Dec 3-9, 2008
The Town of Shoreham Takes it Off For a Cause; ReCycle North and ReStore Join Eco-Forces; Vermont in the New York Times; Champlain College Student Crowned Miss Vermont;
Inside Seven Days
Ever wondered where we get our story ideas here at Seven Days? Want to hear the stories behind the stories you read in our august, free publication? Then check out “Inside Seven Days,” the weekly video series featuring Seven Days writers — filmed and edited by the crew at RETN, Channel 16. The short video…
Champlain College Student Crowned Miss Vermont
Brooke Werner, a senior Public Relations major at Champlain College, was recently named Miss Vermont USA for 2009. Unlike the Miss America pageant, the Miss USA competition does not feature a talent round. Instead, the women are judged based on evening gown and bathing suit modeling, as well as on an interview. Incidentally, Miss Vermont…
It’s Cold Out There!
This morning when I started the car, the dashboard thermometer read 3 degrees. Then the VPR Eye on the Sky report said some spots in the Adirondacks registered in the teens — below zero. Yikes! Here’s a 3-and-a-half-minute video I found that shows the snow that blew in yesterday — made by a guy who…
Cats Can’t Afford Meow Mix
Even large research universities are feeling the cold economy. The University of Vermont is planning to lay off employees and freeze salaries in an attempt to reduce the $22 million budget deficit. President Fogel reported that “multiple strategies will be used, including the permanent elimination of a number of positions,” and also said that the…
Recipe: Winter Market Pasta
While working on the Bite Club TV episode about Winter Farmers’ Market (see photo), I couldn’t resist actually buying a bunch of the great products the vendors had on display. I made this when I got home that evening. For all you localvores, I’m guessing this includes 98% Vermont ingredients — I’ve listed the vendors…
The Cuts Continue in the Free Press Newsroom
As readers know from our previous Blurt post, it’s been a rough week for the Vermont media, including Seven Days. Here’s an update on cuts at the Burlington Free Press… The Free Press has laid off 14 employees; nine forced layoffs and five vacant positions that will be left unfilled — a six percent cut…
Can Man and Beaver Just Get Along?
Last Friday, the Burlington Free Press ran a story about some “culvert-clogging” beavers in Essex. Apparently, the little critters built a dam that has flooded part of a trail at Indian Brook Park, and town officials have decided to kill ’em. Local animal rights activists have organized a letter-writing campaign to help save the beavers.…
New Food Video Series
For a while now, we’ve been thinking it would be fun to make a series of food-related videos. Our first “Bite Club TV” episode, filmed at the new Winter Farmers’ Market in Burlington, was released this Wednesday. In it, I see if I can find everything on my shopping list. Meanwhile, food writer Alice Levitt…
Vermont in the New York Times
They just love us over there this week. Check out this paean to skiing in Vermont in today’s NYT travel section. Here’s a story from Wednesday about how Middlebury College kids are helping Starksboro residents with their town plan. And here’s another item from Wednesday — former Vermonter Dwight Garner reviews Bolton cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s…
Prog-Dem Forum Post-Mortem
I hope people found our liveblog useful last night. It was admittedly really tough to deliver the substance of the conversations, both because it’s hard to type that fast, and because you sort of had to have a certain level of historical knowledge about Prog-Dem relations to follow along. Terri Hallenbeck did a good job…
VT Media Layoffs – Morning Roundup *UPDATED*
UPDATED below with more details on layoffs at the Burlington Free Press, as well as the announcement of a layoff at Seven Days. This is expected to be a mournful week in the media industry — especially in the local market. News giant Gannett is set to eliminate thousands of jobs nationally and an undetermined…
![Moffatt’s Tree Farm [SIV107]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/episode107.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Moffatt’s Tree Farm [SIV107]
11/29/08: The Moffatts have been growing Christmas trees since the 1930s. For three generations they have been patiently cultivating their 700+ acres of land and shipping their trees across New England. Organizations like Vermont Land Trust and Vermont’s Use Value Appraisal Program, also called “Current Use,” help family farmers like the Moffatts keep their land…
Free Live Music is the Best Kind
This Saturday, the St. Michael’s student radio station WWPV 88.7 The Mike is hosting a double-bill concert for the always agreeable price of free. The headliner is a band called Grimis, from Boston. They bill themselves as a “rock/folk/jazz” band, and that’s actually fairly accurate. They’ve got the chops and the improvisational spirit of the…
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again Police said that Enrique Vega Jr., 29, used a screwdriver to rob a Mexican restaurant in Fresno, Calif., then made his getaway on a bicycle. He crashed, however, impaling himself on the screwdriver, which severed an artery in his thigh, and bled to death. • When two men kicked in the front…
Go Figure
Art Review: John Matusz, drawings in charcoal and pastel. The Men’s Room, Burlington. Through December.
Aaron Flinn’s Salad Days, Oroboros
(Sun God Records, CD) Good music has gotta have heart. But how many albums actually have a heartbeat? Like, literally? On his seventh album, Oroboros, released in September, prolific Vermont songwriter Aaron Flinn enlists the help of a very special musical guest, his then-unborn daughter Ruby True Flinn. The newest addition to the Flinn household…
Free Will Astrology
Here’s the weekly astrological forecast for December 3 – 10, 2008. What’s your sign, baby? They’re all here… ARIES (March 21-April 19): The European Union has had rules banning the sale of ugly carrots with knobby protrusions, cucumbers that are grossly curved, and equally unaesthetic specimens of 24 other fruits and vegetables. Recently that changed,…
Craftsbury Outdoor Center Sold
I interviewed a Christmas tree farmer in Craftsbury for this week’s paper, but it’s a destination I more often associate with cross-country skiing over frozen, Zhivagoesque lakes. The Craftsbury Outdoor Center — nordic paradise in winter, sculling sanctuary in summer — has been a model of land stewardship and outdoor education under the Spring family,…
Spectrum Kids Will Shred Instead of Chill
Here’s a splash of good news from our recently beleaguered friends at Spectrum Youth and Family Services: In response to all the recent press coverage about Spectrum pulling out of the Burton-sponsored Chill Program, which teaches underprivileged kids how to snowboard, Executive Director Mark Redmond reports that there’s been a huge show of community generosity…
Burlington City Council Sonnet #3
Last night at City Hall before that tiffbetween Ed Adrian and Mayor Bob Kiss;before the crowd heard briefly from the Moreaus,and Champlain College came to air its sorrows . . . Before the school board’s budget was even broached,and Ashe claimed political flames were being stoked;before the merest mention of recessionor the council’s slow retreat…
Alison Bechdel Readings Tonight and Tomorrow
Back in May, Bolton cartoonist Alison Bechdel stopped creating new episodes of her 25-year-old comic strip, “Dykes to Watch Out For,” which used to run in Seven Days. If you miss the strip as much as I do, you can get your DTWOF fix by checking out The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For, a…
