Tristan Roberts represents the Windham-6 district in the Vermont House of Representatives, where he has served on the House Corrections and Institutions committee.
HALIFAX-Dear friends,
Like you, I love my family and I love being a Vermonter.
I was prescribed, and took, a 0.5 mg pill of clonazepam nightly to suppress night terrors for four years, starting in 2011. It's a low dose, but I became habituated - as one does. I stopped cold turkey eight years ago this month and then used somatic therapy to...
Thank you to everyone who participated in the general election here in Windham-6. Thank you to each voter who considered my candidacy for state representative. Thank you to those who trusted me with your vote. I have all your voices, all your stories, with me as I pack for...
When knocking on doors as a candidate for Vermont State Representative for Windham-6, the most common question I get is, “Why are you running?” I love to talk and listen on the issues, but that's only one part of the equation. “What is your moral compass?” is a question I've been mulling over even more. Here's an answer to that - a story about a national tragedy and a hero of mine who has taught me a lot about showing...
Why don't we walk more? Anyone who can afford to do so drives a car most places in the U.S. Walking is a luxury activity for health or social reasons, not a mode of transportation. The folks who do walk to get somewhere are disproportionately poor, are vagrants, or are flying a sign. I work in sustainability, a field that looks deeply at practical obstacles to walking and mass transit. Today, I want to talk on an emotional level. In...
Can a person be too qualified to serve on the Brattleboro Food Co-op board? The BFC board thinks so. I really, really appreciate the board's service. Its members work tirelessly, and part of their job is to evaluate the job performance of the general manager. The board says that a senior staff person who reports to the GM would have “too great” a conflict of interest to serve in this capacity. A proposed bylaw change would exclude those people from...
I don't like the tactics of 17-year-old Rio Daims, who kept heifers waiting on hot pavement during last weekend's parade “die-in.” But what is her father, who isn't quoted and whose decade-old activism is unrelated, doing in your story? Sometime last century, newspapers started covering women in the news without mentioning their husbands. Will today's child activists get that much respect?
For the businesses who submitted the anonymous column on the impact of panhandling, I suggest that they begin speaking more openly. As a regular downtown business customer, I stand ready with my wallet to support any business willing to engage in an honest dialogue. Speaking out on a controversial topic is hard. All the more reason I will support any downtown business that puts skin in the game and signs their name to any opinion expressed respectfully. I don't know...