Reacting to Donald Trump’s election, a group of Woodstockers braved the cold last Saturday to celebrate the power of persistence. The hour-long gathering on the village green featured live music.
Hannah Borucinksi, an 18-year-old college freshman, came up with the idea of bringing people together.
“After the election, I just felt really defeated, and the more I reached out to friends of my age, they felt the same,” Borucinksi said. “They didn’t know what to do next, So I felt it would be great to just kind of use that energy of anxiety and recycle it to something that’s more unifying.”
People felt scared and wanted a way to channel the anger and frustration, she explained.
“I know Woodstock has always been a very loving community, so I wanted to use that resource and try to drive more positive feedback into the world,” she said. “I just feel like I couldn’t not do anything.”
The hope is to repeat the December 7 event with more notice in warmer weather.
Town-board member Anula Courtis helped organize the gathering.
“I feel uniquely positioned in between the age groups here,” Courtis said. “I’m following in the footsteps of so many strong women, and I will do everything that I can to help those who are the generation or two behind me.”
Courtis and Borucinski read a poem by Maya Angelou.
Ulster County legislator Jeff Collins had a dire warning about what he thinks the Trump administration will mean locally.
“We are screwed. We are literally screwed,” he said. “We get $47 million in the county from the federal government. That’s going to disappear. My prediction, it’ll disappear over the next few years.”
That funding goes to support the most vulnerable citizens, he said.
“It goes for things that support those people in need. We’ll lose that first,” he said.
“We in New York will be targeted by this president because he’s pissed at us because we didn’t vote for him. We didn’t support him.”
Collins encouraged people to get involved locally. He said that Ulster County government would have to function without help from the federal government.
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