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WGXC Morning Show: Gary Wockner, May Elbaz Belschner, Zaïri Malcolm (Audio)

Sep 23, 2021

In the latest Hudson Valley Word of Mouth segment, Julia Joern visits The Knitting Room, a shop located on Route 23 in Windham, just on the border of Ashland. Co-owned by long-time friends and knitting aficionados, May Elbaz Belschner and Zaïri Malcolm, The Knitting Room is a place to discover a diverse and colorful selection of carefully-sourced natural yarns, cashmere wools, and plenty more, with a focus on brands that are independently-owned, eco-friendly, and committed to sustainable practices. Local makers are also featured, including Cake Wool Co., a small batch indie dye company from Saugerties founded by Alissa Baptista. The Knitting Room is also a community spot for knitting and crocheting classes and workshops, tailored to both the beginner and expert alike. Born and raised in Tel Aviv, May arrived in New York in 1999, eventually buying a weekend house in Windham in 2015. Her business partner, Zaïri, was born in London of Caribbean descent and moved to Brooklyn when she was a young girl. May and Zaïri each worked in fashion and costume design -- meeting on a film set in the wardrobe department -- and also shared a passion for knitting, often being part of the same knitting groups in the city. Inspired by knitting cafes and wanting a shop of their own, in 2018 they decided to start The Knitting Room in a vacant store (right next door to Mountain Breeze Yoga) in Windham. Zaïri recently relocated to upstate New York, and now lives in Greene County. Also, the Latin American, Carribbean, and U.S. Latino and Latina Studies program at the University at Albany has many students working on interesting and important research projects to improve the understanding of people who make up a large part of our population. WOOC's Moses Nagel spoke to Eric Macias about his research on undocumented youth. And, New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced that she had chosen the Champlain Hudson Power Express to build transmission lines to bring electricity from Hydro Quebec to NYC. Gary Wockner of North America Mega Dam Resistance Alliance explains with WOOC's Mark Dunlea some of the environmental and climate problems with the project, which still needs further approval, as well as its impact on Indigenous people in Canada. Plus, new music from Oneohtrix Point Never; and the trio of Francisco Mela, Matthew Shipp, and William Parker is featured.

The WGXC Morning Show is a radio magazine show featuring local news, interviews with community leaders and personalities, reports on cultural issues, a rundown of public meetings and local and regional events, with weather updates, and more about and for the community, made mostly through volunteers in the community through WGXC. The Catskill Makers Syndicate produce the "Better Weather" for the show. Rob Gelles produces the Columbia County history segment "Rob Around The County" and "This Month in History" for the show. Julia Joern produced the "Hudson Valley Word of Mouth" interview segment each week. The "WGXC Congressional Report" also airs here. Some reports come from our partner station, WOOC-LP in Troy, out of The Sanctuary for Independent Media. Tom Roe also cuts up local and national news with songs and sounds for the show. At 9 a.m. "The WGXC Daily," with local headlines, weather, and previews of community events, airs. At 10 a.m., national headlines from Public News Service are on WGXC. Sometimes national, state, or local press conferences, meetings, or events are broadcast live here.