The story is horrifying: Our hospital turning away a 99-year-old man with two broken arms.
I have read on the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital website that every hospital staff member is an advocate for the patient. Really?
Elayne Clift rightly challenges the BMH CEO to take responsibility. Lofty silence from Steve Gordon is not acceptable.
...After relocating from New York City to Brattleboro in the early 1980s, my then-partner, now-wife Donna and I found ourselves feeling somewhat isolated. To our surprise, we felt unwelcome by our town's “alternative community.” With one or two exceptions, we found that the Common Ground Collective members - whom...
Every family has secrets. Mine had more than its share. If there were a way that my mother could have avoided telling me about Aunt Rose, I am sure that I would never had found out about her. Rose had been in Rockland Psychiatric Center since 1930, when her...
I plan a short, peaceful vigil at the Brattleboro post office on my 70th birthday. That should pretty much be a non-event in Brattleboro, where vigils and other expressive activity has regularly taken place on outdoor post office property for decades. But recent threats of arrest for expressive behavior on outdoor Brattleboro post office property does make this one a bit special. Every Saturday morning for the past 12-plus years, Parker Huber has stood with a sign, “Silent Witness for...
The beautiful animation of Ernest & Celestine, based on the beloved books of Belgian writer and artist Gabrielle Vincent (1928–2000), captured an Academy Award nomination for best animation. But it's the adaptation of Vincent's brilliant storytelling that has turned this film into an instant classic, a poignant and joyful crowd-pleaser for every age. Subtle messages that could have been clichés, such as “we are all connected,” are conveyed as lightly as feathers or snowflakes drifting on a breeze, imperceptibly touching...
In 2004, the Angel of Death paid me a visit and gave me a close brush. As it turned out, he was not there to reap, but to teach. My ordeal began when doctors attempted what was supposed to have been a routine catheterization. My blood started to clot uncontrollably, and only the skill and dedication of the surgeon in an emergency bypass operation saved my life. I had a then-undiagnosed hereditary predisposition to clot easily, further complicated by a...
The following is an open letter to Ken Schneck. Ken, I signed your nominating petition, and I voted for you, putting aside concerns about whether it is prudent to give the responsibility of a three-year seat on the Brattleboro Selectboard to a person who has lived here for barely four years. My doubts were not only about whether you are a “seven-day wonder” who may fade as swiftly as he appeared, but also about a lack of institutional memory. Not...
Choosing which candidate to vote for is always a risk. Once elected, your candidate might disappoint you, so I never endorse a candidate, because that would be urging others to join in my gamble. With that understood, I shall discuss my choices for the two one-year Brattleboro Selectboard seats. My choices are guided by the idea that improving the way the Selectboard functions is more important than whether I am likely to agree with the candidates' positions on particular issues.