November 2, 2026: Improved vision

It’s Friday the 13th but despite that we're feeling pretty lucky.Lucky to have a textile merchant based in Turners Falls who is committed to change in the world of fast fashion. Swanson’s Fabrics grapples with the climate crisis, interrupted supply lines, and our dependency on slave-labor in far away countries to produce our cotton and fiber goods and is encouraging us to find a different way to approach the fabric of our lives. We’ll meet Kathryn Greenwood Swanson, Alex McGuigan and Emilie Long from Swanson’s Fabrics who are helping me create my costumes for The March for The Food BankWe’re also lucky to have live music. Crawling out of the Catskill to the Drake in Downtown Amherst we’ll welcome Jonathan Linaberry better known to the world as The Bones of J.R. JonesAnd any day is lucky when you get to drink the stars. That is allegedly how Dom Perignon described drinking Champagne. But the folks at Provisions will help us separate fact from fiction when it comes to fermentation as the Wine Thunderdome explores the world of Sparkling Wine

Easthampton Film Festival’s main festivities may happen in the spring, but the rest of the year, they’re still encouraging the work and fellowship of local film makers. On Nov 21st and Dec 5th they’ll hold local showings of locally made shorts at the Academy of Music and Amherst cinema for you to see some of those works in progress, and we’ll talk with organizers Chris Ferry and Lena Vani about year round filmmaking in western mass. Carlo Collodi is celebrating his 200th birthday, and although you might be unfamiliar with the name, you’re probably familiar with at least the Disney version of his most famous story: Pinocchio. But there’s many things that the studio changed when this most infamous of stories was animated. We speak with professor emeritus of UMass John Stoffalonno about the story’s true plot, and collodi’s path to writing it. And in the wake of the blue wave’s most poignant and hard fought flip, congressman Jim McGovern is preparing for a wealth of things to do before the newest congressional class gets sworn in, we’ll learn about the thorny roadblock of committees, and what he might be able to do to work around them, and answer a pile of listener questions on issues both near and far. 

Remind My Soul is a podcast from the valley’s own Self Evident Education that combines events from less known American history the organization seeks to espouse, with conversation and hiphop. This Saturday, the podcast will host a live taping along with a showing of the film “get a mule 40 acres or so” at De La Luz in Holyoke.We’ll speak with the core team behind that series about some of the revelations they’ve come across with ex. Dir. Michael Lawrence Riddell, and board member, acclaimed Bay State Hip-hop artist and educator Akrobatik. We’ll also talk about that history and the context of the history of hip-hop itself with another member of SEE’s board and friend of the show, professor Ousmane Power-Greene of Clark University, who also teaches a well beloved History of Hip-hop class Also resident wordster and senior editor at Merriam Webster, Emily Brewster dons a mask to reveal the words in English that have their origins among the many characters and archetypes of Commedia dell’Arte.

At Daily Operation in Easthampton, they’ve made it a point to source and utilize the freshest and most inspiring ingredients the area has to offer, all of which has lead to an ever changing menu surprising folx near and far over their 8 years. We sit with owner Dave Schier to talk about the paths his kitchen has taken him on, how music remains an important part of the restaurant’s mission, and the melodic flavor combos we’ve loved that have come and gone over the years. Then on the Stockbridge Lenox Line, an ensemble that’s been innovating for almost 30 years brings its current line up to Tanglewood. Imani Winds are a chamber group that have been challenging folx with imaginative arrangements, and initiatives designed to uplift the work of those less seen in the symphonic and “classical” music realms. We speak with the last remaining original member, bassoonist and educator Monica Ellis about her history with the group, the new aspects they’ve leaned into on their latest album “RISE” and more things you can see on display when they play the Linde Center on Sunday Nov. 15th. 

At Smith College Art Museum, you still have time to encounter the work of a woman who is singular in perspective and experience. Alma Thomas was an artist of many mediums, but may be best known for her paintings and work with color. We take a tour of the works on display within "Composing Color: Paintings by Alma Thomas from the Smithsonian American Art Museum " with curator Emma Chubb and guest lecturer Dr. Tiffany Barber, to fill in the holes of her life and career that art History often leaves by the wayside. We also check in with a pillar of the bay state hip hop scene. REKS left UMass Amherst to release his first album 25 years ago and has been incredibly prolific ever since garnering national acclaim especially within underground hip hop circles. This Tuesday Nov. 10th, he returns to celebrate the anniversary of Along Came the Chosen at De La Luz in Holyoke and we’ll hear from him and Damany Gordon of Genuine Culture, LLC to learn more about the evolution of the scene in those years. And in the wake of the blue waves still ongoing, science is making a comeback to the chambers of Congress. Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Five College astronomer Salman Hameed, talks about some of the key folx who’ll be legislating soon, and the importance of a return of folx whose first profession was in science to government at this time. 

We’ve got three tales of veterans returning to the scene, including a whole festival, because this weekend is Franklin County Cider Days, which is still a great time even at a smaller scale than its previous largess. We head to one of the newest cideries in the area Altamira Ciderworks, where two cidermakers alike in virtue are combining their powers in different styles of cider. We’ll get a tour of their burgeoning orchard and cidery in GillSome folx might remember a pinball mecca a few years back in the center of downtown Great Falls. Well hold on to your paddles because a new place to hone your wizarding skills is opening today in the same block. Mystic Cat is both lounge AND pinball arcade, inviting community to convene and recreate. We tour the facilities and hear more with owner Dan Levine. And live music friday brings a seasoned singer songwriter back to our studios. It’s release day for Jake Klar’s newest album “Years Go Through Me Now”. We’ll hear selections from the LP and learn how you can celebrate it’s release later this month at the Drake in Amherst. 

Change is afoot, because whatever shade you wanna call it, blue came out en force on TuesdaySo of course we’ve gotta get Congressman Jim McGovern’s opinion on the election results and where he saw them. But also start looking at what his party needs to do with this power they’ve wrested back. We hear about some of the key issues are on his radar, including leadership in the party and through committee, the walking back of the ex. Branch’s bravado in the wake of the flip, and questions from constituents about the next steps. And a Turners Falls cultural landmark is making a shift. The Rendezvous bar and lounge has just announced that it is becoming a worker owned co-op. So we head up to Franklin County to hear the venue’s history, its present, and the future that the folx involved see for it with the community and the staff coming together to create a long lasting hub for the people. Plus as the best time of the year starts tomorrow, we’ll have a cider days preview with juice from one of the bigger hubs for the Franklin County Cider Days festival: Clarkdale Fruit Farms. and we’ll taste under the tutelage of farmer good Ben Clark. 

We’re covering a lot of tumultuous ground, including a thought provoking new novel with an interesting take on both narrative and timeline. A Pearl Is Just an Accident is a new book from Hawley author Julie Esther Fisher telling the story of the transatlantic James family through a slow revelation of the events that made them, and we’ll speak with the author about this work and its take on humanizing trauma, and see how poetry affected its structure of semi-independent vignettes. Plus we'll let you know how you can meet her at an event at Forbes Library later this month.  And we’re all reeling from the surprising results from yesterday’s elections where a cavalcade of glass ceilings seem to have been broken by the “blue wave”, not to mention a plethora of ballot questions right here in Massachusetts. We’ll check in with NEPM Newsroom’s Elizabeth Román and Nirvani Williams for a round up of the results in the Bay State and beyond. Plus one of the most fun ways to use language is to make the sound of the thing you’re trying to describe, so Word Nerd Emily Brewter, Senior Editor at Merriam-Webster joins us to explore the fascinating world of English onomatopoeia. 

It's election day and we’ll look at one of the last ballot questions of our whopping 9: Question 8, the motion to repeal the standing law on marijuana. And to do that we’ll invite our local expert from the only black owned dispensary in Western Mass, Payton Shubrick of 6 Bricks here in Springfield. We’ll also head to Great Barrington where the conversations you might have started about voting can laterally slide into art and literature. Lit Salon is a new series presented by Edith Wharton's The Mount that pairs authors with musicians and engages all in conversations about their work and more. Founder Michelle Young and featured guest Colin Asher join us to talk more about getting the community to talk and think more at their next two events on Nov 6th and 21st.Plus we’ll head to Northampton to see how we are helping the greater community in these times of crisis. The Northampton Survival Center feeds folx from 8 towns across Hampshire County and made innovative and important pivots during the pandemic that have helped their organization to aid even more people today. We’ll get a tour with Ex. Director Heidi Nortonsmith and Program Director Sarah Pease to see how their work is intrinsically connected to local farms and their neighbors as well. 

It’s election day tomorrow, and that means that we  have one last day to introduce you to one last candidate. So we’ll sit down with the challenger for the 1st district’s congressional seat: Nadia Milleron. We’ll talk with her about the differences between this contest and the last one she ran against the sitting congressman, her take on some of the ballot questions and more. Justin Beatty returns to tout an organization that's seeking to help artistic folx in our community. He’s a part of the Western Mass Arts Hub, an online resource that is hosting a workshop this weekend to help local artists get found for more projects. We’ll speak with him about how the Arts Hub works, and some of the skills they’ll be sharing in Saturday’s class. And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Five College Astronomer Salman Hameed, traverses a bevy of topics including the losses in the star trek universe, the troubling rhetoric concerning a certain Michigander senatorial candidate, and how our sun may have squirreled away a whole other dwarf planetary sibling in our solar system that nobody knew about until now.