Chronogram October 2020 by Chronogram

Windows And Doors To Inspire Your Every Day

WILLIAMS

Lumber & Home Centers

Rhinebeck • Hudson • Hopewell Junction • Tannersville • Red Hook • Pleasant Valley • High Falls

www.williamslumber.com

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Attend a virtual open house! Oct. 17 or Nov. 7 Learn more at bardacademy.simons-rock.edu.

HIGH SCHOOL FOR TWO YEARS . . . THEN COLLEGE, EARLY.

Bard Academy is the nation’s first high school offering a seamless transition to college after 10th grade. For the 2020-2021 academic year, Bard Academy is providing socially-distanced, in-person classes with hybrid and remote options available. Every learning option offers the same rigorous curriculum in the liberal arts and sciences taught by college faculty. Learn more about our COVID response at simons-rock.edu/covid19. BARD ACADEMY AT SIMON’S ROCK | 84 ALFORD ROAD, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA 01230

LEARNING BY DOING Life Skills – Self-Motivation – Exploration – Achievement

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Small Classes = Big Opportunities Early Education - Grade 12 Co-Ed Interfaith Fine Arts & Applied Sciences

Our curriculum focuses on developing capacities for creativity, resilience, innovative thinking, and social and emotional intelligence. 330 COUNTY ROUTE 21C, GHENT, NY 12075 330 C O U N T Y R O U T E 2 1 C , G H E N T, N|Y 518.672.7092 120 7 5 HAWTHORNEVALLEYSCHOOL.ORG X 111 H AW T H O R N E VA L L E Y S C H O O L .O R G | 5 1 8 .67 2 .7 092 X 111 FOR ASSISTANCE C ACALL L L TO L E AARTOUR N M O| RASK E | AUS S KABOUT A B O U TTUITION TUITION A S S I S TA N C E

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Hybrid Course Offerings College Counseling 9 Varsity Sports & Home of the Thunderchicken!

The Doane Stuart School Rensselaer, NY

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october

Yan Yan Huang, a student at Kingston Ceramics Studio. Photo by Anna Sirota

FRONT MATTER 8 On the Cover 10 Big Idea: Newburgh—Design for Play 10 Esteemed Reader 11 Editor’s Note

FOOD & DRINK 14 New York Cider: Wild at Heart As the predominance of national cider brands gives way to more regional products, the Hudson Valley—a historic apple-producing region—is seeing a boom of new cider producers. While the spectrum of local ciders spans conventional to craft, a few local artisanal makers are seizing the momentum of the industry to explore the most challenging and rewarding corners of cider-making from unfiltered pet nat ciders to entirely foraged, wild-fermented products made in collaboration with nature.

HEALTH & WELLNESS 32 Grief in the Time of Corona Losing a loved one is never easy, and in coronavirus times, the intensity is off the charts. Grief today feels universal and relatable, yet it’s also turned on its head as we’ve had to either create new traditions or reshape old ones to fit our new reality.

COMMUNITY PAGES 36 Kingston at a Crossroads Many creative folks with portable jobs from New York City and other areas in search of roomier, more affordable digs in a smaller, nearby, picturesque city with a cultural pulse took notice of Kingston in recent years and started moving in. While this was a big win for the local shops, bars, and restaurants that help make Kingston a great place to live (and of course for local real estate brokers), it came during the double threat of a mounting affordable housing shortage that has displaced many lower-income residents and a contracting job market brought on by the rise of internet commerce and an exodus of manufacturing. Like that of most Hudson Valley towns, Kingston’s main indigenous industry has been a seasonal one: tourism. Then, in March, COVID hit, and the what had been a steady trickle became a flood.

FEATURE

46 How to Make Sure Your Vote Counts This Election Day By Roger Hannigan Gilson

Voting in New York will be different this year. Two sets of state voting laws have been passed since the last major election in 2018, changing when and how New Yorkers can cast their ballots. The most significant of these changes will debut on what is expected to be a tense election day unlike any other—one where the winners will most likely remain unknown for more than a week after the polls close, due to the expected high number of absentee ballots. We talked to election officials from eight counties in the Hudson Valley and Catskills about the new system, possible delays from the postal service, and what they anticipated on election day. The result—a guide to voting in the Hudson Valley in 2020.

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R ANT P

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LITTLE EUROPE ON ROUTE 28 CHEESE LOUISE IS AN INTERNATIONAL FOOD-LOVERS PARADISE

or almost 10 years, Cheese Louise in Kingston has been a food-lovers destination. Located on a well-traveled stretch of Route 28, the gourmet cheese and specialty foods shop is tucked in a plaza with Blue Mountain Bistro-to-Go, the Wine Hutch, and La Bella Pasta. It’s a spot tailor-made for hungry commuters and Catskills tourists alike. The symbiotic relationship with its neighboring food businesses is actually what drew Cheese Louise owner Rick Regan to the spot in the first place.”There was a niche that needed filling,” he says. A native of Kingston who lived in Europe for 12 years after his military service, Regan already had a wealth of exposure to the cheese and charcuterie-loving cuisines of half a dozen European countries. After closing his cafe and pizzeria in Kingston’s Rondout, Regan discovered the empty storefront on Route 28 through his sister-in-law and Wine Hutch owner, Ursula Woinoski. True to its name, Cheese Louise offers a vast selection of cheeses as its core business. Today, the shop always carries over 200 varieties from countries all over the world, but the exact inventory has always been a work in progress. As Americans’ taste for adventurous cheeses expanded, so has the shop’s selection. “I was initially weary of odiferous cheeses, but I have a lot of chutzpah when it comes to trying things,” Regan says. Now, he has plenty of regulars who stop by specifically looking for funky cheeses like Stinking Bishop, an English cow’s milk variety whose rind is washed in pear brandy as it ages. “It’s unbelievably rough on the nose, but lovely on the palette,” he says. Cheese Louise is also known as the only spot within many miles where someone can lay

hands on authentic Jamón Iberico DeBellota— the black footed hog of southwestern Spain that historically grazes on fallen autumn acorns. The hand-sliced delicacy usually goes for $125 a pound. The charcuterie counter is also home to authentic Prosciutto di Parma, Jamón Serrano, chorizo, and boquerones, the delicate white anchovies that Regan says he can never be without. Outside the world of cheese and charcuterie, there are the baguettes from a bakery in New Jersey that customers often tell Regan are the best this side of the Atlantic; several varieties of caviar he only orders in small batches to maintain peak freshness; smoked salmon they slice to order by hand; countless jams and crackers; and prepared foods like spanakopita and a fan-favorite, chicken matzo ball soup. (“I’d like a dollar for every time someone says ‘It’s as good as mine, but now I don’t have to make it,’” says Regan.) Cheese Louise’s devoted customer base is as varied as its inventory. Locals stop by for special occasions or to grab a baguette for dinner and visitors come to fill up their larders with delicacies that help while away the weekends. As Cheese Louise approaches its 10-year anniversary, Regan is starting to think about what the next decade will hold. His business partner of many years, Megan Sam McDevitt, just left the business this summer to move to Hawaii, and Regan is considering the idea of retiring within a few years himself. With so many newcomers to the region, he feels confident the work they put into the shop will continue to bring fresh faces to its doors. “We wanted to be different, to have a European flair,” says Regan. “Almost on a daily basis someone says, ‘We love you guys. We’re so glad you’re here.’”

RICK’S 5 MUST-HAVES FOR A PICNIC « A fresh baguette « Something sublime like a triple-cream Brie with black summer truffle « A delightfully savory-sharp aged cheese like Gouda or Manchego « Sweet quince paste for pairing with the aged cheese « Buttery, green Castelvetrano olives « Salty, crunchy Marcona almonds 10/20 CHRONOGRAM FOOD & DRINK 19

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the house

THE FAMILY DYNAMIC A RIVERSIDE MID-CENTURY MODERN IN HYDE PARK By Mary Angeles Armstrong Photos by Winona Barton-Ballentine Above: Ana Claudia Schultz and Aaron Smyle in their open-concept living room. By removing stone wing walls from the fireplace, they opened the space to the adjacent kitchen and dining area. The blue-and-white chairs are made of fabric designed by Kelly Wearstler—Schultz sourced the same fabric and then commissioned a matching ottoman from her upholsterer. The abstract painting in the dining room is by Ryan Wheelbarrow. Opposite: Schultz and Smyle bought the MidCentury Modern style home in 2016 and then went right to work updating both the interior and exterior spaces to take full advantage of the spectacular setting. They landscaped the home’s front garden, adding masonry and gabion walls, and also enlarged and improved the front deck. “It’s like paradise,” explains Schultz, an interior designer, of the revamped front deck. “I love hearing the boats and the birds. Being out here makes me feel like I’m on vacation.”

t’s because our house is red,” explains Ana Claudia Schultz of the occasional creative differences that arise between her and husband Aaron Smyle. Born in Brazil, Schultz is an interior designer who focuses on personal dynamics to create adaptable spaces tailored to residents’ particular personalities. Smyle is a tax accountant with a variety of clients, including creatives, restaurants, and breweries, who aspires to educate and empower through his work. Set on a grassy hill above the Hudson in Hyde Park, their Mid-Century Modern home enjoys sweeping views of the flowing river and the wooded bank beyond—a soothing counterpoint to the fiery 4,000-square-foot dwelling. Purchased sight unseen in 2016 and originally meant to be a weekend home, the `60s-era five

bedroom, three-bath home required a total gut renovation. However, the ensuing collaboration between the extroverted and friendly Smyle and the intuitive, empathic Schultz proved completely combustible. “She has an eye for design and I have a bit of creativity,” says Smyle. To do it, the two entrepreneurs focused on their shared interests—their mutual love of the Hudson Valley’s natural beauty and its rich supply of local artisans. Combining each of their individual styles, they then added a dash of Mid-Century Modern design and the occasional homage to the home’s previous owners. Together, Schultz and Smyle have created an airy, harmonious home from an eclectic variety of contrasting elements—a vibrant space that is more than just the sum of its parts.

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A lounge in the living room was carefully planned to take full advantage of the river views and then decorated with an eclectic mix of colors and textures. “I’m always trying to throw curveballs,” says Schultz about her design ethos. “I look for the dynamic between people and then figure out ways to implement their particular character into their family areas.” The block print featured on the wall is a particular favorite. Titled Two Little Boys, it was created by civil rights lawyer R. Livingston.

That Time We Almost Never Met Both Schultz and Smyle were raised in Miami and went to the same high school—a place where they never actually crossed paths. “I knew his sister,” says Schultz. “I ended up rooming with her in college. I’d gone to his childhood home, and met his parents and even his pets, but I’d only heard about him.” After college, both Smyle and Schultz made their way to New York City where, a few years later, Smyle’s sister invited Schultz to her brother’s annual Christmas party. (Smyle has a yearly tradition of wearing different outfits of contrasting colors and patterns. “It may not seem so when I put it together out of the closet,” he explains. “But it always just works.”) Their chemistry was evident and the two were soon an item. After a few years of living together in Brooklyn, they began searching for a weekend home outside of the city. “I wanted a mountain house because I love nature and the change of season,” explains Smyle. “But, being from Miami, I also love the beach.” Beyond their geographic requirements, they were open. “We weren’t looking for any particular type of architecture or style,” says Schultz. “We just wanted something with character.” The two searched everywhere from the Poconos to Windham, until a weekend at a bed and breakfast in Beacon convinced them that the eastern bank of the Hudson, with close proximity to both train and river, was just right. They first found a country style home they liked in Hyde Park but the deal fell through. However, they’d discovered the right neighborhood even

if they hadn’t found the right house. When a Mid-Century Modern nearby became available, they made an offer immediately, without ever setting foot inside. “We knew we would have made it work no matter what,” explains Schultz. “We would implement our personality into the space—we knew we’d put us in this house.” Smyle was sold on the location. “I knew it had that,” he explains of the adjacent Hudson, an unobstructed view of which can be seen from almost every room in the house. By November 2016, it was theirs and they began their renovation. River Run Facing the Hudson River, the home’s split-level front entrance is flanked by a wall of windows. To maximize the home’s stunning entrance, the couple removed the original front door and replaced it with a modern window panel door to add more light. They also cleaned up and landscaped the ascending front pathway with new plantings. Upstairs, the home’s large living room originally had wood-paneled walls and vaulted ceilings, with a view through sliders to the river. They lightened up the space by painting the walls white, refinishing the oak floors and replacing the windows throughout. They also rebuilt and expanded the adjacent front deck. To capitalize on the river view, the couple removed the stone walls flanking the central fireplace and separating the living room from the kitchen. (They repurposed the stones as a low wall bordering the entranceway and a decorative driveway island.) They reframed the stripped-

The couple completely remodeled the home’s front entryway by sanding the floating staircase and adding new railings. At the lowest level, they replaced the railing with a built-in bookcase for both succulents and books.

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down central fireplace with black-and-white cement Rio tiles by Clé Tiles (inspired by a trip the couple took to Copacabana Beach in Rio De Janeiro), then added a fireplace insert and slate tiles below. Freshly opened to the rest of the house and enjoying a new view of the river, the dated kitchen also required an update. They removed the linoleum floor, outdated cabinetry, and appliances, and even covered a single backdoor, but left sliders leading to the backyard and original back deck. The couple further expanded the space by removing a wall between the kitchen and dining room, and then added a central island. They installed stainless steel appliances and quartz Pental countertops along the kitchen walls, as well as the island. A Moroccan Zelliga beige-tiled backsplash, also from Clé Tiles, lines the back wall and offsets white lacquered Ikea cabinets above and below. “Now, we can sit almost anywhere in the house and we have a view,” says Smyle.

Top: The home’s master bedroom features a custom mural and matching lampshades by Red Hook-based artist Rowan Willigan. The painting of birds above the bed is by Michelle Morin. “A love of birds is embedded in my culture,” says Schultz. “Parrots and toucans are a part of the ecosystem in Brazil. And now I love the beautiful birds of the Northeast.”

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Bottom: Schultz and Smyle completely reworked the master bathroom, adding tiles of contrasting colors and textures to the space. At the room’s entrance, blackand-white Spanish style tiles are a nod to the home’s previous residents, a Spanish couple. “We don’t want to forget the people who lived here before us,” says Schultz. “They were together for such a long time.”

Clash of the Patterns Upstairs, a wing of three bedrooms was redesigned with similar flair. At the end of a long hallway, the master suite looks out through front facing windows to the Hudson. Here the couple’s love of pattern, texture, and design is evident. They commissioned Red Hook artist Rowan Willigan to create a custom modernist, geometric mural for the master bedroom, as well as matching bedside lampshades painted with the same white on grey motif. “We placed the bed so when we open our eyes we see either the

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The couple elected to keep one bathroom true to the home’s original design, just updating the mirror and some tiles. They framed a vintage Vogue print to complement the bathroom’s retro style.

The renovated kitchen looks out through windows and sliders to the lawn and woods behind the house. The couple is divided over which room in the house is the best place to sit. “Each area offers a different experience,” says Schultz. “Aaron loves the dining room in back because it’s nested and you can hear birds in the nearby trees, but still see the views further away. I love the front because it’s closer to the river.”

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The couple preserved a cut-out at the backside of the fireplace facing the kitchen. In their home, and now also with the front window of their newly opened Rhinebeck office/co-working space, the Beck, they love to create “beautiful vignettes.” “We hope to find ways to creatively display the work of local artisans and makers,” says Schultz. “The Beck is our love letter to the Hudson Valley,” adds Smyle. “A thank you for the boundless talent and beauty it has to offer.”

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Japanese maple in the summer or a full view of the river in the winter,” says Schultz. They also refinished the master bathroom with an eclectic mix of tiles, adding color and texture throughout. Facing the back of their one-acre property, a corner bedroom (now used as a TV room) looks out onto large, stately walnut trees and a wide lawn. The couple enlarged a back window to add light and more views. A third bedroom is used as Smyle’s home office. Down the front staircase, the couple reconfigured the ground floor to accommodate their extended family. “The goal is to make this a family house,” Schultz says. To that end, the couple captured space from a downstairs laundry to create a large guest suite with a full bathroom for visiting family. They finished the guest room with dark-toned wallpaper, and the bathroom features a mix of black, white, and terra cotta-toned tiles. Central to the downstairs, the previous owner’s in-home psychology office was converted to a large family room, with rectangular windows offering views of the river. To achieve a space that is the right balance of expansive and intimate, they tore out carpet and built-ins, added some structural beams, and then painted the space white. They also created a “family wall” at one end of the room with pictures of their parents and siblings. “This is a true family room for us,” says Schultz. “We’ll just add more photos as time goes by.” The entire renovation was completed by August of 2017. “We had a deadline,” says Schultz. That summer they got married in the front yard of the house and were able to host their family and friends. Smyle even gave house tours during the reception. Their design-based collaboration has been so successful it inspired them to not only to take up Hudson Valley living full-time, but also embark on another creative venture. This autumn they officially opened the Beck—a combined gallery and coworking space in downtown Rhinebeck. Dubbed as “a new kind of creative hub in the Hudson Valley” the space will showcase local makers and artists in its storefront window while also serving as upstate offices for the two. Like the design of their home, the hope the creative combustion at the heart of the Beck will produce something more than just its disparate parts. “It’s more than a space,” explains Schultz. “It’s a concept—really it’s about creating community.”

CRAFTING A BUSINESS WITH CONSCIENCE

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THE TEAM AT ROWAN WOODWORK IS MORE THAN THE SUM OF THEIR PROJECTS

owan Woodwork founder Suzanne Walton is a student of the Let My People Go Surfing philosophy of business. Among many progressive workplace ideals— like on-site childcare and ample parental leave—the book by Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard champions giving your employees enough trust and freedom to be able to live a good life. In the marketplace, however, that’s more complicated than it sounds. “There’s always a deadline and it’s the most important thing in the world,” says Walton. “But it can wear you out and suddenly this thing you love doing is a burden.” In the case of Rowan Woodwork, the Kingston-based custom cabinetry company she founded in 2014, it was the combination of their in-demand style of minimalist, highend projects, strategic team expansion, and use of advanced modeling technology that finally made the work-life balance equation click into place. As a result, the team is now doing five days of work in four. Other businesses might take on more projects; instead, Walton and the team of five designers and cabinet makers are looking to expand their impact outside the walls of their Midtown workshop. “We have grand visions of

making Rowan an example of what a utopian business might look like,” says Brady Jennings, Rowan’s CTO. “We hope to foster a coalition of Hudson Valley craftspeople from all the trades, who make it their goal to pump resources directly into the community in the form of money, education, and support.” The team is currently planning an annual benefit auction using pieces they can duplicate from other custom work or passion projects the team is starting to explore in their gained time. Fridays at Rowan Woodwork are now spent in pursuit of skills outside the ones the team currently employs for clients. They run the gamut from painting to upholstery, welding, and more. And with Midtown Kingston’s industrial buildings filling up again, a coalition of craftspeople is already ripe for the making. Rowan Woodwork shares the 10,000-squarefoot former auto body shop it made its home in 2019 with upholstery company Ommella, New York Heartwoods, and Hammerheart Forge. The building is on the same street as Great Life Brewing, Technical Coatings Corporation, and Caliber Granite. The city’s blue collar past is part of what drew Walton to it when she relocated there from Manchester in the 1990s. “That very industrial,

working class history lends itself to people being creative,” she says. Her upbringing in England, where young people often discover their line of work through on-site apprenticeships instead of the classroom, has helped fuel another of Rowan Woodwork’s aspirations. The team is still working out the details, but there is a strong drive to introduce younger people to practical skill sets and trades like woodworking. “The hope is that marginalized and otherwise poorer youth in the community who might not ever have the opportunity to learn a craft will be introduced to it and become the next generation of tradesmen and women,” says Jennings. The enthusiasm for the kind of workplace that thinks beyond profit is something the entire Rowan Woodwork team shares. “I’m excited that we all have the same passion and goals to be a part of and help the community,” says Ryon Emerich, who moved to Kingston to join Rowan after 14 years as a union carpenter in New York City. “There is so much change that is taking place. Some good, some not. It’s refreshing to be a part of something good in these challenging times.” Rowanwoodwork.com Instagram.com/rowanwoodwork 10/20 CHRONOGRAM HOME & GARDEN 29

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Lisa Halter’s Guide to

Route 28 FIVE MUST-VISIT SPOTS FROM THE OWNER OF HALTER ASSOCIATES REALTY

Aerial view of the Glenford Dike section of the Ashokan Rail Trail Bottom Left: A sculpture by Steve Heller at Fabulous Furniture. Bottom Right: A blood orange chocolate sundae with candied pistachios and cherry compote at Fruition Chocolate.

isitors to the Catskills will know Route 28 for its grand mountain visitas. For locals like Lisa Halter, owner of Halter Associates Realty, it’s her daily commute. With an office in Kingston, one in Woodstock near her home, and a passion-project house she’s renovating in Phoenicia, Halter is a regular of the scenic Ulster County byway. It’s also a route she recommends for anyone looking to buy a home in Ulster County. A tour of Route 28 will take you through much of northwestern Ulster County, including popular Catskill towns like Woodstock, Boiceville, Mount Tremper, and Phoenicia. “There are so many great sights that give you a flavor for the region’s storied history, scenic beauty, and diverse culture” Halter says. And with peak autumn foliage headed our way, it’s the perfect time for a road trip through the mountains. Below, Halter shares a few of her must-visit spots on Route 28.

age shops. If you’re looking to fill up your picnic basket for lunch, make a stop here to grab some sandwiches from Blue Mountain Bistro-to-Go, a spread of European cheeses and charcuterie from Cheese Louise, and a bottle of vino from the Wine Hutch.

Fruition’s maker space in Shokan is where the bean-to-bar magic takes place. Stop by to grab a few of their single-origin chocolate bars and a box of caramels to enjoy post-picnic or for treats to dole out to lucky friends back at home.

ASHOKAN RAIL TRAIL

Just as you crest a particularly scenic hill at the edge of Boiceville, you’ll find a storefront with an eye-popping futuristic sculpture garden complete with a space-age rocket, UFO, and flying car. But you shouldn’t just stop at the lawn. Inside the store, you’ll find more of the creations from furniture maker and artist Steve Heller, including a wide selection of live-edge wood furniture and metal sculptures made from restored car parts.

GOURMET ROW IN KINGSTON

Tucked in a quiet plaza in Shokan is awardwinning confectioner Fruition Chocolate Works. Headed up by acclaimed chocolatier Brian Graham and his wife Dahlia Rissman Graham,

Ten minutes west of the Thruway roundabout in Kingston you’ll find a roadside plaza that’s home to a handful of gourmet food and bever30 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 10/20

Gliding along the northern shore of the Ashokan Reservoir is the 11.5-mile-long Ashokan Rail Trail, which runs from West Hurley to Boiceville. The project, whose most recent leg to Boiceville was finished this spring, converted the old Ulster & Delaware railbed into a haven for hiking, bicycling, running, nature observation, and when weather permits, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Panoramic views of the reservoir can be seen from both the West Hurley and Boiceville trailheads while the Ashokan trailhead located in the middle is home to a boardwalk that meanders over peaceful marshland.

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THE ESOPUS CREEK

Hailed as the birthplace of American fly fishing, the mighty Esopus Creek’s beauty and historic significance is definitely worth a stop. It conveniently weaves around Route 28 from Boiceville through Phoenicia and out to Big Indian, so it’s easy to scout an access point to go fishing, wade into the bracing waters, or catch the sunset from the valley as it fades behind the mountains above.

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health & wellness

GRIEFINTHETIME OFCORONA DEVASTATING AND TENDER, GRIEF HAS THE POWER TO TRANSFORM US, ESPECIALLY NOW.

By Wendy Kagan

e are all grieving for something these days. Dance parties in packed clubs. Grandkids snuggled on the laps of their bubbies. Group selfies. Unmasked small talk. Hello kisses. And everything else that reminds us of our old, normal, pre-COVID lives. We’re living in a time of collective grief, feeling the impact of thousands of tiny daily losses, from the quotidian routines we took for granted to the grand life plans we may have put on hold. What’s more, many of us have lost people, either to COVID-19 or something else, at a time when losing people feels harder than ever. “Grief has layers—it’s like a spiral and you start to work your way out,” says Naomi McCann, a holistic aesthetician and life coach in Saugerties, whose father, Danny Franks, passed away in July. At 96, Franks had seemed eternally young, going to the gym for water aerobics every day at 9am, riding the New York City subway alone, never using a cane or walker. A retired lighting designer, he was always shining the light of his enthusiasm on something, whether it was movies, photographs, or computers. But when shelter-in-place took hold in March and he lost his routine, Franks faltered.

32 HEALTH & WELLNESS CHRONOGRAM 10/20

Developing two infections after a minor medical procedure, McCann’s once-unstoppable father left this world. And although he never contracted COVID-19, the spiked virus had a hand in his undoing. “He’s like collateral damage of COVID,” she says. “Prescribing that older people stay at home, shut in, without family and without moving their bodies—that’s not a prescription of wellbeing for anyone, but particularly for someone of that age.” Losing a loved one is never easy, and in coronavirus times, the intensity is off the charts. Grief today feels universal and relatable, yet it’s also turned on its head as we’ve had to either create new traditions or reshape old ones to fit our new reality. “Right now, we can’t have the funerals, rituals, and gatherings that we are used to having,” says Claudia Coenen, a grief counselor and thanatologist (expert in the study of death, dying, and bereavement) based in Hudson. “It’s harder to have these celebrations, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be done. They just need some guidance.” During spring lockdown, Coenen joined forces with about 85 grief counselors, therapists, funeral directors, and others working in the field to put together a resource to help people develop new rituals to honor those who die in the COVID-19 era. The result was the COVID Paper, 48 downloadable pages of advice, references, and best practices to support grieving people and communities—from creative ways to memorialize a loved one, to tips for supporting friends and family from afar, and even what to say (and not say) to a grieving person. (Rule #1: Ditch the clichés.) Zoom Funerals and Virtual Vigils “Grief lasts as long as love lasts,” the COVID Paper says, and there are as many ways to grieve as there are to love. For McCann, it helped to take solace in the customs of her Jewish heritage, including the Taharah—a ritual cleansing and purification of the body that she, with her daughter, lovingly performed for her father. Yet, many of her five siblings lived several states away and couldn’t be there at this difficult turning point for the family. Shiva, the seven-day Jewish mourning tradition, was quiet and intimate, devoid of the customary influx of visitors. In a way, that was a relief. “My mother felt that it was easier to just talk to people on the phone, rather than have people come to the house,” says McCann. “When you’ve been in quarantine so long, any social interaction is jarring. I think that if it had been normal times, shiva with people would have felt more nurturing.” In another twist of tradition, her father’s virtual funeral on Zoom drew 150 guests, including many who never would have been able to attend an in-person event. “People he’d worked with over the years, many of them elderly, were able to join us and share, and that was incredible. When we went into that funeral, many in my family were saying, ‘We’ll do something in person in a year.’ But it was so satisfying that I don’t think we need to do another gathering in person.” It’s common for grieving families these days to postpone their events, thinking that an

online gathering can’t compare to a physical one. Yet if it’s done properly, a virtual funeral can be beautiful and powerful. “It helps to have a framework beforehand— you need to know who is going to speak when and what you’re inviting people to do,” says Coenen. “The first time I attended an online ritual, a candlelight vigil for COVID, over 300 people attended and I thought, there’s no way this is going to work. How can we feel like we’re

Grief today feels universal and relatable, yet it’s also turned on its head as we’ve had to either create new grieving traditions or reshape old ones to fit our new reality. really connected and in a sense of ceremony when we’re all sitting on our couches in different places? But it was very scripted in terms of who would speak, who would play music, who would offer spiritual words, when we would all be invited to light a candle and sit in silence, and then hold our candles up to the screen. And it was amazing. Everybody participated in a way that really felt unified.” The Personal Is Sacramental When it comes to grief, the power isn’t just in the collective. It’s a deeply individual endeavor. Thomas Shooman, MHC-LP, a psychotherapist at Resolution Psychotherapy in Poughkeepsie, recommends creating your own personal grieving rituals, especially in today’s more solitary and inward-turning times. “Lacking the cultural script that exists for wakes and funerals, personal grieving rituals are necessarily unique,” he says. “That said, there are some themes that people often find useful. For instance, the inclusion of some item that belonged to the lost loved one. A grieving person may wish to preserve, or even dispose of, such a keepsake in a way that feels meaningful. To the extent that’s possible, it may be helpful to include others in this act—either by video, phone, or (while practicing social

distancing precautions) in person. Some may wish to engage in an activity that honors the values of the deceased, such as donating to a favorite cause. Yet, a personal grieving ritual could be as simple as dedicating some time every day to simply sitting with the memory of the one who was lost.” After the rituals and gatherings are over, living with a difficult loss long-term can feel insurmountable sometimes. Shooman and his Resolution Psychotherapy colleague Megan Quinn, MHC-LP, offer a grief counseling support group that’s held virtually and designed for our COVID times. Though the primary aim is to create a supportive circle, Shooman and Quinn also teach coping skills to participants and offer guidance on managing and processing grief. Alternatively, or in combination with a support group, meeting one-on-one with a counselor or therapist is a way to hold nonjudgmental, compassionate space for a grief that feels overwhelming. Every counselor has a different approach, and for Coenen, it’s a holistic method with a creative twist. “Grief affects us on every level of our being,” she explains. “It affects us emotionally, it affects us physically. It affects us cognitively, because it’s very hard to concentrate when you’re grieving. It affects us relationally in our community, and it affects us spiritually.” Coenen herself is deeply familiar with all the levels, as she experienced them all after the devastating loss of her husband, Alby, at an early age in 2005. In Shattered by Grief: Picking up the Pieces to Become Whole Again (2018) she shares her personal story and offers expressive therapies and activities to process grief, such as storytelling, self-care, and reflection. Originally a dancer, she encourages tapping into our personal creativity to move through grief and other life transitions, and her Karuna Cards is a deck of 52 prompt cards that suggest creative ideas like collage, journaling, and connecting with nature. Her latest book, The Creative Toolkit for Working with Grief and Bereavement (2020), gives wellness professionals the tools they need to help clients understand and process their grief in a positive way. “Everybody has bad things happen to them, some worse than others, but how we find our way back to fully living, and how we grow from these events, is my focus,” she says. “I try to help my clients discover how to live again, while still remaining connected to their loved one who’s no longer here.” Releasing the Darkness Learning how to live and become whole again felt impossible at first for Chris Freeman, an artist and writer in Hudson who lost his partner, sculptor Lee Andy Musselman, to cancer in 2013. “It was the most balanced and loving relationship of my life,” he recalls. “In the two years before he died, we had intense conversations about how much we loved each other and about the hereafter.” A week before he passed, Freeman drove Musselman to Michigan where he could be with his family. The two had read a book about a woman who said she “died” momentarily and 10/20 CHRONOGRAM HEALTH & WELLNESS 33

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came back to life cancer-free, and they formed a plan that Musselman would try to do the same, letting the cancer die instead of him. “At the time, it seemed reasonable. It was pretty severe what we were going through, and this was something to hold onto. So, he died and I waited for him to come back. But he didn’t come back.” Deep in grief, Freeman returned to Hudson alone. “When I got home, I couldn’t open my eyes in the house because everything was me and Lee. I would open my eyes just so I wouldn’t bang into something, then I’d close them again. And I couldn’t stop weeping. It got to the point where I was screaming my head off.” Freeman’s best friend, Laura, who lived upstairs, tried to calm him but couldn’t get through. By chance, she struck up a conversation with a woman at a local shop, mentioning that she feared for her friend’s sanity after losing his partner. That woman was Coenen, who offered to come see him. At their first meeting, Freeman recalls asking her if he was ruined. “You’re not ruined,” she said, “and I promise, you will feel normal again. You’ll learn to live with your loss, and I’ll help you through it.” It was because she was a fellow survivor of loss that Freeman felt safe with Coenen, who explained that there is no wrong way to grieve, and

“I realized that I was in a powerful and holy time, and that I needed to pay attention because it was very special, quiet, and personal, and very close to what you might call God.” —Chris Freeman all the feelings he was going through were important and natural. She urged him to channel his grief through creative expression, hoping he would make discoveries there. He wrote voluminously, and he went from questioning whether he should keep living, to slowly participating in the world again. “I realized that I was in a powerful and holy time, and that I needed to pay attention because it was very special, quiet, and personal, and very close to what you might call God.” Freeman gave up drinking because he wanted to be fully present for his grief, and for Lee, whose presence he began to feel everywhere. “It wasn’t easy, but through really being present with my grief, having someone to talk to about it, and having literature to read, I was able to find moments where I could release the darkness in myself. It completely changed me as a person and made me more compassionate. I see the world now with a completely different gaze.” Even the opaquest grief can break us open to transformation, if we let it. “Grief shatters our assumptive world,” says Coenen. “How we thought our world was going to be, and how we thought we’d have control over our lives, is no longer there. And of course, from an esoteric perspective, we don’t really have control. We only think we do.” Yet, when the bottom falls out—whether it’s COVID, a lost loved one, or another transition— with guidance and grace, we can find our footing again. RESOURCES Claudia Coenen, CGC, FT, MTP Thekarunaproject.com COVID Paper Covidpaper.org Thomas Shooman, MCH-LP Resolutionpsychotherapy.com 10/20 CHRONOGRAM HEALTH & WELLNESS 35

community pages

The downtown Kingston waterfront on the Rondout Creek is a popular boating and dining destination, even during a pandemic.

36 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 10/20

Malenda and Albert “Sammy” Bartley, owners of Jamaican restaurant Top Taste, which has been featured in Bon Appeitit.

Kingston at a Crossroads

lot has changed in Kingston—and, indeed, the world at large—since September 2010, when I profiled the Ulster County seat for these Community Pages. I even moved here in 2016 and bought a home, after being priced out of Hudson. Another reason for the move: it felt like Kingston was more proactive about managing its place in the growth that was inevitably coming to the Hudson Valley. Organizations like the Kingston Land Trust and Friends of Historic Kingston are noticeably vocal about preserving the municipality’s open spaces and character. Citizens were in dialog with their elected leaders and taking an active role in their town’s growth trajectory, a perspective reflected today by Kingston Common Council Majority Leader and Ward 3 Alderman Rennie ScottChildress. “We have to think of how we consider ourselves a community,” says Scott-Childress, who teaches history at SUNY New Paltz. “In the book The New Localism, urban expert Bruce Katz talks about how it’s easier to manage growth than decline.” Kingston’s evolution over the last decade was generally viewed as positive. Thanks in large part to an influx of cultural entrepreneurs, like music venue BSP, Outdated cafe, Duo Bistro, Elephant Wine Bar, the Stockade Tavern, and others, the historic district, after being mostly boarded up for decades, was coming to life as a vibrant

By Peter Aaron Photos by Anna Sirota

arts, gastronomic, and nightlife destination—a bookend to the already established dining district downtown in the Rondout. The O+ Festival, launched in 2010 as a way to draw attention to the plight of uninsured artists while celebrating their art, would cement the city’s reputation as a welcoming place for creatives and foster a visual identity for the city in the dozens of murals its artists painted around town. Midtown, the most economically challenged of Kingston proper’s three districts and centered around the revitalized Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC) and longstanding creative economy businesses like R&F Handmade Paints and Bailey Pottery, was on the launchpad for the renaissance that would begin just a few years hence, as the Midtown Arts District (MAD) organization boosted the neighborhood with block parties and gallery walks and new businesses began to sprout up in long-vacant storefronts along Broadway. Naturally, many from New York City and other areas in search of roomier, more affordable digs in a smaller, nearby, picturesque city with a cultural pulse took notice and started trickling up and buying properties. While this was a big win for the local shops, bars, and restaurants that help make Kingston a great place to live, it came during the double threat of a mounting affordable housing shortage that has displaced many lower-income residents

and a contracting job market brought on by the rise of internet commerce and an exodus of manufacturing. Like many Hudson Valley towns, Kingston’s main industry has long been a seasonal one: hospitality and tourism. Then, in March, COVID hit. Tourism halted. Music venues, bars, and restaurants went into lockdown. And now, sadly, many of them, including some of those mentioned above, have closed permanently. “It’s been constantly changing,” says Brandy Walters, owner of the Anchor, a Midtown restaurant and bar. “A lot of people still aren’t comfortable with going out to eat, and we get that, so we’ve been sticking with takeout and deliveries. Luckily, last year, I was starting to see how the market was going toward people ordering food online. In February, just before the quarantine, we put in a new [online] system. It’s been hard, but for us it’s going all right, considering how things are in general.” The adverse impact to the local business landscape came as the above-mentioned trickle of relocating New Yorkers, now looking to escape the city due to the coronavirus, became a tidal wave, turning Kingston into the town with the fastest-rising real estate prices in the country according to a recent report by the National Association of Realtors. What does it all mean for the future of Kingston? 10/20 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 37

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A Place of Displacement? Like many places in the US, especially the metropolitan areas that surround its major cities, Kingston has a history of being remade by newcomers, and not always to the advantage of its prior inhabitants. Originally populated by people of the Mohican and Esopus tribes, it was colonized by the Dutch in the mid-1600s as Wiltwyck and in 1669 renamed Kingston (for the familial home of then Governor Francis Lovelace) by the encroaching English, who drove the Dutch west to the area around Woodstock. Successive waves of affordablespace-and-greenery-seeking Manhattanites have reshaped the region ever since, perhaps most notably in the 1960s and ’70s and again in the early 2000s following 9/11, when housing stock was abundant due to the 1994 shutdown of the local IBM plant (opened in 1956, the facility employed 7,100 people at its 1985 peak) and the loss of other manufacturers. There were several years of false starts, but the latter influx eventually saw the storefronts Uptown, which had long been shuttered due to the IBM closure and the migration of retailers to the adjacent Town of Ulster malls, slowly reborn via the efforts of a new generation of creative and adventurous entrepreneurs. As new residents were attracted by the Uptown revival, the rebirth eventually began spreading and taking root in long-blighted Midtown, where bars and restaurants like Keegan Ales, PAKT, Peace Nation Cafe (a space now occupied by Lunch Nightly), the Beverly, Tubby’s, Lis Bar, and Kingston Standard Brewing Co. opened to bring new light and energy to the neighborhood. Not surprisingly, many landlords began raising rents and downstate developers who smelled gold set their sights on Kingston—at a time when jobs were becoming increasingly scarce, largely because of the closings of several big-box-store employers who’ve been unable to compete with their online rivals. Which brings us to 2020’s COVID-19 tragedy and the subsequent influx of New York-fleeing residents, a development that has exacerbated the conundrum of Kingston’s undersized base of affordable housing. Fortunately, there are several efforts underway to counteract the problem—although some of them aren’t without controversy. Contested Development Formed in 1981, RUPCO (Rural Ulster Preservation Company) is one of the region’s leading advocates for and providers of quality affordable housing for positive community development, focusing on historic preservation whenever possible. The organization presently manages and/or owns 22 buildings that encompass 586 affordable housing units that shelter families, artists, and elderly, disabled, and homeless people. Most of RUPCO’s apartments have some type of rent subsidy (tenant eligibility is determined by income, family composition, and other criteria). Among the group’s flagship facilities are the 1899 Kirkland building and the former Stuyvesant Hotel Uptown, and, in Midtown, the Lace Mill (a factory building converted to artists’ live/work spaces), Landmark Place (the former Kingston Alms House; now

Top: The future home of nonprofit radio station Radio Kingston. Middle: On Sunday afternoons, a farmers’ market is held on the waterfront. Bottom: Energy Square is a 57-unit affordable housing development that opened in June and is home to 79 people.

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being redeveloped, with additional construction, to provide 66 supportive and affordable homes for seniors age 55 and over), and the newly erected Energy Square. The development of Energy Square, a 70,000-square-foot, net-zero-energy building that replaces an abandoned bowling alley with 57 affordable apartments, an elevated urban park, and streetlevel commercial space housing the nonprofit, low-income-community-serving Center for Creative Education and the Midtown Arts District’s headquarters and gallery, fortuitously complemented Governor Cuomo’s 2018 awarding of the Stockade District with a $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative. In the planning phase is the Metro, a collaborative project with actor and producer Mary Stuart Masterson’s Stockade Works firm and social justice organization the NoVo Foundation that will transform a Midtown factory/warehouse building into a film and technology center with event and maker spaces. “The Metro will offer space to disenfranchised people—people of color, women, people needing assistance who grew up in Midtown,” explains RUPCO’s chief executive officer, Kevin O’Connor, whose organization also has similar projects in Poughkeepsie and Newburgh. “Energy Square is an amazing accomplishment. One of the elderly men from [traditional German choir] the Kingston Maennerchor and Damenchor, who rehearse next door, told me he was interested in living there and asked if the building is ADA-accessible, which it is. That made me feel really good about what we do.” Another project under consideration is the Kingstonian, a proposed $52 million, 2.5-acre, mixed-use development planned to be built in the Uptown at the intersection of Fair and North Front streets. (As part of Kingston’s successful Downtown Revitalization Imitative bid in 2018, the Kingstonian was allocated more than $3 million dollars in grant money from the state.) The development proposes 143 housing units (129 luxury and 14, according to backers, at market rate), retail space, a 32-room boutique hotel, and an open-air plaza with a pedestrian bridge to nearby Kingston Plaza shopping center. The Kingstonian is also supposed to address the area’s parking situation (deemed inadequate by many local retailers) by bringing to the district more parking spaces, though what counts as a “new” parking space is cause for dispute. Uptown retailers generally seem to be in favor of the project for the increased parking and the walk-in customers who will reside in the Kingstonian. And so are potential tenants, as most of the residential units in the site’s two planned structures are already spoken for; many of the clients are, says Childress, downsizing retirees, newly coupled families, and New York commuters. The project has its opponents however. Some of the pushback comes from people who feel that building will ruin the historic district’s aesthetic; indeed, the plan, commissioned by a team of local Hudson Valley developers that includes Brad Jordan, who owns Herzog’s hardware store and the Kingston Plaza, ran through several publicly rejected renderings before arriving at one that more closely echoes the community’s existing architecture. Then

Top: Kingston YMCA Farm Project’s Kaycee Wimbish with students on the farm. Bottom: The Kingston Ceramics Studio at the Shirt Factory hosts classes and workshops for all levels.

there are those who are pushing back for other reasons. Kingston Citizens, a nonpartisan good government group focused on increasing citizen engagement, has confronted both Kingston City Hall and the developers about the planned build. Citing a rush to implement the PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement without sufficient public disclosure about the details of the deal and studies about the construction’s social and economic impacts, the group has done much to raise public awareness about those issues and has been vital in reshaping the plan to positive effect. “We oppose the Kingstonian because it’s not really going to help enough of the people who live here,” says Juanita Velazquez Amador of the Real Kingston Tenants Union, a collective formed in 2018 to advocate for local tenants facing eviction or other housing-related issues. “Rents here have doubled and we need more housing for the working class poor. Yes, there are

those 14 ‘market-rate apartments,’ but that rate is still more than people here who make less than $50,000 a year are going to be able to afford.” Kingston Mayor Steve Noble, an early proponent of the Kingstonian who praised those with different feelings about the project for speaking up and says he encourages more opengovernment dialogue (visit Engagekingston. com), makes the point that while it does, indeed, focus on higher-income tenants, its development comes concurrently with RUPCO’s Energy Square and Landmark Place, which are both weighted heavily toward low-income housing. Also a supporter of the pedestrian-friendly Broadway Streetscape project now underway in Midtown, Noble, who studied environmental science and worked for the city’s parks and recreation department before being elected in 2018, notes how the COIVD-19 crisis has shined a light on Kingston’s changing jobs landscape. 10/20 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 41

To date, thanks to the efforts of more than 488 volunteers who donated nearly 13,000 hours of their time, the KEFC has delivered groceries and prepared food that totals over 305,226 meals to more than 4,306 people.” Against this backdrop of need, it wasn’t surprising that many decried the downstate-linked proprietors of Barnfox, a chain of exclusive “work and retreat clubs” (monthly memberships are $325 to $425), as being hopelessly tone deaf when they announced the upcoming opening of a location in Uptown this summer.

Black Lives Matter march moving west on North Front Street on September 9. Photo by Nathan Kipe.

“Our economy has mainly been about hospitality, and once restaurants were allowed to reopen with outdoor seating, we were very focused on being able to get that going and make the process for it as easy as possible,” says Noble. “In recent years, we’ve been seeing how the creative class, and the tech world, have been coming in, like with [software company] Exago opening their offices in Kingston, which is great. We need to grow a larger mix, with not just more jobs in technology but also in manufacturing. We’re focused on that change.” Rising Up There are others in Kingston who are focused on effecting change—direct change—like Rise Up Kingston, which was founded by community organizer Callie Jayne. “Rise Up Kingston is a grassroots organization led by those experiencing racism, classism, and gender oppression on a daily basis,” says Jayne, who also hosts “Night Rise” on Radio Kingston (Wednesdays from 10pm to midnight), an outlet whose programming has given a strong and consistent voice to the city’s immigrant communities and other underserved groups since going on the air in 2017. “We organize to win, with our collective power, a Kingston economy that meets all of our social and environmental needs. [Rise Up Kingston] formed in March of 2018 to address the systems of oppression that are impacting our communities. Our first focus was police accountability—trying to address the police brutality and misconduct that is happening in our communities. The community developed a platform and legislation and used 42 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 10/20

community organizing to push for changes to our police commission. There are so many amazing organizations doing great work here in Kingston.” Among those other organizations are Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, a group started in 2012 originally to fight on behalf of residents against foreclosures and evictions resulting from the 2008 financial crisis. With offices in Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, and Middletown as well as Kingston, the multiracial, intergenerational association centers its work on organizing people around issue-based and electoral campaigns. The bimonthly Wednesday Walks 4 Black Lives in Academy Green Park raise awareness of systematic and structural injustices against Black and Brown people. People’s Place, launched in 1972, is a nonprofit, volunteer-run food pantry, thrift store, and community cafe located in Midtown that serves all of Ulster County. Located on John Street in the Stockade district, Family of Kingston is an outgrowth of the 1970-founded Family of Woodstock that provides counseling, family, mental health services, and other assistance to those in need, while the nearby Kingston Emergency Food Collaborative arose last April to work with several local organizations to distribute food to local families. From a September KEFC press release noting that the local food crisis was far from over: “The KEFC has managed multiple distribution sites, sorted and packed food, scheduled deliveries, handled the food-distribution hotline, conducted outreach calls, scheduled volunteers, and delivered meals and groceries.

Careful Wishing It’s an old story. People love their towns, it’s a big part of why they live in them. They champion them and want to tell everyone how great they are. But, at the same time, they don’t want too many people to agree with them, move there, and reshape the town too much. And yet, who can blame others for wanting to move there? If it’s good town, or at least a town that looks to be generally improving, as Kingston is, that’s a natural and inevitable occurrence. Especially when the town is close to a major metropolitan area like New York City. Especially during a pandemic and an economic crash. But at least it seems like Kingston is having a conversation about the issues at hand: If there’s one thing we learned in the wake of the 2016 election, it’s that people have to be more engaged with their government and their communities. And it does feel like that engagement is happening in Kingston, which bodes well. And that its people helping are each other along the way. “This is a city based on community, love, and respect,” says Walters of the Anchor, whose restaurant donated 10 percent of its sales to People’s Place and food-delivery effort Project Resilience during the first four months of the quarantine and is looking toward employing outof-work musicians to offer “singing deliveries” to customers. “We’re all in this together and we’re starting to do better.” Scott-Childress echoes Walters’s focus on its sense of community and again stresses how strengthening that sense is paramount. “We need more ways to get people together with their neighbors to communicate with each other, even if that’s through Zoom or other means,” says the alderman, adding that the Common Council is developing potential regulations to control the unchecked proliferation of Airbnb properties, a situation that has greatly compounded the housing shortages in many upstate towns. “Solutions arise when people get together in small groups to talk about issues.” Mayor Noble remains unshakably optimistic about the changes his city is going through as he continues to seek input from its citizens on negotiating them. “Kingston has always been a resilient city,” he offers. “We’ve had our ups and downs, and we’ll bounce back.” But at the same time, there are those who continue to provide a cautious, and helpful, conscience from other vantage points. And they’re making their voices heard. “Unless we’re careful how we do things, it’s not gonna look like Kingston in a few years,” says Amador. “It could go either way.”

Sponsored

Justin Windman-Kerr with his piece Tryptophan, part of “We’re All Human” on view at CCAC through November 30.

The Art of Adaptability

Autumn Brings New Programming to the Cornell Creative Arts Center 2020 has been a tough year to be in the arts. Whether it’s professional dance, theater, music, or visual arts or the educational classes that train people for those opportunities, the last six months have greatly reshaped how we all engage with arts across the spectrum. As we head into fall with no end to social distancing in sight, however, many arts organizations have renewed their commitments to making their programming work for the “new normal.” Among these is the Cornell Creative Arts Center (CCAC) in Kingston, an organization developed by the Arc Mid-Hudson to provide inclusive arts programming to the community. Located on Cornell Street in Midtown, the CCAC opened its newly completed 12,000-squarefoot center in April, just as the pandemic hit the region. The center is home to a ceramics studio, gallery space, art classroom and studio, and an 1,800-square-foot dance and movement studio, as well as a co-working space and four office/studio rentals. In lieu of in-person classes in its state-of-theart facility, the CCAC rolled out a robust weekly schedule of virtual workshops, including adaptive dance, a style that modifies traditional techniques for all types of movement and creative expression; chair-based yoga and guided meditation classes; and art workshops designed with both beginning and advanced artists in mind. For the fall, in addition to the program of virtual classes, the CCAC is excitedly easing into its physical space by introducing limited-capacity and private in-person classes over the next few months.

Classes will be taught by the CCAC’s growing staff, which includes a dance instructor, Nina Ries Easter; a yoga and meditation instructor, Melissa Mae; and three visual arts instructors—Jillian Rahm, Christina Fusco, and Kasmira Demyan; who incorporate easily accessible found-object art, watercolor, and diverse visual arts practices from cultures around the world. To make virtual art classes even easier to participate in this fall, the CCAC also recently introduced “Stay-At-Home Art Supply Kits.” The kits include all supplies for a select number of classes and can be purchased for pick-up at the center in Midtown. On Saturday, September 12, CCAC also dipped its toes back into in-person gallery shows with its first in-person exhibition. “We’re All Human” showcases the diversity of human experience and was juried by MariaElena Ferrer, a socially engaged artist and the Executive Director of Humanamente Kingston, Chair of Athena Network New York, and Vice-Chair of the Ulster County Human Rights

Commission. On September 26 and 27, the exhibition was also a stop on the annual Art Walk Kingston, the self-guided tour that celebrates the city’s art scene and local community. “We’re All Human” will be open for limited-capacity visits through the end of November. The CCAC will also host an open house tour on Wednesday, November 18 from 12 to 6pm. Visitors can come check out the facilities where in-person classes will be held and stop into the gallery to check out the exhibition, too. While the CCAC’s opening year has certainly brought many challenges, the past six months have also offered plenty of opportunity for the organization to pressure-test the meaning of inclusivity. “Change is the mother of invention and innovation,” says CCAC Art Director Rachel Jacob, “Not only has this been a great opportunity for us right now, but it has been a great way of continuing to think about accessible services for the future.” Cornellcreativeartscenter.com

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8. CCAC 129 Cornell Street (845) 797-4054 Cornellcreativeartscenter.com CCAC is a vibrant, inclusive, communitybased art center that provides a place to make, engage in, and share art. The Center aims to allow all people to incorporate the arts into their daily lives to increase community connections and a sense of empowerment. 9. CoWork Kingston 8 N Front Street (845) 338-3289 CoWorkKingston.com Located in an industrial building in Uptown, CoWork Kingston offers personal desk spaces, conference rooms, private phone booths, and shared lounge areas for individuals and small companies.

1. Andrade Architecture 31 Albany Avenue (845) 943-5258 Andradearchitecture.com With studios in Kingston and Manhattan, Andrade Architecture thrives on rich collaborations and a continuous state of reinvention. We love 10. Dietz Stadium Diner to see where a client’s vision can take 127 N Front Street a project. (845) 331-5321 2. Augustine Landscaping & Nursery Dietzstadiumdiner.com Dietz Stadium Diner—where everyone is 177 Van Kleeck Lane treated like family. Indoor and outdoor (845) 338-4936 dining available. Winner of ChronoAugustinenursery.com grammies 2020 for #1 Late Night Eats Augustine Nursery provides the largest and #3 for Diner! selection of trees and shrubs in the Hudson Valley. Come in and take a look 11. Family Network Chiropractic at what we have to offer. 79 St James Street (845) 338-3888 3. Blue Mountain Bistro To Go Familynetworkchiropractic.com 948 Route 28 As an NSA chiropractor, we offer (845) 340-9800 Network Spinal Analysis care, which Bluemountainbistro.com leads to greater self-awareness, greater Restaurant, catering business, and expression of the human spirit, and a storefront serving gourmet food for conscious awakening of the relationships dine-in or takeout. between the body, mind, and emotion.

33. The Arc Mid-Hudson 471 Albany Avenue (800) 324-8272 Arcmh.org The Arc Mid-Hudson is a private nonprofit agency focused on empowering people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities to achieve the highest quality of life by providing individualized services to every person. 34. The DRAW at MAD 20 Cedar Street (845) 663-1409 Madkingston.org The DRAW, a growing community of artists, educators, entrepreneurs, and students, hosts exhibits, art classes, and workshops for people of all ages. Head online for descriptions or to register. 35. YMCA of Kingston and Ulster County 507 Broadway (845) 338-3810 Ymcaulster.org YMCA is a private, nonprofit, community-based organization providing social, health, physical education, and recreation services to the residents of Ulster County.

Illustration by Kaitlin Van Pelt

18. Kingston Ceramics Studio 77 Cornell Street, Suite 309 (845) 331-2078 Kingstonceramicsstudio.com We offer open-studio time to ceramic 26. Mother Earth's Storehouse artists, pottery classes, and parties, as well as lessons for beginner to advanced 300 Kings Mall Court students of all ages. (845) 336-5541 Motherearthstorehouse.com 19. Kingston Farmers Market With locations in Kingston, 285 Wall Street, county courthouse Poughkeepsie, and Saugerties, parking lot Mother Earth's Storehouse is committed to providing the best info@kingstonfarmersmarket.org high-quality, organic, and natural Kingstonfarmersmarket.org products in the Hudson Valley. Bringing together farmers and the community since 2001. Every Saturday from 9am-2pm in the County 27. Naccarato Insurance Courthouse parking lot in Uptown 237 Fair Street Kingston, May to December. Indoor (845) 338-5510 winter markets every other Saturday, Naccaratoinsurance.com location TBA. A family-owned and operated business established in 1963, providing 4. Cabinet Designers, Inc 20. Kingston Plaza 12. Herzog's Home & Paint Center auto, home, business, life, and health 747 Route 28 151 Plaza Road 151 Plaza Road insurance from over 50 companies. (845) 331-2200 (845) 338-6300 (845) 338-6300 Cabinetdesigners.com Kingstonplaza.com Herzogs.com 28. River Mint Finery With more than 30 years of experiA family-owned hardware store offering Kingston Plaza features 35 shops 270 Fair Street ence, Cabinet Designers is known for including dining, wine and spirits, building supplies, paint, a kitchen and (845) 481-5060 its handcrafted approach to design. We bath design center, power tools, a beauty and fashion, hardware, fitness, Rivermintfinery.com help homeowners think outside the box garden center, and gifts. banking, grocery, and pharmacy. with an extensive selection of custom, River Mint Finery is a boutique semi-custom, and stock cabinets. offering women’s clothing and 13. Hickory BBQ & Smokehouse 21. Livingston Street Early Childhood accessories, jewelry, shoes, bags, 743 Route 28 home fragrance, and specialty gifts, 5. Catskill Art & Office Supply Community (845) 338-2424 with a focus on independent and 230 Plaza Road 22 Livingston Street local designers as well as classic Hickoryrestaurant.com (845) 331-7780 American brands. Located on Route 28 between Kingston (845) 340-9900 Catskillart.com and Woodstock, Hickory has the most Livingstonstreet.org delectable smoked barbecue cuisine Offering Art supplies, Custom Picture 29. Rough Draft Bar & Books Livingston Street Early Childhood north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Voted Framing, Full Service Copy Shop, Gifts Community provides socially 82 John Street #1 winner for BBQ food for Chronoand more! Winner of Chronogrammies responsible childcare and education for (845) 802-0027 grammies 2020! 2020 #1 Art Supply Store! the young child. Roughdraftny.com Rustic tavern/shop offering draft beer 14. Hotel Kinsley 6. Cheese Louise 22. Local Artisan Bakery and cider, coffee, wine, baked goods, 301 Wall Street 940 Route 28 448 Broadway and books for all ages. (845) 768-3620 (845) 853-8207 (845) 481-3860 Hotelkinsley.com A little slice of the Old World in the Localartisanbakery.com 30. Rowan Woodwork foothills of the Catskills. Over 200 Hotel Kinsley is a collection of four Celebrating the art of baking with local 40 Clarendon Avenue cheeses, caviar, hand-sliced lox, salumi, architecturally distinct buildings, Hudson Valley ingredients and new (845) 481-4067 prosciutto di Parma, chicken soup like including 42 guest rooms and a flavors every week. Visit our bakery for Rowanwoodwork.com your grandma made, and more. Don't restaurant, closely nestled throughout delicious treats, coffee, tea, and handleave without a baguette. Cheers. the historic Stockade district in uptown Rowan is a full-service designcrafted gifts by local artisans. Custom Kingston. and-build woodworking shop. We orders welcome. handmake everything from kitchen 7. Chronogram Media cabinets to furniture, utilizing both 15. Hudson Valley Hospice 45 Pine Grove Avenue, Suite 303 23. LOLA Pizza modern and traditional techniques 400 Aaron Court (845) 334-8600 243 Fair Street to push the boundaries of design (845) 338-2273 Chronogrammedia.com and craft. (845) 768-3624 Hvhospice.org Founded in 1993, Chronogram Media Lola.pizza serves as a regional thought-leader, Hudson Valley Hospice is a private, 31. Sassafras Mercantile Wood-fired pizza, housemade pasta, publishing content and producing not-for-profit health-care agency that is organic soft serve, handcrafted 37 Broadway events that engage Hudson Valley dedicated to helping individuals who cocktails, and a natural wine list. Now (845) 481-5387 through our brands—Chronogram, are near the end of life maintain their serving on our outdoor patio and Sassafrasmercantile.com Upstate House, Upstater, Explore the dignity and enhance the quality of life. indoors, safely distanced. Hudson Valley, Rural Intelligence, and Sassafras is a metaphysical mercantile The River Newsroom. for personal liberation, specializing in 16. Jewish Federation of Ulster County 24. Masa Midtown farm-to-cup herbal teas, prints, zines, 390 Aaron Court 666 Broadway and other goods to liberate mind (845) 338-8131 and body. (845) 514-2214 Ucjf.org Masamidtown.com A community-building organization that Turkish and Mediterranean cuisine 32. Spa21 Kingston enriches Jewish life locally, nationally, in available for curbside pickup and 16 Lucas Avenue Israel, and around the world by helping takeout Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. (845) 481-5316 those in need and fostering Jewish Masa also offers on- and off-site catering Spa21kingston.com values for the greater good. for events of all sizes and tastes. Voted #1 Wellness Center by Chronogram readers, Spa21 offers 17. John Carroll 25. Mohonk Landscaping more than 20 innovative, touch-free 715 Route 28 74 Furnace Street services to help you relax, boost (845) 338-8420 immunity, and feel your best. (845) 750-7236 Johnmcarrollhealer.com Mohonklandscaping.com Integrative imagery spiritual counseling Our mission is to offer high-quality, and energy healing. Remote competitively priced residential appointments available. and commercial landscapes and maintenance. We use only premium grade materials to deliver custom design and maintenance services that surpass expectations. 44 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 10/20

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This directory is a paid supplement.

10,/20 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 45

feature

MAKE IT COUNT Where, when, and how to vote in November. By Roger Hannigan Gilson

A collaboration with

46 FEATURE CHRONOGRAM 10/20

oting in New York will be different this year. Two sets of state voting laws have been passed since the last major election in 2018, changing when and how New Yorkers can cast their ballots. The most significant of these changes will debut on what is expected to be a tense election day unlike any other—one where the winners will most likely remain unknown for more than a week after the polls close, due to the expected high number of absentee ballots. We talked to election officials from eight counties in the Hudson Valley and Catskills about the new system, possible delays from the postal service, and what they anticipated on election day. Below is the result—your very own guide to voting in 2020. There Are 3 Different Ways to Vote This Year Before 2019, most people in New York could only vote the traditional way: standing in long lines, while idly trying to suss out who might be voting for a third-party candidate. But this year, anyone can vote with an absentee ballot. Legislation signed into law August 20 allows New Yorkers to request absentee ballots if “there is a risk of contracting or spreading a disease-causing illness to the voter or to other members of the public.” The law was created in part so New Yorkers could avoid crowding polling sites during the pandemic. Early voting is also available in New York

this year after debuting during the 2019 election. Each county will hold voting hours at a limited set of polling sites for nine days ending the Sunday before Election Day. Each county’s hours are listed below. Then there’s the traditional Election Day vote. All polling places in the Hudson Valley and Catskills are open on November 3 from 6am until 9pm. The Last Day to Request an Absentee Ballot Is Too Late The last day to request an absentee ballot for the November 3 election is October 27, but if you wait that long to mail in a request, your vote may not be counted. Letters were sent to the state governments in July with a warning by Thomas J. Marshall, the general counsel for the Postal Service, saying most of the states’ deadlines for requesting absentee ballots weren’t in line with how long it took the service to deliver mail, according to Reuters. The mail has been taking longer as of late. Overtime for postal workers has been canceled and letter-sorting machines have been taken offline, leading Democrats to accuse Louis DeJoy—appointed US Postmaster General by President Trump in May—of slowing the mail to disrupt the election. Trump has railed for months against mail-in voting as an invitation for mass election fraud, and his supporters are expected to avoid mail-in voting when compared to Biden supporters. During a confrontational hearing on August

21, DeJoy assured Congress that all ballots would be delivered “securely and on time” and 95 percent of election mail will be delivered in three days, according to Reuters. However, all eight county elections commissioners interviewed said voters should follow Marshall’s original 15-day timetable and mail in requests for ballots more than a week before the official New York deadline—or earlier. The deadline does not allow enough time for requests to get to the Board of Election, be processed and filled by election workers, be mailed to the voter, and then mailed back to the BOE, the elections commissioners said. Dutchess County elections commissioner Beth Soto said that despite the October 27 deadline, “the Post Office has advised us they cannot guarantee timely delivery of ballots applied for less than 15 days before the election”—which would be October 19. She encouraged Dutchess County voters to submit their ballot requests before October 12. That seems like a reasonable guideline for all voters to follow, regardless of which county they reside in. Voters can request absentee ballots now, and other elections commissioners suggested voters mail in ballot applications as soon as possible. “I think everyone acknowledges that it seems like there’s an extra two- or three-days’ lag time at the Post Office,” said Delaware County elections commissioner Judy Garrison. “People are advised to act timely. They have plenty of time to act ahead.” Ballots were certified by the state on 10/20 CHRONOGRAM FEATURE 47

2020 ELECTION

VOTING TIMELINE AT A GLANCE SEPTEMBER 1 ABSENTEE BALLOT REQUEST PORTAL OPENS All New York State voters can request an absentee ballot via the state's new online portal, which launched on September 1. Election reform laws passed in August of 2020 allow any registered voter to request an absentee ballot due to risk of illness, including COVID-19. Voters technically have until October 27 to request absentee ballots in writing or online, or until November 2 if they apply in person at their local Board of Elections. But the October 27 deadline may not leave enough time for postal delays this year. Local officials say that if you plan to request an absentee ballot, you should do so by October 12.

SEPTEMBER 9 BALLOTS CERTIFIED BY NEW YORK STATE According to state law (§ 4–112), the New York State Board of Elections has until the 55th day before a general election to certify to county Boards of Election the federal and state candidates who will appear on the ballot.

SEPTEMBER 10 BALLOTS CERTIFIED BY COUNTY BOARDS The due date for local county Boards of Elections to certify ballots fell the day after the due date for the New York State Board of Elections to certify candidates in larger races to the county boards (§ 4–114). Only after the county Boards of Elections have certified local ballots can they be made available to voters.

SEPTEMBER 15 VILLAGE ELECTIONS Village elections in New York, most of which are held in March, were delayed by executive order until September 15 this year.

SEPTEMBER 18 BALLOTS MAILED TO VOTERS Around September 18, the first county Boards of Elections began mailing absentee ballots to voters who have requested them. This was also around the time when local Boards of Elections began posting sample ballots on their websites.

48 FEATURE CHRONOGRAM 10/20

September 9, then by county boards of elections (BOEs) on September 10, after which the BOEs began the laborious process of producing the ballots and mailing them out to absentee voters. We were able to get dates for when absentee ballots would begin to be mailed to voters in many Hudson Valley and Catskill counties; they are listed under their respective counties below. New Yorkers can also request a ballot through an online portal the state launched on September 1. The portal saves time by eliminating the request’s journey through the mail, though the ballot itself still needs to be mailed to the voter, then back to their county BOE. Voters can also bypass the mail and save time by emailing, calling, or faxing ballot requests through their county BOEs. Some BOEs have a preferred method, which is listed with our election resources at Therivernewsroom.com. Another state law allows absentee ballots to be postmarked as late as election day. These ballots can be received by BOEs as late as November 10. Governor Cuomo announced on September 8 that voters can now drop off absentee ballots at Board of Elections offices anytime, including during early voting. Early Voting Will Help Flatten the Missing Vote Curve To use the nomenclature of the day, voting early will help flatten the curve, spreading out when votes are cast. Ulster County elections commissioner Ashley Dittus said early voters would avoid lines—more than just a convenience in the time of COVID-19. Early voting differs from Election Day voting. A limited number of polling places will be open for more than a week ending November 1, the Sunday before Election Day, though each county has some flexibility as to their specific hours. In Ulster County—where early voting made up seven percent of all votes in 2019, the second-highest proportion in the state—there will be five early polling sites, while Westchester County will have 17. Half of counties in the region will have only a single early polling site. Any registered voter can visit any early-voting site in their county, a fact often misunderstood during the method’s launch last year, according to Dittus. Unlike absentee voting, there is no need to request anything: Residents can just show up and vote. Vote Twice? Voters unsure if their absentee ballot will arrive on time were encouraged by several of the elections commissioners to also vote in person. The suggestion at least ostensibly mirrors a suggestion President Trump made to his supporters to vote both by absentee ballot and in person to help ensure their vote is received. The comments drew outrage from Trump detractors, who suggested Trump was encouraging his supporters to commit election fraud. The picture is more complex, and some elections commissioners in the region endorsed double voting to ensure everyone got to vote. In New York, lists of voters who’ve mailed in their ballots are cross-checked with lists of voters

who cast their ballots on election day, and any duplicates are tossed, eliminating any possibility a resident would get two votes, according to the elections commissioners. Most counties now have tracking systems so voters can see when their ballot requests are processed and when their completed ballots are received back at their BOE. Ulster County Elections Commissioner Dittus said voters anxious about receiving their ballot in the mail in time can always check the tracker and vote early or on Election Day if the ballot isn’t looking prompt. Someone who has already mailed their ballot can still vote in person if they are anxious about the ballot getting to their BOE by November 10. Columbia County elections commissioner Ken Dow said the system eliminates any double votes. “We cross-check every absentee ballot against the voting records from election day and early voting, and if anybody voted in person who was also sent in an absentee ballot, that ballot gets pulled out so they don’t get counted twice,” he said. “So, if anyone is unsure, they can send in an absentee application, and…if they feel comfortable voting in person when the time comes, it doesn’t stop them.” Absentee Applications Are Already Rolling In County BOEs in the Hudson Valley and Catskills reported a deluge of applications soon

The 2020 election is no laughing matter. Make sure your vote counts!

after Governor Cuomo signed the bill allowing absentee voting by anyone fearful of contracting COVID-19. The law took effect upon its signing August 20, and Ulster County’s BOE reported receiving 4,500 requests by September 2. Rockland County’s BOE received 10,000 requests by September 3, while Sullivan County, with just 53,000 registered voters, received 3,000 requests in this time. Columbia County elections commissioner Dow said his BOE “could easily get 20,000 absentee applications.” When Will We Know the Results? The three methods of voting all run on different schedules, and New York’s results will not come in all at once. Though early voting ends November 1, results cannot be released until after the polls close on election day, November 3. Results of early voting are expected to be compiled by then and should be posted just after 9pm. Absentee ballots have until the end of November 10 to get to their respective BOEs. Some election commissioners said they were only going to begin counting them on November 11. Putnam County elections commissioner Andrea Basli said her office may post absentee votes on a rolling basis after Election Day, though the results would be unofficial until the final absentee ballots are processed after November 10. This brings us to…

Democrats’ Nightmare Scenario Trump has been lambasting mail-in voting for months, claiming fraud will happen on a massive scale and absentee ballots will swindle him out of the election. Absentee ballots could very well flip many of November’s elections, not because of fraud, but rather because of President Trump claiming there might be fraud. He has sown so much distrust about mail-in voting that his supporters are expected to disproportionately avoid the system and vote in person on Election Day. Of those planning to vote in person, 57 percent plan to vote for Donald Trump, while 37 percent plan to vote for Joe Biden, according to a national Emerson poll. Of those planning to vote by mail, 67 percent plan to vote for Biden and only 28 percent vote for Trump. There is also evidence of this locally. Ulster County Elections Commissioner Dittus said Democrats disproportionately requested absentee ballots during this summer’s primaries and “it’s trending that way now.” “[Absentee ballots] could be even more of consequence” in November’s elections because so many more people are using them, Dittus said. “It could change an entire Assembly or Senate race.” Since early votes and Election Day votes are expected to be posted overnight November 3, New Yorkers could wake up to an almost completely red electoral map. It is only over the subsequent 10-plus days that absentee ballot results will be posted, turning many of the red districts blue. Just like Trump said all along.

OCTOBER 9

More Polls Workers Needed Some BOEs said they were having more trouble finding elections inspectors than in prior years because of the pandemic and Early Voting. Ulster County is temporarily hiring over 600 elections inspectors to cover the extended early voting hours. Several elections commissioners said most inspectors were retirees, many of whom did not sign on this year because of pandemic fears, draining the normal employee pool. Commissioners specifically asked for younger people to apply, in case a second COVID-19 wave hits the state and causes at-risk inspectors to call out. Members of the minority party in their county are also encouraged to apply, as an equal number of registered Republicans and Democrats are needed in each county, sometimes a challenging feat. In Rockland County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1, elections commissioner Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky said they are “always struggling to get Republican inspectors.” Elections inspectors will be trained and are paid anywhere from $15 per hour to a flat $350 for election day, depending on the county. Interested parties must be registered to vote, but do not need to be registered with a political party, though they must choose to be a Democrat or a Republican for the purposes of working the polls.

DEADLINE TO REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT

For a breakdown of election information by county, and rolling election updates, visit Therivernewsroom.com.

DEADLINE TO REGISTER TO VOTE IN NEW YORK STATE If you are not registered to vote in New York State, you have until October 9 to register either by mail or in person to vote in the general election. Your registration must be received by a Board of Elections by October 14 in order for you to be eligible to vote on November 3.

OCTOBER 12 GET YOUR ABSENTEE BALLOT REQUEST IN By October 12, if you plan to request an absentee ballot and haven’t done so yet, you should. Local election commissioners urge voters to get their requests in well ahead of the October 27 deadline set by state law, to allow for this year’s unprecedented postal delays. You can request an absentee ballot online through the New York State portal.

OCTOBER 24-NOVEMBER 1 EARLY VOTING Early voting is still pretty new in New York State: An election reform law passed in 2019 allows all eligible New York voters to cast a ballot in person at an early voting poll site the week before an election. The 2020 early voting period runs from October 24 through November 1.

OCTOBER 27 Voters technically have until October 27 to request absentee ballots in writing or online, or until November 2 if they apply in person at their local Board of Elections. But the Post Office has warned that the October 27 deadline may not leave enough time for postal delays this year. Local officials say that if you plan to request an absentee ballot, you should do so by October 12.

NOVEMBER 3 ELECTION DAY On Election Day, polls will be open from 6am to 9pm. November 3 is also the deadline for sending an absentee ballot. Make sure your ballot is postmarked by November 3, or you can bring it in person to a poll site or your local Board of Elections office by 9pm. Be prepared to wait awhile to find out who won: This year, the sheer number of absentee ballots, and the prospect of partisan differences in whether people vote in person or by mail, mean it may be weeks before we know the outcomes of federal, state, and local races.

NOVEMBER 10 DEADLINE FOR RECEIVING BALLOTS To be counted in the general election, all ballots must be received by local Boards of Elections by November 10.

10/20 CHRONOGRAM FEATURE 49

excerpt

Fifty-Three Steps TO INVIGORATED AGING By Sparrow

2) Be willing to look old. Aged faces can be iconic. We live in a culture that despises superannuated people but loves antiques—a tragic paradox. Try to resemble a Victorian lampshade. 3) Writing palindromes is the secret to mental youthfulness. (A palindrome is a word, phrase, or Supreme Court decision that reads the same backwards and forwards.) At night in bed, just before falling asleep, I often practice this genial art form. Here are some recent palindromic compositions: Noses on! Tipsy, my spit. No! Help pin a nipple, hon! Do not refer to Nod. Blurt out: “Tuotrulb!” Da, Lassie is salad. In words drown I. No, man; nice cinnamon! Sex is sixes. Thinking in two directions at once strengthens both halves of the brain.

50 FEATURE CHRONOGRAM 10/20

Illustrations by Sparrow

The following is an excerpt from Small Happiness & Other Epiphanies by Sparrow, which will be published this month by Monkfish Book Publishing Company. A longtime contributor to this magazine and frequent presidential candidate, Sparrow is the author of numerous books including America: A Prophecy (Soft Skull, 2005) and Republican Like Me (Soft Skull, 2001). Small Happiness touches on a wide range of subjects, from psychoanalysis to wedding planning to advice on aging, from which the following essay is excerpted.

4) Vary your walking speed. Walk slowly and thoughtfully, like a rhinoceros, for a while—then skitteringly, like a sandpiper. 6) Touch trees. Humans have faces in the front, but trees have 360-degree faces. Close your eyes and learn the braille of a tree’s skin. 7) Play the tonette every day. Do you know what a tonette is? It’s a plastic, flute-like instrument that essentially anyone can play. My tonette has seven holes, plus one in the back, which seems to add an octave. I only use mine outdoors. (In my opinion, music should be unconfined by houses.) I live between a mountain and a creek. The mountain is called Romer Mountain. The creek is called the Esopus. I walk outside, usually in the afternoon, and play my tonette for two or three minutes: quick avant-garde noodlings, or methodical sequences that sound like music exercises for eight-year-olds. A bad musician is still a musician. Though I have no “talent,” I am still a tonette player! No one can deny that!

14) Grow wise. Most experts on aging advise “staying young,” but that’s nonsense. The youthful are young; that’s their talent. The aged should, instead, grow deep in wisdom. How do you become wise? I have no idea. 15) Learn to fail. Most of us attempt to get better and better at our hobbies and careers. We want to improve as tennis players, as firefighters, as sushi chefs. But what we forget is that failure is also a talent—often a more adaptive talent than success. Life is mostly a series of defeats, which usually catch us unawares. But if you willfully undertake projects at which you’re destined to fail—designing a solar-powered rocket ship, for example—you’ll develop the strength necessary to live for years and years and years. So choose a task you’ll never do well and start trying. Attempt to master backgammon or to cure cancer. It’s up to you. (And possibly, just by dumb luck, you’ll build a solar-powered rocket ship!)

16) Love your bacteria. We speak of a wine aging, or a cheese, or anything that is catalyzed by bacteria. Well, guess what? Humans are one or two percent bacteria, by weight. That means that if you weigh a hundred and sixty pounds, you’re carrying around nearly two pounds of singlecelled organisms, mostly in your intestines and on your skin. Forget about your “Inner Child”; consider your “Inner City” of bacteria. Study your own microbial colony; learn what these beneficial creatures enjoy. Buy a jar of artichoke hearts, place a few in your salad, eat them, and notice how your bacteria react. Are they delighted? Insulted? Try other foods. (In theory, they should respond to miso soup, yogurt, kefir, red wine, and other foodstuffs that include bacteria, but your particular bacterial subculture may have its own preferences.) Co-evolving with your microbes is the happiest way to age. 19) Do everything as slowly as possible. Orr, a character in Catch-22, believed he would live longer by doing tedious, repetitive tasks, like taking apart a radio and putting it back together. For example, when you leave the bathtub, dry yourself so slowly that most of the water just evaporates. If you live slowly enough, one hour becomes three hours and twenty minutes. 21) Read joke books. I found The Treasury of Clean Jokes for Children by Tal D. Bonham on the free shelf of the Phoenicia thrift shop, so I took it home. Here’s a joke I opened to at random: Brandon: Today on the school bus a little boy fell off his seat, and everybody laughed except me. Teacher: Who was the little boy? Brandon: Me. This joke has the virtue of also being a Buddhist parable. (Come to think of it, this could be one way to become wise: reading joke books.) 27) Take a nap. Napping is an art, like ceramics. A great nap can reinvent a day. You awake to clearer, fresher air—happier air. And old people are allowed to nap—it’s considered basically a virtue. 30) Make new friends and have tea with them. Coffee is for chatting; tea is for real talk. (Coffee suggests a “coffee break,” a rushed, finite time. Tea is timeless.) 31) Ask for help. All of us need assistance, and as we age, we need more of it. By the time you’re 79, you’ll need more friends than ever! So start asking for help—with cooking, cleaning, doggrooming. Ask young people, but also ask the aged; even people older than yourself ! (Three hundred octogenarians can lift a car, easily, if they act together.) I have a friend—I’ll call him Portsmouth Pete—who, in his youth, would ask every single woman at a party to have sex with him. More often than you’d expect, one would say yes—a complete stranger! (His ratio of success was approximately 1:26.) Once you are aged, you need the same spirit of blithe request. Who knows why someone may wish to help you? Perhaps their guru instructed them to. Perhaps they’re

incredibly bored. Or maybe they’re plagued by guilt because they recently robbed a bank. In any case, there’s no harm in asking. And don’t be bitter if they say no. Notice if this 1:26 ratio still holds. 39) Two poems In Defense of Aging The more farsighted I get, the closer are the stars. Time Traveler I’m a Time Traveler: I’ve traveled from 1953 to 2020.

52) Give advice. As you grow wiser, more and more people will ask you for advice. Your nephew—or grandnephew—will ask, “Should I go to graduate school?” You must reply, even if you have no answer. One possibility is to follow Jesus’s example—invent a meaningless parable. Say: “A farmer had a field. She planted half of it with barley and half with corn. Within the barley, some corn sprang up, but among the corn, no barley grew.” Then sit back, smiling enigmatically. [Notice the non-sexist language. One should always aspire to be less sexist than Jesus.] 53) Stop reading self-help books. They’re making us all so stupid, we can barely finish reading a self-help book!

42) The best part of getting old is that you can stop worrying about becoming famous. Until you’re 24, there’s a chance you’ll be a celebrity, even if you’re completely talentless. But as time goes on, that possibility diminishes, and by the time you’re 71, it’s infinitesimal. Also, you’ll have lost touch with that Inner Circle. When you open People magazine, you’ve never heard of any of the stars (okay, maybe two out of 80). There’s a whole new pantheon of good-looking, empty-headed people with interchangeable names like Ryan Fletcher and Owen Basil, as unknowable as Polynesian deities. Besides, you’re already famous in your neighborhood, or in your occupation—known as a trustworthy orthodontist in Northern Long Island or an excellent social worker in Arkansas—and that’s good enough. Instead, you root for one of your grandsons to become world-famous. 51) Stand up for your beliefs. There’s nothing like a 93-year-old woman at an antiracism rally to bring tears to everyone’s eyes. Be that person. 10/20 CHRONOGRAM FEATURE 51

music Bob Gluck Early Morning Star (FMR Records) Fmr-records.com

“Arise, oh my beloved,” chants vocalist Andrea Wolper in the art song that opens Early Morning Star. Drawn from biblical love poetry, the phrase serves here to establish the foundation of what’s to come musically and thematically: an invocation to listeners to harken to the medium and the message. The album draws from a multiplicity of genres and influences, including collective improvisation, modern jazz, avant-garde, klezmer, Middle Eastern, and Hebrew texts ostensibly addressing social justice concerns—yet in sum it presents a remarkably unified sound and vision that can only be called Bob Gluck music. Things take flight musically with “Emerge-Ency,” featuring the siren-like sounds of Kinan Azmeh’s clarinet atop some gorgeously chaotic vamping by Woodstock drummer Tani Tabbal and bassist Ken Filiano, whereas “Flowing” is a more stately group improvisation on a theme. “For Today” is given over entirely to Gluck, whose spacious arrangement across the piano keyboard boasts orchestral depth. The Albany-area Gluck doesn’t always compose for himself, making it all the more of a treat to hear his colorful playing throughout. On “Friday Song,” the lyrics wittily incorporate the language of sales and marketing—“risk free at a bargain price”—to decry environmental devastation. “Not for Today” features Wolper’s multitracked vocals and a frenzied clarinet improvisation by Azmeh that builds to a crescendo of one impossibly long, sustained note. Gluck coproduced this beautiful album with Trevor Taylor; the pristine sound fully breathes as if you are in the room with the musicians. —Seth Rogovoy

Acoustic Medicine Show The Road Less Traveled

(Independent) Facebook.com/musicthatmakesyoufeelwonderful With 50 states to choose from, American roots music covers a pretty wide swath. With his latest thematic disc, The Road Less Traveled, Acoustic Medicine Show mastermind Joe Tobin sounds like he’s trying to cover it all. The end result, while pleasant, is, ironically, rootless, with loping cowboy heels on “Traveling Man,” ersatz horn-driven R&B on “Baton Rouge,” and Texas folk on the album’s best track, the string-inflected “I Always Loved You.” There are flashes of Peter Case here (“Maria”), the Wildflowers there (“By My Side”), and the beautiful pastiche of the elder Dylan’s Desire on “The Road Goes on Forever.” But one pines to hear Tobin’s own voice amidst the touchstones. More sparse numbers and less faux-salt-on-the-floor shuffles like the swinging “Back on Home” might be a step in the right direction. The playing throughout, by a bevy of talented Hudson Valley helpers, is top notch. —Michael Eck

54 MUSIC CHRONOGRAM 10/20

Astro-Zombies Instant Punishment The Robot Brain vs. Hitler’s Corpse (POE Records) Theastro-zombies.bandcamp.com

Hudson Valley music fans familiar with the traditional Celtic stylings of the Wild Irish Roses might be shocked at the sonic extremes of the now-married Michael and Kristina Rose’s early 1990s Brooklyn-based outfit, the Astro Zombies. Going by the nom de rock of Jim Bean (vocals, bass) and Kitty Lovely (rhythm guitar, vocals), the duo was abetted by Cleve Lund (lead guitar), Mugsy (drums), and a rotating gaggle of DJs. The group’s MO was to take the skeleton of a pop song and put it through “our meat grinder of filth, corruption, and despair.” An unsuspecting listener gets lulled in by a stray melody or lyric before a vicious mugging of feedback and dissonance occurs. These remasters include the band’s cassette-only debut and material for a never released third alum. Connoisseurs of punk/psych/noise/ mayhem should dig in, forthwith. —Jeremy Schwartz

Flor Bromley Fiesta Global (Independent) Florbromley.com

Croton-on-Hudson resident Flor Bromley creates a Latin fusion extravaganza for los niños with her bilingual sophomore CD, a celebration of the global village. Fiesta Global encourages diversity (and dancing!) with festive sounds from south of the border—Mexican, Columbian, Brazilian, and her native Peruvian— with joyous tracks that echo our welcoming Hudson Valley spirit. “Let’s have a party!,” she sweetly sings, in both Spanish and English, as a bevy of cheerful children’s voices chime in alongside the brass. In “We Came to America,” Bromley reminds us of our ancestral or more recent expeditions; though varied in expression, each one of us is equally American: “Every color, race and religion / From every country in the world.” Beautiful, upbeat ballads like “Vida” offer some downtime from sure-to-be bouncing children. Eleven tracks, and just as many competent players and participants, offer authentic, multicultural entertainment that is abundantly needed in times like these. —Haviland S Nichols

books Tomboy Lisa Selin-Davis HACHETTE GO, 2020, $28

When her six-year-old daughter first called herself a “tomboy,” Davis was hesitant and unsure of how to respond. Her child favored sweatpants and T-shirts over anything pink or princess-themed, just like the sporty, skinned-kneed girls Davis had played with as a kid. But she worried that the term tomboy was outdated in an era of gender reveal parties and gender-neutral pronouns. In this book, based on her viral New York Times op-ed, Davis delves into everything from clothing to psychology, history to neuroscience, and the connection between tomboyism, gender identity, and sexuality. Davis is the founding editor of Upstater.com.

Goodnight Beautiful Aimee Molloy HARPER; 2020, $27.99

In this psychological thriller, Molloy, author of the New York Times bestseller The Perfect Mother, introduces newlyweds Sam Statler and Annie Potter, who leave Manhattan to start a life together in Sam’s sleepy hometown upstate. Or, it turns out, a life where Annie spends most of her time alone while Sam works long hours in his downstairs office as a therapist, with his (mostly female) clientele. Annie discovers that every word of his sessions can be heard from the room upstairs. Everything is fine until the French girl in the green Mini Cooper shows up, and Sam goes to work but doesn’t come home. And that’s just the beginning.

Chasing Chopin Annik LaFarge SIMON & SHUSTER, 2020, $27

This is the Night Our House Will Catch Fire Nick Flynn W. W. NORTON & COMPANY, 2020, $25.95

When Nick Flynn was seven years old, his mother set fire to their house. He returns with his young daughter to his hometown of Scituate, Massachusetts, in an effort to understand why. (Flynn’s mother committed suicide when he was 22.) Flynn seeks answers from his therapist, who tells him he has “the ethics of a drowning man.” As he confronts his failings with fierce candor, he forms his memories into lyrical bedtime stories populated by the both sinister and wounded Mister Mann. This tale bookends the Red Hook resident’s acclaimed 2004 memoir about his father, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City.

On and Off the Beaten Path Carole Bell Ford LIGHTWOOD PRESS, 2020, $16.99

Ford, a New Paltz resident, retired professor, and author of The Girls: Jewish Women of Brownsville, Brooklyn 1940-1995, provides an enjoyable account of road trips that she and her husband took during 20 years of traveling in North America. Ford even includes camper-friendly recipes as she recounts visits to well-known places including the Florida Keys, Mesa Verde, and the Grand Canyon; along with lesser known places such as the Thirty Thousand Islands in Lake Huron, the Upper Mississippi Valley in Ohio, Wolf Park in Indiana, the Ozark Folk Center, the Natchez Trace, and many more.

The Forger’s Daughter Bradford Morrow MYSTERIOUS PRESS, 2020, $26

This gripping sequel to The Forgers begins on a summer night outside of a country house in the Hudson Valley, when a reformed literary forger finds his youngest daughter shaken and bloodied, holding a literary rarity few have ever seen, and a letter with impossible demands regarding its future. He finds himself ensnared in a plot to counterfeit the rarest book in American literature: Edgar Allan Poe’s first, Tamerlane. Facing threats to his life and family, he must return to his criminal past and rely on his older daughter to help create a flawless forgery of the Holy Grail of American letters. —Lee Anne Albritton

If the single most recognizable phrase in classical music is the one comprising the first four notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, then close behind in second place is the 11-note passage that begins what is generically referred to as “the Funeral March.” If you’re of a certain generation, you likely sing along to those notes with made-up lyrics that go, “Pray for the dead, and the dead will pray for you.” These notes are from the third movement of Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35. They also slowly grew into an object of obsession for Hudson Valley author Annik LaFarge. While she shared the same familiarity with the passage that we all do via popular culture—its appearances in newsreels, movies, cartoons, even video games—LaFarge had a few close encounters with the piece that compelled her to investigate the story behind their composition. This pursuit wound up taking LaFarge—who in addition to being a writer and author of On the High Line: Exploring America’s Most Original Urban Park is an amateur pianist—far and wide, from Poland to Paris to Majorca to Massachusetts, to pin down the complex and fascinating creation story of Chopin’s haunting dirge. As the subtitle of Chasing Chopin accurately puts it, LaFarge’s end product is “a musical journey across three centuries, four countries, and a half-dozen revolutions.” Chasing Chopin is at once a biographical sketch, a music appreciation lesson, a crash-course in early 19th-century European history, a travelogue, a detective story, and an intellectual memoir, told in precise and descriptive language that requires no previous knowledge or understanding of music or Chopin beyond those 11 notes. And if you need a refresher course on those notes, LaFarge provides that, too, with an adjunct website replete with pertinent videos and recordings that raises the bar on how music-themed books will be expected to incorporate multimedia henceforth. LaFarge’s intellectual curiosity, free of any musical or ideological agenda, is infectious, and she brings the broad analysis of a polymath to her subject. LaFarge traces the various elements of Chopin’s life and career that contributed to the making of the march, including, but not limited to, Polish history; his hero Bach and his nemesis Berlioz; his early, romantic heartbreak; his relationship with the writer George Sand; and his inventive pianism. In spite of its popularity and influence—LaFarge finds the sonata resurfacing in performances by Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Erik Satie, the avant-garde Willem Breuker Kollektief, and, most famously, a Looney Tunes cartoon—Chopin’s march is probably one of the most misunderstood compositions of all time. For one, it was written for solo piano, never intended to be accompanied by an orchestra. Secondly, Chopin expressly stated that the piece was not intended to be a funeral march. Alas, history would overrule Chopin; the composition would be played at his own funeral nine years after he completed it—with the orchestral accompaniment Chopin never wanted to hear performing a “Funeral March” that he explicitly repudiated. At the outset of her wonderful book, LaFarge states her mission thusly: “This book arose from a humble desire to restore the full narrative of Chopin’s funeral march and in the process tell a larger story about music: How it comes into the world, and how it pulls us, generation after generation, along with it.” By that or any measure, she has more than succeeded. —Seth Rogovoy 10/20 CHRONOGRAM BOOKS 55

poetry

EDITED BY Phillip X Levine

Wrong Number

Thelma Z. Lavine

I am the bomb. And by “the bomb” I mean I am some incendiary device hell-bent on destruction.

Thelma Z. Lavine, fascinating philosophy Professor in college she said once that she Had Infinite Husbands Thelma Z. Lavine told us that every Single story has to have a beginning a middle and of course an end. From there to here. Most people begin with arriving or leaving She said. If they arrive, they leave in the end. Not me I said so many years ago. If I like where I am I’m going to stay. Well said Thelma Z. Lavine. You’d be wrong.

I know this, because I can hear the ticking as I walk down the hallway to her room. “There was another bat in the house” I tell her. My daughter is peering through the din of her iridescent midnight bedroom while I speak this hasty lie through lips that feel as cold as my brother’s limbs grow. just a few miles away.

—Esther Cohen

Deliver Us from this Department Store, Amen

Lips that lie because I awoke her with my screaming. Though it seems like an echo now.

My father throws up in the Sears parking lot on the day we plan to shop for my communion dress. I think God wants him dead.

I am the bomb. Because the night that phone rang, it was mine.

It is Sunday afternoon, a baseball game static on the radio. Our secondhand station wagon is nosed into a spot overgrown with nettles and weeds.

Numb fingers find stored numbers, familiar to me as family. it goes: Asher, Broderick, Carter. ABC. Three pieces of what used to be five.

In the shadow of the driver’s side door, he is hunched on all fours. The reflection of his altered face on display in the bumper’s rim.

I am the bomb. And with every passing ring the ticking grows louder until I explode their phones, and their quiet homes. I gut their faith and any hope they still had left. My calls are over before the dispirited paramedics can pull the needle from his ravaged arm. It’s all business now, this shit ain’t new in my town. Our beautiful, broken brother is dead. This time there is no simple solution. No chasing this out the front door. No quick and dignified death. This bat is going to stick around for a while. —Stephanie Carter

On a Distant Prospect of the Zen Mountain Monastery I speed past you, silent one, admire your far-off gaze tranquil as a sky lake, and long for order in the jaws of desire as the kids scream in the back seat. —Thomas Festa

56 POETRY CHRONOGRAM 10/20

He becomes undone behind the department store, body pressed against hot pavement, hacking until there is nothing left at the back of his teeth. He rises, slow, from broken asphalt. Wipes the corners of his mouth on his shirt. Nods at the passenger seat. Now you must learn how to pray. —Samantha Spoto

A Lesson from the Dog He wolfs down his meal And totters into the next room Where he snuffles and wipes His mutton chops vigorously On the side of the footstool, As if its sole purpose is to Provide a napkin for the moist remains Stuck to his whiskers. Then he dashes into the next room, Launches himself sideways Onto the plush carpet, where he skids To a stop. Rolling and thrashing about On his back, he grunts the whole while. Now he stands, shakes, and saunters To his bed, tail wagging along the way. Circling its soft confines, He collapses in full contentment. His exhale reminds me of what I sometimes forget: A full belly, a place to lay your head, And the company of those that love you Are all you really need. —Randy Sutter

Pre-Pandemic Lust I wish your eyes would / Linger just a bit longer / And undress me slow. —Sage Higgins

you can feel it subtle soft like when someone special slips their fingers into yours, caressing you absently, intimately. that’s fall, autumn, time passing in adagio, stepchild of summer. a life lived in sunsets and evensong, twilight, and moons over harvest fields —Thomas Riker Full submission guidelines: Chronogram.com/submissions

The Best Ones are the Crazy Ones

Our Vendetta with Trees

Epiphany

I’ve tried to love the good women. The kind who talk about their day with a vacant smile on their perfect lips, who cook me delicious healthy dinners and enjoy watching soap operas, while resting their head on my shoulder. The women who answer questions frankly, honestly when I ask them. Women who make me feel content and confident.

“Want to know why I love eating broccoli?” the boy asks.

Loop of snake. Flax drupe of a hawk on the white cedar’s longest arm. Two swallowtails love dance traces again and again the bow of infinity in the humid air.

But I always find myself going back to the kind of women who disappear some nights, their phones switched off. The type of women who will text me the sexiest photographs when we’re apart and then send them to others when I’m in the shower. Or the women who lie about what they ate for lunch, who they met yesterday afternoon and the men who are messaging them while they are in bed naked with me. The women who fake birth control or are sleeping with me because they’re still angry with their ex boyfriends or their absent fathers. The kinds of women who cheat with me and then later cheat on me. The ones I have to warn that they’re making a scene and then they try and slap me, miss and knock things that smash onto the floor. That run off into the night threatening to throw themselves off a bridge or threatening to call the cops or both. Or worse. The kind of woman, I know, that’ll see me swing from the end of a rope one day and smile a little. I could say I love these kinds of women because I just can’t love myself. Maybe there is some truth in that but maybe it is they’re just a euphoric kind of self harm that I inflict on the ragged soul instead of on the flesh. —Stephen J. Golds Yellow Leaves The shiny ginko tree stood in its yellow gown In the fall and curtsied. Accepting the dance with the wind, it embraced some very dark cloud shadows. —Barbara Schoenberg

His eyes go wide as I verbalize his answer. I was a giant, too once. —Michael Vahsen Masks

I thought I would love once, twice, precise as a comet’s rare streak across the heavens in a human lifetime.

“Republicans don’t wear masks, Democrats do. Sometimes I wear a mask, sometimes I don’t.”

But here I am, dawn-struck, wonder-hushed, seeing my heart wasn’t saved or whole, but made to be split open like the milkweed pod, and scattered.

—Taylor Steinberg

—Sophie Strand

Serendipity If we could make it ours, cut shapes from the horizon to form a patchwork of mountains and trees and use the clouds that billow above as pillows, I think we could be happy —Meagan Towler A Little Bite of Heaven His little shack Way out in the yonder Grassland and weeping willows Oak trees along the creek Sky wide with a hazel dome Blue-belly lizards on the sun rail An occasional gopher snake Sparrows darting around his stick garden No one else but him on a wooden porch Built for his rocking chair He retired early to enjoy solitude Drives forty miles to town Mail and groceries once a month Sometimes a hundred miles to the city To walk the streets where he use to work Then inside to the Valley’s Restaurant An old friend there With a young smile…. —Stephen Jarrell Williams

October Driveway 1 End of September cat walks down my driveway. She has ended her hunt, Disappears into the wood. The squirrels are gone. 2 My driveway in October is busy with: Leaves Squirrels. 3 Cat tracks in early October snow Won’t last long. Morning squirrels scurry in my tire tracks. 4 Sunrise deer visit my late October driveway Way before Leaves and squirrels appear. 5 Cat in November will disappear. The wood, the tracks, the hunt Will all be gone. 6 October driveway Is the passion of the season. Squirrels know. 7 Squirrels and cat and leaves and deer Will reappear My next October driveway. —Anthony G. Herles 10/20 CHRONOGRAM POETRY 57

art

These (Mournful) Shores, Jennie C. Jones, powder-coated aluminum, wood, harp strings, 2020 Courtesy of the Artist and PATRON Gallery, Chicago and Alexander Gray Associates, NY Photo: Thomas Clark

The Clark Art Institute’s first outdoor exhibition, “Ground/work,” features six artists—Kelly Akashi, Nairy Baghramian, Jennie C. Jones, Eva LeWitt, Analia Saban, Haegue Yang—the museum commissioned to create site-specific works of art in active dialogue with Clark’s surrounding landscape. These Mournful Shores, by Hudson-based artist Jennie C. Jones, uses two turbulent seascapes by Winslow Homer that the Clark owns— Eastern Point (1900) and West Point, Prout’s Neck (both 1900)—as a point of departure. “Ground/work” will be on display through October 21.

56 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 10/20

the guide

An installation view of Lois Dodd and Shara Hughes's two-person show at Parts & Labor in Beacon.

Lois Dodd is 93. Shara Hughes is 39. Their ages are mirror images, and their art is also, to some extent. Dodd came of age during the ascendancy of Abstract Expressionism and rebelled against its pure existential bareness. She painted snapshot-like images of daily life: pine trees glimpsed through the skylight of a barn, a sheet drying on a clothesline. Hughes creates fantasy landscapes in vivid, impossible colors. Hughes’s paintings look like Dodd’s canvases if they literally burst into flame. There is a mother-daughter dynamic between them, on an artistic level. Maybe it’s the music they listen to. One can imagine Dodd playing cool jazz on a stereo, and Hughes listening to techno on headphones. But both artists seem to point toward buried memories. Dodd specializes in moments so small we don’t quite notice them. Hughes delineates dreams so disturbing we immediately suppress them. How did the two artists unite for an exhibition? “We came up with the idea through speaking with Shara, who very much wanted to do an exhibition with Lois,” explains Franklin Parrasch, cofounder of Parts & Labor Beacon. This artistic conversation between Dodd and Hughes began with a real conversation. Dodd visited Hughes in her studio in Brooklyn. (Both artists paint in oils.) The two artists have clear affinities. Dodd’s Forsythia, April (1976) is an explosive blast of yellow, with a few gestural gray branches. Dodd captures the way you look

at the blaring yellow of a forsythia and for a moment see no shape—the color overwhelms your sense of form. Hughes’s Clearing (2018), with its dazzling blue-violet sky, has a similar charge. Nearly all the shows at Parts & Labor pair a young artist and an influential elder (or historical figure). The paintings of the two artists are hung alternately, so that they “communicate” across the room. The gallery itself is a collaboration, between two successful Manhattan gallerists, Parrasch and Nicelle Beauchene. Parts & Labor opened in May 2019 in a building that had been an auto shop for vintage Porsches. “There’s an indie band called Parts & Labor; I love that name,” Parrasch admits. “And I figured, we’re in an auto shop— let’s go with it!” He also has a gallery in Los Angeles, Parrasch Heijnen. The gallery reopened in July, as part of the cautious reanimation of the art world. “People are buying art all over,” Parrasch remarks. “The gallery in LA sold out two shows in a row, and it’s quite busy in New York.” Clearly a certain number of the quarantined feel that if they have to stare at a wall all day, they might as well put something lovely on it. The gallery is only open Saturday and Sunday. Parrasch suggests making reservations, but if the gallery is empty one can walk inside. (No more than four people are allowed in at a time.) —Sparrow

Dreams & Daydreams “LOIS DODD AND SHARA HUGHES” AT PARTS & LABOR BEACON Through October 25 Partsandlaborbeacon.com

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books I’ve been living in Kingston for 13 years, in the area for 20. Yes, I’m concerned, since Kingston is ripe for prettification. But what am I saying, it’s already happening. In February, pre-COVID, I was taken for dinner to a place in the Stockade that was...LA. No other way to put it. I mean, it’s okay to have one or two such places, but soon enough it becomes hegemony. Look at Hudson, where the class division is like a chalk outline you can follow on the street. We’ll be Hudson in a couple of years, maybe sooner.

Portrait by Laura Levine

In the City There’s a Thousand Things I Want to Say to You LUC SANTE RETURNS WITH A NEW LITERARY ANTHOLOGY Not since Joseph Mitchell, arguably, has a writer captured the raw essence and gritty ghosts of New York on a level approaching that of Luc Sante. Low Life, his 1991 history of the old city’s seamy, subterranean strata, is compulsory reading for anyone even casually interested in the city’s evolution, history in general, or vivid, razor-sharp prose. A visiting professor of writing and the history of photography at Bard College, Sante is also the author of Evidence, The Factory of Facts, Folk Photography, and The Other Paris. After 2007’s Kill All Your Darlings, the new Maybe the People Would Be the Times, published this month by Verse Chorus Press, is his second collection of essays. Sante answered a few questions below via email. —Peter Aaron How many of the pieces collected in Maybe the People Would Be the Times were written during and the period when you lived in New York, in the 1970s and 1980s? Except for two items from the ’90s, the pieces were all written in the 21st century, most of them in the last 15 years. I couldn’t have written the retrospective pieces back then; I was too close to the time, and I needed distance, temporal more than geographic. A point about New York that runs through several of the works in this book, as well as Low Life and other writings you’ve done about the city, is that it’s a place that’s always changing. You arrived in the Lower East Side in 1976, long after the white flight that had seen earlier residents take to the suburbs. That prior migration left an economically barren but very affordable landscape for the next few generations of artists to incubate within. Right now, thanks to COVID-19, we’re seeing this new exodus of people from New York and it’s being hypothesized that the mass vacancies 58 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 10/20

there will result in a new influx of people to the city, ultimately leading to yet another cultural rebirth there. How realistic is this? Are the general conditions and context similar enough now to what they were in the 1970s and ’80s for that to happen? I truly do not know. It’s something I’ve been hearing a lot. But except for one quick drive down in early July I haven’t been in New York since February. I’m planning to go down soon and spend some time, take the temperature of the place. I suspect there’s too much money sunk in real estate for things to open up very noticeably very soon. Back in the ’70s very few people owned their apartments, for example. Apartment buildings were owned by landlords who hadn’t paid very much for them. When they couldn’t draw enough in rents to pay for services, they cut the services; when they couldn’t pay the taxes they abandoned them, or had them torched for the insurance. That would be much more difficult today, for a million reasons. I can imagine rents going down, but the percentage of rentals is much smaller than it was back then. But who is to say which way this is all going to go? We can only watch and wait. You’ve lived in Kingston for several years. When we talked in January 2019, I asked what you hoped future residents of your home would find, and part of your answer was that you hoped Kingston would keep its quiet pace. Now, of course, that pace is poised to get louder, as many of the New Yorkers who are fleeing the city due to the pandemic are moving here and real estate is booming. As someone who’s seen the gentrification of New York firsthand and whose writings often focus on historical change and the everyday lives of the rankand-file individuals within it, how concerned are you by what you’re seeing now?

The photo on the cover of Maybe the People Would Be the Times, one you took, is of a group of young, artist-looking types packed into what looks like a small basement with a makeshift bar, watching a performance. It’s an especially poignant image given our present reality. But even before the pandemic many of us were lamenting how social media has for some lessened the need for the kinds of physical spaces—certain cafes, bars, and other dedicated spots—where artists and their appreciators have traditionally gathered to socialize and inspire each other. Eventually there will be a vaccine and people will be able to gather more frequently again, but do you think the need for “the hang” will ever vanish for artists? That was [early ’80s club] Tier 3, and that kind of intimate scene was rare even at the time—and Tier 3 only lasted for a year and change. There were other scenes at other times, all fleeting, but it wasn’t social media that did them in—more than anything it was real estate. And legal shit. You could run loud clubs in Tribeca because hardly anybody lived there. There were (intentionally) temporary clubs, illegal clubs of all kinds because the cops didn’t care, later on big warehouse clubs when the warehouses were empty, etc. All of those things became impossible in due course. Social media came in, fortuitously or not, after the clubs had either shut down or become much more regulated affairs, presenting shows at certain times, say, but not really encouraging a scene at other hours. The best scenes I’ve encountered in the past decade in New York were all private—house parties, some of them institutions, all of them publicized strictly by word of mouth. I imagine there’s a fair amount of that sort of thing, but you have to be in the know. In any case, there’s no question that people want to hang out in person. It’s a need that will never go away.

A Socially Distanced Experience with Santa to create an individualized keepsake Story Book

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10/20 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 59

in memoriam

Elena Zang (1945-2020)

Joan Snyder, Oh Elena. Snyder started the painting a few weeks before Elena Zang died and finished it in mid-September.

The Mayor of Woodstock

round 1990, art collector and philanthropist Arthur Anderson stumbled upon Elena Zang’s pottery studio while hiking near Woodstock and bought some pots. A year later, after Zang had moved from Big Indian to Lake Hill, he suggested she open a gallery. “I said, ‘You are so good at this.’ She was very outgoing and accessible and had a spiritual quality. I told her that an eminent, internationally famous artist who does wonderful work lived nearby and it might be nice for her to have a gallery where she has a summer studio,” recalls Anderson, who knew the artist Mary Frank. Zang, who had recently met her life partner, Alan Hoffman, a potter, artist, and art conservator, followed up on Anderson’s suggestion, exhibiting two charcoal drawings of Frank’s, which Anderson promptly bought. “She just had this garage with her pots,” Frank recalls. “She had no art background, but she had this tremendous enthusiasm and spirit.” Hoffman and Zang converted their garage into a tworoom gallery, and at Frank’s suggestion began showing another nearby resident and worldrenowned artist, Joan Snyder. It was an auspicious beginning for the eponymous gallery that became a preeminent showcase of contemporary art in the region, as well as an inviting destination, thanks both to Zang’s gardening skills and her generosity of spirit. She drew to her an enormous circle of friends, many of them her artists and collectors. Zang’s death, on August 20 from cancer, is a huge loss for the entire community. “I thought she could be the mayor of Woodstock,” says Judy Pfaff, one of the gallery’s artists. “We would go into the Bear Cafe and

60 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 10/20

we’d have this table and this entourage would be around her. Not only did she know everybody, but she knew them for 100 years.” Zang’s warmth, authenticity, and earthy sensibility might have seemed an odd fit for the prestigious gallery she and Hoffman created, but they were major contributors to its success. “I’ve worked with many art dealers over the last 50 years, and Elena was outstanding,” says Snyder. “She was straightforward, completely involved, and always passionate about my work.” “She was unique,” says David Hornung, another one of her artists. “She created a world. The garden and beautiful little gallery and everything she did was very holistic.” Indeed, “she created a place where people felt incredibly comfortable and offered a lovely experience,” says Frank. “The vegetable and sculpture gardens were so much a part of the experience. Many people were not only in the gallery but also in the house, which was full of everyone’s work.” While Hoffman managed the gallery behind the scenes, Zang was the person out in front. “The thing that made it click was Elena herself,” says Donald Elder, who joined the gallery in the early 1990s. “She would do everything she could to sell your work. She built a great rapport with many collectors, including museum people, and because she didn’t have too many artists, she had time to work for them and give them shows.” “Joan, Mary, and myself, we’re not cheap,” notes Pfaff. “My stuff is not easy to sell, but Elena found great homes for things. Not only was she not intimidating, but she’d let people try out a piece to see if it works and bring it back if it doesn’t.”

Joining the gallery was like becoming part of a family, Hornung and Elder say. When Elder’s partner became very ill, “Elena was there for me,” he says. “She couldn’t be more endearing and helpful.” “She was the only one who could get me out of the house,” says Pfaff. “She loved music and knew all the musicians in Woodstock and would say to me, ‘I have a ticket for you to Levon Helm’s place.’ She’d make it so I couldn’t not do it. And it’d be great. I learned so much.” Zang grew up in a large Orthodox Jewish family in Kingston. “As soon as she could, she left Kingston and went to Woodstock,” says Hoffman. She studied at Stanford University and after returning to Woodstock, and married John Kehrl. The couple homesteaded in Big Indian and coparented Kehrl’s three children from Kehrl’s first marriage with his ex, Eve Baer. (Kerhl and Baer’s daughter Christine considered Zang to be her second mother.) Zang and Baer were also close friends, dating from when they had met in Woodstock when Zang was 15—she’d hitch or take the bus from Kingston—and Baer, seven years older, was working as a waitress at Espresso Cafe. “We had an immediate bond,” says Baer, who visited Elena daily during the final months of her life to care for her. After Elena had divorced and was living with her son, whom she had adopted with Kehrl, she wanted to buy the property in Lake Hill. Lacking funds herself, she asked 10 friends to loan her the money—which they did, with everyone eventually getting paid back. “There was no question about trusting her,” said Baer. “She really was who she was. She had no pretensions.” She was also an impassioned learner. “In the

Above: Judy Pfaff, Two Foxes

Below: Mary Frank, Horizon Bird

beginning, Elena wasn’t that sophisticated in terms of what she knew, but she really grew over the years in such an amazing way,” attending art fairs and visiting galleries in the city, says Snyder. Zang made up for her lack of art knowledge by taking art history classes at Bard College, where she met Pfaff, who was then co-chair of the art department—and who subsequently joined the gallery. Zang was also a proponent of women’s reproductive rights. In 2018 and 2019, she hosted two fundraisers for Planned Parenthood of the Hudson Valley, the latter netting approximately $50,000. “A very important part of our relationship was that she was so socially aware and active,” says Frank. Besides gardening—“she was always out in the garden. If not the clay in the studio, she needed the clay in the soil; she needed that earth connection,” says Hoffman—Zang did African dance for many years and had taken up piano with her great-granddaughter Talula. “Our greatgranddaughter was Elena’s favorite person,” Baer says. “She gave her every kind of lesson and arranged for one of her artists to be her mentor.” A memorial show is planned for spring 2021. Hoffman is continuing to run the gallery, which is open by appointment. The last show at the gallery featured Elder’s work, which opened last November. “Elena was just determined to give me that show,” says Elder. “She looked so wonderful and excited the day of the opening. I just miss her to death. It will be a long time before I accept that Elena’s energy won’t be there.” —Lynn Woods 10/20 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 61

Gallery Hours: Fri/Sat 12-6, Sun 12-5 11 Jane Street Art Center 11 Jane Street, Saugerties NY www.11janestreet.com

Dia Beacon now open by advance reservation only reserve online at diaart.org

Meg Hitchcock Illuminate, Works on Paper September 19 – November 8, 2020

Dia Beacon 3 Beekman Street Beacon, New York

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62 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 10/20

theater

The Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (HVSF), founded in 1987, is a nonprofit theater company based in Garrison. Each summer, its critically acclaimed adaptations of the Bard’s work draw tens of thousands of theatergoers to Boscobel, the Federalist estate that has hosted the HVSF every summer for over 30 years. The HVSF productions are staged under an open-air theater tent with breathtaking views of the Hudson and the Hudson Highlands. The pandemic has swept a shadow over the performing arts, and there’s little good news in the theater world, but HVSF made a very positive announcement in September: It has found a permanent home less than three miles down the road from its current location. The new location is a parcel of donated land on the Garrison Golf Course. Christopher Davis, who owns the golf course, purchased the land back in 1999 with the intent to protect against commercial developments. The Garrison Golf Course will be converted from an 18-hole to a nine-hole golf course, and the current “back nine” will be converted to a green parkland. The move has been in the works for almost a year, and will allow HVSF to accommodate the growing yearly visitors and the enormous resources that go into rebuilding the tent theater after every season. (The HVSF plans a final season at Boscobel in 2021 before settling into their new home in 2022.) The newly secured home will feature a permanent open-air tent theater and similar stunning views of the river to what visitors to Boscobel currently enjoy. HVSF is working with a design team on plans to include other facilities led by Nelson Byrd Woltz, an architectural landscape firm that has worked on master plans for other Hudson Valley locations including Stone Barns and Olana. Plans for a capital campaign to raise money for the new structures have yet to be announced. As a contributor to the Hudson Valley’s vibrant creative economy, the permanent home will create greater artistic opportunities due to the expected extended season. The HVSF is working on adding matinees, expanding educational offerings, and scheduling more performances to continue past

summer and into October. The increase in events will lead to more jobs for designers, crew, and front-ofhouse and box-office staff. Davis McCallum, artistic director of the HVSF for the past six years, emphasizes HVSF’s goal of “making a real commitment to environmental justice, particularly as it affects people of color, in a manner that is equitable, mindful, and intentional.” The HVSF will work with the architectural firm Studio Gang’s team of sustainable designers to focus on rehabilitating the land from a golf course into a sustainable meadow with restored wetlands and wildlife habitat. In addition to the environmental justice initiative, HVSF will focus on organizing ways to represent various perspectives to ensure as well as promote a diverse campus and community of artists. “For us, the classics aren’t a static monolith of literary dead-white-maleness, but a living resource that is only brought to life when inhabited and interpreted by living artists today, made richer by artists from diverse backgrounds and lived experience,” says McCallum. “This belief is reflected in the diverse cohort of artists that we commissioned to create work inspired by the new site.” The theme of the HVSF annual community playwriting contest this year was Mohicanituck, the Lenape name for the tidal estuary now known as the Hudson River. HVSF partnered with the Lenape Center and Riverkeeper on talks for playwrights and community members about the role of the river in Indigenous culture, as well as the ongoing threats to the ecology of the river. HVSF plans to continue investigating ways to acknowledge the Indigenous history of the land in a meaningful and ongoing way on the site. “Anti-racism work has been a real focus for our staff in recent months,” says McCallum. “We’ll be reporting on changes we’ve made and announcing more concrete actions in November.” The Hudson Valley Shakespeare plans to announce plans for their 2021 season in this month. “Imagine this as a gathering place for all people of the community,” McCallum says. —Izdihar Dabashi

Biko Eisen-Martin, Mark Bedard, and Ralph Adriel Johnson in Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s 2018 production of "The Taming Of The Shrew" Photo by T. Charles Erickson

Stratford-on-Hudson HUDSON VALLEY SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL’S NEW HOME Hvshakespeare.org

The view from the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s new home. Photo by Amy Brown

10/20 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 63

mixed media

The latest developments on the Hudson Valley cultural landscape

Editor’s Note: This month, we kick off Mixed Media, a new section of the magazine featuring cultural news. Despite COVID’s impact on in-person events, regional artists and arts organizations have not stopped making and presenting new work, often in innovative and wondrous ways that turn the limitations imposed on us by the pandemic on their head, making a virtue of necessity. While we await the return of more in-person events, we will track the region’s cultural moves here for the foreseeable future.—BKM Visitors to Stoneleaf Retreat during Upstate Art Weekend behind a sculpture by Leah Dixon. Photo by Trinicia M Perch.

Upstate Art Weekend In June, Helen Toomer got the notion to organize a weekend-long celebration of the visual arts at locations across the Hudson Valley. While Toomer, who runs the Marbletown-based arts residency Stoneleaf Retreat, had been thinking about the idea for a couple of years, it never seemed like the right time to launch such an ambitious multi-organizational event. Then the pandemic happened, and art, nature, and public space were in short supply. “My goal was to reconnect people with art and each other. I wanted to highlight the creative magic that’s going on up here in a safe space,” Toomer says. “We have such a gift up here in terms of the space we have and the gift of the outdoors and the wonderful arts organizations that focus on having arts outdoors.” Working very quickly (“I’m someone who just doesn’t think, I do,” says Toomer), she assembled over two dozen partner sites, representing the finest outdoor art venues in the region, including Storm King Art Center, Olana, and Art Omi for what became Upstate Art Weekend. Over the weekend of August 29-30, visitors were invited to visit sites across the region for safe, socially distanced outdoor art viewing. For many who participated, it was the first time they’d seen art since March. “We think about art as a luxury, as unnecessary,” says Toomer. “But art is imperative to our well-being, and so is the outdoors. Upstate Art Weekend is a combination of both those things.” Toomer is planning to continue the event in 2021, adding more art sites and partnerships with local businesses. Upstateartweekend.org

64 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 10/20

Bard College Literary Mag Wins Whiting Award

The latest issue of Conjunctions

Since 2018, the Whiting Foundation has given annual awards to literary magazines for excellence in publishing, advocacy for writers, and a distinctive contribution to the strength of the overall literary community. In September, Conjunctions, which is edited by Bard professor and author Brad Morrow and published out of Bard College, won a prestigious Whiting award, which comes with a $30,000 prize. Conjunctions, which comes out twice a year, has published the work of some of the best-known names in American letters (John Ashbery, Joyce Carol Oates, Amy Hempel), as well as serving as an incubator for new voices. We reached out to Brad Morrow for comment and he responded via email. “As we approach our 40th anniversary of publishing innovative contemporary fiction, poetry, essays, and plays, all of us at Conjunctions are absolutely thrilled and truly honored that the Whiting Foundation has awarded us this prestigious three-year grant. Given the difficult times we are living through, the timing of such wonderful news couldn’t be better. On behalf of our editors, writers, and production staff, as well as our steadfast publisher of the past 30 of those 40 years, Bard College, I’d like to express my great gratitude to everyone at the Whiting Foundation for helping us to continue and expand our mission of creating the ‘living notebook’ that is Conjunctions.” Conjunctions.com

Neil LaBute Premiere at Denizen Theater Six months after going dark in March, Denizen Theater in New Paltz will be reopening this month for the world premiere of Neil LaBute’s new play, “True Love Will Find You in the End.” One of the most controversial playwrights of this century, LaBute is best known for movies based on his work, including In the Company of Men and Some Velvet Morning. Like much LaBute’s work, “True Love” is about the often-fractious relations between men and women. Harry Lipstein, Denizen’s founder and producing artistic director, wouldn’t say much else about the play, preferring to keep the staging a mystery. “Let’s call it a post-coronavirus response to live theater,” Lipstein says. “It’s a creative response to our current times; we are embracing the restrictions and turning them into an opportunity.” One indication of this changed theater environment is the size of the audience: Each performance will be restricted to just 8 patrons. Denizen’s black box theater normally holds 60 to 80 people. “Our theater is normally considered an intimate setting, given its size,” Lipstein says. “We’ve taken that intimacy and put it on steroids.” What might audiences expect in this hyper-intimate environment? Here’s how the press release states it: “Eight audience members are safely placed throughout the black box theater while two voice actors tell a story supported by light and sound.” Within that, what else happens is anybody’s guess. Lipstein says that audiences will have to find out for themselves. The production is directed by J. J. Kandel, Denizen’s artistic associate. “True Love Will Find You in the End” will be performed at Denizen Theater from October 8-18, Thursday through Saturday, with performances at 6pm and 8pm, and performances on Sunday at 2pm and 4pm. Denizentheatre.com.

SUNY New Paltz Theater Department Pivots While all aspects of the college learning environment have been disrupted by the pandemic, one of the disciplines most directly impacted by distance learning has been the theater. Theater thrives on intimacy, contact, and connection, both in rehearsal and performance, and this has been impossible given current safety concerns. Ken Goldstein, professor of design and chair of the SUNY New Paltz Department of Theater Arts, has been working with his fellow instructors since March to not only figure out how to teach theater, but how to produce it as well—staged plays are an intrinsic part of the theatrical curriculum at SUNY New Paltz. “We knew that we were going to do everything we could to tell stories,” says Goldstein, about the fall 2020 productions that the department is rolling out. “We’re going to have 10 staged readings of much smaller cast sizes and much shorter rehearsal times,” Goldstein says, but indicates that how the productions would take place would evolve as conditions on the ground change. “We have a framework, but we’re prototyping different models for the students and bringing them to the public,” Goldstein says. “We want to recreate the energy of live interaction even though the action is virtual.” In September, there were virtual rehearsals and livestreamed readings. Goldstein is hoping that as the semester progresses, there could be an opportunity for students to perform a socially distanced mass reading from the theater for a virtual audience, and perhaps even a performance with socially distanced cast and audience in the theater together. Plays slated for the fall semester include Clifford Odets’s “Waiting for Lefty” (October 3-4), “Between Here and City of Mexico” by Tony Meneses (October 17-18), Play On! Shakespeare’s reimagining of “Two Gentleman of Verona” with an all-female cast (November 7-8), and M. J. Kaufman’s “Eat and You Belong to Us” (November 21-22).

A screenshot from "Incidental Moments of the Day," a Zoom play by Richard Nelson.

End of the Apples? Playwright Richard Nelson has been writing plays about the Apples, your typically dysfunctional family unit, since 2010, when “That Hopey Changey Thing” premiered at the Public Theater. The play told the story of four adult siblings——Barbara (Maryann Plunkett), Richard (Jay O. Sanders), Marian (Laila Robins), and Jane (J. Smith-Cameron)—and was set in Rhinebeck, over dinner on November 2, midterm election night. Nelson, who lives in Rhinebeck, is a master of writing dialog that speaks to contemporary issues without having his characters speak directly about them. Three more Apple plays followed—“Sweet and Sad” (2011), “Sorry” (2012), and “Regular Singing” (2013)—before Nelson turned his attention to two other Rhinebeck families, the Gabriels and the Nelsons, who were the subjects of a novel and a play. In April, Nelson premiered a new Apple play, “What Do We Need to Talk About?” on Zoom. (To our delight, the character Jane noted during the play that she was a writer for Chronogram!) Hailed as the “first great original play of quarantine” by the New Yorker, the play was the first in a series of virtual theater pieces Nelson and crew would stage over the summer, followed “by And So We Come Forth” in July. Nelson’s final Apple Family Zoom play, “Incidental Moments of the Day,” was released on September 10. “Incidental Moments of the Day” will be available for streaming at Theapplefamilyplays.com and on YouTube through November 5.

O+ Festival Pop-Up Exhibit While COVID-19 has put the kibosh on the annual O+ Festival that normally fills Uptown Kingston with music and art on the second weekend in October, the festival has installed a temporary exhibition in the storefront windows to showcase the work of festival alumni. “PO+p Up 2020” will feature 40 artists in a dozen locations. “The COVID-19 pandemic has meant the cancellation of gallery openings, conventions, and commissions, leaving many independent artists facing financial hardship,” says Jesika Farkas, who is organizing the exhibition with O+ board member Michael Pisacane. “All the artworks in the windows are available for sale directly from the participating artists.” Each artwork will have a corresponding QR code, which can be scanned by viewers to learn about the artist and to be connected to the artist for a direct sale. A digital map of the locations of “PO+p Up 2020”is available at Opositivefestival.org.

Neon works from the series "Beloved Community," by Erika deVries. Encaustic painting This American Life (after 1918 Arthur J Telfer photograph) by Denise Orzo. Speak Up—Vote by Ryan Cronin

Ticket information was still TBD at press time. Visit Newpaltz.edu for more information. 10/20 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 65

exhibits

Frank Stella, Squarespace

Christy Chan, All is Not Lost

Mel Bochner, Meditation on the Theorem of Pythagoras

“FRANK STELLA’S STARS, A SURVEY” AT THE ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM

ALL IS NOT LOST AT THE WASSAIC PROJECT

“BOCHNER BOETTI FONTANA” AT MAGAZZINO

Spanning more than 60 years, Frank Stella’s studio practice has pushed abstraction to the limits, investigating every category from painting and printmaking to sculpture and public art. Among the myriad of forms found in Stella’s work, one element continuously reappears, a motif that is simultaneously abstract and figurative: the star. Under the spotlight for the first time, this exhibition surveys Stella’s use of the star, ranging from two-dimensional works of the 1960s to its most recent incarnation in sculptures, wall reliefs, and painted objects from the 2010s. “Frank Stella’s Stars, A Survey,” the artist’s first solo exhibition at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, will be on view in the Museum’s galleries and Sculpture Garden through May 9. Aldrichart.org

Christy Chan, whose six-story tall video, All is Not Lost, is being projected on the exterior tower of the historic Maxon Mills grain mill at the Wassaic Project, is a believer in public art. “Public art invites us to stop and just be in the moment, wherever we are, Chan says. “The in-between spaces, the spaces where we are simply on our way to becoming ourselves, are what I’m interested in.” The work is a composite of videos of waterfalls filmed by Chan in 2017 and 2018. The water in the video is not flowing downwards, but slowly flowing backwards at 1/200th the normal speed of a waterfall responding to gravity. All is Not Lost is an outdoor, nighttime art installation on view at Wassaic Project nightly, from 7:30-9:30pm, through October 24. Wassaicproject.org

Mel Bochner, one of the leading figures in the development of Conceptual art in New York in the 1960s and 1970s, curates an exhibition examining the formal, conceptual, and procedural affinities between his work and that of Alighiero Boetti and Lucio Fontana of the Arte Povera movement. Through Bochner’s perspective, the exhibition offers a number of resonances between his work and that of the Italian and Italian-Argentine artists: an exploration of systems, language, and materials; and a sense of irony and humor. The exhibition features paintings, sculptures, and installations, including works from Bochner’s personal archive, as well as major international loans. October 2 through January 11. Magazzino.art

11 JANE ST

CORNELL CREATIVE BUSINESS & ARTS CENTER

HUDSON MILLINER ART SALON

“ANIMULA—big little soul: Jan Harrison.” Sculpture, performance, and paintings. Through October 4. “Strange Tales from the Apocalypse Heart.” Michael Pope. October 10-November 1.

“We Are All Human.” Group show juried by MariaElena Ferrer. Through November 30.

“Jewel the Wound.” Group exhibit in support of social justice. October 2-November 3.

DIA:BEACON

THE ICE HOUSE

Works by Lee Ufan, Sam Gilliam, Mel Bochner, Bary Le Va, Richard Serra, Dan Flavin, and others on long-term view.

“Noel W. Anderson: Papers of the Archive.” Noel W. Anderson is known for his explorations into the evolving makeup of black male identity as seen through the lens of American media. Using a variety of materials, predominantly textiles and experimental printmaking processes, the source images are heavily manipulated—blown up, warped and distorted, limbs bending into unrealistic postures, as though the images are transforming right before our eyes. Through October 11.

11 JANE STREET, SAUGERTIES

ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM 258 MAIN STREET, RIDGEFIELD, CT

“Through the Eye of a Needle.” First major solo museum exhibition of New York-based artist Genesis Belanger. “Frank Stella’s Stars: A Survey.” Outdoor installation. Both shows through May 9.

ANN STREET GALLERY

104 ANN STREET, NEWBURGH “Black Renaissance Festival.” Juried group show curated by Kirsten Kucer. Through November 28.

BARRETT HOUSE ART CENTER

55 NOXON STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE “New Directions 2020.” 36th annual national juried contrmporary art exhibition juried by Nic Brierre Aziz of the New Orleans Museum of Art. October 10-Novermber 14.

BAU GALLERY

506 MAIN STREET, BEACON “Splits: Jebah Baum.” Lithographic transfer prints. “Double/Exposure.” New work by Melissa Schlobolm. Both shows October 10-November 7. Opening reception October 10, 6-9pm.

CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY

622 WARREN STREET, HUDSON “Pattern Play.” Group exhibit features new work by Donise English, Bruce Murphy, Vincent Pomilio, Susan Stover, and Stephen Walling. Through October 11.

CLARK ART INSTITUTE

129 CORNELL STREET, KINGSTON

3 BEEKMAN STREET, BEACON

FRANCES LEHMAN LOEB ART CENTER VASSAR COLLEGE, POUGHKEEPSIE

“Miracles on the Border: Retablos of Mexican Migrants to the United States.” Retablos are thank-you notes to the heavens dedicated to Christ, the Virgin, or saints to consecrate a miraculous event. The votives in this exhibition—spanning the entirety of the twentieth century—were offered by Mexican migrants and their families to commemorate the dangers of crossing the border and living in the United States. Through December 13.

17 MANDALAY DRIVE, GARRISON

JOYCE GOLDSTEIN GALLERY

19 CENTRAL SQUARE, CHATHAM Carrie Waldman. Recent paintings. Through October 24.

FERROVIA STUDIOS

KINGSTON MIDTOWN ARTS DISTRICT GALLERY

“David Schoichet: Recent Work.” Schoichet’s black and white photographs are exclusively of people of color; his subjects range from brief interactions with strangers at public events such as protests, rallies, and marches, to intimate portraits of family and friends. Ongoing.

“CommUNITY Clay Project.” Group exhibit. Through October 31.

17 RAILROAD AVENUE, KINGSTON

GARRISON ART CENTER

23 GARRISON’S LANDING, GARRISON

20 CEDAR STREET, KINGSTON

MAGAZZINO ITALIAN ART

2700 ROUTE 9, COLD SPRING “Bochner Boetti Fontana.” Examines the formal, conceptual and procdural affinites in the work of Mel Bochner, Alighiero Boetti, and Lucio Fontana. Curated by Mel Bochner. October 2-January 11.

“Illuminate: Meg Hitchcock.” Solo exhibition of works on paper. Through November 8.

MARK GRUBER GALLERY

GREEN KILL

“Marlene Wiedenbaum and Jim Cramer.” New work. Through October 17. “Barns and Boats.” October 24-November 28.

2642 NY ROUTE 23, HILLSDALE “John Figura, Stephen Lewis, Tim Vermeulen.” Paintings, . October 3-26. Opening reception October 3, 5-7pm.

225 SOUTH STREET, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA

LABSPACE

“Arrival of the Animals.” Lin May Saeed. Drawings of animals on and with paper as well as sculptures in Styrofoam, steel, and bronze. Through October 25.

“In My Room: Susan Carr.” Paintings, drawings, sculpture and ceramics. Through November 8.

66 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 10/20

415 WARREN STREET, HUDSON

2642 NY ROUTE 23, HILLSDALE

NEW PALTZ PLAZA, NEW PALTZ

MOTHER GALLERY

1154 NORTH AVENUE, BEACON “Finally Golden.” New work by Brian Belott and Bridget Caramagna. Through October 25.

exhibits

John Figura, Night Lights

Brian Belott, untitled

Myron Polenberg, A Tribute to John Lewis

JOHN FIGURA, STEPHEN LEWIS, AND TIM VERMEULEN AT GREEN KILL

“FINALLY GOLDEN” AT MOTHER GALLERY

“JEWEL THE WOUND” AT THE HUDSON MILLINER ART SALON

This month at Kingston’s Green Kill gallery, an exhibit from three painters of diverse styles. John Figura presents nighttime landscape paintings in which he tries to capture not just about a representational depiction of nature, an encapsulation of a single moment within nature as a place where a narrative can be presented. Stephen Lewis’s work is concerned with observing both the sociopolitical and natural world, inhabiting the genres of naturalism and political art, binding the two through close study. Tim Vermeulen, the child of strict Calvinist parents, paints narratives of self-discovery that seek to express the universal human condition through the deeply personal, and often self-portraiture. An opening reception will be held on October 3, from 5-7pm. October 3-26. Greenkill.substack.com

This month at Beacon’s Mother Gallery, an exhibition of new work by Brian Belott and Bridget Caramagna, two artists who utilize distinct processes to engage a cosmically connected, creative source of pure possibility. For this show, Belott has created 13 assemblage wall sculptures consisting of ready-made objects (used children’s blocks, batteries, and wood pellets) arranged with rocks, and clay concretions, all cradled in sand— weirdo cousins to Mel Bochner’s early rock sculptures. Caramagna’s paintings display her love of sacred geometry, which Caramagna uses to connect with the metaphysical realities beneath all appearance. By meticulously painting transparent solids—light and form in space—she seeks to expand her understanding of the basic building blocks of reality. Through October 25 Mothergallery.art

OLIVE FREE LIBRARY

ROCKLAND CENTER FOR THE ARTS

THOMAS COLE NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

“If Only.” Group show of feminist artwork by Katharine Umstead, Jacinta Bunnell, Carole Kunstadt, Yvette Lewis, and Natali BravoBarbee. Through November 7.

“The Feminine Perception: Beauty and Nonsense: Leslie Fandrich.” “Look at Me: Works by Kris Campbell.” Both shows through October 4.

“Pollinator Pavilion.” A 21 ½-foot-high, painted wood, architectural confection draped with flowers, plants, and paintings by Mark Dion and Dana Sherwood. Ongoing.

OPALKA GALLERY

SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART

TILLY FOSTER FARM MUSEUM

“Infinite Uncertainty.” Group show features work from regional artists responding to the uncertainties of our times. Through October 10.

“Hudson Valley Artists 2020: New Folk.” Group show curated by Anna Conlan. Through October 25. “Dos Mundos: (Re)Constructing Narratives.” Twleve artists who center stories at the fringe of public attention: hidden sanctuaries, subcultures, painful identities, far-away homes, spirituality, transcendence, broken promises, and all too easily ignored social ecologies. Through November 22. ‘We Wear the Mask: Race and Representation in the Dorsky Museum Permanent Collection.” Curated by Jean-Marc Superville Sovak. Through November 22.

“Collaborative Concepts: The Farm Show 2020.” Collaborative Concepts presents its 15th annual sculpture exhibit, featuring over 40 artists at a new outdoor venue. Through October 31.

4033 ROUTE 28, WEST SHOKAN

140 NEW SCOTLAND AVENUE, ALBANY

OPUS 40

50 FITE ROAD, SAUGERTIES 681-9352. Pamela J. Wallace and Stephen Reynolds. Two outdoor sculptures: Water Capture and Speculation on Twelve Sidedness. Through October 15.

PAMELA SALISBURY GALLERY

27 SOUTH GREENBUSH ROAD, WEST NYACK

1 HAWK DRIVE, NEW PALTZ

362 1/2 WARREN STREET, HUDSON

STORM KING ART CENTER

“Savage Gardens: Lisa Ivory.” Eighteen small scale paintings and 14 ink drawings on paper. Her work depicts bestiality and the wild within. Through October 4. “Lisa Corinne Davis: All Shook Up.” October 9-November 1. “Jim Denney: Burning Down Our House.” October 9-November 1. Seth Becker: Terrarium.” October 9-November 1.

“A stone that thinks of Enceladus: Martha Tuttle.” Outdoor exhibition is series of human-made stone stacks or cairns, built of boulders gathered at Storm King, and molded glass and carved marble stones. Plus permanent collection. Advance ticket purchase required. Ongoing.

1 MUSEUM ROAD, NEW WINDSOR

This group exhibition of work on plywood was inspired by a quote by Hudson-based painter Myron Pollenberg: “Plywood is the canvas of the movement.” As if stripped from boarded-up storefronts in Oakland, Detroit, or Minneapolis, the work will speak to the turbulent times where two pandemics—coronavirus and systemic racism—have collided. Twenty-five percent of sales will be donated to local and regional organizations fighting racial, social, and environmental injustice. Artists include Tschabalala Self, Huê Thi, Michele Quan, Myron Polenberg, Chris Freeman, Scout Pines aka Brian Bruno, Evelyn Luch Welch, Baju Wijono, Ife Cobbins, Charlotta Janssen, Chiarra Hughes, George Spencer, Pauline Decarmo, Ntchota Badila, Louise Smith, Tom McGill, Sienna Reid, Jane Ehrlich, Shannon Greer, David McIntyre, Jessica Willis, Gail Peachin, Andre Juste, Jeremy Bullis. October 2-November 6. Hudsonartfair.com

218 SPRING STREET, CATSKILL

100 ROUTE 312, BREWSTER

TIME AND SPACE LIMITED

434 COLUMBIA STREET, HUDSON “The Earl Show: A Retrospective of Earl Swanigan (1964-2019).” Through October 4.

TIVOLI ARTISTS GALLERY 60 BROADWAY, TIVOLI

“Members’ Best.” Exhibit of member work. Through November 15.

WINDHAM FINE ARTS

5380 MAIN STREET, WINDHAM “Tatiana Rhinevault: The Artist Within.” Through October 31.

PARTS & LABOR BEACON

SUSAN ELEY FINE ART

WOODSTOCK ARTISTS ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM

“Lois Dodd and Shara Hughes.” Recent paintings by Hughes and paintings by Dodd from 1966-88. Through October 25.

“Saints and Sinners: Deirdre O’Connell and Malcolm Moran.” Through November 1.

“Opening Disclosed.” Group exhibition of spring graduates of the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at SUNY New Paltz. October 11-12.

QUEEN CITY 15

‘T’ SPACE

WOODSTOCK BYRDCLIFFE GUILD

“Color.” Group show: Exhibiting artists are: Xuewu Zheng, Lisa Winika, Suprina, Manny Ofori, William Noonan, Nansi Lent, MaryAnn Glass, Mary Flad, Anita Kiewra Fina, Tom Ellman, Donna Blackwell, Paola Bari, and Monica Church. October 3-31.

“Hiroyuki Hamada: Recent Work.” Guggenheim Fellow Hiroyuki Hamada will exhibit his recent paintings and sculptures. Through October 31.

“Zulma Steele: Artist/Craftswoman.” The exhibition of work by one of the pioneering women of the Arts and Crafts movement and Modernism in New York includes ceramics, furniture and furniture designs, paintings, and works on paper, as well as some important Zulma Steele (1881-1979) notebooks that have recently come to light. Through November 2

1154 NORTH AVENUE, BEACON

317 MAIN STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE

433 WARREN STREET, HUDSON

137 ROUND LAKE ROAD, RHINEBECK

28 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK

34 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK

10/20 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 67

Horoscopes By Lorelai Kude

PERSONAL PRUDENCE PROTECTS AGAINST UNIVERSAL UNREST October two Full Moons—in courageous Aries on October 1, and patient Taurus on the 31—bookend a series of cosmic events which are so global in nature that it’s impossible to avoid some degree of consequences. Preemptive, prudent planning at Pluto’s direct station October 4 advises stocking up on supplies and reviewing/renewing safety protocols. Mercury opposes Uranus twice during October: first on October 7 and again during Mercury’s retrograde in Scorpio October 19. The danger of interruption to technology infrastructure is high, as is the possibility of equipment breakdowns. Do not skimp on backups or settle for Band-Aids when it comes to your communication devices. The square of combative retrograde Mars in Aries square Pluto in controlling Capricorn at the Last Quarter Moon in Cancer October 9 triggers fear of scarcity, and reactions around that fear may become unpleasant. Strong Cardinal squares of the Libra Sun to Capricorn-transiting Jupiter on the 11, Pluto on the 15, and Saturn on the 18 demand justice and fight to dominate and subdue the forces of fear. New Moon in fairness and balanceloving Libra October 16 supports and strengthens calls for equity; retrograde Mars in aggressive Aries square Jupiter in status-quo loving Capricorn October 18 promises extreme reactions if those calls aren’t heeded by those in power. With all this external unrest, Venus in analytical, purity-seeking Virgo seeks to cleanse and detoxify our social environment. Venus trine Uranus October 10 revolts against ecological atrocities, opposite Neptune October 18 discerns deceitful distortions threatening to destroy our common dreams, and trine Jupiter October 19, Pluto October 21, and Saturn October 24 offers a new vision of sacrificial service for our common good. Scorpio Sun’s opposition to Uranus in Taurus on Halloween triggers unexpected dangers—stay home, and don’t take candy from strangers this year.

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ARIES (March 20–April 19) Full Moon in Aries October 1 offers harmony and cooperation, but Mars in Retrograde Aries all month tests your self-control on a whole new level, firing up your already inflamed feelings. Mars square Pluto at the Last Quarter Moon in Cancer October 9 signals extreme danger of over-reaction, power struggles, and emotiondriven actions as home, family, and security issues are triggered by external events. The Sun’s opposition to Mars October 13 begs for balance; Sun in Mars/Pluto-ruled Scorpio beginning October 22 attempts covert sabotage of your better angels. Anger-management/emotional sobriety are your best friends—keep them close.

TAURUS (April 19–May 20)

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68 HOROSCOPES CHRONOGRAM 10/20

FAMILY

Venus grants you favors this month via the Sun in Libra jumpstarting your chance to reap her beautiful benefits. Venus enters Virgo October 2, bringing harmony and depressurizing a misdirected sense of urgency. Venus trines Uranus October 10, enabling creative birth of an original idea; opposite Neptune October 18 tests for viability, trine Pluto October 21 gives you manifestation superpowers, and trine Saturn October 24 produces creative structures for your dreams. All this before slipping into her home sign of Libra October 27, and the Full Taurus Moon on Halloween. This may be your best month all year—enjoy! A practicing, professional astrologer for over 30 years, Lorelai Kude can be reached for questions and personal consultations via email (lorelaikude@yahoo.com) and her Kabbalah-flavored website is Astrolojew.com.

Horoscopes

GEMINI (May 20–June 21) Mercury in Scorpio digs deep for facts; Mercury retrograde October 13 through Election Day meets up with resistance from oppositions to Uranus—surprising information- and squares to Saturn—the structures which protect it. Watch for communication glitches and tech breakdowns with Mercury opposite Uranus October 7 and in the retrograde repeat of this opposition October 19. Don’t cheap out on band-aid fixes for what ails you—invest in yourself or pay the price when Sun conjuncts retrograde Mercury October 25 right before Mercury enters Libra, with Venus on October 27. Exquisitely thoughtful self-care helps you survive this stressful time.

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CANCER (June 21–July 22) Moon-ruled Cancer gets two Full Moons this calendar month: The Full “Harvest” Moon October 1st in brave Aries shines on your professional self, and the Full Moon in sensual Taurus on Halloween, with the Scorpio Sun opposite Moon and Uranus, illuminates your private life. In-between is the Last Quarter Moon in Cancer; time to shed those last layers of outworn feelings for that which no longer nourishes your spirit. New Moon in Libra October 16 focuses on home and family; First Quarter Moon in curious Aquarius October 23 probes deeply into something new, which must first win your trust.

LEO (July 22–August 23) Sun in Venus-ruled Libra through October 21 and Sun’s square to Jupiter during Moon in Leo October 11 make up for so much lost time and opportunity, you never want to look back. You’ll fight for your right to experience some God-given joy when Sun opposes Mars October 13, but watch how you fight or pay the consequences when Sun squares Pluto October 15. The Saturn/Sun square October 18 reminds you of your responsibilities, some of which you loudly regret at the Sun/retrograde Mercury conjunction October 25. Abrupt turnarounds and topsy-turvy twists of fate at the Halloween Sun/Uranus conjunction.

VIRGO (August 23–September 23) Mercury retrograde in Scorpio October 13 through Election Day dramatically impacts your communication structures. If you’ve skimped on upgrades the probability of tech breakdowns skyrocket when Mercury opposites Uranus October 7 and again when the retrograde opposition repeats October 19. This is both metaphorical and literal. Everything you’ve devalued about how you connect to others is in danger of breakdown unless you’re willing to invest in it. Repair, replace, and renew channels and connections before the Sun’s conjunction to retrograde Mercury October 25 and Mercury with Venus in Libra on October 27 or you may miss a crucial opportunity.

For girls in grades 7-12 sbschool.org/more

LIBRA (September 23–October 23) Libra Sun through October 21 balances this busy month of Venus transits, as the planet of beauty and creativity enters analytical Virgo October 2, focusing sharply on your material world. A taste for the unusual, novel, and shocking is triggered when Venus trines Uranus October 10. New Libra Moon October 16 seeds new love. Your analytic superpowers of discernment vacillate between fantasy and viable dreams at Venus’s opposition to Neptune October 18. Venus trine to Pluto and Saturn October 21- 24 and Venus in Libra October 27 empowers your raw creativity, making a strong, powerful, beautiful vessel for manifestation. 10/20 CHRONOGRAM HOROSCOPES 69

Horoscopes

SCORPIO (October 23–November 21) You’re anticipating the Sun’s annual transit through Scorpio beginning October 22, but your powers are jumpstarted by Full Aries Moon October 1 and boosted by the Full Moon in solar opposite Taurus on Halloween. Retrograde Mars in Aries all month serves you better than most; squaring Pluto October 9 triggers niggling doubts you’ve tabled for the sake of harmony. Retrograde Mercury in Scorpio investigates deeply, and instinct pays off in revelations around a matter you’ve committed 99 percent to … but not 100 percent. Sun opposite Mars at Pluto’s retrograde October 24 brings confrontation and ultimatums: decision time about that one percent.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 22) Sun square Jupiter October 11 returns you to the same decision point you faced in mid-July and mid-April of this year. Retrograde Mars in Aries squares Jupiter October 18 with Moon in Sagittarius; you’ve achieved a lot but you’re chafing for freedom. If you’ve learned by now how not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, Venus in rational, analytic Virgo trine Jupiter October 19 rescues you from falling down your usual rabbit’s hole of escapism. Jupiter’s transit through Capricorn ends in mid-December, internalized lessons of maturity, patience, and pragmatism are externalized by your choices and behavior now.

CAPRICORN (December 22–January 20) Sun in Libra squares Capricorn though October 21, imbuing grace and favor in the public eye and career realms. Selfconfidence based on secure competency radiates October 20-22. You’re looking like the leading candidate as Venus trines Saturn October 24, boosting this favorable trend during which your value and worth is apparent to all. Halloween’s Full Taurus Moon supports creativity, romance, and intimacy. After a real tough workout of a year, this month pays off by displaying the strength you’ve developed, made even more attractive by a modest presentation. You’ve learned the foundation of patience is playing the long game.

AQUARIUS (January 20–February 19)

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70 HOROSCOPES CHRONOGRAM 10/20

FAMILY

Mercury’s opposition to Uranus October 7 and its retrograde twin October 19 put you in the incoming path of a hurricane of surprising information, shocking glitches, and secrets revealed. First Quarter Aquarius Moon October 23 examines and tests what you’ve nurtured and grown since late January. Are you honoring your original vision? Have pragmatic matters steered you from an idealistic path? Scorpio Sun opposite Uranus in Taurus on Halloween give you the chance to readjust priorities. Realign with the essence if not the details of your original dream; that’s where your passion is, and your passion is your power.

PISCES (February 20-March 19) October 12 is your “bingo” day as your classical and modern ruling planets Jupiter in earthy, practical Capricorn and Neptune in imaginative Pisces form a supportive sextile boosting the material manifestation of your dreams. Venus in purity-conscious Virgo opposite Neptune October 18 with retrograde Mars in Aries square Jupiter removes dirt blindness from your eyes and sudden clarity reveals dusty corners of your life needing a quick cleanup. Fortunately, you have the energy to rise to the occasion, with Venus trine Jupiter October 19 empowering good grace, good sense, and knowing what to keep and what to throw away.

Ad Index

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10/20 CHRONOGRAM AD INDEX 71

parting shot

Lee Kelly shot this month’s Parting Shot photograph in Tivoli Memorial Recreation Park in September. “Jack bolted from our car to explore when we arrived, since playground visits have been decidedly infrequent of late,” she says. “I nabbed pics of his electricityspiked-polyethylene-slide hair and a bit of enraptured swinging before spotting him using the windows of an elevated crawling tube like a loudspeaker. He looked ridiculous. I was close enough to capture the act in time. Comic gold.” —Anne Pyburn Craig

72 PARTING SHOT CHRONOGRAM 10/20

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Chronogram October 2020

Articles inside

In 2022, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival will be moving to a permanent

Luc Sante talks with Peter Aaron about his new book of essays, Maybe the

Gallery listings plus highlights from our favorite exhibitions this month

Together with her life partner, Alan Hoffman, Elena Zang founded one of the

Poetry

Books

Music