While You Were Sleeping

Poppy’s in Afghanistan, missing weapons in Iraq, bogus tax breaks, and more.

A Hotbed of Hope

Lorna Tychostup reports on the efforts of Nature Iraq, an environmental organization working to restore depleted marshlands and catalog indigenous flora and fauna.

COVERT OPS

Larry Beinhart offers a history lesson on the CIA’s secret wars.

Local Luminary: Joel Tyner

Dutchess County legislator and radio host Joel Tyner, tells us where he’s dining, what he’s singing while stopped at a red light, and his first order of business if elected president.

Letter to the Editor: 'A Peculiar Article'

I am writing to express the revulsion I feel toward Lorna Tychostup’s peculiar article “Stories of the Displaced” [9/07]. In fairness, until the part titled “Stories from the Displaced Front,” the article is informative. Then, in my view, it becomes shoddy and manipulative.

Editor's Note: Fall

1,000 words.

Featured Contributors: October

Two photographers, an author, and an intern contribute to this month’s Chronogram.

Esteemed Reader

Publisher Jason Stern takes on the unknown.

October's Featured Contributors

Amber S. Clark, Jennifer May, Tobias Seamon, and Erika Alexia Tsoukanelis contribute to the October issue.

Letter to the Editor: My Heroes are the Peacemakers

I followed the war day by day, finding more and more heroes with every radio broadcast and with every movie that I attended. There seemed to be so much good happening in this country.

Editor's Journal

One of the advantages of being a journalist is that you go places you have no regular business being. If it hadn’t been for my job, I might never have found myself in Dick Callner’s Latham home.

Local Luminary: Daniel Klein

Timothy Cahill interviews October’s local luminary, Daniel Klein.

Chronogram Seen in September

The events we sponsor, the people who make a difference, the Chronogram community.

In the Realm of Ashes

Andrea Walker and her mother, co-owners of a pet crematorium, carry out their grim business with the utmost dignity and respect for their furry clients.

Solar Attraction

Ann Braybrooks visits the Chatham campus of SunDog Solar and Solaqua Power and Art.

Anyone Can Do Pomegranate

Amid a tidal wave of arabica and robusta, a small swell has been building strength, and the average Joe and Jane have shown increasing interest in the other hot drink, tea.

Talent with Taste

A family run coffee shop where you can get a side of blues, hip hop, or hard rock with your apple crisp.

CD Review: Pamela Sue Mann

Pamela Sue Mann’s sophomore album perfects pop.

CD Review: Venture Lift

Woodstock’s Stanton Warren takes listeners tripping on the debut album of his Venture Warren project.

CD Review: Manhattan New Music Project

The first of two CDs recorded to document the 30-year career of Paul Nash, before his death in 2005.

Nightlife Highlights: October

Whether it’s Uncle Monk at the Muddy Cup or Celtic rock from The Battlefield Band, if DJ Wavy Davy recommends it, you’re in for a good time.

Gathering of the Tribe

If Kevin is the star of the show, his daughter Katie isn’t far behind.

October's Nightlife Highlights

Roger Houston’s picks for October.

CD Review: Keith Pray

Despite his growing national reputation, Pray still has a presence in his home jazz scene.

CD Review: Che Guevara T-Shirt

CGT’s self-titled debut serves up eight bracing cuts that feature nervous guitars locked into intricate, obsessive, vaguely math-rock figures, all grounded by a grinding rhythm section.

CD Review: Bobby Sweet

With his lambent gaze, lustrous dark curls, and unapologetically ’70s singer-songwriter moustache, Bobby Sweet bears no small resemblance to John Oates of Hall and Oates.

Portfolio: Cave Dogs

Cave Dogs discuss their collaborative creative process.

Freewheeling Freakout

Indie rock royalty Yo La Tengo will play two shows at Colony Cafe on October 20.

Vintage Violence

Cathy Wilkerson joined Weatherman, the leftist revolutionary group, when it was founded in 1969, and was soon chanting slogans like “Kick the Ass of the Ruling Class” and “Bring the War Home!”

Still Rolling

The Woodstock Film Festival rolls out the celluloid in its eighth year.

Queen of Controversy

The uncompromising Sinead O’Connor has done it again, but this time it’s not quite as shocking as some of her past stunts.

Burning Down the Year

There are few who aren’t entranced by the magic and mystery of Halloween, but there are also few who understand the holiday’s origins, symbology, and traditions.

Discursive Lens

Hopewell Junction-based photographer Michael Sibilia will exhibit urban landscapes this month at GAS Gallery in Poughkeepsie.

Serendipitous Encounters

Chrissy Glenn gathered five talented artists for an exhibit at the Pearl Arts Gallery in Stone Ridge and still had time to curate the Joni Mitchell show in Manhattan.

Portfolio: Stone Poet

Looking at John Yang’s pictures of Thacher Park is like going back in time—geologic time.

Think First of Their Art

David Fuentes has made his disability the foundation of his art, and has produced an extensive series of self-portraits in which he portrays his body as atrophied and earthbound.

Beyond Perfection

The exhibition of Al Parker’s illustrations of aesthetic perfection, “Ephemeral Beauty,” is at the Norman Rockwell Museum through October 28.

The Ninja Hamlet and the Mermaid

The Biggest Little International Play Festival will run at the Capital Repertory from October 16 through November 15.

Switched-On Daddy

The sound of your ring tone, the portability of your music (CDs to iPods), and the general onslaught of electronic media all around us: 80-year-old Max Mathews had something to do with all of it.

Trash Couture

The charity fashion show, Discard Avant Garb, will take place October 21 at the Capital Repertory Theatre.

Big Man On Campus

Nina Shengold gets Charley Rosen to talk candidly about his upbringing, coaching meltdowns, and how he handles enraged bloggers.

Book Reviews: Trespass

Trespass employs a broad canvas, but it isn’t just a political story. Valerie Martin peels back big issues to reveal the bigger ones beneath.

The Persistence of Memory

Naton Leslie has been called “the poet of a forgotten America,” and a “poet of the working class.”

Book Reviews: Kill All Your Darlings: Pieces, 1990-2005

Take a crash course in pop culture with Luc Sante. S&M, Allen Ginsberg, the blues— what are you waiting for? Take notes. It’s all on the test.

Short Takes: October

Five books for October reading.

Book Reviews: Bridge of Sighs

Indeed, it’s Richard Russo’s devotion to details—of place, speech, character—that make Russo’s work such a thrill and a blessing.

Book Review: Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird

Through strong reporting skills, a keen eye for quirky details and a breezy writing style, Blechman transforms the loathsome urban scavengers into majestic and storied creatures.

Book Reviews: King’s Gambit

Exploring the dark side of chess is just one thread in King’s Gambit, a neat piece of participant/observer journalism with an overarching narrative of self-awareness.

October's Short Takes

Bring out yer dead! Hudson Valley authors and illustrators have brewed up some weird and wondrous books to pack for your next haunted hayride.

A Thank-You Note To Emily Dickinson, For Poem #1760;

An ode of gratitude to Emily Dickinson.

The History of Man

“Three Achaean raiders sit in the plaza on top of a heaping plate of bureaucracy.”

Bombed in Las Vegas

“We had seen bombs explode before, Al and I all up and down the length of Europe but Artie, testing A-bombs down the road told us, ‘You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, my friends!’”

Slam Bam Afghanistan

“Taliban in Pakistan Poppy in Afghanistan Soldiers dyin in that span Dyin for Poppystan.”

Hey

Hey. Hey.

My One Girl

“She’s too pretty for the debris of bodies of car wrecks or dry overdoses, the patterns of veins in thin arms.”

Beans

“soy beans, baked beans, kidney beans, jelly beans, Mr. Bean, L.L. Bean,”

The Great Big City Flood

“Behind doors, favors are done, favors

not proper for God or newspaper to see.”

A Poem by Yana Kane

“Absorbed in the first mosquito bite of the season. Scratch, tear, let it become a frenzy, a fury.”

Poetry: Alan Catlin

Seven poems from Schenectady poet Alan Catlin.

The Great Indoors

Consider the addition of natural elements, whether a complete room revamping or a couple of small touches, to perk up your spirit and the ambiance of your home.

The Breath of Home

We are bombarded each day. The stream is constant: noise, obligation, unsettling strife far away and close by. The wish for retreat and respite, for escape from this everyday chaos, is an understandable given. We need not flee our homes to find refuge. We may create it every moment and in our own space.

On the Cover: Pangea Ultima

Ken Vallario paints a metaphor for unity for his new show.

On the Cover: Diner: Eggs, Coffee, Toast & Jelly

Lora Shelley’s inspiration begins in childhood when, as a teenager in the New Jersey suburbs of Manhattan, a big part of her social scene was hanging out in diners.

Art Where the Cows Come Home

Beth E. Wilson previews “Outdoor Sculpture Installations at Saunders Farm.”

Connecting with Angels

Angelic channel Margaret Doner makes a case for angels.

Feeding Your Inner Hibernator

Does the change of season mandate a downward spiral in our healthy eating habits?

Down by the River

Bywater Bistro has joined the growing number of Hudson Valley restaurants. Does it have what it takes to keep patrons salivating?

An Apple a Day

As it turns out, hard cider, a traditional beverage passed on from centuries’ worth of English ancestors, was taken with every meal, including breakfast, in the earliest days of the colonies.

Parting Shot: Candy Curls

SUNY Ulster visiting artist, Will Cotton, paints fantasies so sweet you’ll be licking the canvas clean.

Parting Shot: In My Father's Shoes

“Just Passing Through,” an exhibition of Vonnegut’s surreal semi-autobiographical narratives, is on view at the Ferrin Gallery in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, through October 8.

Unveiling the Soul Inside the Form

Eric Francis Coppolino’s on Saturn’s entrance into Virgo.

Horoscopes: October

Eric Francis Coppolino’s astrological outlook on October.

Act Your Age

The basic formula to financial health is amazingly simple, but Americans are getting lost somewhere along the way.

The Subprime Squeeze

Anne Pyburn reports how the collapse of high-risk leans is affecting consumer lending.