Nancy Braus
On abortion, the numbers don’t lie
It is clear that the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court caught the Republicans completely off guard, even though they have been working to take away the rights of women since before they killed the Equal Rights Amendment.
The Right must have thought that stealing the basic rights to bodily autonomy and to determining the size of one's own family would be upsetting at first, but then we would all get over it. The pundits always say that Americans have a short span of attention, especially when it comes to politics, so it appears that the forced birthers didn't have a clue about the buzzsaw they were about to confront.
To be critical of the Israeli state is not antisemitism
'This attack came at a time when those who represent the right in both Israel and the United States seem to accept and encourage more creative cruelty every day'
Recently, in my bookstore in Brattleboro, a belligerent man came blustering up to the front desk to yell at us for displaying a Black Lives Matter sign in our window. Why? Because he claimed that Black Lives Matter stands for murdering "my people" at this terrible time. My staff...
Lessons from an old, sick dog's crazy adventure
On Friday, Sept. 8, many in the area experienced an amazing thunderstorm - possibly one of the most intense lightning strikes that I can ever remember. We have a very old, very large, disabled dog. Luke generally spends 23 hours a day asleep - he takes an occasional mosey...
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No housing bargains today. Or housing.
Recently, I read a story about a family of four - granted, two were very young - who were so excited about all the money they were saving living in a tiny house. I read another story about a young man who had no cash, so he has tricked out a semi-truck interior. The previous week, it was a renovated shipping container from Lowe's; the week before, it was a fully fixed-up ancient school bus. Some of these projects look...
In support of Dover library director
John Flores was the librarian at the Dover Free Library for 24 years. He has been a dedicated community servant, putting on creative and interesting programs and thoughtfully buying books locally whenever possible. In June, John was fired from the library with no cause. After 24 years, he was escorted out of his former workplace like a criminal. No notice. No "thank you for your service." Just walked out as if he was a thief. In the news article in...
A book ban backlash
About 15 years ago, many of us bookstore owners wondered if we were still relevant. The behemoth Amazon was attempting to recreate the destruction of the record shop. Some independent booksellers even closed preemptively. Some stores actually joined in the e-book "revolution," trying to sell an alternative to the big bully's product, but Amazon retained a firm grip on e-books. I made up my mind early: we would not be a digital portal. We would be there for our community...
Funding road work and not emergency housing: shameful
Every time we drive or bike on Route 30, the $27 million dollar pricetag for rebuilding a functional road shows off the state's priorities. Many commuters on Route 30 have expressed the sentiment that the road was perfectly adequate, as were the replaced guardrails. Cars rule. At the same moment, the state has decided that thousands of the poorest and least able Vermonters are to be tossed onto the curb like yesterday's trash. The lack of funding for emergency housing...
Where are the bike lanes in Brattleboro?
Just as the repaving of Route 9 in Brattleboro did not yield so much as an inch of bike lanes, now we have the state pouring huge amounts of money into Route 30: new guard rails, paving, etc. Where are the bike lanes? I was in the Burlington area this summer: beautiful bike lanes. I just drove on Route 9 in western Massachusetts: brand new bike lanes. Why is Brattleboro the last place in New England to have any bike...