Poet Kerry O'Keefe, Writer Maureen O'Brien

Three third-generation Irish-American women (two of whom are accomplished writers, and one of whom hosts a weekly talk show) meet to share prose and poetry, to ponder the role of the "scapegoated truthteller" in the Irish Catholic family, to explore subjects of loss, of female sexuality, violence, and alcoholism, and to tip our hats to injured veterans returning from Iraq.

Kerry O'Keefe's chapbook "From a Burning Building," was published by St. Martin's Press in 2006, and is available at the Broadside Bookshop. Maureen O'Brien's novel "b-mother" was published by Harcourt in 2006, and is widely available.

Kerry O'Keefe "Late Mass in August"

Kerry O'Keefe "Late Mass in August", originally uploaded by Luke Warm.

Northampton poet Kerry O'Keefe and novelist Maureen O'Brien will be our guests tonight on the Community Radio Hour.

Viva Obama

Northampton Weather, Outside the Cubicle

Steve, AKA Meatball. His wife got the trailer; she dropped Steve for his best friend. Degenerative arthritis stemming from injury while on active duty. Has had no luck with disability applications, his paperwork never seems to emerge from the bureaucracy. Crashing on sofas and floors.

Daniel Ellsberg Speaks

Ed Russell and I ventured to Bentley College in Waltham on January 2008 to record the ACLU of Massachusetts Conference, where Daniel Ellsberg -- the RAND corporation insider and military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times during the Vietnam War -- was the featured speaker. Ed produced an hour of radio from our audio capture. Ed's radio show, "Active Ingredients," can be heard on Monday Evenings from 6-7 on WXOJ-LP, Northampton, Valley Free Radio, 103.3 FM. This and many other fascinating recordings can be downloaded at activeingredients.org.

Listen by clicking on the link below:
Ellsberg Speaks: A Coup has Occurred

James Lowenthal on Bicycle Transportation For All

James Lowenthal, Astronomy Professor at Smith College, also serves as MassBike chapter president here in the Pioneer Valley. He spoke last year at the Media Education Foundation on the topic of Clean Transportation in the Valley. This inspiring and eye-opening presentation was recorded by Ed Russell of Active Ingredients media. We ran this recording for the February 17 edition of the Radio Hour.

Pair of Cyclists*, originally uploaded by [Zakkaliciousness].

to listen to the mp3, click on the link to launch your media player, or use the embedded flash player below to stay on this page:

James Lowenthal Speaks at the Media Education Foundation

Ed Shanahan is Back!

Retired Gazette editor Ed Shanahan is back from vacation, and his on-line journal Downstreet.net is once again teeming with observation and commentary.

Hugo Chavez, The American Red Cross, Declining American Literacy, Pfizer, the Evisceration of the Great American Newspaper, and the Global Scrap Metal Industry....

The honorable Mr. Shanahan is on a roll, and in a contrarian mood. Bookmark http://www.downstreet.net; as his old-school web-based journal, created before blogging was all the rage, does not generate an RSS feed.