Review of Amherst town charter nears completion

Letting it fly: Golfer Bill Wonkka wins car with hole-in-one at fundraiser for Northampton Senior Center

NORTHAMPTON — A hole-in-one is the ultimate accomplishment in the game of golf given its rarity and level of difficulty to accomplish… that is, for most amateur golfers. Bill Wonkka, of Templeton, earned an ace at last month’s Swing for Seniors 3 fundraiser golf tournament, to benefit the Northampton Senior Center, at Saint Anne Country […]

Celebrating compassion, preserving culture

HADLEY — Arranged in a semicircle at the Most Holy Redeemer Church parking lot on Monday, July 6, Tibetans took a deep breath of juniper-scented air, raised the flour pinched between their fingers and let out their breath in a long, harmonious “om.” As soon as the third sacred chant ended, they tossed the barley […]

Keeping Score with Chip Ainsworth: We all know who will be remembered

Good morning! The Frontier School Committee’s decision not to keep the plaque honoring Greg Belanger under the new scoreboard shows the disconnect between then and now, of when humidity on hot August days was measured by the smell of the pickle brine, when tractors hauled tobacco crops through town, surveyors gathered outside Graves Street for […]

‘It’s like time travel’: Site-specific plays at Historic Deerfield connect modern-day guests to American Revolution history

As the high-80s heat bore down on them, two young men in sweatpants and tricorne hats were discussing their love lives, a potential prank and the coming revolution. Elihu Ashley, a doctor’s apprentice, checked to make sure his father wasn’t eavesdropping as he talked with his friend David Dickinson about mounting political tensions in their […]

Columnist Bill Newman: 'And Death Shall Have No Dominion' 

I first read Dylan Thomas when I was 17. Fifty-eight years later I still read his poems, most recently, “And Death Shall have No Dominion.”  Its theme: after a human life ends, we somehow, mysteriously remain part of the universe and each other. Despite my agnosticism, this poem speaks to me. It always has.  On June 6, my wife Dale and I attended a memorial service for Paki Wieland at Northampton’s First Churches. I met Paki decades ago through her colleague and […]