The Winter Reading Issue 2015
Fiction by Castle Freeman Jr. and Erik Esckilsen; a South Pole New Year’s Eve by Leath Tonino; Brian Staveley’s Epic Fantasy
Obituary: Willem Ido Miel deGroot, 1928-2015, So. Burlington
Inventor, builder, surveyor, draftsman, architect, loving husband, father, grandfather, and loyal friend to many, passed away on Saturday, December 26th, 2015. Born in Malang, Indonesia, son of 3rd generation Dutch colonists, incarcerated by the Japanese in WWII from age 13 – 17 along with his mother, father and two siblings in separate prison camps, “Wim”…
Art Review: ‘Bookbody,’ New City Galerie
In her essay “Almandal Grimoire: The Book as Magical Object,” Genese Grill writes, “A body, more than any other physical object except maybe a book, is a powerful portal to the spirit.” The treatise by the local artist, writer and educator is hand-bound with a letterpress cover. It is tucked among other handmade books on…
Soundbites: 2015 Music News in Review
2015 was a fascinating year in the local music scene. January through December was marked by major milestones, major controversies (both real and imagined) and, as always, killer music. So before we turn the page to 2016, let’s take a moment and look back on some of the stories that rocked us in the year…
We Were Reunited in Love, and Then He Ditched Me
Dear Athena, I have known this guy for most of my life. We were friends as children, and as teenagers we loved each other. But then my family moved away and we drifted apart. Recently he showed back up in my life. He loves my family, and they love him. A couple of weeks ago,…
![Rough Francis at Burlington Record Plant [SIV425]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/episode425.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Rough Francis at Burlington Record Plant [SIV425]
12/3/15: Rough Francis plus Waylon Speed plus fresh vinyl. Drop the needle, this record is hot. Justin Crowther started pressing vinyl at Burlington Record Plant this summer – one of the few spots in the country still doing this. Local punk band Rough Francis stopped by on a Thursday night to watch an orange repressing…
Fantasy Writer Brian Staveley’s Epic Success
Tales of dragons and wizard duels weren’t always cool. While fantasy fiction has long had its niche audience, Vermont author Brian Staveley says that right now is “an exciting time to be writing in the genre.” It’s easy to attribute that excitement to the recent success of YA series such as Throne of Glass and…
Joy
The third time is not exactly the charm when it comes to writer-director David O. Russell’s latest collaboration with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. It’s by far the least compelling and cohesive of the three films the group has made. Lawrence plays Joy Mangano, the woman who invented the Miracle Mop and…
Kidding Around at Ollie’s Other Place
Until recently, if you were looking to buy kids’ toys in Middlebury, there were a few options, each with its own niche. T.J.Maxx and Ben Franklin Store for cheap plastic products. Clementine for precious, pretty baby things. And Maple Landmark Woodcraft for wooden classics. Now there’s a place to go for a wide range of…
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
It’s difficult to be objective about a movie that was painstakingly engineered to evoke one of the most powerful experiences of your childhood. I can’t see Star Wars: The Force Awakens from the perspective of someone who has never thrilled to the first notes of the John Williams score. Nor can I see it from…
Books: Sydney Lea’s Short Takes on a Long Life
“You get no credit for living” is an adage you may have heard bandied about in creative nonfiction classes. The tidy epigram encapsulates the lesson that writing some sentences about one’s life is not sufficient to produce literature. The full quote — attributed to British writer and critic V.S. Pritchett — states: “It’s all in…
A Former Vermont Writer Finds Himself on the Web
Originally published January 29, 1997 About a year ago, I was hired away from my job at a national magazine to become the book editor for a startup online journal called Salon. I was, at the time, a fairly committed techno-peasant. Content with my 10-year-old word processor and skeptical about the joys of email, I…
Essay: New Year’s Eve at the Bottom of the World
New Year’s Eve is always a bright and shining celebration, whether we’re talking neon in New York’s Times Square or a lap on cross-country skis beneath Antarctica’s midnight sun. Actually, at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station — a collection of dormitories, laboratories, Quonset hut garages and massive telescopes hunched against drifting snow — the holiday…
Jingle Jams: An All-Vermont Holiday Mixtape
As the old song goes, there’s no place like home for the holidays. And no matter how far away you go, there’s nothing like Vermont-made holiday music. (In certain cases, literally nothing.) With that in mind, we’ve dug through decades of Vermont music to put together a playlist featuring the best — and sometimes strangest…
Vermont Authors: How I Got My Agent
If you’re an aspiring author, you may have heard that it’s almost impossible to get trade published without having “insider connections.” Available evidence suggests otherwise. In an online survey of 257 published authors, posted this month on her blog, YA writer Megan Crewe found that “44.8% of the total respondents sold their first novel via…
The Winter Reading Issue
The annual Winter Reading Issue is the only time of year Seven Days publishes fiction — in this case short stories by Vermont writers Castle Freeman Jr. and Erik Esckilsen. Vermont native and world traveler Leath Tonino sent us a true story about spending New Year’s Eve at the “bottom of the world,” aka Antarctica.…
Gneiss, Release EP
(Self-released, CD, digital download) In geological terms, gneiss is a high-grade metamorphic rock formed by the metamorphosis of granite or other sedimentary rock under high temperature and pressure. It is similar to slate, in that it’s composed of distinct mineral layers. However, gneiss is stronger and harder than slate and often has dazzling coloration. Fun…
Little Slugger, Little Slugger
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Upon finishing the 40-ish minutes of Little Slugger’s self-titled debut album, one could be forgiven for assuming they had just listened to a veteran band whose members spent a few years becoming comfortable in their sound, road-testing their catalog of songs to create their tightest set for an album release. It…
Countryman Press Still Touts Vermont Heritage, in New York City
The Countryman Press, long known as “Vermont’s oldest name in publishing,” is now a small, rustic printing house in name only. In 1996, New York-based W. W. Norton & Company purchased Countryman. In March 2015, Norton laid off the press’ last two remaining Vermont employees, closed its Woodstock offices and moved its entire operation to…
Letters to the Editor (12/23/15)
Hot Air In his article about a proposed wind development [“Irasburg Howls Over Wind Turbine Plan,” December 9], Seven Days reporter Mark Davis did not challenge the implication of David Blittersdorf’s desire to “force Irasburg to ‘do its part’ to combat global warming.” Davis and all Vermonters should know that even the head of the…
Leanne Ponder Revisits Old Poems Anew
Vermont storyteller Leanne Ponder described her newly published book of poems, Tonight Not Even My Skin, like this: “It was like I found poems by somebody else [and thought], These are pretty good.” Ponder rediscovered her own writing in the form of typewritten pages, some 25 years old, that lay forgotten in a cardboard box…
Free Will Astrology (12/23/15)
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The coming year will be a favorable time for you to nourish a deeper devotion to truth, beauty and goodness. Anything you do to make your morality more rigorous will generate benefits that ripple through your life for years to come. Curiously, you can add to the propitious effect by also…
Page 32: Short Stops in Seven Volumes
Seven Days’ writers can’t possibly read, much less review, the number of books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a flock of trained parrots. So this monthly feature, “Page 32,” is our way of introducing you to seven books by Vermont authors. To do that, we’ll contextualize…
Short Story: The Ralston Snow-Blower Collective
Retired guy across the street, Buster McGrath, is a get-things-done sort of guy. I know this because sometimes, when his garage door is open, I can see in there. Tidy. Buster has his own air compressor. Guy who owns an air compressor gets things done. I’m not sure what, exactly, Buster gets done these days,…
Bellows Falls Residents Clash With Sheriff Over a Jail Proposal
It looked like a perfect solution. For decades, Bellows Falls has failed to fill the long-vacant Liberty Mill building with an enterprise that would contribute to the local economy. Meanwhile, Windham County Sheriff Keith Clark has sought to fix a problem plaguing Vermont’s criminal justice system — a lack of transitional housing and beds for…
Feelin’ Berned: A Sanders Feud with the DNC
When South Burlington High School let out last Friday, 15-year-old Catie Michael headed to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) Church Street headquarters to call New Hampshire voters. “Usually it’s a really positive place, and we have a lot of fun,” she said Saturday. But when Michael showed up, she learned that the Democratic National Committee had…
All Aboard? A Road Project Could Displace Train Yard, Buildings
Perhaps the biggest concern about Burlington’s controversial Champlain Parkway project is that the new route will create more traffic on congestion-prone Pine Street between Lakeside and King. Hoping to address that, the city is cooking up a second, lesser-known road plan: the Railyard Enterprise Project. Officials say its centerpiece — a short road spur that…
Shap, Interrupted: The Once and (Maybe) Future Candidate
At a recent Burlington breakfast meeting, House Speaker Shap Smith leveled with members of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility: Don’t expect lawmakers to enact a carbon tax in the coming session, the Morristown Democrat warned, saying that Vermonters aren’t ready for it. On the other hand, he said mandatory paid sick leave, another of the…
A Full Life
“Do you know where we’re going today? There’s so much going on, I’ve plumb lost track.” My customer didn’t appear distressed in the least, just genuinely curious. We were sitting in my cab at the entrance to the nursing home where she lived. I reached across to help secure her seat belt before responding to…
Short Story: Belinda Gets a Raise
On the Middle Road, just around the curve below Harts’, a scene. Accident? Three State Police cruisers, one pulled onto the shoulder, the others in the center of the road, their blue lights dancing. Two county sheriffs’ cars, the deputy driving one climbing out of it, the deputy in the other on his radio. A…
Bandwagon Podcast Follows Bernie Sanders’ Fans
A public radio producer and recent Middlebury College grad is devoting the entire inaugural season of his new podcast series to following the presidential aspirations of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — or, more accurately, to following people around the country who are “feeling the Bern.” Bandwagon, which bills itself as “a podcast about being a…
A Bove’s Waitress Looks Back on Nearly 40 Years
As you may have heard, Bove’s Café in Burlington will serve its last supper on Wednesday, December 23, after 74 years (plus two weeks and two days) in business. On the day Louis and Victoria Bove opened the Pearl Street pasta joint, the Japanese fleet bombed Pearl Harbor. The restaurant kept on through the war…
Books: How a Thai Coffee Company Went Beyond Fair Trade
How fair is fair trade? In a state where economic and environmental ethics inform a deep-rooted “craft food” culture, it’s sensible that consumers might wonder how much of their $20 spent on a pound of fair-trade coffee actually benefits the people who grew it. Tracing exactly where those fair-trade dollars go can be difficult. The…
Entrées, Exits and Dispelling Rumors
First, openings: In Jeffersonville, the Martell family will open Martell’s at the Red Fox in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The new pub and sports bar at 87 Edwards Road replaces the El Dorado Tavern, which closed in October after about a year in business. At Martell’s, Matt Martell (most recently of…
