I have been teaching technology for more than 30 years and I am completely in agreement with Gemma Seymour.
Unfortunately, the closed mind of technology training does not allow my colleagues to see that reality. In my country, Colombia, there is currently an obsession with robotics and Arduino, an “open-source electronic prototyping platform enabling users to create interactive electronic objects.”
Maybe one day we can understand that not everyone will be programmers, and that music, art, and sports should be as important in a curriculum as mathematics, science, or technology.
...The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets has begun accepting applications for registration to grow and process industrial hemp for the 2019 registration year. The registration process is now online. Hemp growers and processors have separate registration applications and the forms provide VAAFM the opportunity to collect information...
Births • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), June 22, 2014, a daughter, Johanna Ushindi Odhuno, to Heavenlight (Costa) and Daniel Omondi Odhuno of Brattleboro; granddaughter to Claris Odhuno, Costa Mushi, and Feliciana Mushi. • In Brattleboro (Memorial Hospital), June 19, 2014, a son, Orin Elijah Gehring, to Daniel and Jamie...
Shortly after a devastating 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010, tens of thousands of children were left homeless, abandoned or without family. In Croix-des-Bouquets, Pastor Duckens Janvier, and his wife, Madame Deslourdes, opened their home and their hearts to 40 orphaned and homeless children. Duckens and Delourdes are Mami and Papi to these children, who live with the Janviers and the couple's three biological children on less than half an acre of land. By chance, Brattleboro resident Mariam...
Yellow Barn welcomes eight newcomers for an exploration of the personal relationship between British composer Benjamin Britten and poet W.H. Auden. String quartet musicians Mari Lee, Brandon Garbot, Ayane Kozasa, and Mihai Marica, and pianist Julia Hamos, will be joined by actor Philip Stoddard, scholar Simon Lee, and renowned Scandinavian film director Mikael Södersten for Salon Séance, an immersive and interdisciplinary experience. Their Artist Residency will culminate with a semi-staged performance at Next Stage on Saturday, Feb. 23. The event...
After 40 years of teaching history in New York City independent schools, I resigned last June to protest the abrupt cancellation of an elective course I had taught for many years dealing with the Israel/Palestine conflict. The school administration had made no criticism of the way I conducted this class. It acted - and admitted to acting - to mollify a group of right-wing Zionist parents (none of whose children had taken my course) who had targeted the class as...
Less than two weeks after the chair of the Brattleboro Town School Board, Jill Stahl Tyler, wrote a letter to the State Board of Education advocating for Vernon to be removed from the WSESU, she testified before the House Committee on Education, as the School Board chair, without authorization or any direction from her local board. In her testimony, she argued against several bills that would extend the timeline for forced mergers for one year pending the outcome of a...
Not long ago, a woman in late pregnancy suffering severe depression tried to commit suicide. She survived, but her baby died. She was charged with murder. A pregnant woman who lost her unborn child in a car accident in New York state was charged with manslaughter. So was a woman in Indiana who gave birth to a stillborn baby. Even in cases where a fetus hasn't died, pregnant women have been charged with crimes in various states - for miscarrying,
Kindergarten sign-ups begin in Brattleboro BRATTLEBORO - Brattleboro Town Elementary Schools have begun kindergarten registration for children who turn 5 on or before Sept. 1, 2019. Families who haven't received a registration packet through their child's preschool may request one by contacting Sally Brassor at the WSESU central office at 802-254-3730. Registration paperwork and documentation should be returned to your child's preschool, or the WSESU central office, by Friday, Feb. 15. Contact WSESU Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator Julliane Eagan for...
Asian Cultural Center of Vermont presents a celebration of the Lunar New Year of China, Korea, and Vietnam on Sunday, Feb. 17, from 1 to 3 p.m., at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, 10 Vernon St. (parking next door in the lot for 28 Vernon St.) Lunar New Year celebrations run from Feb. 5 to Feb. 19, and conclude with the Lantern Festival. The Center will celebrate the Lantern Festival with stilt walkers, sweet rice balls, and the Korean...
During February and March, the Dummerston Conservation Commission will present a morning lecture series titled “Conservation Genetics: Genome Research Applications to Wildlife Biology.” Following the discovery of the DNA helix structure in the 1950s, DNA mapping became a widespread tool to help biologists understand how the unique gene structure, or genome, of each living organism interacts with its environment. A new field of research called “Conservation Genomics” was born in the 1980s. According to a news release, the Commission has...
Project HOPE facilitator Amber Paris will offer two free, open-materials, page-making workshops at the Putney Public Library in February. Paris has initiated project HOPE's “Community Book of Hope” at the Library as a collaborative, community effort. Artists and writers of all ages are invited to give work created around the prompt: “hope is...” which will be collectively hand-bound into a book that will remain at the Library. Workshop dates are Monday, Feb. 11, from 6 to 8 p.m., and Sunday,
Guest conductors who won the chance to lead the Windham Orchestra take to the podium Monday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m. “Be Beethoven” is a Windham Orchestra fundraiser offering would-be maestros the opportunity to conduct a musical work of their choice at a special evening at the Brattleboro Music Center. The conductors are Janet Wallstein, Diane Fontaine, Peter Amidon, Pedro Pereira, and Amy Cann, along with special guest Gene Murrow. Windham Orchestra Maestro Hugh Keelan has worked with the lucky...
February 3, 2019 Wendy M. Levy The Selectboard approved the warnings for the 2019 Annual Town and Town School District meetings, and Representative Town Meeting, at the January 29 special board meeting. The Board made one minor amendment to Article 23, which addresses the limited self-governance pilot program developed by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns (VLCT) for consideration by the Vermont state legislature. If passed, it will signify the Selectboard and RTM supports a limited program for some...
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music will present a dance party/concert featuring The MILES Band at Next Stage on Saturday, Feb. 9, at 7:30 p.m. Next Stage rolls back its portable front row risers to double as a dance hall and concert venue, with a spacious dance floor between the stage and raked theater seating, for this special evening of funk, soul, rock & roll, folk/rock, and reggae classics and contemporary hits. Based in southern Vermont, The MILES Band...
Do you ever wish you could go back to college for an evening and find out what the students are learning there without having to pay any tuition or take any tests? Marlboro College is partnering with the Windham World Affairs Council to offer the community a speaker series based on a Marlboro College seminar course designed by Marlboro College President Kevin F.F. Quigley. According to a news release, Quigley designed a seminar course for the college entitled “Engaging the...
Guilford Center Stage has announced open auditions for its spring production of Alice, a musical play directed by Richard Epstein. There will be two sessions of auditions: Saturday, Feb. 9, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Tuesday, Feb. 12, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the Broad Brook Community Center in Guilford. Alice opens Guilford Center Stage's fifth season, and will be performed April 25-28 at the Community Center, the former Grange hall. The play pays tribute to the...
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital and Community College of Vermont recently celebrated the third class of graduating Medical Assistants from the College to Career certification program developed between BMH and CCV. Addressing a room of new graduates at the hospital, CCV President Joyce Judy asked the group to reflect on how they had felt 14 weeks ago upon entering their training program. The responses echoed each other: “nervous,” said some; “overwhelmed,” replied others. When Judy then asked them to describe their feelings...
The cast is set, rehearsals are going full tilt, and tickets are on sale for Main Street Arts' production of Chicago, which opens Thursday, Mar. 28, at the Bellows Falls Opera House for a two-weekend run. The cast of the Jazz-age musical set in the Windy City's Cook County jail includes Kyla White as the imprisoned Roxie Hart and Izzy Serebrov as the smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn, who works for Roxie's release by making the tabloids sympathetic to her plight.
Sandglass Theater's Winter Sunshine series kicks off its 12th season of puppet shows with The Fairy Tailor by Sarah Nolen on Saturday, Feb. 9, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. at Sandglass Theater, followed by a workshop on Feb. 10 at 10 a.m. at the Putney General Store. Magical beings are known for their great sense of fashion. But who stitches together all of their stories? Meet the Fairy Tailor, hard at work in her enchanted shop. Watch as everyday...
Buddy Hayford has been coaching high school teams for a long time. The many championship banners hanging in the Twin Valley gymnasium in Whitingham attest to his success. However, he admits that he's frustrated with the inconsistency of this season's girls' basketball team. “At times, we're capable of playing fairly well, and other times, we struggle,” said Hayford after the Wildcats lost to the visiting Woodstock Wasps, 43-38, on Feb. 2. “We're offensively challenged. It's just that simple.” Hayford called...
Ninety members of the Vermont House of Representatives have united to overturn Roe v. Wade, which states: “[A]ppellant and some amici argue that the woman's right is absolute and that she is entitled to terminate her pregnancy at whatever time, in whatever way, and for whatever reason she alone chooses. With this we do not agree.” Representing Vermonters, this House majority are cosponsoring H.57, “An act relating to preserving the right to abortion,” which states: “A fertilized egg, embryo, or...
Interesting that the option of Brattleboro reducing spending never comes into the conversation. And that the real estate and sales taxes just keep on increasing - 7 percent until we burn through that additional revenue and then 8, 9, and 10 percent in future years. At some point, shoppers will begin to notice. Some will take the cue at 7 percent. And some shop owners of my acquaintance are considering letting their leases expire as the town makes it harder...
The Vermont Legislature is considering a significant expansion of abortion in our state under the guise of protecting the right to choose an abortion in the unlikely case that Roe v. Wade is reversed or restricted by the Supreme Court in coming years. The House bill is entitled “An act relating to preserving the right to abortion.” However, it does a lot more than preserve an existing right. The bill goes far beyond Roe, guaranteeing unrestricted abortion through all nine...
Brattleboro Community Television will team up with The Commons to present a Selectboard candidates' forum on Wednesday, Feb. 13, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at the Selectboard Room on the second floor of the Municipal Center, 230 Main St. The program will be broadcast live on BCTV Channel 10. It will also stream live at brattleborotv.org as well as on Facebook. Two candidates for a three-year seat, Ben Coplan and incumbent Tim Wessel, will appear, along with four candidates for...
Good day to you, my friends, and as always thanks very much for your readership! Our meteorological roller coaster ride continues to fling us hither and thither, and our upcoming week will be no different. Wednesday will see the end to a brief thaw as colder air works back into the region before low pressure approaches and produces an icing event Wednesday night into Thursday morning. We'll then warm up with rain Thursday night into Friday, before we cool back...
United States Artists recently awarded Marlboro wood carver Michelle Holzapfel a $50,000 grant in the Craft category of its fellowship program. Each year, United States Artists awards up to 50 unrestricted fellowships to the most compelling artists working and living in the U.S., in all disciplines, at every stage of their career. Spanning creative disciplines including architecture and design, craft, dance, film, media, music, theater and performance, traditional arts, visual art, and writing, USA Fellowships are awarded through a rigorous...
Rail passengers in southern Vermont will soon have more travel options, but they will first have to travel to Greenfield, Mass. to take advantage of them. Starting this summer, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) will expand passenger rail service between Greenfield and the newly renovated Union Station in Springfield, Mass. According to a Feb. 1 report in the Springfield Republican, MassDOT plans to use Amtrak trains and personnel to provide two round-trip trains each day, one in the morning...
I wasn't going to watch football this year, although I do love the sport in many ways, and it is woven through my life from early boyhood. The combination of research about chronic traumatic encephalopathy and the racism that denied Colin Kaepernick a chance to play quarterback in the worst season of quarterbacking the league has ever seen made me decide to take a moratorium this year. Still, I did watch the Super Bowl when I found out I could...
There are a handful of people whose life's work appears laid out for them in vivid detail from an early age - Sullivan Fortner is one of them. Fortner, an American Pianists Association laureate, will be at the Vermont Jazz Center on Saturday, Feb. 9, at 8 p.m. He will perform with bassist Barry Stephenson (best known for his work with Jon Batiste), and drummer Kassa Overall (formerly of Geri Allen's Timeline band). In a 2016 interview with his undergraduate...
Next Stage Arts Project, 15 Kimball Hill, will present the original film Dateline-Saigon, part of the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival Vermont Tour, as part of its [FRAMED] film series on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 7 p.m. Award-winning Dateline-Saigon tells the story of five young journalists whose courageous reporting during the early years of the Vietnam War in the face of fierce opposition - and worse - from our government is uncannily relevant to challenges journalists face today. Dateline-Saigon profiles five...
With some controversy emerging from the proposed rental inspection and registration program, town officials want to clarify a few points. Namely, this isn't much different from what is already happening - there will just be more of it. “The town has always been proactive with inspections, but we were limited. There was no full-time staff for this,” explained Town Manager Peter B. Elwell. The two main inspectors, Brattleboro Assistant Fire Chief Leonard Howard III and Zoning Inspector Brian Bannon, currently...
What started for Hal Lier as a desire to volunteer in his community has evolved into a new support program that aims to help older veterans remain connected to their communities and decrease social isolation. Vet to Vet, a program from Senior Solutions, matches volunteer military veterans with fellow veterans in southern Windham County. Similar to the agency's Friendly Visitor program, Vet to Vet connects volunteers to older veterans who live alone or have limited access to their community because...