Kids’ Almanac (4/12-4/19)
Stargazing at Mohonk Preserve, Vernal Pool Exploration at Minnewaska, Sparrow’s Nest Spring Fling and more.
Almanac Weekly
Sections
Mary Beth Pfeiffer reads from her new book on Lyme disease in Woodstock & Poughkeepsie
Sunday, April 15: Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change has already garnered critical accolades, including from such environmentalist icons as Jane Goodall and Bill McKibben. The book makes the case that Lyme disease is spreading rapidly around the globe as ticks move into places they could not survive before, infecting half a million people in the US and Europe each year, and untold multitudes in Canada, China, Russia and Australia.
Junot Díaz to speak at Vassar
Wednesday, April 18: Díaz won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics’ Circle Award for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, but this week in particular, the world of belles-lettres is abuzz with admiration for Díaz’s moving account in The New Yorker about the fact that he was raped at the age of eight, and the way that the need to conceal that fact has twisted his life and relationships ever after.
Dancing with the Stars Ulster-Style in Saugerties
Friday, April 13: Ulster County Executive Mike Hein and his wife Christine will face stiff competition as they vie for the “Dancing with the Stars Ulster-Style” crown in Saugerties.
Erica’s Cancer Journey: Putting the ‘I’ in inspiration
“You could increase your weights, you know,” Gayle the trainer points out. I flash back to six months ago, when I returned to the gym, suitably recovered from radiation and steroids. I felt fine, but I was shocked that I couldn’t budge the leg-lift machine.
The spring peeper is a little frog with some amazing abilities
These harbingers of spring have some remarkable talents. They can withstand being frozen solid for days, and can generate a sound comparable in volume to a chainsaw. Not bad for a creature that tops out at 1.5″ and 5 grams.
Arrested Development to perform in Woodstock
Sunday, April 15: Whether art should be a reflection of reality or a perfection of it is a little out of my scope at the moment, but I do want to recall how utterly alien the Afrocentric “conscious rap” of Arrested Development sounded to these ears in early ’90s, when the album for which they will always be known, 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life of…, dropped into the middle of a world obsessed with gangsta rap on the one hand and the inflammatory politics of Public Enemy on the other.
Male a capella vocal group Straight No Chaser comes to UPAC
Saturday, April 14: This virtuosic group covers a remarkable amount of stylistic ground, from traditional to beatbox R & B and all manner of pop reinterpretation.
Basilica Hudson hosts ONE (Our New Energy) Fair
Saturday, April 7: “The Hudson Valley is the birthplace of the American environmental movement, with the Hudson River as central Muse and catalyst,” says Melissa Auf der Maur, alt/rock musician and co-founder/director of Basilica Hudson.
“The Golden Age of New Paltz: Part II” at Wired Gallery in High Falls
Saturday, April 7: By focusing on the relationships that took shape among faculty, students and artists unaffiliated with the college, “Golden Age” tells the story of a small-town scene that would produce art of a significance disproportionate to the town’s and the program’s size.