Many thanks to Liza King for her thoughtful words.
One cold day in January, I was parked across from Experienced Goods, unloading bags of donations from the back seat of my car, when I slipped on the ice. I fell in such a way that I was partly beneath the car.
I'm 71 and somewhat limited in mobility, so it took me some time to crawl out and start to get up. I was pretty much OK, but I had cut my lip, producing a dramatic amount of blood.
As I was righting myself, I heard someone in the group standing in front of the Transportation Center call out, “Oh, my gosh, did that lady just fall?”...
Organizers of Brattleboro's Independence Day celebration are working to wrap up public fundraising efforts to pay for the town's 45th annual free family event. The “By the People: Brattleboro Goes Fourth” citizens committee will mark July 4 with a morning parade downtown and an afternoon and evening of sports,
Father's Day takes on a decidedly musical bent this year, as the Windham Orchestra presents “POPS for Pops,” a family-friendly music fair Sunday, June 17. All are welcome to the event, held from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Brattleboro Music Center, which will include a range of special...
The Historical Society of Windham County's museum and the West River Railroad Museum are now open for the season. The Newfane Railroad Station has recently been restored as the West River Railroad Museum. It comprises the old Depot and Water Tank House, both of which were built in 1880. It houses a large collection of artifacts, documents, and photographs documenting the Railroad's impact during its 50 years of operation in the West River Valley. The Railroad Museum (on Cemetery Hill...
Brattleboro Clayworks is preparing for the annual Empty Bowls Dinner with a Bowlerama event on Saturday, June 23. Bowlerama offers an opportunity for those who have little or no experience working with clay to create a bowl to donate to the Empty Bowls Dinner, held each Indigenous People's Day weekend in October at Landmark College as a fundraiser for the Food Shelf at Groundworks Collaborative. Bonnie Stearns, Alan Steinberg, and Annie Lauterbach will be available to help bowl-makers get started,
Twilight Music continues its 16th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of summer concerts on Sunday, June 17, with Brooklyn-based Americana and folk singer/songwriter Brian Dunne's guitar, piano, and violin trio. Dunne has won attention and praise for his sharp lyrical prowess and country-tinged vocals. In 2015, Brian released his full-length debut CD, Songs From The Hive, which garnered praise from CMT and Songwriting magazine. His 2017 sophomore record, Bug Fixes & Performance Improvements, debuted at No. 10 on...
Cindy Jerome is one of three candidates running for a seat in the Vermont Legislature in the Windham-4 district towns of Dummerston, Putney, and Westminster. Jerome, 58, lives in West Dummerston and has been a resident since the mid-1980s. She has been Town Moderator for the last eight years and she has served on the Dummerston Selectboard, including two years as Chair. For 19 years, she has been the executive director of Holton Home, a residential-care home for elders in...
Excuse me while I grouse about a petty problem while promising to connect it to something more meaningful to all. I walked into my local Rite Aid pharmacy today. In the shaving section, I encountered a grizzled man about my age - I'm 59 - holding a plastic razor handle with no blade. He blankly stared in obvious confusion at the razor display case. Noticing that I was there for the very same reason we started to commiserate. He peppered...
The Vermont Theatre Company recently presented Athol Fugard's The Road to Mecca, a beautiful story of kinship, personal journeys, and finding light in the darkness. Under the talented direction of Ian Hefele, the stunning performances of Bridget McBride, Wendy Almeida, and Arthur Pettee brought their characters to life and magically transported audiences to 1970s South Africa. Special thanks is owed to assistant director Brenda L. Seitz, stage manager Kate Maisner, costume and set designer Jess Rodrigues, set dresser Belle Coles,
Turning Point and the Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development are partnering to provide a new recovery-support group for expectant and parenting mothers in recovery from addiction. Recovery Mamas will meet at Turning Point, 39 Elm St., every Thursday morning from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The group is for mothers in recovery and will be facilitated by mothers in recovery. Childcare and light snacks will be provided. According to a news release, Turning Point and the Prouty...
Here are two things I agree with in Laura Perlstein's Viewpint: Criticism of Israel does not amount to anti-Semitism, and that the lessons of the Holocaust are also lessons in human dignity and a respect for life. But it is hard for me to reconcile some of her other statements particularly as it relates to history. She is a teacher and librarian, and I am surprised her research and learning is so limited. How stunning it is for me to...
I am a hands-on person. I appreciate and support and sometimes participate with those who lobby, write letters, make phone calls, attend demonstrations, and raise their voices, but work that involves one-on-one connection is what really feeds me. Community Asylum Seekers Project was formed by Steve Crofter and Laurel Greene to support asylum seekers, people whose lives in their homelands are so endangered that they are willing to give up all they know for the hope of living safely in...
Does Governor Scott want to make Vermont more affordable? Let's see. Veto a minimum-wage bill that would put more money in the pockets of tens of thousands of workers. Veto a medical family-leave bill that would help sustain families in a medical emergency. Just to put icing on the cake, veto a budget that received overwhelming tri-partisan support. A budget that would have, among other fiscally responsible measures, moved our state toward a solution to the education-funding dilemma. The vote...
Many thanks to Liza King who, in these pages, has added another voice of compassion for the many folks among us who are struggling mightily with poverty, homelessness, or disabilities of one sort or another. Those among us who are so privileged should be thankful for a roof over our heads, food in the refrigerator, and clothes on our backs - in short, a safe place of refuge. Often I think of a refrain sung by Joan Baez as I...
College news • Anna Mary Gaskill of Brattleboro recently graduated with a B.S, in nursing from Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H. Gaskill was a member of the women's swimming and diving team and the Student Nurses' Association. • The following local students graduated from the University of New Hampshire in Durham: Samuel Empey of Bellows Falls, B.A. in theater, and Conor Madison of Londonderry, M.S. in natural resources. • The following local students were named to the University of...
Sheriff's Office plans 'party patrols' in Windham County for graduation season Members of law enforcement from the Windham County Sheriff's Office will conduct party patrols June 14 through June 16 throughout the county. According to a news release, the Sheriff's Office says these proactive patrols are designed to reduce the likelihood that a teenager will be involved in a crash during the graduation season. These additional patrols are part of a larger effort to prevent underage drinking and to ensure...
Baseball is a funny game, as the late broadcaster Joe Garagiola liked to say. A good example is what happened to the Brattleboro Colonels in their Division I semifinal game on June 5 at Tenney Field. The second-seeded Colonels were hosting the third-seeded Colchester Lakers. The Colonels pitching ace. Leif Bigelow, was rested and ready to go. And, after the Colonels took an early 4-0 lead, you would've thought the game was as good as won for Brattleboro. And, you...
Officials with the Guilford Free Library announced their capital improvement plans at the May 30 regular Selectboard meeting. The plans are still in the preliminary phase. Cathi Wilken, librarian, and Laura Lawson Tucker, chair of the Board of Trustees, brought their ideas to the Selectboard to get members' advice and approval. “The purpose for coming [...] is to have strong, clear communication between the Trustees and the Selectboard,” Tucker said. Tucker said the Board of Trustees recently drafted a strategic...
Dear Senators and Representatives: Today was the day when I could no longer bear it. Today was the day when I needed to know how many meals a day the children in cages are getting. I needed to know how often they can go to the bathroom or bathe, and how often the little ones sleep in their own urine and feces. I needed to know why there are no toys or books or stuffed animals in the cages, and...
On Friday, June 22, The Wyld Nightz Band returns for Wardsboro Curtain Call's annual dance party. The dance party will be held in the Wardsboro Town Hall Café, Main Street, Wardsboro. There will be a potluck supper before the show, so doors will open at 6 p.m., and music begins at 7. Bring your favorite dish to share - and your dancing shoes. BYOB. Admission is $15 at the door. This year, the music series also serves as a fundraising...
At the end of this year's regular legislative session, both education finance/tax and state budget bills passed by large tripartisan majorities. Governor Rick Scott vetoed both, citing the property-tax increases that the bills allow to go into place. I voted for both because I believe they struck a good balance for where we are in time with our distributed education system. The governor vetoed both bills because of the property-tax increase they would allow this year. In addition, and importantly,
Need help to get public health insurance or Medicaid? Having difficulty with the process of renewing your benefits or adjusting your coverage? SEVCA's Health Navigator is available to help families and individuals in Windham or Windsor counties get or keep the coverage they need to stay healthy and/or obtain treatment. SEVCA is able to continue its successful Health Navigator program in the face of extremely limited public funding for this vital service due to a multi-year grant from the Fannie...
Vernon needs some additional money to put on the traditional fireworks display after the Town Picnic on June 30. According to the town's community newsletter, Vermont Yankee used to pay for the annual fireworks. But with the nuclear plant shut down, Vermont Yankee and Entergy have eliminated most of their local largesse. At this year's Annual Town Meeting in March, voters approved an appropriation of $2,000 to supplement about $3,000 that had already been raised from other sources - including...
I read how certain people are so compassionate and concerned about equality and access to housing for all. It made me raise questions I now want to ask: If we are concerned about access to housing, why don't we work together to lower the down-payment requirements? They could be lower; a person's income could cover the mortgage but maybe not a huge down payment. If we are concerned with people being able to stay in housing, why can they be...
Windham and Bennington counties are coming together to develop a first-ever joint strategy to guide the Southern Vermont region's economic future. The heads of the Brattleboro Developement Credit Corporation and the Bennington County Industrial Corporation said in a news release that they hope the outcome of the process will be an action plan with specific projects and programs intended to spur economic and community development throughout the region. “We are pleased to be updating our original, award-winning CEDS (comprehensive economic...
Steve Gerberich, tinkerer extraordinaire behind the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center's current exhibition entitled “Best of 'Springs, Sprockets & Pulleys,'” will give a free hands-on guided tour of his work at the museum on Sunday, June 17, at 2 p.m. Early in his career, Steve Gerberich created window displays for storefronts in New York City's Soho neighborhood, and he soon became interested in incorporating mechanical systems that would give his work movement. What followed has been a prolific career in...
The Selectboard unanimously approved the Fiscal Year 2019 parking fund budget at the June 5 meeting, but what remains to be seen is the future of parking - and how people will pay for it - in Brattleboro. On May 1, Andy Hill of Desman Design Management appeared at a Selectboard meeting to discuss the results of the parking study his firm conducted, which the town paid for. Part of the study included a survey of residents and visitors who...
In the past week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its most recent data on suicide rates in the U.S. Sadly, this announcement was bookended by the deaths of two celebrities, designer Kate Spade and chef/television personality Anthony Bourdain. The CDC data show that since 1999 suicides have increased in the U.S. by more than 25 percent. In the Northeast, matters are worse, with Maine up 27 percent; Massachusetts, 35 percent; New Hampshire, 48 percent; and Vermont,
Throughout history, including, at times, in our own country many years ago, the forcible separation of families has been used as an instrument of terror. I struggle to imagine a more damaging and inhumane governmental policy than to forcibly and needlessly tear children away from their parents. For decades, the United States has rightly led the world in condemning such practices as flagrant abuses of government power and human rights. Yet today, in an extraordinary breach of our most basic...
Good day to you, southern Vermonters! We're finally entering the summer season after a slow, winding grind out of the 2017-18 cold season. There are some signs that the late June into early July period could turn even warmer, but we'll handle that when we get there. For this week, we've got warm temperatures and a couple of chances at strong thunderstorms. The first shot is today (June 13), and the second shot is Monday. Both setups feature a warm,
This month, audiences have a chance to hear four special pre-season concerts in the Big Barn. On Tuesday, June 19, at 8 p.m., the New York-based JACK Quartet, “superheroes of the new music world” (The Boston Globe), will perform a special concert of works by Ferneyhough, Lim, Carter, Feldman, and Williams. Winners of Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award, New Music USA's Trailblazer Award, and the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, JACK Quartet (Christopher Otto, Austin Wulliman, violins; John Pickford...
The folk duo Hungrytown returns to the historic Jamaica Town Hall on Thursday, June 21. After more than a decade of touring world-wide, and three album releases, Rebecca Hall and Ken Anderson have earned a reputation for the quality and authenticity of their songwriting. Lyricist Hall is credited with compositions “that sound as timeless as any traditional songs” (Northern Sky, UK) while producer/multi-instrumentalist/husband Ken Anderson is lauded for his “remarkable affinity for instrumental embellishment” and for crafting Hungrytown's “gorgeous vocal...
Earlier this month, Oregon senator Jeff Merkley visited the Texas-Mexico border. It is difficult to minimize the horror of what he witnessed. Outside a dead Walmart Supercenter, Merkley was escorted by the police away from the facility without being able to witness the conditions inside. We know thousands of children are being held in prison camps such as this facility. These children range in age from babies to teens. If a sitting senator is not permitted to see the conditions...
Carolyn Harris is the featured Artist of the Month for June and July at the Wardsboro Public Library, 170 Main St. Harris is a multi-tasking crafter, seamstress, and accomplished quilter. She has been sewing since she was a young girl, when she sewed all her own school clothes. Her focus has evolved more towards crafting and now to her newest technique - paper piecing projects - which was learned at a workshop held at the Wardsboro Public Library, according to...
Be perfectly honest: How much do you really know about Gandhi or Benjamin Franklin or Galileo? Or for that matter, what's the lowdown on Queen Elizabeth or Joan of Arc or Madame Curie? To help the whole family learn more about such historical figures, Richard Korson recently created and produced a new comedy series, The Who Was? Show, which premiered on Netflix streaming network in May. “It's a super cool project teaching kids about famous historical figures with lots of...
At the end of May, the Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness and the Chittenden County Homeless Alliance released their annual count of homelessness. The report counted the number of homeless people on one night: Jan. 31, 2018. It includes data - sometimes across multiple years - on the demographics of homeless people, where they are sheltered if they have shelter, whether children are included in the household, and for how long they have been homeless. The numbers don't paint a...