It's been said that our most emotional antipathies, often, are not aimed at those diametrically opposed to our views but rather at those who are “almost like us - but not quite.”
In the Brattleboro area, a significant majority of individuals and families share a worldview that is remarkably consistent when it comes to human rights, and oppression and discrimination against any individual or group based on nationality, race, religion, ethnicity, or gender.
Untold scores of individuals in our area have over the past decades put these ideals into action, participating in protests and civil disobedience against causes like racial discrimination, nuclear proliferation, South African apartheid, and anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence.
We have shared a common abhorrence of the policies of such national leaders as Trump, Netanyahu, Modi, and others who have had so little regard for human rights and human dignity and whose governments have trampled on population groups opposed to their positions.
The Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD) has been awarded a materials management implementation grant of $78,136 by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), a division of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. Grant funds will be used to improve the management of food scraps and household hazardous...
Hiding is, in most cases, a practice of protection, for ill or good. A rule breaker or misbehaver can hide to avoid detection, capture, punishment. A shy person can hide to protect herself from unwanted scrutiny. A tired person can hide for rest and restoration. A zebra can disappear...
It's been a tumultuous year in Marlboro, between the hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the various ups and downs regarding the future of the former Marlboro College campus. However, the community has found ways to come together. The Marlboro Community Center (MCC), a long-anticipated dream shepherded by a core group of town members, had been barely open for a year when the pandemic struck. Now that the pandemic is subsiding, the MCC, located on 524 South Rd.,
I was disappointed in the coverage of the Newfane Selectboard meeting. It did not reflect the context in which the meeting was held - specifically, the vitriol expressed by the few opposed to the anti-bias training, leading to many feeling traumatized and unsafe. It focused on the first meeting and neglected to cover the most recent meeting during which the vitriol and disrespect continued. There is a stark difference in civility between those who favor and those who oppose the...
The Brattleboro branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) has awarded five college scholarships to Windham County students: two to graduating seniors and three to previous graduates who are continuing their education. • Katryna Jarvis is graduating from Brattleboro Union High School and will study biomedicine at the University of San Francisco. • Graduating from Twin Valley Middle High School, Kylie Reed is enrolling at Russell Sage College in Troy, N.Y., to study pediatric occupational therapy. • Former...
When my generation (over 70 years young) was growing up, we got the message loud and clear that our democratic republic, the USA, demands of us citizens (voters?) some responsibility, i.e., participation in and paying attention to the ongoings of the current society in which we live. I wonder if the same holds true in today's technol-ized world? All votes are valuable and worthy of protection! Expand the right to vote in order to capitalize on the collective wisdom of...
Federal regulations have doubled the wait time for work permit eligibility, so the Community Asylum Seekers Project has designed a language-learning plan that takes advantage of that wait to better prepare asylum seekers to find work and keep it. As it welcomes more participants into its program, CASP is facing the dilemma of how to integrate them into life in Windham County, including finding meaningful work that can be performed successfully by someone with limited English-language skills. Seven asylum seekers...
After the end of Gallery Walk on Friday, July 2, Epsilon Spires will turn the parking lot of the historic First Baptist Church on Main Street into an open-air cinema experience for the fifth installment of its weekly Backlot Cinema Series. The screening this week features two films by Soda Jerk, two Australian sisters - Dominique and Dan Angeloro - who use sampled footage from existing films and television shows to produce moving-image collages that create new meaning out of...
Edible Brattleboro's Share the Harvest stand opens for season BRATTLEBORO - The Share the Harvest stand, a project of Edible Brattleboro, opens for the season starting Sunday, July 4, in the garden at Turning Point Recovery Center at the corner of Frost and Elm streets, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This program, which will run until Oct. 31, makes fresh produce available to everyone at no cost, thanks to local farmers, the Vermont Foodbank, and local gardeners. If you...
College news • John Andrew Gagnon of Brattleboro received a B.A. in criminal justice from Norwich University. • The following local students received academic honors from Vermont Technical College for the spring 2021 semester: Jenna Ross of Brattleboro was the named to the President's List, while Teagan Bacon of Bellows Falls, Meka Dearborn of Brattleboro, and Gabriel Wilkinson of Bellows Falls were named to the Dean's List. • Caya Greenspan-Layman of Wilmington was named to the Dean's List for the...
Meeting Waters YMCA, now in its 126th year of service to youth and families, will run its popular day camp program as it has each summer since 1965. More than 13,000 area children and teens have attended Meeting Waters YMCA's camps over the past 56 years. Y Day Camp, for 6-to-13-year-olds, offers eight one-week sessions between Monday, June 28 and Friday, Aug. 20. Two one-week sessions of KinderCamp, a specialty camp for children entering kindergarten in the fall, is held...
The Vermont Community Foundation announced that - in partnership with many of its fundholders - the Spark Connecting Community grant program has awarded $93,756 to 38 nonprofit organizations for local projects in communities across the state. Of the total funding awarded, $29,250 was made possible by Giving Together, a program at the Community Foundation that shares grant proposals with fundholders and donors to give them the opportunity to co-fund projects. According to a news release, Spark Connecting Community “is a...
The Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) is offering a unique weeklong program this summer that allows participants to make and learn to play their own harp - and multigenerational music lovers are encouraged to make this a family affair. Those attending the first-ever Hands on Harps Camp - open to participants ages 8 all the way through adult - will build their very own clàsarch (small harp) and learn to play it. The camp runs from Aug. 2 through Aug. 6...
The Vermont Foodbank has begun its gleaning program for the growing season. Gleaning is the act of harvesting from farm fields excess vegetables that may otherwise go to waste. Often, the produce is top quality. Other times, it might be irregularly shaped or have small blemishes. The Foodbank operates the state's largest gleaning program, working with more than 600 volunteers to harvest and gather produce. Their efforts enable the Foodbank to provide healthy, local food to Vermonters who are at...
On Thursday, July 8, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Westminster Institute on Route 5, the Rockingham Free Public Library will sponsor a free introductory workshop on Restorative Conflict Resolution. The program is a collaboration between The Humanity Network of Greater Falls (HNGF) and Restorative Community Practice of Vermont (RCPVT). Bring a lawn chair and register with Community Relations Librarian Anne Dempsey at [email protected] if you will be attending this event, but you are welcome to come to the...
The Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) and Operation Lifesaver of Vermont (OLVT) report that trespassing on or near railroad tracks in the state has increased since the suspension of Amtrak services in March 2020. With the trains now back in Vermont in preparation for the resumption of full passenger service on Monday, July 19, Vermonters are reminded that it is both dangerous and illegal to trespass on railroad property. In a news release, AOT Secretary Joe Flynn said that “it...
The Brattleboro Rotary Club recently inducted Phil George as its 72nd club president for the 2021-22 Rotary year George, of Brattleboro, is a financial advisor with Edward Jones Investments. Other Rotary Club members serving as officers: President-Elect Roger Allbee, Secretary Regina Stefanelli, Treasurer Rhonda Calhoun, Vice President Gina Pattison, and Immediate Past President Carl Lynde. George has been active in the club since 1995, serving on several committees, including the annual Brattleboro Rotary Charity Golf Tournament. This year's tournament will...
The weekly Food Truck Roundup at Retreat Farm returns this summer to help bring the community back together after a long year apart. The Food Truck Roundup series debuts on Thursday, July 1 with Zara Bode's Little Big Band and continues every Thursday night, from 5 to 8 p.m., through Sept. 2. A new partnership with the Stone Church will bring a carefully curated selection of live bands to the Square, including the Miles Band, Jatoba, the Gaslight Tinkers, Kotoko...
She is 16 years old and pregnant. Still in school and devoid of job skills, she would not qualify to adopt a child, yet she could be forced to carry the fetus to term. She is a mother who wants another child, but in the third term of her pregnancy she learns her fetus has severe organ anomalies and will die soon after birth. Yet she is denied a late-term abortion. She is a victim of rape who suffers post-traumatic...
The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office on Route 5 has been closed since March 2020, when Gov. Phil Scott declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the state of emergency was lifted June 15 when the state met its vaccination goal, the DMV has issued no word on whether Dummerston and other satellite offices - Middlebury, St. Albans, St. Johnsbury, and White River Junction - will reopen. All have been closed since the pandemic.
As a Newfane resident, I need to clarify something in the recent article regarding anti-bias training. Erica Walch is quoted at length, presenting her own personal political opinion. While she may be identified in the article as the librarian at the Moore Free Library, she should not be seen as representing the views of the library, its members, or its board of directors. Her views are her own.
The Legislature has recently passed S.13 establishing a task force to study and implement updates to weighting factors in Vermont's education funding formula. The task force will use a study commissioned by the Vermont Legislature and completed by Professor Kolbe from the University of Vermont. The study contains some very specific recommendations for how to address the issue of inequity, which will serve as the basis for the group's work. It is important to note that the recommendations of the...
A national refugee resettlement group hopes Brattleboro will be the site of a new satellite office as well as home for up to 75 refugees from around the world by the new year. As part of its Welcoming Communities program, the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) has been facilitating efforts by the Ethiopian Development Community Council (EDCC) to help resettle refugees in more rural U.S. locations. The town made the list of six new resettlement sites hoped for this year,
After 14 years, Windham County Humane Society (WCHS) Executive Director Annie Guion is leaving at the end of the year as the shelter prepares for a future that includes constructing an addition to the existing facility. Calling her work here “the best of my life and my most fun and fulfilling job to date,” Guion says it's time for her to “move on to the next adventure.” Noting her partner, Chuck Corman, is retiring and the couple is planning “to...
After starting the American Legion Baseball season with a pair of narrow losses to Bennington and Manchester, Brattleboro Post 5 got into the win column on June 26 with a doubleheader sweep of Lakes Region on June 26 at Tenney Field. It was the home opener for Post 5, and they made it a happy one by winning the first game, 10-4, and shutting out Lakes Region in the second game, 10-0, in six innings. Pitching will be a strength...
Dad is buckled into the passenger seat next to me, a frayed Navy veteran cap pulled down low over his forehead, his ample belly straining against the seat belt. As I drive him slowly around Martha's Vineyard Island, one hand clutches his inhaler and the other, his empty brown wallet. This is our daily ritual. We meander down country lanes bordered by moss-covered stone walls, through canopies of pin oaks and sycamores. Our destination, the sea, with its flashing whitecaps,
I woke up this morning astonished to find a text message that simply read, “happy anniversary!” It was the first time in 33 years that anyone has ever remembered our anniversary. In 1988, in Boston, long before “gay marriage” seemed a possible reality in our lifetime, I met my partner, Kevin, at the Names Project AIDS Quilt display at the Plaza Castle armory. Eventually, after being together for over a quarter of a century, we married at the Brattleboro Municipal...
Join Windham World Affairs Council for the Brattleboro premiere of Sisters Rising, the award-winning film by local filmmakers Willow O'Feral and Brad Heck, on Thursday, July 8, at 7 p.m. at 118 Elliot. Sisters Rising tackles the global issue of violence against Indigenous women as a powerful feature documentary about six Native American women reclaiming personal and tribal sovereignty. According to a description of the film, “Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault than all...
The State Board of Libraries Geographic Naming Committee unanimously voted down a petition to rename a brook in Townshend after former resident Susanna Toby. Board member Linda Saarinjoki made the motion to reject the petition with an explanation attached. “We're in favor of changing the name, but not to Susanna Toby,” Saarinjoki said. Like a core sample marking the Earth's history of volcanos, floods, forest fires, and fossils in compact layers of rock and sediment, the June 17 public hearing...