Issue #77

Homeward bound

Meditating on truth, life, and climate change on the open road

Homeless/Anything Helps/God Bless is printed in charcoal on a torn piece of cardboard.

    I am getting off Interstate 91 at Exit 1 this October afternoon. Clouds scuttle across the sky. The bare branches of the trees reach up like thin arms. The owner of the sign bends over to light a cigarette.

    He jots down something with a pencil on a scrap of white paper. He does not look at the cars that stop at the red light. He is not angry or anxious. He is waiting, a character in Beckett.

    He is interested to see what will happen next.  Conditions will change; he does not need to study meditation to know that. Minute by minute, he balances.

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What would the regulations look like?

The Vermont Initiative for Massage Standards has created a draft bill that suggests what regulation would look like. If it is defined by Vermont statute, this authority would include the following elements: § Office of professional regulation a. The director shall: 1. Provide general information to applicants for licensure...

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Our war crimes in a dream

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Vermont herbalist shares history of herbal medicine at Brooks Memorial Library

Herbalist Rosemary Gladstar will explain the past and current significance of herbalism in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library at 7 p.m. on Dec. 1.  The talk, “The History of Herbal Medicine in America,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays lecture series. Just what did the early American pioneers rely on for health and healing? How did they survive the ills of the day with just herbs and potions in their medicine cupboards? Are any of these...

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Cotton Mill artisans open their doors for annual holiday event

A heightened sense of camaraderie is filling the halls of Cotton Mill these days as craftspeople, musicians, dancers, circus performers and painters get ready for the fifth annual Open Studio and Holiday Sale. Last year, about 2,000 people came to the open house. This year, it  will be held on Friday, Dec. 3, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., on Saturday, Dec. 4, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Dec. 5, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The...

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Milestones

Obituaries Editor's note: The Commons will publish brief biographical information for citizens of Windham County and others, on request, as community news,  free of charge. • Nancy Atkins Aldrich, 59, of Westminster West. Died Nov. 14 at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. Daughter of Ralph and the late Mary “Kay” Hamil Atkins. Wife of Donald Aldrich for 35 years. Mother of Stephen Aldrich and his wife, Rosalie, of Terre Haute, Ind.; Jonathan Aldrich and Chelsey St. Martin of Belmont, Mass.; and Zachary...

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Yes, it gets better: But some kids can’t wait

The recent explosion of news stories about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered youth who have committed suicide after being bullied or harassed has rightfully sparked outrage and calls for change in public and private circles across the nation. While I certainly do not fault the media for giving attention to these events, I feel it's important to put the entire bullying issue in perspective before it gets chased out of the 24-hour news cycle by the next trendy tragedy. Bullying...

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World AIDS Day vigil set for Dec. 1 at River Garden

Windham County will mark World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 with a vigil and program at the River Garden, 153 Main St., from noon-1 p.m. This event is co-sponsored by the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, the Vermont Department of Health, and CHABHA (Children Affected by HIV/AIDS). World AIDS Day is celebrated on Dec. 1 each year around the world. It has become one of the most recognized international health days and a key opportunity to raise awareness, commemorate those...

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Arts calendar

Performing arts • “The Fever” at the Hooker Dunham: The Fever, an award-winning play by Wallace Shawn, will be performed at the Hooker-Dunham Theater, 139 Main St., Brattleboro, on Dec. 4, 10, and 11 at 8 p.m., and on Sunday, Dec. 12 at 3 p.m.  The latter performance is a benefit for Loaves and Fishes hot meal site, served twice weekly in Memorial Hall, Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St. Shawn, actor and playwright, is known for his movie My...

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Creating a downtown junction for the arts

A recent study commissioned by Burlington developer Melinda Moulton and conducted by public policy analyst Doug Hoffer found that the annual total economic impact of the arts industry in Vermont is $443.5 million and that it is directly responsible for nearly 4,400 jobs. Arts? Industry? If seeing those two words together in the same sentence seems jarring, Kate Anderson of the Arts Council of Windham County and the Brattleboro Town Arts Committee says it shouldn't be. In her mind, any...

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Ellis cracks Top 50 at New England cross country meet

Brattleboro's Jacob Ellis capped off a splendid season as the Colonels' top cross country athlete with a 47th place finish on Nov. 13 at the 76th annual New England Cross Country Championships, held this year at Thetford Academy. Ellis,  a junior who qualified for this meet for the third straight year with a sixth-place finish in the Vermont State Championships, hoped to improve upon his time of 18 minutes, 4 seconds that he ran two weeks earlier on a muddy...

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Cotton Mill Open House schedule

Friday • Art glass at Solinglass (third floor-A328). 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Watch molten glass being transformed into magnificent art objects.  • Art and film by Mutsu Crispin (third floor-A334). All day. Exhibit of new visual art work and film in progress. • Circus at New England Center for Circus Arts (third floor-A300).  10 a.m.–noon, watch their Professional Training program students in rehearsal, meet with one of the coaches for information on circus training, performing careers and more. • Dance at...

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Windham County Reads hosts half-price book sale

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Digitizing history

An old man stands on top of a high haystack looking down at the camera. His chest-length silver beard curls around his mouth, and his lips curve up. Behind him a Vermont hillside, manicured by agriculture, stretches to the horizon. A young woman watches the camera through wire-rimmed glasses, her chin tilted slightly and her long hair piled on top of her head. Her light summer dress shines against the darkness of her telephone operator's room. A 1911 directory hangs...

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Massage regulation touches a nerve

Vermont is one of only seven states that do not regulate massage therapists. Professional licensing is not required. No recourse for complaints or censure exists, and Vermont has no registry that citizens can access to check basic education and licensing, or to see whether clients have complained about any particular massage therapist. “In Vermont, we have a lot of really wonderful massage therapy practitioners who deserve recognition for the work they do,” said Eve Baker, a massage therapist licensed in...

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Project Feed the Thousands launches 2010 campaign

Project Feed the Thousands has kicked off its 17th year of collecting non-perishable food items, personal care items and cash donations on behalf of more than 12,000 people who face hunger in southeastern Vermont and southwestern New Hampshire. The Project invites local business, community, school and church leaders, as well as the public, to help with the drive - which runs through Dec. 31 - with food drop-off locations at many area grocery stores and businesses. This year, the Project...

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The time for giving is every day of the year

The start of the holiday season is traditionally a time that people become aware of the need to give to others. The food collection bins for Project Feed the Thousands showed up earlier this month at local grocery stores. The two biggest food shelves in Windham County, Our Place in Bellows Falls and the Brattleboro Drop-In Center, are distributing food nearly as fast as they receive donations. And it's clear that the Deerfield Valley Food Pantry, the Townshend Community Food...

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New BMH family practitioners now taking patients

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Show me the money… and the regulation

H2O participants say state and federal law allows for the formation and funding of health care co-ops, but funding remains an “elusive piece” for the initiative, says insurance consultant Hilary Cooke. In addition to mandating the purchase of health insurance advocating mainstream medicine, he said, the law also provides “statutory exemptions from the mandate to purchase health insurance for those with minority religious and spiritual beliefs and provisions favorable for health ministries and new health co-ops.” There is also a...

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Lots of laughter for a good cause

Standing in front of a sea of tables set with pale blue tablecloths and baskets of donated flowers, Make-A-Wish Foundation of Vermont event coordinator Barbara Harris is attempting to give direction to her waitstaff. “Each table has a number and the diner's dinner choice will be written on a name card they place on your table,” shouts Harris, to the jolly crew assembled before her at the Brattleboro Eagles hall on a recent Saturday evening. It is proving to be...

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The waste is here. Now what?

Alongside rivers and lakes, on ocean shores and in tidal bays, in other vulnerable places, nearly 63,000 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste - which will remain dangerous for longer than currently recorded history - sits in temporary storage. In some cases, it's been there for decades. And it's almost certain to remain for decades longer, scattered around 33 states. Some of that waste is squeezed into small pools housed inside flimsy buildings; some sits outside in storage containers never...

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Guilford announces schedule for 250th anniversary celebration

A few of Vermont's oldest towns have already commemorated their 250th anniversaries, with more preparing to do so. Typically, these celebrations have occupied a full weekend. But Guilford is having a yearlong birthday party in 2011. Although Guilford was chartered as early as its neighboring towns, in 1754, a quirk of modern history has resulted in what at first glance appears to be a 7-year delay in the 250th. Guilford celebrated its bicentennial in 1961, a weekend-long series of events.

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Health care in your own hands

Like many people, Cheryl Connor doesn't care for her health insurance or what she sees as regulatory bias against alternative health care. So she and others have come up with a model for people of like minds that could appeal to a wide range of the community, from reiki practitioners to libertarians: to create their own community-owned and operated health insurance. In the scramble to develop health-care delivery options in the wake of the federal health care reform bill and...

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Bi-Town Economic Development efforts move broadband plans forward in the Deerfield Valley

At a joint meeting of the Dover and Wilmington Selectboards, Bi-Town Economic Development Planner Bill Colvin and Dover Economic Specialist Patrick Moreland both said progress is being made on improving broadband and cell service in the Deerfield Valley. “There's a lot of moving parts,” said Colvin during his quarterly presentation to the boards. The Dover and Wilmington Selectboards tasked Colvin and Moreland with improving cell phone and broadband or high-speed Internet access in the valley. It is goal number one...

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