Help for Caregivers
Any longterm illness is a challenge to a caretaker who must add that task—usually without much warning—to existing daily demands.
Off the Hook
“Hooking” is a phenomenon in which a line of energy is cast from one person into another person’s space.
Piece of Cake
Few things inspire more “oohs” and “aahs” than a wedding cake (except for the bride) and few are as disaster-prone.
Treading Lightly Down the Aisle
By making new ceremony choices that support our biosphere, they lead the way for those to come and respect what they will leave behind.
Portfolio: Itty Neuhaus
An associate professor of art at SUNY New Paltz, she engages many different media in her own art, including sculpture, collage, video, performance, and installation work.
Poem: A Man at my Feet
A man lies at my feet and a woman, and another over there. I glide between bodies. Hovering, Maybe to touch, where?
Poem: Sandy Feet
Words are full of meaning. It is very important to keep things flowing.
Poem: Flood
Southbound quickly the silent hum of train lines swung down coastal catastrophe
Poem: untitled
a poem is less burdensome than an inventory of red artificial flowers or a handful of beggar’s pencils
Poem: The Couple
My reading lamp shines on the turnings of a pair of ladder-back chairs—my parents’ chairs— laying bright spots on the high points, the balls and rings, it settles in valleys and shallow coves
Poem: Polaroids
Eager and thrilled, so easily done with summer, the young tree by the bend in the creek has given everything over to scarlet red
Small World Stories
Two thousand eight is a year of an unusual transition: Pluto will begin its move from Sagittarius to Capricorn.
Landscape Series #2
“Our identity is sometimes linked with our hair color or our features,” said Mackie. “I use hair as a metaphor for larger issues of identity.”
Beinhart’s Body Politic
If we really want to figure out what religion is about, we have to start with the assumption that God doesn’t exist.
The Pakistan Centrifuge
The US and the international community were confronted with the sleeper issue of our time: To what degree is Pakistan a reliable partner in the fight against terrorism?
CD Review: The Chrome Cranks
Though the band’s been defunct for a decade, Atavistic recently released this high-octane, double-disc set of singles, demos, and rarities.
CD Review: Sarah Perrotta
A first spin of _The Well_ may call to mind shades of Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs, though Perrotta remains completely original and exceedingly sophisticated in her writing.
CD Review: Frankie and his Fingers
The debut by Frankie and His Fingers sports the stripped-down sound of guitar and drums straddling the lines between twitchy postpunk and pure overdriven powerpop.
The Enchanted Dollhouse
Blueberry is Snyder’s ongoing “band” concept, a project that has released three albums of sultry, psychedelic pop-soul on the singer and multi-instrumentalist’s own The Shaz Records.
The Force of Poetry
After seeing this show by Anselm Kiefer at MASS MoCA, I’m afraid I’ll have an even harder time settling for the more arid, intellectual charms offered by Dia’s minimalism.
Sukhothai: A Taste of Thailand in Beacon
Sukhothai, one of the few Thai restaurants in region, fulfills Rabenda’s goal to bring Thai culture and “tasty, well presented” food to the area.
The Limits of Language
The artist K. Rakoll has created a phonetic alphabet that can express every human language. “K. Rakoll: The Secret Tongues of Babel” is at BeGallery in High Falls, through January 15.
Goofy Eloquence
John Prine will appear at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on January 6 at 7:30pm.
Love Like Candy
_Untitled (Placebo)_ remains on view at the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown through March 23.
Whoa Nellie
Nellie McKay will perform Friday, January 4 and Saturday, January 5 at 9pm at Club Helsinki in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
The Evolving Revelation of Puff the Magic Dragon
Peter Yarrow will perform and sign copies of _Puff the Magic Dragon_ (book with CD) and _Puff and & Other Family Classics_ (CD) on Saturday, January 19 at 2pm.
Lust for Life
As a humorous, passionate, gorgeous woman who has beaten the odds, it’s no wonder so many people want a piece of Kris Carr’s magic.
Local Luminary: Mark Greene
Mark Greene’s cartoons aren’t just for kids. His brand of political satire forces viewers to examine their role in American consumer culture.
Editor’s Note
Now, as we go to print in this darkest hour of the year, hard on the winter solstice, I’m ready to look back on 2007 with the requisite level of repose and clarity.
Esteemed Reader
Though I have sought insight in many ways, the persistent pull of family and children has produced the most effective arena for fulfilling my love of meaning.
First Impression: Under the Sun
A home born of companionship is an impish child, a wanton act of play.
Untitled
Two artists working within the new paradigm of Asian art are Soe Soe and Khin Zaw Latt, two brothers from Burma whose paintings anchor the inaugural exhibition at Lodoe Gallery.
Book Review: The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa
You are Josh Swiller, a Peace Corps volunteer as far from peace as Mununga is from anywhere, and you may well be about to experience a really ugly death.
Book Review: Night Work
Ulster County Noir is serious fun for any lover of the genre, and Hamilton pulls it off with enormous panache.
Short Takes
Six books to fulfill your New Year’s resolution to read more about mind and spirit.
Book Review: Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt
One of only four Vanderbilt biographies to date, Renehan’s book prominently features the Hudson River and surrounding environs, from which Vanderbilt launched his remarkable career.
Long and Winding Road
Imagine: A studio drummer who’s never written anything but letters decides to write the definitive book about the Beatles, subject of some 500 previous books.
