Nancy A. Olson
A master carver’s work gets a permanent home
PUTNEY-Ars longa, vita brevis. One translation of the Latin phrase is that craft takes a long time to learn, yet life is brief. In other words, mastery requires many hours; one lifetime is not long enough.
Some people come close, though, and Adam Wetzel, who died in June at age 86, was one of them. His carved birds show he was a master carver.
A simple, homelike beauty
‘Our Town’ explores eternal questions on BUHS stage
BRATTLEBORO-On Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18 and 19, the Brattleboro Union High School Players will present their production of Our Town by Thornton Wilder, a script that playwright Edward Albee called "probably the finest American play ever written so far." First produced in 1938, the play has provided thought-provoking...
‘The backbone of what we do’
Putney Community Cares to honor its volunteers at open house on Sept. 14
PUTNEY-Putney Community Cares will hold an Open House and Volunteer Appreciation Party on Saturday, Sept. 14, from 2 to 4 p.m., in the Laura Heller Community Barn at 54 Kimball Hill. "We want to celebrate not only our amazing volunteers, but also the improvements to our physical space," said...
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Brattleboro library staff wins an award for compassion
BRATTLEBORO-Each year since 2016, Compassionate Brattleboro (formerly the Brattleboro Interfaith Alliance) has recognized a person or persons who, motivated by the deepest compassion, provide quiet and unassuming service to others that is characterized by sincerity and creativity. This year's Unsung Heroes Award goes to the staff of Brooks Memorial Library. In the past, libraries were seen as places where you borrowed books and were told to be quiet. Today, Brooks Memorial Library offers not only books, but so much more,
A tireless foreign language teacher bids au revoir
BRATTLEBORO-After a varied teaching career of 33 years, Alice Charkes, language teacher, is retiring on June 14. Since 2007 she has taught French to all grades at Green Street School. "It's important to understand the pulse of whom you're teaching," she said. "You have to know who the American kid is in the 2020s. My approach is to teach kids stuff that they can access and use, or that relates to them. It has to be interesting and immediate and...
Gonna do their very best
Conflict between the generations is a given. The February production by the Brattleboro Union High School Players of the musical Mamma Mia! explores, through the songs of the pop group ABBA, the relationship between a single mother and her daughter. The show was a hugely popular 1999 stage hit and an acclaimed 2008 movie. The daughter, Sophie, is about to be married at her mother's taverna on the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi. She really wants to have her father...
Getting a second chance
Steven Haisley has developed a CBD-infused salve, which he has named Second Chance. That's because when he was offered a second chance, he took it. And it changed his life. "About 23 years ago, I got sober," he said. "I was one of those people you read about in the papers, time after time. I was on probation, and I was given a choice: jail or rehab. I chose rehab." Haisley had started coming to the Brattleboro area in his...
‘Unsung heroes’ use music to bring people together
Peter and Mary Alice Amidon, local performers and teachers of traditional music, dance, and storytelling, are the 2023 recipients of the Brattleboro Unsung Hero Award from Compassionate Brattleboro. The ceremony will be held on Tuesday, June 13, at 5:30 p.m., at Centre Congregational Church on Main Street. The citation describes them as “two remarkable musicians“ who have “sung so often and so beautifully for the living and the dying, for justice, love and compassion, for members of our community, both...