Aug 15-20, 2018
The Animal Issue: At a Benson Sheep Farm, the ‘Crop’ Is Blood Plasma; Mojo the Police K9 Sniffs Out Electronics — for Porn; A Burlington Mermaid Talks About Tails and Magic; A Barn Cat Program Finds Homes for Outdoor Cats
Obituary: Sarah Virginia de Ganahl Russell, 1931-2018
Vero Beach, Florida Sarah Virginia de Ganahl Russell was born in New York, N.Y., on April 2, 1931, and died in Vero Beach, Fla., on August 16, 2018. She was the daughter of Joe de Ganahl and Josephine Coombs de Ganahl. She grew up in Scarsdale, N.Y.; McLean, Va.; and both Sitka and Juneau, Alaska,…
Obituary: Rev. Mark W. Bolles, 1951-2018
Machias, Maine As anyone who had ever sat in a pew during one of his sermons, read his “Observer” columns in the Charlotte News, swapped songs with him around a campfire or taken a long drive to points unknown with him would tell you, Mark Bolles was a born storyteller. And because his life’s philosophy…
The Cannabis Catch-Up: Will Weed Tourism Take Off in Vermont?
Take note, Vermonters: Cannabis tourism is taking off in states that have legalized the drug. Forbes this week examined some of the ways Colorado, California and Nevada entrepreneurs are working to attract cannabis-consuming travelers. A group got together south of San Francisco in May for a Ganja Goddess Getaway, replete “with yoga, educational classes, spa…
Obituary: Antonino “Tony” Di Ruocco, 1946-2018
Antonino “Tony” Di Ruocco was born on February 9, 1946, in Capri, Italy. Tony’s involvement in the restaurant business began in Capri at Al Piccolo Bar, from 1960 through 1966. He enlisted in the mandatory Italian military service in the Navy and was discharged in 1968 with the rank of petty officer. He moved to…
Movie Review: ‘The Meg’ Takes a Bite Out of Summer Boredom
“We’re gonna need a bigger shark.” That’s been the thinking in Tinseltown for some time. Ever since Jaws ushered in the era of the summer blockbuster in 1975, a whole subgenre has emerged — the hot-weather nod to Steven Spielberg’s classic. And, ever since filmmakers started paying homage to the saga of that animatronic great…
Gone Dog: Murphy’s Tale Is Now an EBook
Move over, Marley & Me! Catching Murphy, an ebook about a golden retriever who achieved Vermont fame after 559 days on the lam, has debuted on Amazon. The 55-page work of nonfiction, written by Montpelier-based Associated Press reporter Wilson Ring, topped the Amazon best-seller list for pet-dog books last week. Catching Murphy was published through…
Movie Review: Spike Lee Scores a Hit With the Funny, Provocative ‘BlacKkKlansman’
A black cop infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan and becomes besties with David Duke, all the while gathering intel to foil the hate group. It may sound like an absurdist comedy sketch or a ’70s blaxploitation flick, but in 1978, it really happened to Ron Stallworth of the Colorado Springs Police Department. Now Stallworth’s memoir…
Police Dog Mojo Sniffs Out Hidden Electronic Devices — and Illegal Porn
Mojo, a 2-year-old Labrador retriever with soft brown eyes, panted eagerly as he started his search. Wagging his tail, the yellow dog paced an office in South Burlington before zeroing in on his target — a Kindle that Detective Matt Raymond had hidden in a recycling bin. Raymond rewarded Mojo with a handful of dog…
Knead Bakery’s Rob Blum Talks Cooking and Creativity
Chef Rob Blum Position: Owner, operator and baker of Knead Bakery Location: Burlington Age: 33 Restaurant age: 8 months Cuisine type: Vegan Education: Studio art major at Kenyon College in Ohio; on-the-job training in restaurants Past experience: Front-of-the-house and cooking at local restaurants, including Skinny Pancake, Chubby Muffin, Essex Resort & Spa, Sneakers Bistro and…
Grunge Music Is Time Travel in This New Graphic Novel
When graphic novelist Jeremy Holt says, “Music is time travel,” he means it metaphorically — or does he? The 35-year-old Middlebury resident is the author of Skip to the End, a new graphic novel, illustrated by Italian artist Alex Diotto, that takes the notion of music’s transporting power to both fanciful and poignant places. Originally…
Eat This Week, August 15 to 21, 2018: Lunch Is Covered
On Saturday, would-be woodworkers gather at Bridgewater furniture maker Shackleton Thomas for a forest wander — to better understand the trees and wood — and a table-making workshop. On Sunday, they schlep their new tables toward the village green in Woodstock and set them up for lunch on the nearby Middle Covered Bridge. The Woodstock Farmers…
Scarlett Letters: How Do I Handle Inappropriate Behavior From My Boss?
Dear Scarlett, My boss has always been very friendly with me, but lately he has been complimenting me in ways that make me feel anxious. He comments on what I am wearing and told me the other day that I have a nice body. Now I don’t want to be nice to him because I…
Album Review: Sam., ‘Collision’
(self-released, digital download) In 2017, Burlington’s 99 Neighbors established themselves as the region’s new guard of hip-hop. Originally called Possibly Human, the nebulous collective is closer to coalescence than ever before with its thick roster of MCs, producers, videographers and visual artists. Rapper/singer-songwriter Sam Paulino — known simply as Sam. — is perhaps the group’s most…
Theater Review: ‘Pride & Prejudice,’ Dorset Theatre Festival
Pursuing a wealthy husband is a high-stakes game in Georgian England, and if it’s to be the basis for a screwball comedy, the audience needs to be in on the joke. Pride & Prejudice, Kate Hamill’s comic adaptation of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel, is less about Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy than exaggerated theatricality. In…
Vermont Land Trust Announces Trust Honoring Farmer Eric Rozendaal
The family of Eric Rozendaal, a local farmer who died last month, has established a fund in his name at the Vermont Land Trust. The Eric Rozendaal Farm Innovation Award will grant $5,000 a year to a “Vermont farmer who exemplifies Eric’s model as a skilled, creative, entrepreneurial farmer,” according to the VLT website. Gil…
Mural Task Force Presents Recommendations to Burlington City Council
Malcolm X once said, “You can’t have capitalism without racism.” In the case of the downtown Burlington mural “Everyone Loves a Parade!,” that statement appears to hold true. Commissioned by the Church Street Marketplace and funded in part by local businesses, the mural was painted by Québécois artist Pierre Hardy and his Vermont assistant Mary…
Beavers, Bees and Bad Policies: Wildlife in the News
Even in the best of times, our furry, flying and four-legged friends have a tough time dealing with all the mayhem created by us naked apes. Whether it’s dynamiting beaver dams, choking endangered sea turtles with plastics or spraying pesticides that decimate the pollinators essential for growing our food, we humans are the nastiest force…
A Working Mermaid Talks Magic, Tails and Occupational Hazards
Name: Danielle Ross Town: Essex Job: Professional mermaid performer Whenever Danielle Ross tells people what she does for a living, she’s met with bemusement. After all, how many professional mermaid performers does one meet? “I explain that I do parties for kids and I do events,” said Ross, whose stage name is Mermaid Dalni. Ross,…
Album Review: The Essex Green, ‘Hardly Electronic’
(Merge Records, CD, vinyl, digital download) Deep into the Essex Green’s new album, vocalist/keyboardist Sasha Bell sings, “And I am a fool to say the years don’t matter / We were kids with all the clatter.” Though the album title comes from the same track (“Slanted by Six”), the aforementioned line seems to capture the…
WTF: Should Vermonters Try to Deal With Rabid Wildlife Themselves?
Last month, Michaela Grubbs of Charlotte discovered a skunk acting strangely in her front yard. By “acting strangely,” she clarified, the animal was out during daylight hours, which seemed suspicious for a normally nocturnal creature. “It was literally just sitting there,” she recalled. “We thought it was dead.” Concerned that the skunk had rabies, Grubbs…
A Vermonter Finds Forever Homes for Desert Dogs From Saudi Arabia
Two months before Annie Viets moved back to the U.S. after six and a half years in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, she found herself with a problem. She had to find homes for a litter of desert puppies that she and her colleague at Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University had rescued in May. “It…
Art Review: “Exposed. 2018,” Helen Day Art Center
On the lawn of the Helen Day Art Center, afternoon sunlight angling through the trees dapples “Interlace,” adding a sense of movement to the already complex sculpture. The weathering steel behemoth — 10 feet high, 7.5 feet wide and a couple feet thick — by renowned Rochester, N.Y., artist Albert Paley is true to its…
Free Will Astrology (8/15/18)
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Whoever does not visit Paris regularly will never really be elegant,” wrote French author Honoré de Balzac. I think that’s an exaggeration, but it does trigger a worthwhile meditation. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you’re in a phase of your cycle when you have maximum power to raise your appreciation…
A Predictable Outcome: Scott and Hallquist Win Their Primaries
In the end, Vermont’s gubernatorial primary results were thoroughly unsurprising. The two apparent favorites, Republican Gov. Phil Scott and Democrat Christine Hallquist, won their respective party nominations and will face off in November. Recent days brought a flurry of smokin’ hot takes on potential shockers, fueled in part by wishful thinking from those who were…
Solid Waste or Chicken Feed? Regulatory Change Riles Farmers
The 250 chickens at Berlin’s Perfect Circle Farm know when it’s chow time. The sound of the bucket loader engine signals that farm co-owner Buzz Ferver is about to dump a heap of compostables into their enclosure. Somehow, none of the birds get buried in the cascade of apple cores, potatoes and deli meats mixed…
The Animal Issue — 2018
We get all warm and fuzzy when this annual issue comes around — not that all stories about creatures are comforting. Proposed changes to the federal Endangered Species Act could, well, endanger more species. When a Charlotte woman was faced with a rabid skunk, a state official advised her to just shoot it. Yikes! But…
Letters to the Editor (8/15/18)
Sermon on the Mount As a historian and an educator, I enthusiastically looked forward to your Good Citizen Challenge [Inside Seven Days: “Good Citizen Challenge Offers Kids an Interactive Summer Civics Lesson — and Prizes,” May 25]. It’s generally a well-thought-out piece for Vermont students and covers many aspects of U.S. and Vermont history. However,…
Debut Novel by Matthys Levy Shows How Buildings Rise and Fall
Burlington-based structural engineer Matthys Levy has worked with famous architects — Walter Gropius, Gordon Bunshaft, Marcel Breuer, I.M. Pei — on some of their most notable buildings. And, at 88, he’s still not retired. After 60 years of designing structures with the New York City firm Weidlinger Associates (which merged with Thornton Tomasetti in 2015),…
Blood, Sweat and Shears: This Benson Sheep Farm Produces an Unusual Crop
A half dozen barns on a Benson farm house 2,200 sheep — one of Vermont’s largest animal herds — that are not being raised for their meat or fleece. The operation’s workforce of nearly 50 makes it a top employer in this rural corner of Rutland County. Yet it has drawn little or no notice…
A Humane Society Program Gives Outdoor Cats a Chance
Parents sometimes cushion the blow of a beloved pet’s death by telling their kids something like, “Mr. Wiggles has gone to live on a farm in the country.” As a ruse, it might or might not work, but the Humane Society of Chittenden County is actually doing just that: sending cats that cannot be adopted…
Soundbites: Recapping Burlington’s First Guerrilla Queer Bar Takeover
800-Pound Guerrilla I know it seems like every few weeks or so I preface a feature or a section of this column with a statement along these lines: We’re lucky to have such a vast selection when it comes to local nightlife. Well, it’s true, damn it! Sure, the entire state is not a highly…
The T Sisters’ Erika Tietjen on Being Sassy and Working With the Wood Brothers
There’s nothing quite like the sound of siblings singing. The Roches, the Carpenters, Haim, First Aid Kit, Joseph — all are known for their exquisite songwriting, of course. But their magic ingredient — shared DNA — is something that can’t be manufactured. A newer sororal act to emerge from the San Francisco Bay Area’s diverse music scene…
At Chelsea’s Sweet Doe Dairy, the ‘Kids’ Are All Right
If gelato is the “why” at Chelsea’s Sweet Doe Dairy, baby goats are the “who.” Babies with clear eyes and long lashes that cock their heads to look at you, that lean into your chest when you pick them up, flooding your senses with animal affection. Their calls sound almost like a human infant’s cry:…
Sleek Chinese Lounge, Mandarin, to Open in Winooski
Another week, another new restaurant for Winooski. When Mandarin opens at 22 Main Street early next week, it’ll join newbies dessert-and-cocktail bar Sweet Babu and Drafts N Crafts, which took over part of the former oak45/Mister Sister spot in April. Co-owners Lawrence and Joyce Fong — the son-mother duo behind Joyce’s Noodle House in Essex…
