Yankee Shopper by Hersam Acorn

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Shopper

August 10, 2011

Guide to the Inside Crossword......................... Page 10 Business & Services ........... Page 3 Classiﬁeds ........................... Page 3 Real Estate ........................ Page 12 Auto ................................... Page 14 Help Wanted..................... Page 14

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Renee Tassone, General Manager Linda Devlin, Circulation Manager Carrie Devlin, Advertising Sales Kitty Lewis, Advertising Sales Sarah Masiero, Advertising Sales Melissa Miller, Art Director Jen Hathaway, Artist Chris Sobolowski, Artist Barbara Retzlaff, Artist ■

Editorial Deadline*: 20th of month prior Classiﬁed Deadline*: 20th of month prior Display Deadline*: 20th of month prior *Deadlines will change due to Holidays. See special deadline notices published before major holidays. ■

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Notice: The Yankee Shopper will not knowingly accept or publish advertising which is fraudulent or misleading in nature. The publisher reserves the sole right to edit, revise, or reject any and all advertising, with or without cause being assigned, which in the publisher’s judgement is contrary to the interests of this publication. The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. ©2010, Hersam Acorn Newspapers. All contents of the Yankee Shopper are copyrighted, and any reproduction without permission is prohibited.

Martin Hersam, Chief Operating Ofﬁcer Thomas B. Nash, Publisher

Renee Tassone, General Manager

Last week I attended my 25th high school reunion. I graduated from Bartlett High School, which was located in Webster, Massachusetts, just South of Worcester. Our class coordinated and hosted the reunion but we invited anyone (students, teachers and administrators) from any class in the same decade, it was a huge 80s bash. It was a great idea (wish I thought of it) to invite the other classes, it made for a much larger turnout. There were about 250 people that showed up for the event, 70 or so were from our graduating class in which we had 150 graduates back in 1986. The reunion took place at an outdoor club, picnic style. Of course I had to bring my own food and drinks, but people said the burgers and dogs were very good. They had great 80s music playing, it was all very casual and a lot of fun. There are eight kids in my family, all born within 10 years so this was more of a family reunion for us. It was nice to see my brothers and sisters for something other than a holiday. It is always a scary thing to know you are going to see people you haven’t seen in a long time. I not only had to worry about knowing people’s names from my class but from all of the classes within a decade. Even nametags did not help. One of my best friend’s brother came up to me and gave me a big hug and I had no idea it was him. I always remember him as her little brother and now he is all grown up. Another fellow schoolmate came up to me and was angry that I have not befriended him on Facebook after his numerous requests. I don’t even remember him and I barely ever go on Facebook. In high school we had a core group of friends and we were always together. I remembered them and they all looked great. It was so nice to see them again. We picked up right where we left off like we had just seen each other. We reminisced about all of the good times we had and all of the trouble we caused. They reminded me how I used to purposely rub poison ivy on myself hoping to get a rash so I would not have to go to school, smoking in the girls room and the numerous times I ended up in detention or the principal’s office. One time I remember going to see our basketball team play at a Catholic School in Worcester. The home team was not very friendly towards us, so I decided at the end of the game to tear down a decorated sheet they had hanging on the gym wall to show their team support. I didn’t think anyone would notice that it was missing but the whole place went quiet when they heard the loud tear of the sheet. Our coaches had to whisk me on the team bus because they feared for my life. The next day my mother and I drove to the Catholic School with brand new sheets in hand and I apologized to the head administrators of the school. Another time in 6th grade a boyfriend and I decided to leave the school for lunch. I didn’t realize you could not just leave school when you are in 6th grade without telling anyone. I honestly didn’t think anyone would notice we were gone. It was less than an hour when we returned to the school to find my parents and every local policeman searching the school for us. My mother said I was the cause of her grey hair. People always have mixed reviews about attending class reunions. They can be awkward; it is always hard to make conversations with people you haven’t seen or spoken to in a long time. Sometimes it is good to step out of your comfort zone, go and just have a good time. These are people you spent the majority of your youth with and sometimes it is fun to go back and think about those times. Hopefully, when you think back to your youth it puts a big smile on your face. It does for me, even though most of those memories were of me getting into trouble. A sign that I have hanging up in my office that was given to me from one of my co-workers sums it up perfectly. “A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...But a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, damn...that was fun!” That is what it is like at work for me, just like high school, we are all having a lot of fun. It is important to have fun and not take life too seriously. Next time you get that invitation for your class reunion, make it a point to go. Take the opportunity to laugh and catch up with your old high school friends, you will be glad you did. Happy 250th anniversary to Great Barrington! Check out the special anniversary section inside. Next month we will be celebrating Lee Founder’s Day. Remember, please tell our advertisers you saw their ad in the Yankee Shopper and Berkshire Pennysaver. As always we encourage your feedback. Feel free to send us your press releases to yankee@hersamacornma.com or berkshire@hersamacornma.com. Check us out online at www.ishopberkshires.com. -Renee Tassone, General Manager

Yankee Shopper

August 10, 2011

Join Guests in Celebration of Eliza Hall Park and John G. McCullough’s 140th Anniversary The Park-McCullough House Association is inviting the public to a celebration of the 140th wedding anniversary of Eliza Hall Park and Vermont Governor (1904-1906) John McCullough at the Park-McCullough mansion in North Bennington, Vermont on Tuesday, August 30 from 5 to 8 p.m. Your $15 admission fee will include a tour of the mansion, champagne toast, summer supper, a reading of love letters exchanged by Eliza and John and the evening ending by sharing a beautiful wedding cake and beverage for dessert. A cash bar will be available. For further information, please call 802-442-5441.

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BUSINESS & SERVICE DIRECTORY

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Free Classical Music Concert Under the baton of Music Director Simeon Loring, the Stockbridge Sinfonia will present “A Program of Classical Music” Saturday, August 20, at 2:00 p.m. at Norman Rockwell Museum, Rt. 183, Stockbridge, and on Sunday, August 21, at 6:00 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Art Center at Berkshire Community College, 1350 West St., Pittsfield. The orchestra will perform Auber’s Overture to Fra Diavolo; Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat Major, K. 456, first movement; Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, op. 21, first movement; Britten’s Soirées Musicales, op. 9 (after Rossini); Thomas’s Overture to Mignon; and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, op. 88. Conductor Emeritus Leonard Marcus will conduct the Auber. Piano soloists, both students at Berkshire Music School, will be Yeejin Yuk in the Mozart and Gabriella Makuc in the Chopin. Gabriella Rose Makuc, age 17, will be a senior at Mount Everett Regional High School, where this past spring she was music co-director for You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. She began playing the piano at age 5 with her aunt Anne Marie Enoch, then studied with Robert Neidig, and began her studies with Jean Stackhouse at the Berkshire Music School

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at age 12. She plays trumpet in her high school concert band, piano in the jazz band, and is a member of the chorus. She has won top prizes in the Young Artists Piano Competition at Westfield State University, the BMS Merit Scholarship Competitions, and the Berkshire Lyric Theatre Young Musicians Scholarship Competition. In 2009, Gabi was a concerto soloist at the Northampton Community Music Center chamber music camp; she has also performed at the Colonial Theatre, Kimball Farms, First Congregational churches in Stockbridge and Pittsfield, and the Becket Center for the Arts. She has just returned from her second year at Point CounterPoint Chamber Music Camp and her first year at Westminster Choir College piano solo camp, and has taken lessons with Jonathan Bass of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Gabi also volunteers at her church. Yee Jin Yuk, age 13, has been studying piano at the Berkshire Music School with Jean Stackhouse since September 2009. He began his piano studies at age 6 in Los Angeles and continued to study privately after moving in 2007 to Hillsdale, New York, where his family has a working farm. He has also studied violin at BMS with Bing Liu.Yeejin won first place in his age group in the Young Artists Competition at Westfield State University in 2010 and has consistently won top prizes in the BMS Merit Scholarship Competition. He has also performed at the Colonial Theatre, Kimball Farms, and the First Congregational churches in Stockbridge and Pittsfield. He has recently returned from his second year at Point CounterPoint Chamber Music Camp and has taken lesContinued on page 5

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Free Classical Music Concert Continued from page 4

sons with Jonathan Bass. Yee Jin will be an eighth grader at Hawthorne Valley School this fall, and in addition to music, is interested in farming and the raising and care of animals. In its thirty-ninth season, the Stockbridge Sinfonia comprises about sixty students and nonprofessional and retired professional musicians from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York State, ranging in age from the teens to the eighties. The Berkshire’s only all-volunteer orchestra, the Sinfonia strives to offer the community free classical music concerts and to encourage young artists. Maestro Loring, Professor Emeritus of music at Kingsborough College (CUNY), is a professional clarinetist and a member of the board of directors of the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation. Loring says, “The excitement that amateurs show when playing often engenders

performances that are emotionally more involving than the sometime work-a-day concerts of the professional ensembles. That is one of the many reasons why I love to be engaged with this intergenerational community orchestra.” The orchestra’s sponsors include the Pittsfield and Richmond Cultural Councils, local agencies that are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency; Pittsfield Cooperative Bank; and the Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation. Other support comes from players and friends in the community. The grant received from the Berkshire Life Charitable Foundation funds transportation and caregiver expenses so that individuals with disabilities and the elderly may attend our concerts. Funds are limited; for further information, call Christine Singer at 413-442-1562. Scholarships, awarded annually to student players displaying both talent and commitment to the orchestra, are funded through the Sinfonia’s Albert and Adele Ludwig, Bernice Black, and Ed Bowe Memorial Scholarship Funds. Since 1996, the funds have awarded $30,125 in scholarships. Student members of the orchestra this season are Jillian Avery, Alfred Brewer, Schuyler Fohrhaltz-Burbank, Taylor FohrhaltzBurbank, Lily Foran, Bailey Forfa, Katlyn Ira, Andrew Martin, Eliza Mitchell, Danika Padilla, Justin Silverman, Sarah Smith, and Avery Yurman. Contributions to the scholarship funds will be accepted at the concerts or may be mailed to Betsy Strauch, Treasurer, 44 Taconic Ave Lenox, MA 01240. Please make checks payable to “The Stockbridge Sinfonia, Inc.,” and write “scholarship fund” on the memo line. The Stockbridge Sinfonia, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) public charity; donations are tax-deductible. For more information about the Stockbridge Sinfonia, contact Christine Singer, president of the Sinfonia, 413-442-3289, or Betsy Strauch, 413-637-4059, or visit www.stockbridgesinfonia.org.

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United Cerebral Palsy Association of Berkshire County and the Pittsﬁeld Colonials UCP Night at Wahconah Park Friday, August 12 @ 7:00 p.m.

Awakenings Saturday, August 13: The Good Purpose Gallery Exhibition “Awakenings” opens with a Gallery Reception from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. All are welcome to view the work of Michael McManmon, Tracy Squires, and Robert Rombeiro. Original Art and Sculpture will be on display from Saturday, August 13 to September 20. The Good Purpose Gallery, 40 Main Street, Lee, Massachusetts. For more information contact Francine Britton at 413-394-5045

Lions Club at the Middleﬁeld Fair

Pittsfield Colonials vs. Brockton Rox General Admission Tickets: $7.00 Proceeds to benefit United Cerebral Palsy Association, celebrating 50 years of service in Berkshire County. Advance tickets may be purchased at: UCP, 208 West Street, Pittsfield or call 413-442-1562.

The Hinsdale Lions Club will be serving dinners at the Middlefield Fair on Saturday, August 13 from Noon to 5:00 and Sunday, August 14 from Noon to 4:00 p.m. Saturday’s meal will be baked chicken with stuffing, mashed potato and gravy and peach cobbler for dessert. Sunday’s meal will be roast pork with scalloped potato and vegetable with assorted cakes for dessert. All meals are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12. This will be the third year that the Lions Club has been invited to provide the meals for the Fair.

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FROM MY CORNER ...independence... The Fourth of July was the first melancholy Fourth in my lifetime. I watched several old movies about the revolution and the men and women who bravely gave their lives for a cause they believed in. I was inspired and humbled and then my thoughts turned to our country today. We have legislators calling our President a Nazi and a Marxist; many still want to believe he is not a citizen; and others, leaders in the legislature, have made it their determined duty since he took his oath of office as President of the United States in 2009 that he not be re-elected. This was stated by Mitch McConnell and has been repeated by him throughout the past several years. His only goal is to defeat Barack Obama. Many Republicans and some Democrats have not put their country first, but rather their collective egos, ideology and desire to be re-elected. Many times in my life I have thought that things can’t get worse, but somehow they always do. I was optimistic when Barack Obama took office. I was proud of my country. Proud that we could elect our first black president, a man who is intelligent, intellectual, well-spoken, calm, and not a cowboy. He brought a new respect to our country from nations abroad. I continue to appreciate his calm in the midst of hateful anger

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and ferocious words rained on him day after day after day from our own legislators and citizens. I’m fed up with Democrats who sat on their hands when the President was fighting to give citizens better health care. Because of their outrageous egos and inability to reach a decent agreement, we ended up with a half-baked program that won’t go into effect until 2013. Right now we are facing another recession/depression because of the inability of Congress to work together. Republicans and Democrats are both to blame. I have the privilege of holding a full-time job at my age. Yet I feel threatened for the third time in the past year that I won’t receive my Social Security check next month. I depend on that check to augment my income because the cost of living including groceries, property tax and gas at the pump, fuel oil and propane have risen so sharply. I can imagine the fear that other seniors who depend solely on their entitlement check are feeling while Republicans in Washington scream that they will not return the tax rate to its former level of 12 years ago for those million dollar wage earners and corporations. Giving them these huge tax breaks over the past 12 years has not produced jobs. What makes politicians think that now it will? They’re holding the debt ceiling as hostage, and every senior citizen as well. I resent their arrogance. Like I said, I never say things can’t get any worse, because they can, and lately they do.

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