The Sweetest Day

Over the past seven years, the Gardiner Cupcake Festival has moved from Main Street in Gardiner to the 6th generation family-run Wright’s Farm, and showcases a variety of cupcake vendors in an all-day event for your gorging pleasure.

Victory Bus Project: Helping Kids With Imprisoned Parents

For the last two years, Jalal Sabur has been connecting children with their imprisoned parents. From the dense urban city to the rural outskirts where New York State’s penitentiaries are located, Sabur’s Victory Bus has shuttled families to and from the prisons at a reduced rate. The lack of public transportation in the countryside limits…

Energy Harvest

By switching to renewable energy sources, Hudson Valley farmers can not only minimize the amount of greenhouse gases emitted, but also save on costs. With financing programs like PACE in place, alternative energy sources are more feasible than ever.

Esteemed Reader: Learning How to Learn

There’s a disposition that combines artistry and warriorship, looking to each situation as an opportunity for both creation and work on oneself. Only to do the more difficult thing is a peculiar form of masochism; but to insistently choose the course that is both difficult and creative, thus steadily threading life with series of bold…

The Wizard of Bard

This afternoon, Leon Botstein, the president of Bard College, a near caricature of dignity in his ever-present suit and bowtie, is relaxing on the veranda of his stately campus home with a thick cigar and a cup of sugared tea. Outside, the air is fresh, the birds are singing, and the sun is utterly glorious.…

Flower Empowered

In our culture of CVS convenience, it’s all too easy to hand over our health to a brand-name label or Big Pharma script. People like Maia Toll remind us that there’s another way—a simpler, connected-to-the-earth way of taking charge of our own bodies.

Pocket Full of Stones

There is Delilah, skipper of a dinghy with no rudder, no oars. She drifts between vanishing islands, shallow tombolos, all that the siren has ever known, crying out as crabs scuttle across her sinking toes. Her eyes scan for land that will not melt among the tides. Wallowing and wayward, sighing in salty hymns, she…

Libra for May 2015

You now have the blessing of being seen, and even better, being seen for who you are. While it’s true that your focus is often on making sure that others are taken care of, you’re not always recognized for that. If you are who you are, it will be obvious who you are. Under this…

Nightlife Highlights: The Lone Bellow

May 23. From tragedy, beauty can sometimes come. New York folk rock trio the Lone Bellow, who play Mass MoCA this month, have their origin in the journals kept by singer Zach Williams as he helped his wife through temporary paralysis brought on by a horse-riding accident. At the urging of friends, Williams learned guitar,…

Greasy Kid Stuff

Ratboy Jr. is hosting a CD release party and BBQ on May 30 at the Rock & Rye Tavern in New Paltz, located on the grounds of the old Locust Tree golf course. It will be an all-inclusive affair taking place during the day so the whole family can come on down, be it rain…

Sadness is blue

It sounds like rain dripping down It smells like a muddy puddle It tastes like sour grapes It looks like a rainy day Sadness feels like quicksand —John E. Soi (7 years)

Lady Day’s Night

Catskill Jazz Factory will present a Billy Holiday centenary tribute by the Aaron Diehl Trio with Cécile McLorin Salvant on May 8 at 8pm at the Fisher Center’s Sosnoff Theater at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson. Tickets are $25-$45. (845) 758-7900; Fishercenter.bard.edu.

Aquarius for May 2015

Keep scratching out your niche in the world, the one where you belong. If it often seems more difficult than necessary, remember that you’re doing something original. You may also be doing something that contradicts the many prevailing beliefs of our time. But what it doesn’t contradict are the prevailing needs of our time. Rather…

Pisces for May 2015

Consider all the possible combinations of work, wellbeing, and healing, and experiment with them. I don’t mean the words, I mean what they represent. This is where you can find benefit in your life, for yourself and for others. Many factors may seem to be unpredictable or unstable, at least for the moment. What is…

Nightlife Highlights: Swing and Shine

Dubbed “Swing and Shine,” this dance at the Ashokan Center to benefit that institution’s local schools fund and the Woodstock School of Art’s Robert H. Angeloch Building Fund kicks off with a sumptuous, country-style, sit-down dinner.

Sagittarius for May 2015

You don’t need to argue with your emotions, or block them, though you would be wise to notice them and treat them as real. You seem ready to step out of a corner that you somehow let yourself get backed into, and the issue seems to be whether you really can trust someone. Looked at…

The Souls of Typewriters

Alon is with his typewriter and looking for collaborators the first Tuesday of every month at Quinn’s in Beacon starting at 7pm. He will also be at Beacon Pantry in Beacon on May 16-17 for Beacon Open Studios, and at the Clearwater Festival at Croton Point Park on June 20-21.

The Universe, etc.

“The thing is,” he says, whiskey-swaying in his kitchen “that shard from the glass you broke is never gone.” He slides a sweating tumbler and dries the countertop hanging his towel from the oven handle as early punctuation. “You’ll find it again,” he assures his captivated guest “in your foot.”

Scorpio for May 2015

You certainly seem to be walking that fine line between fear and desire. Yet your fear, in some ways, seems the larger of the two, as you contemplate all that could potentially go wrong. Yet that’s not really an issue, though if it is, ask yourself whether you’re using your power correctly. Consider carefully, and…

Aries for May 2015

Pull your mind into focus and set your priorities. This will give you a sense of direction. As you move through the next few weeks, you’re likely to revise your plans many times, or more likely, rework the language you use to describe them. I suggest that you not get lost in the sauce of…

Taurus for May 2015

You seem determined to sort out the money issue, which is a good thing. Remember though that money is not usually something that comes to you. Rather, it’s something that you go out and get. And if it does come to you, it’s often the result of long preparation. That’s actually good news, because there…

a lingering romance

there is the spell of the woods a romance like no others in the great book of spells romantic and otherwise come and there are owls and lamplight and the great cathedral radiates through the apse of trees and it is all you need interest yourself in evermore at least it is a spell to…

MAYFest

Catskill Chill and Skybaby Yoga are celebrating with a two-day, three-night, family-friendly MAYfest on May 22-24 at Surprise Lake Camp in Cold Spring.

Time

If at the wrist my hands I clip (reaching still to grasp at you), fold them together, morning glories struck by too much sun or night, place them in a mailbox by some damned nostalgic lane; If with a pliers I crush and twist my voicebox (calling out your name), If (ah!                                 crystal-sizzle,                                                           sliding down)…

Untitled

All the things that are blue. Were one day yellow. I did not mean for this to happen. But it do so… Solid. That’s the truth.

Textile Classes at Byrdcliffe

Clothing and textile designer Isabel Wilson (Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Phillip Lim) is teaching a series of hand-weaving, dyeing, and surface design classes at the historic Loom Room throughout May and June.

Cancer for May 2015

If you’ve ever wanted to reveal all your secrets to yourself, this is the time. With this I would include deep, unspeakable desires, which you may find are more easily translated into words over the next few weeks. You may discover that you can see viewpoints that are opposite what you typically hold. This doesn’t…

Virgo for May 2015

You seem to be fixating on the question of why you struggle with insecurity to the extent that you do. It’s a good question, though if you look around at the world and notice how much is teetering on the brink of disaster, you would feel better about yourself. We in the 21st century often…

Aperture Disavows Circumference

discolorings & constitutions crests undulate rills wheatfields    aspects                               cusps    underbellies    blush “I am a werewolf,” the man said. “You don’t look like a werewolf,” the little girl replied. “What do werewolves look like?” “Scary.” forecasts stumble upon ordainment honorariums stall sequence initiates ceremonials with werewolves conspicuously absent

Fear of Last Frost

March 3rd: On the way back home stop at the gas station And pick up a case of gold mine beer. Drink Its liquid, breathe, and let your back wash soul Sit in the back of your mouth contemplating The pouring paradox of disaster and inspiration In a tin can and groan. Crack Another— Skip…

Vacuum

I. Word Game: If nothing exists, show it to me. “1960s” not “1960’s”. “us” not “u’s”. “us” is not “us”. “us” looks like “us”. “us” is not “us”, “us” is not “we”. Double u is in a vacuum We are in a vacuum; w is not. Is anybody out there? II. I don’t think we…

Colors Passing

The sun gathered gold dispersing blue until tomorrow yields to pink along the blushed horizon. We watched the sunset from Plattekill Avenue. Exchanging stories and talking with our hands revealed mutual colors. As though this happens everyday, The sun dropped below darkening trees transforming henna into orange. Turning toward twilight, We headed East words trail…

After the Factory: Chasing Gerard Malanga

It’s been nearly five decades since Gerard Malanga danced with a whip in front of the Velvet Underground. During that time, he’s starred in underground films by Andy Warhol and Piero Heliczer, directed his own films, and shot iconic portraits of William S. Burroughs, a nude Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, John Ashbery, and young Robert…

Craft Beer Boogaloo

To celebrate their 35th anniversary, Radio Woodstock is hosting an artisanal brewing bonanza on May 23 at Cantine Field in Saugerties, featuring good food and better brews from 75 small breweries.

What the Mice See in the Museum

Pollack only trusted his accidents. Rothko vacationed in orange. Miro kept painting big eyelashes in threes & Kline couldn’t decide between a yellow sky & clouds on the lawn. Pollack fancied Daffy Duck, if you look hard enough. Rothko wanted all of us to live out of focus. Miro essentially managed a circus & Kline…

Ecce Panis Angelorum

Tomato round and red says the mind in passing but the body lingers lifting, brushing skin against lips a bristle of peppery stem singeing my cheek with summer’s lusty song here in this trail of dirt where flesh meets flesh here: this fragile erubescence blood of the moment’s whole pours into me its wordless psalm

Fish Eye Lenses

What are all these colors there flickering On the majestic sky? What are all the ringlets winking? What is all the jewel-like twinkling? Tales have always told they’re soles Gone to by and bye. Up there with our hopes they’re linking, Looking down upon us blinking, Helping out the best of us As we try…

Capricorn for May 2015

It would help if you believe the information you’re given, especially if you recognize that it’s associated with your personal evolution. Your charts suggest you might not recognize as true something that is indeed true, even though you have evidence to support it. One hint is that you’ve figured this out before, and it didn’t…

Without You:

I will grow my nails Long and filthy Bearded, I will eat Tree bark and rodent Pellets; woodland bound Drowning my sorrows in mountain lakes Basking in moonshine Deep in the haunted Catskill Pines, breathing smoke… Fire beside me, crackling Crunching pops from within you Snapping hot passionate companion I need you, combusting Old trust…

Editor’s Note: Little Red Bird

Mostly, we live in “threshold time”—our minute-to-minute experience that feels like being on the verge of some unknowable thing but that something never happens. Then, like a car crash, like falling in love, the unexpected arrives, and it’s as if a door slams shut.

Gemini for May 2015

Think of yourself as a weaver. You already know that fibers that are woven into fabric are much stronger, with more integrity, than a collection of loose threads. Therefore, collect the loose threads and one at a time, gather them into the fabric of your life. Weaving is a conscious act. It’s based on an…

Lucifer’s Side of the Story

From the head of this pin I can fall in any direction but I will not be pushed by that old man. Heaven is a fine and dandy place but there’s nothing to do so I’m outta here.

Teaching Humanity to Admire Itself

Alejandro Jodorowsky embodies the crazy, creative wisdom of the spiritual warrior. Whether he’s making movies, writing books, practicing Zen under a master, learning sexual tantra from Gurdjieff’s daughter, giving free tarot readings to all comers, he is the artist, as Dylan says, who doesn’t look back.

Highland Fling: Beacon, Cold Spring, and Garrison

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A town thrives in the early part of the 20th century as a center of industry and/or transportation. But times change. Factories head overseas. Railroads and barges fall out of fashion. Highways are built that bypass downtown. Businesses close. Towns crumble. Cue the tumbleweeds and crime. Then,…

Pencils

I love pencils the way they rest, cradled by the thumb in the fingers of my speechless hand. I love the way they feel, smooth & firm sometimes round sometimes hexagonal. I love the Dixon Ticonderoga Faber Castell American Eagle, but especially the Venus Velvet No 2’s of my childhood. I love the way they…

Leo for May 2015

Many mysteries will reveal themselves over the next five or six weeks; that seems to be written in every corner of the sky. Your own personal discoveries are likely to surround your sexual history. The fact that sex is exploited, commercialized, and joked about does not lessen its significance. In a clear and sober state…


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