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By JILLIAN DUCLOS

Dear Northampton: My life here began at 19 working the counter at Sylvester’s, where I got to know the people that bring this city to life. It was there that, over at least a million cups of coffee, I learned about Northampton through the eyes of the people who live here, where I learned that Northampton is a community where people take care of one another, because this community took care of me.

There’s a saying here in New England that if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes. On May 10, the staff and volunteers at the Northampton Survival Center were crossing our fingers and hoping that a week of downpours wouldn’t hinder the flow of food arriving at the center through the Annual Post Office Food Drive. The letter carriers and community of the greater Northampton area didn’t let us down. By noon or so the sun was high and the donations were rolling in. The postal trucks delivered bag after bag of grocery items that will excite and delight our clients. Volunteers arrived with smiles and ready hands. Excitement, dedication, and community flowed through our pantry on the 10th as people worked together to bring what good they could into the world.

Like many towns in Massachusetts, we don’t fluoridate our water in Northampton. This policy (or lack-of-policy, really) is a holdover from the charming crankdom of yesteryear and naive misunderstandings (as well as willful misunderstandings) of the health science behind fluoridation dating from the 1940s. Every polity has its quirks, of course, and for decades, the resulting damage from fluoride inaction has been limited by the availability of prescription fluoride pills for children.

I was touched by Gazette columnist J.M. Sorrell’s most recent declaration of concern for American Jews facing rising anti-semitism [“Tribe of Radical Allies Against Hate (TORAAH),” May 7]. Actually, that’s not true: I found it simplistic and misguided. The writer’s willingness to take Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) talking points at face value suggests a profound ignorance about the perilous political landscape in which American Jews find ourselves. FCAS is bankrolled by billionaire Patriots owner Robert Kraft, the richest man in Massachusetts. Leave aside for now Kraft’s history of fundraising for AIPAC and the Israeli Defense Force. How Kraft spends his own money is his business, but this is a guy who can’t even form a coherent opinion about Donald Trump. Forgive me if I find his motives, and his foundation’s “survey results,” questionable.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — A week after Nuttelman’s Florist fell victim to a large robbery, store owners say they have received an outpouring of community support that has helped the store recover from the theft.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Association of School Employees (NASE) union and the school district’s negotiating committee reached a tentative agreement on a new contract Wednesday, ending a work-to-rule action the union initiated on Monday.

By JUDSON BROWN

The Trump administration’s aggressive and highly publicized campaign to deport “undocumented criminal aliens” has swept up non-criminals and fully vetted refugees and documented temporary residents in its dragnet.

By THE REV. ANDREA AYVAZIAN

In recent weeks, I have asked friends and colleagues how they are feeling — probing beyond the perfunctory “fine” that people say when you connect momentarily in the grocery store. The list of feelings people have shared often include “angry.” Other emotions people commonly report are: scared, anxious, discouraged, motivated, stunned, and restless.

The writer of the May 6 letter to (“Medicare hooey”) has apparently not read the “Medicare for All” proposals introduced in Congress and state Legislatures across the U.S. to establish single-payer health care financing.

By GARRETT COTE

NORTHAMPTON — This weekend marks a milestone for the annual Pioneer Valley Invitational (PVI), as the event will celebrate its 10-year anniversary by welcoming 64 total ultimate teams from along the East Coast to the Oxbow Marina. The tournament is hosted by the Northampton boys and girls ultimate teams and will span across Saturday and Sunday – with the winners of the A Divisions earning a spot in the national tournament later this spring.

Bill Newman’s latest column ”A stroke of good luck” [Gazette, May 10] was a gift to his readers. It gave us an opportunity to extend him all of our well wishes. It also offered a wake up call to the importance of learning the sudden medical signs that signal a time for us and our loved ones to act quickly. Bill, we’re glad you shared!

Eggtooth Productions will present Sarah Ruhl’s “Orlando,” an adaptation of the famous Virginia Woolf novel, at the Academy of Music on Saturday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m.

Why do you so gladly surrender your co-equal branch of government to the executive branch and rubber stamp everything our lying president does? Why do you focus solely on your richest donors and ignore your true constituents, those who elected you? If you deny this fact, point us to anything recent you have accomplished that helps working families, minorities, the Black population, Latinos, immigrants, even the handicapped. They are your true constituents. Surely, the richest among us don’t need you except for one thing … to increase their disproportionate wealth and power. Choosing them over your electors is truly telling.

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — The demand for school district spending in the city could be further compounded if the Northampton Association of School Employees (NASE) union is successful in obtaining additional wage increases its leadership is asking for in a new contract with the city.

Having watched the Planning Board meeting on April 24, I wasn’t even a little surprised to read of the approval of the huge complex of buildings on State Street. (“Planners OK five-story housing development for St. Mary’s Church site, concerns aired over Hawley Street apartment building,” Gazette, April 29). Planners seemed more concerned about the placement of dumpsters, curb cuts and space for bikes than about the massive buildings on State Street and the jail-look alike behemoth on Phillips Place. It seemed like the final nail in the coffin of any pretense about the importance of “diversity,” including economic diversity in Northampton. According to developers O’Connell and Sunwood, they are doing a community service by building 125 “market rate” apartments, with rents starting at $2,000 for a 450 square foot apartment; “market rate” meaning what the market will bear. At the hours long meeting, someone mentioned affordable housing for perhaps a minute or so. Several cities now require a percentage of new apartment buildings must be set aside for affordable housing priced below market rates. High rent cities like Boston, New York, Washington, Pittsburgh provide tax incentives to developers. Somerville and Cambridge require 20% of larger buildings be affordable. Northampton is now a high rent city. With the green light given to one and possibly two massive apartment buildings, now is the time for the mayor, City Council the planning department and candidates to begin developing plans to incorporate a percentage of affordable apartments in new projects.

By RYAN AMES

NORTHAMPTON – Down a goal with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, the Northampton boys lacrosse team got a break.

By JULIA BROWN

Resistance to President Donald Trump’s threat to deny billions in federal funding to universities that do not bend to his list of demands has finally gotten off the ground. Over four hundred academic leaders have signed the statement denouncing the Trump administration for its “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” in higher education.

In the name of infill, a private developer and city officials have figured out how to build a huge market rate apartment building on a narrow street of single and multi-family homes in a historic district. What an accomplishment!

By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL

NORTHAMPTON — At least three candidates are making a run for Northampton City Council’s at-large seats, while the School Committee’s Ward 2 member looks to make her position permanent.