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How Western Massachusetts inspired Andrea Hairston's latest sci-fi novel

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How Western Massachusetts inspired Andrea Hairston's latest sci-fi novel


Author Andrea Hairston was moved by the way her local community in Northampton, and Western Massachusetts more broadly, worked together during the height of the pandemic – lending her inspiration for the setting of her newest novel, “Archangels of Funk.”

In “Archangels of Funk,” scientist, artist and Hoodoo conjurer Cinnamon Jones lives in an alternate Massachusetts. In a reality where Water Wars have affected the world, invisible darknet lords troll the internet and nostalgia militias wreck havoc, Cinnamon tries to bring her community together with a Next World Festival. Along with her circus-bots, dogs and community of motor fairies and wheel-wizards, she helps forge a future that can support her community.

Hairston joined GBH News to talk about her speculative fantasy book and her ties to communities in and around Northampton. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.

Haley Lerner: Can you tell me a bit about the premise and inspiration behind “Archangels of Funk”?

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Andrea Hairston: COVID hit Western Massachusetts, and I was so impressed with how all these different groups of people came together to solve really impossible problems. So I decided to locate the book here.

It’s the story of Cinnamon Jones, who is a scientist, artist and Hoodoo conjurer. And she wanted to be in the tech field, but it didn’t work out. And she’s an older woman now. This is a dystopia, as it’s after the water wars have devastated the world. The tech world is reeling. Farmers are desperate. And she’s also a theater artist, so she wants to use all that she has to help all the people in her community survive from all these intense events.

The book charts her struggle to help the refugees of the water wars deal with the ethical issues of the tech world, to figure out how to be in relationships with people because she’s in her 50s and she still hasn’t managed to make that work. She manages to make friends with a very diverse group and get them all to maybe show up at the festival.

Lerner: Can you speak more to how Western Massachusetts inspired you in writing this book?

Hairston: I really lift people from Western Massachusetts and put them in the book. All these different groups came together to figure out what to do to help people who didn’t have necessarily all that they needed to survive.

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I felt like I was living in a mindful community where a large number of people were thinking and being creative together. I was able to see up close the despair that we all were feeling and then the remedies we were finding for that. We weren’t like letting despair win.

I had thought maybe I was going to put it in Western Mass – and then I did a great tree walk, and I met all the wonderful old ancient trees that have been in our town for longer than the people.

I thought of the people in the town who had been under those trees 100 years ago, 200 years ago. Where I live in Florence [a village in the city of Northampton], free black people lived here. Sojourner Truth has a monument here because she lived here. David Ruggles – he was a major abolitionist, free black man. This was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Rooted in the history of Florence and Northampton, it was very comforting to find out that people had struggled, really profoundly, with some of the same issues we were struggling with for a long time.

I felt like, “Oh my God!”, this is a historical community that has been doing that for hundreds of years. I’m an Afrofuturist, so I really felt that I had ancestors talking to me.

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I wanted to bring into a near-future setting the sense that we can solve our problems, that we have hope. And then I could use my town.

Lerner: What inspired the fantasy elements you included in your book?

Hairston: I’m a professor emeritus of Africana Studies and theater at Smith College. I’m very much influenced by West African and indigenous American cosmological practices and thoughts. I was also when I was an undergraduate physics major – physics is amazing.

I am able to use my knowledge of West African culture, religious practices, and also African-American Hoodoo. My great aunt was a Hoodoo practitioner.

That sensibility of if I can come into the zone and do all my rituals or all my rehearsal practices – then I suddenly have to make connections that I cannot make when I’m at the mundane, everyday level. And the same thing with physics.

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Lerner: You also bring into this world ideas of internet culture and technology. How did you get the idea to include these aspects in your book’s world?

Hairston: I got invited to a “Black to the Future” conference at Princeton with really amazing people who were thinking where are we going with internet culture with the possibilities of so-called artificial intelligence, with algorithmic thinking, and how does race and gender and class and all that stuff play into it?

People have the notion that algorithms are neutral and people are biased. But of course, people write the algorithms. So, it’s kind of impossible for the algorithm not to reflect the bias of those writing it.

There are a lot of people who are afraid that technology is going to dominate and destroy us. That’s us – it’s not technology. So, we need to change ourselves an then we get the technology we want.

We have beautiful, amazing possibilities with our technology. So, what we have to do is look at our value system. What do we want to do with it? Who is it for? How will we implement it? How can we use the insights and the capacities that we have to be empathetically connected with each other and solve our problems?

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That to me is the hard question, not that the technology is evil and not that it’s neutral either. And that’s what I’m hoping to do in this book.





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French-Mediterranean Eatery Charts Opening In Boston

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French-Mediterranean Eatery Charts Opening In Boston


BOSTON, MA — An international restaurant group with locations across the globe is preparing to open its first Massachusetts restaurant this year.

LPM Restaurant & Bar, a French Riviera-inspired restaurant founded in London, is set to open on the second floor of the Four Seasons Hotel One Dalton Street in Back Bay, according to Four Seasons. The hotel lists the restaurant as “Opening Summer 2026,” while the Boston Business Journal reported the restaurant plans to open in September.

The Boston restaurant will mark LPM’s debut in the Northeast and its third U.S. outpost, following locations in Miami and Las Vegas, according to a Four Seasons announcement.

LPM, also known as La Petite Maison, was founded in London in 2007 and is known for French-Mediterranean food, Mediterranean ingredients and dining rooms influenced by Belle Époque design.

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The business operates locations in London, Dubai, Miami, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Riyadh, Limassol, Doha, Mykonos, Kuwait, Boston, Maldives and Bangkok.

Four Seasons said LPM will take over the space that formerly housed One Dalton’s breakfast concept, One + One. The restaurant will join other dining options at the hotel, including Zuma and Trifecta.

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Massachusetts high school under investigation after teachers diagnosed with breast cancer

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Massachusetts high school under investigation after teachers diagnosed with breast cancer


A Massachusetts high school is under investigation after “several” teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions.

The state Department of Public Health is set to visit Uxbridge High School on Thursday to “conduct a series of air quality tests,” to determine whether the multiple cases are potentially connected.

Superintendent David Ljungberg and Principal Michael Rubin alerted families and district staff on Monday of the “sombering news,” after Uxbridge High School’s graduation over the weekend.

“We are writing to inform you about a concern we are investigating at Uxbridge High School,” Ljungberg and Rubin stated in the letter. “Several female teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer or precancerous conditions over the past few years.”

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“It is, of course, possible that these multiple cases are not connected to one another,” the leaders added, “but out of abundance of caution, we are looking into any environmental factors at the school that may be a factor in their diagnoses.”

The 123,000-square-foot school, with an enrollment of roughly 600, was constructed in 2012 at a cost of $45 million, including a $22-million state reimbursement.

Uxbridge school leaders say they notified the state Department of Health and local health board as soon as they became aware of the cases, seeking “counsel about how best to proceed.”

“Massachusetts DPH officials have indicated that there is no evidence of immediate danger in the building and no reason to limit access to or use of the facility at this time,” they wrote in their letter. “In fact, the public health officials have commended our decision to approach them with these concerns, our readiness to partner with them in support of the evaluation process.”

Health officials are assessing the school’s interior and exterior to “ensure there are no issues with the infrastructure that would present risks (including electrical, plumbing, mechanical, HVAC, and other systems)” and the indoor and outdoor air quality on campus.

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The superintendent and principal said that state officials have ruled out water supply as a “risk factor” after “thorough testing.”

“The team has reached out to the women who have been diagnosed, requesting data to evaluate whether there may be a connection among their cases,” Ljungberg and Rubin wrote. “We are grateful for their cooperation.”

They added that the state has said discovering an environmental “smoking gun” is “rare” in workplace investigations.

“However, even if a direct causal link is not established,” the leaders wrote, “the administration is utilizing this process to rigorously test the building and guarantee that it meets all safety standards moving forward.”

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Gov. Healey backs bill to keep Mass. bars open until 3 a.m. this summer

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Gov. Healey backs bill to keep Mass. bars open until 3 a.m. this summer


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The legislation would allow licensed establishments to sell alcohol one hour later than their normal closing time, up to 3 a.m., between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2026.

The proposal has received support from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and most recently Gov. Maura Healey, who submitted written testimony Monday to the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies urging lawmakers to advance the measure. (Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff)

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a measure that would allow cities and towns to temporarily extend bar and restaurant hours during the summer, as the state prepares to host FIFA World Cup matches and celebrations marking the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The legislation (H.5465) filed by state Rep. Carole Fiola, would allow licensed establishments to sell alcohol one hour later than their normal closing time, up to 3 a.m., between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2026. The bill would also allow communities to establish designated public consumption districts where alcohol could be consumed in approved public spaces.

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In a press release announcing the bill, Fiola said the summer’s threefold events lineup — the World Cup, Tall Ships, and July 4th — is an economically significant moment that the state should take advantage of.

“We should capitalize on these events that will generate economic benefits for small businesses and the state as a whole. It’s a local opt-in idea worth exploring that’s being done in other states,” Fiola said.

The proposal has received support from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and most recently Gov. Maura Healey, who submitted written testimony Monday to the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies urging lawmakers to advance the measure.

“Massachusetts is planning for a once-in-a-generation summer,” Healey wrote, according to the Boston Globe. “In 2026, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, welcome tall ships from around the world to Boston Harbor for Sail Boston, and host seven FIFA World Cup matches in Foxborough, along with watch parties across the Commonwealth.”

The governor argued that the added flexibility could help local economies benefit from an influx of visitors.

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“That flexibility can help communities capture more visitor spending, support jobs, keep downtowns active, and strengthen Massachusetts’ image as a dynamic destination ready to host the world and a place our residents, including our young professionals, are proud to call home,” Healey wrote.

She also urged lawmakers to move the legislation forward, saying it will “help Massachusetts meet the full economic and cultural opportunities for the summer ahead.”


  • Rhode Island bill proposes 24-hour bar hours during World Cup

In Rhode Island, a similar bill to allow bars and restaurants to remain open until 4 a.m. during the World Cup was signed into law on Friday.

Fiola’s bill remains before the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. Any final version would require approval from both the House and Senate before reaching Healey’s desk.

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Annie Jonas is a Community writer at Boston.com. She was previously a local editor at Patch and a freelancer at the Financial Times.

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