The Top Left Corner The Greylock Glass

Editor’s Note: The following article is derived from officially released information, published with few or no editorial changes. The Greylock Glass  occasionally provides our readers with such content if the information is factual in nature, and requires little to no interpretation or analysis, often when original reportage would not provide additional relevant information.







(See below for rough transcript, very rough, of our interview with Local 2110 UAW rep Chelsea Farrell.)











NORTH ADAMS — March 26, 2024 — Unionized staff of MASS MoCA, members of UAW Local 2110, voted today to ratify an agreement on wages that will end a three week strike.







The  Agreement will settle wages for the next two years.  58% of the unit, currently earning just $16.25 per hour will immediately be increased to at least $18 per hour. Full-time staff will receive general wage increases of 3.5% in each of the two years, and some workers will receive additional equity increases based on seniority and level of responsibility. Average pay for the unit will increase by 12.1% by the second year of the Agreement. The Agreement also includes additional holiday pay and establishes overtime pay for any shifts that last over ten hours in a day. 







The Union Bargaining Committee issued a statement, saying: “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with the MASS MoCA that raises minimum pay rates and improves working conditions. We are looking forward to getting back to the jobs we love.” 







Hear our 2022 coverage of Local 2110 UAW’s one-day walkout.







NORTH ADAMS — March 6, 2024 — Unionized employees of MASS MoCA went on strike starting Wednesday, March 6 after no agreement on wages was reached with the Museum. Employees began picketing the Museum starting 8 am on Wednesday, March 6 and say they will picket daily until an agreement is reached.  







The employees’ union, part of Local 2110 UAW, was originally formed in April of 2021. After a one day strike in August of 2022, employees reached an agreement on a first contract which allowed them to re-open the agreement in October 2023 to negotiate further wage increases. Negotiations on the wage reopener have been ongoing for four months but no agreement has been reached. 









View this post on Instagram A post shared by MASS MoCA Union—Local 2110 UAW (@massmocaunion)









Fifty-eight percent (58%) of the 120 employees are earning just $16.25 per hour, according to the UAW. Average pay for full-time employees is $43,600.  According to The Economic Policy Institute’s family budget calculator, for a modes living in Berkshire County, a single individual with no children needs to earn approximately $47,

The broadcast premier of Razing Liberty Square can be viewed on PBS. on January 29, 2024. A streaming release for this powerful award winning documentary feature film directed by Academy-Award nominated filmmaker, Katja Esson will also be available.



















RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE had its world premiere at the 2023 Hot Docs Film Festival, then went on to the Human Rights Watch Film Festival and won the Changemaker Film Award at the Woodstock Film Festival. 







RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE highlights the current and compelling problem when community displacement and local neighborhood gentrification meets climate change.  Miami is ground-zero for sea-level-rise. When residents of the historic Liberty Square public housing project learn about a $300 million revitalization plan for their neighborhood, which has long suffered from disinvestment, they know that this sudden interest comes from the fact that their neighborhood is located on the highest-and-driest ground in the city. Now they must prepare to fight a new form of racial injustice – Climate Gentrification. 







NTRVW: Katja Esson







Editor’s Note: Below is something very close to a verbatim transcript of the recent conversation with our guest. If you follow along with the text as you listen, you will discover that you are NOT reading a word for word record of the discussion. We know this. We think you’ll approve of the reason why.







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TL;DR Our Editorial Policy on Transcripts



















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We use Artificial Intelligence first to process the audio from the recording to create a transcript that’s about 85 – 95 percent accurate. The problem with that level of accuracy is that it also captures most of the “uhs” and “ums.” It also doesn’t remove all the false starts or other kinds of word salad we humans pass off as communication every day.







Then we run it through Chat GPT4 to remove all those vocalized pauses and verbal detritus. I have refined the AI prompt to the point where the result is what people hope they sound like, without too noticeably changing the actual language used, other than to get rid of what nobody would be able to understand were it written out anyway. Next, I go through the transcript line by line anyway and decide what bits really need an edit, so the process does spare my arthritic hands a bit, but is still quite time-consuming.







Back in the dark ages, digital recorders were big bulky things most of us lowly reporters couldn’t afford. Speech-to-text transcription was something even the intelligence community coveted. We used reporters notebooks (I still always carry one) and a ball point pen (I don’t always remember to steal enough from the bank to keep my car stocked), and what we typed up in the articles that got publishe...

I walked south on Water Street, searching for the strangely elusive location where David Stuckenberg was to announce his candidacy for President of the United States shortly. I’d had to get up and out the door by 6:30 a.m. to make the 11 o’clock beginning of ceremonies in Plymouth, Mass. I got there just in time, but was told by a crusty old blue-blood that I couldn’t come in because she’d never heard of me. I went ‘round back of the mansion overlooking the Atlantic and found a group of other journalists she’d never heard of denied entrance.



















Eventually the six or seven of us made enough commotion laughing and carrying on that some guy came out and told us to keep it down, but also that the woman was just with the venue and had no right to prohibit our entry, and sorry about all that. Oh, and by the way, the opening speech is over and the first set of reporters are almost done asking one-on-one questions. Do we still want to go in? We’d have to wait until a break to enter the main event room, of course. 







You’re probably wondering why a reporter from the town farthest north and west in Massachusetts travelled diagonally across the Commonwealth as far as one can go without getting his socks wet. To cover a presidential campaign launch. Of a Republican.







Easy.







It’s good to know what all sides are thinking. And from the press release I’d received the week before, I sensed that this primary challenger from Florida was more than capable of some high-level thought. The research I did on Mr. Stuckenberg (Dr. Stuckenberg, to be accurate) left me with mixed emotions. Where his positions diverged with my leftist outlook, such as the answer to America’s immigration challenges for example, or U.S. involvement in the Israel/Palestine conflict, the gap was wide enough to drive a truck through.







The ideological overlap, however, surprised me. His views on natural resources, agriculture, and fresh water protection were based in science. The America First rhetoric was not a cynical jingoistic play — long-range calculations have clearly been brought to bear on the question of who the beneficiaries of the nation’s productivity and prosperity should be.







And let’s be clear, this candidate making a bid for Trump’s long-cooled seat cushion has bona fides that any candidate would envy, and that should aggressively capture the attention of the media:







Military Background: Stuckenberg is a Major in the US Air Force-Air National Guard and a decorated veteran pilot who has flown over 150 combat missions.







Education and Thought Leadership: He holds a Ph.D. in international affairs from King’s College London and is recognized as a “Young Disruptor” by NATO and lauded by senior military leaders and intelligence officials for his strategic acumen.







Entrepreneurial and Business Experience: As the founder of Genesis Systems, he has developed technologies for generating drinking water, addressing global water scarcity.







Policy and Security Expertise: Stuckenberg has experience in nuclear weapons treaties, national critical infrastructure, and has founded national programs for security and strategy.







Now for the (ahem) elephant in the room: Why in the actual hell is mainstream media lavishing so much attention on candidates who lack the credentials, résumé, or even natural charisma to warrant serious consideration by the voters? Why are they so focused on the horse race and the personalities and the drama? Wait. Don’t answer that. That was a rhetorical question. Here’s the answer,

UPDATE! This show is looking for members of the community to participate on stage— no performance experience required. Contact Alexander Davis to be a part of the magic!















From the website of the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance:























Boston-based Alex Davis‘ This Show is available for Touring, presents a comedic solo (with twelve backup dancers) that features the collaborative contributions of students and community members. Davis’ performances illuminate the innate theatricality of everyday life, drawing from pop culture, memes, reality television, improvisational techniques, community building, and lists. There is a post-performance Q&A on February 10th.











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This Show Is Available for Touring







Friday, February 9th – Saturday, February 10th8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.Adams Memorial Theatre, ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance$3 – $10









TICKETS









The Queering Perspectives Festival interrogates conventional, culturally normative performance. We want to create a platform for the othered, experimental, and subversive, pushing the boundaries of their form in pursuit of new research and artistic production. QPF has the agenda of sparking new conversations about performance on campus. We want performance to be a springboard for conversation into sexualities, genders, bodies, races, ethnicities, abilities, and desires.









Alexander Davis







Editor’s Note: Below is something very close to a verbatim transcript of the recent conversation with our guest. If you follow along with the text as you listen, you will discover that you are NOT reading a word for word record of the discussion. We know this. We think you’ll approve of the reason why.







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TL;DR Our Editorial Policy on Transcripts



















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We use Artificial Intelligence first to process the audio from the recording to create a transcript that’s about 85 – 95 percent accurate. The problem with that level of accuracy is that it also captures most of the &#...

Robin Chadwell; photo courtesy of Robin Chadwell.





Today’s guest is Robin Chadwell, who is helping spearhead a campaign for peace in the Middle East. A letter she has been circulating is garnering an increasing number of signatories as the situation for Palestinians, both in Gaza and in the occupied West Bank grows more dire by the hour.







Robin Chadwell (she/her) is a farmer and caregiver for adults with developmental disabilities in Great Barrington, MA. When she isn’t working, she plays pick-up soccer, writes poetry, and watches reality TV. 





























Show Intro





















Jay Velázquez: That is correct. In fact, this is episode 183 of the top left corner right here on The Greylock Glass GreylockGlass.com, the Berkshires mightiest independent alternative news thing. Welcome. I’m your host, Jay Velázquez, known in an alternate zip code as the Mongrel. It’s great to have you with us on this November 1st. Rabbit. Rabbit. Rabbit. Good luck. 2023. It’s a Wednesday and if you looked out your window, you might have seen that it was a snowy Wednesday. Tell you what, those trick or treaters dodged the bullet last night, but boy was that a shocker. This morning, I know that. Climate scientists have predicted that because it’s going to be it is an El Nino year, that the winter is going to be milder. But if this is if this is how we’re going to lead into it, I don’t know, you know, could be could be anything and it’s anybody’s game anyway. Right. This is New England. This is what we get. We don’t get upset. Today is going to show us. Really.







We’re actually not staying local, at least not in terms of the topic we’re going to be discussing the conflict. In Gaza right now, at least 8000. I think 400 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s assault, which was a response to the attacks by Hamas on. Well, first military bases and then innocent civilians in the West Bank.







And if innocent civilians in towns surrounding the Gaza Strip, some 1400 civilians were killed by Hamas fighters. And the retribution has been swift. It has been certain. And it is being called genocide by many, many level headed people. And this is a conflict that has the potential to spin way, way out of control, as we know. Israel is a nuclear armed state, though not officially. Iran may be a nuclear state. We’re not sure about that. We know that Pakistan is in support of Palestinian right now, and they’re definitely a nuclear armed state. And. Russia and China are. Not in favor of what’s going on. So we have all the makings of some geopolitical flash and. And spark, and we really would like to see that not happen. You know this this is a nice planet. I like this planet. I don’t want to see it exploded, but that is only going to happen, or that’s only going to be prevented if people speak up.







And my guest today, Robin Chadwell, who is a farmer and caregiver for adults with developmental disabilities in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Robin has. Um, started a letter and has. Written an open letter in support of a of a piece, and she has managed to get lots of signatories. I know she’s also got some help from from other folks in this endeavor, and she’ll describe that.







The idea here is that she feels, as do the signatories of this open letter, that people have got to speak up if they don’t like what they see going on. Don’t like our the United States involvement in it? It is, after all, mostly our weaponry that is being used in this conflict that is killing innocents. We know that at least. Well,

Jay Velázquez: And this is the Top Left Corner. Episode number 183 here on The Greylock Glass, GreylockGlass.com The Berkshires’ mightiest independent alternative news thing. I’m your host, Jay Velázquez, known in an alternate zip code as the Mongrel. Welcome. Welcome to the show. This is going to be a great show we have for you today. A former Pittsfield Select Selectboard Council, city council member, media personality and mayoral candidate John Krol with us today. It’s going to be a great conversation. Didn’t pull any punches. I asked the tough questions and I’ll let you decide for yourself how he did. Um, before we get to that conversation, though, I do have an announcement from one of our sponsors, the Foundry West Stockbridge. But I’d be telling you about this even if they were not our sponsors. Because this is great stuff. This month there is a residency at the Foundry, and I’ll tell you about it. This fall, the Foundry continues to support organizations that align with their mission of giving platform to often unheard voices. The first couple of weeks of September, the Foundry has offered an in-kind contribution of space to hold a theater residency in development through a collaboration with Second Street Second Chances in Pittsfield. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide a central point of access, where formerly incarcerated people of Berkshire County connect with the tools, programs and support to encourage a successful reentry into a more welcoming community with dignity and sustainable opportunities to thrive.







Jay Velázquez: The resulting performance is going to be held at Berkshire Community College at the end of September. I think it’s September 22nd. But let’s see. I think I’m going to have it over here. Yeah, yeah. In fact, I can go on a little bit further because the program Hear Me Out is the process of inspiring trust and creative risk taking, telling stories and sharing dreams and aspirations. The participants will find narrative threads, identify themes, and build the world of the play they have generated. The goals of this, this is this issue. Whatever of release are using the power of live performance to provide an outlet for presently and formerly incarcerated individuals to share their stories and life experiences through devising and shaping an entirely original, entirely original piece of theater, and to educate the public on the issues of incarceration and reentry. In a highly personal way and challenging our stereotype of this population. Performances will take place at the Robert Robert Bowlin Theater at Berkshire Community College on September 20th and 23rd, 2023 at 7 p.m. and September 26th. At 2 p.m. They will be free and open to the public. Each show will be followed by a talkback where audience members can ask the cast direction questions, directly facilitating community dialog. And this is co directed and facilitated by, well, two of my favorite names in the theater world in the Berkshires, Amy Brentano and Sarah Katzoff.







Jay Velázquez: So this is going to be a really I have a feeling I’m moving show, bring your hankie because these types of things, they just hit me hard, hit me so hard. So that is a really fascinating way of putting theater to to to great social use. Now let’s get on with our conversation with John Kroll right here on the top left corner.







Excerpt from Krol for Pittsfield







I’m a proud Dad, husband, small business owner, and an advocate for my community. I live in my hometown of Pittsfield with my wife, Cara, and our five children, Sophia, Ricky, Arden, Everett, and Beckett.







As the owner of my own marketing agency, One Eighty Media,