Jun 16-22, 2021
After a Year in Hotels, Homeless Vermonters Prepare to Live in Tents and Cars; Gypsy Moths Infest the Champlain Valley; Urian Hackney Reflects on a Remarkable Year — and Gets Ready for a Bigger One
Cover Story
Kicked to the Curb: After a Year in Hotels, Homeless Vermonters Prepare to Live in Tents and Cars
Almost every morning, from around 2:30 a.m. until the sun comes up, Norma Cushing stands in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn on Dorset Street in South Burlington, keeping watch over her gray Hyundai Sonata. Cushing is 54, with silver-flecked brown hair and a smattering of freckles across her nose; at the start of…
Obituary: Cecelia A. Mason, 1953-2021
Rutland humanitarian enjoyed camping and improving the lives of others
In Memoriam: Maurice Dickey Drysdale, 1944-2021
The celebration of life for Maurice Dickey Drysdale, longtime editor/publisher of the Randolph Herald who died April 28, 2021, will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 10, at Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph. Related Stories
Obituary: John “Jake” Michael Hawley, 1987-2021
Jake Hawley, 33, died at home in Milton, Vt., on June 12, 2021, from an unintentional overdose. He was born in Burlington, Vt., on November 4, 1987, to John William Hawley and Nancy Walters Hawley. Jake’s early years were full of outdoor activities — boating, fishing, golf and skiing. Jake was a natural golfer with…
Obituary: Vicenta “Vickie” Farrales McClure, 1920-2021
Woman born in the Philippines met her Burlington husband during World War II
In Memoriam: Connie Marshall, 1948-2019
To my dearest Connie, I miss you every day and can’t believe you won’t be here for the rest of my life. I never dreamed you would die at just the age of 71. My prayer will always be that I will be with you someday in some way. So much love, Mary and your…
Obituary: Joan Martin, 1929-2021
Waterbury woman enjoyed spending time with her family and volunteering in her community
After a 30-Year Lull, Gypsy Moth Caterpillars Infest the Champlain Valley
In late May, Rachel Kring noticed a few fuzzy little caterpillars crawling around a table in her Hinesburg backyard. A few days later she went outside to find a dark swath of the insects clustered on the side of her house. Soon, hundreds of caterpillars were dropping from the branches of backyard trees, swinging from…
Drummer and Producer Urian Hackney Reflects on a Remarkable Year
When he was a kid, Urian Hackney would wait outside his father and uncle’s rehearsal space trying to build up the courage to ask whether he could play the drum kit. “I was pretty young, so I was really shy,” he recalls. “It was this project studio they’d built in the garage, and I’d just…
Two Vermonters Are Among the Couples Profiled in the Inspiring Series ‘My Love’
Our streaming entertainment options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. This week, I watched the Netflix docuseries “My Love: Six Stories of True Love,” which premiered in April. Each of the six hourlong episodes profiles a couple that has been together for at least 40 years, following them over the course…
Theater Review: ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged),’ Northern Stage
Northern Stage hasn’t just restarted live theater in Vermont. They’ve built a new outdoor theater and developed a production especially suited to welcoming back actors and audiences, updating the comedy The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) to capture what it feels like to emerge from the pandemic. The Complete Works, written by Adam Long,…
Roan Yellowthorn, ‘Another Life’
(Blue Elan Records, digital) In a 61-part series for online music blog Atwood Magazine, Plattsburgh, N.Y., singer-songwriter Jackie McLean of indie-pop duo Roan Yellowthorn documented the making of her band’s sophomore album, Another Life. Her confessional writings began in February 2020 — and we all know what happened the following month. Adapting to new realities,…
The Silent Mile/Sounds & Scenarios, ‘The Silent Mile/Sounds & Scenarios’
(JCH Records, CD and digital) Are you ready to feel the raw emotion of being dumped? Ready to scream into the void because your ex sucked so much you had to trash your bedroom? It’s emo time! Hoodies have been stolen and promises broken. Welcome to Emotional Wreck City, population: two very sad bands. It’s…
Lt. Gov. Molly Gray Says She’s Too Focused on Her Current Role to Think About Running for Congress
Molly Gray doesn’t really want to talk about going to Washington, even though the crowd around Vermont’s political water cooler assumes she’ll try someday. The political phenom would rather recap her first session as lieutenant governor or recount her trip to Macedonia with the Vermont National Guard. Or lay out why Vermont needs paid family…
Free Will Astrology (6/16/21)
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “I remember wishing I could be boiled like water and made pure again,” writes poet Jeffrey McDaniel. Judging by the current astrological omens, Gemini, I think you could be made reasonably pure again without having to endure an ordeal like being boiled like water. Do you have ideas about how to…
From the Publisher: Homing Instinct
We finally got some rain in Vermont, and I was reminded of the lovely sound it makes on my house. No matter how hard it comes down, I know I’ll be dry — a luxury that I came to appreciate in my outdoorsy youth. It’s awful waking up wet and cold, with all of your stuff…
How Do I Keep My Friends and Find the Courage to Go Out to Bars Again?
Dear Reverend, Over the past month or so, my friends have been going back out to the bars a lot. They often invite me, but I always decline. I’m fully vaccinated, but I’m just not ready to mingle with a bunch of strangers yet — especially drunk ones. How do I keep my friends and…
Art Review: “Together: Nature Unites Us,” Elizabeth Billings, Nature Conservancy Natural Areas
Artwork does not usually share space with 142 bird species, denning bobcats and endangered bats. But the Raven Ridge Natural Area, which straddles parts of Hinesburg, Charlotte and Monkton, is not a conventional gallery. Far from a white-walled box, this spot can trace its origins to a melting continental ice sheet 15,000 years ago. Its…
Bottom Line: A Tough Year of Business for US Sherpa Is Bookended by a COVID-19 Wave in Nepal
Ongyel Sherpa knows a lot of people in high places. The 41-year-old businessman is founder and CEO of US Sherpa, a Williston-based Himalayan trekking company and supplier of Nepali-made apparel and accessories. US Sherpa employs four people in Vermont and supports more than 300 artisans in Nepal, including several members of Sherpa’s extended family. A…
Letters to the Editor (6/16/21)
Lovin’ Spoonful Your story about Val Hussey, the “lunch lady,” brought tears to my eyes [“Pandemic All-Stars,” June 9]! They may never know of her on national news, but that kind of dedication to preventing children from going hungry — helping parents feed their families during financial struggles — is what really makes a difference.…
Notice of Self Storage Lein Sale: Fort Ethan Allen Mini Storage
120 Hegeman Ave., Colchester Vt. 05446 8026547779 Notice is hereby given that the contents of the following will be sold to the public by sealed bid. The sale is being held to collect unpaid fees ,late charges and expenses of the sale. Elizabeth Lowe unit 68 Donald Nicoles unit 147 Anita Vorsteveld unit 112 Storage…
Diana Whitney Edits Poetry Collection for Young Women and Girls
For Brattleboro poet Diana Whitney, the poetry anthology You Don’t Have to Be Everything: Poems for Girls Becoming Themselves was decades in the making. “In some ways, I’ve been working on it since I was 13,” she said in a recent phone interview. As a young, closeted, queer teenager, Whitney found herself in a cycle…
Turtle Savior: Steve Parren Looks Back on Three Decades of Conservation Work
Hundreds of turtles that ply Vermont’s woods and waterways have something in common: They were hand-raised in Steve Parren’s Monkton living room at some point during the 30 years when he ran Vermont’s Nongame and Natural Heritage Program. Parren, who retired May 8, is a biologist with an affinity for all species, including birds, reptiles…
In Memoriam: Marshall MacDonald True, 1938-2021
Marshall MacDonald True slipped gently from this life on the morning of February 28, 2021. Marshall’s family is holding a memorial service and celebration of his life on Saturday, July 17, 2021, at 1 p.m. at the Meeting House on the Green in East Fairfield, Vt. Please visit our website to share condolences, photos and…
Chef Jean-Luc Matecat’s Dream Comes True at Colchester’s Pioneer Lakeshore Café
Last week, for my first indoor restaurant meal since March 11, 2020, I started at the beginning: with breakfast. The place I chose, Pioneer Lakeshore Café, is a beginning, too — for Jean-Luc Matecat, its chef and co-owner. Matecat and his wife, Lindsay, opened the café in Colchester’s Malletts Bay on May 29. The 39-year-old…
Local Maverick to Host Weekly Market at the Essex Experience
Tech and marketing startup Local Maverick has been operating an online version of a farmers market since August 2020, when it began as a collaboration with the Burlington Farmers Market. Now, with Maverick Market at the Essex Experience, the company will host its own weekly in-person shopping event. Beginning Thursday, June 17, from 3:30 to…
Winooski’s Offbeat Creemee Ditches Dairy for Poolside Plant-Based Treats
Aisha Bassett isn’t originally from Vermont. But that hasn’t stopped her from embracing something that befuddles many out-of-staters: our bizarre name for soft-serve ice cream. “I remember the first time I saw the word ‘creemee’ on a sign,” Bassett recalled. “I was thoroughly entertained. It’s such a fun, quirky Vermont thing.” With Offbeat Creemee, Bassett…
The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, June 16 to 22
Island in the Sun Friday 18 Greensboro’s Highland Center for the Arts hosts a different touring street performer each Friday in June. On the 18th, it’s Sara Kunz, also known as the Flyin’ Hawaiian. Born and raised on the Big Island, Kunz transports audience members to a circus-like paradise with feats of clowning, contortion and…
