Jun 21-27, 2017
Was Beloved Author Dorothy Canfield Fisher a Eugenicist?; Vermont Mosque to Lose Its Imam; Warren Zevon’s Massive Book Collection Is for Sale
Cover Story
Vermont Considers Dumping Dorothy Canfield Fisher Over Ties to Eugenics Movement
The late author and social activist Dorothy Canfield Fisher was no slouch. The Arlington resident wrote 40 books, spoke five languages and received at least eight honorary degrees. When she wasn’t writing, the best-selling novelist was leading World War I relief efforts, managing the first U.S. adult education program and promoting prison reform. Eleanor Roosevelt…
Seriously: Bluffy the Budget Slayer, The Garden of Weedin’, To Perv and Protect
This week, host Bryan Parmelee tries to make sense of the Vermont legislature’s special veto session, explores the Burlington airport’s so-called ‘green roof’ and bravely follows the Burlington Police Department on Twitter. CREDITS Written, filmed and edited by: Bryan Parmelee Photography/artwork courtesy of: Jeb Wallace-Brodeur, Luke Eastman, Jay Johnson, Katie Jickling, Bryan Parmelee, Dreamstime.com Logo/art…
The Parmelee Post: Rad Dad Will Totally Let Daughter Skate as Soon as She Takes a Good Photo of Him
In a nation that continues to push back against existing gender norms, one Burlington father is encouraging his young daughter to take up the male-dominated action sport of skateboarding — but not before she gets a good photo of him. Self-proclaimed “rad dad” Chad Wentlesmith said he will definitely help his daughter, Mckayla, learn to…
![Slippery Little Sucker Snail Race [SIV494]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/episode494-4-scaled-e1755150681488.webp?resize=640%2C361&ssl=1)
Slippery Little Sucker Snail Race [SIV494]
6/16/17: The 12th Annual Slippery Little Sucker Snail Race was held at the Intervale Community Farm in Burlington on a windy Friday evening. Farmers and their friends gathered to race the tiny creatures with the enticement of beer along the tracks. The competition started out slowly until two mollusk contenders raced neck and neck to…
How Does a Robot Milk a Cow? Ask Chris Hill
Name: Chris Hill Job: salesman and barn designer of robotic milking systems Town: Enosburg Falls Chris Hill crouches beside a Holstein on the Briggs Dairy Farm in Vergennes to explain exactly how a robot milks a cow. Without any human prodding, the animal strolls into a barn chute and starts munching grain from an automated…
Warren Zevon’s Massive Book Collection Is for Sale
The late singer Warren Zevon was not just a revered songwriter; he was also a prolific bibliophile. Over his lifetime, the “Werewolves of London” singer amassed a collection of books numbering in the thousands. Now, nearly 14 years after his death at age 56 in September 2003, Zevon’s entire library is for sale. For the…
Shelburne Vineyard Introduces Wine in a Can: Capsize
Everyone’s heard of beer in cans, but wine? Less commonplace, to say the least. Which is why it’s of some note that on Wednesday, June 21, Shelburne Vineyard will release Vermont’s first canned wine. Each can will hold a brisk new white wine called Capsize, a blend of cold-climate varietals Louise Swenson and La Crescent.…
Soundbites: Disaster Relief; What’s in a Name?
Howdy, folks. There’s no point in beating around the bush, so let’s get right to it: The reaction to last week’s column, “Mister Disaster,” was … intense. The column, in which I criticized Craig McGaughan’s crowdfunding efforts to save his controversial Winooski bar Mister Sister, inspired strong opinions shared through letters to the editor, personal…
Theater Review: ‘Chicago’ by Stowe Theatre Guild
The musical Chicago is a sad — and shrewd — look at what makes us happy. In the Stowe Theatre Guild production, as well as the Tony Award-winning version still running on Broadway, audiences are entertained by a cynical view of how entertainment itself exploits sentiment and sensationalism. Jazz music from John Kander, wry lyrics…
A Vet Recalls His Cold War Service in St. Albans
The May 10 WTF column answered the question: What’s that white dome on a hill overlooking St. Albans? Contrary to popular misconceptions, the massive golf-ball-shaped structure atop Bellevue Hill just east of Interstate 89 isn’t a Doppler weather station, a space observatory or an IMAX theater. Rather, it’s a radar dome, or radome, one of…
Album Review: Jon Dice, ‘Tropics’
(Self-released, digital download) The cover art for Jon Dice’s 10th studio album, Tropics, features Jeff Pupa’s face. His eyes contain the letters of his name, arranged around his pupils. The stark gray background doesn’t exactly conjure visions of breezy tropical isles — these tropics are of the psychoactive variety. As guitarist and singer for the…
Climate Commitment? The Governor and the Paris Accord
Environmental groups have applauded Gov. Phil Scott for signing onto the United States Climate Alliance, thus making a commitment to the Paris climate agreement after President Donald Trump’s decision to back out. But they want more than a signature on a document. “There’s an insubstantiality to just announcing it,” says Vermont climate activist and author…
Album Review: Belly Up, ‘Loss’
(Self-released, digital download) Everyone deals with death differently. For some, grief inspires self-destructive behavior; for others, introspection. Some, perhaps numb from pain, choose simply not to deal with it. And for others still, death instills a creative spark every bit as inspiring and profound as love or heartbreak or finding God. On their latest EP,…
Free Will Astrology (6/21/17)
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Now that you’ve mostly paid off one of your debts to the past, you can go window-shopping for the future’s best offers. You’re finally ready to leave behind a power spot you’ve outgrown and launch your quest to discover fresh power spots. So bid farewell to lost causes and ghostly temptations,…
Comedian Liz Miele Talks Therapy, Performing for the Troops and Rom-Com Pet Peeves
Liz Miele knows a thing or two about cats. The New York City-based comedian and writer grew up with veterinarians for parents — her mother is a cat specialist. While she knew early on that she wanted to pursue comedy, Miele’s animalistic roots frequently pop up in her material — for instance, her joke about…
Rock Art Brewery Is Powered by the Sun
Rock Art Brewery in Morrisville is the first brewery in Vermont to be fully powered by the sun, according to the Vermont Brewers Association. The brewery switched to solar energy for its production needs last week and now uses 100 percent electrical solar power to brew and can its beers. Rock Art was founded 20…
The Great Northern’s Vintage Backbar Is Storied
Like many stories, this one begins at a bar. That’s where Michael Kuk was hanging out when he got his first job with a group of up-and-coming Burlington restaurateurs. It was about a dozen years ago, and Kuk was drinking a beer with a friend at American Flatbread Burlington Hearth. Kuk’s pal said to the…
Nest Coffee and Bakery Comes to Essex Junction
The success of the Firebird Café, a staple on Pearl Street in Essex Junction since 2009, encouraged owner Jake Tran to think about expansion. Word on the street was that a downtown café was sorely needed, he recalled, and Tran had the necessary expertise; a few years earlier, he’d taken a course in California on…
Letters to the Editor (6/21/17)
‘Disaster’ Column It’s difficult to know where to begin when reacting to last week’s Soundbites [“Mister Disaster”]. So here I go… Other than Mister Sister opting out of Waking Windows (covered in a previous column), I don’t understand why this story was in the music section of Seven Days. I do understand that it’s a…
Not-So-Green Roof: BTV Airport’s Garage-Top Garden Has Deteriorated
Six flights up a concrete staircase that serves the parking garage at Burlington International Airport, a heavy, unmarked door opens onto a $500,000 taxpayer-financed rooftop garden. Back in 2011, when the so-called “green roof” was installed, thousands of succulents stretched out along slate paths in a patchwork of greens, reds and yellows — a project…
Eat This Week, June 21 to 27, 2017: Ride, Dance, Drink
Few things cap off a pedal-pushing road ride better than a cold brew. Spin your wheels in Stowe this weekend with a village block party and critical mass on Friday evening, followed by a dinner party at Piecasso Pizzeria & Lounge. The leg-burning group hits the trails Saturday at the Trapp Family Lodge; catch a…
International Photographer Ethan Hubbard Settles Down in Vermont
After a lifetime of photographing human faces and human activity around the world, Ethan Hubbard has found a new subject — the sky. Hubbard, now 75, has come home to Vermont to stay. He’s decided his travels to places including Nepal, Mexico, the American West, Scotland, Australia and many others are pretty much over. But…
Burlington PD Sparks Intrigue With NSFW Twitter ‘Like’
Was someone at the Burlington Police Department a bit naughty? The official police Twitter account, @OneNorthAvenue, “liked” a video that was definitely NSFW. The message, tweeted by an account called DailySexVideos, depicts a woman performing fellatio — not what you’d expect from a police department. Jeff Royer spotted the graphic adult content and tweeted a…
Would Legal Pot Make or Break Medical Dispensaries?
The gray metal-sided building in the middle of Milton’s Catamount Industrial Park looks like a typical manufacturing facility. But step inside, and you instantly sniff out that it’s a different kind of business. The pungent herbal smell of marijuana permeates the place, temporarily distracting your attention from evidence that this is a sophisticated clinical laboratory…
Movie Review: ’47 Meters Down’ Plumbs the Depths of Quality
Guess how long the Bechdel test has been a thing. Thirty-two years. That’s right: Alison Bechdel, Vermont’s favorite MacArthur Fellow cartoonist/award-winning memoirist/toast of Broadway and Vermont cartoonist laureate, first delineated the concept in a 1985 strip of “Dykes to Watch Out For.” While Bechdel magnanimously credits her friend Liz Wallace with the concept, she drew…
Movie Review: A Talented Cast Does the Female Buddy Comedy Thing in ‘Rough Night’
If there’s one thing you can say for the uneven but enjoyable female buddy comedy Rough Night, it’s that it passes the Bechdel test. Indeed, an entire subplot rests on the premise that the main dude love interest, Peter (Paul W. Downs, who also cowrote), talks and thinks way more about his relationship with protagonist…
Dartmouth Prof Teaches Storytelling, From Comics to Clay
Michael A. Chaney is a writer, painter and associate professor of English at Dartmouth College, where he chairs the African and African American Studies program. The multitasker also teaches courses on such topics as 19th-century American literature, the contemporary graphic novel, and the life and work of David Drake. Known as “Dave the Potter,” Drake…
Book Review: ‘Before We Sleep’ by Jeffrey Lent
Let me be frank: It took me forever to read Before We Sleep. That’s not a criticism. It has to do with how Vermont author Jeffrey Lent writes and what he wants to spend his pages dwelling on. The shortest answer to the latter point is family — that is, the ties and struggles between…
New State Agency’s Domain: Fixing Vermont’s Tech Problems
Earlier this year, Rep. Maida Townsend (D-South Burlington) asked officials at the Vermont Department of Information and Innovation what she thought was a simple question: “How many people do we have working on information technology in the state [government]?” No one could give her an answer. “It boggled my mind,” said Townsend. Lawmakers have also…
With Imam Leaving, Colchester Mosque at Crossroads
On a Sunday afternoon in June at the Islamic Society of Vermont’s mosque in Colchester, eight boys and girls sat cross-legged on a plush red carpet, each holding a copy of the Koran. They listened attentively as Imam Islam Hassan explained the rules of the Koran memorization competition that would be held in a few weeks to…
Ask Athena: How Can I Cope With My Long-Distance Relationship?
Dear Athena, I’m in college, and my boyfriend and I are apart for the summer. I thought it would be OK to have a long-distance relationship, but I am having so much trouble. I have driven to visit him three times (his house is seven hours from mine), but I don’t understand why he hasn’t…
GreenTARA Space Turns North Hero Church Into Gallery
If a building can be said to have nine lives, the 1823 structure that now houses GreenTARA Space — the Champlain Islands’ newest art gallery — is on its third. The North Hero building started life as a general store on the lakeshore half a mile from its current location. In 1888, it became a…
New Vermont Dance Alliance Steps Out
On a recent windy morning, eight dancers gathered on the Burlington waterfront to turn their faces to the sun like flowers, swoop about conjuring birds in flight and sway in imaginary currents of water. One of 10 outdoor dance performances that day, the event called attention to the richness and challenges of dance in Vermont…
