Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) is honoring 107 young artists and writers from across the state recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for their exceptional artistic and literary talent.
The students’ artwork and writing will be exhibited at BMAC from Saturday, Feb. 18, to Saturday, March 4, culminating in an awards ceremony at noon. The awards ceremony is free and open to the public.
Visual artist, graffiti scholar, and educator Will Kasso Condry, winner of last year’s inaugural Vermont Prize, will deliver the keynote address.
The award program recognizes aspiring visual artists and writers nationwide. Each year, students in grades 7–12 are invited to submit works in dozens of categories, including ceramics, digital art, painting, photography, poetry, science fiction, and personal essay/memoir.
Kindergarten registration begins in BrattleboroBRATTLEBORO — If you have a child who will be five years old by Sept. 1, 2023, it is time to sign up for kindergarten for the 2023–24 school year. To register, visit wsesu.org and click on Enrollment under Services. All forms are there to...
All three open seats on the Selectboard here will see races on Town Meeting Day on Tuesday, March 7. Incumbent Elizabeth McLoughlin is being challenged by former Selectboard member Richard DeGray for a three-year seat, while incumbent Jessica Gelter is vying with four other candidates for two one-year seats.
College news • Grace Wilkinson of Bellows Falls, Lucy Daly of Jamaica, and Annabelle Gray of Londonderry were all named to the Dean’s List for the fall 2022 semester at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. • The following local students were honored for academic achievement in the fall 2022 semester at Community College of Vermont. Named to the President’s List were Wyatt Schaefer of Bellows Falls; Paige Mellish, Noah Morgan, and Avery Witman of Brattleboro; Alysa Morse of Putney, Julie...
With the Vermont State House full of newcomers — roughly one-third of the legislators are first-termers this year — House Majority Leader Emily Long has her work cut out for her. The Newfane Democrat is now in her fifth term in Montpelier, where she represents her hometown of Newfane, plus Townshend and Marlboro. This is her second term as House Majority Leader — a job, she says, that requires her to keep the legislative process humming along. “The majority leader...
The Collegiate A Cappella Concert is returning to Brattleboro for the 19th year. This benefit for the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC), will take place at the Latchis Theatre on Saturday, April 15, at 7:30 p.m. The new lineup features The Dartmouth Sings, Shades of Yale, UMass Vocal Suspects, Vassar Devils, Villanova Supernovas, and Williams College Ephlats. Traveling to Brattleboro from around the East Coast, the groups will fill the Latchis Theatre with a variety of musical styles, ranging...
Heather Waryas is coordinator of Bellows Falls Union High School’s Work Based Learning Program, which put students into actual work situations to learn the skills needed to develop a career. The work-based learning idea is not new — students have apprenticed in the community for centuries. It has had any number of names, depending on the culture or country: apprenticeship, internship, on-the-job training, work integrated training, vocational education, and others. But this ancient training technique just might be part of...
The Brattleboro Music Center’s Chamber Music Series features “Celebrating Valentine’s with Love Songs Old & New” with British baritone Roderick Williams, accompanied by pianist Yi-Heng Yang, Thursday, Feb. 16. The 7 p.m. concert at the BMC will include works by Robert Schumann, Roger Quilter, Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Josephine Lang, Caroline Shaw, and more. Williams performs in concerts and recitals, encompassing a repertoire from the baroque to world premieres. In 2016, he won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer of the...
Leland & Gray held its annual Hoops for Hope fundraiser on Feb. 10 and 11. The event, now in its seventh year, is a fundraiser where all proceeds from the games went toward scholarships named in memory of community members Ann Chapman, Lexy Giallella, and Arthur E. Monette. Players and coaches in both the games wore the Hoops for Hope T-shirts during warmups, and all proceeds from donations, T-shirt sales, and various raffles during the games went toward the scholarship...
The Stockwell Brothers and Oregon-based Fellow Pynins will perform at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill in Putney, on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present this evening of contemporary folk and bluegrass music from near and far. Bruce, Barry, Alan, and Kelly Stockwell’s music spans traditional and progressive styles, but their acoustic sound features new singer-songwriter material recast with banjo, alternative rhythms, and three-part harmonies. Featuring 2005 Merlefest bluegrass banjo contest winner Bruce...
Main Street Arts (MSA), 35 Main Street, will present a series of four workshops in which actors have the opportunity to “play” with the works of the Bard. John Hadden, director of MSA’s Hamlet last summer, will hold the workshops on Sunday afternoons in February and March. The three-hour sessions are open to actors of all levels. Participants will begin with short monologues and move on to excerpts of scenes. The workshops will include work on speeches, simple group exercises,
The public is invited to stop by the Guilford Community Park site Monday, Feb. 20 (President’s Day), and Tuesday, Feb. 21, to watch the timber frame Pavilion raised by builders from Vermont Natural Homes, who will be using a large crane. A bonfire will be lit both days, with soups and baguettes provided for all onlookers. Dunham Rowley is chair of the committee that has worked for over a year on the plans to build a park complete with green...
The Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs and the House Committee on General and Housing will hold a public hearing on Thursday, Feb. 16, starting at 5 p.m. The committees will hear testimony concerning the state of housing in Vermont. The hearing takes place in Room 267 of the Pavilion Building at 109 State St. It will be available to watch live on YouTube at bit.ly/702-housing-hearing. Written testimony is encouraged and can be submitted at [email protected] or...
It would be inspiring if Vermont were once again a national leader in health care reform efforts. When Peter Shumlin was governor in the 2010s, reform activism was at a high point, and the possibility of Vermont becoming the first state to implement a single-payer system seemed real. When his administration ran the numbers, after costly studies were done, Shumlin decided that it was not politically feasible to move ahead, and health care reform died in Vermont. A bill now...
As soon as the 2023-24 Legislative session began, lawmakers started hearing from town clerks, Selectboards, school board members, town school committee members, and other citizens to pass H.42 (“An act relating to temporary alternative procedures for annual municipal meetings and electronic meetings of public bodies,” signed into law on Jan. 25) — and do it ASAP. Please note the key phrase in the title of the bill: “temporary alternative.” These are temporary alternatives to how we recognize health and safety...
I write as someone who is not a landlord but as someone who has the honor of knowing some amazing local folks who are, in fact, landlords. In reading about the different perspectives on the proposed charter change, I feel sad and concerned. I am concerned for our most vulnerable citizens, but I am also concerned that this measure will hurt more than it helps. Let me start by saying that it is categorically unfair and inaccurate to group our...
I have read everything I could find about the proposed “just cause eviction” amendment to the Brattleboro Town Charter. Today, I feel certain I know where I stand; tomorrow, I will stand on the other side. One day, I am swayed by the arguments of tenants, and the next day I am swayed by the arguments of landlords. Both sides’ stories are compelling, but all I’ve seen so far are stories and anecdotes. The numbers would help me (and perhaps...
Brattleboro has thousands of rental housing units and hundreds of housing providers. The providers who bought their units as investments are overwhelmingly local people — middle-class people — who generally own one, two, four, maybe six, units in a building or two. They often depend on the rents as their means of livelihood or as supplements to their Social Security. The recent publicity about the Westbrook apartment complex, purchased by a Boston-based corporation, in West Brattleboro is an anomaly. While...
Our community is experiencing many changes and challenges. Lack of workers, rising rent and ownership costs, increased traffic flow, new regulations to incorporate into our lives, health care issues, rising food and fuel costs — the list goes on. Cristine White has the skills to help Newfane navigate these times. Her business background, lifelong history of community involvement, and her desire to connect with people make her an excellent candidate. Please vote for Cristine White for Selectboard.
Once upon a time, there was a woman who was single. She had children whom she loved and lived nearby. Once upon a time, there was a man. He was also single. He was very kind. One day the woman began a job in a love-enchanted forest of tents. They were made of all the textures of the Earth. Their colors flowed from the cerulean blue of the summer sky to the vibrant orange of the autumn leaves. She kept...
Newfane will return to an in-person town meeting at Williamsville Hall on Tuesday, March 7, and I’m glad of it. The meeting will start at 9 a.m. and most likely end by noon. Three hours. It’s true that attendance at Annual Town Meeting has been dwindling in recent years, and many voters blame this decline on the time and day of the meeting — a morning in the middle of the work week. It’s also true that there’s been robust...
Residents, teachers, and students turned out in recent weeks to persuade the Bellows Falls Union High School and Windham Northeast Supervisory Union (WNESU) boards to reinstate Principal John Broadley, who in a letter last month announced that he will not seek to renew his contract. The larger-than-normal turnouts at the board meetings on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 saw parents express concern about interruptions and continuity for their children as Broadley joins a number of employees leaving the district since...
Dear fellow Marlboro Residents, We are writing to you as members of the Marlboro community and also as two current members of the Marlboro School Board. The opinions expressed in this letter are ours alone and are not meant to represent the thinking of the entire board. The ballots have now been mailed for the 2023 Marlboro School District voting, and we hope that you will join us in voting no on Article 10 on the upcoming school district warning.
I read with interest about Brattleboro’s proposed charter change to limit rent increases to 12% per year to avoid throwing tenants out due to rent increases. I propose an addition to this amendment: since rents may not be increased by 12%, property taxes (which affect renters as well as homeowners) may not go up by more than 12% in a year. Let’s look at causes for rent increases ... all causes.
Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) voters will see three races for school board directors in the Tuesday, March 7 election. One candidate is running unopposed for a fourth seat on the board. Kimberly Price and Jaci Reynolds are vying to represent Brattleboro in the three-year seat being vacated by Emily Murphy-Kaur. Also, Robin Morgan — appointed last fall to the seat held by David Schoales, who resigned in October — is being challenged to complete the one year remaining on...
On Saturday, Feb. 18, Epsilon Spires will present a multisensory evening featuring one of the most valuable culinary ingredients in the world — the truffle. The event begins with a screening of the 2020 documentary The Truffle Hunters, which explores the threatened cultural traditions of people in northern Italy who gather the underground fruiting body. A three-course vegetarian meal will incorporate fresh black winter truffles from southern France and estate-grown olive oil infused with Italian white truffles. Trufflin, a Black-owned...
For nearly 32 years, Susan Dedell has pumped the organ, plied the piano keys, and shaped the choirs — and musical landscape — of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. And now she’s moving on, after a rousing, big-hearted sendoff. The St. Michael’s community was joined Jan. 14 by many from the region and beyond to celebrate more than three decades of Dedell’s music directorship at the 170-year-old church on Bradley Avenue. Among familiar faces from a rich past were the Rev.