We also have lots of people who don't see the irony of putting that sticker on something with an internal combustion engine. This was bike week, and there was a little gathering to celebrate at the old courthouse.
The new Mayor of Northampton was there. My sense is that even his critics are pleasantly surprised by the job he's done so far.
Here's a ride you don't see on the road very often.
Here's what it looks like inside.
Someone rode this bike to UMass.
Has 1976 become a date so long ago in the ancient past that businesses use it to boast of their longevity?
Now all the beauty is back on the woodland way into downtown Northampton.
Spring has sprung and romance is in the air.
Took so long strolling along enjoying the way that I had to take a shortcut down an alleyway to get to the bus stop on time.
At UMass the graduations are over....
And the kids are gone.
Empty tables at Raos.
The Haymarket is a ghost town.
But only a brief interlude of serenity until the first big wave of New York City tourists hits town on Memorial Day weekend, keeping the scene going until September when the students return and everything kicks into high gear again.
Today is Cinco De Mayo, a holiday that really doesn't mean anything to me. I've been in Texas during Cinco De Mayo, where it is colorful, noisy and fun, especially if you like to drink, sorta like the Irish try to make every holiday. Yet it has never really caught on among we ole New England Yankees, outside of the Spanish ghettos in Springfield and Holyoke. The only evidence of the holiday I could see in Northampton were these painter's pictures that had a sorta Spanish theme.
Vern and I cooking a community breakfast at the Amherst Survival Center.
John on his head in the parking lot.
You can always get a free meal at UMass, provided you are willing to confine your diet to the three major food groups: hotdogs, pizza and candy. Here's some cotton candy being given out this week at the UMass Gaypril Queerfest.
I wandered over to the Newman Center because I heard they were giving away free food for finals week. You could get sandwiches called "The Seven Deadly Sins" all served with chips.
Give the Catholics their due, whatever their sins they are not humorless. They are also preserving a pair of rare antiques in this cell phone world - wooden pay phone booths!
Advice to graduates on a Newman Center exit.
Politicians were on campus yesterday doing a shuck and jive about student loans. Here is Worcester Congressman Jim McGovern being interviewed.
Retiring Congressman John Olver of Amherst, who dropping the burdens of public service now looks healthier and more relaxed than he has in years.
This rare September 25, 1974 issue of the Valley Advocate in pristine condition is on display under glass at the UMass library. I have mixed emotions about seeing objects relating to my own past displayed as museum pieces. It makes me feel like a museum piece!
This guy at last week's Extravaganja in Amherst is too much
This week the UMass Alumni Association gave away free ice cream on campus. Needless to say it was very popular.
At Amherst's Food for Thought Bookstore today they had a meeting of Zinesters.
Zines were underground publications that arose in the late '80s early 90's around the then new word processing technology that allowed for cheap "desktop publishing." It opened a whole new world of publishing possibilities that were previously too expensive using the traditional printing press. This was before there was widespread internet access and it was exciting because suddenly everyone could print anything in their own home! Once the internet exploded in the late 1990's most zines migrated online. But in its brief heyday our Valley was a pioneering area for the zine scene, with lots of music zines coming out of the Northampton punk music culture. There was also a subversive little political zine called The Baystate Objectivist, edited by yours truly, which probably had the largest single audience of any of the Valley zines.
But the rise of websites and then blogs killed the zines, or so it seemed, yet as this afternoon's zine revival in Amherst showed the zine is still very much alive among the most extreme publishers. Here's one of them, Katie Omberg.
But the biggest event of the day was the annual Extravaganja rally for the legalization of marijuana, a patriotic event calling for freedom for all astronauts of inner space.
All the usual suspects were there, such as UMass Cannabis Reform Coalition adviser Terry Franklin.
Counterculture comedian Norman Bie, who once counted among his fans Jerry Garcia, was there in full regalia.
There were also speeches featuring some of the Valley's most dangerous political radicals.
Mainstream politicos were also represented.
And then of course there was the stoner music by such bands as Orange Television.
It's Earth Day and the weather is sucky. Northampton City Hall looks dreary with the windows all boarded up while undergoing renovations.
The Yellow Sofa coffeehouse may have closed, but their traditions live on. Ironic how the iconic sofa is shown being carried past The Roost, the popular establishment that some have blamed for driving The Yellow Sofa out of business.
Posters are all over town for these hipster humpday parties.
A No H8 display in the Robert Frost Library at Amherst College.
A pig runs out to greet me as I pass Simple Gifts Farm.
420 poster at UMass.
The rain forced the UMass Earth Day concert under a tent.
Here's the band "of nature" performing beneath the Big Top.
