In an interview with The Commons, Patsy Cushing described an experience, one that shifted her perception of homelessness and panhandling on a cold and blustery day.
Cushing said that she had driven downtown, parked her car in the Harmony Lot, and then took a bad fall.
She remained on the ground for a few minutes.
“I had on my parka, and I was dressed warmly enough because of the wind, and had no scrapes or anything at all, but it took me a minute or two before I could move,” Cushing said.
It is impossible to estimate the actual economic costs of addiction, homelessness, and panhandling in Brattleboro, but there is no question that they are considerable. For police and other emergency services, problems related to addiction, such as petty crimes and overdoses, are a major focus, taking scores of hours...
Local and regional challenges with homelessness reflect a national problem - one that is a symptom of decades of national economic trends and policies that hit people and communities locally. Megan Hustings, interim director of the Washington, D.C.–based National Coalition for the Homeless, believes that the problem starts with...
Josh Steele recently shared a story of a near miss in a supermarket parking lot - a story that made it clear to him that he was almost deliberately hit by a pickup truck because the occupants presumed he was a panhandler. Steele lives on a side street off Fairground Road, an easy walk to the recently rebranded Market 32, still known as Price Chopper, on the other side of Canal Street. On June 29, as he made his way...
Played Out!, the monthly game night for the LGBT community and allies at The Root Social Justice Center, has moved to the second Wednesday of the month. Played Out's organizers invite all interested parties to join them for a fun and friendly evening of board games, dice games, and card games, according to a news release. They have a good collection of games and invite attendees to bring their favorites, as well as a few friends. At its inception, the...
Strawberry rhubarb pie, Grandma's apple pan dowdy, maple walnut cake… Main Street Arts and King Arthur Flour are teaming up to host a creative dessert contest and fundraiser Saturday, July 6, from 10 a.m. to noon, as part of MSA's Great Tent Event during the Great River Theater Festival. “Bake Your Art Out!” is open to anyone who wants to showcase a favorite dessert while winning prizes and praise and a chance to be included in the first annual Bake...
Fourth of July closures BRATTLEBORO - In observance of the Independence Day holiday, all town offices will be closed on Thursday, July 4, with the exception of emergency services. Parking is free at all metered spaces and in the pay-and-display lots on July 4. All other violations will be enforced. Brooks Memorial Library will be closed July 4. Trash, recycling, and composting materials will not be collected on July 4. Collections normally scheduled on Thursday will be delayed by one...
For the month of July, the Moore Free Library, 23 West St., will present a series of workshops with the theme of death and dying. While the series, “Death Comes to Newfane,” is focused on topics of interest to Newfane and Brookline residents, Library Director Erica Walch said in a news release that all are welcome to attend any or all of the events, which will be offered free of charge. Here is the list of programs: • How to...
College news • Emma Chapman of Brattleboro graduated with an A.S. in Nursing from Becker College in Worcester, Mass. • Laurie Garland of Dummerston, graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Business Administration from Becker College in Worcester, Mass. • Lindsey Weaver of Brattleboro and Emma Boisvert of Jacksonville both recently earned an M.S. in Nursing from Simmons University in Boston. • Rosalyn Pofcher of Brattleboro graduated from Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., with a B.A. in Business and...
Yellow Barn kicks off its 50th-anniversary season this weekend with a concert Friday evening, followed by a master class, pre-concert discussion, and concert on Saturday. The opening-weekend programs explore the interaction of voices, both human and instrumental, introducing a theme that appears throughout the 2019 season. On July 5, Yellow Barn's golden celebration begins with the world premiere of Christopher Theofanidis' Speak Music - a 50th birthday present for Yellow Barn. O'Rourke (Lucy Shelton, soprano) by contemporary Irish composer Andrew...
Drawing crowds of up to 1,200 people, the weekly Food Truck Roundup at Retreat Farm became a community fixture last summer. This year, the spectacular setting, local food, craft brews, live music, and lawn games are back, and have created an event that is attracting a community of support to make the Roundup more accessible and inclusive. The Food Truck Roundup series debuts on July 4 and continues every Thursday night from 5 to 8 p.m. through Sept. 5. To...
Bellows Falls Post 37 is off to a rough start, and one reason why is that they have been giving up lots of runs early in games. On June 26, against Rutland Post 31 at Hadley Field, Bellows Falls gave up nine runs in the first inning and Post 31 went on to win, 11-1, in five innings. The following night at Hadley Field, Brattleboro Post 5 scored five runs in the first inning and four more in the second...
Main Street Arts opens its production of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore on Saturday, July 6, at Vermont Academy's Horowitz Performing Arts Center. The lively operetta runs Saturdays, July 6 and 13, Thursday, July 11, and Friday, July 12, with curtain at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, July 7, with a matinee at 2 p.m. The cast includes veteran actors Falko Schilling as Sir Joseph Porter, Michael Duffin as Ralph Rackstraw, and Constance Bryan as Josephine. Schilling is well known in...
Vermont Mad Pride 2019 is a march and celebration organized by psychiatric survivors, mental health consumers, “mad people,” and those the world has deemed “mentally ill,” according to a news release. It is organized by Vermont Psychiatric Survivors and the Hive Mutual Support Network, as well as a planning committee of community volunteers. According to a news release, Vermont Psychiatric Survivors, Inc. calls itself “an independent, statewide mutual support and civil rights advocacy organization run by and for psychiatric survivors.
Bad Art Night, which originated 17 years ago around a St Paul, Minn., dining room table, has secretly spread to Brattleboro. “Bad Art Night meets Date Night” will be held on Friday, July 11, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., at Brattleboro Clayworks, 532 Putney Rd. Event organizers said in a news release, “bring your sweetheart, your friend, your grandchild, even a small group. Working with your hands in clay together with another leads to mutual inspiration, bringing you closer.” The...
Vermont State Parks is starting a new program geared towards helping campers and would-be campers enjoy cooking over a campfire at Vermont's 55 state parks. Their partner and campfire cook in residence will be Suzanne Podhaizer, who is a chef, journalist, cooking educator, and erstwhile goose farmer. Podhaizer was the first food editor for Seven Days. She owned Salt Café - a farm-to-table restaurant in Montpelier - and is a founder of Sel de la Terre, a multifaceted food education,
The Rockingham Historic Preservation Commission is accepting nominations for its 2019 Old House Awards. The awards are designed to celebrate property owners in town who are maintaining and restoring their historic homes and commercial buildings. There will be awards in multiple categories in 2019, with multiple winners. Awards in previous years have gone to a variety of buildings, including residential, commercial, industrial, and mixed use properties, according to a news release. Eligible properties are older homes and businesses that have...
Skidmore College professor Adam Tinkle will offer SoundMind, a free workshop in aural attention and participatory soundmaking, at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center on Thursday, July 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. Presented in conjunction with the exhibit “Angus McCullough: Coincidence Control,” SoundMind combines meditation, sensory awareness, and aesthetic activation of the breath, body, and voice. Individually, in pairs, and as a group, participants will explore resonance and vibration through touching, listening, and collaborative creation. Attendees should wear comfortable...
The “By the People: Brattleboro Goes Fourth” citizens committee invites the public to the town's 46th annual Independence Day celebration, set for Thursday, July 4, with a morning parade downtown and an afternoon and evening program of family activities and fireworks at Living Memorial Park. More than 30 marching units - including the Brattleboro American Legion and Brattleboro Union High School bands, veterans, civic, and youth groups - will kick off the festivities at 10 a.m. with a parade along...
On Saturday, July 6, at 7:30 p.m., Cirque Us is back in Brattleboro with “RagTag: A Circus in Stitches,” at the New England Center for Circus Arts trapezium. Join Cirque Us's RagTag group of thread-barren, yarn-spinning characters around the fire as they explore a new patchwork world and be entwined with a group of mismatched artists as they stitch together a tapestry of talents. From high-flying, knot-tying, gravity defying aerialists, to loopy jugglers, to musicians that pull your heart strings,
This Special Focus section was reported and written over the past year by MacLean and Shanta Lee Gander, and edited and designed by Jeff Potter. Additional assistance and reporting was provided by Matthew Vernon Whalen, a Marlboro College graduate who lives in town and has completed a nonfiction book about homelessness, dislocation, and addiction in Brattleboro. Additional research and reporting by Mariah Edson, William Drake, and William Epifanio, all students in MacLean Gander's fall 2018 class in advanced news writing...
Hello and good day to you, southeastern Vermonters! Summer has finally arrived, and fortunately for may, it's a seasonable start. It's hot at times, but not overly so. Humidity has been on the rise, but oppressive conditions don't last long. For Wednesday through Friday, we're looking at a fairly humid air mass taking up residence, and temperatures will increase to near 90 by the end of the week, with a hot and rain-free 4th of July! By Friday afternoon and...
There is no excuse for grabbing a bag of frozen peas and carrots at this time of year when the first spring planting of both are hitting the farmstands and farmers' markets. With a little updating, peas and carrots move from an invisible side dish to a memorable part of your dinner. The sugar snap peas are finally available, and they are plump and flavorful. Look for pods that are deep green and full, with no wrinkled or yellowing skin.
Gretchen Havreluk, Wilmington's Economic & Community Development Consultant, was late to a June 28 meeting on broadband internet access with U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in Brattleboro. Why? Havreluk said she was in her office at her home in Jacksonville, trying to submit a grant application for Wilmington to the Vermont Agency of Transportation. She said she could not download the information because her internet connection was too slow. That little vignette illustrated the frustration that many Vermonters still experience...
Cherry salsa? Why not? We often serve fish tacos with the popular mango salsa, and when I was thinking about making this dish recently, I knew I needed to come up with an alternate fruit because of an allergy –– my own! Cherries are in season, so they fit the bill. The farmstands and farmers' markets are loaded with beautiful, spicy radishes as well, so this merger seemed perfect. The tacos have the whole family's seal of approval, with the...
For those working on the front lines in various service agencies, the downtown reality of people who hang out downtown and sometimes ask for money is a symptom of larger, systemic problems. A key question is how to see and define the problem, of which panhandling plays only a small role in the broader series of issues, including housing and income insecurity; psychiatric issues, including substance-use disorders; medical crises like overdoses; and crime, both petty and violent. What one leader...
The final big jigsaw piece needed to establish the new Windham Southeast School District locked into place on June 25 when just over 200 voters approved the district's $50.3 million fiscal year 2020 budget at the new district's first annual meeting. The budget represents a per-equalized-pupil spending of $18,184. This amount falls below the state's spending threshold of $18,311. Districts that exceed the spending threshold are penalized with a higher tax rate. During the three-hour meeting, voters expressed fast support...
At the Opiate Public Forum on June 20 at the Brattleboro Central Fire Station, Dr. Kate McGraw opened by calling the current rise in opiate-related overdoses and deaths in Windham County a “health crisis” - echoing the “public health crisis” discourse taking place on a national level. Dr. McGraw's words were followed by many throughout the evening voicing that addiction is a “disease” - again, in line with the national conversation happening around the issue. This wording and “disease model”
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present The Seamus Egan Project, featuring the founding member of the seminal Irish-American band Solas, at Next Stage on Saturday, July 6, at 7:30 p.m. Beginning with tunes from his groundbreaking 1996 album When Juniper Sleeps, which was the impetus for the formation of Solas, through music from his 20-year career with that iconic band, and adding some brand new tunes, Egan, with Owen Marshall, Kyle Sanna, and other musical friends, will continue...
Ruth Garbus will release her fifth solo album, Kleinmeister, on Aug. 30, on the Chicago label, Orindal Records. Fans of Garbus' slightly surreal, observational lyrics, spare instrumentation, and sophisticated song structures will find themselves in familiar territory. In his review of Kleinmeister, Chris Cohen, singer-songwriter, producer, and former member of Deerhoof, said Garbus “has the best, weirdest chord changes, [and] the catchiest and most exotic melodies and lyrics.” A few things have changed since Garbus' last release, Hello Everybody. While...
She gave her name as Sara and said that she was homeless. Night had fallen in early November. She was holding a polite sign asking for money if anyone could help. She was standing next to one of the parking ticket booths in the Harmony Lot. The weather was close to freezing, and the overnight shelter had not yet opened for the season. She was wearing just a light jacket. Sara said she was from Rutland but had lived in...
For the seventh year, the Grafton Inn is fixing up a mouthwatering day dedicated to foodies throughout Vermont and New England. Set to take place on Saturday, July 13, the festival will focus on a culinary experience that's uniquely Vermont, from the food to the craft beer, spirits, live music, and quintessential Grafton Village setting it all takes place in. For those who attend the separate post-festival dinner, a flavorful evening unfolds with a special menu created by Mariano Gonzalez,
For the month of July, The Crowell Gallery at Moore Free Library, 23 West St., presents “Foreign Elements,” a collection of collages and paintings by Simi Berman. “Working as an illustrator for many years, I began to notice the possibilities of liberating paint from its boundaries while illustrating an Italian Christmas story for children,” Berman wrote in 2000. “Painting in an improvisational way has become an absorbing challenge. It is like walking a tightrope, with nothing much to hold onto.
Robert Woodworth, Burrows Specialized Sports Robert “Woody” Woodworth is the owner of Burrows Specialized Sports on Main Street in Brattleboro. Over the years, Woodworth, a Windham County native who lives in town, has contributed to the community in many ways, from his long-time role on the School Board to the support that his store offers to sports teams at the local schools. * * * My experience goes back to the 1950s. The panhandling and homeless situation has been much...
My guest, Carolyn Partridge, is the Windham-3 state representative in the Vermont House, where she represents the towns of Windham, Grafton, Rockingham, Athens, and Brookline, as well as “a real small slice of North Westminster in what we lovingly call Gageville.” A member of the House since 1999, she has chaired what is now the House Committee on Agriculture and Forestry for 11 years. Partridge raises sheep on her small farm, spinning and dying yarn for retail sale. A longtime...
Might as well get out of bed and start preparing for my first practice train run on the mainline tonight from 1900 to 0300. I'll be honest and admit that this job wasn't my first choice, or even second or third. Right now, it is a means to paying the bills. I had another train dream. In this one, I committed every grievous sin short of running an interlocking signal. I was horsing around in the train cab with a...