This May 25, 2020, file image from a police body camera shows bystanders including Alyssa Funari, left filming, Charles McMillan, center left in light colored shorts, Christopher Martin center in gray, Donald Williams, center in black, Genevieve Hansen, fourth from right filming, Darnella Frazier, third from right filming, as former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was recorded pressing his knee on George Floyd s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds in Minneapolis. Minneapolis Police Department via AP
âSurprising agreement.â Thatâs how a University of Massachusetts Amherst pollster describes results of a national survey that asked Americans about the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial last week.
April 24, 2021
Black-centered stories are finding fertile and profitable ground on screens across Asia, judging by the success in the region of blockbuster movies like Marvel’s
Soul. Netflix’s newest Japanese anime series, set to debut globally on April 29, hopes to ride this wave. Based on a true story,
Yasuke shines a spotlight on the remarkable rags-to-riches tale of Japan’s first Black samurai.
Although Yasuke is a forgotten and fabled figure, his real-life journey from stolen slave to star samurai is ripe for Hollywood.
Little is known about Japan’s first foreign samurai, one of only nine. But historians believe Yasuke was abducted from his home some speculate present-day Mozambique and auctioned off to the Italian Jesuit priest Alessandro Valignano during the 16th century.
The Great Experiement: Of Jedis and lightsabers
Frank Catalano, right, a UMass freshman, started a Jedi Academy on Sunday nights where he practices lightsaber skills and duels with friends and willing participants. Here he prepares for a sparring session with Alex Qi, a senior at UMass, on a recent Sunday evening on the Amherst campus. SABATO VISCONTI/fOR THE GAZETTE
Alex Qi, a UMass senior, shows his lightsaber twirls during a Jedi Academy session on a recent Sunday night on the Amherst campus. SABATO VISCONTI/fOR THE GAZETTE
UMass freshman Frank Catalano waits for a challenger during his weekly Jedi Academy sessions. SABATO VISCONTI/fOR THE GAZETTE
The Great Experiment Continues: Taking the waves as they come
Submitted photo
Published: 4/23/2021 2:21:07 PM
Editor’s note: The story is part of a special series called “The Great Experiment Continues.” The series is produced by Professor Kathy Roberts Forde’s “Longform Narrative” class in the Journalism Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The series is a sequel to “The Great Experiment” series her class reported for the Gazette last spring when the pandemic was new.
Now one year into the pandemic, Professor Forde’s students document how UMass and its students, faculty and staff have tried to build social connections during a time that demands social distance, exploring what has been lost and gained along the way.
ValleyBike short-term rentals open in West Springfield; station added in Easthampton
Updated Apr 23, 2021;
Posted Apr 23, 2021
ValleyBike Share has expanded into West Springfield with two stations, one shown here on April 23, 2021 at the West Springfield Public Library on Park Street and one on Memorial Avenue. (Jim Kinney/The Republican)
Facebook Share
WEST SPRINGFIELD ValleyBike, the Pioneer Valley’s short-term bike rental program, opened in West Springfield this week with two stations.
The stations are two of 20 new stations ValleyBike plans to add across its expanding network this year with a $1.1 million state and federal transportation grant, said Wayne Feiden, an administrator of ValleyBike in his role as director of planning and sustainability in Northampton.