Surely, Jan Reynolds is a myth. Or perhaps she’s a composite, bits of several people rolled into one. World-class biathlon competitor. Holder of the high-altitude skiing record for women. First woman to circumnavigate Mount Everest on skis. Part of the first attempt to fly over Everest in a hot-air balloon. Successful writer-photographer of children’s books…
Last fall, Burlington’s ArtsRiot eliminated regular kitchen hours, then closed down all food and entertainment offerings without explanation. Now the restaurant, bar and entertainment space at 400 Pine Street has announced a partnership with PlantPub, a casual vegan restaurant in Cambridge, Mass., of which it will become an outpost this summer. Seven Days confirmed the news with public…
A large spending package enacted on Monday includes money that will allow the Vermont Cannabis Control Board to build and run its own testing lab. Brynn Hare, the board’s executive director, said the lab will “improve the efficiency of our inspection and investigative processes and also help ensure the products on the market are compliant,…
Calling it their “go-big-or-go-home year,” Double E Performance Center general manager Jesse Rivers unveiled the lineup for the 2023 Old Stage Summer Concert Series at the Essex Experience, announcing the music venue’s largest list of live outdoor concerts to date. Unveiled on Friday, the partial list of shows included a dozen national touring acts —…
Vermont Secretary of Education Dan French will leave his leadership post next month for a position at the Council of Chief State School Officers, Gov. Phil Scott announced on Friday. French, a veteran school administrator, has served as Vermont’s secretary of education for more than four years. When Scott appointed French in August 2018, the…
The Roman poet Ovid lived from 43 BC to 17 or 18 AD, during the reign of Caesar Augustus. His works, along with those of his contemporaries Virgil and Horace, are among the most enduring and influential of classical Latin poetry. In his early fifties, Ovid offended the emperor and was banished from Rome to…
If it’s risky to care too much about something easy to mock, it can also be the best way to make friends when you finally find your clan. In Airness, Chelsea Marcantel’s popular 2017 play, air guitar enthusiasts compete to become national champion, supporting each other all the way. Only a misfit can love imaginary…
Alice Goulet found purpose in the small town of Washington, Vt. Her school, the post office and home were within walking distance of each other in the Orange County village where she grew up. This made it convenient for her to stop at the post office and pick up the mail for some villagers —…
Are you ready to dress in your “best starperson outfit”? Next week’s White River Indie Film Festival, at Junction Arts & Media in White River Junction, will feature a Saturday, March 25, screening of the David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream. While the 2022 film has already screened elsewhere in the state and can be streamed…
Perusing Richard Whitehead’s photographs of the night sky, one can be forgiven for mistaking them for professional images captured by the Hubble or James Webb space telescopes. Whitehead’s online astrophotography gallery includes celestial structures more commonly captured by orbiting telescopes and large mountaintop observatories. Among them: the zoologically named Horsehead, Tadpole, Pelican and Elephant’s Trunk…
Dear Reverend, I’m a seventh grader who’s just trying to get a decent grade in math. People say I have to focus and take notes, but even when I do that, my grades are still plummeting. I love studying, but my studying techniques don’t seem to work. Is there any hope of getting a decent…
Don Ruggles is not sure why people started calling him “Tip,” but the name stuck at a young age. So did his afterschool job at Somers Hardware in Montpelier, where he started working in seventh grade. Tip’s father, Donald H. Ruggles, bought the beloved old-fashioned shop in the 1970s; the store dated back to the…
True ‘Champion’ [Re “Local Actor Casey Metcalfe Appears in Champions With Woody Harrelson,” March 3]: Sally Pollak’s piece on the new Woody Harrelson movie costarring local actor Casey Metcalfe captured the love of life Casey demonstrates every day. It is infectious. Casey and I have never actually met but somehow became Facebook friends a couple…
Sarah Stefana Smith is an associate professor of gender studies at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., with a PhD in social justice education. In that milieu, she delves into cerebral concepts and communicates in the often obfuscating jargon of academia. But in Smith’s interdisciplinary artwork, one thing is perfectly clear: her proficient hand.…
new in theaters MOVING ON: Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin play estranged friends who team up to get revenge on the man who wronged them (Malcolm McDowell) in this comedy from Paul Weitz (Grandma). (85 min, R. Essex, Majestic, Palace, Savoy) SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS: Foster kid Billy Batson must assume his superhero alter-ego…
PISCES (Feb. 19-Mar. 20) In describing her process, Piscean sculptor Anne Truitt wrote, “The most demanding part of living a lifetime as an artist is the strict discipline of forcing oneself to work steadfastly along the nerve of one’s own most intimate sensitivity.” I propose that many Pisceans, both artists and nonartists, can thrive from…
(Self-released, digital, vinyl) So far, the 2020s have been good for synth-pop. First there was the pandemic, which made the idea of creating vast soundscapes from small machines more appealing than ever. In early 2022, Harry Styles launched his Grammy-winning streak with the head-spinning synths on the single “As It Was.” On his heels came…
(Self-released, digital) Anyone with a shred of imagination and a penchant for dark thoughts has planned out their end-times scenario. Some fantasize about an off-grid compound, stocked with guns and toilet paper and canned soup — totally sensible, if boring. But what’s the point of growing up on pop culture that has long fetishized the…
As Community Harvest of Central Vermont approached a decade in operation this year, the nonprofit had one big-ticket wish list item: a cargo van. Since January 2014, the small staff and many volunteers at the Berlin-based organization have used their own vehicles to ferry hundreds of thousands of pounds of surplus food — much of…
Singer-songwriter Andriana Chobot will premiere a video for a single from her 2022 LP Return to Sincere, “Galaxy Eyes,” on Friday, March 17, at the Venetian Soda Lounge in Burlington. To celebrate, Chobot is bringing along singer-songwriter Jesse Taylor — who, after playing an opening slot, will do tarot readings — and a special guest,…
On March 20, 2020, during the initial terror of the pandemic, Francesca Aida Fortuna Villemaire turned 100 at Burlington’s Converse Home. The assisted living facility had banned all outside visitors on March 11, two days before Gov. Phil Scott declared a state of emergency in Vermont. Soon thereafter, Fran and the other residents were confined…
A whopping 86 artists contributed 138 pieces of art to “All the Feels,” an annual exhibit (minus a pandemic interruption) at the S.P.A.C.E. Gallery in Burlington. The open call for participation asked artists to “exude” emotion. It prodded: “How do you feel during the creation process? Does the content of your work bring joy, angst,…
Last fall, a South Burlington woman addicted to methamphetamine received a surprising offer: If she were willing to talk to a counselor and take weekly drug tests, she could get paid — even if she tested positive. The woman, who requested anonymity because of her active drug use, has struggled with other treatment programs because…
I was never a punk. I never had a studded belt or haunted the steps of 242 Main, the late, lamented city-run all-ages venue that used to reside in the bowels of Memorial Auditorium. I never felt the pull of the punk scene, which meant I tended to avoid the local DIY venues, most of…
Jen Lawrence felt lucky to find a house to buy in South Burlington during the pandemic, and she was prepared to spend some money updating the bathrooms and patching drywall. Her real estate agent recommended a handyman she knew, and Lawrence, who moved to Vermont with her family from Houston in summer 2021, showed him…
On October 17, Jared Cushing, athletic director of Hazen Union School in Hardwick, died by suicide. Two days later, numb with shock and grief, the community came together for the boys’ soccer Senior Night game. In the snack shack, students proffered free bowls of beef or vegetarian chili, chili dogs and chili-topped nachos. The food…
In his new podcast, “Obsessions: Wild Chocolate,” award-winning food and nature writer Rowan Jacobsen of Calais takes listeners into the depths of the rain forest in search of culinary gold: cacao. Jacobsen follows bean hunters as they experience ecstatic dance, financial ruination and the bliss of tasting chocolate made from the seeds (also called beans)…
Sneakers Bistro’s eggs Benedict is legendary. The combo of Canadian bacon, artichoke pesto, poached eggs, hollandaise and housemade English muffins even has “famous” in its name. The Winooski breakfast and lunch spot, which opened in 1980, has been churning out the dish for as long as anyone can remember; it makes up roughly 30 percent…
The popular Friday night food truck gathering formerly known as Truck Stop will return this year to Coal Collective at 377 Pine Street in Burlington’s South End. In addition to a new name, the South End Get Down, it will have an expanded block-party vibe and an outdoor beer garden, the Pinery, in the southwest…
Fans of the long-closed River Run Restaurant in Plainfield will rejoice that its chef and cofounder, Jimmy Kennedy, has returned to offer a familiar menu of fried catfish and pulled pork at Zenbarn in Waterbury Center. The venue at 179 Guptil Road offers counter service Wednesday through Saturday evenings, with an abbreviated weeknight menu. Kennedy,…
Laugh Marathon Friday 17 & Saturday 18 Beloved local sketch-comedy troupe Stealing From Work returns to Burlington’s Vermont Comedy Club with a brand-new revue, Gaslight at the End of the Tunnel. Fourteen original sketches featuring 75 characters offer a full evening of laughs for mature audiences who like immature jokes. How Sweet It Is Sunday…
Charlotte man was devoted son, brother, father, grandfather and friend
As a youth, native Vermonter spent many summers maintaining the property at Rock Point
Vermont woman’s most rewarding employment was at the Perkins School for the Blind
