Feb 21-28, 2018
Vermont Senate Majority Leader Becca Balint Is on the Rise; Dining at the Hermitage, Setting for ‘The Bachelor Winter Games’; Duo Ryan Montbleau and Hayley Jane Riff on Love
Cover Story
Woman on the Rise: Becca Balint’s Ascent From Stay-at-Home Mom to Senate Majority Leader
On the evening of August 26, 2014, as Peter and Sandra Balint waited to learn whether their daughter Becca would win her first-ever political contest, Liz Bankowski crossed a Brattleboro meeting room with something to say. Bankowski, former chief of staff to Vermont’s only woman governor and herself a senior stateswoman, had watched Becca Balint’s…
Seriously: Inspirational Dance Party
In this episode, Bryan talks about the influence of Vermont’s newest angry mob and joins the live-streaming DJ trend with a marathon 72-hour set. CREDITS Written, filmed and edited by: Bryan Parmelee Artwork/photography by: Jeb Wallace-Brodeur, Taylor Dobbs, Inspirational United, Bryan Parmelee, Dreamstime Logo/art direction by: Don Eggert Backdrop mural by: Anthill Collective Music/audio by:…
Seven Days Wins 27 Awards in Regional Media Competition
Seven Days, Vermont’s free, independent newsweekly, won 14 first-place awards in this year’s New England Better Newspaper Competition, including top honors for its reporting and writing, website, headline writing, design and presentation, and video journalism. The paper also won nine second-place awards and four third-place awards — 27 total. The contest is organized by the…
Letters to the Editor (2/21/18)
‘Best’ Leader for Burlington [Re Off Message: “Weinberger Leads Fundraising Pack in Burlington Mayoral Contest,” February 5]: As his fundraising makes clear, Mayor Miro Weinberger has plenty of money and the unflagging support of fellow developers. This is great for Weinberger but bad news for the city. As Weinberger himself confirmed in [“Better Burg? Burlington’s…
Album Review: Ver Sacrum, ‘Stirrings Still’
(Self-released, cassette, digital download) The year is 2068 — nearly two decades after the Turn. The cataclysm of unknown origin wiped out 97 percent of the world’s population, its infrastructure and all traces of normal life. Survivors wait restlessly as the Omni, a newly emerged race of superintelligent humans with telekinetic abilities, work tirelessly to…
Warning Shot: Near-Tragedy a Wake-Up Call for Vermont Politicos
It’s not often that politicians are honestly shaken by events. But it happened here in Vermont last Friday afternoon, when they learned just how close the state had come to a mass school shooting of its own. The day before, 18-year-old Jack Sawyer of Poultney had been detained and ordered held without bond. He told…
Album Review: Comrade Nixon, ‘Odd Todd’
(Rat Pâté Records, digital download) By and large, genre names are pointless, often ridiculous and usually inaccurate. Yet “mountain punk” sounds so damn cool. How damn cool? “What are you doing tonight, man?” a friend might ask. “Me? I’m going to listen to some mountain punk,” you reply, pulling a hood over your head and…
Flatlining: Scott’s Budget Ignores Opioid Crisis, Critics Say
On Phil Scott’s first day as governor in 2017, he signed an executive order creating the Opioid Coordination Council to tackle Vermont’s drug crisis. At a Statehouse press conference this January, he touted 22 strategies the group had proposed, ranging from school prevention programs to expanded drug treatment for inmates. The Republican governor also mentioned…
Eat This Week, February 21 to 27, 2018: Tagine Dream
Follow the life and times of trailblazing cook Paula Wolfert, who is living with Alzheimer’s disease. Chef Cara Chigazola-Tobin prepares several courses featured in Emily Kaiser Thelin’s new Wolfert cookbook biography, Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert’s Renegade Life. Sip paired wines, including Faith Armstrong’s delicate California pét-nat, alongside Moroccan alouk, chicken tagine and…
Winooski Candidate Ebony Nyoni Has Competition — and Legal Trouble
A sleepy city council race in Winooski has gotten complicated. Candidate and Black Lives Matter Vermont director Ebony Nyoni is enmeshed in a bitter legal case that raises questions about how she runs the local chapter of the prominent civil rights organization. Nyoni’s troubles may have prompted a credible write-in candidate to step into the ring.…
Burlington Music Lovers Play DJ for a Day Online
Not all music venues are created equal. But whether it’s a 1,000-person stadium or a tiny stage in a bar that fits 30 people, the purpose tends to be the same: to bring people together to experience the joys of music. That’s the rationale behind Inspirational United, a Burlington-based venue that offers music lovers and…
Movie Review: ‘Black Panther’ Leaps Into the Future of Superhero Movies
At their worst, superhero stories are childish or brutal power fantasies. At their best, they’re powerful ways of imagining a better world. Rarely has a movie exemplified the second mode better than Black Panther, which occupies a special place in the Marvel canon: It’s the first film showcase for a black superhero since 2004 (when…
As Yes Darling, Ryan Montbleau and Hayley Jane Riff on Love’s Foibles
Ryan Montbleau and Hayley Jane are kindred spirits. They finish each other’s sentences, crack each other up and compliment each other frequently. The two formerly Boston-based artists each front their own projects (Ryan Montbleau Band; Hayley Jane and the Primates) and are now based in Burlington — a move neither knew the other was planning. Occasional…
Burlington’s B. Good Adds Breakfast Menu
New breakfast options come to Burlington this week with the addition of morning meals at B.Good at 92 Church Street. Starting February 21, the restaurant will serve breakfast sandwiches, breakfast bowls and smoothies starting at 7 a.m., said co-owner Bill Zolper. For the first month of breakfast, a cup of coffee will be free with…
With Film, Weston 101 Ratchets Up Audience Education
In 2016, Weston Playhouse at Walker Farm launched an ambitious audience education program called Weston 101. The premise is simple: Provide audiences with in-depth background information about the theater company’s upcoming season to pique their curiosity and entice them to see the shows. But making that program work is far from simple; it requires meticulous…
Soundbites: Waking Windows First Look
On Friday, Waking Windows announced the initial lineup for its three-day festival in Winooski. The music and arts hootenanny spans Friday, May 4, through Sunday, May 6, at more than a dozen locations throughout the Onion City. And, by initial lineup, I mean, like, more than 100 bands, artists and DJs — hardly the pint-size reveal…
Two Vermont Foodies Play Starring Roles On Screen
A couple of Vermont foodies have played starring roles recently. To promote its Workwear line, outdoor-clothing company Patagonia has been profiling folks who need durable clothing to stand up to the physical work they do. On February 8, the company spotlighted agronomist Heather Darby, who works for University of Vermont Extension and runs a research…
A Beloved Menswear Salesman Looks Beyond Macy’s
Burlington’s downtown Macy’s attracted a smattering of frenetic shoppers last Friday. They roamed the racks and displays as hidden speakers periodically blared announcements about reduced prices on this or that merchandise. A section of the second floor, behind home goods, was filled with unclothed mannequins of all shapes and sizes, relieved of their sartorial duties.…
No Food for Thought: UVM Staffer Goes on Hunger Strike for Racial Justice
A University of Vermont staff member has vowed to refrain from eating until school administrators answer a list of nine demands seeking racial justice. John Mejia, assistant director of the Office of Student and Community Relations at UVM, has been on a water-only diet since February 16 in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. Spurred by…
Stolen Sculpture Makes Triumphant Return in Richmond
In early January, Seven Days reported that an outdoor sculpture had been stolen in Richmond. The work of artists Baptiste Lefrançois and Tim Clark, the angular, red-painted steel piece stood more than 13 feet tall, weighed 350 pounds and required a crane to install. Somehow, though, thieves managed to wrench it from its pedestal and…
Movie Review: Japanese Epic ‘Blade of the Immortal’ Offers Wild, Wacked-Out Action
When I learned that Blade of the Immortal is the 100th movie directed by Japanese maestro Takashi Miike, I naturally pictured this white-haired guy, a wizened auteur à la Hayao Miyazaki. Nope. The dude is 57. I’m having a little trouble with that math. But not the movie. To the contrary, 140 minutes have rarely…
Art Review: Jim Dodd’s ‘jimages’ at Three Mountain Café
Unless you live in a monastery, under a rock or any other place without reliable internet access, memes are pretty much unavoidable. They’ve been weaponized by both Hillary Clinton-hating factions of the far right (see: the so-called “Great Meme War”) and by self-identified misandrist feminists (see: @alexthememeconnoisseur). They’ve been compared to folk art by British…
Feeling the Heat at Double King’s Montpelier Pop-Up
A server placed a wide, low bowl on the table. We plunged in our chopsticks, dodging the blanched bean sprouts and pea leaves scattered on top, and homed in on the handmade noodles tucked beneath the clutter. The first bite opened with aromas of anise and cinnamon. Then, sanguine soy and a touch of vinegar.…
Somali Bantu Women Pursue Skills and Dreams in Sewing Class
Binti Abdullahi’s biggest dream is to start her own clothing line. She and her peers “don’t want to dress how our grandmother … and mother [are] dressed,” said the 23-year-old Somali Bantu woman. Outside of her home, she no longer wears a baati, a loose cotton dress with bold prints that’s still popular among women…
Hackie: Reggie Snow
Pinned to the wall above my computer desk is an old picture postcard given to me by a friend. It features a photo of the four-story Van Ness House, an ornate hotel that once sat on the southwest corner of St. Paul and Main streets in downtown Burlington, the current site of a TD Bank…
Free Will Astrology (2/21/18)
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In her novel The Round House, writer Louise Erdrich reminisces about how hard it was, earlier in her life, to yank out the trees whose roots had grown into the foundation of her family’s house. “How funny, strange, that a thing can grow so powerful even when planted in the wrong…
Questions About a Trooper Arose Long Before Deadly Shootings
Vermont State Police Trooper Christopher Brown attracted plenty of scrutiny when he and a Richmond police officer fired on and killed a suicidal man in Bolton last week. That’s in part because Brown, 31, had been involved in two other fatal state police shootings in the past six months. But an even earlier incident may…
Ask Athena: I’m Worried I Might Mess Up Sex
Hey Athena! So, I’m new to sex in general, and I’m exploring new things with both myself and my girlfriend. I’m scared of doing anything embarrassing in front of her and can’t even think about doing sexual things with her because I get so flustered I might mess up. I know that sex is very…
Pay What? Vermont’s $9.2 Million Childcare Crisis
Republican Gov. Phil Scott and top Democratic lawmakers have spent much of the 2018 legislative session characterizing themselves as allies and protectors of Vermont’s working families. But none has put forward a plan to address a $9.2 million funding shortfall in the state’s childcare system — which some advocates are calling a crisis. One legislative…
Dining at the Hermitage, Home of ‘The Bachelor Winter Games’
“Got a hat?” my chauffeur asked. “Uh, my sweatshirt has a hood!” I answered. “Got a helmet?” We were about to mount a snowmobile — a Ski-Doo Grand Touring — and my winter gear was suspect. I was wearing Levi’s tucked into a pair of Sorels, and my wool mittens were in the car. The…
Bessery’s Opens a Burger Bar in Colchester
For more than half a century, Bessery’s Butcher Shoppe has served customers at its store on North Avenue in Burlington. Now owner Bryan Bessery is set to launch a second business, the Burger Bar, at 831 College Parkway in Colchester. The restaurant and bar is expected to open the first week of March, said Bessery,…
Babes Bar to Bring Cocktails and Music to Bethel
This spring, the good drinkers of the White River Valley will have another watering hole to visit. When Babes Bar opens in May at 221 Main Street at the old Bethel Depot, it’ll offer classic cocktails, local wines and ciders, and coffee, according to co-owner Owen Daniel-McCarter. Daniel-McCarter is opening the place with his partner…
