Oct 08
I moved from Hartford to New York, to take a job with Bankers Trust. I found an apartment I liked within walking distance of 280 Park Avenue, but it was new construction, and would not be ready for a few weeks. The bank put me up in an apartment in the 60s, just off Madison …
Oct 05
I came across this yellowed and torn newsprint, probably ripped from the Berkshire Eagle by my mother and stashed away amidst the scrapbooks and mementos she kept about me. I don’t have any specific memory of this event, or how it came to be that I was lying in a sand trap. My guess is …
Aug 12
I gladly accepted an invitation to participate in a panel discussion on Civic Engagement for the OLLI University Day program on August 15, 2019. Here is a link to the Panel Presentation Outline I prepared for the program. I was allotted five minutes to share my thoughts before entering into the panel discussion. This post …
May 27
A Land Acknowledgment As Alford’s Town Moderator, I took the occasion of our 2019 Annual Town Meeting on May 14 to introduce a new tradition. The idea did not originate with me; such land acknowledgments are becoming more widely used. I felt it would be an appropriate tribute to the indigenous people who cared for …
Apr 24
This post is a conglomeration of lecture notes, slides, and other information. I compiled all of this as part of my preparation for my OLLI course on Berkshire History, in which I talked about six different preserved properties that all have walking/hiking trails on them. An overview of the course can be found here. From …
Apr 20
OLLI Spring 2019 Course TH104: A Walk Through Berkshire History Michael Forbes Wilcox is a Berkshire native, having been born in the House of Mercy in Pittsfield. His parents lived in Stockbridge, where he spent the first 17 years of his life. He currently resides in Alford, where he is the Town Moderator. Wilcox is …
Apr 06
Overview of the Course First, a little bit about myself, and what I hope to accomplish in this course my introduction, as given in the first class my email: mfw {at} mfw(.)us my blog: http://www.mfw.us/blog/ Then, a tribute to my Grandmother Wilcox, who instilled in me a love of history and its lore Next, a …
Mar 21
… and when I find it, I’ll put it here. [see the comments] Tom Waters, chairman of the Missouri Levee and Drainage District Association in a Washington Post article on Midwest flooding When a person’s last name lines up with their vocation or avocation.
Mar 02
Caveat: I’m not an attorney. My interest in this legal term derives from research I’ve been conducting relating to my upcoming (April/May 2019) OLLI course on Berkshire history. Specifically, I’ve been reading a wonderful 1983 book, recommended to me by two different people; Changes in the Land, by William Cronon, who is now at the University …
Mar 02
A Walk Through Berkshire History An OLLI Course, Spring 2019 Kimball Farms, Lenox April 18 and 25, May 2, 9, 16, and 23 3:00 to 4:30 PM Here is a preliminary description of a lecture course I will give this Spring in Lenox. You can find registration information on my OLLI page. I’ll also be …