Issue #436
Not just a black issue
The current explosion of overt and over-the-top racism on the part of the 35 percent who support Donald Trump and his administration is something I have spent many hours and much mental energy trying to understand.
Just as I never could wrap my mind around the extreme craziness of a centrist Democrat like Barack Obama driving these same people completely wild because he won the presidential election and had the audacity to have brown skin.
Jazz guitarists perform at Main Street Arts
Draa Hobbs and John Stowell will bring the jazz of two guitars to Main Street Arts on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 7:30 p.m. Well known in the area, Hobbs will be joined by Stowell, who is an internationally recognized performer, composer, author, and lecturer who has toured widely both...
Tickets are on sale for Brattleboro School of Dance’s ‘Nutcracker’
Tickets are on sale for Company of Muses and Brattleboro School of Dance's presentation of The Nutcracker at New England Youth Theatre the weekend of Dec. 22-24. After taking a year off, the dance studio is mounting a full-scale production of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Christmas-themed ballet, complete with costumes and...
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How do we come together for a long emergency?
While locating a silver lining in the election of Donald Trump is challenging indeed, at least one promising development has resulted from this otherwise unfortunate event. This is the emergence of citizen protest and resistance to the administration's corporate coup - and the patriarchal, racist culture that supports it. As hopeful as this is, however, resistance alone is not enough to bring about the basic changes we need. Notwithstanding its necessity when faced with threats to our lives and well-being,
Around the Towns
Town seeks to fill committee vacancies BRATTLEBORO - The town is seeking citizens to serve on the following committees and boards: Agricultural Advisory Board, Arts Committee, Citizen Police Communications Committee, Design Review Committee (alternate), Development Review Board (alternate), Fence Viewer (by statute, must be a legal voter of the town), Honor Roll, Inspector of Lumber, Shingles and Wood, and the Planning Commission. Applications and more information can be found at www.brattleboro.org, or by calling the Town Manager's office (802-251-8151). Applications...
Milestones
Obituaries • David I. Allen, 81, of Vernon, formerly of Jacksonville. Died Nov. 17 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. He and his wife Cammie had recently relocated to Vernon to be nearer their son, Shawn. Born at home in Jacksonville to Myron W. and Wilhelmina (Aherns) Allen on May 19, 1936, he grew up on the family farm in Jacksonville. He was a 1955 graduate of Whitingham High School, and continued his education at Vermont Agricultural School (now...
A gala event
On Friday, Dec. 1, at 8 p.m., the Vermont Jazz Center will present its 15th annual Gala Scholarship Fundraiser Performance featuring internationally acclaimed vocalist Kevin Mahogany and guitarist Dave Stryker. The Vermont Jazz Center Big Band, under the leadership of musical director Rob Freeberg, is a community orchestra made up of professional musicians who come together to rehearse and prepare for this annual event. The Big Band will accompany Mahogany and Stryker as they delve into a repertoire of blues...
FOMAG presents Messiah Sing to benefit homeless people in area
Friends of Music at Guilford invites singers and music lovers in the Tri-State region to start their holiday season at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2, with the 47th annual Community Messiah Sing, a benefit for the homeless. Centre Congregational Church, at 193 Main Street in Brattleboro, has been home for the Sing since 1982 and for a few prior seasons as well. Kenneth Olsson will conduct. Though new to this role at the Sing, Olsson is well known in...
Speaker considers World War I’s influence on American literature
Barbara Will, Professor of English at Dartmouth College, will examine how the First World War altered the American literary landscape in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main St. on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. Her talk, “World War I and American Writers,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays lecture series and is free and open to the public. Will will focus on the effect of the war on American writers, particularly John Dos Passos, T.
Windham Regional Commission seeks input on draft Regional Energy Plan
The Windham Regional Commission is seeking public comment as they develop the Regional Energy Plan with four public meetings in December and January. The meetings will be an opportunity for the public to come and learn about why the Regional Planning Commission is creating a Regional Energy Plan, what information is included, and what that means for towns. Attendees will be invited to express comments on the draft plan and, more broadly, on energy planning in the region. The draft...
Rotary Club begins annual Christmas Tree Fundraiser
On Saturday, Nov. 25, the 53rd annual Brattleboro Rotary Club Christmas Tree Fundraiser officially began. Since 1965, the Brattleboro Rotary Club has sold Christmas trees as a fundraiser for local student scholarships, and this year is no different. Vermont-grown trees of all shapes and sizes will be sold daily in front of Brattleboro Bowl on Putney Road until all 400 trees are gone. The Brattleboro Rotary Club, founded in 1950, is an active community service club of more than 75...
The space between indifference and #MeToo
I was a shy, lonely boy, and when I was in ninth grade at a small, elite, all-male day school in Manhattan, one of the English teachers there took a liking to me. His name was Richard, and he had a Ph.D. from New York University. He must have been all of 28. I was 14. It was a hard year, as ninth grade is for many kids - all those transitions from being oldest in middle school to youngest...
Brattleboro plastic-bag ban begins July 1
Attention, Brattleboro shoppers: You have about six months to stock up on reusable bags. Beginning on July 1, 2018, stores in town can no longer offer single-use, thin-film plastic bags to customers. The Selectboard passed the ordinance, “Regulating Single-use Plastic Bags Within the Town,” at the Nov. 21 meeting. This was the second reading of the amended ordinance - the first was at the Nov. 7 regular Selectboard meeting, when, in a 3-2 decision, the Board changed the proposal from...
Seasonable, fair weather now, but winter arrives by mid-December
Good day to you, denizens of southeastern Vermont, I hope that you had a peaceful and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday! Aside from some mixed rain, sleet, and snow late Thursday night in elevations above 1,000 to 1,500 feet in the southern Green Mountains, we can expect fair and seasonable weather to dominate the upcoming week. Thanks to a strong Pacific jet stream, we've been in the doldrums in terms of our weather pattern. This jet stream has caused mainly a west...
A defunct Vermont ski area gets a second life
Some of the old-time skiers reading this column might remember the Dutch Hill ski area in Heartwellville, a village that's part of Readsboro. According to the New England Lost Ski Project (www.nelsap.org) Dutch Hill opened in 1944 and was quite popular in its time. It was small, with about a dozen trails fed by a T-bar, a J-bar, and a rope tow. The trails ranged in difficulty from the novice Dyke to the intermediate Yankee Doodle to the very difficult...
NEYT presents the regional premiere of ‘Tuck Everlasting’
What would you do if you had all eternity? New England Youth Theatre will present a new production of the beloved tale Tuck Everlasting, opening Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. at 100 Flat St. Additional performances will be held at 7 p.m. on Dec. 8, 9, 14, 15, and 16, and at 2 p.m. on Dec. 9, 10, 16, and 17. Eleven-year-old Winnie Foster yearns for a life of adventure beyond her white picket fence in Treegap, New Hampshire, but...
‘Flying Nut Express’ at NECCA’s new home
The New England Center for Circus Arts has presented their annual reimagining of the classic Nutcracker ballet since 2009. This year marks the eighth annual extravaganza, and the first production in NECCA's new custom-built circus facility. The annual production is an evening of “high-flying aerials, stunning acrobatics, and astonishing feats of the human body” featuring performers from NECCA's youth performance troupes and adult professional programs, with special guest artists in character roles, according to a news release. This year, the...
Fiddlers converge for holiday celebration
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music will present “The Turning of the Year: A Holiday Celebration with John Whelan, Low Lily & Katie McNally” at Next Stage on Friday, Dec. 1, at 7:30 p.m. Seven-time all-Ireland accordion champion and Narada recording artist John Whelan teams up with roots band Low Lily and Scottish-style fiddler Katie McNally for a spectacular holiday mini-fest of traditional and original music from Ireland, Scotland, and America. Alongside uptempo jigs and reels will be lesser-known...
Counting on beads
Beadniks, the Main Street storefront selling beads, beaded jewelry, and supplies to make it - in addition to toys, candy, gifts, gemstones, and a variety of other items - celebrated 25 years of business in October. But the shop's history is older than that. Beadniks' owner Brian Robertshaw started the business - mostly, as a store selling just beads - in Martha's Vineyard three years before moving it to Brattleboro. Robertshaw's interest in beads, and his talent at selling them,
GunSense Vt. founder’s departure triggers political aspirations
After nearly five years of being an advocate, Ann Braden wants to be on the inside. Braden, the founder of GunSense Vermont and a gun-violence prevention advocate, recently announced that she will step away from leading the organization to run for public office. Clai Lashman-Sommers will be the group's acting executive director. This fall, Braden was accepted to Emerge Vermont, a Democratic Party program that trains women to run for political office, and she said she wants to run for...
Latchis offers a post-Thanksgiving visual feast set in Venice
Exhibition Screen begins its 2017-18 season with Canaletto and The Art of Venice, an immersive journey into the life and art of Venice's famous view painter. Canaletto and The Art of Venice will be presented at the Latchis Theatre, 50 Main St., on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 2-3, at 4 p.m. No artist better captures the essence and allure of Venice than Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto. Despite Canaletto's association with the city in which he lived and...
‘Smart, sweet’ dog provides comfort to many
There's a new therapist in town, but she doesn't take your insurance and you might not want her on the furniture. But she does do house calls. Her name is Frankie and she's a three-year-old standard poodle recently certified by the Alliance of Therapy Dogs. Frankie's owner, Janet Goldstein, is the executive director of the Brattleboro Pastoral Counseling Center, a nonprofit organization that offers low-cost, non-sectarian counseling from licensed providers. They serve individuals 14 and up, families, and couples who...