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Other Voices
Other Voices episodes
- Katherine Hill Brown — author of “The Summer Girl”Katherine Hill Brown of Berne has written a coming-of-age novel, “The Summer Girl,” that is more like Anne Frank’s diary than a Nancy Drew mystery although the novel refers to and has elements of each. Her novel tells the story of two girls from different cultures who become fast friends despite prejudice from both of their families. Ruthie Rosenthal, an Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn, spends the summer with her baby brother and grandmother at a run-down, once-grand hotel where Sonia Brooks has been hired as a Shabbos goy to do things like turning lights on and off, which are forbidden to Jews on the Sabbath. The novel is set in a fading resort town, known for its healthful waters. Hill Brown, in this week’s podcast, says the setting is based on Sharon Springs, New York, where she spent much of her girlhood. The novel is set in 1976, when Hill Brown was a girl; she nails the details of the era with an unsentimental eye. Hill Brown was an only child and wondered “what if” she had become friends with one of the Jewish summer visitors. A one-time reporter for The Altamont Enterprise, Hill Brown describes herself as a “plotter” — “I have to know where my novel ends up,” she says — rather than a “pantster,” flying by the seat of her pants as she writes. She’s currently working on another “what if” novel, set in rural Georgia and immersed in the art world. Hill Brown’s advice, especially in the midst of the pandemic when many normal activities have been cut short, is: “Read as much as you can.”
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39 min - Gwendolyn Bondi — The U.S. ConstitutionGwendolyn Bondi grew up hearing family stories about her ancestors who had fought in the war for America’s independence. She and her mother worked together to document their family history and Bondi became a member of the Old Hellebergh Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution in 1994; her own daughter is now a member, too. In this week’s podcast, Bondi talks about Constitution Week, initiated by the DAR in 1955, which starts on Sept. 17. At 4 p.m. that Thursday, Bells Across America will ring — at schools, churches, firehouses, town halls, court houses, and in the hands of citizens. Although the Fourth of July, celebrating the Declaration of Independence, is abundantly observed, Bondi feels the 233-year-old Constitution deserves equal recognition. Bondi also talks about the Old Hellebergh Chapter, founded 41 years ago, which in normal times, meets in the 1803 Mynderse-Frederick House in Guilderland Center. She is now vice regent of the chapter. Bondi, and her two-score DAR sisters, whom she describes as diverse, work on projects ranging from distributing personal-care items to veterans and women at Hope House to giving personal protective equipment to local hospitals. “I myself have been sewing, sewing, sewing,” said Bondi as she makes everything from baby blankets to surgical caps and masks.
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32 min - Andrew Maycock — director, writer, and teacherAndy Maycock directs filming at the Altamont Manor for a trailer to promote the romantic comedy he wrote, “The Best Man’s Privilege.” An English teacher at Guilderland High School who produces the school plays and musicals, Maycock is using some of his former students in the cast. The plot centers on a groom who unwittingly signals an escape plan — promoted by his best man — from his own wedding. He then has to win back his hurt and angry bride. Maycock has loved theater since he was a kid and shares his passion with Guilderland students. Six hours before The Guilderland Players’ spring musical, “Chicago,” was to open, the county’s first case of COVID-19 shut it down. “The set is still up, like a museum,” says Mayock in this week’s podcast. As students head back to school this month, Maycock has figured a way they can have a school play. He’ll come up with a theme on which English students can write monologues — some will be filmed at home and others broadcast from the high school stage. Maycock became emotional as he described the way theater friends and former students came together to help him with “The Best Man’s Privilege,” which solidified his faith in people. “Everybody I asked said yes.” In the age of coronavirus, “That’s the lesson we should take,” Maycock said.
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34 min - Wilma Beason Jenssen — “An Iowa Teacher Blossoms in Harlem”
Wilma Beason Jenssen was Mrs. Beason, teaching in Harlem’s Public School 92, when she was featured with student Kime Holman in this 1966 LOOK magazine photo essay, “Life Without Father.” Photographer Bob Adelman wrote, “Kime’s school, buried in the Harlem ghetto, is as segregated as any of its Mississippi counterparts.” Jenssen, who was raised in the midwest and now lives in Guilderland has, at age 92, published her life story, “An Iowa Teacher Blossoms in Harlem.” In this week’s podcast, she talks about the changes happening in Harlem in the 1960s and happening nationwide today with calls for social justice. As a single mother of three children, she helped bring about change in their Harlem housing project as a leader in the tenants’ association while at the same time she worked to be a change agent in her job as a teacher. “It was a heady time. We had the power to do a lot of good and did,” said Jenssen. One word, she said, describes the ability to bring about change: Tenacity. Later, after moving to the Capital Region, Jenssen worked for change integrating special-needs students into regular classes. Looking at what some of her students have accomplished as well as reflecting on her own life, Jenssen says, “You keep plugging at something and people around will put out a hand.” — Photo courtesy of Bob Adelman Estate and Library of Congress Photo Archive
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56 min - CiCi Ferrara — A young voice of calm on raceCiCi Ferrara spoke at a home-grown Black Lives Matter rally in Berne on Aug. 9 about what it was like to be the only Black student in her class at Berne-Knox-Westerlo. In this week’s podcast, her kindness shines through as she describes both the experiences she suffered through as well as the sense of common humanity she gained from her high school social studies teacher, James Lemire, another speaker at the rally. Ferrara recalls a field trip she took as a student in Lemire’s sociology class to a maximum-security prison where she and her classmates talked to two inmates who were convicted of murder — an experience she described as heartbreaking — and found humanity even there. Ferrara was adopted at age 5 by an Italian father from Brooklyn and a mother from Scotland who raised her in a household “really rich in culture” where she was taught the values of both politeness and open-mindedness. Two close friends at BKW kept her from leaving the school by listening to her and accepting her. Ferrara teaches now at an independent school where the children are encouraged to campaign for causes they believe in. Ferrara advises speaking to each other’s humanity rather than yelling or degrading or attacking each other.
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33 min - John Gonzalez — Taíno/Pimicikamak journalist, activist
John Gonzalez — a Taíno/Pimicikamak journalist, author, and filmmaker — shown here with LaDonna Tamakawastewin Allard at Sacred Stone Camp, which spreads a message for green energy and living with respect for the world, likens Canada to a giant battery, charging the United States. He described the poverty and depression in many indigenous communities, worsened with disruption caused by the megadams that sell hydropower to the United States. In this week’s podcast, Gonzalez cites the United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted in 2007. The declaration provides a framework of minimum standards for the survival, dignity, and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world as well as outlining human rights and fundamental freedoms. Gonzalez was one of the protesters at Standing Rock, a grassroots movement that began in 2016 after a pipeline was approved to run from western North Dakota to southern Illinois. Protesters saw the project as a threat to ancient burial grounds, to clean drinking water, and to water for irrigation. In March of this year, a federal judge sided with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, striking down the permits granted for the pipeline by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Gonzalez became emotional as he described his friends, fellow protesters, who had been injured during the stand-off at Standing Rock when federal troops were brought in. His comrades gave Gonzalez the ceremonial name of Kanipawit Maskwa — Standing Bear — which he uses for his media company. He has written a book about the Standing Rock experience and it solidified for him the need to stand up against and raise awareness about big corporations. — From [email protected]
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29 min - The Prue family — pregnancy perseveranceEliza Anne Cohen-Prue is in the arms of her father, Keegan Prue, with her mother, Olivia Cohen-Prue, by her side and their greyhound, Desmond, at their feet, in their Altamont yard. Olivia gave birth to Eliza on July 12 after a day-long labor and a years-long odyssey to get and stay pregnant. With 1 in 8 couples unable to conceive, Olivia and Keegan came to realize that many others had similar experiences although few talked about it. They courageously shared their journey with three rounds of in vitro fertilization and two miscarriages in an Enterprise story last fall, which made their pregnancy and Eliza’s birth a cause for celebration among Altamont Enterprise readers. In this week’s podcast, Olivia and Keegan — with occasionally burbles from Eliza — tell their story of love, loss, heartbreak, perseverance, and happiness. — Photo from Keegan Prue
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37 min - Sarah Gordon — respecting others' perspectivesSarah Gordon, a white woman who lives in the Helderberg Hilltowns, would like people to listen to each other and understand different perspectives. She has suffered tremendous backlash for creating a guide that any Hilltown business can sign onto if they pledge to be antiracist. Gordon agreed to do this week’s podcast, if the conversation could be about “moving the needle” and listening to Black voices, rather than revolving around her. She believes the abuse and threats she has endured since speaking out against racism have helped her understand what a Black person goes through every day. She also believes that, being a woman, she understands what it is like to be judged by the way she looks and how that can lead to violence. She has suffered threats, and many of the words used against her have been sexist and misogynist slurs. Her 5-year-old daughter, who accompanies Gordon to protests, as pictured here in Rensselaerville, understands kindness and knows kindness is always the right thing, which gives her hope, Gordon said. — Photo by Evan Place
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32 min - Rev. Robert J. Luidens — Altamont's Pastor BobReverend Robert J. Luidens, affectionately known throughout Altamont as Pastor Bob, has written a memoir, “The Kingdom Will Come Anyway: A Life in the Day of a Pastor.” In 50 chapters that serve as parables — some of them light and humorous, others of them heavy and soul-searching — Luidens writes of becoming a minister and serving first in a rural Kansas community for three years and then for 31 years as pastor of the Altamont Reformed Church. In this week’s podcast, Luidens tells of how helping people through difficult times is humbling beyond measure. He also describes his world view, which does not hew to traditional church teaching and was shaped by his becoming a parent, and now a grandparent. He says, “God who is our parent, our father and mother, could never show preference for some and not others …. I believe in and through Christ every human being in the end will be drawn into the family of God for eternity and with one another.” His goal as a pastor, now retired, was not to frighten people into believing in Christ but to warmly welcome them.
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47 min - Jonathan Feil — cycling across the country
Jonathan Feil is an adventurer. After graduating from Guilderland High School and then earning a bachelor’s degree in agriculture at Cobleskill, Feil wanted to immerse himself in another culture. He joined the Peace Corps and was sent to Gambia in West Africa. After two months of training, Feil was settled in a rural village of about 300 people where he lived with a host family he describes as “awesome.” His host father was an imam and the head religious figure in the village. Feil attended naming ceremonies and funerals; he was learning the language, making friends, and preparing to undertake his first project when, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Peace Corps brought home all of its volunteers. “We were evacuated in 24 hours,” said Feil, calling the sudden departure “heartbreaking.” He has reapplied to volunteer again — he thinks this time in Southeast Asia or South America — once the Peace Corps resumes its work. Back home in Guilderland, Feil said, he wasn’t ready for the “9-to-5, day-to-day grind,” but craved adventure. So, while the rest of us were hunkered down at home, Feil packed a tent and camping gear onto his bike and, solo, set off to pedal across the country. He’s pictured here in Sublette, Kansas on June 30. We caught up with him — for a podcast — in Colorado, on July 10, the day he was to head up the Rockies. A Guilderland friend is to join him in Utah and they plan to make the last leg of the journey together. Feil said his body adapted quickly to the rigors of biking 80 to 100 miles a day but the “mental game” of pedaling alone was tougher. “It all sounds magical,” he said, of biking across the country, but “when you’re doing it, a lot of it sucks.” He concluded, “You gotta just keep pedaling.” — Photo from Jonathan Feil
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30 min
About Other Voices
From the publisher's feed
Often, truth isn’t handed down from public officials but comes from listening to other voices. Once a week, you can hear a wide variety of views from people who shape our corner of the world in New…
York’s Capital Region. The Altamont Enterprise is the weekly newspaper of record for Albany County, New York.
We’ve talked with a Buddhist who provided therapy for Gilda Radner and then helped set up Gilda’s Club after she died; with a Muslim woman who is trying to educate people about her religion as she feels increased hatred; with an African-American man who, as a teenager, helped ferry people north from a town in Mississippi haunted by lynchings.
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