Arvolyn Hill joins The Millerton News

MILLERTON — The Millerton News would like to officially welcome its newest part-time reporter and photojournalist, Arvolyn Hill, to its team. Hill will be covering the village of Millbrook and town of Washington. Hill was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and her family moved to Kent, Conn., when she was a child. “My dad told me when living in Brooklyn that my mother and he threw a dart on a map. It landed in Kent and that’s how we ended up here,” said Hill. She attended Kent Center School and then Rumsey Hall School for seven years. She graduated from Canterbury Preparatory High school in 2007. “Spending the majority of my childhood in private school was an interesting experience in ways that I am still discovering today,” she said. Hill moved to Madison, N. J., in the fall of 2007 to start her first year at Drew University. She was a member of the cross-country team her first semester, continuing a running career that started at Rumsey Hall through Canterbury. At Drew University, Hill majored in Pan-African studies with a minor in English and writing. After enrolling in a handful of poetry workshops, she began to develop poetry as her main craft of writing. In 2009 she received Honorable Mention for the Academy of Poetry Prize and was a winner of the universitywide Arts of Respect Competition for her collection of poems. In her junior year, Hill decided to study abroad in South Africa. She was accepted into an International Seminar Abroad studying activist writing during Apartheid with 12 other students and two professors. The seminar included two weeks in Cape Town and another two in Johannesburg, meeting with poets, writers, musicians and activists. After her seminar was completed, Hill started another program in Cape Town, where she studied at the University of Cape Town for five months. “I knew that I wanted to stay longer than a month so I enrolled in another program with 53 other Americans for the semester,” Hill said. She describes this semester as the best time of her life. During her time in Cape Town she traveled the outskirts of Cape Town, stayed in a township, went on safari, attended “Afrikaburn,” South Africa’s version of Burning Man, and jumped the world’s highest bungee jump. “I feel incredibly fortunate to have studied abroad in South Africa; Cape Town is rich with life and culture and everyone should have the pleasure of visiting that amazing country,” she said. Hill returned to Drew her senior year, where she started to grow interested in journalism. She began writing for The Acorn, Drew University’s newspaper. “I always thought the creative aspect of writing that I loved was separate from journalism, until my professor showed me that creative writing is essential for journalism,” said Hill. After becoming involved with The Acorn, Hill wanted to continue working in journalism. She graduated from Drew University this spring and is now thrilled to become a part of The Millerton News team. “The opportunity to work for The Millerton News came at a perfect time,” she said. “I am able to do what I enjoy most — writing and photography — right in my own backyard.”

Latest News

Club baseball at Fuessenich Park

Travel league baseball came to Torrington Thursday, June 26, when the Berkshire Bears Select Team played the Connecticut Moose 18U squad. The Moose won 6-4 in a back-and-forth game. Two players on the Bears play varsity ball at Housatonic Valley Regional High School: shortstop Anthony Foley and first baseman Wes Allyn. Foley went 1-for-3 at bat with an RBI in the game at Fuessenich Park.

 

  Anthony Foley, rising senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, went 1-for-3 at bat for the Bears June 26.Photo by Riley Klein 

 
Siglio Press: Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature

Uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.

Richard Kraft

Siglio Press is a small, independent publishing house based in Egremont, Massachusetts, known for producing “uncommon books at the intersection of art and literature.” Founded and run by editor and publisher Lisa Pearson, Siglio has, since 2008, designed books that challenge conventions of both form and content.

A visit to Pearson’s airy studio suggests uncommon work, to be sure. Each of four very large tables were covered with what looked to be thousands of miniature squares of inkjet-printed, kaleidoscopically colored pieces of paper. Another table was covered with dozens of book/illustration-size, abstracted images of deer, made up of colored dots. For the enchanted and the mystified, Pearson kindly explained that these pieces were to be collaged together as artworks by the artist Richard Kraft (a frequent contributor to the Siglio Press and Pearson’s husband). The works would be accompanied by writings by two poets, Elizabeth Zuba and Monica Torre, in an as-yet-to-be-named book, inspired by a found copy of a worn French children’s book from the 1930s called “Robin de Bois” (Robin Hood).

Keep ReadingShow less
Cycling season: A roundup of our region’s rentals and where to ride them

Cyclists head south on the rail trail from Copake Falls.

Alec Linden

After a shaky start, summer has well and truly descended upon the Litchfield, Berkshire and Taconic hills, and there is no better way to get out and enjoy long-awaited good weather than on two wheels. Below, find a brief guide for those who feel the pull of the rail trail, but have yet to purchase their own ten-speed. Temporary rides are available in the tri-corner region, and their purveyors are eager to get residents of all ages, abilities and inclinations out into the open road (or bike path).

For those lucky enough to already possess their own bike, perhaps the routes described will inspire a new way to spend a Sunday afternoon. For more, visit lakevillejournal.com/tag/bike-route to check out two ride-guides from local cyclists that will appeal to enthusiasts of many levels looking for a varied trip through the region’s stunning summer scenery.

Keep ReadingShow less