Magazine Archive
Magazine Archive
Brush with Grace: Zachariah Vaughan Gives Refugees a New Start
This is a story about grace. Not religious grace, per se, although there’s an element of spirituality. Not Grace Paint and Tile, specifically, although the company plays a large role. At its heart, it’s about a guy who lost his way for a while, who has become a mentor to Northampton High School athletes and Afghan refugees. It’s about his most recent crew of painters, football stars and former soldiers, who didn’t always understand each other but knew that when lunch rolled around, they would lay down a drop cloth, take off their shoes, and share a pot of stew. And it’s about his community, our community, that emerged from isolation eager to merge worlds.
Longmeadow Dad's Club: Creating Connections
Meeting new people and making friends isn't easy. Getting to know people can be even more difficult in communities that pride themselves on families who remain in town for generations. Luckily, the Longmeadow Dad’s Club gives parents the opportunity to settle in, to find opportunities for their little ones, and even to gain some new skills along the way.
Stay Warm & Save: Tips for Heating Your Home
It seems like EVERYTHING is more expensive these days, and while there are certain costs we can cut down on, heating your home is an essential task no matter the cost of energy. However, with a few simple suggestions, you can still heat your home without burning through your budget this season. An added perk? These tips also help to cut down on your carbon footprint - so you’re saving cash and the planet at the same time!
Get Paid to Rebrand Your Business!
Are you a small business owner in Northampton looking to take your business to the next level? Well, imagine if someone paid you $5,000 to work on your personal brand. It sounds too good to be true, but over the past few months, I've helped over 20 small businesses get state funding to improve their image, inject more personality into their website, restructure their business, and wow their target audience.
Are you a Solo?
The short answer: It’s complicated.
Strictly speaking, Solos are defined as adults 65 or older who have neither a spouse/partner or adult children to support them as they age. But the complexities of real life, real people, and real families also come into play. In the real world of serving financial planning clients, we’ve worked with many people who don’t qualify as Solos – technically speaking. Yet in actuality, now or in the foreseeable future, they will be aging pretty much on their own.
Digital Gift Ideas
The holiday season is upon us and if you're struggling with gift giving ideas we've got a few ideas that are not only easy on the wallet this year, but priceless for years to come.
Here at MorningBird Media, we eat, breathe and sleep authenticity, and what better way is there to gift someone you love with something that is just as unique as them? Here are a few ways you can use every-day technology to make memorable digital keepsakes this holiday season.
Community Through Food - The Barkett Family
There’s a good chance that when you walk into The Kitchen, you’ll see Bobby Barkett, dish towel slung over his shoulder or tucked into his apron, and a smile on his face. Moreover, he’ll probably know you, or your order, or your neighbors. If most towns have a local burger joint or a watering hole - a “Cheers''-type situation - then The Kitchen is Longmeadow’s, and that makes Barkett our resident Sam Malone.
Revenge Travel is Real
As I was looking into a Disney World vacation for a local family, I was shocked at how limited the availability was for February during school-vacation week in 2023. No matter how many times I refreshed the page, nada. 2023 seems so far away, but is it? Not when it comes to planning a vacation! March of 2020 brought a halt to travel, and now it is getting a breath of life again. Travel right now is surging as many countries and most recently cruise lines have loosened their restrictions. I am hungry for a vacation, you are hungry for a vacation. Americans are starving for a vacation. What can you do to assure you get the accommodations you want at the price point you desire? Get moving.
Much More in Storrs, Nov. 2022
Many of us here at Storrs Library love reading before going to bed, and we bet you do too. Did you know Storrs offers a digital resource that will allow you to read thousands of ebooks and digital magazines, or play an e-audiobook on nearly any device? If you’re tired of propping up a copy of A Tale of Two Cities on a pillow, you can instead be lulled to sleep listening to it read aloud. Intrigued? It’s time to download Libby.
Comfort Food: Manna Offers Northampton a Recipe for Resilience
Today’s meal is New Orleans dirty rice with a garlic aioli served over spinach. Start with a side salad or some fruit. Room for dessert? How about locally sourced fruit pie.
Welcome to Manna.
To Be Transformed by the Journey
To journey and to be transformed by the journey is to be a pilgrim.
- Mark Nepo
It is 9 p.m. when my kids and I join my wife in her hospice room. We've come to tell her that her oncologist at Dana Farber has spoken to the hospice medical director and agrees that her feeding tube is only causing needless pain. That it is time to let her body die. Tough as nails, my wife insists that she speak directly to her oncologist. She wants us to call her immediately.
Navigating the Medicare Maze
Medicare can be complex and confusing. It can feel overwhelming just trying to understand all the options. Did you know there are local experts who help people navigate through this maze of information known as Medicare?
Before
Let’s talk about the fairy godmother, before. At this point, she is just a woman, still relatively young, approaching her life’s precipice, fairy-status undiscovered, role of godmother yet realized. It doesn’t matter how all that will come to be, only that right now she works at a diner, spends the day penciling people’s orders on a notepad and running back and forth from the kitchen to her tables, carrying plates of eggs and buttered toast, a practiced smile on her face
The Cheung Family: A family of many talents
The Cheung family has lived in the Tinkham Woods neighborhood of Florence for fifteen years. Their daughter, Claire, now lives in Providence. Floyd Cheung has been a professor at Smith College for 23 years where he has taught Asian American literature. The last three years he has been serving as the Vice President for Equity and Inclusion.
President in Residence: Meet Bay Path’s 6th President
When we think of “college towns,” we think of Boston, Amherst, or Northampton. We think of dive bars, marching bands, and funky coffee shops. But amongst our Longmeadow Neighbors, and nestled in between historic Longmeadow homes, lives Bay Path University, an institution celebrating its 125th birthday. We caught up with one of your neighbors, a newer resident of Longmeadow, Sandra Doran, the 6th president of Bay Path University.
Northampton Jazz Festival
JAZZ ABOUNDS DOWNTOWN! The Northampton Jazz Festival will kick off at Pulaski Park on Friday, Sept. 30 with a Jazz Strut throughout downtown Northampton and free performances will continue downtown on Saturday, the first of October.
Fall Paddling Tips
Did you know fall is a favorite time at All Out Adventures to head out kayaking and canoeing? With typically cooler air temperatures, water that’s been warmed all summer, and typically quiet days at the parks and rivers, it’s a lovely time to get out on the water!
Electrical safety tips for Halloween & the Upcoming holidays
When it comes to Halloween and the holidays that come on its heels, nothing is scarier than dealing with the consequences of an electrical emergency. Electrical problems are one of the leading causes of house fires in the U.S., accounting for an estimated 51,000 incidents and nearly 500 deaths each year.
Much more in Storrs
Many of us here at Storrs Library love reading before going to bed, and we bet you do too. Did you know Storrs offers a digital resource that will allow you to read thousands of ebooks and digital magazines, or play an e-audiobook on nearly any device? If you’re tired of propping up a copy of A Tale of Two Cities on a pillow, you can instead be lulled to sleep listening to it read aloud. Intrigued? It’s time to download Libby.
Steven & Jenny Creelman: An inventor lives next door
Steven Creelman was raised in Longmeadow, and returned to town after stops in Florida, Chicago, and Eastern Massachusetts. While as a young person, he never imagined he’d move back into town, after falling in love and starting a family, he returned to a town where he felt a strong sense of community and support - and square footage for his growing family.