The Fabulous 413

Today, we spend time with our second of the Easthampton Mayoral Candidates: Lindsi Sekula.She currently serves as the executive assistant to the Mayor for the city, and was the very first to announce her candidacy. We ask about her vision for the office, especially now after working with two mayors, the importance of some of the city’s initiatives, and get her take on the temperature of a race with three candidates who already work very closely with each other. We’ll also learn more about the ways the Bay State is helping kids get closer to their foodways. It’s Mass. Farm to School Month and despite federal cuts, the state has thrown it’s support into this program that gets the products of local farms into public schools. We speak with special projects manager Abby Getman-Skillicorn and Northampton schools nutrition director Mistelle Hannah about the ways this program is ahead of its class. And local author Catherine Newman is celebrating the release of a brand new novel. "Wreck" sees the family introduced in her previous work Sandwich wrestling with uncertainty and grief and evolving family dynamics in a way that is compelling and personal, and very much rooted in western mass, and we’ll chat with the author before you can meet her in person at an event in South Hadley next week through Odyssey Bookshop.

Last month we got to talk with the mayoral candidates for Northampton before their primary, and this month we’ll look at the 3 candidates for the neighboring city of Easthampton who didn’t have a primary because they use Ranked Choice voting. First up is the person who moved into the Mayoral seat after former mayor Nicole LaChappelle vacated: Salem Derby. The last person to declare their candidacy, Derby has served on Easthampton’s city council for almost the whole millenia, and we’ll chat with him about his change of heart regarding the position, and more. We’ll also head to Great Falls, where the seeds of the 16th March for the food bank are sprouting and visions of costumes are dancing in the heads of the creative team at Swanson’s Fabrics. We’ll get a glimpse of who Monte might be dressed as on his 43 mile trek from Springfield to Greenfield. And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College's Salman Hameed, wants us to go outside and look at what in ancient times would have been portents of catastrophe, but now we know t they are just wicked cool comets you can see this time of year (provided of course the skies clear up).

We’ll head over to the 3 County Fairgrounds, the new home of Recordville’s Northampton Record Fair. Over 60 record dealers, vintage shops, and a lot more amenities come with the change in space, and we speak with organizers DJ Studebaker Hawk and Janice Chaka, as well as vendor Gio Zuniga whose Spin That Records will be tabling there about the changes and mainstays happening this weekend at their event, and get to hear the exploits of Janice's own crate digging.

In Williamstown, four local businesses will come together to celebrate the season and how their respective avenues dovetail snugly with each other. The Cricket Creek Farm Fall Picnic happens this weekend, and we’ll speak with Kat Hand of Berkshire Cider Project, Justin Adkins of Wild Soul River, Chef Swifty of Door Prize and Anna Halpin Healy representing Cricket Creek Farm itself about the fun festivities ahead, and getting the public to see how they are all connected.

Today has writing, reading, AND arithmetic. The Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics has been ongoing since the College’s founding, established and fostered by the late professor emeritus David Kelly and encouraging innovative thinking for high school students. We speak with part of the filmmaking team that’s created a documentary about the program before you can watch a free screening of “Hunting Yellow Pigs” on Saturday, October 18th. We’ll also encourage you to write more and better. The Write Angles Conference is a well established event in the valley that now is under the purview of the Straw Dogs Writers Guild. We speak with Morgan Sheehan and Michael Favala Goldman about the many offerings at the convention, and how writing groups like these can help with your own craft.

Today we're heading to one of the most eastern points in Franklin County and a new work of theater that is seeking to bridge divides among us. Swamped is a new work exploring family and connection in an incredibly intimate and nuanced ways and we speak with playwright and director Court Dorsey as well as actors Izzy Miller, Joe Laur, and Heather Willey about the work, about theater's place in their corner of the 978, and the many improvements made to the place the play will be performed over the next two weekends: The Wendell Meetinghouse.

Today we've got some music to serenade the end of the week. We’ll head to Northampton where a theater company has narrowed their focus performing only musicals. And this weekend they open with one of the more difficult offerings from Steven Sondheim. K&E Theatre Group takes on Sunday in the Park with George and we speak with members of the company explore challenges of putting on a show that is about more than just a painting, and the appeal of musicals overall. We’ll also chat with composer Rafiq Bhatia about his two solo albums from this year that paint very different sonic landscapes. The Oscar nominated member of Son Lux performs at the Hope Center for The Arts in Springfield tonight and we'll delve into how they make such picturesque modern sounds, and look at the difference between his many varied projects. And for Live Music Friday Norma Dream joins us to celebrate the release of their newest album before you can party with them at their album release party at Bombyx in Florence. And it’s actually a pizza party so it’s extra cool.

We're creating the spaces for community to come together. In the Berkshires, it's found in one of the country's oldest public gardens. The Berkshire Botanical Garden is getting ready for the autumn with it's yearly celebration of the season, and will host it's annual Fall Festival this weekend. We speak with executive director Mike Beck about the festivities that people can experience on their grounds this weekend, as well as the ways they can help you with getting your own garden winter ready. At the Brewery at 4 Star Farms in Northfield you can support littles all across the area to have indoor playspaces that will encourage their active growth and development. The Bogin Playscape Project is holding a fundraiser at the location this Sunday, Oct 12th, and we speak with the man who's been building these structures for kids for 50 years, Tom Murphy about the importance of physical play. And congressman Jim McGovern still has a bit of a break from legislating as the Government is still shut down at the moment, and speaks with us about the ghost town Capitol Hill has become, the unlikely allies that are appearing as the shut down drags on, the proposed cease fire and more.

We're diving full on into the arts today, and bringing them from afar. Thursday night, October 9th, the Fine Arts Center, they'll be launching their 50th anniversary season with an intrepid look at the very nature of our disposable inclinations. Poems of Consumption explores consumer culture post-Covid through electronic music with lyrics rooted in Amazon product reviews. The performance is the beginning of a project by Lebanese American musician Hamed Sinno, newly on a solo creation journey after the demise of their band Mahour Leila, and we talk with them about his brush with credit cards and capitalism and how they portray it on stage. We also meet two Berkshire based artists celebrating brand new graphic novels. Melissa Mendes and Chuck Forsman may have different focuses when it comes to stories, but The Weight and Ex Utero share very intimate themes of family, loss, and repercussions in ways that are both heartbreaking and humane, and we speak with each author before you can catch them in a Hampshire county at Comics 'N More in Easthampton on Saturday. And our neighborhood orchestra is embarking on its 82nd season, as the Springfield Symphony Orchestra opens their program year with an evening that will include the score to The Godfather. We speak with newly appointed President of the SSO Heather Caisse-Roberts about the direction the organization is headed towards, and what interesting sounds we have on the way for the 2025-2026 year or concerts.

Today we're speaking with two folx making big plans for the future. In Northampton, Smith College has just announce it's The Next 150 Pledge, wherein undergraduate students from families making less than $150K per year will have free tuition to the institution. We speak with current 12th president of the College Sarah Willie-LeBreton about this initiative through the lens of the alumnae and current students, as well as the greater scope of higher education as federal pressure on such institutions continues to push. Then we head to Hampden where a young farmer is starting his journey amongst the younger agricultural generation. Farmer Clark's is the project of Clark Kedis, who is now tending to 40 acres over two parcels. With two farmstands and some innovative plans for the present and future, we hear about his first year with a farm of his very own.

We’re looking at the many ways we care for each other Including the connections between that care and the land. The novel Harvesting Legacy: a Farm’s Journey explores the fate of one farm as its steward ages and is no longer able to care for the parcel in his age as he once was. The book looks at the choices and paths afforded to him and we’ll speak with its author Michael Hutton-Woodland about the inspirations and lessons learned in its pages. We’ll also talk with world renowned bassist and NEPM Jazz Host Avery Sharpe about his current New England Tour, which is taking his work “I am My Neighbor's Keeper” and putting it in the sanctuaries of New England including South Church in Springfield on October 8th. That congregation’s pastor Reverend Lindsey Peterson joins us to explore the connections this work and sound itself has to faith and community. And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed helps us celebrate world space week, while taking note of the dramatic rise in satellites and how that is connected to a film being shown at Amherst CInema for their Bellweather series.

This weekend sees two days of community storytelling that is focused on the experiences of women told in their own time and words. The Tell Her This podcast comes to Bombyx in Florence for two days of very different live storytelling experiences. We speak with its creator Rochelle Rice about the importance of these stories to the ways we learn about ourselves, and teach those coming after us about the world We’ll continue to check out the report released by Way Finders and Umass’ Donahue Institute about the housing crisis as it impacts the 4 counties of western Mass with Way Finders president and CEO Keith Fairey and Senior Researcher at the Donohue Institute at UMass Kerry Spitzer as we speculate about what could happen if the suggestions from the report were implemented, and how home ownership is affected by the ongoing shortage. And Live Music Friday brings the intrepid and insightful Jeffrey Foucault to our studio before he brings the tracks of his album Universal Fire to life on the Iron Horse Stage Saturday October 4th, and explores some of the sparks that ignite his songwriting and musical journey.

We’re taking a hard look at our communities to see where we might grow and grow better. In Springfield for the past 50 years, that’s meant MLK Family Services, who’ll bring back their Social Justice Awards this October 18th. But celebrating the change-makers in our area is far from all they do at the center, so we’ll be joined by President & CEO Shannon M. Rudder, and Chief of Public Health Strategy & Innovation Ariana Williams, to talk about the awards, their Be Love Campaign, upcoming HBCU Tours, and more of the ways they remain a foundation to those in Mason Square and beyond. We’ll also walk around the corner to take a look at the whole western Massachusetts region and the needs the area has in terms of housing. The Donahue Institute at UMass Amherst and Way Finders teamed up and recently released a report of their findings on this issue, which does have some surprises, and we’ll speak with Way Finders President Keith Fairey and Senior Researcher at the Donahue Institute Kerry Spitzer about what they found. And a government shutdown happened, which is pretty foremost in Congressman Jim McGovern’s mind for this week’s conversation, but we also manage to get his take on Secretary Hegseth’s Military Rally, and let you all know where you can ask your questions of the representative yourself in person very soon.

We’re doing the stuff of big kids, because it’s good to remember that keeping a little youth in your perspective is a very good thing. In Easthampton, we visit everyone’s houses to experience a city wide music celebration. The 3rd annual Porchfest takes place this October 4th, now with three centralized neighborhoods to explore western Massachusetts sounds in, and we’ll speak with organizers Felicia Jadczak and Steve Collicelli about the talent and community this iteration brings to town. And in Amherst at the Eric Carle Museum, they’re showing more than your littles a world of exploration. Executive director Jennifer Shantz talks about the many offerings they have for adults at the museum that are just as engaging as the picture books they celebrate, including Carle After Dark, which sprang forth from one of their successful summer programs. And Speaking of celebrating books, Merriam Webster announced the release of a new dictionary. The 12th Collegiate Edition Dictionary arrives in November, and we speak with our resident Wordster Emily Brewster about the 22 year process of the update, and the changes made within those pages that are helpful to a modern generation.

Science and the arts combine voltron-like, which is a reference that dates us, but bear with. We’re off to Westfield to see the farm stand made when two science teachers make an enemies to lovers story real, and use their day jobs to make the growing better for the planet. Kosinski's Farm Stand may have started with a rivalry between a blueberry and a strawberry farm, but today it’s fruit, produce, fruit wines, baked goods and so much more, and we speak with Sue Kosinski about the place of family and the plans that have evolved over the years and their 100 acres. We’ll also have a rare Live Music Tuesday with the gumbo fueled sounds of Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars as they make a stop in Northampton, celebrating the recent release of a new eponymous EP, and the genre agnostic sounds of New Orleans with their show tonight at the Parlor Room. And at the Shea Theater, it’s in the performances that emerge from the real lives of women across the country. The turnaway PLay is based on the experiences of those who were refused abortions and the repercussions that has on their health, choices and more. We speak with folx from the production and the Massachusetts Medical Abortion Access Project about the very real impacts these decisions and this work can have.

We’re headed for the hills, which are full of community! Including a health center that’s been keeping the folx in the many hidden hill towns healthy. Hilltown Community Health Center got its start 75 years ago tangentially through a campaign of a former Red Cross nurse, but over the years has outgrown its Worthington origins, into much more and we’ll speak with Drs. Michael Purdy and Debbie DiStefano about how you can join in their anniversary celebrations this Saturday Oct, 4th. For almost as long, the community has been gathering the first weekend in October for the Conway’s Festival of the Hills. But even more important than the skillet toss, the 10K, and the young generations that the event’s scholarships support in their young adult endeavors is the community that the celebration brings together, and we’ll talk with organizers Sue MacDonald and Alexis Arcaro about the entirely volunteer powered magic community makes. And if we think about our cosmic community, there’s a nearby solar system which bears a striking resemblance to our very own and may be capable of holding life, Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College's Salman Hameed, shows us more about the Trappist System, and how we might communicate with them, even if it takes 40 years each way.

Today is full of intrigue. Pulitzer prize winning author Alex Storozynski joins us to talk about his academic exploration of free speech in the eastern bloc, which in turn leads him to incredible discoveries about his own family and their impact on both WWII and the modern day. all of which can be found in Spies in my Blood: Secrets of a Polish Family’s Fight against Nazis and Communists, his latest book about which he’ll speak at Elms College in Chicopee this weekend. For Live Music Friday, a band that is no stranger to the Asparagus Valley makes another visit to celebrate their latest release. Hudson Valley based band The Mammals have been making music for this whole millenia, and just put out a sweeping double album titled Touch Grass. We get to hear about their history and nuances and learn where you can see them in the 413 in the next few weeks. And as the leaves change, so do our wine tastes and colors. We head to Tip Top Wine Shop in Easthampton to check out how skin contact brings beautiful autumnal hues with a Wine thunderdome that explores Argentinian Orange Wines.

We’re uncovering histories, and doing some exploration In Ashfield this weekend, you’ve got the chance to preview a new work about the long lasting effects of slavery on the American Landscape. Seeing Violet is a new play about the repercussions of one couple discovering their own connection to the triangle trade through a series of revelations at their home, and how that influences their interactions with a yong local grad student. We’ll speak with playwright Peter Snoad, and production team members Jeannine Haas, and Jean Koester about the evolution of this work of theater. We’ll also explore the untapped legacies of the slave trade in Caribbean, Central and South America, as Professor Ousmane Power Greene of Clark University introduces us to important Afro-Latin figures and communities in Mexico, and reading material to further your own forays in to Afro-Latin heritage in this month’s Power of History And our weekly chat with Congressman McGovern goes transatlantic as we pepper the representative with a barrage of your questions about Trumps UN visit, his controversial vote on a motion concerning Charlie Kirk, and more as the holder of the 2nd congressional seat legislates abroad in the land of thistle and heather. Which is to say Scotland, but it is way less fun to say it that way.

this is what democracy looks like. How so? Well it’s in Mutual aid and there’s a local organization that’s been helping the folx of the community through too many programs to list here. And that organization is about to experience a change in leadership. Community Action Pioneer Valley has thrived under the for the past 14 years under the guidance of Clare Higgins who’ll step down this month. We’ll talk with the outgoing leader, as well as the person who’ll soon be at the helm, Lev Ben Ezra. It’s also in the ways we come together to care for the planet. And although that’s not the way you’d usually think about a Festival, that’s exactly at the core of the mission for the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival, which since its inception has sought to wrap community and information in a package of fun activities and music with as small a carbon footprint as possible. We head to Orange to talk with the organizers about the ongoings of this weekend and check in with Stephen Taranto of CISA about how this event might be the perfect endcap to their Farming and Climate Change Week And in language it’s the meshing of language that happens post crusades as Word Nerd Emily Brewster helps us explore words in English with Arabic Origins.

Today there's books, and ideas, and great music to accompany both. In Lenox, 16 authors will gather to have live real conversations on a wide range of topics in order to encourage more healthy discourse. The Writers, Ideas, and Thinkers Festival, or WIT as we colloquially call it, starts this Thursday, and we’ll speak with The Author Guild’s director of programming Bernard Schwartz about the folx that will speak truth to possibility in the Berkshires. We’ll also hang out with one of our favorite Children’s authors and musicians. Mister G has a new book out, and is celebrating with a new song and a book release party at the Eric Carle Museum. We’ll ask the Latin Grammy winner about the inspiration for Baby Ballena, and about more parties your littles can enjoy a little later in the season. And in Downtown Northampton, an institution returns bringing music to permeate all manners of venues. The Northampton Jazz Festival is in full swing this weekend, and we’ll talk with President of the organization Ruth Griggs about the sounds that this year’s line up will bring throughout the city.