I love a funny book and author Gary Shteyngart’s newest novel, Our Country Friends, is a very funny book. It’s also a super-fresh, moving tale that follows a pack of friends (and one self-important Hollywood actor) as they ride out the pandemic together with hilarity and hijinks. Even better: it was penned—and is set—in the Catskills. Shteyngart, best known for 2010’s Super Sad True Love Story, grew up summering in these parts—and it shows. Lucky for us, the satirist, who lives both here and in Manhattan, gamely agreed to answer our most pressing questions. Is your place in the Catskills…
Sullivan County is home to Sims and Kristen Foster, co-founders of non-profit A Single Bite. Three years past launch, they say their mission has been centered around community, education, feeding…
As a pop culture maniac, I adore high- and decidedly low-brow television and films in equal measure. Whether it’s a train-wreck of a reality show escapism or a brilliantly written,…
The choruses I’ve sung with have taken me all over the world: Switzerland, Uruguay, Japan… Somehow, though, a premier New England music mecca has eluded me all this time, awaiting…
Let’s start here: I couldn’t recommend this wellness resort and retreat enough. Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA is where artisanal, medicinal spirituality meets modern wellness. It’s a state-of-the-art sanctuary, an…
From early memories of piling into my parents’ Chevy for our summer trip to the Catskills’ bungalow colony, then to the grand hotels, to sleepaway camp and even my prom…
My first experience with something being très “meta” happened in the summer of 1978 when I wasn’t quite 14 years old yet, as my parents, my three siblings and I…
Just north of our ’hoods, in Saratoga Springs, where horses regularly sell for more than homes and my hometown, we don’t really like to think about what happens to Thoroughbreds…
Late spring in New York City my friend Ports and I discussed the outdoors and the flow state one enters when fly fishing. Ports is an avid fly fisherman and…












