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Kevin Kelly: Up and coming soccer player at Monument Mountain
Great Barrington — He may have only been a sophomore but Monument Mountain Regional High School’s Kevin Kelly made his mark as a gifted player when he made the varsity soccer team for the Spartans and...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Sun-centered days, moonlit nights, the astonishing analemma
June 13 – 26, 2016 Mt. Washington — The numbers look good and the effect celebratory. The earliest sunrises of the year in our locale, 5:17 a.m. EDT (4:17 a.m. EST), began on June 8 and continue...
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BCD breaks ground on new library, music performance complex
Stockbridge – In a June 10 ceremony before an enthusiastic gathering of students, faculty and parents, Berkshire Country Day School broke ground for a $1.5 million Kim and James Taylor Music and...
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Anna Abrahams, Monument freshman, wins statewide language competition
Great Barrington — Each year the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association (MaFLA) sponsors three statewide language contests designed to encourage awareness of and participation in high school...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Pointer stars, planets; aphelion on the 4th
June 27 – July 10, 2016 Mt. Washington — On the summer solstice, June 20th, I was out in a canoe on a small pond shortly after sunset, botanizing and birding. The sun sets slowly during the weeks on...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Welcome to Jupiter, be a part of the glory
July 11 – 24, 2016 An artist’s conception of Juno performing a 35-minute-long engine firing to enter orbit around Jupiter. Image: NASA / JPL. Mt. Washington — All of humanity triumphed last week, on...
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Jane Burke, innovative educator, founder of Flying Cloud Institute, to step down
New Marlborough — “The action’s about to start,” announces Jane Burke, as a trio of campers crowd around her in the pottery studio at Flying Cloud Institute in New Marlborough. She begins quickly and...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Tanabata – compelling star festival for all ages
July 25 – August 7, 2016 Tanabata and her lover meet on a bridge of magpies across the Celestial River. Image via https://lilliacerise.wordpress.com/2010/08/28/tanabata-festival/ Mt. Washington — At...
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Fairies & Elves rule — on Saturdays — at the Ramsdell in Housatonic
Housatonic — In Iceland, houses called huldufólk are made for elves, and sometimes human-size building projects are altered to prevent damage to rocks where elves are thought to live. On Monhegan...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Perseid meteors fly – spectacular pre-dawn peak the 11th – 12th
August 8 – 21, 2016 Predicted zenithal hourly rate (ZHR) for Perseids in 2016. The ZHR describes the shower at its peak, when the radiant is overhead (before dawn from all parts of Earth). Chart via...
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Art in action: A conversation with Shakespeare & Company’s Kevin Coleman
Lenox — “We don’t audition people for roles in our programs,” says Shakespeare & Company Education Director Kevin Coleman. “We play theatre games with them. If we’re looking for Ophelia, for...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Five planets – awe-inspiring conjunctions, comings and goings
August 22 – September 4, 2016 image courtesy Sky & Telescope. Wednesday, August 24. With permission from EarthSky.org Mt. Washington — This evening and every evening this week and into next week,...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Celestial – and human – companions for long nights ahead
September 5 – 18, 2016 Mt. Washington — As the autumn equinox approaches, we have been acclimating to earlier nightfall and later daybreak. The equinox will occur on the 22nd. Our nearly omnipresent...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Quicken to celestial lights at dawn, dusk
September 19 – October 2, 2016 Photograph by Kent DeGroff at Whiskey Creek Observatory, Arenas Valley, New Mexico, evening of 28 January 2014. Camera a DSLR. The glow from Silver City, New Mexico can...
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Southern Berkshire School District to appeal DOE downgrade
Sheffield — The South Berkshire Regional School District held a special School Committee meeting on Thursday night to discuss results of the 2016 MCAS and PARCC tests and steps to be taken in response...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Attune to planetary movements, waxing moon
October 3 – 16, 2016 Mt. Washington — Venus, brightest of all planets, shines in evening’s pastel twilight and sets by nightfall. A young crescent moon accompanies the goddess of love tonight, October...
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Trash math: Muddy Brook students count cafeteria trash with staggering results
Great Barrington — Their teacher read them “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss, then introduced them to a hands-on math problem that resulted in shocking numbers. It all happened in Jack Curletti’s kindergarten...
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EYES TO THE SKY: Darkest mornings, planets, stars, shooting stars
October 17 – 30, 2016 Mt. Washington — Without losing sleep, step out under predawn skies to commune with planet Jupiter and the great star patterns normally seen in evening skies of winter and early...
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Game of chess, anyone? Check out the Berkshire Hills Chess Club
Great Barrington – For the past seven years, Gene Kalish, a retired college teacher, actor, graduate of the Yale Drama School, and Berkshire Hills Regional School District parent has been overseeing an...
View ArticleEYES TO THE SKY: Trick and treat midway between equinox and solstice
October 31 – November 13, 2016 Mt. Washington — Due to a trick of clock time, it’s possible to treat yourself to apparitions of ancient mythic characters that appear in the starry heavens every morning...
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