PPP program one step in recovery

Like so many other businesses in the Tri-state region, The Lakeville Journal Company applied for a federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, or, hopefully, grant. Like some, but not all, that applied, this company was approved to receive money from the program. For that, we are extremely grateful, as we have continued operating during the pandemic restrictions, publishing The Lakeville Journal and The Millerton News every week. 

Even with the membership model we began in November of 2019, the immediate drop in advertising in the first weeks and now months of the coronavirus effects created a situation for our company that can only be described as critical once again. Without the success of the membership drive then and since, we would not have survived through this time. With the support of the PPP program, we can now see a path to stability once again.

Through all this, our goal has been to keep our communities informed of critical information related to COVID-19 and, yes, other important topics. Many of our readers’ lives have been turned upside down and become much more difficult than before the coronavirus struck humanity. We want to offer them some stability and accurate reporting on their local news during this time. We will keep at that as well and as long as we can.

This pandemic has not run its course, not without a cure or a vaccine available. The balancing act of reopening our society while protecting the health of those who comprise it will continue to be a struggle going through the remainder of 2020, and no doubt beyond. Now, the challenge for all the small businesses that receive funding through the PPP program is to understand what the guidelines will be to have the major part of the loans forgiven. Otherwise, going through the greatest economic and health challenges in the lives of most who are alive today will present a monumental, overwhelming and insurmountable threat to maintaining a viable local, statewide and national economy as our individual states begin to take steps to reopen. 

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All are welcome at The Mahaiwe

Paquito D’Rivera performs at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington on April 5.

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Natalia Bernal is the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center’s education and community engagement manager and is, in her own words, “the one who makes sure that Mahaiwe events are accessible to all.”

The Mahaiwe’s community engagement program is rooted in the belief that the performing arts should be for everyone. “We are committed to establishing and growing partnerships with neighboring community and arts organizations to develop pathways for overcoming social and practical barriers,” Bernal explained. “Immigrants, people of color, communities with low income, those who have traditionally been underserved in the performing arts, should feel welcomed at the Mahaiwe.”

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There is magic in a home filled with the things we love, and Mary Randolph Carter, affectionately known as “Carter,” has spent a lifetime embracing that magic. Her latest book, “Live with the Things You Love … and You’ll Live Happily Ever After,” is about storytelling, joy, and honoring life’s poetry through the objects we keep.

“This is my tenth book,” Carter said. “At the root of each is my love of collecting, the thrill of the hunt, and living surrounded by things that conjure up family, friends, and memories.”

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“We’re pitching in, as it were, because we like to help our neighbors,” said Norton. “They (The Triplex) approached us with the idea, wanting some input if they were going to do a dance film. I thought of Lynn as the perfect person also to include in this because of her knowledge of The Ballets Russes and the book that she wrote about Diaghilev. There is so much in this film, even though it’s fictional, that derives from the Ballets Russes.” Garafola, the leading expert on the Ballets Russes under Serge Diaghilev, 1909–1929, the most influential company in twentieth-century theatrical dance, said, “We see glimpses of that Russian émigré tradition, performances we don’t see much of today. The film captures the artifice of ballet, from the behind-the-scenes world of dressers and conductors to the sheer passion of the audience.”

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