Film Screening
Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness
October 4, 2017 at 3:30 p.m.
Kimball Farms Auditorium, 235 Walker Street, Lenox, MA
RSVP: 413-637-7043
Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness is a one-hour documentary about a town coming together to take action after anti-immigrant
violence devastates the community. In 2008, a series of attacks against Latino residents
of Patchogue, New York culminate with the murder of Marcelo Lucero, an Ecuadorian
immigrant who had lived in the Long Island village for 13 years.
Over a two-year period, the story follows Mayor Paul Pontieri, the victim's brother,
Joselo Lucero, and Patchogue residents as they openly address the underlying causes
of the violence, work to heal divisions, and begin taking steps to ensure everyone
in their village will be safe and respected.
Learn more about Not In Our Town: Light in the Darkness and watch the trailer on the official website.
The film will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Gwendolyn Van Sant of Multicultural Bridge. The panelists will be:
- Steve O'Brien, Lenox Chief of Police
- Eleanore Velez, Director, Multicultural Center of Berkshire Community College
- Liliana Bermudez, Latin-American Community Activist
- Dr. Charles Park, Director, Berkshire Community College Public Humanities Center Faculty Fellow
- Ananda Timpane, Director, Railroad Street Youth Project
Free Workshops
We are here to help. In the spring of 2017, BCC and the Berkshire Athenaeum provided hands-on help with
photographing objects, writing stories, and submitting them to the Tenement Museum
website. These workshops were free and open to the public.
Martin Espada, Author
Poetry Reading and Presentation
April 2017
Berkshire Community College (Main Campus)
A finalist for the Pulitzer prize, he has authored more than twenty books, won many
awards, and has been interviewed by Bill Moyers, PBS evening news.
Called by Sandra Cisneros "the Pablo Neruda of North American poets, "Martín Espada
has published almost twenty books as a poet, editor, essayist, and translator. His
new collection of poems from Norton is called Vivas to Those Who Have Failed (2016).
His many honors include the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Creeley Award, the
National Hispanic Cultural Center Literary Award, an American Book Award, the PEN/Revson
Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. The Republic of Poetry was a finalist for
the Pulitzer Prize.
Jana Laiz, Author
Weekly Book Discussions with the Author
April 2017
Berkshire Community College (Main Campus)
An award winning author and Writer-In-Residence at Herman Melville's Arrowhead, Jana
is a longtime advocate for immigrants, and has taught ESOL in the Berkshires.
The BCC Library and Jana Laiz hosted book discussions of her book Weeping Under This
Same Moon. BCC Food Services prepared two very special Vietnamese lunch offerings
in the cafeteria — a Pho Ga (a Vietnamese traditional soup) and Banh Mi (a Vietnamese sandwich). Jana also spoke about Weeping Under This Same Moon, the
writing process, and her most recent book on immigrant voices.
