Issue #657
At age 97, a writer sums up his full life
At 97, Peter Lindenfeld's present life is one to admire. His success, though, measured not in material wealth as much as in the riches of connections, good health, accomplishments, and action, was won with ample strife, as he tells in his memoir, Fragments of Time.
“I'm living on borrowed time,” said Lindenfeld in a recent conversation. “I'm content with that; I'm just very fortunate and grateful to be alive and to be involved.”...
New Brattleboro town moderator handled first meeting with aplomb
Thank you to our new town moderator, David Gartenstein, for his skill, patience and stamina at Brattleboro's recent Annual Representative Town Meeting. The usual challenges of real time democratic deliberation were combined with both the difficulties of an electronic meeting format and the nearly 12-hour duration of the meeting.
I could have chosen to show up as a friend and an ally. I did not.
In the aftermath of the WSESD mask forum, we must protect our kids and their families from increased health risk — and from the very real consequences that come from angry, stressed, and frightened humans
To Jaime Contois and all parents of immunocompromised children and children who need to mask for any number of reasons; To Lana Dever and all my black and brown friends, family, acquaintances and community members; To everyone who felt a personal harm and betrayal from me at the WSESD...
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BMAC offers Ukrainian egg-decorating workshop
Acclaimed pysanky artist and instructor Jenny Santa Maria leads a hands-on, in-person workshop on the traditional Ukrainian folk art of egg decoration on Saturday, April 9, at 1:30 p.m. at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC). Participants will leave the workshop with a beautiful colored egg. BMAC will donate all proceeds from the workshop to Ukrainian relief efforts. The pysanky technique is similar to batik. Patterns are drawn on an egg with hot beeswax, which protects covered areas from...
What if Slate Ridge issue involved a Black man?
Here is a thought experiment for Vermonters: Picture, if you can, Daniel Banyai, owner of the Slate Ridge property in West Pawlet, as a Black man. How long do you think an illegal firearms and militia training school would last? And how would the national media portray a Black man offering classes in carjacking? That alone would be an international story for the far right to share: “The snowflake government of the state of Vermont is allowing a thug to...
BUHS Music Department presents ‘Something Rotten!’
The BUHS Music Department announces its 2022 musical, Something Rotten! with book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O'Farrell, music and lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick, and conceived by Karey Kirkpatrick and Wayne Kirkpatrick. Something Rotten! will take place on Thursday, April 7, and Friday, April 8, at 7 p.m.; and Saturday, April 9, at 2 p.m. in the Brattleboro Union High School Auditorium. Set in the 1590s, brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom are desperate to write a hit...
Champlain Trio presents 'French Voices' at BMC
The Brattleboro Music Center's Season Guest series continues with the Champlain Trio presenting “French Voices.” The concert is set for Sunday, April 3, at 4 p.m. at the BMC. The program features Cécile Chaminade's Trio No. 1 in G minor as well as Lili Boulanger's “D'un soir triste” and “D'un matin de printemps,” all early works for the incomparable female composers. The program will conclude with the elegant Trio in D Minor by Gabriel Fauré, which was one of the...
Milestones
Obituaries • Beatrice Louise “Bee” Allen, 99, of Rockingham. Died peacefully in her home on March 19, 2022. Born Oct, 23, 1922, she was the daughter of Herbert and Louise Allen of Westminster. At age 19, Bee married George Everett Allen, of Claremont, N.H., and together, they raised four children. The family lived in Claremont and Lebanon, N.H., before moving to Westminster. Everett and Bee were married for 59 years before Everett's death in 2000. In addition to raising her...
A special conversation raises funds for local Chabad, relief for Ukraine
Warm appreciation to everyone who joined Rabbi Avram Raskin and me in making for a very special evening, as 94-year-old Holocaust survivor Elly Gotz shared his life story and life lessons with wisdom, grace, and humility. Two years ago, Elly came to visit us in Brattleboro and southern Vermont. At that time, he spoke before several different groups to people of all ages and backgrounds. He came to our Heartstorm Farmstead joining Rabbi and Chaya Raskin and Kimberly and me,
Curtain to rise on renovation of Colonial Performing Arts Center
With the historic expansion and renovation project in its final stages, the Colonial Performing Arts Center has announced a series of live performances in the main theater beginning April 1 - in addition to an ongoing schedule of shows at the Center's new intimate venue, Showroom. The Wailin' Jennys, a Juno Award-winning folk and bluegrass trio from Canada, will kick off The Colonial Theatre's schedule with a performance on Friday, April 1. Prince tribute band Purple Xperience will play Saturday,
‘Poems Around Town’ returns for a second year
Downtown Brattleboro will be awash in poetry this April when three local literary organizations present the second annual Poems Around Town (PAT). Organized by Write Action with support from the Brattleboro Literary Festival and Time To Write, more than 70 poets from throughout Vermont - many from the Brattleboro area and the tri-state region - will take part in this event that celebrates National Poetry Month. Throughout the month of April, poems will hang in the windows of more than...
Around the Towns
Brattleboro dog licenses are due April 1 BRATTLEBORO - Vermont dogs and wolf-hybrids 6 months and older must be licensed on or before Friday, April 1. For dogs not previously licensed in town, a new dog license application form is available at bit.ly/657-bratt-dogs. The licensing fees, due by Friday, April 1, are $19 for neutered animals and $23 for un-neutered animals. Specially trained assistance dogs may be eligible for a reduced licensing fee. Dogs and wolf-hybrids licensed after the due...
Hoping we can welcome new families and new workers — new neighbors — to Putney
I was delighted to see that Putney's Development Review Board approved the Windham and Windsor Housing Trust's project for 25 apartments on Alice Holway Drive in the village. I was very disappointed to learn that opponents of the project are planning to appeal the DRB's decision, and I sincerely hope they will withdraw their appeal. We Putney taxpayers will have to pay a lawyer to defend the board's approval, which was unanimous with one abstention. After reviewing the application for...
WRED board looks to the future, thanks voters for supporting school budget
Townspeople of Brookline, Jamaica, Townshend, and Newfane: We, the team of administrators in the West River Education District (WRED), offer our humble appreciation for your support of our local spending budget on March 23. Your support sends a clear message to your students, our staff, and your neighbors, and we appreciate your choice. This is a hopeful moment. Our board is moving through a future-planning process, which we plan to complete before the next budget cycle. This process began with...
For moderate House member, support of Balint for Congress is about character, not ideology
As an independent member of the Vermont House of Representatives, I have worked closely with three of the candidates for Congress. Today, I am endorsing Becca Balint. When I've shared this news, some have responded with surprise. They know me to be a moderate and Becca to be openly progressive. My support for Becca is not about ideology - it's about character and whom I trust to put Vermonters first. I met Becca almost 10 years ago when we were...
FWD has opposed three bills to modernize state wildlife governance
With each passing year, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department (FWD) becomes more entrenched in its support of archaic laws regarding wildlife. The problems start at the top. When FWD Commissioner Jack Porter resigned last year, I hoped for a successor with modern values who would take animal ethics into consideration. Instead, Gov. Phil Scott appointed yet another commissioner - Chris Herrick - who lacks any credentials in environmental sciences or wildlife management. Ethics don't seem to be too high...
Bobcats and coyotes do not need human interference to manage their population levels
Humans share the planet with many species of wildlife - some receive protections as endangered species, like the Canada lynx in Vermont, while others receive few, if any, protections at all. Bobcats, a close cousin to the Canada lynx, and coyotes are grouped in the latter category. As apex predators on Vermont's landscape, these animals are vital contributors to healthy, vibrant ecosystems, but they're often misunderstood and unfairly maligned. One of the main roles coyotes and bobcats play is that...
Lawmakers discuss a fluke: money to spend
The Vermont Legislature is entering the final phase of the 2022 session, with the budget bill for fiscal year 2023, the transportation bill, and the capital spending bill all receiving approval from the House last week. The proposed state budget for FY 2023 is more than $8 billion, the largest in Vermont history, thanks to strong General Fund revenues and hundreds of millions of dollars in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. But when local lawmakers briefed members of...
An immodest proposal for peace
As a longtime admirer of Russian culture and as someone whose ancestors came to this country from Ukraine, I have found myself putting in a lot of time watching, reading, and thinking about the war now raging there. Russian President Vladimir Putin may have deeply held beliefs that Ukraine should be his, but his supposed rationale to the world, and perhaps an underlying goad to his actions, has been his beef about NATO. Thomas Friedman had a column in The...
BUHS students win in Sanders’ annual essay contest
Brattleboro Union High School sophomore Sasha Lann is the first-place winner of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders' 12th annual State of the Union essay contest with their essay about voting rights. Isabelle Tupper, also a sophomore at the school, was a finalist. The contest offers Vermont high school students an opportunity to take on a major issue facing the country and propose what they would do to solve it. This year, 409 students from 38 high schools submitted essays. A panel...
Lydia Kern multimedia exhibit opens Friday at Epsilon Spires
On Friday, April 1, at 5 p.m., Epsilon Spires will present PASSAGES, an exhibit of artwork by sculptor and installation artist Lydia Kern. The opening celebration will include a performance by the band Fievel is Glauque, and Vermont Organist of the Year Jenny Bower will play selected works at the closing reception on Saturday, June 25. Kern said in a news release that the work she will show at Epsilon Spires “is influenced by meditations on love and grief, mysticism,
Putney Public Library hosts Peeps Diorama Contest
It's time again for the library's annual Peeps Diorama Contest. Now that those brightly colored marshmallow treats are on the shelves, they are ready to star in a diorama about your favorite book. Pick up an entry form at the library or print out the Entry Form at bit.ly/657-peeps. Here are the rules: • Even if you are not a resident of the town of Putney, you can still enter or join a family team, but only current Putney Library...
Bellows Falls candidate for Congress takes a different approach
Liam Madden is someone who isn't afraid to take chances. A Marine Corps sergeant who served in Iraq, he became one of the leaders of Iraq Veterans Against the War and stood up to the Corps when it threatened to revoke his honorable discharge for his anti-war activities. After his Marine service, he got a degree in environmental studies and international affairs from Northeastern University and got into the field of climate sustainability. Madden went on to start the Green...
WWAC hosts online talk with Lithuania’s ambasssador to U.S.
The Windham World Affairs Council will host Her Excellency Audra Plepyte—, Lithuanian Ambassador to the United States and Mexico, for a lecture on “Lithuania, Ukraine and Regional Security Challenges Today” on April 5 from 7 to 8:15 p.m. via Zoom. The event is free, but a suggested donation to support WWAC's work is welcome and registration is required at www.eventbrite.com/e/lithuania-ukraine-and-regional-security-challenges-today-tickets-304770485727. Ambassador Plepyte— will explore the layers of history regarding tensions in the Baltic Region and how they reflect on the...
On housing issues, some common ground
Housing has been at the forefront of conversation among numerous communities in Windham County. Most recently, Putney has been in the spotlight over debate regarding the proposed construction of a 25-unit building at the gateway to town, across from the Putney Food Co-op. While there has been a majority outpouring of support for this plan, there has also been a strong voice of dissent. We, two current Democratic candidates for the Vermont Senate, both believe housing is a vital investment...
'We believe strongly that we are all learners'
When Elijah Jensen, who has cerebral palsy and intellectual disabilities, was in school, he couldn't participate in many activities in an environment where “they weren't aware that that meant they needed to make accommodations for someone who had a disability,” his mother, Darlene Jensen, said. As she talked with Laura Lawson Tucker, who operated the home childhood center where Elijah spent his time, she recalled how she was “just exclaiming how there was so little for us to participate in.”
Skating into the future
A chance to help change the structure and future of the indoor skatepark at the Boys & Girls Club on Flat Street will be the topic of discussion on Friday, April 1 at the Club. “The Club is seeking community input and involvement in stewarding the skatepark into the future,” says Executive Director Michelle Simpson. “Due to certain Boys & Girls Club of America restrictions, we are not able to open the skatepark up to the public, making this an...
Reuniting family photos, no strings attached
It started with a post in the Brattleboro, Vermont Facebook group by Greenfield, Mass. resident Erin Bohannon, who attached scans of portraits of local people and said that she was looking to return them to families. If you've lived in the area for a bit, the names on the 5{x}7 black-and-white photographs would be familiar: Barb Covey, Marion Gassett, Tucky Houghton, Stuart Anderson, Eugene Lane, and many more. Bohannon didn't ask for money, and she was willing to pay the...
Vermont’s spring sports season begins next week
Practices began last week for spring high school sports in Vermont and, weather permitting, the season will begin on April 6, when Unified basketball returns after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Brattleboro will open the season at the BUHS gym against Middlebury in a 2:15 p.m. game. Tennis begins on April 6, when the Brattleboro boys host Northampton, Mass., at the BUHS courts, while the Bellows Falls girls' tennis team opens at Rutland on April 11. The...