Donald Trump's most recent attack on four women of color is not only outrageous but hurtful to many. And as our president, who is supposed to be our leader, he is abusing his power by portraying such comments as representing our collective views and values. And we wonder why bullying behavior is such a problem among our youth!
Despite my outrage, I have learned that when I point my index finger at someone else, I need to take a moment to look at where my other three fingers are pointing: and that is at me.
A while ago, I read an article that opened with something to the effect of: “If you are white and living in the United States, you are a racist.” At first I was offended, but as I read on, I began to see the writer's point.
Racism is built into the fabric of our American society. Starting from our Constitution through to our judicial, policing, financial, employment, housing, and school systems, policies and practices have been embedded.
College news • Travis Elliott of Dummerston was named to the Dean's List at Brooklyn (N.Y.) Law School for the spring 2019 semester. Elliot has completed his second year at Brooklyn Law. Transitions • Brattleboro Savings & Loan recently promoted Eric Macayan to Assistant Branch Manager at their Putney...
Repairs to Green Street scheduled BRATTLEBORO - Starting on Wednesday, July 24, the Highway Division will install new drainage on Green Street from the intersection of School Street to 120 Green St. and from the top of Church Street to the west side of the intersection with Bullock Street.
Marygold Village, a locally-run initiative working with women and families internationally, is hosting what they call “a cultural feast for the senses.” This event, called Ekata, will be held Saturday, July 27, from 2 to 4:30 p.m., at the Putney Community Center. Ekata means “Unity” in the Telugu language of Southern India, and Marygold Village says it is celebrating both unity and culture diversity. Featured will be a “graceful and complex” classical Indian dance performance from Boston artists, traditional Indian...
The opioid epidemic, as any addiction, is a complicated disease with no easy answer. One letter writer (Mr. Finnell) said he believes the epidemic is happening because the drugs are illegal. This view does not include the fact that many opioid-like drugs are available by prescription, making doctors as well as drug manufacturers complicit in this horrific public health emergency. Man-made addictictve drugs leave people craving more of the good feeling, the relief. Many turn to street drugs subsequent to...
As a bus driver for Medicaid riders in the past, I met and transported recovering addicts to and from various appointments, including the respective clinics for methadone or Suboxone. Some of the riders were diligent and persistent in their choice of recovery path, sticking to the program and protocol recommended for them by physical and mental health care providers. I sometimes see them in the community and feel good about what I see. Other riders, however, were/are less committed to...
As we read articles and social-media posts touting opportunities for pop-up musicians around town and adding vibrancy to more drab spaces in town (such as the alley way by the Transportation Center), I sincerely hope that we are doing so with the goal of community members of all walks of life being able to enjoy spaces and entertainment side by side with one another. As more and more studies are showing, isolation and ostracization of groups of people directly feeds...
Yellow Barn welcomes back past Composer-in-Residence Jörg Widmann and presents a weekend full of master classes, discussions, and concerts. Friday, July 26, begins with the world premiere of Stephen Coxe's About That Time, a work that takes as its inspiration the music of Miles Davis, another of Widmann's great influences. Robert Schumann's String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 41 - one of only three quartets Schumann wrote - follows. The concert also features two more works by Widmann: Fieberphantasie (Fever...
The glamour and sophistication of Broadway return to the Deerfield Valley on Aug. 1, 2, and 3 with the Deerfield Valley Players' production of Cabaret, one of the edgiest and most acclaimed musicals of the 20th century. The production, in Memorial Hall, will replicate a Berlin nightclub of 1929, complete with a special area for audience members who would like to be part of the show. For this production of Cabaret, six tables will be set up on the floor...
Actors Theatre Playhouse has moved up the dates for its next two productions. Ron Hutchinson's Moonlight and Magnolias has moved their 12 performance dates to Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays for four weeks Aug. 15 through Sept. 7, while Alan Ayckbourn's Time of My Life will now perform on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, Sept. 12 thru Sept. 28. Moonlight and Magnolias is based on the true story of the making of the film Gone with the Wind. It's five weeks into...
Twilight Music continues its 17th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, zydeco, Celtic, jazz, blues, and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, July 28, with the Julian Gerstin Sextet performing original jazz influenced by rhythms and melodies of the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. The concert begins at 6 p.m. in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain. The...
Inner Fire, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit healing community, recently completed the first phase of its $2.7 million residential therapeutic facility that it says is “designed to support healing of the mind, body, and spirit without the use of psychotropic drugs.” Inner Fire's facility sits on a leased portion of a 43-acre site in Brookline and, upon completion, will include three main buildings along with an art and drama barn and several smaller therapeutic studios, gardens, paths, greenhouses, and workshop spaces. The...
A family-friendly celebration to benefit the Haiti Orphanage Sponsorship Trust will take place on Friday, Aug. 2, at the Stone Church in Brattleboro. The evening begins with The One-Man Circus-in-a-Suitcase for children and families at 5 p.m., followed by dinner and then live Haitian music by Haiti's own Lakou Mizik at 7:30 p.m. Kevin O'Keefe's Circus Minimus is an enthralling, whimsical celebration of the imagination. From his suitcase an entire circus emerges: tent, band, lights, and a series of boisterous,
Beat-boxing flutist Greg Pattillo and Project Trio kick off the Antenna Cloud Farm season on Saturday, July 27. Pattillo is recognized throughout the world for his redefinition of the flute sound and was lauded by The New York Times as “the best person in the world at what he does.” His groundbreaking performance videos on YouTube have been viewed more than 50 million times. Project Trio combines “the virtuosity of world-class artists with the energy of rock stars, and is...
Shear Designs Hair Studio on Putney Road recently held its annual Locks of Love Cutathon. According to owner Joy Boyd, the salon has “sent thousands of dollars and ponytails over the years to help medically disadvantaged kids.” The staff donated all their time and earnings for the day to Locks of Love, a nonprofit that accepts hair donations to help provide free high-quality fitted hair prosthetics for children in need. While Boyd said the salon will do Locks of Love...
One day last November, I was hunting on a neighbor's hundred-acre parcel after a snowfall. Just as the sun grazed the treetops, I found fresh tracks. I didn't have much daylight, but I was sure this was a buck chasing a doe, so I followed until I was in the middle of a field that belonged to my friend's abutting neighbor, a woman who detests hunters and hunting, even though she doesn't post her land. This was not a place...
The most heavily utilized food shelf in Windham County will soon have a new - and larger - home. Groundworks Collaborative announced last week that it has signed a lease on 141 Canal St., the former home of Domino's Pizza, as the new site for its food shelf. In 2018, the Groundworks food shelf served more than 3,700 people in more than 1,400 households. Originally a program of the Brattleboro Area Drop-in Center and started in the 1980s, the food...
Three years ago, while I was sunk in post-election demoralization, my friend, lawyer Diane Shamas, described being a guardian ad litem, or GAL. Listening, I realized that this challenging, essential work might actually give me heart. Here were children in state custody because their parents were unable to provide safe homes, sometimes owing to opiate and other addictions, to homelessness, to poverty, to mental illness or domestic violence A guardian ad litem is sometimes known as a CASA, a court-appointed...
Progressives are fighting so many battles these days. Income inequality, poverty, addiction, and homelessness; sexism, racism, homophobia, and xenophobia; and the existential threat posed by climate change - all compete for attention and commitment. Simply to follow the news is overwhelming, let alone to know how to fight the force of hatred and evil that reigns in the White House I care about these threats in equal measure. It is impossible to prioritize one above another for me, at least...
I found it interesting to find, side by side, in the June 26 issue of your paper, two articles. One commentary [“Inclusive or exclusive?,” Viewpoint] found the local business owners are “heartless capitalists” who wish to ignore the persons who are “begging or panhanding” on our streets. The other [“Waste not, want not,” Column] described how those same capitalists are actually providing, year round, literally tons of food free to these same unfortunate people. On the page following these articles,
Pianist Jonathan Biss, who is serving in his first summer as co-artistic director of Marlboro Music together with Mitsuko Uchida, will be heard in the Dvorák Piano Trio in F Minor, Op. 65 with violinist Abigail Fayette and cellist Timotheos Petrin on the Sunday, July 28, at 2:30 p.m. The program also includes Resident Composer Jörg Widmann's Versuch über die Fuge for soprano and string quartet and the Mozart Quintet for Horn & Strings, K. 407. Uchida, who has held...
Food Connects is set to begin construction of their 1,200 square foot cooler and freezer space in mid-August. According to a news release, the expanded operational space triples the available volume of cold and frozen storage space available to Food Connects to aggregate and distribute local foods. In November 2018, Food Connects moved to their new facility at the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation's Business Park. This large space offers many benefits - access to a loading dock for their fleet,
Hello and good day to you, southeastern Vermonters! We just experienced a lovely stratiform rain storm which brought more than 2 inches of rainfall to Windham County. While there were some heavier downpours, this rain was laid down in steady fashion. Given the overall abundant sunshine we have on the way for southeastern Vermont, farmers and gardeners should see a noticeable boost in crop growth and overall plant happiness. We should remain largely dry from Wednesday through Sunday, with a...
The Brattleboro Rotary Club recently inducted Dummerston resident Carla Lineback as its 70th club president for the 2019-2020 year. Lineback is director of alumni engagement for World Learning/SIT. Rotary club members serving as officers with Lineback this year are President-Elect Carl Lynde, Secretary Regina Stefanelli, Treasurer Rhonda Calhoun, Vice President Marty Cohn, and Immediate Past President Bill Vermouth. Lineback was first involved with Rotary International in 2004 when she was named a Rotary World Peace Fellow and attended International Christian...
A well-known Vermont journalist has launched a Kickstarter campaign aimed at raising $45,000 - the funds necessary to complete a book chronicling the full behind-the-scenes story of Christine Hallquist's 2018 run as the first openly transgender major-party nominee for governor in the United States. The Democratic Party nominee, Hallquist, formerly the CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative, lost to Republican incumbent Phil Scott. After being included in all campaign team calls and events from the beginning of the campaign in March...
The last Brattleboro Little League team still in the postseason, the 11-year-old All-Stars, have brought home a state championship. Brattleboro went undefeated in the 9-11 state tournament in Stowe, clinching the title with a 12-1 victory on July 20. The District 2 champs opened the double-elimination tournament with a pair of decisive wins - a 15-3 victory over District 1 champion Burlington American on July 13 and a 12-2 victory over District 3 champs Browns River on July 13. That...
Karen Davis received the Woman of Distinction award from the Brattleboro branch of the American Association of University Women in recognition of her contributions to the Brattleboro community and AAUW. Branch president Vivian Prunier made the presentation at the branch's 93rd annual dinner meeting, held recently at Bella Notte at the Brattleboro Country Club. A native of Brattleboro, Davis was recognized for her contributions to the community, including founding the Brattleboro branch of Toastmasters International and co-founding the Brattleboro Historical...
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center and Next Stage Arts Project present celebrated performance artist Karen Finley in a one-woman show, Grabbing Pussy/Parts Known, on Friday, Aug. 2, at 8 p.m. at Next Stage Arts Project in Putney. Tickets are $20 in advance ($25 at the door) and may be purchased at brattleboromuseum.org, nextstagearts.org, or in person at BMAC. In 1990, Finley and fellow performance artists Tim Miller, Holly Hughes, and John Fleck gained national notoriety as the “NEA Four,”
It's the problem few wish to talk about: If you are without housing and without access to a public toilet, what do you do if you have to pee or poo? The town has decided to answer that question by installing three port-a-potties around the downtown area. Two are in town parking lots - Preston and High-Grove - while the other is at the rear of the town common. Speaking at a July 9 meeting of the Selectboard, Town Manager...
In 1995, Teresa Savel met Pulliyah, an energetic 8-year-old orphan boy staying at a boarding-school hostel in the Indian state of Telangana. Pulliyah was sharing the 16-foot-by-16-foot cement-floor room with 50 other boys in grades 1 through 10. This school and hostel had been founded and administered by Father Guilbert, a South Indian Carmelite priest, part of a Carmelite monastery. Teresa had connected with Father Guilbert through a Kansas-based foundation for children and the aging, and had enlisted as a...
At the July 4th parade in Saxtons River, I spent the morning as a member of the local 350 Vermont Mountain Valley Climate Action group handing pennies to 60 people. I asked each the question, “Have you made changes in your life because of the climate crisis?” If they answered affirmatively, they put their penny in the jar marked “yes” and then got to tell about the changes they have made. I listened to folks from near and far, ranging...
The 69th Annual Grace Cottage Hospital Fair Day will be held on the Townshend Common on Saturday, Aug. 3. This free all-day, family-friendly event runs from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. This year, in celebration of Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital's 70th Anniversary, a special presentation will be held on the Gazebo on the Townshend Common from 10:45 to 11 a.m. on Fair Day. Members of the family of the hospital's founder, Dr. Carlos Otis, will speak, along with...
After a June announcement that Springfield Medical Care Systems (SMCS) and Springfield Hospital have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the big question is what will happen next for these regional health-care providers. “Well, we can't keep doing the same thing that we've done, because that's the definition of insanity,” said Mike Halstead, interim chief executive officer of Springfield Hospital. That's why Halstead says that, in order to stay financially viable, SMCS and the hospital plan to join another health-care...
In the intensifying conversation about homelessness in town, the question of whether dislocated and unhoused people can have a voice and a seat at the table has often been raised but rarely enacted. On Monday, July 22, that voice got louder and the message became more visible with a full-throated demand for inclusion in the discussion about homelessness from the people with the least amount of agency: those without homes. A small group of homeless individuals - and a larger...
This Independence Day, I celebrated “liberty and justice for all” and Vermont's bold independent-thinking legislators who understand that every bill considered and passed in some way facilitates a transition that must enhance justice for all. Many of us use the phrase “just transition” without fully understanding all the implications. Some among us live and breathe “just transition” without ever verbalizing the concept. For example, the term was mentioned perhaps once (maybe twice) during the Vermont Climate Caucus weekly meetings at...