by Samuel Anderson

The Edward Hopper House in association with the Rockland YMCA in Nyack is presenting the self-portraits of ten teen artist’s hosted by P.Ross on Main Street this Friday August 13th to open up an exhibition that will run one week. 

The artwork was created during the Edward Hopper House Express Yourself! program. The program brought together ten volunteer professional artists and ten artistic teens. Continue reading →

“If you’ve ever tilled a weed-packed lawn, raked your backyard, or placed a tiny lettuce seed into a narrow groove in the dirt, you’ve experienced the therapeutic benefits of gardening first-hand,” says Jennifer Hausler. There are over 20,000 active community gardens in the US — and one significant patch of green on Franklin Street in downtown Nyack.

Read her photo essay, “A Visit To The Nyack Community Garden” on the Nyack Backyard blog.

Nyack’s Hook Mountain Growers and Dr. Pamela Yee were featured on WNYC last week in a story about the medicinal aspects of bitter melon, a tropical fruit which is every bit as bitter as its name implies. Yee is co-owner of Hook Mountain Growers, a farm where “all plants are biodynamically, organically, and sustainably grown.”

As both a physician and a farmer, Yee can speak to the health implications of bitter melon — a delicacy which fits into the “acquired taste” category.

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By Samuel Anderson

“It was a fun day off,” said Cris Spezial, owner of Nyack Gourmet. Spezial was interviewed on July 13th as part of Food Network’s nationwide search for new and interesting personalities to star in two upcoming shows. “I’m just a Vegetarian Sicilian Jew with a lot of tattoos.” Spezial told Food Network.

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New York, July 22 — WNYC’s “Anecodotal Census” series on the Brian Lehrer show looks at Rockland County this morning at 10a. Two guests will discuss changes to the Haitian and Hasidic communities in Rock Co.

WNYC is at 93.9 FM and 810 AM. You can hear the show streamed live at WNYC,org or listen to a podcast after the broadcast.

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by Natalie Korman

Carson McCullers, a celebrated author who lived in South Nyack from 1945 until the time of her death in 1967, always wrote about her original home, the South. At the age of just twenty-three, she published her debut novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, which chronicles the lonely lives of the citizens of a small town in her home state of Georgia. It was a huge success, now considered part of the American canon, named by Time as one of the best English-language books of the 20th century. Even her novella, The Member of Wedding–which was written during her years in Nyack and made into a hit Broadway play and Hollywood movie–is about coming of age in the South.

Though she lived, died and was buried in Nyack, she will always be known as a Southern Gothic writer, named in the same breath as writers like Flannery O’Connor and Truman Capote. She was good friends with the great playwright, Tennessee Williams, whose name bespeaks his origins. But though the town on the Hudson was not featured in her stories, the writer did not reject Nyack at all.

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by Samuel Anderson

A national restaurant chain is offering local filmmakers a chance to move from YouTube to local television.

Hoping to add some “flavor” to their advertising, the FiRE + iCe restaurant has decided that their next TV commercial will come from their customers instead of salaried workers in a cubicle. “We have come to the conclusion that our advertising is pretty atrocious and we need help,” says a press release from the Boston-based restaurant chain.

The contest invites wannabe moviemakers to upload a 30 or 60 second video for the restaurant to YouTube and then enter the URL on their contest Website. The winning entry will be broadcast on TV throughout Rockland and beyond and will also receive free FiRE + iCE  meals for two for a year.

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New York City, July 12 — Senator Thomas Morahan, who served for 11 years representing Rockland County and part of Orange County in the NYS Senate, passed away today after a six month battle with leukemia. His family was with him at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center at 4:30p, the time of his death.

During his tenure in the the New York State Senate, Morahan introduced 230 bills which were signed into law.  As chairman of the Senate’s Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Committee, Morahan championed Timothy’s Law, a bill which requires insurers to provide additional mental health coverage. He announced his decision not to seek re-election in May.

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by Samuel Anderson

Nyack, July 10 — The Nyack Library celebrates Chopin’s 200th birthday on eight consecutive Saturday nights in July and August. National Chopin Piano Competition winner Mei-Ting Sun will perform at 7:30p each Saturday in the Carnegie Room of the Nyack Library beginning tonight.

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The Hopper House holds a jazz benefit reception and concert honoring Bert and Christine Hughes on Thursday, July 8th, 2010 featuring the legendary Bill Crow and All-Stars.

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