PITTSFIELD, Mass. On July 10, the Berkshire County Historical presents a program of sea shanties with old-world folklorist Alex Harvey.
The program will take place in Arrowhead's historic barn at 7 pm. Come early and picnic on the grounds and step into the "tavern" and warm up those swashbuckling vocal chords with hard ciders from Berkshire Cider Project for sale during the event.
Tickets are available by using the BOOK NOW button at berkshirehistory.org - $15 BCHS Members, $20 nonmembers. This program is sponsored by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
According to a press release:
Alex Harvey performs street ballads and songs of the sea in a project he calls Shinbone Alley. At his performances listeners learn to celebrate the haunting intercultural exchange of 18th and 19th century maritime music - whose ingredients travelled from the furthest corners of the globe to be remade and stitched anew by sailors of every shade and shape in port and at sea. By teaching the audience to join in on most of the tunes in his concerts, Harvey and his Shinbone Alley builds bridges through communal singing. From Sea Shanties to Broadsheet ballads to Come-All-Ye's to Last Good Nights to Hard Luck Satires to Lovesick Dirges to Whaling Serenades - this music was meant as the earliest form of group therapy. And so it is again - a sepia-toned balm for our topsy-turvy time.
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Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.
Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing.
"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said.
"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today."
His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.
The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback.
"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director.
The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care. Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires.
The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs.
Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."
"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said.
Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025.
