The Rogovoy Report 12.18.23

From around the corner to around the globe...

Dec 17, 2023

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REQUIRED READING

A Cursed Blessing: Søren Kierkegaard’s Theory of Despair

(The Nation) - You’ve probably had the experience—perhaps while listening to music, seeing an old friend, or walking in nature—of feeling as though you’ve reconnected with some deep part of yourself. These moments might not be outwardly dramatic, but inwardly they feel significant, even profound. They remind you that, for some time, an important part of yourself had gone missing, and you’d forgotten that it even existed. “The greatest danger, that of losing one’s self, can occur so quietly that it is as if it were nothing at all,” wrote Søren Kierkegaard. “Every other loss—an arm, a leg, five rixdollars, a spouse, etc.—is noticed, however.” Kierkegaard called this loss of the self “despair”: a spiritual sickness that, he believed, afflicts us all. The way he describes it, despair sounds like bad news, and in a way it is. Yet for Kierkegaard, despair reveals the spiritual reality of our being. It is a sign that we are more than just bodies, thoughts, and emotions—since all these things were still there after we’d lost touch with our deeper, truer self.

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Loser takes all: Why the US Constitution is no longer fit for purpose (TLS)

What if friendship, not marriage, was at the center of life? (The Atlantic)

What would it mean to treat animals fairly? (New Yorker)

Why One of Manhattan’s Best Bakeries Moved to Hudson

(Eater) HUDSON, N.Y. - Goodbye (and good riddance) Breadfolks; hello, Mel! Since opening on Ludlow Street in fall 2020, Mel the Bakery from Nora Allen has received accolades for emphasizing freshly milled flour, heirloom grain, and pastries like its sourdough croissants. The bakery, in a 370-square feet space, was by any account, tiny, which led to lines and quick sell-outs. So when Mel the Bakery announced it was closing in April this year – the building was being sold – her many fans wondered where she’d land. Turns out, she turned her sights upstate: As of this weekend, Mel the Bakery opens at 324 Warren Street, across from Hudson’s historic opera house. In Hudson, Allen has a spacious 3,200 square feet to spread her elbows in, with seating for at least 35 (there’s additional outdoor seating at the neighboring Pocket Park). The experience at the new Mel is more leisurely: Order at the counter, and stay for a while to sip on a latte from the espresso machine.

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Famed Southern chef Charlie Mitchell -- first Black Michelin-starred chef in New York City (only the second in America) -- recently “popped up” at Canyon Ranch in Lenox (Vogue)

At 328 North in Williamstown, Tu Le reckons with his past through food and farming (Berkshire Eagle)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Norton Owen stands among the stacks of historic materials in the archives of Jacob's Pillow.

Norton Owen, Jacob Pillow’s Founding Archivist, Celebrating 50 Years on the Job

(Berkshire Eagle) BECKET, Mass. - The dancers looked around Blake’s Barn, not totally sure why they had to be there. They were eager to get to the studio, where they’d spend the rest of the week holed up with choreographer Sekou McMiller, creating Afro Latin partner dances. But before then, like every company that works at The Pillow, they were visiting the Jacob’s Pillow’s Archives and meeting archivist Norton Owen. When dancers around the world come to The Pillow, their first stop is often Owen’s little red barn. “Norton’s truly one of the most beloved people in our field,” said Pamela Tatge, Jacob’s Pillow’s executive and artistic director. “If I go to a performance with him in New York, let’s just say people from all over, all generations, come to say hi.” “With theater, you’ve got a script. With music, you have a score. But how are you going to know a dance in the future? How do you hold on to that moment?”, asks Owen. As The Pillow’s longest-standing employee, and the person who created its archive from the ground up, he’s spent nearly 49 years trying to answer that question. And as the only Director of Preservation and Curator of Exhibitions that The Pillow’s ever had, Owen has become both a key figure in the institution’s history and a link to its own past.

READ MORE:

‘Solstices’ concert at PS21 to take place in total darkness (ATU)

2024 Williamstown Theatre Festival gala will honor producer Jenny Gersten (Playbill)

Norah Jones, Laufey, Lake Street Dive and Samara Joy headline SPAC’s 2024 jazz festival (ATU)

My favorite books of 2023 (Everything Is Broken)

NEWS FROM THE BERKSHIRES

Does Great Barrington Police Investigation of Book in Middle-School Library Portend Book-Banning in Berkshires?

(Berkshire Edge) GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. - The town’s Police Department conducted an investigation at W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School over a book. According to Berkshire Hills Regional School District Superintendent Peter Dillon the book in question is the award-winning “Gender Queer,” a 2019 graphic novel by Maia Kobabe. An anonymous complaint about the book to the local police led to a search for the book by a plainclothes officer. The book was not found, and Dillon says, “I think [the department] overreached on this one.” More than 100 students and others in the Monument Mountain Regional High School community on Friday protested the attempt by police to remove the book from the middle school. Read also, Someone complained about a book in a Great Barrington classroom. Then the police showed up (Berkshire Eagle)

Williams College Vandalism Calls for Violence Against Israelis

(iBerkshires) WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - Williams College is investigating an incident last Wednesday in which posters calling for the return of Israelis being held hostage by the Hamas terrorist group were defaced with graffiti calling for violence against Israelis. The incident at the Paresky Center, which includes campus mailboxes, meeting rooms and one of the college's main cafeterias, coincided with Williams' final exam week for the fall semester and the end of the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. Read also, Posters of Israeli hostages were defaced at Williams College. The graffiti ‘supported violence against Israelis’ (B Eagle); Williams sees record-breaking 1,068 applicants to Class of 2028 through early decision (Williams Record); Harvard sees applications for early admission drop by 17 percent over last year (Boston Globe)

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Families flock to Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams in push to attract more Jewish families with children (B Eagle)

Engaging more people in local affairs as observers, informed voters, participants, and ultimately as volunteers and elected officials can only be to the good. Yet the Town of Alford Select Board’s decision this week to end its hybrid in-person-and-remote meetings, and going forward, only hold in-person sessions, seems to fly in the face of this commonly held sentiment, at least among those who believe in democracy. It wasn’t just the board’s two-to-one vote that leaves a sour taste, but also the vague arguments and near-angry tone of board members defending their vote. (Berkshire Argus)

A new 10-year cable TV license agreement is nearly complete for these South County towns. Here’s what’s in it for Spectrum customers (B Eagle)

Great Barrington looking into acquiring Housatonic Water Works (Berkshire Edge)

$200K grant supports ecological restoration and climate resilience in the Berkshires (B Edge)

Dollar General, a blight on the landscape (and the economy), coming to Main Street in Best Small Town in America - Great Barrington (B Eagle)

Darrow School in New Lebanon, N.Y., could close due to aging buildings, lack of tuition (ATU)

Revisiting an alleged alien sighting in Sheffield, as UFO talk spreads to Congress, election (NEPM)

Another supersoaker rainstorm headed toward Berkshires (B Eagle)

NEWS FROM THE HUDSON VALLEY

Windham Ski Resort Rebrands as Ultraexclusive, and Some Locals Feel Left Out

(NYT) WINDHAM, N.Y. - Windham Mountain, a ski resort just over two hours north of New York City, was in need of revamping. The lift lines were too long. The food and drink quality had declined. So when word got out that a new ownership group was taking over, the change was initially welcomed. But then the new owners, led by the founder of a national restaurant chain and a hotel group scion, unveiled a slick website that laid out their plans for an ambitious rebrand in October. Windham Mountain would now be known as the Windham Mountain Club. Memberships to access the new amenities would come at a steep price: $175,000 for those who joined right away, and $200,000 for those who waited until March. If current members, some of whom paid as little as $25,000 for their spots, did not opt in, their memberships would be terminated on May 1. “It’s no secret that they’ve managed to alienate and, frankly, piss off a lot of people,” said Nick Bove, who owns Windham Mountain Outfitters, a local equipment store.

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Inexperienced and perhaps naive Hudson Planning Board caves to mining company's demands for haul road which travels through environmentally sensitive areas to the city's beloved waterfront, dashing hopes for people-friendly development of Hudson’s foremost claim to fame: its namesake river (ATU)

Valley Alliance calls Hudson Planning Board's wholesale surrender to mining company pathetic, slipshod, unaware, completely ignoring massive public opposition, pledges to continue fighting plan that could allow more than 100,000 truck trips per year to the Hudson Waterfront (GoR)

The town timekeeper keeps Chatham’s clock ticking. It’s a steep climb and a heavy lift (Berkshire Eagle)

Small private airport in Chatham, N.Y., for sale for $1.5M (ATU)

Greene County economic indicator fastest growing in NY (HV360)

Disregarding local regulations and best practices, Hudson's biggest landlord, Galvan, once again forges ahead on development project, destroying historic brick siding in process (GoR)

Galvan continues its mind-boggling, seemingly spiteful policy of clear-cutting any and all trees on its properties, residential and commercial. (GoR)

In contrast to Galvan’s bulldozing ways, Hudson’s Melissa Auf der Maur and Tony Stone won annual Pillar of New York Awards from the Preservation League of New York State, awarded to those who have demonstrated a deep understanding of the value of New York’s historic resources by taking extraordinary actions to protect, preserve, and promote those assets, in their case including Basilica Hudson and the River House Project on Allen Street (GoR)

Heavy rain, winds come with coastal storm Sunday night to Tuesday morning (ATU)

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