NCCCA welcomes artists, community

By Kaitlyn Affuso

Staff Writer

Published: Friday, February 18, 2011

Updated: Friday, February 18, 2011 11:02

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Jaime Thomas/Cardinal Points

The NCCCA, located on Brinkerhoff Street, offers plenty of activities for children and adults, including dance and art classes.

For anyone interested in the arts and looking for something to do, the North Country Cultural Center for the Arts is the place to be. They are located right near campus at 23 Brinkerhoff St.

The NCCCA holds many different events from art shows to parties, camps to lectures.

Just around the corner is their big annual New Year party, the 400 Club Fiesta. It will be held at the center on Feb. 26 from 6 to 10 p.m. Tickets are sold in couples for $100 each, and automatically enter ticketholders into numerous drawings for a chance to win up to $5,000.

Not only are there drawings for the big bucks, but great food catered by the Adirondack Soup Company will be provided.

"It's a lot of fun, and the food is great," Anne Donahoe, NCCCA staff member, said.

Monthly, the center hosts an exhibition opening. These exhibitions have showcased a variety of art and artists. They have displayed local work, and featured artists from out-of-state and out of the country.

The genres of art vary from month to month, but the event always includes wine, hors d'oeuvre and punch.

The majority of the work displayed is available for sale, unless otherwise marked. The profits from art sales not only support the artist, but the NCCCA as well.

The Stonybrook Gallery and Seton Academy Exhibiton opened Jan. 29 and will end on Feb. 25. This exhibition showcases a variety of art including pottery, paintings, and jewelry. "All the kids' projects are up in the art room," Alison Della Bitta, NCCCA staff member, said.

The NCCCA also hosts free guest speaker lectures to the public. These lectures are often led by local artists, who typically discuss projects that they have done.

The arts center holds camps, courses and workshops, appropriate for all ages, are open to the public.

A winter camp for kids is being held during their break in school and has a circus genre.

"They will be studying paintings of the circus" and other activities related to this topic, Della Bitta explained.

For adults, there are workshops and classes as well, which include an open studio for drawing, making jewelry, Zumba and yoga. They also have a new addition of Poi fire dancing, which Della Bitta finds to be "something that's pretty exciting."

Instructors must qualify to instruct each particular workshop. They have tended to be local artists in the past, but some have commuted almost an hour to instruct a workshop.

With only four people on staff, the NCCCA is always looking for volunteers to help with cleaning, working in the gallery and organizing the mailing lists. The NCCCA is open to the public.

An article from my local paper: The Press Republican.

February 14, 2011

Sentimental journey goes on

'I've never felt any different than I did on the first day we met'

ALYSE WHITNEYPress-Republican

PLATTSBURGH — The evening truly was made for dancing.

Leroy "Roy" and Eileen Smith were on their way home from a shindig.

"Neither of us had danced enough yet, so we just pulled over to the side of the road," Roy said, his bride of 69 years at his side, "and I took the radio right out of the car and set it on the hood.

"We danced there for so long that I wore a hole right in the bottom of my shoe."

It comes as no surprise that, in 1941, Roy and Eileen, neé Sullivan, met at a dance. They danced all night at the Malone Grange Hall, not parting ways until the band stopped for the night.

Later that evening, Roy told a friend, "See that girl I danced with? I'm gonna marry her someday."

'VERY LUCKY'

After being inseparable for the next year, he made good on his word. On Jan. 5, 1942, he married Eileen in a double-ring ceremony with their best friends, June McKinney and William Fitzgerald, as attendants.

Over time, they were blessed with seven children, 17 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. Even after all of this time, Eileen, 88, said that nothing has really changed.

"I've never felt any different than I did on the first day we met. He's always been so good to me and good to the children. I am very lucky."

Roy and Eileen remained inseparable, doing everything together, whether grocery shopping, housework or snowmobiling. For 30 years, they ran a dairy farm in Burke — Eileen even got her own tractor so they could work together.

Once, when her tractor was getting fixed, Roy let her borrow his new one.

"It had all the bells and whistles on it, just like a car. After she tried it, she didn't want to get back on hers," said Roy, who's 90. "She said, 'Can I just keep this one?' and I said, 'You can have whatever you want.'

"I still let her have whatever she wants."

LETTERS EVERY DAY

For Roy and Eileen, one of the secrets to a lifelong, happy relationship is the little things.

Early on, he was shopping with friends in Massena when a hand-embroidered dress caught his eye.

He said he marched right inside and said to the girl in the shop, "You're about the size of my wife — what size are you?"

He bought the dress and, for his two years of U.S. Army service in World War II, carried a picture of Eileen wearing it.

The photo, in pristine condition, sits at his bedside in his room at Meadowbrook Healthcare in Plattsburgh. How did it survive the war in such good shape?

"I put it in my duffel bag and wrapped it up in all of my clothes," Roy said.

Throughout their marriage, Roy and Eileen have been separated only twice.

World War II parted them from June 1944 to May 1946; and now, after surgeries for hip and knee replacements, Roy requires 24-hour care that Eileen is not strong enough to give him.

So he lives at Meadowbrook.

"We wrote letters every day when Roy was in the war," Eileen said.

"We never missed a day," he added.

But letters are not enough now.

'HAVE TO HUG'

One of the Smiths' daughters drives Eileen the hour from Burke to Plattsburgh three times a week, just for the chance to eat lunch with Roy and chat for a few hours.

"And we have to hug," Roy said. "We always have to hug."

Eileen wants to move into Meadowbrook with her husband, but space doesn't allow that right now.

They miss each other deeply.

"I used to wake up in the night at home and see she was up, so I would go sit on the couch with her, put my arm around her, and she would curl right up and go to sleep," he said. "I can't do that now."

"I wonder if I'm going to be able to get through this if they don't get us together pretty quick," Eileen said. "When you get older, it's hard to be separated after all of these years together.

"It's not fun. I would hide under the bed to stay here."

POLKA WITH A NUN

And though dancing is more a memory now, what a memory it is.

Folks would go to wedding receptions just to see them dance, said their daughter Madonna Smith.

One time, she organized a parents weekend dinner at Mater Dei College in Ogdensburg and asked Roy and Eileen to dance and get everyone started.

"It was rock 'n' roll music, but they got up and danced anyway," Madonna said. "Before you knew it, everyone was up dancing!" Madonna said.

"Even the nuns were dancing," Roy added. "I danced polka with a nun."

Roy and Eileen also loved to travel. After their 25th anniversary, they went on a road trip with Bill and June, the couple with whom they'd shared their wedding day. They visited 11 states, driving until they ran out of money.

LOVE

When Eileen was in labor with their first child, Roy was told that he could go to work for his overnight shift and come back for the birth in the morning. In his rush to get to the hospital, he trod heavily on the gas pedal and found himself trying to outrun a state trooper.

"I said to myself, 'I think I can get them all right,' and I left them right out of sight," Roy said.

"When I got to the hospital, Eileen had already had Mildred, but the trooper followed me right into the hospital. He tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'What kind of motor you got in that car? I had the trooper car right down to the floor, and you walked right away from me.'"

LOVE AND KISSES

Bottom line for the Smiths, it's love that cements a marriage.

"You've got to love them every day of the year," Roy said. "There wasn't a day that I didn't hug and kiss (Eileen). You've got to tell them you love them and mean it!"

Eileen's advice is to always try to work things out.

"You can't fight and argue about everything. Never forget that you are husband and wife and you love each other. If you love each other, you can work anything out."

The Grammy's are on? It's Valentine's Day?

I did not even know that the Grammy's were on last night. I found through Facebook. I signed on and everyone's status' were about the Grammy's. I did not feel like watching them though, so I didn't.
Also, I forgot today was Valentine's Day until I went onto Facebook. I'm sure if I were with my boyfriend, I would have remembered, but I'm not, so I didn't. However, I was on top of things and sent out a card to him last week (Friday, I think), so he should get it today or tomorrow. I get to see him Thursday as well. I'm so excited. This week is going to go by so slow though, I know it. It's worth the wait though.
He's worth the wait.

My first time closest to the real thing.

I just wrote my first news story. It's terrible. No, I'm not being modest. I only had one source and 275 words. I'm supposed to have 3 sources and 600 words.
I talked to my editor, so she knows all the 'complications.' I'm going to have to edit it all this weekend, which is fine, of course, but this story is so difficult.
It's on the NCCCA, which stands for North Country Cultural Center for the Arts. There are only four staff members there, and I need three sources. Plus, all the staff members know all the same information as one another, and it's basically identical to their website. So, I don't need much from them at all but their quotes, and their addition in number to my sources.
When you talk to journalists, or see movies with them, or whatever, it's not an exaggeration when they stalk their sources. It can be such a pain to get a hold of them. My second source simply won't reply, which tends to be frustrating. I have tried her at two different numbers, her e-mail, and have gone to her office. To say the least, it's stressful. Then, add a deadline on to all of this, and you have got yourself a headache.
Boy, I can't wait to track her down tomorrow, edit the story, and do this process over for different stories weekly throughout the semester.
I think I should change my major. I don't handle stress or pressure well. I never have.

Memories like bullets; they fired at me from a gun.

Why now? It's been two years, and now you decide to apologize to me. I don't think you realize the bull shit you put me through last year.

I would go to school and was already dealing with my own shit, aside from you. You took yourself out of my life and you were my best friend. Not only that, but you dated my other best friend, and took him with you. Then, more drama smacked me in the face, taking my next closest friend away. To tie all that up, my boyfriend left for college. The only good thing out of all of that, was the one guy I met that is still my best friend today.

That summer was shit, and it was mainly because of you. I had heard later on that you were contemplating suicide, and I still cared, after all that you did to me. I still tried to reach out. Only to be talked about at school saying I was fucking the guy who was my best friend. That's just a small dosage of the shit that was dished out to me. I took it all, and I didn't deserve any of it.

Now, you apologize? Two years after the fact? You deny that you are doing this because of your recent break up, but I'm not stupid. You have no one left now. All you have are the guys you have hooked up with, which is sad. And you think I'm going to accept the apology and everything will be okay again?

Well, guess what? A lot of shit has happened in two years and I have changed. I am stronger and more mature. I have grown up a lot, and no matter how many times you apologize, I will never be able to fully forgive you. Never.

I blame my magazine class...

I love winter and the snow. My family has always thought I was crazy for that, but I just do. I love curling up in bed, or in front of a fire to drink tea, coffee, or cocoa, read a good book and write a good poem. However, walking to class in the morning when it's almost in the negatives outside is making me miss summer.
I didn't quite realize how badly I wanted to be tan in a cute white tank top, until I was looking at this one magazine. For my magazine course, we were assigned to grab a magazine from her desk and look into the advertisements, then answer some questions on the handout. I picked through the pile and grabbed the magazine that had my dream printed across the cover: Traveler.
So, now, here I am, in my cold dorm room, flipping through this magazine painted with aqua blue waters, stunning men and women, delicious food, and vibrant palm trees. It is only when I lift my head to look out my window that I feel so alone. I look out to the street that is crusted with salt, the icy bare trees, and inches beyond inches of white and brown snow.
The climate isn't the only difference between where I am and what the images portray. The people photographed are smiling, laughing, and holding hands, and then there's me, cold and all alone.