Jan 14-20, 2009
Vermonters Pin Their Hope on Obama; Is the Governor Fudging Financial Facts?; Suzanne Podhaizer Noodles Around
Food Poll: What Warms You Up in Winter?
Hi Foodies! Starting today, I’ll be posting a food-related poll every Monday. Here’s the first one. Take a little break from all the inauguration coverage and vote. Online Surveys & Market Research If you select “other,” make sure to leave a comment about what you like to eat during the long Vermont winters.
Inauguration: Crowds Converge on D.C.
Ed. note: Seven Days correspondent Kevin J. Kelley sends this report from Washington, D.C. Surprisingly, the 6:35 a.m. AirTran flight from BTV to Balt-Wash Airport was only two-thirds filled. Not as much VT traffic to the inauguration on a cheapo flight as I had imagined. But downtown DC is aswarm with celebrants, soldiers in camo,…
Pics From Washington, DC
Seven Days correspondent Kevin J. Kelley is in Washington, covering the inauguration for the Kenyan newspaper, The Nation. He’ll also be sending us updates, which we’ll post here. These are photos of: A kitschy Obama painting at a downtown DC gallery.” A scene from The Mall late Monday afternoon. Says Kevin, “The Mall is lined…
What if Israel Occupied Vermont?
“It’s hard to get accurate information; Seven Days has been shut down; two editors have been replaced at the [Burlington Free Press]; Shay Totten has suffered a questionable bicycle accident trying to cover the situation at the checkpoints… Life is hard in occupied Burlington.” And so begins the “unimaginable dystopian fantasy” of an Israeli occupation…
Spectrum Youth and Family Services Wins National Award
Last week, Seven Days learned that our friends at Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington are once again in the national spotlight, and this time it has nothing to do with mutilated fingers or Playboy centerfolds appearing on snowboards. The National Network for Youth a nationwide organization that champions the needs of runaway, homeless…
Obama Approval
President Elect Obama is apparently receiving high approval ratings, even from people who didn’t vote for him. Vermonter Steve Benen, who blogs for Washington Monthly, expressed surprise about this the other day. But after spending Christmas with my family in North Carolina, I’m not surprised. I had some interesting conversations with my conservative relatives —…
Interview With the ‘Hope’ Portrait Artist
TPMtv interviews artist Shepard Fairey. He’s the guy behind the iconic “Hope” and “Progress” portraits of Obama. He’s also responsible for those Andre the Giant images that pop up every now and then — there used to be one spray painted on the low concrete wall by the Fletcher Free Library. Not sure if it’s…
Inauguration Information
Planning to watch the inauguration tomorrow? Planning to party afterwards? We listed a bunch of inaugural events in our NOW e-newsletter this week. Here’s a recap, in case you missed it: Inauguration Party, hosted by Democracy for America and Vermont Daily Briefing, Tuesday, January 20, Nectar’s, Burlington, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Free. Inauguration Screening,…
I’m Gonna Miss This Guy
Here are some great speaking moments by George Jr… Download I_Am_Going_2_Miss_This_Guy
Hey There Obama
I guess this would have been more appropriate before the primary but it works now, too.
Burlington Airport to Request $44.7 Million Bond for [Poodle] Parking Lot Project
Have you ever heard French in the air at the Burlington International Airport? That could be because, according to airport estimates, as many as half the airborne clients are Canadian [Ed. note: like this guy]. Our northern neighbors are very important for the local economy, notes airport director Brian Searles. Last year, he commissioned a…
Movie Not Out Yet? Read It!
OK, so it’s January, and just reading the titles of the films newly released this week is kind of depressing. Hotel for Dogs? Paul Blart: Mall Cop? My Bloody Valentine 3D? I won’t rule out the possibility that these are fine, fine films, but the odds aren’t favorable. Especially since you can’t even see 3D…
Frozen!
Some weather we’re havin’. Nothing makes the morning walk to class brighter like a temperature of -10°F. A true Vermont welcome back to school, I guess. Not to be too gross, but I think the mucus in my nose froze solid today. Eeek. It could be worse, though. According to the National Weather Service, the…
Interview with Israeli Consul General Nadav Tamir
On Wednesday, Jan. 14, Israel’s Consul General to New England, Nadav Tamir, visited Burlington as part of a two-day visit to Vermont, which was scheduled to include a meeting with Gov. Jim Douglas today. Prior to a speaking engagement at Ohavi Zedek Synagogue in Burlington, Mr. Tamir agreed to a one-on-one interview with Seven Days…
Speaking Volumes installs vintage photobooth
Speaking Volumes, a first-rate records and antique shop on Pine Street in Burlington, has a new vintage photobooth. A what? If you’re curious to know what a photobooth is, or what it says about American culture, consult American Photobooth, a newish book by Burlington photographer Näkki Goranin. Or last February’s Seven Days cover story about…
Burlington Poetry Journal
Unless you’re a poet or a hardcore poetry geek, it’s kind of hard to decide to sit down and read poetry, because it seems so removed from everyday language. But when you do, you usually find something cool — a turn of phrase you won’t forget, a snappy refrain, or just a clever way of…
Media News: Free Press Furloughs — Updated
Just as we had predicted at the end of the year, more cost-cutting measures were announced to staffers at the Burlington Free Press today. Across Gannett, which owns the state’s largest daily, staffers were greeted with an email from the news organization’s top dog, CEO Craig Dubow. According to Gannett Blog, Dickey’s memo included the…
Sex, Politics, and Grandmas
Welcome to the new semester! My name is Mariah and I’ll be your tourguide. We’ll be stopping at a modest gathering called the Inauguration,so keep your eyes peeled. And of course, there will be somelollygagging in that month of love: February. It’s a strangetime to be in college these days. The sad and sorry state…
Vermonter Speaks on “The Story”
Vermonter Wally Roberts spoke at 1 p.m. today on National Public Radio’s “The Story” (which is produced by American Public Media). Roberts was a volunteer during “Freedom Summer,” a 1964 effort to bring white volunteers to the deep south to organize for civil rights. He appeared on the show with Bob Moses, a civil rights…
More Beaver Trouble
No, it’s not a Mistress Maeve post… get yer mind out of the gutter. I got an email yesterday from Green Mountain Animal Defenders with an update on the Essex Junction beavers (see previous Blurt post). Apparently, there are more beavers that could use some help: Here is the latest news on the beavers at…
Warning: Obligatory Phish News Ahead
Soundbites: Warning: Obligatory Phish News Ahead, Yes We Can, Bite Torrent
Peter Freyne Memorial Service
Pamela Polston put together an obituary for Peter in this week’s Seven Days. It includes excerpts from some of the comments left here on the blog. It also includes a link to “Portrait of an Assassin,” a first-person essay that Peter wrote in 1996 to mark the release of the film Michael Collins. It’s about…
Crazy, Crazy World
Saw two stories in my news perusal this morning that I couldn’t resist sharing. Ryan Mercer of the Burlington Free Press posted this one to his Facebook profile: Apparently some Canadians left their miniature poodle locked inside their van for almost three weeks while it was parked at the Burlington airport parking garage. WTF, eh?…
Cap’n Carbon
Work: Dick Valentinetti, Director, Center for Climate Change and Waste Reduction, Vermont Agency of Natural Resource, Waterbury
Vignettes
State of the Arts: Silent Sundays, Human Rights Film Festival, Barbara Smail Award Winner, Kasini House Closed, Getting on the Obama Train
Not Happy? Blame MySpace
Pretend You’re Happy, Blame Gustav at Radio Bean in Burlington, Saturday, January 10.
Free Will Astrology
Here’s the weekly astrological forecast for January 14 – 21, 2009. What’s your sign, baby? They’re all here… ARIES (March 21-April 19): According to some historians, Barack Obama won’t be the first American president with African ancestry. As many as six previous presidents may have had black ancestors, with Warren Harding and Dwight Eisenhower being…
Matching Sets
Art Review: Aimee Daniel, manipulated color photographs. Red Square, Burlington. Through January.
Screen Shame
A former Homeland Security worker pens a thriller about killing your TV . . . before it kills you
Letters to the Editor
Seven Days political columnist Peter Freyne passed away last week, just hours after our Tuesday night deadline. His popular “Inside Track” column ran in the paper for 13 years. A number of readers wrote letters to the editor in response to his death, which we’ve compiled here. Click here for more remembrances of the “Mike…
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again After stealing two safes filled with at least $50,000 worth of rare gold and silver coins and a silver ingot, the thieves tried to sell the 62.5-pound silver bar to a metal recycling dealer in Bentonville, Ark. The dealer convinced them the bar, valued at $15,000, was made of lead and gave…
Should I Get an iPhone? Vote!
Online Surveys & Market Research By now, probably everyone already knows that the iPhone is coming to Vermont on January 15, this Thursday — legally, that is. I’m sure all of us know people, or know of people, who have their little illegal iPhones, with their out-of-state phone numbers, who gleefully use them with impunity. Now the…
