May 11-17, 2016
Soprano Mary Bonhag Gives Voice to Vermont; Why the House Pot Bill Failed; Yup, Vermont Is a Coffee Superpower
Cover Story
Soprano Mary Bonhag Gives Voice to Vermont
When Mary Bonhag and her husband, Evan Premo, moved to Vermont from Red Hook, N.Y., in 2010, locals took notice. Both were good-looking, in their mid-twenties and finely trained as classical musicians — Bonhag as a soprano, Premo as a double-bass player. Within a year of their arrival, they had launched a concert series in…
Obituary: Elizabeth B. Stambolian, Burlington
Lifelong educator, activist, artist, and beloved mother Elizabeth Bardagjy Stambolian died Saturday, May 14, 2016 at Starr Farm Nursing Center. A New Jersey native, Betty moved to Vermont in 1997 to live near her daughters Phyllis and Janet Stambolian of Burlington. She is survived by them, her grandchildren Jesse, Gabriel, and Alexa Cole, her brothers…
Cybersecurity Firm Pwnie Express To Expand in Boston and Burlington
This story was originally published on the Vermont Tech Jam blog. Protecting customer and employee data against cyber attacks is increasingly challenging. That’s bad news for the government and for corporate America, but good news for Boston-based Pwnie Express. The cybersecurity firm, which also has an office in Burlington, just announced that it’s raised $12.9…
Kids VT Wins Seven Parenting Media Association Awards, Including General Excellence
Burlington – Kids VT, Vermont’s free monthly parenting magazine, took home the General Excellence award, as well as six other awards, in the Parenting Media Association’s 2016 Design and Editorial Awards Competition. The national competition recognizes excellence in journalism, photography and design in regional parenting publications that are PMA members. The PMA announced the honors…
Scary Good: Margot Harrison’s Forthcoming Novel
Fans of Margot Harrison’s film reviews in Seven Days probably know that she has a thing for horror movies. Turns out the Burlington author can pen a spine-tingling tale herself. Those who have had a chance to read advance copies of Harrison’s new novel, The Killer in Me, have pronounced it “very scary.” In its…
Seven Questions for Nature Photographer Tom Rogers
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department’s information specialist and staff photographer describes himself as a “science communicator.” That is, most of his work involves documenting FWD staff at work, from game wardens tracking down poachers to wildlife biologists radio-collaring bears. His goal, Tom Rogers says, is to “give people that connection to our work and…
![International Drone Day [SIV442]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/episode442.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
International Drone Day [SIV442]
5/7/16: Drones of all shapes and sizes filled the air Saturday at Bolton Valley Resort for the Second Annual International Drone Day. This is Vermont’s first year participating and they were joined by 180 teams in 53 countries – about 60,000 people total. Organized by the Northern New England Drone User Group, attendants highlighted the…
A Reporter Tags Along on a Turkey Hunt
Louis Porter hit the dirt. Clad entirely in camouflage, he soldier-crawled across a muddy road, his gun at the ready. I chuckled silently at the scene’s resemblance to ones in countless war films. Porter’s quarry, a big male turkey waddling around a hilly field, was decidedly nonthreatening. Still, excitement was in the air. After a…
The Center for Cartoon Studies’ Block Party Draws a Crowd
An overcast sky failed to dampen spirits in White River Junction last Saturday. The Center for Cartoon Studies was hosting a 10th-anniversary block party that brought a stream of visitors to the middle of downtown. It was a joyous, all-ages affair: Little kids drew their own cartoons, played with cardboard pinball machines, painted at easels,…
Sneak Peek at Preservation Burlington’s Home Tour
Lorraine Siciliano remembers the moment when she and her husband, Brian Joyce, faced the decision: Should they spend the money to renovate their circa 1848 farmhouse in Burlington’s now-suburban New North End, or plow the cash into a new house? “It was fish-or-cut-bait time; we either had to leave or fix it up,” said Siciliano,…
Should We Stay Married for the Kids?
Dear Athena, I have two really young children with my husband. We’ve been married for eight years. The marriage is at an all-time low. We get along OK, but we fight a lot, too. We fight at night when the kids go to bed. It’s boring, and we haven’t had sex in months. We are…
Maxwellywell, POP POP
(Self-released, digital download) Burlington resident Maxwell Johnson, aka Maxwellywell, is a soon-to-be Champlain College student who is quietly entering the Queen City’s electronic music scene. He debuted with a DJ set at Radio Bean in March before recently dropping a five-track debut EP, POP POP. Built on gradual crescendos and generally smooth drops, POP POP…
Plainfield Hardware Adds a Deli
Ever walk into a hardware store and wish you could grab a sandwich, too? You’re in luck. In April, chef Joe Smith — a New England Culinary Institute grad with recent experience at Northfield’s Falls General Store and Montpelier’s J. Morgan’s Steakhouse — started serving from-scratch deli fare at Plainfield Hardware in East Montpelier. Subs and sandwiches…
Green Mountain Campesinos
Originally published June 18, 2003. Pedro is reluctant to give his last name. He looks up from his work and stares wide-eyed when my translator, Luis Lazaro Tijerina, greets him in Spanish. At the sound of his native tongue, Pedro flashes a big, toothy grin and shakes our hands eagerly. Luis explains why we’re here,…
WTF: Why Does Google Think ‘Vermont’ Is in Morristown?
The internet is jam-packed with inexplicable stuff: Bronies, YouTube comments and Nyan Cat, to name a few. For an online quirk that’s more mundane but also more locally relevant, look no further than Google Maps. Ask for driving directions from any American city to Vermont, without entering a specific address for the latter. Google Maps…
Screaming Skull, MMXIV
(Self-released, digital download) Screaming Skull, like so many bands in the hardcore and punk scenes, had a short, intense existence. One of their only two live shows took place at the Monkey House in Winooski in 2014 — MMXIV, to Roman and Latin nerds — at a Halloween benefit show for local musician Jeff Foran.…
Book Review: Swallowed by the Cold: Stories by Jensen Beach
Jensen Beach’s new collection of short stories, all but one set in Sweden, depicts that setting like a parallel universe. It’s almost identical to Vermont, but canted sideways, with different light. Sweden has slightly different social mannerisms, but similar weather to New England. Mostly cold. Beach teaches undergraduate writing and literature courses at Johnson State…
Art Review: Contemporary Native Art Biennial, Montréal
In the sea of international art fairs, festivals, receptions and parties, only one biennial is devoted to contemporary art by Native and indigenous artists. The third iteration of the Contemporary Native Art Biennial is ongoing through June 26 in Montréal, featuring more than 50 First Nations and indigenous North American artists at four arts venues.…
Why More Vermont Parents Are Losing Their Children — Permanently
More Vermont parents are losing their children in custody battles with the state — a debilitating side effect of Vermont’s opioid-abuse crisis. Petitions for “termination of parental rights” increased 61 percent between 2011 and 2015, from 208 to 335 cases annually. When state prosecutors take that final legal step, they almost always win. Last year, courts…
Over and Out: Vermont’s Top Pols Depart Without a Bang
Late Friday night, after the Vermont House completed its work for the year, members spent the final moments of the legislative session standing, one by one, to wish retiring colleagues a fond farewell. With so many lawmakers leaving, the goodbyes took some time. “Is anybody coming back next year?” Rep. Sam Young (D-Glover) joked as…
The Man Who Knew Infinity
While hardly the most imaginatively conceived movie about a supergenius to see release in recent years, The Man Who Knew Infinity is an excellent example of counterprogramming. We’ve officially entered the season of the superhero. What could possibly be less Marvelous than the story of a poor Indian math prodigy who travels 6,000 miles to…
Free Will Astrology (5/11/16)
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Approximately 30,000 sites on the internet attribute that quote to iconic genius Albert Einstein. But my research strongly suggests that he did not actually say that. Who did? It doesn’t matter. For the purposes of this horoscope, there are just two essential points to concentrate on.…
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: Civil War has, by a conservative estimate, 13 significant characters. Eleven of those characters have both birth names and superhero names, not to mention superpowers and super-accessories. Every single one of those characters has a backstory — sometimes a lengthy and complex one — that helps drive the events of the plot. What…
Letters to the Editor (5/11/16)
History Lesson No. 1 Judith Levine’s Poli Psy [“Revolutionary Democrat?” May 4] offered up a few interesting comparisons between the Sen. Bernie Sanders campaign of 2016 and the Eugene McCarthy campaign of 1968. However, there are a couple of historical inaccuracies in the piece that can lend to some misleading conclusions. Bobby Kennedy did not…
Four More Local Albums You (Probably) Haven’t Heard
So many records, so little time. Seven Days gets more album submissions than we know what to do with. And, given the ease of record making these days, it’s difficult to keep up. Still, we try to get to every local release that comes across the music desk, no matter how obscure or far out.…
After a DUI, Deportation? What Awaits Migrant Activist Victor Diaz
On April 21, Victor Diaz, a 24-year-old undocumented farmworker and migrant-rights activist, drove to Stowe with a friend for a Mexican food event. Federal immigration officers in plainclothes intercepted Diaz and arrested him in the parking lot of the Green Goddess Café. They drove him to a St. Albans detention facility before transferring him to…
Pass/Fail: The 2016 Legislative Session’s Final Tally
Vermont’s 2016 legislative session may have lacked the drama that typically plays out beneath the Statehouse’s golden dome. But as they do most years, lawmakers waited until the final week to make some of their most significant decisions. In some cases, they waited until the final moments: The House and Senate reached a deal on…
Smoked: Why the Pot Legalization Bill Failed
Last December, Gov. Peter Shumlin called several Democratic House members to his Montpelier office as he prepared for his final legislative session. He wanted their counsel on marijuana and was seeking champions to help get legalization legislation through. He got plenty of advice but never found the House ally he was looking for. “I said…
Soundbites: WW6 Recap; A Double Dose of Indie
Before we dig into the week’s music news and views, I’d like to take a moment and reflect on the weekend that was Waking Windows 6. In a word: Wow. In a few more words… If you orbited the rotary in Winooski this weekend — and a lot of you did — I’m guessing you’d…
Author Eric Rickstad Explores Vermont’s Dark Side
Thrill hounds, make room in your collections next to Archer Mayor and Don Bredes for a third standout author of gritty Vermont mysteries. Bennington County’s Eric Rickstad is increasingly distinguishing himself as an author of dark, page-turning procedurals with topical twists. If you know Rickstad’s name from his debut coming-of-age novel Reap, set in the…
Park Row Café Relaunching With Burgers and Fries
Recent visitors to Waterbury’s Park Row Café may have noticed changes afoot. Renovations, including installation of new lighting and countertops, have been in progress for months. More subtle are the changes happening in the kitchen: Owner Jeff Stoudt and head chef Jason Lester have been reworking the menu, which has long focused on breakfast. That’s…
Vermont Has Quietly Become a Coffee Superpower
Coffee math used to be a lot simpler: Is it cheaper to buy the grounds in the blue can or the red and yellow can? How many sugar packets will it take to render a massive cuppa gas-station joe palatable? If I guzzle that whole Styrofoam cup of swill, how many hours will it take…
