Jan 30 – Feb 5, 2019
New UVM Dean Linda Schadler Advocates for Science and Engineering; Burlington Pot Shop Hides in Plain Sight – by City Hall; After Two-Year Renovation, Hood Museum of Art Reopens at Dartmouth College
Cover Story
STEM Sell: New UVM Dean Linda Schadler Makes a Case for Science and Engineering
Linda Schadler has completed 20 triathlons, summited all 46 high peaks in the Adirondack Mountains and once quarterbacked a coed football team. While she climbed the academic ladder at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., the nanotechnology expert and materials scientist also raised two children and got a dozen patents. Last July, the 55-year-old reached…
The Cannabis Catch-Up: Does This Vermont Weed Bill Stand a Chance?
The Vermont Senate sure acted fast. Just a few weeks into the session, there’s a new bill under consideration to tax and regulate cannabis in the state. Under the timeline laid out in S.54, retailers would get their licenses by April 2021 — meaning legally sold buds are probably at least two years away. Fifteen…
After Two-Year Renovation, the Hood Museum Reopens Its Doors
Dartmouth College has been acquiring art and artifacts since shortly after its founding 250 years ago. Today, those objects number more than 65,000. Gathered at the school’s Hood Museum of Art, they comprise one of the premier academic collections in the country. Such a collection deserves a building of commensurate importance, yet the college waited…
Album Review: Kristina Stykos, ‘River of Light’
(Thunder Ridge Records, CD, digital) Since she started churning out recordings on her Thunder Ridge Records imprint in 2005, Kristina Stykos has embraced a unique vision of Vermont. Her dark and complex view of life in the Green Mountains is embodied by the folk-rock songwriter’s Pepperbox Studio, where she’s produced her own albums and dozens…
WTF: What’s Up With the Dead Wind Turbine in South Burlington?
Vermont’s license plate motto for the 21st century could be “The Green Energy State.” The state consistently ranks in the top 10 in the country for investments in renewable power, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. Vermonters’ pride in their clean energy may explain why some get irked when they see a wind turbine…
Page 32: Short Takes on Five New Vermont Books
Seven Days writers can’t possibly read, much less review, all the books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a skulk of foxes. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors (or, occasionally, on Vermont topics). To do…
Movie Review: The Fishing-Themed Noir Drama ‘Serenity’ Goes Way Overboard
Where exactly is the line between a bad movie and a so-bad-it’s-good movie? Serenity, the new thriller starring Matthew McConaughey’s bare chest, poses many questions, including ones of a philosophical and existential nature, but they all pale in comparison to the question of whether the film’s sheer silliness makes it worth watching. McConaughey plays a…
Charm Offensive: Team Scott Reaches Out to the Legislature
The November election brought reelection for Republican Gov. Phil Scott and a thorough drubbing for his party. Afterward, one big question remained: How would the governor react? In his first two years, Scott vetoed the Democratic legislature’s budget three times. He also prolonged each year’s lawmaking session, in part by introducing major proposals late in…
Historic Blunder? State Halts Repairs to UVM’s Ira Allen Chapel
For 92 years, six wooden columns distinguished the entrance to the University of Vermont’s Ira Allen Chapel, a historic building so iconic that Walmart sells its image in framed art prints online. Then, last summer, the colonnade facing University Row vanished — replaced, at first, by steel supports. UVM’s upper-level administrators say they weren’t aware…
Soundbites: Previewing Radio Bean’s New Open Mic Series
Open mic nights are a staple of any thriving music scene. Aside from giving folks who may not have another outlet an opportunity to share their art, open mic nights tend to stoke the community’s creative fires. They’re a great place to network, support your friends and, frankly, be seen by your local-music-loving neighbors. Especially…
Eat This Week, January 30 to February 5, 2019: Tastes So Good
St. Albans City Hall goes gourmet during the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce’s annual local food fair. Visitors — with tasting tickets in hand — sample handcrafted snacks from area chefs, caterers, bakers and candy makers. They also enjoy Vermont-made beers, ciders and spirits and hobnob with farmers and other food-minded folk during two tasting…
On New Album ‘Gloria Duplex,’ Henry Jamison Considers Toxic Masculinity
When he was a boy in South Burlington, Henry Jamison knew just how to make the perfect machine-gun sound. Like so many other young would-be men, fantasy adventures gripped his developing mind, many of them awash in masculine rituals and dreams of blood. “That’s sort of what a boy’s life is like,” Jamison muses, sitting…
Stitch Session: Shelburne Seniors Knit Hats for Babies With Heart Defects
Members of a weekly knitting and crocheting group gathered Monday at the Arbors at Shelburne, a memory care facility. Five elderly residents sat in a circle as program assistant Jenn Ross offered encouragement and helped save the occasional dropped stitch. This gathering, though, had a higher purpose. The women were participating in the Little Hats,…
Conscious Uncoupling Consultant Hannah Caterino Facilitates Good Endings
Name: Hannah Caterino Town: Burlington Job: Certified conscious uncoupling coach Hannah Caterino was 11 when her parents divorced. Afterward, the two never spoke to each other again. Today, Caterino knows that even terrible marriages don’t have to end poorly. The fortysomething Burlington woman is a certified conscious uncoupling coach, providing a form of end-of-relationship counseling…
New Human Rights Commission Director Bor Yang Has Big Plans
Not long ago, Bor Yang, the new executive director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission, contemplated leaving the state. At the time, Yang was an administrative law examiner at the state agency, which investigates allegations of discrimination in housing, state government employment and public accommodations. Part of her job was giving “implicit bias training” to…
Movie Review: ‘Stan & Ollie’ Casts a Tender Light on the Final Act of Two Comedy Greats’ Careers
At last, a Laurel and Hardy biopic, right? Seriously, is this not the past year’s most improbable project? We’re talking about a comedy act that came to fame during the silent era and peaked in the 1930s. Which makes the median age of a Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy enthusiast, I don’t know, like 90.…
Free Will Astrology (1/30/19)
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Here are your fortune cookie-style horoscopes for the next five months. February: Start a new trend that will serve your noble goals for years to come. March: Passion comes back into fashion with a tickle and a shiver and a whoosh. April: As you expand and deepen your explorations, call on…
Album Review: Kris Gruen, ‘Coast & Refuge’
(Mother West, CD, digital, vinyl) Sometimes you hear a piece of music and think to yourself, This is destined to be licensed for commercial use. What makes a song perfect for pushing makeup or adding dramatic flair to a juicy scene on “Riverdale” is hard to define — but you know it when you hear…
Theater Review: ‘A Doll’s House, Part 2,’ Vermont Stage
In 1879, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen created a story ahead of its time in which a woman leaves her husband and children for an independent life. Writing today, Lucas Hnath has built a play around those characters, set 15 years after Nora left Torvald, that reflects both our time and theirs. Ibsen imagined a future,…
UVM Children’s Hospital Brings Camp to Sick Kids—Virtually
In the winter, South Hero can resemble an abandoned outpost on the moon: a flat, frozen landscape dotted with burger shacks and ice cream stands, all in a state of suspended animation. But on a weekend afternoon in mid-January, there were signs of life at Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, which sits tucked away on a hilltop overlooking…
Theater Review: ‘The Stick Wife,’ Shoebox Theater
The Shoebox Theater production of The Stick Wife is a long, slow simmer of a play. Director Robert Toms lets the story unfold without hurry, but it assumes urgency from the emotional impact of superb acting. The six performers pause, misdirect, lapse into fantasy, blend realism with symbolism. Engrossing characters propel the play. The setting…
Letters to the Editor (1/30/19)
With Appreciation [Re Bite Club, “Organic Farming Advocate Enid Wonnacott Dies at 57,” January 21]: Thanks to Seven Days writers for capturing Enid Wonnacott’s commitment to Vermont agriculture and her friends and family. She was so excited by your October 30 article [“Good Shepherd”], and she told everyone who was interested to read it! She…
Scarlett Letters: How Do I Find a Woman to Take My Son’s Virginity?
Dear Scarlett, My son turns 18 today. He is a virgin. Where do I look to find a woman to take it from him? Signed, 40-Year-Old Virgin?(male, 40) Dear 40-Year-Old, The answer is: You don’t. In many cultures, including our own, a young man’s first time with a woman is viewed as a rite of…
House GOP Leader Pattie McCoy Is Outnumbered but Not Discouraged
Vermont state Rep. Pattie McCoy (R-Poultney) spent her first term as a lawmaker juggling legislative work with her full-time job as Poultney town clerk. To make sure she didn’t short the town, she worked seven days a week, meticulously tracking her clerk hours on a spreadsheet. In the Montpelier quarters she shared with Rep. Barbara…
Two NEK Friends Pop Up a Food Biz, the Spice Box
Before Val Elliott attended college in New York City, her familiarity with “ethnic” food was limited to that of her Italian heritage and the Greek cuisine of a family friend. “I was in college before I had nachos,” admits the St. Johnsbury resident, who grew up in the Hudson Valley. Elliott’s 5-year-old daughter, on the…
Cops Bust a Burlington Pot Shop That Hid in Plain Sight
Updated January 29, 2019 at 8:50 p.m. Authorities on Tuesday raided a Church Street business that had been selling marijuana for months in the shadow of Burlington City Hall. They arrested Derek Spilman, the longtime owner of Good Times Gallery, on unspecified charges. Roughly 20 federal, state and local law enforcement officers participated in the…
Chef Chelsea Morgan Works Mediterranean Classics at Sorriso
On a recent raw and sleety day, before going to her job as chef at Sorriso Bistro in South Burlington, Chelsea Morgan ran two miles on ice-slicked streets. She’s training to run a relay leg in the Vermont City Marathon and committed to running every day no matter the weather. “I’m very competitive,” Morgan said.…
Upscale Tequila Bar Over the Wall to Open in Stowe
Humanity has yet to propose a wall separating Mexico and Asia. But if and when that idea goes mainstream (anything can happen, right?), Stowe’s forthcoming tequila bar will be ready to hop the barrier. When Over the Wall opens at 2160 Mountain Road in the coming month, its small plates and craft cocktails will build…
