Packer and Gore make sparks and quips during "Women of Will"

LENOX, Mass. - I'll be the first to admit it, I'm a feminist. Apparently, because this is a loaded word, saying one is a feminist could be a career-ender, unless you're Tina Packer. When it comes to William and his "written" ladies, Packer, who is one of the founding artistic directors of Shakespeare and Company, takes no prisoners. Not even Joan of Arc can escape the astute, passionate and almost professorial obersvations of a woman who, when it comes to the bard, clearly knows and loves her stuff.

Now through July 10

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NEW MARLBOROUGH, Mass — Realtor Lance Vermeulen refused to name who purchased nearly 300 acres of land on Canaan Southfield Road for $4.3 million but iBerkshires has a guess.

Your new neighbors may be Amy Selinger and Mark Elefante – a young couple with ties to the former Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones and Co. It could also be one of the Bancrofts themselves – who inherited the Wall Street Journal and made $1.2 billion on its 2007 sale.

Here's how we came up with that.

The property listed at 2128 Canaan Southfield Road was sold to the holding company Vergelegen LLC, according to state land records. The Secretary of State's corporation database shows the

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — "Celebrating Pittsfield," a photography show including the works of nearly two dozen local artists, opened Friday night at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts.

The photographs represented the many people, places, events and landscapes which come together to make up what is, and has been for the last 250 years, the city of Pittsfield.

The juried contemporary show kicks off the city's yearlong birthday celebration — thus the name.

While the title of the show is perfectly adequate, I would venture to say a subtitle or postscript should be added:

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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The town is looking at more than just parades, festivals and car shows for its 250th anniversary celebration, which officially kicked off last month. 

It's sponsoring a good old-fashioned Beard Growing Contest in honor of entertainment of times past. Any "gentleman wanting to grow a beard" is encouraged to go to the Snap Shop on Railroad Street and have his picture taken. This, of course, will be the "before" photo. The judging for the contest will take place on July 10 at Sim’s Barber Shop on Main Street.

Unlike the application for queen and court, which is also part of the 250th celebration, the beard-growing competition

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Laurie Sawin has been serving up fresh seafood in Otis for nearly 25 years.

OTIS, Mass. – As a general rule, I never, ever, ever order seafood if I’m not sitting right on the pier/dock watching the gulls snatch up dinner. In fact, I have a dark fear of any seafood that can be found “inland.” And yet, as the snow flies and my mind turns desperately to summer and sunshine and the promise of Vitamin D, I found myself craving something, anything, with a bit of sand and salt and brine.

Driving up and down the harrowing, unplowed back roads of creation, watching giant dollops of

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