StageStruck: Rude Awakening

Time was when community theater was a cozy middle-of-the-road affair that seldom strayed from the comfortably familiar. While many amateur troupes now edge into the fast lane with more challenging dramas, the musicals that require community theaters’ greatest...

Between the Lines: Bullies and Followers

In the BDSM world the phrase “topping from the bottom” means conditional submission: when the sub questions or disobeys the instructions of his or her dom. Subverting the submissive role defeats the whole purpose of a BDSM relationship; it is thus frowned...

Standing Against “Stand Your Ground”

The Springfield City Council last week signaled its opposition to a bill that would expand the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law. At their May 7 meeting, councilors voted, 11 to 1, for a non-binding resolution calling on the state Legislature to vote...

ImperiumWatch: Drug War Profiteering

The problem with trying to reform anything in our country is that everything gets to be an industry. Everything attracts money, and those who profit from the flow of money will do anything to keep it from drying up. That’s what gives rise to what Cornell...

Letters: What Do You Think?

Audit Substantiates Concerns About Quabbin Forestry I have been following the letters and comments in the Valley Advocate that began in response to the request by Ben Wright of Environment Massachusetts that citizens support their petition to the Governor to ban...