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The Rural We: Lisa Lansing Simont

Lisa Lansing Simont is one of those people whose careers you look at and say “whoa.” Following graduation at Mount Holyoke, she was a reporter at the Berkshire Eagle, after which she moved to Washington, D.C. There she took a position at the Congressional Quarterly, then worked for Pierre

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Sylvia Center Cooks Up A Family Class at Valley Variety

Program Director Jenn So with young cooks in training. By Jamie LarsonThe Sylvia Center at Katchkie Farm in Kinderhook is an excellent example of how our regionally specific “farm to table” philosophy runs deeper than commerce and consumption. The programing provided on site at the farm during the growing season,

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Community

It’s A Zoo At Millbrook School (And We Don’t Mean The Kids)

Red panda cub with Millbrook School student Zooies. Photos courtesy Millbrook School. By Merida Welles Coati and Kinkajou, Kea and Rhea. Foreign dishes? Exotic holiday spots? Hardly! These extraordinary creatures are just a few of the 180 exotic and indigenous animals housed at Trevor Zoo, Millbrook School’s six-acre

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Community

Ten 10x10 Activities You Should Consider

There’s really only one thing that’s not a ten about Pittsfield’s 10x10 Festival: this is the sixth year it’s been supplying locals with reasons to get out on a winter afternoon or evening. Taking our cue from the theme, we're highlighting ten of the

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The Rural We: Wanda Houston

Singer, actor and vocal coach Wanda L. Houston grew up performing – acting in her father’s theater company and singing with her mother, brother and sister in the Houston Singers. After receiving her undergraduate degree in Vocal Performance (with a concentration in Opera), Houston moved from Chicago to Los Angeles

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Community

The RuraList: Ways To Sweeten Your Valentine's Day

You don’t have to be part of a traditional twosome to take advantage of these special Valentine’s Day meals, deals and ideas. Treat your best friend to a swanky dinner and a show, or invite your mom to a wine and chocolate tasting or a love-inspired lecture.

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The Rural We: Maria Nation

Photo: Andre Baranowski of MDN. Maria Nation is a prolific screenwriter who lives in Ashley Falls, Mass. Born and raised in California, she moved to New York in 1984, where she first started selling scripts. She moved to the Berkshires in 1997, and has been able to sustain her career

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The Rural We: Alison Larkin

Photo by Sabine von Falken Alison Larkin is an internationally acclaimed comedienne, actress, producer, screenwriter and the award-winning narrator of more than 150 audiobooks, many of them New York Times bestsellers that have appeared on countless "Best of the Year" and "Pick of the Month"

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Hudson Sock Auction Brings Warmth At A Cold Time

By Jamie Larson It’s hard these days, for Americans with the capacity for empathy, to know how to prioritize our not inexhaustible philanthropic energies and resources, beset as we are, on all fronts now, by animus and woe. When the whole nation seems to be falling quickly into a

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The Rural We: Karen Bussolini

Karen Bussolini is a widely published garden photographer, speaker, writer, NOFA-Accredited Organic Land Care Professional and eco-friendly garden coach. Although trained as a painter, and boasting a successful career as an architectural photographer, she now focuses her lens on gardens. Her own garden is South Kent, Conn. has

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Community

The Rural We: Christina Lowery

Girl Rising CEO Christina Lowery has traveled the world working on documentary films and producing programs for The Documentary Group, ABC, CNN, A&E, Bill Moyers and The History Channel. Now, from her home in New York’s Hudson Valley, Lowery builds on the success of the three-year-

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The Rural We: Van Shields

If you’ve been hearing more and more about the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Mass. over the past five years, that has a lot to do with its executive director, Van Shields. Under his benevolent watch, the venue has become a powerhouse of creative programs for kids, wide-ranging workshops

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