By Jarice Hanson For the Valley Advocate Plays about difficult subjects, like the consequences of personal actions, politics, ...

By Hannah Bevis For the Valley Advocate On most days, Andrew Curran, better known as his drag persona Magnolia Masquerade, is ...

Food Booze and Beyond Monte Belmonte Wines: What’s going on at Table & Vine in West Springfield?: Something fishy is afoot at the Big Y’s flagship location for fine wine by Monte Belmonte | Jun 26, ...

Best Of 2025 Voting ⋆ Valley Advocate ...

The newest member of the polycule, John, met everyone but Fox during an equally tame encounter. “I was on the couch next to Jenn, Sean was on the couch next to Patricia, and no one felt weird, so I ...

In Hadge’s case, she wasn’t in a communicative space, so she spent hours with a staff member quietly putting together a ping pong table. Others I spoke to marveled at being able to do their laundry ...

Easthampton, Northampton, Cambridge and Somerville have passed resolutions deprioritizing plant-based drugs, while State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa of the 1st Hampshire District has co-sponsored bills that ...

Terry Frankilin at the W.E.B. Du Bois Library at UMass, where he often goes to use the computer and work on his novel. Franklin is a longtime activist and an organizer of Extravaganja who for years ...

Kayla Manzi, a bartender at the Majestic Saloon who grew up in western Massachusetts, used to frequent Divas, a staple in Northampton’s queer community that opened in 2001. The closure of the bar in ...

Springfield, Massachusetts, was a big abolitionist hub during the days of the Underground Railroad — not that many people know this. When talking about Massachusetts history, Western Mass isn’t well ...

Two women leaders of Valley theaters - Priscilla Kane Hellweg of Enchanted Circle Theater and Lucinda Kidder of Silverthorne Theater Company - have retired from the troupes they’ve nurtured from ...

Editor’s note: Julia Clark is transgender, and asked the Advocate to refer to her using she/her pronouns for the time both before and after her transition from male to female gender identity. Chris ...