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Fall 2010 schedule at The Mount

Fall 2010 schedule at The Mount, in Lenox, Mass.

Edith Wharton’s Favorite Ghost Stories

Monday-Thursday, October 25-28 at 4 p.m.
Enjoy daily readings of Edith Wharton’s favorite ghost stories by Edgar Allan Poe, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, M.R. James, and Washington Irving. Not for the faint of heart! Free with admission to The Mount.

Special Halloween Ghost Tours

Friday, October 29 at 6 p.m. & 7 p.m. and Saturday, October 30 at 11 p.m.
This special “enhanced” Halloween tour will explore some of the most haunted parts of the estate to find out which ghosts may still be here… Delightfully frightful!

Due to mature content, these tours are not suitable for children 8 years and under. Advance reservations required and highly recommended. Space is limited. Tickets: $25

Saturday Night Fright Halloween Eve Ghost Tour & Reading

Saturday, October 30 at 6:30 p.m.
Take a special Halloween ghost tour of the stables and grounds followed by a special reading of “After Holbein”, a spine-tingling Wharton ghost tale performed by Ariel Bock and Jonathan Epstein of Berkshire Theatre Festival. Light refreshments will be served following the program. Costumes encouraged!

Due to mature content, this tour is not suitable for children 8 years and under. Advance reservations required and highly recommended. Space is limited. Tickets: $35

Driving directions and info. for The Mount.

A Ghost Abandons the Haunted, poem by Katie Cappello

American Life in Poetry: Column 292. By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2004-2006

Here’s our Halloween poem for 2010:

A Ghost Abandons the Haunted

by Katie Cappello

You ignore the way light filters through my cells,
the way I have of fading out—still
there is a constant tug, a stretching,
what is left of me is coming loose. Soon,

I will be only crumbs of popcorn,
a blue ring in the tub, an empty
toilet paper roll, black mold
misted on old sponges,

strands of hair woven into
carpet, a warped door
that won’t open, the soft spot
in an avocado, celery, a pear,

a metallic taste in the beer, a cold sore
on your lip—and when I finally lose my hold
you will hear a rustle and watch me spill
grains of rice across the cracked tile.

Katie Cappello lives in Northern California.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2009 by Katie Cappello, from her first book of poetry, Perpetual Care, Elixir Press, 2009. Reprinted by permission of Katie Cappello and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2010 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

Berkshire Co-op starts Agrissistance Club

NB: Unfortunately, The Agrissistance Program event scheduled for Saturday October 23rd has been postponed until the spring. In the end, it was a bear of weekend for people around the co-op and the signups just didn’t happen.

We are not going to let this temporary delay discourage our plans to become more involved with our farming community. Please be on the lookout for more programs coming soon, including workshops, business tours and more. The co-op would like to thank Jen and Pete Salinetti in their effort towards getting this program off the ground. If you have any comments or suggestions regarding what you would like to see in our Agrissistance program, please contact Jenny: education@berkshire.coop.

Berkshire Co-op Market in Great Barrington will hold the inaugural Agrissistance Club meeting at Woven Roots Farm in Lee, MA on Saturday, October 23rd from 1:00 to 4:00.

The Co-op Agrissistance Club will do what it can to help local farmers by sending co-op volunteers to the farm to help with tasks like weeding, picking, clean up and more. In the process, volunteers will learn firsthand what it takes to run a farm and where the food they buy at the co-op and local farmers markets comes from. Woven Roots Farm in Lee is owned and run by Pete and Jen Salinetti. They grow vegetables and flowers of all kinds and are a frequent supplier to the co-op and local restaurants. During Lunch, Pete and Jen will offer some information about their farm, what they grow, and how they go about the process of sustainable farming.

Berkshire Co-op Market already runs a Farm Tour program that takes people on farmer led tours of the grounds of local farms. Agrissistance will add a participation aspect to the co-op’s programs that never existed before. Agrissistance projects may include planting garlic for next year, clearing the corn fields for winter and helping to build a new green house on the grounds. How much gets done depends on how many people sign up.

If you are interested in joining the Co-op Agrissistance Club, you can sign up at the store’s customer service desk or contact Jenny Schwartz at (413) 528-9697 or education@berkshire.coop. The first meeting will take place on Saturday, October 23rd from 1:00 to 4:00. Lunch will be provided by Berkshire Co-op Market.

MASS MoCA

MASS MoCA

Article by .

MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass. the Berkshires; photo by N-Lange.de
MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass. the Berkshires; photo by N-Lange.de
MASS MoCA occupies an industrial complex built between 1870-1900 by the Arnold Print Works, which produced printed textiles until becoming unprofitable during WWII. Then, the local Sprague Electric Company bought the property and manufactured capacitors and electrical components until competition forced it to close in 1985.

See also: performing arts events at MASS MoCA in 2014.

Within a year, a group from the nearby Williams College Museum of Art looked at the property as a place to display and exhibit large works of modern and contemporary art that wouldn’t fit elsewhere. That began the process that led to an $18.5 million grant from the state and the 1999 opening of MASS MoCA.

The exhibition, Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective, which Time magazine called the “…top museum exhibition of 2008,” will be exhibited in a 27,000 sq. ft. building through 2033. Since 2001, MASS MoCA has been home to the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, which was curated in 2010 by Wilco.

MASS MoCA contact info., map, driving directions

  • 87 Marshall St.; North Adams, MA 01247
  • Fall, Winter, Spring Hours: 11:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. closed Tuesday
  • Admission: $15 adults; $10 students; $5 children 6–16
  • Phone: 413.MoCA.111
  • Web: massmoca.org

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Clark Art Institute

Clark Art Institute

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The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, which is widely known as simply The Clark, opened in Williamstown, Mass. in the midst of the Cold War in 1955, where the founders hoped that their remarkable collection of Old Masters, Impressionist, and Barbizon school paintings would be safer from Soviet missiles than in New York where the Clarks had been ammassing their private collection for forty years. Sterling Clark was an heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune and had ties to Williamstown because his father and grandfather had been Williams College trustees.

Stone Hill Center at The Clark Art Institute
Stone Hill Center at The Clark Art Institute
In 2008, the Clark added significant exhibition space and a conservation studio with the opening of the Stone Hill Center, designed by Tadao Ando. Today, The Clark’s schedule of public exhibitions makes it one of the most popular venues in the Berkshires and its research center attracts top academics and students from around the world.

Clark Art schedules Romantic Nature: British and French Landscapes – through Sept. 20, 2011

Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute contact info

  • 225 South Street
  • Williamstown, MA 01267
  • 413-458-2303
  • web: clarkart.edu

Clark Art Institute driving directions

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Barrington Stage Company

Barrington Stage Company Pittsfield MA

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Barrington Stage Company, which was founded in 1995, has been located in Pittsfield, MA since moving into a renovated theatre on Union St. in 2007. BSC developed, workshopped, and premiered The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, the musical by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin, in 2004 in Gt. Barrington, MA. Spelling Bee opened on Broadway the next year and won Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Featured Actor, as well as 3 Drama Desk Awards and numerous others. Barrington Stage Company 2014 schedule

Barrington Stage Company contact info.

  • Mainstage: 30 Union Street
  • BSC Stage 2: 36 Linden Street (Pittsfield VFW)
  • Box Office: 413-236-8888
  • Administration: 413-499-5446
  • Website: barringtonstage.org

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