Meet our Caring Professionals

Peggy Gertner, Co-Teacher

Hello, hello! Peggy is my name

Up north in Canada is from where I came

Being outside is my happiest place

Days spent with children put a smile on my face

 

Hiking in the Catskills, touching every peak

Adventures like this are what I seek

Crafting is my secret skill

Knitting, felting, sewing enjoyed while I chill

 

Born in Toronto amongst the maple trees

Heading to every mountain with a pair of skis

Spending a decade in NYC

Before swapping gritty for pretty, in the Hudson Valley

 

Livingston Street is my new home

Through the vines of the ‘way back’ I often roam

I love to create and work with my hands

Making phones out of rope and empty tin cans

 

I’m excited to meet you, be sure to say hi

Tell me what shapes the clouds make in the sky

Show me the cool bugs you find under a rock

Or tell me a joke that starts with knock knock

Hannah Myers, Co-Teacher

I am – above all else – an artist and an adventurous spirit.

I am a painter — fascinated with neoexpressionism and stream of consciousness creations. Come over and you’ll see noodlings in photography, ceramics, weaving, and herbalism across my walls, shelves and window sills. While you’re there, give my sweet cat, Leifje some scritches.

Against that wall there, you’ll notice a loom, built by my hands, the same way my grandmothers built theirs. Why is it looped with red yarn and only red yarn? That’s all I had access to at the time it was built. That constraint makes my creations more playful, so I keep it this way. I explore pattern after pattern, the way the light hits each loop and knot.

From my current home, to my many homes growing up in the Hudson Valley, you can find moments my tiny feet left prints of dirt and weather. No season kept my siblings and I from playing “who’s got the toughest feet!” Plunging barefoot through snow and across hot concrete for as long as we could bear, giggling all the way.

These tough feet have settled, once again, in Kingston. My home. This home-sense only comes to me where there is community — inviting, curious and omni-present. I enjoy weaving the Livingston community into my life with waves to my students at puppet shows in the park, with hugs from kids who recognize me working at the farmers market, and talking with parents while I’m waiting in line for coffee.

Kids, like a best friend, are honest. They’re open. They’re free with their joy, and their frustration. There’s no pretense, no show. There’s curiosity and there’s play. These things I want to actively nurture in my life, as much as in theirs.

Matthew Wetzler - Co-Teacher

I didn’t have much background in early childhood care before I started working at Livingston Street. So on my first day I remember feeling nervous, anxious, and unsure what to do with my feet, hands, and brain.  I quietly entered the classroom and casually wandered around as if looking for loose change.  I was very excited to see the kids, but all the noise and enthusiasm stopped me from interrupting the play underway.  One of the children was voraciously playing on their own in the dress-up / kitchen section.  He would rapidly pull objects out of the sink, shove them into the cupboard, shove them back into the sink, place new objects on what appeared to be a kitchen table, and then jerkily shove everything back into the sink again.  Back and forth and back and forth and then there was a pause.  Then it would begin again.  I decided to duck down and pull up a chair to the chaos that was being organized.  I quietly asked the kid if it was okay that I sat down at the table.  Myles said “Uh. What?” I asked, “Is it okay if I played in the kitchen too?”  He exclaimed, “Sure!” I asked him if he was making dinner – to which he responded, “No. I’m playing restaurant”.  I pulled out a piece of paper and pretended to read a menu.  I asked if he was making spaghetti, steak, or some other food item I knew and he would laugh and squeak, then return to the rapid arrangement of opening cupboards and replacing objects.  I asked some other restaurant related questions as he placed food on a plate in front of me.  He may have laughed or squeaked again — I am unsure —  either way he did not respond with “words”.  Instead he would take the cutlery, or bowl, or some other object away and again place them back into the sink and/or cupboard.  After a little while of this I realized I had become one of the objects in the game and I sat in silence.  It was the most enjoyable silence I had ever felt in a workplace.  I served a function and I could just sit quietly and absorb all the interactions around me.  I observed as children were negotiating turns on the ladder, listened as pretend witches looked for their next victim, and watched the unique body language of the teachers with the children.  Immediately I realized that all of us were learning from all of us all the time — in rapid succession — organizing what we see and do and hear without even needing to speak a sound.  This of course felt to me simultaneously simple and profound.  It wouldn’t be until later that I realized that Myles was finally waving to get my attention — he needed to know how the soup was.  I responded, “The bowl is chipped, the soup is cold, and I am giving this restaurant 2 banana peels!” Just kidding — I have no idea what I said, but I am sure it was very positive and appropriate.

I grew up in renovated old church up the hill from the magnificent Wurts Street Bridge. My partner is Caitlin, we have a baby named Fiona, and we live in Ponckhockie.  I lived for a couple years as a teenager in Toronto and Vancouver as a college student; however, it was too cold and well-meaning so I moved back.  I graduated from Empire State College and I spend a tiny bit of free time rock climbing and reading Das Capital. I love fermented foods and I go on really long story telling rants.  It’s an issue — I won’t stop unless you’re direct with me.  Don’t worry – I won’t be offended.

Julia Marmor - Co-Teacher

I am so excited and grateful to settle into the vibrant community here at Livingston Street!

I believe that anyone, at any age, can learn from the unabashed wonder and wisdom that children hold. This sense of wonder orients me in my daily life, taking time to reflect on moments of wonder like the cicadas chirping outside the windows of my own early childhood spent in the rural Texas Hill Country. I strive to notice and marvel at moments in my adult life that remind me of the feeling of being small in a world so big.

In my time at Livingston Street, I have been consistently drawn to activities like painting, building, and gathering objects I find outside to hold onto and incorporate into my own art. I remember my first few days I would wander around the Way Back and collect sticks that I might weave together, debark, or incorporate into a structure in collaboration with the kids. Like many of the children in our community, I frequently come home with pockets full of treasures I find on the ground.

I am a listener, a learner, and a lover of the natural world.

I am often found in my hammock with a book or in the kitchen, preparing a coffee or meal for the people I love.

I look forward to growing together!

Amber Santiago- Business Development Executive

Howdy y’all, the name’s Amber, or “hamburger” to some, and I definitely am a go-gettin’ type of gal 😉 I never imagined I’d end up here; in the beautiful mountains of New York where I grew up. I had always dreamt of being in a helping profession, specifically a therapist of some sort. Welp, here we are, enjoying the wondrous ride life has been; developing a career, a passion, an affinity for shaping young minds.