Jan 7-13, 2015
Three Ways Vermonters Can Reduce Their Carbon Footprint — and Dial Back Global Warming — At Home; Solar Helps Power an Energy Makeover in Rutland;
Cover Story
Getting to Zero: Three ways Vermonters can reduce their carbon footprint — at home
What does it mean for a building to be “net zero”? Simply that “the total energy required to maintain a building cannot exceed what it generates through renewable sources or saves through efficiency,” explains Ken Picard in his story about passive houses. It’s one of three stories in this issue that detail approaches some Vermonters…
Obituary: Peggy Ann Perry
Peggy Ann Perry, age 85 years, died late Monday afternoon January 12, 2015, in the Northwestern Medical Center. Born in Hyde Park, Vermont on November 9, 1929, she was the daughter of the late John Geddes and Ida (St. Onge) Moran. She graduated from the Loomis Chafee Girls School and later received her BA Degree…
Obituary: Wayne Bruce Machia
Wayne Bruce Machia, age 54 years, died Friday January 9, 2015, in West Swanton following a tragic logging accident. Born in Saint Albans on January 26, 1960, he was the son of Earl and Bernice (Smith) Machia. He attended Bellows Free Academy – Saint Albans. Wayne was raised in Sheldon on the Machia Road and…
Obituary: Gertrude Granger Picher, 1914-2015, Winooski
Gertrude Granger Picher, a life-long resident of Winooski, died peacefully on January 11, 2015 at Our Lady of Providence Residence in Winooski shortly after celebrating her 101st birthday on January 8. Her life was dedicated to her family, faith and music. Principal organist at Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Winooski for sixty-five years (1930-1995),…
Obituary: Inez Bessie Bird, 1917-2015, Hardwick
Inez Bessie Bird, 97, died peacefully on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015, at the Greensboro Nursing Home with her loving family by her side. She was born Dec. 22, 1917, in West Woodbury, the daughter of the late Agnes Mae Fisher and Carl B. Burnham. She attended Woodbury public schools. In 1947 she married William Henry…
Retrofitting: Saving Energy (and Environment) in a 1950s House
It’s 15 degrees Fahrenheit the morning that Seven Days stops by the home of Li Ling Young and Nik Ponzio in the Burlington neighborhood behind Lake Champlain Chocolates on Pine Street. Inside? A luxurious 69 degrees. New Englanders accustomed to skimping on their fossil-fuel consumption — whether out of respect for the environment or their…
New Districts, Candidates in Landmark Queen City Election
“Fifty-two-card pickup” — that’s how political newcomer Jason L’Ecuyer characterized the upcoming election season in the Queen City. On March 3, every city council and school board seat — as well as the mayor’s — is up for grabs. For the past 21 years, Burlington has had seven wards that elected two councilors apiece during…
Vermont Arts Council Plans ‘Year of the Arts’
When the Vermont legislature last year declared 2015 the Year of the Arts, it wasn’t only because the Vermont Arts Council would be turning 50. And it wasn’t just because the VAC has, according to the legislative resolution, “fulfilled its promise to Vermont citizens and visitors, nurturing hundreds of arts organizations, thousands of artists, and…
Book Review: Almost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew Bergman
Each of the 13 stories in Shaftsbury writer Megan Mayhew Bergman’s engrossing second collection, Almost Famous Women, begins with a photo or painting of the real woman whose life inspired the story. So it’s almost inevitable that readers will peruse the fascinating images and their captions first, looking for women they recognize. Many of those…
Short Takes on Film: Celebrating Tunbridge, Petitioning Burton
On the morning of September 11, 2001, when news of the destruction of the World Trade Center arrived in tiny Tunbridge, the town’s famous World’s Fair was in full swing. The rides were shut down, and for 10 minutes, fairgoers heard nothing but “the cows in the background.” That poignant snippet of history comes from…
Big Eyes
Walter Keane liked women with large, uh, eyes. In the early 1960s, he created an empire founded on paintings of sad children with massive moppet peepers. He was a pop icon, a talk-show fixture and — in Tim Burton’s paint-by-numbers biographical drama — a sadistic Svengali who took credit for the work of his wife,…
Looking Ahead to 2015 Art Exhibits
Enough with remembering the year that was. 2015 is here to stay for a while and, while we can’t predict everything that will happen, we can guarantee that a host of new art shows will come our way. Here are six we’re looking forward to in the months ahead. Keep your eyes on these pages…
On Tap: Zero Gravity Craft Brewery
Paul Sayler founded Zero Gravity Craft Brewery at American Flatbread Burlington Hearth in 2004. Every day of the week, the restaurant offers a rainbow of beers — Belgian saisons, English bitters, American pilsners, hoppy IPAs, gruits, porters and stouts — in hues from pale gold to black. With unusual grace, the pizzas and the beers strike…
Stowe’s West Branch Gallery Shifts Gears and Keeps on Growing
West Branch Gallery & Sculpture Park has steadily evolved in the past 13-plus years since painter Tari Swenson and sculptor Chris Curtis first held a contemporary art show in their 12,500-square-foot warehouse in Stowe. The married duo had used the former indoor tennis court as a studio for some years. Eventually, heavy and unsolicited visitor…
The Interview
First it was just another stoner comedy. Then it was the international provocation that inspired North Korea to hack Sony. Then we weren’t going to be able to see it, ever. Then it was our patriotic duty to see it. Then people saw it and discovered that it was, in fact, basically just another stoner…
Abbie Morin, Shadowproof
(Self-released, CD, digital download) In the bio on her website, Abbie Morin describes a shelf in her bedroom filled with small knickknacks and trinkets. Predictably, each of these tiny tchotchkes — seashells, stones, keys, etc. — is imbued with some personal meaning that represents a specific moment in the Burlington-based singer-songwriter’s life. It is from…
I Am So Embarrassed by My Small Penis Size
Dear Athena, My penis size is 4.5 inches and my duration is short. How can I increase both? Longer and Bigger, Please Dear Athena, My penis is so small. I’m embarrassed. How can I make it bigger? Ashamed of My Size Dear Athena, My penis size is just 2 inches, and I worry about that…
Cricket Blue, Cricket Blue
(Self released, CD, digital download) Male-female duos have long held a revered place in pop-music lore. Whether June Carter and Johnny Cash, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris or countless others, there’s something about the twining male and female voices that tugs at the heartstrings in a special way. (As an…
Noonie Deli Returns to Burlington
Jonathan Wish of Wow, That’s Good Food! knows a thing or two about opening a restaurant. He’s the man behind Burlington’s Scuffer Steak & Ale House, Grazers in Williston, both Vermont Tap Houses and Vermont’s only IHOP franchise. Wish took over ownership of Middlebury’s Noonie Deli last summer. Now he’s adding a second incarnation of…
A Not-So Serious Look at the Year Ahead in Local Music
With 2014 in the books, it is time once again to gaze into the crystal disco ball and see what the year to come has in store for the local music scene. As always, these predictions, though perhaps rooted in frayed strands of reality, are not to be taken seriously. Why? In the years we’ve…
Tight Squeeze Coffee Shop Opens in Burlington
On Christmas Eve, partners Lisa Osornio and Matt Gress opened Tight Squeeze Coffee Shop at 125 College Street in Burlington. The shop takes the place of the erstwhile Daily News, but Osornio and Gress have completely renovated the tiny space. The shop is now open daily, though hours vary. On offer is a variety of…
Homebrewing Competition Gives Local Brewers Big Opportunities
Homebrewing, like any act of creation, involves inspiration and, often, passion. It’s dirty, stinky, pricey and labor intensive, and there are never any guarantees that the beer will be drinkable. But the fruit of a homebrewer’s effort — whether good, bad, plain or interesting — is a reflection of that brewer’s skill, as well as…
![Sledding Adventure [SIV382]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/episode382.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Sledding Adventure [SIV382]
12/28/14: Tony Telensky, AKA Max Speed, caught the sledding bug in 2008. Since then he has been organizing sledding adventures with family and friends at scenic Vermont spots such as Mount Philo, the Lincoln Gap Road and Smuggler’s Notch Road. Eva and her sister Margot join Tony and his sledding compatriots for a speedy sledding…
Soundbites: Why Sergei Rules; A Look Ahead at 2015
Happy New Year, music fans! I trust your holidays were happy and healthy! Or one or the other! Or that you at least made it through them without going nuts! Or that you’re still alive. The holidays can be rough, huh? Before we get settled into the business before us in 2015, I’d like to…
Free Will Astrology (1/07/15)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In his novel Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut describes a character, Ned Lingamon, who “had a penis 800 miles long and 210 miles in diameter, but practically all of it was in the fourth dimension.” If there is any part of you that metaphorically resembles Lingamon, Aries, the coming months will…
Montpelier Notebook: New Leaders Take Key Posts in 2015
Sailing into unknown waters, are you better off with old salts or a fresh crew navigating the ship? Vermonters are about to find out. As the 2015 legislative session launches this week in Montpelier, several key roles will be filled by new players — or, in some cases, by veteran players with new assignments. They’ll…
News Quirks (1/07/15)
Can We All Get Along? Charges of racism were directed at a clothing store that posted a sign banning Chinese customers. The store is located in Beijing. “We didn’t want to hang up the sign in the first place and lead people to think we Chinese look down upon ourselves,” a salesperson at the store…
Round Two: A Wild Week in Vermont Politics
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to one of the strangest weeks in Vermont’s recent political history. Behold: On Thursday morning, a newly sworn-in legislature will settle a gubernatorial election whose outcome has been (at least somewhat) up in the air since November. That’s because neither Democratic incumbent Peter Shumlin nor Republican challenger Scott Milne managed to…
Ray, a Drop of Golden Sun
I was driving a customer to the Trapp Family Lodge, one beauty of a fare in the heart of the ski season. It was late afternoon, and after three straight days of skies evocative of a gray overcoat, the sun had splashed through like clear water through a broken dam. As I turned off the…
Does the Ultra-efficient Passive House Point the Way to Carbon Neutrality?
Cuddles the cockatiel and Stripe the parakeet sit cozily in their cages on the bedroom windowsills of 12-year-old Charlie Paul, oblivious to the frigid December air on the other side of the glass. Charlie’s second-floor bedroom is in the southeast corner of this Charlotte home, and, like every other room in the house, it maintains…
Letters to the Editor (01/07/15)
Single-Payer Long Dead As a long-time opponent of single-payer, I was pleased to see that the governor awoke to the stark economic reality [Off Message, “Analysis: Caving on Single-Payer, Shumlin Forfeits Remaining Credibility,” December 18]. As a taxpayer, I am outraged that the state spent so much money on high-priced, out-of-state consultants who told us…
Power to the People: Envisioning Rutland as ‘Energy City of the Future’
At first glance, the rows of panels that snake along a hilltop in Rutland look like any of the large solar arrays popping up in Vermont. But Green Mountain Power’s two-megawatt Stafford Hill Solar Farm project is one of a kind. The project is the first in the country to power a “microgrid” using only…
Vermod: Redesigning the Mobile Home for the 21st Century
The term “mobile home” is a serious misnomer. That they are homes is certain: Figures from the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) suggest that tens of thousands of Vermonters reside full-time in these smallish, low-cost structures. But mobile they are not. Though technically attachable to a trailer for hauling, the great majority of…
Vermont Crime Lab Struggles to Stay Legit
Vermont’s forensic laboratory missed a December deadline to qualify for a key accreditation, potentially throwing into doubt the admissibility of evidence in hundreds of criminal cases across the state. The Waterbury-based Vermont Forensics Laboratory knew for four years that it would have to meet tougher standards when its previous accreditation, based on less stringent scientific…
Burlington to Get an Arcade Bar
There’s no door yet at the 2,300-square-foot location abutting Sweetwaters at 191 College Street. But late this spring, passersby will be able to step into the Archives, a bar and arcade. “At the very core of all of this, our focus is on making it a good bar,” co-owner Nathan Beaman explains of the project.…
Taste Test: Parkside Kitchen
Food writers are obsessed with service. We could produce reams on the subjects of niceties, like ambience and how lighting or tableware has the power to make or break a meal. What to do, then, when we review a casual family café with counter service? We simply ignore the baby who’s making a mess at…
Obituary: Jeannette Mary Tarte
Mrs. Jeannette Mary Tarte, age 92 years, died Friday morning January 2, 2015, in the Franklin County Rehab Center with loving family at her side. A native of Highgate Jeanette most recently resided for several years at the Swanton Village Apartments where she had many friends Born in Highgate on January 31, 1922, she was…
Obituary: Nettie S. Cusson
Nettie S. Cusson age 94, received her wings Sunday, December 28, 2014. Surrounded by her family at the home of her loving granddaughter and caretaker of 14 years June Root. Born in Swanton February 11, 1920. She was the daughter of Alma (Vaughn) and Rueben Wells. In earlier years, she worked at the Red Cross…
