When I was a little girl, I made calendars. I’d turn a blank 8.5-by-11-inch sheet of paper sideways, measure the width and divide by seven. Using a pencil and a ruler, I’d draw longitudinal lines to mark the days of the week. The harder part was planning the number of lateral rows required for each month, which of course vary from four to six.
I wish I could attribute this early obsession to an interest in astronomy — my dad’s profession — or Pope Gregory, who “invented” the modern calendar in 1582. But I think the truth is that I have a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder. This can be a real advantage in pursuits of perfection for which the practical result is just good work.
As a grown-up weekly newspaper publisher, I find comparable comfort perusing the 51 issues of Seven Days that we produced in 2025. On page 5 of this week’s Double Issue, you’ll find thumbnail images of every paper from this year — an infographic that, at a glance, handily sums up the past 12 months of life in Vermont.
News cover standouts include U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders railing against the oligarchy and the second Trump presidency on a post-inaugural tour of the Midwest, a story counting deaths among homeless people sleeping rough in Burlington’s winter, a clear-eyed explanation of the Queen City’s financial crisis, and Gov. Phil Scott signing an education reform bill surrounded by beaming lawmakers who haven’t smiled much since.
National politics definitely shaped the year here at home, from federal job cuts and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdowns to presidential remarks that tanked Canadian tourism overnight. Luckily, since July we have had a full-time reporter, Lucy Tompkins, on the immigration beat. The state has been overwhelmed, too, by a confluence of systemic problems in education, health care and housing development. That gave reporters Kevin McCallum and Alison Novak plenty to write about, but it also spurred us to look at our representative government writ large — the goal of a special project we dubbed “Ways and Means.” In the able hands of Hannah Bassett, it will continue through the end of the 2026 legislative session.
Of course, there’s more to Vermont life than news — thank God — and Seven Days has been writing about all of it since we started the paper 30 years ago. If you missed our big Birthday Issue, it’s available on our new website, launched inconveniently in the same week.
Ambitious, memorable culture covers include Mary Ann Lickteig’s colorful history of Vermont’s landmark civil unions legislation, Melissa Pasanen’s deep dive on Shelburne Farms, a funny and well-observed trend piece by Chris Farnsworth on Vermont’s obsession with Grateful Dead cover bands, and Dan Bolles’ rising-star profile of comedian Tina Friml. Culture coeditor Carolyn Fox had the idea of facilitating a compelling conversation between Vermont cartoonists Harry Bliss and Alison Bechdel for the cover of the Cartoon Issue.
Dan and deputy news editor Sasha Goldstein wrangled the midsummer Connections Issue, for which we collected stories on a theme. We publish a bunch of special issues that are perennial — animals; wellness; love and marriage; money and retirement; and summer, winter and performing arts previews, to name most of them — but this idea was new.
Readers expect Seven Days to weigh in on recent developments in news, food, arts and culture, and we do. But I love it when we deliver a cover story that totally surprises with its subject matter, writing style or expertise. Joe Sexton’s action-packed “Year of the Dogs,” detailing how the University of Vermont’s men’s soccer team won the 2024 NCAA championship, was one of those. Ditto Jon Mingle’s inside look at Vermont’s logging industry and Derek Brouwer’s thorough documentation of the rise of Beta Technologies, published the day after the Vermont company went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Derek also dove into the business of thrifting with an unexpected cover story about ReSOURCE, which has grown into a multimillion-dollar operation.
And I’m only scratching the surface — literally! Inside every issue of Seven Days is a trove of original, deeply reported, well-written stories, as well as useful tidbits, wordplay, recommendations, event listings, digestible food news, great graphics, moving obituaries and informative ads, including the personals, classifieds and legal notices. It’s a ton of work to produce — and an honest reflection of our shared community at its best.
I hope you can spend some time with this Double Issue while our staff enjoys a well-deserved holiday break. These pages contain the annual “Backstories” feature, in which Seven Days writers reveal some of the funny, interesting and noteworthy things that befell them on the job in 2025. Also in this end-of-year edition are six reported “Life Stories” about fascinating Vermonters who died this year and, in some cases, didn’t get the recognition they deserved.
Did I mention recommendations for New Year’s Eve and best-of lists in local food, film and music?
Seven Days does it all. We’ll continue to produce this award-winning newspaper for as long as Vermonters read and support us, advertisers promote their businesses in our pages, and the news keeps coming. See you again on January 7, 2026!
Seven Days, One Year: 2025 by the Numbers*
This article appears in Dec 24 2025 – Jan 6 2026.
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