Green Door Magazine: Winter 2012 with Mark Ruffalo by OHISO

Holiday Gift Guide, Maple Syrups & Your Perfect Winter Escape A J O U R N A L O F R E S P O N S I B I L E L I V I N G I N T H E C AT S K I L L S A N D H U D S O N VA L L E Y

VOL 2 No. 4 WINTER 2012 $4.99 GREENDOORMAG.COM

Would you drink this?

FRACKTURED Dear Governor Cuomo...Read This Article

JOIN MARK RUFFALO, SANDRA STEINGRABER, NATALIE MERCHANT AND JON BOWERMASTER The Art of Jan Swanka, Natural Solar, Simi Stone & More

DISPLAY UNTIL MARCH 4, 2013

Winter 2012

LETTERS | TO THE EDITOR

IN THIS ISSUE 3

GREETINGS Higher Ground CLIPPINGS From Around the Region

INTERIORS Archeological Digs Unearthing The Stickett Inn layer by layer.

FOLK Fracktured State Join Sandra Steingraber, Mark Ruffalo, Natalie Merchant and Jon Bowermaster in fighting fracking.

COVER PHOTO: Jessica Riehl INSIDE PHOTO:LANDYSH

ART Remembering Jan Sawka

DESIGN Woven: Dyberry Weaver

LOCAVORE 16 Coffee Talk: Java Love There’s more to coffee than meets the cup. 20 Recipe: Drink & Be Merry 24 Maple Syrup Festival

Love your magazine, always look forward to the stories, and the latest issue is very interesting, especially the story of Belonging by Sophia Passero [Fall 2012 - Memoir.] I hope she will keep writing more stories of her life. Thanks for bringing this magazine to us and for covering this area. Iris Mead Margaretville, NY Via Email The new Green Door is beautiful. You really take care of every detail masterfully. I truly enjoy it and feel so happy to see my work on your pages [Fall 2012 - Interiors.] Brandi Merolla Narrowsburg, NY Via Email Christie’s students find her calm, gracious, perceptive, encouraging. Nothing mercurial or jarring about her [Fall 2012 - Art - Christie Scheele.] @mtnbibliophile Via Twitter

NEIGHBORS Local Calendar

WELLNESS Idle Threat

GIFTING Global Home for the Holidays

HORIZONS Simi Stone

TWINTERVIEW Guy Vincent

I am on fire today after a chance encounter with an old acquaintance led to my meeting Sarah Fimm in Woodstock last night. Wow. What an utterly inspired and inspiring powerhouse of a woman...and in a totally down-to-earth and no BS way. Thanks for having a piece on her in the current issue [Fall 2012 - Listening], and thereby helping to spread the word about her amazing work. I expect the impact of that meeting to be one that reverberates throughout my current and upcoming projects. Laurie McIntosh Andes, NY Via Email

LIFE 36 WASP Dreams Thwarted 38 Natural Solar 40 Rainbow Connection

Fantastic pictures of Vincent [Fall 2012 - Film], some of the best I’ve seen in a long time. Diane Leigh Via Facebook

WINTER READING When You Live in the Catskills

POETRY Catskills in February

ENDPAPER 46 Blessed by the Gods 48 Celebrate

Have a letter to Green Door’s Editor? Email it to letters@greendoormag.com or mail to P.O. Box 143 Liberty, NY 12754 Corrections: The 13th Annual Woodstock Film Festival article incorrectly stated that films have been screening is Rosendale and Rhinebeck since last year. Screenings started in Rhinebeck in 2002 and Rosendale in 2004. The film festival has no affiliation with the 1999 Woodstock Music Festival. The In Living Color article incorrectly used the name Ron Berman in one instance. The correct name is Rob Berman.

EDITOR Akira Ohiso PUBLISHER Ellie Ohiso MARKETING DIRECTOR Aaron Fertig ADVERTISING SALES Sharon Reich 845-254-3103 COPY EDITORS Donata C. Marcus Eileen Fertig CIRCULATION DIRECTOR John A. Morthanos CONTRIBUTORS Vanessa Geneva Ahern Cameron Blaylock Michael Bloom Jay Blotcher John Conway Siba Kumar Das Jennifer Farley Keith Ferris Jenna Flanagan Stacy Wakefield Forte Kelly Merchant Brandi Merolla Kirby Olson Jessica Riehl Catie Baumer Schwalb Ryan Trapani Guy Vincent CONTACT US Green Door Magazine Inc. P.O. Box 143 Liberty, NY 12754 info@greendoormag.com www.greendoormag.com 917-723-4622 GET SOCIAL WITH US facebook.com/greendoormag twitter.com/greendoormag pinterest.com/greendoormag greendoormag.tumblr.com RECYCLE THIS, SHARE WITH A FRIEND! Green Door Magazine (ISSN # 2161-7465) is published quarterly - Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter - by Green Door Magazine Inc. All rights reserved. Subscription rate is $14.95 annually. U.S. subscriptions can be purchased online at greendoormag.com or by mail. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings, and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our sincere apologies and notify us. Address all letters to editor@greendoormag.com. Postmaster: Address all inquiries to Circulation Department, Green Door Magazine, P.O. Box 143, Liberty, NY 12754. No part may be used without written permission of the publisher ÂŠ2012. The views expressed in Green Door and in advertising in the issue are those of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion, policy, or endorsement of the publication.

GREETINGS | AKIRA OHISO

CLIPPINGS | AROUND THE REGION

Higher Ground

Rare in Roxbury

Hurricane Sandy convinced me that I need to start taking responsibility for the world I inhabit. Going forward, “A Journal of Responsible Living” is more fitting to the magazine’s evolution, as well as my own. I recycle, buy organic and shop local as best I can, but without corresponding political change, my attempts are futile in the face of larger environmental issues. In the case of Sandy, the super-storm did what no one else would do - talk about climate change. The leaders of our country have ignored the issue for decades. Carbon-based energy industries, which contribute to climate change, have silenced the discussion with economic influence. Except for the scientific and environmental communities, climate change has been kept largely out of the national discussion. Post-Sandy, climate change has inundated the media like a tsunami. During the super-storm, my wife, three young children and two cats hunkered down in a central location of the house. Our power went out, wind picked up and pine cones slammed against our house at 70 mph. Our children were scared. They looked to us as their protectors. My wife and I were scared too, but we assured them everything would be okay. After watching the science-fiction images of Manhattan being submerged, I had my doubts. Manhattan was no longer an island of fortified rock, but a malleable sandbar.

RAREST 8 TRACK PHOTO by Robert Greeson/Courtesy Big Bucks Burnett

In the dark and windy night, I worried about falling trees, shattered windows and parts of the house blowing straight off. I played out whatif rescue scenarios in my head. My wife and I had difficulty sleeping. Eventually, I pulled the blanket over my head, closed my eyes and hoped for the best - a modus operandi that isn’t working anymore. In the days that followed, I witnessed the devastation of Manhattan, Long Island, Staten Island and New Jersey. Gas shortages exposed our dependence and desperation. At a shelter near my parents’ Long Island home, countless charging iPhones seemed frivolous under the circumstances. Rationing gas and iPhone recharging hits home for Americans, but for how long? When life normalizes, will Americans acknowledge the new normal? Super-storms will become stronger and more frequent. Architects, environmentalists and civil engineers have ideas how to protect the city such as surge walls, absorbent roads and sponge-like green spaces, but, perhaps, the most terrifying prospect is managed retreat. Managed retreat actually concedes low-lying areas to the ocean like a modernday Atlantis. Imagine scuba diving to see the Wall Street Bull. Even with all these protective proposals, they are reactionary, not precautionary. Unless environmental and political steps are taken to reduce climate change, your best bet is moving to higher ground.

Rarest 8 Track

Dallas Texas used to be home to the only eight track museum in the United States. Now the small Delaware County town of Roxbury, NY has its own Eight Track Museum housed in The Roxbury Corner Store. The collection includes the world’s rarest 8 track – the Sinatra. The Sinatra-Jobim 8 track was released then recalled and never issued on any other format. Legend has it that only a handful exist. FOR MORE INFO www.orphicgallery.com

Mob Rules

Sullivan County Cash Mob The Sullivan County Cash Mob is a grassroots movement designed to keep local money in the community. For every dollar spent with a locally owned business seventy percent of that dollar goes back into the local economy. Once a month, participants meet to choose their next hit. Each participant is armed with 20 bucks, but the local business makes a killing. FOR MORE INFO Find them on Facebook

Marwencol

One Mile Gallery In the wee hours of a fateful morning, Mark Hogancamp was beaten outside a Kingston, NY bar. He slipped into a brain-damaged coma and awoke with no memory of his past life. Hogancamp retreated to the safety of Marwencol, a town he created in his backyard. Hogancamp populates the town with miniature figures. Hogancamp took thousands of evocative photographs of Marwencol, which were discovered, inspired a documentary and became an ironic vehicle for his reengagement with the outside world. The One Mile Gallery in Kingston will feature Mark Hogancamp’s photos from the documentary film Marwencol. The show runs from Dec 1 to 16. FOR MORE INFO www.onemilegallery.com

2012 Winter | Green Door 3

INTERIORS | BARRYVILLE

Archeological Digs Unearthing The Stickett Inn in Barryville layer by layer.

BY AKIRA OHISO | PHOTOS BY CAMERON BLAYLOCK

When Roswell Hamrick, a Brooklynbased production designer, bought a second home in the Highland Hamlet of Barryville, New York fifteen years ago, it was a very different place. Like many towns in Sullivan County, Barryville was a sleepy neck of the woods where second homeowners fished or relaxed on weekends, but, otherwise, few knew of the southerly hamlet. The hamlet grew during the D&H Canal venture, which was in operation from 1828 to 1898. The canal served a thriving coal industry, which began to die in the mid-nineteenth century along with many canal towns. Hamrick, who lives in a renovated church, bought a dilapidated 1830s canal house nearby and envisioned an inn for weekend city folks. Hamrick, who studied architecture and once worked on an archeological dig in Crete, Greece, found these skills to come in handy during the renovation. The house had been broken up into a two-family residence during the seventies with typical disregard to design to which rental properties are prone. Like an archeologist, he dug through seven layers of linoleum to find the original wide-planked floorboards. Old newspapers once used for insulation were pulled from walls with stories of Black Dahlia, a much-publicized murder mystery in the late forties. Behind a first floor wall he found a door that had been sheet-rocked over, which, restored, again became a second front entrance. Its vestigial function strikes the imagination. Original window panes were delicately saved from the demolition dumpster. Hamrick loves the imperfections of old glass that warp the landscape when viewed at the right angles. The house was gutted down to the brick bones where, like reconstructing fossils, he was able to reconstruct the original floorplan. A unused stairwell was discovered and now connects the two floors. Hamrick drafted blueprints, 4 Green Door | WINTER 2012

picked building materials and designed the interiors. Many of his reclaimed furnishings were handpicked at the Barryville Emporium up the road. The inn has four suites - STEAM, DRINK, SOAK, EAT. Each name informs the unique character - a steam shower, a bar, a soaking tub, a kitchen. Hamrick brings out the natural beauty and history of the space without doing too much. Wood floors are left bare with shabby chic remnants of hasty paint jobs by past parsimonious landlords. Rug-free floors keep the space clean and unadorned. An old barber shop chair is up-cycled to a coffee table white, shiny, Matthew Barney. White walls feature the work of pop artist, Trey Speegle, and you could easily be in a gallery on West 21st Street. Hamrick plans to showcase a new artist on an annual basis.

get the look now Pop goes the modern! Green Door helps you bring the Inn’s look home.

Stainless steel soaking tubs with rain showerheads are rustic yet luxurious. A private toilet with sliding barn door in lieu of a conventional door is an outhouse in a house. Hamrick tastefully uses wallpaper in many of the rooms to give texture and ambiance to the loft-like minimalism. Behind a bed, the wallpaper acts as art or headboard. Exposed light fixtures hang and simplify night tables - a book, a candle.

Shibori Dyed Sheets Duvet Cover $250 Pillow Sham Set $110 Upstate Brooklyn, NY youreupstate.com

The inn is a perfect weekend getaway. The wooden front porch overlooks the road through town and the Delaware River rolls nearby. The hammock chair on the porch is a great spot to relax, read, or enjoy a cocktail. There is a wet bar on the second floor for coffee, food, or ice. The EAT suite has a full kitchen and balcony.

Why Can’t You Just Be Nice 11”x14” Print $60 Trey Speegle Youngsville, NY 20x200.com

Malin + Goetz $30 Toiletries & Apothecary Brooklyn, NY malinandgoetz.com

Burgeoning Barryville has restaurants, antique shops and a seasonal farmers’ market within walking distance, as well as recreation, quaint nearby towns and the pristine beauty of the Delaware... much like the canal days. The inn is open year-round.

2012 Winter | Green Door 5

PHOTOS: CAMERON BLAYLOCK WWW.CAMERONBLAYLOCKPHOTO.COM

Imperfections in the old glass warp the landscape with the right viewing angles.

FOR MORE INFO The Stickett Inn 3380 Route 97 Barryville, NY 12719 845-557-0913 www.stickettinn.com 6 Green Door | WINTER 2012

When asked the style of the Inn, Hamrick joked, “Boho Quaker.” And we don’t think he is far off. Old and new, imperfection and perfection, give the spaces a lived in feel that manages to be clean and precise at the same time. Using local antique resources was the first step. The Catskills and Hudson Valley are full of antique gems, like diamonds in the rough.

2012 Winter | Green Door 7

Frack FOLK | FRACKTIVISTS

How do New Yorkers unite in th

ART: BRANDI MEROLLA WWW.SCENESFROMTHEATTIC.COM

STORY BY AKIRA OHISO PHOTOS BY TED CLEARY & NATALIE MERCHANT FRACK ART BY BRANDI MEROLLA COVER PHOTO BY JESSICA RIEHL

8 Green Door | WINTER 2012

racktured State

he fight against fracking?

Acclaimed ecologist, author and cancer survivor, Sandra Steingraber, is a recognized expert on the environmental links to human health. She has written books, poetry and countless articles for scientific and environmental journals. In 2010, filmmaker Chanda Chevannes completed the documentary Living Downstream which is based on Steingraber’s 2009 book. The film follows Steingraber as she lectures on the environmental links to cancer. The titled was inspired by a parable. A kind village by a stream notices dead bodies floating downstream. The villagers develop ever more elaborate technologies to resuscitate the dead, but never think to walk upstream to find out who’s throwing the people in the stream. “That’s the metaphor for how we deal with cancer,” says Chevannes. “We spend so many resources on treatments and a cure which is very important, but we should be spending more time finding out why we’re getting cancer and working to prevent that from happening. It’s also an environmental metaphor because chemicals don’t stay where they are released, they travel through the water, they travel through the air and they travel through the earth, so in many ways we all live downstream.”

In her most recent book, Raising Elijah: Protecting Our Children In An Age Of Environmental Crisis, Steingraber investigates the toxic everyday world her children inhabit from a pressure-treated playground to unearthed toxic linoleum during a home renovation. Inspired by 18th century abolitionist, Elijah Lovejoy, who had the courage to oppose America’s economically-dependent slave industry, Steingraber sees a striking simlilarity to the United States dependence on fossil fuels. She wants us all to become “carcinogen abolitionists.” The last chapter of the book is devoted to high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Steingraber,

who

lives

near

Ithaca,

New York, has been outspoken about fracking, an industry that is brazenly building infrastructure in the state as a fait accompli, even as a 2010 moratorium by former Governor Patterson stands. The moratorium seemed doomed late this year, but the Cuomo administration backed off and delayed a decision to conduct another health impact study.

Hydraulic fracturing is a drilling method that injects millions of gallons of chemicallylaced water deep underground breaking up shale formations to release pockets of natural gas. Fracking creates unpredictable cracks than can contaminate underground water sources. There are also concerns about the mortality of cement well casings. “We know that 7% of well casings leak immediately, therefore the conduits between our drinking water and shale are open,” says Steingraber. Once gas is extracted, flowback or waste water rises to the surface. Flowback contains corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene, undisclosed industry chemicals and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) like radium, which has a half-life of fifteenhundred years. Flowback cannot return to the hydrologic cycle, and must be enclosed safely from water sources. “Parts of the Marcellus Shale are highly radioactive which takes the form of radon, the leading cause of non-smokers lung cancer,” says Steingraber. “Radon appears to be mixed in with the gas itself, which means its not only a menace to those living in the gas fields, but to Manhattanites living in small apartments that may not have good ventilation over their gas stoves.” Spectra Energy is in the process of constructing a 16mile pipeline under the Hudson River with the plan of delivering “800 million cubic feet per day” of natural gas to New York City and New Jersey according to their website. Steingraber cofounded New Yorkers Against Fracking, a coalition of organizations asking Governor Cuomo to ban fracking in the state. “I truly believe he hasn’t made a decision CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 2012 Winter | Green Door 9

TAKE THE

PLEDGE by Sandra Steingraber

Together, we will take a pledge of resistance to hydrofracking in the state. I believe: --that high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracking is an accident-prone, inherently dangerous industrial process with risks that include catastrophic and irremediable environmental damage; --that these risks cannot be properly resolved, nor can they be mitigated through regulation by any government agency, let alone one that has colluded with the gas industry over the last four years in creating rules that attempt to regulate fracking; --that Governor Cuomo and this agency, the Department of Environmental Conservation, have repeatedly turned a deaf ear to the petitions of New York’s scientists, economists, medical professionals, and ordinary citizens who have tried again and again, for four years and to little avail, to alert the agency and Governor Cuomo to the many dangers that hydraulic fracking poses to our health, safety, property values, peace of mind and to the climate itself; --that it is wrong to shatter the bedrock of New York State and inject it with toxic chemicals. Hence, If Governor Cuomo permits highvolume, horizontal hydraulic fracking in any part of New York State, I pledge to join with others to engage in nonviolent acts of protest, including demonstrations and other non-violent actions, as my conscience leads me. I make this pledge in order to prevent the destruction and poisoning of New York’s water, air, and food systems, on which life, health, and economic prosperity all depend–including that of future generations. Signed on this day, ___________,

TAKE THE PLEDGE:

www.dontfrackny.org/pledge 10 Green Door | WINTER 2012

yet so it is incumbent on us in the public health community to help him get the data he needs,” says Steingraber. She is on the advisory board with activist Lois Gibbs, actor Mark Ruffalo and singer Natalie Merchant. Governor Cuomo who seemed gung-ho about the prospects of fracking in New York State as panacea for the states economic woes, has felt unrelenting pressure from the anti-fracking movement, leading environmentalists and Hollywood. Matt Damon’s upcoming movie Promised Land will bring an anti-fracking message to the masses, the highly-anticipated Gasland 2 is expected by year’s end and Yoko Ono cofounded Artists Against Fracking with son, Sean Ono Lennon. Dear Governor Cuomo..., directed by Jon Bowermaster, premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival on October 12th. The 75-minute documentary is based on an open letter by actor activist Mark Ruffalo to Governor Cuomo asking to uphold the moratorium. “He’s on a tightrope and I feel for him,” says Bowermaster. “He has the gas industry pressuring him and their argument is jobs and industry, but the reality is that most of those jobs are shortterm, they won’t stay in the state and most of them will be given to contractors outside the state.” The movie intersperses notable New Yorkers speaking out against fracking along with a concert lead by singer Natalie Merchant. The movie is a powerful educational tool that is going to start rolling out to schools, community centers and town hall meetings across New York State.

Jill Wiener of Catskill Citizens For Safe Energy, a volunteer grassroots organization in Sullivan County, says that extracted gas will not only leave the state, but will be exported to Europe and Asia. “If the industry has its way, America will ship huge quantities of shale gas overseas, where it will command prices many times higher than here at home. Japan, India, China, and France are among the countries that already own gas leases or shale gas reserves in the United States. Ironically, fracking is currently banned in France because it’s too dangerous.” For the anti-fracking movement, a delay buys time. “Time is on the side of those of us who oppose fracking because as time goes by it looks more and more like it’s the wrong thing to do,” says Steingraber. But there are concerns. The governor has requested further study by the state health department, which, to date, has not been forthcoming with specifics. Will there be transparency? Will independent health professionals and environmental scientists have a say? Will the study rely on old data? The Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) conducted by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) lacked transparency. Not once does the study address the health impact on children who are far more vulnerable to environmental toxins. With exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Air Act by the 2005 Bush/ Cheney Energy Bill, the natural gas industry is not required to divulge the chemicals used in the fracking process. Steingraber calls the SGEIS “an infomercial for the gas industry.” New Yorkers Against Fracking released a position paper authored by Steingraber and Kathy Nolan of Catskill Mountainkeeper, which gives formal protocol for a comprehensive health impact assessment (HIA). “A comprehensive HIA is the only tool of public health inquiry into the effects of

jon bowermaster fracking that we will accept. New Yorkers Against Fracking will interpret any ad-hoc approach or claim of HIA equivalency as a sign of political expediency and a compromised process.” In Pennsylvania, where fracking is well underway, flowback has been disposed of by trucking it to industrial treatment plants or municipal sewage plants and then back into the water supply. In May 2012, the National Resources Defense Council released “In Fracking’s Wake: New Rules are Needed to Protect Our Health and Environment from Contaminated Wastewater.” The report concluded that “the current regulation of shale gas wastewater management, treatment, and disposal is inadequate because it fails to safeguard against foreseeable risks of harm to human health and the environment. Government oversight of wastewater treatment and disposal must be improved at both the federal and the state levels.” The environmental cost to truck billions of gallons of flowback is astronomical. Across the country, the most common method of flowback disposal is Deep Well Injection Disposal. The industry says it’s safe, but environmental groups are reporting incidents of water contamination. Pennsylvania should act as a cautionary tale for New York State. “We share an ecology with Pennsylvania, we share a bedrock and the boundary between us is just a line on a map,” says Steingraber. “We should be looking very aggressively at the health effects in Pennsylvania

as a way of determining what we might expect in New York.” “New Yorkers feel a little cocky because the watershed is off limits,” says Bowermaster. The watershed, which supplies drinking water to eight million New Yorkers, is protected by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Steingraber reminds us that New York City not only benefits from clean Catskills water, but fresh westerly air and organic food which fracking would contaminate as

PHOTO OF SANDRA STEINGRABER: TED CLEARY

PHOTO OF JON BOWERMASTER: NATALIE MERCHANT

SANDRA STEINGRABER well. “If rural New York State is sacrificed to the industry we will lose what is irreplaceable; clean water, clean air, agricultural land, and a rural economy largely based on farming and tourism,” adds Wiener. Gas companies spend millions on ad campaigns touting natural gas as cleaner than coal. “Natural gas does burn cleaner than coal, but the extraction unleashes methane into the air which ends up being far worse than burning coal,” says Bowermaster. “In addition, cooling and converting shale gas to a liquid so it can be shipped is energy intensive, only worsening the effects of climate change,” says Wiener. There are mounting reports and studies of contaminated water in towns like Dimock, PA, which became a flashpoint in the fracking debate when a dozen families sued Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. In the seminal film, Gasland, Josh Fox documents methane-laced tap water people ignite from their kitchen sinks. “The violations in Pennsylvania

are in the thousands,” says Steingraber. The gas industry’s press-release denial, prove-it mentality and flippant disregard for public health is an indication that something is deeply wrong. If there is nothing to hide, why not let science do its work? Without sufficient scientific evidence, “precaution” is the watchword. The 1998 Wingspread Consensus Statement on the Precautionary Principle states, “When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof.” Steingraber adds: “Any time you are rolling out a potentially hazardous activity, especially one that is carcinogen-dependent, accident-prone and will drastically industrialize our rural areas, you have to ask if the consequences of this decision are reversible or not. If they’re not reversible, we are compelling future generations to take risks they have not consented to.” On August 27th, 2012, Steingraber delivered an inspirational speech at the Don’t Frack New York Rally in Albany in anticpation of a Cuomo decision to lift the moratorium. “I choose to belong to a vision of an unfractured New York that turns its back on 19th century thinking and death-dealing fossil fuels and leads the world in the creation of a clean energy economy.” She crafted an anti-fracking pledge (see sidebar) asking people to resist fracking with non-violent protests. Over 6,000 people have signed the pledge to-date. “The pledge is a solid commitment to engage in acts of non-violent and peaceful demonstrations and for some that will include civil disobedience,” says Steingraber. “The signatures are a powerful tool to show the depth and breadth of the opposition to fracking in New York.” Two weeks later, on September 9th, Steingraber was asked to bear witness to an act of civil disobedience in the Finger Lakes region where seventeen CONTINUED ON PAGE 45

2012 Winter | Green Door 11

ART | JAN SAWKA

Remembering Jan Sawka BY JENNIFER FARLEY

Artist & architect, who fled Poland and settled in High Falls. Internationally acclaimed visual artist Jan Sawka died of a heart attack at age 65 in his High Falls studio on August 9. His artistic l e g a c y includes plans for huge outdoor monuments; “The Voyage,” a 1,202 painting creation epic projected on a stadium-sized screen; myriad canvasses and posters; and 25 intimate drawing journals. The journals meticulously illustrate the mind and milieu of this brilliant and highly productive artist, who fled communist Poland in 1977 with his wife and baby daughter. Previously seen only by family members and close friends, Sawka’s journals are being exhibited for the first time at the Bard College Library, in a show titled “Personal Equilibrium.” It’s free, open to the public, and up until mid December. “Jan Sawka was such a vibrant, creative man,” says Debra Klein, Bard’s assistant visual curator. Klein met with Sawka last spring. After the artist died, his daughter Hanna Sawka, a filmmaker who knew Klein via the area Smith College alumni network, pushed to make the event happen quickly. It’s the first posthumous exhibit of her father’s work. Sawka’s works are in over 60 museums around the world; he was exhibited in about 70 solo shows. In 1989, Sawka designed a 10-story set for the Grateful Dead’s 25th Anniversary tour. It toured with the group for two years. Remnants of the 12 Green Door | WINTER 2012

set are on exhibit at the Grateful Dead Archive in California. Sawka met band member Jerry Garcia through singer-songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen, and was also close friends with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. Klein said “Personal Equilibrium” is a particularly appropriate show for the display windows at the entrance of Bard’s library. “Many Bard students keep journals,” says Klein. “Working on the Bard show initially kept us going, it’s how we dealt with the grief,” says Hanna, a petite single mom who now lives with her mother and works out of her father’s studio, a converted barn. The Sawkas bought their place in 1986. Convenient to Manhattan’s art galleries, but rural and unpretentious, living in High Falls suited the Sawkas, who became mainstays of the upstate arts scene. “We’re hoping to establish a Jan Sawka Museum – there’s not enough room on our property for it, though – some of my father’s sculptures are enormous, weighing half a ton, which is why the show at Bard is such a rare opportunity,” says Hanna. “The journals are intricate and personal, small in scale; next to many of my father’s finished works, they would just disappear.” One of the ideas Sawka toyed with repeatedly throughout his career concerned the appearance of writing as distinct from its meaning. The journals – as well as many of his paintings – feature elaborate calligraphy-like doodles.

Within a year after arriving in Manhattan, Sawka became an editorial illustrator for the OpEd page of The New York Times. He designed the official poster for the Solidarity movement. In 1986, a limited-edition book of hand-colored engravings titled “A Book of Fiction,” won book of the year at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the publishing industry’s major international trade show. The Sawkas said they think a museum would attract visitors from all over the world to the Catskills.

PHOTO OF GRATEFUL DEAD SET: Neil Trager. PHOTO OF JAN: Amanda Switzer. All other photos: ©Jan Sawka.

“We had over 70,000 visitors to the official Jan Sawka website in just one day after the obituaries began to appear,” says Hanka. “My Husband Was A Symbol of Freedom” The couple met at a university in Poland when Jan was 27 and Hanka was 20. “I was very beautiful as a young woman,” confides Hanka. “Jan asked me to marry him on our third date, but I said no - I have a twin sister and our mother wasn’t initially in favor of the match - but Jan had such a great sense of humor, and he was very persuasive. We married in 1974 and he was an absolutely wonderful husband,” says Hanka. “We were together day and night - I ran the business with him for 39 years.” “My husband was such a symbol of freedom to Eastern Europe,” says Hanka, who published a culinary autobiography called At Hanka’s Table in 2004. Although well-received – it was reviewed by Florence Fabricant of The New York Times - Sawka never received any proceeds from book sales. She’s not willing to invest the time and money into hiring a lawyer, however. “I didn’t even want to make it a cookbook, but that’s what the publisher advised,” says Hanka. “In Europe these sorts of memoirs sell, you don’t have to put recipes in them!” she exclaims. “But then again, political poetry is still very big in Poland. The society is a lot less commercial than in the United States.”

Posters, Jerusalem’s Peace Monument, and “The Voyage” During the communist era in Poland, everything was heavily censored. “There were no galleries, no art museums,” recalls Hanka. Like other artists of this era from Eastern Europe, Sawka managed to eke out a subsistence living designing posters, because anything that required a printing press to produce could be easily controlled.

the work of jan From epic to intimate, the work of Jan Sawka continues to endure.

“That’s why the posters of this period are so good -- Leo Castelli actually got his start as an art dealer selling posters,” says Hanka. Sawka’s posters contained hidden protest messages and black humor. He became very famous as an underground artist. It became apparent that the family should leave Poland as quickly as possible. The Sawkas were assisted in their emigration effort by none other than art collector and socialite Peggy Guggenheim.

The Grateful Dead 25th Anniversary Concert Set (1989-91)

Solidarity (1981) Offset AFL-CIO Fund Raiser

A Book of Fiction (1986) Hand colored engraving

In 2011, Sawka won the “Excellence in Architecture” award in the unbuilt category from the American Institute of Architects for his model for the Peace Monument in Jerusalem. Hanna says that she anticipates interest in her father’s art will continue to increase. “‘The Voyage’ is a 90 minute multimedia experience. It’s going to be produced at concert venues here, and then will go on world tour with the Mickey Hart Band,” says Hanna. “We’re mostly busy with organizing and promoting my father’s estate.” There will be a memorial exhibit at ACA Galleries in New York this spring. The Polish National Museum in Krakow just announced plans for a Sawka retrospective sometime in 2013. “Personal Equilibrium: The Private Journals of Jan Sawka” will be on view in the Stevenson Library Lobby Display Cases at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson from Monday, November 1 through December 15.

The Voyage Multimedia

Journal Seated Sequence Private Journals

2012 Winter | Green Door 13

DESIGN | DYBERRY WEAVER

For years, Charles Hadley Blanchard had wanted to express himself creatively. Doing a stint in Cameroon, West Africa, as a Peace Corps English teacher, Blanchard saw how making things by hand was essential for survival. He also saw that textiles such labor crafted were vivid and beautiful. Returning to the United States, Blanchard entered graduate school but didn’t know what vocation he wanted to pursue. He was 22 years old; he had been a woodcutter, he had worked in farms, and he had been a factory hand. It was a friend of a friend of a friend of his mother who enabled him to take the track that would give him fulfillment. She gave him a loom. Years earlier another friend’s wife had introduced him to a portable loom, and that had intrigued him. Exploring non-verbal communication in grad school, he also tried to reproduce the textile designs he had seen in Africa. Everything coalesced when he got this gift of a loom – and he knew he wanted to be a weaver.

Woven

Charles Hadley Blanchard: the Dyberry Weaver on the Delaware. BY Siba Kumar Das | PHOTOS BY MICHAEL BLOOM

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Still, for many years to come, though he called himself a weaver, weaving remained an activity in which he moonlighted while he worked as a book manufacturer. He later had other day jobs. It was in 2003 that he moved to Narrowsburg, New York, a paradise for eagle watching perched on a high bank of the Delaware River on the other side of Pennsylvania, to set up his own studio and become a full-time weaver. His studio a haven of creativity in a quiet, picturesque hamlet, Blanchard now weaves on a Harrisville loom seven days a week. He has found himself: it is not only self-expression; it is also selfdiscovery. “Yet I feel I am but a conduit for something. A force

beyond me is using me as its messenger,” he says. Whatever the facts surrounding the source of his creativity, Blanchard is an activist in his community, and that surely is a self-generated enterprise. He serves on an Energy Committee overseeing a vital segment of Tusten, New York’s contribution to a Roadmap for a Sullivan County Climate Action Plan that is part of a New York State Climate Smart Communities initiative – Tusten being the first town to sign on to the Plan. It is not surprising that Tusten has joined a number of other Sullivan County towns in rejecting the illusory benefits of fracking. Blanchard’s work situates him on the intersection of craft and art. The Philadelphia Museum of Art recently had a show, Craft Spoken Here, which focused on artists engaging in craft as an art form. Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C.’s Smithsonian American Art Museum has under way 40 Under 40: Craft Futures, an exhibition exploring evolving notions of craft with emphasis on sustainability and a return to valuing the handmade. And last year, in London, United Kingdom, both the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum had shows featuring crafted objects celebrating the role of making in human history and experience. Four shows, no matter how important their venues, do not themselves a global trend make, but the fact of their temporal proximity is surely significant. Because of global warming and other sustainability concerns, we’re experiencing a revival of demand for local produce, organic produce, and handmade products, as global trade and production statistics show. A manufacturing renaissance may be underway in the U.S. and other developed nations. Innovators are cross-fertilizing these trends,

especially by making viable a move away from mass production. Could a growth of craft be sustained by this still-in-its-early-stages revolution? It could, but given costs, craft may have to move more in art’s direction without losing its indispensable identity. Blanchard is on the road towards a greater emphasis on art. “I’m expanding the range of what my loom allows me to do,” he says. “I’m experimenting with different weaving techniques, some of which approach tapestry. I’m also exploring contrasting colors.” An example of both strategies is a dark intense blue rug with a gold-brown border. It makes you think of a Mark Rothko painting, and it may even transport you to Rajasthan, an Indian state known for abstract Tantric paintings produced by anonymous craftspeople. Or take another recent rug where horizontal varying-width bands ranging in color from pink-orange to brick red are set against a sky blue background, with an irregular black grid over-girding everything. In its balance lies an expressive rhythm that may remind you of Piet Mondrian. But do not think that Blanchard’s creations are discarding their functional core. A rug by him could be a wall hanging but it remains something that could cover a swath of your floor. When next you are in a farmers’ market, you could use a Blanchard bag, in spite of its beauty, to carry the garlic home. FOR MORE INFO www.dyberryweaver.com A retired U.N. official, Siba Kumar Das spends a lot of his time looking at and thinking about art. He interviewed Charles Hadley Blanchard in person and by telephone.

2012 Winter | Green Door 13

LOCAVORE | JAVA LOVE

Coffee Talk Kristine Petrik and Jodie Dawson founded Java Love Coffee Roasting Company in 2011 to fulfill a personal need. “We couldn’t find a good cup of coffee around here,” says Petrik. Citgo and Ultra Power weren’t cutting it. They purchased a classic 12 kilo Diedrich coffee roaster from retiring Hudson Valley roasters and set up shop on Kauneonga Lake, a popular waterfront destination in Bethel, NY. The ideal roast takes between fourteen and eighteen minutes depending on the type of bean, the climate, the amount of work required to

mature and the sugar content in the bean. Within this four-minute span, is the art of small-batch roasting where experienced roasters can create diverse flavor profiles. “The harder the bean has to work, the more complex its flavor,” says Petrik. Java Love has several standard roasts, but also rotates special blends that sometimes run out to the dismay of loyal customers. “People don’t understand that coffee is seasonal,” says Petrik. “We try to make the beans last, but sometimes we run out a few months short - I think it’s a good educational piece.”

BY AKIRA OHISO | PHOTOS BY KELLY MERCHANT

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PHOTOS: KELLY MERCHANT

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Most decaffeination processes employ chemical solvents such as methylene chloride or ethyl acetate to strip beans. Java Love’s beans are decaffeinated via the Swiss Method, which uses water and osmosis to strip the bean. Petrik and Dawson are selective of their beans to ensure high-quality and responsible sourcing. They have direct relationships with several importers, but half their beans come from Hacienda La Minita, a specialty coffee organization in Costa Rica, which has a reputation for being socially and environmentally conscious. La Minita pays significantly higher wages for skilled workers. The farm also provides housing, dental and medical services and educational support for workers’ children. “We know how the coffee is treated, we know there are no pesticides or herbicides and we know all their farmers are paid a fair rate,” says Petrik. While La Minita does not have formal certifications, their standards are much higher

than certifications in the United States. In fact, Kristine and Jodie witnessed the quality assurance process firsthand when they visited the Costa Rican farm. They spent three hours laboriously handpicking coffee beans on a tiered farm with canastas (baskets) strapped to their waists. Like experienced local pickers, their daily yield was weighed for quality and quantity in a measuring box or cajuela de café. Underripe, overripe and imperfect beans were weeded out over eight quality stages to find only the highest quality beans. Petrik and Dawson made a pittance and quickly learned how labor intensive the process is. In fact, it takes one thousand labor hours to produce a single bag of specialty coffee. Large coffee companies strip pick large farms with machines -unripe beans and all- to maximize efficiency, yield and economy. In such cases, pesticides are a common practice as well as added sugars to improve taste. Petrik points out that many large companies tout the use of the high-quality Arabica bean.

LOCAVORE | JAVA LOVE

“Arabica is a higher quality bean, but it tells nothing about how those beans are harvested.” So where does the acorn-to-oak roaster Starbucks stand? “Say what you want about Starbucks, but none of us small roasters would be here if it wasn’t for them,” says Petrik. Last year, Starbucks made a commitment to buy only Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee. “It was a game changer,” says Petrik. According to The Rainforest Alliance website, “Certification is one way to guarantee that coffee farms maintain wildlife habitat and other environmental benefits while protecting the livelihoods of coffee farmers.” While sustaining a small business is a challenge in Sullivan County, Java Love has thrived. “Part of our commitment when we started was that it was important to be part of the community and economic development,” says Petrik. “Walking in with those goals in mind is a different way to approach business.” Java Love supports the community by partnering with local artists and businesses to create Java Love products (see sidebar). They donate their used coffee grinds and biodegradable waste to a local farm for composting. The Bethel roaster has received generous support from the county and state via job training grants and a competitive Main Street grant. They hired Sean Ross Haber in 2011 who has become a familiar face at local farmers’ markets and is an integral part of the Java Love team. Next month, he will be traveling to La Minita as part of his job training. “I was uneducated about coffee,” says Haber. “Through learning about coffee, I have learned a lot about community development.” Java Love also hired a coffee roaster and hopes to continue creating jobs in the county.

love java love? Your love affair need not end at the cup. Grab these goodies made by local artisans and keep the aroma coming.

Natural neutralizer! Takes fish, onion and garlic smells off your hands.

Earth Girl Pottery Coffee Mugs $13.95 Calllicoon Center, NY Handmade and hand thrown.

With an ethical and sustainable business model, would Java Love ever expand? “People ask us all the time if we are a franchise,” says Dawson. “We are, but with one store. Our philosophy is let’s keep moving forward and see what happens.”

FOR MORE INFO 10 Horseshoe Lake Road Kauneonga Lake, NY 845-583-4082 www.javaloveroasters.com

Coffee Sack Totes & Bags Small Tote $25 Large Tote $40 Cosmetic $12 Wallet $10 by The Plunk Shop Livingston Manor, NY Upcycled from Java Love’s coffee sacks.

As members of the Specialty Coffee Association of America, the general consensus is that the specialty coffee industry is still selfregulating. “People aren’t fully committed to buying organic coffee yet,” says Dawson. “Many small growers can’t afford to use pesticides, so they are not going to spend money on pesticides and then certification.” Petrik and Dawson know the practices of their farmers, but do their customers care? “For some it matters, for others it’s not important,” says Petrik. “You can buy coffee anywhere,” says Dawson. “If you get your coffee at Java Love not only are you getting a great cup of coffee, but you’re making a local and global impact without having to change a thing except making that choice.”

Coffee Soap with Dish $9 by Mount Pleasant Herbary Mt Pleasant, PA

Honey Hill Pottery Coffee Mugs $13.95 Calllicoon, NY Handmade and hand thrown.

Coffee Scoops $15 by Jonathan’s Spoons Scranton, PA 2 tablespoon scoops made from cherry wood. 2012 Winter | Green Door 19

LOCAVORE | RECIPE

Drink & Be Merry BY CATIE BAUMER SCHWALB pitchforkdiaries.com

Entertaining at the holidays. A delightful overload of visions dance in my head when I embark on such an undertaking; multiple, warm roasts and my home effortlessly decorated. A few stray fragrant trimmings from the Christmas tree casually strewn across the mantle, and some pine cones and perhaps an orange or two have found their way to the centerpiece. Everything finished with the slightest tasteful kiss of sliver glitter and candlelight. Each guest robustly sharing songs and toasting each other; it is suddenly the final scene of White Christmas around my dinner table. And while that scene and time to do its set dressing is about as far away as Hollywood, the sweet, warm, and spiced mulled beverages are an excellent start to setting the stage. With a pot of mulled wine or mulled cider simmering on the stove and infusing the air with an aroma of all things yuletide, the house immediately feels warmer and the lights suddenly appear to have a bit more rosy glow. Cue the snowfall. 20 Green Door | WINTER 2012

Mulled Cider

When choosing cider for mulling, use the best that is available. It should be cold pressed, not from concentrate and with no sugar added. It is worth heading to the farmer’s market or a local orchard to get the best ingredient possible. However, for mulled wine it is not necessary to get an expensive or fine bottle of wine. Most of the subtle flavors that are prized in a high-end bottle will be lost to the spices and sugar in the mulling. But, as with use in cooking, it should be a wine that is good and definitely drinkable. To stand up to the spices and fruit, you want a bold, dry wine with some rich fruit notes. A cabernet sauvignon is a good choice, often with hints of black currant, cherry and vanilla, and big tannins.

PHOTOS: CATIE BAUMER SCHWALB

The accompanying recipes are a great place to begin, but certainly come up with your own mix of mulling spices that keeps your personal jack frost at bay. Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger, star anise, allspice, nutmeg, vanilla, peppercorns, citrus peel, dried and fresh fruit are all delicious additions. Your unique mulling blend also makes a charming gift or party favor. Package it in an airtight tin or jar, or dangle a few scoops in a muslin steeping bag from the neck of a wine bottle, for a quick and very portable gourmet holiday present.

Mulled Wine

In Scandinavian countries it’s glögg. In Germany, glühwine, or glowing wine, and burnt wine or vin brulé in Italy. In both Slovakia and Hungary it is boiled wine, varené wino and forralt bor, respectively. Warm, spiced drinks around the holidays have been loved for centuries, all over the world. From Charles Dickens to Frank Capra, whose Clarence orders “Mulled wine, heavy on the cinnamon and light on the cloves,” in It’s a Wonderful Life. Add these recipes to your holiday traditions this season, and drink and be merry. 2012 Winter | Green Door 21

LOCAVORE | RECIPE

The Recipes

Mulled Wine Makes about four servings. 1 750 ml bottle bold fruit-driven dry red wine, like cabernet sauvignon 1 cinnamon stick 1 whole star anise 6 cardamom pods, crushed slightly 4 whole black peppercorns 6 whole cloves ¼ cup light brown sugar ¼ cup dried cherries 1 orange, sliced thin 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise Optional: 1 tablespoon brandy Place the cinnamon stick, star anise, cardamom, peppercorns and cloves in a small dry skillet over medium heat to toast. Shake frequently to toast evenly, and remove from heat after a few minutes, when spices have become fragrant. Transfer the spices to a heavy bottomed stockpot, along with the brown sugar, vanilla, orange slices and cherries. Add ½ cup of the wine along with ½ cup of water. Bring to a boil for five minutes to dissolve the sugar and to make a concentrated spiced wine base. You do not want to boil the rest of the wine, once it is added, as it will cook off a good portion of the alcohol. Add the remaining wine and turn down the heat to barely a simmer, for at least an hour. Taste and add a bit more sugar if necessary. If using the additional brandy, add it to the wine ten minutes before serving. If making a large batch of mulled wine, it can be kept on very low heat on the stove, or in a slow cooker, for several hours to be served warm whenever needed. Garnish with additional orange slices, cinnamon sticks, or dried cherries soaked in brandy.

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Mulled Cider Makes four to six servings. 1/2 gallon cold-pressed apple cider 4 cinnamon sticks, about 3â&#x20AC;? in length 10 whole cloves 1 whole nutmeg 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, cut in thin slices Âź cup dried cranberries 1/2 orange sliced Optional: 2 tablespoons calvados or bourbon Place the cinnamon sticks, cloves, and nutmeg in a small dry skillet over medium heat to toast. Shake frequently to toast evenly, and remove from heat after a few minutes, when spices have become fragrant.

In a large heavy-bottomed stockpot, combine toasted spices with the ginger, cranberries, orange, and one cup of cider. Bring to a boil for five minutes to make a concentrated spiced base for the mulled cider. Add remaining cider and bring to a simmer. Keep simmering over low heat for at least two hours. If using, add the calvados or bourbon ten minutes before serving. The mulled cider can be kept on the stove over very low heat, or in a slow cooker, for several hours to be served warm whenever needed. Garnish with additional orange slices, sliced apple, cinnamon sticks, or dried cranberries soaked and plumped in either a bit of warm cider, calvados, or bourbon.

2012 Winter | Green Door 23

LOCAVORE | MAPLE SYRUP

Maple, Maple Everywhere Tapping into the Ashokan Maple Festival. BY JENNA FLANAGAN

Warm maple syrup poured over butter saturated buttermilk pancakes is the stuff of winter mornings. Gobbled too quickly and they sit in the pit of your stomach like a heap of bricks. Add on some sausage links and you suddenly need a cup of coffee to muster the energy to get up from the table. That’s why the sausage pancakes with maple syrup breakfast is a lot of visitors last stop at the Ashokan Center’s annual Maple Syrup Festival. The Ashokan Center is 347 acres of preserved national land in the Catskill Mountains. Sharing its name with the nearby reservoir that provides aqueduct funneled water to New York City, the land was once part of SUNY New Paltz’s field campus until 2008. When the university could no longer manage it, the land was purchased by a private group and became a living history museum. The Maple Fest is as much about hands-on education as it is syrup. The Ashokan Center is literally a gathering of small bungalows with names like, ‘The Broom Shop,’ ‘The Iron Shop,’ and ‘The Pewter Shop’ which is also where the pancakes were being served. There are also several large pavilions under construction, which will better serve the numerous families with young children in attendance. To learn about tapping, making and tasting maple sugar, visitors are encouraged to take a guided tour to the Sugar Shack, or hike the 0.6 mile trail. The trail is marked off with plastic orange ties around the trees along the way but is not a beaten path. Tours go out despite its condition, so visitors should be advised to wear boots. The Sugar Shack, a common name for a small structure (shack) that houses the sap evaporator that makes the syrup, is in an area called a sugar bush, or a large concentration of maple trees. There are 4 varieties of maple trees tapped for sap, the Black Maple, the Norway Maple, the Sugar Maple and the Red Maple. Syrup flavor doesn’t change from tree to tree, just the boiling time. At the

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Ashokan sugar bush the only trees getting tapped for sap are Sugar and Red Maple Trees. Huddled around one of the trees is a small group hanging on every word from Jared Kapsiak. At 25, he’s one of the program directors at Ashokan. He says syrup making is done on a roughly 40 to 1 ratio. For every 30 to 40 gallons (depending on the tree) of sap, you get one gallon of syrup. The best time of year to tap a tree is the last week of January and the big months are February and early March. Sap runs highest at the end of winter because the trees are preparing for the April and May photosynthesis process and they use the sap to make leaves. The trees need a significant amount of energy to do this because they’re running the sap up some 100 feet or more to the branches. A constant sugar rush helps them get the job done. Kapsiak demonstrates the process by hand drilling a ‘tap hole’ into the tree. A watery clear liquid immediately begins to squirt out and run down the bark. “Jared, aren’t we hurting the tree?” one of the kids watching him teach asks, “I mean if it needs the sap to make leaves but people keep on taking gallons of it every year, doesn’t that deplete the tree of its bodily fluids?” “Nah, you’re probably only getting 1% of the trees sap. Taking sap is like giving blood.” Kapsiak advises anyone interesting in tapping one of their own trees to drill into the south facing side of the tree because it gets the most sunlight. Sap runs on the warmer side of the tree and in winter the difference between the shaded and sunny side can be 10 to 15 degrees. The sugar content of sap is between 2% and 4% and the long boiling process in the sap evaporator reduces severely the water content. Finished syrup should have a sugar content about 66%. 60 gallon evaporators in a sugar shack in the woods are only one of the traditional ways the Ashokan

makes maple syrup. Back at the center, a gentleman named George Wolf is standing in front of a large fire pit cooking a brownish liquid in two large metal catering pans. It’s called a bush evaporator. “It’s an easily homemade cooker you can take with you into the woods. It’s also what the Native Americans use to make syrup.” Wolf spent 2 weeks with the Mohawk and Seneca Native Americans tapping trees in and around the Adirondack Mountains. The Native Americans don’t just consume maple syrup they also drink the sap. Due to the trees’ photosynthesis needs, Wolf says the sap is incredibly rich in nutrients like B vitamins 1,2,3,5 & 6, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. Wolf says when he was in the Adirondacks he often drank sap straight from the tree.

PHOTO LEFT: cappi thompson

PHOTO RIGHT: Good mood photo

It sounds like a vegan entrepreneur dream, bottled tree sap with more natural vitamins than any fabricated energy drink on the market. Unfortunately, Wolf says that wouldn’t work because tree sap spoils quickly and wouldn’t work for mass production without preservatives, which defeats the point of drinking the sap. Besides, he says, for Native Americans, tree tapping is a spiritual thing because sap is part of the tree’s life cycle. You’re drinking the essence of another living thing. All this focus on maple syrup means somewhere there are pancakes! The Pewter Shop served as a make shift cafeteria and the line for pancakes and sausage spilled out the front door and around the corner. Inside, festivalgoers politely clamored for a spot at one of the picnic tables decked out with white paper table clothes; the smell of pancake batter, sausage and maple syrup hangs heavy in the air. The Ashokan Maple Fest continues throughout the entire day and into the night with live performances, a maple themed dinner and dancing.

sticky notes Take note of these great New York State maple syrups, treats and treatments.

Catskill Comfort Neversink, NY 845-985-2996

Maple Cream Soap The Blue Bird Lowville, NY bluebirdcountrystore.com 317-376-2473

Pure Maple Syrup Parksville, NY justusmaple.com 845-292-8569

Crown Maple Syrup Dover Plains, NY crownmaple.com 845-877-0640

FOR MORE INFO ashokancenter.org/maplefest 2012 Winter | Green Door 25

NEIGHBORS Events & happenings around the Catskill Mountains & Hudson Valley DECEMBER 2012 1 Winter Walk on Warren Street

The first Saturday in December is now treated as a not-to-bemissed additional holiday. Free. 5pm to 8pm. 518-8221438. Hudson Opera House, Warren Street, Hudson. Columbia County.

1 Holiday Market

A holiday shopping extravaganza. The market will feature artisan craft items, specialty foods, live music, a crackling fire and a newly expanded winter wonderland in the Special Exhibit Area. Dec 1 & 2; 11am-4pm; Free admission. 845-583-2000. Bethel Woods Center For The Arts, 200 Hurd Rd., Bethel. Sullivan County.

1 Herman Krawitz

Working with Chagall: Herman Krawitz worked for the Metropolitan Opera for nineteen years, with nine of those years as Assistant General Manager. During this time he worked closely with Marc Chagall. Mr. Krawitz also had primary responsibility for planning the Metropolitan Opera house, the centerpiece of Lincoln Center, with architect Wallace K. Harrison. Mr. Krawitz coproduced The Nutcracker with Baryshnikov and the award winning Baryshnikov on Broadway. Saturday, at 5:30pm. $12 ($8 WAAM Members). 845-679-2940. The Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, 28 Tinker Street, Woodstock. Ulster County.

Christmas-obsessed, John Waters will cruise into town with his sleigh full of sticks and stones, spreading yuletide cheer and lunacy in his critically acclaimed one-man show. The legendary filmmaker (Pink Flamingos, Hairspray, A Dirty Shame, etc), and bestselling author feels “Christmas crazy” this year – “needy, greedy, horny for presents and filled with an unnatural desire to please.” Waters’ rapid-fire monologue explores and explodes the traditional holiday rituals and traditions. 845-473-2072. Starts at 8pm. $40; $30 Upper Balcony; $60 Gold Circle. Bardavon 1869 Opera House, 35 Market St. Poughkeepsie. Dutchess County.

1 A John Waters Christmas

1 Kingston Model Railroad Club

Like a wayward Santa for the

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Celebrating our 75th Anniversary! See a complete

‘O’ Scale railroad system in action! Scale models of steam and diesel locomotives, old fashioned and modern trains, complete villages and scenery, railroad museum, trolleys and circus train. 845-334-8233. Open house on Saturdays and Sundays, Nov. 3 to Dec. 2. Conveniently located just off of Pine Grove Avenue, in Mid-Town Kingston. Noon to 5pm. $6/Adults, $2/Children. Kingston Model Railroad Club, Susan Street off Pine Grove Ave., Kingston. Ulster County.

1 Handmade Holiday Show

A variety of local craft artist showcase their beautiful work all just in time for the holidays. 10am to 5pm. 518-3923693. Spencertown Academy Arts Center, 790 Route 203, Chatham. Columbia County.

2 Farmers Market

Every Sun in Dec plus Jan 6 & 20, Feb 3 & 17 at 11am-2pm. A collection of locally produced goods...fair trade, organic, rain forest alliance certified coffee; maple syrup, maple candies, creamed maple; varieties of honey, creamed honey with cinnamon; artisan pasta made with NY organic wheat; varieties of goat & cow cheese; goat’s milk soap; herbal tea blends; fresh flowers & potted plants; wool blankets & dresses; fresh baked bread; organic vegetables; apple cider; fresh fruit; quiche; soups; wine; meat (chicken, pork, beef, goat); eggs and much more. 845-292-6180 x115. Delaware Community Center, 8 Creamery Rd., Callicoon. Sullivan County.

2 Chaplin: The Mutual Shorts Five

Chaplin

classics

from

his time at Mutual Film: The Cure, Easy Street, The Rink, 1am, The Immigrant. Live accompianment by Marta Waterman. Sunday at 2pm. $7.00. 845-658-8989. Rosendale Theatre Collective, 408 Main Street, Rosendale. Ulster County.

2 Holiday Hunt

Holiday Special for Kids on Sundays in December (Dec. 2, 9, 16 & 23) 12 noon– 4pm. Get in the holiday spirit as you enjoy glittering decorations throughout the historic mansion, where each room features a different passage from the holiday classic ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Children and their families are invited to Locust Grove on Sunday afternoons for this holiday special. With your story in hand, collect the clues as you tour the mansion’s decorated rooms. Then join us at the visitor center for cookies, hot cider and readings and stories by Lorraine Hartin-Gelardi. $8/children; $10/adults. 845-454-4500. 2683 South Rd. (Rte 9), Poughkeepsie, NY. Dutchess County.

7 Writers Institute

The New York State Writers Institute presents Visiting Writers and Classic Film Series at 8pm. The New York State Writers Institute concludes its fall series of authors’ readings and offbeat films at the University at Albany campus. Critic J. Hoberman, who wrote about movies for the Village Voice for close to 25 years, discusses his new book, Film After Film. 518442-5620. Performing Arts Center at UAlbany, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany. Albany County.

8 Opera

Amahl and the Night Visitors Presented by Delaware Valley Opera. Just in time for the holidays, Delaware Valley Opera presents this familyfriendly opera about a young boy’s special visit from the three magi. Join us for a special holiday performance, including a holiday art activity before the show and gingerbread cookies after the performance. 12:30pm Preperformance Art Activity; 2pm Show Time; Free admission, ticket required. 845-583-2000. Bethel Woods Center For The Arts, 200 Hurd Rd., Bethel. Sullivan County.

11 Candlelight Tours

Candlelight tours at Washington Irving’s Sunnyside bring an 1850s Christmas to life. You’ll be escorted down a lanternlit path to the cottage decorated with holly, evergreens, and real candles. Excerpts from Irving’s Christmas tales and family letters are the theme of the evening. You’ll also be invited to join in song while a costumed guide accompanies you on the 1830s piano. The tour concludes in the kitchen yard, where hot cider is served beside a roaring fire. Tours start at 4pm; the last tour begins at 8pm. Adults, $14; children 5-17, $6; children under 5, free. Members: Adults, $7; children 5-17, $3. . Tarrytown, NY. Westchester County.

14 A Candlight Christmas Concert

Featuring Mary Mancini, Mario Tacca, and The Victor Lionti String Quartet.

Light refreshments following in the hall beneath the church. 7pm. 914-7372071. $15, Seniors $13, Under 17 $7. Church of the Assumption, 920 First St., Peekskill. Westchester County.

15 Celebrating the Holidays

Come join us at 6pm at Riverside Park for a celebration of the beautiful holiday season. Follow the luminaries to a tree-lighting ceremony, for caroling and singing of seasonal songs, and for hot drinks and cookies. And if we are lucky enough to have some snow --perhaps a snowman or two. Feel free to bring a flashlight or safe candle to help read the songs, and of course bring you singing voice as well. Riverside Park, Roscoe. Sullivan County.

15 The Met Opera: Aïda

The Met’s unforgettable production of Verdi’s ancient Egyptian drama stars Liudmyla Monastyrska as the enslaved Ethiopian princess caught in a love triangle with the heroic Radames, played by Roberto Alagna, and the proud Egyptian princess Amneris, sung by Olga Borodina. Fabio Luisi conducts. 518-822-8448. Starts at 12:55 PM. $25/person, $15/children 13 & under. Time and Space Limited, 434 Columbia Street, Hudson. Columbia County.

15 A Victorian Holiday

Join the Victorian Lady, Sue McLane in full Victorian dress as she describes elements of a Victorian Christmas holiday. Learn about Christmas past and holiday traditions as she engages the audience in conversation while adorning a Christmas tree. Space is limited, please pre-register by preceding Thursday to 518-828-1872 x 109. Wagon House Education Center. 2-3pm. (Snowdate: Sunday, December 16; 2-3pm). $5 per person, Families of four: $15. Olana, in Hudson. Columbia County.

15 Workshop

“Suminagashi” the ancient art of Japanese marbleized painting on silk scarves. Each person will participate in the making of their very own hand painted silk scarf which they can keep or give as a gift! Pre-registration is required. No walk-ins. Space is limited. 5:30pm; $40. 845-292-6180. Cornell Cooperative Extension, 64 Ferndale Loomis Rd., Liberty. Sullivan County.

16 Russel Wright

The Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art presents Russel Wright: The Nature of Design, through Dec 16, from 11am until 5pm. Former Valley resident Russel Wright was a renowned 20thcentury industrial designer whose dinnerware, furniture, and other items helped introduce modern design ideas to the general public. His artistic philosophy included the interrelationship between mankind and the natural world. 845-257-3844. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz Campus, 1 Hawk Dr., New Paltz. Ulster County.

22 Messiah Sing

Sullivan Renaissance

Time for a Renaissance Sullivan Renaissance is based on the simple idea that planting flowers can help revitalize Sullivan County. This idea – developed over a dozen years ago – has blossomed into an inspiring example of volunteerism. Today, hundreds of volunteer-based beautification and community development projects involving thousands of individuals have sprouted in every town and village of Sullivan County. Enhancing the county’s appearance builds community pride and encourages renewal. Whether a full-time resident or second homeowner, we would all like to improve the appearance of our Main Streets, small businesses and communities. Sullivan Renaissance offers beautification grants, sponsorships and volunteer opportunities. FOR MORE INFO www.sullivanrenaissance.org 845.295.2719

Claverack Landing presents the annual Messiah Sing accompanied by the Claverack Landing Ensemble. 4pm. 2012 Winter | Green Door 27

$10/door. First Presbyterian Church, 369 Warren Street, Hudson. Columbia County.

JANUARY 2013 13 Jerry Pinkney

Hudson River Museum presents Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney, through January 13, 2013. A Westchester resident, Pinkney has contributed art to more than 100 illustrated books. Upwards of 140 of his watercolor illustrations make up this show. Wed.-Sun. 12-5pm. $5, $3 children. 914-963-4550. Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Ave., Yonkers. Westchester County.

19 The Met: Live

“Maria Stuarda” (Donizetti). 1pm; Adults: $20, Children (13 and under): $10, Students: $10. 845-434-5750 ext 4472. Sullivan County Community College, 112 College Rd., Loch Sheldrake. Sullivan County.

20 Annual Catskill Ice Festival

The demo gear will be located at Rock and Snow - so you can try out the latest Harnesses, Ice Tools, Crampons, and clothing from the best companies. You know them - Black Diamond, Petzl, La Sportiva, Outdoor Research & Rab. 845-255-1311. Rock and Snow, 44 Main ST. New Paltz, Ulster County.

20 Piano Festival 2013

Howland Chamber Music Circle: Piano Festival 2013. Four recitals in the very popular piano series. Three of the performers are new to the area. Jan. 20: Juho Pohjonen from Finland made a big splash at last year’s Mostly Mozart Festival. 845-831-4988. All concerts are Sundays at 4pm. $30, $10/st. Howland Cultural Center, 477 Main St., Beacon. Dutchess County.

FEBRUARY 2013 7 Concert

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band in the Event Gallery. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a New Orleans, Louisiana, brass band. The ensemble was established in 1977 by Benny Jones together with members of the Tornado Brass Band. The Dirty Dozen revolutionized the New Orleans brass band style by incorporating funk and bebop into the traditional New Orleans style, and has been a major influence on the majority of New Orleans brass bands since. 6:30 pm Doors Open; 7:30 pm Show Time; $39 Reserved; $44 Day of Show. 845-583-2000. Bethel Woods Center For The Arts, 200 Hurd Rd., Bethel. Sullivan County.

10 Howland Chamber Music Circle

Piano Festival 2013. Four recitals in the very popular piano series. Three of the performers are new to the area. Feb. 10: Jenny Lin with a wonderfully varied program. 845-831-4988. All concerts are Sundays at 4pm. $30, $10/st. Howland Cultural Center, 477 Main St., Beacon. Dutchess County. 28 Green Door | WINTER 2012

16 Rigoletto

The Met: Live. “Rigoletto” (Verdi). 1pm; Adults: $20, Children (13 and under): $10, Students: $10. 845434-5750 ext 4472. Sullivan County Community College, 112 College Rd., Loch Sheldrake. Sullivan County.

22 American Symphony Orchestra

American Symphony Orchestra 2012– 13 Series: Concert 2. Founded in 1962 by legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, the American Symphony Orchestra continues its mission to demystify orchestral music and make it accessible and affordable to everyone. Under music director Leon Botstein, the ASO has pioneered what the Wall Street Journal called “a new concept in orchestras,” presenting concerts in the Vanguard Series at Carnegie Hall curated around various themes from the visual arts, literature, politics, and history, and unearthing rarely performed masterworks for welldeserved revival. Concert 2 on Fri., 2/22 and Sat., 2/23, features Harold Farberman’s Clarinet Concerto, and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8. 845-758-7900. 8pm. $40, 35, 25. Fisher Center, Performing Arts, Bard College, Annandale Rd. & Route 9G, Annandale on Hudson. Columbia County.

23 Bruce Cockburn

An Evening with Bruce Cockburn in the Event Gallery. Bruce Cockburn has always been a restless spirit. Over the course of four decades, the celebrated Canadian artist has traveled to the corners of the earth out of humanitarian concerns—often to trouble spots experiencing events that have led to some of his most memorable songs. Going up against chaos, even if it involves grave risks, can be necessary to get closer to the truth. 7pm Doors Open; 8pm Show Time; $49 Reserved; $54 Day of Show. 845-583-2000. Bethel Woods Center For The Arts, 200 Hurd Rd., Bethel. Sullivan County.

24 Piano Festival 2013

Howland Chamber Music Circle: Piano Festival 2013. Feb. 24: Kuok-Wai Lio, a young pianist from Macau. 845-8314988. All concerts are Sundays at 4pm. $30, $10/st. Howland Cultural Center, 477 Main St., Beacon. Dutchess County.

Want to be listed? Email Neighbors submissions to neighbors@greendoormag. com by February 1, 2013 with subject line Neighbors Submission. Missed the deadline? Email anytime for inclusion into our digital Neighbors calendar available online at: www.greendoormag.com/ neighbors.php

WELLNESS | NO IDLING

Idle Threat

“Did you know that in the city of New York you can’t have your engine idling for more than three minutes?” This is the question George Pakenham, a self-described green vigilante, asks thousands of idling New York City motorists in his movie, Idle Threat, an official selection at the 2012 Woodstock Film Festival. A little-known anti-idling law has been on the books in New York City since 1971, but few people know the law exists because it’s not enforced by the NYPD. Pakenham hands each idler a business card stating the law and fine. He logs every encounter as well as the idlers’ sometimes angry responses. Even so, Pakenham claims an eighty percent success rate with New Yorkers amicably turning off their engines. Pakenham has done his research. An MTA study titled “Excessive Idling Of Highway Vehicles At Long Island and Metro-North Railroad,” concluded that “LIRR’s highway fleet idled illegally for over 12,600 hours in January 2012, which “wasted over 13,000 gallons of fuel at a cost of $40,000; MNR highway vehicles idled illegally for an average of 8,000 hours per month during the study period, thereby wasting over 7,000 gallons of fuel, at a cost of over $25,000.” The total annual cost of idling at both the LIRR and MNR were projected to exceed $800,000. Idling engines consume more than 10 billion gallons of gasoline per year and contribute to myriad health issues including cancer, air pollution and global warming. In New York City, a microcosm of a worldwide epidemic, there are more than one million exhaust emitting automobiles, 13,000 taxis and 6,000 buses. “There are a million asthmatics in New York City,” says Pakenham. “We can do better.” Mayor Bloomberg, who appears in the film, has made it his mission to clamp down on second-hand smoke and, recently, big soda, yet he was surprisingly flippant towards Pakenham’s cause. A city council bill, which would have required traffic agents to enforce the idling law, was passed over because the traffic division of the

NYPD didn’t want to be told what to do. In 2009, Bloomberg passed a bill that allowed traffic agents to issue tickets to idlers, but few if any traffic agents enforce it. Pakenham calls the bill “fluff ” and accuses Bloomberg of “paying lip service.” Still, Pakenham is hopeful. He mentions the 1978 Pooper Scooper law that required New Yorkers to pick up dog feces and dispose of it. “I remember saying no one will ever do it.” Today, it is socially unacceptable to leave dog poop on the streets of New York. “Given time this film will be a topic of conversation,” says Pakenham. Since he started his campaign five years ago, copycat vigilantes have taken up his cause. “There’s a guy in Edinburgh Scotland who is referring to himself as the Scottish Verdant Vigilante,” laughs Pakenham. Producer Michael Beller calls the film “a love letter to New York.” Pakenham, a longtime New Yorker, did the film to improve the city he loves and calls home, not to agitate motorists, city council and the mayor. Pakenham had penned a companion childrens’ book, Big Nose Big City, which chronicles a teen dog walker and her exhaust-level friends. “I chose to write a childrens’ book because parents will learn about the mindlessness of idling by reading the book to their kids,” says Pakenham. The purity of children allows such a simple message - turn it off - to ring true. “I showed the film to my kids early on and they remind me to turn the car off,” adds Beller. If Pakenham’s almost 3,000 encounters were enforced, he would have generated $350,000 in fines for the City of New York. One thing is for sure, once you see this movie, you will feel compelled to turn it off too. FOR MORE INFO www.idlethreatmovie.com 2012 Winter | Green Door 29

GIFTING | HOLIDAY 2012

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Global Home 4929 Main St, Jeffersonville, NY 12748 (845) 482-3652 155 Main St, Beacon NY 12508 (845) 765-1324 globalhomeny.com 2012 Winter | Green Door 31

HORIZONS | SIMI STONE

Simi Stone

There’s something magical about the Hudson Valley that makes it into the music. BY VANESSA GENEVA AHERN PHOTOS BY KELLY MERCHANT

32 Green Door | WINTER 2012

I first saw Simi Stone (born Simantha Molly Lou Sernaker) perform at the Woodstock Film Festival in 2011 at the Colony Cafe. She sang with the Duke and the King’s Robert Burke. As she tuned her guitar for her last song, Burke affectionately rubbed her arm and said to the crowd, “This is Simi Stone, y’all. This is not some fabricated intellectual delivery. This is some real emotional introspect kind of truth.” By the end of the night, I had been put in her Mountain Motown trance. A few weeks later I saw her perform at a special 11-1111 concert at Vivo Fine Art Gallery in Woodstock, and bought a CD from her at the end of the show, all the while thinking how so many musicians start out this way, selling their own CDs, but one day I could be amazed that I was able to hand her $10 for a CD because she is destined for the Grammy’s.

Simi Stone returned to her hometown of Woodstock after a decade of traveling, playing in different bands, and living in NYC and Chicago. She had an amazing barefoot childhood in Woodstock. “We were country bumpkin kids, but with lots of intelligence, with a rich art and music culture. It was definitely a small town, very free and beautiful countryside to grow up in, and a lot of safety. You know, you weren’t afraid of the world,” she said. Stone remembers how the late Betty MacDonald, her neighbor, and a jazz musician taught her how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the violin when she was 7, and Stone continued playing violin at Woodstock Elementary School. At 8 years old she was writing her own songs, and sharing them with her classmates on cassettes, pre iTunes. After graduating high school, Stone ventured off to NYC with the intention of studying acting at Marymount Manhattan College when she had an epiphany after a heart-to-talk with her theater professor. Rock and roll was her calling. She joined up with a college band called Slithy Toves that performed in the East Village a lot, then a rock band Suffrajett and later Simone Felice, Robert Burke, and Nowell Haskins of the band The Duke and the King, welcomed her in to their band after she wowed them on stage at one of their shows in Woodstock. Her current producer David Baron, owner and creative director of Edison Music, first heard her sing with Duke and the King at the Hudson Valley Green Festival in 2010. “I thought she had a great energy, presence, and a strong voice. The crowd really loved her.”

PHOTOS: KELLY MERCHANT. photographed at The Byrdcliffe Art Colony in Woodstock, New York.

“She was booked to tour as an opener for Simone Felice. She did not have any decent recordings or anything to sell or to promote. I suggested doing an EP with her - and we did it in about 4 or 5 days. It was very fast and it was super fun. The EP cemented what I feel was a great musical partnership,” says Baron. Thanks to a KickStarter.com campaign, which far exceeded her expectations and helped raise $8,630 Simi Stone and David Baron started recording her first solo album in October. “I know I have all these beautiful fans, but I didn’t know I was going to feel so connected to these people. All of a sudden all these people were saying, ‘Yeah, I want to help you. I was emotional about it. It made me feel like this is why I’m doing this. There is a purpose here. This is not selfish endeavor and it’s coming at me so let’s do this. It just was amazing.” The Hudson Valley inspires her, and she has always been able to write here. The actual songwriting process is magic. “That’s like another man upstairs kind of vibe. I have nothing to do with that,” she says pointing a finger to the sky. “This is holy stuff, we better do this. Your mind has to learn it first, and then it has to come out. You interpret it almost subconsciously. A fertile writing period can come, but you still have to work the land,” says Stone. “No Easy Way Out” a song that she wrote and sang with The Duke and The King, was written on plane ride to Spain two years ago. The song is her most popular song yet. She performed it for the BBC radio show “Loose Ends” in London in 2010, and of course, it is a song that gets plenty of play on Radio Woodstock WDST 100.1 “I’d love to sing and play violin with Bob Dylan. I was just listening

to Old Mercy on the way here,” she says. Her musical muses are many: Teresa Williams, The New Pornographers, Adele. “I love dance music. The best music is when you feel that joy. David and I, we love hits, we love pop music, from old school pop music, to Aretha Franklin, to Sly Stone, old school Madonna, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston, Elvis, just those great songs.” Her two songs “Good Girl” and “Fear the Beat” reflect her love for dance music. Baron shared a big studio in Manhattan with Henry Hirsch (who has a beautiful church studio in Hudson) and Lenny Kravitz (who moved his studio to the Bahamas), before setting up his studio in Boiceville, NY. Baron loves recording in the Hudson Valley. He has recorded at Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, Dreamland in Hurley, Applehead in Woodstock, Isokon in Woodstock. He recently recorded in both Nashville and the Bahamas. “I always love coming home. There’s something magical about the Hudson Valley that makes it into the music. The proof is in the pudding: look at all the fabulous records and artists that came from this area. Simi and I are hoping to be part of that story,” says Baron. I’m happy to be a new raving fanatic along for the ride to Billboard Top 40 land. FOR MORE INFO www.mountainjam.com/artist/simi-stone

Follow Vanessa Geneva Ahern’s adventures on HudsonValleyGoodStuff. com, a travel blog she stared in 2009 or see her work at www. woodstockwriter.com. 2012 Winter | Green Door 33

TWINTERVIEW | GUY VINCENT

Twinterview @Guy_Vincent I know that twitter started in 2006. When did symbol or twitter art start appearing on twitter and when did you start your symbol art? Shortly after joining Twitter in 2009 I became interested with the graphic possibilities of combining various standard keyboard characters. My passion for these short burst of visuals, led me to further explore alternative keyboard characters, glyphs, unicode, and symbols that served in expressing my artistic vision. My focus was based upon a visual abstract based language unrelated to any traditional

34 Green Door | WINTER 2012

language. In February 2010 I created the #SymbolArt hashtag to more accurately describe these elements. What do people experience when they see your abstract language or mark-making in their twitter stream? Perhaps, the most compelling response I’ve received was how my Symbol Art supersedes technological confines and expresses a very human essence. I find this idea fascinating considering the parameters in which the images are created, received, and viewed on the various digital devices.

What is your process when creating a symbol art tweet? My process generally begins like most art-making with a desire to express a certain concept or mood. Sometimes it’s very specific, other times it’s more spontaneous. Regardless of the motivation, once I begin it becomes a very organic and experimental process. At times, aspects of these little visual passages make their way into my photography, painting, and mixed-media art. Are 140 characters a constraint? I don’t view the 140 characters

of Twitter as a constraint. I believe that such limitations can serve us in being more focused, succinct, and innovative with expressing our creative ideas. Limits foster limitlessness. Where can symbol art go? The future of Symbol Art has many possibilities. Previously I’ve incorporated aspects of it into video, drawing, and mixed-media artwork. I’m currently developing several concepts that will further push the boundaries and viewer’s experience of Symbol Art. Once the details of these plans are finalized I’ll be able to share

additional information. Your symbol art while abstract, does have commercial appeal. Do you see your art on mugs, tees, haute couture, etc? Yes, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m currently developing several concepts that incorporate elements of my Symbol Art. These ideas are centered around fine art, performance, and public art. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m looking forward to sharing more specific information in the near future. Stay tuned. FOR MORE INFO twitter.com/guy_vincent

2012 Winter | Green Door 35

LIFE | MEMOIR

WASP Dreams Thwarted The past comes calling for Jay Blotcher. BY JAY BLOTCHER

As a child, I wanted to be white. More than that, I wanted to be a WASP: tall and slim, with high cheekbones and elegant wrists born of a blue-blood lineage. I craved piercing blue eyes and a shock of blond hair that would fall over my high forehead into my eyes, until I shook it back with a studied nonchalance. But my uber-mensch dream had been undermined from birth. I was short, chubby, and olive-skinned with a prominent Semitic nose. My hair, darkbrown on the verge of blackness, was as soft as barbed wire and grew in a tangle. I tried to tame it by wearing a ski cap to bed for months. My ploy failed. When it came to my ethnic identity, I

was not Caucasian. But who was I? At a year old in 1961, I had been adopted and arrived in Randolph, a workingclass suburb of Boston that had originally prospered because of shoe factories. My new parents, Lolly and Sonny Blotcher, knew a single fact: My birth mother was Jewish. So were they, secondgeneration descendants of Eastern European immigrants. Additional facts about me lay in a sealed file, thanks to stringent Bay State laws. Mom and Dad would jerry-rig a new identity for me. In a town dominated by milkywhite Irish Catholics, my parents raised me in a small but robust Conservative Jewish community. From kindergarten on, my culture and religion were indivisible. I knew the score of Fiddler on the Roof before Beatles songs. I attended Hebrew school three times weekly at Temple Beth Am and walked every Saturday morning to services, more from loneliness than piety. I was teased on the playground, in the cafeteria, after school. Kids are cruel, but hardly inventive; the targets were my glasses (“four-eyes!”), my whiffle haircut (“baldy!”) and my weight (“fatso!”). But when bullies laughed over my skin color, asking me where I came from, I had neither facts nor clever comebacks.

Valerie w

orkin

1) w. (196 rade Sho T C Y N g at a

The summer of 1968, at age eight, I was in summer camp when kids first called “nigger.” The unfamiliar word had an inherent ugliness that had me running in tears to the camp director. But she simply dismissed my foolishness. “Those other kids are jealous because you have such a gorgeous tan.” Jay with

his adop tive moth er first yea r of adop , Elaine Blotcher tion. (19 , the 61)

Eventually, the teasing receded and I made peace with my Jewish ethnicity and heritage, my swarthy looks and wild card ethnicity. I eventually gathered sufficient self-respect to accept another trait that challenged mainstream homogeneity: being gay.

Only then, with ironic timing, did my past come calling. It was March 1988. I was living in New York City as a freelance writer for a rock magazine and an optometrist trade. A registered letter had arrived at the post office, marked “personal and confidential.” I signed for it and then opened the envelope and began skimming. A line in the second paragraph stopped me: “I have held you in my heart since I gave birth to you....” I was holding a letter from my birth mother. Valerie Bishop, a legal secretary in Santa Monica. My birth mother had given me up in college. Yet in an era

before Internet searches, she had spent two years searching Massachusetts public records. And now I was holding a small bombshell. It took a month to hack through a thicket of mixed emotions before I replied. (I hadn’t even confided in my parents.) In longhand, I apologized to Valerie for the delay and assured her – perhaps reassuring myself – that I held no resentment and was eager to speak. I sent the letter by Federal Express. That Sunday morning, my boyfriend Scott and I were sleeping in when the phone rang at 9am. Valerie was calling from Santa Monica. For three hours she talked and I listened. Raised in Brookline, an uppermiddle-class Jewish Boston suburb, Valerie Paul was a baseball fan. But while others collected baseball cards, she

collected players; she had dated several. The Baltimore Orioles were playing the Red Sox at Fenway Park one day. After the game, a friend introduced Valerie to Arnie Portocarrero, an Orioles pitcher. He was a tall, olive-skinned, green-eyed man with a wide smile and careless charm. An evening of drinks ended in Portocarrero’s Kenmore Hotel room. Three months before his 28th birthday, the little boy with the borrowed back-story had the truth: I was the product of a one-night stand between a second-generation American Jewess of Lithuanian ancestry and a first-generation Puerto Rican American from New York City’s Washington Heights. A typical story. Not. When Valerie and I met a month later in person, she brought more evidence of how badly that mix played in Puritan Boston, 1960: In my hospital birth record, the delivery room doctor had noted: “Addendum: There was considerably dark pigmentation of the scrotum which made the obstetrician suspect that this was probably a negroid baby.” Less than an hour old, I had been singled out for racial profiling.

PHOTOS: courtesy of jay blotcher

My birth mother Valerie had dealt with a more insidious racism in the mid-60s, because she had married a man of color after giving me up and moving to Manhattan. Walter Bishop, Jr., was a pianist for Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. While Valerie’s father Harry had been a publicist for several jazz musicians, his liberalism had limits; my grandfather refused to attend the wedding. Valerie and Bish relocated to Los Angeles. I grew closer to Valerie and met other Paul family members, including my now-mellowed grandfather, grandmother Gretchen and uncle Danny. But I only had one half of the story. An obituary for Arnie Portocarrero, who had died in 1986, listed several surviving relatives. Not contacting them,

I convinced myself, was simply diplomacy. Valerie had told me that Arnie was married at the time of their meeting. Did the family need to know of his infidelity? Or maybe I harbored my own racism. Where did a Puerto Rican heritage fit into my Jewish background? But in August 1995 I addressed a letter to my half-brother in Phoenix. Two days later, there was a message on my answering machine. “Jay Blotcher; this is Mario Portocarrero. Call me. It looks like we share a father.” Five months later, I met Arnie’s mother Julia, then 85, in her Long Island home. When she saw her late son’s face in mine, she hugged me and welcomed me to the Portocarrero family. I would call her Abuelita and converse at her kitchen table in my high-school Spanish. I now had two sprawling new families. The Pauls and the Portocarreros – and both offered unconditional love. And I had learned the truth: I was a combination of Lithuanian-Jewish-American and Puerto Rican-American lineage as well as my Blotcher upbringing. Most importantly, I finally understood why my damned hair would never tumble WASP-like into my eyes. A version of this essay appeared in Identity Envy: Wanting to Be Who We’re Not, (Harrington Park Press, 2007). www.identityenvy.com/

Freelance write Jay Blotcher lives in Ulster County. He is currently co-writing a new musical about Harlem in the late 1960s. 2012 Winter | Green Door 37

LIFE | FIREWOOD

Solar energy has been around for thousands of years. Contrary to what Central Hudson and the New York State Energy Grid (NYSEG) believe, solar energy production is rampant in the Catskill and Hudson Valley regions. Solar energy manufacturing is occurring so much that some can hardly keep up with the energy output. Ironically, even power-lines themselves are in danger from the high output of abundant, natural solar energy. The products of natural solar energy are most commonly known as…TREES! Maybe you have seen a couple on your way to work. When it comes to leaves – nature’s little solar panels come in many different shapes and sizes! Although the architects of these little solar panels wish to remain anonymous, they must truly be brilliant. However, their marketing department does need some improvement. These green solar panels really are green, and made from some really natural stuff…like chloroplasts. Each one is able to capture the sun’s energy in a peculiar manner through photosynthesis. Add in some water and carbon dioxide and a dash of minerals to the mix and voila – glucose energy. In fact, without this reaction, life on earth would cease to exist! Natural solar panels are not created equal. It’s a cutthroat world out there and each plant is competing for the sun’s attention. Some fix the sun’s energy and store it for shorter or longer periods of time. Trees are special in that excess solar energy is not plugged back into the grid, but instead stored in wood fiber. That’s right! The fattest trees are not necessarily the oldest, but the ones 38 Green Door | WINTER 2012

getting more than their fair share of the sun’s energy. Undernourished trees can be more than half as thick in diameter if they are being shaded-out by their neighbors. Human beings have been tapping into natural solar for a long time – so long that in reality, the usage of fossil fuels should be called alternative energy. Outside the bubble of North America and other industrialized nations, most human beings use wood for heating and cooking. In this sense, wood is akin to stored sunlight in a fibrous form. When we burn it, we are releasing carbon dioxide, some water vapor, and other particulates the tree had stored throughout its life. Carbon is not added, but only reintroduced to again mingle with fellow greenhouse gases. Currently, I am cutting down trees around my house that have stored solar energy from the early 70s. These trees were fast growing since they had access to plenty of sunlight at the edge of a hay-field. In their absence, other vegetation will be able to receive valuable solar energy. Solar energy is never wasted, but instead re-allocated to other vegetation if it is allowed to grow! In the mean time, my house can re-use this natural solar energy and recycle the sun’s warmth throughout the winter comfortably indoors – courtesy of the 1970s and its abandoned farms and pastures. By now many of us are familiar with global climate change and global warming. We often hear about fears surrounding global warming, but finding solutions seem to be a more challenging topic. Forecasts showing positive changes can seem bleak.

Currently one-third of the US energy demand is allocated towards heat energy alone. In New York State over 93% of our energy comes from out-ofstate sources. This is hardly sustainable or efficient. To make matters more complicated, fear and loathing surround each idea for using any one technology in creating energy. “Nuclear energy is dangerous and moth-balling spent uranium equipment is toxic.” “Coal is dirty.” “Oil involves extortion by foreign entities mixed in with deployed servicemen.” “Geothermal is expensive and complicated.” “Solar is expensive and New York State enjoys its fair share of gray skies.” Where wind and solar are best suited, local residents often find them unsightly. And that brings us to wood. That’s right…people have a gripe with it too. “Wood is for archaic Neanderthals living in rock shelters and armed with atlatls for killing mastodon.” And, “It’ll kill the forest if it doesn’t kill you first from smoke inhalation.” There is no silver bullet when it comes to solving the world’s problems. Each energy source has a place – including oil. Henry Thoreau praised oil in the 19th century for displacing coal (and wood). It was not that long ago when oil furnaces could barely meet 75% efficiency. Oil furnaces have dramatically changed and have become more efficient, and so has wood technology. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the average home required over 15 cords of wood for heating. Woodstoves dramatically changed after the 1980s after standards were raised for wood-heating appliance installment and efficiency. Instead of steel or castiron box-stoves, modern stoves reburn gases and can utilize more of the

Firewood is akin to stored sunlight in a fibrous form. wood’s energy towards heating your home rather than creating smoke. Wood differs most from other energy sources in that efficiency is highly reliant on the method of burning. The moisture content of the wood and stove operation will greatly influence the efficiency of burning the wood. If used properly, wood can serve as a renewable, easily accessible, and cheap source of heat in forested regions – potentially displacing thousands of gallons of fossil fuels, while reducing greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are negligible since emissions from burning wood are recycled through the natural solar process. Other regions have even moved past the household stage of wood energy. In Vermont municipal energy is now being supplied by woody biomass. Schools, public buildings, and private companies have incurred huge savings in using it. When using woody biomass, savings in comparison to heating oil, propane, electricity, and natural gas are respectively – 68%, 84%; 80%; & 43%. As tiny as Vermont is, it leads the nation in woody biomass usage. So why aren’t more municipalities and private businesses using woody biomass? The initial capital costs are large in comparison to other heating fuels. In Vermont, the state encourages woody biomass by reimbursing 30% of the up-front costs. Still, even without reimbursements, municipal buildings like schools have less difficulty in reaching positive cash flows when using woody biomass. Other disadvantages of using wood are infrastructure and space. There must be a readily accessible supply of wood available to provide

FOR MORE INFO www.catskillforest.org

woody biomass either in the form of wood chips or pellets. Another disadvantage includes emissions. Although burning wood on a larger scale is cleaner than a household scale since it burns hotter, particulates can be an issue. According to Cornell University, fine particulates are the easiest emissions to mitigate by using scrubbers that may become cheaper and more available in the future. As a forester, newly created markets using woody biomass would give private forest landowners more options in managing their woodlots. Improvement cuttings for wildlife habitat, timber quality, and forest health could be subsidized by a reinvigorated low-grade market which could ultimately improve our forests’ biodiversity, age structure and composition. Trees not tolerant of shady conditions could have a place to grow. At the same time, using woody biomass will create more jobs. This will not only help regenerate the understories of our forests, but also strengthen our communities. The more local jobs we have, the more likely our children too will have a place to live and raise families of their own. Choosing any of the available technologies will require tradeoffs, compromise, tolerance to new ideas, and imagination. Ultimately, we must have the initial conversation and weigh costs and benefits. Then we will see if we are up to truly living local. Ryan Trapani is the Education Forester for the Catskill Forest Association in Arkville, Delaware County. He earned his A.A.S in Forest Technology from the New York State Ranger School in 2004 and his B.S. in Forest Resources Management from the SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry in 2005.

2012 Winter | Green Door 39

LIFE | GALA CATSKILLS

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Rainbow Connection GALA Catskills cultivates a growing community. BY AKIRA OHISO

Printed in the U.S. Allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.

40 Green Door | WINTER 2012

In the late 1990’s, an influx of lesbians and gay men began purchasing second homes in the Catskills as a weekend refuge from hectic city life. Two years later, a pioneering group of second homeowners founded the Day To Be Gay Foundation to support the GLBT community. While many lesbians and gay men continue to make the city their main residence, increasing numbers are choosing to live and work in the Catskills full-time. Entrepreneurs have started small businesses, many work remotely and the artist community is thriving. With quaint B&Bs, historic hotels and luxury spas, the Catskills has become a premiere wedding destination and a burgeoning industry. Towns like Jeffersonville, Narrowsburg and Livingston Manor have created vibrant Main Streets where vacancy signs and dilapidation once reigned. This year, DTBG leadership handed over the foundation to a new Board of Directors, operating under a new name: The Gay and Lesbian Alliance of the Catskills (GALA Catskills). The new leadership wants to expand the scope of the foundation’s mission by engaging the wider community. I sat down with GALA president, Jim Lomax, and board member, Heinrich Strauch, to talk about the organization’s new direction. “We are unique in that we don’t provide a service,” says Lomax. “We are purely philanthropic so any money we make we actually give away to other non-profits who are in need and fit into our general philosophy about helping the community.” GALA supports an array of philanthropic activities such as education, fundraising and grant making for other non-for-profits in arts and social services.

GRAPHIC: echo3005

GALA wasted no time by bringing back the popular Day To Be Gay Festival in July 2012 after a three-year hiatus. It’s a fun day to socialize and let loose, but, one “day to be gay” seems to connote a less conscious time when the GLBT community stayed out of sight from a homophobic culture. Today, life is good in the Catskills most days, but there is still ignorance and intolerance. The passing of the New York State Same-Sex Marriage Bill in 2011 was a victory for the GLBT community, social justice and equality, but there is a polarized conservative presence in this country that staunchly opposes gay rights and believes homosexuality to be immoral.

An “alliance” connotes a joining of forces, which is needed not just for the GLBT community, but for other groups in the Catskills as well. It’s about organizing, advocating, accessing resources, building bridges and strengthening the community as a whole. There is work to be done via education, open dialogue and diversity and cultural competency training. GALA is beginning to reach out to the local business community. Planned focus groups will assess how businesses feel if more gay and lesbians patronize their establishment. A comprehensive list of gay-owned and gayfriendly businesses is being compiled and will be available on their website soon. In August, GALA held a fundraising event at the Forestburgh Playhouse to support GLBT/Straight Alliances in the local high schools and colleges. Bullying of gay students has been highly publicized in the media, yet schools sometimes are unaware or are slow to catch on. In 2010, Rutgers student, Tyler Clementi, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge after he learned his roommate used a webcam to secretly film a sexual encounter he had with another man. According to a study by the Suicide Prevention Center, lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are between 1.5 and 7 times more likely than heterosexual youth to have reported attempting suicide. “Unfortunately, the communities wake up to the fact they have a problem when something horrible happens,” says Lomax. PFLAG NYC’s (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) website states that “GLBT students at schools with comprehensive policies on bullying and harassment are much more likely to report harassment to school authorities who, in turn, were more likely to respond effectively.” GALA is also paying attention to the tsunami of baby boomers reaching retirement age. “I’m part of the boomer generation,” says Lomax. “Do you want to retire in the city where it’s more expensive or do you want to retire here were it’s a little more reasonable and you can always go into the city when you want to?” The healthier, more active baby boomers want to recreate outdoors, socialize and reinvent themselves. “Getting locked away in a condo in Boca Raton is not necessarily attractive,” says Strauch. The challenge for older adults living in the Catskills is that you must travel miles to do anything. “You start out being able to take care of your little homestead, but as you age you may want assistance,” says Strauch.

Strauch envisions supportive programming such as transportation to social events and medical appointments. GALA wants to help foster a reliable network for the GLBT community across the lifespan. Earlier this year, SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders), opened the nation’s first GLBT senior center -The Sage Center- in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood where older adults can choose from a comprehensive array of services sensitive to GLBT issues. “Out and Aging: The MetLife Study of Lesbian and Gay Baby Boomers” reports that 27% of GLBT boomers reported great concern about discrimination as they age, and less than half expressed strong confidence that healthcare professionals will treat them “with dignity and respect.” While the Catskills does not have the population density, The Sage Center is a good model and may be a long-term solution. Millions of aging adults are going to make decisions about their retirement and what they can afford on fixed-incomes. With historically low real estate prices, Sullivan County is primed for an aging population boom. The Gen-Xers and Millennials do recreate in the Catskills, but many are single or part of DINC (Dual Income No Children) households so settling down is not a priority right now. A weekend staycation is a nice change of pace, but many still want the social scene of the Hamptons or the instant gratification of New York City, neither of which the Catskills provides. “But they get older,” adds Lomax, sagaciously. Lomax foresees many second homeowners converting to full-time residents as they settle down and desire more space and quality of life. Fresh air, beautiful mountains and pristine streams are the timeless antidote to urban life. GALA wants to increase engagement with second-home owners right now, but many still dedicate their time, money and resources to New York City. In a region where fifteen votes can change the direction of a community, there is a tremendous opportunity to make a difference. “If I want the community to think in a certain way or operate in a certain way, I have to help create it,” says Strauch. Two great ways to support GALA Catskills is to become a member and volunteer. FOR MORE INFO www.galacatskills.org 2012 Winter | Green Door 41

TRAVEL | WINTER READING

When You Live in the Catskills An interview with Novelist Mermer Blakslee. When you Live by A River, is set in 1931 in Pepacton where the residents are just learning that their town will be flooded to create a reservoir for New York City. How did get the idea to write about the towns under the Pepacton? I wanted to write a prequel to my last novel, In Dark Water. A friend told me a story that really interested me about an aunt of hers named Leenie and this young girl became my muse. She lived in the thirties on a rugged subsistence farm. The father was off logging and the mother was home with all of the children trying to make ends meet. Then an uncle lost his wife in childbirth and as in the novel, they made this deal that if Leenie took care of the baby, he would send her to college. The real Leenie got “used as a wife, weekly” by the uncle, which is horrible, but what interested me was that he did fulfill his promise and send her to college. I didn’t want to write a victim story. There’s often an expectation that women can only be victims of male sexuality. They aren’t expected to have their own, especially young women. I wondered, what if this character had command of her own sexuality? What if, as strange as it might look from the outside, there was real love there? What if shared grief pulled them together? He has lost his wife and she has lost her family. Then I was driving by the reservoir one day and I felt physically drawn to the town underneath the water. I made a joke to myself, Under Dark Water, but I just knew that was where this all happened. From the first page, because of the country dialect the narrator speaks and all the details, the reader is completely immersed in this world of small Catskill farms in 1931. Leenie and her sisters sew their clothes out of feed sacks and never have a “boughten” thing. How did you learn so much about what life was like then? My grandfather lived with us when I was growing up. He was a fabulous storyteller and we were very close. He was born in 1881 and never learned to read or write. He grew up in the northern Catskills and had a farm near Windham. My dad was born in 1920 and grew up in the depression, but they never called it that. Sometimes it was called the Hoover days.

They were so poor already, the depression didn’t make much difference in their lives. They didn’t see themselves as poor, it was just how being a farmer was. I talked to a lot of farmers who said the same thing-- they were always having trouble. If you read the newspapers from 1931, they were talking about butter prices and how hard it was to make a living and it sounds exactly like today. Did you base the uncle character in the book, Digger, on your grandfather? Not really. Digger was born in 1890, so he is a little younger than my grandfather, so I could also work in some of my father’s story. What happens when a novel is forming, as long as it’s not autobiographical, and this book has not a shred of autobiography in it. Things conflate in your imagination and create a story that seems to come from the outside. So this story came to me, with the help of my father and my grandfather and the fact that I’m from the Catskills and feel this desperate connection with it. When I was young and left, I thought I would never come back. I was in Iowa City when I hit upon this dialect that I had grown up hearing. I used that voice in my first novel, Same Blood, and it made me want to come back to the Catskills where the source of my writing was. I was an insider here. In Same Blood you deal with the dislike of outsiders, especially city people. In this new novel your characters use “acting city” as a kind of insult. I love this description, “Being city is lurching between too nervous and too carefree.” A friend’s kid came to visit me years ago and she loved horses in this highly romantic way but hadn’t spent time around them. You have to respect large animals, but you don’t have to be frightened. I could see that this kid was either too carefree around the horses or too nervous. I made a note of that and it lingered somewhere in my subconscious. Then Leenie said it when I was writing in her voice. A character who is living in your imagination grabs things on her way out. Sometimes they are things from your life, ideas you’ve had, but sometimes you think, “Where the hell did that come from?” I thought that a lot with the other main character in this book, Digger. When I was writing from his point of view, I’d wait for my husband Eric to get home so I could check details with him on whatever Digger was doing. Like when Digger fixes a car. Right. I had no idea so I’d say, “Eric, I’ve got a scene where he’s under the car, what would he be working on, maybe a carburetor?” “Well, no, that’s not where the carburetor would be.” He’d tell me a bunch of things and I’d use whatever I liked the sound of. I’d also call my dad and ask things like, “What is the difference between

BY STACY WAKEFIELD FORTE

a plow and a harrow?” He said, “The harrow chews the ground soft.” That’s beautiful! You did a lot of research for this book. I spent a lot of time with Robert and Alice Jacobson’s books about the towns under the Pepacton. What comes across is the intense engagement people had with their towns. One guy had a battery repair shop. Can you imagine? In a small town you could making a living just repairing batteries! There was a dress shop; one guy had a pizzeria and barber shop combination. People could go to the city, but it took longer and the habit was still ingrained to get everything from the village, to be connected to the village. I also saw a home movie that was shown at the Andes Library from when the reservoir was finally being constructed in the1950s. It showed the last home being burned. You also mentioned an old farmer you interviewed named Al Bouw. I talked to him for half a day and he informed much of the book. He was a Dutchman’s son. I asked him if it was weird having Dutch parents in this small town and he said no, there were a lot of immigrants, even Chinese. Each household was very different. One house would have a phone and the next house had running water and the next had a spring in the basement and the next might have a Delco battery with a few lightbulbs. No one had electricity in the rural areas, so it was incredibly different from places like Kingston or New York. The separation between each household was extreme because of these very big differences of water, phone, electricity; cultural differences from so many immigrants and also from just being physically farther apart without radio or TV. And they were more self sufficient. Yes. So you have this economic engagement with the town where you go to get your dress, your battery repaired, your car repaired. But also, at the same time, more solitude, more difference, and a lot of idiosyncrasy. A socialist living up on the hill. Or the midwife, or the lesbian couple. Everyone was an odd bird so in some ways it didn’t matter. You could be the town drunk and you were still part of the community. Will you keep writing about the Catskills? This is where my muse is and my voice. But I don’t know how it will manifest next. I just like it, the grittiness here. In the grittiness there is potential for stories. Stacy Wakefield Forte lives in the Catskills where she designs and edits books. Her work can be seen at eviltwinpublications.com. 2012 Winter | Green Door 43

POETRY | WINTER

Catskills in February BY KIRBY OLSON

A trail in the snow to a disintegrating trailer, Dying apple trees near the red barns, A harsh winter day with white outs, Some think it’s time to move on. There’s salt on the roads, A defective toilet flushing constantly, Old Scotch tape stuck on the window, Some think it’s time to move on. I wear a mix of gloves to shovel snow, Then deal with more dirty dishes, I still don’t know what to do w/ last year’s Xmas cards, The snow plow goes by, is it time to move on? Shoes I never wear pile up, I never fix the uneven picture, The shadow of a tree on muddy snow, Everywhere there are empty houses (snowbirds), I’m chilled to the bone: it’s time to move on.

The TV clicker in hand I scan the 7 o’clock news, The same complaining whining voices, I look out the corner of my eye at the unopened tax dept. notice, On the screen dead Syrians, the twisted face of the dictator. Spring’s coming & with it the dandelions & tomatoes, Returning geese, short skirts, outside barbeque, Let’s see each other soon, how about them Yankees? What’s not to like? It’s almost Spring. Kirby Olson is a professor of humanities at SUNY-Delhi in the western Catskills. His poems have appeared in Poetry East, Partisan Review and Cortland Review, among many others. 44 Green Door | WINTER 2012

PHOTO: COVER OF The Fugs: Tenderness Junction

A moosehead over the fireplace I listen to the fish-tank filter, A rusty pitchfork stands in the mudroom near a dusty encyclopedia, Potholes in the roads, scuffmarks on cherry floors, Tell me about it. It’s time to move on.

FOLK | FRACKTIVISTS

FROM PAGE 11

protesters blockaded the entrance to Inergy Midstream’s Seneca Lake Compressor Station. Inergy is in the process of converting depleted salt mines into storage containers for liquefied petroleum and natural gas. Reverend Gary Judson, a 72-year old retired minister from the area, was called to action by his conscience when he learned two brine pit spills were reported to the DEC and were being investigated. Governor Cuomo must know the risks or else he is highly misinformed by his advisors. Scientific due diligence and transparency are essential, yet, until he felt pressure from the antifracking movement, he seemed lured by the deep pockets of the natural gas industry. “He’s a modern day politician, which means he needs a lot of money to run campaigns,” says Bowermaster. “If he wants to run for president he doesn’t want to aggravate the gas and oil industry, because he is going to want to go to them for campaign funding.” The governor has his sights on the 2016 Presidency, but he has a state election in 2014, which would be an essential stepping stone to the White House. “If he lifts the moratorium, he risks aggravating the democratic voter in the state,” says Bowermaster. Governor Cuomo could be a hero by banning fracking and moving the state decisively towards renewable energy. “We believe there are ways to build our southern tier economy without treating the bedrock like a piñata to be broken open in desperate times only to create long-term despair, ruin and economic calamity,” says Steingraber. The fate of New York State is in the governor’s hands and either choice will be his legacy. In a fractured New York, gas extraction would be dense with 35,000 to 90,000 frack wells planned. “The U.S. is on a fast track to becoming an energy extraction colony,” says Wiener. “Exporting gas will increase fracking across the country, resulting in increased land disturbance, decreased property values, water and air contamination, forest fragmentation, property seizure, and damage to ecologically sensitive coastal areas.” Bulgaria, France, Ireland and Germany have banned fracking. Yet, Barack Obama’s website reads, “He is promoting the safe, responsible development of our near 100-year supply of natural gas, which could support more than 600,000 new jobs by the end of the decade.” New York State is at a crossroads. If you don’t know the specifics about fracking, get informed. It may be the single most important issue of our time because there is so much at stake. Our children and our future are in the hands of politicians and the fossil fuel industries. To truly become energy independent there must be a paradigm shift where renewables, not frack wells, are in every yard and on every rooftop.

TAKE ACTION nyagainstfracking.org artistsagainstfracking.com catskillmountainkeeper.org catskillcitizens.org steingraber.com Call Cuomo 518-474-8390

2012 Winter | Green Door 45

ENDPAPER | LOOMIS

Blessed by the Gods Sullivan County as a healing environment. BY John Conway

Dr. Alfred Loomis was one of the most famous doctors in America when he addressed those attending a swank dinner party hosted by his sister-inlaw, Mary M. Irvin at her tony Manhattan address in April of 1894. “Why don’t you take these people to Sullivan County and try to cure them?” he asked. “Some of them can be cured.” Loomis was referring to the thousands of New Yorkers who were suffering from tuberculosis, the most dreaded disease of the day and his specialty. By then he had been sending patients to the mountains of Sullivan County for nearly a decade, treating their tuberculosis climatologically, with good results. The dinner party was intended to entice those in attendance to donate the money to build an open-air sanitarium near Liberty.

Dr. Loomis had become well aware of the curative properties of the Sullivan County air, and his successful experiments in treating tuberculosis there had merely reinforced the strong opinions voiced to him by his colleague, Dr. Daniel Bennett St. John Roosa. Once described as being “positive in every opinion and exceedingly ornery when contradicted,” Roosa had a booming voice and was not at all reluctant to use it, often extolling the virtue of Sullivan County’s fresh air and clean water. “Many years ago, the old doctors of Sullivan County observed that the gentlemen from New York City, if at all weak in the lungs, who came to fish in the trout streams and to hunt in the hemlock forests of what was then a wilderness, became very much stronger and isolated cases of recovery were noted,” he once wrote.

outdoors tion that living pularized the no losis. Camp rcu be tu Loomis’ success po at tre to ective way tside was the most eff y Woods Inn ou g one at the Pine the cure. for g in rch colonies, includin sea those pular places for po e cam be , rty Libe

Although Dr. Loomis died in January of 1895, shortly after he had purchased the land just outside Liberty on which to construct his sanitarium, Mary Irvin continued his vision, spearheading the effort to build the Loomis Memorial Sanitarium for Consumptives, which officially opened its doors in June of

1896. Mrs. Irvin served as the president of the Sanitarium’s Board of Directors until her death in 1918, and under her guidance the operation became one of the most famous in the country, inspiring dozens of imitators in and around Liberty. The Loomis Sanitarium originally comprised five buildings on less than 200 acres, but evolved into a facility capable of treating 235

disease. The tradition considerably pre-dates the official formation of the county in 1809 and some archaeologists believe it may date back more than 11,000 years. At that time, the region was inhabited by Native Americans who called themselves Lenape, which is usually translated as “original people.” The Lenape believed that every object in nature,

The Loomis Memorial Sanitarium for Consumptives opened in June of 1896.

patients at a time, with three separate divisions, a dairy farm, a golf course, a post office, fire department and water and sewer plants. Doctors at Loomis pioneered a number of breakthroughs in treating tuberculosis, including the first use of X-rays to diagnose the disease. As famous as the Loomis Sanitarium would become, however, it was only carrying on a longstanding tradition in Sullivan County, using the natural environment to treat

including animals, birds, trees, plants, grasses, and rocks, contained a manetu, or spirit. The more abundant a place was in natural beauty, the more sacred it was. Few places were as revered as the region that would become Sullivan County. The Lenape depended upon plants and trees for much of their medicine, and this area provided plenty of both. For example, the bark of the willow tree was used to treat headaches and body aches, blackberry juice was prescribed for indigestion,

and a tea made from sumac berries and leaves was used to reduce fevers while a tea made from the root of that same plant was good for diarrhea. For the Lenape, finding a spot with venerable trees, rushing waters, and rugged cliffs, encompassing all that was majestic in nature, was like finding a cathedral. The area that is today Sullivan County was exactly that place in the days before the timber rafters, the tanners and the tourists. Sullivan County had changed considerably by the time of Loomis and Roosa, but its reputation as a healing environment had only been enhanced. The O&W Railway promoted the curative properties of the area’s air, water and milk, and advertised, “Doctors say, ‘go to the mountains!’” Hundreds of thousands did every year, dipping in the mineral springs at the White Sulphur Springs House or partaking of the farm fresh

produce, eggs, milk, cream and butter at one of the thousands of working farms that entertained boarders. From 1890 to about 1915, Sullivan County enjoyed a period of great prosperity thanks to this tourism industry. Today, historians call that period The Silver Age. And it wasn’t just tourists who were benefitting. Statistics perennially showed that the death rate among lifelong residents of Sullivan County was the lowest in the state, and county residents typically retained their health and vigor well into old age. That is one reason that world renowned strongman Charles Atlas chose to locate his Camp Atlas at Sackett Lake beginning in 1926. “In my search for a truly ideal location for my Physical Culture Camp, I finally selected Sullivan County,” he wrote. “This was chosen because of its wonderful, healthful climate, so high and dry, the air so invigorating and

The buildings at Loomis, including the Edson-Aldrich Library (left) and the Babbitt Memorial Labratory (far right), feature some of the most magnificent architecture in the region.

refreshingly pure. I know of no finer spot in all of America.” While the county’s Silver Age was built directly on the notion of the region as a healing environment, the Golden Age period of Catskill resort culture which spanned from approximately 1940 to 1965, had a more circuitous connection. Still, many of the Jewish resort owners who ended up in Sullivan County did so because their doctors sent them. Some Golden Age hotels attempted to capitalize on the same properties of the region upon which the Silver Age was built. Guests were still dipping in the White Sulphur Springs well into the 1940s, and one of the county’ s most famous hotels, the Ambassador in Fallsburg, advertised that it too had mineral water with medicinal benefits. A July 25, 1930 article in Monticello’s Republican Watchman newspaper proclaimed “Hotel Ambassador Has Mineral Springs” and noted that “the sulphurated water is being pumped to every room.” The article claimed that “such water increases the action of the skin, intestines and kidneys. The water produces favorable results for skin diseases, liver trouble, and catarrh of the larynx or bronchi, and for rheumatism.” To this very day there are people who recognize that there is something special about Sullivan County. Healthcare has become the county’s number one industry

Selig Grossinger and daughter Jennie.

and The Center for Discovery, an innovative facility for the developmentally disabled is the area’s largest employer. Fresh air and clean water still play a major role, but there remains something else. As Monsignor Edward Straub of St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in Liberty has noted, “on a cosmic level, on a spiritual level, on a Quantum Physics level, there is a lot more going on in our county than you realize.” Others are quick to agree. Like the Lenape thousands of years ago, they recognize that this is a special place, indeed, blessed by the gods.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. Contact him by e-mail at jconway52@hotmail.com for more information on his latest book, entitled Blessed By The Gods: The History of Sullivan County NY as a Healing Environment. 2012 Winter | Green Door 47

ENDPAPER | CELEBRATION

Celebrate

Happy festivus card by echo letterpress. Letterpress card printed with antique wood type on 100% cotton paper. $22: box of 8 cards & envelopes available at echoletterpress.etsy.com $4: single cards available at their retail store in Jeffersonville, NY.

When we analyze the origins of this common word, we are reminded that we celebrate the familiar; what we know best. At this time of the year, we might be better served reaching out to our friends and neighbors to celebrate our diversity. Happy Festivus!

48 Green Door | WINTER 2012

PHOTO: CHRISTINA FISHER

CELEBRATE Middle English, from Latin celebratus, past participle of celebrare to frequent, celebrate, from celebr-, celeber much frequented, famous; perhaps akin to Latin celer. First Known Use: 15th century.