July 14, 2012 By Mickey Friedman It’s hard to knock the French. What with their incredible baguettes and that nifty decision to call potatoes the apples of the earth. But they got it wrong when it comes to change. From…
Author: Mickey Friedman
Stop Kony. Stop Us.
March 24, 2012 By Mickey Friedman If 80 million people had seen a short film I made about Joseph Kony, an African madman/dictator who kidnaps kids and makes them slaves and soldiers, sent me $30 bucks for a bracelet, then…
GE Brought A Good Thing To Life
March 10, 2011 By Mickey Friedman Having grown up on city streets, I wouldn’t have known a vernal pool if I had fallen into one. Today I’m writing about vernal pools because they are central to the battle about how…
The Rick Sanitorium
February 26, 2012 By Mickey Friedman I’ve been spending time at the Rick Sanitorium. There, I learned it’s the values. It’s all about the values. You won’t last long at the Sanitorium if you don’t have the right values. Granted,…
Housatonic Has A Pulse
February 10, 2012 By Mickey Friedman With all the horrendous things adults do to children, from forcing them to fight and kill in Sierra Leone, making them make soccer balls for pennies in Pakistan, abusing them physically and emotionally, there…
Small Schools
By Mickey Friedman February 4, 2012 No kids, a different district, so I am just an interested bystander in the raging debate about the small schools of Monterey, Egremont and New Marlborough. Having taught I have a continuing interest in…
A More Mickey America
Mickey Friedman January 25, 2012 I’ve tried to convince Bill Shein not to run for Congress. But my friend hasn’t listened to me. Don’t get me wrong, Bill would make a fine Congressman. And I’ll vote for him. It’s just…
Let’s Buy A Farm
Mickey Friedman December 17, 2011 If there’s one thing I learned from hearing “Oklahoma” eight million times it’s that the cowboys and the farmers should be friends. We’re short of cowboys and growing short of farmers around these parts. Which…
Hasta Luego, Pablo – Occupy Everywhere
By Mickey Friedman December 12, 2011 I’ve been very sad lately, having lost another dear friend to cancer, Dr. Paul Epstein, Pablo to me, Rufus to his family. Paul was one of the world’s leading experts on the ever-increasing effects…
Re-Invent America; Re-Imagine the World
Mickey Friedman December 2, 2011 (This column, without illustrations, appeared in the Berkshire Record on Thursday, December 1, 2011. This morning my very conservative friend Anthony told me I should start packing. This time I went too far; I’d probably…
UC Davis & Some Teachable Moments
Mickey Friedman November 21, 2011 It’s been quite awhile since I dwelled in academia. So I’m out of practice. No longer speak the language. Maybe you do. Maybe you know what Chancellor Katehi is saying. Maybe it’s the wax in…
When Green Is All About The Green
Mickey Friedman November 18, 2011 You’re not going to want to read this if you’re paying an extra penny or two a kilowatt hour to buy green electricity. Or you think we should sacrifice our mountaintops for wind turbines because…