No recitation of the number of Americans killed by guns — men, women, and increasingly, children — can carry the emotional power of hearing that three 9-year-olds were just slaughtered in their school, the latest in a long line of such horrors. The result for all of us is terror: a state of …
Maybe it’s the Berkshire County air, or a certain heartiness that one must possess to get through the long cold winters. Whatever it is, there is a special kind of person that moves to this part of the world when others of a certain age are flocking to year-round sunshine, warmth and golf. And it’s not just because people are friendly. There are friendly people all over, but they are rarely this interesting.
Living in the Berkshires, I have been fortunate to have some really good doctors. But I also know that doctors who decide to practice here make a sacrifice to do so. While the Berkshires are a beautiful place to live and raise children, doctors do not make the same salary as they would in a metropolitan area, and with the student debt that most physician’s carry it is a real problem.
One after another, they looked at a seething, conspiracy-addled crowd and indulged, fed and stoked every element of their furious worldview. I didn’t see a single true leader on Trump’s stage, not even Trump himself. I saw a collection of followers, each vying for the affection of the real power in Waco, the coddled populist mob.
College basketball is so much fun to watch. And perhaps Charlie Baker, who knows how to survive and achieve in a hostile environment, will get the NCAA’s problems squared away.
It’s a blessing moving into a home, as I did 13 years ago, where the previous owners had been interested in the plantings. Hence a lovely hawthorn, flowering dogwood, flowering quince and a linden tree that, when flowering, smells sweet.
At the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War, we stand in the same position relative to the initial invasion as America stood in 1985 relative to the 1965 arrival of our first combat troops in Vietnam. This makes it a useful moment to compare the two conflicts and their effects, and to consider — provisionally, always provisionally — which was more disastrous, which intervention deserves to be remembered as the worst foreign policy decision in our history.
Canyon Ranch gave more to the Berkshires than jobs for its workers and room taxes to Lenox.
For hundreds of years, Moscow surrounded itself with satellite countries run by obsequious rulers. From the Soviet days, think of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and East Germany. Now, in a tale of changing places, Russia is emerging as an economic satellite of China.
Meteorologists are reporting about it. Calendars proclaim it. Even the birds are chirping about it (much too early in the morning and too loudly, I might add). Spring. Spring. Spring. Sorry, I can’t get on that particular bandwagon — not when the snow in my backyard is still over the tops of my boots.
If I wanted to play it safe, I’d employ a “verbal hedge,” which is a word or phrase used to lessen the impact of a statement.
Why choose to live here in the first place if you’re only willing to experience three out of its four seasons?
{{summary}}
Trending Now
-
Fredric D. Rutberg: Canyon Ranch founder Mel Zuckerman left a legacy of fitness and health
-
Richard Reiss: In the Berkshires, we found a small world with big possibilities
-
Lauren R. Stevens: Chestnut trees and genetic engineering
-
Letter: It breaks my heart to think of losing the Triplex
-
Our Opinion: Lenox cell tower opponents should acknowledge public safety claims cut both ways
Editorials
Cell service is itself a public health issue, though not just in the way tower opponents claim it is. If police or firefighters cannot make or receive emergency cellphone calls from huge swaths of a town in the 21st century, that is a public health problem. If residents who live in those coverage gaps lose power and are cut off from the outside world, as they were in the recent nor'easter, that is a public safety issue.
As with any new governmental entity, this one can increase its chances of success by announcing early a set of concrete goals designed to improve the lives of rural residents and communities — so that we have a meaningful benchmark by which to gauge that hopeful success.
At the darkest hour in the toughest conditions, these Southern Berkshire emergency responders embodied the grit and bravery sometimes required to answer the call of duty. Last week, that call beckoned from within a storm that could stop a snowmobile in its tracks — but it couldn't stop these rescuers. For that, they have our sincere gratitude.
Tapping into a uniquely Berkshire sense of neighborly teamwork makes sense for small towns struggling to budget for and provide basic services that their residents deserve.
St. Patrick’s Day is well-timed this year. No, not just because it falls on a Friday, but because it’s set to be a mild (albeit rainy) day right on the heels of the Berkshires’ biggest snowstorm in more than a decade. Having a relatively warm day to emerge from our snowy cells and share in s…
Before this week, Berkshire County was having a relatively warm winter with less snow than usual. Then, a nor'easter reminded us that we're in, well, the Northeast — and seemingly dumped a season's worth of the white stuff on us all at once.
If Mayor Tyer chooses to defer the selection of the next chief, it gives her administration the chance to sort out once and for all the delicate issues of whether the city should stick with its residency requirements and civil service process. Study and settle those issues now so the next mayor can move swiftly on what should be a priority for city leaders: selecting a new permanent leader for the Pittsfield Police Department.
The conductors and interpreters of this study have to be open-minded. It's easier said than done, but North Adams must be both imaginative and clear-eyed in assessing what it can do to better connect its downtown. This is a chance to think outside the box, but a six-figure federal grant for a study is the sort of chance that a small city might not see again soon.
We hope community stakeholders take this opportunity to voice their thoughts but also to keep their ears and minds open, too. After all, this proposal, while only targeting 23 of the Glen's 1,000-plus acres, is an important piece of a development puzzle that local leaders have been putting together for years.
{{summary}}
Editorial Cartoons
Letters to the Editor
To the editor: The stock markets are global gambling casinos where an investor (gambler) invests in a stock (places a bet) and hopes to see the value of their stock rise (win some money).
To the editor: Although some live above such concerns, Williamstown is broke.
To the editor: The recent news of the potential closing of the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington has left me shaken. ("A company that was planning to invest in the Triplex Cinema is short on cash. If the money isn't raised, the theater could close," Eagle, March 22.)
To the editor: Financial news headlines have been dominated in recent weeks by troubled, shareholder-driven banks facing collapse.
To the editor: I applaud the School Committee for postponing the hire of a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEI) administrator position because of budgetary concerns.
{{summary}}
To the editor: I have been a Ward 3 resident for some 15 years and have been involved with things that affect our Ward 3 residents for years.
To the editor: On Sunday, March 19, in the parking lot of St. Stanislaus in Adams, an African-American woman sitting in a car with two toddlers was threatened by a white man who pulled up next to her car, rolled down his window, extended his arm and made the gesture of shooting a pistol at her.
To the editor: I am writing to applaud the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts for its decision to establish a bachelor of science in nursing program here in the Berkshires. ("MCLA is adding an undergraduate nursing program to help address a demand for nurses in Berkshire County and boost …
To the editor: Regarding the article “Climate change activists urge to ditch big banks for locals” (Eagle, March 23), I am very confused by what was presented in the article.
To the editor: The time is approaching for my annual voting disenfranchisement, aka town meeting.
{{summary}}
Things to do this week in Berkshire County
A tribute to those we have lost, December 2022 - February 2023
Prepare for the long-term with The Berkshire Eagle’s annual guide to financial readiness and life planning.
A tribute to those we have lost, September - November 2022
The best of the best of Berkshire County, chosen by Berkshire Eagle readers
1Berkshire presents the official guide to the 66th Annual Fall Foliage Parade.
The annual guide to preparing your home for the coming New England winter.
Berkshire Community College presents an annual roundup of forty young leaders making a difference in Berkshire County.
Embrace warmer weather with the Berkshire Eagle's guide to backyard improvement.
