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If an out-of-town visitor is in town for long enough, it’s bound to happen. At some point we’ll spot them with their hands held tight against both ears and a shocked look on their face.
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Jeanne Sager
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9/22/26
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The question has lurked in my head for months now, springing up at the most unexpected times.
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Jeanne Sager
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9/15/26
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Warning: What you’re about to read may cause the people around you to look at you like you’re losing your mind. You might want to let them know that you’re about to start talking to yourself … or not. You can always just see how long it takes them to notice.
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Jeanne Sager
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9/8/26
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His voice was soft, almost a mumble, but I heard enough to understand.
The stranger standing near the doors to Marshall’s in Monticello was asking for money.
The family …
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Jeanne Sager
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9/1/26
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The lasts have begun again.
Somehow, they feel even more final this time, perhaps because we’ve been here before.
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Jeanne Sager
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8/25/26
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This is how your brain folds in on itself.
It starts with a little girl stepping out from beneath a pop-up tent, a newborn baby in her arms. You’re so entranced by the perfection of …
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Jeanne Sager
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8/18/26
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The look was one part skeptical, one part amused, and I sensed a dash of something else in there. It wasn't confidence exactly but a sense that they knew something I didn’t.
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Jeanne Sager
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8/11/26
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It was the fourth day of vacation, and I’d spent the past five minutes wandering a CVS six hours from home looking for a quick hunger fix. I was on my second trip down the potato chip aisle when …
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Jeanne Sager
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8/4/26
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I hate the phrase “picture perfect.”
It’s not the sort of thing you’d expect from a photographer, I’m sure, but these two words have wormed their way into my brain over the years and settled in like a pebble in your shoe, slowly but surely irritating the surface.
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Jeanne Sager
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7/28/26
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When most people use the old saying “it takes a village to raise a child” they have a particular child in mind.
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Jeanne Sager
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7/21/26
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It was the sort of question that could only be asked by someone who spent her childhood moving from place to place, and it could only be asked of someone who’d done just the opposite.
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Jeanne Sager
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7/7/26
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When you’ve been capturing graduation ceremonies for the Democrat for more than two decades, you know exactly what to expect even before you arrive at commencement.
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Jeanne Sager
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6/30/26
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When your friend flies into town to experience a tractor parade for the first time, you expect you’ll spend the weekend laughing, eating ice cream and watching a few hundred tractors mosey through …
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Jeanne Sager
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6/23/26
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There is always a baby asleep in the middle of it all, usually more than one.
They’re not in a darkened nursery with the blinds closed tight, not in a stroller slowly being pushed back …
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Jeanne Sager
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6/16/26
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“Just show up,” we say. “Get involved.”
It all sounds so simple. Move into town, pick a community organization, and walk in the door. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy, right?
It is easy …
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Jeanne Sager
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6/9/26
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It was the kind of lazy afternoon two kids who grew up in a river town live for. We had two tubes, the Delaware, and nowhere to be.
We were laughing at the kids we used to be when he …
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Jeanne Sager
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6/2/26
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In retrospect, I can see why the story might skew more toward “shocking example of country living” and less toward “charming childhood anecdote.”
In my defense, I had no idea what the …
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Jeanne Sager
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5/26/26
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There are a handful of words that tend to come up at graduation ceremonies, words about pride and accomplishment, metaphors about chapters closing and doors opening.
They were all there at …
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Jeanne Sager
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5/19/26
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Somewhere in my medical chart, a doctor has written that I have “limited healthcare literacy.”
If I’d known at that time that this was what he thought of me, I might have put up a fight …
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Jeanne Sager
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5/12/26
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There are things that unite us all as Sullivan County residents.
Power outages. Skyrocketing NYSEG bills. That particular sinking feeling that develops in your stomach when you’re …
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Jeanne Sager
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5/5/26
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I could blame the Netflix special.
Or his new album that dropped late last week.
The truth is, Noah Kahan’s Stick Season has been playing on repeat inside my brain for weeks …
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Jeanne Sager
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4/28/26
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Here is something nobody tells you about burnout: the cure might be more work. I know. I know. Bear with me. For approximately 10 months I've been running on a combination of M&Ms, diet Pepsi, …
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Jeanne Sager
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4/21/26
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I was flipping through the pages of this paper when I spotted a small “blink and you’ll miss it” sized update from Garnet Health.
The hospital announced it had just handed out a …
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Jeanne Sager
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4/14/26
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For months now, I've found myself thinking about the woman with a swastika tattoo.
My husband saw it first.
His hip banged into mine, his eyes widened in alarm before shifting to the woman …
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Jeanne Sager
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4/7/26
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You’ve probably never been to the Catskills.
I know. You live here. But hear me out.
There are two Catskills and depending on which side of the equation you landed on, you …
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Jeanne Sager
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3/31/26
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