GREENER Pastures

irbnb ads, cottagecore influencers, and lifestyle magazines sell “going upstate” to New Yorkers as if it is a relatively new phenomenon, or one dreamt up by romantic millennials looking to detox. But the truth is that urban defectors have always been a part of the Big Apple narrative. Upstate New York—a vast rural region that spans from the Finger Lakes to the trendy Hudson Valley—has long been the loyal foil to city life, providing idle shelter for its writers, designers, and artists when they need distance from the wider world. Some end up staying permanently while others make it a weekend ritual; however, it’s this interplay between the options of the city and the countryside that enables creativity to thrive. On an individual level, one can observe these effects in real time. For many, it is a super-sizer, offering artists the chance