On a grey, chilly Saturday morning in early October, a large handful of people - 10 to 20, a number that fluctuated throughout the day - were busily painting a mural, an activity of the Frost-Elliot-Elm-Triangle Neighbors group (FEET) designed to spur community engagement.
To the FEET members, it appeared that many in the neighborhood were not aware of the event. While a few people stopped and asked about the mural, many passersby were uninterested when invited to come and paint a bit.
In the year and a half since it formed, the organization has held a few events and created some change in the neighborhood, but they had yet to spark the community's interest. Broadly speaking, residents are intrigued by the idea of a stronger community in their area, but the vision and actions of FEET have yet to lead the neighborhood to fall in stride with the organizers.
The recent early-morning stabbing of a juvenile on Elm Street has brought attention back to the mixed perceptions of the neighborhood's identity and highlights a call for clarification of the area's identity and the community's goals.
In response to a 3-percent decrease in membership in 2011, the Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce is expanding its efforts in reaching out to its community. Chamber Executive Director Jerry Goldberg called the decline “part of a growing trend among Chambers around the country. We were lucky to have...
On the afternoon of Oct. 15, my roommate and I arrived at Piazza della Republica just before 2 p.m. to find the people excited and the police anxious. The email from my school in Rome warned us to expect 50,000 people and a fair amount of violence. As the...
Last week, kids from the five boroughs of New York City came to Brattleboro to participate in the Fresh Air Fund. Celebrating its 135th year, the Fresh Air Fund is an opportunity for disadvantaged kids to experience life outside of the city. “The Fund is a private organization that began in 1877 by pastor to give kids from boroughs of New York the experience of the country,' explained Tom Kosiba, the Windham region coordinator. “It was started with an interest...
For the second year in a row, the Brattleboro Boys & Girls Club is hosting the Going the Distance ride to raise money for the club. A total of seven cyclists - three new, four returning - will start at the Canadian border and ride 200 miles down the length of the state along the Connecticut River Valley before finishing in Brattleboro. Dr. Robert Nassau, board president, is one of the returning riders, along with Chris Chapman, Jim Robinson, and...
Housing international students has been an easy way for Americans to connect with the international community for decades, but one must wonder: Why, exactly, do families in the States want to open their houses to someone who is a complete stranger? Why would a student want to stay with a family about whom they know nothing? And, when the program is over, what does one really gain? The Program of Academic Exchange (PAX), Brattleboro's local exchange program, is one of...
As the Vermont economy continues to slowly recover from the current recession, there is still one big elephant in the living room: the housing market. With apartment prices still high, it's difficult to find affordable living situations in the Brattleboro area. The solution for many is to share an apartment, or find a homeowner open to sharing his living space with other tenants. But while sharing a living space makes economic sense, the human equation may not always add up.
When I moved to Brattleboro for school this past August, I became intrigued by how the gay scene compared to the one in my home in Chicago. The first result of a quick Google search came up with information for the Brattleboro Men's Program, an offshoot of the AIDS Project of Southern Vermont. This was very telling, especially when the other results are taken into account; all of them were focused around the sex-based aspects of homosexuality. I couldn't find...