Dear friends of the Montague Farm Cafe,
Thanks to the many of you who have helped our first two Cafe’s go marvelously. And warm welcome to those of you who would like to find out how to participate.
Starting June 19th, we will go weekly with our Montague Farm Cafes, creating a “supreme meal” made out of the ingredients (that includes volunteers like you) that come forth.
The April 10th and May 15th meals were very special. We have been creating a space where all of us -teachers and doctors, families in homeless shelters, people living in their cars or under a bridge, retirees, business people, registrars, elders in subsidized housing, artists, kids from foster care, neighbors, and more- come together to create community, laugh, and enjoy great food. Such mixed community spaces are rare and powerful and can feed each of us where we need it.
To facilitate volunteer sign up and coordination, I set up our wiki, http://zpmealsinmontague.wetpaint.com/, so that you can easily sign up for specific date(s) to volunteer. The wiki now lists 5 meals between June 19 through July 17, so we can plan ahead and have an easily coordinated flow. How about going to the wiki now (or emailing me) and signing up!
You can select a specific date (or several) and indicate the time frame you can commit to on a day and whether there are specific kinds of offerings you’re especially well-suited to make (i.e. cooking a dish, leading a fun activity, serving and cleaning, leading a wellness offering, etc.) One couple is celebrating their anniversary by volunteering for a meal. A men’s group is getting involved in shifts together. Consider organizing your workplace, friends, family, or religious group for a monthly shift.
Together we are creating something very beautiful that makes an impact -public health data speaks to the power of community and connectedness as an indicator of school completion rates, wellness, violence and addiction prevention, and a whole slew of other factors. And having access to good and healthy food (much of it coming right from our garden) is no small thing for many of us.
I hope you will be part of the diverse and unique community we are building at the Montague Farm Cafe.
When you go to the wiki, it will look like this:
June 19th
- ms. a, 11-3pm: set up, clean up- mr. b, 11-noon: can do whatever is needed lovely c, 11-4pm: transportation, would like to make a dish madame d, 1:30-3:00: wellness offering—
June 26th----
July 3rd ---
July 10th----

July 17th----
You’ll see easy wiki instructions at the bottom of the wiki explaining how to insert your name -or you can contact me, and I can insert your info. About 5 days before each meal, I’ll send the relevant list of volunteers an email mapping out the assigned volunteer roles for the upcoming Cafe.
I’ll be in Poland (in part for a bearing witness retreat) from June 2 -June 14. While I am away, Steve Kanji Ruhl can answers any questions about the Cafe. Email: Kanji@zenpeacemakers.com or phone: 413-367-5276.
Once again, I invite YOU, yes YOU to be an ingredient in this supreme meal. You are a very important ingredient!

Serving the meal

Dakotaskye’s puppet show

Tracy, Tanaya, Shelly, Adrianna, and Bernice enjoying the alpacas

Loren’s all age improv games -super fun!

The Prince of Color delights.
See more of Cynthia Roderick’s wonderful photos of the May 15th meal here: http://www.photoshelter.com/c/roderick/
Warmly, Karen

Karen Kisui Werner Montague Farm Zen House DirectorZen Peacemakers177 Ripley Road,Montague, MA 01351413-367-5275karen@zenpeacemakers.comWww.zenpeacemakers.org

The Pioneer Valley has a slew of great writers. And one of them is my friend Susan Downing. This is an excerpt from her blog. I encourage everyone to read more:

It all started a week or so ago. Emily’s friend Renée went into our upstairs bathroom. Em and I were downstairs. Suddenly Renée comes walking very briskly down the stairs, and her words precede her: “There’s a very scary bug in your bathroom!!!” A moment later I see her outstretched hand holding out a loosely bunched tissue, a tight-lipped – and dare I say desperate? – look on her face. Em and I exchanged glances, and I took the tissue from

Renée. Not knowing what to expect – and hoping against hope it was not one of those big furry spiders – I held my breath and slowly pulled back one edge of the tissue to reveal… Zen Beetle!!!! (Those of you who don’t know about Zen Beetle can ready the back story in my earlier blog:  Spiderweb ”Oh,” I said to Renée with a smile, “It’s just Zen Beetle!” “Terrifying,” Renée replied. Emily nodded with a frown. I stepped outside and put Zen Beetle in the bushes in front of our porch.

Mountain Zen and Healing Center

With more than three decades of experience, Stuart F. Solomon comes to the World Wide Web in a dual role, with an Online Catalog and a Consultation and Appraisal Service.

His Online Catalog displays a choice selection of antiques for sale, usually American in origin. Special emphasis is placed on the Arts & Crafts period, in particular Stickley furniture and Limberts and other quality makers of oak mission style furniture. He also has Victorian, Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods featuring FURNITURE, LIGHTING and ACCESSORIES. He carries a sizeable inventory of arts and crafts furniture by reknown makers Gustav Stickley, L&JG Stickley, Charles Limbert, Lifetime, Harden, J.M. Young, Old Hickory Adirondack and Roycroft amongst others. He also carries lamps by Tiffany Studios, Handel, Jefferson, Bigelow and Kennard, Bradley and Hubbard, Duffner and Kimberly, Pittsburgh, amongst other makers. He also offers early electric, gas, and kerosene lighting including chandeliers, wall sconces, floor lamps, and table lamps; and numerous decorative art metal and pottery pieces. In general, he features antiques that bespeak a strong design influence. Every item he offers he guarantees as to authenticity and you may have full confidence in his catalog descriptions.

He are always interested in purchasing like items, especially mission style furniture by Gustav Stickley, L&JG Stickley, Charles Limbert and lamps by Handel, Tiffany Studios, Bigelow and Kennard and like makers; and we guarantee a fair and just price for your antiques. If your interest is in selling your antiques, please click “Appraisals” on the left side bar at his site. He also has a page on Stickley marks, decals and identification that may help you in identifying and dating your Stickley piece.

For those of you who enjoy travel beyond cyberspace, Stuart F. Solomon Antiques Gallery features a complete inventory. He are located in downtown Northampton, Massachusetts, recently noted as a number one small town travel destination for outstanding arts and entertainment in America.

BY R. Joshua Mobley | JAN 17, 2010 1:12 AM | COMMENTS (4)

Posted to: Police and Fire

It was well after midnight in the early hours of 2010, nearing three in the morning. An after-hours party had manifested at the tiny two-bedroom downtown apartment I share with my wife Jessica, and revelry and libations were abundant.

We did not worry about the neighbors (many of whom were present) or whether or not there was enough alcohol to go around.

What mattered to the forty-strong crowd was that we were there, safe, shedding the tired, cracked burden of the Aughts—a decade that began with the “hanging chads” of Florida and ended with our quiet little “Paradise City” being held hostage at the hands of a serial arsonist.

Our best friends were there, some familiar strangers… and Tony Baye.

Tony Baye.

A name now synonymous with fire, terror, fear, confusion, and anger.

But I called him “Tone-Loc.” A high-five, man-hug or fist bump always followed his Cheshire cat grin. I met him at a party a few years back; a party very much like this one.

He and I possessed that infectious rapport of poet-charlatans. We finished each other’s jokes, ogled at passing lasses, and spat Red Sox jargon.

Tony was cool.

Although I was nearly ten years his senior, I looked up to him. He had the bravado and confidence that men needed and women wanted.

His pretty-boy looks and egalitarian charm allowed those who flocked to his side the freedom to be themselves. He was a lover of life.

It is not my place to speculate upon whether Tony was the culprit of some fifteen arson incidents, or the purveyor of two tragic deaths occuring on the morning of an unseasonably wet and balmy December 27th. It is also not my place to try to “paint a picture” of the 25-year-old Northampton native. I was not his Little League coach, high school teacher, best friend, or co-worker. In fact, I didn’t really know him well.

But we, as a community knew him. A sum of the parts we are, and Tony was the squeaky wheel.

*

The city’s reaction was threefold upon hearing the news of Tony’s arrest on the morning of January 5th:

1) From those who knew him – shock.

“My jaw dropped, my heart sank and I felt numb. He is such a sweet guy with a great heart. In fact, days after his arrest a fairly affluent member of the Granby community who employed Tony very briefly and only knew him a short time was willing to set up a legal fund in his defense. The whole thing is just so sad.” – Jenna Ziemba, friend and co-worker of Tony’s.

2) From many of those who did not – either a “lynch mob” mentality or relief.

“This is a tragedy for all involved. If it is discovered that this “Aspiring Rap Star” is linked with physical evidence he should be hanged on the town common!!!!!!! Or just burned like his victims……………….” – posted by realityflash from MassLive.com

“THANKS TO ALL THE INVESTIGATORS AND OTHERS INVOLVED THAT WORKED DAY ANDNIGHT TO SOLVE THIS CASE!” – posted by mn09117 from MassLive.com

3) From those who focused on the community at large rather than on Tony’s guilt or innocence, who garnered support for the arson victims and defended justice and due process for the accused – hope and sympathy.

“The presumption of innocence is a legal right of the accused in criminal trials. It places the burden of proof is on the prosecution.”

“OUTSIDE of a criminal trial, citizens can freely speculate and presume all we want. We CANNOTpursue vigilante justice, but we are free to believe someone is guilty based upon what we’ve seen, read, and think.”

“Of course, my sympathies go out to everyone hurt by the fires, including the Baye family and, if he is innocent, Tony Baye. If he’s guilty, I can still muster some small sympathy.” – posts from the Facebook group Friends Of Northampton’s Arson Victims.

*

The morning of his arraignment, our cell phones turned to alarm clocks. My wife and I stumbled through a haze of disbelief. We searched the Internet for the most updated story, hit refresh, made coffee and watched the television. Upon the first glimpses of a grey-cloaked scruffy haired “Tone-Loc” being escorted into Northampton’s courthouse, my wife cried and I vacantly stared into my light cream heavy sugar.

Hours passed and I realized that just a few days ago, amidst the clamor of a new year’s toast, Tony was standing right here, in front of our fridge. Exactly where I was standing now while we watched our handcuffed friend exit the free world.

I made a light breakfast and Jessica went back to sleep – a defense mechanism against stress. She worked with Tony at Sierra Grille and always enjoyed the shifts that they shared. I decided to walk the streets of Northampton, hoping it would look different.

I shuffled along, my head swirling in a profusion of emotions. The passersby who all were once suspects in those unsettling days after the fires walked past me; almost every overheard conversation that trailed behind them had the key words of “they caught him” and “arsonist” and “Tony.”

Tony. Anthony Baye. Tone-Loc.

I sat down on a bench and thought of him. I thought of his mother. I thought of the handful of friends I knew that grew up with him.

A friend walked by chatting on his cell phone. His face was animated, as he was most likely reiterating to whomever was on the other end the morning news. He noticed me on the bench and mouthed ‘crazy, huh’ as he walked on by.

Crazy, huh.

Soon thereafter a police officer walked by. Cops. Generally my reaction is to not make eye contact, look the other way, and cross the street. But this morning, something inside of me said out loud, “Good job.” He tipped his hat and walked on.

Why did I say that?

Was I part of the aforementioned category two? Relief? In a way, I supposed I was. I lived in the midst of the deadly blazes, my six-year-old son even closer.

But what if Tony was innocent? In just the few hours since his arraignment I heard so many conflicting reports: first that he confessed to lighting the fire on the porch of 17 Fair Street, and then that he pled innocent in court.

I heard several times that he was pulled over in the vicinity of the fires smelling of alcohol and soaked in water. It was raining and it was after the 2 a.m. last call. Anyone who was out in the rain for more than a minute and had been at any of the dozens of bars in town could have been regarded as a suspect.

Both Mayor Clare Higgins and District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel stated that arson is an extremely difficult crime to crack, with only 11% of all cases being solved nationwide. So given that statistic, how did they come to arrest Tony a mere eight days after that fateful evening? Is law enforcement in this area really that good?

I toiled over these questions then as I do today. The who, what, why, when and where will trouble us for the next couple of months before his next court date, and perhaps months after.

My heart is still heavy, and only the passage of time may make it lighter.

Who are you, Tony?

Who are we, Tony?

Next to the bench, spray-painted in enthusiastic yellow on the side of a Main Street mailbox, were the words We Are Who We Are. That seemed to do just fine for now.

—R. Joshua Mobley

Dave Russell & Friends

JANUARY 24: BENEFIT KIRTAN FOR ARSON SURVIVORS, NORTHAMPTON, MA: Yoga Sanctuary, Thornes Marketplace, 150 Main St. (3rd Floor). Benefit to raise money for the survivors of the recent arsonist fires that left city residents homeless or with great losses. Handicap accessible, easy parking in adjacent Thornes parking garage. 7:00 P.M. $10 – $25+ donations. ALL proceeds go to Northampton Friends Relief Fund. Kids welcome. www.yoga-sanctuary.com

Go if you can make it!