After nine years of supporting the Rich Earth Institute, cofounder Kim Nace is stepping aside from her position as executive director of the local nonprofit that has received international attention and acclaim for its work in turning human urine into fertilizer.
According to a news release, Nace's “visionary leadership has helped the Institute grow from a small group of passionate community members to an organization with an internationally recognized reputation in the field of ecological sanitation.”
Nace has been involved in every level of the organization, from big picture thinking to assisting with field experiments and managing urine “donations.”
She has met with local and national leaders, including the head of the World Toilet Organization, industry experts, members of the press, and countless community members.
The Landmark College Center for Neurodiversity will host an online discussion with opera singer Keith Harris on Thursday, March 4, at 7 p.m. The American baritone's presentation, “The Gift of Dyslexia,” combines music with a message of inspiration and hope that draws from his 2019 book, The Odds Against:
This year, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) can help working families make ends meet with a credit of up to $6,660. EITC is designed to help compensate hard-working families whose wages are too low, while also providing economic stimulus to our state. In 2020, 33,000 Vermonters received an...
This year, the Local River Subcommittees of the Connecticut River Joint Commissions (CRJC) will work together to celebrate and learn more about the Connecticut River - its history, science, and culture- and invite residents of the Connecticut River Valley to join and participate. The 2021 Riverwide speaker series will host four events to occur online on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. Topics include “River Paths for Wildlife” on March 23, “Future of Invasive Species Management” on May 25, “A History of...
In July, Northfield Mount Hermon will launch an inaugural online summer writing institute for students entering grades 7–12 who wish to join instructional writing workshops in a variety of genres led by published writers from around the United States. The Lamplighter Literary Arts Summer Writing Institute will offer 25 contact hours with teachers between Sunday, July 11 and Friday, July 23. Workshops are offered in fiction writing, poetry, journalism, and screenwriting. Students will select a genre and join a morning...
On Friday, March 12, at 5 p.m., researcher and conservationist Jonathan Slaght will be the guest at the Brattleboro Literary Festival's virtual Cocktail Hour. Slaght is the Russia/Northeast Asia coordinator for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). He manages research projects involving endangered species such as Blakiston's fish owls and Amur tigers, and he coordinates WCS avian conservation activities along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway from the Arctic to the Tropics. He is considered to be one of the world's foremost experts...
St. Michael's Episcopal Church has recently appointed three new Vestry members. • Steven Guerriero lives in Spofford, N.H., where, after a long career in higher education as a faculty member and in administration, he and his wife, Joy, operate Pisgah Farm LLC. There, they grow and sell produce and flowers, wholesale and retail. Guerriero's professional background includes years of leadership experience and consulting in private and nonprofit organizations. • Annie Landenberger of Williamsville is serving on the Vestry for the...
Jessamyn Fiore, president of Epsilon Spires, the arts and entertainment organization at 190 Main St., recently announced that five new members have joined its board of directors. Nick Brooke, a musician, is a professor at Bennington College whose work has been performed across the United States and in Europe and featured at the Lincoln Center Festival, the Ecstatic Music Festival, the Spoleto Festival USA, and the MATA Series. He has received awards and residencies from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American...
Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts, 181-183 Main St., will debut oil paintings on paper by David Brewster, watercolors by David Rohn, and photographs by Gene Parulis as part of a new exhibit that opens Saturday, March 6 at noon. The live gallery exhibition continues through Sunday, April 11, and all work will be available for viewing and purchase online. Brewster says his interpretations of urban centers, suburbia, and farmlands “are not as we remember them - not sentimental imitations, but as they...
The Vermont Principals' Association has released the dates for all state championship events for high school winter sports. One big change is that the Barre Auditorium will be the site this year for all teams competing in state championship basketball games, including Division I. Previously, only the Division II, III, and IV boys' and girls' semifinals and finals were held at “The Aud,” while Division I teams played at the University of Vermont's Patrick Gymnasium. This year's title games will...
Yes, I am aware that Rosa Parks was not the first Black person to refuse to give up her seat on the Montgomery bus. Claudette Colvin was 15 and pregnant, and a conscious decision was made by the folks planning the bus boycott to have Rosa Parks be the one, as they felt that she, rather than Claudette, would garner greater sympathetic news coverage. I feel bad for Claudette, as she was really the first one who I know of...
The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund's Farm to Plate Initiative and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) have released the Vermont Agriculture and Food System Strategic Plan 2021–2030. With more than 1,500 Vermonters helping to shape its content over 18 months, the plan lays out a vision, 15 goals, 34 priority strategies, and 276 recommendations for advancing the agriculture and food system in the state. Focus groups with more than 120 Vermont industry members - such as beef,
MOOver resumes Medicaid transportation servicesROCKINGHAM - The MOOver has resumed providing Medicaid transportation to qualified clients in Windham County and southern Windsor County. The MOOver's return into Medicaid follows nine months of planning and coordination with the Vermont Public Transportation Association (VPTA), the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) and the two bus companies that have been serving the region since 2018, when the MOOver withdrew from the Medicaid program. Services in Windham County have been maintained by Green Mountain Community...
College news • Craig Worden, a finance major from West Dummerston, graduated in December from Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C. • Tyler Millerick, a business major from Vernon, was named to the Fall 2020 Dean's List at Western New England University in Springfield, Mass. • Abigail Dryden of Londonderry was named to the Gettysburg (Pa.) College Dean's Honor list for outstanding academic achievement in the fall 2020 semester. Obituaries • Jon David Bellstrom, 74, of Townshend. Died peacefully, surrounded...
We have just passed the one-year anniversary of the Let's Take Action Rockingham program set up by our town. During our many hours of conversation and deliberation, we came up with a vision for the future of Rockingham. Today, as we look back over the past year and are getting to go to Town Meeting either in person or via Zoom, is a great time to review what we held up as priorities for our community. The following is a...
As we've moved past yet another grim milestone - 500,000 pandemic deaths - the comparisons to wars in U.S. history reveal another horrific reality. In World Wars I and II, the entire society organized to protect this country. Where is the mobilization today? On the home front, citizens volunteered, funded war bonds, rationed fuel, etc. They planted victory gardens, a symbol of the country's commitment to persevere. Today, we have a coterie of pandemic deniers who regard masking as an...
Vermont's mental health system is poised to move millions of dollars toward the wrong side of history by prioritizing control and psychiatric incarceration over community care and voluntary support. Community members and legislators can act now to prevent decades of harm and address our communities' real needs. The governor's budget this year includes $11.6 million for a new 16-bed “secure residential” facility in Essex to replace the current seven-bed Middlesex Therapeutic Community Residence (TCR). The new facility would also be...
On the surface, the Annual Town Meeting is about voting on municipal business, such as raising funds for the town budget or taking on debt for a new snowplow. Buried under the meeting warning and Robert's Rules of Order, however, are the principles of self governance and community cohesion: a government of the community, by the community, and for the community. But holding these conversations and making decisions require civic muscles that also need regular workouts. It's these civic muscles...
“On May 13, 1985, at 6221 Osage Avenue, an armed conflict occurred between the Phila. Police Dept. and MOVE members. A Pa. State Police helicopter dropped a bomb on MOVE's house. An uncontrolled fire killed eleven MOVE members, including five children, and destroyed 61 homes.” So reads a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission 2017 historic marker. * * * What does it mean to awaken, and what sacrifice is required? And as we talk about decolonizing, what does it require?
Farmer Jon Wright is not accustomed to asking for help. In fact, he's more likely the one offering it. But after an abundantly snowy winter and big rain on Feb. 16 caused a partial collapse of Wright's barn roof at Taylor Farm, he has reluctantly decided to ask for a little help from his 180-year-old farm's friends. And they are eagerly stepping up. “There have been times at Taylor Farm when 'raising the roof' meant stomping your feet at a...
Noontime on Town Meeting Day in Dummerston usually means a lunch break for baked ham, macaroni and cheese, and pie before voters plow through the rest of the meeting warrant in the afternoon. But the gymnasium at Dummerston School was empty on Tuesday, as COVID-19 concerns prompted the town to switch to the Australian ballot to vote on the budget and other matters. Instead, the noontime scene shifted to Dummerston Center and a group of mostly unused and socially distanced...
The sap is running! Our first crop of the year in New England - maple! - is also our first real evidence of spring in this cold climate. When I hear that the sap is running, I'm happy indeed. Warm days above freezing and cold nights below mean the sap run is upon us, and it can't come a moment too soon. Maple syrup was first developed by the indigenous peoples of Canada and our Northeast. It certainly is an...
In his poem “To Elsie,” William Carlos Williams wrote, “The pure products of America/go crazy.” I have thought of that poem a lot lately. Our national unreality over the past several years escalated to a fever pitch between the November election and the most recent impeachment routine, with a hefty dose of an insurrection thrown in on Jan. 6 just to make everything as real as it could possibly be. Nothing that has happened since then has changed that reality...
As a minister and a leader of the civil rights movement, Rev. James Bevel initiated, strategized, directed, and developed two of the major successes of the era: the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade and the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Campaign. In 1963, Birmingham's Rev. Fred L. Shuttlesworth had invited Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), to Birmingham, one of the South's most heavily segregated cities. SCLC's leaders accepted a challenge. “I assure...
Voters on Tuesday elected a new Selectboard member, as Jessica Gelter won her bid for a one-year seat. Incumbent Daniel Quipp will return to the board for another one-year term, while incumbent Ian Goodnow, who is finishing his first one-year term, won his campaign for a three-year seat. The board members-elect begin their terms after the conclusion of Annual Representative Town Meeting on March 20. Voters also overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to dissolve the Windham Southeast School District, 1,551–226, as...