It's been just over a year since the New England Center for Circus Arts opened the doors to its custom-built trapezium in Brattleboro, a facility outfitted with an in-ground trampoline and an indoor flying trapeze inside a massive room where people of all ages are often upside down or flying through the air.
With growing enrollment alongside an international roster of expert coaches, the circus school has re-developed its programming structures. The current fall session offers more classes for adults and youth who want a noncompetitive but aspirational atmosphere, according to a news release.
Most notably, NECCA has updated the youth programs, clarifying age groups and progressions with more to offer younger circus enthusiasts starting at age 18 months. There is now a broader range of skill levels and age groupings.
For example, NECCA is now offering teen- and young adult-specific classes so students can set their own pace and learn with their peers. Several NECCA coaches have expertise in working with students with unique learning styles, including autism.
From Southern California to Georgia to Woodstock, Lauren Dodge's studies have led her on a roundabout route toward her goal of becoming a sports nutritionist. Dodge recently spent time as an intern at Our Place Drop-in Center in Bellows Falls learning about the charitable food system and giving back...
The Fairy House Festival is a family-friendly, imaginative, nature-based tradition in the forests of Grafton. On Saturday, Sept. 29, and Sunday, Sept. 30, The Nature Museum is hosting the 10th annual Fairy House Festival, and it will be bigger than ever before. According to a news release, The Nature...
A lot of people now distrust the press. It has little to do with what Trump says and more to do with the press and what it chooses to report and chooses to ignore. Rosanne Barr was fired from her TV show for comparing Valerie Jarrett to an ape, yet Bill Maher was not fired for asking if Donald Trump was related to an orangutan, nor was he attacked or fired for being homophobic when he vividly suggested Trump and...
The Boys & Girls Club of Brattleboro has announced its fall 2018 program schedule. All programs will take place at its Flat Street Club House, unless otherwise announced. Starting this fall, the Boys & Girls Club will begin a full year of the nationally recognized, evidence-based program “Smart Moves.” This program is designed as a prevention program to help members of all ages look at topics like substance use/abuse, suicide and self-harm, good decision making and self-esteem, and positive life...
As the leaves change color, and the kids go back to school, September is a good time to consider making positive changes in one's own life. The following are current and upcoming free and low-cost wellness programs offered at Grace Cottage Hospital. All of the groups and classes listed below take place in the Grace Cottage Community Wellness Center, Heins Building, 133 Grafton Rd. • Yoga: Gentle yet invigorating classes resumed Sept. 4 and will continue on Tuesdays, 4:30 to...
The Vermont Jazz Center Sextet will stir things up at Main Street Arts in a performance Friday, Sept. 28, at 7:30 p.m., featuring the music of some of the greats of jazz. Works by Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, and Art Blakey, mixed in with some original music and arrangements written by members of the ensemble, promise an up-tempo experience for lovers of jazz. The sextet is the VJC's outreach ensemble that brings live jazz to a wider audience in less...
Twenty residents at Groundworks Shelter (formerly Morningside Shelter) were displaced on Sept. 10, after a small fire broke out in a clothes dryer. No one was hurt, but the noontime fire resulted in extensive smoke damage to the Royal Road shelter. According to a news release, Groundworks' staff mobilized quickly and temporarily relocated residents of the shelter to the dormitory that is used for the winter warming shelter on the Winston Prouty (formerly Austine School) campus. The relocation could last...
Town seeks to fill vacancies on boards BRATTLEBORO - The town of Brattleboro is looking for citizens to serve on the following committees and boards: Agricultural Advisory Board, Arts Committee, Citizen Police Communications Committee, Conservation Commission, Design Review Committee (Alternate), Development Review Board (Alternate), Energy Committee, Energy Coordinator, Inspector of Lumber, Shingles and Wood, Planning Commission, Recreation and Parks Board, Senior Solutions Advisory Council, Traffic Safety Committee (Chamber of Commerce Representative), and Weigher of Coal. Applications and more information about...
Our Place Drop-in Center hopes to fill every seat at the Bellows Falls Opera House with a bag of groceries on Wednesday, Sept. 19. Overflow the Opera House is the tagline for the event being coordinated by Our Place and WOOL Radio as a way to stock the shelves at Our Place with groceries and personal care items, filling every one of the theater's 550 seats in the process. Volunteers will be on hand from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.,
A community contra dance will take place at the Evening Star Grange in Dummerston Center on Saturday, Sept. 15, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Calling the dance will be Marguerite Durant. Music will be played by fiddler Amy Cann and friends. The Village Dance Series provides an opportunity for families and friends to come together to enjoy one of New England's revered traditional pastimes. Prior dance experience isn't necessary, as all the dances are taught. Although the dances are geared...
The racist threats made against Representative Kiah Morris and her family are reprehensible, unacceptable, and cowardly. Expressions of empathy and concern for Rep. Morris and her family are important responses but will not alone impact the individual and systemic racism that we continue to witness in our state. There is a growing social climate that condones this kind of behavior. Taking action and speaking out are vital responses to an overt racist act such as this. We are experiencing a...
Brattleboro Area Hospice is hosting a Win/Win Raffle, featuring a $1,000 gift card to the Brattleboro Food Co-op, an original Petria Mitchell painting, a figurative ceramic art piece by Susan Wilson, and a Boston townhouse weekend complete with museum passes. Winners make their choice of prizes with first place having first choice and so on. Proceeds of the raffle will support Brattleboro Area Hospice services which are delivered free of charge to all members of the community throughout Windham County.
The concert series at the historic Jamaica Town Hall continues with a double bill of Strangled Darlings and Tough Old Bird on Thursday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m. The duo Strangled Darlings hails from central Vermont with George Veech on mandolin and Jessica Anderly on custom tenor bass and foot drums. Their songs work with nontraditional subjects for inspiration. They bring punk intensity to folk pop and completely bust the mold, creating smart, irreverent tunes using classic acoustic folk instrumentation...
On Friday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m., St. Mary's in the Mountains will offer its annual musical dessert as a conclusion to the Deerfield Valley annual Wine & Harvest Festival's “Wine & Soup Stroll.” After enjoying Wilmington's foods, wines, and shops during the early evening hours, visitors and neighbors are invited to gather at the historic main hall at St. Mary's in Wilmington for desserts and a concert of classical and jazz works performed by members of the Brattleboro Music...
College news • Molly Marie Gurney, of Brattleboro received first honors on the Dean's List for the spring 2018 semester at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. • The following local students have begun their first-year studies at Castleton University: Haley Brown of South Newfane, Kyle Derosia of Vernon, Lucy Lawlor of Saxtons River, Jenner Lyman of Grafton, Benjamin Nelson-Betz of Dummerston, and Jordan Wright of Brattleboro. Obituaries • Harold Aither, 73, formerly of Brattleboro. Died Aug. 29, 2018 at his...
Rock River Players present Justice? Just Us, an original music and theater piece conceived, written, and composed by Dan Dewalt. In a news release, DeWalt said the evening will be “an exploration of how restorative justice can transform conflict and help heal those who have been harmed by conflict.” He said the play combines scripted action, improvisation, music, and songs to present the vast array of emotions and intricacies of feeling that most prefer to leave unacknowledged in daily life.
If you are as demoralized as I am by the constant lies and the nasty flood of tasteless, polarized politics draining from Trump's swamp, you may, like me, be thinking, “What's the use? Why vote?” Then I stop and reflect: If I don't vote, if I don't try to be informed and engaged, this New Dark Age will be my responsibility. OK, I am chair of the Guilford Democratic Committee, but that doesn't mean I'm not discouraged. I've always voted.
Citizens Awareness Network is organizing a High-level Nuclear Waste Tour in New England to address “the abdication by the federal government and the nuclear industry to deal with waste stranded at nuclear sites throughout the country,” according to a news release. The group has a “mock” high-level nuclear waste cask that the anti-nuclear group is taking on the road to show people what an estimated 1,000 shipments through New England could look like. The tour will be stopping in Brattleboro...
Kudos to The Boston Globe for encouraging newspapers across the country to remind us all of the value of a free press, and to The Commons for hearing that call. The New York Times editorial “A Free Press Needs You” concludes with the following: “If you haven't already, please subscribe to your local papers. Praise them when you think they've done a good job and criticize them when you think they could do better. We're all in this together.” Today,
We respect Rep. Kiah Morris's decision to withdraw from her re-election campaign and fully support her making this choice for her happiness and safety and for the well-being of her family. Rep. Morris is a tireless and passionate lawmaker who has served the people of Bennington and Vermont honorably and with distinction. We hope to see her re-emerge in an advocacy role in the future and wish her family well during this difficult period. We are also deeply saddened and...
As the Selectboard considers a change to the rides-for-hire ordinance, the issue has gotten more complicated. The agenda for the Sept. 4 regular Selectboard meeting had the Board conducting a second reading of the proposed ordinance change. The change would require Brattleboro-based drivers using app-based transportation services - like Uber and Lyft - to register themselves and their vehicles with the town and pay the same fees taxi-cab companies do for their drivers and cars. The reason for this ordinance...
One of the greatest political travesties of the last few years that will have the largest and most lasting impact was the ability of the Republicans to block President Obama's nomination to the Supreme Court. Obama nominated an individual with impeccable credentials who was far from a liberal firebrand. That he was not even considered because (GOP leaders said) the president had (only!) most of his final quarter of his second term - that is incredible. However, what I found...
The state recently handed down a mandate to municipalities: Do a better job inspecting rental housing. And find a way to pay for it. The ordinance change goes into effect Oct. 20. The Selectboard held a second hearing and voted unanimously to adopt a change to the town's rental housing ordinance at the Aug. 21 meeting. While the change doesn't affect what's legal and illegal in rental housing, it does expand the municipal health officers' scope in responding to complaints...
On Friday, Sept. 14, at the Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St., Windham World Affairs Council, in another of its monthly talks, will be shining a light on Armenia, a small landlocked country located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. It is a country that has been through a very remarkable process in this past year, a “Velvet Revolution.” In April and May of 2018, weeks of mass, nonviolent, decentralized, and creative civil disobedience forced a dysfunctional and corrupt...
In partnership with Sandglass Theater's Puppets in the Green Mountains Festival, Latchis Arts presents a special screening of Jim Henson's iconic film, The Dark Crystal, followed by a question-and-answer session with Cheryl Henson on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m., at the Latchis Theatre, 50 Main St. Hailed as admirably inventive and renowned for its visual splendor, Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal was released to critical acclaim in 1982. John Engstrom of The Boston Globe has called it “a children's...
“Heating it up with the Ladies of the Rainbow,” on Saturday, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m. at the Eagles Hall on Chickering Drive, will be a joint fundraiser for Vermont Independent Media - the nonprofit publisher of The Commons - and the Windham County Heat Fund. The drag show has become a very popular local event and usually sells out in advance. This is adult entertainment and is not suitable for children. Doors will open at 7 p.m., and the...
Dear Brattleboro: I issue you a challenge. Are you up for it? I've been thinking about the nature of challenges and the good work that comes out when we are challenged outside of our comfort zones - the good work that can come when we think on a level outside of what we are normally accustomed to. I would like to issue a challenge to all of us - one that invites us to reflect about the ways we build...
Transportation Center, library to get energy upgrades BRATTLEBORO - By the end of the year, two municipal facilities will get extensive energy-saving upgrades. One of the projects is partially funded by the Windham Wood Heat Initiative. The Transportation Center will get a wood-pellet boiler, a new heat-pump-powered water heater, some insulation, and upgraded controls. The Windham Wood Heat Initiative, managed locally by the Windham Regional Commission, has guaranteed the town a 35 percent rebate for the $185,645 project's total cost,
What press operations have been “reined in and silenced”? Facebook increasingly closes down TeleSur and Venezuela Analysis, and Alex Jones and InfoWars have been shut down in a concerted action by iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Facebook, and now Twitter. Many other so-called conservative broadcasters have been removed from Twitter and demonetized by YouTube. It is not the president's critics being silenced, but his supporters, along with critics of American “liberal” imperialism. Yet this editorial ignores all that and continues to wallow...
Thank you for your efforts to disseminate the news of the day and resist the hate-filled and deceitful rhetoric of this administration. I cannot believe, still, in this country that it is necessary for the press and regular citizens to defend themselves. Only one quarter or less of the citizens believe a word Donald Trump says, yet the press is forced to defend itself because his speech is so incendiary. The press is now officially our last line of defense.
Good day to you, southern Vermonters! We are in the process of having a cold front stall out to our south near the southern New England coastline. This boundary will continue to produce the chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms from Wednesday, through Wednesday night, and ending around sunset on Thursday evening. It will be quite humid during this period with dew point temperatures in the 60s to near 70 degrees. Even though we will enjoy more sunshine Friday through...
The bulk of the Sept. 4 Selectboard meeting concerned parking, including a discussion that resulted in the board beginning the process to raise parking rates and soundly rejecting a suggestion to begin enforcement on Sundays. Much of the debate centered on safety, with public officials countering the narrative that poor people asking strangers for money in public lots leads to unsafe conditions in the community, including the Transportation Center on Flat Street. A few audience members spoke up about the...
I have read, followed, and listened in person to Bill McKibben for quite a number of years. For a very long time he was one of a few voices speaking out on this issue. I particularly remember a time, perhaps in 2005 - 13 years ago! - when Bill spoke in Putney about the fact that we had maybe 10 years to change course. As we all know, we have not been able to do that in any significant way...
The Vermont Jazz Center is excited to launch its 2018-19 concert season on Saturday, Sept. 15, with Trinidadian trumpeter, composer, and percussionist Etienne Charles. Charles will be flying in from Michigan to perform with his band Creole Soul. Creole Soul is one the many projects that Charles uses to investigate and perform music that aligns with his Caribbean heritage. He uses this ensemble as a musical laboratory to mesh the roots music of indigenous cultures with the language and arrangements...
Part of the mission of Juno Orchestra, Vermont's newest chamber orchestra, is to present soloists who were raised in the region around Brattleboro. “One of Juno's clearest goals is a commitment to featuring soloists at work in the musical world, but who grew up and received formative training in this area,” says Zon Eastes, Juno's founder and music director. For the concert opening its second season, Juno will feature oboist and Vermonter Jennifer Slowik, who received her earliest musical training...
Artists Laura Jane Walker and Justin A. Kenney, newcomers in search of a “rougher winter” in Brattleboro, will display their first collaborative, multimedia show at 118 Gallery, 118 Elliot St., through Oct. 1. Gallery hours are Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. In a news release, the couple, who moved to Brattleboro from Oregon, spoke openly of the challenges of an art partnership and how they are at times like chefs in a small kitchen. “We taste and play and...
The Latchis Memorial Building is celebrating its 80th birthday, and Latchis Arts is throwing a party to celebrate the occasion on Saturday, Sept. 22. Everyone is invited to a day-long celebration that will include live performances from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m., special movie programs, and, of course, birthday cake. All special events and activities are free to the public, as the Latchis' gift to the community that has sustained and supported it for 80 years.
They came on foot and on bicycle. Approximately 100 cyclists took over Western Avenue on Sept. 8 as they participated in the Windham County Rise for Climate Rally and Ride. The riders took a turn, glided down Green Street, turned left onto Elliot Street, and finally pedaled their way along Main Street to the Town Common, where they were met by more than 100 marchers who walked from Plaza Park across from the Brattleboro Food Co-op. The rally and ride...
Not too many billion-dollar companies have a moral compass. The usual corporate rule of thumb is to avoid controversy at all costs. But Nike is a company that stands for something. First and foremost, it stands for sports. I've worked with Nike, and, from an inside vantage point, they see sports as a civilizing force. Now they have created a new campaign that celebrates Colin Kaepernick's stand against police violence on unarmed, innocent young black men. About Colin Kaepernick: his...
Sometimes, inspiration and emotion is not enough to win a football game. The Brattleboro Colonels dedicated the Sept. 7 game at Natowich Field against the Colchester Lakers to the memory of Charly McLoughlin, a longtime football coach and mentor, who died of cancer on Sept. 4 at the age of 67. And the Colonels came close to winning one for Charly, who is also the father-in-law of current coach Chad Pacheco. Unfortunately, the Colonels lost to the Lakers, 27-19, in...