When N.L. Dennis was singing in a recording studio with Toots and the Maytals, Bob Marley stopped by to listen. Marley praised Dennis's delivery. Today, Dennis lives in his native Jamaica and joins hundreds of Jamaicans who come to Vermont every summer in search of better paying work. Most of them work on vegetable farms and at apple orchards. Dennis works as a reggae musician. He will perform a free concert on July 7 at 6 p.m. outside the Hooker Dunham Theater in Brattleboro.

On July 16, Dennis will play a free concert at the Putney, Vermont farmers' market at 11 a.m.

In Springfield, 170 people marched on May 21 to protest a proposed fossil fuel pipeline. "It was amazing," Susan Theberge told the Valley Post. She is one of the organizers. The organizers have a web site at:

www.arisespringfield.org/springfield-climate-justice-coaliti

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In Brattleboro, about 10 people attended a rally for farmworker justice on May 21. The organizers have a web site at www.MigrantJustice.net.

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More than 100 people attended an abortion rights rally in Greenfield on May 13. The number one cause of climate change is overpopulation. Susan Triolo told the Valley Post that information about abortion rights will soon be at www.indivisible.org. Triolo was one of the organizers of the Greenfield rally. From the north Greenfield exit to the southern Brattleboro exit on Interstate 91 takes 15 minutes by car, according to Google Maps. Amtrak and Greyhound run between Greenfield and Brattleboro.

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On May 25 there will be a Black Lives Matter rally in Sunderland, Massachusetts, near Northampton and Greenfield. The rally will be at 4:30 p.m. on the bridge between Sunderland and Deerfield on Route 116. One of the groups that's organizing the rally has a web page at:

www.facebook.com/groups/548230779189803/

To get there from Brattleboro takes about 30 minutes by car.

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In Amherst on May 5, about 200 people attended a rally calling on politicians to build more affordable housing in the Amherst area. The organizers have a web page at:

About 300 people attended a labor rally in Springfield, Massachusetts on April 28. One of the speakers was Nellie Taylor. She graduated from Smith College. She then spent five years working at the Pioneer Valley's Deerfield Academy and she now works at UMass Amherst. Deerfield Academy is 19 miles from Brattleboro. The rally organizers have a web site at www.MassTeacher.org.

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On April 28 in Amherst about 100 people attended a labor rally. The organizers have a web page at:

www.facebook.com/psumta

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About 100 people marched in Amherst on April 21. They were calling for peace. With 4 percent of the world's population, the USA spends as much money on war as the rest of the world combined. The march organizers have a web site at https://WeAreDissenters.org.

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About 150 people attended a rally on April 18 in Belchertown, Massachusetts, which borders Amherst. They were defending the rights of Jewish people. The principal of Belchertown's Jabish Brook middle school on April 3 said the school was investigating recent anti-Semitic behavior by many students at the school. Students did Nazi salutes and joked about the Holocaust.

Environmental activists in Northampton had a major victory April 10 when the city bought 229 acres of forestland and wetlands to protect them from development. The USA is losing 6,000 acres of open space to development every day. The Northampton land is on Sylvester Road. It will have hiking trails that will be open to the public.

On April 5, about 100 people marched in Amherst to abolish the UMass police. In Holyoke, about 45 people attended a rally for high quality, affordable housing. More information on those two events is below.

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On April 15 at 9 a.m., there will be a climate rally two miles from Brattleboro in Dummerston, Vermont. The public is invited to attend. The world's leading scientists say climate change is a major threat to earth's ability to support human life.

In Keene, New Hampshire about 45 people attended a climate rally, Karen Seaver told the Valley Post. “It was cool to see it happen on just a few days' notice,” she said. Seaver was at the rally. She is a professor at Keene State College and she works at the Harris Center for Conservation Education. The rally was organized by a group that has a web site at https://ThirdAct.org. The rally was on March 21.