Community

Community

Dan' Diary: Hollywood on the Hudson

We're going to be more interested than usual in the Academy Awards this year, because two friends of Rural Intelligence, whom we featured last year, have a big stake in the outcome: Courtney Hunt, the director of Frozen River (which closed last year's Berkshire International Film

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Community

Is There A Humane Way to Kill Mice?

I wasn't feeling particularly pleased with myself the other day when I found dead mice in both my garage and in the cupboard over my refrigerator.  I was feeling guilty. I have heard people talk about humanely getting rid of mice, but I wondered if that is just

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Community

Powerless: Ten Lessons Brought Home by the Ice Storm

For many of us, the morning of Friday, December 11, dawned dark indeed.  After a night of freezing rain, every twig and branch on every tree was heavy with ice, which was both eerily beautiful and spectacularly destructive.  Top-heavy trees fell on power lines, leaving thousands of households in

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Community

Community: How To Think About How To Give

The mailbox is full not only with greeting cards but solicitation letters from worthy charities of every imaginable sort. Giving to the local volunteer fire department and library is a no-brainer, but how do you effectively make donations that are meaningful to you and your neighbors as well as

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Community

The Inauguration: The Next Best Thing to Being There

On January 20, 2009,  three million people—no wait, make that five million people, or is it ten million?  Anyway, as many people as can possibly squeeze in are expected to turn up in Washington, D.C. to bear witness as President-Elect Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of

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Community

The Wonderland that is Winter Walk

Come as a clown, a clock, a character from Dickens, or simply as you are.  Bring the kids, the dog, grandpa, and your most exacting, hard-to-please friends.  Like Hudson itself, Winter Walk, the annual citywide holiday festival that takes place this Saturday, December 6, from 5 to 8,

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Community

Christmas Past is Present in Stockbridge

“Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas (Home for Christmas),” Norman Rockwell.Oil on canvas. “McCalls,” December 1967. ©1967. Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing, Niles, IL. From the permanent collection of Norman Rockwell Museum. All over the United States, people fantasize about an old-fashioned Christmas, the kind you see in the

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Community

Community: The Many Ways of Giving to Food Banks & Pantries

Hunger is the last thing anyone reading this is likely to suffer this week, as we overeat our way through Thanksgiving, the kick-off of the caloric bonanza that lies in the month ahead.  Or, if we do "suffer," it's from good hunger, the kind that&

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Community

Dan's Diary: Guilt-Free Mail Order

If you're like us, you want to support local businesses this holiday season, but sometimes it's conscience vs. convenience, and all you want to do is order from a catalog or website. You can shop online guilt free at Blue Q, the Pittsfield-based company that

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Community

Berkshire Museum's Festival of Trees Goes Green

It seems as if every school and not-for-profit group in the Berkshires is participating in the 24th annual Festival of Trees, which has an "eco-savvy and eco-fabulous" theme this year. There will be more than 200 trees on display made from sustainable, earth-friendly

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Community

Dan's Diary: Red, White and Mostly Blue

We know intuitively and anecdotally that we live in a very liberal corridor of the country but just how blue is our region in actuality?  Here are the percentage of votes that Barack Obama and Joe Biden received in a cross-section of towns in our region in Tuesday'

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Community

Early Voting, An Option?

For registered voters who at the last minute find it impossible to vote locally on Election Day, options vary state-to-state.  Alas, Connecticut voters with a last-minute change of plans are out of luck unless they had the foresight to apply for an absentee ballot. In Massachusetts "

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