Throughout a pandemic that shuttered the American economy and transformed the world, our first responders have continued to answer our calls. This week’s Sketch Log honors Rockland County’s 100% volunteer fire department. Empire Hook & Ladder Company Number 1 of Upper Nyack embodies that volunteer tradition of sacrifice and selflessness.
by Bill Batson For a brief beat, one of the brightest spots in the jazz universe was a nightclub in Nyack. The Office was located in the storefront that is now home to the Olde […]
In Nyack, Main Street is emblazoned with the colors of the African American flag and the proclamation, Black Lives Matter. The officially sanctioned piece of street art is a larger-than-life caption for the daily demonstrations that have been taking place in Veteran’s Park since the May 25th murder of George Floyd by a uniformed officer of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Even in this digital age, people who need to reach the local masses with a message continue to flock to this neighborhood print shop.
If our health care system was the sector most upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, our educational systems have been a close second. For students in the Nyack School District, classrooms moved from the schoolhouse to the cloud; rites of passage, like proms and graduations, were ruined and the economy they will enter has ground to a halt.
During a rally of more than 1,000 residents of all races and ages held on June 1 outside the Nyack Center, the crowd took a silent knee for 9 minutes. They were rounding up by 14 seconds the time that Minneapolis, Minnesota Police Officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on the neck of an unarmed, handcuffed George Floyd, ultimately killing him.
by Bill Batson Our global economic shut down has become the mother of all reinventions. Luddites are scheduling back-to-back webinars as manic extroverts seek tranquility and communion with flowering garden plants. When Tina Traster watched […]
by Bill Batson When the Nyack Mask Makers wanted an iconic local talent to serve as spokesperson, they reached into the hat, and pulled out a rabbit… that held the name Mario the Maker Magician, […]
by Bill Batson In the culinary arts, presentation is as important as preparation. With table service precluded by the social distancing measures taken to stop the spread of COVID-19, restaurants must find new ways to […]
by Bill Batson Although his death was not caused by COVID-19, the complications of our nation-wide shutdown contributed to the demise of Air Force veteran and artist Micheal Rogozik. Michael was the kind of person […]
