Apr 12-18, 2017
Pro Snowboarder Turned Brain Trainer, Kevin Pearce Rises Again; Vermont AG and Team Push Progressive Agenda; Decades Later, Bosnian Women Reflect on Resettlement
Cover Story
Kevin Pearce, Former Pro Snowboarder and TBI Survivor, Rises Again
Throughout his professional snowboarding career, Kevin Pearce “chased the powder” around the world, showing off gravity-defying maneuvers that carried him to the pinnacle of his sport. Today he’s chasing mental stillness and inner balance through yoga and meditation. And he’s dedicated his life to helping others do the same. Pearce’s life changed abruptly on December…
Obituary: Ruth Conklin Hummel, 1916-2017
Ruth Hummel passed away on Tuesday, March 28, 2017 at Anthony Myrick’s Community Care Home in Bristol attended by her daughter Sylvia and son Karl. Ruth grew up in the Episcopal Rectory in Asbury Park, NJ a few blocks from the ocean. Her father, Randall Conklin was the kindly and beloved Minister and along with…
Obituary: Gerard Paul “Jed” Guertin Jr., 1943-2017
Gerard Paul “Jed” Guertin Jr. passed away at home on March 30, 2017. He was born in Springfield, VT, on January 12, 1943, the son of Catherine McSherry Guertin and Gerard Paul Guertin. Jed grew up in Shrewsbury, MA, where he nurtured an interest in ethics (while hiding his motorcycle at a friend’s house). Known…
The Parmelee Post: Pedestrians Warned That Repaved Burlington Bike Path Is Harder to Block
The excitement surrounding a recently repaved portion of the Burlington Bike Path has come with a warning from city officials: The improved path is slightly harder for pedestrians to block. In social media posts on Friday, Burlington’s parks, recreation and waterfront department noted that the repaved path is slightly wider than before, making it harder…
Elsa Wheel, 90, Is Still a High Stepper
You might call 90-year-old dancer Elsa Wheel a late bloomer. Aside from the occasional World War II-era jitterbug as a young woman, she rarely set foot on the dance floor. Though quick to praise her now-deceased husband as a fine man and sharp accountant, she jokes with a smile that she “had the misfortune of…
Inmates, Interrupted: UVM Brings Therapy to Federal Prisoners
Until he was caught — twice — Michael Foreste spent years ferrying prescription opiates from New York City to Vermont, where he sold them for hundreds of thousands of dollars. He acquired a tough-guy nickname, “Beast,” despite the fact that Foreste is a college graduate and close to his mother. Now in prison awaiting sentencing, Foreste is…
Electronic R&B Artist Anna Wise Destroys the Status Quo
Anna Wise believes the time for silence is over. The Brooklyn-based electronic R&B artist no longer wears headphones while riding the subway, so that she can be alert to step in and defend anyone who’s being marginalized or attacked. Similarly, her outspokenly feminist music stands tall in the face of sexism and misogyny. Wise started…
Soundbites: On the Hunt
My goodness. What a glorious way to start the week. I’m referring to the past Monday’s summer weather preview, of course. The warm breeze and blazing sunshine reminded us that winter’s oppressive reign is nearly over. It’s time to put your sweaters and long johns back in those plastic tote bins under your bed and…
Border Hassles Keep Would-Be Tourists — and Loonies — in Canada
The Homeport store on Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace employs several French speakers to offer friendly assistance to customers from Québec, but these days they don’t need to say “bonjour” as often. The weak exchange rate has reduced Canadian traffic at many Vermont stores, and now another blow to commerce could be looming — at the…
Why Is the Lord’s Prayer Inscribed on a Rock in Bristol?
Vermont is full of rocks: glacial rocks stubbornly thrusting up in fields; smooth, white-scarred lake stones; and, of course, verdant, boulder-laden mountains. One Seven Days reader queried us about a particular rock in Bristol — something along the lines of “WTF is up with that big rock with the Lord’s Prayer on it?” To find…
Free Will Astrology (4/12/17)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Before visiting Sicily for the first time, American poet Billy Collins learned to speak Italian. In his poem “By a Swimming Pool Outside Siracusa,” he describes how the new language is changing his perspective. If he were thinking in English, he might say that the gin he’s drinking while sitting alone…
Patchwork Farm & Bakery Makes Matzo for Everyday
On the day before Passover in 2011, Charlie Emers was rushing to get ready for his holiday dinner guests when he found himself staring at an empty grocery shelf where the matzo should have been. The store had sold out. “Now what?” Emers recalls wondering. Then the owner of Patchwork Farm & Bakery in East…
Second ‘Zig Zag Lit Mag’ Features Voices of Addison County
Last fall, a pair of Vergennes writers launched Zig Zag Lit Mag, a semiannual publication dedicated to lifting up the voices of Addison County writers. On March 28, they released their second issue with a party at the Vermont Book Shop in Middlebury. The small black-and-white book can be found at libraries around Addison County,…
New Director Tom Ayres Aims to Jazz Up the Chandler
Here’s a fun fact: Randolph, the Orange County town about an hour south of Burlington, is almost the exact geographical center of Vermont. And if Tom Ayres has his way, the burg of some 5,000 people will soon be a central arts hub as well. Ayres, 64, is the new executive director of the Chandler…
Art Review: John Rose and Bruce MacDonald, Havoc Gallery
When metal artist Bruce MacDonald isn’t bringing his work to the six major art shows he visits around the country every year, he occasionally finds time to mount one at HAVOC Gallery, his Burlington gallery-cum-studio. There he shows what might be described as his brushed-metal paintings — he calls them “light sculptures” — with select…
The AG’s Entourage: New Deputies Push Donovan’s Agenda
T.J. Donovan, Vermont’s Democratic attorney general, couldn’t help but take control last month at a Statehouse ceremony to sign a new law limiting President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Though it was Republican Gov. Phil Scott’s bill to sign, Donovan dominated a Q&A with reporters, parrying questions with characteristic fervor while Scott stood quietly in the…
Album Review: Fresh Greenes, ‘Town of Dreams’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) When we think of family bands, we generally think mostly of sibling acts. While certainly not unheard of, parent-child pairings tend to be less common, perhaps because of generational style gaps — just a hunch, but your parents probably aren’t keen to get down on your glitchy electro-pop. That makes Woodbury’s…
Letters to the Editor (4/12/17)
Cruel View of Addiction I’m responding to the heartless letter written by Mark Szymanski [Feedback: “No Sympathy for Heroin Addicts,” March 29]. I join him in commending the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies that shut down the Colchester dealer. However, in his letter he goes on to suggest that “addicts sign a do-not-resuscitate form…
Album Review: Ben Carr, ‘A River’s View of Sunrise’
(Self-released, digital download) Ben Carr is a Vermont musician who has settled on the unusual combination of ukulele and drums. He makes his living as a music teacher, recording engineer and ace four-string sideman. Those uke skills are front and center on his latest record, A River’s View of Sunrise. It’s a meditative, relaxing ride…
How to Make Your Own Easter Candies
For some, the Easter holiday — which arrives this Sunday — means a particularly poignant church service and the end of 40 days’ worth of Lenten sacrifices. For others, it mainly means a basket stuffed with plastic grass, gooey “eggs” encased in chocolate shells and row upon row of colorful marshmallow chicks. Whether you observe…
Bosnian Women Reflect on Resettlement
For as long as she can remember, Armina Medic has stood up to bullies, even if it meant she got beaten up. In her youth, her grandmother predicted Medic’s sense of justice would lead her to do something bigger one day. Last month, Medic was one of three women who were honored at an International…
ICE’s National Nerve Center Keeps a Low Profile in Lefty Vermont
The nondescript two-story brick building with tinted windows sits in a Williston business park, and a sign out front says only “188 Harvest Lane.” A passerby would have no idea that the office is home to a specialized branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement called the Law Enforcement Support Center. The LESC has operated…
Ask Athena: Why Am I ‘Going Soft’ During Sex?
Dear Athena, Lately when I am having sex with my girlfriend, I get soft all of the sudden. What’s up with that? This never happened before. She seems pissed off when it happens, and then I can’t get it back up. Signed, Soft and Stressed Dear Soft, Don’t let your stubborn softie get you down…
Book Review: ‘My Darling Detective’ by Howard Norman
A glance at the cover of My Darling Detective — featuring a fetching redhead with an exposed garter belt — might lead readers to wonder if East Calais writer Howard Norman has penned a lurid noir tale. In fact, while it technically qualifies as a murder mystery, this latest from the National Book Award finalist is…
Movie Review: ‘Going in Style’ Suggests Geezer Movies Are Getting Old
First, this remake has been directed by Zach Braff (Garden State) without an iota of style. And second, it goes nowhere. At least nowhere that dozens of other comedies about lovably cranky senior citizens haven’t already gone. Going in Style isn’t so much a movie as a catalog of grumpy old clichés. Once upon a…
Evan Premo Sets to Music Poems by David Budbill
When Wolcott poet David Budbill died on September 25, 2016, a New York Times obituary remembered him as a poet “who celebrated simple pleasures and ordinary people” with a “buried … streak of cussedness.” That range of tone caught Marshfield composer Evan Premo’s attention. He honored it when he chose five Budbill poems to set…
Movie Review: In ‘T2 Trainspotting,’ the Antics Feel a Bit More Antiquated
The belated sequel to the Scottish hit Trainspotting (1996) is a different kind of geezers-on-a-caper film. That’s not to say its protagonists are elderly; two decades after the original, Renton (Ewan McGregor), Sick Boy (Jonny Lee Miller), Spud (Ewan Bremner) and Begbie (Robert Carlyle) are solidly in middle age. But to this crew of one-time…
Ashes to Ashes: Smoking Bill Puts Senators in Bind
It was 44 degrees and threatening to rain last Friday as Sen. Peg Flory (R-Rutland) stood alone in a parking lot next to the Vermont Statehouse, drawing on a cigarette. Wearing a suit jacket and skirt but no coat, the veteran senator shrugged off the chill. A day earlier, when a steady rain fell, she…
Renowned Modernist House in Hardwick Is Up for Sale
You never know what you’ll find while driving along the back roads of rural Vermont. But perhaps the last thing you’d expect to stumble across is a world-renowned example of modernist architecture, built in 1969 outside of Hardwick village. Accessed via a gravel road bordered by manufactured homes, the building known as “House II” appears…
Eat this Week, April 12 to 18, 2017: Green Garden Spirits
For its fourth annual spring-season kickoff party, Red Wagon Plants invites green thumbs and the greenhouse-curious on a sunset hoop-house wander. Peruse pansies, potted herbs and veggies while taking a backstage look at how the pros handle early-season planting. Since it’s Friday afternoon, sip a boozy beverage made with Red Wagon herbs and tipples by…
Wild Roots Updates 200-Year-Old Tavern in Royalton
For almost 200 years, the Fox Stand Tavern was a White River Valley dining staple, but in recent years the business has opened and closed in fits and starts. In May, new owner Jayne Sully Cole will reboot the restaurant in the brick building at 5615 Route 14 as Wild Roots, with chef Peter Varkonyi…
Honey Road to Replace Church & Main Restaurant
Back in January, Seven Days reported that Allison Gibson and Cara Chigazola-Tobin had plans to open an eastern Mediterranean restaurant called Honey Road in Burlington. Recent pop-up dinners gave locals a chance to sample their fare. Now, folks craving more of chef Chigazola-Tobin’s muhammara and spoon-tender braised lamb can mark their summer calendars: Honey Road…
