The AIDS Project of Southern Vermont invites the public to help raise money and awareness Saturday, May 18, at its 32nd annual AIDS Walk.
The event, set for 10 a.m. to noon at the River Garden on Main Street, will spotlight community efforts not only to support local people living with HIV/AIDS but also to reduce the risk of transmission to others.
The event will feature speakers honoring Lynn Martin for 30 years of unwavering support and commitment, music by local singing group The Harmony Lot, a brief period of remembrance, and a light lunch.
The AIDS Project, established in 1988, encourages individuals, businesses, churches, schools, and community groups to form teams to seek contributions for its work with clients in Windham, Bennington, and southern Windsor counties.
Organizers of Brattleboro's Independence Day celebration have received a major boost from the local Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks to launch a public fundraising effort to pay for the town's 46th annual free family event. The “By the People: Brattleboro Goes Fourth” citizens committee will mark July 4...
With help from Green Street School's new garden coordinator, Tara Gordon, students in kindergarten, first, and fourth grade are growing fresh cilantro for Yalla VT, a locally-owned Mediterranean restaurant on Main Street in Brattleboro. The herbs are grown in three indoor classroom grow stands. So far, according to a...
Canal Street Art Gallery, 23 Canal St., presents the gallery's first solo show, “Listen to the Wind,” by artist and social anthropologist Charles Norris-Brown. The show will be up through June 15. All are invited to attend the opening reception with the artist on Bellows Falls 3rd Friday Gallery Night, May 17, from 5 to 8 p.m. “Listen to the Wind” features Norris-Brown's original paintings and drawings from two of his illustrated books, Did Tiger Take the Rain? and Thunder...
On Sunday, May 19, Windham Orchestra will present “Human Condition” featuring works by Strauss and Shostakovich, a performance that is in part a tribute to Orchestra violinist Gudrun Weeks following her death last year. The concert - set for 3 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre - “is a profound, gorgeous and, one might even say, joyful exploration of different spiritual states,” Musical Director Hugh Keelan said in a news release. “These works show us that tragedy is not necessarily sad...
Windham Grows, a food and agriculture business accelerator that connects entrepreneurs with mentoring, industry connections, and support, is accepting applications for its Summer/Fall 2019 program. Windham Grows is part of Strolling of the Heifers, whose mission is connecting people with healthy local food, encouraging and facilitating innovation and entrepreneurship in the farm/food sector, and supporting the development of stronger local food systems and healthy, sharing, connected, and resilient communities. “Windham Grows fits into the Stroll's mission by helping existing agriculture-related...
Senior meal served in Halifax HALIFAX - Friday, May 17, is the next senior meal in Halifax at the Community Hall, located at 20 Brook Road. Lunch will be served at noon, and all seniors are welcome. On the menu is roast pork, potato casserole, green beans, rolls, carrot salad, and rhubarb dump cake for dessert. A call to Joan is appreciated at 802-368-7733 or email jwcinvt@gmail.com. Spring rummage sale in Jacksonville JACKSONVILLE - The Jacksonville Community Church will hold...
Twenty years ago, 15 girls at Vernon Elementary School enrolled in the Girls on the Run program. Twenty seasons and 45,000 girls later, Girls on the Run Vermont is thriving and celebrating its 20th anniversary back where it all began in Southern Vermont. All program participants, alumnae, coaches, parents, board members, and supporters are invited to a noncompetitive, 5K community event on May 18 at Brattleboro Union High School. This event is presented by Against the Grain Gourmet. “I never...
Vermont author Castle Freeman Jr. will read his work at Putney Public Library, 55 Main St., on Thursday, May 16 at 7 p.m. Freeman will read from his most recently published novel, The Devil in the Valley (2016), and from a series of short essays he wrote for The Old Farmer's Almanac. Freeman, born in Texas, was raised and educated in Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. He came to southeastern Vermont with his wife, Alice, on a whim and is...
New England Youth Theatre's Theatre Adventure presents Jill & Jack and the Beanstalk, at 10:30 a.m. on May 15, 16, and 17 at the West Village Meeting House, 29 South St. Imagination rules in this classic fairy tale where wit, determination, and love triumph over a villainous giant. A dancing cow, a trickster peddler, a singing harp, and a magical hen are only a few of the characters Jill and Jack encounter in their quest to help Jack's mother. Their...
Strolling of the Heifers wants to find the tastiest and best-looking coffee cake or sweet bread in New England. Open to amateur and professional bakers alike, the Great New England Coffee Cakes and Sweet Breads Competition has a deadline of midnight on Friday, May 24. Finalists will be notified by May 31 and will bring their cakes to the River Garden for judging and for the public to sample. Local judges will announce the winners on June 7, during the...
The Brattleboro Area Jewish Community will hold its fifth annual Antiques & Collectibles Appraisal Day (like a mini-version of “Antiques Roadshow") on Sunday, May 19, from 1 to 5:30 p.m., at 118 Elliot. Six appraisers, specialists in their fields, will be present to evaluate and assess antiques and collectibles such as books, sterling silver, art glass, objets d'art, china, oriental rugs, pottery, fine art, signed prints, musical instruments, records and entertainment memorabilia, jewelry, paper goods, ephemera, photographs, furniture, toys and...
College news • The team of Brennen Zolnoski of Brattleboro and Emily Fernschild, of Milford, Conn., representing Western New England University of Springfield, Mass., took first place honors in the Senior Design Competition at the 45th annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference, held March 20-22 at Rutgers University. Their project titled “Bioreactor for Mechanical Stimulation of 3D Scaffolds for Tendon Tissue Engineering” earned the team $150 and a 3D printer. The duo were also selected as finalists from over 50 entriess to...
Main Street Arts is holding auditions for its fall production of the musical The Secret Garden, which will be performed Oct. 25 through Nov. 3 at the Bellows Falls Opera House. Audition times at MSA in Saxtons River are Friday, May 17, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., Saturday, May 18, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 19, from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Those auditioning should bring a prepared song or part of a song of at least 16...
Patty Carpenter and Verandah Porche will perform at Stage 33 Live, 33 Bridge St., on Sunday, May 19. Special guest Jon Weeks will sit in on wind instruments and percussion, and Wheeler Laird will join on guitar for one or two songs. Doors open at 3 p.m., and the show starts at 4. Carpenter and Porche are lifelong friends and collaborators and will play some of the songs they've written since the Dysfunctional Family Jazz Band's Come Over CD, which...
I had to read Gerard Cloutier's submission twice to be sure it wasn't a joke. The sheer volume of misinformation imparted while crowing about his selfish lifestyle was truly breathtaking. A few points: 1. Universal health care is not free. I lived in England for over 20 years. I paid for my health care through taxation and National Insurance contributions. When my British husband and I decided to move to Vermont, the scariest part of the decision was leaving the...
As I sat down to the first night Passover Seder I attended on my campus, I was offered a sheet with four recommended discussion questions. One question stood out to my friends and me: “What enslaves you?” We laughed over it at the time, at the sometimes-dark Jewish humor of the discussion of how oppressed our ancestors were, talk that always comes up with Passover. Yet, this is a worthwhile question to pose. We sit down yearly to remember the...
I am physically disabled. Before moving to my present quarters, I informed the Windham-Windsor Housing Trust that I needed laundry facilities on the premises, and they led me to an apartment in a complex where they were available on site. This worked out for years. Now there has been a turnover in staff, and the old agreement is being ignored. The new manager doesn't care about needed reasonable accommodations. With my bodily issues, I cannot trot off to the laundromat.
We thank this community for supporting the Amber Bernier scholarship at our fifth Walk for Amber StorySlam, cosponsored by Strolling of the Heifers. We had entertaining stories with a wonderful audience.
Climate change is so important because if we don't do something the world will get overheated and it will become unsafe for people to go outside. It is so important that kids are even striking for climate justice. They are doing something called School Strike for Climate Justice, where kids and adults stop going to school to protest climate change. Global warming is dangerous. It is causing the world to get overheated, and it will continue to do damage to...
The Selectboard will consider two amendments to its parking ordinance at a public hearing on Tuesday, May 21. The first would add a disability parking space on the east side of Main Street. The committee has also recommended extending the no-parking zone on the east side of Locust Street, from Vine Street to Chestnut Street. The town's Traffic Safety Committee has reviewed and recommended the two changes. Town Manager Peter Elwell explained that, if approved, the new disability parking space...
The Town School Board has a big decision to make, and not a lot of time to make it. The Brattleboro Town School District - which includes Oak Grove, Green Street, and Academy Schools, as well as Early Education Services (EES) - has more than $700,000 in a reserve fund. However, all of that money will end up in the hands of the newly-created Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) unless the board comes up with a plan to use the...
Despite a spate of gloomy weather, spring is springing in southern Vermont, with leaves on the trees and daffodils blooming. Another sure sign? The Department of Public Works has started its spring paving projects, for which the Selectboard approved multiple project bids and one equipment bid at its May 7 meeting. DPW Director Steve Barrett informed the board that this year will bring repairs to roads in the Esteyville area of town. The department received three bids to repair the...
The Transportation Center will soon have additional LED lighting and repairs to a portion of its west stairwell, May 7. The Selectboard has approved spending $19,300 to add a third row of LED lights to the parking garage's inner floors. Cleveland Electric of Brattleboro will install the new lighting. Last year, the board included funding for the project in the FY2019 budget after several public discussions at board meetings where community members said they didn't feel safe using the Transportation...
On Tuesday, May 21, there will be voting in the towns of Brattleboro, Putney, Dummerston, and Guilford for the school board of the merged Windham Southeast School District. Unless the courts rule against this forced merger, this board will set the tone and create the management structure (e.g., how many representatives from each town for the new merged district). Thus, this will be a very important board with significant responsibilities to fulfill in a very short time period. People in...
No, we do not want 5 percent - or any percent - of people in the United States or in the world to be afraid to live life as who they are. We are all entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Let's all live up to the declaration that we have made.
Let me be clear: I found Gerard Cloutier's piece disturbing, despite sometimes being couched in an arrested-development type of humor, which some might find amusing. Ever so slightly underneath that attempt at humor was a rigid, shallow argument devoid of any attempt to understand the complicated nuances of our society and economic system. Moreover, it contained no hint of empathy or compassion. It was a chilling read. “I realized that those with left-leaning views vote for their legislative representatives based...
Donald Trump views other people's money as a tool he can use. It doesn't matter if he defaults on his loans, because with creative bookkeeping and manipulated tax returns he still comes out ahead - the hell with those he owes money to. That is the same kind of attitude that makes him attractive to the Republicans and their history of liking supply-side economics. The 1 percent can default on their tax obligation to their nation, using tax cuts, loopholes,
During their meeting on May 13, members of the Windham County Democratic Committee identified Deputy Sheriff Mark Anderson as their recommended candidate to succeed Sheriff Keith Clark, who will retire June 30. With this decision, Anderson's name will be sent to Governor Phil Scott for final consideration. Democrats also considered another applicant, Bellows Falls Police Chief Ron Lake, but his name was not forwarded to the governor. The need for a sheriff candidate was driven by Sheriff Keith Clark's announcement...
Good day to you, hearty humans in the land where winter won't seem to quit! Admittedly, I did not see the recent Sunday and Monday snow threats looming when I wrote last week's column. It's amazing how small changes in the atmosphere 3,000 miles away can bloom into completely different atmospheric setups days later. The Butterfly Effect is certainly a real phenomenon, in my experience. And while these late-season snowfalls in the hills of Windham County melted almost as soon...
On Sunday, May 19, at 7 p.m., Newfane Congregational Church hosts a concert by pianist and vocalist Mike Kelly. Refreshments and fellowship will follow in the church's Fellowship Hall downstairs. Originally from Cincinnati, Kelly has been a professional pianist and vocalist for over 25 years and has been the music director of the Newfane Congregational Church since August 2017. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music, he has taught music theory at Miami (Ohio) University and...
The Gallery at Next Stage presents Clearing: Recent Work by Barbara Garber, May 18 through Aug. 12, with an artist reception on Saturday, May 18, from 5 to 7 p.m. The Gallery, created as part of the recent $1.7 million renovation, is located at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill. It is open for viewing 30 minutes before each Next Stage event, on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and by appointment with the artist. Garber is a painter, printmaker,
The paintings that make up “Joseph Diggs: Proud 2 Be American” celebrate and memorialize several generations of the artist's African American and Cape Verdean family. The exhibit is on view at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center through June 16. “'Proud 2 Be American' was inspired by an article about my uncle Mitchell, a Tuskegee Airman,” Diggs said in a news release. “After the war, he wanted to fly commercial jets but was denied the opportunity because of his race.
Fast-pitch softball may be a team sport, but if you want to have a successful team, you need to have a good pitcher. Brattleboro has two good pitchers in Hailey Derosia and her understudy, ninth-grader Leah Madore. They are doing well this season with an 8-2 record. Bellows Falls and Twin Valley are both struggling because they have young and inexperienced pitchers. They are both are 1-8. BF's only win this season was a 23-22 victory over Twin Valley. Take...
On May 18, at 8 p.m., the Vermont Jazz Center will present a duo concert featuring two of Cuba's foremost musical performers: pianist Alfredo Rodriguez and percussionist Pedrito Martinez. Their charismatic presence, a brand new album, and an ongoing tour of about 50 international gigs has generated tremendous excitement and expanded their circle to include listeners around the globe. In the coming months they will be touring Canada, Italy, Spain, France, Turkey, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S. In the promo...
The eviction last week by police in Hinsdale, N.H. of three homeless campers from an island in the Connecticut River casts a spotlight on the question of what homeless people in the region do once the seasonal overnight shelter closes in April. Hinsdale Police Chief Todd A. Faulkner told The Commons that the property, owned by the state of New Hampshire, had been posted to prohibit camping last year but that the signs had been ripped down. He said that...
Actor Jon Mack believes that sometimes a performance of a play, even if it is performed word-for-word as originally written, need not completely adhere to the intentions of the author. Take, for instance, the new production of David Mamet's Oleanna, which the Rock River Players will present on two weekends this month. Directed by Bahman Mahdavi, this two-character drama features Jon Mack and Rebecca Musgrove in a play about the power struggle between a university professor and one of his...
More than 50 graduates received their master's degrees at the School for International Training on May 11 during a ceremony infused with the importance of multicultural understanding and communication. “The SIT experience impresses upon you at every opportunity that everyone has a story to tell and skills to share, and that valuable feedback can come through many channels,” said commencement speaker Meghan Audette, West Bank deputy director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the...
I recently went with a friend to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture on the Mall in Washington, D.C. This museum opened in 2016, the same year a minority of American voters elected the most racist president of my lifetime (and Donald Trump has much competition for that dubious honor). It has been difficult, even impossible, to get into this popular site, and it is one of the most-visited museums in the country. We went on...
When I'm driving down Main Street in Brattleboro, I wish pedestrians would cross at the crosswalk, and when I'm walking down Main Street in Williamsville, I wish drivers would heed the speed limit. I've been wishing these things a long time. My first-ever article for the first-ever issue of The Commons lamented the speeding in Williamsville. That was more than 500 issues ago. If anything, the problem of people approaching 50 miles per hour through a 25-mile-per-hour village center has...