What does an animal make of a pandemic? On various early morning bike rides this spring, I’ve startled foxes and bears as they saunter along our unusually quiet country roads, no doubt pleased that our iron horses have yielded such amiable byways to them. My stealthy approach catches […]

Unlike any time in our recent memory, the crisis that has befallen populations around the world has forced large scale governmental institutions to lay bare the true value of public health and safety. Emergencies, natural disasters, and traumatic events throughout history have often brought out the best and […]

Millerton, NY’s North East Community Center (NECC) has become accustomed to providing community support on a whim. Established in the winter of 1988 at the urging of Wendy Curtis and Sam Busselle, through the passing of a town statute, its original purpose was to respond to the lack […]

Mindful eating for me as a child meant focused attention on the present moment but to a different end. With seven hungry kids sitting around the dinner table, we were mindful of eating as quickly as we could. The first one done got the last pork chop, or […]

What is the secret of the American farmer? What belies the charming pastoral agricultural spirit that has seemingly infiltrated nearly every aspect of small town life? The columns of mowed pasture that line the fields and meadows of the Hudson Valley, Berkshires and Northwest Connecticut and the mild-mannered […]

These days, there are some places you just don’t want to go, and then there are places you just shouldn’t go. In his recent interview with the master of macabre, Stephen King, The New York Times’ David Marchese went to the latter.

He challenged the horror writer with an […]

Maps follow tidy boundaries that mark the borders between states in our Tri-state area, but up close those lines matter less. On the ground, our economies and businesses are serving people – regardless of where they are located. A coordinated strategy for our region is necessary and appropriate.

Making […]

When President John F. Kennedy challenged every American to contribute to the public good by declaring “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” a ten-year old boy in Pierpont, OH heard the call.

“This phrase always stuck with me […]

While the seeds of the nationwide coronavirus pandemic response may have been sewn in Washington DC, and the hardline logistics of unprecedented mandates fleshed out on behalf of the most vulnerable within the halls of State Capitol buildings across the country, the brunt of the human response to […]