Other Voices
Often, truth isn’t handed down from public officials but comes from listening to other voices. Once a week, you can hear a wide variety of views from people who shape our corner of the world in New York’s Capital Region. The Altamont Enterprise is the weekly newspaper of record for Albany County, New York.
We’ve talked with a Buddhist who provided therapy for Gilda Radner and then helped set up Gilda’s Club after she died; with a Muslim woman who is trying to educate people about her religion as she feels increased hatred; with an African-American man who, as a teenager, helped ferry people north from a town in Mississippi haunted by lynchings.
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- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 30 minutes
- Episodes
- 421
- Years Active
- 2015 - 2025
Neil Gifford — bringing butterflies back from the brink of extinction
While many of us think of fire solely as a destructive force, Gifford understands that it is essential to enriching the ecosystem of a pitch pine barren.
Gifford, the conservation director for the Alb…
Christine Rem and Raymond Theiss — A home to women vets who need one
Christine Rem, a nurse and retired Army colonel, talks about the way she built trust with Iraqis when she was stationed there and will now use those skills to build trust with homeless women veterans…
Jessica Serfilippi — research upends 'Hero Hamilton' narrative
Jessica Serfilippi started her groundbreaking and myth-busting research on Alexander Hamilton the way she thinks any historian should — with an open mind, she says.
She was “not looking one way or the…
Robert Lawrence, a retired teacher on Adirondack place names
Robert C. Lawrence and his wife, Carol Ann, were kayaking on an Adirondack lake, watching some loons, when she asked him how the mountain looming over them, Blue Mountain, got its name.
Lawrence thoug…
John Rowen — Finding surprises after a lifetime of fishing
“You go fishing and there’s an infinite possibility for surprise,” says Guilderland angler John Rowen.He’s fished trout streams in Rensselaer County that are no wider than a driveway and found 17-inc…
Bill Batt says we’d have fairer taxes and a richer economy if we followed Henry George
GUILDERLAND — Bill Batt is a man of ideas — big ideas.
Right now, he’s organizing the annual Council of Georgist Organizations conference to be held this year in Albany, from July 15 to 17.
Batt’s sign…
All American athletes have a deep love of their sport
The four track-and-field athletes who were named All Americans at a national competition this month most often used the word “love” — not “pain” or “discipline” — to describe their relationship to th…
Trevor Burnside, military college student: ‘It’s your duty to serve your country in its time of need’
Trevor Burnside knows that doing the small things right leads to doing the big things better.
In this week’s Enterprise podcast, Burnside describes the sound of each member of a platoon pulling forwar…
Memoirist Patricia Bischof pieced together parents’ Holocaust past
Patricia C. Bischof, as an adult, sat in a room in her mother’s house, crying, as she listened to the story of her mother’s life — a story she had never heard before.
Her mother, Ruth, was being filme…
Historian Ryan Irwin notes that no empire has expanded forever
“The United States has denied the existence of its own empire,” says Ryan Irwin.
Irwin is an associate professor of history at the University at Albany and has written books about the shifting world o…
Beth Davis — ‘Books can be your friend’
Beth Davis has fulfilled a lifetime dream.
She was one of just eight school librarians from across the United States to serve on the William C. Morris Young Adult Debut Award Committee for 2022.
When s…
Eric McCandless new manager of Bender Melon Farm Preserve
Erick McCandless is returning to the place where he started.
He grew up in Slingerlands, was trained in forestry, and now — after a sometimes far-flung career in environmentalism — he is the new proj…
John Haluska — Have brush, will emblazon history
In 2015, John Haluska took it upon himself to start sprucing up Guilderland’s historic markers.
His work caused a bit of a stir when the late Guilderland town historian, Alice Begley, learned that Hal…
Jessica Barcomb’s first novel tells a story of healing and hope
Jessica Perrin Barcomb was in her twenties, she fell through a stairwell and landed on her head. She was in a coma and had to be resuscitated several times.
It made her angry then when people told her…
Terrice Bassler — looking for the "red thread" and healing trauma
Terrice Bassler, a leadership coach, says that, when she is coaching someone, “I look for the red thread. I look for that thread that runs through somebody’s life story, even if it looks a little dis…
Cheryl Vallee — believe in the kindness of volunteers
Cheryl Vallee believes in the kindness of volunteers and the power of information to transform lives.
Vallee is the director of the Center for Community Justice, based in Schenectady, which has just l…
Jason Houck — Personal pain inspired fight for shared parenting
At the close of this week’s Enterprise podcast, through tears, Jason Houck gave a shout-out to his two daughters.
“I love you both and hope to see you again someday,” he said.
Houck of East Berne chair…
Kathy Bentley — Chess on ice in Guilderland
Curling, says Kathy Bentley, is like playing chess on ice.
The ancient Scottish game is not just about technique and precision, but also about strategy.
Bentley ought to know. Two years ago, she was a …
Reporters look back at important stories from 2021
Following our annual tradition, for this week’s podcast, Enterprise reporters look back at some of the most important stories for 2021.
Noah Zweifel discussed how social-media accounts can vary from f…
Jessyka and Keven Brunk build their air castles of gingerbread
Jessyka and Keven Brunk are perfectly matched — both as a couple and as creators of fantasy gingerbread marvels.
“Jessyka went to school for painting and art, and so she’s always been very involved wi…