BERKSHIRE; A Multicultural Bridge Living History Project

Berkshire Mosaic: A Multicultural BRIDGE Living History Project is a powerful space for our contributing writers, our interviewees, and our community to share real stories, i.e. our living history, to catalyze being seen, heard and understood. A gentle, inviting, celebratory yet powerful form of social justice. Berkshire County is known for its beautiful rolling hills and rich cultural attractions- among others, Tanglewood, Jacob's Pillow, and Shakespeare and Company. But people passing through - like many of us who are lucky enough to be Berkshire residents - rarely get to know much about the real lives of people who live and work here, year round. As county demographics shift, learning about the lives of our neighbors helps to sustain and connect our communities. Through listening to people who figure in our immediate lives, we come to a richer understanding of one another - and ourselves. In 2012 Gwendolyn VanSant, of Multicultural BRIDGE, and Kate Abbott, of the Berkshire Eagle, partnered to create the On The Bridge column and companion blog. Its purpose is to introduce to readers the diversity of people and passions in the Berkshires - from youth to the elderly, new residents to veterans, including Polish, Italian, Indian, Jewish, Irish, Latino, and African Americans. In 2015 Multicultural BRIDGE is publishing this work as an anthology by author, Gwendolyn Hampton Vansant, who has sourced these pieces for three years and editor, Nik Davies, who has sewn together a beautiful piece which includes a learning guide by the author, several testimonies and reflections from the contributors. "In all of our fragmented pieces, some fuller than others, some shiny, some dulled over time, we make up an intricate piece of artwork. We each are part of a larger whole. This is what the Berkshire Mosaic helps us remember and celebrate, " says Mrs. VanSant. These stories have been retold for us by our team, Kate Abbott, Elizabeth Blackshine, Siobhan Connally, Nik Davies, Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe, JV Hampton-VanSant, Roberta McCulloch Dews, Jenn Smith, Emma Sanger Johnson and Margot Welch. These stories afforded time and space to each individual to tell their own story-to shine their own light. To journey, to heal and to grow together through storytelling in community. These are deeply touching stories of individuals and of families, stories that create the mosaic of the Berkshire Hills and also reflect the mosaic of our country. In this anthology, a multiculturalist mindset allows for each culture to share its values, maintain its language and traditions as we all learn from one another. Listening to another's unique story connects us to our shared human experience, our humanity. "We are mosaics. Pieces of light, love, history, stars... Glued together with magic and music and words." (Anita Krizzan) Testimony from one of our first readers: Gwendolyn - what a remarkable work - There is so much richness here and beauty and it makes me proud to live here - thank you for helping me see our county through these stories. Many of us choose to live in Berkshire County because of the beauty of the land, the health of the air, the resonance of the hills. The writers of this work have shown us that a far more powerful beauty exists here: the astonishing wonder of so many hearts, so many minds from so many histories devoted to good work and great love, passion and expression, care and commitment, and a willingness to belong and invite others into that belonging. As we come to appreciate this, we come to know that each of us has a place in this collective and that we too may contribute to this rich, enlivening, wide and magnificent mosaic. ~Dr. Maria Sirois, PsyD (Pittsfield, MA)