PINE PLAINS — The Pine Plains Hose Co. is mourning the loss of one of its own this week, after the company’s chaplain, Larry Pariseau, died when his house at 41 Hoffman Road exploded on Wednesday, Oct. 13. His wife of roughly one month, Kim Dunn, was also injured in the blast.
“It’s tragic,” said Pine Plains town Councilman Matthew Zick, who heard Chaplain Larry speak at the town of Stanford’s 20th commemoration of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks this year. “He gave a very moving address. It’s heartbreaking — devastating. I know he also took in a family and that he’s a volunteer fireman.”
Chaplain Larry, 61, was among the many heroes who helped out at Ground Zero. He shared some of his gut-wrenching tales for the very first time at the Stanford 9-11 tribute this summer, of those who lost loved ones and those who made it through what was one of this nation’s darkest days. A first responder in NYC at that time, he later decided to become a chaplain after witnessing such horrors first-hand, he said.
He joined the Pine Plains Hose Co. as its chaplain and also as a volunteer firefighter when he and Dunn, 62, moved to town two years ago. Pine Plains Fire Chief Brian Walsh said Dunn just became certified as an EMT recently so she, too, could help contribute to the community.
“Together they were committed to serving the community,” he said.
Town Supervisor Darrah Cloud agreed on their benevolence as she described the couple, whom she considered friends, in the days after the explosion.
“He was a very eclectic man and a lot of fun and very funny,” she said. “He moved to town and he just volunteered for everything and came in and became a member of the church where I go. He just jumped right into town life. Not a lot of people do that but he and Kim, his wife, really did. We were grateful when he was alive for that. It was a real loss.”
The explosion
According to Walsh, the Hose Company got the call Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. from the 911 center. The emergency call was placed from a neighbor, said Walsh, and the “initial dispatch was there in less than one minute.
“When I arrived on scene the explosion had already happened and the fire had happened,” he said. “It hit third alarm right off the bat, which is not common. I’d never hit a third-alarm fire personally, and I’ve been in fire service for 15 years, and chief for the last six years. So far they’ve only gone up to second alarm. It was extremely intense, as well as throwing out the possible entrapment of four people who were trapped inside the structure.”
Walsh said that “it only ended up being two people who were in the residence.” They were Chaplain Larry and his wife.
Fortunately, the volunteer firefighters rescued Dunn with the help of a neighbor, but “the second unfortunately turned out to be a fatality,” said Walsh, who added “when we were called to the scene we didn’t know it was Larry’s home.”
Walsh described the multi-unit response as “larger than normal,” adding that “usually on third-alarm fires it is a bigger response.”
Fire companies from Copake, Ancram, Millerton, Millbrook, Milan and Stanfordville responded, with Tivoli on standby. Walsh said he believed Rhinebeck and Red Hook were there as well, and possibly a few others.
The Pine Plains Police Department also assisted, as did the Dutchess County Fire Investigation Division, the State Office of Fire Prevention and Control and the New York State Police.
The two-story house was completely leveled as a result of the blast and resulting fire, said Walsh. He said the family that Chaplain Larry and his wife had welcomed into their home was living in the same single residence, splitting the living space.
“It was all one home; it was one structure,” said Walsh, who wouldn’t speculate if the ongoing construction contributed to the cause of the explosion.
The investigation is ongoing at this point. In fact, although the fire was extinguished in a matter of hours, Walsh and fire investigators stayed on scene for nearly 24 hours.
“We were there until 4 p.m. Thursday, and we got the call 7:30 p.m. Wednesday,” he said. “Fire burns as fast as it’s fed with a fuel source, and it had a fuel source that broke apart, so it spread fast. Along with that time on the scene was also the investigation, and the investigation was longer than normal due to the fact that there was a fatality involved.”
Phil Amelio also lives on Hoffman Road; he was in his recliner with his four Labradors when the explosion occurred. He said he stuck his head out the window, and there was dead silence. He described the scene as “absolutely eerie” at the time.
“It’s just a shame — it’s awful. I live two houses up. We lived in that house when I was a little kid,” said Amelio. “That house had been around a long time. They’re were fixing it up. They were doing a nice job. It was so nice to see someone working on it — it’s just a tragedy.”
Walsh said that losing Chaplain Larry has hit the entire fire company hard.
“Larry was the kindest individual you’ll ever meet,” he said. “He always cared for everyone he met. If you needed anything he was there, whether it was the community or the fire service. He was just the kindest person you’d ever meet. That’s who Larry was.”
On Thursday, Oct. 14, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro posted on social media his hopes and prayers for those affected by the fire and the entire community.
“Please pray and stand with our neighbors in Pine Plains. A family was displaced, life lost and fire company rocked. We are fortunate to have so many amazing emergency responders who worked tirelessly at this scene and so many others. Keep them all close to your heart, in your thoughts and center in your prayers.”
Dunn, who was initially transported to MidHudson Regional Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, was later sent to Westchester Medical Center.
GoFundMe page
Meanwhile, Kaitlyn Weise, the 18-year-old daughter of the family that had been taken in by Chaplain Larry and his wife, has organized a fundraiser on GoFundMe, entitled, “The collapse of two families.” As of 6:08 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 18, $56,971 had been raised of the $20,000 goal.
According to Weise’s statement, “This family was the best, allowing me and my family to stay at their fixer-upper home they were making into a little home for us. In the fire was all of my two little brothers’, my mother’s and my belongings…
“This would of been the fifth time we have moved in a little over two years… Also inside were all the memories and belongings to the amazing family that let us call their home our home. We are very confused and unsure why bad things happen to such good people.”
She said the money that is raised through GoFundMe will go to her family and to help Dunn “get everything she needs after she recovers,” as well as to make sure Chaplain Larry “gets the send off he deserves.”
Walsh said on Friday, Oct. 15, as Dunn remained hospitalized at that time, arrangements had not yet been announced for the chaplain. While he had spoken with the family about arrangements, he said “everything is in the works” and “still being kept quiet.”
Leila Hawken
AMENIA — Community members are invited to answer the question "How do you play?" at a community engagement session at Amenia Town Hall on Saturday, March 14, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Town officials are creating a Parks and Recreation Master Plan to guide improvements to parks, programs and recreational areas. A similar engagement session was held in June 2025 supporting the goal of updating the town’s Comprehensive Plan.
The March 14 session aims to collect feedback and ideas from residents regarding Parks and Recreation activities in an interactive format. Adults, children and families are urged to attend. Registration is required to allow for childcare planning for the youngest children, ages 1-7, and activities for all children. Refreshments and snacks will be provided.
Recreation Commission Chair Judy Moran remembered residents calling for "better recreation activities" during the lead-up to the 2025 elections.
“We are trying to find out exactly what activities people would like to see the Recreation
department provide,” Moran said. “So we can better serve our seniors, children and all
residents."
The session will begin at 10 a.m. with a half-hour overview of the planning process, followed by two hours of break-out sessions for adults and children, site explorations, and guided activities. The final half-hour will summarize findings and outline next steps in the planning process.
To register or for more information, go to www.engagingamenia.com.
Nathan Miller
Pine Plains Councilwoman Jeanine Sisco displays a photograph of flashing lights used to alert drivers to pedestrians in crosswalks in Millerton during a public forum at Pine Plains Town Hall on Tuesday, March 3. Sisco outlined plans to repair sidewalks and install two new crosswalks in downtown Pine Plains as a first phase in sidewalk repairs across the town.
PINE PLAINS — Town Board members unveiled plans for sidewalk renovations in downtown Pine Plains as they prepare to apply for a federal grant to fund the first phase of the project.
Councilwoman Jeanine Sisco described the first phase of the sidewalk project at a public forum at Pine Plains Town Hall on Tuesday, March 3.
The first phase calls for repairing sidewalks along Church Street and Main Street and the crosswalks where those streets meet. Two new crosswalks are planned — one on Church Street at the intersection with Academy Street and another on Main Street that will connect the sidewalk on the east side of the street to the Pine Plains Free Library and Community Center.
Town Board members said they intend to apply for a Transportation Alternatives Program grant. The federal funds are administered through the New York State Department of Transportation to finance projects that promote walkability and lessen dependence on cars in a community. The application deadline is March 12, 2026.
Discussion at the public forum centered around crosswalk safety and the inclusion of flashing yellow lights on signposts for pedestrians to activate when they cross. Sisco said it's unclear whether flashing lights will be required at the crosswalks.
She showed pictures of crosswalks in Pleasant Valley, New York, across Route 44, that do not have flashing lights, which she said indicated the lights may not be required in Pine Plains. Sisco also showed pictures of the crosswalks in downtown Millerton that feature lights that would be similar to installations in Pine Plains if required.
Residents were divided on the issue, with opponents raising aesthetic concerns and supporters citing research that flashing lights improve driver awareness and safety at crosswalks.
Pine Plains resident Torey Soracco said she opposed flashing lights at the crosswalks and questioned prior Town Board statements that indicated the lights may be required under grant stipulations.
Soracco asked about the lights' effectiveness, and whether alternative safety measures had been considered. She supported a police presence at the crosswalks to deter unsafe driving.
"I want to make sure we're doing the best way we can," Soracco said. "We already know a way to do that. The fastest way is to give people tickets."
Michael Stabile, who serves as Chair of the Pine Plains Planning Board, spoke in support of flashing lights. He said Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) studies show flashing lights at crosswalks improve driver awareness.
The lights, officially known as "rectangular rapid flashing beacons," reduce pedestrian crashes by up to 47% according to data from the FHWA. Figures on the FHWA's website also state that driver yield rates increase up to 98% at crosswalks with flashing lights.
"I worry about putting sidewalks in that don't have enough safety features," Stabile said.
Sisco said town officials are budgeting for flashing lights in the event they are required, but current plans are to avoid the lights if possible.
Town Supervisor Brian Walsh laid out the timeline of the project. He said the grant process and design work for the first phase would likely take the rest of this year and continue through 2027. He added that the current timeline indicates the first phase of repairs will be complete in late 2028.
After that first phase, Walsh said the project would expand outward from the town center to repair damaged sidewalks and install new paths.
Those plans have not been laid out yet, with no clear timeline given at the public forum. Board members acknowledged the project will be a lengthy process.
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D.H. Callahan
Contemporary chamber musicians, HUB, performing at The Clark.
Northwestern Massachusetts may sometimes feel remote, but last weekend it felt like the center of the contemporary art world.
Within 15 miles of each other, MASS MoCA in North Adams and the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown showcased not only their renowned historic collections, but an impressive range of living artists pushing boundaries in technology, identity and sound.
MASS MoCA is known for its 20th-century holdings spread throughout a sprawling complex of industrial brick buildings. Installations by Sol LeWitt and James Turrell have permanent homes there. Just down the road in Williamstown, the Clark features masterworks by Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, John Singer Sargent and Claude Monet.
But what visitors might not immediately associate with those established names is how deeply both institutions invest in art happening right now.
On Saturday afternoon, a panel of young artists discussed their relationships with art, identity and technology as part of MASS MoCA’s “Technologies of Relation” exhibition, which opened that evening. The artists represented a broad range of cultural backgrounds, drawing on ancestry while exploring the future of art and technology.
The work itself ran the gamut: wax relief paintings, stained glass, interactive video and sculptural installations. One immersive piece automated the traditional Armenian practice of reading fortunes from coffee grounds. Particularly striking were Roopa Vasudevan’s hand-drawn QR codes and Taeyoon Choi’s large-scale weavings of binary code.
Opening the same night was Zora J. Murff’s “RACE/HUSTLE.” Through photographs, paintings and installations, Murff explores the wide-ranging and sometimes violent implications of being Black in America today. Each piece — whether confronting the rise of white supremacy or examining stereotypes imposed on Black communities — carries razor-sharp visual commentary designed to unsettle.
Pelenakeke Brown’s “Reverb” (detail) at Mass MoCA. D.H. Callahan
On Sunday, the Clark continued the contemporary thread. A small exhibition of work by Raffaella della Olga, titled “Typescript,” features intricate patterns created using a typewriter on varied paper surfaces. The effect seems almost impossible until viewers watch a video of della Olga loading her typewriter with 140-grit sandpaper and typing in a hypnotic rhythm. Though the typewriter is considered obsolete technology, she continues to find new applications for it, completing some of the works in recent months.
Next door in the Clark auditorium, HUB New Music performed works written specifically for its unusual instrumentation: violin, cello, clarinet and flute. While that combination may not stand out to casual listeners, relatively little classical repertoire exists for it. The ensemble regularly commissions composers to expand the possibilities.
The results were striking. From the opening notes of Francisco del Pino’s “Passacaglia,” the quartet’s command and layered repetition pulled unexpected emotion from the audience.
After three pieces came the world premiere of Daniel Wohl’s “Mirage,” a roughly 25-minute work accompanied by digital blips, static and electronic textures evoking radio transmissions and UFO lore. Hearing four virtuoso musicians extract entirely new sounds from traditional instruments echoed the weekend’s larger theme: old tools made new again.
Like della Olga’s typewriter, Vasudevan’s QR codes or Murff’s charged imagery, the performances demonstrated that contemporary art often grows from familiar materials — reimagined.
The old masters will always draw visitors to these institutions. But when living artists command equal attention, this quiet corner of the Berkshires feels less like the middle of nowhere and more like a creative epicenter.
D.H. Callahan is a voice actor, creative director and trail steward. He lives with his artist wife in West Cornwall, Connecticut.
Aly Morrissey
Francesca Donner, founder and editor of The Persistent. Subscribe at thepersistent.com.
Francesca Donner pours a cup of tea in the cozy library of Troutbeck’s Manor House in Amenia, likely a habit she picked up during her formative years in the United Kingdom. Flanked by old books and a roaring fire, Donner feels at home in the quiet room, where she spends much of her time working as founder, editor and CEO of The Persistent, a journalism platform created to amplify women’s voices.
Although her parents are American and she spent her earliest years in New York City and Litchfield County — even attending Washington Montessori School as a preschooler — Donner moved to England at around five years old and completed most of her education there. Her accent still bears the imprint of what she describes as a traditional English schooling.
Today, she and her family call Sharon, Connecticut, home. While she still travels frequently to Manhattan, she embraces the contrast between city and countryside.
“For me, it’s all about the contrast,” she said, adding that she is friendly and curious about people here in a way that doesn’t feel natural in the city. “I want to know who you are, what you do, and why you’re here. You end up meeting these really interesting people.”
As a longtime editor in newsrooms like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Forbes, Donner said she began to notice something unsettling about how stories were framed, and whose voices were missing.
“It’s just the way news is done,” she said. “It’s the DNA of what we deem newsworthy and important in mainstream media.”
The problem, she explained, isn’t that women aren’t covered at all. It’s that when women are covered, it’s often in a stereotyped way. Women are frequently framed through familiar narratives – the gender pay gap, unpaid labor, caregiving – important issues that persist, she said, but are often treated as repetitive or secondary. Meanwhile, the stories deemed front-page worthy tend to revolve around power, economics, war and politics — and men.
“If we don’t make a deliberate effort to cover women, women won’t be covered,” Donner said.
The issue isn’t unique to any outlet, she stressed. “It’s just the way news is done.”
But that DNA — who gets quoted and whose experiences are centered — has consequences.
And for Donner, that realization demanded a response.
Enter The Persistent.
Founded in 2024, The Persistent was built around what Donner calls a simple but deliberate premise.
“Women don’t get covered in the same way men get covered,” she said.
The goal isn’t to exclude men or create a siloed “women’s section.” Instead, Donner said, it’s about correcting an imbalance by putting women at the center of the story.
Describing the approach as a reframe, this means expanding who is quoted as an expert. It means spotlighting women in business, politics, culture and global affairs. It also means examining major news stories through a lens that mainstream outlets often overlook.
“What we can add,” she said of The Persistent, “is perspective.”
Now approaching its second year — a milestone that will be celebrated next month — the publication operates with an all-women team of writers, editors and illustrators based across the world. The team meets regularly over Google Meet.
“They’re awesome,” Donner said of the editorial meetings. Some of her staff are mothers, some are not. All bring lived experiences to the table. Donner has intentionally created a newsroom culture that balances rigor with support.
“If your writing doesn’t measure up, I’m going to tell you,” she said plainly. “But it’s not a battle. It’s a partnership.”
Beyond publishing stories that matter, Donner wants contributors to be seen.
“I don’t just want people to read the story and forget who wrote it,” she said. “We can do a lot better if we amplify each other.”
As a woman, Donner rejects the idea that success is finite. She wants everyone to have a slice of the pie.
“Just make the pie bigger,” she said. “Bring more seats to the table. Make it richer.”
Donner credits her “mum” for articulating what would become her professional identity.
“You are what you can’t help doing,” her mother used to say.
Today, without hesitation, Donner said she can’t help being an editor.“My identity as an editor is very strong,” she said. Editing, she explained, is less about correcting typos and more about building and shaping ideas.
“Sometimes I imagine this physical movement of cracking something open,” she gestured.
That instinct traces back to childhood. She recalls sitting in a classroom around age 10, listening to a classmate read a short story aloud. For Donner, that moment crystallized something fundamental.
“Someone else’s words made me just sit up straight in my chair and think, wow, that is so good.”
Today, whether she’s in a historic manor house in Amenia or on a Google Meet with her team across the globe, that instinct remains the same: crack the story open, elevate the unheard voice and reframe the narrative.
Natalia Zukerman
On March 7, Berkshire Opera Festival will bring “Winterreise” to Studio E at Tanglewood’s Linde Center for Music and Learning, with baritone Jarrett Porter and BOF Artistic Director and pianist Brian Garman performing Franz Schubert’s haunting 24-song setting of poems by Wilhelm Müller.
A rejected lover. A frozen landscape. A mind unraveling in real time. Nearly 200 years after its premiere, “Winterreise” remains unnervingly current in its psychological portrait of isolation, heartbreak and existential drift.
Porter, praised by Opera News for his “imposing baritone” and “manifest honesty,” has built his career on major European opera stages, including Oper Frankfurt. But recital work, he says, is closest to his heart.
“I love to recital. If I were to pick my career, I would be doing some opera and mostly recital,” he said. “I think there can be difficulty with grabbing an audience in a recital, but this is one of the greatest pieces to do so because it is so psychological, so powerful, so universally moving.”
Unlike opera, there are no sets in a recital, no costumes or lighting cues to lean on. “The singer with no sets or costumes is left to create a kind of one-man show,” Porter said. His solution is internal. “The way that I process learning something like this and having the responsibility to hold an audience without set or costumes or lights or props is to stage it in my mind. Each song has an identity.”
Schubert’s writing, Porter insists, needs no adornment. “Schubert does an amazing job at setting the scene, and for me, you don’t need anything else. I feel like anything added to it would be almost subtracting. I’d rather just see the singer and the pianist the way that Schubert intended it to be.”
At the center of “Winterreise” is the wanderer, an unnamed figure moving through snow and memory after a failed love affair. For Porter, the character is both specific and universal. “There’s so much ambiguity in the piece,” he said. “We don’t know all of the answers in the first song. We don’t really know who this person is. There are tidbits of information dropped throughout each song. And I think the tendency is to put a narrative on that and to try to connect the dots rather than embracing what it is. The ambiguity is actually where the beauty is.”
That ambiguity extends to the cycle’s ending and the encounter with the eerie hurdy-gurdy player in “Der Leiermann.” Does the protagonist die? “I think one could make that argument,” Porter said. But he resists a neat conclusion. “Death is right in front of him. Death is actually the most peaceful answer to his problem and it’s not given to him. There’s something more, a deeper level.”
Rather than a literal death scene, Porter sees a reckoning. “For me, he’s not granted the easy way out. He has to sort of come to terms with being nothing and having no real skill as a songster or a poet or a wanderer.” The winter landscape, he suggests, mirrors the psyche: “The winter is sort of the mirror of his heart.”
In shaping the emotional arc across all 24 songs, Porter leans into uncertainty rather than resolution. “What I relate to in this piece is that in life, you don’t know what’s going to happen. And you don’t know the next day. Even in tragedy—especially in tragedy—there’s so much question.”
Porter performed Gounod’s “Faust” at BOF in 2024 with Garman conducting but this will be the first time the two will be collaborating with Garman at his instrument. “I love making music with Brian,” said Porter. “I’m a huge fan of his musicianship. I think we’re sort of bitten by the same bug that Schubert is, and so I was super honored that he asked me to do this with him.”
For tickets, visit berkshireoperafestival.org
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