Diana Whitney
‘I never regretted the abortion’
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, I took my rage and grief downtown, protesting on the street corner by the Co-op with 100 other supporters of reproductive freedom. We understood it was a symbolic action. Roe was gone and would not be coming back; Christian extremists had been working tirelessly for this day for 50 years.
But we knew it was essential to gather in solidarity and community, to show we would not go meekly into a post-Roe future. We would resist the decimation of our rights at the hands of six pro-religion justices.
Balint: champion of reproductive rights
I've never been more frightened for the future of girls and women in our country. Having Becca Balint as a champion of reproductive rights gives me hope. I support Becca Balint in the primary race for Vermont's only Congressional seat. As the mother of two teen daughters, I trust...
Dever: commitment to social justice and anti-racism
Our local schools are facing challenges that extend far beyond the pandemic. In the past six months, students at Brattleboro Area Middle School and Brattleboro Union High School have endured hate speech, racial bullying, threats of violence, and a gun on campus. There have been allegations of sexual assault...
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No patient should face protesters while accessing health care
For the past few months, students from Thomas Aquinas College have been driving up from Northfield, Mass., to downtown Brattleboro to protest our local Planned Parenthood. On Tuesday afternoons, as many as 60 protesters arrive with anti-abortion signs, chalking the sidewalks with judgment, making High Street a hostile place for any person seeking health care at the clinic. Planned Parenthood offers a wide range of health care services - from well-person visits and cancer screenings to birth control consultations and...
Addressing institutional betrayal
We write to you as concerned members of the community, parents of students, and graduates/former students of the district and Brattleboro Union High School. Since the publication of Mindy Haskins Rogers' article in The Commons [“No more secrecy,” Viewpoint, Aug. 11] detailing years of grooming and abuse at BUHS, we have been actively involved in discussions about healing and accountability. Some of us participated in the School Board meeting on Aug. 24, and we seek to be both resources to...
Let them go skiing
I was expecting a ghost town when I dropped my 13-year-old daughter off at Okemo on a recent Sunday. I'd been working from home for months, only seeing the occasional friend for a walk, and assumed most Vermonters were similarly wary of public spaces during the pandemic. So it was shocking to drive up to the mountain and see crowds waiting in the lift lines and cars swarming the parking lots, many of them with out-of-state plates. Through the lodge...
Boys behaving badly
In the wake of the Weinstein “revelations” and the millions of #MeToo stories shared online, the national conversation about sexual harassment is rising to a fever pitch as more powerful men are called out on their misconduct. During this time I've been watching the youngest generation of males, dismayed by what I've seen. Many of my friends have sons, and they are lovely lads who treat others with decency. No, I'm talking about the boys who mouth off to girls...
Touching danger
Afterward, I wondered whether my father understood there was danger at the Afghan border. My father thrived on adventure. He had joined the Merchant Marine at age 16 and later driven his blue Alfa Romeo across Europe and a battered VW bus through the Serengeti. He was famous for making ill-considered decisions and delighted in emerging untouched from disaster. When I was a baby in England, he'd taken my mother out in a tiny sailboat and nearly capsized in a...