by Bill Batson The fight over fracking in New York State is reaching a fever pitch. Natural gas advocates claim the drilling technology is safe and can lead to energy independence. Opponents present evidence that […]
Category: Uncategorized
Nyack Sketch Log: Scholar Puts Local History on the Map
by Bill Batson Dr. Lori Martin helped erect this street sign that honors the memory of Cynthia Hesdra. When she published The Ex-Slave’s Fortune: The Story of Cynthia Hesdra in 2008, Martin saved an important figure in […]
Nyack Sketch Log: Richard Anderson and the SS Columbia
by Bill Batson Richard Anderson found a vessel for all of his dreams, the nation’s oldest surviving passenger steamship, the SS Columbia. Anderson, who had a life long passion for historic boats, created a non-profit […]
Nyack Sketch Log: Kenya on the Hudson
by Bill Batson Kajogo Iguna imports crafts from Meru, Kenya to support families in that country being ravaged by AIDS and Malaria. The fact that a man born to a Kenyan father is now President […]
Nyack Sketch Log: Sam Waymon Lived Here
by Bill Batson What do Muhammad Ali, Helen Hayes and James Baldwin have in common? They were all guests when Sam Waymon and his creative partner, Bill Gunn lived in this house in Nyack in […]
Nyack Sketch Log: Independent Order of Odd Fellows
by Bill Batson Every time I passed this sign, I struggled to decipher the mysterious acronym. Not knowing the meaning of the hieroglyphic written in glass neon tubing gnawed at me. And when I finally […]
Nyack Sketch Log: Last Armoire Standing
by Bill Batson Mohamed Mahmoud opened his store in 1993 at the tail end of the antiques boom in Nyack. Mohamed moved his wares from Manhattan, as had other merchants like Joe Christopher, the original […]
Nyack Sketch Log: Hail to Health Care Reform
by Bill Batson I spent four nights at my 91 year old father’s bedside last week. Before his hospitalization, I had already decided that I was going to sketch log about the Affordable Care Act, […]
Nyack Sketch Log: Dr. King Almost Owned a Gun
by Bill Batson Would you be surprised to know that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. applied for a concealed carry gun permit? In his fascinating essay “The Secret History of Guns,” Adam Winkler recounts that […]
Nyack Sketch Log: 25 Days Since the Newtown Massacre
by Bill Batson For the first 17 days after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the flag at the Soft Cloth Car Wash on Route 59 flew at half-mast. The […]