Things we demanded and have received as workers in this great country:
• Freedom to follow our dreams.
• Maximum allowed working hours per day.
• Maximum allowed working hours per week.
I have a friend who says that until she met me she never worried about anything. Now she worries all the time. I assure her that is a good thing. After all, I tell her, there is so much to worry about these days we need all the worriers...
Feb. 5: It's pitch black outside as I'm driving north on Interstate 91 negotiating rush-hour traffic just north of Ingleside Mall, listening to NPR on the radio. The 6 o'clock news comes on. The usual . . . the latest from Iraq; the presidential campaign. Then an announcement: “Maharishi...
My favorite moment at this year's Town Meeting was when the assembled representatives (among whose ranks I feel privileged to belong), with the esteemed moderator Tim O'Connor once again at the rostrum, arrived at Article 7: “To see if the Town will ratify, approve, and confirm the Selctboard's appointment of a Town Attorney for a term of one year.” A gentleman rose to call attention to Article 2. For a few moments no one seemed to know which Article 2...
When Christopher Grotke and Lise LePage returned to Brattleboro from a journalism conference in Washington, D.C. last October, the proprietors of iBrattleboro.com found a deputy waiting for them with a libel lawsuit. “Our first reaction was that we looked at it and said, 'What did we do? We're not bad people? Or are we?'” said Grotke, recalling the couple's initial shock. Grotke and LePage founded iBrattleboro in February 2003 through their Web development business, MuseArts, Inc. The growing Web site...
The town Finance Committee needs new blood, or it's done for. The committment is, of course, for as long as one wishes but please intend to stay with it for a year at least. The general M.O. is monthly meetings until October when budget meetings begin for the town and school. At that point there may be two a month and by December, the most intense period, maybe three or four per month. By mid- to late January it's pretty...
Dear Mary Ellen: This is such a hard time of year for me. I think I should be happy and upbeat because the weather is getting warmer, the days are longer, and summer is just around the corner. But instead I am having trouble sleeping and getting up in the morning. After I do drag myself out of bed all I want to do is set around and eat sweets. I don't have any interest in anything. My energy level...
From the first glance of his soon-to-be gallery and studio, Barre Pinske is not what you would call your prototypical artist. What started out over 20 years ago as a modest chainsaw carving hobby has blossomed into a well-rounded career for the professional artist and gallery owner. Pinske recently bought a commercial property near the Chester Depot and is converting the new space into The Illana Joffrey Fine Arts & High Craft gallery. “I just really like the sound of...
Doug “Ten” Rose has made writing his memoirs a three-dimensional project. His new book, Fearless Puppy on American Road, chronicles 35 years of hitchhiking beginning when he left Coney Island at age 15. Rose, now living in Brattleboro, intertwines accounts of his experiences with the extraordinary people he met on the road with his personal philosophies and adaptations of Eastern spiritual ideas into his own life and language. “I have attended eight different colleges and universities,” Rose writes in his...
I can't go back in time and take back what I've done…. At one point I was a monster, and I created hate and destruction amongst many people. I am sorry for doing so and I will never turn back into the monster I once was.” These were the closing remarks of Jon Turner, former Marine returned from Iraq, testifying in early March with three other former members of the armed forces, to students at the University of Vermont. His...
I went off to tech school without a driver's license. This was a real problem; luckily, a guy at the school took it upon himself to teach me to drive. Not wanting to waste any time, Worm decreed that we should start immediately. He would crack open a beer, take a big swallow, and say, "OK, it's your turn to drive." When he decided that I had gained minimal competence we headed across the bridge to Canada. In some ways...
Our kids recently gave us a copy of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and urged us to do our part to reduce global warming by growing our own food. “We've actually already tried this,” I tell them, “when you were small.” Indeed, when our kids were young, we had a giant garden, which I preserved by freezing and canning; we annually raised and butchered a pig; and we kept chickens and bees. We also drove only 7,000 miles a year.
Saturday, May 3 FARMER'S MARKET Brattleboro Farmer's market opens. The Saturday market returns for the season with a Maypole celebration and the usual vendors with a variety of agricultural products, crafts, live music and animals and ethnic foods. Western Ave., West Brattleboro. Information: www.brattleborofarmersmarket.com. ENVIRONMENT Green Up Day (www.greenupvermont.org) fosters the stewardship of the Vermont landscape by organizing people of all ages and from all walks of life to join in community spirit to take care of Vermont. Information: (802)
Dozens of Vermont Yankee employees and citizens came forward March 27 to go on the record in support of the nuclear power plant, its parent company's corporate citizenship, and the effect it has on the engine of Windham County's economy. Although a number of the 59 people testifying to the Windham Regional Commission spoke against the renewal of Vermont Yankee's license beyond its 2012 expiration to 2032, a clear majority of those testifying - many employees of the nuclear power...
Potholes. Kettles. Chuckholes. Whatever one chooses to call them, there seems to be a consensus that 2008 will be a year of notoriety for that bone-jarring, suspension-smashing scourge of Brattleboro drivers. Posters on ibrattleboro.com have described the worst roads as “crater-like,” “war zones,” and “minefields” with Park Place and the Estey St. bridge duking it out for the dubious distinction of “Pothole of the Year.” Potholes are not as simple as they look. They are caused by a complex combination...
This country has been governed by idiots for the past seven-plus years. If they are the best of our country's citizenry I can almost agree with Kansas that evolution is a myth. When Bush stands in front of a press conference, arms slightly forward with jutting jaw and brow, doesn't he look like he's about to drop to his knuckles and charge the press like a silverback gorilla? Any leaders that have evolved past homo habilis would have known that...
Recent testimony to the Windham Regional Commission about Entergy's request to extend its license to operate Vermont Yankee another 20 years brought out a great deal of support and affirmation for the nuclear power company as an outstanding employer, a good neighbor, and a good corporate citizen. With dozens of citizens testifying in favor of extending Vermont Yankee's license far outnumbering those opposing nuclear power, the hearing demonstrated the company's loyal workforce and the relationships it has cultivated in the...