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march
DEPARTMENTS 8 On the Cover: Acceptance Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda’s Acceptance.
10 Esteemed Reader Jason Stern reflects on The Glorious Day.
11 Editor’s Note Brian K. Mahoney is holding out for a hero.
FOOD & DRINK 12 Tabla The Mediterranean meets the Catskills at this new restaurant on Main Street in Tannersville.
14 2022 CSA Directory Book your community supported agriculture shares now for a bountiful harvest all summer long.
17 Sips & Bites Recent openings include Union and Post in Windham, Crab a Bag in Newburgh, Branchwater Farms Gin in Milan, Foreign Objects in Monroe, and Bread Alone’s net zero bakery and cafe in Boiceville.
HOME 18 Pandemic Charm Quilt Arlena Armstrong and Matt Petock transformed an overly colorful contemporary cabin in Accord into a stylish refuge.
HIGH SOCIETY 30 Hesitant-on-Hudson Fractious board meetings, strident Facebook posts, political challenges—and that was just one town. How Hastings-on-Hudson served as a microcosm for the legal weed debate. Sign up for High Society, Chronogram’s cannabis culture newsletter,at Chronogram.com/highsociety.
HEALTH & WELLNESS 34 The Future of Overdose Prevention The nation’s first supervised injection sites have opened in New York City. Could this effective yet controversial solution come upstate? A collaboration with The River Newsroom.
COMMUNITY PAGES Linda Mary Montano, Saugerties native and world-renowned performance artist, photographed on February 13 at 11 Jane Street Art Center. Photo by David McIntyre COMMUNITY PAGES, PAGE 39
39 Saugerties Pop-Up Portraits Photos of Saugertesians by David McIntyre.
46 Saugerties: Where the Wise Owl Nests Rocky the stowaway owl brought Saugerties national attention back in 2020, but its the town’s creative and entrepreneurial residents that really fuel its fire.
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H. G. Wells wrote the treatment for the the sci-fi classic Things to Come (1936), directed by William Cameron Menzies. The film will be screened as part of the Shadowland Studio Cinema series. THE GUIDE, PAGE 65
ARTS
GUIDE
54 Music
58 60 61
Album reviews of What the Flood Leaves Behind by Amy Helm (reviewed by Michael Eck); Pachamama by Flor Bromley (reviewed by Haviland S Nichols); and Terma by MMBC (reviewed by Peter Aaron). Plus listening recommendations from Susie Ibarra, internationally renowned percussionist and SUNY New Paltz professor.
56 Poetry Poems by Natalli Amato, G. R. Bilodeau, Elise Elizabeth, Frances Greenhut, Forest Hackenbrock, Anthony Herles, William P. Hogue, Laura Rock Kopczack, Robert Phelps, Randall Schmollinger, Daniel Sennis, Greg Tackach, Marlene Tartaglione, and Susan Liev Taylor. Edited by Phillip X Levine.
A Mary Frank retrospective at the Dorsky Museum. Lane Moore performs “Tinder Live” at Colony in Woodstock. The inaugural “We Got the Beat” music festival brings top-notch female talent to the Bearsville Theater.
63
Live Music: Some of the concerts we’re going to this month include The Flash Company at the Towne Crier Cafe, Circles Around the Sun at Infinity Hall, and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic at the Bardavon.
65
The Short List: Storm Lake screening, Harvey Fierstein at Bard, Hrishkesh Hirway and Jenny Owen Youngs at Upstate Films in Saugerties, and much more.
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Art exhibits: Shows from across the region.
55 Books Jane Kinney Denning reviews The Accomplice, the latest crime thriller set in the Hudson Valley from Lisa Lutz. Plus short reviews of Knocked Down: A High-Risk Memoir by Aileen Weintraub; Essays Two: On Proust, Translation, Foreign Languages, and the City of Arles by Lydia Davis; Spitting into a River by Mary Altobelli, Hearts Blooming: Through Intuitive Mentoring by Maria Blon, and Vegetariana: A Rich Harvest of Wit, Lore, & Recipes by Nava Atlas.
march
HOROSCOPES 68 Don’t Take It Personally This month, universal concerns eclipse private needs.
PARTING SHOT 72 Red Long of Tropea Onion Chelsea Ganger’s work is on view at Cornell Creative Arts Center.
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on the cover
Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda Acceptance, acrylic on panel, 2020
C
atalina Viejo López de Roda was born in Malaga, Spain, and grew up in the Canary Islands. She went to boarding school in Dublin, Ireland and at the age of 18 came to the US to attend Montserrat College of Art. She received an MFA from Hunter College and moved to Hudson after graduating. She has been living in the US for over 20 years. López de Roda works in a variety of mediums including painting, collage, drawing, sculpture, moving image, multi-panel installations, animation, and photography. “I try everything possible to convey different ideas,” she says. Acceptance dazzles the eye with vivid colors, different textures, and multiple layers of reality. She explains, “I like to incorporate illusion so that the viewer can discover things. It keeps them on their toes.” At times her work brings to mind Spanish surrealists. “I’m hugely inspired by art history, and would sometimes look at Dali. I like surrealism, but I’m more inspired by magic realism. It’s important to look and learn from the past, but I try to respond to the events in my life and other artists in my community. I’m a contemporary artist,” she says. As a part of her Self Care series, the images in Acceptance are completely fabricated collages. 8 CHRONOGRAM 3/22
While none of it is actually real, López de Roda says it’s important that the viewer can believe the image and feel like they can step into it. She describes her process. “I take photos on nature hikes or get ideas from the internet. When I have the images, I bring them into Photoshop and put together a composition. Then I make a graphite charcoal drawing, and then a small painting. I’m currently working on a large version of Acceptance with three-dimensional plates. I tend to use the same image over and over. Every time I break it up, it helps me see how the image can change with the mediums.” López de Roda expresses multiple ideas throughout her work. In Acceptance we see two hands in the foreground putting a female face painted on a broken plate back together again. “In Japan, when things break, instead of hiding it, they highlight it with gold. The process is known as kintsugi. Breaks are celebrated and can be turned into something beautiful. I love that. I’m also inspired by the Japanese concept of Wabi-sabi, which is an attitude about appreciating imperfect beauty which relates to the theme of this painting. Self-acceptance involves a realistic awareness of one’s strengths and weaknesses. Finally, the reflected landscape on the table is a
reminder that we can change our viewpoint to better understand ourselves. It’s very layered. I’m never thinking about just one thing.” When asked what she likes about living and working in the Hudson Valley, López de Roda says, “I moved to Hudson because I knew there was a really strong arts community. I love that it’s close to nature and close to the city. You can go up to Olana and the sky is completely different, depending on the weather. I love that you can see great distances, which is very different from the city.” In terms of how her work has evolved she says, “Pre-pandemic, I painted multiple figures. Lately, it’s been a single woman, and more outdoor scenes have made their way into my work. It’s interesting to see how the events of the last few years have filtered into my work and how I’ve reacted to them on an artistic level. I may not be able to control the outside world, but I can control how I respond to it, and that’s a powerful realization.” Catalina Viejo López de Roda has work on display at Hudson Hall in an exhibit with other artists called “Look Again” through April 10. Portfolio: Catalinaviejo.com. —Mike Cobb
EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Brian K. Mahoney brian.mahoney@chronogram.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR David C. Perry david.perry@chronogram.com DIGITAL EDITOR Marie Doyon marie.doyon@chronogram.com ARTS EDITOR Peter Aaron music@chronogram.com HEALTH & WELLNESS EDITOR Wendy Kagan health@chronogram.com HOME EDITOR Mary Angeles Armstrong home@chronogram.com POETRY EDITOR Phillip X Levine poetry@chronogram.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Anne Pyburn Craig apcraig@chronogram.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Phillip Pantuso phillip.pantuso@chronogram.com
contributors Winona Barton-Ballentine, Farrell Greenwald Brenner, Mike Cobb, Michael Eck, Jane Kinney Denning, Lyra Walsh Fuchs, Lorelai Kude, David McIntyre, Haviland S Nichols, Sparrow
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There was a beautiful, terrible day last month that everyone remembers. Walking, driving along the roads, people were stopped at regular intervals simply gazing, or, cameras up, photographing the landscape of translucent trees and sky. A centimeter of ice coated everything, refracting the sun that suffused the atmosphere with a warm hue of light. The wind blowing through the trees sounded like flowing water. If each season has subseasons, this was the summer of the winter. I will henceforth refer to this day as The Glorious Day. It came after a dark and cold couple of months. Only the day before, a friend agreed that this seemed to be an unusually gloomy winter. But then the sun rose on a bright morning after an ice storm and a crystal garden had emerged overnight, the first glorious day of Fimbulwinter, the run-up to Ragnarok. A deep impulse drove me to the forest, far above Duck Pond, where I walked on a single track, drinking the special light through my eyes and through the photoreceptors in my skin. I imbibed the sound of wind flowing among the trees, trembling like liquid chimes. The land revealed her curvaceous shape in a way I had never seen, with dark shadows dispelled by an illumination radiating from everywhere at once. Crunching alongside a talus-strewn frozen stream, I saw with peripheral vision a strangely shaped gray boulder with an unusual energetic signature. I stopped, and looking directly, saw a human figure wrapped in a rough woolen shawl, sitting very still on the far side of the stream. A subtle cloud of frozen breath puffed from beneath the hood. In the spirit of natural signs, I took the puff of breath as an indication to approach. I struggled to climb down the ravine, across the stream, and up the icy slope. Winded, I approached the figure and began to discern the sound of a low hum which seemed to be in the same note as the chiming trees. As I approached it grew louder. A woman’s voice humming from between closed lips. It was a rich, organic vibration, but also sweet and gentle. The head of the figure turned and revealed her face. She looked like my greatgrandmother, Gussie. Her eyes were deep-set behind a wrinkled face. They looked toward a distant point in my general direction. I felt neither surprise nor shock at seeing her sitting quietly in the snow, as though I was arriving for a meeting at an appointed time. Ice coated her shawl like the trees, and I couldn’t discern any tracks leading to her position. “Hello…” I said, unsure of how to address this enigmatic person. “Beautiful day.” Her eyes focused and she seemed to see me for the first time. “What are you doing here?” she asked in a voice cracked with age. “Taking a walk in the woods, taking in this day.” “Yes,” she said, “good,” and continued to look at me, as though scanning for an indication of something. Then she spoke again. “Today is glorious because it is the conception of a new life in the world. A different vibration is entering the atmosphere today.” I nodded, recognizing that I felt something subtler than the results of the meteorological event. “I have something to tell you. Are you ready to listen?” I nodded again. “Now that it is conceived, something is needed from us, from those of us who understand. The role of human beings in the world is to imagine the future. Most people are occupied with the problems of the present, but those who can free their minds need to become open to receive the image of the unborn child that is the future humanity. You understand?” I nodded, but then was unsure. “Where does the image come from?” “From the unseen world of values. The image is already prepared. You need to open to it, receive it, and then hold it in your mind. Can you do this?” “I think so.” “Don’t think. For this you have to give up what you call thinking. Rehashing your ideas and associations is like turning over piles of shit and garbage. You have to see and release all your beliefs, to think in a new way with your mind open to receiving something from beyond itself.” She paused, and her voice became fierce with energy, like a transmission. “Now go. Ponder this, and sit, one hour each day, minimum. Open to the unseen world, never think about the present. Open to the image of the child that is coming.” With this she stood, shook off the ice, and walked up the hill and out of sight. Soon I only heard the crystal trees trembling in the wind.
editor’s note
by Brian K. Mahoney
First Time for Everything, Again
Ice
In early February, someone I’d never met inquired in a friendly, professional, and nonchalant way if I was well. This was via email, in an email very much not about my health at all. It was about a bit of business our organizations were transacting—invoices and deliveries and whatnot. This person was just being polite, employing the standard human niceties we use to navigate social space so as not come off like sociopaths. But I was having a moment. The six weeks of unrelenting cold and dark had gotten to me. Especially the darkness. So much darkness is disorienting. Waking up every day in the dark. Leaving work every day in the dark. (By the end of June it’s the same in reverse, abundant brightness destabilizing the inner phototropic gyroscope.) It’s like this every year. I’m like this every year. But still, my heedless response: “Everything is mostly well, though I do find myself wondering on single-digit mornings, as I walk my dogs across the frozen tundra in the blue-black predawn, why I chose to live in a place inhospitable to human life for many months of the year. And yes, we can certainly do the thing you request, at the stated price, at the appropriate moment. Best, Brian.” And then Winter Storm Landon happened. What was the temperature in your house when the power came back on? It was 42 degrees after 36 hours without heat at our house, and we were lucky.
Change
In the window of a fancy dress shop, an aphorism has been affixed to the window: “You can change the world by being yourself.” This bit of self-directed positivity, according to the internet, was either uttered by Yoko Ono or Amy Poehler. It’s a fine and uplifting sentiment, but I don’t think it’s directed at me. I’m a 51-year-old cishet white guy. Me being me doesn’t change the world, it likely keeps it fairly status quo. I’m okay with that, but it leaves me wondering if I can be more myself in some way, or if that’s moving in the wrong direction.
Mute
The most thrilling sentences I’ve read so far this year are from Robert McFadden’s New York Times obituary of real estate heir and murderer Robert Durst, who died in prison in January:
“On the run, he became a vagrant urinating in public, sometimes disguising himself as a mute woman. He beat his wife and, by her family’s account, forced her to have an abortion; beheaded a man he had killed as he sat in a pool of blood, and once wrote a ‘cadaver note,’ telling the Los Angeles police where to find a woman who had been shot in the head. Distraught and alone in a bathroom, he unwittingly confessed to all the killings on a live recording used in a 2015 HBO mini-series about himself.” But I do have two quibbles with McFadden’s prose. One: How did Durst disguise himself as a “mute woman”? A disguise is an alteration of appearance to conceal one’s identity—how did Durst change his physicality for muteness? Two: There’s a lack of syntactic clarity in this phrase: “beheaded a man he had killed as he sat in a pool of blood.” The last male pronoun is confused— who is sitting in the pool of blood, Durst or his victim? Ultimately, I guess they both were, but still. This could have been better handled by the Times copy desk.
Rosé
Listening to music critic Rob Harvilla’s excellent podcast “60 Songs That Explain the ’90s,” I stop an episode on Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” to make a note of a tiny nugget from Harvilla that seems to encapsulate a world within it. His words are a snow globe that you want to shake again and again like an amazed child. Listening to Dion’s 1997 duet with Barbara Streisand, “Tell Him,” Harvilla says, is “like drinking rosé through a firehose.”
Rubadub
After we profiled Hudson-based cook and author Tamar Adler last June—she is best known for An Everlasting Meal (2012), a cult classic primer on economical cooking—my colleague Ashleigh recommended Adler’s Something Old, Something New: Classic Recipes Revised (2018) to me. It’s been sitting on the table next to the couch for the last few months, and I pick it up from time to time when I can’t sleep and I need to disengage from the insomniac monkey mind. Adler is an engaging companion, and the book is a writer’s cookbook rather than a chef ’s litany of recipes. Her recipes are accompanied by references to old cookbooks and anecdotes from her life, including seemingly extensive European travel. After her rehabilitation of a recipe for
mussel croquettes, Adler sets the scene where she first ate the dish, Ricardo’s, “a tiny bar…one street away from the sea on San Sebastian’s shellshaped coast.” She continues: “The old men who meet at Ricardo’s to eat croquettes, make small talk, and watch Real Sociedad play soccer on a tiny television eat them accompanied by nothing but small glasses of red wine and the rubadub of early evening.” Sheer alchemy, that. But rubadub is a surprise. Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary (it’s not in the 10th edition print volume on my desk, propping up my monitor along with Garner’s Modern American Usage) defines it as “the sound of drumbeats.” That frankly sounds too loud for what’s happening either in the sleepy Spanish bar or on the streets of San Sebastian. The word I thought Adler was after was the soundalike hubbub, but hubbub is closer to uproar than clamor, and clamor doesn’t suffice either. And din feels too pedestrian. There is something dusky and crepuscular about rubadub, a softness on the tongue that leads me to endorse Adler’s unorthodox usage.
Rubber
Loading the dogs back into the car after our morning walk—Shazam’s legs are a tad balky so he needs a boost into the backseat—I spy with my little eye a used condom on the ground, not more than two feet from my face. (To be clear, I’m not sure it was used. I did not sniff it. I didn’t stick my finger in there and poke around, nor did I send it out for DNA testing. It was a condom on the ground. Certain assumptions can be made.) Three things happened next in quick succession. First, I felt a knee-jerk sense of revulsion: Eww, gross, I’m face-to-spunk with someone else’s semen. Second, the revulsion passed and I thought: Well, that’s kind of nice, actually. Two people consummated an act of love here. They weren’t particularly tidy but I too once had sex in cars on cold nights because that was the only place available. Third, I bent down and picked it up with an extra poop bag and threw it in the garbage can. If I didn’t pick it up, somebody else was going to have to do it—the condom was not going to crawl off on its own and die in the bushes like a wounded animal. I saved someone else—maybe a few someone elses if there was a succession of people who saw it and just left it there on the ground, a gross monument to civic disengagement—having to confront it. I was, in fact, a hero. It is said that you can change the world just by being yourself. 3/22 CHRONOGRAM 11
food & drink
Mediterranean Meets Catskills TABLA IN TANNERSVILLE By Marie Doyon
S
ometimes an idea leads the way, sometimes it’s an opportunity. In the case of Tabla, a new farm-to-table Mediterranean restaurant in Tannersville, it was the latter. But don’t let that fool you. This is no dilettante’s lark; the eatery is in the deft hands of seasoned industry professionals—restaurateurs David Schneider and Patty Wu and chef-de-cuisine Zack Shornick. “My parents have owned restaurants since before I was born,” says GM Molly Schneider, a career server who moved back from Burlington last year at her parents’ request to help open Tabla. “My parents are super go-getters, they’re always doing something. When the Hunter Foundation offered them this space, they thought it was a great opportunity to get invested and involved in the community.” The Hunter Foundation has been working to revitalize its namesake town since 1997, buying up vacant real estate and then renting homes and retail spaces at below-market prices to attract and incentivize residents and business owners. The Tabla space, at 12 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM 3/22
6033 Main Street, was previously home to barbecue joint American Glory. With exposed wooden posts, tin ceilings, and a copper bar that was already there, the building had good bones. “It was in good shape,” Schneider says. “It didn’t look how we wanted it to look, but all we had to do was paint the walls white and do some tiling. Now it feels very warm and inviting. We’re not stuffy—we’re not changing silverware between each course. We want it to feel like a put-together experience you can enjoy, but not at all fancy.” Upstairs there’s a gas fireplace that offers a cozy ambience for winter dining and apres-ski tapas and cocktails. And next summer the large creekside patio will open for dining. Mediterranean Meets Catskills The food concept for Tabla, developed in concert with Shornick, who most recently was the head chef at Piaule resort in Catskill, pulls from the Italian and Spanish end of the Mediterranean culinary vernacular. “We got the space and almost instantly we were able to find a chef, which was great,” Schneider says. “The
The menu at Tabla features three red pizzas and three white pizzas, along with Spanish-inspired, tapas-style small plates and a handful of entrees.
concept for Tabla came after. We asked ourselves, ‘What do we want to do with the space? What is something that could be interesting and exciting for this area?’” With the quick-clip menu development and fast launch, pizzas were an easy, on-concept choice that have instantly become a fan favorite since Tabla’s launch in mid-November. “It’s our take on a pan pizza,” Schneider says, “But the dough is light and airy, like focaccia, and there is a cheese crust.” There are three red pizzas and three white pizzas that run between $16 and $30 depending on size and style. For a creamy, seasonal indulgence, try the kabocha white pizza with caramelized onions, whipped goat cheese, calabrian chili, and maple. The salsiccia e rapini leans Italian, with red sauce, housemade sausage, broccoli rabe, and roasted fennel, while the champiñones y jamon white pie offers a taste of the Iberian Peninsula with serrano ham, fig jam, mushroom, fresh arugula, and manchego. Don’t snooze on the rest of the sustainably sourced menu, though. For starters, the champiñones al ajillo offers a garlicky flavor burst of earthy mushrooms and tangy creme fraiche served with housemade focaccia ($12). The littleneck clams and nduja sausage app, another crowd favorite, is prepared in a West Kill Brewing beer broth and served with focaccia ($17). Or take your pick of cockles, mussels, octopus, or sardines when you order the conservas, which comes with bread, pickled onions, and giardiniera. For mains, the menu is impressively concise, with three options: a whole branzino ($34); a vegetarian, red pepper chickpea stew ($21); and a rotisserie chicken ($28). “The menu is still very much our opening menu,” Schneider says. “We’re hoping to expand farther away from the pizzas and into some other things. We definitely want to incorporate more seafood.” The price point, however, is unlikely to change much as accessibility has been a big priority for the Schneiders. “To have something nice and new opening gives you a fresh take on where you’re living— sometimes you want to go out and have a bit of a different experience,” Schnedier says. “We’re hearing from locals that they are happy that there is this new option that doesn’t have such a high price point, like Deer Mountain Inn or Prospect.” The low-intervention wine list, too, offers a good range for all budgets, with options by the glass for anywhere from $9 to $16. “The way I was taught, wine as much as any produce should be considered a farming product,” Schneider says. “If you are going to eat organic produce, you should have organic wine.” The list includes several lesser-known doppelganger varieties that can sub in for common requests like a chardonnay or a cabernet. “We offer free tastes because we want people to accept the culture of wine and to get to know different grapes,” she says. Very much a family affair, Tabla’s beverage program is headed up by the owners’ son, Max Schneider. A short craft cocktail list favors bitters like Campari, Aperol, and Forthave Amaro, which are also available as digestifs. The drink list includes a tequila milk punch made in house, a preserved lemon martini, a grapefruit margarita, and European favorites negroni and Aperol Spritz.
Conservas served with pickled onions, giardiniera, and housemade foccacia alongside a grapefruit margarita.
A Livable Wage The customer-facing focus on accessibility is matched on the backend with an emphasis on economic viability for employees. An 18 percent liveable wage line item is added to every bill, which is separate from the tip. “What I like about this whole opportunity is that my dad and I, and many of the people we’re working with, are trying to shift our restaurant model,” Schneider says. “The whole system is completely broken. There is no support from the government for what is a huge industry in our country.” Every employee at Tabla, down to the line cooks and the dishwashers, makes a minimum of $20 an hour. And then there’s the staff housing. The Schneiders try as much as possible to hire locally and even secured three rental units to incentivize anyone coming from farther away.
“It’s really hard with the housing up here—there are no rentals, especially on the mountain,” Schneider says. The net effect of this investment on employee wellbeing? Increased morale and a collaborative team attitude. “I feel like our staff is more active in their roles and having ideas,” Schneider says. “It’s not like owners and managers are calling shots. We have people that have strong experience in many different areas and we’re all working together to make this a cooperative experience.” Tabla 6033 Main Street, Tannersville (518) 589-4008 Tablacatskills.com Tabla is open Monday and Thursday 5-9pm and Friday to Sunday, 5-10pm.
3/22 CHRONOGRAM FOOD & DRINK 13
2022 Hudson Valley CSAs Support a local farm and guarantee yourself fresh, local produce all season long when you sign up for one of these Hudson Valley CSAs. There are fruit CSAs and veggie boxes, flower shares and meat shares and mushrooms, too, CSAs that come with eggs, and some that come with herbal tinctures. Find the perfect Hudson Valley CSA for your needs and your location browsing the list below, which is compiled by Glynwood’s Hudson Valley CSA Coalition. Since 2016, the Hudson Valley CSA Coalition has worked to support, expand and diversify the CSA community in the Hudson Valley. The coalition has over 90 CSA farms in 14 counties. Glynwood.org
COLUMBIA COUNTY Abode Farm CSA 10 Chair Factory Road, New Lebanon Abodefarm.com Herbs, vegetables
real food. real good.
Common Hands Farm 257 Stevers Crossing Road, Hudson Commonhandscsa.com Meat, vegetables Deep Roots Farm 1639 Route 7A, Copake Deeprootsfarmny.com Dairy, flowers, fruit, mushrooms, vegetables
www.berkshire.coop | (413) 528-9697
Dirty Dog Farm Dirtydogfarm.com 168 Buckwheat Road, Germantown Meat Dog Wood Farm 85 Hartigan Road, Old Chatham Dogwoodfarmny.com Meat, mushrooms, vegetables FarmOn! Foundation at Empire Farm 556 Empire Road, Copake Farmonfoundation.org Vegetables, fruit, eggs, flowers
FIG & PIG CATERING hudson valley | connecticut | catskills | nyc 917.789.3060 | figandpigcatering.com
of Full Line uts ld C o C ic n a Org e Cooking and Hom ssen Delicate
79 Main Street New Paltz 845-255-2244 Open 7 Days
Field Apothecary & Herb Farm 245 Main Street, Germantown Fieldapothecary.com Herbs Freehill Flowers 3806 County Route 9, East Chatham Freehillflowers.com Flowers Hawk Dance Farm 362 Rodman Road, Hillsdale Hawkdancefarm.com Herbs, vegetables Hawthorne Valley Farm 327 Route 21C, Ghent Hawthornevalleystore.org Dairy, Eggs, fruit, meat, vegetables Hearty Roots Community Farm 1830 Route 9, Germantown Heartyroots.com Egg, meat, vegetables Highland Farm Game Meats 283 County Route 6, Germantown Eat-better-meat.com Egg, meat
Local Organic Grass-Fed Beef • Lamb • Goat • Veal • Pork • Chicken • Wild Salmon
No Hormones ~ No Antibiotics ~ No Preservatives Custom Cut • Home Cooking Delicatessen Nitrate-Free Bacon • Pork Roasts • Beef Roasts Bone-in or Boneless Ham: smoked or fresh Local Organic Beef • Exotic Meats (Venison, Buffalo, Ostrich) • Wild Fish
14 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM 3/22
Ironwood Farm 103 County Road 9, Ghent Ironwood.farm Vegetables Kinderhook Farm 1958 County Road 21, Valatie Kinderhookfarm.com Eggs, meat
Letterbox Farm 4161 Route 9, Hudson Letterboxfarm.com Eggs, flowers, herbs, meat, vegetables Liberty Farms 114 Ostrander Road, Ghent Libertyfarmsny.com Eggs, meat, vegetables Little Seed Gardens 541 White Mills Road, Valatie Littleseedgardens.com Vegetables Lu-Na Blooms 1016 Route 82, Ancram Lu-nabloomsherbs.com Flowers MX Morningstar Farm 5956 Route 9H, Hudson Mxmorningstarfarm.com Vegetables Red Oak Farm of Stuyvesant 1921 US Route 9, Stuyvesant Redoakfarmny.com Vegetables Rockefeller Ranch 440 County Route 6, Germantown Rockefellerranch.square.site Herbs, flowers, vegetables Roxbury Farm 2501 Route 9H, Kinderhook Roxburyfarm.com Fruit, meat, vegetables That Bloomin’ Farm 168 Buckwheat Road, Germantown Thatbloomin.com Flowers The Farm at Miller’s Crossing 170 Route 217, Hudson Farmatmillerscrossing.com Meat, vegetables Threshold Farm 16 Summit Street, Philmont Localharvest.org/threshold-farm-M321 Fruit Tiny Hearts Farm 1649 County Route 7A, Copake Tinyheartsfarm.com Flowers Trusted Roots Farm 402 County Route 34, East Chatham Trustedrootsfarm.com Eggs, vegetables Woven Stars Farm 52 Winter Hill Road, Ghent Wovenstarsfarm.com Eggs, meat
DUTCHESS COUNTY Bear Creek Farm Route 82, Stanfordville Bearcreekfarm.com/ Flowers Breezy Hill Orchard 828 Centre Road, Staatsburg Breezyhillorchard.com Eggs, fruit, pasta Common Ground Farm 79 Farmstead Lane, Wappingers Falls Commongroundfarm.org Flowers, herbs, vegetables Diana Mae Flowers Beacon Dianamaeflowers.com Flowers Dreamland Harvest 789 Salisbury Turnpike, Milan Dreamlandharvest.com Flowers, herbs, vegetables Field and Larder Beacon Fieldandlarder.com Vegetables Fishkill Farms 9 Fishkill Farm Road, Hopewell Junction Fishkillfarms.com Dairy, eggs, fruit, meat, vegetables Full Circus Farm 27 Mils Path, Pine Plains Fullcircusfarm.wordpress.com Flowers, herbs, vegetables Great Song Farm 475 Milan Hill Road, Red Hook Greatsongfarm.com Flower, fruit, vegetables Greig Farm 227 Pitcher Lane, Red Hook Greigfarm.com Flowers, fruit, vegetables
Rock Steady Farm & Flowers 41 Kaye Road, Millerton Rocksteadyfarm.com Eggs, flowers, fruit, herbs, meat, vegetables Sawkill Farm 7770 Albany Post Road, Red Hook Sawkillfarm.squarespace.com Meat Shoving Leopard Farm 845 River Road, Barrytown Shovingleopardfarm.org Flowers Sisters Hill Farm 127 Sisters Hill Road, Stanfordville Sistershillfarm.org Vegetables Tiny Greens Farm East Fishkill Tinygreensfarm.com Microgreens
Glynwood 361 Glynwood Road, Cold Spring Glynwood.org Meat, vegetables Hudson Valley Mushrooms Brewster Hudsonvalleymushrooms.com Mushrooms Longhaul Farm 69 S Mountain Pass, Garrison Longhauling.blogspot.com Vegetables
GREENE COUNTY Black Horse Farms 10094 Route 9W, Athens Blackhorsefarms.com Eggs, Fruit, vegetables
The Parcel Flower Co. Cold Spring Theparcelflower.co Flowers
Crespell 38 Van Road, Lexington Crespell.com Flowers Heather Ridge Farm 989 Broome Center Road, Preston Hollow Heather-ridge-farm.com Meat, eggs Stoneledge Farm 145 Garcia Lane, Leeds Stoneledge.farm Fruit, vegetables
ORANGE COUNTY Bialas Farms 74 Celery Ave, New Hampton Bialasfarms.com Fruit, herbs, vegetables
Harlem Valley Homestead 147 Old Forge Road, Wingdale Harlemvalleyhomestead.com Vegetables
Blooming Hill Farm 1251 Route 208, Monroe Bloominghill.farm Fruit, vegetables
Heart Hill Farm 235 Route 308, Rhinebeck Fleursdehearthill.com Flower
Choy Division 168 Meadow Avenue, Chester Choydivision.com Vegetables
Maitri Farm 143 Amenia Union Road, Amenia Maitrifarmny.com Meat, vegetables
Fresh Meadow Farm 407 Ingrassia Road, Middletown Freshmeadowfarm.com/ Herbs, vegetables
Meadowland Farm 689 Schultzville Road, Clinton Corners Meadowlandfarmny.com Flowers, fruit, herbs, vegetables
Gray Family Farm 261 Otterkill Road, New Windsor Grayfamilyfarm.com Eggs, meat, vegetables
Obercreek Farm 59 Marlorville Road, Wappingers Falls Obercreekfarm.com Eggs, flowers, fruit, herbs, meat, vegetables
J&A Farm 12 Indiana Road, Goshen Jafarm.org Vegetables
Premier Pastures 689 Schultzville Road, Clinton Corners Premierpastures.com Meat
PUTNAM COUNTY
SPACE on Ryder Farm 400 Starr Ridge Road, Brewster Ryderfarmorganic.com Vegetables
Growing Heart Farm 25 Jeans Drive, Pawling Growingheartfarm.com Vegetables
Poughkeepsie Farm Project 51 Vassar Farm Lane, Poughkeepsie Farmproject.org Eggs, fruit, vegetables
Royal Acres Farm and CSA 621 Scotchtown Collabar Road, Middletown Facebook.com/RoyalAcresFarmAndCsa Vegetables
John Lupinski Farms 1 Houston Road, Goshen Vegetables Pine Hill Farm Vegetables 3298 Route 94, Chester Pinehillfarmvegetables.com Fruit, vegetables Rogowski Farm 341 Glenwood Road, Pine Island Rogowskifarm.com Vegetables
ROCKLAND COUNTY Cropsey Community Farm 220 South Little Tor Road, New City Cropseyfarm.org Flowers, herbs, vegetables Pfeiffer Center 260 Hungry Hollow Road, Chestnut Ridge Pfeiffercenter.org Vegetables
ULSTER COUNTY Alchemy Farmhouse Gardiner Alchemyfarmhouse.com Flowers Clove Valley Community Farm 81 Clove Valley Road, High Falls Clovevalleycommunityfarm.com Vegetables Deer Creek Collective Herb Farm 810 Queens Highway, Accord Deercreekcollective.com Herbs Evolutionary Organics 283 Springtown Road, New Paltz Facebook.com/EvolutionaryOrganics Eggs, fruit, vegetables Gopal Farm 332 Springtown Road, New Paltz Gopal.farm Dairy, herbs, vegetables Grassroots Farm Rest Plaus Road, Stone Ridge Grassrootscoop.com/ Meat Hudson Valley Treats Ellenville Hudsonvalleytreats.com/csa Bread, fruit, herbs, vegetables Huguenot Street Farm 205 Huguenot Street, New Paltz Huguenotfarm.com Fruit, vegetables Kelder’s Farm 5755 Route 209, Kerhonkson Keldersfarm.com Flower, fruit, herbs, meat, vegetables
Northwind Farms 185 W Kerley Corners Road, Tivoli Northwindfarmsallnatural.com Meat Phillies Bridge Farm Project 45 Phillies Bridge Road New Paltz Philliesbridge.org Vegetables Rusty Plough Farm/Rondout Valley Organics 331 Dowe Road, Ellenville Rustyploughfarm.com Rondoutvalleyorganics.com Eggs, flowers, fruit, herbs, meat, vegetables Seed Song Farm 160 Esopus Avenue, Kingston Seedsongfarm.org Vegetables Solid Ground Farm 205 Hidden Valley Road, Kingston Solidground.farm Eggs, flowers, fruit, vegetables Spruce Run & Stony Ridge Farm 42 Union Center Road, Ulster Park Sr-srfarm.com/csa Flowers, fruit, herbs, vegetables Stony Rose Farms 3884 Atwood Road, Stone Ridge Stony-rose-homestead-store.business.site Flowers Sugarshack Mushrooms New Paltz Sugarshackmushrooms.com Mushroom The Green Windows Wallkill Flowers Tributary Farm 531 County Route 6, High Falls Tributary-farm.com Flowers, herbs, vegetables White Feather Farm 1389 Route 212, Saugerties Whitefeatherfarm.org Vegetables
WESTCHESTER COUNTY Fable: From Farm to Table 1311 Kitchawan Road, Ossining Fablefoods.com Dairy, eggs, fruit, herbs, meat, vegetables Harvest Moon Farm and Orchard 130 Hardscrabble Road, North Salem Harvestmoonfarmandorchard.com Flowers, fruit, meat, vegetables Hemlock Hill Farm 500 Croton Ave, Cortlandt Manor Hemlockhillfarm.com Eggs, meat, vegetables Hilltop Hanover Farm & Environmental Center 1271 Hanover Street, Yorktown Heights Hilltophanoverfarm.org Vegetables Pound Ridge Organics 22 Westchester Ave, Pound Ridge Facebook.com/PoundRidgeOrganics Dairy, eggs, flowers, fruit, herbs, meat, vegetables Sweet Earth Co. 20A Salem Road, Pound Ridge Sweetearthco.com Flowers, herbs
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partner ChronogramMedia 2022
Celebrate Local Business Chronogram Media is supporting over 80 nonprofit organizations and BIPOC and Women-Owned businesses through our Community Grants Program, providing them with discounted and complimentary advertising. Each month we’re highlighting our partners in our pages and we invite you to join us in supporting them!
PASSING THE TORCH THROUGH THE ARTS A vanguard original Black theater that believes AfricanAmerican history is American history, and shouldn’t be relegated to one month, but should be enjoyed and appreciated all year by all generations and races. Passingthetorchthroughthearts.com
UMANA YANA RESTAURANT Elevates and communicates the journey and food trails of the Afro Caribbean and Asian Caribbean communities. Umanarestaurant.com
YAAD WELLNESS AND ACUPUNCTURE A center for health, well-being, and community building in Catskill, New York offering acupuncture, body work, Eastern medicine, Qi Gong classes, and more. Yaadwellness.com
photo by Monica Felix
THE HYACINTH GROUP Data-oriented online engagement experts making websites work smarter so that the people behind them don’t have to work harder! Thehyacinthgroup.com
Follow us on social media for updates about our Community Grant Program participants.
The Community Grant program is accepting applications from BIPOC-owned businesses. Apply online. Chronogrammedia.com/community-grant-program 16 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM 3/22
sips & bites Union and Post
Opened in 2020, boutique hotel Union and Post in Windham is part of a recent trend of hospitality businesses that are turning Catskills skiing towns into year-round vacation destinations. Like Scribner’s, Urban Cowboy, and soon-coming Little Cat Lodge, Union and Post blends comfortable, stylish accommodations with an onsite restaurant and bar. The recently opened eatery serves up new American food using locally sourced ingredients. The menu doesn’t take itself too seriously with offerings like Grandma’s meatballs and hot wings for starters. Mains run the gamut from whole or half pale ale chicken served with garlic potatoes, broccoli rabe, and beurre blanc ($26-33) to a balsamic-glazed double stack pork chop ($37) and, for the veggies out there, a cauliflower “steak” served with romesco and salsa verde ($23). 5098 Route 23, Windham | Unionandpost.com
Branchwater Farms Gin
Branchwater Farms in Milan is one of the latest small, family-run distilleries to enter the increasingly crowded craft spirits market, launching its first batch of gin last June. Since purchasing the 100acre property in 2016, Robin Touchet and Kevin Pike have set about revitalizing the abandoned farm using integrated, organic, and regenerative practices. The couple’s approach to distilling dictates that quality starts in the field. Touchet and Pike grew and milled all their own grain for the debut gin as well as for a rye whisky that is still aging. They also have a second run of apple and pear brandy in the works, using all local fruit (the first batch sold out fast). Order online or at your local wine and liquor store. 818 Salisbury Turnpike, Milan | Branchwaterfarms.com
Available for Private Events Come for the mountains, Stay for the food
PHOENICIA, NY PHOENICIADINER.COM
Foreign Objects
Over the past four years, Foreign Objects Beer Company has built an international fan base for their hazy IPAs and crisp German lagers; sleek, abstract can designs; and esoteric beer descriptions with distribution in 13 states, Europe, Asia, and Australia. A nomadic production operation, Foreign Objects has at various times been brewed out of Shmaltz Brewing in Clifton Park, Two Roads in Stratford, Connecticut, Octopi in Wisconsin, and Bolero Snort in New Jersey. After multiple COVID hiccups and pivots, last fall the brand finally opened their taproom in Monroe, dubbed the Nerve Center. The taproom has a whopping 20 taps; about half pour a rotating selection of Foreign Objects brews; and the other half are beers, ciders, and meads from sibling businesses in their beverage group. 150 West Mombasha Road, Monroe | Foreignobjectsbeer.com
Serving Lunch & Dinner Plus Catering Woodstock, NY dixonroadside.com
Cruise in. Fill up.
From appetizers to signature cocktails, we’ve got you covered on your big day!
Bread Alone
Boiceville has been the cradle of Bread Alone’s sustainable innovations since founder Daniel Leader baked the first organic loaf there in 1983. Now, nearly 40 years later, the hamlet is once again the setting for Bread Alone’s pioneering practices as the family-owned company unveils its carbon-neutral bakery and cafe—the first of its kind in the country. Used since Bread Alone’s founding in 1983, the Lefort wood-fired brick ovens run on scrap wood from a nearby lumberyard, producing the hearth breads for all four Hudson Valley cafe locations and New York City farmers’ markets. In addition to the loaves and fresh-baked pastries, the cafe has a full breakfast and lunch menu. And, come spring, the shipping container kiosk that maintained cafe service during the year of construction will open on weekends for beer and pizza. 3940 Route 28, Boiceville | Breadalone.com
Crab a Bag
Like so many restaurateurs, Tiffany and Ronnie Maisonet had their plans delayed by the pandemic. The couple purchased the corner building at 85 Liberty Street, formerly a flower shop, just before lockdown hit with plans to open a seafood restaurant. After two years of waiting and working, they finally opened Crab a Bag in December. Seafood is front and center here, with a rotating menu that includes homemade offerings like seafood boil in a bag, fried seafood, seafood salads, mussels, crab legs, shrimp, and paella. Some menu items include a two-person combo that comes with snow crab, shrimp, mussels, potato, corn on the cob, and sausage; and a catfish and shrimp dinner that comes with two sides, including macaroni and cheese, collard greens, candied yams, and grits. Drawing on their Puerto Rican heritage, the Maisonets also serve turf dishes like pernil (pork shoulder) and empanadas. 85 Liberty Street, Newburgh | Crababag85.business.site
On & Off Site Catering Available
Takeout That tastes like dining out
3/22 CHRONOGRAM FOOD & DRINK 17
the house
18 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 3/22
Arlene Armstrong and Matt Petock’s wood cabin was built in 2008 adjacent to a working farm. After the couple bought the home in 2019, they repainted the exterior charcoal black and added picture and casement windows throughout the house. “I would describe our house as a contemporary/Scandinavian build on a historic farm,” says Armstrong. “We filled the home with pieces that fit both styles.”
PANDEMIC CHARM QUILT A FASHION DESIGNER AND PRODUCER EMBRACE UPSTATE LIFE By Mary Angeles Armstrong Photos by Winona Barton-Ballentine
W
hen Arlena Armstrong and Matt Petock found their contemporary cabin adjacent to a local heritage farm in Accord, they were initially skeptical. “It was like a funhouse,” says Armstrong of the 1,400-square-foot home painted bright yellow with green-trimmed windows. “The roof was also green,” remembers Petock. “And then the door was painted bright red.” The home’s interior was just as splashy. Bright orange cabinetry lined one wall of the open-concept first floor and in the opposite sun-splashed corner, the kitchen counters were colored a variegated orange, brown and black in a mix “that was kind-of tiger like,” says Armstrong. The concrete ground level floors were washed in a peculiar shade of orange-red and up the bright orange staircase, were two blue bedroom doors blue doors. Both upstairs and downstairs bathroom floors were also blue.
3/22 CHRONOGRAM HOME & GARDEN 19
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Petock and Armstrong converted a downstairs den into a cozy space for watching movies. The collection of Japanese movie posters, depicting Petock’s favorite films, were a birthday gift from Armstrong. A producer with the Brooklyn-based studio Flies Collective, Petock oversees a variety of narrative projects from the initial stages of a film until after its release. The couple’s dogs Marlon and Dean share the couch.
“Overall, it was just super bizarre,” says Armstrong of the mishmash color scheme. No matter. Armstrong, a fashion designer and the founder of Marvin Ruby, a line of reworked one-of-a-kind womenswear made from reclaimed denim and restored vintage quilts, has a gift for seeing the potential in a hodgepodge of scraps—salvaging the good parts, restoring and often, ahem, recoloring them—and then patching everything together again into something entirely new, cozy, and distinctly beautiful. “We saw right through it,” says Armstrong of the home’s plaid-paired-with-stripes first impression. “If we squinted we could see it could be a great house,” adds Petcock, a film producer and partner at the studio Flies Collective. This was 2019. The couple had been looking for a weekend home for about a year and had already missed out on a few houses. “Things were crazy even before they got crazy,” recalls Armstrong. Although it sits on only one acre, the property is surrounded by open grain fields and offers unobstructed views of Mohonk Mountain House and the Shawangunk mountains. They decided to pounce on the opportunity, color palette be damned, and bought the home with a plan to convert it into a weekend retreat.
However, what came next wouldn’t require a mere remodel, but also a major life pivot. Both Armstrong and Petcock were going to have to rethink and redesign a whole new trajectory, stitching together blocks from their old lives into an entirely new pattern. The design they’ve pieced together—both for their house and their lives—is just as lovely as any well-crafted quilt. Fabric Upgrade Before they could take on the cabin’s cosmetics, Petcock and Armstrong had to upgrade some of the home’s essential components. Built in 2008, the house had great bones but lacked many elements crucial to comfortable living. “The water still smelled like sulfur,” says Armstrong. “And the house definitely needed a heating upgrade.” They began by adding a new water filtration system and water heater, and then gutted both the upstairs and downstairs bathrooms. In the primary bathroom upstairs, the couple tore out a wall of built-ins and a recessed tub. In one corner of the room, they added a white tiled shower. Where there had once been built-ins, they installed an oversized, freestanding black-andwhite tub under a skylight offering views to the treetops above. Black and white pinwheel floor 3/22 CHRONOGRAM HOME & GARDEN 21
tiles tie the design together and add a finishing duo-chromatic touch to the room. Downstairs, the couple took a similar, but simpler approach with the home’s guest bathroom. After tearing out a beige-tiled recessed shower (and more blue floor tiles), they added a bright, white-tiled shower and finished the space with white fixtures and trim. Meanwhile, the couple had begun to neutralize the exterior color scheme. They stripped all the paint from the walls and doors, then painted the outside walls and roof dark charcoal. A stained wood grain front door gives an element of rustic cabin charm to the home’s front porch. Inside, they tackled the ground level concrete floors. “We tried for weeks,” says Petcock. “I think we used every stain removal agent out there.” When nothing worked, they went for a faux marbled concrete effect. “We ended up pouring light and dark grey paint everywhere and then spraying the surface with water,” says Armstrong. “I think it turned out very well.” To match, they painted the interior doors charcoal black and white, and whitewashed the upstairs floorboards. The home’s central staircase is now the same charcoal black as the exterior, and they neutralized the downstairs built-in cabinets with a combination of whitewash and charcoal paint. They also covered the kitchen counters with dark paint. 22 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 3/22
To complement the radiant heat floors, the couple added a wood stove, creating a cozy, sunfilled corner in the downstairs living room. (A mini-split heat and AC unit helps heat and cool the second floor.) To further warm things up, the couple replaced the home’s drafty windows, utilizing the opportunity to swap out the old double hung windows with casement windows throughout the downstairs. Upstairs, in both the master and guest bedrooms, the couple added oversized picture windows which feature views to their gardens and the neighboring fields. “It seems like there’s no glass there at all,” says Armstrong. They also removed a door from their downstairs den and replaced it with an additional window. Leap and the Net Will Appear “From the day we closed we were constantly scheming how to spend more time up here,” says Armstrong. “We went from just weekends to three or four days a week whenever we could.” A few months into their home’s renovation, the pandemic hit New York. “We realized right away that the lockdown wasn’t just going to be a few weeks,” says Armstrong. “It was the perfect excuse to make the jump.” By May of 2020 the couple had let go of their Brooklyn apartment and moved to their cabin full-time.
The couple neutralized the open-concept living room by repainting the radiant heat concrete floors marbled grey and refinishing the built-in shelving in charcoal and white. They added a collection of Crate and Barrel hanging lamps throughout the space. A custom dining table, created by pairing a live-edge wood slab with metal legs, centers the rectangular room.
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On the second-floor landing, Armstrong reconfigured a built-in desk as a combination sewing and design space. Her clothing line Marvin Ruby was inspired in part by her grandparents and features one-of-a-kind pieces created from reworked, vintage quilt scraps. After creating each design from the reclaimed quilt blocks she finds, she works with Made Hudson in Catskill to stitch together her designs.
The home’s open kitchen, with ample counter space and abundant views of the Mohonk Preserve, was a large draw for the couple. “Our favorite hobby is cooking,” says Armstrong. “We love to host friends for over-the-top dinners as much as possible. The access we have to high-quality, local produce here is amazing.”
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Upstairs, the couple completely re-imagined the primary bath. By tearing out built-in cabinets under a skylight, they were able to add an oversized freestanding tub alongside a refinished shower stall. White tiles cover both the walls and shower, and black-and-white floor tiles match the contemporary tub. Armstrong added a handmade bath caddy, created from a live edge-slab of wood, to the mix.
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Petock was able to shift his work as a producer to a remote office, set up in their guest room. Armstrong had just gotten her real estate license the year before, with the intention of selling apartments in New York City. However, she’d grown to love the Hudson Valley so much, it was an easy shift to refocus her new business upstate. “I had such a blast looking for homes up here, and even doing all the renovation work,” she says. “I really wanted to share that experience with others. Now, I end up being friends with all my clients. Really, it’s been a great friendmaking job.” Her new fashion line was also a product of her extended hours upstate. “I always wanted to be able to have my own brand and not paying rent in the city opened up some finances to do that,” Armstrong explains. Contemplating how she could complement her real estate career with her creative work, she thought back to her childhood time spent with her grandmother. “She was an avid quilter,” explains Armstrong. “She hand stitched and embroidered everything while I played on the floor around her, so I was surrounded by her work.” Her grandmother’s passion became the inspiration for Marvin Ruby, which creates unique clothing items from restored patchwork quilts. Armstrong sources 28 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 3/22
the vintage quilted blankets and decor herself from pieces that have been damaged. She then cleans the pieces and repairs the quilt blocks that are salvageable, sometimes over-dying blocks to revive them. Working with Made Hudson in Catskill, she stitches together new garments— including hats, jackets, and patched denim jeans—from the restored pieces. Armstrong’s spring collection launches this month. Their pandemic shift also inspired another huge pivot for Armstrong and Petock. “We were already planning to get married, and had put down deposits as well as mailed out 150 invitations,” says Petcock. “But we were pretty pessimistic that the pandemic wouldn’t be over by our planned date,” says Armstrong. Their choice was to wait a few years or go ahead with their plans anyway. They decided they didn’t want to wait, and in November of 2020 got hitched at Westwind Orchard. “We had a classic COVID wedding,” says Petcock. “It was only our parents and two friends.” Everyone else tuned in on Zoom. Like the pared-down color scheme of their home and their simplified lifestyle, the choice turned out well. “Small weddings are truly great,” says Petcock. “We could really focus on ourselves and our families.” “It’s all a labor of love,” adds Armstrong.
In the primary bedroom, the couple kept the built-in drawers but replaced the casement windows with a large picture window looking out to the surrounding woods and fields. They further brightened up the space by whitewashing the floors, doors, and cabinets, and then added plants throughout.
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On Cannabis Opt-Out, Towns Search Their Souls By Lyra Walsh Fuchs
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s Georgia Lopez, a member of Hastingson-Hudson’s Board of Trustees, cast the first vote in favor of allowing marijuana dispensaries to open in the village, her voice shook with emotion. “I really do believe that most [opponents] are well-intentioned, but many do not know what it is like to be othered,” she said looking into her webcam. “I think most of us believed that it was right to legalize cannabis, but now that it’s legal, we don’t want it here. This perpetuates the stigma that is attached to cannabis—that it is an ‘over there’ thing.” By the time the November 16 meeting ended, three of the five town trustees—all of whom are Democrats—had voted to allow dispensaries to open in the village. But four voted not to allow consumption lounges, a split decision that marked what many hoped would be an end to months of public arguing over cannabis, which had played out on online forums and Facebook groups. A version of what happened in Hastings rippled through communities across the state late last year, set into motion when Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Marijuana Taxation 30 HIGH SOCIETY CHRONOGRAM 3/22
and Regulation Act (MRTA) on March 31, 2021, legalizing marijuana for commercial and recreational use in New York. A provision in the act gave all municipalities the choice to opt out of cannabis dispensaries and/or consumption lounges—two separate decisions—by December 31. (Any municipality that did not pass its own laws would be automatically opted in.) But the ability to opt out effectively opened a rear front in the marijuana legalization battle, setting neighbors against neighbors and turning normally tepid village trustee races into culture wars in miniature. To Opt Out or Not to Opt Out? In the end, about half of New York cities, towns, and villages voted not to allow dispensaries, and 57 percent opted out of allowing onsite consumption lounges, according to preliminary data collected by the Rockefeller Institute of Government. Those numbers were a bit higher in the Hudson Valley: roughly 56 percent of municipalities in Columbia, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Ulster, and Westchester voted not to allow dispensaries, with
a higher percentage opting out of lounges. “I am not surprised by the number of communities that opted out, and I still support my decision to allow this local option,” state Senator Liz Krueger, the lead sponsor of the MRTA, says. “Those localities that have opted out will miss out on opportunities for new businesses and jobs, and will also lose out on a share of the sales tax revenue. I think in a few years they will change their minds.” The concept of an opt out is not atypical— marijuana legalization laws in Colorado, Massachusetts, and New Jersey had similar provisions. It allows lawmakers to minimize any political damage they may fear from supporting legalization. While opting in is permanent, municipalities that did opt out have the option of opting in at a later date. Most municipalities made their decisions through a simple vote of the local boards. (A select few in the state had a pre-existing statute on the books that allowed them to put the question on the ballot; it was also possible for residents to petition for a permissive referendum, but only once a decision was made by the board).
How Hudson Valley municipalities voted for weed. Red means the municipality opted out of dispensaries and lounges, yellow means they opted out of lounges but not dispensaries, and green means they didn’t opt out of either. Map by Jake Rogers.
The MRTA’s opt-out provision has a precedent in municipalities’ ability to opt out of liquor sales by referendum, according to Roderick Hills, an NYU law professor specializing in local government law. The major difference, he says, is the deadline. “The expiration of municipal powers through the passage of time is an oddity.” This oddity was likely intended to jumpstart investment by providing commercial entities with a concrete start date. But it also invited conflict that tore through many local governments, who were racing against the clock with only partial information about the regulations they were opting in or out of. This led to often unexpected results—and in the case of some communities, reactionary, not-in-my-backyard politics. “Everyone loves the idea of legal marijuana, but actually wanting to put a dispensary in their backyard makes people nervous,” says Heather Trela, who assembled the Rockefeller Institute’s tracker. “In the abstract it’s one thing, but in practice it’s another.” Municipalities’ reasons for opting out—or the arguments made by residents opposed—can be roughly broken into three categories, Trela says. The first is “uncertainty because the state regulations have not been put together yet, partly because the Office of Cannabis Management had a very late start. There is a concern that because they cannot opt out again, they’re taking a waitand-see approach and may opt in at a later time.” The second is a fear of encouraging drug
use and of kids having access to marijuana. (Data from studies vary widely on this point; anecdotally, many believe that legalization dries up illicit markets, while many others contend that more marijuana makes it easier for kids to get it). The third is the most concretely NIMBY: concern over changing “character of the town,” sometimes couched in worries over changing traffic patterns, increased visitors, or impaired driving. Not in My Backyard In Hastings-on-Hudson, a small, wealthy, progressive village in the Congressional district that elected democratic-socialist Representative Jamaal Bowman, all three tendencies were on display. In the fall, as the deadline approached, controversy took over the village. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the several Facebook groups that for over a decade have served as a constant and bombastic town hall. “So many storefronts that can’t maintain a business and yet we grant this? Still can’t understand why this kind of business needs to be in a small village vs a white plains or Yonkers or mamaroneck ave,” one resident wrote in the private group 10706Parents on November 17. “The notion of ‘preserving the character of our town,’ really took me aback,” says Lisa Litvin, the former president of the school board. “In light of the racist history of marijuana laws, I would have hoped people thought twice about those associations.”
The MRTA does include explicit language and provisions about social justice; as State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes said upon the bill’s passage, “we are providing marijuana justice by ensuring investment into the lives and communities of those who suffered for generations as a result of mass incarceration.” Nicola Armacost, the mayor of Hastings, wasn’t persuaded by the NIMBY argument. “We’re an affluent, liberal municipality, and I feel proud to be a municipality that won’t let the stigma associated with cannabis make us shy away from allowing legal sales here,” she says. “For me, it’s very much a social justice issue. The coded language about the ‘unsavory elements’ that could be brought to the town really turns my stomach.” Moreover, Armacost thinks that the state’s guidance was clear. “The state made the choice to legalize [instead of ] decriminalize. The intention of legalizing is to allow legal sales. If you decriminalize, then selling is still illegal. That’s why they set it up so that the default position under the law is to allow dispensaries and lounges. The assumption is that it’s legal, the default is that you allow them.” Not everyone was as convinced. That’s why Fred Muench, a Hastings resident and president of the nonprofit Partnership to End Addiction, helped start Opt Out Hastings, a coalition with a petition that he says collected nearly 300 signatures. While Muench believes 3/22 CHRONOGRAM HIGH SOCIETY 31
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HIGH SOCIETY The culture of cannabis, from Chronogram Chronogram covers the emerging cannabis scene. Stay in the know with the latest on industry news, restorative justice initiatives, community impact, dispensary openings, cultivation tips, and more. Subscribe to the newsletter dedicated to cannabis in the Northeast. chronogram.com/highsociety
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in decriminalization of all substances, he says he is concerned about the impact of addiction and with how the drive for profit might affect advertising and usage. “Legalization and decriminalization are about social justice. Dispensaries and lounges are about commercialization and nothing else,” he says. “To claim it’s about social justice is a red herring. That’s what all the people who make money from marijuana are pushing.” In a contentious public hearing held over Zoom on November 15, Hastings resident Kenneth Nanus expressed dismay at the same line of argument. “For me there’s a much bigger issue than social justice at work here,” he said. “That issue is democracy. A good argument can be made that the board seems just as happy to okay this pot shop without much, if any, public discussion. That’s not how democracy works.” Whose Backyard? Not every municipality in the Hudson Valley weathered this sort of conflict. In the village of New Paltz, for example, Mayor Tim Rogers says he can only remember one call from a concerned resident. The village did not opt out of dispensaries nor lounges, and Rogers says the board had been “following the possibility of cannabis legalization for several years now,” with little internal strife. In fact, it is striking how little the data of opting out hews to any discernible pattern, whether geographic or demographic. In Orange County, for example, only four municipalities chose not to opt out of either dispensaries or lounges: the city and town of Newburgh and the town and village of Woodbury. According to US Census data, Newburgh’s median household income is $41,769, barely half of Orange County’s median of $79,994; by contrast, Woodbury’s is a significantly higher $130,541. Orange County is 57.7 percent white; Newburgh is 16.7 percent white and 52.2 percent Hispanic, and Woodbury is close to the county average at 59.1 percent white. Newburgh Town Supervisor Gil Piaquadio figured that if people would buy marijuana no matter what, the revenue might as well be steered back to the town. Or take Westchester. Of the six majority Hispanic municipalities in the county— Elmsford, Ossining village, Peekskill, Port Chester, Sleepy Hollow, and Yonkers—half chose not to opt out of dispensaries or lounges; two opted out of both; and one opted out of lounges but not dispensaries. All six have average household incomes below Westchester County’s average of $96,610. Pound Ridge, the whitest (83.9 percent) and the richest ($204,778 median household income) municipality in Westchester, chose not to opt out of dispensaries or lounges. The only majority Black municipality in Westchester, Mount Vernon, chose not to opt out of dispensaries or lounges. In mid-December, Mayor Shawyn PattersonHoward told Pix11 News that “we want to make sure that Mount Vernon, which has had challenges like many urban communities at the hands of the illegal drug trade, does not miss out on the economic opportunity that medical marijuana brings.”
Most municipalities in Westchester County voted not to allow cannabis dispensaries. The progressive riverfront village of Hastings-on-Hudson, above, was an outlier.
And while counties that went for Trump in 2020 opted out at slightly higher rates, political leaning was also not a proscriptive indicator of cannabis adoption. Westchester had the highest proportion of votes for Biden but not the highest proportion of municipalities that did not opt out; Greene had the highest proportion of votes for Trump but not the highest proportion of municipalities that did opt out. In other words, while there is a partisan tilt to legalizing the sale of marijuana, it is not stark. After all, recreational marijuana is now legalized in Montana—a state Trump won with 57 percent in 2020 and which has a Republican-led house, senate, and governor. The Race for Trustee In true-blue Hastings, at least, the tensions over the Board of Trustees’ decision did inspire political action—and further tensions. Spurred by his concerns about democracy, Kenneth Nanus decided to run for trustee himself. Soon he was joined by another dismayed Hastings resident, Darryl Strutton. The two ran under the banner of “Tomorrow’s Hastings,” challenging the two trustees—Georgia Lopez and Morgen Fleisig—who voted not to opt out and who were up for reelection. “When your trustees hand your village over to the greedy and waiting arms of the marijuana industry…it’s time for new trustees,” read a post in 10706Parents that shared their campaign page. On January 20, the Hastings Democratic Committee held a forum for the four candidates over Zoom. Nanus said that he “believe[s] that these two trustees have violated that trust by failing to engage with people whose principles are different than theirs,” such as “those who were opposed to a cannabis store, [who] all pleaded
with the board to listen to their concerns, which were met with deaf ears.” Strutton pledged to “fix what is broken and improve transparency.” Fleisig and Lopez, for their parts, leaned on their status as incumbents already involved with multiple projects in the village. They held their ground on their votes for a dispensary. On the night of January 22, Nanus suddenly withdrew from the race, citing “unforeseen medical reasons” in an email blast and urging his supporters to vote for Strutton and not to vote for Fleisig (Lopez was not mentioned). The next day, Hastings residents lined up outside of the community center in the bitter cold to cast their votes. It wasn’t close. Lopez and Fleisig won in a landslide, with 450 and 420 votes, respectively. Strutton got 189 votes; Nanus received 19 write-ins. As soon as the committee released the numbers, the Facebook pages lit up with complaints about the process and requests for Strutton and Nanus to run in the general election as independents. On a Zoom hearing in the lead up to the village’s cannabis decision, Mayor Armacost noted that it had to be their most-attended meeting of all time. The dust will settle—and then surely be kicked up again, perhaps by the appearance of a dispensary in the future. And with a significantly higher number of residents now familiar with the Board of Trustees’ purview and structure, it is more likely that some will continue to participate in board meetings, whether they are virtual or in-person. As the Rockefeller Institute’s Trela said about her time tracking which municipalities opted out and why, “This has been a great crash course on local government, how decisions are made, and their impact on community.” 3/22 CHRONOGRAM HIGH SOCIETY 33
health & wellness
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THE FUTURE OF OVERDOSE PREVENTION IN NEW YORK THE NATION’S FIRST SUPERVISED INJECTION SITES HAVE OPENED IN MANHATTAN. COULD THIS EFFECTIVE YET CONTROVERSIAL SOLUTION COME UPSTATE? By Farrell Greenwald Brenner
T
he death rates associated with the opioid crisis are so staggering that they can be difficult to comprehend through statistics alone. According to New York State and City health department data, at least 4,181 people died from opioid overdoses in the state in 2020—a per capita rate of 20.7 per 100,000. To put that into perspective, this annual rate has more than quadrupled in a decade. More than any other region, the Hudson Valley and Catskills have disproportionately borne the burden of the crisis. Sullivan County’s opioid overdose death rate was triple that of the rest of the state in 2020. While the Department of Health’s data for 2020 are still preliminary, opioid overdose is a chronically undercounted phenomenon. Some of this rapid uptick can be attributed to the emergence of fentanyl, an especially potent and deadly synthetic opioid that has contaminated much of the drug supply. In Sullivan and Ulster counties, 100 percent of reported opioid overdoses in 2020—and in Orange County, all but one overdose—involved synthetic opioid pain relievers, particularly fentanyl. It has also contributed to New York’s skyrocketing number of overdose fatalities involving cocaine and synthetic opioids, which increased by 2,000 percent between 2014 and 2019. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this public health crisis nationally, with overdose deaths exceeding an unprecedented 100,000 between May 2020 and April 2021. These numbers are rising fastest among communities of color. 34 HEALTH & WELLNESS CHRONOGRAM 3/22
For 50 years, the US has waged the war on drugs by leveraging steep legal consequences for drug possession and sales, with the number of people incarcerated for drug offenses exploding more than tenfold between 1980 and 2019. “We’re talking in the 50th anniversary year of Nixon declaring the war on drugs,” says Melissa Moore, director of civil systems reform for the Drug Policy Alliance. “If criminalization and prohibition had been effective policies, we would not be seeing record-breaking overdoses year after year after year.” New York State—and the Hudson Valley in particular—is in need of an aggressive shift in policy and culture to reverse current trends and save lives. But the most effective interventions have often been illegal under federal and state law. That may be changing, with the recent introduction of two overdose prevention centers in New York City that offer the promise of a new model for reducing harm. For decades, countries such as Canada and Australia have operated overdose prevention centers that have consistently correlated with a significant decrease in fatalities in surrounding communities, and with no known reported deaths. These centers, also known as supervised injection sites, offer multiple services, but most importantly and controversially, they are spaces for safe consumption: Community members who access the facility are able to use their substance of choice under the eye of a healthcare provider or other staff member specifically trained in overdose prevention and Narcan administration.
There are few requirements for entry, but criteria for participation often include age and a prior history of drug use (so that minors and first-time users are not among the clientele). In November 2021, New York City became home to the first overdose prevention centers to operate openly in the United States. OnPoint NYC—the organization formed when New York Harm Reduction Educators and the Washington Heights CORNER Project merged—opened two such centers in Washington Heights and East Harlem. As of January 24, the sites had reversed more than 100 overdoses with zero fatalities. This precedent could signal critical change for the rest of the state, and for the rest of the country. The Effectiveness of Harm Reduction Despite its novelty in the United States, research on the efficacy of supervised injection is already bearing out. Dozens of scientific studies and peer-reviewed articles have consistently demonstrated that in addition to reducing overdose frequency and mortality, overdose prevention centers are also associated with an array of other positive health outcomes, including access to health care and referrals to treatment. In fact, regular use of supervised injection and contact with counselors at a facility have been shown to be positively associated with entry into treatment and cessation of injection. While most existing data is based on studies from Canada and Australia, it is consistent with findings from unsanctioned sites in the United States.
In November, New York City opened the first overdose prevention centers to operate openly in the US. Photo courtesy of OnPoint NYC
Still, some residents in Harlem and Washington Heights have protested the new sites, claiming that they will attract users from all over the city and expose children to public injection and dropped syringes. Of course, expanding overdose prevention centers to other parts of the state would decrease the need for clients to travel to the facilities in Harlem. But the research has demonstrated that overdose prevention centers actually decrease dropped syringes in public spaces. Sites in Sydney and Vancouver saw a decline in public injection in surrounding communities, with no increase in crime or drug trafficking. Cost-benefit analyses published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and the Journal of Drug Issues have estimated that overdose prevention centers offer communities estimated net savings starting at $3.5 million. Supervised injection falls under the category of harm reduction, a set of principles that have been around as a grassroots community service, an underground strategy, and as official public health policy for decades. The basic principle is to meet people where they’re at, including those who are not ready to stop using. A harm reductionist approach to substance use seeks to prevent associated complications like overdose, HIV and hepatitis C transmission, or wound infections, without condemning or stigmatizing the individual or requiring that they enter treatment to access services. Harm reduction programs may offer syringe exchange, low-
threshold housing, Narcan kits and training, or fentanyl test strips, in addition to support groups, holistic health services, or simply a temperaturecontrolled indoor space. Often, these programs offer clients a level of human dignity they are not afforded in other settings.
“Why let people die of overdoses when there’s something that you can do to stop that?” —Ulster County Sheriff Juan Figueroa Harm reduction is also seen as a more effective foundation for long-term sobriety than traditional programs which demand sobriety as a condition for services. But total cessation is not necessarily the goal of harm reduction programs, which instead seek to improve the quality of life and prevent illness and death among a deeply stigmatized and disenfranchised population.
Joe Turner is the co-chair of the New York State Harm Reduction Association (NYSHRA) and the founder of EXPONENTS, a substance use services organization; he got his start in the field of harm reduction as a lawyer during the HIV/AIDS epidemic. “Back then, we could not wait for people to become sober or drug-free in order to receive these lifesaving interventions,” he says. At the time, the only anti-HIV drug approved by the FDA was expensive, induced caustic side effects, and required around-the-clock administration. “So whether someone was actively using or not, we met people where they were. We provided what we called low-threshold—in other words, just come on in. We’ll talk about the other stuff later. Let’s keep you alive so we can talk about the other stuff.” In the Hudson Valley, only a handful of organizations offer harm reduction services. One is the Samadhi Center in midtown Kingston. Ulster County resident Mary Goldsmith goes to Samadhi for its holistic wellness programs like meditation. “I became homeless when the pandemic hit, and turned to Samadhi, and, not gonna lie, I was apprehensive about it,” she says. “Am I going to be hanging around people that are using? I wasn’t using, so I was a little skeptical if it was going to be a safe place for me or not.” Instead, she says, she found a warm and welcoming community that challenged her to rethink her own biases. 3/22 CHRONOGRAM HEALTH & WELLNESS 35
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The Stigma Barrier What makes opioids so deadly is not only the biochemistry of the substance, but the stigma attached to the individual using it. Turner traces contemporary stereotypes to Reagan-era propaganda. “If you would try to imagine the face of the crack epidemic, it was usually someone of color,” he says. “The stigma was very cruel, they used words like crackhead, crack whore, crack baby. The image was someone out of control. And the response to that was a criminal justice response: the war on drugs. People get killed in war.” For decades, substance use has been seen as a criminal act, and by extension, an indicator for morality. Despite current knowledge about the reality of addiction as an illness that requires medical treatment, the stigma persists, and people who inject drugs are often seen as disposable. Harm reduction, and particularly supervised injection, is often controversial because detractors claim it enables or encourages substance use. “That sort of thinking comes from this old treatment mindset that you need to let people hit bottom, which is an absolutely blindingly stupid thing to say at this point in history,” says John Barry, executive director of the Southern Tier AIDS Program (STAP). “Because bottom for a lot of people—given how poisoned the drug supply is with fentanyl—is death.” Popular narratives surrounding recovery sound a lot like the 12 steps of Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous—an individual admits they have a problem, stops using through the strength of their willpower, and then lives a life of stringent sobriety. That may work for some people, but it’s a norm that leaves many others on the margins, and instills ideas about recovery that often take on a moral valence. The reality is often much more complicated, and the process of recovery can be physically and emotionally brutal. In a survey of community members who used STAP’s syringe exchange program, 79 percent had already been through treatment at least once before, according to Barry. But many people see relapse as a moral failing, rather than evidence of shortcomings with a treatment program or structural barriers to recovery like homelessness, lack of transportation, or poverty. “We hear people use the language of ‘clean,’ ‘staying clean,’ or having clean urine,” says Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, the recently appointed commissioner of New York State’s Office of Alcohol Services and Supports (OASAS). The language of cleanliness that pervades substance use treatment implies that relapse is akin to contamination or impurity, which can be deeply stigmatizing. “Addiction is a health condition, it’s a chronic condition,” she continues. “We don’t talk about other health conditions in this way.” Like other chronic conditions, addiction can be effectively managed, and relapse is normal. But with addiction, a relapse is often grounds for removal from recovery and housing programs. Systems of Humiliation Treatment is a broad term that can refer to a variety of modalities. One of the most effective forms of substance use treatment is the medications methadone and buprenorphine, which alleviate cravings and the severe symptoms
Source: NYS DOH, NYC Health • Table shows overdose deaths involving any opioid as a rate per 100,000 in population. Note: Data for 2019 and 2020 from quarterly reports by NYS DOH are preliminary.
that accompany withdrawal. However, the barriers to access medication-assisted treatment (MAT) are substantial; the US Department of Health and Human Services states that less than 1 percent of people who need treatment for a substance use disorder receive it. The Hudson Valley’s dearth of resources is an ongoing issue: At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Westchester Medical Center Health Network gutted the only inpatient detox beds in Ulster County. Opioid treatment programs offering methadone remain concentrated in New York City, and throughout the rest of the state they are few and far between. Joe Turner describes the resulting obstacles as “systems of humiliation” for patients. When Mary Goldsmith signed up for a traditional recovery program, “I didn’t know I was signing myself up to be shamed,” she recalls. “That’s exactly what I received from the woman who was helping me. I don’t think she had any problems with addiction her entire life, but she had a degree in substance counseling.” Despite her desire to begin recovery, Mary’s program created an atmosphere of distrust by submitting her to random drug testing and reporting her to her probation officer. Stigma against opioid use disorders in healthcare settings is widely documented and can lead to suboptimal care or punitive neglect. According to one study, patients may delay or avoid care to escape another dehumanizing experience, potentially resulting in untreated bloodborne illnesses or wound-related infections. People who inject drugs are also more likely to omit details of their medical history, and are less likely to receive relevant care. What’s more, when individuals internalize this shame, they are less likely to seek or continue treatment. People who inject drugs are disproportionately likely to struggle to find stable housing or employment or access education. Taken together, all of these risk
factors can have devastating health consequences. The OnPoint NYC sites represent a sea change in federal drug policy. Previously, the only other time an overdose prevention center attempted to publicly open was Philadelphia’s Safehouse in 2019; it was promptly sued by Trump’s Department of Justice for violating the Controlled Substances Act. The Biden administration has indicated a more supportive stance for harm reduction, and tepid support regarding the overdose prevention centers. While it has drawn criticism for not weighing in on supervised injection specifically, the Biden administration named harm reduction as a yearone priority for drug policy and authorized $30 million of funding for harm reduction programs through the American Rescue Plan. Likewise, Governor Kathy Hochul has not explicitly condoned the overdose prevention centers, but has expressed an interest in researching their impact. In her first few months in office, she has signed bills decriminalizing syringe possession, requiring jails and prisons to provide MAT, and prohibiting Medicaid from requiring prior authorization for MAT. The governor’s proposed executive budget, released in January, offers a 56-percent increase in funding for the Office of Addiction Services and Supports and a new Division of Harm Reduction within OASAS. But the bill that would formally legalize overdose prevention centers in New York State has sat in the health committees of both legislative bodies for over three years. The Local Outlook For those witnessing the daily death toll on the front lines, life-saving services can’t wait. Horace (his name has been changed to protect his identity) directs a substance use services organization in upstate New York. “A lot of the folks that come to our location are homeless or unstably housed,” he says. “We have a 3/22 CHRONOGRAM HEALTH & WELLNESS 37
bathroom that has a shower. We have laundry facilities.” During the pandemic, most other public restrooms in the area closed. Horace’s organization did not want to put a camera in one of the only private bathrooms available to vulnerable community members. “Having said that, we’re pragmatic folks. We’re not naive about who we serve and what their needs are.” Those needs sometimes include a safe place to inject. In the fall of 2021, two FBI agents entered the building through a back entrance and interrogated one of Horace’s employees about clients injecting drugs in the bathroom. Horace’s program is in an unassuming twostory house, but the bathroom may not look like it belongs in a residence. It has a stainless-steel counter and a sharps container for safe syringe disposal. The door has a timer that goes off every few minutes so that staff can check on occupants, and strike locks should they need to open the door from the outside to intervene. “These are all safety measures to make sure that nobody dies in our building,” he says. “That actually happened in one of our sister agencies. Are we telling people to
Cost-benefit analyses have estimated that overdose prevention centers offer communities estimated net savings starting at $3.5 million. come on in and inject? No, we’re not. But people are using the bathroom for various things.” While supervised injection remains legally ambiguous, local law enforcement will be a critical piece of the puzzle. Should other organizations or towns in New York decide to open their own overdose prevention centers, a sheriff ’s decision to arrest or a district attorney’s decision to prosecute could determine the program’s success. In Ulster County, harm reduction has already found favor among top law enforcement officials. Sheriff Juan Figueroa has been growing the county’s High-Risk Mitigation Team since his inauguration in 2019. “Why do we let a revolving door at the county jail continue when we can do something to stop that?” he asks. “Why let people die of overdoses when there’s something that you can do to stop that?” The intention of the High-Risk Mitigation Team is to divert people away from the criminal justice system and towards treatment. Overdose calls, rather than resulting in arrest, receive a response from a social worker, peer specialist, and a plainclothes officer trained in crisis intervention. According to the Sheriff ’s Office, between 38 HEALTH & WELLNESS CHRONOGRAM 3/22
January and October 2021 the team provided 226 referrals, 24 percent of which led to the individual beginning MAT. But when it comes to supervised injection sites, Ulster County’s top law enforcement officer is more hesitant. “I would have to do more research on it,” Figueroa says. “I don’t know enough on that to say I agree with it or not. I do have an open mind.” He does acknowledge the need for novel solutions, pointing to the recent changes regarding substance use treatment in jails. “I think it’s our obligation to try new things that might be able to help society.” For his part, Ulster County District Attorney Dave Clegg was one of 80 signatories to an amicus brief in the 2019 case brought against Philadelphia’s Safehouse, and he firmly supports overdose prevention centers. While Clegg’s office has continued to prosecute what he describes as higher-level drug traffickers, he does not see incarceration as a viable solution for the overdose crisis. “You don’t want these people to die because they’re using the wrong needles or they’re taking the medication or drugs that are coming from the wrong place,” he says. “If there is a safehouse concept that can work and save lives, I think the entire community should support it.” Backyard Politics Statewide, New York is seeing an unprecedented level of support for harm reduction and supervised injection among elected leaders and public health officials. The fact that Governor Hochul recently appointed leaders with harm reduction backgrounds to high levels in both OASAS and the Department of Health is a significant shift. There is a wealth of hard evidence pointing to the success of overdose prevention centers, and a moment of great potential as Manhattan and Ithaca forge ahead without explicit decriminalization. But the biggest hurdle for the rest of the state may have little to do with policy, and everything to do with people. Philadelphia’s Safehouse gained legal standing to open after a federal judge decided in its favor in 2020. But instead, it delayed opening following pushback from residents and local elected officials. In New York, the Greater Harlem Coalition that opposed the overdose prevention centers may have found unwitting allies in New York’s Republican House coalition, who introduced a bill that would withhold federal funding from any entity offering supervised injection. While the bill is unlikely to move forward, it signals a long road ahead. An article published by the American Psychiatric Association found that large majorities of respondents blamed individuals with opioid use disorders for their addiction and believed they lacked self-discipline. A majority of respondents also expressed that they would not want someone with an opioid use disorder as a coworker or family member, and felt that employers should be allowed to deny employment on the basis of an opioid use disorder. These attitudes were also associated with greater support for punitive policies (e.g., arresting those who attempt to acquire prescription opioids from multiple providers), and less support for public health-oriented policies (e.g., Good Samaritan
Laws or increasing government spending to improve substance use treatment). Even basic harm reduction services have met resistance from local communities in the Hudson Valley. In October 2021, over a dozen midtown Kingston residents called into an Ulster County Legislature meeting to complain about the Samadhi Center’s community members. But many of the behaviors lamented by the speakers—for example, individuals sleeping in lobbies or urinating in public—are just as much symptoms of Ulster County’s housing crisis. While law enforcement has softened its approach, relations with neighbors have grown embittered. “It’s really hard to convince people that people who use drugs are not bad, because we arrest people who use drugs,” says Samadhi executive director David McNamara. “So it’s definitely a confused message.” As Samadhi looks towards relocating services to a nonresidential area, other entities that may consider overdose prevention centers in the region will need to consider the unavoidable necessity and significant challenge of public opinion. Into the Light People who inject drugs have been criminalized and stigmatized to the point that they have been forced to use in the shadows, further from public view. And people who use in isolation are more likely to die in isolation. No one wants the opioid crisis to worsen, but not many people are willing to bear witness to the toll substance use has taken in their own communities. Overdose prevention centers may visibilize an activity that was previously criminalized and hidden away. They may appear inconvenient, or even ugly, but the potential benefits for community wellbeing and safety are profound. When substance use services are available, they are often concentrated in metropolitan areas. That’s not a coincidence, says Moore of the Drug Policy Alliance. Decades of not-inmy-backyard politics have driven life-changing programs from rural communities in particular. “Now there’s been a bit of an awakening for people,” she says. “We are in a moment where we can reimagine what it looks like to have responsive services and supports and treatment all across the state.” Moore is hopeful that New York State is entering a new era in treating addiction: “One where there is a commitment to prioritizing evidence-based solutions, and an appreciation of the devastation of the overdose crisis in the state. It’s not enough to just have a couple overdose prevention centers open—it’s wonderful, but also we need to extend the analysis around what actually are the policies and practices that are going to keep people safe and help communities thrive. That’s certainly not what we’ve been doing.” For Mary Goldsmith, the possibility of more overdose prevention centers is acutely personal. A few months ago, her brother, Thomas Fisher, died from an overdose. “He was only 38. He was using alone with his girlfriend,” she says. “I wish there was a place like that around him so that he could go use in a safe environment, not being alone and being in the dark about it.”
community pages
Saugerties Pop-Up Portraits Photos by David McIntyre
Deputy Mayor Jeannine Mayer
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On February 13, two dozen Saugerties residents got their photos taken at our pop-up portrait session at 11 Jane Street Gallery. Our thanks to all who came out to get their picture taken and to Jen Hicks and 11 Jane Street Art Center for hosting the shoot. All the photos from the shoot cab be viewed at Chronogram.com/saugertiesportraits. Clockwise from top left: Kathryn O’Mara, gallery assistant at 11 Jane Street Art Center; Deon Hamer, an IT assitant at CUNY with his son Noah; Robert Langdon, owner of Emerge Gallery. Opposite, clockwise from top left: Illustrator Carol Zaloom; writer Mikhail Horowitz; Caroline Crumpacker, executive director of Opus 40; Jack Dumont of Upstate Films; artist Kristin Barton. Following page, clockwise from top left: Marjorie Block, Saugerties Historical Society president; Laura Huron of Bosco’s Mercantile and Marianne Olsen of Olsen & Company; musician Keith Slattery; artist Ze’ev Willy Neumann.
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Artist Hugh Morris
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community pages
R
WHERE THE WISE OWL NESTS The Creative Life of Saugerties By Anne Pyburn Craig Photos by David McIntyre
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ocky, the teensy, round-faced owl who took a wild ride in a giant pine to Rockefeller Center in 2020, only to be swooped up and nursed back to health at Ravensbeard Wildlife Center, has inspired multiple children’s books; The Christmas Owl, by Rocky’s rehabber Ellen Kalish and Gideon Sterer, was a New York Times bestseller; Kalish appeared on the “Today” show to tell Rocky’s story, and Ron Howard has purchased the film rights. Rockefeller Center, for its share of the fun, has introduced the notion that Rocky’s upstate owl gal pal Roxy has, unlike her saw-whet bestie, opted to make Manhattan her for-feather home. The center’s new ambassador is an owl in a cheery blue scarf, about eight feet tall, purported to hail from Saugerties. The Saugerties chamber has understandably declared Rocky the Owl this year’s community street art icon. Word is that there were diplomatic niceties involved. “It got a little sketchy, because the town of Cairo does owls, so it had to be very specifically Rocky,” says a source. Aside from the obvious fact that it would be downright unSaugertesian to poach Cairo’s owls, Saugerties isn’t short of inspiring critters. The lighthouse keeper has a companion in Laysan the Saugerties Harbor Seal, a tagged rescue originally hailing from Maine who ventured up the Hudson in 2019 and has gotten comfy at the mouth of the Esopus. More than a few other folks have made that journey in recent months, albeit largely by land. Along with most Hudson Valley towns, Saugerties has experienced a major influx of emigres. “Especially since COVID, artists from all over the tristate area have been re-evaluating their priorities, looking for a life with more space in it, and Saugerties is meeting that need,” says Robert Langdon, founder of Emerge Gallery. “The creative community is really building and there’s a lot happening—11 Jane Street, JJ Newberry, the Lamb Center—plus, pop-up exhibits are all over the place. We’ve formed an arts commission, and the town and village are all in. ” Emerge is hosting, through March 13, “Exit 20” an exhibit that features the work of 37 Saugerties artists. “Some are longtimers and others are new, and there’s a wide range of diverse media—painting, sculpture, fiber art. I think a lot of artists used pandemic isolation to look within, to reevaluate, and, of course, they process it through art. What they’ve been producing is fascinating.” Langdon says irrepressible artistic energy has helped carry the town through the pandemic. “We’re working with ShoutOut Saugerties a lot—they do wonderful programs. They organized all kinds of outdoor events to bring the community together— movies, theater, talks, walks.” On March 26, ShoutOut will host internationally renowned violinist Lara St. John at the Reformed Church. And from June 3-July 10, Shout Out, Emerge, and the Lamb Center will join forces to display lesser-known work by Harvey Fite, the builder of the iconic six-acre bluestone sculpture that is Opus 40. Prepared in collaboration with the Fite family, the exhibit will feature a timeline of Fite’s life and work, including a bust of contralto Marian Anderson and Fite’s only known painting, African American Playing Guitar. Opus 40’s managing nonprofit, which had a kerfuffle with Fite’s descendants that made it all the way to the New York Times before being resolved, isn’t directly involved—but they’ve got loads of their own business to mind, thanks. With grant funds totaling $600,000 in hand, the group’s retained a five-star team of experts to repair and preserve the sculpture, while planning a season of fun: Friday Community Nights, Saturday afternoon jazz, Stockade Saturday Cabarets, and two weekends of outdoor films in collaboration with Upstate Films, a close neighbor now that the Rhinebeck-based organization has purchased the historic Orpheum Theater on Main Street. “We’ve been around for 50 years and never before owned our
Kym Chambers in her boutique Chambers Vintage on Cedar Street.
own theater, so the Orpheum coming up for sale was a great opportunity for us,” says Paul Sturtz, executive codirector of Upstate Films. “We’re in love with Saugerties; it’s such a great, close-knit village and town. We want to be showing seven days a week in the foreseeable future, and we’d love for it to be an alternative town hall, a place where all kinds of things can happen” Saugerties is bursting at the seams with theater news this year. Arm-of-the-Sea, the experimental hybrid performance group founded here back in 1982, is creating the Tidewater Center, envisioned as a locus for performing arts, citizen science, and a “waterworks playground” tied to the history of local mills. “Last summer, we capped the contaminated industrial site with clean fill and opened to the public with outdoor performances of our 2021 Esopus Creek Puppet Suite,” reports managing director Patrick Wadden. “This summer, in addition to our regular touring, we’re planning weekly performances and community events at the Tidewater. We also have secured funding to begin construction of several new facilities.” Turning on the TV Upriver Studios, a sustainability-forward 100,000-square-foot production space co-founded by actor/director Mary Stuart Masterson and producers Beth Davenport and Diane Wheeler-Nicholson in a repurposed industrial space, has been fully booked since
opening in May 2021, becoming a major economic engine. Masterson first moved to the Hudson Valley in 2006, founding Stockade Works with Davenport in 2016 to train locals for off-screen production jobs, and she says the production facility is “the next step in making local work—television shows need largescale soundstage facilities, and we created Upriver to meet that need and bring television productions (and their jobs and massive budgets) into our towns. It is so exciting to see local businesses benefitting from our first client, ‘Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin,’ being based at our stages. We are so lucky to be in Saugerties. We’ve found it to be an incredible place to launch and run a business, with great collaboration and support from local government at all levels, and great support from the community,” she says. “This is not Hollywood-onHudson, this is the Hudson Valley—a place with its own character, culture, and talent, and with a growing creative industry.” The facility recently received a $500,000 boost from Empire State Development to facilitate carbon-neutral, sustainable upgrades. “Transformative, incredible,” are words that Saugerties Town Supervisor Fred Costello uses to describe Upriver Studios. “I can’t find enough good things to say about what they’re doing—it’s unique and special, and the economic activity that it has spun off is more than noticeable. I don’t go through a week without a conversation about the impact—food, services, hardware, lumber. It’s a few hundred jobs, and 3/22 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 47
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Top: Nina Schmidbaur, a psychotherapist, is restoring long-vacant local eyesore the Clovelea Mansion.
Jason Silverman, codirector of Upstate Films, inside the Orpheum Theater, which Upstate recently purchased.
Bottom: Patrick Wadden of Arm-of-theSea Puppet Theater, which is building the Tidewater Center, a performance and community space along the Esopus Creek.
Jen Tsakis in her boutique Pop Vinatge on Partition Street.
Opposite, clockwise from top left: Businessman and philanthropist Bob Siracusano inside his `50s-themed car showroom, Sawyer Motors.
Town Supervisor Fred Costello in Sue’s, a restaurant his family owns. Superintendent of Parks Greg Chorvas at Cantine Field.
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we haven’t had an employer of that magnitude in a long time.” Town officials hope to further fertilize the creative/entrepreneurial boom by rezoning the Kings Highway district to allow boutique craft manufacturing. Also on the 2022 agenda: an in-depth environmental review of the latest proposal for the 800-acre Winston Farm, which would include multi- and single-family housing, concert amphitheater, boutique hotel resort, technology park, and commercial and cabins and campgrounds. It’s already a controversial topic, with many local residents deeply concerned about the development’s environmental impact. “I would caution anyone from developing strong opinions about the beginning of a fairly lengthy journey,” says Costello, noting that the long form SEQRA process will address the same issues opponents are raising. “In the end, there will be people disappointed, but forming strong opinions now is a bit premature. It’s the process that forms the product. These gentlemen [Tony Montano, John Mullen, and Randy Richers] are local; they’ve seen and experienced other fails and are sensitive to what the community may or may not accept, and right now we’re just beginning to develop the science that will guide us all.” “People here are very close-knit,” says Langdon. “The pandemic has only enhanced that, and right now there are lots of opportunities. Saugerties has the knack for growing and 50 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 3/22
reinventing while holding onto its integrity, and what it’s about.” Bob Siracusano grew up in Saugerties from age 12 and purchased Sawyer Motors in 1990; building the type of family business in which the whole community’s part of the family— Siracusano is the type of guy who renovates a 1967 Good Humor truck to hand out free ice cream at community events, many of which he helps organize. Since the creation of the Sawyer Automotive Foundation in 2014, over $750,000 has gone to local charities. “Of course people love to come here; we offer so much,” he says. “There are 20 different places to eat. Cantine Field is one of the premier sports facilities in new York State. We have the [Sawyer Motors] car show, the Garlic Festival, the Mum Festival, Fourth of July fireworks, free sunset concerts, the food truck festival, a great farmers’ market, First Fridays, Holiday in the Village, street art, and all kinds of studios and galleries, fabulous horse shows every summer. COVID has changed the world and people leaving the city and landing here are falling in love with this town.” Siracusano is currently nominated to represent New York State as Time magazine’s car dealer of the year, and will be competing in the nationals at Las Vegas on March 10. “I couldn’t be happier already,” he says. “I love what I do, all of it—and Saugerties is on track for a great summer. Hey, we’ve even got Rocky the Owl.”
The Upriver Studios crew outside their facility on Tomsons Road: Business Director Shoshana Gray, Cofounder and Vice President Beth Davenport, Founder and President Mary Stuart Masterson, and Director of Studio Operations Khadeeja Lindsay.
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he upstate real estate market may be one of the hottest in the nation, but that doesn’t mean every home is destined to cash in on a bounty of bids. However, those that go quickly and over asking price do all have something in common: a list of must-have features that make living in them full-time or on weekends easy, efficient, and enjoyable. To learn more about what makes today’s buyers tick, we polled the in-the-know team of agents at leading Woodstock and Kingstonbased real estate brokerage Halter Associates Realty. Here are the six most popular features they told us that upstate home buyers are asking for right now. 1. Privacy with a Sense of Community Unsurprisingly, upstate home buyers prioritize privacy. A picture-perfect house nestled among a few acres of woodland affords the kind of solitude the region has long been known for. But buyers don’t necessarily want to be out in the boonies. They also want a thriving community close by where they can easily pop in to town to do some shopping, grab an afternoon pick-meup at their favorite coffee shop, or linger over craft cocktails and a locally sourced dinner with visiting family and friends. 2. An Open, Efficient Layout The pandemic may have increased the amount of time most of us spend at home, but the ca-
sual, flexible style of living and entertaining that open layouts support have long been on trend. Those buying upstate also want to enjoy their rustic environs to the fullest, so the most appealing layouts feature high ceilings that further enhance the feeling of openness, and plentiful windows that let the light and gorgeous scenery pour in from the outside. With all that open space, however, also comes the need for efficient, discrete storage—think custom built-in shelving, dedicated pantries, and other design solutions that allow homeowners to showcase what they want and tuck away what they don’t.
time spent at home due to both remote work and schooling, it can be a real sanity-saver for however long a power outage does last.
3. Ground-Level Primary Bedroom Gone are the days when buyers want the primary bedroom to be located farthest from the main living area. Today, many people prefer to have an easily accessible bedroom located on the main level, with major bonus points for an ensuite bath. Without the need to climb a flight of stairs day and night, homeowners can comfortably stay in a larger house they love even as they age.
6. Work-from-Home Space With so many people working from home these days, a dedicated office space (or two) is quickly becoming a must-have feature. These spaces don’t even have to be located within the main home—and often, it can be preferable if they aren’t! Art studios, renovated barn spaces, and apartments above garages all provide ample space to spread out while still enjoying all the comforts of home. It’s even better if the tech infrastructure is already in place. High-speed internet access is a must for any remote work, and smart home features like programmable thermostats, lighting, and cameras allow homeowners to manage their home and work spaces right from their phones.
4. Whole-House Generator While buyers in suburban areas may not put a whole-house generator on their wish list, it can bring those buying a house in the country greater piece of mind. It can be a significant investment, but an automatic whole-house generator can help homeowners comfortably ride out any storm that comes along. And with increased
5. Fireplace or Woodstove No house upstate would be complete without a cozy, crackling live fire. Though in times past, a fireplace or woodstove would be expected to be a primary source of heat for the whole house, today they’re mostly beloved as upscale design elements. Be it a hip whitewashed brick fireplace or sturdy cast iron woodstove, many buyers are enchanted by the idea of building a roaring fire and settling in for those cold country nights.
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music Amy Helm
What the Flood Leaves Behind (Renew Records)
Being the daughter of Libby Titus and Levon Helm would seem a thankless job, inviting constant comparison to titanic Hudson Valley talents of the past. But Amy Helm is doing just fine on her own, thank you very much—as evinced once again by her latest long player. Helm has forged her own path, marrying soul and Americana in equal measure, with a Rod Stewartlike ear for how to blend her singular songs with those she interprets or cowrites with others. Percolating horns (“Breathing”) push against acoustic textures (“Terminal B”). Al Jackson-like grooves power gems like the self-penned “Calling Home” and Helm’s strut, thankfully, never relaxes. Just listen to Daniel Norgren’s “Are We Running Out of Love?” for proof. Yet, a jangling tinkle of mandolin decorates the brief “Carry It Alone,” linking her at once to her illustrious lineage and to a history both longer and deeper. Onstage, Helm displays a magnetism that translates well to wax—or to plastic, aluminum, digital file, what have you. Even when she veers dangerously close to classic rock, as with Steve Salett’s pedestrian “Sweet Mama,” she still owns it with a canny confidence. Helm is an uncommon, quiet joy in a world often too loud for its own good. What the Flood Leaves Behind is endlessly human. “I saw your name stitched in the starlight,” she sings plaintively in the album’s final track, “Renegade Heart.” That’s the kind of eternal Woodstock message we’ll always need. —Michael Eck
sound check Susie Ibarra Each month here we visit with a member of the community to find out what music they’ve been digging.
Some of the numerous compositions or songs I have been listening to include: “Toque” by Cubanborn Nyack composer Tania León as performed by the London Symphonietta, “If It’s a Light” by Mavis Staples, “Black Angels” by George Crumb, “Candyman” by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, “Journey in Satchidananda” by Alice Coltrane featuring Pharoah Sanders, The 7th Hand by Immanuel Wilkins, “Emmabi: Selimtou Mina El Hewa” by Dimi Mint Abba (from Music of Mauritania), “Sudani Sudani” by Azzeddine and the Faraj family (Gnawa music of Zagora, Morocco), “Himpit” by Sraya Murtikanti, “White Lotus” by Min Xiao-Fen, “Zero Grasses” by Jen Shyu, “Binalig, Gandingan Na Apad” by Danongan Kalanduyan and family, “Suling Suling” by Jose Maceda, “Sonic Meditations” by Pauline Oliveros, “The Nest” by Richard Reed Parry, and “Montreal” by Allison Russell. Susie Ibarra is a contemporary percussionist, composer, educator, and filmmaker who has performed and recorded extensively in the realms of jazz, avant-garde, classical, rock, and ethnic music. Cited by SPIN as one of the “100 Greatest Drummers in Alternative Music” and named “Best Percussionist, Rising Star” in 2009 and 2011 by Downbeat, she lives in New Paltz.
54 MUSIC CHRONOGRAM 3/22
Flor Bromley
MMBC
(Independent)
(Independent)
Pachamama
On her third CD for kids and grownups, Flor Bromley delivers Pachamama, a multilingual Earth tribute (or un pago a la tierra). The name of the planet-praising title track means “Mother Earth,” sung in both English and Quechua (Bromley’s native Peruvian). A whopping 21 songs—half English, half Spanish—teach about diversity, eco-awareness, and our roles as caretakers of both the planet and our fellow people. Bromley and her assembly of prominent musicians explore a stylistic stew that includes huayno (Andes), bachata (Dominican Republic), tanguillo (Cadiz), Quebradita, tango, and other folk forms. The bachata “Drop of Water” probes the versatility of one tiny natural gift; the Peruvian hip-hop tune “Peas and Carrots” approaches nutrition as diversity; and the Tex-Mex-style “Let’s Move It!” encourages kids to dance off energy while learning anatomy. Bromley’s friendly vocals explore ocean mysteries, Inca life’s three stages, and shining your light in hopeless times. Animated bilingual videos can be found on her YouTube channel. —Haviland S Nichols
Terma
Although the pandemic has prevented many musicians from gathering to play together in person, a happy byproduct of the situation is that it’s led some of them to mine their pre-lockdown recordings and unearth unheard gold for release. Such is the tale behind this set of nine untitled improvisations recorded back in 2007 by MMBC, the trio of Kingston bassist Michael Bisio, saxophonist Michael Monhart, and drummer Ben Chadabe. Monhart and Bisio (the latter of the Matthew Shipp Trio) go even farther back, having played together in Seattle before they both moved to New York in 2005, and on Terma (Tibetan for “hidden treasure”) the deep communication they share is copiously clear. But Chadabe is a perfect partner for them, adept at knowing when to assert himself, when to hang back and let his collaborators speak their piece, and when to bring balance to this superb and distinctly spacious music. Terma is gold worth digging for. —Peter Aaron
books Knocked Down: A High-Risk Memoir Aileen Weintraub University of Nebraska Press, $21.80, 2022 After her father dies, Weintraub leaves her Jewish Brooklyn community and moves up to the Hudson Valley. In quick succession she meets her husband, becomes pregnant, and faces complications with her pregnancy. The commitment-phobic Weintraub is prescribed five months of bedrest by her doctor, laid up in her husband’s ramshackle (and possibly haunted) farmhouse in Accord. While Weintraub struggles with her health problems, her husband struggles with home repairs. As the house falls apart, Weintraub’s marriage does the same. Balancing bleakness with humor, Weintraub provides a look into this difficult time from the other side, with her child safely delivered.
Spitting into a River Mary T. Altobelli Independent, $12.99, 2021 In the early `70s, shopgirl Altobelli turned a blind eye while her friend Charlie swiped money from her department. To pay her back, Charlie gave her film reels of John Lennon he found in a trash bin. In the footage, the superstar dances in Central Park, eats an Italian ice, and plays cards in front of Tiffany’s. Altobelli sells this footage to a mysterious Beatles superfan who only answers to the name Sergeant Pepper. With Sergeant Pepper’s money, Altobelli fulfills her dream of sending her daughter to college. Chester resident and artist Altobelli illustrates her experience with photographs and drawings of her own.
Hearts Blooming: Through Intuitive Mentoring Maria Blon Independent, $19.98, 2021 Blon felt directionless when she quit her job as a college professor. Even after volunteering and starting her own yoga business, something was missing. That changed when she began looking after Rose, a friend’s daughter with Down Syndrome. Blon had found her new calling, and she shares her observations from that calling. She begins her chapters with general advice, such as “Remain Calm,” “Embrace Silence,” and “Get in Synch.” Then Blon shares a story about someone she has worked with, and the tactics she used to reach them. The Middletown-based author ends each section with pointers that she calls Heart Blooming Tools.
Essays Two: On Proust, Translation, Foreign Languages, and the City of Arles Lydia Davis Farrax, Straus and Giroux, $19.29, 2021 SUNY Albany creative writing professor Davis is most renowned for her flash fiction. But in these love letters to language, Davis discusses the art of translation and her personal methods of learning a foreign language. To learn Spanish, she reads Las Aventuras de Tom Sawyer without consulting a dictionary. She dives into the intricacies of “translating” between old British and modern American English. Davis translates not only between languages, but between forms, by turning an ancestor’s memoir into a long narrative poem. She also provides notes on a selection of her celebrated translations, from Proust to Flaubert.
Vegetariana: A Rich Harvest of Wit, Lore, & Recipes Nava Atlas Amberwood Press, Inc., $28, 2021 This classic cookbook, originally published in 1984, now features solely vegan recipes. New Paltz-based author, artist, and vegetarian icon Nava Atlas includes more than just recipes, however. Quotes from vegetarians abound, such as Paul McCartney’s “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.” Atlas explains the roots of veganism and shares a list of vegetarian historical figures like Rosa Parks and Nikola Tesla. Atlas adds historical anecdotes about traditional uses of fruits and vegetables and the origins of dishes. Small poems and Atlas’s own whimsical illustrations are scattered throughout. Recipes include tofu rancheros, quinoa sloppy joes, and dairy-free cheese sauce. —Emma Cariello
The Accomplice Liza Lutz
BALLANTINE BOOKS, 2022, $28.00
Masterful storyteller Lisa Lutz (The Swallows), keeps the reader guessing and engaged throughout her new crime thriller with literary sleight of hand—split timelines, surprising twists, shifting narratives—to unravel two equally provocative murder mysteries that surround the main characters, Owen Mann and Luna Grey. It is the cast of well-developed minor characters, however, that make this book a compelling, character-driven literary work that interweaves stories of and touches upon the complexities of friendship, dysfunctional families, finding oneself, loyalty, love, marriage, money, tragedy, and betrayal. The story unfolds in two timelines: The first is set in the present day after the death of Owen’s wife, Irene. The second is in flashback, starting when Owen and Luna met in college 17 years prior, marking the beginning of their interesting and unusual, platonic friendship. Owen first notices Luna during an ethics seminar at Markham University, a small, liberal arts college in the Hudson Valley. Markham is renowned for its self-directed independent study programs and its reputation as a “haven for lazy stoners who wanted a break from life.” It had been Luna’s first choice and Owen’s third choice, but, as a charming and talented artist, he quickly becomes a very popular man on campus. Fascinated by the way Luna carries herself and sensing that she was a girl “roiling with secrets,” he is determined to get to know her and learn about what she is hiding. When they meet at the library the first time, Luna, an epileptic, has a seizure and Owen does not leave her side. This was “the day it all began. Luna and Owen. Owen and Luna. Their names would be inextricably linked for years to come.” College life brings with it the usual drama involving roommates, friends, and hook-ups, but they find their people in a small and loyal group that includes the mellow and kind resident weed dealer, Mason, his future wife, Casey, and Ted, Luna’s love interest, who wants more than she wants to give. Also in the mix is Scarlet, a young woman who misinterprets her drunken college rendezvous with Owen as love. A relationship with him is something she desperately wants and something Owen, just as desperately, does not. Scarlet is persistent in her pursuit of him and attaches meaning to their encounters that he only thinks of as casual, insignificant. When Owen discovers that Luna is going to spend the Christmas break alone on campus, he insists that she come home with him to his parents’ house in the Berkshires. This glimpse into Owen’s wealthy but dysfunctional family makes their bond even stronger. When Scarlet finally is able to reach Owen, who did not inform her of his Christmas break plans, she manages to get invited too (much to Owen’s dismay as his brother Griff, who Luna later begins a relationship with, had a hand in it). Scarlet’s visit ends abruptly, however, when she betrays Owen during a game of Truth or Dare by asking Luna, “Who is sending you hate mail and why?” Revealing that she knows Luna’s secret, as well as exposing to Luna that Owen had gone through her things when Luna, against her better judgment, agreed to let him crash alone in her room to avoid seeing Scarlet. Disgusted by her cruelty, Owen commits to ending it with Scarlet. Several weeks later, Scarlet goes missing. Owen immediately comes under suspicion and the investigation that follows has serious implications for life as he knows it. Several years later, with Scarlet’s death behind them, Owen and Luna remain inseparable, living with their spouses in the same small Hudson Valley town. When Irene, Owen’s wife, goes missing on her morning run and is later found murdered, Owen and Luna find themselves, once again, living under a cloud of suspicion. Is there a connection between these two deaths in which they are the common denominator? Why do Luna and Owen seem to attract death and drama and what lengths have they gone to protect each other? What secrets do they have and will their friendship survive yet another tragedy? All of these questions are at the foundation of this intriguing tale filled with mysterious undertones; flawed, all-too human characters; biting and vivid dialogue; and a well-constructed, plausible plot full of surprises and suspense. —Jane Kinney Denning 3/22 CHRONOGRAM BOOKS 55
poetry
9D and 84 There’s a young girl panhandling at the corner of 9D and US 84 with a ring in her nose, and her name is Megan. I carry a Subway 10-dollar meal card and she’s appreciative. While the light is red and I can’t move on we chat about December weather getting colder and other non-talk talk. Why a young girl in her 20s panhandles in affluent Dutchess County, and why I can’t be a better Jesus to her, a woman at the well… Well, that never comes up. —Robert Phelps Sister Fox Some days I pinch and pull at my life until it fits into the lines of a poem. The sunset was beautiful but I feel sad. Put in a loon’s call. Then there are days when the poem finds me. Like this morning, when the great red fox walked towards the sliding door and stared at me until I understood her leave girl leave I can smell the false love all over you —Natalli Amato At the Graveside for Whom All the THAT’S were dressed In dirty dungarees No one was crying On the outskirts With thin attendance Were old grammarians Dressed in dark suits Sighing And some children Who hadn’t the faintest idea What the hell was going on. —Anthony Herles
56 POETRY CHRONOGRAM 3/22
EDITED BY Phillip X Levine
When Things Become More Than Things For Noah Things can do that, Become more than things. We often keep and keep them Well past their keeping time. A shirt without elbows, pants without knees, Or an item so long a guest in our life No one even remembers “when we got it.” Like our aged and beloved pets, We keep and keep these things. A chair almost without stuffing, A battered lampshade, crooked but kept. And yet, some things that we keep and keep Do, in fact, “get better with age.” Like a treasured table, its thick wooden planks literally Soaked with history, from birthdays and holidays, From noisy rambunctious family meals, as well as Quiet familiar repasts shared by just two, alone, happy. Yes, a table like that, one that bears The invisible imprint of countless elbows, One that remains sturdy long after we are not, Whose planks still glow beautifully And grow warm with sunshine, Yes, we keep and keep a table like that, And we hope others will keep and keep it, too. Because things can do that, Become more than things. Much more. —William P. Hogue Hotel Days The dog in the room across the hall keeps Barking. She is my alarm clock and the bane Of my existence. First time I heard her, I Went down to the front desk. The woman There was already on the phone, talking the Issue over. “We know about the dog.” I was Wondering if the dog was a service dog and her Person might be dead. “We hadn’t thought of That.” I went to work and came back to the Hotel in a state of suspended consciousness. Is this real? It must be real, the dog across The hall is still barking. Where does she get This energy? The TV works. I have one book To read and I go to read some of it. The laundry Machine on the 3rd floor only accepts quarters. I get my quarters together and you can assume The rest. Sometimes the act of doing laundry While staring through a window, not quite At yourself and not quite at the traffic lights… —Greg Tackach
Finding Poetry in the Trash Of course when my son saw that I was digging through the trash he had to tell mama. Mama, daddy is looking through the garbage for poetry! I was indeed looking for poetry in our kitchen trash bin. On this day early on in the pandemic I was experimenting for the first time with found poetry. Could I make a poem from garbage? And it turns out GLORY BE I could raise from out the rubbish the wrappers, receipts and rinds a grimy handful of lines entitled “This Poem is Garbage.” But the real find was the whole damn scene. This preposterous diving into the gross unknown. This search for gold amongst the gunk. —Daniel Sennis Cherry Tree Go kiss the drunk girl She might still believe in love Imagine planting her a cherry tree And years later Chopping it down with your kids To keep warm In the longest winter of your life —Forrest Hackenbrock Short Stories On that day we spun a short story of joy After years you were sorrow-bodied Those darkened days, and darker love woven tightly into blood But on that day there was blinding southern sunshine Your ashes stuck to my legs, flowers and death Poured into the open ocean waves Now I pray for your joy That you were amused by the rose petals I’ve carried your sorrow from the ocean —Elise Elizabeth
The Waterbearer
Choice
Simple Precautions
we watched by the fires flickering light the ferryman guide his craft down the still river to our dock so many before me have taken this journey now it was finally my turn I said goodbye to my family grabbed my pack and water jug and boarded the boat knowing I would never return to the forests I had played in as a young girl we moved upriver, our oars beating against the current past crumbling cement and steel that twisted out of the riverbank like witch fingers long past sunrise we saw its huge slender obelisks rising above the treeline the dying place we all must pass through we all must look upon the face of what god may live here I disembarked in the shadow of it the ferryman departed without a word I looked only forward. fear does not follow us in this place so we are told As I marched I whistled the birds whistled along with me I did not think there would be birds here there is so much of the old world strange masks with blunted tusks and large opaque ovals for eyes the same fading black and yellow hieroglyph the tri bladed fan some kind soul had scrawled arrows in chalk but every person of my tribe knows well the ritual I walked up the metal stairs as I had practiced so many times we are born for this moment it does not make it easier when it comes to look on god, you would not know you were looking at the thing a lump of glowing green rock beautiful but not breathtaking I poured my water and gave my thanks, as my ancestors did as my children will now, I think, I will sit here awhile and listen to the birds until I fall asleep. —unknown, found written on a wall in the ruins of Three Mile Island
How to celebrate the so-called passing of our great teacher, who spoke so eloquently of no-birth and no-death? “It is not a choice between annihilation and immortality,” Thay said.
If I had known how aggressive you could be around a bathroom sink, I wouldn’t have left the Mason jar of Q-tips so close to the edge of the counter. Now no one can clean their ears, and I have to worry about cutting my foot the next sixteen times I exit the warmth of the shower
I light a fire this January morning and lick the small marshmallows from the surface of my coffee. The goo sticks to my lip. I like to say that this day is like no other, that anything can happen. Yesterday a red fox went back and forth across the ice all afternoon long, searching for food at the nature preserve, then coming back home. Just last night, I was startled to wake to aliens in my bedroom, the ceiling the contours of their ship, just visible in the moonlight that floated in. Aliens take you, you know! They might take you to Eden or to a cold January hell! I switched on the light and texted myself: Aliens @ 1:25, my so-called last words. In the dark again, globes of light danced. I got up and made tea. —Laura Rock Kopczak Trash I have my own pile of sadness you have yours. Mine is high so is yours. Let’s make one big pile and trample it into the ground.
—G. R. Bilodeau SERPiENTE ... He is the outlaw of beasts—the edge on trouble’s doorstep, an arrow pointing in the wrong direction. Don’t tread on him, please: He is more than you asked for, less than you admire. ...Languidly, on stones or on shores you may see him, coiled or flat, that wedge of ribbon `round the useless gift you’ve secretly envied, eagerly tried— that cheerful, hissing fuse to its hidden, incendiary surprise. Once, he occupied the boudoir of Heaven, stained its sheets blood-red: He slammed the gate to that portal called Paradise. Now, curled like a tourniquet `round your uneasy gaze, your gasping throat, your thighs, he cheers as you change from Saint to rogue— a bonfire in a burning bed. Serpiente: that matchstick caveat your mother always warned you of...
Butterflies dancing over flowers... Dazzling sunlight
He has no use for a halo or wing, some harp, or pardoned Fall. It’s all so very clear— Expect Nothing, Relinquish All...
—Frances Greenhut
—Marlene Tartaglione
—Susan Liev Taylor
—Randall Schmollinger
Full submission guidelines: Chronogram.com/submissions
3/22 CHRONOGRAM POETRY 57
the guide
58 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 3/22
art
What the Heart Sees “MARY FRANK: THE OBSERVING HEART” AT THE DORSKY MUSEUM AT SUNY NEW PALTZ Through July 17 Newpaltz.edu/museum
“Decisions are like butterflies. Their tongues are like springs, coils. Butterflies go from one flower to the next looking for nectar, extending their coils, testing every flower. I'm looking for nectar, too.” —Mary Frank
Opposite: Truth, Mary Frank, acrylic on cardboard, 2017 Above: Horizon Bird, Mary Frank, oil and acrylic on panel, 2012
“I can’t actually imagine that I made all this,” Mary Frank admits, looking around at her retrospective, “The Observing Heart,” at the Dorsky Museum. I know what she means. The show comprises more than 125 pieces, spanning 66 years: sculptures, paintings, posters, tryptics, cylinder seals, drawings, prints (some mounted on aluminum). “Mary is a maximalist,” explains curator David Hornung. There’s even a painting on a large scalloped fungus. The most recent piece is from last year. At the age of 88, Frank is still a working artist. Mary Frank was born in England in 1933, but was sent to live with her grandparents in Brooklyn at the beginning of World War II. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham from 1945 to 1950, and one can see the imprint of dance on her work. The figures Frank paints are usually in motion—often sweeping motion. At the age of 17 she married Robert Frank, the celebrated Swiss photographer. She appears in Pull My Daisy (1959), the seminal Beat film starring Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Gregory Corso. One of her first art teachers, circa 1950, was Max Beckmann, the German expressionist. Frank remembers Beckmann looking at one of her life drawings and saying: “It is psychologisch very good”—psychologically admirable. Frank made figurative art during the era when abstract expressionism reigned supreme. One senses that these images seized her and forced her to paint them. “The buildings look like they’re carved out of rock. The people are almost priestlike, like oracles,” Hornung observes. Frank creates a sacred zoology: big-eyed wheeling owls, a horse with a snake’s tail, a rising crane lifting its wings. I was reminded of the artwork our Paleolithic forebears painted in caves 30,000 years ago. One can imagine these paintings functioning like Tarot cards, as a form of divination. “Mary believes in magic,” says Hornung. Frank draws on diverse art influences. Some of her large paintings, such as What Color Lament?, are divided into smaller rectangles, with scenes inside, like a metaphysical comic book. Others have tiny figures reminiscent of Chinese scroll painting. Breath, for example, shows a head in profile breathing out a sea, in which nine small silhouetted people—perhaps a family?—are foundering. For decades, Frank has divided her time between Manhattan and the Hudson Valley. This has affected even her choice of materials. There’s a collection of paintings made on jagged pieces of bluestone: a startled monkey, a polite octopus, a crouching human with a bird’s head. These pieces are propped up on metal armatures on a table, like pages of a stone sketchbook. Some of the paintings, such as Knowing by Heart, have painted bluestone attached. Works in “The Observing Heart” are from Frank’s collection, her gallery (DC Moore), from private collectors, plus loans from two museums: the Everson in Syracuse, and the Whitney. The show is part of the Hudson Valley Masters series at the Dorsky, which began in 2001, and has included such major artists as Carolee Schneemann, Raoul Hague, and Judy Pfaff. The documentary Visions of Mary Frank, directed by John Cohen, is on view. Frank is a longtime activist, and her work may be seen as intrinsically political. Frank’s posters—which I have seen at demonstrations, carried by angry protesters—effortlessly merge with her larger body of work. One includes the phrase “Schools Not War,” beside a painting of a soldier cradling his dying comrade. “Her poster style is very coarse and urgent,” Hornung observes. Frank is happy to see her art marching in the streets. —Sparrow 3/22 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 59
performance
Lane Moore hosting “Tinder Live” Photo by Mindy Tucker
Love Me Tinder LANE MOORE’S “TINDER LIVE” AT COLONY March 12 Colonywoodstock.com Lane Moore is one of those multitalented people that makes creative self-actualization seem like a breeze. She acts, she writes, she plays music, she does stand-up. Moore’s a regular 21stcentury Renaissance man. When I tell her as much, she laughs good-naturedly and says, “that makes me feel like I should be wearing a jaunty cap.” And, despite publishing a best-selling book (How to Be Alone), running sold-out comedy tours, and fronting what Bust dubbed the best band of 2015 (It Was Romance), bafflingly, she still does her own PR. After multiple emails, texts, and rounds of phone tag, we caught up while she was pulled over on the side of the road in Colorado, waiting out a snowstorm before a gig at Gordon Gamm Theater in Boulder. Since 2014, Moore has taken her show, “Tinder Live,” all over the country. When she started out, dating apps were still novel. Whatever effort we were previously putting into constructing our image on a first date was now suddenly distilled into a 500-character bio and nine photos. A whole new way of interacting. Moore recalls being in her apartment with her roommates at the time, all three of them sitting around, swiping separately, riffing on the weird profiles, funny photos, and bombastic opening lines. “I immediately thought: this is a comedy show,” she says. “It was so clear to me because it was so strange. The process of trying to meet people can be really exhausting and lonely, and this was no exception. I love being able to find jokes in the things that are painful and frustrating in this world.” 60 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 3/22
At her roommates’ encouragement, Moore developed the concept into a show and took it on the road. Eight years later, “Tinder Live” has proved a bottomless barrel. Key to the formula’s success is that each show is a fully improvised, categorically unique experience. Moore takes to the stage in whatever small town or city she’s in to project her phone screen as she swipes through the local harem of men on Tinder and engages in an evening of playful, interactive hilarity with the audience. “The beauty of it is that it’s created with the audience,” Moore says. “They choose whether I swipe right or left.” A quick primer for the Tinderilliterate: swipe left=dislike, swipe right=like. If the person you like liked you back, you match and then you can start chatting—this is where the fun starts. “Literally, when I match, people scream,” Moore says. “I’ve never seen that at a comedy show, it’s like it’s the Roman Colosseum. It’s like a sporting event. I have always had the most engaged audience, even if it’s their first show and they don’t know what is going on, they’re so excited to be a part of this thing that can never be duplicated. If you’re in the audience, we’re the only ones that got to experience that together. People are so invested.” When swiping, Moore and her giddy, gung-ho crowd are angling for the weirdest, most outlandish profiles, not the harmless boy next door. “They know the rules,” she says. “We’re only swiping right on a guy’s profile if he is half on fire and giving you the finger. If the profile seems normal and kind and cool, we swipe left.” During one show, Moore swiped right on one
guy whose profile picture showed him walking away from the camera. Moore told the audience, “Look, he’s already leaving us.” Riffing on that image, she launched into the chat with him, saying, “Where the hell have you been? You left our entire family.” To which he responded without missing a beat, “Sorry my darling, I should never have done that.” And so the conversation unfolded for the duration of the show, an unbroken role play about how he had broken up their marriage. (“I almost went on a date with that guy in real life,” Moore says.) Oftentimes audience members or venue staff will know the person on-screen and call out details about them that Moore uses to tee up the conversation. “People say, ‘Oh my god I know that guy. Or ‘I dated that guy,” Moore says. “That happens fairly often. ‘That’s my brother’ or ‘that’s my friend’s ex. He’s weird, he’ll be fun to talk to.’” On a recent tour stop, one of the right-swipes had gotten kicked out of the bar the previous evening. Moore sets her age range from 18 to 100, pulling a wide swath of men from college frat bros to octogenarians. “That is the coolest thing too about being on tour—we are swiping through the town we are currently in,” she says “I’m getting a birds-eye view on what the profiles look like in that area. “LA profiles are almost always headshots—people in the industry. New York City is a lot of finance guys. DC is a lot of people in politics. I don’t know what to expect in Woodstock.” Find out alongside her when Moore brings “Tinder Live” to Colony Woodstock on March 12. —Marie Doyon
music
Holly George-Warren and Lizzie Vann Photo by Dion Ogust
Rebel Girls “WE GOT THE BEAT” AT THE BEARSVILLE THEATER March 25–27 Bearsvilletheater.com
“This is a man’s world,” James Brown sang. “But it wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl.” And that lyric applies equally to the music world, which despite all the vital roles that women have played throughout its history, largely remains a lopsided sphere in which men exert an outsized influence. The inaugural “We Got the Beat,” a three-day summit at the Bearsville Theater organized by local author Holly George-Warren, whose books include the Janis Joplin biography Janis: Her Life and Music, and the venue’s owner, Lizzie Vann, looks to level the playing field. The event, which will take place March 25-27, will bring together powerful women in the music industry and music-related areas; address important issues relating to women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ communities; and aim to enrich and empower the lives and careers of women in general. Panelists include musicians Kate Pierson (B-52s), Genya Ravan, Amy Rigby, Simi Stone, Cindy Cashdollar, and Cristina Martinez (Boss Hog, Pussy Galore); radio personalities Meg Griffin (WNEW, SiriusXM), Carmel Holt (“Sheroes”), Sarah LaDuke (WAMC), and Palmyra Delran (SiriusXM); journalists Amanda Petrusich, Kandia Crazy Horse, and Johanna Hall; producer Julie Last; photographers and filmmakers Ebet Roberts, Janette Beckman, and Barbara Kopple (Miss Sharon Jones, Shut Up and Sing); and others. The weekend also features performances by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Darlene Love and multi-platinum singersongwriter Joan Osborne. (See website for schedule and ticket prices.) George-Warren answered the questions below by email. —Peter Aaron
How did the idea for “We Got the Beat” come about, and what makes it different from other womenoriented music events or festivals? Lizzie Vann and I first discussed the idea even before the Bearsville Theater reopened its doors. I’ve been attending conferences like SXSW and Americana for ages, and I told her about a really special one, the Rockrgirl Festival, which I attended years ago in Seattle. The Hudson Valley has so many talented women that it made perfect sense to bring them together at this beautiful space. Lizzie and I wanted to create a gathering where women can interact, network, exchange ideas, and hear great music. It will be very immersive and interactive. You’ve mentioned how there were numerous talented women who nurtured and inspired you along your own path. Who were some of your early inspirations? My first literary agent, Sarah Lazin, whom I met when I wrote for fanzines, played in bands, and worked as a junior editor, was a big help to my literary career. Pioneering women journalists like Jaan Uhelszki (Creem) have been super-supportive over the years. And of course, reading the work of Ellen Willis and Ellen Sander, for example, was very inspiring. Experiencing firsthand what women could do onstage really influenced me to not only to write about music but also to get up onstage myself. Seeing Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde, Lydia Lunch, the Slits, the Raincoats, Tina Weymouth, Sara Lee, and Kim Gordon was really inspiring to me. And of course, my bandmates in the Dischords, Clambake, and Das Photo by Fionn Reilly Furlines, who believed in me and taught me.
The music industry, like most businesses, has long been a male-dominated sphere. How does the dynamic for women within the industry compare now to when you entered the field? Lizzie Vann is very fired up about this, and she is one of the very few women venue owners in the country. She can quote all the statistics on how comparatively few women win Grammys, how few are top executives at record labels, and how much less women earn than their male counterparts. She’s putting her money where her mouth is: She charges women who book her facilities for recording or rehearsals 82 percent of the fee that men pay, because that is the pay gap between women and men. I am encouraged that so many breakout artists today—in all genres of music—are women, and more women are becoming producers and engineers. I hope to see more women in top spots at record labels too. There’s an explosion of talented young women making music today, more than I remember in the decades I’ve been writing about music. And there are a lot more women music journalists today as well. What do you most hope those who attend the panels and concerts—especially younger attendees, female as well as male—will get from “We Got the Beat”? To enjoy themselves, of course, but also to gain knowledge and contacts through meeting and interacting with so many talented and experienced women.
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Mary Frank: The Observing Heart February 5 – July 17, 2022
THE
DORSKY CELEBRATING TWENTY YEARS
ALBERT SHAHINIAN FINE A RT 22 East Market Street, 3 rd Floor, Rhinebeck, NY • (845) 876-7578
th
24
ANNIVERSARY SALON /COLLECTORS SALE Our complete inventory on view!
Painting • Photography • Mixed-media • Estate & Consigned Artwork
www.ShahinianFineArt.com • Through April 10, 2022
Mary Frank, Lift, 2021, courtesy the artist
Spring Open House
Children’s Classes Adult Classes Exhibitions Workshops Events
Community Celebration of our Spring Exhibitions April 3 SAMUEL DORSK Y MUSEUM OF ART
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT NEW PALTZ
23 Garrison’s Landing, Garrison NY garrisonartcenter.org | 845-424-3960 info@garrisonartcenter.org
www.newpaltz.edu/museum
Chronogram Garrison Art Center March.indd 1
2/7/22 1:31 PM
SEAN NIXON
Drawing Covid: A Story, Two Years and Counting Exhibiting March 12, 2022 – April 24, 2022 Opening Reception Sat, 3/12 4pm–6pm
UNIS N ARTS CENTER & SCULPTURE GARDEN
62 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 3/22
68 Mtn Rest Rd. New Paltz, NY • unisonarts.org
live music Mdou Moctar perfroms at Colony in Woodstock on March 31.
“Concert in Wave Fields”
Daniel Wyche/Shane Parish/Wild C
Circles Around the Sun
March 4. The EMPAC Wave Field Synthesis system (EMPACwave) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s EMPAC center is a unique configuration of over 200 loudspeakers set up for listeners to walk through and experience a truly vast spectrum of sound. The four works to be played at this concert were created for EMPACwave by composers Miya Masaoka, Bora Yoon, Nina Young, and Pamela Z premiered at New York’s Time:Spans contemporary music festival last August, but COVID protocols meant that they couldn’t be presented at EMPAC concurrently. Presented here in the center’s Studio 1, their upstate unveiling will be filled with sonic revelations. (Mary Kouyoumdjian’s “Paper Pianos” closes March 9.) 3pm. Free. Troy. Empac.rpi.edu
March 10. Chicago-based guitarist Daniel Wyche gained well-deserved praise last year when he cofounded “The Quarantine Concerts,” an innovative livestream performance series that has to date raised $100,000 for artists and performers who lost income during the pandemic. Wyche’s recent music has focused on widescreen multichannel sounds and includes compositions for quad- and 16-channel guitar. This night at Tubby’s pairs him with Athens, Georgia, fingerstyle acoustic guitar master Shane Parish along with the local experimental duo of Wild C (AKA multi-instrumentalists Brian Whitney and Jared Ashdown). (Tonstartsbandht and Dominick and the Family Band visit March 11; Weak Signal and Masaaki rock it up March 25.) 7pm. $5. Kingston. Tubbyskingston.com
March 17. In 2019, after recording his parts for LA instrumental jam band Circles Around the Sun’s newest album, Let It Wander, the group’s founding guitarist, Neal Casal, took his own life. He left behind a note asking his collaborators to keep the project going. Their current tour, which will bring them to Infinity Hall this month, sees them keeping their collective flame burning. “Our mission is to extend Neal’s musical legacy,” says drummer Mark Levy. “He was a classy dude and had a regal vibe about him. Maybe there are people out there in the same sort of darkness Neal was in, who can hear us and say we can work positively on multiple fronts in his memory.” (Teddy Thompson and Jenni Muldaur do country duets March 6; Spyro Gyra spins by March 16.) 7pm. $28-$38. Norfolk, Connecticut. Infinityhall.com
“Underground Figures”
The Flash Company
Mdou Moctar
March 5. The Hudson Valley Philharmonic at the 1869 Bardavon Opera House celebrates the legacy of Harriet Tubman with an all-female lineup of composers, soloists, and visual artists. Led by the esteemed African American composer and conductor Dr. Anne Lundy, the orchestra will premiere Florence Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E minor and play works by Julia Wolfe (with projections of images by Georgia O’Keefe, Imogen Cunningham, Margaret Bourke-White, and others) and Nkeiru Okoye (“Songs of Harriet Tubman”: four arias featuring soprano Kishna Fowler). (The Met’s production of Verdi’s “Don Carlos” streams live March 26; the Wailin’ Jennys yowl March 27.) 8pm. $40 (children 12 and under $15). Poughkeepsie. Bardavon.org
March 17. It’s Saint Patrick’s Day! So how about some fine Irish music? In their fourth annual holiday show at the Towne Crier, the Flash Company will once again perform traditional and contemporary Irish and Celtic songs and originals in the mold of age-old pub tunes. The trio, which features Eric Garrison and Jim Pospisil on banjo, mandolin, octave mandolin, tin whistle, flute, melodica, and bodhran and Bryan Maloney on guitar, takes turns trading off on lead vocals and telling stories. Among the requisite rousing instrumentals and sweet ballads, their repertoire includes covers of material by the Chieftains and contemporary Irish artists like Luka Bloom, Touchstone, Cathie Ryan, and Cherish the Ladies. (Loudon Wainwright III lights up March 5; the Tannahill Weavers wend by March 27.) 7pm. $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Beacon. Townecrier.com
March 31. Nigerian guitar god Mdou Moctar leads what’s perhaps the greatest live band on the planet, a mystical unit that stirs together their indigenous North African “desert blues” with the transcendent feels of John Coltrane, Can, Jimi Hendrix, Ravi Shankar, hard funk, and deep dub (there’s even a little Prince in there; Moctar stars in the first Tuareg-language film, a remake of Purple Rain). His eponymously named quartet’s ace American bassist Mikey Coltun produced their 2019 album Afrique Victime, but it’s arguably drummer Souleymane Ibrahim who’s perhaps the group’s real secret weapon; his mind-boggling rhythms make any resistance to dancing entirely futile. Emily Robb will open. (Sasami sings March 5; Kaki King holds court March 20.) 8pm. $25-$30. Woodstock. Colonywoodstock.com 3/22 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 63
Scavenger Hunt Explore this year’s Top 5 Nominees across the Hudson Valley Visit the nominees, complete photo challenges, and win luxury prizes.
The Scavenger Hunt will run during the voting round, from April 1 - May 15. Help your favorites win!
PRIZES INCLUDE
A Spa Package from Mirbeau Inn & Spa Rhinebeck 2021 Runner-Up for Best Resort/Hotel Spa
Irrationally good prizes provided by last year’s winners!
PRIZES FROM CHRONOGRAMMIES 2021 WINNERS
Dinner* at Butterfield 2021 First Place Winner for Best Chef
A Case of Wine from Town & Country Liquor 2021 First Place Winner for Best Wine/Liquor Shop
And more! Visit the most top-nominated businesses and win!
It’s not rocket science, start the challenge April 1
Code: Chronogrammies2022
64 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 3/22
*includes a $150 dinner voucher, a bottle of wine, and a 15% discount for a midweek stay at Hasbrouck House.
short list FILM
Storm Lake
ROCKET NUMBER NINE RECORDS
The best selection of used and new vinyl in the Hudson Valley
March 11 at Bard College’s Fisher Center To celebrate his recently published memoir, I Was Better Last Night (Knopf), cultural icon, gay rights activist, and four-time Tony Award-winning actor and playwright Fierstein talks with Justin Vivian Bond about his poignant and hilarious book and the neverbefore-told stories of his personal struggles and conflict, of sex and romance, and of his fabled career. The evening is presented in partnership with Oblong Books, and the ticket price ($38) includes a signed copy of I Was Better Last Night. Fishercenter.bard.edu
TURN THOSE UNPLAYED RECORDS INTO CASH! We are looking to buy vinyl record collections in good condition. Rock, jazz, blues, and soul. Email us today for an appointment rocketnumber9records@gmail.com 845 331 8217 • 50 N. FRONT ST. UPTOWN KINGSTON Open Thurs–Mon. Check hours on FB.
READING
Mayuhk Sen
March 12 at the Amelia Hudson In Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America (2021), Mayukh Sen creates a group portrait of foreign-born female culinary influencers, reconstructing the lives of these women, some still lionized today, like Marcella Hazan to forgotten pathbeakers like Norma Shirley, a champion of Jamaican food. Sen, a James Beard-award winner, will discuss his work at the intersection of food, immigration, and gender at the Amelia Hudson, the first in the hotel’s Saturday literary series. Other upcoming writers in the series include Sabheba Sathian (April 23), Mira Jacob (May 14), and Jennifer 8 Lee (TBD). Theameliahudson.com
PERFORMANCE
“Norm’s Memory Sale”
March 12 at Holland Tunnel Gallery As part of the exhibition “The Narrative of Things” at Holland Tunnel in Newburgh, artistic chameleon Norm Magnusson—whose work is in the show with Kathleen Vance, Shari Diamond, and Tamara Rafkin—will perform an hour-long series of vignettes. Here’s how Magnusson describes it: “I wanted to get rid of some of the tchotchkes and bric-a-brac that I’ve amassed over the years, but instead of a yard sale, I decided that I would create fictional provenance for each of them and started making up little stories.” The objects will be on display and for sale. Musical accompaniment by guitarist Peter Dougan. Hollandtunnelgallery.com
READING
Amor Towles
March 19 at the Bardavon In The Lincoln Highway (2021), Amor Towles’s third novel, the year is 1954 and 18-year-old Emmett Watson has just been released from the juvenile work farm in Nebraska where he served 18 months for involuntary manslaughter. Watson and two buddies from the work farm take a cross-country trip to New York City that’s told from multiple perspectives and is a sweeping portrayal of a quintessentially American journey. At the Bardavon, Towles will discuss his latest book as well as his two previous bestsellers, Rules of Civility (2011) and A Gentleman in Moscow (2016). The reading will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing. Bardavon.org
MUSIC & STORYTELLING
Hrishikesh Hirway and Jenny Owen Youngs
March 20 at Upstate Films in Saugerties Welcome to the age of podcast celebrity. Or at least notoriety. Award-winning podcasters Hrishikesh Hirway (“Song Exploder,” “The West Wing Weekly,” and “Home Cooking”) and Jenny Owen Youngs (“Buffering the Vampire Slayer” and “Veronica Mars Investigations”) are teaming up for select dates of music and storytelling. (In addition to being podcasters, Youngs and Hirway are also musicians.) The pair will be on stage together, doing one combined set of all their songs, performing them as a duo, interspersed with stories. Upstatefilms.org
view more at www.carriehaddadgallery.com www.carriehaddadgallery.com
Harvey Fierstein
image: image: James James O’seah, O’Shea,Swimmer Swimmerin inBlue, Blue,2021, 2021,oil oilon oncanvas, canvas,48” 48” xx 72” 72”
READING
Painting by Sean Sullivan
March 4 at Philipstown Depot Theater Since 2005, 2,200 local newspapers across America have closed. One still in existence is the Storm Lake Times, a twice-weekly newspaper covering a patch of rural Iowa with a circulation of less than 4,000. The paper’s editor, Art Cullen, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for Editorial Writing that challenged corporate agricultural interests. Filmmakers Jerry Risius and Beth Levinson’s 2021 documentary chronicles the challenges facing small-town journalism, especially during a pandemic. Levinson, who codirected the film, will be at the 7:30pm screening in Garrisons Landing. Philipstowndepottheatre.org
Antique Fair and Flea Market April 30 - May 1, 2022 August 6 - 7, 2022 at the
WASHINGTON COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS, Rt. 29, GREENWICH, NY (12 mi. East of Saratoga Springs, NY)
$5 admission,
(65+ $4, under-16 - FREE)
Old-Fashioned Antique Show featuring 220+ dealers, free parking, great food, and real bathrooms. ($10 - Early Buyers Fridays before show)
$90 - Dealer Spaces Still Available: FAIRGROUND SHOWS NY PO Box 528, Delmar NY 12054 www.fairgroundshows.com fairgroundshows@aol.com Ph. 518-331-5004
FILM
Shadowland Studio Cinema Series
March 27 Maybe you saw the recent adulatory profile in the real estate section of the New York Times of formerly-going-nowhere Ellenville. Long before it was discovered by the Times, Shadowland Stages had carved out a significant piece of cultural real estate for the village with its theatrical and cinema programming. This spring, the theater rolls out Shadowland Studio Cinema, a classic film series, in its new black box theater. The series kicks off on March 27 with His Girl Friday (1940), Howard Hawks's unromantic journalism satire with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell—it’s actually a comedy. Lon Chaney haunts The Phantom of the Opera (restored 1925 version) on April 10. H. G. Wells sci-fi prognostication Things to Come screens on April 24. And Salt of the Earth, Herbert Biberman’s paean to workers’ rights, will be shown on May 1. Shadowlandstages.org 3/22 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 65
art exhibits
1053 MAIN STREET GALLERY
BUSTER LEVI GALLERY
EMERGE GALLERY
“Hidden Gardens.” Work by Beth Caspar, Laura Sue King, Roman Kossak, Hedi Kyle, Patrice Lorenz, Amy Masters, Elaine Mayes, Alan Powell, Miguel Martinez-Riddle, Ted Sheridan, Wanda Siedlecka, Nat Thomas, and Tona Wilson. Through March 20.
“Drawings.” John Allen, Nancy Steinson, Ada Pilar Cruz, Lucille Tortora, Jenne M. Currie, Pat Hickman, Grey Zeien, Grace Kennedy, Barbar Smith Gioia, Bill Kooistra, Matree Levi, Ursula Schneider, Mari Pia Marrella. March 5-27.
“Exit 20: An Exhibition of Work By Saugerties Artists.” Group show curated by Robert Langdon. Through March 13.
510 WARREN ST GALLERY
CARRIE CHEN GALLERY
“Plumage and Portals.” Drawings by Morgan Burns. March 4-27.
“The Buildings, Piled So Casually.” Anton Ginzburg and Christina Kruse. March 5-April 3.
1053 MAIN STREET, FLEISCHMANNS
510 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
ALBERT SHAHINIAN FINE ART GALLERY
22 EAST MARKET STREET SUITE 301, RHINEBECK “24th Anniversary Salon & Art Sale.” Through April 10.
THE ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM 258 MAIN STREET, RIDGEFIELD, CT
“Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski: Portal Pieces.” Two large-scale works on paper: Graduation Day, (2021), and The Guardians, (2015). Through May 29.
ANN STREET GALLERY
121 MAIN STREET, COLD SPRING
16 RAILROAD STREET, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA
CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY
622 WARREN STREET, HUDSON “Figure and Form.” Work by Mark Beard, Chad Kleitsch, Bruce Murphy, and James O'Shea. February 9-April 3.
CORNELL CREATIVE ARTS CENTER 129 CORNELL STREET, KINGSTON
“Agriculture in the Hudson Valley.” Exhibition in partnership with Hudson Valley Seed Company. March 4-April 30.
104 ANN STREET, NEWBURGH
CREATE CATSKILL GALLERY
“Penumbria Passage.” Holographic images by Hanny Ahearn. Through March 11.
398 MAIN STREET, CATSKILL
“CREATE: Winter Worlds.” Members’ show. Through March 12.
ART GALLERY 71
CUNNEEN-HACKETT ARTS CENTER
"Claudia Engel." Watercolors. Through March 6. “Yoram Gelman.” Photographs. March 7-April 3.
"Barbara Masterson." Large-scale drawings and paintings of migrant farm workers in the Hudson Valley March 1-April 29. "Color Your World: Rachel Arielle Kleinman." Miniature collections of acrylics and watercolors March 1-April 29.
71 EAST MARKET STREET #5, RHINEBECK
BAU GALLERY
506 MAIN STREET, BEACON. “Borrowed Bones.” Cermic and textile sculpture by Hanna Washburn. Through March 6. “Eyedentity.” Works by Duvian Montoya and Jahmane West curated by Pamela Zaremba. Through March 6. “Julie Ann Nagle.” Mixed media work. Through March 6. “Bloom.” Exhibition of current members. March 12-April 3. “Deterritorialized and Demolished.” Photographers Adie Russell, Ernest Shaw, Charles Purvis, Stephen Laub. March 12-April 3.
BERKSHIRE BANK
2 SOUTH CHURCH STREET, GOSHEN "Mitchell Saler Solo Show." Realistic oil paintings. Through May 4.
66 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 3/22
9 & 12 VASSAR STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE
D’ARCY SIMPSON ART WORKS 409 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
“Looking Up”. Kinetic sculptures by Jeremy Bullis and and color field paintings by Michael Larry Simpson. Through March 6. “World Building.” Lyrical abstract worldscapes by Joseph. Stabilito. March 12-April 3.
DIA:BEACON
3 BEEKMAN STREET, BEACON Works by Lee Ufan, Sam Gilliam, Barry Le Va, Richard Serra, Mario Merz, and others on long-term view.
228 MAIN STREET, SAUGERTIES
EQUIS ART GALLERY
7516 NORTH BROADWAY, RED HOOK “Arbor Fabula.” Iain Machell, Pablo Shine, Amy Dooley, Kristin Flynn, and Larry Decker. Through April 10.
FORELAND
111 WATER STREET, CATSKILL “The Moving Picture Show.” Video work by Ephraim Asili, Cecilia Aldarondo, eteam (Franziska Lamprecht and Hajoe Moderegger), Goss&Gitlin, Maggie Hazen, Laleh Khorramian, Les LeVeque, Keith Sanborn, and Carolee Schneemann. Curated by Peggy Ahwesh. Through March 27.
FRIDMAN GALLERY
475 MAIN STREET, BEACON “Beyond Silence.” Recent sculpture and drawings by Kazumi Tanaka. Through April 3.
GARRISON ART CENTER
23 GARRISON’S LANDING, GARRISON “Janice La Motta and Patricia Zarate.” Painting and installation. Through March 6. “High School Mentor Exhibition.” March 12-20. “STE: School Invitational Theme Exhibition.” Group show. March 12-20. “Ann Provan and Leslie Fandrich.” March 26-April 24.
GREEN KILL
229 GREENKILL AVENUE, KINGSTON “Apollo & Dionysus.” Paintings by Ricardo Woo. March 5-April 30.
GRIT WORKS
115 BROADWAY, NEWBURGH “Brass Tax and the Invisible Complexities Within.” Multimedia work by David Lionheart. March 25-June 19.
HOLLAND TUNNEL GALLERY
46 CHAMBERS STREET, NEWBURGH “The Narrative of Things.” Works by Kathleen Vance, Norm Magnusson, Shari Diamond and Tamara Rafkin. March 5-April 10.
art exhibits
Flowers 1-12 (detail), eteam (Franziska Lamprecht and Hajoe Moderegger), 2020. 12 videos on separate monitors. Dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artists. Part of the exhibition “The Moving Picture Show” at Foreland in Catskill. Opposite: Freefall,Nancy O'Hara, pencil, watercolor, pastel, ink on paper, 2018. Part of the exhibition “Nancy O’Hara: Inner Landscapes” at WAAM.
HUDSON HALL
327 WARREN STREET, HUDSON “Look Again.” Kirby Crone, Scott Keightley, Marisol Martinez, Louise Smith, and Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda. Curated by Michael Mosby. Through April 10.
JACK SHAINMAN GALLERY: THE SCHOOL 25 BROAD STREET, KINDERHOOK
“This Tender, Fragile Thing.” Group show. Through May 1.
JDJ | THE ICE HOUSE
CALL FOR ADDRESS, GARRISON “Cellar Door.” Colored pencil on canvas works by Samantha Rosenwald. Through April 8.
JOYCE GOLDSTEIN GALLERY
19 CENTRAL SQUARE, CHATHAM “Mimi Graminski, Nancy Andell, Carey McKinley.” Through March 19.
KATONAH MUSEUM OF ART 134 JAY STREET, KATONAH.
"Constant Carnival: The Haas Brothers in Context." March 13-June 26, 10am.
KLEINERT/JAMES ARTS CENTER 34 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK
“Another Circle”. Annual members show. March 12-April 18.
LEVEL 2 ART GALLERY
56 NORTH FRONT STREET, KINGSTON. “Todd Koelmel: Paintings.” Pop-up gallery takeover of Pinkwater Gallery. March 1-April 30.
LONGYEAR GALLERY
785 MAIN ST, MARGARETVILLE. “Late Winters’ Group Exhibit.” Group show. Through March 13.
MARK GRUBER GALLERY
13 NEW PALTZ PLAZA, NEW PALTZ. “Winter Salon Show.” Through March 19
OLIVE FREE LIBRARY
4033 ROUTE 28A, WEST SHOKAN “Forged in Ink: A Community of Printmakers.” Work by Maxine
Davidowitz, Bobbi Esmark, Joan Ffolliott, Kate McGloughlin, Eileen Power, Susanna Ronner, Muriel Stallworth, and Claudia Waruch. March 19-May 7.
PAMELA SALISBURY GALLERY
362 1/2 WARREN STREET, HUDSON. “Winterwunderkammer.” Site-specific installation by Lothar Osterburg in the Carriage House and Sculpture Courtyard. Through March 13. “Flowers for the Time Being.” Floral still lifes by Donna Moylan. March 5-27. “A Swatch Sampler.” Elaine Reichek’s takes on iconic art through digital embroidery. March 5-27.
VASSAR COLLEGE: THE FRANCES LEHMAN LOEB ART CENTER 124 RAYMOND AVENUE, POUGHKEEPSIE
“Urban Sublime: Acquisitions of Photography at the Loeb.” Paintings, prints, photographs, and sculpture from the nineteenth century to the present day, including works by Sanford Robinson Gifford, Taguchi Beisaku, Doris Lee, and Oshutsiak Pudlat. Through March 27. "Cryosphere: Humans and Climate in Art from the Loeb." Through May 22.
VISITOR CENTER
233 LIBERTY STREET, NEWBURGH
THE POUGHKEEPSIE TROLLEY BARN
“The Return.” Exhibition of glass sculpture by Romina Gonzalez. March 12-April 16.
"High Contrast." International juried exhibition March 11-April 14.
WASSAIC PROJECT
489 MAIN STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE
SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART 1 HAWK DRIVE, SUNY NEW PALTZ
"Follies and Picturesque Tourism." Through March 11. “Mary Frank: The Observing Heart.” Retrospective of the sixdecade career of the acclaimed artist and activist. Through July 17. "The Dorsky at 20: Reflections at a Milestone (Part II)." opens. Through July 17. "Somewhere in Advance of Nowhere: Freedom Dreams in Contemporary Art." Through April 10. "Madonna and Child: A Journey from Conservation to Restoration." March 30-July 17
SUSAN ELEY FINE ART
433 WARREN STREET, HUDSON “Karin Bruckner and Charles Buckley.” Through March 6.
THOMPSON GIROUX GALLERY 57 STREET, CHATHAM
“Dan Devine: The Fifth Revolution." Sculptures. March 5-April 3.
UNISON ARTS & LEARNING CENTER 68 MOUNTAIN REST RD, NEW PALTZ
"Drawing COVID: A Story, Two Years and Counting." Sean Nixon. March 12-April 24. “Owning Earth.” Outdoor sculpture installation of 19 artistic responses to systems of human domination over our environments and the urgent need to enact futures guided by mutuality and reverence. Through June 1.
37 FURNACE BANK ROAD, WASSAIC “What Comes After.” Group show: Roxanne Jackson, Kristen Schiele, Luis Edgar Mejicanos, Ashley Epps, LaTonia Allen, Zachary Fabri, Woomin Kim, Dana Robinson, Natalia Arbelaez, and Taha Clayton. Through March 19.
WOMENSWORK.ART
4 SOUTH CLINTON STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE “Emerging.” Group show of emerging artists. March 4-April 23.
WOODSTOCK ARTISTS ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM (WAAM) 28 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK
“Betsy Regan: Dark Retrospective.” Fresco paintings. Through March 13. “FOCUS: Art and Social Justice.” Exhibition of art on themes of political and social justice juried by Nina Stritzler Levine. Through March 13. “Large-Scale Abstract Paintings from the Permanent Collection.” Large-scale works by Ethel Magafan, Edward Chavez, Ernest Frazier, Gwen Davies, Lou Tavelli, Roman Wachtel, Ezio Martinelli, Edward Millman, and Richard Crist. Through May 8. “Nancy O’Hara: Inner Landscapes.” Large abstract paintings. March 25-May 8.
WOODSTOCK SCHOOL OF ART 2470 ROUTE 212, WOODSTOCK
“Showcase Exhibition I.” Student work. Through April 9.
3/22 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 67
ACROSS
Horoscopes
1. _______ Power 2. Second most Grammy wins by a female artist 3. Lindsey Jordan 4. Played at the beginning of a Symphony 5. Ann & Nancy 6. Graduated Oakwood Friends school in Poughkeepsie.
W O R A D I O D S 6 T O C 11 2 K
By Lorelai Kude
DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY
4
3
1
10
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5
DOWN
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Email your completed crossword puzzle to live@radiowoodstock.com to enter our grand prize drawing.
7. Wildewoman 8. Parks & Guthrie 9. Co-Founder of the Woodstock Film Festival 10. Cornflake girl 11. Middays with ______
A classic astrological principle states the greater takes precedence over the smaller. The medieval sage Ibraham Ibn-Ezra says that if someone is destined for royalty, but their city is destined to be buried by a volcano, the fate of the city takes precedence over the person. This month universal concerns eclipse private needs. Though everything feels exceedingly personal, it really isn’t about you. It’s about how you respond to the changes in this world which do affect you personally. On March 2 Venus, Mars, and Pluto make a triple conjunction at 27 degrees Capricorn, the degree of the USA’s natal Pluto return. It’s still all about the economy, and it’s getting personal at the New Moon in Pisces with both Jupiter (inflation) and Neptune (fantasy, not reality) in Pisces. Venus and Mars conjunct in Aquarius March 6, at the degree of the Jupiter-Saturn “Great Conjunction” of December 2020. The “Aquarian Age,” off to a very rocky start, requires a very real buy-in from everyone, and not external coercion from government or society. A great test of this principle occurs now. Will we pass or fail? The Sun conjuncts Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces March 5 and 13, reminding us of our highest ideals. The Full Moon in Virgo March 18, with Sun sextile Pluto and Venus sextile Chiron, asks us to analyze ways in which our closest beliefs clash with our practical needs. Venus and Mars square Uranus March 19 and 22, reminding us that we can only have our cake and eat it too when we share the cake with everyone. The Sun enters Aries at the Spring Equinox March 21, with Mercury conjunct Jupiter and Neptune March 21–23. It’s better to state an inconvenient truth than to hide an unpleasant reality. Don’t take it personally—respond to it wisely.
ARIES (March 20–April 19)
Because Aries is “the baby of the zodiac,” people don’t always take you seriously. Case in point: the triple conjunction of Mars, Venus, and Pluto in Capricorn March 3. Your superpowers of daring and courage will be so activated the doubters will be ashamed. Find your prophetic voice March 6, when Mars and Venus meet at zero degrees Aquarius, the position of the Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction of 12/20. You’ve got your finger on the button of the collective zeitgeist. Vitality swells when the Sun enters Aries at the Spring Equinox March 20. Avoid reckless anger March 22 when Mars squares Uranus.
TAURUS (April 19–May 20)
Everything feels “fated” right now, with the North Lunar Node traveling through Taurus. Venus, Mars, and Pluto meet in Capricorn March 3, confirming without doubt the path you’re taking is the right one. You’re in sync with the times and in harmony with humanity when Venus and Mars meet in Aquarius March 6. Your value in the marketplace escalates dramatically. Your unique individuality has no price tag, but you’re willing to entertain offers when Venus squares Uranus March 19. Venus conjunct Saturn March 28 and your biggest blessing comes with the blessing you’re able to channel to this world. A practicing, professional astrologer for over 30 years, Lorelai Kude can be reached for questions and personal consultations via email (lorelaikude@yahoo.com) and her Kabbalah-flavored website is Astrolojew.com. 68 HOROSCOPES CHRONOGRAM 3/22
Horoscopes
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GEMINI (May 20–June 21)
You long for meaning and for transcendence March 2 at the New Moon in Pisces with Mercury conjunct Saturn & Sun sextile Uranus. First Quarter Moon in Gemini March 10 brings an unexpected point of view which throws light into the dim, dark corners. The urge to separate everything trivial from what’s important peaks March 18 at the Full Moon in Virgo with Sun sextile Pluto and Venus sextile Chiron. You’re suddenly in a mad rush to order your priorities. Show love by performing acts of service at the Last Quarter Moon in Capricorn March 26. Devotion equals loyalty.
LEO (July 22–August 23) You despise being considered ordinary in any way. Fear not: The Sun-Uranus sextile March 2 at the New Pisces Moon with Mercury conjunct Saturn guarantees your uniqueness will be confirmed by the universe. The conjunction of the Sun to Jupiter March 5 giganticizes your ego, your natural luck, and your public reputation. Dreams are confirmed as genius or declared nonsense at the Sun-Neptune conjunction March 13. Your natural powers and vitality are enhanced when the Sun sextiles Pluto March 18 use them to assist and protect the vulnerable and those at risk when the Sun enters Aries March 20.
VIRGO (August 23–September 23) Articulating your deepest truth will set you free from your own inner critic, allowing you to make the next important move when Mercury conjuncts Saturn March 2. Partnership relationships are the hot topic when Mercury enter Pisces March 9. The Full Moon in Virgo March 18 illuminates your search for purity and perfection; Mercury’s meetup with Jupiter and Neptune March 2123 enhances your idealism and opens you up to new possibilities. Powerful truths come to light at the sextile of Mercury to Pluto March 26; courage and forthrightness are your guides when Mercury enter Aries March 27. Be brave.
KATIE ANELLO
CANCER (June 21–July 22)
KATIE ANELLO
Deep spiritual insights come when Mercury conjuncts Saturn in Aquarius March 2, before entering Pisces March 9. Surprisingly, you’re the mature adult in the room and all eyes are upon you at First Quarter Moon in Gemini March 10. You’ll grow in stature, reputation, and popularity when Mercury conjuncts Jupiter and Neptune in March 21–23. Don’t promise more than you can deliver, though it will be tempting! Get comfortable in your own power when Mercury sextiles Pluto March 26. Be thoughtful and circumspect while you can; Mercury enter Aries March 27 and its off to the races for you!
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LIBRA (September 23–October 23) It’s your own Mighty Aphrodite moment at the triple conjunction of Venus, Mars, and Pluto in Capricorn March 3. Though bringing love into the world is your job, remember that love, like charity, begins at home. If you can have compassion for strangers, surely you can manifest appropriate empathy for the suffering of your own family when Venus enters Aquarius and conjuncts Mars March 6. Whatever you’re trying to prove to the world at the Venus/Uranus square March 19, don’t go to extremes just for the sake of drama. Get serious with yourself when Venus conjuncts Saturn March 28.
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SCORPIO (October 23–November 21) With the South Lunar Node transiting Scorpio through midJuly 2023, your task is to revisit and review the past, and resurrect what serves the future while releasing everything else. The triple conjunction of Venus, Mars, and Pluto in Capricorn March 3 empowers you to take radical steps towards letting go. Mars and Venus conjunct in Aquarius March 6, making home and family concerns up close and very personal. See the big picture March 18 at the Sun/ Pluto sextile and Full Virgo Moon. Avoid triggers and public displays of anger, especially in the workplace, when Mars squares Uranus March 22.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 22) Heavy responsibilities have weighed you down lately but prepare for a visit from lady luck at the Sun-Jupiter conjunction March 5. You deserve a big influx of good fortune! Your own independent concerns have been on the back burner as family issues take precedence through most of March, but things take a turn for the vividly exciting and vitalizing at the Spring Equinox March 20, followed by Mercury’s conjunction to Jupiter March 2. You’re done suffering in silence for the sake of the greater good: you’ve something to say and the articulation skills to say it, loud and proud.
CAPRICORN (December 22–January 20) You’re empowered to articulate your deepest values when Mercury conjuncts Saturn March 2. Lay out what resonates closest to your heart. Those who consider you influential will take you seriously. You’ve been laying a groundwork for reaching your goals for a long time now. Taste the delicious fruits of your labors at the Last Quarter Moon in Capricorn March 25. Beauty and practicality, pleasure and pragmatism can meet and kiss at the conjunction of Venus to Saturn March 28. There’s no law that says you can’t do good and take care of your own needs at the same time.
AQUARIUS (January 20–February 19)
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The light of your unique individuality shines when the Sun sextiles Uranus March 2. Prophecy is a gift but comes with a price; Venus and Mars enter Aquarius together March 6 at the same degree as the Jupiter-Saturn “Great Conjunction” of December 2020. The changing of the guard, the turning of an era, the redefining of the zeitgeist—you’re echoing the tolling of the bell, but others who can’t release the dead status-quo resist hearing. Venus and Mars square Uranus March 18-22, making opposition to the changing times feel very personal; the trick is not to take it personally.
PISCES (February 20-March 19) With both Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces through mid-May, you’re still riding a rare high. The New Moon in Pisces March 2 offers an opportunity to set your intentions as idealistically as possible. Mercury enter Pisces March 9; make a record of your dreams! Great insight from your inner world illuminates an external concern when the Sun conjuncts Neptune March 13. A tremendous chance for healing long-festering wounds built on misunderstandings at the Full Moon in Virgo March 18, with Sun sextile Pluto and Venus sextile Chiron. Speak healing words of compassion March 23 at Mercury’s conjunction to Neptune. 70 HOROSCOPES CHRONOGRAM 3/22
Ad Index Our advertisements are a catalog of distinctive local experiences. Please support the fantastic businesses that make Chronogram possible. Albert Shahinian Fine Art.................. 62
Jack’s Meats & Deli........................... 14
Aqua Jet............................................. 26
Jacobowitz & Gubits......................... 70
Augustine Landscaping & Nursery... 24
John A Alvarez and Sons.................. 26
Barbara Carter Real Estate............... 24
John Carroll....................................... 36
Bard College at Simon’s Rock.......... 52
Kenco Outfitters................................ 32
Beacon Natural Market..................... 17
Larson Architecture Works............... 29
Berkshire Food Co-op....................... 14
Liza Phillips Design........................... 26
Better Place Forests............................ 3
Main Street Restaurant..................... 51
Bistro To Go....................................... 17
Malcarne Contracting.......................... 1
Cabinet Designers, Inc...................... 24
Mark Gruber Gallery.......................... 68
Canna Provisions................................. 4
Menla................................................. 10
Cantine Veterans Memorial Sports
Mirbeau Inn & Spa............................... 6
Complex Town of Saugerties........ 43 Carrie Haddad Gallery....................... 65 Chronogram Community Grants....... 16 Chronogrammies............................... 64 Coldwell Banker — Hudson Valley Nest....................... 26 Colony Woodstock............................ 69 Columbia Memorial Health................. 6 Custom Masonry & Excavation........ 51 Dedrick’s Pharmacy.......................... 36 Dutch Ale House................................ 44 Fairground Shows NY....................... 65 Fig and Pig Catering.......................... 14 Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty......................... 2 Garrison Art Center........................... 62 Glenn’s Wood Sheds......................... 71 Green Cottage................................... 70 Grist Mill Real Estate......................... 51 Halter Associates Realty................... 53 Hawthorne Valley Association.......... 52
FIREWOOD/TRASH-BIN COMBO
Mountain Laurel Waldorf School...... 52 N & S Supply...................................... 29 Opus 40.............................................. 44 The Pass...............................back cover Peter Aaron........................................ 65
FIREWOOD SHEDS/ UTILITY SHEDS/ CUSTOM SHEDS
Phoenicia Diner................................. 17 Ridgeline Realty................................. 26
GLEN NSSHEDS.COM
Rocket Number Nine Records.......... 65
845.328.0447
Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art......... 62 Sawyer Motors.................................. 43 Seed Song Farm................................ 52 Studio SFW........................................ 29 Sunflower Natural Food Market........ 10 Temescal Wellness............................ 32 Third Eye Associates Ltd.................. 69 Town & Country Liquors.................... 51 Ulster County Habitat for Humanity.................................. 70 Unison Arts Center............................ 62 Upstate Films..................................... 69
Herrington’s....................................... 20
Vassar College................................... 62
H Houst & Son................................... 26
Warren Kitchen & Cutlery.................... 9
Holistic Natural Medicine:
WDST 100.1 Radio Woodstock........ 68
Holland Tunnel Gallery...................... 62
Custom-built Firewood Sheds
Montano’s Shoe Store....................... 44
Helsmoortel Insurance & Realty....... 51
Integrative Healing Arts................. 36
GLENN’S SHEDS
Wildfire Grill....................................... 17 Williams Lumber
Horses For A Change........................ 36
& Home Center....... inside front cover
Hudson Valley Forestry..................... 23
Wimowe............................................. 26
Hudson Valley Hospice..................... 36
WTBQ Radio Station......................... 71
Hudson Valley Native Landscaping
YMCA of Kingston
and Poison Ivy Patrol.................... 23
and Ulster County......................... 70
Hudson Valley Sunrooms.................. 24
YWCA of Ulster County.........................
Hudson Valley Trailworks.................. 29
................................inside back cover
Chronogram March 2022 (ISSN 1940-1280) Chronogram is published monthly. Subscriptions: $36 per year by Chronogram Media, 45 Pine Grove Ave. Suite 303, Kingston, NY 12401. Periodicals postage pending at Kingston, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Chronogram, 45 Pine Grove Ave. Suite 303, Kingston, NY 12401.
3/22 CHRONOGRAM AD INDEX 71
parting shot
Red Long of Tropea Onion by Chelsea Granger, from the 2021 Hudson Valley Seed Company Art Pack collection
Gone to Seed
Hudson Valley Seed Company got its start as an heirloom seed exchange program organized by Gardiner librarian Ken Greene that proved enormously popular and quickly became the center of a discourse around local food, community health, culture, and history in 2004. In 2008, Greene and his partner, Doug Muller, took the seed library digital and the response was phenomenal, leading them to found the company in 2009. Hudson Valley Seed Company’s heirloom and open-pollinated seed business continues to flourish. Around that same time, Muller and Greene invited 14 artists, all friends of theirs, to illustrate 14 seed packs. Every year since, the outfit has released an Art Pack collection following an open call to artists. Twelve artists are normally chosen to create artwork for a dozen seeds each year. “The Art Packs are a way of telling 72 PARTING SHOT CHRONOGRAM 3/22
the story of the seed in a less conventional way,” says Jen Kelly, seed art coordinator at Hudson Valley Seed Company. She spoke with me shortly after the February deadline for submissions for the 2022 collection. “This was a record-breaking year for submissions,” says Kelly. “We received over 1,000 from across the country.” More than a dozen of the Art Pack artists will be represented in the exhibition “Agriculture in the Hudson Valley” at Cornell Creative Arts Center in Kingston, which opens on March 4 and runs through April 29. The show is organized by Shanna Nigro, assistant director for the Cornell Creative Art Center and The Arc Mid-Hudson Foundation, who is a fifth-generation farmer herself. “It’s important to shed light on the historic agriculture business in the Hudson Valley,” says Nigro. “And this time of year is perfect for an exhibition like this. You spend many months in the winter dreaming
of your spring garden and what you hope to have. You spend hours researching crops and thinking about what you’ll plant. This show theme was a natural choice.” In addition to the Hudson Valley Seed Company artists, including a number of local ones—Paola Bari, Cal Patch, and April Warren among them—Cornell Creative Arts Center posted its own call for agriculturethemed art submissions, and the exhibit will feature 20 other local artists. A number of free workshops will also be offered to the community at the intersection of agriculture and art, like making plantable seed paper from recycled paper and seeds. There will be an opening reception for “Agriculture in the Hudson Valley” on March 4 from 2-5pm with music and refreshments at the Cornell Creative Arts Center in Kingston. Cornellcreativeartscenter.com. —Brian K. Mahoney
SAVE THE DATE
YWCA Ulster County invites you to celebrate
WOMEN WHO ROAR FOR THE
YWCA July 20th, 6pm
SENATE GARAGE, KINGSTON, NY Join us in celebrating the women who have committed their services, sass, and super-human strength to launching a successful Century Strong Campaign for the YWCA of Ulster County.
Thank you to our sponsors and vendors for supporting our initiatives and programs. of Ulster & Dutchess Counties
Cucina • Dyson Foundation • Hemp & Humanity • Keegan Ales • Mother Earth Storehouse • Remedy Skin Studio The Rock Academy • Sandgrain Productions • Santa Fe Uptown • Space Walk of Ulster County • Super Coffee • Sunflower Market William Gottlieb Real Estate • Your CBD Store Kingston • Youth Service Bureau OUR VENDORS: AC/DC Electric • Key Bank • Liberty Security Systems • Lindsay Roofing • LOWES Heating & Plumbing • MME • Network Phone Solutions Paul Mitchell Restoration • Seasoned Delicious Foods • Ulster Savings Bank
With special thanks to Mackenzie Scott, whose generosity has made all of this possible. YWCA OF ULSTER COUNTY • 209 CLINTON AVENUE, KINGSTON NY • 845-338-6844 • YWCAULSTERCOUNTY.ORG
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