I know, the probate-validate rhyme lede was a bit of a stretch, but the James House on Gothic Street was the former site of the Commonwealth’s juvenile court and probate offices before they moved them to Hadley. So, you can see why I’d go with tha-…no? Yeah, you’re right. Lame.

But that is good news. The Mayor included it in her E-mail update which you should really sign up for already. Here are the details:

The City is renovating the James House for use by the Northampton Community Education Consortium (NCEC)…The City has worked with local non-profits to create a central location for adult education, literacy and employment training and family support services.

NCEC partners include the Regional Employment Board, the Center for New Americans, and the Literacy Project. Also, community colleges and other “local institutions of higher learning” will be offering college readiness workshops and for credit courses.

This is quite a coup for downtown Northampton. Not only are we able to reclaim a building for an important civic use, all of the work is either funded by grants such as the one from the Beveridge Family Foundation or donated. The financial donors are Smith College, Home Depot and the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. (BTW, Home Depot, I think your Hadley store is overkill. But thanks for the cash.) Here’s a partial list of donors and participants who have participated in the project so far:

New England Regional Council of Carpenters-Local 108 (Donated construction labor)

Westover Job Corps (donated demolition and construction labor)
Dietz & Company Architects (donated and discounted design services) – Kevin Riordan, Jeremy Michaels

Ayotte & King for Tile, Inc. (Donated flooring and labor) – Bob King

And from what I can determine from the online Smith College archives, the James House was originally the Young Women’s City Club, “The purpose of the club, founded in 1926, to develop educational and recreational opportunities for young women in Northampton, was carried out in programs (lectures, slide shows, music, book reviews); lessons (in cooking, crafts, parliamentary law, child psychology); social events (teas, dinners, dances, holiday parties); and volunteer services and fund raising activities.”

The NCEC is a return to the James House’s roots! I love it when a plan comes together. [Insert cigar stub at the right corner of your mouth here.]

Chicken Reptile Claw overview

When we first came upon it, I thought it was someone’s discarded root vegetable.  You know, when you go to pull your keys out of your pocket, your root vegetables sometimes fall out on to the pavement.  Then you end up at your bedside table later that night, pockets pulled inside out, wondering, “Where did I put my root vegetables?”  But I digress.

Chicken Reptile claw in foreground

On closer inspection, we determined that the translucent noodly parts were not a root system but some sort of chicken reptile ligaments.

Chicken reptile claw, palm up. I think.

And here’s what pushed it up over the vegetable category clearly into the animal, both the dog and the cat kept going back for another sniff.  They don’t do that for root vegetables.

I know downtown isn’t necessarily zoned for chickens, but what about chicken reptiles?

I’d like to thank the voters in the 2009 Best of the Valley Readers’ Poll for voting my defunct, deflated, detached, just plain de-a-d blog Paradise City Best Local Blog.  It’s really nice of you all.  Thank you.

However I am but one person distilling one experience of one perspective in this great big Valley of ours.  We all walk around this beautiful side of paradise every day having singular experiences and I want to use this opportunity of unprecedented advocacy-journalism media attention to do some advocacy for those capturing the goings and comings of Valley life better than I.

First there’s the man who’s been blogging for longer than the term itself existed, Tom Devine.  I make that distinction not as a snarky comment on age but as a tip of the hat to his lengthy tradition of consistently wonderful musings on his experience of the world around him from space to UMass to Beacon Hill.

Then there’s Gazette writer Mary Carey with her AboutAmherst.  I love her candid reflections and confessions.  Just today I learned that she used to be a department store Easter Bunny.

Another regular stop for me is Jennifer Myszkowski’s blog.  Again, she’s someone who’s been detailing the antics of her life on and off stage for a long, long time.  Lately, as she’s been pursuing stand-up comedy more steadily, it’s been exciting to read about her discoveries within the craft.  And it’s just nice to catch up with someone you love but never see.

Jim Neill’s Life in the NohoDome is a must-read.  That man has more in his head than most and the way he puts it all, really ALL, down on the virtual page is pure elegance.  Plus the photos of his walkabouts downtown are one-part painterly and one-part story.

Daryl Lafleur’s Northampton Redoubt on the Advocate’s site definitely deserves a shout-out.  I can’t think of a more detailed writer of what’s happening around City Hall.  Daryl goes through meeting minutes with a steel flea comb and I mean that in a good way.

There are dozens and dozens and dozens more people writing up the world as they see it and I think it’s all awesome.

KelseyFlynn.com is a babe in Blog Wooods compared to them all so the blogroll down on the right of this page is just getting started.  Please shoot me an E-mail if I don’t have yours and I’ll gladly slap it down there along with the rest of them.

When it comes down to it, all I got here on kf.com are stories.  No analysis, no punditry, just the distillate of this life of mine after it works its way through the still that’s my brain.  And by the looks of that last sentence, you’ll find no poetry here either.  That’s why Tommy Twilite’s site is good to have on hand.

Bro #1: Dude, what’s wrong?

Bro #2: I can’t find my bumper.

Bro #1: Where’d you have it last?

Bro #2: I don’t know.

Bro #1: Well, think.

Bro #2: I had it in the pocket of my hoodie all night last night.  But I just checked that and it wasn’t in there.

Bro #1:  So it fell out.

Bro #2:  Yeah.  I guess so.

Bro #1:  That sucks.  You’re never gonna find it now.  Something like that…could be anywhere.

A2Z on King Street in Northampton with the most helpful friendly staff ever.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love having a mailbox for my mail on my walk to work.  But having two to choose from really fuels my already off-the-charts anxiety.  Is this the best one to mail the mortgage?  Maybe the postperson only takes from the other one today.  Maybe this one is the prop mailbox.

Why the choice?

Choices, choices.

And as if the choice between two isn’t enough, the one on the left sits up on this cement block as if it were a pharmacist – lording just a few inches over the other one.  Honestly, what gives?

And Sam has quite the music line-up to go with his fantastic pizza. (I had a slice today, vegan so no cheese, but a smattering of savory red sauce on a crispy thin crust. The veggies were soft but still crunchy and bursting with flavor. It was simply excellent.) Some nights are open mics, others have scheduled performers, and often every night ends in some kind of sing-a-long pouring out on to the sidewalk.

But now Sam has really achieved community sainthood in my eyes. He let me chalk an advertisement for OTR on his sidewalk in front. What a guy. And special shout out to Matt here, former PVTA driver, handy editor-in-chief and layout director for spontaneous sidewalk chalking.

Matt, whose story about the PVTA cap is worth asking about.

Most everyone is patient enough to hang out on the corner waiting to cross with the “ging-ko!” so my interest was piqued when I approached the intersection this morning.  People were literally fleeing off the curb, brazenly walking, no – dashing towards the bold red hand on the opposite side as if it were some sort of beacon.  And it was because of this man…

Have coffee can, will travel.

This is Atilda who is from Brazil and is leaving for Mozambique in a couple of weeks.  He is a volunteer with the Institute for International Cooperation and Development, a reputable organization despite the fact that they make participants fundraise in their own handmade sandwich boards holding similarly styled coffee cans.  It doesn’t really inspire the greatest confidence to the passerby but the brochure he handed me is fancy and more a catalogue detailing the group’s efforts.

I told Atilda that I didn’t have one lick of cash on me but would blog about it which is worth at least three bucks.

Help a Brazilian brother out at Main / King / Pleasant today.  I’d appreciate it.

The contents of our cars say a lot about us.  Just ask Pennywise here waiting for his driver to come out of the Hotel Northampton.  Or maybe probate court.  The car was parked on King Street.  Note that his seatbelt is still attached.

I said "Turn Right!"

But I feel like someone should.  Tell me when you’re doing it so I can come and watch from behind the potted ficus.