MARLBORO — First, Joyce Marcel [“Visions, values, and tragedy,” Special Focus, July 17], and now MacLean Gander [“Two worlds colliding,” Viewpoint, July 24]. The Commons is giving our local Brattleboro Food Co-op quite a going-over.
I'd like to comment on Gander's piece. Journalism is certainly relevant and praiseworthy. I doubt a sidebar by Alex Gyori would be revealing. (There was plenty of room for candor in the Marcel piece.) Getting a gun with ease has been dealt with elsewhere, sadly in vain. Fumbling with that gun shows how far we've come from our wilderness days of yore when the weapon was truly relevant.
“Vermonters as colonists” is a fascinating image, mindful of our New England origin. State Auditor Doug Hoffer's 2000 study, “The Leaky Bucket: An Analysis of Vermont's Dependence on Imports,” showed how profits and jobs were oozing out of the state. Now the character of Vermont business dealings themselves seems to have a non-native urban flavor.
My wife and I have lived here 15 years. We are 10 percenters. Because he was late some 10 years ago, I told a local service provider not to bother helping us any more. He quickly returned my check for previous work and said I was just a rich guy from away who did not know how to treat people fairly. That still stings.
When Michael Martin was hired as the co-op's store manager, I figured General Manager Alex Gyori was about to retire. I was wrong. The old co-op was about to retire. Thank heavens my $9 grapes at Shaw's last week were “discounted” $4.15.
After World War II, my parents moved out of the “big city” to rural Connecticut. The local high school was a bit shabby, so they sent me to a somewhat inexpensive boarding school instead, where dining hall food was served family style. It arrived at the top of the table. Newbies sat at the foot, ate a good bit less as a result, and were powerless to do anything about it.
This is the struggle of the bottom 60 percent today. Gander's got it right.