On Oct. 4, another haunting and disturbing photo appeared in The New York Times.
The photo showed an auditorium full of white, presumably Christian, people protesting an Alaska mask mandate. They were wearing the yellow stars that Jews who targeted for extermination were forced to wear under the oppressive regime of Adolf Hitler and those leaders who were happy to follow his hateful lead.
This latest far-right display of anti-Semitism and pure ignorance follows a spate of hateful, anti-semitic words and actions by Trump and his cult.
The Charlottesville march by predominantly young, white male racists yelling “Jews will not replace us.” The despicable Marjorie Taylor Greene (somehow still in the Congress) declaring that wildfires are caused by Jewish space lasers. The cold-blooded murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. And so much more.
A local construction consultant firm has received a big honor from Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility (VBSR). HELM Construction Solutions was presented with VBSR's 2021 Innovation & Inspiration Award on Oct. 12 at the organization's annual awards ceremony at the Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes. VBSR says it gives...
Obituaries • Deryl Jane Anderson, 81, of Brattleboro. Died Oct. 14, 2021 at Pine Heights nursing home, where she had been a resident for the past eight years. Deryl was born in Dummerston on July 25, 1940, the daughter of Charles and Edith (Grover) Anderson. She attended schools in...
It's the time of year, when the Windham County Heat Fund reminds all of the generous people in the county that our less fortunate friends and neighbors will need your help once again as we approach another heating season. The Windham County Heat Fund was created in 2005 by Richard Davis and me to help people in Windham County Vermont who were not able to buy enough heating fuel to make it through the winter. In 2010 the Heat Fund...
In honor of National Farm to School Month, Food Connects will celebrate Dummerston School principal Julianne Eagan as a Farm to School Champion. According to a news release, Eagan's efforts “have resulted in getting a new Farm to School program launched on a solid foundation at the school and keeping the momentum going despite the challenges of the past two school years.” Eagan, a first-time principal and new administrator, took the reins at Dummerston School during the 2019–20 school year,
Dummerston Historical Society will share art of dry stone walling DUMMERSTON - President Jared Flynn will share the art form of dry stone walling, in which structures are built solely using stone, at the Dummerston Historical Society's quarterly meeting and program via Zoom on Thursday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. In 2010, Flynn was one of the three founders, with Zon Eastes and Dan Snow, of The Stone Trust, a nonprofit based at the Scott Farm at 707 Kipling Rd.,
The Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP), a nonprofit organization based in town, will host an online workshop for Vermonters planning to support evacuees from Afghanistan who might arrive in the state later this month. “The Experience of Afghan Resettlement in the United States,” on Sunday, Oct. 24, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., is cosponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI). It will be facilitated by Noah Coburn Ph.D. and Ismaeil Hakimi L.L.M.
Peter Lindenfeld - father of potter, Brattleboro Clayworks co-founder, ceramics teacher and longtime resident Naomi Lindenfeld - will give a virtual reading of his new book, Fragments of Time, presented by independent bookseller Everyone's Books. In a news release, the author said the book traces his life “from a secure childhood in pre-war Vienna to the challenges of emigration, adaptation, and pursuits in science and in educational and social change.” However, Lindenfeld said he has tried to make the book...
Octavian “Yoshi” Manale has been named the new town manager. He will succeed Peter Elwell, who is retiring after six years in the post. Selectboard Chair Elizabeth “Liz” McLoughlin said at the Oct. 12 special meeting when the board unanimously approved Manale's contract that Elwell will leave big shoes to fill. “We really approached this selection process with trepidation because of the existing town manager,” she said. “What we found when we tried to list all the qualities we were...
I am shocked by the Vermont treasurer's office trying to get the state's retired teachers to move to a Medicare Advantage plan. Anyone who has done research quickly discovers many disadvantages. Some years ago, I was trying to straighten out the finances of a naïve relative who had both multiple sclerosis and paralysis from the chest down. He believed the pitch from one of the insurance companies and had given up his Medicare coverage. The Advantage plan denied him the...
The Commons editors added material to my notice of acting workshop and classes at the Hooker-Dunham Theater this fall. The description of the Meisner technique taken from the website of the Meisner Technique Studio in San Francisco contains a quote that is startling. The quoted language is that the Meisner technique trains actors to be “fearless, authentic, moment-to-moment machines.” Oh, boy. I think Meisner would roll over and die again if he saw “machines” describing the aim of his work...
The Windham Southeast Supervisory Union School District (WSESUSD) school board is ready to hire a consultant to assess the school climate vis-a-vis evidence of former sexual abuse by a teacher and a current “climate of abuse” on the Brattleboro Union High School campus. However, legal counsel has advised against taking “investigative action” at this time. “We have identified an investigator we want to retain,” said WSESUSD Board Chair David Schoales on Oct. 18. “I cannot say when, because we have...
The town has become just the third community in the country to be certified as a Quality Youth Development (QYD) Community, and adults and young people alike are enjoying a newfound bond. A steering committee, made up of mostly local youth, spearheaded the project through Building a Positive Community (BAPC) to improve their community and make it more accessible and welcoming for kids and teens of all backgrounds. Businesses deemed welcoming to young people receive special signs that read “Youth...
Marking the performing arts venue's return to indoor programming, Next Stage Arts will present Rhythm Nomads on Saturday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m. Rhythm Nomads is a percussion-driven world music project, featuring Tony Vacca and his one-of-a-kind percussion spectacle; Senegalese griot and talking drum master Massamba Diop (whose drumming can be heard throughout the Black Panther soundtrack); and Jo Sallins, whose approach to the electric bass has been redefining the instrument for decades. Vacca is a true “rhythm nomad,” incorporating...
Members of the Tri-State Chapter 843, Vietnam Veterans of America, and many on the Vietnam Moving Wall Planning Committee, thank the hundreds of people in our community who helped make the Moving Wall project come to fruition. It could not have happened without everyone's help and support. We also thank the thousands of people who came to visit the Wall for their respectful behavior, their kind words, and their donations. We are thankful that the Wall came to our area,
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) invites creators of all ages to design and build original Lego sculptures and display them at the Museum in BMAC's 14th Annual Lego Contest & Exhibit in November. Entries must be delivered to BMAC on Monday, Nov. 8, 4 to 6 p.m. An online entry form must be submitted before dropping off sculptures, along with a $5 entry fee. Contest guidelines and entry forms are available at brattleboromuseum.org. Participants may call BMAC at...
Julie Cermola, office manager of Parks Place Community Resource Center, has won the Greater Falls Connections (GFC) 2021 A.C.E. Award, which recognizes inspired, positive action happening every day in the community. Recipients of this award, according to GFC, “are the unsung heroes within our community who foster positive change and are dedicated to creating safe, healthy, and fun options for youth, families, and the community at large.” In a news release, GFC said Cermola “exemplifies the best in our community:
Drag performers Emoji Nightmare and Nikki Champagne will read from a selection of children's books, including C is for Country by iconic gay rapper Lil Nas X and Bodies are Cool, an inclusive exploration of body positivity by graphic artist Tyler Feder. The reading takes place at Epsilon Spires at 190 Main St. on Saturday, Oct. 23, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. “Because of our costumes and personas, we are basically storybook characters come to life,” Emoji said in a...
Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital has received an $18,900 grant to help upgrade the sidewalk in front of Grace Cottage Family Health Clinic, along Route 35. According to a news release, the funds from the state Department of Buildings and General Services' Building Communities grant program will allow Grace Cottage to replace a narrow asphalt sidewalk that was in need of repair with a safer, long-lasting concrete sidewalk that meets current ADA accessibility standards. In addition to being wider,
Responding to a decade-long campaign initiated by Vermonters for Justice in Palestine, Ben & Jerry's announced on July 19 that it would no longer sell its ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories after the company's current franchising agreement expires at the end of 2022. Writing in The New York Times, Bennett (Ben) Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who describe themselves as “Jewish supporters of the State of Israel,” said they were seeking to draw a “contrast between the democratic territory...
Vocalist Jay Clayton will appear live at the Vermont Jazz Center on Saturday, Oct. 23, at 8 p.m., as part of a tour celebrating her 80th birthday. She will be accompanied by the Ray Gallon Trio, with Ray Gallon on piano, Jay Leonhart on acoustic bass, and Billy Drummond on drums. An adventurous singer whose training and repertoire are deeply rooted in jazz standards, Clayton's dozens of recordings as a leader reveal a comfort with the Great American Songbook and...
Renowned architectural restorationist Dr. Susan Buck will offer new clues as to the paint and finish used on and in the Rockingham Meeting House over the centuries, via a Zoom presentation on Wednesday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. During the 1798 Town Meeting, monies were raised to paint the new building, but no mention is made as to what color. “But now we know,” a news release asserts. “Think a deep red with cream trim.” In early August, Buck spent...
On Friday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m., audience members will be transported back in time during a showing of the iconic - yet rarely seen - silent film The Phantom of the Opera, presented at Epsilon Spires, 190 Main St., with a live score played by the renowned organist and musical historian Dennis James. When the silent version of The Phantom of the Opera was released in 1925, the live organ soundtrack was so important that its producer and distributor,
In September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced its proposal to remove 23 species (22 animals and one plant) from the endangered species list because they are believed to be extinct. Let the finality of that declaration sink in. For some of these creatures, humans held out hope for over 100 years that they would be seen again, but now scientists are saying hope is lost. For these birds, mussels, bats, fishes, and plants, there is no tomorrow. The...
For Rich Holschuh, the inclusion of technology to let people hear his pronunciation of indigenous words on interpretive signs along the Sibosen Trail “deepens and expands the story.” As director of the Atowi Project at the Retreat Farm on Route 30, Holschuh now works full time helping people see and understand the Native community and its proud heritage here, in the place that was Wantastegok (“At the River Where Something Is Lost”) long before anyone ever called the same land...
In 1940, I was 6 years old and living in the village of Sidcup, Kent, England, about 12 miles south of London. We were under attack by a virus called Nazi fascism, led by a charismatic leader who wanted to make the Deutschland great again. The war had started in 1939, and by 1940 we were in the thick of it. My father, who had fought in World War I, was in the Home Guard. My mother was in the...
Another piece of Abenaki history has been reclaimed with the creation of the Sibosen Trail. Pronounced SEE-boo-sehn, which is Abenaki for “river stone,” the trail runs along the West River in what's known as the Riverstone Preserve, 21 acres of land owned by the Friends of the West River Trail that also includes 2,240 feet of shoreline. The new trail takes a short loop off the main West River Trail and skirts the river's edge. With the installation of 21...
Until last week, only five Vermont boys have ever scored 100 or more goals in their high school soccer careers. On Oct. 12 against Woodstock, Green Mountain senior striker Everett Mosher became the sixth member of the 100-goal club when he took a pass at midfield and foiled several Woodstock defenders to bury a left-footed shot to the far side of the net for his milestone goal. It was the 30th goal of the season for Mosher, and it helped...