Berkshire Family Fun for Mid-Late February, 2013

February 7, 2013 at 6:00 am (Berkshire County, Berkshire Family Fun, Hilltown Families)
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Berkshire County Highlights for Families:
February 9th-22nd, 2013

Valentine’s Day is next week and school vacation week is the week after… and we’ve got you covered in Berkshire County!  In our list of events below you will find all sorts of fun activities to do with the kids and even some date night options for the parents!  If you’re looking for winter vacation camp options for the week of Feb 18-22, 2013 in the Berkshires, check these out:

Winter Vacation Camp Options in Berkshire County – Feb 18-22:

By special arrangement with Hilltown Families, Shakespeare & Company in Lenox is pleased to offer our readers a rare opportunity to take in a classic Shakespearean performance paired with a guided tour backstage. On Friday, Feb. 15th at 10am, schools and homeschooling families are invited to a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Tina Packer Playhouse, followed by a backstage guided tour where participants can learn how the process of theatre is crafted in the costume shop, prop studio, and production workshop. Tickets for this package are only $8/person and a Study Guide for educators is available to download before attending. To reserve discounted tickets, contact Alexandra Lincoln, and let her know you are a Hilltown Families reader: 413-637-1199 x131. Shakespeare & Company is located at 70 Kemble Street in Lenox. www.Shakespeare.org.

Hilltown Families and the Berkshire Theatre Group have partnered up to offer a free family 4-pack of tickets to one lucky family to The Popovich Comedy Pet Theater on Tuesday, February 19th at 2pm, at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, MA

Find out about these events and other community events and learning opportunities happening throughout Berkshire County through February 22nd, 2013:

• North Berkshire
• Central Berkshire
• South Berkshire

To find out what’s happening throughout the four counties of Western MA, check our comprehensive list of Weekly Suggested Events, published every Thursday! There you will also find our list of ongoing weekday playgroups, storyhours and events both in Berkshire County and throughout the region.

List of Weekly Suggested Events

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Berkshire Family Fun for Late January – Early February, 2013

January 24, 2013 at 6:00 am (Berkshire County, Berkshire Family Fun)
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Berkshire County Highlights for Families:
January 26th – February 8th, 2013

Ready to shake off those winter blues? There are several events coming up in Berkshire County that will get you moving and having fun! Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts will host National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Winter Wildlife Day happens at the WRLF, and Williamstown’s 10th annual Snowfest will take place too!

There will also be ways to supplement learning for older students! In honor of Black History Month, the Berkshire Museum will present “Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery,” and the Norman Rockwell Museum’s Curator of Education, Tom Daly, will review Rockwell’s dedication to civil rights throughout his career. There will be a presentation about frogs and salamanders by Berkshire Community College professor Tom Tyning at the Berkshire Atheneaum for those interested in nature studies, and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss will give a presentation at Williams College, talking about “Why is there something rather than nothing?”

Find out about these events and other community events and learning opportunities happening throughout Berkshire County through February 8th, 2013:

• North Berkshire
• Central Berkshire
• South Berkshire

To find out what’s happening throughout the four counties of Western MA, check our comprehensive list of Weekly Suggested Events, published every Thursday! There you will also find our list of ongoing weekday playgroups, storyhours and events both in Berkshire County and throughout the region.

List of Weekly Suggested Events

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Berkshire Family Fun for Mid-Late January, 2013

January 10, 2013 at 6:00 am (Berkshire County, Berkshire Family Fun, Hilltown Families, Suggested Activity)
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Berkshire County Highlights for Families:
January 12th-25th, 2013

We’re nearly a month into winter with a healthy layer of snow on the ground, a great excuse to get outdoors and enjoying the beauty of the Berkshires!  There are several opportunities to dust off and put your snowshoes to good use over the next couple of weeks!  So strap on your snowshoes and select your choice destination for winter fun, including snowshoe race at Constitution Hill in Lanesborough, the Haskins Center’s Cabin Fever Festival in North Adams, Mountain Meadow Preserve in Williamstown, Notchview in Windsor, the Becket Quarry in Becket, Winter Trail Days at Hilltop Orchard in Richmond, and Bartholomew’s Cobble in Sheffield!

Find out about these events and other community events and learning opportunities happening throughout Berkshire County through January 25th, 2013:

• North Berkshire
• Central Berkshire
• South Berkshire

To find out what’s happening throughout the four counties of Western MA, check our comprehensive list of Weekly Suggested Events, published every Thursday! There you will also find our list of ongoing weekday playgroups, storyhours and events both in Berkshire County and throughout the region.

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Berkshire Family Fun for the New Year!

December 27, 2012 at 6:00 am (Berkshire County, Berkshire Family Fun, Suggested Activity)
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Berkshire County Highlights for Families:
December 29th, 2012 – January 11th, 2013

The year ends with a flurry of marionette shows, musicals, magic shows, and community theater productions in the Berkshires, and a new year begins with a First Day Hike at the Pittsfield State Forest.  Culture and amazing natural resources to fill your days while we usher out one year and in another!

Find out about these events and other community events and learning opportunities happening throughout Berkshire County through January 11th, 2013:

• North Berkshire
• Central Berkshire
• South Berkshire

To find out what’s happening throughout the four counties of Western MA, check our comprehensive list of Weekly Suggested Events, published every Thursday! There you will also find our list of ongoing weekday playgroups, storyhours and events both in Berkshire County and throughout the region.

List of Weekly Suggested Events

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One Clover & A Bee: A Poem for Parents

December 26, 2012 at 6:00 am (Amy Dryansky, Contributing Writer, Poetry)
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Other Bells We Would Ring: A Poem for Parents

As I write this the rain is bucketing down out of a sky so gray it feels as if even the weather is conspiring to press home the weight of darkness that this month has ushered in.

So much grief is around us, and the idea of bringing forth light seems a fool’s task. Yet the wheel is turning, and I don’t know about you, but as we move toward ringing in the New Year, everything feels tenuous and precious. I want badly to remember my best, compassionate self, to move toward kindness, and yes, real change.

With this in mind, I decided that this month’s poem should be for parents. The poem I chose does look squarely into the face of darkness, but it also calls forth possibility, a different “bell.”

When you read the poem, I hope you’ll feel free to replace the word “Father” with anything right for you. I think the poem invites us to do that, to imagine whatever we think of when we call on the unknown. For Patchen, writing on the eve of World War II, it’s the idea of “Father,” for us it can be whatever rings true.

At the New Year
By Kenneth Patchen

In the shape of this night, in the still fall
of snow, Father

In all that is cold and tiny, these little birds
and children

In everything that moves tonight, the trolleys
and the lovers, Father

In the great hush of country, in the ugly noise
of our cities

In this deep throw of stars, in those trenches
where the dead are, Father

In all the wide land waiting, and in the liners
out on the black water

In all that has been said bravely, in all that is
mean anywhere in the world, Father

In all that is good and lovely, in every house
where sham and hatred are

In the name of those who wait, in the sound
of angry voices, Father

Before the bells ring, before this little point in time
has rushed us on

Before this clean moment has gone, before this night
turns to face tomorrow, Father

There is this high singing in the air
Forever this sorrowful human face in eternity’s window
And there are other bells that we would ring, Father
Other bells that we would ring.

From Collected Poems, 1939.

I am imagining what that would sound like right now, all of us bringing forth a different kind of music. I wish peace to you and yours in 2013.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Dryansky

Amy’s the mother of two children who seem to enjoy poetry, for which she’s extremely grateful. Her first book, How I Got Lost So Close To Home, was published by Alice James Books and poems have appeared in a variety of anthologies and journals. She’s a former Associate at the Five College Women’s Studies Research Center at Mt. Holyoke College, where she looked at the impact of motherhood on the work of women poets. In addition to her life as a poet, Dryansky works for a land trust, teaches in at Hampshire College, leads workshops in the community and writes about what it’s like to navigate the territory of mother/poet/worker at her blog, Pokey Mama. Her second book, Grass Whistle, is forthcoming from Salmon Poetry in 2013.

[Photo credit: (ccl) David Boocock]

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HFVS New Year Peace Show/Podcast

January 2, 2010 at 9:00 am (Entertainment, Family, Hilltown Family Variety Show, music, podcast)
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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN NOW

Saturday from 9-10am
WXOJ LP – 103.3 FM – Valley Free Radio
Northampton, MA

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Originally aired on 01/01/08

PLAYLIST

  • Robbie K & Friends – “The Peace Song” [Music Makes Me Happy]
  • Oceanna Chartard – “Peace Dove” [Peace is the World Smiling]
  • Charity and the JAMband – “Peace Dream” [Rock Your Socks Off]
  • Babatunde Olatunji – “Ayie Mire” [Peace is the World Smiling]
  • Cat Stevens – “Peace Train” [Cat Stevens Greatest Hits]
  • Dog on Fleas – “Peace Will Come” [When I Get Little]
  • Uncle Rock – “Season of Light” [Uncle Rock U]
  • Three Dog Night – “Shambala” [Three Dog Night: The Complete Hits]
  • Elizabeth Mitchell – “Peace Like a River” [You Are My Little Bird]
  • Plastic Ono Band – “Give Peace a Chance” [Lennon Legend]
  • Ellis Paul – “The Little Red Rose” [The Dragonfly Races]
  • Sweet Honey in the Rock – “On Children” [Peace is the World Smiling]
  • Mark Olmstead – “One Peace at a Time” [One Peace at a Time]
  • Elizabeth Mitchell – “This Little Light of Mine” [You Are My Flower]
  • Pete Seeger – “If I Had a Hammer” [Peace is the World Smiling]
  • Joules Graves – “Silence” [Waterfall Child]
  • Joe McDermott – “Let Your Light Shine” [Everywhere You Go]
  • Pete Seeger & Annie Hills – “Flowers of Peace” [Seeds: The Songs of Pete Seeger]
  • Sol Y Canto – “Peace Will Come” [El Doble De Amigos]
  • Timmy Abell – “Peace Will Dawn” [Little Red Wagon]
  • Fawnie Byer – “Peace Feather Story (Spoken Word)” [Peace is the World Smiling]
  • Pat Humphries – “Swimming to the Other Side” [Hands]
  • Michelle Shocked – “Go in Peace” [Deep Natural]
  • Mr. Ray – “Starlight Angel” [Start Dreaming]
  • Kira Willey – “Midnight Moonlight” [Dance for the Sun]
  • Brady Rymer – “Hey Mr. Moonlight” [I Found It]
  • Tommy James & The Shondells – “Crystal Blue Persuasion” [Crimson & Clover]
  • Princess Katie & Racer Steve – “Bubbles” [Fast & Feisty]

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