By Mickey Friedman March 23, 2014 You. Yes, you. Put down that coffee cup for just a minute. And you — with the white wine spritzer. Take a moment, a deep breath. Now give yourself a hand. A heartfelt round…
Category: The Best Small Town in America
Penguins Not Platitudes
February 16, 2014 By Mickey Friedman Ever since I took the trolley to the Bronx Zoo, I have felt a deep connection to the penguins. And I’ve always felt the penguins had much to tell, and much to teach me.…
Days of Wonder
December 24, 2013 By Mickey Friedman The other day, Roland showed me his spiffy new blue hard plastic cover for his MacBook Air. It protects his laptop and has cute little plastic feet to lift the computer at an angle…
No
November 26, 2013 By Mickey Friedman Like so many others in The Best Small Town in America, I voted against the $56 million renovation of our high school. With no room on the ballot for alternatives, the choice was simple.…
Good news, bad news for BHRSD
November 25, 2013 By David Scribner Hard as it may be for some to believe, the Berkshire Hills Regional School District is about to save taxpayers money. A modest amount to be sure – only $1.7 million – a drop…
More Than Enough
October 14, 2013 By Mickey Friedman In The Best Small Town in America, it seems we never have enough. Year after year, we say goodbye to the old, then spend ever-larger amounts to build the new. This has happened many…
Jobs, Not Debt
September 1, 2013 By Mickey Friedman For the past two Sunday mornings, I’ve gotten to Fuel several minutes before seven. When I’ve seen men from the Department of Public Works emptying the trash cans on Main Street. They’re working hard…
Stand Your Ground
August 4, 2013 By Mickey Friedman We seem to compensate for our lack of control over the large events of life with an almost pathological need to exercise the little power we do have making others miserable. Wife beaters, bullies,…
Edward Passetto
Monday, May 27, 2013 By Mickey Friedman Edward Passetto came down from Pittsfield to The Best Small Town in America to find some peace, to end his pain. A Marine, at war in Afghanistan, he saved two civilian victims of…
Sorry, Mother Earth
Thursday, May 23, 2013 By Mickey Friedman I got my ass kicked. Playing Democracy In Action at The Mahaiwe. You might have seen the poster advertising not the opera or the Chinese acrobats but our Annual Great Barrington Town Meeting…
Just Say No, Thanks
April 11, 2013 By Mickey Friedman Will loves Simon and Garfunkel and Simon without Garfunkel and Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. So when Will opens Fuel at seven, he tells Pandora to sing the 1960s. Which means early mornings at…
The Good, The Bad, The …
March 3, 2013 By Mickey Friedman I’ve been meaning to tell you how much I like The Old Mill in Egremont ever since I read that cruel review in the Berkshire Beagle last summer. Reviewers are odd ducks. I’ve occasionally…