The Brattleboro Music Center's Juno Orchestra, the region's "home team" chamber orchestra, presents "Challenge" on Sunday, Feb. 11.
The concert is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at the BMC.
Under the direction of Zon Eastes, the Juno Orchestra will perform George Frideric Handel's Concerto Grosso in B flat major, Op. 6, No. 7; Paul Hindemith's Five Pieces, Op. 44, No. 4; Erik Nielsen's Movement III from Glimpses of Azure; Jean Perrault's Exodus; and George Templeton Strong's Chorale on a Theme of Leo Hassler.
Also featured will be the premiere of Robert Merfeld's Bridget Anne Hart: An Irish Legacy. The piece was inspired by memories of departing the Irish homeland and settling in a new land, namely Vermont. The piece is set for narrator, winds, and strings, and "presents several tunes any audience member will recognize," Eastes explained in a news release.
Auditors' Reports ready in Brattleboro BRATTLEBORO - The Brattleboro Town and 2023 Town Auditors' Reports for fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, are available upon request and may be picked up at the Town Clerk's Office, 230 Main St. The Auditors' Reports will also be available as part of...
The Rock River Players (RRP) present "Looking for Love, a Valentine's Cabaret," Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9 and 10, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 11, at 3 p.m. at the Williamsville Hall, 35 Dover Rd. In a news release, producer Annie Landenberger says "the cabaret, with deep roots...
Open Auditions for the upcoming Guilford Center Stage play, Love Lost Diaries, will take place in two sessions: Saturday, Feb. 10, from 1 to 4 p.m. and Monday, Feb 12, from 5 to 8 p.m. upstairs at the Broad Brook Community Center in Guilford. The facility is fully accessible, with an elevator to the theater space upstairs. Love Lost Diaries is the work of Hardwick playwright Marc Considine. It will be directed by Julie Holland, of Guilford, with performances in...
College news • Sarah Butterfield of Vernon has been named to the University of Delaware Dean's List for the fall 2023 semester. • Audrey LaMorder of Guilford was named to the Dean's List for the fall 2023 semester at St. Michael's College in Colchester. • Liliana Buettner, an inclusive elementary education major from Dummerston, was named to the Dean's List for the fall 2023 semester at Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. Obituaries • Louis Thomas "Lou" Corbett, 77, of...
The Becker Sisters are soprano Alyssa Becker and pianist/composer Kirsten Becker. Their debut album, Love and Thought (2022), fuses neoclassical, contemporary art song, folk, opera, and jazz, featuring Alyssa's soprano and Kirsten's piano accompaniment. They will perform at Stage 33 Live, 33 Bridge St., on Sunday, Feb. 18, in a 3 p.m. matinee. Stage 33 Live is a casual and intimate industrial-rustic listening room in a former factory hosting local, regional, and national performances and presentations of original material. Tickets...
The Canal Street Art Gallery's Spring Salon is open to all artists of all levels to submit original artwork for exhibition. This is the third edition of the Spring Salon; the show will open Saturday, March 17, and run through Saturday, June 1. Image submissions for the Spring Salon are due Monday, Feb. 26, and artwork delivery is on Wednesday, March 6. Artists may submit one to three artworks. Submission is free. The exhibition fee is a sliding scale: $12...
What is love? The Harmony Collective Artists Gallery's February Group Show "All Hearts" explores the many facets and meaning of love through the works of 13 artists. Some, such as Kay Curtis, often use hearts as a theme. She explained in a news release that, in her work, a heart "does not always signify a love between individuals. It is just as likely to represent a love of the planet, or all people or of the work we choose. Exploring...
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present traditional folk and Celtic music trio Genticorum, with special guests Seamus Egan and Lissa Schneckenburger, at Next Stage 15 Kimball Hill, Saturday, Feb. 10, at 7:30 p.m. Genticorum features intricate fiddle, flute, and accordion lines, vocal harmonies, guitar textures, and foot percussion. The trio's founding members Pascal Gemme and Yann Falquet are both recognized as major contributors to the traditional music scene in Quebec and, since 2015, they have been joined by...
Absentee ballots for the presidential primary, the town's Annual Representative Town Meeting, and the Windham Southeast School District school board vote - all to be held on Election Day, Tuesday, March 5 - are now available from the Town Clerk's office. Absentee ballots for this election must be requested. Anyone wishing to vote absentee may apply for an absentee ballot until 5 p.m. on Monday, March 4, although town officials recommend doing so as soon as possible to account for...
I recently had the pleasure to spend a little time with Oscar Heller, who is running for a three-year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard. Oscar has been actively engaged in local government for a number of years, serving on the town Finance Committee. He is a local entrepreneur who runs a web design business and has gained an understanding of what it takes for a small business to survive in this area. Oscar is smart, and he makes it clear...
Poems Around Town, an event held in celebration of National Poetry Month, returns for a fourth year. It is co-sponsored and organized by Write Action, Time to Write, the Brattleboro Literary Festival, and Brooks Memorial Library. Vermont poets and those within a 50-mile radius in the southeast tri-state region are invited to submit poems to Write Action for Poems Around Town. Chosen poems will appear in downtown Brattleboro shop windows during April, National Poetry Month. Submitted poems should be recent...
Everything seemed lined up in favor of the Brattleboro Bears boys' basketball team going into their Feb. 2 game against the Mount Anthony Patriots at the BUHS gym. The Bears were coming off the high of a buzzer-beating victory over Burr & Burton on Jan. 26, and they had a week off to prepare for their Route 9 rivals. And, for the first three quarters, Bears fans saw a close, intense, and competitive game. Then MAU seniors Carter Thompson and...
It seems like a no-brainer. On the one hand, Vermont - and especially Windham County - has a dire shortage of medical practitioners. General practitioners are especially needed. Also, nurses, phlebotomists, X-ray technicians, dentists, hygienists, and a whole host of other medical professionals. On the other hand, Vermont - and especially Windham County - is a welcoming place for immigrants. And some of them are medical professionals. It seems like a problem with an obvious solution. But nothing is uncomplicated...
If you're one who likes to be in the know when the Academy Awards roll around, you might be catching American Fiction, a complex satire nominated for several Oscars to be awarded March 10. If you see the film, you can catch a hometown splash: Green Writers Press (GWP) as part of an "authentic set with real publishers from New England," says Dede Cummings, who founded the press nearly 10 years ago. She recalls that in 2020, she received an...
I had to respond to Robin Rieske's piece. First, cigarette companies targeted everyone regardless of race or any other factor. (Remember the rugged white Marlboro Man?) Most companies want everyone to buy their product. Second, a lung is a lung, and cigarettes affect every smoker exactly the same way! I would rather see people smoking cigarettes than using illicit drugs. If you bring beer, even "light" beer, to an already intoxicated person to "keep them and others safe," you are...
The Vermont Jazz Center is excited to present International Anthem recording artist, drummer/producer Makaya McCraven, in a Sunday afternoon concert with bassist Junius Paul, trumpeter Marquis Hill, and perhaps other guests on Feb. 18, at 4 p.m. McCraven is a sonic sculptor. His huge presence from behind the drum kit drives his band's sound and takes listeners on a journey of unexpected pathways. He uses his ability as a drummer to conjure polyrhythms that are unique, highly accessible, and deeply...
Jean Anne Kiewel has accused Jewish Voice for Peace of promoting a "false equivalency," for equating slogans from Black Lives Matter and Palestinians. Palestinians often chant, "From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free." She claims that this is hateful. Thankfully, she also acknowledges that Israel's attacks on Hamas are horrific. Kiewel contends, though, that these Israeli attacks, killing over 25,000 mostly women and children, are not genocidal in intent. Well, the recent ruling by the International Court...
Thank you, Joyce Marcel, for the well-written love letter to Library Director Starr Latronica and her excellent staff at Brooks Memorial Library. What a compassionate insight into the underpinnings of the library and the hard work these librarians perform, so far above and beyond anything to do with books. And thank you for citing possible solutions to the challenges they face. This talented, kind crew deserves help, not threats and endangerment. Margot Zalkind Mayor Newfane This letter to the editor...
Town of Putney Selectboard chairperson Aileen Chute is running for reelection to a second three-year term. I am voting for her because: • Her forthright public statements affirming affordable housing and its residents have proven that she is a leader in Putney: Leaders do what is principled. • She has demonstrated her natural ability to chair public meetings: dealing fairly with pacing and debate while mentoring her less-experienced Selectboard colleagues in close collaboration with Putney's town manager and ensuring that...
I am heartbroken and appalled by the actions, and lack thereof, of the Windham Southeast School District Board and its superintendent, in their disregard for the rights and needs not only of the victims of sexual grooming and abuse by school staff, but of our entire community. It is difficult to imagine that the board and superintendent, who are meant to be the chief advocates and protectors regarding all aspects of students' lives, could be so naive about the appropriate...
When it comes to candidates for Brattleboro Selectboard, Richard Davis is the real deal. I have known Richard for over 40 years. We worked together at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. We started the Windham County Heat Fund in 2005, raising almost $1 million and providing heat for over 2,000 families. Richard has served on many nonprofit boards. He also helped start Guilford Cares. When Richard says he will do something, he not only keeps his word but he accomplishes the task...
My name is Oscar Heller, and I'm running for Selectboard. I believe I have the temperament and skills to do a great job on your behalf. I value thoughtfulness, hard work, and public engagement. I'm not afraid to admit when I don't understand something, or to ask hard questions on behalf of the public. And I'm not afraid to stand alone or take a hard vote if I disagree. I found Brattleboro through Camp Waubanong and moved here permanently 10...
What was the bustling industrial center of Bellows Falls a hundred years ago has slowly been converted over the past two decades into an exceptional public park. An area polluted, abandoned, and neglected for most of the past century has been the focus of volunteer citizens working to convert the 8-acre former industrial site into an inviting, environmentally safe outdoor space for the community. But somewhat hidden away and accessed from the village only through the alley-like, narrow Mill Street,
Democracy is dead in America when a smart, articulate, unifying Congressman - Rep. Dean Phillips - spends more than two months campaigning in New Hampshire for the Democratic Presidential Primary, and gets nearly zero news coverage. Democracy is dead in America when a sitting president is a no-show in New Hampshire because he fears being challenged by someone more fit for office than himself. Democracy is dead in America when the Democratic National Party and state Democratic parties keep Phillips...
Vida King perpetuates the myth that masking prevents the spread of virus and other unseen pathogens. Viruses, smaller than bacteria, are by definition microbes and not visible to the naked eye or under an ordinary microscope. Viruses are only visible under an electron microscope. I'm wondering how writer Vida King expects a mere mask to prevent the spread of viruses. Ms. King also seems to think that individuals have the power to keep their neighbor's body healthy. In reality, your...
My name is Aileen Chute, and I am running for re-election to the three-year Selectboard seat here in Putney. I like to joke that I am the longest-serving member of the Putney Selectboard, and that is true because Putney has a young board. I have served on the Selectboard for one entire three-year term and have been honored with the seat of chair for the last two. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, much of my professional career has been...
Half of the open seats on the Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) School Board are being contested in the election on Tuesday, March 5. • Matt Schibley, who was appointed in October 2023, is being challenged for the remainder of a three-year term as Brattleboro representative by Lance Cutler. • Two full three-year terms as Brattleboro representative are being sought by incumbent Tim Maciel, Colleen Savage, and Richard Leavy. • In Guilford, current board Chair Kelly Young is being challenged...
A new documentary film, Underdog, comes to the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro on Wednesday, Feb. 28 to shine a light on one Vermont dairy farmer and his struggle to survive during these challenging times. As described by the filmmakers, in the film, "a quixotic Vermont dairy farmer risks losing the only home he's ever known to chase his dreams of dog mushing in Alaska. In the era of the pandemic, the resonance of Doug [Butler]'s journey extends to all who...
Chris Campany sounded a municipal alarm. "Every day I see our towns holding on by a thread or breaking, and I fear those doing the work of towns are on the verge of breaking as well," the executive director of the Windham Regional Commission (WRC) wrote in a recent opinion piece published by VTDigger. Campany noted that towns have limited capacity to meet the increasing demands of basic town management, including dealing with storm damage, managing major infrastructure planning and...
Elayne Clift (elayne-clift.com) has written this column about women, politics, and social issues from the earliest days of this newspaper. As Greek philosopher Heraclitus claimed around 500 BCE, "No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man. There is nothing permanent except change." The noted philosopher meant that change is the only reality. Given our political processes in election years, institutional change is needed more than ever as...
Following the Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) decision on Jan. 23 to abruptly close its investigation into reported sexual abuse by staff members dating back decades without disclosing any information, a rally in support of survivors has been planned for Tuesday, Feb. 13. [Editor's note: Due to predicted inclement weather, the event has been rescheduled to Tuesday, Feb. 27.] The We Stand with Survivors rally will be held on Atwood Street (in back of Brattleboro Union High School and in...
In the Jan. 31 issue of the print edition of The Commons, an advertisement used a word that is widely regarded as antisemitic. Since the eruption of violence on Oct. 7, we have published a full range of local viewpoints about the horrific scenario unfolding in Israel and Gaza. Advertising from organizations, businesses, and individuals will reflect this same tension. Readers expect a full spectrum of views expressed in our pages in news and advertising. Discomfort will be inevitable. Antisemitic...