I woke up overwhelmed with gratitude to be alive and well with my family by my side.
The night before, I was awakened at 1:30 a.m. to my smoke/carbon monoxide alarms loudly sounding and telling us to evacuate the house immediately.
We had this happen one other time, and it was just a battery issue. But this time seemed a little different, and something was telling me to not just unplug the alarms as I did before. I decided to call 911 instead - just to be abundantly cautious.
The kids and I wrapped up in blankets and went onto the porch.
When I was walking on a trail at sweet pond with my grandmother and my sibling I saw an otter just barely peeking its head over a rock. It was an incredible experience that I hope I will get to repeat but that I am worried I won't be...
Imagine you are walking near a river and you see a river otter playing in the water, twisting and turning. It is a few feet long, maybe two-three feet. Sleek and dark, tumbling over others of its kind. It looks like it's dancing! Believe it or not, these otters...
There will be a special co-headline matinee concert with Americana Act of the Year nominee Jake Swamp and The Pine, plus Derek Sensale of Pinedrop at Stage 33 Live on Sunday, Jan. 8, at 3 p.m. Jake Swamp and The Pine is Drew Zieff: “one guy with a beard, a guitar, a voice, foot-stomping percussion, and gumption,” says a news release. It continues, “his live shows seamlessly ebb and flow between the energy of a full band and the intimacy...
The police department, which has dealt with a nationwide staffing shortage by subtracting work shifts, is launching a pilot program to test something else: Adding civilians. The force - which is budgeted for 27 officers but has only 18, just two-thirds its full complement - has unveiled plans for a proposed Brattleboro Resources Assistance Team (BRAT) to help with administrative tasks that don't require tactical training. “The program will allow for us to continue to provide all of the services...
For the second year, In-Sight Photography Project will run a youth artist residency. This year, In-Sight will expand the residency and participants will join them for both winter recess (Feb. 20-24) and spring recess (April 17-21) periods. In-Sight will provide three to five young artists (ages 15-18) the time, space, and material resources to work on an independent project of the student's choosing. The residency, running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, will be largely student-motivated with...
Becky Tracy and Keith Murphy, Stefan Amidon and Zara Bode, and Peter and Mary Alice Amidon present their 21st New Year's Eve concerts on Saturday, Dec. 31, at the Brattleboro Music Center. Two performances - at 5 and 7:30 p.m. - are scheduled for this annual holiday (1)“Smorgasbord of Traditional Song & Dance Tunes,” with an evening of New England, Appalachian, Irish, and French-Canadian dance music, fiddling from around the world, and a feast of singing. Keith Murphy (guitar, mandolin,
Transitions • Mona Williams recently was elected to the board of directors at Members 1st Credit Union in Brattleboro for a three-year term. Williams is the payroll and benefits coordinator at Cota & Cota and is a member of the Brattleboro Sunrise Rotary since 2017 and served as its past president in the 2021-22 member year. She as been a USBC League Bowler at Brattleboro Bowl for more than 12 years and a current member of the Child Care Coalition...
If you haven't gotten your annual flu shot or updated COVID-19 booster yet, now is the time to take advantage of expanded hours at Health Department vaccination clinics - where you can walk in, with no appointment necessary. New hours include more evenings and weekends through the end of December, making it easier for those who work or go to school to get vaccinated quickly and easily. Starting this week, many clinics will also offer the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccine...
The Vermont House's tri-partisan Rural Caucus, formerly known as the Rural Economic Development Working Group, or REDWnG, met on Dec. 7 with more than 45 members to elect its co-chairs and clerk and begin setting priorities for the 2023 legislative session. The caucus unanimously elected four officers to guide the work of the group as they continue to expand the priorities from 2022 and dive deeper into the challenges faced by rural communities. The four officers and their positions include:
Canal Street Art Gallery, 23 Canal Street, presents “Life,” a collection of artworks displaying awe, coexistence, and mindfulness of life featuring artists Judy Hawkins, Carol Keiser, and MC Noyes, on view through Feb. 11. Hawkins, based in Westminster West, paints using layers and glazes of brilliant and high contrast color which is built up, removed, and reapplied, to make landscapes which share the artist's awe for life. She paints with the intention of learning something new from each experience during...
Five days ahead of the winter solstice, Vermont got its first major snowstorm of the season. A nor'easter on Dec. 16 and 17 brought between 10 and 26 inches of snow to Windham County, with the most snow falling on the highest elevation towns. Snow totals from the storm in Windham Country as reported to the National Weather Service in Albany, N.Y. ranged from about 11 inches in West Brattleboro and Rockingham, to 13 inches in West Halifax, 14 inches...
The Leland & Gray girls' basketball team wasn't able to win its own tournament to start the season, but the Rebels made a big splash in the Green Mountain Holiday Tournament last week in Chester. Mary Sanderson scored the winning basket with two seconds to play to give the Rebels a 32-30 win over the host team, the Green Mountain Chieftains, in the championship game of the tournament on Dec. 15. The Rebels are off to a good start to...
In spring 2019, artist Madge Evers saw Emily Dickinson's “Herbarium” for the first time. Later that year, during a walk in Northampton, Massachusetts, Evers began to conceptualize a herbarium of her own. “There, in the cracks and along the sidewalk, plants were busting out all over,” Evers said in an interview with the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) for the museum's blog, Art Loves Company. “Tendrils of frost grape vine were raising their arms, literally waving at me. Lush...
Power out for three days. We got 16 inches of snow. Quiet settled in. We were very fortunate to stay warm with the wood stove. The pups napped with me on the couch. Honor slept on top of me and my orange-colored childhood blanket that he also loves. Darling Gracie had extra biscuits while she healed a wound on her muzzle. The well pump didn't work, so eventually the water stopped running. The dishes piled up. There was one fishy...
What's it like to make history? “A moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life was waking up the morning after the election, on very little sleep, and hearing my wife say, 'Good morning, Congresswoman,'” Vermont's new Democratic U.S. representative-elect, Rebecca A. “Becca” Balint, 54, said shortly after the election. Weeks later, the enormity of what she's accomplished is still sinking in. “I couldn't feel it on Election Night,” she said. “I honestly felt so out...
When Charlie Slate drove his wife to work on Christmas morning in 1981 only to realize no restaurants were open, he didn't foresee the free breakfast he offered to cook the next year would attract 50 people. Or grow into an annual gathering. Or live on after his death. Or that it would anticipate feeding upward of 1,000 people and mark its 40th year this year - and that it would likely be its last because of the snowballing success.
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. 4, 2023. Deadline for news and advertising is Friday, Dec. 30. 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 in the months to come.
Writer Wyn Cooper's first novel, Way Out West, has plenty of thrills and chills, but none, it seems, as big as the one its publication provided the author. “I've been lucky in my life, and readily admit it, but nothing prepared me for the thrill of having my first novel published,” Cooper says. Way Out West follows the developing relationship between two protagonists as they try to complete a sci-fi B-movie that might or might not be a cover for...
Let's unpack this statement, which was just repeated to me for what felt like the gazillionth time today: “I don't give panhandlers money, because they're just going to buy drugs with it. I don't want to feed their addiction.” Maybe they are, maybe they're not. But let's say for argument's sake they are actively dependent on illicit substances, struggling, and panhandling to feed a substance abuse disorder. Do you think that not giving them money will starve the disorder, and...
There are some things we experience in life that we can never prepare for, no matter how hard we try. Embarking on a life with the person you love is one. Having, raising and loving a child is another. And then there's this one. I have been here 48 years. Perhaps to the dismay of hundreds of presiding officers, I have delivered many floor statements, some more eloquent than others. But I have never delivered a speech like this. And...
On Jan. 13, Karen Peterson will step down as the executive director of Brattleboro's AIDS Project of Southern Vermont (APSV), and Samba Diallo will move into that position. Peterson has been at APSV for 30 years, since 1993, and Diallo has most recently run the project's Harm Reduction Program. APSV was started in 1987, one of the earliest grass roots organizations ever formed as the world began to recognize and respond to the AIDS epidemic. In 1981, rare types of...
We spend a lot of time and money on the holiday main dish, but the side dishes are often the most memorable. There would be a revolt in our family if we didn't have creamy mashed potatoes and gravy or everyone's favorite cauliflower and cheese sauce. But I like to switch things up a bit, too, and try something new every year. Sometimes, that experiment manages to become part of our regular offerings. I really appreciate a few dishes, like...