EDITORIALS
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Natural Essays

The tension of swarm recovery

In my head, I was going through a check list of what I would need. The big swarm hung in the wild fruit tree like a popsicle of living, crawling things. It was waiting for me. I was anxious. I …

When everything clicks

I drive, slowly, into the abandoned orchard on a dirt road full of potholes big as wading pools that form from nowhere since no-one drives here. On past the faded red barns and the antique wooden …

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To the witless, “Eat dirt!” is considered a witty, pejoratively aligned dismissal. “Eat dirt, you so and so!” can be a challenge heard during a 2 a.m. barroom parking lot …
The greenhouse is a short, brisk walk from the house, a little too far to run electricity, but just enough of a walk to make the old heart pump. Usually, I drive. One of the apiaries is on the …
Coming through the airport in Lisbon, my stuff has gone into the metal detector and I’m trying to keep an eye on my worn leather wallet, now out of view, riding on a push conveyor in a grey …
I have spent months studying and traveling to the ruins of the fortified hilltop villages of the vanished Celtiberians. One of the most interesting features of their culture and of life in their …
Editorials
In the realm of medical challenges, few adversaries are as formidable as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). This relentless neurological disease, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, …
It should be no surprise that the protests over the war in Gaza that have engulfed college campuses across the nation have found their way to the Hudson Valley. SUNY New Paltz is just one of …
Few, if any can match the profound impact on their community as F. Edward Devitt, whose legacy will linger long after his May 1 passing. Ed Devitt leaves behind a legacy that resonates deeply …
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released its 2023 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, an annual assessment aimed at estimating the number of Americans, including veterans, who …
Opinion
Did your IRA or 401k double in value in 2023? Sounds impossible? Not if you’re a member of Congress. In 2023 there were more than $1 billion in financial transactions made by members of …
In the New York hush money trial, Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records relating to hush money ($130,000) Michael Cohen, Trump’s then-attorney and “fixer,” …
The United States needs to immediately call for a ceasefire and increase the amount of humanitarian aid going into Gaza. Over 35,000 have already died in this bloody conflict, including over 1,500 …
Too many people and groups think that it’s okay if they do something, but wrong if someone else does it. When I condemned the Hamas shootings and kidnappings in 2023 I was called a Zionist. …
Roses are Red, Violets are Blue No one tells History, Mary, Like you. You also tell Her-Story, it’s True, Since She remembers all of you. No “Kitchen-Table” History is told, Just …
What follows is an excerpt from the April 16, 2024 session of the Town of Newburgh Justice Court Good morning. I’d like to welcome everyone to the Town of Newburgh Justice Court. Before we …
Once again Vincent Ferro has reared his homophobic head in these pages by referring to the Annual White House Easter Egg Roll as “President Biden’s pornographic and blasphemous …
I want to thank the staff at Congressman Pat Ryan’s office in Washington DC for their help with my postal service issues in Walden and the STEWART NY S&DC. They have been working to address …
Like many, I am absolutely appalled that, on the eve of the anniversary of the Kent State massacre, Darrell Wheeler, President of SUNY New Paltz, called in, at great waste of tax dollars, State and …
In response to Don Berger’s Letter to the Editor on 4/25/2024, I was at that meeting and what he is stating is not true. The meeting is posted on the VOM website. Mayor Hembury stated going …
The newly-elected mayor of Montgomery has referred to past village board meetings as the “Jerry Springer Show” referring that previous mayor Brescia ran a raucous and out of control board …
In Germany, seventy-nine years after World War II, it is illegal to use the language or symbols of the Nazis unless they are used in some sort of educational depiction of how the Nazis were …