Diarra Raymond is 21 and deeply Christian, with short pink-and-gold ombré hair and an almost inaudible voice. She recently moved to South Royalton from Denton, Texas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth megalopolis, to start her first year at Vermont Law School. Before Raymond left Texas, she did what any devout Christian would do: She prayed about…
On September 26, 2019, at Porter Medical Center, Makayla Kimball and Mark Kennedy welcomed a girl, Vanessa Rena Lynn Kennedy.
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani was spotted carrying a shovel at Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre on Thursday night. The attorney-turned-self-appointed-foreign-intelligence-official was reportedly seeking to dig up dirt on Gov. Phil Scott. Witnesses say a visibly distressed Giuliani was overheard mumbling to himself something along the lines of, “I’m a hero. They’ll…
On September 24, 2019, at Porter Medical Center, Tinaya (Larocque) Raymond and Brent Raymond welcomed a boy, Declan Cooper Raymond.
From behind a granite ledge in the far distance of a water-filled quarry, a floating stage appeared carrying dancers and musicians, who lay prone, dressed in gray. One by one, they stood and peeled off their shrouds, revealing costumes of bright red, orange, yellow and green. “This is the canvas on which we dance,” a…
Have you ever sat at a concert in the University of Vermont Recital Hall and been distracted by the sight of people passing outside the stage-left window? Come this time next year, that window will be gone. In its place will be a door that leads to an addition behind the stage. Thanks to anonymous…
For about a decade, guitarist Max Hatt and vocalist Edda Glass plied their trade as “the only bossa nova band in Montana.” As the duo traversed Big Sky Country, often driving hours from gig to gig, they penned original material inspired by both Brazilian jazz and the vast American landscape beyond their windshield. In 2014,…
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “I just cut my bangs in a gas station bathroom,” confesses a Libran blogger who calls herself MagicLipstick. “An hour ago I shocked myself by making an impulse buy of a perfect cashmere trench coat from a stranger loitering in a parking lot,” testifies another Libran blogger who refers to himself…
Some aspects of the built environment are so drab and uninteresting that after a while we stop noticing them. Utility boxes, those refrigerator-size metal cabinets found on the corner of virtually every intersection with a traffic signal, fall into this category of invisible infrastructure — that is, until their paint starts to peel and they…
A recent report by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington was billed as an exhaustive accounting of sexual abuse allegations against Vermont priests. Yet the Edmundites, members of the Colchester-based Catholic order that founded Saint Michael’s College, have created their own list of 10 accused priests — and released it only on an obscure website…
For the past decade, Windsor’s What Doth Life has championed independent music along the border of Vermont and New Hampshire in a distinctively low-key way. Self-described as a “brand with nothing to sell,” the musicians’ cooperative has served as a support system and DIY record label for scads of artists and bands who might not…
Vermont’s cartoonist laureate has earned a new honor: her very own entry in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. “Bechdel Test,” named for Bolton cartoonist and graphic novelist Alison Bechdel, is one of 530 new words and phrases the dictionary added this month. The definition reads: “A set of criteria used as a test to evaluate a work…
Running Man If Vermont’s opioid crisis hasn’t directly affected you, consider yourself lucky. Those who’ve lost family members and friends to drug overdoses have been speaking out in a variety of ways. From fundraisers to brutally honest obituaries — like that of Madelyn Linsenmeir, penned by her sister and Seven Days writer Kate O’Neill —…
Papa John’s Pizza at 135 Pearl Street in Burlington closed September 5, according to Lindsay English, senior manager of corporate communications. The franchisee also closed four other locations in Massachusetts. Related Stories
(Self-released, digital) In 2017, Burlington singer-songwriter Will Stamp released his debut EP, That Old Familiar Heartbreak. Its six songs were graceful, understated alt-country meditations on loss. On his first full-length effort, released September 6, Stamp’s approach seems to be “go big or go home.” At its best, the self-titled record is bold; at its worst,…
It was 78 degrees as the sun sank over Sam Mazza’s Farm Market in Colchester, yet Lisa Gates was rubbing her forearms. “I have goosebumps,” she said. The pumpkin Gates had nurtured for months was being lifted with a skid-steer loader to be weighed at the Vermont Giant Pumpkin Weigh-In, and Gates was waiting to…
While careering through the void in James Gray’s marvelous, masterful new space odyssey, Brad Pitt’s character ruminates: “In the end the son suffers the sins of the father.” It’s a nice touch, linking the biblical with the futuristic, and the words carry more than metaphorical meaning. The actor plays an astronaut named Roy McBride who…
Poor Taste I found the cartoon by Tim Newcomb in your August 28 issue appalling and deeply offensive. It depicts a priest praying with a young child with the caption, “Please let him mean pray with an ‘a’ and not an ‘e.'” As a Catholic, I have painfully watched the damage that this priest scandal…
Robin Orr has a least favorite fork. She can pick it out from a bundle of 13 disposable forks, which she keeps in her office at the Chittenden Solid Waste District. On a recent afternoon, Orr lined them up on a table in front of her like a dealer laying out cards. She can sort,…
(Magnetic Eye Records, CD, vinyl, digital) After several listens through the latest Ghastly Sound project, Have a Nice Day, I’m almost beginning to wonder if the album title was intended sarcastically. You can never tell with these heavy metal types, a secretive subculture of “doom sludge” and “mosh pits” and “djent riffs.” And sweet, sweet…
What does a secular inspirational film for millennials look like? Probably a lot like Brittany Runs a Marathon. Writer and first-time director Paul Downs Colaizzo crafted this feel-good indie comedy from the true story of a roommate who transformed herself from couch potato to serious runner. Although the title spoils the upbeat ending — yes,…
A Hannah Morris painting is full of trickery. First of all, her creations are both paintings and collages, and it’s hard to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. Though they do fool the eye, her pieces are not trompe-l’oeil as we usually understand it; her narrative tableaux are real-ish but decidedly not…
The audience arrives to find a commanding set. A large, carved wooden door stands in a tall, blank wall. Above, an artificial skylight bathes the stage in silky, shadowless light. Below, a wood-plank floor the width of the stage narrows toward the back wall, suggesting receding perspective. It looks like a museum, and the art…
Jamie Stone stood in the dining hall of Green Mountain College in Poultney and watched last Friday as auctioneers sold off art, furniture and memorabilia at the 185-year-old private school that closed in May, shuttered by declining enrollment and financial woes. “I love this place. I love being here,” the 2006 grad said wistfully as…
Sasha was a little shy. The 6-month-old border collie mix stood as far back as her red leash would allow, her ears slightly folded back. Her eyes darted between two people crouched nearby, on alert each time they patted her soft black head. Sasha had just arrived at A Canine Gem animal rescue organization in…
Dear Reverend, I’ve been on a few dates with this guy. We rolled around in bed the other night but didn’t have sex. In the morning, he told me that he has genital herpes. I really like him and am willing to try and work around it, but how do you have sex with someone…
One of the final steps in the process of moving cheese from barn to cave to store belongs, at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, to Alex Armstrong: He writes the farm’s newsletter. In mid-September, he was preparing to spread the word about Bridgman Blue — cheese made from a mixture of goat’s milk and cow’s…
Don’t tell all those people (Mom) who claim that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I don’t usually eat breakfast. When I go out for a morning meal, it has to be no earlier than 9:30 a.m., and the dish must be exceptional, something I would never make at home. Firebird…
Demolition started last week in the restaurant space at 148 Church Street in Burlington, a building best known as the longtime home of the Rusty Scuffer. More recently, the building across from city hall housed Scuffer Tap & Table, which closed for business a year ago. Now the building’s owner, Mike Williams, is having work…
