WHITINGHAM-DVFiber invites the community to celebrate the arrival of "wicked-fast" fiber internet with an ice cream social on Tuesday, April 23, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Whitingham Municipal Center, 2948 VT100, in Jacksonville.
The family-friendly event will feature an ice cream bar, and DVFiber representatives will be available to answer questions about service and construction.
DVFiber Executive Director Gabrielle Ciuffreda says Whitingham residents will soon be connected to high-speed Internet service for the first time. "With more than 200 customers in Readsboro and Stamford, we are delighted to be expanding our high-speed broadband network into neighborhoods in Whitingham."
The Deerfield Valley Communications Union District (DVCUD, dba DVFiber) is a community-owned, professionally managed and operated special-purpose municipality focused on providing affordable, reliable, and fast Internet service to all households and businesses in its 24 member towns.
BELLOWS FALLS-As part of Canal Street Art Gallery (CSAG)'s Inclusive and Accessible Art Action Plan, this spring the Atlantic Gallery at 548 West 28th St., Suite 540, in New York City presents CSAG's "Open," on view through May 4. The exhibit's opening reception is Thursday, April 18, from 6...
Brattleboro releases annual water quality report BRATTLEBORO - The Town of Brattleboro Water Department's annual Consumer Confidence Report/Water Quality Report for 2023 is available and can be viewed online at Brattleboro.gov under "Water Supply." Printed copies are available at the Department of Public Works, the Tri-Park Co-op Office, Guilford...
SAXTONS RIVER-"Semitones," artist Ricky McEachern's new gallery show at Main Street Arts (MSA), 32 Main St., opens with a reception on Saturday, April 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. Semitones will feature several new oil paintings by McEachern. The show will run from Thursday, April 25, to May 12. Gallery hours are Saturdays and Sundays, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. The paintings will be available for purchase. McEachern said that, with these works, he sought to express ideas inspired by...
BELLOWS FALLS-The Saxtons River Art Guild (SRAG) announces a one-day workshop given by Vermont watercolorist Robert J. O'Brien on Saturday, April 20, at the United Church of Bellows Falls, 8 School St., from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The theme of the workshop is "Spring Landscapes." Students will learn how to paint the subtle colors of spring using reference photos. Composition and painting light and shadow will be explored in this workshop. Class attendants should bring watercolors, paper, and a...
BRATTLEBORO-118 Elliot and Sparkles, the Giant Evil Clown, present "Smear Out the Difficulties," performed by The Turbulence Orchestra & Sub Units on Saturday, April 20, at 7:30 p.m. The Turbulence Orchestra is a large improvisational ensemble featuring more than a dozen musicians. The performance will begin with four improvisations by smaller groups. An hour-long improvisation follows with the full ensemble. This performance is part of 118 Elliot's dedication to nurturing nontraditional and experimental music that brings together local musicians with...
PUTNEY-On Thursday, April 18, at 6:30 p.m., at the Putney Public Library, the town of Putney will hold a community-wide meeting to present three possible alternatives for mitigating flood damage on Sand Hill Road and in Putney Village. In 2022, the town received a grant from the state of Vermont Flood Resilient Community Fund to study mitigating damage from flooding in the Sacketts Brook Wetland Complex from Putney Central School to the dam behind the Putney General Store. The quality...
DUMMERSTON-Clyde Johnson, best known as a veterinarian who retired from the Vermont–New Hampshire Veterinary Clinic, says that, although he was born in Pennsylvania, he came into the world mysteriously as a Vermonter. When asked how he came to live in the state, he shows his understated sense of humor by responding in sensible Vermont fashion. "In a car," he says. The Dummerston Historical Society has invited Johnson to speak on Sunday, April 21, at 2 p.m. about his years practicing...
BRATTLEBORO-The Vermont Jazz Center celebrates the vital role of the piano in the history of jazz by hosting its annual Solo Jazz Piano Festival on April 19 and 20. The artists headlining this year's festival are Hey Rim Jeon, Aaron Parks, Alfredo Rodriguez and Jacky Terrasson; emerging artists are Yujin Han and Mathew Mueller. On each night of the festival, two headlining pianists will present back-to-back solo sets starting at 7:30 p.m. April 19 will include performances by Hey Rim...
BRATTLEBORO-Near the end of the movie Golda, which was released for the 50th anniversary of the 1973 October War, or Yom Kippur War, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat ends the war by saying "Israel" for the first time - rather than "the Zionist entity" - giving recognition to the Jewish state. Wars begin as well as end with words. In our local newspapers, authors have begun to refer to Israel with terms such as "the Zionist project." Widely used in anti-Israel...
BELLOWS FALLS-This month, Bellows Falls Union High School will begin a partnership with the Jed Foundation, a national nonprofit, for a three-year program aimed at improving and safeguarding the emotional and mental health of students and preventing teen and young adult suicide. The Jed Foundation was established by Phil and Donna Satow following the death of their youngest son, Jed, by suicide in 1998, when he was in college. BFUHS and the Jed Foundation will collaborate on implementing a comprehensive...
BRATTLEBORO-Two artists have joined forces for an exhibition currently on view at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC). The exhibit features the original work by visual artist John Newsom created for hip-hop artist MC Killah Priest's 2023 album Forest of the Happy Ever After. In connection with the exhibition, which is titled "Painting the Forest of the Happy Ever After" and runs through June 16, Killah Priest will perform at Brattleboro's Stone Church on Tuesday, June 4, at 8...
BRATTLEBORO-Just a few days after she turned 24, Meara Seery of Brattleboro has been crowned Miss Vermont. "It is really special to feel all the support coming from all over the country," Seery said after her win, adding that friends all around the country watched the pageant unfold via livestream and her family was there in person. "It almost felt overwhelming how much love and support I've been receiving in the last few days," she continued. "My heartfelt thanks for...
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present roots and folk/rock quintet Session Americana with Eleanor Buckland, plus singer-songwriter Sam Robbins at Next Stage on Saturday, April 20, at 7:30 pm. Session Americana has been described as "a rock band in a tea cup, or possibly a folk band in a whiskey bottle." According to the news release, "The Boston-based band/collective of musician's musicians craft a musical experience unlike any other. On stage is a collapsible bar table wired with microphones,
College news • Noah Hirchi of Brookline recently received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. • Alejandro Toledo Cornman of Brattleboro and Michele Hartje of Wilmington were recently initiated into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society. Toledo Cornman was initiated at the University of Massachusetts, while Hartje was initiated at Sacred Heart University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. • The following local students were honored...
BRATTLEBORO-The Banned Books to Film series continues at Epsilon Spires, 190 Main St., on Sunday, April 21, with a screening of The Kite Runner, followed by a discussion led by Abdullah Hafizi and members of the artist collective The ArtLords. Doors open at 5 p.m., and the film begins at 5:15. Free admission will be granted to those who bring their library card or a copy of the book. Free Afghan cuisine, created by Taza, will be offered after the...
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Camerata presents "Make it a Place of Springs" Sunday, April 21, at the Brattleboro Music Center. This 4 p.m. concert will feature Renaissance-era and modern music exploring nature and the natural world. "Our spring program is all about nature, with pieces on swans, crickets, deer, seasons, flowers, trees, fleas, bees, and blue birds," Musical Director Jonathan Harvey said in a news release. "We're singing in English, Latin, Italian, and French to music from the Renaissance era as well...
BRATTLEBORO-Friday, April 19 - Night: Marlboro Road area and Western Avenue from the Chelsea Royal Diner on Marlboro Road to Melrose Street and Stockwell Drive. Water will be off for several hours on Carriage Hill, Yorkshire Circle, and Hampshire Circle. Saturday, April 20 - Night: Western Avenue from Edward Heights to I-91. Water will be off for several hours on Signal Hill, Hillcrest Terrace, Carriage Hill, Hampshire Circle, Yorkshire Circle, Greenleaf Street, Country Hill, Green Meadow, South Street, Thayer Ridge,
PUTNEY-Landmark College invites the public to a free reception on Friday, April 19, from 5 to 7 p.m. that celebrates three art exhibits currently on display on its Putney campus. The reception will take place in the Fine Arts Gallery, located in the Fine Arts Building on the southeast corner of campus. That space is hosting the "Integrated Arts Faculty Exhibition," and includes works by Landmark College faculty members Meg Baronian, Annie Ewaskio, Christie Herbert, Cynthia Ludlam, Humberto Ramirez, John...
BRATTLEBORO-The Commons invites the community to a panel discussion about Vermont's homelessness crisis and how it affects us all. Systemic problems (like lack of affordable housing, low wages, and cost of labor) and personal circumstances (like life-altering events) can cause anyone to become homeless. The discussion will center around a better understanding of what it means to be unhoused and how as a community we can come together to make change. The event, part of the newspaper's Voices Live! forum...
BRATTLEBORO-When I wrote in the Dec. 10, 2014, edition of The Commons that "Brattleboro, Vermont, now has three operating breweries," it was with an excitement that bordered on effusive. The then-recent opening of Hermit Thrush Brewery on High Street really put the town on an enviable map of craft beer brewing locations. Three breweries in a relatively small town? What could be better? Now there are none. Luckily, this is true only for the moment. The Whetstone Beer Company was...
-The Brattleboro Unified basketball team is off to a 4-0 start this season, with a 48-44 win over the Burr & Burton Bulldogs on April 9 at the BUHS gym and a 46-27 win over the Twin Valley Wildcats in Whitingham on April 11. While the first game between Twin Valley and Brattleboro at the BUHS gym on April 5 was a 38-36 nail-biter won by the Bears, Brattleboro kept the drama to a minimum in the April 11 rematch.
BRATTLEBORO-To everyone at the Multicultural Center: I want to express my profound thanks and appreciation for the amazing Global Talent and Fashion Show, an inspiring act of inclusion. One of its most poignant aspects was hearing you refer to the refugees from across the globe as New Vermonters. This stood out to me as a symbol of authentic inclusion, because it embraces all people, regardless of where they're from, regardless of their differences from each other. It truly celebrated the...
Don Hazelton's mind was in fine working order. But his body was failing him. "I'm not happy with what is going on inside my body," said Hazelton early in March, a couple months shy of his 94th birthday. Hazelton, in hospice care for many months, had decided to avail himself of Vermont's Act 39, known as Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life. Four days later, on March 8, a sunny, warm, spring day of his choosing, Hazelton...
Chuck Collins is co-editor of Inequality.org and author of the recent, Vermont-based novel Altar to an Erupting Sun. See the letter at fairsharevt.org/wealthy-letter. GUILFORD-As the Vermont Legislature debates how to pay for housing solutions - and Gov. Phil Scott laments that "there just isn't any money" - a group of 35 high-income Vermonters have suggested a path forward: raise their taxes. In a public letter to Vermont state legislators, they write: "As Vermonters who have economically prospered in our state,
Marc Schauber is executive director of the Coalition for Vermont Student Equity (CVTSE). WEST DOVER-Act 127, the 2022 law that corrected 25 years of injustice in our education funding system, is a good law. It allows all children in Vermont to receive an excellent education regardless of their background or ZIP code, all while supporting local control and decision-making. The bill that led to Act 127, S.287, passed committee reviews and then passed both the House and Senate with unanimous...
Peter Adair ([email protected]) is the creator of the stations of "Elemental Elders" (earth, water, life, air, fire) in the Sanctuary Garden. WESTMINSTER WEST-Thich Nhat Hahn, a revered Thai Buddhist monk and teacher, wrote, "The true miracle is not walking on water or walking in the air, but simply walking on this earth." Albert Einstein, the preeminent scientist of the 20th century, stated, "You can move through life seeing nothing as a miracle, or seeing everything as a miracle." Our luminous...