Issue #759
How ‘Roosevelt’s Tree Army’ remade Vermont
It was 91 years ago this week, on April 5, 1933, that President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as part of his New Deal, a program intended to get people back to work during the Great Depression.
Anyone visiting state or national parks in the U.S. today still benefits from the work of the CCC. The program virtually created more than 700 state parks, and National Parks across the country benefited from CCC workers.
One year later, solidarity as a community
The only way to address enormous challenges is to come together as we did after the death of Leah Pritchard-Rosin
Leo Schiff is a social worker and activist who has lived in Brattleboro for the past 40 years. Brattleboro-- April 3 marks the first heartwrenching anniversary of the tragic killing of Leah Rosin-Pritchard by one of her clients at Morningside Shelter. This event hit me particularly hard for a...
Our Place receives grant from Vermont Foodbank
Our Place Drop-in Center has received two grants of $3,500 each from the Vermont Foodbank to increase its capacity to provide food for those experiencing food insecurity. The Vermonters Feeding Vermonters grant will be used to buy fresh local produce, prepared foods, yogurt, and cheese for the food shelf...
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Windham County Retired Educators plan spring meetings
Windham County Retired Educators will begin its series of spring meetings at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 10, at Holton Hall on the Winston Prouty Center campus. Following a brief business meeting, those in attendance will hear from a representative of the Vermont State Teachers' Retirement System regarding the work of the state on behalf of retirees in the system. Attendees are free to bring a lunch or reserve one. Beverages and dessert will be provided. Membership in the association...
Around the Towns
->Rasa String Quartet presents 'Impressions: East Meets West' at BMC BRATTLEBORO - In a performance at the Brattleboro Music Center, the Rasa String Quartet will present "Impressions: East Meets West." The concert, set for Friday, April 5, at 7 p.m., will include a joyful celebration of the Lunar New Year in Chen Yi's "Shuo" and Jungyoon Wie's "A Popular Tune." Also featured will be a fusion of East Asian folk music and the Western classical tradition, showcasing composers who embrace...
Milestones
->Obituaries • Pamela G. "Pam" Chickering, 82, of West Chesterfield, New Hampshire. Died March 27, 2024, in the comfort of her home surrounded by her family, following a lengthy and courageous battle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Pam was born in Brattleboro on Jan. 15, 1942, the daughter of Murray and Mabel (Young) Gould. She attended Brattleboro schools, was a graduate of Brattleboro Union High School, Class of 1960, and went on to attend Concord (N.H.) Hospital School of Nursing, receiving...
Wendy’s House Concert series hosts vocal quintet Culomba
GUILFORD-On Friday, April 5, the Boston(1)-based vocal quintet Culomba will appear in Wendy's House Concert series on Tater Lane in Guilford at 7 p.m. Culomba specializes in close harmony singing from many different global styles, including American folk traditions, music from Georgia, Corsica, and the Balkans, renaissance polyphony, and originals. Culomba's singers have traveled internationally to study with masters of traditional music and have performed at venues such as Club Passim (Cambridge), Jalopy (Brooklyn), Caffe Lena (Saratoga), and the inaugural...
Exhibit by Julia Zanes opens at CX Silver Gallery
BRATTLEBORO-CX Silver Gallery, 814 Western Ave., opens a new exhibition with works from Julia Zanes that will be on display through May 27. An opening reception will be held Saturday, April 6, from 1 to 3 p.m. "The work here is a selection from several bodies of work made since 2020," Zanes writes in her artist statement. "The small ones I called 'Household Objects.' They were an offshoot of a large body of work I made around 2016 called 'The...
Project Feed the Thousands awarded $5,000 for food shelves
BRATTLEBORO-Liberty Mutual and Safeco Insurance have awarded The Richards Group a 2024 Make More Happen Award for its volunteerism with Project Feed the Thousands, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing food and personal care items for thousands of people in and around seven communities across southeastern Vermont and southwestern New Hampshire. The award includes an initial donation of $5,000 for Project Feed the Thousands, which can be doubled to $10,000 just by having community supporters vote online. As of Monday,
Brattleboro Music Center offers series of Spring Music Salons
BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Music Center offers a spring lineup of Music Appreciation Salons. Moby Pearson - violinist, ensemble coach, and orchestra conductor - invites music lovers to enjoy an array of musical treats and opportunities to pick up new perspectives along the way. As Pearson notes, "Salons are presented in a way that is accessible to all. You don't have to be a musician to attend - open ears are all that is required." All offerings will be held Thursdays at...
New England Youth Theatre presents ‘Twelve Angry Jurors’
BRATTLEBORO-New England Youth Theatre (NEYT) presents Twelve Angry Jurors, by Reginald Rose, adapted by Sherman L. Sergel, Friday through Sunday, April 5–7 at NEYT, 100 Flat Street. This play is directed by Eric Bass, assistant directed by James Gelter, choreographed by Shoshana Bass, scored by composer Julian Gerstin, and features members of the NEYT's senior company. Twelve Angry Jurors (originally written as Twelve Angry Men) is a play about saving a democratic process, not necessarily about saving an innocent man.
Epsilon Spires celebrates solar eclipse
BRATTLEBORO-Epsilon Spires, 190 Main St., hosts a solar eclipse celebration with Thistle on Monday, April 8. All ages are welcome and eclipse-viewing glasses will be provided. Arrive at the front entrance of Epsilon Spires at 2 p.m. to receive your Solar Eclipse Glasses. Partake in some celestial-inspired refreshments, and then wander around downtown Brattleboro to enjoy viewing the partial Eclipse which begins at 2:14 p.m., peaks at 3:38 p.m., and ends at 4:37 p.m. Then return to Epsilon Spires at...
UMass Percussion Ensemble returns to BMAC on April 14
BRATTLEBORO-The UMass Percussion Ensemble returns to the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) on Sunday, April 14, at 7 p.m. Led by percussionist Ayano Kataoka, the Ensemble is made up of graduate and undergraduate percussion students at University of Massachusetts at Amherst. For their performance in Brattleboro, students Robert Grahmann, Philip Hanifin, Clara Montes, and Sejeong Pyo will perform original compositions and arrangements by J.S. Bach, Michael Burritt, John Cage, Jacob Druckman, and Igor Stravinsky. "A contemporary art museum is...
WTSA launches 'Listen Local'
BRATTLEBORO-Brattleboro radio station WTSA 96.7FM is launching a new local music program celebrating the region's musicians and touring bands visiting local venues. Listen Local airs weekly on Sunday mornings from 11 a.m. to noon, starting April 7. The program is also available as a recorded podcast at wtsaradio.com/listen-local. The program features music and interviews with local bands across Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, as well as musicians playing at the region's live music venues. Listen Local is hosted by Mitchell...
MOOver to expand service
BRATTLEBORO-Southeast Vermont Transit (SEVT, aka the MOOver) and the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation (BDCC) announce the start of a new microtransit service in Brattleboro on April 15. According to SEVT CEO Randy Schoonmaker, microtransit "is a system like Uber with a van." This new service is nicknamed the MicroMOO2; the original MicroMOO service is operated in Windsor. It will run from 5 to 11:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, and is free of charge and open to everyone. Trips...
Rob Flax’s Boom Chick Trio coming to Next Stage
PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts presents the jazz combo Boom Chick Trio on Saturday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m. Described as "equal parts hot swing, snarky songwriting, and lyrical storytelling," this trio of violin, guitar, and bass plus three-part harmony vocals "will transport you to a speakeasy somewhere in the back of a bar." "Boom Chick! What a name to express the hot jazz trio that are masters of their craft," Keith Marks, executive director of Next Stage Arts, said in a...
SIT marks 60 years of educating ‘global citizens’
BRATTLEBORO-In 1961, President John F. Kennedy's brother-in-law, Sargent Shriver, was tapped to assist in training college-aged youth for the launch of Kennedy's Peace Corps program, leading to the establishment of the School for International Training (SIT) in 1964, which allowed university students to study abroad. Now, 60 years later, SIT acts as the academic arm of World Learning, Inc., a global nonprofit focused on development and exchange with an umbrella of programming, educational opportunities, and training at home and abroad.
Unified basketball kicks off spring sports season
-Practices began last week for spring high school sports in Vermont. Weather permitting, some teams will have their first games later this week. Meanwhile, Unified basketball got started on April 1 when the Brattleboro Bears traveled to Springfield to face the Cosmos in Dressel Gymnasium. Unified basketball, which is run through Special Olympics Vermont, is an all gender-inclusive program that pairs athletes who may have disabilities with partners who do not have disabilities. At any given time, there are three...
Where experience has been the best teacher
Beatriz Fantini is a professor emerita at SIT, where she worked for 50 years. She is a freelance writer and has published short stories in her native Bolivia and in Venezuela. Her husband, Alvino Fantini, is an SIT professor emeritus. BRATTLEBORO-Most universities were founded by people who believed in intellectual growth, accumulated knowledge and experience, and who had the means to make it happen. These visionaries were committed to the success of the institutions they created. Some institutions were established...
Getting to know a people and a culture
BRATTLEBORO-"I don't know what it's like to live in Palestine, but through these films, I think I have a better idea; I would hope that anyone watching [them] would have a similar experience." So says Shana Frank of Putney, a math educator who has coordinated a four-part Palestine film series to be offered every Sunday this April at 4 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre, 50 Main St. The series is presented by Southern Vermont for Palestine (SoVT4P), described in a...
A new take on an old chestnut
BELLOWS FALLS-Wild Goose Players (WGP) presents the nine-time Tony Award–winning musical Fiddler on the Roof this weekend and next at the Bellows Falls Opera House, 7 Village Square. With some of musical theater's most cherished tunes - Sunrise, Sunset; If I Were a Rich Man; Matchmaker; To Life - Fiddler is about family and community, love and relationships. It cuts across barriers to deliver lessons of tolerance - of acceptance - in the face of prejudice and discrimination. And it...
We cannot fund our way out of this chaos
ROCKINGHAM-How can Rockingham, where I live, or any town in Vermont, continue to carry the unbearable and unsustainable burden of taxes here? How can our Legislature create and bring new taxes each year to the table off of which we all must eat? It is unconscionable. How can our local boards knowingly raise the tax rate year after year, hurting our elderly and our working poor still further? It is shameful. The answer is a lack of due diligence, a...
Medicaid cutoffs are ‘policy violence’
Karen Saunders serves as vice president of the Vermont Workers' Center. If you or your family has been cut off from Medicaid or impacted by high health care costs, barriers to getting the care you need, or medical debt, she invites you to attend one of the Healthcare Is a Human Right's upcoming spring tour events to share your story. The tour, with events throughout the state, culminates Monday, April 25 with a last stop in Bellows Falls, at a...
MicroMOO2 will increase transit equity
Isaac Evans-Frantz serves as the executive director of a national nonpartisan organization that campaigns for U.S. policies to save lives around the world. For more information on the MicroMOO2 and how to access its services, visit moover.com/brattleboro-microtransit/. To support new Vermonters as a volunteer with ECDC, email vermontinfo@ecdcus.org or call 802-376-1319. BRATTLEBORO-As a volunteer with the refugee resettlement agency ECDC, I've witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by low-income families in accessing reliable transportation, particularly in rural areas like southern Vermont.
U.S. lawmakers are disconnected from Vermonters
BELLOWS FALLS-First off, thanks to Joyce Marcel for writing this article on retired Sen. Patrick Leahy. While the article made thoughtful mention of our former senator's efforts to secure more funding for local Vermont interests and mitigation of the human tragedy of U.S. mines, napalm and Agent Orange in Vietnam, this remains cold comfort to the many challenges that Vermonters, especially our young people, face today. We need far more Town Meeting–style gatherings with our two senators and our U.S.
‘Honestly, we have some rock-star women entrepreneurs in this region’
BRATTLEBORO-Building connection, sharing stories, and finding inspiration: such was the atmosphere at the Vermont Womenpreneurs Brattleboro Showcase on March 27. During the evening, which marked the first time that the member-based organization in Burlington brought the event to southern Vermont, six women business owners spoke to an audience of 75 women and five men, reflecting on their respective businesses, origins, and most important lessons from their journeys. Mieko Ozeki is co-founder of Vermont Womenpreneurs and owns Radiance Studios, a content...
Psilocybin for the people
Lauren Alderfer, PhD, is the author of Mindful Microdosing: A Guidebook and Journal, published by Green Writers Press, available on Amazon. BRATTLEBORO-I had the privilege of watching the Vermont government in action as it considered a bill that aims to remove criminal penalties for possessing, dispensing, or selling psilocybin and to establish a Psychedelic Therapy Advisory Working Group. Together, a persuasive picture was painted as to why legalization is of timely interest in Vermont; indeed, it illustrates why legalization and...
Brattleboro police chief finds stories in the numbers
BRATTLEBORO-Norma Hardy looks at the town as "a very, very busy hive," with the police chief noting that the Brattleboro Police Department (BPD) responded to 11,277 calls for services in 2023. That's up almost 8% since last year, according to the BPD's 2023 Annual Report. But embedded in the numbers are difficult stories of a community, and Hardy took The Commons through the numbers in a recent interview, offering some context about a still-understaffed police force adapting to providing public...