Mar 24-30, 2021
COVID-19 Kept Families and Regulators Out of Eldercare Homes. This Is What Was Happening; Shapeshifters in Brattleboro Revolutionizes the Chest Binder Market; The World’s Top Brewer, Shaun Hill, Reconsiders His Business
Cover Story
Isolation Wards: COVID-19 Kept Families and Regulators Out of Eldercare Homes. This Is What Was Happening
In late 2019, Seven Days and Vermont Public Radio published a series of stories that revealed Vermont’s state-regulated eldercare facilities often failed their mostly elderly denizens, with medical errors and accidents leading to harm and even deaths. Just a few months later, COVID-19 struck, leaving residents of these assisted living and residential care homes more…
In Memoriam: Connie Marshall, 1948-2019
Happy birthday, Connie. You should have had so many more years to be with us. We cherish our memories of you — our sister, aunt, great aunt, and Mimi to Lucy. There isn’t a day that passes that tears are not shed. We pray so much to see you again. Much love forever, Your family
The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, April 1 to 7
1. Compare and Contrast Christal Brown and Lida Winfield have a lot in common: They’re both Vermonters, dance artists and Middlebury College faculty members. But in some things they contrast, including their race, geographical origins and experiences in education. Brown and Winfield team up in the dance and spoken-word duet Same but Different, in which…
Obituary: Linda Deliduka, 1942-2021
Longtime public school teacher conveys her final life lessons
The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, March 25 to 31
1. Classic Compositions Classical music fans, are you craving a concert of works by your favorite composer? If that composer happens to be Antonio Vivaldi, the Middlebury Performing Arts Series has you covered. On Friday, March 26, the Middlebury College series shares “Vivaldi Explosion.” This virtual concert features archival video recordings of the New York…
Locked Down, Masked Up: Working Through a Tiny Group Home’s Outbreak
The stairs reminded Tina Fede that she was sick. The little residential care home she manages in Bennington has just one flight, and she usually trots up and down it without a thought. Now the steps left her short of breath. She trudged them over and over, huffing into her N95 mask by the time…
How Do I Produce More Ejaculate?
Dear Reverend, My ejaculation is a very weak stream. How do I produce more, as my wife loves semen? Trickle Pickle (male, 54) Dear Trickle Pickle, Your wife is lucky to have a husband who’s so considerate, not only of her sexual desires, but also of her general well-being. However it makes its way into…
Hog Wild: Barre Harley-Davidson Dealer Will Give Free Motorcycles to Those in Need
Last year, as people looked for new ways to enjoy the outdoors, the folks at Wilkins Harley-Davidson in Barre saw dozens of would-be riders stream through its doors. All had a common goal: to hop on a motorcycle and escape. “Motorcycles provide a kind of release and a way to get away from our troubles…
Free Will Astrology (3/24/21)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In the novel House of Leaves, the hero Johnny Truant describes his friend Lude as wanting “more money, better parties, and prettier girls.” But Johnny wants something different. What is it? He says, “I’m not even sure what to call it except I know it feels roomy and it’s drenched in…
Lockdowns Left Eldercare Homes Unchecked and Residents Vulnerable
The focus on COVID-19 last year didn’t mean that the typical problems in Vermont’s eldercare facilities went away. At one home, a resident was rushed to the hospital because of a medication error. At another, a med tech with a drug addiction stole a resident’s pills. One caregiver is accused of grabbing her elderly charge…
Vermont’s Vaccination Strategy, Turns of the ‘Spigot’ Pose Risks in New Pandemic Phase
Last week brought a flurry of good news in Vermont’s fight against the coronavirus. Gov. Phil Scott announced that the state’s vaccine supply was on the rise and laid out a road map for vaccinating the rest of the population by the end of June. He echoed President Joe Biden’s prediction that life should return…
Bottom Line: How Timely Tire Gained Traction Heading Into the Pandemic
When Ari Moskowitz first thought of creating a mobile tire rotation and repair service a few years ago, the driving motivator was to save people time. Moskowitz and his wife moved to Burlington six years ago from New York City, where installing snow tires on one’s vehicle doesn’t have the same urgency as it does…
Sergeant Accused of Sexual Assaults Remains in Vermont Guard Despite Criminal Record
Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of alleged sexual abuse. After a night out in January, Jane Williams woke up disoriented, her rectum and vagina sore. Her new housemate was sleeping naked in bed beside her. She started to piece together the fuzzy details of the previous night. She and Daniel Blodgett, a friend whom…
Vermont Symphony Orchestra Addresses Racial Reckoning in a Multi-Genre Performance
In the classical music world, it has been all too customary to characterize phenomenally talented mixed-race composers as lesser versions of white composers. Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) became known as the “Black Mozart”; Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was dubbed “the African Mahler.” Amazingly, these demeaning monikers live on today. Clearly, a reckoning is needed,…
Sound Design Tells a Resonant Story in the Oscar-Nominated ‘Sound of Metal’
Our streaming entertainment options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. This week, I watched director-cowriter Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, a quiet (literally) little film that snagged six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Find it on Amazon Prime Video. The deal Ruben (Riz Ahmed) and Lou (Olivia Cooke) are a…
From the Publisher: Alone Together
My mother died early in the pandemic, though at the time neither of us had any idea how long the crisis would last. We spent the first four weeks waving at each other through the windows at Burlington’s Converse Home. On April 16, Mom was diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer. Because she was terminal, I…
Shapeshifters in Brattleboro Revolutionizes the Chest Binder Market
Typically, beginners learning to sew are warned to be careful when choosing fabrics. Anything stretchy, slippery or finicky requires special equipment and know-how. Stick to cotton, linen or chambray, the advice goes. Beginner patterns are often simple and loose, with room for error. This approach wasn’t going to work for Eli and Krista Coughlin-Galbraith, who…
Letters to the Editor (3/24/21)
You Forgot One Perhaps columnist Dave Gram needs to relearn how to count Vermont’s statewide elective offices. He wrote that there are five in his screed attempting to skewer Molly Gray [Fair Game: “Team Molly,” March 17]. He implied that the lieutenant governor’s decision to hire a political staffer was a mark of unseemly ambition…
Book Reviews: ‘How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope,’ Anthology; and ‘Bluebird,’ James Crews
This January, Amanda Gorman’s reading at the presidential inauguration rocketed her to international fame and put poetry back on the map. Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb” — a poem of steadfast hope, delivered with fierce sincerity — proved to be a message that listeners around the world desperately needed. Shaftsbury poet and editor James Crews…
Alexa Woodward and Jane Adams Team Up on AI-Inspired Music Videos
It started with something small: a suspicious spot so tiny it fit inside a freckle. In late 2019, Burlington singer-songwriter Alexa Woodward noticed the strange mark on her shoulder and sought medical attention. It was quickly diagnosed as a malignant invasive melanoma, one of the most insidious cancers. Emergency surgery followed, then a painful recovery.…
No Showers on Vacation, ‘Aquaband’
(Self-released, digital) For better or worse, Burlington is known as a beacon for freewheeling, fractal music best classified as “jam.” And even though the University of Vermont group No Showers on Vacation pledged allegiance to Phish in a recent email to this publication, their debut album, Aquaband, seems to play by its own rules rather…
Derek O’Kanos, ‘On the Sleeve’
(Oak Honest Records, CD, digital) While accepting his band’s recent Grammy Award, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes was asked about the future of rock music. He gave all the cliché answers about there being room for all genres, etc., before adding a cutting addendum: “Not necessarily blues-rock, please. No more of that.” Casablancas’ quote comes…
The Charlotte Blues: Small Town Paper’s Editor Departs After Reporting Zoning Dust-Ups
Pro tip: If you want a feisty, independent local newspaper covering your small town, don’t let small-town politics infect the paper. Charlotte, an affluent community of nearly 3,800 at the southern edge of Chittenden County, has been an anomaly, bucking the trend of towns becoming news deserts. It is served by two local newspapers, the…
Society and Solitude: The World’s Top Brewer, Vermonter Shaun Hill, Reconsiders his Business
In February, Shaun Hill was in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he spent two weeks in “managed isolation.” The mandatory quarantine, which he experienced across the world from his home in Vermont, offered Hill time to reflect. Usually, he’s brewing beer at Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro, the brewery he founded in 2010 at the farm…
