The Love & Marriage Issue 2016
The Allure of Kizomba; Getting Married in the Green Mountains; the Case for Childfree Weddings. Also: the New Hampshire Primary!
Slideshow: Winter Is a Drag Ball 2016, “Holiday”
“Holiday” was the theme at the 21st Winter Is a Drag Ball hosted by the gender-bending babes of the House of LeMay. This year’s Valentine’s Day eve party inspired festive costumes related to Christmas, Halloween, St. Paddy’s Day, Labor Day and Black Friday, among many others. Seven Days staff photographer Matthew Thorsen was there to capture the…
Obituary: Richard “Dick” Bove,
Beloved son, father, husband and iconic Burlington businessman was born May 30, 1937 – the son of Louis and Victoria (Falco) Bove. He received his education in the Burlington area at Converse School, Cathedral High School and Champlain College. Schools, however, were not the only place that Dick Bove learned… On December 7, 1941 when…
Obituary: Susan Osmond, Marshfield
Susan Ellen (Fitzgerald) Osmond, 68, passed away at her home in Marshfield, Vermont, surrounded by the family and friends she loved and the mountains and lilies she adored. Sue was an accomplished artist, who – after graduating from Boston College – started out as a registered nurse before becoming a textile designer and then prolific…
Free Will Astrology (2/10/16)
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “We all have the potential to fall in love a thousand times in our lifetime,” writes Chuck Klosterman. “It’s easy. But there are certain people you love who do something else; they define how you classify what love is supposed to feel like. You’ll meet maybe four or five of these…
![The Rorks’ Boudoir Businesses [SIV431]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/episode431-4-e1755139580211.webp?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
The Rorks’ Boudoir Businesses [SIV431]
2/3/16: This week is the Love & Marriage issue of Seven Days. Athena and Michael Rork have been married for almost a decade and have two young children. Their businesses, Athena’s Intimates and Zinfandel Photography are similarly connected. Michael shoots boudoir photographs for local ladies getting in touch with their sensuality and Athena helps them…
UVM Is Paying a Philly Firm $1.58 Million to ‘Rebrand’
They’ve helped sell Nikes and Ferraris. Now professional marketers at the Philadelphia-based agency 160over90 are rebranding the University of Vermont to increase the school’s applicant base and attract more students with tip-top academic credentials. UVM leaders say the campaign is a necessary investment to keep the institution competitive, but not everyone on campus is convinced.…
Artists Design Postcards Touting Love, Not Guns
Sometimes people don’t want just to give money to a cause; they want to organize, points out Emily Blistein. “I found myself saying one too many times: ‘There just must be something I could do,'” she says. She’s talking about gun violence in the U.S. It’s not a topic you’d expect to hear about in…
A New Prescription for Treating Health Care — the ‘All-Payer’ System
Five years ago, Gov. Peter Shumlin was confident he had the cure for what ails Vermont’s health care system: a government-financed program commonly referred to as single-payer. At the celebratory signing of a law to put the state on that path, Shumlin promised it would be a sustainable and more efficient approach. But in December…
Bern, Baby, Bern: A Sanders Blowout in New Hampshire
Sanderistas were still filing into the Concord High School gymnasium Tuesday night when New Hampshire’s polls closed and the networks called it, instantaneously, for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Just like that, a man who’d toiled in obscurity through decades in public life had done the impossible: defeated Hillary Clinton in a state that, until that…
Annette Smith Is a Lightning Rod in the Renewable-Energy Debate
When Annette Smith got notice from the Vermont Attorney General’s Office that she was under investigation for practicing law without a license, she filed a public records request asking for all related documents. Almost 600 pages later, the 59-year-old executive director of Vermonters for a Clean Environment posted everything she received and alerted the media.…
Momzilla and Me
Originally published on February 8, 2012. We didn’t have an appointment when we showed up at the Round Barn Farm in Waitsfield. Daniel and I had just gotten engaged, and my parents were in town, so, on a whim, we decided to look at potential wedding venues. After checking in with some staff members, we…
Dancing Kizomba and the Rules of Attraction
A stranger walks toward me in the dimly lit club. Insistent bass pulses from the speakers, the lyrics in a foreign language. Without a word, he places one hand on the small of my back and takes my right hand in his. I smell his cologne and, beneath it, the faint aroma of sweat. My…
Opinion: Analyzing the Republican ‘Establishment’
I’m filing this column too early to know the results of the New Hampshire primary. But coming out of Iowa, the verdict is that Marco Rubio’s strong third-place finish was a victory — and a royal relief — for the Republican establishment. Having watched helplessly as a fright-wigged reality show host dragged their party’s “brand”…
Love & Marriage Issue
Cupid’s arrows may not strike for everyone, but Valentine’s week gets us talking — and writing — about matters of the heart. In this issue we consider special socks said to heat up female orgasms and sex ed. We learn about Kizomba dancing and the rules of attraction. Three Vermont couples who met in foreign…
An All-Local Valentine’s Day Mixtape
You can have your roses and chocolates, and your cheesy Hallmark cards, too. When it comes to expressing affection at Valentine’s Day, the best way, in our humble opinion, is through that time-honored tradition, the mixtape. There is just no better way to say “I love you” than with a carefully curated selection of songs…
Back to the Old School
This bright-eyed young woman was one of the fortunate ones, secure in the new global economy. For all the world, the young woman sitting in the back of my cab looked like a Middlebury College undergrad. But why, I pondered as we drove south on Route 7, is she staying at the Middlebury Inn instead…
Grand Opening for Cornerstone Burger in Northfield
Cornerstone Burger will hold its grand opening on Friday, February 12, at 4 p.m. The third restaurant of Keith Paxman and Rich McSheffrey (the team behind Barre’s Cornerstone Pub & Kitchen), it’s located at 21 East Street in Northfield. At the new joint, Paxman and McSheffrey will serve up more than 10 varieties of burgers.…
International Relations: Three Love Stories
For our annual Love & Marriage Issue, we decided to look for unusual love stories. That is, we wanted to find couples whose meetings or relationships were a little out of the ordinary, for whatever reason. And we thought it would be easy. It wasn’t. Turns out, most of the people we already knew had…
Global Roots Film Fest Focuses on Middle East
The Global Roots Film Festival, a 4-year-old project of the Vermont International Film Foundation, is shifting gears. Instead of screening one movie monthly for six months, as it has done since 2013, the fest will pack seven films into one weekend — Thursday through Saturday, February 11 to 13, at Burlington City Hall Auditorium. And…
Planning a Vermont Fairytale Wedding
The love-is-blind thing worked out well for Jackie Watson. Seventeen years ago, the Hyde Park resident went on a blind date with a fellow employee at Smugglers’ Notch, and the two were smitten. First came love, then marriage. In fact, marriage has come again and again and again. As president of the Vermont Association of…
My Boyfriend Freaked Out When I Touched His ‘G-Spot’
Dear Athena, I recently was reading about the male G-spot. I was really excited to know that men have one, so I wanted to make my boyfriend feel good by touching it. But the other night I did, and he freaked out. I started to make a move over there, and he was not into…
Carton, Total Modern Comfort
(What Doth Life, digital download, vinyl) The first time I saw Carton I couldn’t believe their name hadn’t been taken. A few minutes later I couldn’t believe they had been under the radar for so long, hiding out near Windsor, where I assumed they were hailed as kings. Their third release, Total Modern Comfort, is…
Gatherwool, a New Theater Company for White River Junction
The Briggs Opera House lost its resident thespians when Northern Stage moved into its new facility just around the corner, the Barrette Center for the Arts, last October. But the Briggs stage is set for action once again. This weekend, White River Junction, population 2,286, will welcome its second professional performing group: the Gatherwool Theatre…
Def Ears, What It Is
(Self-released, digital download) If you’ve missed out on local psych-soul outfit Def Ears, you’re in luck. The band’s Burlington tenure recently came to a close when front man Jonathan Nelson succumbed to the siren song of Brooklyn, which has claimed so many promising local acts. But before he fled the Queen City, the quartet released…
Letters to the Editor (2/10/16)
There Oughta Be a Law Although Vermont’s top investigators worked for nine months, they found no Vermont rule that Attorney General Bill Sorrell violated. Paul Heintz described it well in [Fair Game, “Whitewash,” January 27]: “Wait a second. If handing a politician $10,000 while asking him to take official action on your behalf isn’t a…
Vermont’s Red Kite Candy Is Soaring
Elaine McCabe hangs my coat on a chair behind the marble countertop in her new Bradford store. “This is what happens when you finish construction one day, then open the next,” she says, nodding to an area below the counter cluttered with tools and office supplies. From the front, the counter looks clean and professional.…
Where to Invade Next
I’ve got a great idea for the Bernie Sanders campaign. It should create a position for Michael Moore — maybe Director of Yes We Can — and bring him on the trail. Whenever Hillary suggests some part of Bernie’s platform is pie in the sky, the Oscar winner can stand up and name a country…
Art Review: ‘From the Center for Cartoon Studies Archive,’ SPA
The Center for Cartoon Studies is an unlikely haven in White River Junction for people dedicated to creating unique worlds using a deceptively simple form: comics. A current exhibit at Studio Place Arts in Barre invites visitors to get acquainted with the school and celebrate its 10th anniversary. It’s titled simply “From the Center for…
Weddings With No Kids Allowed
Weddings used to be fun. All through my twenties, I tore open invitations, visions of open bars and romantic locales dancing in my head. Sweet, I’d think, I guess we’re going to Scotland this summer! Then, almost two years ago, I had a baby. Since then, every time my husband and I receive an envelope…
Soundbites: My Rocking Valentine
Rock and Roll Date Night! I know, I know. Whether you’re happily coupled, happily single or unhappily either, Valentine’s Day pretty much sucks. But maybe it doesn’t have to. Hear me out. Once you get past the artificial, culturally mandated expectations — the gifts, the flowers, the cheesy cards — what does Valentine’s Day really…
Hail, Caesar!
Hollywood is the easiest target for filmmakers to satirize — not just because they know it firsthand, but because so much about the movie biz is inherently silly. Egotistical stars act like they’re undergoing the trials of Hercules when they have a tough shoot. Moneymen pontificate about “artistic vision.” Notorious bed hoppers play virgins, and…
Quiz: What’s Your Vermont Wedding Style?
So you’re considering a Vermont “destination wedding,” but you’re not sure how Vermont-y you’d like it to be. Perhaps you’re worried that the mother of the bride will plotz if her guests have to navigate cow patties in high heels and wing tips. Or you’re unsure whether Uncle Ed’s power wheelchair can negotiate steep, uneven…
Socks With a Dual Mission: Orgasm and Sex Ed
Andrea Grayson wants to start an intimacy revolution — with socks. Last month, the Burlington-based educator and founder of marketing and video production company the Grayson Group launched her newest endeavor: O’Sox. The specially designed socks “offer a light-hearted, non-threatening way to increase the intimacy in your sensual encounters,” according to the product website. Why…
For Sale: New England Culinary Institute
Updated February 11 with additional background information from a prior Seven Days story. Foodies in the market to buy a school will be keen to learn that the New England Culinary Institute is for sale. How much? NECI media contact Philip Stevens declined to say, but he noted that the price is negotiable. The announcement,…
More Beer! River Roost and St. J Breweries Open
Last Wednesday, February 3, River Roost Brewery opened in White River Junction. Located across the parking lot from Big Fatty’s BBQ and Elixir restaurant, it’s the brainchild of former Magic Hat Brewing brewer Mark Babson. The new brewery opened with growlers and samples of three beers on tap. They included a golden oat ale called…
Seven Things to Do on Valentine’s Day — Together or Alone
Ah, Valentine’s Day, that time of year when you can order a heart-shaped pizza or eat copious amounts of chocolate. If you’re single, you might do both and then cry yourself to sleep. Sure, the manufactured “holiday” feels judge-y to the unattached, but the pressure on couples to demonstrate their love with candy, flowers or…
