Welcome to 'Next County Over' - #1
Kicking off NEXT COUNTY OVER, a newsletter about arts, culture, and history that begins in the Berkshires (but won’t end there).
Welcome to the inaugural installment of NEXT COUNTY OVER, a newsletter of notes about arts, culture, and history that begins in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts but won’t end there.
To get started, here’s a quick FAQ about what I hope to do here, and why I hope you’ll subscribe…
Who is this for?
For a small and out of the way place the Berkshires has an astonishing number of museums, galleries and stages. Plenty of places gather listings, but fewer put them in context. Whether you are based here, or are visiting, or live nearby, it is the encounters between all of us that makes this such an interesting place.
What’s in a name?
I grew up in Easthampton, and the Berkshires were the literal “out there.” But even then, the idea of how we were all connected was taking shape. I often think about the Venn diagrams the founders of MASS MoCA would show at public meetings when they were trying to pitch the idea in the 1980s, overlaying the driving distance from Boston and New York and claiming this was the reasonable size of the potential market for this new museum concept. Perhaps that’s a bit fanciful, but it’s true that a lot of ecosystems overlap here. And there’s always something happening next county over.
Who am I?
I’m a journalist with decades of reporting experience, much of it here in the Berkshires. I’ve covered a little of everything. I’ve written for a small local newspaper, and I’ve also covered national energy policy for a newsletter in Washington, wrote a sports column for a weekly in Moscow, consulted on market research projects in Russia, and edited books in Budapest. I think curiosity is among the highest virtues so want to keep the aperture wide (that’s why this won’t just be about the Berkshires — I’ve already done a bit of that).
How often?
I’m committed to sending out a new issue at least once a week, most likely on Thursday or Friday. From here, I envision most will be features about this and that, but I plan to also include Q&A’s and a select set of listings, as well as a bit of opining and poeticizing. And of course, I enthusiastically welcome tips and ideas!
Why?
When I got my first bylines in my college newspaper in the 1990s journalism was a respectable middle-class profession, and it seemed there were many ways to do it. That’s been steadily vanishing ever since. Everyone has stories about what happened and opinions about what to do next, and I’m sure that will come up here. But what’s always been true is that independent journalism is so important as a skill and a mindset that it has to find a way. That’s why I’m excited about a new medium and a new project. I want to live in a world that’s less about extraction and hoarding and more about creating and sharing. The way forward is obvious: Create! Share!
A quick word about platforms
I spent a lot of time – probably too much! — going back and forth about which platform to use for this project. I’ll admit I was tempted by one of the big guys (rhymes with “Crab-shack”), with its ease of use, absence of upfront costs, and “network effect.” But as many have noted, that comes at a price. Buttondown has the kind of DIY vibe I value, and as such is a gamble. This kind of work takes time and money, especially to do it as I’d like. At some point I hope to add a paid subscription element, and I hope I’ll have created something you’ll find value in. So for now, please subscribe and tell your friends!
Thanks, and I’m looking forward to this new adventure!