Brattleboro Area Hospice will host a Death Café on Tuesday, June 3, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Valley Café in the Square in downtown Bellows Falls.
The event is an opportunity for community members to come together in a comfortable setting to discuss a wide variety of topics surrounding death and dying. The format is informal, and the event is free. Space may be limited, so RSVP.
The increasingly popular Death Café is part of an international movement (www.deathcafe.com) that started in Europe a decade ago. Its purpose: take the topic of death out of the closet and to offer an opportunity for people to talk.
A Death Café is not a support group, a counseling session, or a workshop. Rather, it's a gathering of community members in a relaxed atmosphere, sipping drinks, enjoying a comforting snack, and sharing engaging, thought-provoking and life-affirming conversation.
Ready to dig into your garden and start dividing plants? Have your houseplants wild over the winter? Consider donating greenery to the Friends of the Rockingham Library for them to sell at their annual Plant Sale, Saturday, May 31, from 8 a.m. to noon. Houseplants, landscaping plants and shrubs,
Advocates dedicated to preventing alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use traveled from across Vermont to spend April 30 at the Vermont State House to celebrate Prevention Day. The annual event was organized by Prevention Works! Vermont, a network of community coalitions from across the state working to decrease the...
College news • Andrew Jenzer of Brattelboro was awarded a Doctor of Dental Science from the School of Dentistry during Creighton University's commencement ceremony on May 17 in Omaha, Neb. • Benjamin Wilson of Putney recently graduated from Champlain College in Burlington. Wilson received a bachelor's degree in computer science and innovation. • Elizabeth Cohen of Putney graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. degree from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. • Kristin Laura Worden of Vernon graduated from...
In local filmmaker Kiera Lewis's upcoming documentary “Dates For Coffee,” the viewer is reminded things are not always as they seem. Seemingly innocuous cultural differences can lead to dangerous misunderstandings. The title alone has disparate meanings, depending on one's background. For many Americans, “dates for coffee” often means planned, informal social engagements occurring outside of the home, to perform work or share information. The activity conforms with the American story of hard work, success, and individualism. In the Arab world,
Twilight Music begins its 12th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, June 1 with Simba. Simba features blazing horns and scorching percussion on a highly danceable mix of funk, Latin, reggae, world beat, soca calypso, ska, jazz and blues. The eight-member band has been together 25 years and includes Charlie Schneeweis, Wim Auer, Steve Sonntag, Derrik Jordan, Dan DeWalt, Johnny Yuma, Steve Leicach...
With Division I playoffs looming, the Brattleboro Colonels' girls lacrosse team is in a bit of a slump, having suffered three straight losses, two of them by very close margins. After dropping a 9-8 game to East Longmeadow, Mass., on May 16, the Colonels lost, 10-7, on May 19 at Rutland. Marina Rotella led the Raiders with three goals. Anna Bucia and Hannah Lynde each scored a pair of goals for Bratteboro. In a rock-'em, sock-'em game at Natowich Field...
Membership fees for Brattleboro Time Trade are on a sliding scale $10-100 per year, with an average payment of approximately $25. The quoted price of $60 per year was in reference to how much it would cost were members to fully cover operating expenses. These figures were incorrect in both the May 14 and 21 editions of The Commons.
Toastmasters meet May 29 for speechathon BRATTLEBORO - BrattleMasters, the Brattleboro-based chapter of Toastmasters International, invites all to a special “speechathon” meeting Thursday, May 29, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Marlboro College Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St. A speechathon is a stripped-down meeting of the public speaking club in which many members deliver prepared speeches of different times on a variety of subjects. The club meets the second and fourth Thursday of the month from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Activist art from Picasso's “Guernica” to Vermont's own Bread and Puppet Theater is the subject of a lecture Saturday, May 31, at 7:30 p.m. at Main Street Arts. Local artist Allison Teague will offer definitions of activist art and share her knowledge of activist art through time and its role in expressing ideologies. Teague is a third-generation artist who attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She grew up in Norwich, the daughter of an abstract-expressionist...
An acclaimed French choreographer is collaborating with members from the elderly population in Western Massachusetts and Southern Vermont to create a new look for a classic ballet. Vermont Performance Lab (VPL) has teamed up with Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts (MIFA) to bring to New England for a three-week residency Thierry Thie Thieû Niang. Joining participants aged 60 to 100, Niang will workshop a re-imagining of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring that will culminate in performances Wednesday, May...
The Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees will have a new chair for the first time in eight years. At its May 22 meeting at Castleton State College, the board elected Brattleboro's Martha O'Connor to take the helm from outgoing chair Gary Moore of Bradford. O'Connor is serving in her third six-year term on the VSC board. She was first appointed by Gov. Howard Dean in 1999 and was reappointed by Gov. Jim Douglas in 2005 and Gov. Peter Shumlin...
Vermont recently became the first state to give mobile phone customers the option of using their phones to text 911 for emergency help. In April 2012, the state Enhanced 911 Board and Verizon Wireless launched a first trial of this service in Vermont. That December, the four nationwide wireless carriers - Sprint, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and AT&T - agreed to provide text-to-911 services no later than May 15, 2014. AT&T launched its service in fall 2013; Sprint and T-Mobile added...
The annual Vermont Symphony Orchestra TD Bank Summer Festival Tour returns to Grafton Ponds Outdoor Center on Thursday, July 3. Gates open for picknicking at 5:30 p.m. The concert begins at 7:30 The tour has become a cherished summer tradition in Vermont, with picnics, music, and fireworks at sites across the state. Under the baton of principal guest conductor Anthony Princiotti, the program, “Let's Dance!” includes music from the world of dance - from waltzes to swing and polkas to...
It doesn't take much effort to get a group of Brattleboro merchants together to gripe about the state of downtown. It takes more effort to turn those gripes into an action plan. That was the gist of what was billed as a “downtown visioning session” held at The Works on Main Street on May 21. More than two dozen people crowded around a couple of tables jammed together in a corner of the restaurant, and all freely shared their ideas...
One recent morning, while on patrol in Dummerston, I stopped a car for speeding and noticed that the operator wasn't wearing a seat belt. I issued her a ticket, and we had a rather lengthy conversation about the importance of her safety and of ensuring that she be buckled up just in case she is ever involved in a collision. How important this message would become. Just hours later, this driver was the victim of a high-speed crash that occurred...
I thank the people of the Village of Bellows Falls for their continued support of my re-election to another two-year term as their trustee. I am both honored and humbled that you have given me your trust and confidence to do the people's business. Please remember that as your village trustee I am your representative on the board, that I work for you, and that I'll do my best to continue to remember to serve the people. To represent you...
Needed trail work, a publication highlighting local hikes, the support for a townwide natural resource inventory, and a natural resources training program for a local community all are expected to go forward thanks to recent grants awarded by the Association of Vermont Conservation Commissions. In addition to Dummerston, grants were awarded to conservation commissions in Bradford, Milton, and New Haven. Each will receive $600 from the AVCC Tiny Grant program. The Dummerston Conservation Commission received help to pay for the...
Mary Barber Every year, I place flowers at the headstone of every family member I have lost. The first tear comes to my eye when I drive to the cemetery and see that the American flag has already been set by our dedicated American Legion on my brother's gravesite. He served in the Korean War. My next tear falls when I go to the Memorial Service at Hetty Green Park and think about a high school classmate, Fred Frappiea, who...
State law lets towns and villages arrange to sell a property for delinquent taxes. Around the state, this option is becoming more popular as a way for towns to raise money in an economy that has town governments watching every penny and citizens voting to send budgets back to be reworked. In what is an unusual move for the town of Rockingham, the Selectboard and Village Trustees authorized Selectboard chair Thom MacPhee to act as the town agent at three...
I am honored to be speaking on this special day when we honor the memory of those who have given their lives for their country. I am particularly honored to share the story of two of these heroes. They lived and died 100 years from each other, and they exemplify the stories of countless other men and women who have served and sacrificed so that we can be free. The first of these young men, John Steele Tyler, was born...
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital recently recognized Wanda Smith as 2014 BMH Employee of the Year. An employee at BMH since 1980, Smith was chosen to receive this honor due to her longtime dedication, attentiveness to safety and cleanliness, respect for patient privacy, positive attitude and sense of humor, and pride in a job well done. Smith works in the Environmental Services Department. She was recognized as BMH's employee of the month in November 2009. According to the BMH proclamation read at...
A longtime Brattleboro physician offered up a tale of two Army officers who lived and died a century apart at the annual Memorial Day service at the Common. Robert Tortolani, M.D., who served as a battalion surgeon in the Army's First Cavalry Division in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, spoke of the heroism of Lt. Col. John Steele Tyler, a Brattleboro resident who died of his wounds in the Battle of the Wilderness on May 26, 1864. Then he told...
On Tuesday, June 3, from 7 p.m. to midnight, Brattleboro Area Jewish Community (BAJC) will offer a fun evening of study for the holiday of Shavuot and to mark June as Gay Pride Month in Brattleboro. Spiritual Leader Kate Judd and BAJC member/teachers Janet Athens, Andi Waisman, David Arfa, and Kate Tarlow-Morgan will conduct a creative Shavuot night of study (Tikkun Leyl Shavuot) with art, song, story, movement, and text study, and a chance to enjoy traditional dairy sweets. Shavuot...
Town Meeting Members decide the fate of the new $15.8 million municipal budget at a Special Representative Town Meeting on June 2. Selectboard members unanimously approved the overhauled budget on May 20. The new budget represents a municpal tax increase of 3 cents per $100 of assessed value compared to the previous fiscal year. The fiscal year 2015 budget defeated in April came with a tax increase of 8 cents. Voters defeated the original $16.2 million municipal budget in a...
The state seeks to leverage the $10 million in Windham County economic development funds from Entergy for a period far beyond the fund's initial five-year lifespan. In everyday English, this is called stretching a dollar. The Agency of Commerce and Community Development announced last week that it will turn the bulk of the annual $2 million payments that Entergy will make to the state of Vermont over the next five years into a loan program. “We'd like to see it...
State Rep. Richard Marek, D- Newfane, announced Tuesday that he will not be a candidate for re-election from the Windham–5 district where he represents the towns of Marlboro, Newfane and Townshend. He was first elected in 2002, making him the third longest serving current House member from Windham County. “Discovering last summer that I now have served longer than anyone else in the history of my town or this district, as well as realizing that first graders when I first...
The Brattleboro Film Festival (BFF), which premieres its third season on Oct. 31, recently received a grant from the Stowe-based John M. Bissell Foundation and named a new fundraising chair in order to expand its mission and support outreach to new and underserved audiences. The grant will help BFF pursue its mission of bringing films that inform, challenge, entertain, and inspire to more diverse audiences by underwriting free tickets to high school students and by providing American Sign Language interpretation...