December 6, 2023:Runner-up hip-hop holigays

‘Tis the season for caring. Actually every season is the season for caring, but we doubly feel it in the cold. So we’re bringing our donations to where the beats are plentiful and the rhymes don’t stop. Hip Hop for the Homeless X arrives in Massachusetts for the first time ever on Dec. 7th at Gateway City Arts in Holyoke. We chat with organizer Joey Batts and a couple of MCs you can see onstage at the event, Catalyst and Force, about the importance of giving back to the community with your art, and sharing the spotlight with upcoming talent. And we’re bringing the love and support to the transgender and genderfluid communities also. Transhealth has nearly quadrupled in size as an organization over the course of the year, with as much growth if not more in the patients they seek to help. But parties can also be healing, and they are throwing a shindig at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton on Dec. 9th. The Holigay Party aims to spread joy and good grooves as much as it raises much needed funds for their burgeoning community of care, and we chat with director Dallas Ducar about the changes they’ve seen through the last few months, and about how letting go can be healthy for you too. And it turns out that we care not just about Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year (“authentic” in case you missed it), but it’s bridesmaids as well. So resident wordster, Emily Brewster, our word nerd and senior editor from Merriam-Webster, takes us through a handful of the words that will not be brides this year, but still deserve a little time in the sun.