In summer 2003, as the United States began an ambitious effort to resettle displaced Somali Bantu people, the New York Times documented one family’s relocation from a war-torn region in Africa to the desert city of Tucson, Ariz. Its front-page article, “U.S. a Place of Miracles for Somali Refugees,” featured photos of a Somali couple…
Members of Vermont State Employees Credit Union narrowly approved a long-planned merger with New England Federal Credit Union on Tuesday. Voting started online and by mail on September 20 and continued until Tuesday evening. The final result was 7,622 for the merger to 7,304 against. With assets of nearly $3 billion, 165,000 members and 460 employees, the…
Some of the advocates who worked to pass Proposition 5, the abortion rights amendment to the Vermont Constitution, are turning their attention now to helping like-minded people in other states try to do something similar. Vermonters approved Proposition 5, also commonly known as Article 22, on Tuesday by a margin of about 77 percent to…
August 1937-November 2012 Remembered, missed, never forgotten.
Former U.S. Army National Guard member owned and operated several local businesses
Updated, 9:45 p.m. Burlington voters on Tuesday gave the green light to a $165 million bond to build a new high school and technical center. Seventy-six percent of Queen City voters approved the measure; 11,902 voted yes compared to 3,781 who voted no. The passage gives the school district the go-ahead to commence a massive,…
Vermont dancer studied with dance legends, performed on Broadway
Shelburne woman was proud of her Canadian heritage and had fond memories of growing up in Vermont
Musician and educator died peacefully while listening to Mozart’s Requiem
(Mercury Records/Republic Records, CD, digital) It’s ironic how our closest relationships, such as those with our parents, siblings and partners, are the ones that inspire both our harshest criticism and our fiercest loyalty. The same is true of hometowns. I complain about mine, but at the first hint of derision from others I leap to…
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Fear is the raw material from which courage is manufactured,” said author Martha Beck. “Without it, we wouldn’t even know what it means to be brave.” I love that quote — and I especially love it as a guiding meditation for you Scorpios right now. We usually think of fear as…
The paper, plastic, glass and metal that most Vermonters chuck into their blue bins gets trucked to a dark, windowless metal building in Williston, dumped on a concrete floor and fed into a dirty, dystopian Rube Goldberg-like machine. Workers toil over speeding conveyor belts to pick through the endless stream of yogurt cups, soup cans…
Meg Madden smiled as she held up what looked like a portobello mushroom dipped in blue paint. “This is one of my favorites, the indigo milk cap,” she said. “When you cut it, it gives off a blue milk.” A piece she broke off oozed blue ink all over her palms. At Wright Park in…
Not long after he took the top job at the newly created Vermont State University, Parwinder Grewal attended a five-day workshop at Harvard University for new college presidents. Experienced higher ed leaders shared their insights with 58 first-year presidents like him throughout that summer week. All of them, Grewal said, had something to say about…
Locked Out Series, Part 10
Rockwell Kent’s spare, iconic 1928 wood engraving “Flame,” now on view in the University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum of Art, can have the effect of engraving itself on the viewer’s mind. A nude on his back, one bent knee in the air and the other folded over a ledge in the lower foreground, reaches a…
The Oscar buzz is strong around Tár, a drama set in the world of classical music from writer-director Todd Field (Little Children) that is currently playing at the Savoy Theater, Essex Cinemas and Merrill’s Roxy Cinemas. Cate Blanchett won the Venice Film Festival’s Volpi Cup for her performance in the title role, which Field wrote…
When you hear the words “documentary” and “guns,” a book of poetry might not be the first thing to spring to mind. Smith College professor Matt Donovan will visit Norwich Bookstore on Friday, November 4, to read from his fourth collection of poems, The Dug-Up Gun Museum. In it, Donovan shows that poetry is an…
new in theaters ARMAGEDDON TIME: In 1980 New York, a young boy (Banks Repeta) confronts changing cultural and family expectations in this autobiographical drama from James Gray (Ad Astra). With Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins. (115 min, R. Essex) DECISION TO LEAVE: A detective (Park Hae-il) investigating a man’s death becomes dangerously involved with his…
Many people dislike the hate speech and so-called “othering” that litter social media. The rampant rage and friction playing out like a boxing match on the national news are enough to bruise our confidence and make us wonder, Will my vote make a difference in the upcoming midterm elections? Turn off the television and radio.…
This is the final issue of Seven Days before the November 8 general election, so you’ll notice plenty of letters to the editor, starting on page 6. Some are related to the candidates running for office, but most concern a question that Vermont voters will decide next Tuesday: whether to amend the state constitution to…
Nancy Marie Brown has traveled to Iceland 30 times in 35 years. The stony, often desolate country calls to her in screams and whispers. On her trips to the far north island nation, the East Burke resident has sought people and places that can unravel the mysteries tantalizing her imagination and, as her latest book…
A current exhibition at the Middlebury College Museum of Art offers a refreshing jolt to viewers whose exposure to art history has hewed to Europe and North America. “No Ocean Between Us” spotlights, as its subtitle explains, “Art of Asian Diasporas in Latin America & the Caribbean, 1945-Present.” While cultural crosscurrents exist in every corner…
IN RE: ABANDONED MOBILE HOME OF MICHAEL GOODMAN, JR. NOTICE OF HEARING A hearing on Milton Mobile Home Cooperative, Inc.’s Verified Complaint to declare as abandoned the mobile home of Michael Goodman, Jr. located at the Milton Mobile Home Co-op, Lot #78, 44 Rita Way in Milton, Vermont to authorize the transfer without a public…
“If people can see art on their way to the grocery store or work, it adds a deeper dimension to living,” said Rutland artist Lopi LaRoe. “Public art impacts people’s daily life in a really positive way.” Those who live, work and shop in Rutland now have a new daily dose of art in their…
Perfect 100 [“On the Road: What Route 100 Says About Vermont: A Journey in Five Parts,” August 24] was outstanding — one of the best articles Seven Days has ever done. I loved it! I’m sure everyone who read it will want to get in their car and drive to more than one place! I…
Dear Reverend, I’ve been dating someone for about six months. He’s a nice guy, and we get along really well, but the sex is terrible. I’ve decided to break up with him, but I’m wondering if I should let him know that’s the reason. Saad Inthasak (male, 25) Dear Saad Inthasak, Why? Do you think…
For many, the idea of running three-mile loops around the Catamount Outdoor Family Center in Williston for up to 36 hours seems, well, like an undesirable use of time. To put things in perspective, watching all the Harry Potter movies without stopping takes just under 20 hours, while driving directly to Salt Lake City from…
A hiker stepped off the trail to pee, got disoriented and wound up dead. A mother and son’s car broke down in Death Valley; the son died. A hunter lost the trail back to his truck and died of hypothermia in a surprise snowstorm. Jessie Krebs, a U.S. Air Force-trained survival specialist, has a million…
When you really think about it, band names are pretty weird. Yeah, maybe the Beatles became the biggest cultural game changer since baby Jesus, but in the beginning, they were just four kids who named their little rocker gang with a pretty stupid pun. Many great acts in music history have truly awful names. I…
(Self released, CD, digital) As Milton Busker watched his father slowly pass away from cancer at a respite house, he worried that he wasn’t feeling anything. Doomscrolling on his phone, Busker saw a steady stream of the motivational memes that often populate social media. They made him feel less uplifted than defensive. “The positivity can…
According to three of the four children for whom Laughing Child Farm in Pawlet is named, the best part of growing up on a sweet potato farm is driving tractors. The abundance of sweet potatoes on their daily menu, the siblings agreed, is less appealing. In the household of farm owners Tim and Brooke Hughes-Muse,…
Dobrá Tea got me through college chemistry. A sip of yerba maté still brings me back to sitting shoeless on one of the Burlington tearoom’s platforms, caffeinating and cramming for a big exam. I didn’t love the subject matter, but I loved the tea. Dobrá moved from its longtime location at 80 Church Street in…
Linda Furiya wants to help people who suffer from what she calls “dull-knife shaming.” A guest offers to help with meal prep. You hand over a cutting board and a sharp knife. After a few minutes, the guest asks, “Um, do you have another knife?” By which they mean a knife that is actually sharp.…
Arealles Ortiz’s rainbow umbrella and matching popsicles are a staple of summer farmers markets around Vermont. Now, the Curly Girl Pops owner is launching a pop-up and catering business to bring additional bright flavors to the state. With Taíno Kitchen, based at her Montpelier home, Ortiz will cook her family’s Puerto Rican recipes, serving appetizers,…
Words for the World Wednesday 9 Muscogee poet Jennifer Foerster visits the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson for an evening of powerful selections from her storied writing career. From her debut collection, Leaving Tulsa, to her latest, The Maybe-Bird, Foerster’s poems deal in themes of myth, Indigenous identity and humanity’s connection to the Earth even…
The Great Controversy, a Seventh-day Adventist text that has been circulating since the mid-19th century, has been causing a small stir in Vermont over the past few weeks. The book, which purports to tell of “the Vatican’s rising influence in America” and has a global following on social media, has come through the mail to…
