The power of young people’s poetry
To open a copy of Another World: Poetry & Art by Young People from The Poetry Studio, edited by Ann Gengarelly and Tony Gengarelly, is to be invited to a magical place where children feel safe enough to be their authentic selves, to express in words and images their hopes, loves, sorrows, and fears, all with a guilelessness that tugs at the reader's heart.
For nearly three decades, Ann and Tony have provided after-school and summer poetry programs for young people ages 5 to 17, in Marlboro, where their extensive and beautiful gardens provide a place for participants to slow the pace of their lives and listen, as Ann says in her introductory essay, “to whatever is begging for a voice.”...
BAJC welcomes new rabbi
Rabbi Amita Jarmon brings varied experiences and love of Israel to Congregation Shir Heharim
Rabbi Amita Jarmon has begun as spiritual leader of the Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, Congregation Shir Heharim (Song of the Mountains), the synagogue for Windham County's residents and seasonal visitors. She grew up in Amherst, Mass., spent a year in Israel after high school and fell in love with...
Around the Towns
Christmas Eve service canceled in Wardsboro WARDSBORO - The 2021 Christmas Eve service at the Methodist Church, 122 Main St., has been canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. For more information, call 802-874-4175. Local churches prepare for safe Christmas worship Celebrating Christmas in uncertain pandemic times is a challenge at...
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Milestones
Milestones • Terrence Edward “Terry” Amidon, 74, of Hinsdale, N.H. Died unexpectedly on Dec. 3, 2021 in Hinsdale, following a period of declining health. Terry was born in Brattleboro on Feb. 18, 1947, the son of Hayden and Catherine (Hogan) Amidon. He was raised and educated in Hinsdale and was a graduate of St. Michael's High School, Class of 1965. He went on to attend St. Anselm's College in Manchester, N.H., prior to being drafted into the U.S. Army. He...
A technologically groundbreaking film celebrates its centennial
Celebrate New Year's Day at Epsilon Spires with a screening of The Phantom Carriage on the 100th anniversary of the film's release, with a live score performed by on the 1906 Estey pipe organ. Composer Jeff Rapsis, who is also a newspaper publisher and executive director of the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire, has been playing live music to silent films since 2007. His style is largely improvisatory, incorporating compositional elements from the present as well as the past. “I...
Palaver Strings return to BMC on Jan. 7 with ‘Painted Dreams’
The Palaver Strings Chamber Series returns to the Brattleboro Music Center on Friday, Jan. 7, with “Painted Dreams.” Palaver Strings musicians say they hope that “Painted Dreams” helps audiences close their eyes and think of sunnier times while in the throes of a New England winter. Performers include Domenic Salerni and Maya French, violin; Brianna Fischler and Lysander Jaffe, viola; and Ben Swartz and Kamyron Williams, cello. The program begins with Adolphus Hailstork's Divertimento for Violin and Viola, followed by...
Campaign seeks donations for new Afghan neighbors
Fresh off a ribbon cutting for its new office, the Ethiopian Community Development Council Multicultural Community Center (ECDC/MCC) is launching a public appeal for donations of money, furniture, household goods, and winter clothing. The arrival of 100 new Afghan neighbors in southern Vermont is expected to start the week of Jan. 3. ECDC/MCC Director Joe Wiah said in a news release that the center's mission is to help refugees integrate successfully into the community by engaging individuals, service groups, churches,
No paper next week
As usual, The Commons will not publish an edition for the last week of the year. The next issue of the newspaper will appear Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. Deadline for news and advertising is Friday, Dec. 31, to the extent that anyone will be thinking about news and advertising on New Year's Eve. All of us at Vermont Independent Media wish our readers warm holiday greetings, a safe end of the year, and best wishes for strength, prosperity, and resilience...
Christmas is America doing what it does
This is such a happy time of year for some people and such a hard time for so many others - suicide and overdoses go up in this season. Christmas itself has become an orgy of consumerism, with nothing to do with any of its ancient roots - just America doing what it does. If you have kids and don't have money, it's tough, and while these charity programs that provide presents to children who otherwise would not have them...
‘I led a decades-long effort to give the building away’
As the building at 66 Atkinson St. in Bellows Falls, which the press often refers to as “the former YMCA,” is being demolished, I want to offer some background information that has not been part of the conversation because no media outlets have contacted Meeting Waters YMCA (MWYMCA) in their reporting. Alongside several iterations of MWYMCA's board of directors, I led a decades-long effort to give the building away to an organization or initiative that would allow for it to...
‘Wood angels’ spread the warmth in Dummerston
It all started when retired forester Charles Richardson, 87, read an article in the newspaper about a “wood pantry” - stored, dried hardwood to be given away to people in need - that had emerged in New Hampshire. “I said to myself, 'We could do that,'” said Richardson. “Don Hazelton, Merrill Barton, and I got the ball rolling, and now we are a group of men, mostly retired, and we cut the logs, split [the wood] with a splitter, stack...
‘Keep it,’ he said with a warm smile
It was December 1969, the week before Christmas. I was a curly-haired redhead, 10 years old, with dreams of gift-giving and no funds to support those dreams. We were a family who had more than many but not a lot. But my father, who worked in the post office downtown, had been working a lot of overtime. Knowing my wish, he gave me a $20 bill and told me that I could use the money to buy Christmas presents. I...
New Year’s Eve concert in Brattleboro marks its 20th year
Becky Tracy and Keith Murphy, Stefan Amidon and Zara Bode, and Peter and Mary Alice Amidon will present their 20th Brattleboro New Year's Eve concert on Friday, Dec. 31, at 5 and 7:30 p.m. This annual holiday “Smorgasbord of Traditional Song & Dance Tunes” continues with an evening of New England, Appalachian, Irish, and French-Canadian dance music, fiddling from around the world, and a feast of singing. This year's event combines familiar faces with changes in venue and schedule, with...
Brattleboro hosts Last Night 2021 celebration on Dec. 31
The Last Night Brattleboro will offer a fun-filled and substance-free day of celebration for all ages on New Year's Eve, Friday, Dec. 31. With the continuing pandemic, the committee said in a news release that it has “scaled back or altered some of our activities out of an abundance of caution to prevent community spread. COVID-19 protocols, such as masks and social distancing, will be required at all events.” The committee members ask that those “not feeling well or [who]
Twin Valley boys lose twice in GM Tourney
Chester was the center of activity in high school girls' and boys' basketball last week with the annual Green Mountain Holiday Tournament. • Green Mountain, the defending Division III state boys' basketball champs, got off to a rough start on Dec. 14, losing to Bellows Falls, 42-33, in the opening game of the tournament. It was the third game in five days for the Chieftains, and they looked weary against a rested and ready Terriers squad. Jon Terry led BF...
Local preschooler saves family from perishing in fire
Four-year-old Nolan Goodnow was supposed to be sleeping the night of Dec. 9 when he woke his mother at 3:30 a.m. to ask what he was hearing. “It sounded 'beep, beep,'” he recalled. Nolan's mother, Allison Gleason, thought it was a plow truck in the parking lot, only to look outside her second-floor apartment at 19 Western Ave. to see growing flames had triggered a fire alarm. Stopped by smoke upon opening the door, Gleason had to fall some 15...
Guilford Center meeting house deemed too costly a gift
Selectboard members have refused the gift to the town of the Guilford Center Meeting House by the Guilford Historical Society, citing prohibitive rehabilitation costs and advice from the architecture firm working on the library as reasons to pass on the offer. The vote not to accept the meeting house as a gift to the town was unanimous. “I think I can speak for the board and say we are all disappointed, but I can understand, even though it's disappointing,” said...