Apr 1-7, 2020
Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup Redefines Vermont Humanities in Turbulent Times; Vermont Manufacturers Pivot to Making Virus Gear; When Adult Kids Return Home to Vermont; Animal Shelters Work to ‘Catten the Curve’
Cover Story
Christopher Kaufman Ilstrup Redefines Vermont Humanities in Turbulent Times
During the Cold War arms race, when the U.S. government was funneling money into scientific and technological research, the public intellectuals who called themselves “academic humanists” — university lecturers, deep readers of classical texts, and other cultural ruminants — began to feel neglected. In 1964, a panel of concerned scholars presented a report to Congress…
In Memoriam: Alexa Rose Cioffi, 1985-2016
In loving memory of Alexa Rose Cioffi 11/21/1985-04/09/16 You are always and forever in our hearts. Allourhearts.com/alexa-rose-cioffi
Obituary: Elizabeth White, 1954-2020
Mother, wife and teacher was “the first to volunteer, the first to bake, the first to donate”
Zoom Sessions: Northern Stage Presents ‘Play Date’
During this strange time of enforced isolation, visual artists around the world are adapting to the virtual space through everything from Instagram projects to takeout knitting kits to online gallery tours. But what are theater companies to do without a live audience? Can the visceral connection between performers and audiences survive social distancing? Northern Stage…
Free Will Astrology (4/1/20)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “If all the world’s a stage, where the hell is the teleprompter?” asks aphorist Sami Feiring. In my astrological opinion, you Aries are the least likely of all the signs to identify with that perspective. While everyone else might wish they could be better prepared for the nonstop improvisational tests of…
‘It’s Real’: A Franklin County Teacher Recounts Her Battle With Coronavirus
When Nicky Patterson started to get sick last month, she could tell that it was no ordinary seasonal flu. It began with a persistent cough on Friday the 13th — a day synonymous with bad luck. And though it was typical for the elementary school teacher to be exhausted at the end of a school…
Back in the Nest: Young Adults Return Home to Vermont Amid Pandemic
On March 14, with a couple hundred confirmed cases of the coronavirus in New York City, Jackson Harvey, 29, and his girlfriend of three years, Grace Ross, also 29, left their apartment in Queens to seek temporary refuge at Jackson’s parents’ house in Burlington. They figured they might be gone a week, so Jackson grabbed…
Photographer Luke Awtry Documents Downtown During Quarantine
Except for providers of essential services such as, you know, saving people’s lives, most of us have been homebound lately doing our best not to spread the coronavirus. Burlington photographer and frequent Seven Days contributor Luke Awtry has found it no problem to stay well more than six feet from other humans on his excursions…
More Artists Invent Creative Ways to Reach Viewers Online
Artists typically have websites and Instagram accounts these days. But most of them still rely on in-person interactions to facilitate connections with their work: exhibiting in galleries, selling at artists’ markets, hosting studio visits, teaching classes. During this period of social distancing, though, the internet is the only answer. And so artists and gallerists keep…
Vermont Manufacturers Switch Gears to Make Protective Medical Gear
Each evening, Calley Hastings throws a stack of up to 50 cotton face masks into her Subaru Crosstrek and drives down a muddy road to a rendezvous point not far from her Brookfield home. There, she meets the owner of a local manufacturing company and trades the masks for more materials, most of which she…
Vermont Animal Shelters Work to ‘Catten the Curve’
In mid-March most Vermont businesses, schools and other institutions began closing their doors to brace for the coronavirus pandemic. Just days before, Homeward Bound, Addison County’s humane society, accepted two large cat transports. One was from a high-kill shelter in Florida; the other was a load of what shelter manager Carly Lehrer described as “needy…
Novelist Chris Bohjalian on ‘The Red Lotus’ and Coincidental Pandemic
The rollout of Vermont author Chris Bohjalian’s 21st book has been, to put it mildly, atypical. The international thriller The Red Lotus was released by Doubleday on March 17, as COVID-19 began upending public life in the United States. “When you count my paperbacks, I’ve had 39 publication dates in my life,” the Weybridge resident…
Brand New Luddites, ‘Terms & Conditions’
(Sharawaji Records, CD, digital) Brand New Luddites are more or less exactly what you’d expect, given their name: a vehemently anti-tech punk-rock outfit broadcasting from the woods of Vermont. Their debut LP, Terms & Conditions, is packed full of loud, catchy songs that are completely committed to the propaganda of an anti-technology revolution. This is…
Naegleria Fowleri, ‘Prognosis Dire’
(Self-released, digital) There will come a time when we all congregate as senior citizens, recapping the insanity that was life in the year 2020. And as my geriatric friends try to one-up each other with crazy stories from the Year of WTF, I’ll sit back in my diaper and smile, waiting my turn. Because I’ll…
Letter to the Editor (4/1/20)
Vaccine Could Be Dangerous [Re Off Message: “As Outbreak Spreads, Holcombe Questions Zuckerman’s Vaccination Stance,” March 22]: Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman is absolutely right to oppose frantic vaccination pressure from people who do not have a clue as to what actually is part of vaccine serum. What can happen is that the shedding process could…
Vermont’s nothing,nowhere. on Filmmaking, Self-Care and Gender Equality in Music
Earlier this year, Vermont-based musician Joe Mulherin, who performs as nothing,nowhere., was gearing up for a six-week cross-country tour to perform his emotionally driven blend of rock and melodic hip-hop. But, as COVID-19 invaded the globe, he canceled his upcoming shows, including an April 14 kickoff at Burlington’s ArtsRiot. Mulherin, 27, grew up in Massachusetts…
I’m Quarantined With My S.O., and He’s Driving Me Nuts
Dear Reverend, I’m quarantined with my significant other, and he’s starting to drive me nuts. How can I get the space I need when we are trapped in our small apartment? — Sir Crazy (female, 27) Dear Sir Crazy, Spending all day, every day, with one person can be emotionally taxing even if it’s someone…
Vermont Teens Keep School Spirit Alive With Events From Home
Just because school’s closed doesn’t mean you can’t be there in spirit. That’s the thinking behind three Vergennes teens’ plan to invite students around the state — and country — to participate in a modified spirit week from the comfort of their homes. Sisters Kaitlyn and Jasmine Little and their friend Sydney Adreon created a…
Vermont Food Pros Share Their Pandemic Pantry Essentials
For a few years now, I’ve forced friends to answer my favorite thought experiment: If you were stranded on a desert island, what three foods would you choose to have with you? There’s plenty to eat on the island, but only these three things will remain in steady supply. My answer? Beets, butter and bacon.…
City Market and Other Groceries Offer Compensation Pay
City Market, Onion River Co-op management and union officials agreed on Monday afternoon to an “appreciation” bonus for employees who are working during the coronavirus pandemic, general manager John Tashiro told Seven Days. The bonus will give full-time employees a raise of $120 a week, per 40 hours of work, retroactive to March 15 and…
