I'm not sure what to make of this statement I pass every day in downtown Northampton.
Forget the future? That seems like bad advice, because that is where we have to live the whole rest of our lives. Quarantine the past? The past is where we have learned everything we know. What I think the person who wrote that graffiti wants to say is that we should be more appreciative of the present, which after all is the only place we can be at any given moment, but that appreciation of the NOW does not require rejecting the future or the past.
Past, present or future it is wise to appreciate all aspects of our lives, since we never really know how long our life will be, as UMass band leader George Parks learned when he died suddenly last year. However he is not forgotten, his image still hangs in the doorway of where the band used to practice.
Of course to live one must eat, and many this weekend are eating at the Taste of Amherst, one of the few such food festivals still around. Northampton and Springfield used to have big taste-of festivals, but abandoned them years ago. All year round it is a good idea to dine at the legendary Amherst Chinese.
However to eat food you must first grow it, which has been made difficult by all the rain we've been getting, as evidenced by this flooded tomato field in Hadley.
No matter what you do, your life may end because of bad weather, as happened tragically in our Valley recently. However not only has Springfield had to endure a devastating tornado, but it's been followed by a plague of pestering, preening, posing and posturing politicians, all wearing their caring compassion on their shirtsleeves while promising to fix the taxpayer's problems by using the taxpayer's own money. Here's a pack of pols in Springfield last week as captured by S.P. Sullivan.
Everywhere people are just people, but my neighbor questions our definition of people.
Some people make music, like Jerry Garcia's friend David Grisman.
Some people make music and appear on magazine covers, like Northampton resident Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth on the cover of this week's Valley Advocate.
Some people in Northampton have poor math skills.
Other people in Northampton have a golden glow.
Some people who follow sports are very happy this week, as evidenced in the window of Dick's at the Hampshire Mall.
Spotted on the bus this week.
This guy on the street in downtown Northampton showed me his snake. He said he caught it in Granby.
Someone set a trap for a Hamp Hipster!
I should do less reading and more doing.
I freaked to see a deer in my neighbor's yard the other morning. I got my camera out just in time to capture it before it bounded back into the woods.
Better a deer than what Hamp music scenester Cher Lovestrong found visiting her backyard!
A cliche comes to life in Hadley as a chicken prepares to cross the road, for reasons known only to itself.
The Tuesday Cooks Band performs at the Amherst Survival Center.
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