The Rural We

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The Rural We: Cherri Sanes

Cherri Sanes and her husband Scott own and run ExtraSpecialTeas, a teahouse in downtown Great Barrington, Mass. that provides habilitation therapies and vocational opportunities for young adults with special needs who would not otherwise be employed. The nonprofit celebrated its one-year anniversary this past April, and in June Sanes accepted

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The Rural We: Ruth Jaffe

A psychoanalyst in New York City until two-and-a-half years ago, Ruth Jaffe and her husband now live full time in Washington Depot, Connecticut. While she does see some clients in Litchfield County on a part-time basis, you’re more apt to see her volunteering her time teaching Spanish (she’s

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The Rural We: Ron Harrington

Hillsdale, New York resident Ron Harrington has been a TV commercial actor, print model, interior designer, bookkeeper and, along with his husband, Rick, a longtime member of the PantoLoons at the Ghent Playhouse. This weekend, he’ll reveal another of his talents in his first one-man show, “Works on Wood,

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The Rural We: Elyse Sadtler

Elyse Sadtler lives in Kent, CT.

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The Rural We: Michael Beck

Michael Beck, a former patent lawyer with a master’s degree in biochemistry, has been the executive director of the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge, Mass. since 2014. Beck had been a part-time Richmond, Mass. resident and a trustee of the BBG since 2012 when the directorship became available. He

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The Rural We: David Adkins

David Adkins is an Artist Associate at the Berkshire Theatre Group (BTG) in Pittsfield, Mass., where he’s performed in 25 productions and is currently the director of the intern acting program. He began his acting career as a teen at the McDonogh School in his native Maryland, but left

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The Rural We: Rowan Willigan

What do you do when you have a surfeit of talent, energy and interests in a long list of creative realms? If you’re Rowan Willigan, a dancer-choreographer-artist-photographer-teacher and food blogger (we’ve probably left out a few other activities), you do them all. Red Hook, New York born and

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The Rural We: Rory Block

Photo by Sergio Kurhajec “Her playing is perfect, her singing otherworldly,” The New York Times has said of singer and guitarist Rory Block. Born in Princeton, N.J., Block grew up in Manhattan, where she was playing guitar by the age of 10 and sitting in on jam sessions in

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The Rural We: Chan Lowe

Chan Lowe, a syndicated editorial cartoonist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and other papers, has recently joined the staff of the Berkshire Eagle. He spent 33 years at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, and was a Pulitzer

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The Rural We: Peter Taylor

Peter Taylor has been president of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation since January 2016. His path to philanthropy started while he was associate dean of students at Bates College; that’s when he started to serve on nonprofit boards. He left higher education to work for the Maine Community Foundation.

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The Rural We: Richard Wise

Locals will recognize Richard Wise as the proprietor of the former R.W. Wise Goldsmiths in Lenox, Mass. Wise is an internationally renowned graduate gemologist, goldsmith and the author of “Secrets of the Gem Trade: The Connoisseur’s Guide to Precious Gem Stones," which has recently been re-released in

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The Rural We: Alice Maggio

Alice Maggio is the Executive Director at BerkShares, Inc., as well as Director of Programs at the Schumacher Center for a New Economics. Since 2012 she’s worked with the board of BerkShares, now in its 11th year, to use the currency as a tool for local economic development. Maggio

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