Mar 28 – Apr 3, 2018
One Year After Fateful Ski Accident, Ryan McLaren Takes Stock; Former National Geographic Photographer Reflects on Changing Worldviews; Mon Dieu! A Québécois Chocolatier Makes a Sweet Menagerie
Cover Story
The Year of Living Differently: A Life-Altering Ski Accident Hasn’t Stopped Ryan McLaren
The sun was shining on two feet of fresh snow the day Ryan McLaren’s life changed forever. March 17, 2017, began happily for the 30-year-old and his older brother, Jeff. They’d scored half-price tickets for Saint Patrick’s Day and arrived at the Mad River Glen ski area just as the lifts were starting up. The…
Q&A: Dr. Dustin Sulak Touts the Healing Power of Pot
More than two decades after California legalized medical cannabis, the debate still rages about its health benefits. On one hand, nearly every state in the country has legalized some form of a medical marijuana program. And several states — Vermont included — have legalized recreational adult use of the drug. But on the other hand,…
Seriously: Must Be Something in the Water
In this episode, Bryan defends Gov. Scott’s political party affiliation and has a run-in with the Burlington Water Department. Featuring RickyBaker Anne as “Burlington Water Dept. Employee.” CREDITS: Written, filmed and edited by: Bryan Parmelee Artwork/photography by: John Walters, Alicia Freese, Jeb Wallace-Brodeur, Bryan Parmelee, Dreamstime.com Backdrop mural by: Anthill Collective Logo/art direction: Don Eggert…
Memoriam: Robert C. Ianni Sr.
Robert C. Ianni Sr. died on March 28, 2018. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday, April 7, 2018, 11 a.m., at Holy Cross Church on Brooklyn Street in Morrisville. A graveside service with full military honors will be held at a later time at Pleasant View Cemetery in Morrisville. Faith Funeral Home…
Obituary: Bob Bombardier
Bob “Bomber” Bombardier, 45, of Craftsbury, Vt., and seasonally of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, passed away on March 12, 2018, in Nicaragua after being fatally struck by a drunk driver. An avid snowboarder, mountain biker, surfer and sailor, Bob lived for outdoor adventure and inspired others to do the same. Bob grew up in…
The Cannabis Catch-Up: Will the Feds Legalize Hemp Cultivation?
Vermont legalized the cultivation of hemp in 2013 and several states have followed suit in the years since. One of those was Kentucky, the home state of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky). The Bluegrass State legalized the plant in 2014 and and now ranks third in the country for the most acres of…
![March for Our Lives [SIV526]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/episode526.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
March for Our Lives [SIV526]
3/24/18: In over 800 protests around the world, hundreds of thousands of people gathered to March for Our Lives in this student-led demonstration on Saturday. At the Statehouse in Montpelier, about 2,500 people came together to support the Parkland youth and survivors of gun violence and to advocate for gun reform. Eva spoke to the…
Cosmetic Dentist Lauren Shanard Is All About Smiles
Name: Lauren Shanard Town: Williston Job: Cosmetic dentist There’s more to smiling than meets the eye. Research has shown that when we smile, we reap emotional, social and physiological benefits such as elevated mood, a more attractive appearance and boosted immune function. Even better, smiling is contagious, so a wide grin encourages others to flash…
What’s Up with the Flynn Center’s Baryshnikov Bathroom?
Naming places after famous folks is nothing new. The ancient city of Rome was named for Romulus, its eighth-century BC founder and first king. St. Petersburg in Russia was named after Tsar Peter the Great. Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City was named for … well, you get the idea. In Vermont, at least 96 towns,…
Foodbank Culinary Program Cooks Up Jobs
At the Community Kitchen Academy in Burlington last Thursday, Jim Logan’s cooking tips to his students seemed applicable to life in general. “Risotto waits for nobody. When it’s done, it’s done,” he said. “It’s time to take it off the heat.” As the students in the culinary job training program prepared grain dishes, Logan walked…
Album Review: Matteo Palmer, ‘Opaline Sky’
(Self-released, digital download) The line between good and great is often fine — and, just as often, indefinable. Since the release of his stunning 2013 debut album, Out of Nothing, fingerstyle guitarist Matteo Palmer has existed somewhere on the foggy outskirts of greatness. On that album, the Vergennes native displayed a depth of skill that…
Message Undelivered: Scott Muddles His Tax Stance
Last week, Gov. Phil Scott tried to reemphasize his long-held “no new taxes and fees” position. But in the end, he appeared to drastically expand his stance while appearing to have an incomplete grasp of the facts. Scott sent a letter to state lawmakers on March 20 listing 13 “bills containing new or higher taxes,…
Letters to the Editor (3/28/18)
Savor the Snow I know that your Feedback column is filled with important news and opinions, but I just wanted to say — since you’ve basically become Vermont’s paper of record — that we should never forget how beautiful the month of March 2018 was. Here along the spine of the Greens, we had one…
Free Wil Astrology (3/28/18)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): A few years ago, a New Zealander named Bruce Simpson announced plans to build a cruise missile at his home using parts he bought legally from eBay and other online stores. In accordance with current astrological omens, I suggest you initiate a comparable project. For example, you could arrange a do-it-yourself…
Album Review: Seven Leaves, ‘Bloom’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Seven Leaves are a self-described “rock-and-roll jam band” forged at Saint Michael’s College, just over the hill from Burlington in Colchester. They are definitely named after marijuana plants. They are also definitely modeled on the music of the Grateful Dead. The six-piece got its start at a Dead cover night, and…
An Attorney Makes a Case for Finding Friends
Ryan Kriger was miserable. It was 2010 and, by all outward appearances, things were going well for him. He earned a good salary as an attorney with a prestigious New York City law firm. He had plenty of friends and lived in the hip, upscale neighborhood of Brooklyn. But Kriger, in his thirties at the…
Lauren Costello is Burlington’s Go-To Experimental Cellist
We all have certain expectations of how musical instruments should be played and, therefore, how they should sound. But when musicians approach their instruments abstractly, it can lead to sonic discoveries and compositional breakthroughs. Burlington-based experimental musician Lauren Costello challenges any preconceived notions of her instrument, the cello, with unconventional techniques and performance tactics. She…
Burlington’s 5-Year-Old Early Ed Initiative Has Yet to Take First Steps
In December 2013, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger approached a private donor with a proposal to improve and expand childcare offerings in Burlington. With some cash, his administration could “lay the strategic groundwork for a long-term city effort to improve early childhood education and … make some immediate progress on the issue at a critical time,”…
Heaven and Earth Hour: Astronomical Society Looks Skyward in Burlington
About 10 stargazing members of the Vermont Astronomical Society had their telescopes pointed skyward on Saturday night at the top of Church Street in Burlington. The gathering on the lawn of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington was meant to coincide with Earth Hour, an annual event intended to highlight climate change by extinguishing…
Can China Help Fill — and Fund — Vermont’s Public Schools?
Burlington’s public school superintendent is traveling in China this week in hopes that the nation of 1.4 billion can help fill empty desks at Burlington High School. Two other Burlington school administrators and four Franklin Northwest Supervisory Union school officials also made the 6,600-mile journey to explore importing tuition-paying high school students as steadily declining…
Burlington’s ONE Band Celebrates Immigrant Traditions
For the past 30 years, Brian Perkins, a longtime resident of Burlington’s Old North End, has performed traditional music that English, French Canadian, Irish and Scottish immigrants brought to the area long ago. But recently Perkins, 53, realized that the immigrant culture of Vermont, particularly in his neighborhood, is even more diverse than he had…
Sister Joan Chittister Play Comes to Vermont
Joan Chittister is something of a rebel nun. A member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie in Pennsylvania, she’s an outspoken feminist, author of more than 50 books and founder of the web-based movement Monasteries of the Heart. She’s also the subject of a one-woman play titled Joan Chittister: Her Story, My Story, Our Story…
Eat This Week, March 28 to April 3, 2018: Holy Brunch!
V Smiley (of V Smiley Preserves) and Jess Messer (of Savouré) team up for an Easter brunch spectacular. On offer: cheese plates — with fresh bread and jam and a homemade pickle — from Fairy Tale Farm, sourdough French toast with strawberry-cherry whipped cream, and apricot scones and gooseberry upside-down cake laden with sweet curd. On…
‘Artists to Watch’ Showcases Contemporary Vermont Talent
In Vermont’s state capital, art must be pursued in bits: the upstairs hallway that constitutes the T.W. Wood Gallery; the narrow cooperative gallery winkingly called the Front; the Governor’s Gallery, set among state offices; the busy lobby of the supreme court. And then there is the Vermont Arts Council’s Spotlight Gallery, another afterthought of a…
Krista Scruggs, ZAFA Wines Take Root in Vermont
It sounds like the beginning of a foodie joke: A Californian wants to make wine, so she moves to Vermont. But that’s exactly the story — the gist of it, anyway — behind Vermont’s newest independent wine label, ZAFA Wines. Krista Scruggs grew up in California, the American promised land of gold and grapes. But when she…
Former ‘National Geographic’ Photographer on Changing Views
From its inception in 1888, National Geographic became synonymous with far-flung adventure and “exotic” encounters — at least for white audiences of the global North. Earlier this month, the magazine took a dramatic step toward acknowledging its historic perpetuation of ethnocentric and racist narratives. The magazine’s first-ever female editor in chief, Susan Goldberg, introduced the…
Movie Review: Bereavement Has a Special Sting in the Oscar Winner ‘A Fantastic Woman’
A Fantastic Woman doesn’t so much open as detonate into being with a title sequence of arresting mystery and grandeur. Director Sebastián Lelio (Gloria) nudges the credits to the edge of the frame to make room for a stunning overhead shot of Iguazu Falls, great torrents cascading over a circular rim into an unfillable cavity,…
Gob Squad Collective Reimagine ‘War and Peace’
Every theater season can present thought-provoking, moving, even brilliant plays. But occasionally a truly unique theatrical form comes our way. Gob Squad is one such company reimagining creative boundaries. The troupe arrives at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College on April 6 and 7 with its rendition of War and Peace. Anyone…
Scarlett Letters: My Wife Can Only Climax With a Vibrator
Dear Scarlett, My wife (over 65 and taking antidepressants) and I (over 70) enjoy sexual intimacy. She can climax, however, only with a vibrator. Is that unusual? What percentage of postmenopausal women needs vibrators to climax? Signed, Old Lover (male, over 70) Dear Old Lover, It’s wonderful that you and your wife are enjoying each…
Soundbites: Happy Anniversary, Higher Ground!
A storied local nightclub is about to reach a mountaintop moment. Sunday, April 15, marks 20 years to the day that Higher Ground first opened its doors at its original Winooski location. Through the decades, the club’s significance in Vermont’s music scene has grown exponentially. From the early days as a funky, oddly shaped room…
Movie Review: An Unsound Narrative Is the Undoing of the Soderbergh Thriller ‘Unsane’
I’m always up for watching a cinematic experiment. And Steven Soderbergh’s career offers plenty: In between his more conventional Hollywood projects, the writer-director-cinematographer-editor has played around with digital HD, nonlinear narratives, nonprofessional actors and new distribution methods. For his latest adventure, Soderbergh picked up a humble iPhone 7 Plus to shoot the psychological thriller Unsane.…
Conservative Senator Peg Flory to Hang Up Her Spurs
Vermont Sen. Peg Flory (R-Rutland) — a fixture in the Statehouse for nearly 20 years and one of the most outspoken members of the Republican opposition — is on her way out. The 69-year-old lawmaker told Seven Days that she won’t run for reelection in November because she wants to spend more time with her…
A Québécois Chocolatier Creates an Easter Menagerie
Easter can sneak up on Pier Normandeau. “It is too early this year!” he declared. “You have to work all the time!” Normandeau is a chocolatier in Mystic, Québec, where he is also chef-owner of a French country restaurant called L’Oeuf. In the weeks leading up to Easter, Normandeau makes about 1,500 chocolate pieces —…
Deli 126 Launches Bar, With Sandwiches
A New York-style deli with an attached 1920s-style speakeasy is scheduled to open next week at 126 College Street in Burlington. The two-part business, called Deli 126, will take over the space previously occupied by Vin Bar & Shop. The wine bar has been transformed into a two-room bar/lounge, with furnishings in black and plush…
