Issue #666
A mixed Senior day for Rebels as softballers are upset by Wildcats
The Senior Day game is a tradition at local schools. Usually held on the final home game of the season, it's the chance to recognize the 12th-graders and their families with thank yous and floral bouquets.
On May 26, Leland & Gray put a bit of a twist on the tradition, and recognized the seniors on three of the school's teams playing this spring in one fell swoop.
‘Back to the drawing board’ for Guilford Free Library
May 24 revote nixes proposed $1.2 million expansion by 30 votes
After a March 1 Annual Town Meeting vote approved a $1.2 million expansion plan for the Guilford Free Library by just 15 votes (348–333), a re-vote on May 24 has nixed the plan by 30 votes, 405–375. The revote came after 10 percent of the town's registered voters signed...
Lore about the Second Amendment is not just historically inaccurate. It’s getting our children killed.
Hamilton’s writing shows that the real right to bear arms was a blueprint for a citizen army. That model just didn’t work very well.
If the Founding Fathers were around today, they would be flabbergasted by our inability to take even the most basic, commonsense steps to protect our children from being murdered at school. Passively accepting, year after year, horrific school shootings, like the recent slaughter in Uvalde, Texas, would strike them...
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BMAC presents tour of local stone walls
Dan Snow of the Stone Trust will lead a tour of notable stone walls and other dry stone structures in Dummerston and Brattleboro on Sunday, June 5, at 3 p.m. as part of the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) series “Hidden in the Hills.” The tour will begin and end at the Stone Trust, at Scott Farm (707 Kipling Rd.), where participants will begin with a short walking tour, followed by a guided tour via van of nearby stone...
Circuit Des Yeux headlines experimental pop show with Humanbeast, Dutch Experts at Epsilon Spires
On Thursday, June 9, the downtown multimedia arts venue Epsilon Spires will host the band Circuit Des Yeux as part of their five-month tour of Europe and North America. The bill also features the Brooklyn-based music and performance project Humanbeast and Brattleboro's own Dutch Experts. Circuit Des Yeux is the moniker of Haley Fohr, who began her music career recording in her old bedroom at her parents' house in Indiana after dropping out of the nuclear engineering program at Purdue...
We need unprecedented action. Now.
When news of another school slaughter broke, this time again in Texas, the bile that rose in my throat was as bitter as the memory of Columbine, Newtown, Parkland and the other grievous incidents of gun violence in schools - all 554 of them since 1999, as NPR has reported. From the Carolinas to California, 27 school shootings are among the 214 mass shootings this year alone in the United States, and it's only May. But this is not a...
It’s time for Brattleboro to stop subsidizing suburbs with Rescue Inc.
The Selectboard made the correct decision to jettison Rescue Inc. Brattleboro is spending far more than it should on an ambulance service. Nor are there really, in fact, many people challenging it and of those almost none who offered any reason other than feeling offended by the way Town Manager Yoshi Manale handled the controversy. Manale may or may not have employed sufficient tact in his interactions with Rescue management, but his information and analysis was sound, and he exercised...
Preschooler and his family avert homelessness
Shoppers at the local Hannaford supermarket stopped their carts last week upon seeing a blur flying about in a blue T-shirt with a single red “S.” No, it wasn't a bird or a plane, but instead a 5-year-old boy who, for his family, is a true Superman. Nolan Goodnow had seen his picture on the front page of a newspaper reporting how he woke his sleeping household last Christmastime during Brattleboro's largest fire of 2021, only to face homelessness this...
Work continues apace on new bridge project
Work has begun to pick up on the Hinsdale-Brattleboro bridge project, as the concrete replacement for the two century-old steel spans over the Connecticut River starts taking shape. The two current spans, the Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh bridges that carry Route 119's traffic between Brattleboro and Hinsdale, N.H., remain open while the new bridge is under construction just downstream. The old bridges will ultimately be transformed to pedestrian/biking pathways. The project started last September. The anticipated completion date...
Patty Larkin comes to Next Stage on June 10
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present contemporary folk singer/songwriters Patty Larkin and Darryl Purpose at Next Stage on Friday, June 10, at 7:30 p.m. Patty Larkin is “a visionary of sound and wonder, a real deal version of artistry made of equal parts guitar wizardry, vocals shot through with soul, and inventive lyrics that ripple across the terrain of the heart,” say organizers. Described as “riveting” (Chicago Tribune), “hypnotic” (Entertainment Weekly), and “drop-dead brilliant” (Performing Songwriter), Patty has...
BMH adds Juneteenth to list of employee holidays
Juneteenth has been added to the list of ongoing paid holidays for all employees at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH). Congress passed the Juneteenth National Independence Act last year, making June 19 a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Because June 19 falls on a Sunday in 2022, BMH employees will observe the holiday on Monday, June 20. All BMH outpatient practices and services will be closed on that day. “The decision to make Juneteenth a...
Brattleboro Women’s Chorus hosts outdoor concert at Retreat Farm
The Brattleboro Women's Chorus presents their 26th annual spring concerts entitled “Why Not Sing?” on Saturday June 4 and Sunday, June 5, at 4 p.m. outdoors at the Retreat Farm on Route 30. These will be the first in-person concerts the BWC has presented since 2019. The concerts will feature songs the chorus has been working on this spring and includes some favorites from earlier sessions. Local musician Lisa McCormick will join the chorus on several songs, including “Tiny Lights”
Milestones
College news • Elena Tansley of Putney was hooded for her Doctorate in Physical Therapy from Ithaca (N.Y.) College on May 21. During graduate school, Tansley was awarded the Department of Physical Therapy Professional Excellence Award and was nominated into the Alpha Eta Society. Throughout her years in school, she enjoyed her roles as class representative, PT mentor to undergraduates, and Resident Assistant on campus. She is looking forward to completing her final clinical rotation at Roswell Park Cancer Institute...
Listen Up Project comes to BF on June 2
The Listen Up Project, an original Vermont musical production based on eight months of interviews, workshops, conversations, and listening sessions with more than 800 teens across Vermont, comes to the Bellows Falls Opera House on Thursday, June 2, at 6:30 p.m. The film, Listen Up! was written and performed by Vermont youth. Bess O'Brien, award-winning documentary filmmaker, was directing producer for the project. All teens, parents of teens and people who are concerned about youth and the future of our...
Directors to stage improv mash-up of Hamlet and Alice in Wonderland at Flatiron Café
John Hadden and Sean Roberts, the directors of the two shows this summer at Main Street Arts, Hamlet and The Books of Alice in Wonderland, will stage a brief, semi-improvisational mash-up of the two plays, to be filmed before a live audience for promotional use on local media, at the Flatiron Café on June 4 at noon. Members of the two casts will bring speeches from the plays and play a game in which they are interrupted by speeches from...
Around the Towns
Leland & Gray presents Pops concert, art showTOWNSHEND - Come join the Leland & Gray school community on Thursday, June 2 for a celebration of the arts. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., enjoy the Leland & Gray's fine arts department display inside the main entrance. At 6 p.m., bring a lawn chair and listen to students in grades 3–12 as they perform in band, chorus, a cappella, and jazz band ensembles on the main lawn. The art show will reopen after...
Raffle benefits Winston Prouty Center
The Winston Prouty Center for Child and Family Development is a holding a multi-day raffle as part of the organization's annual Par for the Cause fundraiser. The prize-a-day raffle includes 90 prizes totaling over $4,000 in value. Three winners are picked daily from June 1 through Saturday, June 25, the date of the event. (Rain date is Sunday, June 26.) Following each day's drawing, the winners' names will go back into the pot and remain eligible for subsequent raffle drawings.
DVFiber elects new officers, approves high-level design for broadband network
At its recent annual meeting, the Deerfield Valley Communications Union District (a.k.a., DVFIber) elected three officers for its governing board and five members for its executive committee. The board also approved a high-level design concept for the district's fiber optic network. A longtime educator, Steven John of Marlboro was elected chair, having served as vice-chair since the CUD's establishment in 2020. Former state Rep. Ann Manwaring of Wilmington, who served as board chair since the establishment of the CUD, was...
Application period begins for 2022 Town Arts Fund grants
The Arts Council of Windham County (ACWC) has opened the application period for the 2022 Brattleboro Town Arts Fund program. Now in its third year of providing funding for creative, community-focused projects, TAF will offer grants between $1,000 and $3,000. Applications are due on Friday, June 10 for projects, which must take place between July and December. The program overview and full application guidelines, including eligibility requirements and application process, can be found at artswindhamcounty.org/taf. According to a news release,
New partnership seeks to help kids whose families have been touched by cancer
Mahana Magic Foundation is partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Vermont to create the Mahana Mentoring Program to support and encourage these children experiencing a loved one's cancer. Such young people are impacted by a wide range of emotions. They experience fear, anger, anxiety, sadness, and even guilt. BBBS of Vermont, through their one-to-one mentoring program, keep children ages 6-18 engaged, build youth resilience and help to mitigate the negative effects of trauma through mentorship. The Mahana Magic Foundation...
Teens to explore U.S. Constitution — through comics
The Putney Public Library is offering teens a unique program through which they will not only be able to learn about their privacy rights, cite Supreme Court cases, and explore counter arguments, but also illustrate their basic Constitutional rights by drawing them in comic form. Constitution & Comics Camp, facilitated by Constitutional scholar Meg Mott and comic artist Marek Bennett, is the library's free program offered to teens ages 12 to 18 from Monday, June 27 to Friday, July 1,
VTC holds auditions for ‘Winters Tale’
The Vermont Theatre Company announces auditions for an upcoming production of William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. Auditions will be held on June 4, at 4 p.m., at the Hooker-Dunham Theater and Gallery, 139 Main St. Performances of The Winter's Tale will be held Friday through Sunday, Aug. 5–7 and 12–14. When the paranoid King Leontes locks up his wife and exiles his infant daughter, the ramifications of his monstrous acts are felt across years and kingdoms. The Winter's Tale combines...
Palaver Strings presents CD release concert
The Brattleboro Music Center's Season Guest Series offers Palaver Strings' Ready or Not CD Release Concert Thursday, June 2. Palaver's latest album, Ready or Not, celebrates the groundbreaking visions of female composers from the Renaissance to the present day. Joined by mezzo-soprano Sophie Michaux, Palaver will perform selections by Grazyna Bacewicz, Akenya Seymour, Elizabeth Moore, Barbara Strozzi, Connie Converse, Rebecca Clarke, Florence Price, and Nadia Boulanger.
Festivities showcase library's shed of tools for garden, food preservation, and food prep
The Brooks Memorial Library will celebrate and unveil its newest collection of tools to cultivate your garden, to help cardholders harvesting their yield, and prepare and preserve food on Saturday, June 4, from 10 a.m. to noon. In the Big Red Shed in the municipal parking lot behind the library, you will find tools ranging from simple spades to fancy food dehydrators, all supporting local, sustainable food security and enhancing the experience of food preparation. “Libraries are built on a...
Field now set for party primaries
The May 26 filing deadline has passed and the field are now set for the Aug. 9 Democratic and Republican party primaries in Vermont. The most noticeable thing that voters are seeing is how many members of the Vermont Legislature are not seeking re-election in 2022. In all, 10 of Vermont's 30 senators and 41 of 150 members of the House taking a pass on seeking another term. Reps. John Gannon, D-Wilmington, Carolyn Partridge, D-Windham, and Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham,
For Juno Orchestra, a swan song
On Friday, June 10, at 7:30 p.m., in Persons Auditorium at the former Marlboro College, home of the Marlboro Music Festival, Juno Orchestra presents a triple-header concert that promises to be joyful. The show will feature Sibelius' Impromptu for Strings after Op. 5, No. 5 & 6; Haydn's Symphony No. 92, (Oxford); and Mozart's Symphony No. 41 (Jupiter). Of the pieces, Juno founder and music director Zon Eastes writes, “the Sibelius is a wondrous discovery for Juno.” It shines, he...
Can we find some middle ground on gun policy?
Part of my frustration with the gun control conversation is that liberals have their hearts in the right place but rarely know enough about guns to make effective policy. Banning assault weapons as a main strategy assumes that there is a meaningful difference between what qualifies as an assault weapon and any other semi-automatic firearm. It feels like liberals hear “assault weapon” and picture Rambo, but as a former Marine, I see that it is sadly true that most of...
We aren’t more civilized in our behavior
I find it difficult to understand Richard Davis's assertions of “cultural differences” and how Afghans “behave” in juxtaposition to the apparently homogeneous “us” here in the U.S. The underlying colonial message suggested we are more civilized in our behavior and it might be “difficult” for us to come in contact with our new Afghan neighbors. Moreover, I was disturbed by the level of racism, supremacy, and misleading information throughout his piece. Davis asserts that the “political world [Afghans] come from...
Memories of rural life and school in pre-war Vermont
At the age of 95, Janice Martin is spryer than many others half her years and has a memory like a steel trap. “In September 1932, at the age of 6, I started school in the one-room schoolhouse called the South School, located in Vernon, Vermont,” she says. “It's still there and is now the home of the Vernon Historical Society,” remembers Martin. “I had my picture taken by the old wood stove in 2015.” The former Janice Pratt was...
‘Sing Out the Vote!’ concert features Emma’s Revolution, Annie Patterson
Emma's Revolution and Annie Patterson are performing a fundraising concert on Friday, June 10, at 7 p.m. at All Souls Church in the West Village Meeting House, 29 South St. This concert is a fundraiser for Movement Voter Project (MVP), a national organization that works to strengthen progressive power at all levels of government. “With the release of a draft Supreme Court opinion to overturn Roe, it's more urgent than ever that those working for women's and LGBTQ rights, racial...
Rock River Players present ‘Evening of One Acts’ at Williamsville Hall
Rock River Players present an “Evening of One Acts” on Friday, June 3, and Saturday, June 4, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, June 5, at 3 p.m., at the Williamsville Hall, 35 Dover Rd. The lineup includes original works by local authors and a popular one-act play by David Ives. Players' co-producer Bahman Mahdavi directs Mind Like a Dog by South Newfane writer Vincent Panella. “It's as if he never died!” exclaims Claire to her sister, Ophelia. She's talking about...
The courage to do what’s necessary
Courage, on and off the battlefield, was the theme of the annual Memorial Day service on the Common on May 30, presented by American Legion Post 5, VFW Post 1034, and Marine Corps League Detachment 798. With the sorrow over the loss of life from recent mass shootings at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., and at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, still fresh in everyone's heart, master of ceremonies Tom Costello, past commander of Post 5, led a service...
Not a chestnut: ATP opens 2022 season with ‘Morning’s at Seven’
Actors Theatre Playhouse opens its 2022 season with Morning's at Seven, Paul Osborn's comedy classic set in a small Midwestern town in the 1920s. This American play tells the story of the four Gibbs sisters, all of whom live within a stone's throw of one another. Now in their late 60s, the sisters and their husbands find themselves at a dramatic fork in the road. A website promoting the play for its recent New York revival describes the play as...