Market Editor MANDY COON Copy Editor ALEXANDRA MARVAR
The 8 List
IT’S 2020. There’s a lot on your mind, not all of it uplifting. Market Editor MANDY COON is doing her small part to surface some of the silver linings — on the edges of garden shears, the bindings of books we should wait no longer to read, and the screens of our local drive-ins.
1 JAMES BALDWIN’S THE FIRE NEXT TIME In this potent duo of essays published in 1963, Baldwin offers a look from his vantage at American race relations in the ‘60s, and a call to action. The first essay, “My Dungeon Shook — Letter to my Nephew on the One-Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation,” served as inspiration for Ta Nehisi Coates’ Between the World And Me. What will it inspire in you? Available to order at Rough Draft in Kingston.
2 HANNAH VAUGHAN STUDIO’S HANDS TO WORK CHAIR KIT Something for those of us longing to build something: The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing hung well-made minimalist chairs and other wares from wooden pegs on their homes’ walls to declutter living spaces. Abandon fast furniture and embody the Shakers’ guiding principles — simplicity, utility, and honesty — in a hands-on project with this build-it-yourself kit. Poplar wood with sanded edges and pre-drilled, countersunk holes and cotton rope, all cut to length, plus screws and step-by-step visual instructions guide the way. Available at hannahvaughan.com for $250
3 KELLY + JONES EARTH HAND SANITIZER In Kingston, a perfumery pivots to small-batch spray-on hand-sanitizer to save the ship as COVID has put all its wholesale orders and markets on hold. Available in a purse- or pocket-sized 2 oz. bottle, K+J EARTH is 70% ethanol plus local ingredients and the scents of saffron, vetiver, earth, and white peppercorn. Every ten bottles sold donates a bottle to staff at a local grocer. Available at Hops Petunia Floral in Kingston and kellyandjones.com for $18
4 HUDSON VALLEY MOCA INTERACTIVE DIGITAL EXHIBITION “HOW WE LIVE” Through sculpture and video, 37 artists explore creativity and production around the world and throughout time. The minutiae, the personal and the profound come across in works by Louise Bourgeois, Nam June Paik, Jenny Holzer, Dan Flavin, and others, as they show how producing — from household items to artistic creation — becomes a product itself of the lived experience. As we think more than ever about how we live, the temporarily closed-for-COVID museum makes selections from their current exhibition available to explore remotely online. Available at hudsonvalleymoca.org/how-we-live
5 ANCHAL ORGANIC COTTON FACE MASK, NAVY Promoting a zero-waste initiative, upcycled fabrics hand-embroidered by artisans in India are cut and sewn into two-layer, machine-washable, GOTS-certified organic cotton twill masks with stretchy Lycra ear loops by Anchal. This Louisville-based nonprofit social enterprise works to address the exploitation of women worldwide by creating employment opportunities, products, and markets that support empowerment. One size fits all. Yours protects them; theirs protects you. Available at Shop Berte in Beacon for $20
6 JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE If you’re streaming from home, anyway: Through interviews and rare archival footage, this cinéma verité feature documentary chronicles the late, great Rep. John Lewis’s six-decade career of social activism and legislative action which arced from the start of the 1950s and ’60s civil rights movement to the current one. Streaming on Amazon Prime.
7 BAREBONES GARDEN SCISSORS When we can’t control America’s seeming drive toward self-destruction, at least we can control our herbs, greens, and blooms, with these ambidextrous, rust-resistant stainless steel and bamboo shears for gardening, foraging, deadheading flower beds, and maybe in a pinch, cutting your hair — though hopefully, it won’t come to that. Available at Cold Spring General Store for $23
8 DRIVE-IN MOVIES A quadruple-threat: See your neighbors, support your local drive-in theaters, get off the couch, forget it all for a moment. At the Fair Oaks Drive-In, at the Jericho Drive-In and Twist Ice Cream Shoppe, at Four Brothers Drive-In, evolving slates of family-friendly movies can give the kids the best version of screen-time — outdoors.