Nov 22-28, 2017
UVM Poetry Prof and Politico Huck Gutman Nears His Last Class; Rochester Considers School Consolidation; Bill McKibben Debuts a Novel, ‘Radio Free Vermont’
Cover Story
Poetry Professor and Politico Huck Gutman Nears His Last Verse at UVM
Huck Gutman stands before his American poetry class, which fills maybe a quarter of the large, sterile lecture hall in the University of Vermont’s Waterman Building. Before he speaks, he scans the collection of students scattered across the tiered, harshly lit white room as if sizing them up: the attentive retiree in the back row;…
Obituary: Leonard A. Klima, 1924-2017
Leonard A. Klima, 93, Burlington, Vt., and Buffalo, N.Y., peacefully passed away on November 22, 2017. Leonard was born in Buffalo to Stanley and Josephine Klima on June 11, 1924. He leaves behind his loving wife of 68 years, Adeline Klima; five children: Paul Klima, Sandy Klima and Rob Dansker, Mark and Sharon Klima, Judy…
Seriously: Creeps in the Capitol
Writer and comedian Anya Volz interrupts this episode to explain why sexual misconduct in the Vermont State House isn’t surprising, and what we can do as individuals to help address the problem. CREDITS Written by: Anya Volz and Bryan Parmelee Filmed and edited by: Bryan Parmelee Artwork/photography by: Bryan Parmelee, Dreamstime.com, Roymoore.org, Billoreilly.com Logo/art direction…
![Clark Russell’s Studio Tour [SIV512]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/episode512-7.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Clark Russell’s Studio Tour [SIV512]
11/19/17: Clark Russell has been making metal sculptures since the late ‘80’s, while transforming his downtown Burlington studio and living space into a three dimensional work of art. Clark is also the lead singer and lyricist in the band Blowtorch alongside songwriter/guitarist Bill Mullins. The group has resurfaced on and off over the past three…
Bad Hombres Present a Multimedia Celebration of Immigrant Stories
Last year, Jericho-based drummer Chanon Bernstein produced a show with a collective of musicians and artists to celebrate the music of jazz drummer and bebop pioneer Max Roach. The experience of putting together a production that gave participants license to express themselves creatively within an overarching theme was fantastic, Bernstein recalled. This year, he’s back…
What’s the Deal with the Bennington Potters North Mural?
We get some strange questions for this column from all over Vermont. But one person in particular has expressed more curiosity than anyone else: Steve Crafts. He’s asked about a bird that sounds like it’s saying “Dorito,” a downtown Burlington tree that smells like a barfly and the “oddball PSAs on University of Vermont radio…
Letters to the Editor (11/22/17)
No Tolerance for DUI [Re Off Message: “State Sen. Debbie Ingram Arrested for DUI in Williston,” October 13]: Since living in Norway a generation ago, I have been sensitive to the gentleness of our penalties for DUI and the implicit acceptance of driving drunk. Sen. Debbie Ingram’s parole after her guilty plea prompted me to…
Soundbites: Thinking Thankfulness
Something has been freaking me out lately: 2017 is almost over, which means we’re entering Vermont’s annual hibernation period. As much as I’m looking forward to some downtime — during which I’ll reconnect with friends and family, binge-watch the new seasons of “Lady Dynamite” and “Outlander,” and catch up on some sleep — the arrival…
Forgotten Victims? Sentencing Reveals Herring Family’s Pain
Once they notice her name tag, many patients at Central Vermont Medical Center have asked Penni Herring: “Are you related to the one that killed that DCF social worker?” In a Barre courtroom last week, Penni explained that she doesn’t necessarily mind being associated with quadruple murderer Jody Herring, her cousin by marriage. She’s more…
Burlington Farmers Market Moves to New Winter Quarters
Last year, the Burlington Farmers Market moved its winter market to the Dudley H. Davis Center on the University of Vermont campus. But some shoppers found the new venue, where vendors lined narrow hallways, to be a bit cramped. This year, the market has moved up, literally, to the Davis Center’s second floor. Meat and…
Ask Athena: I’d Like to Try Having an Open Marriage
Dear Athena, I think I’d like to try having an open marriage. My husband and I have been talking about it for some time but never really thought we could do it. Now we think we would like to give it a try. What do you think? What could help us do this without breaking…
Street Artist KASSO Paints Black History at Middlebury College
With its picturesque steeples and grand “Little Ivy” campus, Middlebury College is not the first place you’d expect a nationally established street artist to call home. In recent months, though, muralist Will “KASSO” Condry has been creating large-scale portraits of African American historical figures and icons there. You just have to know where to look.…
How a Vermont High School Ended Up With Only Two Students
Kimberly Taylor, 16, walks the hallways of Rochester School alone most days clad in sneakers and jeans. The 11th grader is one of just two high school students who attend the K-12 school this year, and she’s frank about the fact that it’s no fun. “It’s very lonely,” Taylor said last week as she sat…
Work: Barry and Maureen Genzlinger Rescue Bats
Names: Barry and Maureen Genzlinger Town: Milton Job: Providing education and rescuing and rehabilitating bats, Vermont Bat Center Bats hibernate in the winter, but not all of them stay asleep the whole time. That’s where Barry and Maureen Genzlinger come in. Both are former teachers, and Barry used to run a software company designing custom…
A Cambridge Artist Paints Portraits to Benefit Local Charities
In an era defined by screen time, for-profit art making and seemingly unending world turmoil, painter Karen Winslow decided she “just needed to do something good.” This fall, the 67-year-old Cambridge, Vt., painter is creating 100 portraits of Vermonters to raise money for Lamoille County charities. For her project, which she calls “Face to Face,…
Album Review: Japhy Ryder, ‘You’re Alright’
(Self-released, digital download) After a five-year hiatus, Burlington’s groove-meisters Japhy Ryder return with their fifth studio album, You’re Alright. If you’re familiar with their extensive back catalog, the new effort might sound a little different — not because they’ve reinvented their musical ethos, but because they’ve retooled their approach to making a record. Past efforts…
Eat This Week, November 22 to 28, 2017: Turkey Talk
For the 28th time, Sweetwaters, on Church Street in Burlington, will host anyone who shows up for a Thanksgiving meal with all the fixings. How does the restaurant pull it off? With the help of more than 100 dedicated volunteers. During the event, the restaurant also gives away donated coats to those in need. Sweetwaters…
Capitol Offense: Women Speak Out About Harassment in the Statehouse
A longtime Vermont lobbyist recalls urging a powerful senator to support a $1 million appropriation for her cause. “If you want the million dollars, come to my office alone,” she says he told her. A former state employee who worked in Montpelier’s Statehouse says, “I felt like I had to unsex myself in order to…
Improvisation Dancers Show How to Get a Move On
Whether or not we think about it, we improvise every day. In speaking, we combine words and grammar to communicate on the fly. When cooking, we might alter a recipe or throw together a meal from scratch. Navigating through the day, we invariably improvise direction and pace, sometimes altering our course midstream to avoid a…
Examining Singer-Songwriter Stephanie Heaghney’s Mystery and Magnetism
When singer-songwriter Stephanie Heaghney agreed to meet up to chat about her music career, I prepared myself to be as awestruck and hypnotized as I was during her recent performance with the brand-new Burlington neo-soul outfit JUPTR. The juicy, synth-heavy five-piece — essentially a rebirth and reimagining of the defunct soul-hop outfit Smooth Antics —…
Free Will Astrology (11/22/17)
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Journalist James A. Fussell defined “thrashing” as “the act of tapping helter-skelter over a computer keyboard in an attempt to find ‘hidden’ keys that trigger previously undiscovered actions in a computer program.” I suggest we use this as a metaphor for your life in the next two weeks. Without becoming rude…
Movie Review: ‘Justice League’ Assembles a Crack Team But Loses the Stakes
In the past month, I’ve seen reams of online breast-beating about the titanic struggle between Marvel and DC Comics to control the world of superhero blockbusters. To many comics fans, and to people in the industry, it matters who “wins.” So I want to make something clear: As a comics illiterate, I’m not invested in…
Reidun Nuquist Navigates a Century of Long Trail Guides
In November 1944, an American soldier fighting in Europe wrote this in a letter home: I keep a worn out 1935 edition of the Guide Book in my foot locker to always remind me of what I’m fighting for. That “Guide Book” just happened to be the Long Trail Guide, and the GI’s words hint…
Album Review: Bardela, ‘Sky’
(Self-released, digital download) In her bio, Bardela rhythm guitarist and vocalist Cooie DeFrancesco describes music as a “lifelong companion and source of comfort.” Alongside her list of influences, which range from Jimi Hendrix to Procol Harum to Rosetta Tharpe, she also nods to the disenfranchised musicians of color who lived on the outside of the…
A Vermont Design Firm Updates Cannabis Marketing
As the U.S. cannabis industry continues its transition from the counterculture to the retail counter, Vermont businesses are looking for ways to make their own green in this emerging sector. And not all of them are growing it. Take the Manchester Center design firm that’s helping both medical and recreational cannabis dispensaries around the country…
Last Supper? The Man Behind the ‘Meals’
Peter Carmolli doesn’t have daily interactions with the 210 customers for whom he cooks. But the 53-year-old executive director of Burlington Meals on Wheels knows their names, tastes and idiosyncrasies: the man who wants two milks; the woman who doesn’t eat pork but asks for ham. The No. 1 complaint is that the vegetables are…
Sweet Rowen Farmstead’s Paul Lisai Talks Cheese
Cheesemaker: Paul Lisai Age: 33 Position: Founder and owner of Sweet Rowen Farmstead Education: self-designed degree in agroforestry, Sterling College, Craftsbury Common Selected products: cream-top whole milk, Farmer’s Cheese, VT Curd, Storm (soft cow’s-milk cheese), Solstice (tomme-style cheese), feta Cow breed: “We have a mixed herd, and we’re breeding towards what we call ‘Vermont heritage…
Book Review: ‘Radio Free Vermont’ by Bill McKibben
Who knew Bill McKibben could be silly? Yes, that Bill McKibben: the award-winning environmental author and activist, cofounder of the grassroots climate movement 350.org, and the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College. The guy whose 1989 book The End of Nature ushered the alarming idea of global warming into public consciousness. That prescient volume has…
Vermont Cheeses Win International Awards
Two Vermont cheeses won Super Gold awards at the World Cheese Awards in London on November 18: Cremont, produced by Vermont Creamery in Websterville; and Little Hosmer, made in Greensboro at Jasper Hill Farm. The Super Gold is awarded to the “world’s 66 best cheeses,” according to the Guild of Fine Food, which organizes the…
Movie Review: ‘Wonder’ Promotes Kindness With Schmaltz
I’m writing this on Saturday, November 18, Owen Wilson’s 49th birthday. Last night was the opening of the touslehaired actor’s latest film — an adaptation of R.J. Palacio’s 2012 best seller — but I doubt he celebrated the occasion. I know I didn’t. Watching Wonder, I felt as though someone had set off a sap…
Repair Cafés Aim to Save Broken Items, Enhance Community
On a recent Saturday, small groups of people huddled inside the Charlotte Town Hall to collectively troubleshoot their neighbors’ problems. But, unlike the questions that typically arise in this building about zoning, property taxes and building permits, these residents were tackling more mundane issues. Among them: Why doesn’t this lamp switch work? Can this old…
A Year After Al Franken’s Visit, Vermont Dems React to His Scandal
What a difference a year makes. Last November, former “Saturday Night Live” satirist and U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) brought his trademark smirk and fundraising prowess to Vermont to stump for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sue Minter. Just days before she lost to Republican Phil Scott, Burlington crowds welcomed Franken with laughs and loud applause. Now…
Smugglers’ Notch Distillery Produces Gluten-Free Vodka
Smugglers’ Notch Distillery is launching a new product: Gluten Free Organic Vodka made from organic corn. The vodka should be in Vermont state liquor stores by next week, according to Ron and Jeremy Elliott, the father-son team who own the Jeffersonville company. The Elliotts said the idea of making organic, gluten-free vodka came to them…
Three Vermont Chefs Share Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes
It’s hard to argue with a turkey sandwich the day after Thanksgiving. You replace the stuffing with rye bread; then salt, pepper and mayonnaise revive the turkey, skin and all. Throw on lettuce and add a smear of cranberry sauce to brighten the sandwich. If you’ve got creamed onions, slice a few very thinly and…
Nomad Coffee Moves to the Slopes
In 2016, Nicole Grinstead and Andrew Sepic opened Nomad Coffee in a tiny mobile house on Main Street in Essex Junction, near the busy Five Corners intersection. Around December 11, they’ll hitch up that house and move it to Sugarbush Resort, where they’ll spend the winter serving skiers in need of a cappuccino or a…
