Panorama — Episode 78 — CULOMBA a professional vocal ensemble specializing in harmony folk singing

Originally aired on March 9, 2024: Co-host Dan Torres talks to Sophie Michaux, Lysander Jaffe, Adam Simon, Lexi Ugelow, and Daniel Fridley, members of Culomba, a professional vocal ensemble specializing in close harmony folk singing. We discuss the meaning of Culomba, the ensemble’s origin, the struggles of being an artist, and the regions that inspire them.

Panorama — Episode 77 — Western Massachusetts Rights of Nature

Originally aired on February 24, 2024. Western Massachusetts Rights of Nature is an activist group co-founded by environmental attorney Sarah Matthews. In this episode she is joined by fellow member and graduate student Livia Charles, and president of the Nolembeka Project David Brule to discuss how the concept of giving rights to our rivers, forests, and all the animals that live in them is starting to take hold. We discuss the indigenous roots of the Rights of Nature movement, examples of how these concepts are being applied legally all around the world, and how the Nolumbeka Project is fighting to protect the rights of the Connecticut River throughout the hydropower dam relicensing process.

Panorama — Episode 76 — Social Critic and Greenfield Recorder Columnist Jon Huer

Originally aired on February 3, 2024. Dan and Sarah talk to Jon Huer, a social critic, retired professor, and Greenfield Recorder columnist about his most recent column, Trump’s New American Revolution. Jon Huer shares his critiques of American consumer culture and of tenure at universities.

Jon Huer received his Ph.D. in Sociology from UCLA in 1974 and is the author of a dozen books, including THE DEAD END (1977, which TIME Magazine’s Lance Morrow called “an important and often brilliant book, and I admire it very much.”), His current books, just completed, are SOMBODY ELSE’S LIFE: America’s Social Progress from Eden to Dystopia and 1:99, Why 99 Percent Cannot Win. Dr. Huer taught at many universities across the U.S. and joined University of Maryland University College in 1994, retired from his teaching position, and is currently a columnist for the Greenfield Recorder.

Panorama — Episode 75 — Art Keene and Kitty Axelson-Berry are co-editors of the Amherst Indy

Originally aired on January 13, 2024: Art Keene and Kitty Axelson-Berry are co-editors of the Amherst Indy, an independent online news outlet focused on Amherst town government. For five years now the all-volunteer publication has reported on local municipal meetings and other news from the community through a critical, progressive lens. We sat down with Art and Kitty to talk about how the Amherst Indy got started, some of the issues they have been following closely, and the importance of local news.

Panorama — Episode 74 — Kirsten Levitt and Ashley Kramer

Originally aired on November 11, 2023. In this episode Stone Soup Cafe co-directors Kirstin Levitt and Ashley Kramer talk about how they see the cafe as a part of the local food system by sourcing from local arms, reducing waste, cooking nutritious meals and building community through a wide network of volunteers. They also talk about the new Stone Soup Culinary Institute and a plethora of other community partnerships with our host Sarah Robertson.

Panorama — Episode 73 — Amherst At-Large Candidates

Originally aired on November 4, 2023. Before Tuesday’s election, Dan Torres talks to five of the six Amherst at-large candidates–Mandi Jo Hanneke, Andrew J. Steinberg, Jamie Danielle Daniels, Ellisha Walker, and Matthew W. Holloway (we were unable to contact Liana C. Sweeney). They discuss revenue, roads, education, and why each candidate is running for office.

Panorama — Episode 72 — J.M. Sorrell, the director of Massachusetts Death with Dignity

Originally aired September 30, 2023. Dan and Sarah talk to J.M. Sorrell, the director of Massachusetts Death with Dignity, columnist with the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and Northampton resident. They discuss the organization’s push to pass a death with dignity act in Massachusetts, the importance of dissent, and life in Northampton.

Panorama — Episode 71– Todd Gazda, the Executive Director of the Collaborative for Educational Services

Originally aired on August 26, 2023. Todd Gazda from the Executive Director of the Collaborative for Educational Services talks to Dan Torres and Sarah Robertson about the state of public education in Massachusetts and America. They debate the needs of schools in western Massachusetts and the need for reform.

Panorama — Episode 70 — Environmental Activist vs PFAS

Originally aired on August 12, 2023. In this episode of Panorama Dan and Sarah talk to Laurene Allen, a clinical psychologist-turned-environmental activist from Merrimack, NH. After Laurene learned her community had been contaminated with a toxic man-made chemical known as PFAS, by a textile manufacturing company called Saint Gobain, she decided to organize a coalition of people impacted to fight back against the companies trying to minimize the harm caused.

Panorama — Episode 69 — A Progressive Blueprint for Greenfield (MA)

This episode aired on July 29th, 2023. In this episode we talk with some of the authors of the “Progressive Blueprint for Greenfield” a political platform that for Greenfield residents ahead of this year’s municipal elections. Jon Magee from the Greenfield People’s Budget, and David Cohen and Doug Selwyn from Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution talk to us about the platform, their frustrations with the city’s political establishment, and how they hope to address these issues by electing progressive city leaders in the November 7 election.