On February 19 in Amherst, Sunny Jain and his band will perform a concert at the Drake. The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 in advance. A video of the band playing is at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIYIn7yTtTo
One of the highlights is the flute solo at the 21 minute mark.
In Springfield on November 14 at 9 p.m., Cheryl Arena will play a concert. The web site for the venue is https://theodoresbbq.com. Based on that site, it seems that admission is free. Arena has a web site at https://cherylarena.com. A video of one of her concerts is at:
On November 13 in Amherst, about 300 people marched. They were calling for jobs with justice. Specifically they were demanding “that UMass Amherst’s chancellor Javier Reyes, who is directing the university’s bargaining team, settle the contract, which has kept the Professional Staff Union’s 2,400 members, including over 1,600 members at Amherst, from seeing the cost of living adjustments that have helped almost every other state worker in Massachusetts meet rising inflation,” one of the workers, Ari Jewell, told the Valley Post.
Thanks to the work of bike-ped activists in Brattleboro, the select board voted to support the creation of a new bike-ped path that will connect downtown with a network of rail trails that goes to Keene and beyond. The Brattleboro select board is the equivalent of Northampton's mayor and city council combined.
A front page article in the November 5 edition of the Brattleboro Reformer daily newspaper was headlined, “Plan approved for new Connecticut River trail. Walking path should be usable by spring.”
In a victory for old growth forests, two land trusts on October 27 said they had saved 2,100 acres in the Pioneer Valley towns of Belchertown and Pelham. “The land will be stewarded as 'forever wild,' taking a passive management approach to the forest to encourage old growth conditions to develop,” the land trusts said at:
www.kestreltrust.org/2000-acres-permanently-conserved-with-trustees-10-25/
Workers at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital held a well-attended rally for justice. “We started bargaining our first union contract in May,” Sarah Cheslawski told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on October 29. She has worked at the hospital for 10 years. She is the lead CAT scan technologist. “We had a pretty steady schedule of bargaining sessions. Then the hospital had a leadership change and they canceled the bargaining session we had scheduled for October 8. Then they canceled the two Wednesdays since, including today.”
About 13,000 people marched or rallied on October 18 in the Pioneer Valley, Brattleboro and Keene. The protests were against Trump's policies. Here are the crowd size estimates for each city and town, based on first-hand reporting at the Brattleboro march, interviews with reputable people who were at the other protests, and other sources:
3,500 Brattleboro
3,000 Greenfield
3,000 Northampton
1,500 Amherst
900 Westfield, Massachusetts
400 Keene
300 Orange, Massachusetts
The organizers have a web site at www.NoKings.org.
In Holyoke, people are fighting to save a 23 acre forest. “The lawn signs have been a big success,” Kerry Anne Schoeffel told the Valley Post in a voice phone interview on October 17. She is a member of the group Save Elmwood Forest. “We're asking people to put them up. They can get the signs from us. People should also contact the city council. We are not endorsing candidates in the upcoming election but we encourage people to ask the candidates about the forest.”
Every week, about 600 people read the Valley Post. Many more people listen to the audio versions of our articles that air on radio stations in Northampton, Greenfield, and Brattleboro. Donations from readers is the Valley Post's only source of income. To avoid conflicts of interest, we reject advertising and government funding. Please make a donation and/or volunteer for the Valley Post.
In Northampton on October 17, there will be a rally to support dishwashers, janitors and other workers at Smith college. The rally starts at 4:15 p.m. outside 8 College Lane. The workers who are organizing the rally have a web site at www.seiu32bj.org.
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