The Back to School Issue 2015
Middlebury College Breaks Up With Online Language Program; Castleton University’s Visionary President; What to do When You’re Sexiled; Gelato Hits the Sweet Spot
Obituary: Robert “Bobby” Benjamin
, age 67 years, died early Thursday afternoon, September 3, 2015 in a tragic automobile accident in Swanton. Bobby’s longtime friend and companion Diane Bohannon also died in that same accident. Born in Burlington on, October 6, 1947, he was the son of the late Mark and Laurenza (Leduc) Benjamin. He attended Alburgh schools and…
Obituary: Diane M. (Erno) Bohannon
On Thursday, September 3, 2015, Diane M. (Erno) Bohannon, stepped out of this life and into her Savior’s loving arms. She was born on, June 26, 1947, to Merle and Bernice (Bolio) Erno. Diane and her three brothers, Steve Erno, David Erno, and Ernie Erno, grew up making many memories on the various farms they…
Obituary: Jim Murphy, 1954-2015, Shoreham
Jim Murphy, business owner and local musician, passed away unexpectedly at his home on Tuesday, August 25, 2015. He was 61. As the owner of Jim Murphy Property & Home Inspection & Consulting Services, Jim conducted over 8,000 home inspections. He sang with the choir at the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society (CVUUS) in Middlebury,…
Obituary: Jaime-Lynn Elizabeth-Anne Taylor-Danner, 1980-2015, Winooski
Jaime-Lynn Elizabeth-Anne Taylor-Danner was born on February 19, 1980, in Marlton, New Jersey, to Brenda LaVigne and Lawrence Taylor (Rose Staples). Jaime-Lynn passed away peacefully on August 24, 2015, in Williston, Vermont, after a courageous battle with ovarian cancer. Jaime-Lynn graduated from Winooski High School, and received her Bachelor of Arts from Johnson State College.…
Focus on Breakfast at Bradford’s Green Mountain Diner
Last Friday, August 21, Barre native and longtime cook Ed Morrison opened Green Mountain Diner in the former Bradford House of Pizza space at 134 Main Street, which had lain vacant since pizzeria owner Christian “Clue” Cameron committed suicide in January 2014. For now, the new daytime spot — open from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m.…
Food Trucks at the Fair; Vermont Heritage Brew Festival; Tuckerbox Café Expands
From the time the Champlain Valley Fair’s Ferris wheel starts turning on Friday, August 28, until it stops on Sunday, September 6, thousands of Vermonters will crowd the grounds looking for fun and midway meals. This year, their options will include several new vendors. Route 7 Liquor & Deli owner Chris Garcia brought his Shelburne…
Checking the Cold War in ‘Chess’
It’s easy to understand why the 1972 chess “match of the century” between American Bobby Fischer and his Soviet opponent, Boris Spassky, was so closely and widely watched. During the Cold War, events such as chess tournaments and Olympic games allowed the rival superpowers to do battle without bloodshed. Friendly — that is, nonmilitary —…
I’m Jealous of My Boyfriend’s Dead Ex
Dear Athena, My boyfriend’s ex-boyfriend died almost five months ago, and he is so depressed about it. I feel weird about this, but I’m jealous of this dead person. It’s not just that my boyfriend is sad sometimes — it’s, like, all the time, and it seems like the most important thing to him right…
‘I Hate Hamlet’ Turns Tragedy to Comedy
Paul Rudnick’s 1991 play I Hate Hamlet is built on a great premise and provides a pleasant diversion, but it doesn’t quite reach the escape velocity of great comedy. The subject matter suggests that a clever statement about theater itself may emerge, but the play is made of superficial humor and simplistic characters — fun, but…
Eastern Mountain Time, Eastern Mountain Time
(Burst & Bloom Records, CD, digital download) The Green Mountain State suffers no shortage of music rooted in rustic variants of country. To name a few: Waylon Speed pump out outlaw country forged in metal; the Woedoggies cut their offbeat twang with whiskey; Reverend Ben Donovan and the Congregation are neotraditionalists with a gospel bent;…
A New One-Act Predicts Dystopia for Free Thinkers
This Thursday, a one-act play set in the “not-too-distant future” begins a three-day run at Off Center for the Dramatic Arts in Burlington. Phineaus’ Tl, which has a “dual plotline,” is written and directed by 24-year-old Burlington native Grady Shea, who also plays the titular character. It’s the Skidmore College graduate’s first foray into theater…
Kelly Ravin, County Tracks
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Kelly Ravin’s 2013 solo record, Leathered, Weathered, Worn & Wiser, lived up to its title. The album was a sparse affair whose fraying seams and blemishes lent Ravin’s writing a weary, lived-in gravitas. Rawness was felt keenly in every languid line coaxed from his reverb-washed guitar and each cutting lyric delivered…
Grading Boards at the Lumber Mill
Name: Chan Bullard Town: Johnson Job: Lumber grader, Manchester Lumber At the family-owned Manchester Lumber Company in Johnson, rough-cut wood moves along a massive machinery line to pass inspection and receive a grade. Chan Bullard can rate a board of birch in less than five seconds. Sitting above the machinery in his small office built…
Soundbites: Burlington Celebrates the 2nd Annual A-Dog Day
A-Dog’s Best Friends On Saturday, August 29, Burlington will celebrate the second annual A-Dog Day, in honor of the late Andy Williams, aka DJ A-Dog, who died of leukemia on December 26, 2013. Last year’s daylong fête, culminating in a blowout bash at ArtsRiot on August 30, Andy’s birthday, had a celebratory feel. It was,…
Cool Heads Prevail at Burlington’s Diversity Salon
Every other month, 14-year-old Mistre Newton travels two hours from her home in Saranac Lake, N.Y., to the “big city” of Burlington. While her parents spend their day at the mall and the movies — typical teenage pastimes — Mistre sits in a stylist’s chair for six hours getting her hair done at Diversity Hair…
Art Review: ‘Generations’ Explores Artists’ Mentors and Students
Self-taught painters spring up like wildflowers and get a lot of attention in today’s art world. Seldom, by contrast, does a gallery or museum organize a show examining the tending and tilling of talent — a teacher passing down to a student ways of seeing and composing. “Generations” at the Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville…
Montpelier’s Positive Pie Gets a New ‘Parklet’
The car-driving public tends to get huffy about the proposed loss of public parking spots. But the denizens of Vermont’s capital city are apparently on board with a new “parklet” that will soon occupy two parking spaces in front of Positive Pie on State Street. Montpelier design and fabrication shop Anomal created the movable extension…
![Glider Academy [SIV410]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/episode410.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Glider Academy [SIV410]
8/22/15: Teens learn how to fly gliders, some of them taking solo flights at the Hartness State Airport in Springfield. Part of a week long camp organized by the Northeast Region of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), the official civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force since 1941. Music: Chaotix, “State of Elevation” This…
Free Will Astrology (8/26/15)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You like to run ahead of the pack. You prefer to show people the way, to set the pace. It’s cleaner that way, right? There’s less risk you will be caught up in the messy details of everyday compromise. But I suspect that the time is right for you to try…
Phoenix
The title of Phoenix suggests a triumphant rebirth, but this German drama set in postwar Berlin feels more like the story of a ghost wandering among the living. In early scenes, director Christian Petzold (Barbara) keeps his camera far from his heroine, Nelly Lenz (Nina Hoss), as if out of fear — or respect. Even…
Vermont Authors Revisit Katrina Through Kids’ Eyes
Northern Vermont is roughly 1,600 miles from New Orleans. But after raging waters devastated that city a decade ago this Saturday, locals sprang into action. Among the many who gathered food and clothes for the Hurricane Katrina relief drive was Tamara Ellis Smith of Richmond. When her 4-year-old son asked, “Who exactly is going to…
Hip-Hop Station Makes Waves in Vermont
At noon sharp on Monday, June 15, 104.3 KISS-FM debuted an unexpected new format, rebranding as “the Champlain Valley’s classic hip-hop station.” It’s been delivering ever since, pumping out a predominantly ’90s playlist — at first, mostly on syndicated autopilot. Since then, the programming has been garnished with some awkwardly local touches, such as bumpers…
Taking Off: Plattsburgh Airport Is Drawing More Flights, Travelers
There is nothing subtle about the marketing strategy that Plattsburgh International Airport is using to fuel its expansion. Its website provides updates on wait times at Québec border crossings and webcam footage of border traffic. Signs in the airport are in French and English. Increasingly, once-sleepy PBG is calling itself “Plattsburgh International Airport, Montréal’s U.S. Airport.”…
Back to School: What to Do If You’re ‘Sexiled’
When Cara Peterson moved into her freshman dorm room at the University of Vermont last fall, the 18-year-old from Falmouth, Mass., brought her new bedspread, a mini fridge and high hopes that she’d get along with her roommate. Shortly after Peterson met her 17-year-old roommate from St. Albans, a third person introduced himself: the roommate’s…
Middlebury College to Say Adieu to an Online Venture
It’s finito, vorbei, fini. Or soon will be, once the lawyers do their work. Middlebury College wants out of the for-profit foreign-language education venture it formed five years ago with K12, Inc., one of the nation’s largest online course providers. By year’s end, the college hopes to have sold its 40 percent stake in Middlebury…
WTF: Who or What Is Citizen Cider’s ‘Dirty Mayor’ Named For?
Citizen Cider has enjoyed explosive growth in its four years of existence. The first year, working out of a tiny space at Fort Ethan Allen in Essex, the founders sold 5,000 gallons of hard cider. The next year, 28,000 gallons; the next, 100,000. This year, the company is on pace to sell at least 350,000…
Anger Management: Sanders Fights for Employees, Except His Own
When Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced three months ago that he’d seek the Democratic presidential nomination, the New York Times described him as a “grumpy grandfather-type.” That caricature has persisted — most notably in a recent Washington Post listicle with the irresistible headline: “7 ways Bernie Sanders reminds us of our grumpy grandpa.” According to…
Letters to the Editor (8/26/15)
More on Tibet I was delighted that Kymelya Sari wrote about the local Tibetan community’s work to maintain its culture through the Tibetan school and future community center [“Just Like Home,” August 19]. She was a thoughtful and curious interviewer! However, there is one point that needs clarification. Tibetans in exile must preserve their culture…
Resilient David Wolk Champions Castleton University
Between the playing fields that serve the Castleton Spartans, a marble monument tells the story of the Greek king Leonidas and how he bravely resisted an army of invaders. David Wolk chose the 22,000-pound stone from a Rochester quarry and had it polished and engraved in Barre. As Castleton’s longest-serving president and its cheerleader-in-chief, he…
Summer Recipes From Seven Vermont Chefs
Bourbon Berry Lemonade Smash Tempura-Fried, Boursin-Stuffed Squash Blossoms Heirloom Tomatoes with Shiitake-White Bean Purée Pork Anticuchos With Yellow Chile Sauce Roasted-Red-Pepper Carpaccio Summer Squash: Calabacitas Corn and Poppy Cookies 5 blueberries 2 strawberries 1½ ounces Bulleit bourbon 2 dashes grapefruit bitters 2 ounces fresh-squeezed lemonade Preparation: Muddle berries in a cocktail glass. Fill glass with…
Middlebury Festival Focuses on New Filmmakers
In decades past, only the biggest cities could boast film festivals: New York, Toronto, Venice. But the digitization of filmmaking has spurred a corresponding democratization of film festivals. Towns as small as Missoula, Mont., Duncan, Okla., and Dover, Vt., can now claim cinematic gatherings. In a growing marketplace, how can a new festival distinguish itself?…
Where Can Hostelers Dine in Burlington? Drifters
In Europe, hostels often have a bar where guests can drink and meet their peers, but Burlington Hostel’s layout on Main Street doesn’t allow for one, says owner Michael Lucey. That’s why he hopes to open a bar and restaurant at 156 North Winooski Avenue this fall. Drifters will replace the Psychedelicatessen, which closed this…
American Ultra
The latest from Project X director Nima Nourizadeh is the definition of a one-joke movie. To be fair, though, this is August. Most movies dumped into the dog-days disposal system fail to offer even that much entertainment. Good luck making it out of the multiplex with your frontal lobe intact after sitting through something like…
Sanders Turns Up the Heat in the Granite State
After an hour at the microphone Monday morning, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) seemed suddenly to note the plight of his audience. “You have been extraordinarily patient and kind in this hot gym, listening to me rant a while,” he told several hundred sweating supporters, stuck to folding chairs and bleacher seats in a sweltering New…
Parlez-vous Français? Bistro de Margot to Replace L’Amante in Burlington
The squash blossoms will never fade from memory, but L’Amante will serve its final Taleggio-stuffed, honey-drizzled flowers on Friday, August 28. The beloved Italian eatery is closing after 12 years in business. “We’ve been working like dogs these past few weeks with everyone wanting one last dinner,” owner Kevin Cleary told Seven Days in an…
New Gelato Makers Rival Ben & Jerry’s in Vermont
La Villa Bistro in Shelburne opened in 1995. But the local staple for pizza and handmade pasta hasn’t succeeded on inertia. Since last fall, owners Adam and Jill Spell have been working on a new plan for the next 20 years. The center of their gambit: a batch freezer from Italian company Cattabriga. In the…
