The Rogovoy Report 4.29.24

From around the corner to around the globe...

Apr 28, 2024

Want to Be Happy? Get Married.

(The Atlantic) - What matters most for happiness—marriage, money, or something else entirely? The message of W. Bradford Wilcox’s new book is right there in the title: Get Married. “Marital quality is, far and away, the top predictor I have run across of life satisfaction in America,” Wilcox writes. “When it comes to predicting overall happiness, a good marriage is far more important than how much education you get, how much money you make, how often you have sex, and, yes, even how satisfied you are with your work.” According to survey data from Gallup, matrimony improves every flavor of well-being you can think of. Married couples experience more “enjoyment,” less “worry,” less “sadness,” less “stress,” less “anger,” and much, much less “loneliness.”

FASCIST TAKEOVER WATCH:

Asked about Donald Trump’s latest speeches, political historian Federico Finchelstein says: “This is how fascists campaign.” (NYT)

Donald Trump is used to the finer things in life. At the courthouse, ‘he’s miserable.’ (WSJ)

Trump allies draw up plans to blunt Federal Reserve Bank’s independence, allow president to set interest rates (WSJ)

Trump will dismantle key US weather and science agency, climate experts fear (The Guardian)

Viewers inside Joseph Grigely's "White Noise (polychrome),” 2023, at MASS MoCA (photo Murray Whyte/Globe Staff)

At MASS MoCA, Joseph Grigely Invites Visitors Into His Soundless World

(Boston Globe) NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - What does sound look like? How do words feel? That’s what “In What Way Wham? (White Noise and Other Works, 1996-2023),” an endearingly captivating exhibition of the work of Joseph Grigely at MASS MoCA, means to answer, and the droll, gently tragic nature of its unresolved conclusions are its triumph. Grigely, 67, has been deaf since a fall at the age of 10 robbed him of the world of sound he had, like most hearing people, taken for granted. Its loss was both profound, and fertile ground for an artist with an active mind and an absurdist worldview.

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NEWS FROM THE BERKSHIRES

Hilary F. Simon was photographed at her 2005 graduation with Matthew Rutledge, who was then a history teacher at Miss Hall's School in Pittsfield. Rutledge is now being investigated for sexually assaulting Simon and several other former students.

Former Miss Hall’s School Teacher Investigated After Four Former Students Allege Sexual Assault

(Boston Globe) PITTSFIELD, Mass. - A former teacher at a private high school for girls in Pittsfield is under investigation after four students accused him of sexual abuse dating back to at least 2001, according to prosecutors and the school. Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue’s office said it is investigating allegations against Matthew S. Rutledge, a history teacher at Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfield who resigned last month. Julia Sabourin, a spokesperson for Shugrue’s office, said Wednesday that prosecutors are investigating “the allegations of child sexual abuse against Mr. Rutledge.”

READ MORE:

Financial aid students will no longer have to suffer indignity of serving food to classmates at Williams College (WAMC)

Williams president, while ‘worried’ about campus unrest, says ‘We’re just fine’ (WAMC)

North Adams city council will consider rezoning property adjacent to Tourists resort next month (WAMC)

The Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum quietly leaves North Adams offices (Berkshire Eagle)

Great Barrington Selectboard to review independent report on ‘Gender Queer’ police investigation at Monday meeting (Berkshire Edge)

Great Barrington church considers stopping nighttime church bells to help neighbors sleep (NEPM)

Pittsfield water and sewer rates to rise 8 percent for fiscal year 2025 (WAMC)

Visions of redesigned downtown Pittsfield with protected bike lanes coming into focus (WAMC)

Monterey residents join ambitious national effort to bring American chestnut trees back from functional extinction (Berkshire Edge)

Egremont Selectboard candidate Ari Zorn: “I’m a Black man in America, and I have dealt with all of the injustices of being Black in America.” (Berkshire Edge)

New Lebanon receives $2 million in state budget to close landfill (WAMC)

Tick activity has surged early amid New England’s unusually warm winters (Boston Globe)

NEWS FROM THE HUDSON VALLEY

New Photo Book Highlights Creative Hudsonites

(ATU) HUDSON, N.Y. - At 70 years old, photographer Chad Weckler took a year to create 107 portraits of people who have made a creative impact on Hudson. He highlights these individuals in his new book, “Creative-Exposure/Portraits of Hudson, New York,” which he self-published earlier this year. Weckler started taking photos of Hudson creatives for his project in August 2022, completing the portraits one year later. Each subject gets a full-page spread, with a portrait on one side and a bio on the facing side. (Weckler’s self-portrait is also in the book.) In sum, it comprises a snapshot of Hudson’s creative scene. Weckler calls the project a “time capsule” of local people in the arts. To celebrate the book, Private Public Gallery is hosting a two-week portrait exhibition of Weckler’s project that opened on April 20 and runs through May 4.

READ MORE:

Spark of Hudson prepares for opening of new community center (WAMC)

Hudson to document historic fishing village before demolition (ATU)

Hudson city council says no to vague plans for public housing complex overhaul (HV360)

Columbia County surpasses Dutchess in home prices (HV360)

Public hearing set on Catskill Community Theatre restoration (HV360)

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