The Rogovoy Report 8.21.23
From around the corner to around the globe...
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REQUIRED READING
How America Got So Mean
(The Atlantic) - Why have Americans become so mean? We’re enmeshed in some sort of emotional, relational, and spiritual crisis, and it undergirds our political dysfunction and the general crisis of our democracy. What is going on? The most important story about why Americans have become sad and alienated and rude, I believe, is also the simplest: We inhabit a society in which people are no longer trained in how to treat others with kindness and consideration. Our society has become one in which people feel licensed to give their selfishness free rein.
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We’re all preppy now (TNR)
From Victorian London to slavery in Jamaica, ‘The Fraud’ is Zadie Smith’s ‘dazzling’ new novel (The Guardian)
On Zadie Smith and the Gen X novel (Harper's)
FOOD & DINING
High Lawn Farm in Lee Celebrates 100 Years of Dairy
(Berkshire Eagle) LEE, Mass. - Berkshire County was once packed end-to-end with dairy farms. A handful remain, but only one still processes and bottles its own milk — High Lawn Farm. High Lawn Farm began producing milk and related dairy products in 1923. That date took on added significance Saturday, as the farm held a ceremony to honor the centennial anniversary of when the milk producing began. A farm has been located on the site since the mid-19th century.
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Local investors on standby to rescue Lenox restaurants owned by unindicted co-conspirator Ryan Salame (Berkshire Eagle)
Hilltown Hot Pies ‘pops up’ on property of former John Andrews Restaurant in advance of renovation (B Eagle)
Flying Church Coffee House in Great Barrington to reopen (Berkshire Edge)
After 8 months, Max -- a popular Lenox dining spot -- shuts down (B Eagle)
Different Drummer’s Kitchen in Lenox is holding a going-out-of-business sale ... again (B Eagle)
Red Lion Inn honors its past by revamping lobby and adding ‘Lions Bite’ menu option (B Eagle)
Dan Shaw recommends Route 22 dining spots between Copake and Brewster (RI)
Hudson’s Wunderbar Bistro to be featured on ‘America’s Best Restaurants’ (News10)
Universal Cafe & Bar: A tale of two sisters and one Germantown Inn (RI)
Sudden closure of Dominican restaurant Que Lo Que sparks confusion in Woodstock (ATU)
Where to dine in the Hudson Valley (ATU)
The upstate cheesemaker making cheese ‘worth clucking about’ (ATU)
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
After Less Than a Year on the Job, Hancock Shaker Village Director Nathaniel Silver Is Stepping Down
(Berkshire Eagle) PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After less than a year at the helm Hancock Shaker Village, director and CEO Nathaniel Silver is leaving the living history museum to return to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Curator Linda Johnson is also leaving after just over two years at Hancock Shaker. Silver, whose last day was Friday, will become the Gardner Museum's chief curator and associate director.
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New York Times calls BSO ‘dysfunctional’ and raises questions about its future (NYT)
DEPT. OF ILL-ADVISED IDEAS: In a desperate attempt to stem operating losses, Tanglewood OKs sales of alcoholic beverages inside Shed at Popular Artists concerts (B Eagle)
PREVIEW: Berkshire Opera Festival takes on La Bohème (Berkshire Eagle)
REVIEW: At Tanglewood: John Williams off-script and Renée Fleming to the rescue (WaPo)
New middle-grade horror novel takes place in Berkshires (WaPo)
Crandell Theatre in Chatham to get major overhaul (HV360)
Schenectady newspaper adds online entertainment site Nippertown to bolster local arts coverage (Daily Gazette)
NEWS FROM THE BERKSHIRES
In Great Barrington, Monument to W.E.B. Du Bois Will Mark Homecoming
(Boston Globe) GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. - W.E.B. Du Bois is coming home. Earlier this month, sculptor Richard Blake was tapped to create a monument depicting the sociologist, writer, and civil rights activist seated in front of the Mason Public Library on Main Street here in his native town. “Du Bois was important as a Black intellectual and sociologist, but more importantly, I believe, as a great American,” Blake said over the phone from his home in Lancaster, Pa. “I want to bring all my experience and artistry to make not just a good monument, but a statement that is commensurate with his worth to the world.” Also, Tide turns in honoring W.E.B. Du Bois, by Don Morrison (Substack)
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At least 40 Pittsfield workers reportedly laid off after Annie Selke Cos. is sold to Rugs USA (Berkshire Eagle)
A Pittsfield mother is suing GE and Monsanto for PCB pollution she claims caused her son’s leukemia (B Eagle)
North Adams man to traverse Berkshire County south to north in fundraiser for city teen center (WAMC)
TOO SOON GONE: ‘The kindest, gentlest man’: Berkshire County health advocate Charles 'Chip' Joffe-Halpern dies [I knew Chip Joffe-Halpern, and everything this appreciation says about him was true - he was a mentsh through-and-through, with a terrific sense of humor. The world is a lesser place without him. - SR] (B Eagle)
Worst season ever means no pick-your-own apples at Bartlett’s in Richmond (B Eagle)
No rain in forecast for Berkshires next week (B Eagle)
NEWS FROM THE HUDSON VALLEY
Meeting Across the River: Hudson Ferry Co. Connects Athens, Hudson
(ATU) HUDSON, N.Y. - There’s a long history of ferry service between Hudson and Athens but crossings had gotten a little spotty of late. Until this summer. On Memorial Day, the Hudson Ferry Co. stepped in where a previous operator left off, with a vessel named M/V Haendel. The Hudson Ferry Co. — tagline: “We go both ways!” — connects Hudson and Athens and also offers themed sightseeing tours and private charters around the Hudson area. Last summer, the timing of when you could hop on a ferry was kind of random, but this summer there’s a set schedule on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The Haendel will be zig-zagging the river until at least Oct. 15.
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The best of everything in the Hudson Valley (ATU)
COVID-19 numbers up in Columbia County (HV360)
Projectors roll again at reopened Hudson movie theater, where meals are served to patrons during the film (HV360)
Columbia County plans to purchase vacant strip mall in downtown Hudson (Columbia Paper)
Foundation denies plans for ‘building swap,’ demolition; has no plans for reopening Helsinki Hudson (HV360)
Investigation into how man died while in custody of Catskill police seems to have stalled (HV360)
Hudson city council considers temporary parking amnesty law (HV360)
After seven-year closure, reconstruction of bridge to river gets green light in Hudson (HV360)
New York’s beleaguered rollout of a recreational marijuana marketplace was dealt a significant blow Friday when a state Supreme Court justice issued an injunction that will block regulators from processing new applications for retail licenses under a program that the judge said is in “legal jeopardy.” (ATU)
The spectre of Andrew Cuomo continues to haunt New York (New Yorker)
Kingston Food Co-op pulls out of Broadway location after nearly 4 years, despite backing by Peter Buffett’s NoVo Foundation (ATU)
The Borscht Belt resorts were abandoned long ago. But these signs point to a brighter future. (Forward)
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Roll Call: Founding Members
Anne Fredericks
Anonymous (5)
Erik Bruun
Benno Friedman
Richard Koplin
Steve and Helice Picheny
Rhonda Rosenheck
Elisa Spungen and Rob Bildner/Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook
Julie Abraham Stone
Mary Herr Tally