Nov 29 – Dec 5, 2017
New Americans Share Their Pathways to Citizenship; A Montréal Exhibit Celebrates Leonard Cohen; Baker Martin Philip’s Memoir in Recipes
Cover Story
Becoming Americans: New Vermonters Recall Their Pathways to Citizenship
Hameda Hinkle might not have become a United States citizen this year if it weren’t for President Donald Trump. When he signed his executive order of January 27, restricting entry to the U.S. for nationals of seven predominantly Muslim countries, the South Burlington resident was alarmed. Hinkle is a native of South Africa — not…
Seven Days Wins 30 Vermont Press Association Awards
Seven Days picked up 30 journalism awards, including 13 first-place prizes, at the Vermont Press Association’s annual meeting Thursday in Montpelier. VPA officials handed out awards for two separate contests — one covering July 2015 through June 2016 and one covering July 2016 through June 2017 — at the gathering, held at the Capitol Plaza…
A ‘MuSICKal’ About Global Warming Debuts at Off Center
When they were dreaming up their latest play as a parable on global warming, HOTBALL cowriters David Schein and Geof Hewitt concocted what Al Gore might call an inconvenient conceit. “We figured, if it’s about climate change, let’s make the next 100 years happen in four days,” explains Schein at a recent rehearsal at the…
Talking Art and Comics Biz With Stephanie Zuppo
The business of art making isn’t about just, well, making art. It’s no different in the world of comics. If you create a comic book, for instance, where should you publish it? Which comics convention should you attend to market it? Is the whole endeavor worth your time? Vermont cartoonist Stephanie Zuppo, 27, seeks to…
Vermont Schools Prepare for More Kneeling Athletes
Coaches who are running tryouts for winter sports at South Burlington High School this week are themselves being coached on how to respond if student athletes decide to “take a knee” during the national anthem before games. As the protests against racial injustice spread from the National Football League to local sporting events, high school…
Chandler Center Holds Auditions for ‘Trans Scripts’
Over nearly four years, New York City-based writer/producer Paul Lucas talked to 75 people around the world about their transgender (male to female) experiences. From these interviews, he distilled seven characters who range in age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and other demographic factors — as well as their status in the transitioning process. The result is…
Album Review: Brian McCarthy, ‘CODEX’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Five months after the release of his epic, high-concept masterwork The Better Angels of Our Nature, Vermont saxophonist Brian McCarthy returns with a revealing new album, CODEX. Better Angels placed the composer at the intersection of academia and self-expression through thoughtful modern jazz interpretations and reinventions of Civil War-era music. On…
Parish Players Celebrate 50 Years With a Theater Revival
The Parish Players have spent the past year commemorating 50 years of creating theater in Thetford. Their activities include launching a capital campaign, throwing a festive gala, and producing Steel Magnolias, Jerry Finnegan’s Sister and their annual 10-minute-play festival. In addition, board members wanted to mount a final show to celebrate the volunteer-run community theater’s…
Pianist George Winston Talks Driving, the Sound of Notes, and Playing Solo
As musical superstars go, solo pianist George Winston is a rather improbable one. Or, as the Chicago Tribune put it in a 1986 concert review, “Take a generous helping of Barry Manilow, add a touch of Frédéric Chopin, throw in a dash of Philip Glass and top it off with a sprinkle of Fats Waller, and…
Ask Athena: I Do All the Work; My Husband Is Only Interested in Sex
Dear Athena, I’ve been married for more than 35 years. I shop for all the family needs. I cook. I clean. I have three jobs outside of the home. My husband seems only interested in sex. If I give him some, he’s OK for a few days, but it’s a continuous cycle. He doesn’t even…
Album Review: Kelly Ravin, ‘Engine’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) As Andy Warhol said, “They always say time changes things.” His observation came with a caveat: “But you actually have to change them yourself.” Considering his relationship to Lou Reed, maybe Andy knew it was hard to find a better bellwether of change than a troubadour. The world may be moving…
Hackie: Warrior Princess
“What a night,” Tommy, a regular customer, said to me as I drove him to his apartment in Winooski. “You’d think things’ll slow down when the foliage season ends, but it really stays busy straight through New Year’s.” Tommy’s a local guy, dark haired and rangy, in his mid-twenties. His arms are well muscled, I…
Richmond Community Kitchen Adds Classes, Parties
For two years, Amy Gifford and Susan Whitman of the Richmond Community Kitchen prepared meals in Gifford’s home and sold them, CSA-style, to folks who wanted a break from cooking. But the friends had always hoped to expand their business, and when they learned Richmond restaurant Sonoma Station was closing, they decided to move into…
Pot, Not Pills: PhytoScience Envisions a New Strain of Pharmaceuticals
The modest yellow farmhouse off Route 2 in Waterbury looks more like a residence than a research facility. But inside the unmarked two-story building is a state-of-the-art laboratory. It’s HQ for PhytoScience Institute, a four-person operation whose founders hope to help transform today’s haphazardly evolving cannabis industry into a results-producing, science-driven one. “You walk into…
Movie Review: ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ Defies Expectation in Wonderful Ways
In the late 1990s, Martin McDonagh happened to glance out the window of a Greyhound zooming through the southern U.S. Raised in London, the playwright-filmmaker was curious about the country and wanted to examine it up close, so he traveled by bus or train when stateside. What he saw that day was also curious: Alone…
A Vermont Mother Waits to See Whether Her Son Will Face the Death Penalty
Vermont native Mikel Brady is imprisoned in North Carolina, accused of helping to murder four prison guards. Eight hundred miles north in Randolph, where his past crimes had already made him notorious, his mother is waiting to learn whether her son will face the death penalty. Most days, Tina Brady, 44, tends to a little…
Bah, Humbug: A Curmudgeon’s Guide to Vermont Holiday Music
Now that we’ve officially moved into the holiday season, there’s something I need to get off my chest: I hate Christmas. I don’t know how I got this way. I certainly wasn’t born hating mistletoe, tinsel and eggnog. But I’ve made up my mind, and there’s nothing anyone can do to change it. To wit:…
I’ll Be Droned for Christmas: A Seasonal Tale From Church Street
On a blustery evening last Friday, Scott Hattin and his family joined the bundled masses at the top of Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace to witness the annual tree-lighting ceremony. Standing with his son, his son’s fiancée and his two granddaughters, Hattin was reveling in the splendor of the 50-foot spruce tree, which had suddenly lit…
Movie Review: With ‘Lady Bird,’ Greta Gerwig Becomes a Director to Watch
Behind every real-life “manic pixie dream girl,” there’s a world of doubts. Critic Nathan Rabin coined that phrase to refer to film characters such as Natalie Portman’s in Garden State, who use their magical quirkiness to convince a depressed male protagonist that life is worth living. Rabin has since disowned the MPDG concept, citing its…
‘ON DISPLAY’ Features Performers With and Without Disabilities
Many of us are taught that staring is rude. The belief is that acknowledging interest — and often difference — in other people is inappropriate social behavior. New York choreographer Heidi Latsky, however, has long been using her performances to prod at this social norm, particularly as it relates to people with physical disabilities. On…
Can Saving Endangered Languages Be Child’s Play?
The board game is Glagolitic Abbey. The players choose an avatar: the Assassin, the Inquisitor, the Spy or the Scholar. Their task is to solve the murder of the abbot and then to find the “legendary treasure reportedly hidden by King Boris I of Bulgaria” in the abbey and escape with it. Oh, and to…
Info Wars: Does the Legislature Demand Too Many Studies?
A battle over information is brewing between Republican Gov. Phil Scott and the Democratic legislature. The administration is pushing back against what it sees as overly burdensome demands for reports and studies, while lawmakers argue that the information is crucial to decision making — and that Scott should have raised the issue during the lawmaking…
In Montréal, a Leonard Cohen Exhibit Celebrates the Singer and the City
Montréal’s latest official commemoration of its 375th anniversary could have been subtitled “Happy birthday, music lovers!” The Musée d’art contemporain has assembled the city’s tribute to one of its most famous singer-songwriters, titled “Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything.” The multimedia exhibition consists of visual art, installations, music, writing and performance and features 20 works…
Eat This Week, November 29 to December 5: Pottery Party
Feast on “gillyweed salad” washed down with “polyjuice potion” at this collaboration of Mary’s Restaurant and Stonecutter Spirits, with inspiration from J.K. Rowling. Riffing on food and elixirs mentioned in the Harry Potter books, each course showcases local ingredients prepared with a little magic. Don’t miss the “death eater” dessert libation: Heritage Cask whiskey, espresso-cocoa…
Letters to the Editor (11/29/17)
‘Misogynist Mania’ [Re “‘Til Death Do Us Part”]: I still have a copy of the October 11 Seven Days on my table: It features the sweet photo of Molly McLain, who, one learns upon reading Mark Davis’ excellent article, was camouflaging the bruises around her left eye that she received from a punch by her…
Soundbites: Brother to Brother; All Aboard
Quick show of hands: Who’s excited for New Year’s Eve? Despite my disdain for arbitrary edicts regarding when to party hearty — that is, most major holidays — I’m uncharacteristically jazzed about it this year. It’s probably because of the high volume of kick-ass music happening that week. I don’t want to get ahead of…
Free Will Astrology (11/29/17)
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) “What is love?” asks philosopher Richard Smoley. “It’s come to have a greeting-card quality,” he mourns. “Half the time ‘loving’ someone is taken to mean nurturing a warmish feeling in the heart for them, which mysteriously evaporates the moment the person has some concrete need or irritates us.” One of your…
Restaurant Review: Comfort and Excellence at Mangalitsa
Every partnership begins with a meeting. In the case of Matt Lombard, 33, and Nick Laurendeau, 21, that meeting took place at Twin Farms, an exclusive inn in Barnard. How exclusive? Last summer, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner allegedly flew in by helicopter. Guests at the resort are invited to borrow from its fleet of…
Billtown Barbecue Comes to Williamstown
Billtown Barbecue is named for the central Vermont town, Williamstown, where it opened recently at 154 Depot Street. That’s also the hometown of owner and executive chef Michael Flies. Flies, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Donna, has taught culinary arts at Randolph Technical Career Center and is a former purchasing agent for the…
Dunc’s Mill Distillery Changes Hands
Northeast Kingdom distiller Dunc’s Mill doesn’t belong to Dunc (Duncan Holaday) anymore, but bottles of rum will continue to bear his name along with that of the Dunc’s Mill’s new manufacturer, St. Johnsbury Distillery. The brand’s ownership is staying local, thanks to a father-son partnership. When Brendan Hughes finished his entrepreneurship degree at the University…
King Arthur Flour Baker Martin Philip Shares a Life Through Flour
In 2005, Martin Philip moved with his family from New York City to Vermont to work as an entry-level baker at King Arthur Flour in Norwich. Before that, he was a professional opera singer, studied drawing and worked in corporate finance. Notably, Philip had no professional baking experience, apart from a summer job during college…
