Living by the sword
Swordfighting has woken me up to the joy of battle like no sport has ever done. It has given me valuable training in courage — a virtue you don’t hear about nearly often enough, especially in the context of women-people.
Columns
Kingston After Dark: Sonorous sounds
Friday, June 16 brings one of the best actual buzz bands around to BSP Kingston. Quality and popularity are not always concurrent, but Nothing, from Philadelphia, is the real deal.
All together now
A little over a week ago, grubby politics brought an abrupt end to a hard-fought environmental treaty, many years in the making. Scientists advised and citizens pleaded, but to no avail: One rogue government simply walked away from the negotiations, and that was that. I’m talking about New Jersey, of course.
The wild beasts of Abbey Road
Blame the tourists, blame the neighbors, blame society. For all of her crimes, the only one not to blame for Miss Ulster County #332’s death was the bear herself.
Cool lesser-known astro-expressions
Some are pure fun. They’re fun either because they sound intriguing, or else denote a little-known phenomenon that deserves wider recognition.
Kingston After Dark: Be yourself
Worth putting on your radar: Butchers Blind and The Sweet Clementines June 10 at The Anchor.
Mapping the Catskills
The Catskill Mountains are crisscrossed with political and cultural lines that meander across the landscape like so many invisible trout streams, carving the landscape into more tame and manageable pieces. The result of all this slicing and dicing is that little attention gets paid to the Catskills as a whole, either by its own residents or by the larger powers that be.
Relativity in five minutes: Einstein’s bullet points
Special relativity was evolutionary and isn’t that hard to understand. But general relativity theory seemingly came from outer space; it had very little precedent and was truly an act of genius.
Accent on New Paltz: Helping others to help themselves
Not a day goes by without hundreds of Ulster County residents being helped by the staff and volunteers at Family of New Paltz and its parent organization, Family of Woodstock.
Did life begin among the stars?
Finding glycine among the raven clouds of night, amidst the Milky Way that spreads across the heavens these very nights, is stunning.