Sunday, Dec. 24: Every Christmas Eve, Woodstockers of all ages flock to the Village Green around 5 p.m. to witness the arrival of Santa Claus. To those gathered, the question on their minds isn’t if Santa will actually arrive, but how.
Despair isn’t new, and neither are the cold, and the dark, and the depredations of the ruthless during lean times. We defy these things at solstice. We talk about “Christmas cheer,” but this thing we do with the burnt-out stub of the dying year is older than Christmas, and it has always been a light in a dark place.
The experience of tearing away decades of bad design choices is familiar to anyone who owns and old house. Some day, no doubt, a future homeowner will scratch their heads at our renovations. What can I say? 2017 was a weird time.
“There’s no one telling us how to navigate the issues. People need education to help their parents die better.”
Located on what is now Bellows Lane, the home looks like many in the area. Yet during its time it served as a center of the town’s cultural life.
The town hopes the new requirement will address overcrowding, which led to a large amount of garbage and complaints from neighbors.
In October, Filipino veterans of World War II finally received recognition from the U.S. for their critical role in liberating the Philippines — and its strategic American Army bases — from the Japanese. A Congressional Gold Medal, designed by Woodstock artist Joel Iskowitz, was presented to veterans and their descendants.
Ricco, a legendary New York City gallery owner one month into his creative retirement, speaks of artists, famous and anonymous, as well as the complexity of an adventurous life that’s had him living in and around Woodstock for decades.
Her husband had been ill for years and suffering from severe back pain, and “slowly killing himself” with alcohol. She said she saved nearly 100 pain pills for him to consume, along with alcohol, to end his life. “I aided him,” she said. The judge said he planned to sentence her to 2-6 years in prison.
“Before getting this, we would have had to handle this past weekend’s missing hikers the old school way, carrying everything in and then everything out by hand.”