How Sergei Krasikov turned his love of nature into a civic purpose
Beaconites!
Our interview with Sergei Krasikov is a must-listen if you’re into trails, open spaces, water sheds and being outside in any weather. Originally from Belarus, Sergei has made Beacon his home in every sense. He is a community builder and civic volunteer with a special focus on land conservation. As the chair of the Conservation Advisory Committee and founder of the Fishkill Creek Watershed Alliance, he has advanced a city-wide composting program, trail clearing, a water testing program and more. Right now he’s focused on an inventory of open spaces that could eventually be adopted...
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Paulette Myers-Rich's art book collaborations
Beaconites!
Paulette Myers-Rich has partnered with dozens of artists and writers during an accomplished career in fine art printing. In this interview we talk about many of those collaborations - including a series of books featuring Irish poets produced jointly with the Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas. Paulette moved to Beacon in her fifties, choosing it in part because it visually echoed her industrial river city home of St. Paul, Minnesota. Once here, she continued to produce letterpress printed works under her imprint, Traffic Street Press, and opened the No. 3 Reading...
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Raising animals builds compassion, with Kim Pennock
Beaconites!
Kim Pennock is an educator and the poultry lead at the Stony Kill educational farm and 4H club. Stony Kill has chickens, cows, sheep, rabbits and bees, with a focus on heritage breeds. Each August, its 4H youth are represented at the Dutchess County Fair, and some go on to participate in the youth livestock sale. They come away with useful skills, friendships and a commitment to raising animals ethically and humanely. In this interview, Kim discusses how 4H teaches young people about agriculture, animal husbandry, gardening, art and more. And she provides an overview of her work at Stony...
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We’re all gonna die, with Riverview Funeral Home director Pat Halvey
Beaconites!
Pat Halvey is well acquainted with death and grieving. He was 13 years old when his father first initiated him into the family funeral business, and he’s worked with the deceased and the bereft ever since. That business, Riverview Funeral Services, recently merged with Beacon’s other multi-generational death and funeral services provider, Libby. In our interview, Pat talks about many facets of death, grieving and funeral rites. He gamely answers dozens of literally morbid questions on cremation, green burials, Irish wakes, Covid, the falloff in religious services, the disturbing...
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The strange history of Pollepel Island and Bannerman Castle, with Neil Caplan
Beaconites!
While living in Brooklyn in the early 1990s, Neil Caplan saw a drawing of Bannerman’s Castle on Pollepel Island - situated between Beacon and Cold Spring. Inspired, he set out to gain stewardship of it, shore up its historical features, create a system for public access and ultimately stage theater there. The result is the Bannerman Castle Trust: one part historic preservation, one part public park and one part arts organization. This spring Neil will be honored by the Howland Cultural Center at its annual gala. Current gallery exhibitions at the Howland and Bannerman’s Island Gallery...
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The two sides of Curtis Harvey
Beaconites!
Curtis Harvey’s creative work has played out on two parallel tracks. As a musician, he helped define a certain 1990s post-rock sound as guitarist and singer for Rex, and he has gone on to play with many other bands in Beacon and beyond. As director of exhibitions at Dia:Beacon, where he has worked in various roles for 22 years, Curtis installs the work of Fred Sandback, Meg Webster and other major artists. Most recently he supported the installation of Steve McQueen’s massive and immersive “Bass” installation on the basement level, and this interview has an extended discussion of...
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Are the little kids alright? With pre-K educator Meredith Hairston
Beaconites!
Early childhood learning is pretty fraught at the moment. The lingering effects of Covid-era learning challenges, an epidemic of teacher burnout, and a rise in autism spectrum diagnoses have all contributed to a simmering crisis in education that we're probably not talking about enough. But there are bright spots. One is the Tioronda Learning Center, a longstanding pre-K program serving Beacon, led by executive director Meredith Hairston. Meredith talks about her journey from Vermont to New York City to the Hudson Valley, TLC's place in the community over many decades, and how to help kids...
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Ordinary Devotion, with Kristen Holt-Browning
Beaconites!
Kristen Holt-Browning is a poet, editor and (now) novelist. Her debut work of fiction, Ordinary Devotion, juxtaposes the lives of two women separated by 700 years. Kristen grew up nearby in the hamlet of Stone Ridge, spent some years in New York City (Manhattan, then Brooklyn) before moving back to Beacon 15 years ago. In this interview, she talks about her experience growing up in the Hudson Valley, raising kids in Beacon, the literary scene here and the pile-up of thoughts and memories in middle age. And she reads two poems and a passage from her novel. This interview is the latest in...
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Sam Anderson
Beaconites!
Sam Anderson is a master of the essay form whose work spans a huge range of human experience and culture. As a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, Sam has interviewed and written about Weird Al Yankovic, writer John McPhee, NBA point guard Russell Westbrook, travel guru Rick Steves, Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami and the people trying to rescue Michaelangelo’s David from ruin. He has spent time with the last two white rhinos on Earth and visited the bat volcano in Calakmul, Mexico. And he wrote a book, Boom Town, about Oklahoma City which is both a profile of one...
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Meet Yvette Valdes Smith, the Democrat trying to flip NY State Senate District 39
Beaconites!
Yvette Valdes Smith knows firsthand how spiraling housing costs have made Beacon unaffordable to many. Yvette and her husband rented in Beacon for years, but moved to Fishkill when they realized they couldn't afford to buy a home here. “Housing is a huge issue. It’s going to require us not being NIMBY about things. We have to increase housing stock," she tells Beaconites. Raised in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, Yvette went to college in New York, became a public school teacher and started a family before winning a seat on the Dutchess County Legislature, where she is Minority Leader...
info_outlineGeorge talks about his decision to sell Dogwood to Brendan McAlpine nearly 11 years after opening the bar. Going forward, George plans to spend more time making art and focus on his other two ventures: Quinns and Untouchable (a new bar set to open in Newburgh), both in partnership with Tom and Yukie Schmitz. He also discusses his seven terms on city council, his proudest achievements and the work that remains to be done.
Dogwood's closing weekend (September 16-17) will feature upwards of 35 bands. Be there!