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Tuesday, November 3, 2026

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Sheela Clary

Sheela Clary is a writer and teacher born and raised in South Berkshire county. She's interested in exploring the issues that affect the region, and in building community through place-based storytelling classes and events. She teaches Italian language and cooking, as well. Her writing can also be found at her Substack newsletter, Clarity. (https://sheela.substack.com Clarity | Sheela Clary | Substack a periodic, carefully composed newsletter exploring my obsessions, such as the state of our common life in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, the stories of unheard-from people, the beauties of Italian, and the mysteries of good writing. Click to read Clarity, by Sheela Clary, a Substack publication. Launched 8 months ago: sheela.substack.com

written articles

Viewpoints

Interpretive transcript of Michael Cohen’s testimony

Vibe: Tribal ceremony, whereby tribesmen dance around their leader in absentia, throwing protective stardust on his aura.
Life In the Berkshires

Opening the Weedgates, Part VI: Calling BS on social equity

In the push for medical cannabis approval in 2012 in Massachusetts, and then to the passage of recreational in 2016, the ACLU, Drug Policy Alliance and others stressed the racial and class disparities of the war on drugs. It is a fair guess that many of the more than 60 percent of Berkshire County voters who checked “yes” on the 2016 ballot question did so at least in part to help right these wrongs.
Learning

Career/Vocational Technical Education is gaining momentum at Monument Mountain Regional High School

Any new initiatives will build on the school’s strong pre-existing relationships with businesses and nonprofits, fostered in part through its longstanding internship program, which sends dozens of students into the community each year for a portion of the school day.
Life In the Berkshires

Coping with teen substance abuse: A training session for parents

The techniques and approaches Foote advocates are not specific to any particular substance or circumstance; rather, they address the fact that communication gets much more fraught, and the stakes get much higher, when kids enter their teen years.
Learning

Profile of a first-generation college-bound student: Stone Murphy

"People knew going into it that there was a lot of potential money at stake, and the kids who were contending for the scholarship, that money meant a lot to them, because they didn’t have a trust fund or something. So it was a little bit nerve-wracking." --Stone Murphy
Life In the Berkshires

Opening the Weedgates, Part V: How pot stores got their names

The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission explicitly has forbidden retail marijuana stores from describing what they sell. You can’t understand what’s in front of you if the laws make it play hide and seek.
Life In the Berkshires

Opening the Weedgates IV: A Whole Foods conversation about a Walmart issue

Human beings are inclined to assume that our own lived experience reflects that of everyone else’s. We—the people who write and think about pot and have enough money to open stores that sell it—are blind to the “other” in our midst.
Life In the Berkshires

Opening the Weedgates III: The cruel and unusual legal world of recreational marijuana

Though Great Barrington might soon be hosting four or five cannabis retail stores, you are likely to have a hard time figuring out what they sell.
Life In the Berkshires

Opening the Weedgates II: Berkshire County’s towns vary in regulating marijuana sales, production

Moratoriums on retail and cultivation facilities can extend, with the state attorney general’s blessing, into 2019. Townspeople must eventually determine such things as the number of businesses they will allow, what the maximum size may be, and where in town they can be located.
Life In the Berkshires

Opening the weedgates: What will the recreational marijuana industry mean for Berkshire County?

If all applicants and interested parties are eventually approved, there could be as many as five cannabis outlets in and around Great Barrington.
Life In the Berkshires

Who we are: Profile of a Berkshire non-voter

I am a white male. Things aren’t gonna change for me. I’m worried about everyone else … I’m not going to vote in November, because I’m not educated enough. I don’t pay attention that well. I don’t think my vote would be too valid.
Learning

Addiction in the Berkshires: Four-part ‘Sara’s story’ hits home

I was recently invited to be the guest speaker for two journalism classes at Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington. The students, about 35 all together, had prepared questions for me based on their reading the day before of my recent four-part series, "Addiction in the Berkshires: Sara’s story."
Learning

STEM Week winds up with showcase at Monument Valley Middle School

Over the five days, teachers and students work in teams to solve real-world problems in a classroom where hands-on experimentation, critical thinking, and collaboration.
News

Health Coalition and RSYP unveil ‘Talking with Teens,’ new video series for parents about alcohol, drug abuse

The videos stress the importance of nonjudgmental communication, and the scientific facts regarding human development and drug and alcohol use.
Life In the Berkshires

Addiction in the Berkshires, Sara’s story: Chapter 4, recovery

"I think a second chance is the greatest gift you can give. I still remember and am forever grateful for the people who gave me a couch to sleep on or a ride or anything when I was on the streets."
Life In the Berkshires

Addiction in the Berkshires, Sara’s story: Chapter 3

I was needing to use constantly. I had just left the clinic, and so now I had even more of a habit because I had the heroin on top of the methadone. I was sick every two hours around the clock.
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