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editorial

A ballroom, really?

Saturday’s shooting targeted an event designed to defend the First Amendment freedoms Donald Trump has spent years undermining — labeling the press as “the enemy of the people”. His takeaway? Washington needs a new ballroom. Sen. Lindsey Graham agreed, “It’s very difficult to have a bunch of important people in the same place unless it’s really, really secure.”

This from a president who, within hours of his inauguration, shut down the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and has since ordered the rollback of background checks, defunded community safety programs, and made it easier to put weapons in dangerous hands.

So far this year, 69 children under 12 and 262 teenagers have been killed by gun violence — a number that grew since this was written. Firearms have been the leading cause of death for Americans ages 1 to 19 every year since 2020.

One man with a gun disrupted a dinner. Hundreds of children are dead.

The president’s solution? Build himself a ballroom. Call it a bunker if it helps.

Millerton News
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Holding light: two new installations at Wassaic Project

Holding light: two new installations at Wassaic Project

akeylah wellington’s tapestries are made from hundreds of thousands of pony beads.

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New monumental installations by Liz Nielsen and akeylah wellington at the Wassaic Project were celebrated Saturday, Oct. 3, with an artist talk moderated by independent curator Katie Hood Morgan, followed by a reception on the lawn of the Gridley Chapel. Though dramatically different in material and method, the installations share an interest in how we perceive what we cannot fully see or understand — and what happens when something unimaginably vast is made physical.

Opening the talk, Wassaic Project co-executive director Eve Biddle noted that both projects received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, with Nielsen’s project receiving additional support from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation. At a time of uncertainty for arts organizations and federal arts funding, Biddle called the support especially meaningful.

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Nancy Elle Smith pays attention to the wild

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— Nancy Elle Smith

Coyotes move quietly through tall grass. Bobcats wait at the edges of yards for rabbits and squirrels. Deer emerge from a punishing New England winter to dance across a meadow. Spiders construct elaborate webs using different kinds of silk. Bears leave trails through the woods and cubs climb familiar trees.

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First selectman Casey Flanagan showing off the art in Sharon Town Hall.
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Rewriting “Miss Bates”

Rewriting “Miss Bates”

Author Catherine Cliff.

Provided

Jane Austen’s novel “Emma” was published in 1815 and revolves around the eponymous protagonist Emma Woodhouse, a wealthy member of the landed gentry in Regency England who lives with her widowed father in the large fictional village of Highbury. Catherine Cliff’s stunning debut novel “Miss Bates: Emma Revisited,” although a spin-off novel, is anything but. Yes, it lifts the names and some of the plot from Austen but flies off to become a stand-alone tragicomedy revolving around her own eponymous protagonist, Miss Henrietta Bates. In “Emma,” Miss Bates is merely a secondary character. In both novels, she is a member of the gentry, making her the social equal of Emma. Austen’s Miss Bates is not only poor, but also a chatterbox who’s nevertheless kind and sweet. In Cliff’s book, however, her poverty is so extreme that she sometimes drinks hot water as a substitute for dinner, and lurking behind her chattering, she’s anything but sweet.

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A long run for short-form improv

A long run for short-form improv

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For short-form improv, “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” sure has a long history. The hit television program premiered in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Hosted by alternative comedian Clive Anderson, the show ran on England’s Channel 4 for 10 “series” or seasons.

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O+ Festival celebrates health and art

O+ Festival celebrates health and art

The 2025 O+ Parade.

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From Oct. 9-11, the O+ Festival will blend health, wellness and all kinds of art throughout the city of Kingston.

The American health care system is not built for artists. Since the bulk of insurance policies in the United States are tied directly to employment, many artists are forced to take day jobs that can stifle and even suffocate their artistic pursuits. Though the Affordable Care Act sought to bring access to millions of Americans, many artists and other self-employed workers continue to face challenges finding affordable coverage.

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