Inner Landscapes: forty years of writing in The Recorder of western Massachusetts

• An inner-city teen bonds with a 92-year-old Yankee farmer who’s always lived off the land.
• A married couple reunites after separation, ready to resume life together and renew vows. But Steve begins a new job at the World Trade Center — on Sept. 11, 2001.
• A lifelong polio victim, confined for decades with breathing aids, soars writing volumes of poetry.
• Nine artists, composers and writers explore spiritual and healing dimensions of, and inspirations for, creativity.

Meet the honest-to-goodness people who inhabit Inner Landscapes with local yet universal stories that matter for our times. It’s a brand new collection of true tales of extraordinary people gleaned from more than 40 years of enterprise feature writing in Western Massachusetts.

• an African-American couple who deliberately simplify their lives to uphold strict values of non-violence and social equality ...
• a young Israeli-born 'soul listener' committed to being fully present to the struggles of the world in turmoil around him …
• a spiritualist medium who guides visitors in charting their past lives …
• an author examining authenticity and reality itself, in a world where truth seems fleeting and the nature of "genuine" can be confusing ...
• two veteran folk musicians who come together in the aftermath of losing language and memory to rediscover the power of writing and sharing music.

These affirming, down-to-earth stories of farmers, of thoughtful, hardscrabble women and men, of refugees from towns now under water, of people whose lives have been altered by dementia and newfound passions, were first told in the pages of The Recorder, the daily newspaper serving the most rural, most economically challenged region of Massachusetts — a place where honest traditions endure and the scale of life helps keep focus on what truly matters.

“I’ve really loved your book although I haven’t quite finished. I’m savoring it. It is so compelling and I love reading a bit of it at a time. I am so impressed with how you found people, certainly outside of my experience, that enlarged my understanding. People I might never have noticed. Survivors. You’ve written with sincerity, acceptance and humanity.” -c.l.

"I love your book! Your voice and the stories you tell are wonderful. Your writing is so compelling that even if I didn’t know the people and places - I would feel like I was there at that farm, there listening to that poem and there - singing with Pete Seeger." - b.p.

With stunning photography by Paul Franz, Inner Landscapes shows a beneath-the-surface glimpse of life off the beaten path. It's an intimate and engaging look at an unspoiled, fascinating slice of uncommon people who care for the land and each other.