BRATTLEBORO-I took a break from watching the ongoing three-ring circus of train wrecks in the news (our environmental, social, and political self-destruction), to enjoy a bit of good news - relating to death, of all things.
The Latchis Theatre hosted a film and presentation on green burial by Michelle Hogle Acciavatti from Vermont Forest Cemetery, organized by Brattleboro Area Hospice. I have long been concerned about how we process the natural deaths of friends and family, and how we avoid thinking about our own inevitable end.
Though I have been most often faced with the qualities of the ceremony that might follow a death, I have long appreciated the work of hospice volunteers, and I have been troubled by the extremely high costs borne by grieving families of modern funeral practices.
In our region, hospice volunteers have brought comfort, help, and advice to families. Resources have expanded to include Hospice of the Fisher Home in North Amherst, Massachusetts, with beds for people who can't be taken care of at home, and a couple of hospice choirs, the Hallowell Singers, based here in southeastern Vermont, and the Eventide Singers in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Hospice is all about making the transition a compassionate one.
The writer represents District 9 in Brattleboro's Representative Town Meeting, BRATTLEBORO-The difference between our faltering two-party democracy and those with a much-more-vibrant multiparty system has been on my mind more than ever lately. Trevor Noah made an observation in an interview recently that in most places around the world...
BRATTLEBORO-As we are engaged with the urgency of the political drama unfolding in real time, I remember someone who was instrumental in the events that led up to an earlier Constitutional crisis a half century ago. Randy Kehler recently passed away at the age of 80 after a long...
Fric Spruyt is a property owner and property manager in Brattleboro and a member of the town's energy committee. BRATTLEBORO-It choked me up to hear that the Congressional Gold Medal has been awarded collectively to all Rosie the Riveters. They emerged at a time when we as a country needed to pull together, set aside our differences and prejudices for the common good. These days, unanimous support for anything in our divided society is a minor miracle, yet our deeply...
Fric Spruyt is a property owner and property manager in Brattleboro and a member of the town's energy committee. Everywhere I look, I see the failure of the idea that someone else has to lose for someone else to win. And, if I look beyond the news of the day, I see examples of what happens when a win-win approach is tried. The rise to prominence of those who have insatiable appetites for power, money, and attention is driving much...
Hearing about the latest debacles in Washington, D.C., I am inspired to recount how we got here. We are at a point where we have a Supreme Court that doesn't understand the need for separation of church and state, confirmed by a Senate that seems to have completely lost its moral compass, nominated by someone who lost the popular vote, who only made it that far because a bunch of religious leaders were willing to make a deal with the...
As we take in (or avoid) the news, a feeling that it is all quite hopeless is almost inevitable. In a way, many likely find this feeling reassuring, though we may not want to admit it. It gets us of the hook. Obviously, we as individuals can't solve any, let alone several, of the world's biggest problems by ourselves. OK, so we are done with this conversation, right? I can go back to whatever distraction or urgent personal need I...
Maggie Cassidy and Tim Cowles were some of the best examples of what it means to “think globally and act locally.” Tim's dedication to the environment is now legendary, certainly among those who knew him. Decades ago he showed how far he was willing to go to live his values. Over lunch one day, he said he was thinking of building a house. I asked if he had thought about an earth-sheltered house. He asked “What's that?” The next time...