Dec 29, 2021 – Jan 11, 2022
Seven Days Writers Reveal What it Took to Report the News in Year Two of a Pandemic; Remembering Vermonters We Lost in 2021; Food Writers Share Their Favorite Bites and Sips of the Year
Clean: ‘Alone in the Darkness’ (1/10/22)
Frosty vapor clouds formed in front of my face as I let out a long and pensive exhale. I was three years sober, and the power had just gone out at my apartment in the middle of a frigid winter night. It had only been several hours since my heater had shut off, but the air…
Obituary: R. Allan Paul, 1931-2022
A lawyer and active community member was the Vermont Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year in 2006
Burlington Food and Beverage Company Invests in Stowe’s Idletyme Brewing
Third Place, the company behind American Flatbread Burlington Hearth, has taken an ownership stake in Stowe’s Idletyme Brewing, said Third Place co-founder Paul Sayler. The Idletyme management and employee teams will remain intact and continue to run the business with Third Place in a supporting role, Sayler explained. He hinted that “there is a collaboration…
Obituary: Kristin Ann Johnson, 1946-2021
Enthusiastic educator spent more than 40 years teaching students with reading difficulties
Obituary: Holly Valach Hanley, 1961-2022
South Burlington woman had a contagious smile and her greatest achievement was raising her children
Promotions: Welcome, Peter Dysart
Welcome, Peter Dysart! The law firm of Primmer Piper Eggleston and Cramer (PPEC) is pleased to welcome attorney Peter Dysart. Peter will work with our corporate, banking and financial services, as well as litigation practice groups. Peter focuses primarily on commercial transactions, business formations and dissolutions, mergers and acquisitions, and trademark registration and protection. He…
Clean: ‘Back to My Roots’ (1/3/21)
Muddy water splashed on my shoes as I stepped over the roots of a tall maple tree. I was three years sober, and I was on my way to meet my friend for a celebratory dinner. It had been two weeks since my inaugural recovery column had been published in the Vermont News Guide and one…
Obituary: Micheline Hogue Junas, 1933-2022
From an “epic love story” to travel and volunteering, Shelburne woman “lived a very good and full life”
Obituary: Jennifer Lynn (Mathews) Fredette, 1972-2021
Vermont Legal Aid employee was committed to helping others find justice
Obituary: Mona Wheatley, 1934-2021
Middlebury College graduate went on to direct the school’s bicentennial celebration
Backstory: Best Little Story in My Back Pocket
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. I didn’t want to leave the food table at the outdoor, all-you-can-eat seafood fest at 18 Elm in Waterbury, onto which chef Eric Warnstedt was…
Backstory: Story That Most Changed my Perspective
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. It took me a while to psych myself into going to the Sears Lane homeless encampment on a cold October day. The City of Burlington…
Backstory: Most Evasive Subject
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. I pulled my car into Winooski’s O’Brien Community Center parking lot and braced for disappointment. To my right: a plastic briefcase containing an expensive sound…
The 2021 Art Shows We Liked Best, and Why
In this newspaper we commonly make lists of seven, rather than the more typical 10. Admittedly, the smaller number makes it harder to winnow out favorite shows from, in this case, an entire year of art viewing. So, some selections are based not just on the artwork itself but on a compelling contextual aspect of…
Backstory: Biggest Rookie Mistake
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. I’d never been to Thunder Road before I was sent there on assignment in July, and I assumed, based on no evidence, that there would…
Will Gebhard Explores Shape and Color in “So It Goes” at Soapbox Arts
Will Gebhard knows what catches the eye. At his first gallery show — “So It Goes,” at Soapbox Arts in Burlington — overlapping curvy and geometric shapes in rich colors or grisaille fill canvases, glass vases, plywood cutouts and a vinyl record sleeve to their edges. Methodically distributed across surfaces, Gebhard’s distinct shapes and bold…
Remembering Vermonters Who Died in 2021
On December 15, the Fayetteville Observer in North Carolina published the obituary of a Texas woman named Renay Mandel Corren. I promise you, it’s unlike any obit you’ve ever read. Here is the opening line: “A plus-sized Jewish lady redneck died in El Paso on Saturday.” Penned by the deceased’s son Andy Corren, the obit…
Backstory: Most Ridiculous Border Crossing
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. I had considered the possibility that my passport might have expired, but I didn’t bother to check before my partner and I set off for…
Backstory: Most Intriguing Drive-By
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. I love reporting and writing stories but don’t do it very often these days; running this newspaper is more than a full-time job. Whenever I…
Six Stories That Shaped Vermont’s Arts and Culture Scenes In 2021
2021 was a year of two extremes. For the first six months, Vermonters remained hunkered down, bracing against the coronavirus as they had through most of 2020. Especially in the cold winter months, that seemingly endless isolation forged a cultural void that even the best livestream shows couldn’t fill. But as the weather eased, so…
Backstory: Nastiest Blowback
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. “You are a dirtbag.” That was the entirety of the first email I received after a story I wrote about my visit to a new…
Backstory: Best Memory Maker
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. “Hey!” a former coworker shouted from across Burlington’s Church Street. “Farnsworth! What the fuck, man?” I stopped, as one often does when hearing their last…
Free Will Astrology (12/29/21)
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Microbiologist Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. It was later described as “the single greatest victory ever achieved over disease” — an antidote to dangerous infections caused by bacteria. But there’s more to the story. Fleming’s strain of penicillin could only be produced in tiny amounts — not nearly enough to…
Soundbites: Local Musicians Pick the Best of 2021, New Year’s Eve Music
I’ve yelled at so many magazines in my life. Just flung them across the room, screaming obscenities so profane that I’d normally only utter them in extreme moments of road rage. One time, I actually picked up a lighter and looked at a Rolling Stone and said aloud, “Don’t think I won’t, you bastard.” Hi,…
Backstory: Worst-Timed Vacations
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. In July 2019, I was lounging in a Maine hotel room when I took a break from my Jodi Picoult novel to check Twitter. There…
Backstory: Most Fortuitous Lapse in Judgment
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. The sausages were on the grill, and the small talk went where it always does when journalists gather: to work. In June, freshly vaccinated and…
Seven Days Writers Reveal What it Took to Report the News in Year 2 of a Pandemic
My reporting career had barely started when — after a bitter-cold night covering a department store fire on Burlington’s Church Street — a coworker grinned at me and said, “Remember, being a reporter is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.” He was right, I thought then and still believe now, 40…
Journal of Another Plague Year in Film
Over the summer, it seemed as if moviegoing might return to “normal.” With COVID-19 cases on the decline and state restrictions lifted, indoor theaters reopened their doors. On a rainy Sunday at the Essex Cinemas, I saw The Green Knight in a crowd of maskless people, most of whom didn’t seem to realize they’d turned…
Letters to the Editor (12/29/21)
Rush to Publish? I enjoyed Chris Farnsworth’s article on Memorial Auditorium [“Memorial Days,” December 1] and was excited to see in the notable events box that one of my favorite bands, Rush, had played there in 1975. When looking for more details on the show in the book Rush: Wandering the Face of the Earth,…
Six Album Reviews We (Almost!) Missed in 2021
What a year for album submissions! In 2021, Vermont’s musicians were flinging records at Seven Days like a bunch of psychopaths with Frisbees. Your friendly neighborhood music editor caught as many as possible, but as the year winds down, we look at some he (almost!) missed, including the following six submissions. Dave Richardson, Palms to…
Backstory: Most Fruitful Fact-Check
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. Kyle Dodson’s short tenure with the City of Burlington began and ended the same way: with a boatload of controversy. Mayor Miro Weinberger tapped Dodson,…
Backstory: Twistiest Route
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. I’m not surprised that a story about mealworms is my most memorable of 2021. Even if it had gone according to plan, I’d still tell…
Backstory: Coldest Stakeout
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. January 6 wasn’t circled on my calendar. COVID-19, not electoral politics, was my reporting focus, so I didn’t give much thought to president Donald Trump’s…
My 19-Year-Old Son Got Married Without Telling Me
Dear Reverend, My 19-year-old son came home from college for the holidays. The first thing he told me was that he got married to one of his friends whom I don’t even know. Apparently, they did it to get some financial benefits. This makes me very sad, because I’ve been married for 20 years and…
Backstory: Best Family History Lesson
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. Trying to get the story on a historic synagogue for sale in Burlington’s Old North End, I didn’t expect to learn something new about my…
Backstory: Most Random Assignment
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. To explain how I ended up spending part of Easter weekend at a Bible reading in the Northeast Kingdom, it helps to understand how I…
Backstory: Best Crowdsourcing Effort
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. I was on the final day of a weeklong summer vacation when I made the mistake of checking my inbox. That morning, I had been…
Backstory: Best Hunch
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. In April, I was assigned to cover a press conference in Barre. The event was meant to drum up interest in the case of Ralph…
Backstory: Most Satisfying Quest
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. Years ago, when I was a new reporter at the Associated Press, I liked visiting obscure nooks of Vermont to find stories that nobody else…
From the Publisher: Hope Scrolling
Every night, between 8 and 9 p.m., I receive a flood of emails. They’re notifications of recurring Super Reader donations to Seven Days. Depending on the day of the month, between 30 and 130 receipts pour into my inbox, all at once, causing whatever device I’m on to seize up for a few seconds. Reading…
Backstory: Closest Call
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. When the black bear bolted from a cornfield in front of our pickup shortly after dawn, my initial reaction was relief. Photographer Jeb Wallace-Brodeur and…
Backstory: Most Reluctant Sources
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. There are two sides to every story, as the saying goes. But time after time in 2021, the subjects of my reporting found ways to…
Backstory: Saddest Epilogue
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. I never met Anne Saxelby, who opened Saxelby Cheesemongers in New York City in 2006, but I interviewed her via email and phone probably half…
Backstory: Best Bromance
This “backstory” is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2021. “Tom Messner is the same guy on screen as he is off it.” That’s the refrain I heard over and over again while reporting an…
Obituary: Patricia McClure, 1948-2021
Warmhearted and generous woman delighted in spending time with her four grandchildren
Obituary: Meg Brazill, 1952-2021
Woodstock woman brought her creativity to a long career in the New England arts scene
Obituary: Mark Eldridge, 1943-2021
Former Burlington director of planning and zoning was a champion for climate change solutions
Obituary: Harold Harvey, 1941-2021
Avid snowmobiler compiled the first map of snowmobile trails for the state of Vermont
‘Seven Days’ Food Writers Share Their Favorite Bites and Sips of 2021
If 2020 was a roller coaster for Vermont’s food scene, 2021 brought the resulting whiplash. As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continued in the spring, the momentum was growing. The early summer, with restrictions lifted, was the release we’d dreamed of throughout the slow climb. We thought, for a glorious, fleeting moment, that the state’s restaurants…
The Magnificent 14: Must See, Must Do, December 29 to January 11
Rockin’ Eve Friday 31 Emoji Nightmare and Nikki Champagne host New Queers Eve, the annual LGBTQ+ celebratory extravaganza at Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington. The ball-dropping bash features drag performances by the likes of Sasha Sriracha and Rhedd Rhumm, burlesque displays by dancers such as Katniss Everqueer and Ginge O’Lolly, and a bubbly midnight…
