

On Monday, March 23, some of Berkshire County's most committed locavores—farmers, restaurateurs, chefs, civilians who are fussy about where their food comes from— gathered at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge to celebrate the first harvest of the season (maple syrup) at Berkshire Grown's annual

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Arts

Nostalgia Now: "Barns of the Berkshires"

Stephen Donaldson is a photographer who thinks like a cultural anthropologist. His latest book, Barns of the Berkshires (Schiffer Publishing, $24.95), not only documents a significant and vanishing part of our rural landscape but also sounds the alarm for saving barns before it's too late. "The

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Community

Community: Saving Chatham's Crandell Theatre

Concerned Chatham citizens met at the Spencertown home of John and Paige Orloff (our recipe maven) on Saturday, March 21, to discuss the future of the town's 83-year-old Crandell Theatre, the only movie house in Columbia County outside the city of Hudson.  Chatham Film Club board

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Food

Carole Murko Cooks Up a TV Pilot in Stockbridge

Like many people who once had big jobs in the big city and traded them in for country life, Carole Murko has been on the reinvention tour. Since arriving in the Berkshires from Boston where she had a successful career in finance, she has worked in real estate and as

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Style

Rural Rules of Life: Twenty Questions for Margaret Roach

A year ago, when Rural Intelligence was brand new, so was A Way To Garden.com, the garden blog produced by Margaret Roach from her home in Copake Falls, NY.  Though Margaret had been spending weekends toiling in her Columbia County garden for more than twenty years, she had only

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Arts

Documentaries Dominate the 4th Annual Kent Film Festival: March 26 - 29

Four years ago, without any experience or a business plan, Frank and Patrice Galterio decided to create a film festival in Kent, CT.  They envisioned an event that would attract international talent yet remain authentic, accessible and community-minded. "Everyone walks down the same red carpet here,” says Frank,

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Food

Rice and Beans: Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

One of the most frequent—and most confounding—requests I've received since writing for Rural Intelligence is to serve up a plan for an entire week's worth of dinners. I am not, however, a Monday-meatloaf, Tuesday-turkey kind of cook. Even if I wanted to

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Style

How and What to Buy at Auction: A Pro's Guide

Here Carey Maloney of M (Group), normally our Restoration correspondent, take us on a digital shopping spree to Stair Galleries forthcoming auction. OK – it’s my profession and my obsession.  I love Old Stuff – I’ve never been that interested in the brand new. I prefer old flatware over the

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Parties

The IS 183 Art School "Hair Ball" Was Over-the-Top

What do all generations have in common? They all have a love of creativity, a big dance floor, an open bar, and a good cause. Twentysomethings, thirtysomethings, fortysomethings, fiftysomethings, sixtysomethings, and seventysomethings partied together at the IS 183 Hair Ball on March 14 at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox. Basically

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