‘Gem’ of an Article

Thank you for articulating something so fresh and optimistic and inspiring in [“Great and Small: Argentine Cartoonist and Upper Valley Resident Liniers Turns Ordinary Life Into Extraordinary Comics,” October 8]. I love that opening up Seven Days for “news” gives me such gems as this article. Your writing brought my brain into a wonderful, unexpected space while reading the news! Thank you, thank you again.

Your Story Made Me Cry

[Re “Pizza With a Purpose,” October 15]: I got emotional reading the piece on American Flatbread — especially the sentimental details about how George Schenk values living a good, meaningful life and his relationship with the moon. Well done, Seven Days. You had me crying into my coffee.

‘Nuanced’ Look at Burlington

I recently visited lovely Burlington from Lynnfield, Mass., and want to express my profound appreciation for [“Tent City: Burlington Has More Homeless Encampments Than Ever. Two Men Are Tasked With Keeping Them Under Control,” August 13].

During my visit, I couldn’t help but notice the high numbers of homeless residents and their encampments, particularly near the popular bike path. While initially struck by the visible challenges, I realized upon reading Derek Brouwer’s article that the depth of the issue was far beyond a surface-level observation. This article provided a thoughtful, insightful and informative context that, as a tourist, I would have otherwise missed.

What I particularly valued was Brouwer’s ability to seamlessly weave together varying perspectives within the same piece. This comprehensive approach offered a truly holistic understanding of the complex challenges facing both the unhoused population and the broader Burlington community. It’s clear that the current system is under immense strain and that policy changes are desperately needed to address this escalating crisis effectively.

I was especially moved by the commitment of individuals like Neil Preston and his team, who despite the daunting scale of the problem dedicate themselves to alleviating suffering and finding solutions. Their efforts are truly admirable.

Thank you, Seven Days, for providing such a nuanced and crucial look at this serious issue. Articles like this not only inform residents but also educate visitors like myself, fostering a deeper understanding and empathy for the challenges your community is navigating.

Good First Step

I would like to acknowledge the first positive step by Vermont Gov. Phil Scott and Burlington Mayor Emma Mulvaney-Stanak finally working together to establish a court to specifically address repeat offenders [“Gov: ‘Surge’ of Aid to Burlington Will Start a ‘Community Accountability Court,’” October 10, online]. Certainly, justice delayed is justice denied. We have watched the problems in Burlington fester for far too long.

Now let’s take some positive steps to address the drug encampments that are a blight to our beautiful waterfront. Maybe the first step is to acknowledge what they are. A significant proportion of the people there are addicts, and we are not doing them any favors by enabling their lifestyle at the expense of the quality of life for our taxpayers.

What say you, Mayor and Governor?

Have a Gander

[Re Theater Review: Come From Away, October 8]: We toured Newfoundland by car in 2011 and happened to find ourselves in Gander on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Circumstances allowed us to witness a two-day celebration that respectfully honored the 2001 event in a ceremony at Gander’s Steele Community Centre. The very moving ceremony was filled with song, prayer, stories and speeches by Mayor Claude Elliott, local dignitaries, ambassadors from Canada and the U.S., Canadian Mounties, and more. Also onstage was a large steel piece from the Twin Towers — a gift from New York City to Gander.

During our days there, we interacted with many local people and places mentioned in the play. We met Elliott at a Rotary Club meeting, visited Gander International Airport and sat in the very hangar used by the “plane people,” and visited the TV station that informed viewers as the 9/11 events unfolded and many other places that gave us more of an understanding of Gander’s full involvement.

In her interpretation of this story now playing at Northern Stage in White River Junction, director Carol Dunne skillfully uses actors, words and music to show what Gander faced during this event. The actors skillfully portray the myriad ways the people of Gander opened their hearts and homes to the “plane people.”

We encourage you to see this heartwarming play, which helps us understand the unselfish and welcoming people of Gander, Newfoundland. They are human nature at its best!

‘What Country Is This?’

The stunning article “ICE Plans to Surveil Social Media From a Vermont Office” [October 6] could, on a cursory read, look like business as usual these days. But this news is consequential!

It starts with the surprising news that “for years,” Vermont has had a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement surveillance facility in Williston. Well, that’s good to know! However, the story now informs us that there will be about 12 analysts added to the facility. Their purpose? To scour social media content posts on such places as Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Additionally, they may “investigate a person’s family members, friends or coworkers.”

What country is this? Is this the camel’s nose in the tent? Do we have any freedoms left? Have we all been watching as ICE kidnaps anyone it pleases off the streets? As it disappears citizens and human beings? As it brought a helicopter, zip ties and explosives to a home in Chicago?

I am not a lawyer, but I say Vermont needs to register a legal protest against this intrusion now and before there is no privacy left.

Appreciation for College Students

Thank you for Paula Routly’s shout-out to the college students in town [From the Publisher: “Fresh Eyes,” October 8]. I’m one of those old fogies who can get annoyed, especially when driving at dusk or night when someone wearing dark clothing crosses in the middle of the block.

But I get a different perspective as a volunteer for the University of Vermont’s Center on Aging. Over several years, it has put me in touch with a number of wonderful young people preparing for helping professions — social work, speech pathology, nursing and physical therapy. Their intelligence, articulation and desire to make a difference give me hope for our future as a country and as a world.

Working It

[Re “Remote Control: State Employees Push Back Against Gov. Scott’s Plan to Make Employees Who Work at Home Return to the Office,” October 1]: In response to the quote attributed to Vermont’s chief recovery officer, Doug Farnham — “We do strongly feel that you should have a connection to Vermont if you are going to serve Vermonters” — I thought I would share my personal experience as a current employee who has since moved out of the state and continued my employment.

When first hired by the Vermont Department of Health four years ago, the expectation for my role involved hybrid work with my official duty station located at 108 Cherry Street in Burlington, which has since been sold. Throughout my time as an employee, the expectations for what, how and where I work grew and changed tremendously — whether it was working vaccine clinics during a global pandemic, the closing of the duty station that originally brought me to move to Burlington in the first place, or working extreme hours to respond to multiple unprecedented natural disasters.

However, it was ultimately the 74 percent increase in my Burlington apartment rent over the 3.5 years I lived there that led me to (sadly) leave the state. Despite a deep love and satisfaction for my work serving Vermonters, annual step increases, promotions in my role and title, and merit awards recognizing my work above and beyond my duties, it simply did not keep pace with the ever-growing cost of living for me and my family. I remain deeply committed to serving my colleagues, friends and former neighbors of the state that I no longer could afford to live in. I know I certainly am not alone in that.

I think we are all a little baffled by Gov. Phil Scott’s executive order for state employees to commute to central offices [“Remote Control,” October 1]. Author Kevin McCallum claims: “Scott has been clear about the reasons…” and then goes on to show the clarity with quotes from Scott such as “consistency and predictability” and “It’s not hard to see that something has been lost…” He has no clear reasons, so we all, including McCallum, should admit that.

And admit it he does, later in the article, when McCallum spends a few paragraphs guessing at the logic that might have propelled Scott to make a decision no one else can really see the logic in: “Others feel…” and “Another theory holds…”

Vermonters are now stuck with leadership that is not transparent, and worse, whatever is animating it, there is no clarity that the goal is continually making the state better. All the metrics on this fiat point to worse: cost to the state, cost to the environment, cost to the employees. If that is the case, the governor owes it to us to have more than a hunch in 2025 that everyone driving around is a good idea, and Seven Days owes its readers the truth: They don’t get it, either.

The article “From the Publisher: The Struggle Is IRL” [October 1] unfortunately does not include the perspectives of disabled people within its overview of the work-from-home debate. Not only is the fight over the future of being able to work from home fundamental to struggles over workers’ rights, it is also, crucially, a disability rights issue, as well as an issue for the immunocompromised community, which overlaps with the disabled community.

As a member of the disabled community myself, I rue every day the inaccessibility of public buildings. I know it would be an exceedingly difficult task to find a job with a suitably accessible office space were I to join the workforce, which I want to do. Another barrier for me is my inability to drive due to my disability, a fact that is near-prohibitive to living a full life in a rural state such as Vermont and would absolutely hamper my ability to get to a physical office location for work.

Lost in the debates over the COVID-19 era are the perspectives of disabled people, for whom the digitalization of life during the heart of the pandemic was liberating. No longer did we have to organize our own transportation: Everything was online and accessible! Work-from-home directives opened up the workforce for disabled people, a thaw that is currently being hurriedly reversed due to society’s inability to grasp that useful and necessary advancements did indeed occur during the pandemic.

We should continue advancing, not retreating!

[Re “Remote Control,” October 1]: As a public-sector worker, I can understand the plight that state employees are now facing with a return to a hybrid schedule or in-office work. Many federal employees faced an impossible dilemma when remote work was abruptly canceled and they were mandated to a full-time in-office recall. 

Many federal employees retired or left the workforce altogether because remote work had allowed them to move farther away from government offices and the return-to-office mandate completely upended their routine and made their lives unworkable. The governor’s move is harebrained and clearly not well thought out. He’s no Donald Trump, but it comes from a similar playbook. If a job can be done solely on a laptop remotely, then there’s little justification in mandating RTO, even in a hybrid capacity. With the state selling off state-owned buildings that formerly housed hundreds of state employees, it’s clear that state leaders aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. Where do you accommodate all the returning workers?

This year has been a lesson for all employees in the public sector: Regardless of whether remote work policies return in the future, remote work is never guaranteed, and it is not a right. Public-sector employees are pawns subject to the whims of fools. If you’re interested in public service, be prepared for woefully unprepared (and even malignant) political leaders who are more interested in playing golf or car racing than acting as stewards of our political system.

In [“Remote Control,” October 1], Gov. Phil Scott claims, “It’s not hard to see that something has been lost when we only see each other on the screen,” but I wonder how hard he has looked at the position of the people who work for this state. Like Scott, I am in my sixties, now retired, and appreciated many aspects of the in-office experience when I was working. I was also challenged by some of those aspects, including commuting and childcare.

If, as the state’s chief recovery officer, Doug Farnham, noted, workforce productivity is “excellent,” I wonder if the metrics used need a second look, such as in-office attendance as compared to results and outcomes. If workers from out of state or with a long commute are the most productive, maybe a look at what our government values (seats in chairs versus efficiency) is needed. Younger workers are likely more used to screens and may prefer them.

Consideration should be given to workers with field jobs as well, such as those working for the Agency of Natural Resources and Agency of Transportation. It is a worth a look at the value of office time to the workforce doing that time. Something is lost in a blanket approach to office attendance for state employees. My concern is that it will be talented employees and government efficiency.

This article appears in The Tech Issue 2025.

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