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Mayor Jennifer Macksey, Square Roots Farm, and Mr. Universe on "Frankenstein"

We turn our attention to a third city in western Mass. that is having an election this year, North Adams.

The first of those candidates is the incumbent Jennifer Macksey, who is seeking a third term in the office. We’ll explore some of the issues that arose in a recent debate including housing, staffing, and transparency at City Hall, as well as hear more of how she’s currently leading the city into new projects.

We’ll also check out a crop that is well suited to the Berkshires: Chicken! And cows and pigs as it turns out, and Square Roots Farm is raising all of the above. We meet with proprietor Michael Gallagher, and Jake Levin of Berkshire Agricultural Ventures to hear about his journey to farming, and some of the lengths the farm has gone to insure a more ethical meat for the people.

And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed puts on his film buff hat to talk about Gulliermo del Toro’s latest movie Frankenstein, and takes a closer look at the science-y core of its fiction sandwich, and the questions about humanity the work still poses.

Christopher “Monte'' Belmonte is host and executive producer of NEPM's The Fabulous 413. He was born and raised in Massachusetts and has been a radio host in western Massachusetts for the last 20 years — the last 17 of them as host of Mornings with Monte on The River 93.9/WRSI.
Kaliis Smith is a radio host and producer for NEPM's The Fabulous 413.