Letter: Jennifer Macksey for Mayor

To the Editor:

Jennifer Macksey is quite simply the best mayoral candidate for North Adams. As any of Jen's coworkers, current or former, will tell you, Jen is a strong independent woman who has been successful in every position she has held. I have personally seen her incredibly strong work ethic and she puts her whole heart into everything she does — just imagine what she will do for the city she loves.

What an incredible benefit to have our new mayor walk into City Hall with the knowledge of how city government works. She will brainstorm with all the city departments to figure out what needs to be prioritized and get to work on it. There will be no long learning curve.

I find it disturbing that the only reason I hear to not vote for Jen is that she will be our former mayor's "mouthpiece." For those of you who have made that statement, you obviously don't know Jen.

Rebecca Cellana
North Adams, Mass.

Eagle Street Shop Peddles in the Unique and the Utilitarian

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:45AM / Tuesday, May 12, 2026

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Kitchenware, historic prints, spiritual accessories, local makers, books, artwork and a range of tchochtkes from around the world.

 

Jared Shockcor's little shop on Eagle Street offers new and thrifted wares from the utilitarian to the unique. 

 

The software engineer's turned the former Hearts Pace Tea Lounge into Mastic, fulfilling a dream of doing something different.

 

"I've always liked retail, particularly like finding weird and unusual things. So last year I became gainfully unemployed and so I decided to try it," he said.

 

He chose to name his shop Mastic after tree resin, an old form of chewing gum. 

 

"It's a tree resin. It's used in cooking. It's a flavoring ingredient, and a lot of Greek cooking, or some Greek cooking particularly, and it's also used in esoterica as an incense. So it seems like a kind of, it was kind of crossing the things that I do," Shockcor said.

 

He felt the name fit because it bridges the two worlds he loves and stocks in the shop: kitchen items and unique items, so it reflects the blend of themes in his store.