Beaconites!

Zachary Rodgers
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Beaconites! is a podcast about Beacon, New York and the people who live here. Interviews with artists, business owners, educators, students and other local figures provide a window on Beacon and a point of entry for listeners to get involved.

  1. Finding magic in a drop of water or a nighttime walk, with Julie Winterbottom

    JAN 29

    Finding magic in a drop of water or a nighttime walk, with Julie Winterbottom

    Julie Winterbottom has written a wide range of books aimed at children, including books on farts, pranks and horror — all designed for maximum humor, spine chills and fun. Her most recent work is a little different: "Magic in a Drop of Water" tells the story of ecologist Ruth Patrick, who did pioneering research connecting biodiversity to river pollution and helped to write the 1972 clean water act. It's a beautiful book in terms of both the story it tells and the gorgeous illustrations of marsh snails, hugsuckers and, above all, diatoms, the family of phytoplankton that appear in all bodies of water and that were the focus of Patrick's work. In addition to book projects, Julie also plays cajun accordion and volunteers with multiple local causes, including Beacon Prison Rides and Beacon Climate Action Now. At 68, she offers a wonderful example of someone in endless pursuit of ways to create, connect with others, and give back to this community and those in need.

    48 min
  2. How food stabilizes community, with Mike Diago

    12/19/2025

    How food stabilizes community, with Mike Diago

    Mike Diago loves eating, and writing about, food, but his interest is only partly about the cuisine itself. In articles for Eater, Saveur, Chronogram, The Bittman Project and other publications, Mike has created a niche covering the critical role food and eateries play in stabilizing communities. He has written about the surprising Dominican expat tradition of holding spaghetti feasts on the beach; about a BBQ restaurant in the Bronx that has operated continuously since 1954; about a burger place in Jersey City that has anchored its community and overcome sharp racial divides.   This food-focused journalism is a side hustle, basically. In his day job, Mike is a social worker for the Peekskill school district, and over time he has successfully blended his interest in cooking with his outreach to teens. In our interview, he describes how he has invited students - many of them disengaged young men - to prepare meals together. In the process, many have found friendship and discovered that they actually do love to learn in a group setting.  Also in this interview: Eating in Beacon, Mike's backyard cookouts, growing up with a globetrotting father and more.

    45 min

  3. 11/22/2025

    The choral-cosmic works of Heather Christian, MacArthur Fellow

    Heather Christian is a singer, playwright, composer and recent winner of a MacArthur "genius grant."  Her compositions use spiritual music forms to explore themes as varied as ghosts, grief, the Odyssey and the Big Bang. She describes them as " choral-based complex music theater works." They are often presented in the round, in part to obliterate the hierarchy between audience and performers. "I'm interested in existence. I'm interested in unanswerable questions," she says in our interview. "Our lives have become so much about the in and out business of our civilization. The email, the phone alerts, the economy. When you zoom way way out, all of those things seem so arbitrary and small. I wanted [to] imagine what it would be like if we had the time, space and bandwidth to ask the big questions - like why and how we are here."  Heather's  two best known works are Animal Wisdom, which was staged in 2017, and Oratorio for Living things, which has been staged three times, including a string of extremely sold-out performances in 2022.  Originally from Natchez, Mississippi, Heather has lived in Beacon for 13 years, largely under the radar. "I've tried to keep a separation of church and state. Beacon is church," she says. "Beacon reminded me a lot of my hometown. There's something about river people. There's a reverence to the landscape you're inhabiting. We use it, it grounds us."

    47 min

  4. 10/11/2025

    Carolyn Glauda is an optimist in dark times

    As the only candidate running for city council representing Ward 4, Carolyn Glauda is pretty much a shoe-in for the seat, but she still wants to earn your vote. In this interview, she shares her vision for a safer, more affordable and more sustainable Beacon.  Carolyn has been a member of the traffic safety committee since 2020, an experience that got her hooked on civic engagement. In this interview, she shares her point of view on Beacon's affordability crisis, sustainability initiatives, transit and other topics. She also indulges her interviewer in a detour on the failures of Democrats nationally and what, if anything, we can learn from our current debacle.  In her day job, Carolyn works for the Southeastern New York Library Resource Council, managing the Digital Navigators of the Hudson Valley. This is a program that provides community members with tech support in a world where digital access and fluency is increasingly a prerequisite for participation in society.

    44 min

  5. 09/19/2025

    How's the cell phone ban going? With Beacon teachers Christina Dahl and Lesli Tomkins

    In this back-to-school episode, we hear from two longtime teachers in the public schools. High school history teacher Christina Dahl and JV Forrestal kindergarden teacher Lesli Tomkins talk about changes for the 2025-26 school year, the largest of which is a new "bell-to-bell" ban on cell phones at Rombout Middle School and Beacon High School. This is a huge experiment that's playing out across New York State, and Christina offers an early take on how it's going.  We also review some important curriculum changes that are picking up steam this year. A big one for elementary students is the addition of "science of reading" teaching requirements. In the high school, New York State is sunsetting the Regents Exams and shifting to a "portrait of a graduate" framework which emphasizes critical thinking, creativity and global citizenship.  In addition to their teaching roles, Christina and Lesli also lead the Beacon Teachers Association - the union representing educators in the district. We spend some time talking about the role of the union and what kind of support teachers need - namely, wages commensurate with cost of living.  Thanks so much to Christina and Lesli for taking the time out to chat during these hectic first weeks of school, to superintendant Matt Landahl for the introduction, and to school board VP Meredith Heuer for guidance on questions.

    38 min
  6. Making art through life's changes, with Margot Kingon

    09/12/2025

    Making art through life's changes, with Margot Kingon

    Our new interview with Margot Kingon, an artist and the founder of Second Wave Supplies, has a wonderful sweep to it.  As an artist and creative instigator, much of Margot's work could be labeled "art as social practice." Her many projects have included a long-running pop-up dance party (Dance/Play), a year-long series of Covid-era family portraits, and most recently, an art supply thrift store in Beacon.  When she takes something new on, Margot typically isn't only out to express herself creatively but also to invite others to engage and build something together.  All of this is fairly new. Margot grew up in Manhattan's Upper West Side during a period of high crime. (She was mugged multiple times). She took a million art classes as a kid but strayed from making art as she grew up. She only returned to it in force after working for decades in work she didn't love, as a lighting technician. The initial spark that renewed her creative life came when she became a mother, as she and her husband (musician Josh Stark) made a pact to do the work they wanted their child to know them for. But even after making that commitment, she grappled for nearly two decades with work/life balance, her responsibilities to her ailing mother, and how to live.  That all sounds rather serious but Margot recounts her stumbles and epiphanies with a lot of humor and insight. And of course she talks at length about Second Wave Supplies' mission to provide affordable access to art materials to folks in Beacon while keeping them out of the landfill.  Photo by Michael Isabell

    46 min

  7. 08/18/2025

    In pursuit of connection, with Gracelyn Woods

    Originally from Seattle, Gracelyn Woods grew up housing insecure, food insecure and raised by a single mom. From these tough beginnings, she cultivated a fierce attitude of hard work and self-determination that resulted in a successful career in TV and event production in New York City. But after 20 years of this work, culminating in a big job with the landmark Apollo Theater, Gracelyn found herself mired in unhappiness.  "The lifestyle of TV and event production had taken its toll. It had shown up in vices, it had showed up in drinking, it had showed up in overspending," she says in our interview. "My first step was to get the physical space I needed to have a moment to think about it."  So in 2018, she moved to Beacon – alone – and started a new life. She met her partner - an FDNY firefighter - and they had a child. Meanwhile, she took on a big new job as COO and co-owner of The Bellweather Agency. Through all this, Gracelyn directed her energies to her newfound community, finding support and friendship among other parents and the wider community.

    46 min

  8. 06/27/2025

    Beacon needs bikes, with Meg Lazaros

    There are plenty of good reasons to hope for a more bikeable Beacon. To name a few:  1) Improved safety (for drivers and pedestrians as well as for cyclists)  2) Reduced traffic congestion 3) Greater equity for people who can't afford a car or don't want to drive around for small errands.  4) Bikes are fun :) In this interview, Meg Lazaros, one of the founders of the Beacon Bicycle Coalition, discusses the work being done to improve Beacon's roads for bike use. Beacon Bicycle Coation was founded to advocate for bike infrastructure, including both short-term improvements and changes to our comprehensive plan that could enshrine a cycling ethos in Beacon's vision for its own future. They also organize fun group rides on the last Thursday of every month. Shining through this discussion of "the issues" is the pure joy Meg gets from riding bikes.  Learn more about Beacon Bicycle Colation and sign the petition at https://bikebeacon.org/. And, follow them on Instagram for information on group rides and other events:  https://www.instagram.com/beacon.bicycle.coalition/  Related: New York recently granted $100,000 to study the viability of a bike-sharing program that would connect Beacon and Newburgh. One of the recipients of that grant is Thomas Wright, a leading voice for biking and sustainability (and a former Beaconites guest). You can help this effort by taking their survey. Visit https://tally.so/r/nW1XZP

    38 min
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4.9
out of 5
36 Ratings

About

Beaconites! is a podcast about Beacon, New York and the people who live here. Interviews with artists, business owners, educators, students and other local figures provide a window on Beacon and a point of entry for listeners to get involved.

Information

  • Creator
    Zachary Rodgers
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright Beaconites! 2020
  • Show Website
    Beaconites!