Hello and good day to you, residents of lovely Windham County, Vermont! I hope things are well with you. We've got a few wet weather chances over the next seven days, but nothing that looks overly impressive or super impactful.
Temperatures will oscillate within seasonal levels, so it's a steady-as-we-go type of weather week ahead, I believe.
For Wednesday, we'll start off with some showers, but should transition to a sunny, mild day. Sunshine on Thursday leads to some more showers by Friday evening and night. Thereafter, a mostly fair weekend arrives with some showers again moving through Sunday night into Monday with clearing possible by Tuesday.
With our weekly weather picture properly painted, let's jump into the daily details!...
A special thank you from the family of Michael P. Hanley to our friends and neighbors in the Brattleboro community for the abundance of love and support. A special thank you to Sabine Rhyne and staff at the Brattleboro Food Co-op, for the lovely card and food. Michael was...
Legal Services Vermont and Vermont Legal Aid want to know more about the civil legal problems facing low-income and vulnerable Vermonters. The nonprofit law firms are holding seven meetings around the state, including one in Brattleboro, to hear from Vermonters, their community partners, and supporters. The Brattleboro meeting is...
Sandglass Theater is celebrating the completion of our eighth Puppets in Paradise with our new partners at Retreat Farm. We had 11 regional puppetry and theater performers, five musical groups and solo performers, four local food trucks and additional refreshments grace the farmscape for a day of puppets, music, food, and community celebration. This event, which serves as Sandglass' biennial fundraiser, would not be possible without the generous contributions of our many local volunteers, board members and friends. Our deepest...
I am about to take a short drive to Greenfield, Mass. tomorrow morning to the pot dispensary. I will probably see fellow Vermonters there, as I did when I was inspecting the Northampton pot store recently. In Vermont, we still need to apply to the state for a pot card, pay $50, and get our doctor to fill out a form stating that we are able to purchase it legally - if we can. My particular reason for purchasing pot...
Southern Vermont Sister District presents an afternoon concert with local favorites the Seymour Sisters and Bourbon Shuffle at Next Stage on Sunday, Nov. 3, at 4 p.m. Tickets are available at the door at a sliding scale of $15-50 for adults and $5 for children or purchase tickets online at www.nextstagearts.org. Enjoy great music, food, and company while supporting Sister District, a national, volunteer organization working to flip or hold key Democratic seats in strategic state elections. They will be...
In mid-July of 1969, our twice-weekly house maid, Betty, told my mom that she would be going home to North Carolina for a few weeks. She said she would go to her “mama's grave - 'cause when those men land on the moon, that was going to be the end of the world.” “Betty and the moon landing” was a story members of my family told with some cosmopolitan amusement for some time when speaking about our childhood. In 1984,
Epsilon Spires, 190 Main St., will host two events and a workshop featuring the theremin, an electronic musical instrument invented by Russian physicist Leon Theremin in 1919. Composed of a box with two metal antennae, the theremin is unique among musical instruments in that it is played without being touched. An electromagnetic field is created between the antennae and, when a hand is moved between them, pitches raise and lower. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent...
When the curtain rises Friday, Oct. 25, at the Bellows Falls Opera House on the Main Street Arts production of The Secret Garden, the audience will be invited to “dig into the magic of a little bit of earth.” Frances Hodgson Burnett likely couldn't have imagined that the children's classic she penned in 1911 would resonate in 2019 with young and old who are concerned with climate change. Director David Stern and his crew of actors, set builders, and costumers...
What does Game of Thrones have to do with the Islamic State? The Windham World Affairs Council will seek an answer on Friday, Oct. 25, when it hosts Clare Morgana Gillis, Ph.D., Brattleboro resident and WWAC board member, for her talk on “Beheading in the age of its technological reproducibility." The free talk takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the parlor of Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main St., with coffee and snacks at 7 p.m. Gillis will examine the propaganda...
Obituaries • Alfred S. Childs, 88, of Westmoreland, N.H. Died Oct. 11, 2019 at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, N.H. He was born in Guilford on June 25, 1931, the son of the late Bernard S. and Esther (Howe) Childs. Alfred graduated from Brattleboro High School and served his country in the Army from 1952 to 1954. He married Marjorie Hall in 1970. Alfred worked for many years at both Brown & Roberts and G.S. Precision in Brattleboro. He is...
Hey, Timothy Grant: I'll be happy to read your opinions about violence and your respect for human life when you tell me all about: • Whom you're contacting to demand we help our allies, the Kurds, who, along with their families and including babies, are being slaughtered thanks to the demented ego of the criminal in our White House. • What you're doing to help and stand up for people struggling without health care who are losing their homes, their...
After two successful years, the Vermont Ukulele Harvest is back for another weekend event filled with ukulele fun - including two concerts, a full day of workshops, jam sessions, and an open mic. The third Vermont Ukulele Harvest is set for Oct. 25 and 26 at Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill. Performers include Jim and Liz Beloff, Stu Fuchs, Ben Carr, Amy Conley, Ron Kelley, and Veronica Stevens. The ukulele world owes much of its success to Jim and...
Brattleboro Common Sense (BCS) and the Brattleboro Police Department have discussed the pros and cons of patrols without sidearms. BCS first proposed the practice to Chief Michael Fitzpatrick in 2017. In a meeting Oct. 8, consulting economist Adam Marchesseault and I presented research findings that support the safety of weaponless patrols, and the chief consented to our group interviewing officers and the department's use-of-force instructors to hear their thoughts and concerns. In some places, officers rely on backup from sharpshooters...
The Latchis Theatre gets into the Halloween spirit with Wicked Weekend, featuring three special programs running a wild, weird, and wicked gamut from Oct. 25 through Oct. 27. Wicked Weekend kicks off with an invitation to Do the Time Warp Again! as Latchis Arts presents its annual screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Friday, Oct. 25, at 10 p.m. This cult classic starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick first hooked audiences in 1975 and has inspired...
The 2019-20 season of The Met: Live in HD continues Saturday, Oct. 26, at 1 p.m., at the Latchis Theatre with Jules Massenet's opera comique, Manon. Soprano Lisette Oropesa stars in the title role, with Michael Fabiano as Chevalier des Grieux, Carlo Bosi as Guillot de Morfontaine, Artus Rucinski as Lescaut, Brett Polegato as De Bretigny, and Kwangchul Youn as Comte des Grieux. Maurizio Benini conducts. Running time is 4 hours, 2 minutes, including two intermissions. General admission is $22,
The Manitou Project will host a day of events on Sunday, Oct. 27. The day will begin at 11 a.m. with a grief-release labyrinth walk facilitated by the professional staff of the Bayada Hospice. The group will gather to walk the labyrinth in an effort to release one's grief. The labyrinth is a turning, spiraling pathway for walking meditation that ties us to nature, the air, and the earth. “Steeped in mythic tradition, the labyrinth is a doorway into our...
Brattleboro Baha'is are joining with Baha'is around the world this month to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Birth of the Bab. In the Baha'i faith, the Bab's mission was to prepare the way for Baha'u'llah, the prophet founder of the Baha'i faith. The local bicentenary celebration will be held at the Brooks Memorial Library second floor Meeting Room on Tuesday, Oct. 29, from 3 to 5 p.m. Dawn of the Light, a film featuring stories of people around the...
The Putney Foodshelf's sixth annual Top the Truck event of Sept. 25 brought in 2,590.5 pounds of food, thanks to the generosity of community members. The food is now sorted and put on the shelves, and the cases of food that donors ordered through the Putney Food Co-op at bulk discount rate have been delivered both to the Foodshelf and to our Food4Kids program at Putney Central School. We would like to give special thanks to the people and organizations...
Stone Church Arts, in its 15th season, presents Pete's Posse, Vermont's own trad-roots power trio, performing at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26, at Immanuel Episcopal Church, 20 Church St. Pete's Posse was described by the Montréal paper Le Devoir as a band that “embodies all the beauty of American roots music.” Composed of acclaimed musician Pete Sutherland, his talented protégé Oliver Scanlon, and the dynamic Tristan Henderson, it features twin fiddles in tight, wild harmony over high-powered guitar and...
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center invites creators of all ages to design and build original Lego sculptures and display them at the Museum in BMAC's 12th Annual Lego Contest & Exhibit, Nov. 7 through 11. This popular annual event is sponsored by G.S. Precision, Brattleboro Subaru, and Don Robinson Builder. Prizes include gift certificates to Toy City in Keene, N.H. BMAC will display every entry submitted to the contest. A panel of judges will award prizes based on creativity...
Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan stopped in town last week to hear from community members about how his office can better address incidents of bias and hate crimes. Approximately 50 people, including representatives from social justice organizations, converged in the Oak Grove School gym on Oct. 17 for the two-hour forum, where several community members shared their experiences of being the targets of bias and hate. Etan Nasreddin-Longo, co-chair of the state's Fair & Impartial Policing Committee and co-organizer of...
New England Youth Theatre will present Clown TV!, a play written and directed by NEYT alum Doran Hamm - aided by Amy Majer, Putnam Smith, and the young ensemble - on Nov. 1 and 8 at 7 p.m., and Nov. 2 and 9 at 2 and 7 p.m. “My favorite part of the process is the collaboration with the kids. We had this concept of clown television, which is a rich field to plant in,” Hamm said in a news...
For only the third time since 1980, the Brattleboro Colonels varsity football team finished the regular season undefeated. The 8-0 Colonels completed their first regular season schedule in Division II with a 56-20 win over the Mount Anthony Patriots in the annual Elwell Trophy game at Bennington's Spinelli Field on Oct. 18. The victory also clinched the top seed in the Division II playoffs, and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Through eight games, the Colonels have scored a total...
Rain and winds pelt disused security towers. A long strip of yellow caution tape twists on the ground below, dragging through shallow puddles. From across the mostly empty parking lot, a horn blares. A yellow rail car pushes a heavy flatbed, breaking through the sense of desolation as it trundles down the rail spur that the newest owner of the former Vermont Yankee nuclear power station, NorthStar, installed to haul radioactive waste to a repository in Texas. A worker opens...
As the author of the first biography of Clarina I. H. Nichols, I read with interest Rolf Parker's commentary about his discovery of articles in the Windham County Democrat in which Nichols allegedly endorses the extermination of Native Americans in the west. There are several major flaws in Parker's argument, but the most glaring one has to do with the example that he hangs his hat on. In the Oct. 12, 1853, issue of the Democrat, Parker found a brief...
Thank you, Deborah Lee Luskin. For Timothy Grant, some questions about his opposing views: What gives you the right to interfere in my doctor-patient relationship? What allows any government or governmental agency the right to dictate the words my doctor uses during a private consultation? Should information about all aspects of reproductive responsibility be available to all? Should not that information be free of religious dogma? Food for thought: Do males share the responsibility for unwanted pregnancies? Are males responsible...
Media stories about sexual assault and the culture of toxic masculinity at elite boarding schools have become so routine that nobody is surprised when another one emerges. Such stories involve schools like Saint Paul's, Milton Academy, and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's now-infamous alma mater Georgetown Prep, all classic boarding schools with preppy dress codes, honor codes, an emphasis on orthodox academics and sports, and serene campuses whose brick buildings and tidy lawns suggest history and tradition. But sexual assault...
Joshua Moyse has stitched together the stuff of nightmares to conjure up a strange and scary evening of theater. For its fourth annual Halloween spectacular, Shoot the Moon, the theater company-in-residence at Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery, pays homage to the horror anthology genre with American Gothic: An Anthology of Terrifying Tales. Moyse's script for American Gothic is “in the tradition of CreepShow, Twilight Zone: The Movie, and Black Mirror, where thrills and chills are delivered in sudden bursts designed to...
Fred Homer is a jack of all trades and a master of many, though he might be blushing at that description. A wildlife rehabilitator, Fred has created a haven for injured animals in need of care and a safe place to recuperate. Fred has really created a sanctuary on his property in his barn, where each bird has its own enclosure - sort of an AirBnB for them. They come, they stay awhile. He is also an accomplished artist in...
“You never know.” That was poet Mark Statman's response to the question about when he knows that a collection of work is right or ready, especially relating to his new collection, Exile Home. Statman is bringing this new collection to Antidote Books on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m., where he will offer one of his last readings on a three-week Northeastern tour. His response is a nod to all the greatest maxims about the creative process and how the...