Amherst, Massachusetts

Audience members gave the Amherst selectboard a standing ovation when they unveiled their plans for a new town history at last week’s meeting.

“I think it’s time for a new, more progressive history,” said Donna Eriksson, an alderwoman from South Amherst. “At first, we only wanted to change the town’s name. But once we got talking about it, we realized that it might be easier to simply revise the entire history of our town, starting with its founding.”

The meeting, which ran late into the evening, was not all positive however. Two residents got into a heated argument over whether the transgendered people of color who settled Amherst were fleeing capitalism or Islamophobia.