Issue #641
Big Band Gala features vocalist Amanda Carr
The Vermont Jazz Center's Big Band will present its Annual Scholarship Gala on Friday, Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. This year the band will be featuring vocalist Amanda Carr, who has sung with the Boston Pops, Artie Shaw and Glenn Miller's orchestras, and many others.
The VJC Big Band, under musical director Rob Freeberg, is made up of area professional musicians who come together to enjoy the camaraderie and swinging tunes while raising money for the VJC's Scholarship Fund.
Planned Parenthood protests deserve a vigorous response
Big thumbs up to the two letter writers [Voices, Nov. 10] decrying the young picketers from Thomas Aquinas College who have been clogging up the sidewalks on Tuesdays in the vicinity of the Planned Parenthood clinic on High Street in Brattleboro. It's despicable that these so-called Christians feel duty-bound...
Why won’t senator meet about Yemen war powers resolution?
Vermont constituents concerned about the war in Yemen have repeatedly requested a meeting with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders to no avail. On Jan. 25, there was a car caravan in Brattleboro that was part of a global day of action (“World Says 'No!' to War in Yemen”). A copy...
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Stone Church hosts winter solstice mini-fest
Grammy-nominated bluegrass mandolinist Matt Flinner again teams up with award-winning local American Roots band Low Lily to celebrate the winter solstice on Saturday, Dec. 11, at the Stone Church at 210 Main St. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the concert begins at 7:30 p.m. The show debuted in 2019 but was sidelined by the pandemic in 2020. This December, the band returns with more dates, and, as described in a news release, “an excitement that only comes from being...
Baker Street Readers return with ‘A Christmas Carol’
After a nearly two-year hiatus, the Baker Street Readers will return to the Hooker-Dunham Theater with a dramatic reading of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 17 and 18, at 7 p.m. The Readers are known for their monthly live shows and podcast in which they read Sherlock Holmes mysteries, but they have been known to read other literary works of the 19th century, including the material on their 2020 album The Poe Project. For A...
Milestones
Obituaries • Kathleen Jennie Ellis, 66. Died Nov. 9, 2021. Born on Feb. 2, 1955, she worked at The Book Press, then The Brattleboro Retreat. She retired from Pine Heights nursing home in 2011. She was married to Stephen S. Stockwell, who died in 2010. She then married Carroll G. “Skip” Ellis Jr. in 2011. Kathy had two children with Stephen; Nicholas and Katie Stockwell. Kathleen was a grandmother to one granddaughter, Scarlet Jayde Stockwell. Kathy loved animals. She had...
Epsilon Spires plans holiday concert
On Thursday, Dec. 9, at 8 p.m., the Sanctuary stage at Epsilon Spires will feature a trio of musical projects from across the country performing a mix of stripped-down indie pop and mystical folk. Headlining the show is Chicago's Advance Bass, the solo project of musician Owen Ashworth, who will end the night with a set of original Christmas songs. The program has been in development for the past 15 years. “As someone who loved Christmas as a kid but...
Sculptor William Ransom to discuss BMAC exhibit
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) will present a free talk by sculptor William Ransom on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. via Zoom and Facebook Live. Ransom will discuss the BMAC exhibit “Keep Up/Hold Up.” In a statement accompanying the exhibit, the artist explains the origins of the title. “I am measured first by my blackness,” Ransom writes. “Our national story predetermines through the weight of white supremacy and its deliberately established structures how my very existence is...
Around the Towns
Town seeks input on website redesign BRATTLEBORO - The town is looking for user feedback as part of the process of redesigning the municipal website, brattleboro.org. A focus group to discuss items such as website navigation, content, and design will meet for 90 minutes on a date to be determined in December. Participants will be able to participate on Zoom or in person at the Municipal Center. Focus group participants will receive a small stipend for their time. If you...
A musical rebirth
In 2020, more than a half a century since the Windham Orchestra began at long-defunct Windham College (now the campus of Landmark) in Putney, the organization split from its longtime parent entity, the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC). And, after pandemic-enforced darkness, with a first concert last month, it has reemerged into the local music world as the Windham Philharmonic. Since 2010, the group has been led by Hugh Keelan, who introduced staged performances of opera such as Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci,
Gartenstein will run for Representative Town Meeting moderator
I will be a candidate to be elected Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting moderator. A lawyer by trade, I have worked for 17{1/2} years at the Windham County State's Attorney's Office prosecuting serious felony and other cases. My municipal service in Brattleboro includes: • six years on Selectboard, with four years as chair • three years on the Brattleboro Union High School board • 2{1/2} years on Town School Board • Nine years on Development Review Board, with 5 years as...
Brattleboro reinstates mandate for masks indoors
Thanksgiving has passed, winter is beginning, and local and state officials are concerned that another surge in COVID-19 cases will hit Vermont in the coming weeks. The Selectboard chose to be proactive and, on Nov. 23, became the first town in the state to adopt an indoor mask policy to reduce the spread of COVID-19, just as the emergence of its Omicron variant in other parts of the world in recent days has caused renewed concern. By a 4–1 vote,
The vigilantes are celebrating
The verdict is in. The vigilantes are celebrating. Kyle Rittenhouse is free. The postmortem predictions of what it will mean for us as a society begin, as does the fear for our future as we face a free fall into more violence while our country descends into the depths of depravity acted out on the streets. It is now possible to kill someone in the name of self-defense and literally get away with murder. It's a field day for open...
Stringed instrument visiting artist plans open studio hours at HatchSpace
HatchSpace, 22 High St., is hosting visiting artist Tucker Barrett, who will hold a weekly open studio on Wednesdays, from 6 to 9 p.m., beginning on Dec. 1. After nearly 25 years of designing and building electric violins, violas and cellos, Barrett is now dedicating his time to the repair and restoration of vintage and contemporary acoustic and electric guitars. The public is invited to stop by, bring instruments to seek advice on restoration or improving playability and intonation, or...
Westminster Center School celebrates Farm and Field Day
Stuffing scarecrows, painting pumpkins, cooking lunch over hot coals, and playing musical chair. These are not your everyday school activities, but this is how the students at Westminster Center School spent the morning of Oct. 29, when they celebrated their first Farm and Field Day. According to a news release, students from kindergarten through grade six took part in six activities crafted to link them to the outdoors and celebrate the harvest season. In addition to the excitement of scarecrows,
Catholic Worker calendars available
A limited number of calendars featuring the artwork of longstanding graphic artist and printmaker Rita Corbin will be available for sale at Everyone's Books at 25 Elliot St. during the holiday season. Corbin, who moved to the area in 1981, lived on and off here until her death in 2011 due to injuries suffered in a car accident. Her children, who live in the Brattleboro area, continue to publish the calendar and cards using her artwork, selling them primarily by...
BMAC presents woodworking workshop tour
Fine woodworker Richard Bissell will lead a tour of his workshop and showroom on Sunday, Dec. 5 at 2 p.m., offered in connection with the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) exhibit “Guild of Vermont Furniture Makers: Evolving Traditions.” Bissell's contribution to the exhibit is a four-poster bed inspired by the work of brothers Charles and Henry Greene, whose architectural firm, Greene & Greene, designed a house and furniture for David and Mary Gamble, of Procter & Gamble fame, in...
Don Fitzpatrick is featured artist for December at Crowell Gallery
Don Fitzpatrick and his pendulum drawings will return to the Crowell Gallery at the Moore Free Library, 23 West St., this December. His new works incorporate harmonograms, using fluid art techniques he has been experimenting with over the last two years. As described in a news release, his images are “dynamic, dimensional, abstract, and encapsulate movement.” The gallery will host an artist reception on Saturday, Dec. 18, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., during which Fitzpatrick will be available to...
Newfane voters to consider buying sand/gravel pit
Looking to save money on sand and gravel, the town has called a Special Town Meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 7 at the NewBrook Fire Department to ask voters to approve buying a gravel pit and borrowing $600,000 to accomplish the plan. Selectboard members are recommending buying a 21-acre site at Radway Hill and River roads owned by entrepreneur Paul Belogour for $450,000. But voters will be asked to approve borrowing nearly $600,000 to cover startup costs, as...
Doomed from the start
According to the United Nations, current national policies put the planet on track to heat up by 4.9 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. “That level of warming,” The Washington Post noted, “would be catastrophic for people and the ecosystems on which they depend, triggering inexorable ice sheet melt and catastrophic sea level rise. Deadly weather disasters, chronic food and water shortages and intolerable heat would become fixtures of life for much of the world.” In a surprising...
Police, victim advocacy nonprofit encourage survivors from BUHS to reach out
Since publication of a Viewpoint in The Commons [“No more secrecy,” Voices, Aug. 11] that exposed investigations into former Brattleboro Union High School teacher Zeke Hecker's conduct with students, Mindy Haskins Rogers says people have been coming forward with stories of grooming and abuse there. Now she wants the community to know that “local law enforcement is interested in hearing from anybody who has been affected by sexual abuse or sexual assault at Brattleboro Union High School.” Haskins Rogers also...
Two contagions, two responses
Americans are fixated on numbers. Infrastructure plan: $3.5 trillion. Votes cast in the 2020 presidential election: 100 million. Confirmed cases of COVID-19: 47,619,573 - and 769,310 deaths. Each of these numbers is hard to wrap your head around, linked inextricably to the human condition. But when the enormity of numerical reporting masks the beating hearts behind each digit, we numb ourselves to the alternate reality of the endurance it takes to survive. Don't get me wrong. An infrastructure plan meant...
Vermont Historical Society to present statewide history award to Brattleboro Words Project
Stephen Perkins, executive director of the Vermont Historical Society (VHS), will present the annual Richard O. Hathaway Award for best historical project in the state to the five local institutions that created and led the National Endowment for the Humanities–funded, multi-year Brattleboro Words Project. “The Brattleboro Words Project has created for our community and visitors from near and far three very accessible, informative ways to learn about our literary, printing, and publishing legacy,” Brattleboro Town Manager Peter Elwell said in...
Vermont legal cannabis growth will need healthy soil
A number of people, from Aristotle to Jean-Jacques Rousseau to John Chardin, are credited with a good quote: “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” I always try to keep this wisdom in mind when I am working toward a policy goal that is encumbered by far too many missteps and seems to be taking longer than is bearable, remembering that reaching the goal will produce a sweet and nourishing reward. I've been thinking about this quote lately while...
Group looks ahead at fresh ways to look back
On a Saturday morning, on the third floor of the Municipal Center, where Brattleboro High School students used to roam the hallways, Barbara George is seated in a circle, socially distanced and masked, with seven members of the Brattleboro Historical Society board of trustees. “We're also about to celebrate our 40th anniversary,” said George, a volunteer and longtime supporter of the BHS, as the board members met in the society's public Research Room. “I think this is a great time...
BF players lead South squad to win in North-South all-star game, 39-35
Bellows Falls, the state Division II football champions, put their stamp on the 20th North-South All-Star game on Nov. 20 at Castleton University's Dave Wolk Stadium. The South won the game, 39-35, as BF quarterback Jonathan Terry ran in the winning touchdown on a 7-yard keeper with 2:39 left to play. His teammates, the power-running tandem of Jed Lober and Jeb Monier, each ran for a touchdown in an exciting game that saw six lead changes and two ties. Hartford's...
Group focuses on three initiatives to help the region become fossil-fuel free by 2025
West River Valley 100% Renewable is continuing its mission to meet 100 percent of the transportation, heating and cooling, and electrical needs of the seven towns along the West River through renewable sources by 2025 with three new initiatives. The nearly two-year-old, all-volunteer group of residents from the West River Valley serves Jamaica, Townshend, Brookline, Newfane, Wardsboro, Windham, and Grafton. West River Valley 100% Renewable is focusing on building residential solar arrays, pushing the Windham Central Supervisory Union to replace...
Arts for the holiday season
Circus arts • New England Center for Circus Arts (necenterforcircusarts.org) celebrates solstice and the holiday season with the annual year-end celebration gone virtual, “T'was the Night....” This filmed variation of NECCA's popular holiday show features professional program students with youth troupe and advanced recreational talents in a heartwarming sharing of high-flying circus creativity. The program streams on demand from Dec. 26 to Jan. 2. Craft • Brattleboro Flea and Epsilon Spires' winter market - Friday, Dec. 17 (3 to 7:30...