Beacon, NY

We took a weekend trip upstate with a couple of good friends. The main attraction at first was the Dia:Beacon museum, supposedly a beacon (har har) for contemporary art. As always, the works were too theoretical and not inherently pleasing or shocking, two qualities of art that draws me primordially rather than intellectually. Most of the works ended up being artists manipulating the limits of form or color, something conceptual, a conversation for the rest of the art community rather than average folks...it was thought-provoking but not enough for a full on aesthetic experience.

The chocolate croissant and gus soda I had at their cafe out of low blood sugar was good though...so was the stroll through their little garden of sculpted trees and narrow paths and the pleasant unpleasant mimetic bird sounds coming from situated speakers around the courtyard.

I love Main Streets. There's something so charming about the idea of one street being the center of town. We strolled from one end to the other, a cute smattering of cafes, trinket shops, and the local library, town barber..etc. What was interesting was the division between the richer side of town and poorer. You could tell which side was more black and white...which was quite surprising to me because other main streets have been pretty homogenous. Beacon in general is more ethnically diverse than other upstate towns, reminded me of a microcosm of Albany. It's good but also a little jarring to see the division right there as you walk down the street.

Anywho, we brunched at a popular spot, next to a couple with a hilarious looking brindle-coated Frenchie named Hannibal (his definitely looked like Hannibal Lecter. I find that bulldog owners love to name their dogs after droopy-faced people, myself soon to be included!). It was great watching him just look up at the owners the whole time, hoping for a smidgen of food...those hopeful eyes! I can't wait to get a Frenchie and spoil him to death. Dogs have got to be the fastest and surest perk-me-ups ever known to man.

There was more strolling to be done after brunch. I saw some awesome socialist propaganda-like graffiti art (see below) that reminded me of how this town used to be more factories and industry-related (the Dia:Beacon was a Nabisco factory). There were several old buildings now converted to restaurants, residence, etc...that still have stencil marks of its former factory self (Sweet Tobacco).

The best surprise was when we stumbled upon Beacon Falls, a pretty glorious waterfall and river area given that it's going through a small town. Also, we wandered into a random art gallery party that was circus themed where people and kids dressed up, and there was free cotton candy.

There seemed to be a quiet loneliness about this town though, a comfortable loneliness (or solitude?) that permeates its abandoned buildings and strolling residents. Maybe it's just me reading into it, or maybe it's the old lady who talked to us about her dead husband and daughter, or maybe how the art gallery opening seemed like the only thing for residents to do on a nice Saturday...but the rolling green mountains that surround Beacon seem to swallow the town up. And after the sun sets, I can imagine Main street deserted, while the only lights around will be flickering in individual houses...

I seem to always be attracted to small towns, but to really live there? I don't know...recently I've been hooked on stimulation of the new and the active, the diverse and challenging and NYC has been all of that and more. I need to live in a place with nightlife and subversive culture...somewhere that has a wild side. I don't need it all the time, but it has to be there nonetheless. Maybe I've been finally converted to city living, or maybe I still haven't found a little corner of the earth that perfectly combines my two greatest needs: meditations in nature and desire for the carnivalesque.