Speaking of battles, I gave a Black History Month talk at the Bennington Museumon Feb. 2 about the black presence at the Battle of Bennington and about one man in particular, Sipp Ives, who served in Seth Warner’s Green Mountain Boys and was killed in action. Historian Lion G. Miles had shared his prodigious research files with me and was present to add his own remarks on the Battle. Museum Curator Jamie Franklin also presented the newly acquired portrait of a wounded Battle veteran. The high point of the day for me and I suspect for many of those present came when Patricia Johnson and her father Leon, two African-American residents of Bennington, spoke about feeling included in Vermont history and about their experiences of being black in Bennington. If you’re curious, CAT-TV, our local public access TV station, has posted video of the event on YouTube:
At this moment my friend Moses Pendleton, founder of Pilobolus and Artistic Director of Momix, is giving a press conference in Rome on his latest creation, a show on the theme of Alice in Wonderland. I prepared his talking points (not for the first time).
A silly serial of mine on the theme of love and chocolate is now running on the Berkshire Edge website through Valentine’s Day. Writing it was like eating all the chocolate treats I describe. Warning: the prose is a little gooey!
I attended a gathering on the theme of “Being Black in the Berkshires”in Great Barrington last night. I can’t spend all my time in the 18thcentury. I volunteered to write it up for the Edge. Deadline dead ahead!