Scapegoating is a tactic used in small and large systems - families, communities, nations - to place all of the blame for a problem onto one person or group of people. It's used by those in power to avoid accountability or prevent a more nuanced analysis of a difficult situation, or both.
The scapegoat is almost always a person with less power, or no power at all, because it's easy to pick on someone who is already down. They're less likely to fight back, and even if they do, they'll probably get punished or ignored.
One can easily find numerous examples of scapegoating. Abusive families, dysfunctional workplaces, oppressive political systems.
And, in a recent issue of The Commons, where, in a letter to the editor, Judy Davidson lamented the Brattleboro Food Co-op's financial challenges by scapegoating a small group of people asking strangers for money - panhandlers. This stinks of classism, bigotry, and ignorance. It's also ridiculous.
On Friday, Sept. 6, at the Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St., Windham World Affairs Council will launch its new fall season with a talk entitled “The Cultural Links between Judaism and China.” The talk will set two of the world's oldest surviving cultures in a new light, exploring...
Senior Center to be temporarily closed BRATTLEBORO - The Brattleboro Senior Center will be closed to both the congregate meals and all activities that occur in the Senior Center due to kitchen floor replacement on Sept. 7-15. During this time, activities such as painting classes and Tai Chi will...
A new record was recently set for Vermont cheeses at the prestigious American Cheese Society's 36th Annual Awards competition in Richmond, Virginia. Vermont producers large and small collectively took home 44 ribbons, marking Vermont's best showing to date. Additionally, five Vermont cheeses were finalists for the Best of Show. There were more than 2,000 entries at the 2019 competition, with 25 Vermont companies submitting cheeses to be judged. This annual competition is supported by the Vermont Cheese Council, which provides...
Obituaries • Judy Ellen (Young) Barbour, 58, formerly of Brattleboro. Died unexpectedly at her home in Fairlee, Vt., on Aug, 25, 2019 from a sudden health event, with loved ones surrounding her. She was born to Allen C. and Margaret May (Walker) Young on Dec. 2, 1960 in Seattle, Wash. She grew up in Brattleboro, attending schools in Brattleboro and Guilford, and 4-H Camp Waubanong. Judy loved her family and took great delight in spending time with them! Her last...
The Brattleboro Women's Chorus will begin its fall session this week, and any woman or girl age 10 or older is welcome to join. The theme for the session will be “Love Changes Everything,” and included will be songs by the Beatles, Holly Near, Ali Burns, Billy Joel, local musician Lisa McCormick, and others. Unique to this chorus is that all music has been taught aurally (by ear) by director Becky Graber for the 23 years since she founded it,
The Baker Street Readers will return to the Hooker-Dunham Theater for a second season of dramatic readings of Sherlock Holmes stories this fall. In their first season, the Readers presented a short story from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original collection, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, once a month from January to June. Each reading featured Tony Grobe as John Watson and James Gelter as Sherlock Holmes. The first season alone included 20 guest performers and reached an audience of more...
Abhisek Lahiri, a celebrated virtuoso of the 25-stringed Indian lute, known as the Sarod, will give a special performance at Stone Church Arts in Bellows Falls on Sept. 7 to kick off his 2019 U.S. Tour. Lahiri will be accompanied on Tabla by Subrata Bhattacharya, also a master musician who has played with many of the giants of Indian classical music. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. and is open to all ages. Tickets are $25 for premium seating...
I am an art addict. Looking around my house, it's hard not to notice that every wall and shelf is filled with colorful art by local artists. I see work by Janet Picard, William Hays, Chris Triebert, Sarah Adam, Maggie Lake, Richard Foye, Mallory Lake, Leonard Ragouzeos, and others. These works have brought me much joy over the years. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but there's another truism at work here: art is only worth what...
Windham Grows Farm Business Accelerator is seeking farmer-entrepreneurs interested in individualized farm-business, value-added, scale-up plans that will include mentoring, in-kind resources, physical space, educational experience, and technical expertise. By giving farmer-entrepreneurs the resources for high-value management skills, this project will help them build dynamic new farm businesses while leveraging one of Vermont's most valuable assets - land. “From the many farmers who have contacted Windham Grows, we learned that they have specific needs that are different from value-added food businesses,”
Main Street Arts is holding auditions for its winter production, Shrek the Musical, on Sept. 6, 7, and 8. Auditions will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6; 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 7; and 3 to 3:30 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 8, with call backs that day from 3:30 to 6 p.m. The eight performances will take place March 26 through April 4, 2020, at the Bellows Falls Opera House. Rehearsals begin Jan. 1. “This show...
The 10th annual “Papercuts and Peace” exhibit, which was installed in the gallery spaces at All Souls Church on Labor Day, is titled “Peace-Inside and Out.” The public is invited to an artists' reception on Sunday, Sept. 8, from 2 to 4 p.m. Enjoy a bountiful refreshment table of sweet and savory treats and a variety of beverages provided by the ASC Arts Committee. This show focuses on the importance of creating and maintaining internal peace while working toward peace...
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center presents “Back to the Land Redux: Vermont's New Generation of Artist-Farmers” on Thursday, Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. Six southern Vermont artist-farmers will discuss the intersection between their art and their farm work. Photographer Dona Ann McAdams and her husband, Brad Kessler, the author of Goat Song and several novels, are the owners of Northern Spy Farm, a goat farm in Sandgate. Artist Louisa Conrad...
With its theme, “All Roads Lead to Westminster West,” the 30th annual Westminster West Community Fair will be held on Saturday, Sept. 7. This year, the fair honors the town of Westminster Road Crew, who will be grand marshals of the parade. Adding to the transportation theme, a recently restored two-person sleigh will be part of the silent auction at the event. Betsy Williams, one of the organizers, said in a news release that the fair is a community celebration,
I cannot let Gerard Cloutier's selective dismissal of Kevin O'Keefe's recent Viewpoint go unchallenged. Cloutier (let me guess ... straight, white, male?) cites numerous statistics claiming that latest statistics show criminal activity has decreased. One criminal statistic he does not cite is that hate crimes have risen steadily since 2015, when Donald Trump began his presidential campaign in earnest. The piece does not address O'Keefe's mention of congressional inaction, despite majority public support, on gun-control legislation. Nor does he address...
I say to myself, “Don't take the bait.” But when a man writes to The Commons that “[v]ictims of rape and incest have available to them the ability to prevent pregnancy” and therefore, implies that it is a woman's fault should she become pregnant during rape or incest ... aargh. Imagine, Kenneth Scipione, that a woman you love is the victim of rape. The rapist might be someone she knows, someone she loves, a stranger, a family member, a friend.
If any other American had obstructed justice as Donald Trump has, that person would be going to jail. By letting Trump get away with his corruption and stalling on holding him accountable, Congress sends a dangerous message to the public. It's time our representatives act. In his testimony in July, Robert Mueller confirmed the results of his investigation: 37 indictments, at least seven convictions and guilty pleas, and more than 10 episodes of potential obstruction of justice by Donald Trump...
With respect to the question of whether the $100,000 appropriated by Representative Annual Town Meeting for sustainability purposes be spent on a position or activities, I have perhaps a hypothetical question as to how Brattleboro approaches issues such as the following, which might give insight to the answer. On July 30, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded a $440,000 grant to the town to make critical water infrastructure improvements needed to support commercial development. The project,
As he vociferously and spuriously disputes my recent column, Kenneth Scipione shows a stunning lack of knowledge on a number of counts (and a shameful disdain for women). First, as all misogynists do, he lays at the feet of women the total responsibility for the caretaking of others - in this case, the entire “big beautiful country of ours.” That kind of reductionist statement comes straight from the conservative historical playbook that believes women can be described in only two...
Kudos to The Commons for hosting an important and lively conversation in print about gun safety. And to Gerard Cloutier for writing about this issue. Mr. Cloutier cites a lack of facts and data in his response to my previous Viewpoint [“We are free, we are told,” Aug. 7], so I'll let these speak for themselves and let your readers decide: • 39,773 gun deaths in 2017. • 346 mass shootings in 2017. (A mass shooting is defined as four...
The pursuit of happiness is rarely linear, nor is it a quest with a final destination we can identify. This theme runs through English playwright Alan Ayckbourn's fast-paced comedy of the well-to-do Stratton family in The Time of My Life, playing at the Actors Theatre Playhouse for nine performances from Sept. 12 through Sept. 28, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Often compared to Noel Coward and Harold Pinter, Ayckbourn has written and produced more than 80 plays over...
I'm sad today because I just heard that Valerie Harper has passed. And I'm glad, because for a while I got to know her a little. Among the highlights of my almost 24-year CBS career was my assignment to sell shows produced by Mary Tyler Moore's company, MTM Enterprises, to audiences and advertisers. On more than one occasion, more than one person actually compared me to Mary Richards, Moore's character on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. (Go figure - but...
Howard Prussack leads the way from the bright morning into the office of High Meadows Farm located in the barn. Arranged in a basket is a small mound of garlic bulbs that are charcoal and burnt umber in color. They could be mistaken for spring flower bulbs pulled right from the ground. This is High Meadows' black garlic. Prussack, who owns the farm with his wife, Lisa, breaks open a bulb. He eases a jelly-like clove from the garlic bulb.
When Jonah Petrie returned in July for his fourth year to La Plant, S.D., with the Brattleboro Area Interfaith Youth Group, he had earned the role of youth leader and stepped into that role with ease. More tentative was his hope to rekindle his friendship with a young Lakota boy named Xavier whom he had met when Xavier was a seemingly happy-go-lucky seven-year-old. Now Xavier is a lanky 12-year-old with the weight of his heritage on his shoulders. His older...
Kenneth V. Scipione wrote self-righteously, and as some kind of expert because his church agrees and he feels abortion is wrong. With that in mind, I suggest he - and the Catholic church - not have an abortion. I also suggest that whatever choices I make for my health and well-being, as well as for my family, is clearly none of his business. Nor that of the church, any church. The Bible repeats the phrase “judge not” several times. I...
Barbara Guerino hopes community members love the Cotton Mill's December open studio and holiday sale as much as she does. According to Guerino, who is part of Buddy's: A Pet Store with her son Michael, the open house that has run for more than 20 years is in danger of ending. Unless... “This event will be cancelled unless people step forward,” she said. “This thing is not going to run without people stepping up - it has to be a...
Hello and good day to you, residents of Windham County! I hope things are well with you. The next seven days of our local, sensible weather looks lovely, overall. However, we do have a warm, muggy, breezy, and possibly thundery day for Wednesday afternoon and evening. This activity will develop in response to an incoming cold front and the associated humidity surge preceding it. By Thursday, aside from a few clouds or showers on Friday from the passage of Hurricane...
Martha H. O'Connor, former chair of a host of local and state governing boards, died Sept. 2 at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, N.H., at age 82. The former Martha Elizabeth Hannum was born April 26, 1937, in Brattleboro, daughter of David and Rhona (Patterson) Hannum of Putney. She graduated from Brattleboro Union High School in 1955 and the University of Vermont in Burlington in 1959 before marrying Timothy J. O'Connor Jr. of Brattleboro July 8, 1961. The two celebrated...
Gary Snyder serves on the town ADA Advisory Committee and is a board member for the Vermont Center for Independent Living, a nonprofit advocacy organization designed to “promote the dignity, independence, and civil rights of Vermonters with disabilities,” according to the organization's website. He noted that while people were walking on Aug. 28 to raise awareness around safety, the physical terrain of downtown can stymie people with mobility issues all year long. Objects on sidewalks like sandwich boards and seating...
Restorative justice will be on center stage with Justice? Just Us, a musical dramatic production, an original work by Dan DeWalt, who describes the performance as “an exploration of how restorative justice can transform conflict and help to heal those who have been harmed by it.” The play combines scripted action, improvisation, music and songs to “present the vast array of emotions and intricacies of feeling that most of us prefer to leave unacknowledged in our daily lives,” according to...
Juno Orchestra enters its third season with an exploration entitled “Family Connections.” Along with works appearing from well-known musical households such as Bach and Mozart, Juno also introduces a newly commissioned work by a local composer for his son. Formed in 2017 and conducted by Zon Eastes, Juno is a chamber orchestra made up of 20 to 25 professional musicians from the area around Brattleboro, including Vermont, New Hampshire, and Western Massachusetts. Eastes says he wanted to create a chamber-sized...
Too much Millerick. Senior quarterback Tyler Millerick ran the ball 17 times for 151 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 239 yards and three more touchdowns as the Brattleboro Colonels rallied from a 19-0 deficit to beat the Bellows Falls Terriers, 49-26, in the high school football season opener at Hadley Field on Aug. 30. It was a rousing start for the Colonels, who were making their Division II debut against BF, one of the traditional powerhouses in the...
Artist Natalja Kent's newest exhibition, Movement Artifact, opens at Epsilon Spires on Friday, Sept. 6, during Brattleboro's Gallery Walk. Along with a multimedia production by artist Victoria Keddie, Movement Artifact helps mark the grand opening of the performance and events space located at the First Baptist Church on Main Street. In her latest body of work, Natalja Kent upturns the conventions of photography by removing the camera altogether. According to a news release, “these sensuous, large color fields are inhabited...
We've had a few days of dry, crisp air, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a few trees have started to color. This is the time of year when you can find some remarkable bargains at the farm stands and markets. Zucchini now appears only in two forms: as very small fruit, or as a baseball-bat-sized, overgrown creature at almost giveaway prices. There is certainly some truth to the old joke that Vermonters lock their...
On a gray and rainy Wednesday, Ann Zimmerman of Guilford and I set off with a group of about 50 people on the second annual Solidarity Walk for Immigrant Justice, beginning at South Church in Concord, N.H. and walking for four days to the county jail in Dover, N.H. This jail is where many undocumented workers, including hard-working and much-needed agricultural workers formerly living in Vermont, are incarcerated. This was my first time with this group, although Ann participated on...
The group held signs asking for kindness, respect, and their right to feel safe while using the sidewalk to get to Main Street. Near the Central Fire Station and McNeill's Brewery, drivers looking to enter and exit Church Street at its intersection with Elliot found themselves waiting as the trail of approximately 50 people - on foot, with walkers, and in motorized chairs - crossed the wide street on a sunny and warm late-August afternoon. The Aug. 27 walk, organized...
A couple who are no strangers to the lifestyle of small-town merchandising and building community will purchase the Putney General Store on Sept. 4 and plan to begin working the next day. “We expect to achieve great things for the general store, for the town of Putney, the surrounding area and for the community at large,” said Kim Cosco, who has owned and run a general store in the Boston area for eight years with her husband, Mike. “When we...
Those recent testimonials are from caged immigrant children ages 8, 11, and 15, victims of one of the worst humanitarian tragedies ever seen in this country. But there are others. Slave narratives gathered in the 1930s by the Federal Writers' Project give compelling testimony to the reality of slavery in our national history. John Fields, 89 years old in 1937 when he was interviewed, recalled that “the greater part of the plantation owners were very harsh if we were caught...