The membership of the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center elected Ann S. Macdonald to the Museum's Board of Trustees at the annual meeting of the members on March 14.
Nominated by the Museum's governance committee, Macdonald joins 17 others at the helm of the contemporary art museum. The first act of the newly constituted Board of Trustees was to elect five officers to one-year terms.
BMAC Director Danny Lichtenfeld said of Macdonald in a news release, “I am thrilled that Ann has agreed to lend her talents and enthusiasm to our already strong Board of Trustees. She and her husband are generous supporters of BMAC, and Ann has wonderful ideas about how we can do even more to enrich Brattleboro and the surrounding region.”
Macdonald contributes extensive nonprofit board experience and lifelong devotion to arts.
On Friday, April 12, Windham World Affairs Council will present Stefan Grace, a local practitioner of Chinese medicine, who will give a talk entitled “Scientizing Chinese Medicine” in the parlor of the Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St. This talk will be free and open to the public. There...
On Wednesday, April 17, at 6:30 p.m., at the Putney Public Library, 55 Main St., Kate Gleason and Putney Library Writer-in-Residence Michelle Blake will read their poems and talk about what they are currently striving to discover in their work - about language, poetry, and the world. Gleason is...
As she prepares for her performances of Bob Chilcott's St. John Passion, Susan Dedell has had misgivings about whether she should even be presenting the piece in the first place. Her concerns are not with Chilcott's music, which she thinks “glorious,” but with the ecclesiastical text itself. “I have conflicting emotions about the passion narrative by St. John,” Dedell says. “The text was written four centuries after the death of Christ, and has a different flow than the other gospels.
In the aftermath of the recent vote at the Statehouse, this talk being bandied about by some members of the Vermont Legislature that they should give up their power to elect the state's National Guard adjutant general over to the governor is dangerously myopic given the threatening situation taking place at the federal government level. There, the executive-branch power is being seriously misused by a would-be fascist dictator who is part of a long line of executive-power abuses starting in...
Company of Muses announces that May 1 is the deadline to apply for scholarships for summer sessions at the Brattleboro School of Dance. Applications and information about scholarships can be found at www.companyofmuses.org. Funds are available for dancers of all ages and abilities so long as the family can demonstrate need according to federal financial assistance guidelines. The amount of assistance available is determined by these guidelines and the number of applicants. Four different scholarship programs are currently offered: the...
All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church hosts “Leap Into Spring,” on Saturday, April 13, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Organizers describe it as “a multidimensional event for folks young and old, combining the sale of hand-crafted items typical of a church spring fair with a relaxing soup and sandwich lunch, and a free nature crafting area for children of all ages.” There will also be art for sale from a variety of local artists, and a “buy it now, or...
On March 2 and 3, we filled the Latchis Theatre for an event that raised just over $26,000 for NECCA's local outreach programming and scholarships. This money will help continue free workshops at area housing developments, winter sports programming for schools, and scholarships for students for whom the fitness and creativity that circus offers can be life changing. We acknowledge our sponsors, raffle-ticket buyers, supporting businesses, and the many volunteers who gave of their time and services. Finally, this program...
The Dummerston Historical Society is immensely grateful to town voters who, at Annual Town Meeting, so generously contributed to our efforts to preserve the Society's Schoolhouse in Dummerston Center. This ancient school building, much reconfigured, adds significantly to the civic character of the Center, it is an important meeting place, and it holds many of the town's memories in the form of photographs and various family documents. The vote was a vote of confidence in our work, and we are...
'Diaper Dump' hits Bellows Falls BELLOWS FALLS - The Time For a Change Diaper Bank of Greater Falls, a partnership between Building Bright Futures, Parks Place Community Resource Center, the Springfield Area Parent Child Center, the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union and Youth Services of Windham County, is set to host its third annual Diaper Dump on Friday, April 12. It kicks off at noon at Dari Joy, 140 Rockingham St., and runs through 6 p.m. Community members will be encouraged...
Wonder where it all goes when we flush it away? It turns out the nutrients in our urine are a hidden key to more sustainable soil, water, food, and energy. On Saturday, April 13, from 3 to 6 p.m., at Club VT (formerly the Putney Inn, off Exit 4 of Interstate 91), the Rich Earth Institute will present University of Vermont professor Eric Roy and comedian Shawn Shafner for an afternoon of fun, food, and insights. All performances will be...
College news • Emma Li of Brattleboro was named to the Dean's List for the fall 2018 semester at Simmons University in Boston. Obituaries • Dorothy Roselene (Bates) Crawford, 98, of Brattleboro. Died March 28, 2019 at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, after a residency at Vernon Green Nursing Home. She was born in Brookline on July 9, 1920, the daughter of Tracy and Hazel (Potwine) Bates, and was raised and educated in Brattleboro. She was a graduate of Brattleboro High School,
New England Youth Theatre will present Blue Stockings, by Jessica Swale, directed by Hallie Flower, at 7 p.m. on April 12 and 13, and at 2 p.m. on April 13, at NEYT, 100 Flat St. The year is 1896. Girton College, Cambridge, is the first college in Britain to admit women, and the Girton girls study ferociously to match their male peers grade for grade. Yet, when the men graduate, the women leave with nothing but the stigma of being...
The U.S. Forest Service seeks public comment for the proposed Somerset Integrated Resource Project on the Manchester Ranger District of the Green Mountain National Forest and is planning an open house to discuss the contemplated changes. This step is part of the environmental assessment phase of the project, which would add and improve trails. It would also address issues with diversity of species in forests, timber management, stream habitat, floodplain function, soil erosion, maintain and restore vistas, maintain access roads,
Gardeners itching to get their hands in the dirt may have to wait until the snow and mud subside, but they can take the edge off spring fever by learning about the history of some of our favorite - and not so favorite - fruits and vegetables on Saturday, April 13, at noon at the Rockingham Free Public Library, 65 Westminster St. Author Rebecca Rupp will present Wolf Peaches, Poisoned Peas, and Madame Pompadour's Underwear: The Surprising History of Common...
This column is inspired by all the young people I talked with for the story we recently wrote about youth. I continue to think about the strength, and resilience of many of the young women who talked with us. Upon returning home at night and taking off my journalist hat, their stories made me think about my own invisibility during my adolescence. I grew up in Hartford, Conn., and my interior life was different from my surface life. I masked...
A group of 12 juniors and seniors at the Compass School have spent the past few weeks studying films, writing screenplays, and producing their own short films. This week, they are putting final touches on their films and creating blooper reels in preparation for the 15th annual Compass Student Film Festival on Thursday, April 11, at 7 p.m., a culminating event for their film-making class. The general public is warmly invited to the showing. This interdisciplinary course is a popular...
On April 2, voters resumed the special meeting of what is now the Windham Southeast School District, originally convened Feb. 27 but adjourned pending a judge's ruling in a multi-town lawsuit filed in Vermont Superior Court challenging the forced mergers. After a judge denied an injunction that sought to halt the activity while a lawsuit moves through the judicial system, the Act 46 merger has returned to the fast track [“School districts, voters tread lightly around Act 46 suit,” News,
Owing to a production error, the photograph of Stanley C. “Stan” Ryan mistakenly accompanied the obituary of Perry Casey Phoenix in the March 27 Milestones. Both obituaries are reprinted in this week's column, with our apologies to both families.
Rock has returned to the local airwaves. Four Seasons Media, owners of WTSA AM-1450 and WTSA-FM-96.7, have launched a third radio station, W258DQ, after the Federal Communications Commission issued Four Seasons a low-power FM translator frequency on Feb. 25. That set in motion two programming changes. First, on March 1, WTSA-AM dropped ESPN Radio for a rock format: “The Beast, Brattleboro's Rock Station.” The second change is that the new content is now simulcasting on the new 99.5 FM translator...
Good day to you, residents of the windy hamlets in southeastern Vermont! We've got another changeable weather week on the way. We'll enjoy high pressure and partly to mostly sunny skies for Wednesday and Thursday before clouds build Friday, and rain moves in for Friday evening and night. Showers taper off Saturday morning and we'll enjoy a milder and generally dry weekend. Clouds build back in for Sunday night, and rain possibly mixing with or changing to snow in the...
Arlene Distler took note of the “effort of the growing number of artists and appreciators of arts” in the community. I am grateful for her making these familiar statements, but I must add that there is more to the story. We live in a large town abundant with residential artists. And, indeed, these people are “starving artists.” What strikes me is that there is no mention of the city's largest employer, the Brattleboro Retreat, and the absence of therapeutic activities.
Friends of Music at Guilford's 10th annual celebration of Women in Music begins at 6 p.m. on Sunday, April 14, and salutes Katherine Faulkner “Kay” Swift (1897-1993). Swift was a classically trained composer who became George Gershwin's trusted musical advisor and companion. After Gershwin (1898-1937) encouraged her to compose popular music, Swift became the first woman to write a hit Broadway musical, Fine and Dandy (1930), now the borrowed title for FOMAG's gala. Some of both genres of music will...
There's something I don't get about the furious opposition from some against raising the minimum wage. The minimum wage has been periodically raised since 1935. Has the sky fallen? Has the economy collapsed? Have so many minimum-wage earners lost their jobs as to completely wipe out any benefits to workers and economy? These current “Chicken Little” arguments against raising the minimum wage are exactly as they have been for about 80 years. People who say raising the wage would be...
This piece is itself nothing but demagoguery. It is a series of accusations that are not backed up by a single attempt to show evidence for them. The only thing dangerous about the Trump presidency is that it has unleashed such unhinged reaction. Indeed, this piece disturbingly parallels Father Coughlin's hate-filled (and fact-free) rants against FDR.
Recently, I cracked a tooth in half and needed to see my dentist. I was able to get an appointment right away. She took a careful look at my recent X-rays and inside my mouth and decided she didn't want me to go through having a crown made. Instead, she made a careful repair, hoping that it will last. I'm rolling the dice. But even better than her obvious dental abilities, she treated me with respect and she said that...
The third annual Vermont Solo Jazz Piano Festival is a celebration of the piano in jazz. It highlights the instrument's ability to convey beauty and capture melody, harmony, and rhythm, all at the same time. The Jazz Center's weekend-long program runs April 12-14 and includes eight performances, five master classes, a Q&A session, a piano forum for juried students, and a session called Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner. Now in its third year, the Festival has become a treasure for...
Leland & Gray is not the best Unified basketball team in the state, but they are certainly the best team when it comes to bringing joy to the court. On April 1, the Rebels took on the Brattleboro Colonels before another big crowd in the BUHS gym and lost, 60-49. Rebels guard Samantha Pelton, as she usually does, stole the show with her sequin-covered sneakers, with her ballhanding, and with all the hugs she gave to teammates and opponents alike.
A young boy and his father hold their plates of waffles and sausage as Alison West pours maple syrup. “We're serving real maple syrup,” said West, food service director for Brattleboro elementary schools, who works for contractor Fresh Picks Café, a division of Café Services, based in Manchester, N.H. On April 8, elementary students held their parents' hands and led them to the breakfast buffet of sausages, waffles, French toast, yogurt, juice, and coffee arranged in the Green Street Elementary...
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of cutting edge fiddle and cello explorations of Scottish, Celtic and global music by Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas at Next Stage on Thursday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. With a shared passion for improvising on the melody and the groove of traditional tunes, Alasdair and Natalie feature dazzling teamwork, swapping melodic and harmonic lines and trading driving rhythmic riffs. The 16-year musical partnership between Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas...
A project to replace an 8-inch water main and repair a portion of damaged sidewalk in downtown started this week. Workers from Zaluzny Excavating Corporation of Vernon are racing to beat a May 17 deadline for the project to wrap before the annual Strolling of the Heifers parade in early June. Construction will be on the easterly side of the street starting at 133 Main St. and moving north. The Department of Public Works staff warned drivers and pedestrians that...
The chair of the Putney School Board, who was also a member of the John Birch Society, pounded his fist on the table and roared, “We can't have Heidi Watts in our school, because Heidi Watts is a Quaker, and Quakers are passive people.” It was 1966, and protest against the Vietnam War was heating up. Corresponding rhetoric about the threat of communism was also on the rise, and the two forces were being played out over my contract renewal...
If it feels like everything related to the new unified school board representing schools in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, and Putney is happening lickety-split, that's because it is. The transitional board and school administration must move quickly to have the newly organized and renamed Windham Southeast School District operational by July 1, as required by law. People interested in running for the board need to have their petitions in by Monday, April 15. Petitions are available at town clerks' offices. Voters...
State Rep. Nader Hashim, from Dummerston, was elected for his first term last November and several weeks ago weighed in on his view of the legislative process as a newcomer to the arena. We talked on March 22, at the halfway point of the legislative session, about his impressions, and we looked at some of the work he's doing as a member of the House Judiciary Committee. One bill that Hashim has put forth out of the gate is H.342,