• Neil Joseph Goodemote, 89, of Marietta, Ga. Died Nov. 22, 2019 at his home after an extended illness. Neil is survived by his wife of 69 years, Joan P. Sanzo; seven children, including Gary (Mary Shedd) Goodemote of Brattleboro; and 13 grandchildren, including Riley Goodemote of St. Paul, Minn. Memorial information: A funeral Mass was held Nov. 30 at 10 am at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Marietta, Ga.
• Carolyn “Bunny” Hazelton, 89, of Dummerston Center, Died peacefully Nov. 25, 2019 at Thompson House in Brattleboro. Bunny was born in Springfield, Mass., on Aug. 8, 1930, the daughter of Robert and Marjorie (Pier) Jones. She was raised and educated in Brattleboro, graduating from Brattleboro High School with the Class of 1948. She went on to graduate from Deaconess Hospital School of Nursing in Boston, where she received her RN degree. In 1951, she married Donald M. Hazelton, who survives. She had been employed at Grace Cottage Hospital and Stratton House, both in Townshend, and performed home care nursing in the greater Brattleboro area. Bunny also was a feeder-line school bus owner and driver in Dummerston and later drove school buses for Laidlaw Transportation in Brattleboro. In addition to helping run H&M Orchard for many years, she was deeply devoted to raising her family. Bunny served as a board member at the Thompson House, was head counselor at Camp Waubanong in West Brattleboro for several years, and was a longtime member of the Evening Star Grange in Dummerston Center. With her husband Don, she was the recipient of the annual Citizen of the Year Award in Dummerston. She enjoyed square dancing and clogging and was a member of the Maple Leaf Squares, Green Mountain Square Dance Club and Cloggers. Bunny also enjoyed collecting seashells of which...
Putney Public Library explores 'Women of Genius' PUTNEY - On Thursday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m., Michelle Blake, the Putney Public Library Writer in Residence, will offer a class on the question of how history has perceived and portrayed women of force and talent. Included in this group are...
On day one of the 2020 legislative session, lawmakers will be greeted by bills to raise the minimum wage and to create a paid-family-leave insurance program. Senate Majority Leader Becca Balint, D-Windham, said that her goal is to get that legislation passed through both the House of Representatives and...
The Vermont Theatre Company is proud to announce the cast of Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps (based on the book by John Buchan and adapted for the stage by Patrick Barlow). Inspired by the iconic film and the classic spy novel, this Broadway hit portrays an ordinary man forced to go on the run after aiding a mysterious woman. Anchoring the show as the hero, Richard Hannay, is Samuel Murphy, most recently seen on stage in Moonlight and Magnolias, while...
The River Singers Community Choir, led by the dynamic Mary Cay Brass, will hold its annual holiday concerts on Saturday, Dec. 14, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 15, at 4 p.m., at Next Stage Arts in Putney. The River Singers are a unique, multi-generational choir known for its eclectic mix of music from diverse cultural musical heritages. The choir will present a cornucopia of “thrilling, soulful songs of joy, love, and peace” beginning with a Croatian New Year's carol...
When will the next grade school reunion for Putney students be held? In two, three or four years? On Memorial Day weekend, Labor Day weekend, or Indigenous Peoples weekend? Give the board your input at the annual meeting of the Putney Grade Schools Reunion Ltd. on Dec. 7, 10:30 a.m. at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill. Attendees at the board meeting can help decide the date, location, and possible events for the next reunion. There are open positions on the...
On Dec. 7, the downtown Brattleboro arts organization Epsilon Spires will host a day-long workshop for K-12 educators and community organizers based on the book A People's Curriculum for the Earth: Teaching Climate Change and the Environmental Crisis. The workshop will be facilitated by the book's author, Bill Bigelow. Drawing on model lessons from the classroom-tested curriculum outlined in Bigelow's book, the workshop will focus on how to positively influence the next generation of climate stewards, as well as explore...
In the spirit of giving this holiday season, Jim and Bob Twitchell protected 186 acres by donating a conservation easement on their property to the Vermont Land Trust. The land supports a diversity of uses - from beef cattle, to recreation trails and wildlife habitat. The Twitchell family has owned the land on Winhall Hollow Road and Livermore Mills Road for nearly 160 years. The two brothers are deeply connected to the town, with Jim serving as Town Clerk for...
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. 7, with the 49th 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, who conducted the Sing in 2017 and 2018, is moving to the organist's bench this...
Cellist Rushad Eggleston says he will entertain all who venture out to attend his Stone Church Arts concert on Friday, Dec. 6, at 7:30 p.m. at Immanuel Episcopal Church, the stone church on the hill, 20 Church St. His show, filled with highly-entertaining tomfoolery, encompasses the many different sides of his musical personality. In a news release, he says he “can play fluffy rainbow unicorn metal from a magic green dimension whose mystic tongues growl the delapitude of the future...
As Marlboro College takes its first steps in leaving Vermont to become the “Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies” on the Emerson College campus in Boston, the Windham World Affairs Council is holding what may be its last “Marlboro event” while the college is still a cherished neighbor. On Friday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m., at 118 Elliot, WWAC will host two Marlboro students presenting on topics related to their senior research projects. Over the years, WWAC programs...
Latchis Arts offers an unprecedented look at one of the world's most celebrated artists, Leonardo DaVinci, when the popular Exhibition on Screen series returns with Leonardo: The Works on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 7 and 8, at 4 p.m., at the Latchis Theatre, 50 Main St. Leonardo: The Works is part of a global celebration marking the 500th anniversary of the artist's death. Many films have showcased the genius of Leonardo, but none have ever examined in such detail the...
Vermont Center for Photography, in partnership with Turning Point of Windham County, has completed its first “Focus Forward” class, an eight-week program in digital photography taught free-of-charge to people in recovery from addiction. This program was made possible by support from the Thomas Thompson Trust, the Vermont Community Foundation, and many local private donors. VCP's goal in Focus Forward is to offer the craft of photography as a tool of creative expression in the recovery process and to help break...
The Soubrette Jazz Choir will present a concert of their fall repertoire on Tuesday, Dec. 10, at 7 p.m., at All Souls Church. The choir, based at the Vermont Jazz Center and led by Anna Patton, is a group of 18 women. Patton creates or seeks unique arrangements of swing, jazz, blues, and songs by contemporary songwriters, and the choir performs them with syncopation, panache, and wonderfully crunchy harmonies. Their fall program will include Antonio Jobim's poetic epic, Waters of...
On Saturday, Dec. 7, the 55th annual Brattleboro Rotary Club Christmas Tree Fundraiser will officially begin. It will end eight days later on Dec. 15. Since 1965, the Brattleboro Rotary Club has sold Christmas trees as a fundraiser for local student scholarships and this year is no different. This year, the Club has collected 350 Vermont-grown trees of all shapes and sizes, which will be sold daily in front of Brattleboro Bowl on Putney Road for nine days. “The difference...
The Brattleboro Music Center welcomes the holiday season with two special events. The Music School Student Orchestras Concert is set for Tuesday, Dec. 10, at 6:30 p.m. at BMC. With more than 80 students of all ages performing, the event will feature the Tigers beginning strings class, two Celtic Music class ensembles, the Youth String Orchestra, and the Music in the Schools string ensembles. For families or individuals considering music lessons, this is an opportunity to experience the BMC firsthand.
I really don't know whose terrible idea it was. There was no chance I would ever be accepted into Middlebury, Colby, Smith, or Wellesley. If it was my idea, I wish there'd been someone around who'd known the ins and outs of need-blind admissions and could have saved my parents the application fees. I was an engaged student in high school. Our school in Maine was small - a little under 300 students. Parents in the area scraped out a...
The Selectboard has reversed an earlier decision and will join a national class-action lawsuit seeking compensation for the costs of the opioid epidemic. At the Nov. 26 meeting, board members voted unanimously to join the suit, seeking damages against opiate manufacturers, pharmacies, distributors, and groups that decide which medications are covered by insurance. According to the Vermont Department of Health, the number of opioid-related deaths has continued to increase every year in the state. The VDH's data shows Windham County...
Hello and good day to you, residents of lovely Windham County, Vermont! I do believe that it's safe to say that we've officially kicked off the winter of 2019-20 in grand style! The storm we just collectively experienced and its persistent snow banding and production will not soon be forgotten. I received many 17-25” snow total reports, and I imagine if you are reading this, you also are looking at a deep white blanket of fluff where you live. As...
The Vermont Jazz Center's Big Band will present its annual Scholarship Gala on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 8 p.m. This year's celebration will honor the centennial of Nat King Cole's birth. The VJC Big Band, under the leadership of musical director Rob Freeberg, is a community orchestra of professional musicians who come together once a year to raise money for the VJC's Scholarship Fund. This event is the primary funding source for scholarship students attending VJC's educational programs. In 2019,
On Friday, Dec. 6, at 7 p.m., organist Alexander Meszler will use the historic Estey organ at Epsilon Spires, 190 Main St., to present Walls of Sound: The Ecology of the Borderlands, an original composition exploring the natural environment of the Sonoran Desert at the U.S.-Mexico border. Walls of Sound brings together collaborators from across disciplines including music, science, activism, and theater, and was funded in part by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in New York. Through Walls of Sound,
PUTNEY - This month, Sandglass Theater brings everyone a celebration of the art of the crankie. This seventh annual Crankie Celebration includes performances on Dec. 7 at 4 and 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 8 at 3 p.m., a special event with Katherine Fahey and The Lantern Sisters on Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m., and a crankie building workshop on Dec. 13-15. Crankies are rolling illustrations, wound inside a wooden box and then hand-cranked so that the images move across a...
Diane Eickhoff, the author of Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights, took exception to the historical column I wrote about Clarina Howard Nichols. Her recent Counterpoint leads readers into some inaccuracies that I feel are important to address. Eickhoff's response gives the incorrect impression that Nichols' attitudes toward indigenous people have been fully examined and that she has universally been found to be benign by historians. As partial evidence of Nichols' lack...
Connecticut College junior Ethan Milsark and Tammy Richards of Williamsville were the winners at the annual Red Clover Rovers Jerry Gagliardi Memorial Turkey Trot in a time of 16:20 on Thanksgiving morning on Upper Dummerson Road. Milsark, 21, of Northampton, Mass., covered the three-mile course in 16 minutes, 20 seconds, while Thomas Lyons, 16, of Deerfield, Mass., was second in 17:28. Richards, 45, won the women's division for the fifth time by placing 10th overall in 19:00. Halle Lange, 24,
On Saturday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m., Vermont Timbre will debut its new album, Songs to Light the Way. The show will be downstairs at Next Stage Arts on Kimball Hill in Putney, and is a benefit for the Food4 Kids program at Putney Central School. Admission will be by donation, which will go to the program. Vermont Timbre, the duo of Amelia Struthers and Mike Mrowicki, brings simple, sweet harmonies and easy, rich musical backing to their original songs.
The arts collective at ArtRageUs, featuring the creative work of local artists, craftspeople, musicians, and writers, will close Dec. 28. For the holidays, and to celebrate its five years offering a showplace for locally made crafts, music, and writing, the gallery will offer 10 percent off all items in the store. Gayle Marie Weitz, who with her partner Nick Biddle owns the building where ArtRageUs is located, has been manager of the gallery since it opened in 2015. An artist...
For nearly 150 years, the First Baptist Church has held its religious services in the grand red brick church on 190 Main St. That tradition has come to an end. The final Sunday service on Nov. 24 got postponed due to bad weather. So, two days later, more than 100 people gathered at the church for one last religious service - the annual Thanksgiving observance by the Brattleboro Interfaith Leadership Alliance. But while First Baptist is leaving its longtime Main...
When I co-founded Project Feed the Thousands 26 years ago, I never imagined that our mission would be so incredibly necessary all these years later - that the need would have increased so exponentially - or that we would be supporting nine area food shelves and community meal programs. This year, I sought to visit all of the food shelves that Project Feed the Thousands supports, and to write about them so that we can all have a better understanding...
We express sincere gratitude for the efforts you have put into your research on climate and environmental policy in advance of the 2020 legislative session and for traveling the state to hold hearings with Vermonters about the ideas you have developed. We also must insist that you, as our representatives, accurately represent our interests, which involve much-more-far-reaching proposals into shifting the systems and structures of Vermont than you have put forth. We as a state must stop walking on eggshells...
This column starts with an experience. Before closing your eyes, read these instructions: Get comfortable in a seated position. Rest both of your hands on the lower part of your stomach. Take a deep breath in and as you exhale, make an “oh” sound. Rest your hands on your heart, take a deep breath in, and when you exhale, you make an “ah” sound. Place your hands on either sides of your head, and when you exhale make an “eeeh”