The Rogovoy Report 8.19.24

From around the corner to around the globe...

Aug 18, 2024

Should Parents Stay Home to Raise Kids?

(The Atlantic) - Most Americans on the left and the right agree that supporting families is a good idea, but they have different ideas about how to do it. People on the left tend to talk about subsidies to help families with two working parents pay for child care, whereas those on the right would prefer payments to help parents stay home with their children. On this issue, policy makers have waded into one of the most fraught battles of the “mommy wars”: whether children are better off if both parents work, or if one stays home.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Company artists Kouadio Davis and Alexandra Hutchinson in "Higher Ground." Dance Theatre of Harlem performs at Jacob's Pillow in Becket Aug. 21-25 (photo Theik Smith)

Dance Theatre of Harlem Keeps Lighting Paths for Young People of Color

(Boston Globe) BECKET, Mass. - A little-known fact: Dance Theatre of Harlem’s first ever performance for a paying audience took place at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket in 1970. For its 55th anniversary season, the company returns to the Ted Shawn Theatre this summer from August 21-25, its first appearance at the the Pillow since 2019. The dance company’s performances at the Pillow will feature a sweeping range of music and ballet. The program includes choreography by George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Robert Bondara, and Robert Garland, set to music by Tchaikovsky, James Blake, Radiohead, and Stevie Wonder.

Season Complete, Williamstown Theatre Fest Eyes What’s Next

(ATU) WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The weekend before the Williamstown Theatre Festival closed its 70th season earlier this month, the storied summer company was the busiest it had been since 2019. Over four days, 16 events were held, including the live recording of a hit podcast, the reading of a new work, two meal-based experiences and a community block party. Only one represented what the festival is traditionally known for, actors on a stage performing a complete play for an audience, but even it was a little different: It took place in a venue never previously used by the company for a full production. The minifestival-within-a-festival was called WTF Is Next, and company management has said it was intentionally designed to signal a definitive break from the past. What future seasons will look like in bucolic Williamstown remains somewhat uncertain because a new model for rotating artistic leadership is being implemented...

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MASS MoCA’s ‘Road to Hybridabad’ combines folktales and technology with the immigrant experience (Berkshire Eagle)

PREVIEW: Berkshire Opera presents Gounod’s ‘Faust’ at the Mahaiwe (Berkshire Edge)

PREVIEW: Roomful of Teeth will celebrate 15th summer at MASS MoCA with retrospective concert (B Eagle)

REVIEW: ‘Next to Normal’ a striking, emotional ride at Barrington Stage (ATU)

Chesterwood, Art Omi a comparison in outdoor sculpture (ATU)

NEWS FROM THE BERKSHIRES

Starkfield Lane, 2018-19 (photo Gregory Crewdson)

Gregory Crewdson Has Been Making Photographs for Almost 4 Decades. Now He’s Revisiting Them All.

(Vanity Fair) GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. - “I’ve always said that I think every artist has one central story to tell,” photographer Gregory Crewdson says on a call from Great Barrington, where he lives and works. “And they circle around that story, over and over again, over a lifetime, reinventing aspects of it and challenging others and trying to push things forward. But at the core of it, it’s like the central preoccupations remain fixed.” The concept is particularly timely for the photographer, who for the past three-and-a-half decades has been constructing gripping images that call to mind film stills, as his first-ever retrospective opened in May at the Albertina in Vienna. Later this month, the eponymous exhibition takes new form with the release of Gregory Crewdson, its 280-page catalogue edited by the Albertina’s chief curator of photography Walter Moser and published by Prestel. The book features more than 300 photographs and production stills that examine the complexities of American suburbia, be it through someone wandering a parking lot, shirtless and unmoored, or a twosome’s forlorn gazes into a television as its glow illuminates a basement, paired with writings from directors David Fincher and Matthieu Orléan, and novelist Emily St. John Mandel, among others.

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Lawyer for Housatonic Water Works challenges town’s authority (Berkshire Edge)

Residents cry foul over new directional signs in Stockbridge (B Edge)

Lenox loosens town manager residency restrictions (B Edge)

Former student wins $5M default judgment against closed Eagleton School for boys in Great Barrington over abuse, rape allegations (Berkshire Eagle)

Ex-crypto mogul Ryan Salame gets a 45-day delay in reporting to prison because a dog bit him (B Eagle)

New harm reduction vending machine in North Adams first of its kind in Mass (WAMC)

North Adams planners gives thumbs up to food pantry relocation (iBerkshires)

Defense lawyers believe their clients may have been racially profiled by Pittsfield Police (B Eagle)

Greylock Federal Credit Union partnering with NJ-based organization; 'small percentage' of employees will lose jobs (B Eagle)

Pittsfield launches campaign for new trash, collection system (iBerkshires)

Work resumes at Building 12 in wake of airborne PCB detection at Pittsfield site as GE meets conditions (B Eagle)

NEWS FROM THE HUDSON VALLEY

The Past, Present, and Future of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse

(Chronogram) HUDSON, N.Y. - In November 1874, the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse began operations after a $35,000 appropriation for its construction was approved by Congress. Its beacon guided boats as they passed through the lively shipping route along the Hudson River and ensured their safety as they navigated the hazardous Middle Ground Flats. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the lighthouse — both a cause for celebration and a reminder of the structure’s need for restoration. Despite the joy surrounding the anniversary of the historic structure — which sits in the middle of the river — its future is in a precarious position because of the situation unfolding below the water’s surface. As large vessels pass nearby, underwater wakes cause exponentially quickening damage to the lighthouse’s foundation, which is composed of 200 wooden pilings. A portion of the pilings has become exposed, speeding up their decomposition and sacrificing the integrity of the base. The roof and interior have been impacted too as cracks from the foundational shifts are leading to the potential for further harm.

READ MORE:

Union claims Hudson hospital bleeding staff as contract talks continue (ATU)

Historic Robert Taylor House in Hudson to be preserved, restored (GoR)

Hudson firefighters save city's Olympic torch on last day of 2024 games (Firehouse)

Free parking on Warren Street below Third in Hudson to end (GoR)

Hudson trail closed by National Grid (HV360)

Youth programs at Hudson’s Oakdale Lake to continue despite toxic algae bloom (HV360)

Suspended Catskill principal takes job at neighboring district (ATU)

Hudson River PCB studies are focus of online EPA sessions (Daily Freeman)

Stewart airport to get $24M to fix runway cracks (Daily Freeman)

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