BArT to Host Salvadoran Poet and Literary Activist

09:08AM / Monday, September 27, 2021Print Story | Email Story

ADAMS, Mass. — BArT Charter Public School is hosting poet and activist Javier Zamora as a part of their Creative Leaders in Residence program (CLRP).

CLRP brings voices to BArT to share their work through lectures, performances, or readings with our students and the community. Connecting BArT and its students to the world and the world to the School is an important part of the BArT ethos.

In addition to spending time with BArT students in a number of their classes during 3 school days, Mr. Zamora will deliver a public performance at 7:00pm on Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021 via Zoom.

That performance, "BArT Presents: Javier Zamora," is free and open to the public; pre-registration is required. Register by clicking here or by visiting the News & Events page at www.BArTcharter.org. Any questions should be directed to leah.thompson@BArTcharter.org.

Javier Zamora was born in La Herradura, El Salvador in 1990. His father fled El Salvador when he was a year old, and his mother when he was about to turn five. Both parents' migrations were caused by the Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992).

In 1999, Javier migrated through Guatemala, Mexico, and eventually through the Sonoran Desert. After a coyote abandoned his group in Oaxaca, Javier managed to make it to Arizona with the aid of other migrants.

His first full-length collection, Unaccompanied (Copper Canyon Press, September 2017), explores how immigration and the civil war have impacted his family.

Zamora was a 2018-2019 Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University and holds fellowships from CantoMundo, Colgate University (Olive B. O'Connor), MacDowell, Macondo, the National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Foundation (Ruth Lilly), Stanford University (Stegner), and Yaddo. He is the recipient of a 2017 Lannan Literary Fellowship, the 2017 Narrative Prize, and the 2016 Barnes & Noble Writer for Writers Award for his work in the Undocupoets Campaign.

Zamora's visit to BArT is supported by the Charles H. Hall Foundation, the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire, and the George H. and Jane A. Mifflin Memorial Fund.

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Adams Planning Board Cited for Open Meeting Law Violation

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:12AM / Wednesday, November 11, 2026

ADAMS, Mass. — The state Attorney General's Office has determined that the Planning Board violated Open Meeting Law by continuing to deliberate on a matter after adjournment.

According to the determination, the violation occurred after adjourning the Jan. 27, 2025, meeting when three board members stayed to discuss permitting concerns for Aisling Mountain Farm, a 22-acre equestrian facility on West Road owned by Kathryn Foley.

The board was ordered to amend its meeting minutes within the next 30 days, to include a summary of the discussion that occurred after the meeting was adjourned, to certify to to the AG's Office that it has done so, and to comply with the Open Meeting Law going forward.

The ruling stems from a complaint filed by Catherine Foster on Aug. 22, 2025, alleging that the board violated the Open Meeting Law during and after its Jan. 27 meeting.

Although filed nearly seven months after the January meeting, the Attorney General's Office said it met the 30-day filing deadline because Foster did not become aware of the situation until it was raised at a July 23 Select Board meeting.

"The Open Meeting Law requires that complaints be filed within 30 days of the alleged violation, or if the alleged violation could not reasonably have been known at the time it occurred, then within 30 days of the date it should reasonably have been discovered," Assistant Attorney General Matthew Lindberg said in the determination.

"The complainant could not reasonably have discovered that the Board deliberated after adjournment of the January 27 meeting until the issue was raised during public comment at the July 23 Select Board meeting. Because the complaint was filed within 30 days of the July 23 Select Board meeting, the complaint was filed timely as to this allegation"

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