Scene from Above
If a picture is worth a thousand words, Above and Beyond tells a big story about development — and the evolution of architecture — in Vermont. Published this year by the American Planning Association, the book is written by Burlington-based land-use experts Julie Campoli and Elizabeth Humstone and illustrated with images mostly from aerial photographer…
The White Stuff: Professor Robert Griffin… Open-minded academic or Aryan apologist?
Robert Griffin has slept next to the enemy, but not necessarily with him. In the summer of 1998, the University of Vermont education professor spent six weeks living on a 364-acre compound in West Virginia. His host was a man who is typically described as “America’s leading neo-Nazi,” with words like racist, violent and hater…
High Mom: The son of a local aviatrix also arises
Mom has a loving way of opening up the engine of her plane — a brief, nondescript but vital task. She flips back the flap in the cowl near the nose and peeks inside, shaking her head at the black grit that has started to encrust the pistons. Someday soon she will have to clean…
The Politics of Pot
Medical marijuana has clearly been the surprise issue of the 2002 Vermont legislative session. Who would have thought the Republican House that is so conservative on sex and “morality” would be so liberal on grass? As you know, the House adopted a medical marijuana bill that would allow sick and suffering Vermonters legal relief for…
God Squad
Well, well. I haven’t had so much reader mail since the good old days when Matt Stickney wore dresses to school. You should’ve seen me then, boys and girls — battling the “Transsexual Menace” all by myself. Great big ogresses with placards and bullhorns, and nothing on my side to fight with but my poor,…
Prog Logging
The bitter legislative struggle currently taking place over the Champion land in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom is creating some strange political bedfellows. Many of the traditional political alliances remain firmly in place: the loggers, for example, are still hugging the Republicans and the environmentalists are hugging the Democrats. But the state’s newest major political party, the…
Force of Habit? Fan gets trapped up in a sing-along Sound of Music
Almost everyone knows the lyrics to at least one song from The Sound of Music. I know a 6-year-old who can even tell the difference between the Mary Martin Broadway soundtrack and the Julie Andrews movie version, which is “inferior” in his opinion. Say what you might about it, The Sound of Music is still…
Flick Chick
Any day now, David Mamet will begin shooting Diary of a Young London Physician. This adaptation of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde allows the screenwriter-director — a Goddard College graduate with a getaway home in central Vermont — to explore the darkest reaches of the Victorian era in Merry Olde England.…
