Oct 9-15, 2019
In a Warming World, Does Vermont’s Wood-Fueled Energy Market Make Carbon Sense?; On VINS’ New Forest Canopy Walk, Visitors Touch the Treetops; All Our Hearts: Selected Stories of Love, Grief and Hope From the Opioid Crisis
Cover Story
In a Warming World, New Thinking Imperils Vermont’s Wood-Fueled Energy Market
Middlebury College built a $12 million biomass plant on its leafy campus in 2009, enabling the school to burn woodchips to heat buildings, generate electricity and declare itself “carbon neutral.” Five years later, the City of Montpelier and the State of Vermont spent $20 million to replace the oil-fired burners in its heating plant with…
Behind the Music: Rockin’ Ron the Friendly Pirate
In July, Rockin’ Ron the Friendly Pirate released his latest full-length record, Talk Like a Pirate. The rollicking collection of nautically themed children’s tunes is the affable Vermont buccaneer’s fourth album and follows 2016’s The Flying Pirate Circus. That recording drew consideration for a Grammy nomination, along with several dozen other kids’ albums. Though it…
Burlington Wildway Gives Access to Urban Nature
As winter approaches, it can feel harder to interest kids in outdoor nature expeditions. One thing that keeps my family willing to bundle up and head out? Permission to keep it small. Since my son was tiny, we’ve had a family tradition of spending time in nature on Sunday mornings. When we’re too lazy to…
Monkey Do Play Space to Open in Williston
Several years ago, Claudine Safar of Williston was vacationing with her husband, Jeff Teplitz, and two young children in Mont-Tremblant, Québec. The family was enjoying an action-packed itinerary of hiking, rock climbing and kayaking when it started to rain. Safar googled indoor kids’ activities in the area and came across a local play space in…
Confessions of the ‘Queen of Halloween’
“Halloween is fun to decorate,” Martha Stewart proclaimed on a visit to the “Today” show last October. “You do not have to spend a lot of money; it’s just creativity,” she said, gesturing casually toward an eight-foot tree on the set behind her. Its trunk and branches were painted black, and it was festooned with…
Obituary: Todd A. Ploof, 1966-2019
Winooski native overcame orphanage abuse to live ‘in his own way’
Obituary: Larry R. Michaels, 1964-2019
Signal Corps vet and outdoor educator founded Hardwick Trails
Graphic Novelist Chronicles Ups and Downs of Pregnancy
In Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos, Lucy Knisley shares her struggles with conception, miscarriage, depression and a dramatic childbirth with nearly fatal complications. Smart, sweet and often funny, Knisley doesn’t hold back on the nitty-gritty details. She renames morning sickness “perpetual and unrelenting nausea” and wonders how anyone survived pregnancy before Netflix. Sandwiched…
Hannaford and Healthy Living Roll Out New Parental Leave Policies
Two supermarkets — regional chain Hannaford Supermarkets and local chain Healthy Living Market and Café — recently announced new parental leave policies. Hannaford, which operates 181 stores in the Northeast and employs around 27,000 people, will provide associates of all genders, who have worked at Hannaford for at least one year and average 30 hours of…
The Parmelee Post: Visitors Flock to Vermont to See Leaves Change to CBD
More than 3 million tourists are expected to descend upon the Green Mountain State this month to see the leaves, which have begun to turn from green to golden oil. Officials from the Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing say mid-October is the best time to experience the natural beauty of Vermont forests as they…
Low Ridership, Legal Woes and Broken Fare Boxes Bedevil Green Mountain Transit
As climate-change warriors filled the streets of Burlington last month to demand reductions in fossil-fuel pollution, Vermont’s largest public transit system touted its environmental benefits on social media. “One full bus carries the same number of people as 60 cars,” Green Mountain Transit proclaimed on its Facebook page. On Twitter, GMT chirped that public transit…
Feds Seek to Seize Home From a Vermont Woman Who Promoted Ponzi Scheme
A Vermont woman made millions promoting one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history, and now the feds want to seize a house they say she built with her illicit winnings. For five years, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sought to recoup funds that Trudy Gilmond of Franklin County received in a frenzied…
Work: State Librarian Jason Broughton Balances the Books
Name: Jason Broughton Job: State librarian Town: Barre Jason Broughton didn’t always want to be a librarian. Originally, he thought he’d be a veterinarian or a doctor; after graduating from college in Florida, he spent many years as a science teacher. Then, when he moved home to South Carolina in 2008 to care for his…
WTF: Are Yellow Jackets Drunk This Time of Year?
Steve Crafts is a partner and chief creative officer at Place Creative in Burlington. He is also Seven Days’ most prolific submitter of “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” questions. Last week, he emailed us with the following query. “WTF is up with yellow jackets this time of year in Vermont?” he asked. “Are they drunk on fermented…
Letters to the Editor (10/9/19)
WWJD? [Re “Good News?” September 25]: The relevant question for all Christian churches is indeed whether the “Good News” is being proclaimed and lived out by its members. Believers gather to worship and learn and then apply gospel teachings in everyday life. Worship is part of Christian life but not the whole of it. The…
Ukrainian Politicians Coming to Vermont on ‘Citizen Diplomacy’ Mission
Vermonters will get a chance this winter to offer Ukrainian politicians a crash course in accountable governance — no quid pro quo involved. Five parliamentarians from that nation will visit the Green Mountain State for a week as part of a “citizen diplomacy” mission sponsored by the Vermont Council on World Affairs, according to program…
Free Will Astrology (10/9/19)
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I hope you are embarking on a vigorous new phase of self-redefinition. I trust you are excited about shedding old ways of thinking about yourself and eager to revise and reimagine the plot of your life story. As you do, keep in mind this helpful counsel from physicist Richard Feynman: “You…
Short Takes on Five New Vermont Books
Seven Days writers can’t possibly read, much less review, all the books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a siege of herons. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize each book…
How Do You Get Rid of Pubic Lice?
Dear Reverend, I live with a rather promiscuous roommate. She comes home with a different dude almost every night. Yesterday, I noticed an itchy feeling in my nether regions and, sure enough, I have crabs. My boyfriend and I have been monogamous for a few years, and I’m certain I didn’t get them from him.…
‘Liam Gallagher: As It Was’ Documents the Oasis Singer’s Comeback
In the beginning, Cain and Abel went for each other’s throats. Later, Romulus and Remus. Much later, Phil and Don Everly. You see where I’m going with this. Liam and Noel Gallagher are the founders of the English rock band Oasis and the reigning heavyweight champions of sibling rivalry. Even in the ’90s, the group…
A New Forest Canopy Walk Takes Visitors to the Treetops at VINS
How often are humans able to gaze, up close and personal, at the crown of a 90-foot tree? Zip-line adventurers might, and scientists sometimes climb up high for research. But normally we bipeds are earthbound, more inclined to appreciate the shade of a locust, collect sap from a maple or swing from an oak branch.…
‘Joker’ Gets the Last Laugh on Its Audience
For all the emphasis on facial makeup, the real star of director Todd Phillips’ Joker is Joaquin Phoenix’s emaciated rib cage. In scene after scene, his character, the hapless professional clown Arthur Fleck, meditates shirtlessly on his miserable life in Gotham City. Meanwhile, that rib cage strains against its casing as if trying to take…
Theater Review: ‘The Last Wide Open,’ Vermont Stage
In real life, it’s hard to know for sure if a particular person will turn out to be one’s true love. In romantic comedies, the question is answered for the audience as soon as two characters start talking. But playwright Audrey Cefaly tries a new spin on the form in The Last Wide Open, bending…
Art Review: ‘Unbroken Current,’ Helen Day Art Center
African Americans are making big cultural news these days: National Book Award winner Ta-Nehisi Coates’ first novel, Pulitzer Prize for Music winner Kendrick Lamar’s latest composition, Academy Award-winning director Barry Jenkins’ current project. At Stowe’s Helen Day Art Center, Vermonters can now see a superb exhibition of work by African American artists. Not that “Unbroken…
UVM Students Launch Literary Magazine ‘Crossroads’
University of Vermont students launched the literary magazine Crossroads, but its roots can be traced off-campus to Burlington’s Light Club Lamp Shop. There, every Monday evening, poets and other writers meet to share their work open-mic style. That’s where the Crossroads founders cemented their love of poetry, met future contributors and collaborators, and, most importantly,…
‘The Office! A Musical Parody’ Writers on Lampooning Their Favorite TV Show
Over its nine seasons, NBC television series “The Office” followed the exploits of the employees of Dunder Mifflin, a fictional paper company in Scranton, Pa. The show perfected the mockumentary format, telling hilarious and painfully relatable stories of ambition, attraction, perseverance and friendship. The ensemble sitcom gets the spoof treatment in The Office! A Musical…
All Our Hearts: Sharing Stories of Love, Grief and Hope From the Opioid Crisis
The headlines are full of stories about the opioid epidemic: about doctors overprescribing pills, lawsuits against drugmakers and the astronomical cost to our social-services safety net. The obituaries are full of these stories, too, though few of them come right out and say so (Megan Webbley’s obituary this week is one exception). Addiction is still…
New Music Listings Format and Miriam Bernardo’s ‘Songs From the Well’ Performance
The New Deal Howdy, folks! I’m stoked to announce a big change to Seven Days’ music section. Although it may not seem like such a huge deal at first, I’m hoping it will help readers more easily find the music and nightlife events they’re looking for. Flip over to page 68, and you’ll see our…
The Cheyenne Brando, ‘Endtime Hymns’
(Self-released, digital) Nostalgia reigns supreme on the Cheyenne Brando’s Endtime Hymns. The 10-track collection of ’80s-inspired rock comes from Christian Hahn, a Braintree-based former New Yorker. His album looks mainly to the jet-black strains of the Cure and Joy Division for stylistic inspiration, but it also infuses the grandeur of U2. Hahn teamed up with…
Adrian Aardvark, ‘Holy Abandonment’
(Self-released, digital) About halfway through “Religious Upbringing,” the opening track on Adrian Aardvark’s Holy Abandonment, singer-songwriter Christopher Stott-Rigsbee offers a curious confession: “In the eyes of the Father, Lord I am a sinner / Gonna sin so much, be the sin winner.” The front person doesn’t sing those words in any sort of triumphant fashion,…
Sanders Says Heart Attack Will ‘Change the Nature of the Campaign’
Laura Edwards still thinks the world of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Nearly four years after voting for him in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, the 50-year-old school nurse from Salem, N.H., sees him as the leading advocate for universal health care and economic justice. But as she settled in to watch Sanders last week at…
Walking and Dining on the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail
The Lamoille Valley Rail Trail is a work in progress. The plan calls for construction of a 93-mile trail that traverses the state from St. Johnsbury to Swanton. Two sections are complete: 16 miles from St. Johnsbury to Danville and a 17-mile leg from Morrisville to Cambridge. In Sheldon, a 1.5-mile length of trail connects…
At NU, the Toohey Family Takes Chocolate Seriously
The Toohey family takes chocolate very seriously. They see every interaction at their Burlington shop, NU Chocolat, as an opportunity for education, whether it’s about their sourcing practices, the delights of a well-made milk chocolate, how truffles are the perfect chocolate-delivery system or the logistics of working as a family. Kevin, Laura, Rowan and Virginia…
Cocktails and Community at Wolf Tree, Coming Soon to White River Junction
In a New England pasture, a “wolf tree” is the lone tree that remains after most of the forest has been cleared for farming. Livestock and other animals gather at such trees, said Max Overstrom-Coleman, who pursued doctoral studies in ecology at Dartmouth College. Wolf Tree is also the name of the bar that he’ll…
In Brattleboro, Dosa Kitchen Food Truck Transitions to Restaurant
Dosa Kitchen has been bringing South Indian soul food to Brattleboro since 2014, and now the owners of the popular food truck are preparing to open their first brick-and-mortar establishment. Married co-owners Nash Patel and Leda Scheintaub, who are also the authors of Dosa Kitchen: Recipes for India’s Favorite Street Food, will open at 34…
