{ title: 'The Altamont enterprise and Albany County post. (Altamont, N.Y.) 2006-current, April 13, 2006, Page 7, Image 7', download_links: [ { link: 'http://www.loc.gov/rss/ndnp/ndnp.xml', label: 'application/rss+xml', meta: 'News about NYS Historic Newspapers - RSS Feed', }, { link: '/lccn/2006245259/2006-04-13/ed-1/seq-7/png/', label: 'image/png', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/2006245259/2006-04-13/ed-1/seq-7.pdf', label: 'application/pdf', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/2006245259/2006-04-13/ed-1/seq-7/ocr.xml', label: 'application/xml', meta: '', }, { link: '/lccn/2006245259/2006-04-13/ed-1/seq-7/ocr.txt', label: 'text/plain', meta: '', }, ] }
Image provided by: Guilderland Public Library
The MtampnfEnterptdsei^Tliursday, April J3,2006 ,n ',; •, -:A ,1' Making Sure! •tr*. «JS The Enterprise — Jim Gardner Alena Arthur is about to put an egg in her bas- ket at Saturday's Easter egg hunt sponsored by the Guilderland Elks at Tawasentha Park. The Enterprise — Jim Gardner Malachi Flaherty has just added another egg to his basket during Saturday's egg hunt at Tawasentha Park. Commentary We are the Easter people By Diane Cameron I have an Easter memory from years ago. I was living in Washington, D.C., and that year was a low point in my life. My older sister had recently died and both of my brothers were seriously ill; my best friend was leaving town, and, on top of that, I was questioning my work. In my journal that April I wrote, \Am I depressed?\ When I read those pages now I laugh and shake my head. \Depres- sed?\ That I even had to ask. In that long year I thought I'd never laugh again, just as I thought I'd never again feel love, the joy of easy friendship, or the satisfaction of good work. I went to church that Easter out of both habit and despera- tion. I had grown up in a church- going family. It was what we did. And so to honor the family that I was losing I went. I chose a big downtown church for Easter services — one with hundreds in the congrega- tion — not daring to visit a smaller church where I might have to speak to people or be embarrassed by my own tears. I wanted the paradoxical safety and anonymity of being in a crowd. The minister that Easter Sun- day said many things that I don't remember but one sentence has stayed with me all these years. He said, \We live in a Good Friday world...\ That 1 understood. A Good Friday world is a world full of suffering, questioning, unfair- ness, trouble, mistakes, hurts, losses and grief. That was cer- tainly confirmation of my life that day. \But he continued, \We are Easter people.\ Those words stopped me cold. I was stunned to be reminded that painful morning that there was some- thing other than what I was feeling. My life was not instantly transformed; his words did not change the course of my brothers' illness; nor give me predominately Christian cul- tures. As Americans we are future oriented, we look forward not back, and we are, for the most part, a culture of optimistic, hopeful people. Our American value of re- invention shows itself in our politics and our policies, in our 'We live in a Good Friday world. answers to my questions. But the idea of being \Easter people\ gave me a pause in my grief and the teeniest hope that there really did exist something other than pain. Today all of the things that hurt so much back then have changed. As my brothers died, friends came forward to help. I began to write and publish. Months later, I met Peter and we fell in love. I moved to upstate New York and a new life began with new friends, new work, and, yes, of course, new prob- lems. What strikes me now is that this believing in \Easter\ in the midst of \Good Friday\ is as much about being an American as it is about being Christian. Americans are, by character, a people of reinvention. There is an extra layer of intention that we bring to \new life\ that isn't true even in other laws and in our myths. Even in our entertainment. We believe in treatment and rehabilitation. We invest in cures and self-improvement. We cele- brate ambition and promotion. Sometimes we carry it too far, with too much changing part- ners and plastic surgery — but at the core is our belief that we can make ourselves over. The gift from that Easter ser- vice many years ago was the reminder that we are, by religion or culture, a people who believe in possibility. When our hearts are shattered, we are sometimes shocked to discover that there is joy. as well as pain inside. Out of the ashes of our mistakes, from our defeats and even our despair, we rise again in better lives. Editor's note: Diane Cameron is the executive director of Com- munity Caregivers. Altamont Enterprise, April 12, B07 Guilderland: Rev: W. P. Rulison is at Saratoga this week attending the annual conference. — Everyone is pleased with the new stained glass windows recently place in the M. E. church by James Blocksidge of Albany. — Mrs. F. Case, Mrs. Allan, Mrs. R. C. Main, Miss Sarah DeGraff, Miss Libble Wood and Mrs. Jane Weaver attended the missionary meeting in Schenectady as delegates from the Guilderland Presbyterian society. The local secretary reports a successful year. — Married, a t the manse, on Easter Sunday, March 31, by the Rev. Geo. S. Allen, Mr. Dow Bigsbee of McKownville and Miss Jane Maude Oliver of Fullers. Miss Oliver is the daughter of Mr. Nicholas Oliver, who lives on the Fort Hunter road. She took the commercial course in the Commercial College, Schenectady, and was employed until recently as stenographer and typewriter by a Schenectady firm. Mr. Bigsbee is a young man of excellent habits and great industry. At present he is working for Mr. G. Abrams of McKownville, May happiness attend them. **** Clarksville: Mr. A. Van Wie has purchased the store, etc., of R. C. Bagley for the sum of $1,800. — John Crooks purchased the building formerly used for a hardware store, etc., for the sum of $425. It was sold at auction at Albany recently. — No preaching next Sunday at the M. E. church as the pastor will be at the annual conference at Saratoga Springs. **** Village and Town: Mrs. E. G. Crannell and daughter, Harriette, have been spending the week at New York city. — The ladies of the Reformed church will hold a social at the church hall this Friday evening. Everybody is invited. — The friends of Mrs. John H. Pangburn, who underwent an operation a t the Albany City hospital some ten days ago, will be glad to learn that she is making a hopeful recovery. — Mr. LeonardC. Crounse, who recently bought out the interest of the heirs in the estate of his father, Mr. Henry P. Crounse, is now the sole owner of the old homestead just south of the village. — Mr. Junius F. Ogsbury left for New York, Saturday evening, to accept a position in the office of S. Anargros,at 111 Fifth avenue, with whom his brothers James and William are employed. — A snow storm which seems to have been quite general over the state, set in Monday morning and continued Tuesday, and had it not melted would have reached quite a depth. As it was, it covered the ground to a depth of from three to four inches here and formed good sleighing on the hill, reaching a depth of from twelve to twenty inches. The storm was something almost unprec- edented at this time of the year. New Scotland: The Calvin Club held its semi-annual meetingin the reading room at the Manse. Sixteen members were present, the majority of the absentees having good excuses for their absence. — At the service of worship on last Sunday morning the pastor congratulated the congregation on the improved standing of the church in the past fiscal year, spiritual and financial, and expressed the hope that this was only the beginning of a more healthy religious life in the congregation. — The reading circle will meet tomorrow at 2:15 p.m., at Miss Beckers's. In search of heirloom plants Do you have an heirloom plant, perhaps handed down through the generations in your family and now growing in your garden? If so, we'd like to write about it in our upcoming Home and Garden edition. Please call reporter Jo E. Prout at 731-8625. TOWN OF GUILDERLAND RESIDENTS WIVYT Earth Day Electronic and Room Air Conditioner Collection When: Saturday, April 22,2006 from 7 a.m. 1 p.m. Where: Toft Furniture, 1960 Central Ave., Albany Town of Guilderland residents can obtain their coupon at the Transfer Station or Town Clerk's office. Vehicle Registration will be required. Acceptable Items Include: VCRs • Telephones • PDAs Room Air Conditioners • Computer Components Limit three total of the following two items: Computer Monitors • Televisions (NO Console TV's) Electronic Day is partially financed ivith a grant from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. m %' '«l I -•¥$•
