The Cartoon Issue 2017
Alison Bechdel Revives “Dykes to Watch Out For,” Again; A Cartoonist Finds Her Tribe in the Woods; Late Folksinger Utah Phillips’ Caboose Is on the Move
Obituary: John Barbour, 1948-2017 Underhill
John, 68, of Underhill died unexpectedly on July 8, 2017, while running. John was born August 25, 1948, to James and Sarah Ellen Barbour in Nashville, Tenn. John attended the Pomfret School in Connecticut and then Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, where he met his wife and partner of almost 48 years, Carla Hochschild.…
Obituary: David Powers, 1973-2017
Our dearly loved son, brother, uncle and friend passed this June 27 from complications of Crohn’s disease. As a teenager, David terrorized the city of Burlington skateboarding with his friends. Public property sacrificed itself as he and his buddies mastered their ollies and other skateboard tricks. Hearing the rhythmic, musical sounds of skateboard wheels speeding…
Seriously: The Cartoon Interview
In this week’s episode, host Bryan Parmelee talks with cartoonist Rachel Lindsay about her contribution to Seven Days’ annual cartoon issue and her weekly strip “Rachel Lives Here Now.” CREDITS Written by: Bryan Parmelee and Rachel Lindsay Filmed, edited and animated by: Bryan Parmelee Comics and artwork by: Rachel Lindsay Logo/art direction by: Don Eggert…
The Parmelee Post: Burlington Officials Face Backlash After Repairing Potholes Without Public Input
Burlington officials once again provoked the ire of a divided community Friday at a public meeting to discuss commuter safety concerns. Tensions flared after New North End resident Paulie Wanderscoot held up a series of enlarged before and after photos to prove that the city had recently filled in several potholes along a busy stretch…
Walters: Advocate for the Homeless to Challenge Sanders for Senate Seat
If, as expected, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) runs for re-election in 2018, he will face an unlikely challenger for the Democratic nomination: Jon Svitavsky, a social worker and advocate for the homeless who has never run for office before. Svitavsky, who calls himself “a bona fide, strong, left-wing Christian liberal,” says he shares many of…
![Creemee Tour [SIV496]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/episode496-2-scaled.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Creemee Tour [SIV496]
7/2/17: Burlington finally got some sunny weather Sunday and Eva visited three popular creemee spots to celebrate: Al’s French Frys in South Burlington, the Village Scoop in Colchester and Rocky’s NY Pizza in Essex Junction. Unique to Vermont, a creemee is soft serve ice cream beloved by locals and visitors alike. And Eva made sure…
Writers for Recovery Publishes Second Anthology
Amid the nationwide opiate crisis, said filmmaker and Kingdom County Productions cofounder Bess O’Brien, Writers for Recovery is a “bright spot.” For the past three years, O’Brien and Montpelier author Gary Lee Miller have been organizing and leading a series of 10-week writing workshops at recovery and community centers and state correctional facilities across Vermont.…
The Best Local Albums of 2017 … So Far (Part 2)
Welcome to Part 2 of our 2017 local albums recap. For those of you who read last week’s installment, feel free to skip the next paragraph, because it’s mostly exposition. As you may have noticed — or not, depending on how deeply you’ve fallen into summer debauchery — we’ve officially crossed over into the second half…
Despite ‘Ick Factor’ and New Fees, Drop-Off Composting Catches On
Flies buzzed, and the pungent odor of rotting food wafted from the compost bins at the Chittenden Solid Waste District drop-off center on Burlington’s Pine Street. Undeterred, Brad Helpap cheerfully emptied a week’s worth of household food scraps into blue containers already half full of gunk. The environmentally conscious Burlington resident bicycled to the drop-off…
Album Review: Swale, ‘There’s No One Here’
(Self-released, LP, digital download) The third full-length album from Burlington’s Swale is ominously titled There’s No One Here. It’s blunt, bleak and definitive. The themes explored within are appropriately dark, but only one of those adjectives — definitive — fully and accurately describes the record itself. Swale’s members are Amanda Gustafson and Eric Olsen, who are…
Hobo’s Café Brings BBQ to Island Pond
Hobo’s Café, a restaurant that specializes in barbecue, opened on Mother’s Day at 18 Cross Street in Island Pond. Canaan native Rob McComiskey returned to the Northeast Kingdom after eight years in Steamboat Springs, Colo., to be pitmaster at the restaurant owned by his parents, Robert David and Heidi McComiskey. “We thought it would be…
Green Opportunity: State Seeks Applications for New Pot Dispensary
Sick of working for know-it-all bosses? Ready to hang out your own shingle? The Vermont Department of Public Safety might have the opportunity you’ve been looking for — and a rare one at that. Last Friday, the department announced that it has begun accepting applications for a certificate to open Vermont’s fifth medical marijuana dispensary.…
Farm-Raised Kids: 4-H Members Share What They’ve Learned About Animals — and Themselves
Founded more than a century ago, 4-H is the country’s largest youth development organization. Through its clubs, camps, competitions and clinics, the program reaches nearly six million kids ages 5 to 19 in the U.S. — including around 6,000 in Vermont, according to the state’s program director Sarah Kleinman. Attend a county fair or visit…
Why Are There Suddenly So Many Rabbits?
Vermont, it seems, is in the midst of a full-blown bunny boom. At least, that’s the unofficial assessment of several Seven Days readers and staff, who’ve noticed a dramatic uptick in the number of wild rabbits this year, especially in the Champlain Valley. We’ve received reports from Burlington, Charlotte, Colchester, Corinth, Essex, Grand Isle, Jericho,…
Fast, Cheap and Good? A Closer Look at the Vermont Yankee Deal
The announcement came on Election Day 2016, an ideal moment to bury some bad news. But this news was so good it beggared belief. NorthStar Group Services, a firm specializing in demolition and reclamation of industrial sites, had offered to buy the shuttered Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and conduct a thorough cleanup within 15…
Art Review: “Ready. Fire! Aim.” at Hall Art Foundation
Visitors headed to the exhibit called “Ready. Fire! Aim.” at the Hall Art Foundation in Reading should prepare themselves for a fascinating but unsettling experience. In only three rooms containing 39 works, the show progresses from conveying a sense of instability to embodying menace. One might say it travels further, in that regard, than its…
Letters to the Editor (7/5/17)
Coincidence? [Re “Not-So-Green Roof: BTV Airport’s Garage-Top Garden Has Deteriorated,” June 21]: The stuff in this picture appeared two weeks ago at the roof garden. Also, for the first time this summer, the bins of Seven Days at the airport were all empty. Dick Mills South Burlington Alternative Authors Your story about Dorothy Canfield Fisher…
Movie Review: ‘The House’ Doesn’t Always Win When It’s This Comedy Clunker
I feel a bit bad for Will Ferrell. In a week or so, the comedy legend will turn 50. He made Old School in 2003 and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy the following year. He started his seven-year “Saturday Night Live” tenure in 1995. Over nearly a quarter century, Ferrell has done about everything…
Monkton Pop-Up Dinners Serve Friends and Charities
By the time the duck course rolled around, I’d forgotten how many plates preceded it. But something about the poultry was memorable. It wasn’t so much the food — though the dish will be seared in my soul forever — but a comment from the chef. “Yeah,” Jesse Lauer said. “I’m proud of this.” He…
Artist Sarah Rosedahl’s Chickens Give a Cluck
Sarah Rosedahl calls herself a recovering engineer. “I don’t say I’m retired, because I’m not totally confident I won’t have to do that again,” she says. Still, Rosedahl has been on leave from her former career since she moved to Vermont five years ago. Since then, she has established an alternate occupation that could hardly…
Free Will Astrology (7/5/17)
CANCER (June 21-July 22): It’s prime time for you to break through any inhibitions you might have about accessing and expressing your passion. To help you in this righteous cause, I’ve assembled a batch of words you should be ready to use with frequency and sweet abandon. Consider writing at least part of this list…
Cop on the Tweet: Chief’s Social Media Posts Draw Criticism
Before last month, there was nothing out of the ordinary about Logan Huysman’s Facebook page: The 18-year-old South Burlington High School grad posted the usual sultry selfies, plus a baby shot, a fishing snap and lots of photos with friends. But that changed on June 22, when she used the social media platform to publicly…
Ask Athena: My Boyfriend Doesn’t Want Me to Masturbate During Sex
Dear Athena, My boyfriend doesn’t want me to masturbate while we are having sex because he says it makes him feel like he’s not doing a good job. But it feels good. How do I get him to be OK with it? Signed, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun With Themselves Dear Girls, Damn straight you…
Eat This Week, July 5 to 11, 2017: Dinner With the Flowers
Supper goes back to the field in Wolcott. As the sun sets on July’s first Friday evening, take a seat amid the flowers and vegetables in Sandiwood Farm’s greenhouse dining room. Sip a craft cocktail — the first one from Blackbird Bar Catering is on the house — and sup on fresh fare from Dave Dickson, David…
Album Review: Lewis Franco & the Missing Cats, ‘With Cousin Joe, Sonny Joe & Grampa Joe’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Precious few hepcatamounts swing like Lewis Franco. The central Vermont guitarist, songwriter and bandleader has almost single-handedly kept the jump and jive alive in the Green Mountains, wailing away with swagger and unimpeachable cool for nearly two decades. Backed by an ace band, the Missing Cats, Franco has recently released a…
Longtime Director of Rokeby Museum to Step Down
Last summer, Rokeby Museum director Jane Williamson received a crash course in the pitfalls of uniting past and present. After the police killings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling and the shooting of five Dallas police officers, she placed a Black Lives Matter sign at the Route 7 entrance of the museum. It disappeared. So…
Movie Review: Action Flick ‘Baby Driver’ Takes Viewers on a Tuneful Ride
What is it about music and moving vehicles? Anyone who’s ever toiled over the perfect road-trip playlist or fantasized about starring in a music video while driving to the supermarket should get a big kick out of Baby Driver. Making a (partial) genre transition from comedy to action, writer-director Edgar Wright winks at the silliness…
Employee or Contractor? Vermont Supreme Court Tackles the Gig Economy
Joe Meccia laid his first tiles in the shower of his family’s Jersey Shore apartment when he was 12. Today, the 64-year-old craftsman lives in Huntington, making a living remodeling homes and doing small jobs for other builders. Meccia, who considers himself a one-man business, is known for his intricate tile work — but, for…
The Cartoon Issue
More pictures! Fewer words! That’s the mantra for our annual Cartoon Issue. But in this fifth edition, the pictorial pages are contained in our features section and music, rather than filling the entire paper as in the past. Why? Let’s just say that having to conceive of and write news weeks in advance renders the…
Eco Bean’s Organic Creemee Is a Superfood
There’s no easy way to say this, but I’m pregnant. And, while I’m not usually into sweets, they say that motherhood — or impending motherhood — can change your tastes. If my delicate condition has amplified my appetite for cookies, pastries and other treats, I’m viewing it as a food-writer development opportunity. Why not take…
Foam Brewers Expands, Adds Cans and Kegs
Bring on the foam! In Burlington, Foam Brewers is growing. Best known for its complex IPAs and delicate saisons, the brewery has enjoyed fast and furious success since opening at 112 Lake Street in April 2016. In January, popular website RateBeer counted Foam among 2016’s 10 best new breweries in the world, and the waterfront…
Honey Road Brings Mediterranean to Burlington
If you crave eastern Mediterranean specialties such as baba ghanoush, braised lamb chops and cocktails spiked with rose water, get ready to visit Honey Road. The restaurant opens on Wednesday, July 5, at 156 Church Street in Burlington, the former home of Church & Main and, before that, Smokejacks. A partnership between Cara Chigazola-Tobin —…
