Mar 2-8, 2022
Origin Story: How Burlington’s Earth Prime Comics Helped Unite Vermont’s Comics Lovers; Town Meeting Day Coverage; A 16-Year-Old Wolcott Student Forges a Career as a Blacksmith
Cover Story
Origin Story: How Burlington’s Earth Prime Comics Helped Unite Vermont’s Comics Lovers
I was 10 years old, staring at a strange house on Bank Street. It was late summer, and my mother was inside the Burlington Square Mall shopping, so my brother Pat and I were cut loose to investigate the comic book shop across the street. Shadows from the trees in the yard cast the house…
Birth announcement: Hudson Rory Hooker
On February 25, 2022, Cassidy Hooker and Adam Mimran welcomed Hudson Rory Hooker into this world. They are so grateful to the family, friends, and talented doctors and nurses at the University of Vermont Medical Center who supported them in the birth of their son.
Obituary: Norman Joseph Deyette, 1940-2022
Family man was known as one of the best storytellers around
Obituary: Carola A. Schrank, 1939-2022
Stockbridge woman enjoyed spending time with her loving family
Clean: ‘Home Is Where You Make It’ (3/7/22)
Thick clouds of automotive exhaust lingered in the air as I stood outside a small wooden cottage. I was three years sober, and my mother had just arrived in southern Vermont. As I watched her step out of a taxicab, I was overwhelmed with feelings of joy and relief. It had been several months since…
Obituary: John Murray Buck, 1936-2021
World traveler was a teacher and adventurer — a loving and playful kid at heart
Bonobo, ‘Fragments’
(Ninja Tune, vinyl, CD, digital) Bonobo’s new album, Fragments, pulls listeners in two directions: the dance floor and the nearby lounge area. That’s kind of his modus operandi, which he’s honed since his debut at the turn of the century. The Los Angeles-based, British-born electronic musician’s hypnotic grooves could inspire a throng of churning, sweaty…
Telemedicine Is Helping Some Vermont Hospitals Manage a Growing Number of Psychiatric Patients
Last year, a woman in her twenties sought treatment at the Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital because acute depression had driven her to consider suicide. The 25-bed St. Johnsbury hospital doesn’t have its own clinical psychiatrist, let alone an entire unit dedicated to treating patients in mental health crisis. Once the woman was admitted to the…
Spencer Lewis, ‘Ruins and Foundations’
(Self-released, digital, CD) Spencer Lewis has duality on his mind on his latest record, Ruins and Foundations — light and dark; major and minor keys; destruction and rebuilding. The album honors impermanence in life and hails change, even while casting a glance at the wreckage of what we leave behind. Lewis, who describes his music…
Fuel Dealers and Environmentalists Are Fired Up Over the Clean Heating Bill
The late flurry of opposition to the centerpiece of Democrats’ climate agenda had an air of desperation. In the days before a House committee vote last week on creating a “clean heat standard” in Vermont, fossil fuel interests, powerful business groups and Republican lawmakers made last-ditch pleas to derail or delay the effort. The bill…
‘For the Love of Rutland’ Documents Public and Private Sides of the Refugee Debate
Jennifer Maytorena Taylor is a filmmaker and faculty member at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her family has roots in Los Angeles and Mexico, but when she was a child, her parents moved to the Rutland, Vt., area. “It was a really big culture shock for all of us,” Taylor said in a 2020…
In Sarah Trad’s ‘What Still Remains,’ the Foreign Becomes Familiar
Every culture is a tribe, a pack, and within it are repressive factions that discourage, legislate against and punish individuals who stray in behavior or belief. Visitors to the BCA Center in Burlington might keep this in mind when viewing Sarah Trad’s exhibition, “What Still Remains.” Images that may seem foreign — Arabic language, Middle…
Now Playing in Theaters: March 2-8
new in theaters THE BATMAN: Robert Pattinson plays yet another version of the Caped Crusader in this adventure that establishes a new Gotham City continuity, with Paul Dano as the murderous Riddler and Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman. Matt Reeves (Let Me In) directed. (175 min, PG-13. Bijou, Capitol, Essex, Majestic, Marquis, Paramount, Roxy, Star, Stowe,…
From the Publisher: Warning Bells
The first snow squall alarm sounded on my cellphone — and my partner’s — around 3:15 p.m. on Sunday, warning of an impending whiteout that blew in over Lake Champlain a few minutes later. Fine, I said to myself, as the house was engulfed from every direction, like a snow globe being shaken by an…
Is Secondhand Weed Smoke Bad for My New Cat?
Dear Reverend, I recently got a cat. I’m a consistent weed smoker, and it just dawned on me that maybe the secondhand smoke could be bad for him. Could it be getting him high? Is it bad for his lungs? Kat A. Tonic (female, 25) Dear Kat A. Tonic, Inhaling smoke of any kind isn’t…
Free Will Astrology (3/2/22)
PISCES (Feb. 19-Mar. 20): Pastor and activist Charles Henry Parkhurst (1842-1933) said, “All great discoveries are made by people whose feelings run ahead of their thinking.” The approach worked well for him. In 1892, he discovered and exposed monumental corruption in the New York City government. His actions led to significant reforms of the local…
It Took a Village to Move a Tiny House in Shelburne
On a whim last fall, Chris Rodgers bought a raffle ticket for a handcrafted tiny home — and won. But he didn’t expect it would literally take a village to move the thing. The home was built by Shelburne-based Way of the Bard, a group of teenagers who raise awareness about social issues through performance…
New Arrivals Restructure 150-Year-Old Marshfield Village Store as a Worker-Owned Cooperative
The Marshfield Village Store has been a mainstay in town since it was built in 1868, serving up coffee, sandwiches and conversation. This year, while the menu will stay the same, the store is evolving into a worker-owned cooperative. Its five new owners raised $700,000 from anonymous donors to purchase the building and its inventory…
Tim and Jess Lahey Have Different Professions and a Shared Commitment to Health and Well-Being
For Christmas, Jess Lahey made her husband, Tim, a collage that showcases bits and pieces of their writing. There are headlines and column inches from articles Jess wrote, poems by Tim, and snippets of his essays and op-eds in the New York Times. The jam-packed collage also features a photo of Jess and their pug,…
Winooski Kicks Off Its Centennial Celebration With Events and Exhibits
New England is full of former mill towns. While the towns themselves have mostly survived, many of the mills have become decrepit remnants of a bygone industrial age. During periods of urban renewal in the 20th century, cities around the U.S. saw the value in preserving such historic buildings, repurposing the massive structures as retail…
A 16-Year-Old Wolcott Student Forges a Career as a Blacksmith
Alder Hardt pulled a glowing yellow rod from his forge, laid it on an anvil and hammered a U-shaped bend into one end. When the steel rod was cool, Hardt reheated it, then clamped it in a vise. Working with a hammer and tongs, he wrapped the short leg of the U around the top…
‘School Branding’ Bill Would Ban Discriminatory Mascots
When Judy Dow attended Burlington High School during the late 1960s and early ’70s, its biggest rival was Rice Memorial, the nearby Catholic school. Big games between the Burlington Seahorses and the Rice Little Indians brought out intense displays of school spirit. “People would paint their cars with racist slogans and Indian images, and then…
Letters to the Editor (3/2/22)
Check Your Facts — Again The editor’s note on my letter of February 23 [Feedback: “South Burlington City Councilor Responds…”] compels me to write again. According to the South Burlington planning director, there are two designations of the southeast quadrant, aka SEQ: One is a zoning area; another, regulatory. These new regulations affect a larger…
Soundbites: Fever Dolls Return and North Ave Jax Hits the Scene
While watching my beloved Liverpool Football Club win the League Cup the other day, my friend Matt reminded me of something I’d well and truly forgotten. “Hey, remember, we’ve got Roger Waters tickets in June,” he said as he stared at the television. Engrossed in the match, I only partially registered his words. As I…
Maple- and Coffee-Based Sacré Sets the Nonalcoholic Beverage World Abuzz
Alcohol sales spiked when the pandemic hit in 2020, garnering publicity from the press and concern from public health officials. While demand for beer, wine and spirits has waned since then, sales of their nonalcoholic counterparts is growing exponentially. In the year that ended on January 29, U.S. alcohol retail sales dropped by 4 percent,…
Middlebury’s Iluminar Coffee Buys Bud’s Beans
Middlebury’s coffee scene got a jolt of new energy last month when specialty roaster Iluminar Coffee purchased longtime area biz Bud’s Beans. Daniel Gutierrez, 23, and Grace Futral, 22, will operate both brands out of the newly renovated Bud’s Beans space at 63 Maple Street, focusing on wholesale and online sales. William “Bud” Smith founded…
Freak Folk Bier Opens Taproom in Waterbury
Waterbury’s newest beer destination opened amid a snowstorm last Friday. Freak Folk Bier’s modern, 21-seat taproom, retail shop and brewery at 28 Stowe Street is the first brick-and-mortar location for owners Lillian MacNamara and Ryan Miller. The couple started Freak Folk in 2018 in an extra room at Burlington’s Queen City Brewery, where MacNamara was…
Crumbs: New To-Go Cocktails; Celebrating Women in Beer
Better late than never, Burlington’s Monarch & the Milkweed jumps on the to-go cocktails bandwagon this week. Chef-owner Andrew LeStourgeon will also add some new food options to meet the requirement for such sales, though his fabled chicken and waffles is not among them. The bottled, single-serving, garnished drinks cost $10 to $12.50. Classics such…
Three Questions for Richmond Chef Charles Spock
Charles Spock, of the Big Spruce and Hatchet Tap and Table, both in Richmond, recently turned 40. The chef and co-owner always imagined having a restaurant by that milestone. “And here I am with two. Maybe a little more than I bargained for,” Spock said with a chuckle. Spock shared some news and behind-the-scenes insights…
Brilliant Burmese at Irrawaddy in Essex Junction
I first fell for fermented tea leaf salad at a Burmese restaurant 13 years ago. The staple from the Southeast Asian country also known as Myanmar exploded in my mouth with salinity and tang; abundant crunch from roasted legumes and seeds; pungent, crisp garlic shards; and sparks of chile. Everything orbited around the umami-bomb star:…
The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, March 2-8
Rhapsody in Bluegrass Friday 4 Since 2006, Grammy-winning quintet Punch Brothers has been a staple of the bluegrass scene. Songs from the group’s newest album, Hell on Church Street — an experimental, bighearted answer to the great Tony Rice’s landmark record Church Street Blues — get audiences at the Flynn in Burlington dancing, crying and…
