Correcting some misinformation
Published: 2/24/2021 12:51:58 PM
I was honored to be featured in “Following the Heartbeat,” by Anita Fritz in The Recorder on Saturday, Jan. 24. She did a wonderful job of describing my music and philosophy.
I am writing here to correct some misinformation in the spirit of assuring that The Recorder has accurate information and is a purveyor of truth. Some minor points of my personal history are that while my family is from Jolo Sulu, I was born and grew up in northwest Ohio (indeed not far from Detroit).
What I am particularly wanting to correct is information about origins of the now annual Charlemont Reggae Festival. I started this festival myself in 1997, with the approval of the CharlemontSelectboard and the financial support of many local businesses, tradesmen, the Valley Advocate, and West County News, who co-sponsored the event. My aim was to involve the community in bringing a diversity of music and people to the hills of West County.
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GOOD MORNING, MASSACHUSETTS.
VACCINE OVERSIGHT HEARING TODAY Top members of Gov. Charlie Baker s administration, and the governor himself, are set to testify at an oversight hearing on Beacon Hill today. State lawmakers plan to probe the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.
COVID numbers decrease overall in region
Modified: 2/21/2021 11:35:38 AM
While Sunderland remains in the state’s “red” category because of a surge in the number of people testing positive for COVID-19, the rest of the county’s towns have seen a decrease in those numbers.
Sunderland reported 33 new positive cases over the past two weeks, possibly because of the surge in positive cases at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, while Montague was the only town in Franklin County in the “yellow” or higher-risk category with 23 new cases reported in that time. Athol in Worcester County is also in the “yellow” with 43 new cases. Greenfield is the only town in the “green” or lower-risk category, with 23 cases reported over the past two weeks.
Greenfield schools probe lesson critics say was racially insensitive
Greenfield Middle School. Staff File Photo/PAUL FRANZ
Published: 2/19/2021 4:14:44 PM
GREENFIELD An incident alleged to have happened while a Greenfield Middle School educator was virtually teaching her students a unit on Black History Month has prompted a student’s grandmother and a local group to write letters to school officials asking that Greenfield schools focus more on social justice and anti-racism and to respond to the incident.
Assistant Superintendent Judy Houle said the incident, which occurred in early February, involves a personnel matter so she cannot talk about it at this time. She said, “We are aware of the situation and are conducting an active investigation of the matter.”
Editorial: Monday Shorts: So hard to say good-bye
Greenfield Public Library Children s Librarian Kay Lyons with some of the 3D literary figures on display at the library in this photo taken in 2017. FILE PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ
Published: 1/18/2021 8:18:12 PM
Here are some brief thoughts on recent happenings in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region.
Some people come to define an office or a job so completely that you can’t imagine it without them. That was the case with two retirement announcements last week.
In the first, Greenfield Public Library Children’s Librarian Kay Lyons announced she will be stepping down in March after almost 30 years. Books came alive for children thanks to Lyons’ theatrical productions, read-alouds, book parties, book-themed activities and her way of having fun with children, from building parade floats to holding Muggle Quidditch on the library lawn. Who would have thought that a degree in theater was exactly the right background for a chil