Publishing legend Betty Ballantine dies in Bearsville at 99
Betty Ballantine, editorial half of the husband/wife team who pioneered the American paperback, died — as she’d wished she might — in her home on Ballantine Hill in Bearsville.
Community
The A.J. Williams-Myers African Roots Center a bright spot of knowledge
This week we are going to take some time to learn about what they do at the Library at the
New Paltz may cancel its fireworks celebration this year, citing a lack of volunteers
Whether fireworks go off at the Ulster County Fairgrounds in New Paltz this year is entirely up to New Paltzians themselves. Organizing those festivities was a volunteer effort until only a few years ago, and town officials plan on returning to that tradition. All that’s needed is for locals to pick up the ball.
Get matched for a Friend Date, if you dare, at Dakota Lane’s Lovefest in Woodstock
Saturday, Feb. 16: “When I was a kid in Woodstock, I got my little brother to write these secret notes with me. We’d write love notes, notes of positive affirmation, like ‘You’re doing great; just keep going!’ And we would spread them all over town, slip them into chocolate -bar wrappers in the Grand Union and put them into library books – just dozens of notes everywhere.”
“The Erica Effect”
I wasn’t alone in noticing the “Erica Effect,” which drew not only individuals, but whole communities, to love her: She was written up in Psychology Today. Erica is “one of these rare, special individuals who gives to others in a way that is beyond what she could possibly receive in return,” wrote psychologist Dr. Glenn Geher back in 2015.
Ann Byer’s Shandaken
When I run into Ann Byer, usually outside the Phoenicia post office or the bank, she reels off a list of readings, concerts, films, benefits, or political events she’s been to or is thinking of going to. Usually I’m unaware of most of them, although I’m on Facebook and email, while Ann does not touch computers. When asked how she knows about everything going on in Shandaken and Woodstock, she replies, “I talk to people.”
Obituary: Erica Lynne Chase-Salerno
On February 7, 2019, Erica cast off the final line from her Viking ship and sailed away to her next celestial port. In the hold she carried with her all the love, experiences, gifts and everyday miracles you all have shared with her on her 49-year earthly journey.
Woodstockers can borrow a wheelchair, walker, or other support from the loan closet
“It breaks my heart when someone says, ‘We paid so much for that! I didn’t know we could get it for free.’” Judith Emilie, a volunteer with the Woodstock Loan Closet, is referring to the wheelchairs and other assistive devices available for borrowing from the little storage barn behind the rescue squad building.
Subzero Heroes raise funds for Alzheimer’s February 9 at Berean Lake
With the shrinking of the polar ice cap, these may be tough times for Arctic creatures; but here in the Hudson Valley, a warm welcome is being prepared for the human variety of polar bear, regardless of the weather on Saturday, February 9. That’s when Berean Lake in Highland will play host to the ninth annual Subzero Heroes event, a major fundraising event for the Alzheimer’s Association.
(Parts and) labor of love
Billy Cusack now runs garage he used to hang out in as a kid.