Abolition Mission: James Fuller reveals the untold, colorful history of the Civil War
Louden Langely was born in Huntington, Vermont. He wrote letters to the editor, owned land in Hinesburg and was a farmer until he volunteered for the 54th Massachusetts Regiment in 1863. If you saw the 1989 movie Glory, you know the unit was composed of African-American soldiers who fought in the Civil War. Langely was…
Running for Mayer: John Mayer
John Mayer just might be the best young songwriter in America. Never mind all the “folk rock” comparisons to Dave Matthews, David Gray, Jeff Buckley, Pete Yorn and others. Disregard the Connecticut native’s brief stint at Berklee School of Music in 1997 and his dues-paying stint at blues clubs in Atlanta. Instead, just listen to…
More Victims
The members of the Senate Appropriations Committee appeared dumbfounded. In the witness chair sat Adjutant Gen. Martha Rainville, the boss of the Vermont National Guard. “I can tell you,” said the first woman adjutant in National Guard history, “there is still a threat to the environment. We are not at normal operations. It’s easy to…
New York Story
The sky was clear as I sped north on I-89 towards Swanton. I was driving a small cargo van, loaded with 33 bags of lost — and found — luggage bound for North Bangor, New York. The airline employee who gave me the delivery address suggested I take the Plattsburgh ferry, and then the “hypotenuse…
Back Talk
Major casting changes are afoot among the administrative stars of the Vermont film industry. At a recent legislative reception, Bill Stetson announced he is stepping down as president of the Vermont Film Commission, a governing board of volunteers that oversees state efforts to attract movie business to the state. A founding leader of the organization,…
Flick Chick
What is it about dysfunctional families? Perhaps seeking insights into my own legacy of madness, I can rarely resist a film that shines a spotlight on neurotic parents and their confused offspring. The Royal Tenenbaums, starring Gene Hackman as an estranged father trying to reunite with his damaged brood, is an absurdist take on the…
Second Nature? Shadow of Heaven by Ellen Bryant Voigt
Dooryard Flower Because you’re sick I want to bring you flowers, flowers from the landscape that you love — because it is your birthday and you’re sick I want to bring outdoors inside, the natural and wild, picked by my hand, but nothing is blooming here but daffodils, archipelagic in the short green early grass,…
Out of Poland: A doctor documents the Holocaust in black and white
Hoping to trace ghostly footsteps through the ashes of time, Dr. Jeff Gusky began a six-year odyssey in a terrain that dwarfs Texas, the state he calls home. The 48-year-old emergency-room physician explored the endless geography of genocide, looking for evidence of the more than three million Polish Jews annihilated in the Holocaust. The Landscape…
Tree’s Company: An experiment in aboreal architecture proves uplifting
It’s a big stretch to imagine Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush working out their differences in a treehouse now. And it’s probably too late for Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat. But if Bill Allen had his way, talks at Camp David would be quite literally out on a limb. Allen, 41, is the president…
That’s Sprawl, Folks: Robert Burley’s Wright idea couldn’t save Maple Tree Place
You would have thought Maple Tree Place had everything going for it. Robert Burley was the chief designer of the Taft Corners project intended to become the town square of Williston. The dean of Vermont architects and a member of a prestigious national college of visionary fellows, Burley came to Vermont in 1964, fresh from…
