Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2022
COVID-19 Has Weakened — but Not Killed — Vermont’s Grand Town Meeting Day Tradition; Winooski, Montpelier Will Allow Noncitizens to Vote, but Few Have Signed Up; A New Batch of Micro-Bakers Rises in Vermont
Cover Story
Democracy How? The Pandemic Has Weakened — but Not Killed — Vermont’s Grand Town Meeting Day Tradition
When Hinesburg residents voted in December to change the way they decide Town Meeting Day issues — from an in-person meeting to secret ballot — they did away with a March tradition that has been bringing community members together in Vermont for nearly 250 years. Hinesburg resident Bill Baker, for one, is glad. Now, he…
Obituary: Leight Maurice Johnson, 1925-2022
Navy veteran, sailor and ski patroller raised a large family and built a strong community of friends
Clean: ‘Moving in the Right Direction’ (2/28/22)
Floorboards creaked and rattled underneath my muddy boots as I stumbled through a dark hallway. I was three years sober, and I was clumsily attempting to move a large and unwieldy chest of drawers through a narrow door frame. My mother had rented a small house down the street from my apartment in East Arlington,…
Obituary: David John Schneider, 1937-2022
Army veteran was an avid skier and racer who coached many talented young competitors
Obituary: Carol M. Brouillard, 1952-2022
Colchester woman was a voracious reader, mosaic artist and flower gardener
Obituary: John D. Sherman Jr., 1958-2022
Financial adviser had big passions and “zero regrets”
Obituary: Aiden Colangeli, 2005-2022
Bristol teen had an unsinkable spirit and huge heart
Obituary: Peggy Luhrs, 1945-2022
‘Warrior for peace and justice’ was active in feminist causes
From the Publisher: Good Neighbor
A bright light went out on Burlington’s Lakeview Terrace last week when artist Maggie Sherman died in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. A longtime reader of Seven Days, she was my friend and neighbor for the past 13 years. We shared ingredients, accessories, painters, “Ted Lasso,” sunset drinks, shoes, dinners, car rides to the…
I’m Dating an Ex, but His Ex Moved In and Won’t Leave
Dear Reverend, I was in a long-term relationship, and we were truly in love — but family, financial and emotional stress took its toll, and we broke up. We recently started seeing each other again and have been enjoying each other’s company. He contacted an old girlfriend to assist with some business-related projects, and she…
‘Face It’ at Studio Place Arts Promotes the Portrait
If you stroll through “Face It,” an exhibition at Studio Place Arts in Barre, you might feel as though you’re being watched. No, not by surveillance cameras — by the artwork. But the faces seem harmless enough, mostly. “Face It” is a large group show of portraits — nearly 80 pieces by 35 artists. Most…
Advertisement For Bids: Town of Colchester, 2022 Sidewalk Spot Repairs Project
781 Blakely Road, Colchester, VT 05446 Separate sealed BIDS for the 2022 Sidewalk Spot Repairs Project for concrete sidewalk repairs at various locations, which generally includes the installation of approximately 967 square feet of replacement concrete sidewalk panels, subgrade materials, and associated items in accordance with these contract documents and the Town of Colchester Department…
Soundbites: The First Annual Vermont Hip Hop Awards; New Singles From Francesca Blanchard and Marco Benevento
It takes a bit of cognitive dissonance, or maybe just a suspension of disbelief, for me to get with the awards show thing. I always recall Eddie Vedder standing onstage at the Grammy Awards in 1996, holding the golden trophy with a perplexed expression on his famous mug. “I don’t know what this means,” he…
Full Disclosure: New Class Prepares Community Journalists to Report the News
Ray Small wasn’t expecting to get rich when he moved to Vermont to buy and run the Hardwick Gazette in 2017. But he did like the idea of working with reporters, handing out story assignments and righting the kind of small-town wrongs that can be corrected by the media spotlight. Five years later, Small’s team…
Justin LaPoint, ‘Miss Mountain Sky’
(Self-released, digital) “It’s funny how everything’s a circle, coming back again,” Justin LaPoint sings on “Man on Fire,” the second track on Miss Mountain Sky. He continues, “So we laugh at ourselves when we pass ourselves coming ’round the bend.” The Burlington singer-songwriter’s latest EP focuses on things coming full circle, both thematically and musically.…
Town of Bolton Development Review Board Public Hearing: March 10, 2022
The Town of Bolton’s Development Review Board will hold a public hearing on March 10, 2022, at 6:30pm. Place: Virtual or Municipal Conference Room, 3045 Theodore Roosevelt Highway, Bolton, VT, 05676. Zoom link: https://bit.ly/3v1UMd9 Call (audio only): +1 646 558 8656 | Meeting ID: 844 2877 1946 | Passcode: Passcode: 725882 The following applications will…
New Book Chronicles How U.S. Women Cross-Country Skiers Carved a Path to the Olympics
In 1970, a nascent U.S. women’s cross-country ski team journeyed to then-Czechoslovakia to race in the biennial Nordic World Ski Championships run by the FIS, the International Ski Federation. The women were new to international competition, but none was greener than Trina Hosmer, a talented middle-distance runner who had taken up the winter sport a…
Now Playing in Theaters: February 23-March 1
new in theaters 2022 OSCAR SHORTS: See the short films nominated this year in the Animated, Live Action or Documentary categories. Each category is a separate program; check with theaters for more info. (Run time varies, NR. Essex, Roxy) CYRANO: Peter Dinklage stars in a musical version of Edmond Rostand’s classic play about a courtship…
David Wax Museum, ‘Remember My Future’
(Self-released, digital) Blending elements of Mexican folk music with American roots and indie rock, David Wax Museum have always stood out in an Americana scene crowded with imitators. With its fearless approach, the husband-and-wife duo of David Wax and Suz Slezak consistently pushes boundaries to create new sounds and intricate melodies. On its eighth album,…
Horror Film ‘Antlers’ Offers a Grim, Atmospheric Take on a Legendary Monster
Could a hard enough winter make cannibals of us all? In Indigenous Algonquian folklore, the windigo or wendigo is an evil spirit that possesses people whom cold-season scarcity has driven to feast on human flesh. This monstrous figure crops up often in pop culture, most famously in Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. The 2021 horror film…
On Town Meeting Day, Burlington Voters Will Again Consider New City Spending — and a Tax Hike
Burlington voters will consider approving a higher municipal tax rate when they cast ballots this Town Meeting Day, the first proposed rate hike in three years. Mayor Miro Weinberger says the 4-cent increase will help close a projected $7 million budget hole created by historically high inflation, new spending and pandemic-related revenue shortfalls. A $23.8…
For Coeditor Dave Mance III, the ‘Vermont Almanac’ Is a ‘Love Letter’ to the State
At 12 or 13, equipped with his rifle, a hunting license and the audacity of youth, Dave Mance III told his mother he would be the one to bring home the game for Thanksgiving dinner. But the wild turkeys and deer failed to show themselves, so Mance returned from the woods with the only quarry…
Life Stories: John Douglas ‘Never Tired’
When artist-activist John Bruce Douglas (July 13, 1938-January 25, 2022) was diagnosed with cancer in the spring of 2021, his partner of 31 years, Bobbie Lanahan, began making a book about his life and work. Using the self-publishing platform Blurb, she quickly filled the maximum of 240 pages, but the prolific artist’s work could fill…
Winooski, Montpelier Will Allow Noncitizens to Vote, but Few Have Signed Up
Prashant Singh first came to the U.S. from India on a work visa in 2012. For the past eight years, he’s lived in Winooski, where he owns a house, pays taxes and sends his three children to local schools. He has served on a handful of city committees; in 2018, he helped push the school…
Theater Review: ‘Heisenberg,’ Northern Stage
The unlikely pairing is the basis for all romantic comedies, but the two people in Heisenberg don’t stumble past their differences to discover that they’re made for each other. Instead, the Northern Stage production of Simon Stephens’ 2015 play muses on the unpredictability of attraction. Audiences usually see love long before a story’s protagonists do,…
Free Will Astrology (2/23/22)
PISCES (Feb. 19-Mar. 20): Author Deb Caletti made the following observation: “You have ordinary moments and ordinary moments and more ordinary moments, and then, suddenly, there is something monumental right there. You have past and future colliding in the present, your own personal Big Bang, and nothing will ever be the same.” In my vision…
Letters to the Editor (2/23/22)
Two Quibbles In the February 16 issue, there’s a typo in [From the Publisher: “Learning on the Job”]. The text reads, “People who never cared a wit about local schools,” etc. The word is “whit.” The review of the musical I Do! I Do!, while excellent, could have been improved by a brief discussion of…
A New Batch of Micro-Bakers Rises in Vermont
In the introduction to the original 1973 edition of his Beard on Bread: A Cookbook, trailblazing chef James Beard wrote, “Breadmaking is something of a gamble.” Bread’s ingredients are simple: flour, water, yeast and salt. When combined, however, they’re surprisingly susceptible to changes in temperature, humidity, air composition and even the microbiology of the baker’s…
Former Common Man Co-Owners Launch Kitchen-ette in Waitsfield
Chef Adam Longworth and his partner, Lorien Wroten, offered their first menu of prepared meals and meal kits from Kitchen-ette in the last week of January. The couple’s new business is located at 5197 Main Street in Waitsfield. In addition to selling weekly meals such as baked cod oreganata and lasagna Bolognese, Longworth has created…
Flynn Artistic Director Steve MacQueen Resigns
Steve MacQueen, artistic director of the Flynn, has resigned, according to an email obtained on Monday by Seven Days from Flynn executive director Jay Wahl to staff. Wahl confirmed the change in a subsequent email to Seven Days. “We will shortly begin a national search for a Director of Programming to ensure that the Flynn continues offering the best in…
The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, February 23 to March 1
Return of the King Tuesday 1 Hasan Minhaj, the award-winning creator of the standup special Homecoming King and the political comedy show “Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj,” stops by the Flynn in Burlington to present his new one-man show, The King’s Jester. The fresh material combines Minhaj’s storytelling skills with political satire. Bunny Slopes Saturday…
Founders Sell August First Bakery & Café
Jodi Whalen, co-founder of August First Bakery & Café, confirmed that she and her husband, Phil Merrick, sold their Burlington business on February 15 to chef Frank Pace and his wife Marnie Long of Great Northern Catering. Whalen and Merrick opened August First at 149 South Champlain Street in 2009 and expanded the bakery’s production…
