Recently I've had occasion to talk with some old friends and colleagues, some of whom I haven't spoken to in two decades. Naturally, in the course of playing catch-up, we talked about our kids, all young adults trying to make their way in the world. As a result, I've come to see modern life as pretty toxic and dysfunctional and to wonder what our legacy to our kids really is.
I'm not talking about environmental or economic issues, although those issues exist as well. I'm talking about the frenzy and frustration of daily life.
Nearly everyone had a story to tell about how their kids are trying to cope - with city life, with negotiating healthy relationships, with balancing love and work in a culture that calls such striving “lack of ambition.” These bright, well-educated, and career-oriented, if not career-driven, people are also politically savvy purveyors of the landscape looming large before them, and a lot of them don't like what they see.
Some say they feel “trapped” in a world without values. Others think a career change might give their lives more meaning or a new relationship might reinvigorate them. But the subtle subtext - the back story, if you will - the common denominator is that these thirtysomethings are feeling scared about their futures and suffocated by systems and expectations they didn't expect to face.
I think we can all agree that Barack Obama will be the Democrats' candidate for President in '08. Now, how are we going to talk the American public into voting for him? Obama is a black man, after all, and our citizenry has never been fond of embracing new...
On May 3, through the hard work of Sen. Shumlin, Representatives Obuchowski and Partridge, and others, the Vermont legislature included language in the transportation bill to protect hand-painted murals relating to Vermont's Designated Downtowns. The amendment was carefully crafted to allow only hand-painted murals, and then only directly on...
Feb. 15, 2008: My neighbors, Fred B. and Laura, find a hurt barred owl on Route 30. It looks like the owl's broken a wing. They bring it to Ron Svec, a vet at the VT-NH Veterinary Clinic in Dummerston. Ron, who's been helping wild birds for over 20 years, takes an Xray of the owl's left wing. Its humerus is broken. But it's a clean break, and there's no sign of infection. Ron thinks he can fix the wing.
Drivers seeking a bit of lawlessness need look no farther than the intersection of Canal and Main streets at the heart of town. The Hinsdale Bridge, Vernon Road, the Brattleboro Food Co-op/Brookside Shopping Center parking lot, and a transportation hub involving buses and a train station all comprise the large, chaotic patch of pavement known by locals as "malfunction junction," a site that defies standard traffic rules. Building a Better Brattleboro, the Traffic Safety Committee, the Windham Regional Commission, the...
A new addition from a century past, will join the Brattleboro scene on June 29, when the Estey Organ Museum, in the Engine House Gallery in the Estey Organ Company Factory complex at 108 Birge St., will open its doors after several years of planning. The museum will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. that day, and a tour of the Estey Organ Company Factory Buildings will be offered at 2 p.m. “We plan to create a world-class...
At 9:52 p.m. on Saturday, May 3, the call came in to the Putney Fire Department: the Putney General Store was ablaze. “When the first two engines got here we had fire showing from the third floor end of the building as well as along the peak of the rooftop," Chief Tom Goddard said. "There's heavy water damage to the second floor and the first floor.” Video of the blaze and the demolition process have been posted to the Internet.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently cited Vermont Yankee for a security violation that occurred in February. The NRC spokesperson stated that the nature of the problem will not be released to the public due to post-9/11 security concerns. Though the NRC has made it difficult to assess how dangerous this particular incident was, it is not difficult to assess how dangerous the ongoing operation of the plant continues to be. This aging and deteriorating plant (one of the oldest...
The proposal is to bring a community-owned, subscriber-funded fiber-optic telecommunications network to Windham County. The main purpose is to provide reliable broadband Internet service to homes, towns, schools, health clinics, and businesses throughout the region. The not-so-technical name for the service is “fiber to the home,” or FTTH. Telephone and television services will be available as well over this data connection. Fiber-optic transmitters are built to send information as light pulses along a glass or plastic wire or fiber. The...
Coaches, community members and volunteers, and girls in grades 3-8 from 30 schools in southern Vermont - 1,000 all told - participated in what Girls on the Run Executive Director Nancy Heydinger describes as “a beautiful and incredibly inspiring and rewarding 5K event” May 17 for the Girls on the Run 5K Community Fitness Celebration. The glorious Saturday race was the culminating event for Girls on the Run, a 10-week course that combines athletic training and lessons in self-esteem and...