Cold snow won’t whisper the joy it knows
But rather shows the sparkle of its heart
Look
The frigid wind comes
Naked and raging with jealousy
He screams at the evergreens
Rips off their ermine finery
Then leaves to sulk
Ashamed to be the slave of winter,
Then joyous heaven’s sunlight
Twice reflected by moon and snow
Softens nighttime cold
Biding us to walk abroad
Each bearing our inner light
Of Christ
AdkAction is currently accepting submissions to their “Spread the Word, Not the Virus” COVID-19 Public Service Announcement (PSA) contest, open to all New York State middle and high school students. The winner will receive a prize of $1,000 and have their PSA broadcast on television, as well as at the Beyond the Peaks Student Film Festival on Friday, June 4, 2021.
Each PSA Submitted should be between 30 and 45 seconds in length, and should include the slogan “Spread the word, not the Virus.” The PSA must also contain logos, as specified within the directions, and address a broad range of audiences. Deadline for submission is midnight on Friday, January 15, 2021. Participation in the contest is free.
Students must upload video submissions online through the digital film contest platform “Launchpad”, which was donated by Skills21 at EdAdvance, and Educational Nonprofit based out of Connecticut. The submissions will then be evaluated by teachers, nonprofit leaders and health department staff. The judges will be searching for originality, inventiveness, and the invocation of emotion within the PSA. The scoring rubric, as well as more information and a detailed video tutorial on how to submit your PSA are located here on AdkAction website.
The 2021 Decentralization (DEC) Grant application process is now open for eligible arts organizations and individual artists residing in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, and Hamilton Counties. Artists may submit up to three direct requests of up to $5000 in any combination of two categories: Community Arts and Arts Education projects.
The requirements for submission include reading the guidelines for whichever category you are applying in and attending a free informational seminar with a Grant Coordinator. Seminars will be held online via Zoom between now and January 15. The deadline for the online application process is January 31.
A new series of workshops is launching from the Adirondack Center for Writing, designed for teens by professional performance poets and educators. The workshops are online and are open to all teen writers and a great extracurricular for college apps.
There is no cost to attend. Students can join for one or all of the workshops for the best experience. Registration is required at bit.ly/acwunmute and Zoom link sent via email after registration. Follow @adkctr4writing for updates.
Over the past year, The Pendragon Theatre has done its best to adapt to circumstance in providing a large array of virtual and physical content like The Pendragon Play, acting and playwriting classes for adults and children, the Young Playwrights Festival, a veterans improvisation PTSD therapy program with St. Joseph’s Rehabilitation Center, puppet workshops, a partnership with Adirondack Experience (ADKX) the Winter Carnival show – Life, Love & Legends, and work on their new building project on Woodruff street. However, with the quarantine in place and with the lack of a live audience, there is only so much a theatre can do.
Harvest
Brown soil is cool and moist in my hands,
Reminding me of who I am,
And of what came before me.
Planting, replenishing, giving back,
Restores me to myself.
This land belongs to everyone,
And no-one,
Though men plant flags to claim dominion.
NorthWind Fine Arts Gallery will be hosting an upcoming juried art show, under the theme: “The Healing Wilderness.” Organizers are inviting artists of any type of media to submit work inspired by the power of the wild places to heal after tumultuous times.
The gallery is located in the heart of Saranac Lake, a village founded on its healing powers since the 20th century when it was discovered that fresh air could help ease tuberculosis.
Selected works will be displayed in a digital format at the NorthWind Fine Arts Gallery during Saranac Lake’s Winter Carnival, as well as online and via social media. Award-winning pieces will be showcased on North Country Public Radio’s virtual art gallery, the UpNorth Gallery.
Virtual series to feature winners of 2020 short film competition
Following the successful launch of its first-ever virtual film festival this fall, the Lake Placid Film Festival announced it will host a second online short-film series starting in February 2021.
“We know how hungry audiences are to see movies and gather with fellow film-lovers, and the response to our first-ever virtual film festival proved it,” said Gary Smith, chair of the Adirondack Film Society, the festival’s parent organization. “It was such a thrill to reach so many people from around the world. And instead of waiting until next fall, we’ve decided to do it again this winter.”
Sun Will Rise
Beware blind rage that
Panders to fear and leads us all
To murder the light.
Know that when temperate minds prevail…
Sun will rise and babes
Will be born, and what is meant
To be, will still be.
Leaf Pile
Oh, how good it is to play.
Dumping the bones on a gentle slope
planted in tinted violet, pale pink to rose,
candy corn yellow leaves, as parents stand
by armed with rakes and shovels, observing
with their crotchety independence how good
it must be to be a child again. To be free again,
to see a December sunset cast its ochre-brown,
saddle-shaped, conspicuously veined light,
eyelash like thin, over the gelatinous flesh of a
family’s front yard. Siblings sunken in soil, that
rich manured soil, soon to become melting snow
banks, scattered on rich, brain-shaped humus.
We Dare
Dare we feel?
This is the time.
Dare we think?
This is the time.
Dare we speak?
This is the time.
Rural meets urban, when the Adirondack Center for Writing and Bowery Poetry Club collaborate for a brand new event. When Lightning Strikes has been designed to introduce new poets to Adirondack audiences, and new audiences to Bowery Poetry Club poets.
When Lightning Strikes is taking place at 7 p.m. November 9, and hosted by Jive Poetic, featuring Mahogany L. Browne, Adam Falkner, Carlos Andrés Gómez, Omar Holmon, Cynthia Dewi Oka, and Ramya Ramana. The event is live online at the Bowery Poetry Club’s website and live on Facebook. All are invited to tune in for a sliding scale donation of $5-15 payable at paypal.me/adkctr4writing to be split between the two organizations.
Starting today (November 6), hikers are invited to join the Saratoga PLAN trails scavenger hunt, on select trails. Search for palm-sized rocks painted with inspirational messages that will be hidden along stretches of the Henning Preserve in the Town of Wilton, Orra Phelps Preserve in the Town of Wilton, and Bog Meadow Brook Preserve in Saratoga Springs. Collect meaningful rocks for you or a gift to others.
The project is intended to be more then just a fun way to visit the trails, Alex Fylypovych PLAN’s community engagement manager explains: “People find inspiration in so many ways. Some people find inspiration from walking in the woods or sitting by a stream. Others find it through art. With this project, we’re sort of combining the two… Sharing the message from your rock may reach someone else who could benefit from the uplifting note,” she says. Saratoga PLAN asks that any rocks collected be shared on social media using the hashtag #SaratogaPLANrocks and tagging @SaratogaPLAN. “Spread the inspiration and the joy,” says Fylypovych. “We can all use some more positivity this year.”
The #SaratogaPLANrocks project was made possible through a collaborative effort between Saratoga PLAN (Preserving Land and Nature) and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Regeneron’s annual Day for Doing Good pairs its employees with various Capital Region nonprofits in order to service their community. Over 50 Regeneron employees painted and hid more than 100 rocks. The project takes inspiration from the nationwide Kindness Rock Project and the Block Island Glass Float Project.
Rocks will not be hidden more then one foot from the trail in order to protect delicate vegetation.
The winners for Raquette Lake’s Annual Halloween Scarecrow Contest are:
Scariest by Beeba Norris
Halloween Sprit by Autumn Miller
Most Creative by Bayli Bird
Prizes were sponsored by the Long Lake / Raquette Lake Parks and Recreation Department
Photos courtesy of Kat Forsell/Town of Long Lake
That one must still their breath, softly,
Even to notice.
Parading a lushness of bloom,
Riotous tendrils burst and grow anew,
In sparkling diamonds of morning dew,
Reveling in summer’s persistent,
And benevolent façade.
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