The Rogovoy Report 9.3.24

From around the corner to around the globe...

Sep 03, 2024

My Bookshelf, Myself

(NYT) by Margaret Renkl - People have been arguing that print is dead, or about to be dead, for at least half my husband’s teaching career. It is not dead in this house. We write in books. We dogear pages and underline passages and draw little stars in the margins. To read a book after my husband has read it is to have a window into his curious and wide-ranging mind. Before the objections commence, let me say that I am 100 percent in favor of every kind of reading there is: e-books, audiobooks, Braille books, graphic books, you name it. I’m for it all. Nevertheless. I will always prefer a book I can hold in my hand, the kind that smells of paper and glue, the kind whose unfolding I control, no button or touchscreen involved, by flipping backward and forward with pages ruffling between my fingers. The physicality of it pleases me. I listen to audiobooks on solo road trips, but I always switch back to the physical book as soon as I unpack. Reading a book on paper feels slower — calmer, stiller — than encountering any digital text.

READ MORE:

Marijuana Is Too Strong Now: As weed has become easier to obtain, it has become harder to smoke (The Atlantic)

How to eat for a long and healthy life (NYT)

FASCIST TAKEOVER WATCH:

Trump blames God for saving him from assassination attempt (The Guardian)

Trump takes sexist Harris attacks to ‘whole other level’ on Truth Social (The Guardian)

Trump ridiculed after accusing Kamala Harris of mistreating Mike Pence (The Guardian)

The media are about to help Trump fail his way back to the White House (TNR)

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Steve Locke, "Emmett Till Memorial Sign with bullet holes," 2018

At MASS MoCA, Steve Locke’s ‘the fire next time’ Nods to James Baldwin with an Exhibition That Brings to Bear the Everydayness of Racial Terror

(Boston Globe) NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - “The Fire Next Time” is, most famously, a slim book published in 1963 that paired two essays by the brilliant writer, poet, and civil rights activist James Baldwin. An indignant, impassioned confrontation of racial injustice in America, “The Fire Next Time” is also an exhortation, a plea, and even a vision for a future where hate and intolerance fall to courage and care. I cannot say I sensed that sprinkle of hope in “the fire next time,” Steve Locke’s newly opened exhibition at MASS MoCA that borrows Baldwin’s title. It is transfixing, a chilling compendium of racially motivated atrocity that remains a constant feature of American life. It offers little respite from the enveloping misery, which I suppose is only fair.

Walton Ford at his New York City townhouse, playing with his collection of toy animals

The Painter Walton Ford Has Amassed Dozens of Vintage German Animal Figurines

(NYT) - Every morning, Walton Ford wakes up in his West Village townhouse and sees a menagerie on the mantel. The 64-year-old artist, who creates detailed, large-scale watercolors of exotic animals, has spent more than a decade building a collection of vintage composite animal figures. (The term “composite” describes the linoleum-like mixture used to create toys before plastic became manufacturers’ medium of choice.) Only two main companies in Germany produced this now-rare product — typically no more than 2 inches high and 2 inches long — between the early 1900s and World War II. “If you’re an artist who studies animal anatomy, you are blown away by these things,” Ford says. “It’s like you have these little zoo animals in the room.” Many of the creatures’ poses will look familiar to fans of Ford’s art; he frequently works from photographs of them. The artist, whose sketches, watercolors and studies are on view at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York through Oct. 20, says that being greeted by the tiny animals each day reminds him “what my purpose is.”

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Actor Walton Goggins loved attending Oldtone Music Festival so much, he's helped bring it back to life (Berkshire Eagle)

Long Wharf Theatre’s Kit Ingui to join Williamstown Theatre Festival leadership team (WAMC)

Chatham's Crandell Theatre names new director (Berkshire Edge)

REVIEW: Violin-piano duo at PS21 performed with a rare style that fused precision and elegance with passionate intensity and successful risk-taking (B Edge)

REVIEW: A joyful yet bittersweet end to summer at Tanglewood (Boston Globe)

NEWS FROM THE BERKSHIRES

The Dream Away Lodge with the October Mountain Forest as backdrop (photo Robbi Hartt/courtesy Berkshire Edge)

New Dream Away Lodge Owners Seek to Steward Local Legend While Expanding Offerings

(Berkshire Edge) BECKET, Mass. - The Dream Away Lodge’s farmhouse dates back over 200 years (some claim it was once a brothel/speakeasy). However, its popularity as a music venue and meeting place started when Mamma Maria Frasca took over in 1947. Back then, it was simply known as “Mamma’s.” Beyond the low-key vibe, the nostalgic connection to how it looks (inside and out) keeps people coming back. Part of the connection stems from seeing the same things hanging on the walls — signs like “Hippies use side door,” pictures of Mamma Frasca and her guests, and trinkets that convey compelling stories from the past. The key to its success? Dream Away Lodge is intimate and unpretentious, with a relaxed sense of time. Its new owners seek to preserve its legacy while expanding its offerings. Dan Giddings, part of the new ownership team, says, “When the world is moving too quickly, Dream Away Lodge offers a counterbalance to what we experience everywhere else. It’s an environment where people can focus on each other without distractions.”

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Leigh Davis lays out case to succeed Pignatelli in the 3rd Berkshire district ahead of today’s Democratic primary (WAMC)

Controversy arises over PAC endorsing 3rd Berkshire District candidate Patrick White, whom opponent Leigh Davis accuses of being ‘uncivil’ (B Edge)

Massachusetts thinks building Accessory Dwelling Units will help unlock housing opportunities. But what does that mean for Berkshire County zoning laws? (Berkshire Eagle)

Williams College gives $28K to boost DEI efforts by Mount Greylock School Committee (iBerkshires)

Abutters say Proprietor’s Lodge dock proposal in Pittsfield is unsafe (iBerkshires)

Plans for daily bus between Pittsfield and Rensselaer, N.Y., train station ditched for now (B Eagle)

Housatonic Water Works Co. is served health order by Sheriff’s Department (B Eagle)

Great Barrington native W.E.B. Du Bois honored with plaque on iconic Sankofa Wall in Ghana (CNR)

State poised to demolish all but one building at Jug End, a once popular resort in Egremont (B Eagle)

NEWS FROM THE HUDSON VALLEY

Alana Hauptman, owner of Red Dot, inside her establishment, which opened on Bastille Day in 1999 and is the longest-running bar/restaurant in the city (photo David McIntyre/courtesy Chronogram)

Kaleidoscopic City: A Photo Essay of Hudson

(Chronogram) HUDSON, N.Y. - Driving down Hudson’s main artery and taking in the shops and buzzy restaurants, I’m always reminded of something Melissa auf der Maur, cofounder of Basilica Hudson, said to me in 2019: “It wasn’t until the antiques dealers, the gays, freaks, and artists showed up that things started to shift. The level of momentum has been remarkable.” It wasn’t always thus, of course. When Alana Hauptmann opened Red Dot in 1999, there were only a few businesses open on Warren Street like Carrie Haddad and Steiner’s Sports. It’s now the longest-running restaurant in the city, and Hudson has one of the busiest Amtrak stations in the state, ferrying passengers back and forth to Manhattan. On Friday afternoons, you can watch as the train disgorges hundreds of people trailing their wheelie suitcases behind them. The population of this small city of nearly 6,000 can double on summer weekends. David McIntyre's photos are just one slice of a town that continues to reinvent itself.

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Hawthorne Valley Farm Store rumored to be opening a location by Hudson waterfront (GoR)

After demolishing historically significant properties to make way, Hudson developer scraps affordable units after losing state tax credits; wants new tax relief for market-rate housing (ATU)

Preservation, regulations a balancing act at Olana (ATU)

State-funded swimming pool planned for Hudson waterfront (GoR)

Hate crimes surge in New York State, especially against Jews and Muslims (WAMC)

Hundreds of nails strewn on road outside Lydia’s Cafe in Stone Ridge during fundraiser for Democrats (Daily Freeman)

In latest contract standoff, Albany Medical Center nurses point to state report on staffing shortfalls (WAMC)

After 15 years and $21M, John Frishkopf’s vision for a ‘soil-to-glass’ brandy distillery has come to life in Claverack (ABR)

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