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Photo Credit: Brian DiLorenzo
Did you see these indie filmmakers at any point during the making of “Myth,” screening Thursday, June 6, at 7 pm in the big music room in the back at Towne Crier?
This crew was all over the Hudson Valley, including a driving shot on the road from Cold Spring to Peekskill, and another on a road off of Rock Cut Road in the Town of Newburgh, and another scene filmed at the Hudson Valley Mall in Kingston.
“Myth,” written and directed by Brian DiLorenzo, was a locally made production which gave aspiring young filmmakers the chance to come together to make a movie.
Said Brian when A Little Beacon Blog inquired about where he found his crew: “Every single person was a great friend, mostly from the film program we all graduated from at C.W. Post College. We did however have a ton of family and hometown friends involved as well.
“My college roommate Dan Brady was our Director of Photography (DP), my friend Gia McKenna produced, and my buddy Dan Rodenhizer helped out as Assistant Director (AD).
It was a great ask - because I essentially had to ask people to ditch their paying jobs and come live with me in the woods for 10 days to make this thing happen. One of the guys, Richie Theodule, who ran our sound, didn't even know anyone before he joined our team! Now we're great friends.”
“Myth” details the exploits of a shady movie director (Nicholas Tucci, who can also be seen in Hulu’s original series “Ramy,” as well as the just-released psychological thriller “Long Lost”) and his devoted protégé (Justin Andrew Davis), as they embark on a chaotic new project, filled with intrigue and deceit at every turn. Actress Sadie Scott (can be seen on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Crshd”) looks to be a breakout star as she just won Best Actress at the 2019 May Day Film Festival as the film makes its way through the festival circuit.
Being that this was a young filmmaking team, A Little Beacon Blog inquired with Brian the Director about the budget, as our readers like to know how things work:
“We were extremely low budget! In the indie film world, there are all these different tiers that span from a project like ours, all the way to something like ‘Garden State’ or ‘Little Miss Sunshine.’ In terms of ‘low-budget,’ SAGIndie defines it as between $650K to $2 million, ‘low-budget modified’ between $200K and $650K, ULTRA-low budget for films between $50K and $200K. We get our own special category, which is sometimes known as either "micro-budget" or "no-budget filmmaking." In terms of my own budget, between about seven credit cards, we were around $35K!”
Large- and small-budget movies from all over are filming in the Hudson Valley. A reader of A Little Beacon Blog wrote in to ask about Beacon’s permits, and about renting a house out in general - as a homeowner - to a film crew. We interviewed a Location Manager to discover some of the ins and outs you’ll want to know about as you negotiate your rate with the production company. Click here to get that article.
Pictured here is the crew shooting a scene for the first “Super Troopers” movie, when it used the Telephone Building as a location.
Photo Credit: Deborah Bigelow, owner of the Telephone Building at 291 Main Street, Beacon, NY
One evening, a reader wrote in with a question, having read one of our articles about filming in Beacon. My husband, David Martin, is a Location Manager for film and television. Mainly his work is in New York City, but the sphere of filming has been expanding to out here in the Hudson Valley. Dutchess Tourism has been promoting this area to film productions for years, and CineHub also works with film production companies looking to film in the area, to help them make the production a little easier.
Below is an interview with David the Locations Manager to gather some tips about renting out your home to a film crew to be used as a location:
A: The location fee - which is for the use of your home - just depends on what you’re willing to allow. The fee will include Prep Day(s), Shoot Day(s), Wrap Day(s). Several days could fall into Prep, Shoot, or Wrap Days. It all depends on what the production needs to do, and what their budget is. A full Shoot Day is 12 to 14 hours on average. You should be asking for more money for the Shoot Day, as those days are more involved with what the crew needs to do.
Wrap Days (aka Restoration Days) include putting your house back together the way that it was. You’ll want to consider to what extent you want the film production to do this. For example: are they painting a room in your house a different color? Do you like that color? Or do you want it back the way it was? You could even speak to the Production Designer to possibly find a new color that works for you and the movie or TV show. It’s a win/win. The production saves on labor and materials, and the homeowner gets a new paint job. It doesn’t always work out that way, however.
The amount of the fee is an arbitrary number. They are basically paying you for the disruption to your home and your life. How much is that disruption worth to you? If it’s big-budget production, you’ll probably get a larger fee. If it’s a smaller-budget production, it may be a smaller fee just because of budget constraints on the production.
A: Always break the fee down by:
How many Prep Days they need to make your home look like what they need it to look like.
How many Shoot Days - which is a much larger disruption. You can stay in your home, but depending on what they are doing, the production may want to put you up in a hotel. For example: filming in your bedroom, or shooting very late into the night and you don’t want to stay up that late.
Typically Prep and Wrap Day fees are much less than the Shooting Day fees.
A: Yes. In the terms listed in the contract, the fees will be, or should be, spelled out. So much money for the Shoot Days, and how many hours that covers. And even for those hourly breakdowns on the type of day, that is part of your negotiations as well.
The production might be able to shoot the space as-is, and not need full Prep Day. It will always be different. Don’t do anything without a contract that spells this all out.
A: Don’t do anything without insurance. The production company will have insurance for the homeowner or business owner for filming on their property. Unless it’s a student film. The City of Beacon’s permits require proof of insurance before they even consider issuing the permit.
A: For me - in a larger production - Beacon’s fees are fine. For an independent film with a lower budget, that fee may be more difficult to sustain if they are filming for a period of days. Read more about how director Brian DiLorenzo was able to film his movie “Myth” on a super-low budget.
Keep in mind, it is the film production company who would pay the permit fee.
You can find Beacon’s fees here. These fees will allow the production to park on the town streets, obstruct the sidewalks with equipment, or film a “walk and talk.”
The City of Beacon has based their film permits on the type of film, and whether filming takes place on private or public property:
Photo Credit: Screenshot of the PDF of film permit fees from the City Of Beacon as of June 5, 2019.
All of them. Everyone. The Scout in the Locations Department will have their mission to find a certain type of look for a location. A certain type of exterior, interior, etc. The Scout will check first with the homeowner to see if the homeowner is OK with filming. If a homeowner is interested, the Scout will take pictures.
The Scout will show these pictures to the Production Designer who gives each location its look. If the Production Designer likes the pictures, the location pictures will be shown to the Director or the Creator of the show/film.
From there, there are all kinds of variables, like:
Is the location available the day they want to shoot?
Can they afford the location?
Is the town a film-friendly town?
All of these factors come into play. If they do come to shoot the movie or TV show, the logistics will be worked out, like where to park the equipment trucks. The Locations Department will work with the city or town to see where the production will be allowed park their trucks.
Trucks include anchors like the Hair and Makeup truck, the camera Truck. There are typically always these four trucks: Grip, Electric, Camera, Props.
Then you’ll have campers for the actors, Hair and Makeup, Wardrobe, Catering, etc., depending on the size of the production. Typically they want to park as close as possible to the filming location. The Locations Department will work with the city to coordinate this parking.
If you do take an opportunity to rent out your home for filming, hopefully at the end of the day you will have enjoyed the experience. If done right between the town, the production, and the home or business owner, you might want to do it again. Keep communications open to keep things running smoothly.
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No one is reading anything these days because the world is insane and everyone is too mad to read. Seriously, it’s a drought out there in terms of book recommendations. I cornered my brainiacs at a party last weekend and - nada. I myself just finished the YA novel “Girls on the Verge,” by Sharon Biggs Waller, and I think it’s probably mandatory reading for everyone. I might follow it up with “Handbook for a Post-Roe America,” by Robin Marty, you know, just to keep things light.
And I’m again happily and intensely flipping and flopping through Diane Wakoski’s “Emerald Ice: Selected Poems 1962-1987” in the middle of the night.
In “Sour Milk,” she writes,
“You can't make it
turn sweet
again.”
True, so true, Diane.
So then, if we aren’t too busy with dismantling the patriarchy or gardening or figuring out where to keep the ice scraper until next year (trunk, someone’s eye, whichever), we’ll see you at one of these amazing writerly happenings all around us.
First of all, put on your calendar under “ways to improve writerly self for next year”: the Sarah Lawrence Summer Seminar. This year’s deadline was Saturday, June 1. If selected, you can join 70 writers for a week of workshops and readings and craft talks. There are scholarships available and you can take a hybrid genre workshop with Cold Spring’s Jeffrey McDaniel, who is a phenomenal teacher and writer (this is said confidently from personal experience in his workshops).
On Wednesday, June 5, you could be at the Writers Speak Easy, a “monthly open-mic roundtable” for writers, poets, comics and storytellers at Rough Draft Books in Kingston from 7 to 9 pm. It’s free but for the purchase of some of the excellent food, drink or books they have on hand. Worth it!
On Friday, June 7, you could head up to Poughkeepsie’s Underwear Factory for Earth Wind & Fuego’s Fiesta Friday open mic, hosted by Poet Gold, and find yourself among a lovely and strong community of supportive writers. 5 to 10 pm.
Sunday, June 9, finds us back in the nurturing arms of the Get Lit literary salon at Oak Vino Wine Bar from 5 to 8 pm. These busy bees also started a monthly writers’ circle so you can get some feedback, and just donated loads of books to Beacon High School.
Binnacle Books was on the scene to sell copies of “Deadly” and “Looker” at the new Spring Street Reading Series at Atlas Studios in Newburgh on May 17, when Get Lit founder and author Julie Chibbaro read with poet and prose writer Laura Sims and they had a great dialogue afterwards with series curator Ruth Danon. The series gathers a host of creamline novelists, poets, editors and nonfiction writers from the Hudson Valley and beyond. The next one is Saturday, June 29, at 7 pm.
The Beacon bookstore is also bringing Newburgh to Beacon with a relentlessly enticing Afro-futurism Book Club Series in partnership with the Newburgh LGBTQ+ Center. Starts on Sunday, June 23, with Octavia Butler’s “Kindred” and is from 7 to 8 pm at Binnacle Books. Your recommended $10 donation also gets you a book to use for the duration of the series!
Back over in Newburgh on Wednesday, June 19, PANJA presents The Lit: Book Club at 15 Liberty St. from 7 to 9 pm. This book club “will be prioritizing authors outside the traditional canon; narratives that uplift the voices of POC, women, mystics, immigrants, envelope pushers, and other out-of-the box thinkers whose work touches on issues that tie into current events & critical conversations.” Yes, please.
On Saturday, June 15, the new Hudson Highlands poetry series at the Desmond-Fish library in Garrison has a pretty primo lineup of writers reading: Kathleen Ossip, Kristin Prevallet and Marjorie Tesser will thrill you from 1:30 to 2:30 pm. We’ll stop in at Split Rock Books on our way back to Beacon for their One-Year Anniversary Party. Big-time congrats!
Speaking of Split Rock Books, we are sorry to not have hyped everyone more on their triumphant score for hosting Susan Choi’s reading of Trust Exercise: a novel, on Friday, May 17. Another past happening we can light up was their Kids Book Club from Beacon resident Deb Lucke and author of The Lunch Witch! Kids 7 to 10 years old could come on Thursday, May 30, from 4 to 4:45 pm and she was there to talk and answer questions.
Editor’s Note: We sadly published this Writerly Happenings too late after the happening, but didn’t want to delete the details! You must know about them in case you want to pursue this book and the Kids Club in the future.
We’ll see you beautiful book nerds out and about in the Hudson Valley, whilst gnashing our teeth and talking about our wild irises.
Photo Credit: Junior ZayEd
Junior Zayed pictured with his daughters, who decided to dress up, including scarves, during Ramadan.
Photo Credit: Junior Zayed
Today was a celebration of the end of Ramadan for Muslims, and the community was celebrating and praying in Beacon. Said one local, Junior Zayed in his Instagram along with this photo pictured above: “We live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We would like to thank the City of Beacon Police Department for being here with us while we pray in peace in our place of worship with our families, friends and community.”
To learn more about Eid, we reached out to A Little Beacon Blog writer Izdihar Dabashi. She explains what Beacon Muslims have been doing today, and why: “Muslims have two Eid holidays: Today is Eid Al-Fitr, which is the first day to break fast following the holy month of Ramadan. Eid Al-Fitr celebrates the completion of Ramadan. We start the day by praying at the mosque for Allah (God) to accept our fast, charity, and good deeds during Ramadan. Each Muslim person donates money to the poor, and it’s common for people to send money to feed the poor or slaughter (in a humane and clean method, which makes it halal) a lamb to feed the poor. Eid is spent with family, some of us go to the park, others to restaurants, some choose to just stay at home and have family over.
“Muslims in Beacon prayed the Eid prayer around 9:30 am today. The Beacon Police actually parked across the street from Masjid Ar-Rashid to keep watch over the mosque. Many of us greatly appreciate their efforts and peaceful involvement in the Muslim community.”
According to Izdihar, if you are passing someone who is recognizing the day, you could say to them: “Eid Mubarak” or even just “Happy Eid.”
We invited Izdihar to explain Ramadan in her own words, to help connect the holidays:
“Ramadan is the holy month of Islam. It is a month of fast from sunrise to sundown. Muslims not only restrain from food and drink, but also from unnecessary distractions to your faith and community such as music, excessive attention to appearance and/or TV, etc.
“During this month, your fast will not be accepted if you are unkind to someone, use foul language, rude or aggressive behavior, etc. You try to limit bad deeds, and focus on consistently committing good deeds. It is a month meant to be experienced in peace, and connect you to Allah (God) as well as the people around you.
“Muslims donate food and money to the poor. Some will try to focus on a family to actively feed. Each night, Muslims who are able to make it to the mosque after sundown will pray Ramadan prayers to ask for forgiveness, peace and relief in the world, and whatever else an individual would like to pray for.
“The purpose of Ramadan is to connect you to your faith, and community. It teaches a Muslim empathy for the hungry, and makes them conscious of their role in community and earth in general. A proper Muslim role is meant to be filled with peace, generosity, kindness, and humbleness.”
Photo Credit: Zero To Go
Zero To Go (ZTG), an education-based waste management company focused on composting and recycling, was the first to offer residential pickup of food waste in Beacon in order to keep it from landfills, and eventual methane gas production. After years of operating food composting pickup service in Beacon, Zero To Go has transitioned its Beacon Compost Residential and Farmers Market Collection Program to Community Compost Company (CCC), a New Paltz-based company that is currently servicing several Beacon businesses, according to Zero To Go’s soon-to-be sole owner, Atticus Lanigan. “We are very excited about this,” said Atticus in a letter to Beacon Residential Compost customers, and proceeded to list the reasons:
CCC pioneered the Table to Farm compost collection service in the Hudson Valley and is experienced handling residential and commercial collection.
CCC is a New York State certified woman-owned business based in the Hudson Valley.
CCC is reliable, has great people. and follows the "4P" ethos (People, Planet, Place and Profit).
CCC processes the scraps they collect into organic soil amendments on farms in the Hudson Valley, and is already composting the food scraps from ZTG events and collection.
Zero To Go will continue to service events, and “can be hired to handle waste at events in a responsible way,” said Atticus.
If you’ve never experienced methane gas production, try leaving a smoothie in your car in a closed coffee mug for three weeks, and then open it in your kitchen. Spoiler alert: There is so much pressure built up inside of the closed cup from the food rot process, the top will shoot off and hit anything across the room, cracking your plastic water filter container. Some people build potato guns. You could easily build a smoothie gun with yogurt, bananas and strawberries with minimal effort, just some time.
Zero To Go was best known for being hired to manage trash/recycling/food waste at events, and branched into servicing businesses in Beacon by picking up their food waste. Zero To Go, founded by Sarah Womer, then launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise $20,000 (see this interview with Sarah in this Tin Shingle Training TuneUp webinar on how she did that), to start their residential food pickup program, originally powered by people on bikes.
Fast-forward years and hours of work later, Sarah took a full time job at Riverkeeper, and Atticus Lanigan came in to manage the company. In addition to raising two children, Atticus has a background in Sociology and Urban Planning, and also works for Dutchess Outreach, an organization fighting food insecurity in Dutchess County that offers a hot meals program (formerly known as a “soup kitchen”).
Says Sarah when A Little Beacon Blog reached out for comment: “Atticus and I put in huge numbers of hours and sacrificed a lot of our own time to run and grow this company (like any start-up owners do)! It's been a real labor of love. It feels good to see the compost program take flight under new ownership - if we have a strong, visible, affordable compost program in town, it's something to be very proud of!”
Today, Atticus continues her work for Dutchess Outreach, and officially moves into the sole owner role of Zero To Go, which will specialize in event waste management. Sarah works in Harlem at a sustainability consulting firm. Both are always moving and shaking in the world of waste management and their commitment to educating about it. They will be contributing in other areas, so keep your eyes peeled.
Plastics bags are leaving the Hudson Valley (see press release about Governor Cuomo banning single-use plastic bags from New York State), including the food compositing arena. Said Atticus to prep customers about plastic bags: “CCC will not be accepting compostable plastics in the buckets, which includes compostable bags. This will be the biggest change as many of you are using compostable plastic bags in the process of getting your food scraps out to your buckets.”
Atticus began preparing Zero To Go customers for a plastic bag transition: “Ultimately, the use of bio-plastics is not ideal. As lawmakers work to deal with the overwhelming issue of garbage, many are seeking the abandonment of all single-use plastics and plastics in general. By drawing ourselves away from the use of it, we will be ahead of the curve.”
Fortunately, my compost food collection container is in a very pretty white jar from Pottery Barn, and my food collection system does not involve a plastic bag. The container is a porcelain flour jar that I repurposed to be a food compost container with a rubber-sealed lid. You could also find such a jar at Utensil or maybe even Raven Rose in Beacon. I just walk this pretty pot of rot to my compost bucket outside on my back porch, and that’s it. Happy to not have to wean myself off of a plastic bag! Am currently working on weaning myself off of Ziploc baggies.
To sign up for residential food pickup from Community Compost Company, click here. It’s about $32/month for weekly pickup, and lower rates are available for fewer pickups.
Photo Credit: Magazine Cover of The Valley Table
Food and drink are serious matters in the Hudson Valley, and their excellence is part of what makes living in this region so rich. The founders and publishers of The Valley Table recognized this in 1998, when husband-and-wife team Jerry Novesky and Janet Crawshaw started The Valley Table magazine, “to give a voice to local chefs, farmers, and makers.” As a result, the magazine, which is based out of 380 Main Street, Beacon, above The Beacon Pantry, consistently covers anticipated restaurant openings, interviews chefs, provides recipes, and spotlights ingredients - and the farmers who grow them - to which you may never have given a second thought.
Hot off the digital press on Monday, June 3, The Valley Table announced that they have been acquired by Today Media, which is the publisher of several regional magazines including Hudson Valley Magazine, Westchester Magazine, Delaware Today, and Main Line Today.
Events are big for publications, and eight years after launching the print magazine, The Valley Table created one of the biggest dining draws in the region: Hudson Valley Restaurant Week. This property is also included in the merger, to join the strong event lineup from Today Media, which includes:
June 4-9: Wine & Food Festival
July 24: Best of Westchester Party
August 15: Hudson Valley Magazine’s Burger & Beer Bash
September 26: Westchester Magazine’s Wingfest
October 10: Best of Hudson Valley Party
November 4-17: Hudson Valley Fall Restaurant Week (usually also held in the spring)
Says Today Media’s Hudson Valley Group Publisher, Michael Martinelli, of the deal in the press release: “This acquisition enables Today Media to expand its audience and build on The Valley Table’s success while honoring the mission and values that have made Valley Table an authority in its specialty. It will also bring together two of the largest, most iconic food events in the region, as many of the restaurants that participate in Hudson Valley Restaurant Week will also be featured at Westchester Magazine’s Wine & Food Festival, June 4-9.”
The Valley Table will continue publishing, according to a statement released by The Valley Table’s co-publisher, Janet Crawshaw: “Today Media’s deep roots in the Hudson Valley and its expertise in publishing make it the perfect fit for carrying on and growing The Valley Table magazine, its digital platforms, and Restaurant Week event.”
Read more about this at Westchester Magazine and at LoHud.
Many of us trust Matt Clifton, pictured here, behind the tea cup, with our lives. Matt is an IT expert, a wizard under the hood of lots of computers, tablets, smartphones, and other sorts of devices. Matt is an open advocate for mental health awareness, and speaks about it in his social media. Sometimes he highlights men’s mental health, reminding us that men can suffer from depression too.
In this time of Smash The Patriarchy, it can be hard to remember that men can be soft - despite their stubble, stubborn ways, and sometimes opposite ways of understanding women. It is nice to have a friend be open and honest about his life experiences, which include emotions one might not guess upon speaking with him in person.
We’ll share with you here Matt’s big message for May, Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s comforting that despite his jovial, good friend, generally cheery nature, social anxiety can take him over. As a young person (and sometimes today), I remember feeling so shy around certain groups of people, that I would have trouble walking. Being in the mall was the worst. Recess could be tough. I just wanted to hide. Today when I go to the Beacon High School track to jog, or to soccer practice/games for my son, it’s a conquering-my-fears type of thing because I was too afraid to ever go to high school football games in the stadium.
Today I have a young son who is also shy. Looking at him, I can’t see the shyness, or understand it. He’s just so cute and fun! Yet his fears are real when we first start a new group activity, like soccer or camp. Nudging him out of the nest is important, but it’s also important to acknowledge his fear, to let him know we know, and it’s OK to have a hard time. I remind myself to be patient, and to tap into the feelings I know very well.
I’ll let Matt take it away from here:
I’m Matt and I have general anxiety, social anxiety and depression. This is something I’ve had all my adult life - I first started experiencing severe social anxiety at university, which continued through my 20s. It affected my social and professional life. Some days at the office, I’d get panic attacks and have to hide in the bathroom just to breathe. I found noisy and crowded bars and social engagements almost unbearable. I didn’t talk to family or friends about my feelings, and I didn’t go to therapy until my late 30s, but I did find it helped me - even though my issues are not based in any kind of trauma, just talking about them allowed me to define what I was feeling, and not let them define who I was.
I also now take Prozac, which is an SSRI. I go to occasional yoga classes, which help me most by getting me focused on the movements and getting out of my own head! I try to be mindful throughout the day as much as I’m able to, to keep myself in the moment and not dwell on the past or worry about the future.
I’m a freelance IT consultant, as well as a serious science-fiction nerd, and have a really great life in the Hudson Valley, New York, with my wife Emily, dog Arya, and assorted cats and chickens. We run a cooking blog called Nerds with Knives and it’s really become a huge and fun part of our lives. I would like to be better at baking. I drink a lot of tea.
I’m very proud of the life I’ve made for myself, and the steps I’ve taken to get myself to a better place addressing my mental health. I’m not so embarrassed at talking about it any more. You wouldn’t be able to tell that I have mental health issues. You might just think I’m a little quiet. Most days I’m doing great, but I still have a lot of trouble in social situations.
If you’re struggling with the same issues, you might be surprised to know there are way more people who are sharing that struggle with you. You’re not alone. Mental health issues aren’t a failing of character. And there are people who love you. You can always text NAMI to 741741 to get help from trained counselors.
NAMI Ribbons hung in Beacon each year.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
Matt’s mention of NAMI reminds us of another reason to be grateful for the Rock Out 4 Mental Health concert. I had seen the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) ribbons each year, on trees around Beacon, but had never looked into what they were about. By being on the Planning Committee for the event, I sat next to someone from NAMI’s Mid-Hudson affiliate almost every Tuesday in the Spring, as we held our planning meetings.
We’re looking forward to meeting more people at the concert, and absorbing more of what is available.
The week before the Rock Out 4 Mental Health concert, Brooke Simmons from I Am Beacon circulated this Open Letter to all of her contacts, in the hopes that it would reach far and wide. We are publishing it here as well to help make that happen:
As we celebrate our veterans this Memorial Day weekend and close out Mental Health Awareness month this May, please take a moment to reflect on your service to the community.
In recent years, we seen far too many families fractured by issues related to mental health.
With 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experiencing a mental illness and 50% of all cases beginning by age 14 it is critical that begin to recognize mental health impacts us all.
When it comes to the Hudson Valley, it is our belief that our area is services rich yet information poor.
Despite the valiant efforts of many organizations addressing mental health there is a lack of awareness and knowledge which result in many in our community being left to suffer in silence.
With our upcoming event, Rock Out 4 Mental Health, it is our vision to bridge the gap between the community and available services in order to highlight the importance of knowing where to go for help and to empower individuals to take action in order to help themselves or others.
In addition to learning about services, there will also be free, walk-up NARCAN training providing by Dutchess County giving all participants the ability to be certified in administering this life saving treatment.
I Am Beacon believes in the power of a collaborative effort to address issues impacting our community.
It is with the organizational support of our partners, NAMI-MidHudson, Dutchess County Department of Behavioral & Community Health, A Little Beacon Blog, ASTOR Services for Children & Families as well as The City of Beacon that we will put on this event.
It is with the funding of The Roundhouse, Key Food, ReMark Printing, Bob’s Auto Repairs, Tin Shingle, Aryeh Siegel Architect, Premier Medical Group, People USA, and many individual donors that we afford to bring this event to the community free of charge.
It is with the generosity of our tremendously talented artist The Costellos, Noetic, Tony E, Jerry Kitzrow, Dilson, Russ St George & The Soulmates, Charge The Mound, and DJ Big Will.
It is my ask of you, to come out on June 1st 12PM– 4PM at Pete & Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park - Beacon, NY.
Join us in ending the silence and taking the first step toward a better tomorrow for all Hudson Valley residents.
With gratitude and many thanks,
Brooke M. Simmons, I Am Beacon
www.facebook.com/iambeacon
***Please note Rain Date: Sunday, June 2
Last Friday, while in the midst of our weekly deadline for getting out the Happening This Weekend newsletter, a woman walked into A Little Beacon Blog's office, looking for help. She thought it was the substance abuse center, Lexington Center for Recovery (though she couldn’t remember the name and had contact information for a totally different organization), that had been located down Main Street, that is now becoming an apartment building. She saw the Rock Out 4 Mental Health flyer on our door, and the logos of mental health agencies who are helping make it happen, and thought she was in the right place.
She hadn't slept for days. Her accent was unfamiliar. The urgent problem she was trying to get help for - keeping her husband alive (he was currently in the hospital after almost dying of alcoholism, and she feared him coming home because she didn't know what to do with him to keep him safe) - made it so that she talked very fast, with hopelessness. Her sentences zig-zagged with what she needed, making it hard to find a thread to follow to work on a solution. She'd given up hope of finding help from Beacon and any other resource, and didn't know where to go.
Sometimes a situation happens, and you ask yourself: "Am I to be learning something from this? What is the message?" It became an opportunity for us to navigate the world of mental health resources, with a real person, really suffering. A Little Beacon Blog agreed to help with the Rock Out 4 Mental Health concert because it was an opportunity to meet the players, to talk to the people on the other side of the phone or email or website. To make them more real, and understand what they offer. That concert happens this Saturday (unless it rains, then it’ll be on Sunday) at Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park from 12 to 4 pm. It's free, and there will be mozzarella sticks (and other food like sausage), live music, and specialists in the areas of mental health.
Meanwhile, back in the office on a Friday afternoon of Memorial Weekend, we called the Dutchess County Help Line. They answered, but our questions quickly multiplied. When you're at the beginning of a research journey navigating hospitals, counseling, rehab centers, it's a lot. We called a personal friend who works deep in the world of mental health, and she quickly referred us to Family Services in Beacon on Henry Street, and to the MHA in the DMV Building on Main Street, and to Grace Smith House if the woman felt too afraid to be home, plus they may be able to give her guidance if she were to go there. Another friend recommended NAMI if she needed an advocate or counselor to help her navigate the medical areas where she was encountering hurdles, while trying to figure out what to do with her addicted husband who had just had a blood transfusion and was a hot potato in the hospital - she didn't want him released, yet they were done with their medical procedures.
In the end - for that hour - we encouraged her to walk to Family Services which is nearby, and see what they tell her next. In-person research is so important. We then highly encouraged her to go home and get some rest, because sleep deprivation causes its own problems. She first headed across the street to the grocery store to get cat food, and then to Family Services. Hopefully she felt a little more hope in her quest.
Come to the concert this weekend. You'll get to hear The Costellos, Noetic, Dilson Hernandez, Tony E., Charge the Mound, Russ St. George, Jerry Kitzrow, DJ Big Will, with sound by Tony ‘Pops’ DeMarco. You never know when you or someone you know or don't know needs these services. It's comforting to put faces to organizations.
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Sometimes we get pitched a story idea, maybe featuring a local business. And we want to feature them all. But here’s the reality for us, and any publication: pictured here is the ever-moving editorial calendar, filled with news trying to make its way out of our planners, and onto your screen of choice to read.
Sometimes our stories get published “on time.” Sometimes they get pushed around. Sometimes they come out a year later. (Just wait for our city snow plow article for the first snowfall of next year! Luckily we had no snow after we’d gotten answers from the city on the strategy behind how they plow.)
This behind-the-scenes photo was first published on our Instagram, and we just thought it might be interesting to see the inside of how article ideas and intentions shift around in here.
We have several articles mostly written already, that we haven’t published (doy!!!!!) because time flies by and we are a small team.
Not getting featured is never personal. To learn how to pitch any type of media (blog, magazine, TV), and how to bump your issue into this lineup of cards (articles), start getting Tin Shingle’s newsletter. It’s all about teaching small businesses how to get attention.
The key ingredient for pitching is timeliness, and following up politely. Tin Shingle and A Little Beacon Blog are run by me at Katie James, Inc., where I also produce websites for clients. Whew! That’s a lot.
OK, back to regular articles!
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
Editor’s Note: We’d planned for this article to come out in March, when the Professional Learning Day happened for Beacon City School teachers, but time got the best of us. With the recent passing of the Beacon City School budget, we’re publishing it now so that you can see how budget items relate to what teachers prepare for during the year.
When Teacher Learning Days happen in the winter, at first blush, they create extra long weekends - or weeks, if there are snow days abutting the Professional Learning Day. A parent hardly thinks about what the teachers are actually learning and why there is a day off. The day is just another day off, and another day to figure out what to do if you are a working parent who needs to juggle around a childcare schedule.
What happens inside the classrooms of Beacon schools on Professional Learning Days had mostly been a mystery to parents in the district. But then Beacon’s new-ish Superintendent, Dr. Matthew Landahl, started sending regular email updates, giving a glimpse of what teachers work on during those student days off.
Below is a breakdown of the main agenda items on a Professional Learning Day in March 2019, with clarification provided by Dr. Landahl or the actual agenda itself:
On the learning day, 25 teachers participated in the Responsive Classroom training. But what is a “Responsive Classroom?” There is a website for it, and according to that website, it is defined as: “Responsive Classroom is an evidence-based approach to education that focuses on the strong relationship between academic success and social-emotional learning (SEL). The Responsive Classroom approach empowers educators to create safe, joyful, and engaging learning communities where all students have a sense of belonging and feel significant.”
Sounds neat, so we asked Dr. Landahl what Responsive Classrooms mean for Beacon: “Responsive Classroom is a model that teachers can implement in their classrooms that focuses on the power of teacher language, interactive modeling, and Morning Meetings. When I was an elementary principal in Virginia of a very diverse school, we worked extensively with Responsive Classroom.”
Morning Meetings! My third-grader has persistently pestered me to be more on time - and earlier - to school drop-off so that she can get to her Morning Meeting. The last minute of drop-off is at 9:01 am, and the school doors of our building open at 8:40 am. During that time, Morning Meeting transpires, and the kids take it very seriously.
Dr. Landahl continued: “Teachers raved about the training and they were able to bring a deeper sense of community to the classroom and the entire school. Our hope is to have many of our teachers trained in the model in Beacon to find ways to increase social/emotional learning for all of our students, and to build communities in our schools.”
Restorative Practice trains in how to respond to challenging behavior.
Teachers are implementing coding into their classrooms, with events such as a Coding Night held at South Avenue Elementary earlier this year by the school librarian, Mr. Aaron Burke. During this portion of Professional Learning Day, teachers from all grade levels got to look at various websites and resources that promote computational thinking and problem-solving, using computer coding strategies and skills. Robots were incorporated, including the Dash robot, Ozobots, and the Sphero Bolt. Teachers were able to brainstorm ideas for to how these resources could be used in the curriculum.
This is exciting news. According to the learning day agenda, every school in the Beacon City School District has a 3D printer. If you’re a parent in the district, you’ll know how much paper in different colors comes home as flyers, homework assignments, lunch menus, etc. These are run on a regular printer. But what can a 3D printer make? Teachers were able to find out during this training session, also led by South Avenue’s librarian, Mr. Burke, that included learning the basics of how 3D printers work. With Mr. Burke’s assistance, teachers could design a simple project using Tinkercad.
Lots of collaboration going on with Google in our schools. In my day, this was with Apple, where Apple computers dominated the computer labs, and Word and Excel from Microsoft also tried to dominate as software. Now we have Google’s Chrome Books in the classrooms, and Google’s Drive platform, which is basically Word and Excel online where people can connect in the documents and share writing and creation experiences.
Teachers were trained in Google Classroom and other tools including Google Slides and Google Docs (both parts of Google Drive, functioning similarly to PowerPoint and Word) in the primary grades. According to the learning day agenda, teachers were trained in: “Google Slide tools for projects such as creating signs, ebooks, stop-animation videos, collaborative projects, interactive presentation, and choose-your-own adventure stories. Tips for helping students create more effective presentations will be included as well.”
I could use some tips from my 9-year-old on how to make better slide presentations, or an ebook!
Side Note Opinion: What does this classroom tech mean for privacy? This does mean that Google can now track a lot of our behavior and data. As can Apple with our phones, and every single app that we use, yet Apple has tried to brand itself as a protector of privacy. So far, Facebook is the main platform I avoid strongly, as they have proven time and again, and continue to prove with new editorial decisions every day, that they aren’t responsible with our information. So far, my hope and trust will remain with Apple and Google.
Beacon students benefit from Dia: Beacon’s presence just down the road, overlooking the Hudson River near the Metro-North train station. An arts and education program between Dia: Beacon and BCSD has been in place for 18 years. Many opportunities exist, including the Teen Art Program we just wrote about. Additionally, Beacon’s second-graders take a field trip to the museum. (Parents are invited to attend, to help manage the kids.)
Teachers were able to explore the galleries and collaborate with Dia artist educators in preparation for spring programming. The arts education program provides K-12 students with an intimate setting to respond critically to the art and programs at Dia:Beacon through multisession workshops both at school and in the galleries.
Curriculum trainers, along with TEQ, facilitated a walk-through of the science/STEM curriculum unit that was developed and revised during this school year. In addition, TEQ will provide professional development on the Engineering Design Practices of the new New York State Science Learning Standards.
This workshop was an opportunity for “teachers and other school staff to slow down, step back, and consider the fast-paced world of the classroom from a new perspective.” According to the learning day agenda, teachers face a variety of stresses, both in and out of school, which can impact their professional performance as well as their social and emotional well-being. “The growing body of research continues to suggest that teachers who participate in mindfulness training and practice regularly are more likely to feel personally and professionally fulfilled and more connected to their students - critical factors in creating a school-based culture of mindfulness.”
Data usually sounds dry and impersonal, but for those of us who do study it, it can be revealing about human behavior and how we can deliver what people want. Teachers were trained in this concept, and how to use the data to improve learning efforts.
So now we know - Professional Learning Days are intense! Meanwhile, parents are making pancakes and organizing play dates or other adventures for kids who are happy to have the day off.
The Howland Chamber Music Circle is a collective of musicians who appear in the world’s greatest concert halls, and also right here in Beacon at the Howland Cultural Center for their regularly scheduled concerts. The HCMC’s Pop-Up Series offers four opportunities to enjoy the chamber music circle at different locations around town.
This Sunday, June 2, 2019 at 3 pm, the musicians will be performing their final pop-up concert for the season at St. Andrew & St. Luke Episcopal Church. This concert is part of their Vent Nouveau program, a partnership with Beacon High School to expose students to chamber music. The performance will feature several high school students.
Vent Nouveau has been Artist-in-Residence at Beacon High School since 2017, and has worked closely with the school’s band program to enhance their music education and expose students to the wide world of chamber music. Vent Nouveau is dedicated to bringing attention to the wide variety of chamber repertoire for winds, brass, and percussion instruments.
Vent Nouveau is composed of musicians who have performed with some of the country’s leading symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and New World Symphony. These artists first collaborated with one another in the prestigious West Point Band, and now put their virtuosic talents toward exploring chamber music from the traditional to the obscure. Offering versatile concert programs that range from two- to twelve-member ensembles, it is the first group of its kind in the NYC-surrounding area. More information on Vent Nouveau and upcoming events can be found at www.ventnouveauny.com
The Howland Chamber Music Circle is recognized as a leading arts organization in the Hudson Valley, bringing world-class music to the Hudson Valley. Musicians who perform for the Circle regularly appear in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each season the Circle presents eight chamber music concerts, a four-concert Piano Festival, a very popular Classics For Kids concert series, and a free concert series, the Pop-Up Concerts, to the Beacon community.
In 2016 the Howland Chamber Music Circle was awarded the Dutchess County Executive’s Arts Organization Award through Arts Mid-Hudson for its exceptional music programming and community reach, and for enriching the lives of Hudson Valley residents through music. Through its educational outreach program, the Howland Chamber Music Circle brings enjoyment, knowledge, and skill in music to many young people in the area. In partnership with local school districts and community groups, the Circle has sponsored artist residencies throughout Dutchess County, most recently in the Arlington and Beacon High Schools.
Third-graders in the Beacon City School District receive dictionaries donated by the Beacon Elks Lodge.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin
If you’re a parent in the Beacon City School District, you may have seen this yellow dictionary come home this past winter in your child’s backpack (this article got backlogged a bit). Where did the dictionary come from, you may have wondered? The teachers, administrators and PTA/O parents are always finding ways to send kids home with free treats, so what’s the story on the yellow dictionary?
For the past 15 years, third-graders in the Beacon City School District have each received one donated dictionary from the Beacon Elks Lodge. Says Carl Oken to A Little Beacon Blog about the donation: “Studies have shown that the third grade is the identified grade for the best results in expanding the youths’ vocabulary. Nationwide, 1,900 Elks Lodges have been distributing dictionaries to third-graders across our country (approaching 2 million dictionaries distributed) to help students’ literacy. Here in Beacon, we have been donating dictionaries to our third-graders for over 15 years and we have now donated over 4,000 dictionaries. We look forward to expanding the dictionary project to Haldane, Garrison and Fishkill Elementary Schools.”
Mountain Stream Budo: Adult Martial Arts Classes
Mountain Stream Budo: Kids Martial Arts Classes
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The City of Beacon entered into a contract with Legal Services of the Hudson Valley to provide increased access to Beacon tenants facing eviction. They may also be able to help with sources of rent arrears assistance. Call the paralegal, Steven Mihalik at 845-253-6953 to inquire.
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Rock Out 4 Mental Health
