Chronogram - December 2008

Tischler Dental

(845) 679-3706

General Dentistry Implant Dentistry Cosmetic Dentistry

Home

About Us

Dental Services

Contact Us

For Dentists

Links

In the Media

Periolase™

Laser Gum Treatment at Tischler Dental

NNew Technology

Treat your gum disease using the only FDA approved process that is cleared to: Increase attachment levels of gums Reduce Bleeding Reduce Pocket Depths Lessen Tooth Mobility • All of this is done without surgery or sutures.

We are a Periolase™ certi¿ed of¿ce.

CALL US FOR AN APPOINTMENT!

121 Route 375 Woodstock, New York 12498

(845) 679-3706

Check Us Out on the Web! w w w. t i s c h l e r d e n t a l . c o m

#

1.

Ranked 2nd in NY State

by HealthGrades®

TOP 12 REASONS TO CHOOSE NDH ORTHOPEDICS #

2. Dedicated to Your Quality of Life

#

3. Convenient

#

4. Close to Home

#

5. Nationally Recognized

#

6. 5-Star Orthopedic Services

#

7. Outstanding Orthopedic Surgeons

#

8. Computer Assisted Total Joint Replacement

#

9. Spine Surgery

#

10. Extensive Arthritis Services

#

11. Personalized Care Programs

#

12. On-Site Therapy at the Paul Rosenthal Rehabilitation Center

The Bone & Joint Center at Northern Dutchess Hospital—recently recognized as 2nd in NY State by HealthGrades for Orthopedic Care— brings state-of-the-art services close to your home and family.

Congratulations to our affiliate hospital—Vassar Brothers Medical Center—for receiving the 2009 Cardiac Surgery Excellence AwardTM from HealthGrades.

w w w . H e a l t h - Q u e s t . o r g 12/08 CHRONOGRAM 1

From Start to Finish.

Whether you’re in the preliminary planning stages or receiving the keys to your completed home, Lindal takes care of you every step along the way. Discover the beauty of Lindal’s expert planning, solid post and beam construction, premium materials and an exclusive lifetime structural warranty. You’ll discover the difference a truly personalized home building experience can make. Call or stop by and ask about our Planbook.

INDEPENDENTLY DISTRIBUTED BY:

Atlantic Custom Homes 2785 Route 9 - Cold Spring, NY 10516 888-558-2636 www.lindalny.com

Benedictine Hospital & The Kingston Hospital Members of HealthAlliance

are Pleased to Announce our Partnership with

Board Certified Orthopedic Team • Stephen Maurer, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • Andrew Stewart, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • Michael Schweppe, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • Russell Tigges, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • Richard Perkins, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • Carl Barbera, MD Orthopedic Surgeon

Specializing in: Sports Medicine, Joint Replacement, Arthroscopic Surgery, Pediatric and Adult Fracture Care, Spine Surgery, Hand Surgery, Foot and Ankle Surgery, Orthopedic Oncology, and Pain Management.

Our Team

MOVES

• William Colman, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • David DiMarco, MD Orthopedic Surgeon

you!

• David Stamer, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • William Kwock, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • Ronald Scheinzeit, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • Gary Fink, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • William Barrick, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • Lawrence Kusior, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • Sasha Ristic, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • Wen Shen, MD Orthopedic Surgeon • Samant Virk, MD Pain Management

For more information, call: (845) 334-3182, www.hahv.org

• Niraj Sharma, MD 12/08 CHRONOGRAM Pain Management

3

adams fairacre farms

www.adamsfarms.com

4 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

POUGHKEEPSIE

KINGSTON

NEWBURGH

Route 44 845-454-4330

Route 9W 845-336-6300

Route 300 845-569-0303

ASIA-BARONG L A A ARGEST

SIAN ART STORE IN

MERICA

!

R E V E E L A S T !

S E O G G T S LAR U M G N I H T Y R E V E

Sale from Thanksgiving to Christmas.

199 Stockbridge Road, Route 7, Great Barrington, MA 01230 12/08 CHRONOGRAM 5 Call for hours: 413-528-5091 â—? www.asiabarong.com

ARTS.CULTURE.SPIRIT.

JENNIFER MAY

Chronogram

CONTENTS 12/08

NEWS AND POLITICS 23 WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING Stolen radioactive materials, seniors footing the bill for Medicare drug plans, and other news you may have missed in the back pages of the global media maelstrom.

26 THE NUCLEAR OPTION Can we afford to ignore the possibilities of nuclear energy if we are serious about cutting down on our carbon output? At the same time, the nuclear option is freighted with problems like radioactive waste and the industry’s faulty monitoring agency. Judith Lewis investigates.

32 BEINHART’S BODY POLITIC Larry Beinhart slaps the invisible hand (and Alan Greenspan).

GREENE COUNTY SUPPLEMENT 69 IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE! In the third installment of our guide to the eastern Catskills, Gabrielle Compolongo previews the ski and snowboard season at Hunter and Windham mountains.

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 73 PRESENTS WITH PRESENCE Hillary Harvey suggests some local solutions for thoughtful shopping.

76 HOLIDAY GIFT BOOKS Nina Shengold makes a booklist, checks it twice.

WHOLE LIVING GUIDE 86 MORE THAN A SNIP: REEXAMINING INFANT CIRCUMCISION Angela Starks investigates the medical, cultural, and religious aspects of circumcision.

90 FLOWERS FALL: A DETACHED LOOK AT ATTACHMENT PARENTING Field notes from a Buddhist Mom’s experimental life. By Bethany Saltman.

BUSINESS SERVICES 62 TASTINGS A directory of what’s cooking and where to get it.

80 BUSINESS DIRECTORY A compendium of advertiser services.

92 WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY For the positive lifestyle.

19

6 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Mikhail Horowitz performing at the Chronogram Literary Supplement party on November 14.

CHRONOGRAM SEEN

#"3%"70/ 13&4&/54

" $ęģĚĤĥĞĒĤ $ĒģĠĝ TVOEBZ +6/& BU 1.

TVOEBZ

5ęĖ /ĦĥĔģĒĔĜĖģ TBUVSEBZ %&$&.#&3 1. 1.

TVOEBZ

%&$&.#&3 BU #"3%"70/ 1. BU #"3%"70/

%&$&.#&3 1. BU #"3%"70/

5ęģĖĖ ĘĚģĝĤ Ēğĕ

)ĦĕĤĠğ 7ĒĝĝĖĪ 1ęĚĝęĒģĞĠğĚĔ

(ĦĚĥĒģ #ĝĦĖĤ ĥęĖĚģ ēĦĕĕĪ ĨĚĥę 5ęĖ 'ĚģĖēĚģĕ ĨĚĥę +ĠģĞĒ ,ĒĦĜĠğĖğ &ĞĞĪĝĠĦ )ĒģģĚĤ ĨĚĥę ĤĥģĚğĘ ĔĠĞġĖĥĚĥĚĠğ ĨğğĖģ ĔĖĝĝĚĤĥ 5ĒĠ /Ě

3ĠēēĖğ 'Ġģĕ Ēğĕ ĞĠģĖ

1ĒĥĥĪ (ģĚėėĚğ 4ęĒĨğ $ĠĝħĚğ Ēğĕ #ĦĕĕĪ .ĚĝĝĖģ

TBUVSEBZ

TVOEBZ

TBUVSEBZ

%&$&.#&3 1. BU #"3%"70/

'&#36"3: 1. BU #"3%"70/

'&#36"3: 1. BU 61"$

#"3%"70/ r .BSLFU 4USFFU r 1PVHILFFQTJF /: r #PY 0GàDF r 61"$ r #SPBEXBZ r ,JOHTUPO /: r #PY 0GàDF 5JDLFUNBTUFS r XXX UJDLFUNBTUFS DPN r XXX CBSEBWPO PSH r XXX VQBD PSH

! ! ! " #

! "

# $

! "

!! """ # !$ % &

! " "# $ % "" & ' ( ,- . / &

00 1 " " % "% " "

2 3 & 4 " ! $ )*+!

12/08 CHRONOGRAM 7

Chronogram ARTS.CULTURE.SPIRIT.

CONTENTS 12/08

ARTS & CULTURE 36 PORTFOLIO Andrew Lichtenstein’s “Behind Bars,” an examination of life “on the inside,” is on view at Fovea in Beacon through January 4.

60 FOOD & DRINK Brian K. Mahoney notes a few outstanding restaurants that opened this year.

116 PARTING SHOT Richard Dupont’s sculptural installation Between Stations is on view at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in Peekskill through January 18.

38 LUCID DREAMING Beth E. Wilson files her final column as Chronogram’s art critic.

40 MUSEUM AND GALLERY GUIDE 46 MUSIC Peter Aaron profiles jazz composer and pianist Carla Bley.

Nightlife Highlights by DJ Wavy Davy, plus CDs by Verdes Verdes. Reviewed by Jason Broome.

Hopewell Beautiful Targets. Reviewed by Sharon Nichols.

Jeff Siegel Quartet Live in Europe. Reviewed by Cheryl K. Symister-Masterson.

50 BOOKS Nina Shengold profiles Beacon resident David Rees, creator of Get Your War On and Adventures of Confessions of St. Augustine Bear.

52 BOOK REVIEWS Jay Blotcher reviews Dreaming Up America by Russell Banks.

Anne Pyburn reviews Last Train Out by Richard Boes and No Blood, No Foul by Charley Rosen.

56 POETRY

100 DAILY CALENDAR Comprehensive listings of local events. (Daily updates of calendar listings are posted at Chronogram.com.)

PREVIEWS 101 Hometown alt-rock heroes Mercury Rev return from their European tour to play the Bearsville Theater on December 4. Dean and Britta open.

103 Leah Oates of Station Independent Projects curates Converging Margins, a group photo show, at the Center for Photography in Woodstock.

105 Former Kinks frontman Ray Davies performs at the Bardavon on December 6.

107 Revealed Anew, a show of rarely seen and fragile works drawn from the permanent collection of the Loeb Art Center, will be on view through January 4.

109 Country blues artist Jeffrey Foucault will play the Rosendale Cafe on December 12 in support of his latest CD, Ghost Repeater.

PLANET WAVES 110 THE BRANCHING OF THE ROAD Eric Francis Coppolino’s commentary on the election. Plus horoscopes.

FIONN REILLY

Poems by Steve Clark, Paul R. Clemente, Suzanne B. Gilette, Robert Farley, Sari Grandstaff, Paul Houtrides, Mary Kathryn Jablonski, Anna Van Laan, Donald Lev, Susan Lewis, Mary Lou Paturel, J.R. Solonche and Patrick Walsh.

THE FORECAST

46

Carla Bley MUSIC

8 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Making Houses Into Homes Our Design Centers are located at our Rhinebeck and Millbrook locations.

Come meet with our outstanding kitchen design team and start creating your perfect kitchen or bath today!

We Install!

Call 845.876.WOOD www.williamslumber.com

12/08 CHRONOGRAM 9

ON THE COVER

THE SOURCE FOR ITALIAN SPECIALTY PRODUCTS IN THE HUDSON VALLEY

Leonardo’s Italian Market & Cafe Now with Indoor Seating Behind the former Rhinebeck Hardware Store

9 10 Signature Real Napilotano Pizzas 9 Imported Berretta Cured Meats and Italian Cheeses 9 Fresh Sweet, Hot and Cheese & Parsley Italian Sausage 9 Fresh Hormone-free Mozzarella 9 Italian Pastries, Italian Cookies, Tiramisu and Ricotta Cheesecakes 9 Fresh Green, Seafood and Pasta Salads, Marinated Vegetables and 8 Varieties of Imported Olives 9 14 Varieties of Fresh Ravioli & Fresh Pastas. 6 Homemade Pasta Sauces 9 Incredible Prepared Italian Entrees for Eating-In or Take-Out 9 Large Selection of Fresh Legumes, Semolina Flour, Nuts & Honeys 9 12 Signature Sandwiches made on our real Italian Bread 9 Italian Sodas, Waters, Juices, Nectars, Syrups and Bitters 9 Imported Oils, Vinegars, Musts, Glazes and Truffles 9 Real Espresso and Cappuccino Illy Ground Coffees & Beans 9 Crunchy Semolina Bread, Baguettes and Our Incredible Proscuitto Bread 9 Our Famous Spumoni Ice Cream (Simply Unbelievable) 9 Italian Ices, Gelato, Sorbet, Italian Chocolates & Torrone 9 Italian Novelty Shirts, Hats, Aprons, Bibs, Books and Music

10 Signature Real Napilotano Pizzas

Lighted Courtyard Free Wi-Fi Service # ! ( # # ! &" # $ & ' ! ! %

%& $ & &$ & !

10 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Change Is Now jennifer grimyser | black acrylic ink | â€? x ď™‰ď™ƒâ€? | ď™…ď™ƒď™ƒď™Š

This month’s cover image, Change is Now, is a photographic translation of a site-specific work that Jennifer Grimyser first performed at a Chicago gallery in 2007. Grimyser began by painting “change is now� on the wall. Five minutes later, she crossed out the last “now,� and then painted another “now� beside it. Five minutes later, she did it again. In this way, the various “nows� of the three-hour-long opening were ticked off like scheduled departures, or tallied like days in prison. The work became a kind of clock, measuring five-minute clusters of fugitive moments in black acrylic.

When updated in real time, the phrase’s unsettling ambiguities become abundantly clear: Is it the now that keeps changing, or the change that keeps changing? Does the artist call us to change, or is she merely reporting it? “I look at it positively,� says Grimyser, “It can be interpreted in different ways, but to me, ‘Forever will I cross now out’ is the same as ‘I will continue to write another now.’� Every failure of change is an invitation to change.The end of one moment and the beginning of another are bound up in the same gesture.

With Change is Now, as well as with many of her other recent pieces involving text, Grimyser says that the phrase came to mind more readily than the accompanying image. “When I have something that I know is working, it’s very immediate. This one was a waterfall effect. I had been working with that sentence, and the visual, or photographic, part came together fairly quickly.�

Grimyser, who currently lives and works in New York City, spent the last two months completing an artist-in-residence grant, specializing in book arts, at the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, where she taught silkscreening to Kingston High School’s AP Art class. While there, she also completed her own handmade artist’s book (involving silkscreen printing, photography, and crafting a hard cover). Portfolio: www.jennifergrimyser.com. —Christina Kaminski

Tools for Video & Pro-Audio Professionals.

America’s Broadcast & Pro-Audio Supply House.

© 2008 Markertek

12/08 CHRONOGRAM 11

EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Brian K. Mahoney bmahoney@chronogram.com CREATIVE DIRECTOR David Perry dperry@chronogram.com SENIOR EDITOR Lorna Tychostup tycho56@aol.com BOOKS EDITOR Nina Shengold books@chronogram.com HEALTH & WELLNESS EDITOR Lorrie Klosterman wholeliving@chronogram.com POETRY EDITOR Phillip Levine poetry@chronogram.com MUSIC EDITOR Peter Aaron music@chronogram.com VISUAL ARTS EDITOR Beth E. Wilson visualarts@chronogram.com EDITORIAL INTERN Christina Kaminski ckaminski@chronogram.com PROOFREADER Candy Martin CONTRIBUTORS Emil Alzamora, Larry Beinhart, Amelie Belfiore, Jay Blotcher, Jason Broome, Amber S. Clark, Steve Clark, Paul R. Clemente, Gabrielle Compolongo, Eric Francis Coppolino, DJ Wavy Davy, Robert Farley, Suzanne B. Gillette, Sari Grandstaff, Hillary Harvey, James Houtrides, Annie Dwyer Internicola, Mary Kathryn Jablonski, Anna Van Laan, Judith Lewis, Susan Lewis, Donald Lev, Jennifer May, Sharon Nichols, Mary Lou Paturel, Anne Pyburn, Fionn Reilly, Bethany Saltman, Jeremy Schwartz, J.R. Solonche, Sparrow, Angela Starks, Cheryl K. Symister-Masterson, Patrick Walsh, Robert Burke Warren

PUBLISHING FOUNDERS Jason Stern & Amara Projansky PUBLISHER Jason Stern jstern@chronogram.com ADVERTISING SALES Eva Tenuto etenuto@chronogram.com; (845) 334-8600x102 Shirley Stone sstone@chronogram.com; (845) 876-2194 France Menk fmenk@chronogram.com; (845) 816-0683 ADMINISTRATIVE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Amara Projansky aprojansky@chronogram.com; (845) 334-8600x105 BUSINESS MANAGER Ruth Samuels rsamuels@chronogram.com; (845) 334-8600x107 PRODUCTION PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Teal Hutton thutton@chronogram.com; (845) 334-8600x108 PRODUCTION DESIGNERS Mary Maguire, Eileen Carpenter PRODUCTION INTERN Connor Liddic OFFICE 314 Wall Street, Kingston, NY 12401 (845) 334-8600; fax (845) 334-8610

MISSION Chronogram is a regional magazine dedicated to stimulating and supporting the creative and cultural life of the Hudson Valley.

All contents © Luminary Publishing 2008

SUBMISSIONS CALENDAR To submit calendar listings, e-mail: events@chronogram.com Fax: (845) 334-8610. Mail: 314 Wall Street, Kingston, NY 12401 Deadline: December 15

POETRY See guidelines on page 56.

FICTION/NONFICTION Fiction: Submissions can be sent to fiction@chronogram.com. Nonfiction: Succinct queries about stories of regional interest can be sent to bmahoney@chronogram.com.

12 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

r DSFEJU %JHJUBM "SUT r DSFEJU .VTJD 5FDIOPMPHZ r DSFEJU 4UVEJP "SUT r /PO DSFEJU "EVMU "SUT 0GGFSJOHT r /PO DSFEJU 2VJDLTUBSU UP TPGUXBSF USBJOJOH r %BZ FWFOJOH HFOFSBM FEVDBUJPO r &OHMJTI BT B 4FDPOE -BOHVBHF r 1SF DPMMFHF %JHJUBM "SUT

"SUJTUT $ISJTUJOB .FBSFT 3PCFSU #VODI

ART IN THE DIGITAL AGE

ho

as

rs

ter

m ake you

piec e …

XXX TVOZXDD FEV QFFLTLJMM QFFLTLJMM!TVOZXDD FEV

The Peekskill Extension Center (27 N. Division St.) is Westchester Community College’s flagship post-production facility. This tremendous resource is dedicated to the fostering of digital arts education.

Explore web design to digital video-making, and audio recording.

p pi

n g list a

m

& everyo ne e lse too !

12/08 CHRONOGRAM 13

Winter Learning Vacations

Mah o

nia ifor

sta Rica t C o C t y al a B

Get Your Winter Catalog Today

visit us online at eOmega.org/winter or call 800.944.1001 14 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

How to stay happy when it’s cold.

Stay warm and comfortable this winter, outdoors and inside. With quality clothing and footwear from Kenco – the work and play outfitter.

We carry the best selection and the highest quality.

But we’ve got a surprise for you, at Kenco you and your family can wear the best for less. Shop at Kenco and be a part of our family... and our family likes to save. Kenco purchases earn points that add up towards Kenco Rewards Gift Certificates. Plus you’ll save with private sales and seasonal promotions.

You’ll never pay retail again.

It’s Kenco for clothing and footwear, for work and play… or for just hanging around. Shirts, insulated trousers, jackets and vests, weatherproof boots, shoes, hats, gloves and a great selection of comfy socks.

So, enjoy this cool weather. Visit Kenco, sign up for your Kenco Rewards Kard today and start saving.

And while you’re comfortable, and looking good, please always remember respect and protect our beautiful outdoors.

WORK & PLAY OUTFITTER Route 28, Kingston, NY 12401 845-340-0552.

More on the web at www.atkenco.com

12/08 CHRONOGRAM 15

things faux faux and and decorative. decorative.

The Hudson Valley’s premier source for all things Add value to your home

Showcase an elegant space

“Extraordinary Old World charm....”

-Aroma Osteria Osteria Restaurant Restaurant -Aroma

“Fabulous

“Captivating” - Bottini Fuel Corp Create a custom and unique atmosphere

“ Absolutely

professional ”

-Mid-Hudson Park Management

www.fauxeverwalls.com

Finish ”

-Umberto’s Restaurant Restaurant -Umberto’s

Formally trained artist

Olde World Italian Plasters Stone Glazing Crackel

Marble Frescos Custom Finishes

F u l ly I n s u re d

“Value, quality, craftsmanship....” - Prudential Prudential Serls Serls

845.632.3736

Frequented by leisure and business travelers, long-term or short stay guests since its opening as a Holiday Inn Express in 1990, the Poughkeepsie Holiday Inn Express continues its time-honored tradition for exceptional service and facilities.

Our spacious, comfortable guestrooms feature your choice of 2 double beds or 1 king-size bed. All accommodations feature free high-speed wireless access, iron and ironing board, hairdryer, and movies on-demand. Complimentary breakfast, 24-hour fitness room, and a business center with computers, printers and copier machine add convenience and value to your stay.

16 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

2750 South Road (Rte 9)

845-473-1151

Poughkeepsie, NY 12601

www.poughkeepsiehi.com

LOCAL LUMINARY GERALD CELENTE LEADING LIGHTS OF THE COMMUNITY

events form future trends. In order to be able to make his predictions, Celente spends four to six hours a day reading a slew of different print and electronic news sources—Haaretz, Al Jazeera, the Guardian, BBC News, the New York Times, Bloomberg, and USA Today.

In general, Celente’s methodology for economic forecasting is to build the global picture before examining its smaller segments. He predicted the last two recessions, the booms in bottled water and organic and local produce, and the dot-com bust; more recently, he has predicted a “new depression,” a swelling criminal-industrial complex, and “dragflation” [the decline of wages and benefits against increasing inflation].

—Christina Kaminski

AMBER S. CLARK

Gerald Celente is a historian of the future. The author of several books, including Trend Tracking (1990, Warner Books), Trends 2000 (1997, Warner), and the memoir What Zizi Gave Honeyboy (2002, HarperCollins), he is also the founder and director of the Trends Research Institute and the editor and publisher of the quarterly Trends Journal. Celente also spent many years in politics—he managed a campaign for a mayoral candidate in Yonkers, served as executive assistant to the secretary of the New York State Senate, taught the nation’s first course in “American Politics and Campaign Technology,” worked as a government affairs specialist—and then declared himself a political atheist and moved to Rhinebeck in 1977. Since then, Celente has dedicated himself to the analysis of how current

The economy is a disaster. Is there a way out?

No. There isn’t a way out. Because what people are missing is that what’s going on in the markets is merely a symptom of a much bigger trend. And that’s what they can’t grasp: We’re not number one. We don’t win place or show anymore in education. We don’t win place or show in quality of life. The gap between the rich and the poor is the widest in the United States out of any of the industrialized nations. And it’s not the same country it used to be. It’s the decline of Empire America. And for people to think that here are federal geniuses out there that are going to rescue them...they’re living in a fairyland.

moderate tax cuts, and they want to build this Great Works Project Administration and put America back to work by rebuilding the country. Where’s the money going to come from? We have everybody going to the government, saying, “We have no revenue coming in.

We need money.” Where’s it going to come from? We could develop an alternative energy (beyond wind, solar, or geothermal), which, like the dot-com boom did for the '90s recession, could change things. But not “hope.” Not “We all have to work together.” In order to succeed at anything, you have to work at it constantly, and you have to sacrifice to do it. It doesn’t come free.

Obama says, “Yes we can.” What do you think?

By their deeds you shall know them. You can continue to hope and believe, but that’s really the most counterproductive thing you can do. I’m proud to be an American with the racial barrier being broken down in this way. It’s a relief, and it shows you the potential for what really could happen, if the man wasn’t a front man for one of the criminal organizations. The potential is there, but I expect no good to come from these organizations.

People are so desperate now they’ll grab onto anything.

What is Obama going to do differently than what he proposed he was going to do? Look at his economic proposals. How are they going to make a change in anything? He said what he’s going to do: Obama wants to send more troops into Afghanistan, he wants to build the military bigger, he wants to continue fighting the war on terror, and he wants to do preemptive strikes into sovereign nations. They want a bigger stimulus package,

To what extent is forecasting future trends these days like being a bearer of bad news?

I have no trouble calling a spade a spade: It’s a longhandled shovel, let’s get over it. People didn’t want to believe me during the Bush years. From 2003 to the beginning of 2007 were some of the worst years I’ve ever had—I was forecasting an economic crisis. No one wants to hear that! When, a month before it started, we forecast exactly what would happen during the Iraq War, they called me unpatriotic. They called me a Bush-basher. A number of publications called me “Doctor Doom” when we forecast the Panic of '08. It’s not easy. But I’m past the age where that bothers me. I know who I am, and I believe in what I do. For many years I had my own school, I used to teach close combat. It’s not like a kata [form, in martial arts]. There is no form in life. The environment keeps changing, it’s fluid. It’s not about being rigid in a situation. My practice is it’s about being loose, so that if

you get hit, you let go of the hit. You don’t tighten around it. It’s the same thing in a situation, or a crisis.

What are the trends for 2009?

We don’t have our trends formulated quite yet, but I can tell you one of them is going to be the crash of '09.

Another is going to be whole health healing. People are not going to be able to afford health care. We’re going to see more people fending for themselves. There will be what I’ve called “Bush gardens.” Back during World War II, they had victory gardens—people planted vegetables.

In a few years, people will be asking, “How is it that all of these people ripped up all of their lawns and made all of these beautiful gardens instead?” And the response will be, “Well, we had this president, George Bush, and he bankrupted the country, he ruined it. So everybody had to grow their own food.” We’ll be seeing more of that. I think that there is going to be a time when people want the truth. There is a freedom in this country that is had nowhere else, in terms of developing your mind.

The freedom of thought and expression that you have yourself—there’s nothing like that anywhere but here.

This country can spark a renaissance, and I believe that this area could be the epicenter of it. Look at all of the things you have in the Hudson Valley: You have the universities, you have farming, you have agriculture, you have technology, you have the arts. Art is the true expression of the human spirit, but in order for a renaissance to happen we have to raise the standard.

Something old is dying, an old system, and something new will be born.

12/08 CHRONOGRAM 17

THE LINDA LIVE PERFORMANCES, FILM, THEATER, DEBATE

FOR TICKETS & INFORMATION, VISIT

WAMC’s

Performing Arts Studio

THELINDA.ORG

OR CALL 518-465-5233 x4

IT’S ALL HAPPENING AT THE LINDA! FEATURE FILM FEATURING

THE RAMBLIN’ JUG STOMPERS Dancing on the Air

& MUSIC INDUSTRY PANEL

Dec/10 8pm

Dec/11 7pm

r recto i D h t g wi Q&A ven Sebrin e St

Dec/13 7pm

A Food For Thought Film Event

Capital Pride Singers with Basso Moderno

ith anel w

P

Dec/17 7pm

Protecting the environment doesn’t have to be this hard. WaterFurnace geothermal heating and cooling uses the free and renewable energy in your own backyard to reduce your carbon footprint and lower your utility bills up to 70%. Visit us online at waterfurnace.com/greenplanet to learn how WaterFurnace protects the environment, your budget, and your criminal record.

tor

Direc

Rock and a Heart Place

Elvis Birthday Bash w/ The Lustre Kings

Dec/18 7pm

Jan/3 8pm

(845) 658-7116 • www.altren.net

waterfurnace.com/greenplanet WaterFurnace is a registered trademark of WaterFurnace International, Inc.

Melissa Ferrick

Dancing on the Air

Steve Forbert

Jan/11 8pm

Jan/14 8pm

Jan/16 8pm

Chris Smither

Ernie Williams Birthday Show

Jan/23 8pm

Jan/31 8pm

Ulster County

A beautiful place to connect with what you love…

THE BEST PAST PERFORMANCES BROADCAST WEDNESDAYS AT 8PM ON WAMC 90.3FM or 1400AM on your radio dial.

12/5 - Dancing on the Air 12/12 - David Bromberg 12/26 - CRUMBS Nite Out at The Linda (Oct/Nov) Visit us online at thelinda.org and now at myspace.com/thelindawamc The official Ticket Sponsor for The Linda is Tech Valley Communications.

Bill Kirchen and John Tichy made possible in part by the City of Albany, NY. Food For Thought co-presented with the Honest Weight Food Co-Op. Media Sponsorship for CRUMBS Nite Out at The Linda by Exit 97.7 WEXT.

To find exceptional outdoor activities, arts & cultural attractions or local food experiences call:

Ulster County Tourism 10 Westbrook Ln. Kingston NY 12401 845-340-3566 | www.ulstertourism.info

18 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Hudson Valley/Catskill Regions

CHRONOGRAM SEEN The events we sponsor, the people who make a difference, the Chronogram community.

JENNIFER MAY

Photos from Chronogram’s Literary Party: Carolina Hutton Gonzalez, Peter Hutton, Tara Johansson; readers Jana Martin and John Darnton; Jana Martin, Peter Barrett, and Christine Bornath.

CHRONOGRAM SPONSORS IN DECEMBER: KINGSTON TOGETHER (12/5) VANDERBILT MANSION HOLIDAY TREE LIGHTING (12/12)

12/08 CHRONOGRAM 19

...think outside the box this holiday!

Goorin Hats Robert Graham Scotch & Soda Tommy Bahama Hugo Boss

AG Jeans Gypsy 05 2(x)ist Trunk Diesel Edun Coal

and much more...

Spiritual Counselor Energy Healer Ron Figueroa M.A. CHT Over thirty years experience Licensed Mental Health Counselor— All credits toward M.A. in School Psychology

CLOTHING FOR MEN 19 Tinker Street Woodstock, NY 12498 845.679.4750

6422 Montgomery Street Rhinebeck, NY 12572 845.876.1345

Open 7 days Extended hours in December 20 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Hypnotist REIKI practitioner OLHT Healer School graduate Addictions Phobias Life transition issues Author of book “To Save a Dying Planet” Sliding fee scale

Healing with Present Moment Focus

845-399-2098

www.centerforwholelifehealing.com

Esteemed Reader

Bruce Chapman is smiling.

Hope of consciousness is strength Hope of feeling is slavery Hope of body is disease —Ashiata Shiemash Esteemed Reader of Our Magazine: Since the fateful night of November 4, 2000, these years have felt like living in the darkness of the damned. The outrageous crimes perpetrated against nature and humanity produced the sense of an emerging American Fourth Reich, and collective recognition that the leaders of the free world are the most accomplished criminals and terrorists on the planet.

Now the results of the corporatocracy’s transgressions of the past eight years—the grand finale of a greedy and an unsustainable mode of living—are upon us.We face an eviscerated economy, layers of liberty-quashing legislation, looming environmental disaster, and genocidal wars against people whose only transgression is that they live on top of oil reserves or in the path of proposed pipelines.

But the event of the presidential election was a ray of light. It demonstrated that the impossible is possible, and an ideal can be made real. By all appearances it was a miracle, and inspires hope not just for our world, but for anything we might aspire to achieve for ourselves. The event sheds radiance in the gloom, as though a prayer like Goethe’s last words—“More light!”—has been answered.

Politics and the president-elect’s choices of the same old insiders for important positions aside, the feeling of hope lingers like the smell of fine perfume after its wearer has left the room. It is as though an ember has been lit in our hearts, which we may carry to ignite campfires in our own backyards. But what do we hope for?

What do we want?

I’ll speak for myself.

I want to stop participating in a system that makes slaves of both those who fail and those who succeed. I want to discover what has value and leave what is worthless behind. I want a real, living sense of purpose in a community of others who also feel their aim.

Life, and that which leads to more life, has value; which I mean not in the biological sense but in the sense of the fullness of living. We need a culture that values the intelligence within us, not what we can contribute to the GDP or produce as a human resource. We need education that is true to the meaning of the word and draws out what is latent in our young people. We need occupations that engage more than a tiny fraction of a person’s capacity—that don’t fracture but instead make us whole. We need communities where we are interrelated and interconnected socially, culturally and practically. We need to learn to bear one another’s unpleasant manifestations and love our neighbors. We need to eat food that is grown on the farm next door instead of on the next continent. We need to feel the preciousness of everything we have and learn once again to husband our things, to apprehend the work and resources required to make what we use, and to take care.

For our hope to have legs that will carry us into a new world, we need to be willing to sacrifice. Only some voluntary suffering will suffice to prepare us for the changes to come. Sacrifice means to pay in advance—something our debt-laden society is unaccustomed to. Gurdjieff posited that the most difficult thing for a person to sacrifice is his suffering—unnecessary suffering. He meant that we cling to the suffering evoked by our pride, greed, self-love, self-loathing, vanity, lassitude, and laziness because it feels like real life. But it is a distant simulacrum of living. Real life, and really pleasant, useful suffering is possible when unconscious suffering is shed like old skin.

These are my thoughts about hope, and you may take issue, or disagree. But we are all connected in our hope for a more sensible, harmonious world, and it behooves us to ponder this new world. Though we focus on the political issues as they are framed, we know that the fundamental paradigm is flawed, and that there is, in front of humanity, the possibility of paradise on earth, for all.

I remember Dante’s story, and so does poet Dane Cervine, who tells it perfectly: the simple difference between heaven & hell.

In two rooms, the same large soup bowls, the same impossibly long-necked spoons— but in hell, the endless failure of feeding alone; and in heaven, the ease of dipping each long spoon, lifting it to your neighbor’s lips, the joy of being fed in return.

—Jason Stern

We’re smiling too, because we had a lot to do with it.

At 53, Bruce Chapman’s personal and professional lives were beginning to hit their stride. Although an accomplished athlete, world record skydiver, and martial artist, nothing in his life could prepare him for what he now faced.

“Dr. Kurek brought every one of his many years’ experience to bear in managing my case. Very few dentists in the United States have his level of Bruce David Kurek skill and understanding. Virtually every advance in DDS, FAGD dental implant technology was integrated into my treatment plan. When I’m asked about Dr. Kurek’s abilities, I always say he is at the very tip of the technological spear and he would have excelled in any medical specialty he chose. My smile is back and I have Dr. Kurek and his team at The Center for Advanced Dentistry to thank.”

— Bruce Chapman, Gardiner, N.Y.

CENTERFOR ADVANCED DENTISTRY® THE

www.thecenterforadvanceddentistry.com 845-691-5600 494 Route 299, Highland, NY 1.5 miles east of NYS Thruway Exit 18 at New Paltz

Copyright © 2008 The Center For Advanced Dentistry. All rights reserved.

In the mood for good food?

Healthy food for your entire family Save BIG with printable coupons on our website MotherEarthStoreHouse.com, OPEN 24/7

12/08 CHRONOGRAM 21

2*" # - ) &)*1) .* /- # '.# ) # ++$) -- *, *0 , 2 ,- ,$+ '/

). , !*, *" '.# # -

) # )"$)"

'$0 - 2 . #$)" -&$''- !*, *+.$( ' '$0$)"

+ Spectacular Persian Rugs

*, .# ) + *+' 2 , .. ) */,

+ American Studio Art

1*,&-#*+- , ., .- +,*! --$*) ' ., $)$)"-

+ Accent Lighting

) # '.# $(( ,-$*) +,*", (- ' 2 .# ) .$*)3- (*-. -*/"#. !. , . # ,- #

+ Luxury Bed and Bath Linen

, -/'. ++$ , # '.#$ , + *+' 1#* , 1 *)

+ Artisan Kitchen

.# -&$''- ) &)*1' " .# 2 ' ,) . ,$+ '/

+ Many more Luxury Gifts and Home DĂŠcor

.* .#,$0 $) .# 1*,' '' $. .# 2*" *! '$!

SilkenWool.com

$100 Instant saving

36 & 56 Main Street Warwick, NY 10990 | 845.988.1888

Free chopper attachment with purchase of Viking hand blender

on Viking toasters stockbridge, massachusetts 800.741.7353

$50 Instant saving

kripalu.org

on 5QT Viking Stand Mixers

/-. ($)/. - !,*( .# / -*) '' 2

$75 Instant saving on 7QT Viking Stand Mixers

Free Shipping with Purchases over $300, use promotion code 8790 at checkout

6 $" $' 4 ! .*' 5 !! ,-*) " %/) . +,*! --*, #* -' ) *($)" .* ,$+ '/ -$)

Rethinking Middle School

A New Program for 5th & 6th Grades

Exploring the Hudson

Eel Study with the DEC

Studio art

Will my child be intellectually challenged?

Will my child be known & understood?

Yes! Call to find out how Open House—Saturday, December 6th 10:00 am to 12:00 pm • All Grades Welcome

The Randolph School PreK through 12th Grade

Address: 2467 Route 9D, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590 Phone: 845-297-5600 Email: learn@randolphschool.org Website: www.randolphschool.org

22 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

CHRISTIAN CHARISIUS / REUTERS

North Korea has threatened to expel South Koreans working in the country if Seoul does not prevent activists from dropping propaganda leaflets across the border. Four years ago, the Koreas agreed to end decades of propaganda warfare involving leaflets, loudspeakers, and radio broadcasts, but activists have pushed ahead with their campaigns, citing freedom of speech as justification for their actions. Recently, protesters sent helium balloons containing 100,000 leaflets over the border; the leaflets denounced Kim Jong Il and called for the North Korean people to rise up against him.

Source: New York Times According to a report released by MAPLight.org in October, members of the House of Representatives raised 79 percent of campaign contributions from outside their congressional districts. For 99 percent of US House members (418 of 421), the city of Washington, DC, outranked top states such as Virginia, California, New York, and Texas in contribution totals. Although Washington, DC, has fewer residents than every state (except Wyoming), 15 of the top 20 zip codes contributing to representatives are in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. Earl Pomeroy (D-North Dakota), for example, received 96 percent of his campaign contributions from outside of his state.

Source: MAPLight.org

In 2007, there were 250 reported thefts of nuclear or radioactive materials. Mohamed ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, describes the count as “disturbingly high,” in spite of the fact that the materials, even considering the low recovery rate, would not be enough to build even one nuclear device—yet the idea that there might be a new market for such material is a growing concern.

Source: New York Times Although slavery is outlawed in Africa, the practice is still accepted in remote sectors of the continent. In a recent landmark ruling, a West African regional court ruled that the Nigerian Government had failed to protect Hadijatou Mani, who was sold into slavery at the age of 12. Now 24 years of age, Mani will receive $19,000 in restitution from the government. Antislavery organizations have hailed the decision as an important victory against deeply entrenched social customs.

Source: New York Times Americans with diabetes have doubled their spending on drugs for the disease in the past six years. The $12.5 billion spent on prescriptions reflects both the increasing cost of the medication and the increasing number of people seeking treatment (from 14 million people in 2000 to 19 million in 2007). Recent studies have shown that older and less expensive medications may be more effective for the treatment of diabetes than newer, more expensive ones, such as Avandia, which can cost as much as $225 a month.

Source: Houston Chronicle On October 27, in the Somalian town of Kismayu (which is controlled by a radical Islamist group called the Shabab), a 23-year-old woman named Asha Ibrahim Dhuhulow was buried up to her neck and stoned to death after authorities ruled that her status as a rape victim made her guilty of adultery. A crowd of thousands gathered at a soccer field to witness the event.

Source: New York Times While shareholders in the securities industry have lost $74 billion of their equity, 186,000 workers at companies such as Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Brothers will still receive bonuses totaling almost $38 billion. This boils down to roughly $201,500 per person—a figure more than four times the median household income in the US and larger than the gross domestic products of Sri Lanka, Lebanon, and Bulgaria.

Source: Bloomberg.com

In October, a federal jury convicted Charles McArthur Emmanuel, the son of the former president of Liberia, of torturing suspected opponents of his father’s government. Prisoners reported being forced to kick stones until their bare feet bled, having flaming plastic melted on their skin, and genital mutilation; one refugee has reported witnessing Emmanuel commit execution-style homicide. This is the first case to be brought under a 1994 law criminalizing torture committed by US citizens overseas. Human Rights Watch has called the verdict a milestone in the fight against human rights abuses around the world.

Source: New York Times Medicare drug plan spending fell $6 billion this year (to rest at $44 billion), in large part because more people are using newly available generic drugs to treat conditions like osteoporosis and high blood pressure. While the program is costing taxpayers less than originally estimated, seniors have seen their expenses for premiums and copayments increase every year. Costs are expected to rise again next year as early savings fade and the first of 79 million baby boomers start entering the program in 2011. Some enrollees will see increases of as much as 329 percent.

Source: Houston Chronicle, USA Today Ballot propositions initiated by the lending industry experienced defeats in Ohio and Arizona as citizens voted to eliminate high-interest payday lending in those states, in favor of cracking down on irresponsible loan practices. In Ohio, where payday lenders outspent the grassroots coalition by over 60 to 1, voters approved a cap on interest rates. In Arizona, where the grassroots campaign was outspent about 90 to 1, payday lenders sponsored a bill that would have halted the Legislature’s efforts to kill payday loans, but voters favored elimination over the proposed reforms. Had the measures passed, annual interest rates as high as 400 percent would still be legal in those states.

Source: MarketWatch The president-elect of the Maldives (which is currently three feet above sea level) has moved to establish an investment fund to purchase land in Sri Lanka or India as a refuge in the event that the country is overwhelmed by the effects of global warming on the flood-prone Maldivian landscape. After the devastating tsunami in 2004, many of the islands were completely submerged. The Maldives is a founding member of the Alliance of Small Island States, which since 1992 has pressed the world’s industrialized countries to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases linked to climate change.

Source: New York Times Compiled by Christina Kaminski

12/08 CHRONOGRAM 23

CUSTOM FAUX FINISHES for your walls, floors, ceilings, & furniture

ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE PRODUCTS DESIGNED & INSTALLED

WFOFUJBO QMBTUFST t MVTUFSTUPOF t WFOF[JBOP HMB[JOH t NVSBMT t XPPEHSBJOJOH t TUPOF

“IF YOU’VE SEEN IT OR ENVISIONED IT... I WILL PROVIDE IT.”

PROFESSIONALLY TRAINED IN FAUX EFFECTS

FAUX INTENTIONS

MUSIC PROGRAMS FOR ADULTS AND CHILDREN KINDERMUSIK from birth to 7 years old Suzuki Violin, Cello, Piano from 3 1/2 years old ∙ Private lessons on all instruments & voice ∙ Guitar workshops for all ages ∙ Jazz workshops for all ages ∙ Chamber music for all ages ∙ Children’s choral groups from age 4 ∙ and more

PLANT A TREE

Register by phone, fax or online Call for a catalog (845) 431-8916 | Julie Wegener, Director www.sunydutchess.edu

845-255-6634 24 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

MARK JOSEPH KELLY

Brian K. Mahoney Editor’s Note Relief

T REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE

he first article to mention George W. Bush in Chronogram appeared in our October, 2000 issue. Titled “Undue Influence: The Bi-Partisan Strangehold on the Debates,” author Josh Robinson questioned the logic of the Commission on Presidential Debates in not allowing third-party candidates, i.e., Ralph Nader, to participate, and opened the piece thusly: “In an election year when both major party presidential candidates agree on many contentious issues, such as the war on drugs, the death penalty, international trade, and economic sanctions against countries such as Iraq and Cuba, the biggest debate so far has been about the debates.” Bush’s opponent in that election, as you may recall, was Al Gore.

In January, 2001, the then president-elect was named in an analysis of the Supreme Court’s Bush v. Gore ruling, a decision our analyst Mark H. Levine referred to as “lawless, illogical, and hypocritical.”

The magazine showed astonishing prescience in February, 2001. We created a contest called “Pin the Tail on the World,” asking readers to pick the country that Bush would bomb first.

(This was pre-9/11, don’t forget.) The text read, in part: “What will George W. Bush do to consolidate his purloined power, having been installed by party hacks and Supreme Court justices on the payroll after voters rejected him? We’re betting he’ll do the same thing any president does when Congress is divided, the economy is headed south, and the people are threatening revolt—he’ll go to war.”

This was followed by the jaw-dropping naïveté of our June issue, in which we published a piece by Michael Moore commenting on the first few months of the Bush regime, titled “George Hasn’t Done Anything Al Wouldn’t Have.”

To wit: “Well, 101 days into the Junta and the fear mongers are a heyday, aren’t they? To listen to them, you’d think George W. Bush has opened the gates of hell and unleashed the legions of Satan upon the American people.” This was the last piece by Moore that we printed.

After a few more articles in 2001 questioning what actually happened to the Floridian chads and whether or not masses of black voters were disenfranchised in the Sunshine State prior to his election, we got down to covering the

unfolding nightmare: No Child Left Behind; 9/11 and the administration’s bomb first, ask questions later approach to foreign policy; the war in Iraq; more war in Iraq; and yet more war in Iraq. Don’t forget the articles we ran on the erosion of civil liberties, or those investigating ties between the Republican party and voting machine manufacturer Diebold. Then in 2006, we brought Larry Beinhart on board as a political commentator. Larry has made tracking the misdeeds of the Bush administration a full-time job, from reporting on the articles of impeachment put forth by Dennis Kucinich in the House, to the way Bush speaks about his God-given agenda is rhetorically similar to the pronouncements of Osama bin Laden. But even Larry seems tired of tarring and feathering our man in the White House any longer.

He hasn’t mentioned Bush in three months! (His latest target is Alan Greenspan, p. 32) While I was overjoyed to see Barack Obama elected president, it had less to do with Obama than with Bush. Watching the returns come in on election night, I felt a cathartic sense of relief, like the landing gear had finally deployed, and we might just land this sucker.

For I am done with George W. Bush. I am done with everything about George W. Bush. I am done with compassionate conservatism, Karl Rove, phony excuses for war, a singing attorney general, unilateralism, Gitmo, the war on terror (one last time: terrorism is a technique, not a belief system), warrantless wiretapping, oil executives setting energy policy in closed-door meetings, the unitary executive, American exceptionalism, waterboarding, nepotism at the cabinet level (“Heckuva job, Brownie!”), a vice-president who shoots his friend in the face, pre-emptive war, uber-conservative Supreme Court nominees (and unqualified ones, like Harriet Miers), extraordinary rendition, environmental degradation, politicization of the civil service—I could go on and on.

And I am done with my own outrage; it’s exhausting to be this indignant for this long. I look forward to trying to regain a sense of optimism about the direction of this country.

Goodbye, George W. Bush. Don’t worry about the mess. We’ll clean it up.

Just go.

Get your weekly dose of Chronogram on Monday mornings at 8:15 with Brian and Greg Gattine on “The Morning Show with Gattine and Franz.” WDST 100.1FM. 12/08 CHRONOGRAM 25

NEWS & POLITICS World, Nation, & Region

THE NUCLEAR OPTION Cooling a heated debate

By Judith Lewis

S

o you’re against nuclear power. Do you know why?

A decade and a year after Enrico Fermi demonstrated the first atomic fission chain reaction, President Dwight D. Eisenhower went before the United Nations General Assembly to avert an apocalypse. Other nations now had in their hands the weapon with which the United States had pulverized two Japanese cities; altruistic scientists and eager investors both had pressured the president to share the technology for peaceful uses. And so Eisenhower had little choice on that December day in 1953 but to announce a new purpose for the force inside the atom: Properly monitored and generously financed, he declared in his “Atoms for Peace” address, fission could be harnessed “to provide abundant electrical energy in the power-starved areas of the world.”

You could have been forgiven for thinking the president and his advisers had just hatched the notion that month, so full of poetic wonder and portent was that speech. In fact, not only were the Soviets about to power up a fivemegawatt reactor, but the Westinghouse Electric Corporation was well on its way to building the country’s first commercial atomic power plant. Within five years, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station would begin sending its 60 megawatts of electricity to the city of Pittsburgh.

That was probably about the best atomic power ever looked. For it wasn’t long before the electricity touted as “too cheap to meter” proved too pricey for profit: The power that came out of Shippingport cost 10 times the going rate. Though in the coming years many more reactors would be hitched to the nation’s grid, Eisenhower’s gallant dreams were undone by rising construction costs, high maintenance bills, and risk. The last application for a new nuclear plant was withdrawn in 1978. By the time Three Mile Island nearly melted down in 1979, the United States was through with nuclear-generated electricity.

Until now.

When President George W. Bush celebrated the Energy Policy Act of 2005 at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Maryland, he may as well have been delivering the 21st-century update of Eisenhower’s 1953 manifesto, minus the poetry.This time, however, the marketing slogan was not about peace, but the very future of the planet. “Without these nuclear plants,” Bush said, “America would release nearly 700 million metric tons more carbon dioxide into the air each year.” Half a century after Shippingport powered up, the US government has once again entwined its long fingers under the heel of the big industry that couldn’t.

In his day, Eisenhower shared his vision with a number of vocal pacifists: Redirecting atomic power to electricity, they believed, would at least keep the military occupied with something other than blowing up cities. And Bush shares his vision with some prominent environmentalists: Stewart Brand, for 26 NEWS & POLITICS CHRONOGRAM 12/08

instance, who founded the Whole Earth Catalog and Fred Krupp, the director of the Environmental Defense Fund, who believes that “the challenge of global warming is so urgent we can’t afford to take anything off the table.”

As far back as 1978, Tom Alexander—an award-winning science writer with a deep knowledge of economics and ecology—urged utilities to resuscitate the already-flagging nuclear industry, lest a ramp-up in coal-fired electricity “trigger irreversible changes in the world’s climate.”The ramp-up happened on schedule; the changes in climate too—which now makes it very hard to ignore the fact that whatever else nuclear power does to the environment, it emits neither soot nor smoke nor mercury, and far less carbon dioxide than the coal that keeps most of our lights on.

Industry has been quick to take advantage of the shifting political climate: Last year, UniStar submitted an application for a new nuclear reactor to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the first to cross the agency’s desk since Jimmy Carter was president. Four more followed, and 14 separate companies have notified the agency that they will file applications in the next year.

It’s hard to imagine any of the current presidential candidates slashing nuclear subsidies once in office. (Senator Barack Obama, for one, represents a state with 11 of the nation’s 104 civilian reactors, and his donors include employees of nuclear giant Exelon.)

But can nuclear power really rescue our warming planet? And if you answered quickly, answer this too: Are you for or against because you know the science, or because someone said you should be?

When we talk about nuclear power today, we talk about environmentalists for nukes, and about people posing as environmentalists for nukes. We talk about Dick Cheney’s energy bill defibrillating a faltering industry with $12 billion worth of incentives and tax breaks. We talk about who is for and who is against, and whether we can trust them.

But no one talks about fission. No one talks about the letter Albert Einstein wrote to FDR in 1939, advising the president that “it may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium” to produce enormous amounts of power. No one mentions that breathtaking moment on December 2, 1942, when Fermi, on a squash court at the University of Chicago, had an assistant slowly pull a control rod from a pile of uranium and graphite, sustaining a controlled chain reaction for 28 minutes and thus securing atomic power’s industrial future.

For the last four years, I have tried to shut out the chatter—the goofy Nuclear Energy Institute ad (girl on a scooter says, “Our generation is demanding lots of electricity...and clean air.”), and the warnings of No-Nukes

REUTERS/PETR JOSEK THE TEMELIN NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IS SEEN BEHIND THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF THE NEARBY TOWN OF TYNEC NAD SAZAVOU IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC. ONE THOUSAND LITERS OF RADIOACTIVE COOLING WATER LEAKED AT THE PLANT IN EARLY 2007, BUT PLANT OFFICIALS SAID ON MARCH 7, 2007 THAT THE LEAK WAS CONTAINED AND DID NOT CAUSE ANY DAMAGE. THE PLANT IS STILL IN OPERATION.

godmother Helen Caldicott, who, rightly or wrongly, cannot think of splitting atoms without thinking of weapons. I’ve tried to focus instead on the awesome force that binds the nucleus and whether it can ever be an appropriate source of civilian energy.

The idea of nuclear power arose more than half a century ago out of the most noble impulses of humanity’s brightest scientific minds, which hoped that the destructive force they’d harnessed, the most concentrated source of energy on earth, could also be applied for good. But atomic electricity strayed so far from its promise—corrupted by government’s collusion with industry, mismanagement for the sake of profit, and ordinary bureaucratic incompetence—that we seem flummoxed at the thought of ever reclaiming it.

To consider a technology as terrifying as nuclear power requires more than slogans. It requires looking beyond the marketing and activism, into the physics and its consequences. It means thinking about rocks. And waste. And fission.

HOT ROCKS, WARM WATER Like so many sources of energy, nuclear power begins with a rock—a brownish chunk of hard dirt, flecked with glittery particles.You can hold uranium in your hand without much trouble: As it decays into other elements—thorium, radium, and eventually lead—it throws off radioactive particles, but most of them can’t penetrate your skin. Nor can they sustain a controlled chain reaction in most of the world’s nuclear reactors. For that, you need a certain neutron-rich uranium isotope, U-235, which makes up only a tiny portion of raw uranium ore.

To be useful as nuclear fuel, uranium ore has to be refined into uranium oxide (the yellowcake of Niger fame) and then enriched—turned into pellets of 4 percent U-235. The sole US plant that enriches uranium for civilian power reactors, located in Paducah, Kentucky, accomplishes this via an energy-hogging process that consumes 15 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. Even so, carbon emissions for the entire nuclear fuel cycle come to no more than 55 grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour—roughly even with solar. By 2010, when the US Enrichment Corporation is slated to switch to the more efficient method used in Europe, that number should come down closer to 12

grams per kilowatt-hour—on par with wind.

Nuclear power does have other environmental consequences, drawbacks that have nothing to do with carbon: Aside from radiation, a particularly delicate one involves cooling water. “Light water” reactors, used at the majority of the world’s nuclear plants use water both to moderate the chain reaction and produce steam to spin turbines—two billion gallons per day on average. Most of it returns to the adjoining river, lake, or ocean up to 25 degrees warmer, an ecological impact that could significantly interfere with nuclear power’s chances as a climate-change solution. Already, wherever a light-water reactor sits near a sensitive body of water, its intake pipes kill fish, and its outflow distorts ecosystems to favor warm-water species.

THE CANCER CONUNDRUM Will a nuclear reactor operating under normal conditions give you cancer? It’s a question that, surprisingly, still hasn’t been conclusively answered. A 1995 Greenpeace study found an increase in breast-cancer mortality among women living near various US and Canadian reactors in the Great Lakes region. Yet peer-reviewed studies by the Ontario Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation as well as the National Cancer Institute show no significant increase in cancer among people living near a reactor. “Without a baseline study, we don’t have any credibility” on the cancer issue, longtime Southern California anti-nuclear activist Rochelle Becker once told me. “There are so many things wrong with the nuclear industry that are confirmable that we try to stay away from that.”

We do know that nuclear plants routinely release small amounts of radioactive gases that expose nearby residents to a small dose of radiation—one that the Health Physics Society, which governs radiation measurements, says will probably not increase their risk of getting cancer. We know that elevated levels of radioactive tritium—which gets into water and is easily ingested—have been found downstream from nuclear facilities, and we know that the scientific consensus holds that no amount of radiation is good for you.

But we also know this: 24,000 Americans per year die of diseases related to emissions from coal-fired power plants, which release sulfur dioxide, smogforming nitrogen, toxic soot, and mercury—not to mention 2.5 billion tons 12/08 CHRONOGRAM NEWS & POLITICS 27

of carbon dioxide annually.

It’s a devil of a dilemma: One source of always-on “base load” power kills people every day. Another kills people only if something goes terribly wrong.

And it could.

ACCIDENTS HAPPEN Early in the morning of March 28, 1979, a combination of malfunctioning equipment and inadequately trained workers led to a loss-of-coolant episode at Three Mile Island Unit 2 near Middletown, Pennsylvania. Had workers not finally arrested the disaster 10 hours after it started, the fuel inside the reactor could have melted completely. The partial meltdown and subsequent radiation leak was the worst nuclear accident ever on US soil; in its wake, public support for the technology dropped from 70 to 50 percent, where it remains today. Industry proponents claim that no one died as a direct result of the accident, and in 1990, a Columbia University study found no elevated radiation-related cancer risk in the population near the plant. A later study, though, found a tenfold increase in cancer among the people who lived in the path of the radioactive plume.

Because of Three Mile Island, the night crew performing an ill-advised test at the Chernobyl plant on April 26, 1986, might have been prepared for a loss-of-coolant episode. But they didn’t know enough about the plant they were tinkering with to have an idea what to do when things went grievously wrong. The reactor exploded, and the fire spewed a massive cloud of radiation across Europe.

There are no reactors as fire-prone as Chernobyl in the United States, and reactor safeguards have been upgraded dramatically since Three Mile Island.

Emergency core-cooling systems kick in if other systems fail; operators have been trained to respond promptly when something goes awry. But just because what has already happened may not happen again doesn’t mean we should relax: Human error has infinite permutations, and near misses in the last decade have shown just how vulnerable reactors remain.

In March 2002, during a scheduled refueling outage at the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Ohio, workers discovered that boric acid deposits had gnawed a “pineapple-sized” hole into the six-inch-thick steel cap bolted to the top of the reactor. Had the corrosion gone just a third of an inch deeper, radioactive steam would have flooded the containment dome, and Davis-Besse might have been the next Three Mile Island.

Just as frightening as the near-accident was the way in which Davis-Besse owners FirstEnergy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission responded: by soft-pedaling procedural flaws and scapegoating plant workers, in particular Andrew Siemaszko, a systems engineer who they claimed had failed to report the corrosion. The NRC has since barred Siemaszko from working in the nuclear industry, and in 2006 he was indicted on five counts of lying to the government and falsifying records. But documents show that Siemaszko repeatedly told his employers the reactor head needed a thorough cleaning.

FirstEnergy didn’t complete that job because it was taking too long (keeping the reactor idle was costing the company $1 million a day)—and the NRC delayed a scheduled inspection of the reactor at FirstEnergy’s request.

WATCHDOG OR LAPDOG? The Davis-Besse incident puts into sharp relief a history of regulatory neglect that goes back for decades. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has counted 47 incidents since 1979 in which the NRC failed to adequately address issues at nuclear power plants—until the troubles got so bad the plants had to be shut down for repairs. In some cases, “the NRC allowed reactors with known safety problems to continue operating for months, sometimes years, without requiring owners to fix the problems.”

There’s evidence, too, that the commission has tolerated serious lapses in security, even after 9/11. In March 2007, an anonymous whistleblower wrote a letter to the NRC claiming that guards at Exelon’s Peach Bottom plant in Pennsylvania were “coming into work exhausted after working excessive overtime” and thus “sleeping on duty at an alarming rate.” The NRC ignored the letter until a guard videotaped the naps in progress and WCBS in New York aired the tape. The Project on Government Oversight claims a skilled infiltrator would need just 45 seconds to penetrate the area where Peach Bottom stores its spent fuel.

Critics often point out that the NRC is funded by industry fees; despite his 28 NEWS & POLITICS CHRONOGRAM 12/08

cautious support of nuclear power, Obama declared it “a moribund agency... captive of the industries that it regulates.” (NRC spokesman Scott Burnell insists that because those fees come to the NRC through the US Treasury, there’s no conflict of interest.)

Dave Lochbaum, UCS’s nuclear-safety expert, believes the problem at the NRC is a lack of money—and congressional attention: “There have been more hearings on lunches in the White House than on whether the NRC’s doing a good job.”

THE FRENCH CONNECTION Just as there are arguments against public investment in nuclear power, there are arguments for it—and one huge living example. France shifted from oilburning electric plants to nuclear during the oil crisis of the early ‘70s, and over the past 20 years it has invested $160 billion in nuclear programs, making the country the largest exporter of nuclear electricity in the European Union. Sixteen percent of the world’s nuclear power is generated in France.

And where once the French were buying nuclear technology from the United States, now it’s reversed: Six of the twenty applications expected to be submitted to the NRC before 2010 are for the US Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) designed by the French conglomerate Areva.

Instead of just two coolant loops, like the traditional “Generation II” reactor, the EPR has four. If one leaks, another kicks in: No more Three Mile Islands.

“The EPR has more defensive depth than reactors created for the US market,” acknowledges Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist at the UCS. His cautious approval of the EPR is significant: Two years ago, Dan Hirsch of the anti-nuclear group Committee to Bridge the Gap, argued, “All of the people supporting it now supported it before. It’s not news. But when the Union of Concerned Scientists comes out in favor of nuclear, now that will be news.”

The UCS remains ambivalent about nuclear power, and its position papers reflect deep worries about the technology. But as far as the UCS is capable of liking a reactor, it likes the EPR. Lyman stresses that the EPR’s improved safety only means it designed the EPR to meet the safety standards of the European Union, which are better than America’s. “The NRC’s whole presumption is that the current reactors are safe enough,” Lyman explains. “The NRC is afraid that if it makes too much fuss about how the newer ones are safer, it will mean that the older ones aren’t safe enough.

“An opportunity is being squandered,” he adds. “If this renaissance is going to happen, you’re going to build a new fleet of reactors to last 60, 80, 100 years. Why not lock in a safer reactor design?”

THE $50 BILLION QUESTION In 1960, the price of a brand-new light-water reactor hovered around $68 million, just under what it cost to build a new coal plant at the time. Having recouped their start-up costs, these older reactors now produce electricity—a fifth of the country’s power, all in all—at prices that easily compete with coal.

But a new plant will have a harder time breaking even: An Areva reactor may start at $3 or $4 billion, twice as much as a coal plant, but actual construction costs and interest will probably boost total plant cost to $9 billion.

Not one will get built without help from the government, says Craig Nesbit of Chicago-based Exelon. “These are the largest capital projects on a private scale you can build. We wouldn’t be building them without loan guarantees.”

Nuclear lobbyists have been asking for $50 billion in such guarantees, which are given to other industries, including wind and solar: “There’s nothing exotic about it,” says Nesbit.” Companies also want “production tax credits” for the actual power they generate—a penny or two per kilowatt, also akin to wind energy. So far, Congress has pledged up to $6 billion worth of production tax credits for new nuclear plants. But in 2007, it capped loan guarantees for plant construction at $18.5 billion—scarcely enough to fund a couple of reactors.

The industry does get another massive taxpayer-funded benefit, however: Since 1957, plant operators have been protected by the 2005 updated PriceAnderson Act that limits their liability in a catastrophic accident, requires reactor operators to carry insurance policies worth $300 million and contribute $95 million to an accident compensation fund.The rest is covered by taxpayers who paid $1 billion to clean up after Three Mile Island.

The debate over whether nuclear power deserves this kind of public investment is second only to the debate over whether reactors can ever be safe.

Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, long a foe of nuclear power,

12/08 CHRONOGRAM NEWS & POLITICS 29

argues that “about three-quarters of all electricity we use in North America can be saved cheaper than just running a coal or nuclear plant, even if the capital costs of the plant were zero.” Lovins has argued for 30 years that redirecting nuclear investments toward energy efficiency, solar, wind, or tiny gas turbines that could be located in every neighborhood would yield carbon-free power much faster, without the federally mandated insurance policy.

But wind and solar have still not fully conquered their intermittency issues: Wind power works only when the wind blows; solar panels are no good at night.

“Distributed micropower” could make progress fast; efficiency would do even better; and we should look forward to the day when they put the mammoth, centralized energy providers that feed our national grid out of business. But given the current economic structure of our energy market, can any of those things quickly replace coal? And how fast? Barring a president who can infuse us with the political will to roll out a Jimmy Carter-style conservation plan, electricity demand will continue to rise. We may be stuck with our devil of a dilemma.

WASTED PROMISE The Atomic Age has left behind lots of radioactive garbage—from the rags that mopped up hot spills to the concrete from decommissioned reactors to the liquid residue of plutonium warheads. Waste fuel from nuclear reactors is high-level stuff that will remain dangerously radioactive for millions of years.

In volume it’s not that much: A half-century detritus of civilian nuclear power “can fit on a football field piled six meters high,” says Harold McFarlane, deputy associate laboratory director for nuclear programs at Idaho National Laboratory. But we still have no place to put it.

Since Congress in 1987 picked Yucca Mountain as the repository for the country’s high-level waste, the state of Nevada has sued several times to block it, mostly on the grounds that the Department of Energy relied on bad science to select the spot: Among other things, an earthquake fault runs under it, and water percolates through the porous volcanic tuff.

The repository’s most recent opening date set for 2017 “is clearly out the window,” says Ward Sproat, who directs the Yucca project for the DOE. “It’s a two- to three-year slip from that.” Others predict that the $11 billion facility won’t open at all. Still, the DOE has announced that it will file its long-awaited license application in June. For now, nearly all the nation’s spent-fuel assemblies sit at individual reactor sites in water-filled basins about the size of swimming pools but 30 feet deeper, and reinforced with concrete. Most of the pools are close to full and, according to a 2002 report by the National Academy of Sciences, vulnerable to terrorist attack.

If Yucca Mountain ever does open, another problem emerges: transporting waste from the 200-plus reactors around the country. Derailment, sabotage, and hijackings happen. According to a map the state of Nevada circulates, only the Dakotas, Montana, and Rhode Island lie outside planned nuclear waste transportation routes.The DOE intends to build a dedicated rail line 300 miles into the Nevada desert and instruct residents along its route in how to respond to emergencies. Everyone along the route will know where those trains are going. And what they carry.

DIRTY RECYCLING France recycles the fuel from its 59 reactors, along with those of other countries, into neat little piles of useful radionuclides. By dissolving nuclear waste in acids and separating the isotopes, they can reduce 20 years’ waste from a family of four’s electricity use to a glasslike nugget the size of a cigarette lighter.

France’s eager embrace of nuclear technology has yielded some spectacular benefits. The country, which relies on nuclear for nearly 80 percent of its electricity, emits only two tons of carbon dioxide per person per year, less than half the US load. But its reprocessing operations, as with Britain’s notoriously leaky site at Sellafield, have racked up such a roster of problems that in the United States they’d be shut down as gross violators of the Clean Water Act. Every year Areva, the French conglomerate that handles reprocessing, dumps radioactive liquid into the Channel, according to Union of Concerned Scientists. Dave Lochbaum: “The French [are] not quite as concerned about effluents as we are.”

They are, however, in violation of European Union pollution regulations.

The reprocessing of nuclear waste isolates plutonium. Currently, France has 80 tons of it socked away, enough to make 10,000 nuclear bombs. It is stored “in what looks like 11,000 sugar cans,” says Arjun Makhijani of the watchdog group 30 NEWS & POLITICS CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. “It’s a huge security issue.”

In 1974, India made its first nuclear bomb with plutonium skimmed off reprocessed nuclear waste. For that reason, President Gerald Ford placed a temporary hold on the technology in 1976, a hold President Carter turned into a ban.

Nevertheless, the 2009 federal budget request includes $301.5 million for research into reprocessing technologies. For a nuclear future to flower, industry executives want assurances that the waste problem won’t continue to haunt them. “Unless we see a clear path,” says Exelon’s Craig Nesbit, “we don’t believe that we or anyone else should be building new nuclear plants.”

BREEDING REACTORS What if a nuclear reactor could be invented that was safe, sustainable, and clean, even using plain old fission? What if it could reuse spent fuel until it was no longer dangerous, curtailing the pesky problems of waste, mining, and a finite uranium supply all at once?

These are the questions of research facilities around the world, places like Idaho National Laboratory, which sprawls over 890 square miles of desert land bounded by some of America’s most prized national parks. A bustling facility in the 1950s and ‘60s, it drew the best young talent from international science academies. Now, says nuclear programs director Harold McFarlane, the lab— which has expanded into other fields, such as biotechnology and alternative energy—is back full bore in the nuclear business, bolstered by federal programs to encourage the development of “Generation IV” reactors.

One reactor in the offing, the Next Generation Nuclear Plant, can be cooled with helium instead of water and might be capable of producing industrial hydrogen to power emission-free cars and other power plants. Another, the Advanced Fast Reactor, can burn up the radioactive elements that remain behind in a light-water reactor. “There’s also a great deal of interest in designing smaller reactors for developing nations,” McFarlane says. A hot major in college once again, has “a lot of universities reinstating nuclear engineering programs dropped back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. We’re seeing a fantastic increase in undergraduate enrollment.”

THE ULTIMATUM Tom Alexander recommended nuclear power as a hedge against climate catastrophe 30 years ago, not because it was perfect, but because he thought that with better information its imperfections could be addressed. No industry shill, Alexander also blasted the Reagan administration for blowing $10 billion on a badly conceived uranium-enrichment plant, and the government in general, whose “inability to untangle its licensing, fuel, and waste-storage policies has all but destroyed the electrical companies’ brief infatuation with nuclear power.” As with the early proponents of nuclear power (who in the 1940s staged sit-ins and hunger strikes to call for the “peaceful uses of atomic fission”), Alexander believed that there was a way to apply atomic technology against poverty, environmental collapse, and certain doom.

Alexander died in 2005 at the age of 74, never writing one last story to say he told us so: We shouldn’t have built so many coal plants. And just maybe, instead of destroying that “brief infatuation with nuclear power,” we should have fixed the nuclear industry instead.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns of global mayhem should we fail to cut our carbon emissions in half by mid-century. For nuclear power to make a significant dent in the US carbon footprint, the Colorado-based Keystone Center for Science and Public Policy reported last year, we would have to build five new 1,000 megawatt reactors every year for the next half-century.

“The world we have made as a result of a level of thinking we have done thus far creates problems we cannot solve at the same level at which we created them,” said Albert Einstein. In other words, we have driven ourselves into a technological quagmire. There is no easy route back, but there may be many paths forward. Nuclear power is expensive, flawed, dangerous, and finicky; it depends on humans to run properly, and when those humans err, the consequences are worse than the worst accident involving any other energy source.

If there isn’t a way to do it right, let’s abandon it—but only because we’re secure in the belief that we can replace coal-fired electricity with energy from the wind, the sun, and the earth. When rising seas flood our coasts, the idea of producing electricity from the most terrifying force ever harnessed may not seem so frightening—or expensive—after all.

#%.4%2 &/2 0/3)4)6% 4().+).' ÂŽ

4HE /UTREACH $IVISION OF 'UIDEPOSTS

&OUNDED BY ./2-!. 6).#%.4 0%!,%

254( 34!&&/2$ 0%!,% WE INVITE YOU TO TOUR THE 6ISITOR S #ENTER %AST -AIN 3TREET 0AWLING . 9 &OR HOURS AND INFORMATION

PLEASE CALL

NATURAL PHOTOGRAPHY 845.489.8038 WWW.LORNATYCHOSTUP.COM

'2/50 4/523 7%,#/-%

A N D R O G Y N Y " 3 5 * 4 5 * $ $ 3 & "5 * 7 & # - " % & 8 0 3 ,

Hudson Valley Learning Center Always Learning ONE-TO-ONE FOCUS AT EVERY GRADE AND LEVEL

4:-7*" ;6/*(" %&4*(/&3

#6-, &-*.*/"5*0/ t '"#6-064 $0-034 t $65 8&"3 - 0 $ " 5 & % " 5 . 6 - # & 3 3 : 4 5 3 & & 5 * / 5 ) & ) * 4 5 0 3 * $ ) 6 ( 6 & / 0 5 4 5 3 & & 5 % * 4 5 3 * $ 5 / & 8 1 " -5 ;

Since 1990 SERVING STUDENTS FROM A Hundred Schools ∙ A Handful of Counties ∙ A Wide Range of Abilities

IN THE FIELDS OF: Mathematics ∙ Reading ∙ Transition Guidance “The Art of Choice�

Writing ∙ Special Needs ∙ Study Skills Developing Attention Specific Test Prep: Regents, SAT, PSAT, and more ∙ “Step Ahead� Program

serving Western MA and neighboring communities

.

47 South Hamilton St. Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 454-4769

.

www.HVLearning.com

2 DaVinci Way New Paltz, NY (845) 255-4704

12/08 CHRONOGRAM NEWS & POLITICS 31

DION OGUST

Commentary

Larry Beinhart’s Body Politic

ALAN SHRUGGED

The most interesting, and perhaps the most important, moment in philosophy in the last decade occurred on October 28, 2008, in a hearing of the House Oversight Committee, chaired by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-California), during an exchange with Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006.

Ah, Alan Greenspan….

As Justin Martin writes in his meticulous biography Greenspan: The Man Behind Money (2001, Basic Books), “By the dawn of the new millennium, it was nearly impossible to find anyone in America who wasn’t ga-ga over Greenspan.

Democrats and Republicans, Wall Street and Main Street, dogs and cats—all were high on the Fed chairman.”

Along came 2008. Now it’s “The Reckoning: Taking a Hard New Look at the Greenspan Legacy (New York Times, October 8, 2008) and Alan’s in the “Bubble Hall of Shame.”

Alan Greenspan was an Objectivist. What, you may ask, is an Objectivist?

A follower of Ayn Rand, most famous for Atlas Shrugged, a novel in which the capitalist entrepreneurs go on strike against the collectivist shlubs in government (who dare to tax and regulate) and the working class (who dare to form unions), but they’re really just leeches, and when the great men abandon the shlubs, the world collapses.

The true capitalists go off to the wilderness, form their own little utopia, build railroads that run on time and airplanes that never crash, and have fiery, gorgeous, young, college-educated heiresses desperate to bed them. It was an expression of her philosophy, which she took very seriously, and called Objectivism. She established a group, and was surrounded by devotees and acolytes.

They believed that man was rational and that real morality came from strict devotion to one’s own self-interest.They wore gold dollar-sign tiepins or broaches, depending on their gender, hated collectivism, and worshipped capitalism.

When I say “capitalism,” I mean a full, pure, uncontrolled, unregulated laissez-faire capitalism—with a separation of state and economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of state and church.

Ayn Rand’s real name was Alissa Rosenbaum. She was a Russian Jew. When I discovered that, I suddenly had a whole new understanding.There’s this thing about Jews. Pardon me, as I plunge into ethnic stereotyping here. But as a Jew, via Latvia and Belarus, I claim a certain latitude.

Jews like to think. Nudge one, and a philosopher begins to spout.They have a theory—about the world, God, food, love, human relations, politics. It’s happy, it’s sad. It is, especially, utopian.

They’re good at it.They make up great theories. Partly because theories are just theories, and partly because Jews are normally the underdog, so there’s almost always a humanistic heart beating beneath the ideologies they invent.

But then, from time to time, a gentile gets hold of one of those theories, and, boy oh boy, there’s trouble.

For example, you have Jesus. Nice ideas, very friendly, be good to the poor, “he who is without sin, cast the first stone,” like that. The goys take it over, and next thing you know, you have the Spanish Inquisition. The Arabs pick it up, 32 NEWS & POLITICS CHRONOGRAM 12/08

turn it into Islam, and what’s the first thing they do? They make the Jews and Christians second-class citizens. Which is nothing to what they do to polytheists. Karl Marx, Fredrich Engels, they’re saying “from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs.” Saintly sentiments. They write a couple of books, a movement starts, you turn around and you’re looking at Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse Tung and a few million peasants are uprooted and slaughtered. Albert Einstein figures out that mass can be turn into energy. The gentiles find out, and it’s bye-bye Hiroshima, sayanora Nagasaki.

Anyway, that’s where Alan Greenspan came from. He had all these ideas from a Russian Jewish lady who changed her name to the one on her typewriter. He studied economics, became a consultant, did very well, and was on the boards of numerous giant corporations.Then he was appointed as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. During his two years with Reagan and the four with Bush the Elder, he couldn’t do too much harm.

Along came Clinton, who was really smart about economics, had a reasonably populist mentality and a Democratic base. Greenspan, who has a knack for accommodating himself to whomever is in power, worked well with the new president. The economy under Clinton was exceptional. Conservatives and Republicans hated giving him credit for anything, so they declared that it was the sun that shone from Greenspan’s rear that made the green dollars grow.

Then along came George W. Bush. He was one of those gentiles. The kind who would take a Jewish idea, whether it was Christianity or the Ayn Rand/ Milton Freidman faith in free markets, jump on it, and ride it as if it were actually true in the real world.

With nobody to restrain him, Greenspan put his full faith in the markets.

He kept interest rates low. That pumped the money into sub-prime mortgages and exotic credit instruments. He resisted regulations. When he was warned that real estate was blowing a big, big bubble, he refused to act.

So there he was, being quizzed by Congressman Henry Waxman. First, Greenspan said, in a prepared statement, “Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder’s equity (myself especially) are in a state of shocked disbelief.”

Well, yes. One of the fundamentals of conservative, free-market, laissezfaire, Objectivist economics is that business people will act sanely and sensibly, thereby protecting people who trust in them. That’s a theological belief. Now, watching the bubble burst, Greenspan was doing a remarkable thing, and he does deserve some credit for it. He was acknowledging reality!

Then he said, “I made a mistake in presuming they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders”—which means they need to be regulated.

By someone else. By government. By the shlubs and leaches.

“In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right, it was not working,” Waxman said, implying that this notion that individual greed would, as if “guided by an invisible hand,” lead to the greatest social good.

“Absolutely, precisely,” Greenspan replied.The acolyte of Alissa Rosenbaum, the apostle of Adam Smith, the enabler of George W. Bush, had acknowledged that their god––the free market––had failed.

CONSTANT AS THE SUN Ellie Sarty and friends Mike Crehore, Paul Ossola

Bearsville Theater Friday, December 5th 9:00pm / Tickets $25

129 Tinker St., Woodstock, NY 845-679-4406 www.BearsvilleTheater.com Proceeds to benefit animals and humane education www.ConstantAsTheSun.com

MASTER OF ARTS I N TEACH I NG PROGRAM

LOOKING TO EXPAND YOUR PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES? Consider earning a master of arts in teaching degree and a New York State Initial Certificate in Adolescent Education (grades 7–12) within the elective discipline, either biology, English, mathematics, or social studies.

3 -%% ,#& -%,1 #' ," &# #+ #)%#' + ' - ,#(' 3 0, ' !* - , +,- 1 #' ' &# #+ #)%#'

Studio C. Mathlein CFSS

(certified feng shui stager)

518.789.0090

Stuck? Stagnant? Business slow?

A new way to revitalize your business or home space.

We will create immediate flow.

A hands on, on-site, shift— in a few hours

3 %(+ .#+ & ', +& %% % ++ + ' #',#& , - ,#(' % (&&-'#,1 3 ' #', !* , -**# -%-& ( &# +,- # + ' !-# 0) *# ' + in the field 3 &( % (* - ,#(' % % *+"#) ,"*(-!" ,#. ) *,' *+"#)+ /#," public schools 3 * (%% ! ,* #,#(' ( #''(. ,#(' #' - ,#('

INFORMATION SESSION Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. & 1 ' ', * * (%% ! '' ' % (' - +(' "('

(* & #% & , * - www.bard.edu/mat

Bard

A PLACE TO THINK

It always works!

12/08 CHRONOGRAM NEWS & POLITICS 33

83 Main Street New Paltz, New York 12651 Art Store 845.255.9902 Fax 845.255.1016 Web www.mannysart.com

Mon thru Fri 10 am to 6 pm Sat 10 am to 5 pm Sun 12 pm to 4 pm

104 Ann Street, Newburgh, NY (845) 562–6940 x. 119 www.annstreetgallery.org Thursday–Saturday 11am–5pm or by appointment

specializing in emerging and established artists by fostering greater understanding of contemporary art across cultures and generations

104 Ann Street t Newburgh, NY 12550 t (845) 562-6940 Virginia Walsh, Director t vwalsh@safe-harbors.org Thursday–Saturday t 11am–5pm t Or by appointment

34 PORTFOLIO CHRONOGRAM 12/08

DECEMBER 2008

ARTS & CULTURE CHRONOGRAM

Comic strips from David Rees’s Get Your War On BOOKS, page 50

12/08 CHRONOGRAM PORTFOLIO 35

Portfolio Andrew Lichtenstein

Andrew Lichtenstein documentation of prisons and incarceration has appeared in books, newspapers and magazines, including Time, US News and World Report, and the New York Times. His series of photographs titled “Witness to an Execution” were inspired by a Sound Portraits radio documentary of the same name that aired on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and won a Peabody Award in 2000. His photographic essays have taken him to Haiti, South Africa, and across the US, exploring poverty, addiction, the prison-industrial complex, and the casualties of war. His work has been published and exhibited in New York and around the world. In 2000 he received a Soros Justice Fellowship from the Open Society Institute.

Andrew Lichtenstein’s recently released book, Never Coming Home (Charta, 2007), shows the faces behind the Iraq War casualty statistics. A solo show of Lichenstein’s photos documenting prison life, “Behind Bars,” is on view at Fovea Exhibitions in Beacon through January 4. www.foveaexhibitions.org. Portfolio: www.lichtensteinphoto.com —Brian K. Mahoney

Above: A prisoner cleans his cell after another prisoner on the tier above flooded his toilet, Clemens Unit, Palestine, Texas

Below: A family speaks with their brother on visiting day, Hughes Unit, Gatesville, Texas;

ANDREW LICHTENSTEIN ON HIS WORK Safety first There were a few times when I did feel threatened in a prison. But very, very few. If anything, it is much easier and safer to photograph in a prison than on the street. Prison is a very controlled environment. Random violence is not that common for the simple reason that every action has an immediate consequence, a loss of privileges, more prison time, etc. So when prisoners are violent, it is generally thought out, preplanned.

I found, for the most part, that prisoners were grateful for my interest in what was happening in their closed world. Or more likely, just grateful for something different during the day, a new face, anything to break the endless routine.

I was never going to get to see what it was really like. I was just on a propaganda tour. Of course they were right. So the choice was clear enough. Never visit or photograph at all, because of all of the restrictions and constraints, or get what you can. To see prison, to feel prison, I’d have to not be allowed to leave. In that case, I would not be allowed to have a camera.

Confiscation

Propaganda tour

I’ve had my film seized on two occasions by prison wardens.

The first time was fair enough. A fight broke out between two prisoners in a hallway while I was walking by. By instinct, I just picked up the camera and snapped a few frames. About a half an hour later, I heard over the loudspeakers that the photographer should please report to the warden’s office.

The one thing the prisoners would always complain about was that on my very brief visit, accompanied by an escort,

People tend to have this clichéd view of journalists and photographers as sneaky and underhanded. I’ve never

36 PORTFOLIO CHRONOGRAM 12/08

played it that way, so when the warden asked me if I had photographed the fight, I simply said yes. And when he asked for my film, I handed him all the rolls that I had taken that day because I did not know which one it was on.

I think he appreciated my honesty, because the warden assigned me an escort, a corrections officer, to drive with me two hours to the closest lab that could develop slide film. We spent the afternoon together, in the gay section of Houston, had a cup of coffee. I think it was one of the first times he had left Walker County in several years. The officer had grown up on the same prison farm, because his dad had also worked at the prison. He told me stories about shooting at the prisoners as they left to work the fields with his bb gun when he was a kid.

When the three hours was up, the film was ready. He made sure he took the first look, grabbed the three or four offending frames, and we were on our way. A few years later I called the warden to ask if I could have the pictures back,

ANDREW LICHTENSTEIN/COURTESY OF FOVEA EXHIBITIONS

A prisoner waits to be handcuffed before he can leave his cell for a shower, Hughes Unit, Gatesville, Texas.

but he had moved on to take a job with CCA [Corrections Corporation of America], a private prison company.

The second time was much worse. I was in a different prison, a real badass place, actually the prison where Clyde [Barrow], from Bonnie and Clyde, had served time as a young man. He had been brutally treated, raped by the turnkeys, the prisoners who were left in charge of all the other prisoners. That is why when he was on the run, chased by every ranger in Texas, he returned to shoot the place up.

Anyway, I was in the yard and saw two prisoners holding hands. Gay relationships are very common in prison—some men, by inclination, others by coercion, become women. I took a picture of the couple and didn’t think anything of it because it was something I’d seen and photographed many times before.

But my escort gave me a funny look.

Shortly afterwards, I was ordered to a special trailer while the prison staff tried to reach the warden. They demanded all

my film. I gave all of it to them, but it was clear they thought I was hiding some. I was left alone in the locked trailer, I guess while they decided if it was worth it to strip-search me. No explanation was ever given to me, as to what I had done, or why the film had been taken, or how I could get it back. But after about an hour, they let me go, and I just tore the hell out of there, glad to see the barbed wire in my rearview mirror.

Not much time, an hour. But I guess I could say that in the years I spent photographing in prison, that was the only time I really felt it, the helplessness, the power of the administration. It was an awful feeling.

Outside After many years photographing inside prisons, I’d had enough. I just did not want to go back anymore. But having documented the more difficult part of the story, in terms of access, I felt free to pursue documenting the horrible

effects of our prison system on people, prisoners getting out, families torn apart.

In many ways, it is two bodies of work. Which is why the pictures inside are almost all color, while most of the stories I worked on the outside, I photographed in black-and-white.

In many ways, I think the later pictures, of people outside of prison, are deeper, more important. But they are also more subtle, less shocking, and so harder to draw the viewer in.

People are people People are people, and it is no different in prison. I’m sure there are mean, sadistic, power tripping guards, but the ones I met were decent working people just doing a difficult job.

And no doubt there are sick, violent psycopaths prisoners locked up. But the vast majority of prisoners I met were trapped in the viselike clutches of system that was more interested in keeping them locked up then helping them to better their lives, and in turn, all of society.

12/08 CHRONOGRAM PORTFOLIO 37

Lucid Dreaming

BY BETH E. WILSON

TRANSITION, TOM SARRANTONIO, OIL ON CANVAS, 2006

SEASON OF CHANGE

A

s I write this, the results are in—and apparently, the majority of American voters have decided that it’s time for a change. I have the feeling that we are about to see more changes than any of us could anticipate, what with the global economic recession, the state government thrown into a budget crunch, and a half dozen other crisis points and instabilities thrown in for good measure. Change can be a scary prospect, even when the time is ripe and embracing it will ultimately bring better times, a better situation.

I find myself at something of a crossroads here as well—after writing this column, “Lucid Dreaming” for the past nine years, I find that the time has come to let it go. I recently started a full-time lecturer position at SUNY New Paltz, which this semester involves teaching four courses plus organizing an exhibition for the Dorsky Museum, a workload that makes writing the monthly column an impossible task to keep up. This was not an easy decision 38 LUCID DREAMING CHRONOGRAM 12/08

to reach, and certainly not one to be made lightly, but at a certain point I need to realize that there’s only so much of me to go around. I do recall that back when Brian Mahoney first asked me to write the regular art column, back in 1999, my first response was to say that I needed to consider the offer, mostly so I could decide whether I would be capable of making the proper commitment to a regular monthly review. As it turns out, I only skipped two months of that time altogether, producing 108 columns, totaling something in the vicinity of 120,000 words. (How’s that for commitment?)

Of course, my primary commitment over these years has been to recognize and to articulate something of the amazing, constantly developing art scene up and down the length of the Hudson Valley (and sometimes a bit beyond). If I were to sit down and make a list of all the many talented, smart, oddball, fascinating artists, gallery owners, and general art-world characters I’ve met—most of them as a direct result of writing the column—I could fill

these pages twice over. There’s definitely a critical mass of thoughtful, artistically inclined people in our region, and this makes possible the rich, eccentric, magnificently nuanced mix of people, ideas, and work that has made up the scene that I’ve come to know and appreciate so well all these years.

There are many artists I first discovered in the context of a group exhibition here, an intriguing press release there, and whose work I’ve witnessed as it has developed over time. Indelibly engraved on my memory, for example, are the beautiful and moving performances of Eeo Stubblefield, in particular Who Cares?, which she staged in a storefront for the Ellenville “10x10x10” show a few years ago. Focused on the human tragedy of civilian deaths in Iraq, she collected terrible images from the conflict of dead men, women, and children from various sources on the internet, and printed them onto simple pieces of cloth. Dressed in a black burqa, she then constructed a ritualized process of scrubbing these imprinted cloths (as though trying to remove the bloodstains), then pinning them to a simple white cloth that served as a tunic for bundles of fresh-cut grasses and flowers, totem-like reminders of the children killed and injured. Accompanied by plaintive a capella singing, witnessing one of these performances was by turns emotionally raw and engaging, cathartic and draining. The power of Eeo’s ability to channel her immense compassion into such communicable form is something that I feel truly privileged to have experienced firsthand.

On a very different note, I was also awestruck by Luba Donskoj, the extremely industrious, nonagenarian mother of Kingston gallerist George Donskoj, who lived a long, at times tumultuous life, eventually discovering in her old age an insatiable need to transform virtually everything that passed through her hands into art. (I owe a major shout-out to Linda Montano for making the introduction for me.) Paintings on silk, on wood, on ostrich eggs, and even on canvas—she did them all. When she wasn’t painting something, she was gluing sequins or seashells onto some chance knickknack to convert it into an impromptu sculpture. I’ve never met a more natural artist, one who lived and breathed her creativity without a whit of self-consciousness about it. Luba passed away a year ago last August, and the world is a much poorer place for it.

The painting that illustrates this last column is by Tom Sarrantonio— literally the first artist I met when I moved to the Hudson Valley in 1994.

He was the subject of my first-ever Lucid Dreaming column in October 1999, and so I thought it appropriate to have him here for the last edition of this feature as well. Over the years, I have remained consistently impressed with Tom’s ability to adapt, change, and continue to push the horizon of his aesthetic vision, all within the constraints of the deceptively modest genre of landscape painting. Sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to realize, and Tom achieves what he does because he is thoughtful, disciplined, dedicated, and utterly without arrogance or hubris about what he does.

True artists are people who dedicate themselves to doing what they are compelled to do—they live most fully in the act of creation itself, and invite us along to share the experience. I’m immensely grateful for the many artists who’ve invited me into their studios, spoken at length with me at art openings, and otherwise opened up elements of their work and their thought process for me to write about.

I’ve also got to thank Brian Mahoney, Jason Stern, and the staff at Chronogram, who have been nothing but supportive of my efforts, offering me a blank slate each month to write about whatever I wished, making whatever critical judgments I felt were warranted. (This is unheard of in any other publication I’ve ever heard of, by the way.) I do hope to return to the pages of the magazine from time to time, writing previews of worthwhile exhibitions and other art-related events, and perhaps something a bit more on occasion, if Brian will give me the space.

In the meantime, I’ll be turning my energies toward my responsibilities at SUNY New Paltz, with plans to continue working with and writing about artists and projects of particular interest that I first encountered in the context of writing Lucid. So while I may be gone from these particular pages on a monthly basis, I’ll still be working (if a bit more behind the scenes) to continue the path that Lucid Dreaming started me on, all those years ago.

Happenings at GARRISON ART CENTER Kids Holiday Shop Children shop while you relax.

December 6&7 from 10am to 6pm and December 8-10 from 3pm to 6pm Gifts under $10. Bring a list and a budget. Assisants to help your child.

Member Theme Exhibition Art Squared in the Gillette & Balter Galleries December 12 - December 21, 2008 Opening reception: Friday, December 12, 7-9pm

Holiday Art Workshop December 13, 10am-3pm Multi-media arts for ages 6-12

Winter Classes Term Begins Week of January 12, 2009 Classes for kids, teens and adults in pottery - photography - drawing painting - printmaking and more All levels of experience

Watch for Exhibition Opening January 9, 2009

Check Out our website for!

CABIN FEVER WORKSHOPS For detailed information visit

4 Saturdays in February

www.garrisonartcenter.org

A great value with instant gratification

Art Center Closed December 24, 2008 - January 6, 2009 PO Box 4 . 23 Garrison’s Landing . Garrison NY . 10524 845.424.3960 . garrisonartcenter.org . info@garrisonartcenter.org

Ê-ÌÀiiÌÊ vÌÊ ÀÌÊ >ÃÃià Pre-School–Adult Ê* Õ} ii«Ã iÊEÊ,i`Ê Êv ÀÊÓää Visit our website for info on exhibits & special events

n{x°{Ç£°Ç{ÇÇÊUÊ ÃÌÀiiÌ vÌ° À} 12/08 CHRONOGRAM LUCID DREAMING 39

museums & galleries

galleries & museums

Vincent Laforet, Grand Central Station, from “Such Great Heights” at Carrie Haddad Photographs through January 4.

ALBERT SHAHINIAN FINE ART

BETSY JACARUSO STUDIO

DANBURY RAILROAD MUSEUM

415 WARREN STREET, HUDSON (518) 828-4346.

54 ELIZABETH STREET, RED HOOK 758-9244.

“The Luminous Landscape.” Gary Fifer, Arnold Levine, Robert Trondsen. Through January 3.

“Red Hook Pastel Group.” Through February 28.

120 WHITE STREET, DANBURY, CONNECTICUT (203) 778-8337.

“Olga Poloukhine, Iconographer “Into the Depths.”

Through January 3.

“Winter Solstice 2008.” Through February 28.

“Seek, Look, Listen, Hope.” Works by Olga Poloukhin.

Through January 3.

Opening Saturday, December 13, 12pm-5pm.

Opening Saturday, December 13, 12pm-5pm.

“The Railroad Legacy.” Works by John Fleming Gould.

Through December 31.

DEBORAH DAVI FINE ART 510 WARREN STREET, HUDSON (518) 822-1885.

CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY

“The Good Girls.” Paintings by Anique Taylor. Through January 5.

THE ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM

622 WARREN STREET, HUDSON (518) 828-1915.

“Musicians.” Sculpture by John Jackson. Through January 5.

258 MAIN ST, RIDGEFIELD, CONNECTICUT (203) 438-4519.

“Contemporary Paintings and Sculptures.” Ragellah Rourke, James O’Shea, Cynthia Atwood. Through January 4.

“Huma Bhabha: 2008 Emerging Artist Award Exhibition.”

Through February 8.

“Karen Davie: Symptomania.” Through February 8.

“Lars Fisk: Trash Bags.” Through February 15.

“Peggy Prehiem: Little Black Book.” Through February 8.

“Video A: Miguel Soares.” Through December 7.

DONSKOJ AND COMPANY 93 BROADWAY, KINGSTON 338-8473.

CARRIE HADDAD PHOTOGRAPHS

“We’re Only in it for the Money.” December 6-31.

318 WARREN STREET, HUDSON (518) 828-7655.

Opening Saturday, December 6, 5pm-8pm.

“Such Great Heights.” John Griebsch, Jefferson Hayman, Kahn & Selesnick, Vincent Laforet, Keith Loutit. Through January 4.

DRAWING ROOM THE ART AND ZEN GALLERY 406 MANCHESTER ROAD, POUGHKEEPSIE 473-3334.

“Photography of Patrick J. Gillease.” Through January 6.

3743 MAIN STREET, STONE RIDGE 687-4466.

CENTER FOR CURATORIAL STUDIES BARD COLLEGE, ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON 758-7598.

“The Greenroom: Reconsidering the Documentary and Contemporary Art.” Through February 1.

ARTS UPSTAIRS 60 MAIN STREET, PHOENICIA 688-2142.

“Great & Small.” Through December 1.

“Art Inside the Box.” Cartoons by Denny Dillon.

Through December 22.

FLAT IRON GALLERY 105 SOUTH DIVISION STREET, PEEKSKILL (914) 734-1894.

CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY AT WOODSTOCK 59 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK 679-9957.

BAU

“Angle of Repose.” A solo exhibition of work by Toni Pepe.

Through January 11.

161 MAIN STREET, BEACON 440-7584.

“Converging Margins.” Through January 11.

“Magic of Monhegan.” Paintings of Monhegan Island by Andrew Lattimore & students. December 5-30.

Opening Sunday, December 7, 1pm-5pm.

“The Majestic Hudson.” Group show of paintings.

December 5-January 31.

Opening Friday, December 12, 4pm-7pm.

“Richichi: I N V O L U T I O N.” Through December 7.

COLUMBIA-GREENE COMMUNITY COLLEGE BE GALLERY 11 MOHONK ROAD, HIGH FALLS 687-0660.

“Works by Lynne Friedman and Ilka List.” Small bronze wall sculptures and pen and wash Irish Botanicals.

December 6-January 12.

4400 ROUTE 23, HUDSON (518) 828-4181 EXT 5513.

“Biodiversity: Captured in Photographs Contest.”

Through January 22.

Opening Thursday, December 4, 7pm-12am.

Opening Sunday, December 7, 1pm-3pm.

CORNELL STREET STUDIO THE BEACON INSTITUTE

168 CORNELL STREET, KINGSTON 679-8348.

199 MAIN STREET, BEACON 838-1600.

“Christina Gardner, Renee Samuels, and Holly McCabe.”

December 6-31.

“Top to Bottom- The Hudson River.” Photographs by Ted Kawalerski. Through March 1.

40

MUSEUMS & GALLERIES CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Opening Saturday, December 6, 6pm-8pm.

FOVEA EXHIBITIONS 143 MAIN STREET, BEACON 765-2199.

“Behind Bars.” Photographs by Andrew Lichtenstein.

Through January 4.

THE FRANCES LEHMAN LOEB ART CENTER VASSAR COLLEGE, POUGHKEEPSIE 437-5632.

“Excerpt: Selections from the Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn Collection.” Through January 4.

“Revealed Anew: Selections from the Permanent Collection.”

Through January 4.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 45

9

SCHOOL OF FINE & PERFORMING ARTS

SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART

Upcoming Exhibitions BFA/MFA I December 5-9 Opening Reception: Friday, December 5, 6-8 p.m.

BFA/MFA II December 12-16 Opening Reception: Friday, December 12, 6-8 p.m.

Public Programs Conversations Lilo Raymond and Marcuse Pfeifer Thursday, December 4, 7 p.m.

Docent-Guided Tour—Lilo Raymond Photographs: An Elegant and Natural Light Sunday, December 7, 2 p.m.

Sunday, December 14, 2 p.m.

For a complete listing of current exhibitions and public programs, visit: www.newpaltz.edu/museum.

Sign up to receive reminders of arts events on campus at www.newpaltz.edu/artsnews or send email to arts@newpaltz.edu.

MUSIC Sponsored by the Department of Music (845) 257-3872 Tickets: available at the door one half hour prior to performance.

Symphonic Band December 2, 8 p.m.

McKenna Theatre $6 general admission $5 seniors/staff, $3 students An Evening of Bel Canto Thursday, December 4, 7 p.m.

Friday, December 5, 7 p.m.

Nadia & Max Shepard Recital Hall Free of charge The Collegium Musicum Sunday, December 7, 3 p.m.

Nadia & Max Shepard Recital Hall $6 general admission $5 seniors/staff, $3 students Choral Concert—Songs of the Sea Tuesday, December 9, 8 p.m.

McKenna Theatre $6 general admission $5 seniors/staff, $3 students College/Youth Symphony Sunday, December 14, 7 p.m.

McKenna Theatre $6 general admission $5 seniors/staff, $3 students

A

museums & galleries

For a complete listing of arts events:

Lilo Raymond/Eggs on Plate, Mexico, 2001/gelatin silver print, 8 3/4 x 13 inches

845.257.3844 www.newpaltz.edu/museum Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 11a.m.-5p.m.

Sat. & Sun. 1-5p.m.

Admission is free and open to all.

Wheelchair accessible.

Dennis Fox Salon Hair ∙ Nails 6400 Montgomery Street, 2nd floor above the Rhinebeck Dept. Store

845.876.1777

tues - Sat

U.S. Pat. No. 7,007,507 • Copyright • All rights reserved www.pandora-jewelry.com

12/08 CHRONOGRAM MUSEUMS & GALLERIES

41

Kadampa Meditation Center & Buddhist Temple

F i n d i n g Pe a c e I t ’s c l o s e r t h a n y o u t h i n k

museums & galleries

To u r s & V i s i t s Cafe Bookstore N a t u r e Pa t h s Guided Meditation Retreats

E v e r y o n e We l c o m e !

C a l l f o r a To u r ~ O p e n m o s t d a y s.

47 Sweeney Road ~ Glen Spey, New York 12737 845-856-9000 www.KadampaNewYork.org

O N LY

Y O U

C A N

P R E V E N T

W I L D F I R E S .

SMOKEYBEAR.COM

“My Sciatica is is gone.”

My Numbness Gone.

I was Iput onbirth, Neurotin epiduralwas steroid injections work.

Thenmy After gave my after numbness so bad I coulddidn’t barely change I saw Dr. Ness.

Art ®tunnel to release the nerves from my back, hip, newborn due toHe myused carpal syndrome.

Dr. Ness released the hamstring and leg.

After 6 weeks and 8totreatments, painActive was gone.

It’s nerves from the muscles in my neck my handsthe using Release Techniques, and within fewgood. weeks, I was 90% better. been 8 months and I still afeel Cathy Bark-New Bakker - Garrison, NY Christina Paltz, NY

42

MUSEUMS & GALLERIES CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Comprehensive design services include furnishing, lighting, window treatments, home staging, holiday decor, kitchen and bath design, and project management for residential and commercial projects.

Our success is not in the scale or budget of a project but in the moment our client’s vision becomes reality.

Call today for your free, in-home design consultation.

2781 west main st. wappingers falls

The Gift of a Lifetime

museums & galleries

Yes, you can afford great design.

www.fwinteriorsdesign.com 845.632.3735

®

SAUNEX FIR SAUNA “Sweat your way to health and vitality”

An inspired collection

of wearable art

www.saunex.com Toll Free 877-772-8639 138 Maple Hill Drive, Kingston, NY

Necklaces Earrings Bracelets Timepieces Accessories

Fine Art

21 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY 12498 | 845-679-3775 12/08 CHRONOGRAM MUSEUMS & GALLERIES

43

museums & galleries

Consultations by Gail Petronio Internationally Renowned Psychic Over 20 years Experience Sessions In-Person or By Phone

845.626.4895 212.714.8125

Hudson Valley RESORT & SPA

The perfect venue for your cherished wedding day.

The Hudson Valley Resort and Spa. Elegance. Style. Grace. Sophistication.

The Hudson Valley Resort & Spa 400 Granite Road, Kerhonkson, NY | 845-626-8888 ext 3010 | www.hudsonvalleyresort.com

44

MUSEUMS & GALLERIES CHRONOGRAM 12/08

www.psychicallyspeaking.com gail@psychicallyspeaking.com

galleries & museums

GALERIE BMG

KENT CABOOSE GALLERY

RIVERWINDS GALLERY

12 TANNERY BROOK ROAD, WOODSTOCK 679-0027.

172 MAIN STREET, BEACON 838-2880.

“Douglas Ethridge: Oasis.” December 5-January 12.

11 RAILROAD STEET, KENT, CONNECTICUT (860) 248-8800.

Opening Friday, December 5, 6pm-8pm.

“Blessed Be.” Holiday group art exhibit. Through December 21.

“Within Shadows.” Works by Susan Burnstine.

Through December 1.

KINGSTON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART 105 ABEEL STREET, KINGSTON KMOCA.COM.

“Buone Feste.” Holiday group show. Through December 31.

SAMUEL DORSKY MUSEUM OF ART SUNY NEW PALTZ, NEW PALTZ 257-3858.

GARDINER LIBRARY

“The Haude Family and Friends.” December 6-31.

“BFA/MFA I Exhibition.” December 5-9.

33 FARMERS TURNPIKE, GARDINER EAKINPATTIE@AOL.COM.

Opening Saturday, December 6, 5pm-7pm.

Opening Friday, December 5, 6pm-8pm.

“Works by Pattie Eakin.” Through December 15.

“BFA/MFA II Exhibition.” December 12-16.

KLEINERT/JAMES ARTS CENTER

Opening Friday, December 12, 6pm-8pm.

34 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK 679-2079.

“Lilo Raymond Photographs: An Elegant and Natural Light.”

Through December 14.

GARRISON ART CENTER

“9th Annual 5x7 Show.” December 5-21.

23 GARRISON’S LANDING, GARRISON 424-3960.

Opening Friday, December 5, 5pm-7pm.

“Member Theme Exhibition Art Squared.” December 12-21.

Opening Friday, December 12, 7pm-9pm.

GCCA CATSKILL GALLERY

LIFEBRIDGE SANCTURARY 333 MOUNTAIN ROAD, ROSENDALE 338-6418.

UNFRAMED ARTIST GALLERY

“Leaf Line Circle.” Jessica Baker. Through December 5.

173 HUGUENOT STREET, NEW PALTZ 255-5482.

“The Art of Giving.” Holiday show. Through January 4.

LOCUST GROVE THE SAMUEL MORSE HISTORIC SITE, POUGHKEEPSIE 454-4500.

GCCA MOUNTAINTOP GALLERY

“Works by John Fleming Gould.” Through December 31.

5348 MAIN STREET, WINDHAM (518) 734-3104.

“Holidays in the Mountains 2008.” Through January 3.

MONTGOMERY ROW SECOND LEVEL

UNISON ARTS AND LEARNING CENTER 68 MOUNTAIN REST ROAD, NEW PALTZ 255-1559.

“Photography by Karen Capobianco.” December 14-31.

Opening Sunday, December 14, 4pm-6pm.

6423 MONTGOMERY STREET, RHINEBECK 876-6670.

(HI)STORY GALLERY 433 WARREN STREET, HUDSON (518) 828-6290.

“Bardo.” New work by The Love Artist, Kathe Izzo.

December 6-January 16.

Opening Saturday, December 13, 6pm-8pm.

“Fiber of Being.” Solo exhibit of paintings and photographs by Vera Kaplan. Through December 31.

39 SPRING STREET, WILLIAMSTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS (413) 458-1700.

NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM

“American Realists.” December 6-24.

9 GLENDALE ROAD, STOCKBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS (413) 298-4100.

1701 MAIN STREET, PEEKSKILL (914) 788-0100.

“Origins.” Use of primal materials such as clay, fiber, wood, aluminum, stone, and soil as mediums. Through July 26.

“Between Stations.” Sculptures by Richard Dupont. Through January 18.

Opening Friday, December 5, 5pm-7pm.

SUNY ULSTER, STONE RIDGE 687-5113.

“Faculty Works.” Through December 19.

HUDSON VALLEY CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

WATER STREET MARKET, NEW PALTZ 255-1559.

“Photography by Alex Lipstein.” December 5-31.

MUROFF KOTLER VISUAL ARTS GALLERY

THE HARRISON GALLERY

Opening Saturday, December 6, 5pm-7pm.

UNISON GALLERY

museums & galleries

398 MAIN STREET, CATSKILL (518) 943-3400.

“Salon Show 2008.” Annual exhibition of small art works by GCCA member artists. Through January 10.

“Made By Hand: Drawings, Paintings, Photographs and Prints from the Byrdcliffe Art Colony.” Through December 14.

“Over the Top: American Posters from World War I.” Through January 25.

VASSAR COLLEGE’S JAMES W. PALMER GALLERY RAYMOND AVENUE, POUGHKEEPSIE 437-5370.

“Reflections of Petropolis.” Multi-media exhibition.

Through December 19.

VITA GALLERY ORANGE HALL GALLERY

12 OLD FORGE ROAD, WOODSTOCK 679-2329.

ORANGE COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE, MIDDLETOWN 341-4790.

“Auorville Arts for Tibet.” Exhibition of photographs by Ireno Guerci and paintings of Tiziano Fucile. December 13-21.

“Art Enables: Perspectives from the Outsiders.” A collection of recent works by artists of Studio 601. Through December 12.

Opening Saturday, December 13, 5pm.

“Self Revealed.” Works by Vita. Through December 7.

“Rootless Algas.” Grimanesa Amoros. Through January 18.

PALENVILLE BRANCH LIBRARY HUDSON VALLEY GALLERY 246 HUDSON STREET, CORNWALL-ON-HUDSON 534-5ART.

3335 ROUTE 23A, PALENVILLE (518) 678-3357.

WARNER GALLERY

“Palenville Photography Group Holiday Show.” Through January 31.

131 MILLBROOK SCHOOL ROAD, MILLBROOK 677-8261 EXT. 130.

“World’s Smallest Stretched Canvas Painting Competition.”

December 5-31.

PEARL GALLERY

Opening Friday, December 5, 5pm-8pm.

3572 MAIN STREET, STONE RIDGE 687-0888.

JAMES COX GALLERY

“Translucent Porcelain Objects by Deborah Goldman.”

Through December 13.

PEARLDADDY GALLERY 183 MAIN STREET, BEACON 765-0169.

JOHN DAVIS GALLERY 362 1/2 WARREN STREET, HUDSON (518) 828-5907.

WOODSTOCK ARTISTS ASSOCIATION AND MUSEUM 28 TINKER STREET, WOODSTOCK 679-2940.

4666 ROUTE 212, WOODSTOCK 679-7608.

“Phantasmagoria of Nature.” Paola Bari. Through December 21.

“Fitzhugh Karol: New Work.” Through December 21.

“Lucie Tatarova: Fractal People.” Soft sculpture, print, and textile creations from Prague. Through December 7.

“Paintings by Jean Feinberg.” December 4-22.

“Marlene Parillo, Storypots and Tapestries.” Vessel sculptures and mixed media quilts. December 13-March 8.

Opening Friday, December 5, 6pm-8pm.

Opening Saturday, December 13, 6pm-9pm.

“Graceful Gestures: Drawings and Other Works.” Jane Dow Bromberg and Andre Ruellan. Through January 4.

WOODSTOCK SCHOOL OF ART 2470 ROUTE 212, WOODSTOCK 679-2388.

“Student Exhibition.” Through December 13.

12/08 CHRONOGRAM MUSEUMS & GALLERIES

45

Music BY

BY PETER PETER AARON AARON

AVANT GODDESS Carla Bley

T

photo by Fionn Reilly

he plan was to interview acclaimed composer and keyboardist Carla Bley in New York on the afternoon of November 5, then catch her set as a member of bassist Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra at the Blue Note that night.

The extra-celebratory bustle of a post-presidential election city would’ve made the perfect backdrop for a discussion of Bley’s equally colorful music. But plans sometimes change. Even for a well-considered musician like Bley, whose talents, she too modestly maintains, lie much more in the laying of plans—specifically, writing and arranging— than in instrumental prowess. So when it was learned that she had bowed out of the four-night residency, owing to business reasons and the looming deadline of another project, the change had been an unexpected one.

Yet change can often be good. It’s the nature of jazz itself. And of course it was change that was the central, landslide-approved message of the still-fresh Obama win, a victory that’s today resonating well beyond the confines of a cramped downtown nightclub, anyway. No need, then, to be in the middle of the Manhattan miasma to get the vibe and Bley’s take on it: The same electrifying feeling permeates not only the secluded, pineshrouded Willow home the artist shares with her partner of 25 years, the bassist Steve Swallow, but also the hearts and hopes of the couple’s many music-business friends from across the sea.

“We’ve had people we know in England, Austria, all over, calling the house all day, just saying, ‘Wow!’” gushes Bley from beneath her trademark frizzy blond fringe. “It’s been so long since I’ve admired a president, and Obama just seems so real, so natural.

Like someone I would even enjoy having dinner with.”

Now, that would be a grand summit, indeed: the impending leader of the free world and one of the leading composers of the postbop world, breaking bread and toasting the future. Yet no matter what the field, for a leader, especially one who’s also a visionary upstart, the road is nothing if not lengthy and winding. Known for her sweeping, dynamic, multi-hued works, which often carry drama and humor in equal measure, Bley is, as the New York Times’s Ben Ratliff writes, “easily one of the best composers we’ve had in the last 40 years of jazz.”

46 MUSIC CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Bley was born Carla Borg in Oakland, California, in 1938. Her mother, who died when Bley was eight, also played the piano, and her father was a church organist. “My first performance was in a church recital when I was four,” she recalls. “I played ‘Three Blind Mice’ on the organ. My folks taught me piano at home, but when I was eight I bit my mom after she criticized my fingering. So that was the end of piano lessons.” Ever the rebel, Bley dropped out of high school at 15. “So then I went to school to learn to be a dishwasher.”

Wait a minute. What?

“Yes! It’s true,” says the revered composer with a laugh. “It was the law in Oakland at the time that if you dropped out of school before you were 16, you had to enroll in this trade school where they taught you a job. I guess the logic was that anyone who dropped out of high school must be really dumb, so let’s just train them to do something that doesn’t take any brains to do. And one of the programs was dishwashing. But by then I’d already decided to become a piano player anyway.”

And thank God for that. Bley took solo gigs at lounges and accompanied singers, as well as a child star with absolute pitch who played the rims of water-filled glasses for audiences at insane asylums. “It was like a sideshow thing,” Bley remembers. “Oakland was still really rural, very hillbilly, back then.”

In 1955, when she was 17, Bley came to New York with no money to her name. At first, she lived on the streets, crashing by night on park benches, in Grand Central Station, and at various apartments with a homeless group. Eventually she took a room in Times Square after she landed a job as a cigarette girl at legendary jazz spot Birdland. “I was also a camera girl for a while,” she says. “[The club’s management] gave me a Polaroid and told me to go around to tables and take pictures of the customers to sell to them. But I’d always end up in front of the stage, listening to the band. People would ask me to take their pictures and I’d tell them to quit bothering me. I had one dress, a cotton frock that I made myself, and that’s what I wore to work and everywhere else.” While at Birdland, Bley witnessed performances by the explosive “new testament” Count Basie big band and most all of the reigning beboppers. There she also met her first husband, pianist Paul Bley, who encouraged her to begin composing.

"

3

✶

#

&

✶

5 & 3 & "

* - - &

4 7 5

)

Music every weekend

Bearsville Theater

✶

“committed to bringing music back to Woodstock” MOST THURSDAYS

✶

✶

Bluegrass Clubhouse 8-10pm

Miss Angie’s Karaoke LIVE! 10pm

Thursday December 4

✶

MERCURY REV

with Special Guest Dean & Brita Friday December 5 Ellie Sarty and Friends CD Release Saturday December 6

An Evening with Martin Sexton

✶

Friday December 12

✶ Guest Jennifer O’Connor Dar Williams with Special pec Saturday December 13 3rd Annual Mulled Measure of Merry Mishegas Saturday December 20 Felice Brothers Holiday Show

Tuesday December 23

✶

TODD RUNDGREN Arena Tour

Saturday December 27

New Riders of the Purple Sage

✶

with Professor Louie and the Crowmatix

Full Bar, Streamside Lounge, Gourmet Dining at

The Bear Cafe! 2 miles west of Woodstock on Rt. 212....

Tickets (845) 679-4406 •

individual lessons • group lessons

senior outreach • spe cia

l ne

eds

• in

div

idu

www.bearsvilletheater.com

al

les

so

• ns

gro

up

so les

make music with a big m cpdmusic.com

ns

• senior outreach special needs • individual lessons

“I had a lot of gall back then,” she says with a smirk. “I’d go up to whoever was playing and push my stuff on them—‘Excuse me, Mr. Coltrane, will you take a look at this piece I wrote?’ or ‘Hey, Cannonball [Adderly], have I got a tune for you!’ I’m sure they thought I was just some crazy kid.” It wasn’t long, however, before Bley started placing her compositions on LPs by George Russell, Jimmy Giuffre, and Paul Bley, leading other top artists to seek out her modernistic, imaginative, and unpredictable scores.

“I’ve been playing Carla’s music since 1959,” says Swallow, who performed in both Giuffre’s and Paul Bley’s trios, “and it still surprises me. Being an autodidact, she’s constantly reinventing her vocabulary. But her style is still immediately recognizable.”

As the following decade unfolded, Bley became more deeply entrenched in the flowering free jazz/avant-garde scene, where she met trumpeter Michael Mantler, who she married in 1964. With Mantler she formed the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, a fluctuating, colossal collective that featured the cream of New York’s free players; its parent organization, the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra Association (JCOA), also founded by the couple, performed Bley’s music and commissioned works by other key figures.

The orchestra’s debut, 1968’s Communications, which also boasts Cecil Taylor, Larry Coryell, Pharoah Sanders, Don Cherry, Gato Barbieri, and Roswell Rudd, is a certified landmark of the avant-garde. After vibist Gary Burton’s recording of her cycle A Genuine Tong Funeral brought further fame, she joined Haden’s newly formed Liberation Music Orchestra, composing and arranging music for the reuniting-as-needed free jazz protest band’s self-titled 1969 debut.

“Carla is really a one-of-a-kind composer and musician,” says Haden in a phone interview from his Tribeca hotel room. “When I formed the Liberation Music Orchestra, she was really the only person I would trust to write and arrange the music. She’s very unusual in what she does, and far more people should know about her, really.”

In 1971, Bley unveiled her galvanizing work, Escalator Over the Hill, a three-LP “jazz opera” with librettos by the poet Paul Haines. The sprawling epic, which takes in everything from jazz to rock, electronics, Indian ragas, and cabaret music and features guest appearances by Linda Ronstadt and Cream bassist Jack Bruce, set a benchmark for compositional ambition that continues to stand. Thanks to her releasing Escalator and its follow-up, 1973’s Tropic Appetites, as well as most of her subsequent discs, on her own WATT label, Bley is also now a recognized indie pioneer. (Currently WATT and its related imprint, XtraWATT, are distributed through Germany’s ECM Records.)

Before they separated, Mantler and Bley had a daughter, Karen Mantler (now a musician herself), and moved to the Woodstock area in the early 1970s. “Michael wanted to be in the country, so we found a place in Mount Tremper,” Bley says. “I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to live in the country at first. But all these other musicians we knew and played with were up here, too—Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Howard Johnson— and everyone was really starting to work more in Europe than in New York, anyway. So actually it never really felt like stepping outside the circle.”

Throughout the ’70s and ’80s Bley continued to manage the JCOA and to write and record for various-sized bands, including a series of duo sets with Swallow. Although the JCOA has been inactive for the last two decades, Bley herself has been commissioned to write works for outside organizations, an endeavor about which she has mixed feelings.

“With too many of these commissions the music just doesn’t get played right without me, so I have to be there to conduct it,” she moans. “I recently heard a group of my solo piano pieces played by a classical master and he just ruined them, totally misunderstood the music. The thing with jazz is that it’s really more of an oral tradition, you can’t really write it down. Oh, you can write down the notes, but not the feeling that you have to put into the piece to play it right. I mean, you can write something like ‘[play a] semi-demihemi quaver here,’ but even that doesn’t get it across. I pretty much have to perform on the pieces to make sure they’re played correctly.”

One of the releases that she was fortunately present for the making of is the justreleased album by Carla Bley and Her Remarkable Big Band, Appearing Nightly (WATT/ ECM), which was recorded in Paris in 2006 using pieces commissioned by the Monterey Jazz Festival and the Orchestra Jazz della Sardegna. The set harkens back to the sounds of her early piano-lounge gigs and Birdland days, and it is rich in references to Tin Pan Alley and the hard-swinging sounds of Stan Kenton, Duke Ellington, and, of course, Count Basie. “I used to be all about dissonance, but these days I think that if I could just play like Count Basie I’d be overjoyed,” Bley says with a chuckle. Yet while Appearing Nightly is certainly boiling over with classic big-band flavors, make no mistake— it’s by no means a “retro” album. Bemusingly named pieces like “Greasy Gravy,” “Awful Coffee,” and the four-part centerpiece suite “Appearing Nightly at the Black Orchid” are unflagging with the composer’s ultramodern, impressionistic, and reliably unexpected approach to the big-band form.

Today Bley is deep into putting the finishing touches on some arrangements of Christmas carols for a tour of Europe this month. “I’ve been working on [the project] for two years now, which is why it’s Christmas all year ’round in this room,” she says, gesturing to a small, decorated tree and a string of lit holiday lights in the corner of her basement studio. “It helps with the mood.” “[The Christmas music] is actually something I’ve been wanting to do since right after Tropic Appetites, and I’m about three quarters of the way done now,” she says as Karen Mantler enters to remind her of her schedule. “If you’ll excuse me, I guess it’s back to work.”

So while the world may have lost a dishwasher in 1955, it gained the amazing music of Carla Bley. Not a bad deal, to say the least.

Carla Bley and Her Remarkable Big Band’s Appearing Nightly is out now on WATT/ECM Records. www.wattxtrawatt.com.

Programs that make people happy making music.

Phone: 845-677-5871 12/08 CHRONOGRAM MUSIC 47

NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS OVER 30 YEARS EXPERIENCE

For the Price of Good...Get Great!

EXCLUSIVE AUTHORIZED DEALER

Handpicked by local scenemaker DJ WAVY DAVY for your listening pleasure.

JAZZ JAM WITH FREDDIE JACOBS QUARTET HOME STEREO DESIGN & INSTALLATION SPECIALISTS

NAD Come see why NAD offers you more in Home Theater Quality Level Performance at a Surprisingly Reasonable Rate

549 Albany Ave. Kingston, NY

Go ahead, get your clicks :) personals.chronogr

am.com

powered by

a whole new

.com

Dec 3, 10, 17, 24. The Corner Stage, owned and operated by guitarist Mike Quick, usually appears in this space for its blues, rock, and organ-groove bands—and because it is an especially great place to hear live music. Now every Wednesday is an open jazz jam with the sublime Freddie Jacobs on trumpet and the ever-ready Robert Kopec on bass, plus Ernie Colon on drums, and Joe Tranchina on piano. All jazz musicians are welcome to sit in and the band can probably handle any tune called by the guest players. 8pm.

Free. Middletown. (845) 342-4804; www.freddiejacobs.com.

THE COVER GIRLZ/BAR SCOTT December 5. As a stocking stuffer to the annual Woodstock Holiday Open House, the Woodstock Artists Association brings some professional voices to this year’s community wassailing. Bar Scott and her trio will sing and play holiday tunes, standards, and originals in the WAA Gallery, which faces the village green. The Cover Girlz (Peggy Atwood, Elly Wininger, and the John Street Jam’s Terri Massardo) take the stage next with carols in heavenly harmony. The singers will then wander through the village’s holiday festivities to help the rest of us remember the second verse to “Silent Night.” 5pm. Free. Woodstock. www.cometowoodstock.com.

HEADSOUP December 13. HeadSoup was born FishHeadSoup, but the name was shortened to roll off the tongue a little better. Here at Skytop Steakhouse & Brewing Company, the trio—Nik Rael on bass and lead vocals, Steve Petrone on drums, and John Platania on guitar—share their deep and long musical roots. Rael’s gospel-tinged soul-rock conjures contemporaries like Martin Sexton and Ray LaMontagne;Platania has performed with Van Morrison since the mid-1960s (he plays on “Brown-Eyed Girl). The band also toured righteously this year with FODfet, the annual roadshow commemorating slain journalist and musician Daniel Pearl. 9pm. Free. Kingston. (845) 340-4277; www.myspace.com/headsoup.

THE MISFITS December 13. The gargoyles above the stage at the Chance may just have to join the moshpit for this show of nine hardcore punk bands headlined by the Misfits, one of the original touring bands to fly the punk rock banner. Hardcore heroes Murphy’s Law (a full show in their own right) opens, preceded by Left in Ruins, Soul for Sale, C*nt, the Buddah Heroes, Ja Mustache Eddies, Briarcliff, and Run Johnny Run. Madness on two stages will ensue. (WDST 100.1-FM presents Robert Randolph and the Family Band on December 26.) 8:30pm. $15, 17. Poughkeepsie. (845) 471-1966; www.thechancetheater.com.

TODD RUNDGREN December 23. Rock legend Rundgren, in an unprecedented homecoming, returns to Bearsville, where his Utopia Studio (now home to WDST radio) broke musical ground in video production, electronic music, and audio recording techniques. Rundgren’s production credits include albums by Patti Smith, Cheap Trick, the Psychedelic Furs, Meatloaf, XTC, Grand Funk Railroad, the New York Dolls, and Hall and Oates. For this tour, Rundgren is joined by his regular guitarist and Woodstock resident Jesse Gress (Uncle Funk), bassist Rachel Haden, keyboardist Kasin Sultan, and drummer Prairie Prince. Freeman opens the show. 7pm. $44.95. Bearsville. (845) 679-4406; www.bearsvilletheater.com.

THUNDER RIDGE NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY

FROG HOLLOW FARM Celebrating the Partnership of Human & Horse

ENGLISH RIDING FOR ALL AGES Boarding and Training Saddle Club After School Program Holiday Gift Certificates

ESOPUS, N.Y. (845) 384-6424 www.dressageatfroghollowfarm.com 48 MUSIC CHRONOGRAM 12/08

December 31. C’mon, party people, where are all the New Year’s Eve parties this year?

Everyone still hungover from Halloween? That’s how it seems sometimes, but leave it to Hudson Valley lightning bugs Thunder Ridge to lead us out of the darkness of celebratory voids. Here the band returns to its Route 28 headquarters, Hickory BBQ & Smokehouse, and is sure to turn up the heat for this year’s fete. Singer Dorraine Scofield and the fellas will surely have the locals dancing at their tables and kicking up their well-fed heels. 9pm.

Call for prices. Kingston. (845) 338-2424; www.hickoryrestaurant.com.

PAUL FREEMAN OPENS FOR TODD RUNDGREN AT THE BEARSVILLE THEATER ON DECEMBER 23.

CD REVIEWS HOPEWELL BEAUTIFUL TARGETS (TEEPEE RECORDS, 2007)

P Producers of psychedelic rock with soul, New York ffoursome Hopewell (which originally hails from Hopewell Junction) has definitely hit some bull’sH eeyes on Beautiful Targets. The sinuous voice of Jason Russo (formerly of Mercury Rev) is an emotive R iinstrument in itself, layered over bright, soaring ttunes that are at one moment bombastic and cineematic, the next, awash in melancholy and poetic ttones. These songs are thoughtful and fun, somettimes glam rock, sometimes romantic and lush, yet aalways catchy and dramatic.

The CD kicks off with the lullaby “In Full Bloom,” featuring acoustic guitar and a sophisticated string symphony that go right for the heart. The track is followed by the danceable “All Angels Road” and “Bethlehem,” tight, hard-driving rock tunes that pop like firecrackers. “Tree” and “Over & Over” are majestic, heartbreaking, and vulnerable with dreamy, sweeping crescendos. “Echo & His Brother” is the kind of epic alternative pop anthem that will have kids jumping up and down, perfect for the live shows that are reportedly thunderous.

If Hopewell’s endeavor is to make enormous musical strides, then here the band has hit that mark with stunning precision.

Fans of Muse, Interpol, Radiohead, the Flaming Lips, and even the Beatles will be instantly hooked and pleasantly surprised with Beautiful Targets. www.myspace.com/hopewell.

—Sharon Nichols

JEFF “SIEGE” SIEGEL QUARTET LIVE IN EUROPE (ARTISTS RECORDING COLLECTIVE, 2008)

L in Europe exemplifies the expression of parts Live bbeing equal to their sum. Each artist—drummer aand leader Jeff “Siege” Siegel, tenor saxophonist Erica Lindsay, pianist Francesca Tanksley, and bassist E Danton Boller—contributes humbly to this trove D oof engaging musical dialogue. The release is compprised of six tunes cherry-picked from two live raddio recordings from 2005, done while the quartet was on tour. w “Elvin’s Circle” captures and releases drummer Elvin Jones’s spiritual high energy to the wind.

E LLindsay steps into the role of the various saxophonists tthat Jones had sparred with in his career—Joe Farrell, Sonny Fortune, Frank Foster, and John Coltrane—and runs the tune smooth. “Shifting Sands” shuts the door and dims the lights. Lindsay is romantic without the candy and flowers.

Her notes are like ink, bleeding evenly through Boller’s rounded bass notes. “Stealth” takes on a number of personas in a moody 3/4 time and in a rousing 4/4 swing. As the piece reverts back to 3/4, it gathers energy from Siegel’s freestyle solo. Shirley Horn, a singer whose very presence evoked elegance as she spoke of the pathos of life and love, is exalted in “Remembering Shirley,” a gorgeous blues written by Siegel, who also coleads the Stevens, Siegel & Ferguson Trio. Lindsay and Tanksley have a soulful rapport that is dutifully supported by Boller and Siegel. So when do we get to hear the other performances from the two radio dates? We’d like to continue the joy we find listening to Live in Europe. www.jeffsiegel.com.

—Cheryl K. Symister-Masterson

VERDES VERDES (INDEPENDENT, 2008)

C Combined with Americana guitar flourishes and ssubtle vocal twangs, Verdes brings just the right aamount of cock to its collage of postgrunge and 220th-century hair/arena rock. Imagine the Eagles’ oor Jackson Browne’s country tints punctuated by an aalt-rock radio sheen. The heartland flares are well pplaced, bringing an earthen warmth necessary to ccontrast the ozone-layer vocal feats and heady feel.

The guitars pull it all together, molding the songs T with well-placed fingers, gliding through alternating w ttender and aggressive waves of sound. And the voccals, well, let’s just say Jeff Buckley—a comparison nnot made lightly—would have smiled, especially on hearing the first track, “Esopus Creek.” Strange bedfellows emerge throughout the record, both in sonic influences and vocal inflections. Tom Petty tangos with Candlebox on “Back Again”; Matchbox 20 merges with the Stones’ Exile on Main Street on “Outbound.” These are the alt-radio songs you hate to love, mated with the `70s Americana rock greats some of us grew up on.

Well-written and catchy, the songs on the New Paltz-based Verdes’s first EP hold your attention. The musicianship is effortless and confident and makes it easy for the production and mastering to shine. In these days of DIY ethos and basement studios it is entirely refreshing to hear a nicely balanced and polished-just-right recording, especially on the hard-to-come-by, but imperative, bass and drums. Whether played through the computer speakers or the hi-fi, the music here retains its quality. www.verdesmusic.com.

—Jason Broome

UPSTATE MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS: Your work deserves attention. Which means you need a great bio for your press kit or website. One that’s tight. Clean. Professionally written.

Something memorable. Something a booking agent, a record-label person, a promoter, or a gallery owner won’t just use to wipe up the coffee spill on their desk before throwing away.

You need my skills and experience.

PETER AARON Music editor, Chronogram.

Award-winning music columnist, 2005-2006, Daily Freeman.

Contributor, Village Voice, Boston Herald, All Music Guide, All About Jazz.com, Jazz Improv and Roll magazines. Musician.

Consultations also available. Reasonable rates.

Paaron64@hotmail.com.

I also offer general copy editing and proofreading services, including editing of academic and term papers.

ADAM’S and other fine brands • Rentals from $45/month • 75 on Display • By Appointment • Rebuilding 845-331-1300 • Superb Service • Moving

ROUTE 28, KINGSTON, N.Y. 845-331-1300 • 518-537-2326 Visit adamspiano.com for inventory and prices

12/08 CHRONOGRAM MUSIC 49

Books

GET IT ON The Confessions of St. David Rees

by Nina Shengold photo by Jennifer May

I

t’s two days after Barack Obama’s landslide, and leftists of every description are wafting around in a grinning daze. David Rees, whose scathing political comic Get Your War On lit up the Internet and Rolling Stone throughout the Bush regime, was not taking chances.

Rees points to a copy of Get Your War On:The Definitive Account of the War on Terror, 2001-2008, just published by Soft Skull Press. His cover design features a blue field with white text in its upper left quadrant, the rest of the page striped with comic strips printed in trademark red ink. “Can’t burn it. It’s an American flag,” he says, tapping his head sagely. “That was my Palin insurance.”

The iconoclastic cartoonist has suggested a 10am meeting at Beacon’s Muddy Cup coffeehouse. His lanky frame, in baggy sweater and hiking boots, sprawls on an acid-green velveteen couch. He appears to be not quite awake, which might make one wonder why he chose this time. “I always do that. I schedule these early morning interviews so I’ll have to get up, and then I’m half asleep,” he apologizes, adding, hopefully, “The coffee’s starting to kick in.”

Get Your War On was launched on the Internet less than a month after 9/11.

Its opening salvo: Man on phone: “Oh yeah! Operation: Enduring Freedom is in the house!”

Man at computer: “Oh yeah! Operation: Enduring Our Freedom is in the motherfucking house!”

Man on phone: “Yes! Operation: Enduring Our Freedom to Bomb the Living Fuck Out of You is in the house!!!”

No one was writing like this in October 2001. The nation was still shellshocked, confused, and paranoid. Rees’s public assertion that the war on terrorism and invasion of Afghanistan deserved a good profane bash was a breath of fresh air. Using a handful of anonymous-looking clip-art figures, he tapped into collective anxieties and taught them to breathe comic fire.

50 BOOKS CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Get Your War On (GYWO to fans) quickly developed a cult following, and in 2002, Rolling Stone picked it up. Rees was anointed a generational mouthpiece.

Better yet, he was able to quit his day job.

His clip-art comics career had begun with a deadpan volume called My New Fighting Technique Is Unstoppable (rereleased in 2003 by Riverhead Trade). Rees was then still in his twenties, a Boston-based musician who fronted a band called the Skeleton Killers and worked as an office temp at Tufts University.

During the summer, he combated boredom by fooling around with PowerPoint clip art. Though he had no interest in martial arts (other than Wu-Tang Clan lyrics), he liked the karate figures. He created a loopy series of strips, which he Xeroxed and stapled into books for his friends. They encouraged him to bring a stack to a local comics store, where, to his astonishment, total strangers bought and enjoyed them as well.

Rees followed up with an equally idiosyncratic comic devoted to cubicle workers, My New Filing Technique Is Unstoppable. He and his wife, child psychologist Sarah Lariviere, relocated to Brooklyn, and he found work as a factchecker for Maxim and Martha Stewart Living. “I was checking the same stupid things for both magazines: ‘How much did your belt buckle cost?’ ‘For the wedding at Country Bumpkin Golf Course, the main course was mashed potatoes with chicken gizzards?’”

Then the Twin Towers fell. Rees needed a vent for his anger and fears, and he found it in clip-art. “I didn’t want kitsch—the ironic ‘square’ guy with ’50s glasses—we’ve all seen that before. I wanted the art to be really banal and almost invisible.” He used a Dover Clip-Art file called “Office Situations,” drawn by paper-doll king Tom Tierney. (“I’ve never met him,” Rees says. “I’d like to shake his hand.”) The figures’ names are generic identifiers—Notebooks, Black Guy, Lady; Rees never renamed them.

Comic strips from David Rees’s Get Your War On

“They aren’t characters in my mind,” he explains, “There’s no backstory or consistency to what they say.” Rather, the figures serve as mouthpieces for a wide variety of political views. “Who says what is very random—honestly, it’s, ‘Which piece of clip-art haven’t I used in a few weeks? Okay, this guy’s on deck.’”

Rees now makes GYWO animations for www.236.com, and is retrofitting his characters with personalities, so the actors performing the dialog know who they’re playing. It’s not the first time actors have tackled his work: Austin theater company the Rude Mechs adapted Get Your War On for a stage production that later won an award at the Edinburgh Festival. Rees was especially pleased that the Rude Mechs “used overhead projectors they bought at an Enron fire sale” to integrate clip art, animations, and news photos.

Rees uses the same technology when he does readings. He donated all his royalties from the first two GYWO anthologies to Adopt-a-Minefield, and during those book tours, he often showed footage of the de-mining procedure.

He’s keeping the royalties from the new book, though, partly because of his recent move to Beacon. “I have a mortgage now. And I gave away over $100,000, so I think my karma’s okay.”

Ethical questions loom large for Rees, who was raised by “really religious” parents in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. As a teenager, his main influences were “church and political punk rock like the Minutemen. It was the ’80s, the Reagan era—our church had pamphlets about Central American proxy wars, nuns getting killed. The Minutemen had the same moral concerns, but the language and aesthetics were more dynamic and profane,” he says, adding that he sees GYWO as “a Minutemen song in comics form.”

Rees plans to end the strip on the day Bush leaves office, but he’ll keep it alive through the lame-duck months. “If he can stick it out, I can stick it out.

We can ride into the sunset together. I’ll get a job burning books in his Presidential library.”

Is Barack Obama funny? “It won’t be my job to figure that out. I’m done. But people in my field—left-wing cartoonists—are kind of wondering that,” he admits. “Obama seems pretty centered, comfortable in his own skin—there’s no glaring psychological fucked-upness to work out on the job. Clinton had this pathological need for everyone to love him, he had to seduce everyone. Bush has all these unresolved daddy issues, and he’s a dry drunk. I’m tired of living in a country where I had to pay the price for these dudes’ psychological problems. I would like America to be run by a boring person. I hope Obama’s totally low-key. I hope the excitement’s over, and we get four years of smart decisions.”

Rees’s post-Bush comics include Relationshapes, which explores the complex thoughts of crudely drawn geometric shapes, and Adventures of Confessions of St. Augustine Bear, which pits an inept clip-art hunter against a beatific bear and other wildlife, including a buffalo, penguins, and a strutting turkey who muses, “Should I believe in God, or what?”

He’s also developing a proposal for a “totally apolitical” prose book, which he describes as “an ironic self-help book. People will think I’m making fun of self-help books, but by the end, their lives will be totally better.That’s my pitch.”

David Rees sips his coffee, now fully awake. “My new book is the 21st-century Confessions of St. Augustine. The goal is not a bestseller. The goal is sainthood.”

David Rees will read selections from Get Your War On and sign copies of his latest book on December 6 at 7pm at Open Space Gallery in Beacon. (845) 765-0731; www.openspacebeacon.com. Rees’s website: www.mnftiu.cc.

12/08 CHRONOGRAM BOOKS 51

Discover.

Connect.

Change.

Discover the

lowest tuition in the state and flexible class schedules

Connect with

over 60 degree programs, offered at two locations main campus in Poughkeepsie and Dutchess South in Wappingers Falls

Change your

future... register today.

Spring classes begin January 20, 2009

www.sunydutchess.edu (845) 431-8000 (845) 298-0755

Dreaming Up America Russell Banks Seven Stories Press, ; .

I

n his provocative book of essays, Dreaming Up America, Russell Banks explains the importance of modern American mythology—that is, the noble lies we propound about our nation’s glories. We thrive on such heroic storytelling, Banks explains, because our own true history is a cyclical record of invasions and exterminations. Whether the victims were Native American, Vietnamese, or Iraqi, we insist that the subjugation was to promote religion and democracy, rather than mere land grabs. Banks refers to this hoary rationale as the three Cs: Christianity, capitalism, and civilization.

George Bush knew the importance of mythology; he stuck to a thumbs-up script no matter the crisis, and won himself two terms. But presidential hopefuls Kerry and Gore chose to wag a scolding fi nger at the populace.

Trouble is, people are least likely to tolerate a dressing-down when they most deserve it. President elect Obama has struck a balance in dispensing American mythology. While not embarrassing us about the past we prefer to ignore, he suggests that a better future is within reach. Our fragile egos are spared, our optimism renewed.

Russell Banks is no such diplomat; in eight separate sorties, he turns the American dream inside out, spilling its entrails and prevailing hypocrisies. A keen student of American history, Banks cites seminal moments in our republic’s past to make his point. (He has proven his mastery of America’s past by weaving true-life events into novels such as Cloudsplitter, a fanciful account of Civil War abolitionist John Brown.) In Dreaming Up America, Banks mercilessly traces our collective mindset, from the arrival of the first settlers in 17th-century Jamestown through the Reagan-Bush years, and highlights the entitlement and illogic that calcified into the political zeitgeist. The American Dream, Banks reminds any of us who missed the message, is a well-orchestrated hoax.

One manifestation of our blind faith has been Hollywood films. A pleasing form of propaganda, the movies catalog our well-polished myths of noble wars, political equality, and everyday justice—in short: a litany of fantasies. Witness the celebrated pro-Klan classic, 1915’s Birth of a Nation. Less often, mainstream films project an honest, if unflattering truth, as in 1940’s The Grapes of Wrath.

The power of film is a recurring theme in this octet of essays, with good reason. Banks’s original text came from a 2005 French documentary on the mythmaking of American movies. Along with fellow novelist Jim Harrison, Banks held forth on films like Captain Blood, Sergeant York, The Great Dictator, and Black Hawk Down, as well as the aforementioned screen favorites. Director Jean-Michel Meurice ultimately boiled down eleven hours of Banks’s meditations for the film’s narration and a companion book. Banks subsequently chose to amplify his oral musings for Dreaming Up America.

Jingoistic readers beware: Banks aims a bold finger at the diseases of the body politic. Whether calling our Founding Fathers “elitist,” comparing American nationalism with brownshirt rantings, or citing the role of racism in all of our foreign invasions, the Saratoga author is no vacant-eyed flag-waver. His observations are crisp and clear-minded. (One must wonder whether the author’s dour assessments might be leavened by Obama’s triumph.) When our troops fi nally leave Iraq and Afghanistan, Banks predicts, America will likely enter a period of isolation. He adds, “In many ways it will be harmful to us, culturally and economically. But at least we’ll kill fewer people.”

—Jay Blotcher

52 BOOKS CHRONOGRAM 12/08

From MonkÀsh Book Publishing Company

THE JOURNEY FROM THE CENTER TO THE PAGE Yoga Philosophies and Practices As Muse for Authentic Writing by

J EFF D AVIS

The Àrst book to show writers how yoga’s non-dogmatic philosophies and practical tools can help them deepen their writing process, embody their self-awareness, and hone their craft.

(PPE &OFSHZ Since 1987, Mirabai has provided a sanctuary for inspiration, transformation and healing in the heart of Woodstock.

Come and experience an astounding array of books, music, gifts and workshops for a more conscious, healthy, peaceful life.

$16 ~ available from your favorite bookseller

TAKE THE JOURNEY in 2009.

YOUR MUSE DESERVES IT. YOGA AS MUSE RETREATS Taos ¡ Kripalu ¡ Hudson Valley CUSTOM COACHING & MENTORING in person & by phone PROFESSIONAL EDITING C E N T E R T O PA G E , L L C : MOVING WRITERS FROM THE CENTER TO THE PAGE Founded by Jeff Davis - editor, writer, and professor of 20 years

C E N T E R TO PAG E . C O M 8 4 5 . 6 7 9 . 9 4 4 1 ~ je f f d a v i s @ c e n t e r t o p a ge. c o m

.JSBCBJ of Woodstock #PPLT t .VTJD t (JGUT Workshops Tarot Decks t Eastern Philosophy t Integrative Healing t Feng Shui t Reiki Essential Oils t Yoga & Bodywork t Channeled Materials t Energy Medicine Esoteric Christianity t Sufism t Nutrition t Meditation Cushions t Ayurveda Healing Music t Personal Growth t Crystals t Sacred Statuary t Celtic t Incense Kundalini t Astrology t Kabbalah t Consiousness t Shamanism t Mysticism

Nourishment for Mind & Spirit ÂŽ

0QFO %BZT t UP .JMM )JMM 3PBE t 8PPETUPDL /:

t XXX NJSBCBJ DPN

;dg ndjg ]jhWVcY! ndjg l^[Z! ndjg eVgicZg! ndjg `^Yh VcY i]Z^g `^Yh# ;dg ndj# ;dgZkZg# 9edY[fj fehjhW_j fW_dj_d]i Xo DWZ_d[ HeXX_di dWZ_d[heXX_difehjhW_ji$Yec

-)*"'(("%%-'

Â?'%%- CVY^cZ GdWW^ch I]Z CZl 6bZg^XVc <di]^X D^a dc 8VckVh! )-Âťm,'Âť

OBLONG BOOKS & MUSIC MILLERTON - RHINEBECK www.oblongbooks.com 12/08 CHRONOGRAM BOOKS 53

SHORT TAKES The eternal feminine takes many forms—Goth girl, sister, mother, wise woman, goddess—in six new books by Hudson Valley women.

No Blood, No Foul

Last Train Out

GOTHIC LOLITA: A MYSTICAL THRILLER GO

Charley Rosen

Richard Boes

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY DAKOTA LANE WO

Seven Stories Press, , .

iUniverse, , .

ATHENEUM, 2008, $17.99 ATH

M Miya lives in Tokyo, Chelsea in LA. Obsessed with manga and gothic/Victorian fashion, they become ma online soulmates, plunging deeper into the mystic on than either expects. Woodstock author Lane’s th haunting photos, cybercentric story, and life-orha death passions make Gothic Lolita an irresistible d rush ru for teenage outsiders. Reading at Kingston Barnes B & Noble, 12/7 at 2pm.

A SILENT S OCEAN AWAY: COLETTE’S DOMINIO ION DEVA GANTT DEV AVON, 2008, $13.95 AVO

Ho How’s this for a backstory: Sisters Debra and Valerie Gantt melded first names (and, seemingly, minds) to Ga self-publish a 700-page historical romance, which se was snapped up by Avon for release as a trilogy. w Book One, A Silent Ocean Away, whisks plucky B servant Charmaine Ryan to a Caribbean mansion se full of family intrigues. fu

RE RETURNING TO MY MOTHER’S HOUSE: TA TAKING BACK THE WISDOM OF THE FE FEMININE GAIL STRAUB GA HIGH POINT, 2008, $21.95 HIG

In this intensely personal memoir, Empowerment Institute co-director and bestselling author Straub In eexplores her complex relationship with her mother, a rebellious artist who lost her sense of self. She also a examines her own life choices, including a conscious decision not to have children, channeling her maternal energies g into other forms of nurture.

AB ABOUT FACE: WOMEN WRITE ABOUT WHAT TH THEY SEE WHEN THEY LOOK IN THE M MIRROR EDITED BY ANNE BURT AND CHRISTINA BAKER KLINE ED SEAL PRESS, 2008, $15.95 SE

Tw Twenty-three women, including Hudson Valley resident Dana Kinstler, reflect on their reflections, exploring D issues of beauty, ethnicity, aging, scars, makeup, is aand more. Author photos, round as compact mirrors, accompany each essay. Strikingly few of the writers describe themselves as the camera sees them––perhaps that’s the point. A provocative read. pro

W WINTER BREAK: A LUMINOUS JOURNEY IN INTO WISDOM AND LOVE ASTRID FITZGERALD AST A.R.K. BOOKS, 2008, $22.00 A.R

O a school vacation in the snowy Swiss Alps, a On teenage girl finds romance, adventure, and her te true path. Your basic coming-of-age tale? Not tr quite. Fitzgerald’s previous books include Being q Consciousness Bliss: A Seeker’s Guide and An Artist’s Book of Inspiration; her heroine’s path is lit by a wise-woman spiritual teacher named Luma. spi

NI NIGHT: REMEMBERED TEXTS NILE FR FROM THE DEEP IONE (INCLUDES CD RECORDED WITH PAULINE OLIVEROS) ION DEEP LISTENING PUBLICATIONS, 2008, $27.50 DE

K Kingston Dream Festival high priestess Ione unspools a hypnotic cycle of poems “inspired by many numinous journeys to Egypt.” The accompanying n CD, recorded live in Cassis, France, merges Ione’s C trancelike spoken-word performances with exotic soundscapes by 54 BOOKS CHRONOGRAM 12/08

I

n some wiser future time, scholars may ponder just what in the world was the matter with 20th-century humans. Why all the resistance to simple little things like universal enfranchisement and peace? Why all the blaming and shaming and violence? Why were people so intent on shooting themselves repeatedly in the collective foot?

Conceivably, this study might lead one to contemplate the very nature of competition, of masculinity as it is popularly conceived, and of that ultimate distilled blend of the two: war. The experience of war changes everything, in ways that writers have been attempting to articulate for thousands of years.

The protagonist of Charley Rosen’s No Blood, No Foul, Jason Lewis, has had his life changed physically and directly: A talented basketball player, he comes home from World War II minus two fingers—and minus the dream of Olympic competition that had fired his fantasies and efforts.

His best friend, Sol, though physically unscathed, is damaged in deeper and uglier ways.

The book vividly evokes an earlier era of sport, chronicling the earliest days of the NBA through the eyes of Lewis, now a reluctant referee, who clings to the game he loves in the face of all opposition. His intellectual father envisions a future college professor, his boorish in-laws a prosperous insurance salesman, and his bride yearns only for “respectability.” Amidst all this, Jason Lewis yearns for purity and grace, remembered from the basketball court.

Purity and grace, it would seem, were in short supply in postwar athletics. It’s a bumpy ride we take with Jason, redolent of cigar smoke and sweat and satisfying, as he fi nds the inner purity and grace to become his own man. Rosen, chief NBA columnist for Foxsports.com, knows his tale and writes it well. Sports lovers will enjoy both this novel and its nonfiction companion piece, Rosen’s recently published The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA (McGraw Hill).

Last Train Out is the second book published by Richard Boes, a Hudson Valley combat veteran whose earlier work, The Last Dead Soldier Left Alive, centered on the demons that took up residence in his skull in Vietnam and its immediate aftermath.

In Last Train Out, we’re on a later tour of duty, one that brings us into the landscapes one can share with those demons as life goes on: the church basements and walkups and sidewalks, the ironies of poverty, the full ashtray, the last sip of cold coffee.

Having stared death in the face so long ago, Boes’s semi-autobiographical protagonist is now facing cancer and in the throes of deep mourning for a woman he has loved. Life is a series of battles with doctors and bureaucracies, of repetitious actions: empty the trash, make the bed, breathe in, breathe out; sit in front of the computer, let your mind fly down the tracks, through dark tunnels and scenes of bleak degradation and breathtaking beauty.

Boes writes movingly of the world he sees: a vicious place, full of evil and inanity, and of hard-won instants of triumph and love. He is an astute observer of the mirror-image tragedies and struggles faced by women and men, lovers and warriors. Ground down to a nub, stripped of status and health and frills, remembering romance, he will make you laugh and cry, marvel, and wince. Don’t miss this train.

—Anne Pyburn

12/08 CHRONOGRAM BOOKS 55

POETRY

Edited by Phillip Levine. Submissions are accepted year-round. Deadline for our January issue is December 5. Send up to 3 poems or 3 pages (whichever comes first), by regular mail, to: Poetry, 314 Wall St., Kingston, NY 12401, or via e-mail (preferred) to poetry@chronogram.com. Subject: Poetry Submission. Full submission guidelines at www.chronogram.com\submissions.

I don’t like the mad sound, or the laughing sound, or the No sound.

somewhere there’s a place for us

I don’t like those sounds.

i don’t know where it is

I like the singing sound, and the talking sound.

I like those sounds.

—p

—Amelie Belfiore (nearly 3 years)

THAT GALAXY In that iridescent galaxy, not a spiral, not a cannibal, I see our unborn children leading me to you. I’ll never be cold there, and they will call me by a name that means Smoothbrowed One. I’ll hear my sisters laugh across the Milky Way at this. I will find you moping, hands deep in your pockets. You will slight me for not spending more time with you on earth. But you won’t stay mad long. In this place we polar twins will finally connect in a different magnetism, different gravity. You will fly with all the birds you love, and hawks and ravens will be vegans for my sake, which will disappoint you.

I will see Orion’s other side, and finally he will look small, the only hunter, and we’ll all walk on water.

—Mary Kathryn Jablonski

DRIVE HOME In the smoky wet sunset they come in numbers infinite.

Silhouettes elongated by street lamp, porch light.

Welcome home, welcome home in the near pitch blue, The world is slate and swirling with night.

—Anna Van Laan

ENGAGEMENT Once there was a spotted dog who sat and stared at his woman while she made things with bits of cloth and bone. Finally she agreed to teach him. They started with the basics: sit, stay, make yourself dinner. He went on to learn certain relevant nouns: water, biscuit, stock market.

When he kept staring, she showed him pictures. He seemed most excited by images of the sea, so she took him diving. He could hold his breath longer than any man she’d ever known. Still he stared. So she taught him how to read. After that, the woman and the dog relinquished the world of sound. They went on to live in quiet isolation, sharing their love of words and water, without concern for anyone’s assumptions.

—Susan Lewis

56 POETRY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

RESPITE WITH CHARDONNAY I The room could be this quiet, I’ve waited months for the world to be this quiet.

I’ve an umbrella with a broken cage.

In the wind it whirls.

It gives cool delight.

The lipped clear glass reflects sun rays.

I remain awake and will not hide.

II I would take the rails to where visible mountains slip away and the clouds of evening darken, soar— pocketed by the night.

The lights of hillside huts speak of the strangers unseen in their homes.

What could trouble them?

I keep going, glass between me and the outside.

No pain can claw my heart.

Blackness, rushing, erases all particular beauties.

The journey will end, but tonight nothing touches— only the sound of the rails.

Tomorrow, cast into the dawn, I carry a suitcase into town.

—Steve Clark

When the end of The line comes Too soon and you Hardly know it What then —Mary Lou Paturel

TEMPER Days are the forge in which I true myself; I am smith to human ore.

—Patrick Walsh

LATE BLOOMER Deep beneath your feet, I lie as still as ever no more annoying tapping of my foot Funny thing, what you miss when it’s gone I see you standing above me, carefully placing purple iris and white daisies in terra cotta pots Better friends now than ever Funny thing, my absence bringing us together My favorites were always tulips especially the ruby ones bending their heads in prayer over the cut glass vase The ones I picked at the grocery store all winter long Funny thing, you never bothered while I was alive I suffered, wrapped in a blanket of loneliness at the end Now you stand above me a bouquet of sorrow for what is lost Funny thing, how they make you feel better —Suzanne B. Gillette

A PERSONAL TRAGEDY

SWAMP RED MAPLE

Cyclones in Burma, earthquakes in China and I lost my jacket. The one with the hood that kept my cap from being soaked in the rain or blown away on a windy day.

You cannot trust a swamp red maple to give you sugar and warming wood.

Her sap’s too thin to be a staple.

Her brittle boughs misunderstood.

This is not the only tragedy in my personal life today, but it is the one 1 choose to write on.

It is more than a symbol, it is a reality and a mystery.

Although her limbs expect decay, a learned tree knows angry wails and fights the Fall’s fiercest display.

She spurns the reaper and the gales.

How can a jacket disappear when you have laid it in the passenger seat of your car, which when you are not in your habitual parking place you

October masts fly scarlet jibs.

In the breeze, a hush, a chime, for branches weak as children’s ribs that fail when on their windswept climb

lock carefully. You remember especially that you chose not to don it, though it was chilly, until you reached for it and it wasn’t there.

I do have another jacket, do not fear,

and do not return to reproduce.

So thoroughly are the prunings shed that dawn reveals a somber truce to let the living collect the dead.

though that one has no hood and is light for this time of year.

You cannot trust a swamp red maple to supply your sugar and warming wood.

Her sap’s too thin to be a staple.

Her brittle boughs misunderstood.

—Donald Lev

—Paul R. Clemente

HOW THE ERIE LEFT TOWN The crossinggates went first, and with them the flashing red signal lights.

Then the tracks, after a century bolted to the earth, were gone.

And the oak ties, black as soot, were taken, and the spikes like rusted carrots were taken out.

Finally, the air left town, heavy with a hundred years of bells.

the box on the closet shelf above the denim shirts and assorted well-worn pants once the home of a new pair of Rockports now serves as repository for letters from the Indiana lady we knew each other many years ago when we were young and innocent though time has worn us down somewhat but not enough to stop the hearts that want to share what’s left of us she writes about her children and her children’s children and lets me know about the rain and sunny days and flowers in Indiana I’ve learned she quilts and choirs cooks and bakes and talks about God Who holds her sister in His hands while He waits for her but most of all I enjoy the sentences not written where she and I share the space and understand the silence

A MEMORY Studs Terkel (1912-2008) And he said: Ida died in 1999.

I miss her. We were married sixty years.

What can you say? That’s life.

One night, a couple of years after, I’m home Watching the baseball game on television, The lights are out, so is the sound.

Don’t need sound anyway, Just watching the game is a comfort, I’m alone—my son’s not due back for hours.

Besides, I’m almost deaf without my hearing aid, Which I’ve left somewhere in the bathroom, Truth is I can barely hear—even with it.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I sense the front door opening.

It’s too early for Dan to be back I turn my head— And there’s this guy, a stranger, Standing near the door I jump up, I’m 87, but I jump up And I flick on the light, The guy covers his face and yells something.

He runs in, turns the light off I run into the next room, turn the light on The guy turns it off.

We’re doing a ballet, see, dancing from room to room, I’m trying to get to my hearing aid, I can’t hear a damn thing he’s saying.

I get to the bathroom, flick on the light, Grab my hearing aid, stuff it in my ear, Now I can hear him: Give me your money—all of it.

He’s a young guy, see, and he’s robbing me, I got two hundred bucks in my pocket.

I reach in and hand him the money. What could I do?

He turns and—I don’t know what made me do it— I say: hey, you got all my money. I got nothing left.

He stops. Oh, oh, I’m thinking, what have I done?”

And he gives me back twenty bucks of my own money.

Then he’s out the door—and I’m laughing.

A capitalist would never have done that.

—James Houtrides

—Robert Farley wavering light through the shutters... chapel lobby —Sari Grandstaff

—J.R. Solonche 12/08 CHRONOGRAM POETRY 57

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Kindred Spirits STEAKHOUSE & PUB at the Catskill Mountain Lodge

â&#x20AC;˘ A place for nature, art and music lovers. â&#x20AC;˘ Open seven days for breakfast and lunch.

Dinner on weekends.

â&#x20AC;˘ Live Jazzâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Friday and Saturdayâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Starts at 6pm â&#x20AC;˘ Call for reservations or to cater your event. â&#x20AC;˘ Fireplace pub has 13 beers on tap.

334 Route 32A, Palenville, NY 518-678-3101 | www.catskillmtlodge.com

r e s t a u r a n t

Let us Cater Your Holiday Party

(845) 246-2411 www.esotecltd.com sales@esotecltd.com

www.ginoswappingers.com

Enjoy Holiday Tastings with us this December

simply good ?XeeX]fi[ `j gifl[ kf Y\ k_\ cXi^\jk Z\ik`Ă&#x201D;\[ fi^Xe`Z jlg\idXib\k `e k_\ Efik_\Xjk% 8k ?XeeX]fi[# j_Xi`e^ fli gXjj`fe ]fi ]ff[ `eZcl[\j f]]\i`e^ fm\i )#''' `k\dj# `eZcl[`e^ fm\i ('' gif[lZ\ `k\dj Xe[ ('' [X`ip `k\dj# Xcc jfliZ\[ ]ifd Z\ik`Ă&#x201D;\[ fi^Xe`Z m\e[fij% PflĂ&#x2039;cc Ă&#x201D;e[ Xcc pfli dflk_nXk\i`e^ ]Xmfi`k\j kf \eafp `e k_\`i gli\jk ]fid Ă&#x2020; eXkliXc# ]i\j_# jX]\ Xe[ i\dXibXYcp [\c`Z`flj%

To receive your invitation, email us at ingoodtaste@verizon.net

()'(%34 15!,)49

Jkfg Yp k_\ ?\ib`d\i ?XeeX]fi[ your local ?XeeX]fi[ Xe[ Z_\Zb flk k_\ E<N Fi^Xe`Z EXkliXc j\Zk`fe

-MF:AJ< -F9;CKÂ&#x2122;

0QY &KUVTKDWVKPI KP VJG *WFUQP 8CNNG[ ?\ib`d\i ?XeeX]fi[ +'( <Xjk 8cYXep Jki\\k ?\ib`d\i# EP (**,' nnn%_XeeX]fi[%Zfd G_fe\1 *(,$/--$-'*' Â&#x203A; nnn%_XeeX]fi[%Zfd

%CNN 8KPP[ 5EKWNNQ CV HQT FKUVTKDWVKQP QH VJG jPGUV UPCEMU KP VJG *WFUQP 8CNNG[

58 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM 12/08

COME TO SPROUT CREEK FARM MARKET! Enjoy several different cheeses from our pasture-raised cows... free from artificial antibiotics and hormones.

Also available in our market: eggs, meat, and produce.

Taste our award winning artisinal cheese made right here in our creamery. Cheese-making classes available. Please call the market for reservations.

Cheese Orders are taken 7 days a week through cheese@sproutcreekfarm.org or call. We ship via UPS Monday-Thursday. Gift Baskets Available. Gear up for the holidays with a variety of gourmet cheeses.

COME VISIT SPROUT CREEK FARM. Enjoy the farm and the animals during your visit.

Open to the public year-round kids always welcome!

After-school camp opportunities available.

Learn, connect, and eat healthy foodsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s another way to save the children.

Call or go on-line for an application (845-485-8438) www.sproutcreekfarm.org.

516 Main Street, Beacon, NY 12508

845-790-5375 845-440-7731

WWW.SUKHOTHAINY.COM

34 Lauer Road, Poughkeepsie NY ~ 845-485-9885

TUES. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; THURS. 11:30 AM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 9:30 FRI. & SAT. 11:30 AM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 10:30

PM

www.sproutcreekfarm.org ~ cheese@sproutcreekfarm.org

PM

Friday-Saturday 10â&#x20AC;&#x201C;6pm ~ Sunday 10â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4pm

Full Line 0SHBOJD $ of PME $VUT BOE )PN F $PPLJOH

%FMJDBUFTT FO

IJQ 8F OPX T ST UP F E S NFBU P BUJPO BOZ EFTUJO

Open 7 Days 845-255-2244

79 Main Street New Paltz

-PDBM 0SHBOJD (SBTT 'FE #FFG t -BNC t (PBU t 7FBM t 1PSL t $IJDLFO t 8JME 4BMNPO

No Hormones ~ No Antibiotics ~ No Preservatives

",

7 Ă&#x160; " ,

, -

$VTUPN $VU t )PNF $PPL JOH %FM J DB UFT TFO /JUSBUF 'SFF #BDPO t 1PSL 3PBTUT t #FFG 3PBTUT #POF JO PS #POFMFTT )BN TNPLFE PS GSFTI -PDBM 0SHBOJD #FFG t &YPUJD .FBUT (Venison, BuďŹ&#x20AC;alo, Ostrich) t 8JME 'JTI

Ă&#x20AC;i>`Ă&#x160; Â?Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x160; Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160; >Ă&#x160; Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x153;ÂŤi>Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x192;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x17E;Â?iĂ&#x160; L>Â&#x17D;iĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160; Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x192;Ă&#x152;Â?i`Ă&#x160; Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x160; >Ă&#x152;Ă&#x192;Â&#x17D;Â&#x2C6;Â?Â?Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x152;>Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;vĂ&#x160; iĂ&#x153;Ă&#x160; 9Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x17D;Ă&#x160; -Ă&#x152;>Ă&#x152;i°Ă&#x160; 7iĂ&#x160; Â&#x153;vviĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x152;Ă&#x20AC;>`Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;>Â?Ă&#x160; Â&#x2026;i>Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;Â&#x2021;L>Â&#x17D;i`Ă&#x160; LĂ&#x20AC;i>`Ă&#x192;°Ă&#x160; "Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;}>Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2C6;VĂ&#x160; }Ă&#x20AC;>Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160; >Ă&#x20AC;iĂ&#x160; }Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160; Â&#x201C;Â&#x2C6;Â?Â?Ă&#x192;Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x192;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x192;ÂŤiVÂ&#x2C6;wĂ&#x160;V>Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x192;°Ă&#x160; "Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x160; LĂ&#x20AC;i>`Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160; >Ă&#x20AC;iĂ&#x160; Ă&#x192;Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160; viĂ&#x20AC;Â&#x201C;iÂ&#x2DC;Ă&#x152;i`Ă&#x160; >Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x160; Ă&#x192;Â&#x2026;>ÂŤi`Ă&#x160; LĂ&#x17E;Ă&#x160; Â&#x2026;>Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x160; Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160; vĂ&#x2022;Â?Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160; `iĂ&#x203A;iÂ?Â&#x153;ÂŤĂ&#x160; Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;iÂ&#x2C6;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2C6;ÂľĂ&#x2022;iĂ&#x160; yĂ&#x160;>Ă&#x203A;Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x192;]Ă&#x160; Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;iÂ&#x2DC;Ă&#x160; L>Â&#x17D;i`Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x160; Â&#x2026;i>Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;vĂ&#x160; Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x153;Â&#x153;Â&#x153;`Â&#x2021;wĂ&#x160;Ă&#x20AC;i`Ă&#x160; LĂ&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;VÂ&#x17D;Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;Ă&#x203A;iÂ&#x2DC;Ă&#x192;°

?VeVcZhZ GZhiVjgVci KDI:9 Ă&#x2020;7Zhi Hjh]^ ^c i]Z =jYhdc KVaaZnĂ&#x2021; 8]gdcd\gVb =jYhdc KVaaZn BV\Vo^cZ

Edj\]`ZZeh^Z ?djgcVa GVi^c\ :M8:AA:CI Wn OV\ViĂ&#x2030;h

KZ\ZiVg^Vc Y^h]Zh VkV^aVWaZ ' \gZVi adXVi^dch

lll#dhV`Vhjh]^#cZi &- <VgYZc HigZZi! G]^cZWZX` -)* -,+",(( -)* -,+",',-

,) 7gdVYlVn! I^kda^ -)* ,*,"*%** -)* ,*,"*%*+

Ă&#x20AC;i>`Ă&#x160; Â?Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x160;V>vjĂ&#x192;Ă&#x160;Â&#x153;vviĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x160;vĂ&#x20AC;iĂ&#x192;Â&#x2026;Ă&#x160;LĂ&#x20AC;i>`Ă&#x192;]Ă&#x160;ÂŤ>Ă&#x192;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;iĂ&#x192;]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x192;Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;ÂŤĂ&#x192;]Ă&#x160; >Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x160;Ă&#x192;>Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x153;Â&#x2C6;VÂ&#x2026;iĂ&#x192;Ă&#x160;>Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;Ă&#x20AC;iiĂ&#x160;Â&#x201C;Â&#x2C6;`Â&#x2021; Ă&#x2022;`Ă&#x192;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;Â?Â&#x153;V>Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x192;°

Â&#x153;Â&#x2C6;ViĂ&#x203A;Â&#x2C6;Â?Â?i]Ă&#x160; 9 ,Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x152;iĂ&#x160;Ă&#x201C;n n{xÂ&#x2021;Ă&#x2C6;xĂ&#x2021;Â&#x2021;Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x17D;Ă&#x201C;n ­Â&#x2026;i>`ÂľĂ&#x2022;>Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x152;iĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x192;ÂŽ

,Â&#x2026;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iLiVÂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160; 9 {xĂ&#x160; °Ă&#x160; >Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x17D;iĂ&#x152;Ă&#x160;-Ă&#x152;Ă&#x20AC;iiĂ&#x152; n{xÂ&#x2021;nĂ&#x2021;Ă&#x2C6;Â&#x2021;Ă&#x17D;£än

7Â&#x153;Â&#x153;`Ă&#x192;Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;VÂ&#x17D;]Ă&#x160; 9 Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x201C;Ă&#x160; Â&#x2C6;Â?Â?Ă&#x160; Â&#x2C6;Â?Â?Ă&#x160;,Â&#x153;>` n{xÂ&#x2021;Ă&#x2C6;Ă&#x2021;Â&#x2122;Â&#x2021;Ă&#x201C;£än

Ă&#x203A;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x192;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;iL\Ă&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;°LĂ&#x20AC;i>`>Â?Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;i°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C; 12/08 CHRONOGRAM FOOD & DRINK 59

Food & Drink

Comfortably Yum ARIELLE, FLATIRON, GOMEN KUDASAI

by Brian K. Mahoney photographs by Jennifer May

I

t’s probably no accident that the restaurants I’ve found most appealing in the past few months serve comfort food. The anxiety of the election season, coupled with the uncertain economic climate, has activated a yen for simple, uncomplicated things. I’ve been drawn to eateries whose primary motivation is pleasure without pretense or hard work. Food that doesn’t require anything of me but to be present for its enjoyment. No fusion cuisine.

No elaborate preparations or layered sauces. No molecular gastronomy. And leave the big, kick-you-in-the-teeth wines in the cellar as well. All I require is a simple grilled fish, or a steaming bowl of noodles, or an order of steak frites—and a sturdy table wine.

Three restaurants—a bistro in Rhinebeck, a Japanese noodle house in New Paltz, and a steak house in Red Hook—have satisfied my need to comforted.

Though their menus are as diverse as their décor, they share some similarities.

All opened in the past year, all are run by a couple, and they don’t skimp on seriousness of purpose, quality of ingredients, or attention to service despite their studied casualness. They also reflect the desires of their owners—what and how they want to eat—as much as the perceived need of the market. These restaurateurs have created places they wished existed. As Nick Rebraca, coowner of Arielle told me, “We wanted to create a restaurant that suits our own tastes, and we hope everyone else follows.”

And while—with the exception of Gomen Kudasai—they can’t truly be called inexpensive, that’s to be expected. Comfort, after all, has its price.

The Steak House On a busy Saturday night, my party of three arrived early for our reservation at Flatiron in Red Hook. We had a drink at the bar, but were then stranded 20 minutes past our reservation waiting for a table to clear. A suboptimal situation, but one that’s going to happen occasionally. The hostess (who turned out to be Jessica Stingo, who co-owns Flatiron with the chef, Craig Stafford) handled the situation with professionalism and aplomb, offering to buy us a round of drinks for our trouble. We humbly accepted, charmed. Stingo’s attention to 60 FOOD & DRINK CHRONOGRAM 12/08

our contentment was mirrored by her staff and set the tone for our meal.

Flatiron has been a going concern since August, and having eaten there, it’s unsurprising that the place was mobbed on a Saturday night. Flatiron bills itself a steak house in an almost hesitant way. Yes, there are five different steaks on the menu, and they do serve creamed spinach, but this is not Peter Luger’s. (Thank goodness!) Flatiron takes the basics of the steak house tradition—beef served with a variety of sides (try the pecorino-truffle fundue on top), oysters on the half shell (we had creamy, briny Beausoleils from Nova Scotia that were the best we’d tasted in years)—and then takes off in more interesting directions. Like the duck burger: ground duck with a fried egg on top, sprinkled with duck cracklins. Like the lobster bisque, which substituted truffle oil for an over-reliance on cream to a satisfying, earthy effect. Like the suckling pig special: strips of juiciness pulled from three spots on the pig, with fried skin to boot. This is a meat lover’s Mecca, and a number of the steaks are available in half portions, an ingenious innovation which allows you to explore the various sides (cheddar mashed potatoes are a winner) and appetizers (molasses braise pork belly, anyone?).

The Bistro Nick Rebraca and his wife Patricia Panarella gutted the Rhinebeck storefront that was to become Arielle—formerly a succession of pizza and fast-food joints—before opening in April. What was formerly a Formica-and-drop ceiling disaster is now a rustic bistro with rough-hewn, exposed wood beams above and long banquettes with toile upholstery and pillows. Subdued lighting in the form of low-hanging lampshades over the tables rounds out the intimate, clubby feel. The menu is pan-European bistro, combining nostalgic dishes from Rebraca’s childhood on the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia, like grilled sardines (as large as small trout!) and whole grilled branzino, as well as others reflecting Panarella’s Italian heritage, like pappardelle with braised beef, ricotta, tomato, and basil. All the pastas are made daily at Arielle. One not to pass up is the gnocchi a mourir pour—herb gnocchi that’s pan-fi nished to crisp up its exterior, and served with slices of black and white truffles in a Parmesan

ABOVE: THE INTERIOR OF THE GOMEN KUDASAI RESTAURANT. OPPOSITE: SOBA NOODLES WITH KIMCHI AT GOMEN KUDASAI.

cream sauce. Three pure flavors melded simply together, the combined effect equally more than the some of its parts.

Rebraca and Panarella, who also own Belvedere Mansion in Staatsburg, a special occasion catering destination serving classic Continental cuisine like Dover sole and Chateaubriand, wanted Arielle to have a touch of whimsy to it, which is reflected in their wine list. It’s broken into three classes: “Not So Bad” ($24), “Pretty Good” ($32), and “Very Good” ($46). A strong international selection, well chosen, there are many bargains on the list. If you’re willing to splurge, I recommend the 2005 Vincent Girardin Cuvee St. Vincent. A white Burgundy that’s dry but not austere, it has enough body to stand up to most of the food on the menu, even the pork Milanese and the duck confit, certainly the Moroccan chicken tagine and the skate Grenobloise.

The Noodle House Opened in May, Gomen Kudasai is the realization Yuoko Yamamoto’s dream to open an eatery serving the healthy, nourishing food of her native Japan. Yamamoto and her husband, Kazuma Oshita, spent four years scouring the Hudson Valley before fi nding a home for Gomen Kudasai inside the Medusa Antiques building on Main Street in New Paltz. With seating for 40, the noodle house interior’s sleek lines and wood appointments reflect Yamamoto’s former career as a graphic designer. The food impresses with its fresh, clean flavors. Don’t mistake Gomen Kudasai with a sushi bar, however—no raw fish is served here.

The menu consists mostly of hot noodle dishes, varieties of tempura, and tofu dishes, with some meat and fish as well, reflecting the varied cuisines of Japan Yamamoto encountered in her peripatetic childhood.

On a recent outing with friends, we ordered hiya-yakko—chilled, pressed tofu served with grated ginger, bonito flakes, and scallions. This dish, with its simple evocation of supple bean and the texture of a hard flan, has made me a believer in the power of bean curd. Nasoya has nothing on Yammato’s tofu.

We also got an order of potato salad. It turns out that potato salad is a Japanese staple, and they make it in a style similar to ours, except without vinegar. All local produce was used in the salad, and it carried a lively crunch and mild creaminess that featured the freshness of the vegetables. Another standout

was katsu-don—pork cutlet and egg. Served in a steaming broth made from shitake juice, sake, and mirin (a low-alcohol rice wine, like sake), the tender fried cutlet finished with a scrambled egg tastes almost healthy, invigorating, in a way not normally associated with pork. But to be clear: the noodle dishes are the reason to visit Gomen Kudasai. Yamamoto and her staff serve steaming bowls of beautiful broth with succulent soba or al dente udon noodles and crispy tempura. The hot noodle soups are especially appealing and are filled with a variety of ingredients, from kimchi to wild vegetables. Yamamoto even serves organic soy sauce made in Middletown, reflecting her commitment to health and sustainability.

ARIELLE 51 East Market Street, Rhinebeck, (845) 876-5666; www.ariellerhinebeck.com Dinner: Monday-Thursday, 5-9:30pm; Friday-Saturday, 5-11pm.

Sunday, brunch and dinner, 12-8:30pm. Closed Wednesday.

Recommended dishes: Sautéed artichokes, herb gnocchi with truffles and parmesan cream sauce, grilled sardines, whole grilled branzino Wine list: Fun, eclectic, international mix; 50 bottles in the $24-$46 range.

Price Range: Appetizers, $7-$12; entrées, $16-$32.

FLATIRON 7488 South Broadway, Red Hook, (845) 758-8260; www.flatironsteakhouse.com Dinner: Tuesday-Thursday, 5:30-9:30pm; Friday-Saturday: 5:30-10:30pm.

Sunday brunch: 12-3pm. Closed Monday.

Recommended dishes: select market oysters, Lobster bisque, smoked Cheddar mashed potatoes, flatiron steak, grilled rack of lamb.

Wine list: Many pricy, European bottles; a few bargains under $30.

Price Range: Appetizers, $6-$14; entrées, $20-$38.

GOMEN KUDASAI 215 Main Street, New Paltz, (845) 255-8811; www.gomenkudasai.com Hours: 11am-9pm. Closed Wednesday.

Recommended Dishes: Katsu-don (pork cutlet and egg), hiya-yakko (chilled tofu), potato salad, ten-zaru soba with vegetable and shrimp tempura (cold noodles with dipping broth and tempura).

Price Range: Appetizers, $3-$7; entrées, $9-$15.

(As of the end of November, Gomen Kudasai did not have a liquor license, nor did it accept credit cards.)

12/08 CHRONOGRAM FOOD & DRINK 61

/Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x160; >Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;>Â?Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x201C;iĂ&#x152;Ă&#x160;

Â&#x153;Â&#x153;Â&#x17D;iĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;-VÂ&#x2026;Â&#x153;Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x160; Â&#x2026;i>Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;VÂ&#x153;Â&#x153;Â&#x17D;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;}°Ă&#x160; /Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x17E;Ă&#x160;VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;iĂ&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x160;

Â&#x2026;iv½Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160;/Ă&#x20AC;>Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;}Ă&#x160; *Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x153;}Ă&#x20AC;>Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;ÂŤĂ&#x20AC;iÂ&#x2021; ÂŤ>Ă&#x20AC;iĂ&#x160;vÂ&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x160;V>Ă&#x20AC;iiĂ&#x20AC;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160; Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x160;LĂ&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;}iÂ&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;}Ă&#x160; >Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;>Â?Ă&#x160;vÂ&#x153;Â&#x153;`Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160; Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x17E;°

Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x160;Â&#x201C;Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;iĂ&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;>Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x201C;äĂ&#x160;Ă&#x17E;i>Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160;ÂŤiÂ&#x153;ÂŤÂ?iĂ&#x160; >Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;`Ă&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Â&#x153;Ă&#x20AC;Â?`Ă&#x160; Â&#x2026;>Ă&#x203A;iĂ&#x160;Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x2DC;i`Ă&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160; >Ă&#x152;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;>Â?Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x201C;iĂ&#x152;½Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160; >Ă&#x203A;Â&#x153;V>Ă&#x152;Â&#x2C6;Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;>Â?Ă&#x160;ÂŤĂ&#x2022;LÂ?Â&#x2C6;VĂ&#x160; VÂ?>Ă&#x192;Ă&#x192;iĂ&#x192;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?i>Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x152;Â&#x2026;iĂ&#x160;L>Ă&#x192;Â&#x2C6;VĂ&#x192;Ă&#x160;Â&#x153;v

tastings directory

BAKERIES

CATERING

The Alternative Baker

Terrapin Catering

407 Main Street, Rosendale, NY www.lemoncakes.com

Staatsburg, NY (845) 889-8831 hugh@terrapincatering.com

100% Scratch Bakery since 1996. Soups, sandwiches (our Goat Cheese House Special is a favorite!), stickybuns, scones, muffins, breads, focaccia, tartes, tortes, seasonal desserts featuring local produce; plus sugar-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, vegan, gluten-free, and organic treats!

Cakes and wedding cakes by special order.

We ship our Lemon Cakes nationwide as seen in Williams-Sonoma catalog. We are open Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Closed Tuesday. Specific hours are subject to change with the seasons. Please call to confirm! Located across from the Cinema. Weekends open later!

Escape from the ordinary to celebrate the extraordinary. Terrapin Restaurant recently expanded its operation to include a catering department in order to better serve the Hudson Valley. At our new Catering Facility in Staatsburg, we can host seated dinners for up to 150 guests, and cocktail parties for as many as 250 guests; and, we can provide off-site catered events up to your imagination. We are here to help you celebrate any occasion: anniversaries, showers, holiday parties, corporate events.

Want to hold your wedding at a breathtaking mansion? Or host a small rehearsal dinner?

What about an engagement party at your home? Or a bridal shower? Terrapin can cater anything from a casual get-together to a formal gala. Terrapin Catering, catering to your imagination.

CAFĂ&#x2030;S

DELIS

Bistro-to-Go

Rossiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Deli

948 Route 28, Kingston, NY

45 South Clover Street, Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 471-0654 www.rossideli.com

(845) 658-3355 or 1 (800) 399-3589

tastings directory

7ITH THE GROWING AWARENESS OF THE EFFECT THAT FOOD HAS ON HEALTH AND WELL BEING

THERE IS A GREAT DEMAND FOR CULINARY PROFESSIONALS WHO CAN PREPARE FOOD THAT IS NOT ONLY BEAUTIFUL AND DELICIOUS BUT HEALTH SUPPORTIVE AS WELL /UR COMPREHENSIVE #HEF S 4RAINING 0ROGRAM THE ONLY ONE OF ITS KIND IN THE WORLD OFFERS PREPARATION FOR CAREERS IN HEALTH SPAS AND RESTAURANTS BAKERIES PRIVATE COOKING CATERING

TEACHING CONSULTING FOOD WRITING AND A VARIETY OF ENTREPRENEURIAL PURSUITS 0LEASE BROWSE OUR WEBSITE TO SEE HOW MUCH WE CAN OFFER YOU

777° /1, "1, /- "" ° " / * " \Ă&#x160; Ă&#x201C;ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Â&#x2021;Ă&#x2C6;{xÂ&#x2021;xÂŁĂ&#x2021;äĂ&#x160; 8\Ă&#x160; Ă&#x201C;ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Â&#x2021;Â&#x2122;nÂ&#x2122;Â&#x2021;ÂŁ{Â&#x2122;Ă&#x17D; {nĂ&#x160; 7 -/Ă&#x160; Ă&#x201C;ÂŁ-/Ă&#x160; -/, /]Ă&#x160; 7Ă&#x160; 9", ]Ă&#x160; 9Ă&#x160; £ää£ä \ "J /1, "1, /- "" ° "

(845) 340-9800 www.bluemountainbistro.com

* - Ă&#x160;, -/ 1, / "* Ă&#x160;Ă&#x2021;Ă&#x160; 9-Ă&#x160; Ă&#x160;7

xÂŁn°nĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x201C;°£nnnĂ&#x160;Ă&#x160;näĂ&#x2021;Ă&#x160;7 ,, Ă&#x160;-/°Ă&#x160; 1 -" ]Ă&#x160; 9Ă&#x160;ÂŁĂ&#x201C;xĂ&#x17D;{Ă&#x160;Ă&#x160; xÂŁn°nĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x201C;°££Ă&#x201C;n

1 Ă&#x160;Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;Â&#x2021;Ă&#x160;->Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;ÂŁÂŁ\Ă&#x17D;äĂ&#x160;Â&#x2021;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;\Ă&#x17D;äĂ&#x160; ,Ă&#x160;Ă&#x160; Â&#x153;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;Â&#x2021;Ă&#x160;/Â&#x2026;Ă&#x2022;Ă&#x20AC;Ă&#x192;Ă&#x160;{\Ă&#x17D;äÂ&#x2021;Â&#x2122;\Ă&#x17D;äĂ&#x160;Ă&#x160; Ă&#x20AC;Â&#x2C6;Ă&#x160;EĂ&#x160;->Ă&#x152;Ă&#x160;{\Ă&#x17D;äÂ&#x2021;£ä\Ă&#x17D;äĂ&#x160;Ă&#x160;-Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;Ă&#x160;Ă&#x17D;\ääÂ&#x2021;Â&#x2122;\Ă&#x17D;ä

Gourmet take-out store serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week.

Featuring local and imported organic foods, delicious homemade desserts, sophisticated four star food by Chefs Richard Erickson and Jonathan Sheridan.

Off-premise full-service catering and event planning for parties of all sizes.

Bread Alone CafĂŠ

Sprout Creek Farm

(845) 876-3108

34 Lauer Road, Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 485-9885 www.sproutcreekfarm.org cheese@sproutcreekfarm.org

Casablanca Coffee Co. 11 Marist Drive, Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 454-4440 www.casablancacoffeehouse.com

GIFT CERTIFICATES

10% Early Bird & Student Discounts ZAGAT RATED

www.suruchiindian.com | 5 Church St., New Paltz NY | 845.255.2772 Hours: Wed/Th 5-9, Fri 5-10, Sat 3-10, Sun 4-9

62

TASTINGS DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

FARMERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; MARKETS

East Market Street, Rhinebeck, NY Bread Alone CafĂŠ offers fresh breads, pastries, soups, and sandwiches at three mid-Hudson locations. Also located in Route 28, Boiceville, NY, (845) 657-3328 (headquarters) and Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY, (845) 679-2108.

Veg/Vegan Free-Range Organics Gluten-Free

Fine Italian Deli. Combining traditional Italian staples with constant experimentation, this bustling family deli has been wowing customers for 30 years. An ever-evolving daily menuâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;with imported meats and cheeses and freshly baked breads and desertsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;helps keep this place packed.

The finest coffeehouse beverages and cuisine served in our Moroccan inspired eco-friendly cafĂŠ. Specialty coffee and espresso drinks, fruit smoothies, fresh baked pastries, breakfast, and lunch, including wrap and panini sandwiches.

Vegetarian, soy, and gluten free options always available. Catering, take-out, and free Wi-Fi.

Come to Sprout Creek farm market! Grassfed cheese from our own Guernsey and Jersey Cows. Free from artificial antibiotics and hormones. While youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re here you can also pick up Grass Fed Pork, Veal, and Beef as well as Remsberger Farms Honey and Maple Syrup. Come meet all of our cows, sheep, goats, and ducks!

HOME COOKED MEALS Lagustaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Luscious (845) 255-8VEG www.lagustasluscious.com Lagustaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Luscious brings heartbreakingly delicious, sophisticated weekly meal deliveries of handmade vegetarian food that

meat-and-potatoes people love too to the Hudson Valley and NYC. We are passionate about creating political food—locally grown organic produce, fair wages, environmentally sustainable business practices—that tastes just as good as that served at the finest restaurants. Let us end weeknight meal boredom forever.

PASTA La Bella Pasta (845) 331-9130 www.labellapasta.com Fresh pasta made locally. Large variety of ravioli, tortellini, pastas, and sauces at the factory outlet. We manufacture and deliver our excellent selection of pastas to fine restaurants, gourmet shops, and caterers throughout the Hudson Valley. Call for our full product list and samples. Located on Route 28W between Kingston and Woodstock.

RESTAURANTS Aroi Thai Restaurant 55 East Market Street, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-1114 www.aroirestaurant.com

Barnaby’s Route 32 North Chestnut and Academy Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-2433

Bear Creek Restaurant and Recreational Park Corner of Route 23 A and Route 214, Hunter, NY (518) 263-3839 www.bearcreekrestaurant.com Bear Creek’s menu ranges from various smoked BBQ delights to entrees like Pan Seared Ahi Tuna and Cedar Planked Salmon. Whether it’s a great burger, steak, or maybe a novel goat cheese, pear, and apple salad, Bear Creek offers an action filled venue along with fine cuisine at family prices.

Bistro Brie & Bordeaux—A French Country Restaurant in the Heart of the Catskills

(p.m.) wine bar Wine Flights $20.00 buys you samples of three wines and a complimentary cheese.

A great way to find the new wines you’ll love.

Charlotte’s Route 44, Millbrook, NY (845) 677-5888 www.charlottesny.com This is just a few of our reviews: “Cozy in winter, glorious garden dining in summer... wonderful food, delightful ambiance...a treasure!” “You’ll really get away from it all while feeling right at home at Charlotte’s...

Get toasty by the fire with some homemade mashed potatoes, or a hot toddy in the charming bar. You’ll love the hint of deep country wafting up from their truffle Ajax fries!” “Cozy, fire-placed restaurant with tremendous food from a varied and original menu that ranges from devilish to devine.

Charming owners, Alicia in front and Mikael in the kitchen, provide great warmth and make the place particularly comfortable.”

Reservations recommended.

Egg’s Nest (845) 687-7255 www.theeggsnest.com Where good friends meet. Located on Route 213 in the center of High Falls, NY, The Egg’s Nest is noted for its eclectic décor, unusual menu, and friendly, casual atmosphere. The Egg’s Nest offers creative cuisine with a southwestern flair, unique overstuffed sandwiches, vegetarian dishes, burgers, homemade desserts, and “Nest” Breads. Dinner specials start every night at 5pm and a cocktail lounge is also offered.

The Egg’s Nest is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner, 11:30am-11pm SundayThursday and 11:30am to midnight on Friday and Saturday. We accept cash and personal checks, with an ATM on premises.

“Tickle the Ivories” 119 Warren St.

119 Warren St. Hudson, NY www.pmwinebar.com (518) 828-2833 Monday thru Thursday 5 to 10 Friday and Saturday 5 to midnight Closed Sundays

Come and play our new Piano or sing along with friends.

Watch the Big Events, with friends and neighbors on our huge flatscreen television.

We are currently booking Holiday Parties, so let us help make your party memorable at (p.m.)

Something Sweet

tastings directory

Aroi means ‘delicious’ in Thai, and delicious it is. David Thompson writes in ‘Thai Food,’ “Thai food creates a locus of flavor within each dish through its components, producing a complexity that can be dazzling.” And Aroi illustrates his description faithfully. The wine list is spare and perfectly paired to the flavors of Thai cuisine. Some selections are familiar and some are off the beaten track; all compliment the food. Enter a little clapboard house with a treed, outdoor patio, and be in an oasis of muted green walls, fabric lamps, birch chairs, and coral table runners; a perfect backdrop to the colors of the food. Thai artifacts and fabrics hang as the works of art they are. Each room is flooded with light and, for chilly evenings, has a working fireplace. Aroi is open seven days a week for dinner from 5pm-9pm; and Thursday through Monday for lunch from 11:30am-3pm.

Zagat Rated. Come and enjoy a delicious meal prepared by award-winning French Chef/Owner Stephane Desgaches. Casual European-styled bistro, full bar, extensive wine list. Beautiful views of Windham Mountain, just 1/4 mile away! Open Wednesday-Sunday for dinner. Sunday Champagne Brunch offered July-October.

“Le Tour de France” $14.95, three-course meal offered Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings 5PM-9PM (excluding holidays and holiday weeks).

Emerson Organic Spa Café (845) 688-2828 Refreshing, organic, veggie and fruit drinks.

Made-to-order salads and wraps. Daily soup specials. Everything available to-go or for enjoying in the Asian-inspired design of the Café. Servers will bring your selections to you on the wrap-around sundeck with views of Mt. Tremper and the Esopus Creek. Open for lunch every day, 11am to 4pm. Located at the Emerson Resort & Spa in Mount Tremper, just 10 minutes from Woodstock.

Gilded Otter 3 Main Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 256-1700 A warm and inviting dining room and pub overlooking beautiful sunsets over the Wallkill River and Shawangunk Cliffs.

Mouthwatering dinners prepared by Executive Chef Larry Chu, and handcrafted beers brewed by GABF Gold Medal Winning Brewmaster Darren Currier. Chef driven and brewed locally!

Karma Road Vegetarian Café

5386 Main Street, Windham, NY (518) 734-4911 www.bistrobb.com

11 Main Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-1099 www.karmaroad.net

Voted “Best Restaurant in Greene County”

by Hudson Valley Magazine, 2007 and 2008.

Quaint, compassionate, and bustling Organic café-deli with vegetarian/vegan

12/08 CHRONOGRAM TASTINGS DIRECTORY

63

fare for everyone! Open 7 days, 8am-8pm.

Best SMOOTHIE in the Hudson Valley in 2007. Stews, curries, wraps, sandwiches, soups, juice bar, wheat free, and gluten free desserts. Service with a smile and love in every dish.

Kindred Spirits Steakhouse & Pub at Catskill Mountain Lodge 334 Route 32A, Palenville, NY (518) 678-3101 www.caskillmtlodge.com Kindred Spirits Steakhouse & Pub offers fine food and drink at reasonable prices.

Open 7 days for breakfast and lunch and on weekends for dinner. The fireplace pub boasts13 taps and a great wine list. Visit www.catskillmtlodge.com to see our menus and call (518) 678-3101 for reservations.

Main Course 232 Main Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-2600 www.maincourserestaurant.com Four-star, award-winning, contemporary American cuisine serving organic, natural, and free-range Hudson Valley products.

Wednesday and Thursday nights, food and wine pairing menu available. Voted Best Caterer in the Hudson Valley.

Neko Sushi & Restaurant 49 Main Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-0162

tastings directory

Voted Best Sushi Restaurant by Chronogram readers and rated four stars

by Poughkeepsie Journal. Serving lunch and dinner daily. Eat in or take out. We offer many selections of Sushi and Sashimi, an extensive variety of special rolls, and kitchen dishes. Live Lobster prepared daily.

Parking in rear available. Major credit cards accepted.

Osaka Restaurant 18 Garden Street, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-7338 or (845) 876-7278

★★★★ Poughkeepsie Journal Zagat Rated For 3 years - Best Sushi in The Hudson Valley - Hudson Valley Magazine

Sushi & Hibachi

1817 SOUTH ROAD, RTE. 9 (ACROSS FROM KOHLʼS) WAPPINGERS FALLS, NY (845) 298-9869 • 298-9872

Sushi & Restaurant 49 MAIN STREET NEW PALTZ, NY (845) 255-0162

www.thenekosushi.com

Want to taste the best Sushi in the Hudson Valley? Osaka Restaurant is the place.

Vegetarian dishes available. Given four stars by the Daily Freeman. Visit our second location at 74 Broadway, Tivoli, NY, (845) 757-5055.

(p.m.) wine bar 119 Warren Street, Hudson, NY (518) 828-2833 www.pmwinebar.com contact@pmwinebar.com Ernest Hemingway once said, “Wine is the most civilized thing in the world.” (p.m.) thinks Ernest was right and wants to share a wonderful selection of wines with you.

Focusing on Spanish wines and the food that compliments them, this wine bar breaks the mold of the “pour and snore.”

Starr Place

Wonderful Holiday Gift Baskets!

64

TASTINGS DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

6417 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-2924 www.starrplace.com Delightful American Bistro featuring Chef Roberto Mosconi, star of the Hudson Valley culinary scene. We strive to assure our guests fresh seasonal ingredients expertly prepared and graciously served. We offer a large one-price wine by the glass selection in addition to a well-chosen reserve list. On weekends our Starr Lounge offers the same menu but with live music. In season we have our Star Alley for that alfresco experience.

Sukhothai 516-518 Main Street, Beacon, NY (845) 790-5375 Sukhothai Restaurant, located in Beacon, NY, offers a delicious menu full of authentic Thai cuisine. From traditional dishes, such as Pad Thai and Som Tam, to custom dishes created exclusively by our master chef, our menu is sure to please any palate. Takeout is also available.

Suruchi—A Fine Taste of India 5 Church Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-2772 www.suruchiindian.com Suruchi offers a large selection of delectable Indian food in a beautiful, calm atmosphere.

All dishes are made from scratch from fresh ingredients including free-range chicken, wild shrimp, and homemade cheese and yogurt. Many vegetarian/vegan choices.

Menu is 95% gluten free. Enjoy your dining experience with soothing music in your choice of regular seating or Indian style cushioned platform booths. Wednesday through Sunday dinner.

Terrapin Red Bistro 6426 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-3330 www.terrapinrestaurant.com As a fine dining chef, Josh Kroner had the desire to serve great hamburgers.

It’s something that he loves to eat, so he thought it would be great to make a really Great Hamburger using all natural organic beef and other great ingredients. Terrapin Red Bistro serves all sorts of comfort foods like macaroni and cheese, quesadillas, nachos, fish ‘n’ chips and hamburgers.

Patrons can enjoy the build your own sandwich menu, or find some favorites from the restaurant as well in a hip, relaxed, casual bistro style atmosphere.

Terrapin Restaurant 6426 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-3330 www.terrapinrestaurant.com From far-flung origins, the world’s most diverse flavors meet and mingle here, in this room, at your table. From elements both historic and eclectic comes something surprising, fresh and dynamic: dishes to delight both body and soul. Serving lunch and dinner seven days a week.

The Prospect Restaurant at Scribner Hollow Lodge Route 23A, Hunter, NY (518) 263-4211; 1-800-395-4683 The award-winning Prospect Restaurant offers the classic apres ski ambiance of a mountain lodge, breathtaking mountain views, and exquisite gourmet cuisine. Menus offer a fusion of American regional and New York State dishes beautifully presented.

Featuring live jazz in the fireplace lounge on weekends. The Prospect is an 8-time winner of the Wine Spectator Magazine’s “Award of Excellence,” as well as “Restaurant of the Year” from NY Wine and Grape Foundation.

Woody’s All Natural 30 Quaker Avenue, Cornwall, NY (845) 534-1111 www.woodysallnatural.com Eat seasonal. Eat local. Burgers and Fries locally grown, fresh ingredients.

Deck the Halls with Fruit!

Berry Tree Boquet with Dipped Star s, RUSS plush bear and 18â&#x20AC;? Mylar baloon ÂŽ

ÂŽ

ÂŽ

Featuring Local, Organic & Gourmet Foods for your Holidays Gifts & Gatherings

Order Your Organic Turkey & Holiday Pies Today!

Order early for the holidays!

KINGSTON

POUGHKEEPSIE

900 Ulster Avenue

10 IBM Road, Suite B

Copyright Š 2008 Edible Arrangements, LLC

Franchises Available. Call 1-888-727-4258

7KH %HVW &RIIHH LQ WKH +XGVRQ 9DOOH\ 1RZ &RPHV +RPH

The Eggâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nest

tastings directory

845-339-3200 845-463-3900 EdibleArrangements.com

HawthorneValleyFarm.org 327 Route 21C in Harlemville, NY (Just 1.5 miles off Taconic State Parkway - Harlemville exit) Monday to Saturday 7:30am â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 7pm, Sunday 9am-5pm (518) 672-7500 ext. 1

where good friends meet

.HXULJÂ&#x160; %UHZHUV DQG . &XSV )RU <RXU +RPH

good

good

food

value

good

good

art

cheer

IURP &RIIHH 6\VWHP RI WKH +XGVRQ 9DOOH\

RUGHU WRGD\ DW

ZZZ KRPHFRIIHHV\VWHP FRP *UHDW VHOHFWLRQ RI )DLU 7UDGH 2UJDQLF &RIIHHV

Rte 213 | Village of High Falls | 845.687.7255 Open 7 days...11:30 to 10:00 12/08 CHRONOGRAM TASTINGS DIRECTORY

65

GIVE THEM THE BEST!

la puerta azul LUNCH, DINNER OR SUNDAY BRUNCH; IT’S THE BEST! BEST MARGARITA 2008 • BEST MEXICAN / LATINO CUISINE 2008 • BEST RESTAURANT INTERIOR 2007 __ Hudson Valley Magazine

the finest in Mexican food and drink

tastings directory

´´´´´ Chronogram

OUR EXCLUSIVE SITES Alumnae House Buttermilk Falls Inn & Spa alumnaehouse.vassar.edu

buttermilkfallsinn.com

GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE ´´´´ Poughkeepsie Journal & SATURDAY NIGHTS

LIVE MUSIC FRIDAY

44 (EAST OF THE MILLBROOK TACONIC EXIT) SALT POINT (845) 677-AZUL (2985) www.lapuertaazul.com ANNOUNCING DAILY FEAST OUR NEW COOKBOOK!

ROUTE

$IBSMPUUF Tµ restaurant & catering

Relax by the fire enjoy the Relax by the Fire andand Enjoy the Magic Gift Cards from Charlotte’s Magic.

Perfect for a Romantic with anCatered Award Winning Wine Cellar and and Parties make dinner, Friendly Family lunch Menu to Please.

Perfect for a Romantic Holiday Cheer. ororSpecial Dinner Friendly Event.

Family Lunch.

y

y

y

Wed. & Thurs. 5-9:30 • Friday 11:30-10:30 • Saturday 11:30-10:30 • Sunday 11:30-9:30

845845 677-5888 NewYork York12545 12545! !charlottesny.com charlottesny.com 677-5888! !4258 4258Route Route44 44 ! ! Millbrook, Millbrook, New

66

TASTINGS DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Masterpieces in the oven, stove-top and on your kitchen table.

Cookware that has been the mainstay of French chefs since 1925. In Enameled Cast Iron, Enamel on Steel, Tri-Ply Stainless, Forged Hard-Anodized, and Stoneware.

Cookware that distributes heat, browns, or caramelizes food to perfection. Bake, broil, braise, sautĂŠ, marinate, refrigerate and freeze in your Le Creuset.

Le Creuset. Functional and beautiful.

BURGERS & FRIES

LOCALLY GROWN, FRESH INGREDIENTS Some of the new products and colors that are perfect for the holiday season. See the entire Le Creuset line now in stock.

Warren Kitchen & Cutlery, for the Hudson Valleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best selection of ďŹ ne cutlery, professional cookware, appliances, serving pieces and kitchen tools. t 6OJRVF BOE SBSF LOJWFT GSPN BSPVOE UIF XPSME t &YQFSU TIBSQFOJOH PO QSFNJTFT t 'JOF UFBT DPGGFFT TQJDFT DIPDPMBUFT BOE SFMBUFE BDDPVUSFNFOUT t (JGU XSBQQJOH BWBJMBCMF

BRING THE KIDS

KNOW WHAT YOU EAT

The Edge...

tastings directory

6934 Route 9 Rhinebeck, NY 12572 Just north of the 9G intersection 845-876-6208 Monâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;Sat 9:30â&#x20AC;&#x201C;5:30, Sun 11â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4:30 Visit us on the web, or order on-line, at www.warrenkitchentools.com

30 QUAKER AVENUE CORNWALL, NY (845) 534-1111

An American Bistro â&#x20AC;&#x153;...the place to be in Rhinebeck.â&#x20AC;?

- The Poughkeepsie Journal

Happy Holidays!

Live Music Fri & Sat @ 9:00pm Sun brunch @ 10:00am Catering too!

6417 Montgomery St 845 | 876 | 2924 www.starrplace.com 12/08 CHRONOGRAM TASTINGS DIRECTORY

67

ENROLL TODAY Holiday Gift CertiямБcates now available.

525 WARREN STREET | HUDSON | 518.828.2690 | WWW.CUHUDSON.COM

Classes begin Monday, January 26th 85 SOUTH STREET, HIGHLAND

845.691.2547

BODY/BATH CUT/COLOR

www.HVSMassageTherapy.com 68 GREENE COUNTY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

GIFTS

FRAGRANCES

HIGHLIGHTS

WAXING

PAPERIE MANI/PEDI

CHRONOGRAM 2008

GREENE COUNTY

A VIEW OF THE SLOPES ON HUNTER MOUNTAIN

IMAGE COURTESY OF HUNTER MOUNTAIN

12/08 CHRONOGRAM GREENE COUNTY 69

IMAGES COURTESY OF HUNTER MOUNTAIN

IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE SKIING GREENE COUNTY

By Gabrielle Compolongo

D

ecember: the time of year when the quiet white mist takes over the mountains, and the winter ready cars head up winding roads to the Greene County ski resorts. Hunter Mountain and Windham Mountain are two of the highest mountains in New York, and both bring something new and fresh to the scene. Both mountains contain exciting new events throughout the winter season, and extensive and upgraded trails and pipes have been cut and carved for this year. Hunter Mountain will never be lacking in the snow department, thanks to their first-in-the-world 100 percent snowmaking coverage. Windham Mountain boasts the highest vertical drop in the Catskills at 1,600 feet. These two mountains make it possible to have a world-class vacation, or at least an exciting day on the slopes.

Daniela Marino, director of marketing at Greene County Tourism, emphasizes the mountaintops’ proximity to major cities. “With one tank of gas, you can get a whole vacation coming from the metro areas. While [the loss of] disposable income will not make it a record season, if nature smiles and snows upon us, we will have a very satisfying season,” states Marino. What really makes the ski trips worthwhile is the number of elegant and unique accommodations in Greene County.

Hunter Mountain, at 4,040 feet, is the highest mountain in Greene County– –and with 240 skiable acres, including 54 trails and 11 lifts, Hunter Mountain has even been dubbed “the snowmaking capital of the world.” Hunter Mountain was the first in the state to install snowmaking and first in the world with top-to-bottom snowmaking. According to Jessica Pezak, marketing director of Hunter Mountain, a gladed section was added on the east side of the mountain last year, where the trees have been thinned out so that intermediate skiers may experience more thrilling ski conditions. Forty-five new snow guns have been installed, along with a new compressor, which allows for even faster recovery times. Twenty one of the new snow guns were installed in Hunter’s second terrain park, Park Avenue, which is specifically for skiers and snowboarders who want to experiment and perform tricks. With the encouragement of the weather forecasts, Pezak expects a great season and has great faith in Hunter’s snowmakers.The Hunter Mountain Expedition and Sports Center features ap70 GREENE COUNTY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

parel, equipment, and gear. The Board Room snowboard shop is the stop to make for last-minute purchases. The Board Room features brands from Gyro and k2 to Skullcandy and Spacecraft. The Tuning and Repair Shop is a must-see at the mountain, whether you want to view the carving of a new board, or get a board shaped.

Hunter Mountain is also home to many events and festivals. On December 20, the mountain will host the Mountain Dew Vertical Challenge, a casual competition for skiers and snowboarders of all ages. New Year’s Eve festivities include a torchlight parade followed by a fireworks display.

There are numerous accommodations at and around Hunter Mountain; but the most luxurious is Scribner Hollow Lodge, which recently completed a $500,000 renovation of its banquet and catering facilities. Just a thousand yards from the mountain, Scribner Hollow is the Catskills’ only deluxe hotel, featuring in-room fireplaces and hot tubs. Many rooms also have balconies with stunning views of the slopes at Hunter. Accommodations include a variety of custom-decorated suites in such styles as Southwest adobe, cozy hunting lodge, classic ski country duplex, or opulent penthouse. The Lodge also boasts an underground cave-like indoor pool with waterfalls, a Jacuzzi/Roman spa, and sauna. To satisfy your hunger, the Lodge also houses The Prospect, an award-winning restaurant featuring local specialties like smoked trout, venison, and pheasant, as well as inventive American regional dishes. The Prospect has pioneered Catskill cuisine, as well as the service of New York State wine in a fine dining context. The Prospect serves the largest selection of New York State wines of any restaurant in the state, including many bottles from the spectacular 2001 vintage.

The Hotel Mountain Brook, in nearby Tannersville, is an Adirondack-style lodge built in the 1940s that was recently renovated. This is a pet-friendly place, asking only of your notice so that they may properly prepare for your family friend. Choices include suites in the lodge, cabins, and cottages.

Windham Mountain has an elevation of 3,100 feet, with 46 trails, 265 skiable acres, and 11 lifts. A new high-speed quad lift, which holds four people and can transport up to 2,600 people per hour, was added to replace the an

ABOVE: CONSUMER DEMO DAY AT HUNTER MOUNTAIN; DEMO DAYS TAKE PLACE THIS YEAR ON DECEMBER 13 & 14.

OPPOSITE: HUNTER MOUNTAIN’S LEARNING CENTER TEACHES HOUSANDS OF ADULTS AND CHILDREN HOW TO SKI AND RIDE EACH YEAR.

East Peak lift, and it is currently the fastest lift on the mountain, moving at 1,000 feet per minute. According to Joan Oldknow, director of marketing, Windham has recently undergone $5 million worth of upgrades, including several thousand new pipes and snowmaking equipment, and 45 new snow guns. So far, ticket sales are great and show a bright future for the 2008-2009 season. The Club at Windham Mountain was recently added, offering a private dining room, spa treatments, and banquet facility to members, with panoramic views of the mountain.

Windham also features a Mountain Top Adventure Park for snow tubers, featuring 15 lanes and three tows. Windham opened their trails on November 26, and you can expect an exciting event every weekend. Windham begins their night skiing and riding on December 12. On December 14, Windham hosts the Lighting of the Tree Celebration, where you can grab some hot chocolate and enjoy holiday music while counting down to the lighting of the big tree. On December 26 and 27, the Big Air Bag Bash is held for the first time in the USA. Designed as a training tool for skiers and riders, a huge air-filled pad cushions the landing for aerial maneuvers. The inflatable compression bag is 56 feet long by 33 feet wide, and will be placed near a half-pipe. Skiers and snowboarders go off a kicker jump, and plop safely on the Big Air Bag. On December 31, look up at the sky for New Year’s Eve at Windham Mountain as Firework Bobs sets off a display.

Hotel Vienna is a two-story hotel in Windham, located in the northern Catskill Mountain State Park, renowned for its indoor pool with glassed-in views of the surrounding snowy hillsides. Vienna has 29 newly renovated rooms and offers discount ski-and-stay packages. Also, every reservation at the Hotel Vienna includes a complementary wine tasting at the Windham Winery and Vineyard.

When your day is over and you’ve hung up the skis and snowboards, you may consider an interesting stop before you hit your cottage bed. Right in Tannersville is a watering hole known as the Boarding House, which claims to be the only bar in America with a backyard snowboard park. The crowd is of

course, 21 and over, and the Boarding House plays hosts to daredevil events on a regular basis. The first “Rail Jam”—a terrain park competition that featured Jesus on a snowboard—took place on Halloween, and was sanctioned by the United States of America Snowboard Association/Catskill Mountain Division.

The second USASA sanctioned snowboard “Rail Jam” took place on Nov 26, Thanksgiving Eve, with music provided by Chronogram’s own DJ Wavy Davy.

On December 16, the Boarding House welcomes the I Love Ride Snowboard’s fifth annual Tattoo Party and Demo. The Boarding House kitchen is now open, serving pub food and pizza.

Ski and snowboard season is the highlight of the year at the mountaintop, and it’s a great way to get a fulfilling vacation without going bankrupt. Both Hunter Mountain and Windham Mountain have extraordinary experiences to offer. So pack your bags and grab your kids. We’ll see you on the slopes!

HUNTER MOUNTAIN Rt. 23A Palenville (800) HUNTERMTN www.huntermtn.com

HOTEL MOUNTAIN BROOK 57 Hill Street Tannersville (518) 589-6740 www.hotelmountainbrook.com

WINDHAM MOUNTAIN Rt. 23 Windham (800) 754-9463 www.windhammountain.com

HOTEL VIENNA 107 Route 296 Windham (518) 734-5300 www.thehotelvienna.com

SCRIBNER HOLLOW LODGE Route 23A, Hunter (518) 263-4211 www.scribnerhollow.com

THE BOARDING HOUSE 5975 Main Street Tannersville www.theboardinghousebar.com

12/08 CHRONOGRAM GREENE COUNTY 71

Scribner Hollow

is the perfect spot for a “Mountainside Marvel” destination wedding!

We can accommodate 25-225 guests in our newly remodeled, Richly re-imagined Banquet area

magical panoramic views

spectacular service

The Prospect Restaurant for an exceptional gourmet dining experience

Prime June and September 2009 dates are available.

Call us at 1.800.395.4683 and ask us about exclusive use of the property for your event!

Share the Magic of the Holidays at Scribner Hollow Lodge

This magnificent Mountain getaway is the finest food and wine destination in the Catskills.

Scribner Hollow has just finished a 12 month, $500,000 renovation project. Join us for the holidays and enjoy the warmth of our hospitality this season.

The Prospect Restaurant has seasonal menus planned for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and of course, our traditional New Year’s Eve Gala - the finest evening of music and dancing on the Mountaintop. Ý Just across from winter sports excitement at Hunter Mountain and just minutes from Windham Mountain. Close to historic Saugerties, antiquing in Hudson, and the shops and cafés of charming Woodstock. Ý Custom decorated suites, some with balconies, jacuzzis and in-room fireplaces Ý The Grotto—a warm, underground cavelike spa with indoor pool, waterfalls, jacuzzi/Roman spa Ý The Prospect Restaurant - 8 time winner of the Wine Spectator Magazine’s “Award of Excellence;” “Best Restaurant 2003 and 2005” Hudson Valley Magazine

Fireplace Suites • Balconies • Outdoor Pool • Tennis • Indoor Pool & spa

Route 23A, Hunter, NY 12442 www.scribnerhollow.com 518/263-4211 • 1-800-395-4683

72 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 12/08

CHRONOGRAM 2008

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

HILLARY HARVEY THE SELECTION OF TIN AND COPPER COOKIE CUTTERS AT WARREN KITCHEN & CUTLERY

12/08 CHRONOGRAM HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 73

RICHARD SERRA, TORQUED ELLIPSE II, 1996; DOUBLE TORQUED ELLIPSE, 1997. DIA ART FOUNDATION; GIFT OF LOUISE AND LEONARD RIGGIO. 2000. DIA ART FOUNDATION.

PRESENTS WITH PRESENCE Text and Photos by Hillary Harvey

When did the holidays become a mad dash to the deadline? A consumptive spree through the mall? When did bringing joy to others start standing at odds with convenience? Sustainability is more than an environmental concern: It’s also about sustaining community, supporting ideas, and feeding a flowing economy. Perhaps the holidays can be an opportunity for exploration and creative expression. This holiday season, give a gift to yourself too: Make time to reflect on the individuals in your life, and consider how to reflect them in your gifts. Here, a few ideas to get you going.

Started six years ago in New Paltz with Waldorf-inspired playthings, Enchanted Toys continues to offer Sarah’s Silks ($10-40) and mostly wooden items. But owner David Tate has branched out from the less-affordable organic toys. You’ll find Haba wooden baby toys ($13), Papo historical figures ($6), plus an amazing selection of Plan Toys ($18-$100), including the popular Ryan’s Room. Made in Thailand from replenishable rubberwood trees, Plan Toys enhance children’s hand-eye coordination and their inner muse. Focusing on old-time toys with durability,Tate doesn’t worry about current trends.Visit him and his mixed-breed dog, Tommy, seven days a week.

SUSTAINABLE STAPLES

Poporopo Toy Store 35 Broadway, Kingston, (845) 331-3005 Enchanted Toys 15 North Front Street, New Paltz, (845) 255-1429

Imagination

Poporopo is a toy store named for the Spanish word describing the sound of popping corn––“A word that makes you laugh, even if you can’t help it, just like a toy store is meant to,” says Zeno Vanfretti, the owner. And with an emphasis on stroller-accessibility and open space, Poporopo delivers just that.This holiday season, instead of buying toys that entertain themselves, consider getting toys that spur the imagination. Rody’s Italian rubber riding animals ($52) and Roy Toy’s building logs (tubes are $19.95, classic boxes $25.50, and bags $45.95) implore you to just add kids. Don’t miss the collection of tin toys ($2.75-$35) with Pot Pot Boats that are powered by a candle.

74 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Presentation

The sense of place is immediate when you walk into White Rice in Hudson. With furniture, home décor, and artwork (fairly traded from indigenous business partners in Bali and Java) greeting you at the door, you feel the Asian Island vibe right away. Antiques made from milled and handhewn wood, furniture reimagined from reclaimed teak, vintageinspired jewelry from New York State artisans and clothing for all ages (including those made from White Rice’s signature batiks), everything emits style, rich color and a sense of history. Check out the children’s area for Peruvian Trade’s snake, fish, and funny-face hats

(about $25). Or take a look at Dream Sack’s ridiculously soft baby onesies, made of bamboo fabric (about $20), soon to arrive in nightware for men and women. On every rack there are Tano’s luscious Italian leather bags and wallets ($100-250) and White Rice’s hip Ikats, handloomed in Java and made into table runners, linens ($30+), coats ($90+), and children’s clothes ($20+).

Keep your eyes peeled for their new knitware line, coming soon.

In Woodstock, go to Sorella on the village green for midpriced designer clothing that has a cool, ageless style. With the chic ambiance of an LA boutique, and the attention and warmth that only a trio of sisters bred in West Shokan could extend, most of Sorella’s clothing is made in the USA, often from upand-coming local designers, that has been chosen for its uniqueness and quality. Look for Lisa B’s overthe-knee socks ($25+), Christie’s of London’s men’s fedoras (also hip for women)($35-$50), and Luxury Apparel’s comfy cashmere thermals ($154-$189). Or Solar Recovery’s all-natural beauty supplies ($12-$20) and Pacifica’s vegan soy scented candles ($14) and old-fashioned solid perfumes ($9)––great for stocking stuffers. You’ll also hit matchless finds like Demitasse’s Fairy Absinthe miniature spoon necklace (a nod to Toulouse-Lautrec) and Alpha Industries’ peacoat, the original style worn by Marilyn Monroe ($150). Don’t miss the sale rack!

of pesticides. At $400-700 for a full share, $200 to 400 for a partial share, it breaks down to about $10-$35 a week (based on a 20-week season). So let a gift of farm-fresh veggies be the gift your family gives itself, or give a share to your friends. They’ll thank you every week for a year! If you already have a farm share, think about purchasing a fruit share ($150), or the specialty items your farm provides (pick-your-own flowers, herb blends, homemade pies, and honey). As Fruitful Harvest’s Dee Paschall says, “Don’t shop. Give local food, carefully grown.”

Warren Kitchen & Cutlery 6934 Route 9, Rhinebeck, (845) 876-6208, www.warrenkitchentools.com Riverkeeper www.riverkeeper.org CSA Directory www.chronogram.com/directories/CSA-Farms

Catskill Carry-ons

No matter what the clouds look like, you can always find a silver lining in an AmeriBag. Pockets, dividers, hooks, and waterfall-shaped zipper pockets help you organize your things while the reflective lining makes everything that much easier to find. To the designers at AmeriBag, an ergonomic bag is as easy on your body as it is on your eyes. All of the bags in the Catskill Collection are named after local towns: The Esopus ($20) is a compact but roomy tote with lots of pockets and a double-zip entry to keep your belongings secure; the Zena ($50) is a large wear-and-tear-resistant bag with builtin space for books, folders, and magazines; the Walden ($56) is a midsize handbag, complete with a padded compartment for a laptop and large pockets for other everyday essentials. The look (which comes in black, taupe, or dark chocolate) is sophisticated, urban, yet down-to-earth. Each bag in the Catskill Collection features sleek, velvety microfiber (bonded to a nylon knit backing for added durability) and brushed silver hardware. Whether you’re having a baby, going on a vacation, or anything in between, AmeriBag has it in the bag.

AmeriBag (800)246-1292, www.ameribag.com

White Rice 531 Warren Street, Hudson, (518) 697-3500, www.white-rice.com Sorella 8 Old Forge Road, Woodstock, (845) 657-4104

REGIONAL RENOWN

Gastronomy

Original Art

As we all hunker down for that long, cold winter (made colder by our erratic economy), why not bestow gifts that celebrate the home-cooked meal? Your personal chef would enjoy a gift from Warren Kitchen & Cutlery in Red Hook, the shopping place for cooks and foodies alike. Owner Richard Von Husen advises that a chef can never have too many knives and says the hippest thing around the cutting board are Japanese specialty knives ($42.50-$346.50). Warren Kitchen & Cutlery carries brands like Shun and Kikuichi, as well as Henckels, the forever favorite. Stuff stockings with copper or tin cookie cutters ($.99-$7.49), or have them wake up to a gift of a Swiss Diamond omelet and crepe pan ($99.99), and let the holiday morning breakfast be inspired.

In terms of savings, Riverkeeper’s new eye-catching stainless steel water bottles have a lot to offer. With billions of barrels of oil used in the production, transportation, and storage of plastic bottles in the US each year, these easy-to-clean, reusable bottles keep a few thousand more plastic ones out of our landfills. While tap water costs about 88 cents per gallon less than bottled, the maxim, “I Bottle My Own,” is written boldly outside the 20-ounce Riverkeeper Water Bottle (in blue, turquoise, red, or silver with a matching carabiner clip). At only $20, it still supports the important work Riverkeeper does to safeguard the Hudson and the watersheds, which provide drinking water to over nine million New Yorkers daily.

Consider giving the gift that just keeps on feeding: a CSA farm share.

Community Supported Agriculture encourages the local economy and limits the carbon footprint left by trucking food from farm to store to home.

With the Hudson Valley full of organic and naturally grown farms, shares also help keep the community safe by practicing farming without the use

If the Hudson Valley is known for only one thing, it would probably be art. Beginning with the historic Hudson River School, there remain painters, ceramicists, and photographers around every corner. And that offers a unique opportunity to give a gift with regional meaning––and to put some holiday dinner on the tables of your friendly neighborhood starving artist.

As you drive around this fall, you’ll likely notice signs outside of homes advertising “Studio.” Take a moment to go inside, or make an appointment. You’ll be impressed with the level of artistry, as well as with the diversity of media. For instance, Mimi Graminski’s series of sewn drawings made from silk thread and acrylic on linen are unusual in their expansive interpretation of abstract drawing. Widely exhibited locally (she participated this year in the Kingston Biennial and Anxious Objects at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz), Graminski was recently chosen for the NYFA MARK artist program and will be presenting her work in Hudson and at Exit Art in Manhattan. Her wall installation of knit cones is now on view at Spencertown Academy’s Unusual Twist: Artists Knit, Crochet and Embroider. Her studio is open by appointment, with works ranging from $25 for prints to $1,500 for sculpture.

Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for local gallery listings advertising holiday shows of small works or works on paper, where you can often find a unique conversation piece representing a little bit of the Hudson Valley for under $100.

Mimi Graminski 13 Elm Street, Red Hook, (845) 758-2114, www.mimigraminski.com

12/08 CHRONOGRAM HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 75

Commissioned Portraits

Another artful way to go: commission a portrait. Jenny Lee Fowler has contemporized the early American tradition of paper-cutting portraiture.

Popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, the silhouette was a quick and economical alternative to more laborious forms of portraiture, such as oil painting, but its heyday ended with the advent of photography. “One of the things that I love about the art,” remarks Fowler, “is that because of how it overlaps with our country’s history, there were many people whose likenesses were only ever rendered in silhouette.” While there are many methods for creating a silhouette, Fowler, in the tradition of early artists, cuts freehand while closely observing her subject in profile, creating a depiction with which the sitter will truly feel connected. It only takes about 5 to 10 minutes and can be done at her studio in Port Ewen. Sihouettes can also be cut from photographs. A classic 4x6-inch bust cut from French black silhouette paper and archivally mounted on white Strathmore 4-ply museum board is $25. Fowler is also available for special events, a fun idea for your holiday party.

Sculptor Cristina Biaggi tells of happy customers who remarked on how well her bronze busts captured the essence of the person depicted.

Working from life (a bust can take anywhere from 5 to 10 sittings at her Palisades studio or other location) or from photographs, Biaggi makes a Plastiline portrait that is then taken to the foundry in Beacon where the ageold technique of creating a lost-wax portrait to create the mold is refined.

The piece is then cast in bronze. Afterward, the subject visits the foundry with Biaggi to determine the patina (coloring), have the sculpture mounted to its base, and have a tour. The result is a beautiful, lasting likeness. Pricing is dependent upon complexity of the sculpture, but pieces are usually in the $12,000-17,000 range. Gift certificates are available.

Jenny Lee Fowler Port Ewen, (845) 750-5181, www.jennyleefowler.com Cristina Biaggi 149 Washington Spring Road, Palisades, www.cristinabiaggi.com

Metals

For the past 10 years, Adel Chefridi has been handcrafting jewelry in New York and, as of last year, in Woodstock full-time.

Chefridi always starts with the stone rather than a preconceived idea. With a background in gemology, he cuts around the natural inclusions to bring out the gem’s innate character. Chefridi travels each year to India, where he works with a family in the trade to hand-select each stone. A member of the American Gemological Trade Association, an exclusive regulatory society that requires adherence to high ethical standards, his relationship with the dealers in India is much like his relationship with his customers in America: close-knit and long-term. When working with someone to design a custom piece, Chefridi sees his role as neutral so as to help the collaborative process remain open for creating an ideal piece. Not surprisingly, many of his customers are excited to begin the next piece as soon as the first is finished. Perhaps it is Chefridi’s respect for the stones themselves that is so intoxicating. “There’s something about a stone that has taken millions of years to grow––it’s not inanimate. When there are breaks in its development, the stone grows together, creating a healing fracture. If that’s not life, what is?”

Chefridi offers pieces at every price range with an especially large choice under $100 around the holidays, all with exceptional stones.Visit Chefridi at the Holiday Fair at Grand Central Station in New York City through December 29, shop online, or call for an appointment in Woodstock, where you can see his studio. Ask about his new line of recycled gold jewelry.

Chefridi Fine Jewels (866) 428-8777, www.chefridi.com

THINKING OUTSIDE THE GIFT BOX The Gift of Experience

In a community where everyone is an artist, the perfect gift for anyone might be an experience. Dia:Beacon is the Dia Foundation’s upstate offshoot, a mecca for minimalism’s superstars. Art lovers wander expansive spaces with large-scale installations, paintings, and sculptures, each room designed specifically for the work it contains. The permanent collection houses, among others, Fred Sandback’s clever line drawings sculpted from lengths of yarn, Andy Warhol’s noir Shadows comprising multiple canvases hung edge to edge, and Richard Serra’s corporeal Torqued Ellipses and spirals, which beg the viewer to navigate the sculptures from within. An individual membership is just $50 ($30 for an artist, student, or senior; $100 for a family) and includes complimentary admission, invitations to special events and openings, and discounts at the bookstore and café, and on performances, concerts, and readings.

For the performing arts, consider a subscription to The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. The center boasts two theaters, which attract world-renowned performers for their regularly scheduled Summerscape, Music Festival, and theater and dance programs. The building itself is a 110,000-square-foot attraction designed by internationally acclaimed architect, Frank Gehry.

Maverick Concerts in Woodstock is America’s oldest continuous summer chamber music festival. Set in the woods, the rustic concert hall, built in 1916, has perfect acoustics and affords an intimate and unique setting for live music performances. Each summer, there is also a Young People’s Concert series within its regular 10-week season. A book of 10 tickets is just $175.

Dia:Beacon www.diabeacon.org The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College www.fishercenter.bard.edu Maverick Concerts www.maverickconcerts.org

The Gift of Self

There’s someone you know who is always juggling more than any person can handle, and doing it, most often, with relative style.What do you get the person who always thinks of you first? A gift certificate to one of the Valley’s many skilled yoga studios might just be the thing: an opportunity to reconnect with the self.

As Jai Ma Yoga Center in New Paltz notes on their website, “The word Yoga means Union,” and their classes are designed to provide the student a safe, comfortable atmosphere in which to learn and practice yoga, with focus on alignment and technique in each posture. Class varieties include beginner to advanced, gentle, restorative, children’s, prenatal, private, and Anusara Yoga Theraputics Sessions; and Jai Ma offers gift certificates that can be coupled with massage and bodywork. Owners Gina Bassinette and Ami Jayaprada Hirschstein have been teaching locally since 1995. Purchase gift certificates for one class or a class card (a class card is good for two months or 10 classes). A portion of Jai Ma’s proceeds is donated to local nonprofits.

Satya Yoga offers all levels of classes in Rhinebeck and basic and reducedprice community classes at their studio in Catskill. “Yoga is an instant tonic for all the craziness the holidays can bring,” says co-director Jessie Lee Montague.

With a wide selection of styles, including restorative Svaroopa and GentleYoga, intense Vinyasa Yoga, alignment-oriented Iyengar, and Anusara, Satya Yoga Centers have something for everyone. They also offer a four-week Intro to Yoga series four times a year. Buy gift certificates over the phone or in person for any amount of classes, which can be redeemed at any time within a year.

Jai Ma Yoga Center 69 Main Street, New Paltz, (845) 256-0465,www.jmyoga.com Satya Yoga 6400 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, (845) 876-2528, and 352 Main Street, Catskill, (518) 943-3929, www.satyayogacenter.us

The Gift of Home

Perhaps we all yearn for the peace and tranquility of an uncluttered house. Bless Your Hearth cleaning service is run by healer and spiritual counselor Dawn Deevy.Thorough and detail-oriented, with many years of experience, BlessYour Hearth cleaning service uses only nontoxic products. “There are many products out there claiming to be nontoxic and getting away with it,” Dawn says. “There are virtually no regulations at this point. I have done the research and have the knowledge to call myself a truly nontoxic cleaning service.” With a crew who is paid a living wage to enjoy what they do, Bless Your Hearth cleaning service leaves behind good energy and a clean, nontoxic home.

Bless Your Hearth Rosendale, (845) 706-8447

76 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Your Natural Medicine Expert in the Hudson Valley â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dr. Tom is our first stop to wellnessâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Sylvia & David Furash NATUROPATHIC DOCTOR

Thomas J. Francescott, N.D. Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine, Bastyr University

Celebrating 10 Years in Practice Dr. Tom is pleased to announce the addition of ONDAMED, an advanced new therapy: â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Effective FDA-approved for pain â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Successful Smoking Cessation Protocol in 1-3 sessions â&#x2C6;&#x2122; Effective Lyme support

Jump Start Your Health in 2009 Dr.Tomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Schedule of Events DR.TOMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HEALTH TALKS (join us, free on Tuesdays 6:30-8pm, must register)

Dr.Tom at Omega Institute (register at eomega.com)

DETOX & CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Jan. 6th: Detox & Weight Loss Change your life today!

Feb. 3rd: Neurotransmitter Testing Did you know this was possible??

Feb. 10th: Balancing Hormones Supporting your Adrenals & Thyroid

A 5-7 Day Cleansing Retreat

3 WEEK DETOX & WEIGHT LOSS GROUP Thursdays 6:30-8pm starting Jan. 29th (Feb. 5, Feb. 12) space limited, registration required, call for pricing

May 3-10, 2009

call for more information

Transforming Obstacles & Inspiring Health & Wellness

INNOVATIVE NATURAL REMEDIES Specializing in: Pharmaceutical grade fish oils Organic skin & body products Natural pet remedies Therapeutic strength probiotics Detoxification support Adrenal & stress solutions Natural immune support Medical foods & protein powders

HEALTHY HOLIDAY GIFT IDEAS We are stocking many great holiday gifts under $15 including locally grown lavender gifts, soaps, candles, and aromatherapy also great gift idea: Consultation with Dr. Tom for your loved one

drfrancescott.com | 845.876.5556 | info@drfrancescott.com RHINEBECK COOPERATIVE HEALTH CENTER | 6384 Mill St., Rhinebeck, NY 12572

Support Local & Sustainable Business

A hand-picked selection of wine and spirits for everyday or once in a lifetime. Superior customer service with wine tastings every Saturday.

Find what your palateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been searching for.

Thank you Hudson Valley Community for your support during our 1st year!

Come in for specials on our Anniversary December 16th.

We look forward to seeing you soon for Childrens Clothing Shoes and Gifts.

27 North Chestnut St. New Paltz, NY 12561 845 255 0377 ~ littleonesny.com

Wine tastings every Saturday starting at noon.

'SPOU 4USFFU t .JMMCSPPL /: t .PO o 5IVST B N UP Q N 'SJ 4BU B N UP Q N t 4VO /PPO UP Q N 12/08 CHRONOGRAM HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 77

2008 HOLIDAY GIFT BOOKS A R C H I T E C T U R E PHOTOGRAPHY

& GOURMET

THE HUDSON RIVER: A GREAT AMERICAN TREASURE

THE CASTLE STREET CAFÉ COOKBOOK

GREG MILLER, FOREWORD BY BILL MCKIBBEN, INTRODUCTION

GADD & COMPANY PUBLISHERS, 2008, $22.50

BY NED SULLIVAN

Berkshires restauranteur and WAMC Roundtable Chef Ballon is a firm believer in unpretentious, elegant food, simply prepared with fresh local ingredients. Warm your holiday spirits with Tuscan Bean Soup, Pork Loin Stuffed with Apricots, Slow-Roasted Vegetables, and Chocolate Hazelnut Dacquoise.

RIZZOLI, 2008, $50

Next year will mark the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s historic voyage up the river that bears his name. What better gift for a Hudson Valley resident or enthusiast than this magnificent tribute, filled with panoramic photos of the mighty river in its many moods? Proceeds benefit the invaluable nonprofit Scenic Hudson in its efforts to preserve and protect the river.

MICHAEL BALLON

TIME WEARING OUT MEMORY: SCHOHARIE COUNTY

THE HARNEY & SONS GUIDE TO TEA

STEVE GROSS & SUSAN DALEY, INTRODUCTION BY JEFFREY LENT

MICHAEL HARNEY

W. W. NORTON & COMPANY, 2008, $49.95

One hundred and eight beautifully composed black-and-white photographs bear witness to the faded beauty of a once-prosperous farming region.

Architectural photographers Gross and Daley offer stark, majestic portraits of dilapidated barns, rusting pickup trucks, and Greek Revival grange halls; Lent’s eloquent introduction muses on the human stories that haunt them––and us.

GREAT GARDENS OF THE BERKSHIRES VIRGINIA SMALL, PHOTOGRAPHS BY RICH POMERANTZ DOWN EAST BOOKS, 2008, $35

When snowdrifts cover all but trellises and stonework, gardeners yearn for a whiff of spring. This lavishly photographed book showcases five public gardens, including Edith Wharton’s The Mount, Chesterwood, and Naumkeag, plus a dozen “Inspiring Private Gardens” in various styles. Indexes include visiting information, community resources, and regional nurseries for those inspired to plant.

THE COLOR OF LOSS: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT OF NEW ORLEANS AFTER KATRINA,

PENGUIN PRESS, 2008, $25.95

Don’t know your Assam from your oolong? The master tea blender behind Millerton’s Tea Shop and Tasting Room offers an in-depth tutorial to tea connoisseurs, describing the brewing specifications, leaves, liquor, aroma, body, and flavors of 54 premium teas, with information about their history and cultivation. Feed your head!

HUMOR DON’T MIND ME AND OTHER JEWISH LIES ESTHER COHEN, ILLUSTRATED BY ROZ CHAST HYPERION, 2008, $16.95

If anyone in your mishpocheh has perfected the art of saying one thing while meaning exactly the opposite (“Not to worry”; “I just want a taste”), this irresistible little book

by Catskills Book Doctor author Cohen and the divinely demented Roz Chast might just be the perfect Hanukkah gift. (“I love the holidays.”)

OUTDOOR ADVENTURE

PHOTOGRAPHS AND INTRODUCTION BY DAN BURKHOLDER,

DESCENDING THE DRAGON: MY JOURNEY DOWN THE COAST OF VIETNAM

FOREWORD BY ANDREI CODRESCU

JON BOWERMASTER, PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROB HOWARD

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS, 2008, $50

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, 2008, $21.95

Palenville photographer Burkholder uses high dynamic range (HDR) digital imaging techniques to provide a startling, highly aestheticized vision of post-Katrina interiors, detailing objects left in the wake of the flood and rendering the textures of mold and cracked mud in surreal pastels. New Orleans resident Codrescu likens the eerie results to Victorian funerary photography.

Intercontinental adventurer and occasional Stone Ridger Bowermaster kayaked 800 miles of Vietnam’s extraordinary seacoast with a team including a gifted photographer and a Vietnamese-American woman who’d fled Saigon as a child. In prose that glistens with detail, he describes the sights, flavors, sounds, and especially the people they met along the way.

SAMUEL G. WHITE & ELIZABETH WHITE,

BERKSHIRE & TACONIC TRAILS: A RANGER’S GUIDE

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JONATHAN WALLEN

EDWARD G. HENRY

RIZZOLI, 2008, $75

BLACK DOME, 2008, $14.95

Much of the Gilded Age’s gilt was provided by Stanford White, and this weighty book is every bit as opulent as the mansions he designed. Rhinebeck’s Ferncliff Casino, a “playhouse” for the Astors (including a marble swimming pool and vaulted indoor tennis court), is featured alongside White’s own homes in Box Hill and Gramercy Park, and commissions throughout the northeast.

The refuge manager for the Wallkill River and Shawangunk Grasslands turns his eye to the northeast, providing hikers with topo maps, GPS coordinates, and detailed trail routes. If you’re not quite ready to strap on your snowshoes and head for the hills, you can enjoy them vicariously through black-and-white photos and evocative, lively descriptions.

STANFORD WHITE: ARCHITECT

78 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Philipse Manor Beach Club © 2008 Ted Kawalerski

Top to Bottom THE HUDSON RIVER

Photographs by TED KAWALERSKI GALLERY HOURS

Weekdays Saturdays 2nd Saturdays Sundays

9–5 11 – 5 11 – 8 12 – 5 845.838.1600 Ext. 16 or info@bire.org

199 Main Street, Beacon NY 12508

www.bire.org

PAX. VREDE. PAIX. MIR. PACE. IRENI. PAZ. SHALOM. HEIWA. PEACE.

EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF CHRIST THE KING 3021 Rte. 213 East • Stone Ridge, NY church@ctkstoneridge.org

12/08 CHRONOGRAM HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 79

business directory John Froehlich Construction Start Planning Your Post-Holiday Projects Now For all your Residential Needs Kitchens Baths Dormers Basements

F

Additions Decks Siding Windows

Fully Insured business directory

Over 30 Years Remodeling Experience

(845) 338-5238

ACCOMMODATIONS

ART GALLERIES & CENTERS

Catskill Mountain Lodge

Ann Street Gallery

334 Route 32A, Palenville, NY (518) 678-3101 www.caskillmtlodge.com

104 Ann Street, Newburgh, NY

The Catskill Mountain Lodge, celebrating forty years of hospitality, is set on the banks of the historic Kaaterskill Creek in Palenville, America’s first art colony. Accommodations include fireplace rooms, cabins, cottages and a three bedroom house.

The Ann Street Gallery is a non-profit gallery located in the City of Newburgh, specializing in contemporary emerging and established artists.

Frost Valley YMCA

Center for Photography at Woodstock 59 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY

Frost Valley YMCA Camp and Conference Center in Claryville, is just 2.5 hours drive from metro NY/NJ and about 1 hour from Kingston. Established in 1901 as one of the nation’s first summer camps, Frost Valley provides four seasons of outdoor, experiential and educational opportunities including summer camps for children, environmental education, year-round activities for families and conference and retreat facilities for groups and businesses.

Garrison Art Center

(845) 679-9957 www.cpw.org Info@cpw.org

23 Garrison’s Landing, Garrison, NY (845) 424-3960 www.garrisonartcenter.org

ART INSTRUCTION Mill Street Loft 45 Pershing Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 471-7477

Scribner Hollow Lodge

millstreetloft.org

Route 23A, Hunter, NY (518) 263-4211; 1-800-395-4683

ART SUPPLIES

Scribner Hollow has just finished a 12 month, $500,000 renovation project.

Amenities include custom decorated suites, some with balconies, jacuzzis and in-room fireplaces; The Grotto—a warm, underground cave-like indoor pool, with waterfalls, jacuzzi/Roman spa. The in-house restaurant, The Prospect, is an 8 time winner of the Wine Spectator Magazine’s “Award of Excellence,” as well as “Restaurant of the Year” from NY Wine and Grape Foundation.

Altren Geothermal & Solar Systems 1774 State Route 213, Ulster Park, NY (854) 658-7116 www.altren.net

ARCHITECTURE EcoArch DesignWorks Woodstock, NY (845) 247-4620 Award winning design, harmonizing Spirit, Health, and the Environment, Solar and “Green” design. Licensed in New York, New Jersey, and California, EcoArch DesignWorks specializes in Planning, Architecture, and Interiors for single family or multi-family homes, entertainment, retail or office environments. Recent projects in New York include the Oriental Emerson Spa, the Ram Dass Library @ Omega and numerous private homes and additions.

Unlock the potentials of your site, home or office, to foster greater design harmony, prosperity, spirit, health, and ecological integrity.

BUSINESS DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

www.annstreetgallery.org

2000 Frost Valley Road, Claryville, NY (845) 985-2291 ext. 205 www.FrostValley.org info@frostvalley.org

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

80

(845) 562-6940, ext. 119

Catskill Art & Office Supply Kingston, NY (845) 331-7780 Art Materials, studio furnishings, custom picture framing, blueprint copies, graphic design services, large format color output, custom printing, personal stationery, legal forms, cards, maps, and novelty gifts.

Three locations dedicated to enhancing your creative adventure—voted ‘Best in the Valley’ year after year. Also located in Woodstock, NY: (845) 679-2251 and Poughkeepsie, NY: (845) 452-1250

Manny’s Art Supply 83 Main Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-9902 Since 1962, big-city selection and smalltown service have made Manny’s special.

We offer a full range of art materials, craft, and bookmaking supplies, as well as the best selection of handmade and decorative papers north of Manhattan. Manny’s, it’s more than just an art store.

ART SUPPLIES R & F Handmade Paints 84 Ten Broeck Avenue, Kingston, NY (845) 331-3112 www.rfpaints.com Internationally known manufacturer of Pigment Sticks and Encaustic paint right here in the Hudson Valley. Stop in for a tour of our factory, get paints at discounted prices, sign up for an Encaustic or Pigment Stick workshop, or check out bi-monthly exhibits in the Gallery.

AUTO SALES

BUILDING SUPPLIES

Ruge’s Subaru

Williams Lumber & Home Centers

Route 9, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-1057

BEAUTY Androgyny 5 Mulberry Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 256-0620 Located in the Historic Huguenot Street.

BEVERAGES Coffee System of the Hudson Valley 1 (800) 660-3175 www.homecoffeesystem.com

6760 Route 9, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-WOOD www.williamslumber.com Since 1946, Williams Lumber and Home Centers has grown into the largest family-owned building supply and design company with 9 locations in the Hudson Valley. Williams offers customers exceptional service and a wide range of green products and building materials.

Williams Design Centers in Rhinebeck and Millbrook showcase kitchens and baths and offers expertise from their professional in-house designers to assist in home improvement projects, as well as installation.

Esotec (845) 246-2411 www.esotecltd.com Choose Esotec to be your wholesale beverage provider. For 22 years, we carry a complete line of natural, organic, and unusual juices, spritzers, waters, sodas, iced teas, and iced coffees. If you are a store owner, call for details or a catalog of our full line. We’re back in Saugerties now!

CAREER COACHING Ann Ruecker, MPA, MA, CPCC— Certified Career Coach AFAK Solutions, LLC, , (646) 886-2342 afaksolutions@yahoo.com

1 (800) 246-8648 www.InnerTraditions.com

CARPETS & RUGS

BOOK PUBLISHERS

BOOKKEEPING Riverview Office Services (914) 912-1202 A good defense to handle economic stress is to have your finances in order. I bring over 20 years experience to help you with your bookkeeping needs without having to pay a full time staff member. Often you only require a few hours a month to handle your billing, pay your invoices, prepare payroll and reconcile your bank accounts.

You can also have all of your information organized, ready to give to your accounting professional for Tax preparation.

Anatolia Tribal Rugs & Weavings 54G Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY (845) 679-5311 www.anatoliarugs.com anatoliarugs@verizon.net Winner: Hudson Valley Magazine “Best Carpets.” Direct importers since 1981.

Newly expanded store. Natural-dyed Afghan carpets, Balouchi tribal kilims, Russian sumaks, antique Caucasian carpets, silk Persian sumaks, Turkish kilims. Hundreds to choose from, 2’x3’ to 9’x12’. Kilim pillows, $20-$55. We encourage customers to try our rugs in their homes, without obligation.

MC/Visa/AmEx.

BOOKSTORES

CINEMA

Mirabai of Woodstock

Upstate Films

23 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY (845) 679-2100 www.mirabai.com

26 Montgomery Street, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-2515 www.upstatefilms.org

The Hudson Valley’s oldest spiritual/holistic bookstore, providing a vast array of books, music, and gifts that transform, renew, and elevate the spirit. Exquisite statuary and other art works from Nepal, Tibet, Bali.

Expert Tarot reading, astrological charts/ interpretation available.

Showing provocative international cinema, contemporary and classic, and hosting filmmakers since 1972 on two screens in the village of Rhinebeck.

Oblong Books & Music 6422 Montgomery Street, (Route 9), Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-0500 www.oblongbooks.com A true general bookstore, Oblong stocks the best and most interesting books in all categories. Oblong is more than just a great bookstore, also offering the region’s best selection of music. Our CD club rewards you with a free CD with every 10 purchased.

Open daily.

Portraits of Loved Ones

WWW . PATSTATS . COM

•

business directory

Inner Traditions/Bear & Co.

Come discover your authentic vocation at a deeper level as well as strategizing for your next career or job through resume writing, interviewing skills, and negotiation techniques. Call or email today for a free assessment and report.

PATSTATS 1@ HVC . RR . COM

CLOTHING KOSA 502 Warren Street, Hudson, NY (518) 828-6620 corahales@kosaco.ne Kosa is a unique indie store specializing in organic, recycled, green, independent clothing and jewelry designers. Our designers work with eco consciousness and style. We carry Stewart and Brown, Prairie Underground, Filly, Preloved, Beebop and Wally, Loveheals, Philippa Kunisch, Claudia Kussano, Individual icons, Supermaggie, and many many more...

12/08 CHRONOGRAM BUSINESS DIRECTORY

81

College Pathways—Kris Fox

distributor of Lindal Cedar Homes. We work with you to design your custom Post and Beam Lindal Cedar home, and provide a materials package that includes beautiful Western Red Cedar and architectural quality engineered lumber to build an energy efficient home. We find skilled contractors to erect and finish your beautiful custom home and assist you through the entire process of finding and developing land through completion.

Latham, NY (518) 782-1270 or 1 (800) 391-5272

with more than 25 years of international experience. Muriel is motivated by a passion for transforming ordinary rooms into works of art as limitless as one’s imagination. Whether it’s the look and feel of an aged, luxurious Tuscan Villa, an Ultramodern Manhattan Loft, or the loving and authentic restoration of existing Historic Finishes, Muriel works with you (and/or your Designer) to help you create the envisioned reality you desire.

DANCE INSTRUCTION

Faux Intentions

Barefoot Dance Center

(845) 532-3067

West Park, NY (845) 384-6146 www.barefootdancecenter.com info@barefootdancecenter.com

Cat Quinn, professional decorative artist, setting the standard for excellence in Custom Faux Finishes for your home and business.

With infinite possibilities, your walls, floors, ceilings, fireplaces, and furniture can be transformed using my faux finishing techniques. A full spectrum of decorative finishes using plasters, glazes, and many other mediums, help to fill your home full of your unique personality and spirit. Don’t miss the beauty and exhilaration of transforming the rooms you live and work in every day into spaces that reflect your sense of style.

Portfolio showing a phone call away.

White Rice 531 Warren Street, Hudson, NY (518) 697-3500 Clothing and accessories for women and children. Furniture and home furnishings.

With an Asian sensibility. Open 7 days.

COLLEGE ADVISING

The Capital District’s answer to Sensible College Planning. Specializing in Financial Aid, College Selection, Timeline Management, PSAT, and SAT Prep and Essay Writing for College Applications. If your child is a high school sophomore or junior, don’t delay—contact us today!

CONSIGNMENT SHOPS Past ‘n’ Perfect Resale & Retail Boutique

business directory

1629 Main Street (Route 44), Pleasant Valley, NY (845) 635-3115 www.pastnperfect.com A quaint consignment boutique that offers distinctive clothing, jewelry, shoes, and accessories, and a unique variety of high-quality furs and leathers. Always a generous supply of merchandise from casual to chic; contemporary to vintage; in sizes from Petite to Plus. Featuring a diverse and illuminating collection of 14 Kt. Gold, Sterling Silver and Vintage jewelry. To add the finishing touches to your wardrobe a variety of BRAND NEW retail jewelry, scarves and accessories at exceptionally low prices are also available. If you haven’t already visited Past ‘n’ Perfect, the Hudson Valley’s premier Resale & Retail Boutique, now is the time! Enjoy the pleasures of resale shopping and the benefits of living basically while living beautifully.

Conveniently located in Pleasant Valley, only 9 miles east of the Mid-Hudson Bridge.

The Present Perfect 23G Village Plaza, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-2939

FENG SHUI

DANCEWEAR

Studio C, LLC

First Street Dancewear

(518) 789-0090

Saugerties, NY (845) 247-4517 www.firststreetdancewear.com

studiocm@mac.com

First Street dancewear in Saugerties, NY, offers quality dancewear for adults and children. We have dancewear, knit warmups, ballet, jazz, tap shoes, gymnastics wear, skatewear, accessories, and gift items. We also feature a line of women’s active wear clothing suitable for Yoga and Pilates.

DATING SERVICE Mass Match (413) 665-3218 www.massmatch.com

Main focus—space planning. Kitchens, bathrooms, furniture, arrangements, and color consultations. To scale and 3-D drawings are provided to visually understand the outcome of the project.

Feng Shui consultations and ‘staging’ available. Ancient art of harmoniously creating a functional pattern of ‘flow’ within your home or business space to benefit you in a multitude of ways. Camilla Mathlein—certified in BTB Feng Shui/Feng Shui Staging (CFSS)—Parsons School of Design.

GRAPHIC DESIGN 11:11 Studio—Kelli Bickman

Designer consignments of the utmost quality for men, women, and children. Current styles, jewelry, accessories, and knicknacks.

Featuring beautiful furs and leathers.

DENTISTRY

(646) 436-8663

The Center For Advanced Dentistry—Bruce D. Kurek, DDS, FAGD

www.kellibickman.net

COOKING CLASSES

494 Route 299, Highland, NY (845) 691-5600 www.thecenterforadvanceddentistry.com

Natural Gourmet Cookery School 48 West 21st Street, New York, NY (212) 645-5170, Fax (212) 989-1493 www.naturalgourmetschool.com info@naturalgourmetschool.com For more than 20 years people around the world have turned to Natural Gourmet’s avocational public classes to learn the basics of healthy cooking. They come to the Chef’s Training Program to prepare for careers in the burgeoning Natural Foods Industry.

82

Barefoot Dance Center offers classes in Modern Technique, Improvisation, Choreography, Creative Movement, Ballet, and Boys’ Dance. We emphasize healthy alignment, skill-building, and the creative process in a supportive environment. We are the home of the Barefoot Dance Company, a modern dance performance group made up of dedicated teenagers. We also offer school residencies, performances, rental space, and birthday parties. Jessie Levey, Director.

Setting the standard for excellence in dentistry for more than 25 years, the Center for Advanced Dentistry attracts clients from throughout the northeast and abroad. Their client-centered approach to providing comprehensive dental services for adults and children includes old-school care and concern combined with the latest technologies. The office is conveniently located 1.5 miles east of the NYS Thruway, exit 18.

Full service design studio including murals, fine art, illustration, and graphic design by award winning artist. Graphic design includes advertising, editorial, book/ magazine covers, sign painting, all aspects of print design/layout. Fine art/murals are tailored to your needs bringing art that will make your life rich with vivid color. Extensive client list.

Pi in the Sky Design (845) 613-0683 piintheskydesign@france-menk.com We make your virtual world real.

Promotional, advertising, and editorial design. Book jackets, brochures, corporate identity campaigns, dvds, magazines, newsletters, posters. 100% focused on your needs.

CUSTOM HOME DESIGN AND MATERIALS

FAUX FINISHES

Atlantic Custom Homes

Down Under Faux

2785 Route 9, Cold Spring, NY 1 (888) 558-2636 www.lindalny.com www.hudsonvalleycedarhomes.com

Red Hook, NY (845) 758-1040 downunderfaux.com murielcalderon@downunderfaux.com

HANDWOVENS

We are Atlantic Custom Homes, Inc., the Hudson Valley’s award-winning, premier

Down Under Faux is the creation of Muriel Calderon, an Australian Faux Finish Artist

(845) 679-6500

BUSINESS DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Loominus 3257 Route 212, Bearsville, NY www.loominus.com

HEALTH FOOD STORES Mother Earth Store House 440 Kings Mall Court, Route 9W, Kingston, NY www.motherearthstorehouse.com Founded in 1978, Mother Earth is committed to providing you with the best possible customer service as well as a grand selection of high quality organic and natural products. Visit one of our convenient locations and find out for yourself! We can also be found at 804 South Road Square, Poughkeepsie, NY, (845) 296-1069, and 249 Main Street, Saugerties, NY, (845) 246-9614.

INTERIOR DESIGN AND HOME FURNISHINGS Marigold Home Interiors 747 Route 28, Kingston, NY (845) 338-0800 www.marigold-home.com Collection inspired by Maria R. Mendoza, IIDA, NY Certified Interior Designer, Marigold Home Interiors offers professional interior design services and home furnishings. Furnish your entire home with an elegant selection of upholstered furniture, wood and metal furnishings, interior and exterior lighting, wallcoverings, Hunter Douglas window shades, custom draperies, area rugs, outdoor furnishings, tabletop and accessories, decorative interior mouldings, and a variety of wonderful gift items. Marigold Home Interiors is the most remarkable interior design and home furnishings destination in The Hudson Valley! Located 3.5 miles west of the NYState Thruway Exit 19.

INTERNET SERVICES Webjogger (845) 757-4000 www.webjogger.net Webjogger is a local company with offices in Tivoli and Kingston. We have a great solution for small businesses IT including symmetrical High Speed Internet, Offsite On-line Data Backup and Storage, Collaborative Archived Email, Web Hosting and Domain Registration, Server Collocation and Management, and IT support by phone or on site, with nice discounts for bundled services. We’re big enough to have what you need and small enough to make it work for your individual needs. Many local companies swear by us, not at us! We also do high end routing and switching and Gigabit Wireless connectivity for local hospitals and radiology labs.

ITALIAN SPECIALTY PRODUCTS Leonardo’s Italian Market In the Courtyard, 51 East Market Street, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-3980 www.leonardomarket.com The source for Italian specialty products in the Hudson Valley featuring Beretta and Boars Head cured meats, incredible signature sandwiches, large assortment of imported Italian cheeses, 14 varieties of ravioli, dozens of prepared entrees and salads, unbelievable fresh Italian sausage, fine oils, vinegars, legumes, San Marzano tomatoes, imported artesian pastas, Italian condiments, seasonal specialties for Easter

and Christmas, Perugina and Cafferal chocolate, artesian pizzas and much more, including espresso, cappuccino, Italian pastries/cookies, Ricotta cheesecakes, Spumoni, Gelato and Italian ices in our beautiful café right next door. Catering.

Tables and chairs both inside our café and/or out in our beautiful courtyard with free Wi-fi.

Open daily 10am–7pm and to 9pm on Friday and Saturday. Call ahead for sandwiches, pizzas and antipasto platters. (845) 876-3980 or visit www.leonardomarket.com.

Pathways Mediation Center (845) 331-0100 www.PathwaysMediationCenter.com

JEWELRY, FINE ART & GIFTS

We are a unique mediation practice for couples going through divorce or for families in conflict. Josh Koplovitz has over 30 years as a Matrimonial and Family Law Attorney and Myra Schwartz has over 30 years as a Guidance Counselor working with families and children. This male/female, counselor and attorney team can effectively address all your legal and family issues.

Use our one-hour free consultations to meet us or visit us on the web.

Dreaming Goddess

Russell Law

9 Collegeview Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 473-2206 www.DreamingGoddess.com

(608) 833-1555

We carry hand-made jewelry, gifts, and clothing that will touch your heart, uplift your spirits, and heal your soul. We offer various tools that will assist you on your quest for spiritual awareness and help you to deepen that connection. Essential Oils-HerbsCrystals-Incense-Candles-Divination Tools and so much more.

Copyright. Trademark. Arts and Entertainment. Russell Law serves musicians, writers, visual, and performing artists. Elizabeth T. Russell is a musician herself, admitted to practice law in New York, Connecticut, and Wisconsin. Remarkably fluent in plain English, she is also the author of “Art Law Conversations: A Surprisingly Readable Guide for Visual Artists.”

Hummingbird Jewelers 20 West Market Street, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-4585 hummingbirdjewelers.com

Jewel

www.erklaw.com; www.artslawyer.blogspot.com

LODGING Inn at Stone Ridge 3805 Main Street, Stone Ridge, NY

21 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY (845) 679-3775

(845) 687-7036

Spectacular jewelry and clothing designers from the U.S., Canada, Europe, and South America are represented here with many one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Owners Ronny and Michael Widener are committed to providing an inspired and diverse collection of jewelry, accessories, and artwork for your pleasure.

Let us take you back to an era of comfort unparalleled in the Catskill Region of New York. Enjoy our 18th century historic mansion in peaceful Stone Ridge set on 150 acres of lawn including gardens, a working apple orchard and untouched woods. Daily, weekly, and monthly rates available.

Warren Kitchen & Cutlery 6934 Route 9, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-6207 www.warrenkitchentools.com Located in historic Rhinebeck, in New York’s beautiful Mid-Hudson Valley, Warren Kitchen & Cutlery is a true kitchenware emporium—a place where inspired chefs and cooking enthusiasts can find their favorite cutlery, cookware, appliances, kitchen tools, and serving pieces for home or restaurant. Knives are our specialty; we have more than 1000 different styles and sizes in stock. We encourage you to take advantage of our in-store sharpening and engraving services.

LAWYERS & MEDIATORS Law Office of Laura G. Shulman, PC 369 Washington Avenue, Kingston, NY (845) 338-7970 lgshulman@hotmail.com I am a divorce lawyer and mediator. I am trained and skilled in divorce mediation, and I also practice Collaborative Law. In Collaborative Separation or Collaborative Divorce, parties agree not to go to court.

Lawyers facilitate the negotiation of a separation agreement or divorce stipulation through informal meetings. Clients talk directly about their needs and those of their family.

business directory

KITCHENWARES

info@innatstoneridge.com

MUSIC Burt’s Electronics 549 Albany Avenue, Kingston, NY (845) 331-5011 Good music deserves quality sound! Avoid the malls and shop where quality and personal service are valued above all else.

Bring Burt and his staff your favorite album and let them teach you how to choose the right audio equipment for your listening needs.

Deep Listening Institute, Ltd (845) 338-5984 www.deeplistening.org

MUSIC LESSONS Center for Personal Development Through Music, LLC (845) 677-5871 www.cpdmusic.com Piano Lessons for Thwarted Geniuses with Peter Muir. Music instruction in piano, voice, clarinet, trumpet, and saxophone.

Individual and groups. Also special needs children and adults.

OUTFITTERS Kenco Route 28, Kingston, NY (845) 340-0552 www.atkenco.com 12/08 CHRONOGRAM BUSINESS DIRECTORY

83

PERFORMING ARTS Hudson River Performing Arts 29 Elm Street, Suite 205, Fishkill, NY (845) 896-1888 www.hudsonriverperformingarts.com Hudson River Performing Arts, located in Fishkill, NY, offers instruction in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Modern, Acting, Voice, Guitar and Piano. Our goal is to cultivate and nurture a love and knowledge of the performing Arts at both the pre-professional and recreational levels. Our programs are designed to provide students with a solid foundation of technique in a nurturing and affirming atmosphere.

PET SERVICES & SUPPLIES Pussyfoot Lodge B&B (845) 687-0330 www.pussyfootlodge.com The Pioneer in Professional Pet Care! Full house-pet-plant sitting service, proudly serving 3 counties in the Hudson Valley.

Experienced, dependable, thorough, and reasonable house sitting for your pets.

Thank you Hudson Valley for entrusting ALL your pets and homes to us for 37 years.

PHOTOGRAPHY 400 Square LLC

business directory

149 Main Street, Beacon, NY (914) 522-4736 info@400square.com 400 Square offers photographic services that include fine art printing, digital retouching, RAW processing and scanning of b/w and color film. We also specialize in portrait, fine art, event and advertising photography. Call for information on pricing of photographic services, session fees or assignment work.

David Morris Cunningham Woodstock, NY (914) 489-1991 www.davidmorriscunningham.com info@davidmorriscunningham.com

in the northeast region. Call John DeSanto or Larry Read for more information.

Upstate Light

RESTORATION

3 Water Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-3155 www.upstatelight.com

Rescued Relics Restoration

Art reproduction, large-format exhibition printing, film, and flatbed scanning. We have over 20 years experience in digital imaging for artists and photographers. We photograph 2 or 3 dimensional artwork using the large-format Better Light™ scanning camera back, either in our studio or on location. Quality and expertise you would expect in the city, dedicated personal service you’ll find upstate. By Appointment.

Professional wood finishes & restoration to suit your needs. Interior/Exterior. French polish, shellac & wax, lacquer, gold leafing, faux finishing, color matching, stains, touchups, bleaching, stripping & refinishing, sanding, staining, antiquing, & minor repairs. New or old wood of any type. 13 years experience. Work done on-site or take away. No job to LARGE or small.

PIANOS Adam’s Piano (845) 331-1300 or (518) 537-2326 www.adamspiano.com ADAMSPIANO.com. Featuring Kawai and other fine brands. 75 pianos on display in our showroom on Route 28 between Kingston and Woodstock. Open by appointment only.

Inventory and prices online. Superb service, rentals, storage, rebuilding.

PICTURE FRAMING Atelier Renee Fine Framing The Chocolate Factory, 54 Elizabeth Street, Suite 3, Red Hook, NY (845) 758-1004 www.atelierreneefineframing.com renee@atelierreneefineframing.com Formerly One Art Row, this unique workshop combines a beautiful selection of moulding styles and mats with conservation quality materials, expert design advice and skilled workmanship. Renee Burgevin CPF; 20 years experience. Special services include shadow-box and oversize framing as well as fabric-wrapped and French matting. Also offering mirrors.

PLUMBING & BATH

David Morris Cunningham is a Woodstock, NY-based photographer specializing in portraiture, performance photography, fine art and digital retouching.

N & S Supply

Michael Gold

Don’t settle for less, benefit from the best! N&S Supply is a third generation family owned and run business for over 60 years. At N&S Supply, we take pride in offering the highest quality plumbing and heating products at competitive prices.

Our experienced sales professionals will help you determine the right product for your project while keeping you within your budget. Our service is what makes us the best and easiest supply house to deal with.

Come and see why N&S Supply’s service is “Second to None.” N&S Supply offers many convenient locations throughout the Hudson Valley: Fishkill (845) 896-6291, Brewster (845) 279-8075, Kingston (845) 331-6700, Catskill (518) 943-2150, Hudson (518) 822-1771, and Danbury, CT (203) 791-9300.

The Corporate Image Photo Studio, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-5255 www.mgphotoman.com Artistic headshots of actors, singers, models, musicians, performing artists, writers, executive portraits, business, special event and web photography. Complete digital studio facilities and lighting. Creative, warm, original, professional. Lovable, too.

Unconditionally guaranteed.

France Menk Photography (845) 750-5261 www.france-menk.com iam@france-menk.com

www.nssupply.com info@nssupply.com

Interiors/Events/Portraits/Fashion/Advertising.

Fine art limited edition prints. Internationally exhibited. Private instruction in the art of photography: for all levels of experience.

PRINTING SERVICES

Photosensualis

At NY Press Direct we exist for one reason— to delight our customers! What does that mean to you? Worry-free shopping for all your printing and fulfillment needs. Our solutions are leading-edge in the industry.

Our pricing is among the most competitive

Rock City Road, Woodstock, NY (845) 679-5333 www.photosensualis.com Fine Print Sales. Modern and Vintage

84

Photography. Custom Sensual Portraiture.

Confidential Digital Services. Free Consultations.

New York Press Direct (845) 896-0894

BUSINESS DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

(347) 282-0416 omboy@att.blackberry.net

SCHOOLS Berkshire Country Day School P. O. Box 867, Lenox, MA (413) 637-0755 www.berkshirecountryday.org Founded in 1946, Berkshire Country Day School is an independent school serving students in Pre-kindergarten through Grade 9. BCD is an academically rigorous school with a caring community in which students and teachers share in the process of learning. Steadfast in its commitment to learning in the spirit of inquiry and discovery, the school community is dedicated to encouraging academic excellence at the highest level, advancing each student’s unique potential for well-rounded development, and fostering responsive and responsible citizenship.

Dutchess Community College Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 431-8000 www.sunydutchess.edu Dutchess Community College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system, was founded in 1957. The College offers an educational policy of access, quality, opportunity, diversity, and social responsibility. DCC’s main campus in Poughkeepsie is situated on 130 scenic acres with facilities that are aesthetically pleasing and technologically advanced. The College has a satellite campus, Dutchess South, in Wappingers Falls, and learning centers in Carmel, Staatsburg, and Pawling.

Hudson Valley School of Advanced Aesthetic Skin Care 256 Main Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-0013 www.hvsaesthetics.com info@hvsaesthetics.com With over 32 years of professional experience, Maria Ferguson, of the Hudson Valley School of Massage Therapy, is honored to offer you an extensive education, which will lead you to an exciting and rewarding career. She, along with an exclusive team of elite professional instructors have extended their affiliations in this learning institution through teaching, and are proud to thoroughly prepare and lead you into the next generation of Massage Therapists. HVSMT will groom you to cultivate a positive impact in the wellness industry. You will receive extensive hands-on and academic training in a nurturing, motivating environment.

Hudson Valley School of Massage & Skin Care 256 Main Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-0013 www.HVSMassageTherapy.com

info@hvsmassagetherapy.com Our graduates have gained a reputation in the aesthetic and massage therapy industry as knowledgeable, qualified, and disciplined workers.

Indian Mountain School 211 Indian Mountain Road, Lakeville, CT (860) 435-0871 www.indianmountain.org

Poughkeepsie Day School 260 Boardman Road, Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 462-7600, ext. 201 www.poughkeepsieday.org admissions@poughkeepsieday.org Poughkeepsie Day School, an independent co-educational school founded in 1934, serves 325 students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. With an intellectually challenging and creative curriculum that recognizes the strengths and talents of each child, we support them as they grow to become active, independent learners ready to take up the challenges of the future as global citizens. Small multi-graded classes and outstanding teachers create an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust. 100% of Poughkeepsie Day School graduates go on to college each year.

SHOES Pegasus Comfort Footwear 10 Mill Hill Road, Woodstock, NY (845) 679-2373 www.PegasusShoes.com Offering innovative comfort footwear by all your favorite brands. Merrell, Dansko, Keen, Clarks, Ecco and Uggs, and lots more. Open 7 days a week—or shop online at PegasusShoes.com. Also located at 27 North Chestnut Street, New Paltz, NY.

SNACKS Mister Snacks, Inc. (845) 206-7256 www.mistersnacks.com Call Vinny Sciullo for distribution of the finest snacks in the Hudson Valley. Visit our Gift Shop online.

SPAS & RESORTS Buttermilk Falls Inn & Spa 220 North Road, Milton, NY (877) 7-INN-SPA (845) 795-1310 www.buttermilkfallsinn.com; www.buttermilkspa.com Located on 75 acres overlooking the Hudson River. Brand new full service geothermal and solar spa. Organic products, pool, sauna and steam room.

Hiking trails, gardens, waterfalls, peacock aviary.

Emerson Resort & Spa (845) 688-1000 www.emersonresort.com There is a silk road running through the Hudson Valley. Introducing the new Emerson Resort & Spa; a place just minutes from Woodstock offering the comforting sense that one is no longer part of the outside world. The new Spa, with 10 beautifully designed treatment rooms, celebrates the old-world traditions of India and the Orients with Ayurvedic rituals and Japanese and Chinese therapies. Modern spa-goers will also appreciate more wellknown treatments like Swedish, sports,

SUPERMARKETS Adams Fairacre Farms Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 454-4330 www.adamsfarms.com Also located in Kingston, NY, (845) 336-6300 and Newburgh, NY, (845) 569-0303.

TATTOOS Pats Tats 948 State Route 28, Kingston, NY (845) 338-TAT2 www.patstats.com

THAI ART Fire Lotus 474 Main Street, Beacon, NY (845) 838-0292 www.thefirelotus.com

The only resource you need to plan a Hudson Valley wedding. Offering a free, extensive, and online Wedding Guide that highlights hundreds of weddingrelated professionals. Regional Bridal Show schedule, links, wed shop, vendor promotions, specials, and more. Call or email for information about adding your wedding-related business.

WINE & LIQUOR In Good Taste 45 Main Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-0110 ingoodtaste@verizon.net Full service wine and spirt shop with knowlegeable staff on hand 7 days a week.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 10am-9pm.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday 10am-10pm.

Sunday 12pm-6pm. Wine tastings every Saturday. Everyday 5% off 6 bottles of wine.

10% off 12 bottles of wine. Tuesdays 8% off any bottle of wine or spirit, 13% off any 6 bottles of wine, 18% off any 12 bottles of wine. We deliver and consult when planning a party, wedding or any other special occasion.

ICU Publish specializes in intensive care graphic design. On-site personalized consultation and training for both Mac and PC’s, web design, and publishing with customized data base driven websites created with the artist in mind. Limitededition book publishing, artist’s books, portfolios, dummys, proposals, business reports, manuscript editing, off-site or onsite freelance editing available.

WEDDINGS Hudson Valley Resort 400 Granite Road, Kerhonkson, NY (845) 626-8888 www.hudsonvalleyresort.com Nestled between the Shawangunks and the Catskills, the Hudson Valley Resort offers the perfect venue for your event.

Breathtaking views, elegant facilities, world-class golf, a delightful spa, attentive

1975

650.493.4430

r

www.itp.edu

Global Seminar: Transpersonal Psychology:

Practices and Applications January 30 - February 5, 2009 Presentation Center, Los Gatis, CA Students attending the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology’s Global Programs are given the opportunity to study from any location in the world by participating in a unique online learning environment supplemented by seminars held in various locations around the world. Seminars are an exciting way to get to know this dynamic learning community.

To download a seminar brochure go to: http://www.itp.edu.

Contact: Carla Hines, chines@itp.edu [ph] 650.493.4430 ext. 268.

Distance Learning Degree Programs: Ph.D. Psychology t Master of Transpersonal Psychology Certificate in Transpersonal Studies Transformational Life Coaching Professional Training

Open every day.

WORKSHOPS (845) 255-7090 www.wallkillvalleywriters.com khamherstwriters@aol.com

www.icupublish.com info@icupublish.com

Graduate Education for Mind, Body, and Spirit

45 Front Street, Millbrook, NY (845) 677-3311 www.villagewinemillbrook.com

Curious Minds Media, Inc

ICU Publish

SPERSON AL AN TR

Village Wine & Spirits

Wallkill Valley Writers

Coding skills and design sensibility makes Curious Minds Media the right choice for your next project. We are the region’s premiere provider of new media services.

TITUTE O INS F

(845) 336-4705 www.HudsonValleyWeddings.com; www.

HudsonValleyBaby.com; www.HudsonValleyBabies.com; www.HudsonValleyChildren.com judy@hudsonvalleyweddings.com

WEB DESIGN (888) 227-1645 www.curiousm.com

Institute of Transpersonal Psychology

Hudson Valley Weddings

business directory

A center for Thai Art and Culture in Beacon’s Antique District. Across from The Howland Cultural Center. Providing the Hudson Valley with Thai art, handbags, hand-fabricated jewelry/fine gems, vintage furniture, Teak, insects, and mulberry paper.

Graduate Gemologist on staff. Appraisals, estates purchased, diamond plotting, and grading.

hospitality and culinary excellence combine to culminate in an awe-inspiring occasion.

OLOGY YCH PS

and deep tissue massage, manicures, facials, and body wraps. Individuallytailored treatments are created by the experienced therapists who are skilled at delivering virtually all the Emerson Spa’s 40+ treatments. Spend the day enjoying the Spa’s hot tubs, steam showers, sauna, resistance pool, cardio equipment, yoga/ meditation room and relaxation area... all included with your spa visit. Day spa appointments available.

Creative writing workshops in New Paltz led by Kate Hymes, poet and educator.

Aspiring and experienced writers are welcome. WVW provides structured time, a supportive community and a safe place for you to fulfill the dream of writing your stories, real or imagined. Many writers find the community of a workshop benefits their work and keeps them motivated.

WRITING SERVICES CENTER TO PAGE: moving writers from the center to the page (845) 679-9441 www.centertopage.com Recent clients have sold first books to Penguin and Hyperion. But writing is not only about publication. I work with writers nationwide—memoirists, scholars, novelists, poets, and people seeking to develop an authentic writing practice. We work on drafting, overcoming blocks, reshaping text, querying agents, and publishing houses, and more. My role? To mentor, edit, and/or ghostwrite—depending on the writer. Author of The Journey from the Center to the Page, I teach poetics and creative nonfiction in WCSU’s MFA program and at conferences nationwide.

12/08 CHRONOGRAM BUSINESS DIRECTORY

85

whole living guide

more than a snip Re-examining Infant Circumcision A male’s foreskin is more than a bit of extra skin, and removing it is more than a simple snip.

by angela starks illustration by annie internicola

B

eing from England, I reached adulthood without even knowing that there was such a thing as the routine circumcision of newborn boys. In Europe it is rare, and it is estimated that between 80 and 95 percent of men worldwide are uncircumcised. But when I married an American and gave birth to a boy in the Hudson Valley, I learned that most boys are circumcised as a matter of course in the US. I informed my husband that I was against it for our child and he agreed. A few decades ago this would have been a radical choice: 85 percent of American boys in the 1980s were routinely circumcised.

But that has fallen to an average of 55 percent nationwide, with just 23 percent in the western states. This decrease is partly a result of immigration from countries where it is not practiced but may also be due to factors such as a gradual change in our perception of the custom and a greater awareness of medical facts.

Ninety percent of circumcisions in the US are done electively for nonreligious reasons, and it is these nonreligious ones that this article largely addresses. Still, it is worth noting that this ancient practice is often entwined with culture, ritual, and emotion. For Jews and Muslims, it represents a covenant with God. Traditionally, these faiths interpret the Bible to require boys to be circumcised, whether as infants, or later as a rite of passage.

J.P. of New Paltz (who asked that we use only his initials) is of Jewish heritage, yet he decided that he would “never allow” his son to be circumcised either for religious or medical reasons. “For me it was a no-brainer” he says. “I encountered a lot of protest from my family and in-laws. But to me, circumcision is a hold-over from less enlightened times.”

CIRCUMCISION IN THE UNITED STATES Circumcision first appeared here during the puritanical Victorian era, often within the context of Christian fervor, as an attempt to curb masturbation.

The aim was to create postoperative soreness and tight skin to make manipulation more difficult, and erections uncomfortable. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, a prominent medical doctor, wrote in 1888: “A remedy [for masturbation] which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision...without administering anesthetic, as the pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if connected with the idea of punishment.”

And in a time before the causes of disease were understood, doctors of the 1800s claimed it could prevent all manner of conditions, from bed-wetting and asthma to epilepsy and even polio. Gradually, other reasons to circumcise came into vogue. Today’s rationale for circumcision (other than religious ones) includes fears that an intact foreskin makes a penis difficult to clean and more prone to infection.

86 WHOLE LIVING CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Paul Mark Baker, MD, a pediatrician with Hudson Valley Pediatrics in Middletown observes that, of the parents who have their sons circumcised, “usually it’s cosmetic, and Junior is to have it because Daddy did.” Indeed, a father may be very resistant to a son who does not resemble him. In any case, in America we have grown accustomed to the appearance of a circumcised penis and as a result many people seem to prefer its aesthetics. For reasons such as these, many parents in the United States take it for granted that a son will be circumcised. As such, they may not investigate what the procedure entails and assume it to be a quick “snip,” attended by little discomfort and no side effects.

In reality, it is an invasive, painful operation.

MORE THAN A SNIP With the advent of YouTube and anticircumcision websites, parents can easily see the procedure for themselves. It is not pretty. To summarize a common hospital method: The baby is strapped to a board for the duration of the procedure, which lasts up to15 minutes. The foreskin is clamped and a probe is repeatedly forced between it and the glans (head of the penis) to break the secure bond that, in infants, attaches the foreskin to the glans. Once loosened, the foreskin is cut open to expose the glans. A bell-shaped instrument is fitted over the glans while the surrounding foreskin is finally cut off, removing at least 50 percent of the penile skin system (the foreskin being a continuation of the shaft skin and not merely a small flap at the end). The wound is cleansed, covered with Vaseline and gauze, and usually heals in one to two weeks.

While some doctors inject a local anesthetic into the base of the penis before the procedure (itself very painful), it is almost never used because it is risky for an infant, and actually considered unnecessary by some doctors.

Topical numbing creams are sometimes applied but are woefully inadequate.

Because the foreskin is highly innervated, babies typically scream and struggle throughout the operation. A few will exhibit signs consistent with shock, thus the reduced outward response in some babies. Several studies have recorded a markedly elevated heart rate and cortisol levels, intense crying, and other measures that indicate severe pain. A study as long ago as 1983 in the Journal of Pediatrics concluded, “This level of pain would not be tolerated by older patients.” Another study was ended early because babies were so obviously traumatized (Journal of the American Medical Association, 1997). The pain does not end with the procedure. With a raw wound, urination stings, contact with (and changing of) diapers is uncomfortable, and being held closely can hurt.

CIRCUMCISION UNDER SCRUTINY The American Medical Association issued this reminder in its 1999 Report

12/08 CHRONOGRAM WHOLE LIVING 87

of the Council on Scientific Affairs: “Virtually all current policy statements from specialty societies and medical organizations do not recommend routine neonatal circumcision.” The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) official policy statement states similarly that the medical evidence “is not sufficient to recommend routine neonatal circumcision.” Dr. Baker used to quote this when trying to dissuade parents from having it done, but says “after a while I just gave up, since it was clear they were going to anyway. If the babies themselves had a vote in Washington, it would never be done.”

Many eminent doctors and scientists advocate for a complete ban on routine circumcision on the grounds of pain, trauma, and complications. Famous pediatrician Benjamin Spock did a u-turn from his original support of circumcision to declare in 1976: “It is at least mildly dangerous. There is also a danger of emotional harm.” Some researchers have theorized that the trauma becomes imprinted in newly forming pleasure centers of the brain, so that sex is associated with pain later in life.

Dr. Baker has not personally seen many complications but admits, “There are horror stories, such as when a trainee obstetrician did a circumcision incorrectly and it had to be redone, including a skin graft.” Circumcision does have surgical risks and at least 20 documented short-term or long-term side effects, including ulceration at the site of surgery (in as many as half of circumcised babies), painful urination; abnormally shaped or shortened penis; loss of the entire penis due to infection; permanent pits and scars on the glans; painful swelling from severed lymph vessels; breathing difficulties and injury to internal organs from intense, prolonged crying; failure to breastfeed and interrupted parent-infant bonding when shock causes the infant to withdraw and pain affects his mood; and longer term psychological and nervous system damage. Death from circumcision is rare but does occur, and is usually due to uncontrollable bleeding or systemic infections. A 1979 edition of Sexual Medicine Today reported 229 fatalities per year. Although that reference is relatively old, the fact that iatrogenic deaths are known to be under-reported means that the figure may be more accurate than we would like to believe.

Official medical organizations in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland and Britain all have statements opposing routine circumcision; the British Medical Association describes it as “unethical and inappropriate.” Thomas J. Ritter, a surgeon and coauthor of Doctors Re-examine Circumcision, reminds his colleagues who still perform it: “You are violating the major tenet of medical care, ‘First do no harm,’ and all seven principles of the Medical Association Code of Ethics.”

not all have correspondingly low HIV infection rates.

Dr. Baker is among those who do not condone AIDS prevention as a reason for circumcision, noting that “while there is evidence that it could reduce the rate in Africa, it does not seem to make any difference here in the US.” Indeed, the United States has the highest percentage of sexually active circumcised men in the Western world, one of the highest rates of AIDS, and an epidemic of STDs.

HYGIENIC AND SEXUAL CONSIDERATIONS A circumcised penis is often thought of as more hygienic, but an intact penis is easy to keep clean. Moreover, the foreskin of an uncircumcised penis acts as a protective covering that maintains the glans as an internal organ, shielding it and the urinary opening from abrasion and germs. The foreskin’s inner surface is a mucous membrane similar to the underside of the eyelid or inside of the cheek. It produces lubricants, cleansing secretions, and antimicrobial proteins (such as lysozyme, also found in tears and breastmilk). It also maintains ideal pH balance and temperature. In infancy, the foreskin lips dilate only enough to allow for the passage of urine, protecting the developing glans from exposure.

The foreskin produces a natural emollient (smegma), as do female genitals.

Pediatrician Paul M. Fleiss describes it as “the most misunderstood, most unjustifiably maligned substance in nature.” Once thought by physicians of the 1800s to be a germ-trapping substance that was also unclean itself, this natural secretion helps to keep the glans clean and healthy, just as tears cleanse and lubricate the eyes. Accumulation of smegma can be prevented by simply rinsing it away on a regular basis.

As a movable sheath, the foreskin allows the penis to glide more smoothly in and out of the vagina within its own sleeve. Movement of the foreskin itself also contributes to a man’s pleasure. With more specialized nerve receptors than any other part of the penis, it is a major erogenous zone. A removed foreskin takes with it about 240 feet of nerves and 20,000 nerve endings. Circumcision may also remove the highly erogenous frenulum. And since the foreskin keeps the glans moist, the glans is more sensitive in an intact male. A circumcised penis exposes the glans to constant abrasion from clothing; together with the loss of its moist environment, this toughens the skin.

J.P. laments, “Circumcision is a physiological alteration of our most private parts for life. I will never get to experience that part of myself in its natural state.” Many men feel the same. Wishing to experience an intact penis, some are using specialized products to gradually stretch shaft skin over the glans to re-create (after months) a sheath-like covering.

CANCER AND INFECTIONS

THE FUTURE OF CIRCUMCISION

It is widely believed that circumcision can help prevent cancer and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The American Cancer Society “does not consider routine circumcision to be a valid or effective measure to prevent cancers” and finds that “penile cancer rates in countries which do not practice circumcision are lower than those found in the United States.” Penile cancer is rare; Ritter posits that a man has a greater chance of dying from breast cancer or from the circumcision itself. And while circumcision was suggested to help prevent cervical cancer in women because Jewish women had a lower incidence, nonJewish partners of circumcised men do not have a lower incidence. Also, European women do not have a higher rate than American women, even though most European men are uncircumcised.

Although some studies indicate that circumcision reduces the spread of STDs and urinary tract infections, the AAP discredited them as flawed in its 1999 policy statement, which it reaffirmed in 2005. The AMA acknowledges that some studies have linked circumcision to a lower rate of UTIs in the first year of life, but that such infections are rare in any case (0.4 to 1 percent).

Whether circumcision reduces likelihood of HIV infection or transmission continues to be debated. A 1999 meta-analysis of HIV/circumcision correlation studies published in the International Journal of STD & AIDS concluded, “Recommending routine circumcision as a prophylactic measure to prevent HIV infection in Africa, or elsewhere, is scientifically unfounded.” A trio of recent controlled studies in Africa found lower female-to-male transmission rates among circumcised men—a result underlying a wave of voluntary circumcision among some African men. But the design of these studies and their relevance in a complex cultural setting are being questioned by some HIV/ AIDS experts, and regions of Africa where circumcision is already common do

Circumcision is gaining momentum as a human rights issue. Increased condemnation of female circumcision (or “female genital mutilation”), which cuts away some or all of a girl’s external genitalia, has added a new perspective on male circumcision. Though the two differ in various ways, people are realizing that they are both attended by pain and loss of function. Some men have even filed lawsuits against their circumcisers and the first cases have already been settled. Examples include the case of William Stowell, who waited until the age of 18 when he was legally able to sue the doctor and Long Island hospital where he was circumcised, and Shane Peterson of Australia who was awarded $360,000 for a circumcision that was botched.

Ritualized circumcisions often differ from routine hospital procedures in technique and intentions, but similar pain and health issues apply. Religious rationale for circumcision is beyond the scope of this article, but readers interested in the controversy about circumcision on that basis will find fascinating perspectives and resources at Jews Against Circumcision (www.jewsagaintscircumcision.org) and in the books Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective by Ronald Goldman PhD, and Male and Female Circumcision among Jews, Christians and Muslims, by Sami Awad Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh.

In the end, the decision to circumcise or not is in the hands of the parents.

Still, the fact that a baby cannot give his own informed consent bothers activists such as Georganne Chapin, a health care executive and attorney who has taught bioethics. She is leading the formation of Intact America (www.intactamerica. org), a new organization, based in Tarrytown, dedicated to abolishing infant circumcision. Ms. Chapin’s own prediction is that “it will only be a short time before we realize that circumcision cannot cure our ills, and coercing vulnerable people to give up a critical part of their anatomy is a bioethical travesty.”

88 WHOLE LIVING CHRONOGRAM 12/08

TAROT on the HUDSON internationally renowned Certified Tarot Grand Master & Award Winning Novelist

with Rachel Pollack

Monthly classes - Rhinebeck & NYC Lectures Workshops Private Consultations Mentoring in Tarot and Writing Telephone: 845-876-5797 rachel@rachelpollack.com www.rachelpollack.com

FREE $25 GIFT CARD. CALL FOR DETAILS. "TAKE SOME TIME OFF" Skin Rejuvenation and Anti-Aging t )PMJEBZ (JGU $FSUJmDBUFT "WBJMBCMF

t TFFUI 8IJUFOJOH Teeth Whitening

! " # $ $ " # " %

& % " % ' ( )

When was the last time someone really listened to your body?

Roy Capellaro, PT

t (VBSBOUFFE 1FSNBOFOU -BTFS )BJS 3FNPWBM Guaranteed Permanent Laser Hair Removal t 'BDJBMT .JDSPEFSNBCSBTJPO BOE $IFNJDBM 1FFMT Titan Laser Non-Surgical Face Lifts t VBSJDPTF BOE 4QJEFS VFJOT Varicose and Spider Veins 4UFQIFO 8FJONBO .% 845.691.3773 | Highland, NY | EssenceMediSpa.com www.EssenceMediSpa.com | 845.691.3773 Named â&#x20AC;&#x153;Most Affordable Skin Care, Hudson Valleyâ&#x20AC;?

30,)44).'ä50 -!+%ä4(%ä%-0/7%2%$ ä2%30/.3)",%ä#(/)#%

-%$)!4)/.

Integrative Manual Physical Therapy Zero Balancing CranioSacral Therapy

$ESIGNä9OURä/WNä&UTURE .URTUREä9OURä#HILDREN 0RESERVEä9OURä!SSETS

125 Main Street ¡ Gardiner ¡ NY 845.518.1070 www.roycapellaro.com

relax under pressure

t #PUPY $PTNFUJD -PXFTU "SFB 1SJDFT Botox Cosmetic

RODNEY WELLS, CFP ääWWW MEDIATED DIVORCE COMä

C E N T E R F O R THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE Professional Massage and Spa Services

by NY Licensed Massage Therapists Salt Scrubs | Sugar Scrubs Mud Wraps | Anti-Aging Facial Parafin Treatment | Sauna

Dale Montelione Grust, LMT Director 96 Plains Road | NewPaltz, NY

NEW CLASSES ARGENTINE TANGO WITH ELLEN Mondays 6:30 - 8pm HIP HOP WITH YOUNG PARIS (thru 12/11) Thursdays 6:30 - 8pm GENTLE YOGA WITH TERRY Tuesdays 5:15 - 6:30pm VINYASA BHAKTI FLOW WITH RAGHUNATH Thursdays 8:30 - 10am

845-255-2188 www.massagenewpaltz.com 12/08 CHRONOGRAM WHOLE LIVING 89

Flowers Fall

Field Notes from a Buddhist Mom’s Experimental Life

By Bethany Saltman

A Detached Look at Attachment Parenting Yet, though it is like this, simply, flowers fall amid our longing, and weeds spring up amid our antipathy.

— Dogen Zenji, Genjokoan

T

he other day I was with a bunch of moms I didn’t know very well and one mentioned to her friend that she was decidedly not into “attachment parenting.” She shot a look at me, assuming, it appeared, that I decidedly am into it, and that I might have some big reaction.While I appreciate her desire to define herself in relation to this übercrunchy parenting style, since I’ve learned more about the history of attachment research, I wonder if she is more into it than she thinks.

Most of us take for granted the notion that babies need love to thrive—not just food and shelter, but touch and a bond with a particular person, usually a mom. However, this belief has actually been hard-won in the last 50 or so years.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Freud theorized that human beings are made up of intrapsychic drives, meaning we are born with our needs, urges, and conflicts lodged within our own unconscious minds. This is a massive simplification, but it seems that for Freud, other people were more like objects in our instinctual race to be gratified than related figures. So a mom could screw her kid up for life (not much has changed in that regard) through hasty toilet training, et cetera, but anyone could be a stand-in for Mother, because basically the kid just needed to get his or her needs met. Or not.

In the 1950s psychoanalysts began to question this model, noting that when children were removed from their mothers through hospitalization, they suffered terribly. They were fed, warm, kind of comforted, and somewhat stimulated, so what could be the problem? In Robert Karen’s excellent book, Becoming Attached (Oxford University Press, 1998), he traces the development in psychology toward realizing that mother and child are, in fact, biologically attached, and how disrupting that attachment impairs a child’s development. Big time.

Children, contrary to the behaviorist thinking of the time, love their mothers for reasons other than the conditioned response of affection for the food source, the big boob. John Bowlby, a psychoanalyst and pioneer in attachment theory, was inspired by research about how goslings were instinctively imprinted to the first moving object they saw upon hatching—their mamas—even though the babies could feed themselves. And then there’s the famous experiment where the baby monkeys clung to the terrycloth-covered wire monkey even though the plain, unadorned wire monkey dispensed the food.The little primates chose snuggles over chow.

These findings were controversial.The idea of children instinctively attaching to their mothers seemed silly to many of the so-called experts. Then along came Mary Ainsworth, who had been meticulously studying mothers and their babies around the world and noted that a mother’s relational, “attachment style” shaped a child’s sense of security and capacity to self-soothe. And Ainsworth found that the more responsive the mother, the more secure the baby. Responsiveness did not lead to wussiness, as many thought at the time, but to independence.

90 WHOLE LIVING CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Enter Dr. William Sears, a contemporary pediatrician, patriarch of a large Christian family, and a best-selling author who coined the term attachment parenting. Sears, who undoubtedly is well schooled in attachment research, has presented a coherent set of principles and practices for parents to live by in order to foster the healthy attachments Mary Ainsworth, for instance, studied.

The funny thing is that Ainsworth did much of her primary work in Uganda, observing mothers and their babies there. So when Dr. Sears encourages families to co-sleep (sleep with their child or children in their bed), “wear” their child in a sling, and nurse on demand, is he inadvertently suggesting that we parent like Ugandans? Just a thought.

In any case, when Azalea was born, I loved wearing her in a sling. I nursed constantly. But we also engaged in sleep training, meaning we allowed her to cry herself to sleep, which was horrific, but resulted (in two nights) in a baby who slept through the night and was totally psyched to get up in the morning.

“Crying it out” (along with formula feeding, vaccinations, and a list of other taboos) is not even allowed to be mentioned on a popular attachment parenting online discussion board.

Most parents I know adopt combinations of styles. And even someone who refuses the label of Sears-style attachment parent most likely functions as an Ainsworth-style one, or at least tries to. I doubt the woman I met questions whether or not she should respond sensitively to her infant. Even Bowlby says, “There were very loving mothers who had bottle-fed their babies and some very rejecting mothers who had breastfed their babies.And it seemed to me that the feeding variable was totally irrelevant.” But we can all get self-righteous about whatever way we think is best. I get it. There is a lot at stake. This is where detachment, a term we hear a lot in Buddhism, comes in handy—as we judge other parents, judge ourselves, and try to turn something as subtle and profound as attachment into a technique. Also known as nonattachment, detachment is the practice of maintaining enough awareness to actually see through our assumptions, breaking down our belief in our beliefs. We may never stop (I’m told) thinking our crazy, angry, or judging thoughts, but through the practice of detachment, we invest less in those thoughts and can pause before acting on them. Eventually the thoughts dissolve.As parents, this is useful. I guess you could call it “detachment parenting.”

For instance, if Azalea has a tantrum as we leave the library, the thought crosses my mind that everyone there probably thinks I suck. That thought makes my body tense up. I experience the tension as impatience. I attempt to rush Azalea out even faster. She lays flat on the floor and freaks out. I notice the urge to yank her up off the floor like a wire monkey and remove her immediately. Because I have a hairsbreadth of awareness in that moment, I save myself and her.

I am detached enough to remain attached.

This time.

THE SANCTUARY A Place for Healing

5 ACADEMY STREET NEW PALTZ

845.255.3337 www.newpaltzsanctuary.com

Presence is the Gift

Looking for dynamic, life-serving, co-creative gifts...

Gift certificates and Gift packages available for Couples Massages, Improv Theatre Classes, Kabbalistic Healing Sessions, Jin Shin Jyutsu, Yoga Classes, Inner Voice Drawing Workshops, Goddess Workshops, Writing Classes 255-3337 #2

Therapeutic massage

C LASSICAL A CUPUNCTURE & C HINESE H ERBS

annie serrante, lmt, lmsw 25+ years experience For more information: 255-3337 ext. 1 $15 off gift certificates purchased December 1 - December 18

GENTLE YOGA JENNIFER HUNDERFUND, RYT, lmt Fridays, 12–1pm — Core strengthening and hip openers Drop-in rate: $12. Monthly rate: $40

Counseling & Psychotherapy

dylana accolla

m.s.,l.aC.

ARiella Morris, LCSW-R EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, Mindfulness Body-Centered and Talk Therapy for Trauma, Abuse, Relationships, Accidents, Illness/Surgery & the hurts of life (Sliding scale) 853-3325

Kingston (845) 853-7353

SUNHEAT- Infra Red Heating System

DYL ANA@MINDSPRING.COM

One Day Sale-Dec. 6 1:30-5:30pm Save Mega $$$ on your Heating Bill...

High Ridge Traditional Healing Arts Since 1992, specializing in the treatment of pain

針灸 中藥 推拿 氣功 食療 five healing paths

Carolyn Rabiner, L. Ac. Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine 87 East Market St. Suite 102 Red Hook, NY 845-758-2424 www.highridgeacupuncture.com

Susan DeStefano

845.255.6482 12/08 CHRONOGRAM WHOLE LIVING 91

whole living guide

ACTIVE RELEASE TECHNIQUES Dr. David Ness

whole living directory

(845) 255-1200 www.drness.com

Relationships are a challenge.

Are you feeling hopeless?

Have your relationships gone nowhere?

Are you struggling with the one you have?

Are you tired of looking?

You deserve better.

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Unlock Your Capacity to Build a Great Relationship t *EFOUJGZ ZPVS QBUUFSOT t (FU VOTUVDL t "TTFTT XIBU ZPV OFFE t 'JOE QSBDUJDBM TPMVUJPOT UP 3FBM 0CTUBDMFT

MEG F. SCHNEIDER, MA, LCSW Psychotherapist and author of many self-help books featured on National TV EMDR | Call 845 876 8808 for a consultation www.megfschneiderlcsw.com

Active Release Techniques (ARTÂŽ) is a patented soft tissue treatment system that heals injured muscles, tendons, fascia (covers muscle), ligaments, and nerves. It is used to treat acute or chronic injuries, sports injuries, repetitive strain injuries and nerve entrapments like carpal tunnel syndrome, and sciatica. ARTÂŽ is also used before and after surgery to reduce scar tissue formation and build up. ARTÂŽ works to break up and remove scar tissue deep within and around injured muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves. The injured muscle, joint, ligament, and nerves are moved through a range of motion while a contact is held over the injured structure.

This breaks up the scar tissue and heals the tissue faster than traditional treatments.

ARTÂŽ doctors are trained in over 500 hands on protocols and must undergo rigorous written and practical examination to become certified. In order to maintain their certification in ARTÂŽ doctors attend yearly continuing education and re-certification by ARTÂŽ.

ACUPUNCTURE

Zen Mountain Monastery Abbot John Daido Loori Konrad Ryushin Marchaj, Resident Priest

Zen Center of New York City Abbot John Daido Loori Geoffrey Shugen Arnold, Resident Teacher â&#x2014;&#x2020; Comprehensive introduction to Zen â&#x2014;&#x2020; The Eight Gates of Zen training matrix â&#x2014;&#x2020; â&#x2014;&#x2020; Weekend and week-long retreats and sesshins â&#x2014;&#x2020; â&#x2014;&#x2020; Easily accessible from all northeast cities â&#x2014;&#x2020; â&#x2014;&#x2020;

For more information: :-- s registrar@mro.org :#.9# s lRELOTUS MRO ORG

Visit our award-winning website at www.mro.org

92

WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Acupuncture Health Care Associates 108 Main Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-7178 Peter Dubitsky, L.Ac., Callie Brown, L.Ac., and Leslie Wiltshire, L.Ac. Mr. Dubitsky is a faculty member and the Director of Clinical Training at the Tri-State College of Acupuncture, and a member of the NY State Board for Acupuncture. Ms. Brown and Ms. Wiltshire each have years of acupuncture experience in private practice and in medical offices. We are all highly experienced, national board certified, NYS Licensed acupuncturists.

We combine traditional Asian acupuncture techniques with a modern understanding of acupuncture and Oriental medicine to provide effective treatments of acute and chronic pain conditions, and other medical

disorders. In addition to our general practice we also offer a Low-cost Acupuncture Clinic which is available for all people who meet our low income guidelines.

Carrie Andress 166 Albany Avenue, Kingston, NY (845) 338-5575 Carrie Andress is a NYS licensed nationally board certified acupuncturist and certified in Chinese Medicine. Her main focus is in helping the body return to a healthy state, bringing dramatic results to acute and chronic pain and internal disorders.

Carrie combines a genuinely inspirational and original blend of Acupressure, Applied Kinesiology, Cranio Sacral Therapy, Acupressure, Chinese Medicine and Nutrition to transform people to their highest potential of greater health. Also located in 120 Main Street, Gardiner, NY, (845) 674-3778.

Classical Acupuncture & Chinese Herbs 303 Fair Street, Kingston, NY (845) 853-7353 For those looking for a radical, no-nonsense approach to pain, physical, mental, and spiritual dis-ease or discomfort, Dylana Accolla and Classical Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs offers 17 years of experience in the healing arts. Co-author of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Back to Balance: a Self-Help Guide to Far East Asian Remedies,â&#x20AC;? Dylana trained in bodywork, qigong, and tai ji chuan in Japan, graduated from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in San Francisco, and completed post-graduate studies at the Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Cheng-Du, China. She specializes in gynecological and fertility work. Her practice is wide-ranging, including treatment of allergies, asthma, bronchitis, chronic and acute pain, depression and anxiety, digestive issues, fatigue, gallstones, headaches, lingering common colds, Lyme disease, menopausal issues, prostate problems, sleep disorders, vertigo and dizziness, and weakened immune systems. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dylanaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s approach is dynamic. Her results are dramatic. Her practice brings about life-changing epiphanies, releasing pain and trauma.â&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;&#x201D;A Satisfied Patient

Earthbound Herbs and Acupuncture

ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE

Kingston, NY (845) 339-5653 www.earthboundapothecary.com

Judith Muir—The Alexander Technique

Creating health in partnership with nature.

Effective, informative healthcare based in the profound traditions of Chinese medicine.

Both private and community acupuncture ($15-$35 sliding scale) is available to ensure affordability to all. Apothecary specializes in local, organic Asian and native herbs available in bulk, tincture, tea mixtures and much more. Workshops, apprenticeships, garden tours. Founded by Hillary Thing, MS, LAc., Professor and Clinic Supervisor at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in NYC, with over 10 years of clinical experience. The main office is located at Apothecary in Kingston and my home office, Gardens in Accord, NY.

High Ridge Traditional Healing Arts – Acupuncture, Oriental Medicine – Carolyn Rabiner, L. Ac. 87 East Market Street, Suite 102, Red Hook, NY (845) 758-2424 www.highridgeacupuncture.com

Hoon J. Park, MD, PC 1772 Route 9, Wappingers Falls, NY (845) 298-6060 For the past 18 years, Dr. Hoon J. Park has been practicing a natural and gentle approach to pain management for conditions such as arthritis, chronic and acute pain in neck, back, and legs, fibromyalgia, motor vehicle and workrelated injuries, musculoskeletal disorders, and more by integrating physical therapy modalities along with acupuncture. Dr. Hoon Park is a board-certified physician in physical medicine and rehabilitation, pain medicine, and electrodiagnostic studies.

His experienced, friendly staff offer the most comprehensive and individualized rehabilitative care available. Please call the office to arrange a consultation. New patients and most insurances are accepted.

Half mile south of the Galleria Mall.

Mid-Hudson Acupuncture— William Weinstein, L.Ac. New Paltz and Manhattan, NY (845) 255-2070 or (212) 695-3565 www.mhacu.com Announcing MEI ZEN COSMETIC ACUPUNCTURE at Mid-Hudson Acupuncture. Present yourself the way you wish to be. Feel great inside! Look great outside!® Personalized, unhurried treatment tailored to your specific needs.

ALSO: Relief from headache, migraine, arthritis, carpal tunnel, TMJ/TMD, repetitive strain, rotator cuff injury, and stress-related syndromes stemming from the modern lifestyle. Support through chronic illness, including relief from the adverse effects of cancer care. NHAI, Oxford, Elderplan. MC/ V/D. New Paltz: 218 Main Street. Manhattan: 119 West 23rd Street.

CHIROPRACTOR

(845) 677-5871 www.JudithMuir.com The Alexander Technique is a simple practical skill that when applied to ourselves enhances coordination, promoting mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Improve the quality of your life by learning how to do less to achieve more. Judith Muir, AmSAT.

APOTHECARY Dr. Tom’s Tonics 6384 Mill Street, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-5556 www.drfrancescott.com info@drfrancescott.com The Hudson Valley’s first and only true alternative to today’s drug store with a naturopathic doctor on-site. A natural pharmacy, providing the community with innovative natural medicines along with Dr. Tom’s own professional formulations.

Specializing in best quality fish oils, probiotics, proteins, detox products, and now pet remedies. Walk into Dr. Tom’s Tonics and let Dr. Tom help you and your pet achieve better health.

Monarda Herbal Apothecary (845) 339-2562 www.monarda.net In honoring the diversity, uniqueness, and strength of nature for nourishment and healing, we offer organic and ecologically wildcrafted herbs using tradition as our guide. Certified organic alcohol tinctures, teas, salves, essential oils, and more.

Product Catalog $1. Workshops and Internships.

The Natural Way to Health Chiropractic is...

• An approach to health which utilizes the body’s inherent and natural recuperative powers • A healing science which places emphasis on maintaining the structural integrity of the body • A method of health care which is conservative and which does not utilize drugs or surgery

The doctor of the future will give no

4311 Albany Post Road Hyde Park, NY 12538 For Appointments (845) 229-8868

medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.

Attributed to Thomas Edison

whole living directory

At High Ridge Traditional Healing Arts, patients enjoy an advanced level of care, based on the ancient tradition of Oriental Medicine, enhanced by approaches developed through modern research. Regaining healthy balance in an environment full of stressors may call for more than one modality – all five of the professionally practiced branches of Taoist healing arts are offered. Over 16 years experience.

Dr. Robert S. Exelbert

AROMATHERAPY Joan Apter (845) 679-0512 www.apteraromatherapy.com japter@ulster.net See also Massage Therapy.

ART THERAPY Deep Clay (845) 255-8039 www.deepclay.com deepclay@mac.com Michelle Rhodes, LMSW ATR-BC. Short-term counseling and in-depth psychoanalytic arts-based psychotherapy.

Activates creative imagination to enhance healing and problem solving for life transitions, bereavement, trauma, and dissociative disorders. Women’s group and individual studio sessions. Children, adults, and teens.

ASTROLOGY Planet Waves Kingston, NY (877) 453-8265 www.planetwaves.net Offering a weekly newsletter with news, astrology, and horoscopes. Private astrological consultations by appointment.

We can help you achieve the peace and ease of movement you are searching for in your body, in your mind, and in your spirit. CranioSacral Therapy, Energy Healing, Therapeutic Massage, Advanced Myofacial Techniques & Health Kinesiology are available to assist you with finding health. You take care of your car, why not take care of the primary vehicle that gets you through life —YOU!

Hudson Valley Therapeutic Massage 243 Main St., Suite 220 Michele Tomasicchio, LMT, Owner New Paltz, NY 12561 Katie Hoffstatter, LMT (845) 255-4832 / hvtm@hvc.rr.com M-F: 8:30am - 7pm Sat: 9am - 3pm 12/08 CHRONOGRAM WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY

93

Spirit Root Services

Public shows, school programs and other events. www.hudsonriverplayback.org or call 845.255.7716

(845) 897-3280

R is AT ley Val HE

-H Mid

E!

T on om uds ACK pot fr s B e s Y e ori

th st LA f P sic ons’ true o u ber E OM and m em H m e the Theatrdience au The

applied kinesiology t acupressure t t soft tissue therapy t t cranial sacral therapy t facial rejuvenation t

Springbrook Medical Park, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-7100 www.absolute-laser.com

t pain t sinusitus t stress reduction t t stomach/gastrointestinal distress t t GYN disorders t fertility t

whole living directory

I recently broke my arm and tore a ligament in my elbow. I wanted to avoid surgical intervention. After a few treatments with Carrie there was a complete resolution of pain, stability, and range of motion. I’m grateful for Carrie’s efforts in allowing me to avoid surgery. —Mary Tyler, R.N. Kingston

Absolute Laser, LLC offers commitment to beautiful skin through outstanding care and service. Offering Laser Hair Removal, Microdermabrasion, Vitalize Peel, and Fotofacial RF. The Fotofacial RF is the next generation in high-tech skin enhancement.

These gentle, no downtime treatments are used to improve cosmetic appearance of the face, neck, hands, and body. The results are brighter, smoother, more radiant, and luminescent skin. This process delivers results that skin care products alone cannot do! Recover and rediscover the youth and vitality of your skin. Call for a complimentary consultation: Janice DiGiovanni.

Essence MediSpa, LLC—Stephen Weinman, MD 222 Route 299, Highland, NY (845) 691-3773 www.EssenceMediSpa.com “Take Some Time Off” at Essence MediSpa with skin rejuvenation and anti-aging treatments. Teeth Whitening, treatment for age spots and skin lesions, Botox Cosmetic, laser hair removal, Non-surgical skin tightening using the Thermage System, Varicose and Spider Vein treatments, Microdermabrasion, chemical peels, acne treatments, facials, and massage services.

71 Main St. New Paltz A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive, a billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age, and every year we slaughter more than 10 Billion land animals,while feeding, washing and medicating 20 Billion more, just to satisfy our palettes.

Facilitator: Amy Frisch, CSWR some insurances accepted space is limited

(845) 706-0229 for more information

A group designed especially for teenage girls focusing on issues of adolescence: relationships, school, dealing with parents, coping with teen stress, and more.

Group sessions include expressive art activities - it‛s not all talk!

WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

(845) 255-1200 www.drness.com Dr. David Ness is a Certified Active Release Techniques (ART®) Provider and Certified Chiropractic Sports Practitioner specializing in helping athletes and active people quickly relieve their pain and heal their injuries. In addition to providing traditional chiropractic care, Dr. Ness utilizes ART® to remove scar tissue and adhesions in order to restore mobility, flexibility, and strength faster than standard treatments will allow. If you have an injury that has not responded to treatment, call Dr. Ness for an appointment today.

Exelbert Chiropractic 4311 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, NY (845) 229-8868

166 Albany Avenue,, Kingston, NY (845) 339-LASER (5273) www.medicalaestheticshv.com

68 West Cedar Street, Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 473-3558

(845) 485-5933

Tuesday Evenings New Paltz, New York

Dr. David Ness

Mancarella Chiropractic—Dr. Antonio Mancarella

Irene Humbach, LCSW, PC— Body of Wisdom Counseling & Healing Services

www.environmentalistdiet.blogspot.com

CHIROPRACTIC

Medical Aesthetics of the Hudson Valley

BODY-CENTERED THERAPY

Be a part of the change:

94

BODY & SKIN CARE Absolute Laser, LLC

First Fridays of the month, 8pm at Boughton Place, Kisor Road, Highland, NY. Call 845.691.4118 or 845.255.5613

t

Spirit Root Services: The Astrological Wheel and YouNatal Chart Consultations, Chart Relocations—Astrocartography,Transits and Progressions, Composite Charts—couples, parents, and children. Regular classes for all levels.

fend off disease and old age. It prepares the body to withstand the rigorous training of Martial Arts and helps us to live a long life, free of degenerative diseases.

Tai Chi Chuan, based on the same principles as Chi Gung, further embodies the expression of our intrinsic energy (CHI) in general physical movement and stillness meditation, as well as the deeply intricate movements found in the self-defense aspect of the Tai Chi form. Both of these practices were founded on the combination of Shaolin Buddhist meditation, Shaolin martial body mechanics and Taoist spiritual alchemy, but the first step in attaining results in these arts depends on setting the body and mind to the true nature of things… there are no short cuts. These esoteric practices have brought health, vitality, and youthfulness to me and my students, some of whom are in their 70s and 80s. The only requirements for Chi Gung and Tai Chi Chuan are determined practice of the principles and the will to persevere.

By integrating traditional and alternative therapy/healing approaches, including Body-Centered Psychotherapy, IMAGO Couples’ Counseling, and Kabbalistic Healing, I offer tools for self healing, to assist individuals and couples to open blocks to their softer heart energy. Tensession psycho-spiritual group for women.

Offices in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz.

CHI GUNG—TAI CHI CHUAN HAWKS (845) 750-6488 The spiritual alchemy practices of ancient Taoist sorcerers and Shaolin Buddhist monks, yielded these two treasures of Chinese internal Gung Fu. Chi Gung: This meditative practice incorporates and integrates both stillness and motion to strengthen the body and mind. Its deep breathing techniques, stretching and massaging of the acupuncture meridians, tendons, ligaments and muscles helps to

Located near Marist and Saint Francis.

Practicing for 21 years. Combining traditional chiropractic therapy with current rehabilitation and core strengthening exercises. Most insurance accepted including Worker’s Compensation, No Fault, and Medicare. Convenient early morning and late evening appointments available.

CLEANING SERVICES— NONTOXIC Bless Your Hearth—Truly Natural Cleaning Services (845) 706-8447 Soundofspheres@aol.com Experienced, professional, non-toxic cleaning and organizing service. Pet sitting. Home/business blessings. Excellent references.

COLON HEALTH CARE/ COLONICS Connie Schneider—Certified Colon Therapist New Paltz, NY (845) 256-1516 www.hudsonvalleycolonics.com Colon hydrotherapy or colonics is a gentle approach to colon health. A healthy

digestive tract helps support a healthy immune system, improving overall health, basics for a healthy lifestyle. Herbal Detox Programs available. See display ad.

COUNSELING

clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs. Healing conversations for the entire family, gerentological services for the elderly and support for caretakers.

Grief counseling, motivational interviewing for substance abuse, couples work, LGBT issues, PTSD and childhood trauma, depression, anxiety and performance anxiety. Fee: $25.00 a clinical hour.

FACIALS â&#x20AC;˘ WAXING â&#x20AC;˘ SKINCARE

IONEâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Healing Psyche (845) 339-5776 www.ionedreams.org IONE is psycho-spiritual therapist, Qi Healer and inter-faith minister, who is director of the Ministry of MaĂĽt, Inc. Specializing in myth and heritage, dream phenomena and womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s issues, she facilitates writing workshops and Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mysteries programs and leads retreats to sacred locations throughout the world. An author and playwright, her works include Pride of Family; Four Generations of American Women of Color and Listening in Dreams.

Offices in Kingston and New York City. Fax: (845) 331-6624.

GOURMET CHOCOLATE FRUIT ARRANGEMENTS Edible Arrangements Kingston, NY (845) 339-3200 www.ediblearrangements.com Over 600 stores nationwide!

HEALING CENTERS

6384 Mill Street, Rhinebeck , NY (845) 876-5556

Crystals & Well-Being Center

We are focused on providing the best, most comprehensive natural health care for the entire family in the Hudson Valley.

We strive to work together as a team to help treat our clients. Our professional staff includes: Dr. Thomas J. Francescott, ND (Integrative Naturopathic Medicine); Sequoia Neiro, LMT (Therapeutic Massage); Anne Ballantine, LAc (Acupuncture); Myrna Sadowsky, LCSW (Psychotherapy); Jana Vengrin, RN, NP (Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner); Chris VanOrt (ONDAMEDÂŽ).

CUSTOM PORTRAITS Pet Painting (845) 679-7327 www.petpaintingusa.com

The Sanctuary: A Place for Healing (845) 255-3337 A quaint healing center in a quiet part of downtown New Paltz. Offering Craniosacral Therapy, Massage, Psychotherapy, Reiki, Dr. Hauschka Facials, Counseling, Restorative Yoga, and Kabbalistic Healing.

Classes in Spontaneous Theater, Toning, NVC, Pathwork. Call for an appointment.

HEALTH FOOD STORES

DENTISTRY

Hawthorne Valley Farm Store

Tischler Family Dental Center

327 Route 21C, Ghent, NY (518) 672-7500, ext. 1 www.hawthornevalleyfarm.org

Woodstock, NY (845) 679-3706 www.tischlerdental.com With over 35 years experience, Tischler Dental is the leading team of dental care experts in the area. Dr. Michael Tischler is currently one of only two Board Certified Implant Dentists in the Hudson Valley Region of NYS and one of only 300 dentists in the world to have achieved this honor.

Sedation dentistry, acupuncture with dental treatment, dental implant surgery, cosmetic makeover procedures and gum surgery are just a few of the many unique services Tischler Dental offers. Their practice philosophy is that each modality of dental treatment is performed by the practitioner that is best trained in that area. Working as a team, they deliver ideal dental care.

FAMILY THERAPY Laura Coffey, MFA, LMSW Rosendale, NY (845) 399-0319 undefinedreading@gmail.com Family Therapist specializing in Narrative Therapy. Practice includes eclectic interventions tailored to suit individual

www.thebodystudionewpaltz.com 845-255-3512

whole living directory

Dedicated to your body and soul, the center offers a large selection of spectacular and energetically powerful crystals, holistic gifts, books, and jewelry at extremely competitive prices. Also, in this breathtaking space, our licensed massage therapists, acupuncturist, chiropractor, and certified energy healers will move your energy and pain away.

Healing per appointment. Contact us for info on upcoming events and Qi-Classes schedule. Gift Certificates available.

Located inside the renovated yellow church.

B O D Y STU D I O

Rhinebeck Cooperative Health Center

CRYSTALS & WELL-BEING

116 Sullivan Street, Wurtsboro, NY (845) 888-2547 crystalshealing.googlepages.com crystalswellbeing@gmail.com

T H E

An Organic and Natural Grocery Store.

Hawthorne Valley Farm Store features delicious foods made here on our Biodynamic organic farm, including raw milk, artisan cheese, yogurt, homemade bread, and desserts. We also feature local and organic fruits and vegetables, holistic body care, and homeopathic remedies. We are part of Hawthorne Valley Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture, education, and the arts. Our farming practices reflect our commitment to the Earth and our education programs raise awareness of the social, ecological, and economic importance of agriculture in our daily lives.

HOLISTIC HEALTH Cassandra Currie, MS, RYTâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Holistic Health Counselor 41 John Street, Kingston, NY (845) 532-7796 Cassandra is a Kripalu-Certified Yoga Teacher and Certified Ayurvedic Nutritionist with a MS in Counseling Psychology.

She offers integrative health counseling to individuals as well as groups, melding

t *OUFHSBUJOH 5BML #PEZ $FOUFSFE DzFSBQZ t *."(0 $PVQMFT 3FMBUJPOTIJQ $PVOTFMJOH t #MFOEFE 'BNJMZ $PVOTFMJOH t *OUFHSBUFE ,BCCBMJTUJD )FBMJOH t &YDFQUJPOBM .BSSJBHF .FOUPSJOH DPVQMF UP DPVQMF

IRENE HUMBACH, LCSW, PC OďŹ&#x192;ces in New Paltz & Poughkeepsie (845) 485-5933

Judy Swallow MA, LCAT, TEP

14:$)05)&3"1*45 t $0/46-5"/5

Rubenfeld SynergyÂŽ Psychodrama Training

~

25 Harrington St, New Paltz NY 12561 (845) 255-5613 12/08 CHRONOGRAM WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY

95

H YPNOCOACHING M I N D / B O D Y I N T E G R A T I O N ):1/04*4 t /-1 t $0"$)*/( .ĒğĒĘĖ 4ĥģĖĤĤ t "ġġģĖęĖğĤĚĠğĤ t 1ĒĚğ t *ĞġģĠħĖ 4ĝĖĖġ 3ĖĝĖĒĤĖ 8ĖĚĘęĥ t 4Ėĥ (ĠĒĝĤ t $ęĒğĘĖ )ĒēĚĥĤ 1ģĖ 1ĠĤĥ 4ĦģĘĖģĪ t (ĖğĥĝĖ $ęĚĝĕēĚģĥę *ĞĞĦğĖ 4ĪĤĥĖĞ &ğęĒğĔĖĞĖğĥ 1ĒĤĥ -ĚėĖ 3ĖĘģĖĤĤĚĠğ t 4ĠĦĝ 3ĖĥģĚĖħĒĝ .ĠĥĚħĒĥĚĠğĒĝ é 4ġĚģĚĥĦĒĝ (ĦĚĕĒğĔĖ

3ĖĝĒĩ t 3ĖĝĖĒĤĖ t -Ėĥ (Ġ t 'ĝĠĨ

H Y P N O B I RT H I N G ® Kary Broffman, R.N., C.H. --

Ayurvedic nutritional counseling, yoga, and more traditional therapeutic techniques to guide people toward greater selfawareness, empowering them to find joy, balance, and health in their daily lives. Call for classes, appointments, and consultations.

Dragonfly Holistic 1181 North Avenue, Beacon, NY (845) 463-2802 www.dragonflyholistic.com

John M. Carroll, Healer Kingston, NY (845) 338-8420 www.johnmcarrollhealer.com John Carroll is an intuitive healer, teacher, and spiritual counselor who integrates mental imagery with the God-given gift of his hands. John has helped individuals suffering from acute and chronic disorders.

Visit John’s website or call for more information.

Madhuri Therapeutics—Bringing Health to Balance Alice Velky LMT, RYT, ,

HYPNOSIS Kary Broffman, RN, CH Hyde Park, NY (845) 876-6753 A registered nurse with a BA in psychology since 1980, Kary is certified in Ericksonian Hypnosis, Hypnobirthing, and Complementary Medical Hypnotism, hypnocoaching with the National Guild.

She has also studied interactive imagery for nurses. By weaving her own healing journey and education into her work, she helps to assist others in accessing their inner resources and healing potential.

Sharon Slotnick, MS, CHT New Paltz, NY (845) 389-2302 Increase self-esteem and motivation; break bad habits; manage stress, stressrelated illness, and anger; alleviate pain (e.g. childbirth, headaches, chronic pain); overcome fears and despondency; relieve insomnia; improve learning, memory, public speaking, and sports performance; enhance creativity. Other issues. Change your outlook. Gain Control. Make healthier choices. Certified Hypnotist, two years training; broad base in Psychology. Also located in Kingston, NY.

(845) 797-4124

whole living directory

madhurihealing@optonline.net

Monarda Herbal Apothecary Annual Herbal Classes Beginning Every Spring.

A Yoga-based mind-body approach for adults, children, and special needs populations of all ages. Gentle, safe and effective treatment for ASD’s, developmental, attention and learning differences; anxiety, depression, chronic pain & immune syndromes. Therapeutic Yoga, Yoga for the Special Child, Licensed Massage Therapy, Reiki, and other traditional healing modalities can return you, your child or loved one to a naturally balanced state of health and harmony.

Namaste. We look forward to working with you!

Omega Institute for Holistic Studies 1 (800) 944-1001

Monarda Offers: Full Herbal Products Line, Certified Organic Alcohol Tinctures, Private Consultations.

www.monarda.net

www.eomega.org Omega Institute is in its fourth decade of awakening the best in the human spirit. Join us for Winter Learning Vacations in Costa Rica and St. John and keep your eye on our website—our 2008 Rhinebeck season will be for sale soon.

Thank you for supporting local herbalists.

Ron Figueroa, MA, CHT Amy Colón, Herbalist

845-339-2562

48 Cutler Hill Road Eddyville, NY 12401

(845) 399-2098 www.centerforwholelifehealing.com

HOMEOPATHY Hudson Valley School of Classical Homeopathy (845) 255-6141

WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Irene Humbach, LCSW, PC (845) 485-5933 Integrated Kabbalistic Healing sessions in person and by phone. Six-session introductory class on Integrated Kabbalistic Healing based on the work of Jason Shulman. See also Body-Centered Therapy Directory.

LIFE COACHING Jessica Thayer, LLC 1 (800) 291-5576 www.jessicathayer.com Serving artists, healers, creatives, and other sensitives called to integrate their rich interior worlds into their daily lives. When therapy for the past fails to provide the tools for the future. Schedule your initial consultation online.

Shirley Stone, MBA, Certified Empowerment Life Coach Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-2194 www.findingthecourage.com Shirley@findingthecourage.com Want to convert fear into courage, stress into power, depression into joy, worry into satisfaction? Consider empowerment life coaching. Get clarity on the life you want plus the tools and techniques to make your dreams a reality. Stop being a problem solver and become a vision creator.

Suzy Meszoly, DSH/Classical Homeopathy

MASSAGE THERAPY

(845) 626-7771

Conscious Body—Ellen Ronis McCallum, LMT

Safe, effective, natural, individualized homeopathic health care for chronic and acute illness. Suzy Meszoly is an internationally trained and experienced homeopath, hands on healer and counselor. Using a gentle approach suitable for newborns, infants, pregnant moms, adults, and the elderly for a wide range of physical, mental, and emotional issues.

96

INTEGRATED KABBALISTIC HEALING

426 Main Street, Rosendale, NY (845) 658-8400 www.consciousbodyonline.com Ellen@consciousbodyonline.com Offering deep, sensitive and eclectic Massage therapy with over 22 years of experience as a licensed Massage

Therapist working with a wide variety of body types and physical/medical/emotional issues. Techniques included: deep tissue, Swedish, Craniosacral, energy balancing, and chi nei tsang (an ancient Chinese abdominal and organ chi massage). Hot Stone Massage and aromatherapy are also offered. Gift certificates available.

Hudson Valley Therapeutic Massageâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Michele Tomasicchio, LMT, Katie Hoffstatter, LMT, Gia Polk, LMT 243 Main Street, Suite 220, New Paltz, NY

MIDWIFERY Jennifer Houston, Midwife (518) 678-3154 womanway@gmail.com Since the 1970s Jennifer has been actively involved in childbirth. She is an expert in preserving natural birth and has attended over 3,000 births in hospitals, high-risk medical centers, birth centers, and homes.

She is uniquely qualified to provide women with personal, safe, and supportive pregnancy and birth care in their homes.

Certified Nurse Midwife and NYS licensed with excellent medical backup.

(845) 255-4832 Are your muscles feeling tight and congested? Are you dealing with stress from emotional, physical or environmental causes? Do you just feel overwhelmed?

Our conscientious and skilled NY Licensed Massage Therapists can help you discover a place of ease within your body, mind, and spirit. Let us help you to feel whole!

Craniosacral, Energy Healing, Therapeutic Massage and Health Kinesiology. MondayFriday 8:30am-7pm, Saturday 9am-3pm.

Joan Apter (845) 679-0512 www.apteraromatherapy.com japter@ulster.net

Madhuri Therapeuticsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Bringing Health to Balance Alice Velky LMT, RYT, , (845) 797-4124 madhurihealing@optonline.net Whether your goal is to relieve stress and pain, address a health concern, or simply to pamper yourself â&#x20AC;&#x201D; our tranquil healing space in downtown New Paltz offers individualized sessions to nourish and repair body, mind, and spirit with Licensed Massage Therapy, Reiki, Polarity & Chakra Balancing, and Therapeutic Yoga; flower essences, all-natural and organic oils, herbs and body products; 16 years experience.

Mid-Hudson Rebirthing Center (845) 255-6482

MEDITATION Kadampa Meditation Center 47 Sweeny Road, Glen Spey, NY (845) 856-9000 www.kadampaNewYork.org

Zen Mountain Monastery South Plank Road, Mount Tremper, NY (845) 688-2228 Offering year-round retreats geared to all levels of experience: introductions to Zen meditation, and practice; programs exploring Zen arts, Buddhist studies, and social action, and intensive meditation retreats.

Shop SunďŹ&#x201A;ower for a Naturally Delicious Holiday Feast.

NATUROPATHIC MEDICINE Thomas J. Francescott, ND (845) 876-5556 www.drfrancescott.com I seek to inspire and transform people and their lives with authentic and personalized natural health care. I offer holistic and natural solutions to challenging health issues and alternatives to conventional drugs. Women, men and children benefit from Dr. Tomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s skill in identifying the underlying cause of their symptoms. Dr. Tom specializes in: testing and balancing neurotransmitters and hormones; supporting the adrenals and thyroid; and helping your body and mind with detoxification and inflammation.

Organic & Natural Turkeys by special order.

The Finest Selection of CertiďŹ ed Organic Fruits & Vegetables for Your Holiday Menu.

The Highest Quality Cranberry Sauce, Herb and Cranberry StufďŹ ng Mixes and Organic Apple Cider for Your Holiday Table.

NUTRITION COUNSELING

75 MILL HILL ROAD, WOODSTOCK

Vicki Koenig, MS, RD, CDN

t OBUVSBM!IWD SS DPN Open 9-9 Daily, 10-7 Sunday

7 Innis Avenue, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-2398 www.Nutrition-wise.com Creating Wellness for individuals and businesses. Nutrition counseling: combining traditional and integrative solutions to enhance well-being. Corporate Wellness fairs, assessments, classes and programs for businesses wanting to improve employee productivity. Providing help with Diabetes, Cardiovascular conditions, Weight loss, Digestive support, Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health, and Pediatric Nutrition.

OSTEOPATHY

John M. Carroll

whole living directory

Offering luxurious massage therapy, including Raindrop Technique, with therapeutic essential oils to relieve stress, boost the immune system, and address system imbalances. Natural animal care, individual consultations for a healthy home and personal concerns, spa consultant, classes, and keynotes. Essential Oils, nutritional supplements, personal care, pet care, childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and home cleaning products from Young Living Essential Oils.

For more information, contact Joan Apter.

a complete natural foods market

H EALER,

Stone Ridge Healing Arts Joseph Tieri, DO, & Ari Rosen, DO, 3457 Main Street, Stone Ridge; 138 E. Market Street, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 687-7589 www.stoneridgehealingarts.com Drs. Tieri and Rosen are New York State Licensed Osteopathy physicians specializing in Cranial Osteopathy. As specialists in Osteopathic manipulation, we are dedicated to the traditional philosophy and hands-on treatment of our predecessors. We have studied with Robert Fulford, DO; Viola Freyman, DO; James Jealous, DO, and Bonnie Gintis, DO; and completed a two-year residency in Osteopathic Manipulation. We treat newborns, children, and adults. By Appointment. Offices in Rhinebeck and Stone Ridge.

TEACHER, S PIRITUAL COUNSELOR â&#x20AC;&#x153; John is an extraordinary healer whom I have been priviledged to know all my life and to work with professionally these last eight years. His ability to use energy and imagery have changed as well as saved the lives of many of my patients. Miracles still do happen.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Richard Brown, MD Author Stop Depression Now â&#x20AC;&#x153; John Carroll is a most capable, worthy, and excellent healer of high integrity, compassion, and love.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Gerald Epstein, MD Author Healing Visualizations

PAIN MANAGEMENT ONDAMEDÂŽ, FDA-Approved Device (845) 876-5556

Visit Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website for more information

johnmcarrollhealer.com or call 845-338-8420

Therapists throughout Europe have been using ONDAMEDÂŽ for over 10 years with

12/08 CHRONOGRAM WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY

97

great success. Patients using ONDAMED® frequencies have reported benefits on all levels of well-being: physical, emotional, and mental. ONDAMED® is a cuttingedge and FDA-approved device for pain management by reducing inflammation, promoting relaxation, smoking cessation, and improving circulation. Offered at Rhinebeck Cooperative Health Center.

WINTER SPECIAL: 50% off initial treatment.

PASTORAL COUNSELING

whole living directory

identifying and changing self-defeating attitudes and behaviors, underlying anxiety, depression, and relationship problems.

Sliding scale, most insurances accepted including Medicare/Medicaid. NYS-licensed.

Experience working with trauma victims, including physical and sexual abuse.

Educator on mental health topics. Located in New Paltz, one mile from SUNY.

My approach is psychodynamic, linking the painful past with current problems, and cognitive which reframes negative beliefs allowing for positive outcomes. I also practice EMDR, a technique for relieving distress by exploring critical memories.

The Moving Body

Dianne Weisselberg, MSW, LMSW

Honor’s Haven Resort & Spa

Lifepath

276 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY (845) 679-7715 www.themovingbody.com

(845) 657-9835 www.lifepathtransformations.com

Offering Pilates and Gyrotonic®, Feldenkrais®, and Pilates Teacher Training.

PHYSICAL THERAPY

PSYCHICS

Roy Capellaro, PT

Lorry Salluzzi Sensei

120 Main Street, Gardiner, NY (845) 518-1070 www.roycapellaro.com

(845) 688-5672 www.psychic-healer.tv lorrysallu@yahoo.com

Listening. Touch. Quiet. The interface of structure and energy. There are optimum ways of working with out of balance states in our body, utilizing the hierarchy of forces within us. I have been a manual physical therapist for over 30 years, specializing in gently unlocking the roots of structural dysfunctions and their associated patterns.

Zero Balancing. Craniosacral Therapy.

Muscle Energy Technique. Ontology.

Pyshic Development with Reiki I Certification only $50. Reiki Master Certification $500 by appointment. Psychic Medium Readings $25 per 15 minutes. Medium Training Retreat Weekend: 11/9-11/11 www. huntermountainhouse.com $325 includes all training, new rooms, food, hot tub....more.

Rooms / house / space for rent to live and for your retreat weekend. Reiki Clinic/Home Circle every other week.

PHYSICIANS Integrated Health Care for Women—Kristen Jemiolo, MD Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 485-7168 Dr. Jemiolo is board certified in Family Practice and certified by the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis. She has 25 years experience in patient care. She offers group sessions in meditation as well as individual treatment of stress-related illness.

Sessions are designed to teach self-help tools based on mindfulness based stress reduction, guided imagery, Twelve Steps, Reiki, and Qigong. Her individual practice combines traditional medical practice with an integrative approach in an effort to decrease dependency on medication.

PILATES Conscious Body 426 Main Street, Rosendale, NY (845) 658-8400 www.consciousbodyonline.com Ellen@consciousbodyonline.com Husband and Wife team Ellen and Tim Ronis McCallum are dedicated to helping you achieve and maintain a strong healthy body, a dynamic mind, and a vibrant spirit.

We are perceptive, experienced, and certified instructors who would love to help you achieve your goals whatever your age or level of fitness. Private and semi private apparatus, mat classes, cardio circuit and combined cardio/Pilates classes available.

Visit our studio on Main Street in Rosendale.

The Centering Studio 3752 Route 9G @ IXL Fitness (membership not required), Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-5114 www.thecenteringstudio.com Deni Bank, owner, has been teaching the Pilates Method in Rhinebeck since 1996, helping clients build strength and flexibility to relieve the imbalances created by the wear

98

and tear of life. Pilates is taught in private or small group classes and is non-competitive and non-impact. Working on the Pilates apparatus and mats with our team of caring, creative and certified instructors, you will build deep muscle control and proper body mechanics to support you in your daily activities. Pilates helps you move through your day with ease and energy, grace and power.

Psychically Speaking (845) 626-4895 or (212) 714-8125 www.psychicallyspeaking.com gail@psychicallyspeaking.com Psychic Consultations by Gail Petronio, internationally renowned psychic. Over 20 years experience. It is my sincere hope to offer my intuitive abilities and insights as a means to provide awareness of one’s life and destiny. Sessions are conducted in person or by telephone.

PSYCHOLOGISTS Emily L. Fucheck, Psy.D. Poughkeepsie, NY (845) 380-0023 Licensed psychologist. Doctorate in clinical psychology, post-doctoral training focused on adolescents and young adults, post-doctoral candidate for certification in psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Offering psychotherapeutic work for adults and adolescents. Additional opportunities available for intensive psychoanalytic treatment at substantial fee reduction. Located across from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie.

PSYCHOTHERAPY Amy R. Frisch, CSWR New Paltz, NY (845) 706-0229 Psychotherapist. Individual, family, and group sessions for adolescents and adults. Currently accepting registration for It’s a Girl Thing: an expressive arts therapy group for adolescent girls, and The Healing Circle: an adult bereavement group offering a safe place to begin the healing process after the death of a loved one. Most insurances accepted.

Debra Budnik, CSW-R New Paltz, NY (845) 255-4218 Traditional insight-oriented psychotherapy for long- or short-term work. Aimed at

WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY CHRONOGRAM 12/08

(845) 688-7205 dweisselberg@hvc.rr.com Individual Therapy, Grief Work and Personal Mythology. Stuck? Overwhelmed?

Frustrated? Depressed? THERE IS ANOTHER WAY! Dianne Weisselberg has over 16 years experience in the field of Counseling and over 8 years of training in Depth Psychology. Sliding Scale fees.

Irene Humbach, LCSW, PC

RESORTS & SPAS

1195 Arrowhead Road, Ellenville, NY (845) 210-3119 Natural healing and the modern educational breakthrough of Brain Education, a systemized method that develops brain potentials and enhances brain function, is the foundation of our wellness programs.

Offered to you in the luxurious Honor’s Haven Resort & Spa.

ROSEN METHOD BODYWORK

(845) 485-5933 Body of Wisdom Counseling and Healing Services. See also Body-Centered Therapy directory.

Judy Swallow, MA, LCAT,TEP 25 Harrington Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-5613 Integrative body/mind therapist using Rubenfeld synergy and psychodrama in her work with individuals, couples, groups, and families. Inquire for workshops and training, as well as therapy.

Julie Zweig, MA, NYS Licensed Mental Health Counselor New Paltz, NY (845) 255-3566 julieezweig@gmail.com Verbal Body-Centered Psychotherapy.

Julie is trained through the doctoral level in psychology (ABD for PhD), with many areas of expertise, including trauma recovery, somatic issues, body image and chronic pain, depression, anxiety, relationship issues, cross-cultural issues, attachment in adoption, spiritual issues, ACOA issues and more. Julie has 20 years of experience as a therapist. Although Julie also practices Rosen Method Bodywork, this verbal modality does not involve touch. It is termed “body-centered,” as the breath and muscle tension of the client is observed visually to enhance and deepen the work. Please see Julie’s listing under Rosen Method Bodywork.

Kent Babcock, MSW, LMSW— Counseling & Psychotherapy (845) 679-5511, ext. 304 kentagram@gmail.com Each person’s therapy is an organic process of self-exploration and discovery, unfolding uniquely according to our different personalities. Through conversation and reflection, this process can begin at any point. It can focus upon any life struggle or topic, from practical or relationship issues to existential or spiritual concerns. Short- or long-term; sliding scale.

Meg F. Schneider, MA, LCSW Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-8808 www.megfschneiderlcsw.com I work with adolescents and adults struggling with depression, anxiety, anger, eating disordered behaviors, loneliness and life transitions. I’ve helped teens and adults with substance abuse and trauma connected to physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

Julie Zweig, MA, Certified Rosen Method Bodywork Practitioner and NYS Licensed Mental Health Counselor New Paltz, NY (845) 255-3566 www.RosenMethod.org; www.youtube. com/watch?v=OrwvSF2Bp_k julieezweig@gmail.com Rosen Method is distinguished by its gentle, direct touch. Using listening hands, the practitioner focuses on chronic muscle tension. As relaxation occurs and the breath deepens, unconscious feelings, attitudes, and memories may emerge. The practitioner responds with touch and words that allow the client to begin to recognize what has been held down by unconscious muscle tension. As this process unfolds, habitual tension and old patterns may be released, freeing the client to experience more aliveness, new choices in life, and a greater sense of well-being. Please see Julie’s listing under Psychotherapy.

SCHOOLS Institute for Integrative Nutrition (877) 730-5444; (212) 730-5433 www.integrativenutrition.com admissions@integrativenutrition.com Study at the largest nutrition school featuring live weekend classes in New York City with the world’s leaders in health and wellness.

SKIN CARE The Body Studio (845) 255-3512 www.thebodystudionewpaltz.com

SMOKING CESSATION ONDAMED® (845) 876-5556 The ONDAMED® protocol has been used worldwide with remarkable results.

In just a few visits, patients happily stop smoking and free themselves of their nicotine addiction. The ONDAMED® can identify energetic disturbances that occur as a result of the consumption of nicotine.

“In only 1-3 sessions, 95% of our cients stop smoking.”—Dr. Beate Andreassen, Denmark... Call for Smoking Cessation package at Rhinebeck Cooperative Health Center (see ondamed.net).

SPEECH LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY Patricia Lee Rode, MA, CCC-SLP (646) 729-6633 Speech Language Pathologist with over ten years experience providing diagnostic/ therapeutic services for children/adults with speech/language delays, and neurological disorders. Specializing in Autistic Spectrum Disorders, PDD, ADHD, memory, and language related disorders. Trained in P.R.O.M.P.T., and Hippotherapy. Offer individual therapy and social skills groups.

Offices in NYC/Rhinebeck.

SPIRITUAL Healing, Pathwork & Channeling

by Flowing Spirit Healing (845) 679-8989 www.flowingspirit.com It is our birthright to experience the abundance of the universe, the deep love of God, and our own divinity! It is also our birthright to share our own unique gifts with the world. We long to do it. So why don’t we? Our imperfections get in the way. As we purify, we experience more and more fully the love and the abundance of God’s universe. We can have it in any moment. We can learn to purify our imperfections AND experience heaven on earth. University of Spiritual Healing & Sufism healing, Pathwork and channeling available. Contact Joel Walzer for sessions.

Hudson Valley Structural Integration 26 East Market Street, Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-4654 www.theiasi.org; www.anatomytrains.com Ryan Flowers and Krisha Showalter are NY State Licensed Massage Therapists with additional professional training and Certification in Structural Integration and Visceral Osteopathic Manipulation. We offer advanced manual therapy specializing in chronic pain conditions, structural/ postural alignment, movement re-education and rehabilitation. We are committed to providing a high level of skill in manual therapy, utilizing intelligent principles to guide the use of techniques, detailed visual and manual assessments and soft tissue manipulation that is communicative and receptive to the individual and their body’s systems. Free Consultations.

SUPERMARKETS Hannaford Supermarket & Pharmacy Convenient locations throughout New York, , www.hannaford.com For the love of food. Whatever your tastebuds are craving we’ve got the solution.

Stop by Hannaford for the freshest meats, produce, and seafood. Tasty deli meats and world class cheeses. Breads baked fresh daily and cakes, pies, and cookies for the hardiest sweet tooth. We’ll see you there!

SWIM LESSONS Total Immersion Swim Studio 246 Main Street, Suite 15A, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-4242 www.totalimmersion.net

Tarot-on-the-Hudson—Rachel Pollack Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-5797 rachel@rachelpollack.com Exploratory, experiential play with the Tarot as oracle and sacred tool, in a monthly class, with Certified Tarot Grand Master and international Tarot author Rachel Pollack. All levels welcome. Tarot Readings in person or by phone.

YOGA julieezweig@gmail.com Ashtanga Yoga of New Paltz

w ww. R o s e n M e t h o d . o r g

71 Main Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 430-7402 www.ashtangaofnewpaltz.com Offering Ashtanga/Vinyasa style yoga classes for all levels seven days a week.

This style of yoga is both therapeutic and dance-like. By first warming up the body naturally we can stretch safely, gaining an understanding of how to move from our core. We also offer “Community Yoga classes” which are by donation.

Jai Ma Yoga Center 69 Main Street, Suite 20, New Paltz, NY (845) 256-0465 www.jmyoga.com Established in 1999, Jai Ma Yoga Center offers a wide array of Yoga classes, seven days a week. We offer classes for every level of student. Our classes are in the lineages of Anusara, Iyengar, and Sivananda, with certified and experienced instructors. Private consultations and Anusara Therapeutics available. Owners Gina Bassinette, RYT and Ami Hirschstein, RYT have been teaching locally since 1995.

Acupuncture by M.D.

Hoon J. Park, MD, P.C. Board Cer tified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation "VUP BOE +PC *OKVSJFT t "SUISJUJT t 4USPLFT t /FDL #BDL BOE +PJOU 1BJO t $BSQBM 5VOOFM 4ZOESPNF

t "DVQVOUVSF t 1IZTJDBM 5IFSBQZ t +PJOU *OKFDUJPOT t &.( /$4 5FTU t $PNQSFIFOTJWF &YFSDJTF 'BDJMJUZ

298-6060 4PVUI 3PBE 8BQQJOHFST 'BMMT /: ½ mile south of Galleria Mall

MOST INSURANCE ACCEPTED INCLUDING MEDICARE, NO FAULT, AND WORKER’S COMPENSATION

whole living directory

STRUCTURAL INTEGRATION

TAROT

Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health Lenox, MA (800) 741-7353 kripalu.org

The Living Seed 521 Main Street, New Paltz, NY (845) 255-8212 www.thelivingseed.com Open to the community for over 5 years.

Inspiring movements of inner freedom and awareness. We offer Yoga classes for all levels of students, gentle/beginner to advanced. Including pre- and postnatal Yoga, family and kids yoga, as well as a variety of dance classes, massage, acupuncture, sauna, and organic Yoga clothing. Route 299, across from Econo Lodge.

Satya Yoga Center Rhinebeck, NY (845) 876-2528 www.satyayogarhinebeck.com Join our friendly yoga community for great classes and to meet interesting people.

We offer Basics, Gentle, Svaroopa, Anusara, Iyengar, Vinyasa, All Levels, and Yoga Teacher Trainings. We also host special workshops and an inexpensive community class, both in Rhinebeck and at our Catskill location. Make an investment in yourself now!

12/08 CHRONOGRAM WHOLE LIVING DIRECTORY

99

MONDAY 1 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT

CLASSES

Kabbalah Meditation Group 7pm-8pm. The Sanctuary, New Paltz. 691-5548.

Watercolor Paintings 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Interpreting the Landscape 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Hebrew Reading Crash Course for Adults 6:30pm-8pm. Freedom Plains Presbyterian Church, LaGrangeville. 227-3327.

CLASSES Youth Latin Dance “Caliente” 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Dance Ages 11-13 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Adult Latin Dance 6pm-7pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Adult Beginner Hip-Hop 7pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Read Hebrew America 7pm. Congregation Ezrath Israel, Ellenville. 647-5600.

Swing, Cha-Cha and Blues Dancing 7:45pm-9pm. $110/$80 members. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

EVENTS Admissions Information Session 8:30am. Poughkeepsie Day School, Poughkeepsie.

462-7600.

FILM Whaledreamers Call for times. $6. GE Theater at Proctors, Schenectady.

(518) 434-1703.

MUSIC Open Mike 10:30pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.

MUSIC

THE OUTDOORS

Wet Paint Call for times. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties.

246-5775.

Othello 7pm. Salzburg Festival Opera Series live broadcast.

Main Stage at Proctors, Schenectady. (518) 434-1703.

SUNY Ulster Wind Ensemble 7:30pm. Quimby Theater, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.

Celtic Session 7:30pm. Traditional Irish music. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.

Ulster Choral Society Presents Holiday Enchantment 7:30pm. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Wallkill Valley Rail Trail 9:30am-1pm. the Plains Road Boat Launch Parking, New Paltz. 255-0919.

THE OUTDOORS Cross-Country Skiing & Snowshoeing in the Catskills Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville.

985-2291 ext. 205.

SPOKEN WORD Karen Russell 2:30pm. Author of St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised

by Wolves. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson.

758-7216.

Defining Empire? Enlightenment and Colonialism in the 18th Century 4:30pm. Fisher Center, Annandale-on-Hudson.

758-7900.

Spoken Word Open Mike with Shiv Mirabito 8pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock. 684-5216.

SPOKEN WORD Admissions Information Session 8:30am. Poughkeepsie Day School, Poughkeepsie.

462-7600.

Agricultural Renewable Energy Forum 10am-3pm. Holiday Inn, Kingston. 338-0400.

Mortimer’s Special Place 10am. Story time. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Un Dia una Lenora se Trago una Campana 4pm. Children’s bilingual Story time. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Dutchess County Parents of Multiples 7pm. Poughkeepsie Galleria, Poughkeepsie. 702-1446.

Woody Pirtle, Graphic Designer 7:30pm. SUNY New Paltz Lecture Center 102, New Paltz.

257-3872.

WORKSHOPS Portrait Painting Workshop 5:30pm-8pm. Hudson Opera House, Hudson.

(518) 822-1438.

African Drum Workshop 6pm-7pm. $55/$40 members, 4-week session. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

THURSDAY 4

WORKSHOPS

ART

Braindance 10:30am. Help your memory, alignment, coordination and more by learning the brain dance. East Fishkill Community Library, Hopewell Junction. 226-2145.

Color Management 6pm-8pm. Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock. 679-9957.

Biodiversity: Captured in Photographs Contest 7pm-12am. Columbia-Greene Community College, Hudson. (518) 828-4181 ext 5513.

BODY / MIND / SPIRIT

Drop-In Meditation 5:30pm-7pm. Sage Center for the Healing Arts, Woodstock. 679-5650.

The Natural Evolution of Compassion Call for times. Sylvia Boorstein and Sharon Salzberg.

Garrison Institute, Garrison. 424-4800.

The Natural Evolution of Compassion Call for times. Garrison Arts Center, Garrison-onHudson. 424-3960.

Qigong/Tai Chi 8-9am. With The Chi Kung Guy Bryon Abrams. The Living Seed Yoga & Holistic Center, New Paltz. 255-8212.

CLASSES

CLASSES

Modern Dance Call for times. Classes with the Hudson Valley Modern Dance Cooperative. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

All Boys Beginner Hip-Hop 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Drumming 5pm-6pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Class Ages 8-10 5pm-6pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

West African Drum Class 6pm-7:30pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock.

684-5216.

Ballroom Dance, Rumba & Cha-Cha 6:30pm-7:30pm. Taconic Hills Central School, Craryville. (518) 325-0447.

Intermediate/Advanced Hip-Hop 7pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Rendering in Black and White 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Drawing, Painting and Composition 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Euro Dance 1:30pm-2:30pm. $5/$8 couple. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

Youth Latin Dance “Caliente” 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Drumming 6pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Ages 11-13 6pm-7pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Life Drawing Classes 7:30pm-9:30pm. Studies in life drawing. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

MUSIC

Safe Harbors of the Hudson Tour 11:30am. Informational tours of the Ritz Theater, The Cornerstone Residence and the Ann Street Gallery. Ritz Theater, Newburgh. 562-6940 ext. 109.

St. Peter’s School Book Fair 5pm-8pm. Special performances and musical entertainment featuring the students and other members of the St. Peter’s School community. Barnes and Noble, Poughkeepsie. 485-2224.

TUESDAY 2 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT

Conservatory Noon Concert Series 12pm. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7216.

Open Mike 7pm-10pm. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties.

246-5775.

Community Music Night 8pm-9:45pm. Six local singer-songwriters. Rosendale Cafe, Rosendale. 658-9048.

Keith Pray’s Big Soul Ensemble 9pm. Tess’ Lark Tavern, Albany. (518) 463-9779.

SPOKEN WORD Mother to Mother Circle 10:30am-12pm. Waddle n Swaddle, Poughkeepsie.

473-5952.

Mary Holland 5pm. Reading beyond words: toward a 21st century literary hermeneutics. Honors Center SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3933.

Poetry Open Mike with Stephen Dodge 7:30pm. $3. Downtown Cafe, Kingston. 331-5904.

Is Peace at Hand? Israelis and Palestinians in the Age of Obama 7:30pm. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7216.

THEATER An American Quilt for Kids: Living in Harmony 9:15am. $6/children free. Chatham Middle School, Chatham. (413) 528-0100.

A Christmas Carol 7pm. $15-$32. Main Stage at Proctors, Schenectady.

(518) 346-6204.

100

WEDNESDAY 3

FORECAST CHRONOGRAM 12/08

EVENTS

FILM Burn After Reading Call for times. Main Stage at Proctors, Schenectady.

(518) 346-6204.

The Pool Call for times. $6. GE Theater at Proctors, Schenectady. (518) 434-1703.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 7:15pm. Harriman Hall 111 Film Theatre, Middletown.

341-4891.

KIDS Comic Book Drawing Class 4pm-5pm. Ages 8-13. ASK Arts Center, Kingston.

338-0331.

MUSIC Mercury Rev 9pm. W/Dean & Britta. Bearsville Theater, Woodstock.

679-4406.

Notions of Time in the Music of Elliott Carter 5pm. Vassar College Music Colloquium. Thekla Hall, Poughkeepsie. 437-7294.

Kurt Henry & Cheryl Lambert 6pm. Acoustic. High Falls Cafe, High Falls. 687-2699.

An Evening of Bel Canto 7pm. McKenna Theater, SUNY New Paltz.257-3872.

Brooke Campbell 8pm-10pm. Acoustic singer-songwriter. Inquiring Mind/ Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

Open Mike 9pm-12am. Cappucino’s, Red Hook. 876-1331.

THE OUTDOORS Esopus Meadows Preserve Morning Ranger Hike 10am-12pm. Esopus Meadows Point Preserve, Esopus. 473-4440 ext. 222.

SPOKEN WORD Mother to Mother Circle 3pm-4:30pm. Waddle n Swaddle, Poughkeepsie.

473-5952.

Dickens’ Original Haunted Man: A Holiday Classic 4pm. Aquinas Theater, Newburgh. 569-3179.

Millbrook Book Festival Meeting 5:30pm. Merritt Bookstore, Millbrook. 677-5857.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard Release Celebration 6:30pm. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Rip’s Resurrected Poetry 7pm-9pm. Mezzaluna Cafe, Saugerties. 246-5306.

THEATER Striking 12 7:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

Skirker 8pm. Martel Theater, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie.

437-5902.

FRIDAY 5 ART 9th Annual 5x7 Show 5pm-7pm. Kleinert/James Art Center, Woodstock.

679-2079.

Photography by Alex Lipstein 5pm-7pm. Unison Gallery, New Paltz. 255-1559.

World’s Smallest Stretched Canvas Painting Competition 5pm-8pm. Hudson Valley Gallery, Cornwall. 534-5ART. BFA/MFA I Exhibition 6pm-8pm. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, New Paltz.

257-3858 Paintings by Jean Feinberg 6pm-8pm. John Davis Gallery. (518) 828-5907.

Within Shadows 6pm-8pm. Works by Susan Burnstine. Galerie BMG, Woodstock. 679-0027.

CLASSES Portrait and Figure Painting 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Artistic Anatomy 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Printmaking 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Painting and Composition 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

DANCE A Christmas Carol 8pm. Ulster Ballet Company. $19/$15 students and seniors. Ulster Performing Arts Center, Kingston.

339-6088.

EVENTS Holiday Boutique and Special Gift-able Book Sale 12pm-5pm. Starr Library, Rhinebeck. 876-4030.

Moroccan Nights 8pm. Featured dancers are Ahleana and Shivati. $25.

Le Rive Gauche, Kingston. 339-2003.

KIDS Kat Michaels’ Holiday Slumber Party 6:30pm. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

MUSIC An Evening of Bel Canto 7pm. McKenna Theater, SUNY New Paltz. 257-3872.

True Witness 7pm. Christian music. Cornerstone Cafe, Newburgh.

SUNY Ulster Chorus 7:30pm. Quimby Theater, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.

Lady Clown 8pm. Theatrical alt-rock. Muddy Cup, New Paltz. 338-3881.

Dave Mason 8pm. $65/$48/$43 Mahaiwe members. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.

Prez 8pm-10pm. Pop rock. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

The Boston Pops: Esplanade Orchestra 8pm. Main Stage at Proctors, Schenectady.

(518) 346-6204.

Vassar Jazz Ensemble 8pm. Skinner Hall, Poughkeepsie. 437-7294.

The Trapps 8pm. Peekskill Coffeehouse, Peekskill. (914) 739-1287.

The Eclectic Groove 8pm. Rock. Pamela’s on The Hudson, Newburgh.

562-4505.

Patty Larkin and Deni Bonet 8:30pm. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.

John Schrader Band 9pm. Rock. SkyTop Steak House, Kingston. 340-4277.

The Crossroads Band 9pm. Rock. The Starr Bar, Rhinebeck. 876-6816.

The Gypsy Nomads 9pm. $10. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock. 684-5216.

The Curmudgeons with Spider Barbour 9pm. $10. 60 Main, New Paltz. 255-1901.

Mambo Kikongo 9:30pm. Latin. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties.

246-0900.

THEATER A Christmas Carol 8pm. $20/$18 students and seniors. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

A Tuna Christmas 8pm. Mohonk Mountain Stage Company. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

Community Playback Theatre 8pm. Improvisations of audience stories. $8. Boughton Place, Highland. 691-4118.

Skirker 8pm. Martel Theater, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie.

437-5902.

Striking 12 8pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

SATURDAY 6 ART Catskill Fiber Celebration Call for times. Show and sale of fiber art. Zena Road Firehouse, Woodstock. 246-2203.

Gala Opening--Student Work Exhibition and Sale 11am-4pm. Hudson Valley Pottery, Rhinebeck.

876-3190.

Member’s Exhibit and Handmade for the Holidays Bazaar 12pm-8pm. Wallkill River School and Art Gallery, Montgomery. 457-ARTS. The Haude Family and Friends 5pm-7pm. Kingston Museum of Contemporary Art, Kingston. KMOCA.com American Realists 5pm-7pm. The Harrison Gallery, Williamstown, MA. (413) 458-1700.

We’re Only in it for the Money 5pm-8pm. Donskoj and Company, Kingston. 338-8473.

Christina Gardner, Renee Samuels, and Holly McCabe 6pm-8pm. Cornell Street Studio, Kingston. 679-8348.

BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Qigong/Tai Chi Call for times. With “The Chi Kung Guy” Bryon Abrams.

Emerson Organic Spa, Mount Tremper. 688-2828.

Sharing Shabbat 9am-10:30am. Congregation Shir Chadash, LaGrange.

223-5925.

The Table Spread: The Special Gift of Jesus Gathering 9am-12pm. $35. Woodstock Sufi Center, Woodstock.

679-7215.

CLASSES Printmaking 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Watercolor Paintings 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Drawing for Painting 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Sketch Class 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

DANCE Beacon Events 2pm. Merce Cunningham Dance Company. DIA: Beacon, Riggo Galleries, Beacon.

Middle Eastern Belly Dance Holiday Party 5pm-9pm. $18/$23 at the door. Unitarian Fellowship, Poughkeepsie. 229-8391.

A Christmas Carol 8pm. Ulster Ballet Company. $19/$15 students and seniors. Ulster Performing Arts Center, Kingston. 339-6088.

FreeStyle Frolic 8:30pm-1am. Dancing in an alcohol-free environment to a wide range of music. $5/$2 teens and seniors/ children free. 389 Broadway, Kingston.

EVENTS Holiday Afternoon Tea Call for times. Benefits Lyrics From the Heart. $35. The Renwick Clifton House B, Saugerties. 246-0552.

Wreath Fineries at 11 Wineries Call for times. Follow the wine trail to create a wreath.

New Paltz area. 255-2494.

First Annual Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair 10am-4pm. Benefit the Kiwanis Club Toys for Tots program. Farmington River Regional School, Otis, MA. Holiday Boutique and Special Gift-able Book Sale 10am-4pm. Starr Library, Rhinebeck. 876-4030.

Unison’s 18th Annual Holiday Fine Arts and Crafts Fair 10am-5pm. New Paltz Middle School, New Paltz.

255-1559.

2nd Annual Craft & Art Marketplace 10am-6pm. Fine goods by fine craftspeople. Free Admission. 10 Montgomery Street, Tivoli. 758-5529.

Santa’s Run 12pm-4pm. Trolley Museum, Kingston. 331-3399.

Winter Walk on Warren Street 5pm-8pm. Performances, music, carriage rides, parade, fireworks. Warren Street, Hudson. (518) 822-1438.

Holiday in the Village Open House 6pm-8pm. Shops open late, special sales, refreshments, holiday celebration. Downtown Saugerties, Saugerties. 246-5956.

Woodstock Phil Fest 8pm-11pm. Third annual tribute to folksinger Phil Ochs, celebrates music, activism. The Colony Café, Woodstock. 679-5342.

FILM The Dark Knight Call for times. Main Stage at Proctors, Schenectady.

(518) 346-6204.

KIDS Green Gifts Workshop for Children 10am-12pm. Wallkill River School and Art Gallery, Montgomery. 457-2787.

Dog on Fleas 11am. Children’s music. Rosendale Theater, Rosendale. 658-8989.

THE OUTDOORS

MUSIC

Youth Group Retreat Weekend Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville.

985-2291 ext. 205.

Martin Sexton Call for times. The Bearsville Theater, Woodstock.

679-4406.

“VK-RED” DUVIVIER

EVENT LISTINGS FOR DECEMBER 2008

the forecast

Mercury Rev will perform at the Bearsville Theater on December 4 at 9pm.

REVVING HOMEWARD Mercury Rev is coming home.

Local admirers of the acclaimed Kingston-based psychedelic/experimental collective will have a rare opportunity to experience the group’s cinematic sonic explorations upclose on December 4 at the Bearsville Theater.

The show is the latest way station on an international tour in support of the band’s latest releases, the ethereal Snowflake Midnight (V2, 2008) and the self-released, allinstrumental, Strange Attractor, the latter of which is free-to-download on the band’s Web site.

Snowflake Midnight embodies the bands peculiar brand of romanticism, with sentimental lyrics backed by instrumentation ranging from glacial electronic soundscapes to the minimal repetition of krautrock. As with much of Mercury Rev’s work, the album is richly textured, with accoutrements such as layered vocal harmonies and the odd sample of children’s laughter. Strange Attractor is an all-instrumental companion piece of intricately ambient tracks.

For a group that spends about half the year touring the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, and points in-between, living in the Hudson Valley offers Mercury Rev a contemplative space to recharge its artistic engine.

“There is a peaceful quality to the area that allows us to work without the same type of distractions that would surround us in someplace like New York City,” says multiinstrumentalist Jeff Mercel.

The music of Mercury Rev, like its travel itinerary, is anything but static. Since forming in the late 1980s in Buffalo, the group’s output has included forays into lush pop orchestration, distorted guitar romps, and romantically poetic lyricism. The group has consistently challenged its listeners to reconsider the traditional conceptions of rock music. Band influences run the musical spectrum from minimalist composer Terry

Riley to George Gershwin.

On Snowflake Midnight Mercury Rev again took a step into the unknown, using sounds created by its cadre of devoted fans throughout the world. Employing Reaktor, an opensource software application that enables users to create new instruments and effects, the band incorporated the innovations in the studio to broaden its sonic palette.

According to Mercel, the most exciting part of utilizing new technology is going down the rabbit hole without know where it will lead.

“There is always a learning curve when you’re dealing with a new piece of technology, whether it’s software, a new instrument, or what have you. Sometimes, the most interesting results come in that early stage, when you’re not exactly sure what you’re doing with it. We’ve got a million different programs in the studio that we half understand, or old synths that work only half the time. I think it’s the unpredictable nature of it that we most enjoy. It’s not always about the mastery of technology. We like to be surprised.”

In recording its most recent work, the band altered the internal dynamics by shedding some of the tools accrued during a long career and in the process growing a sort of second skin.

“During the making of Snowflake Midnight and Strange Attractor we ended up moving our studio—twice. We’ve ended up with a much smaller room than the one we once had, and as a result, we were forced to get rid of a lot of the equipment we weren’t really using. I think this purge was critical to the new records. It was good to cast off some of the old weight. It really set the tone for way we would proceed by breaking old habits and changing the way we work together,” said Mercel.

Mercury Rev will perform at the Bearsville Theater on December 4 at 9pm. Dean and Britta will open. Tickets are $25. (845) 679-4406; www.bearsvilletheater.com.

—Jeremy Schwartz

12/08 CHRONOGRAM FORECAST

101

The Magic of Christmas Call for times. Albany Symphony Orchestra. $25/$12.

Palace Theater, Albany. (518) 465-3334.

The People’s Open Mike 7pm. Peint o Gwrw Tavern, Chatham. (518) 392-2943.

Tuba Christmas Call for times. Tuba and euphonium players of all ages perform traditional Christmas music from around the world. SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.

Senior Recital: Arielle Guterman and Sasha Steinberg 4pm. Skinner Hall, Poughkeepsie. 437-7294.

Songs of the Earth 5pm. Pasta dinner and concert Featuring Evan Pritchard and James Krueger. $10-$15. Pine Hill Community Center, Pine Hill. 254-5469.

An American Holiday Tapestry 6pm. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.

Close Encounters with Music: Rose Ensemble 6pm. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.

A Von Trapp Holiday Concert 7:30pm. $10/$7 students and seniors. Arts Center Theater, Hudson. (518) 822-2027.

Bronx Opera 8pm. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville. 985-2291 ext. 205.

Bill Kirchen and John Tichy 8pm. Rock. $25. WAMC Linda Norris Auditorium, Albany. (518) 465-5233.

Ray Davies of The Kinks 8pm. Rock. $45-$65. The Bardavon, Poughkeepsie.

473-2072.

Lady Clown 8pm-10pm. Alternative rock. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

Malley Bragg Band 8pm-12am. Rock, blues. Gail’s Place, Newburgh. 567-1414.

A Celebration of Henry Purcell 8pm. Putnam Chorale. $15/$12 seniors and students.

First United Methodist Church, Brewster. 279-7265.

Hurley Mountain Highway 8:30pm. Soft rock, pop. The Harp & Whistle Restaurant and Pub, Newburgh. 565-4277.

Larry Stevens Acoustic Band 9pm. Acoustic. Pamela’s on The Hudson, Newburgh.

562-4505.

Peter Walker 9pm. Spanish guitar. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock. 684-5216.

Big Kahuna 10pm. Dance music. Ramada Inn, Newburgh. 564-4500.

THE OUTDOORS Singles and Sociables Hike- Windham Mountain 9:30am-4:30pm. Strenuous 8-mile hike. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.

An American Holiday Tapestry 6pm. The Rose Enssemble reincarnates itself in the 17th through 19th centuries on American shores. $35/$10 students. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.

SPOKEN WORD MAT Program Information Session 1:30am-1pm. Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7504.

Reading by Iza Trapani 9:30am. Story time. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Reading by Audrey Penn 1pm. Story time. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Book Release Party for Leaving--Memories of Romania by Mihai Grunfeld 4pm-6pm. Vassar College, Poughkeepsie. 437-5831.

Poetry Reading by Lynn Hoins 4pm. Baby Grand Bookstore, Warwick. 294-8085.

Book Release Party and Reading with Mihai Grunfeld 4pm-6pm. Leaving--Memories of Romania. Ely Hall, Poughkeepsie. 463-5606.

Reading by David Rees 7pm. Author of Get Your War On. Open Space Gallery, Beacon. 765-0731.

Hotflash and the Whoremoans 8:30pm. Comedy. Bodles Opera House, Chester.

469-4595.

THEATER Story Theater Call for times. Aesop’s Fables and the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, performed by Kids on Stage. $6-$9. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

The Sky is Falling Call for times. A comic fable for our time. $10/$5 children. Sand Lake Center for the Arts, Averill Park.

(518) 674-2007.

Striking 12 4pm/8:3o-pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

A Christmas Carol 8pm. Walking the Dog Theater. $15/$12 for students and seniors/$10 for WTD members. Space 360, Hudson. (518) 697-3360.

The Skirker 8pm. Powerhouse Theater, Poughkeepsie. 437-5599.

Christmas Carol 8pm. $20/$18 children and seniors. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

A Tuna Christmas 8pm. Mohonk Mountain Stage Company. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

WORKSHOPS Holiday Decorating Workshop 10am-2pm. Boscobel Restoration, Garrison-on-Hudson.

265-3638.

Creating a Bold New Future 1:30pm-5:30pm. Sustainability, spiritual fulfillment, and social justice. $10. Mountain View Studio, Woodstock.

679-0901.

Pastel Workshop 2pm-5pm. Unframed Artist Gallery, New Paltz. 255-5482.

SUNDAY 7

102

Free Arts Day 12pm-6pm. Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill. (914) 788-0100.

Works by Lynne Friedman and Ilka List 1pm-3pm. Small bronze wall sculptures and pen and wash Irish Botanicals. Be Gallery, High Falls. 687-0660.

Magic of Monhegan 1pm-5pm. Paintings of Monhegan Island by Andrew Lattimore & students. Flat Iron Gallery, Peekskill.

(914) 734-1894.

Open Mike 7pm-10pm. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties.

246-5775.

Bela Fleck & The Flecktones: The Holiday Tour 7:30pm. The Egg, Albany. (518) 473-1845.

Choral Concert: Songs of the Sea 8pm. $6/$5. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-7869.

THEATER

Mother to Mother Circle 10:30am-12pm. Waddle n Swaddle, Poughkeepsie.

473-5952.

Poetry Reading by William Seaton 7pm. Goshen Library, Goshen.

Reading and Book Signing with Richard Heppner 7pm. Author of Remembering Woodstock. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Poetry Open Mike with Stephen Dodge 7:30pm. $3. Downtown Cafe, Kingston. 331-5904.

SPOKEN WORD

Development of the Human Potential by Practicing a Meditation/Healing 1pm-2pm. Center for Whole Life Healing, Kingston.

399-2098.

Dream Circle 2pm-5pm. Explore your dreams in a lovely, safe place, weaving together dreaming & waking lives for health & wholeness. Miriam’s Well, Saugerties. 246-5805.

The Coming One 2pm-5pm. Presentation on the long-heralded appearance of a great World Teacher who will inspire humanity to transform life on earth. Lifebridge Sanctuary, Rosendale. 546-0146.

Striking 12 2:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

A Christmas Carol 3pm. $20/$18 students and seniors. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

A Christmas Carol 3pm. Walking the Dog Theater. $15/$12 for students and seniors/$10 for WTD members. Space 360, Hudson. (518) 697-3360.

A Christmas Carol 3pm. The Bardavon, Poughkeepsie. 473-2072.

Auditions for Urinetown 7pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

CLASSES

WORKSHOPS

Atelier-Figure Painting 9am-12pm. $120-$300. Wallkill River School, Montgomery. 689-0613.

Teen Drawing Instruction 12pm-4pm. Athens Cultural Center, Athens.

(518) 945-2136.

Holiday Decorating Workshop Call for times. Boscobel Restoration, Garrison-onHudson. 265-3638.

BODY / MIND / SPIRIT

DANCE

CLASSES

Healing Group With the Sound of the Crystal Bowls 6:30pm-7:30pm. $15. Sage Center for the Healing Arts, Woodstock.

Watercolor Paintings 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Interpreting the Landscape 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Garage Band Lesson 6pm-7pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hebrew Reading Crash Course for Adults 6:30pm-8pm. Freedom Plains Presbyterian Church, LaGrangeville. 227-3327.

BODY / MIND / SPIRIT

A Christmas Carol 2pm. Ulster Ballet Company. $19/$15 students and seniors. Ulster Performing Arts Center, Kingston.

339-6088.

Beacon Events 2pm. Merce Cunningham Dance Company. DIA: Beacon, Riggo Galleries, Beacon.

Swing Dance Jam 6:30pm-9pm. Lesson at 6pm. $5. Arlington Reformed Church, Poughkeepsie. 339-3032.

Pilobolus 7pm. $28/$24 seniors/$14 children. The Egg, Albany.

(518) 473-1845.

EVENTS Holiday Afternoon Tea Call for times. Benefits Lyrics From the Heart. $35. The Renwick Clifton House B, Saugerties. 246-0552.

Saugerties Annual Winter Festival Call for times. Day-long series of events, check website for specifics. Downtown Saugerties, Saugerties.

Wreath Fineries at 11 Wineries Call for times. Follow the wine trail to create a wreath.

New Paltz area. 255-2494.

Unison’s 18th Annual Holiday Fine Arts and Crafts Fair 10am-5pm. New Paltz Middle School, New Paltz.

255-1559.

2nd Annual Craft & Art Marketplace 10am-6pm. Fine goods by fine craftspeople. Free Admission. 10 Montgomery Street, Tivoli. 758-5529.

FILM Nights in Rodanthe Call for times. Main Stage at Proctors, Schenectady.

(518) 346-6204.

MUSIC Vinca Quartet Call for times. Church of the Messiah, Rhinebeck.

876-2870.

Split the Bill 12pm. Acoustic. Taste Budd’s Chocolate and Coffee Café, Red Hook. 758-6500.

Pauline and Peter Mancuso 2pm. Bethlehem Public Library, Delmar. (518) 439-9314.

Kairos: A Consort of Singers 3pm. Petite Messe Solennelle by Gioachino Rossini.

Central Valley United Methodist Church, Central Valley.

256-9114.

Conservatory Orchestra 3pm. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.

A Celebration of Henry Purcell 3pm. Putnam Chorale. $15/$12 seniors and students.

United Methodist Church, Cold Spring. 279-7265.

Salvo Guttilla Stella Magica Holiday Concert 3pm. Aquinas Theater, Newburgh. 569-3179.

Saugerties Pro Musica 3pm. Featuring Jay Ungar & Molly Mason. Saugerties United Methodist Church, Saugerties. 246-7802.

The Magic of Christmas 3pm. Albany Symphony Orchestra. $25/$12. Palace Theater, Albany. (518) 465-3334.

The Collegium Musicum 3pm. $6/$5. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-3872.

St. Petersburg, Russia Men’s Ensemble 3pm. Senior and Community Center, Montgomery.

457-9867.

A Baroque Christmas 4pm. $30/$10. St. Mary in the Highlands Episcopal Church, Cold Spring. 297-9243.

Vinca String Quartet 4pm. Church of the Messiah, Rhinebeck. 876-2870.

Don Giovanni 4:30pm. Salzburg Festival Opera Series live broadcast.

Main Stage at Proctors, Schenectady. (518) 434-1703.

Adrian Legg and John Sheehan 7pm. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.

A Service of Lessons and Carols 7pm. Vassar College Choir, Women’s Chorus, Vassar College Madrigal Singers, and Capella Festiva. Vassar Chapel, Poughkeepsie. 437-7294.

Sunday Jazz Series 8pm-10pm. David CasT. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

THE OUTDOORS Singles and Sociables Hike: Rhododendron Bridge 10am-1pm. 5-mile hike. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz.

255-0919.

ART

SPOKEN WORD

Catskill Fiber Celebration Call for times. Show and sale of fiber art. Zena Road Firehouse, Woodstock. 246-2203.

Reading and Book Signing by Mario Batali 12pm-1pm. Author of Spain: A Culinary Road Trip with Gwenyth Paltrow. Hammertown, Rhinebeck. 876-1450.

FORECAST CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Victor Herbert: A Theatrical Life 1pm. Neil Gould. Merritt Bookstore, Millbrook.

677-5857.

Reading and Book Signing with Dakota Lane 2pm. Author of Gothic Lolita: A Mystical Thriller. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

A Visit to the Two Polar Regions 3pm-4pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.

MONDAY 8 CLASSES Youth Latin Dance “Caliente” 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Dance Ages 11-13 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Adult Latin Dance 6pm-7pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Adult Beginner Hip-Hop 7pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Read Hebrew America 7pm. Congregation Ezrath Israel, Ellenville. 647-5600.

FILM 3 Stooges Film Festival 7pm. Palace Theater, Albany. (518) 465-3334.

MUSIC Doug Elliot 7pm-10pm. Jazz, world. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

Don Giovanni 7pm. Salzburg Festival Opera Series live broadcast.

Main Stage at Proctors, Schenectady. (518) 434-1703.

Rondout Valley High School Band Chamber Ensembles 7pm. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Celtic Session 7:30pm. Traditional Irish music. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.

SPOKEN WORD Spoken Word Open Mike with Shiv Mirabito 8pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock. 684-5216.

THEATER Auditions for Urinetown 7pm. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

TUESDAY 9 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Tune Up Your Frequency 6:30pm-8:30pm. An evening with the master teachers. $15. Sage Center for the Healing Arts, Woodstock.

679-5650.

CLASSES Modern Dance Call for times. Classes with the Hudson Valley Modern Dance Cooperative. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

All Boys Beginner Hip-Hop 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Drumming 5pm-6pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Class Ages 8-10 5pm-6pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

West African Drum Class 6pm-7:30pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock.

684-5216.

Ballroom Dance, Rumba & Cha-Cha 6:30pm-7:30pm. Taconic Hills Central School, Craryville. (518) 325-0447.

Intermediate/Advanced Hip-Hop 7pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

EVENTS Big Little Holiday Party Call for times. Dedicated to the many small business owners in our area that want to share the spirit with the crew and others. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.

Green Drinks Holiday Party 6:30pm-9:30pm. Networking holiday party for environmental fields, sustainably-minded and eco-curious. Mahoney’s Irish Pub, Poughkeepsie.

454-6410.

FILM Momma’s Man Call for times. $6. GE Theater at Proctors, Schenectady. (518) 434-1703.

MUSIC Conservatory Noon Concert Series 12pm. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7216.

Early Music New York 4pm. Howland Cultural Center, Beacon. 831-4988.

THEATER Striking 12 7:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

WEDNESDAY 10 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Create Peace, Health & Satisfaction 6:30pm-8:30pm. A class based on spiritual healing and Pathwork. Flowing Spirit Healing, Woodstock.

679-8989.

FILM Momma’s Man Call for times. $6. GE Theater at Proctors, Schenectady. (518) 434-1703.

MUSIC SUNY Ulster Community Band 7:30pm. Quimby Theater, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.

Dancing On The Air 8pm. Jay Ungar and Molly Mason and the Dancing On The Air Orchestra. $12. WAMC Linda Norris Auditorium, Albany. (518) 465-5233.

Open Mike 10:30pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.

THE OUTDOORS Franny Reese Preserve Hike 9:30am-1pm. Franny Reese Preserve, Highland.

255-0919.

SPOKEN WORD Creators of Eebee: Eebee’s Peek-A-Boo Adventures 10am. Story time. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Mt. Marion Elementary: Penguin Story time and Holiday Caroling 1pm. Story time. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

THEATER Striking 12 7:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

WORKSHOPS Portrait Painting Workshop 5:30pm-8pm. Hudson Opera House, Hudson.

(518) 822-1438.

African Drum Workshop 6pm-7pm. $55/$40 members, 4-week session. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

THURSDAY 11 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Qigong/Tai Chi 8-9am. With “The Chi Kung Guy” Bryon Abrams.

The Living Seed Yoga & Holistic Center, New Paltz.

255-8212.

CLASSES Rendering in Black and White 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Drawing, Painting and Composition 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Euro Dance 1:30pm-2:30pm. $5/$8 couple. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

Youth Latin Dance “Caliente” 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Drumming 6pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Ages 11-13 6pm-7pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Life Drawing Classes 7:30pm-9:30pm. Studies in life drawing. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

EVENTS Safe Harbors of the Hudson Tour 11:30am. Informational tours of the Ritz Theater, The Cornerstone Residence and the Ann Street Gallery. Ritz Theater, Newburgh. 562-6940 ext. 109.

KIDS Comic Book Drawing Class 4pm-5pm. Ages 8-13. ASK Arts Center, Kingston.

338-0331.

MUSIC Kurt Henry & Cheryl Lambert 6pm. Acoustic. High Falls Cafe, High Falls. 687-2699.

CRUMBS Nite Out at The Linda 7pm. WAMC Linda Norris Auditorium, Albany.

(518) 465-5233.

ART CONVERGING MARGINS

Neighbors, by Deana Lawson, from the group show “Converging Margins,” on view at the Center for Photography at Woodstock through January 11.

Moments on the Margins In 1957, Henri Cartier-Bresson told the Washington Post, “There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative,” he said. “Oop! The Moment!

Once you miss it, it is gone forever.”

As the expression goes, two heads are better than one. Does it follow, then, that 22 eyes are better than two? “Converging Margins,” a group show featuring the work of 11 photographers, is a synthesis of captured moments—but don’t be fooled by appearances: The “moments” on exhibit are the result of months, or years, of the photographer’s immersion with his or her subjects and the worlds they inhabit. The notion of the artist uniting people through a work of art may be clichéd, but platitudes are often true. “Artists are attracted to things that are different from themselves,” curator Leah Oates observes, “and by also not belonging to any specific part of society they occupy a space that allows them to move [more freely] between groups of people and places.” To view the show’s works on display is to have the chance offerings of life delivered to the doorstep of your experience.

Two pairs of twin sisters (both sets of sisters dressed in identical outfits) smile for Deana Lawson’s camera, their tummies extended in the familiar S-shaped stance of toddlerhood. Their sameness invites an observer to consider the differences between them. These are the very premises of insider-blindness and outsider-insight underlying “Converging Margins,” which suggests that many of the boundaries we recognize are those that we have created ourselves.

In Far Rockaway, Juliana Beasley photographs a young woman walking down a sidewalk with a fishbowl in her hands—a hint of humor in the woman’s expression betrays self-awareness as she crosses the frame with her new pets, flanked by advertisements for egg sandwiches and an ATM machine. For several months, Beasley traveled for four hours a day to dwell in run-down bars, single room occupancies, and boarding houses with marginalized members of the Rockaway Park community. Ultimately, she was welcomed inside. “I became the girl who was always going around with her camera, always taking pictures of people,” she says. The deceptive spontaneity of the snapshot conceals the time it has taken to gain the trust of a community as an insider, or acceptance as an outsider. Paul D’Amato, who began a 15-year-long relationship with a Mexican neighborhood in Chicago called Pilsen in 1988, writes that he had “hoped to photograph from the inside looking out instead of the outside looking in. I tried to be a part of the community but in the end, of course, I wasn’t. You can learn a lot when you are willing to be a stranger.” Other artists featured in the show offer glimpses of celebrity culture. Artist and professional skateboarder Ed Templeton (who titles a nubile rump, softly foregrounded by an athletic-socked foot, The Shape of Young Love) reveals a knowing nostalgia, while Miles Ladin reveals the creepiness and agitation in Bill Blass, Nancy Kissinger, Mica Ertegun, and Duane Hampton, who are seen together at a fashion show after-party in Blass & Co. “Converging Margins” is on view at the Center for Photography at Woodstock through January 11. (845) 679-9957; www.cpw.org.

—Christina Kaminski

12/08 CHRONOGRAM FORECAST

103

Dan Stokes 7pm. Pop, soft rock. Big Easy Bistro, Newburgh.

565-3939.

SUNY Ulster Jazz Ensemble 7:30pm. Quimby Theater, Stone Ridge. 687-5263.

Christmas with Vince and Amy 7:30pm. Times Union Center, Albany. (518) 487-2000.

Evan Uhlman 8pm-10pm. Pop, rock. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

Open Mike 9pm-12am. Cappucino’s, Red Hook. 876-1331.

David Kraai & The Saddle Tramps 11pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.

SPOKEN WORD Mt. Marion Elementary: Penguin Story time and Holiday Caroling 1pm. Story time. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Mother to Mother Circle 3pm-4:30pm. Waddle n Swaddle, Poughkeepsie.

473-5952.

THEATER Striking 12 7:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

FRIDAY 12 DECEMBER ART The Majestic Hudson 4pm-7pm. Group show of paintings. Flat Iron Gallery, Peekskill. (914) 734-1894.

BFA/MFA II Exhibition 6pm-8pm. Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, SUNY New Paltz. 257-3858.

Member Theme Exhibition Art Squared 7pm-9pm. Garrison Art Center, Garrison. 424-3960.

BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Dana Dinner: The Perfection of Giving Call for times. Zen Mountain Monastery, Mount Tremper. 688-2228.

CLASSES Portrait and Figure Painting 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Artistic Anatomy 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Printmaking 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Painting and Composition 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

DANCE The Nutcracker 8pm. Catskill Ballet Theater. $25/$18 students and seniors. Ulster Performing Arts Center, Kingston.

339-6088.

Winter Dance 8pm. Student choreography presented by the Dance Program. Fisher Center, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.

EVENTS

Gifts with a Twist 299 WALL STREET • KINGSTON, NEW YORK 12401 • 845-338-8100

In The Heart of Uptown Kingston LIGHTING • JEWELRY • ART • GIFTS • SWELL STUFF

Stories of Freedom 10:15am. Celebrate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Oakwood Friends School Theatre, Poughkeepsie. 255-7716.

Holiday Studio Sale 3pm-7pm. Rompstore.com. 22 East Market Street 2nd floor, Rhinebeck. 876-7667.

Candlelight Tours 5pm-8pm. Boscobel Restoration, Garrison-on-Hudson.

265-3638.

Holiday Bowl 50th Anniversary 6pm. Holiday Bowl, Wappingers Falls. 297-8110.

Vanderbilt Mansion Christmas Open House 6pm-9pm. Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park.

KIDS Rosendale School’s Polar Express Slumber Party 6:30pm. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

MUSIC Dar Williams 9pm. Singer-songwriter. The Bearsville Theater, Woodstock. 679-4406.

Holiday Sounds 2pm. Town of Bethlehem Senior Chorus. Bethlehem Public Library, Delmar. (518) 439-9314.

10th Annual Champagne Dinner 7pm. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.

Watermelon Slim 7pm. Blues. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.

David Sedaris 8pm. $75/$55/$50 Bardavon members. The Bardavon, Poughkeepsie. 473-2072.

Woodstock Chamber Orchestra 8pm. $20/$5 students. Bard College, Annandale-onHudson. 758-7216.

Off Hour Rockers 8pm. Gail’s Place, Newburgh. 567-1414.

Denise Jordan Finley and Daniel Pagdon 8pm. Hyde Park United Methodist Church, Hyde Park.

229-7791.

3 Guys From Gotham 9pm. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.

David Munnelly Band 9pm. $30/$25. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300.

Butter 9:30pm. Funk and R&B. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.

SPOKEN WORD Bringing Ethics Back into the Work Place 6pm. With dinner. Delamater Inn, Rhinebeck. 876-7666.

THEATER Christmas Carol 8pm. $20/$18 children and seniors. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

Striking 12 8pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

104

FORECAST CHRONOGRAM 12/08

A Christmas Carol 8pm. Walking the Dog Theater. $15/$12 for students and seniors/$10 for WTD members. Space 360, Hudson. (518) 697-3360.

SATURDAY 13 ART Winter Solstice 2008 12pm-5pm. Betsy Jacaruso Gallery, Red Hook. 758-9244.

Clay Demonstration 1pm-5pm. Porcelain slip carving on wheel thrown stoneware vessels. Unframed Artist Gallery, New Paltz.

255-5482.

Auorville Arts for Tibet 5pm-12am. Exhibition of photographs by Ireno Guerci and paintings of Tiziano Fucile. Vita Gallery, Woodstock. 679-2329.

Bardo 6pm-8pm. New work by Kathe Izzo, The Love Artist.

(His)tory Gallery, Hudson. (518) 828-6290.

Marlene Parillo, Storypots and Tapestries 6pm-9pm. Vessel sculptures and mixed media quilts.

Pearldaddy Gallery, Beacon. 765-0169

BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Qigong/Tai Chi 1am-5pm. With “The Chi Kung Guy” Bryon Abrams.

Emerson Organic Spa, Mount Tremper. 688-2828.

Sharing Shabbat 9am-10:30am. Congregation Shir Chadash, LaGrange.

223-5925.

CLASSES Printmaking 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Watercolor Paintings 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Drawing for Painting 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Sketch Class 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

DANCE Swing Dance 7pm-10pm. Lesson and Cool Kittens performance. $10/$6 students/children free. Reformed Church of Port Ewen, Port Ewen. 236-3939.

Holiday Contradance 8pm. Peter Blue calling, music by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason. $10/$9 members/children half price.

Woodstock Community Center, Woodstock. 246-2121.

The Nutcracker 8pm. Catskill Ballet Theater. $25/$18 students and seniors.

Ulster Performing Arts Center, Kingston. 339-6088.

Winter Dance 8pm. Student choreography presented by the Dance Program. Fisher Center, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.

EVENTS Wreath Fineries at 11 Wineries Call for times. Follow the wine trail to create a wreath.

New Paltz area. 255-2494.

Candlelight Tours Call for times. Boscobel Restoration, Garrison-onHudson. 265-3638.

Holiday Studio Sale 11am-4pm. Rompstore.com. 22 East Market Street 2nd floor, Rhinebeck. 876-7667.

Holiday Craft and Art Bazaar 2pm-6pm. Shambhala Yoga Center, Beacon. 778-1855.

Holiday Benefit Toy Drive 4pm-11p. The Elephant, Kingston. 339-9310.

Annual Holiday Reception 5pm-7pm. Clermont State Historic Site, Germantown.

(518) 537-4240.

FDR Mansion Christmas Open House 6pm-9pm. Eleanor Roosevelt’s Val-Kill, Hyde Park.

Catskill Cabaradio’s Third Anniversary Fundraiser Dinner and Show 6pm-9pm. $15/$10 seniors and teens/children free.

Pine Hill Community Center, Pine Hill. 254-5469.

FDR Mansion Christmas Open House 6pm-9pm. FDR Presidential Library, Hyde Park.

FILM Patti Smith Dream Of Life 7pm. Followed by Q & A with director Steven Sebring. $6. WAMC Linda Norris Auditorium, Albany.

(518) 465-5233.

KIDS Circle of Life Wreath for Ages 5 through 12 Call for times. $7/$5 members. Hudson Highlands Nature Museum’s Outdoor Discovery Center, Cornwallon-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.

Green Gifts Workshop for Children 10am-12pm. Wallkill River School and Art Gallery, Montgomery. 457-2787.

Holiday Wreath Craft 10am. Ages 5-12. $7/$5 members. Hudson Highlands Nature Museum, Cornwall-on-Hudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.

Circle of Life Wreath for Ages 13+ 1pm. $7/$5 members. Hudson Highlands Nature Museum’s Outdoor Discovery Center, Cornwall-onHudson. 534-5506 ext. 204.

MUSIC Bard Conservatory Concerto Competition Preliminary Round 10am. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7216.

Woodstock Renaissance: Annual Yuletide Concert 2pm. A capella, early music. Overlook Methodist Church, Woodstock. 679-9160.

Nowell Sing We Clear: A Mid Winter Pageant of Carols 3pm. John Roberts, Tony Barrand, Fred Breunig and Andy Davis. $20/$5 children. Old Songs, Inc., Voorheesville. (518) 356-3197.

The Art of Song Deconstructed 4pm. Diamond Opera Theater. Hudson Opera House, Hudson. (518) 822-1438.

Catskill Cabaradio 6pm-9pm. Poets, local personalities, live music, local history and good old fashioned family fun. Pine Hill Community Center, Pine Hill. 254-5469.

MUSIC RAY DAVIES IMAGE PROVIDED

Ray Davies will perform at the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie on December 6 at 8pm.

Well-Respected Man Among the members of rock groups that crossed the pond in the mid ’60s, there were numerous working-class stiffs but few working-class bards. While conventional wisdom insists that Lennon and McCartney led the pack in music and lyrics, their reimaginings of Tin Pan Alley moon/June couplets were genial but basic stuff. When we talk of true romantic verse, the overlooked genius is Ray Davies.

While his London-based quartet the Kinks initially lurched to the top of the pops on power chords—the still-exhilarating “You Really Got Me” offers proto-heavy metal riffs—Raymond Douglas Davies soon emerged as the unlikely poet laureate of British rock. Wholly deserved of a plot among men of letters in Westminster Abbey, Davies, 64, nonetheless shows no signs of petrification after 45 years in the business. He plays the Bardavon Opera House on December 6.

As woefully lyrical as W. H. Auden, Davies canonized the rueful working class, raised in fear and want during the Blitz. His literate ballads both mocked and celebrated the scrappy stoicism of his parents’ generation. But Davies was no snarky nihilist; his sympathies squarely lay with those who valued the old-fashioned ways, as evidenced in musical snapshots of countryside life like “Waterloo Sunset” and “Sunny Afternoon.”

Especially, the still bracing 1968 masterpiece The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. An album teetering precariously between mournful and mawkish, Village Green serves as an elegy for fading customs in an era rife with youthful upheaval.

While on tour in support of last fall’s Working Man’s Cafe (New West Records), Davies remains slavishly committed to nostalgia; expect renditions of his past glories, with Davies accompanied by his own band. (He has been split from the Kinks for several years now, a schism that began decades ago with a famed rivalry with the group’s lead

guitarist and other songwriter, his brother Dave Davies.)

The man who wrote requiems for British life was an expatriate for several years, residing in New Orleans. The city’s storied destruction, subsequent neglect, and unlikely rebirth provided the singer-songwriter with choice material—as well as a bullet wound.

(In 2004, Davies was shot in the leg in by a mugger; the 2006 CD Other People’s Lives (V2 Records), labored over for years, was released after his long convalescence. He has since returned to live in the UK.) Working Man’s Cafe, ambitious but uneven, explores the feelings churned up by the shooting. Davies uses the crime as a point of departure for diagnosing the social ills of our country. Davies also returns to a familiar trope: melancholy meditations of passing customs. But the gripes seem weary rather than lyrically plaintive. One number scorns a designer jeans store that replaced a greengrocer. But the casualty doesn’t have the resonance of a metaphor for greater losses. Throughout the CD, Davies catalogs the tedium of modern life—global marketing, Internet cafes, robo-calls, and incessant war.

But he often sounds more cranky than profound. Happily, Working Man’s Cafe also features several numbers with a mid-’60s bounce, delivered in Davies’s sly, wheedling voice, which has lost little of its expressiveness over four decades.

Like a lorryman at the pub sucking down a pint of bitters, Ray Davies drinks deeply from the past and remains unabashedly sentimental about it. Even if our best days lay behind us, Ray Davies reminds us of the joys of a lingering backward glance.

Ray Davies will perform at the Bardavon in Poughkeepsie on December 6 at 8pm.

(845) 473-2072; www.bardavon.org.

—Jay Blotcher

12/08 CHRONOGRAM FORECAST

105

Albany Symphony Orchestra: Holiday Classic 7:30pm. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.

Tracy Bonham and the Trapps 8pm. $20. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-7869.

Mulled Measure of Merry Mishegos 8pm. Peter Schickele, Mik Horowitz, Gilles Malkine.

Bearsville Theater, Bearsville.679-4406. $20.

Woodstock Chamber Orchestra 8pm. $20/$5 students. Pointe of Praise Family Life Center, Kingston. 246-7045.

Wet Paint and Paul McMahon 8pm. Acoustic. A.I.R. Studio Gallery, Kingston.

331-2662.

The New York Swing Exchange 8:30pm. Bodles Opera House, Chester. 469-4595.

Hurley Mountain Highway 9pm. Soft rock, pop. Pamela’s on The Hudson, Newburgh. 562-4505.

Blue Coyote 9pm. Rock. Hickory BBQ Smokehouse, Kingston.

338-2424.

Malley Bragg Band 9pm. Rhythm and blues. $8. Claude’s Bistro, Phoenicia. 688-2561.

Ray Spiegel Ensemble 9pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock. 684-5216.

THE OUTDOORS Orienteering 101 9am-12pm. Black Creek, Esopus. 473-4440 ext. 273.

Singles and Sociables Hike- Stokes Loop 9:30am-4pm. Strenuous 9-mile hike. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.

Family Dog Walk to the Van Leuven Cabin 11am-1pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.

SPOKEN WORD Men’s Round Table Discussion 10am-12pm. For men raising children, teens, and grandchildren. Mental Health America, Poughkeepsie.

473-2500.

Reading and Book Signing with Jacky Davis and David Soman 11am. Authors of Ladybug Girl. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Fair Trade Certified 2pm. Gain understanding of fair trade and its relevance.

Hudson Opera House, Hudson. (518) 822-1438.

Reading and Book Signing with Lucy Van Sickle 6pm. Author of Marbletown, New York. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

THEATER Story Theater Call for times. Aesop’s Fables and the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, performed by Kids on Stage. $6-$9. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

Striking 12 4pm/8:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

A Christmas Carol 8pm. $20/$18 students and seniors. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

A Christmas Carol 8pm. Walking the Dog Theater. $15/$12 for students and seniors/$10 for WTD members. Space 360, Hudson. (518) 697-3360.

SUNDAY 14 ART Photography by Karen Capobianco 4pm-6pm. Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Sacred Chanting 10am-11:30am. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

Development of the Human Potential by Practicing a Meditation/Healing 1pm-2pm. Center for Whole Life Healing, Kingston.

399-2098.

CLASSES

Woodstock Chamber Orchestra 3pm. $20/$5 students. Bearsville Theater, Woodstock.

246-7045.

Kairos: A Consort of Singers 3pm. Annual lessons & carols service. Holy Cross Monastery, West Park. 384-6660.

Ken Sikula & Fred Coddington 6pm. The Muddy Cup, Kingston. 338-3881.

Bard Conservatory Concerto Competition Final Round 7pm. Fisher Center, Annandale-on-Hudson. 758-7900.

A Night Before Christmas with Spyro Gyra 7pm. Jazz. $32/ $29/$15 students. Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy. (518) 273-0038.

College/Youth Symphony 7pm. $6/$5/$3. SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz. 257-7869.

THE OUTDOORS Hike Fishkill & Scofield Ridges Call for times. Moderate hike. Call for location.

297-5126.

Singles and Sociables Hike: Palmaghatt Traverse 9:30am-3pm. Strenuous 9-mile hike. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.

THEATER A Christmas Carol 2pm. $5. Aquinas Theater, Newburgh. 569-3179.

Striking 12 2:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

Christmas Carol 3pm. $20/$18 children and seniors. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

A Christmas Carol 3pm. Walking the Dog Theater. $15/$12 for students and seniors/$10 for WTD members. Space 360, Hudson. (518) 697-3360.

WORKSHOPS Wonderful Fairy Worlds 1pm-3pm. Unframed Artist Gallery, New Paltz.

255-5482.

MONDAY 15 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Kabbalah Meditation Group 7pm-8pm. The Sanctuary, New Paltz. 691-5548.

CLASSES Youth Latin Dance “Caliente” 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Dance Ages 11-13 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Adult Latin Dance 6pm-7pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Adult Beginner Hip-Hop 7pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Read Hebrew America 7pm. Congregation Ezrath Israel, Ellenville. 647-5600.

EVENTS Holiday Celebration 6pm. Magic, songs, Christmas goodies and a visit from Santa. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck.

876-3080.

FILM The Secret Call for times. $6. GE Theater at Proctors, Schenectady. (518) 434-1703.

MUSIC Doug Elliot 7pm-10pm. Jazz, world. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

Celtic Session 7:30pm. Traditional Irish music. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.

SPOKEN WORD Spoken Word Open Mike with Shiv Mirabito 8pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock. 684-5216.

Atelier-Figure Painting 9am-12pm. $120-$300. Wallkill River School, Montgomery. 689-0613.

BODY / MIND / SPIRIT

The Nutcracker 2pm. Catskill Ballet Theater. $25/$18 students and seniors. Ulster Performing Arts Center, Kingston.

339-6088.

The Nutcracker 3pm. The Bardavon, Poughkeepsie. 473-2072.

Winter Dance 3pm. Student choreography presented by the Dance Program. Fisher Center, Annandale-on-Hudson.

758-7900.

Drop-In Meditation 5:30pm-7pm. Sage Center for the Healing Arts, Woodstock. 679-5650.

EVENTS Wreath Fineries at 11 Wineries Call for times. Follow the wine trail to create a wreath.

New Paltz area. 255-2494.

Candlelight Tours Call for times. Boscobel Restoration, Garrison-onHudson. 265-3638.

KIDS Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar 1pm. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.

MUSIC Kimberly with Bruce Hildenbrand 11am. Acoustic. Mezzaluna Cafe, Saugerties. 246-5306.

Julius LaRosa Special Musical Performance 2pm. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Karton Herz 2pm. Acoustic. Borders Books and Music, Wappingers Falls. 297-3700.

Rick Snyder 2pm. Acoustic. Taste Budd’s Chocolate and Coffee Cafe, Red Hook. 758-6500.

The Zucchini Brothers’ Holiday Show 2pm. $10/$8 children. The Egg, Albany. (518) 473-1845.

Holiday Concert of Sacred Music 3pm. Garrison Institute, Garrison. 424-4800.

106

TUESDAY 16

DANCE

FORECAST CHRONOGRAM 12/08

CLASSES All Boys Beginner Hip-Hop 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Drumming 5pm-6pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Class Ages 8-10 5pm-6pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

West African Drum Class 6pm-7:30pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock.

684-5216.

Intermediate/Advanced Hip-Hop 7pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

FILM The Secret Call for times. $6. GE Theater at Proctors, Schenectady. (518) 434-1703.

MUSIC Open Mike 7pm-10pm. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties.

246-5775.

Community Music Night 8pm-9:45pm. Six local singer-songwriters. Rosendale Cafe, Rosendale. 658-9048.

SPOKEN WORD Mother to Mother Circle 10:30am-12pm. Waddle n Swaddle, Poughkeepsie.

473-5952.

Poetry Open Mike with Stephen Dodge 7:30pm. $3. Downtown Cafe, Kingston. 331-5904.

THEATER

SPOKEN WORD

Striking 12 7:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

Mother to Mother Circle 3pm-4:30pm. Waddle n Swaddle, Poughkeepsie.

473-5952.

Rip’s Resurrected Poetry 7pm-9pm. Mezzaluna Cafe, Saugerties. 246-5306.

WEDNESDAY 17 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT A Course in Miracles 7:30pm-9:30pm. Study group with Alice Broner.

Unitarian Fellowship, Poughkeepsie. 229-8391.

THEATER Striking 12 7:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

FRIDAY 19

CLASSES Watercolor Paintings 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Interpreting the Landscape 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Garage Band Lesson 6pm-7pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hebrew Reading Crash Course for Adults 6:30pm-8pm. Freedom Plains Presbyterian Church, LaGrangeville. 227-3327.

DANCE Spanish Dance 8pm. Student choreography presented by the Dance Program. Fisher Center, Annandale-on-Hudson.

758-7900.

MUSIC Capitol Pride Singers & Basso Moderno Duo 8pm. $10. WAMC Linda Norris Auditorium, Albany.

(518) 465-5233.

Open Mike 10:30pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.

SPOKEN WORD

BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Tune Up Your Frequency 6:30pm-8:30pm. An evening with the “Master Teachers”. $15. Sage Center for the Healing Arts, Woodstock. 679-5650.

CLASSES Portrait and Figure Painting 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Artistic Anatomy 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Printmaking 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Painting and Composition 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

EVENTS Into the Light!

8pm. A holiday spectacular featuring The Vanaver Caravan and Arm-of-the-Sea Theater. $15/$10 children, seniors and students. Quimby Theater, Stone Ridge.

687-5263.

Santa Visits Story time 10am. Story time. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

El Regalo de Navidad 4pm. Children’s bilingual Story time. Barnes & Noble, Kingston. 336-0590.

Poetry Open Mike 7pm. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

FILM

THEATER

Spiritual Family Music Night 7pm-10pm. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties.

246-5775.

Sweet Honey in the Rock 8pm. A holiday show. $36/$33/$20 students. Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy. (518) 273-0038.

The Providers 8pm. Blues. La Puerta Azul, Millbrook. 677-2985.

Larry Stevens Acoustic Band 9pm. Acoustic. Pamela’s on The Hudson, Newburgh.

562-4505.

Crawdaddy 9:30pm. Cajun, zydeco. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.

Striking 12 7:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

WORKSHOPS Portrait Painting Workshop 5:30pm-8pm. Hudson Opera House, Hudson.

(518) 822-1438.

African Drum Workshop 6pm-7pm. $55/$40 members, 4-week session. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

THURSDAY 18 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Qigong/Tai Chi 8-9am. With “The Chi Kung Guy” Bryon Abrams.

The Living Seed Yoga & Holistic Center, New Paltz.

255-8212.

CLASSES Rendering in Black and White 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Drawing, Painting and Composition 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Euro Dance 1:30pm-2:30pm. $5/$8 couple. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

Youth Latin Dance “Caliente” 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Drumming 6pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Ages 11-13 6pm-7pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Life Drawing Classes 7:30pm-9:30pm. Studies in life drawing. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

EVENTS Orange County Walk for MS: The Heritage Trail in Goshen 9am. Orange Heritage Trail, Goshen. (914) 694-1655.

Safe Harbors of the Hudson Tour 11:30am. Informational tours of the Ritz Theater, The Cornerstone Residence and the Ann Street Gallery. Ritz Theater, Newburgh. 562-6940 ext. 109.

FILM Food for Thought 7pm. An evening of socially relevant cinema “Rock and A Heart Place.” $6. WAMC Linda Norris Auditorium, Albany. (518) 465-5233.

Slap and Tickle 7pm. Special sneak preview of Nicole Quinn’s new film with Caitlin Quinn, Gloria Reuben and Linda Powell.

Vanderlyn Hall, SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge. 687-5262.

KIDS Comic Book Drawing Class 4pm-5pm. Ages 8-13. ASK Arts Center, Kingston.

338-0331.

MUSIC Kimberly with Bruce Hildenbrand 6pm. Acoustic. High Falls Cafe, High Falls. 687-2699.

The Oak Ridge Boys 7:30pm. Christmas Cookies Tour 2008. $30.50-$45.50.

Palace Theater, Albany. (518) 465-3334.

Topher Thomas 8pm. Acoustic. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties.

246-5775.

Open Mike 9pm-12am. Cappucino’s, Red Hook. 876-1331.

THE OUTDOORS Long Dock Beacon Morning Ranger Hike 10am-12pm. Long Dock Beacon, Beacon.

473-4440 ext. 270.

It’s a Wonderful Life 7pm. Palace Theater, Albany. (518) 465-3334.

The Wizard of Oz 7:30pm. Ulster Performing Arts Center, Kingston.

339-6088.

MUSIC

THEATER Evenings of Psychodrama 8pm. $6/$4 students and seniors. Boughton Place, Highland. 255-7502.

Striking 12 8pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

Christmas Carol 8pm. $20/$18 children and seniors. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

A Christmas Carol 8pm. Walking the Dog Theater. $15/$12 for students and seniors/$10 for WTD members. Space 360, Hudson. (518) 697-3360.

SATURDAY 20 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Qigong/Tai Chi Call for times. With “The Chi Kung Guy” Bryon Abrams.

Emerson Organic Spa, Mount Tremper. 688-2828.

Healing Group With the Sound of the Crystal Bowls 5:30pm-6pm. $15. Sage Center for the Healing Arts, Woodstock. 679-5650.

CLASSES Printmaking 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Watercolor Paintings 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Drawing for Painting 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Sketch Class 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

DANCE FreeStyle Frolic 8:30pm-1am. Dancing in an alcohol-free environment to a wide range of music. $5/$2 teens and seniors/ children free. 389 Broadway, Kingston.

EVENTS Holiday Afternoon Tea Call for times. Benefits Lyrics From the Heart. $35. The Renwick Clifton House B, Saugerties. 246-0552.

Kwanzaa Celebration 3pm-7pm. Hudson Opera House, Hudson.

(518) 822-1438.

Into the Light!

8pm. A holiday spectacular featuring The Vanaver Caravan and Arm-of-the-Sea Theater. $15/$10 children, seniors and students. Quimby Theater, Stone Ridge.

687-5263.

KIDS Green Gifts Workshop for Children 10am-12pm. Wallkill River School and Art Gallery, Montgomery. 457-2787.

MUSIC Felice Brothers Call for times. The Bearsville Theater, Woodstock.

679-4406.

Doug Marcus 11:30am. Acoustic. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

ART REVEALED ANEW IMAGE PROVIDED

Pablo Picasso, Blind Minotaur, 1934, aquatint, with burnishing, and etching on paper, from “Revealed Anew” at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center At Vassar College through January 4.

Masters Revealed Suppose you’re the curator of an art museum whose most famous paintings are on tour.

What do you do? If you are Patricia Phagan and Mary-Kay Lombino, curators at Vassar College’s Loeb Art Center, you dig into the secret vaults where almost 18,000 artworks are stored and create a new exhibit. “Revealed Anew: Selections from the Permanent Collection” opened on November 7 and continues through January 4.

Phagan and Lombino chose 39 works, which will be displayed in three intimate rooms designed to make small artworks look larger. Most of these are rarely shown pieces, in some cases because the drawings are too fragile to be displayed for long.

The three rooms of “Revealed Anew” are arranged chronologically: Old Masters, 19th-century works, and the 20th century. Two of the treasures of the show are Albrecht Dürer’s engraving Adam and Eve from 1504 and Pablo Picasso’s aquatint Blind Minotaur from 1934. Sculptures are rarely shown at the Loeb center, but two appear in this show. Female Allegorical Head is a bronze by Malvina Hoffman (1887-1966), an African-American sculptor who studied with Rodin. Sleep is a luminous alabaster work

by Robert Laurent (1890-1970), a French-American artist.

Portraits can be startling. You’re walking innocently through a museum and suddenly you’re face-to-face with a sturdy Flemish tradesman from 1527, as real and vivid as your car mechanic! Joos van Cleve, a 16th-century painter from Antwerp, has just such a portrait in this show.

There are a number of local connections in the show, including three works by Hudson River School painters. Louis Rémy Mignot’s Winter View from Newburgh,

chosen for its seasonal resonance, is a rare Hudson River School snow scene. A dazzling William Zorach charcoal depicts Edna St. Vincent Millay, who lived in a farmhouse called Steepletop in the Columbia County hamlet of Austerlitz much of her life. Inside Out is a drawing by Philip Guston (1913-1980), whose studio was in Woodstock. Vincent (as her friends called her) and Guston represent six decades of Hudson Valley bohemia.

Any series of paintings tells a story. “Revealed Anew” may be seen as a three-century dialogue between Europe and America, with the United States ultimately emerging as the victor in the 20th century. The Old Masters room has only one piece by an American: Lot and His Daughters Led by Two Angels, a drawing by Benjamin West, who was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania, but moved to England in 1763, where he cofounded the Royal Academy of Arts.

The last room is dominated by Americans. Andy Warhol’s The New Spirit is a large hot pink-and-gold screen print of Donald Duck from 1985. Photographer Billy Name has a portrait of Marilyn Monroe. Valerie Jaudon’s Untitled is a pastel geometric abstraction.

The concept of beauty changes throughout history. Joos van Cleve would be astonished to learn that by 1985, Donald Duck was considered worthy of portraiture. At some point in the 20th century, humor merged with art.

“Revealed Anew” will be shown at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie through January 4. (845) 437-5632; www.fllac.vassar.edu.

—Sparrow 12/08 CHRONOGRAM FORECAST

107

Met Opera in Live in HD: Massenet’s Thais 12pm. $23/$21 seniors/$16 students. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.

Concert to Benefit Kingston Food & Gardens 7pm. Sniger/songwriter Rebecca Martin and Jazz Bassist Larry Grenadier. $30 at the door. Kingston Food and Gardens. Kingston. 750-6442.

The Rhodes 8pm-10pm. Acoustic. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

The Firebird 8pm. Hudson Valley Philharmonic. The Bardavon, Poughkeepsie. 473-2072.

Classical Guitar Holiday Concert 8pm. With Sarah Williams, Sheila Hamilton and Jim Bacon. $20/$18 members. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

Creation 9pm. Covers. La Puerta Azul, Millbrook. 677-2985.

Judith Tullock Band 9pm. Singer/songwriter. Aroma Thyme Bistro, Ellenville.

647-3000.

Woodstock Mothership Holiday Party 9pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock. 684-5216.

THE OUTDOORS Undercliff/Overcliff Hike or Ski 10am-3pm. Mohonk Preserve, New Paltz. 255-0919.

Vassar Campus Walk 1:30pm. Collegeview Entrance, Poughkeepsie.

471-9892.

THEATER A Christmas Carol 11am/1pm. The Puppet People. $6-$9. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

Striking 12 4pm/8:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

A Christmas Carol 8pm. Walking the Dog Theater. $15/$12 for students and seniors/$10 for WTD members. Space 360, Hudson. (518) 697-3360.

A Christmas Carol 8pm. $20/$18 students and seniors. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

SUNDAY 21 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT

Read Hebrew America 7pm. Congregation Ezrath Israel, Ellenville. 647-5600.

FILM Scrooged 7pm. Palace Theater, Albany. (518) 465-3334.

MUSIC Doug Elliot 7pm-10pm. Jazz, world. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

Celtic Session 7:30pm. Traditional Irish music. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.

SPOKEN WORD Spoken Word Open Mike with Shiv Mirabito 8pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock. 684-5216.

TUESDAY 23 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Healing Group With the Sound of the Crystal Bowls 5:30pm-6:30pm. $15. Sage Center for the Healing Arts, Woodstock. 679-5650.

CLASSES ALL BOYS BEGINNER HIP-HOP 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Class Ages 8-10 5pm-6pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Drumming 5pm-6pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Rhythm Tap Dance Classes 5:30pm. Introduction to the art of sound and movement taught by Stefanie Weber. $50 for five classes.

Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, Pittsfield, MA. (413) 281-6734.

West African Drum Class 6pm-7:30pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock.

684-5216.

Intermediate/Advanced Hip-Hop 7pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

MUSIC Open Mike 7pm-10pm. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties.

246-5775.

SPOKEN WORD

Development of the Human Potential by Practicing a Meditation/Healing 1pm-2pm. Center for Whole Life Healing, Kingston.

399-2098.

Sacred Singing Metals 7pm-9pm. Sound healer and hypnotherapist Peter Blum. Sage Center for the Healing Arts, Woodstock.

679-5650.

Mother to Mother Circle 10:30am-12pm. Waddle n Swaddle, Poughkeepsie.

473-5952.

Kingston Chapter of PFLAG Meeting 6:30pm-8:30pm. Hudson Valley LGBTQ Community Center, Inc., Kingston. 331-5300.

Poetry Open Mike with Stephen Dodge 7:30pm. $3. Downtown Cafe, Kingston. 331-5904.

DANCE

THEATER

Swing Dance Jam 6:30pm-9pm. Lesson at 6pm. $5. White Eagle Hall, Kingston. 339-3032.

Striking 12 7:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

WEDNESDAY 24

EVENTS Holiday Afternoon Tea Call for times. Benefits Lyrics From the Heart. $35. The Renwick Clifton House B, Saugerties. 246-0552.

Into the Light!

2pm. A holiday spectacular featuring The Vanaver Caravan and Arm-of-the-Sea Theater. $15/$10 children, seniors and students. Quimby Theater, Stone Ridge.

687-5263.

MUSIC The Acoustic Medicine Show 12pm. Taste Budd’s Chocolate and Coffee Cafe, Red Hook. 758-6500.

Annual Winter Solstice Celebration Concert 2pm. Neil Alexander & Nail. Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh. 522-8566.

Kairos: A Consort of Singers 3pm. Advent Cantata No. 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. Holy Cross Monastery, West Park. 256-9114.

Unplugged Open Acoustic Mike 4pm. $6/$5. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz.

255-1559.

THE OUTDOORS Singles and Sociables Hike: Spring Farm Hike or Snowshoe 10am-3pm. Strenuous 9-mile hike. Meet at Spring Farm Trailhead, New Paltz. 255-0919.

Esopus Meadows Preserve All-Star Solstice Event 6:30pm-8pm. Esopus Meadows Point Preserve, Esopus. 473-4440 ext. 270.

SPOKEN WORD Mapping the World Religions in the Hudson Valley 9:30am. Preston Hall, Annandale-on-Hudson.

758-7207.

THEATER Striking 12 2:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

A Christmas Carol 3pm. Walking the Dog Theater. $15/$12 for students and seniors/$10 for WTD members. Space 360, Hudson. (518) 697-3360.

A Christmas Carol 3pm. $20/$18 students and seniors. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

MONDAY 22

108

CLASSES Watercolor Paintings 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Interpreting the Landscape 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Hebrew Reading Crash Course for Adults 6:30pm-8pm. Freedom Plains Presbyterian Church, LaGrangeville. 227-3327.

EVENTS Santa on the Green 6pm. Woodstock Village Green, Woodstock. 679-6234.

MUSIC Open Mike 10:30pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.

WORKSHOPS African Drum Workshop 6pm-7pm. $55/$40 members, 4-week session. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

THURSDAY 25

THE OUTDOORS Family Winter Camp Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA’s Straus Center Inn, Claryville. (800) 454-5768.

The Rhodes 9pm. Muddy Cup, New Paltz. 338-3881.

MUSIC Doug Elliot 7pm-10pm. Jazz, world. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

SATURDAY 27 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Qigong/Tai Chi Call for times. With “The Chi Kung Guy” Bryon Abrams.

Emerson Organic Spa, Mount Tremper. 688-2828.

CLASSES Printmaking 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Watercolor Paintings 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Drawing for Painting 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Sketch Class 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

EVENTS Holiday Afternoon Tea Call for times. Benefits Lyrics From the Heart. $35. The Renwick Clifton House B, Saugerties. 246-0552.

5th Annual Winter Wine Tasting to Benefit the Adaptive Sports Foundation 6pm. Featuring the abstract art of Michael Kessler Windham Fine Arts Gallery, Windham. (518) 734-5070.

KIDS Kids’ Winter Camp Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville.

985-2291 ext. 205.

MUSIC Doug Marcus 2pm. Acoustic. Taste Budd’s Chocolate and Coffee Cafe, Red Hook. 758-6500.

Sound of Bells 8pm. Classical guitar by composer David Temple. $18/$16 seniors and students. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

Aztec Two-Step 9pm. Folk. $30/$25 in advance. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300.

Ray Spiegel Ensemble 9pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock. 684-5216.

The Big Takeover 9pm. Keegan Ales, Kingston. 331-2739.

THEATER The Wizard of Oz Call for times. $20-$60. Main Stage at Proctors, Schenectady. (518) 434-1703.

Striking 12 4pm/8:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

SUNDAY 28 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT

Holiday Afternoon Tea Call for times. Benefits Lyrics From the Heart. $35. The Renwick Clifton House B, Saugerties. 246-0552.

EVENTS Potluck Shabbat 6pm. Congregation Shir Chadash, LaGrange.

223-5925.

MUSIC Robert Randolf Call for times. The Chance Theater, Poughkeepsie.

486-0223.

Read Hebrew America 7pm. Congregation Ezrath Israel, Ellenville. 647-5600.

The Wizard of Oz Call for times. $20-$60. Main Stage at Proctors, Schenectady. (518) 434-1703.

Striking 12 8pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

Portrait and Figure Painting 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Artistic Anatomy 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Printmaking 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Painting and Composition 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Swing Dance 8pm-11pm. 7:30pm lesson. Live music. $15/$8 students. Poughkeepsie Tennis Club, Poughkeepsie.

454-2571.

Adult Beginner Hip-Hop 7pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

THEATER

CLASSES

DANCE

Adult Latin Dance 6pm-7pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Winter Arts Program 9am-Tuesday, December 30, 1pm. $96/$80 members.

Unison Arts and Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

EVENTS

Youth Latin Dance “Caliente” 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Dance Ages 11-13 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Adult Latin Dance 6pm-7pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Adult Beginner Hip-Hop 7pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Dance Ages 11-13 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

KIDS

Light the Night 7:30pm. Chanukah Shabbat service. Congregation Shir Chadash, LaGrange. 223-5925.

BODY / MIND / SPIRIT

Youth Latin Dance “Caliente” 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Babywearing 10:30am-12pm. Waddle n Swaddle, Poughkeepsie.

473-5952.

Sacred Chanting 10am-11:30am. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

Development of the Human Potential by Practicing a Meditation/Healing 1pm-2pm. Center for Whole Life Healing, Kingston.

399-2098.

FRIDAY 26

MONDAY 29 CLASSES

SPOKEN WORD

MUSIC

CLASSES

FORECAST CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Rags, Blues and All That Jazz!

8pm. $18/$16 students and seniors. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

Uncle Bootsy 8pm-10pm. Blues. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties. 246-5775.

In Transit 9pm. Taste Budd’s Chocolate and Coffee Cafe, Red Hook. 758-6500.

Karton Hertz 9pm. Acoustic. Hyde Park Brewing Company, Hyde Park. 229-8277.

Ray Spiegel Ensemble 9pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock. 684-5216.

MUSIC Deuces Child 12pm. Taste Budd’s Chocolate and Coffee Cafe, Red Hook. 758-6500.

Sound of Bells 3pm. Classical guitar by composer David Temple. $18/$16 seniors and students. Center for Performing Arts, Rhinebeck. 876-3080.

Ken Sikula & Fred Coddington 6pm. Acoustic. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties.

246-5775.

THE OUTDOORS Family Winter Camp Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA’s Straus Center Inn, Claryville. (800) 454-5768.

THEATER The Wizard of Oz Call for times. $20-$60. Main Stage at Proctors, Schenectady. (518) 434-1703.

Striking 12 2:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

Celtic Session 7:30pm. Traditional Irish music. New World Home Cooking, Saugerties. 246-0900.

Gandalf Murphy & The Slambovian Circus of Dreams 9pm. Towne Crier Cafe, Pawling. 855-1300.

SPOKEN WORD Spoken Word Open Mike with Shiv Mirabito 8pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock. 684-5216.

TUESDAY 30 BODY / MIND / SPIRIT Drop-In Meditation 5:30pm-7pm. Sage Center for the Healing Arts, Woodstock. 679-5650.

CLASSES All Boys Beginner Hip-Hop 4pm-5pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Hip-Hop Class Ages 8-10 5pm-6pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Drumming 5pm-6pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

West African Drum Class 6pm-7:30pm. Woodstock Mothership, Woodstock.

684-5216.

Recording Time 7pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

Intermediate/Advanced Hip-Hop 7pm-8pm. Center for Creative Education, Kingston.

338-7664.

KIDS Holiday Art Workshop 10am-3pm. Multi-media arts for ages 6-12. Garrison Art Center, Garrison. 424-3960.

MUSIC Open Mike 7pm-10pm. Inquiring Mind/Muddy Cup, Saugerties.

246-5775.

Community Music Night 8pm-9:45pm. Six local singer-songwriters. Rosendale Cafe, Rosendale. 658-9048.

THE OUTDOORS Family Winter Camp Call for times. Frost Valley YMCA’s Straus Center Inn, Claryville. (800) 454-5768.

SPOKEN WORD Mother to Mother Circle 10:30am-12pm. Waddle n Swaddle, Poughkeepsie.

473-5952.

Poetry Open Mike with Stephen Dodge 7:30pm. $3. Downtown Cafe, Kingston. 331-5904.

THEATER Striking 12 7:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

WEDNESDAY 31 CLASSES Watercolor Paintings 9am-12pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Interpreting the Landscape 1pm-4pm. Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock.

679-2388.

Hebrew Reading Crash Course for Adults 6:30pm-8pm. Freedom Plains Presbyterian Church, LaGrangeville. 227-3327.

Berkshire Bach Society: Bach at New Years 6pm. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington, MA. (413) 528-0100.

Open Mike 10:30pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.

The Big Takeover 11pm. Oasis Cafe, New Paltz. 255-2400.

THEATER Striking 12 7:30pm. True North Theater. $41-$46. Capital Repertory Theater, Albany. (518) 445-7469.

WORKSHOPS African Drum Workshop 6pm-7pm. $55/$40 members, 4-week session. Unison Arts & Learning Center, New Paltz. 255-1559.

MUSIC JEFFREY FOUCAULT IMAGE PROVIDED

Jeffrey Foucault will perform at the Rosenfale Café on December 13 at 8pm.

Ghost in the Machine Synchronicity. Cult of personality. And now: ghost repeater.

These are terms brought into the pop culture lexicon by songwriters who recognized underutilized words or phrases that encapsulated themes they wanted to address. Ghost repeater comes to us courtesy of acclaimed singer-songwriter-guitarist Jeffrey Foucault, touring behind a much-lauded CD of the same name (2006, Signature Sounds), and due to make a stop at the Rosendale Café on December 13.

“It’s an industry term,” Foucault tells me from his home in western Massachusetts.

“I think [monolithic multi–radio station owner] Clear Channel came up with it.”

A ghost repeater is a robot radio station, broadcasting demographically tailored playlists to communities littered with big-box stores and facing encroaching homogeneity.

The ghost repeater is part of Foucault’s unapologetic vision of an increasingly chromeplated American landscape that still bubbles under with specters and fever dreams.

As with his previous two releases, 2004’s Stripping Cane and 2005’s Miles from the Lightning, Foucault takes this raw material and creates richly poetic wordplay atop an acoustic flatbed of potent folk. But sprinkled throughout the newer songs are radiofriendly, elegantly pared-down odes to love. The cause: Foucault’s recent marriage to singer-songwriter Kris Delmhorst. This new development provides a buoyant quality to some of his latter-day work, albeit in a romance-among-the-ruins sort of way.

He releases a smoky, lived-in laugh when I tell him almost any woman would have married him upon hearing lines like: “And we’ll have a hundred babies / And a little house outside of town / With a woodstove and a claw-foot tub / When we’re all done traveling around.”

“The personal, less oblique, straightforward narrative is more of a challenge to write than the harder-to-parse allegorical stuff,” he says as his four-month-old daughter coos in the background. He’s on a break from touring, having recently played a post-election gig in Montreal. “I went onstage and said ‘Hi, my name is Jeffrey Foucault, and I’m proud to be from the United States of America,’” he says, “and the place just went crazy.”

An earthy autodidact and former groundskeeper at the University of Wisconsin, Foucault is indebted as much to fishing as he is to Tom Petty, John Prine, and poet Kenneth Rexroth—the latter introduced to him by his “anarchist, cab-driving uncle.” When asked whether he has time to cast a line while on tour, he says with a resigned sigh, “No, but a fan made me a split-cane fly rod and sent it to me in exchange for a spot on the guest list, so that was a great deal.” He says that once he can get a biodiesel bus and opt out of flying everywhere, he’ll have more room to bring his tackle.

In addition to that biodiesel bus, three releases are on the horizon for Foucault, and he is eager to get to them. “As soon as I get off the phone with you,” he tells me, “I’m calling John Prine’s manager to see if I can get a deal to license his songs for a tribute CD I’m doing.” Add to that a collection of murder ballads (to offset the love songs?) and a CD of tunes based around poet Lisa Olstein’s work, and you have a guy with a lot to say and do. Best to catch him while you can.

Jeffrey Foucault will perform at the Rosendale Café on December 13 at 8pm.

(845) 658-9048; www.rosendalecafe.com.

—Robert Burke Warren 12/08 CHRONOGRAM FORECAST

109

Planet Waves

EMIL ALZAMORA

BY ERIC FRANCIS COPPOLINO

The Branching of the Road

F

inally, on Wednesday night after the election, I got it: Barack Obama won the presidency, and I felt my first wave of euphoria. I have learned to shun that particular feeling when involving myself with politics, perhaps wanting to avoid disappointment or, maybe, as a kind of warrior, refusing to let my guard down even for a moment. But we stand in the midst of an unusual, indeed, a special time. Those of us who put our energy into this know that we have guided our country down a different branch of the road.

Barack Obama means many things to many people, and I want to first give a voice to the anger and suspicion. This includes the longtime reader who wrote to me and said, “I can see you not liking McCain. But how can you be so blinded by Obama?” Well, I trust my senses, my intuition and my knowledge of history. On the single issue most important to me—the composition of the Supreme Court—he was the obvious choice.

There are those who are outraged or incredulous that a black man is going to be president; for a significant number of people, that one fact marks the end of their particular United States of America. This is our nation’s racial shadow rising to greet us. Anyone claiming Obama is a Muslim terrorist is having this particular issue.

110 PLANET WAVES CHRONOGRAM 12/08

We all know what was done to the Africans when they were brought here.

We know that there has been no recompense, no apology, and that in some places life is no better than it was 100 or 150 years ago. Those who believe that white people should be perpetually in power are afraid that if and when the anger they suppose African-Americans feel is released and the tables are turned, they will be the ones getting lynched. This may seem like an overstatement; I contend that, if anything, I’m understating the situation because of how insidious the problem is.

To my father, Obama represents someone who is going to bankrupt the country with his healthcare plan. He seems completely incapable of viewing the larger issues in context of the Bush administration. The professor gets excellent state health insurance; he says he wishes everyone could have that, but he doesn’t want any part in paying the bill. He was unreflective about this apparent hypocrisy.

My mother is one of those people who doesn’t trust Obama. A member of MoveOn and a longtime contributor to Planned Parenthood, she’s someone who has developed a social conscience over the years; but she seems to be in the “pretty cover, blank pages” camp.

To African-Americans, I think the message here is too profound and subtle,

and, to some, too stunning to even summarize. We live in a country where there are more than two million black men in prison.

As of 2003, about 10.4 percent of the African-American male population in the United States aged 25 to 29 was incarcerated. We live in a country where being black means you might get executed for something for which a white person gets paroled or acquitted. Obama winning the presidency on a groundswell of authentic love of the people is proof that maybe we’re not all a bunch of seething racists.

To those who have poured their resources, time, energy, and creativity into social justice movements during the past 20 or 30 years, Barack Obama represents a social and political miracle of the highest order. He represents the potential for national healing after a seemingly endless—I personally thought it would never end, because I could not see how, or where—train of abuses of conscience.

It is true, as my friend Tracy pointed out and as everyone who has worked in politics knows, that your candidate sometimes disappoints you. She noted that for the UK, Tony Blair represented the end of the Margaret Thatcher/John Major era of history, and people were elated that the left finally got a voice.

Then Mr. Blair turned out to be more interested in playing Little Big Man than leader of a nation, selling out wholesale to Cheney/Bush and the Neocon movement. He supported the Iraq war, knowing it was a fraud; knowing that the alleged British intelligence about that yellowcake uranium was forged; knowing he was playing along. France, which did not support the war (remember “freedom fries”?) and spent years ridiculing Bush and the stupidity of Americans for allowing him to be their leader, elected Nicolas Sarkozy, Bush’s clone and Dick Cheney’s disciple, to be its president.

Politics is often a disappointing game, run by the greedy, inflicted on the ignorant, and too often born of lies and unstated agendas. Few people on our level are willing to do more than vote, if that. Times are changing. There are now millions of people obsessed with following alternative news websites, and who know there are many viewpoints; there are millions who blog, which means writing one’s own truth publicly; millions who forward articles and videos to their friends.

I believe that Barack Obama won the presidency based on two factors. The first was the Internet, which functioned as the immune system of the media. Web 2.0—the blogosphere—is still relatively new. Not everyone reads or trusts the Internet, but the “mainstream” media are paying attention and now cannot ignore what is published here.

It also works the other way. I don’t think anybody missed Katie Couric’s interview with Sarah Palin, but many would have missed it in 2004 or 2000.

Dan Quayle, the Palinesque vice presidential candidate under Bush the First, would not have survived YouTube. Nobody missed Tina Fey’s brilliant satires; most of us saw them not on NBC but rather on the Net. The Onion was at its absolute best, which is saying a lot.

The second entity we have to thank is Sarah Palin and whoever put her there.

What began as one of the most cynical gestures in American politics—baiting the public with a manipulative, ignorant, antichoice woman who threw her daughter under a bus the first day she was put on the ticket—backfired brilliantly. When a presidential candidate mentions that his running mate is qualified in part because she served on the PTA, that is just ridiculous, and we all saw it with our own eyes. It’s shocking that nearly half the country voted for her, but as Brian Mahoney, my editor here at Chronogram said to me on election night, “That’s the country you live in. Welcome home.”

We don’t know exactly what an Obama presidency is going to bring, because the world is on the brink of such enormous changes, and in part because you never really know in advance. We also know that we have to participate in those changes, and influence the outcome of events, just as we have the past few months. This is harder without rolling toward the big orgasm known as an election. Yet December builds to a potentially dangerous astrological hot spot (December 27 and 28), which in its most positive expression could be described as a moment of reform, of stoking the fire of evolution.

We need to remember that many very unfortunate events set in motion when Ronald Reagan took office in 1981 still have significant momentum today.

(Reagan-Bush began the modern era of manipulating Iran and Iraq by supplying both countries weapons to wage war against each other.) We know that some of the domestic policies begun in that era are getting extremely tired,

and their utter failures are being revealed: for example, abstinence-only sex indoctrination.

We know that we have to become the change we want, and that is much easier than electing a president.

I can tell you this. Americans are a traumatized people: traumatized by fear, though many of us are smothered in privilege that insulates us, for most of the day, from our uncertainty, pain, and sense of loss. We are traumatized by what we have witnessed and what we have been compelled to participate in and approve, which is injury both karmic and emotional. We are traumatized by being lied to endlessly, and conditioned to believe those lies. We are watching the federal treasury get ripped off, knowing our kids will have to pay the bill.

Let’s look back just 10 years. I believe the Cheney-Bush regime begins with the impeachment of Bill Clinton, which only worked because sex is the one remaining offensive subject to numerous Americans (sex doesn’t sell, guilt does)—and then we ended up with nearly a decade of ongoing war. We are traumatized by what was created by numerous lies and done in our name, including millions killed, injured, displaced, and grieving in Iraq. We are traumatized by the loss of our servicemen and women, our spouses and siblings and neighbors, including untold thousands who have returned with brain damage and/or psychologically shattered. We are traumatized by knowing how our vets are treated when they come home.

We were traumatized, and I believe we have not yet recovered, from the September 11 false flag attacks, which Bush was warned were imminent by the CIA on August 6, 2001. In other words, he knew, he could have stopped it.

If you believe Richard A. Clarke, the chief of counterterrorism under several administrations ending with Bush, the administration did everything it could to make sure September 11 happened. This national catastrophe was avoidable, it was intentionally inflicted on us and it’s something from which we have not healed. If I am not mistaken, we have yet to hold a national day of mourning.

That was turned into two wars, one of which came with the prisoner torture and sexual abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. American servicemen and women, acting in the name of the American people, paid for with our tax dollars, sodomized and tortured numerous Iraqis, grinning and flashing the thumbs-up.

I believe that this was done to taunt the Muslim world; and it was done as a form of psychological abuse and desensitization of the people seeing the images. The message was: get used to it, which shuts down our hearts; and the subliminal message was, don’t complain, because you could be next.

For a last example, there was the horribly botched response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the summer of 2005. The American government proved, paraphrasing the New York Times, that it is utterly incapable of taking care of its people, and we have lived with that knowledge for years. This includes the disgusting, vicious, antienvironmental policies of the Cheney-Bush administration, in a time when everyone knows that we have to take care of the planet and its fragile atmosphere.

We have now elected a president that the majority of voters seem to feel, at the very least, is a decent and capable guy. He appears to be all there; there is actual consciousness visible behind his eyes. He is capable of speaking in sentences, of doing basic arithmetic, and teaching constitutional law.

He is young enough to have a vision of the future, and to not be stuck in a militant or war-hero mentality. I believe he is qualified for the presidency in part because he was not subjected to having his spirit broken at boot camp and being forced to commit murder. His wife is his intellectual and spiritual equal, presented to us as such. I think for everyone, their young children are an exciting and genuinely welcome presence in the White House. And many of us are chuffed that a black family is moving in.

People accuse his supporters of thinking Obama is a god. You may accuse me of thinking he is a person.

We are people too, and more than we have political work to do, we have personal work to do. We need to be more introspective, and understand why we are so prone to cheering on militancy, greed, and ignorance. We need to understand why we’re so eager to be lied to. We need to understand why we are so easily manipulated. And we need to assess the many festering psychic wounds of the Cheney-Bush years, so they don’t run our lives forever.

What we have witnessed in these past few months is that finally it became easier to say “I love” than “I hate.” To me, that is encouraging.

12/08 CHRONOGRAM PLANET WAVES 111

Planet Waves Horoscopes Eric Francis Coppolino www.planetwaves.net

ARIES

(March 20-April 19)

Leadership, when attained, often arrives with what seems like a test.

It may be designed by the cosmos as such; it may be that there is an “equal and opposite reaction” taking place somewhere, and this is the result. What seems like a crisis (from a dense level of perception) is also accessible as a reorganization and opportunity (from a more expanded perspective).

Change brings change. This comes in many forms, and it now appears to be arriving in particularly large measures. To me, the astrology suggests that whatever may be developing, you not lose sight of your objectives, your intentions and what are commonly called goals: the big ones; the dearly held ones. Look at any situation and ask how you can use it as an opening. It is true that you are encountering forces beyond your control and are suddenly playing in another league. It’s true that the practical matters you are encountering have little to do with the visions you were holding out for yourself so recently, and for so long. This is a crucial point as anything comes to fruition; once you get to the place where practical concerns dominate, keep sight of your vision, your meaning, your truth—no matter what anyone else says or does.

TAURUS

(April 19-May 20)

There seems to come a point in everyone’s spiritual development when they get a handle on a deeper truth, and then have to make it known to the world. A new dimension of reality is making itself accessible to you, and it may be overwhelming. It’s shaking up all your reality boxes, and drawing you into new possibilities like falling into a vortex. I have a lot of Taurus friends— most of them agree, they need the action, they need the shift in energy and the reshuffling of reality. Things have been too much the same for way too long, despite many opportunities to make progress. The pull you are now experiencing transcends anything familiar; it’s more powerful than anything close to what you’ve known in the past. I suggest, however, that to the extent you consider this a spiritual event, you be modest about it. A new version of the truth is making itself known to you. Yet it’s not concepts that count now, but rather, it is the results of your actions, and how your beliefs transpose directly into choices. You may feel like you’re deluding yourself in terms of what you feel like you can accomplish, even with help.

Remember, miracles speak louder than words.

GEMINI

The handcrafted paper on special Aveda boxed gift sets helps sustain Nepali families and forests—making a difference for their communities. And with Aveda gift cards, you can give products and services that make a difference for hair, skin and body.

12 Garden Street, Rhinebeck, NY 12572 845.876.7774 Email: allure7774@aol.com

(May 20-June 21)

Your primary responsibility to yourself is to avoid power struggles.

That may not sound very creative. Yet given both recent and imminent developments in your solar chart, it’s a key skill you need to master. You have come through a long phase wherein you learned, by one method, to meet people you perceived as powerful face-on; you learned that your ideas are as good as their ideas. That one belief has saved you incalculable grief and it is basically still true. However, you are in a new country with new laws and new metaphysics. You need to think strategically; you need to pre-empt any situation wherein you may be compromised or challenged, long in advance. What is different now is that certain people in your life are themselves coming from a different level; they wield the power of structure and establishment, more or less justly. In any transaction where you feel like the weaker party, look at the contract; look at the by-laws; consciously examine any agreements that you have. Everyone has to play by the rules; therefore, know the guidelines, and enter any situation having already complied with the basics.

There will be times when it’s appropriate to go directly to the human level, to seek assistance or acknowledgement; just know when you’re doing it.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) You have long sought more direct contact in your encounters with others. You have wanted relationships that did something other than dance around the point. Soon, you may be wondering how direct is too direct.

Meanwhile, it’s crucial that you get accustomed to a new way of life; that you adapt to a new metaphysics of the human dance. Any encounter that matters will require you to make some change to the structure of your beliefs about relationship and about yourself. Most people don’t recognize how rigid these ideas are, those contained within themselves and within in society. You are about to discover how rigid you thought your ideas were, and how flexible they can be. The rules as they exist are generally designed to make sure that nothing (meaning, nobody) new or out of the ordinary gets in. This, in turn, is designed to sustain a model of “self” that counts a living, breathing, pulsing human life as a fixed or static entity, rather than ever-changing and in continuous motion. If you are in an established partnership, you’ll need to become truly honest with yourself about the extent to which this whole setup is true for you. The time has arrived for new concepts that account for change and still preserve some sense of loyalty and commitment; remember that honesty trumps everything—when we don’t let fear do it first.

112 PLANET WAVES CHRONOGRAM 12/08

Planet Waves Horoscopes Eric Francis Coppolino www.planetwaves.net

LEO

(July 22-August 23)

You are not somebody with commitment issues; rather, you intuitively understand that your presence means something. Nobody has to tell you that. Yet too often you try to demonstrate this simple fact. I suggest you make up your mind that you have nothing to prove. Once you do that, you will feel your thrust come on, born mainly of trusting yourself. You will feel the profound influence that you wield, particularly in those areas of life where people feel the most helpless: work, their health and dealing with bureaucracy. You understand something about simple wellbeing, mainly because you’ve had to work so hard to feel that the world is here to support you. For the next year or so—and for sure, during the next few months—expect some kind of grand reorganization to dominate your awareness. Recognize that change is happening, and is happening around you. There are corresponding changes within your psyche; there are old ideas that you’re dragging around that are simply no longer helpful and are begging to be revised, reconsidered or removed entirely. It is not easy being born under a fixed sign (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, or Aquarius) these days. It is like a giant cosmic wedge is being driven into the world, threatening every known structure or establishment, even down to its very existence. You are one of the people on the design team for the new reality. You must be dauntless and flexible, in equal measure.

The first to exclusively offer Laser Hair Removal and Fotofacial RF™ in the Hudson Valley “Absolute Laser... can do what skin care products promise to and don’t.”

–The New York Times 2006

845.876.7100 Springbrook Medical Park t Rhinebeck, New York 12572 www.absolute-laser.com Hair Removal t Fotofacial RF™ t Microdermabrasion t Vitalize Peel t Glycolic Peel Sun Damage t Fine Lines t Spider Veins t Uneven Skin Tone t Rosacea

VIRGO (August 23-September 22) It’s time to get the ship out of relationship. Typically, we drag around an iron hull full of garbage when we relate to others: expectations, supposed needs, unstated desires, issues with language, stereotypes and countless things that need to be melted into something useful. For you, these issues do nothing but suppress your ability to be spontaneous; to be creative; simply put, to have fun. If you feel like you have sexual hang-ups of any variety, you need to look no further than this theme to find out what they are about. It is true, as you have so often divined, that this story is old; it goes back a long way; and those with a strong Virgo signature in their charts were often the kids who were forced to be adults before they had a chance to be young. At the time, this was held as a virtue; the adults appeared to respect you because you were so “grown up,” but you were unwittingly deprived of many opportunities to be young when you really were young. As an adult, one common manifestation is taking an excessively serious, at times even formal, approach to relating others.

Folks are folks, no matter how much money they make, no matter how hot their ass is, no matter how famous they are, and no matter how much they remind you of someone from your past. At a certain point you must crawl from the wreckage of history and into the adventure of the day.

LIBRA

4FDVSJUJFT BOE "EWJTPSZ TFSWJDFT PGGFSFE UISPVHI $PNNPOXFBMUI 'JOBODJBM /FUXPSL .FNCFS '*/3" 4*1$ B 3FHJTUFSFE *OWFTUNFOU "EWJTFS

(September 22-October 23)

Where do you live, and why do you live there? Do you feel safe and nourished? Can you, in particular, stretch into any moments of feeling perfect safety based on where you are on the planet? I suggest you monitor this theme carefully for the next month or two. Play a mindfulness game with yourself. Start with your emotions; notice when you feel safe in the psychic sense. Who inspires this feeling, rather than something else? Next, do you feel safe within the passage of time? Do you feel safer thinking about the past, the present or the future? Do you cling to tradition, ignore it, or consciously work to evolve it? Next: your environment. Do you feel safe walking down your own street? Do you feel safe in your home? In your room? Last query: What did your family teach you about trust? I suggest you go over all the angles here: Are men dangerous or supportive? Are women honest and fair, or are they some shade of manipulative? Are people trying to steal from you, or help you? Do they keep their commitments or break them? These queries are going to provide you with a lot of data. Coupled with the transits you are exploring this month, your environment will too.

You may decide you need to make some adjustments. If so, then soon is the time.

SCORPIO (October 23-November 22) Many teach basically the same thing: We walk around the world trapped in a maze of our own thoughts and ideas, all of them from the past. The yoga path calls them samskara, or “latent past impressions.” A Course in Miracles has the lesson, “I see only the past,” which reveals basically the same thing. Anyone who has experimented with altered states of mind has probably, at least once, encountered that feeling of our fingertips and our thoughts sticking to everything we perceive. Even the sanitized Christian notion of forgiveness implies that we are hung up on what has happened before, and it’s from this that we must release to be free. If you are wondering what is going on right now, the theme is about liberating yourself from the maze of old ideas and realities. You experimented with this earlier in the year, with some success. Now this mission is back, with a vengeance: But don’t take revenge on what you have done and what has happened to you; gently disentangle yourself. Let go of beliefs that were fully supported by yesterday’s data and facts, and which (if you look carefully) are not supported at all today. Don’t worry about what’s coming; that space will fill up like a new iPod. So quickly in fact that you must exercise discernment about what new programs, files and recordings you want on your system—consciously, one at a time.

GIFT

12/08 CHRONOGRAM PLANET WAVES 113

Planet Waves Horoscopes Eric Francis Coppolino www.planetwaves.net

SAGITTARIUS

(November 22-December 22)

Your astrology gives you an interesting relationship between the old and the new. Your outer image is clearly that of one who pushes forward. Your inner truth is about someone who is deeply invested in the ways things have always been done. Maintaining this tension feels like serving two masters. For a long time you have tried to push into the future—that of your ideas, words and community—without being able to do very much about the values that have kept you trapped in a bubble of the past. We can’t change the past, but we can change our interpretation of it. Part of how we do that is by looking deeper. Part of how we do this is by looking at what matters most to us most in the present, and making our investment here and now. You are likely to make a discovery this month, one you’ve been working up to for a while, which has you pouring your energy and resources into something that has great meaning now. You will recognize it because it has lasting value from antiquity, and it’s subject to the kinds of re-visioning that you do so well and with such feeling. In other words, the activity or idea most vital to you now also makes room for a future that you cannot see. Like many of us, you will have to move some debris out of the way to make room for what is coming, but as you are no doubt feeling, that effort is well worth your energy and time.

CAPRICORN (December 22-January 20) There are those times when one’s life changes (and I mean really changes) in the course of a month, and this may well be one of them. Sometimes that change involves outer events and others when progress is precipitated by an inner shift that comes “out of nowhere.” I don’t mean an epiphany but rather a complete reorientation of your perspective, which makes it impossible to see or experience the world like you did in the past. We may wonder why these moments don’t come sooner, or how we can induce them when we feel we need them. Some say the changes happen when it’s time; astrology suggests that we live in two worlds at once, and when certain transits occur (another way of saying “it’s time”) a bridge is built between these worlds—and this is what is happening now.

There are facts about yourself that it’s been easier to deny. Now it’s easier to make friends with them, and to admit their reality and their impact. Once you do that, you realize you are someone different than you thought you were. You don’t become different; rather, you recognize that you changed a long time ago, and your awareness is finally catching up with that progress. That is the shape and size of things now; but I am understating the case by about tenfold so as not to frighten the faint of heart—not you, of course.

AQUARIUS

mention this ad and get 10% off

(January 20-February 19)

You are the last person who would want to exist in a state of isolation from the world—and in some respects this seems to be happening to you. Yet in truth you are at the beginning of a process of inner confrontation that will free you from specifically what has kept you trapped in your own world, away from contact with the very people you crave. In a fairly simple statement, if you divide yourself, you cannot make contact with others; or if you do, it will happen in a fragmented way.

Your journey now is about dismantling inner psychic structures and partitions that have literally divided you from yourself. Many factors have influenced this pattern, over a very long period of time: most surely before your parents were born. You may wonder how it’s possible to be influenced by events so far in the past. Here is an analogy that will make it clear how strange this situation is. Obviously, your parents were taught by their parents and they were taught by their parents, and so on. Most people would deny that the transfer of information is so direct; after all, most of us can’t even name all of their great-grandparents (try it and see). Yet their words, feelings, ideas and experiences are conveyed by communication and by our DNA. These are the influences you need to identify. These are the very influences you are confronting right now: invisible, but not invincible.

PISCES (February 19-March 20) Some years before she died the morning of October 31, Rockie Gardiner (beloved author of the Rockie Horoscope) penned one of the most touching things I ever read by an astrology writer. Forget about eavesdropping or skimming my e-mail; it felt like was like she was reading from my Akashic records. I must paraphrase, but it went something like this. The distances you are crossing lately have been so vast, there is really no way to see or feel how much progress you’ve been making. It all just seems like one endless stretch across the abyss. In the long and fleeting years since that appeared in print, you have continued to move across space and time, guided by some kind of homing sense. Now, a series of developments this month and in early January indicate a kind of arrival. Surely you feel this: the sense of the ship of your soul drawing a little closer to dry land; the excitement of a plane making its initial descent into a country you’ve read about and wanted to visit all your life.

You are still a traveler—you always will be, on the level of your soul. As a Pisces, you are indeed visiting a strange land. But you are here to grow, and you are certainly accomplishing that. You have lived the wisdom that life is not about the destination but rather about the journey, which makes getting there all the more poignant, all the more meaningful.

114 PLANET WAVES CHRONOGRAM 12/08

& Give the Gift of Healing Power Beauty!

Crystals Alternative Healing

&

Large selection of beautiful crystals & minerals Geodes, polished, rough, unique jewelry...

Healing and meditation materials & tools...

Powerful Body Work by LMT Reiki, Reconnective Healing Acupuncture and More...

Gift Certificates Available

Crystals & Well-Being Center 116 Sullivan St, Wurtsboro, NY 12790 - Stunning yellow church crystalshealing.googlepages.com - 646.286.9325 / 845.888.2547

A COMMUNITY SUPPORTED ARTS CENTER

HOLIDAY CRAFTS FAIR AT NP MIDDLE SCHOOL SAT & 35. s $%# s AM

50 MASTER CRAFTSPEOPLE

- 5PM

& FINE ARTISTS

TUNA CHRISTMAS - MMS - &2) 3!4 s $%# 5-6 s 8PM TRACY BONHAM & TRAPPS-SUNY - 3!4 s $%# s 8PM HOLIDAY CONCERT - 3!4 s $%# s 8PM -53)# s 4(%!4%2 s '!,,%2)%3 s #,!33%3 s 777 5.)3/.!243 /2'

&(.'- "' + ,- +( a ' 0 ) %-3 a

12/08 CHRONOGRAM PLANET WAVES 115

Parting Shot

Untitled #5, Richard Dupont, two cast resin sculptures, 2008, courtesy of the artist and Carolina Nitsch Contemporary Art

Richard Dupont’s larger-than-life nude polyurethane doppelgangers are what he calls “anti-portraits.” They are unembellished ciphers, lacking the defining characteristics of portraiture—hair, blemishes, expression. Dupont’s mannequin-like figures reveal themselves differently from various vantage points—alternately hyperaccurate or hyperdistorted, crisply rendered or dimpled and spun. Produced with the assistance of General Dynamics body-scanning equipment, Untitled #5 raises questions about sculpture’s response to technological innovation.

Dupont’s solo exhibition “Between Stations” will be on view through January 18 at the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, 1701 Main Street, Peekskill. (914) 788-0100; www.hvccca.org.

—Christina Kaminski

116 CHRONOGRAM 12/08

A Natural Commitment Hannaford is proud to be the largest certified organic supermarket in the Northeast.

At Hannaford, sharing our passion includes offering products and knowledge that promote health and well–being for you and our planet. Our commitment includes offering over 2,000 items, including over 100 produce items and 100 dairy items, all sourced from certified organic vendors.

Stop by your neighborhood Hannaford and check out our Organic & Natural section!

Hungry for more? Visit us on the web at www.hannaford.com.