PUTNEY - Learn about simple methods and everyday equipment used to make watercolor paints at the Putney Public Library, 55 Main St., on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 6:30 p.m.
Participants will create watercolor paints from a variety of urban, rural, and repurposed materials to make a completely idiosyncratic, hyper-local paint set reflecting the history, people, land, and ecology of this region. Imagine a watercolor kit that sources local plants, rocks, and clay for colors.
This free workshop will produce watercolor kits that will be available for checkout at the library. Ages 12 and up welcome. Register by email at [email protected] or by calling 802-387-4407.
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BELLOWS FALLS-Tom Pirozzoli, Carl Beverly, and Rich Ewald will perform at Stage 33 Live on Sunday, Jan. 26, in a 3 p.m. matinee. Pirozzoli's recordings have had national and international success, and he's in the Smithsonian Folkways Collection. He's been on the Top 40 AAA charts, and had a...
BELLOWS FALLS-As the Bellows Falls Opera House celebrates its 100-year anniversary in 2025, organizers say the time is right to recapture the story of Vermont and its citizens with the 2013 Off the Grid Productions' collaborative documentary series, Freedom & Unity: The Vermont Movie. Off the Grid Productions was...
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present a dance party with roots and world music quintet The Gaslight Tinkers at Next Stage on Friday, Jan. 24, at 7:30 p.m. This quintet blends African, Caribbean, funk, Reggae, and Latin grooves with traditional fiddle music. Carnival rock quartet Fool & The World opens the show. The Gaslight Tinkers' mix of global rhythms creates a world beat sound around a core of traditional New England old time and Celtic fiddle music. Drawing from...
BELLOWS FALLS-While the first documented speed dating event occurred in the 1990s, it fell out of popularity during the Covid pandemic and increased in 2023 when dating apps began to lose their appeal. So say the women of The Hot Mess Spirit Express of Keene, New Hampshire, who will offer their own spin on the process. On Saturday, Jan. 25, from 7 to 10 p.m., Speed Dating with Psychic Mediums will occur at the Bellows Falls Moose Lodge, 59 Westminster...
BRATTLEBORO-Under a slate gray sky with a cold wind sweeping across the Town Common, approximately 200 people gathered on Jan. 18 for a peaceful rally that, in the words of organizers, united people "in solidarity as humans, as immigrants, as LGBTQIA+ individuals, as BIPOC communities, as allies." They marched on the downtown sidewalks from Flat Street to the Common with a variety of signs, plenty of Palestinian Authority flags, and a desire to prevent the next four years of the...
15 years ago January 2009 issue Dummerston Selectboard Chair Andrew MacFarland, writing to his town's Planning Commission, recently noted an "inevitable tension." The planning process, which seeks the common good but might well not accommodate the wishes of particular individuals and groups, must coexist with the political process, which "must take into account the personal, interpersonal, social and emotional responses to the plan," MacFarland wrote. Even with broadly shared goals among affected parties, the difference between a town plan's vision...
BELLOWS FALLS-The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC), in partnership with Rockingham Arts & Museum Project (RAMP), will host a panel discussion about the past, present, and future of the Bellows Falls "island" on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 1 p.m., at the Bellows Falls Waypoint Center, 17 Depot St. RAMP founder Robert McBride will moderate the discussion, which will include geologist David Howell, archeologist Gail Golec, architect Dan Scully, artist Charlie Hunter, and photographer Susan Mikula. The inspiration for the...
BRATTLEBORO-Palaver Strings presents "Rise and Shine," celebrating the viola. The concert is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m. at the Brattleboro Music Center. This program explores the sonic possibilities of the viola through 20th-century viola quartets by Kenji Bunch and York Bowen, as well as new folk arrangements by Palaver violists Elizabeth Moore and Lysander Jaffe. They will be joined by special guest violists Sam Kelder and Sergio Muñoz. Tickets are $20 for advance general admission, $25 at...
WILMINGTON-The Mid-Term Reunion, a new Deerfield Valley summer event, is aimed at those who attended local schools as well as the faculty and staff of those schools. It will take place on the weekend of July 25–27. Organizers say plans are well under way, and they are looking for more volunteers to help with the planning and preparation. Jobs include organizing individual reunions, publicity, social media, and design and upkeep for a website which will be rolled out in the...
WILLIAMSVILLE-The Rock River Players will host open auditions for The Freeing of Mollie Steimer by Brattleboro playwright Patrick Keppel. The play follows the life of an early 20th-century anarchist who, at the age of 20, stood up to intense U.S. political oppression, refusing to back down in her fervent fight for a freer world. Auditions will be held at the Williamsville Hall, 35 Main St., on Friday, Jan. 24, from 3 to 5:30 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 25, from 10 a.m.
WESTMINSTER WEST-The River Singers Community Chorus, led by Mary Cay Brass, will start their winter/spring session on Tuesday, Jan. 28, at the Westminster West Church. The River Singers, in their 34th year, is a multi-generational community choir dedicated to singing "soulful, thrilling music from many lands," according to their news release. The River Singers serve up a cornucopia of songs of hope, peace, love, and social justice. This session will feature dance songs from Macedonia, work songs from the Republic...
BRATTLEBORO-The third installment of the 2024 Brattleboro Real Estate and Personal Property Taxes will be due by 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17. Payments made after Feb. 17 will have an additional 1% interest added to the unpaid balance. Brattleboro utility bills are also due by 5 p.m. on Feb. 17. Payments made after Feb. 17 will have an additional 1% interest, as well as an 8% penalty added to the unpaid balance. Payments can be mailed to the Town...
BRATTLEBORO-In meSSeS' solo circus production, Janoah...anygoodjokes?, Janoah the Jester juggles several tasks simultaneously, performing and teaching, during a one-hour matinee show at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 26, at the New England Center for Circus Arts, followed by a free juggling workshop from 2 to 3 p.m. Organizers said that during this (optionally interactive) performance, "you can learn to juggle as you watch. In moments between acts, Janoah engagingly guides audience through the essentials: throwing, catching, and messy-ing up!" Unicycle...
BRATTLEBORO-Beginning in early February and continuing through mid-April, AARP Foundation is providing free tax assistance and preparation through its Tax-Aide program in Brattleboro. AARP Foundation Tax-Aide is a volunteer-based free tax preparation service. Volunteers are trained and IRS-certified every year to ensure they understand the latest changes to the U.S. Tax Code. Two sites are available: The Brattleboro Senior Center, 207 Main St., will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursdays, beginning Feb. 6. Call 802-257-7570 to...
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts presents a concert of original compositions in the Arabic maqam tradition, featuring composer and kanun player Firas Zreik, on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m. Zreik has "transformed global perception of the kanun [a large zither]. His treatment of the instrument preserves its identity as a vital part of the maqam tradition, and stretches its potential as a cultural chameleon, enhancing a range of fresh, evolving sounds," according to the artist's website. The Palestine-born New Yorker uses...
BRATTLEBORO-The Commons' report in the Jan. 15 issue about a community forum organized by Hank Poitras, aka Planet Hank, touched some nerves, to say the least. Several points to clarify or correct: • In distilling remarks from Elizabeth Bridgewater, the executive director of the Windham-Windsor Housing Trust, Marcel characterized the perpetrators of crime and disruption in WWHT properties inflicted on WWHT tenants as "undesirables." Bridgewater wants to make it clear that she did not use that word and that such...
-The team motto on the back of the warm-up shirts worn by the Brattleboro girls' basketball team is "Choose Your Hard." The Bears have seen plenty of hard so far in the season as they have struggled against the best teams in the state. The effort is there, particularly on defense, but the offense still needs some work. An example of this was the Bears' 41-33 loss to Rutland at the BUHS gym on Jan. 18. Rutland took a 13-3...
DOVER-Even though she lost her courageous challenge to become speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives for the new biennium, Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-Dover, says she is glad she ran. "It really was necessary," Sibilia said. "It was clear to us that the situation on the ground was such that something had to change. And I absolutely am certain that, as a result of me running, I already see changes that are happening. And I'm happy for that." In a...
GUILFORD-Our family owes our existence to the United States, not only for taking my parents and grandparents in as refugees, but for the country's heroic involvement in the Second World War. My parents in particular never wavered in their allegiance to this country, even when ensuing wars and political events may not have warranted such loyalty. But that was not a judgment for them to make, and as a first-generation American, I have been inclined to agree. At this critical...
Editor's note: The Commons added punctuation to the YouTube-generated transcript for readability. BRATTLEBORO-In an episode of the Planet Hank Live Show that streamed live on Jan. 16, there is a section that I would like to point out, starting around the 33-minute mark. Here is the text, courtesy of the YouTube-generated transcript: "... to see the town go in a better direction to get on to our Representative Town Meeting and become a rep so that you have a voice...
The writer is a Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting member representing District 9. BRATTLEBORO-There should be no Human Services allocation in the Brattleboro FY26 General Fund Budget. Here are some of the reasons: 1. It is inconsistent with the language of the Town Charter, whose preamble states that it is "designed and enacted to serve the needs of all Brattleboro residents by: [...] Encouraging public service and charity among all its residents." There is a significant difference between "encouraging" and "requiring."
Chloe Learey is the executive director of Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development in Brattleboro and serves as the steering committee chair of the Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance, as the vice chair of the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital board of directors, and as a member of the board of directors of the Vermont Community Loan Fund. BRATTLEBORO-The passage of Act 76 in the 2023 Legislative session signaled a significant new public investment in child care in Vermont. This...
BRATTLEBORO-Standing on the sidewalk next to 9 Canal St., a multi-family apartment building above the Brattleboro Food Co-op, Windham & Windsor Housing Trust (WWHT) Executive Director Elizabeth Bridgewater points to a wooden trellis running up the side of the building. "People are climbing up the trellis and entering the hall window that occupants unlock," she said. WWHT co-owns and manages the 9 Canal St. property, which includes 12 one- and two-bedroom apartments. The units are permanently affordable, with rents ranging...
WARDSBORO-I agree, we do need facts. Have you heard of CWD (chronic wasting disease)? It's a fatal neurodegenerative disease that affects deer, elk, and moose. It is prevalent out west but unfortunately making its way towards Vermont, having been spotted in New York and Pennsylvania. And as we know as a fact, it's essential to have a healthy predatory wildlife so they can cull the weak and diseased - and, yes, sometimes Bambi - but we are not here to...
BRATTLEBORO-When Vermont Democrats lacked a gubernatorial candidate the afternoon of the primary deadline in August 1972, Rockingham lawyer Tom Salmon, in the most last-minute of Hail Mary passes, threw his hat in the ring. "There could be a whale of a big surprise," Salmon was quoted as saying by skeptical reporters who knew the former local legislator had been soundly beached in his first try for state office two years earlier. Then a Moby Dick of a shock came on...
BRATTLEBORO-Three candidates have expressed interest in being appointed to the Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) School Board seat left vacant by former town representative Eva Nolan's recent resignation. All three met with board members after press time on Jan. 21, after which the board was expected to make a decision and appoint one of them to fulfill the seat until the March 4 annual election, when a one-year term will be available. • Gretchen Lanterman has already decided to seek...
LEYDEN, MASS.-I was lucky to have been born in Boston in 1947 and never served in the military and have never lived any portion of my life with an existential threat hanging over my head. I have never worried that the bus I was riding was about to be blown up by that guy wearing the overcoat or that some stranger might pull up beside me at an intersection and start shooting. Had I been born in Tel Aviv in...
DUMMERSTON-The future of children's offerings at Lydia Taft Pratt Library will be a whole lot brighter thanks to a $54,700 grant from the Vermont Early Childhood Fund (VECF) to build a new program for children's early literacy and library services. The amount of the VECF's Building Bright Futures Opportunity grant is the largest the library has seen in its 110-year history and will afford the library the chance to "significantly" expand services for young readers and use more space in...
BELLOWS FALLS-As a single mother of two special-needs children, I have witnessed firsthand how Vermont's current system often fails its most vulnerable populations. I share my story with the hope of raising awareness, advocating for systemic change, and securing funding for children from low-income families. In 2017, I left an abusive situation, seeking safety for myself and my children. This decision, while necessary, led us into years of chronic homelessness, moving between shelters, hotels, and even living out of our...
Wendy Harrison is one of Windham County's two state senators. BRATTLEBORO-We're talking a lot about affordability in Vermont, and we should be. As citizens of a small state, we can feel powerless with national and international forces controlling our health care, wealth distribution, housing markets, food systems, and security nets. My colleague Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, suggests that our goal should be prosperity, not just affordability, and I agree. Affordability is about getting by, but Vermonters deserve more than just...
The writer is president of Vermont Friends of Israel. ATHENS-In response to Bert Picard's criticisms that my most recent letter makes "dangerous" and "wild accusations," I ask, does Mr. Picard also take issue with Richard Evers' claim that "the majority of American Jews...are worse than the Germans of the 1930s"? Was he offended when Kate Casa proclaimed I am a "genocide supporter" in those same pages? Perhaps he was bothered to read Adian Smith accuse Tim Wessel of "dehumanizing and...
JAMAICA-A 85–56 vote on Jan. 14 to keep Jamaica Village School open will affect the town's property tax rate, the Windham Central Supervisory Union (WCSU) budget for the 2025–26 school year, and the proposal to consolidate the education of Windham Central elementary school students in Newfane. While voters approved the purchase of the school building from the West River Modified Union Education District for $1, the article was nullified by the vote to keep the school open. Jamaica Village School...