PINE PLAINS — Motivating New York Democrats in 2024, a conversation with U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and state Sen. Michelle Hinchey was held Sunday, March 3, at the Stissing Center for Arts and Culture.
Kenya Gadsden, who is running on the Democratic ticket for Dutchess County clerk, talked briefly about the importance of this year’s political contests, asking if the audience understood the enormousness of the outcome of the vote.
She introduced Hinchey, saying that she had been voted “Advocate of the Year 2022” for her work in affordable housing, and also noted her work on aging water infrastructure and other environmental issues.
Gadsden introduced Gillibrand by saying that she was originally voted into Congress in 2006 and, in 2009, was appointed to fill the seat in the Senate left by Hillary Clinton. In 2010 she was voted into the Senate, where she has served since, advocating for health care, the environment, jobs and equality.
The discussion centered on the need for the Democrats to mobilize, to come together working toward the 2024 election.
Upstate priorities
Hinchey said that in many matters, the interests of upstate New York are left on the table. Reliable internet, accessible health care and other interests are left wanting because the communities are small. Getting the message out is imperative and can make a difference, she said.
Getting free breakfast and lunch to schoolchildren was a priority, she said; last year, that goal was 88% attained.
Chris Drago, county legislator for Dutchess County District 19 — which includes Stanford, Pine Plains, North East/Millerton — cited the need for change. In particular, he underscored the need for broadband accessibility and emergency services in the area.
Gillibrand said that violence is one of the main problems facing New York, but that while people think it is being caused by gun proliferation, the actual problem is illegal gun trafficking.
She also brought up some of the problems including sexual abuse in the military and the lack of equality for transgender and LGBTQ people.
She is sponsoring a bill that will provide free college tuition to 1,000 students, provided they serve the government for five years in a cyber-related discipline after their education.
About 25 protesters, some carrying signs, disrupted the discussion at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains Sunday, March 3.Judith O'Hara Balfe
War in the Middle East, division at home
Shortly after she began to speak, several audience members rose, some holding signs, chanting, “No cease fire, no vote,” referencing the ongoing devastation in Israel and Gaza. Some of the signs stated, “Stop the genocide.”
Gillibrand acknowledged that there was a need for discussion on the subject because it is a situation everyone cares deeply about. She tried to speak to the protestors while they continued to chant.
Gadsden began to sing, “There’s a train coming, you don’t need a ticket, you just get on board.”
Pine Plains and state police escorted the protestors out. Gillibrand said that the Middle East situation is dividing us. She summarized that on Oct. 6, a plan had been devised to allow for a two-state solution, that Jordan was providing support for the process, and that the attacks on Oct. 7 ended that plan.
She said that Hamas are not freedom fighters, but are paid by Russia. She said that the money the United States gives to Israel is for defense purposes, and that Biden is pushing Israel to the peace table.
At this juncture, the Rev. Peter Cook, executive director of the New York State Council of Churches, rose and questioned the accuracy of her statements. Gadsden offered to see him afterward and exchange phone numbers.
Hinchey, like Gillibrand, encouraged everyone to work for the reelection of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, naming the accomplishments of their administration, and adding, “The House of Representatives is a s— show. They don’t want to stop assaults on the LGBTQ community, don’t want to help kids with food or college,” she said.
Both Hinchey and Gillibrand agreed that the party has to be united and lift up the Biden and Harris team. Gillibrand said, “The great protector of our nation is democracy, but,” she admonished, “to be strong, democracy must be exercised” by voters.
Climate crisis
Hinchey said that we are not talking enough about the ongoing climate crisis, and that we’re not doing enough to mitigate it.
“We need to have sweeping change,” she stated, “or our kids and grandkids won’t have a future. This is uncomfortable, but necessary. Young people are asking, ‘Can we have a family?’ We have to make changes.”
She added, “If we lose next year, we’ll be asking, ‘How do we stop the damage?’”
Kathy Reisfeld
In college, Reisfeld initially majored in physics, drawn to systems and structure. But an economics class shifted her direction. Markets, she realized, were systems too — not only mathematical, but deeply human.
After graduating, she landed an internship with a financial adviser and gradually discovered a profession that combined curiosity, problem-solving and relationship-building.
“The more I learned, the more I kind of wanted to get involved,” she said.
Over time, she realized she wasn’t interested in chasing predictions; she was interested in guiding people through uncertainty.
Over nearly three decades, she has watched the industry evolve. It has moved, she believes, from selling products to offering advice — a shift toward aligning compensation with clients’ best interests.
She’s candid about the stereotypes that cling to finance: that it’s driven by greed and full of money-hungry people. Those people exist, she said, but they aren’t the majority.
“It’s kind of like the few bad apples ruining it for everyone.”
At its best, she believes, the work is quieter and more meaningful than its reputation suggests.
Kathy Reisfeld practicing yoga.Elena Spellman
Yoga entered her life in 2001, when she was living in New York City and training as a marathon runner.
“I was, like, very anti-yoga,” she admitted with a laugh.
But once she tried it, something shifted. A workshop with Nancy Gilgoff, the first American woman to travel to India to study Ashtanga yoga, “blew my mind open,” she said, revealing yoga as something far larger than poses or stretching.
What began as a physical complement to her running became a doorway into something deeper.
“Ashtanga means eight limbs,” Reisfeld explained. “The physical practice is just the entry point.”
The overlap she sees between yoga and investing is patience. Both practices demand discipline through fluctuation — the ups and downs, the good days and bad days, and the willingness to keep showing up.
In yoga philosophy, she points to the stilling of the mind. In investing, that becomes tuning out the noise — the headlines that spike fear or euphoria, the endless predictions that feel authoritative and rarely land cleanly.
After almost three decades in a traditionally male-dominated industry, Reisfeld has learned to move comfortably in rooms where she was often one of the few women present.
Asked what it was like starting out as a woman in finance, she smiled.
“The lines for the restroom were shorter.”
The humor reflects her temperament. She began her career at 21, and mentorship was not always easy to find. But finance, like yoga, rewards consistency. Ultimately, she built her business through steady growth.
For Reisfeld, yoga is fundamentally about integration. Money is no exception. It shapes how we live, the choices we make and the freedoms we have. Ignoring it doesn’t make it disappear. It only makes it harder.
Now rooted in the Berkshires, advising clients and teaching yoga classes from the same barn, Reisfeld’s work feels less like two careers and more like one philosophy.
When asked what she hopes people feel after spending time with her — whether reviewing a portfolio or finishing a yoga session — her answer is immediate.
“More confident,” she said. “Less stressed. More optimistic about their future.”
For more information or to book an appointment, visit berkshirewealthgroup.com
Kathy Reisfeld, Branch Owner
250 Maple Ave, Great Barrington, MA 01230
845-263-3996
Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC.
Berkshire Wealth Group is not a registered broker/dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services, Inc.
Investment advisory services offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc.
Elena Spellman is a Client Service Associate at Berkshire Wealth Group
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Playwright Cinzi Lavin, left, poses with Kathleen Kelly, director of ‘A Goodnight Kiss.’
When Lavin inquired about staging the production there, “they were very excited about it,” she said.
The performance, to take place April 1, is being sponsored by the Connecticut League of Women Voters. Organizers said the Capitol setting offers a fitting backdrop for a story rooted in American history and civic life.
“A Goodnight Kiss” is a dramatic reading drawn from letters exchanged between Sgt. Maj. Frederick Lucas (David Maccharelli) and Sarah Jane “Jennie” Wadhams (Olivia Wadsworth). Fred wrote from battlefields, while Jennie wrote from the peaceful confines of Goshen. Together, their letters trace a gradually deepening romance and how the couple overcame objections by Jennie’s father, John Marsh Wadhams, and finally married in 1867.
“I just found it adorable that (Jennie’s father) was going to make sure she got the right kind of husband, which is why Fred had such a hard time,” Kelly said.
BroadwayWorld reviewer Sean Fallon called the play “the most romantic love story I have ever seen acted out on stage.”
The letters were first brought to light in the 2002 book “Fred and Jennie: A Civil War Love Story” by the late Ernest B. Barker, a Goshen resident and descendant of both the Lucas and Wadhams families. The Barker family discovered Fred’s letters in the Wadhams homestead and Jennie’s letters in a house once owned by a Lucas family member. The correspondence is now housed at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History in Hartford.
Capitol atriumSubmitted by Kathleen Kelly
Kelly said presenting the story through letters poses a challenge because the actors rarely interact onstage. During rehearsals, she had the performers face one another while reading their letters aloud. “It was just like magic happened,” she said.
Lavin said the play “tells the story of what truly makes America great, what made America great then, and what still makes it great, which is devotion to duty, service to others, integrity and treasuring freedom.”
David Maccharelli, who portrays Fred, said, “Charting (Fred’s) course from enthusiastic young recruit gushing with admiration for the new technology of 19th-century warfare to a man crashing into the reality of war is a reminder that even the noblest of causes demand sacrifice, and that sacrifice is often borne by innocents.”
Olivia Wadsworth said of portraying Jennie, “It’s actually a little dizzying to think about. Two people, more than a hundred years ago, sent private letters to one another, and now their love story is being shared in a performance at the state Capitol.”
The performance will take place April 1 at 2 p.m. in Room 310 of the Capitol at 210 Capitol Ave., Hartford. The event is free and open to the public with advance registration at https://bit.ly/4usa9b7. Arrangements for guests with special requirements may be made by emailing Lisa Del Sesto at admin@lwvct.org or calling 203-288-7996. Parking on Capitol grounds is limited, but additional parking is available nearby at the Legislative Office Building, 300 Capitol Ave.
Yonah Sadeh, Falls Village filmmaker and curator of David M. Hunt Library’s new VideoWall.
After the screening of the two films, “Mail Myself to You” and “Circle, Circle Square,” Pranger and Sadeh will discuss filmmaking and answer questions.
Of Pranger, Sadeh said, “She has a strong visual voice as a director, and both of these films are great examples of a blend of documentary and experimental filmmaking.”
Imogen Pranger, first filmmaker of the new VideoWall.Provided
Pranger described her approach to filmmaking. “I have always approached the visual arts from an interdisciplinary, multimedia perspective.” This approach was a reason why animation was particularly appealing to Pranger as she began exploring the possibilities of filmmaking.
“I particularly fell in love with the tactility of hand-drawn and painted animation and the ways in which it can be used in tandem with analog 16-millimeter film. Stop-motion animation holds the unique power to bring inanimate objects to life, something that became crucial to my practice of archival documentary filmmaking. I appreciate the sense of play that is encouraged in the medium of animation and find great joy in exploring new avenues and possibilities within the medium,” she continued.
At the core of Pranger’s films, she hopes to capture the joy and intimacy of human connection that blossoms through engagement with material and creative process.
After the opening event, the films will remain available to view at any time on the VideoWall screen in the library stacks. “The screen will always be on and ready for anyone to use,” Sadeh said. The installations will last three to four months.
Sadeh added, “Each installation will begin with a public screening at the library, followed by a talkback with the filmmaker.”
Filmmakers can contact Sadeh at huntartwall@gmail.com for information about submitting films for consideration. Visit huntlibrary.org/art-wall for a schedule of ArtWall and VideoWall events, which are free and open to the public.
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