On a Thursday evening in early September, hundreds of white girls carrying cardboard signs milled around in Burlington’s Battery Park, waiting to be told what to do. There were other kinds of people, too — an older man in Tevas, a guy with a long ponytail and a handmade cardboard sign that read: “It’s time…
Retired engineer and Army veteran enjoyed working in his beautiful vegetable gardens
On September 27, 2020, at Porter Medical Center, Autumn (Aines) Simpson and Tyler Simpson welcomed a girl, Aleena Rae Simpson.
FliRite Aviation pilot and photographer loved flying the Vermont skies
Amateur boxing fans remember “Cyclone Jim” from the 1960 Golden Gloves competition
Lifelong activist worked to improve the human condition
Lifelong volunteer and active community member traveled the world and “rode more trains than anyone has a right to”
Longtime Vermont House calendar clerk retired from the Statehouse at age 82
1. Through Her Eyes “LUNAFEST is not just a traveling film festival,” reads lunafest.org, “it’s a force for change.” To that end, this cinematic celebration brings fresh ideas to the big screen via short movies made by, for and about women. On Wednesday, September 30, Vermonters can catch films such as “Lady Parts,” about an…
(Self-released, digital) Just about every record that lands on the Seven Days desk these days comes with an addendum about making music during the pandemic. That isn’t a gripe. The inventiveness and determination of Vermont’s musicians to keep creating has been a real source of pride and joy. Still, I can’t deny that I felt…
Gov. Phil Scott has earned praise for following the guidance of public health experts as he leads Vermont’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly every opportunity he gets, he notes his reliance on data and science. But when it comes to the peril posed by a rapidly warming planet, environmental advocates argue, Scott has failed…
(Self-released, digital) Pons are pure anarchy. The young trio of Sam Cameron, Jack Parker and newish member Sebastien Carnot, all juniors at the University of Vermont, creates music that truly resists, in many senses of the word. It has no need for order. It thinks order sucks. Furthermore, the group and its manic tunes consistently…
Happy Transplants I read with delight “The New Vermonters” [September 9]. My husband, Paul, and I moved to Vermont in 2013 after many years as residents of Massachusetts. We fell in love with Vermont after one of our kids attended and graduated from the University of Vermont and stayed in Vermont. We had been spending…
Our streaming entertainment options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. Lately, I’ve been hearing major buzz about the paranoid thriller She Dies Tomorrow, the second film from writer-director Amy Seimetz, who’s also a familiar face from her acting roles in Upstream Color, “Stranger Things” and more. While waiting for Seimetz’s latest…
Dear Reverend, I am an almost 20-year-old virgin girl who has never had a boyfriend. All my crushes wanted nothing more than sex. I’m feeling sad and depressed because I want to know what it feels like to actually date someone. I want to have no fear and be free and able to get out…
On September 8, students across Vermont returned to school, whether that meant a traditional classroom, a home setup or a virtual one. The fall semester of this pandemic year was months in the making, with hard choices along the way. Doubts and uncertainty remained as schools opened their doors for the first time in almost…
Earlier this month, Chris Ouellette set out from his Shelburne home for a bike ride around Vermont. His goal: three days and 300 miles in honor of 3 million people worldwide battling Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. One of them is Ouellette’s nephew, Yohan Bouchard, who was diagnosed with the degenerative nerve condition at age 7. Seeing his…
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Seventy-nine-year-old Libran poet Robert Pinsky has had a triumphant life. He has published 19 books, including his own poems and essays, as well as translations of Italian and Polish poetry. For four years he served as the United States poet laureate. To what factors does he attribute his success? Here’s one:…
One of the most insidious things about childhood abuse is that it doesn’t end with childhood. Williston author Dominic Bucca portrays the aftermath with considerable power in Faculty Brat: A Memoir of Abuse. The book offers two brief, graphic descriptions of Bucca’s sexual abuse at the hands of his stepfather, both before page 40. That…
Michael “Mikey” van Gulden, founder and owner of Chocolate Thunder Security in Burlington, was on his way to see his accountant in the first week of March when he heard the news on the radio. Austin, Texas, had just canceled South by Southwest, the annual music, film and interactive media festival that normally brings tens…
September marks the start of hemp harvest season in New England, but this year Vermont’s landscape has far fewer skunky-smelling fields. Many growers passed on planting the crop in the spring due to a combination of factors, including an oversupply of hemp from 2019, record low wholesale prices earlier this year, higher state registration fees…
When Elise Brunelle accepted the job of executive director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra in May, three months into the pandemic, she knew she wouldn’t immediately be leading the organization in its core mission — bringing live performances of symphonic works to audiences. The VSO draws half its members from outside Vermont, which affords the…
After 2,000 years on the linguistic sidelines, palindromes could be making their move into mainstream culture. Huh? A palindrome is a word, phrase, sentence or number that reads the same forward and backward. A familiar example is “Madam, I’m Adam.” Fast-forward a few thousand years, and palindromes have moved from fig leaf to big screen. A…
By mid-September, camp is usually a distant memory for kids. But last week at Common Ground Center in Starksboro, school-age children played in Lewis Creek with summertime abandon, despite the unmistakable chill in the air. A young girl, wearing rainbow-hued sneakers and a Dr. Seuss-themed mask, lugged a flat rock from the water to the…
For nearly 25 years, Burlington music nonprofit Big Heavy World has endeavored to strengthen the ties that bind Vermont’s music community together. It’s hosted countless shows in teen centers, public parks, and even the basement of founder and executive director Jim Lockridge. It’s provided musicians with practical resources, from industry connections and advice to a…
Linden Bronz-Russo was ready to return to Burlington High School’s aging buildings this month, even though she’d only be there part time. The school on Institute Road had planned a hybrid teaching model in which groups of students would alternate between in-person and virtual classes. The 17-year-old senior was excited to see her friends after…
Actor and photographer took his final bow
The old dairy barn at Champlain Valley Farm in Addison looks like many others along Route 22A, but the pickup truck with “HOGFRMR” on its license plate indicated it was the right place. Confirmation came from the words “Hog Wild” emblazoned on several demolition derby cars scattered about. “Me and my wife do demolition derby,”…
For a while, it looked like two well-known food businesses would anchor the building currently under construction at Finney Crossing in Williston. But, while Healthy Living Market & Café is still scheduled to move in, a new branch of the Farmhouse Tap & Grill “is currently out of the picture,” according to Scott Rieley, codeveloper…
