The Media Issue 2017
Why Vermont Journalists Want a ‘Shield Law’; Can a Retired Judge Save Southern Vermont Newspapers?; How Will Vermont PBS Spend Its $56 Million Windfall?
Obituary: Theresa “Trish” Ann Morin
Theresa “Trish” Ann Morin passed away peacefully on Monday April 3, 2017. Visiting hours will be on Friday April 7, 2017 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at LaVigne Funeral Home, 132 Main Street, Winooski, VT. A funeral service will be held on Saturday April 8, 2017 at 11 a.m. at St. John Vianney Church, 160…
Obituary: Tom Wilkins, 1961-2017
We have lost a good one. Tom Wilkins died peacefully on March 27th 2017. Calm in the center of many a storm, Tom’s gentle, even keeled nature has been a beacon for many a frazzled soul. Empowered by his strength and courage, we will now carry the torch for him. Tom was born on April…
The Parmelee Post: Study Concludes Dog Poo Doesn’t Magically Disappear When Snow Melts
A coalition of Vermont scientists have published the results of an eagerly anticipated study which sought to determine once and for all whether or not dog owners should be forced to clean up after their pets even when there is snow on the ground. In a report released Thursday, a group of researchers who call…
![Next-Gen Newspaper Publishers Killing it in Killington [SIV484]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/episode484-2.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Next-Gen Newspaper Publishers Killing it in Killington [SIV484]
3/22/17: In late 2011, Polly Lynn and Jason Mikula took over The Mountain Times, a free weekly newspaper in Killington. Fighting the national trend of larger papers that were downsizing and folding, this young couple embraced their community paper and its multiple publications. Polly is a fifth-generation newspaper publisher and her family runs a small…
Lisa Strausser on Wine, Women and What to Drink Now
On a chilly March afternoon, Lisa Strausser loads up a padded, rolling wine case from the back of her Audi in downtown Burlington. “I always over-pack,” she says as she shuffles bottles in and out, on a quest for the right mixture. Strausser, 57, is the New England sales manager for Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant,…
Can a Retired Judge Save Southern Vermont’s Newspapers?
Kevin Moran could hardly believe his luck last April when he learned that local investors had purchased the group of southern Vermont and western Massachusetts newspapers that employed him. “It’s like winning the lottery,” the vice president for news told Seven Days at the time. “We spent 21 years or so under corporate ownership. To…
Tempest Books Goes Old-School With Movie Rentals
In the era of abandoned movie-rental storefronts, Rick Rayfield has made a bold move. The Fayston resident and former neuroscience professor has managed the Tempest Book Shop in Waitsfield since 1986. In recent years, he’s been buying up lots of movies — both on VHS tapes and DVDs. Now, a solid portion of Tempest is…
Movie Review: Pedro Almodóvar’s 20th Feature, ‘Julieta,’ Goes Off the Rails
“I would like the audience not to be afraid that this movie is not full of humor,” Pedro Almódovar told the New York Times last May. What the celebrated Spanish director (Talk to Her) neglected to mention were the other desirable elements that his latest is not full of. Namely, developed characters, a credible narrative,…
George Clanton on Vaporwave, Rebranding and His Record Label, 100% Electronica
New York City-based electronic pop artist George Clanton has become one of the most prominent figures in the niche genre vaporwave, despite his complicated relationship with the descriptor. The cultish style was born on the internet in the early 2010s. Sonically, its hallmarks include ’80s-inspired, day-glow synths and spacey, down-tempo beats. Tracks are typically paired…
In Morrisville, River Arts Launches AMP Night
A watercolor class, a poetry clinic, a Pilates class set to invigorating tunes: These are among the diverse activities taking place on any given night at River Arts. But on a recent evening, Morrisville’s arts and community center opened its doors to a brand-new event: AMP Night. The acronym stands for art, music and poetry.…
Three Penny Taproom Brings Beer to the Ball Field
If there’s anything more American than apple pie, it might be slugging down a beer while watching a baseball game. This summer, viewers at Vermont Mountaineers games will be able to swig in style, thanks to a new beer garden at the Montpelier ball field, just off Route 12. It’s a joint project of the…
Dreamland Author Sam Quinones Talks Opiates in Vermont
Two years ago, the United States set the grimmest of records: More than 50,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, 75 of them in Vermont. Opiate addiction has taken hold — and destroyed lives — in some of the remotest regions of the country. In his best-selling book, Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic, former Los…
Otter Creek Brewing’s Mike Gerhart Decamps to Hill Farmstead
After eight years at Otter Creek Brewing, head brewer Mike Gerhart is joining Hill Farmstead Brewery. While at OCB, he modernized the company’s oeuvre, shifting its brewing program from old-school and malt-driven to the lighter, hop-forward suds that now dominate the market. Gerhart also led an expansion effort, finished last year, which made the brewery…
Why Does Seven Days Allow Anonymous Commenting?
What’s in a name? Everything, according to some readers who’ve responded to Seven Days stories online. Like many media outlets, Seven Days requires readers to create an account on our website before submitting a comment online, but we allow them to post anonymously. We won’t print a letter to the editor without a full name…
Catching Up With “Charlie, Ernie and Lisa in the Morning”
Name: Charlie Papillo, Ernie Farrar, Lisa Nagle Town: Colchester Job: Hosts of “Charlie + Ernie + Lisa in the Morning!” on WVMT 620AM It’s become tradition that guests of “Charlie + Ernie + Lisa in the Morning!” bring food to the hosts. For example, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger always comes with donuts when he stops…
Free Will Astrology (3/29/17)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The dragon that stole your treasure will return it. Tulips and snapdragons will blossom in a field you thought was a wasteland. Gargoyles from the abyss will crawl into view, but then meekly lick your hand and reveal secrets you can really use. The dour troll that guards the bridge to the Next Big Thing will let you pass…
Do I Need to Use a Condom With Oral?
Dear Athena, I’m 19 years old and I haven’t had sex yet, nor anything too special! But I’ve been with a really amazing guy for some time now. I performed oral sex for the first time, and he didn’t ejaculate because he didn’t want me to get scared or something. The oral sex didn’t last…
Watchdog Whistle: This Vermont News Website Tilts to the Right
Don’t look now, Vermont, but there’s a watchdog behind you to the right. Vermont Watchdog, to use its full name. For the last three-plus years, the online media outlet has occupied a curious bit of journalistic real estate, cranking out articles with a tangibly conservative slant. Oh, pardon me. “Free-market, limited-government sort of perspective,” says…
Why Vermont Journalists Want a ‘Shield Law’
Ordinarily, when Rutland Herald reporter Susan Smallheer goes to court, she brings the tools of her trade: a pen, a notebook, and perhaps a camera or tape recorder. But on August 4, 1992, the veteran journalist was warned to arrive at Vermont District Court in White River Junction with nothing more than a toothbrush —…
Pianist Beatrice Rana Attracts Fans of Classical, and Italian
The acclaimed Italian pianist Beatrice Rana leads a life of constant international travel. That’s what one might expect of a soloist who won, at the age of 20, the 14th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition’s silver medal and audience award. In fact, after Rana stops in Burlington this Friday for a performance with the University…
Our House Bistro Expands to Plattsburgh
At Our House Bistro in Winooski, the menu features 27 different kinds of macaroni and cheese, including Sugar Shack Mac with maple bacon, fried onion and maple bourbon; Polynesian Mac topped with coconut shrimp; and Peanut Butter & Jelly (Thai-Style) Mac. In addition to the noodles, Matthew Pearsall and Maggie Barch — who also own…
Journalism 101? UVM Brainstorms a New Program
The University of Vermont is aiming to start a journalism program — if it can figure out what journalism will be in the coming years and the best ways of teaching a craft that’s experiencing an identity crisis. “There’s no consensus, in academia or among journalists, about how to do that, no consensus about how…
05401PLUS Magazine Takes Long View of Burlington
Earlier this month, political newcomer Genese Grill attempted to unseat Burlington City Council President Jane Knodell (P-Central District), a University of Vermont economics professor. Back in January, the independent activist, artist and writer told Seven Days that she intended to “try to run her campaign like a work of art.” Though her quest was unsuccessful,…
Anchor Eva McKend Breaks New Ground on WCAX
For two years, WCAX-TV anchor Eva McKend appeared on air with wavy chestnut-colored tresses. When she delivered the 11 p.m. newscast this past January 13, her hair was a mass of free-spirited dark brown curls. “What happened to Eva’s hair?” someone asked on the WCAX website. Another viewer told McKend she looked like she’d been…
Movie Review: ‘Life’ Offers a Sci-Fi Thrillride on the Space Station
Should you wish to precisely parse the difference between Life and Gravity, a film with which it has a great deal in common, you can reduce it to a single detail: Remember the scene in which Sandra Bullock’s character sheds a deep-space tear and it hovers in her zero gravity craft, a glistening CGI globule?…
How Will Vermont PBS Spend its $56 Million Windfall?
It’s not unusual for journalists from other media outlets to stroll through the doors of Vermont PBS. The station’s flagship local news program, “Vermont This Week,” features three different state reporters every week, and the station accommodates other members of the fourth estate when it hosts candidate debates during election season. But on a Friday…
Art Review: Catherine Jansen, Fleming Museum of Art
The first thing to know about “Catherine Jansen: 1008,” a current exhibition at the University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum of Art, is what that numeral means. A sacred number in Hinduism, it corresponds to the 1,008 names for Lord Shiva. And it happens to be the number of photographs that Jansen included in her artist…
Erin Cassels-Brown, Northern Lights, Vol. 1
(Future Fields, digital download) Making the leap from working a day job and playing music on the side to becoming a full-time musician can be both a validating and terrifying experience. Winooski-based singer-songwriter Erin Cassels-Brown recently took the plunge after a career in carpentry and solar panel installation. Fortunately, he’s in high demand. If you…
DailyUV Aims to Reboot News Coverage in the Upper Valley
Watt Alexander is first to admit he’s an unlikely character to try to revolutionize Vermont’s local news scene. For one, he’s never held a job at a newspaper. The Illinois native is an attorney by trade. But Alexander, 50, doesn’t worry about his lack of journalistic experience. In fact, he prides himself on it. He…
Mark LeGrand, Wrong Turn
(Self-released, CD) Mark LeGrand has been sober for close to 30 years. But, even decades later, those bleary nights seem to linger around him. In fact, they might be the Montpelier songwriter’s most seductive muse. Over several locally acclaimed albums — most recently including Tigers Above and Tigers Below, a 2016 duo project with his…
Soundbites: Ryan’s Song
April 3, 2016, was a dark day for the Vermont music community — and the greater community as a whole. It was on this day that Ryan Morin, better known to some as DJ BP, unexpectedly passed away. Morin was a staple of the local hip-hop community, having been a member of projects such as…
The Media Issue
President Donald Trump has called journalists “among the most dishonest people on Earth” and “the enemy of the people.” His term “fake news” has come to mean anything people don’t want to hear. But there’s a silver — OK, lead — lining in all of these Trumpian attacks on the press: Everyone now seems to have…
A Campus Fracas Tests Middlebury College’s Student Journalists
Hundreds of Middlebury College students rose to their feet and began to boo and jeer inside the McCullough Student Center. Will DiGravio stood up, too, and filmed them with his iPhone. The 19-year-old sophomore, the de facto social media editor for the school’s Middlebury Campus newspaper, had been tasked with live-streaming a lecture by author…
Letters to the Editor (3/29/17)
Give Bernie a Break Since last November, Sen. Bernie Sanders has had a full plate of national issues challenging our democracy to deal with. I hope the Vermont media can cut him some slack on the issue of availability [Fair Game: “The Media Bern,” March 22]. My confidence in Bernie and Vermont’s entire congressional delegation…
On Instagram, Edible Galleries by Vermont Foodies
A pie just out of the oven, its crust golden and streaked with red where the fruit filling has bubbled over. A toddler, hands smeared with dirt, holding up a worm. A Technicolor bowl of ramen featuring the yellow of soft-boiled egg yolks, a sprinkling of green scallions and fatty broth reflecting the light. Those…
Gamers and Farmers Go Teat-to-Teat at Billings Farm
What if gamers and farmers went toe-to-toe — or teat-to-teat — on an old-fashioned milk-off? Apparently, the idea isn’t as outrageous as it sounds. This Wednesday, March 29, workers from Nintendo will visit Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock, where they’ll see who (farmer or gamer) can coax the most milk from a cow in a set…
Eat This Week, March 29 to April 4, 2017: Shackin’ Up
It’s spring — right? Regardless of what Mother Nature has to say about it, Misery Loves Co.’s fourth annual maple season show must go on. Sweeten up a Winooski Wednesday with maple-laced cocktails courtesy of Stonecutter Spirits and social-hour finger snacks. Then, head to MLC’s intimate dining room to feast upon salty-sweet maple teriyaki, rustic Québécois tourtières…
