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By OLIN ROSE-BARDAWIL

Regardless of where you stand politically, it is hard to deny that what Cory Booker did on March 31 was amazing.

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) infiltrated the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on March 20. In the flurry of raids and dismantling of government agencies you probably overlooked this egregious act. Don’t. IMLS is the primary source of federal support for U.S. libraries and museums. The agency supports them through grants, research and policy development. The agency has about 75 employees and half of them will be terminated. I live in Easthampton and the local library has been instrumental in providing not only books but courses, book clubs, story times for toddlers, and computer workstations. Over 3,000 people use this library each year. Although books are not being burned literally, conceptually they are being obliterated.

By TOLLEY M. JONES

“Soon ah will be done with the troubles of the world, goin’ home to live with God”

By JOE GANNON

When I saw the above-the-fold headline about a school meeting (“Northampton schools probe staff response to student’s unfulfilled IEP,” Gazette, March 31) I thought, ah jeez, here they go again?

It is a new year and seniors are on the chopping block. Housing is the worst. We cannot find anything. CHAMP (Common Housing Application for Massachusetts Programs) and many housing offices offer help but really give nothing. It is time to change the system. Seniors are people too. Seniors matter.

As our Easthampton High School We the People (WTP) civics team prepares to compete this week in the national WTP civics competition in Washington, D.C., the Easthampton Democratic and Republican committees offer our joint appreciation and support for the team.

We in the Valley are fortunate to have a responsive, caring, engaged congressional representative in Jim McGovern. I’m sure many reading this letter heard him answer questions for hours in his Northampton or Greenfield listening sessions. There was obvious support and appreciation for Rep. McGovern in both standing-room-only gatherings.

I have read Hannah Moushabeck’s children’s book “Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine.” It’s lovely: a story of a father sharing memories and stories with his three daughters about his family and the sights and sounds of East Jerusalem growing up.

Easthampton’s City Council is poised to review an ordinance legalizing and regulating short-term rentals in the city. (e.g. Airbnbs) The current draft allows up to 50 properties for this use, including whole houses, apartments, parts of houses, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Before the current moratorium on cease-and-desist orders was declared to address this issue, there was no provision in Easthampton’s building code that allowed short-term rentals. So, any entity renting to visitors for fewer than 29 days, other than licensed Bed and Breakfast establishments, were operating illegally.

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — Visitors from Lexington and Marblehead were among those who came to see “Generic Male,” the off-Broadway physical theater performed at Northampton’s Academy of Music in early March.

I appreciated Rutherford J. Platt’s Feb. 24 column on evil as called out by Rep. Jim McGovern [“Applause for calling out ‘evil’”]. The evil cited was “America’s role as a responsible world power is being diminished: Foreign aid has been thrown into chaos, endangering lives worldwide.”

Can somebody tell me what the difference is between Russian President Vladimir Putin taking over a bordering country and President Donald Trump wanting to take over Canada (except for using the military — so far)? These two are hatched from the same rotten egg!

By SARA WEINBERGER

Trump won the November election with a promise to deport millions of immigrants who crossed our southern border. He spewed propaganda, calling them drug dealers, invaders, violent criminals, rapists, murderers, illegals, terrorists; people who come to take our jobs, claim citizenship for the babies they birth within our borders; who deliver the fentanyl that kills American children.

By OLIN ROSE-BARDAWIL

In the face of chaos and deterioration at the federal level, one can very easily feel powerless. For the average citizen who is opposed to Elon Musk’s careless destruction of federal agencies or Donald Trump’s recklessness with foreign policy, there are few ways to directly effect change. Sure, they can write to their representative or hold protests — as many in the area have been doing — but these efforts, while important, can only go so far.

By JOHN PAINE

Undocumented immigrants do not endanger the safety, writ large, of U.S. citizens, as shown by U.S. statistics on violent crimes. The tiny portion of undocumented immigrants who commit violent crimes is nonetheless used to justify inhumane treatment, such as the threat of deportation, toward all.

By CAROLYN BROWN

In the play “On Golden Pond,” three generations of a family reconnect at a summer home in Maine, exposing complicated relationships and vulnerabilities. Easthampton Theater Company’s upcoming production of the show runs the weekends of March 15-16 and March 21-23 at Williston Theater.

I am writing in response to the actions and plans of the Trump administration. Such actions impact our community and our nation in multiple ways.

My wife just wanted to mail a letter. She walked on ice and fell. The sidewalks were a sheet of ice. She was lucky a lady helped her.

One of Shakespeare’s most famous plays is coming to the Pioneer Valley – with a cast of one.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

Harsh weather conditions of significant snow combined with freezing rain, a lack of adequate salt supply and a shortage of available workers has left residents up and down the Pioneer Valley in slippery situations.