Beginning in 2030 the above headline will be a reality! In December 2022 the Climate Action Council came up with a plan for getting New York off of fossil fuels. They recommended that NYS adopt codes prohibiting propane, gas and oil heating equipment from being installed in new homes BEGINNING IN 2024 and by 2030 adopting zero emission standards by prohibiting the replacement of this equipment in existing homes. This council recommends replacing such systems with heat pumps.
26 Life Cycle: Bicycle Deaths in Kingston
In just over two years, four cyclists have been killed on the streets of Kingston. An investigation.
31 Excerpt: Reclaiming the Sacred
In his new book, Jeff Golden explores how all inhabitants of Earth belong to this planet we call home.
& DRINK
10 Where We’re Eating in 2023
34 Helping Little Buds Flourish
The region is ripe with opportunities for exploration, imagination, and cultural enrichment for teens, tweens, and kids as young as age three.
12 2023 CSA Directory
for a bountiful harvest all summer long.
HOME
16 Black and White and Revived All Over Tood Seekircher and Tom O’Quinn’s Georgian townhouse in Cold Spring set the couple on a home restoration odyssey.
38 Saugerties: Reinvention as Birthright
In this town nestled between the Hudson River and the Catskills, residents are tackling change together.
47 Pop-Up Portraits by David McIntyre
The citizens of Saugerties came out on a frigid February afternoon to represent their town.
Bicycle activist Rose Quinn at her home in Kingston. Her partner, John “Host” Lynch, was struck and killed by a car while riding his bicycle on July 20, 2021.
Photo by Tim Freccia
THE RIVER NEWSROOM, PAGE 26
52 Music
Michael Eck reviews two new releases from Bobby Previte, Nine Tributes and Dark Current. Jeremy Schwartz reviews In Dreams by Pony in the Pancake. Peter Aaron reviews The Tattoed Stranger by Alan Shulman. Plus listening recommendations from Galen Joseph-Hunter, executive director of Wave Farm.
53 Books
Betsy Maury reviews Satellite Boy: The International Manhunt for a Master Thief That Launched the Modern Communications Age by Andrew Amelinckx. Plus short reviews of A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness by Jai Chakrabarti; Living Above the Store: Six Business Owners in Rosendale, New York by Christine Hunter; The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z by Tamar Adler; Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western by Mia Mask; and Once We Were Home by Jennifer Rosner.
54 Poetry
Poems by Rachel R. Baum, Kemp Battle, Angela Braselmann, Ryan Brennan, Daniel Brown, Janine Crook, Joanne Grumet, Patrick Hammer, Jr., Anthony G. Herles, Jennifer Howse, Livingston Rossmoor, Jim Savio, and Jim Tilley. Edited by Phillip X Levine.
56 A profile of three women art powerhouses: Stef Halmos, Laurie de Chiara, and Helen Toomer.
58 Live Music: A preview of upcoming concerts in the region.
59 Rob Lundberg’s photographs at the Howland Cultural Center.
61 At Garrison Art Center, the drawings of Lindsey Guile.
62 Short List: Not-to-be-missed events this month include Bindlestiff Family Cirkus and Woodstock Bookfest.
64 Museum and gallery shows from across the region
68
Completely Different
Cory Nakasue reveals what the stars have in store for us.
72 Knock on Wood
“Peg Leg Bates: The Performance Years” at Arts MidHudson showcases the career of the renowned tap dancer and local celebrity and hotelier.
JOHN GRIEBSCH
The cover image by John Griebsch appears almost a whimsical scribble. In his aerial photographs—taken from his vintage, singleengine Cessna 170B—Griebsch employs an ambiguity of scale and a strong graphic quality that shows the hand of humans on nature. “It was taken when the trees were trimmed. My photographs are at once factual and interpretive,” Griebsch says.
Balancing abstraction with realism, Griebsch’s photographs are full of fine details that reflect a painterly sense of composition. Looking closely, the viewer realizes his artistic intent: making geographical sense of the Earth.
Griebsch started photographing when he was 12 years old. Two years later, his father taught him to fly. Before taking off on his first solo flight, he was admonished not to go too far. “I was soon out of my father’s view and yet from where I was, the airport was always in sight. Such are the perceptions of the airborne photographer,” Griebsch says.
He began taking aerial photographs of ice and farmland close to his home in Rochester. Griebsch’s scope eventually opened up on solo flights across the continent to find images of landscapes on a grander scale while taking in small detail. “In my most recent work, I’ve discovered historical and documentary themes—some of the images of factories and quarries present relics of the country’s industrial past, while my newer images of the
landscape and agriculture denote changes in the scale of farming and open space,” he explains.
In planning for flight and photographs, Griebsch says, “In some cases I plan by extensively researching areas that I think have possibilities by viewing maps and satellite images. In other cases, I simply travel somewhere and fly around. The photographs are usually taken from an altitude of 1,000 feet—the airplane is slowed down and trimmed for stability. I open the window, put the airplane and the camera in the right place and then photograph. The selection process is, by necessity, nearly immediate.” Griebsch has logged over 250,000 miles in his Cessna. Reflecting on his work, he says, “Familiar landscapes take on a fresh context when airborne. The images require the confluence of several factors. There is the subject—a minuscule segment of the landscape that has captured my interest due to its sense of pattern, order or disarray. There is the essential contribution of light. There is the position and altitude of the airplane, and there is a need to capture the stillness and composition of the moment while moving over the subject at more than 70 miles per hour.”
A selection of Griebsch’s photos will appear in the group show “In the Balance” at Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson through April 16.
Portfolio: Johngriebsch.com
—Mike CobbEDITORIAL 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
HOME EDITOR Mary Angeles Armstrong home@chronogram.com
POETRY EDITOR Phillip X Levine poetry@chronogram.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Anne Pyburn Craig apcraig@chronogram.com
contributors
Winona Barton-Ballentine, Mike Cobb, Michael Eck, Tim Freccia, Abigail Gierke, Lisa Iannucci, Betsy Maury, David McIntyre, Cory Nakasue, Sparrow, Taliesen Thomas
FOUNDERS Jason Stern, Amara Projansky
PUBLISHER & CEO Amara Projansky amara.projansky@chronogram.com
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Jan Dewey jan.dewey@chronogram.com
BOARD CHAIR David Dell
sales manager
Andrea Aldin andrea.aldin@chronogram.com
Kaitlyn LeLay kaitlyn.lelay@chronogram.com
Kelin Long-Gaye kelin.long-gaye@chronogram.com
Kris Schneider kris.schneider@chronogram.com
Sam Brody sam.brody@chronogram.com
Jared Winslow jared.winslow@chronogram.com
marketing
MARKETING & EVENTS MANAGER
Margot Isaacs margot.isaacs@chronogram.com
SPONSORED CONTENT EDITOR
Ashleigh Lovelace ashleigh.lovelace@chronogram.com
administration
FINANCE MANAGER
Nicole Clanahan accounting@chronogram.com; (845) 334-8600
production
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR
Kerry Tinger kerry.tinger@chronogram.com; (845) 334-8600x108
PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Kate Brodowska kate.brodowska@chronogram.com
office 45 Pine Grove Avenue, Suite 303, Kingston, NY 12401 • (845) 334-8600
mission
Chronogram is a regional magazine dedicated to stimulating and supporting the creative and cultural life of the Hudson Valley. All contents © Chronogram Media 2023.
AT BOSCOBEL • GARRISON, NY
Campers will explore life in the past through exciting hands-on experiences in Design, History, and Nature.
August 21–25 | Grades 3–5
Registration begins March 15, 2023
esteemed reader by Jason SternI’m in Egypt, walking behind a cart drawn by a tired horse and piled high with fresh grasses, fodder for animals in the city. The grass is a verdant green against the fine sand in the air and the coating of desert dust on everything. A man in a dark jalabiya and head scarf sits atop the mound of grass holding the reins of a small, sad-looking horse straining against her harness to pull the whole conveyance up a steep hill. Her knees quiver as though about to buckle with each step.
A woman with a sleeping toddler on her lap sits outside the gate of the mosque, begging. The baby’s head lolls back over one knee, peaceful and pitiable. I put a 50-pound note in the mother’s hand and she nods without looking up.
Cars drive in crazy, self-organizing patterns on roads with no lines, accompanied by the steady honking of horns like the random sound of water running over rocks in a brook.
Stepping through the gate, the walled courtyard of the mosque is a calm refuge from the chaos of the surrounding neighborhood.
A woman wearing a hijab presses her head against a rectangular black stone framed in the wall outside the mosque. As I approach she gestures for me to join. I stand beside her and press my forehead into the stone. I feel the cool, rough surface against my skin, and then, as though drawn by a greater scale of perspective, I see the inside of my mind. It is black, luminous, and seems boundless, like I am looking from everywhere at once. I feel a moment of vertigo as though I might fall through the stone into a limitless void.
I stay in this pose for several minutes and then, drawing back and regaining balance, step toward the doorway. I take off my shoes and give them to the attendant before moving across the stone threshold and into the mosque.
A few men are in various attitudes of sitting, praying, and leaning against the walls fingering prayer beads. I join the group facing the stone tomb of the saint, a nephew of Muhammad. The men pray in the presence of the tomb on one side of the mosque, and women on the other. I recall that someone told me that the body of the saint, Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin, lies eternally on its side, facing in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca. Looking around, I see that one of the men is standing with his elbows at his sides, hands extended, with palms up. His lips move almost imperceptibly, eyes closed. The manner of his prayer seems to be an offering. This impression surprises me as I generally associate prayer, when it is not an empty outer form, with petition, asking for something one feels invested in. Seeing the manner in which the man prayed, I have the sense he is making an offering of his prayer as a substance, charged emanations for the place, the saint, or simply as a means of relating to a vast, unfathomable mystery.
Sitting before the tomb I feel an amplified current of energy in my body. I experience it as a source of help to be naturally inward and balanced, to align my bodies of sensation, feeling, and thought in an inner gesture that is both offering and receiving at the same time. I take the same gesture as the man beside me, elbows at my side, palms up, and recite the one Quranic verse I can remember, the first passage, or Surah Fatiha.
February 4 - July 23, 2023
Learn about America’s first intentional art colony and experience local artwork of national and international significance.
by the New York State Museum, Albany, NY
I sit on my heels facing the tomb reciting the words silently with my lips and in my heart in Arabic, and at the same time bringing to mind the translation of the prayer in English. I become available to a fuller depth of meaning of the prayer, in its address to unfathomable Source. I offer the results of this work at divided attention prayer to the tomb, and mosque, which I experience as a kind of repository of prayer-stuff for all who come here, and beyond.
In this inner posture of inward and outward activity and receptivity I feel the possibility of a new degree of freedom, as though this is the right organization of the parts of my nature to be useful in a larger world.
When I leave the mosque, the mother and child have departed. I make my way through the streets choked with cars, people, and animals, smell the mingled aromas of burning garbage and incense, sewage and perfume, and smile at the perfect beauty of all that is.
Thirty years is a long time. Well, time is a relative construct—30 years is but a blink in terms of plate tectonics and continental drift—so let me be plain: Three decades is an outrageous amount of time for an independent magazine to have survived. Especially given the constant disruption that’s been continuously reshaping the media landscape since the late ’90s. (Thank you, internet, you frenemy you.)
The publication I refer to is none other than Chronogram, which turns 30 this year. You hold in your hands our 339th issue, the many-hundredth attempt to make meaning out of life in the Hudson Valley and to tell its story. And for the rest of this year, we’re taking a long victory lap. This will take many forms: Me prattling on throughout the year about our achievements, a special issue in the fall, an exhibit this summer of the art that has graced the magazine’s cover, and a celebratory gathering that will involve adult party beverages and dancing.
It’s difficult to understand the scope of what we’ve accomplished; we never look back, so busy are we plotting our course into an uncertain future. But this year, expect to hear us toot our own horn as we grapple with our legacy.
The Shock of the New
Does this magazine seem short to you? Can you tell we got a little trim? It’s only a little off the top. How noticeable is it to you? It’s a documented medical fact that after a period of growth and then plateauing, we shrink as we age. Chronogram is no different. Except the shrinkage we’re dealing with is caused by runaway paper prices. Since March 2020, our paper costs have increased over 40 percent. We explored a number of options to deal with this price spike. The solution we landed on was the size you’re looking at, 10” x 12”, which is an inch shorter vertically than we were. It’s an elegant downsizing, keeping the magazine’s oversize feel while economizing in a meaningful way. And now that we’ve trimmed down a bit, I wonder if we weren’t too big all these years. Maybe our new size was the sweet spot we wanted all along but we just didn’t know it. A big shout-out to Kerry Tinger, our production director, for spearheading the resizing effort.
But, wait, that’s not all that’s new! We’ve also relaunched Chronogram.com. Here’s what Marie Doyon, our digital doyenne, has to say about our revamped website: We’re joining the 21st century with a new mobileresponsive site (better late than never), which will be easier to navigate on your phone and infinitely nicer to look at. Like we did with our print redesign a few years back, the new website emphasizes white space, aiming to create breathing room around text and photos so articles are easier to read. We also tried to make the features and functions of the site you all use daily even
easier to find like adding your event to our online calendar, signing up for Chronogram Conversations and other events, flipping through our family of publications, and browsing our top cultural event picks for the month. We even improved our deliverables for our ad partners, and yet somehow the ads feel less invasive. All in all, it’s an aesthetic breath of fresh air. What do they say? “New look, same great taste...”
In the February issue, we published a profile of Newburghbased sculptor Daniel Giordano (“In a Creative Vein”), whose work is currently being exhibited at Mass MoCA. We neglected to credit Ernesto Eisner Photography for the photos of Giordano’s work. Our apologies to Ernesto Eisner. Another story we published in the February issue, on the push for decriminalization and legalization of psychedelics in New York (“The Healing Mushroom”), contained a major error and revealed a flaw in how we approach covering the transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming community. A local group involved in this effort is the Hudson Valley Psychedelic Society. In the piece, we ran a photo of an event the society held last summer, which pictured a few of its members, including the group’s executive director, Li Wojehowski. In delineating who was who in the photo, the caption noted that someone was standing to “her right.” Shortly after we published the article, I received an email from Li Wojehowski informing me that they were misgendered in the photo. Wojehowski is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. Finding this out, I fixed the error online, wrote Wojehowski a brief apology, made a mental note not to assume anyone’s gender in the future, and moved on to address the 387 other emails in my inbox. Mistakes happen. We fix them, note the error, and tweak our process if needed. Wojehowski responded to my apology: “Thanks for quickly fixing it online. I want to stress how important this is. One of your editors assumed my pronouns, and now I feel disrespected and humiliated by an article written about my own organization. Many people will see the print version, and if that caption is in it, it will undermine a lot of the work I do every day to get people to understand my nonbinary gender identity. It might seem like no big deal to you, but I promise you it is. It points to a systemic issue in your publication that your editors are unaware and insensitive to the LGBTQ community.”
Which gave me pause. I was the one who wrote the caption, making an erroneous assumption about Wojehowski’s gender. Suffice to say that Chronogram can do better. Moving forward, we will not make any assumptions about anyone’s gender, and we will ask subjects their preferred gender pronouns in advance. My apologies to Wojehowski and my appreciation to them for helping us along in our evolution. Even after 30 years, we can still learn a thing or two.
Red Pepper Diner
441 Fishkill Avenue, Beacon
Despite its less-than-glamorous location on the side of Route 9D, since opening in 2015 Red Pepper Diner has become a favorite of locals. Owners Saman and Thanuka Munaweera originally planned to serve classic American diner fare, but they ended up expanding the menu to honor their Sri Lankan roots, offering a menu of their island nation’s staple dishes. In early February, Red Pepper decamped to a spot on Fishkill Avenue (Route 52) just outside of downtown Beacon.
Chleo
288 Fair Street, Kingston
After long delays, the muchanticipated Uptown Kingston wine bar Chleo finally opened its doors on February 6. The renovated spot at the corner of John and Fair streets, formerly Ecce Terra, sports an elegant, neutral color palette and serves up locally sourced eats and a global, natural-leaning wine list. The menu features inventive, vegetarian friendly options like carrot ‘nduja spread and charred cabbage, as well as meat options like the grilled short ribs dish, which is cooked sous vide for 48 hours then finished on the grill and served with black trumpet duxelles.
Dandelion at Eastwind
Oliverea Valley
212 McKenley Hollow Rd, Big Indian
Following the success of their Windham glamping destination, hotel group Eastwind has just completed its first full ground-up buildout in Big Indian. Eastwind Oliverea Valley is a complex
of 30 Scandinavian-inspired rooms nestled into the wooded mountainside, including the freestanding A-frame Lushna cabins. The property also has an outdoor pool, sauna, fire pits, hammocks, and, soon, Dandelion Restaurant and Bar. The onsite eatery is headed up by Eastwind Hotels cofounder Daniel Cipriani, whose resume includes Urban Rustic, Sea Wolf, Playland Motel, Lodge, and Gemelli. At Dandelion, which opened in early February, Cipriani has crafted a veggieforward, “forage-to-table” menu of globally inspired comfort food.
The Academy Kitchen
33 Academy Street, Poughkeepsie
The $13 million mixed-use development the Academy Food Hall opened last summer, revitalizing two vacant buildings in downtown Poughkeepsie. Open daily, the location includes a slew of vendor “stalls,” serving up everything from burgers to bao and baked goods, plus a provisions market, bar, and event space. But the owners own namesake restaurant the Academy Kitchen only just opened on January 18. A 75-seat American-style bistro, the Kitchen offers a range of salads, entrees, and sides, along with craft cocktails, an international wine list, and local craft beer. Pull up a stool at the massive circular bar or grab a seat at one of the tables.
North Star at the Alander
7519 Route 22, Copake
Ahead of the debut of the Alander hotel’s guest suites this coming summer, the onsite restaurant, North Star, opened its doors in February with a warming
As restaurant fanatics, we get that kid-in-a-candyshop feeling anytime a new eatery opens up—we’re giddy even at the mention of something fresh in the works. So our annual round-up of new and anticipated Hudson Valley restaurants is a treat to write. We’re happy to report that the region’s gastronomic scene seems to have fully rebounded from the pandemic with over a dozen new eateries, bars, and craft beverage destinations opening in 2023. The spate of newcomers spans the culinary gamut from pizza to Puerto Rican food to Indian, Sri Lankan, omakase, and plant-based fast food. So, without further ado, here’s where we’ll be eating in 2023.
winter menu of New American classics. Think PEI mussels in a Dijon cream sauce with lager, caramelized onions, and shallots served with a baguette; an apple ginger-marinated pork chop; or the roasted duck breast with garlicherb spaetzle. The modern interior sports modern, brass, Sputnik-style chandeliers, warm wood tones, and plenty of plants with rotating work from local artists.
Casa Susanna at Camptown
810 County Road 23B, Leeds
Following a $12 million makeover, Camptown opened in Leeds on March 1 as a 50-room accommodation with 26 log cabins and 24 hotel rooms on 22 acres. The reimagined 1930s motor house is the first solo project of Ray Pirkle and Kim Bucci, owners of Hudson’s Rivertown Lodge. The soon-coming onsite restaurant, Casa Susanna, plans to offer “Mexican farm food, organic spirits, real ale, and natural wine.” Under chef Efren Hernandez, the food will blend Jaliscan flavors and fresh local produce from area farms with everything made in house from the corn tortillas to the sauces. On the drinks front, expect a natural wine program and cocktails using Mexican spirits and fermented drinks like tejuino, made from corn dough. Casa Susanna’s opening will coincide with the hotel.
Cafe Con Leche
6384 Mill Street, Rhinebeck
The former Halcyon Cafe space on Mill Street next to Old Mill Wine and Spirits in Rhinebeck has a new tenant, Cafe Con Leche. It will be the second location for Phil Cordero’s Puerto Rican restaurant, which opened in Wappingers Falls
in 2018. The Rhinebeck outpost of Cafe Con Leche will be smaller in scale than the original location and focus on cafe items—coffee and baked goods—while also serving beloved menu items like empanadas and margaritas. Owner Phil Cordero is aiming to open the Rhinebeck space in early March.
Nat’s Mountain House
6589 Route 23A, Tannersville
Headed up by restaurateur Natalie Freihon, Strange Bird Hospitality is the group behind New York City bars Nat’s on Bank, Nat’s on Bleecker, and the Orchard Townhouse. This year, the group will inaugurate its first upstate project with Nat’s Mountain House in Tannersville. The spaces in the Strange Bird portfolio are colorful and whimsical, and the Hunter location will be no different. Think geometric shapes and electric colors with a menu of place and year-round programming. The projected soft opening for Nat’s Mountain House is sometime in March with an anticipated grand opening in May.
87 Main Street, New Paltz
Kingston’s mold-breaking vegetarian fast food drive-through Moonburger was an instant hit with locals, weekenders, and passing Thruway motorists alike. Moonburger will debut a second location in New Paltz this spring, most likely in April. Moonburger 2.0 will be in the heart of the village, and will offer counter service, kiosk ordering, and, eventually, delivery with retrofuturistic vibes that play on the nostalgia of the drive-through.
Little Rico
Since opening in 2021, owner Angelica Hernandez has transformed her Hudson eatery Little Rico into a buzzing community hub. Aside from coldpressed juices and tonics, she also dishes up a menu of prepared foods that capture the nostalgic warmth of Latin American bodega staples made with high-quality ingredients. The menu ranges from sandwiches and hot soups to desserts with plenty of gluten-free and vegan options. Later this year, Hernandez will expand Little Rico with a second location in Woodstock (location TBD), where you can expect the same high-quality ingredients and health-centric offerings.
Brickmen Kitchen + Bar
47 N. Front Street, Kingston Dave Amato, owner of Rondout barbecue spot Ole Savannah, has taken over the former Boitson’s space on Front Street in Uptown Kingston. Following a gut reno, he aims to open the space as Brickmen Kitchen + Bar in early April, the name a tribute to his late grandfather “Sookie” Amato, a Kingston brickyard worker and union leader. (Don’t worry, the marble bar and tin ceilings are staying.) Brickmen will serve up a globally inspired and locally sourced menu, created under the direction of consulting chef Dale Miller, with gluten-free and vegan options and a raw bar.
Nama Omakase
320 Warren Street, Hudson
With Barnfox moving into the old Etsy building in Hudson, their former location at 320 Warren Street became available. It’ll soon be home to Nama, a Japanese restaurant offering a sushi omakase experience in the tradition of Edomae sushi. The owners plan on sourcing the highest grade, hand-picked market fish of the day, prepared by an in-house shokunin sushi chef. The anticipated opening is early to mid-spring.
Ollie’s
582 Broadway, Kingston
In March 2022, the team behind High Falls’ wood-fired pizzeria
Ollie’s bought the building on Broadway that housed Tony’s Pizzeria for decades. After renovations to the pizzeria and adjacent two retail spaces, the team plans to open a bistro-style
restaurant in the old Tony’s spot, next door an Ollie’s slice shop, and in the third, a provisions market/ commissary kitchen. The project was originally slated for completion in late fall of 2022, but, as has come to be expected, there were delays. Now the owners are aiming for a late spring opening, with possible staggering of the different operations.
Cinnamon
4 Deming Street, Woodstock
Whereas most Indian restaurants ply you with a predictable list of Sub-Continental All Stars (ahem, tikka masala), Rhinebeck’s Cinnamon has earned its sterling reputation by offering a tour of almost every Indian state. The menu boasts perfectly executed dishes from Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan, and Punjab to name a few, plus great cocktails, good wine, and white tablecloth service. It’s worth crossing the bridge, but Ulster County residents will rejoice to know that Cinnamon owners Chaminda and Shiwanti Widyarathna are planning a second location in Woodstock in the old Mountain Gate location. The opening is slated for June.
From his grandmother’s kitchen in Mexico to restaurant kitchens in New York City, chef Fermin Ortega long dreamed of opening his own restaurant. In 2021, he opened Casa Ortega in Wappingers Falls, serving up a mix of traditional Mexican dishes and other more modern takes along with cocktails. The spot has been well received, and this spring, he’ll open a second location (TBD) dubbed Tlahco Taqueria in Pleasant Valley.
Patricks Henry’s
48 S. River Street, Coxsackie
In a project that has ruffled more than a few feathers, developer Aaron Flach has undertaken the $15 million project to create the James R. Newbury Hotel and Wire Event Center on Coxsackie’s waterfront. As part of this initiative, Flach’s team is refurbishing the 19th-century Dolan Block and the beloved Patrick Henry’s Tavern, including preserving and restoring the tin walls and ceilings and the original bar. The early-20th-century building has a long history as an eatery; before its tenure as Patrick Henry and post-Prohibition, it was Costello restaurant and
bar. Under Capitol Region restauranteur Dominick Purnomo, Patrick Henry’s is slated to reopen sometime in the spring, serving pub fare and wood-fired pizza.
Dear Kingston
21 Oneil Street, Kingston
Dear Kingston Beer Bar + Garden is taking over a spot on Oneil Street adjacent to the Midtown Linear Park. The opening is planned for early spring, so soon you’ll be able to run your Kingston Plaza errands then zip back up to Midtown for a pint. Dear Kingston will offer a curated rotation of 14 tap lines with a focus on Hudson Valley breweries. The food menu will consist of snacks and small plates featuring local makers and producers, with a nod to traditional biergarten fare.
Big Dogs Brewery
771 State Route 52, Walden
The Brewery at Orange County Hops has gotten a new name and a new music-infused identity. Under Tim TJ Santiago and Melissa Raap, Big Dogs Brewery, which opened in early February, continues to serve up craft brews plus a stacked lineup of live bands every weekend, New York spirits, wine, cider, and hot coffee. Big Dogs offers a laid-back experience in a rustic environment, with wood-paneled walls, exposed joists, and a concrete floor. On select days, Sully on the Street food truck parks in the lot to dish up tasty sandwiches.
Dassai Blue Sake Distillery
5 St. Andrew Road, Hyde Park
Back in 2018, we announced that the Culinary Institute of America would be teaming up with premiere Japanese sake brand Asahi Shuzo to build the company’s first US facility in Hyde Park. The brewery and visitor center, a $28 million project that will create 32 jobs, was slated to open in spring 2019. But you know how things go. A pandemic and several years later, the project is now slated to open in November. The 52,000-square-foot facility, in the former site of Stop & Shop, will be retrofitted to house a rice refinery and brewing tanks, a tasting room, and a retail shop under the name Dassai Blue.
725 State Street, Hudson
For Mikey Lenane and two of his cofounders, brewer J. D. Linderman and head of creative Jack Liakas, Return Brewing was the logical next step in their combined two decades of brewing experience. Chomping at the bit, the partners started brewing at Crossroads in Catskill in 2021 before their own facility and taproom in Hudson was ready. Their beers, already well known at local bars and restaurants, use a mixture of local ingredients and internationally sourced hops to craft Eastern European-inspired brews. Later this spring, Return will finally unveil its production facility and bar on State Street, across from the newly opened Upper Depot Brewing. Do I hear a “beer alley!”?
Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a model of seasonal food production and distribution that brings farmers and consumers into a relationship. CSA members purchase a “share” of a farm’s annual harvest upfront, establishing a solid financial foundation for the farm prior to the start of the growing season. In return, CSA members receive a regular selection of farm-fresh food throughout the season, whether vegetables, fruit, meat, mushrooms, flowers, herbs, grains, eggs, dairy, or a combination of products. With a range of styles and sizes, CSA shares suit a wide variety of households, income levels, and appetites, all while supporting local agriculture.
Use this farm directory created by the Hudson Valley CSA Coalition to learn more about the farms near you and find the perfect share. You can also visit Hudsonvalleycsa.org/find-a-farm to search for farms by factors such as location, share type, and payment option. Once you have purchased your CSA share, visit the coalition’s “Use Your CSA” section for culinary inspiration, storage tips, and more. Hudsonvalleycsa.org
Abode Farm CSA
10 Chair Factory Road, New Lebanon Abodefarm.com
Herbs, vegetables
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
Dirty Dog Farm
Dirtydogfarm.com
168 Buckwheat Road, Germantown
Meat
FarmOn! Foundation
548 Empire Road, Copake Farmonfoundation.org
Flowers, vegetables
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
Eggs, meat
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
MX Morningstar Farm
5956 Route 9H, Hudson Mxmorningstarfarm.com
Vegetables
Olamina Botanicals Hudson Olaminabotanicals.com
Herbal medicine
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 Edge of Wild Farm
1016 Route 82, Ancram Theedgeofwildfarm.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
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
Foxtrot Farm & Flowers
Stanfordville Foxtrotfarmflowers.com
Flowers
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
Green Owl Farm 206 Mill Road, Rhinebeck greenowlfarm.com
Vegetables
Growing Heart Farm 25 Jeans Drive, Pawling Growingheartfarm.com
Vegetables
Harlem Valley Homestead
147 Old Forge Road, Wingdale Harlemvalleyhomestead.com
Vegetables
Heart Hill Farm 235 Route 308, Rhinebeck Fleursdehearthill.com
Flower
Lasher Meadows
Hyde Park
Lashermeadows.com
Eggs, meat
Maitri Farm
143 Amenia Union Road, Amenia Maitrifarmny.com
Meat, vegetables
Meadowland Farm
689 Schultzville Road, Clinton Corners
Meadowlandfarmny.com
Flowers, fruit, herbs, vegetables
Northwind Farms
185 W Kerley Corners Road, Tivoli Northwindfarmsallnatural.com
Meat
Obercreek Farm
59 Marlorville Road, Wappingers Falls Obercreekfarm.com
Eggs, flowers, fruit, herbs, meat, vegetables
Poughkeepsie Farm Project 51 Vassar Farm Lane, Poughkeepsie Farmproject.org
Eggs, fruit, vegetables
Rock Steady Farm & Flowers
41 Kaye Road, Millerton Rocksteadyfarm.com
Eggs, flowers, fruit, herbs, meat, vegetables
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
Black Horse Farms
10094 Route 9W, Athens Blackhorsefarms.com
Eggs, Fruit, vegetables
Crespell
38 Van Road, Lexington Crespell.com
Flowers
Stoneledge Farm
145 Garcia Lane, Leeds Stoneledge.farm
Coffee, dried beans, fruit, mushrooms, vegetables
Bialas Farms
74 Celery Ave, New Hampton Bialasfarms.com
Fruit, herbs, vegetables
Blooming Hill Farm
1251 Route 208, Monroe Bloominghill.farm
Fruit, vegetables
Choy Division
168 Meadow Avenue, Chester Choydivision.com
Vegetables
Fresh Meadow Farm
407 Ingrassia Road, Middletown Freshmeadowfarm.com/ Herbs, vegetables
Gray Family Farm
261 Otterkill Road, New Windsor Grayfamilyfarm.com
Eggs, meat, vegetables
J&A Farm
12 Indiana Road, Goshen Jafarm.org
Vegetables
Pine Hill Farm Vegetables 3298 Route 94, Chester Pinehillfarmvegetables.com
Fruit, vegetables
Rogowski Farm
341 Glenwood Road, Pine Island Rogowskifarm.com
Vegetables
Royal Acres Farm and CSA
621 Scotchtown Collabar Road, Middletown Facebook.com/RoyalAcresFarmAndCsa
Vegetables
PUTNAM
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
The Parcel Flower Co. Cold Spring
Theparcelflower.co
Flowers
ULSTER
Alchemy Farmhouse
Gardiner
Alchemyfarmhouse.com
Flowers
Clove Valley Community Farm
81 Clove Valley Road, High Falls Clovevalleycommunityfarm.com
Vegetables
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
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
Phillies Bridge Farm Project 45 Phillies Bridge Road, New Paltz Philliesbridge.org
Vegetables
Rondout Valley Organics
331 Dowe Road, Ellenville 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
Taliaferro Farms 187 Plains Road, New Paltz taliaferrofarmstore.com
Vegetables
The Green Windows Wallkill
Thegreenwindows.com
Flowers
Transgenerational Farm 22 Riverview Drive, New Paltz transgenerational-farm.com
Vegetables
Tributary Farm
531 County Route 6, High Falls Tributary-farm.com
Flowers, herbs, vegetables
Woodstock Field to Vase Woodstock Woodstockfieldtovase.com
Flowers
Tom O’Quinn and Todd Seekircher’s open, first-floor kitchen looks out onto their quarter-acre backyard. After five years of renovations, the couple finally rehabbed the kitchen space with an eye toward practicality and streamlined design. “We tend to keep things on the simpler side, relying on textiles, art, and plants to bring spaces to life,” says Seekircher. “There are more than 70 indoor plants on my last count.” He sourced most of the greenery from WYLD on Main Street in Cold Spring.
Opposite: The first-floor sitting room features a bay of windows and a plethora of art by Seekircher and friends. The couple have decorated much of the home with local finds, including the couch pillows from Palmera on Main Street in Cold Spring. A custom glass console table, and two side tables, were created by Seekircher’s company, Seekircher Steel Window, especially for the space.
On a frigid February day, with ice shoves and sheets knocking along the nearby Hudson River, walking into Todd Seekircher and Tom O’Quinn’s Georgian townhouse is a bit like stumbling onto a warm and arid oasis. Long rays of western sunlight reach through floor-toceiling sash windows, across the home ’ s formal dining room, along the dark hot chocolate-colored floorboards and into the cheery green and white trimmed kitchen. Greenery abounds: Cactus and succulents line window sills; potted majesty palms and birds of paradise flourish in corners and a philodendron winds along a marble fireplace mantle under an artfully hung rack of pans. Throughout the 2,800-square-foot, fourstory space the ambiance—and temperature— is remarkably and consistently warm. Achieving this modern convince was no small feat in a home abundant with original 19th-century windows, two coal fireplaces and which, until recently, was solely heated on the first floor. Modernizing the space while preserving the
home’s antique detailing and restoring the elegant, symmetrical architecture set O’Quinn and Seekircher on a home renovator ’s odyssey; beneath floorboards, behind walls, up into the rafters and deep into the recesses of the home’s basement. “It was totally and completely DIY,” explains Seekircher, the head of Seekircher Steel Windows. “ We did all the renovations ourselves.”
The couple admits they didn’t quite set out to undertake a five year remodel. “Otherwise,” explains O’Quinn, a design director for PepsiCo, “I don’t think we could have mentally handled it.” However, like pulling a proverbial thread, one project lead to another—and then another still—until the two ended up completely rehabbing the three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-ish bath home. However, their rehabber ’s naivete had its benefits. “ We rolled it out slowly, so each step felt natural for us,” says O’Quinn. In the end, the couple’s ability to creatively collaborate and their intuitive sense of design, lead to a bright, open home, reveling in 19th-century village charm.
By Mary Angeles Armstrong
Photos by Winona Barton-Ballentine
Townhouse by the River
Seekircher grew up in nearby Garrison and wasn’t really planning to come back to the area full-time. After college, he worked and travelled internationally before moving to New York City, where he met O’Quinn—a self-described Canadian army kid—and the two settled in Greenpoint. In 2016, they began looking for a small weekend place upstate and found themselves quickly drawn to Seekircher ’s old stomping grounds. “Because I’m from the area, I was really averse to moving anywhere that felt remotely ‘suburban,’” Seekircher explains. “But Cold Spring has such a unique vibe among the towns of the Hudson Valley. It ’s so small and so connected to the Hudson River.”
They found their townhouse with its deep, lotthrough yard surrounded by historic buildings. (Seerkircher actually attended one of the neighboring churches as a kid.) The couple loved the simplicity of the Georgian architecture with its elongated street facing windows and brick facade. Inside, the stacked floors of the original 1850 structure revolved around an open circular staircase. A late 19th-century addition added a sitting room, a second-floor bedroom, attic, and basement space along the home’s north side.
“ The house occupies quite a small footprint and especially from the front, reads as a very beautiful but unimposing home,” explains Seekircher. “From the rear, it ’s much taller and, oddly, has a little more of a ‘ wow’ factor.” Meanwhile, Seekircher was about to take over his father ’s company, Seekircher Steel Windows. Based in Peekskill, the company specializes in window repair and restoration and features a stock of vintage steel casement windows and antique handles. “It really felt like everything was sort of falling into place,” he explains of the timing. With a plan to travel back and forth between Greenpoint and Cold Spring, the two bought the home in 2017.
By the time O’Quinn and Seekircher bought it, the house had changed hands many times since 1850. Over the years, rooms had been chopped up piecemeal into smaller spaces, sections around the staircase were walled off, arbitrary closets were added, and some rather eccentric plumbing was installed in the first-floor bathroom. However, the first thing they decided to tackle were the floors. “ We loved the wide planks, but the floors were like a shiny pine gymnasium
floor,” says O’Quinn. “ We knew they needed to go two days after we closed on the house. “They decided on a basic black and white scheme for the first floor, painting the floors dark chocolate and the dining room walls ebony. The kitchen and sitting room walls were painted a warm white. Seekircher restored the home’s original wooden window frames, replacing upwards of fifty broken panes and reglazing all the glass. He replaced exterior aluminum storm windows with less intrusive interior energy panels. To complement the color scheme, and pop the window ’s design, the couple painted the restored wooden trim black. “It ’s amazing, because they don’t detract from the beautiful 19th-century windows but they seal the window frames very well,” he explains. Adding a new central heating and cooling system was also a priority. This required tearing through layers of linoleum and ancient floorboards along the second floor and attic space to run ductwork. “ We found a cache of toy soldiers, marbles, and a baby portrait from 1929,” says O’Quinn. “ There were also stock certificates and ,under one layer of linoleum, laid-out newspapers from July of 1953.”
To complement their central heating endeavor, the couple decided to insulate the vaulted attic
When it comes to new projects or renovations in your home, you are investing in more than just a building and more than the right now. You are investing in the years ahead and the memories to come. You are making space for making connections, finding comfort, and celebrating everything from major milestones to quiet moments. You are making space for what matters.
“We clearly like black and white,” Seekircher says of the couple’s decorating style. They elected to paint the dining room ebony and then added a large custom white dining table and black-painted rattan pieces for either side of the fireplace. The painting above the fireplace was bought from Garrison Art Center and artist Darren Waterston painted the collection of prints on the far wall. The dried flower collection is from Now in Bloom in Cold Spring. “We sometimes refer to the space as Polynesian Goth,” Seekircher says.
O’Quinn’s second-floor office was converted from a small bedroom. The far wall includes some of his own work as well as artwork by friends, including Brian Rea, Martha Ridge, and Sol Cotti.
CUSTOM WINDOW TREATMENTS
88 North Street,Pittsfield MA01201
CUSTOM WINDOW TREATMENTS
88 North Street, Pittsfield MA 01201 413-448-6000 CWTBerkshire.com
HunterDouglas Shades·Draperies·Fabric·Upholstery
ceilings. To do this they had to tackle the attic ’ s warren-like design which had been chopped up into three small maid ’s rooms. An added wall and door at the top of the staircase covered the railing and bannisters. “ The ceilings were very low, the plaster and lath was falling off everything, and the wood floors were covered with linoleum,” says Seekircher. “I don’t think the space was touched in over 50 years.” They gutted it. By ripping out the interior walls—including the staircase wall— they created one large, open space. Then they reframed and insulated the roof, sheet rocked the interior, and installed wood paneling on the ceiling and dormers. Decorative wood beams add character to the entirely white painted room which has views of both the backyard and the front streetscape.
By the spring of 2018, the home was “pretty good and livable,” says O’Quinn. The next step was renovating the concrete basement. By reclaiming salvaged pieces from the attic and main floors, they extended the home’s square footage and aesthetic. Floorboards salvaged from the attic were reinvented as the staircase treads
and risers; the staircase wall panels match the first-floor hallway. They added a bathroom and extra office space at one end of the basement and a kitchenette and gym at the other. Seekircher also replaced the rotted basement windows with restored, vintage steel windows sourced from his company. White oak floor boards further brighten the space.
A previous owner had installed a bulky laundry closet to the primary bedroom. “It completely disrupted the symmetry of the room and blocked the space,” says Seekircher. The couple tore out the closet and temporarily located a new washer and dryer in the adjacent bathroom, then created a laundry corner in the rehabbed basement. On the first floor, a half bath with a shower head— but no shower—was inadvertently turned on, leaking into the basement. “ We went into the bathroom wall and realized the shower pipes had never been connected,” says Seekircher. After repairing the piping, and the basement ceiling, the peculiar shower is mostly decorative.
An incident with the second-floor shower rod set off the home remodel’s final phase, which included both the kitchen and primary bathroom. “ We didn’t really like the primary bathroom,” says
O’Quinn. “ There was an old clawfoot tub that was always cold. Then one day the rod came out of the wall and hit me while I was showering. We knew it was time.” They replaced it with a walk-in shower, a smaller tub, and new vanity, then finished the space with dark penny tiles. The kitchen was another chopped-up space they didn’t know quite what to do with. “It wasn’t very user friendly and had odd, apartment sized appliances,” explains Seekircher. They added a central island, recycling some of the original cabinetry but painting it green, and topped everything with white quartz counters. Larger stainless steel appliances complete the space. As they got deeper into their home’s walls, floors and ceilings, the couple also became more deeply entwined deeply with the surrounding neighborhood. A year and a half into their remodel, they let go of their Greenpoint apartment and embraced Cold Spring fulltime. “ We’ve made such great friends here,” says Seekircher. “ We always dreamt of living in a beautiful townhouse. Now it feels like we’re able to have the best of both worlds living in this house, in this great community.”
There’s a 10-speed bicycle painted white and chained to a road sign at the edge of Washington Avenue in Kingston, not far from the Thruway traffic circle. It’s a ghost bike, memorializing where John “Host” Lynch was struck and killed by a car while riding his bicycle on July 20, 2021. The bike was placed there by Lynch’s partner, Rose Quinn. Washington Avenue is a four-lane arterial roadway connecting traffic from the Thruway to the Uptown neighborhood. It’s also used regularly by cyclists to connect to the O&W rail trail.
When Quinn met Lynch, she was edging closer to becoming a full-time cyclist and bike commuter. But it would be Lynch, a lifelong bike commuter himself, who introduced her to the idea of bike activism. In fact, on one of their first dates, John rode his bike from Albany to meet Quinn in Kingston so she wouldn’t have to drive. John never owned a car. “John challenged me to take on bike commuting, and it has been such an eye-opening experience,” says Quinn. “Invigorating and informative, but also often sad—yes, even traumatizing at times.”
Earlier this year the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released its projections for traffic fatalities in the first nine months of 2022, noting an increase in deaths among cyclists (eight percent) and pedestrians (two percent) year over year. Mirroring national and statewide trends, nonmotorized fatalities in Kingston have also increased. From 2010 to 2019, the city had zero bicycle fatalities and three pedestrian deaths. Between November 2020 and September 2021, Kingston had three bicycle fatalities even as there were fewer vehicles on the road. Most recently, in the span of two weeks in late December and early January, a cyclist and a pedestrian were both
struck and killed by vehicles in separate incidents. The night Lynch was killed, Quinn resigned from her role as a traffic safety educator and as leader of Bike-Friendly Kingston. “When John died, I had to remove myself from a lot of the work I was doing. I was disappointed. I’m still disappointed. I haven’t seen the strong response that I would like to see. There’s still this hesitancy to confront driving culture up here and we need to finally start thinking more about the people outside of a car who, by law, have the same rights on the road,” says Quinn.
Advocates believe that there is a serious disconnect between those who use the streets every day and those in positions of power. “I understand that large infrastructure projects take time and are complex, but there are other traffic-calming measures and initiatives to create safer streets and systems in Kingston. I think it really comes down to political will,” says Ella Ray Kondrat, author of the Sweeten the Streets Substack focusing on transportation in Ulster County. Kondrat recently became active in advocating for safe streets after feeling unsatisfactory results to keep vulnerable road users safe during the planning and design phases of recent improvement projects. She joined Riders for Ulster Transit Alliance and at the end of last year, she was appointed to the Complete Streets Advisory Council (CSAC). “I appreciate everything that’s been done, but it’s not enough,” says Kondrat. “We are asking the city and county to adhere to the safe system approach on our roads.”
There’s no disputing that the city of Kingston has worked hard over the past 10 years to improve
an antiquated system that grew dramatically to support urban sprawl and growing car culture dating back to the 1950s and maybe earlier. “There have been more infrastructure projects and improvements in the past 10 years than the 10 before that,” says Brian Slack, principal transportation Planner for the Ulster County Transportation Council. “We must have a certain level of knowledge to do the job, but of equal importance is being adept at communicating these issues as well. Taking pretty complex issues and distilling them so everyone can begin to know what it means to them.”
The City of Kingston adopted a Complete Streets resolution in 2010. Complete Streets policies help guide towns and cities in planning, designing, and improving streets for the safety of all road users. Over the past 10 years, Kingston has seen a transformation of much of its streetscapes thanks to these policies and the work of the city to move toward a more climate-
resilient community. The CSAC advises the city, makes recommendations, and gives feedback on forthcoming infrastructure projects. Importantly, the council advised the city to adopt a set of guidelines that further allow the city autonomy in creating safe systems for all users. Complete streets policies align with the broader “Vision Zero” goal that was recently made a priority by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
The reconstruction of Broadway is a model example of a Complete Street, according to Slack. “Separating the biker is the ultimate goal. There’s a two-way cycle track, something the cycling community really wanted, we’ve moved four lanes to three—a road diet, created floating parking separating the bikers from the motor vehicles, and intersections with rectangular rapid flashing beacons to further the safety of those using the crosswalk,” says Slack.
Those in the cycling community, including Quinn, applaud the city and county for taking these steps forward and consider these actions well-intentioned but intentions don’t save lives. She says that there is still a prioritization of traffic flows and congestion. “Most of Broadway still has no cycling infrastructure and the lack of obvious connection or direction on either end of Broadway when the tracks stop makes for an incredibly unsafe situation,” says Quinn.
Quinn, a Queens native, hadn’t grown up car-dependent and made the conscious decision to move to Kingston from New Paltz in 2012 specifically for the ability to walk or bike to get around. The Kington Greenline, a largely complete nonmotorized transportation plan to connect the regional and city trails, old trolley corridors, and other pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure is a good example. Aside from pure recreation, parts of it, including Linear Park, have helped to open access to a community that previously had little to
no access prior to its construction—a food desert. According to the most recent US Census, 17.4 percent of households in Kingston have no car.
“These are beautiful examples of what urban travel can be. It’s a really good start” says Quinn. “But cyclists and pedestrians must have safe options to access the trail systems. If you don’t have a car to get to the trails, there must be safe routes and alternatives for connection.” The night Lynch was killed he was out for a recreational
constructed project. Savage, a Kingston resident and longtime neighborhood rider, was using the new infrastructure and may have been confused by the updated traffic signals, according to Quinn. “The project was fast-tracked and the Governor made this project a huge priority,” says Slack. Since then, New York State removed the signal in question on Greenkill Avenue and replaced it with a stop sign. Lynch and Quinn helped to plan a memorial for Savage.
safety education. For the last 12 years, Tom Polk, a Kingston resident and bicycle educator and safety coordinator for the YMCA, has worked tirelessly to make bike education and safety a reality. Programs like Bike It, where middle school-aged children learn bike safety, bike maintenance, and ride through the city, all support youth education. Importantly, Polk also runs the Lend-a-Wheel bicycle reuse program which rehabs donated bicycles and offers them free of charge to people
ride. Although he a was bike commuter and road rider, that evening, he was mostly on trails and was navigating the Washington Avenue crossing on his way home.
Greenkill Avenue is one of many important multi-use roadways that helps connect those coming in and out of Kingston on Route 32. It’s used by the cycling community as a cutthrough across town and is also part of the Empire State Trail, an initiative set forth by then-Governor Cuomo that was finished in 2020. Only two months later, Darryl Savage, 54, was killed by a bus while using the newly
“There has been such a huge change to our infrastructure in such a short amount of time that road users are unclear of where they belong,” says Slack. “These are new and evolving approaches to transportation and people need to know how to use them.” Community education and involvement, according to all stakeholders, are both areas of improvement in the city of Kingston and the county.
The YMCA of Kingston and Ulster County is one organization that continues to promote traffic
in need of basic transport—1,122 bicycles have been distributed to date. (Lynch worked for Polk as a paid mechanic and Quinn still helps regularly.) Polk sits on the Ulster County Traffic Safety Board (UCTSB), with Quinn, Slack, and other city officials to help advocate for the safety of all road users. The YMCA is also near the intersection where Christine “Rena” Tarasco, 65, was struck and killed by a motor vehicle on her way home from a doctor’s appointment on December 27, 2022 while riding her bicycle. One forthcoming initiative is called the Friendly Driver Initiative, a driver-awareness-
and-safety program for commercial and bus drivers holding a commercial driver’s license (CDL). Polk acknowledges that these drivers already get a lot of training focusing on vehicles throughout the county. “This program focuses on the people who are not in vehicles,” he says. “The walkers and the bikers and how drivers need to be aware of their behavior and the laws for all road users.” The importance of this initiative weighs heavy in the city of Kingston since two of the five recent fatalities involved drivers holding a CDL. Sarah Edwards, 59, was struck and killed by a school bus crossing the street on January 6.
Polk says that he’s frequently asked what to do about the cyclists who are riding the wrong way, not wearing helmets, and not stopping at stop signs. “‘They ought to learn the rules of the road,’ people say to me, and I agree, but I can’t force them to take a class. The flip side of that is what about the person in the car who is running the stop sign, not slowing down, texting while driving—what about them?”
Polk acknowledges the recent traffic safety awareness campaign efforts the city of Kingston has made, one of which is the Be a Road Hero campaign. The goal of this citywide initiative is to educate locals and tourists about the recent improvements and additions to the infrastructure with a focus on the new Broadway infrastructure. There are also many drivers new to the area since the pandemic who need to learn as well, according to Polk. The campaign includes videos, bus ads, social media, mailers, and help from local law enforcement to educate all road users.
Rather than issuing citations for a first offense, Kingston Police Chief Egidio Tinti and his officers use warnings to educate before issuing citations to encourage safe road habits. “We are driven by community policing. We recognize that every encounter is a chance to educate the public. We want to be a part of the Kingston community,” says Chief Tinti. “These public education campaigns are absolutely worthwhile.” The Be a Road Hero campaign will continue into this year.
This type of action is something advocates acknowledge as an important step, and point out that it should have happened long before the completion of these systems. “If you don’t do those things, a community feels as though it is under siege when these projects happen and important changes to address critical adjustments to evolving infrastructure are lost, and sometimes lives are as well,” says Quinn. It’s worth noting that this city-funded safety campaign initially was voted down by the majority of Common Council members. It wasn’t until after the death of Devin Griffiths on September 18, 2021, who was struck by a tractor-trailer near East St. James Street and Broadway, and a request from Mayor Steve Noble that program was reconsidered.
Since the pandemic aggressive driving has also increased. “As a motor vehicle operator, I feel more in danger. When I’m driving and see people running red lights, there’s a crash waiting to
happen,” says Polk. And although Chief Tinti was hesitant to point to one cause, Saugerties Chief of Police Joseph Sinagra, a Kingston resident, is more inclined to highlight driver behavior. “The biggest problem we have since the pandemic is aggressive driving. We backed off on traffic enforcement during the pandemic and that gave drivers free reign.”
sustainable.” Perhaps she’s right. Currently, the Kingston Police department is down five officers from regular staffing levels. “We are on board but we don’t have the manpower right now,” says Chief Tinti.
In August, Governor Hochul signed into law parts of the Crash Victims Rights and Safety Act. Among those is legislation that will require new drivers to learn about pedestrian and bicycle safety as a part of the learner’s permit education and exam in New York. Quinn would like there to be a shift in how we approach traffic safety education overall, shifting our mindset and returning the responsibility back onto the driver. “Traffic education needs to be taught starting in elementary school and continuing the rest of our lives,” says Quinn. Right now, once drivers meet the driving standards in the state of New York and pass the driver’s license test and requirements, there is no continuing education for drivers unless deemed necessary based on driving records. “Think about it: How many years you’ve been driving. Have you ever had to be tested again? Once you pass the test, that’s it!” says Chief Tinti, acknowledging that more can be done in terms of driver education.
Another new piece of state legislation passed last year will allow municipalities the ability to lower speed limits to 25 mph. Prior to this new law, speed limits could not go below 30 mph except in school zones and in special circumstances. Now municipalities will have the ability to lower speed limits, though it will still take time for locals to see those changes.
Importantly, the city of Kingston has been working on a Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan since 2020. “We collected information about the existing infrastructure for walkers and bikers in Kingston. This is a planning document and will serve as a guide to inform the existing and planned pedestrian and bicycle network and will identify any gaps in those systems,” says Emily Flynn, director of health and wellness for Kingston and project manager for the plan. Currently, the plan is in draft form and will be made public in the spring of this year. “The goal of my job is to get more people walking, biking, and using other forms of active transportation,” says Flynn.
Both Slack and Planning Director Dennis Doyle point toward increasing highly visible enforcement as a possible solution. “Whenever a major holiday rolls around, the messaging surrounding drinking and driving increases and it works. A lot of people get pulled over. A lot of people are doing it,” says Slack. The Governor ’ s Traffic Safety Guidelines even list it as a top solution. And although Quinn agrees that, in theory, visible enforcement is effective, that won’t be the answer. “Sure, whenever there’s a cop on the interstate or road you slow down. But it’s not
“These tragedies are preventable,” say Quinn, “and creating safe streets benefits everyone.” Now Kondrat and Quinn are working to form a new advocacy group that will focus on education and ensuring safe systems and streets in Kingston and Ulster County. At the end of the day, cycling advocates want drivers to bring their humanity behind the wheel. “That’s all I’m asking. When you get in a car and before turning on the ignition, take a minute and understand the real position of privilege you have—in every way. Understand that you have the ability to take your own life. You have the ability to take the lives of others,” says Quinn.
“When you get in a car and before turning on the ignition, take a minute and understand the real position of privilege you have—in every way. Understand that you have the ability to take your own life. You have the ability to take the lives of others.”
—Rose Quinn, bicycle advocate
AN EXCERPT FROM RECLAIMING THE SACRED BY JEFF
ILLUSTRATIONIn his new book, Reclaiming the Sacred: Healing Our Relationships with Ourselves and the World, Jeff Golden pulls together three decades of meticulous, wide-ranging research, spiritual practice, and lived experience into a prescription for our current situation, starting with an overview of the science of happiness and an examination of our longstanding epidemic of toxic materialism before forging onward and offering measures we can take to get back to center, all of it clearly stated and refreshingly free of jargon. In this excerpt, Golden, a Beacon resident, explores how all inhabitants of Earth belong to this planet we call home.
BY
POLINA HRYTSKOVAindigenous (adj)
GOLDEN1: to be of the first people of a place
2: existing naturally or having always lived in a place
3: to be deeply, inextricably of a place
From the Latin indigena, “sprung from the land.”
We are every one of us indigenous to this immense, gorgeous planet. We have all of us sprung forth from this land and these waters. Every nuance of our bodies is composed of the body of this planet—the earth, air, water, other plants and creatures—each transformed into our skin, blood, bones, electricity, pheromones. We are all children of this planet, children of the mountains, the rivers, the forests.
We are each of us part of an unbroken chain that connects us back to the very first forms of life on this planet, to the moment they sprang from the womb of this planet’s waters. We each carry an inheritance passed down to us from those earliest ancestors; tucked away in each of our DNA are some of the patterns, the gene families, of those very first beings.
This is true not just for us but for all living beings; every form of life on Earth contains that same genetic inheritance carried forward from the first ones, every living being part of our extended family— every dragonfly, cactus, salmon—all of them connected with first life, all our relatives.
For the entire history of humanity, we have existed in an intimate dance with these relatives. Who and what we are has been shaped by the 8.7 million species that share this planet with us, and those that preceded us, a brilliant coevolution, in this tiny, beautiful nook of the universe, home to all of us.
Indeed, we are children not just of this planet, but of the broader universe, of creation. Every particle in our bodies came bursting into existence in the same moment and same place as every other particle everywhere, regardless of the transformations and journeys they may have experienced since then. In a sense your body was there— every particle in your body was there, witness to and participant in the birth of all. Every particle in the most distant stars and worlds and moons is a sibling to the ones in your body, as is every particle here on this planet with you. Every particle in every canyon, breeze, mouse, starfish, volcano—each is your relation.
This is you: indigenous to this world, relation to all of life, relation to all of creation.
are also, every one of us, descendants of indigenous people. Indeed, almost all of our ancestors were indigenous. All of our ancestors for most of the 300,000 years of human history have been indigenous. The earliest any of our ancestors took up agriculture, a major part of the shift from that way of living, was less than 12,000 years ago, and for most people an indigenous way of life continued well beyond that, for some right up until and through the present. For many of us, our connection with our indigenous roots may be deeply obscured, whether because our more recent ancestors assimilated into nonindigenous cultures, or because our indigenous cultures were violently denied to our ancestors. Author and activist Lyla June, who is of both Diné and European heritage, and who grew up with a strong connection to her Native American ancestors, writes movingly of her awakening to her obscured European indigenous roots.
I have been called a half-breed. I have been called a mutt. Impure. I have been told my mixed blood is my bane. That I’m cursed to have an Indian for a mother and a cowboy for a father.
But one day, as I sat in the ceremonial house of my mother’s people, a wondrous revelation landed delicately inside of my soul. It sang within me a song I can still hear today. This song was woven from the voices of my European grandmothers and grandfathers. Their songs were made of love.
They sang to me of their life before the witch trials and before the crusades. They spoke to me of a time before serfdoms and before Roman tithes. They spoke to me of a time before the plague; before the Medici; before the guillotine; a time before their people were extinguished or enslaved. … They spoke to me of a time before the English language existed. A time most of us have forgotten.
These grandmothers and grandfathers set the ancient medicine of Welsh bluestone upon my aching heart. Their chants danced like the flickering light of Tuscan cave-fires. Their joyous laughter echoed on and on like Baltic waves against Scandinavian shores. They
blew worlds through my mind like windswept snow over Alpine mountain crests. They showed to me the vast and beautiful world of Indigenous Europe. This precious world can scarcely be found in any literature, but lives quietly within us like a dream we can’t quite remember.
This is you, whoever you are, whoever your ancestors, whatever parts of the planet were home to them: you are the child of indigenous people. For countless cycles of moons and suns, for centuries upon millennia times millennia, your people have lived in intimate relationship with the land and seasons, the moon and stars, the flora and fauna, have lived on the land where their parents lived and theirs before them, have lived their ancestors’ languages, stories, rituals.
To be clear, very few of us in the US are Indigenous (capital I), as in Native American/Indian. Only about 2 percent of us are descendants of the first people of this land. To be Indigenous to this land is to have a particular connection with place, culture, and ancestry. It comes with a particular political, economic, and historical reality, with both deep blessings and deep wounds, all very much alive and continuing to unfold. This is not about infringing on, or in any way claiming, that identity for any non-Indigenous people. This is about those other very different but also critical understandings of indigenous (lowercase i), which contain very important truths for all of us. It is about recognizing the beautiful and essential ways in which every one of us is indigenous to this world, to our lives, to all that is.
It is about recognizing that you can never be separated from your inherent belonging or sacred place in the order of life and creation.
No matter the things you’ve done or haven’t done. No matter what your parents or grandparents have done, what your people or your society have done. No matter the things that have been done to you. No matter how wounded you or your people are.
It doesn’t matter how superficial or consumptive or violent the culture is that you live in. It doesn’t matter how ridiculous or ineffectual or hurtful the economic or political system is around you, or the media or the educational system, or your family.
It doesn’t matter if you live in a forest or in a skyscraper, on the edge of the ocean or in a shantytown or a prison. You don’t need to travel somewhere special, meet with someone special, read or watch something special, do anything special. The truth and miracle of you are never any further than where you are, never any further than right there inside you. You carry it with you, always and everywhere.
This truth can be obscured from us. It can be hidden or buried; it can be ignored or denied. Our culture of consumption, our economy of ownership, our language of resources and utility—these can all obscure our awareness of our fundamental sacredness and belonging. So, too, can the profound disconnect from nature that many of us experience. As well as the pace of life, the stimulation of technology, and the distraction of information. And the disregard… and the insult…and the violence directed at us personally and flowing all around us.
At the same time, many experiences and places and people can help us to remember who we are, to feel it, and to live into the truth of our sacredness.
Still, none of these obstacles or supports can ever change the truth.
Your belonging and sacred place in the whole of everything cannot ever be lost or diminished. You can never be an outsider to life or to the universe or to the sacred. You are as intimately indigenous to them—and they are as intimately indigenous to you—as anybody and anything that has ever existed.
Admission Events:
Monday, March 6, grades PreK-K, 9-9:45 am
Friday, March 10, grades 1-4, 9-9:45 am
Monday, March 13, grades 5-8, 9-9:45 am
Thursday, March 16, grades 9-12, 9-9:45 am
Tuesday, March 21, PreK-4, 9-9:45 am
Tuesday, March 28, grades 5-8, 9-9:45 am
Thursday, March 30, grades 9-12, 9-9:45 am
Please RSVP at admissions@poughkeepsieday.org 845.462.7600, ext. 201
4 2-week sessions: June 26 - August 18, 2023 Space is limited. Register early. For more information and to register, visit mountainlaurel.org/camp or call 845-255-0033
Take Back Your Health with Acupuncture, Detox, Nutrition, & Herbal Medicine
Specializing in Lyme, EBV, chronic fatigue, Fibromyalgia, pain/injury, auto immune, digestive disorders, migraines, neurological disorders, & skin issues
Dr. Erika S.Gabriello DACM L. Ac www.holisticnaturalmedicine.com 347.988.0178
New Paltz 169 Main St.
Well before the daffodils bloom in our gardens each spring, there’s already one item on parents’ minds: A summer camp or program that will help their little buds flourish, too. Luckily, the Hudson Valley is ripe with opportunities for exploration, imagination, and cultural enrichment for teens, tweens, and kids as young as age three. From nature-based programs to creative workshops for burgeoning artists, here are a few wonderful programs to spark your search.
Located in Columbia County, New York, on a sprawling 900 acre Biodynamic farm, we offer both day and overnight camps for children ages 8-16. Campers gain a reverence for the natural world, learn about caring for animals, the earth, and make lifelong memories. Our camp provides a uniquely immersive understanding of where our food comes from, how it gets to our tables, and how to love and respect every being that made that journey possible. Spending time at farm camp can shift the awareness of a person of any age, and bring forth the discovery of independence, self-confidence and compassion.
Ghent, NY • (518) 672-4465 x 201 • farmcamp@hawthornevalley.org hawthornevalleysummercamp.org
Open to motivated students interested in exploring academic and creative interests in a college environment while currently completing grade 9 through 11. Students participate in Simon’s Rock’s signature Writing and Thinking Workshop, Seminar, and arts and science courses to experience diverse and exciting academic offerings. Students live on campus in the college’s residence halls. Students have the opportunity to explore the 275-acre wooded campus of natural beauty and trails, nearby downtown Great Barrington, and planned excursions to Berkshire cultural attractions. The two-week program is $3,000 for tuition, room and meals, and off-campus excursions. July 16-29, 2023.
Great Barrington, MA • simons-rock.edu • curiositycamp@simons-rock.edu
Imagine, create, and have fun this summer! Offering immersive arts programming for ages 5-19. Led by professional artists and teachers, young artists will explore fine art, digital media, and performing arts. In the Summer Art Institute, young artists will advance their knowledge of techniques, elements and principles of fine or digital art.
Poughkeepsie, NY 845-471-7477 • thearteffect.org
Get messy and make art this summer! Berkshire Art Center, formerly IS183 Art School, offers fun and creative art camps for young artists ages 6-14 years old. Our camps engage children in visual art exploration alongside local artists, introducing them to a variety of art-making experiences.
Stockbridge & Pittsfield, MA • 413-298-5252
• berkshireartcenter.org
Nature camps for ages 3-6 reflect the rhythm of a Waldorf Kindergarten day—outdoor play, farm visits, and nature walks. Camps for ages 7-13 are designed for the curious learner—farm and garden, circus, fairy camp (more to come) and include outdoor adventure and games.
5% discount for two or more children, use code SIBLING2023.
Rhinebeck, NY • 845-876-1226 • administration@primrosehillschool.com
Berkshire Museum camps offer children going into grades Pre-K through 8 the chance to make connections between art, science, and history in the Museum’s new classrooms and throughout our galleries. Campers develop skills, create art, conduct experiments, and make new friends, all while having a ton of fun!
Pittsfield, MA • berkshiremuseum.org/programs/camp
A fun coed boarding and day camp, takes place on the Forman School campus in Litchfield, CT, during the month of July. The program is a dynamic balance of academics and recreation for students entering grades 7-11 who learn differently. Under the guidance of expert faculty and staff, students discover their unique learning styles while being inspired, challenged, and empowered. They develop effective and tactical classroom and study strategies, learn self-advocacy, and gain lasting confidence in their abilities.
Litchfield, CT • 860.567.1802 • formanschool.org/summer
High Meadow School offers recreational day camp for ages 3–rising 2nd graders and specialized day camps for rising 3rd–8th graders, featuring Wayfinder Experience and Westchester Circus Arts! Sessions run Monday–Friday, July 10th–August 11th. Open to residents and visitors to the area, our seven-acre wooded campus is the perfect place for your children to spend their Hudson Valley summer! For more information or to schedule a tour, visit highmeadowschool.org/summer-camp.
Stone Ridge, NY • highmeadowschool.org/summer-camp
Rockland Center for the Arts (RoCA) is a place for young artists to explore art on our spacious grounds and in professionally equipped studios. RoCA’s large sparkling pool and open field provide plenty of healthy outdoor recreation. Each season, campers learn to express themselves through both the visual and performing arts. Four, two-week sessions: June 26–August 18, with a 3 or 5 day a week option. Saturday open houses: April 15 or May 13 from 2pm–5pm. West Nyack, NY • (845) 358-0877 • rocklandartcenter.org
Celebrating the magic that happens when humans and horses connect in a supportive, non-competitive atmosphere. This nonprofit offers summer riding weeks for kids, with riding for all ages and levels and lots of barn fun and horse care. “We emphasize empathy and understanding of our non-verbal but very communicative companions,” says Director Nancy Rosen. Esopus, NY • 845-384-6424 • horsesforachange.org
Embracing children's innate curiosity toward nature! Weekly themes are guided by daily farm rhythms and individual learning styles. Campers explore the farm fields and forests, care for the animals and plants, practice traditional skills, and make music, arts and crafts. Serving ages 4-15, financial assistance available.
Kingston, NY • 845-383-1528 • seedsongfarm.org
Join us for some summer fun at the Newburgh Rowing Club’s Summer Rowing and Kayaking Camp! Our waterfront boathouse at Ward Brother’s Memorial Park allows campers to participate in games on water, land, and even indoors during inclement weather.
Newburgh, NY • newburghrowclub.org • coachedkennedy@yahoo.com
HVWP Young Writers Programs bring children and teens together to find their voices, share their ideas, and discover the joy of writing. Experienced teachers create inspiring and supportive settings where students write and explore their interests –art, nature, fantasy, activism, podcasting, and more! Tuition assistance is available.
New Paltz, NY • 845-257-2836 • newpaltz.edu/hvwp
The Vanaver Caravan’s summer dance and music programs, for ages 4-18, welcome students of every level and ability—meeting each dancer as they are, and nurturing personal growth, confidence, community connection, and joy.
Workshops are held at MaMA in Stone Ridge from July 10-August 11. New Paltz, NY • 845-256-9300 • vanavercaravan.org
Saugerties gets plenty of love for its cultural attractions—and for good reason. It’s hard to deny the romantic appeal of Opus 40, Harvey Fite’s iconic, six-acre bluestone sculpture park, or the historic Saugerties Lighthouse perched on the edge of the Hudson River. But the quiet, artsy town nestled in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains where the mighty Esopus Creek flows into the Hudson River has even more to offer the lucky residents who call it home.
“Saugerties really has it all,” says Laura Foster, a Saugerties resident and licensed real estate agent for Halter Associates Realty, a top independent brokerage with offices in Kingston and Woodstock. “It’s a Hudson River town with a super-walkable village, and it’s set against the backdrop of this insanely beautiful mountain range in the Catskills.” Foster, who grew up near Poughkeepsie, moved to Saugerties in 2010 and began working in real estate soon after. “Many of my listings have been based in Saugerties,” she says. “I just love selling people on this town.”
Here, Foster shares four of her favorite things about living in Saugerties.
“Something a lot of people don’t realize unless they’re very familiar with their geography is how close Saugerties is to both the Hudson River and the Catskills,” Foster says. “You have all the
secret swimming holes and great hiking trails, and you can go down to the river or have lunch in the village.” She also points out that as an exit on the NY Thruway, Saugerties also has the convenience of getting in and out of town in just a few minutes—a boon for visiting friends and family or jobs that require a commute north or south.
To Foster, who lived in the heart of the village for many years, one of its best features is its walkability. “You can park your car and walk around to get everything you need,” she says. “That’s very rare among Hudson River towns.” Main and Partition streets are lined with shops that offer a little bit of something for everyone. Their offerings include restaurants, cafes, and bars such as Love Bites Cafe, Miss Lucy’s Kitchen, Ohana Cafe, Pig Bar, Partition Bar, and newcomer Salt & Fire, two bookstores, hardware store P.C. Smith & Son, natural foods grocer Mother Earth’s Storehouse, and a sprinkling of retail, clothing, and vintage stores.
Many people know of the famed Hudson Valley Garlic Festival, a 30-plus year tradition that takes place at Cantine Field every September. But the town has a whole slew of one-of-a-kind events to fill out your social calendar. “There are so many wonderful events going on in Saugerties
all the time,” Foster says. There’s the Sawyer Motors Car Show in July, when over 500 hot rods and classic cars fill Partition and Main streets, HITS-on-the-Hudson equestrian shows throughout the summer, the Mum Festival in October, Holiday in the Village in December, and, new this year, the Snow Moon Festival in February, three days of events to brighten the winter season.
As if all the community events weren’t enough, Foster, who has a toddler, also notes that there are so many programs and activities for kids to enjoy. “I’m learning about all of these wonderful things you can do with small children,” she says. “The Saugerties Public Library has been such a great resource. They have play groups, storytime, arts and crafts, and tons of programming for all ages,” she says.
Another activity Foster enjoys with her daughter is the Saugerties Farmers’ Market, which runs late May through October. The market regularly has live music and a Farm Animal Day in the summer where kids can meet, interact with, and learn about the furry friends living at local Hope Farm. “You get to talk to vendors and build those local connections, which feels great. And when you have a little kid, it’s such a wonderful thing to do.”
Halterassociatesrealty.com
By Anne Pyburn Craig Photos by David McIntyre
With the region facing single-digit temps last month, anyone could have been forgiven for choosing hibernation. But in Saugerties, it was time for the Snow Moon Festival— and, people layered up and came out in significant numbers. “They shifted the 5K and the parade over to Sunday, so it became this grand finale, and it was just so much fun,” says town supervisor Fred Costello. “Every event I went to, I was uplifted. It wasn’t any one person or group; it was the VFW and the American Legion and the churches and businesses, the artists and the library and the theater—so much goodness stepping up to get involved.”
“It was classic Saugerties,” says Yvonne RojasCohen, chair of the arts commission. “We pulled it off—weather, schedule changes, and all. We have so many people who are like-minded and deeply passionate about the community.”
That passion shows up fast and hard when called on. When Terramor, a division of Kampgrounds of America, bought a 77-acre woodland in Saugerties near the town border with Woodstock with the intention of creating a 75-site glamping resort, residents had plenty to say. “Just a terrible proposal, for so many reasons,” says Citizens Against Terramor organizer Susan Marcus Paynter. “And that’s before you even consider the traffic and the noise.”
A January 17 session before the planning board drew in 200 residents. Citizens Against Terramor posted its 22 speeches to YouTube. On February 9, Terramor announced it was withdrawing its proposal. Activists are making plans to fundraise for the parcel’s purchase and protection and packing up their yard signs to ship to a community in California that’s also facing a Terramor proposal.
The 840-acre Winston Farm was purchased in 2020 by three locals who envision a 10,000-seat amphitheater, an adventure park, a technology park, campgrounds, hiking trails, multi-unit housing, and lots for single-family homes and estates. The proposal has drawn both opposition and support; the town board is serving as lead agency for the environmental review process, and there’s a long list of impact studies to complete. (The site is best known for hosting the Woodstock ’94 music festival.)
“Winston Farm is more complicated than most developments,” says Costello. “Not just because of the scope, but because it calls for a zoning change. We’ve declared a full SEQRA process and we’re waiting on the collection of all the data. Once we have it, we can re-engage with the developers, decipher it, and determine what is sustainable. The zoning conversation taking place right now is important—it’s basically unanimous that the current zoning doesn’t meet our goals in the comprehensive plan. We’ve done a lot of work to get to where we are—traffic studies, water studies—and the results are going to be tested right now, with major projects being presented. We’re going to figure out if the work we’ve done can meet the challenge, and where it did not we’ll have to make adjustments. It’s exciting and challenging at the same time.”
Another proposal drawing fire proposes converting a 29-acre retreat owned by the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill into 120 affordable units for seniors. Local residents opposing the change of use say the increased traffic would be out of scale and character with the neighborhood.
The town is also taking impactful steps on animal welfare. “We’re going to develop a new shelter facility,” says Costello. “We partner with a lot of advocacy groups, and our current facility is a regional shelter in a converted maintenance garage. The people operating it are very successful at what they do, but the building’s just not up to standards. So we’re well on our way to designing a new shelter, with over $2 million raised. The community support has been amazing.”
A private individual has stepped up to create a dog park that will open this spring. “Once the grass has matured enough to withstand the use, we’ll be having a ribbon cutting,” Costello says. “It’s walking distance for the majority of village residents, but isolated enough that we don’t think it will disturb anyone.”
Also on the drawing board are a water and sewer extension that will benefit residences, businesses, and the Mount Marion Fire Department, and a new energyefficient air-cooled chiller for the community ice rink that will generate substantial savings. (Price tag: $1.25 million.)
“It’s the first grant the DEC ever wrote for an ice rink chiller, and the director actually came here to make the announcement—it was a neat moment to share.”
Rojas-Cohen’s Arts Commission is in regrouping mode. “There’s a fascinating amount of talent here across all the arts,” she says. “Many amazing artists had already been living here, but now we’re getting many new, dynamic, younger people coming in from New
Come check out the Kiwanis Ice Arena’s hybrid and energy efficient facility that is family-friendly, for all ages, for all levels of skating. From Learn-toSkate Clinics to our Skating School to Youth & Adult Hockey Leagues, our dedicated and talented team of instructors & coaches are ready to assist all ages & abilities. General public ice-skating sessions run daily for one-&half hours each. No skates? No problem. We offer skate rentals, along with helmets, sticks & training aides. Hope to see you soon!
KIWANIS ICE ARENA
6 SMALL WORLD AVENUE, SAUGERTIES, NY 845-247-2590 X 301 | KIWANISICE@SAUGERTIESNY.GOV KIWANISICEARENA.COM
York City, and it’s just growing very quickly, which is fantastic. So we’ve been studying how we can be more effective, bringing the arts to the fore. We’re kicking off a huge marketing campaign, revamping our branding and launching a new, user-friendly website—it should be ready by the end of March—that will be a place to find all the arts events, who’s playing at all the live music venues, how to contact the artists and performers.”
Rojas-Cohen has been a Saugerties resident for almost a decade. “I was living in New Jersey and working on Wall Street, swimming with the sharks if you will, and the arts community here is so warm and welcoming that it was almost alarming at first,” she says.” But it’s genuine, it’s sincere, and it’s beautiful. I think artists have a shared value system that’s big on inclusion, and that impacts the whole community. It’s incredibly vibrant and you engage with that however you want, at your own pace—and there’s a stillness here too, that just doesn’t exist in the city. I feel like a completely different person. It’s lovely.”
Artist Joanne Pagano Weber and her husband Bruce first established a base in Saugerties in 2006 and became full-time residents in 2019. Now they curate the monthly “Dialogues for the Ear and Eye” at the 9W Diner, bringing together a visual artist, a writer, and a musician for each performance. “It feels like a cultural explosion here,” says Joanne, “like Williamsburg a couple decades back, or the East Village before that. Anytime you meet someone in
the arts here, they’re just so thrilled with the environment, the climate of the community. People set foot on this soil and just fall in love.” Bruce, an art historian, is reveling in his work with the Woodstock Art Association after a career in high-powered museums and galleries, writing indepth essays on individual artists of the Byrdcliffe Colony.
Destinations not to miss include the Newberry Artisan Market, home to 30 vendors, and 11 Jane Street Art Center, a multifaceted gallery and performance space. These adaptive repurposings of historic brick buildings in the village are the work of Jennifer Hicks, a multidimensional artist who describes 11 Jane as “dedicated to cross pollination between sculpture, multi-media, and performance, new works and works-in-progress, artist residencies, gallery exhibitions, classes, lectures and events.” Emerge Gallery is showing the second iteration of “Exit 20,” a group exhibit from a long list of Saugerties locals, through March 19. Sculpture park Opus 40 has succeeded in acquiring its adjacent historic property, the home of its creator Harvey Fite, and is gearing up for renovation.
“I look forward to that synergy,” says Costello. “The properties complement each other in a unique way, and I think it’s just going to add to the success of both.”
This year’s street art, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, will go equine with “Hors’n Around
Saugerties,” a nod to the HITS horse shows, whose show jumping competitions are free to the public most Sundays, May through October. Saugerties Stallions baseball, having found new sponsorship, is heading for another season at Cantine Field. Events that had paused for the pandemic—the 4th of July bash, the Sawyer Motors Car Show, the Garlic Festival, and more—have come roaring back to life.
There’s always more going on here than you’d expect. “Not everyone knows it, but there’s a thriving culture of striper fishing here in May,” says village trustee Jeff Helmuth, a 44-year resident and retired engineer who’s got pen-and-ink sketches in the “Exit 20” show. “You can charter a boat and spend the day on the river. In some ways, it’s a step back in time here. The citizenry likes how it’s going, and we manage to retain a bit of an old-school feel.”
“Not that I don’t see the challenges,” says Costello. “But I see so many things that bode well for our future here. Barclay’s Mill was one of the wonders of the world in its day—extraordinary, which is who we are. We’ve been successfully reinventing this place generation by generation for centuries now, and we’ve achieved critical mass when it comes to local talent.”
On February 4, Chronogram held a pop-up portrait shoot at the Newberry Artisan Market in Saugerties, right smack in the midst of the village’s first annual Snow Moon Festival. The turnout was robust, with Saugertesians lining up to be photographed by David McIntyre despite the polar vortex blowing outside. Thanks to all who showed up, the ambitious organizers of the Snow Moon Festival, and a special shout out to the very helpful Jen Hicks and the staff of the Newberry Artisan Market for hosting us. Thanks to Bina’s Cafe for the delicious lunch and Miss Lucy’s for the postshoot cocktails. Join us at the March issue launch party at The Dutch, 253 Main Street, on Tuesday, March 7, from 4:30-7pm.
Top row : Vi Norlander, Emerge Gallery; Beth Shoenfeld, artist and ceramics instructor; Carla Bouvier, author; Sydnie Grusberg Ronga, coartistic director of Round the Bend Theater; Danielle Norina, Stoned Handmade Jewelry and Gifts.
Second row : Drake Page, vegan caterer; Flynn J. Steyer, artist, writer, and musician; Michelle M. Grossbohlin, poet and cashier at Hudson Valley Dessert Company; Gustav Pedersen, furniture designer; James Shiever, SP Scientific.
Third row: Joyce Lanigan, founder, Raw Spirit Fragrances; Susan Robbins, muralist and filmmaker; Rose Dittus, retired nurse; Jan Nagle, fine art photographer and jewelry designer; Sharon Penz, artist and dancer.
Fourth row: Kate Minford, artist and hypnosis practitioner; Katie Cokinos, filmmaker and senior programmer at Upstate Films; Rene Noel Santos, painter; Kristine Gentile-Smith, Overlook Mountain Herbs; Larisa Versace, esthetician.
Bottom row: Mark Smith, executive director, Saugerties Chamber of Commerce, with Chico; Kristina Santamauro, owner, The Rug Shop; Edward Burden, artist; Nancy de Flon, editor and photographer; Barbara Bravo, coordinator, Saugerties Artists Studio Tour.
You might not want to read the names of the tunes—like “Hunter and “Ulmer”—on Hudson-based composer/drummer Bobby Previte’s recent disc Nine Tributes, simply out of the fear of being unintentionally misled. Tributes, performed with a quality combo spearheaded by woodwindist Michael Kammers and ace guitarist Mike Gamble (whose nod to New York noise maestro Elliott Sharp is particularly satisfying), pays heed to string slingers Previte has worked with previously. No thankless task for Gamble! It is certainly a beautiful record, ostensibly jazz, but with many mantra-like overtones of classic Krautrock, so much so that one pines for a (Michael) “Karoli” or “Rother” even though it doesn’t appear. Despite the ambitious titles, Tributes doesn’t veer quite as outside as (Sonny) “Sharrock” as deeply, introspectively inside as Bill “Frisell,” or as self-consciously arty as Wilco collaborator and Jazzmaster visionary Nels “Cline.” Taken on its own terms, though, as, say, a tribute to Previte’s own masterful skills as a tunesmith and leader, right on!
The same goes for the totally solo, weepingly brief, Webb Telescope-inspired electronica of Dark Current. Different than Previte’s other work? Yup! Completely entrancing, like something straight out of Conny Plank’s Cologne studio in 1974? Yup, again! File this in the “Kosmiche” section of your library and it will feel right at home with the motorik rhythms, keyboard washes, and random/not random vocal effects. Even more miraculously, Previte did it completely alone. A soundtrack for now, as we consider stepping off into the Space Race once again.
—Michael EckEach month here we visit with a member of the community to find out what music they’ve been digging.
I pretty much love any and everything Aaron Dilloway puts out, but my absolute favorite and go-to listen is his 2021 collaboration with Lucrecia Dalt, Lucy & Aaron. Victoria Keddie’s recent record, Electrona in Crystallo Fluenti (ECF), was released in conjunction with her recent exhibition at the Fridman Gallery in New York City. The compositions consist of analog synthesizers, field recordings of the ionosphere and environment, and custom-built software mapping and sounding space debris. When I’m in a carefree and joyful mood, Rodney Alan Greenblat’s Near Earth does just the trick, and it was composed and recorded nearby in Catskill. Johann Diedrick’s The Sudden Quiet is a strong sonic response to the early pandemic experience. And, to round out my list, I’ll point to another artist in the “adore any and everything” category: Quintron. We are fortunate to have his Weather Warlock instrument installed at Wave Farm in Acra, but everyone can tune into it anytime at Wavefarm.org/listen and hear his custom-built analog synth produce a drone that is modulated by live changes in the weather. The result is generative, meditative, and even therapeutic.
Galen Joseph-Hunter is a curator, writer, and the executive director of Wave Farm, a Hudson Valleybased transmission arts organization whose major programs include an international Artist Residency Program, Public Art Park, and WGXC 90.7-FM: Radio for Open Ears among much more. Wgxc.org.
(Bridge Recordings)
In the mid-20th century, when the then seemingly incompatible worlds of classical music and jazz were still newly overlapping, cellist, composer, and arranger Alan Shulman (1915-2002), was right there at the crossroads. The musician, who spent his final years in Hudson, came from a conservatory background and played with, among others, the venerated NBC Symphony Orchestra under conductor Arturo Toscanini as well as the popular chamber jazz group the New Friends of Rhythm. During the golden ages of radio and Hollywood and the early years of television, Shulman— who taught orchestration to Nelson Riddle—flowered as a prolific, in-demand composer and arranger. Compiled by his son Jay Shulman, The Tattooed Stranger surveys the maestro’s RKO Pictures soundtrack recordings circa 1946-1950, including the title film noir. It’s a trip back to the years of sweeping, symphonic Silver Screen epics. Also out: harpist Laura Newell’s The Philharmonic Recordings, with Alan and his violinist brother, Sylvan Shulman.
—Peter Aaron
Guided by cousins Dan Prockop (drums) and Rob Flynn (guitar/vocals), Pony in the Pancake have been the sunshine/dream pop stalwarts of the Capital District since making the scene in 2003. In Dreams, a cassette (and digital) release on Canada’s Cuchabata label, refines this sweetly enigmatic band’s template of shimmering synths, jangling guitars, and wide-eyed lyricism. A gently driving cover of Silver Apples’ 1969 classic “I Have Known Love” opens the set in representative fashion. The nine original compositions pleasantly blur together with sweet harmonies, reverb-heavy production, and buoyant optimism, even when tinged with melancholy. Fans of the Beach Boys, the chiming pop of New Zealand’s great Flying Nun label, and the romantic side of the Velvet Underground will enjoy. The band has a prolific back catalog of more than 15 records and more material in the can. A true regional treasure.
—Jeremy SchwartzJai Chakrabarti
KNOPF, 2023, $27
The definition of family means different things to different people. The experiences to create those families also vary for every person. In this story collection, award-winning author Jai Chakrabarti shares 14 poignant tales about a variety of families and what their family needs mean in their cultures and personal circumstances. Chakrabarti, who splits his time between Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley, takes the reader into the world of a closeted gay man in 1980s Kolkata who wants to have a child with his lover’s wife. He cracks open the emotion of a young woman from an Indian village who comes to Brooklyn to care for a biracial toddler. In another, he pulls the reader into the life of an Indian widow who is engaged to a Jewish man and struggling with balancing her own cultural identity with that of her husband’s family. These stories weave heartache, vulnerability, and transformation into eye-opening journeys of family.
Living Above the Store: Six Business Owners in Rosendale, New York
Christine Hunter
STRUDEL MEDIA LIVE, 2022, $24.99
When the work day is done, many people leave the office and head home, but for six business owners in Rosendale, their home is located above their work and they wouldn’t have it any other way. Christine Hunter, an architect and photographer, documents the stories of these distinctive entrepreneurs in her new book Living Above the Store. Using photos and text to tell she profiles residents who adapted older buildings to create their individual live/work spaces. Readers will enjoy the profiles, which include owners of a bakery, a puppet workshop and theater, a candle workshop, a junk store, and two restaurant owners. A portion of the book’s proceeds supports the Rosendale Public Library.
The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z
Tamar Adler SCRIBNER, 2023, $35
Hudson resident Tamar Adler’s new cookbook, a companion to her 2012 bestselling An Everlasting Meal, is as delightful to peruse as it is to find inspiration in its pages after peering into the depths of your fridge in search of lunch. Anyone who has ever been lured into the magic of making their own kombucha or sourdough bread will recognize the ingenious way she can transform any leftover into the “starter” for a scrumptious new meal. With more than 3,500 easy and creative ideas that utilize everything from cooked chicken to kimchi juice, Adler proves that a waste-notwant-not ethos has always been the mother of invention when it comes to the kitchen.
Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western
Mia Mask
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS, 2023, $24.95
When you think of western movies, John Wayne, Chuck Connors, Clayton Moore, and Gene Autry might come to mind. But Mia Mask, professor of film at Vassar College, has taken a deeper dive into African Americans and their impact on western movies with her book, Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western. The book examines the groundbreaking roles from the 1950s to the present that includes the legendary Sidney Poitier for his role as actor and director in Buck and the Preacher. Mask’s continue into contemporary depictions like the videos for Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” as well as the films Django Unchained and The Harder they Fall
FLATIRON BOOKS, 2023, $27.99
Author Jennifer Rosner is back with her newest book that is both heartwrenching and heartwarming. Inspired by true events of Jewish children who were stolen during World War II, Rosner’s novel Once We Were Home tells the stories of three children and their tales of loss and grief. Two decades later they search for answers to their questions about belonging, their memories of what happened and the information about their true families. A resident of the Berkshires, Rosner is a National Jewish Book Award Finalist for her novel The Yellow Bird Sings in 2020.
—Lisa Iannucci and Ashleigh Lovelace
COUNTERPOINT PRESS, 2023, $27
Readers interested in unsolved true-crime mysteries will find a great story in Andrew Amelinckx’s new book Satellite Boy: The International Manhunt for a Master Thief That Launched the Modern Communication Age. Amelinckx, a Catskill-based investigative reporter, brings keen attention to the details of the life and crimes of Georges Lemay. One of Canada’s most elusive criminals, a decadeslong manhunt followed him from Montreal to Miami to Las Vegas and back again. Lemay is credited with the sophisticated robbery of the Bank of Nova Scotia in the summer of 1961, where close to $2 million was stolen from a downtown Montreal location.
Amelinckx unravels the planning and execution of the robbery, describing the purpose-built tools and machinations that helped Lemay and his band of Quebecois grifters pull off the heist. He then follows the protracted manhunt for Lemay tracing him to Havana, his capture in south Florida, his escape from jail to Los Angeles, his recapture in Las Vegas and jailing and release in Canada toward the end of his life. The Lemay chase narrative forms the bulk of Satellite Boy but intersects with another biographical sketch of a man whom Lemay never met but whose career led to important technological advances that ultimately led to Lemay’s apprehension.
Harold Rosen was a brilliant engineer who tenaciously pursued the development of geostationary satellites for Hughes Aircraft in the 1960s. He was responsible for leading a team at Hughes to build the first geosynchronous communications satellite between 1962 and 1965, culminating in the successful launch of Early Bird, the first commercial satellite used to transmit live television between Europe and North America. Rosen’s great achievement, over the weekend of May 2, 1965, was to convince three American networks and the CBC in Canada to broadcast a television special, “This is Early Bird” to showcase the satellite communications capability.
“For the first time in history live television images were relayed simultaneously in both directions across the ocean,” Amelinckx writes. “There was a live split-screen of the New York World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and scenes in Rome; festivals in Italy, Germany, and Sweden; a test of the Concorde’s jet engines; and shots of a tunnel being built under Mont Blanc between Italy and France.”
During the televised special, a most-wanted criminals segment ran, which included Lemay. For the first time, satellite images of high-profile fugitives were broadcast around the world, greatly aiding law enforcement agencies in apprehending border-crossing suspected criminals. “Early Bird” showcased unprecedented cooperation among Scotland Yard, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the FBI, all to the downfall of Georges Lemay, who on that fateful May weekend in 1965 was identified by a boat repairman in a Florida marina and apprehended by Dade County authorities for the Bank of Nova Scotia robbery four years earlier.
Amelinckx toggles back and forth between these two narratives, providing specifics on each of the subjects’ pursuits. Rosen and Lemay never met in person and likely, were not aware of each other. Amelinckx sees a connection between the two, but the narratives felt discrete to me—each revealing but together not revelatory. The author’s writing is most vivid when describing the Bank of Nova Scotia heist and manhunt for Lemay, a colorful subject who charmed and deceived all those around him, including glamourous lovers, petty criminals, and corrupt law enforcement authorities. Lemay’s escape from Dade County Jail is a high point of the book as it reads like a set piece from Ocean’s Eleven
There’s no doubt that the development of the Early Bird satellite helped lead to Georges Lemay’s arrest and that continued advances in surveillance technology have made it harder for fugitives to hide. Though it’s not clear that Rosen’s intent in designing and building Early Bird was to aid international law enforcement agencies, it certainly was one outcome. Progress in the sharing of communications and data collection has bolstered efforts to capture bad actors across borders. While Satellite Boy overreaches at times to connect two disparate narratives, it tells an entertaining story of two mice: One who built a better mousetrap and one who stole the cheese.
—Betsy MauryThe milkweed hung on this year, late seeds in fluff, stuffed in pods shut tight. The beech, as usual, held most of its leaves. Burnished to bronze, then dulled to brown, enough surrendered to lay bare what summer’s green had masked— a nest built by hornets slathering their saliva over fibers gathered from the hillside patch of milkweed, making layers of gray paper to encase their hive. When at last it came to light, how could anyone not see what had been there always, those creatures high in the tree conspiring out of sight who knows how long, milkwood and beech, standing back, standing by?
—Jim TilleyTribute to Dr. WCW
say it! no jazz unless it swings no ideas without things leafless trees that seasons bring doc your poems imagined everything they rose the gray green muted day they fell on streetlight yellow nights hospital shadows words of clay inner essence hidden delight red wheelbarrows mean so much icebox plums you shouldn’t touch paterson n.j. decades of time over the shoulder passing by mind camera holds the light say it! no poems except in flight.
—Daniel Brown
Josette the Seer
She looked as though a thought sat on the bridge of her nose. Her presence was only revealed through glimpses of shadow and reflection throughout her palace. Handsome in countenance, expressing a semblance of long tapping contemplative fingers. A paradox to the cosmos, her effeminate fierceness contrasted her maternal softness. Her eyes were two tiny globes that held many futures and saw them like tunnel vision.
—Jeanine CrookI saw something in the sky last night.
I had no idea what it was.
What else could it be?
Remember the smooth bellies of silver minnows in a bucket Flashing their final S.O.S. before being hooked and cast across placid pools.
Remember the crawfish skirting backwards into murky depths Desperately seeking stone shelters to escape tiny fingers.
Remember the flattened garden snake whose worst mistake was basking too long on a winding country road.
Remember your first birthday cake, hopefully ablaze, one bright beacon standing straight at the center, Beckoning a new year with one fleeting wave of flame.
Remember long bike rides to the corner store, before sunset, when the first dim star winks into view, And the night sky settles in to welcome you into her arms.
Remember your first kiss, an awkward embrace, falling head first into the unknown, Flushed face slapped with a sudden flash of freedom and exhilaration.
Remember your first experience of death, a cloud of confusion crippling your senses, Everything so quiet and so loud, cementing you in time, until you slowly begin to creep toward the sun.
Remember being an outcast, slipping out into the avenues of night, trying not to be seen Groping through the dark for anything familiar, Peering into warm windows of homes you don’t belong.
Remember trying to be strong, coaxing a smile as fearful as a cornered cat, Trying to remind yourself that no one would hurt you.
Embers covered with ashes, thinking about tomorrow the banked embers glow
—Jennifer HowseLove Me
not deliriously as a single summer would
But evenly as the four seasons God tilted into rhythm
—Ryan BrennanBirthday March
March March along March along again to 87
On the second day in March then To 88 March, damn it. MARCH.
—Anthony G. HerlesGoya’s Dog
At first, I think us the same— Both uncertain before the Whirlwind, Our whimpering sounds alike, Our ears hanging humbled. What do we both see That we don’t yet understand? Your loyalty, greater than mine
Makes you look up in earnest; Vanity, unknown to you, Makes me fear the gathering gale. And then I realize— You are more Job than I. You have done
All that was ever asked of you, While I have not.
You loved your Master’s voice
While I barked and snarled— You waited to be received
While I scratched at the door. And now we are both here
Trembling for different reasons Before what comes next.
—Kemp BattleUnder the Weather if I told you, we both know you would not understand doubt shaves your cheeks, nicks and the cut oozes dismissal
I can weather your silence scrub my own sentences restrain my raw blatant need my wild tongue wanting speech but there you are, scouting for clouds, edges blurred, muted by imminent rain.
—Rachel R. BaumIn the Valley
I walk north where garlic mustard grows with heart-shaped leaves, clusters of tiny white stars. Their slender stalks border the trail into the woods past a brook where the deer drink. Back in Manhattan they nod to me on my solitary walks along the river, reminding me of the path to your house.
I flow like the Hudson, Mahicantuck in the Lenape tongue, river that moves in both directions.
—Joanne Grumet WisdomFor years, I only see how messy you clutter the curb and drain.
Today, I watch how you bid goodbye to the sprig, waltz with gentle breeze, make a turn, head high, shoulders back, perfect your posture, rise and fall, glide to land and rest.
—Livingston RossmoorIn the biblical sense this place is old and very tired But where can a country go and rest when it is tired?
In the desert time means night and day
As if the hours in between were asleep and very tired
No one catches a face in a mirror without looking for it Love will make a prisoner of that face when it is tired
So many ways to separate so many ways to be apart But gaze at the sun long enough and all is one. I’m tired
There was a man who walked everywhere with his dog Till someone said sit for a while, your dog must be very tired
Nothing that comes will not at some point go Keep yourself ready Jim for soon you will not be tired anymore
—Jim SavioI look up, study the ghost signs high on buildings from another era everywhere here in Saugerties, not announcing but whispering now of its past.
Sad enough for these old Victorians some doors and windows blemishes now that they have been bricked up or rudely cemented over.
Still these archaic ads remain visible though fading, out of focus, hardly ever catching any attention. Who hankers for Bull Durham tobacco now?
Ghosts calling: Dr JH Reed, 1890; W Porter; Abbott’s; Van Buskirk’s Drugstore, 1895. No one is buying.
O to have walked through London’s, bought that 5c Owl cigar, roamed through FL Russell’s Plant No. 2, touched the Rose Leaf and Black Book.
Creeping ivy will soon consume many of these ghost signs, even those rooftop messages wiped out long ago, painted over in white, chipping on red walls.
—Patrick Hammer, Jr.Last summer I experienced a solid dose of outrageous art and memorable exhibitions at several art organizations around the region, inspiring this profile on the work of three women and locations in particular: Laurie de Chiara, cofounder of ArtPort Kingston; Stef Halmos, founder of Foreland; and Helen Toomer, founder of Stoneleaf Retreat and Upstate Art Weekend. Teeming with creative energy and artistic connectivity, the Hudson Valley is the creative place to be and women especially are leading the way in the ever-expanding arts scene. Chronogram is pleased to shine a light on the contributions of these three powerhouse arts professionals who are deeply committed to their communities.
The Activator: Laurie de Chiara
A native of New York City, Laurie de Chiara is the cofounder of ArtPort Kingston and a seasoned leader in the arts. She relocated to Kingston in 2015 and the trajectory of her international career includes having worked at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, running her own gallery in Manhattan, and organizing numerous shows and artistic collaborations in Berlin during her 13 years as a resident there. “What can I add?” was the first question de Chiara asked herself upon arriving in the Hudson Valley. Since then, she has taken bold steps to realize her vision. She established de Chiara Projects, a platform for artistic projects and opportunities.
When she found a massive—but derelict—building on Kingston’s waterfront, she knew it was her mission to activate the building and the space inside. Her goal from the start of ArtPort Kingston has been to gather people together around art. De Chiara takes a strong curatorial angle with the shows presented at ArtPort Kingston and she considers “art as inclusive experience” to be paramount. De Chiara notes the invaluable input of the people who have been here their whole lives combined with the influx of those who moved to the Hudson Valley
over the last 30 years. She considers the region to be an exciting territory that’s also a relaxed environment, where folks can take time to linger and experience art without pretense.
ArtPort Kingston already boasts a packed annual schedule (two shows, “Over Under Sideways Down” and Jacinta Bunnell’s “Latchkey Latch Hook Township” are on view through March 26), yet the big news is their upcoming Midtown Kingston expansion. ArtPort Kingston is growing to incorporate a new art venture and it’s currently in the process of creating a multifunctional arts and cultural center in the vibrant district of Midtown Kingston anchored by hub art gallery to include surrounding support structures for artist studios, pop-up events/performances venues, outdoor eateries in adaptable modular structures plus live/ work artist residency with integrated affordable units for creative community driven vision (all on track to open later this year).
The Artist/Developer: Stef Halmos
Like many artists looking to maximize space on a budget, Stef Halmos’s hunt for a studio in the greater New York area brought her to the Hudson Valley.
Hailing from a family of real estate developers with an eye for rehab and revitalization, she fell in love with an antiquated mill on the river in Catskill and purchased the building and surrounding environs in 2017. She devoted a year and a half into transforming the massive 85,000-square-foot locale into what is now Foreland: a sprawling campus with three historic buildings that include exhibition spaces, artist’s studios, and offices designed for art-making, seasonal public programming, cultural partnerships, private events, and other specially curated projects. Commenting on Foreland’s special ethos, Halmos considers it to be “a microcosm of the bigger American ecosystem: all sorts of people, economics, and ideology in a very small town, trying to navigate an unknown future. People are unafraid to voice their concerns.”
Despite being the visionary behind the Foreland concept—and incurring the necessary expenses to remodel the location into the magnificent infrastructure that it is today— Halmos takes strength from the insight and integrity of the “people who have spent their lives investing in the betterment of the Hudson Valley.” Considering the region to be a place where “people take big risks,” she comments, there is no doubt that Foreland
simultaneously emboldens the local art scene while contributing to the larger profile of the global art sphere. Halmos’s desire to cultivate a welcoming environment for the creative community that has coalesced at Foreland is reflected in the remarkable roster of professionals who spend time there. Current studio tenants are a veritable Who’s Who of the local art scene. To name a few: Nicole Cherubini, Marc Swanson, Zia Anger, Laleh Khorramian, and Sky Hopinka. Foreland is now accepting applications for its “Kunsthalle,” a 6,000-square-foot culture hall that will be part of Foreland’s programming for 2023 Upstate Art Weekend.
As an avid arts organizer, supporter of the arts, and the founder of the Upstate Art Weekend (UAW), Helen Toomer’s desire to foster greater connections among art organizations and artists in the Hudson Valley is a testimony to her generous spirit. Having realized its third run in 2022, Upstate Art Weekend has witnessed an enthusiastic response from the local art community, with over 145 participants last year including regional organizations such as Dia:Beacon, Storm King, and Art Omi. This year, UAW aims to keep the momentum over
four days (July 21-24) with a robust program currently in development. Toomer’s original goal with the Upstate Art Weekend concept was merely to connect the dots between arts in our region. A native of England, Toomer moved to New York City in 2007 and lived there for a decade. During that time, she was involved in organizing art fairs, exhibitions, and special events among other professional collaborations. In 2016, she and her husband, Eric Romano, were priced out of Brooklyn and they started looking for something upstate. Within a year they had purchased land and opened the Stoneleaf Retreat in the Catskills, an artist residency and creative space for women/womxn and their families. Since 2017, Stoneleaf Retreat has hosted 44 artists (including nine artists with children in a family residency capacity), offering studio space and a serene setting for residents to experience what they need for the duration of their stay. Toomer describes Stoneleaf and the surrounding nature there as a “gift to share with artists” and she wholeheartedly believes in the “value of the in-between time” as necessary for artist’s sense of self amid the demands of contemporary family life. Toomer says that she feels she has lived 100 lives already, “yet the thread among all those incarnations has been art and artists.”
Florist
March 2. Tapped as a “Band to Watch” and one of “50 Best New bands” in 2015 by Stereogum, Brooklyn indie folk group Florist swiftly rose to even greater heights, grabbing the number 34 slot on Noisey.com’s “100 Best Albums of 2016” list for their debut album, The Birds Outside Sang. But perhaps it was when Beyonce sampled that release’s “Thank You” that the band truly arrived in the pop world. Florist, which does this early March date at Colony and is fronted by singer and solo artist Emily Sprague, put out its acclaimed self-titled fourth album in 2022. (The Felice Brothers return March 18; Sophie B. Hawkins sings March 25.) 7pm. $19.25. Woodstock. Colonywoodstock.com
Soulside
March 11. Newly reunited Dischord Records band Soulside was a major presence on the late-1980s Washington, DC, punk scene, although outside the Beltway the unit is mainly remembered as the precursor to influential 1990s quartet Girls Against Boys. But the legacy of Soulside, which plays tiny Tubby’s this month, transcends the profile the group had back in the day: The group's measured, powerful pioneering style of post-hardcore heavily informed the sound of betterknown, subsequent DC bands Fugazi and Jawbox. In 2022 the reassembled quartet released their fourth album, A Brief Moment in the Sun. (The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis jam out March 12; Godcaster, Open Head, and Zannie blow up March 30.) 7pm. $20. Kingston. Tubbyskingston.com
Teddy Thompson and Jenni Muldaur
March 18. Contemporary folk music is marked by a handful of dynasties: the Guthries, the Taylors, the Wainwrights—and the Thompsons and Muldaurs. Singer and guitarist Teddy is the son of English icons Richard and Linda Thompson, while singer Jenni is the daughter of American greats Maria and Geoff Muldaur. The pair will dip into the cozy confines of the Philipstown Depot Theatre for this special program of songs made famous by Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn, and others from Nashville’s golden era. Accompanying the duo will be violinist David Mansfield, who has toured with Bob Dylan and other top names. 8pm. $30. Garrison. Philipstowndepottheatre.org
Vinnie Martucci Trio featuring Laurel Masse
March 18. “Performing gives me the perfect blend of interaction with people, a sense of spiritual direction and the intricacies of mathematics all wrapped into one thing,” Vinnie Martucci told All About Jazz in 2003. “When you’re improvising, and things are flying all around the room, the place gets energized, you’re communicating with the audience, and they literally resonate with it.” And so it will be on this night, when the pianist and SUNY New Paltz music professor is joined by former Manhattan Transfer vocalist Laurel Masse, bassist Rich Syracuse, and drummer Jeff Siegel at eatery and always-reliable Hudson Valley jazz spot Lydia’s Cafe. (The Matt Munisteri Group jams March 11; the Marty Elkins Quartet appears March 25.) 7pm. Call for cover information. Stone Ridge. Lydias-cafe.com
Elliott Sharp/Donald Sturge Anthony
McKenzie II
March 25. Presenter Elysium Furnace Works kicks off its 2023 season in style at the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center with this duet of guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Elliott Sharp and drummer/percussionist Donald Sturge Anthony McKenzie II. A key player in New York’s Downtown 1970s and 1980s avant-garde, Sharp has released nearly 100 recordings as a soloist and with bands like Carbon, Terraplane, and the High Sheriffs of Blue. Called a “master of deep-pocket hip-hop, funk, jazz, and rock” by Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, McKenzie is a long-time collaborator of both Sharp and Reid, as well as Marc Ribot, Pharoahe Monch, P.Diddy, Gravediggaz, and others. (Angelica Sanchez plays St. Andrew and St. Luke Episcopal Church in Beacon April 15.) 8pm. $20, $30. Poughkeepsie. Cunneen-hackett.org
Bruce Hornsby
March 23. In the 1980s, singer-songwriter and pianist Bruce Hornsby and his band the Range zestfully softened the Top 40 with the inescapable adult contemporary hits “The Way It Is” and “Mandolin Rain.” After winning a 1987 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, Hornsby won further Grammys for Best Bluegrass Recording (1990’s “The Valley Road”) and Best Instrumental Performance (1994’s “Barcelona Mona”). The Virginia-born musician, who performs here at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, has also worked with bluegrass titan Ricky Skaggs and, perhaps most notably, as a touring member of the Grateful Dead, performing over 100 shows with the band. (Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox lights up March 15; Big Bad Voodoo Daddy swings March 21.) 7:30pm. $35.50$79.50. Troy. Troymusichall.org
Boston-born Rob Lundberg’s photos, many of them of performers taken in his interim home of New York, have appeared in The Huffington Post, Paste, No Depression, and other publications. Now living in Beacon, the photographer will present “Uncontaminated Sound: Reflections,” a six-week exhibition at the Howland Cultural Center of his work that will open on March 4 at 7pm and feature live performances by musicians Jeffrey Lewis and Indigo Sparke. Tickets for the opening event are $30 in advance and $40 day of show. I interviewed Rob Lundberg by email.
—Peter AaronThis is your third “Uncontaminated Sound” exhibit. Where does the title come from?
It must have been around spring in 2018, I was mulling over how to contextualize my work up to that point. Sitting in a cafe in Peekskill, I reflected upon my shooting style and my intent in working with the medium. What came up was this notion of the raw, the real, an untouched purity of the performer prior to performing. Thus, the term “Uncontaminated Sound” matched perfectly with my ethos and vision of what I was attempting to accomplish with the lens.
What percentage of the photographs in the show is from the work you’ve done for publications and what percentage is from outside of that? How did you decide which images to use, and how do they fit together as a collective statement?
I’d say with this exhibit, there’s a nice mixture of both. I wanted to attempt to bring forth a visual stream of consciousness type experience stemming from of about 63 pieces of various moments and sizes. I’ve attempted to select pieces from a chronological standpoint, but in the end I placed more importance on moments and stills that were important to me, along with rehashing a few already set to show. These paired with two live
performances on the opening night, I hope will deliver an impactful immersive experience which reflects my reality.
How long have you been taking pictures? What drew you to photography?
I have always been a keen observer of my surroundings, but it wasn’t until I made the move from Boston to Brooklyn that I picked up the camera for serious endeavors. Being in a new city with tons of visual stimuli, I started immersing myself in this new environment and its culture; the camera was the best tool to record my experiences. That was late 2016. Due to a few fortuitous interactions in 2017 I was off and running, taking on music assignments for Paste and showing my first image in Chelsea that same year. So, now it’s been about five or six years of photographic work. Wow, time moves swiftly.
You’re also a visual artist who works in drawing, painting, charcoals, and digital formats. In what ways do these other mediums influence your work in photography, and vice versa?
Each exploration with any respective medium for me ties into all my other investigations. For example, with charcoal and paint I tend to create figures in a portraitlike frame, which tends to flow into my photo work as they all tie into my fascination with capturing the spirit and energy of a subject. I guess all these methods are ways for my curiosity to navigate my intrigue with the human condition.
The show centers on photos you’ve taken of musicians and other performers, but the advance examples we’ve seen don’t include any “live action” shots of the artists on stage; instead, they seem to show the artists in repose or in more candid moments, perhaps before or after they’ve performed.
PHOTOGRAPHER ROB LUNDBERG’S “UNCONTAMINATED SOUND” EXHIBIT IN BEACON March 4-April 9 Howlandculturalcenter.org
Is this a conscious approach?
To simply explain I generally send along more intimate stills as I like to present moments of these performers that most don’t get to see. However, I do indeed have a deep archive (I’m not sure of the exact number, though must be in the high hundreds if not closer to a thousand) of performance stills. Which, time permitting, I attempt to post on my social accounts, and I also have a dedicated section on my website of such work. Of course, with the upcoming show I do hope to have included a good portion a performance-oriented shots paired with candids and portraits.
“Uncontaminated Sound” is also the name of your podcast interview series. What can you tell us about the series?
With the interview series, the conversations I have are presented completely unscripted (uncontaminated), unedited, and off-the-cuff, besides lowering the saturation for video. The series is really just me being myself and waxing poetically with interesting folks like musicians, educators, artists, photographers, authors, filmmakers, plus more. I find it refreshing to just be myself in a digital world of overt over production and falseness, and really it has been my way to connect with people during these post-COVID days.
How has being in the region shaped your more recent work?
Here in the Hudson Valley there’s no lack of serious artisans, and I have been fortunate to meet and befriend super-talented folks who have helped me push my work to a higher degree. Also, having space away from the city has allowed me to focus on my work on a deeper level, by giving my mind the quietness it needs to reflect upon my why, my narrative.
John Hatfield | New York, NY
Paula Hayes | Athens, NY
Robin Kahn | West Kill, NY
Three artists embracing the urgency of note taking, jotting and gathering meaningful accumulations, resulting in poetic and rhapsodic aids to memory and loudly embracing the aura of evanescent quietude.
The American standard of beauty is highly dependent on Photoshop. The models on the cover of Vogue —God bless ‘em—have been surgically “improved” without ever seeing a scalpel: no moles, no wrinkles, no scars, no pimples. And never a bulging belly. But not everyone accepts this vision of perfection. The “body liberation” movement seeks to revise our cultural biases. One of its members is artist Lindsey Guile, whose show, “Uncensored,” is at the Garrison Art Center until March 19.
Guile makes charcoal portraits, between six-and-a-half and seven feet tall. “I think the largest one is 80 inches,” she explains. “I would go larger, but that’s the limit on my ceiling right now.” The works are on paper, which Guile buys in 30 foot rolls. There are no frames; the drawings hang from the wall by clips. They stand taller than the people viewing them, gazing down with commanding or imploring looks. Guile compares them to caryatids, the ancient Greek sculptural figures—always women—who supported the roofs of temples. “I look at them as guardians,” she says.
Guile grew up in the tiny town of Sandy Creek, on Lake Ontario near the Canadian border. There were 86 students in her graduating high school class. Guile originally intended to study history, but an art class led her down the rocky road to megaportraiture. Today she teaches painting, figure drawing, color theory, and ceramics at Dutchess County Community College.
The series of charcoal portraits began in 2014 while Guile was in the MFA program at SUNY New Paltz and recovering from an eating disorder. Friends had suggested that she draw herself, but she had steadfastly refused, embarrassed that she wasn’t as slim as Kate Upton. Finally, she made an attempt: “I drew myself from my collarbone to my thighs, just nude, and it was so difficult. I was crying, snotting…” Guile’s fellow students entered her studio, praised her drawing, and she was shocked. The selfportrait proved cathartic.
Guile moved beyond self-portraiture. She finds subjects through word-of-mouth or social media and invites them for a photography session—which also becomes a conversation. “Every body is different, and every body has a story,” Guile observes. She hints at these stories in her titles: Assured, Valiant, Brazen, Tentative. (The titles also protect the identities of the models.) Each subject chooses her own wardrobe; the backdrops are white. There are about 20 pieces in the series—a selection of these will appear in the “Uncensored” show at Garrison Art Center. Guile doesn’t restrict herself to plussize models. “I’ll draw anyone,” she says. The series includes numerous body types, but so far no men.
Sometimes the sessions become a breakthrough for the “star” of the artwork. “There’s one of the drawings, its title is Defiance; the model for that came to the show, and she got really emotional and said, ‘You made me look beautiful.’ And I said, ‘You know what? I didn’t draw anything that wasn’t already there,’” Guile recounts. In a culture where everyone carefully curates their Facebook image, drawing someone as they actually look is a revolutionary act.
Guile’s portraiture may have political consequences, but it’s not propaganda. The work succeeds on purely aesthetic grounds. To begin with, rarely does one see a drawing so large: an intimate, tactile image that’s also a monument. Guile’s sculptural sense and flair for the dramatic remind me of Rodin. It’s remarkable how accurately she can reproduce tattoos. “When I was drawing the figure as a young student, I thought: ‘How wonderfully different each model is! Each person gives me a challenge,’” Guile recalls. She’s retained the desire to meet each artistic challenge.
—SparrowLINDSEY GUILE’S “UNCENSORED” AT GARRISON ART CENTER
Through March 19
“Falcon Ridge”
March 3-4 at the Old Dutch Church, Kingston
A local history project, examining two multi-racial communities that existed in the hills west of Kingston between 1840 and 1950, has been fictionalized as a play by community theater artist David Gonzalez. (Theater aficionados may have caught Gonzales’s chronicle of the immigrant experience, “Hard Dinero,” at the Rosendale Theater in October.) Based on the work of historians Dr. Wendy Saul and Dr. Lorna Smedman, “Falcon Ridge” tells the story of Eagle’s Nest and Lapla, two enclaves determined to exist outside the blinkered mores of their time and ostracized for the courage to live by their own convictions. Renowned blues musician Guy Davis wrote original music for the play, which he’ll perform along with traditional music. Hurleymtn.com
March 10-12 at UPAC, Kingston
A quick glimpse through the looking glass, at March 2020, reveals a dance company deep in rehearsals on the UPAC stage. En route to Wonderland, they tumbled down the proverbial rabbit hole after the pandemic shuttered theaters across the globe. Almost three years to the date, the Catskill Ballet Theatre springs to life in their first professional performance since the plague first hit. The New York City-based Camila Rodrigues stars in a trio of shows featuring students from the Ballet School of Kingston—and the whole lot is grinning like the Cheshire Cat in anticipation. Upac.org
Through March 12 at Philipstown Depot Theater, Cold Spring
A playground skirmish—involving a pair of 11-year-old boys, one stick and two busted front teeth—sets the stage for Yasmine Reza’s riveting play, “Le Dieu du Carnage,” originally penned in French and first published in 2008. When two sets of parents from wildly different backgrounds meet to discuss the mishap (which began with one boy refusing the other entry to his “gang”), their childish ways dissolve into chaos—instigated by irrational arguments surrounding loaded topics like sexism, racial prejudice, and homophobia.
Philipstowndepottheatre.org
March 10-April 2 at Bridge Street Theater, Catskill
Four fabulous friends take to the Catskill stage for a series of original, one-person performances. All. Month. Long. Lauren Letellier kicks things off with “The Village Cidiot,” a fish-out-of-water tale about relocating
upstate, while Melinda Buckley dances around themes of dementia, middle age, and stepping into one’s light in “Mother (and Me).” Michael Garfield Levine’s “Spinning My Wheels” is a roller coaster ride rife with addiction, mental illness, and a return to sanity while Daniel Hall Kuhn delves into, “the horror, the horror!” of the original master of macabre in “Alone: The Stories from Edgar Allan Poe.” Bridgest.org
“The Restaurant”
March 11-12 at the Rosendale Cafe Entirely unscripted and totally improvised, this play— directed by Amy Poux—and performed in the nowdefunct Rosendale Cafe—aims to satiate audience members’ appetite for contemporary, cutting-edge theater. Created by emerging performers in a dynamic ensemble process (many service industry vets like former Boitson’s owner Maria Phillipis), this play takes the crowd on a journey into the equally ridiculous and realistic world of a restaurant on the brink of something… either big failure or epic success. While food, love, heartbreak, and music are all on the menu, the show will never be the same twice. Ever. Snacks included. Eventbrite.com/e/the-restaurant-tickets-535422281457
“The Vagina Monologues”
March 11 at Howland Cultural Center, Beacon
This episodic play, written by Eve Ensler—who now goes by V—first splashed onto the scene in 1996 in the wake of hundreds of interviews with women about their views on sex and relationships. What began as a celebration of femininity (in which the playwright performed every monologue herself) quickly became a movement to stop violence against women. In the ensuing decades, the monologues have evolved to touch on myriad issues from masturbation and menstruation to genital mutilation and rape. Still, a recurring theme remains: Women’s empowerment is deeply connected to their sexuality. Period. Beacon-based actors, writers, and artists perform V’s monologues in partnership with Beacon Litfest. Howlandculturalcenter.org
“Our Red Book”
March 14 at Bard College’s Fisher Center
For over two decades, Rachel Kauder Nalebuff has scoured the globe in search of stories stemming from a single origin: women and their monthly bleeding. What began as an oral history project (inspired by a harrowing coming-of-age tale told by her own great aunt) ultimately gave rise to something tangible. “Our Red Book,” a people’s history of menstruation, is a collection of essays and artworks from a panoply of perspectives and identities, bound by a common thread: our society’s shifting relationships to family, cultural
March 25 at Hudson Hall
Move over Big Top: the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus— dubbed the other greatest show on Earth—shines a spotlight on creating original, collaborative circus experiences that nurture transformation (in people and communities) by centering joy and wonder, healing, and beauty. From trapeze artists and jugglers to magicians and daredevils, performers boast impeccable feats of balance and other hairraising stunts—replete with traditional top hats and sword swallowing, to boot! Whether you catch the family-friendly matinee or adults-only evening show, this is no circus you’ve ever seen before. Hudsonhall.org
Photo by Maike Shulz
inheritance, gender, aging, and liberation. The event will feature a panel discussion with Somah Haaland (a queer Indigenous artist and community organizer from New Mexico); Victoria Lawis (a freelance journalist focusing on women’s incarceration); and Daaimah Mubashshir (Bard’s current playwright-in-residence). Fishercenter.bard.edu
Jim Breuer
March 30 at Paramount Hudson Valley in Peekskill
It’s been 25 years since funny guy Jim Breuer delivered his first official stand-up gig in Clearwater, Florida. He gained national attention as Goat Boy on “Saturday Night Live” and in Half-Baked alongside Snoop Dogg and Dave Chappelle before releasing a series of Comedy Central specials—including “Let’s Clear the Air” in 2009, one of the highest-rated comedy specials in the network’s history. These days, catch Breuer late night (his roster includes appearances with Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon—no joke).
Paramounthudsonvalley.com
Woodstock Bookfest
March 30-April 2
Lovers of literature, rejoice: The region’s premiere celebration of books returns live and in-person after a three-year hiatus. The long (awaited) weekend is bound by a story slam at Bearsville Theatre to start and the always fabulous “Memoir a Go-Go” to close, plus myriad chapters in between—featuring authors Neil Gaiman, Abigail Thomas, Alexander Chee, Mark Whitaker, Gail Straub, Ann Hood, and Amy Ferris, just to name a few— plus two rounds of cocktails and lively conversation at Little Bites, Big Libations. Woodstockbookfest.com
Avant-Garde-Arama Festival
March 31-April 1 at Lace Mill Gallery in Kingston
The seeds for this smorgasbord of short works were sown in the East Village, circa 1980, by performance artist Charles Dennis at the legendary P.S. 122. Fast forward four decades and Dennis is back at the helm of an informal, cabaret setting featuring two evenings of dance, performance art, theater, music, and more. Local names run the gamut from jazz painter Nancy Ostrovsky and monologist Claire Porter to improv pianist Peter Wexler. Dennis himself will take to the stage for a pair of duets—one with a stack of lumber, the other with plastic waste—accompanied by Sal Cataldi, aka Spaghetti Eastern Music, on electric guitar. Cash bar. Eventbrite.com/e/avant-garde-arama-visits-the-lace-milltickets-543038551927
—Hannah Van Sickle and Brian K. Mahoney
JOHN GRIEBSCH
PETER HOFFMAN
JOY TAYLOR
CINDA SPARLING
RALPH STOUT
JOE RICHARDS
on view thru APRIL 16 www.carriehaddadgallery.com
FINE ART SERVICES
FINE ART SERVICES
FINE ART SERVICES
FINE ART SERVICES
GERMANTOWN, NY
GERMANTOWN, NY SINCE 2015
GERMANTOWN, NY
SINCE 2015
GERMANTOWN, NY
GERMANTOWN, NY SINCE 2015
SINCE 2015
SINCE 2015
INSTALLATION HANDLING PACKING CRATING TRANSPORTATION
INSTALLATION HANDLING PACKING CRATING TRANSPORTATION
INSTALLATION HANDLING PACKING CRATING TRANSPORTATION
TRANSPORTATION INSTALLATION HANDLING PACKING CRATING
INSTALLATION HANDLING PACKING CRATING TRANSPORTATION
FINE ART SERVICES INSTALLATION HANDLING PACKING CRATING TRANSPORTATION
Providing fine art services for artists, collectors and gallerists in the Hudson Valley, Massachusetts, Connecticut and surrounding region
Providing fine art services for artists, collectors and gallerists in the Hudson Valley, Massachusetts, Connecticut and surrounding region
Providing fine art services for artists, collectors and gallerists in the Hudson Valley, Massachusetts, Connecticut and surrounding region
Providing fine art services for artists, collectors and gallerists in the Hudson Valley, Massachusetts, Connecticut and surrounding region
Providing fine art services for artists, collectors and gallerists in the Hudson Valley, Massachusetts, Connecticut and surrounding region
518-822-7244 athensfas.com
518-822-7244 athensfas.com
518-822-7244 athensfas.com
518-822-7244 athensfas.com
518-822-7244 athensfas.com
1053 MAIN STREET GALLERY
1053 MAIN STREET, FLEISCHMANNS
“Departures.” Group show. Through March 12.
ADS GALLERY
105 ANN STREET, NEWBURGH
“’Cause We Be Complicated: Dialogues of Black Artists.” Multimedia exhibition curated by Jonette O’Kelley Miller and Karen E. Gersch featuring Lilian Alberti, Caril Bash, Khalidah Carrington, Gerardo Castro, Melissa Small Cooer, Ted Dixon, Stevenson Estie, Collette V. Fournier, Oluwafiropo Margaret Ibitoye, F. Geoffrey Johnson, Paula Mans, Emmanuel Ofori, Ransome, Yvonne P. Lamar Rogers, and Auguster D. Williams, Jr. Through March 3.
ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY
ART MUSEUM
258 MAIN STREET, RIDGEFIELD, CT
“Kathleen Ryan: Head and Heart.” Large-scale sculptures. Through May 14.
ART OMI
1405 COUNTY ROUTE 22, GHENT
“Shared Space—Collective Practices.” Curated by Julia van den Hout, the show presents the work of four international collaborative design practices—WIP, FUNdaMENTAL Design Build Initiative, Colloqate Design, and Assemble— bringing people together through communal work to realize projects with broader social impact. Through May 7.
ARTPORT KINGSTON
108 E STRAND ST, KINGSTON
“Over Under Sideways Down.” Work by Kate Stone, Jodie Goodnough, Melissa Dadorian, Susan Hamburger, Ali Shrago-Spechler, Ben Quesnel, Laura Petrovich-Cheney, Kayla Thompson, Karolyn Hatton, Amy Ritter, Michael Scoggins, and Charlotta Westergren.
“Latchkey Latch Hook Township.” Fiber installation by Jacinta Bunnell.
Both show through March 26.
ARTS MID-HUDSON GALLERY
696 DUTCHESS TURNPIKE, SUITE F, POUGHKEEPSIE
“Peg Leg Bates: The Performance Years.” Photos of the performances of the renowned dancer. Through March 9.
BEACON ARTIST UNION GALLERY
506 MAIN STREET, BEACON
“A Confrontation of Absence.” Prints by Eliana Szabo. March 11-April 2.
“Jill Shoffiett: Paintings and Drawings.” Fantastic landscapes. March 11-April 2.
BILL ARNING EXHIBITIONS / HUDSON VALLEY
17 BROAD STREET, KINDERHOOK
“Frozen Warnings, A Salon for the Chilly Months.” Through March 5.
“Notational.” Work by John Hatfield, Robin Kahn, and Paula Hayes. March 11-May 13.
BUSTER LEVI GALLERY
121 MAIN STREET, COLD SPRING
“Connections I.” Works by Rick Brazill, Jenne Currie and Lucille Tortora: paintings, photographs, and wall sculptures. March 3-26.
CARRIE CHEN GALLERY
281 MAIN ST LEVEL 3, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA
“A Perfect Echo.” Paintings by Nancy Hagin and Stephen Niccolls. Through March 25.
CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY
622 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
“In the Balance.” Paintings by Joy Taylor, Cinda Sparling, Ralph Stout, and Joseph Richards; wall sculpture by Peter Hoffman; and photographs by John Griebsch. Through April 16th.
THE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK
474 BROADWAY, KINGSTON
“Race, Love, and Labor (an excerpt).” Photographs by Endia Beal, William Cordova, LaToya
Ruby Frazier, Tommy Kha, Deana Lawson, Pixy Liao, Dawit Petros, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Xaviera Simmons, and Joanna Tam, artists who participated in CPW’s artist-in-residency program. Through March 5.
CLARK ART INSTITUTE
225 SOUTH STREET, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA
“Portals: The Visionary Architecture of Paul Goesch.” March 18-June 11
CREATE CATSKILL GALLERY
398 MAIN STREET, CATSKILL
“Stepping Out of History: Telling Our Own Story.” Exhibition of work by women-identifying artists. March 3-April 9.
D’ARCY SIMPSON ART WORKS
409 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
“Elements of a View by Zach Neven.” Minimalist landscapes. Through March 11.
“Why Look?”. Paintings by Xan Peters. March 25-April 30.
DAVID ROCKEFELLER CREATIVE
ARTS CENTER GALLERY
200 LAKE ROAD, TARRYTOWN
“Inspired Encounters: Women Artists and the Legacies of Modern Art.” Pairs pieces by a dozen groundbreaking women artists of the postwar period with new commissions of contemporary art presented publicly for the first time. Through March 19.
DIA BEACON
3 BEEKMAN STREET, BEACON
“Jack Whitten: The Greek Alphabet Series.” Forty works from Whitten’s Greek alphabet series. Through July 10.
ELIJAH WHEAT SHOWROOM
195 FRONT STREET, NEWBURGH
“Amplifier.” Installation of oversized paintings by Marton Nemes. Through March 19.
EMERGE GALLERY
228 MAIN STREET, SAUGERTEIS.
“Exit 20.” Group show of Saugerties artists. Through March 19.
GARRISON ART CENTER
23 GARRISON’S LANDING, GARRISON
“Anna West : Blue Edge.” Paintings by Anna West. Through March 19.
“Lindsey Guile: Uncensored.” Figure drawings. Through March 19.
GREEN
92 PARTITION STREET, SAUGERTIES
“Margaret G. Still: New Paintings.” Road Trip Americana in paintings on canvas, wood, and paper.
GRIT GALLERY
115 BROADWAY, NEWBURGH
“Figures, Burden, Loneliness.” Work by Morris Shuman, David Patino, and David Lionheart. March 4-April 23.
HUDSON AMTRAK STATION
69 SOUTH FRONT STREET, HUDSON
“Subway Ontology.” Photographs by Richard Sandler. Through March 15.
HUDSON VALLEY MOCA
1701 MAIN STREET, PEEKSKILL
“Through the Eye of the Needle.” Group exhibition of handcrafting featuring Inez Andrucyk, Jan Baracz, Jill Bell, Anita Bracalente, Jodi Colella | Jaynie Crimmins, Adrienne Cullom, Sandi Daroza, Natasha Das, Sherry Davis, Sophia DeJesus-Sabella, Donise English, Philippe Halaburda, Jill Kerttula, Natalya Khorover, Barbara Korman, Carole P. Kunstadt, Lori Lawrence, Nicole Mazza, Sharon Pierce McCullough, Patricia Miranda, Elizabeth Morisette, Ellie Murphy, Diana Noh, Erik Jon Olson, Karla Rydrych, Michael Seri, Arlé Sklar-Weinstein, and Mary Tooley Parker. Through March 18.
JOYCE GOLDSTEIN GALLERY
19 CENTRAL SQUARE, CHATHAM
“Wet Land.” Paintings by Liza Phillips. Through March 25.
KENISE BARNES FINE ART
7 FULLING LANE, KENT, CT
“Cool & Collected ‘23.” Curated by Lani Holloway. Featuring Amanda Acker, the estate of Yayoi Asoma, Kirstin Lamb, and Mary Tooley Parker. Through March 5.
KINOSAITO
115 7TH STREET, VERPLANCK
“Kikuo Saito: Pictorial Clay.”
“Murray Hochman: New Dimensions.”
“Patrice Renee Washington: Tendersweet.”
All shows March 4-May 7.
KLEINERT/JAMES ARTS CENTER
34 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK
“These Days.” Byrdcliffe annual members’ show. March 11-April 16.
LEHMAN LOEB ART CENTER
124 RAYMOND AVENUE, POUGHKEEPSIE
“What Now? (Or Not Yet)”. Work by Andrea Carlson, Andrea Geyer, Jeffrey Gibson, Marsden Hartley, Jenny Holzer, Sky Hopinka, Arnold J.
Kemp, Wangechi Mutu, Dorothea Tanning, Nari Ward, and Audra Wolowiec. Through September 10.
LIVE 4 ART GALLERY 20 CHARLES COLMAN BOULEVARD, PAWLING
“Story Tellers.” Work by Lonna Kelly, Carol-Lee Kantor, Terry Ariano, photographer, Donna Castelluccio, fiber, Wendy Alvarez, and Karen Presser. March 4-24
LONGYEAR GALLERY
785 MAIN STREET, MARGARETVILLE
“Late Winter Group Show.” Paintings and mixed media works. Through March 19.
MARATHON
6 MARKET STREET, ELLENVILLE
“Soft Spots.” Textiles by Erin Juliana. Through March 12.
MARK GRUBER GALLERY
NEW PALTZ PLAZA, NEW PALTZ
“Winter Salon Show.” Group show. Through March 12.
“The Bird Show.” March 18-May 7.
MASS MOCA
1040 MASS MOCA WAY, NORTH ADAMS, MA
“Love from Vicki Island.” Playful and provocative sculptures by Daniel Giordano. Through September 30.
MONUMENT GALLERY
394 HASBROUCK AVENUE, KINGSTON
“Works by Don Johnson.” Paintings. March 3-April 2.
OLANA STATE HISTORIC SITE
5720 ROUTE 9G, HUDSON
“Chasing Icebergs: Art and a Disappearing Landscape.” Highlights Frederic Church’s iceberg sketches from his 1859 intrepid voyage to the Arctic. Through March 26.
PAMELA SALISBURY GALLERY
362 1/2 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
“Heads.” Paintings by Tom Burckhardt. Through April 2.
“Still in Bloom.” Sculpture by Jon Isherwood. Through April 23.
“Two Plus Two Equals Three.” Work by James Siena and Katia Santibañez. Through April 2.
PINKWATER GALLERY
56 NORTH FRONT STREET, KINGSTON “Evolution.” Work by Meredith Rosier, Anne Sanger, Melanie Delgado, and Joan Ffolliot. Through March 26.
POUGHKEEPSIE TROLLEY BARN
489 MAIN STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE
“Is It Me?” International juried exhibition. March 10-April 14.
SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART
1 HAWK DRIVE, NEW PALTZ
“Be Who You Are: Portraits of Woodstock Artists.” This selection of photographs from the 1980s series “100 Portraits of Woodstock Artists” by Harriet Tannin (1929-2009) documents residents of the legendary artistic community. Through July 16.
“The Historic Woodstock Art Colony: The Arthur A. Anderson Collection.” Through July 16.
“Hudson Valley Artists 2023: Homespun.”
The 2023 edition of the annual Hudson Valley Artists exhibition explores how 18 artists are re-interpreting traditional crafts and “women’s work.” Through April 2.
Visionary Design For An Arch, Paul Goesch, graphite and gouache, c.
1920–21. From the exhibition "Portals: The Visionary Architecture Of Paul Goesch" at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, March 18–June 11.
Opposite: Vireo Nest, Amy Silberkleit, lithograph, mixed media, 2023. From the exhibition "cARTography: alternate routes" at the Olive Free Library, March 18–May 6.
SEPTEMBER
4 HUDSON STREET, KINDERHOOK
“in the presence of.” Work by Dee Celements, Ellen Siebers, and Kathranne Knight. Through March 26.
STEVENSON LIBRARY
BARD COLLEGE, ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON
“Hedwig Meyer-Thoma.” Paintings. Through March 30.
THE STEWART HOUSE
2 NORTH WATER STREET, ATHENS
“Hard Water Sailing: The Ice Boats of the Hudson River.” Photographs by Adam Deen. Through March 31.
THE WASSAIC PROJECT
37 FURNACE BANK ROAD, WASSAIC
“No Misery Can Tell, No Word of Farewell.”
Featuring the work of Clint Baclawski, Richard Barlow, Esy Casey, Raul De Lara, Eric Garcia, Ambrus Gero, Kate Johnson, Cate Pasquarelli, Lauren Phillips, Farwah Rizvi, and Christina Hunt Wood. Through March 18.
TIME AND SPACE LIMITED
434 COLUMBIA STREET, HUDSON
“Spaces in Places.” Set designs created by Linda Mussmann for Time & Space Limited Theater Company. Through March 5.
TIVOLI ARTISTS GALLERY
60 BROADWAY, TIVOLI
“Winter’s Passing: Transitions.” Member group show. Through March 19.
UNISON ARTS & LEARNING CENTER
68 MOUNTAIN REST RD, NEW PALTZ.
“Soul Reflections.” The work of the Soul Reflections Photography Collective: Ben Eichert, Micah Fornari, Melanie Gonzalez, Maria Fernanda Hubeaut, Kristopher Johnson, and Michael Torres. Through April 2.
VASSAR COLLEGE MAIN LIBRARY
124 RAYMOND AVENUE, POUGHKEEPSIE
“Beauty out of the Ashes: Printed Works of the Harlem Renaissance, 1923-1936.” Marks the 100th anniversary of Jean Toomer’s novel Cane Curated by Vassar students. Through June 12.
WIRED GALLERY
11 MOHONK ROAD, HIGH FALLS
“Split Vision.” Paintings by Raul Serrano. Through May 6.
WOMENSWORK.ART
4 SOUTH CLINTON STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE
“Visions of Spring.” Group show. March 10-April 22.
WOODSTOCK ARTISTS ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM
28 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK
“Restoring Indigenous Voices: Landscapes from the Permanent Collection.” Through April 9. “Active Members’ Spring Exhibition.” Group show. March 3-April 16.
“Scott Ackerman: It's All for You.” Paintings. March 3-April 16.
WOODSTOCK SCHOOL OF ART
2470 ROUTE 212, WOODSTOCK. “Student Showcase Exhibition”. Through April 1.
Bozbozeman.com
Tao
By Cory Nakasue
The astrology of March is likely to pull the rug out from under our feet, peel off the wallpaper, and maybe even knock out a whole wall. Nearly every day this month contains a dynamic planetary alignment or a planetary ingress. Add to that our usual lunations and the vernal equinox, and we have the makings of a complete change of scene.
March contains the juncture of last and first signs of the zodiac (Pisces and Aries, respectively). When the sun enters Aries on March 20th, it will have completed its journey through all 12 signs, marking the astrological new year. The sign of Aries is symbolic of innocence and the thrust of energy required for something to be born. A new moon in Aries on the 21st adds to this sense of infancy, starting lines, and first steps. What makes this March particularly seminal, are the ingresses of Saturn and Pluto into new signs, which might register as whole new eras. All told, six planets change signs this month (Mercury does so twice).
Saturn enters Pisces on March 7, after spending six years in its home signs of Aquarius and Capricorn. While there, we had to face hard truths and grow up. In Pisces, the planet of limits, authority, and hard reality gets dropped into the vast ocean of dissolution and the immaterial. Pluto (planet of atomization and transformation) moves into Aquarius on the 23rd after showing us some decaying infrastructure during its 15 years in Capricorn. Pluto in Aquarius promises radical transformations in social structures and our relationship with technology. Note the ubiquity of AI stories and our changing relationships with social media. The result is akin to being on a Hollywood soundstage: One minute you’re in familiar surroundings, the next, a film crew swaps out the scenery and “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”
ARIES (March 20–April 19)
No one loves to start something more than you—a project, a relationship, or even a fight. If you can be a founder, a leader, or the loner braving uncharted territory, you’re in! Expect an abundance of opportunities to be the first one out of the gate, especially around the spring equinox on the 20th. Not only will the sun be in your sign, but also the new moon, Mercury, and Jupiter. What you’ve been impatiently incubating over the winter gets its first peek at daylight. Beware the trademark Aries downfall of jumping the gun in all the excitement!
TAURUS (April 19–May 20)
Venus enters your sign on the 16th. Taurus is one of Venus’s home signs, granting it extra power to attract what it needs to sustain and beautify itself. Whether you need financial support, a new outfit, or a nap, odds are you’ll be able to magnetize these things to yourself. With Venus in Taurus, beauty is sustenance and pleasure is nourishment. This is a great time to lavish your body with sensual treats and invest in small luxuries that will mature in value over time. Relationships get more touchy-feely, and you may find yourself feeling greedy. Don’t hoard.
of Thoreau combines Taoism and Nature, creating a practical guidebook to realizing personal potential. Matching Thoreau’s ideas with Taoism leads the Seeker on the path of simplicity, natural harmony, and spiritual power. Tao of Thoreau gives you two transcendent Sages to guide you on your enlightenment journey.
GEMINI (May 20–June 21)
Mars finally leaves your sign and moves into Cancer on the 25th. What were your biggest lessons over the past seven months? You may be relieved to know that the racing thoughts and impossible choices are coming to an end. If you were paying attention to what Mars was teaching, you’re much clearer about how to use your energy and communication skills efficiently and gracefully. The big lessons coming up for you include thinking beyond the binary, courtesy of Mercury, which enters Pisces on the 2nd, and thinking before you speak, when Mercury enters Aries on the 19th.
CANCER (June 21–July 22)
“The best offense is a good defense.” This might be your mantra this month as a slew of Aries energy enters your sphere. Typically, you’re not one to start a fight, but if anyone messes with you this month, they may get more than they bargained for. Alternately, you may just have physical energy to burn. This would be a great time to amp up your exercise regimen, tackle a rigorous home project, or get more athletic in the bedroom. This vitality starts kicking in towards the end of the month. Channeling your energy intentionally will keep you from getting crabby.
LEO (July 22–August 23)
Pluto will be spending a few months in your opposite sign of Aquarius before it retrogrades back into Capricorn. Pay attention to any new people or relationship developments that catch your attention now. This will be part of a larger story in 2024 and beyond. Pluto brings deeply transformative energy to everything it touches. Superficial experiences will no longer do, and anyone who falls short of being utterly captivating can just move along. You’re entering a period where you’ll be compelled to understand the inner workings of the people around you. Pluto will be in Aquarius from March 23rd to June 11th.
VIRGO (August 23–September 23)
A complex full moon in Virgo, along with Saturn’s entrance into Pisces on March 7th may have you feeling overexposed. You’re likely to be engulfed in other people’s opinions of you; some of them alarmingly astute, and others, mere projections. How can you tell what’s worth listening to? Well, it’s all worth listening to, but not all of it is worth attaching to. Luckily, Uranus is forming a supportive aspect to this moon which will help with distancing and objectivity. You’re a very appealing screen for other people’s fantasies and fears right now. Don’t believe the hype, not even your own.
LIBRA (September 23–October 23)
This month you have stellar opportunities to add new people to your life. If your dance card is already full, take some of your relationships in a new direction. Is that longtime friend romance material? Could those activity partners turn into business partners? Some relationships might thrive after a partner gets an apparent downgrade. Beware of thinking that some relationship roles are more important than others. Those are social constructs. Sometimes roles just need a reshuffle. Whatever the case, don’t get too hung up on labels or balance. Labels inhibit expression and symmetry is a myth.
SCORPIO (October 23–November 22)
With Mars, Saturn, and Pluto activating your sign, you’d do well to pace yourself when it comes to emotional showdowns with others, cathartic psychological excavations, hyperfocused research, or even exfoliating. It might be a bit too harsh for your system. You are, however, deeply supported when it comes to energizing your physical and mental health regimens. If you need to sublimate some of those churning feelings, channel them into vigorous exercise, an ambitious spring cleaning, or a big gardening project. These types of activities can save you from emotional burnout. Just because you can handle a lot of intensity doesn’t mean you should.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 22)
Are we having fun yet?! You’re due for a good time—and for some new ways to bring joy into your life. What were your favorite things to do when you were a kid? What’s stopping you from doing some of those things now? You could also look to the children in your life for inspiration. Notice how they gravitate towards fun without questioning its validity. It’s exactly this kind of fun that sparks creativity and the willingness to take risks. This energy peaks during the days that surround the spring equinox. Take a chance on love and on yourself.
CAPRICORN (December 22–January 20)
March
Join
SPONSORED
Looking at your chart for March calls to mind the song, “A Whole New World,” from Aladdin. Apologies for the earworm, but the architecture of your chart is getting reconfigured and your horoscope ruler, Saturn, is leaving Aquarius for Pisces on the 7th. Family and relationship dynamics are heating up just as your boundaries are softening. This is a good thing. You’re being challenged to drop your armor for the sake of incorporating more people into your life. It might get a little messy for your taste, but this is growth.
AQUARIUS (January 20–February 19)
Yours is the most talked-about sign amongst astrologers these days. We’re all prognosticating the effects of Pluto’s tenure there; the topics that will be introduced on the 23rd, and the slow-burn transformations over the next 20 years. This month marks the beginning of a new era of selfhood. An era that will leave no stone unturned in its quest to show you what you’re made of. Sound daunting? Don’t worry. This probably won’t feel like 20 years of daily catharsis, but there will be a few subterranean journeys and a more intimate experience of what it means to be alive.
PISCES (February 20–March 19)
Circle March 7 on your calendar! Typical of the sign of the two fish swimming in opposite directions, there’s a culmination around this time, and a fresh start. Both are bringing the material world into sharper focus for you. There’s something of the story of Pinocchio in your chart. Something about love making you “real” or the work you do in the name of love turning a dream into reality. In the first instance, the work of someone close to you creates this alchemical magic. In the second instance, you’re being initiated into a process of grounding your own magic.
Our advertisements are a catalog of distinctive local experiences. Please support the fantastic businesses that make Chronogram possible.
In 1919, when Clayton Bates was just 12 years old, he lost his left leg in a tragic cotton-seed mill accident. His uncle made him a peg leg to help him to walk, but Bates did more than that. He taught himself how to tap dance and soon after “Peg Leg” Bates became one of the greatest tap dancers of his time.
“Don’t look at me in sympathy,” Bates once said. “I’m glad I’m this way. For I feel good and I’m knocking on wood, I mix light fantastic with hot gymnastics. Just watch me peg it, you can tell by the way I leg it, I’m Peg-Legged Bates, the one-legged dancing man.”
You can learn more about Peg Leg Bates, who overcame insurmountable odds to become a tapdancing legend, at Arts Mid-Hudson in Poughkeepsie, which is hosting the exhibit “Peg Leg Bates: The Performance Years” through March 9.
The exhibit is an extension of the team of Elinor Levy, folk arts program manager at Arts MidHudson in Poughkeepsie, Ulster County Historian
Geoffrey Miller, local musician David Winograd, ethnomusicology graduate Joseph Johnson, and Dave Davidson, the producer of Dancing Man, the 1992 documentary about Bates.
From 1951 to 1987, Bates owned and operated the Peg Leg Bates Country Club in Kerhonkson, making him the first black resort owner in Ulster County. This followed an incredibly successful tap dancing career that spanned more than 30 years and included an appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
“We focused largely on the resort and wanted the opportunity to highlight his life as a performer, especially as a performer where his career spanned from vaudeville to television and Jim Crow to civil rights,” says Levy. “He also used his skill as a dancer in his work as a humanitarian from the largest of stages to the smallest. He loved an audience.” Artsmidhudson.org
—Lisa IannucciClayton "Peg Leg" Bates began dancing when he was 5, then lost a leg in cotton-seed mill accident at age 12. Bates became a featured tapper at such top Nightclubs in Harlem as the Cotton Club, Connie's Inn, and Club Zanzibar. From 1951 to 1987, he owned and operated the Peg Leg Bates Country Club in Kerhonkson.
Tour the Dove Trail— a tribute to the 1969 Woodstock festival. Sip on the Good Taste Craft Beverage Trail. Meander through dozens of hiking trails. When it’s time to dine, imaginative chefs and creative mixologists rule the foodie scene.
BETHEL WOODS CENTER FOR THE ARTS
A two-day foodie affair with local and celebrity chefs and farm-fresh seasonal ingredients.
Whether it’s a ductless unit, floor unit, ceiling cassette, or air handler, we provide comfort and filtration to every room, with maximum energy e ciency. Get peace of mind with our 3-year labor, and 12-year parts warranty, plus we o er full service on everything we install. Contact us today to learn more about which heating and cooling options would work best for you and your home.
