The Animal Issue February 2016
A Man and His Dachshund Address Bullying; A Facebook-Famous Cat Grants an Interview. Also, What Happened in Nevada: Dispatches From the Sanders Campaign
Obituary: Gregory Noel Weaver, 1951-2016, Burlington
Gregory Noel Weaver, 64, of Burlington passed away on Friday, February 26, at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington. His death was unexpected and has been met with great sadness from his family and friends. Greg was born in St. Louis, Mo., on June 2, 1951. He was the only son of Noel…
Obituary: Doris R. Vincent Brace, 1923-2016
Doris R. Vincent Brace, 93, passed away peacefully on February 26, 2016 surrounded by family and friends at Starr Farm Nursing Home, Burlington. Doris had an amazing zest for life and unending energy. She will be remembered and missed by all who knew her. Doris was born February 7, 1923 in Winooski, Vermont to Alphonse…
Obituary: Nancy Bickmore, 1935-2016, Essex
Nancy Bickmore (Claire Nancy Anne Carter) of Essex,VT age 80 went to be with our Lord on Friday February 12, 2016. She was born in Springfield MA on August 9th 1935. She grew up in St Johnsbury, VT and graduated from Lyndon Teacher’s college. She was a middle school teacher for most of her working…
Obituary: Sandra Lee Lewis, 1962-2016, Winooski
Sandra Lee Lewis, 53 of Winooski, passed away suddenly from a long illness on Wednesday February 24th, 2016 in the home of her loving family. She was born on December 27, 1962 the daughter of Donald and Jennie Bushey of Burlington. She married her husband Richard W Lewis Sr on July 7, 1979 and was…
A Runner’s Yoga Marathon: Day 5
I think I’ve found the one. For my final workout this Sunday, I chose a new class at a new studio, taught by a familiar face. All of my instructors have been far kinder than the SoCal drill sergeant who turned me off from yoga seven years ago. But I especially liked Jacque, a native…
A Runner’s Yoga Marathon: Day 4
I had my hottest date yet today at Tapna Yoga on Pine Street, where the Bikram studio is a toasty 105 degrees. In fact, the heat caused my phone to shut down before I could take a picture of the sweatfest — hence the exterior photo. I dressed to impress. That is, I finally retired…
A Runner’s Yoga Marathon: Day 3
Call me promiscuous, but I went to two classes today. The first was a midday Core Flow class at Honest Yoga. It wasn’t love at first sight — South Burlington’s Blue Mall has seen better days. Is it even possible to achieve nirvana in a strip mall? But inside was nicer, and the instructor, Patti,…
A Runner’s Yoga Marathon: Day 2
At the sound of my 6 a.m. alarm Wednesday, I sat upright and was immediately aware of some long-dormant, now-aching muscles in my back and shoulders. Even my armpits were in agony after previous day’s session at Sangha Studio. Figuring I would crumple if I attempted another chaturanga, I chose to go for a run,…
Free Will Astrology (2/24/16)
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “People don’t want their lives fixed,” proclaims Chuck Palahniuk in his novel Survivor. “Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. Their distractions. Their stories resolved. Their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown.” Your challenge in the coming weeks, Pisces, is to prove Palahniuk…
Inside a Las Vegas Casino Caucus
Slot machines blinked and whirred behind Fabiola Gonzalez as she waited in line Saturday morning at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas strip. Gonzalez, a 26-year-old cashier at the nearby Aria Resort & Casino, had clocked out early so she could take part in Nevada’s Democratic caucuses. Though she had…
The Welsh Player
In that moment, I felt like I was riding with Rhiannon, the mythological queen of Celtic folklore. Mairwen Jones, my customer, and I were stuck in the parking garage at Montréal’s Trudeau Airport trying to hatch an escape strategy. All the signs were in French, which neither of us spoke. I’m an American and, sadly,…
From Chickens to Taxes: A Town Meeting Day Preview
Next Tuesday, people will descend on town halls and school gymnasiums across Vermont to practice the simplest form of democracy: town meeting. The 254-year-old tradition invites residents to convene and consider meat-and-potatoes questions, such as “Could the fire department be more frugal?” They also elect their contemporaries as constables, town grand jurors, fence viewers and…
Bern Force One: On the Road and in the Air With Sanders
It took an hour last Friday afternoon for Bern Force One to traverse a lonely stretch of the Great Basin Desert from tiny Elko, Nev., to Reno. Through the windows of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) chartered Boeing 737, the snowcapped mountains of northern Nevada, pocked with gold and silver mines, morphed into an arid desert…
the le duo, Boogaloo for Improvisors
(Self-released, digital download) To some listeners, “experimental music” is a scary term. The stigma attached to so-called “other music” is that it’s the province of pretentious, overintellectualizing artists and is nefariously designed to confound audiences rather than entertain them. There might be a sliver of truth to that notion. By its very nature, experimental music…
Small Digs: Election Season Means It’s Time for ‘Oppo Research’
During the month of February, the Vermont Agency of Transportation fulfilled two public-records requests for information about its former leader. Sue Minter left her cabinet-level job last fall to run for governor as a Democrat. The first request came not from a Republican operative but from her Democratic opponent, Matt Dunne. Actually, Dunne appears to…
David Rosane and the Zookeepers, Modern Folk
(Self-released, CD, digital download) If ever a band embodied the axiom “Think globally, act locally,” it might be David Rosane and the Zookeepers. Rosane is a globe-trotting songwriter and activist who spends most of the year in Paris. But he has strong ties to Vermont, and most of the members of his backing band call…
Vergennes’ 3 Squares Moves Up the Street
What happens when you decide to move your café one block north? For 3 Squares Café in Vergennes, it means rolling everything from chalkboards to chairs up the street. Come mid-March, the popular casual spot will relocate from 221 to 141 Main Street. According to owner Matt Birong, the change has been a long time…
Heart of a Dog
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to confess that I’ve always loved Laurie Anderson. I loved 1982’s Big Science the first time I heard it. I loved her voice. (Wouldn’t she have made the perfect Siri?) I loved her futuristic funny bone, her unimaginable imagination. Listen to the lyrics of that record’s single,…
Letters to the Editor (2/24/16)
What Would Freyne Do? Thank you for resurrecting the great Peter Freyne [20/20 Hindsight: “Bernie & Howard,” February 17]. It is so refreshing to flash back to his insightful and witty takes on Ol’ Bernardo, Jeezum Jim and all of the Vermont politicos he brought to life for us readers. Wish he were on the…
The Witch
The Witch has received a wide theatrical release and the marketing of a horror movie, a choice that is bound to produce confused and disappointed audiences. Far from a standard fright flick, this feature debut from writer-director Robert Eggers is actually the world’s creepiest historical reenactment. Or make that semi-historical. When it drew crowds at…
Pilgrimage to Pomfret: Tracking Down Vermont’s Papal Connection
The tiny town of Pomfret made world news last week. The hilly Vermont hamlet is where Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland, the man who became Pope John Paul II, visited the home of Polish American philosopher Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka in 1976. The two maintained a close friendship for decades. Last week, the pope’s letters to Tymieniecka…
‘Intimacy + Materiality,’ Helen Day Art Center
The relationship of the human body to clothing — and, by extension, to fiber — is inherently intimate. Now on view at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe, the aptly titled exhibition “Intimacy + Materiality” is an investigation of contemporary work by 13 artists who use textiles to shape dialogues about labor, physical bodies…
Taste the Bernie: Senator-Inspired Sweets
With Sen. Bernie Sanders on the campaign trail, local food and beverage businesses are creating special treats in his honor. After Vermont’s junior senator declared his run for the presidency, Nutty Steph’s started selling dark-chocolate Bernie Bars — made with a “liberal” amount of sea salt. And the Middlesex chocolatier isn’t alone. As the campaign careens…
My Girlfriend Won’t Forgive Me for Reading Her Work
Dear Athena, I accidentally read my girlfriend’s work — an opinion essay about love. I was looking for my own essay, then I stumbled upon hers. I just read the first line, then I saw an error. When I saw her again, I told her about the mistake, and she got angry with me. I…
The Animal Issue, 2016
We’re pet-loving peeps here at Seven Days, accompanied daily by canine companions. Our furry friends make their mark in this annual issue, but so do untamed species. We hear about artist Rob Mullen’s wild, wild life in the northern forests, and bemoan the fate of one Jurassic beast on a rural road. We ponder the…
Bernie Songs From VT and Beyond
If this year’s presidential election were decided by the number of musical tributes each candidate has inspired, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) would win in a landslide. Alas, at least for Bernie supporters, becoming the leader of the free world involves more than amassing YouTube hits and downloading free songs on Bandcamp. With Super Tuesday on…
Vermont Sugar Makers Fight Maple Mislabeling
Last Monday, February 15, the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association teamed with the International Maple Syrup Institute, the North American Maple Syrup Council and maple associations from 10 other states to ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take a hard look at how companies use the word “maple” in their labeling. The joint…
Soundbites: On Bernie Jam, Caroline Rose & Invisble Homes and the Pants Doc
Enter Sandman Super Tuesday, in which 11 states, including Vermont, and American Samoa hold Democratic primaries and caucuses, is Tuesday, March 1. That means, by the time we meet again here next week, we should have a clearer picture of the fate of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) presidential bid. If he gets trounced, his odds…
A Turtle Meets Fast Fate
In frigid winter, Vermont’s snapping turtles stay burrowed in mud beneath the ice. For some five or six months, they’re in a state of torpor, and we don’t give them any thought. Then, inevitably, as the sap runs and the sun heads north, the reptiles begin to stir. With this winter’s generally milder weather, some…
Artist Rob Mullen Ventures Into the Wild
Vermont is teeming with artists who paint pets, farm animals and critters from the woods. But there may be only one who has painted a charging bear — that is, the bear that charged him on a remote river in Alaska. That would be West Bolton artist Rob Mullen. The Vermont native earned a biology…
A Human-Canine Duo Addresses Bullying
Shortly after lunchtime, several hundred students at East Montpelier Elementary School filed into a gymnasium and sat on the floor. While a pair of teachers tried to quiet the group, the kids instantly fixated on a small, rotund dachshund in a winter coat, which was quietly sniffing around the edge of the stage. After a…
In Montréal, an Art Installation for the Birds
What sort of music would birds make, if birds made music? Of course, they do make their own music every day. But French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot has taken it upon himself to construct an environment that is both aviary and live concert venue, employing birds to create serendipitous tunes. The installation “from here to ear…
![Vermont English Bulldog Rescue [SIV433]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/episode433-3-3-e1755139903255.webp?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Vermont English Bulldog Rescue [SIV433]
2/14/16: This week is the Seven Days’ Animal Issue and we are meeting some squishy-faced, wrinkly, drooling balls of love whose stories will melt your heart. Back in 1998, Dawna Pederzani founded the Vermont English Bulldog Rescue which became a non-profit in 2015. After teaming up with Karen Sturtevant, the doggie crusaders rescued, rehabilitated and…
Short Takes on Film: Truth in Reporting
“Think about it, duh. Who deserves to be in that kind of situation? No one.” So opines a young woman in Nilima Abrams’ short documentary “The Tent Village,” speaking about impoverished families who make their homes in tents around Bangalore, India. Out of context, it might sound like something a privileged American college student would…
When Crows Outsmart Their Hunters
Rodney Elmer says he’s been wearing the same black baseball cap for more than 20 years. Just above the brim, nine tiny black talons protrude from the worn cotton. They’re hunting trophies. “These are the back toes of every crow I shot at more than 300 yards,” he says. While crow hunting is an uncommon…
For Vermont Cider Week, Makers Plan Cider Dinners
To borrow a phrase from Citizen Cider, it’s time to “get excidered.” The second annual Vermont Cider Week kicks off this Friday, February 26, with an adult-only after-hours tasting at ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain in Burlington. The “week” actually lasts nine days this year, through March 6. In bars across the state, cider…
Billy the Cat Talks Napping, Ankles and Mice
Anson Tebbetts is the news director of WCAX-TV, a position he’s held since 2009. He served as Vermont’s deputy secretary of agriculture for a few years before that, though the appointed post was a deviation from his robust career in television and radio. Since earning a college degree in broadcast journalism in 1987, Tebbetts has…
Work: Mobile Vet Gary Sturgis
Name: Gary Sturgis Town: Essex Job: House-call veterinarian Gary Sturgis lives on his own terms. The 61-year-old house-call veterinarian uses index cards to record details about his clients and the medical history of their pets. He owns a flip phone, doesn’t use email or text, and likes being off the grid. “I used to have…
Barfly: Booze in Pretty Glasses at Simon Pearce
One of the least noted pleasures of drinking in a high-end lounge has nothing to do with the booze. As with restaurant service, successful glassware should do its job well, but the point is kind of not to think about it. Still, one of the unique joys of dining at Quechee’s Simon Pearce Restaurant — located…
1st Republic Homebrew Store to Open in Essex Junction
Next week will see the opening of 1st Republic Brewing Co.’s brewery and homebrew store in Essex Junction. After several years of brewing in a Fairfax garage, Kevin Jarvis, 39, and Shawn Trout, 33, will move their operation to 39 River Road, Suite 6, where they’ll offer both a tasting room and homebrewing supplies. Starting…
