Life was still normal for Felix and Kermit Downes when the fraternal twins turned 5 on March 3. The boys celebrated at home, a three-story Victorian duplex on Burlington’s Howard Street. They had cheese fondue for dinner and two cakes for dessert — double chocolate and lemon meringue, both with sprinkles. Their grandmother, Sharon, who…
Kristin Baker, nurse manager in the emergency department at the University of Vermont Medical Center, opted to skip dinner one recent evening. She wanted to make sure the hands-on emergency crew got plenty to eat from the menu of chicken and rice with sesame and slaw, and rice bowls with hoisin-glazed tofu and vegetables. “They’re…
Vermont Restaurant Week — a ten-day food festival celebrating Vermont’s culinary scene — was supposed to be April 24-May 3. Restaurants may be off-limits to dine-in customers, but many of them are still making delicious food —for takeout, delivery or curbside pickup. Over the next ten days, visit GoodToGoVermont.com for a digital directory of local eateries…
A disability rights advocate led by powerful example
A Northeast Kingdom “country doctor” served his community for 40 years
The Downes family did everything right, and then everything went wrong. Keith and Michelle live on the top floor of a duplex in Burlington with their 5-year-old twins, Felix and Kermit. Keith’s mother, Sharon, also known as Mimi, lives on the bottom floor with a roommate who helps around the house. Sharon lost her voice…
The celebration of life for Ida McNamara, scheduled for May 1, 2020, has been postponed until August 21, 2020, at the All Souls Interfaith Gathering, 291 Bostwick Farm Rd., Shelburne, VT at 1 p.m. Her full obituary is available in the Seven Days archive, February 11, 2020. Related Stories Related Stories
Posters urging Americans to “Dig on for Victory” and “Be a Soldier of the Soil” were ubiquitous during World War II. The patriotic propaganda was designed to enlist a militia of gardeners armed with trowels and rakes — and it worked. In an April 1943 Gallup poll, 21 million Americans reported that they planned to…
Another week, another spate of online offerings from Vermont’s incessantly creative sector. Seven Days has reported on many virtual activities, both in print and on our Live Culture blog, since the coronavirus pandemic began and everyone hunkered down. We’ve informed you about livestreamed music concerts and comedy shows on our blog series Almost There. And…
Like cattle and sugar maples, the rolling mountains of Vermont are rich in podcasts. The offerings span a wide variety of topics. A listener could fall down the rabbit hole of Rumble Strip, a unique collection of stories from independent producer Erica Heilman. Vermont Public Radio offers “Brave Little State”and the kid-oriented “But Why?,” and…
Make no mistake — I’m a city mouse, not a country mouse. I came of age in the Big Apple before moving to Vermont as a young adult, and I’ve called Burlington my home ever since. And, like the city mouse of Aesop’s fable, I find myself failing to grasp certain realities of the natural…
(Self-released, digital) Vermont’s music scene is not impervious to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. With large public gatherings off-limits, Eastern Mountain Time, the Burlington alt-country band fronted by guitarist and singer Sean Hood, pivoted from a planned Northeastern tour supporting its new LP, Seven, to a quickie digital release on April 7. “I didn’t…
(Self-released, digital) Rivan C. — aka Rivan Calderin — is a young MC from the Burlington area who has been making increasingly big waves in the local scene. He’s a charismatic presence on the mic with a melodic, playful flow. He’s made his name off tight SoundCloud singles and engaging live shows, and he recently…
Raise your hand if fears about the food supply chain during this pandemic have prompted you to sow a victory garden — or at least get a few herbs for your front stoop. You’re not alone. While we all stay home as much as possible to slow the spread of COVID-19, the curve of home…
In her locker at Bellows Free Academy, Fairfax, senior Natalie Bates left a few pens and pencils and some notepads — things she didn’t pack up on March 17, the last day she attended school. “I think we all assumed that we were going to go back to school in April, so I didn’t do…
An old axiom says that there are but two certainties in life: death and taxes. But I’d like to add another immutable constant, at least as it pertains to the Vermont music scene: When the going gets tough, Big Heavy World will do some pretty cool shit to help out. As you might have heard,…
How will Vermonters remember the coronavirus era? In past crises, Green Mountain State cultural organizations have stepped up to create historical records of Vermonters’ experiences. The Vermont Folklife Center, for example, began offering story circles as a way for folks to process the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. The center recorded and archived…
First I saw my face appear on the computer screen puffier than I imagined. Then my daughter holding her six month old nephew, Thomas, smiling. It was his first Seder. I cooed. Others popped up, almost from nowhere, two grandchildren standing at a dining room table with their blurred parents, behind them, another pair of…
A Reader Repents Apologies! I read the “Class Act” 802Much of April 1 (accompanied by a photo of two sisters and their friend) at 2 a.m. (couldn’t sleep) and thought I read the article thoroughly, but I apparently didn’t. I certainly am aware that many, many people stay home together, even when they’re not related…
In normal times, it can be a challenge for Mitch Hunt to track down students or staff at the 140-acre Maplehill School and Farm in Plainfield, where he’s a dean. They could be honing carpentry skills in the shop, harvesting vegetables from the organic garden or tapping maples trees in the woods. Since the coronavirus…
For nearly a decade, the Vermont Department of Labor sought to replace the rickety mainframe computer that has powered its unemployment insurance system since the 1980s. Under a federal program designed to encourage cross-border collaboration, Vermont worked with a series of other states to build a cloud-based system that could more efficiently and reliably cut…
Dear Reverend, I was riding on the bike path, doing my best to keep my distance from other people, when a dad ran by me with his kid trailing behind on a bike. They were going about the same speed as I was, so I lingered back a bit for safety. All of a sudden,…
Everyone could use a break right now. That was Jim Diehl’s thinking when he restructured his mortgages to help his tenants. He asked his bank to defer three months of payments on the principal for his three rentals. That way, Diehl pays just the interest and escrow, savings that he’s passed on to his tenants.…
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Renowned Taurus composer Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) completed his first symphony when he was 43 years old — even though he’d started work on it at age 22. Why did it take him so long? One factor was his reverence for Ludwig van Beethoven, the composer who had a huge impact on…
Until last month, Shelburne-based painter Misoo supported herself by teaching drawing classes at Burlington City Arts and the Shelburne Craft School and working part time at Frog Hollow Vermont Craft Gallery on Church Street. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, and all of her income disappeared practically overnight. After closing its doors on March 23, Frog…
