The best source for local news from Marbletown, Rochester & Rosendale
Published the 1st and 3rd Friday of each month | Vol. 28, Issue 6
March 17, 2023 | $1.00
Rondout Valley school board begins search for a new superintendent Amber Kelly BSP Reporter At the Rondout Valley School District Board of Education meeting on Marth 7, held in the high school cafeteria, board vice president Chris Schoonmaker said
Documentary screening and Q&A with Bowermaster PAGE 21
The art of being human with Accord resident Hayashi PAGE 16
Attribution error in previous issue In the March 3 issue of the BSP, an article about the public hearing in Rochester for a proposed cannabis law contained an attribution error on page 3. The comments concerning the state's regulation of the cannabis industry were made by Accord fire commissioner John Dunning, not by Troy Dunn. The BlueStone Press editorial staff sincerely apologize to Mr. Dunn for the mistake.
that Dr. Joseph Morgan, superintendent of schools, is resigning for the purposes of retirement effective June 30, 2024, giving the school district a year and a half notice rather than the typical one-year notice. “Joe, thank you for giving us the extra time to find a replacement,” Schoonmaker
said. “I think having this extra six months … really puts us in a good place as a district, so we are appreciative.” Schoonmaker said. “So, this discussion will kick off the next steps which would lead to an official RFP [request for proposal] for an agency or a consultant to help us
with the superintendent search. Are there any questions the board has regarding this process and next steps?” “I don’t [know] that we’ve discussed if the board wants to go that route,” board
See BOE, page 7
Filmmaker finds her leading actor in Stone Ridge Ann Belmont BSP Reporter The Rondout Valley, having the advantages of a beautiful landscape, interesting history and proximity to New York City, sees its share of location shooting for TV and film. There is an especially intriguing project currently underway that is not only using Stone Ridge for some location shooting but is also featuring a young Stone Ridge native in its leading role. Distances collapse in this age of the internet, so it's not really that surprising for Anna Cornudella, a video artist and filmmaker from Barcelona, Spain, to find who and what she was looking for in the Hudson Valley. It happened through a Facebook post, explains Stone Ridge resident Jennifer Muck-Dietrich.
Filmmaker Anna Cornudella, left, with crew members Artur-Pol Camprubi and Lucia Arjuria at the Muck-Dietrich farm. Photo by Jennifer Muck-Dietrich
“She sent out a Facebook message to all the farmers in the area. It said, ‘We’re looking for people who have strong relationships with animals, who live on farms.’ I was really intrigued by it." Muck-Dietrich and family live on 13-acre Little Egg Farm on Pine Bush Road. “We sell eggs and honey and seasonal produce.” They have, besides dogs and cats and goldfish, 30 chickens and three geese. “We’re very comfortable with our animals. And since we don’t eat them, they live very long lives
... My daughter really loves her chickens. She even has her senior portrait with one of them!” This resonated with Cornudella. “I was trying to find people who had a strong relationship with animals, a different way of relating to other species,” she says. After Muck-Dietrich responded to the Facebook inquiry, she didn’t hear anything back for a couple of months. Then one day she
See Film, page 9
Women’s Studio Workshop popular Chili Bowl Fest Fundraiser For over a quarter century, guests have enjoyed the Chili Bowl Fest Fundraiser celebration of community and ceramics, shopping from over 1,000 handmade bowls, mugs and tumblers, with all the proceeds of the handmade pottery sale going to support Women’s Studio Workshop’s artistic programming. This year, the Chili Bowl Fest Fundraiser returns home to WSW, at 722 Binnewater Lane, Rosendale, as they host both an online and in-person sale, Saturday, April 1. The online sale will open at 10 a.m. In addition to over 200 handmade bowls for sale, WSW will be raffling off work. Each piece will be double boxed, carefully packaged with recyclable materials, and mailed directly to the patron’s door. The in-person sale will be held 2-7 p.m., with early admission, 2-4 p.m. for $10, and later, the 4-7 p.m. entry is free. No chili this year, instead, there will be
Scene from the early years of the Chili Bowl Fundraiser! In this version of the beloved event, circa 1998, the bowls were stacked along the counters in the Intaglio studio for guests to peruse.
snacks and beer, plus live music all day from the Library Band. Overflow parking is available at the Rail Trail parking lot
on Binnewater Road. For more information, visit wsworkshop.org or call 845-658-9133.