The Governor’s Marijuana Advisory Commission has released its final report, just a few weeks before the Vermont legislature will convene and almost surely begin discussions about a regulated recreational cannabis market. There was no shocking reveal in the 14-page final report. Much of its contents, including a recommended 26 percent tax on cannabis products, had…
‘Tis the week before New Year’s, and I’ve gotta say We’ve much to discuss before the big day Or, I suppose, the big night, as it were Lest it pass you by in a big, foggy blur It’s nice to have someone point events out And that’s what this poem is all about I’ll clue…
When Susanne Schmidt was in seventh grade, one of her friends dared her to bring weed to school. With the help of her older brother, Schmidt came through. Upon seeing the contraband the next day, this so-called friend immediately ratted her out to the principal, who found a few buds inside a Tic Tac container…
Records, live gigs and music videos are a musician’s holy trinity. They work in harmony to create a vivid, multifaceted world for fans. Of the three, music videos can be the trickiest to produce well. For one, they’re hard to pull off technically. Not everyone who steps behind a camera is blessed with a mastery…
When the Hallmark Channel movie Entertaining Christmas premiered on Saturday, it brought millions of viewers to Cedar Falls, Vt. They watched a reluctant heiress to a cooking-and-decorating empire fall for a hunky news reporter. Online, promotional photos for the syrupy romance showed the perfectly coiffed couple in front of the twinkling Christmas lights on Burlington’s…
Vermont children going through tough times are in for a sweet surprise this holiday season. A Chittenden County man is leading an effort to collect homemade cookies for those in need. For Evan Ross, it dates back to a childhood tradition. “Me and my mom used to make cookies at Christmas, and we’d bring the…
The late Howard Frank Mosher’s Marie Blythe and Where the Rivers Flow North. Chris Bohjalian’s early novel Water Witches. The Vermont Encyclopedia. Senator Leahy: A Life in Scenes by state Sen. Philip Baruth (D/P-Chittenden). Vermonter Peggy Shinn’s books on Tropical Storm Irene and the rise of the U.S. women’s cross-country ski team. What do these…
When it opened in October, Georgia’s Next Generation was supposed to alleviate an acute demand for daycare in the area. Franklin County is one of only four counties in the state with a growing population of kids ages 5 and under. But the total number of daycare slots there dropped 16 percent between 2015 and…
for Rayna A small figure out on the ice grows small against the distance, not quite skimming yet, slide stepping into harmless pratfalls—a blade gone errantly out or in against the inductive of balance. “Not too far!” her mother calls. “The ice is thick.” Across the lake an auger drills infinitely into the crust. Trout…
Vermont is the only state to have an official cartoonist laureate, so it might seem surprising that the pick for Vermont Reads 2019, March: Book One, is the first graphic novel in the program’s 17-year history. The 2013 memoir, the opener of a trilogy co-authored by civil rights icon and longtime U.S. Rep. John Lewis…
In Winooski, Blossom Whole Food Kitchen and Catering has left the former MLC Bakeshop storefront at 25 Winooski Falls Way. Blossom will continue operations from a catering kitchen nearby (watch this space for more specs). To fill the void, Sweet Babu baker Shana Goldberger will expand her hours to complement the Dessert Bar sweets and…
At their best, the holidays are a time to unwind. Sure, there’s the inherent madness of bouncing from one holiday party to the next, traveling to visit far-away family, hosting over-the-top feasts and shopping, shopping, shopping. But once everyone’s assembled in the same place, there’s not much to do aside from cook, eat and bask…
Burlington artist Dorsey Hogg said she began to think about artistic identity when she was at Saint Michael’s College getting her master’s degree in arts and education. In her job as an art teacher, she helped kids draw and paint and mold clay pots, but she hadn’t chosen her own special genre. When people asked…
Oh, Canada? Congratulations on a great issue of Seven Days focused on small towns and big issues [“Our Towns,” December 5]. Thoughtful stories, and the Ed Koren cover was brilliant. You should be sure to submit this issue to various national competitions. It deserves a wider circulation and recognition. A thought occurred to me after…
As years go, 2018 will probably be remembered as one when many citizens threw up their hands and cried, “WTF?” Abundant online think pieces have chronicled the growing number of “glitches” in our body politic (read: Donald Trump) that suggest we’re living in a computer simulation à la The Matrix or an alternate reality created…
(self-released, CD, digital) Brightbird are a recent addition to the wealth of acoustic duos already playing hither and thither around Vermont. They stand out from the crowd with the wide variety of well-crafted songs found on their debut album In the Woods. Chief lyricist and lead vocalist Ethan Tischler and mandolin ace and harmonizer Greg…
This fall brought us two movies — A Star Is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody — that explored the ever-alluring world of rock and pop stardom. What they neglected to do, however, is inform us what it all means. Vox Lux is happy to tell us about the cultural significance of pop goddesses — and tell…
When Nora Tucker, a seventh grader at Wolf Creek Middle School, begins her summer vacation by compiling students’ submissions to a community time-capsule project, she expects it’ll be filled with essays about the usual summertime fare: swimming in the creek, marching in the Fourth of July parade and competing in the annual Mad Mile foot…
If you’re looking for a sleeper issue for 2019, here’s a nominee: public-sector pensions. It may not be sexy, but it’s a big deal. Vermont faces a mountain of pension obligations, thanks to chronic underfunding of the state employees’ and teachers’ funds from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s. For those keeping score, it started…
(Self-released, CD, digital) Releasing your own bootlegs is a fairly audacious thing to do, more common with huge acts capitalizing on their success — think Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones — by releasing home albums or live concerts without record-label involvement. Zack DuPont is not an act on par, fame-wise, with Dylan or the…
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Until 1920, most American women didn’t have the right to vote. For that matter, few had ever been candidates for public office. There were exceptions. In 1866, Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the first to seek a seat in Congress. In 1875, Victoria Woodhull ran for president. Susanna Salter became the first…
Roughly 500 inmates are receiving medication for opioid addiction, according to Vermont Department of Corrections officials. That makes the prison system one of the largest drug treatment providers in the state — a dramatic change from just a few months ago when hundreds were still awaiting medication. Today, more than a quarter of the prison…
Vermont boasts more authors per capita than any other state, according to a National Endowment for the Arts study, but in recent years has lost many of its best. For instance, over the past decade three former Vermont poet laureates have died: Grace Paley, Ruth Stone and Galway Kinnell. Yet, simultaneously, the state’s literary ranks…
If you are very lucky, there will be one day in your life on which your brother becomes your hero. I was hoofing home from choir practice, the December I was 10, toting a shoulder bag of science fiction books and a fair weight of embarrassment. That year the fifth graders had to sing carols…
Newfane author Archer Mayor has penned an impressive 29 mystery novels — or police procedurals, as they’re known in the trade — featuring Brattleboro-based cop Joe Gunther and his team of detectives in the fictional Vermont Bureau of Investigation. The latest, Bury the Lead, is out now, and Mayor has just sent the next installment…
Summer beach reads are fine and sandy. But in Vermont, the most substantive reading takes place in the colder months. For this year’s Winter Reading Issue, Charlotte author Stephen P. Kiernan shares an original winter tale of warmth and generosity called “The Bicycle,” while Archer Mayor unravels the mysteries of his prodigious crime novels. We…
…and all through the inn, dinner guests were a-sipping drinks, all donning grins. When at the buffet table chef Doug Mack did appear, holding pans heaped with food and good holiday cheer. There were slabs of baked ham, glazed and glistening with maple, warm Brussels sprouts, rice pilaf and pestoed gnocchi on the table. The…
Every 30 years or so since Liza Minnelli’s dad made Lust for Life (1956), an auteur has felt obliged to share his take on Vincent van Gogh. Given the number of potential subjects the history of art provides, this might seem a curious fixation. Why not da Vinci, Rembrandt, Picasso or Warhol? Van Gogh’s enduring…
Dear Scarlett, I have a crush on a younger guy who is white and age 33. I am 51 years old, but people tell me I look around 37. Also, I am black. What are the chances? Signed, Black Cougar(female, 51) Dear Black Cougar, For romantic relationships and dating, factors such as age and race…
Scott Skinner of Middlesex, 76, died on December 15, 2018 from complications from a lung disease he had for a number of years. He was born on May 31, 1942 in northern Pennsylvania, the oldest of four children born to Mary Van Dyne and Osmun Skinner. He spent his early years in Troy, PA where…
Donald Gelston Green passed away on December 12, 2018. He was 82 years old. Donald was born in 1936 to Robert and Pauline Green in Haddonfield, N.J. He and his beloved older brothers, Frank and Robert, spent many happy years in Haddonfield. Donald graduated from Haddonfield High School in 1954 and served in the United…
A preschooler blew bubbles while he and his mother waited for their order of smoothies and loaded nachos last Thursday at Sweet Alchemy Bakery and Café in Essex Junction. Pairs at other tables chatted quietly as they ate. They dug into brown rice harvest bowls blooming colorfully with purple cabbage, sweet potato, red pepper and…
Downtown St. Johnsbury is about to go ’round the Whirligig. Starting next spring, Whirligig Brewing will host visitors in a tasting room at 397 Railroad Street, CEO and head brewer Geoffrey Sewake told Seven Days earlier this week. The one-barrel brewery will offer tastings, pints, and beer to go in crowlers and growlers. A brief…
