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Filmmaker Peter Hutchison
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On Saturday, May 31 at 4:30 p.m., “The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism” will screen at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington as part of The Berkshire International Film Festival.
Based on the book by the same title, the documentary explores the work of public intellectual and author George Monbiot (“Out of the Wreckage”, “Regenesis”), and is the latest project from award-winning documentary filmmakers Peter Hutchison and Lucas Sabean (“Requiem for the American Dream (ft. Noam Chomsky)”).
Augmented by AI generated graphics and animation, the film begins with Monbiot asking,“Neoliberalism: do you know what it is?” Largely defined by competition, neoliberalism pits people against one another in a system where financial success is encouraged and failure is shameful. But Hutchinson says it doesn’t have to be that way.
“We’re seeing neoliberalism on a very extreme level right now. With Trump, there’s chaos, deconstruction of the administrative state, flooding the zone, eroding people’s faith in institutions and democracy itself. This economic growth model is incompatible with the survival of the earth. We need to look at things in a different way.”
As a documentary filmmaker and professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Hutchinson is a skilled storyteller aware of the narratives we’ve internalized. His film suggests other models.
“There’s an experiment in Amsterdam called true cost pricing with the option to pay the standard or a slightly higher price that considers the environment, public health or labor practices. People will pay the higher price knowing what they’re buying has a direct impact,” he said.
“If we can expose a broader range of communities to all of these amazing ideas and people were able to adopt two or three of them, we could really make some fantastic movement forward,” he added.
“Human beings are the most cooperative species on the planet, and evolutionarily that has been an imperative for our survival. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. We’re not advocating an end to capitalism as much as we are re-envisioning our relationship to capitalism. There are plenty of models within the structures of capitalism that make people happier, strengthen community and make people feel like they have agency. The more people invest in a community the more they feel like they belong to it, which is one of the most important antidotes to neoliberalism,” he said.
The screening of “The Invisible Doctrine” will be followed by a Q&A session. For tickets to this film and more during BIFF, visit: biffma.org
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Gary Dodson worked the Salmon River on a cold morning in April.
Patrick L. Sullivan
I went back to the Salmon River in and around Pulaski — pronounced Pulask-EYE — New York for a couple of days in late April.
My mentor in these things, Gary Dodson, is my main Catskill fishing buddy. Last year he convinced me to go to the famous Salmon River and chase steelhead, and I actually caught one on a fly rod.
I did not do this on this trip. But I did catch one. More on this in a moment.
Day one we hit it at dawn, and it was cold at 35 degrees, plus a gentle breeze from the Arctic Circle that made everything just so.
The river was high enough at about 1,400 cubic feet per second to make for some tricky wading.
We covered almost all the Douglaston Salmon Run area on foot and tried everything we could think of, Gary with his two-handed rods and me with a single hand 8 weight.
The result was nil.
After a solid six hours of this we stumbled back to the truck and returned to our little lodge, where we ate something and then we made a critical mistake.
We both decided to rest our eyes for just a little while.
That was at about 2 p.m. We both woke up around 5:30 p.m., and quickly concluded that the strong, manly course of action was to skip suiting up again and instead go to the restaurant at the Tailwater Lodge in nearby Altmar, where I resumed my study of the American Cheeseburger platter.
They call it a “smash burger” now, but it’s the same basic thing, and it’s still very good.
Upon our return I watched an exploitation flick from 1974 called “TNT Jackson.” Gary, who has no taste in these matters, sacked out.
Day two was considerably warmer but we still got skunked. However, we didn’t go at dawn so by early afternoon we were not completely knackered.
We had mangled a bit of lunch and were contemplating the afternoon’s strategy when Gary’s phone rang.
It was Salmon River guide Marcus Mcgivney calling to say he had the afternoon free and did we want to go for a boat ride.
We did.
This was a first for me. I have never fished with a guide, or from a drift boat.
We set off from the fly-fishing only area, keeping an eye out as the radar showed some slight unpleasantness developing over Lake Ontario.
Marcus has been doing this a while, and it shows.
The first thing I noticed was that he has a version of the Grateful Dead logo from the “Steal Your Face” album on the side of the boat. It’s got a fish on it and the lettering reads “Steel Your Face,” not “Steal.”
The first thing he noticed was the flow was greatly reduced. He checked his phone and sure enough, the release from the dam upstream was way down from the morning.
We set off and fooled around with our fly rods a while, getting still more bupkis.
Then Marcus asked if we wanted to try plugging.
We did.
Gary had described this to me, but it was so far outside my experience he might as well have been lecturing on contemporary dance trends in Paraguay.
Marcus described the following method as “reverse trolling,” and that’s about as close to it as I can get in a family newspaper.
Here’s the gist. There are three sturdy rods equipped with level line reels in holders on the port and starboard sides of the boat, plus one over the bow.
The plugs are big nasty-looking lures with treble hooks. They are let out to specific lengths — 20 feet, 30 feet — in front of the boat.
The sports — that’s Gary and yours truly — sat up front watching the rods. The guide — Marcus — manipulated the boat as the plugs wiggled and shimmied around downstream.
In regular trolling a lure or bait is towed behind a boat.
This is the opposite.
Eventually a steelhead gets fed up with looking at the plug shimmying and wiggling around and hits it.
And then it’s pure pandemonium. One of the sports has to deal with the rod that’s got the fish on while the other reels in the other rods so everything doesn’t get all tangled up.
Gary had done this before so when the first one went off on his side he got it in with a minimum of fuss.
When it was my turn I did everything wrong. We still managed to get the fish in but as Marcus said afterwards, “You have to forget everything you know about fishing.”
The physical strength involved in maneuvering the boat around with a set of oars, no motor, is considerable. Then there’s the monitoring of the three plugs. Add to that his knowledge of the river’s topography, plus the habits of steelhead, and you’ve got what separates the modestly-talented amateur — me — from the pro — Marcus.
As we moved from spot to spot, he also spoke at length about restoration efforts along the river. He hailed other guides in other boats, chattered with anglers on the banks, occasionally offering some quick tactical advice, and kept up a stream of commentary that was extremely entertaining.
It was also pretty salty. You’ll have to wait for my memoirs for the unexpurgated version.
If you want a memorable experience Marcus does business as Grateful Adventures LLC, 352-348-7721 or Mmcgivney@paulsmiths.edu.
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Spring pops at Smithfield Church
May 28, 2025
The Smithfield Chamber Orchestra will perform its fifth annual Spring Pops Concert on Saturday, May 31, at The Smithfield Church in Amenia. The popular concert will begin at 3 p.m.
“With something for everyone, the eclectic program ranges from Duke Ellington to Willy Wonka, from ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ to Brazilian Bossa Nova, from Irish folk tunes to Big Band Jazz,” said concert organizer Matt Finley, who will perform on trumpet with the 13-member orchestra.
The audience will toe-tap to pieces such as Ellington’s “Caravan,” enjoy classical favorites and be introduced to new original music.
Finley noted that the performers gather only twice a year, ensuring a spontaneous performance in The Smithfield Church, describing it as “a most unexpected and beautiful place.” The church retains its architectural character, remaining in appearance as it was constructed in 1847 and completed in 1848.
The Bang Family Series suggests donations of $20 to keep this music program going, but everyone is welcome regardless of payment, and children are free.For more information, go to www.TheSmithfieldChurch.org/concerts. Doors will open at 2:30 p.m.
The Smithfield Church is located at 656 Smithfield Valley Road in Amenia. For more information, call 518-598-8276.
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Books and backwoods with Tim Hunter
May 28, 2025
Tim Hunter, right, stewardship director of The Sharon Land Trust giving pointers to a Hotchkiss student.
John Coston
‘What Are You Reading?” explores the lives of our local community through the books they love. In this first installment, we meet Tim Hunter, Stewardship Director of the Sharon Land Trust, whose passion for nature and science fiction reveals the deep connections between landscape, leadership, and imagination.
Stewardship director ofThe Sharon Land Trust, Tim Hunter monitors, maintains, preserves, and protects approximately 4,000 acres of land held in perpetuity with the organization.
Nature has always been a part of Hunter’s story. “When things got too tough, when things got too loud, I’d always take some time and walk in the woods,” Hunter said. “The outdoors has always been my quiet, happy place.”
After graduating from college with a computer science degree, however, Tim Hunter joined his family’s Sharon-based company Magnamusic Distributors, importing sheet music and instruments. He soon became president of the company, where his work involved setting up computer systems, traveling internationally, and shaking hands with vendors and customers. After six years, though, the family sold the company leaving Hunter to wonder what was next.
As luck would have it, due to his computer science expertise and experience in nature, The Sharon Land Trust reached out, requesting his assistance in mapping out a trail system using geographic information systems (GIS). Hunter embraced this unfamiliar territory and built a trail on the back of Red Mountain, along White Hollow Road, as a connector between the Hamlet and Mary Moore preserve.
Hunter does not work alone. There are two other staff members: Carolyn Klocker, Executive Director, and Harry White, Conservation Director. The magic of The Sharon Land Trust is that almost 90% of the work is volunteer based. About 60 - 70 volunteers join Hunter in the woods for workdays where they do everything from removing invasive species to building and maintaining trails. Most importantly they have fun.
Hunter expressed his gratitude by saying, “We would not be where we are today without them. It’s pretty extraordinary just how much the community does to help us to continue our mission.”
After a day of work, Hunter reads for about an hour before bed. Often, he leans toward science fiction or archaeological novels. Currently he is reading “The Pendergast Series,” a bestselling thriller/mystery book series by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. These stories, like the woods, are a wonderful distraction from the human world.
Interested in volunteering with The Sharon Land Trust? Contact: info@sharonlandtrust.org
Olivia Geiger is an MFA student at Western Connecticut State Universiry and a lifelong resident of Lakeville.
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