Tag Archives: Hudson Area Library

3/7/2019 – library, work, tennis….

Thursday

Met with Miranda Barry at our home. Discuss transition issues when I become president again. More about starting a foundation and setting up a Fundraising Committee. 

Only a little UTMH work.

Met briefly w Cheryl Lacona about June exhibit at in the gallery. Think she is going to put too much stuff in  room.

Tennis lesson. Lot of focus on early prep for strokes. Racket up. Also change in stance and racket position at ready at net. 

Karen went off to meeting with Woodstock photog. group.

Wrote AD piece on Reich’s video Monopolization of America.

 

3/2/2019 – HAL, Bauhaus, end of Rive Gauche

Saturday 3/2/2019

Breakfast at Bob’s. Then off to the library for the board meeting and planning retreat.

Meeting went very well. People really enjoyed the group breakout sessions. Productive discussion of board governance issues. Also toured the basement (Lower Level) which was new for most of the board members. Board rejected the idea of a co-presidency in favor of Chairman of the Board and President. I think and stated that if we put together an integrated fundraising committee, then the chair of that committee will take a big load off the president.  

Late afternoon went to TSL to see a movie about the Bauhaus school and its impact on architecture, urban planning, etc. A little sleepy during its coverage of the 1920s and 30s. Very interesting stuff about urban design and development in South America. Columbia and Venezuela.

Karen had received a call from Dave Drake that Rive Gauche in Athens where he is bartending is closing today. So, we went over for a drink and nibbles. The place was very crowded and noisy, mostly with locals. As we were getting ready to go Samira ?? Showed up. Karen and she went out to have a smoke accompanied as it turned out by the owner Joe’s SO. When I turned my stool over to Samira I found Karen propped up against the buyilding. One Scotch and a nicotine rush and she had to hang on to me for the walk to the car.

3/1/2019

Friday 3/1/2019

Up early again, 5:30am.

UTMH: Talked with David Ball and Greg Turner at Ball Consulting. They essentially repeated their rather narrow focus on press and media relations when asked again how they might help reach our new target markets. Perhaps now Seth will be satisfied that we can jettison them as a monthly retainer. Move to time and materials basis. 

Prepared materials for tomorrow’s HAL board retreat. Couple hours work. Spoke with Miranda Barry about the meeting. She continues to be quite sick with a cold.

Chatted with Matt Almeida who had done very little this week.

Played tennis with Ted at Old Chatham on the clay court. 1 1/2 hours. I played very badly.

2/20/19 – HAL, DOG, UTMH, tennis

Wednesday 2/20/2019

Finished up the DOG website forms for Karen. They are now set up as a database so she can export things  En mass.

Good call with Miranda Barry about David Murphy and a foundation for the library. She had followed up on my conversation with David while we were in FL last week. Looks like a good opportunity to get a significant start on an endowment for the library. Also we talked about possible co-president arrangement.

Spent most of the afternoon with Seth. Discussed customer service requirements and lit of user manuals that Ryder Cooley needs to write. Reviewed bad service situation with Troy Web. Need to have a meeting with Anthony DeBonis to try to improve things. Also talked with David about his Slack account. 

Spoke with Anita Harris for 30 minutes. More about her Mom’s house and all of the travails with her siblings.

Evening tennis was just so so. 

2/18/2019 – OLDFandF.com, UTMH, HAL

Monday 2/18/2019

Snow formed a sheet of ice on the sidewalk  still, only 4-5 inches.  Stopped snowing regularly BR 9 am  Then squalls until 1pm  

Worked on new website, mostly registration and child theme  Also fiund matrrials for HAL Long Rang Planning Committee. 

Prep fir UTMH team meeting at 114, then the group showed up. Went thru set up and use of apps . Also useful discussion of sales issues w Ole and Sam.  

Thrn talked w David A about commissions, etc.

only Miranda Barry showed for HSL mtg  but we talked through upcoming Board retreat 3/2/2019  also discussed David Murphy and foundation for library.

made gorp for dinner  first time in quite a while  

4/27/2018 – library Board cocktail party

Thursday

Miranda Barry organized this party at Club Helsinki for HAL Board members current and past.

Kimberly Irwin, new Board member met up with Sharon Getty, past member. Teary reunion. Sharon was Kimberly’s grade school teacher.

Theresa Parsons looks on as Sharon Getty and Kimberly Irwin get reconnected.

Theresa Parsons and David Murphy

Brenda Shufelt, Anna Rachminov, Ginger Benedict

Janet Schnitzer, Ken Kraus

Tessy Keller, Gwen Gould, Lisa Dolan

Ginger Benedict, Emily Chameides, Anna Rachminov, Brenda Shufelt

Carol Pledger, MMO, Brigid Dorsey

1/9/2018 – work, Hudson River bridges at HAL

Tuesday

UTMH meeting with RPM team at Columbia Memorial Hospital.

Exhibition at Hudson Area Library

We are pleased to announce the installation of “Bridges Past and Present: Crossing the Hudson River,” an exhibition of the work of artist Otto Miranda. This exhibition consists of 63 watercolors of bridges from the 1800’s to the present that all pass over the Hudson River from New York City to the river’s beginning in the Adirondack Mountains at Lake Henderson’s Tear of the Clouds. The bridges represented include vehicle, railroad, pedestrian, and even a troop bridges. They will be on exhibit in the library’s Community Room from Friday, January 5, until Wednesday, February 28.

The artist, Otto Miranda, has been a watercolor artist for 18 years. He moved to Columbia County in 2009, where the wonderful mountains and the Hudson River inspired him to take on this project. He spent 15 months researching and then traveled with his wife Dale, and her GPS, from the river’s beginning to the lower end. Together they photographed many of the existing bridges, which Miranda then painted. Bridges no longer in existence are painted in sepia tones. Miranda states, “My greatest expectation and satisfaction is to show this project at as many libraries, museums and other venues as possible so everyone can enjoy the history as much as I have preparing it for presentation. (http://hudsonarealibrary.org/2017/01/exhibition-bridges-past-and-present-crossing-the-hudson-river/ (accessed 03042020))

6/14/2017 Slavery in Hudson and Columbia Cty NY

Students presenting their work at HAL.

It is doubtless a fact that most Northerners, including the writer, think that slavery in America was a Southern problem. In the North slavery was an occasional institution, or so we think.

A week ago on Thursday 6/8/17 I attended a program at the library, “Abolition and Women’s Rights in Local History” presented by the students of Hudson Community Schools’ Writing Center at the Hudson High School. More about this project here.

“James W. C. Pennington” by Cecille Ruiz – click to see full size image

The bulk of the program revolved around presentations by the students of their research and creative projects about slavery, abolitionists and women’s rights activists of the 1830s-1850s in upstate NY. The word and image projects are on display in the library now.

Slavery in Hudson and Columbia County

But, I want to focus on just one aspect here. The program opened with readings of notices of runaways slaves from the Hudson River Valley. Many were notices from slave owners in Hudson and Columbia County dating roughly from 1795 to 1840. The source of these notices is In Defiance: runaways from slavery in New York’s Hudson River Valley, 1735-1831 ((Stessin-Cohn, Susan, and Ashley Hurlburt-Biagini. In Defiance: Runaways from Slavery in New York’s Hudson River Valley, 1735-1831, 2016.))  It is available in the library.

One hint about the deep history of slavery in our region is the fact that over 50% of the runaways spoke both Dutch and English. ((p324. Stessin-Cohn, Susan, and Ashley Hurlburt-Biagini. In Defiance: Runaways from Slavery in New York’s Hudson River Valley, 1735-1831, 2016.))  This is clearly an indication that they lived here long enough to learn two languages.

Here are a few samples from the book: (click on images for full size)