Oct 28 – Nov 3, 2020
The Legend of Author and Folklorist Joe Citro; The Quirks and Pitfalls of Living With Ghosts; New York Rep. Elise Stefanik Plays Up Centrist Image as She Goes All In for Trump
Cover Story
The Legend of Author and Folklorist Joe Citro
The time had come to speak of dark things — madness, death and, perhaps, the devil himself. Beyond the glass doors of the tony Woodstock Inn & Resort restaurant, past socially distanced tables filled with tourists from New Jersey and Connecticut, a cool, gray rain fell, casting a perpetual gloaming even at midday. At our…
Obituary: Mariah Leahkim McGill, 1977-2020
Waitsfield woman worked to build bright futures for children
Obituary: Leman Frederic Bronson, 1934-2020
Army vet and former IBM engineer manager to be celebrated with a “walk-through” remembrance
The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, October 29 to November 4
1. Meaningful Music “Imagine waking up / Solidarity is evident / Harmony rules / Time is irrelevant.” These lyrics from the song “Saturday Night” by Los Angeles band Ozomatli represent the optimism and idealism that threads through the group’s high-energy music. Blending elements of hip-hop, salsa, rock and reggae musical styles, the Grammy Award-winning sextet…
Officials Say They’ll Have No Tolerance for Voter Intimidation at Vermont Polls
Vermonters planning to cast their ballots the old-fashioned way — in person, at their local polling place — may be wondering what to expect on November 3. Will polling places be mobbed because of heightened interest in the presidential election — or ghost towns due to the runaway popularity of advance voting? And will people…
Rapid COVID-19 Tests Have Arrived in Vermont, but Some Officials Are Leery
Rapid-result antigen tests for COVID-19 are increasingly available at Vermont’s nursing homes, urgent care clinics and private testing sites. Eldercare facilities, which are receiving testing equipment for free from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, have so far tested more than 700 people. The Trump administration has heralded these rapid tests as a…
The Quirks and Pitfalls of Living With Ghosts
Richard Bailey is an event compliance coordinator for the City of Burlington who, from 1991 to 2002, fronted a rap-rock band called Dysfunkshun. He has a generous sprinkling of tattoos on his upper right arm, and he does not immediately register as someone who’s seen a lot of ghosts. Yet he has spent much of…
Theater Review: ‘It’s Fine, I’m Fine,’ Northern Stage
Some stories get written because a storyteller aches to tell them. It’s Fine, I’m Fine, an original play written and performed by recent Dartmouth College graduate Stephanie Everett, is a sad story made engaging — and funny — by the author’s keen perspective. Northern Stage presented the play live and is now streaming Everett’s autobiographical…
What Are Those Stone Caves in Many Vermont Cemeteries?
Wander around an old Vermont cemetery, or glance at one as you drive by, and you might notice what looks like the entrance to an underground tomb. Dug into a hillside, it often faces north, flanked by stone or brick walls and secured with heavy wooden doors or locked wrought-iron gates. What are these curious…
The Pandemic Has Opened Up Civic Life to Vermonters With Disabilities
Not long after she ran for the state legislature in 2018, Kate Larose slipped during an ice storm and hit her head. She was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. Until then, the St. Albans resident had lived an active civic life — volunteering for political campaigns, working with activist organizations and engaging with local…
Letters to the Editor (10/28/20)
Go Gray [Re Off Message: “Gray, Milne Spar Over Super PAC Support,” October 8]: Scott Milne’s use of ineffectual attack ads is another example of why he’s the wrong person for Vermont. Molly Gray is exactly the right person Vermont needs now to be our next lieutenant governor: intelligent, grounded in the Vermont experience but…
From the Publisher: No Comments
Seven Days got a satisfying shout-out in last Friday’s New York Times e-newsletter. In an item headlined “In Praise of Vermont,” “The Morning” noted how the state “continues to do a fabulous job” controlling the spread of the coronavirus while cases are spiking in other rural parts of the country. To explain it, the writer…
Retail Therapy: Designers’ Circle & Vintage Jewelers Remains a Gold Standard on Church Street
During its lifetime on Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace, Designers’ Circle & Vintage Jewelers has kept pace with nearly 20 other fine jewelry stores in the downtown area. Today, about a dozen purveyors of gemstones and precious metals still surround the 45-year-old Designers’ Circle. And that doesn’t bother owners David Sisco and Dolores Kurjan one bit.…
Just the Players Rework ‘Macbeth’ for Halloween
Envision Macbeth, a tragic tale of kings, battles and prophecies, instead as a Halloween fête that’s going great until somebody turns up dead. That’s more or less what Tess Holbrook created. The Bethel-based director has set Shakespeare’s famously bloody play at a spooky, modern-day costume party as a way to add a little levity to…
Checking in with Burlington Records; The Arrival of ‘Ethan Alien’
In the past few weeks, I’ve been checking in with local record store proprietors to find out how the pandemic has been treating them. I was also particularly curious about what kinds of records have been moving, as a nod to Seven Days’ formerly weekly and long-retired inclusion of record store sales in this section.…
Cartoon for a Pandemic Halloween
Rivi Handler-Spitz, who uses Rivi as her cartoon moniker, says she’s been drawing “since I could hold a crayon.” But her official art training was just a one-week course at the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction last year. Though now on sabbatical in Middlebury, Handler-Spitz is an associate professor in the Asia…
Ben Patton, ‘The Swan, for Instance’
(Self-released, digital) Ben Patton speaks my language. He’s adept at declaring his emotions and internal workings in wording that’s sharp, witty and unambiguous — and all without a trace of preciousness. Patton’s new album, The Swan, for Instance, is full of songs that operate in just such an eloquent way, while proving over and over…
Elise Stefanik Plays Up Centrist Image as She Goes All In for Trump
At a debate last week in New York’s North Country congressional district, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) was asked whether she believed Democrats actually want to take away people’s guns. “Yes,” the member of Congress said, noting that her Democratic rival, Tedra Cobb, was recorded two years ago telling teenage supporters that she backed a…
A Vermonter Bags Peaks for Parkinson’s on the Long Trail
On October 3, Jocelyn Hebert stood at the Vermont-Canada border after thru-hiking the 272-mile Long Trail for the fourth time. “I went 27 days without a shower,” she said with a laugh. “I’m very proud of that.” Hebert has plenty more to be proud of: She raised about $10,000 for Peaks for Parkinson’s, a campaign…
tip/toe, ‘IPSHST’
(Self-released, digital) Taylor Swift’s July surprise album Folklore includes a line about letting go of bitterness toward her exes and sending their babies presents. At 35, I’ve moved on from my share of relationships, and I can say with confidence that, even though I’m way over them, I’ve never sent any of their babies presents.…
Free Will Astrology (10/28/20)
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio politician Joe Biden wasn’t my first choice for president of the United States. During the selection process, I championed his opponents Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. But now I support Biden wholeheartedly. He has several policies I don’t agree with, but on the other hand I know it’s critical that…
My Husband Always Dresses Up As a Woman for Halloween
Dear Reverend, My husband always dresses up as a woman for Halloween. He’s been Marilyn Monroe, Elvira and Hillary Clinton, to name a few. This year he’s going to be Dolly Parton. He’s been wearing heels, a wig and fake boobs around the house a lot the past few weeks. He says he wants to…
Book review: ‘Atomizer’, Elizabeth A.I. Powell
Vermont poet Elizabeth A.I. Powell’s way with words is daring, sardonic and ingenious. She enjoys mixing registers and realms — pop and literary culture, consumerism and religion, self-help and sacrament. Her previous books of poems are The Republic of Self, published in 2001, and Willy Loman’s Reckless Daughter or Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances (2016).…
‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’ Offers Laughs, But No Bombshells
Our streaming entertainment options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. This week, everybody’s talking about Rudy Giuliani’s unwitting cameo in the sequel to the hit mockumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006), this one directed by Jason Woliner. You can stream it on Amazon…
Obituary: James Jennings, 1929-2020
Devoted grandfather and longtime therapist believed in treating everyone with love and compassion
Black Flannel Brewing’s Beer-Infused Dining Experience Is Made for Fall
In the time warp that is 2020, there’s something reassuring about the signs of autumn. The leaves have done their thing and, as the weather cools, Vermonters are pulling their flannels out of storage. I realized I’d forgotten to wear mine as I parked my car in front of Black Flannel Brewing in Essex Junction…
North End Studios’ Multicultural Takeout-Dinner Series Offers Chances to Try Global Cuisines
On Saturday morning, 97 injera lay stacked on a counter in the O’Brien Community Center kitchen in Winooski. Mulu Tewelde had spent about five hours on Friday making the traditional flatbreads for her sold-out Eritrean/Ethiopian takeout dinner. To make enough for the 110 meals, many ordered with extra injera, “we need to make about 40…
Jamaican Supreme Food Truck Opens South Burlington Storefront
This year, chef-owner Bilon “Richie” Bailey will cook up jerk chicken, curried goat, and red pea soup in his Jamaican Supreme food truck all winter. But that truck will stay parked beside a small shop at 469 Lime Kiln Road in South Burlington, behind Koenig Cedar. Bailey cooks in the truck and fills orders out…
