Clark Hosts Virtual Book Talk with Filmmaker Oct. 12

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — On Wednesday, Oct. 12 at 12 p.m., the Clark Art Institute presents a virtual book talk with author and filmmaker Alan Govenar.

Govenar joins Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark, in a conversation about his novel, Boccaccio in the Berkshires.The event takes place via Zoom.

Govenar’s novel provides a take on human interactions in the time of COVID. Where Boccaccio’s short stories told tales of ten people sheltering in a villa outside Florence to escape the Black Death (a bubonic plague pandemic in the 1300s), Govenar chronicles the contemporary story of ten asymptomatic pandemic survivors who shelter together in an Italianate mansion in the Berkshires. They form unexpected bonds as they tell each other stories to cope with the bizarre conditions of the modern world. 

Govenar is an award-winning writer, poet, playwright, photographer, and filmmaker. He is the founder and president of Documentary Arts, a non-profit organization that advances essential perspectives on historical issues and diverse cultures.

Govenar is a Guggenheim Fellow and the author of more than thirty books, including Paradise in the Smallest Thing, Stoney Knows How: Life as a Tattoo Artist, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Untold Glory, Texas Blues, Stompin’ at the Savoy, Everyday Music, Texas in Paris, Osceola: Memories of a Sharecropper’s Daughter, and A Pillow on the Ocean of Time.

The event is free and open to the public. Advance registration for the Zoom transmission is required. Registrants will receive an email with a private Zoom link prior to the event.

For more information and to register, visit clarkart.edu/events. Copies of Boccaccio in the Berkshires are available through the Clark’s Museum Store.

Williams Grads Reminded of Community that Got Them to Graduation

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:14PM / Sunday, June 02, 2024

The graduates heard from two speakers — Phi Betta Kappa speaker Milo Chang and class speaker Jahnavi Nayar Kirtane. The keynote speaker, Lonnie Bunch, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, was unable to attend and recorded his speech for playback. See more photos here.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College said goodbye Sunday to its graduating seniors.

 

And a representative of the class of 2024 took the time to say goodbye to everyone in the community who made students' journey possible.

 

Milo Chang, the Phi Beta Kappa speaker for the class and one of two students to speak at Sunday's 235th commencement exercises, explained that the term "Williams community" applies to more than those who get to list the school on their resumes.

 

"It includes everyone who has shaped our experiences here, from loved ones back home to the dedicated staff members who make campus their second home," Chang told his classmates. "During our time at Williams, we've seen this community step up in remarkable ways to support us."

 

Chang talked about the faculty and staff who gave their time to operate the COVID-19 testing centers and who greeted students before they could take their first classroom tests in the fall of 2020, and the dining services personnel who kept the students fed and somehow understood their orders through the masks everyone was wearing when this class arrived on campus.

 

And he shared a personal story that brought the message home.

 

"We often underestimate the power of community until we experience a taste of its absence," Chang said. "I remember staying on campus after our first Thanksgiving at Williams, after most students went home to finish the semester remotely. I remember the long hours sitting in empty common rooms. I remember the days you could walk through campus without seeing another student.