FALL 2014
PRICELESS
• Woodstock Film Fest • Theme Motels • Save the Pollinators • • Elemental Yoga
Marco Benevento
A free journal written by young people for young-minded people
FIFTEEN YEARS OF
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Publisher’s Letter We hope you have been enjoying the quarterly issues of GoodLife Youth Journal. It is always exciting to present to you the awesome talent of our area’s youth. We would like to take a moment to say
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Fortune Cookie, Thank You! I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. You can read and read,…listen and listen, but experience is the ultimate Great Teacher. I met a friend who comes every year to the vacation rental casita on my father’s property in Oaxaca Mexico. Vacationers come and go and through the years I have made friends with a few. Well, the Fortune cookie reminded me about how one of the vacationers, Lydia (from Canada) told me she was teaching herself how to be an artist. I was very curious… about her strategy since that was what I had studied and majored in for 4 years to earn a BFA (Bachelors of Fine Arts) in college. Along time ago I hung up many of my father’s oil pastels to decorate the walls of the casita. Each rendering more colorful then the next, showing scenes of the indigenous people of Oaxaca doing everyday things (buying fish at the market or a man blowing a conch shell horn by the sea). Lydia began by explaining, “Augustin (that’s my father) and his paintings have been my source of inspiration. I love his raw and colorful style. He captures the essence of the Oaxaca indigenous peoples.” Lydia surprised me when she showed me her art work. “I purchased art supplies and oil pastels, then chose my favorite composition and began to copy his work!! I felt I could discover the art techniques by reproducing each work that I enjoy so much. Also I can take mine home to Canada where they will remind me of my time in Oaxaca.” Above are the two piantings side by side, my father’s and Lydia’s. What do you think? Reminds me of GoodLife,...to do and understand being published. It has been so fun and amazing watching the many who have graced the pages with their work grow up and find opportunity out there. Fortune Cookie, I thank you!
ON THE COVER: Jump! Photo by Michael Denise:
Winter issue coming next!
Deadline Oct. 18th. • Rail Trail • Return of Sushi! • What your handwriting says about you Disclaimer: The views expressed in this magazine do not reflect those of the publishers, nor are we responsible for the products and services advertised.
Page 6 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
Food RESTURANT REVIEW
Liberty Public House By Finn Doering, age 12 http://sharpfinnsoup.wordpress.com/
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Photo by Dylan McNamara
his historic old building has some of the best food on this side of the river. The restaurant is decorated with tons of American flags and memorabilia and lots of nice paintings inside. There are many different spaces to chose from, a tavern with a huge local beer selection, nice outdoor seating on the main street, a restaurant beautifully decorated and more formal, and downstairs is an amazing lounge with lives bands. I also personally love the boat bar out back that’s actually a real boat. Now for the food: First of all, I must say there is certainly something for everyone here! I love it for both lunch and dinner, and each menu is slightly different. For lunch I recommend the Liberty burger and Freedom fries, which is a very tasty meal with great flavor. The burger is juicy, and the fries are outstanding with garlic, parmesan, and rosemary. Amazing! I also love the matzoh ball soup and fried pickles! Don’t let the fried pickles scare you off! It is a unique appetizer that’s fried in beer batter and is warm, and addictive served with a horseradish sauce. On the other hand, the matzoh ball soup is like your grandma’s soup, but even better. My sister had the potato pancakes, which had local fresh applesauce and were crispy and delicious. For dinner, we shared the fish and chips with sweet potato fries and an awesome aioli (a garlicky lemon tarragon mayo dipping sauce). I loved the Mac and Cheese too, but you have to like truffles to enjoy it. The creme brûlée for dessert is really good and creamy, made with bourbon! The hot chocolate molten cake oozes with chocolaty goodness when you cut it open… Overall, this is an amazing place for everyone, and YOU should go there soon ! http://libertyrhinebeck.com Liberty Public House 6417 Montgomery St Rhinebeck NY
www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 7
TOC/Sponsors
TOC/MastheaD CONTENTS Restaurant Review: Liberty ............................................ p. 7 Outdoors............................................................................ p. 9 Theater: New Genesis .................................................... p. 10 Interview: Ze’ev “Willy” Neumann........................ p. 12-13 Health: Yoga............................................................... p. 14-15 Pollinators ................................................................. p. 16-17 Music: Marco Benevento ........................................ p. 18-19 Cover Story: Woodstock Film Festival.................. p. 20-23 Theme Motels & Hotels .......................................... p. 24-27 Fiction: Free Hugs Part 2......................................... p. 28-29 Poetry.......................................................................... p. 30-31 Art & Music............................................................... p. 32-33 Follow the Money........................................................... p. 34 Teen Awareness .............................................................. p. 35 Books.......................................................................... p. 36-37 Travel ................................................................................ p. 38
EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief/Publisher..................................... Cathy McNamara Art Director...............................................................Grey Ivor Morris Executive Editor..................................Monique Winum Martindale Senior Copy Editor......................................................... Julie Schmidt
SALES
Marketing & Sales Director.......................................Carolyn Handel Sales Representative........................................................ Marie Shultis
DISTRIBUTION: 7,000 COPIES. Throughout the Hudson Valley, and the I-87 corridor, Published by GoodLife Publishing 20 Mountainview Avenue Woodstock, NY 12498 ONLINE VERSION: GoodLifeYouthJournal.com
SUBMISSION INFO: GoodLife accepts work done by young people aged 10 to 20 and pays for accepted work. Deadline: Winter: Nov 9th, Spring: Feb 9th, Summer: May 9th, Fall: Aug 18th • Permission: Need a parental email if you are younger than 16 (giving permission to publish your work & receive payment.) Need address. • Topics Examples: Lifestyle, music, book & movie reviews, sports & fitness, political & environmental. • Writing strategies: Reflecting, Reporting, Explaining, Arguing, Opinion and Humor! Length 200 to 500 words Be CREATIVE and send work that you would be proud to have published. All articles must be appropriate for ages 10 to 100! Work not used is stored for another issue. Send submissions as Word documents to: Goodlifejournal@gmail.com Thanks, Cathy McNamara (Publisher) (845) 332-3353
Open Call for Young Photographer and Webmasters! Volunteer and learn more about publishing.
Page 8 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
Outdoors
Camping & Hiking Advice By Jacob Internicola, age 11
(Top) Getting ready for a hike in the Adirondack Mountains (Bottom) Me and my family cook out on the campfire.
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he Adirondacks are a great place to go camping and also hiking. Especially, Lake Placid. Our family camps at a KOA in Lake Placid which is great for family and friends. It has three different playgrounds and great campsites. There is a toddler playground, an all-kids playground and one other that I recommend for older kids because you can climb high ropes and balance on a bungee cord rope. There is even a humansized chessboard to play and an arcade. Also, once a week there’s a movie night in their lodge. And I almost forgot that there’s minigolf course there and a s’mores campfire night. But if you’re looking for places to hike then I have some trails for you. If you’re looking for a good mild family hike, try Owl’s Head in the Adirondacks. Owl’s Head is an easy hike which is a half-mile to the top, where there is a great view. It’s also a good place to picnic. If you want a first high peak to try, maybe Cascade is good for you. Cascade’s top is amazing and has a 360 degree view. It’s such a great challenge, but it’s also pretty tough. Don’t worry adults out there; my six- year old sister could do it. Another good family hike is Mt. Van Hovenberg, which is right by where they had the Olympics in Lake Placid in 1932 and 1980. It’s a decent distance up and has great spots to picnic. If you’re looking for a good place to hike in the Ulster County, try Black Creek. Black Creek has a fun hike for a family and a GREAT spot to fish. Another local place for hiking that has a great view’s of the Hudson River is Poet’s Walk. Poet’s Walk is an inspirational place with many fields and a great place to take the family. It also looks amazing in winter. Hint: If you are a young kid that likes to film shorts, Poet’s Walk is a great place to film. Thank you for reading. Until next time. www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 9
Theater
A New Genesis
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By Leo Lasdun, 15, Brooklyn, NY
s I drove up the driveway of the New Genesis Productions theater in West Shokan, I was immediately overtaken by the ambience of the place. Surrounded completely by forest, it conjured the image of a fairyland, a perfect place for Shakespeare. The stage, modeled off of the Globe Theater in London, is large enough to give a full image of the scene, and yet compact enough to focus our attention on the actors. The two plays I saw were Twelfth Night, and Rebecca Sutton-Fosman makes an entrance Much Ado about Noth- in NGP’s Much Ado About Nothing. ing. Both plays were directed tactfully, and the acting was superb. The first play I saw was Twelfth Night, directed by Geneva Turner. The actors in this play were aged from 11 to 14, a slightly younger group. However, their age seemed to be no limitation as each part was played perfectly and each line remembered and uttered precisely.
Dante Kanter and Rebecca Sutton-Fosman (holding Luna Kolba) in Much Ado About Nothing.
Page 10 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
Photos by Felicia Ojarovsky
Helena Ojarovsky and sidekick.(Below) Athena Leisching and Zephyr Hreckdakian. The Master Class teens have studied Shakespeare for several years performing on a level not seen from young actors of today
From the opening scene to the final bow, the excitement of the play was palpable. The acting in this play was outstanding, especially that of Ori Grady who played Malvolio, and Helen Schauffler, who played Maria. Ori is 12 years old and is a astounding ball of enthusiasm. He made the difficult role of Malvolio so believable, and never once stuttered on a line. Helen Schauffler is 13 years old, and seems to have an intense acting background. She fit perfectly into the sly, tricky mindset of Maria. Twelfth Night, though acted by a younger group of actors, was professionally done and held to a standard of excellence. The other play I saw was Much Ado About Nothing. This play was acted by older children. This production was directed by Lesley Sawhill. In Much Ado About Nothing, an audience can become confused, as the plot is very complicated. However, in this case the actors speech was so clear, and the directing so well done, that I was never unsure of what was happening. The part of this play that I enjoyed the most was the comical romance between Benedict, played by Dante Kanter, and Beatrice, played by Rebecca Fosman. These two experienced actors made the storyline both understandable, and funny. New Genesis Productions is an amazing program for youth in the Hudson Valley. It allows them the opportunity to experience Shakespeare in a way they otherwise wouldn’t. Through her years of hard work and dedication, Lesley Sawhill, the co-founder of NGP has made it possible for kids of all ages to bring great pride and entertainment to the community. With each production NGP grows and becomes even better. So, hiding up a little driveway in West Shokan, each summer something very special comes to life. New Genesis Productions is run by co-founders Lesley Sawhill and Ron Aja . Find out more at newgenesisproductions.org (845) 657-5867. www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 11
Interview
The Art of the Positive
By Caleb McNamara, age 22
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e’ev Willy Newman has been a major contributor to the art community of Woodstock and Saugerties for many years. He’s an extremely talented sculptor who strives to get his viewers to reimagine that which they think they know, whether it be a picture frame or a book. Having a very eventful past, growing up in Israel and being called to duty in a number of wars before immigrating to New York, Ze’ev has experienced many walks of life that add to his confrontational style. Ze’ev’s work can be seen throughout the area. His “Love Knot” and picture frames are on view in both Saugerties and Woodstock. I got to speak with Ze’ev about his work. Caleb McNamara: What is your philosophy on the purpose of art? Ze’ev: I usually say that “art is a lure.” Art serves the essence of why we are My source of warmth Muchka & me here. We’re not just here to eat and sleep and that’s it, we’re here to create and reconsider. I work on making you reconCM: You have quite an eventful past. You attended art school in Tel sider what you know. It can be something as simple as a circle, something you’ve seen your whole life, but Aviv when you were only 15. You were called into service for a number it’s attracting you to touch it because you have never touched or felt a of wars. Would you say that your history plays a strong role in your work? circle like it. It makes you imagine what a circle is. Ze’ev: My parents only met each other because of World War Two. They both lost their parents in Auschwitz. They left Hungary to escape persecution. And so at the time, everything was in the right place for quote unquote Palestine and the state of Israel to reemerge and to create a place for all the Jews who were looking to escape discrimination. Every year there’s a siren that goes off in Israel in memorial of the Holocaust. When I was a child, my mother would close herself in the apartment and she would cry and I would join her and she would tell me all about everything. So everything that I am is about creating positive vibrations. I am about stressing positivity. What really motivates me is to be a source and a power for good. So that’s what comes out of being the son of Holocaust survivors. CM: Your “Love Knot” piece has been incredibly well received in Woodstock. Everybody loves to sit on it and take pictures with it. What idea were you trying to portray in the “Love Knot”? Ze’ev: I was granted a little bit of money by a man from a company called Markertek, and he asked me “So, what are you going to do, Willy?” And I said that every time that I ask a Saugerties person about coming out to Woodstock for something, they say “Oh, I never go that way”. We have the “I love New York” slogan, so I said to myself, I’m going to make the combination of a heart and a love seat, and I’m going to make two so I can put one in Woodstock and one in Saugerties! I’m going to call it “The Love Knot.” I’m going to make a connection between the two villages and I’m going to invite you to go to either one. The Love Knot is a connection between Saugerties and Woodstock. Each Town has a Love Knot sculpture near its center to symbolize this bond. Page 12 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
CM: Your sculpture “the Book of Life” features a giant magnificent book with no text in the pages. What were you trying to get across with this piece?
Interview
Ze’ev: I’m very distraught by the younger people’s lack of inspiration. If a young person never gets any motivation or inspiration when they’re young, they’ll never get it, so I call this an inspirational piece. It’s an open book, about 30 inches wide by two feet high, with no text on it, and I basically call it “Your life is a blank book, and it’s up to you to fill it.” So it’s about inspiration, and when I’m bringing it to libraries or to schools, maybe it will tickle somebody’s mind and they’ll say, “Oh, look at that.” I’m slowly learning that we all get wiser as we age, little by little. lo and behold, by the time we reach 50 we realize how much wisdom we have accumulated. We don’t do it while we’re young, so maybe I can make a young person realize that his stay here is rather limited and the years go by, especially if you’re busy. If you’re not busy it will go slowly, painfully so. So it’s about creating excitement while you’re still here and leaving something behind and making a mark. This is my mission, so that book will be good even if it inspires one young person.
will get a miniature sample of the sculpture so that they can get a sense of what they’re standing next to. So that’s another motivation for the “Do Touch” series. CM: So you had a sculpture up at the Hudson Music Project. What was the inspiration behind that piece? Ze’ev: That’s a new series that I just embarked on. I wanted to make an interchangeable sculpture. I’m calling it tubular, and I’m using Styrofoam, which allows me to make large pieces that are easy to pick up. It’s all geometrical shapes and it’s white, so it stands out really nicely. I can light it up at night in color and because it’s a tube shape when the light is on, it has a wonderful fade to it because it’s curved on the sides. So I got in contact with the people putting on the festival and sent them pictures, and it was sort of perfect timing, so they used it in the festival and it served wonderfully. It’s 12 feet high, colored up with lights at night time.
CM: Which do you prefer: gallery work, or commuCM: So you have a show at nity work? the NOBO Gallery in HudZe’ev: Well, there’s no son coming up where you’ll preference. I like to appeal be exhibiting your “Do to the idea of going to an Touch” and your “Spears enclosed space and giving Into Art” series. Can you thought to each piece and tell me a little about the noticing all the subtle nuinspiration behind each of ances. But I also love the these series? idea of putting sculptures Ze’ev: Well, Spears into out in the open, because Art is about taking instruI’m not just playing with ments of killing and turnthe sculpture, I’m playing ing them into art, defusing with the environment. I’m them, meaning neutralizing playing with the mounthat. There was a sculptor tains and the houses and in Israel who, after the Yom the streets, so I’m putting Kippur War, obtained hunmy playfulness out there dreds of defunct rifles, and to interact with it all. It’s he created a large sculpture a wonder how much geby welding the rifles togethometry plays a role in our er. In doing that, he neutrallives. It’s everywhere. Every ized the killing aspect. That house is a cube. For me, had a very strong effect on it’s a great topic because me, along with the sentence “Tubular” at the Hudson Music Project in Saugerties. it’s something you already in the bible, “Swords into have a preconceived notion about. plowshares, and their spears into I like to get you to rethink things. pruning hooks.” It’s got a very interesting elongated shape. The othCM: Why did you leave New York er part of the show is an idea I startCity? ed way back which is “Do Touch.” It’s Ze’ev: Six years ago, I realized I wanted made up of sculptures that are meant to die as an artist and I had to fulfill this deto break the fourth law, as I call it, where I sire. I left my life in New York City and came to am allowing you to touch and feel the pieces. In a Saugerties to achieve that. I made it my mission to work gallery, you will see the sign that says “Do not touch,” and so on contributing to art in the region. It’s not extremely profitable, but I in my art in this case, I say, “Please touch” or “Do touch.” It’s about stimulating this sense of feeling and touching that we are all blessed believe that the gift of giving is more rewarding than the gift of getting. with. As human beings, we are the result of touching, the result of Ze’ev Willy Newman’s art really achieves what it sets out to do. It takes interaction, so the idea of touching a piece has a titillating aspect, and a simple, common element like a shape and gets you to see a different I play on that. When many people see a three dimensional piece, the side to it. Ze’ ev has been a major contributor to the art culture and landfirst thing they want to do is touch it, as apposed to a two dimensional scape of the area. I doubt our streets would feel the same without his piece, which they can only look at. It also plays on the notion that sculptures lining them. blind people have the chance of experiencing art. Some museums alFind out more at zwneumann.com low blind people to touch their exhibitions, but most of the time they
I always come back to the same answer, I usually say that “art is a lure”
www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 13
Health
Earth
Elements of
Yoga
Embody the Earth Element with grounding and standing poses to build stability and foundation : Earth - Tree Pose - “Vrikshasana” This posture teaches balance while toning the leg muscles. This is a fun pose with great health benefits which make the pose worth the effort and the opening challenges of falling out of the pose. Improving stability and balance, this pose also helps on a metaphysical level by helping achieve balance in other aspects of life, building selfconfidence and esteem. Getting Into The Pose: Begin in a standing mountain pose with your feet together, toes and ankles touching. Pull your belly towards your spine as you inhale and keep a strong foundation. Bring your hands to your heart in prayer position. Focus your eyes on an object that isn’t moving to establish your balance and then shift your weight onto your left foot and bend your right knee. Place the sole of your foot either on your ankle, above or below the knee, or tucked into your pelvis. Move into the position that works for your body. Hold your gaze, keep your balance, and stretch your arms above your head. Take at least three deep inhales and exhales here or hold for up to a minute or more. Release your leg when you’re ready, shake it out, and repeat on the opposite side.
under the shoulders. Plant your palms firmly onto your mat and spread your fingers wide. Inhale deep as you tuck your toes and lift your hips towards the sky, keeping the knees bent coming into a soft down-dog. Slowly lower your heels and straighten your legs. Lengthen your spine backwards as you lift your tailbone up. Push the top of your thighs back and stretch your heels towards the floor as you melt your shoulders down your back. Release your neck, extend your heart to your thighs. Hold this pose for at least three deep inhales and exhales and then rest in child’s pose with your knees on the floor, your forehead in front of your knees and your hands beside you on the floor.
Embody the Air Element with heart opening and backbends to create space in the heart : Air - Downward Dog - “Adho Mukha Svanasana” This is a pose you’ve probably observed your dog doing several times a day that has many benefits, for dogs and humans. Because of the blood flow increase to the top of the body, this pose can help improve brain function and cognition and also reduce anxiety and depression. It lengthens and straightens the spine which in return helps to relieve pain in the upper, middle, and lower back. Down dog also boosts self-
Air Page 14 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
Embody the Fire Element with twists and tapas-building poses to create transformation. Tapas is the conditioning of the body through proper kinds and amounts of diet, rest, bodily training, meditation, etc., to bring your body to the greatest possible state of creative power :
“From my great soul, to your great soul, Namaste..” Fire - Threading Needle Pose - “Parsva Balasana” This simple posture has many benefits. Allowing more space by opening the upper and outer muscles of your shoulder, it also detoxifies and calms the body with the flight twist. Please be cautious and avoid this pose if you have any shoulder or neck injuries. If you have any hip or back conditions, take care and listen to your body making sure you don’t overdo the twist. Getting Into The Pose: Begin in a neutral tabletop position: hips over your knees, shoulders over your wrists, keeping a flat back. Tuck your toes under your feet and adjust your knees to hip-width distance if necessary. Walk your right hand forward an inch or two in front of your shoulder, then to the outside edge of your mat. Turn your chest up and gaze at toward your right hand as you slowly lower the outer edge of your left arm onto your mat. Allow the left side of your head to rest on the floor. Hold and breathe into any tight spots that you might have and allow any tension in your shoulder to release naturally. Take at least three deep inhales and exhales here. When you’re ready, release back into a neutral table top and repeat on the other side. For a deeper twist, if you comfortably can, cross your free arm over your lower back. Clasp your upper leg with your palm pressed into your quadriceps. Hook your fingers around your inner thighs *If you need to in this pose, feel free to place a blanket underneath your knees or shoulders to offer more support. Embody the Water Element with a subtle hip-opener and belly work to allow fluidity in the body and in emotions :
Photo by Dylan McNamara
confidence and on an emotional level, this pose helps turn everything on its head and helps us see things from a different angle. Getting Into The Pose: Begin on all fours; knees under the hips, wrists
By Fiona Maria, age 19
Health
Fire Water - Goddess Pose - “Supta Badha Konasana” As always, we save the best for last! This is one of my favorite yoga poses because of it’s powerful restorative properties. The Goddess Pose relaxes the mind, body, and spirit. It can help lower blood pressure and helps to relieve fatigue, anxiety, and/or insomnia. When you perform this “asana”, you are gently stretching your groin and inner thigh muscles while opening the chest to allow for deeper breathing. This posture can be performed with any number of prop variations to increase or decrease the intensity. Getting Into The Pose: Sit up straight with your legs together and extended straight out in front of you. Your knees can be slightly bent if that is more comfortable for your body. Keep your back straight and your chin slightly tucked into your chest. Flex your feet and rest your hands on your thighs. Bend your knees and place the soles of your feet flat on your mat. Drop your knees open and press the soles of your feet together. Lean backwards and let your elbows rest on the floor. Slowly lower yourself all the way down, using as many props, pillows, or blankets that you need to. Take deep inhales and exhales here, keeping the chin slightly tucked to further elongate that spine. Make sure your shoulders aren’t rising up towards your ears. Relax
Water your body and let everything go. Allow gravity to do all the work now, never forcing your knees to touch the floor. Hold this posture for at least one minute. Draw your knees in to each other and slowly roll onto your side. Rest your head on your bottom arm and bend the opposite arm, placing the palm on the ground in front of your ribcage. Stay here and relax for two deep breaths. Push the floor away and slowly push yourself up into a comfortable seated position. Press your palms together in front of your heart for prayer position. Bow your head to show that you are humble and have no ego. From my great soul, to your great soul, Namaste. www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 15
Nature
Bee Kind to the
Pollinators
N
Photos by Arthur Eisenberg Photography
By Scarlet Disko, age 17 othing beats the taste of a freshly picked apple or tomato and the delightful sight and scent of the flowers. We all love Earth’s natural gifts, however we are currently facing a serious problem. Due to heavy use of pesticides on lawns and gardens, we are affecting all living things. I recently interviewed Maraleen Manos-Jones, who has a Master’s degree in gardening. She is also the author of The Spirit of Butterflies and created the Pollinator Friendly Towns initiative. She had a lot to say about the drop in the population of pollinators over the past 10 years as toxic pesticides used on plants across the world poison them directly. The pollinators are the butterflies, bees, bats, and birds, and are necessary for our flowers to grow and our food to reproduce. According to Pollinatorfriendlytowns.org, the annual average use of 80 million pounds of pesticides on lawns, is leading to the extinction of 85% of all species, including us humans. In our interview, Maraleen cited an example in the movie, “Wings of Life,” mentioning how a huge, multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art greenhouse was built to automatically grow thousands of tomatoes. The only thing that would pollinate the tomatoes were bumblebees, so entrances had to be made in the expensive greenhouse for the bumblebees to enter and pollinate. Pollination occurs when a bee or butterfly goes from plant to plant picking up and depositing pollen. This redistribution of pollen allows for the fertilization and reproduction of plants. Therefore pollinators play a vital role in managing our food supply and helping things to grow and stay alive. “It’s important that people plant a garden. Gardens have plenty of things that attract bees and butterflies,” states Maraleen. “But, if you use pesticides, you risk killing the bees, the butterflies, and the birds. It can get into the water and the soil, too. Without the pollinators, we chance losing some or all of our favorite foods.” It may be a surprise, Maraleen continued to explain, that individuals use more pesticides per acre than big agriculture, just for their
lawns. She estimates, “half of all our foods will be gone without pollinators.” “Each individual must take responsibility for the little piece of Earth upon which they stand. We all have to become guardians of our planet because our planet gives us everything,” declared Maraleen. Currently its important that people across the world get educated on this topic as it is serious and ultimately affects us. According to Maraleen, towns can vote to become pollinator protectors and go the extra step to planting pollinator friendly gardens in public locations. “If things are going to change, then we all must change. We are all responsible and if we’re not willing to stand up to save our food supply and our water, then what are we willing to stand up and fight for?” questioned Maraleen Manos-Jones, as we finished up our interview on the rising extinction of pollinators. Take the pledge to become a Pollinator Friendly individual and email Maraleen at http://pollinatorfriendlytowns.org/ E-mail: mmjbutterfly@gmail.com
Photos by Dylan McNamara
(Above) Documentary QUEEN OF THE SUN: What Are the Bees Telling Us? is a profound, alternative look at the global bee crisis from Taggart Siegel (Below left) Forrest G.B.Tinney, gloveless and veilless beekeeper on his rooftop apiary. Page 16 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
Nature The Pledge: We the people of the town of {your town here} pledge to protect our pollinators as follows: •We pledge not to use herbicides, pesticides, or fungicides • We pledge to plant milkweed, and/or not cut milkweed, since it is the only plant on which monarch butterflies can lay their eggs and a plant that supports many other species, but not in fields that will be mowed for hay. • We pledge to plant some native flowers, shrubs and/or trees. • We pledge not to plant GMO crops
Beekeeping O
By Forrest Tinney, age 12
ne of my many passions is the honeybee. I have worked with them for about two years now. I spend a lot of my time working with and learning about them. Bees are a vital part of our environment because they pollinate a lot of our flowers, trees, fruits, and vegetables. Beekeeping is a hard thing to do. Aside from lifting 50 to 100 boxes of honey, you have to learn proper techniques. It also requires lots of time and effort, not to mention that you have to make or buy equipment. But the knowledge is the biggest part. On the other hand, if you are successful enough, you can earn back what you put out plus a little profit from the honey and bee products. The only thing is that it takes a while to get to that point. Beekeeping isn’t just about the honey money. It is about the backyard beekeeping community and pollination of the local ecosystem.
Olive Free Library hosts a monthly back yard beekeeping group which meets at the from 6- 8 pm on the 3rd Monday of each month. Forrest is the youngest member.
www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 17
Music
At the Show: The Marco Benevento Interview Marco Benevento is a pianist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer who has been a member of the New York experimental music rock and jazz scene since 1999. Jonah Martindale: What is your career? Marco Benevento: I mainly play piano for a living, and I go on tour a lot. I tour around the country, making a living playing shows, and I also make a little money on the side recording for other people, as well as getting a little bit of TV work/commercial work. Sometimes people use my music for their websites. I get paid that way. Mainly I would just call myself a musician.
By Jonah Martindale, age 16
because I wanted to go for music, and I got in, so I went there. So yeah, somewhere in high school, I just decided to go for it and go to music college. Even going to music school, I didn’t know how it was going to pan out. I knew I wanted to play music, but I didn’t know what it meant to make a living playing music. I mean I didn’t even
JM: Do you primarily just do solo stuff and work with various people, or do you have your own band? MB: I have my own band, which is my primary source of income, and it’s called Marco Benevento. We tour under my own name and I have other various side projects and various things that people call me for throughout the year. JM: Do you have established band members or is that constantly rotating? MB: I have established band members. The bass player in my band played in the band Ween for ten years. His name is Dave Dreiwitz. Ween basically broke up or is taking a hiatus, and I had known Dave from living in New York, and he Marco with some of his young fans at the annual Ashokan Center Summer Hoot in Olivebridge, NY. became more available. It’s not like he was ever that unavailable, actually. Ween didn’t really play that much. Dave basically joined the band four years ago, and the drummer that I play is realize I was a musician until after college. I was like, okay, I’m doing named Andy Border. He has played with Norah Jones and Tom Waits. gigs now, making money every night playing little gigs. I was like okay, Those are the guys I’ve been touring around with for the last five years. I think I’m a musician. I should try to get paid a little more. You know, So my band is not really a revolving cast. All the records that I’ve made 50 dollars a gig isn’t working out so good. I started at the very bottom, are my music with my band. I actually have a new record coming out just playing all the time and slowly building crowds. Then I started going on tour outside the town and then eventually it sort of snowballed in September with those guys. into “I’m a recording musician now, I guess.” Even though I thought I was going to go for it in high school and in college, I didn’t really realJM: Where are you from originally? Where did you grow up? MB: I grew up in New Jersey. I moved around to a few different towns ize until I was in it because there are some [issues]. You really don’t in New Jersey when I was growing up, Little Falls was the first town make a lot of money at all and it’s tricky in the beginning, and it still is and then Wyckoff was one of the other towns, all really close to the tricky, but at least I’m more established right now. But yeah, it was later city, like half an hour. I went to the city a lot when I was a kid, but I on in high school. I had played music all my life and I kind of realized wasn’t a city kid. I was definitely a Jersey suburbs kid. That’s where I in high school that was one of the things I was good at. lived. I would go to the city a lot and see music. In my senior year of high school I had a band that was comprised of all musicians from the JM: How did you end up in Woodstock? city, and they would come out to Jersey and practice, and I would go MB: Well, I lived in Brooklyn for ten years prior to moving to Woodstock, and I got married and had two kids. Amongst all that my music into the city and practice with them. career was still going on and I was constantly on the road and touring JM: How old were you when you knew you wanted to be in the music a lot and recording a lot and what not. We were just getting crammed in our little apartment with all of my musical gear and the two kids, industry and be a musician? MB: I was into a lot of things in high school, sports, tennis, soccer and and we felt it was time to go. We knew we were going to leave the city art even. Then I started jamming a lot with my friends in high school. at some point. We didn’t really have the intention of raising kids in After school, I would also play for parties, play battle of the bands. In the city. We weren’t thinking like that; we were thinking, okay, one sophomore or junior year, I really got into music, and obviously when day we’re going to get out of here and get a house with more space. it came time to look for colleges to go to, I looked at Berklee College Traveling in a van with tons of gear and having tons of gear in your Page 18 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
Music apartment and needing rehearsal space…it’s hard in the city to have all that. Luckily, we were able to move on up to Woodstock, and it’s great. We have tons more room. We love it up here in Woodstock. When I lived in the city, I would come up and play in Woodstock a bunch. I came up and played at Bearsville Theater a couple of times with my own band, and we played Mountain Jam a couple of times before we moved up here. It was definitely a place people knew about in the city. That’s why it was like another community of musicians to go to and continue to stay busy as well. I was attracted a lot to that sort of scene, the fact that there were a lot of musicians in Woodstock doing recordings and what not. JM: I heard you had some of your music on at the Super Bowl. Could you elaborate? MB: Yeah. I basically wrote the song for Toyota’s new Highlander commercial, which aired during the Super Bowl with the Muppets, and there were some other football players involved, but yeah, that was a big check for me this winter. JM: Who are some of your favorite musicians? MB: Paul McCartney and David Bowie and James Murphy, I like a lot of the jazz pianists too. I like Arcadium and Bill Evans and all sorts of different musicians. I got way into jazz at Berklee. I went through a period of time where I was just listening to jazz for hours and hours, so that was a big part of my life. Obviously, growing up, it was more rock oriented. Led Zeppelin was one of my favorite bands in high school, or middle school even. I like all sorts of bands now, like newer stuff, Wilco and My Morning Jacket, and Fleet Foxes and contemporary
A portrait from Benevento’s latest album, entitled “Swift”. It contains his newly released single called “At the Show” also the name of his current USA tour .
rock and roll. But I like the old stuff too, a lot. I like Little Richard a lot, and The Beatles, and Pink Floyd, all sorts of those rock bands. But I definitely had my time of being into jazz and experimental music, even performing lots of music like that in the city too. JM: Anything else of interest that you would like to share? MB: Well, one interesting thing about our band is that we travel with our own piano. I have a small upright piano. Normally, pianos are 88 keys, but this piano has 61 keys so it’s not as long. They made them that small for train cars and bars in the 20’s, and you can find them on craigslist and ebay, but they’re hard to find. Basically, we throw it in the van and we travel with it, but the piano is basically hot rodded with guitar pickups that I put in there that allow me to amplify the acoustic piano through the amps. That’s a pretty unique thing. I haven’t seen many piano bass and drum bands bring their own hot rodded piano like that. Find out more at marcobenevento.com. www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 19
Fiction
Be Here Now! 15th Woodstock Film Fest By Caleb McNamara, age 22
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he Woodstock Film Festival has played a very influential part in the community since it began in 2000. The WFF is highly regarded as a truly independent film festival, and it has gained much popularity over the years, attracting big name filmmakers and actors like Steve Buscemi and Paul Rudd. Every year the festival screens a variety of engaging and inspiring films, and it hosts concerts, workshops, celebrityled panels, parties, and a big award ceremony. I got to sit down with one of the co-founders of the festival, Miera Blaustein, to talk a little about the festival. Caleb McNamara: So, how long has the festival been running? Meira Blaustein: It’s our 15th year, since 2000.
Photo by Pico Aulicino
Me: What’s your background in film? MB: Well, I’m not young, so I have a very long background in film. I went to school in both San Francisco and New York, and I began making films and working in television and film. Eventually, I moved on to film festivals and worked for what used to be the Hudson Valley Film Festival. The Hudson Valley Film festival went defunct in 1999. Then I worked another festival called the Nerrisberg Film Festival, which also went defunct. Neither of those went de- Executive Director Meira Blaustein in front of the Woodstock Film Festival headquarters / ticket office near funct because of me [laughs], and I left the center of Woodstock. both before they went defunct. Then I co-founded the Woodstock Film Festival and started working on it in interested in it on a scholarly level, but I’m also interested in it in terms 1999. First it was going to be the New Paltz Film Festival, but things of activism. Of course, there’s a really big cut throat component to the got complicated and it fell through there, so we moved the whole idea festival, so that’s really engaging and exciting. That’s not to belittle the fact that it’s an enormous amount of work and it’s a huge responsibility to Woodstock, where it was embraced. and a lot is on my shoulders and I feel the pressure constantly. It’s not an easy thing to do, you have to be able to come up with new ideas CM: What’s the most rewarding part of co-running the festival? MB: There are a number of rewarding things. One of them is to just all the time and figure out how to do things. There’s no textbook for to work with all the young people. It’s wonderful to work with the that, so it’s a very thoughtful process, which is good. It keeps my brain filmmakers. It’s very inspiring and exciting. But it’s also really great working, but it’s also hard. But I love watching all the films and it’s to work with all the interns and young staff and volunteers. With all all very interesting and it certainly expands my mind constantly. And of that there is a sense of mentorship and it also just keeps me young, another thing that I really like is that you have to keep up with the working with all these young people. I’m really working with a lot of technological advancements. You have to be ahead of the game and young people from the community. Also, [I enjoy] just being connect- know what’s running down the pike, because you want the festival to ed to and exposed to so many different film-making aspects and what be on the cutting edge. So I find it to be very interesting. Aside from you can do with film and how far you can take it. I’m so interested the technological advancements, you have to stay current with new in how far you can push the envelope with filmmaking, and I’m also types of ideas, so that’s another thing that really keeps me going... And really interested in the impact the film is making, specifically socially, another thing is that I get to travel, and I love to travel, so it’s great. politically, and experimentally. I’m very, very interested in that. I’m Page 20 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
Cover Story CM: Well, speaking of technology, have you noticed a big change in the ways and methods people are making movies now days? MB: Absolutely, I mean things are changing daily. There’s a lot of the things that everybody knows about: the new content of television and the web which have really changed the make up of visual storytelling completely. For instance, there is a film in the festival we’re showing that was shot for 40,000 dollars. A lot of it is adlibbed. You couldn’t possibly do that if you had a few million dollars to put into it, you would really have to stick to the script. But when you have such a low budget you can have this kind of a freedom and you can do those low budget films because technology allows you to have really great equipment and shoot it really well and make it look good even if you have very little money. Also, the explosion on the web with the web series, all the other visual content on the web, have really opened up the way people approach visual storytelling. There are a lot of independent filmmakers that are really into television and the web because it affords them new freedoms and more continuity. We have a panel at the festival that actually discusses writing for 120 minutes versus 12 hours. When you have this much time for storytelling, it’s a very different approach, so you think about it differently and write it differently. Then the audience experiences it differently. Now with all those series on the web, whether it’s House of Cards or Orange Is the New Black, any of those…. there are so many, and of course there are much smaller ones. The whole approach is very different. Of course, you still need good actors and writers, the basics always stay the same. Technology affords you freedom, but if you don’t have the talent and the vision and the stories to tell, no technology is going to make it good. Same thing with when you’re a painter. You have to have the basics and you have to have the talent and then you can do whatever you want with it, but without that basic knowledge and talent, it’s not going to be good. The same thing applies to film.
ceremony. So there’s a lot going on. CM: So in addition to being able to volunteer and work the festival, kids can also submit films to the festival? MB: It’s one of my favorite parts, and we really care a lot about youth education and youth empowerment. We have what we call “youth initiative,” and it’s part of that. We have a career day at Onteora every year, where industry people come to talk to students all day long. Then it’s followed by the youth screenings, and the films come from all over, including from right here in our area, and they’re really interesting. They’re usually short and they’re always very well attended. It fills up very fast, and a lot of the youth stay afterwards to answer questions about the films. It’s very exciting for them, and it’s very empowering for them to be a part of the whole film festival. We love that because we love encouraging them to become filmmakers.
We really care CM: What are some of the more anticipated films being shown this year? Or is that still under wraps? a lot about youth MB: Yeah, I can’t really talk about that. is one film that we have released education and youth There information about called A Little White Lie. It’s by a girl who grew up in Woodstock, and she was an African empowerment we have American girl who grew up with a white mother, not her biological mother, and what we call “youth all her life she was told she was white and her dark skin dark was because of something that had happened with her biological initiative” parents. It wasn’t until college that she realized
that she wasn’t white, so it’s obviously a lot about race and identity and family, and it’s a pretty amazing film. There was a big story about it in the New York Times. The family still lives here, and the girl grew up here, so that’s really part of Woodstock history.
CM: What are some of the unique positive aspects of the WFF in comparison to other film festivals? MB: Well, Woodstock is cool. The cool factor CM: Have you noticed an increase in film prois definitely high. We’re a little smaller in size, a duction in the Hudson Valley since you started little more intimate, and we’re very casual, but putting on the festival? we are also very high quality, seriously good MB: Yeah! Night and day. There is a lot now, films, great people, great programming. So, when once there was none. When the festival this combination of the easy and also the very came to the area, there was no film production strong and good is actually very rare. I mean, and hardly any film people living here, and if Sundance is great, but it’s certainly not a very they were living here they didn’t know each otheasygoing festival, and here it’s more sort of er. Now, 15 years later, there’s all kinds of film chill, and everyone’s so friendly and nice. The production being done here every year, from filmmakers always tell me that they get the student films to Hollywood films, from combest Q and A’s at the Woodstock Film Festival mercials to television production of all sorts. It because everyone’s always very engaged and all really just exploded, and the sky’s the limit. interested, and so they ask the engaging types More and more people are moving here who of questions that the filmmakers love. The filmwork in that arena, in all aspects, from producmakers also get to experience the community tion to post production, so all of a sudden this of Woodstock, and the community here is such has become the independent center of film of Director Darren Aronofan interesting community, so many artists and the east coast. Who would have thought? There sky is slated to receive the thinkers. So that’s another thing that’s very was really literally nothing... So I think the festiMaverick Award this year. unique. And we have the focus on music, which val has been a huge driving force for that. adds a lot of fun to the festival. CM: So I understand the festival offers other activities besides screening the films, like panel discussions and live music. Can you tell me a 13 Rock City Rd, Woodstock, NY . phone:(845) 679-4265 http://www. little more about those? woodstockfilmfestival.com. If you are interested in volunteering : http:// MB: Yeah, we have concerts, we have live performances, we have www.woodstockfilmfestival.com/volunteers.php panels, we have workshops, we have parties, and there’s an award www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 21
Woodstock
Youth Films: Avarus
Directed by Dante DeSario
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VARUS, (Latin for greed) looks at the economic difficulties of a high school kid finding his place in the social scene of New York City. Surrounded by extremely wealthy peers, Dante, the protagonist, and his friend start illegally selling candy at their private school. Conflicted between keeping up with the wealthy kids and compromising his own morals, Dante must choose what’s truly most important in his high school life. Fundamentally, AVARUS challenges an assumption in contemporary society’s growing socioeconomic divide: that money is equivalent to happiness.
Look on the Website woodstockfilmfestival.com for the schedule of the Woodstock Film Festival Youth Film Shorts. WFF also offers youth education, workshops and seminars as well as growth opportunities. For tickets, go to 13 Rock City Road, Woodstock (845) 679-4265 or (845) 810-0131. Page 22 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
Youth Films: The Adults
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Directed by Jack Fessenden
y first two films were created in a very run and gun style, featuring kids I knew well in the main roles. For this film, I decided to make a change and try to shoot in a more controlled environment using adult actors. This was the basic idea behind ‘The Adults’. I also wanted to continue to collaborate with Alex Hoffman, the co-writer and costar of Riding Shotgun (my first film). Although I wrote the script, Alex and I came up with the concept and acted together. Because ‘The Adults’ was shot in one location, we were able to schedule the shoot for three concentrated 12 hour days. This allowed us to rent a nicer camera to get the look I wanted. The jazzy score was also difficult because it’s not really my area of music, but it turned out better than I could ever have imagined. All in all, ‘The Adults’ is my first effort at a true comedy, although my other work has hints here and there, as well as a new challenge in directing actors, while still sticking to my recurring theme of friendship. www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 23
Kate’s Lazy Meadow
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By Scarlet Disko, age 17
peaking on the phone with motel owners Kate Pierson and Monica Coleman, I was able to imagine the brilliant scene they’ve created over the years in upstate New York: Kate’s Lazy Meadow. The motel sounds like a dream come true as every little piece of it is decorated to fit the 60s/mid-century lifestyle. Being a member of the B-52s since 1976, Pierson had a vision to create something that encompasses Love Shack...and I am fairly certain that she went above and beyond.
SD: Describe the position you were at in your music career when you found the motel. KP: It was the early 2000s so we had been doing a lot of touring. We were kind of in a lull at the time as we were writing a new album.
Photos by Dylan McNamara
Scarlet Disko: What drew you into owning a motel in upstate New York? Did you find the motel or did it find you? Kate Pierson: It wasn’t really a plan, it was spontaneous. I was driving down the road when I saw a for-sale sign and decided to go look at the land. It was a beautiful piece of land on the Esopus creek. The motel was built in 1952, so I thought it’d be easy and so much fun to design and rebuild off the rooms that were there. Monica Coleman: The not fun part was doing the renovations. The place was pretty run down. There was an endless list of things that needed to be fixed such as water lines, rusty roofs, etc. It took us about two years to fully renovate the whole property. We did it one building at a time as we’d open one part to the public through word of mouth, make a little money, and begin work on the next section. KP: One of the main motivations was that I had stayed in thousands of hotels on tour with the B-52s, and wanted to create a place that was really warm, welcoming, and unique—not some typical cookie-cutter place. Not to mention I had collected all this stuff from different antique stores and places along the road and I’d finally found a way to put it all to use.
Kate Pierson acheived fame with The B-52s, and is completing a solo album.
Monica was in charge of taking care of and overseeing renovations since I had touring and band things to also focus on. We’ve been touring all these years and are still together. I find myself more dedicated to the music as Monica is there to take care of business with the motel. Either way I am always thrilled to see the rooms as it feels we are accomplishing something good. SD: What influence does your music career have on your new path as owners of Kate’s Lazy Meadow? Are there parts you like more or less of either? KP: Being in the band is my first priority. I recently finished a solo record that’s coming out in January. Owning Kate’s Lazy Meadow has brought Monica and me closer as we are always together making decisions and taking care of the hotel. She keeps it all together as I’m gone a lot. MC: When Kate is away, she’ll send a box back of things she finds on the road to put in the hotel, so she really is thinking of the hotel all the time. I think Kate’s Lazy Meadow has truly become a representation of the band and the era...Its kind of a love shack, really. SD: How do you like living in upstate New York vs. NYC? KP: I love it. Both of us feel that when we go into the city for a day or two we are always happy to be home. Though the city is fun for a bit, we love the country lifestyle too much to stay away for long. SD: Reading reviews about your motel increases my curiosity and my amazement as I read that cell phones don’t work in the area. Was that on purpose? KP: We are in a remote enough area that it doesn’t pay for the cellphone companies to put a cell-tower in. The Woodstock area is very healthconscious and environmentally progressive. They’ve resisted putting towers in because of people’s reactions. There is one near Woodstock, but it’s iffy. People are very conscious of technological issues as they are aware of how things like cell-towers can affect your brain. MC: Plus, it makes for a wonderful escape/getaway for people who come to stay.
The retro look of mid-century modern gives the motel much of its flavor. Page 24 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
SD: How has it been to maintain the vintage atmosphere you created over the years? Do people get it?
Theme Hotels KP: Yeah, people love it. There are a lot of personal touches on the hotel, its very much like our personal extended guest house as we live about 20 minutes away. We picked out every little thing and placed it how we want it. MC: Some people do mistake the rustic-mid-century cabins for needing to be updated as most of what’s in them looks conditioned for that era; however it’s all the same just refurbished. Each room is totally individual, and I think people enjoy that as its fun to try different rooms each time you stay. SD: What is your favorite thing about running the motel? KP: It’s a really good feeling to share what we love about where we live with other people. I think it’s the ability to share something that is simplest in our hearts and being able to have people experience what we love that makes running the hotel so great. MC: When people, like our friends, stay here they are blown away.
“The motel sounds like a dream come true as every little piece of it is decorated to fit the 60s/mid-century lifestyle.” They love the rooms and ‘ooh and ahh’ at everything. It is gratifying to see people loving the rooms as much as we love them. SD: What are some things you enjoy doing in upstate New York that you’d recommend to guests? KP: Mainly people come up and just want to enjoy the environment. They want to chill out, enjoy the creek, cook and play board games. I recommend eating at restaurants such as Peekamoose, Cha Cha Hut, and for vegetarians/vegans the Garden Cafe. There are lots of music events in Woodstock and a fun film festival in September. But, the main thing is just getting out in nature. In the winter there is skiing, in the summer there is hiking, tubing, etc. Fall is the key season to visit as the leaves make everything so beautiful. Out of my own curiosity and in honor of the 45th anniversary, where were you two during Woodstock 1969? MC: I was 4, so I was probably home coloring. KP: I was in Seattle working as a waitress at the Space Needle. Find out more at lazymeadow.com (845) 688-7200. www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 25
Hotel Dylan
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hat prime real estate location on Route 28 may have been vacant for years now, but it’s safe to say that the times, they are a-changin’. As of early summer 2014, the artsy and nostalgia-provoking Hotel Dylan opened its doors to the public. Owned by long-time resident and Onteora alum Paul Covello, the Hotel Dylan is a tribute to the hippie generation here in Woodstock in the ‘60s. With the help of former HGTV stars, Courtney and Robert Novogratz, Covello transformed the abandoned space into a time machine back into 1969. With each room named after a Woodstock legend, the hotel reminds visitors of the remarkable history of our local area.
Ribbon-cutting ceremony with owner Paul Covello and his family. Famed rock ‘n roll photographer Elliot Landy is pictured on the far right. Page 26 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
By Audrey Malloy, age 20
Although Covello lives in New York City and has seen his fair share of the world, he continually returns to his weekend home. “I grew up here, I’ve been everywhere, and [Woodstock] is still my favorite place.” With his weekend home just a mile away from the Hotel Dylan, Covello drove by the empty lot nearly every day. Finally, he decided enough was enough, and began the Dylan as a fun project for himself and the community.
“Experience the art and music that so famously took place in our area years ago. “ “Fun,” however, would be an understatement when describing the Hotel Dylan. The Novogratzs implemented the ideal neo-hippie aesthetic in each and every room of the hotel. Room names include namesake tributes such as “The Janis,” “The Levon,” “The Band,” and scenes from the music festival, such as “The City” and “The Roadies.” Along with ‘60s décor and a suiting name, what really makes each room special are the legendary Elliot Landy photographs. Landy, one of the most renowned photographers of the ‘60s, is known for his landmark photographs of Woodstock musicians, Bob Dylan in particular. The photos add a genuine touch to commemorate the importance and influence of the local area. Covello includes other local themes, such as Lucky Chocolates of Saugerties on each room’s bed. He tries to promote all that the Catskill Mountains and Hudson Valley has the offer,
Theme Hotels
(Top) Architects Robert and Cortney Novogratz, of the reality show “Home by Novogratz” create totally original spaces based on their funky, downtown aesthetic. (Bottom) A fun stay is guaranteed in one of the 11 rooms...each a tribute to a Woodstock ‘60s rock ‘n roll legend.
and aims to be the hotel that “locals recommend to friends and family to stay in and explore Woodstock.” While the Hotel Dylan has only been open since June, it has already appeared in the New York Post and received raving reviews. Covello emphasizes that unlike other businesses, it is not in competition with nearby hotels, rather it is a collaborative effort to expose people to all that Woodstock has to offer. Although the Hotel Dylan currently only has rooms to rent, a restaurant is on the way and a spa will be opening in January 2015. Covello hopes to provide a way for people to experience the art and music that so famously took place in our area years ago. While Woodstock has plenty of head shops and T-shirt stores exploiting the bohemian vibes left from the ‘60s, don’t think twice, it’s all right – the Hotel Dylan is the real deal, and truly honors the incredible and historical area we all call home. Find out more at thehoteldylan.com (845) 210-6368 www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 27
Fiction
Free Hugs Reprise Quick recap from the last part of this story, published in 2012:
“O
kay, just stand here. We’ll be in that café over there, watching in case you get bombarded by girls so we can laugh,” chuckled his friend, pointing to the café she and everyone else would be waiting in. “With your ‘apparent good looks,’ I’m sure you’ll be ‘dead’ in no time. Good luck!” Why was he doing this again? Oh yeah, that’s right, he had lost a bet at that party yesterday. He sighed as he held up the “free hugs” sign, trying to ignore a group of giggling high school girls coming his way. After giving many hugs, he noticed a girl walking towards him. Except this girl was different from the usual giggling girls that came up to him. She wore a frown and had dazed, unfocused eyes. The girl stopped and stood in front of him, not looking up at him. Before he even knew what he was doing, he opened his arms out for her, much to his surprise. The girl stared at his open arms for a minute, before running into them and hiding her face in his chest. Her arms wrapped around his waist and her fists balled up in his shirt. She sniffed, and raised her head, looking up at him curiously. Realizing how awkward the situation must be for him, she let go, blushing. “Uh… sorry, about that!” she said, wiping her eyes. “This is so embarrassing.” He just stared at her like a gaping fish, not sure what to do. Noticing his own staring, he shook his head, “Um… it’s okay. Obviously, you’re sad about something. And my mom used to always say hugs are the best kind of medicine, and considering the sign I was holding…”
Page 28 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
frosty treat in her mouth before he could do anything about it. “As if that’s valid proof of anything! And get your own spoon! Now mine’s full of your saliva!” he scowled, wrinkling his nose when she oh-so-politely dug the spoon back into the remaining ice cream. “That’s nasty.” She rolled her eyes at him, “Oh, get over it. It’s just a couple of misplaced germs, and it’s not like we haven’t shared utensils before… or shared a kiss for that matter,” she said, smirking one “those” smirks. She poked him in the cheek and laughed when he swatted at her hand. “Eh, whatever,” was his lame reply. The two simply sat on the couch in the living room of their studio apartment, watching classics to pass the time as they poked and prodded at each other, either physically or verbally. One would think a couple of college students would have gotten past the stage of acting like two high school students, but then again, that was the irony of it all. As was everything about their relationship; nothing really made sense once you really thought about it. The only reason they had met was because of a bet, and a very “hipster-like” bet at that. And everything just evolved from there. Boy meets girl, boy befriends girl, boy and girl start dating without realizing it… wait, what? To make a long story short, after their fateful little encounter, they had ended up hitting it off and just constantly spending time together in a nice platonic relationship. Eventually, their relationship began developing more romantic connotations. Everyone assumed they were an item, and to be honest, they casually left it at that. There was never a declaration or confession of any sort. There was just a mutual understanding. Whatever that understanding was, the world may never know. Thus, the two were technically dating… it wasn’t like they had to be vocal about it anyway. Whoever said an “I love you” was necessary anyways? They spoke through actions, and that was good enough. He gave a hug, and she accepted it. Simple. “By the way, apparently if I lose another bet, I have to do a ‘Free kisses’ sign,” he sighed. “Not that I would make a bet again to begin with.” He lifted his feet from the hard wood flooring and rested them on the coffee table. She scowled, smacking his leg, “Hey, get your feet off the coffee table, you bozo.” Oh, that was another thing about their relationship. Bickering was a main component, but it was never about anything serious. “No can do,” he smirked, wiggling his toes for effect. “If you want my feet off, you gotta take ‘em off yourself.” Not giving up on a challenge, she grinned evilly. He always told her he wasn’t ticklish, but she knew that the bottoms of his
Photos by Dylan McNamara
A year and a half later: “Can I get a free hug?” she teased, stealing a bite of his ice cream. He smacked her hand away, sending her a warning glare to keep her paws to herself. “You’re still going on about that? That was more than a year ago.” She stuck her tongue out and battled with his defending arms to grab another spoon of his chocolate fudge ice cream. “I’ll never let you live it down, buddy. Now give your wonderful, generous significant other some of your ice cream!” “Wonderful? Generous? You wouldn’t even give me a fry the last time we ate out even though you ordered the large fries and I was the one dishing out the cash.” “Not my fault that social norms call for the male of the relationship to pay for the food. You ever wondered why the males of animal species are the ones who hunt?” she smirked, successfully taking a huge chunk out of his ice cream and sticking the
By Mimi Ngo, age 17
“I’ll never let you live it down, buddy. Now give your wonderful, generous significant other some of your ice cream!” feet were extra sensitive to teasing when you scratch, yet your fingers barely graze the skin. Doing what she did best, she grabbed one of his feet and fulfilled her torture. He wouldn’t give in to laughing because his pride was too strong, but the side of his mouth quirked upwards while his hands balled into fists. He took his other foot down and tried to yank his victimized foot away, but alas, she held it hostage in her grasp. “I’ll let your foot go if I get a free kiss,” she grinned as he narrowed his eyes at his sly little companion. Giving in –he could only put up with the tickling sensation for so long--he gave her a quick peck on the lips. “There, I have copyrighted your kisses, and anyone who infringes on my copyright shall pay the price,” she declared, claiming her property while he rolled his eyes. What was that about a dysfunctional relationship? Ah, right, they weren’t exactly “loveydovey” despite their acknowledgement of social norms. They did not view each other as chattel despite the copyright tease, and didn’t label each other with roles either. There was no “boyfriend” or “girlfriend.” There was just a mutual understanding between two smitten young adults. Nothing special. www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 29
Poetry
And She Is Beautiful
By Hannah Corwin, age 18
If there was a person A person in a cloud of non-corporeal color The person Would smile to beckon the sun’s reaction And the sun would smile I stand there With my heart throbbing nervously in my feet Or sitting warmly and achingly in my chest Like a rouge chair pushed through the sunlight I stand there
The person is not perfect
The contrasting hand flutters
Or they are
The fingers are warm and rough and snug
I silently let ideas clash; opinions; dunked in tea
Eyes wade on each other for some moment
And chewed halfway, as if a vanilla cookie
Chocolate meets salt water taffy
But hell, is it interesting. I decide then that I don’t force comfort for Anyone but The cloud of non-corporeal color. I reach out
Smiling or reaching, as if to a song Where my true grace usually lies Except there is a face And it has life The sun and the moon have kissed it English tea The eyes crinkle, with just a bit of nose there following I have this Drawing Only partially sketched on one of these pages
Photo by Dylan McNamara
An eye, frozen in youth, never drawn like that before
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And that’s it And I feel as if I am a human looked upon And suddenly I mean something.
Poetry
Hues
g
By Dane Bundschuh, age 16
Hues of orange and deep purple
nt
intermingle across my field of vision. Hazy and blurred, I drown myself in crackling bonfire,
n
warm, incandescent, giving infinite gifts, a beacon of purity. Photo by Chloe Rovitz
I stare at ceiling tiles, the smell of lavender gently caresses my nose, I am a stranger in a foreign house, Yet I have never been more at home.
Downtown Chinatown! By Sebastian Bonnard, age 10
Walking with my friends down the alleys, So many different sights and smells. I have never seen so many spices, Five spice powder, ginger, cinnamon, my nose is exploding from all these smells. I have never smelled so many teas.
Packaged up in boxes, Green tea, Black tea, Oolong tea, Yellow tea. Everything is new to me. The peculiar vegetables wiggle at me! They are so spiky, they are so fuzzy! The smelly crabs crawl inside their tanks like prisoners banging to get out of their cells. The sun bathing salmon are smiling at me. Chinatown really is the place to be!
Poem from a book of 30 poems channeled from Uka the wolf spirit
Run
By Miriam John, age 12
Photo by Eden O’Clair
Running is to feel. Running is to know. Running is to dash over the hillside covered in cool, to chase the rock that never moves, yet is part of Run. Chasing, running, this is play! “I’m sweaty, I’m TIRED!” say humans after they run. They don’t know how to run. But I run. Paws fast, after Rabbit, or Bird, or Fox! Sometimes after the sky, or the clouds that sweep along the world, or sometimes I don’t know what after, I just run, because it’s what I am.
www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 31
Art
The Art of Asa Spurlock, age 16
I
love to draw. Drawing is such a pure medium, with no room for luck; a true testimony of how much time you have put into it. From studying Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo’s books of sketches, I got a solid understanding of the most important elements of art. Yet, I still struggle to convey more—the emotions between the contours.
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Music & Art
“That Look” Project Identity When I’m talking about the one thing that makes me happiest - creating and playing music - I glow. However, I have recently grown to hate when people ask me, “What college do you want to go to?” because whenever I say, “I want to play guitar and sing in a band! I don’t want to go to college. It’s not for me,” I always get that skeptical look that brings me down. People’s lips will twitch into an amused smirk, which they try to force away, but I still can tell that they’re thinking,”Yeah right, like that’s gonna happen.” That look tears away my confidence. I remember my guidance counselor looking over his glasses, and asking me the dreaded question, “What do you want to do with yourself when you graduate?” I smiled and told him the truth, “I want to be in a punk rock band.” I felt proud of my answer and the originality of my career choice. He laughed a bit, giving me that wide amused smile. I was confused as to why he was laughing, until he finally looked at me, smiled with amusement and said, “Don’t we all?” He resumed filling out my high school schedule, not giving me a say in the classes that I wanted to take for my particular future. Instead of feeling proud of my career choice, I now felt ashamed. He took away the excitement of my future and replaced it with embarrassment. Now I feel forced to lie about my future
By McKinley Bernitt, age 14 and tell people I have no idea what I want to do because I feel like people automatically lose respect for me when I say I want to be in a band. There’s another pressure hindering my dream: people who tell me what to play more or less of. A man cringed at me, and told me that I “should expand what music I play, because no one knew what I was playing so I wouldn’t gain any listeners.” That hurt a lot. It made me feel awful about myself, and doubt the possibilities of ever making it anywhere with my music. But then I realized the only reason he said that was because he didn’t know any of the lyrics to the songs I played, and couldn’t sing along. The music was new to him, and maybe he should take his own advice and expand his music pallet and not be so judgmental or close-minded about new music. I want people to open their eyes and to realize that they shouldn’t criticize people on what makes them happy, or telling them that doing something they love is wrong, simply because it’s not their cup of tea. I’m just looking for some respect. For people to smile and feel happy for me and every artist and musician out there, when they make accomplishments in their lives.The world could be a better place if we just love others for who they chose to be.
Music & Art
By Kayla Matthews, age 14
M
y name is Kayla and I am 14 years old. I meet with a group called “Project: Identity (Inspiring Teen Expression Through Creative Arts)” which is sponsored by Bethel Woods. I enjoy playing lead guitar for my band, Oh Sweet Catastrophe, and drawing. Since I am 14 I get asked the big question of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and I tend to get a lot of strange looks when I tell people I want to be a musician or a tattoo artist. I have a strong passion for guitar and drawing, so when people look down on me for it, it tends to be a little discouraging. Recently I went to see my guidance counselor at my new school to get registered for school and to choose my classes for my freshman year. We were going through and choosing classes for me for this upcoming school year and talking about college and all this other overwhelming stuff that I shouldn’t be thinking about at 8:30 in the morning, right before work. Then he asked me, “So Kayla, what do you think you want to be when you grow up?” Still half asleep I replied with tattoo artist or a musician. He raised an eyebrow at me and said, “That’s an interesting selection,” and continued writing down my soon-to-be-schedule. But regardless of what people say, both careers are something I want to pursue eventually. www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 33
Opinion
Follow the Money
E
By Maxwell Storms, age 22
very day more people are waking up to the rank stench of a love affair between hysteria, media, and corporate interests. A handful of companies have exploited American democracy and molded it into a profit opportunity. With inequality at record highs it is apparent our democracy has been hijacked by corporate interests at the expense of the majority of the population. History has proven that greed has either been the fuel for dismantling governments or maintaining status quos. With media, greed can manipulate the public as it pleases and phaseout the legitimacy of those who truly seek to serve the people as a result of media’s pay to play structure.
Phoo by Dylan McNamara
Money pays media to sponsor hysteria, which creates the illusion of issues, ultimately culminating in an atmosphere of fear the media know hysteria gets high ratings and this incentive contributes to media’s skewed slants on reality. Once this cornerstone of democracy is broken there are a few ways order and harmony can be restored: A. by peaceful revolution, or B. by people learning to think critically about issues affecting them and creating a political outlet compatible with American democracy with which to publicate grievances and vote. A populace under the illusion of democracy is inclined to believe their politicians are in place to serve them. Greed rewards politicians to do its bidding and threatens them with media onslaught if they misbehave. Those who claim to protect us have a vested interest in creating issues for us simply as exercises in public relations. I’m optimistic. Greed falters to the type of men who create states based on liberty and freedom, not assets and figures. Greed fails when good people see through the smoke and mirrors and rise up in any way they can or know how to. Democracy triumphs once transparency and honesty become the law of the land and governments. It’s all of our responsibilities to decide what side of the curve we want our generation to end up on. Page 34 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
Awareness
I
Teen Awareness By Mikey Shultis, age 18
have been a part of the Awareness program since I was in fifth grade. The program began in response to a death that occurred on prom night caused by a drunk driving incident in my hometown. Ever since, the program has been dedicated to showing kids that fun can be had without drugs or alcohol, a sentiment I hold very dear. In a society with an ever-increasing value for partying, it has been very important to me to try and show kids that they don’t have to party to be cool, and can have fun sober. Even though there is constant pressure to sacrifice sobriety everywhere I look, I’ve made it a personal point never to fall in line with all of the others. In do-
“I’ve made it a personal point never to fall in line with all the others” ing this I hope to be a role model for at least one kid, and hopefully change his or her life for the better. Awareness currently meets with youth in Kingston and New Paltz who have fallen into addiction, live unhealthy lifestyles, or just want to keep clean. People who walked through the door as addicts are now walking out as culinary chefs, managers of catering companies, and owners of nursing degrees. All of this made possible because they were provided a place where they could look into themselves and find the motivation they needed to get clean and set some goals. Before coming to the group, some would just spend all day smoking marijuana and were perfectly fine with that, because they were high all of the time. This changed at the meetings because they were required to set a goal that they were to complete before the next meeting. This ranged from cleaning out their cars all the way to cutting down on the amount they smoked. Eventually the short-term turned into long-term, allowing these youth to break out of the cycle they found themselves in. More often than not these people return to the program after they fulfilled their requirements because they enjoyed the meetings so much and want to help people who are going through the same things they did. This just multiplies the effectiveness of the program because these new kids get to see success stories in the flesh, and can accept these people as a sort of mentor to draw inspiration from to motivate themselves. In this way Awareness is reversing the cycle we have seen develop in these youth, and is helping more and more of them by the day. As it stands there are still many kids not getting this help they need, but as they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. www.awarenessinc.org www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 35
Books
Phoenicia Library Reopening
The Phoenicia Library, suffered great loss in 2011 from a fire that gutted the building. After years of waiting they will soon get to move back into their origional location. Construction on the new library at 48 Main Street should be complete around late October or early November, with an accessibility ramp, community room, children’s area, and more. With donations, the library raised money to move back, but not without gratitude for the temporary building at 9 Ava Maria Drive. Everyone in Phoenicia is excited, says the library’s Board of Directors, the convenience of the central location and it’s open floor plan design will work much better and everything is updated. In other news at the Phoenicia Library, a plaque will be added to celebrate the life of local Tom Alba. For more information about the library’s move, or to donate to their fund, visit phoenicialibrary.org. —Shannon Meyers, 20.
Library Gardiner Library: 133 Farmers Turnpike Tue: 9:30-1045 & Wed: 1:30-2:30 Story, Th: 5-6 Group Guitar Th: 5-7 Teen Tech Tutors Th: 7-8:30 Knitters 845-255-1255 or gardnerlibrary.org Kingston Library: 55 Franklin St. Mon: 4-5 Bookmaking club Tues: , 10:30 Toddler Story hour Wed: 10:30 Story Hour Thur: 3:30-5 Teen Art Club Call 845-331-0507 x7 or kingstonlibrary.org New Paltz Elting Memorial Library: 93 Main St. : Mon 6:30 pm Chess. Wed 4:00 Knitting kids Fri 6:30-7:30 Movies call 845-255-5030 or eltinglibrary.org Olive Free Library: 4033 Rt 28 Shokan Mon: 5-6 4-H Girls,Tues: 10-11 Story Hour. Activities for children, teens call 845-657-2482 or olivefreelibrary.org Phoenicia Library: 9 Ava Maria dr. Mon 3-5 Homework help, Sat: 10:30-12:00 Event programs, Sat 1-2:30 Art hour. call 845-6887811/ or phonecialibrary.org Page 36 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
Ze’ev Neumann with his sculpture you to write it” in the Saugerties
“Your life High Scho
Books
Battle of the Books
T
By Kyiah Giannelli
he Battle of the Books is a county-wide library competition featuring all libraries that want to participate. Each library forms a team and picks dates to have team meets. Each member of each team is required to read 8 books over the summer and compete at the end of the summer in a team competition. Each year there is a different theme, 2013 being racism and 2014 being fantasy. The 8 books are carefully selected to complement the theme and compel the reader. Some of the books that have been chosen include the two time award winner: Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos and the award winning title, Emerald Atlas by John Stephens. In the competition there are two brackets: the winner’s bracket and the loser’s bracket. The rounds are set up so there are two teams. The judges ask questions about the books and whichever team buzzes in first has to give the correct title of the book and author’s name. If a team answers incorrectly the other team has a chance to answer it correctly. Whichever team cor-rectly answers 21 questions first wins the match. When a team member buzzes in they get 10 seconds to convene with their team to decide the an-swer. When a team loses one match they go to the loser’s bracket. If they lose again in that bracket they are out of the competition. The winners of both brackets move on to the finals and compete to be the overall winning team. The winning team takes home a trophy for their library to display. Joining The Battle of the Books is free of charge: all you have to do is show up to the informational meeting or come to one of the team meets. To find out the dates of meetings contact one of your library’s staff. The li-brary-wide competition is held on a different date every year. The Battle of the Books starts in the beginning of the summer and ends early September. I highly recommend doing it for next year!
Bulle
This journal is dedicated to the memory of Tom Alba and friends
culpture ugerties
Calendar Poughkeepsie Library: 504 Haight Av.Teen Room Open: Mon/ Tue2-6, W/Th 2-8 Fri/Sat 2-5. Reading Buddy Program. 845-4549308 or poklib.org Rosendale Library: 264 Main st Wed evening events 7:00. sept 14 Freedom Gardner Horticulture, Oct 17 The American Crow, Nov 14 Climate Change at Mohonk. 845-658-9013 or rosendalelibrary. org Saugerties Library: 91 Washington Ave. Mon: 6:30-7:30 Lego Club, Tue & Wed 3:304:30 Teen Club (video & crafts). call 845246-4317 Ann Van Damm Stone Ridge Library: 3700 Main st. Sat: 1012 Knitters, Film Fridays call 845-687-7023 or stoneridgelibrary.org “Your life is a blank book, it is up to High School Library.
West Hurley Library: 42 Clover st. Mon: Pre-school story hour 10:30, Weds: Knitting Group 6:00-830, Movie every 4th Monday Call 845-679-6405 or westhurleylibrary.org www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 37
Charity
India & Nepal
T
hree Woodstock Day School students, Media Arts teacher David Becker and community member Sharon Fletcher are on a trip to Nepal and India to support the organization Khusi Hona, which helps to provide homes, education and food to former street children and orphans throughout the region. The students – Freeda, Jonah and David – brought donations from the Woodstock community. Here are some of their impression from the visit. Jonah: We started the day driving through the most populated and carcinogenic part of Kathmandu, you had to use your scarf just so you could take a breath without gasping and coughing from all the fumes and pollution. Freeda: The slums of Dehradun are built along a river that runs through the city. People live and children play in garbage and sewage. The smell in these slums is horrible. We saw young boys, some as young as 4 and 5 years old, stoned from huffing glue called Daylight. Daylight is an epidemic drug that is strongly addictive. It is usually huffed, sniffed or drunk and it fries your brain. This is the poorest area of the city and among one of the poorest places in the world. I felt speechless after visiting these slums. Jonah: We experienced various activities with each of the boys; frisbee, soccer (football as it’s called everywhere else), drawing and painting. I
Page 38 • www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com
walked around the whole orphanage with one of the boys as he recorded everywhere we went with a flip camera. Freeda: It was truly amazing how these kids who have gone through so much and were able to be so warm, happy and welcoming with us. I was awed at the talent and skill of the very young (Top) Freeda, Jonah and David. (Bottom) dancers who had amazing Jonah hangs out with two of the kids. (Left) flexibility and the strength Filmmaker David Becker shoots some footage. to walk and bounce in hand stands, spin on their heads and dance. David Becker (Woodstock Day School teacher): The kids are supported by the Aasraa Trust in Dehradun, India. They used to live in the slums and now they have bright futures. They are great filmmakers too! To check out the Khushi Hona blog, go to woodstockdayschool.org.
Memories
) tage.
www.goodlifeyouthjournal.com • Page 39
Be Yourself!
Act Out! imagine! Play!
sing! Create! Explore!
IGNITE YOUR IMAGINATION & EXPERIENCE THE POTENTIAL withIN YOU!
CHECK OUR WEBSITE AND SEE WHAT MAKES YOUR HEART SING.
BethelWoodsCenter.org
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a not-for-profit cultural organization that inspires, educates, and empowers individuals through the arts and humanities.
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