RE: “We'll always have old Brooklyn in us” [Letters, Aug. 7]:
I was born, raised, and still live here in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, 11209. And we're all still here.
Our streets are still, as The New York Times said, as “polyglot and panethnic” as they always were. Bay Ridge maintains a sizable Irish, Italian, and Greek population, but like other areas in south Brooklyn, late in the 20th century, it saw an influx of Russian, Polish, and Lebanese, and lesser numbers of Chinese. Our Middle Eastern and Arab communities are growing as well.
So I beg to differ with your brother's missive. While there would be nothing wrong with Bay Ridge becoming “entirely Asian,” it is hard to believe Bay Ridge will ever become entirely anything.
Transitions • Xenia Markowitt Pedone has been hired by Marlboro College as its dean of students. Markowitt was most recently associate dean for campus life at New York University Abu Dhabi, a new campus of 450 international students, where she helped to found the Student Affairs division in the...
An open letter to the Bellows Falls Village Trustees and the Rockingham Selectboard: Bellows Falls Trustees, you have agreed to just hand over the salaried (at $57,500) chief of the Bellows Falls Police Department, as constable to the Rockingham Selectboard, free of charge, to perform those duties in his...
The Cold River Ranters, who describe their sound as “hot gonzo primitive folk jive,” are returning to Bellows Falls in a joint appearance with The Milk House Heaters on Thursday, Aug. 22. Combining American roots with a taste of the third world, the Ranters deliver melodies steeped in the cultural traditions of Appalachia, Ireland, Celtic Brittany, Africa, and south Asia. The band's lyrics certainly are one of a kind. The Cold River Ranters are Skillet Walker of Lemspter, N.H., powering...
Seventy-three percent of Vermont public schools - including Windham County's four high schools and nearly half of its elementary schools - failed to meet targets set under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB requires states to set “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) requirements for schools. The scores in Vermont are primarily based on the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP), which gauges math and reading skills. The Department of Education released the testing results last week, showing that only...
“This is the year of the garden.” I made the announcement during our first official dinner as country folk. My husband, kids, and I had left Brooklyn and settled in Dummerston (population: 1,864). I hoped to slow down and drench myself in country pursuits. “I thought this was the year of the sewing machine,” my husband said. “Or was it the slow cooker?” I like to think of myself as a skill seeker. But really, I'm just a crackerjack procrastinator.
The main theater of the Latchis complex closed for renovations Aug. 1, with the theater's 750 seats cleared from the auditorium. Aug. 2 brought New England Scaffolding Co. to begin filling the 30-foot-high void with scaffolding high enough to reach the zodiac whorl of the ceiling. Next, preservationists from EverGreene Architectural Arts will catalogue those astrological signs, then remove them and the midnight-blue fabric they're fixed to for replacement. Electricians, carpenters, carpet-layers, and painters all will lend a hand improving...
State office move to Main Street building re-scheduled BRATTLEBORO - The state offices currently located on Linden Street will be moving back to their permanent home at 232 Main St. over Labor Day weekend. The offices on Linden Street will be closed at that time. Transport of equipment will begin on Friday, Aug. 30, and will happen over the course of the weekend. Offices located in the building include: the Vermont Department of Labor, the Vermont Department of Health, the...
The final four is now set after the opening round of the Connecticut River Valley Baseball League playoffs over the weekend. Third-place Claremont defeated fifth-place Putney Fossils in their best-of-three series. Putney won the first game on Saturday at Dummerston School, 5-4, but the Cardinals rallied to win both of Sunday's games at Barnes Park in Claremont - 6-2 in the morning and 4-3 in the afternoon. Fourth-place Sunapee also rallied to win its series against sixth-place Newport. The Polar...
Morgan Milazzo wrote an article in the Aug. 1 edition of The Commons pointing out the virtues of using biodiesel for our transportation uses. A writer from Texas, Justin Heller, wrote the following week to say that using biodiesel is only slightly better than using petrodiesel. Unfortunately, he appears to be confusing ethanol and virgin corn biodiesel (publicly traded commodities) with what the article covered: cooking oil that has already been used for its intended purpose and is then reprocessed...
The first European to settle in what is now Newfane did so in error. In 1761, John Hazelton was looking for Townshend and, since one tree looked much like another, mistook those on top of Newfane Hill for those he was looking for. According to A New Fane in the Second Century, a local history, within five years of his arrival, Hazelton was joined by Jonathan Park, Nathaniel Stedman, and Ebenezer Dyer. Fane, as the town was called, was settled...
Black Sheep Radio celebrates its eighth year of broadcasting with a community summer spectacular block party on Saturday, Aug. 17, at the Waypoint Center in Bellows Falls. The event features some of the region's best original talent: newgrass pioneers and valley celebrities Jatoba; Brattleboro blues legend Sunny Lowdown; new-romantic guitar newcomers Moxley Union; Saxtons River's avant-rock group I Love You; and the folk-rock supergroup debut of Belmond, Brady, and Stacey. The Black Sheep Block Party is a full-force festival, featuring...
All my life there has been someone older to show me the way. When I was a child, it was grandparents. Since they had all emigrated to America, I grew up with a vision of America as the land of opportunity. If you worked hard, stayed in school, you might not get rich, but you would always eat. There was no question that I, the oldest grandchild, would be the first to graduate from high school and, a wonder in...
The Alzheimer's Association invites southeastern Vermont residents to unite in a movement to reclaim the future for millions by participating in the Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer's. The Brattleboro Retreat will be the site of this year's walk, scheduled for Sept. 7. Registration is at 9:30 a.m. and the walk is at 10:30. The Walk to End Alzheimer's is more than a walk: It is billed as an experience for nearly 100 participants in Brattleboro who will learn about...
A 169-acre plot formerly owned by Dummerston residents Larry and Lynn Cassidy will become the site for Bunker Farm, LLC, through a proposal selected by Vermont Land Trust's Farmland Access program. The property, located on Bunker Road and now owned by the Vermont Land Trust, will be operated by Noah Hoskins, sisters Helen and Jen O'Donnell, and Mike Euphrat, all local residents with farming experience. According to Joan Weir, VLT southeastern region director, the four will operate the farm under...
At the end of a long stretch of lawn on the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C. lies a green depression, deceptively serene and muted. As you approach, it appears like a buried black wall, a bunker without an entrance. People move quietly along it. One woman is about 60. Her hand slowly traces the thousands of engraved names on the wall until she stops at one. It is the name of her son, killed in Vietnam. She turns to her...
It could have been just another protest against the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, albeit one that took place on the Connecticut River on a warm, bright, and windy Saturday. But for two dozen or so kayakers and canoeists who took to the river, and their allies who stood on the river's shore just off the Fort Hill Branch rail trail, there was good news to celebrate. According to Deb Katz, the executive director of the Citizens Awareness Network (CAN),
What should you look for when taking in an abstract painting? Find out at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC), which is presenting “Dynamic Invention: American Abstract Artists at 75,” a portfolio of 48 archival inkjet prints of astounding abstract works. It and three other installations, “Red Grooms: What's the Ruckus?,” a major new exhibit by the venerable Pop artist (and his first-ever in Vermont); “Between Dark and Night: New Pastels by Brattleboro-based artist Mallory Lake,” featuring lush, film...
Abstract paintings by local artist Christy Bonneau are on display at the The Works Bakery Café on Main Street in Brattleboro throughout August. Bonneau describes her medium-to-large-scale oils as “abstract, emotional landscapes infused with the feeling of what it means to be innately human.” Jules Place (www.julesplace.com), one of the many galleries showcasing Bonneau's works, writes that each of Bonneau's paintings “causes pause, draws the viewer into its center, and demands an emotive response.” Bonneau often integrates her oils with...
The herd of dairy goats at Big Picture Farm is now certified as Animal Welfare Approved (AWA). The AWA certification and food label lets consumers know that these animals were raised in accordance with the nation's highest animal welfare standards, using sustainable agriculture methods on an independent family farm. Like their peer AWA farmers across the country, Lucas Farrell and Louisa Conrad, recognize the growing consumer interest in how animals are being raised. The two raise 30 dairy goats on...
Boston jazz guitarist Mitch Seidman, bassist Jamie MacDonald, and drummer Claire Arenius perform on Sunday, Aug. 25, at 4 p.m. at the Open Music Collective. The trio has released two well-received CDs: “Triangulation” (2010) and “For One Who Waits” (2012). Seidman, a professional musician and music educator for more than 40 years, has recorded and performed with a some of the most renowned names in jazz, including Harold Vick, Ted Brown, Alan Dawson, Ray Drummond, and Billy Harper. The Open...
The Mount Snow Valley Chamber of Commerce has landed a $1,000 grant from the Vermont Community Foundation (VCF) to foster volunteerism and community support for neighbors in need, and, the grant said, “to bring back the spirit of collaboration that was so prevalent in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene.” The Pay It Forward & Feel the Love grant application was submitted to the VCF's Small and Inspiring Grants Program. The grant will advance recent efforts by the chamber to...
Grafton Village Cheese, a business of the nonprofit Windham Foundation in Grafton, was awarded the Best in Show Second Place for Bear Hill and additional ribbons for its cheeses at the 30th annual American Cheese Society Awards held recently in Madison, Wis. Grafton Village took home second place for Vermont Clothbound Cheddar in the Cheddar Wrapped in Cloth (up to 12 months) category, first place for Eweden Apple Pie in the Marinated Sheep's Milk Cheese category, and first place for...
The UVM Extension Master Gardener (EMG) program has two workshops coming up for Windham County residents. On Sept. 7, learn how to make a hypertufa (man-made stone) trough, stepping stone, or sphere for your garden. Each participant will make, and take home, an item of his or her choice. Materials are provided, but participants must bring their own mold, a sturdy pair of rubber gloves, and a dust mask. Beginners are welcome. The workshop is from 1 to 3 p.m.
Daniels Construction wins bid for culvert construction BROOKLINE - The Selectboard voted unanimously Aug. 7 to award Daniels Construction the job of replacing culvert No. 31 in town at a cost of $59,800. The bid came in lower than another bid received, from A.S. Clark & Sons, and board members said the difference in price, and Daniels Construction having worked well for the town previously, were factors. The road will not be closed during construction, according to draft minutes of...
Is it possible to reuse a closed landfill? The town Energy Committee thinks Brattleboro's former landfill on Old Ferry Road would be perfect for solar panels. The Town Energy Committee sent a proposal to the Selectboard July 30 for one or more solar electric projects totaling about 2 megawatts located at the Windham Solid Waste Management District (WSWMD). The board will consider the proposal at its Aug. 20 meeting. “From what I've seen, it's an ideal site,” said Paul Cameron,
The Brattleboro Farmers' Market took another step toward making its long-time home a permanent one by applying for a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to purchase the land its vendors and visitors occupy on Saturdays. The Farmers' Market has applied for a grant of just over $6,000 from USDA Rural Development to purchase land now owned by Green Mountain Power. The grant would cover 35 percent of the sale price, said head of the site futures committee Susan Dunning. GMP...
Monday night's meeting of the Rockingham Free Public Library Trustees saw a new face at the table - local attorney and former trustee Ray Massucco - who was named by the Rockingham Selectboard to the library board instead of the trustees' own nominee. The trustees met July 22 and considered two possible nominees to replace Steve Fuller, who stepped down earlier this summer: Tim Doherty, husband of assistant Town Clerk Brenda Doherty, and Massucco. The library trustees decided to put...