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!

The Pioneer Vally is a movie watching area with great independent and hollywood flicks. Also with great art video stores in Northampton, Easthampton, and Amherst. Not to mention our great Western Ma Art Houses. Usually Hollywood does not go for an uplifting award movie line up. But it would be great it they did!

1a. The Blind Side One of the most touching, charming, wondrous, uplifting, and miraculous movies of the last several years. Sandra Bullock was born to play the lead role and has never been better. Hollywood has to stop equating dark, cynical, and dreary with “quality”. This film is a throwback to a time when movies illuminated the beauty of human nature, rather than its ugliness. The Blind Side literally makes you feel better about being human. What a gift. What a movie. 1b. Avatar Avatar is unlike any other film ever made and provides a glimpse into the potential of film to literally immerse the viewer in the story. Only peer jealousy could prevent James Cameron (Titanic) from winning another Oscar for Best Director. The spiritual metaphors of Avatar are also truly dazzling. Aren’t all of us as humans truly avatars? Spiritual beings temporarily inhabiting human bodies while our spirits evolve? Someday, the technology of Avatarwill be used (sans violence) by filmmakers to take us much further into the spiritual journey of our souls. Into the dreams we call illusion and the illusions we call reality. Into the awe and wonder of this majestic, mysterious, and mystical adventure that we call life. Into a new world of Spiritual Cinema. 3. It’s Complicated And adult life certainly is. Nancy Meyers’ newest film illuminates the choices we make and how time changes our perceptions of how and why we made them. Meryl Streep is her usual unparalleled self, and Alec Baldwin gives one of the most vulnerable male performances in years. This very grown-up film is resonant, witty, and wise. 4. Nine Brilliant, haunting, and completely surprising. Ads made us think it was going to be Chicago 2 but it’s much, much deeper than that. Daniel Day Lewis is mesmerizing as a very flawed and human film director in crisis. When you see it for what it is, not what a horrible ad campaign told us it was, you’ll be enchanted, engrossed, and entertained. 5. Julie and Julia Meryl Streep as Julia Child. Nothing else need be said. Just don’t see it on an empty stomach. You’ll get so hungry that you’ll never make it to the end credits. Thank you, Meryl and Julia. And Bon Appetit! 6. Star Trek What a great surprise. Director JJ Abrams introduces all the characters of the original series, giving them rich and textured back-stories. Oh, THAT’S why they are who they are to each other. An E-ticket ride through the galaxy with real people who care about and support each other. Such good fun. Beam me up! 7. Up It could have been #6 or #8 but I couldn’t resist putting 7 and Up together. (Groan intended). One of the most loving relationships between husband and wife, and man and child in 2009, Up also is an inspiring reminder that, regardless of age, our dreams have no expiration date. 8. Crazy Heart Jeff Bridges gives the performance of his career as burned-out country star Bad Blake. A penetrating examination of how our actions have consequences and a reminder that forgiveness is truly a personal journey. Includes a great country soundtrack, with Bridges doing all of his own music. 9. Cold Souls Paul Giamatti plays an actor who has his soul temporarily removed so he can play a difficult part. His soul gets peddled on the black market so he has to go to Russia to retrieve it. One of the most thought-provoking film premises since Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 10. Invictus Somewhat predictable and curiously unemotional at times, the film is nonetheless a wonderful tribute to Nelson Mandela’s grace and vision. Clint Eastwood directs Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon with his usual confidence and taste, and the film reminds us of who we can be as human beings when we operate at our very best.

What are your top ten movies for 2009?

I would like to add-on a side note to see these independent flicks: Helvetica, Art & Copy, and Objectified

See Poster below: