This Month’s Featured Articles…

“Just go for it.” Those were the last thoughts I remember thinking before I rolled up and over a wooden ladder, and attempted to huck a 4-5’ drop on my mountain bike this past September. I’ve been mountain biking for over twenty years now with relatively few injuries, and although I usually draw the line at five foot jumps and drops, my bike handling skills are good enough to get me out of most jams. Not this time. My front wheel dropped out from under me, [...]

Woven into the tapestry of our lives is the culmination of all that we have experienced. From the fertile soil of our childhood, formative years where each moment has the capability of leaving an indelible impression, to our howling youth, where our sense of who we are within begins to breathe its first gasps of life. For most of us, assigning a temporality to the meaning of our lives has become a matter of course. For each passing phase we assume the previous has resolved [...]

Great Mountain Forest (GMF) is an emerald jewel in the crown of an area that covers over 6,000 acres in Norfolk and Canaan, CT. It also tells many stories – an understory of ecological diversity, a succession story of trees and families, a restoration story, a conservation story, but most of all, a love story between the forest and its stewards. Working forest GMF is what’s known as  a “working forest,” which according to the World Resources Institute means that it is “actively managed to [...]

  As Thanksgiving fades, thoughts turn to Christmas, carol-singing, gift-giving, and general merriment. But for many it is a season of sadness and despair. Homelessness and hunger are prevalent in so many of our local towns. But Torrington, CT, has two organizations that are helping to bring cheer to those who need it most. Prime Time House Prime Time House, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, is a branch of Clubhouse International, a community-based membership organization designed to support people living with mental illness, offering [...]

Although it is naturally the darkest time of the year, color abounds in the holiday shopping season. Starting with Black Friday (when retailers get out of the red), stores rake in the green with fairy tales of white Christmases in their displays and soundtracks of Blue Christmas pumped through their speakers. Sparkly lights and tinsel dazzle shoppers into purchasing the latest technology, which lights up with flashing LEDs and pulsing blue panels. It’s a sensory overload, really. Pine-scented everything, an endless parade of sweets, and snuggly pullovers [...]