Volume 4 Issue 21

Bard’s partnership with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company is an opportunity for the public to witness professional dancers as they create and rehearse, creating a form of art in the making experience.

On Thursday and Saturday Paul Matteson performed for a crowded Thorne Studio. So many people, students included, came out for the performance on Thursday they had to sit on the floor.

While Bill T. Jones never made an appearance, his company quickly won the respect of the audience. Their contemporary dance style involved kicks, throws and lifts. The women were lifting each other.  They were good at it.

Perhaps canoeing with my 68-year-old mother through an almost uninhabited part of South America was not the most responsible thing to do. However, she felt the trip would make a pleasant change from the misery of Zimbabwe and the gray dampness of England. Very well, but I hadn’t counted on her actually being in the boat. “You do realize that if you get hurt, you could be in pain for days?” She said she didn’t care, so I bought a 16-foot inflatable canoe we could paddle together.

Spondias mombin. The Latin sounds so much better than “Mope.” “When you are on the river, look for a big tree with little orange fruit. That’s Mope, and you’ll be able to smell it. You can watch Tapirs and other wildlife come to eat the fallen fruit.” I was also told that the river was so high it would be difficult to catch fish, find camping spots, or run some of the rapids we would encounter. But it was the season for Mope. Some consolation.

The Foundation for Community Health (FCH) which is approaching its tenth anniversary was started in 2003 with assets from the sale and conversion of the former nonprofit Sharon Hospital. From its headquarters on Sharon Valley Road on the New York–Connecticut border, the foundation serves northeastern Dutchess and southern Columbia county and northwestern Connecticut.  The mission of FHC is to maintain and improve the physical and mental health of those residing in the area historically served by Sharon Hospital, with an emphasis on serving the most vulnerable, including undocumented workers and their families. As noted by Gertrude O’Sullivan, director of communications and special programs for FCH, “We have an emphasis on prevention, early intervention, and collaboration.”  

Last Tuesday night, Millbrook residents voted to approve the $26,341,244 budget for the upcoming 2012-13 school year. 393 voters said “yes” to the budget while 172 voted “no.” The budget is a 2.55 percent increase in spending over last year with a 2 percent increase in the levy.  The levy stands at $21,509,790.  This is the amount residents will be responsible for paying in their property taxes.