Serving students from more than a dozen towns in New Hampshire and Vermont, Compass School invites the community to come help celebrate its 20th anniversary with dinner and socializing May 31 from 5 to 9:30 p.m.
Over the past two decades, Compass has “grown into an established educational option with consistent and ambitious goals for all students - they support every child to develop not only as a good student, but also as a good person,” according to a news release.
The school's educational mission “encompasses knowledge and academic skills, but also the development of skills to become community-minded, culturally aware, responsible, healthy, and self-directed. It is an environment where every child has the opportunities and support to find success.”
From the very start, the driving ideals for the Compass School were “to be accessible to all, to value student voice and choice, and to build a learning community based on respect.”...
The Brattleboro branch of the American Association of University Women recently awarded four college scholarships of $1,000 each to Windham County students, three to high school graduates and one to a female student of nontraditional age continuing work toward a college degree. The awards were presented at the branch's...
On Sunday, June 9, cyclists from many states will participate in the Tour de Heifer, the cycling event on Strolling of the Heifers Weekend. Proceeds from this year's Tour de Heifer will support the Stroll's Farm-to-Table Apprenticeship Program, which teaches nutrition and culinary skills to underemployed community members, placing...
Railroad, County museums open for season NEWFANE - The Windham County Museum and the West River Railroad Museum are now open for the season through Columbus Day weekend in October. The Newfane Railroad Station has recently been restored as the West River Railroad Museum. It comprises the old Depot and Water Tank House, both of which were built in 1880. The museum houses a large collection of artifacts, documents, and photographs documenting the railroad's impact over its 50 years of...
If you are interested in exercising and socializing with other seniors (60 and older), Guilford Cares offers a choice of indoor and outdoor activities. For more information, contact Guilford Cares at 802-579-1350, [email protected] or visit guilfordcares.com. Senior walks (co-sponsored by Guilford Cares and the Guilford Conservation Commission) at 10:30 a.m.: • Tuesday, June 18 - Sweet Pond: Linda Hecker will lead walkers halfway around the 1.3-mile trail that circumnavigates Sweet Pond and talk about the citizen-based effort to restore the...
On May 18, at the Latchis Theatre, The Landmark Trust USA announced the winners of the third annual Rudyard Kipling Young Writers Award. The Kipling Young Writers Award is the culmination of The Landmark Trust USA's Just Stories program, now in its 18th year, which offers dramatic interpretations of Kipling's Just So Stories free to over 7,000 local elementary school children. As part of the program, fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders tour Naulakha (Kipling's home) and see where he told the...
Everyone has a story to tell, and teens are no exception. Main Street Arts is offering teens a workshop on the art of storytelling June 17 to 21 to help them create oral and written stories from their lives. The workshop will run from 9 a.m. to noon under the leadership of Michelle Bos-Lun, a teacher of social studies and English at Okemo Mountain School who has worked for many years with youth and young adults in educational, study abroad,
Regardless of one's political beliefs, most would agree that a sad and horrible part of our history is the enslavement of people upon whose backs our nation was built. Shockingly, it is disheartening to see us heading down a similar path again with women's rights. It is understandable that, due to religious and personal beliefs, abortion would be viewed differently among people. However, when government takes control of a woman's body and thus becomes the owner of it, a line...
Eleven artists from the Southeast Regional Hub of the Vermont Pastel Society are showing selected original pastels at Burdick's Restaurant in Walpole, N.H., from June 3 to July 28. The artists are Carol Corliss, Monica Hastings, Lesley Heathcote, Deedee Jones, Pat McPike, Matthew Peake, Jean Pollock, Rodrica Tilley, Maggie Smith, Carol Stephens, and Gill Truslow. All are experienced artists who live and work locally and who enjoy working in pastel, a medium that consists of pure pigment mixed with enough...
I'm wondering, since Texas has decided the death penalty should be applicable for certain cases of abortion (I presume it wouldn't be all cases), what about the case of one George W. Bush and his obvious crimes against humanity? According to Gilbert Burnham of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, there were 654,995 excess deaths due to the gratuitous American invasion of Iraq in March 2003, through summer 2006. Since the U.S.-initiated butchery there lasted well...
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of contemporary folk and Americana music with Nashville-by-way-of-Vermont singer/songwriter Caitlin Canty and Maine duo Oshima Brothers at Next Stage on Friday, May 31, at 7:30 p.m. Caitlin Canty's music carves a line through folk, blues, and country ballads. Her songs have a “haunting urgency” (NPR Music) and her voice is “casually devastating” (San Francisco Chronicle). Canty's third record, Motel Bouquet, features 10 original songs that hold her darkly radiant voice...
The Actors Theatre Playhouse plans to spend its 2019 season with three different productions aimed straight at your funny bone. ATP's annual Ten Minute Play Festival begins June 6 and runs through June 22, followed by Ron Hutchinson's Moonlight and Magnolias on July 25 through Aug. 17 and Alan Ayckbourn's The Time of My Life on Sept. 6 through 28. The 2019 Ten Minute Play Festival kicks off the new season on Thursday, June 6, featuring the eight winners of...
On Sunday, June 2, from 2 to 4 p.m., the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center will offer a guided tour of the studio of glass artist and painter Jen Violette in Wilmington - the latest installment in BMAC's “Hidden in the Hills” series. The tour is free, but open to BMAC members only. To become a member, visit www.brattleboromuseum.org or call 802-257-0124, ext. 101. Violette has won numerous awards for her glass and exhibits, and her unique mixed-media sculptures are...
Topics at the first meeting of the newly elected Windham Southeast School District board ranged from organizational items such as electing officers to approving the first budget of the merged school district. The meeting on May 22 at Academy School, one day after voters in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Putney elected the first merged board for the new school district, formed in accordance of Act 46. Emily Murphy Kaur (Brattleboro), Timothy Morris (Putney), and Kristina Naylor (Dummerston) will serve one-year...
The first parking spot on Main Street reserved for drivers with disabilities will be available to drivers with state disabled plates or placards later this summer. The Selectboard approved the creation of the space at a public hearing on May 21, held during the board's regular meeting. The new parking space will be on the east side of Main Street, north of the clock, Town Manager Peter Elwell explained. While the spot will not be van accessible, Elwell said the...
Veteran diplomat George Jaeger will discuss America's current relationship with the international community in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main St., on June 5 at 7 p.m. His talk, “The New World We Face: America Alone?” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays lecture series. The current administration's inclination to go it alone, Jaeger contends, risks isolating the US from both allies and adversaries, thus making America less relevant and China more influential. Jaeger's talk will...
Windham Solid Waste Management District will host two household hazardous waste events on Saturday, June 1, from 8 a.m. until noon. One event is being held at the Vernon Town Office building at 567 Governor Hunt Rd. The other event is at the Townshend Highway Garage, 1102 Grafton Rd. (Route 35). The collection events are open to residents in WSWMD member towns: Brattleboro, Brookline, Dover, Dummerston, Guilford, Halifax, Jamaica, Marlboro, Newfane, Putney, Readsboro, Somerset, Stratton, Townshend, Vernon, Wardsboro, Westminster, and...
Hello and good day to you, residents of the wonderfully beautiful Windham County! I spent some time this past weekend up near Crane Mountain in Townshend. What glorious terrain and what a time it was, with some sweet sunshine! Indeed, while we had some sweet, sunny, dry days last week, we're starting off on the wet side for our current 7-day stretch. But lament not, my friends! We will still get some sunshine into the southern Vermont region, especially on...
Sunday, June 2, will mark the 14th annual Walk for Amber. Amber Bernier was loved and treasured by many people, and in an effort to honor her memory, friends and family have organized a day of remembrance. At 11 a.m., a walkathon will start at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Registration begins at 10 a.m. The walk will be approximately five (rather easy) miles. From 5 to 7 p.m., there will be a pasta dinner at the First Congregational Church, 880 Western...
Twilight Music begins its 17th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, zydeco, Celtic, jazz, blues, and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, June 2, with an evening of hard driving, house rocking, in your face blues by The Chris Kleeman Band. The seven-concert series continues every other Sunday through Aug. 25. All concerts begin at 6 p.m. in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at...
The Vermont Jazz Center is delighted to present an evening of music with NEA Jazz Master Sheila Jordan. On Saturday, June 1, at 8 p.m., Jordan will perform the first set with me on piano, bassist Genevieve Rose, and drummer Billy Drummond. The second set will feature Jordan singing with several surprise-guest performers and the rhythm section. This concert is one of many festive occasions throughout the world celebrating Jordan's 90th birthday, which took place on Nov. 18, 2018. Sheila...
After 20 years, the celebration at this year's Roots on the River Festival promises to be memorable. “We're going to celebrate with a bang,” producer Ray Massucco said. “We decided to mark the anniversary with some of our favorite acts from previous years, and what a show it's going to be!” The music festival will run from Friday, June 7, through Sunday, June 9, with venues under the Big Tent at the Rodeway Inn and at the Rockingham Meeting House.
Memorial Day services are usually about past conflicts, and the fallen in wars that most Americans know about only from history books. This year's Memorial Day service on the Common focused on the wars that haven't ended yet - the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, where U.S. soldiers are still in harm's way - and remembering the sacrifices in a war that has faded from the headlines, but not from the hearts and minds of those who have served,
The average commute time for workers who live in Windham County is 24 minutes - just one clue that people here live in one town and drive to another for work. The rural nature of the county means that people who live here find that their families' employment and consumer spending have an effect on the region as a whole. Vermont's southeastern-most county nestles into a tri-state neighborhood that includes New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The three states also share the...
Windborne will present “Song on the Times,” their project of songs from working-class movements for peoples' rights from the past 400 years, in Bellows Falls at the stone church on the hill, Immanuel Episcopal, 20 Church St., at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 1. The powerfully harmonizing four-member singing group was catapulted to new heights when a clip of them singing in protest outside Trump Tower in New York went viral, and their Indiegogo campaign for the project wildly surpassed...
The time has come for civilian community action. Our town's culture is in danger of being defined by the opioid crisis and there is only so much the local authorities can do. We need to do something ourselves as a community. Addiction is here in Brattleboro, and those of us working downtown are bearing witness to the negative reverberations of our community's generosity to those asking for money on our streets. These individuals range from opportunists to truly homeless or...
Our fallen still speak to us. If you listen quietly, you can hear them. I hear them. I remember their voices from conversations I've had, sometimes minutes before they gave their last measure of devotion to our nation. Even if you are not a Gold Star family member, a fellow Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Airman or Coastguardsman, friend or relative of a fallen hero, all you have to do is look around and you will see their legacy. It is us.