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.”
The Shandaken town board voted on February 4 to raise the wages of paramedics in the hope of attracting more employees to the ambulance service.
“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.
Paula Dutcher, a Shandaken native, finds that being a woman gives her a positive edge in the building trade, although the presence of a female carpenter/contractor is often hard for men to process. As a mother, Jenna Rodgers, an electrician in Shandaken, appreciates the flexibility her work provides. Both of them feel the building trades are ripe for the entry of more women.
Juanie Gold and The Colony present DJs Shaman Vybez, Chuck “Da Fonk” Fishman of FSQ, and Eli “Bamboozle” of Soul Clap on Saturday, February 2, with doors opening at 7 p.m., music starting at 9. The Colony is at 22 Rock City Road in Woodstock. Tickets are $10, available at http://www.colonywoodstock.com.
The Samadhi Recovery Outreach Center rehab facility aims to be an affordable alternative for those seeking rehabilitation rooted in the principles of mindfulness, self-compassion and harm-reduction therapy. It’s launching this spring with an outreach center in Kingston. A benefit is planned for Sunday, January 27.
Much has been made of this year’s divisiveness among organizers of national women’s marches. At the rally that was part of the Woodstock march, musician Amanda Palmer compared the process to the rigors of childbirth, conflicted and bloody. Still, the work gets done.
‘We support the idea of allowing STRs, particularly if they’re owner-occupied. But there has to be a way to balance the positive aspects versus the negatives.’
People are politically fatigued by the news coming out of Washington, said Annie Reed, co-organizer of the Woodstock Women’s March. “Here’s an opportunity to get pumped up, to renew our spirit and energy and forward-thinking muscles.”
The Town of Shandaken is looking at several major infrastructure projects for 2019, and town supervisor Rob Stanley hopes to have a permitting process for short-term rentals in place by the end of the year.
The business of media is changing, but local, on-the-ground, fact-checked journalism is needed now more than ever.
