Main Street Arts continues its Hands-on music series with three concerts, the first on Sunday, Jan. 28, at 3 p.m.
“Between Goddess and Woman: Wagner, Brunnhildes, Leben” will feature Hugh Keelan on piano and soprano Jenna Rae.
Keelan has conducted orchestras throughout the world and is currently the conductor of the Windham Orchestra. He has collaborated with the great artists of our times, including Solti, Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Shura Cherkassky, Maurice Sendak, and Tom Stoppard.
He is planning a work based on Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, the Ring Cycle, and Boudica, composed and co-written with Rae.
The Brattleboro Recreation & Parks Dept. continues to host many popular ongoing classes that run through the end of April at the Gibson-Aiken Center, 207 Main St.: • Zumba: Mondays & Thursdays 5:30–6:30 p.m. in the Gibson-Aiken gymnasium; Zumba is the Latin Dance Fitness program that gets participants moving...
Town applies for firetruck grant BRATTLEBORO - At the Jan. 16 regular meeting, the Selectboard approved the application for a $475,000 grant to help pay for a new, $950,000 aerial ladder firetruck. In recent months, Brattleboro Fire Department officials and the Selectboard have discussed whether the town should replace...
It's been some time since the Harvey Weinstein revelations opened the floodgates of personal stories about sexual harassment and assault. Still, women's stories keep coming, and so they should. We must bear witness if things are going to change, not only in the halls of Hollywood studios and Capitol Hill offices, but everywhere people live, work, and carry on their lives. We've learned good lessons in the telling of those stories, and in the copious commentaries that followed. We've recognized...
College news • The following local students were named to the Dean's List at the University of Vermont for the fall 2017 semester: Cornelia Cating of Londonderry, Simon Bupp-Chickering of Saxtons River, Sebastian Wu of Saxtons River, Allegra Wu of Saxtons River, Seth Wilkins of South Londonderry, Zachary Streeter of Westminster, Giannina Gaspero-Beckstrom of Guilford, Colby McGinn of Brattleboro, Eve Pomazi of Brattleboro, Isabel Stewart of Brattleboro, Everest Witman of Brattleboro, Stephen Scott of Jamaica, Kira Boucher of Putney, Eben...
With the battle over the Affordable Care Act in the news, I have been troubled by the vigor with which we are trying to save it. Although the ACA could be seen as a breakthrough in “health care” for the United States, I see it as bolstering the insurance game we're already playing. The ACA guarantees a profit for the insurance industry. We are forced to pay a penalty if we don't sign up. We are told that we are...
To our state elected officials: With the New Year, you have just returned to Montpelier representing the voters of your electoral districts. We would like you to keep in mind, among the large number of issues that you will be grappling with, the recent votes that occurred with respect to the Act 46 consolidation proposals in Windham County. We request your legislative support for the outcome of these votes and ask that you oppose any attempt by the Agency of...
Greater Falls Connections meets Jan. 26 BELLOWS FALLS - Greater Falls Connections will co-host its monthly coalition meeting from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 26, at Parks Place Community Center on 44 School St. with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Vermont. The topics of this month's meeting are National Mentoring Month and new changes for Big Brothers Big Sisters in Windham County. Come hear how mentorship creates positive changes for youth and how the community can support and...
All day, I've been vacillating between sadness and rage. A young friend recounts too many incidents in which men have wielded power against her in her life. I grieve for my loved ones who had their power and agency taken away from them as young girls, just as they were leaving babyhood behind and beginning to feel their power in the world. The #MeToo groundswell made me remember when a man I didn't know, a man who must have seen...
Fourteen artists from the SouthEast Hub of the Vermont Pastel Society are showing selected original pastels in the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital corridor between the main building and the Richards wing. The artists are David Brown, Carol Corliss, Monica Hastings, Lesley Heathcote, Deedee Jones, Pat McPike, Matthew Peake, Jean Pollock, Gill Truslow, Rodrica Tilley, Maggie Smith, Carol Stephens, Cath Stockbridge, and Priscilla Whitford. All live in the area and are experienced artists who enjoy working in pastel, a medium that consists...
The Brattleboro Women's Chorus will be sending a group of singers to the Sister Singers Festival in Grand Rapids, Mich., this coming summer. They will perform on their own as well as participate with 20 other women's choruses in a festival that embraces the ideals of social justice and the values of love and compassion for themselves and our community. This is their opportunity to share their music with a national audience and support the music and the composers from...
Thursday Night Bingo is returning to Bellows Falls, thanks to the fundraising efforts of Compass School's 11th-grade class. Every year, Compass 11th-graders participate together in an international trip to a Spanish speaking country in the developing world. Compass is committed to ensuring every student can go on this trip, regardless of family income. With more than 50% of Compass students eligible for free and reduced lunch, fundraising is essential to ensure everyone can take part in this life-changing travel experience.
Tim O'Connor didn't want a lot of pomp and pageantry for his funeral, held on a warm and sunny Jan. 20 afternoon at St. Michael's Catholic Church on Walnut Street. O'Connor, who died on Jan. 16 at the age of 81 [See Milestones, C2], requested a service that was as modest as he was. There was no procession bringing his casket down the center aisle of his home parish. He still got an honor guard, anyway, as much of the...
The annual High School A Cappella Concert is set to take the stage at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 2. More than 55 local teens representing six regional high school a cappella ensembles “will sing their hearts out to the delight of an enthusiastic audience of family, friends, and lovers of a great time,” according to a news release. Created by local artist and community cultural entrepreneur Dede Cummings, the High School A...
The Vermont Public Utilities Commission has been undertaking proceedings on the sale of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The town of Vernon, eager to create a path forward, has concluded the sale is a crucial step toward a timely and complete recovery from the closure. The Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) agrees that if a safe, accelerated decommissioning is environmentally and financially possible, it would benefit the economic recovery of Vernon, the Windham County region, and the state of...
All Souls Church in West Brattleboro will continue its film series, “Looking Inward at White Power and Privilege,” with a screening of the MTV documentary White People on Sunday, Jan. 28. The second film in the series, this ground-breaking 2015 American documentary is directed and produced by Pulitzer Prize winner Jose Antonio Vargas, who also stars. The film explores white privilege in the U.S. All Souls Church will show the film Sunday at noon. Viewers are invited to bring a...
Two extra public information sessions have been scheduled to discuss the details of the River Valleys Unified School District Board 2018 annual meeting. The two special meetings are Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m. at the Dover Elementary School, and Tuesday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m., at the Wardsboro Elementary School. At these meetings, the Board will explain and review the Articles to be voted on and approved at the Annual Meeting. The next regular meeting of the Board is...
Recently, our president characterized Haiti and some African nations as “shithole countries” whose people are not worthy of emigration to the United States. Yet again, another racist assault from Donald Trump. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a United Nations affiliate of the top 35 advanced democracies, the United States has: • the highest income inequality. • the most childhood poverty - 25 percent. • a rank of 19th in infant mortality. According to Dr. Ashish...
You say you want a revolution? Well, it's certainly in the air, and creating profound change to business as usual. #MeToo was like the shot heard 'round the world - really, the primal scream of women and of all fed-up and fired-up survivors. Never has our country gotten such a crash course in the overlap of rape culture with work culture. Survivors are saying “me, too” from every job and industry in the country. And since the hashtag went viral...
I have been following the coverage of the proposed plans for the clean-up of the Vermont Yankee site with great interest. As someone who is looking to move from the suburbs of Boston to a more rural environment, I see southern Vermont as very appealing. But I am stopped by the thought of living near a nuclear waste dump, and even more so by the idea that they would be hiding radioactive material underground, where it could migrate into the...
A particular man in Hollywood is not The Problem. A particular politician is not The Problem. The Problem is all around us, affecting all of us. It is every time a girl is not welcomed fully at birth. It is every time a boy is taught that “to be a man” means to have power over others, rather than to be fully human and caring and respectful toward others. It is every time an ad for a car features a...
Good day to you, southern Vermonters! After an icy, rainy and foggy start to the work week, we will be enjoying colder yet fair weather for the current mid- and late-week period. Thereafter, we will see a return of milder weather and a chance for rain by Sunday into early next week that may end as a period of snow as the storm departs. This changeable weather looks to be our meteorological lot in the short term, with signals indicating...
Watching a team struggle through a winless season, you try to look for any signs of hope that things will get better. Against Fair Haven on Jan. 19 at the BUHS gym, the Brattleboro Colonels boys' basketball team showed flashes of potential. However, in the end, the Slaters showed why they are one of the top teams in Division II with a 59-52 win. Cam Coloutti, the all-State quarterback who led the Slaters to the 2017 Division II state football...
Latchis Arts' popular “Exhibition on Screen” series continues the weekend of Jan. 27 and 28 with a look at the life and work of one of the most acclaimed living artists, David Hockney. David Hockney at the Royal Academy of Arts: A Bigger Picture 2012 & 82 Portraits and One Still Life 2016 will be shown at the Latchis Theatre, 50 Main St., on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 27 and 28, at 8 p.m. Featuring never-before-seen interviews with Hockney and...
There were no speeches, and the political messages were confined to the signs carried by the women, men, and children who crowded into Pliny Park on Jan. 20. This was a political gathering where speeches were unnecessary. Having more than 200 people singing the old songs of battles past - from “This Little Light of Mine” to “America the Beautiful” - was powerful enough. On a warmer-than-usual Saturday morning, people gathered at the corner of Main and High streets for...
Northern Roots is in its 11th year, and “it's hard to believe that we're entering our second decade of music, dance, and celebration,” says the event's director, Keith Murphy. On Saturday, Jan. 27, and Sunday, Jan. 28, in the Brattleboro Music Center, Northern Roots will bring together local and regional musicians representing the best of various northern musical traditions. A rich diversity of musical talent draws on both Brattleboro's deep local scene as well as musicians from across New England.
Brattleboro Union High School District #6 School Committee Chair Ricky Davidson recently talked with me about the school budget that's been passed by the school board. However, it still needs to go before the voters in February - a process that gets very few voters participating. As the board was debating potential cuts to the budget - which covers Brattleboro Area Middle School, Brattleboro Union High School, and the Windham Regional Career Center - the public learned that the committee...
The Shea Theater and River Valley Co-op present a Mardi Gras concert with Samirah Evans and Trailer Park on Saturday, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m. Evans has headlined numerous Fat Tuesday celebrations since emigrating from the Big Easy to New England following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But this year's show marks her debut performance in the venerable 330-seat Shea Theater in Turners Falls, which has recently undergone renovations that include upgraded sound and lighting systems as well as a bar...
Great news, everyone. The president is fine. Better than fine, in fact. He is in excellent health. That's the word, anyway, from Dr. Ronnie-or-is-that-Ronny Jackson, the Navy physician who administered Mr. Trump's annual physical last week and who reports that the exam went “exceptionally well.” What exactly made this routine checkup exceptional isn't clear. Maybe past presidents' exams were at best uneventful, and at worst had Dubya chasing the doctor's flashlight like a cat chasing a laser-pointer. Maybe Bill Clinton...