The People's Issue No. 15

DVE IGHT S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 I S S U E 15

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

EDITOR’S NOTE

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

SUMMER 2020

WHEN I BEGAN writing this editor’s note, I had wanted to discuss all of the issues at hand: the pandemic, BLM movement, and the fractured state of our country. I wanted to give insight, an answer to all of this madness, or at the very least, to convey solace and guidance. I wanted to tell you all that everything, in the end, would be alright. In truth, I’m not so sure at all. But what I do Photograph STE PHAN SCHACHE R know is that, no matter what, we, as humans, and as a community, must remain resilient. We must stand up against any unjustness. And when there is injustice, we must take action. We must move forward, and be ready and open to change. And we must never lose sight of hope.

I don’t have all the answers, but I do have a platform. And so, this issue, The People’s Issue, is dedicated to all of you, our community, to help amplify your message of hope, sadness, anxiety, encouragement, escape, action and political discourse.

In this issue, are not only meaningful profiles and interviews produced by our dedicated teams, but also stories that were written and photographed first-hand by our readers: local artists, students, photographers, writers, journalists, and teachers. To all of you: To our contributors, readers, and advertisers, we are all in this together. There was a time when we thought this issue would not even be able to go to print. Because of you it did. Thank you so much for helping make The People’s Issue possible. We are halfway through 2020.

Hang on to your hope.

NHI MUNDY

EDITOR IN CHIEF

DVE IGHT

I S S U E 15

EDITOR IN CHIEF

T R A V E L E D I TO R

NHI MUNDY

SANDY SOOHOO

E X E C U T I V E E D I TO R

M A R K E T E D I TO R

MICHAEL MUNDY

MANDY COON

D E S I G N D I R E C TO R

C O N T R I B U T I N G P H OTO G R A P H E R S

STEPHEN MALE

ABIGAIL WAGNER CAELUM ROGERS CHRIS CHURCHILL HAROLD JULIAN

A S S O C I AT E E D I TO R

ALEXANDRA MARVAR

MICHAEL DAVIS MORIAH ASLAN NICHOLAS ROUTZEN NOAH KALINA SHAYLA LOHMANN STEPHAN SCHACHER

DORIS CHEVRON ELANA FRANKEL ESTHER DE JONG JACK COMSTOCK JANET MERCEL JILLIAN SCHEINFELD LYNNE O’NEILL

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

ALEXANDRIA HAECHLER BARBARA DE VRIES DONNA FELLENBERG

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DVEIGHT Magazine Issue 15 © 2020 DELAWARE VALLEY EIGHT LLC See the magazine online at dveightmag.com The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Delaware Valley 8 or its members. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

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THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

SUMMER 2020

SURRENDER TO A NEW DAWN

By JAC K C OMSTOCK

FOR OVER A MONTH, I sleep only five hours a night

in a time of inequality in America that has not been

merely understood and we don’t hold them up to

as I keep the 3D printers (owned by the school and

matched, until today. We’ve explored the harsh reality

the light of today, looking for how their silhouette

contributed by parents, libraries, and local businesses)

that, from the Great Depression to the 2008 Financial

mirrors and reflects elements of the present, then we

running. We’re determined to get the much needed

Collapse, those with wealth and power have circled

will never gain perspective on the story we are living.

personal protective equipment (PPE) directly to the

like vultures when the chaos of disaster ensues,

nurses who need them. I set the final print job each

growing fatter off the suffering of the masses —

or economic warfare, we are all under attack.

day at 11:30 pm, sailing to school on my bike,

snatching up businesses, property, and the wealth

Those who have been traditionally most marginalized

a bright patch of the night lit up by my powerful

of the nation.

fall victim first. The signs are pointing to an awakening,

headlamp, illuminating the denizens of the night:

Finally, the question comes into clarity:

Whether it is a war on our rights, on the environment,

to a recognition of our collective struggle, the existential

possums, skunks, porcupines and deer nestled

Why, in a nation with so much wealth, did so many of

crises that face us all. This holds out the possibility of

here and there, or grazing lazily in the early

us have to take on the second job of “rescue workers,”

setting aside divisiveness and embracing unity.

spring evenings.

sewing masks and manufacturing protective shields?

Isn’t this what our world needs as the sun beats down

Undoubtedly, there is great beauty, satisfaction,

hotter on streets filled with protests and riots?

Each day, the creatures become more accustomed to me, and soon I fly by with only a nod of their heads.

and learning when communities come together

They seem to understand that I’m not a threat.

in a common cause. Still, I’m left asking: How is

community in an even greater way as we respond to

My tired mind imagines that they sense the noble

it that time and again the system fails us and

the continued challenges of COVID, institutionalized

cause for which I ride. I’m up at 5:00 am to unload

continues to reward those who already have

racism, economic struggle, and let us not forget,

and reload the printers, readying as many visors to

so much?

another problem we have also failed to address

be outfitted with elastic and protective shields as we

Today, just as in 2008, with a manufactured

I believe the years to come will challenge us as a

for decades, climate change. As we slowly emerge,

can each week. I don’t spend much time thinking

collapse brought on by greed of biblical proportions

clad in masks, storms are already raging across our

about why, as a teacher, I have found myself with

and presided over by a Republican and then-Democratic

country, and we sense a more profound uncertainty,

this task. I do it because I know it needs to be done.

government staffed with accomplices in all the right

darker, threatening clouds on the horizon. How do we

I know that for every shield we produce, we might

places, money flows to the top, rather than to the

move into the light while fortifying ourselves for the

prevent the infection of one healthcare worker and

people and businesses that are in true need.

turbulent weather that will inevitably continue?

allow him or her to save who knows how many more

Here at the Homestead School, days and days were

lives. As the most essential of workers, these nurses

spent on PPP loan applications and phone calls, only

swallowed along the way, identify them, and then set

and doctors have been failed by the institutions that

to find out that the funds had dried up overnight.

them down gently, thanking them for giving some

could have protected them.

In the second round, we secured a loan, but the

structure and meaning to our confusing world.

stipulations and confusing clauses, the exacting rules,

Let’s start to create a new story for how we can live

needs for face shields are met. Now, it’s 10:30 pm,

did not inspire a deep breath of relief knowing that

and thrive and educate our children. In this, there

and I should be reading my students’ essays on the

we could keep all of our staff employed. In the same

is no room for the limiting scripts and prepackaged

future of science, but instead, I find myself sinking

“caring act,” no-strings-attached loans were granted

explanations that come with the doctrines that have

into my third hour of preparation for my World History

to mid-sized and large businesses: Billions of dollars,

been sold to us. While elements of wisdom can still

class. I’m searching for patterns, for parallels,

as happened in the 2008 Great Recession, will likely

be found within these, they grossly misrepresent the

for facts and figures that will help my students to

fund the buying up of failing companies and will un-

actual world we live in, the real crises that we face,

make connections. We’ve been studying the modern

doubtedly find its way into the pockets of executives as

and certainly blind us to a way forward that might

era and have been grappling with the complexities

they reward themselves for their “hard-earned” profits.

work for all of us.

The weeks pass, and we slow production as the

of economics. We’ve explored the Protestant roots

I catch myself sounding cynical. It’s easy to fall

We must all examine the ideologies that we have

So, where does this leave us in this narrative?

of the capitalist ethic, considering how the “innate

into cynicism, but then I remind myself, as I constantly

To me, the answer always seems to point back to

depravity of man” relates to a tacit justification of

remind my students, “Go back to the story!”

community and local resilience. As E.F. Schumacher

“greed is good” in Adam Smith’s vision of a free market

What narrative have we agreed to as a culture that

once said, “Economics is not an exact science; it is,

system. We met Karl Marx, who warned that the

promotes this extreme self-interest? How has that

in fact, or ought to be, something much greater:

bourgeoisie, “compels all nations, on pain of extinction,

story shaped our laws, our ideologies, our politics,

a branch of wisdom.” My students understand that

to adopt the bourgeois mode of production.”

our corporations? My goal here is not to dishearten.

in our world today, economics is far more ideology

We encountered the Robber Barons who consolidated

As in the classes I teach, I first must set the context.

than science. If we are to create a new economic

empires of steel and vast banking fortunes, ushering

If we approach history as a collection of events to be

system, then I think we had better get started.

15

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

IN PERSON

SUMMER 2020

Laura Michalchyshyn is an award winning producer and industry powerhouse who makes films with social impact. This summer’s documentary on the life of Rep. John Lewis, “Good Trouble”, may be her most important message yet. Here, she talks about the future of the film industry in a pandemic-present world, creating a platform for marginalized voices, and preventing the erosion of democracy.

LAURA MICHALCHYSHYN “I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO MAKE FILMS AND TELEVISION TO WAKE THIS COUNTRY UP”

By JANET M ERC EL Portrait NOAH KALINA

FILM PRODUCER LAUR A MICHALCHYSHYN had no way of knowing when we

set of paints while he rested at home. (The Congressman and his late wife were

talked on a stifling Wednesday in July that the following Friday night, the news of

known for their world-class collection of African American art, a fact with which

venerable Congressman John Lewis’ passing would be headlined on every major

Michalchyshyn is notably familiar, but more on that later.) “He is comfortable in

news outlet across the country, just as she had no idea in 2018 while in production

repose,” she says, a smile in her voice. “To me, it’s awe-inspiring.”

of the documentary of his life, Good Trouble, that it would be released directly into

Callicoon has been home base for Michalchyshyn since the start of COVID-19

the middle of a summer already known for civil disobedience and social unrest in

closures last March. She and her husband decamped from their 22nd Street

the name of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Manhattan apartment to their eighteen upstate acres, replete with a “dilapidated

The Congressman announced his pancreatic cancer last December after

and gorgeous” barn. “It’s not hipster central,” she warns. “I think there are 500

months of working closely with the producers of the film and with director Dawn

people here.” (At last count, there were, in fact, 224, after the hamlet reached an

Porter. “We were just as caught off guard as the rest of the country,” Michalchyshyn

all-time high of 266 in 2016.) “Everyone says to me, oh, it must be so relaxing up

tells me from her house in Callicoon, New York. Two days later, there is a surreality

there. I’m lucky if I get outside fifteen minutes a day for a walk.” The rest of the

to her words. I’ve been watching Good Trouble on repeat since they sent it to

time she is in her former guest room, now a full-time office, untangling the film

me this week, taking in the archival footage of voter suppression and protests,

industry’s current state. “Now we’re all figuring out how to do these shows in a

marveling at the timeliness of this film. Michalchyshyn had told me how engaged

pandemic. I’m at my desk from nine in the morning until midnight.”

Lewis remained, voting by proxy in the recent primary elections and requesting a

The entertainment world is wrestling with a lot. Coronavirus has thrown every 17

SUMMER 2020

IN PERSON

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Hosea Williams and John Lewis lead the march across the Alabama River in Selma on “Bloody Sunday,” March 7, 1965; the marchers refuse to disperse; “Good Trouble” director, Dawn Porter; Magnolia Pictures image of Rep. John Lewis in a scene from “Good Trouble”

“THE NON-RIGHTEOUS TREATMENTOF INNOCENT BLACK MEN HAS PILED ON,AND NOW IT’S TIME AS A COLLECTIVE TO SAYENOUGH. IT’S GOING TOTAKE ALL OF US” element of movie-making, from production to distribution to theater-going, into

with a humor that I can easily imagine slipping into a bawdy joke when appropriate.

chaos. And for a nation drowning in the backwater of centuries of racial injustice,

It’s the kind of voice that after a year living in Los Angeles, after a lifetime in New

the responsibility to land on the right side of history looms large. Michalchyshyn, for

York, I realize how much I miss. “I go into the city once a month. I have one pitch

her part, is excited by the opportunity. “I’m Canadian, a Trudeau-ite. We’re students

meeting. I have one dinner outside on the street with one friend. It’s an experience,

of social justice! I will do everything in my power to make films and television

sitting on Third Avenue at a table with cars in your lap. I’ll take it month by month,

to wake this country up.” Michalchyshyn is an impressive human. She produces

and we’ll see if I have to reevaluate my Catskills with my New York City.”

documentaries like HBO’s Momentum Generation and CNN series Death Row

There’s a camaraderie that exists among any group that traverses the same

Stories, wins accolades such as Emmys and an Environmental Media Association

route repeatedly in the name of escaping the city on weekends, whether it’s the

Award, runs television networks, holding senior executive roles at media companies

Long Island Expressway or the Taconic. The upstate-bound film community is no

like Alliance Atlantis, Discovery Communications and Sundance Channel. And,

exception. It’s evident that for all her productivity, Michalchyshyn misses the days

she founded Sundance Productions in 2012 alongside Robert Redford, an original

when work and play operated normally. “It’s a very social business. It’s fun, being

instigator of anti-blockbuster, authentic storytelling and a leader in the industry for

at an industry event on a Thursday night and seeing everyone else who was leaving

giving voice to those committed to social impact.

the party to drive up, too.” The house has been a mainstay since she and her

“Bob always tells me, our job is to facilitate,” Michalchyshyn says. Currently,

husband bought it in 2009 from a playwright in Beaverkill. “The first thing we

she means using the platform to amplify marginalized voices. I ask about her

did was install wi-fi.” Just as they’ve put their Manhattan apartment on rotation

thought process right now. I wonder at our roles in a creative world, as I, a white

for COVID-19-displaced friends in the city, the house, too, has become a safe

woman writer, ask her, a white woman film producer, about the weight of her

haven for a carefully managed network of work-from-home cohorts. “We call it the

position. Michalchyshyn shares none of my uncertainty. She speaks easily about

upstate WeWork. The New York documentary film community is very supportive of

social justice and manages herself while exacting change, without any directionless

each other.”

backpedaling many of us, seem to be grappling with. Neither does her use of

A longstanding member of that community is Dawn Porter, with whom

buzzwords sound like the requisite PR-guided messaging from studio heads. “It’s

Michalchyshyn made the Netflix series Bobby Kennedy For President, and Good

a crucial time. Everything reached a head, the 2016 election, Time’s Up, #MeToo,

Trouble. “I met a slew of great filmmakers through Sundance, including Dawn.

immigrant rights, LBGTQ rights, Black Lives Matter. The non-righteous treatment of

I was struck by Gideon’s Army, (Porter’s 2013 documentary), about young

innocent Black men has piled on, and now it’s time as a collective to say enough.

public defenders in the South,” Michalchyshyn explains. “Dawn entertains while

It’s going to take all of us.”

teaching. She’s a former lawyer, very thorough; she prepares a film the way she

Michalchyshyn has the kind of voice that comes with years of holding highoctane positions in a high-octane industry. Authoritative. Purpose-driven, but filled 18

builds a case. She is kind and beloved, but don’t ever underestimate her.”

The importance of allyship speaks deeply to them both. “I love being a

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

IN PERSON

SUMMER 2020

ABOVE John Lewis photographed by Danny Lyon/Magnum Photos Opposite page photography credits: Tom Lankford; Spider Martin; Henny Garfunkel; Ben Arnon; all photographs courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

producer with Dawn. We have a really good divide. She’s the creative here, and

and it wasn’t just the ‘Sundance Flu.’ Filmmakers were flying in from Italy, from

I fight for her. She takes my suggestions, and I don’t go into the edit suite.”

everywhere.” The pandemic has stretched the imagination to new proportions

One of those suggestions came up regarding the Congressman’s art collection.

when it comes to distribution. Virtual screenings have sold in blocks of hundreds

“Dawn had asked the Congressman, ‘Can I come to your house and film?’ He has

of tickets to the NFL, the NBA, to churches, mosques, synagogues, to Google,

some of the most esteemed African American artists in the world. I said, ‘He has

Hertz, and PayPal. “We had a screening with a director Q&A afterward with 500

a Jacob Lawrence! They’re at MOMA! Get the art!’” Porter did, and the resulting

people watching collectively. It’s amazing how many stay on.” Michalchyshyn

footage is some of the most poignant in the film, as the Congressman gives us

herself is holding a private screening at a local theater, with no more than 30

memories of collecting with his wife, and gently walks us through the works he

people viewing in a space that holds well over 300.

clearly reveres.

At times, Good Trouble is difficult to watch. Archival footage shows the pure

Capturing the scope of a life as significant as that of John Lewis is a tall order,

rage of white people suppressing the rights of Black ones. The Congressman

and Good Trouble is there for the breadth of it. We see Lewis as the legendary

himself seems overwhelmed at one point, speaking quietly to the director while

civil rights activist who started corresponding with Martin Luther King, Jr. when he

watching his own movement from sixty years ago. “Dawn. I am seeing footage

was a teenager. As the impassioned legislator who continued his storied history

I’ve never seen before.” It is a disorienting timewarp when I turn my television

of getting arrested well into his congressional career. As a silly, fun-loving boss

back to the current news cycle, an attempted lynching in Indiana, the president

and friend who, as Michalchyshyn says, loves music and dancing and joy. The

defending the merits of the Confederate flag. “Number Forty-Five, who I will not

laundry list of figures who show up in the film: Hillary and Bill Clinton, AOC, Corey

name,” Michalchyshyn says. One of John Lewis’ last and primary concerns was

Booker, Henry Louis Gates Jr. doesn’t surprise Michalchyshyn. “That was all for the

that our voter populace is again in danger. One of the setbacks he foresaw may

Congressman,” she says. “Once people hear it’s a project for him, it’s an open

have included the nationwide primary vote-by-mail fail. Michalchyshyn is glad it

door.”

happened when it did. “We have until November to get it right. Can you imagine

That open door was particularly welcome when it came to the music. “Dawn

if the pandemic hit October 1st?”

said the Congressman loves Pharrell, and she wanted Stevie Wonder. I said you’re

“We knew at the time we were making it that it was important, but we didn’t

killing me. I’m not telling you the licensing budget,” Michalchyshyn laughs, “but I

know how important. There is a racial reckoning happening. Sharing this film

will say this: When we asked for the songs, the answer was initially no. I knew we

is a good start, hearing the voices of Black people in the film. Let them speak

had to reach the artists directly, and when we did, the answer became yes. The

and speak for themselves.” One of her favorite parts of working with Porter is

artists were directly involved in making sure we had clearance.”

wading into the fray. “Everyone will be on the phone, talking at once, and I’ll

Good Trouble wrapped production at the end of 2019 and was slated for the TriBeCa Film Festival last April. “So many people got sick in January at Sundance,

stop and say, Dawn is ready to speak. And everyone stops to listen. I’m very proud of that.”

19

SUMMER 2020

THE RURALIST

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

Two summers ago, Krissy Smith was looking for a change. She left her job of ten years, at the performing arts space St. Anne’s Warehouse in DUMBO, and moved full-time to her weekend home of Callicoon, but she didn’t stop there. She bought a movie theater.

Smith’s second anniversary as a Catskills small business owner is fast-approaching, and she admits, on account of the pandemic, it hasn’t been the second summer she hoped for. But for someone who saw the unfettered potential magic that could come with owning the silver screen, this brutal few months has had its silver linings.

KRISSYSMITH

Interview ALEXANDRA MARVAR

Photography MORIAH ASLAN

How does one come to own a 1948 art deco,

Honestly, we thought it was going to be like 30

and that I think will help you weather storms like this

single-screen movie theater in Sullivan County?

people. It kind of snowballed. Five hundred people

much better because your community doesn’t just

showed up. We had an hour-long program with six

think of you as a place of commerce.

St. Anne’s Warehouse was the best I ever had, but I

speakers and a spoken-word poem. It hits home

was looking around for something else to do, and

when you have 500 people [from a community with

as a weekender, I kept coming up and fixing up my

a population of only 224] having this conversation

little country house and wanting to spend more time

and having it directly.

Being with other people. Being with your friends

here. I wanted to make a change in my career, and I thought, ‘Do I want to stay in the arts?’ and ‘Would

Back to the movies — even before the pandemic,

and neighbors, and sharing space with strangers —

I like to take a job at another theater in the city?’

anyone can stream almost anything almost

which, with COVID, is very problematic. But that’s

And I just kept gravitating toward this idea: ‘No,

anytime. What was it like running a movie

the most important thing. Once there’s a vaccine, once people feel safe again, I think we’ll all be

I’d like to be upstate more.’ I was thinking about a

looking for that.

huge shift: opening a store, or opening a bakery — things I have no business doing. I knew nothing

You have to give most people a specific reason to

about running a movie theater at the time either,

come out to the movies. So we have a renovated,

but it felt different enough that I knew I would need

adorable retro lobby. We have chocolate egg

to learn new things, and similar enough that I knew

creams, vintage sodas, fresh baked goods from

Professionally, I’m excited to screen something brand

I could pick it up quickly. I took a tour of the space

the local bakery. We give discounts if you bring

new and have the audiences start coming back,

and fell in love with it. I was incredibly inspired by

reusable popcorn and drink containers. We offer

whatever shape that takes. But I can’t want to have

the building. I walked in and saw all this potential

this authentic experience. But also, I had this idea

a dinner party without fear and COVID discussion.

for what it could be in the future. I was just struck

of not just being a movie theater. Upon taking over,

I’m just excited to see people in an unsaturated

by how right it felt.

I got very involved in different organizations.

space, like my dining room, and just hang out for

We do fundraising for WJFF. We raise money in the

a long time.

You accidentally found yourself spearheading a

winter months for the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance

grassroots Black Lives Matter protest in Callicoon.

or Delaware Valley Youth Center. I wanted everybody

Speaking of dinners, your most memorable

Tell us more.

to feel like the movie theater is open to you and that

pandemic meal?

we’re open to new ideas.

Some of my best friends in the world own the house

It was early June, about a week after the video had come out of George Floyd. I think we were all

How does that translate in the age of social distancing?

right next to me. In the very early days, while people were getting out of the city, one of our mutual best

observing a real wake-up call happening on social media. Still, for many of us upstate, as marches

We’ve been shut down since March 10, so it hasn’t been

friends from college left the city to stay with her family.

were beginning to occur in the cities, you started to

the second summer I hoped for. But in some ways,

I ran to Peck’s and got a turkey and all the fixings,

see the small towns and rural places standing up

we’ve benefited from [our diverse programming

and I made an extravagant Thanksgiving dinner — in

in a visible way. I kept it simple, emailing other

ideology] during COVID, because we have a different

mid-March. As decidedly crazy as that moment was,

businesses on Upper and Lower Main Street and

connection to the people who live here and support us.

I think we all felt it was the last time we were going to

saying, ‘What would you think about putting

Donations [including a nearly $20,000 GoFundMe

be able to do something like that for a long time, and

a protest here this weekend?’ It was simple,

campaign], moral support, beautiful emails, and

we wanted to turn it into a good memory. We called it

grassroots. Everybody wrote back, ‘Yes, tell me

messages of love, all speak to a new kind of running

Springs-giving. We’ll always remember that. Even when

what you need.’ One business owner said, ‘I’ll

a business — one that’s not just about profit. It’s

we’re 80 years old, we’ll be sitting around saying ‘Do

donate masks.’ Another said, ‘I’ll bring water

about people, and it’s about conversation. It’s about

you remember when it was the COVID, and we made a

bottles.’ Another said, ‘I’ll design a flyer.’

rooting yourself in a deeper way in your community,

Thanksgiving dinner?’ — like the lady in Titanic.

20

SUMMER 2020

A CONVERSATION WITH

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

JANUSADAMS I first encountered former NPR arts correspondent Janus Adams, like many of us do, by hearing her voice on the radio. She describes her weekly WJFF program, “The Janus Adams Show,” as a conversation about “race and courage” — and it could just as soon be “grace and courage,” as these two words seem to define her. We spoke on her couch in the afternoon at her home in Sullivan County, New York. My conversation with her was long, emotional, and at times painful, even transformative. It went on for so long, that we sat the last 30 minutes of it in near darkness, neither of us getting up to switch on a light. I later discovered that so much of what we spoke about was, in a way, encapsulated in a speech she gave at SUNY New Paltz in 2018. For the sake of brevity, I’ve centered this interview on that speech, that message, and how it rings even more true today.

Interview and Portraits MICHAE L MUNDY

Michael Mundy: Janus, thank you so much for speaking

are purporting to be so enamored of. They are

darker than my complexion. The darker you are, the

with us today. After visiting you the other day, I walked

contradicting themselves and don’t even see it.

worst you’re treated. He had an awful time, but he does

away from our discussion with something so powerful

But what they do see is the value of racism and how

become a lawyer. But after becoming an attorney, he

that has stayed with me. So, I’d like to pursue that today,

important that is to them.

decides he wants to be a minister. He became one of the first African Americans in the Lutheran conference and

which will possibly encompass a significant number of things we spoke about. You’re part of the distinguished

MM: So, is this sort of a mindset you are addressing?

moved up in the Lutheran Church hierarchy. I asked him why he left the law behind, and all that he said was,

series of speakers at SUNY New Paltz. You had a talk in 2018 entitled, “Know When to Leave the Plantation

JA: That was on my mind when I decided to do this

“I wanted to save them before I had to defend them.”

Behind.” Would you talk to me about that? Tell me

speech, “Know When to Leave the Plantation Behind.”

So that is my grand-uncle, Cyril Lucas. He was the one

what that meant to you.

The actual phrase comes from my grand-uncle, who was

who told me, “know when to leave the plantation.”

a native of Saint Kitts, West Indies. He was an organizer

He said that to me, when I was in graduate school.

Janus Adams: When I did that speech, Trump had already

of the plantation workers. My grand-uncle was out there

been elected. I was looking at what was happening, and

organizing, and he gets word one night that they’re

MM: What was the context when he said that? Was

one of the things that struck me is one of those that are

coming to kill him, and that he had better leave then

he relating a story of his life, or was he applying it to

difficult — not difficult to talk about, but that I know can

or else. Now, this isn’t in the era of slavery. This is the

something in your life?

be sensitive.

era of neo-slavery called segregation and colonization.

MM: Can you elaborate?

And so, that night, he gets on a ship and comes to the

JA: I’m going to say he was doing both. Once I began

United States. As he is coming into the New York harbor,

journalism, I was fortunate to have been able to record

he writes a letter to my grand-aunt, telling her that he

a lot of my elders. My great-uncle was telling me about

JA: I was driving around the Hudson Valley and noticing

sees the Statue of Liberty. He talked about his dreams of

his life because I had asked about our family history.

what I felt to be far too many Confederate flags — and

America and said he knows he will succeed. “I know

We were also talking about what I was going through

this in New York State! On a common-sense level, you

I will make it because you love me so.” That’s the letter,

at that point, and some of the overt racism that was

say, “Okay, I know this country is as racist as it can be.”

he writes.

happening to me.

not losing anybody in the Civil War was probably less

MM: How fascinating. What did your great-uncle end

MM: How did you connect that with what’s

than point one percent. So many men were killed during

up doing?

happening today?

was affected. To think that Northerners would be erecting

JA: He becomes an attorney and has a devil of a time

JA: So with all of that — in the midst of Trump,

these monuments to traitors of the very flag that they

because not only is he a Black person, but he is dark,

in the midst of this accelerated re-segregation of

But this is the North! The likelihood of a Northern family

that war, that almost every family was touched. Everyone

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SUMMER 2020

A CONVERSATION WITH

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

America, in the midst of these Don’t Tread On Me

One is about a man, Arnold Gragston was his name.

symbols and the Confederate flags… Do you know what

For whatever reason, he could have escaped, but he

America’s problem is? It has never left the plantation

stayed by day a dutiful slave, and by night, he was

MM: So you believe that silence is complicity in this whole

behind. It is still stuck there. Even the nonsense about

rowing other slaves to freedom. Milla Granson is just

organization of hatred in America.

Black people having a slave mentality. No! White people

unbelievable to me. She held a midnight school to teach

have a slave mentality. White people created American

people how to read and write, and she would train them

JA: You know, I always knew that I was going to do a

slavery. White people created what the plantation would

on how to write a freedom pass. Then send them out

[radio] show beyond the range of Sullivan County, New

be, not Black people. What Black people did was do every-

to teach and help others. That’s who we are descended

York. Once I decided to do the show, I would have had

thing they could to survive. That’s the root of that speech.

from. And that is what Black people did to leave the

to do a different kind of show, one that I could also grow.

plantation even when physically they didn’t. One of the

But I have had such difficulty oftentimes getting guests for

MM: When you deliver the speech, you are so generous,

Underground Railroad’s main principles is that once you

my show. Because once people heard that it was a show

compassionate, and calm. It’s almost a contradiction of

escape, if you can, you help free somebody else. If you

about race and courage… People would tell me that they

what you’re telling people. How can you manage to be

can’t, then you’re part of the committee that welcomes the

were afraid of their neighbors, hearing them talk about

just that, while living in a country that has treated you so

next one, helps them with food, with clothing, with a place

certain things. If you hold that in mind for a moment…

poorly, let alone your entire family and race?

to stay, and a way to earn a living. It’s an essential part of

When the BLM demonstration took place in Callicoon,

what it meant to be on the Underground Railroad.

I had not planned to participate. But I was asked the day

JA: First of all, thank you. Secondly, when I speak, and

out these nuggets of self-empowerment.

before, and I said okay — because that’s what you’re

when I write, I try to do so from the point of healing.

MM: Hearing you talk about the past and America with

supposed to do. Then to see these waves of people

That’s the mission to confront history: to put us on the

so much pain, I’d be curious to know what patriotism

coming up over the hill, from the [Callicoon] Bridge and

path of acknowledgment, atonement, and some kind of

means to you?

coming down into the grassy area… It meant something

activist healing. And so, I’m in the activist healing mode.

different to me than it may have meant to other people.

I’m hoping to help other people get there. My job, I feel,

JA: We talk about the “land of the free and home of

It was so amazing to me because here were people who

is not to make excuses for the country, not be revisionist

the brave” — nonsense! Don’t give me the mythology.

were putting their identities out there. So I do think that

in terms of the horrors of it, but to give people the fuel

You can tell me about the aspiration, and I will accept

that’s doing something. That’s why I say I really can’t know

that they need to do exactly what I’m talking about —

that but don’t ask me to have Stockholm Syndrome and

what someone’s next step is going to be, but I do know,

recognize it, to confront it, to atone for it. Then bring

swallow everything else whole. I won’t. And because

it begins with one courageous thing — a thing that

themselves to the point of healing from it so that we can

I have left the plantation, I shouldn’t. I mean, how

you did not think you would ever see yourself doing.

all move on. Know when to leave the plantation behind.

egregious is this thing that America had, where after

That’s the place where I think we all have to begin

It’s time.

you steal a person’s life, you have the nerve to call them

regardless of race. If we’re going to solve this problem,

thieves for stealing themselves. I mean, this hysteria about

we’re going to be on the side of the solution rather than

MM: I couldn’t agree more. I have a two-part question,

Blacks as thieves goes back to the plantation. It goes back

the side of the problem.

what do white people need to do to leave the plantation

to saying that if you escaped, you’ve stolen someone’s

behind, and what do Black people need to do to leave the

property, yourself! White people aren’t spoken of

MM: It sounds like the only way to get things done is

plantation in your view?

as thieves for participating in that.

this culmination of acts of courage. It has been heart-

JA: I think that that is something that each person has to

MM: And yet, so many people will never admit to being

I know your personal involvement with racism was since

figure out where they are and what their circumstances

a part of that.

you were pretty much born. It seems like so much of this

wrenching to hear you speaking about these things.

are. That’s the first thing. It’s like standing up in an A.A.

was thrust upon you, at times when you didn’t choose to.

meeting and saying, “I am an alcoholic.” But then beyond

JA: I own a pre-printed slave document. So, it shows

You spoke at length the other day about being one of

that, for each person, it’s about where you are. I can’t say

how institutionalized slavery was at that point. It had

the first black students to integrate the New York City

to everybody what you should do. I can’t tell you. But I can

pre-printed across the top, “Negro Slaves.” Then it had

public schools.

tell you that you must do something.

the subgroups by age (children, teenagers, young people, and then older people) as the categories under each male

JA: I was eight years old…

MM: I agree. Not everyone is going to march on the

and female. The names are written in by hand — just the

front lines…

first name — and their value ($50 for this person, $75

MM: You told me about your cousin, who was famously

for that person). They are summed and totaled with the

attacked with an American flag in Boston — just a

JA: During the ’60s civil rights movement — whoever you

carriages, watches, and other property of the landowner.

horrifying image. Here you are, this voice of reason and

were — if you were sincerely operating in the cause of

And the people are summed and totaled with all the

compassion. You carry yourself with such grace and

justice and human rights, there was a place for you.

property for tax purposes. So whenever I hear people

elegance. I admire you and what you do and am so happy

Maybe, you couldn’t be the one getting your head bashed

going crazy about so-called stealing by Black people…

that we have met and have had these conversations.

in, like a John Lewis, but you could be the one who

Black people were stolen, kidnapped, shipped. Even if

It’s helped me, with just these two conversations with you,

was there to bandage him up, or making sure that you

you want to say, “well, we didn’t do the kidnapping.”

grow enormously. My understanding of things and my duty

dragged him away from the madness and got him to

But you did the buying.

now has become much clearer. So I thank you for that.

one who can tolerate that blood of Bloody Sunday and

MM: Since so much of your life is consumed with

JA: So where do we go from here? I think it’s the self

many other days and the lynchings. Perhaps you’re not the

research, writing, and talking about racism, how do

and soul searching that needs to be done. It’s the active

one who can tolerate that. But maybe you can fix dinner

you deal with this personally?

healing that has to occur, which, back to what we said,

safety and then tended his wounds. Maybe you’re not the

for the ones who are. Or make food bags for those who

is about the acknowledgment. It’s about atonement,

will take to the march. Or perhaps you can watch their

JA: For my own sanity and my own sense of healing,

and it’s also about looking at our language. You know,

kids while someone else marches.

I would go nuts, if I were in anger mode at every point,

so much of our racism and our sexism is embedded in

and especially because I’ve done the research, and know

the language. Why is dark, evil, and light, good? Why?

from a documented sense, what it is that I’m talking

You know, just on that little level and the things that derive

MM: So the precedent had been set.

about. When I finished writing my book, “Glory Days,”

from that, then you start changing your use of the word,

JA: There are two phenomenal stories that I love from

I would have to at night, shower twice to wash away

and the term. Doing little things like that can make you

my studies of the Underground Railroad and history.

the toxins of American history and to be able to eke

more conscious and intentional.

24

“BLACK PEOPLE WERE STOLEN, KIDNAPPED, SHIPPED. EVEN IFYOU WANT TO SAY, ‘WELL,WE DIDN’T DO THE KIDNAPPING.’ BUTYOU DID THE BUYING.” 25

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

FLAVOR

S U M M E R 2 0 19

AND STILL I RISE AGAIN Throughout a year of personal loss and professional upheaval, Sara Brancato, owner of

The Dale in Mountaindale, New York, has emerged with a tenacity and inner-strength she never thought possible.

By J ILLIA N SCHEIN F E LD Photography S H AY N A LO H M ANN

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SUMMER 2020

FLAVOR

IT’S HE ART-WRENCHING to imagine losing your father to disease during an earth-shattering pandemic. Couple that with the day-to-day responsibilities of

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

opportunity it was, and he believed in the community.”

It was in these moments of agony and deep uncertainty that Brancato’s

managing a restaurant in a tiny Catskills town during that same pandemic,

community-building superpowers evolved in full-force. She faced

and there you have the current juncture of Sara Brancato, owner of

insurmountable decisions, from whether or not to leave The Dale behind,

The Dale, an Italian restaurant and bar in Mountaindale, New York.

to if she should take the risk of moving back to Staten Island to help look

Brancato runs front-of-house at The Dale, a restaurant and gathering space in the hamlet of Mountaindale that has endured an onslaught of

after her father, mother, and brother — who were all COVID-positive.

If she could reap any personal gain from this nightmare, it would be the

structural and mythological woes since day one. With her intense brown-eyed

self-realization of her extraordinary resilience. “My whole world collapsed.

gaze and quick-paced inflection, Brancato emits her Italian-American ancestry’s

When you have a loss, sometimes you gain something, and what I’ve gained

vibrant and bullish energy. She inherited the boyish chill side from her dad and

is my inner strength. We rise, we fall, that’s life. But this time, the more I fell,

the feisty feminine from her mother. If her story were ever to be told on screen,

the more I rose.”

the only apt casting would be Marisa Tomei, with whom she bears a striking

It comes to no surprise that Brancato’s fortitude had been years in the

resemblance in countenance and spirit. The former fashion and food publicist

making. Her upbringing was centered around boisterous family dinners and

grew up in the tight-knit community of Staten Island and lived in Brooklyn for

connecting to the community by way of her father’s mayoral-like status in

almost a decade before she found her way upstate after enduring the family

Staten Island. Dominick was the CEO of non-profit NYCID, a Board of

tragedy of her younger brother’s stroke, which left him afflicted with severe

Manager of YMCA, and a member of the Staten Island Borough and Staten

brain damage.

Island Rotary Club. “He was all about bringing together the disenfranchised

Shortly after, Brancato moved in with her family to help take care of her

and was always thinking about integrating communities without tension,”

brother and began to venture up to the Catskills for a reprieve. It’s here where

she says. “We felt what the void was in Mountaindale, and a lot of places in

she and her partner (in love and vocation), Alex Wilson, met. In the early stages

the Catskills, is offering quality food with integrity, but also being attainable

of dating, Wilson brought Brancato to this vacant building in Mountaindale and

for everyone.”

orated his vision of creating a homey Italian restaurant that was sophisticated

With some thrifted wood, recycled Parisian-style lamps, and a bucket of

but accessible. “From that day, I threw myself into creating The Dale and was

paint, The Dale opened in February of 2020 with a brand new team whom she

determined to make it work,” she says. “It was the first thing I had done since

now describes as family. It was this restaurant family that carried her through

taking care of my brother, and I wanted this place to open no matter what.

the recent months of Dominick’s passing and kept The Dale up-and-running

It was simply a project I could not walk away from.”

under New York State guidelines throughout COVID-19.

From opening day to now, there have been many reasons to give up on

Throughout global chaos and personal devastation, Brancato and The Dale

The Dale. For starters, it’s set in a small town that was still finding its footing

team committed to weather the storm and stay open during the pandemic for

even before the economic wreckage of COVID-19. And let’s be real; the

the community’s sake. “Our community needed food and space. We felt that

restaurant business is not exactly a walk in the park. “Even if the pandemic

was our duty, no matter how hard things got,” she says. To accommodate the

didn’t happen, I would probably tell you how we’re still struggling to make it

current state of affairs, they built an outdoor garden space, developed make-

here in this environment. It’s really difficult in normal circumstances to run a

your-own pizza kits and a frozen pizza recipe for local families, and embraced

restaurant; the margins are extremely slim,” she says. To top it off, the chef they

curb-side pick-up and delivery.

hired quit on the first week, the building itself is mired in town legend of being cursed, and neither Brancato nor Wilson knew how to make pizza.

Despite the cards stacked against her, Brancato rose to the occasion.

Fortunately, the community continues to show up each Thursday-Sunday of summer, and the place gets as packed as it can be during a pandemic.

To put it simply, the community needs The Dale just as much as The Dale needs

“My father Dominick was my mentor and biggest cheerleader. He was a big

the community, and Brancato couldn’t agree more. “If you asked me a decade

part of what made me see this through. He even sent me to his business

ago what I wanted to accomplish in my life, it would be impacting community

friends who would “Shark Tank” me and say I was crazy to go through with

on a non-grandiose local level. That’s what gives me the ultimate satisfaction.

this. But when my father visited this town, he immediately saw what a beautiful

It’s only pizza, but it does put a smile on people’s faces.”

“MY WHOLE WORLD COLLAPSED. WHEN YOU HAVE ALOSS,SOMETIMESYOU GAIN SOMETHING,AND WHATI’VE GAINED IS MY INNER STRENGTH. WE RISE,WE FALL,THAT’SLIFE” 28

SUMMER 2020

MEET YOUR MAKERS

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

KNOWING WHAT WE KNOW NOW

By ALE X A N DR A MA R VA R Photography M OR I A H A S L AN

“WE WERE PROTOTYPING THE FIRST FEW DAYS, IN HEAVY PRODUCTION BY THE WEEKEND EARLY INTO THE NEXT WEEK, AND FROM THERE OUT, IT WAS FULL-ON” JACK COMSTOCK FOR JAC K COM S TOC K AT TH E HOM ES TE A D SC HOOL IN G LEN S PE Y,

into a plan to supply as many hospital workers as humanly possible with 3D-printed

‘Homestead’ isn’t just a name. His parents founded the Montessori school in

protective face shields. “We were prototyping the first few days, in heavy production

1978 when he was two years old. He grew up there, went to school there, and

by the weekend early into the next week, and from there out, it was full-on,” Jack

today, in addition to being Homestead’s assistant head of school and a teacher,

said. “I was on a mission. It took an hour to print each piece, so I adjusted my routine

it is also his home. He lives next door with his wife Nisha (also a Homestead

to be over there loading as late as I could, 11:00 or midnight, and then I’d be up at

teacher), their two children, and the permaculture homestead they are growing

5:30 getting a new one running for the day.”

on their property.

He realized he needed more 3D printers, and the community heard his call.

In mid-March, as COVID-19 began to tear through New York City and hospitals

Parents donated them, local libraries loaned them, Homestead purchased more

were in dire need of P.P.E., one employee at Mount Sinai knew where to turn. She

of them, and the Stourbridge Project coworking space in Huntsdale came through

called her friends, Jack and Nisha. The school had 3D printers, and she knew that

with yet a couple more. Over the course of days, they had multiplied the size of

Jack knew how to run them.

their printing operation fivefold. “We took over an entire schoolroom at the upper

Despite the mayhem of transitioning the school to online learning, Jack launched 30

elementary and spread out our production,” he said.

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

MEET YOUR MAKERS

SUMMER 2020

31

MEET YOUR MAKERS

SUMMER 2020

While Jack ran the printers, Nisha was the contact for hospitals, the Department of Health, and grantmaking foundations. A fellow Homestead teacher coordinated

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

students to maintain balance despite having a lot more screen time than we’re used to.

I was thinking about it, and realizing what little balance I had,” he said.

production with the help of other school staff. Essentially, they had launched a small

“But the work felt so important. It felt like extra reserves were coming in just to

business in a matter of days, with no budget, creating a business plan in real-time,

keep us going.” Wherever those extra reserves come from, they helped Jack find

working around the clock to manufacture and ship what amounted to more than

some semblance of balance, he said. “But, we definitely could not have maintained

2,000 face shields in a matter of weeks. This, in the middle of a pandemic that

that pace.”

collapsed the global supply chain.

Who knows what quantity of “extra reserves” we each have. Who can say what

When the plastic filament they required to keep producing face shields ran low,

month of 21-hour workdays will make us better and stronger and what will shatter

when inventory across the U.S. was back-ordered, when orders were getting delayed,

us? Who knows how much help is enough, and when to stop helping, if everyone

or disappearing in transit, Jack and Nisha say the universe handed them a solution in

needs help. In his Free Range essay in this issue, Jack wonders: “Why, in a nation

the form of an unlikely savior: a direct line to the distribution heads at Amazon. When

with so much wealth, did so many of us have to take on the second job of ‘rescue

they then ran up against a seemingly hopeless elastic shortage, yet another solution

worker’?”

materialized: an obscure old sewing supplier in New York City swept in with a stock seemingly no one else in the country was able to supply.

When the community mobilized to work together to meet the call of his friend at Mount Sinai, and soon after, the calls of local frontline workers, Jack found

Jack’s printing operation first supplied hospital workers in New York City, like

gratification, learning, and beauty. But he writes, he was left asking: “How is it that

his friend’s colleagues at Mount Sinai. Once the Comstocks started outreach and

time and again the system fails us and continues to reward those who already have

learned the extent of local needs, they also equipped local hospitals: Bon Secours

so much?”

in Port Jervis, Crystal Run in Middletown, Orange Regional, plus local E.M.T.s, fire

For now, the system that didn’t fail is the system of community that fuels the

departments, Catholic Charities, and some nursing homes. When Catskill Regional

Comstocks’ homestead. For now, the peak of the crisis has passed. And for now,

got replacement ventilator elements that didn’t fit, Jack was able to print new parts

the Comstocks have other riddles to solve, like how best to bring children back to

that did, serving COVID-19 patients in emergency care.

the classroom, and what form a post-pandemic classroom could take. But after now,

Meanwhile, he worked to be there for his students. “Homestead has a theme

it will be hard to forget the systemic flaws and fractures that the pandemic is laying

each semester, and this spring’s theme was balance,” Jack said. “It was amazing

bare, and it will be hard for Jack to shake the idea: Maybe we have been putting our

because our entire spring trimester was online, and we were trying to work with our

stock in the wrong system all along.

“WE CREATED A NEW COMPANY OVERNIGHT” BRIAN FACQUET B R I A N FACQU E T LIK ES M A K IN G TH IN GS . He was a human resources technology consultant until one day, he wasn’t. “I Googled how to make alcohol.

And now, that’s what we have here,” he said of Prohibition Distillery in Roscoe, which he co-founded, and where he and his team have been distilling award-winning spirits for nearly a decade. “We maxed everything out. We hired at least nine new people, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on inventory in a week-or-two period. We created a new company overnight,” he said. “We were doing this in real-time.” The product is no-frills: no scent, spartan packaging, just the formulation laid out by the W.H.O., to the letter. But, a former Navy veteran, Facquet, is driven by an appreciation for balance and quality. He didn’t need it to smell lovely. He wanted to make something that was utilitarian and reliable.

And for it to really come to the rescue, he knew it needed to be big. “We realized people need volume,” said Facquet, who has been working seven days a week, often from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., getting the operation off the ground. “We didn’t get all caught up in designing little bottles. We focused on five-gallon buckets with pumps.” He wasn’t wrong. In the past four months, they’ve turned out bulk shipments of hand sanitizer for buyers from the Visiting Nurses of New York to the Staten Island Ferry to the Navajo Nation. He takes pride in that. For his quick problem-solving, the distillery was even thanked in a speech on the White House lawn. The profit margin on the sanitizer is low, very low. But it was what people needed. “We’ve just been helping wherever we can and however we can,” he said.

Soon, revised federal regulations will force independent beverage distilleries like Facquet’s to use only beverage-grade ingredients, which are much more expensive. Due to pandemic supply chain issues, much harder to come by, to boot.

So, big companies will step back into the game, and Prohibition Distillery will get back to business as usual — to the extent possible. “We wish we could continue [with sanitizer],” he said, “but it’s going to get harder and harder to make, and I’m so happy to get back to what I like doing. As much as we were happy to pivot and help who we could, we’ll be happy to pivot back.”

32

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

MEET YOUR MAKERS

SUMMER 2020

“PEOPLE WERE STRUGGLING PRIOR TO THE CRISIS, AND THINGS ARE ONLYGETTING WORSE” KIRSTEN AND SIMS FOSTER KIRSTEN AND SIMS FOSTER’S IDEA WAS SIMPLE: Get kids excited about real, good food. “We were painfully aware that Sullivan County for years, has ranked the second most unhealthy county in the state,” said Kirsten. With Sims, she runs Foster Supply Co. and oversees several of the Catskills’ premier hotels and eateries. “We associate this area with an abundance of healthy, natural, local foods, open space, all of these wonderful things. There are a lot of problems in our county, but this one, we thought — being familiar with food and the restaurant business — we could maybe make a difference.”

The couple co-founded Livingston Manor-based nonprofit A Single Bite, which since 2016, has run classroom programs teaching Sullivan County eighth-graders the difference between fresh and processed foods, introducing them to new food experiences, and helping to make good food exciting.

But when the pandemic arrived in the region, their classroom programs came to a halt. At the same time, they realized a more immediate need was at hand.

Before the novel coronavirus crisis, Kirsten said 30 percent of Sullivan County children were food insecure, “which means any given day there is an uncertainty of whether or not they can get a meal,” she said. “That statistic, especially as a mom, I find it hard to come to terms with. Between that and knowing that the only meal these kids can rely on is the meal given to them in the cafeteria in school, which is now closed,” Kirsten said, “we had to do something.”

When schools shut down in March, Sullivan County’s school districts continued to provide free lunch, and sometimes also breakfast, to children who qualified. The families in need were identified through this existing list. Knowing that one school-aged student who needs a meal likely indicates a whole extended family that may also have less than they need, A Single Bite stepped in to kick their offerings into high gear. and waiting for restaurants to reopen, A Single Bite

a commercial kitchen. Fueled by community

provide a family meal to an entire household,” Kirsten

prepared fresh restaurant-quality meals, sometimes

donations, at the cost of five dollars per person

said. “Being in the restaurant business and relying

multiple meals per week, for families in need

per meal, they distribute almost $10,000 in food per

on incredible purveyors and farmers who saw 99%

throughout the county. Now they are distributing as

week to Sullivan County families.

of business disappear. We realized we could help

many as 2,500 servings each week.

“We piggy-backed on what they were doing to

replace at least some of the restaurants that stopped

The positive COVID-19 case numbers may be

“I don’t know if we thought about how long we’d be doing this, but people were struggling prior to the

purchasing from them and feed our neighbors with

dropping, but that doesn’t mean hungry families’

crisis, and things are only getting worse. At this point,

food grown and raised by our neighbors.”

needs are diminishing. Instead of reverting all

we have no intention of stopping the meal program.

With chickens, venison, vegetables, farm fresh

their focus to their initial classroom programs,

We don’t see how we could, knowing what we know

eggs, and other locally sourced food, and with the

A Single Bite has only ramped up its home meal

now. Frankly, the system and the government have

help of Foster Supply Co.’s chefs who were on payroll

delivery, hiring an executive chef and settling into

failed to take care of people, and somebody has to.”

33

GIMME SHELTER

SUMMER 2020

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

THE LAKE ON

CANANDAIGUA. Legend has it that the Seneca Nation of Indians emerged from the earth at Bare Hill, perched high above one of the larger of the Finger Lakes. The Native Americans believed that these bodies of water were formed when the Great Spirit laid his hands on the land to bless it, his fingers leaving imprints that filled with water.

By D O RIS C HE VRON Photography CHRIS CHURCHILL

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THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

GIMME SHELTER

SUMMER 2020

HOUSE ABOVE Canandaigua is a coveted vacation spot for downstate New Yorkers OPPOSITE The side entrance to the hotel features a garden where the culinary staff can harvest produce

Most guest rooms have private terraces and water views; a spacious living room leading to the master suite

35

SUMMER 2020

GIMME SHELTER

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

Bathrooms designed with a simple aesthetic that concentrates on white and wood; repurposed wood furniture and minimal art pieces accent the guest rooms throughout

W H EN IT C A M E TO N A M IN G TH E L A K ES, the Seneca called the one below

of builders and artists interested in creating innovative living spaces. With projects

Bare Hill Canandaigua, a word that in the Seneca language means, The Chosen

all over the country, it is still something of a family affair: Among its employees

Place. The name still rings true. The area is a coveted vacation spot for downstate

are several members of the extended Sands clan. One of the founding partners

New Yorkers who come to enjoy a fertile landscape dotted with country houses,

— and the Creative Director — is his sister Lindsay Caleo Karol, a goldsmith and

vineyards, and wineries.

interior designer.

Bill Caleo has known since childhood about the beauty of Lake Canandaigua.

“Canandaigua Lake has always occupied a soft spot in my heart,” says Caleo,

A luxury property developer now based in Brooklyn, Caleo spent summer vacations

who resides in Brooklyn and the Catskills but frequently visits the Finger Lakes to see

here when he was young, learning to sail in a tiny plastic Sunfish crisscrossing the

his parents.” At some point, we started talking about replacing the motel my father

sixteen-mile-long lake. Two years ago, drawing on such memories, Caleo, now 45,

had renovated in the ‘90s with a first-rate, family-run resort.” The vision called for a

decided it was time to embark on an ambitious mission: elevate the level of hospitality

compound right by the water, just like his grandfather’s, on a larger but still intimate

options in the area by building a new waterfront hotel. The result is The Lake House

scale. “We want to create an endless summer.”

on Canandaigua, the new luxury resort that is the first of its kind on the banks of Canandaigua Lake.

With vacation travel somewhat dominated by the coronavirus — and by the limited appeal of flying somewhere far away to relax — The Lake House on

Caleo clearly remembers the moment when his passion for the venture took

Canandaigua, opened on August 15th, is a tempting new alternative. The resort lies

root. The year was 1994, and he was at a picnic table in his grandfather’s garden,

within comfortable driving distance of New York City, Toronto, Westchester, and the

having breakfast right by the shore of the lake. A property called The Inn on The

Catskills, in a region with a reassuringly low infection rate.

Lake in Canandaigua’s small town on the northern tip had just come up for sale in

As a design partner for the resort, TBHCo chose Studio Tack, located in Brooklyn’s

foreclosure. It was a motor lodge with most rooms facing the parking lot, taking little

trendy Dumbo district, with boutique hotel projects like Scribner’s Catskill Lodge in

advantage of its prime location right by the water. “My dad said jokingly that we

Hunter, New York, and the Sound View on Long Island’s North Fork already to their

should buy it,” Caleo says, “and my grandfather said that he had just had the same

credit.” We let the Studio Tack team with their experience in hospitality take the lead,

idea.” So the family acquired the neglected building. “I was excited to my core, and

and sprinkled in our furniture and custom art.”

that moment stuck with me ever since,” Caleo recalls.

Rather than one massive building, the resort’s masterplan features three

Entrepreneurial blood clearly runs in Caleo’s family. His grandfather, Marvin

unobtrusive structures, encompassing 125 rooms and suites. Most have a private

Sands, founded the Canandaigua Wine Company in the early ‘50s, at age 21. Over

terrace and water views. Meandering paths cut through the attractively landscaped

the years, it morphed into Constellation Brands, a multi-billion dollar company that

nine-acre-property which is bordered on two sides by water. With a boardwalk that

produces and markets an extensive portfolio of spirits, wine, and beer ranging from

runs along Lake Canandaigua and a creek feeding in from the north, lake access and

Robert Mondavi to the American distributorship of Corona (which is selling briskly,

its related activities — waterskiing, kayaking, and fishing for trout, bass, and perch,

Caleo assures us).

as well as watching the seaplanes land and take off — will prove to be the main

After college, where he was a business major, Caleo bought and modernized

attractions for Lake House guests.

apartments and townhouses in Brooklyn. Eventually, the venture became The

Two restaurant buildings and a post-and-beam event barn that can accommodate

Brooklyn Home Company, usually shortened to TBHCo. TBHCo is a cooperative

up to 500 people complete the ensemble. The Caleos and Studio Tack share a vision

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GIMME SHELTER

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

SUMMER 2020

REALIZING THIS PROJECT ISWHAT BILL CALEO CALLS ONE OF THE GREATEST EXPERIENCES OF HIS LIFE

The culinary team harvesting ripe tomatoes.

The Executive Chef Scott Riesenberger, who runs the Rose Tavern, draws on his past positions with renowned chefs Alain Ducasse and David Bouley

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GIMME SHELTER

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP A restored 1950’s wooden motorboat suspends from the ceiling at the Sand Bar; many take to the water at Canandaigua Lake when the boating season commences in May through September; waitstaff outfitted in long khaki trousers bring lunch to guests

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THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

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GIMME SHELTER

SUMMER 2020

WITH VACATION TRAVELSOMEWHAT DOMINATED BYTHE CORONAVIRUS...

THE LAKE HOUSE ON CANANDAIGUA IS ATEMPTING NEW ALTERNATIVE of sustainability. To reduce the ecological impact, the hotel will use geothermal power

Bar (no “s”) built right on the hotel dock, a restored 1950’s wooden motorboat is

from deep down below.

suspended from the ceiling. Happily, in these times of social distancing, many of the

The lobby, the library, and the rooms follow TBHC’s design doctrine: a timeless

tables are arrayed outside right by the water’s edge. The signature drink, a Curaçao-

palette, clean, modern, and bright. A simple aesthetic that concentrates on white

based cocktail called Blue Whale, will be served in pitchers because of high demand

and wood. Strong accents are provided by furniture and art pieces throughout,

from patrons.

many made from re-purposed wood. These are designed by Lindsay Caleo’s artist-

Asked to name his favorite hotel, the world-traveler Caleo mentions Esencia in

husband Fitzhugh Karol and carved or manufactured by a network of makers in

Tulum, originally built as the private home of an Italian duchess. “You can feel that

the area.

the vibe comes from the owner’s heart.” A sentiment the Sands family has recreated

Caleo and his sister are known for attention to the smallest detail, be it renovations

on Lake Canandaigua.

or new construction. When the teak deckchairs proved a little too uncomfortable

Realizing this project is what Bill Caleo calls one of the greatest experiences of

after sitting in them for a while, cushions were whipped up to order. The waitstaff

his life. “It took a lot of dreaming, obsession, and hands-on involvement,” he says.

had been outfitted in long khaki trousers, but a heatwave in the region this summer

So much that his girlfriend already jokingly raises the question of what they might talk

forced the team to add shorts as part of their uniform. The ultimate test came shortly

about after the opening.

before the opening when several members of the Sands clan took up residence right after the beds and the bedding was delivered. Ideas for last-minute-refinements were

Not to worry. Chances are that there will be more hotels on The Brooklyn Home

welcomed by all involved. “We learn as we go,” says Caleo.

Company’s horizon. But for now, the most gloriously accessible can be found at Lake

Personal experience drives the perfection the family strives for. In the Sand

Canandaigua, The Chosen Place.

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SUMMER 2020

STYLE

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

MAYA DELMONT / NOT J U S T K I D S Emerging actress and musician, Maya Delmont, is most notably seen in Jim Jarmusch’s 2019 film, “The Dead Don’t Die.” When she’s not acting, attending concerts, or ja m ming with her pu nk-rock band, Can nibal Girls, she’s attending political marches, raising money for social awareness, and taking courses at Hu nter College on pressing issues such as women’s rights, environ mental protection, and gender equality. To put it plainly: she’s a you ng force on the rise with a ton of conviction and the style to match.

By JIL L IAN S C H EINF EL D Photography HAROLD JULIAN

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MAYA DELMONT wears jumpsuit by Zimmerman, boots by Dr. Marten

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SUMMER 2020

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“IT DOES FEEL APOCALYPTIC RIGHT NOW, BUT COVID-19 HAS REVEALED A LOTOF THE FAULTS OF THE U.S.ECONOMIC SYSTEM” TOP Jacket by Moon Choi, top by Noorism, pant by Fenty RIGHT Jacket by Schott, cashmere tee by Elder Statesman OPPOSITE Knit dress by Tibi, Rainbow Unicorn Surprise earring

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Top by Fenty, earring by Victoria Hayes

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STYLE

SUMMER 2020

Photographer HAROLD J ULIAN Stylist STACEY CUNNINGHAM Hair & Make-up MARVIN ALEXANDER

“THE NUMBER OFACTIVISTS FROM MY GENERATION IS ASTOUNDING. I’M SUPER FORTUNATE TO HAVE FRIENDS WHO ARE OPEN TO HAVING DISCUSSIONS AND HAVE A PASSION FOR SOCIAL ACTIVISM”

“THIS IS GOING TO END BADLY,” Adam Driver’s character says repeatedly

she had appeared in a number of commercials and shorts—Delmont has much

throughout the Jim Jarmusch political horror-comedy The Dead Don’t Die. The

more on her mind these days than just movie stardom. Like many city residents

film, released last summer, opens on an early spring backdrop in the fictional town

(she grew up in East Harlem), she has spent the past few months quarantining

of Centerville, with hazy morning mist and a lone police car roaming down half-

upstate, along with her brother, parents, and grandparents. During this time, she’s

paved roads. Despite the rural idyll—there’s an all-American diner, a quaint motel,

been actively raising awareness for numerous social justice causes by sharing

and a single gas station—it soon becomes clear that something is wrong: Farm

information and participating in the political discourse unfolding on social media.

animals are going missing, and the sun shines at night while going dark during

On any given day, Delmont can be seen attending Zoom protest debriefs with

the day. Radio reports soon start circulating that thanks to “polar fracking”—a

her peers and playing guitar to raise money for environmental causes like NY2X

Jarmusch-coined global calamity—the earth has now spun off its axis, scrambling

Coalition and Fridays for Future on Instagram Live.

daytime and nighttime and, as we soon learn, jolting the dead out of their graves.

Even before the pandemic and the death of George Floyd, Delmont had already

Most of the film’s heroes, including the town’s three cops, played by Bill Murray,

etched out her own space in Generation Z’s activist community. She attended

Chloë Sevigny, and Driver, transform one by one into flesh-eating zombies. The

youth climate strikes, befriended fellow young activists, and has taken college

only survivors turn out to be three teenagers from a juvenile-delinquent home.

courses focused on women, gender, and environmental studies—while still in high

This is when we first meet Maya Delmont, who plays Stella. She’s the character

school. “The number of activists from my generation is astounding,” she told me

most completely isolated from the world, entirely holed up in the teen detention

recently. “I’m super fortunate to have friends who are open to having discussions

center, yet she is the most resourceful. When the zombies attack in full force, Stella

and have a passion for social activism.”

shepherds her friends toward all the right hiding places and ends up saving the

Delmont’s commitment to social justice has only taken on greater urgency

day. In the film, she represents the hopeful ingenuity of the future. As it turns out,

since the start of the Black Lives Matter protests. The issues at the forefront of

that depiction isn’t so far off from who the 17-year-old Delmont actually is: a take-

her mind are police reform, mental-health reform, the environment, and the

charge leader out to save the world.

prison-industrial complex. “Everything is interconnected,” she pointed out. That

I first met Delmont on a bright, chilly day last winter in Mountain Dale, NY, at

intersectional thinking is something that Delmont deems essential to breaking down

the house that her Venezuelan-born parents bought as a second home six years

and rebuilding the current political system. “It does feel apocalyptic right now,” she

ago. She has deep brown eyes, and her mop-top of curls was pulled back under

said. “But COVID-19 has revealed a lot of the faults of the U.S. economic system,

a white lace bandanna. Her nose was adorned with a gold septum ring, and she

and because of that, it’s allowed more people to see what’s going on. People need

appeared to me as the teenage offspring of actress Alia Shawkat and singer Ani

that slap in the face to become aware and take action.”

DiFranco. A thick silver keychain connecting her back pocket to a belt loop on her

Looking toward the future, it’s hard not to keep drawing parallels between

JNCO-like skater-boy jeans jingled with keys. “It’s crazy that this film in particular

Delmont’s film character, with her keen survival strategies, and the real Maya: two

was my first feature film ever,” she told me, wide-eyed yet self-possessed.

young heroines with the intuition and intelligence to forge a new path forward.

But while making a film with Jarmusch was a “dream come true”—previously,

With kids like her leading the way, maybe there’s still hope after all.

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SUMMER 2020

ROAD TRIP

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

HERBAL REMEDIES / RESPITE Words and Photography S A N DY S OOH OO

IN

GREAT B A R R I N GT O N CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Theory Wellness dispensary on Stockbridge Road; a buddha statue outside the Asian artifact emporium AsiaBarong; legally obtained goods from Theory Wellness OPPOSITE Bash Bish Falls on a hot day 46

SUMMER 2020

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE The farming team at Race Brook Lodge — Ashley & Tagan, pictured with Casey Meade Rothstein-Fitzpatrick the inn’s keeper and manager of operations; path markers at the Race Brook Lodge; the fried chicken at Prairie Whale; bubble tea shop Extra Special Teas on Elm Street

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ROAD TRIP

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ROAD TRIP

SUMMER 2020

A hammock for lounging at the Race Brook; Adam my partner in crime, driver, assistant and marijuana connoisseur

PEOPLE WERE COOKING AND EATING AND PASSINGJOINTS, BOYS JUMPING FROM CLIFFS AND GIRLS WITH THEIR FRIENDS TAKING SELFIES...

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ROAD TRIP

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Salmon over rice at Shiro Asian Kitchen & Market; the Main Lodge at the Race Brook; The Hayloft room inside the Main Lodge; glass offerings at local tobacco shop The Shire on Railroad Street; good vibes at The Shire

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THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

ROAD TRIP

SUMMER 2020

IWONDERED WHAT ITWOULD BE LIKE TO WALK INTO ASHOPAND PURCHASE APRE-ROLLED JOINT ASTHOUGH IT WERE ANYCHEAP BOTTLE OF WINE, JUST SHOWING AN ID AND USING ACREDITCARD

BENEATH THE MAGNIFYING GLASS OF QUARANTINE, we’ve all come to witness a few things in sharp relief: the moral failings of our healthcare and justice systems, the blatant biases of those in positions of power, and the precarious nature of our own corporeal beings. An escape from the all-consuming nature of this global pandemic and social justice battle seems at once impossible and also entirely necessary if we’re going to emerge from this bubble mentally intact. My partner Adam and I have occupied our apartments, complete with roommates, consecutively for more or less 125 days.

So, when the opportunity to explore Great Barrington, Massachusetts— complete with its recreational weed dispensaries and abundance of nature trails— arose, we leapt at the chance to evade our increasingly claustrophobic living situations for the night and hit the road.

While driving, I started thinking about the Japanese idea of forest-bathing, Shinrin-Yoku, which is a means of reducing stress and reconnects one with nature.

This concept only got to America a couple of years ago, millennials of all ages have used it to explain the sudden need to get back to the land. Still, it is not the only natural remedy readily available and widely known to relieve pain, reduce anxiety, lower blood pressure, and treat depression. But while forest-bathing is legal in all 50 states, smoking weed recreationally is not.

Sometimes, it seems the world is divided into people who believe smoking marijuana has positive health benefits and people who think it is one of the many evils responsible for the deterioration of the fabric of this country. In my experience, it’s a more welcome antidote to the dull ache of modern living than drinking ever was and far less detrimental to my body. I wondered what it would be like to walk into a shop and purchase a pre-rolled joint as though it were any cheap bottle of wine, just showing an ID and using a credit card. “I guess we’ll find out,” Adam said as we crossed the state line and rolled into Great Barrington.

While the dispensary was at the top of our list, we could only think of food when we got to town, neither of us having eaten anything all morning. We ate lunch at Shiro, the local Asian kitchen and market. An impressive young man who took our order laughed and said that they were out of all his favorite dishes, added up our tab on a calculator and went back to reading one of his two books at the counter after we were done. I ate the salmon bento box, and Adam had the beef bulgogi — both were expertly prepared proteins on top of perfectly cooked rice. Afterward, we perused the local Goodwill, where I found a flat gold tray for $2 and then got lost in the labyrinth of sculpted buddhas across the street at AsiaBarong — a combination shop and extensive gallery of Asian artifacts from around the world. Adam held up a dozen different objects, but we couldn’t commit to any. I couldn’t justify spending my unemployment on another idol for my shrine.

When we were finally done exploring and fueled up on good food, we headed over to Theory Wellness to see what legally procuring bud was all about. While the secretive tactics of obtaining weed have relaxed in the last ten years, it remains a topic that’s uncomfortable to discuss around family members and taboo amongst the general public.

But the illicit nature that typically surrounds purchasing drugs was not there. The dispensary was in a big white building with modern letters, flanked by pop-up tents with helpful staff members waiting to point you in the right direction — a whole pandemic-abiding system of operations in full motion. We couldn’t go inside and felt a little silly because we tried.

But everyone was so pleasant, even the guy at the door explaining to us how to place the order online for pickup wasn’t bothered by our rookie mistake. It was truly surreal to obtain marijuana without the threat of penalty and most likely increased the efficacy of

With our goods in tow, we headed over to the Race Brook Lodge, which had just recently reopened their doors to visitors after months of being shut down for quarantine.

They had already impressively implemented a contact-free check-in system. The grounds were sprawling and naturally suited for exploring — complete with a barn, pool, and even a tiny cedar sauna. As far as forest-bathing was concerned, the opportunities were everywhere. The lodge sits at the foot of Mount Race, just beneath the Appalachian Trail, and they’re currently building several outdoor structures to accommodate more variations of outdoor lounging.

After dropping our things off in the room, I ran back outside to chase a slice of sunlight with my camera, and Adam followed, closing the door behind him and immediately locking us out — phoneless and shoeless. This was how I met Casey, the lodge’s current manager of operations who genially welcomed us, gave us another key, and told us about the hiking trails just beyond the brook that we could follow to a waterfall in about thirty minutes.

It seemed like the perfect opportunity to test out that medical-grade goodness that people in California are always talking about. We grabbed my cameras and our Theory Wellness wares and headed into the woods where we walked for a half-hour through the old-growth pines before sighting the waterfall from afar, lighting the pre-rolled joint and meandering back in a pleasant haze. Though we hadn’t even gotten to dinner yet and were only several hours away from the confines of our urban dwellings, it felt like we had truly accomplished our goal of serenity and escape for at least a couple hours.

I felt something like a lightness, however brief.

Though I was convinced we were lost until we saw the familiar patchwork barn from the trail, we made it back to our room for a nap before we went over to Prairie Whale for our first dinner out together in four months. We ate outside beneath a big white tent and realized that some people really could cook better than us. The red cabbage salad was light but incredibly flavored and full of hazelnuts, mint, feta cheese, and some tahini dressing that we couldn’t get over. Adam ate the burger in about five minutes while I licked the salad plate and tried to finish half of the heaping portion of perfectly fried chicken they gave me. I almost didn’t know how to react to being served our food. We said thank you so many times, and I tried not to ask everyone how they were doing with…everything.

We debated dessert but headed back to the lodge instead to eat gas station snacks and pass out immediately.

As we headed out feeling revived by all the lush greenery at the Race Brook and the calm of a New England town in the summer, we took a detour to check out a nearby waterfall our friend had mentioned to us about a week earlier that was right on the New York/Massachusetts border called BashBish Falls. We parked our car in a full parking lot and walked down the steep trail to the increasing sounds of music, splashing, and laughter from below. When we finally arrived at the waterfall, we were surprised to find at least a dozen families, friends, and couples of every background and race relishing in the cool water among the slippery rocks. People were cooking and eating and passing joints, boys jumping from cliffs and girls with their friends taking selfies, and holding each other’s hands while navigating the space between the jagged rocks. It felt like another time — carefree and joyful, communal, and relaxed in a way I’d pretty much given up on feeling again in public. We crossed the water, sat on a mossy precipice, took it all in, and ate our sandwiches from Marketplace, in town. The thing is, no one can tell you how to cope when it feels like the world is falling apart. So, when you have the chance to slow down, look around, and forest-bathe with your partner on a hot day

our herbal remedy.

under a waterfall, you must take it.

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THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

THE PEOPLE’S “I DON’T SEE US GOING BACK TO THE OLD WORLD. I THINK THAT WE’RE IN THE MIDST OF ACCELERATED CHANGE AND THAT WE’RE MOVING IN THE DIRECTION OF CREATING A NEW WORLD” K E V I N M E LV I L L E J E N N I N G S

By A L E X A N D R I A H A E C H L E R , E L A N A FRANKEL , DONNA FELLENBERG, BARBARA DE VRIES, ESTER DE JONG, LYNNE O’NEILL Photography N I C H OLA S RO UT Z EN, C AELUM RO GERS, AB IGAIL WAGNER, S HAYNA LOHMANN

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SUMMER 2020

ISSUE

Set On Fire, We Rise Anew

By ALE X A N DR IA HA E C H LE R

Photography NICHOLAS ROUTZE N

IT WAS OCTOBER 31ST, 2019, WHEN I FOUND OUT.

of unrelenting sickness and exhaustion, and now, we

sustained bare shelves for weeks. In New York, laboring

As the neighborhood kids zoomed up and down our

were about to share our life-altering secret with our

mothers were lawfully separated from their partners,

stoop, costumed and looking for candy, I smiled in

nearest and dearest friends. As my husband and I sat

forced to bring their babies into this world unsupported

unusual solidarity because this year, I too, had on a

around watching the snowfall coat our tiny piece of the

and alone. The unimaginable had happened: our

costume of sorts: one that hid from the world my newest

Catskills, we exchanged our visions for the new year.

current non-stop world had seemingly stopped, and I

identity of “mother.” I was pregnant, just two months

2020 seemed so bright to us then: a year full of promise

didn’t see how it could get much worse.

after my husband and I had started trying to conceive.

and new beginnings, of shedding tired identities and

The news was both shocking and delicious—a personal

stepping into new ones, of unimaginable love.

trick-or-treat.

It was early March then. Shelf-stable pantry items filled our home to the brim as if it were a wartime

But soon, at five months pregnant, I was ordering

bunker. A perverse uncertainty hung in the air. I was a

By the time the new year arrived, I was running on

masks for us to wear whenever we set foot in public.

new mother with no answers. My dreams for my baby’s

pure excitement. I had made it through the first trimester

All over the world, people were dying. Grocery stores

future had turned into nightmares overnight. What 53

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SUMMER 2020

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OUR COUNTRY WAS IN PAIN. YOU COULD SEE IT BLEEDING ALLOVER THE NEWS

Photograph NICHOLAS ROUTZE N

would a global pandemic mean for my baby’s health?

Our nation’s future seemed as murky to me as my

start anew— whether it’s as an infant, as a mother, or

And, what could I do to protect him? What would the

son’s. As a country, we were flooded with questions.

as an entire nation— but to begin again, we must be

world that he was going to be born into even look like in

Was it possible that we could have turned a blind eye

willing to change. The journey is messy, unpredictable,

four months? Would he and I be safe? Perhaps naively,

to the systemic racism that had been poisoning this

and littered with questions. However, what I’ve gleaned

these were questions that I had never thought to ask. I

country for decades? Who was going to ensure justice

over these past few months as an expectant mother

wondered what kind of mother that made me. After all,

for the Arbery, Taylor, and Floyd families? If we couldn’t

observing an expectant country, each of us lost,

if I didn’t have the answers and couldn’t protect my own

put our trust in the police—the very people whose job

yet hopeful to be reborn too, is this: it is precisely in

son, wasn’t it just as naive to assure myself that all he

it is to “serve and protect”—who could we trust? Our

uncharted times like these when mothers are needed

really needed was me, his mother?

country was as lost as a mother as I was.

most. A mother’s power, you see, doesn’t lie in her

As nationwide quarantined days turned into weeks,

But, it takes a fire to rise from the ashes, and soon,

knowing all the answers or protecting us from hardships

and weeks into months, my son and I grew together

some chose not to let the chaos paralyze them. Instead,

at all costs. It lies in her enduring commitment to simply

while our country fell further apart. Inexcusable police

we cried for our nation to recognize that teaching our

showing up. We channel it every time one of us faces

brutality unjustly took the lives of Black Americans

children to be color-blind is not the answer because the

the fire and takes to the streets to protest for our fellow

Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd

denial of race doesn’t eradicate racism, it eradicates

man’s rights. We draw on it each time one of us reaches

within a span of three months. All 50 states erupted

the conversation altogether. We called for defunding

out to our communities for help. And perhaps, we

into protests—some of which devolved into the looting

the police force to reallocate funds to social services

harness it best when we make masks for one another

of

businesses.

committed to reducing crime and violence through

in the middle of a global crisis, when we petition our

In contrast, others staggeringly escalated into law

programs that focus on mental health, addiction, and

state representatives to recognize the rights of birthing

enforcement macing, tear-gassing and beating law-

homelessness. We chanted “Black Lives Matter”— on

women and to obtain justice for those of us whose lives

abiding, peaceful protestors. Our country was in pain.

the streets and our podcasts and social media channels.

were inexcusably taken too soon, and when we hold our

already

struggling

neighborhood

You could see it bleeding all over the news.

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Birth and rebirth offer us the unique opportunity to

newborn babies in our arms and say, “I’m here.”

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SUMMER 2020

The Essential Plant

By ELA N A F R A N K E L FOR TH R EE MONTH S, I was an essential temp worker in an upstate New York dispensary. As the world shut down and hibernated, I got up every morning and

a parking lot that was too small even to accommodate delivery trucks.

They maintained their composure when someone would call and ask how

drove almost an hour for an 8 a.m.–to–3 p.m. shift, four days a week. Masked and

to work a vape pen. The pharmacists calmly listened to patients and made

gloved, I supported patient intakes, orders, curbside pickup, and deliveries.

recommendations. My favorite coworkers were the ones who skillfully maneuvered

My coworkers, mostly locals, believe as I do, that cannabis is medicine. And since

the state’s unintuitive website, making sure specific certifications were in order

New York state allowed sales of medicinal marijuana to continue, we soldiered on.

and cards were up to date (and initiating the dreaded recertification process when

There was no glamour, no high-end CBD skin-care lines, no cameras, no reporters,

something expired).

and no one sending us free lunches.

For me, fielding emotional calls became an exercise in empathy versus

In those three months, the phone never stopped ringing. From the moment I

sympathy, or really putting myself in another’s shoes versus simply feeling bad

walked in the door to way after my shift, people were desperate to make contact.

for her. Some days after my shifts, I would call my friend Dr. Junella Chin for a

What I heard over and over: “Can cannabis help me with anxiety? Chronic pain?

sanity check. A medical practitioner who takes a holistic approach to cannabis

Sleep disruption?” These were the three most common side effects of lockdown life.

therapeutics, she would remind me about the importance of diet, regular

I spoke with men and women, young but mostly older, hoping to calm their fears. Was

meditation, and restorative sleep. Sometimes we would talk about deep breathing

there enough medicine to ride out lockdown and help with their pain and suffering?

practice. I felt comfort in the fact that I wasn’t alone.

I fielded calls from a woman who had been struck by lightning (cannabis

On the contrary, millions of people are in isolation because of COVID-19.

calmed her post-electrical muscle spasms), a granddaughter who asked if we sold

It has broken up families, claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, and completely

THC, THCa, CBD, CBG, and CBN as separate tinctures (her Australian relatives

disrupted our daily rituals and debilitated our mental health. Already 20 states have

sent her a very specific formula to help cure her grandmother’s cancer), and a

pushed to reclassify cannabis as an essential medicine. And dispensaries, like the

man whose wife had just left him, and who was responsible for the care of his

one I worked at, have quickly adapted. People are changing too. Together we are

elderly COVID-19 positive parents. I can still recall his voice as he broke down on

realizing that maybe, just maybe, marijuana isn’t that bad after all and that it could

the phone. There were vets and retired cops, mothers and daughters, caregivers,

be an effective way to cope with a multitude of problems, including the stress and

and older parents. There were people of every race; gay, straight, and transgender

anxiety related to the aftershocks of the pandemic. We are realizing that we can use

people; vocal conservatives and passionate liberals.

cannabis and practice commerce with a good conscience by acknowledging that the

Every day, I watched as my coworkers figured out a curbside-pickup flow in

goal of self-care and health care is, oftentimes, just finding relief.

Be Like Nonnie

By D O N N A F E L L E N B E R G

Photography S H AYNA LO H M ANN

DISEASE MAKES ME ANXIOUS. Even when my son was little and got sick, my

said that young people were safe. There was no one to trust completely. We were on

husband would take care of him as I stood in the doorway, wringing my hands.

our own.

You can imagine what COVID did to me. When I heard about the virus back in December, a shiver of panic went through my gut.

During these dastardly times, I happened on a Facebook video captured before COVID, about a 107-year-old woman who lived independently in Connecticut.

Yet, amid this horrifying pandemic, I found peace and enjoyment in my everyday

She went grocery shopping by herself and made big, old-fashioned Italian Sunday

existence. Yes, I watched the news with alarm. People were suffering and dying all

dinners for her huge extended family. They called her “Nonnie.” In a video flashback

over the world, and the experts couldn’t decide if we should wear masks or not.

to five years earlier, she blew out candles for her 102nd birthday, and her false teeth

Our government reassured us that the virus would magically go away, and the CDC

flew out of her mouth! In that moment no one laughed harder than Nonnie, who was 55

SUMMER 2020

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

as un-self-conscious as one could be. She was a revelation. I decided I needed to be like Nonnie.

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

My 98-year-old mother was not as fortunate. Half-blind, half-deaf, and bedridden, Mother was spending her days alone in a nursing home in Florida. I

Every day I would set out to do more: garden more, cook more, do more with my

couldn’t let my panic run me, so my inner Nonnie took over. Like Nonnie, I had a

life—and always keep on the move. This made my husband very happy! I stopped

schedule for each day, and I stuck to it. I bought my mother a new phone so that she

coloring my hair and let my freak flag fly. I also had the benefit of spending over two

could hear me better, and I made her laugh. I searched the internet and sent her a

months with my 30-year-old son, Miles, and his girlfriend, Alice, who came down

handheld poker game so that she had something to do.

from a deserted Boston. I learned how to navigate GarageBand with their help.

Life is hard, but I’m exquisitely aware of how good I have it. As time goes by, I will

They are superb pianists, so there was always music in the house. We played board

look back at this period of sadness, death, and destruction throughout the world with

games, badminton, and croquet. I baked, I cleaned, and I felt immense gratitude

enormous sorrow for all that has been lost. But I’ll also remember that this was when I

for my life every day. We cooked and ate our meals together. We went on hikes and

witnessed, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, humans capable of growing, changing,

were in constant conversation. My heart ached from time to time because of what

and becoming better versions of themselves. People have done extraordinary, heroic

was happening in our world, and my body was sore from constant movement, but I

things during the time of COVID. I did nothing heroic. But when I needed a stronger,

have never felt more alive.

better version of myself, I took my cue from a 107-year-old Italian lady.

MY HEARTACHED FROM TIME TO TIME BECAUSE OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN OUR WORLD, AND MY BODY WAS SORE FROM CONSTANT MOVEMENT, BUT I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE ALIVE

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THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

SUMMER 2020

The Psychic Interview LY N N E O’ N E I LL

Photography CAE LUM ROGE RS

Kevin Melville Jennings is a psychic, astrologer and tarot master, who’s been featured in international publications, on national television and has written an astrology column for Vogue.com. For 30 years, Kevin has led a meditation group based on the Western Mystery Tradition. Kevin is also included in the book, “Apples Are Square: Thinking Differently About Leadership.” He and his partner John McDonald lived in New York City and bought a house upstate in Sullivan County near the Delaware River 20 years ago. tell my mother what I had dreamt, and then a few

assist them toward their own unique revelation rather

tarot master and astrologer, and you’ve been my

days or a few months later, the dream that I had had

than me talking at them. So I do a lot of active listening.

psychictherapist and friend for the last 30 years.

would come true. So that’s how it really began.

My work is very experiential and process-oriented.

When did you realize that you had this gift?

And then I began to realize that I had certain intuitions

Kevin, you’re a well known psychic,

and intimations.

Kevin Jennings: For me, it wasn’t so much realizing

LO: In these difficult and uncertain times, what are people talking to you about? And how do you respond?

that I had a gift. It was realizing that others didn’t have

LO: In my experience, the way you work is very unique

it in the same way that I did. It was a kind of gradual

in your field. Can you talk about what happens during

process of realizing that I had certain abilities that had

a session with a client and your method?

I’m sure you’re getting a lot of similar questions, right?

KJ: Oh, yes. It’s an extraordinary time. And just about everybody seems to be somewhere on the spectrum of

been with me since birth. I was also very lucky and fortunate to have supportive parents who believed in

KJ: I try to talk to the client and understand their

grief. There’s a lot of grief work that is going on and

my gifts. I got my first pack of tarot cards when I was

concerns and what they would like me to focus on.

understanding and holding someone in their grief.

11, and I hung them on the wall by my bed. So I

And usually, during this session, we’ll begin with

Grief is such a complicated emotion. It’s up. It’s down.

immersed myself in them each morning. They were

checking in with their astrological chart. Then from that

It’s angry. It’s sad. It’s desolate. I hold my clients

the first thing I saw when I awakened, and at night,

move to doing some tarot work together. By and large,

energetically in their grief, and I try to remember that

the last thing I was looking at as I was falling asleep.

the feedback that I get is that people tell me that they

grief refines the soul.

feel clearer after a session. And I consider that a great LO: Was it tarot cards that you were drawn to? Or were

tribute to the work. Because clarity of consciousness

you just, you know, psychic?

is essential for understanding and for decisive decision

LO: In what way?

making, as well as the imaginative and creative

KJ: I think grief knocks away our hard edges and

KJ: It started really with pre-cognitive dreams. I would

dreaming process of envisioning ourselves toward

knocks away at our ego. I think grief puts us in touch

have very vivid dreams. And when I woke up, I would

the future. I also believe that it helps someone more to

with a whole other level of understanding and a 57

SUMMER 2020

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

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direction of creating a new world. There’s a very bright

getting ready to go direct. So maybe things will be

conjunction, very powerful that happens on the winter

forward moving. But remember the 2000 election.

LO: Do you have any insights into the future of

solstice this year, which involved Saturn again. Saturn

There were so many problems counting the ballots

COVID-19 and the possibility of a vaccine and treatment?

is structure and form and manifestation. And this time,

and the phenomenon of the hanging chads. So I’m

whole other feeling for life.

Saturn will be in conjunction with Jupiter, which is very

concerned about communications and vote count on

KJ: A client of mine who lives in Switzerland recently

expansive and philosophical. So I would expect that

the actual day of the presidential election.

wrote to me and said, ‘Do you remember when I was

something that starts to be quite good begins to emerge

in New York, and we had a session, and you were

from this. I feel very hopeful about an effective vaccine

LO: Last question. Do you sense that the boom to move

talking to me about the Saturn-Pluto conjunction on

and treatment. And it would be interesting to see if

upstate in recent years is going to continue?

January 12, 2020?’ And then she said, ‘You referred

there’s something significant that happens toward

to it as a seeding time for a new chapter in the world.’

the end of the year with an announcement or some

KJ: I do think it’s going to continue. And the reason I

I hadn’t remembered saying that, but I do feel that part

kind of breakthrough in helping people infected with

do is that I think again, we’re dealing with deep structural

of the energy of this is that it’s a restructuring of society

COVID-19.

shifts in society. I mentioned earlier the Saturn-Pluto conjunction that begins the 34-year cycle. I think that the

and the world. From an astrological point of view, I feel that the sort of marker we have was this powerful

LO: Okay, now, I’m sure everyone wants to know this.

period that we’re emerging into and why living in the

conjunction of Saturn and Pluto that happened this

Any feelings about the presidential election?

country is going to become more important is that people are going to be looking for a more balanced lifestyle —

past January. That happens to be the conjunction that seemed to coincide with the emergence of COVID-19.

KJ: Well, let me say this. Believe this or not, I feel it’s too

the word is, in fact, holistic. People want to be more inte-

But it’s still mysterious to me. I think we’re going to be

soon to tell. I feel like despite what the polls are saying

grated. Before we led up to COVID, it seemed like in the

dealing with this for quite some time. I don’t think that

that the candidates are neck and neck in terms of

last four or five years, that there was a tremendous ac-

this is something that is a brief moment. Traditionally,

support. I am concerned about the actual election day

celeration of people working all the time and feeling like

the conjunction of Saturn and Pluto represents the

because we’ll just be on the final day of a Mercury

there was no time to enjoy life. I think a greater emphasis

beginning of a new 34-year cycle. Now, I certainly

retrograde period, and it will be the day before Mercury

is going to be placed on not just career and professional

don’t think that we’re going to be dealing with this for

goes direct. So it’s possible that there could be

status, but also enjoying life and finding beauty. And I feel

34 years, but I think we’ll be dealing with this and how

communications that are difficult. I remember back

that that’s why the move to upstate is going to continue

this changes us going forward. I don’t see us going

in 2020, and we were also voting during Mercury

and that the continuation of this will be steady in terms of

back to the old world. I think that we’re in the midst of

retrograde. Mercury had stationed. The difference was,

its progression. I think that for many people, it will offer

accelerated change and that we’re moving in the

Mercury was turning retrograde. This time Mercury is

the ability to feel like they’re living a more balanced life.

MY FRIENDS AND I GOT SICK,BUTAT THAT TIME NONE OF US COULD GET TESTED

Portraits

By EST H E R D E J O N G M ARCH IS THE MONTH I START TO LONG FOR the first signs of spring. But this

take my mind away from the unknown, I focused on painting my family and friends.

year March was unlike any other. The pandemic hit New York City, which is close to

That way they could be a bit closer to me. I was studying portraits of Frans Hals,

home here in the Catskills. Many of my friends have homes in both places. Soon some

the famous Dutch painter from the Golden Age, and was inspired to first paint my

of my friends and I got sick, but at that time none of us could get tested because we

daughter and my husband. After that I painted my parents and then my brother

had not been to China or Italy and didn’t know someone with a confirmed positive test

in Germany, his wife, and their son, Zabor. I painted our first grandchild, from my

result. Besides that, our rural county did not have any testing centers. I gave up pretty

husband’s son and daughter-in-law, whom I was meant to meet for the first time this

quickly on that round of calls that led to nowhere. A few months later I heard one of

spring as well. I painted my best friends, whom I wished I could hug but would only

my friends tested positive for the antibodies.

see during our Zoom “happy hours.”

When I got sick, I pulled my 13-year-old daughter, Erin, out of school, just before

I painted my daughter’s teacher, Rinda, who was especially helpful during

it closed. It was extremely upsetting for her, and she was stressed out about getting

the early pandemic days. Rinda spoke to my daughter by phone after I told her she

behind in her schoolwork. She wanted to say goodbye to her friends and was very

could not go back to school and reassured Erin that staying home was the right thing

angry with me because I would not let her go. But eventually, she was able to accept

to do. She brought everything Erin needed from school and left it on our porch.

her new reality and jumped into online schooling without a problem.

I painted my friends who delivered groceries and were there to help whenever we

For weeks it was just the three of us, my husband, my daughter, and me. We

needed anything.

saw no one, lived mostly in separate rooms, and did not go to a store. We lived on

I started sharing the portraits on social media, and family and friends enjoyed

our provisions that we always have in case of bad winter weather, and also relied on

seeing their faces pop up. Some friends asked if they could buy their portrait. I also

close friends who braved the supermarket to get us fresh dairy and veggies. We just

received a couple of painting commissions—including one for a grandparent who

Zoomed away, trying to stay connected to family and friends, and continued school

had passed away. This inspired me to turn my personal process into a project with

and work online as best we could.

a goal. It was a chance to keep connecting people and to help the arts at the same

Not knowing what was going to happen was terrifying. I was supposed to fly

time. Instead of filling my guest room with visitors, I’m slowly filling the wall in that

to Amsterdam to visit my parents in my hometown, Maassluis, and then travel to

room with everyone’s faces. The goal is to finish up to a hundred portrait sketches of

Germany to visit my brother and meet my nephew for the first time. My ticket was a

friends, family, and neighbors by spring of next year—and then to hold a fundraiser

birthday gift from my husband, and I was very sad not to go. To this day I still don’t

at Liberal Art Gallery in Roxbury, NY, where everyone can come and pick up their

know when I’ll see my family again. I often wonder if I’ll end up like one of my friends

portrait in return for a donation to a local visual or performing arts organization, such

and attend the funeral of a parent via Skype from thousands of miles away.

as the Roxbury Arts Group, The Open Eye Theater, and local school arts programs.

I soon began to devote more time to my art. I have been painting since 2004, after moving to the U.S. to study at the National Academy of Design in NYC. Now, to 58

The arts are suffering incredibly during this pandemic, and I feel this is a fitting way to give back to the community.

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

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SUMMER 2020

4 PM on a Friday

By BAR BA R A DE V R IE S

Photography ABIGAIL WAGNE R

I LIVE FROM MAKING MEALS AND CLEANING THE KITCHEN AND ORDERING AND COLLECTING FOOD FROM PARKING LOTS WHERE MASKED PEOPLE TRY TO GO ABOUT WITH A PURPOSE IT’S ALWAYS 4 PM, AND IT’S ALWAYS FRIDAY. The rest of time drifts in between. I do not live from Zoom to Zoom, I live from impulse to impulse.

mint (or vodka shots) sometimes in the afternoon just because I can.

At dinner we laugh, we fight, we cry, sometimes we play games. We wash

From checking the New York Times and Washington Post several times a day, as if

our dishes by hand (because the dishwasher broke). We argue over who ate

I’m looking for something that can’t be found. Good news? Bad news? Or a pinch

the last cookie. Sometimes we watch movies together, but mostly we retreat.

to remind myself that it’s all real and not just another Murakami story—the writer

The girls laughing, quarreling, whispering upstairs, or outside in the dark, huddled.

whose tales of parallel universes calm me down and assure me that reality is an

Their cellphones light up their faces as they rate pictures of guys on Hinge.

unreasonable expectation.

Safe and socially distanced dating. My heart aches. Where is their Mister Darcy?

Several times a day, I wander into my garden and watch my vegetables grow.

I’m more interested in their process than their outcome. I feel at one with them and

We joke, as bored boys race up and down the road on their RTVs. We have parties and dress up. We dance at the end of 14 days in quarantine.

wonder if they’re getting enough sun. Am I getting enough sun? I can’t seem to get

We hunt for treasures on Easter Sunday. We make art and write love poems for

beyond the clouds.

Mother’s day, Father’s day, and the twins’ birthday. The house goes from being

I live from making meals and cleaning the kitchen and ordering and collecting

my coat to being my armor. I feel bare leaving it behind. Twice, I drive into New

food from parking lots where masked people try to go about with purpose.

York and back. I return depleted. The cars, the people, the violence of the speed at

I disinfect. I wash my hands. I walk the dog. I clean the dog. I feed the dog. I feed

which we travel past one another. Coming home makes me happy. The thought of

the husband. I feed my daughters. I cook the same things over and over: chicken,

never leaving again makes me happier still. I watch two cardinals build a nest and

grilled, baked, sautéed, fried, salmon, baked with lemon, teriyaki, mayo, onions,

try to stop the squirrel from eating their eggs. I wait for the pair to return, but they

or basil, shrimp every which way, potatoes, rice, pizza, pasta, noodles, couscous,

don’t. In one day, we have a wasp infestation, the septic backs up, and my husband

mango, avocado, salads of many colors. I pickle cucumbers with cilantro from

has emergency oral surgery. I didn’t think that Mercury in retrograde could happen

my garden.

in the time of corona.

Four months. 125 days. 120 dinners? 240 cocktails? Whiskey sour—as per Stanley Tucci—martinis with lychee, mandarin, olive, lemon, lime, and a twig of

I think I will stop thinking thoughts. Let them drift freely from 4 till 4 and Friday to Friday.

59

SUMMER 2020

Monticello, New York native

HOME GROWN

CRISTAL STATEN

THE PEOPLE’S ISSUE

just graduated from PACE

University amid a pandemic, and an era of surging momentum in the Black Lives Matter movement. Gaining local notoriety as a vocal participant in protests from Sullivan to Ulster Counties has forced her to confront her loyalties as a twenty-one-year-old Black American woman raised in a predominantly white region with a veteran NYPD dad at home.

By J ANE T ME RCE L Photography MICHAE L DAVIS

Janet Mercel: PACE has a campus in New York City

other way around, especially when you invite a state

a little extreme to lose friends over politics?’ I said, ‘It’s

and Westchester County, but of course, schools were

trooper to embrace you. Your father is a longtime

not politics, it’s human rights.’

remote for most of your last semester. Where were you

veteran of the NYPD. How does he feel about you

when the protests started gaining traction?

not only protesting but being super visible and vocal

JM: Why do you think you’ve made such an impression

on the front line?

as a local advocate of BLM?

our family’s house in Monticello, and then when the

CS: I’m Black, but I’m a girl and a non-threatening

CS: I saw another woman at a march who was also

pandemic hit, I just stayed. I was very happy to be at

one. The way I see it, I’m at less risk than he is. My dad

vocal and on the front lines. She was passionate, she

home while everything was unfolding. My first march

is a strong and powerful human, but he’s a six-foot

was great, but she looked and sounded more like what

was in New Paltz. It’s such an artistic town, and it was

man, and I worry far more about him as a Black man

people stereotypically see as an angry Black woman,

beautifully done with the music and posters, but no one

in the world that I do about him as a policeman on the

and the reporters all came to talk to me. I grew up

seemed to be stepping forward to address the public.

job. After meeting the criteria of his NYPD promotional

within a system of white privilege that makes me less

So I stood up and spoke, and I’ve been speaking at

exam, he was passed over three times in favor of white

threatening to a white media. I know that makes me

protests since.

officers. No one wants to take on the NYPD. He’s very

an outsider to traditionally Black American culture.

frustrated and annoyed he can’t really take part,

It sounds funny to say, but I’ve always wanted to be

JM: You saw firsthand what it’s like at marches in

and he worries about me making myself a target.

a part of it. They’re so joyous, and they’re loud, they’re

Brooklyn — who the protesters are and what the

You can face department charges if you attend protests

laughing, there’s a community bond I don’t have.

police are doing. How does it differ from what’s

or marches, you have to be very careful not to present

But because of my education and where I grew up,

happening upstate?

yourself as anti-cop.

I can speak up, and people take me seriously.

CS: In the city, it’s the people against the police and

JM: So you see risk as varying by degrees, based on

circumstances and supposedly self-inflicted issues.

vice versa. In the country, it’s people against racists.

different traits of individuals in the Black community,

We need white journalists to listen in order to get the

There are so many anti-protesters that show up to

and putting yourself on the line because your own

message out because otherwise, Black stories aren’t

counter the peaceful marches. In Pleasant Valley, I saw

perceived risk is lower. That’s a big responsibility to take

accepted in mainstream media!

grown men in Trump hats spitting on children, and the

on. How have the movement and the protests affected

local police do not get involved. They’re mostly there

you socially? Is there any tension between you and

JM: Once you have the platform and people are listening,

for traffic control, and they did nothing to separate or

friends, or your community?

what’s important to you to leave behind? What’s the

Cristal Staten: I had been commuting to school from

It’s very easy to blame the Black community for their

most crucial thing you might want your old classmates,

protect the protesters.

CS: My high school experience was very diverse, lots

or their parents, to hear?

JM: I watched the video of you addressing the police

of Black kids, Spanish and white, (there were only

and the crowd with a bullhorn at the march on the

about five Asians.) But Rock Hill (a hamlet outside

CS: I want people to understand their privilege exists.

bridge in Poughkeepsie.

Monticello) is middle class. Most of my friends were

They may have been oppressed for other various

white and ended up going to good schools.

reasons, poverty, or as members of the LQBTQ

“We are not anti-police, we are anti-racism, and that

People I know have said, ‘Fuck Black Lives Matter,

community, but the Black struggle is just not something

is what we are marching for. We are not marching

they’re all terrorists,’ and, ‘Just wait until we get into

they’ve experienced. Most people in a privileged

against you; we are not fighting you; we’re fighting

a militarized state.’ The mother of a white male (now

position don’t want to disrupt their comfortable lives,

racism within our own police department. Just know

former) friend of mine, made it clear she disapproved

but you have to give that up. The older generation of

that we are with you, we feel it. We’re the daughters

of me protesting. She said, ‘I don’t think your father

the Black community is accustomed to the system;

and the brothers and the sons of law enforcement

would be very happy with you.’ I told her he was well

they say, ‘Your life is not worth it. If you get pulled over,

officers, we understand. There is no violence here

aware. I thought she’d always been so pleasant to me,

just do as you’re told, whatever you’re supposed to

against you.”

but now I remember little comments. Once, we threw

do to survive.’ But if you’re Black, you’ll be criminalized

a party, and someone rented a stripper pole to dance.

anyway, and then what? We need to keep protesting

JM: It feels as though the primary concern was

She looked at me and said, ‘Who’s going to be our little

to get people to listen. It’s time to stand up, not

protecting and comforting the officers, instead of the

Black stripper?’ After the protests, my friend said, ‘Isn’t it

stand down.

60

THE 8-LIST

SUMMER 2020

Market Editor M ANDY C O O N Copy Editor ALEXANDRA MARVAR

8

THE

LIST

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IT’S 2020. There’s a lot on your mind, not all of it uplifting.

Market Editor M ANDY COON is doing her small part to surface some of the silver linings — on the edges of garden shears, the bindings of books we should wait no longer to read, and the screens of our local drive-ins.

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JA MES BALDWIN’S THE FIRE NEX T TIME In this potent duo of essays published in 1963, Baldwin offers a look from his vantage at American race relations in the ‘60s, and a call to action.

The first essay, “My Dungeon Shook — Letter to my Nephew on the One-Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” served as inspiration for Ta Nehisi Coates’ Between the World And Me. What will it inspire in you? Available to order at Rough Draft in Kingston.

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BAREBONES GARDEN SCISSORS When we can’t control America’s seeming drive toward self-destruction, at least we can control our herbs, greens, and blooms, with these ambidextrous, rust-resistant stainless steel and bamboo shears for gardening, foraging, deadheading flower beds, and maybe in a pinch, cutting your hair — though hopefully, it won’t come to that.

Available at Cold Spring General Store for $23

3 KELLY + JONES EARTH HAND SANITIZER In Kingston, a perfumery pivots to small-batch spray-on hand-sanitizer to save the ship as COVID has put all its wholesale orders and markets on hold. Available in a purse- or pocket-sized 2 oz. bottle, K+J EARTH is 70% ethanol plus local ingredients and the scents of saffron, vetiver, earth, and white peppercorn. Every ten bottles sold donates a bottle to staff at a local grocer. Available at Hops Petunia Floral in Kingston and kellyandjones.com for $18 4

HUDSON VALLEY MOCA INTER ACTIVE DIGITAL EXHIBITION “HOW WE LIVE” Through sculpture and video,

4

37 artists explore creativity and production around the world and throughout time. The minutiae, the personal and the profound come across in works by Louise Bourgeois, Nam June Paik, Jenny Holzer, Dan Flavin, and others, as they show how producing — from household items to artistic creation — becomes a product itself of the lived experience. As we think more than ever about how we live, the temporarily closed-for-COVID museum makes selections from their current exhibition available to explore remotely online. Available at hudsonvalleymoca.org/how-we-live

5

ANCHAL ORGANIC COT TON FACE M ASK, NAV Y

Promoting a zero-waste initiative, upcycled fabrics handembroidered by artisans in India are cut and sewn into two-layer, machine-washable, GOTS-certified organic cotton twill masks with stretchy Lycra ear loops by Anchal. This Louisville-based nonprofit social enterprise works to address the exploitation of women worldwide by creating employment opportunities, products, and markets that support empowerment.

One size fits all. Yours protects them; theirs protects you.

Available at Shop Berte in Beacon for $20

6

6

JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE If you’re streaming from home, anyway: Through interviews and rare archival footage, this cinéma verité feature documentary chronicles the late, great Rep. John Lewis’s six-decade career of social activism and legislative action which arced from the start of the 1950s and ’60s civil rights movement to the current one. Streaming on Amazon Prime.

7

HANNAH VAUGHAN STUDIO’S HANDS TO WORK CHAIR KIT Something for those of us longing to build something:

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The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing hung well-made minimalist chairs and other wares from wooden pegs on their homes’ walls to declutter living spaces. Abandon fast furniture and embody the Shakers’ guiding principles — simplicity, utility, and honesty — in a hands-on project with this build-ityourself kit. Poplar wood with sanded edges and pre-drilled, countersunk holes and cotton rope, all cut to length, plus screws and step-by-step visual instructions guide the way.

Available at khannahvaughan.com for $250

8

DRIVE-IN MOVIES A quadruple-threat: See your neighbors, support your local drive-in theaters, get off the couch, forget it all for a moment. At the Fair Oaks Drive-In, at the Jericho Drive-In and Twist Ice Cream Shoppe, at Four Brothers Drive-In, evolving slates of family-friendly movies can give the kids the best version of screen-time — outdoors.

Available in Middletown, Glenmont, and Amenia.

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