Intern season

Last summer The Millerton News lost an outstanding reporter, Kaitlin Lyle, who had covered the news for the paper for five years. Many readers still talk about Kaitlin, recalling her byline on so many stories. Kaitlin was moving on to bigger pastures at The News-Times in Danbury. Upon her departure, she commented about what it meant to get close to the communities covered by The Millerton News.

Here’s what she said: “I didn’t know much about them (the communities), which businesses are time honored, how government worked, the school communities, what sets people apart from everyone else. I like doing a deeper dive into the communities I thought I knew to learn there was so much more to uncover.”

Kaitlin was a junior in college when she decided to inquire about a summer internship at The Lakeville Journal, our sister paper, which has a reputation for intensive, hands-on internships. Again this year, The Journal and The News will sponsor paid internships for a few promising journalists.

Our editors are in touch with journalism schools in the tri-state region as part of a recruiting effort, including some in Dutchess County.

On Saturday, the papers participated in an intern job fair at UConn in Storrs, where more than 50 journalism students who are either rising seniors or are about to graduate got a chance to meet newsroom editors representing newspapers, online publications, and radio and television stations.

The event was sponsored by UConn’s Department of Journalism and its Society of Professional Journalists.

At Storrs, it was encouraging to see so much journalism crammed into one room at Oak Hall. Journalism seemed alive and well — although it is on the move.  The experience and interests among tomorrow’s journalists includes print media, but obviously has reached past the print model to social media, video, television and radio news programming, blogging, and whatever is coming.

Since Kaitlin’s departure last summer, The Millerton News also has been on the move. With generous support from The Lakeville Journal Foundation, which publishes The News as a 501 (c)(3) organization, we have been building our staff  across eastern Dutchess County. That includes town coverage of the Village of Millerton, the Town of North East, and Pine Plains, Millbrook and Amenia.

We have added several new part-time staff people, and full-time Managing Editor Emily Edelman, and bolstered reporting with some new writers. Our goal is to provide primary coverage to eastern Dutchess County readers, and give our readers stories that span the regional landscape.

This summer, we look forward to sponsoring our own group of interns, and we will introduce them to you when they arrive in town.

If you or someone you know would like to be considered for our intern program, please send an email to Susan Hassler, Publisher, The Lakeville Journal Company, susanh@lakevillejournal.com.

Latest News

'Gather' at Troutbeck

Romane Recalde speaking about her new business at Gather.

Natalia Zukerman

Hosted by Jason Klein and Sascha Lewis, an ongoing series called “Gather” at Troutbeck in Amenia brings together a curious crowd of local entrepreneurs, artists, and others with a story to tell for an intimate midday chat. On Thursday, Jan. 16, floral designer Romane Recalde, owner of the newly opened Le Jardin in Amenia, took center stage to share her journey from modeling in Miami to cultivating flowers in the Hudson Valley. Gather is a place to share stories, swap advice, and celebrate some of the unique businesses that make our area vibrant — all with a delicious lunch on the side. The gatherings are unconventional in the best way, with no agenda beyond good conversation and community building.

Recalde’s story isn’t just about creating a flower shop; it’s about a complete reinvention of self. “I hated Miami so much,” said the French-born Recalde, recalling her time in Florida before moving to New York. She worked as a model in New York, and eventually met her husband, James. Their pandemic escape to Turks and Caicos turned into a six-month stay, which in turn led them to Millbrook and finally to their home in Amenia, where Recalde’s connection to nature blossomed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Mad Rose opens ‘Assembled’ exhibition

Mad Rose Gallery’s “Assembled” exhibition opened Saturday, Jan. 18, with a public reception.

The eclectic exhibition — on view until March 2 at the gallery on the intersection of Routes 22 and 44 in Millerton — gathers together work from a group of diverse artists with decades of experience between them. The exhibition itself is true to the name, featuring photographs, sculptures, drawings and mixed media works in all shapes and sizes.

Keep ReadingShow less
The fragile bonds of family: a review of Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters'

Betsy Lerner’s 'Shred Sisters' is written with such verve and poetic imagination that it’s hard to fathom how it could be the author’s first novel. Ms. Lerner, 64, has worked for three decades as a literary agent, editor, and non-fiction writer, but at some point during the Covid pandemic — without any forethought — she sat down and typed out the first line of the novel exactly as it now appears in the book, and then completed it without telling anyone what she was up to.

The novel takes place over twenty years — from the 1970s into the ’90s — and is a kind of guide for that era. It reads like a memoir accompanied by some bouncy dialogue, but is actually a work of what’s called autofiction in which Lerner mixes her own experiences — including her own struggle with mental illness — with things she simply makes up. The fictional narrator is Amy Shred, the younger of two sisters in an upper-middle-class, secular Jewish family living in the suburbs of New Haven, Connecticut.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lazy, hazy days of...winter?

This small stream is fishable, despite the wintry conditions. It probably won't be a pleasant or productive experience, but it can be done.

Patrick L. Sullivan

When syndicated columnists run out of ideas they do one of two things.

First they collect the last couple year’s worth of columns and call it a book. These are published to great acclaim from other syndicated columnists and show up in due course in gigantic, ziggurat-shaped mounds at Costco for $4.98 a pop.

Keep ReadingShow less