Benjie White is one of the most interesting and important people in my town of Cambridge, many years ago he founded the Hubbard Hall Arts Center, the creative soul of my small but fiercely individualistic upstate New York town, the center saved and refurbished the beautiful old opera house and expanded to save and restore a number of freight depot buildings, the center stages plays, offers classes and scholarships in the arts. Hubbard Hall is an extraordinary civic achievement, White seems not all that interested in the new world of the Internet and modern media hype, I’ve never seen him on Facebook, Hubbard Hall is his child.

I teach there, it is one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen in a small town, Benjie White is retiring, leaving the position he held for so long. Benjie White is enigmatic, he is an actor and arts administrator, he is often out behind the Opera House sweeping the sidewalks and shoveling snow, he doesn’t say much, rarely smiles, he doesn’t too small talk, he is something of a legend here, his strong will created Hubbard Hall and kept it going through many hard times.  I know so little about him. I have seen him perform, and I know he is very gifted, he is responsible for Hubbard Hall, he is powerful and charismatic presence. I saw him at the Round House Cafe today and asked him if I could snap his portrait, he needs to be acknowledged, and I love the character in his face. Being an actor, he smiled as any professional would.