A July tour for prospective students at Vermont State University’s Lyndon campus drew precisely one: Trinitie Simonds — and she already had been accepted at the school. The Lyndonville teen and her father were outnumbered by employees of the state colleges system on hand to answer her questions. And that wasn’t the only sparsely attended July…
Updated on August 20, 2023. Just three years after COVID-19 emptied desks and workstations at the Vermont Department of Taxes, employees went through another round of upheaval, this one caused by the July flooding that devastated Montpelier. The tax department building, which abuts the Statehouse lawn, was one of the hardest-hit structures in the Capital…
For the past 39 years, Vermont Studio Center has been a sanctuary for creatives. Visual artists and writers from around the world have flocked to the Johnson campus for monthlong residencies that foster both intense, solitary work and the supportive conviviality of peers. For artists ensconced in VSC’s private studios, the flow of the nearby…
Move over, Barbenheimer: A double feature has nothing on this year’s Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, screening 118 films over the course of five days. The fest was founded in 2015 to showcase the work of first- and second-time filmmakers, with winners of its juried competition receiving awards. Highlighting themes of perseverance and resilience, this year’s…
Comedian Sam Morril will likely joke about anything: abortion, pedophiles, dating apps, the Holocaust, Karens, watching porn — and that’s just in his 2022 Netflix special, “Sam Morril: Same Time Tomorrow.” Delivered with a liquid nitrogen-cooled deadpan, a gravelly voice and mischievously cocked eyebrows, Morril’s quips are as graphic as they are hilarious. But a…
The staggering amount of detritus in the modern world provides boundless opportunities to make unique works of art. So the prosaic title “Tossed: Art From Discarded, Found and Repurposed Materials” doesn’t reveal much. Nor does it prepare visitors for the range and ingenuity of creations in the exhibition now at the Middlebury College Museum of…
Alec Kaeding motored his utility vehicle along the shoreline at Burlington’s North Beach one afternoon last week, squinting through polarized sunglasses at the quietly lapping water. Kaeding, the city’s beach manager, was hunting for signs of cyanobacteria blooms, potentially toxic slicks of blue-green slime that can paint the near-shore water of Burlington Bay on summer…
Summer camp is not for everyone. Even before cellphones and surveillance apps for helicopter parents, people generally fell into two groups: those who loved and grew from the experience of leaving home to spend a few weeks in nature, away from their nuclear families, and those who either hated summer camp or never went. I’m…
SUMMARY: The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has prepared a draft permit renewal for a hazardous waste storage facility, owned and operated by University of University of Vermont and State Agricultural College (UVM), located at 667 Spear Street, Burlington. The facility is owned by UVM and has been operated as a hazardous waste storage…
A well-respected therapist who has worked with trauma victims for decades in Vermont has surrendered his license after two women came forward with evidence that he pursued inappropriate relationships with them. Bob Wolford, a clinical social worker who retired from the Howard Center in 2017 after nearly 30 years, met the two women through the…
Fuels and Floods Don’t Mix [Re “Vermont Officials Warn: Stay Out of Rivers, Floodwaters,” July 12, online]: During the July flood, I watched and smelled thousands of gallons of basement water drain from downtown buildings that were polluted with fossil fuels from heating sources. All of this water will eventually end up in our rivers…
Summer is the time for fun and frothy watches, right? I’m not very good at the whole “fun and frothy” thing, but I gave it a try by catching Prime Video’s adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s best-selling novel Red, White & Royal Blue. Directed and cowritten by Matthew López, this gay rom-com plays out on the…
new in theaters BLUE BEETLE: An alien scarab transforms a teenager (Xolo Maridueña) into a superhero in this action adventure with a comic-book history that goes back to 1939. With Bruna Marquezine and Susan Sarandon. Angel Manuel Soto directed. (127 min, PG-13. Big Picture, Essex, Majestic, Palace, Paramount, Star, Sunset, Welden) OMG 2: A simple…
LEO (Jul. 23-Aug. 22): Unless you are French, chances are you have never heard of Saint-John Perse (1887-1975). He was a renowned diplomat for the French government and a poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Now he’s virtually unknown outside of his home country. Can we draw lessons for your use, Leo? Well,…
Dear Reverend, My therapist suggested that my partner and I should not have sex after he called me by his ex’s name and that we should wait until we resolved why he did that. I was traumatized when he called me by her name. It was right after we were discussing wedding plans. Ugh! He…
As she took a sip from her latte, the late-summer sun reflecting off the sunglasses that partially obscured her face, Grace Potter cracked a wry smile. “I made an album that, to me, is very much a sort of ‘Thank you, world,'” the Vermont-born singer-songwriter said as she gazed toward the verdant trees surrounding us…
Laura Heaberlin, one half of the Vermont folk duo Cricket Blue, appears on a new track from singer-songwriter Hank Midnight. “River Song” reunites Midnight and Heaberlin, who met while attending Middlebury College. Midnight is based in Paris these days, and he and Heaberlin haven’t seen each other in years, but they made the transatlantic collaboration…
It was 3 p.m. on a Friday, and Yung Breeze was about to explode. Also known as Chris Brown (seriously), the 29-year-old Brattleboro rapper, producer and self-described “floor general” behind the prolific Street Religion crew is always a hyperactive ball of energy. But on this particular afternoon, he was gearing up for the release of…
The Burlington High School class of 1953 met at Vermont National Country Club earlier this month for its 70th — and final, organizers said — class reunion. Working on the reunion committee has been a joy, Diana Carlisle told 17 classmates and their guests after the luncheon plates had been cleared, the cookies passed and…
Playwright Kate Hamill’s comedy Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson — Apt. 2B includes the chummy tagline “Cheerfully desecrating the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.” The intent is clearly to bring cheer, and the production at Dorset Theatre Festival saws hard at the humor. The verbal wit is excellent. But the show uses excess to…
On a recent Monday afternoon, Luke Brown, a line cook at Burlington restaurant A Single Pebble, slashed the skins of dozens of drumsticks. Meanwhile, fellow line cook Ben Redington parcooked the chicken in huge stockpots. After Redington skimmed the liquid in one pot, Single Pebble sous chef Nick Gambill poured in local beer, dark and…
Mehuron’s Supermarket deli manager Patrick Garvin grins widely when describing his classic Italian sub of capicola, salami, pepperoni, provolone, olives and hot peppers. “Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes,” he explains. Named for the character in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 film The Godfather, the Luca Brasi sandwich transports your senses to the narrow streets of…
The Wild Hart Distillery tasting room may not quite capture the vibe of an urban jazz club, but its sophisticated cocktails would befit any vanguard lounge. In a Shelburne industrial park behind Fiddlehead Brewing and Folino’s pizzeria, the distillery has a cordoned-off area at the entrance where small round tables and a pair of velvet…
Almost five years have passed since Champlain College announced that a ramen shop would occupy a corner spot on the ground level of its student apartment building at 194 St. Paul Street in Burlington. Several weeks ago, signs on the windows promised that Magic Chopsticks was “coming soon.” Kam “Ken” Cheung, who is managing the…
Claudia Amparo, owner of Parkside Café in Hinesburg, has expanded to Vergennes with the late-June launch of Maple Café. The new restaurant is open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily in the Kennedy Brothers building at 11 Main Street. It duplicates the menu of breakfast and lunch sandwiches, tacos, burgers, pastries, and gluten-free empanadas of…
In 2020, Nora Ganley-Roper and her husband, Adam Polonski, launched the independent whiskey bottler Lost Lantern, using space at Village Garage Distillery in Bennington to blend and bottle whiskey sourced from craft distilleries around the U.S. This month, the couple, who live in Ferrisburgh, have moved all of their barrels to a dedicated blending and…
On July 31, Flavors of India opened at 10 Railroad Avenue in Essex Junction in the space most recently occupied by Irrawaddy. That restaurant’s owner, Htun Sein, confirmed by text that inadequate staffing obliged him to close Irrawaddy. Sein offered dishes from his native Burma, as well as a Nepali menu, from November 2021 until…
The morning sun beat down as Antoine Waithe sharpened his scythe. He knelt in the grass, carefully handling the tool. Its long, handsome blade caught the light. It was a hot Thursday in August, and the Addison County Fair & Field Days, an annual celebration of rural life, was in full swing. The quintessential country…
Is Not That Strange? Thursday 17-Sunday 20 Feminist theater troupe Foul Contending Rebels takes on Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s beloved rom-com about love, misunderstandings and the sublime pleasure of insulting the person you have a crush on. This utterly modern, tarot-themed production plays at Burlington’s Off Center for the Dramatic Arts. Tickets are on…
Kelsy Trust founder was active member of numerous community groups in Essex, N.Y.
Updated on August 15, 2023. The last time Vermont’s sole natural gas utility sought to significantly expand its service area, it set off a firestorm. Vermont Gas Systems’ push to build a 41-mile pipeline to Middlebury fueled climate protests against “fracked gas” and spawned multiple lawsuits. VGS is now proposing a more modest pipeline project…
U.S. Air Force veteran was a member of the fraternity of Shriners and Masons
