January 29, 2024: Doing it for themselves

Sometimes you’ve got to fend for yourself and create the space you need to see in the world Take medicine for example. With the wreck that the American medical system is, and despite the lengths MassHealth goes to alleviate those woes, there are still a good number of folx who find themselves ineligible for health insurance. To their rescue comes the organization Volunteers in Medicine, who provide free accessible care to the people who find themselves in this situation. They are on the verge of opening a new location in Pittsfield, so we sit down with director and nurse practitioner Ilana Steinhauer to give us insight to their mission, and how having two locations will help them in their efforts to reshape what medicine looks like for the folx they serve and the greater community as well. We see it in sports as well, where gender equity (and overall costs too) can often leave some athletes by the wayside. For few sports is this more true than ice hockey, which makes a team that combines women from 11 different schools to make up their team all the more awesome. Longmeadow Girls Ice Hockey are not just one of the few women’s varsity hockey teams in the state, but they’re also in the middle of a 6 game winning streak. We head to their practice at the MassMutual Center to speak with team members, coaching staff, and the families of the players about the utility of the team, and building an outlet for ones passions as the team heads toward the end of a fundraiser they’ve started to raise money for their gear and travel costs. And it’s in the stars as well. Black holes are a hot topic around here, and it turns out in the realm of astronomy as well. Folx have been trying to figure out if black holes pre-date galaxies, or if it’s the other way around. Mr. Universe, Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed takes a look at this “Chicken or egg” problem and offers some solutions others have created lately.