Mar 8-14, 2017
A Former Judge Revisits the Controversial Sentencing That Changed His Life; How a Thin-Skinned U.S. President Jailed a Vermont Newspaperman — in 1799
Cover Story
Life Sentence: Former Judge Ed Cashman Finally Defends Himself
Erica Heilman of Rumble Strip created a podcast episode that accompanies this story. Hear clips from her interview with Ed Cashman throughout the article, and listen to the full episode below or at the Rumble Strip website. Students nursed energy drinks and to-go cups of coffee on a Thursday morning at Champlain College, while their…
Why Some Vermont Businesses Offer Paid Family Leave
James Marks of Putney is luckier than most new fathers in Vermont. His employer, Bellows Falls-based Chroma Technology, offers paid leave for all new parents. The high-tech optical coating manufacturer enacted a generous new parental leave policy for all of its 120 Vermont-based employees just weeks after his second daughter, Laura, was born in December…
The Parmelee Post: Generous Barista Adds Beard Dandruff to Drinks at No Extra Cost
Caffeine connoisseurs are abuzz over what they say could be the beginning of the next big trend in artisanal coffee. According to multiple eyewitness accounts, one area barista has been seen doling out liberal amounts of raw organic beard dandruff to his caffeinated concoctions at no extra charge. “I ordered my usual soy decaf latte…
Obituary: Conni Pressman, Burlington
Conni Pressman passed in sleep Feb 26, 2017, surrounded by people who love her. Conni was larger than life, and will be cherished in the hearts of her friends and family forever. She was active in Barb Jordan’s Senior Fitness Group and Carol Ode’s Appletree Water Aerobics, she played pickleball, and she biked, hiked, and…
![Exploring Human Origins [SIV481]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/episode481-2.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Exploring Human Origins [SIV481]
2/24/17: Fletcher Free Library is one of 19 libraries chosen to host the traveling Smithsonian exhibit, Exploring Human Origins: What Does It Mean to Be Human? The library has organized evening talks inspired by this theme and has invited local school groups to tour the displays and videos. Eva tagged along with a group of…
Former Soldier Set to Marshal Gov. Scott’s Energy Policy
In June Tierney’s office, everything that hangs on the walls or sits on the shelves has a deliberate purpose, just like the woman behind the desk. Take, for instance, the True Grit movie poster. Tierney identifies with Mattie Ross, the ponytailed 14-year-old upstart who endures obstacles in the classic Western while pursuing justice for her…
Free Will Astrology (3/8/17)
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): If you normally wear adornments and accessories and fine disguises, I invite you not to do so for the next two weeks. Instead, try out an unembellished, what-you-see-is-what-you-get approach to your appearance. If, on the other hand, you don’t normally wear adornments and accessories and fine disguises, I encourage you to…
Quimby Country Family Camp to Reopen, Host Cookouts
The tiny Essex County border town of Averill is home to zero year-round restaurants, and few reside in surrounding towns. So each summer, locals have welcomed the al fresco suppers at Quimby Country, a 120-year-old family camp that typically offers cookouts and lobster bakes to the public on weekends. In December 2015, that tradition faced…
Talking Science and Vermont Beer Culture at Drop-In Brewing
Vilija Bizinkauskas, head brewer at Middlebury’s Drop-In Brewing, pulls a sample glass of a tasting-room tap dubbed I Believe in a Thing Called Love. The coffee-brown, English dark-mild beer has a dark-roast backbone and the intensely bright undertones of a well-hopped ale — with a mere 3.9 percent alcohol. “This style was the original ‘session’…
An Evening of Food and Storytelling at Bird to Branch
The evening opened with an invitation to listen: “I would suggest, for a moment, that you close your eyes.” Elise Schadler, the founder of Bird to Branch, then read from David Foster Wallace’s essay This Is Water. Because here’s something else that’s weird but true: in the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually…
How Harvey Bigman’s Experience as a Trans Woman Informs Her Art
Eclectic Burlington artist Harvey Bigman launched Harvey.World (pronounced “Harvey dot World”), the newest project to enter her constellation of music, video art and performance art, in December. She presented two new pieces as part of Pushing a Brain Uphill II, an experimental music showcase at the BCA Center organized by local not-for-profit group Burlington Gull.…
International Travel Tensions Have Local Arts Groups on Standby
President Donald Trump’s immigration executive order in January was, by most accounts, an unmitigated disaster. It prohibited entry into the U.S. of all refugees and of immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and Africa. In its aftermath, chaos reigned at American airports and border crossings, in large part because no one seemed…
Soule Monde, Must Be Nice
(Self-released, CD, digital download) The notion of a 44-minute album solely consisting of drums and a Hammond organ might appeal to a limited audience. But Must Be Nice, the latest record from local funk duo Soule Monde, has more crossover flavor than might first appear. Composed of two noted local musicians, organist Ray Paczkowski and…
Soundbites: To Bead or Not to Bead
To Bead… All right, folks, strap in. It’s going to be one of those weekends when you’ll have to make some tough decisions about what music to shove into your earholes. Music venues and public spaces are popping at the seams with entertainment offerings, all thanks to Magic Hat Brewing’s 22nd annual Mardi Gras celebration.…
Banjo Dan, The Sleeping Sentinel
(Self-released, CD, digital download) For something like half a century, Dan Lindner has served as Vermont’s preeminent banjo authority. After all, you don’t just pick up the nickname “Banjo Dan” willy-nilly. As the leader of the acclaimed group Banjo Dan and the Mid-nite Plowboys, Lindner reigned as the foremost ambassador — some might say godfather…
Vermont Trekkies Transport Original Film to New Universe
Six months ago, Jim Bray’s latest episode of “Star Trek Anthology” — a collection of three web series produced by local Trekkies — was cruising along at warp speed. All were based, of course, on the fictional universe created by “Star Trek” founder Gene Roddenberry. And then Bray got swept up in the battle of…
Movie Review: ‘Logan’ Takes Superhero Flicks Into New Territory
Superheroes no longer just rule pop culture. They are pop culture, as deeply woven in its fabric as fairy tales, and just as open to reimagining (provided their corporate owners oblige). Witness the recent rise of the stealth superhero story. Netflix’s “Jessica Jones” is a noir-ish detective thriller; FX’s “Legion” is a Stanley Kubrick-influenced head…
The Calm and the Storm: After Break, Lawmakers to Tackle Budget
The Vermont legislature’s annual town meeting break is upon us — a week for lawmakers to prepare for the inevitable second-half rush. When they reconvene on Tuesday, legislators will face their annual crossover deadline, when most bills have to reach the floor in one body in order to be considered by the other. And the…
Art Review: ‘American Faces,’ Middlebury College Museum of Art
In the Instagram profile of Estefania Puerta, a visual artist with strong ties to Vermont, she asks, “How am I not my selfie?” It’s a funny and layered question, and it speaks to the complicated process of defining oneself and others through portraiture — particularly in the hyper-fast pace of the digital era. For Middlebury…
Early Sedition: How a Thin-Skinned U.S. President Jailed a Vermont Newspaperman
The press is “the enemy of the American people”? Federalist authorities made much the same claim when they arrested my great-great-great-great-grandfather, Anthony Haswell, for criticizing a thin-skinned American president in Vermont’s first newspaper. The year was 1799, and the new nation was in the darkest days of what then-vice president Thomas Jefferson called “the reign…
Page 32: Short Takes on Five Vermont Books
Seven Days writers can’t possibly read, much less review, the number of books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a conspiracy of lemurs. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to five books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize each book just…
‘Til Death Do Us Pay: Legislators Consider Divorcing Alimony Law
After 26 years of marriage, Rick Fleming and his wife divorced in the fall of 2009. The court ordered Fleming to send her $2,200 a month — for the rest of his life. Their children are grown, and they’ve both since remarried and have jobs, but he still has to hand over 40 percent of…
Letters to the Editor (3/8/17)
No Connection As board members of the Greater Burlington YMCA and cochairs of its capital campaign, we wish to correct the impression conveyed in last week’s story of a link between the Y’s decision to close the Winooski facility and the capital campaign [“Y Close Winooski? Gym Was a Drag on YMCA’s $22 Million Fundraising…
Diminishing Democracy? At Kirby Town Meeting, the 18 Percent Rule
Town meeting in Kirby resembles an animated version of a Norman Rockwell painting. About 80 residents — of the town’s total population of 493 — sat side-by-side Tuesday in wooden pews and on metal folding chairs as Republican former state legislator John McClaughry presided over his 51st consecutive Kirby town meeting. Behind him hung a…
Maple Corners
“I was snorkeling in about eight feet of water, and the fish were amazing! Some of them had a lemony color that changes to a creamy white toward the lower half of their bodies. The angelfish were striking, simply brilliant, with these spiky fins. Oh, my Lord — the green sea turtles! They would swim…
Movie Review: ‘The Salesman’ Doesn’t Deliver Oscar-Worthy Goods
“Attention must be paid.” That line from Arthur Miller’s 1949 play Death of a Salesman is spoken about Willy Loman, a man who laments having gone “unnoticed” by the world. It’s a work so thoroughly American in its sensibilities that the sight of it being staged in present-day Tehran is initially disorienting. And that’s exactly…
How Can I Convince My Wife to Have a Threesome?
Dear Athena, I want to have a threesome with my wife. How can I convince her? Signed, Just a Guy Dear Just a Guy, Throw me a bone, man — you’re not giving me much to go on here. Like, what’s your sweetheart into? Is she the adventurous type? Does she have a jealous streak?…
Eat This Week, March 8 to 14, 2017: Seeding Ideas
Vermont Community Garden Network hosts its seventh annual seed swap. Peruse an array of rare and heirloom seeds, snag favorites from other local gardeners, or just offload excess from your collection. Learn to save your own garden seeds with Mara Welton of Half Pint Farm, or talk container gardening with Julie Rubaud of Red Wagon…
Venetian Beverages Relaunching Classic Soda
The inspiration for Venetian Beverages came from a basement. In 2015, Justin Bunnell, 35, was helping his grandfather move when he uncovered a trove of photos and documents from M. & F.C. Dorn Co., a soda plant that once stood on Burlington’s Pine Street. Bunnell’s great-great-grandfather, Michael C. Dorn, created the original Venetian Ginger Ale…
Red Wagon Plants’ Primer on Starting Seeds at Home
Imagine a foggy summer dawn. You wander the garden, plucking dewy leaves of kale from low plants, then pick a plump, ripe tomato from a bushy row. As your bare feet prickle over the wood chips, you twist a spiny cucumber off a trailing vine. Then you take it all inside, where a few chops,…
Nepali Market Expands to Burlington’s New North End
In March 2015, Goma and Ratna Khadka opened Nepali Dumpling House at 78 North Street in Burlington. Now, the couple is expanding into the New North End. Their new grocery store, RGS Nepali Market, will be located at 1563 North Avenue, former site of Merola’s Market. According to Goma, it should be up and running…
