This Month’s Featured Articles…

The yearning to be as free as a bird and to soar on wings in the sky has been with humankind since the dawn of time. One of the best-known legends about that lure – and the danger inherent in its pursuit – is that of the ancient Greek father and son, Daedalus and Icarus.  Daedalus, a masterful inventor, was imprisoned on Crete by King Minos for angering him. To escape this wretched condition, Daedalus crafted sets of wings from wood, feathers, and wax. Finally [...]

This year, Flying Cloud Institute, based in Great Barrington, MA, turns 40. For decades, Flying Cloud has been inspiring young people and educators through dynamic science and art experiences that ignite creativity. Main Street Magazine sat down with executive director Maria Rundle to find out more about the organization’s history and programs.  What is Flying Cloud, and how did you find your way to becoming the executive director of the organization? My background in in education and labor rights. My children were going to a local public school, [...]

51 years ago very few Americans knew much about sharks, much less about great white sharks. All that changed in early 1974. A first novel from a 33-year-old writer jump-started awareness of sharks to the point that many people refused to go swimming, or, in some cases, even take a bath. The creation The author of the novel, Peter Benchley (my older brother), said many times that he knew the book would never be a big success, but he just wanted to write and publish [...]

“It was start a theater or drive to Alaska,” Linda MacNish said of the decision she and Lynne Haydn faced before opening The Mac-Haydn Theatre in Chatham, NY. Mac-Haydn is the flagship of live theater in Columbia County. In 1969, seeing a professional musical meant either going to New York City or attending a rare tour stop in Schenectady. Haydn was an aspiring actress and director and MacNish managed performers and had started the city’s first luncheon theater, when they met in New York. Their [...]

It was a Tuesday night in March, before daylight saving time, so it was dark at 6 pm as I headed for the Plant & Sip event in downtown Troy, NY. And it was cold the way it can be in March. But when I stepped into the room where the event was being held, there was a sensation of sunshine and life.  At tables scattered around the room were groups of two, four, and six people, chatting and sipping in anticipation of planting. At [...]