After nearly 18 months from its first meeting in January 2010, Transition Putney can boast several very real and practical manifestations of its members' intent to support and empower community efforts to reduce carbon emissions and create a self-sustaining local economy.
Started locally by Paul LeVasseur, Transition Putney is part of the global Transition Town movement, whose purpose is to address the triple challenges of oil depletion, climate change, and economic instability in a way that builds strong and connected communities.
Two of their most visible efforts are creating a 49-plot community garden and starting a farmers' market. Both projects now are in their second year.
Last year, the owners of the vacant acreage across from the Putney Food Co-op agreed to allow the community to grow food in what began as 22 lots. They also agreed to allow a Farmers' Market on the property, which ran for six weeks from September into October. That was followed by two successful winter markets held indoors at Green Mountain Orchards.
Whereas, Vermont Independent Media (VIM) was incorporated on August 8, 2004, as a nonprofit organization at a time of intense consolidation in the newspaper industry, and Whereas, this nonprofit organization was established to provide an independent source of local news produced locally for the people of Windham County, and...
The 95-member River Singers chorus will perform an eclectic concert of world music on Saturday, May 14, at 7:30 p.m., at The White Church on Main Street. The River Singers, a multi-generational community choir led by Mary Cay Brass, sings a wide variety of community-based music from many cultural...
Everybody can grow an easier and better garden this season. Come see how on May 15 when Post Oil Solutions hosts its third annual No Gardener Left Behind Expo, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the River Garden in downtown Brattleboro. From soil building and seed starting, to food storage and extending the growing season, this free event is all about making it easier to feed ourselves, and our communities, out of our gardens - 12 months of the...
Saturday, May 14, promises to be a fun-filled day in Townshend, starting with the “Spring Into Health” 5K Run at 8:30 a.m., and followed by the free Community Health Fair from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Organized by Grace Cottage Hospital, these events will be held at Leland & Gray Union Middle/High School and on the Townshend Common, rain or shine. The “Spring Into Health” 5K Run starts on the Townshend Common and goes up Route 35 and back, ending...
The Blanche Moyse Chorale, an affiliate of the Brattleboro Music Center, will present Der Geist Spricht (“The Spirit Speaks”) on Friday, May 13, at 8 p.m. in Bellows Falls, and Sunday, May 15, at 4 p.m. in Brattleboro. Under the direction of Mary Westbrook-Geha, the Chorale will perform a varied program of sacred works by a single composer: the German baroque master Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672). While this program will obviously appeal to confirmed Schütz lovers, it will also bring enjoyment...
Obituaries Editor's note: The Commons will publish brief biographical information for citizens of Windham County and others, on request, as community news, free of charge. • Edward R. Baxter, 35, of Guilford. Died May 1 at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital as a result of injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident. Husband of Christina Campbell for 10 years. Father of Damon and Annah-Marie Baxter. Sister of Rachel Baxter of Guilford. Born in Brattleboro, the son of Harold “Ed” and Norma (Brewer)
At the midpoint of the season, the undefeated 8-0 Brattleboro Colonels are looking as dominant as they were last season, when they won the Division I state championship. And, like last season, they are doing it with plenty of hitting and the brilliant pitching of sophomore Kayla Wood. Last Friday at Sawyer Field, Wood threw a no-hitter and went 4-for-4 at the plate as the Colonels ripped Burr & Burton, 14-0. The win was the 13th in a row for...
Visual arts • Floral painting class with Peter Granucci: It's spring, the flowers are blooming and we are all captivated by the rush of color and the excitement of new growth. In this floral painting class, led by Peter Granucci, you will create exuberant and exciting paintings full of passion, vibrancy and color. Learn to paint dynamic background and experience freedom in painting. The Saxtons River Art Guild invites you to join them on Saturday, May 14, from 9:30 a.m.
Marlboro College has announced that its 64th Commencement will take place on Sunday, May 15, at 10:30 a.m., in Persons Auditorium. During the ceremony, the college will confer 69 Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Bachelor of Arts in International Studies degrees within its 33 areas of liberal arts study. Instead of prescribed majors and minors, all Marlboro students engage in an interdisciplinary, self-designed course of study that culminates in a Plan of Concentration. Each student's plan is evaluated...
What if you knew that every single dream, every single night, offers the way to reclaim the power of your extraordinary soul? For over 35 years, Archetypal Dreamwork has guided hundreds of dreamers into the depths of the psyche to discover the hero's journey of transformation. Unlike traditional forms of therapy and dreamwork, Archetypal Dreamwork is an experiential exploration that takes seekers to the depths of their souls. At a free presentation on Saturday, May 14, from 1 to 4...
Registration has begun for the seventh annual Way to Go! Commuter Challenge, which will take place May 16-20. This event encourages the use of healthier, more earth-friendly transportation, and less expensive alternatives to driving alone. Everyone who commits to walk, bike, telecommute, carpool, take the bus or use any alternative to driving solo will receive free giveaways and be entered in multiple drawings to win various prizes. Way To Go! will also award the “Carbon Cup” trophy to the community...
Headline Vermont, a one-hour special for Vermont Public Television, was nominated for a New England Emmy Award. Originally aired in the fall of 2010, the show was produced by local filmmaker Dan Lyons, co-owner of Vermont Films in Brattleboro. It covers over 200 years of Vermont's newspapers as they report on small town life and big time news and examines their future in the digital age. The 34th Boston/New England Emmy Awards will be held on May 14. “I was...
With the growing season about to begin, the National Weather Service office in Albany, N.Y., will be issuing freeze warnings during the spring when the overnight temperature is forecast to be 32 degrees or lower, and frost warnings when the temperatures are forecast to be between 33 and 36 degrees. Based on weather data from the period between 1971 and 2000, the Weather Service has set May 15 as the start of the growing season in the Connecticut River Valley,
The Brattleboro Music Center will hold a daylong marathon of student performances on Saturday, May 14, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden on Main Street. Student ensembles, individual players, orchestras and traditional music students will perform everything from Mozart and Beethoven to Gershwin and more during the BMC's annual “Performathon.” The public is invited to enjoy the music, and shop for robust bedding plants for their garden, hanging baskets for the porch, baked...
With hundreds of attendees in town over the four-day Roots on the River music festival, the popular “Swap Tent” should have hundreds of items this year. The festival, produced by Vermont Festivals LLC, is in its 12th year and will run from Thursday, June 9, through Sunday, June 12. Organizers are looking for a variety of instruments to sell. “We are appealing to everyone with an old guitar in the closet, attic, or garage to sell it at the ROTR...
Most other newspapers, when they take the time to celebrate a centennial, do so when they hit a 100-year anniversary. Perhaps it seems frivolous or premature for The Commons to recognize the mark of not 100 years, but 100 issues, as a legitimate milestone, especially when a few shy of half of those issues were published within the past year. But when you consider the grassroots origins of this newspaper, the economy, and the sheer uncertainty of all sorts of...
It may come as news to many, but Brattleboro area artists are on the cutting edge of the international art world. How did this happen? Who are these artists? And why are they living in Windham County? Is it by chance? Is it the beauty of the place? The quiet? The fact that it's only 3½ hours from New York and two hours from Boston? Is it the liberal politics? The quality of the light? All of the above? Every...
On Tuesday, May 17th, Rockingham residents will have an opportunity to preserve and improve one of our community landmarks, the Rockingham Free Public Library (RFPL). I urge them to go to the polls and vote for the library restoration project, which cannot go forward without voter approval. The RFPL, which celebrated its centennial year in 2010, is one of four public libraries in Vermont to be endowed by Andrew Carnegie. A vital community resource, the library saw nearly 12,000 residents...
People called him “Mr. Vermont,” but he preferred that people call him Al. Elbert George “Al” Moulton Jr., who died at his home in Townshend on May 1 at the age of 85, was arguably one of most important figures in the field of economic development in Vermont in the second half of the 20th century. Moulton's ebullience and personal modesty belied his considerable accomplishments, starting with his hand in the creation of the captive insurance industry, which marked its...
Four selected student composers from The Grammar School traveled to the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph on April 28 to hear their original musical compositions played live by professional musicians in the Vermont Midi Project's Opus 22 Concert for strings and woodwinds. The selected pieces were: A Flounder at C by Jamie Lumley, third time winner, grade 8; Dragon Fruits by Luke Cuerdon and Andres Rodriguez, grade 5; and Robins Return by Molly Durling, grade 5. Three-time winner...
Thanks so much for publishing such an excellent piece on Dave Shapiro's sad and untimely passing [“How could this happen?”, The Commons, May 4]. I really appreciated that you took the time to look at this in depth.
I try not to answer the phone when I'm writing, but ever since my novel came out, I have done so. So, when the phone rang the other morning, I picked up. I knew it was a cold call the minute the man asked, “How are you doing today?” “I'm working,” I say, which is a lie. If I were engrossed in my work, I wouldn't have answered the phone. Having done so, I force myself to be somewhat polite.
In 2009, while searching Ancestry.com for new information to add to my family genealogy, I discovered the existence of a relative about whom no one in the family had ever spoken. She was my paternal grandfather's younger sister (my father's aunt), and her name was Sarah. During a search of census records, I learned that she had been a patient at the Massachusetts State Hospital in Canton, Mass. in 1920, when she was 11 years old, and at the Wrentham...
Vermont Yankee has a new ad campaign: “When it comes to safety, it's time to let the facts speak for themselves.” We're told that Vermont Yankee has been safely providing electricity for 39 years, that safety and security systems are operational at all times, that personnel receive safety training, and that two NRC inspectors work on site. So far, so good. But here are some other safety-related facts: Fact: Vermont Yankee uses a General Electric Boiling Water Reactor with Mark...
I'd like to thank Kali Quinn for her exceptional performance in Overture to a Thursday Morning, a one-act original play she created. Kali chose to donate the profits of one performance at the Sandglass Theater in Putney to our small, grassroots organization, Making the Most of I (MMI). The storyline of the play flows into the lives of women, their connection, their mysteries, and their discoveries. The story parallels the work we do as women in our free, 14-week course.
Thirty-three years ago, I was born in the southeast corner of my parents' half-finished house. The year my mother was pregnant, my parents cleared (with chainsaws and an ax) a driveway and an acre of forest, dug a foundation, turned trees into logs (by hand with an adze), milled their pine into boards, laid a field-stone foundation, collected old many-paned windows, and built themselves a house. A few weeks before my birth, my parents and 3-year-old brother moved up the...
In the wake of Bi-Town Economic Development Planner Bill Colvin's resignation, Wilmington and Dover have asked the question, “What's next?” Wilmington answered its portion of the question at its May 4 Selectboard meeting by signing Colvin on as an economic development consultant for 20 hours per week. Selectboard members agreed that, although committed to the Bi-Town collaboration, the town wanted to sustain its hard-won momentum on economic development projects while Dover decides whether it wants to continue the partnership. Members...
Spring brings warm days and clear roads. For many of us, this means one thing: motorcycle weather. In April, the dream of running down a long stretch of smooth road on a new motorcycle is contagious. When I was in high school, I had a friend who was obsessed with owning a motorcycle. Dylan didn't want just any motorcycle. He wanted an '86 Ninja. At that time, the Ninja was different from other bikes. It was the hottest new motorcycle...
Write Action, a grassroots writers' nonprofit organization based, seeks entries for its sixth annual Poetry and Prose Writing Contest. The theme this year will be “How did I end up here?” This theme may be interpreted literally, figuratively, or any combination thereof. Entries in each category will be judged anonymously by a distinguished panel of published authors. The first-place winners in each category will be awarded a $50 gift certificate to a Brattleboro bookstore, while the second and third place...
Two meetings regarding two proposed hydropower projects to generate electricity using existing dams in Townshend and Jamaica will take place on May 11 in the Maria Lawrence Room at the Vermont Agricultural Business Education Center in Brattleboro. The public is invited to attend the meetings at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. The meetings have been called by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in order to prepare a single environmental assessment for the projects at the Ball Mountain and Townshend dams.
Ming Chou has dreamed of running the Putney General Store for 10 years. This spring, his dream came true when he signed a 20-year lease with the Putney Historical Society, making him the store's new proprietor. Chou is from Sterling, a small town in north-central Massachusetts. He fell in love with the General Store during a family visit to Vermont. He decided in an instant he wanted to own and manage it. His daughter, who was three at the time,
The General Store isn't the only historic landmark in this town enjoying a second chance at life. Nearly two years after the United Church of Putney held its last religious service, efforts are under way to transform the historic building into a community performing arts space. The church disbanded in June of 2009, and two months later, the board of the Putney Historical Society voted to accept the property and spent about a year trying to figure out a use...
John Willis would rather people did not make a fuss because he has won a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship. “I am not trying to be humble,” he asserts, “but getting the prize is the luck of the draw. Not one person is so much better.” Dede Cummings, a board member of The In-Sight Photography Project that Willis co-founded, says when the board brought out champagne to toast the success of the Marlboro College professor of photography, he was embarrassed and more...
The Selectboard approved an addition to its Rules of Conduct at its May 3 meeting. The board had tabled the discussion at its April 19 meeting. New Selectboard member David Gartenstein called for a revision to rules on agenda-setting. He requested that a revision be made to add language requiring that all Selectboard members receive notice of items considered for inclusion on the agenda. A previous decision by Chair Dick DeGray and Vice-Chair Christopher Chapman to keep an item off...
Under the auspices of their non-profit organization, the Vermont Institute of Contemporary Arts (VTiCA), Abby Raeder and Robert Sarly have bought and have begun renovating the American Legion building in Chester. In conjunction with those efforts, they have started work on promoting an east-west day tour that will connect galleries, artists, and their works with more people who can appreciate art outside of the mainstream. Their goal: creating visibility and recognition for contemporary artists, who must struggle even harder than...
We want to thank everybody who made the two-day “Unity for Community” event a tremendous and heartwarming success. In particular, we wish to express our gratitude to those who created and attended the “Heart & Soul: A Musical Benefit for the Brooks House Community” gathering on Saturday, May 7. While it is impossible to know exactly how many came to the River Garden, we served food for well over 350, so it is likely that between 600 and 1,000 folks...
The images rose like ghosts from the burned building's brick walls above Main Street. During Gallery Walk on May 6, Kate Anderson, Robert (Mark) Burke, and Timberly Hund projected photos from the Hooker-Dunham Building offices of Brand Pandemic and Mondo Mediaworks, three stories above Main Street The photos grew in form, structure, and color as Friday turned to night: Brooks House presiding over carriage-filled streets, women in long dresses, the building's name plate, flames swallowing the roof. People enjoying Gallery...
Elliot Street became party central Friday night as people kicked off the “Unity for Community” weekend with “ A Brooks House Party” celebration, with two celebrations raising approximately $15,000 to benefit the former residents of the Brooks House get back on their feet. Friday on the streetMusical groups Sugarhouse and Friends, the Stockwell Brothers, R.T.M., and Cool Beans entertained revelers at the corner of Elliot and Main streets. The town recognized its emergency responders, and Congressman Peter Welch, D-Vt., spoke...
Tthe New England Coalition (NEC) filed for intervener status in Entergy's federal court case against Vermontlast week. The May 5 move continued NEC's 40-year commitment to shutting down the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, said members. Entergy is suing Vermont over the state legislature's decision not to let the Public Service Board award Vermont Yankee a Certificate of Public Good (CPG). Vermont Yankee's license expires in March 2012. Although the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted the nuclear plant in Vernon...