Some Seven Days readers didn’t like the cover illustration on our end-of-year Double Issue. Drawn by New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss, it depicted the year 2025 as a snowman spurting blood where his left arm should be. In the foreground, a dog wearing a ’26 collar trots away with the snowman’s bloodied, mitten-covered stick-arm in her mouth, leaving a trail of gore behind her wagging tail.
Sparing no exclamation points, seven people submitted letters to the editor, describing the image as grotesque, tasteless, horrible, disturbing, pointless and disgusting.
To add awkwardness to insult, I knew I’d soon be talking with each of them. One of my jobs here is managing the Feedback section, which means I edit and verify every letter to the editor the paper publishes. Seven Days only accepts signed ones that include the writer’s real, full name and town of residence. Occasionally people try to cheat — very funny, “Ben Dover”! — so I spend hours each week contacting folks to make sure they are who they claim to be. My methods aren’t foolproof; a voicemail greeting with the person’s name is usually enough.
But there is a side benefit to the exercise: Lots of people pick up the phone, or call me back, and I end up talking to readers from all over the state. Almost always, even the unhappy ones are pleasantly surprised to hear from me.
That was the case with all seven cover complainants in this week’s Feedback section. Those who didn’t praise the paper in their letter did so on the phone. Lisa Adler of Barnet — “Horrible!!!!” — let me know that she deeply appreciates our work. Mike Campo, also of Barnet — “grotesque” — left me a voicemail saying, “This is the first time I’ve ever wanted to make a negative comment about Seven Days. We love you guys.”
Encouraged, I moved on to a couple of missives about Burlington’s McNeil Generating Station, a reliably controversial issue, and a third about the limitations of solar power here. All three authors make excellent points about increasing demands on Vermont’s energy supply in winter. One, Carl Bielenberg, is a Bradford inventor and engineer who does a lot of work in Africa. I first heard his name 40 years ago, when I was living in Uganda and the people there were using his ram press to extract sunflower oil.
We chatted for half an hour about his company, Village Industrial Power, as well as heat pumps, EVs, forest management, East Africa and artificial intelligence.
I also reached Anders Holm, who has lived in net-zero homes for the past 20 years.
Let’s hope the State of Vermont’s energy policy experts are reading their letters as carefully as I am.
Along similar lines, Tom Keefe of West Cornwall shared his unique perspective on the ongoing pollution problems at the Vorsteveld Farm in Panton — in his letter and on the phone. He took the opportunity to let me know he had been sick over the holiday and so missed the chance to pick up a hard copy of the Double Issue. At least he couldn’t hate on the cover!
The last trio of letters in this week’s issue — the first of 2026 — were submitted after the Vermont Air National Guard was deployed to the Caribbean but before the unexpected U.S. invasion of Venezuela. And yet each remains relevant. One, from Adam Hart of Duxbury, argues that Seven Days erred by divulging that Vermont’s 158th Fighter Wing was going to Puerto Rico. Another believes, as state Rep. Troy Headrick does, that Vermont should have more say in the matter of its Guard troops engaging in “unauthorized wars.” I’d settle for Congressional approval.
Every week our Feedback section showcases real readers trying to make sense of Vermont and the world. They bring different politics, expertise and experience to the table. I hope you appreciate their varied views as much as I do.
P.S. Join the conversation by writing your own letter to the editor. There’s a link to the form at the bottom of every story.
This article appears in January 7 • 2026.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!