The Winter Preview 2020
How Vermont Ski Areas Are Preparing for an Uncertain Season; As Temps Fall, Swimmers Raise Their Spirits With Morning Laps in Lake Champlain; Vermont Restaurants Brace for a Pandemic Winter
Obituary: Gene Rich Perry, 1928-2020
Shelburne woman “maintained a strong and frequent connection to her family”
Obituary: Mary Elizabeth, 1955-2020
Passionate educator had friends around the world, from Delhi to Sydney
Obituary: Steven C. Lackey, 1941-2020
Early computer programmer loved grilling, golfing and being a grandfather
Obituary: Anila Lawrence Blais, 1985-2020
Colchester woman raised young daughter while working as an early educator
The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, November 12 to 18
1. Selective Memory Twenty thousand Chinese laborers worked long hours for little pay to complete the transcontinental railroad. Completing the Picture, a 10-minute opera by composer Michael Ching, examines their story and explores questions of immigration, exclusion and who gets their rightful place in history. Opera Company of Middlebury presents a video adaptation of the…
United They Stand: A Vermont Group Tries to Bridge the Political Divide
It’s been quite a week. America elected a new president, but the current one is lobbing baseless accusations of fraud in the voting process. Can’t we all just get along? That’s the goal of Braver Angels, a national group with a Franklin County chapter that’s committed to bridging the divide between red and blue, conservative…
Post-It Votes: Mail-In Voting in Vermont May Be Here to Stay
Republican leaders who earlier questioned Vermont’s pandemic-driven mail-in balloting experiment expressed newfound comfort this week with a system that some say helped them gain ground. The predicted blue wave failed to wash ashore in Vermont on November 3; instead, GOP candidates picked up a seat in the Senate and three in the House, including the…
I Dated My Dad’s Cousin
Dear Reverend, I had a relationship with my father’s first cousin. We had sex often. I broke up with him, but he still insists we should be together. He even wants us to get married without our families knowing. Am I doing the right thing? Split Stress (female, 21) Dear Split Stress, Oddly enough, I…
As Temps Fall, Swimmers Raise Their Spirits With Morning Laps in Lake Champlain
It was 42 degrees outside as I left my house at 6:45 a.m. and drove to Charlotte Beach for my first cold-weather swim. It was still dark — and not the kind of serene, salmon-streaked-twilight-sky dark that encourages you to relax on the porch with a cup of coffee and take in the sunrise. This…
Famous Letter Writer, ‘Warhola’
(Big Deep Records, digital) Much of Andy Warhol’s art revolved around explicating images that were so common people took them for granted. Warhol and his pop-art ilk saw something worth exploring in the pages of catalogs and comic books, on billboards and flyers. By transforming the ads into high art, they at once celebrated, magnified…
UVM Health Network Cyberattack Interrupts Crucial Treatment for Some Patients
Kat Mooney had been warned against reading the automated email containing her husband’s latest scan results before his oncologist looked them over. But how could she not? It had been a year since her husband was diagnosed with bone cancer — and after a major surgery, a lifetime dose of chemotherapy and one clean scan, they…
Free Will Astrology (11/11/20)
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me,” wrote Scorpio poet Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) in a letter to a friend. That sounds like a lot of energy to manage! And he didn’t always do a good job at it — although he did at times tap into his…
Flutist Karen Kevra Launches Muse Mentors Podcast
One of the first things flutist Karen Kevra will tell you about herself is that she had an incredible mentor: Louis Moyse, the world-renowned flute player and son of Marcel Moyse, one of the cofounders of Marlboro Music. Inspired by Moyse, Kevra founded the Montpelier chamber music series Capital City Concerts. When its 20th season…
Some Hollow, ‘Coffee, Water, Beer’
(self-released, CD, digital) About three years ago, I tore Some Hollow a new one. The Burlington indie pop-rock band’s debut EP, Green, hit me like a stray fart, and I put them on blast. As I’m the one ripping apart musicians just trying to make music, I’ll go ahead and take the hit as the…
Poem: ‘Still Looking for Home’
I was a simple soldier called to fight in an ordinary war My buddy Dana went to Toronto but I answered the call I didn’t know then that you didn’t have to have your leg blowed off to come back wounded Son of a bitch, what happened over there? I still don’t know and I’m…
Alpine Shop Prepares for a New Kind of Ski Season
In early spring, soon after Alpine Shop closed as part of Vermont’s pandemic lockdown, owner Andy Kingston made plans to cancel a backup order of bicycles he figured no one would want. Then, during a Zoom meeting, he heard fellow retailers of ski and outdoor sports equipment mention a surge in demand for bikes. Families…
Refugees Tangle With Ghosts in Their New Home in the Chilling ‘His House’
Our streaming entertainment options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. This week, the warm weather had me turning my mental clock back to the lead-up to Halloween. It seemed like a good time to watch His House, Netflix’s new socially conscious horror flick from debut director Remi Weekes. The deal Married…
WTF: What’s the History Behind the Log Cabin Motel in Stockbridge?
For more than 30 years, James “Buzz” Surwilo of Montpelier has driven past the Log Cabin Motel, on Route 107 in Stockbridge. The abandoned lodgings sit across the highway from the White River, in the sparsely populated town on the eastern slopes of the Green Mountains. Based on its location, Surwilo assumed that the motel…
From the Publisher: Talking Cure
Brian Story could have been talking about any Vermont town when he described the politics of Johnson to Seven Days reporter Chelsea Edgar: “There are a lot of progressives here, but there are also a lot of conservative folks, a lot of farmers who have been here for generations. It’s a diverse place, but there…
Fault Lines Over Trump, Racism and Justice Divide the Town of Johnson
Every Tuesday afternoon since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, a group of protesters has kept vigil on the sidewalk in front of the Johnson village green. On October 20, the second-to-last Tuesday before Election Day, they stood on Main Street for the 204th consecutive week, holding handmade signs that read “Save Our Democracy:…
Seven Events to Put On Your Winter Calendar
Regardless of the season, Vermonters tend to keep busy. Given all of the activities and performances the state has to offer, it’s easy to see why. Even during a worldwide pandemic, event organizers have found creative ways to stimulate hearts, minds and bodies. We’ve compiled a list of seven events or event series that Vermonters…
Bianca Stone Reflects On Her Grandmother’s Legacy and Editing ‘The Essential Ruth Stone’
A conversation with poet Bianca Stone about all of the irons she has in the fire could easily fill an entire newspaper. She’s illustrating a children’s book of Gertrude Stein poems, running a community workshop, starting a letterpress imprint and the online magazine Iterant, hosting a podcast, publishing her next collection with Tin House and,…
Cold Comfort: Welcome to the Winter Preview
Don’t let the recent blast of summer-like weather fool you: While Old Man Winter might be running a little late, he’s on his way. And it’s a good bet he’ll be extra cranky when he gets here. Even in the best of years, winter is a tough time for a lot of folks. As you…
How Vermont Ski Areas Are Preparing for an Uncertain Winter
The Single Chair lift at Mad River Glen has whisked skiers, one at a time, to the top of the mountain for nearly three quarters of a century. Since 1948, as the rest of America changed, generations of downhillers have made the long, solitary ascent, enjoying an escape within the escape that is a day…
‘A Clean Slate’: Vermont Legislature Seeks New Leaders After String of Losses
Days after his resounding reelection win last week, Gov. Phil Scott reflected on the fate of three other state leaders who took office alongside him in January 2017: Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) and House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero), all of whom lost their own races this year.…
Ramble Maps Turns Geographic Data Into Wall Art
Most skiers recognize the telltale signs of a traditional ski mountain map: minuscule trees and gently shaded slopes rendered in pale colors like a vintage travel poster. Such maps and posters are go-to décor for powder hounds. When Mad River Glen launched a Kickstarter campaign by offering prints of its new map — hand-painted by…
Controversy Aside, Burlington’s City Hall Park Is Well Designed and Welcoming
When landscape architect Jeff Hodgson lived in downtown Burlington, he used to walk through City Hall Park after the bars had closed for the night and see the central fountain — a granite horse trough dating back to 1905 — being put to several unintended uses. He knew that the water was only filtered, not…
Letters to the Editor (11/11/20)
Win-Win [Re “Scott’s Victory Lap,” November 4]: Thanks to readers of this newspaper for electing me as one of your state senators. If I did not earn your support in this election, I hope to do so in the years to come. We are facing many new challenges in the coming legislative session. My plan…
Soundbites: Can We Really Preview Winter Music While in a Pandemic?
Last week’s column started with a short section called “Clearing My Throat.” I briefly expressed the weirdness of writing a column on a Monday that would hit newsstands on a Wednesday, with the biggest presidential election of my life sandwiched between them. Today, a week later, I feel as though I’ve expectorated the loogie that’s…
Weathering the Storm: Vermont Restaurants Brace for a Pandemic Winter
The arms of a new ventilation system crawl across the ceiling at Stone Corral Brewery in Richmond, reaching over the bespoke plexiglass-and-wood dividers between tables. “It looks like the Demogorgon from ‘Stranger Things,'” server Francesca Genello said. “I think it makes people feel safer, though. It makes me feel safer.” In a world that feels…
