Dec 2-8, 2015
Moving to Keep Parkinson’s at Bay; Vermont Inmates Unhappy With ‘Dead Time’; Holiday Food Shopping in Montréal
Cover Story
Vermonters Move to Keep Parkinson’s at Bay
Jim Hester knows all about inertia and Newton’s first law: A body in motion will stay in motion unless acted on by an external force. Back in the 1960s, the former aerospace engineer worked on the Apollo space missions, developing the engines that lifted the lunar module off the moon’s surface. Today, Hester, 71, applies…
Win a Wonderful Winter Weekend
During winter in Vermont, you have two options: You can embrace the cold or cozy up inside. This season — with a little help from our friends — we’re giving you a third option that blends the best of both worlds. We’ve partnered with the Vermont Department of Tourism, Hotel Vermont, Burton Snowboards, Stowe Mountain…
Obituary: Marjorie M. O’Brien Ernst
Marjorie M. O’Brien Ernst of Tempe, AZ died in the care of Hospice of the Valley (AZ) on Tuesday, November 24, 2015, following a serious fall near her home. Marge was born in Burlington, VT on February 26, 1930, the daughter of Frank and Alice O’Brien of Shelburne, VT. She graduated from Mt. St. Mary…
Obituary: Walter Leeroy Morgan
Walter Leeroy Morgan, age 47 years, a longtime resident of Alburgh and more recently of the Fairfield Road in East Fairfield died tragically Saturday morning, December 5, 2015, in an All-Terrain Vehicle accident in Fairfax. Born in St. Albans on, May 31, 1968, he was the son of Bruce Sr. and Beth Ann (Cook) Morgan.…
Obituary: Janice M. Leonard
Janice M. Leonard, 90, of Essex died on Monday, December 7, 2015 at the Starr Farm Nursing Center in Burlington. She was born in Elmwood, WI on May 15, 1925 the daughter of Edward and Jane (Taylor) Balfanz. On April 23, 1949 she was married in Elmwood to Howard T. Leonard. He predeceased her on…
Obituary: Shelley Ann Johnston
Shelley Ann Johnston, age 59 years, a lifelong area resident died Friday, December 4, 2015, in The University of Vermont Medical Center with loving family at her side. Born in St. Johnsbury on, September 27, 1956, she was the daughter of the late Bruce Raymond and Norma (Norris) Gratton. She graduated from BFA-St. Albans and…
Obituary: Lillian Lucille “Toots” Hakey
Lillian Lucille “Toots” Hakey, age 90, a lifelong area resident died Friday, December 4, 2015, in the Northwestern Medical Center with loving family at her side. Born at home in Highgate Springs she was the daughter of the late Henry and Mary Melvina (Tracy) Beyor. She attended the one room school house in Highgate Springs…
Obituary: Wesley G. Menard
Wesley G. Menard, age 86 years, a lifelong resident of the Swanton community, died Thursday afternoon, December 3, 2015, in The University of Vermont Medical Center with loving family at his side. Born in Swanton on, February 25, 1929, he was the son of the late David and Georgianna (Benjamin) Menard. Wesley attended St. Anne’s…
‘Must-Win’: Has Sanders Set Expectations Too High?
Speaking Sunday at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Manchester, Sen. Sanders pledged to “pull off one of the greatest political upsets in the history of our country.” But can he, really? Since mid-October, when Vice President Joe Biden announced he wouldn’t join the presidential race and former secretary of state Hillary…
Obituary: Gardner Edmond Palmer
Highgate Center, VT – March 26, 1924 – December 1, 2015, 91 years Due to the exemplary care of the Franklin County Home Health Agency and his daughters, Gardner passed peacefully in his home. He is survived by his best friend, Pearl Cyr, a brother, Jim (Jean) Palmer, all nine of his children: Carolyn Palmer-Trela…
Political Past: Revisiting Early Bernie Sanders Posters
If Burlington artist Frank Hewitt were alive today, he would surely have designed a collectible poster to illustrate key themes of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign — perhaps pairing the downtrodden middle class or greedy big banks with Sanders’ distinctive visage. The Rutland-born painter was an associate professor of art at the University of Vermont from…
I Want to Break Up With My Boyfriend, But I Don’t Want to Hurt Him
Dear Athena, I want to break up with my boyfriend. We’ve been going out for more than a year, and he’s really great, but not in bed. I just think we can’t make that part happen at all. It’s never been all that good, but I liked him a lot so I tried to deal…
Caitlin Canty Talks Guitars, Touring and Her New Record
Caitlin Canty’s latest album, Reckless Skyline, is at times a dark and brooding affair. A twang-inflected mix of heartbreaking ballads, murky blues and sparsely arranged folk, it is also the smoky-voiced Vermont native’s most critically heralded record to date. The Telegraph tabbed it as one of the Best Country Music Albums of 2015. NPR Music…
Opinion: Who’s Behind the ‘Pro-Life’ Carnage?
Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, saw it coming. Harassment, threats and violence against abortion clinics had been mushrooming since the July release of the Planned Parenthood tapes — the anti-abortion Center for Medical Progress’ video hoax, edited to create the false impression that the health care provider is trafficking in fetal body…
Gun Shy: Vermont Pols United on Abortion, Divided on Firearms
When a gunman opened fire last week on a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs, he reignited two of America’s most combustible political issues: abortion and guns. Here in Vermont, some 2,000 miles away, those issues play differently than in much of the country: All four candidates seeking to succeed Gov. Peter Shumlin favor abortion…
WTF: What’s Up With the Sunken Boat Off North Beach?
A few hundred feet from the shore of Burlington’s North Beach, a couple of Coast Guard buoys bob in the waves. They’re in open water, beyond the point where natural hazards such as rocks or fallen trees might lie in wait for unsuspecting sailors or swimmers. Turns out, the buoys are attached to the top…
Light Show
Originally published June 20, 2012 Grup Anwar, or, more formally, Anwar Ensemble, is a new group led by Anwar Diab Agha. The 72-year-old is a master oud and violin player and a famed musician and composer in his native Syria. Before moving to the United States permanently in 2008 to be closer to his children…
The Pilgrims, Shred Savage
(What Doth Life, CD, digital download) Sooner or later, we all get old. Though the ravages of age are inevitable, getting older doesn’t necessarily mean one has to grow up. That’s a dichotomy with which the members of the Pilgrims are currently grappling. The band formed five years ago in Windsor. Under the aegis of…
Hollar General, Shameless Light
(Self-released, digital download, vinyl) In recent years, local composer Michael Chorney has probably been best known to Vermont audiences for helping to make other artists’ music mysterious, beautiful and strange. His work with Anaïs Mitchell, both on her early solo records and as the sonic architect behind her acclaimed folk-rock opera Hadestown, is the highest-profile…
Something Old, Something New at Rackk & Ruin
The first piece of jewelry Molly Conant fell in love with was her mother’s silver charm bracelet. “I’d go down the line of charms and tell my mom, or whoever would listen, a story. So, if there was a boot, the boot would be incorporated into the story. I’d make up a new one every…
Free Will Astrology (12/2/2015)
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what’s out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it.” Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön said that, and now I’m telling you. According to my divinations, a new frontier is calling to you. An unprecedented question has awakened. The urge…
New Drugs Offer Vermonters Hope — for a Price
Bridget Huguenin was 13 when she was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. At the time, people afflicted with the disease weren’t expected to live beyond their twenties. Now 45, she looks younger than her age in a miniskirt, sweater, tights and boots. “I have my life, and cystic fibrosis is something I have to deal with,”…
Ashgate Publishing Closure Sparks Concern, and a Petition
Many Vermonters never knew it was here. But nationwide, the academic community is already feeling the loss of Ashgate Publishing, which, according to multiple sources, closed its offices at 110 Cherry Street in Burlington last week. That modest office suite opposite the Burlington Town Center served as the American arm of a company with its…
Vermont Artists Head to Miami Art Fair
Every year since 2002, Miami Beach and the surrounding area have swelled with artists, gallery owners, curators, celebrities (art-world ones as well as the cinematic variety) and art enthusiasts. Art Basel, the influential international art fair, has drawn crowds since its inception in Basel, Switzerland, in the 1970s. The show’s Miami iteration is relatively new,…
Vermont Inmates Pine for Their Old Kentucky Prison
In June, the Vermont Department of Corrections ended its controversial 11-year relationship with the Corrections Corporation of America and started a new one with a rival private prison company, the GEO Group. As a result, 350 Vermont inmates were transferred from a CCA prison in Kentucky to a GEO facility in Michigan. Five months later,…
Art Review: ‘Our World, Charcoal & Casein,’ Gabriel Tempesta
When stick season, aka November, arrives in Vermont, some people get depressed. But Wolcott artist Gabriel Tempesta seems to relish nature at its most somber. In his current exhibit, “Our World, Charcoal & Casein,” at Stowe’s West Branch Gallery & Sculpture Park, the 11 works are executed in black and shades of gray on paper…
![The Rebirth of the Burlington Skatepark [SIV422]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/episode422.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
The Rebirth of the Burlington Skatepark [SIV422]
11/28/15: The Burlington Skatepark had a soft opening Monday which was attended by politicians, press and skaters young and old. This weekend, despite cold temperatures, the park was full of skaters, scooters and BMXers. For married couple Trina Zide and Brendan Foster, owners of Maven skate shop in Burlington, this project has been a long…
The Y and What For: A Tale of Two Rehab Projects
Strolling down the narrow hallways on the upper floors of the Greater Burlington YMCA, president and CEO Mary Burns explained that the cramped offices on either side were once used as lodging for “young men of good moral character” and later as dorms for GIs. Now they could become luxury suites in a boutique hotel,…
Letters to the Editor (12/2/2015)
Conflict Resolution [Re “South Burlington Residents Raise Conflict-of-Interest Concern — Again,” November 18]: There is a growing concern in South Burlington that we, and our children, will be losing our beloved neighborhood schools in order to benefit corporate development. There is clearly a conflict of interest in the city’s appointment of Art Klugo, who is director…
Coffee and Cinema: Ruba Atra Launches Film Series
Keith Wright, proprietor of the new Burlington café and event venue Rubra Atra, is a little cagey when asked to explain the name of his business. He allows that it means “red black” in Latin, but he won’t explain the significance of those colors. Wright doesn’t seem the type to be a Chicago Bulls fan.…
Soundbites: Nector? Or Nectar?
No O? Oh No! Before we dig into this week’s music news and views, I need set the record straight on a few things regarding last week’s cover story on 40 years of Nectar’s. Perhaps inevitably, given the scope and size of the piece, and the fact that I was working with sources who were…
Book Review: The Academy of Hay by Julia Shipley
The first poem in Vermont writer Julia Shipley’s new collection, The Academy of Hay, is “Narcissus Cleaning the Bulk Tank.” The title is an apt one to lead the work that follows. The collection gradually teases out the relationship of self to a rural landscape populated by family, weather, the often peculiar infrastructure of agriculture,…
Trumbo
“The chief internal enemies of any state are those public officials who betray the trust imposed upon them by the people.” The novelist and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo put millions of words to paper in his highly prolific lifetime, but perhaps none come closer to encapsulating his worldview than those. Certainly none in Jay Roach’s well-intentioned…
In Photos, a Vermonter Depicts Her Other Home: Syria
The nation of Syria commands more headlines today than it has at any other time in modern history. Since 2011, the country’s very name has conjured up images of revolution, civil war and an increasingly dire refugee crisis. For American politicians, Syria has become another buzzword they use to polarize supporters and detractors. Many state…
Brooklyn
The trailer for Brooklyn leads us to expect a sentimental ride through a golden vision of midcentury New York, laced with gentle humor and benignly familiar ethnic stereotypes — the sweet Irish lass, the earthy Italian love interest. While this adaptation of Colm Toíbín’s 2009 novel is, indeed, the kind of film that justifies the…
Mad River Distillers to Open Tasting Room in Burlington
For decades, the airy corner storefront at 137 St. Paul Street in Burlington was home to the Hempest, the clothing retailer known for its spirited, eco-friendly duds. Shortly after the Boston-based boutique closed earlier this month, Mad River Distillers moved in. Now the craft distillery is hard at work transforming the space into a tasting…
Two Restaurants Reopen in Royalton
After closing for kitchen renovations in late September, Royalton’s the Fox Stand Tavern & Catering (5615 Route 14) reopened for regular business before Thanksgiving. A well-loved watering hole since the early 1800s, the tavern stood empty for almost 10 years until chef Jed Cohan moved his Delicata Catering business into the space in summer 2014.…
Game for Dinner: Bradford Celebrates Its 60th
Men wearing plaid and camouflage gather in the church parking lot. Some trade stories of the day’s hunt; others turn sausages over hissing grills. Savory scents fill the air as floodlights bolster the day’s fading sun. From a stained-glass window in the church, Mother Mary gazes downward with an eternal not-quite-smile. A man rushes toward…
Holiday Shopping for Food in Montréal
If holidays had personalities, Thanksgiving would be the tried-and-true friend — the same starchy meal every year, the same tryptophan naps. Christmas has a more exotic quality, flavored with the crunch of fresh snow, cinnamon and pine needles. There’s the sweet agony of waiting to see what’s under the tree, and the thrill of ripping…
