December 13 • 2017
Turning Point Center Fights Addiction With Community and Crafts; Gov. Phil Scott Courts Canadian Business; Women Seek a Place in the Slaughter and Butchery Industry
Cover Story
Turning Point Center Fights Addiction With Crafts and Community
The street-level entrance to the Turning Point Center of Chittenden County looks a little sketchy. Though the cheery signs outside the door at 191 Bank Street in downtown Burlington announce it’s “a safe and supportive environment for those in recovery” and “open every day of the year!” there’s no missing the warning from the Vermont…
Memoriam: Stephen Andrew Ham-Ellis, 1987-2013
In loving memory of Stephen Andrew Ham-Ellis June 10, 1987-Dec. 27, 2013 “Thinking of you is easy, We do it every day. Missing you is the heartache, That never goes away.” Life goes on, but so differently. The “famn damily”
The Cannabis Catch-Up: Despite Legalization, Colorado Teen Pot Use Declines
Data, data, data. The cannabis legalization debate almost always comes back to numbers: This survey shows one thing, toxicology results show another and car crash data present something else entirely. Here’s some data that legalization proponents will likely seize upon. A new federal survey found that “adolescent marijuana use in Colorado has fallen to its…
![Green Mountain Nutcracker [SIV514]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/episode514.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Green Mountain Nutcracker [SIV514]
12/3/17: The 11th Annual Green Mountain Nutcracker will be held at the Barre Opera House the weekend of December 16-17. It’s the Nutcracker with a Vermont twist: the Sugar Plum Fairy becomes the Maple Sugar Fairy, loggers and moose get starring roles, and local musician Colin McCaffrey has adapted part of the beloved Tchaikovsky score.…
Carina Driscoll Says She’ll Run for Burlington Mayor ‘Her’ Way
When Burlington mayoral candidate Carina Driscoll made her pitch to city Progressives for their endorsement December 6, she conspicuously avoided any mention of her connection with the Queen City’s most famous resident. That was intentional, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) stepdaughter later explained to Seven Days. “It’s important to me that I enter this campaign on…
Ask Athena: I Don’t Want to Be a High-Maintenance Girlfriend
Dear Athena, I love giving blow jobs, but I also love having sex with my boyfriend. The problem is that I can’t have an orgasm unless I’m masturbating. So, I usually give him a blow job and masturbate at the same time, so we can both come together. He really wants to make me have…
Roy Wood Jr. on Comedy and ‘The Daily Show’
Fake news was all the rage in 2017 — and we don’t mean the “alternative facts” preached by a certain presidential regime. Satire and parody, particularly of the political persuasion, has risen to newfound cultural prominence, popularity and, some would argue, importance in recent years. That trend is especially true on television. For 15 years,…
Courting Canada: Can Gov. Scott Lure Businesses South?
In February, Gov. Phil Scott met with Québec Premier Philippe Couillard in Québec City. In March, he sat down with Ontario’s premier in Toronto. In April, he traveled to Montréal to attend an aerospace manufacturers trade show. In August, he mingled with other provincial premiers on Prince Edward Island. In October, he returned to Toronto…
Movie Review: Viewers Will Want to Finish Quickly With ‘Just Getting Started’
There’s a lot to be said for hangout comedies full of likable stars; wooed by their banter, we may forget to care whether the movie has a plot, compelling visuals or much else. But all successful hangout movies have another indispensable element: a great screenplay, or at least a strong framework off which the actors…
South Burlington Police K9 Rumble Takes an Early Retirement
A South Burlington police canine is taking early retirement. Rumble is just 8 months old, but his career has been cut short by an elbow ailment. Since the German shepherd pup started in July, he has followed his handler, Officer Sarah Bellavance, everywhere. The duo trained daily, working on tracking techniques. Bellavance would bring Rumble…
Eat This Week: December 13 to 19, 2017: Bottoms Up!
Hot glogg and chilled ice cider are ready to be swigged at Boyden Valley Winery & Spirits’ annual winter tasting event. Visitors can sample all sorts of libations, from vino to cocktails; nosh on meat pies made by Pie Empire; and snap up gift boxes that include local chocolates and hand-pulled candy canes. Vermont Ice…
Bernt Out: Veteran Sanders Aide Calls It a Career
Ten minutes before Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took the podium at the Champlain Valley Exposition in March 2016, his presidential campaign manager approached his longtime state director with a message from the boss. “Phil, Bernie wants you to introduce him,” Jeff Weaver told Phil Fiermonte backstage at the Essex fairgrounds. It was Super Tuesday, the…
Learning the Truth About Santa Claus
Warning: If you’re a parent of kids who are old enough to read but young enough to still think Jolly Old St. Nicholas is coming to town, please hide this article. Preferably not in the same place where you’re hiding their Christmas presents. The scene: an editorial meeting. The characters: a bunch of staff writers…
Soundbites: Two Crazy Nights; Full Circle
Christmas Sneer Two weeks ago, I wrote a feature titled “Bah, Humbug: A Curmudgeon’s Guide to Local Holiday Music,” and it’s come to my attention that it offended some folks. That was not my intention, and I’m truly sorry. The article was a darkly comedic conceptual piece in which I took on the role of…
Cary Brown Talks Sexual Harassment, Shaming and Change
When the New York Times first reported on sexual harassment allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein in October, it took the nation by storm. Riveting subsequent stories by Ronan Farrow in the New Yorker revealed Weinstein’s extensive network of enablers. Seemingly overnight, the #MeToo movement on social media — an indicator of women’s corroboration and…
Ho-Ho Pomerleau: Vermont Pols Kiss the Ring
It was a festive scene on Sunday at the Hilton Burlington on the waterfront. A small squadron of winter-themed mascots and elves (plus the University of Vermont’s mascot, Rally Catamount) filled the lobby, greeting the invited guests and posing for selfies. At 11 a.m. sharp, the doors opened. Parents and children filed into the Adirondack…
Work: Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Guru Sarah Fidler
Name: Sarah Fidler Town: South Burlington Job: Flavor guru, Ben & Jerry’s If Sarah Fidler’s parents warned her as a child not to play with her food, she’s had the last laugh. She now plays with her food every day — and gets paid to do it. Fidler, 29, is one of only five “flavor…
Vermont Architects Sweep Up AIA Awards
The Vermont Chapter of the American Institute of Architects held its annual awards night last week at the Gate House Lodge at Sugarbush Resort in Warren. At the event, incoming AIAVT president Megan Nedzinski mentioned a letter posted last year, hours after Donald Trump’s election as president, on the national organization’s website. Written by CEO…
Free Will Astrology (12/13/17)
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): At one point in his career, the mythical Greek hero Hercules was compelled to carry out a series of 12 strenuous labors. Many of them were glamorous adventures: engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a monstrous lion; liberating the god Prometheus, who’d been so kind to humans, from being tortured by an eagle;…
Elephant Stone’s Rishi Dhir Talks Ancient Texts and Looking Inward
In Buddhism, three states of mind — aka “the three poisons” — represent the roots of all evil: ignorance (moha); anger (dvesha) and greed (raga). Rishi Dhir, the bassist, sitarist and front man of the Montréal-based psychedelic-pop band Elephant Stone, planted such Eastern spiritual concepts into much of the group’s early work — most obviously including…
Le King
What the heck do Los Angelenos talk about all day? I was contemplating this question as I sat idling at the Church Street taxi stand. I’m told that the weather in southern California is remarkably consistent year-round: sunny, warm, clear skies. Yes, I know, it’s disgusting. Here in Vermont we have at least four distinct…
Album Review: Molly Millwood, ‘Home’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Songwriter Molly Millwood holds a PhD in clinical psychology and is an associate professor at Saint Michael’s College. With expertise in trauma and PTSD, as well as marriage and relationships, she is a scholar of human sensitivity. This insight into deep human experience gives her powerful songwriting ability. On her debut…
Middlebury Community Music Center Puts the Town in Tune
When the last family to own the Middlebury Community House donated it to the town in 1932, they stipulated that it serve as a community meeting place and benefit young people. The refined Federal-style brick house on Main Street, built for Horatio Seymour in 1816, came with its own historic furniture, gilt-framed paintings, crystal chandeliers,…
Letters to the Editor (12/13/17)
Former Councilor ‘Disappointed’ [Re “How the Burlington Telecom ‘Debacle’ Divided a City Council,” December 6]: As a former Burlington city councilor, I’ve watched the latest Burlington Telecom travails from afar, alternately amused, aghast and, in the end, keenly disappointed. Councilor Dave Hartnett’s posturing has been unconscionable. Bellowing expletives, storming out of meetings, personal attacks and…
Art Review: Ross Sheehan and Rueben Vidrio, Flynndog
From 1954 to 1964, pre-pop artist Robert Rauschenberg invented his own genre: the “Combine,” a collaged, three-dimensional hybrid of painting and sculpture. Vergennes artist Ross Sheehan has adopted and adapted that approach to create several new monumental sculptures, currently on view at the Flynndog gallery in Burlington’s South End. These and other, smaller works by…
The Shelburne Museum Is Hooked on Patty Yoder’s Rugs
In the world of rug hooking, Patty Yoder is legendary. The medium, which consists of looping lengths of dyed wool through a base textile, is frequently associated with early American folk art and the so-called “thrifty arts.” Yoder, who died in 2005, was a leader in working to reinvigorate the discipline, and her contributions are…
Album Review: Ryan Ober + the Romans, ‘Caveman Blues’
(Self-released, digital download) Ryan Ober rarely seeks the spotlight, so it’s easy to take him for granted. But dating back to his days with alt-rockers Invisible Jet in the 1990s, he’s been a fixture in the Burlington scene. That’s been true whether he’s solo, alongside friends such as Lowell Thompson or some cats from Swale,…
Movie Review: Woody Allen’s ‘Wonder Wheel’ Hits Uncomfortably Close to Home
If the standards applied to I Love You, Daddy — Louis C.K.’s unfortunately self-referential film — are applied to Woody Allen’s latest, Amazon Studios will have nixed its wider release by the time you read this. Did the 82-year-old pick the wrong year to make a self-referential melodrama, or what? With lines like “When it…
Cutting the Gender Gap in Vermont’s Meat-Processing Industry
Taped in the window of a truck parked at the Royal Butcher in Braintree, a hand-lettered sign reads: “Experienced meat cutter needed. Starting pay $15/hr.” Inside the building, owner Royal Larocque and longtime employee Teresa Mallette explained that they are always looking for good people. Since Larocque opened his slaughterhouse in 2003, he’s struggled to…
Vegan Knead Bakery to Open in Burlington
In January, when Knead Bakery opens at 294 North Winooski Avenue in Burlington’s Old North End, the menu will feature breakfast and lunch fare such as challah French toast, tofu scram with seasonal veggies, and freshly made baguettes with a selection of cheeses. But those cheeses won’t be your ordinary cheddar and chèvre. Owner Robert…
Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf Plans Expansion
Last week, the nonprofit Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, located at 228 North Winooski Avenue in Burlington, received permits to add a second kitchen and new offices. “We have very limited space here,” noted director Rob Meehan. “Ever since I started, in 2007, I’ve been looking for a new location.” Finding a second building from which…
