2013
“People say, ‘Beacon has come a long way’—I say, ‘Compared to what?’ I’ve been here since the beginning. It’s a revival—hopefully we can keep that going. I know we can.”
—Randy Casale, The mayor of Beacon responding to reports of the city’s rebirth in the May issue
Frack Watch
In the February issue we launched a new column, Frack Watch, in which Lynn Woods reported on the fight over whether or not to allow hydraulic fracturing in New York. It was eventually banned in 2015.
Kegel Power
Wendy Kagan investigated pelvic floor restoration in the July issue: “In these hinterlands of the flesh, more can go wrong for women than for men. Pregnancy and childbirth can put tremendous pressures on pelvic floor muscles, ligaments, and fascia (connective tissue)—and even for women who never carried babies, the area is vulnerable particularly after the hormone changes of perimenopause.”
Block Party
To celebrate our 20th anniversary, we decided to organize a little shindig in mid-August. We shut down the street in front of our office, organized some music and other entertainment, and partied with a few thousand of our closest friends. The Chronogram Block Party continued for five years.
Kind Words
For our 20th anniversary issue in November, we asked some locals to write a few words on our behalf. Natalie Merchant: “Over the past 20 years, Chronogram has helped us to forge a regional identity.” Stephen Larsen: “Chronogram somehow hit the right note of aesthetic, cultural sophistication, and practical usefulness.” David Rothenberg: “Chronogram never lets us down.”
2014
“Catholic children, back in the `50s, were told that, yes, good Protestants could go to heaven, but the Catholics would live in big houses and drive Cadillacs, while the lesser, non-Pope-obeisant Christians would reside in tract housing and, at the very best, drive Buicks.”
—Larry Beinhart, From “Heavenly, Heavenly Divine Markets” in the March issue
Hops Spring Eternal
In September, Karen Angel reported on New York’s resurgence as a hop-growing hotbed: “In 1880, New York State was the largest producer of hops in the country with 40,000 acres. A mildew epidemic, followed by Prohibition, put the kibosh on the industry. The Pacific Northwest—Washington, Oregon, and Idaho—emerged as the leader in hop production and currently corners 98 percent of the market. But New York is resurging, with some 250 acres under cultivation—up from just 15 four years ago—making it the fifth-largest hop producer in the nation.”
Free Range Childhood
Hillary Harvey spoke with author Richard Luov (Last Child in the Woods) about nature-deficit disorder in October. Luov proselytized keeping kids active: “Much of society no longer sees time spent in the natural world and independent, imaginary play as ‘enrichment.’ Technology now dominates almost every aspect of our lives. Technology is not, in itself, the enemy; but our lack of balance is lethal. The pandemic of inactivity is one result. Sitting is the new smoking.”
The Binuclear Option
For the December issue, Brian K. Mahoney profiled the Poughkeepsie home of Arthur and Margery Groten, known as the McComb House, which was built in 1952 by Marcel Breuer, the renowned modernist architect known for designing the Whitney Museum and the UNESCO Building in Paris.
2015
“We’ve collectively bought into some big misconceptions: that birth is problematic by nature, that it is likely to go awry and must therefore be handed over to the ‘authorities,’ that it is ‘safe’ to be completely passive in birth, that if we question, we put our own lives and the lives of our babies at risk.”
—Elisa Albert, From “Mommy Darkest,” a profile of the novelist in the April issue
Pop Goes the Restaurant
For the January issue, Max Watman wrote about the recent proliferation of pop-up restaurants in the region. One outfit, Lucky Mee, was a roving noodle shop run by Michael Pardus, a chef and CIA instructor. “The whole concept is based around the broth,” said Pardus. “We have potential investors, but they wanted to see it live.”
Man of the House
When the Towne Crier Cafe moved from Pawling to its current location in Beacon in 2013, rocker Darryl Hall saw an opportunity and opened his own club. Hall spoke with Peter Aaron for the March issue about his love of small venues. “I believe in clubs. For musicians they’re a great place to really learn your craft,” Hall said. “And I like the atmosphere. I started my career in clubs.”
Summer Arts Preview
In the June issue we published our inaugural Summer Arts Preview, which has turned into an annual check-in on all things cultural in the region.
The Pot RX
On the cusp of medical marijuana being legalized in New York, Wendy Kagan examined some possible health perks of weed for the December issue.
2016
“We need to disentangle the concept of punishment from accountability. We live in a culture that equates those two things. We make this assumption that when we put someone away, they’re going to reflect on what they did and the harm they caused, but that’s not necessarily what’s happening at all.”
—Mika Dashman, From “Restoring Community” in the March issue
Stitched Together
In the home profile most commented upon by readers, Mary Angeles Armstrong profiled the Rosendale home of Kat O’Sullivan and Mason Brown for the June issue. The couple’s DIY renovation features rainbow-painted exterior walls that stop passers-by in their tracks to take pictures.
Jack Comes to Kinderhook
Sparrow reviewed “Winter in America,” an art show at The School, an exhibition space opened by Jack Shainman in the former Martin Van Buren High School that kicked off a cultural revival in the town.
Way Down in the Hole
Leander Schaerlaeckens wrote about the massive public works projects happening beneath our feet in the April issue: “A few yellow hardhats bob amid the gray sheen of the shale that has yet to be coated in concrete. It took two years of methodical blasting to delve this far. The big, gaping hole in the ground, some 34 feet in diameter, is called Shaft 6. It’s 675 feet deep, 600 of those feet below sea level, just north of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River in the Town of Wappinger. This will be the end point of the new Rondout-West Branch Tunnel, where a bypass is being built to circumvent a section of the Delaware Aqueduct that has been leaking for over 25 years.”
2017
“People think about [the Seed Vault] as a time capsule, something we’ll walk away from and rediscover in a hundred years. It is not that. It is a living institution and facility. The facility operates like a safety deposit box. It is an insurance policy.”
—Cary Fowler, From “The Most Important Room in the World” from the April issue
Resistance is Fertile
An estimated 500,000 demonstrators showed up in Washington, DC, for the Women’s March following the election of Donald Trump. For the February issue, Elissa Garay reported from the March: “Creative signage prevailed, with messages like ‘Hell hath no fury like a pussy grabbed’; ‘Make America Think Again’; and ‘Science is not a liberal conspiracy.’ Dozens of march chants rang out. Cries of ‘This is what democracy looks like’ came interspersed with digs at Trump, like ‘We want a leader, not a creepy Tweeter’ and ‘He’s orange, he’s gross, he lost the popular vote.’”
The Most Important Room in the World
Marie Doyon profiled Cary Fowler, the Rhinebeck-based scientist and biodiversity advocate responsible for the Svalbard Seed Vault, in the April issue: “The finished vault has the capacity to hold 4.5 million seed samples. At present, it holds 930,000 varieties of food crops. There are over 150,000 samples each of wheat and rice, but there are also samples of lesser known plants with archaic names like wolf’s bane, skullcap, and saltbush.”
Sicilian Donkeys + Art
In the June issue, Vittorio Calabrese, director of Magazzino, the new art center focused on Arte Povera, a school of mid-20th century Italian art, had this to say to our correspondent Sparrow: “Italy is not only Botticelli, it’s not only Baroque, it’s not only Futurism—there’s an entire part of our art history that’s actually unknown.” The art center also houses a number of adorable Sicilian donkeys.
2018
“Towns that work have civic engagement. They aren’t playing on each other’s fears, and they accommodate the right mix of voices in finding solutions to each challenge. That kind of ethos means that whether you’re running for government or connecting to it as a citizen, government itself flows pretty naturally from the citizens.”
—Dar Williams, From an interview with the musician in the January issue
Mahoney’s Cojones
In the April issue, we received the best rhyming critique of Chronogram’s editorial director since a reader called him “phony baloney Mahoney” in 2006. Scot Sedey and Kathleen Finn wrote in to say: “We are concerned about the lack of focus, piss vinegar, and pizzazz in Brian’s Mahoney’s recent writings. What was once looked to as a monthly joy which my wife and I read aloud to one another is now a run-of-the-mill letter from the editor. Bring back Mahoney’s cojones.”
Friday Night Brights
Marie Doyon wrote the text to accompany a photo essay by Roy Gumpel about the dirt racetrack the Accord Speedway: “Every Friday night from April through September, a dopplered whir spreads out across the hills and dales of the Rondout Valley—the familiar roar of the Accord Speedway. And it’s been the cause of more than a few complaints, lawsuits, and failed real estate deals over the years. But the little dirt track has prevailed, a world unto itself, nestled back in the winding back roads of rural Ulster County.”
An Anniversary Redesign
For our 25th anniversary issue in November, we refreshed Chronogram’s design. One big change was dropping calendar listings from the magazine, shifting the listings completely to our website. We expected a reader backlash—there was none.
2019
“Black and Latina women die from preventable diseases such as cervical cancer and breast cancer at almost four times the rate that Caucasian women do because they do not access preventive services.”
—Ruth-Ellen Blodgett, From an interview in the January issue with the CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Mid-Hudson Valley
Pod Bless America
In February, we spoke with Vassar College philosophy professor and podcaster Barry Lam about his podcast “Hi-Phi Nation,” which features contemporary issues of philosophy. More than twice as many Americans listen to podcasts weekly than watch “Monday Night Football.”
Undocumented in the Hudson Valley
Following the arrest of New Paltz businessman Luis Martinez, Michael Frank examined how his detention and possible deportation both diverges from and typifies recent crackdowns by ICE.
In Dreams Awake
Lynn Woods profiled Woodstock-based artist Kathy Ruttenberg, whose mythological, hybrid animal-human sculptures were installed in Manhattan along Broadway for the May issue.
The Big Scoop
While Jane’s Ice Cream pioneered the artisanal ice cream movement in 1985, Lindsay Lennon reported on a slew of newcomers who were making the region a burgeoning center of dairy-fueled delights.
Green Gold Rush
As legislators once again failed to pass the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act, Phillip Pantuso reported on the crowded field of competing camps and the roadblocks to legalizing cannabis, kicking off our ongoing coverage of cannabis and the continued challenges of the adult-use rollout.
2020
“All the nonabolitionist reforms to policing have been tried, and still we find ourselves amid a global outcry against police abuse. What if, then, our ‘rational’ belief in the viability of the police is actually a kind of wish-casting?”
—Kwame Holmes, From “Why Abolish the Police: Because We Can Replace Them” from the July issue
At Least We Started Out Well
“Well, hello there, 2020. Hello and hallelujah to the promise of a new year, a new decade, a blank slate where everything is possible.” Thus began Wendy Kagan’s article in the January issue, “Getting Unstuck,” on breaking with unhealthy patterns. Little did we know at the time, but very soon all of us would be stuck for quite a long time.
The Great Pivot
After lockdown began in March, we scrambled to rejigger the content of the April issue to reflect our new reality. Instead of restaurant reviews and concert previews, we published pandemic-friendly fare like “Five Dishes to Inspire Your Freewheeling Quarantine Meal Planning” and “Expand Your Contemporary Art Appreciation While in Quarantine with These Artists.” Chronogram never stopped publishing during the pandemic.
Chronogrammies
Over 20,000 people cast just under 100,000 votes in the inaugural run of our readers’ choice awards.
The Future Is Now
Chronogram won an Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Award for “The Future Is Now,” a special section in the July issue in reaction to the disruption wrought by Covid 19 and the racial reckoning brought on by the murder of George Floyd and the rapid mainstreaming of the Black Lives Matter Movement.
2021
“Direct primary care brings [the power] back again to the doctor and patient relationship. It empowers people on both sides to think about providing healthcare in a mutually acceptable way.”
—Dr. Catherine Agricola, From “Rethinking Primary Care,” an article in the October issue
What Change Looks Like
In a collaboration with Scenic Hudson, we profiled 12 local changemakers working in the fields of sustainable agriculture, clean energy, environmental activism, housing, and transportation.
Unmasked
In late March, Franco Vogt photographed Dr. Neal Smoller of Woodstock Apothecary and members of his 150-strong squad of volunteer vaccinators who had vaccinated more than 6,000 local residents in less than a month for the April issue. The strangest thing: They were nearly all unmasked, a shocking sight in 2021.
Rethinking Primary Care
In the October issue, Wendy Kagan reported on direct primary care, an alternative form of primary care that cuts insurance companies out of the equation—and for a monthly membership fee comparable to the cost of a cell phone plan—it gives patients the kind of access to a doctor that hasn’t been available since the days of house calls.
Meals on Wheels
In September 2018, Rolling Grocer 19 hit the streets of Columbia County with a retrofitted, refrigerated 16-foot trailer, stocking a range of fresh and frozen provisions, local produce, meat, seafood, and some hygiene products. Marie Doyon profiled the community-driven response to the challenges of food and economic insecurity in the November issue.
2022
“It’s hard to articulate exactly what makes a song a good candidate for parody. I tend to pick songs that have a strong musical or lyrical hook. Hopefully the song isn’t too repetitive—I need to have enough words to play around with. And it also helps if the lyrics are overly sincere or heartfelt—it’s a lot easier to tweak those for comic effect.”
—Weird Al Yankovic, From an interview with the musician in April issue
In Memoriam
In the February issue, we said goodbye to two beloved local figures. One was Michael Lang, who put the region on the map in 1969 with that little festival out in Bethel. The other was less well known but no less adored. Kevin Archambault, the artistic director of the Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, who directed nearly 50 shows at the community theater.
Community Portraits
For the Saugerties Community Pages feature, we rolled out a new wrinkle for the March issue. At the instigation of photographer David McIntyre, we set up a pop-up portrait studio inside Jane St. Art Center and invited members of the community to get their picture taken. Over two dozen residents of Saugerties took us up on our offer. To date, we’ve set up pop-up portrait shoots in a dozen spots in the region and photographed over 1,000 people. The good folks of New Paltz are featured this month, starting on page 49.
High Degree of Uncertainty
After the passage of the Marihuana Regulation & Taxation Act in April, the state promised that adult-use dispensaries would be open by the end of the year.
As Noah Eckstein reported in August, the state’s goal was likely just a smokescreen.
Year of the Puppy
For the December issue, Brian K. Mahoney interviewed dog cognition researcher and author Alexandra Horowitz about her scientific memoir, The Year of the Puppy, in which Horowitz charts her pup’s early development from birth to first birthday.
2023
“At first, I was thinking of AI as a change in the industry like digital art. I wasn’t thinking of it as the existential threat it really is. It’s the end of illustration. I find myself putting blinders on and just focusing on my sketchbook.”
—John Cuneo, from an interview with the illustrator in the July issue
Life (and Death) Cycle
In just over two years, four cyclists were killed on the streets of Kingston, despite the city’s effort to establish a Safe Streets program to protect cyclists and pedestrians. Abby Gierke reported on the tragedies for the March issue.
Of Grape Concern
In 2002, Fjord Vineyards in Milton lost more than half of its grapes to animals starved of normal food sources due to drought. Local winemakers spoke with Melissa Esposito about how they were preparing for climate change in their vineyards.
The Forever Sound
Raven Chacon, who now resides in Dutchess County, was the first Native American to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music. Peter Aaron profiled the noise musician for the August issue—whose life was changed by a concert of John Cage’s music as a child—just before it was announced Chacon won a MacArthur “genius” grant.
Special K
Ketamine has shown remarkable results both for supporting patients during surgery and for treating depression, anxiety, OCD, addiction, and eating disorders. In the July issue, Jaime Stathis spoke with local medical professionals on ketamine’s role in uncovering and resolving deep trauma.
Dynamic Duo
A shout-out to all the businesses who have worked with Chronogram since our launch in 1993. Thanks for your support—we quite literally could not have done it without you. Each issue of the magazine is a snapshot in time—editorial and advertising side-by-side, telling the compelling story of life in the Hudson Valley.
This article appears in November 2023.
