The Cartoon Issue 2018
Goat Yoga, a Gentleman Burglar, Being Charlotte Brontë, and ‘Magical’ Mushrooms; Give and Take: A Special Series on Vermont’s Nonprofits, Part 3
Obituary: Darlene Autery, 1966-2018
Bolton As we travel through our days here on Earth, we occasionally will meet a person who stands out and shines with a warmth and sense of caring that sets them apart from most others. Darlene Autery was such a person. Regrettably, Darlene passed away early on the morning of July 2 after a 10-month…
Seriously: Shrooms & News
In this episode, Bryan speaks with some magic mushrooms about art, nonprofits and nurses. CREDITS: Written, filmed and edited by: Bryan Parmelee Artwork/photography by: Sam Simon, Jarad Greene, Thomas James, Sara Tabin, Bryan Parmelee, Dreamstime Logo/art direction by: Don Eggert Audio by: Bryan Parmelee, Freesound Related Stories
Art Review: Crystal Wagner and Nicole Czapinski, BCA Center
As if this latest heat wave created the perfect conditions for new life to emerge, something very big has taken over Burlington’s BCA Center. Sprawling across the entire façade of the former firehouse, Crystal Wagner’s site-specific installation “Traverse” bursts with color and organic movement, like a Technicolor mycelium or a super sexy — dare I…
Displays of Stupidity: When Fireworks Spark Trouble
It’s the Fourth of July, which means Vermonters may want to shoot off a few rockets in the spirit of patriotism. But at least one recent display was no celebration. Peter McCusker wanted revenge, according to Vermont State Police, when he allegedly filled a metal barrel with firecrackers, pointed it at his neighbors’ bedroom window…
Soundbites: You’ve Got Hanks; Sticky Situation
Once or twice, Seven Days readers have informed me that my unapologetic disdain for major holidays is, well, off-putting. I try to get into the spirit — be it Christmas or New Year’s Eve or Mardi Gras — but most of the time, the hype surrounding a holiday annoys me and makes me want to retreat…
Is Anyone Watching Vermont’s 6,000-Plus Charitable Organizations?
Thomas Trunzo saw warning signs everywhere he looked. After joining the board of Emerge Family Advocates, a White River Junction nonprofit, he noticed that it was dominated by a few close associates of its executive director, Raymona Russell. For years, it appeared to Trunzo, they had given Russell carte blanche over its finances — and dismissed…
Mission Mashup Quiz: Connect the Vermont Nonprofit With Its Purpose
More about this series Seven Days’ “Give and Take” series analyzes Internal Revenue Service data submitted by the 6,044 federally recognized nonprofit organizations based in Vermont as of May. The paper looked most closely at the 1,873 organizations that submit detailed Form 990 tax filings in a digital format. Certain nonprofits — including churches, semi-governmental…
Professional Fundraisers Keep a Large Cut of the Cash They Bring In for Nonprofits
For seven years, Vermonters gave generously when the phone rang and they were asked to donate to the Professional Firefighters of Vermont. Between 2007 and 2014, paid solicitors collected nearly $1 million a year for the trade union’s charitable and professional work. The fundraisers promised potential contributors free concert tickets and said donations would buy…
Meklit Talks Music, Ecology and Collaborating With Andrew Bird
“It is possible that the human auditory system actually evolved to hear music, because it is so much more complex than it needs to be for language alone,” said Ethiopian American musician Meklit Hadero during her 2015 talk at a TED Fellows retreat. A senior TED Fellow, she was paraphrasing a theory from California neuroscientist…
The Champlain Valley Fair Is a Rite of Summer — and a Nonprofit
The cast of characters behind Chittenden County’s annual show of fried dough, monster trucks and creepy carnies is — you guessed it — a charitable organization. The Champlain Valley Fair is a rite of Vermont summer; last year, 120,000 people came through the gates over the course of the 10-day event in Essex Junction, according to executive director…
Movie Review: Kindness Is Quietly Revolutionary in the Documentary ‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’
Every few years, a bunch of pundits tries to convince us that irony is over and earnestness is in. They’re never even close to right — can you imagine social media without the wink emojis, actual and implied? — but irony-free pockets have existed in America. To experience one for ourselves, we need only revisit…
Does Vermont Have Too Many Nonprofits?
Cable television companies fund three Burlington-based nonprofits dedicated to providing public access on the airwaves. All three stations broadcast meetings, host shows and provide equipment so residents can create their own content. “We’re essentially in the same business,” said Lauren-Glenn Davitian, who in 1984 started the first of the three stations, Chittenden Community Television, which…
Straight Dope Calls It … 45 Years
If you’re one of the “teeming millions” who have enjoyed reading the Straight Dope weekly in Seven Days, we have sad news: The column in our June 27 issue was the last. We thought you might like to know why, along with a little history of the Straight Dope and its author, Cecil Adams. Longtime…
The Cartoon Issue — 2018
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this week’s edition of Seven Days is pretty much priceless. Now in its sixth year, our annual Cartoon Issue is a staff favorite — and not just because it gives our feature writers a week to slack off. In fact, in some ways, the exact opposite…
Album Review: Rick and the All-Star Ramblers, ‘Taryn Noelle Swings’
(Airflyte Records, CD) With a 55-year career as a performer, Burlington-based Rick Norcross has played under the spotlights from Stowe to London, hung with Paul Simon, popped up on the Travel Channel and even been the subject of a biography. On his band’s latest release, however, he puts vocalist Taryn Noelle’s name on the marquee.…
Grilling the Chef: Colleen Mahony at the Warren Store
Chef Colleen Mahony Position: Food manager at the Warren Store Location: Warren Age: 55 Store history: The building, originally a hotel, dates back to 1839 and has been a library, a post office and a funeral parlor. It became a store in 1930, and a deli and bakery were added in the early ’70s. The…
In a New Photo Book, Tara Wray Pictures Depression
Anyone who has experienced depression — either in intermittent doses or as a long-term major disorder — knows that sometimes you just can’t get out of bed. Even in the summer, when the sun is shining and loads of outdoor activities beckon, it can be difficult to shake bone-crushing blues. Tara Wray’s second photography book,…
Free Will Astrology (7/4/18)
CANCER (June 21-July 22): An open letter to Cancerians from Rob Brezsny’s mother, Felice: I want you to know that I played a big role in helping my Cancerian son become the empathetic, creative, thoughtful, crazy character he is today. I nurtured his idiosyncrasies. I made him feel secure and well loved. My care freed…
WTF: How Did Button Bay State Park Get Its Name?
Did you ever wonder how Button Bay got its name? A quick check of a Lake Champlain nautical chart reveals that the Ferrisburgh inlet looks nothing like a button, or even a buttonhole. And, though it’s shaped somewhat like a button hook, even that slight resemblance doesn’t explain the centuries-old moniker, especially because the area…
Quick Lit Book Review: ‘The Great Believers’ by Rebecca Makkai
How do you write about a historical chapter that many living people still remember with the searing power of loss? Part-time Vermonter Rebecca Makkai faced that challenge with her third novel, The Great Believers. Taking us back to the years when an AIDS diagnosis was a rapid death sentence, it chronicles the devastation of Chicago’s…
Dog Day: A Moment on the Campaign Trail
The governor of Vermont is the most powerful person in state government. But to become governor, candidates must suffer their share of indignity. Their days are not their own. They travel all over the state, attending just about any event that will have them. They get a lot of invitations that they don’t dare turn…
Eat This Week, July 4 to 10, 2018: Veil of Summer
In Burlington, the Intervale Center kicks off its Thursday evening summer soirées with eats from Farmers & Foragers, the Farmhouse Tap & Grill and American Flatbread Burlington Hearth, as well as a local bread tasting organized by Slow Food Vermont. To drink: seasonal suds from Zero Gravity Craft Brewery and ginger-tinged sippers by Halyard Brewing.…
Middlebury Animation Studio Short Addresses Family Separation
“What if the day that you grew up was the day your parents got taken away because they were undocumented?” That question comes from Daniel Houghton, an animation and video production instructor at Middlebury College and director of the school’s Animation Studio. It’s the heart of a newly released animated short that grapples with deportation…
Letters to the Editor (7/4/18)
Who’s Accountable? Thank you for the multi-issue look at private-public partnerships and Vermont’s nonprofits. My comments are specific to “Cheap Date?” [June 27] but also influenced by the “Give and Take” series as a whole. I was alarmed to learn that Vermont Information Technology Leaders has made so little progress toward its goal, over so…
Movie Review: Violence Reigns on the Border in the Brilliant ‘Sicario: Day of the Soldato’
Who’s out there right now consistently dashing off deeper, darker, more trope-twisting scripts than Taylor Sheridan? If the writer-director had ridden into town, dropped just one of his neo-Western wonders — Hell or High Water or Wind River — and then disappeared into the sunset, he’d have left a permanent mark on movie history. Luckily,…
Album Review: Dave Kleh, ‘Suite of Dreams’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Dave Kleh, a multi-instrumentalist home-studio auteur, has been quite prolific in recent years. His latest, Suite of Dreams, is something of a concept album, built around his educated pop-rock style. It is unpolished and occasionally inexplicable. It is also charming as hell. Kleh’s work occupies an interesting gray zone. While it’s…
Scarlett Letters: My Boyfriend Feels Differently About Abortion Than I Do
Dear Scarlett, I recently learned that my boyfriend feels differently about abortion than I do. He’s politically pro-choice but couldn’t stay in a relationship with someone who had an abortion because he believes life begins at conception. This is a huge red flag to me. I considered breaking up with him, but we ended up…
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner: Three Meals (and Two Drinks) in Ludlow
Things I expected to find when I headed down to Ludlow for a trio of meals and an overnight: good food, a hip new motel to sleep in and a scenic hike to balance out the eating. Then there were the things I was pleasantly surprised to find in the southern Vermont town at the…
Burlington’s North Beach Snack Shack Goes Tiki
In summer’s sweltering heat, nothing refreshes quite like a dip in the lake — except maybe an icy cocktail. As of Saturday, visitors to Burlington’s North Beach can get both: Amir Jusufagic and Sani Pasagic, co-owners of the Beach House concession, have begun dishing out boozy bevvies from a tiki-style bar. Last summer, the city…
