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May Day Immigrants’ Vigil in Pittsfield

Pittsfield, MA - Two Berkshire County organizations, the Berkshire Immigrant Center and Manos Unidas, together with other local immigrant advocacy groups, will hold a vigil on Thursday, May 1st at Park Square in Pittsfield, MA from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.  The event is part of the May Day National Mobilization to Support Immigrant Workers’ Rights.

May 1st is a planned day of action by numerous youth, labor, peace and advocacy groups across America to show solidarity and support for immigrant workers’ rights. Marches, teach-ins, and vigils will be held across the country in order to focus attention on the contributions made by our immigrant communities, to combat anti-immigrant sentiment, and to advocate for much-needed comprehensive immigration reform.

The third annual Pittsfield vigil will include petition signing, dissemination of information on immigrants’ rights, planning and brainstorming for future actions, as well as poetry, kids’ activities, and tasty ethnic treats!  Participants are encouraged to wear white t-shirts as a sign of participation and solidarity.

The event aims to mobilize a strong contingent of supporters to show that the Berkshires is a diverse community that respects and appreciates peoples from all races, classes, and cultures. 

The Berkshire Immigrant Center provides citizenship assistance, immigration information, advocacy, referrals, and counseling to the growing immigrant communities in Berkshire County.  The Center also sponsors monthly walk-in clinics for local residents to get free consultations with a qualified immigration attorney.  The program is under the auspices of Berkshire Community Action Council and is funded in part by the Berkshire United Way, the City of Pittsfield, the Mass Bar Foundation, the Berkshire Bank Foundation, the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and the Citizenship for New Americans Program. The Center is located in the First Baptist Church at 88 South Street, Pittsfield. For more information about the Berkshire Immigrant Center, please call (413) 445-4881 or email info@berkshireic.com.

Manos Unidas is a grassroots, multicultural community empowerment organization founded in 2001 by local Latino and supporting community members.  The organization works alongside Latino, immigrant, and other underrepresented community members to build a culture of "beloved community" that crosses borders of race, class, culture, gender, language, and geography. For more information, contact Anaelisa Vanegas, Manos Unidas/Hands United at  413-243-9121, manosunidasorg@gmail.com or visit: www.unitedmanos.blogspot.com.

Want to Help Organize an MLK Memorial Event?

North Adams, MA - Dick Dassatti wants to organize an event for Thursday, April 3rd to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and the 40 year anniversary of the speech he gave that evening (April 3rd) before he was shot on April 4th.  He would like to work with MCLA, Williams College and the community on an event.  We would like to have as many community members as is possible on short notice like this.

If you are interested and/or have ideas, please contact the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition. 

Pearl packs house with her story of triumph over fear, withdrawal, prejudice

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- In the instant when she learned in 2002 that her husband had been beheaded, the widow of Daniel Pearl said she ran from the couple's Karachi, Pakistan, home, where for five weeks she and a team had sought to find the slain Wall Street Journal reporter. She said she grabbed an AK-47 rifle from one of the people who had been guarding the home.

"It's not that hard to kill someone," she said. But she didn't. In that instant, Mariane Pearl realized, "the only act of courage was to put that gun down" and continue on a path which was, she realized, "the only act of revenge that was really possible . . . I had to have this kind of courage facing life." 

Pearl, 40, said the photographs released of her captive husband, one with a "V" for victory and signal and the other with an obscene finger gesture, showed her that he faced death with courage and defiance, and she resolved to do the same in life after his death.

The free-lance journalist and book author, appearing on Wednesday night in the small city where the slain Wall Street Journal reporter got his professional start, told a story of triumph over fear, cynicism and prejudice in an hour speech to an overflow crowd at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

"You have to go beyond fear yourself if you're going to win," said Pearl, adding that after her captive husband was beheaded by terrorists, "I was already beyond the possibility of finding shelter in hatred of any kind." Instead, she said she resolved not to be silenced and to preserve hope. Terrorism is about manipulation, she said, "what they want is for all of us to survive to live in fear."

The Hardman Family Foundation brought Pearl to MCLA, an 1,800-student state college in a remote city of 14,000 residents where Pearl once worked as a reporter for the North Adams Transcript daily.  Her appearance packed a 500-seat hall and required that the school, for the first time in the history of the Hardman lecture series, to set up a downstairs overflow room where another approximately 60 people could watch Pearl on closed-circuit video. The Hardman family once owned The Transcript.

With warmth, almost giddy chuckles, some informal jokes and a thick French accent, Pearl told the story of her life, her marriage to Pearl, their move to the Mideast as fellow reporters, and the five-week ordeal of seeking his fate after his kidnapping, taping a recurring them of tolerance and the avoidance of prejudice. She noted her family heritage. She said her mother was from a poor, black Cuban family. She described her father as a wealthy, Dutch-born "revoluntionary" with advanced mathematics degrees who ultimately committed suicide when she was age 9.

After her husband's death, Pearl recounted visiting world leaders, including U.S. President George Bush, and recounting the heritage of her's and Pearl's family from Iraq, China, France, Holland, Israel, Cuba and Poland. You should have seen Bush's eyes at that list, Pearl joked.  The team, depicted in the film "A Mighty Heart," assembled in Islamabad to find her husband after his kidnapping, was part Jewish, part Muslim, part Christian and both men and women, she noted. Pearl herself is a Buddhist.

"We were all crossing boundaries," she said. "Everyone went beyond their own limitations." But, she added later, "this isn't about heros. We're not talking about heroism here, we're talking about humanism." 

The quest for humanism moved Pearl to write her second book after, A Mighty Heart. the book, In Search of Hope: The Global Diaries of Mariane Pearl, saw her travel to 20 destinations around the globe, searching out and interviewing people that she characterized as exhibiting "the exact oppose to terrorism." The book is about woman who are "extraordinary exampls of human resilence," she said, adding: "And I think that is the answer to terrorism."

During a brief question-and-answer question, Pearl commented on the state of the media. She said there is a need for those in journalism "to say, 'What are we doing?' "  She added, "I think treating the media like any other business is a big mistake." She called for an effort to use tales of conflict to "create values" because "conflict is part of life."

Pearl's visit brought former North Adams residents from as far as Cape Cod, and many current and retired journalists from the region who had worked with her husband. She joked about sleeping on the couch of former Transcript photographer Nick Noyes' home during a visit with her new husband to the region during the 1990s. Another friend recalled Danny Pearl's periodic returns to the area to play music and party at an annual river festival.  Mariane spent the day at MCLA, visiting classes, and was said to have headed back to her New York City home immediately after the evening address.

Mariane Pearl to Speak at MCLA March 5

North Adams, MA - French freelance journalist Mariane Pearl, a reporter and columnist for Glamour magazine, will speak at this spring’s Hardman Lecture Series event at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Wednesday, March 5, at 7:30 pm in the Church Street Center.

North Adams Tree Lighting Set for November 30

North Adams, MA - The city of North Adams will observe one of its favorite traditions, the annual Christmas tree lighting Friday evening, November 30 at 5:30 PM. Mayor John Barrett will throw the switch that will bathe the downtown in the glow of hundreds of thousands of holiday lights, marking the official beginning of the city’s holiday season. There will be seasonal carols and a sing along, and the award winning Drury Band, directed by Carl Jenkins. The lighting will be followed by the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus on the North Adams Trolley, bearing goodie bags containing candy canes, coloring books and crayons for girls and boys. The event is free and open to the public. Goodie bags will be available for the first 500 children. The North Adams trolley will operate for free from 6:00 – 8:00 PM with stops in the downtown and at Western Gateway Heritage State Park. For more information, contact the North Adams Office of Tourism at 413-664-6180, tourism@northadams-ma.gov or www.northadams-ma.gov

City Christmas Tree Lighting Set for November 30

North Adams, MA - A reminder…The city of North Adams will hold the annual Christmas tree lighting Friday evening, November 30 at 5:30 PM.  The event is free and open to the public and includes a visit from Santa Claus and free trolley rides around town. For more information, contact the North Adams Office of Tourism at 413-664-6180.

Sociologist & Homicide Expert to Speak at MCLA

North Adams, MA - Sociologist and homicide expert Jack Levin will speak at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts on Wednesday, November 7, at 7:00 PM in the Church Street Center. Levin will discuss worldwide homicide rates, the changes over time in murder rates and juvenile violence. The event is free and open to the public.

Trick-or-Treat from 5:30-7 PM in North Adams

North Adams, MA - The North Adams Department of Public Safety is reminding all residents that Halloween is Wednesday, October 31 and Trick or Treat hours in the city will be between 5:30 – 7:00 PM. Motorists are urged to be extra cautious to help make this Halloween a safe and enjoyable one. CLICK HERE or a list of safety tips.

March & Vigil for Burmese Students October 5

Williamstown, MA - The community is invited to join Students for Social Justice and Faith-Based Communities in a Silent March and Candle Light Vigil for the 50 unarmed students massacred by Burma's military regime. We will also remember the voices of the countless monks and civilians peacefully protesting for freedom and democracy who have so recently been silenced by bullets.

Marchers will gather on the lawn between the Paresky Center and the First Congregational Church of Williamstown by 6 pm on Friday, October 5.

Reverend Bail from the First Congregational Church will lead the March and John Win, a student activist from Burma's bloody '88 revolution, who was politically imprisoned by the junta for five years, will also be speaking. Students for Social Justice and community leaders will share a few words to send a strong message that we support the right to peaceful protest and will not stand for the violent and egregious suppression of democratic voices. We will end by making prayer flags and having a candlelight vigil. Please wear RED if at all possible.

The event will conclude by about 7:30 pm.  Parking is available in the lot immediately behind the church off of Chapin Hall Drive.

Regular GreylockNews Poster Taking a Brief Break

Williamstown, MA - Gail M. Burns, who posts regularly to this Web site, had some major surgery on September 27 and will be unable to post for about a week.  She looks forward to resuming her regular schedule just as soon as possible.