Jun 28 – Jul 4, 2017
Vermonters Call for Transparency in Opiate Prescriptions; Pine Island Community Farm Continues Late Founder’s Vision; Champlain Islands Institution Hero’s Welcome Is for Sale
Cover Story
Vermont Leaders Make a Case for Opiate Prescription Data Transparency
The human cost of Vermont’s opiate crisis was on display at a recent SubStat meeting at the Burlington Police Department. Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George and Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo sat alongside street cops from Essex, Burlington and Winooski at a boardroom table. There were no snacks or bottles of water, and…
Seriously: The Tragedy of Ramlet, Coal Train’s Greatest Hits, Handle With Care: Fragile Comments
In this episode, host Bryan Parmelee frolics in the field of modern dance, explains how to ride the rails in Huntington and comes face to face with the great white fragility swimming in a sea of comments. CREDITS Written, filmed and edited by: Bryan Parmelee Artwork/photography courtesy of: Elsie Management, Mathew Thorsen, Oliver Parini, Bryan…
The Parmelee Post: Graphic Designer Confident Selecting the Right Font Will Help Farmers Market Vegetables
A boutique graphic design firm in Burlington has approached several local farms with an offer to help them better market their vegetables to consumers. “I was walking through the farmers market one Saturday and thought to myself, How do these farmers market their consumable commodities to new and emerging markets?” said Serge Kernmeister, chief creative…
Ask Athena: My Girlfriend Is Changing and I Don’t Know What to Do
Dear Athena, My girlfriend and I have been together since high school, which is almost five years now. She is changing, and I don’t know what to do. She wants me to stop waxing my pubic hair and shaving my legs and stuff. She wants me to stop getting my nails done and wearing makeup.…
New Americans at Pine Island Farm Carry on Without Founder
Beads of sweat trickled down Theogène Mahoro’s temple as he shoveled goat manure and hay onto his pickup truck. Mahoro, a chicken farmer at Pine Island Community Farm in Colchester, had awakened at 5 a.m. to feed his poultry and was still hard at work five hours later. Less than a mile away, Mahoro’s wife,…
Rocket Erotic Offers Positive Sex Ed With Its Toys
Customers at Ondine salon in Montpelier are usually there for a cut, trim or color. But every once in a while, in the evening, they might stop in to buy a dildo or a kinky graphic novel, to ask questions about sexual consent and boundaries, or to construct a bespoke leather flogger at an arts-and-crafts…
Album Review: Band of the Land, ‘Band of the Land’
(Self-released, digital download) The serenity and open spaces of rural Vermont allow ample room for hearts to expand. Burlington’s Band of the Land have hearts so wide, the world could fit inside. The group’s self-titled debut EP is a tender tribute to the goodness of the Green Mountains. It uses folk and bluegrass to convey…
Letters to the Editor (6/28/17)
Rooftop Garden Is Fine Regarding Katie Jickling’s [“Not-So-Green Roof: BTV Airport’s Garage-Top Garden Has Deteriorated,” June 21], I recently viewed the garden, and I was impressed! Sure, the plants are low, but that rooftop is a harsh environment: windblown and with unceasing sun. Yet it was colorful, and, with time to undergo natural succession, it…
A South Burlington Grad Reflects on Renaming the Rebels
Isaiah Hines was sipping an iced latte and talking with a reporter last week at Starbucks in South Burlington when a middle-aged woman approached the table. Cindy Shuman leaned in, looked at Hines and said with sincerity: “I want to thank you for everything you’ve done.” Shuman, a South Burlington parent, isn’t the only stranger…
![Quimby Country [SIV495]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/episode495.webp?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
Quimby Country [SIV495]
6/24/17: Quimby Country in Averill celebrates its 122nd season this summer in the Northeast Kingdom. Founded by Charles Quimby in 1894, the rustic resort is the oldest sportsman camp in the state. Charles’ daughter, Hortense, transformed the scenic spot into a family resort in the 1930s. Once a fishing retreat for men, Quimbys became a…
Hackie: Solo Maria
It was a perfect late-spring afternoon when I pulled up to the August First bakery just off of lower Main Street to hook up with my customer, Maria Hatami. She was sitting in front at one of the open-air tables, looking tanned and pretty in her shorts and cotton blouse. Gosh, I love women, I…
Free Will Astrology (6/28/17)
CANCER (June 21-July 22): When Leos rise above their habit selves and seize the authority to be rigorously authentic, I refer to them as Sun Queens or Sun Kings. When you Cancerians do the same — triumph over your conditioning and become masters of your own destiny — I call you Moon Queens or Moon…
What the Elk? Cervids Escape From Derby Enclosure
About 16 rogue elk escaped their Northeast Kingdom pen more than a week ago, and they appear to be roaming near the Canadian border, according to officials. Gretchen Desautels was out for a morning Jet Ski June 18 on Lake Salem with her husband when they spotted bobbing brown heads moving through the water. She…
Herding Sheep in Hanover: The Premiere of ‘Doggie Hamlet’
Here’s a quiz: What world-premiere performance in Hanover, N.H., this week was inspired by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book and David Wroblewski’s 2008 novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle? No clue? Try this: It involves five people, a couple dozen sheep and a few border collies. Hmmm… OK, the answer is Doggie…
Mini Train Rides With a View in Huntington
Barbara Aitken shouted to her elementary school students, “Guys, get off the bridge! The train’s coming!” The kids were seated on a wooden trestle bridge, dangling their legs over the sides, as a train approached within yards of them. Although reminiscent of a similar scene in the 1980s film Stand By Me, this situation lacked…
Album Review: Ben Dunham, ‘Backline Collective’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) As the saying goes, “Go big or go home.” On his newly released record, Backline Collective, Ben Dunham actually does both. Under the sage guidance of local favorite Chad Hollister, the veteran Montpelier musician assembled a collection of 13 ace central-Vermont musicians to bring his genre-hopping tunes to life. The result…
Art Review: Photographer Julie Blackmon’s Memories of Home
A mother’s back is turned to her three small children while she searches deep in a car trunk for something out of view. Behind her, one of her children spins around a loading zone sign, while her baby brother picks at cracks in the sidewalk outside a boarded-up building, and their toddler sister clutches a…
Long, Strange Session: A Look Back at the 2017 Legislature
Finally, it’s over. The legislative session that threatened to turn into a real-life Zeno’s paradox (you keep getting closer to the end, but you never quite arrive) adjourned after a whirlwind veto session on June 21. “It was definitely a strange session,” says House Minority Leader Don Turner (R-Milton). “There was never any kind of…
Cooking in a Camper, Serving in a Bus: Chef Brad’s CrazySide
A pastel-painted school bus was parked on the hill that rises behind the shops at Fat Hat Corner in Quechee. On a warm and muggy June night, the steep bank bloomed with Sweet William and lupine; fragrant yarrow was just starting to bud. Inside the bus, a handful of people sat on plastic lawn chairs…
Looking for a Hero: A Champlain Islands Institution Is for Sale
Dan Williams could not find a gravy separator. He’d searched all over Hero’s Welcome, one of the wackiest general stores in Vermont, on a recent Sunday morning before he went straight to the guy in charge. Bob Camp can locate every eccentric item, from live bait to prank hand buzzers, in the North Hero emporium…
No More Mr. Nice Guy: Will Scott’s ‘Hardball’ Approach Hurt Him?
Standing by a Civil War battle painting in the Statehouse last week, Vermont’s Republican governor and top Democratic lawmakers officially ended a 56-day dispute that took the state to the brink of a government shutdown. Gov. Phil Scott, House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) and Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) delivered all the…
Movie Review: Netflix Goes Whole Hog With Social Satire ‘Okja’
Traditionally, this isn’t the season in which a studio releases its five-star material. Summer is for superheroes, sequels and star-studded action extravaganzas. Of course, there’s nothing traditional about the Netflix business model. Another month, another $50 million TV tentpole, complete with major names on both sides of the camera, first-rate production values and everything one…
Eat This Week, June 28 to July 4, 2017: Shellfish and a View
Burke Mountain is best known for its cold-weather activities, but, come summer, the place buzzes with hikers, mountain bikers and other warm-weather revelers. On Friday, grab a seat at the resort’s eastward-looking View Pub deck for a family-style lobster bake. Gaze at the expansive views of the Willoughby Gap and crack through a crustacean or…
Theater Review: Sibs Tim and Tyne Daly Star in ‘Downstairs’
Tim and Tyne Daly have built distinguished careers in television and theater, but not until Theresa Rebeck, Dorset Theatre Festival’s resident playwright, wrote a script expressly for them have they appeared together onstage. The real-life brother and sister play siblings in Downstairs, a stunning drama that keeps the audience in doubt about reality until it…
Movie Review: ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ Should Have Been the Last Transformers
Early in Transformers: The Last Knight, an adorable tyke boasts, “We’re kids, man! We can get away with anything!” That line’s gleeful irresponsibility encapsulates everything wrong — and right — about the fifth installment of the Hasbro-toy-based film franchise. Halfway through the 149-minute spectacle, I started envisioning the three credited writers (Art Marcum, Matt Holloway…
With New Owners, Arvads Grill Gets Belgian Upgrade
In 2014, Arvads Grill in Waterbury got an upgrade to its look and menu. Now the eatery has new owners, Jason Palmer and David Hubbard, who plan to take the evolution further. Both business partners went to Colchester High School. Palmer is leaving his job as food and beverage director at Trapp Family Lodge to…
Julia Child Opera Comes to Hardwick, With Cake
Julia Child accomplished much in her life, from working for the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (the early Central Intelligence Agency) to transforming American cuisine. One of her achievements, however, may have been a surprise even to her: She’s responsible for an opera libretto. In 1989, American composer Lee Hoiby amalgamated a couple of episodes…
Xenia Rubinos’ Most Transgressive Act Is Being Herself
In 2016, a funny thing happened when Brooklyn-based R&B maverick Xenia Rubinos released her sophomore album, Black Terry Cat. For her, it was a collection of songs that expressed personal observations and profound life experiences. But in a year filled with discord and political unrest, her musings on being brown in America presented as calculated,…
Digital Cicadas Take Over Burlington’s City Hall Park
At noon last Friday, the bell in the Burlington City Hall clock tower rang out its midday notice and seemed to set off a river of sound. Three Harleys, riding in sync, revved their engines hard and cruised north on St. Paul Street. A puppy splashed in the fountain in City Hall Park. The alarm…
Soundbites: The Best Albums of 2017 … So Far (Part 1)
The midyear marker always sneaks up on me. But here we are, roughly halfway through 2017. Temperatures may be rising, but the days are getting shorter. Thanks a lot, summer solstice. You’re as cruel as you are beautiful. Given that we’re crossing the invisible line that separates early 2017 from late 2017, it seems like…
Sampling Burlington’s Latest Coffee Stops
Burlington is a coffee lover’s dream town, with a number of places to grab a cup to go or to sit down and sip. Java options run the gamut from corporate behemoths Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts to super-chill cafés with plenty of laptop outlets and artisan shops that source the finest beans and brew them…
The Spot on the Dock Opens in Burlington
Find your flip-flops, slip on your Wayfarers and call the dog: The Spot on the Dock is open at 1 King Street in Burlington. Follow the arrow pointing south on the surfboard in front of the former Breakwater Café & Grill, which closed in February. Then cut west and come to a stop before you…
