Aug 18-24, 2021
Residents Bear the Brunt of Burlington’s First Property Reassessment in 16 Years; Manchester’s VT Fusion Women’s Soccer Team Scores for the Community; Foul Contending Rebels Theatre Cooperative Gives ‘Hamlet’ a Feminist Twist
Cover Story
Tax Burdened: Residents Bear the Brunt of Burlington’s First Property Reassessment in 16 Years
Sue Schein has fond memories of visiting childhood friends on Caroline Street in Burlington. In the 1950s, the South End neighborhood was home to young families whose patriarchs toiled at the nearby lakeside factories. The area was affordable, unpretentious. Everybody knew everybody. And to young Sue, it felt like home. Decades later, Schein bought her…
In Memoriam: Jean Oliver Koch, 1937‑2021
A memorial service will be held on Friday, September 3, 11 a.m., at Our Lady of the Snows in Waitsfield, Vt., with a reception to follow at Mad River Glen. Masking and social distancing encouraged. Read her full obituary here.
Obituary: Carol Dansky, 1946-2021
Woman found her calling in health care while living in Vermont in the 1970s
In Memoriam: Ann Livingston, 1925-2021
Due to COVID-19 concerns, the Ann Livingston memorial has been changed to livestream only. The service is still scheduled for Saturday, August 28, 2021, at 2 p.m., and can be accessed at uusociety.org (choose “featured events,” then “Ann Livingston Memorial Service”). Please email gary.golden5@gmail.com with any questions. Related Stories
I Can’t Seem to Do Anything Until the Absolute Last Minute
Dear Reverend, I am a world-class procrastinator. No matter what the task, work-related or not, I can’t seem to do anything until the absolute last minute. Don’t get me wrong: I will always meet a deadline, but I sure won’t be done one second sooner. Is there any hope for me? Dillydallier (female, 57) Dear…
Norwich University and Vermont Granite Museum Team Up to Train Stone Carvers
Eighteen thousand people worked in the Barre granite industry at its peak in 1929 — quarrying the rock, carving and shaping the stone, creating the tools used in the stone sheds. These days, that number is down to 650, but local manufacturers still need skilled workers. The Vermont Granite Museum in Barre hopes to provide…
From the Publisher: Sounding Off
There are four full pages of letters to the editor in this week’s Seven Days. One is feedback related to Kevin McCallum’s August 4 story about Vermont’s new indoor firing range, where you can check out firearms the way you rent shoes at a bowling alley. Gun aficionados across the continent objected to McCallum’s first-person…
Climate Crisis Spawns a Push to Ban Logging in the Green Mountain National Forest
Karen Bixler made her way down a steep logging road deep in the Green Mountains last week, a bright rainbow on her floppy hat and a dark scowl on her face. The Bethel resident had spent the previous hour listening to U.S. Forest Service staffers explain why they had allowed loggers to clear-cut a nearby…
Soundbites: Clubs Begin Requiring Proof of Vaccination to Enter
I can still recall the shock when I saw the email. Homer Flynn of management and PR firm the Cryptic Corporation wanted to talk with me about the Residents. The fucking Residents. The rep for the most mysterious band in rock and roll, famously adverse to interviews in their 49 years of existence, was emailing…
Will Keeper, ‘Nosebleeds’
(Anti-Golf, digital) Will Keeper’s music is so enthralling that it’s difficult to know where to begin describing it. It gracefully courses in and out of muted acoustic pop and featherlight funk. The core elements strengthen and balance each other, coalescing in a euphoric non-zero-sum game of stylistic influences. Real name Will Lynch, the Burlington artist…
Manchester’s New VT Fusion Women’s Soccer Team Scores for the Community
Sarah and Eric Perry stood on the sidelines of the soccer field, watching their team practice. As balls flew through the air and players’ voices rang out in a cacophony of code words, the couple was intent on every detail. For them, calling VT Fusion “our team” wasn’t a sports-fan expression — it was for…
WTF: Do Mobile Advertisements Violate Vermont’s Ban on Billboards?
Last month, Heather Batalion of Essex Junction was driving in the Burlington area when she and her husband, Philip, spotted what looked like a large box truck. On closer inspection, they realized that the only thing the commercial vehicle was delivering was an advertising message. On its bed was a large, two-sided sign announcing the…
Art Review: Shelter Cultivation Project, Karma Bird House Gallery
Of all the ulterior motives one could have for mounting an art show, creating community is a pretty good one. That’s what Shawn Dumont had in mind when he assembled the Shelter Cultivation Project this past year. The outcome is a large group exhibition that opened at Burlington’s Karma Bird House Gallery this month. Bonus…
Lillian and the Muses, ‘Lillian and the Muses’
(Self-released, digital) In a 2017 Washington Post book review of Elif Batuman’s The Idiot, critic Elaine Margolin expressed concern about “a growing and upsetting trend among so many young people who seem to have given up on the possibility of love and jubilation and euphoria before they have even tasted it.” Channeling but also challenging…
‘Supernova’ Is a Classy Tearjerker Driven by Star Power
Who wants to see a movie about the private tragedy of dementia while the world is dealing with a pandemic? Not many people, perhaps, yet early 2021 saw the theatrical release of two prestige dramas on that subject. While The Father earned Anthony Hopkins an Oscar, Supernova snagged no major awards, despite starring Colin Firth…
Foul Contending Rebels Theatre Cooperative Gives ‘Hamlet’ a Feminist Twist
Hamlet is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous works. It’s also one of his most misunderstood — and most in need of an update — according to Burlington’s Foul Contending Rebels Theatre Cooperative (FCR). “Nobody does it funny enough,” said founding member Emily Thibodeau, 25. “It’s a funny fucking show.” Composed of University of Vermont…
Theater Review: ‘Million Dollar Quartet,’ Northern Stage
Drop a quarter in the jukebox that is Million Dollar Quartet, and nearly two hours of foot-stomping, hip-swinging rock and roll pours off the stage. Northern Stage’s outdoor production assembles seven top-notch musicians to deliver the restless energy of rockabilly in the 1950s, when dancing itself was like catapulting into a fresh and boundless future.…
“Dreaming of Timbuctoo” in Middlebury Examines the History of Black Land Ownership in the Adirondacks
Many elements of history lie hidden amid family heirlooms. Katherine Butler Jones, a Black woman from Massachusetts, was going through some family documents more than two decades ago when she came upon the original marriage certificate of her great-great-grandparents. Familiar with Black history, Jones recognized the name of the minister who had married the couple:…
Now Playing in Theaters: August 18-24
new in theaters AILEY: Jamila Wignot directed this documentary profile of the dance pioneer, featuring a new production inspired by his life. (82 min, PG-13. Savoy) CAN YOU BRING IT: BILL T. JONES AND D-MAN IN THE WATERS: In 1989, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company produced a searing dance piece in response to the AIDS…
Letters to the Editor (8/18/21)
Wrong Rank [Re “Green Mountain ‘Good Old Boys,'” August 11]: The photo of Adj. Gen. Greg Knight shows him with colonel insignia, not major general. Apparently Seven Days used an old file photo without verifying that the photo must show his current two-star insignia. Roger Crouse Shelburne Why ‘Spy’? I don’t understand how in the…
Free Will Astrology (8/18/21)
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “If we wait until we are ready, we will be waiting for the rest of our lives,” declared novelist Lemony Snicket. This is good advice for you to heed right now. I really hope you avoid the temptation to wait around for the perfect moment before you begin. In my vision…
Increasing Downpours Impede Efforts to Improve Lake Champlain’s Water Quality
Don’t let me ruin your fun at the beach, but there’s yet more bad news about the likely effects of the climate crisis in Vermont. A sobering warning is woven through a recent report about the water quality in Lake Champlain, Vermont’s crown jewel. The climate crisis could create a serious drag on the huge,…
Vermont’s Cookbook Queen Is Selling Off Her Collection
Vermont’s unofficial cookbook queen is ceding the throne. South Burlington’s Loreen Benner says she is selling off her collection of more than 3,200 cookbooks, signaling an end to her reign after more than a decade. Benner, whose immense collection was the subject of a 2009 Seven Days story, began her cookbook journey in the late 1990s…
Peru Meets Cape Cod at Esmeralda’s Earth-Oven Feast in Andover
In his Andover kitchen on a recent Saturday, JuanMa Calderón offered a taste of sauce to fellow chef and friend Nevin Taylor. “Maybe a little more spiciness?” Taylor suggested. “But the smoke is nice.” Calderón had started with a base of salsa madre, the mother sauce with a blend of flavors that evokes his native…
A Lincoln Family Has a Peachy Summer Job With Paradise Fruit
Mid-August marks a glorious, fleeting time of the year in Vermont: peach season. Last week, local orchards started filling their fruit stands with crates of the fuzzy golden globes and scheduling precious pick-your-own slots through subscriber-only email lists. We’re a little north of where peaches prefer to grow, and that makes them a risky proposition…
Rainbow Sweets in Marshfield Closes After 44 Years
Since its opening in April 1976, Rainbow Sweets Café & Bakery has served as Marshfield’s community hub: a go-to spot for coffee, conversation, and, most of all, sweet and savory European-style pastries. The café’s large pink sign was a beacon to travelers along Route 2 heading to or from such far-flung locations as Mount Washington…
Brooklyn Couple Moves to Middlebury to Open Little Seed Coffee Roasters
When it opens this fall at 24 Merchants Row, Middlebury’s Little Seed Coffee Roasters will continue the tradition that started with Carol’s Hungry Mind Café, which closed in 2018, and the short-lived Daily Grind, which closed in 2019. Anthony and Maggie Gerakos knew they wanted to open a coffee business in Vermont someday. But the…
The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, August 18 to 24
Carnatic Chords Thursday 19 Indian classical music power couple and Next Stage artists-in-residence Arun Ramamurthy and Trina Basu arrive at Naulakha in Dummerston to give a lively concert. Influenced by Carnatic, Hindustani, jazz and chamber music traditions, the two violinists bring an adventurous, ear-opening energy to the outdoor performance, presented by Next Stage Arts and…
