Aug 17-23, 2016
On the Field and Off the Cuff With Red Sox Legend Bill “Spaceman” Lee; Artist Mohamad Hafez Renders the Syrian Crisis in Sculpture; Vermont’s Biodynamic Winemakers Act Naturally
Cover Story
On the Field With Bill Lee, Red Sox Legend and Vermont Gubernatorial Candidate
Bill Lee stands on the mound rolling a ball over in his hand as he stares at Fenway’s home plate. Beyond him, in left field, an American flag waves atop the Green Monster against steely, late-summer clouds. The left-handed pitcher digs his cleat into the dirt and, as he begins his windup, grins at the…
Obituary: Gail Rex
On Wednesday, August 17, Gail Reichstein Rex, of Lincoln, Vermont, age 51, died suddenly of a brain aneurysm. She was a beloved wife, mom, daughter, sister, author, healer, acupuncturist, and friend. She is survived by her husband, Robert Rex; her son, Orion; her parents, Toby and Ronald Reichstein; her sisters, Melissa Rothstein, Alison Reichstein, and…
Living Small: A Family of Three Makes a Tiny House Their Home
Tiny houses are a big phenomenon. Stories of miniature abodes grace magazines, social media and blogs, and fuel TV shows like “Tiny House Nation,” “Tiny House, Big Living” and “Tiny Luxury.” Yet as the average U.S. house size creeps upward — from 1,660 square feet in 1973 to 2,679 square feet in 2013, according to…
When Should Parents Start Discussing Sex with Their Kids?
Cindy Pierce insists she’ll discuss anything with her kids, and she’s on a mission to help other parents do the same. The New Hampshire-based sex educator, comedic storyteller and mom of three teenagers navigates topics like sexuality, porn and peer pressure with humor and leaves judgment aside. Pierce’s 2015 book, Sexploitation: Helping Kids Develop Healthy…
Meet Lisa Buckton, Teen Librarian
Name: Lisa Buckton Town: Burlington Job: Teen librarian, Fletcher Free Library For some people, serving as a librarian for teenagers would be akin to inhabiting one of Dante’s nine circles of hell. Not Lisa Buckton. She says being the first-ever teen librarian at Burlington’s Fletcher Free Library is her dream job. Extroverted and friendly, the 32-year-old…
Transforming the Moran, Again, With Art
For just two days last summer, the Burlington curatorial initiative Overnight Projects made its debut with a number of installations in the building that once housed St. Joseph’s Orphan Asylum. For many locals, this exhibition offered the first — and only — chance to see and learn about a particularly storied institution in Vermont history.…
Bar Antidote Launches Hired Hand Brewing
Habitués of Vergennes’ Bar Antidote are familiar with chef-owner Ian Huizenga’s multifaceted gastropub fare. At this hub below the sidewalks of 35C Green Street, guests can get everything from salt-and-vinegar fries to pasta carbonara to ‘Dote burgers, noodle bowls and house-smoked ribs. Earlier this summer, Huizenga began work on a 1,600-square-foot addition, expanding into the…
South Burlington Debuts Bike & Bite Food-Truck Night
Piggybacking on the success of Burlington Parks & Recreation’s Leddy Park Beach Bites, the City of South Burlington is launching a Thursday-night food-truck gathering at Veterans Memorial Park, just south of the Interstate 89 interchange on Dorset Street. The inaugural Bike & Bites — so named for the event’s proximity to the Dorset Street bike path…
Newbies and Stars at the Middlebury New Filmmakers Fest
When Jesse Nesser received an email from Jay Craven, artistic director of the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, asking if he’d be interested in appearing at the fest with his movie on opening night, he was blown away. “I remember thinking, Is the sky blue?” Nesser recalls. “I’ve never had a movie open a festival, so…
Artists Rally to Keep Charlie’s Boathouse Afloat
Defying nature and economics, two octogenarian siblings run Charlie’s Boathouse — a whimsical outpost at the confluence of the Winooski River and Lake Champlain. The shop, which has offered boat rentals, bait and food since their father built it in 1928, has a cult following among locals and out-of-towners. But the business’ future is uncertain,…
Collateral Damage’ Exhibit: the Syrian Crisis in Miniature
When visitors to the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum mount the stairs to the current exhibit in the beautifully restored lecture hall, they are likely to be greeted by an unusual sound, at least in Vermont: the Muslim call to prayer. The live recording, complete with sounds of traffic and the occasional birdcall, emanates from a two-foot-high…
What’s the Story Behind Artificial Lake Shaftsbury?
Knee-deep in the brief season when Vermonters can enjoy their beautiful state parks without donning long underwear, one reader wrote to inquire about the history of Lake Shaftsbury State Park and, specifically, about its scenic artificial reservoir. Lake Shaftsbury is one of countless manmade bodies of water in Vermont, created in the days before Act…
Various Artists, Hot Garbage & Sunscreen
(What Doth Life, digital download) What Doth Life is, in cofounder Brendan Dangelo’s words, “a sorta support group for wayward song makers.” Many of those wayward souls appear on the Upper Valley label/collective’s new summer compilation, Hot Garbage & Sunscreen. Many are also intertwined. Strands spread out from WDL’s home base in Windsor through the…
Moving a 19th-Century Landmark — by Ox
This past May, the Old Stone House Museum — a campus of historic 19th-century buildings in the Northeast Kingdom — announced an unusual wish list. The organization’s spring bulletin solicited donations of laptop computers, museum tour guides, and oxen and teamsters to help “bring the Grammar School home.” This would be the second trip for…
Peace in the Valley, C O L O R S
(Self-released, digital download) Peace in the Valley are proof that the world has not gone completely insane. Yes, political and social nightmares rain down upon us daily. But at least the kids still want to rock. Eighteen-year-olds Benjamin Burr, Eli Leppla and Enzo Cormier, along with 16-year-old Colin Holter, have embarked on a classic teenage…
Billy Brauer Looks Back on 50 Years of Painting
“Dumb luck” brought Billy Brauer to Vermont, as he tells it. In 1968, as a young man, he came up from New York City, accompanying his cousin to a New Year’s party. “[Vermont] was deserted,” he said. “I thought, This is terrific.” Three years later, Brauer bought his Warren house for “next to nothing,” and…
Four More Local Albums You (Probably) Haven’t Heard
So many records, so little time. Seven Days gets more album submissions than we know what to do with. And, given the ease of record making these days, it’s difficult to keep up. Still, we try to get to every local release that comes across the music desk, no matter how obscure or far out.…
Letters to the Editor (8/17/16)
Gun Done? The anti-gun rally featured in [Off Message: “Democratic Candidates Call for Vermont Gun Legislation,” August 4] is further evidence of the demographic change in Vermont that began with the hippie influx of the late 1960s. It certainly isn’t evidence of an increase in gun violence over the past 50 years, because data show…
Hit the Gas: Claims Against Fuel Industry Find Traction in Courtrooms
Countless Vermont drivers have grumbled for years that gas prices in Chittenden County are always higher than everywhere else in the state. Lawmakers have held hearings, grilling gasoline wholesalers about their pricing strategies. They’ve contemplated legislation that would require sellers to disclose more information about their practices. But nothing changed. Recently, though, gasoline business skeptics…
Art Review: Bunny Harvey, White River Gallery at BALE
The White River Gallery’s pale yellow walls offer a luminous backdrop for “Fully Involved: Bunny Harvey Paintings,” an exhibit of 17 works by the Tunbridge artist. Harvey has filled the 500-square-foot venue with five large-scale oil-on-canvas paintings, eight 12-inch-square oil paintings on panels and four framed archival ink-jet prints. The thrum of a Vermont summer…
Free Will Astrology (8/17/16)
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In my opinion, you need to bask in the glorious fury of at least one brainstorm — preferably multiple brainstorms over the course of the next two weeks. What can you do to ensure that happens? How might you generate a flood of new ideas about how to live your life…
Soundbites: Vermont Music Fest; Party Boats; Inner Fire District Returns
If you’ve been following along over the last few years, you might remember that it has become something of an annual tradition for me to gently chide the fine folks at the Vermont Music Fest. Not because I have anything against the two-day hootenanny. In fact, I think it’s a great little event. Rather, I…
Sausage Party
You’ll never look at your neighborhood supermarket the same way again. The latest envelope pusher from the writing team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg — with an assist from Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir — could be described as Superbad meets Toy Story. As unthinkable as that may sound, the reality is a thousand…
What Happened? Questions and Answers About Vermont’s Primary
Now that the dust has settled, it’s clear what happened in last week’s primary election. Right? Wrong. Campaigns are a black box — particularly in Vermont, where exit polls aren’t conducted in state elections and polling of any sort is a scarce commodity. We know who won, but we don’t know who voted for whom…
My Boyfriend Caught Me Masturbating
Dear Athena, My boyfriend caught me masturbating. I was in our bed, and he was staying up late to work. Then he came in, and I was masturbating. We’ve never talked about masturbation before. He didn’t say anything and just walked out of the room, and then I was so embarrassed, humiliated and silly. I…
A Music Writer Calls a Lake Monsters Baseball Game
Originally published July 22, 2015. For me, the best way to enjoy baseball next to being at the ballpark is listening to the radio, not watching TV. Perhaps it’s because of the hazy nostalgia that pervades and defines America’s Pastime. Perhaps I’m just too cheap to spring for cable. Whatever the reason, the sweet crackle…
Florence Foster Jenkins
Is it cruel to enjoy giggling at tone-deaf singers on YouTube or “American Idol,” as millions of people apparently do? Perhaps. But there’s also something uniquely amusing and trainwreck-compelling about bad singing, particularly when it’s done with sterling conviction. Florence Foster Jenkins knew that — or, at least, benefited from it — long before the…
Book Review: Questions in the Vestibule by Rachel Hadas
Rachel Hadas is a formal poet, which is to say she is interested in poetic forms as both tools for expression and as structures that, like individuals, are rich in history. New York City-based with a summer home in Danville, Hadas has had a dozen poems published in the New Yorker since her first of…
Phil Scott: Bruised and Battered or Road-Tested?
As Republican gubernatorial candidate Phil Scott shook voters’ hands earlier this month at the Franklin County Field Days, he heard a radio playing. There it was again: another ad in which Republican rival Bruce Lisman was berating him. Everywhere the lieutenant governor went before last week’s primary election, it seemed he couldn’t escape Lisman’s barrage. By…
Real-Deal Mexican at Casa Aguilera Trading Co.
According to 2015 estimates from the United States Census Bureau, only 1.8 percent of Vermont’s population is of “Hispanic or Latino” origin. So if the Green Mountains are left wanting for Mexican food that resembles actual fare south of the border — or Mexican cuisine in California or Texas, or even Brooklyn — that’s understandable.…
Vermont’s Biodynamic Winemakers Follow Nature’s Rules
In 2016, it’s common to think about humans holistically, taking into consideration both tangible factors, such as the physical body and surrounding environment, and intangible ones, such as thoughts and emotions. Taking a holistic view of grapes on a vine, however, may seem a bit too mystical to some. And yet, while grapes don’t think…
