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 ...

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 ...

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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 ...

When voters vote to legalize weed, their intent is to legalize weed. And yet, in states across America, devils lurk in the details of how weed is regulated. Some of these devils have turned out to be ...

But as marijuana’s cultural cachet has risen, so too have the quality and variety of smoking equipment. The humble rolling paper has been elevated to prestige level with Shine, a 24-k gold leafed ...

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 ...

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 ...