Williamstown Digest

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Police officer disciplined Williamstown officials, saying they acted on the advice of town counsel, declined to disclose the name of a police officer whose disciplinary hearing was held Thursday, nor what action was taken, other than to say “official discipline was imposed.” In a news release for this morning, Town Manager Peter Fohlin wrote, “We want to assure the residents of Williamstown that the matter in question was an off-duty event. Police officers are held to a very high standard by both the community and the rules and regulations of the Police Department, whether on duty or off. Chief of Police Arthur Parker felt that the off-duty incident was of sufficient gravity to warrant official discipline, and the town manager has agreed with his assessment.” “This concludes the town’s comments on this matter,” Fohlin wrote. Town Counsel David Jenkins said the state Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that “the contents and outcome of a disciplinary hearing are not a public record, and that the employee’s right to privacy prevents the town from discussing the matter.” Present at the hearing were Fohlin, who is the appointing officer; Parker, who requested the hearing; Officer Craig Eichhammer, president of the Williamstown Police Association, and the unidentified officer. Poetry reading today John Wilkinson, author of “Reverses,” will give a poetry reading on Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 4 p.m. in Room 3 of Griffin Hall at Williams College. Reviewers for online magazine, “Jacket” have commented that Wilkinson’s poetry “strenuously and gently invites its reader to scrub out the ‘truthful mien’ of the poems, or of a figment of a personal desire.” Wilkinson’s early writing is collected in “Oort’s Cloud” (Barque Press, 1999), while his more recent work can be found in “Flung Clear” (Parataxis, 1994), “Proud Flesh” (Délires and Equofinality, 1986) and “Clinical Notes” (Délires, 1980). Wilkinson, born in London in 1953, grew up in Cornwall and Devon before reading English at Cambridge. He worked on the poetry of John Wieners at Harvard and then trained as a psychiatric nurse. Wilkinson is currently head of mental health and assistant director of public health of the East London and City Health Authority. Information: 597-4279. Clark to screen "Rebecca" The Clark Art Institute will screen Alfred Hitchcock's Academy-Award winning film “Rebecca,” on Sunday, Oct. 19, at 2 p.m. The 1940 gothic romance starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier is part of the film series "Country House Capers," offered in connection with the exhibition “Èdouard Baldus: Landscape and Leisure in Early French Photography.” Admission to the film is free. After a week off, the "Country House Capers" film series will resume on Nov. 2 with the French film “My Father's Glory.” Remaining films will be shown on Sundays at 2 p.m. through Nov. 23. The series features films set in country houses in England and France, inspired by the Château de La Faloise, the French country house in the museum’s fall exhibition, which will be on display through Dec. 28. Information: 458-2303 or www.clarkart.edu . White Oaks supper A public ham supper will be held at White Oaks Congregational Church on Friday, Oct. 17, at 6 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for children. The menu will include ham, baked potatoes, mixed vegetables, coleslaw and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Reservations: Fran Weeks, 458-9446. Former National Basketball Association player Bob Bigelow will speak on “Adults and Children in Organized Youth Sports: Who Wins, Who Loses?” Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m. at the Williamstown Elementary School cafeteria. Bigelow was a first-round draft choice and four-year player in the NBA. He played in college for Chuck Daly, a Hall of Fame basketball coach. Bigelow has presented numerous lectures on youth sports and is the author of “Just Let the Kids Play.: Following his talk, he will answer questions. Annual blood drive The American Red Cross has announced its annual Fall Blood Drive will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 21 and 22, from noon to 5 p.m. at the First Congregational Church on Main Street. The goal for the two-day drive is 180 units, or 90 units each day. Donors 17 years and older will be welcomed either by appointment or on a walk-in basis. Appointments may be arranged by telephone at 458-3540. First-time donors are particularly welcome. Currently, 17 year-olds may give on their own volition, without parental consent. As in the past, the Canteen for donors will feature refreshments provided by a local eating establishment. The procedures for blood donation are easy and safe, and take about one hour to complete, according to the Red Cross. Mid-afternoon is generally the least busy time, and no donations can be started later than 5 p.m. on either day. The blood obtained in these drives every three months helps to meet the needs of the Western Massachusetts area. The demand for blood or its products in the region’s hospitals fluctuates but does not shrink. Veteran blood donors and new recruits perform an essential service in the daily operation of regional hospitals, according to the Red Cross, which said more newcomers will be needed this year to meet the growing demand for blood and blood products Information: Sheila O’Neill, 458-3540. Commended Students at Mt. Greylock Principal Russell Norton of Mount Greylock Regional High School has announced that Amanda Bell and Peter Lieberman have been named Commended Students in the 2004 National Merit Scholarship Program. Amanda is the daughter of Ilona and Robert Bell of Williamstown. Peter is the son of Valerie Krall and Ralph Lieberman of Williamstown. Norton presented a letter of commendation to the seniors from Mount Greylock and the National Merit Scholarship Corp., which conducts the program. About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2004 competition for Merit Scholarship awards, Commended Students placed among the top 5 percent of more than one million students who entered the competition by taking the 2002 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Scholastic Book Fair A Scholastic Book Fair will be held at Williamstown Elementary School from Wednesday, Oct. 22, through Saturday, Oct. 25, to share books and educational learning products from more than 150 publishers for readers of all ages. The fair is open to the community and will feature traditional children’s favorites and new works by popular authors and illustrators. The book fair is designed to promote learning and raise money for school projects. Supporting the school library and building classroom libraries is anther goal. Visitors can purchase and donate requested books for any classroom library. The scheduled hours for the fair are Wednesday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the auditorium at the school on Church Street (off Cole Avenue). Information: Leslie Orton-Mahar, 458-3452, or Dianne Glick, 458-8400. Hunting permits for Hopkins Applications for permits to hunt deer in Hopkins Forest are available from Williams College's Center for Environmental Studies for a $25 fee. The shotgun season will run from Dec. 1 through Dec. 13, except for Dec. 7, a Sunday. The deadline for permit applications is Nov. 7. The $25 fee should be submitted with the application. About 100 hunters annually receive permits to hunt in the college's experimental forest. Last year, 20 deer were taken, a significant increase over the past few years. According to the college, reductions in the herd help reduce damage from browsing in the forest's "understory" and ground cover and protect ecological research areas. The college gives preference to its neighbors, although in the past some hunters have come from as far away as Cape Cod. To obtain an application, contact the center, Kellogg House, 597-2346. India display at library During the month of October, photographs of India “Indian Moments” will be displayed at the Williamstown Public Library. The photographs are by Jean M. Heuschen of Williamstown. He and Michelle Heuschen-Liegeois lived in India from 1999 to 2001, while he was leading the project of the GE Research Center in Bangalore, southern India. While living in the country they traveled extensively and developed a passion for the Indian culture, the art, the people and wildlife, which are expressed throughout their large collection of the displayed 12” x 16” pictures. The Williamstown couple will also share their experiences in India at a talk and slide program on Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. at the library. Information or to reserve space in 2004: Pat McLeod, library director, 458-5369, or pmcleod@williamstown.net . Williams faculty art show “Working It Through,” an exhibition of works by 14 artists in the Williams College art department, will be on view in the college museum through Dec. 14. A reception for the artists will take place on Saturday, Oct. 25. The exhibition was organized by Linda Shearer, director of the museum, with the assistance of Eliza Myrie, class of 2003, and will include final works, preliminary, exploratory pieces — such as sketches, interviews, and drafts — as well as different versions of some works. It will provide viewers an opportunity to follow what is usually an invisible element in a museum presentation: the creative process. “It has been fascinating to work with each one of the artists, to learn what elements have contributed to the thinking and making of their work,” Shearer said. “Because they are all teachers, I believe it is of particular interest to have an understanding of the process.” Works in many media will be represented: painting, sculpture, digital photography, architecture and video. Participating professors include Laylah Ali, H.H. Benedict, Peggy Diggs, Ed Epping, Mike Glier, Frank Jackson, Berta Jottar, Liza Johnson, Aida Laleian, Steve Levin, Ann McCallum, Amy Podmore, Jane South, and Barbara Takenaga. The Williams College Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free, and the museum is wheelchair-accessible. Jazz history lecture John Edward Hasse, music historian, pianist, and award-winning author and record producer, will give the endowed Class of 1960 lecture "Jazz: The First Century and the American Experience," on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 4:15 p.m. in Room 30 of the Bernhard Music Center at Williams College. Hasse, who earned a B.A. cum laude at Carleton College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Indiana University, is curator of American Music at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. He is also the founder and executive director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, an acclaimed big band. Hasse is a popular lecturer and recitalist. He has presented programs throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe and has performed concerts of ragtime and jazz at colleges, festivals, and on television. Hasse is the author of a critically acclaimed biography "Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington," for which Wynton Marsalis wrote the foreword. At the Smithsonian, Hasse led the Institution's efforts to acquire the 200,000-page Duke Ellington archive, and conceived and curated the traveling exhibition based on it that is touring to 12 museums, and a smaller version that is circulating to 45 libraries. He also led the Smithsonian's initiative to acquire the archives of Ella Fitzgerald and developed two exhibitions on the great singer. The lecture will be illustrated with slides and recorded musical excerpts. Information: 597-2164 or Marjorie.Hirsch@williams.edu . Lecture on Don Quixote Leyla Rouhi, associate professor of Spanish at Williams College, will present “Why Don Quixote Will Never Go Out of Fashion,” Saturday, Oct. 18, at 10:30 a.m. in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall. Rouhi will deal with the question of why Don Quixote continues to be taught in all curricula as a classic. She will highlight some of the elements that make the text a timeless and continuingly relevant work of art, answering questions on the place of art, dialogue and rebellion in society. Her discussion, an interactive exchange with her audience, will be free and open to the public. Rouhi, a medievalist, studies the cultural and literary exchange between the Islamic and Spanish worlds, focusing on how literature dramatizes the interaction between those two cultures. She is the author of “Mediation and Love: A Study of the Medieval Go-Between in Key Romance and Near-Eastern Texts” and has written articles for numerous scholarly journals, including the “Feminist Encyclopedia of Spanish Literature,” Russian Review, the “Bulletin of Hispanic Studies,” and the “Encyclopedia of Women and Gender in Islam.” Information: 413-597-4279. Lecture on obesity Sander Gilman, professor of liberal arts and sciences and of medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will speak on “Fat Boys: Male Obesity and Medico-Cultural Norms.” on Monday, Oct. 20, at 4 p.m. in Room 3 of Griffin Hall. Gilman will discuss cultural fascination with male obesity and the role that sexuality has in constructing the image of the obese male. He will focus on autobiographical texts as well as fictional works from the 16th to the 19th centuries from Italy, Germany, and England. Gilman has held academic appointments at the University of Chicago in comparative literature and psychiatry and was a member of the university’s Morris Fishbein Center for the History of Science and Medicine, the Committee on Jewish Studies and the Committee on History of Culture. His most recent focus has been the history and psychology of cosmetic surgery. He is the author or editor of over 60 books. His latest volumes, “Creating Beauty to Cure the Soul” and “Making the Body Beautiful: A Cultural History of Aesthetic Surgery,” describe the evolution of cosmetic surgery as a worldwide phenomenon and explore the prevalence of different procedures among a variety of populations. Information: 597-4279. Halloween event at Clark Organizers say creepy crafts, eerie entertainment and fiendish food lie in store for those who dare to attend "Clark After Dark," a Halloween family event at the Clark Art Institute Saturday, Oct. 25, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Admission is free. "Clark After Dark" will feature ghosts in the galleries during haunted tours offered on the half-hour from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Children and parents can use magnifying glasses to hunt for mysterious figures lurking in the shadows of photographs in the exhibition, “Édouard Baldus: Landscape and Leisure in Early French Photography.” At 6 p.m., CosacomicaKids will present "The Mighty Mysterious Megapuff," a puppet, mime and music show for children 3 and up. The show follows the adventures of Shmurple and Shmatt, clowns played by Wendy Walraven and Matt Passetto and their Encyclopoodle, who knows everything. Storyteller Michael Parent will tell ghost stories for children 10 and up at 7 p.m. Parent has performed throughout the United States and received the National Storytelling Network's "Circle of Excellence" Award in 1999. Activities will include making ghostly candles, haunted-house candy cups and other crafts and decorating pumpkins from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Children are encouraged to come to the party in "dress up" clothes — old-fashioned hats, parasols and gloves — like those worn by the people in Baldus's photographs. Public Meetings A schedule of public meetings in or about Williamstown, as provided by Town Clerk Mary C. Kennedy, 458-9341, from official postings. Meetings are held at the Municipal Building, 31 North St., unless otherwise indicated: Wednesday, Oct. 15, HWQD, 7:30 p.m., plant. Thursday, Oct.16, ZBA, 7 p.m.; Williamstown Scholarship Committee, 7 p.m. Monday, Oct.20, Council On Aging, 3 p.m., Harper Center. Tuesday, Oct. 21, Affordable Housing Task Force, 7:30 p.m. Harper Center Elder Services Nutrition Program serves hot meals. Call 458-8250 or 458-5156; 48-hour notice is appreciated. Voluntary donations for van transportation are 50 cents one-way from Williamstown and $1 one-way from North Adams. Service is available 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Wednesday, Oct. 15, 1 p.m. bridge.Thursday, Oct. 16, 10 a.m. Tai Chi; 11 a.m., van to Wal-Mart.; 11:30 a.m. lunch; 1 p.m. crafts;.3:30 p.m. knitting group. Friday,Oct. 17, 10:30 a.m. exercise;. 11:30 a.m.lunch; 1 p.m. Bingo. Sunday, Oct. 19, 11:30 p.m. lunch. Monday, Oct. 20, 10:30 a.m. exercise; 11:30 a.m. lunch; 1 p.m. line dancing. Tuesday, Oct. 21, 9 a.m. oil painting; 9:45 and 10:45 a.m., van to Stop & Shop; 1 p.m. Harper Center Bingo, 4 p.m. Talk on rap and religion slated Anthony B. Pinn of Macalester College will deliver a lecture, “Heaven for a Gangsta? Religious Humanism and Rap Music,” Monday, Oct. 20, at 5 p.m. in Griffin Hall Room 6. Pinn will argue that, besides the evocation of traditional practices such as Christianity and Islam, rap and other forms of cultural production embrace subtle and nuanced modes of religiosity, identifying humanism as one of the more subtle forms of religion as an influence in rap music. Pinn is associate professor in the Macalester religious studies department. His teaching and research focus on African-American religious history, religion and popular culture, the history of African-American religious thought and liberation theologies. In particular, Pinn is concerned with the presence of competing faith claims in African-American communities and the manner in which the religious diversity generated by these competing claims influences and shapes religious beliefs, rituals, thought and language. In spring 2004, Pinn will be in residence at Williams as the Sterling Brown visiting professor and will offer a seminar, “Religion and Revolution: Black Theology from 1969 to the Present.” The course will examine the influences of the Christian tradition and the black power movement on the development of black theology and the ways in which black theology has changed the nature and content of theological discourse in the United States. Pinn is the author or editor of 13 books, including “Noise and Spirit: The Religious Commitments and Spiritual Sensibilities of Rap Music,” “Terror and Triumph: The Nature of Black Religion,” “Why Lord? Suffering and Evil in Black Theology,” and “Varieties of African American Religious Experience.” He has also written more than 50 articles and reviews. Information: 597-4279. Deaths Alan H. Green, 81, of John Street, Williamstown, a former aeronautical engineer and The Advocate’s former copy editor, died Monday, Oct. 13, at home after a long illness. Born in the Bronx, N.Y., Aug. 18, 1922, he was the son of Jacob and Lottie (Oshinsky) Greenberg. He received his early education in New York City, where he graduated from Townsend Harris High School. Mr. Green graduated from New York University with a bachelor of science degree and received a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the California Institute of Technology. He worked as an aeronautical engineer at various companies across the country. He and his wife, the former Alcenith Veith, moved to Williamstown in 1972. He came out of retirement to work as The Advocate's copy editor and finally retired for good about six years ago. He was uncompromising in his defense of the proper use of English language. He knew every detail of the Associated Press Stylebook and beyond and insisted that the rules be rigorously applied, according to Ellen J. Bernstein, Advocate publisher. She said he was a living encyclopedia of classical music and could provide the birth dates of just about any composer or musician. Besides his wife, he leaves a daughter, Nancy H. Smith of Indianapolis, Ind.; four grandchildren and a brother, Ira Green of Bethesda, Md. At Mr. Green’s request, private committal services will be in Eastlawn Cemetery. Memorial donations may be made to the charity of the donor’s choice through the George M. Hopkins Funeral Home, 61-67 Spring St., Williamstown MA 01267.
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Friends of Great Barrington Libraries Holiday Book Sale

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Friends of Great Barrington Libraries invite the community to shop their annual Holiday Good-as-New Book Sale, happening now through the end of the year at the Mason Library, 231 Main Street. 
 
With hundreds of curated gently used books to choose from—fiction, nonfiction, children's favorites, gift-quality selections, cookbooks, and more—it's the perfect local stop for holiday gifting.
 
This year's sale is an addition to the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce's Holiday Stroll on this Saturday, Dec. 13, 3–8 PM. Visitors can swing by the Mason Library for early parking, browse the sale until 3:00 PM, then meet Pete the Cat on the front lawn before heading downtown for the Stroll's shopping, music, and festive eats.
 
Can't make the Holiday Stroll? The book sale is open during regular Mason Library hours throughout December.
 
Proceeds support free library programming and events for all ages.
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