Written by Madalyn Alfonso
Published in the New Paltz Oracle
A town-wide book club full of members of a variety of ages, backgrounds and ideologies may seem like a big idea, but with One Book One New Paltz, that idea comes to life every year. Continue reading “Book Club Addresses Cultural Differences”
Written by Daphne Jorgensen
Published in the UAlbany College of Engineering and Applied Sciences newsfeed
University at Albany’s 2016 NYLA-Dewey Scholarship Award winner, Charlene Martoni, is no stranger to winning… and giving back to others.
Information Science student Charlene Martoni has been selected as a recipient of the NYLA-Dewey Scholarship. This award of $1,000 is sponsored by the Lake Placid Educational Foundation and the New York Library Association. It is awarded each year to students pursuing a master’s degree in a program in New York State that is accredited by the American Library Association. Successful candidates are selected based on evidence of strong scholarship, leadership, and a commitment to work in a library or library system in New York State for at least two years after graduation. References writing in support of Ms. Martoni’s application for the award praised her leadership and supervisory skills, one calling her “a bright, talented and motivated leader in her field.” Continue reading “Meet Our 2016 NYLA-Dewey Award Winner”
Written by Charlene V. Martoni
Published in VISITvortex
Part of what makes the Hudson Valley such a beautiful place this time of year is its many destinations that have been taken over by autumn colors. Now is the time to plan some outdoor adventures like a hike up Overlook Mountain, a climb on the Shawangunk Ridge, or a bike along the Hudson Valley Rail Trail.
It’s always important to be prepared whenever you explore the outdoors by bringing maps, first aid kits, and some form of communication. You should also bring energy-packed snacks to keep you going until the end of your excursion.
Here are some healthy, locally made snacks to pack for your next Hudson Valley adventure: Continue reading “Locally made snacks for your outdoor adventure”
The town of West Fulton may be tiny, but it has a lot of heart—and art.
“West Fulton is a very interesting place, made up of extremely creative people,” said Cornelia McGiver, the artistic director of Panther Creek Arts, a new arts venue in the small Schoharie County town. “And what I find special about that place is that there is a willingness to exchange and complement ideas.” Continue reading “Tiny Arts Day in tiny West Fulton”
Written by Charlene V. Martoni
Illustrations by Teresa Hewitt
Published in VISITvortex
Honey bees are actually not native to North America, but neither are many of our crops and garden plants. Nevertheless, these little golden soldiers have become essential to our horticulture.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, honeybees are responsible for pollinating 80 percent of our flower crops, which accounts for one-third of everything we eat. Nuts, alfalfa, apple, cantaloupe, cranberry, pumpkin, sunflower, and many other delicious and healthy foods depend on pollination by honeybees.
Yet the USDA also said that honey bees and other pollinators have had to face increasing obstacles in recent years, including deformed wing virus, nosema fungi, new parasites, nutrition problems, and possible effects of pesticides. Continue reading “Care for our bees and butterflies: Plant a pollinator garden”
Recipe by Charlene V. Martoni, inspired by a recipe from Mom on Time Out
Aunt Dot (my boyfriend’s aunt) hosts a cookie exchange party for the holidays, and I look forward to it each year. However, December is always a busy month for me, with school, family gatherings, and work. These sweet but tangy cookies are perfect because they are easy to make; you just slice them up when you want them!
YIELD: ~2 dozen cookies
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), very cold and cubed
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla extract if you don’t like the almond flavor)
1 heaping tablespoon orange zest (I use Penzey’s dehydrated peel and rehydrate it with a tablespoon of water.)
1 cup craisins
Continue reading “PERFECT Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies”
Recipe by Charlene V. Martoni
This is a warm but bright soup that I love to make during those cold months of winter and early spring. The apples add a touch of sweetness to the silky butternut squash base, but the spices keep it savory. It’s completely vegan, too!
YIELD: ~4-5 12-ounce servings
INGREDIENTS:
1-2 tablespoons grapeseed oil, or other healthy cooking oil
2 garlic cloves
1 cup chopped celery
3 teaspoons Better than Bouillon vegetable base
4 tablespoons white wine
2 cups roasted butternut squash
3 small apples, peeled and chopped
1-3 cups of water, depending on how thick you like your soup
Salt, turmeric, and cumin to your taste. Continue reading “Apple Butternut Squash Soup”
Written by Amanda Copkov
Published in the New Paltz Oracle
Having made her great escape from Litchfield Penitentiary, Miss Rosa of “Orange Is the New Black” made a pitstop at SUNY New Paltz.
Actress Barbara Rosenblat, referred to as “the Meryl Streep of audiobooks,” plays the role of Miss Rosa in the critically acclaimed, top-rated Netflix series and came to the College as part of the One Book/One New Paltz (OB/ONP) program. The goals of this program are to foster community, encourage reading and support literacy by making one read accessible to everyone in the community, according to OB/ONP Committee Chair and Webmaster Charlene Martoni. Continue reading “Orange Is The New Paltz: Miss Rosa Visits New Paltz”
Essay by Charlene V. Martoni
Information is pertinent in any discipline, which is why so many meanings for it exist. In his 1991 article, entitled “Information as Thing,” Michael K. Buckland, a professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information, identifies three variant definitions for “information” in relation to the information sciences: information-as-process, information-as-knowledge, and information-as-thing. He then elaborates on the final of these definitions, information-as-thing, in his 1997 article, entitled “What is a ‘Document’?” Buckland shows, in these pieces, why it is necessary for information professionals to widen the parameters for what should be considered an informative document. In presenting his ideas, Buckland opens the information sciences to new possibilities, and so he opens the world to them as well. Continue reading “Michael K. Buckland’s Liberation of the Information Sciences”
Recipe by Charlene V. Martoni
Published in VISITvortex “What we love about winter”
Yield: 4 cups
“Here’s a simple hot cocoa recipe, a variation on the traditional Hatian Chokola Peyi, which you’ll love.” —Charlene
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of milk*
1 four-ounce bar of 100%
unsweetened cacao
2 anise stars
1 cinnamon stick
1 fourteen-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk* 1 twelve-ounce can of evaporated milk* Continue reading “Hot Chokola”
Written by Charlene V. Martoni
Published in VISITvortex
The holidays have a way of inspiring the best in people, and whether it is helping to shovel a neighbor’s driveway or helping to take care of a friend’s dog, volunteering your time to make another person’s life better is really a noble thing—and it can be fun. Here are some suggestions to help you get into the holiday spirit and get involved with your community: Continue reading “Ways to help this holiday season”
Written by Sharyn Flanagan
Published in the New Paltz Times
Book clubs are a great way for people to get together to talk about ideas. But usually the clubs are made up of people who are already friends, or at least already know one another, and therefore probably have somewhat similar backgrounds. But what if a book club could encompass an entire community; a diverse range of people of all ages, ethnic backgrounds and economic levels who could stimulate each other’s ideas through the common ground of a shared reading experience?
Written by Charlene V. Martoni
Published in The Watershed Post
A nook off the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail, a 24-mile hiking and biking path through Ulster County, is the last place you’d expect to find a food truck. But that’s just where to look for the Rail Trail Cafe, a non-motorized food cart with a decidedly rustic take on mobile dining.
The kitchen is housed inside a 96-square-foot cabin made of reclaimed wood; a hand-built clay oven sits nearby, and the dining area opens to the lush green canopy overhead. Continue reading “Field trip: The Rail Trail Cafe”
Published by PACKT Books
Written by Jason T. Bedell
Reviewed by Charlene V. Martoni
Written by Charlene V. Martoni
Published in The New Paltz Times
For the Ulster County Area Transit (UCAT), SUNY New Paltz students are 7,767 opportunities to gain ridership, and Village of New Paltz residents are an additional 6,000.
Over the past few months, UCAT has focused on encouraging more students to ride its countywide bus system, recognizing that SUNY New Paltz and the surrounding village comprise the second largest population center in the county.
Improvements that have been made in New Paltz so far are expected to work with additional effort.
According to UCAT Director of Transportation Bob Di Bella, Ulster County students used public transportation about 30,000 times in 2012, and about 13,000 of those rides were by SUNY New Paltz students. Continue reading “In the loop”
Written by John Tappen
Published in the New Paltz Oracle
Charlene Martoni’s best friend lost someone to suicide.
“I saw how one person’s suicide can have an affect on others — a ripple effect,” Martoni said.
For three years, Martoni, a fifth-year journalism and education major, has been the chairperson for the SUNY New Paltz Out of the Darkness Walk for Suicide Prevention.
Martoni said the walk is an event where people can feel safe speaking about suicide — a subject that continues to be stigmatized. Continue reading “Guiding Out of the Darkness”
Written by Charlene V. Martoni
Published in The Watershed Post
New Paltz—Three bundled-up boys huddled in the morning mist to catch drops of sap as it trickled out of a freshly drilled 1-inch deep hole in the bark of an old maple tree. Lucas, 6, licked the sap from his finger and looked up at his father, 39-year-old Luciano Lemos of Riverdale, in shock.
“It tastes a little like syrup,” he said, smiling. “Like watered down syrup.”
A handful of folks from all over New York State traveled to Brook Farm on Saturday, February 23 to take part in a maple sugaring prep-work party. The volunteers scrubbed metal buckets for sap collecting and piled up firewood to be used later for distilling the sap. They also set up maple tree taps on the 20-acre property.
The Brook Farm Project is a nonprofit sustainable farm just west of the village of New Paltz. The farm runs on a community supported agriculture (CSA) model, where members purchase shares of the season’s produce and pick up fresh crops each week from June through November.
But Saturday’s gathering was all about harvesting maple syrup, and it proved to be an opportunity for experiential learning. Creek Iversen, a 46-year-old farmer who recently took over as Brook Farm’s new manager, explained that it takes a lot of maple sap to make just a little bit of syrup. Continue reading “Maple syrup season gets underway in New Paltz”
Video by Charlene V. Martoni
Published in The Little Rebellion
This piece is part of a series that examines how SUNY New Paltz students spend their free time.
Yoga is a popular extracurricular activity at the State University of New York at New Paltz. The Athletic and Wellness Center on campus offers students free weekly yoga classes, and many students also attend meetings of the school’s Yoga Club. Whether they are beginners or advanced yogis, SUNY New Paltz students cultivate their yoga interests by joining together to exercise.
Essay by Charlene V. Martoni
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that no government shall make a law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press. A free press is essential to a democratic society because it provides a platform for the discussion of ideas and the exchange of information. However, there have been circumstances throughout history where attempts to limit freedom of the press were made in order to protect other basic rights or to prevent certain harms. Continue reading “The Meaning of Freedom for the Press”
Written by Katie Kocijanski
Published in the New Paltz Oracle

The overall goal of the Out of the Darkness campus walk held last Saturday, May 1 was to bring suicide out of the Darkness and into the light. The money raised will benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Continue reading “A Light out of the Darkness”
Written by Kathy Kim
Published in The Little Rebellion
For 10 SUNY New Paltz students, this past spring break didn’t involve basking in the sun and sipping fruity alcoholic beverages. It instead was a different kind of break, an ‘Alternative Spring Break.’ Continue reading “Not Your Average Spring Break”