The Sex Issue 2015
The Sex Issue: College Confidential on Yik Yak, Can Condoms Save the World?; Driving Deep at Planet Rock
Obituary: Mildred Doris (Bissette) Rabidoux, 1925-2015, Essex Junction, Vt
Mildred Doris (Bissette) Rabidoux, 90, passed away at Birchwood Terrace on February 25, 2015. Millie was born to Joseph and Irene (Devino) Bissette in Essex Junction on January 25, 1925. She married the love of her life Norman “Roger” Rabidoux in St. Stephen’s Church in Winooski on January 24, 1948. Together they made their home…
Obituary: Theresa A Champine, 1929-2015, South Burlington, Vt
Theresa A Champine, 85, a longtime resident of South Burlington died peacefully, surrounded by her family, on February 27, 2015 at the University of Vermont Medical Center. She was born in Winooski, VT on March 8. 1929 to the late Maxine and Flora Couillard . Theresa married the love of her life Gordon Champine on…
Obituary: Raymond Joseph Clavelle Sr., 1923-2015, Winooski
Raymond Joseph (“Mooney” or “Moon”) Clavelle Sr., 91, of Winooski, Vermont, died on February 25, 2015, at Birchwood Nursing Home, where he had lived for the last two years. Mooney was born in Winooski on October 14, 1923, to Rena (Provost) and Alfred Clavelle. Mooney attended St. Louis Convent and Winooski High School (1942), where…
Sign of the Times: Deaf Vermonters Seek Better Options for Services and Schooling
Neila Eaddy picked up a pen and started writing a letter to her pen pal, homework she needed to complete during school vacation. Hunched over, the 10-year-old quickly filled a page with pale-pink script. Her deep concentration broke only when her mother tapped on the dining table to get her attention. The two communicate using…
The Booming Business of Writing Erotic Romance
A year or so ago, Rebecca Croteau “weirded out some friends,” she recalls, when she brought her laptop to a Super Bowl party. “I was in the corner, writing away. They were like, ‘What are you writing?’ And I was like, ‘porn.’ ‘No, really, what are you writing?’ And I was like, ‘porn.’ And they…
Hot Tub Time Machine 2
In addition to its R rating (that’s for “raunchy,” and it’s not kidding), this follow-up to the agreeably goofball 2010 time-travel hit should come with a surgeon general’s warning. Think about it: Paramount Pictures released this movie on the Oscars weekend. For months, moviegoers have intellectually acclimated themselves to the noblest achievements of the past…
A Condom Campaign Promotes Population Awareness
On Halloween eve in downtown Barre, as merchants handed out candy to costumed children, Kat Collins gave away condoms to adults. She was dressed up as “kind of a glamorous witch,” she tells me in a recent interview. And her treat carried a bit of a trick: a message from the Center for Biological Diversity…
Two Days, One Night
When we praise the virtues of “community,” most of us mean our extended family, friends and neighbors. But how much would we do for the coworker in the next cubicle, or across the factory floor? In a dog-eat-dog economy, how much do we expect that coworker to sacrifice for us in return? That provocative question…
Burlington Gets New Asian Deli; Stowe Says Adios to Mexican
Dharshan Namaste Asian Deli has been a hit in Winooski since 2013. Now married owners Thanh Pham and Bishnu Gurung hope to repeat that success with a second location at 1353 North Avenue in Burlington — right next door to their third Namaste Asian Market, which they opened at 1355 last summer. According to Pham,…
Seven Questions for Brattleboro’s Chris Weisman
Chris Weisman’s latest record, The Holy Life That’s Coming, moves gently, much like the changing seasons that were its inspiration. Winter in particular was the Brattleboro-based songwriter’s great muse, and his new album is like a window on a frozen world. But it’s an opaque window, covered with icy tendrils of frost that obscure a…
Frigid Temps Can’t Keep Breakfast Fans at Home
If you live in Vermont, you’ll probably concede that sometimes the weather wins. When even the walk from house to car freezes your face, it’s easier to stay inside. But for many Vermonters, single-digit temperatures and Ginsu-sharp winds are no match for an even more elemental force: a hearty, North Country appetite. Before the sun…
News Quirks (2/25/15)
Curses, Foiled Again Police thought Luis Moreno Jr., 26, was driving solo in a carpool lane in Fort Lee. N.J., but when they stopped him, he showed he was legal by pointing out two men in the back of the SUV. The men said they were kidnap victims. Moreno tried to flee, but rush-hour traffic…
Evelyne’s on Center Opens in St. Albans
Evelyn Martin admits she isn’t one for self-promotion. The owner of brand-new St. Albans bakery Evelyne’s on Center (the spelling discrepancy is intentional) seems almost afraid to toot her own horn. She tells a reporter she’s just a self-taught Vermont farm girl — then lets slip that she was Sneakers bistro’s original breakfast baker and…
Four for Mayor: Queen City Candidates Vie for the Helm
One of the four candidates for Burlington mayor has a well-oiled campaign organization, complete with phone banks and deep-pocketed donors. Another keeps a lonely vigil at Dunkin’ Donuts each morning, hoping to encounter voters. A third has been working the crowds at diners and farmers markets, while a fourth recently turned to standup comedy to…
Philamena’s Brings Italian Breakfast and Lunch to Montpelier
Last month, Montpelier got a new daytime hot spot — Philamena’s. The owner is Kismet alum Todd Whitehead, who also helped open the Bethel Village Sandwich Shop and spent time at Waterbury’s Park Row Café. Since he opened his Elm Street Italian outpost in mid-January, the place has been hopping. Locals have flooded into Philamena’s for…
Prison Brake: Bill Proposes to Reduce Vermont Inmate Population
As an artist with no legal background, State Rep. Mollie Burke (P/D-Brattleboro) seems an unlikely candidate to spearhead criminal-justice reform. But after attending a conference that addressed female inmates and their struggles, she grew concerned about the number of prisoners incarcerated in Vermont. Burke is now the lead sponsor of one of the most ambitious…
Our Holy Orgasmic Cosmic Rays, Phase Two
(Self-released, digital download) In my Seven Days review of Phase One, the 2014 debut from Plattsburgh’s Our Holy Orgasmic Cosmic Rays, I suggested there might be little cause for anxiety over what the anti-supergroup had in store for their next record, then presumed to be Phase Two. That was because, while patently fucked up, the…
Heavy Plains, Heavy Plains
(Wiener Records, cassette, digital download) These days, a reliable single-genre rock record can be hard to find. A music fiend could pick up what is advertised as an alternative-rock album and find a curious mix of thrashing punk and soft folk melodies, with a dash of electronic synth thrown in for good measure. It’s enough…
Spying on Students’ Mating Rituals via Yik Yak
For many full-time students living away from home, the college years are a time of extremes and experimentation. Or so it appears to observers on Yik Yak, a mobile messaging app that’s captivated college students nationwide in the past year. The free smartphone app, launched in 2013, lets people post short messages called “yaks.” Anyone…
Soundbites: Why Care About Net Neutrality?
There’s a fight a-brewin’ in our hallowed halls of democracy that could have far-reaching, culture-altering implications for, well, pretty much anyone who uses the internet. And there’s a better than decent chance you don’t really know much about it. You may have heard the term “net neutrality” bandied about in the news. Or maybe you’ve…
Theater Review: Much Ado About Nothing, UVM Theatre
From the title alone, Shakespeare hints that Much Ado About Nothing will celebrate — and ridicule — the fanciful language of lovers and courtiers. The characters strive to make each witty exchange appear offhand, even as they’re straining for effect. With that mild level of fraud as the base, Shakespeare goes on to build a…
WTF: VTrans Answers From the Road, Part 1
For our last WTF of 2014, back in December, we noted that many of the questions we receive from readers involve roads, and we included a sampling of the inquiries we hadn’t yet looked into. Turns out, peeps over at the Vermont Agency of Transportation had a good time addressing those questions — when they…
SEABA and Speeder & Earl’s Aim to Create a Coffee-and-Art Lounge
Want a watercolor with that latte? The South End Arts and Business Association has kicked off a fundraising campaign with Speeder & Earl’s Coffee Roastery for a new space that blends caffeinated beverages and creative juices, all in one chill setting. The Pine Street neighbors plan to take down the wall between the coffee shop…
I’m Into a Woman Who Doesn’t Have Time for Me
Dear Athena, I am interested in a woman who’s so focused on work and making money for a new house that she can’t commit to any time with me. She tells mutual friends that she is into me but doesn’t show me anything. When I say that I am attracted to her, she says “ditto”…
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U.S. Winter Swimming Championship [SIV389]
2/21/15: The first ever United States Winter Swimming Championships were held Saturday in Newport on frozen Lake Memphremagog. A 25-meter two lane lap pool was cut out of the ice to accommodate competitors from around the world. Winter swimming has been popular abroad for decades and has only recently caught on in the States. This…
Letters to the Editor (2/25/15)
Time for Tax I’m writing in response to “That’s Budget: Seven Takeaways From Shumlin’s New Agenda” last month [January 21], specifically about the carbon-pollution tax. As a 10-year Burlington resident and professional weatherization installer, I always drive around the county for work. Yet, while I pump my gas and continue my commute, I do wonder:…
Karin Gottshall’s New Poetry Collection
Middlebury poet Karin Gottshall is the first to admit that her poems aren’t heavy on cinematic action. “I lack for trains / and painters, whiskey and Sunday mornings. / Horseshoes. Hurricane lamps. Cast-iron pots, / revolvers, and gentle deft hands winding my scarf,” she writes. Winner of the Journal Wheeler Prize from Ohio State University…
Art Review: ‘Self-Portraiture in Contemporary Art’
A current exhibit at Dartmouth College’s Hood Museum of Art, titled “About Face: Self-Portraiture in Contemporary Art,” isn’t just a collection of artists’ self-portraits. It’s also a portrait of the students who participated in the show’s curatorial process. When Hood director Michael Taylor began planning “About Face,” he invited students to work with him —…
Comp Dime: When Pay Spikes in Montpelier, Who’s Watching?
When you work your way up to become leader of the Vermont House or Senate, you don’t end up with a lot of perks. All you get is a fancy title, a tiny office and, traditionally, a single staff member who is paid a modest salary. Those last items are changing, particularly under Senate President…
Opinion: Revenge Porn: Is Shaming Criminal?
A woman sends a naked selfie to a man. She poses for him or they make a sex tape. It’s fun, it’s hot; it feels transgressive but also safe, because they trust each other to keep it confidential. Until she leaves him. Then he’s pissed. Really pissed. Pissed enough to send that selfie to a…
Free Will Astrology (2/25/15)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Lately your life reminds me of the action film Speed, starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. In that story, a criminal has rigged a passenger bus to explode if its speed drops below 50 miles per hour. In your story, you seem to be acting as if you, too, will self-destruct…
Can Guys Talking to Guys About Rape Make a Difference?
A steady stream of male athletes files into the third-floor meeting room of the Dion Family Student Center at Saint Michael’s College. They greet each other with the usual bro hellos of college teammates. But the fist bumps, shoulder slaps and man hugs can’t hide the fact that none of these guys looks psyched to…
Obituary: James Edwin Baker II, 1928-2015, Winooski, Vt.
James graduated from Mooers (N.Y.) Central High School in 1946. He was a Rutland Railroad Maintenance-of-Way employee, where he worked several summers and school vacations. He achieved 100 percent in a post-high school New York Board of Regents Mathematics Examination. As a U.S. Army volunteer, fall of 1946, James completed the 2000-hour Radar Electronics School,…
Obituary: Patrick Wilfred “Happy” Prue
Patrick Wilfred “Happy” Prue, age 61 years, a resident of the Dunton Road for 30 years died Saturday afternoon, February 21, 2015, at the Vermont Respite House in Williston with loving family at his side. Born in Norwood, Massachusetts on, August 8, 1953, he was the son of the late Norman and Phyllis (Niles) Prue.…
