Planning a kitchen begins with Williams Lumber. Visit our showrooms in Rhinebeck and Pleasant Valley, and let our expert designers help your vision come to life.
Rhinebeck • Hudson • Hopewell Junction • Tannersville • Red Hook • Pleasant Valley • High Falls
www.williamslumber.com
845-876-WOOD
MALCARNE PL
N AY
OW
Try to find
15 houses
in this page that look like the logo
House Built By MALCARNE CONTRACTING This House Has A GEOTHERMAL Heating & Cooling System
Get On The Path To Clean Energy
+ Wall, Attic & Basement Insulation + Installing High Efficiency Windows + Air Source & Geothermal Heat Pump + Furnace & Boilers + Heat Pump Hot Water Heaters
4000
Save
UP TO
$
Prepare Your House For
High Efficiency Heat Pump That Will Keep Your Home Comfortable & Warm All Winter Not valid with other offers. Present at time of estimate. Expires 05/31/22
MALCARNE CONTRACTING
Contracting
+ Architectural Building Plans + Additions + Renovations + New Construction + Building Solutions + Multifamily Building Renovations
MALCARNE HVAC
HVAC
+ Heat Pumps & Air Conditioning + Geothermal + Furnace & Boilers + Hot Water Heaters + Commercial HVAC + Installation & Service
malcarne.com
MALCARNE TREE PHC & Landscape
MALCARNE POOLS
MALCARNE SOLAR
Plant HealthCare
Landscape
TreeCare
+ Tick Protection + Poison Ivy & Weed Control + Evaluation & Diagnosis + Root Feed & Air Spade + Nuisance Wildlife + Gypsy Moth & Stink Bug Control
845.876.6889
+ Design, Consulting & Planning + Mowing + Hardscapes Softscape + Orchard Management + Tree & Shrub Planting + Spring & Fall Clean Up
+ Tree Removal + Storm Clean Up + Tree Pruning + Bracing & Cabling + Stump Grinding & Removal + Firewood
CHRONOGRAM 1 Dutchess & Ulster 1/22 County, NY
Gary DiMauro Real Estate is now Four Seasons Sothebys International Realty. Same great agents. Same Hudson Valley expertise. The power of the Sotheby’s International Realty brand. s
Hudson Victorian $649,000
Hudson NY 3 BR/2 BA 1642 sf
Harriet Shur C: 518.965.2144
Richard Byrne C: 646.342.7125
$725,000
David Ludwig C: 917.365.1894
s New Baltimore NY 4 BR/3 BA 2375 sf River Frontage
Pamela Belfor C: 917.734.7142
17 Prospect Ave., Hudson $745,000 Annabel Taylor C: 518.763.5020
Formerly Gary DiMauro Real Estate Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated.
s Ghent NY 5 BR/4 BA | 4960 sf 56.10 acres
s
Elegant Farmhouse and Estate $2,550,000
2 CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Kinderhook NY 5 BR/4.5 BA 3769 sf
s
Hudson River Classic
s s
Kinderhook Federal 1830 $1,325,000
s Hudson NY 3 BR/2.5 BA 2164 sf
Tivoli NY • Hudson NY • Catskill NY • Rhinebeck NY • Kingston NY • O: 518.580.8500
1/22 CHRONOGRAM 3
4 CHRONOGRAM 1/22
1 22
january
Kathy Scott, manager of Karen Allen Fiber Arts in Great Barrington. Photo by David McIntyre COMMUNITY PAGES, PAGE 44
DEPARTMENTS
HIGH SOCIETY
8 On the Cover: Laughing Mermaid
27 Green Dreams
Andrea B. Swenson captures a joyful moment on the way to the Mermaid Parade.
11 Editor’s Note Brian K. Mahoney moves on from last year’s language.
13 Esteemed Reader Jason Stern suggests that with practice we can become scientists in the laboratory of our inner world.
FOOD & DRINK 12 Morningbird and the Kinderhook Knitting Mill A culinary and creative complex is opening
16 Join the Club: Our Favorite Sandwiches What we’re eating now, from fried bologna to fried chicken and adult grilled cheese.
17 Sips & Bites Recent openings include Reserva Wine Bar in Beacon and Inness in Accord.
HOME 22 Rooted in Rosendale Artist Marcie Paper and woodworker Sean Paige reimagine a brick ranch in Saugerties built on the grounds of the former Bonesteel Sanitarium.
While New York State waits on further clarification around licensing roll-out, local would-be cannabis entrepreneurs share their business ideas with us. Sign up for High Society, Chronogram’s cannabis culture newsletter, at Chronogram.com/highsociety.
HEALTH & WELLNESS 31 Climate Health Is Human Health Making progress on climate action will give us all longer and healthier lives— even if we don’t stop global warming. A collaboration with The River Newsroom.
WEDDINGS 34 Bride & Groom Boom We talk to wedding industry insiders about how 2020 is shaping up to be the busiest year in recent memory for Hudson Valley nuptials.
EDUCATION 41 Bridging the Gap: Rethinking Pathways to College Forty percent of students who enroll in college never graduate and public confidence in higher education has slipped. Local educators and administrators are taking steps to address the crisis.
1/22 CHRONOGRAM 5
ALBANY MED WELCOMES SAFE FOR Y New Foot & Ankle Orthopaedic Surgeon Gregory Pace, MD
Specializing in:
Now Accepting New Patients!
• Ankle sprain and instability • Foot and ankle arthritis • Bunions • Fractures of the foot and ankle
“Top Doct when you
Albany Med congra honored as Hudson
Please do not delay Columbia Memorial Bone &that Jointour Center hospital an
Hudson and Catskill
Visit amc.edu/safe To make an Appointment Call: an appointment.
518-828-7644 amc.edu/safe
Video Visits available
www.ColumbiaMemorialHealth.org
A CHANGING LANDSCAPE
2020_TopDocsAd_AlbanyMed.indd 1
NOVEMBER 24 – JANUARY 16 Jane Bloodgood-Abrams Tracy Helgeson John Kelly James Kimak Eileen Murphy Regina Quinn Judy Reynolds Carl Grauer
Tracy Helgeson, Fall Drama in Red, 2021, oil on wood panel, 30 x 30 inches
622 WARREN ST, HUDSON NY | 518 828 1915 | WWW.CARRIEHADDADGALLERY.COM Open Daily 11-5, Tuesdays by appointment
6 CHRONOGRAM 1/22
1 22
january
Allyson Cannella’s bridal party on the way to the Senate Garage in Uptown Kingston, August 28, 2021. Photo by Phoenix Photo. WEDDINGS, PAGE 34
COMMUNITY PAGES
GUIDE
44 Great Barrington: Bustle in the Berkshires
59 60 62 63
A wave of new residents has pumped new life and money into the town, defined by its boutique shopping district, artistic focus, quality restaurants, outdoor activities, and recreational cannabis dispensaries that have opened in the past three years.
ARTS 54 Music Album reviews of Blue to Gold by Sarah Perrotta; Everybody Wants My Hat by Marc Black; and Norhteast by Sara Milonovich and Daisycutter. Plus listening recs from DJ and record store owner Spike Priggen of Spike’s Record Rack.
55 Books Jane Kinney Doyle reviews Gary Shteyngart’s pandemic satire, Our Country Friends. Plus short reviews of The Missing Hours by Julia Dahl, The Jazz Master by Peter C. Zimmerman, Tracking Wonder by Jeffrey Davis, Boychik by Laurie Boris, and Dragon Rock at Manitoga by Jennifer Golub.
56 Poetry Poems by Diego Antoni, Kemp Battle, Mala Hoffman, Anna Keville Joyce, Tim Knapp, Quentin Mahoney, Christopher Porpora, George J. Searles, Vanessa Smith, J. R. Solonche, and Taylor Steinberg. Edited by Phillip X Levine.
F. W. Murnau’s classic silent film The Last Laugh screens at Rosendale Theater. Class Action Park codirector Seth Porges talks about the chaos of Action Park. Sparrow previews “I Remember...Remember?” at Private Public Gallery in Hudson. Live Music: Some of the concerts we’re going to this month include Cat Power at Empire Live in Albany and Chris Forsyth Quartet at Tubby’s in Kingston.
65
The Short List: Colin Quinn at The Egg; Robbie Burns Dinner at Hudson House Distillery; Paula Poundstone at Tarrytown Music Hall; Met Live HD: “Rigoletto” at the Bardavon; “A Bintel Brief” at Bridge Street Theater; “The Art of Theater” and “With My Own Hands” at PS21.
66
Art exhibits: Gallery and museum shows around the region.
HOROSCOPES 68 Someone’s Ceiling is Another’s Floor The inexorable changes shredding the status quo are going to have consequences.
PARTING SHOT 72 Soldier of Love Taha Clayton’s painting is part of the show “What Comes After” at Wassaic Project. 1/22 CHRONOGRAM 7
on the cover
Laughing Mermaid ANDREA B. SWENSON Photograph, 2019
M
ermaids are sometimes confused or conflated with sirens, the evil female creatures of Greek mythology who lure sailors to watery deaths with their seductive songs. Mermaids differ in that they are generally known to be more benign aquatic beings, though they can portend perilous events like storms, floods, and shipwrecks. The two are now nearly synonymous: In Spanish and Italian, the word for mermaid is sirena, in French it is sirene. Various maritime navigators, including Columbus, apparently confused real life sea creatures like manatees for mermaids, and mermaids have appeared in popular culture from ancient Assyria to Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid to T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (I have heard the mermaids singing each to each. / I do not think they will sing to me.”) to Ron Howard’s Splash. The phenomenon extends to music. Tim Buckley’s 1970 masterpiece, “Song to the Siren,” is an ethereal ode to unrequited love. Canadian folk duo Kacy & Clayton released The Siren’s Song in 2017, an excellent album produced by Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. Kacy’s eerie vocals entrance the listener on the eponymous title track. The myth of the mermaid shows no sign of ceasing to make a mark on popular culture. I know a (part-time) mermaid named Anna who lives in Brooklyn. When asked how mermaids are important to her, she says, “There is almost no region on earth where mermaids don’t make an appearance. Back when colonizers were spreading misogyny far and wide, mermaids were associated with their ability to lure and kill men. I think mermaids represent how women just wanted to be left alone by men 8 CHRONOGRAM 1/22
who can’t seem to help themselves.” But it goes even deeper than that. “We associate mermaids with beauty, danger, femininity, freedom, and mystery,” Anna says. “And they are environmentally symbolic. We live in the ocean and love it, in contrast to most of humanity’s destructive relationship with the earth.” Though it has been on hold due to COVID for the last two years, each June thousands of merfolk descend on Coney Island for the annual Mermaid Parade. Hudson Valley-based photographer Andrea B. Swenson captured a magic moment in the summer of 2019 on her way to the parade, which she titled Laughing Mermaid. She recounts how she got the shot. “I was riding the F train to Coney Island with all these interesting people going to the parade. It was like a big family with mermaids getting dressed and ready. Everybody was interacting and having a great time. I was sitting next to the mermaid in the photo. We’d been talking, and she was with her friend. I don’t know what they said, they just burst out laughing. It was a lucky moment and a happy day,” she says. Swenson shoots primarily with a digital SLR and prefers natural light. She is inspired by Cartier-Bresson’s concept of “the decisive moment”—capturing events that are ephemeral and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself. Laughing Mermaid is part of the “Photocentric 2021” exhibition at the Garrison Art Center, on display through January 9. Portfolio: Andreabsewenson.com. —Mike Cobb
From top: Murshidabad Market, India, December 2016 Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Thailand, December 2019 Marrakech, Morocco, November 2018
EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Brian K. Mahoney brian.mahoney@chronogram.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR David C. Perry david.perry@chronogram.com DIGITAL EDITOR Marie Doyon marie.doyon@chronogram.com ARTS EDITOR Peter Aaron music@chronogram.com HEALTH & WELLNESS EDITOR Wendy Kagan health@chronogram.com HOME EDITOR Mary Angeles Armstrong home@chronogram.com POETRY EDITOR Phillip X Levine poetry@chronogram.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Anne Pyburn Craig apcraig@chronogram.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Phillip Pantuso phillip.pantuso@chronogram.com
contributors Winona Barton-Ballentine, Jason Broome Mike Cobb, Michael Eck, Jane Kinney Denning, Lissa Harris, Lorelai Kude, Jamie Larson, Joan Vos MacDonald, David McIntyre, Haviland S Nichols, Seth Rogovoy, Sparrow, Nolan Thornton, Kathleen Willcox
PUBLISHING FOUNDERS Jason Stern, Amara Projansky PUBLISHER & CEO Amara Projansky amara.projansky@chronogram.com BOARD CHAIR David Dell
media specialists Kevin Elliott kevin.elliott@chronogram.com Kaitlyn LeLay kaitlyn.lelay@chronogram.com Kelin Long-Gaye kelin.long-gaye@chronogram.com Kris Schneider kris.schneider@chronogram.com
Escape the city and experience a winter Shangri-la just two hours from New York City. Create Your Own Getaway HIKING • SNOWSHOEING SKIING (20 MINS FROM HUNTER SKI RESORT) MEDITATION • SOUND BATHS PRIVATE YOGA • BONFIRE • SAUNAS DEWA SPA TREATMENTS
WWW.MENLA.ORG | 845.688.6897 SPONSORED BY TIBET HOUSE US, THE DALAI LAMA’S TIBETAN CULTURAL CENTER IN AMERICA
SALES MANAGER Andrea Aldin andrea.aldin@chronogram.com
marketing MARKETING & EVENTS MANAGER Margot Isaacs margot.isaacs@chronogram.com INTERIM SPONSORED CONTENT EDITOR
Pools, Spas & Patio Furniture
Jane Anderson jane.anderson@chronogram.com
interns
1606 Ulster Avenue, Lake Katrine (Next to Adams) (845) 336-8080
MARKETING & SALES Dervin Firpo, Casey Reisinger EDITORIAL Kerri Kolensky
administration FINANCE MANAGER Nicole Clanahan accounting@chronogram.com; (845) 334-8600
production PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Kerry Tinger kerry.tinger@chronogram.com; (845) 334-8600x108 PRODUCTION DESIGNERS Kate Brodowska kate.brodowska@chronogram.com
Large Display of Casual Patio Furniture
Amy Dooley amy.dooley@chronogram.com
Custom Inground Pool Installation
office
Open Year Round
45 Pine Grove Avenue, Suite 303, Kingston, NY 12401 • (845) 334-8600
mission Chronogram is a regional magazine dedicated to stimulating and supporting the creative and cultural life of the Hudson Valley. All contents © Chronogram Media 2022.
Free Pool and Spa Water Analysis
www.aquajetpools.com Family owned and operated for over 30 years
1/22 CHRONOGRAM 9
esteemed reader by Jason Stern
An inn for all seasons, high in the Catskill Mountains with a private lake.
2 HOURS FROM NYC!
PET FRIENDLY!
162 Saint Joseph Road, Forestburgh, NY 845.791.9506 • contact@LakeJoseph.com • LakeJoseph.com
10 CHRONOGRAM 1/22
“There is no stairway to climb. I have to leap. To become conscious I must let go of all that is known. Really knowing is a state in which everything is observed, experienced, understood—and because it is unable to serve in the following moment—abandoned as useless.” —Jeanne de Salzmann, Reality of Being Esteemed Reader, The inner realm of a human being is a vast and mysterious domain. Looking inside one quickly discovers that everything known and unknown is there. We see that there really is no distinction between outer and inner, there is only one experience of being alive. Even in the absence of genuine being effort, logic shows that all we experience of the world beyond the skin comes mediated through the lens of the senses, with touch, sight, sound, taste, and smell filtered through the nervous system, interpolated by the brain, and projected on the screen of consciousness. Every experience we think we know and call real is within. Looking inward one first beholds the general structure of an instrument. We see that our inner life consists of three families of content, each with a corresponding center of gravity. There are thoughts, emotions, and sensations centered in the mind, heart, and body. With inquiry one discovers that each type of content is conducted in, and formed of, a unique and palpable medium. Irrespective of content, the substrate matter of thought is distinct from sensation, which in turn is distinct from the energy medium of feeling. So we see that what appeared before our study to be an indistinct swirl of subjective experience actually operates within an interrelated tripartite design. A deeper look reveals a clearly delineated spectrum of energies, each conductive of a particular gradation of intelligence. Some are immediately available to experience. For instance, we see vitality, the stuff that keeps our biological instrument running, and with sufficient concentration conveys the experience of wellness. In the absence of this basic material the body quickly becomes a corpse. Next is an energy that gives intelligence to movements, both autonomic and outward. It is the stuff that allows walking and talking, dancing and typing, navigating the body through the landscape of the world of objects. This same automatic energy impels the automatic activity of the mind—the reception and registration of impressions, assigning terms and categories, associating ideas one with another and in general producing both recognition and assembling trains of thought. The energies come together in a manner related to the prime elements. Dry earth becomes saturated by water. Within water is dissolved air and rare gasses. The whole mixture is warmed by fire. The energies, like the elements, coexist in a shared domain. More subtle and intelligent than the automatic energy is sensitivity. This energy affords the possibility of cognizing experience. It is the stuff of perception. With sensitive energy we apprehend the fingers on the keys, the green chili pepper on the tongue, the scent of rose in the air. It is the kinesthetic sense of skin touching skin. An increase in the quantity of this quality of energy increases sensitivity and perception, as well as the quality of manifestations. Subtler yet is the energy of consciousness which encompasses the sensitive activity of the whole tripartite instrument. With conscious energy we can know sensation, feeling and thought as the media of our inner life, with particular sensations, emotions, and thoughts bobbing like flotsam on a roiling stream of consciousness. Conscious energy opens the possibility of knowing this complex inner design as a singular collected whole, as a direct experience, in (and only in) the present moment. An even finer energy is dissolved in this inner world concoction. It is the energy of creative will, the prime source of initiative in our nature, creating everything and involved with nothing. Creative energy is easily mistaken for activity but has already devolved into sensitive or automatic energy upon manifestation. This energy is beyond consciousness and cannot be known with any part. It can only be received, and in a sense, obeyed. Creative energy gives rise to new life when it operates in the physical body, and has the potential to conceive a new inner life in the sense of being “born again.” All of this precise materiality can be observed, and with practice we can become scientists in the laboratory of our inner world, transforming and refining and separating finer energies with efficient grace. As alchemical factories we transform our intake of food, breath, and impressions into nectars that open the way to a greater portion of our nature. Beyond serving the needs of Great Nature, which our bodies do automatically with every other organism in the ecosystem, we have the possibility of making a further transformation and fulfilling the ultimate potential of birth in human form. In this way we can not only serve nature, but we may also serve the level that corresponds to the finer energies dissolved in the substance of our inner life. “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
editor’s note
by Brian K. Mahoney
The summit of Monument Mountain in Great Barrington. Photo by David McIntyre
Last Year’s Language
T
his time last year, I looked back on the annus horribilis that was 2020 and wrote: “Thinking back to the beginning of 2020 is like watching the first reel of a disaster movie. The sky is blue, the birds are singing, everyone is going about their lives blissfully unaware of their unfortunate fate.” This was written after 300,000 Americans had died due to the pandemic, and the Trump’s administration’s politicized, incompetent response had done little to mitigate its worst effects. But there were good reasons to hope that 2021 would be better: Biden had just been elected— there would be an adult in the White House again—and the vaccines, the vaccines that would save us! were on the way. I signed off my column with “Here’s to a boring 2021. May we be cursed to live in uninteresting times.” We know it was not to be. First, the Big Lie, aided and abetted by craven politicians and partisan media outlets, then spread via social (disease) media. Then the January 6 insurrection. And now: 60 percent of Republicans believe that the 2020 election was stolen. An anti-democratic movement is growing in this country, founded on falsehood, fed on resentment, and capable
of ending the American experiment. As Maria Ressa, editor of the Manila-based Rappler said recently in her Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech: “Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy, and it becomes impossible to deal with our world’s existential problems.” As of this writing, 800,000 Americans have died due to COVID. Vaccine hesitancy—and COVID deaths among the unvaccinated—is still very much a thing. And every day, more facts emerge detailing the slow coup of the Big Lie. Like the chilling Powerpoint presentation recently turned over by Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff, to investigators at the January 6 Committee. Titled “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN,” the 38-page presentation was a proposed plan for Trump to declare a national emergency and for all electronic voting to be rendered invalid, citing foreign “control” of electronic voting systems. (I’m writing this in mid-December; undoubtedly a dozen other hitherto unimaginable affronts to democracy will emerge in the meantime.) And I haven’t yet mentioned climate change—
the floods, the fires, the tornadoes, the etc. I did not think it would be harder at the end of this year to find uplifting words than it was at the end of 2020. That doesn’t mean I won’t find them. I just haven’t found them yet. [Author gets up and pours another cup of coffee, paces back and forth for a quarter of an hour, waiting for inspiration.] Still waiting. But January is a month of wonder. It exists so we can put the past behind us and start again—if not with a clean slate, then with a renewed sense of the possible. As T. S. Eliot wrote in “Little Gidding: “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language / And next year’s words await another voice.” Or, as Semisonic sang, in “Closing Time,” with shocking clarity and profundity for such a pop trifle: “Every new beginning / comes from some other beginning’s end.” We are resilient creatures. We survive childhood, bodily injury, adolescence, heartache, adulthood, grief, the indignity of aging, loss of God—trauma after trauma—and still we persevere. Despite being haunted by the past, we gamely step into the future with what hope we can muster. We begin anew, sure that this year we’ll get it right—or at least less wrong. 1/22 CHRONOGRAM 11
food & drink
Taking Flight MORNINGBIRD AND THE KINDERHOOK KNITTING MILL By Kathleen Willcox
A mochi donut at Morningbird
M
orning birds have a new perch in Kinderhook. A black-painted wooden facade frames the entrance to a new Indo-Dutch cafe in a stately 19th-century factory building. Inside, the aptly named Morningbird awaits; visitors will find imaginative seasonal pastries (like a squash and gouda turnover with scallions and sambal, notes of cumin, coriander, and mustard); coffee from Gotham Roasters and Coffee Project NY; lunch items and a selection of handcrafted items from BIPOC and women-identifying makers like Allison Samuels and Alice W. Chai. This cafe is just a taste of what’s to come—a gustatory and aesthetic amuse bouche—from artist Darren Waterston and chef Yen Ngo, who set out to bring a new world of flavor, design, and art to Kinderhook. At first glance, it seems like a strange place to pick for such an ambitious project. But scratch below the town’s surface, and you’ll find a much more complex world of flavors already simmering. Children’s Corner In the earliest years of the country’s founding, Kinderhook was a hub for traders and travelers. It was named, or so the story goes, by Henry Hudson. The Dutch phrase means “children’s corner,” and he christened it as such because he saw so many Native American children playing there. The name Kinderhook began appearing on 12 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Dutch maps in the early 1600s, making it one of the oldest established settler-named towns still in use in the country; it was officially chartered in 1687. But few would characterize the Columbia County village as a thriving hub of culture and commerce today. These days, the village harbors less than 1,400 residents, and its claim to fame is as the birthplace of President Martin Van Buren. In recent years, there have been a few notable cultural enhancements in town, including New York City gallerist Jack Shainman’s opening of The School in 2014. The 30,000-squarefoot former middle school presents large and ambitious shows with both emerging and established artists (including household names like Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat). Initially, the overtly rural charms of Kinderhook were what attracted artist Darren Waterston to Kinderhook in the first place. Waterston, whose work has been shown around the world—in 2020 at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum—was looking for a quiet refuge. Eventually, long-term restfulness made him antsy, so he decided to import a little more of the creative, communal spark he was missing— already making its presence known in town at The School and in worldly culinary outposts like Saisonnier—to Kinderhook. “As a studio artist, I have always enjoyed most collaborations with others to make a work of art,” Waterston says.
The Concept What started as a late-night conversation about his desire for a more inclusive and diverse community with a longtime friend Yen Ngo, turned, in the ensuing months, into the biggest collaboration Waterston has ever entered into. The project now encompasses three buildings, three restaurants, four apartments, and several small businesses. Coffeehouse and cafe Morningbird, upscale eatery the Aviary, and cocktail lounge the Nest are the three food concepts that anchor, and in many ways, set the tone of, the community of businesses that operate under the umbrella of the Kinderhook Knitting Mill. The Mill is housed in an 1870s textile factory,and two other buildings that were added later in the 20th century. The businesses that rotate around the restaurants are owned and operated by women and people of color; while they offer everything from fine art to sea salt, the businesses were selected by Waterston and Ngo with the goal of “cultivating a thriving village center that will nourish” and inspire, literally and figuratively, Waterston says. The concept for Waterston’s project, he explains, “was born during the most isolating days of the pandemic and driven by the desire for connection and community through great and food and art.” Like many visions, this one was born after
Morningbird’s stir-fried turmeric rice noodles with bok choy, mushrooms, and dill.
an evening of revelry with a co-conspirator. Yen Ngo, chef/owner of the acclaimed modern Vietnamese restaurant Van Da, was visiting Waterston, and they agreed that Kinderhook was absolutely idyllic, the kind of restorative place that creative people often require to perform at their highest level, but missing those surprises and pops of energy that keep their creativity flowing. Yen says she was inspired by the opportunity to bring a new creative spark to Kinderhook. “I’ve been in this industry for a long time, and when I visited Darren in Kinderhook we saw an opportunity to build something meaningful and a little different than what you might expect from a large project like this,” Ngo says. “When we started this project, we kept hearing stories from locals that Kinderhook used to have a lively village center that has slowly slipped away bit by bit over the last few decades. I think we’re bringing some of that energy back to the village square that has been missing for a while, but in a way that feels organic and homegrown.” It was important, she says, to not just import their vision onto the community. “Most of the people involved in this project came to it with some connection to this area, whether they live here or already have businesses based in the Hudson Valley,” she says, explaining that fusing the heritage of the Hudson Valley with global influences felt like the best way to honor the past
and look toward the future. The project brings together “an exceptional group of creatives to make this all possible and I think we were inspired by coming together to build a sense of place and a hearth for a broader community,” Waterston says. He and Ngo were determined to line up a group of co-collaborators to round out the vision, and give the project more flavor, texture, and depth. The Reality Turning the concept into reality has been a daunting undertaking, and one that neither Waterston nor Ngo ever envisioned as being part of their life plan. “Yen and I began our friendship in New York City a decade ago and never imagined we’d create something together like this,” Waterston says. “It’s been the most challenging creative endeavor I have ever taken on. But I also feel it’s truly meaningful and worthwhile.” The pair brought Nic Der in to serve as creative director. A fellow artist who has known Waterston for many years, Der says he is inspired by the opportunity to work with “such a diverse group of people, in one space.” The Mill itself, he adds, occupying a space in the middle of town, and incorporating so many different eras into its architectural bones, provides instant visual cues to the vast diversity that will greet visitors within. While Waterston and Yen admit that
launching a vast social and cultural enterprise in the middle of the pandemic may be counterintuitive, after buying the space, they were surprised and heartened by the speed and success with which they were able to win town approval and attract an enthusiastic and diverse group of creators, artists, and culinary visionaries to join them. The initial space was built in the 1870s, and in World War I the owners added a metal depot behind the first building, Der explains. The Mill building is three stories, featuring huge windows with a lot of light. The metal building behind it is one vast space, with 40- to 50-foot-high ceilings and a cupola on top that lets in the light. Attached to that is another two-level building erected in the 1970s. Morningbird is in the original 1870s building; the Aviary will open in the metal building; and the Nest will open in the 1970s-era space. And while the buildings are all connected, they will all operate and function as separate spaces, Der says. The exteriors of the buildings were left intact, and the bones inside remain as well. Der says that the metal doors in the Mill Building are original, as are all of the floors, moldings, elevators, and beams. There’s even some graffiti from the Mill days scribbled on the walls of the third floor, vintage 19th-century jottings like “Love many, trust few, always paddle your own canoe.” “Each building has a very different layout, 1/22 CHRONOGRAM FOOD & DRINK 13
From top: Chef Hannah Wong, pastry chef Karly Kuffler, creative director Nick Der, and partners Yen Ngo and Darren Waterston; customers outside Morningbird during the Kinderhook Farmers’ Market; Morningbird egg sandwich with house made milk bun and lemongrass sausage. 14 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM 1/22
and Darren and Yen have imagined very different uses for each space,” says Der. There are elements of food, drinks, art, design, plus living spaces spread across the three spaces, a few of which are open now, and the rest of which will be fully operational by summer. The four apartments are already occupied. The complex’s other businesses include a locally minded, lo-fi skewing wine and spirits emporium, the Kinderhook Bottle Shop; locally sourced handmade bodycare space 2 Note; and the newly opened OK Pantry, which offers all manner of thoughtfully curated edibles, potables, and housewares; a garden store called Damsel Garden; and September Gallery, which is relocating from Hudson. Openings are happening on a rolling basis; OK Pantry is open now, and the rest of the businesses will be open by early summer. “Yen recruited Hannah Wong to execute the food program across the entire concept,” Der says. “Hannah and Yen have collaborated before, and they also brought in Karly Kuffler to handle the pastry program. We source as much of our food as possible from local farms. And we also wanted to honor the region’s Dutch heritage with our menu, while also infusing the items with Asian influences as well.” “Our culinary program highlights products from our neighboring Hudson Valley farms,” says Wong. “Morningbird offers casual and comforting Southeast Asian dishes for lunch, and a pastry program with creative spins on classics.” The Nest and the Aviary will also focus on Dutch-Indonesian cookery, and will open in spring. “The Aviary will seat 150 people and will be housed in the metal warehouse,” Der explains. “The Aviary is going to be more overtly Dutch-Indonesian, seen through a modern Hudson Valley lens. The Nest will have small bites like fried smelt, or scotch quail eggs wrapped in sausage and deep fried.” While Waterston and Ngo are funding the space, and are deeply involved in every major decision Der and a few other key players—including the individual business owners, and executive chef Wong—are empowered to project their own aesthetic and creative choices onto the space as well. “The vision all along has been as a creative, collaborative, inclusive space,” says Der. “When Darren shared the opportunity to move to Kinderhook and help him and Yen build out this communal hub from the ground up, I was interested immediately. It is very cool to see it coming together, and see how many women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ community are coming together under one roof here.” Kinderhook’s residents have been equally delighted, Der says. “We have received such a warm welcome from the community,” he says. “We have new people in here every day, but we also already have regulars. We are getting feedback that makes us realize Darren wasn’t the only person missing this kind of space here.”
Juicy. Epic. Monster Crunch.
Reach for RubyFrost. The perfect balance of sweet and tart.
Snack time or meal time, these apples pack a punch!
For recipes and more information on where to purchase visit SnapDragonApple.com and RubyFrostApple.com. CTAG_Chronogram_ad_8.625x5.825_REVIEW.indd 1
12/13/21 1:13 PM
ORGANIC BREADS MADE DAILY ON SITE IN OUR BAKERY BIODYNAMIC + ORGANIC SEASONAL PRODUCE FROM LOCAL AND REGIONAL GROWERS PRODUCTS FROM OVER 200 LOCAL AND REGIONAL BUSINESSES AND ENTREPRENEURS OUR FULL FERMENTS LINE INCLUDING OUR BELOVED SAUERKRAUT ...AND SO MUCH MORE! 7 : 30- 7 D A I LY | S H O P O N L I N E F O R C U R B S I D E P I C K U P S T O R E . H AW T H O R N E VA L L E Y.O R G | 518.6 72 -750 0
1/22 CHRONOGRAM FOOD & DRINK 15
Join the Club
From left: The Mooch (Goodies); Fried Chicken Sandwich (Golden Russet); Reuben (Lunch Nightly)
Our Favorite Sandwiches
W
hether for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or any really any time in between, somehow a sandwich always seems to fit the bill. Rossi’s Deli in Poughkeepsie is the gold standard in our region. Blindfold yourself and throw a dart at their menu and you still couldn’t go wrong. But Rossi’s isn’t the only one giving credit to this humble workhorse of a meal. From bakeries to cozy cafes and even bagel shops, there are lots of Hudson Valley establishments doling out respectable sandwiches. Here are eight of our current favorites. Goodies: The Mooch At Goodies in Catskill, bagels take center stage, but it’s just schmears and butter. They also have a full range of sandwiches and even burgers served on bagels. Served on the customer’s choice of bagel, the Mooch is our favorite, made up of equal parts whitefish and smoked salmon, and topped with heirloom tomatoes, capers, and scallion cream cheese ($12). There are seven varieties of bagels to choose from, plus a glutenfree option. All the bagels are delivered fresh each day from Kinderhook’s Broad Street Bagel, which specializes in Brooklyn-style kettle-boiled bagels. Pop into this bagel shop and get one of their classic sandwiches to go, or take a seat and chow down with the locals. The Athens Rooster: Adult Grilled Cheese We’re all kids at heart, and at the Athens Rooster, you can eat some childhood comfort classics, too. This Second Street establishment serves breakfast and lunch, and has a coffee bar for those looking to grab a quick drink and pastry. On the lunch menu, the “Adult Grilled Cheese” is a clear standout. Served on ciabatta bread from Woodstock’s Bread Alone Bakery, this ooeygooey sandwich is stuffed with cheddar and fontina cheeses, tomato, caramelized onion, and rosemary dijonaise ($8). It’s the perfect bite for refined palettes in search of a sophisticated take on an indulgent classic. 16 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Circle W Market: Tannery Panino Circle W Marketin Palenville originally opened as a general store in 1908 and closed in the 1990s. In 2009, it reopened as a breakfast and lunch spot and slowly expanded to once again include a storefront with a range of local products for sale. They serve several types of hot pressed sandwiches all day, one of the standouts being the Tannery Panino. Made on ciabatta from Bread Alone Bakery, the sandwich is filled with roast beef, melted, smoked gouda, caramelized onions, and topped with a housemade horseradish mayonnaise ($12). Wash it down with a coffee, voted best in Greene County in 2019. Cafe Mutton: Fried Bologna Sandwich When you think of must-have sandwich meats, bologna probably isn’t top of mind. But Cafe Mutton, Hudson’s new breakfast and lunch spot specializes in giving cafe classics a sophisticated twist, often making secondary cuts of meat the star of the menu. Their fried bologna sandwich, made with housemade beef and pork bologna and served on Freihofer’s country wheat bread with Hellman’s mayo, is a reminder that sometimes, it’s best to keep things simple, taking a childhood classic to a delicious, deep-fried level ($9). Lucky Lefty’s: Cubano This Kingston roadside breakfast and lunch spot, next to the Meat Wagon, is easy to miss, with just a walk-up ordering window and no indoor seating. But their short list of breakfast and lunch sandwiches are worth seeking out. They’re all good but our favorite is the Cubano, served on a pressed roll with housemade roast pork and ham, Swiss cheese, and mustard, served with chips ($10). For an additional cost, choose from one of their rotating sides, including coleslaw, potato salad, and other seasonal options. (The bahn mi also deserves honorable mention.) Lucky Lefty’s opened earlier this fall and serves tarts, salads, and egg sandwiches.
Lunch Nightly: Reuben Kingston’s Lunch Nightly manages to straddle a rare middle ground between hip restaurant/ bar and weekday lunch spot. While their dinner menu is certainly worth writing home about, head there during daylight hours for elevated takes on classic deli sandwiches, mostly made with meat butchered, cured, and sliced in house. Like pastrami used in our fave—the Reuben. The pastrami’s piled high with thousand island dressing, sauerkraut, and Swiss on a sourdough rye bread, which is then grilled to perfection for a greasy, melty, delicious treat ($14). Kelly’s Bakery: Kelly’s Egg Sandwich After working at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Tarrytown, Kevin Halim took up breadmaking during last year’s lockdown, a hobby that grew into a full-blown bakery in Poughkeepsie. He wanted to bring one-of-a-kind flavor profiles to baked goods, and the Kelly’s egg sandwich is no exception. A house-made brioche bun is loaded with eggs, gruyere cheese, caramelized onion, and fermented chili paste ($6). For an extra cost, add avocado, smoked salmon, or bacon, ham, or chicken sausage. Golden Russet Cafe & Grocery: Fried Chicken Sandwich Located 15 minutes from Rhinebeck Village, Golden Russet Cafe & Grocery brings the best of comfort food staples to the area. Their fried chicken sandwich is one example–it’s served on a seedless bun and is made of golden-fried chicken breast topped with pickles, mayonnaise, and red cabbage ($12). The sandwich comes with the customer’s choice of green salad, french fries, potato salad, or lentils, the current seasonal side. The cozy breakfast-and-lunch joint also has a storefront full of pantry staples. There’s an extensive selection of local beer, wine, and hard cider, including selections from Red Hook’s Rose Hill Farm and Metal House Cider in Esopus. —Kerry Kolensky
sips & bites Golden Harvest Smokehouse
At Harvest Smokehouse in Valatie, chef and CIA alum Andrew Chase is making a case for an authentically Upstate style of barbecue. Located on Golden Harvest Farm, the restaurant makes use of surplus applewood from the orchards to smoke meat basted and dressed in sauces made with apple juice, cider, and vinegar produced on-premises. The process creates barbecue that’s restrained and balanced in a way that allows diners to taste the subtler notes from wood and the natural sweetness of the fruit. Chase is staying away from the stronger flavor of beef, so don’t go looking for brisket. Instead try the St. Louis ribs by the half or full rack ($15, $26). Pulled pork is sold by the half or full pound ($9, $16) or get a whole hog sandwich with all the fixings ($16). Less common BBQ joint picks include turkey breast, bratwurst, and jerk chicken. All the mains come with a side of cornbread and sauce. Additional sides include Hudson Valley spins on classics like cider slaw, red cabbage kraut, sweet corn, potato salad, smoked mac and cheese, and drunken cider beans. 3074 Route 9, Valatie; Harvestsmokehouse.com
Reserva Wine Bar
Tanner Townsend is a name primarily associated with coffee, as owner of three Krafted Cup locations in Dutchess County. But in early December, Townsend expanded his repertoire to include fine wines with the opening of Reserva Wine Bar in Beacon with his fiancé and business partner, Pedro Sousa. Located in the old Chill Wine Bar spot on Main Street, Reserva picks up its predecessor’s mantle as Beacon’s sole wine bar, though with a refined twist on the ambiance. The exposed brick wall behind the bar features ornate vintage mirrors. The space abounds with caramel leather— from the stools to the booths; a dark blue bar with a white quartz countertop nicely offsets the gold and brass accents throughout, creating an elegant clubhouse vibe. The duo is working with small distributors to curate a wine list of underrepresented varietals. There will also be cheese and charcuterie platters, giardiniera, and spiced nuts, with the menu expanding over time. Sousa’s Brazilian heritage shows up here and there from the bossa nova music bookings to the food and even the wine list. Wines by the glass run between $12 and $16, with bottles going from $80 to $200. Celebrating an anniversary or a special occasion? Dip into the Reserva wine list, which has high-end bottles with prices north of $300. 173 Main Street, Beacon; Reservabeacon.com
Fresh Fish Market & Eatery Fresh Fish Market & Eatery Indoor Available Indoor Seating Seating Available 246 new paltz paltz 246 main main street, street, new 845.255.1717 845.255.1717 || www.gadaletos.com www.gadaletos.com
Inness
Since being acquired by New York City tastemaker, restaurateur, and hotelier Taavo Somer, the former Rondout Golf Club in Accord has been reborn as Inness, a high-end hospitality destination with 40 guest rooms, a restaurant, farm shop, two swimming pools, tennis courts, and yes, a ninehole golf course. Golfing isn’t for everyone, but the farm-to-table fare at the links-adjacent Inness is sure to draw a steady crowd. With an emphasis on local sourcing and seasonality, the restaurant at Inness focuses largely on wood-fired dishes prepared on outdoor smokers and grills and served a chic, modern environment, amidst blonde wood, vintage rugs, and blazing fireplaces. With western-facing windows, you get a view of the greens and the sunset behind the Catskill Mountains while you sip your craft cocktails or eat your meal. Inness’s dinner menu includes picks like the Denver steak served with new potatoes, charred turnips, and taleggio ($46) or the Berkshire pork chop served with braised greens and celery root ($42). There aren’t a ton of vegetarian options—just cacio e pepe on the menu in early December. On weekends, brunch is served from 11am to 3pm and features dishes both sweet and savory, like French toast served with honey butter, maple syrup, and sesame ($17) or a smoked white fish salad, pickles, hard boiled egg, and toast ($16). 10 Banks Street, Accord; Inness.co
Halcyon All Day Cafe
Rhinebeck’s newest eatery, Halcyon All Day Cafe serves traditional breakfast and lunch staples, including toast topped with ricotta and jam made inhouse, salads, and rice bowls. It’s the latest project for Daniel Bagnall (of Sonder wine bar), who set out to create a casual spot that could feed the local community at any time of day. The West Coast native brings a piece of California to Rhinebeck with his bright, white-washed cafe, sunny yellow counter, and bistro tables. There are plenty of options for vegetarians from the avocado toast with roasted cauliflower and drizzled with chili oil ($9), to the shakshuka ($14.95) to the beet hummus bowl served with marinated tofu, pickled radish, smashed chickpea, cucumber, and zucchini ($9.95). But the shop’s sandwiches, served on milk bread baked in-house, are the stars of the menu. There is a classic brekkie option—bacon, egg, and cheese, with bacon roasted in agave nectar ($7). Or for a hearty lunch, check out the grilled skirt steak sandwich, which is topped with chimichurri and roasted garlic aioli ($14.95). 6384 Mill Street, Rhinebeck; Halcyonrhinebeck.com
79 Main Street New Paltz 845-255-2244 Open 7 Days
of Full Line uts C ld o C Organic ooking C e m o H and en Delicatess
Local Organic Grass-Fed Beef • Lamb • Goat • Veal • Pork • Chicken • Wild Salmon
No Hormones ~ No Antibiotics ~ No Preservatives Custom Cut • Home Cooking Delicatessen Nitrate-Free Bacon • Pork Roasts • Beef Roasts Bone-in or Boneless Ham: smoked or fresh Local Organic Beef • Exotic Meats (Venison, Buffalo, Ostrich) • Wild Fish
Subscribe get more local.
ChronogramMedia.com/subscribe
—Marie Doyon 1/22 CHRONOGRAM FOOD & DRINK 17
the house
COLLAGE OF THE PRESENT MOMENT
AN ARTIST AND WOODWORKER REIMAGINE A BRICK RANCH HOME IN SAUGERTIES By Mary Angeles Armstrong Photos by Winona Barton-Ballentine
W
hen Marcie Paper first saw the mid-century brick ranch house, she shuddered. “It was just very dark,” says Paper of the one-story home she now shares with her husband Sean Paige and their two young children. “The floors were dark, the fireplace was dark, and the exterior brick facade was painted grey with dark grouting.” Built on the grounds of the former Bonesteel Sanitarium, the 1961 home sits on a hill amidst a row of stately Victorians in the village of Saugerties. Adjacent to the Cantine Field athletic complex and park, it’s within walking distance of the high school and local shops—a perfect location for the young family. “We loved the community and the fact that it was walkable,” she explains. “We were really looking for a place for our kids as much as ourselves.” 18 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Even though her initial reaction was one of foreboding, walking through the house brought a different view. “We could see it had lots of potential,” says Paper. Divided up into a warren of rooms, including four bedrooms, five baths, and a finished basement, the home featured mustard-colored wainscoting throughout the main floor, floral wallpaper, and a mid-`90s kitchen decorated with a wine bottle motif. Still, with 2,600 square feet, an attached garage that could be converted to a workspace, and multiple outbuildings, there was plenty of space to grow. “We realized how easy it would be to open up,” says Paper. It might have been a bit dark, but the home had been well kept by previous owners—it was just in dire need of lightening up.
Marcie Paper and Sean Paige in the family room. Converted from a former porch, the room is awash in light from skylights above and French doors leading to an exterior patio. An abstract painting by Sophia Flood hangs along the back wall. Paper’s hand-sewn and block-printed cushions line the couch. Opposite, from top: The couple painted the home’s living room and brick fireplace white. Decorated with Paper’s pillows as well as vintage Kantha quilts, the room also features the family’s growing collection of vintage Christmas ornaments and stockings. Along one wall hang rows of prints created by the couple’s daughter Andi, as well as prints by Sean Noonan, Sophia Flood, Sara Pedigo, Sarah Conrad-Ferm and Zoe Kiff. Adjacent to Cantine Field, the home enjoys unobstructed views of the Catskills. “The Cantine family had an agreement with the town to not build on the land across the street from the property so the views have been preserved,” says Paper.
1/22 CHRONOGRAM HOME & GARDEN 19
ENEW your colors.
JUVENATE your home. Kwith OFF SUMMER with new color. home. new color. Put on those Finishing Touches this Holiday Season
EW your colors.
REDEFINE your living space. A HOLIDAY GIFT of new color.
hvtrailworks.com @hvtrailworks H IK E | B IK E | R ES T
XX% OFF
X% OOF $XX FFF X% FF OFFO Ō ƫ O F Fƫ XX% CPN $XX OFF SELECT PREMIUM PRODUCT
acahd o ay for the best paint andad vice to d viuctettood y oeject done right. Hurry, this exclusive eo xculrup sirv er ends XX/XX/XXXX. CPN $XX OFF SELECT
523906011265 REGULAR RETAIL PREMIUM PRICE PER GALLON LLON <Raek tae ilersN arm d a nRe d lcehREGAL© touut stod m uAND ee>aykAURA© ou PRODUCT get the best SELECT thyeab esat a ad nrd sem <y Ad eslestLuin > e sure you CPN $XX OFF SELECT INTERIOR EXTERIOR FINISHES CPN OFF SELECT ge t te h$XX e boe sg t pe a<t iC nit& ao n d artd v icire to gc ettyd ouo r ne rightPREMIUM n d a d v i c t y u p o j e . t y , S t a e Z p > PRODUCT O ne LrO igG h tPREMIUM .je$XX CPN p rro ce t dbOFF oenPRODUCT etrSELECT i< gPa hhtio .H ry ,mth srv e ce lustio ve t o d a y f o t h s p n n a d i c nteuarN ud bie >x tXhX isXeXx.ocPREMIUM lffeurseinvde o f f e r e n d s X X / X X / X X X X . PRODUCT X X,sXittX > roject done rigshtX.XH/<X uW rre/yb heX is. exclusive <Retailer Name> XX/XX/XXXX. 523906011265
4
$ OFF
CPN $XX OFF SELECT PREMIUM PRODUCT
CPN $XX OFF SELECT 523906011265 PREMIUM PRODUCT
<Retailer Name> ! < R $e ƫ+a1c0hƫ0o +ut t5oƫ"d +a.yƫ0f$o!rƫ ƫ,e s%t*p0ƫa in *t a ƫ nd 2a % d !vƫ0ic+e to th!e/0b A <Retailer Nam e>ddress Line> Pleh“o enjamin Moore & Co. Arborcoat, Aura, ben, Benjamin Moore, Gennex, Regal, and the tria< M”nse ymN lm areb gris> tered trademarks licensed to Benjamin Moore & Co. 4/21 ƫ<a5 +tenre&ja!mp 0ooƫ>ojree + * #e$<n0grW ċiƫg .b.>ou5 Čƫ0rree$ gle “M” symbol are < reA gid s523906011265 te d# dL e0 s lie ic1 tt o. inirp M &cC /ƫ 2o 1.%n drere strsa! imn erkg >+ C tey aBu Z tn.s,eƫydS,o to.!4d h1 u ry%/, ƫt!h4is (e1x/c%2lu!sive eb stit.eH <City,REGULAR State Z GO P ms e >ĥ/ ċ XX. +""!<.io ƫp!>hf* ĥbPRICE X ċƫ foenRETAIL re/eƫN nu d Xr X X X /X <Phone Number> <WebsiteARBORCOAT > PER GALLON <Website>
LOGO
CPN $XX OFF SELECT PRODUCT
523906011265 523906011265
Offer validfor $XX off retailer’s suggestedretail price per gallon of up to 5 gallons of Benjamin Moore® premium products. Excludes Aura® andCentury®. Redeemable only at participating retailers. Limit one per customer. Products may vary from store to store. Subject to availability. Retailer reserves the right to cancel this offer at any time without notice. Cannot be combinedwith any other offers. Offer expires XX/XX/XXXX.
ŕ !0 <%R (!e.tƫa i le) r! NŖaƫme>
We share your passion.
% off retailer’s suggestedretail price per gallon of up to five (5) gallons of Benjamin Moore® premium products. Excludes Aura®. Redeemable only at participating retailers. Limit one® oleo re® gpgaree p0prm o dsupetco tsgm . aE xncsolotouo de ra(a5®c e,lld ev eoam bnillje nClMy trierlye p a tnm inscieeuixprm aRe teirgsn g rnetdstr.ta lers.noegLslceiA m ®leam 2 n itn &.stCo .u A , ).btR etn B e n m ia nb o r.e tu Grr ,v hie se reafrfbee tn etlryead rpaad m kw liic o B nna Mn oo e t& b Ce o. 7 20 d c ysm aiurrm yt© e SoAu ifla itom yo eeontaoa reee tl,h iEg a“uM nirta”c®o lnmetebh o treitm tgehrno uaditletn teiinm cjaeim nro c/o mbinedwith any other offers. Offer iu r’stssum tv ed e afir2l o ri0 ceB ejrrae llo oM freurp fi vbeujre g ao oa n s ja B eM a in,R ®, rp p oad uace xhcttlruiatd .yR doeis lg erisoa an tty iciae pra tsin este rso .L t. oiC e a.urnyracf®re.oR lmeth o itm o cileeitr. orC chotm th feitrhso.uO fetirce. Cannot be combinedwith any other offers. d e d erm lesrto an ty pjaetrc paaw tvinaitg eitu le.n rRso .L een ao ysc vA a se tis o e aftfb oe oan rtely.aS u b tictie o ilh arb laitity e ttaiim ensa rvneo s tthb eerig tobcianne cd el tw hiisth offaen ry at o an ye tirmo e fw t nfo X X etail price Moore® and Aura® Interior and Exterior Finishes. $4.00 OFF Regular retail price per withou t noticper e. Cagallon nnot beBenjamin combinedw ith any otRegal® her offersSelect . X. $4.00Premium OFF Regular retail price per cannot be combined with other Benjamin Moore® offers. Price valid May 20-June 5, 2021. ®ishes. Arborcoat Exterior Stain. Offer ® offers. Pricerb valid May 20-June MC ooo re urinaM ,b erne5, ,, GB2021. jaxm abl,oal anrd iadntg eem “M odl taore isinteMroeodret& raCdoe. m .A rb& orcC oo at., A Aura,obrecno, a Bte,nA ja m oo eenn ne , RiengaM l, o anodre th, eGtreiannn ge lex“,MR ”e sygm e rteh ge istterre rald ar”kssy licm enb se Bernejagm 4/2a1rks licensed to Benjamin Moore & Co. 5/21 “M odl taore isinteMroeodret& raCdoe. m em ar”kssy licm enb se Bernejagm 4/2a1rks licensed to Benjamin Moore & Co. 5/21
We share your ŕ passion. /d ƫ re %*s!sŖLƫine> <.! A/d
ƫ GO LO
ŕ Hillsdale, %05< Čƫ C0it y0,!Sƫ tNY: a%, teŖƫZ ip> 518.325.3131 · Lakeville, CT: 860.435.2561 ŕ $+< *P !ƫh o1n) Ŗƫber> e N!u.m
Millerton, NY: 518.789.3611 · Hudson, NY: 518.828.9431 NY· Lakeville, CT· Millerton, NY· eŖ bMA ŕ !Hudson, </W %0! ƫsite> NY· Chatham, NY· SHEFFIELD, MA udson, NY· Chatham, NY· SHEFFIELD, Chatham, NY: 518.392.9201· Sheffield, MA: 413.229.8777 O.fƫf Ō er vaƫ+ lid re#t! ai/le ta.ƫil#p ce o fi((v o&n s)o%* f ƫB ® ƫp,r.e+mi1u m0/p xc1l.u d Au!ra!®) .R o n.ly icƫi.p!a0t i%n(!g./re ile%r0s. Limit ""!.ƫ2 (% ƫ"+ ""ƫf.o!r0 XX% %(!.Ě/oƫ/ff1# 0!r’sƫ.s!u0g g%(e ƫ,s.te % d !ƫr,e! r((i+ *ƫp +e"ƫr1g ,aƫ0ll+oƫn ü2o!fƫĨuĆpĩƫt# +e*/(5 ƫ+)"g ƫ a!ll* e+n+ja.m !IJiƫn,.M!o )o%r1e) ċƫr o4d u(1cts!. /Eƫ IJeċƫs ! e d (!eƫe +m *(a 5b ƫ le 0ƫ, 0% a%t,p a 0%r*t# ċƫt a%) e !p.e r .c+ust1o m r. P roƫ2d ayƫ/v0+ ar.y e1t o &! st o0rƫ0e+. ƫS u2b v$ es0ƫ0t+ hƫe ri* g h!t (tƫ0o$c nc h0isƫ o*f5fe at!aƫ3 ny%0$ ti+ m1e0ƫw ic+e0. ƫC an t b%e*! com ċƫ 0/eƫ) 5 u.c5tƫs".m +) !ƫf0r+oƫm /0+s.t!oċrƫ j%e ( c t %(t%o 05aċƫv a!il0a b%(i!li.tƫy..!R/e !t.a 2i!le/rƫ0r$e!sƫe.%r# %/aƫ+ ""e!l.tƫ ƫ0r%) *+it0h% o!uċtƫ n o*t* ! ƫ n+o) +*!ƫ,!.ƫ 1/0o+n) ƫ3b%0in $eƫ d *w 5ƫi+th0$a!n.yƫ+o""t!h.e/rċ offers. ff erĥ ex pĥir e s X Xċƫ ċ/XX/XXXX. ""!.ƫ!4,%.!/Oƫ
herringtons.com· 800.453.1311· OUR PEOPLE MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
1+ B+ e.n!jaƫĒ mƫ in+M o1 o.r eČƫ& !C*oČƫ. A!u*r&a ,) be aČm e* x, R trĘiƫa/n5g “M ” .s!yƫm iste!r) ed n! se*d o%* Bƫe n+ja+m įĂĀĂāƫ !*& © )2%0 *ƫ2 ċƫ %*nƫ, B+e+n.j! ƫ in!*M*o!o 4rČƫe , !G#e n(Čnƫ ƫ0e$g!aƫ0l,.%a n*d#(t!hƫeė )le + (ƫ .!b #o %/l0a !r.e! reƫ0g. .t'r/aƫd(%e m !*a/r!ks ƫl0ic +eƫ & t) .!inƫĒM ƫ o+oċrƫāeāĥ&ĂāC ƫ o. 11/21
20 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 1/22
r e v co s i Red YOUR BACKYARD
FREE
523906011265
id for XX% off retailer’s suggestedretail price per gallon of up to five (5) gallons of Benjamin Moore® premium products. Excludes Aura®. Redeemable only at participating retailers. Limit one <igiA dress Line> n Meoro. rPer®op ruecm map Exsctlo urd ec mtatb ybaitlitpya ictiapia ertv ae ile thtod n om d tsium y rvoad ruycftrso. m eestoAsutroar®e. .RSeud beje oleavoanilla . rRte letrinrg esre s rtsh. eLirm toe cancel this offer at any time without notice. Cannot be combinedwith any otherPREMIUM offers. g thXisXX of. fer at 523906011265 any time without notice. Cannot be combinLeo d feC rsi. ty, State Zip> 523906011265 ph irtestoXcXa/nXcXe/l X gwoith any other of<
Reach out today for the best paint and advice to get your project done right. PREMIUM EXTERIOR STAIN
845.522.9057
CONSULTATION
RE SI D EN TI A L TR AI L D E S I G N
In the living room, Paige created a mahogany cube rack with 84 cut-outs to display Paper’s rattle cubes. “The cubes were made from the leftover block printed fabric scraps originally used to make pillow covers,” says Paper. On the adjacent chair is another of Paper’s pillows. Paper hand dyes the pillow fabric then block prints her designs before sewing the pieces into pillow covers.
An Almost Blank Slate Paper and Paige were just the people to undertake the home’s transformation. Paper, an abstract artist from Massachusetts, turned her focus to art full time after beginning her studies as an art therapist at college in Ohio. After receiving an MFA in painting from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Paper moved to Brooklyn, where her colorful geometric designs and intricate patterned motifs soon spilled from the edges of her paintings onto the walls of her city apartment. Inspired by the power of a few simple materials to transform her space, she soon began painting murals for friends and eventually took commissions to create murals in both homes and businesses. Hailing from Virginia, Paige studied furniture making in college. His extensive background in woodworking and carpentry includes designing and building furniture, fabrication work, and creating window displays. Since moving to the Catskills, Paige has been working with a regional construction firm doing full-scale home and business renovations.
Their first foray into Catskill life began in 2012, when they bought a 5000-square-foot home in Livingston Manor with the idea of turning it into an inn. “Our plan was to renovate it ourselves and make all the furniture and decor,” says Paper. This creative venture inspired her to expand her skills into block printing and textile design, as well as weaving and rug making. She also began handpainting her pattern work onto ceramic tiles. Paper wove multiple rugs and block printed textiles for both the inn and an adjacent cabin where she and Paige lived part-time while they started their family. They even designed a colorful tiled hearth for the cabin’s wood stove. The two also transformed the kitchen of their Brooklyn apartment, utilizing Paper’s tile work for the kitchen backsplash and Paige’s carpentry skills for counter and cabinetry. As their family grew, however, they couple realized they had to let their dream of running an inn go. “Once we had kids the area seemed a bit too rural. We loved the community but knew it wouldn’t be enough for the kids as they got older.” They sold the inn, along with its entire 1/22 CHRONOGRAM HOME & GARDEN 21
contents, including the furniture and the distinct decor they’d created for the space. “We’d lived there for seven years and everything we’d created was super important to us,” says Paper. “But we thought, ‘What are we going to do with all this? We live in a new house now.’” So, along with the home went seven years of Paper’s creations. “All the quilts, rugs, pillows, and tile work were gone,” says Paper. “But it was fine.” Besides a few family heirlooms and artwork collected from friends, the family moved to their new Saugerties home with an almost blank slate. Brick by Brick The land their new home is on belonged to the local Cantine family in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was sold to become the Bonesteel Sanitarium, which served as hospital and maternity ward for the wives of soldiers during WWII. After the sanitarium burned down in the 1950s, the smaller, single-family residence was built along the street side of the half-acre lot. Through their combined talents, the couple was able to modernize the 1960s construction completely themselves. “We used the mid-century 22 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 1/22
architecture as a foundation but tried not to tie ourselves too tightly to it,” explains Paper. The first thing Paper and Paige did was to replace the floors with light wood floorboards throughout the main area. The couple tore out the interior wainscoting and repainted both the interior walls and fireplace white. The combined effect of the altered floors and walls lightened up the space considerably. They also removed French doors dividing up the central living space to create a flowing first floor that moves easily from the kitchen to living and dining room. “It’s great with kids, because you can see everything all the time,” says Paper. “We can also have 50 people in here and it doesn’t feel crowded.” A step-down covered porch with high ceilings was long ago converted into extra living space. A bright skylight overhead, French doors leading to an enclosed patio and a pass-through window to the adjacent kitchen make it an ideal space for the family to lounge throughout the year. Paper and Paige painted the brick wall white and adjoining walls lime green, filling the space with plants. Two of their children’s paintings hang along the walls.
Paper outfitted one of the basement rooms to serve as a small classroom, where she’s started teaching after school art classes to elementary school students. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do forever,” says Paper. The classes are a mix of instruction exploring various techniques, as well as collaborative and individual creative time.
The one thing amazon can't deliver,
but WE can. Factory Built, Family Approved, Custom Modular Homes.
John A. Alvarez and Sons custom modular homes
518.851.9917
let us make our house your home
3572 ROUTE 9, HUDSON, NY 12534
A LVA R E Z M O D U L A R S . C O M CRDesign
845.679.2115
845.679.2115 housthardware.com housthardware.com
rugs for floors, stairs and walls
Designed in Narrowsburg Handmade in Kathmandu 845.252.9955 lizaphillipsdesign.com
P.O. Box 339 Gardiner, NY 12525 www.ridgelinerealty.net
Jaynie Marie Aristeo
NYS Lic. Real Estate Broker/Owner 845 255-8359 Ridgelinerealty@gmail.com
Sunrooms | Conservatories | Patio Rooms
“When it comes to customer service, the sky is the limit.”
CALL NOW FOR A VIRTUAL OR ON-SITE CONSULTATION! 845-339-1787 | hudsonvalleysunrooms.com @hvsfourseasons @hvsfourseasons 1/22 CHRONOGRAM HOME & GARDEN 23
alexa on the go personal concierge
1ST PLACE
L
T
2ND ANNU A HE
A
ER
A
R
RE
D
DS
WINNER S’ C AW H OICE
Gift Purchasing & Wrapping Holiday Shopping Errands Home Organization Wait services for delivery calls/repairs Seasonal Home Decor
845.206.6605 alexaonthego.squarespace.com
24 HOME & GARDEN CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Paper created a mural for the couple’s bedroom wall. Paper’s mural work has become the main focus of her practice. “It’s what I love to do the most,” she says. Her mural work is featured locally throughout Saugerties in Josie’s Coffee Shoppe, Headspace Salon, Chambers Vintage, and the Rug Shop.
The Eternal Work in Progress As quickly as their last space emptied, their new space has been filled with art and color. In the home’s primary bedroom, Paige built the couple’s bed and Paper created a dark pink mural in place of a headboard. The mural’s repeating motif of dark blue, curving lines and rectangles is reminiscent of the hanging plants throughout the home. On an adjacent wall, one of Paige and Paper’s eclectic collections of paintings features a variety of cat and dog portraits in oil, pencil, and acrylic, depicted in both abstract and realistic styles. (Their daughter is allergic, so the family doesn’t have any actual pets.) During the pandemic, Paper participated in the Artist’s Support Pledge project. “Every time a participating artist made $1,000 selling work, they pledged to spend $200 buying work from another artist,” says Paper. “It was such a great boost to sell my work, and also support the work of other artists all over the world.” It had the added benefit of filling Paper and Paige’s once blank walls with art. Now interspersed with her own recent abstract paintings is an assemblage of photography and mixed media works, along with
ceramics and Paige’s woodwork. Paper’s block printed textile designs adorn the couches and many of her rugs, with designs inspired from her abstract paintings, line the floors. The couple recently converted the attached garage into a large workspace for Paper, complete with space for painting, yarn dying, block printing, and textile design. (Another room in the home’s basement is reserved for sewing and weaving.) Outside, Paige recently whitewashed the brick exterior and relined the original garage door with a light wood. Rectangular cut-out windows offer views from Paper’s workspace to the Catskills. Downstairs, Paper has converted another of the basement rooms into a workshop where she’s begun teaching local art classes to children. Next, the couple hopes to turn their attention to the home’s kitchen. They plan to update the open-concept space with Paper’s hand-painted ceramics and Paige’s cabinet making skills, making it distinctly their own. “The house is a work in progress,” says Paper. “We love it though. We often thank our lucky stars we found it and we’re here.” 1/22 CHRONOGRAM HOME & GARDEN 25
OPEN MON-WED 8AM-8PM THURS-SUN 8AM-11PM
26 HIGH SOCIETY CHRONOGRAM 1/22
high society
Green Dreams Cannabis Entrepreneurs Are Ready for Business By Nolan Thornton
"Studio" Stu Chernoff at Goa coffeeshop, judging the 30th High Times Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam, 2017. Chernoff hopes to open an Amsterdam-style coffeeshop in Kingston.
N
ew Yorkers will be able to buy legal cannabis in 2023 if all continues according to plan with the MRTA rollout, but who will they be buying from? What will the product be like? What will the establishments be like? Will New York get its social equity component right where other states have failed? These questions linger as the wait continues and the anticipation builds. Plans are being made and hopes are being lifted. Six dreamers have their eye on different niches in the emerging industry. Saugerties Microbusiness Saugerties residents Kandy Harris and Kristine Gentile-Smith have been making and selling high-end edibles in New York since the beginning of the pandemic. They say that the demand for the products is high, but there are obvious limitations because of the nature of their business. “We’ve mostly had to promote ourselves by word-of-mouth, given the obvious restrictions
on how much we can say on social media about exactly what we’re offering,” says Harris. Harris and Gentile-Smith recently began growing their own cannabis for their products. “We got serious about wanting to provide products that we knew 100 percent where it came from, how it was grown, and what was used to grow it,” says Harris. “We’re very proud to offer that to our customers.” The pair plan on applying for a microbusiness license, which will allow them to engage in cultivation, processing, distribution, delivery, and sale of their own cannabis and cannabis products. The microbusiness license was created with the expectation that they would be granted in a manner that promotes social and economic equity applicants. When 2023 finally comes around, the duo sees a number of possibilities. “We would love to be able to partner with dispensaries in the future, for sure, but more importantly, once dispensaries are open, we would hope that
means we can promote ourselves a little more robustly, and we can start broadening into catering events or partnering with caterers who want to use our products.” Another benefit of the duo going legal is that they would benefit from the MRTA’s social equity provisions. “We plan to apply for grants and assistance in any way we can since this is a women-owned small business,” Harris says. Kingston Consumption Lounge “Studio” Stu Chernoff is a professional musician and is, like Harris and Gentile-Smith, a legacy market operator. When New York’s legal cannabis market launches, Chernoff plans on opening up an Amsterdam-style coffee shop/consumption lounge in Kingston. “When you come into our space, you come up to the cannabis bar, someone is going to take care of you, you’re going to buy your weed and take a seat, and then a server is going to come by and take an order for a cappuccino, soda, or light sandwich.” The concept is wildly 1/22 CHRONOGRAM HIGH SOCIETY 27
ALL SYSTEMS G O!
NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN
28 HIGH SOCIETY CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Illuminated Leaf, a storefront on Rock City Road, aims to be the first legal cannabis dispensary in Woodstock. On December 11, it held an educational event with local cannabis experts.
successful in Amsterdam, where Chernoff got the idea when he visited in the mid ‘70s. Much like cannabis catering, a cannabis consumption lounge might not be what you think of when you think of legal cannabis. For Chernoff, however, it’s very simple. “Having dispensaries without lounges is like having liquor stores with no bars,” he says. “For me, it’s all about the socialization,” says Chernoff. “Weed is all about socialization.” Chernoff plans to take an artisanal approach with his business, favoring businesses like Harris and Gentile-Smith’s over big cannabis companies, which, he says, are “just like big tobacco.” “We don’t want to do it where we have prepackaged eighths and prepackaged products. We want to buy from local farmers and have all the strains behind us like the bottles in a bar.” In addition to the craft approach, Chernoff has other ambitions for his lounge. “It would be great to start in Kingston and get the feel of it, then open up one in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. That would be my goal.” He wants to be a part of the coming cannabis coffee shop boom, having witnessed the original. According to Chernoff, you don’t even have to wait until his coffee shop opens in a couple years. By his estimate, there are about 20 membersonly lounges operating right now in New York City. He is a member of a lounge that, “Does exactly what I want to do.” It’s fine for the city, but Chernoff figures he would wind up in prison if he tried it himself in Kingston. But the point
remains: You can see the future right now. It will only cost a train ride and a membership fee. Woodstock Dispensary Unlike Harris, Gentile-Smith, and Chernoff, the recently incorporated Illuminated Leaf has a storefront—33 Rock City Road in Woodstock. The owners, Erin Cadigan, Eliza Kunkel, and Lisa Montanus, plan on becoming one of the first dispensaries to open their doors when the time finally comes, but until then, they will sell CBD products, cannabis books, magazines, and accessories, and will host educational events. Some of the event topics include the current state of cannabis legalization, learning about the plant itself, how to get involved in the cannabis industry, and how to become a cannabis activist. Like Harris and Gentile-Smith, Illuminated Leaf is a female-owned business, as well as well as a social equity applicant. “The cannabis industry, like so many other industries, has historically been dominated by men, so it is exciting to see more women getting involved in this emerging and evolving business,” says Montanus. “New York is doing the right thing by setting a goal of 50 percent of all adult-use licenses going to social and economic equity applicants, which will help level the playing field to some degree.” Illuminated Leaf takes their role in the community quite seriously. In addition to their pledge to donate a percentage of their profits to non-profit organizations working in their
Kandy Harris and Kristine Gentile-Smith are looking to take their edibles business into the legal market with a microbusiness license.
community, they also recognize their duty as stewards to offer up excellent service to their patrons. “We want to continue doing good work by offering a safe and inviting retail space for people to shop in, educational events for people to learn and have their questions and concerns addressed, and selling tested, safe, and high-quality products to our customers,” says Montanus. “We will be paying our employees a living wage and providing benefits, so they are able to live in the community in which they work.” adds Montanus. A keen focus on social equity is a trait that is essential to the DNA of Illuminated Leaf. They don’t just want to exist in the community, they want to contribute to it. “We are aware that all eyes will be on us once we open, and understandably so, given that this will be the first-time recreational cannabis will be sold legally in our community. It’s important for people to know that cannabis is one of the most highly regulated products, from the growing and processing end all the way to the retail/sales end.” Illuminated Leaf wants to reassure people that they won’t be a detriment to their community, they will be a source of good in it. When it comes down to the matter of how everything will really play out, it’s still anyone’s guess. We’re all just waiting on the government. “There are many smart, dedicated,and passionate people working to make sure that New York gets it right,” says Montanus. “We’re so fucked,” says Chernoff. Neither is necessarily wrong. 1/22 CHRONOGRAM HIGH SOCIETY 29
Choose a tree in St. Croix Valley as your final resting place
Considering cremation? For half the cost of a traditional burial, memorial trees are a new way to protect forestland in the St. Croix Valley. When you choose a memorial tree from Better Place Forests, you get a beautiful place to visit and one day, spread ashes — all while helping to leave a legacy of conservation in the Midwest.
30 HEALTH & WELLNESS CHRONOGRAM 1/22
health & wellness A collaboration with
Cricket Valley Energy Center in 2019. Photo by Bill Kish
CLIMATE HEALTH IS HUMAN HEALTH MAKING BIG PROGRESS ON CLIMATE ACTION WILL GIVE US ALL LONGER AND HEALTHIER LIVES— EVEN IF WE DON’T STOP GLOBAL WARMING. By Lissa Harris
C
limate change may be a global problem, but air pollution is a local one. Whenever we burn things for heat or energy, the greenhouse gases they produce warm the atmosphere on a planetary scale. But the fine particles that are a more immediate risk to human health settle in the neighborhood—and wreak havoc. Communities that are home to large-scale fossil fuel combustion have long been paying a steep price in physical health. For decades, it has seemed inevitable that someone would have to pay that toll. After all, energy has to come from somewhere. But with New York now committed to major climate goals, and struggling to figure out how to stop burning things for energy, the prospect of real climate action at a large scale is making another world feel possible. How much life and health are we losing to dirty air? And can we get it back? A team of New York State analysts recently did a study, as part of the state Climate Action Council’s planning to meet climate goals, to estimate how much human health would improve in New York if the state economy decarbonizes over the next few decades. The bottom line, they found: Decarbonization will yield at least $160 billion worth of better health in New York, once all of the hospitalizations and missed work days and premature deaths are totted up, and most of that benefit comes from better air quality. It’s a cold figure to measure human lives with, but it’s a big one. Carl Mas, lead analyst on the study, put it this way at an October meeting: “Every community in New York is going to substantially benefit in terms of air quality from this work.”
No Safe Levels In 1994, the year Harvard’s landmark Six Cities study came out, air quality scientists caused a major political ruckus—and have steered the course of both health research and federal environmental regulation ever since. The study tracked air quality and life expectancy across six US cities for more than a decade, and found such a tight linear relationship between local air pollution levels and premature death that it shocked even the scientists conducting the research. “The effects of air pollution were about two years’ reduction in life expectancy,” Harvard environmental scientist Douglas Dockery told the campus magazine in 2012. “It was much, much higher than we had expected.” Since then, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has tightened standards for air pollution several times, and might do so again. The biggest cause of premature death from air pollution, the scientists found, was fine particulate matter: tiny specks of pollution, no bigger than 2.5 micrometers across, that float invisibly in the air and are easily inhaled deep into the lungs. “You can fit like 20 of these particles in the diameter of a grain of beach sand,” says Mike He, a postdoctoral fellow in environmental health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Because they’re so small, they bypass the body’s normal defense mechanism and go directly into your bloodstream.” Since 1994, study after study has borne out the conclusions Six Cities reached: Even at low levels, fine particulate matter and other air pollutants carry a cost in human life, and in increased local rates of diseases like asthma, COPD, heart
disease, and other cardiovascular ailments. “There really isn’t a threshold for air pollution impacts on health,” says He. “Even at very low levels of air pollution, there’s still an impact.” In some ways, the problem of air pollution and human health is a lot like climate change itself: There is no safe level of emissions. Every new source of pollution makes the problem worse. But the same dynamic that makes the problem feel overwhelmingly hard to solve is also a powerful argument for action: Every single emission source we manage to clean up will yield a real-world benefit. He’s own research is finding that recent efforts to curb fossil fuel pollution are already paying off. A New York City law banning the use of heating oil #6—a dirtier fuel than the alternatives, #4 and #2—went into full effect in 2016. In a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives on December 8, He and his fellow researchers compared air quality in New York City census tracts between 2011 and 2016, and found that even after controlling for traffic and other factors influencing air quality, the ban on #6 significantly reduced fine particles, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. The upshot is that New York City residents will be healthier and live longer lives because of the ban on heating oil #6. The biggest gains are happening in both the wealthiest and the poorest neighborhoods, He says, because that’s where the oldest buildings are—and the most antiquated heating systems. It’s a small piece of a bigger picture: The air we breathe in the US has been getting cleaner for decades because of the 1970 Clean Air Act and other environmental regulations, and we are living longer as a result. A 1/22 CHRONOGRAM HEALTH & WELLNESS 31
2009 study headed by researchers involved in Six Cities found that between 1980 and 2000, improvements in air quality added 1.6 years to the average US lifespan. It’s a start. Getting a Clearer Picture Burning fossil fuel harms air quality not just in the city but upstate, too— and so does burning wood, which creates far more particulate pollution than oil and gas to produce the same amount of heat. But keeping track of air pollution is tougher in rural New York than it is in the city. He’s research on heating oil policy relied heavily on data collected by the New York City Community Air Survey, an ongoing program that tracks air quality through about 100 monitors mounted on utility poles throughout the metropolis. Upstate, the lack of widespread air quality monitoring gives researchers a hazier view of local air pollution. In some places, climate and community advocates are taking citizen science into their own hands. Bill Kish, a Millerton software engineer, helps keep track of four air quality monitoring stations in the Dutchess County town of Dover, where homeowners have volunteered to host backyard gadgets that keep a watchful eye on a nearby power plant. “They’re very simple monitors,” Kish says. “They have a small microprocessor in
Take Back Your Health with Acupuncture, Detox, Nutrition, & Herbal Medicine Specializing in Lyme, EBV, chronic fatigue, Fibromyalgia, pain/injury, auto immune, digestive disorders, migraines, neurological disorders, & skin issues
Dr. Erika S.Gabriello
DACM L.Ac
www.holisticnaturalmedicine.com 3 47. 9 8 8 .017 8
New Paltz 169 Main St.
New York City
928 Broadway, Suite 401
Communicate to Connect Speech-Language Pathology Services CONNECTING FAMILY AND COMMUNITY THROUGH LANGUAGE 914-338-2516 | communicatetoconnect-c2c.com
A 2009 study found that between 1980 and 2000, improvements in air quality added 1.6 years to the average US lifespan.
Plant Strong Nutrition LLC For All of Your Nutrition Needs In-person & online services available Utilizing the power of plant-based nutrition to achieve your health and wellness goals. Contact me today to get started on the path towards a customized plan.
Adrienne Bolten MS, RDN, CD Registered Dietitian
www.plantstrongnutrition.com 908-208-7976
HIGH SOCIETY
The latest on industry news, restorative justice initiatives, community impact, dispensary openings, cultivation tips, and more.
The culture of cannabis, from Chronogram
SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER
Chronogram.com/highsociety
32 HEALTH & WELLNESS CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Sign up today
them, and they have a sensor which is able to detect these fine particles by bouncing a laser beam off them. They’re more or less surrounding the plant.” First brought online in spring 2020, the facility—the 1,100-megawatt Cricket Valley Energy Center—is one of the state’s newest (and largest) fossil fuel power plants. It produces enough electricity from turbines run by burning fracked gas to power a million homes. With New York’s climate law now guiding decisions at the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and other state agencies, a project like Cricket Valley would have an uphill battle getting state approval today. The DEC recently denied permits to developers seeking to rebuild and expand the Danskammer and Astoria gas-fueled power plants, citing the state’s 2019 climate law as a reason for the decision, and has proposed new agency guidance that will likely make it tougher for existing fossil-fuel projects to get ordinary permit renewals as well. But like other communities that are home to large fossil fuel power projects, Dover is stuck with the plant—and its local health impacts—until New York State builds enough renewable energy to start bringing its existing power plants offline. Cricket Valley has been in the works for more than a decade. Many locals didn’t know it was coming until the chimneys began rising alongside nearby Route 22. “There’s 300-foot smokestacks. Until those went up, people didn’t really necessarily know what was happening,” says Jess Mullen, a member of the New Paltz Climate Action Coalition. The group initially fought to get Cricket Valley shut down. As the clock ticked toward the plant coming online, they formed a partnership with the Environmental Health Project, a nonprofit in southwestern Pennsylvania that tracks the health impacts of hydraulic fracturing and shale gas development, to monitor Cricket Valley’s impact on local air quality and health. The four air quality monitors in Dover are part of that partnership, but they also feed data into larger citizen science networks. Each station has a sensor from PurpleAir that measures fine particulate pollution in real
A backyard air quality monitoring station in Dover. An Airviz sensor (left) measures volatile organic compounds, while a PurpleAir monitor (right) measures fine particulate matter. Photo by Bill Kish
... make today matter!
time, and uploads live data to PurpleAir’s worldwide map. PurpleAir sells the devices for about $250, and anyone can install one in their backyard to collect and share air quality data. Of course, Dover has many sources of air pollution besides Cricket Valley. Vehicle traffic, local home heating systems, and other major air pollution sources all make the same kinds of pollutants that are caused by burning natural gas at the plant—and may in fact be contributing more to local air quality problems than the plant is. But by placing monitors in a ring around the facility, and observing how sharp pollution spikes correlated with operations at Cricket Valley, the project was able to pick up clear impacts from the plant on local air quality. “In the homes and the areas surrounding the plant, depending on which way the wind blows and what the atmospheric conditions are and how much gas the plant is burning at any given moment, there are very high spikes of both PM 2.5 [fine particulate matter] and volatile organic compounds,” Kish says. Fossil fuel combustion isn’t the only thing the monitors in Dover are picking up. Last summer, when wildfire smoke from forest fires raging on the West Coast (another manifestation of climate change) were dimming skies across the Northeast, the data showed massive spikes in pollution. “The monitors went nuts when that happened,” Kish says. “It was really scary, actually.” In recent years, notes He, scientists have made strides in studying air quality in rural areas by combining monitor data—like the data collected in Dover—with satellite imagery and advanced modeling tools. “We can incorporate populations we weren’t able to incorporate before,” He says. Urgent Work in a Changing World If New York State succeeds in phasing out most combustion-based heat and power over the next few decades, a goal now enshrined in the state’s 2019 climate law, air quality across the state will likely improve significantly, especially near large pollution sources like power plants. Improvements to human health and lifespan are bound to follow—and in a world transformed by the pandemic, better air quality is a more urgent goal than ever. Studies are already showing that in areas with poor air quality, COVID-19 infection is more likely to be fatal. For scientists working at the intersection of human health and politics, it’s vital to figure out what impact environmental policies will have on the real world. But it can be tough to tease out the effects of new laws from other ways in which the world is constantly changing. It’s worthy work, if you ask He. “Recently, I’ve been realizing the importance of including the policy aspect, because I want my research to do something for people in the world,” He says. “If it doesn’t impact any sort of policy, that isn’t putting the research to its full potential.”
Compassionate care wherever you call home
Need help or have a question? (845) 240-7555 • hvhospice.org
Acupuncture •Chinese Herbs
A home visit Chinese medicine practice in the Hudson Valley
Jeanne Atkin M.S., L.Ac. By Appointment •212.927.3640 info@jeanneatkin.com •jeanneatkin.com
Remote/Virtual Appointments Available johnmcarrollhealer.com
845-338-8420
1/22 CHRONOGRAM HEALTH & WELLNESS 33
Magic wedding dreams do come true. GlampStar will come to your event and set up a magical village of overnight glamping accommodations for you and your guests. Large bell tents outfitted with a real queen mattress, cozy bedding, rugs, tables, chandeliers, little mirror, and so much more. It’s in tents!!
GlampStars@gmail.com www.GlampStar.com 845-532-6939
CATERING THAT MAKES VEGAN, MEAT EATING & GLUTEN FREE GUESTS HAPPY!
Book us to get the wedding catering ALL your guests will love! 845-728-5578 | info@haloandhornscatering.com | haloandhornscatering.com
34 WEDDINGS CHRONOGRAM 1/22
weddings
BRIDE & GROOM BOOM HUDSON VALLEY WEDDING INDUSTRY SEES MORE COUPLES VYING TO TIE THE KNOT By Joan Vos MacDonald
F
or many couples, planning a wedding involves finding a variety of vendors—wedding planner, caterer, a venue— but this year, and perhaps for a few years to come, the search for such vendors may be more complicated. According to the 2021 COVID-19 Wedding Market Update, the number of weddings in the US dipped to 1.27 million in 2020, down from 2.1 million in 2019, and quite a few of those weddings happened on Zoom, without caterers, planners, or venue. In 2021, the number of weddings almost rebounded to the 2019 figure, although COVID concerns still affected venue choice and guest size. This year is predicted to be a year when a record number of couples again say “I do” to in-person events. Industry experts predict there will be more weddings than have taken place in the US in decades. Some of the weddings expected to take place this year—or after that—are weddings that were canceled in 2020.
Allison and Renzo's wedding on August 7, 2021 at Brotherhood Winery was planned by Bianca Hendricks of RSVPbyB. Photo by Mariana Feely Photography
1/22 CHRONOGRAM WEDDINGS 35
“It’s encouraging that so many people want to get married. It’s almost like there is this wartime urge. People want to make a commitment and get on with their lives, to make a statement even though times are uncertain.” —Agnes Devereux
Cathy Foti with minted lamb meatballs with yoghurt raita by Agnes Devereux Catering
In 2021, the Senate Garage, a popular wedding venue in uptown Kingston, hosted weddings almost every weekend from summer through end of December for the first time since the pandemic began. And the venue has a few dates free in next year. “We continue to have weddings from two years ago that have been pushed into 2022,” says owner Judy Tallerman. “So we are still trying to make up for that year and a half that we lost. This year seems like probably the biggest wedding season that we’ve seen. That’s true across the board. That’s not only true for our venue. That’s true also for caterers, for florists, and event planners. People who have not jumped on early are having trouble now finding those vendors. Some people who would have preferred to get married in 2022 are pushing dates to 2023. So, the people who want to get married in 2023 should start booking quickly, because there has been this sort of rollover effect that I don’t think is going to clear itself up until 2024.” The elegant, former industrial space is on the grounds of the Senate House historic site, which offers the option of having events both inside and outside. 36 WEDDINGS CHRONOGRAM 1/22
“People were holding events inside starting in early August,” says Tallerman. “It was scary, but everything went well. There weren’t guidelines at the time. The guidelines had been removed so each person we worked with, we talked to them about what they were doing so they could have safe events.” Coping with COVID Agnes Devereux of the Staatsburg-based Agnes Devereux Catering, which specializes in farm-totable comfort fare, has not seen much change in wedding menus. Tables are set further apart. The wedding cake is sliced and plated, but not much else. “In the beginning, we did COVID protocols where we served all of our hors d’oeuvres in individual containers instead of on a pass tray. But they lifted those restrictions sometime in the early summer, and then, in terms of food service, everything was pretty much the same.” One change that affected and may continue to affect catering plans is the number of guests who cancel, sometimes at the last minute.“One of the big things was that numbers constantly changed, up to the last minute, due to people canceling,
sometimes a whole household canceled,” says Devereux. “Some brides requested a negative COVID test on the day of the wedding and some people balked at that and didn’t come.” Guest lists were generally smaller. “We only had a couple of weddings that were around 200 guests,” says Tallerman. “We’ve never had so many weddings that were between 70 and 125 guests.” While it’s tempting to think that smaller guest lists are part of a trend toward more intimate weddings, Tallerman is once more taking reservations for 2022 with around 200 guests. Nicole Friedman of GlampStar, which provides luxury tent rentals for weddings, also notes an increase in wedding party size. “In 2020, instead of putting up 20 tents, I put up four tents,” says Friedman. “In 2021, some that reserved only five tents upped it to eight or 15. Events were definitely bigger and there are a lot more of them.” It’s not surprising that a glamping option had appeal during a time of social distancing, since it means weddings can move outdoors and guests could have their own cozy tent to stay in.
NEW VENUE | WEEKEND DATES AVAILABLE | BOOK NOW
Contact 845.444.0354 | events@theacademyhvny.com | Hudson Valley, NY
KATIE ANELLO
KATIE ANELLO
A Woodstock Wedding That’s Uniquely Yours
With fi ve dynamic event areas, a world-class sound system, and mouthwatering catering options, we set the stage for a wedding that will wow your guests.
The perfect destination for your rustic barn wedding weekend
We’re ready to help. Give us a call at 845 679 7625 or send an email info@colonywoodstock.com | colonywoodstock.com
864 S Undermountain Rd | Sheffield, MA 413-229-2916 | rblodge.com
1/22 CHRONOGRAM WEDDINGS 37
S LE
SEA
From appetizers to signature cocktails, we’ve got you covered on your big day!
WAFF S ’ N
ESTD
2021
B
E
COF
EN
TS
MO
IL
E FEE &
V
On & Off Site Catering Available
AUTHENTIC LIÈGE WAFFLES Served from Karma, my vintage Airstream Great for weddings, birthday parties, brunches, campfire s’mores & more For reservations and more information, contact Sean at (914) 489-1690 Wedding Officiant Services Also Available
seanswaffles845
PERFECT DAY. PERFECT DRINK LIST.
FIG & PIG CATERING hudson valley | connecticut | catskills | nyc 917.789.3060 | figandpigcatering.com
The Climate Act Tackling the Hard Parts January 20, 4:30-5:30pm on Zoom
You’ve planned the perfect day, now let us help you plan the perfect drink list. We offer personal attention, an incredible selection, and local delivery. Learn more from Devynn, our in-house wine and spirits consultant. Thruway Wines and Liquor has it all! Schedule an appointment today to start planning with Devynn.
devynn@ shopthruway.com
shop.thruwayliquor.com 78 Oak Street, Walden, NY 845-778-7114
38 WEDDINGS CHRONOGRAM 1/22
New York’s Climate Leadership and Protection Act (CLCPA), passed in 2019, is one of the most ambitious climate laws in the world. Join us for a virtual event celebrating the launch of the latest issue of the Clean Power Guide and a look at the practical implications of implementing the CLCPA. Moderated by Brian K. Mahoney, Chronogram Media editorial director; with Melissa Everett of Sustainable Hudson Valley; and special guests from the worlds of industry and policy innovation.
In Par tnership with Scan to Register
Registration required Chronogram.com/conversations
According to owner Judy Tallerman, the Senate Garage in Uptown Kingston will have its busiest wedding season ever in 2022. Photo by Nicole Nero Studio
A Wartime Urge Poughkeepsie-based wedding planner Bianca Hendricks of RSVPbyB noticed other trends in 2021 that seem on track for 2022. “I’ve seen a lot of assigned seating versus guests just going to the table they want,” says Hendricks. “I’ve done a lot of place cards. I also noticed more familystyle dinners. Many families did not get to spend much time together over the past couple years, so there’s a lot of focus on just being together.” Couples who had to postpone their wedding in 2020 had time to plan something special, says Hendricks. As a result, many decided to make a statement, whether that meant transforming the space with flowers, employing bold colors, or making the wedding a mini-vacation by extending the event through the weekend. “I have couples who say, ‘Everyone is from out of town so we’re creating an itinerary of things people can do for the whole weekend,’” says Hendricks, who does both wedding and weekend coordination. Destination weddings to exotic locales quickly lost popularity due to COVID travel restrictions. However, Tallerman has noticed that people are
not as interested in getting married in New York City as they used to be, and more couples are opting to hold weddings in the Hudson Valley. “Some of the caterers and event planners from the city have started contacting us up here looking for referrals,” says Tallerman. With Hudson Valley caterers and wedding planners currently booked solid, there are some opportunities for New York City wedding personnel to fill in. “We can’t find local vendors to book up here for 2022 and the schedules of the city vendors are a little more open because people are not wanting to get married in the city,” says Tallerman. “That is definitely a different trend.” The surge of reservations is promising for the wedding industry, but it can also be seen as a positive display of faith in the future.“2022 is looking great,” says Devereux. “It’s not only encouraging that people rescheduled from last year. It’s encouraging that so many people want to get married. It’s almost like there is this wartime urge. People want to make a commitment and get on with their lives, to make a statement even though times are uncertain.” 1/22 CHRONOGRAM WEDDINGS 39
High School for Two Years, Then College, Early. Accepting applications for Spring 2022 & Fall 2022 semesters.
84 ALFORD ROAD | GREAT BARRINGTON, MA
Bard Academy at Simon’s Rock is the nation’s first two-year high school. Students pursue an intensive curriculum in 9th and 10th grades and then begin college early at Bard College at Simon’s Rock.
Our teachers inspire independent and insightful thinking, empathy for all and a love of meaningful work. OPEN ENROLLMENT TUITION ASSISTANCE
OUR CURRICULUM FOCUSES ON DEVELOPING CAPACITIES FOR CREATIVITY, RESILIENCE, INNOVATIVE
Call us today for a conversation 845-255-0033
MountainLaurel.org • 16 South Chestnut Street, New Paltz, NY
THINKING, AND SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE.
The Quarterly Magazine of Inspired Homes Subscribe today
33 0 C O U N T Y R O U T E 2 1 C , G H E N T, N Y 12075 H AW T H O R N E VA L L E Y S C H O O L .O R G | 51 8.672 . 7092 X 111 C A L L T O L E A R N M O R E | A S K A B O U T T U I T I O N A S S I S TA N C E 40 EDUCATION CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Only $5 per single-issue or $18 for a one year subscription! chronogrammedia.com/subscribe
education
Bridging the Gap RETHINKING PATHWAYS TO COLLEGE By Anne Pyburn Craig
C
ollectively and individually, surviving and thriving depends on education that equips a person to find a rewarding niche. Throughout the 20th century, “higher education” generally meant at least a fouryear degree in the liberal arts or sciences, undertaken immediately following high school. That paradigm is seriously frayed. About 40 percent of students who enroll in college never graduate. And public confidence in the benefits of higher education has slipped, with Pew Research poll finding that 38 percent feel that colleges and universities have a negative effect on how things are going, up 12 percentage points in just seven years. Meanwhile, a flawed student loan system has fueled rising tuition costs and saddled individuals with massive debt that can’t be discharged even in bankruptcy. Hudson Valley educators administrators are acutely aware of the crisis and have been taking steps to address its component parts. That was the impetus for “Rethinking College,” a virtual conference hosted last month by Bard Early College that saw two high school age dualtrack students from New York moderating a discussion with Roberto J. Rodriguez, assistant
secretary of planning, evaluation, and policy development at the Department of Education, and Kevin Carey, vice president for education policy and knowledge management at the think tank New America. What emerged was that fledgling adults are far more capable than the old paradigm gives them credit for—but that they are in dire need of opportunity girded with support. Head Start Bard’s Early College Program, begun with the founding of a private residential outpost in 1979 and more fully articulated in president Leon Botstein’s 1997 book Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture, took a quantum leap at the turn of the century, when the school embarked on the creation of a public multisite early college network. Two decades later, there are seven tuition-free satellite campuses co-located with high schools in Manhattan, Queens, Newark, New Orleans, Cleveland, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. Students—most of them low-income, about 75 percent students of color, and about half the first in their family to attend college—can graduate with 60 college credits and an AA
degree. A related program, the Bard Sequence, partners with 14 districts through local Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) to offer tailored opportunities for college-level learning and credits. Traditional colleges need to do a better job at supporting students as they transition into adult learning, says Carey. “The industry tends to be focused on throughput and enrollment and not accountable for the quality of education or successful graduation into careers. Some go to college and end up worse off. We need to refocus on what students need, which is almost as varied as the human condition.” Educators agree that an opportunity to pursue college or other career-focused options should be offered in the mid-teens or even earlier, and that connectivity between secondary and post-secondary education is lacking. In the traditional US system, Carey notes, the two levels are “funded and governed in completely different ways and beyond that there is a completely different collective perspective about the balance of responsibilities between student and institution—it’s created a chasm with a rickety bridge between what should really be close together,” says Carey. 1/22 CHRONOGRAM EDUCATION 41
“The whole concept of preparing for life needs to begin much earlier, with secondary and even childhood educators introducing a panoply of ways for students to enhance their wellbeing and eventual livelihood.” —Elizabeth Bradley, Vassar College President
42 EDUCATION CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Life Prep Other private colleges in the Hudson Valley are actively involved in trying to replace that rickety bridge with a smooth, well-paved span. Marist offers an award-winning summer precollege in which high schoolers can delve into one of 13 courses for three weeks, earning early credits while getting a taste of what the experience entails. Vassar offers the Exploring College program, in which high school students—most of them from neighboring public schools in Poughkeepsie —can access readiness workshops, tutoring, and communitybuilding activities, along with a three-week summer intensive. “We’re lucky to have a lot of great transitional programming, and Exploring College offers students a chance to see what studying with a professor is like and get motivated, see a pathway,” says Vassar College President Elizabeth Bradley. “But the whole concept of preparing for life needs to begin much earlier, with secondary and even childhood educators introducing a panoply of ways for students to enhance their wellbeing and eventual livelihood. Boot camps, vocational programs—a great diversity of offerings helps decrease high school dropout rates along with better preparing learners for the next stage of life.” BOCES has been offering teenagers a chance to dive into the waters of career preparation for over 70 years, offering shared services to school districts to help meet educational and financial goals that would be difficult alone. “We offer 26 career and technical concentrations at our Port Ewen center, everything from aviation and computer tech to animal science and fashion design, and our goal is to inspire and train employable, good people, as well as to become an economic engine so that grads have a direct, reliable pipeline to skilled trades and jobs that are actually available,” says Peter Harris, Director of learning and design for the Career Pathways Programs of Ulster County BOCES. “Right now we have a group of six kids—we call them young professionals—making very strong salaries installing split heat pumps, using what they’ve learned in our HVAC and electrical programs. Oh, and they’re employed by a program graduate.” Harris says that career and technical education programs still meet with some resistance, even though it’s clear that getting excited about the future can help keep a student around long enough to earn a Regents diploma that will allow them to pursue whatever option they may ultimately explore. “We want to make sure kids have relevant internships and externships; with our capstone program, no student finishes senior year without having had some industry exposure,” he says. “You would think that would be standard everywhere, but educators tend to hold classroom time as sacred. We’re trying to break that mold and get them out there, where they can grab onto something.” Like Bradley, Harris would like to see hands-on preparation for the real world start a lot younger. “In sixth grade home and careers classes, we give kids a vocational interest
survey—I think my child’s results were artist and surgeon,” he says. “But then they spend years of classroom time unable to explore what their results might actually mean. Kids are capable of so much more than they are allowed to do, and I believe much earlier exposure to career and technical education would be very productive.” Student Support Is Crucial Soft skills—personal basics that make it possible to function no matter what path they choose—can be a natural byproduct of earlier exposure to the chance to delve into one’s passion, be it academic or technical or both. That side effect, combined with greater awareness of social and emotional learning needs, makes the rickety bridge easier to traverse. As things stand now, many students enter college lacking crucial skills like time management. “Colleges do a great job of recruiting, but not so well in terms of scaffolding support,” Rodriguez told the Bard conference, saying that although he’d been lucky enough to be well prepared, his classmates at the University of Michigan often floundered when exposed to large lecture courses, unsupervised study routines, and the need to make curriculum choices all at once. “Student support needs to be prioritized not just in earning credits but in maintaining day-to-day mental and psychosocial health.” Almost 40 percent of those who drop out of college do so for financial reasons. Programs offering dual credit address part of the problem, but needs-based Pell grants, which covered over 75 percent of the cost of public college attendance in the 1970s, now cover less than 30 percent. The guaranteed student loan industry, intended as a supplement to work-study, grants and scholarships, has been stricken with the illness of predatory capitalism. Private colleges are battling the affordability issue on a number of fronts at once. In an email, Marist College President Kevin Weinman outlined a strategy of commitment to need-based support: managing funding allocations to address that commitment, finding diverse and robust funding sources, and managing costs; that support, he points out, needs to cover expenses for study abroad, internships, tutoring and other vital components. Weinman and his wife just announced their own $250,000 gift to the school, earmarked for access and equity initiatives. But no one family or institution can fix the mess alone and make higher education what it should be: a broad highway to fulfillment and self-sufficiency with an on-ramp for everyone. “We need to remember that our public education system was designed by a committee of 10 people in the 1890s, with the goal of US dominance in economics and warfare,” says Harris, “and a lot of rote learning built in. Today’s teens are likely to change what they do seven times during their working lives, and we desperately need vibrant, viable options that enhance their process of becoming who they are.”
M
I TY G
R ANT P
RO
G
SPONSORED
M
CO
UN
RA
M
partner ChronogramMedia 2021
Celebrate Local Business Chronogram Media is supporting over 80 nonprofit organizations and BIPOC and Women-Owned businesses through our Community Grants Program, providing them with discounted and complimentary advertising. Each month we’re highlighting our partners in our pages and we invite you to join us in supporting them!
ARTIST PORTRAITS BY ANDRE Immortalizing your love and your loved ones by providing custom art portraits to the Hudson Valley and beyond. Portrait.am
HOPE WADE DESIGNS To enhance the look of the woman with creativity and the best fashion designs, while giving back to the community so we all can evolve. Hopewadedesigns.com
THE TEA EXPERIENCE A themed-party catering company with leading tea experts providing customer-focused, creative, and quality service to catered and online customers. Theteaexperienceny.com
TOOL FACTORY OUTLET For 36 years, we have been serving the tri-state area’s finest construction trades, homeowners, and do-ityourselfers with the tools and products needed to get the job done right. Toolfactoryoutlet.com
Follow us on social media for updates about our Community Grant Program participants.
The Community Grant program is accepting applications from BIPOC-owned businesses. Apply online. Chronogrammedia.com/community-grant-program 1/22 CHRONOGRAM EDUCATION 43
community pages
BUSTLE IN THE BERKSHIRES Great Barrington
By Jamie Larson Photos by David McIntyre
G
reat Barrington is evolving. A wave of new residents, fleeing New York City during the pandemic, has filled the Berkshires and pumped new life and money into the town, defined by its boutique shopping district, artistic focus, quality restaurants, outdoor activities, and multiple recreational cannabis dispensaries that have opened in the past three years. Now that the migration is settling down a bit, community stakeholders are taking stock of the new economic landscape and looking to the future. Storefront Musical Chairs “So much was the same for 25 years,” says Betsy Andrus, Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce Executive Director. “Now, along with the retailers and restaurants there’s art and clothing and all kinds of shops. It’s become much more diverse. It has been a huge game of musical chairs that’s really mixed things up and put stores in the right locations.” Griffin, a popular clothing store that outgrew its original storefront has now moved to Church Street Trading Co.’s high-traffic location on Railroad Street. Griffin’s old spot is the perfect cozy corner for the new Familiar Trees bookstore. Artemesia moved from the top of Railroad Street into what was the old Chef ’s Shop, which has a much better window for its clothing displays. Into the funky, cabin-like 44 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 1/22
building where Artemesia was, Michael Wainright USA is now selling its ceramics, tableware, glassware, art, and furniture. More galleries seem to be popping up every day as well, like Bernay Fine Art, Carrie Chen Gallery, and Robert Lloyd Gallery, which is dedicated to antique barware and illustration art. This diversification of the business district has also spurred what Andrus calls, “a return to the arts.” The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center has been a stalwart anchor for the established arts district and continues to be the town’s creative heart, returning to live performances last August. Along with the Daniel Art Center at Simon’s Rock, the Mahaiwe has reopened its doors with public safety at the forefront of its mission, requiring masks and proof of vaccination. “The most important thing we did was listen to our audience,” says Mahaiwe Executive Director Janis Martinson. “People are deeply grateful to be back in the theater. At first we were worried that people wouldn’t want to wait through all the COVID protocols, but they are really just happy that it allows them to be back in the presence of great art again.” Last year also saw the inaugural Berkshire Busk festival, which brought thousands to town-wide, outdoor arts and music events over the course of 10 weeks. A 2022 sequel is in the works next summer.
Stephen Rudy of Familiar Trees bookstore with a haul of art books. Opposite, from top: Tiffany Riva, development director at Railroas Street Youth Project. Laura Chester tries on some new arrivals at Karen Allen Fiber Arts.
1/22 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 45
The staff of the Guthrie Center—Annie Guthrie, Mo Guthrie, Rebecca Smith, and George Laye— in front of the church made famous in Arlo Guthrie’s song “Alice’s Restaurant.”
46 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Owner Gary Happ behind the bar at Barrington Brewery.
The Berkshire Food Co-op has served the Great Barrington community since 1981.
1/22 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 47
Great Food with Fewer to Serve it Restaurants in town, like the Prairie Whale, Bizen, Cafe Adam, and Barrington Brewery, among others, have survived uncertain times by adapting to takeout menus and increased precautions. While these places have powered through the pandemic era with good business and lots of support, staffing shortages have been the problem for every establishment. During the pandemic, Rubiner’s Cheesemongers and Grocers owner Matthew Rubiner closed the previously bustling cafe attached to the back of the specialty foods store. According to Rubiner, the changing protocols made consistent operations impossible. Now the staffing shortage is making it equally difficult to reopen. “We are working to reopen the cafe and we are not seeing a lot of applications,” Rubiner says. “Soon we will be ready to open but will still need a fully trained staff.” Luckily, he says, the influx of affluent new residents has been great for the cheese shop. “The rush of people moving up here has had a fairly profound impact on our business,” Rubiner says. “It’s very important to my business that Great Barrington develops in a way that supports my specific clientele. But there is a downside—taxes and housing—you worry if too much development will detract from the nature of the Berkshires that drew people here in the first place.” 48 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 1/22
One of the newest businesses drawn to town is Pixie Boulangerie, a European-style bakery that is selling out of its array of bread, pastries, and desserts on a daily basis. Swiss-born owner Patrizia Barbagallo moved from Westchester to Great Barrington during the pandemic. The former French teacher embraced her life-long love of baking and, so far, the risk has brought reward. “It was a little bold to not start out at farmers’ markets and just open a bakery,” Barbagallo says. “But I’m very happy with the location and we have been really blessed with the community.” The bakery is the latest resident in the Flying Church, a multiuse venue inside a restored, and dramatically raised, historic church at the north end of Main Street. While it hasn’t yet filled its main 5,000-square-foot hall, Pixie Boulangerie and other small shops in the building are drawing visitors up to Great Barrington’s north end. “The bakery is killing it,” says Paul Joffe, who owns the Flying Church and runs the coffee shop next door. “There’s a certain amount of uncertainty with everything, which makes it difficult to take a bet on opening a store or renovating a building. You don’t know what the next year will bring, but we are always optimistic.”
David Bruno, owner of Départ Wines and Spirits on Railroad Street. Opposite, from top: Carrie Chen in front of paintings by Ginnie Gardiner in the Carrie Chen Gallery. Alexander Farnsworth inside the showroom of the Farnsworth Fine Cannabis dispensary.
1/22 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 49
s r e e ch 2022 to
with champagne and sparkling tea from your local Co-op.
www.berkshire.coop | (413) 528-9697 | 34 Bridge St. Great Barrington
Waldorf Education in the Berkshires
Wingate ltd. creating exquisitely beautiful spaces both inside and out.
In-person learning. Outdoor classrooms. Love school! Applications now open berkshirewaldorfschool.org Toddler-Grade 8 | Great Barrington, MA 50 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Interior Design • Landscape Architecture • Design/Build Jenifer House Commons, Great Barrington, MA • wingateltd.com 413-644-9960 • Open daily 10 - 5
Pot Is the Plot With everything that’s changed here, one cannot overlook the fact that Great Barrington has also developed into a destination as the Southern Massachusetts hub for recreational marijuana dispensaries. While New York rolls out its own legal cannabis infrastructure at a snail’s pace, Great Barrington is the closest place for Hudson Valley residents to purchase weed east of the border. There are now four dispensaries in town. The oldest and biggest player is Theory Wellness, which benefits from name recognition, multiple locations throughout the state, and corporate structure. The standalone independent shops have become increasingly creative in an attempt to stand out. Rebelle, south of the town center, has become as much a lifestyle brand as a dispensary, operating out of a building that looks more like a quaint Berkshire home than a store. At Calyx, owner Donna Norman has tried to infuse her dispensary in the middle of Main Street with hometown charm, employing cafestyle chalkboard menus and a big bud mural by a local artist Joel Haynes. The effect is casual and disarming. “Opening at the height of the pandemic was really scary. We were really mindful that we wanted to make customers feel safe and cared for,” says Norman. “Our goal is to do what we can to help and to be a big part of the community.” Recently the ladies from “The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip,” filmed a segment in Calyx that will air later this year. While Norman says the experience and exposure was fun and exciting, it was also very meaningful to have such a well-known show not just promote her shop but also normalize recreational cannabis on a national platform. Up the road, the newest player in town, Farnsworth Fine Cannabis, is run by brothers Alexander and Brayden Farnsworth, fashion and design industry professionals. They conceived their store with luxury in mind and vintage design elements that evoke the visual language of their great, great uncle, Philo Farnsworth. In the 1920s, the elder Farnsworth invented key components of the first electric tube television and crafted many of the designs that defined the look of radios and TVs in the early and mid 20th century. The dispensary showroom is a kaleidoscopic arcade of miniature archways, framing shelf after shelf of product, paraphernalia, and antique Farnsworth ephemera. “Because a lot of cannabis products are quite small, the arches gave us a frame but also a focus. You are in an inverted square coliseum,” says Alexander Farnsworth of their design intent. “The majority of the customers get it. Some people say it’s the nicest store they’ve been into in there entire lives. Some say it’s intimidating. Our prices are similar to everywhere else. We just look the most expensive.”
Bill Talbott, owner of Asia Barong, with one of the thousands of imported items at his emporium. 1/22 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 51
Dr. Adrian Elliot, Chief of Emergency Department, with Ashley Saunders, Physicians Assistant.
award-winning
Your community ^ hospital is here for you. 29 Lewis Ave., Great Barrington, MA berkshirehealthsystems.org
medicare.gov
VIRTUAL EVENT
The Climate Act: Tackling the Hard Parts January 20, 4:30-5:30pm, moderated by Lissa Harris Celebrating the launch of the latest issue of the Clean Power Guide and a look at the practical implications of implementing New York’s Climate Leadership and Protection Act. Brought to you by Chronogram Conversations and Sustainable Hudson Valley.
Registration is required: Chronogram.com/conversations WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Receive the Climate Lab newsletter, covering solutions for regional climate impact, when you become a member of our award-winning online news magazine, The River Newsroom.
Stay smart. Join us in the lab. therivernewsroom.com
52 COMMUNITY PAGES CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Metro Expats Bring New Opportunities and New Problems to Town Great Barrington’s growing business district, historic charm, and bucolic countryside proved to be a major draw for New Yorkers evacuating the city during the height of the pandemic, especially those with young families. Real estate agents were bombarded with requests and houses sold the same day they went on the market, for amounts well above prepandemic rates. Tim Lovett of Berkshire Property Agents says that the run on housing was “epic” and was driven mostly by couples in their 30s, with kids, who can now work remotely. Average residential sale price in 2020 rose 24 percent compared to 2019, and rose an additional 20 percent in 2021, according to the most recent Berkshire Realtors’ Berkshire Market Watch Report (based on third quarter figures). This is the highest percentage increase ever reported in the region and has been encouraging to stakeholders looking to grow the community and school district. “There’s a new energy and a new population that I don’t think will go back, thanks in large part to remote working,” Lovett says. “It’s a sea change. This migration has been a rejuvenation of the brand of the Berkshires.” But rising tides don’t raise sinking ships, and increased housing costs have created a crisis, according to Brad Gordon, Executive Director of the Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority, which works to help address housing issues across the county, helping with landlord disputes, rent inflation, low income housing development and a myriad of other issues. “Back in the recession a lot of people went from home owners to renters across the county. New market economics caused rent prices to rise,” Gordon says, adding that around Great Barrington second home ownership and the COVID migration has taken a huge bite out of what little affordable inventory existed. Stimulus programs to freeze evictions and foreclosures have kept families in their homes for now, but Gordon expects to see homeless numbers rise dramatically later this year as those stopgaps expire.
The staff of the Mahaiwe inside the historic theater: Box Office Manager Jon Riedeman, Executive Director Janis Martinson, Assistant Production Manager Alexa Zanikos, Marketing Manager Gabe Napoleon. Opposite: Willow Trial at Monument Mountain, a 500-acre reservation in Great Barrington.
“People can’t afford to live in the community they work in. I cannot think of any issue that will be more economically stifling than that.” Gordon says. “There needs to be a laser-like focus on this. It is an emergency situation. There is a direct relationship between price increases and homelessness. But it’s not just homelessness. Chronic housing instability is incredibly destabilizing for families. We need to get upstream of these problems.” The good news, Gordon says, is that for the first time, this issue is on the front of everyone’s minds. There is support countywide for increasing housing inventory across multiple price points utilizing new construction, reuse, and zoning reform. “‘Affordable housing,’ as a phrase, is loaded,” he says. “What we are really talking about is decent housing relative to your income. People hear affordable housing and they think people are coming in to their community from the outside—which itself shouldn’t be problematic—but it’s actually giving people a place to live who work here and were raised here.” In addition to nonprofits that help folks with housing directly Great Barrington is home to a number of active nonprofits that make daily positive impact. The Berkshire Community Action Council, based in Great Barrington, helps residents with fuel costs, which are way up this winter. They provide children free jackets and boots and run public classes on finances,
and other community safety net programs. The Railroad Street Youth Project is another organization where young people plan and execute their own community programs, with adult staff only serving to administrate and procure funding. “The community has been supportive through the pandemic and the students have done great work to support each other,” said RSYP Director of Development Tiffany Riva. “Our model is unique and the youth leadership are invested. I think it’s because of that investment we have remained so active during COVID.” Gordon says that Great Barrington’s community, organizations, and government should be commended for doing what they’ve done so far to support a safe and equitable municipality but added bluntly that it’s not enough. “In many ways, Great Barrington was ahead of the game in looking seriously at this issue and in providing things like accessory apartments,” he said. “But I don’t want to see them be satisfied. We can’t pat ourselves on the back and say we’ve done enough. We can do more.” Many towns throughout the Berkshires and Hudson Valley share the opportunities and issues facing Great Barrington caused by the COVID migration. That this town, its business owners and residents, are thinking holistically about how to include all residents in its success will be key in dictating just how great it will become. 1/22 CHRONOGRAM COMMUNITY PAGES 53
music Sarah Perrotta Blue to Gold
(Third Star Records) In Kingston singer-songwriter/keyboardist Sarah Perrotta’s imagination, strange worlds converge, doors open to rooms that are not there, people come and go in circles and waves. Perrotta’s overriding subject is the liminal space between nature and passion, reason and mysticism, explored in nine gorgeous songs on her new album that, while harking back to the heyday of the Lilith Fair aesthetic, conjures a very contemporary fever dream. Perrotta’s considerable vocal instrument—boasting an awesome range and a natural vibrato—soars above the impeccable instrumental arrangements she designed with producer/drummer Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel, Indigo Girls). Recorded in Woodstock at Dreamland and Jersville studios, the album features a stupid amount of superstar talent: Sarah McLachlan guitarist Bill Dillon (Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson) contributes George Harrison-like slide guitar to “Echo of Joy”; longtime Suzanne Vega sideman Marc Shulman adds evocative twang to Perrotta’s sensual “Firestorm”; and Sara Lee (Gang of Four, B-52s) and Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) keep things funky on bass. The melody of the radio-ready “Heartbeat” hints at Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” and features evocative organ by Daniel Weiss and textured acoustic guitar by Peter Calo. The concluding track, “Circles,” features a melody reminiscent of Radiohead, opening with a simple piano figure played by Perrotta and a gorgeous outro of lush Minimalism that sounds like the Roches singing Philip Glass. Blue to Gold should appeal to fans of all those associated performers along with Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, Aimee Mann, and Paula Cole. Perrotta will perform at the Falcon in Marlboro on January 6. —Seth Rogovoy
sound check Spike Priggen Each month here we visit with a member of the community to find out what music they’ve been digging.
Spike Priggen is the owner and manager of Spike’s Record Rack in Catskill and the host of WXGC’s “The Bedazzled Radio Hour” on Wednesdays from noon to 2pm. Season two of the “Cocaine & Rhinestones” podcast has me pretty obsessed over George Jones AKA “Mr. Country and Western Music.” His first album for Musicor records, is a particular standout. Elton John recently released a record for Record Store Day called Regimental Sgt. Zippo. It was supposed to be his debut in 1967 but was never released—some pretty amazing psychedelic pop music. It kind of reminds me of XTC’s side project, the Dukes of the Stratosphere—except it’s not a parody! I recently purchased a beautiful copy of the Move’s UK debut LP on the Regal Zonophone label that I’m enjoying the hell out of. I’ve also been listening to Freedy Johnston’s This Perfect World, which was issued on vinyl for the first time in 2018. Lots of great guitar playing from Marc Ribot, Mark Spencer, Kevin Salem, and Dave Schramm. Margo Guryan, who, sadly, passed away last November, has been in heavy rotation at my house and in the store. I’ve been listening to both her Take a Picture LP and the 29 Demos release on the Modern Harmonic label.
54 MUSIC CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Marc Black
Sara Milonovich & Daisycutter
(Suma Records)
(Independent)
Songwriter Marc Black has been a Woodstock area stalwart—heck, legend—for decades, and his latest 11-track disc, Everybody Wants My Hat, from the finger-snapping opening title track to the closing chill jazziness of “This World of Mine,” is further evidence why. Short, sweet songs; deep, snug hooks; funky sounds (dig the kazoo on “Tears of Joy”); a perfect Catskills mix of electric and acoustic tones; what more does a listener want? Black, inspired by the twin forces of a visit to Berlin and the conundrum of COVID-19, deftly summons up a mix of John Sebastian and Bobby Charles in a hipster blend measured by an admittedly older, more traditional yardstick. But it works, whether in the tinges of gospel in “Drum of Peace” (cowritten with Jennifer Condos) or in the truthful eeriness of “I Write My Name.” There’s a reason, as Black intones early on, that everybody wants his hat. —Michael Eck
Sara Milonovich’s Northeast throws down the country gauntlet, representing a rural heartache to rival any Nashvillian, sad-luck troubadour. These are tales of the north country hinterlands that seem to forever maintain the status of soon-to-be ghost towns—the blue-collar farming communities suffering the hard life in dogged perseverance. The songs portray the anguish gracefully, channeling the personal experiences of Milonovich’s youth. The Beacon-area musician harnesses the weight of honest gravity and combines it with an ever-hopeful, yet unrequited yearning. In this time of the great divide, her tenderness gifts us the treasure of compassion ultimately leading to empathy. The musicianship is superb, and, somewhat ironically, joyfully free. The voices haunt melodic fiddles as they swirl in smoke. The pluck and twill of strings weave around the beat as it barrels into the tragic and beautiful crush of human frailty. A worthy companion as you ride past the roots and dreams of America.
Everybody Wants My Hat
Northeast
—Jason Broome
books The Missing Hours Julia Dahl MACMILLAN, $25.99, 2021
From Julia Dahl, Cornwall resident, former New York Post reporter, and author of Invisible City and Conviction, a novel about obsession, privilege, and the explosive consequences of one violent act. From a distance, Claudia Castro has it all: a famous family, a trust fund, thousands of Instagram followers, and a spot in NYU’s freshman class. But look closer, and things are messier: Her parents are separating, she’s just been humiliated by a sleazy documentary, and her sister is about to have a baby with a man she barely knows. When Claudia goes missing, the whole city begins to peer behind the facade.
The Jazz Masters: Setting the Record Straight Peter C. Zimmerman UNIVERSITY PRESS OF MISSISSIPPI, $25, 2021
Part of the American Made Music series, The Jazz Masters features 21 conversations with musicians who have had at least 50 years of professional experience, and several as many as 75. Older musicians started their careers during the segregation of the Jim Crow era, while the youngest came up during the struggle for civil rights. Appealing to casual fans and jazz aficionados alike, these interviews have been carefully, but minimally edited by Saugerties resident Peter Zimmerman for sense and clarity, without changing any of the musicians’ actual words. This is valuable primary material for academics and jazz fans alike.
Tracking Wonder Jeffrey Davis 2021, $25.99, SOUNDS TRUE
“Wonder is a quiet disrupter of unseen biases. It dissolves our habitual ways of seeing and thinking so that we may glimpse anew the beauty of what is real, true, and possible,” writes High Falls-based writer and consultant Jeffrey Davis in his manual for experiencing greater joy. Subtitled “Reclaiming a Life of Meaning and Possibility in a World Obsessed with Productivity,” Davis offers a refreshing counter-narrative to our culture’s hyper-productivity problem. Through inspiring stories from exemplary folks like surfer Bethany Hamilton, the wisdom of the ages, and practical tools, Davis invites readers to cultivate the lost art of wonder.
Boychik Laurie Boris 2021, $14.99, INDEPENDENT
Williamsburg, 1932. Teenager Eli Abramowitz works in his parents’ deli. His family is his whole world—almost. He spends every Sunday at the movies and hopes to hit it big as a Hollywood screenwriter. But how can he tell his parents that one day he’ll be leaving? Laurie Boris, an Ulster Park resident, spins a yarn that connects the ambitious Eli with Evelyn Rosenstein, whose father works for the mob. Even though her parents have chosen a husband for her, she fantasizes about a life in service to the unfortunate. When Evelyn and Eli meet, only briefly, their instant connection tempts an unlikely, forbidden romance.
Dragon Rock at Manitoga Jennifer Golub 2022, $60, PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS
In this lavish volume, Golub tells the story of modernist designers Russel and Mary Wright and their collaboration to transform their Hudson Valley estate, Dragon Rock at Manitoga, into an artistic haven. Although best known for American Modern dinnerware, the Wrights rejected rigid modernism for a life that invited ambiguity. The book is filled with personal histories and over 100 photographs, synthesizing multiple archives and charting the innovation of their design practice, their lives, and the development of their Dragon Rock home and the woodland paths of Manitoga. The grounds are open for public tours year-round.
Our Country Friends Gary Shteyngart
Random House, 2021, $23.49 Soviet-born American satirist and best-selling author Gary Shteyngart’s (Super Sad True Love Story) new novel is one of the first works of literary fiction to tackle the social, psychological, cultural, and emotional impact of the pandemic that we are all still living in. In the spring of 2020, Russian-Jewish immigrant writer Alexander “Sasha” Senderovsky had the perfect plan to get through the pandemic: invite a small, curated group of friends to the country house that he shares with his Russian-born, psychiatrist wife Masha, and their quirky, adopted, daughter Nat, who’s obsessed with K-pop. Where better to escape the terrifying, menacing grip that COVID had on New York City? Where better to reconnect, rekindle, and reflect upon the paths their lives have taken them on and to ponder or even act upon their desires? What unfolds however, is much more than a plague narrative as love, sex, immigration, betrayal, racism, stalking, Japanese reality TV, nature, celebrity, and Russian writers (Chekhov in particular) interweave in the relations of the assembled guests. Set in the bucolic splendor of the Hudson Valley (where Shteyngart also maintains a residence), the main house, where Sasha and his family live, is affectionately known as the “House on the Hill” and is surrounded by a crescent of five, small utilitarian bungalows referred to as “the colony.” It’s a “dacha of his own” that Sasha hoped “would create the feel of a tidy European village, one that would have never welcomed his ancestors.” The invited guests include two of Sasha’s high school friends, Vinod Metha, once an aspiring writer and a “former adjunct professor and current kitchen boy” and Karen Cho, a tech entrepreneur made wealthy through her wildly popular and somewhat controversial dating app, Troo Emotions. Their complicated relationship history coupled with Vinod’s partial loss of a lung to cancer, makes their time at the colony an opportunity for them to reconnect and to soothe the pain of Vinod’s unrequited love. Also in the mix is Dee Cameron, a pretty, young, slightly right-leaning writer and former student of Sasha’s whose recent book of essays, The Grand Book of Self-Compromise and Surrender, has garnered her some critical acclaim. Another guest, Ed Cho, who is slightly related to Karen through a dissipated ancestor back in Seoul, is a wealthy, world-travelling businessman. Masha, viewing Ed and her husband arrive at the house from the train station, is reminded of how much Ed reminds her of Sasha’s parents. “Talking with them was like dealing with a smiling adversary who kept a handful of poisoned toothpicks in his pocket. Every time you let your guard down, there would be a sharp prick to your haunches.” Last, but not least, is “the Actor,” a movie star and the executive director of a screenplay for a series that Sasha has written. The Actor has refused to sign off on the script, however, because, according to Sasha, “He doesn’t want it to be funny. He wants The Odyssey.” Sasha, once quite a successful writer, is now nearly broke with a lot of bills to pay to the locals (many in red caps) who help with the maintenance and upkeep, and is feeling a bit desperate regarding his finances. His hope (and ulterior motive for inviting him) is that the Actor’s time at the colony will allow them to finalize the script and that money will follow. The first night the group is together—at a socially distant dinner on the front porch— Karen is asked to demonstrate Troo Emotions. The app claims to have the ability to detect the presence or absence of authentic love between people using a proprietary algorithm’s analysis of a single photo: working by tricking users into projecting a lost part of themselves onto another person and calling that “love.” The Actor and Dee agree to look into each other’s eyes to be photographed, opening a Pandora’s box of complicated emotions for all parties involved. Looking at the photo, the Actor sees that “the smiling man in front of him was who he needed to be, the final version, the finished version, and this woman, holding the phone in front of him with her defiant strawberry blonde cowlick and unplucked brows, was who allowed him to ascend the stage.” He is smitten and so is she. Their relationship becomes a major social media event and just as quickly disintegrates in a Twitter-driven hate campaign that mocks them as the “first couple of quarantine.” By the end of the six months at the colony, Shteyngart’s imperfect characters, through their interactions, flirtations, and betrayals with one another, have all learned lessons in humility, empathy, compassion, and grief. The heart of this engaging and humorous tragicomedy is the importance of friendship and family and how we create, mend, wound, and heal those we love the most. —Jane Kinney Denning
1/22 CHRONOGRAM BOOKS 55
poetry
EDITED BY Phillip X Levine
The Secrets of the Universe
Fish Guys
Poets don’t make good outfielders.
I stole a glass at Fremont Brewery but it’s patroned by Jeff Bezos so I didn’t feel that bad.
In little league I would hold the Borderlands of the game like A dandelion weed that the groundskeepers missed, Ready to blow away with any errant gust of wind.
In the car I treegazed, glass-eyed. My friends said let’s buy salmon, from somewhere Not Pike Place.
One time, Charlie and I wandered away completely, Pursuing some ineffable archaeology in the next park over Before my father corralled us back like Loose hens in the barnyard.
And in the corner of Not Pike Place, a shop that barely fit its line, a man impersonated Elvis.
Poets are often lost because they see Many worlds latticed together in quantum superposition Like Hart Crane, with his lone jeweled eye, A “glowing orb of praise,”
We had decisions to make— which fish and how much fish— while Elvis sang Sweet Caroline too loud for us to hear each other.
Fixated on some obscure heaven He struggled to recollect to his hell on earth.
We sang along when he pointed to us, interrupting our deliberation, so we could emulate the horn section, a little miffed when we remembered
Or PK Dick, who saw a double exposure of 70 AD Rome over 1974 Santa Ana Because the Empire never ended.
that Elvis never sang that song. We grilled the fish on cedar planks because that’s authentic.
Poets are the schizoid private investigators Out to expose the many nefarious crimes Of the Demiurge.
—Tim Knapp
Filling overstuffed filing cabinets with documents and evidence Going all the way back to when the Archons first created History And dressed it up as Time. How do you find the secrets of the universe? Go down to the River and listen To the 10-dimensional symphony playing On unimaginably tiny loops of string That a consciousness like ours emerges from As so many varied leitmotifs. The sound of riverwater called forth by gravity, Like quiet thunder, Is the growl of a faraway god And lost words, Aching to be heard. —Quentin Mahoney
Egg Sandwich He handed me a sandwich, small and loosely wrapped like a truffle, twisted top and silver foil glinting. I like perfect toast—soft and crispy, with a few chosen edges charred. Weakened by butter, inspired by pepper, and comforted by the fluff and fold of egg.
Was it the savory confection that nourished me really? Or was it the unguarded tear in the eye of this stranger not so strange, a crumb of connection leavened by human love. Full submission guidelines: Chronogram.com/submissions 56 POETRY CHRONOGRAM 1/22
—Anna Keville Joyce
With Mountains Like These and not a breath in sight, I am never really alone. I pulled over and turned the ignition, leaving the car stranded on the shoulder. With crisp leaves, breathing in the breeze, I am not alone. I have the company I wish to keep. No more, no less. The road behind me disappearing, the trail ahead widening, no longer such a steep climb. I feel my least lonely when I am most alone. —Taylor Steinberg
But Essence But essence often rises to the lips— And this I find impossible to miss —Christopher Porpora
Surviving Auschwitz First, take away all of the grass. Eat every blade as they did. Spit out only mud. Pull up all the poplars, pines and birches By their bloodied roots. If a tree is old enough Strip its branches, Of anything like life. No sound as wind Passes through it. A skeleton against the sky. Return the throngs of students Who enter jostling and teasing, Their faces mirroring their phones, Their hearts numb with noise, To the uneasy wombs From which they sprung. Take the reeds from the ash pond And all the tossed flowers And that goose pimpled water too. An ash pit is what it is, The earlier souls caked and crusty, The latest dusting away Towards the wire. No pictures allowed. Pull them down from the walls In that lonely building Where the lucky ones Come to lose their names And gain the tattoos That will remind them Of who they really are. Rebuild the nearby barracks that Hold all the keepsakes— Not the most valuable ones Already stolen by The skilled and the greedy—
A Woman of Three Ways But the many useful things, Shawls and pots, fur and leather, That can be repurposed By the strong hands of German women In this terrible time of scarcity. Banish the emptiness and the quiet, And the red deer leaping over Burnt bricks And the birds Nesting above the ditches. Make it all noise All dogs and men Snarling and barking. Fill the empty towers With the bewildered And the cruel Who clutch their whips and guns And pretend not to see. Do nothing to the crematoriums. Leave them Caved in ruins Breathe in the stench Of panic, of bodies drenched in the sweat Vomit and fear That will never go away. And then, at last, If you decide to survive Auschwitz Put it all back Everything To the way it is now. Sit alone on the selection platform And chant their names and ages Slowly, day after day, Knowing Their names are being carried By these winds To all the realms. —Kemp Battle
Postcolonial Bed-Stuy This is the place: a stretch of rubberized flat roofs among which the occasional broken geranium pot familiarly surfaces. Between the asphalt-shingle temples, the hipstershabby art galleries and the dignified projects runs the road, guarded by the reliable China-berry trees and wild Lilacs [the only native plants left are overgrown Redbuds]. In the opposite direction, the immutable Crown Heights plain stretching down to the whiteness of the south sea. On the west, the tortuous London Plane trees of the Hill of Clinton try to surround the brownstones, then suddenly stop short, refuse such a role and, turning back to the east, run past the sinister Myrtle Avenue—so despised by Henry Miller—and get lost in the River.... And yet the London Planes are beautiful enough when they come rushing down from the Bushwick highlands in the east. —Diego Antoni
Her body looms tall thin college age glass Character in a body of left frames Inside body the line a see-through hint Napkins get wet body sweat and sand He speed bumped hard over her A broad body of water and marriage Small branched blond hair body arms and one leg Her thin railing body gave way to divorce Body pedestal bed other language Later she will bend down in ballet soft foam —Vanessa Smith Sonnet of the Blackbird The eye of the blackbird in which there are three blackbirds. In the autumn winds, whirled the blackbird. One? A man and a woman and a blackbird. The just-after blackbird? Or the whistling blackbird? The shadow of an indecipherable blackbird. Haddam’s thin men are not blackbirds. You’ve got rhythm, lucid, inescapable blackbird. One of many circles was the blackbird. Cry out sharply, you bawds of blackbirds! Connecticut’s glass is equipped with barbaric blackbirds. The flying river moves like a blackbird. In the cedar-limbs sat the snowy blackbird. Baked into a pie sang four and twenty blackbirds. —J. R. Solonche Basic Problem Water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The studs are always 16’’ inches apart. At least one person who’s friended you will get a DWI sometime pretty soon. The clavicle is the most commonly broken bone in the body. Blood is quite slippery. Golden bower birds build very large shelters. Postal rates will keep going up, forever. Hydrogen is the simplest element. The most irritating knucklehead you know will keep annoying you mightily until one of you dies or leaves town. These are facts, pure and simple. You’d think we’d learn to base opinions on clear, solid, irrefutable truths like these. But no; we don’t. See title of poem. —George J. Searles 1/22 CHRONOGRAM POETRY 57
Jon Cowan's Hollow Stump, a 2021 oil and acrylic on canvas work from the exhibition “Radiant Void,” showing at Elizabeth Moore Fine Art in Hudson.
58 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 1/22
the guide
Emil Jannings stars as a humiliated hotel doorman in F. W. Murnau's silent classic The Last Laugh at Rosendale Theater on January 9.
Silents, Please THE LAST LAUGH AT ROSENDALE THEATER January 9 Rosendaletheatre.org
Although he’ll forever be best known for his iconic 1922 German Expressionist horror masterpiece Nosferatu, trailblazing film director F. W. Murnau (1888-1931) also created other classics of early film—several of which, quite tragically, have not survived. One that fortunately has, however, is 1924’s The Last Laugh, a prime example of the cinematic style called Kammerspielfilm (“chamber drama”), a silent-era German genre that portrays middle-class life. A major commercial hit in its day, the film was included in critic Roger Ebert’s 2000 “Great Movies” list. The Last Laugh, which defies contemporary production norms by not utilizing the standard pre-talkie narrative device of intertitles (aka title cards or dialog cards), stars actor Emil Jannings (The Blue Angel, The Last Command, The Way of All Flesh) in the lead role of a proud, long-serving doorman at a prestigious hotel whose world is skewed when his advancing age sees him demoted to the position of basement washroom attendant. “What really makes The Last Laugh special is Emil Jannings’s performance,” says Georgette Mattel, the coordinator of the Rosendale Theatre’s monthly Sunday
Silent Series, which is now in its 10th year. “It might sound like an insult to say this today, but he was really made for silent film. He’s so expressive that it just carries the story, even without the title cards.” Watching The Last Laugh makes it clear why Jannings was such a superstar of the era, one on par with his likewise visually reliant contemporaries Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Theda Bara. Having graduated from an illustrious career as a stage performer, the Swiss-born actor simply lights up the screen with his dramatic facial expressions and emotion-fraught movements; Jannings loved the camera, and the camera loved him. And it’s the revolutionary camera work, supervised by crack cinematographer Karl Freund (Metropolis, 1931’s Dracula, “I Love Lucy”), that further makes The Last Laugh such an influential work. Credited as the inventor of the unchained camera technique, Freund improvised during the production, strapping the camera to his body or hanging it from lofty rigs to get images unseen in prior films and pioneering the now commonplace methods of pan shots, crane shots, tracking shots, tilting, and other procedures. The movie certainly got the
attention of Hollywood, which after its box-office success came a-courting for Murnau, Jannings, and Freund. It was also beloved of the young Alfred Hitchcock, who witnessed its making and adopted Freund’s practices for his own movies, calling it “almost the perfect film” and praising Murnau as “the greatest film director the Germans have ever known.” The movie’s art director was Walter Röhrig, who had previously helped to create The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari’s strikingly nightmarish aesthetic. “A lot of people only equate silent film with pie fights and slapstick like you see in the Chaplin and Keystone Cops films,” Mattel says. “I really think they’ll be surprised and amazed by how sophisticated and technically superior some of the films actually were, and The Last Laugh is one of the best examples of that. If you’re a film lover at all, this is the roots of where modern film comes from.” The Last Laugh will screen at the Rosendale Theatre in Rosendale on January 9 at 2pm. The showing will feature live musical accompaniment by pianist Martha Waterman. Tickets are $6. —Peter Aaron 1/22 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 59
film
Traction Park CLASS ACTION PARK Streaming on HBO Max Classactionpark.com On a recent evening at Story Screen theater in Beacon, as superheroes and superbaddies were battling it out in the latest Marvel Universe installment, in an adjacent screening room, teenagers were hurtling toward—if not certain doom, than at the very least a probable laceration in the documentary Class Action Park. The screening was the first time the film’s codirector, Beacon resident Seth Porges, had seen the film in front of an audience. Due for theatrical release during the pandemic, Class Action Park went straight to HBO Max last year. The film tells the story of Action Park, an amusement park in Vernon, New Jersey, that was at the opposite end of the spectrum from Disneyworld. Where Walt Disney’s vision was to create a safe and magical wonderland for children, Action Park founder Gene Mulvihill built an amusement complex that pushed fun past the limit of safety. Teenagers, myself included, loved its environment of danger and chaos. As comedian Chris Gethard, who grew up nearby, is quoted in the film, “We were willing to die for fun.” And six people did die at Action Park during its run from 1978 to 1996. Class Action Park documents not only a seriously unregulated business, but also a time when teenagers were allowed to take outrageous risks. —Brian K. Mahoney Brian K. Mahoney: How was the screening on Saturday? Seth Porges: It was awesome—a packed house! Movies should be seen with a crowd whenever possible. And that’s something I miss dearly. There’s something very special about the social experience of watching a film in the crowd. There’s such an immediacy to just feeling how things hit with people. And not just laughter. When people feel other emotions, there’s something about us, I think, as humans that picks that up in a crowd. And when people are feeling engaged or sad or terrified or whatever it is, we love seeing these things with other people and it’s really, really special for me to be able to see it with other people, especially in my hometown theater. 60 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Let’s talk about Action Park. Do you have a personal connection to Action Park? Yeah. I went there as a kid a couple times. I grew up going to amusement parks. That was what our family vacations were. We’d go to Disney World or Universal Studios, Six Flags. I grew up in the DC area and we made it to Action Park just a couple of times based on the TV ads. Later in life, I asked my parents, “What were you thinking taking me to that place as kid? “ And my mom insisted the ads made it seem like this great place to take your family. But then you get there, and it’s very clear this is not Disneyland. You hear people in line making jokes about injured kids. You hear urban legends being passed around while you’re walking around the park in line. You see fights breaking out. You see injuries on people. You see chaos. And then you see these rides that seem to be ripped from your seven-year-old imagination. And when you go there as a young kid, it has this intense hold on you and this intense power, because it’s the kind of place where things you thought could only exist in your imagination come to life. When you’re a kid doodling on the notebook in class, what kind of crazy rides you would imagine? The kind of things you would see on the Itchy and Scratchy episodes of “The Simpsons.” For example, you might draw a water slide that goes in a loop, but no way in your rational brain do you think that thing could actually exist. Then you go to Action Park and it’s there. And it sticks in your brain. And as I got older, these memories were such outliers from everything I knew about not just how amusement parks worked, but how the world worked, that I began to sort of doubt my own memory. And what really inspired me to dig deep into Action Park and to research it as a subject as a journalist, and then eventually as documentarian, was effectively trying to fact check my own memories. Because I would tell people about these things and people would think I was making them up or joking or misremembering. Having gone there myself as a teenager, I assumed that every metropolitan area had a crazy place like
Action Park. Were there other amusement parks in the country as wild and chaotic as Action Park? Yes and no. Why the story feels somewhat universal to the Gen X experience is that even if you didn’t grow up going to Action Park, you might have grown up playing in abandoned quarries or abandoned mental hospitals or abandoned railroad tracks. My codirector, Chris Charles Scott, grew up in Texas. He never went to Action Park. But he said “Seth, this is about growing up in the `80s.” Growing up in the `80s as a latchkey kid with minimal parenting and kind of a misaligned sense of danger and risk assessments, I think, is a key part of the Gen X experience. One mystery we wanted to solve was why is it that yesteryear’s latchkey kids are today’s helicopter parents? And I think Action Park kind of provides the answer to that. And it is that these people grew up doing these things that were fantastic and amazing and thrilling and insane, but also foolhardy, dangerous, and they know it. A lot of people who grew up with these experiences wouldn’t change it for the world, but at the same time would do absolutely anything possible to keep their own kids from experiencing them as well. I completely agree. Action Park reminded me of the BMX track that my childhood friends and I set up in an abandoned lot with no supervision and no helmets. I would never let a child that was under my supervision do any of that. That’s what makes Action Park so interesting to me, and why I think it’s this portal into this generational thinking is because on one level, you are grateful for these experiences, but the other level you are terrified and perhaps pissed off that that’s how you grew up. And the comedian, Chris Gethard, who’s in our film, I think he puts it so beautifully and so eloquently, this idea that on one end, this generation of kids is simultaneously grateful they had experiences and furious that they had to have those experiences. And that’s why I think the movie is about more than just an amusement park. The second answer to your question about whether other people in other areas have this type of place. The answer is no. Action Park was unique, but everybody
Stills from Class Action Park, a documentary about the infamous Action Park in Vernon, New Jersey, which operated from 1978 to 1996. The film is codirected by Beacon resident Seth Porges. who grew up around it found it to be completely normal and mundane. And that to me is something else that’s very interesting, especially as I got to know a lot of people who grew up working at the park, how this sort of distorted the idea of what life is and what normal is. And I became very close to, in many ways attached to, a lot of the Vernon locals who grew up working there because I saw this intense level of grit and resilience that comes from that experience. And the way that they themselves developed this very dark, gallows humor about this experience that I think an outsider might view as crass or insensitive when, in fact, it’s a coping mechanism for, in some cases, severe trauma. Let’s talk about Gene Mulvihill, the park’s founder. What’s did he do before opening Action Park? He was a pioneer in almost everything he did. He deserves credit for really being one of those folks who could sort of see into the future about what industries would be taking off. He was the kind of guy who just had these ideas and sometimes he could see the future and sometimes the future was too much for the rest of the world. But he was a mutual fund pioneer, a penny stock guy who created a company called Mayflower Securities that eventually got suspended by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Gene himself got banned for life by the SEC. He was able to buy these ski resorts for cheap in Vernon. And he very quickly realized that the ski season in New Jersey is very short. He needed to find a way to make this closer to a year-round resort, and so he had this idea of building a water park. It’s important to note that this was either the third or fourth modern water park in the entire country. Today you build a water park, you have the same rides that basically appear at every waterpark. You get them at an industry convention. Action Park was built in real time. What was an action... What was an amusement park? What was a water park? And that meant a lot of experimentation. Was Mulvihill an engineer? No. Nobody who was building the rides at Action Park was, so a lot of the rides were built either by Gene himself, or by random employees who had ideas. And
then they would build this thing without any sort of testing or modeling or anything. It’s especially shocking for people today who assume things are worked out with technology and computer modeling—that’s just simply not how it was then. They were just throwing these ideas at the wall and seeing what stuck. The park was next to a ski slope, so the rides follow the terrain. A lot of the water slides are just, “This is what our hill is. Let’s put some fiberglass on it.” And nature took its course. Action Park and Gene are such interesting topics because they force us to confront the struggle we all have between our logical selves and our emotional selves. I think on one hand, you look on paper at everything this park was and you’d just say “That was awful. It should never have opened. Shut it down.” But then, even as you say that, you probably find yourself thinking, “Oh, my God. I’d go there tomorrow.” More sanitary amusement parks create experiences around that desire for thrill, desire for danger, in a truly safe way. In Action Park it was a real danger. It was basically a series of extreme sports masquerading as a children’s amusement park. And then you add alcohol to the mix. Yes. Alcohol was a big part of it because Gene was a huge beer lover, an Oktoberfest fan. He literally shipped in an entire brewery and brewmaster from Germany. He liked to claim, and this is true, that everything from the beer, including the people who made it, came from Germany, except for the water. Alcohol played in heavily. Keep in mind, the drinking age was 18 for most of Action Park’s existence, but even then, nobody was IDing you. It was a place where teenagers could get liquored up and then go put themselves in harm’s way. And it wasn’t just like, “Okay, we’re going to drive 60 miles per hour racing cars while we’re drunk.” It was also, “we’re going to lean into this belligerent party mindset while we’re doing things that are dangerous.” A lot of Action Park’s danger comes from the innate danger of the rides, and a lot of them were innately dangerous. I think lot of the myth of Action Park is that this is a place that was only dangerous if you push yourself past your limit. That’s not true. Many people got hurt because the rides themselves were fundamentally
unsafe or there’s other people on a ride who are doing stupid things and meant that no matter what, you were going to get hurt through no fault of your own. So Action Park became somewhat self-selecting in the types of people who would go. It became known as a dangerous place. Gene knew that the more newspaper articles about how dangerous Action Park was, the more people would show up. The danger didn’t scare people away. It drew them in and he knew that. The people who came to the park after seeing these articles, after hearing the rumor at school on Monday about this place, those people came there expecting a chaotic and dangerous place and knew that they had to fit into the role of the Action Park attendee. In the film, you interview Esther Larsson, the mother of George Larsson, a 19-year-old who died on the Alpine Slide. And her hurt, the loss of her son, is still with her 30 years later. It’s right there with her. Yes, and not only that, one of the things about the myth of Action Park had always been dismissive of the injury and death toll. And there was this myth out there about how George Larsson died that really is designed to do two things. One is to make it seem like it’s his fault. A lot of the myth of Action Park is that if you got hurt, you yourself did something wrong or you couldn’t handle it. And it’s clear when you look at what actually happened to him that’s not true. And Gene never reported his death. And the reason they never reported his death, they said, was because he was a park employee and they didn’t have to because he wasn’t a member of the general public. But he wasn’t, that was a lie. Gene and Action Park were very effective at making bad news go away. Although the film never directly mentions Gen X or the ‘80s, as a Gen X kid, it definitely captures a bit of the Wild West quality of my childhood antics. There is a universality in the Action Park experience for people who grew up in that generation. People who grew up in the `80s are sharing this movie with their kids, and earning major cool cred with their kids, who see that their parents actually were pretty cool because they did this kind of stuff. Today’s teenage kids are like, “My God, this is how you grew up, dad?” 1/22 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 61
art
Chris Freeman in Private Public Gallery in Hudson Art from left: an untitled painting by Michael Rodriguez Flowers in the Desert by Todd Richman Three works by Howard Schwartzman Photo by Shannon Greer
Private Eye “I REMEMBER… REMEMBER?” AT PRIVATE PUBLIC GALLERY Through February 3 Privatepublicgallery.net How many gallerists in the Hudson Valley built their gallery with their own hands? Chris Freeman spent the better part of three years meticulously crafting the Private Public Gallery in the shape of a large cube, with an adjoining project room. The building, in Hudson, was originally a synagogue, erected in 1865—the fifth oldest synagogue structure in the United States. The gallery stands where the altar once stood. Its current show, titled “I Remember… Remember?” is on display until February 3. Chris Freeman is no ordinary builder. His house design firm is one of the foremost in Hudson. He’s also an artist, and sees with those double-bright eyes painters have. The way a TV series introduces its cast of characters in the first show, “I Remember…” reveals the characters who will be “stars” of this gallery. Major New York City galleries began closing during the 2008 recession; many never reopened. Of course, the pandemic hasn’t helped. Thus, a number of firstrate artists are without representation, which is where Freeman comes in. Simultaneously, painters and sculptors have been drawn to the Hudson Valley, impressed by (comparatively) low rents and rolling hills. Most of the 62 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 1/22
artists Freeman exhibits live in our area, with a few from Brooklyn, and one significant Long Islander: Howard Schwartzberg. The Abstract Room in London will cocurate Schwartzberg’s solo show in June, with Freeman. “They consider Howard to be our new genius in the art world,” Freeman remarks, and he agrees. Schwartzberg is represented in the show by four pieces, all of which I would call “puzzling objects,” vaguely reminiscent of tribal artifacts. Incline Painting (Green Grey) is not a painting at all, but a burlap trough, roughly two feet long, overflowing with paint—or what looks like paint. (Apparently, it’s thickly painted foam.) You want to reach out and stop the paint from spilling, until you realize that’s absurd. Untitled by Alexander Ross depicts a green plasticine substance, a bit like Silly String, tied into a complex knot. Moon, a painting by Todd Richmond, shows crisscrossing girders of the 59th Street Bridge, pink in sunset light, with a generous full moon behind. As for the title of the show, Freeman says: “When I was going to studios, looking at the work, I started to realize that these artists are using memory as a framework. I started to think, ’What does it mean to remember?’” Private Public specializes in large-scale works, which
is highly unusual in the Hudson Valley. The gallery is also involved in the secondary art market (reselling paintings, usually by renowned artists). This is Private Public’s second show; the first, “95 North,” was curated by Michael Klein, who ran a SoHo gallery for 15 years before he became curator for the Microsoft collection. Pieces by Sol LeWitt, Richard Artschwager, and Jonathan Borofsky appeared in that exhibition. Freeman has had a colorful career. An art prodigy of the `90s, he was also a fabricator of sculpture for such notable figures as Claes Oldenburg and Nam June Paik. Then he moved on to film, where he worked as art director and production designer. For one high-budget R&B video, he had to build a castle in 12 days. Freeman began painting again in 2010 when his husband abruptly disappeared. He now slowly produces detailed wintry forest scenes on queen-sized bed sheets with house paint. But these paintings will not hang in his gallery—at least not yet. Freeman is conscious of the difference between his early career as a painter and his new project: “When you’re an artist, nobody returns your phone calls. When you run a gallery, everyone says yes.” —Sparrow
live music
Cat Power tours behind her latest album, Covers, playing Empire Live in Albany on January 16.
Teri Roiger Piano Trio
January 6. Teri Roiger and her husband John Menegon are invaluable advocates of the local jazz scene, bringing some of the music’s topmost artists to the area for performances under the Jazzstock promotions banner since 2011. And as individuals each is also a fine, creative musician in their own right; Roiger as a deeply artful vocalist and pianist and Menegon as an in-demand bassist (the couple recently colaunched the quintet Sharp 5, whose debut album is titled Shine a Bright Light). For this date at the Bearsville Theater, Roiger and her trio, which includes Menegon on bass and Matt Garrity on drums, will be joined by special guest guitarist Matt Munisteri. 6pm. $10. Bearsville. Bearsvilletheater.com
Chris Forsyth Quartet
January 7. Philadelphia guitar god Chris Forsyth’s style fuses the adventure-bound epics of Television with Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s mountain-moving wall of proto-grunge heaviness. Here, Forsyth and his current band—bassist Douglas McCombs (Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day), guitarist Tom Malach (Garcia Peoples), and drummer Ryan Jewell (Ryley Walker)—make their way to Tubby’s to fill the club with what will no doubt be some powerful, sprawling, and exploratory jams. Garcia Peoples bassist Andy Cush’s project Domestic Drafts will open the night. (Nap Eyes, Tiny Blue Ghost, and Battle Ave converge January 15; Sam Buck and Anna Fox Rochinski share the bill January 29.) 8pm. $15. Tubbyskingston.com
Cat Power
January 16. Under the stage name Cat Power, Southernborn singer-songwriter Chan Marshall arose on the New York indie scene in the 1990s, releasing riveting and critically exalted albums like Dear Sir (1995), Myra Lee (1996), What Would the Community Think (1996), and the breakthrough Moon Pix (1998), the latter a collaboration with Australia’s Dirty Three, all of which idiosyncratically combine folk, punk, and blues. You Are Free (2003), which features guest players Dave Grohl and Eddie Vedder, drew further attention, but it was with the soul-influenced The Greatest (2006) and the self-produced Sun (2012) that she found high-charting mainstream success. Cat Power’s 11th studio album, Covers, is set for release this month, concurrent with this appearance at Empire Live. (Geoff Tate rocks January 27; Fuel fills up January 29.) 7pm. $35, $38. Albany. Empirelivealbany.com
Red Wanting Blue
January 22. Hailing from the heartland home of Ohio, roots rockers Red Wanting Blue are considered by many fervent fans to be, as Larry Groce of NPR’s “Mountain Stage” once called them, “America’s local band.” Capped with the resonant baritone of leader Scott Terry, the group’s songs of earnest Americana paint pictures of blue-collar-community life, roadchallenged relationships, and defiant optimism. With 10 studio albums—the most recent, 2019’s The Wanting, produced by acclaimed singer-songwriter Will Hoge—to their name, the relentlessly touring outfit eagerly takes to the circuit this month, which includes a stop at Infinity Hall. With Meaghan Farrell. (Morgan James belts it out January 14; Albert Lee picks January 16.) 8pm. $22-$32. Norfolk, Connecticut. Infinityhall.com
Umphrey’s McGee
January 22. Jam heads will be in high heaven when perennial summer festival headliners Umphrey’s McGee make their way to the Palace Theatre for this winterwarming evening. Formed in South Bend, Indiana, in 1997, the band performed at the first-ever Bonnaroo festival in 2002, and since then their mix of rock, funk, reggae, metal, folk, jazz, and electronica has won them legions of followers through their hectic touring and 13 studio albums. Their newest, You Walked Up Shaking in Your Boots but You Stood Tall and Left a Raging Bull, was released last July. (Greensky Bluegrass and the Infamous Stringdusters rollick January 20; the Wood Brothers return January 28.) 8pm. $25-$45. Albany. Palacealbany.org
Marty Stuart
January 30. He began by learning his craft alongside some of country and bluegrass’s biggest legends—and now he’s a legend himself. The great Marty Stuart, who will appear with his crack band the Fabulous Superlatives at the Egg for this late-January show, joined Lester Flatt’s band on mandolin when he was a mere 13, going on from there to serve with Doc Watson, Vassar Clements, and Johnny Cash; his godfather was “Pops” Staples, and he was even given one of the late Staples Singers patriarch’s guitars by Mavis Staples herself. Stuart released his self-titled debut in 1985, and the album’s authentic roots sound set him apart from the slick Nashville chart acts of the day, cementing his status as a true keeper of the genuine country flame. (Bruce Dickinson speaks February 2.) 7:30pm. $34.50$59.50 (VIP package $259.50). Albany. Theegg.org —Peter Aaron 1/22 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 63
HUE & CRY: FRENCH PRINTMAKING AND THE DEBATE OVER COLORS THROUGH MARCH 6, 2022 Exploring early opposition to the use of color in nineteenth-century French printmaking, this new exhibition features brightly colored prints and posters that defined the Belle Époque in Paris. See works by artists including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Camille Pissarro, Jules Chéret, Pierre Bonnard, and Paul Cézanne.
WILLIAMSTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS CLARKART.EDU This exhibition made possibleexhibit by DeniseJanuary Littlefield2022. Sobel. Chronogram 1/8 page Display isAd CS/Anni Hue & Cry: French Printmaking and the Debate over Colors is organized by the Clark Art Institute and curated by Anne Leonard, Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. Jules Chéret (French, 1836–1932), Vin Mariani Mariani, 1894–95. Color lithograph on paper. Clark Art Institute, 1955.2390.
ALBERT SHAHINIAN FINE ART 22 East Market Street, 3 rd Floor, Rhinebeck, NY • (845) 876-7578
CHRISTIE SCHEELE THINGS PAST - MINING MEMORY Through January 23, 2022 •
O UR 2 4 www.ShahinianFineArt.com
TH
A NNI VE RS AR Y S A L ON & A NN UA L A RT S A LE Opens Saturday, January 29
EAT.PLAY.STAY. N EWSLETTER
LIVE YOUR BEST UPSTATE LIFE Hudson Valley real estate, events, and dining highlights delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up today chronogram.com/eatplaystay
64 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 1/22
short list THEATER
“The Art of Theater” & “With My Own Hands”
January 14-15, 22-23 at PS21 Celebrated French playwright and director Pascal Rambert was in residence at PS21 in Chatham from in December, adapting and rehearsing two plays: “The Art of Theater,” performed by Jim Fletcher; and “With My Own Hands,” featuring Ismail ibn Conner. Nicholas Elliott, who has translated numerous Rambert works as well as theater pieces by Olivier Py and others, assisted with the English versions. Following their residency at PS21, Rambert and the actors return to PS21’s Black Box Theater for four public performances of “The Art of Theater” and “With My Own Hands.” The plays will be performed at PS21’s Black Box Theater on January 14, 15, 22, and 23. This engagement is copresented with The Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival. Ps21chatham.org
COMEDY
“Colin Quinn: The Last Best Hope”
January 14 at The Egg With a title taken from a speech by Abraham Lincoln on the eve of the Civil War, Quinn’s latest one-man show tracks the current state of affairs in the US—and he’s not optimistic. In the show, America’s “barstool philosopher” (New York Times) opines about what he sees as the two separate cults governing our politics; his remarkable ability to contract COVID (he caught it twice); why Dutchess County is funnier to say in a bit about Andrew Cuomo than Ulster County; and how Mario Cuomo shouldn’t be blamed for his son’s misdeeds: “Leave the bridge alone and get the former governor to change his name to Andrew Tappan Zee.” Quinn has become one of the most beloved voices in comedy since his stint as the sidekick/announcer on MTV’s “Remote Control” game show in the late 1980s. Theegg.org
FOOD
Robbie Burns Dinner
January 21 at the Hudson House Distillery The annual celebratory tribute to the life, works and spirit of the great Scottish poet, Robert Burns (1759-1796). Celebrated on, or about the Bard’s birthday, Burns Suppers range from formal gatherings of aesthetes and scholars to uproariously informal rave-ups of drunkards and louts. All feature the time-honored form which includes the eating of a traditional Scottish meal, the drinking of Scotch whisky, and the recitation of works by, about, and in the spirit of the Burns. Master piper Jeremy Freeman will play the bagpipes; storyteller Jonathan Kruk and other special guests will relate some incidents from the life of Burns; swordsman Neil Roberts will buckle some swash. Thehudsonhouseny.com
COMEDY
Paula Poundstone
January 21 at Tarrytown Music Hall NPR listeners know Poundstone for her numerous appearances on the network’s top-rated program “Wait, Wait...Don’t Tell Me!” The stand-up comedian is also a road dog, playing hundreds of gigs a year across the country showcasing her clever, observational humor and spontaneous wit. She also hosts the “Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone,” podcast, a comedy field guide to life complete with taste tests, cats of the weeks, and leading experts in everything from beekeeping to ping pong to prosopagnosia (aka face blindness). Tarrytownmusichall.org
UNIS N ARTS ARTSCENTER CENTER&&SCULPTURE SCULPTUREGARDEN GARDEN
Exhibits • Classes • Performances Community Events • Studio Rentals
THEATER
“A Bintel Brief”
January 22-23 at Bridge Street Theater For more than eighty years, the Jewish Daily Forward’s legendary advice column, “A Bintel Brief “(Yiddish for “a bundle of letters”), dispensed shrewd, practical, and fairminded advice to its readers. Recent Jewish immigrants, predominantly from Eastern Europe, asked for advice on various facets of their acculturation to America, including economic, family, religious, and theological difficulties. Directed by Carol Rusoff, the free staged reading with traditional music is being co-produced by Temple Israel of Catskill and the Bridge Street Theatre. Templeisraelofcatskill.org
OPERA
Met Live HD: “Rigoletto”
January 29 at the Bardavon The Metropolitan opera first production of the new year is a gala premiere of a bold new take on Verdi’s timeless tragedy from Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher. The opera’s setting has been shifted to 1920s Europe, with Art Deco sets by Michael Yeargan and elegant costumes by Catherine Zuber, themselves boasting a combined eight Tony Awards. Baritone Quinn Kelsey, a commanding artist at the height of his powers, brings his searing portrayal of the hunchbacked jester Rigoletto to the Met for the first time, starring alongside soprano Rosa Feola as Gilda and tenor Piotr Beczała as the Duke of Mantua, with leading maestro Daniele Rustioni on the podium. Bardavon.org
here/elsewhere Photographs by Kimberly Ruth Exhibiting at 68 Mtn Rest thru 2/6/22
2 New Paltz locations: 68 Mtn Rest Rd • 9 Paradies Ln • unisonarts.org • (845) 255-1559
1/22 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 65
art exhibits North Passage, Richard Crist (19091985), oil on canvas, part of the exhibition “Large-Scale Abstract Paintings from the Permanent Collection” at the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum.
ALBERT SHAHINIAN FINE ART GALLERY
22 EAST MARKET STREET SUITE 301, RHINEBECK “Things Past: Mining Memory.” Solo exhibition of over 25 oil on linen paintings by Christie Scheele. Through January 23.
THE ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM 258 MAIN STREET, RIDGEFIELD, CT
“Karla Knight: Navigator.” Four-decade survey. Through May 8.
ART OMI
1405 COUNTY ROUTE 22, GHENT “Tunnel/Teller.” Installation by Alicja Kwade. Ongoing.
ART SALES & RESEARCH CLINTON CORNERS
BANNERMAN ISLAND GALLERY 150 MAIN STREET, BEACON
“Fine Art Holiday Exhibition.” Multimedia group exhibition. Through January 30.
BARRETT ART CENTER
55 NOXON STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE “Body Bautiful III.” Group show. January 7-30.
BEACON ARTIST UNION GALLERY
Cassatt, Paul Cézanne, Jules Chéret, Maurice Denis, Camille Pissarro, Henri de ToulouseLautrec, and Édouard Vuillard. Through March 6.
DIA:BEACON
3 BEEKMAN STREET, BEACON Works by Lee Ufan, Sam Gilliam, Barry Le Va, Richard Serra, Mario Merz, and others on long-term view.
506 MAIN STREET, BEACON
ELIZABETH MOORE FINE ART
“200.” Group show celebrating the 200th exhibition of the Beacon artists' cooperative. January 8-February 5.
105 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
“Radiant Voide: Jon Cowan.” Paintings. Through January 16.
BERNAY FINE ART
GARRISON ART CENTER
296 MAIN STREET, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA “Walk the Line.” Karin Schaefer, Lynda Schlosberg, Noah Post, Audrey Stone. Through January 9.
23 GARRISON’S LANDING, GARRISON "PHOTOCentric 2021." Group photo show curated by Jill Enfield. Through January 9.
HUDSON VALLEY MOCA
1701 MAIN STREET, PEEKSKILL
KLEINERT/JAMES ARTS CENTER 34 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK
"Forest Bathing." Ashley Garrett, Anne Leith, Iain Machell, John Lyon Paul, Christy Rupp, and Martin Weinstein. January 15-February 27.
LABSPACE
2642 NY ROUTE 23, HILLSDALE “Holiday.” Group show of small, affordable work. Through January 30.
LIGHTFORMS
743 COLUMBIA STREET, HUDSON “Holding Light.” Nature and landscape photography by Helena Kay, Anna Powell, Leif Garbisch, and Scott Farrell. Through January 9. Photography Show. Helena Zay, Leif Garbisch, Scott Farrell, Anna Powell. Through January 9.
MAGAZZINO ITALIAN ART
2700 ROUTE 9, COLD SPRING
CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY
“How We Live, Part II”. Through January 31.
“Nivola: Sandscapes”. Features a selection of 50 works of sandcast sculpting by Costantino Nivola (1911-1988). Through January 10.
JACK SHAINMAN GALLERY: THE SCHOOL
MARK GRUBER GALLERY
“Then & Now”. Old and new work by Ryan Turley. Through January 15.
“A Changing Landscape.” Work by Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, Tracy Helgeson, John Kelly, James Kimak, Eileen Murphy, Regina Quinn, Judy Reynolds, and Carl Grauer. Through January 16.
“This Tender, Fragile Thing.” Group show. January 15-May 1.
“Holiday Salon Show.” Group show. Through January 22.
ARTS SOCIETY OF KINGSTON
CLARK ART INSTITUTE
KATONAH MUSEUM OF ART
MONUMENT GALLERY
“Color, Color, and More Color.” Group show. January 1-31.
“Hue & Cry: French Printmaking and the Debate Over Colors.” Prints by Pierre Bonnard, Mary
"Arrivals." Group show. Through January 23.
“Shelter Cultivation Project.” Group exhibition and pop-up shop. Through February 1.
"Winter Mix." Anne Brown, Billy Copley, Daniel Loxton, Daisy Craddock, Poogy Bjerklie, John Tweddle, Stanley Rosen. January 2-30.
ARTSEE GALLERY
529 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
97 BROADWAY, KINGSTON
66 THE GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 1/22
622 WARREN STREET, HUDSON
225 SOUTH STREET, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA
25 BROAD STREET, KINDERHOOK
134 JAY STREET, KATONAH
NEW PALTZ PLAZA, NEW PALTZ
394 HASBROUCK AVENUE, KINGSTON
art exhibits Mother's Kiss, Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), color drypoint and aquatint, 1891, part of the exhibition “Hue & Cry: French Printmaking and the Debate Over Colors” at the Clark Art Institute.
OLIVE FREE LIBRARY
STANDARD SPACE
and Taha Clayton. Through March 19.
“Small Is Beautiful.” Through January 8.
“Your View is My View II." Landscape photos and collaborations by Theo Coulombe. Through January 9.
UNISON ARTS & LEARNING CENTER
4033 ROUTE 28A, WEST SHOKAN
PAMELA SALISBURY GALLERY
362 1/2 WARREN STREET, HUDSON “Winterwunderkammer.” Site-specific installation by Lothar Osterburg in the Carriage House and Sculpture Courtyard. Through March 13.
THE POUGHKEEPSIE TROLLEY BARN 489 MAIN STREET, POUGHKEEPSIE
“Double Take.” Group show curated by Rachel Seligman, Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs and Malloy Curator at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery. January 21-February 24.
PRIVATE PUBLIC
530 COLUMBIA STREET, HUDSON “I Remember.. Remember?” Work by Sarah Conrad-Ferm, James Greco, Joel Longenecker, Todd B. Richmond, Michael Rodriguez, Alexander Ross, Howard Schwartzberg. Through February 3.
147 MAIN STREET, SHARON, CT
SUSAN ELEY FINE ART
433 WARREN STREET, HUDSON “Gathering.” Kathy Osborn, Ruth Shively, and Bradley Wood. Through January 16.
THOMPSON GIROUX GALLERY 57 MAIN STREET, CHATHAM “Joshua Caleb Eden.” Paintings. Through January 30.
THE WASSAIC PROJECT
37 FURNACE BANK ROAD, WASSAIC “What Comes After.” Group show curated by Eve Biddle, Bowie Zunino, Jeff Barnett-Winsby, and Will Hutnick presenting. 10 artists throughout the seven floors of Maxon Mills: Roxanne Jackson, Kristen Schiele, Luis Edgar Mejicanos, Ashley Epps, LaTonia Allen, Zachary Fabri, Woomin Kim, Dana Robinson, Natalia Arbelaez,
68 MOUNTAIN REST ROAD, NEW PALTZ
“here/elsewhere.” Photographs by Kimberly Ruth. Through February 6. “Owning Earth.” Outdoor sculpture installation of 19 artistic responses to systems of human domination over our environments and the urgent need to enact futures guided by mutuality and reverence. Through June 1.
VASSAR COLLEGE: THE FRANCES LEHMAN LOEB ART CENTER 124 RAYMOND AVENUE, POUGHKEEPSIE
“American Impressions: A Nation in Prints.” Fifty prints, rare books, and photographs selected from the collections of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center and the Department of Special Collections at the Library at Vassar College. Through February 6.
WALLKILL RIVER SCHOOL OF ART 232 WARD STREET, MONTGOMERY
“Small Works.” Group exhibit of works 8x10 inches or smaller selected by Paola Bari. The show includes 39 works by 28 local artists. “On the Town.” Paintings of cityscapes and towns by Keith Gunderson. “Painting Porcelain.” Works by Paola Bari. All shows through January 2.
WOODSTOCK ARTISTS ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM
28 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK “Betsy Regan: Dark Retrospective.” Fresco paintings. January 28-March 13. “Large-Scale Abstract Paintings from the Permanent Collection.” Large-scale works by Ethel Magafan, Edward Chavez, Ernest Frazier, Gwen Davies, Lou Tavelli, Roman Wachtel, Ezio Martinelli, Edward Millman, and Richard Crist. January 28-May 8.
1/22 CHRONOGRAM THE GUIDE 67
Horoscopes By Lorelai Kude
SOMEONE’S CEILING IS ANOTHER’S FLOOR
HAPPY NEW YEAR
2022 upon us! Will things get better? Worse? Weirder? Epochs don’t shift overnight, but the inexorable changes shredding the status quo have their consequences; many manifesting this year. With two competing realities loudly vying for claims to the truth, someone’s ceiling is another’s floor. Expansive Jupiter in dreamy Pisces through mid-May increases faith in some, enhances fanaticism in others. With traditional ruler Jupiter and modern ruler Neptune heading for their Piscean rendezvous in April, both work in tandem to obscure the starkest versions of reality from those who prefer rose-colored glasses to telescopic lenses. The upside for the open-hearted: an abundance of compassion and empathy helps to heal relationship rifts developed over the polarizing politics of the last few years. Mercury Retrograde January 14 begins an extended trigger of the sensitive Zodiacal area already traumatized by the planetary mashups of 2020/2021. Pluto, planet of destruction and renewal, is conjunct by Sun January 16 and Mercury Retrograde January 28. Escalating rhetoric widens chasms between extremists on all sides. As the USA prepares for her first-ever Pluto Return in February, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The Full Moon in security-conscious Cancer January 17 precedes the shifting Lunar Nodal axis from Gemini/Sagittarius to Taurus/ Scorpio January 18. Everyone must identify and define what is exclusively theirs and what is shared with others in common. Identity-driven communities struggle with us-vs-them values, valuables, resources, and possessions. Uranus direct January 18 at this critical juncture throws a surprising wildcard into the mix. Rigidity under threat or pressure perceives flexibility as chaos. Venus direct January 29 continues her journey through Capricorn through early March. Practical magic is needed more now than ever. Save your sanity by channeling both frustration and creative expression into material form now; perfection not required.
ARIES (March 20–April 19)
Planetary ruler Mars travels from Sagittarius to Gemini during 2022. The Houses ruled by this half of the Zodiac in your natal chart are the ones which will be triggered by Mars this year. First Quarter Moon in Aries January 9 increases your confidence but ensure your sense of what is right is based on verifiable fact. Prepare for a confrontation over which version of “truth” is objectively true when Mars square Neptune January 11. Mars enter Capricorn January 24, squaring your Sun and prompting a serious look at where you’re investing your devotional energy. Play the long game.
TAURUS (April 19–May 20) 100
.1 FM
Thank you for making us the #1 RADIO STATION IN THE HUDSON VALLEY 68 HOROSCOPES CHRONOGRAM 1/22
Planetary ruler Venus retrograde through January 29 won’t leave Capricorn until early March. Normally you’re attracted to reliable, low-risk investments, but when Venus sextiles Neptune January 5 you may be swayed by near-magical promises. 2022’s shift of the Lunar Nodal axis into Taurus/Scorpio January 18 triggers all your issues around stability, which are already in a state of upset because of the long transit of Uranus through Taurus and the hard squares from Saturn you lived through in 2021. Define what is yours as distinct from what is everybody else’s. Venus direct in Capricorn January 29 brings inner clarity. A practicing, professional astrologer for over 30 years, Lorelai Kude can be reached for questions and personal consultations via email (lorelaikude@yahoo.com) and her Kabbalah-flavored website is Astrolojew.com.
Horoscopes
ROCKET NUMBER NINE RECORDS
The best selection of used and new vinyl in the Hudson Valley The Lunar Nodal Axis in Gemini/Sagittarius since mid-May 2020 shifts into Taurus/Scorpio January 18, releasing the pressure which has either crushed you or made you into a diamond. Examine what has emerged and evaluate what you’ve learned about yourself. Mercury enters Aquarius January 2 and sextiles Wounded Healer Chiron January 9, before stationing retrograde on January 14 and re-visiting Chiron via retrograde January 18. Will you default to old patterns or upgrade your newly honed consciousness? Mercury retrograde re-enters Capricorn January 25 and conjuncts Pluto January 28, repeating the conjunction of December 30. Don’t make the same mistake twice.
Painting by Sean Sullivan
GEMINI (May 20–June 21)
TURN THOSE UNPLAYED RECORDS INTO CASH! We are looking to buy vinyl record collections in good condition. Rock, jazz, blues, and soul. Email us today for an appointment rocketnumber9records@gmail.com 845 331 8217 • 50 N. FRONT ST. UPTOWN KINGSTON Open Friday–Monday. Check hours on FB.
CANCER (June 21–July 22) Plant seeds of stability with your partner January 2 at the Capricorn New Moon. Assert your needs without judgement or shame at the First Quarter Moon in Aries January 9. The Full Moon in Cancer January 17 is your annual personal Full Moon; your emotional self is fully open to being filled with security-enhancing love. If anxiety around your personal relationships is taking up any room in your heart, this is the time to kick it to the curb. Last Quarter Moon in Scorpio January 25 triggers the deepest passions and the most intense obsessions. Follow your gut instincts.
LEO (July 22–August 23) Welcome to 2022: This year you’re going to make your own version of the new normal! Your sense of personal uniqueness and charisma is strengthened when the Sun trines Uranus January 1. If someone makes the mistake of undervaluing you at the conjunction of the Sun to retrograde Venus January 8, they’ll live to regret it by January 16 when the Sun conjuncts powerful Pluto. Sun enters Aquarius January 19, conjuncting Mercury Retrograde January 23; unkept partnership promises may cause regrets by January 28’s sextile of Sun and Chiron. Business partnerships need attention when Sun squares Uranus January 30.
VIRGO (August 23–September 23) 2022 will bring a major synthesis of information and upgrade the sense you make out of it. Much of the background noise of the last 19 months will recede and allow you to think for yourself without undue influence of competing points of view. Mercury retrogrades in Aquarius January 14 re-entering Capricorn by January 25 and making a conjunction again to Pluto January 28. This is a repeat of the December 30 conjunction during which you may have made declarative statements and ultimatums you may now want to walk back a bit. You are allowed to change your mind!
LIBRA (September 23–October 23) Issues around family obligation/responsibility vs. personal ambition and desire dominate the first quarter of 2022. Retrograde Venus in Capricorn sextiles Neptune in Pisces January 5, prompting a review of your highest ideals and how you may need to adjust your trajectory to align with them more closely. Full Moon in Cancer brings much deserved public recognition; your ambitiousness isn’t normally displayed in a front-and-center way, but this month you’re rewarded by being truly seen and appreciated by others. Venus stations direct in Capricorn January 29, enhancing feelings of stability at home. Beautify your environment, making it uniquely your own.
UPCOMING FILMS Dec. 24: Licorice Pizza
dir. P.T. Anderson reimagines '70s Southern California
Dec. 31: The Tragedy of Macbeth
dir. Joel Cohn, w/ Denzel Washington & Frances McDormand
Jan. 21: Parallel Mothers
dir. Pedro Almodovar, with Penelope Cruz
Feb. 4: Flee
a thrilling survival story meets animated documentary
Feb. 18: The Worst Person in the World "an instant classic" —The Guardian
Free small popcorn with real butter!
with ticket purchase & this ad!
1/22 CHRONOGRAM HOROSCOPES 69
Horoscopes
SCORPIO (October 23–November 21) 2022’s Lunar Nodal axis shift into Taurus/Scorpio January 18 makes the next 19 months reminiscent of 2003/2004 regarding issues you faced at that time. Now you face them with years of accumulated self-knowledge and experience. You’ve utterly lost patience with the extended uncertainties of the past two years; you’re ready to take matters into your own hands at the conjunction of the Sun to Pluto January 16. Mars enter Capricorn January 24, favoring pragmatic calculation rather than rash actions; Last Quarter Moon in Scorpio January 25 followed by Mercury retrograde conjunct Pluto January 28 refocuses your passionate heart’s obsession.
SAGITTARIUS (November 22–December 22) Jupiter in Pisces through mid-May triggers self-sacrificial service to others. Nuclear family issues can be resolved with generosity and the understanding that time is fleeting, and all things must pass. Personal growth is enhanced and choices you wouldn’t have made for yourself a dozen years ago suddenly make sense. You’re living in your own personal, portable golden age; it goes wherever you go. Jupiter squares the North Node January 3 right before the Nodal Axis shift from Gemini/Sagittarius to Taurus/Scorpio; this is like the 2am last call at your favorite bar, which is about to be demolished. Drink up!
CAPRICORN (December 22–January 20) 2022 begins with a New Moon in Capricorn January 2, stimulating all that is attuned to the practical, pragmatic, and prosperous within your purview. With planetary ruler Saturn in Aquarius through early 2023, your year continues to focus on securing ties to that which resonates with your highest ideals. The destruction of societal norms previously thought to be unshakable has forced you to recognize that which must be released as no longer useful. Resist rigidity and cultivate flexibility. Mars enter Capricorn January 24; you make hard work look easy, but those who try to emulate you are easily exhausted!
AQUARIUS (January 20–February 19)
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Strikingly original, lightbulb-over-the-head ideas are born when the Sun trines Uranus January 1. Uranus stations direct January 18 through mid-August; this takes the brakes off some of the sense of restriction you’ve been feeling over the last year. Though Saturn in Aquarius is still being squared by Uranus in Taurus, you’ve regained some of your sense of equilibrium and can stand more firmly against the rising tides of cultural chaos you perceive as engulfing the world. Your reconstituted self-confidence shines when the Sun enters Aquarius January 19; challenge authority (even your own!) when the Sun squares Uranus January 30.
PISCES (February 20-March 19) The winners of the first annual Readers’ Choice Awards are now available! Go to RuralIntelligence.com to find your favorite businesses in Berkshire, Columbia, Dutchess, and Litchfield counties. PART OF THE
70 HOROSCOPES CHRONOGRAM 1/22
FAMILY
Jupiter in Pisces through mid-May brings a run of “dumb luck” your way, independent of your own efforts and seemingly out of nowhere. Jupiter square the North Node January 3 is your last goodbye to a road not taken; leave all that behind when Venus trines Neptune January 5. You’re ready for a new and improved dream. Commit to your chosen direction without regrets. The Universe gives you a big “thumb’s up” January 10 at the Sun’s sextile to Neptune. Your truth is questioned January 11 when Mars squares Neptune; answer with assurance, confident you’re on the right path.
Ad Index Our advertisements are a catalog of distinctive local experiences. Please support the fantastic businesses that make Chronogram possible. The Academy HVNY.......................... 37
Jeanne Atkin, M.S., L.Ac................... 33
Albert Shahinian Fine Art.................. 64
John A Alvarez and Sons.................. 23
Alexa on the go.................................. 24
John Carroll....................................... 33
Aqua Jet............................................... 9
Kenco Outfitters................................ 10
Barbara Carter Real Estate............... 24
Larson Architecture Works............... 24
Bard College at Simon’s Rock.......... 40
Liza Phillips Design........................... 23
Beacon Natural Market..................... 17
Malcarne Contracting.......................... 1
Berkshire Food Co-op....................... 50
Mark Gruber Gallery.......................... 68
Berkshire Waldorf School................. 50
Menla................................................... 9
Better Place Forests.......................... 30
Montano’s Shoe Store....................... 71
Cabinet Designers, Inc...................... 23
Mountain Laurel Waldorf School...... 40
Canna Provisions............................... 26
N&S Supply........................................ 24
Carrie Haddad Gallery......................... 6
New York Stewart International
Clark Art Institute............................... 64
Airport....................Inside Back Cover
Colony Woodstock............................ 37
The Pass..............................Back Cover
Columbia Memorial Health................. 6
Peter Aaron........................................ 69
Communicate to Connect................. 32
Plant Strong Nutrition........................ 32
Corcoran Group................................... 3
Race Brook Lodge and The
Crunch Time Apple Growers............. 15
Stagecoach Tavern........................ 37
Fairview Hospital............................... 52
Ridgeline Realty................................. 23
Fig and Pig Catering.......................... 38
Rocket Number Nine Records.......... 69
Four Seasons Sotheby’s
Sean’s Waffles................................... 38
International Realty......................... 2
Sunflower Natural Food Market........ 15
Gadaleto’s Seafood Market.............. 17
Third Eye Associates Ltd.................. 69
Glampstar.......................................... 34
Thruway Fine Wines and Liquor....... 38
Green Cottage................................... 70
Ulster County Habitat
H Houst & Son................................... 23
for Humanity.................................. 71
Halo and Horns ................................. 34
Unison Arts Center............................ 65
Hawthorne Valley Association.... 15, 40
Upstate Films..................................... 69
Herrington’s....................................... 20
Vassar College................................... 64
Holistic Natural Medicine: Integrative
WDST 100.1 Radio Woodstock........ 68
Healing Arts................................... 32
Wild Earth Programs........................... 4
Hudson Valley Hospice..................... 33
Wildfire Grill....................................... 38
Hudson Valley Sunrooms.................. 23
Williams Lumber
Hudson Valley Trailworks.................. 20
& Home Center......Inside Front Cover
Hydro-Québec................................... 20
Wimowe............................................. 24
Inn at Lake Joseph............................ 10
Wingate, Ltd...................................... 50
Jack’s Meats & Deli........................... 17
Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild ............. 65
Jacobowitz & Gubits......................... 71
WTBQ Radio Station......................... 70
Chronogram January 2022 (ISSN 1940-1280) Chronogram is published monthly. Subscriptions: $36 per year by Chronogram Media, 45 Pine Grove Ave. Suite 303, Kingston, NY 12401. Periodicals postage pending at Kingston, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Chronogram, 45 Pine Grove Ave. Suite 303, Kingston, NY 12401.
1/22 CHRONOGRAM AD INDEX 71
parting shot
Soldier of Love, Taha Clayton, oil on linen, 2021, 84” x 75”
Like the Renaissance masters before him (see Jan Van Eyck, Giovanni Bellini, Bronzino, et al.), Taha Clayton enjoys the challenge of replicating the ripples and folds of fabric in his paintings. Soldier of Love is a perfect example, the intricate pleats of the white dress and sheets blowing in the wind presenting separate, maddening, representation problems. “I like to work on things that are difficult,” says Clayton. “But to be honest, the dress kind of knocked me around a little bit.” Clayton mines the past for inspiration, focusing on certain time periods or specific situations that he wants 72 PARTING SHOT CHRONOGRAM 1/22
to bring attention to. Soldier of Love is set in the early 20th century, at the height of the Black Wall Street era in Tulsa, Oklahoma. What is Clayton trying to convey? “It’s part of a larger series, showing how women have been holding it down since day one,” says Clayton. “Here’s a woman on her land, in her homestead, a picture of grace, poise as well as strength and power. Women from that time period don’t get a lot of light.” Clayton, who lives and works in Brooklyn spent two months last summer in an artist’s residency at the Wassaic Project with his family. Soldier of Love was
painted during the residency, and the painting’s bucolic backdrop is based on the grounds of the Wassaic Project. Soldier of Love is on view through March 19 at the Wassaic Project’s Maxon Mills, part of the group show “What Comes After.” For the exhibition, Clayton draped the painting in fabric and installed faux grass around the bottom of the painting. “I want the piece to be an immersive experience, like the viewer is standing in the piece with her.” Wassaicproject.org —Brian K. Mahoney
Escape the long lines by starting your escape here. Fly south this winter from New York Stewart Airport with Allegiant and Frontier, and get low fare nonstop flights to warm destinations.
swfny.com/flight/airlines • flyfrontier.com • allegiantair.com
Fresh Cannabis Grown On-Site We are a tight-knit team of farmers and makers, bringing you Berkshire-grown cannabis flower, concentrates, and infused products.
SHOP IN STORE Open Daily 9am–8pm
PREORDER ONLINE www.thepass.co
1375 N Main Street Sheffield, MA 413.644.6892 @thepass.co
@thepassdotco
PLEASE CONSUME RESPONSIBLY. This product may cause impairment and may be habit forming. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. This product has not been analyzed or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). There is limited information on the side effects of using this product, and there may be associated health risks. Marijuana use during pregnancy and breast-feeding may pose potential harms. It is against the law to drive or operate machinery when under the influence of this product. KEEP THIS PRODUCT AWAY FROM CHILDREN. There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product. Marijuana can impair concentration, coordination, and judgment. The impairment effects of Edibles may be delayed by two hours or more. In case of accidental ingestion, contact poison control hotline 1-800-222-1222 or 9-1-1. This product may be illegal outside of MA.