Cal Glover-Wessel
After Planet Hank’s hateful posts, no more plausible deniability
Cal Glover-Wessel grew up in Brattleboro and lives here again after a few years of doing humanitarian work on the southern border.
Please, call me ‘they’
The first time someone called me ‘they’ I didn’t feel erased or dehumanized but rather elated — finally aligned with who I always was all along.
I found Jo Schneiderman's piece about her issues with the use of “they/them” as an alternative to gendered pronouns to be written respectfully and, in telling her story, she provided a valuable context for her issues with “they/them” as a pronoun. However, I hope to provide a further context...
Judgment without context
Fancy phones, public assistance, and the temptation to shame the poor among us
I've heard people - almost always people who were never poor or ever had to go on welfare or food stamps - complain up a storm over someone they saw at the supermarket using food stamps who had a nicer phone than they did. From that one event, they...
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Dirty old town
There's still poop dust all up and down Frost Street. You'd think the rain would have washed it away, but all it does is pack it down so it doesn't blow away, so that next time the sun comes out it can dry up again and mosey on right through your window every time a car rolls by. That's Brattleboro. It's a bizarre, dirty old town where the most expensive restaurant can sit right across the street from an unfinished...
Is there truly nothing else|for the police to be doing?
The police harassment issue has gone from a slightly amusing nuisance to a downright menace. Allow me to explain. You might have heard of an incident where a group of teenagers were told to, and I quote, “Stop sitting on benches.” by the police [“A decree - nay, a demand - to remove Brattleboro benches,” The Commons, July]. Today, I witnessed an incident tantamount in its ridiculousness. An officer of the law, one M. Gorman, and another officer whose name...