Apr 27 – May 3, 2022
Locked Out: The Housing Crisis Complicates Hiring; Vermont Considers Paying Parent Caregivers of Adults With Disabilities; Charting the Final Course of the Soon-to-Be-Retired 1862 Replica Canalboat ‘Lois McClure’
Cover Story
Leaked SCOTUS Abortion Ruling Is Likely to Buoy Prop 5 Support in Vermont
Updated 5:48 p.m. The shock felt by many over the leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade was tempered by the fact that Vermont law guarantees a woman’s right to an abortion, and voters will have the chance to enshrine that in the state constitution this fall. Gov.…
In Memoriam: Helen Tyndall, 1938-2021
Helen Tyndall was born in Scotland and immigrated with her husband, Ian, to America in 1961, settling in Shelburne. Helen was a devoted member of the Burlington Friends Meeting and Alcoholics Anonymous. She loved animals, dancing, music and running. She had a great sense of humor and a sharp tongue. A service of remembrance will…
Obituary: Bradley Alan Pascoe, 1955-2022
Longtime Old North End resident was a virtuosic guitarist and passionate bicycle repairman
Obituary: Mark E. Sikora, 1921-2022
World War II veteran and secret service member was stationed behind enemy lines in China
Obituary: Stephen Hooper Gelatt, 1939-2022
Jericho man loved travel, discussing world affairs, and enjoying Vermont’s scenery and seasons
Clean: ‘Aches and Gains’
Fiery twinges of pain shot through my forehead as I stood in front of my bathroom mirror. I was three years sober, and I was dealing with a terrible sinus headache. As the shrill crow of a nearby rooster reverberated through my apartment, it exponentially magnified my discomfort. The sound also served as an unwanted…
Obituary: Martha Allen, 1928-2022
93-year-old woman was “forever young” due to her endearing personality and natural love of people
Obituary: Robert F. Daly, 1930-2022
Navy veteran, golfer and stockbroker loved his family most of all
Theater Review: The Niceties, Middlebury Acting Company
The trick to watching Eleanor Burgess’ provocative play The Niceties is not taking sides. Viewers of the Middlebury Acting Company production, which runs this weekend only, may be tempted to decide who’s right and who’s wrong, but the two women in this tense conflict are equally right. And each is equally frustrated that she isn’t…
Obituary: Glenn Sautter, 1944-2022
Talented stylist and salon owner was a “peaceful warrior” who relished life
Vermont Considers Paying Parent Caregivers of Adults With Disabilities
Kathleen O’Brien’s life revolves around her son Christopher, a 23-year-old with a rare genetic disorder known as Angelman syndrome that causes severe developmental delays. Unable to talk, feed himself or use the bathroom on his own, Christopher is completely dependent on his mother and requires around-the-clock care. O’Brien has some help: The state pays for…
Ridding Vermont of Restrictive Covenants Is Proving Complicated
Burlington City Attorney Dan Richardson expected that the bill he requested would pass the legislature without issue. H.551 was intended to ban language in some old property deeds that barred people from buying houses based on their skin color or religion. These so-called “restrictive covenants” have been legally unenforceable for decades, but they remain a…
Soundbites: Young Tradition Fest Connects Generations and Cultures; Sunday Night Mass Lives
I never took a music class in school or played in the jazz band. I counted myself too cool for such things when, in reality, I was just too socially awkward. I was fortunate, though, to have a guitar teacher named Sherrod. Though he hated having to show me metal riffs, he made sure I…
My Own Sweet, ‘Ghosts I Knew’
(Self-released, digital) When I looked at My Own Sweet’s discography, I did a double take. That’s because their latest record, Ghosts I Knew, comes 22 years after their last release, 2000’s now-ironically named Same Time Next Year. That realization flummoxed me. Having moved to Burlington in 2001, I just missed out on My Own Sweet,…
Cabinet, ‘The Sugarhouse Sessions’
(Astrology Days Records, digital) Certain albums are bittersweet to me because, no matter how much I enjoy them, I didn’t get to be in the room when they were recorded. The fact that I don’t even sing or play an instrument makes my FOMO even more unreasonable. This is how I felt listening to Cabinet’s…
Book Review: ‘Diamonds,’ Camille Guthrie
The title of Camille Guthrie’s fourth collection, Diamonds, couldn’t be more apropos. Glittering with erudition and sensuous humor, these poems feel forged through many years of intense pressure, resulting in a critical edge sharp enough to scratch whatever it touches. Or, in the words of author Cathy Park Hong, who blurbed the book, it’s “a…
Violence Begets Violence in Robert Eggers’ Stunning Viking Revenge Drama ‘The Northman’
What happens when you give a cult director a big budget to make a bloody epic about pagans? Nothing very good, according to Variety, which on Monday called Robert Eggers’ The Northman “a cautionary tale about budgets gone wild” in the wake of its underwhelming weekend box office. To anyone who saw Eggers’ debut, The…
Comedian Matteo Lane Talks Pasta, Dating and ‘Gay Voice’
Matteo Lane often starts his sets by flexing his impressive six-octave vocal range. A trained opera singer, the mustachioed, New York City-based comedian usually follows up by making it crystal clear to his audiences that he’s gay, should they have any lingering doubt. A visual artist who’s well-known for his thirst-trap Instagram account, Lane frequently…
Free Will Astrology (4/27/22)
TAURUS (Apr. 20-May 20): “Imagining anything is the first step toward creating it,” wrote author and activist Gloria Steinem. “Believing in a true self is what allows a true self to be born,” she added. Those are excellent meditations for you to focus on right now, Taurus. The time is ripe for you to envision…
Now Playing in Theaters: April 27-May 3
new in theaters FIREBIRD: Set on a Soviet air base in the 1970s, Peeter Rebane’s drama explores the secret affair between a soldier and a fighter pilot. Tom Prior and Oleg Zagorodnii star. (107 min, R. Roxy) THE GIRL AND THE SPIDER: As two roommates prepare to separate, tensions threaten their ambiguous relationship in this…
From the Deputy Publisher: Home Work
Vermont employers desperately seeking workers are often just as desperate to find them housing. A lack of options is causing some candidates to turn down job offers, Anne Wallace Allen reports in this week’s cover story, part of Seven Days’ yearlong “Locked Out” series about Vermont’s housing crisis. I’m glad I never had to make…
Teen Performers Discover the Key to Success in Youth Opera Company
What can high school students do if they love both acting and classical singing? Typically, such teenagers are forced to choose between their talents, according to soprano Sarah Cullins. “Either you focus on your classical voice and only sing in choir,” she said, “or you sacrifice your technique and do musical theater.” A Burlington native,…
Middlebury College Museum of Art, Reenvisioned, Opens to the Public
The narrative is familiar by now: Museum shuts down in the pandemic, takes stock of itself while closed, reopens with a fresh MO. And that hasn’t meant simply cleaning out the storeroom or painting the walls. Museums worldwide have engaged in a wholesale self-examination with regard to diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as how…
Am I the Only One Who Checks Out Their Butthole Before Showering?
Dear Reverend, Am I the only one who stands in front of a mirror before showering and spreads my butt cheeks to see what’s collected in there? I know it sounds weird, but I’m always curious to see what’s there before I wash it away. You know — lint, hot sauce packet, missing rent check,…
Vermont No Longer Has a Nuclear Power Plant — but Still Uses Nuclear Power
Readers of the venerable New York Times surely spotted the paper’s recent feature on Burlington-based electric aviation company Beta Technologies. The initial version of the story, though, may have tripped up Green Mountain State readers, who came upon the curious claim that Vermont uses the most nuclear power of any state. That hasn’t been true…
Charting the Final Course of the Soon-to-Be-Retired 1862 Replica Canalboat ‘Lois McClure’
Steve Page devoted three years to building the Lois McClure but spent very little time sailing on it. As one of four shipwrights hired in 2001 by Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes to construct the 1862 replica canal schooner, Page can recall just two trips he ever made on the vessel. Only one took…
Letters to the Editor (4/27/22)
Snowbird I don’t know whether to ride my mower or push my snow-blower. Given what April brings to us. A drift, a daffodil. A decision better left to not deciding. Letting the sun do what it will by the end of the afternoon. Letting the grass stick through. Letting the blades decide to mow or…
Red Onion Café Draws a Crowd at New Charlotte Home
When Mickey West moved her iconic Red Onion Café from Church Street in Burlington to the former site of a wildflower farm in Charlotte, she wasn’t sure how it would go. The differences between the two locations are drastic: urban versus rural; pedestrian traffic versus fast-moving car traffic. But after 18 months at the new…
Singani63 Relaunch Event to Celebrate Bolivia’s National Spirit
What do Bolivia’s national spirit, a Hollywood director and a famous bartender have in common? On Sunday, May 1, they all could be at the Archives in Winooski — at least on Zoom. Singani63 chief operating officer Jonathan Brathwaite, who lives in Hinesburg, is throwing a “relaunch event” for the brand, which was founded by…
Green Mountain Potstickers to Add Church Street Marketplace Food Cart
The longest line at the Burlington Farmers Market often leads to Green Mountain PotStickers — and it starts first thing in the morning, when the other vendors run over for Carey Kolomaznik’s scallion pancakes before the market opens. This summer, Kolomaznik will bring her Taiwanese fare to the Church Street Marketplace with a new food…
One Dish: Sampling the Biscuit Spread at Bristol’s Minifactory
Each time I’ve stepped into Minifactory in Bristol, I’ve discovered a new delight. On the café’s bustling opening day on March 20, it was a hot-pink bundle of rhubarb, tied with a delicate string. On Easter, I stopped by for coffee and flaky pastries — both savory and sweet — and impulse-bought a container of…
Owners of Blake Hill Preserves Win U.S. Small Business Award
The married founders of a southern Vermont company that formed almost inadvertently — and grew with deliberation — were recently named the Vermont Small Business Persons of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Vicky Allard and Joe Hanglin of Grafton started Blake Hill Preserves in 2009, after a houseguest dropped off a jar…
The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, April 27-May 3
Surround Sound Saturday 30 Malian Afro-pop duo Amadou & Mariam team up with legendary gospel group the Blind Boys of Alabama for a stunning display of cross-Atlantic soul at the Flynn in Burlington. The two bands’ collaborative 2019 album, From Bamako to Birmingham, celebrates the musical connections between West Africa and the American South. Knit…
