May 27 – Jun 2, 2020
UVM Medical Center President Stephen Leffler Confronts COVID-19 and Its Aftermath; What’s Happening With Vermont’s $1.6 Billion in Federal Aid?; Closed for Two Months, Vermont Restaurants Get Two-Day Notice to Reopen
Cover Story
Medical Center President Stephen Leffler Confronts COVID-19 and Its Aftermath
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger’s May 6 online COVID-19 public briefing got off to a rocky start. “Mayor, we’re having a hard time hearing you,” a disembodied voice announced, as Weinberger’s words faded in and out. Static. Crackling voices. A black screen replaced the mayor’s face. Then came a calm, clear voice: “Mayor, do you want…
Obituary: Patricia Berry, 1947-2020
Former Vermont director of public health was a fierce advocate for children and families
Birth Announcement: Cameron Rylan Ladeau
On May 28, 2020, at Porter Medical Center, Megan Allen Owen and Brian Marshall Ladeau II welcomed a child, Cameron Rylan Ladeau.
Obituary: Tennant Glenn Davitian, 1937-2020
Artist, tastemaker, mother and friend never lost her childlike wonder
Engagement Announcement: Grigorii Skorupskii and Anastasia Geylenko
Grigorii, son of Alexei and Eugenia Skorupskii, and Anastasia, daughter of Dmitry and Svetlana Geylenko, are delighted to announce their engagement.
Retail Therapy: Seven Food and Drink Items and Where to Buy Them Locally
Asked what he would say to Vermonters who might be tempted to purchase their teas from online mega-retailers, Stone Leaf Teahouse owner John Wetzel’s reply was simple and firm: “I would say don’t do that!” Why not? “When you’re buying locally, not only does the money stay here, it’s also more likely than not that…
Young Opera Singers Serenade, Safely, at Eldercare Homes
Emma Greenwood and Sam Thompson, high school seniors and the star participants in the Youth Opera Workshop of Vermont, were looking forward to multiple solo performances when the coronavirus hit. Each would have starred in his or her school musical; Greenwood had several recitals prepared, and Thompson had just finished learning the male lead in…
‘St. Bernard, An Opioid Play’ Livestreams on Zoom
This is not a story about a shaggy dog. St. Bernard, An Opioid Play centers on addicts — one who is doing her very best to stay clean, one who sorta-kinda-maybe is planning to try, and a couple of other characters who just go along for the ride. One of them ends up dead of…
What’s With the Lots Filled With Out-of-State Cars?
It started with a query from a central Vermont reader: He wanted to know why a normally desolate parking lot on the Barre-Montpelier Road was packed with cars. They all had out-of-state license plates, he noted with some suspicion, and sent a photograph to verify his observation. This was in early May, right around the…
Pawlet Artists Create Pandemic-Era Outdoor Art Gallery in a Hayfield
With many indoor businesses still under coronavirus-related restrictions, two Pawlet residents have created an outdoor art gallery for all to enjoy. Eve and Steve Schaub wanted to provide a screen-free experience for people who’ve been stuck inside. The couple erected the first piece earlier this month in the six-acre hayfield near their house at 671…
Free Will Astrology (5/27/20)
GEMINI (May 21-June 20) I’ve got a message for you, courtesy of poet Lisel Mueller. I think her wisdom can help you thrive in the coming weeks. She writes, “The past pushed away, the future left unimagined, for the sake of the glorious, difficult, passionate present.” Of course, it’s always helpful for us to liberate…
Letters to the Editor (5/27/20)
Pandemic History Lesson In “Flu Seasoned” [May 13], Chelsea Edgar noted, “One of the idiosyncrasies of the 1918 pandemic, still not fully understood by epidemiologists, was its deadly impact on young adults.” Many researchers have looked into this and have found that the use of aspirin to treat the flu greatly contributed to the large…
Childcare Providers Say They Need More Money From the State to Reopen
After a nearly three-month hiatus, Aubrey Boyles is preparing to welcome kids back to her home-based childcare program in Montpelier on June 8. She’s spent hundreds of dollars on cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment, including rubber gloves and eight masks, currently stashed in her sock drawer. She’s also devised several creative ways to help…
I’m Nervous About Introducing My Girlfriend to My Twin
Dear Reverend, I have an identical twin brother. We look exactly alike, but he happens to be wealthier and more outgoing than I am. I’ve been with my girlfriend for about a year, but they haven’t met yet, and I’m not looking forward to introducing them. Should I be worried that she might find him…
Local Musicians Remember Jazz Pianist Peter Krag
Piano Man The Queen City jazz community is in mourning, and not only for the annual Burlington Discover Jazz Festival. The sprawling 10-day festival usually kicks off around this time of year but was canceled, like everything else, because of the coronavirus pandemic. But now the local jazz scene grapples with an even deeper loss,…
COVID-Related Budget Woes Make Serving in Legislature a Tough Sell
Even before the coronavirus upended the lives of lawmakers in Vermont, Rep. Sam Young (D-Greensboro) had decided not to run for a sixth term in the Statehouse. The gregarious lawmaker still enjoyed representing his district in Montpelier, but the part-time gig wasn’t paying the bills, let alone allowing the 41-year-old website developer to save for…
Will Stamp, ‘The Happy Birthday EP’
(Self-released, digital) Will Stamp’s sound noticeably progressed between the release of his 2017 EP That Old Familiar Heartbreak and his 2019 self-titled, full-length follow-up. He traded the folksy, Jeff Tweedy-esque acoustic fare of his debut for the slicker, poppier side of alt-country. And now, eight months after the release of Will Stamp, the singer-songwriter has…
How Vermont Is Spending $1.6 Billion in Federal Coronavirus Aid
Bluebird Barbecue owner Sue Bette had high hopes for 2020 after Food Network star Guy Fieri featured her Burlington restaurant on a February episode of his television show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” “We were poised to have one of our biggest years yet,” Bette said. But barely six weeks after the episode aired, the coronavirus…
Camden Joy, ‘Updated Just Now’
(Self-released, CD, digital) Princess Diana, Richard Nixon and the Radio Stars. These references from a bygone era pepper Middlebury musician Camden Joy’s seven-song collection Updated Just Now, released on New Year’s Day 2020. Joy’s album sounds as though it could have come from anywhere between the late ’70s and Joy’s mid-’90s heyday as a music…
Museums and Historical Societies Await Reopening Guidelines
Typically, the middle of May is when the Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh would be opening its doors for the season, welcoming visitors to tour the historic farm and view exhibits about the Underground Railroad, the abolitionist movement and contemporary art. Instead, museum director Catherine Brooks is thinking about whether she should spring for a new…
Bottom Line: Paquette Full of Posies Is Blooming
From a distance, things didn’t look terribly out of the ordinary at Paquette Full of Posies. The dusty gravel parking lot at the rural Williston nursery was lined with Subarus and Priuses. Customers milled peacefully about the sunny grounds with the spring-hued Green Mountains as a picture-postcard backdrop. People of all ages ducked in and…
Essay: On a Cemetery Walk, Connecting With Ancestors
I’ve abandoned my usual walking route — up a gravel road with a blueberry farm and expansive views of the peaks of Lamoille County — because the folks in that direction keep firing their semiautomatics. Now I steer right at the intersection and walk along the gushing brook. There I experience a different part of…
Deep City and the Drake Bar & Kitchen Open Despite the Pandemic
In a given month, we typically see one or two new restaurants open in Vermont. These past months have been no different, except that everything is different. As dining rooms shuttered in compliance with Gov. Phil Scott’s March 17 order and food businesses weighed the realities of adapting to takeout and delivery service, two new…
