Seven Days, March 3, 2021

MIRO HANGS ON

Weinberger reelected in squeaker

VE RMO NT ’S IN DEPE NDEN T VO IC E MARCH 3-10, 2021 VOL.26 NO.22 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

PAGE 5

Framing

the Questions Facing an uncertain future, Vermont museum leaders draw inspiration from both past and pandemic present

BY D A N B O L L E S , PA G E 2 6

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WEEK IN REVIEW FEBRUARY 24-MARCH 3, 2021 COMPILED BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN & MATTHEW ROY

WEINBERGER EKES OUT A FOURTH TERM

Progressive mayoral candidate Max Tracy awaiting results

and persistence that has made Burlington one of the safest cities in America,” he told reporters at the ECHO Leahy Center for

802nice

MATTHEW ROY

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The Floral Heart Project display on Church Street

Incumbent Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger speaking after winning his fourth term JAMES BUCK

TOWN MEETING DAY

LUKE AWTRY

Democratic Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger won a fourth three-year term on Tuesday, barely surviving a challenge from Progressive City Council President Max Tracy.

Weinberger won with 6,189 votes to Tracy’s 6,060, a difference of only 129 votes. City Councilor Ali Dieng, who ran as an independent, got 1,830 votes, and four other independent candidates lagged far behind.

Weinberger ran his most robust campaign yet, beating his fundraising record by raking in $132,673 this campaign season. He maintained a two-to-one fundraising lead over Tracy throughout the race, even though Tracy had more individual donors. Still, Weinberger’s victory with 43 percent of the vote was his weakest showing in all four of his mayoral campaigns. He won with 48 percent in 2018, 68 percent in 2015 and 58 percent in 2012.

In a victory speech Tuesday night, Weinberger said fighting the coronavirus and leading the city’s economic recovery will be his top priorities. He also pledged to continue addressing both racial justice and the climate crisis.

“My promise to you, Burlingtonians, is that our city team will take on the challenges ahead using the same kind of hard work, innovation, collaboration

Lake Champlain. “The work ahead is serious. We must and we will succeed.”

At a virtual watch party, a disappointed Tracy con-

gratulated Weinberger and said he’s confident that the mayor will work with the council “to help us move closer to a Burlington that works for all of us.”

Tracy, who will remain on the council, also promised to continue fighting for policies that he promoted on the campaign trail, including police accountability, affordable housing and racial justice. He urged his supporters to continue organizing for “transformative change.”

In other Burlington contests, voters approved a slew of referendum questions: They said yes to allowing retail cannabis stores in the Queen City, voted to protect tenants by requiring a just cause for evictions, and opened the door to allowing the city to potentially tax properties heated by fossil fuels.

Voters also resurrected ranked-choice voting, which would enable voters to rank future city council candidates in terms of their preference.

Voters reelected three city councilors: Jack Hanson (P-East District), Joan Shannon (D-South District) and Perri Freeman (P-Central District). Independent candidate Mark Barlow, a former school board member, defeated Democratic/Progressive candidate Kienan Christianson by 156 votes in the North District.

Read more about these stories and additional Town Meeting Day coverage at sevendaysvt.com.

emoji that SECONDHAND STORE

The former Macy’s is now Burlington High School’s downtown campus.

Escalators and all!

WRONG MESSAGE

An essay on the cover of the Town of Stratton’s annual report instructed people from “there” not to try to change “here.” As a New York Times reporter tweeted, “Holy moly.”

TWO FOR ONE

Vermont Public Radio has hired two “Vermont Edition” cohosts to replace Jane Lindholm, who steps down in late March.

Big shoes to fill.

ZOOMING OUT?

Some Vermont state employees could begin returning to offices in April.

An end in sight?

106,269 That’s how many Vermonters had received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday.

TOPFIVE

MOST POPULAR ITEMS ON SEVENDAYSVT.COM

1. “Burlington Police Get Involved After Prank Callers Target City Councilor” by Courtney Lamdin. People who repeatedly called Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District) during a council meeting were referred to a restorative justice program.

2. “Four Quarters Brewing Opens New Main Street Taproom” by Melissa Pasanen.

Winooski’s only brewery opened its longawaited taproom and outdoor patio at 70 Main Street over the weekend.

3. “Vermont Lake Monsters to Be Sold, Play in Collegiate League” by Sasha Goldstein.

The club was finalizing its lease to play at Centennial Field this summer, according to an announcement about the sale.

4. “Williston Agreed to Limit Disclosures About Two Cops Accused of Misconduct” by Derek Brouwer. Two cops who departed last year after being accused of wrongdoing secured separation agreements that could help them land on their feet.

5. “Signs Opposing Eviction Restrictions in Order to ‘Protect BIPOC Tenants’ Cause Stir”

by Courtney Lamdin. Advocates for renter protections decried signs claiming that people of color would be harmed.

tweet of the week @MaurysWig If my Vermont town doesn’t approve retail cannabis shops on town meeting I’ll be standing on the town green the next day in a long trench coat selling dime bags to your children.

Try me.

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSVT OUR TWEEPLE: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/TWITTER

WHAT’S KIND IN VERMONT

FLOWERS FOR THE FALLEN A colorful display on Burlington’s Church Street caused passersby to pause, pull out their smartphones and take photos on Monday.

Orange roses and fuchsia phalaenopsis orchids had been placed on the bricks in the shape of a heart. Dozens more roses surrounded the heart and extended down the pedestrian walkway. Each represented one of the more than 200 Vermonters who have died from COVID-19 since the disease struck the state nearly a year ago.

“It often feels like we’re just talking about numbers and tallies,” said creator Jayson Munn, a florist who mainly works weddings and other events. “I thought this was a great opportunity to do it in the public square.”

Burlington was one of about 80 cities nationwide that hosted an art installation as part of the Floral Heart Project. Created by New York City-based artist Kristina Libby, the idea was to designate March 1 as a national day of mourning to publicly grieve those “lost to and suffering from COVID-19.” As of Tuesday, more than 515,000 Americans have died.

Munn said one woman he talked to had lost her husband to the disease. She told him that visiting the flower memorial had been the first time she’d publicly grieved his death; both she and Munn “started bawling,” he said.

He gave her a rose.

“It was a really touching, touching moment,” Munn said.

Daniel “D.J.” Boyd of Wilmington was

walking down Church Street when he saw a crowd by the display and thought, Gee, only in Burlington do you see a bunch of roses in the street and everyone just walking around taking pictures.

Boyd walked over himself and read the sign that Munn had erected explaining the display, “and it just struck me,” he said. His uncles, twins Leon and Cleon Boyd, had died of COVID19 early last April, just six days apart.

“It’s amazing,” Boyd said of the display. “It’s a good gesture. It puts it into perspective, you know?”

Boyd walked over to Munn and told him he’d lost his uncles. Munn picked up two long-stemmed roses from the bricks, and then handed them to Boyd.

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HELP FOR HUMMINGBIRD

I’m a lifelong backyard birder, and my question was not so much “WTF: How Do You Help a Rescued Hummingbird in Winter?” [February 17] and more “WTF is a rufous hummingbird doing in Vermont?”

The rufous hummingbird is a western bird, which summers in the Pacific Northwest and migrates to Mexico for the winter. My Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America does list the rufous hummingbird as “very rare” east of the Mississippi, with “recent increases in small wintering populations at southeastern feeders” along the Gulf Coast. But even its northernmost extent of this eastern range comes nowhere near Vermont.

This one is what birders call an “accidental,” meaning a bird found somewhere far outside its range, either because it hitchhiked on some form of transportation or was blown off course in a storm. No wonder this individual was confused when December weather rolled in. I sincerely hope this little one makes it through the winter and that, when warmer weather comes, it can make its way to a more hospitable climate and find others of its kind.

Sena Meilleur

ESSEX JUNCTION

THE L-WORD: LEFT OUT

I see Seven Days never bothered to note my candidacy for Burlington City Council in the Central District. Others have taken down my signs because we have a large group of authoritarians who cannot stand free speech or any speech that does not bow to their religious belief in a magical ability to change sex. Anyone who will not say men can be women if they say so is anathema to this self-righteous crew, which thinks that anything it does to a heretic is OK, including threats and robbery and violence.

As I was putting up a sign, a hipster stopped his car to say, “Take your hate somewhere else.” I have lived here for over 50 years and was the first person to start a lesbian group here and an initiator of pride marches. But “lesbian” is a word you will rarely see now, except from men who claim to be one.

I have expressed no hate for trans folks. They have expressed a lot toward

WEEK IN REVIEW

TIM NEWCOMB very difficult due to part-time schedules along with frequent turnover, as many of these teachers are looking for full-time teaching jobs.

I would like to ask proponents of maintaining small schools: If per-pupil costs are high, and they are, which in turn affect your property taxes, how are you going to attract young families to stay or move to Vermont if they can’t afford the housing costs?

Don Schneider

WATERBURY CENTER

‘RISKY’ DISH?

me. It should be known that when these trans activists say “hate,” they are referring to anyone who does not agree with their recently minted and backed-by-billionaires ideology. They don’t believe in dialogue, or respect for women’s rights to boundaries or privacy, or women’s sports. I supported trans inclusion into our LGBT nondiscrimination law. But trans activists want laws to force people to validate their chosen identity. This is not a human right, and no one has the right to compel another’s speech.

Peggy Luhrs

BURLINGTON

Editor’s note: Burlington reporter Courtney Lamdin wrote about the Central District race — then a contest between Tiki Archambeau and Perri Freeman — on January 13. Nine days later, Peggy Luhrs filed as an independent candidate.

GRAFFITI IS ‘OPENING ACT’

[Re “Tag Team,” February 17]: Spraypainting brick walls may have artistic intent and even skill, but the term “graffiti artist” dignifies what property owners accurately call “vandalism.”

As Burlington’s police force suffers draconian reduction, the city will host a renaissance of criminal arts. Expect nightly performances from “stick-up stylists” and “breaking-and-entering balladeers.” We will have a thriving arts colony.

The political right is justly condemned for ignoring reality — for example, denying the climate crisis. In

Burlington, we must not let the political left commit similar dishonesty. The city council, and the city voters, can begin by recognizing that slashing the police force is an invitation to crime of every sort. Burlington will be less safe, less prosperous and less able to pursue its laudable goals of social justice. The sudden flourishing of graffiti downtown is merely the opening act.

David Diaz

SHELBURNE

THE TROUBLE WITH SMALL SCHOOLS

[Re “Cliff Notes on Rural Education,” February 17]: As a retired principal who has worked as interim principal in five small rural schools across northern Vermont, I have surmised three reasons it is so hard to close small schools in Vermont: 1. Schools now serve more and more as community centers in small towns; 2. schools provide employment for locals where there is little opportunity for work that pays well and offers good benefits; and 3. small schools mirror the pride that Vermont has as a small state with its “Brave Little State” identity.

I have witnessed quality education in all of these schools, where there are great teachers, very good teachers and some OK teachers. However, I saw the same level of teacher quality at a 400-plus-student school where I was also a principal. The areas where quality and educational opportunity drop off is in “specials” or “the arts.” Collaboration between these school professionals is

[Re “Star Struck,” February 17]: Since the topic is studiously avoided by media and politicians alike, I’m not surprised that your article on Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system failed to mention anything about the risks inherent in exposing every living being on the planet to radio frequency radiation 24-7. You might have at least mentioned the hazard to Dennis Roland, pictured standing next to the Starlink dish he installed on his porch. These dishes emit powerful and concentrated RFR in order to reach satellites orbiting 340 miles above the Earth’s surface.

Like a cellphone held to one’s head, there are likely to be long-term health consequences for those nearby. Perhaps the $580 Starlink package failed to tell Roland that installing the dish on his porch was a bad idea, because it might let him know that this technology, like wireless in general, comes with serious health risks.

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“You can’t give up your passion if things don’t work right away.

You can’t lose heart or grow cynical if there are twists and turns on your journey.

The cynics may be the loudest voices — but I promise you, they will accomplish the least. It’s those folks who stay at it, those who do the long, hard, committed work of change that gradually push this country in the right direction, and make the most lasting difference.”

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contents MARCH 3-10 VOL.26 NO.22

COLUMNS

SECTIONS

36 37 39 46 48 77

20 38 44 48 50 53

Bottom Line WTF Side Dishes Album Reviews Movie Review Ask the Reverend

FOOD

Life Lines Food + Drink Music + Nightlife Movies Classes Classifieds + Puzzles 72 Fun Stuff 76 Personals

‘Gayest Chicken Possible’ Chic Full Gay supports Pride Center of Vermont and budding businesses with a popular pop-up PAGE 38

Framing

Kitchen Club Jr. Iron Chef VT swaps out 2021 contest for monthly recipe challenge

the Questions

PAGE 40

Facing an uncertain future, Vermont museum leaders draw inspiration from both past and pandemic present

38

BY DAN BOLLES, PAGE 26

STUCK IN VERMONT

Online Now

COVER IMAGES DREAMSTIME • COVER DESIGN REV. DIANE SULLIVAN

ARTS NEWS 22 On the Same Page

Tunbridge Public Library fosters intergenerational connections through reading

14

NEWS & POLITICS 11 From the Publisher Payback’s a Glitch

Desperate Vermonters are being forced to return their unemployment benefits

Race for Equity

Xusana Davis may get reinforcements for her campaign to root out racial bias in Vermont

Adirondack Tales

Book review: The Power Line, Christopher Shaw

Quartets and Questions

Book review: the blue-collar sun, Lucas Farrell

Generator Introduces BIPOC Scholarships

Making the maker space more accessible to marginalized Vermonters

44

FEATURES 26 Good Sports

Author Larry Olmsted reconsiders athletic fandom for a new era

Mitten Mania

Jen Ellis parlays Bernie-meme celebrity into charity

Canadian Invasion

Allan Nicholls on the digital reissue of his band’s 1965 LP, J.B. and the Playboys

We have

Find a new job in the classifieds section on page 58 and online at sevendaysvt.com/jobs.

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BY LOCAL SCIENCE FICTION WRITER, RAY SOKOL

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CONTACT KATIE FOR A QUOTE AT

FRIDAYS > 3:30 P.M.

It is long after contact with alien intelligence. This contact led to the collapse of civilization and another dark age. What was once thought of as science is now thought of as magic. Aliens live among us quietly controlling and directing the course of society, but to what end? While humans have forgotten their ancient technology, has it forgotten them?

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DR. EDDIE GLAUDE, JR. Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University and author of Democracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soul

JUDY SHEPARD Co-Founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation and advocate for LBGTQ rights

LUIS VERSALLES Director of Pre K-12 District Partnerships with Pacific Educational Group

2/26/21 4:11 PM

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Seven on Sunday

The 23 reporters and editors employed at Seven Days write dozens of stories each week — about local news, food, arts, businesses and people. But not all of their articles wind up in the weekly print edition. Between our web-only stories and supplements such as Staytripper, Nest and Kids VT, you have to make an effort to find and read everything that gets produced in a seven-day period.

Even I miss the occasional gem.

That’s why, about a month ago, we launched Sunday Best, a newsletter that delivers seven great reads from the week — and the occasional “Stuck in Vermont” video by Eva Sollberger. It lands in your inbox with a virtual thud at 5 a.m. on Sunday morning, a tribute to the extra-thick paper that many of us will forever associate with the second, more contemplative day of the weekend.

I grew up with the Washington Post, which my parents had thoroughly divvied up and pored over before I awoke.

Reading it opened my eyes to the world and, closer to home, the shenanigans of former president Richard Nixon.

The Style section reliably offered some of the best profiles, reviews and feature writing in the country.

The internet has changed that weekly ritual. At any time of day or night, readers can search for news — and answers — online. Burrowing into previously inaccessible troves of information can be empowering, but seeking out sources, communities and versions of events that confirm misguided or disturbing views can be dangerous.

Another downside: When you’re ready to move on to the next article, an algorithm likely has suggestions for you. But they’re based on your past behavior — if you like this conspiracy theory, you’ll love the next one — and on what’s most likely to keep you engaged, and possibly enraged. The quality of the content is rarely a factor.

In contrast, we recommend the old-fashioned serendipity of discovering a great story in a reputable news source.

That’s why we’re compiling some of our best work of the week — in a variety of subject areas — in one convenient email. We might pluck a story from the Seven Days archive, too, if it sheds light on current events. For example, during the recent impeachment of former president Donald Trump, our Sunday Best included a 2016 deep dive into the long tenure of U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who presided over the trial.

If you’re not yet getting Sunday Best and would like to, please sign up at sevendaysvt.com/enews.

Here’s hoping you’ll be pleasantly surprised and captivated by something you weren’t looking to learn. Discovering something new, and true, is still thrilling, even if you’re finding it online.

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Paula Routly P.S. Another reputable news outlet, the Daily Beast, noted Seven Days’ pandemic plight this week in a story titled, “These Altweeklies Faced ‘Total Annihilation.’ Here’s How They Survived.” Writer Sophia June also talked to publishers at the Cleveland Scene, the Stranger in Seattle and the Austin Chronicle. Thank you, Super Readers!

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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

11

FAIR GAME

OPEN SEASON ON VERMONT POLITICS BY DAVE GRAM

Unequal Treatment A professor schools legislators on biases in health care

W

didn’t even invite me ... to sit in [the car]. was not aware that they had to follow these He looked at me and said, ‘You cannot laws.” afford it.’

While Avila’s focus was bias in health “And I said, ‘How can you possibly care and the need to pass legislation to know that I cannot afford a car based on address it, her message was broader. “Let you looking at me withme also highlight that out asking what I do for a every human being in our living, without asking my society has biases and income, without running prejudices,” she said. “We my credit score?’” all have them. I have them; The salesperson you have them; every offered her a $10,000 car person in our society has to test-drive. “And I said, biases and prejudices.”

‘Thank you very much. I’ll “What is important is go to another dealer,’” she to be aware of what biases recounted. we have, so we can put MAR IA ME R C E D E S AVIL A Many health care them in check and don’t providers aren’t much expose communities to better, Avila said. Her 77-year-old mother [a] substandard level of care, services, lives in Vermont and doesn’t speak English. education, housing, employment,” she Federal and state laws require that health continued. care providers offer interpreters when Even if you think you understand the needed. Many of them ignore the laws, need for Vermont to welcome the growshe said. ing diversity of its population, “In 12 months of care that my search YouTube and listen mother had to receive due to serious, to the first two February 24 life-threatening health problems, videos of the House Health there were at least 47 instances Care Committee. Hear what where we had to advocate for the provider to provide interpretation and translation services,” she said. “Many times, this failure to follow federal and state laws [was] because the provider

EVERY HUMAN BEING IN OUR SOCIETY

HAS BIASES AND PREJUDICES.

Avila has to say. You’ll learn some things.

I sure did.

Going Postal

It looks like voting by mail may become permanent in Vermont. It got a big boost last year, when all voters were urged to fill out ballots at home so they wouldn’t have to line up to vote on Election Day while trying to social distance.

“Bottom line is that people liked it.

People liked it a lot,” Deputy Secretary of State CHRIS WINTERS told the Senate Government Operations Committee recently.

Vermonters showed it in November with a record turnout of nearly 371,000.

More than three-quarters of them voted absentee, meaning they used mail ballots or voted early.

The committee obliged last week with a 4-1 vote for a bill that calls on the secretary of state to send ballots to all active registered voters before future statewide elections. Cities and towns would be allowed to use mail ballots for municipal elections

TIM NEWCOMB

hat’s all this talk we hear about systemic racism? In progressive, chill Vermont, such a thing couldn’t be a problem. Well, OK, maybe racial bigotry pops up occasionally in web comments or the remarks of unenlightened people. But in a professional health care setting where you’re talking with doctors and nurses, you’d never see or hear it, right?

Wrong.

MARIA MERCEDES AVILA is devoting her career to combating the systemic biases that interfere with the delivery of good medicine to patients because of factors such as their race, sexual orientation or status as immigrants. A PhD who is an assistant professor of pediatrics and an adjunct assistant professor of nursing at the University of Vermont and its Larner College of Medicine, Avila testified about her work one morning last week before the Vermont House Health Care Committee.

Avila wove together data from national studies of how the health care system interacts with historically marginalized people and her own experiences as a Latina immigrant who has lived in Vermont for nearly 20 years. In the latter category, she told a disturbing story of an experience she had while shopping for a car. She expected the particular vehicle she wanted would cost about $25,000 and figured she could swing it on her professor’s salary.

“I go into the store. I said to the person, ‘Can I please test-drive this specific car?’” she said. “And the salesperson

POLITICS 12

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

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of the Associated Press’ Vermont bureau, with help from AP reporters around New England, had a nifty piece this week about whether the COVID-19 pandemic would constitute a fatal or near-fatal blow to the venerable town meeting tradition in New England.

“The town meeting, for centuries, was a staple of New England life — but the coronavirus pandemic could accelerate the departure from the tradition where people gather to debate everything from the purchase of local road equipment to multimillion-dollar budgets to pressing social issues,” Ring wrote.

SUSAN CLARK, Middlesex town moderator and author of two books on town meeting, said she thinks and hopes the tradition will prevail.

This year, many Vermont towns switched to mailed ballots or delayed their meetings in hopes that vaccines would soon end the pandemic. While Middlesex opted for mailed ballots, Clark said she very much wants to stand before her neighbors and see them exercise their self-governance muscles next year.

Face-to-face, moderated debates are a crucial salve to what ails democracy, because they push people to be courteous and respectful, even when they disagree.

“This is a moment in our history where we’re really polarized and we don’t hear each other very well,” Clark said. Town meeting “requires people to look beyond the caricatures and stereotypes and really see each other,” she said.

Call it Svalbard syndrome. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a huge underground bunker on an island north of Norway where seeds from around the world are stored so that they could be regenerated after an apocalypse. I’m hoping town meeting survives somewhere in Vermont so that, if the need arises, it could do the same for democracy. m WILSON RING

Stay Safe. Stay Cool.

Keep in Motion.

MO

TIO N

RT S

Signature matching is an intricate procedure that most election officials lack the training to do. “You’d have many false positives and false negatives,” Brock said. As for checking IDs, he added, “The question is, do we have enough voter fraud to warrant that solution? My sense is, we probably don’t. It’s such a rare commodity.”

It is possible to steal an election in America. The surest way is to raise the specter of fake votes until you can justify suppressing the ballots of marginalized people. Fortunately, Vermont lawmakers seem prepared to do the opposite and to make it easier, not harder, to exercise the right to vote.

CO

on Town Meeting Day if they wished, as dozens of Vermont towns just did.

Sen. JEANETTE WHITE (D-Windham), chair of the committee, said in an interview that she prefers the term “mail-out ballots,” since that’s what the Secretary of State’s Office would be doing. It would be up to individual voters to either mail them in, take them to a public drop box, ignore them and go to the polls to vote, or skip exercising their right to vote.

Some voters had trouble following instructions for how to fill out the ballots mailed to them last year. The law would grant voters an opportunity to “cure,” or correct, ballots that they completed incorrectly, so that they are not discarded.

The measure is expected to draw strong support among majority Democrats in the legislature. Senate Minority Leader RANDY BROCK (R-Franklin) expressed some ambivalence about making universal mail voting permanent. While Republican-led state legislatures around the country push to make voting harder, based on the theory that GOP candidates do better when turnouts are lower, Brock said he doubts that formula applies in Vermont.

His party gained three seats in the House and one in the Senate in November.

“We’ve talked about it in the Senate GOP caucus, and I think we have a degree of confidence that it actually helped Republicans,” Brock said of voting by mail.

I’m going to stick with Brock for a bit here because the man has some serious credentials when it comes to detecting fraud. The Swanton resident is a former executive vice president for risk oversight at Fidelity Investments and a certified fraud examiner. He served a term as state auditor and, after losing the 2012 gubernatorial election to PETER SHUMLIN, launched his own study of voter fraud in Vermont.

Brock found some dead people still on the voter rolls, but none had risen from the grave to cast ballots. He found 22 people who had voted both in Vermont and in another state. “Most, but not all, of the duplicate voters were of college age or slightly older,” he wrote in 2014. He said voter checklists did not appear to be up to date in many towns, citing a Burlington address where more people were registered to vote than could “fit in the building.”

I asked Brock what he thought of two favorite security measures supported

by Republicans who raise alarms about voter fraud. One requires that voters sign a document accompanying their ballot; election officials compare that signature to one they have on record. The other mandates that voters show identification. That would be tricky when voting by mail, and studies have shown that many poor and minority voters simply don’t have IDs.

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news

MORE INSIDE

LAKE MONSTERS SOLD PAGE 16

LAW ENFORCEMENT

LEADING THE VAX PACK PAGE 17

© DREAMSTIME/ALEXANDER POKUSAY/IRINA VIATOKHA

Payback’s a Glitch

Desperate Vermonters are being forced to return their unemployment benefits B Y CO L I N FL A ND ER S • colin@sevendaysvt.com

M

atthew Mitchell and his boyfriend, Rodraco Ealey, were headed to their jobs at the Capitol Plaza in Montpelier last July when their car broke down. They called their boss, who offered to pick them up. But they declined, wanting to deal with their car situation first.

The two sides dispute what happened next: Their boss says they quit; Mitchell says they were fired, which would entitle them to unemployment benefits. Mitchell and Ealey applied and received a combined $13,000 until October.

Soon after, a judge reviewed their case and sided with their boss. Those who quit their jobs aren’t eligible for unemployment. Now the state wants every penny back.

“I’m constantly on edge. It takes me a while to fall asleep,” Mitchell said. “We’re on the verge of selling what little we have and — I don’t know. I try not to think about it every day. It gives me too much anxiety.”

14

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

Mitchell and Ealey are two of hundreds, maybe thousands, of Vermonters who have been told they must repay unemployment benefits the state thinks they received in error. The retroactive determinations often occur because the department, the applicant or the employer erred somewhere in the filing process.

WE’RE ON THE VERGE OF SELLING

WHAT LITTLE WE HAVE. M AT TH E W MITC H E L L

While the Vermont Department of Labor has reported an uptick in fraudulent behavior during the pandemic, the vast majority of Vermont’s overpayment cases involve honest mistakes, legal advocates say, and many bills are forgiven. But those that aren’t can result in thousands of dollars of debt.

“People have no idea [it’s coming], and they can’t plan for it,” said Kelli Kazmarski, an attorney with Vermont Legal Aid, a nonprofit that mainly serves low-income and working-class clients. “It’s devastating for folks to get these notices.”

Overpayments have spiked during the pandemic as jobless claims surged nationwide. Last fall, Texas sought to recover $214 million from 260,000 claimants; Colorado reported 29,000 overpayment cases; and Ohio said it overpaid more than a quarter of those approved for a federal pandemic program — about 162,000 people in total.

The extent of Vermont’s problem is far murkier: Of the 100,000 people who filed for unemployment last year, the state has no idea how many people it’s told to pay it back. Nor can the state say how much

ECONOMY

PAYBACK’S A GLITCH

» P.18

Burlington Police Get Involved After Prank Callers Target City Councilor B Y C O U R T N EY L A M D I N courtney@sevendaysvt.com Burlington police have referred an undisclosed number of people to a restorative justice program for repeatedly calling City Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District) during a council meeting in December.

Burlington Police Lt. Justin Couture would not say how many people were referred to the program, nor would he share their names.

“There was an investigation,” he said. “It’s being referred to alternative justice, which makes it confidential.”

Councilor Shannon, however, told Seven Days that multiple people were referred to the program, which can include moderated discussions between the victim and offenders.

Shannon said she hopes the process is productive.

“I want something that makes us better. I want that for Burlington,” Shannon said. “I don’t think that Burlington is in a healthy place right now. I don’t think the way to get change is the way we’ve been approaching it in the last eight months. This isn’t the way to make progress. This is just sowing division.”

On December 14, councilors were discussing a proposal to create a citizen control board to investigate police misconduct. The topic had generated dozens of calls during the meeting’s public forum, including calls from police reform advocates who urged councilors to allow residents to vote on the proposal.

Shannon’s personal cellphone rang at around 10 p.m., shortly after she began voicing her concerns with the proposal.

“Oh, that’s unfortunate,” Shannon said, silencing the ringer.

But the calls — all from blocked numbers — kept coming in, interrupting her each time she attempted to speak. Her phone was on silent, but the calls were being routed through her computer.

Police later told Shannon that callers rang her phone more than 200 times in less than 10 minutes. She also received one “very offensive text” and a call from a number that was “masked” to appear as if it were coming from the mayor’s office, she said. Shannon picked up to hear the voice of a man pretending to be Mayor Miro Weinberger.

Shannon called the police the following day to ask whether the behavior could be considered a crime.

“I wanted to know who did this,” she said. “It seems like there should be some consequences.”

Race for Equity

Warm up your work week with Tiny Thai takeout!

Xusana Davis may get reinforcements for her campaign to root out racial bias in Vermont

BY KEVIN MCCALLU M • kevin@sevendaysvt.com

X

usana Davis would love to lose her job.

Vermont’s first executive director of racial equity says nothing would please her more than if state leaders told her they no longer needed someone working to eradicate systemic racism in state government.

“I have a bottle of Champagne waiting for that day,” Davis told lawmakers recently. “Because the point of equity work is, we want to put ourselves out of business.”

For now, however, the 32-year-old from New York State seems to have enough work to last a lifetime as she confronts the pervasive racial inequities plaguing the second-whitest state in the nation.

Vermonters of color are three times more likely than white residents to get COVID-19 and twice as likely to be hospitalized when they do. They’re underrepresented in state government jobs in general and upper management in particular. And they endure harassment, especially if they are public officials or perceived to be from out of state.

Those are just a few of the conclusions in Davis’ January report to the legislature outlining the challenges facing not just her, but all Vermonters, as the state confronts the X U SANA racial bias embedded in institutions.

Last year was particularly tumultuous, and Davis’ insights were in high demand.

Now, she and her supporters are seeking to expand the Office of Racial Equity.

Davis is currently the sole staffer.

Gov. Phil Scott, who appointed Davis in June 2019, has set aside $250,000 in his proposed budget to send Davis reinforcements. If lawmakers approve, she would get a full-time policy and research analyst, as well as an outreach and education coordinator.

Racial justice advocates say the new positions would be crucial to help Davis fulfill not only her original role of

addressing racism in state government, but additional, urgent responsibilities thrust upon her because of COVID-19 and the racial reckoning at the core of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Until recently, Davis has been hesitant to publicly push for more staff, noting that others are capably making the case.

She enjoys the strong support of Scott but also recognizes the fiscal realities and political sensitivities around calling for tripling the size of her own office.

And she’s acutely aware that racial equity funding should also be directed elsewhere to create more equitable law enforcement, education, health care and housing, among other pressing needs.

A newcomer who says she still feels a bit out of place in Vermont, Davis is urging lawmakers to make their funding decisions based not on her performance — which is winning rave reviews — but on the need to expand the office’s capacity, regardless of who is at the helm.

“I want to make sure that this role is established in its own right, not as a result of who and how I am as a person and as a professional,” Davis told Seven Days.

DAVIS The daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Davis identifies as Latinx, the gender-neutral alternative to Latina or Latino. She speaks Spanish fluently and often kicks off public testimony with a buoyant “¡Buenos días!”

The spelling and pronunciation of her first name offer clues about her heritage.

It’s pronounced “Suess-ON-ah.” In the New York City suburbs of her youth, people butchered it.

“In school, I had people coming over the [public address system] saying, ‘Yes, hello. Can you send Ex-andrea to the

GOVERNMENT

IT CERTAINLY WASN’T A GOAL OF MINE TO SAY,

“I WANT TO FOCUS ON ONE OF THE MOST DEVASTATING, DIVISIVE AND STRESSFUL TOPICS, ALL DAY, EVERY DAY.”

RACE FOR EQUITY

» P.16

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Vermont Lake Monsters to Be Sold, Play in Collegiate League B Y SA SHA GOL D STEIN sasha@sevendaysvt.com The Vermont Lake Monsters will be sold to an investment group, and the team is expected to play in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League this summer, the club announced last Thursday.

The deal with Nos Amours Baseball Club is contingent “on a few agreements,” including a new lease with the University of Vermont, which owns the team’s historic Burlington ballpark, Centennial Field.

“The landscape has changed and this transition will allow the Lake Monsters to create amazing summertime memories for years to come,” Kyle Bostwick, the Lake Monsters’ vice president, said in a statement. “We are all looking forward to continuing to root for the home team, and we thank all of our fans, partners, staff, and supporters for an amazing ride.”

The investment group is headed by Chris English, a hedge fund manager who owns the Brockton Rox, one of seven teams currently in the Futures League.

Based in Massachusetts, the league also has teams in New Hampshire and Connecticut.

It pulls players who are enrolled in an “NCAA- or NAIA-sanctioned college or university,” are in “good academic standing, and have at least one year of collegiate eligibility remaining,” according to the league website.

In an interview last Thursday, English told Seven Days that he and his family split their time between Boston and South Woodstock, Vt. Other members of his family live in Shelburne.

He said he’s eager to take the helm, though he’ll leave baseball operations to his new general manager, C.J. Knudsen, who held the post in Burlington before leaving for another baseball job in 2009.

The team name will stay, as will mascot Champ. And 25-cent Hot Dog Night?

“We’re thinking of cutting it to 20cents,” English quipped.

The Futures League will have eight teams this year, including the Lake Monsters, and will try to play a 68-game season.

“We just can’t wait to take the field.

It’s going to be a beautiful summer day soon enough,” English said. “The news on vaccines and COVID seem to be trending in the right direction. Obviously when we open, it will be in full compliance with whatever state, city and university rules are in place.”

“We are very COVID aware,” he added, “and we’re going to make sure when the ballpark opens, it’s going to be safe and fun and affordable.”

16

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

Race for Equity « P.15 principal’s office?’” Davis recalled with a laugh. “It’s like, You just added a D, R and an E for no reason!”

The Dominican Republic, on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, has a complex racial history as a former Spanish colonial power with a sugar plantation economy that exploited Native and African peoples.

Davis’ racial radar, whether rooted in her Dominican heritage, formative years in middle-class New York suburbs or professional experience in the most diverse city in the world, is sensitive and penetrating.

When people declare themselves “native” Vermonters, Davis is apt to ask, without missing a beat, whether they mean that they are Abenaki. When someone refers to the dairy industry as the backbone of the state’s economy, she points out that it’s supported by a largely undocumented Latino workforce.

And when a public official blithely suggested that perhaps Black people should join the ranks of police instead of criticizing them — as Waterbury Selectboard member Chris Viens did last year — Davis suggested that law enforcement’s “para-militaristic slave-catching history” may be an impediment.

Davis presents those in power with uncomfortable truths in ways that invite solutions rather than trigger defenses.

That has won her fans both in Montpelier and in advocacy circles.

Rep. Kevin “Coach” Christie (D-Hartford) calls her a “rock star.”

Sen. Jeanette White (D-Windham) marveled at her tirelessness.

“I can’t imagine the energy and the commitment that it took to get this far in this little time and in these circumstances,” White told Davis in January.

She has also impressed racial equity advocates with her ability to coordinate the work of various advisory panels, said Etan Nasreddin-Longo, chair of the Racial Disparities in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice System Advisory Panel. Adding two staffers would help dispel any impression

that Davis’ position is a token nod to racial equity instead of a true commitment, he said.

“I’m a huge fan, I have to say,” he said of Davis.

While she has worked mightily to bend the moral arc of state government toward justice, to borrow phrasing from Martin Luther King Jr., she’s done so from within parameters set by an overwhelmingly white legislature and a white Republican governor at whose pleasure she serves, said Burlington activist Mark Hughes.

“I think it’s important everyone understands that our racial equity executive director is working under just some really incredibly difficult conditions,” Hughes

THE POINT OF EQUITY WORK IS,

WE WANT TO PUT OURSELVES OUT OF BUSINESS. X US ANA D AVIS

said, adding that she is doing so with “poise, kindness and a sense of humor.”

While Davis appreciates the warm reception she has received and expresses gratitude for the job, she admits the transition has been challenging.

“Racial equity work, generally, is not enjoyable for me,” she said. “It’s emotionally taxing to take a job that requires you to have to prove your humanity to people repeatedly.”

Those who advocate for social justice have a range of interests and don’t always want to focus on the racism, sexism and myriad other inequities plaguing society, she said. For example, she’s a foodie and loves animals. She’s also an attorney with a degree from New York Law School and an interest in civil liberties law.

Davis had experience with racial equity issues while working in New York City, first as the director of the Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus of the city council and more recently as a director of health and housing strategic initiatives for the city’s health department. But she never envisioned working solely on racial equity.

“It certainly wasn’t a goal of mine to say, ‘I want to focus on one of the most devastating, divisive and stressful topics, all day, every day, in a state where so few people share my identity in that way, and leave a place where that was not the case,’” Davis said.

And yet that’s exactly what she did.

She was drawn to Vermont largely by the promise of greater personal space, not just by the job. She zealously guards her privacy even as she occupies an increasingly high-profile leadership position in state government.

She declined to name the Lamoille County town where she lives and turned down Seven Days’ request to photograph her.

Her position is a cabinet-level post in Scott’s administration. Scott vetoed a previous bill that would have given the office independence, claiming that would have usurped his executive authority and that the office would have lacked accountability.

The statutory job description calls for her “to identify and

Some people would like to do more than just add a couple of staffers to Davis’ office.

Hughes, the Burlington activist, is pushing for a greater investment in a robust data-collection system. He also thinks Davis’ office should be independent from the governor, which would allow its employees to speak and act more freely. He noted that, in legislative testimony, Davis dodged a question of whether she wished she had independence.

“Why? Because she is a political appointee. Because she works for the governor, so she can’t say that!” Hughes said.

Davis doesn’t seem terribly constrained in her self-expression, however. She has opined on the systemic racism implicit in school discipline, drug policy, home ownership rates, the U.S. Census and the “xenophobia” that some Vermonters tend to show toward perceived outsiders.

Some at a January meeting of the state’s new Climate Council raised their eyebrows when Davis suggested the panel consider slowing down its work to fully consider the BIPOC communities likely to be disproportionately affected by new policies. Non-inclusive public processes can themselves be a form of white supremacy, she warned.

And some lawmakers clearly chafe at her characterizations of racial bias. Firstterm Rep. Arthur Peterson (R-Clarendon) challenged her suggestion during a meeting of the House Health Care Committee that Black patients are routinely underprescribed opioids.

She backed up her point with a page from a medical textbook — since removed in a revision — that claimed Black patients “often report higher pain intensity than other cultures.” Peterson, a white Republican grandfather from a rural area south of Rutland who campaigned in part on banning public schools from flying Black Lives Matter flags, said he “can’t imagine” doctors would under-prescribe pain medication.

“I just find that very, very difficult to swallow,” Peterson said before declaring that racist people don’t make a system racist.

“I think the field is level,” Peterson said.

“I think people need to be changed.” He declined an interview request.

Davis said after the meeting that the exchange reflected dominant groups’ tendency to exonerate institutions and instead blame individuals for instances of racism.

That, she said, is what needs to change.

“The big question is,” she said, “are people willing to challenge their worldview in pursuit of accuracy and just outcomes, or are people expecting the world to bend to their worldview?” m

HEALTH

As Vaccination Pace Quickens, Teachers, High-Risk People Are Sent to Front of Queue

BY ANNE WAL L AC E AL L E N • anne@sevendaysvt.com Weeks of lobbying have paid off for educators. On Tuesday, state officials announced that teachers, school staff and childcare workers will be able to start receiving the single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine beginning on Monday, March 8.

Those vaccinations are expected to be completed in early April. Meanwhile, the state will open registration next week for people with high-risk conditions, starting with Vermonters ages 55 and above on March 8, followed by Vermonters 16 to 55 on March 15.

And police staff, 911 call-takers and staff working in correctional facilities have been added to the list of workers eligible in early March for the vaccines, state officials said.

The Vermont news came shortly before President Joe Biden told reporters at the

COURTESY OF RYAN MERCER/UVM HEALTH NETWORK

work to eradicate systemic racism” in all three branches of government. This includes “overseeing the statewide collection of race-based data” to help assess discrimination and conducting trainings “regarding the nature and scope of systemic racism and the institutionalized nature of race-based bias.”

As if that weren’t enough, nine months after she was hired, a pandemic disproportionately harming BIPOC communities swept into the state. Two months later, George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, or, as Davis told lawmakers, “another person in the United States was murdered on camera by the government.”

After that, she and others involved in equity work “were absolutely flooded” with inquiries and pleas for help from around the state. “It became something that was both exhilarating and overwhelming,” Davis told lawmakers.

So much of governance — law enforcement, land use, education — takes place at the local level that it would be naïve to think that confronting it solely in state systems would accomplish much, she said. Local advocacy groups also play a huge role in racial equity work, and Davis believes supporting them is a key function of her job.

It has been lawmakers, however, who have made her job unmanageable, adding innumerable reports, testimony, and service on more than a dozen boards, commissions and panels to her role during 2020.

Watching this unfold, Rep. Christie renewed calls to get Davis the help she needed. With COVID-19 raging, it didn’t happen last session. “We didn’t put our money where our heart was,” Christie said.

His bill to change that, H.196, seems to be gaining the traction it needs, largely because lawmakers finally seem to recognize that a single person cannot indefinitely sustain such a range of duties, he said.

Last year, some in the legislature resisted adding funding. That should not surprise anyone, but it is unconscionable, said Nasreddin-Longo. “Historically, when issues around equity come up, the next issue that gets raised is scarcity,” he told Seven Days. The argument that the state can’t afford to do more is, in itself, a form of white supremacy, he said.

Decisions on investing in racial equity work need to take into account historic investments to maintain an economy built on slavery and oppression, he said. “An enormous amount of capital has historically been used to maintain systems of commerce, of government, of social order in general that are in some ways supported by white supremacy, right?” he told Seven Days. “You cannot expect to undo this with a negligible investment.”

1 and 2, pregnancy, and severe obesity with a body mass index of more than 40, Health Commissioner Mark Levine said.

Those at high risk don’t need to bring any kind of proof from a medical office, Levine said, though they will be asked to name their provider, and the state might check with them. He added that those without any health care provider are also eligible for the vaccines.

“This will serve as self-certification,” Levine said. “We trust you to work with us and help make sure that those Vermonters at highest risk due to a medical condition are protected.”

School staff and those at higher risk compose a group of about 100,000 people in all. The state will set up some clinics staffed by the Vermont National Guard; the state Department of Health and school nurses will also provide shots.

Once this group is finished in mid-April, the state will have vaccinated about one-third of its residents, officials said.

“All of this is dependent on an ongoing supply from the federal government,” Smith cautioned.

The state is Health care workers receiving the COVID-19 vaccine expected to receive 20,000 doses this week. Walmart will White House that enough vaccines should start offering vaccinations at its six be available for all adults in America by the Vermont stores, and Kinney Drugs will end of May. offer a vaccination clinic March 7 at Right now, about 9 percent of Spaulding High School in Barre, where Vermonters are fully vaccinated. Cases of more than 1,000 doses will be available.

COVID-19 have decreased about 20 percent Scott joined the press conference since February. after participating in a weekly call with “There is now clear light at the end of other governors and the White House, the pandemic tunnel,” Human Services and he described a dynamic situation. The Secretary Mike Smith said during one pharmaceutical giant Merck on Tuesday of Gov. Phil Scott’s twice-weekly press announced it had joined forces with conferences.

Johnson & Johnson to produce the latter Vaccination is considered a critical step company’s single-dose vaccine. toward getting schools, businesses and “I think that’s where we’re going to see social activities back to where they were vastly increased supply in the near future,” before Scott declared a state of emergency Scott said. almost one year ago.

It’s unclear exactly how many doses of The vaccination schedule to date has the Johnson & Johnson vaccine Vermont focused on the Vermonters who are most will receive in March, the governor noted. vulnerable to serious complications from But by the end of the month, it’s expected COVID-19, including people in long-term to be around 4,000 doses weekly; in April, care and the elderly. The state on Monday it could climb to 6,000, he said. opened vaccination registration to people The state’s decision to accelerate the 65 and older, a population of about 42,000. schedule for school workers was prompted That group is expected to be inoculated by by evidence that students are suffering mid-March. under the remote and hybrid learning The state has long planned to vacsystems, said Smith. cinate those at higher risk next. The long “This is not anybody’s fault,” he said. “It list of qualifying conditions for that group is, however, the unfortunate fact that partincludes cancer, kidney disease, heart time, in-person instruction and remote disease, sickle cell disease, diabetes types learning is not meeting their needs.” m SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

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news Payback’s a Glitch « P.14

CHSLV is now Lamoille Health Partners

We have a new name and a new look!

Community Health Services of Lamoille Valley (CHSLV) is excited to announce that we are re-branding as Lamoille Health Partners.

While our name is changing, our commitment to providing comprehensive, premier health services to all our neighbors in the Lamoille Valley is stronger than ever.

Our Services & Locations Lamoille Health Pediatrics (formerly Appleseed Pediatrics) 609 Washington Hwy., Morrisville | (802) 888-7337 Lamoille Health Behavioral Health & Wellness (formerly Behavioral Health & Wellness Center) 607 Washington Hwy., Morrisville | (802) 888-8320 Lamoille Health Family Dentistry (formerly Community Dental Clinic) 66 Morrisville Plaza, Morrisville | (802) 888-7585 Lamoille Health Family Medicine, Morrisville (formerly Morrisville Family Health Care) 609 Washington Hwy., Morrisville | (802) 888-5639 Lamoille Health Family Medicine, Stowe (formerly Stowe Family Practice) 1878 Mountain Road, Stowe | (802) 253-4853

Learn more at LamoilleHealthPartners.org © 2021 Lamoille Health Partners

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money is at stake, nor how many overpayments it has waived. That’s because the labor department has never tracked that information and says it does not have the staffing nor technological resources to do so now.

“In [other] states, it may be as easy as running a query or a report and pulling a data point, but we don’t have that capability,” Labor Commissioner Mike Harrington told Seven Days last Friday. His department has a decadesold computer system and, prior to the pandemic, ran one of the smallest unemployment programs in the country.

“We would literally be pulling staff off of processing benefits and deciding that claimants should wait longer for benefits in order for us to be able to provide this information.”

The pandemic had already exposed staffing and technology issues at the labor department. Unemployment claims took weeks to process last spring as thousands of people were suddenly laid off. And state leaders are still dealing with the fallout of a disastrous mailing mishap that sent the wrong 1099 tax forms to tens of thousands of people last month, a mix-up that exposed Social Security numbers and other personal information.

Overpayment cases have gotten less attention, but the problem is significant.

At least a third of the 700 people who have contacted Vermont Legal Aid about unemployment since last March had received overpayment notices, Kazmarski said, though the figure is likely much higher.

“Overpayments are one of the biggest issues right now,” she said.

In many states, the problems stem from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which Congress created last year to cover gig workers, parttimers, seasonal workers and others who do not qualify for traditional benefits. The federally funded program was started up at lightning speed, prompting a rash of administrative errors.

But Vermont Legal Aid says most of its clients were enrolled in the state’s regular unemployment system. That’s likely because the labor department relaxed some of its typical standards to meet last year’s unprecedented demand, allowing questionable claims to slip through the cracks.

Prior to the pandemic, only those who had been laid off for reasons that did not involve misconduct were eligible for unemployment. Vermont expanded the criteria last year to cover people who voluntarily left work due

to COVID-19, a lack of childcare or the need to care for a sick loved one.

But people who quit for other reasons remain ineligible.

Both applicants and employers must report information about job separations to the state labor department; claims with conflicting narratives go through an adjudication process. But some businesses didn’t immediately respond to requests from the state last spring and summer. With so many people desperate for aid, the labor department often gave applicants the benefit of the doubt.

Discrepancies were only caught months later.

After losing their appeals, Ealey and Mitchell now expect the state to withhold a combined $1,000 a month from their future paychecks. Ealey has found part-time work, but Mitchell remains

THOUGH HE EVENTUALLY WON HIS CASE AND WAS REFUNDED,

TULA KADARIYA SAID HE WOULD “THINK TWICE” ABOUT SIGNING UP FOR ANY MORE STATE SERVICES.

unemployed. The pair has exhausted their savings.

“Today, I was going through our stuff to see what we could sell on Craigslist,” Mitchell said last week.

States face pressure to recoup overpayments, as the U.S. Department of Labor threatens financial penalties for those that fall below specific accuracy measures. Vermont has run a tight ship of late, reporting an improper payment rate of less than 5 percent during the three-year period ending in June 2020.

It has also been one of the most forgiving states, waiving more than 25 percent of improper payments compared to a national average of 2 to 3 percent.

Those percentages are only based on a small sampling of claims, however, and Vermont, like many other states, has temporarily stopped sending quarterly reports to the feds so it can focus its efforts on processing claims.

People who receive overpayment notices can argue their case before a judge at an appeal hearing, and the state labor department says it “often” waives debts when claimants are not at fault.

But when the department believes a

claimant willfully misrepresented their situation, it almost always seeks the money back.

Who’s to blame for overpayments is often subjective. The state says most cases involve some degree of claimant error, while Kazmarski, the attorney, said the labor department could have prevented many overpayments. She’s had several clients with limited reading skills or English proficiency who were unable to reach someone at the department to guide them through the application process.

“If the department had dealt better with language barriers for these folks in the beginning,” she said, “they never would have been in overpayment.”

Jeetan Khadka, a case manager for AALV, a nonprofit that assists New Americans in Vermont, has worked on 16 overpayment cases during the pandemic. In some instances, the department approved an initial claim despite the applicant clearly indicating they had quit their job, he said. Khadka has secured appeal hearings for seven of his clients so far. With the help of Vermont Legal Aid, all have earned forgiveness, resulting in the waiver of a combined $66,000.

Tula Kadariya, a 39-year-old Winooski resident, left his job at Twincraft Skincare last spring. As his family’s sole provider, Kadariya wanted to keep working. But his wife’s medical history put her at an increased risk of succumbing to the virus, and his time in a Nepalese refugee camp had shown him how an infectious disease can swiftly devastate a community.

When coronavirus case counts started to rise last spring, Kadariya quit,

assuming that he would still be eligible for unemployment because of his situation at home. But he misunderstood a question on the benefits application and reported he’d been fired.

In August, the labor department caught the discrepancy and sent him a bill. When he saw the amount — $8,500 — he felt faint. “I couldn’t really think or process it,” Kadariya said in a phone interview, with Khadka translating.

Kadariya appealed the decision with Khadka’s help, telling the judge about his wife’s medical situation. As he waited three months for a hearing, Kadariya made several $250 payments to the state, terrified that any delay in repaying the money would negatively impact his credit and jeopardize his goal to one day purchase a house.

Though he eventually won his case and was refunded, he said he would “think twice” about signing up for any more state Tula Kadariya services.

The threat of overpayment notices has even had a chilling effect on those who haven’t received them. Khadka said he has heard from several people who no longer want benefits out of fear they might have to pay them back.

“People are really scared that they’re going to lose everything,” Khadka said.

The labor department’s recent struggles have state leaders considering how to bring it into the 21st century.

A proposed $3 million appropriation from Gov. Phil Scott’s administration this year is intended to jump-start the efforts. But Harrington, the labor commissioner, estimates it would likely cost up to $35 million to create an entirely new unemployment system.

“The way we build the system in the future will be very different,” he said, “based on what we’ve learned during COVID-19.”

Kazmarski hopes that’s true. She said her organization plans to advocate for more state resources, because most overpayments appear to have roots in outdated technology or a lack of staff training.

“There are so many situations we’ve seen,” she said, “where if the department had gotten it right the first time, the time it would have saved the department, the stress it would have saved the claimant … [the investment] would be well worth it.” m

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lifelines

OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

OBITUARIES Howard “Butch” Willard Adams MARCH 13, 1948FEBRUARY 22, 2021 MONKTON, VT.

Howard “Butch” Willard Adams, 72, passed away on February 22, 2021, after a brief hospitalization. He was born on March 13, 1948, in Burlington, Vt., to George H. and Elinor (Sullivan) Adams, who preceded him. Howard graduated from Vergennes High School in 1966. He received his associate’s degree from Vermont Technical College in mechanical design in 1968. Immediately following college, he started his 30-year tenure with IBM. While at IBM, Howard met Linda M. Clark of Hinesburg.

They married in Hinesburg on August 21, 1971, and built their first home in Monkton.

In 1980, Howard moved his family to Benson, Ariz., to help open a new plant in Tucson for IBM. While in Arizona, Howard and the family participated in Boy Scouts, in which Howard was cub master for many years.

Howard coached multiple

soccer and softball teams for his sons while being active with his father, George, in the Benson Lions Club. In 1989, he had the opportunity to move his family back to his home state of Vermont.

They purchased a home in Monkton, where they finished raising their sons and where he resided until his death.

After retiring from IBM in 1997, Howard earned his CDL and drove for S.D. Ireland for a number of years until his full retirement. He spent much of his free time helping various family members with household improvements and was always willing to offer a strong opinion on how to complete

life lines IN READ, POST, SHARE + COMMENT:

MEMORIAM

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the task at hand. He passed his love of home improvement on to his children. He enjoyed cooking and working around the house, and he relished any chance to use his tractors to complete a task.

Howard leaves behind his wife, Linda Adams, of 49 years.

He is survived by sons Eric and his wife, Heather, of Monkton, and Scott and his wife, Amy Paquette, of Essex Junction, as well as two grandchildren, Ryan and Natalie. Butch is also survived by his brother and three sisters: Claire Cunningham of Vergennes; Marthe and Robert Fisher of Bridport; Sharon and Otto Clements of Chesterfield, Va.; and Mark and Beverly Adams of Webster, Fla.; as well as countless cousins, nieces and nephews.

Howard did not want any formal services. A private graveside burial for close family will be scheduled in the spring/ summer. To send online condolences to his family, please visit brownmcclayfuneralhomes.com.

In lieu of flowers, please make a memorial gift in Howard’s name to BSA Troop 525 of Monkton, VT, 401 Piney Woods Rd., Bristol, VT 05443.

IN MEMORIAM

Doug Dunbebin

BELOVED HUSBAND AND BEST FRIEND, 1962-2016 Thinking of you, with boundless love and profound gratitude.

Thank you for all the light you brought to my life and the world.

You were right — “Ours is a love that will never die.”

Trina

Stephen Keyes “Sky” Yardley

APRIL 18, 1950-FEBRUARY 23, 2021 ALBURGH, VT. Stephen Keyes (“Sky”) Yardley passed away in Shelburne, Vt., on February 23, 2021, after living with dementia since 2015.

Sky was born on April 18, 1950, in Boston, Mass., to Charles and Phillis (Ripley) Yardley. He was raised in Needham, Mass., with his three sisters and spent glorious summers at the family cottage on Lake Nubanusit in southern New Hampshire. After graduating from high school in 1968, he attended Amherst College. After three years of academia, the “real world” called to him, and he embarked on a journey of discovery.

This journey took him to Esalen in California, Calvin Creek Ranch in British Columbia, the islands of Hawaii, and the Appalachian Trail.

It was on the trail that Sky met a resident of Frog Run Farm, a commune in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

Sky moved to Frog Run in 1973, where he reveled in learning hands-on skills, farming, building and tinkering. He worked in the woods with draft horses, sugared, grew food and built a barn, which later housed a herd of 20 Jerseys for the dairy that he started with three other commune members.

In 1976, Sky and his partner at the time, Polly Jerome, hitchhiked on a freighter to Iceland, where they worked for a year in a fish factory and on a chicken farm. They used their earnings to travel to Europe for exploring and hiking. Returning to Frog Run, Sky and another commune member started Vermont Produce Cooperative in 1979, a trucking business that brought produce from the Boston Chelsea market to Vermont food co-ops and eventually took Vermont organic produce to Boston, as well.

Sky began delivering produce to the Corner Café, a vegetarian restaurant in Randolph, Vt., in 1984. There he met Jane Dwinell, the café owner, who became his beloved and best friend, and in 1985 they embarked on their life journey together.

Sky and Jane built their off-grid homestead, Full Moon Farm, in Irasburg, Vt., where they raised two children, Dana and Sayer. While homesteading and parenting, Sky attended Woodbury College in Montpelier, Vt., and became a family mediator, a career that built on his lifelong

attention to conflict resolution and healthy relationships.

Sky and Jane chose to retire in 2006 and set off on their own adventures. They traveled to New Orleans to volunteer after Hurricane Katrina. They explored the canals and rivers of France on their beloved houseboat, Antinous. They built a tiny house in which they lived, traveled and did more volunteering. Sky and Jane also traveled aboard their U.S.-based boat, Iris, cruising up the Intracoastal Waterway from Georgia to Lake Champlain.

In 2015, Sky began to show signs of dementia and was officially diagnosed in 2016. He wanted to challenge the stigma around dementia, and he spent the rest of his life connecting with other people who had the disease. He and Jane traveled cross-country with their sermon and workshop, “Living With Dementia,” which they gave in 25 congregations. They started a blog, alzheimerscanyon.blogspot.com, to share their journey with others.

Sky was a curious, playful, easygoing and loving partner, parent and friend. His greatest joy, beyond spending time with family and friends, was being in the natural world: working in the woods, hiking or skiing mountains, or floating on the water.

He loved music — especially playing the piano and enjoying the live music of New Orleans — and he always had a song for every occasion.

He is survived by his beloved life partner and wife, Jane Dwinell, of Alburgh, Vt.; his daughter Dana Dwinell-Yardley of Montpelier, Vt., and her circle of chosen family; his son Sayer Dwinell-Yardley and his partner, Emma Tait, of Burlington, Vt.; his sisters, Mary Yardley of Lexington, Mass., Susan Yardley and her wife, Becky Kent, of Natick, Mass., and Janet Yardley of Nelson, N.H.; and his nieces Samantha Morgan of Freeport, Maine, and Cody Yardley of Medford, Mass. He was predeceased by his parents and his aunt Mary Ellen Yardley.

Sky’s family would like to thank the skillful, caring staff of the Arbors at Shelburne, who looked after him so well for the past year.

A memorial gathering will be held at a later date. Donations in Sky’s memory may be made to the Lake Champlain Committee, 208 Flynn Ave. #3F, Burlington, VT 05401, or lakechamplaincommittee.org; or to the South Burlington Community Justice Center, 19 Gregory Dr., South Burlington, VT 05403.

READ, POST, SHARE + COMMENT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/LIFELINES

Richard Lee “Seth” Towle Schneehagen III JUNE 20, 1990-FEBRUARY 24, 2021 BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.

Richard Lee (“Seth”) Towle Schneehagen III died on Wednesday, February 24, 2021, following a long battle with mental health and addiction. While we knew his addiction might someday take him from us, we know that he is now in a lighter place.

Seth was born on June 20, 1990, in Burlington, Vt., where he grew up and lived until 2015, when he decided to seek help and enrolled himself in a California treatment center. Seth loved California and created a new sober life and started a job he loved.

Unfortunately, the demons resurfaced, and Seth was not able to fight them any longer. With a few more tries at sobriety, Seth continued to use the drugs to numb his internal pain.

Eventually the battle was beyond his control, and it took his life. Seth wanted to be clean.

He knew how much his life could change if he could just get a handle on it. He just couldn’t get there.

Through it all, Seth knew how fortunate he was to have his mom’s unwavering love. She did everything humanly possible to support him, be open and honest with him, and maintain a strong mother-son relationship with him. His father, Richard, mourns his loss, as he wished nothing but the best for his son. Seth was known for his goofy, animated, unrivaled sense of humor and quick wit. He was a man with a wide variety of interests, a love of both precision and chaos, and eclectic interests including music, art, the stock market, fashion, skiing

and biking. Seth was also a voracious reader.

Seth had a smile and a laugh that endeared all who had the pleasure of his company.

Those eyes will be deeply, deeply missed by everyone.

Seth was born on his dad’s birthday, June 20. He leaves behind his mother, Nancy Towle, of South Burlington; his father, Richard Schneehagen, of Oahu, Hawaii; his brother, Will Desautels, of Waldorf, Md.; and his other mother, Kathie Desautels, of St. Michaels, Md. All loved him so deeply. He also leaves behind his aunt and uncle, Sandra and Duffy Sinclair; their children, Ashley, Jessie and Cassie; and dear friends Lilly, Vittorio and Amber.

He was recently predeceased by his oldest friend, Mike Loyer.

The outpouring of love and support our families have received is beyond overwhelming. Friends of Nan would like to especially thank the local Families Coping with Addiction Group (FCA) for taking such great care of and for giving enormous, loving support to Seth’s mom, Nan, during these past few years. The parents who have lost a child to this epidemic have a bond like no other. We are forever grateful.

If you wish to acknowledge Seth in some way beyond your good thoughts, we encourage donations to the Turning Point Center, turningpointcentervt.org, or Spectrum Youth & Family Services, spectrumvt.org.

Please know that Seth’s family deeply appreciates whatever friendship and love you brought to his life.

Arrangements are in care of the Ready Funeral & Cremation Service. To send online condolences to his family, please visit readyfuneral.com.

Want to memorialize a loved one?

We’re here to help. Our obituary and in memoriam services are affordable, accessible and handled with personal care.

Share your loved one’s story with the local community in Lifelines.

Andrew Saver

MARCH 9, 1972FEBRUARY 19, 2021 BURLINGTON, VT. Andrew Saver passed away in his home in Burlington, Vt., on February 19, 2021, surrounded by his wife, Bridget Corkery; his parents, Greg and Linda Saver; his sisters, Megan Criss and Amanda Cleary; and his faithful dog, Leo. Andy was born and grew up in Islip, Long Island. After high school, he attended college in Vermont, which became his lifelong home.

In 2007, he married his wife, Bridget Corkery, who loved him and took great care of him during his two-year-plus battle with colon cancer. In college, Andy took an interest in cooking and spent his career in some of Burlington’s best restaurants, where he was known and loved by his coworkers for his industriousness, his lightheartedness and his ability to make the long hours seem short.

Andy lived his life as few

of us can — unburdened by others’ opinions or expectations. He was kind and thoughtful, the type of person animals and small children are drawn to because he radiated a calm and unassuming confidence.

He figured out early in life that his happiness was derived from the pursuit of his interests and acquisition of knowledge about topics he enjoyed. He was a voracious reader and lifelong self-teacher/learner. This is how he taught himself to draw, to play guitar, to cook, to code and to build his own

boat, where he spent some of his favorite times — on Lake Champlain, with his wife, family and friends enjoying the water, just as he had since childhood with his parents and sisters on Long Island’s Great South Bay. May Andy forever have fair weather, cold beer and good fishing, and may we all be a little more like him for our time on Earth.

Arrangements are in the care of the Cremation Society of Chittenden County. To send online condolences to his family, please visit cremationsocietycc.com.

lifelines

Post your obituary or in memoriam online and in print at sevendaysvt.com/lifelines.

Or contact us at lifelines@sevendaysvt.com or 865-1020 ext. 10.

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SARAH PRIESTAP

arts news On the Same Page Tunbridge Public Library fosters intergenerational connections through reading B Y MA R GA R ET GRAYSON • margaret@sevendaysvt.com

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his winter, in the tiny town of Tunbridge, librarian MARIAH LAWRENCE organized a virtual book club with a specific goal: connecting people of different ages through a shared love of stories. The TUNBRIDGE PUBLIC LIBRARY provided copies of a book, discussion prompts and art supplies to make a painting inspired by the story; participants were encouraged to find a partner or small group with whom to discuss the book — preferably someone from a different generation.

“We had people from 8 years old to 80 years old in the group, and the perspectives were really beautiful,” Lawrence said.

The book in question, A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry, follows a lonely wolf traversing the Pacific Northwest.

While the story is geared toward children, there is darkness in it, too, and Lawrence thought it would appeal to all ages. “[The wolf ] struggled. He had so many obstacles — hunger and thirst and injuries and loneliness,” she said. “We were all blown away at how perfectly that book fit into our lives right now.”

Lawrence hosted one virtual group discussion and one painting night, but 22

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Mariah Lawrence

WE HAD PEOPLE FROM 8 YEARS OLD TO 80 YEARS OLD IN THE GROUP,

AND THE PERSPECTIVES WERE REALLY BEAUTIFUL. MAR IAH L AW R E NC E

participants were welcome to choose whether they wanted to attend those gatherings or read completely on their own.

“I really wanted to make it a chooseyour-own-adventure style of book club, because we didn’t want to limit people to just Zoom meetings,” she said. “I mean, we’re all sick of Zoom meetings.”

For MARIA LAMSON, a retired librarian living in South Royalton, the book club was a good opportunity to connect with her two granddaughters. Though she speaks to them often, Lamson said having a book to discuss let her see them in a new light. The girls were excited to share their thoughts and perspectives, though the younger one found the wolf’s story a little scary. They even watched movies about wolves to add to the experience.

“Both of their parents or grandparents had been involved in a book club, and they were jealous,” Lamson said.

Sarah Pease, a friend of Lawrence

and her family, participated in the book club from California. Pease is a mentor to Lawrence’s son, Miles, and discussed the book with him.

“It was a really great way for us to not just connect but do so over a facilitated activity,” Pease said. For a 30-year-old and an 11-year-old, “it’s nice to have specific things to talk about,” she noted.

Pease is actually considering a move to Vermont, so the book club also gave her a chance to get to know the community. She appreciated feeling included despite not currently living in the area.

Lawrence got enough positive feedback from the book club’s 33 participants that she’s planning three more iterations, supported through grants from the Children’s Literacy Foundation, which also funded the first book club. Sign-ups are open for the March session, which will center on Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin.

After that will come a group read focused on preschoolers and another aiming to connect residents of Tunbridge and nearby Chelsea. The two school districts recently merged, and the issue has been contentious. In January, Tunbridge residents voted to remain in the unified district 144-135 — a margin of nine votes.

“The Chelsea librarian and I knew that we held a place where we could try to connect people,” Lawrence said.

Beyond the book clubs, she organizes a weekly virtual story hour and virtual Lego Club. What exactly does virtual Lego look like?

“I get to see people sailing their ships through the air the majority of the time,” Lawrence said with a laugh. “We talk about all of the amazing vehicles they’re building today.”

When Lamson, the retired librarian, asked whether Lawrence needed help organizing the book club or running the Zoom, Lawrence said Lego Club had prepared her well. She knows her way around a mute button.

INFO Learn more at tunbridgelibrary.org.

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Adirondack Tales Book review: The Power Line, Christopher Shaw B Y PA M EL A POL ST O N • pamela@sevendaysvt.com

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eleased in late summer 2020, CHRISTOPHER SHAW’s The Power Line escaped our attention until recently, but the book is an uncommon accomplishment that merits a belated review. Shaw, who lives in Bristol and has retired after 20 years of teaching creative writing at Middlebury IT College, preceded that career IFER KIEW N with a long stint in northern F JEN New York. His time on the other side of Lake Champlain, both as a guide and as editor of Adirondack Life, richly informs The Power Line.

Christopher Shaw The book declares itself to be a novel, and Shaw goes to some pains to support its status as fiction. He even prefaces his tale with a cautionary “Note to the Reader” that states: The question of what constitutes truth in the printed word is of understandable concern to the careful reader, doubly so in these truth challenged times. It goes without saying that you should bring to your reading of this regional chronicle the same healthy skepticism you would bring to reading scripture, Shakespeare, or the New York Times.

Why does this matter? Because Shaw then proceeds utterly to confound his readers’ grasp of the truthful and the apocryphal. The squirmy category of “historical fiction” will not do here, even though the author anchors his prose with real towns, rivers, lakes and peaks and sprinkles in real figures, from naturalist-turnedpresident Teddy Roosevelt to gangster Jack “Legs” Diamond.

The epistolary novel uses subtle but strategic point-of-view shifts to make the past feel present, just as a film narrator’s voice-over might introduce a memory, only to fade out as viewers are immersed in the remembered experience.

Shaw’s literary sleight of hand is

BOOKS

particularly potent in the book’s first section, which is ostensibly based on 1983 interviews with old-timer Alonzo “Lonnie” Monroe, recorded by would-be Adirondack historian Abel St. Martin.

Monroe is a riveting storyteller, and, as St. Martin puts it, “His story had too much inner consistency to be a total lie.”

With growing enthusiasm and probable embellishment, Monroe recounts his escapades

— renowned for his unerring aim — and a carload of gangsters from a rival operation.

Along the way, both men develop relationships with women who show themselves to be more than flirtatious flappers.

These fictional events take place against a convincingly real backdrop.

Monroe’s tale spans the years that electrification arrived in the Adirondacks; he and Germaine work for real-life hotelier and developer Paul Smith (namesake of the college and town). Tuberculosis was real, too, and The Power Line deals with life and

THE POWER LINE IS STEEPED IN THE PRIMAL

REALITY OF GEOGRAPHY AND A NEAR-REVERENTIAL SENSE OF PLACE. with his celebrated friend François Germaine, primarily in the years following World War I. The two endured combat in Europe and futile action against Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa before returning to the North Country.

Like most self-sufficient locals of the Saranac region, they were skilled at hunting, fishing and navigating woods and waters, as well as guiding tourists who came to do the same for sport.

Germaine, in addition, was an excellent fiddler in the French Canadian vein and a talented builder with a couple years of college behind him.

The men also really liked to drink — as, it seems, does just about everyone in this tale, with Prohibition perhaps serving as incentive. Monroe, Germaine and related characters soon find themselves working for Diamond, bootlegging liquor down from Canada. Monroe relates in vivid detail their escape from assassins in Montréal, with Germaine paddling the fearsome St. Lawrence River in the dead of a winter night.

This risky career builds to a shoot-out between the duo of Monroe and Germaine

death in the local “san” communities. Not least, the book touches on the political and environmental machinations that led to the creation of the modern Adirondack Park Agency.

For all the fractious characters, rollicking anecdotes and colorful dialect, The Power Line is also steeped in the primal reality of geography and a nearreverential sense of place.

Shaw’s descriptions of nature can be incantatory.

Readers unfamiliar with the region might want to keep a map handy, though; the naming of Adirondack towns and lakes sometimes comes at a dizzying pace.

Germaine disappears toward the end of the book’s first section but reemerges in the second, which is based on the “discovered” diaries of fictional Rosalyn Orloff, a socialist and political theorist of the 1920s and ’30s.

Her well-connected circle of colleagues and friends, who visit her summer home at Lake Aurora, includes artists, philosophers, writers and even psychologist Carl Jung.

We’ll not disclose what becomes of Germaine in part two, but suffice it to say there is a satisfying redemption. More cerebral in this section, the narrative is

still studded with evocative observations such as this one: Sheep laurel bloomed in patches of moss on the rock shore, along with the odd arbutus and clusters of bunchberries, partridge berries as they call them here, the stunted, wind-sculpted red pines and balsams like Japanese bonsai.

Shaw could have ended The Power Line with Orloff ’s final diary entry in 1938. But he goes on, in an afterword, to wrap up the biographies of the book’s main characters — and continues to bend the parameters of fiction. If these characters’ chapters are closed, Shaw promises that his writing about the Adirondacks is not.

FROM THE POWER LINE For Germaine and Monroe, the area had constituted an inheritance — a common birthright, even under Smith.

They learned the ground by hearing it described over and over, even while in the womb, so when they got to a place for the first time, invited along to help and do chores at age ten or twelve, they already knew where they were and how it related to the whole. Part of that whole included Teddy and his exploits in the field and in politics. Later, to become one of the young hotel rowers and a registered guide meant ready cash, a name in the community, and a reputation among the swells (and their daughters), who might take a shine to you and render an important leg up in the world. You acquired standing, even without being Godfrey St. Germain’s grandson or creating a distinctive style of log work all your own.

But your status undermined your equity in the place, your custody of it. No matter how acute your woodsmanship, or how deft your navigation of the minefields of class, you remained the help. Teddy, of course, always looked up to the woodsmen and guides, and used them as a model when picking his Rough Riders. This they knew implicitly.

INFO The Power Line, by Christopher Shaw, Outskirts Press, 312 pages. $30 hardcover; $18.95 paperback.

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arts news

Quartets and Questions Book review: the blue-collar sun, Lucas Farrell B Y B E N JA M I N AL ESHIRE • aleshire@sevendaysvt.com COURTESY OF LOUISA CONRAD

BOOKS

Lucas Farrell with Maisie

T

ownshend farmer and author Lucas Farrell has won the inaugural Sundog Poetry Book Award for the blue-collar sun. Vermont poet laureate Mary Ruefle judged the competition. “His is a mind that never stops moving,” Ruefle noted in her moving citation. Hadestown creator Anaïs Mitchell put it another way in a blurb: “[These poems] are both warmly familiar and weird AF.” The blue-collar sun does feel raw, in the best sense of the word. Even the book’s typeface refuses expectations, with a font that mimics the irregular keystrokes of a well-worn typewriter. The poems concern everything from goats in labor to vanishing Icelandic glaciers to fables about selling bird hearts during the apocalypse. They come laced with startling, unpredictable turns of phrase that send the reader racing back to enjoy them again.

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The book is divided into four independent sections that vary greatly in style, and even in genre. The effect is akin to the abrupt change of Vermont’s seasons — or perhaps to listening to a quartet played one instrument at a time, the melody more discernible with each new voice.

The first section, “this is your animal,” opens with a brief prose poem describing an ice storm; it immediately hooks the reader with irresistible wordplay and internal rhyme. “There is a music in the road that the dogs dog to, that the people people to. It’s a dance that I dance to. It’s silver,” Farrell writes, and then takes a wholly unexpected turn: “It goes: who is this place, why did it home here, where’s the beginning, now hurt me.”

Farrell pulls off a magic trick here: The reader neither understands precisely what prompted this abrupt emotional shift nor

needs to. The moment simply leaves a haunting jolt in its wake as the poem tacks in other directions. “There is an honestto-god answer. I don’t know what it is or where to find it, but I’m sensual to it. After all, we’re not going to be here for very long,” the poem continues. “Stand arm in arm with the conditions and marvel.”

“Orienteering,” another tightly compressed prose poem, begins by lulling the reader with language that could have been pulled from a hiking guide. Then it declares: “the local is only local in relation to the version of the field reflected in the window I look at from the precise center of my grief. I want you egregiously. Define geography: you went away. Go away.”

Lovers of narrative clarity might wonder: Whose grief does this refer to? What’s happened, who’s separating here, and why?

Farrell seems to be winking during these

elusive yet highly satisfying tonal shifts, as if reminding us: There are honest-to-god answers to these questions; I don’t know how to find them, but I’m sensual to it.

Farrell’s first book, The Many Woods of Grief, won the 2011 Juniper Prize for Poetry from the University of Massachusetts Press. He and his wife, artist Louisa Conrad, met at Middlebury College and have advanced degrees in their fields, but they left academia to found Big Picture Farm. Together they manage a herd of 40 goats, the farmstead’s award-winning confectionery and a website that introduces each goat individually.

Big Picture’s Instagram feed might look straight out of Vanity Fair (thanks to rock star-quality photography by Conrad), but Farrell’s poems don’t shy away from showing the unglamorous labor behind that artisanal chèvre. “Wildflowers,” for

GOT AN ARTS TIP? ARTNEWS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

example, has more to do with the bowel movements of goats than with posies: Casually an acorn births into the half-light out of Fern’s anus

Skids across the parlor floor

The book has concerns besides ruminations on ruminants. The second section, “I approached a little farewell,” is an erasure that uses Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic novelist Halldór Laxness’ Under the Glacier as source material. While the technique of erasure typically involves blacking out pieces of text, as in a redacted CIA memo, to make a poem of the remainder, Farrell instead leaves the original in ghostly offwhite. The sparse words remaining in black pop like distant figures in an arctic vista.

Farrell’s text feels like a coded missive sent from a landscape that has vanished by the time you finish reading. This section begins in an elegiac tone, with moments of sardonic gallows humor (“finally / a / poem about / the weather”). Flashes of rage and resignation (“We yearn to kill the / no longer visible”) eventually give way to an insistence on stoic optimism: “I might / as

Generator Introduces BIPOC Scholarships Black, Indigenous and other people of color historically have struggled to overcome institutional and cultural barriers, and careers in STEAM — science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics — are no exception.

But now, GENERATOR, the nonprofit maker space in Burlington’s South End, has launched the new BIPOC Scholarship program, aimed at bridging that divide and making a range of career opportunities more accessible to these marginalized Vermonters.

Maker spaces are communal design studios, workshops and manufacturing facilities where artists, craftspeople and entrepreneurs gather to share equipment, ideas and expertise. Launched in 2014 in the basement of Memorial Auditorium, Generator moved in 2017 to its current, 12,500-square-foot facility on Sears Lane.

“It’s sort of like a gym, but instead of having a treadmill, we have a CNC router, welding equipment, sewing machines and high-end jewelry-making tools,” said Generator executive director MEG HAMMOND. Setting up a scholarship program for BIPOC and other communities was already on Hammond’s to-do list when she joined the organization in January 2020. But the many tragedies last year targeting people of color “elevated the urgency” of launching the program, she explained.

In June 2020, Generator issued a statement of solidarity with the BIPOC community and committed to countering racism and ensuring equal access to its resources.

At the time, Hammond said, Generator promised to make social justice a core feature in its strategic plan and to provide diversity, equity and inclusion training to its staff, instructors and board of directors.

Hammond also promised to launch a $100,000 scholarship program that would make Generator’s classes and tools more accessible to BIPOC individuals.

Over the next five years, the scholarship program will award a total of $20,000 annually to qualified recipients, who may use the money in several ways, including paying for the cost of classes, tool training and Generator’s $95 monthly membership fee.

The scholarship will also give makers a place to work and store materials, tools and unfinished projects, which, as Hammond pointed out, is otherwise impractical for many people from disadvantaged communities, especially those living in apartments.

As she noted, many of the 150 members run businesses directly out of Generator.

Hammond has assembled a four-member scholarship selection committee, three of whom self-identify as BIPOC. In addition to herself, the committee includes sculptor ELLIOTT KATZ, Generator’s operations and facilities director, as well as two members of the BIPOC community from outside the organization. VERA LONGTOE SHEEHAN is director of the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association, and JOE WILLIAMS is managing

The next buyer’s blindness was white as leek root. White like the sorest strep throat in America.

White white white white white.

Hallelujah.

The final section, “a description of the hook i am capable of,” takes the form of an essay about a fishhook that stuck to the sole of Conrad’s boot while the couple attended an artist residency in Ireland. Here, all the lyrical fireworks of the preceding sections are stripped away, and what remains can occasionally feel meandering and redundant. The tone is breathless, almost streamof-consciousness: “And just yesterday around five o’clock which is when Louisa likes to go places and take pictures of those places especially as they exist at a certain time of day, namely five o’clock.”

Still, the fishhook serves as the perfect question mark-shaped symbol for inquiry itself. The unanswered questions posed at the opening of the book get rephrased, retranslated and posed again throughout. How to listen “amid a greater orchestra of uncertainty”? How to face a world where glaciers perform their own slow erasures? How to “record the atrocities, bitter soliloquies, the brutalities” and still leave room for love?

That the recipient of Vermont’s newest poetry award is a farmer, equally comfortable shoveling manure and penning urgent existential verse, is an auspicious sign for literature in this corner of the world. m

SUGARING The snowy fields have softened to a raw chévre. I eat a little of it, I drink a little water, I sing a little mercy to myself. Fingers numb, I tune my ears to the 7 or 8 metal spouts in the vicinity dripping sap into tin amid a greater orchestra of uncertainty. Listen further, listen deeper: record the unkindnesses, the atrocities, bitter soliloquies, brutalities, note the sounds of the acts and the sounds of the consequences, and play them all back one by one on random on repeat in an empty wing of an underfunded museum in a thriving city somewhere in the vicinity of your heart and listen. Then reside there. Year after year for eighty some odd years, let’s say a lifetime, let’s call it life, call it weather, let’s call it love.

INFO the blue-collar sun, by Lucas Farrell, Green Writers Press, 72 pages. $19.99.

COURTESY OF GENERATOR

TECHNOLOGY

well tell you the truth / you / can turn the dark to light.”

The third, title section shifts again, this time into prose. Its prologue is a love sonnet with the coy lines: “I’ve been in love with you since 7. // It is now 8:30 in the p.m. I guess you could say I’m committed.” Readers can choose to interpret this as 7 years old or seven o’clock, depending on how romantic or cynical they’re feeling at the moment.

What follows has a delightful kinship with Richard Brautigan’s In Watermelon Sugar (a surreal, postapocalyptic novel published in 1968, long before Harry Styles used the title for a pop song extolling the pleasures of, um, enthusiastic feasting).

Here, delirious dream logic takes the wheel. Two desperate lovers perform “miraculist” heart surgeries on birds killed by explosions and then sell them door-todoor, all while trying to avoid succumbing to something or someone known as “Shoulder Elvis.”

The story is curiously riveting. Its frenetic pacing is held aloft by the tenderness the two “miraculists” share (“At night I hold onto her like a seeing eye dog. We invigilate each other’s breathing”) and by the strength of Farrell’s descriptions:

Ali Hussein (left) and Elliott Katz

director of Champlain College’s Leahy Center for Digital Forensics & Cybersecurity.

As for how the selection committee will determine applicants’ eligibility, Hammond emphasized that Generator is not asking for proof of identity, such as photos or tribal membership cards. As she put it, “I’m hoping for honesty and self-identification.”

Because this is the inaugural class of BIPOC Scholarship recipients, Hammond has no idea who will apply or what their level of prior training or experience may be. But she sees the program as a work in progress that will be refined over time to better meet the needs of the BIPOC community.

Funding for the scholarships comes from several sources, including the Vermont Community Foundation and Rabble-Rouser Chocolate & Craft in Montpelier.

The deadline for applications is April 7, and the first round of scholarships is slated to begin in May.

K E N PI C A RD ken@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Learn more or apply at generatorvt.com/ bipoc-scholarship.

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t’s peaceful at the Rokeby Museum these days. The small, seasonal museum in Ferrisburgh has been closed all winter — as have most Vermont museums, seasonal or not. You can’t go inside the education center, any of the former sheep farm’s eight agricultural outbuildings, or the 18th-century farmhouse where, w here, in the 1830s and ’40s, Rowland Robinson sheltered escaped slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.

You can, however, walk the Rokeby’s 90-acre grounds.

Several miles of narrow trails meander through woods, past a pond and along a rolling, snowy pasture. One short spur leads to a small, currently frozen waterfall. Another offers a vista of the slumped spine of the Taconic Mountain range. Except for the faint buzz of traffic from Route 7, it’s calm and quiet.

In normal times, a museum like the Rokeby exists to help us remember the past. But during a pandemic winter, it’s a welcome place to seek refuge, if ever so briefly, from the present.

“We’ve definitely seen an uptick in trail usage,” said Rokeby director Lindsay Houpt-Varner, who joined the museum in September.

We’re trying to keep people distracted and engaged.

T HO M A S D EN EN B ER G

Framing

the Questions Facing an uncertain future, Vermont museum leaders draw inspiration from both past and pandemic present

BY DAN B OLLE S • dan@sevendaysvt.com

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While that increase in snowshoers and dog walkers is more of a feel-good benefit for the Rokeby than a practical one — the trails are free to use — it’s a small consolation in a time of extreme turmoil and uncertainty.

“It’s been a long year,” Houpt-Varner said.

The pandemic has had a profound impact on cultural institutions such as the Rokeby. The statewide shutdown kept the museum from opening as usual in May. Though it partially reopened in July and remained open with state-mandated capacity limits through mid-October, admissions were down “at least 50 percent,” HouptVarner said.

Believe it or not, the Rokeby has fared better than most.

A July 2020 survey by the American Alliance of Museums warned that the U.S. could permanently lose as many as one-third of its museums, zoos, aquariums and science centers due to the devastating loss of revenue from the pandemic. Over the past year, 98 percent of such institutions closed at least temporarily.

According to a follow-up survey in October, institutions that had reopened were operating, on average, at about 35 percent of their usual capacities — a number the alliance deemed “unsustainable.”

Among Vermont museums reporting to the New England Museum Association, attendance was down 74 percent, from 402,000 in 2019 to just shy of 104,000 in 2020. The association doesn’t track revenue, but you don’t need to be a mathematician to deduce that those numbers were pretty dire, too.

The pandemic raised looming questions for museums and other cultural institutions. For starters, how can they survive with little to no admissions revenue and continued uncertainty around membership, charitable donations and grants? The answer: just barely.

COURTESY OF BRIAN WAGNER

“I don’t know of an institution in Vermont that would not self-identify as being in some sort of precarious state when it comes to their economics,” Shelburne Museum director Thomas Denenberg said. “And that was true before all this started.”

Sudden and rapid financial decline isn’t the only paradigm shift museums have faced in the past 12 months. As Denenberg put it, “The past year wasn’t just a biological crisis, it was a cultural crisis.”

Rokeby Museum

Last summer, the country’s streets filled with protesters following multiple police killings of Black Americans; the fall brought a historically fraught presidential election. In January, angry Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, a shocking insurrection that resulted in five deaths, dozens of injuries and a collective national trauma.

In short, the country’s long-simmering tensions surrounding equality, justice, accessibility and truth

itself have boiled over. Given their traditional role of preserving the legacy of a people and presenting it to future generations, museums are natural places to have hard conversations about these issues, raising fundamental questions of mission, representation and inclusion. Those conversations are happening, even as the pandemic makes it all the more imperative to find new ways of connecting museums with their public.

in Manchester, to the Arnold Zlotoff Tool Museum in South Hero — may have to confront soon, if they haven’t already.

For now, as Denenberg put it, “We’re all basically in survival mode.”

In early March 2020, he recalled, Shelburne Museum had just adopted its annual budget. “Then two weeks later, I tore it up,” he said.

On March 25, Gov. Phil Scott issued his “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order, shuttering museums along with almost all businesses deemed inessential. That measure forced every sector of the economy that relies on convening people — arts and entertainment, sports, education — to face stark realities.

Denenberg’s goal was to trim $2 million from the museum’s $7.5 million annual budget. Step one was to decline to hire seasonal staff, who account for a significant majority of the museum’s employees.

“And then we canceled everything that could be canceled,” Denenberg said.

That included summer camps, in-person educational programs, and special events such as weddings and the Ben & Jerry’s Concerts on the Green series produced

by Higher Ground.

“It was pretty clear from the beginning that there was gonna be no earned income [last] year,” the director said. In a typical year for the museum, earned income — revenue from admissions, gift shop sales and events — is about $1.2 million.

Nonprofits “are phenomenally undercapitalized entities and are not resilient in the ways that other institutions are,” according to Denenberg. “So when it comes to great economic stresses, it’s gonna be a game changer for many of us.”

Federal Paycheck Protection Program Hood Museum of Art loans enabled the museum to get through most of the year “relatively intact,” he said. Denenberg took a pay cut, and eight staffers in or related to visitor services “Our staff had been asking the question before have been furloughed until the museum reopens in May, the pandemic, and then it was accelerated during but no full-time staff members were laid off. Denenberg the pandemic: ‘Why do we exist?’” said Susan Evans acknowledged that the museum’s $27.5 million endowMcClure, executive director of the Lake Champlain ment also provided a cushion that not many other Maritime Museum. “‘What is the point of this museum?’” Vermont institutions have.

“Endowment is a perfect solution to a problem like Even as many institutions remain physically closed, this,” he said. the world of Vermont museums is transforming.

The museum reopened in late summer, but with strict The Museum of Everyday Strife limitations. Visitors were allowed to walk the 45-acre campus One day, when the pandemic is finally behind us, and visit a handful of its 39 exhibition buildings. Only 150 a national coronavirus museum may be erected people were allowed on the grounds at one time, compared somewhere in the United States. It may house artworks with a normal capacity of 850. The museum closed again in created in quarantine and science-heavy installations the fall when Vermont’s COVID-19 numbers spiked.

The Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium in St. Johnson the efficacy of social distancing, handwashing and masks. Interactive maps could illustrate how the virus bury opened on July 1 “to not very many people,” execuravaged the globe and how various locales contained tive director Adam Kane said. He noted that his museum’s it, or didn’t. A solemn memorial could recognize earned revenue has been “massively eroded.” But it’s not the hundreds of thousands of American lives lost to just the financial drain that’s getting him down.

“We don’t run these museums for nobody to come COVID-19 and pay tribute to the frontline workers who through,” he said. “What makes us happy is people enjoyrisked theirs.

An exhibit on existential angst could occupy an entire ing the space and learning things. So it’s disheartening, wing of this fictional coronavirus museum. “What is the truthfully. But,” Kane added, “you wouldn’t want to have point?” is a question that the leaders of Vermont’s 140-some actual museums — from Hildene, the Lincoln family home FRAMING THE QUESTIONS » P.28 SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

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It’s really about building community and changing our capacity to serve the under-resourced.

P HEL A N F R ET Z Courtney Leonard installation at the Hood Museum of Art COURTESY OF ALISON PALIZZOLO

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum

200 people in the Fairbanks Museum right now anyway, for health reasons.”

Kane is more likely to want those people in the museum when its new $2.5 million, three-story natural sciences wing is finished, probably within the year. But even with vaccines creating optimism, it’s unclear when conditions might improve enough for a full reopening.

“We’ve gotten through this year OK — or as OK as one can be,” Denenberg said of Shelburne Museum, which recently announced it will not host in-person summer camps in 2021.

The museum ended its fiscal year with a balanced budget, he noted, which was as much of a shock to him as anyone else.

“That was a buoying realization,” Denenberg said. It means his improvised measures worked and that a 2021 operating plan based on last year’s model of limiting expenses and capacities could, too — though it’s not a longterm solution.

“I think what everyone is trying to figure out right now is, ‘What does this next year mean?’” Denenberg said. “‘And what happens thereafter?’”

The Museum of Together Apart To continue serving their communities, keep staff engaged and generate trickles of income, many Vermont museums have turned to digital stopgap solutions — online exhibits, 28

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

Zoom lectures, virtual classes and the like. Some of that innovation will survive the pandemic.

“A lot of the emotional experiences are available [virtually],” said John Stomberg, director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. Only members of the campus community are currently allowed in the museum — just 10 of them at a time, twice a day. But many exhibits are available to view online, including “Form & Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics.”

That show features the work of six Indigenous artists from all over the United States. One piece, “Every One (#MMIWQT Bead Project),” by Cannupa Hanska Luger, is visible in the vitrine window of the Hood’s north façade, should you happen to be in Hanover. Regardless, you can see the whole exhibition through 3D software adapted from the real estate industry — and in a virtual reality version, if you have a VR headset.

That’s a cool experience, and it opens up the museum’s collections to an audience beyond the Upper Valley. But virtual reality can’t replace the in-person experience of viewing art.

“Some of these old pieces still smell,” Stomberg said.

“So there’s a sensory element that’s missing.”

What virtual offerings can do is keep people connected.

In an age of isolation, that’s invaluable.

At Shelburne Museum, Denenberg said, “We’re trying to keep people distracted and engaged” — though he conceded that it’s hard to predict which online programming will appeal to the public. Of the museum’s 35 or so online offerings in the past year, a six-week virtual quilt club was its most successful.

“Who knew so many people were into quilting?”

Denenberg marveled.

Connectedness has been a boon to more than the quilting crowd, though. Museums themselves are joining

forces in new ways and using that combined strength to make their resources more accessible to the public.

“I think the unique thing that’s happened because of the pandemic is a number of collaborations that wouldn’t normally have happened in the Before Time, because everyone was busy doing their own thing,” said Marcos Stafne, executive director of the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich. “But in this time period, people have really reached into their networks for support and peer guidance.”

Peacock at Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium

Prominent among those new unions is FourScience Vermont. Launched in May, the program links a quartet of science museums: the Montshire, the Fairbanks, the Vermont Institute of Natural Science in Quechee and ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain in Burlington.

Together, those organizations are better able to share resources and provide services to their communities.

In particular, the science centers collaborate on virtual programming for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, an interactive rubric offered to schools and homeschoolers to bolster science education.

“Even in the best of times, teachers need our support for science education in the state,” Stafne said. “And in the worst of times, science is definitely something that can get left behind. So we have felt it very much a part of our responsibility that STEM engagement is happening.

“We each do it in different ways,” he continued. “But we’re now in constant contact with each other to see what opportunities there are for us to work together on collaborative digital experiences or fundraising, or even just [to understand] the various support skills we bring each other.”

Stafne noted that this partnership isn’t just for museum heads.

“Our finance managers all talk to each other; our directors of development talk to each other; our directors of education, facilities services directors,” he said. “And I really believe that will continue past the pandemic. We’re a little more fluid now.”

“A-Mazing Airways” exhibit at the Montshire Museum of Science

COURTESY O F CEDARBROOK STUDIO

ECHO’s executive director, Phelan Fretz, agrees. “We could not have reopened when we reopened without working together,” he said.

The lakeside science center, packed with kid-friendly exhibits, reopened in June and charged no admission through the summer. It’s currently open five days per week with limited hours and capacity.

“At our core, the question was: How do we support families?” Fretz said. “We’re a place that’s about multigenerational learning.”

ECHO’s primary missions are stewardship of Lake Champlain and STEM education. Fulfilling the latter goal meant finding new and creative ways of reaching kids and their families.

“The pandemic really exposed folks who are lower resource,” Fretz said. “It just exacerbated [the hardships of ] their very existence. So, for us, it’s also been about: What are we doing as an organization to address equity issues? Whether that’s gender, whether that’s poverty, whether that’s differently abled in learning styles, it’s really about building community and changing our capacity to serve the under-resourced.”

The most visible of those efforts has been ECHO’s Virtual STEM Academy, a series of livestreamed science lessons and activities aimed at elementary schoolers. The science center produces the six-week sessions in its recently built video studio and delivers them to more than 60 Vermont schools.

Beaming those lessons to thousands of students statewide makes them more accessible, but not universally. For one thing, high-speed internet isn’t available in some parts of Vermont. For another, ECHO’s STEM lessons include interactive components that require common household items to perform. Not every family has those materials on hand or the means to get them.

Fretz recalled that such a situation arose in Hardwick last year. Rather than exclude any students, ECHO staffers delivered activity kits to the school, which distributed them as part of its meal program.

“We all know there is a digital divide in Vermont, and so the question was: How do we start to breach some of that?” Fretz said. “Literally, my staff got together, made up 900 of these kits, put them in a big box and delivered them to the school.”

He added, “If you’re approaching these issues with equity in mind, an aware educator will start to see the opportunities.”

The Museum of Truth and Reconciliation

If you were to stroll through the European/American Gallery of the Fleming Museum of Art right now … well, you’d probably be a University of Vermont student or faculty member. Like the Hood at Dartmouth, the Fleming is currently open only to the campus community. (Also like the Hood, the Fleming has a comparatively stable financial status under the higher-ed umbrella.)

But if you did have access to that gallery, you might notice a few blank spaces on the walls. Among these is the spot occupied until recently by a work of 19th-century American painter Thomas Hovenden. It depicts an elderly Black man sitting by a steaming pot on a cast-iron stove.

The painting’s title uses dialect, a form of racial stereotyping common among artists and writers at the time: “Dat Possum Smell Pow’ful Good.”

That’s not the only troublesome item in the Fleming’s collection. Some works, like Hovenden’s painting, are overtly racist. Others are more subtly problematic because FRAMING THE QUESTIONS SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

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of the violent or exploitative manner in which they were acquired. For both of those reasons, the Fleming’s African and Ancient Egyptian Gallery, which opened 30 years ago and contains outdated and inaccurate information, is currently closed while director Janie Cohen and her staff determine how to reinstall the collections.

“One of the silver linings of the pandemic was this gift of time in which we were able to slow down and focus on what quickly became our chief goal,” Cohen said, “which was reconsidering everything that we do in the context of systemic racial inequity within the context of museums, in which [that inequity] is embedded.”

The museum is in the process of creating a “values document,” which will reframe and refocus its mission and set out its approach to reckoning both with racist pieces and its own fraught history.

“This is where we see our most important work right now,” Cohen said, “in part because the history of museums like ours is that we have centered whiteness as the main framework for everything, be that collecting, exhibitions or education.”

The Fleming is hardly alone. Even before the pandemic and the racial justice protests of last summer, museum leaders in Vermont and around the country had begun to contend with the uncomfortable histories of their institutions and items in their collections. But the events of the past year gave those discussions renewed urgency.

For instance, in June, the Alabama Department of Archives and History for the first time publicly acknowledged its role in promoting and perpetuating a whitewashed version of history. Its collections have all but ignored Black people and have framed the Confederacy’s role in the Civil War as a just fight rather than one to preserve slavery.

“If history is to serve the present, it must offer an honest assessment of the past,” department director Steve Murray and trustees wrote in a “statement of recommitment.”

Such statements are all well and good. But they’re essentially meaningless if real action doesn’t follow.

Where to start?

“You have to change the concept of a museum as an elitist place,” Evans McClure of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum said. “And you can’t do that until you accept that the history of museums is fundamentally elitist.

“Museums were created as these cabinets of curiosity where rich white men went out and took things from other people, mainly people of color,” she continued, “and put them on display for other rich white people.”

Consequently, one key to transforming museums is centering the perspectives of people other than rich white men.

“When you understand that the past was made up of individuals who made individual decisions, it’s really empowering, because you can see that your own choices can also be part of history. Because that’s all history is: people making choices,” Evans McClure said. “But you have to see yourself in that past to make that connection.”

Houpt-Varner of the Rokeby believes that “Our history can be a part of the truth and reconciliation process within this wider conversation taking place around racism and social justice,” she said. “In order for us to really have conversations truthfully about inequities in our communities, we have to understand our communities’ histories and how history impacts what’s happening today.”

As an example, Houpt-Varner cited an exhibit at the Rokeby last summer, “Mending Fences: New Works by 30

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

Shelburne Museum

We have centered whiteness as the main framework for everything.

JANIE C O H E N

Detail of a painting by Thomas Hovenden that was removed from the Fleming Museum of Art

Carol MacDonald.” For her installation, the Colchester artist creatively repaired damaged and deaccessioned items in the Rokeby collection — clothing, ceramics, cookware and linens.

“It was a such a timely exhibit,” Houpt-Varner said, “looking at this idea of both mending physical items but … also using it metaphorically to talk about mending divides within society and talking about racism.”

This drive toward a more inclusive understanding of the past is one reason a 2020 Maritime Museum digital exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, “Women at the Helm,” focused on women leaders and ship captains on Lake Champlain. And it’s why the Fleming is actively working to include more work by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) artists and to publicly address its history. For the museum’s fall show, “Reckonings,” museum staff and student interns engaged with various pieces in the collection, including problematic ones, and related them to the events of 2020.

“The goal is change,” Cohen said. Still, she noted that transformation at the Fleming and other Vermont museums won’t happen overnight. The Fleming will celebrate its 90th anniversary this year. As Cohen put it, “It’s a terrible, terrible thing that we have had 90 years of not addressing these issues.”

But it’s a beginning, and if change follows, it will represent one of the few silver linings of this tumultuous time.

“A lot of the circumstances that we’re all reckoning with, I think, are just moments of clarity on problems that were already underlying before the pandemic happened,” Denenberg said. “We’re reinventing museums as we move forward in this country.”

Disclosure: Lake Champlain Maritime Museum director Susan Evans McClure is a friend of the author.

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ie-hard sports fans are often dismissed as lazy, ignorant and male — “hard-drinking, hard-eating, jersey-wearing” guys, in Larry Olmsted’s words — and he’s not having it. Olmsted’s new book, Fans: How Watching Sports Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Understanding, offers a vigorous and heavily researched defense of fandom as a popular and mind-sharpening activity. If you need ammunition — including dozens of studies — to refute your smug friend who thinks watching sports is a waste of time, this is the book for you.

So it’s a surprise when Olmsted casually notes — on page 263 of his book — that he’s not much of a sports fan himself:

Good Sports Author Larry Olmsted reconsiders athletic fandom for a new era

BY MAR K S ALTVE IT

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I like the NFL and I watch a game every now and then, and I sometimes watch post-season baseball, and of course, ‘American Ninja Warrior.’ But generally I don’t spend a lot of time watching sports.

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COURTESY OF ALLISON OLMSTED

The Vermont-based, best-selling author of four books and hundreds of magazine articles describes himself instead as “a fan of sports fans.” In a Zoom interview with Seven Days, he talked more about his latest book and the research behind it.

Olmsted, who normally travels constantly for his work, said he sees the real magic of fandom in sports bars, whether in airports or small towns anywhere on Earth. As he points out in the book, “There are no opera bars, or weather bars, or movie bars…”

(Maybe those topics don’t drive one to drink?) For him, sports are a global language among fans, and that’s a beautiful thing, especially if you speak soccer. You can “sit down and strike up an enjoyable conversation around sports with a complete stranger from pretty much anywhere,” Olmsted writes.

Not all sports conversations have been enjoyable lately. The “big four” American men’s sports — football, baseball, basketball and hockey — have had to confront long and ugly histories of racism, homophobia and violence against women by star players. Fans often reinforce these problems with a “win-at-all-costs” mentality. Olmsted digs into those issues in the middle chapters of his book.

But these days, spectators have a lot of choices beyond the big four. Younger viewers might be just as likely to watch a competitive video gamer on the Twitch network as a traditional game, and the International

PERSONALLY, FOR ME, BEING LESS VESTED IN A PARTICULAR TEAM

HAS MADE ALL OF SPORTS MORE ENJOYABLE TO WATCH. L AR RY O L MS TED

Olympic Committee is considering adding “e-sports” to the 2024 games in Paris. But are these sports?

“I wrestled with some of the same issues back when … the World Poker Tour [was launched on cable TV],” Olmsted said. “Is

it a sport? Is something a sport just because it is on ESPN or similar?”

He defines a sport as anything that “involves some level of ... skill, ability or physicality to compete and win.”

E-sports “require extreme reflexes and dexterity,” so they qualify, “falling somewhere between darts/billiards and auto racing, [both] long accepted as legit sports.”

Fans cites a bevy of studies supporting the idea that fans of team sports are happier, healthier and possessed of a stronger sense of community and belonging than are nonfans. Those observations make sense

here in New England, where, in the last 20 years, the Patriots competed in nine Super Bowls and won six, and the Boston Red Sox took four World Series titless.

I asked Olmsted whether the same benefits also flow to fans of, say, the Cleveland Browns, who have never been to the Super Bowl and enjoyed only one playoff game between 1994 and 2020 — which they lost. The studies Olmsted presents aren’t team specific, but he has an answer, backed by more studies: Fans relish and remember the big wins and improbable upsets, while they readily forget the losses.

He calls this useful form of selective memory a “circuit breaker.”

The tribalism that gives hard-core fans their sense of community also has a dark side, leading at times to intense passion, irrationality and even violence.

The word “fan” is short for fanatic, after all. Distinctly American, it dates back to 1889 as a term for a baseball enthusiast, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

So the obsessive and irrational aspect has been there from the beginning.

Olmsted identifies four elements of the sports-fan experience that create this powerful phenomenon: 1) games that have an unpredictable outcome, unlike scripted entertainment; 2) a fandom reinforced by distinctive clothing (such as jerseys, hats and other gear); 3) the crowd at the game, bonded by pregame tailgating and passionate cheering; and 4) a much bigger audience watching on TV that bonds with fans at the game.

I asked Olmsted to elaborate on that last element, which hasn’t been discussed much until this year, when the eeriness of pandemic-emptied stadiums hit home.

“When you watch sports on TV, except in a pandemic, the stands are always full, and they’re full of people in jerseys, in gear holding up signs,” he said. “So when you’re home, you might not even be thinking about that, because you’re watching the field, but they’re constantly in view — 30, 40, 50,000 people that you’re part of … It’s transporting you to the event.”

There are interesting and disturbing parallels between this tribalism and the rise of nationalist politics in recent years.

Former president Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement relied on the excitement and unpredictability of his transgressive live rallies. It even adopted a form of team clothing and gear: MAGA hats, shirts and flags. Arguably, TV news coverage on conservative networks offered some of the same connection between the cheering crowds and Trump fans watching from home.

Olmsted doesn’t see MAGA as sports fandom metastasizing; on the contrary, he

believes that sports can inoculate society against the risk of such movements.

“Sports fandom tribalism is a much preferable alternative to dangerous versions of political, jingoistic, nationalist or religious-based tribalism,” he commented in a later email. “You hear a lot about terrorism, and unfortunately we have seen a big increase in domestic terrorism, but you never hear the words sports terrorism.”

By the end of the book, Olmsted concedes that it might be beneficial to soften the zealous commitment to one team that leads some British soccer fans to have their ashes scattered on, or buried under, their team’s pitch.

Olmsted is surprisingly shy about naming his own favorite teams in this book. His biggest advocacy is for “American Ninja Warrior,” a teamless competition designed explicitly as a television show. Since it premiered in 2009, more than 330 Ninja Warrior gyms have been established in the U.S. alone to cater to fans and train wannabe competitors.

Because this sport literally didn’t exist before it was a show, it’s an unambiguous example of people watching a sport on TV and being inspired to get off their couches and exercise more.

Olmsted also includes a chapter on the explosive growth of “fantasy sports,” in which fans form leagues and draft professional players onto their own virtual teams. Computer programs use the real-life statistics of their own players to determine who wins.

The genius of fantasy sports — developed originally by bored fans of losing teams — is that they break through the siloing of sports fans, who might know all of the substitutes and coaches on their favorite teams but no one on squads from other cities. With a reason to study all of the players, league-wide, and chart their progress, fantasy players rely less emotionally on their hometown teams.

If fantasy sports dial down the most obsessive commitment to favorite teams, Olmsted suggested, that might be a positive development.

“Personally, for me, being less invested in a particular team has made all of sports more enjoyable to watch,” he said, “because, if it’s football season, I look at who’s playing, and if it’s a good game, if it’s the Saints playing the Seahawks … I’m going to watch that game, but I don’t care who wins.”

Isn’t that an argument against fandom?

“It depends — are you a fan of the team or a fan of the game?” Olmsted said. “The real sports junkie will watch [anything] — that’s why we have ESPN2.”

There’s undeniable power in gathering with a large group of fellow believers, and Olmsted is right to defend the endeavor. But

FROM FANS: HOW WATCHING SPORTS MAKES US HAPPIER, HEALTHIER, AND MORE UNDERSTANDING

F U R N I T U R E !

I asked Dr. [Daniel L.] Wann what was the most interesting study he had done in his decades of fan research, and without hesitation he started laughing. “We wanted to look at fan superstition, so we asked them to describe their sports-watching beliefs and superstitions. It was really fun, but it took us five years to code the responses, because they were all over the place and didn’t easily fit into categories. What we did learn was that people really think what they do watching at home three hundred miles away affects the outcome of a game.

People take this seriously and they feel guilty if they don’t follow these superstitions and their team loses.

“A lot of it is apparel-related; what they wear when they watch. Some had lucky charms, including people — ‘Mom can’t watch with us because they always lose when she’s here. We always lose when we go to the in-laws’. Some was sex: One said, ‘My wife has to call me Roger Clemens during sex the night before Clemens pitches.’ … [Another:] ‘I have sex with nothing on but a jersey and one blue and one yellow sock on.’”

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there is danger in the intense passions those gatherings sometimes unlock. Hopefully the broadening of fandom across racial, gender and even team lines will diminish that danger while preserving the joy.

Fandom will always entail a share of misery along with the sporadic joy, and maybe that’s part of its value. In our conversation, Olmsted said that, as a kid growing up in Queens, he adopted the NFL’s long-suffering Buffalo Bills as “his” team when the better-known New York Giants and New York Jets started playing their games in New Jersey. In one of the many acknowledgments at the end of Fans, he pays tribute to them: To the Buffalo Bills — New York’s only professional football team — who taught me the hard way that winning is not everything and that you can still enjoy being a fan even in the face of historically anomalous and statistically highly improbable back-to-back-to-back Super Bowl losses.

Now that’s a fan talking. m

INFO Fans: How Watching Sports Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Understanding,

by Larry Olmsted, Algonquin Books, 320 pages. $25.95.

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Mitten Mania Jen Ellis parlays Bernie-meme celebrity into charity B Y S A LLY POL L AK • sally@sevendaysvt.com

J

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / GETTY IMAGES

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en Ellis has received emails from people in Russia, Israel, Norway, Ireland, France, Australia, Germany and across the U.S. The thousands of notes are mostly from folks who want to buy mittens — often numerous pairs — like the ones she made for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). He wore them at the chilly inauguration of President Joe Biden in Washington, D.C., on January 20, where other politicians sported sleek leather gloves in shades that matched their formal attire.

Seated with his hands folded over crossed legs, Sanders paired his big, woolly mittens — “swittens,” technically, that Ellis fashioned from a repurposed sweater — with a disposable face mask and a Burton jacket.

Sanders and his mittens instantaneously became a global meme, which thrust Ellis, a second-grade teacher at Westford School, into a state she called “weirdly famous.”

The handcrafted mittens that catapulted Ellis to sudden celebrity were a gift to Sanders after his 2016 presidential run, when Ellis said she got “a bee in my bonnet” to make him a pair.

“I like him, and I was very disappointed that he didn’t win,” she said. “Bernie is a politician who is thinking about more than the 1 percent. He wants a better world for everybody. And I want that, too.”

The viral mitten meme superimposed Sanders everywhere in the universe people wanted him to be — sitting on the rings of Saturn, crashing John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Bed-In for Peace in an Amsterdam hotel room, riding the Single Chair lift at Mad River Glen. When the ensuing media moment quickly and inevitably reached Ellis, she could be found where she usually was: at school or at home.

School during the pandemic is an indoor/outdoor classroom, where Ellis teaches 17 children. Outside, kids read in the woods and feed chickadees from their hands. One day, they made boats from bark and sticks, set them to sail on the river, and watched the wind carry them.

“The kids would go home with sticks in their hair and muddy knees,” Ellis said, “exhausted but happy.”

In her indoor classroom, Ellis has a telephone. The BBC called one day to talk mittens when she was in the middle of a lesson.

“I’m so sorry,” Ellis told the BBC. “I’m teaching math, and I need to let you go.”

CULTURE

A pair of Jen Ellis mittens

She suggested they send an email and scarves, earrings that are miniature repliarrange another time to talk. cas of the mittens, and numerous collecHome is in Essex Junction, where tions of books for her classroom.

Ellis lives with her partner, Liz Fenton, a “It’s so very kind,” Ellis said. “They professor of English at the think of me as a generous University of Vermont, and person who gave a gift, and their 5-year-old daughter. they want to give me a gift.”

Ellis recently celebrated Ellis has also acquired her 43rd birthday there two lawyers — one specialwith takeout from A Single izing in entertainment, one Pebble for her family and in business — and a media her neighbors. They shared manager to help her navithe occasion over Zoom. gate post-meme life. Among “Everybody is going to her goals is using the mitten have a pandemic birthday,” moment to raise money for Ellis said. “And I hope that I nonprofits and to generate a J E N E L L IS spirit of giving in the larger don’t have two.” community.

In addition to the emails, media requests and, for a time, business “This is not my get-rich-quick moment, proposals, Ellis also receives gifts from and I didn’t need it to be,” Ellis said. “I have people she doesn’t know. It occurs with a job: I’m a schoolteacher. I have a really such regularity that her students some- good job.” times ask, “What did you get today, Ms. Ellis’ “big desire for all this” is that a Ellis?” charitable component emerges from it, Answers include a watercolor of the takes hold and grows. Toward that end, Bernie image that Ellis hung by the sewing she’s established Generosity Brings Joy, machine in her craft room, three hand-knit an online initiative that supports and

THIS IS NOT MY GET-RICH-QUICK MOMENT, AND I DIDN’T NEED IT TO BE.

showcases charitable work. The website includes her favorite Bernie memes and links to a GoFundMe campaign to raise $7,500 to pay lawyers and otherwise help fund the new endeavor.

“I am a person who religiously contributes to everybody else’s GoFundMe,” Ellis said. “But I’ve never had one.”

Campaign donors include people from all aspects of Ellis’ life — childhood friends, family and fellow teachers — as well as strangers.

“I was astounded at their generosity and their faith in me,” Ellis said. “I looked at that GoFundMe [list] and just sobbed.

It’s unbelievable when you realize how many people love you. Not because you made the mittens … They loved you before you made the mittens.”

The support was especially meaningful for her, she explained, because the days following the inauguration were “extremely stressful.”

Ellis said she felt physically ill and experienced sleepless nights over the prospect of capitalizing on the mittens in a way that would “rip people off.”

“A lot of people were calling upon me to make the mittens and sell them,” Ellis said.

“I didn’t want to do that. People shouldn’t spend $1,000 for mittens. We have hungry neighbors. Let’s give [the money] to the food shelf.”

She made two pairs of mittens that were auctioned off to benefit local organizations. One pair raised more than $40,000 for Outright Vermont; the second garnered about $3,800 for Passion 4 Paws.

Ellis crafted a third pair, which she intended to sell on eBay to raise money for her daughter’s college education fund.

The winning bidder was a 12-year-old boy who had hacked into his parents’ account, Ellis said. They told her they couldn’t pay.

“I’m a parent,” she said. “I get it.”

Ellis is hanging on to those mittens for now. She will continue to make the occasional pair to benefit Vermont charities, including mittens that will be raffled on Saint Patrick’s Day for Steps to End Domestic Violence.

More formally, she’s collaborating with Vermont Teddy Bear in Shelburne and Darn Tough Vermont in Northfield. The companies are manufacturing and selling products based on Ellis’ mittens to raise money for local nonprofits.

“It’s a great example of Vermonters wanting to help Vermonters,” said Hayes

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McCarthy, vice president of product innovation and brand creative at Vermont Teddy Bear.

“Jen’s story grew so much attention and wonderful sentiment,” he said. “Our [role] is to see if we could help her with the manufacturing of mittens to satisfy the level of interest she was receiving.”

The company has received more than 20,000 emails from people around the world who are interested in the mittens, according to McCarthy. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Make-A-Wish Vermont.

At Darn Tough, the Jenerosity Sock raised money for 294,111 meals for Vermonters in need, according to the Generosity Brings Joy website. (Presale online orders sold out within 24 hours, said Courtney Laggner, Darn Tough’s brand and community marketing manager.)

“It’s a great spotlight on the wonderful companies we have in Vermont,” Ellis said.

An English major who graduated from UVM in 2000, Ellis is at work on a book “built around this moment.” The memoir is tentatively titled Generosity Brings Joy. “In the end, I chose the life I already had,” she said, reflecting on her recent whirlwind. “I had crafted a life that already brought me joy, enough that when this other option was available to me, I could look it right in the eye and say, ‘No, I want the life I already have.’”

Ellis grew up in South Portland, Maine, and moved to Burlington to attend UVM, the college where her parents met. After graduation, she trained in Houston to be a teacher through Teach for America, a nonprofit that enlists, develops and mobilizes teachers to work in low-income schools. It placed her at a rural high school in North Carolina, where she taught English.

Ellis said she approached that first teaching job, where she was only a few years older than some of her students, “with an open heart and an understanding that I didn’t know what I was doing.”

After two years in North Carolina, unsure of what would come next, Ellis returned to Vermont to hike the Long Trail. She worked in nonprofits and then as an educator for Chittenden Solid Waste District before deciding she wanted to be back in the classroom teaching kids.

She earned her teaching certificate at the Upper Valley Educators Institute in Lebanon, N.H., and then taught for five years at Union Elementary School in Montpelier.

She’s been at Westford School for 10 years, teaching in what she calls a “gem” of a community.

Among the thousands of people who have reached out to Ellis since the inauguration is Sanders himself. He called to tell her that, through the sale of “Chairman Sanders” meme apparel, his campaign raised money for Meals on Wheels in Vermont, Ellis said. He thanked her for inspiring so much generosity.

Attempts by Seven Days to reach Sanders’ campaign were unsuccessful. A January 28 article in the New York Times reported that his mitten meme merchandise had raised $1.8 million for Vermont nonprofits.

Of that, $700,000 benefits Vermont’s five Area Agencies on Aging for their Meals on Wheels programs, according to Tracey Shamberger, Age Well’s director of public relations and business development.

“The two of us were really thrown into this together,” Ellis said of Sanders. “He’s used to that kind of spotlight, but I’m not.

He just called to say, from one Vermonter to another, ‘This is cool.’” m

INFO Learn more at generositybringsjoy.com.

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Duncan Macdonald

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How Play It Again Sports traded team for solo athletics amid the pandemic

or Duncan Macdonald, co-owner of Play It Again “April was just brutal,” he said.

Sports in South Burlington, his experience with And yet, it wasn’t wasted time. Macdonald temporarily the pandemic last spring typified the immortal laid off six of his nine employees, most of which were words of baseball legend Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over high school and college students who worked part time. ’til it’s over.”

With the remaining three, he took the month of April to For nearly three decades, Macdonald and his wife, create a website, something the store had never had since Julia, have owned and operated the Vermont franchise of it opened in 1993, and put all the inventory online. the national retail chain that sells new and used sporting Winmark, the parent corporation of Play It Again goods and apparel. Pre-pandemic, the lion’s share of the Sports, offered all of its franchises use of its national web store’s sales revenue came from athletic equipment for portal. (The company also franchises other locally owned team sports — notably ice hockey, baseball, lacrosse and retailers, including Williston’s Once Upon a Child, for soccer. Located in the southeast corner children’s clothing; Plato’s Closet, for of South Burlington’s Blue Mall, Play It young adult apparel; and Style Encore, Again Sports has an entire room devoted for women’s professional wear.) Interto new and used hockey gear, much of net shoppers who find items through which is used by scholastic and youth Winmark’s website are automatically leagues. directed to the individual store’s web But last March, COVID-19 forced page. schools throughout Vermont to switch However, one precondition for DU N CAN MAC D O NAL D to remote learning, effectively ending using the chain’s website, Macdonald all team sports for the remainder of explained, is that each franchise must the school year. Many Vermont summer camps, which post a minimum of 500 items it has in stock, including normally include hockey and other team sports, were three to five photographs of each one. also canceled.

“So that’s pretty much what we did in April,” he said. “We Macdonald shuttered the store on March 16, did a took photos of used equipment and figured out what a good small amount of curbside business in May and didn’t photo is and what a good photo isn’t.” reopen to in-store traffic until June 1. With thousands But even as the spring and summer sports teams were of dollars’ worth of inventory on his hands and no one to sidelined, Play It Again Sports racked up huge wins in the buy it, the 55-year-old South Burlington native saw little second half of the year from Vermonters’ insatiable desire chance of coming out ahead for the year. to stay active. With people forced to stay home, socially

ANYTHING YOU CAN DO INDIVIDUALLY

WAS JUST ON FIRE.

36

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

distance and recreate outdoors, the market exploded for solo athletic gear, including bicycles, golf clubs, tennis racquets, Frisbee golf discs and home exercise equipment.

“Anything you can do individually was just on fire,” Macdonald said.

That wasn’t only a local phenomenon. In January, a spokesperson for outdoor gear retailer REI told the Washington Post that snowshoe sales quadrupled in 2020 compared to the previous year.

And just last week, Jim Barr, CEO of Nautilus, a leading manufacturer of home gym equipment and stationary bikes, told industry analysts that the fourth quarter of 2020 was the best in the company’s 35-year history. The only reason sales weren’t even better, Barr noted, was a severe global shortage of shipping containers, which prevented products from reaching consumers.

For Macdonald, such unprecedented interest in solo activities carried the store through the fall and into the winter, when he saw “crazy demand” for snowshoes, ice skates and especially cross-country skis, the last of which he called “the poster child” for unmet demand.

And that demand has yet to subside, for used and new equipment alike. The store’s name notwithstanding, 60 percent of Play It Again Sports’ revenue comes from the sale of new merchandise.

Assuming, that is, Play It Again Sports can keep it in stock or replenish its inventory. Salomon and Rossignol, two of Macdonald’s largest ski equipment suppliers, were completely sold out by early December and had nothing left to offer retailers. Cross-country gear is now virtually impossible for Macdonald to source.

“Of the first 10 calls I received this morning, seven of them were [from] people looking for cross-country gear,” he said last week. “And my used-skate wall? Completely empty.”

Sales last year were down overall compared to 2019, largely due to the store’s two-and-a-half-month closure.

Macdonald secured a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan — he declined to reveal the amount — and by year’s end had rehired all but one of his laid-off employees. In fact, business was so brisk in the second half of 2020 that Macdonald did not apply for a second PPP loan.

The store’s new web presence resulted in some online sales, he said, but its bigger impact has been in attracting more locals into the shop.

“We had our best December ever. We had our best January ever, and we’re in the process of having our best February ever,” he said last week.

Whether 2021 will continue its winning streak is difficult to predict, especially with regard to scholastic team sports. According to Jay Nichols, executive director of the Vermont Principals’ Association, the committee that will make its recommendation to the governor on the spring athletic season just began its discussions on February 25.

In an email, Nichols said it will likely be weeks before a decision is announced.

Will Play It Again Sports continue reaping the residual benefits of Vermonters trying new activities?

“I don’t really know. My hope is that a fair number of them do,” Macdonald said. “I think it’s great if people are getting outside and, if they’re more active and healthy, it benefits everybody.”

And if not, he added, “we’ll have a great used selection a year or two from now.” m

INFO Bottom Line is a series on how Vermont businesses are faring during the pandemic. Got a tip?

Email bottomline@sevendaysvt.com.

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT BY MARGARET GRAYSON

I

Why Do So Many Vermont Beers Come in 16-Ounce Cans?

COURTESY OF THE ALCHEMIST

tough to prove without direct comparison of different-size cans of the same beer.

Roger Kissling, vice president of sales and customer management at Iron Heart Canning, did note that 16-ounce cans provide “better margin potential” for brewers. Iron Heart is one of the mobile canning services that have played a significant role in the craft canning boom of the last decade. Its trucks traverse the eastern U.S. with canning equipment, helping brewers who can’t afford their own canning lines.

Founded in Connecticut in 2013, the company has since filled a quarter of a billion cans, Kissling said. While 12-ounce cans are a little more popular in the Southeast, he confirmed that U.S. craft beer is generally moving toward 16-ounce cans.

No trend is universal, of course.

Ryan Chaffin, director of marketing and business development at Farrell Distributing in South Burlington, said the market share of glass remains strong. Some brewers are going even bigger with 19.2-ounce cans, he noted, while others package 12-ounce cans in 12-packs or 15-packs.

If any brand represents the variability of beer packaging, it’s Switchback Brewing. The Burlington company started bottling in 2012, choosing glass because staff believed it was the best way to ensure quality, according to plant engineer and head of marketing Gretchen Langfeldt.

But now, she estimated, the brewery produces about an equal quantity of cans and bottles.

The flagship Switchback Ale is available in a keg, a 22- or 12-ounce bottle, and a 16- or 12-ounce can. (At City Market, at least, the sixpack of 12-ounce bottles and four-pack of 16-ounce cans both retail for $10, making the bottles a slightly better deal.)

“People want [Switchback Ale] in a variety of ways; it’s kind of a staple,” Langfeldt said. “So [we] just get it to the people the way they want it.”

Her personal preference? “The best package for beer is a keg.” But Langfeldt gets it that individual drinkers prefer glass or cans for reasons that aren’t easy to articulate.

“As long as it’s packaged well, it doesn’t really matter how it comes,” she said, “as long as it’s good beer.”

MARGARET GRAYSON

COURTESY OF SWITCHBACK BREWING

n 2011, John and Jen Kimmich, owners of the Alche“It just seemed like such a fun and exciting package mist, began building a production brewery to package … And we wanted to drink it out of a can,” Nelson said. their beers for retail sale. And they “There’s something about — and I might sound a little made a decision that some in crass here — being able to shotgun something.” the craft beer industry thought A lot has changed since the early years of craft brewing, was strange: They built a canning though, and 16-ounce cans are now ubiquitous. Nelson is line. currently developing Rescue Club, a nonalcoholic beer, At the time, John Kimmich with Zero Gravity. They’re putting it in 12-ounce cans, recalled in a recent interview, in part to make it pop on the shelves. craft beer came almost exclu“It’s overwhelming when you’re looking at the smaller sively in 12- or 22-ounce bottles; craft local beers. Nothing stands out because they’re all cans were associated with massin that 16-ounce format,” Nelson observed. “A six-pack, produced beers. He knew of just 12-ounce, it definitely has more of a vintage feel … That a few other breweries in the U.S. was the package that we all, for lack of a better word, using 16-ounce cans, but he vibed on and agreed on.” had fond memories of drinking “pounders” while growing up in Pittsburgh.

“It just fit with what we were trying to achieve, which was a real lack of pretense,” he said.

“We wanted to put a worldclass, amazing beer into a can.”

That beer was Heady Topper, which exploded in popularity and drew countless beer tourists to Vermont.

Heady Topper “was a phenomenon in and of itself,” Kimmich said, and the phenomenon included the packaging.

Many in the Vermont beer industry now agree that Heady played a big role in popularizing the 16-ounce can in the state.

I wondered about those cans, also called “tallboys,” when I moved to Burlington from Montana. When the pandemic hit and I began buying beer in stores instead of bars, I grew even more The beer case at City Market, Onion River Co-op curious.

Not that I have anything against 16-ounce cans — I just sometimes prefer 12 ounces. If I feel like having a smaller drink, I’ll Marc Gelsomino, the beer and wine opt for Zero Gravity Craft Brewery’s Green State Lager or manager at Winooski’s Beverage Warea Harpoon Brewery or von Trapp Brewery beer. house, said store shelves and fridges are Many practical considerations go into beer packaging. now designed to highlight the popular Kimmich said cans protect beer from UV light and workers 16-ounce cans. from the hazards of broken glass. And he certainly didn’t “You hear all different opinions about it,” he want to see an Alchemist bottle smashed at his favorite said. “It does seem like most consumers prefer that swimming hole. tallboy size.”

Aluminum is also easier to ship than glass, which To gauge those opinions, I turned to Twitter, where factors into both the cost and the environmental footprint, Vermont beer drinkers had plenty of thoughts. Some though it’s debatable whether aluminum or glass is better wanted more 12-ounce cans; in their view, 16 ounces for the environment overall. The 16-ounce can probably was too large a serving or got warm too quickly. Others also seemed like a more natural move for breweries and preferred the tallboys, noting that four-packs allow customers used to 22-ounce bottles. drinkers to sample a wider variety. A few wished for 7- or Then there’s a stickier question: What feels like a 8-ounce cans.

Vermont craft beer?

Some beer drinkers opined that a four-pack of 16-ounce Kris Nelson, cofounder of Citizen Cider, said Heady cans is a rip-off — less beer than a six-pack of 12-ouncers Topper influenced the company’s decision to use tallboy for the same or even a higher price. On a recent trip to City cans. Cans seemed more accessible than bottles and, Market, Onion River Co-op, I noted local four-packs priced frankly, cooler. from $8 to $20; given that range, the rip-off assertion seems

INFO Got a Vermont head-scratcher that has you stumped? Ask us! wtf@sevendaysvt.com SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

37

food+drink

‘Gayest Chicken Possible’ Chic Full Gay supports Pride Center of Vermont and budding businesses with a popular pop-up

BY J O R D AN BAR RY • jbarry@sevendaysvt.com

38

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

JAMES BUCK

L

ast week was a big one in national fried chicken sandwich news. On February 24, McDonald’s rolled out its new crispy chicken sandwich, becoming the latest chain to scratch its way into the chicken sandwich pecking order. A taste test in Business Insider declared the new offering “almost identical” to Chickfil-A’s version, which is generally credited with kicking off the tender trend.

But why drive to Plattsburgh, N.Y., and support the morally decrepit Chick-fil-A chain — with its history of charitable donations to anti-LGBTQ organizations — when there’s a local version that has all the fastfood options beat? Enter Chic Full Gay. The perfectly named pop-up is the work of Bryan Gildersleeve, the chef at Burlington’s St. Paul Street Gastrogrub, which hosts Chic Full Gay twice a month.

When Gastrogrub closed in December 2020 for renovations, Gildersleeve, 32, looked for an income source. Early concepts included Piled High Stoner Sandwiches and Let’s Get Smashed Burgers & Fries, but the one that ruled the roost was Chic Full Gay. “I had no idea it would blow up so hard,” Gildersleeve said with a laugh. “But I have a passion for chicken sandwiches — always have — and it’s taking on Chick-fil-A for being homophobic, pointing the finger.”

While lots of chicken sandwiches are available around town, Gildersleeve pointed out, a focus on chicken is unusual. Chic Full Gay offers three sandwich variations and a smattering of sides, snacks and sweets.

The OG sandwich — with “shrettuce,” housemade dill pickles and buttermilk aioli — stays the same from pop-up to pop-up; the spicy and the deluxe versions rotate toppings. (All of the sandwiches can be made vegan with a substitution of fried oyster mushrooms from St. Albans-based FUNJ. Shrooming.) Each sandwich comes with a full potato’s worth of ultra-flavorful barbecue potato wedges.

For my first Chic Full Gay experience in early February, I went for the deluxe. The fermented honey mustard caught my eye, along with candied bacon, cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, tomato and “quickled” red onions.

Gildersleeve (who uses gender-neutral pronouns) is big into fermentation and

IT’S TAKING ON CHICK-FIL-A FOR BEING HOMOPHOBIC, POINTING THE FINGER. BRYAN GIL D E R S L E E VE

buttermilk, pickle juice, smoked paprika, garlic and dill. Rather than add salt to the brine or the dredge — a gluten-free combo of rice flour and potato starch — they season the chicken when it’s fresh out of the fryer.

Gildersleeve saves the pointed chicken ends for a community dinner at the end of each pop-up, offering free fare to 25 to 30 homeless and food-insecure people in the area. “That’s been really helping my mental health state during quarantine,” they said.

“Helping people.”

Chic Full Gay’s community contribution goes beyond the free dinners; it has raised more than $800 so far for the Pride Center of Vermont. The next pop-up, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, March 8 and 9, will also benefit the Burlington-based LGBTQ+ community center.

The upcoming event is a collaboration with Black Rose Briar, Sarah Howley’s gluten-free bakery (see page 42). “We’re going to blast Queen and hand out condoms and dental dams [provided by the Pride Center] and chicken and cookies,” Howley said. “I don’t think there’s a better night, honestly.”

Howley and Gildersleeve are longtime friends, and Gildersleeve has offered Black Rose Briar’s sweet treats at past pop-ups.

Chic Full Gay regularly features other budding businesses with shared values and friendships, such as Ian Hood’s Arcana Botanica DIY “infuse-your-own-booze” kits (see page 42) and baked goods from Angel Suarez’s Mad Spaniard Baking. Hood bartends, and Bryan Dunn and Tucker DiMasi help out in the kitchen.

“I want to support my friends and grow their business models and their brands with my brand,” Gildersleeve said. “It’s evolved into this whole community thing.”

OG chicken sandwich ‘GAYEST CHICKEN POSSIBLE’

preservation; their experimentation in that realm, evident throughout the menu, will be a big part of the restaurant they eventually hope to open. The honey mustard combined a sweet-savory fermented garlic honey with mustard and mayo for an extrapunchy take on the classic dressing.

Besides being packed with flavor and perfectly cooked — crispy on the outside and juicy in the middle — this chicken

sandwich was the biggest I’d ever seen. Fair warning: These things are huge.

“I like a nice fat piece of chicken,” said Gildersleeve, who was head chef at Citizen Cider for several years and worked part time at Misery Loves Co. before taking over at Gastrogrub.

Gildersleeve cuts the pointed ends off the chicken breast before butterflying it and taking the Southern-style approach:

» P.42

Good To-Go is a series featuring well-made takeout meals that highlights how restaurants and other food establishments VERMONT are adapting during the COVID-19 era. Check out GOODTOGOVERMONT.COM to see what your favorite eateries are serving up via takeout, delivery and curbside pickup.

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COURTESY OF JEAN-LUC MATECAT

SIDEdishes SERVING UP FOOD NEWS

New Frontier RESTAURANT VET JEAN-LUC MATECAT TO BE ROOKIE OWNER OF PIONEER LAKESHORE CAFÉ

JEAN-LUC MATECAT started washing dishes at the Common Man restaurant in Warren when he was 11 and has worked in restaurant kitchens ever since. Next month, he will open his first restaurant.

The 39-year-old chef and his wife, LINDSAY MATECAT, plan to launch PIONEER LAKESHORE CAFÉ at 824 West Lakeshore Drive in Colchester in mid-April.

“It’s been a dream of mine for so long, the reality of it hasn’t even set in that it’s true,” Jean-Luc told Seven Days. “It’s very exciting … We just want to be a part of the community.”

The eatery’s name is a nod to the Colchester couple’s food truck, PIONEER FOOD TRUCK & CATERING, which they will still operate on occasion. The café will offer a variety of breakfast sandwiches with which Jean-Luc has a “personal obsession,” he said. Among a lunch menu of sandwiches, soups and salads are some favorite items from the truck: notably, the crispy chicken sandwich, French fries and lobster rolls.

“We really just want to offer a nice variety of things that can get people coming on a regular basis,” Jean-Luc said. The priorities are “keeping our prices affordable, keeping the place welcoming and keeping the menu exciting.”

Lobster rolls

Jean-Luc has worked in restaurants in Nantucket, Boston and France. He spent the past year as executive chef at Vermont National Country Club in South Burlington; before that, he was chef de cuisine at Burlington’s ArtsRiot and opening chef at Winooski’s Mule Bar. Lindsay, 29, worked most recently at Pizzeria Verità in Burlington; she will run the front of the house at the 35-seat café.

The couple is currently painting and doing light

construction work on the space, which Jean-Luc calls “a diamond in the rough.” Its most recent occupant was Easy as Cake, a family-run bakery and café that closed last fall. But it’s best known as the longtime home of Bayside Bakery & Coffee Bar. When it launches in April, Pioneer Lakeshore Café will be open Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Jean-Luc said; find updates on Instagram at @pioneerfoodvt.

Sally Pollak

Bigger Quarters FOUR QUARTERS BREWING OPENS NEW WINOOSKI TAPROOM

Winooski’s only brewery, FOUR QUARTERS BREWING, opened its long-awaited new taproom and outdoor patio at 70 Main Street on Saturday, founder and co-owner BRIAN ECKERT said.

It will be another month or two before production moves from the brewery’s original West Canal Street home to the new site.

Due largely to pandemic-related delays, the 8,000-square-foot building opened about eight months later than originally planned but just in time for Four Quarters’ seventh anniversary celebration in mid-March.

Renovation of the former bank building at the

top of the Winooski traffic circle cost about $1.5 million. Eckert said the new space will give his team of 15 ample room to grow in many ways.

Production will increase from the current 1,000 barrels annually to about 5,000 barrels in the first full year. A rooftop garden will produce herbs, tomatoes and vegetables for the taproom kitchen, as well as for donation to the Winooski Food Shelf.

“I’m an avid gardener,” said Eckert, who was inspired by a hospital rooftop garden in Boston.

“I loved that idea, we had the space, and Four Quarters is supposed to be about the cycle of life.”

The 4,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor public space can accommodate almost 200 guests,

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Kitchen Club

Jr. Iron Chef VT swaps out 2021 contest for monthly recipe challenge B Y M E L I SSA PASANEN • pasanen@sevendaysvt.com

GET YOUR FILL ONLINE...

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FOOD NEWS SERVED TO YOUR INBOX

FOR A SNEAK PEEK AT THE WEEK’S FOOD COVERAGE, RECIPES AND OTHER DELICIOUS TIDBITS, SIGN UP FOR THE BITE CLUB NEWSLETTER: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/ENEWS.

COURTESY OF LAUREN BRUNEAU

FOOD LOVER?

COURTESY OF DEENA MURPHY

O

n the afternoon of February 15 at St. Mark Catholic Church in Burlington’s New North End, three Burlington School District employees were juggling laptops, video cameras — and root vegetables.

The church has provided a temporary home to the Burlington Technical Center’s culinary arts program and the district’s afterschool cooking activities while the high school addresses cancer-causing chemicals found on its campus. But wherever they take place, the district’s cooking extracurriculars would normally involve months of recipe development and practice runs by teams preparing for the annual Jr. Iron Chef VT statewide culinary competition, now in its 14th year.

Hawa Aden (left) and Astha Magar chopping Burlington’s public schools usually field several vegetables at the King Street Center Jr. Iron Chef VT teams per age group — middle and high school — to compete among 350 young chefs from 70 schools and organizations around the state.

In a normal year, the teams meet mid-March on a Saturday at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction and cook under a time clock while upwards of 600 spectators watch. The huge hall buzzes with excitement, energy and mouthwatering aromas as the teams slice, dice, sauté and simmer their way to titles such as the Crowd Pleaser or the Lively Local.

This year the hall is dark, but the nonprofit farm-toschool partnership, Vermont FEED (Food Education Every Day), that organizes the competition has launched a cooking club instead. The monthly recipe challenge aims to keep young Vermonters cooking healthy, locally inspired food.

In 2020, Vermont FEED made an 11th-hour call to cancel the March 14 competition due to rising cases of COVID-19.

“It was pretty heartbreaking for a lot of the kids,” acknowledged Jr. Iron Chef VT co-coordinator Kerrie Mathes.

When it became clear last fall that there would be no large events this spring, either, Vermont FEED came up with the cooking club, which launched in December.

From left: Emilie, The goal of the club underscores the competition’s origiAndrew and Lily Bruneau with their nal mission. “The idea is to challenge middle and high school root vegetable pot pie students to really become engaged in cooking and their own health and the health of their families and school communities,” Mathes explained.

She selects club recipes from past winners based on ease, cooking tips and other advice. Local businesses have donated seasonality of local ingredients and reasonable cost. Vermont culinary prize packages that are awarded each month via a food and cooking experts, including chef Alganesh Michael random drawing. of South Burlington’s A Taste of Abyssinia and Ben & Jerry’s About half of the 60 participants to date are cooking solo flavor guru Sarah Fidler, have contributed to a video series of or with their families at home. In Burlington, the school

Burlington School District employee Jennifer Trapani holding up the computer so students cooking remotely can see chef Cheryl Niedzwiecki making this month’s Jr. Iron Chef VT recipe

district and the King Street Center are using the recipes in their afterschool programs. New members can sign up at any time through the final month of April.

On February 15, at a portable cooking station set up in a corner of the St. Mark’s general purpose room, Burlington Technology Center culinary arts instructor Cheryl Niedzwiecki was prepping for a video-chat cook-along of the month’s recipe: root vegetable pot pie with cheesy mashed potatoes and Parmesan croutons. The recipe was a 2017 competition winner from the Vergennes Union High School team.

Sheryl Haiduck, Burlington High School’s afterschool site director, had delivered the recipe ingredients to six students and was expecting one to participate in person.

That student didn’t show up, the video camera refused to connect to the laptop, and only two participants dialed in online. But the demo went on as planned with Abby Mitchell, 16, and Duncan Shaver, 12, following along attentively from their home kitchens.

Niedzwiecki juggled pots and spatulas with ease and offered a steady patter of advice and encouragement. She stuck a fork into a boiled potato to illustrate that “fork

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JAMES BUCK

Lake Champlain Waldorf School’s 2018 vegetable dumplings. The March recipe — sweet potato-chickpea burgers with Caribbean slaw and Vermont maple barbecue sauce — is a 2019 winner by a middle school team from Chester’s Green Mountain Union High School. (See Home on the Range at sevendaysvt.com for the recipe.)

Even club members cooking at home without friends or guidance from a culinary instructor seem to be getting a lot out of it.

In Essex Junction, the Bruneau siblings — Andrew, 16, Emilie, 14, and Lily, 11 — collaborate. Because they attend in-person high school and middle school only two days a AUGUS T S IMAK AS K I week, they have more time to fit cooking into the schedule.

Their mom, Lauren, heard about the club through a newsletter from Shelburne Farms, a Vermont FEED partner along with the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont.

“The cooking has been a real blessing,” she said. “They’re excited about the challenge.”

For the dumplings, Andrew, an experienced cook who has taken some culinary classes at Essex High School, made the dough while his sisters made the filling. They were hard to stuff neatly, Lily allowed, but they were good to eat.

The siblings agreed that they weren’t sure whether they’d want to do the actual competition. “It seems like it could be stressful,” Andrew said. The family is fully on board with the cooking club, though.

“I like having them pick out the recipe for us,” Emilie said.

Jr. Iron Chef VT January cooking challenge “It’s usually something we surprised. “We don’t eat a lot dumpling recipe, made by August Simakaski of parsnips.” wouldn’t normally pick.” Her The Jr. Iron Chef VT team sister added, “It’s fun because from the King Street Center felt the same letdown as Abby’s you can win stuff.” team last year. They had developed a recipe for a traditional Another upside of the club, Jr. Iron Chef VT co-coordinaNepali snack made with potato, cucumber, red cabbage, tor Mathes noted, is that it’s pulling in youngsters who might chile and puffed rice; it reflected the heritage of several team not participate in the competition for a variety of reasons. members.

Twelve-year-old August Simakaski of Peacham said he Three of the 2020 King Street chefs — 13-year-olds Astha had heard about Jr. Iron Chef VT but had been too young to Magar and Menuka Monger, and Neeha Rai, 14 — are among join a team. “I’ve cooked since I was old enough to help: like, those currently doing the cooking club at the center with 5,” he said. “It’s quite useful knowing how to cook.” education director Deena Murphy.

The young cook, who is homeschooled, has liked every Taking a break from making the pot pie on February 19, challenge recipe so far, though the dumplings were his favorAstha reflected on last year over video chat. “It was kind of ite. “They were fun to make, and they tasted really good,” disappointing. We were hoping to do the competition, but August said. then the COVID hit,” she said. “I want to share our culture’s He has fun taking the photos, too, and seeing how other food. Spicy tastes the best.” club members’ recipes turn out. August’s photo of the ThaiOn pot pie day, the three teens worked smoothly together, style green curry features a neatly molded mound of rice chatting and laughing, along with Hawa Aden, 13, another and generous basil garnish. “I made sure to make them look King Street cooking club regular. Hawa and Astha carefully really fancy,” he said. chopped a mound of carrots. Then Hawa joined Menuka at When he cooks dinner, August added, “My mom loves the stove, while Neeha and Astha mashed potatoes with milk, it. She always thinks it’s better than her food because she butter, scallions and sharp cheddar. Hawa savored a spoonful doesn’t have to cook.” m of potato and proclaimed, “It’s 100 percent out of 100.”

In addition to the pot pie, cooking club participants have INFO so far cooked King Street Center’s 2018 green curry and the Learn more at vtfeed.org/jrironchefvt.

IT’S QUITE USEFUL

COURTESY OF AUGUST SIMAKASKI

KNOWING HOW TO COOK.

tender” means “it goes right through” and explained that knobby, gnarly celeriac “smells like celery, tastes a little like celery and it’s grown right here in Vermont.” To show the difference between a simmer and a boil, Niedzwiecki used perfect hand gestures: gently waving fingers versus hands rotating briskly around each other.

Now a sophomore, Abby competed in Jr. Iron Chef VT as a seventh grader and had joined one of the high school teams for the 2020 competition.

In a phone interview after the February cook-along, Abby said she loves to cook and really enjoys working with others to develop and perfect a recipe. “When we were done,” she recalled, “it was like, Wow, together we made this.”

Her team of two ninth graders and two seniors worked hard last year with “Chef N,” as students call Niedzwiecki, to create a spinach salad with roasted chickpeas, beets and sweet potatoes. They were crushed when the competition was canceled.

“When they said you could [cook] virtually, I was very excited,” Abby said of the cooking club option. She credits Jr. Iron Chef VT with broadening her culinary horizons.

“It’s kind of opened me up to local ingredients and eating plant-based.”

Her family enjoyed the root vegetable pot pie she had most recently cooked with Niedzwiecki’s virtual guidance. “They liked the parsnips,” Abby said, sounding a little

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

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Want to make your own absinthe? Arcana Botanica’s Arcana Botanica’s DIY infusion kits make the process nearly foolproof Blue Luna cocktail — an ideal pandemic kitchen project. infusion kit “It’s really gratifying for people to be able to make something and then ingest it,” said Ian Hood, who launched the “botanically forward” infusion kits in fall 2020. “I wanted to make them as simple as possible for the person who had absolutely no idea what they were doing, but also cool enough and edgy enough for the booze nerds.”

Hood, 42, had been developing recipes for bottled liqueurs for a few years when he decided to offer the kits as a way to bring in revenue while developing the next stage of the business. They’re sold on Etsy, at Burlington’s Mad River Distillers tasting room, and at the Chic Full Gay and Deli 126 pop-ups (with discounts for local purchasers).

Arcana Botanica’s Arcana absinthe infusion kit Botanica’s absinthe, fernet and bitters are designed to fit well in their traditional categories, with a distinct local twist.

Hood sources most of the dried herbs from Railyard Apothecary, supplementing them with wildcrafted ingredients such as cedar, hemlock and usnea.

Hood and his business partner are in the process of setting up a contract-distilling license with Shelburne’s Wild Hart Distillery. They hope to have bottled products available soon, starting with the fernet and eventually including other amari, as well as apéritif and digestif liqueurs.

Bryan Gildersleeve of Chic Full Gay and Sarah Howley of Black Rose Briar

‘Gayest Chicken Possible’ « P.38

OG chicken sandwich (left) and spicy chicken sandwich from Chic Full Gay

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INFO Chic Full Gay pop-up, Monday and Tuesday, March 8 and 9, 3 p.m. until sold out, at St. Paul Street Gastrogrub, Burlington. Call 540-8383 or order in person at the walk-up window.

Follow @chicfullgay on Instagram for details on upcoming pop-ups.

Learn more about Arcana Botanica at its Etsy store and Black Rose Briar at blackrosebriar.net.

GLUTEN-FREE GOODIES Sarah Howley started Black Rose Briar as a fundraiser for Bakers Against Racism, the international virtual bake sale organized in June 2020 to fight systemic racism and support Black Lives Matter.

“I’ve been a pastry chef for about a decade, and I was really taken by that prompt,” Howley said. “I decided that was going to be a pinnacle of my business.” With her glutenfree baked goods, she raised hundreds of dollars for various causes, including the opening of Burlington’s Café Mamajuana.

Howley, 29, works part time at Maria Lara-Bregatta’s Dominican fusion restaurant, where she’ll rent the kitchen to scale up her Pridefetti cookies production as she relaunches Black Rose from Black Rose Briar Briar’s website for orders on March 15. She hopes eventually to make the business her full-time job.

Howley is committed to making high-end pastry, despite the challenges — and reputation — of gluten-free baking. It’s partly a personal mission: At her second job after completing culinary school, she started having reactions to flour.

“I just found jobs working with chocolate and things that are gluten free,” Howley said.

“It’s something I physically have to do to continue my career.”

Gluten-free baking has come a long way, she said, thanks to developments in science and ingredients, particularly King Arthur Baking’s gluten-free products. Howley makes custom cakes and soft, elegant shortbread cookies in creative flavors. She plans a rainbow cake and Pridefetti cookies for the Chic Full Gay pop-up on March 8 and 9.

“I’m not making cookies to get rich,” Howley said. “I don’t think anybody makes cookies to get rich. But I want to be accessible to people with allergies and raise some money for the greater good.”

COURTESY OF SARAH HOWLEY

“Obviously, Chic Full Gay is very queeroriented,” Hood of Arcana Botanica said.

“A lot of us are coming together to sort of be ourselves and be out there within the community, while also serving people food and drinks and having a lot of fun doing it.”

More popular than ever, the pop-up model seems uniquely suited to the pandemic-era challenges of the foodservice industry. As restaurants limit hours or close altogether, their spaces become available to industry pros eager to try new concepts.

“A lot of us lost our jobs [during the pandemic], and we saw this as an opportunity to finally start our own business.

But there weren’t a lot of options to do that,” Howley said. “Bryan has provided a connection with Gastrogrub and used those resources to support us in any way that we need.”

Liza O’Brien, Gastrogrub’s owner, rents the space to Gildersleeve for just $200 a month, which keeps overhead low. “Popups give the power back to small people

who have good ideas but don’t have the capital to get their own brick-and-mortar yet,” Gildersleeve said.

Gastrogrub reopened on February 25, offering takeout Thursday through Saturday. Chic Full Gay will continue to pop up twice a month, selling “the gayest chicken possible” on days the restaurant is closed.

The pop-up will continue fundraising, taking new businesses under its wing and creating a welcoming, community-focused event. “We can’t be hating on people for dumb things like sexuality or race or gender anymore,” Gildersleeve said.

With sandwiches like these on the scene, we can’t be putting up with lackluster chicken, either. m

COURTESY OF IAN HOOD/EMMA MERRITT

COURTESY OF IAN HOOD

PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

INSPIRED INFUSIONS

food+drink Side Dishes « P.39

Plentiful Plants

although COVID-19 restrictions currently limit seating NOURISH DELI & BAKERY to 50 percent of capacity.

LAUNCHES ST. ALBANS Reservations must be made STOREFRONT in advance.

The taproom will initially On March 8, DARA and RIC be open on weekends only, LAVALLEE will celebrate the grand opening of NOURISH with takeout available DELI & BAKERY at 15 Center during the week. By May, Eckert said, he expects to be Street in St. Albans. The 2 1/24/21 7:27 AM store builds on the online open daily,SevenDays_DTruck+.5Page.pdf noon to 9 p.m.

Melissa Pasanen plant-based food business

they launched in December 2020.

The married couple, who moved to St. Albans in 2015, have many years of experience in the restaurant and culinary fields. Both earned certificates from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies online through Cornell University.

The Lavallees said they already have developed a

following for their cashewbased “cheezes,” made in the style of Brie and blue cheese. They have hired BEA POTTER, previously of TWO SONS BAKEHOUSE in Jeffersonville, to bake a full line of breads, pastries, pies and cakes on-site. The deli will also offer soups, sandwiches and prepared meals, such as macaroni and “cheeze” and pot pies

“based on good old comfort food,” Ric said.

Nourish does not label its food “vegan,” although it is made without animal products. “We don’t want to alienate people,” Ric said, pointing out that many breads are naturally plant-based.

The couple plans to offer courses and other resources to help people transition to a plant-based diet. Dara has

eaten that way for most of her life, she said, but her husband is a more recent convert.

As a firefighter and paramedic, Ric said, he saw firsthand how poor diet contributes to chronic disease. “We wanted to start a business where the foods are truly healthy,” he said. “We want to help people take that journey.”

M.P.

All of us are connected to something very important— one another. And if you live in Vermont, you can taste it every time you eat. 3SquaresVT helps more people access the foods they love with funding that goes back to our farmers and local grocery stores.

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Find out if you’re eligible at vermontfoodhelp.com or call 855-855-6181.

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1/27/21 10:51 AM

music+nightlife COURTESY OF J.B. AND THE PLAYBOYS

J.B. and the Playboys

Canadian Invasion Allan Nicholls on the digital reissue of his band’s 1965 LP, J.B. and the Playboys B Y J O RD A N AD A M S • jordan@sevendaysvt.com

V

ermont audiences might know Allan Nicholls best now as a member of the vaudevilleinspired Americana comedy band the Hokum Brothers, but he’s had a long and storied career. A close friend and colleague of the late Robert Altman, the part-time Vermonter acted in and composed music for the acclaimed filmmaker’s 1975 film Nashville and others.

Nicholls also appeared in the 1977 hockey comedy Slap Shot alongside Paul Newman, among other film credits. Prior to that, he played the lead role of Claude in the original Broadway production of

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the hippie musical Hair. He’s also directed music videos for megastars such as Meat Loaf and Leonard Cohen.

But in the 1950s and ’60s, the native Montréaler was big in the city’s rock scene.

Nicholls was the lead singer for J.B. and the Playboys, who were well known not only in Québec but all across Canada. As heard on their only record, a self-titled 1965 LP, the Playboys fully embraced the British Invasion sound, writing sweet, peppy love songs full of fast blues riffs, sweeping harmonies and catchy hooks.

At their peak, the Playboys opened for game-changing artists such as the Beach

Boys and the Rolling Stones. But when Nicholls transitioned to Broadway in the late ’60s, the band fizzled and, along with its lone album, faded into obscurity.

That is, until the mid-2000s, when Shawn Nagy, owner of the Super Oldies label, randomly discovered J.B. and the Playboys in a record store bin. In 2005, his imprint reissued the album and a few other singles as a CD anthology. But the album had never been released in digital format — until now.

After renewing interest among the band’s members, Nicholls, who lives in Raleigh, N.C., and Ferrisburgh, reached

out to Montréal jazz label Justin Time Records to see what could be done about launching the Playboys into the streaming world. Repeating the same release strategy the band used in the ’60s, Justin Time dropped the band’s three original double-sided singles shortly before rereleasing the LP. It hit the internet on February 19.

In 2019, the band re-formed for the first time in more than 50 years, with a mix of original and next-generation players. They performed one gig: the Hudson Music Festival in Hudson, Québec.

A sort-of comeback was envisioned, with live shows planned for 2020. The pandemic temporarily quashed that goal.

In a recent call with Nicholls, he discussed the album’s history and Montréal’s 1960s music scene and revealed that J.B. and the Playboys plan to get back onstage as soon as it’s safe to do so.

SEVEN DAYS: What kind of music were you and your bandmates listening to when you were writing J.B. and the Playboys? How did you discover music then?

ALLAN NICHOLLS: I was in a band in the late ’50s, the Montereys. We played a lot of instrumentals with guitar leads. We played a little bit of rockabilly, like “Rock Around the Clock” and “Hey Little Girl (in the High School Sweater).” Then, in the ’60s, our drummer had an aunt who lived in England, and she sent him this Meet the Beatles! album. And we listened to that.

Needless to say, we were immediately inspired. So we transitioned into writing our own melodic, harmony-based verseverse-chorus, chorus-bridge, maybe. We were struck by the originality of the songs.

We were also struck by the fact that they were doing almost girl-group R&B stuff.

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SD: The British Invasion is usually thought of as an American phenomenon. What do you remember about the British Invasion of Canada?

AN: It was very big, but it would be different in every province, because Canada is different in every province. The Maritime provinces deal with music a different way. They had a very large Black population and had a lot of R&B bands.

Montréal and Québec had a very large French Canadian music scene. Toronto had more UK immigrants. Ontario was probably the focus of where the British Invasion came. Early on, those British tours would come over. I remember playing some shows with Herman’s Hermits, Sandie Shaw, Adam Faith, the Searchers, the Dave Clark Five — all on the same show.

TT MA

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WE WANTED TO SOUND LIKE A NEW THING.

AND THAT WAS TOUGH. A L L AN NI CHOLLS

SD: Did the band ever make it down to Vermont back then?

AN: No, the biggest hurdle was always getting into the U.S. We could never break into the American market.

SD: What was segregation like in Montréal’s music scene in terms of English- and French-speaking audiences?

AN: It wasn’t segregated as much as it became when the separatist movement took over. But the music scene was pretty nonsegregated. It was really kind of wonderful, actually. We played shows with French bands. I had great friends in the French music scene. We used to

introduce ourselves onstage bilingually.

I would make jokes in my poor French pronunciation.

ON SALE MARCH 5

SD: Artists today have a lot of freedom and can do whatever they want. How constrained were J.B. and the Playboys to fit a certain style or genre?

AN: We felt free to create, but we had a big challenge: We could never get on record the excitement we would get with our live performance. We had records played on the radio, and that was fine. But what we were trying to get to was a place where we could match the dynamics that we had onstage on a record. We never achieved that.

Another thing is that we were trying to get a different sound all the time. We didn’t want to sound like the Beatles, any of the British bands. We wanted to sound like a new thing. And that was tough. We even tried country. We had a steel guitar, did some Buck Owens tunes.

SD: What about the way that you were styled and branded?

AN: We thought about it. Initially, the idea was to give the audiences something they couldn’t see anywhere. We wore suits and gave them a high-end concert — in their high school. They never saw anything like us before. We even wore makeup.

Not to make us look like anything else but what we were, makeup to enhance what we looked like.

SD: Here’s one for all of the cratediggers out there: What’s a lost record like J.B. and the Playboys that you think vinyl enthusiasts should be on the lookout for?

AN: There are a couple of Montréal bands that I find terrific. One’s called the Rabble, and the other one is called the Haunted. They were both contemporary bands of ours, but different. The Rabble were more psychedelic, I guess. The Rabble had this great song called “Give Us Back Elaine!” And the Haunted were Rolling Stones-like. They had a pretty big hit called “1-2-5.” And that is a soughtafter piece of vinyl. m

PHOTOS: RENEE GREENLEE

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

INFO Listen to J.B. and the Playboys on all major digital platforms. Learn more at jbandtheplayboys.com.

REGISTER AT BURLINGTONCITYARTS.ORG 405 Pine Street, Burlington, VT, 05401 | 802-865-7166

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3/2/21 10:13 AM

GOT MUSIC NEWS? JORDAN@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

REVIEW this Roost.World, Cheapbabyy27 (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

Roost.World’s Cheapbabyy27 instantly evokes visions of an alien spacecraft descending to Earth. The ship’s titanium-alloy entrance ramp extends downward into billows of vanilla vapor. The Burlington band’s front person, synthist, songwriter and likely alien explorer, Zack Schuster, glides out of the craft as if floating. LEDs trim their iridescent spacesuit. Gigantic speakers pop open from compartments all over the ship, blasting the throbbing, four-on-thefloor grind of opener “Rollerblading.”

Humanity is destined to twitch and pulse to the unrelenting dance beats.

At least that’s what comes to mind in

Drive & ILLu, Late to the Party (EQUAL EYES RECORDS, DIGITAL DOWNLOAD)

The pairing of Drive and ILLu was perhaps inevitable. Drive is a talented young rapper representing Lamoille County, and ILLu is a founding member of Burlington’s foremost hip-hop label, Equal Eyes Records. Both are busy collaborators with an affinity for ’90s underground rap, so the artists are a superb fit. But the problem with their new project, Late to the Party, is simple: This shit is too damn short.

That’s both a compliment and an indictment … but mostly a compliment.

Every cut of the new release is a catchy

the gurgling first moments of the newly released EP. Schuster, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, is a club kid through and through. They have released post-punk and dance music under the moniker Roost for a few years and recently changed it to Roost.World to differentiate from other bands with the same name. In Vermont, though, the group can be called simply Roost.

The consistency of Schuster’s persona becomes more defined with each release.

Intentionally or not, they have created a quirky character whose murmured phrases and overall nonchalance clash gleefully with their focused, high-energy music.

The band presents only three new tracks on Cheapbabyy27 — a title that sounds like a Grindr screen name.

Schuster teams with the newly solidified lineup of drummer Graham Peterson and synth manipulators Mike Harris and Brayden Baird, who also plays guitar.

Future Fields producer Eric Maier brings it home. Schuster recently confirmed by email that remixes of each cut are imminent, but they were curiously tightlipped about who’s doing the remixing.

When Schuster sings, “You’re planning a trip for weeks / When the moment came / You couldn’t leave the house” on “Rollerblading,” listeners might incorrectly assume they’re referencing early quarantine. The increasingly dense, bass-heavy banger, inlaid with piano droplets and guitar curlicues, actually came out of Schuster’s desire “to be more open about writing about personal things like gender/ sexuality,” they revealed. Though still relatively opaque, their lyrics about yearning to course down the freeway on Rollerblades — presumably while sporting some fluorescent streetwear — imply a desire to be breezy and carefree,

unbound by outside constraints.

“Rituals” sails in on terse, tickled guitar and distorted beats. Schuster’s rounded, throaty voice bellows over effervescent synths. The song exemplifies how Roost like to layer their elements bit by bit until they’ve coalesced into a flashing, slashing colossus.

Stinging final track “Discotheque” is the band’s flagship song, its cowbell nodding to the era when disco became house. The tune conjures images of sweaty scenesters writhing in slow motion, strobe lights blinking, a Morse code message saying, “Party the fuck down.”

Roost currently have the distinction of being one of a few Vermont bands making heightened, intelligent dance music. Schuster is devastatingly charismatic and provocative, two qualities essential for such highly stylized music.

Cheapbabyy27 is available at roost.bandcamp.com.

slice of up-tempo rap, so as a teaser it definitely works. Yet even as a teaser, at just three tracks it’s a pretty skimpy preview — about half an EP. Fortunately, it’s all tasty work. Things kick off with “Where You At?” It’s a deliriously thirsty song about looking for love in which Drive ticks off a laundry list of the ideal attributes he seeks. Coming from an artist whose prior work was often somber and serious — whether self-analyzing his inner conflicts or penning earnest manifestos about “real” hip-hop — it’s a surprisingly fun track.

What has always stood out about Drive are his relentlessly on-point flow patterns. Sure enough, every verse here is a showcase. “U Had Me” flips the

script from self-deprecating jokes to savage attacks on rival rappers. Fittingly, the cut also highlights his ability to juggle intricate patterns and creative slant rhymes, such as one glorious run that marries “Urkel kid” with both “hernia” and “shuriken.”

However, Drive is a young MC and still finding his voice, so Late to the Party can be an uneven ride. Although this is his most vibrantly confident set so far, he has some maturing to do as an artist. Is Drive the tongue-twister mastermind who’s “different like an isotope” or the awkward kid doing rap-by-numbers brags such as, “Hit the pussy good, Imma kill it?”

That’s the question at the core of “Calories,” the closing track. “Sometimes I like to educate and like to innovate,” he spits on the hook. “Other times it’s more fun to put rappers on my dinner plate.”

Even on a short project with zero filler, this is his strongest showing and a perfect finish.

Drive’s easy charisma on the mic almost manages to disguise what a flawless victory Late to the Party is for producer ILLu. Not only are the loops bright and hypnotic, these tracks are all beautifully produced, full of subtle touches that enhance the songwriting and keep your ears engaged. It’s clear that ILLu’s next round of material, no matter with whom he works, will be his best to date.

The question any listener will be left with is: “What’s next?” And, of course, “When will that full meal be ready?” The brevity and power of Late to the Party makes you wonder how many more rounds Drive & ILLu have left in the clip.

Their chemistry is dynamite, urgent and fresh in equal measures. We need more, and we need it soon.

Late to the Party will be available on March 12 at equaleyesrecords. bandcamp.com.

GET YOUR MUSIC REVIEWED:

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ARE YOU A VT ARTIST OR BAND? SEND US YOUR MUSIC! DIGITAL: MUSIC@SEVENDAYSVT.COM; SNAIL MAIL: MUSIC C/O SEVEN DAYS, 255 S. CHAMPLAIN ST., SUITE 5, BURLINGTON, VT 05401

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2/23/21 4:57 PM

movies To the Ends of the Earth ★★★★★ COURTESY OF KIMSTIM

I don’t recommend this method of viewing To the Ends of the Earth, but it might yield similar results. While most American screenwriters venerate threeact structure and genre expectations, Kurosawa takes dramatic left turns. Without spoiling any of those, I’ll simply note that the title of this seemingly sober and realistic movie comes from a translation of Edith Piaf’s “Hymne à l’amour,” one of the most hyperbolically romantic songs ever written. By the end, every bit of that romanticism is on-screen.

Without overt messaging, To the Ends of the Earth says a lot about being a foreigner — particularly a woman in a culture more restrictive than her own — and about the dehumanizing process of producing infotainment for mass consumption. It gets pandemic bonus points for taking us on a tour of a country not often seen on American screens. (The film also commemorates the 70th anniversary of Tashkent’s Navoi Theater, which is ravishing.)

More than anything else, though, To the Ends of the Earth is a mesmerizing movie about isolation, real or perceived, and how it can warp our perceptions. When it finally connects with the audience, it does so in a big way.

IN A STRANGE LAND Maeda plays a TV personality negotiating cultural difference and fear of the other in Kurosawa’s rich and odd drama.

O

ur streaming entertainment options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through.

This week, I watched a new film from one of Japan’s best working directors that you can stream via Montpelier’s Savoy Theater. (The theater is open both physically and virtually, with two different slates of movies; see savoytheater.com for info.)

Writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is well-known to fans of Japanese horror for combining paranoid tension with the surreal. But he’s also an acute observer of modern life and mores, and that’s the mode he’s in with To the Ends of the Earth, released in Japan in 2019.

REVIEWS

The deal Yoko (pop star Atsuko Maeda) is the on-air personality for a TV travel show. She and her small crew have come to Uzbekistan to film an episode full of local color. For Yoko, that means enduring abuse from a 48

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

misogynistic fisherman, eating uncooked rice, and riding a carnival attraction until she vomits. A pro, she does it all with an enormous smile, delivering gushy, vacuous commentary that she memorizes minutes before shooting.

Off camera, though, Yoko’s smile disappears. She’s moody, withdrawn and furtive as she explores the country, separated from the Uzbekis by an impregnable language barrier. Inch by inch, Kurosawa’s film unveils Yoko to us, revealing her yearning to connect with others and the world in ways her job can never allow.

Will you like it?

To the Ends of the Earth was made to commemorate a quarter-century of diplomatic relations between Japan and Uzbekistan, but until a character delivers a bit of exposition toward the end, you would never guess. This is an intensely personal film about the loneliness of a hyper-connected global citizen.

Don’t be alarmed when subtitles don’t

If you like this, try... show up immediately; while the Japanese dialogue has them, the Uzbeki dialogue (with a key exception) remains untranslated. That filmmaking choice puts us in Yoko’s shoes, which is initially a very alienating place to be. Capturing her in long shots, a tiny figure in a vast landscape, Kurosawa keeps us guessing about who she is under the brilliant TV smile. Then he allows us to discover for ourselves.

Some viewers might feel tempted to turn off this movie 30 minutes in, frustrated by what appears to be a beautifully shot documentary about the rigors of shooting cheesy TV travelogues. They would be wrong.

Personal story: When I first watched Kurosawa’s cult classic Pulse (2001), I fell asleep. It was a hypnotic slow burn, but it was … slow. I woke an hour later to witness the riveting ending of what felt like a movie in a whole different genre.

Desperately curious to see how the story arrived there, I rewound and watched into the small hours.

• Pulse (Kairo) (2001; Tubi, Vudu, Pluto TV, rentable): If anything, Kurosawa’s arty horror film about ghosts that live online has only become more relevant.

Avoid the American remake! Also, try his acclaimed mystery drama Cure (1997; Criterion Channel, rentable).

• The Assistant (2019; Hulu, rentable): Like Yoko in To the Ends of the Earth, the title character in Kitty Green’s dark fly-on-the-wall drama finds her dream job in show biz more dehumanizing than she could ever have imagined.

• The Loneliest Planet (2011; AMC+, IFC Films Unlimited, rentable): Films about disaffected people being sad in foreign countries are their own mini genre. Everyone knows Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation but perhaps not this scenic indie from Julia Loktev, in which a young couple’s relationship undergoes a shattering test in the Caucasus Mountains.

MARGO T HARRI S O N margot@sevendaysvt.com

COURTESY OF LIONSGATE

NEW IN THEATERS BOOGIE: Eddie Huang wrote and directed this coming-of-age story of a boy (Taylor Takahashi) who dreams of basketball stardom while his parents pressure him to focus on academics. With Pamelyn Chee and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (89 min, R. Essex Cinemas) CHAOS WALKING: Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley star in this adaptation of Patrick Ness’ dystopian YA trilogy about a boy growing up in a society that is allmale and full of oppressive psychic Noise, much like parts of Reddit. Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) directed. (109 min, PG-13. Essex Cinemas) MY SALINGER YEAR: A young woman takes a job working for the elusive J.D. Salinger’s literary agent in this drama based on Joanna Smith Rakoff’s novel. Margaret Qualley and Sigourney Weaver star.

Philippe Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar) directed.

(101 min, R. Essex Cinemas) RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON: A young warrior seeks the help of the last living dragon to save humanity from monsters in this Disney animated fantasy.

With the voices of Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina and Gemma Chan. Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada directed. (114 min, PG. Essex Cinemas) STRAY: Elizabeth Lo’s acclaimed documentary follows three stray dogs as they find companionship, including among Syrian refugees, on the streets of Istanbul. (72 min, NR. Savoy Theater)

NOW PLAYING David Oyelowo in Chaos Walking

THE CROODS: A NEW AGEHHH In this sequel to the animated comedy hit, a prehistoric family finds itself forced to cohabit with its more evolved neighbors.

With the voice talents of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds. (95 min, PG. Essex Cinemas)

MINARIHHHH1/2 In Lee Isaac Chung’s bittersweet autobiographical drama, a Korean immigrant family struggles to make their new Arkansas vegetable farm pay off. Steven Yeun and Yeri Han star in this festival favorite. (115 min, PG-13. Savoy Theater; reviewed by M.H. 2/24) NIGHT OF THE KINGSHHHH In this acclaimed atmospheric fable from the Ivory Coast, a gang member must spin stories to survive his first night in a prison ruled by the inmates. Bakary Koné and Steve Tientcheu star. (93 min, R. Savoy Theater) NOMADLANDHHHHH Frances McDormand plays a woman set adrift by the Great Recession to travel the country in her beat-up van in this Golden Globe nominee directed by Chloé Zhao. (108 min, R. Essex Cinemas, Savoy Theater) TOM AND JERRYH1/2 A tale with the existential resonance of Groundhog Day or Waiting for Godot: Cartoon cat attempts to catch cartoon mouse, over and over and over. But what is their origin story? This family animation reveals all. (101 min, PG. Essex Cinemas) WOLFWALKERSHHHH1/2 An apprentice wolf hunter in Ireland discovers a different point of view in this family animation from the makers of The Secret of Kells. (103 min, PG. Savoy Theater, Sat only; reviewed

by M.H. 1/13)

OPEN THEATERS ESSEX CINEMAS & T-REX THEATER: 21 Essex Way, Suite 300, Essex, 879-6543, essexcinemas.com.

(Note: New listings for this theater were not available at press time.)

THE SAVOY THEATER: 26 Main St., Montpelier, 229-0598, savoytheater.com STOWE CINEMA 3PLEX: 454 Mountain Rd., Stowe, 253-4678, stowecinema.com.

SPRING 2021 PROGRAM SCHEDULE

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Don’t feel like

COOKING?

Check Out Good To-Go!

GOOD TO-GO VERMONT

This digital directory, compiled by Seven Days, lists local eateries by region, offering takeout, delivery, curbside pickup and on-site dining options during the coronavirus pandemic.

Visit GoodToGoVermont.com to see what your favorite local restaurants are serving. They need your support.

TA KE O U T • D EL I VE RY • SE ATI NG O PTI O NS

G O O D T O G O V E R M O N T. C O M

GOOD TO-GO VERMONT

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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

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2/9/21 3:12 PM

CLASS PHOTOS + MORE INFO ONLINE SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSES

classes THE FOLLOWING CLASS LISTINGS ARE PAID ADVERTISEMENTS. ANNOUNCE YOUR CLASS FOR AS LITTLE AS $16.75/WEEK (INCLUDES SIX PHOTOS AND UNLIMITED DESCRIPTION ONLINE). SUBMIT YOUR CLASS AD AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTCLASS.

BCA Studios

Burlington City Arts winter/spring class registration is now open!

Find these classes and many more at burlingtoncityarts.org.

Studios, teaches the basics of marketing your professional brand. Discuss the various platforms for your brand and what fits your goals. Gain inspiration from successful marketing campaigns with an authentic voice. Wed., Mar. 10, 6-8 p.m. Cost: $25/person; $22.50 for BCA members.

Location: BCA Studios, Zoom class. Info: John Flanagan, 8655355, jflanagan@burlingtoncity arts.org, burlingtoncityarts.org.

drumming DJEMBE & TAIKO DRUMMING: JOIN US!: New hybrid classes (Zoom and in-person) starting!

Taiko Tuesday and Wednesday.

Djembe Wednesday. Kids and Parents Tuesday and Wednesday.

COVID-19-free rental instruments, curbside pickup, too. Private Hybrid Conga lessons by appointment.

Let’s prepare for future drumming outdoors. Schedule/register online. Location: Online and inperson at Taiko Space, 208 Flynn Ave., Suite 3G, Burlington. Info: 999-4255, burlingtontaiko.org.

MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS: Ages 18 and up. 20 students max. Mieko Ozeki, Vermont Womenpreneurs Cofounder and branding consultant at Radiance

WIRE EARRINGS: Ages 13 and up. Six students max. Let BCA’s jewelry studio come to you this winter! Join local jeweler Bren Prescott on Zoom to make simple but satisfying fine metal jewelry. Learn the basics wirework and beading to create your own unique pieces to keep or give as gifts. Wed., Mar. 24, 6-8 p.m. Cost: $50/person; $45 for BCA members. Location: BCA Studios, Zoom class. Info: John Flanagan, 865-5355, jflanagan@ burlingtoncityarts.org, burlingtoncityarts.org.

SELL YOUR

HOUSE!

well-being

language ADULT LIVE SPANISH E-CLASSES: Join us for adult Spanish classes this spring using Zoom online video conferencing. Our 15th year.

Learn from a native speaker via small group classes and individual instruction. You’ll always be participating and speaking.

Four different levels. Note: classes fill up quickly. See our website or contact us for details. Beginning Mar. 22. Cost: $270/10 weekly classes of 90+ min. each.

Location: Spanish in Waterbury Center, Waterbury Center. Info: 585-1025, spaishparavos@ gmail.com, spanishwater burycenter.com.

FAMILY VEGGIE PRINTS: Ages 6 and up. Six families max. Join us to create one-of-a-kind prints using fruits or veggies! Make beautiful, organic patterns on paper and fabric. All supplies are provided in a handy kit, and no experience is needed.

Includes all the materials you will need to make multiple prints.

Sun., Mar. 21, 11 a.m.-noon. Cost: $25/person; $22.50 for BCA members. Location: BCA Studios, Zoom class. Info: John Flanagan, 865-5355, jflanagan@burlington cityarts.org, burlingtoncityarts.org.

IBJJF-certified seventh-degree coral belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and self-defense instructor under late grand master Carlson Gracie Sr. currently teaching in the USA. Accept no Imitations!

Location: Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, 55 Leroy Rd., Williston.

Info: 598-2839, julio@bjjusa.com, vermontbjj.com.

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE ONLINE CLASSES: Join us for adult online French classes this spring. Our session starts on March 15 and offers classes for participants at all levels. The session schedule will be posted soon on our website at aflcr.org, but in the meantime do not hesitate to contact Micheline at education@ aflcr.org for schedule information.

Location: Alliance Française of the Lake Champlain Region, Zoom.

Info: Micheline Tremblay, 881-8826, education@aflcr.org, aflcr.org.

EXPERIENCED NATIVE PROFESSOR OFFERING ONLINE SPANISH CLASSES: Premier native-speaking Spanish professor Maigualida Rak is giving fun, interactive online lessons to improve comprehension and pronunciation and to achieve fluency. Audio-visual material is used. “I feel proud to say that

my students have significantly improved their Spanish with my teaching approach.” -Maigualida Rak. Read reviews on Facebook at facebook.com/spanishonlinevt.

Location: Maigualida Rak, Online.

Info: Maigualida Rak, spanish tutor.vtfla@gmail.com, facebook. com/spanishonlinevt.

martial arts VERMONT BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU: This school was developed to communicate the importance of proper, legitimate and complete Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instruction. We cover fundamentals of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with a realistic approach to self-defense training skills in a friendly, safe and positive environment. All are welcome; no experience required. Develop confidence, strength and endurance.

Julio Cesar “Foca” Fernandez Nunes was born and raised on the shores of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Earning his black belt and representing the Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Team, Julio “Foca” went on to become a five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu National Champion, three-time Rio de Janeiro State Champion and two-time IBJJF World JiuJitsu Champion! Julio “Foca” is the only CBJJP, USBJJF and

CLASSIFIEDS classifieds.sevendaysvt.com

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AYURVEDA INTEGRATION PROGRAM: Virtual Program.

Join us in learning and immerse yourself in the oldest surviving preventative health care system. Our 200-hour Ayurveda Integration Program is ideal for yoga teachers, counselors, therapists, bodyworkers, nurses, doctors, wellness coaches, herbalists and anyone wanting to improve their own health. Learn seasonal and daily routines, holistic nutrition, stress reduction techniques, and home remedies to slow down, stop and reverse health conditions. VSAC approved. Starts in May, one weekend monthly, Sat. & Sun., 9:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Cost: $2,795/200-hour training.

Location: The Ayurvedic Center of Vermont, 34 Oak Hill Rd., Williston. Info: Allison Morse, 8728898, info@ayurvedavermont. com, ayurvedavermont.com.

yoga EVOLUTION YOGA: Bring your body and mind toward balance and find connection in community. All are welcome. Find support you need to awaken your practice.

Offering livestream and recorded classes. Give the gift of yoga with a gift card on our website.

Flexible pricing based on your needs; scholarships avail. Contact yoga@evolutionvt.com. Single class: $0-15. Weekly membership: $10-25. 10-class pass: $140. New student special: $20 for 3 classes.

Location: Evolution Yoga, 20 Kilburn St., Burlington. Info: 864-9642, evolutionvt.com.

List your house for only $45* and get the most from your post! *Two weeks, print and online.

CALL

802-865-1020 EXT. 10

STAY CLASSY, VERMONT. SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

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2/8/21 1:58 PM

READY FOR A

CAREER CHANGE? 129

NEW JOBS THIS WEEK!

w

See who’s hiring at jobs.sevendaysvt.com.

New job postings weekly from trusted, local employers in Seven Days newspaper and online.

Recruiters: Need some new talent?

• Search for jobs by keyword, location, category and job type.

• Set up job alert emails using custom search criteria.

• Save jobs to a custom list with your own notes on the positions.

• Apply for jobs directly through the site.

• Share jobs on social media channels.

52

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

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Our readers are planning their next career moves. Employers get results with Seven Days Jobs in print and online.

See our mobile-friendly, digital job board in action at jobs.sevendaysvt.com.

Get a quote when you post your positions or contact Michelle Brown directly at 865-1020, ext. 21 and michelle@sevendaysvt.com.

3/2/21 4:06 PM

Humane

Society of Chittenden County

Fernando COURTESY OF KELLY SCHULZE/MOUNTAIN DOG PHOTOGRAPHY

AGE/SEX: 3-year-old neutered male ARRIVAL DATE: January 27, 2021 REASON HERE: His owner was moving and could not take him.

SUMMARY: We love big buns, and we cannot lie — Fernando is a big boy looking for a roost to rule! He is a very smart, social and active rabbit who loves to investigate and explore every inch of everything, including our shelter director’s office. Our volunteers and staff have quickly fallen in love with Fernando and love to introduce him to new fruits and veggies (which he seems just fine with). Stop by HSCC during open hours to meet Fernando, but be prepared to be swept off your feet!

housing »

APARTMENTS, CONDOS & HOMES

on the road »

DID YOU KNOW?

Rabbits are playful, intelligent animals that require daily enrichment and exercise or they can easily become bored and destructive. You don’t need to spend a fortune on fancy toys — some good options from around the house include: laundry detergent caps (thoroughly rinsed), toilet paper rolls stuffed with hay, shredded newspaper, cardboard boxes and plastic baby toys. Have fun with creative ways to make your bun HOPPY! Sponsored by:

NEW STUFF ONLINE EVERY DAY! PLACE YOUR ADS 24-7 AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM.

CARS, TRUCKS, MOTORCYCLES

pro services »

CHILDCARE, HEALTH/ WELLNESS, PAINTING

buy this stuff »

APPLIANCES, KID STUFF, ELECTRONICS, FURNITURE

music »

INSTRUCTION, CASTING, INSTRUMENTS FOR SALE

jobs »

NO SCAMS, ALL LOCAL, POSTINGS DAILY

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

53

CLASSIFIEDS

housing ads: $25 (25 words) legals: 52¢/word buy this stuff: free online services: $12 (25 words)

apply. 802-655-1810, keenscrossing.com.

on the road

housing

CARS/TRUCKS

FOR RENT

CASH FOR CARS! We buy all cars! Junk, high-end, totaled: It doesn’t matter. Get free towing & same-day cash. Newer models, too. Call 1-866-5359689. (AAN CAN)

2-BR APT. FROM APR. 1 Burlington, 2nd floor, 2-BR, 1-BA, kitchen, living room, enclosed back porch. Off-street parking. NS/pets (firm). $1,500/mo. incl. heat.

802-777-2964.

We Pick Up & Pay For Junk Automobiles!

Route 15, Hardwick

802-472-5100

AFFORDABLE 2-BR APT. AVAIL. At Keen’s Crossing.

2-BR: $1,266/mo., heat & HW incl. Open floor plan, fully applianced kitchen, fi tness center, pet friendly, garage parking.

Income restrictions apply. 802-655-1810, keenscrossing.com.

3842 Dorset Ln., Williston

KEEN’S CROSSING IS NOW LEASING! 1-BR, $1,054/mo.; 2-BR, $1,266/mo.; 3-BR, $1,397/mo. Spacious interiors, fully applism-allmetals060811.indd 7/20/15 1 5:02 PM anced kitchen, fi tness center, heat & HW incl.

Income restrictions

802-793-9133

m

CLASSIFIEDS KEY appt. appointment apt. apartment BA bathroom BR bedroom DR dining room DW dishwasher HDWD hardwood HW hot water LR living room NS no smoking OBO or best offer refs. references sec. dep. security deposit W/D washer & dryer

PINECREST AT ESSEX Joshua Way, Essex Jct. Independent senior living for those 55+ years. 1-BR avail. now, $1,260/mo. incl. utils. & parking garage. NS/ pets. 802-872-9197 or rae@fullcirclevt.com.

TAFT FARM SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY 10 Tyler Way, Williston, independent senior living. Newly remodeled 1-BR unit on the ground floor, w/ restricted view avail., $1,110/mo. incl. utils. & cable. NS/pets.

Must be 55+ years of age. cintry@fullcirclevt. com, 802-879-3333.

OFFICE/ COMMERCIAL CLASS SPACE FOR HOURLY RENT Fitness studio space avail. for rental at Shelburne Athletic Club.

Bring your students & rent the space or teach for us. View photos online. Contact 316-7142, rayne@ shelburneathletic.com.

Visit shelburneathletic. com.

OFFICE/RETAIL SPACE AT MAIN STREET LANDING on Burlington’s waterfront. Beautiful, healthy, affordable spaces for your business. Visit mainstreetlanding.com & click on space avail.

Melinda, 864-7999.

display service ads: $25/$45 homeworks: $45 (40 words, photos, logo) fsbos: $45 (2 weeks, 30 words, photo) jobs: michelle@sevendaysvt.com, 865-1020 x21

for your baby. If you are pregnant & considering adoption, we would welcome hearing from you. jonandtessa.weebly. com, 802-272-7759.

AUTO DONATE YOUR CAR TO CHARITY Receive maximum value of write off for your taxes. Running or not! All conditions accepted. Free pickup.

Call for details. 855-9780215. (AAN CAN)

BIZ OPPS BECOME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR! We edit, print & distribute your work internationally. We do the work; you reap the rewards! Call for a free Author’s Submission Kit: 844-511-1836. (AAN CAN)

EDUCATION ATTENTION ACTIVE DUTY & MILITARY VETERANS! Begin a new career and earn your degree at CTI! Online computer & medical training avail. for veterans & families!

To learn more, call 855-541-6634. (AAN CAN)

ENTERTAINMENT DISH TV $59.99 for 190 channels + $14.95 high-speed internet. Free installation, smart HD DVR incl., free voice remote.

Some restrictions apply.

1-855-380-2501. (AAN CAN)

FINANCIAL/LEGAL AUTO INSURANCE Starting at $49/mo.!

Call for your fee rate comparison to see how much you can save. Call 855-569-1909. (AAN CAN) DO YOU OWE OVER $10K to the IRS or state in back taxes? Our firm works to reduce the tax bill or zero it out completely fast. Let us help! 855-955-0702.

Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m.-5 p.m.

PST. OVER $10K IN DEBT? Be debt-free in 24-48 mos. Pay a fraction of what you owe. A+ BBB rated. Call National Debt Relief: 877-590-1202.

(AAN CAN) SAVE BIG ON HOME INSURANCE! Compare 20 A-rated insurances companies.

Get a quote within mins. Average savings of $444/year! Call 844-712-6153! Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Central.

(AAN CAN) SAVE YOUR HOME! Are you behind paying your mortgage? Denied a loan modification? Is the bank threatening foreclosure? Call Homeowners Relief Line now for help: 1-855-4395853. Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat.: 8 a.m.-1 p.m.

All times Pacific. (AAN CAN)

print deadline: Mondays at 4:30 p.m. post ads online 24/7 at: sevendaysvt.com/classifieds questions? classifieds@sevendaysvt.com 865-1020 x10

STRUGGLING W/ YOUR PRIVATE STUDENT LOAN PAYMENT? New relief programs can reduce your payments. Learn your options. Good credit not necessary. Call the Helpline: 888-670-5631.

Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

ET. (AAN CAN)

HEALTH/ WELLNESS GENTLE TOUCH MASSAGE Specializing in deep tissue, reflexology, sports massage, Swedish & relaxation massage for men. Practicing massage therapy for over 14 years. Gregg, gentletouchvt.com, motman@ymail.com, 802-234-8000 (call/ text). Milton.

50-pill special: $99 + free shipping! 100% guaranteed. Call now: 888-531-1192. (AAN CAN)

buy this stuff

MISCELLANEOUS 4G LTE HOME INTERNET Now avail.! Get GotW3 w/ lightning-fast speeds + take your service w/ you when you travel!

As low as $109.99/mo.!

1-888-519-0171. (AAN CAN) ATTENTION, VIAGRA & CIALIS USERS! A cheaper alternative to high drugstore prices!

HEARING AIDS! Buy 1 & get 1 free!

High-quality rechargeable Nano hearing aids priced 90% less than competitors.

Nearly invisible. 45-day money-back guarantee!

1-833-585-1117. (AAN CAN) PSYCHIC COUNSELING Psychic counseling, channeling w/ Bernice Kelman, Underhill. 30+ years’ experience. Also energy healing, chakra balancing, Reiki, rebirthing, other lives, classes, more. 802-899-3542, kelman.b@juno.com.

ADOPTION COUPLE HOPING TO ADOPT Kind & fun-loving VT couple can provide a safe & loving home

All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and similar Vermont statutes which make it illegal to advertise any preference, limitations, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, handicap, presence of minor children in the family or receipt of public assistance, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or a discrimination. The newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate, which is in violation of the law. Our

54

HUD Office of Fair Housing 10 Causeway St., Boston, MA 02222-1092 (617) 565-5309 — OR — Vermont Human Rights Commission 14-16 Baldwin St. Montpelier, VT 05633-0633 1-800-416-2010 hrc@vermont.gov

Thursday, March 11 @ 11AM Register from 10AM

950 Route 30N, Castleton, VT

USDA Foreclosure: 2BR Walden Home Register from 10:30AM

FOR SALE BY OWNER List your property here for 2 weeks for only $45! Contact Katie, 865-1020, ext.

10, fsbo@sevendaysvt.com.

readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. Any home seeker who feels he or she has encountered discrimination should contact:

USDA Foreclosure: 2BR 1BA Home

131 Stevens Hill West, Walden, VT

245± Acres of Cropland in Essex Thursday, March 18 @ 11AM

CHURCH ST. VENDOR LICENSE & FOOD CART FOR SALE EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY

HUGHESNET SATELLITE INTERNET Finally, no hard data limits! Call today for speeds up to 25mbps as low as $59.99/mo! $75 gift card, terms apply.

1-844-416-7147. (AAN CAN)

Tuesday, March 16 @ 11AM

fsb

services

COVID-19 STICKER AIDS CHCB COVID-19 vaccination sticker, designed & printed at the Sticky Brand. Half the proceeds support Community Health Centers of Burlington. To order: vaccinationsticker.com.

Located in front of the bars Akes’ Place & Red Square. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to own a business on Church Street!

1-514-717-9972. philoranville@ outlook.com

Register from 10:30AM

75 Browns River Rd., Essex, VT Walk the Land Any Time

THCAuction.com  800-634-7653

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021 FSBO- mattp021021.indd 1

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Show and tell.

Calcoku »

postfill upthe to grid SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS Using the enclosed math operationsView as aand guide, 6 photos per ad online.

music

INSTRUCTION BASS, GUITAR, DRUMS, VOICE LESSONS & MORE Remote music lessons are an amazing way to spend time at home! Learn guitar, bass, piano, voice, violin, drums, flute, sax, trumpet, production & beyond w/ pro local instructors from the Burlington Music Dojo on Pine St. All levels & styles are welcome, incl. absolute beginners. Come share in the music! burlington musicdojo.com, info@ burlingtonmusicdojo. com.

GUITAR INSTRUCTION All styles/levels.

Emphasis on building strong technique, thorough musicianship,

developing personal style. Paul Asbell (Big Joe Burrell, Kilimanjaro, UVM & Middlebury College faculty, Daysies). 233-7731, pasbell@paulasbell. com.

GUITAR INSTRUCTION Berklee graduate w/ 30 years’ teaching experience offers lessons in guitar, music theory, music technology, ear training. Individualized, step-by-step approach.

All ages, styles, levels.

Rick Belford, 864-7195, rickb@rickbelford.com.

J

2÷

15x

REHEARSAL SPACE Safe & sanitary music/ creative spaces avail. by the hour in the heart of the South End art district. Monthly arrangements avail., as well. Tailored for music but can be multipurpose. info@ burlingtonmusicdojo. com, 802-540-0321.

LEGALS » NOW IN sevendaysvt.com

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Sudoku Extra! Extra!

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DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: ★★

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: ★★★

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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

55

Legal Notices ACT 250 NOTICE APPLICATION 4C0824-4A SITE VISIT, PREHEARING CONFERENCE, HEARING 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6111 On February 3, 2021, Rice Lumber Company, Inc. and Rice Realty, Inc. filed an Act 250 application for a project generally described as a subdivision to create Lots 4A and 5A in the Rice Lumber PUD; PUD lot line adjustments; and extraction of approximately 78,200 CY of rock to remain and be re-graded within the PUD project site, and to be removed off-site. The project includes drilling and blasting over a ± 35-day duration and is located at 4188 Shelburne Road in Shelburne, Vermont.

This project will be evaluated by the District 4 Environmental Commission in accordance with the 10 environmental criteria of 10 V.S.A., § 6086(a). A copy of the application and plans for this project are available for review online at the Natural Resources Board web site (http://nrb.vermont. gov) by clicking on “Act 250 Database” and entering project number 4C0824- 4A.

Virtual Hearing: Friday, March 26, 2021 at 9:00 AM via Microsoft Teams (details to follow) Site Visit Instructions: All site visit participants shall be required to observe the following protocol prior to, and during the site visit:

b. No more than 25 people may attend the site visit.

Virtual Prehearing Conference Instructions: Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), this prehearing conference will necessarily be conducted remotely via Microsoft Teams video conferencing software.

To receive a Microsoft Teams invitation via email, please e-mail the District Coordinator (kirsten. sultan@vermont.gov) no later than Thursday March 11, 2021 at 4:30 PM. If you are unable to participate using the Microsoft Teams platform, you may still call in to the conference with the following information:

c. If any portion of the site visit will be conducted inside, all occupancy limits established by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development must be followed even if that results in a limit of less than 25 people. See https://accd.vermont.gov/ content/maximum retail-occupant-load-duringcovid-19 (last visited June 10, 2020).

Note to Prospective Parties: Pursuant to Vermont statute and Act 250 Rules, any person seeking to participate as a party to this proceeding MUST make such a party status request “on or before the first prehearing conference.” Accordingly, all prospective parties are obligated to log in or call into the PHC scheduled below, or to file a written party status petition in advance to the Commission at NRB.Act250Essex@vermont.gov. Failure to timely appear on the PHC call or video conference call, or to timely file a written request by the date of the PHC, thereafter bars a person from participating as a party in the proceeding, and any such person will thereafter lack legal standing to appeal any decision on this matter made by the District Commission. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) State of Emergency, all prospective parties are asked to supply an email address, a street address, and a mailing address to the District Commission by email (NRB.Act250Essex@vermont.gov) for receiving service of notices on the proceedings.

e. No one may attend the site visit if they have had contact with a person diagnosed with COVID-19 unless they have self-quarantined for 14 days following such contact or 7 days followed by a negative COVID-19 test.

g. Everyone attending the site visit must observe strict social distancing of six feet. h. Everyone attending the site visit must wear face coverings over their nose and mouth when in the presence of others. i. Everyone attending the site visit must have access to either a hand washing station, consisting of soap and water, or hand sanitizer. j. Everyone attending the site visit must have completed a VOSHA-approved and employer sponsored training program regarding COVID-19. Additional information about VOSHA approved training may be found on the Vermont Agency of Commerce and

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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

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- Enter Conference ID: 716 439 16# If you would like further information regarding participation in this prehearing conference, please contact the District Coordinator (kirsten.sultan@ vermont.gov) by no later than 4:30 PM on Monday, March 8, 2021. If you have a disability for which you need accommodation in order to participate in this process (including participating in a public hearing, if one is held), please notify us as soon as possible, in order to allow us as much time as possible to accommodate your needs.

Dated this 25th day of February, 2021.

By: Kirsten Sultan, District Coordinator 802-751-0126 kirsten.sultan@vermont.gov ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION #4C055025 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6093 On February 17, 2021, Grumpy Knuckles, LLC, c/o Jeff Jimmo, P.O. Box 64941, Burlington, VT 05406 filed application number 4C0550-25 for a project generally described as construction of a 49,500 s.f. flex space commercial building with an 11,500 s.f. mezzanine level and a maximum of 80 employees on Lot 24 of the Catamount Industrial Park. The project is located on Catamount Drive in Milton, Vermont.

The District 4 Environmental Commission is reviewing this application under Act 250 Rule 51—Minor Applications. A copy of the application and proposed permit are available for review at the office listed below. The application and a draft permit may also be viewed on the Natural Resources Board’s web site (http://nrb.vermont. gov) by clicking on “Act 250 Database” and entering the project number “4C0550-25.”

If you feel that any of the District Commission members listed on the attached Certificate of Service under “For Your Information” may have a

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- Dial: 802-828-7667

No hearing will be held and a permit may be issued unless, on or before March 17, 2021, a person notifies the Commission of an issue or issues requiring the presentation of evidence at a hearing, or the Commission sets the matter for a hearing on its own motion. Any person as defined in 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1) may request a hearing. Any hearing request must be in writing to the address below, must state the criteria or sub-criteria at issue, why a hearing is required and what additional evidence will be presented at the hearing. Any hearing request by an adjoining property owner or other person eligible for party status under 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1)(E) must include a petition for party status under the Act 250 Rules. Prior to submitting a request for a hearing, please contact the district coordinator at the telephone number listed below for more information. Prior to convening a hearing, the Commission must determine that substantive issues requiring a hearing have been raised. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law may not be prepared unless the Commission holds a public hearing.

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PUZZLE ANSWERS

f. No one may attend the site visit if they must travel from any location from which visitors to Vermont are required to self-quarantine unless they have self-quarantined for either 14 days or 7 days followed by a negative COVID-19 test. A map of such locations can be found at the Agency of Commerce and Community Development’s website.

See https://accd.vermont.gov/covid-19/restart/ cross-state-travel (last visited August 19, 2020)

5

Virtual Prehearing Conference: Monday, March 15, 2021 at 1:00 PM via Microsoft Teams (see below)

k. No more than three people shall occupy any single vehicle traveling to or from the site visit. l. Everyone attending the site visit must refrain from touching communal objects, including but not limited to site plans, unless they are cleaned and disinfected between each touch.

d. No one may attend the site visit who has displayed any of the symptoms of COVID-19 recognized by the Vermont Department of Health.

No earlier than 24 hours prior to the appointment, all attendees must take their own temperatures to determine whether they have a temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or greater. If requested, attendees must submit to a temperature test with a no-contact thermometer.

In-Person Site Visit: Monday, March 15, 2021, 8:30 AM at 4188 Shelburne Road, Shelburne, VT See Site Visit Instructions, Below

Community Development’s website. See https:// accd.vermont.gov/covid-19/business/restart (last visited May 21, 2020).

a. Prior to the site visit, all potential attendees must confirm in writing, which may be via email to the District Coordinator (Kirsten.sultan@vermont. gov) , that they will abide by this protocol.

Pursuant to Act 250 Rules 16 and 20, the Commission is convening an online prehearing conference (“PHC”). A PHC, in summary, has narrow goals and is designed to identify the parties and the issues. The PHC will be followed by the issuance of a Prehearing Conference Report and Order (“PHCRO”), which will prescribe any informational filing requirements and preliminary party status rulings.

A site visit, prehearing conference, and merits hearing are hereby scheduled to convene:

PLACE AN AFFORDABLE NOTICE AT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/LEGAL-NOTICES OR CALL 802-865-1020, EXT. 10.

conflict of interest, or if there is any other reason a member should be disqualified from sitting on this case, please contact the District Coordinator as soon as possible, and by no later than March 17, 2021.

If you have a disability for which you need accommodation in order to participate in this process (including participating in a public hearing, if one is held), please notify us as soon as possible, in order to allow us as much time as possible to accommodate your needs.

Parties entitled to participate are the Municipality, the Municipal Planning Commission, the Regional Planning Commission, affected state agencies, and adjoining property owners and other persons to the extent that they have a particularized interest that may be affected by the proposed project under the Act 250 criteria. Non-party participants may also be allowed under 10 V.S.A. Section 6085(c)(5).

Dated at Essex Junction, Vermont this 25th day of February, 2021.

By: /s/ Stephanie H. Monaghan Stephanie H. Monaghan District Coordinator 111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 802-879-5662 stephanie.monaghan@vermont.gov CITY OF BURLINGTON: IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND TWENTY. AN ORDINANCE IN RELATION TO B.C.O. – ANIMALS AND FOWL LICENSE FEES FOR SERVICE ANIMALS SEC. 5-16 ORDINANCE 6.02 Sponsor: Councilor Shannon Public Hearing Dates: First reading: Referred to: Rules suspended and placed in all stages of passage: 02/16/21 Second reading: Action: adopted Date: 02/16/21 Signed by Mayor: 02/23/21 Published: 03/03/21 Effective: 03/24/21 It is hereby Ordained by the City Council of the City of Burlington, as follows: That Chapter 5, Animals and Fowl, of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Burlington be and hereby is amended by amending Section 5-16, License fees, to read as follows: 5-16 License fees. (a) In addition to the license fee and any penalty fee required by state law, the municipal fee for each license required by this article shall be twenty dollars ($20.00) for each neutered/spayed dog and forty dollars ($40.00) for each non-neutered/ non-spayed dog. (b) The owner or keeper of a neutered/spayed dog that serves as the person’s service animal under the Americans with Disabilities Act may request waiver of the municipal license fee (but not the state fee) by providing to the city clerk’s office adequate responses to the following questions in writing: - Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?

- What work or task has the dog been trained to perform? *Materials stricken out deleted. **Materials underlined added.

FAIRBANKS MUSEUM NOTICE OF REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS Notice of Request for Qualifications Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium Science Annex

SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS

Show and tell.

»

View and post up to 6 photos per ad online.

Open 24/7/365.

Post & browse ads at your convenience.

Addition and Façade Restoration Projects, St. Johnsbury, VT. Vermont Integrated Architecture and the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium are seeking qualifications from General Contractors for construction services. The scope of work encompasses two projects for which we intend to contract with one General Contractor.

1. Science Annex: A 6,631 square foot addition and minor renovations to the existing building; and

- Join via Microsoft Teams.

REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS:

List your properties here and online for only $45/week. Submit your listings by Mondays at noon to homeworks@sevendaysvt.com or 802-865-1020, x10.

HOUSE AVAILABLE FREE FOR RELOCATION SHELBURNE

The Science Annex project will be one of the first contemporary mass-timber public structures in Vermont, and will far exceed energy code requirements.

Ca. 1840, 1 ½ story, L-plan, wood-sided farmhouse on stone foundation located at 428 Webster Road in Shelburne. House has known structural deficiencies, summary conditions report available for serious inquiries. House has a porch and large addition which do not need to be moved, and can be removed by current owner. Letter of interest due on or before April 16, 2021. House must be moved before May 28, 2021. House must be preserved intact on new foundation postmove, not for parts or salvage. Limited funding may be available to assist the relocation.

The façade and masonry restoration portion of the project includes repair, repointing, and resetting of some of the original stone of the building façade.

In addition, it includes flashing, re-roofing, and structural upgrades at the two building spires/ towers.

Project documentation is available digitally, upon request. RFQ Submission Deadline is March 15, 2021 at 2:00 PM. For the full RFQ and accompanying documentation, please contact:

megan@vermontintegratedarchitecture.com

TOWN OF BOLTON: NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING The Bolton Planning Commission will hold a virtual public hearing on Tuesday, March 23, 2021 at 6:00 pm to obtain public feedback regarding a proposed amendment to the 2017 Town Plan, and proposed amendments to the Bolton Land Use and Development Regulations. To participate in this virtual meeting via computer, please use the following link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/ join/832957725. To participate in this virtual meeting via telephone, please call +1 (571) 317-3112 and use access code 832-957-725.

Town Plan proposed amendment The purpose is to amend the Proposed Land Use map by adjusting and expanding the Forest and Conservation Districts, which will improve forest block and wildlife habitat connectivity, and by

Call Bart at 802-864-0600 or email Info@sterlinghomesvt.com for more information or to arrange a site visit.

expanding the Village District, which will provide regulatory relief to property owners on the Bolton Valley Access Road who want to enlarge homes or accessory structures.

Geographic areas affected include properties located near or on the following roads: Stage, Theodore Roosevelt Hwy, Notch, Mountain View Dr, Bear Mountain, Fern Hollow, Green Mountain, Bolton Valley Access, Curtis Ln, Hummingbird Ln, Duxbury, Honey Hollow, and Sharkeyville.

Additionally, any property that is undeveloped, that lacks road frontage, or contains the Forest zoning district may be affected by these amendments.

Specific sections to be amended: Map 12 Land Use and Development Regulations proposed amendments The purpose of these amendments is to: 1. Improve protections for existing contiguous

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TOWN OF ESSEX PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA/PUBLIC HEARING MARCH 25, 2021-6:30 P.M. This meeting will be held remotely.

2. Façade and roof restoration and repair to the historic building.

Megan Nedzinski, Project Architect - Vermont Integrated Architecture

Extra! Extra!

2/26/21 1:59 PM

forest blocks and provide increased connectivity for wildlife habitat, and to provide regulatory relief for property owners on the Bolton Valley Access Rd. who want to expand homes or accessory structures.

2. Improve the protection and review of natural resources identified in the 2017 Bolton Town Plan.

3. Lessen the need for DRB review by allowing administrative approval of dead tree removal within stream buffers.

4. Disallow motor vehicle salvage yards as a conditional use in town.

5. Increase the size and variety of accessory dwelling units as associated with primary dwelling units.

6. Provide increased regulatory guidance to accessory on-farm businesses.

All geographic areas in Bolton will be affected by these amendments.

Specific sections to be amended: Section 2.3: Application of District Standards Section 3.4: Equal Treatment of Housing Section 3.17: Surface Waters and Wetlands Section 4.2: Accessory Dwelling Section 4.18: Salvage Yard Section 4.21: Addition of new section on agricultural businesses Section 5.2: Application Requirements Section 5.3: Site Plan Review Section 5.4: Conditional Use Review Section 7.2: General Standards Section 7.3: Protection of Natural and Cultural Resources Section 8.5: Review Standards Section 10.2: Definitions Zoning Map Copies of the proposed amendments are available for inspection, with an appointment, at the Bolton Town Office, 3045 Theodore Roosevelt Highway (RT 2) Bolton, VT 05676, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday to Thursday, except holidays, and on the Town’s website at http://boltonvt.com/boards-minutes/ planning-commission/.

The hearings are open to the public. If you cannot attend the hearing, comments may be made in writing prior to the hearing and mailed to: Zoning Administrator, 3045 Theodore Roosevelt Highway (US Route 2), Bolton, VT 05676, or via email to: zoningbolton@gmavt.net.

- Join via conference call (audio only): (802) 377-3784 | Conference ID: 590 879 654 # - Public wifi is available at the Essex municipal offices, libraries, and hotspots listed here: https:// publicservice.vermont.gov/content/ public-wifi-hotspots-vermont - Visit our website at www.essexvt.org.

1. Public Comments 2. CONSENT AGENDA: - Site Plan Amendment: Black Bay Ventures XIV/ LLC: Proposed exterior mechanical units at 19 Thompson Dr in the RPD-I zone. Tax Map 72, Parcel 9.

3. SITE PLAN AMENDMENT: Ed Lockerby: Proposed parking area expansion at 29 Gauthier Dr in the I1 Zone. Tax Map 9 Parcel 3-17.

4. PRELIMINARY/FINAL: Why Not, LLC: Proposal to subdivide a 3-acre parcel from a 125-acre parcel located at 39 Essex Way in the MXD-PUD zone, B1 subzone. Tax Map 91 Parcel 10.

5. Minutes: March 11, 2021 6. Other Business

VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT CHITTENDEN UNITE PROBATE DIVISION, SS. DOCKET NO.: 21-PR-00754 In re ESTATE of JANET FINDLEY, late of Essex Junction, Vermont.

NOTICE TO CREDITORS To the Creditors of JANET FINDLEY, late of Essex Junction, Vermont.

I have been appointed to administer this estate.

All creditors having claims against the decedent or the estate must present their claims in writing within four (4) months of the first publication of this notice. The claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. The claim may be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month period.

Dated: March 1, 2021 Signed: s/ JEFFREY G. FINDLEY, EXECUTOR c/o David C. Buran, Esq. Law Offices of David C. Buran PC 13 Appletree Ct Milton, VT 05468-3609 (802) 878-8588 Superior Court, Chittenden District Probate Division P.O. Box 511 Burlington, VT 05402-0511 Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: March 3, 2021

Say you saw it in... sevendaysvt.com SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

57

58 MARCH 3-10, 2021

ATTENTION RECRUITERS: POST YOUR JOBS AT: PRINT DEADLINE: FOR RATES & INFO:

JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POST-A-JOB NOON ON MONDAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) MICHELLE BROWN, 802-865-1020 X21, MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

YOUR TRUSTED LOCAL SOURCE. JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM Career Opportunity: Business Development Manager

Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital has a variety of positions available, including:

Bread Loaf Corporation, Vermont’s integrated company of architects, planners and builders, is searching for a Business Development Manager to join our sales team.

RNs, LNAs, Radiologic Technologists, MT or MLT, Administrative, Information Services and more!

The Business Development Manager takes the lead in the business development process: identifying, developing, and closing prospective and existing client business. Applicants must be fully engaged in the process of building strategic relationships with our clients and must find satisfaction in helping solve their problems. Candidates should have a background in architecture or construction management, at least five years of experience in business development in the industry and be results-oriented and organized.

FT and PT employees are eligible for excellent benefits including student loan repayment, generous paid time off, wellness reimbursement, low cost health insurance and 401k with company match!

Interested candidates may send their resume to resumes@breadloaf.com.

Join Our Team!

Finish Carpenters, Carpenters and Carpenters Helpers. Good Pay, Full Time and Long Term!

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Full-time, part-time and per diem schedules available.

Shift differentials and per diem rates offered.

Bread Loaf offers a competitive salary, a comprehensive benefits package and a friendly work environment. We thrive on innovative ideas and excellent work. Please visit our website, www.breadloaf.com, for more information about our company.

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Carpenters Wanted!

Needed Immediately!

MULTIPLE POSITIONS OPEN

Call Mike at 802-343-0089 or Morton at 802-862-7602.

APPLY TODAY AT NVRH.ORG/CAREERS. 2 POSITIONS OPEN:

3/1/21 4:02 PM

Onion River Outdoors is a community-minded bike and outdoor gear shop in Montpelier, Vermont. We are Central Vermont’s outdoor recreation experts, an eclectic and fun group of active folks seeking healthier, happier ways to live our lives by using the gear we sell as often as we can. We work hard and have fun. We recognize that our shop’s success is tied to the well-being of our Green Mountain landscape and our Central Vermont community.

Sales Associates:

Passion for outdoor pursuits, great communication skills, positive outlook, and personal experience with outdoor gear required. Bonus points for applicants who have retail background or experience leading/teaching outdoor activities.

Bike Mechanics:

DRILLER'S HELPER WATER WELL PUMP TECHNICIAN

We are looking for a self motivated person with a "clean" DMV record and reliable transportation, who takes pride in being on time and is willing to work 40+ hours a week. Position requires driving company vehicles. Must pass pre-employment drug test. Strong mechanical and technical abilities and a basic understanding of electrical wiring and plumbing, Must be able to lift and move 100 lbs; ability to work outdoors in all types of weather. Applicants will be able to with training pass the required certifications within 2 years of hire as a condition of employment. All training will be provided including safety training. Competitive wages and benefits offered (Health Ins, Life Ins, vacation and More).

Please submit resume in person or email to our office: Spafford and Sons, 11 North Main St., Jericho Vt. Monday - Friday between 7:00 am and 4:00 pm. Starts immediately. info@spaffordwaterwells.com

Qualified applicants will have a minimum of two years of recent bicycle repair experience, including working knowledge of current bike technology (suspension overhaul service, mountain and road hydraulic disc brake setup and maintenance, wheel-building, etc.). Applicants 4t-Spafford&Sons030321.indd must be organized, willing to learn, and be able to work efficiently and effectively as a member of a team in a customer-focused environment.

Experience working on e-bikes is a plus, as is previous retail work.

Both positions: Some weekend and holiday hours are a given, but so is a fun workplace in an active community. Paid vacation, competitive wages, and other benefits available. See our website for complete job descriptions and application information: onionriver.com.

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3/2/21

8/6/18 10:42 AM

COME BAKE WITH US! We’re hiring for bread, pastry, and kitchen positions!

We’re looking for individuals who enjoy work that exercises both body and mind and are passionate about making great food. We are committed to using high quality, organic ingredients and work with many local farmers to source these.

We opened in 1999 and remain dedicated to excellence in our baking 1:53 PM and cooking as well as creating an environment for people to thrive. We offer great pay and benefits including paid vacation/sick days, retirement plan, and health insurance.

Contact Randy at 223-5200 x12 or randy@redhenbaking.com.

3v-RedHenBaking030321.indd 1

3/1/21 3:52 PM

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

PART-TIME LATEX PAINT RECYCLER

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59 MARCH 3-10, 2021

OPERATORS $2,250.00 Sign-on Bonus!

WE’RE HIRING!

Night Shift: 7pm to 7am

The Environmental Depot Pay Rate: $17.44 (includes shift Program’s Latex Paint Claussen’s Florist, Greenhouse & Perennial differential) Facility is looking for an Farm is hiring for the Spring Season!

Schedules: Includes long, 4-day weekends off every other week! energetic, dependable person for part-time work Eligible for Benefits on Day 1: Open positions include: helping make our high • Medical, Dental & Vision plus 401K. Floral Department, Retail Sales, quality Local Color paint.

• Paid Vacation Time: Approximately 3 weeks per year (accrued).

The successful candidate • Paid Sick Time: 80 hours per year Grower Assistant, Greenhouse will be responsible for Education Assistance: Eligible after 6 months. & Perennial Production processing paint and related • Up to $5,250 per year in a degree related field. activities. This is physically Visit our website WWW.CLAUSSENS.COM Apply online at globalfoundries.com/about-us/careers. demanding and highly for position details & to apply.

For more information email jobs@globalfoundries.com. rewarding position. Hours 187 Main Street ~ Colchester, VT 05446 (802) 878-2361 are 7:30-3:30 with a flexible GlobalFoundries continues to fully operate and hire during COVID-19. schedule of working two days per week between Tuesday through Friday. , 1 2/28/21 4t-GlobalFoundries030321.indd 1 3/2/214t-ClaussensFlorist030321.indd 1:37 PM Must be able lift 60 pounds. $16.85/hour.

For more information on the position and CSWD, visit cswd.net/about-cswd/jobVermont Cookie Love is a openings. Send cover letter Part Time (10 hours) and resume to Amy Jewell, famous local stop for fresh-baked ajewell@cswd.net, Wake Robin seeks a part-time receptionist to welcome residents and guests to Cookies, frozen Cookie Dough, and by 3/10/2021. our community. The receptionist is responsible for receiving guest and visitors, our award winning Creemee/Ice Cream

RESTAURANT MANAGER

7:36 PM

RECEPTIONIST

3v-CSWD030321.indd 1

3/2/21

LIBRARY DIRECTOR The New Haven Community Library is seeking a Library Director. The position is 30 hours per week, including Saturdays. We are looking for an enthusiastic individual who is welcoming, serviceoriented, and has a passion for literature and learning.

The Library Director, as the only employee, is responsible for day-to-day operation of the library, and works with patrons of all ages.

For more information contact nhclsearch21@ gmail.com or follow the link to the VLA job description. vermontlibraries.org/ library-director-newhaven-community-librarynew-haven-vt.

3v-NewHavenLibrary022421.indd 1

providing assistance or information relevant to the community, managing a multiline phones system, as well as general office duties.The successful applicant will 1:24 PM have a high school diploma, or equivalent, and a minimum of 2-years of experience in a similar position in an environment with a high degree of public interaction.

HOUSEKEEPER

Full-Time

Vermont’s premier continuing Care Retirement Community seeks a member to join our housekeeping team. Housekeepers support residents who live independently by providing contactless housekeeping services in their homes while they are away.

Housekeepers are critical to the wellbeing of residents in a setting that utilizes best practices to maintain our Covid Free environment. Candidates must have housekeeping and/or industrial cleaning or industrial laundry experience.

COOK Wake Robin provides a fine dining experience with a focus on farm to plate freshness, and a work environment that is hard to find in the restaurant industry.

• We work from scratch, not from a box • 40% of our produce is local/organic • Innovative on-site protein butchering and smoking • Manageable schedule ending in early evening • Superb kitchen facilities with excellent benefits Our cook will have experience producing high quality soups, sauces and entrees from scratch, demonstrate experience in all aspects of cooking from grilling to sautéing, and pay strong attention to the quality of food consistency and delivery.

Wake Robin offers an excellent compensation and benefits package and an opportunity to build strong relationships with staff and residents in a dynamic community setting. Interested candidates please email hr@wakerobin.com or fax your resume with cover letter to: HR, (802) 264-5146. Wake Robin is an E.O.E.

2/22/21 9:20 AM 4t-WakeRobin030321.indd 1

offerings in the summer.

Now hiring a restaurant manager to join our amazing team in North Ferrisburgh! This is a fast paced and customer-focused store. Three years’ professional restaurant experience required. Daily operations include opening and closing, overseeing and managing staff & food production, and running the customer loyalty program. You will work alongside staff to ensure product quality, sizing and appearance. Must be able to work quickly and efficiently, be extremely reliable, understand the importance of customer service, and work well in a mature and collaborative environment.

COVID-19 considerations: We are only doing take-out food at the window; we do not offer indoor dining/seating. All customers who come to order or pick up food are required to wear a mask. Our interaction with the public is socially distanced and we have sanitization procedures in place.

Hours & Salary: • Seasonal/Full-time • Pay: $15.00 - $18.00 per hour + tips (an extra $3-$10 per hour) • This is a seasonal position but performance may result in year round position. Must have weekend and evening availability.

For more information and to apply, go to: https://bit.ly/3r5gqZq.

3/2/216t-VTCookieLove030321.indd 2:02 PM 1

3/2/21 10:19 AM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

60

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 3-10, 2021

Work at CCS and support our mission to build a community where everyone participates and belongs.

ENSURING

Champlain Community Services has been named a “Best Places to Work in Vermont” for the third year in a row and we want you to join our team. These positions include a comprehensive benefits package, including paid time off, affordable health insurance, paid holidays and more!

Program Manager Coordinate residential and community supports for a humorous woman who leads an active life and likes to spend time outside. The ideal candidate will enjoy working in a team-oriented position, have strong clinical skills, and demonstrated leadership. Client therapeutic needs require a female program manager, and two overnight shifts are required for this position.

SAFE TRAVELS

Join us as a Transportation Security Officer (TSO) and discover the rewards of a public service career with integrity, respect, commitment — and great federal benefits.

Employment Specialist Support individuals in developing career goals, securing employment, and on the job training and collaborate with area businesses to build partnerships for long-term community-based employment. The ideal candidate will demonstrate reliability, strong communication skills, and the ability to solve problems effectively and professionally.

Pay starts at

$17.47 PER HOUR*

Direct Support Professionals Join our Direct Support Professional team to work one-onone with individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism.

This is an excellent job for applicants entering human services or for those looking to continue their work in this field.

Overnight Supports Seeking experienced individuals to support a dynamic young woman with a quick wit and energetic personality.

She loves cars, animals, and a range of indoor and outdoor physical activities. She needs staff with patience, clear communication skills, and the ability to set strong boundaries, who can pass a criminal background check. You will support her in her home and the community in 24-hour shifts at $250 per shift including asleep overnights in a private, furnished bedroom.

Visit our website to apply ccs-vt.org.

CCS-VT.ORG

NOW HIRING Part-time Transportation Security Officers at

Burlington International Airport (BTV) Apply online: tsajobs.tsa.dhs.gov or text: “BTV” to 95495

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U.S. citizenship required. Equal opportunity employer.

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Careers

2/19/2021 2/19/21 9:24:49 3:10 AMPM

2/22/21 1:43 PM

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FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

SERVICE COORDINATOR

61 MARCH 3-10, 2021

SHARED LIVING PROVIDER Howard Center is seeking a Shared Living Provider (SLP) for a woman

Upper Valley Services, in her 50s who enjoys spending time with others and watching movies.

Inc. is actively seeking an The ideal provider(s) will live in wheelchair accessible home or a home experienced person to join that could be modified to be WCA, and be comfortable with complex our Moretown team as Service2h-CommonDeer030321.indd 1 3/1/21 3:16 PM medical issues and personal care needs. The individual has a great sense Coordinator supporting a of humor and would enjoy living with children and with pets. The small caseload of 5 to 8 provider will be supported by a clinical and in-home/respite team. people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Compensation includes generous annual stipend and respite budget.

Qualified candidates will have Assistance may be available for home modifications.

PH International (Project Harmony, Inc.) is an international non-profit with 35 the ability to assist people in years of experience focusing on civic engagement, cross cultural learning, For more information or to request an application, please contact all facets of person-centered and increased opportunities in the digital age. The U.S. headquarter office Patrick Fraser at patfraser@howardcenter.org practices to promote growth is located in Waitsfield, Vermont with field offices in Armenia, Bosnia & and community inclusion – or 802-871-2902.

Herzegovina, Republic of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine with projects also supporting full and implemented in other countries. fulfilling lives.

4t-HowardCenterSLP50030321.indd 1 3/1/21 This is a 40 hour/week position with full complement of benefits. Requires a valid driver’s license and completion of background checks.

Immediate full-time opening in the Waitsfield office for a highly Please send resume and letter qualified professional to be a key member of PH’s Senior Management of interest to Deb Reed by Team and oversee all accounting and financial functions.

March 17, 2021.

Demonstrated experience in non-profit accounting, business Dreed@uvs-vt.org EOE

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION

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3/2/21

Warehouse Associate Vasa, Inc. is the worldwide leader in dryland swim training exercise equipment and we are growing! We are looking for a Warehouse Associate to join our great team at a well established and respected company.

management, organizational leadership, and be highly adaptable to new online management systems. Knowledge of U.S. federal grant management and compliance is a must. Oversee all financial and 1:28 PM accounting systems and reporting; supervise accounting staff; develop and manage the annual budget process, annual audit, 990, and NICRA proposal; manage cash management and cash-flow; monitor investments and line of credit; approve reports, invoices, journal entries, and transactions; prepare monthly account reconciliations; ensure internal procedures are followed for new awards, cost share, sub recipients, and procurement; and lead financial report preparation and reporting for Senior Management and the Finance Committee of the Board of Directors. Experience working with international field offices and with multi-company accounting and consolidated financial statements is a plus; demonstrated experience with federal and state regulations related to payroll; effective problem solving, critical thinking, and systems evaluation skills; experience in organizational leadership and supervising staff.

FULL JOB DESCRIPTION & APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS AT: ph-int.org/vacancies.

To learn more about Vasa, Application deadline: March 29, 2021. EOE. Inc. and this position, please visit vasatrainer. com/jobs/. If you 1 ATTENTION RECRUITERS: have what it takes to be 6t-PHInternational030321.indd successful in this role, we POST YOUR JOBS AT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTMYJOB want to hear from you!

This is a part-time (20-30 hrs per week) position based at Vasa headquarters in Essex Junction, VT.

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PRINT DEADLINE: NOON ON MONDAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) FOR RATES & INFO: MICHELLE BROWN, 802-865-1020 X21, MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

4/25/16 6:25 PM

JOIN THE TEAM AT GARDENER’S SUPPLY! JOIN THE TEAM GARDENER’S SUPPLY! Through gardening, ourAT customers control their access to safe and affordable food, and grow food to share with their Through gardening, our customers their access neighbors.

At Gardener’s Supply, wecontrol are committed to to safe and affordable grow to sharekeep with their doing everything wefood, can and to help ourfood customers neighbors.

Supply, we are committed to gardening, At butGardener’s we need your help. doing everything we can to help our customers keep gardening, need your help.

We’re hiringbut for we SEASONAL POSITIONS AT ALL LOCATIONS: We’re hiring for SEASONAL AT ALL LOCATIONS: • Pick/Pack customer orders • Pick/Pack customer ordersPOSITIONS at our at our DISTRIBUTION CENTER IN MILTON DISTRIBUTION CENTER IN MILTON • Pick/Pack customer orders at our • Provide exceptional customer service our • Provide exceptional customer to our to customers DISTRIBUTION CENTER service IN MILTON customers the phone at our over the phone atover our CALL CENTER • Provide exceptional customer service to our CALL CENTER • Help customers with their gardening needs at our customers over the phone at our • Help customers with their needs at our WILLISTON & BURLINGTON, VT gardening GARDEN CENTERS CALL CENTER WILLISTON & BURLINGTON, VT GARDEN CENTERS • Manufacture high-quality products at our • Help customers with their gardening needs at our PRODUCTION FACILITY IN GEORGIA, VT & BURLINGTON, VT CENTERS WeWILLISTON are 100% employee-owned andGARDEN a Certified B Corporation. We offer strong cultural values, competitive Weand areoutstanding 100% employee-owned and a Certifi ed B wages benefits (including a tremendous Corporation.

We off er strong values, competitive discount!).

Please go tocultural our careers page at wageswww.gardeners.com/careers and outstanding benefits (including and applya tremendous online! discount!). Please go to our careers page at www.gardeners.com/careers and apply online!

3:57 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

62

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 3-10, 2021

RETAIL TEAM MEMBER Hinesburg, VT

PSYCHIATRIC REGISTERED NURSE

Addiction Treatment Program The RN is an essential part of a multi-disciplinary team providing evidence-based treatment to individuals with substance use disorders in an outpatient setting. This includes direct care to patients as well as care coordination, monitoring and education.

Learn more and apply: uvmmed.hn/sevendays

Greater Lamoille County’s Hospitalis is looking Greater Lamoille County’sExceptional Exceptional Community Community Hospital looking forfor an an

Executive to the CEO BillingAssistant Representative Executive Assistant to Billing Representative Executive Assistant to the the CEO CEO Want to work in a vital role while helping to support your community?

Greater Lamoille County’s CommunityHospital Hospital is looking for an Greater Lamoille County’sExceptional Exceptional Community is looking for an Greater Lamoille County’s Exceptional Community Hospital is looking for an

Want to work in a vital role while helping to support your community?

Want to work a vitalrole rolewhile while helping helping totosupport your community?

Want to work in in a vital support your community?

Want to work in athe vital roleBiller helping to support community?

TheHospital Executive CEO iswhile the primary administrative support to the CEO of Copley isAssistant seeking atofull time to join our Patientyour Financial Services Team

Hospital is seeking a fullthe timeBoard Biller to our Patient Services Team functions CopleyCopley Health Systems, Inc. and of join Trustees.

TheFinancial Executive Assistant The Executive Assistant to the CEO is the primary administrative support to the CEO of The Executive Assistant to the CEOCHS isfor the primary administrative support to the CEO of In this role you would beliaison responsible for the following: asCopley the administrative to the Board of Trustees, the Copley Woodlands Board In this role you would be responsible theoffollowing: Health Systems, Inc. and the Board Trustees. The Executive Assistant functions Copley Health Systems, Inc. and thePresident.

Board of Trustees.

TheasExecutive Assistant functions of and the Medical Staff They serve the Administrative Support asDirectors, the administrative liaison to the CHS Board of Trustees, the Copley Woodlands Board • submission Claim submission to to insurance the administrative liaison the CHSmonitoring Board of Trustees, the Copley Woodlands Board • asClaim to insurance Team Leader, managing projects, workflow, appropriate of Directors, andup the Staff President. They serve as theassuring Administrative Support • Follow forMedical unresolved claims of Directors, and the Medical Staff President.

They serve the individual Administrative Supportto support, and coordinating vacation time.asThis is required • administrative Follow upLeader, for unresolved claims Team managing projects, monitoring workflow, assuring appropriate • Resolve patient inquires Team Leader, managing projects, monitoring workflow, assuring appropriate work independently, making decisions and interfaces with internal and externalto • Resolve inquires administrative support, and coordinating vacation time.

This individual is required • patient Working closely with other departments to resolve billing administrative support, and coordinating vacation time.

Thisissues individual is required to customers at all levels work independently, making decisions and interfaces with internal and external 3/1/21 3:05 PM • Working closely with making other resolvewith billing issues • independently, Billing experience helpfuldepartments but not necessary work decisions and to interfaces internal and external customers at all levels customers at all levels •If you Billing not necessary haveexperience 5+ years of helpful support but services experience in a healthcare or related setting., we Qualifications: A team approachwant with customer serviceyou! computer skills. Must be able toexperience hear from If you have 5+ years of support services in and a healthcare or related setting., we If you of support services experience to have work 5+ wellyears with others and bring a positive attitude.in a healthcare or related setting., we want to hear from you! want to hear from you!

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Substitute Proofreader

Qualifications: AReach teamout approach with customer service andorcomputer skills. to Shannen Dando at sdando@chsi.org apply online at Must be able Reach out tobring Shannen Dando at at sdando@chsi.org sdando@chsi.org apply online at at to work well withReach others aDando positive attitude. or or https://www.copleyvt.org/careers/ outand to Shannen apply online Reach out to Shannen Dando at sdando@chsi.org or apply online at https://www.copleyvt.org/careers/ https://www.copleyvt.org/careers/ https://www.copleyvt.org/careers/

Reach out to Shannen Dando at sdando@chsi.org or apply online at https://www.copleyvt.org/careers/ Exceptional Care. Community Focused. That’s Copley.

(part-time, as-needed basis)

Exceptional Care. Community Focused. That’s Copley.

Exceptional Care. Community Focused. That’s Copley.

Exceptional Care. Community Focused. That’s Copley.

Seven Days is looking for a substitute proofreader to cover the following shifts on an as-needed basis: Mondays, noon-8 p.m.; Tuesdays, 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m.; and Thursdays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

A proofreading test will be administered during the interview process. Send cover letter, resume and references by March 17 to proof@sevendaysvt.com.

No phone calls or drop-ins, please.

Seven Days is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

sevendaysvt.com

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Previous experience required.

Full-time, seasonal position.

To apply, see job description at redwagonplants.com/blog and contact: Retail Manager, Lily Belisle, lily@redwagonplants. com with resume, 3 references, and a cover letter describing why you’d like to work with plants and with Red Wagon. Tell us why you want to share your love of gardening with others.

Exceptional Care. Community Focused. That’s Copley.

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1 2/23/21 3v-RedWagonPlants030321.indd 11:45 AM

Senior Accounting Associate

We are an established CPA firm seeking an experienced bookkeeper for our accounting services department. You should be able to demonstrate a thorough understanding of professional accounting and bookkeeping practices to help our clients grow. We are seeking someone who enjoys a position of responsibility, ownership, and problem-solving. An ability to maintain confidentiality is a must. You should have experience with the following:

Must be scrupulously attentive to mistakes in spelling, grammar, style and layout, for both print and online copy. The right candidate will also be a capable multitasker, excellent communicator and swift, savvy fact-checker who works well under pressure. Proofreading experience required; publications experience strongly preferred.

Strong computer skills and fast, reliable internet necessary for working remotely during the pandemic. Position will eventually be based in our Burlington office. Experience with Adobe InCopy a huge plus.

Join Red Wagon this spring! We count on our retail team to be knowledgeable, courteous, and confident. We now have multiple ways of shopping at Red Wagon, in person and online. When not helping customers we’re moving plants all day long, restocking, and keeping the greenhouses clean, tidy, and inspiring. We expect our retail crew to have a strong memory so that they can recognize our regular customers, remember plant names and know where all the plants are located.

• QuickBooks, QuickBooks Online and Excel • Accounts payable, accounts receivable, bookkeeping entries, closing books monthly, preparing financial reporting and analysis • Payroll, Sales & Use, and Use Tax and other electronic submissions • Quarterly and Year-End payroll filings and 1099s • Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, verbally and in writing Our Firm works with a diverse number of clients from small business owners to nonprofits. We pride ourselves on understanding and anticipating our client’s needs. We are a high tech, high-quality firm with flexible hours, and an excellent compensation package.

Send resumes to:

mariann@fsv-cpas.com

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2/26/21 1:12 PM

Looking for a Sweet Job? Our mobile-friendly job board is buzzing with excitement.

Job seekers can: • Browse hundreds of current, local positions from Vermont companies.

• Search for jobs by keyword, location, category and job type.

• Set up job alerts.

• Apply for jobs directly through the site.

Start applying at jobs.sevendaysvt.com

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11/17/20 12:02 PM

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Housekeeper

JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Zoning Administrator

· Trustworthiness · Reliable vehicle · Commitment to the job · Passion to clean For more information please visit our career site at jodiscleaningservice.org.

Or email me at jodiclean@comcast.net.

The Town of Charlotte is recruiting for a Zoning Administrator.

The primary responsibility of this position is to administer land use permitting. The position is also responsible for enforcement of the Charlotte Land Use Regulations, wastewater system permitting (with the assistance of a Licensed Designer), performance of the statutory duties of the Health Officer, and issuing E911 addresses.

The position is a permanent position approved for 32-40 hours per week, to be determined at time of hire. The starting wage rate is between $22.00 and $24.89, based on qualifications and experience. Generous health benefits are offered.

Complete job description is at charlottevt.org; see right-hand sidebar. Please send resumé and cover letter, and any questions, to: dean@townofcharlotte.com.

Mary Johnson Children’s Center seeks a dynamic Operations Manager to join the leadership team.

This well-established nonprofit has served families of Addison County for more than fifty years. MJCC seeks a candidate who can work in partnership with the ED, board, staff, community partners, and current and prospective funders to design and execute a plan for strategic financial structure that allows for fiscal health and growth of the Center. Duties also include human resource responsibilities. Over the last 50 years, the Center has provided a wide array of services to children and families in Addison County and has overseen early childhood and school age initiatives and systems both locally and statewide. Come join our team!

For additional details and job description, please go to this link: mjccvt.org/employment.

Email Resume to Kristen Dunne at kristen@mjccvt.org.

The position is open until filled. E.O.E.

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2/8/21 3:24 PM

S O A P C R E AT E S H O P E

Join the team of an essential Vermont business!

Twincraft Skincare is a custom contract manufacturer producing bar soap, body wash, and other essential personal care products.

Working Fields is a mission-driven staffing agency that empowers people with barriers to employment and provides an innovative solution to businesses seeking committed employees. A Vermont Benefit Corporation, Working Fields provides ongoing support to our associates through a unique coaching model.

We are currently hiring for the following positions to support our growth and expanded impact:

CONTROLLER We are an established, growing and innovative personal care product manufacturer with three facilities located in Winooski and Essex Junction, Vermont. We are searching for an individual who is naturally orientated as follows:

ACCOUNT MANAGERS South Burlington and Rutland

We are seeking two Account Managers to support growth in Chittenden and Rutland counties. These are full-time, salaried positions responsible for placing and managing Associates on assignment. Account Managers work closely with employers, referring agencies, associates, and coaches.

This is a fast-paced, multi-faceted position that is well suited for a person with experience working with individuals that have obstacles to employment.

RECOVERY COACHES

Chittenden, Rutland and Washington counties Part-time, contractual

Recovery coaches provide weekly support to our Associates placed on job assignment with our client employers. Schedule and work location are flexible.

Recovery coaches who are trained by a certified recovery coaching program preferred, but others interested in obtaining training are encouraged to apply.

For full job descriptions, please visit: workingfields.com/Join-Our-Growing-Team-Improve-Lives Please send cover letter and resume to: secondchances@workingfields.com

• Energized by the challenge of providing simple, applicable data within an artisanal manufacturing environment • Collaboratively facilitates organizational initiatives in craft production, utilizing dynamic rather than rigid solutions • Directs accounting functions—including Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable • Responsible for financial statements, budgeting, tax filing, & insurance • Develops a robust finance team • Manages organization’s Information Technology Managed Service Provider Does this opportunity excite you? If so, we encourage you to apply or reach out to us. Experience in manufacturing and management is preferred but not required. We are willing to develop the right person who has an open mindset and aptitude to thrive in our highly dynamic, artisanal manufacturing business.

If you are looking to achieve more in a fresh environment, consider joining our family-owned business. We offer competitive compensation and a comprehensive benefit package above and beyond the normal offering.

3/1/21 11:25 AM

We operate with a head for business, a heart for people and a passion for bringing the two together!

To learn more & apply, visit: twincraft.com/twincraft-careers 9t-TwincraftSoap030321.indd 1

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63 MARCH 3-10, 2021

Operations Manager

Town of Charlotte

We are hiring for a full-time cleaner for the Chittenden area!

No experience needed, we offer training. Our main requirements for the position:

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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY!

2/26/21 3:36 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

64

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 3-10, 2021

PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEE BRISTOL, VERMONT

The Town of Bristol is seeking qualified candidates to join the 5-member Public Works Department.

Bristol (pop. 3,894) is a steadily growing, vibrant community located in the Champlain Valley in Addison County, Vermont.

The Public Works Department supports the community in many ways beyond maintaining roads, sidewalks, and equipment. This position involves a variety of tasks relating to maintaining Bristol’s transportation system, public infrastructure, and municipal facilities.

The Public Works Employee is responsible for routine maintenance, repair work, plowing, and following the direction of the Foreman. The position is full-time, requiring a flexible schedule which may include nights, weekends, and holidays.

A detailed job description is available at www.bristolvt.org.

Wage: $16.00 to $19.00 per hour commensurate with experience.

Excellent benefits package.

To apply, please e-mail a confidential cover letter, resume, and three references by the end of the day Wednesday, March 10, 2021 to townadmin@bristolvt.org with Bristol Public Works Employee in the subject line or send to: Bristol Public Works Employee Search P.O. Box 249, Bristol, VT 05443 The Town of Bristol is an equal opportunity provider and employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, religion, gender, or familial status.

Assistant Controller Opportunity to join a mission-driven, innovative funding organization with a comprehensive approach to affordable housing and community development linked with land conservation and historic preservation.

A mission you can get behind!

Join our financial team to help with monthly financial operations, assist with the management of state, federal and private funding sources, reporting and requisitioning of funds, compliance, analysis, audit related functions and supporting the payroll processes. This unique, newly created position ensures a challenging and supportive work environment!

Skills and qualifications include a working knowledge of fund accounting, GAAP, governmental and/or not-for-profit accounting and experience with federal grant administration and regulations. Stellar attention to detail and concern for accuracy. An eagerness and ability to learn in a dynamic environment. Proficiency with Excel, Word, PDF and accounting software is required with additional experience using database and document management systems helpful. If you have three years’ experience in accounting functions with a degree in accounting, or additional experience without a degree, come work with us!

Full-time position with competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package. For the full job description visit: vhcb.org/about-us/jobs. EOE. Please reply with cover letter and résumé to: jobs@vhcb.org. Position will remain open until filled.

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Find jobs on

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follow us for the newest: twitter.com/ SevenDaysJobs

2/19/21 2:27 PM

TRAINING & COACHING SPECIALIST - FULL TIME Work independently and as part of a strong team to implement a comprehensive training program for the State of Vermont, Division of Family Services. Provide consultation, training and coaching to primarily Kin, Foster and Adoptive caregivers.

Engage with FSD staff, trainers, and community partners to include work with diverse populations.

Greater Lamoille County’s CommunityHospital Hospital is looking for an Greater Lamoille County’sExceptional Exceptional Community is looking for an GreaterExecutive Lamoille County’s Exceptional Community is looking for an Assistant to Hospital the CEO Employee Health & Wellness Nurse

Greater Lamoille County’s Exceptional Community Hospital is looking for an

Employee Health & Wellness Nurse

Executive Assistant to the CEO Want toWant work in a vital roleAssistant while helping to to support your community?

Executive the CEO to work in a vital role while helping to support your community?

Greater Lamoille County’s Exceptional Community Hospital is looking for an Want to work in a vital role while helping to support your community?

WantAssistant to work in vitalCEO roleiswhile helping to support your support community?

The Executive toathe the primary administrative to the CEO of Copley Hospital is seeking an RN LPNto to join join our as an Health Health & Copley Hospital is seeking an RN oror LPN ourteam team asEmployee an Employee & Copley Health Inc. and role the Board of Trustees.

The Executive Assistant functions WantSystems, to work in a vital while helping to support your community?

Wellness Nurse.

This roleprimary can be be part-time or full-time.

The Executive Assistant to the CEO isrole the administrative support to the CEO of Wellness Nurse.

This can part-time full-time. as the administrative liaison to the CHS Board of Trustees, theor Copley Woodlands Board Copley Healthyou Systems, Inc. and thefor Board of Trustees. The Executive Assistant functions InExecutive this role and would beto responsible the following: The Assistant the Staff CEO President. is the primary administrative support to the CEO of of Directors, the Medical They serve as the Administrative Support as the administrative liaison to the Board of Trustees, the Copley Woodlands Board In this role you would be responsible for CHS the following: Copley Health Systems, Inc. and the Board of Trustees.

The Executive Assistant functions Team Leader, managing projects, monitoring workflow, assuring appropriate of Directors, and the Medical Staff President.

They servescreenings, as the Administrative Support • Developing and providing health education via health new employee as the administrative liaison the CHS Board of Trustees, Woodlands Boardto administrative support, andtocoordinating vacation time. the ThisCopley individual is required Team Leader, managing projects, monitoring workflow, assuring new appropriate orientation, periodic classes and workshops.

• Developing and health education via health of work Directors, and providing theand Medical Staff President.

They serve asscreenings, the Administrative Support independently, making decisions and interfaces with internal andemployee external administrative support, and coordinating • Providing immunizations when needed.vacation time. This individual is required to orientation, and periodic classes andmonitoring workshops.

Team Leader, managing projects, workflow, assuring appropriate customers at all levels • Contributing to annual review of healthand benefits. work independently, making decisions interfaces with internal and external administrative support, and coordinating vacation time. This individual is required to • Providing immunizations when needed.

• Educating staff and community members customers atregarding all levelsthe importance of healthy lifestyle. independently, making decisions and interfaces with and external • IfContributing to annual review of health benefits.

• Promoting good health and disease prevention strategies usinginternal evidence-based practice. youwork have 5+ years of support services experience in a healthcare or related setting., we customers atregarding all levels • Educating andof community members the importance of healthy want toexperience hear from you!

If you havestaff 5+ years support services in a healthcare or related setting.,lifestyle. we Qualifications: Current Vermont RN or LPN experience in community or work site health • Promoting good health and disease prevention using evidence-based practice. want to hear fromstrategies you! programs.

Experience Microsoft Office Suite.

If you have 5+ yearsout of with support services experience in a healthcare or online relatedatsetting., we Reach to Shannen Dando at sdando@chsi.org or apply want to hear from you! https://www.copleyvt.org/careers/ Reach Shannen Dando sdando@chsi.org atat site health Reach outout to to Shannen atatsdando@chsi.org or apply apply online online Qualifications: Current Vermont RN or Dando LPN experience in community or work https://www.copleyvt.org/careers/ https://www.copleyvt.org/careers/ programs. Experience with Reach outMicrosoft to ShannenOffice DandoSuite. at sdando@chsi.org or apply online at https://www.copleyvt.org/careers/

Reach out to Shannen Dando at sdando@chsi.org or apply online at Exceptional Care. Community Focused. That’s Copley. https://www.copleyvt.org/careers/ Exceptional Care. Community Focused. That’s Copley.

Exceptional Care. Community Focused. That’s Copley.

Exceptional Care. Community Focused. That’s Copley.

Participate in assessment of learning needs, curriculum development, evaluation and training, utilizing a variety of media & technologies.

Master’s degree in social work or a related field and three to four years’ experience in child welfare and/or youth justice required.

Knowledge and experience in child protection, youth justice, child/ family health/mental health, trauma informed care, racial equity, human development, foster care and/or adoption required.

Experience designing curricula and teaching/training for adult learners required.

Coaching and supervision experience desired. Ability to manage multiple deadlines and strong written and verbal communication skills required. Ability to travel frequently to off-site work locations around the state required.

The University is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the institution.

Applicants are required to include in their cover letter information about how they will further this goal.

Main office located on the UVM campus, off-site work locations may also be available. Please apply online at https://www.uvmjobs.com/postings43426.

Exceptional Care. Community Focused. That’s Copley.

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8/6/18 4:17 PM

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

65 MARCH 3-10, 2021

WHERE YOU AND YOUR WORK MATTER...

Join NPI, Vermont’s premier Technology Management firm.

Have fun and delight clients.

NPI appreciates its staff, and offers a pet-friendly office, generous time off, matching 401k, family health coverage, Flexible Spending Accounts, open-book management, and profit-sharing.

EAP SPECIALIST – BURLINGTON

IT Service Manager As NPI’s IT Service Manager, you will lead NPI's service team in providing stellar client satisfaction, efficient and prompt customer support, and on-time and on-budget project completion.

Responsibilities include mentoring, budgeting, and workflow improvement. 3+ years of prior service management experience in IT or another industry required. Learn more: tinyurl.com/NPI-SM-SD2

Canopy IT Support Technician As a member of our top-flight Canopysm team, you will be a go-to for products and applications clients rely on every day. The team handles support requests, monitors network Sound components, configures workstations and interesting? users, automates service delivery, reports on system health, and resolves issues.

Apply online You will work in our office most days, with today! occasional visits to client sites. 1 year fulltime IT experience required.

The public, nonprofit Invest EAP Centers for Wellbeing provides short-term solution-focused counseling to help working Vermonters - from CEOs to front-line staff - manage life’s daily challenges. Join our exciting team and make a difference! We also help our less fortunate neighbors connect with the services and resources.

This benefited position can be based anywhere in Vermont. We prefer a license in mental health counseling, psychology, family and marriage therapy, or social work. For more information, contact Marc Adams at 802-8637390 or marca@investeap.org. Department: Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living. Status: Full Time. Job ID #12381. Application Deadline: March 17, 2021.

ADMINIS TRATIVE SERVICES COORDIN ATOR III – BURLINGTON

Make a difference! Invest EAP Centers for Wellbeing is seeking an Administrative Services Coordinator III. This position provides complex administrative work for the ICAN Program. These responsibilities require skills in complex case management, the ability to work with consumers having significant barriers to employment, a strong customer service framework, the ability to work in multiple computer databases. Bachelor’s degree in a Human Services field is required. Master’s degree is preferred. For more information, contact Marc Adams at 802-863-7390 or marca@investeap.org. Department: Disabilities, Aging, and Independent Living. Status: Full Time. Job ID #12382.

Application Deadline: March 21, 2021.

Learn more at: careers.vermont.gov

The State of Vermont is an Equal Opportunity Employer

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2/26/21 3:15 PM

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2/26/21 3:50 PM

Learn more: tinyurl.com/NPI-Canopy4-SD

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3/1/21 9:30 AM

NOW HIRING! - $15.00/HOUR! FoodScience Corporation, developer of nutritional supplements for humans and pets, is seeking:

• MACHINE OPERATORS • SHIPPING PICKING & PACKING AGENTS Our ideal candidates will have a High School Diploma or GED, must be able to lift up to 50lbs while bending, twisting and/or standing and will be required to stand regularly.

FoodScience Corporation offers a competitive wage, comprehensive benefits package and flexible shifts.

If you are passionate and committed about helping people and their pets live healthier lives every day, apply today!

Resumes to Human Resources, hr@foodsciencecorp.com or at 929 Harvest Lane, Williston, VT 05495.

FoodScience Corporation provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, parental status, crime victims or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

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2/26/21 12:33 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

66

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 3-10, 2021

Economic Development Position The Lake Champlain Islands Economic Development Corporation (LCIEDC) is looking for a new Executive Director. The candidate will lead in promoting economic growth within the Islands Community and explore all opportunities for development both financially and culturally for residents, businesses and tourists.

Candidate should convey a vision for the Islands, is a self-starter with experience in management and working with diverse people and organizations, has proven experience with P & L and budget management, real estate, has relevant college and/or experience and has proven communication and social skills. Strong connection to the Islands community is desirable. This position will begin mid to late June 2021. Position is currently 30 hours per week and may increase as programs develop. Salary is based on experience.

Interested candidates may email cover letter and resume to info@champlainislands.com or via mail to LCIEDC, P.O. Box 212, North Hero, VT 05474.

NorthCountry is Hiring!

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3/2/21 1:43 PM

Join the team Gallup ranks in the top 3% worldwide for employee engagement!

WORKOUT AND COLLECTIONS OFFICER Union Bank, a highly successful community bank headquartered in Morrisville, VT, with locations throughout northern Vermont and New Hampshire, is seeking an experienced Workout and Collections Officer.

This individual will be responsible for the workout and collection of delinquent and problem residential and consumer loans to limit credit losses, following established lending, secondary market, government agency, policies, procedures, and criteria. Activities include establishing trial payment period plans, special payment arrangements, loan modifications, as well as processing foreclosures, repossessions and small claims filings. Working with the Sr. Residential & Consumer Loan Officer, this individual will coordinate the management and liquidation of real estate properties held by the bank.

The successful candidate will have a minimum of five years of banking experience, particularly in residential and consumer lending. An Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Business or related field is preferred. Having prior experience in residential loan workouts and collections is a plus, but we will train the right individual for the position.

Salary will be commensurate with experience. Union Bank offers a comprehensive benefits program including three medical and two dental insurance plan options, 401(k) retirement plan with a generous company match, life and disability insurance, and paid vacation and sick leave along with continuing education opportunities.

Please submit a cover letter, resume, references and salary requirements to:

Human Resources - Union Bank P.O. Box 667, Morrisville, Vermont 05661 – 0667

Information Security Program Manager

E.O.E. - MEMBER FDIC

Data security is our organization’s top strategic priority. As one of Vermont’s largest credit unions, we are responsible for the safekeeping of the personal and financial information of over 60,000 people who trust and rely on the integrity of our systems, policies, and procedures.

As a leader in our organization, the ISPM will work with others on our team to identify and protect against current and developing threats including security breaches, attacks by cyber-criminals, and accidental disclosures. They will be responsible for our Information Security Program, perform security compliance audits, and provide regular updates to executive management and the board of directors.

In addition to a clear understanding of the challenges of information security, the ISPM must have the ability to describe security issues to people throughout the credit union, and work with our training staff to promote best practices and a culture of awareness. Qualified candidates must have at least eight years of related experience and an appropriate master’s degree. A bachelor’s degree plus professional certification may also be considered.

NorthCountry offers competitive pay, opportunity for advancement, and a generous benefit program. n Paid holidays & paid time off n Medical, dental & vision

insurance n Life insurance

n 401(k) with employer

matching up to 10% n Employee training n Wellness program

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2/23/21 11:24 AM

New, local, scam-free jobs posted every day!

We would love to hear from you!

Apply at NorthCountryFederalCreditUnion.appone.com.

NorthCountry is an equal opportunity employer.

www.northcountry.org

jobs.sevendaysvt.com

Insured by NCUA

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3/1/21 4:05 PM

10/13/20 1:38 PM

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REAL ESTATE PARALEGAL

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY!

Hayes, Windish & Badgewick is seeking an associate attorney to join our team.

Preference is given to those with 3-5 years’ experience in civil litigation, but those just starting with strong work ethic and motivation will be considered too.

We offer a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, 401(k) and Profit Sharing.

We are a small general practice firm with an emphasis on civil litigation, insurance defense, and workers’ compensation matters. We seek a candidate who is interested and has high ethical standards, strong skills in research and writing, along with the patience and desire to learn the profession. Competitive pay and benefits offered. Position to remain open until filled. Please send your resume and cover letter electronically to:

Interested applicants should submit cover letter, résumé and references to: fmiller@gravelshea.com. All inquiries are held in the strictest confidence.

GRAVELSHEA.COM E.O.E.

Penny Webster, Office Manager HAYES, WINDISH & BADGEWICK pwebster@woodstockvtlaw.com

Seven Days Issue: 3/3 Due: 3/1 by 11am Size: 3.83 x 7 Cost: $570.35 (with 1 week online)

2/26/21 4t-HayesWindish&Badgewick012021.indd 12:08 PM 1

Engaging minds that change the world

Seeking a position with a quality employer? Consider The University of Vermont, a stimulating and diverse workplace. We offer a comprehensive benefit package including tuition remission for on-going, full-time positions.

Educational Developer - Center for Teaching and Learning #S2705PO - The University of Vermont Center for Teaching and Learning (https://www.uvm.edu/ctl/) is looking for an Educational Developer to work with a community dedicated to teaching excellence. We’re a friendly, creative, enthusiastic group of professionals, and we’re excited to welcome a new member to our team.

We’re looking for someone with a Master’s degree and two to four years of professional experience in one or more of these areas: instructional design, resource development to support teaching and learning, design and facilitation of professional development programs, and/or direct faculty instructional technology support experience.

In addition, it’s required that you have knowledge of instructional design and inclusive teaching strategies, learning management systems, and other instructional technologies. You will be working on multiple projects simultaneously, so demonstrated project management skills are required.

As interaction with people is the core of our work, effective communication, facilitation, and interpersonal skills are essential. You will also need the ability to clearly explain technical information to colleagues with varied technical backgrounds.

Database & Application Administrator - Database Administration #S2694PO - As a member of the Database Administration (DBA) team, ensure the performance, integrity, availability and security of The University of Vermont’s mission-critical enterprise software platforms. Primary responsibilities include the design, installation, configuration, upgrade and patching, monitoring and tuning of applications, middleware, fault-tolerant Oracle databases and related components to ensure data is available, protected and easily accessible by both academic and administrative solutions. Provide project management, capacity planning, change management, quality assurance, recovery, business continuity and other related services and general technical support and coordination.

Minimum qualifications include: • ERP system administration experience including installation, upgrade, patching, configuration and management of web, application, batch, integration, authentication and reporting services.

• Experience building and administering Oracle databases in large-scale production Linux environments • Thorough knowledge of the entire technology stack supporting complex software systems, including operating systems, network architecture and security bets practices.

For further information on this position and others currently available, or to apply online, please visit www.uvmjobs.com. Applicants must apply for positions electronically. Paper resumes are not accepted. Open positions are updated daily. Please call 802-656-3150 or email employment@uvm. edu for technical support with the online application.

The University of Vermont is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.

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MARCH 3-10, 2021

ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY

Gravel & Shea PC seeks an experienced paralegal to join our commercial real estate practice in Burlington, VT. The ideal candidate will have at least three to five years of title search and real estate closing experience. Candidates must have the following skills: excellent independent research and analytical skills; willingness to adapt quickly to challenging and stimulating assignments; excellent writing and communication skills; and the ability to meet deadlines.

This is a detail oriented position that requires the ability to work with others both inside and outside the firm. Candidate must have a valid driver’s license. Adaptability to technology and advanced experience with Microsoft Office software is also important.

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67

JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

1/19/21 11:09 AM

LOAN CLOSING OFFICER VEDA is looking for a full-time Loan Closing Officer whose primary responsibility will be to prepare loan documents and handle all aspects of closings for VEDA’s agricultural, commercial and SBA loan programs. This position can be based in Middlebury, Montpelier or Burlington but due to COVID-19, it is expected to be remote based for a period of time.

The Loan Closing Officer will work under the supervision of the Director of Closing and prepare loan closing documentation based on loan program, borrower, and collateral specifics. Other duties include reviewing commitment letters and other documentation necessary for loan closings, communicating with borrowers, attorneys and other lenders, and scheduling and attending loan closings.

Preferred candidates will have a minimum of 5 years of experience within a legal setting. Specialized paralegal and/or financial institution experience is beneficial. Other important abilities include strong written, verbal, and computer skills; excellent customer service; and a proven team approach. This position requires travel within the State of Vermont.

VEDA offers a competitive salary and benefits package and is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer. We are interested in increasing staff diversity and welcome job applications from all qualified candidates.

To apply, please email resume with cover letter to Cheryl Houchens: chouchens@veda.org.

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF LEARNING South Burlington Schools The South Burlington School District is seeking qualified candidates for an Executive Director of Learning.

Primary responsibilities are the district’s curriculum, assessment, instructional practice and staff professional development learning.

The position has direct supervision of the Office of Learning Administrative Assistant & Grant Coordinator, the Director of Technology, technology integrationists, English Language teachers, the District Math Coordinator, instructional coaches and after school program. The Executive Director of Learning serves a senior member of the educational advisory team for the superintendent.

Qualified candidates will hold a Vermont Educator’s license with a Director of Curriculum endorsement.

A superintendent’s license or eligibility for licensure is desirable. A minimum of a Master’s Degree is required, with evidence of additional graduate-level coursework preferred. Three or more years in a district leadership role is required with proven analytical skills for evaluating teaching strategies and instructional materials, effective communication, decision making and problem solving skills are essential.

Mastery of technology skills to advance the learning capabilities of students and staff is required. A thorough understanding of universal design for student learning and commitment to diversity and inclusion is required.

Interested candidates may submit their letter of interest, resume and credential via SchoolSpring.com Job ID #3450546 by March 24, 2021.

2/23/21 1 10:40 AM 2/26/21LS-SouthBurlingtonSchoolDistrict022421.indd 10:48 AM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

68

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 3-10, 2021

Drop-In Resource Coordinator https://bit.ly/3jcbsXq

Supported Housing Program Staff Is currently seeking:

2 positions available https://bit.ly/3uFzQWN

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3/1/21 10:43 AM

With locations in Portland, ME and Burlington, VT is hiring:

Community Investments Officer

We are adding to the Community Investments team a Community Investments Officer. This position is highly specialized and guides complex Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) transactions from development through the investment and closing process. This position requires a high degree of skill in communications, both verbal and written for establishing relations with internal and external partners, lenders, and developers to analyze and close Evernorth’s tax credit investment opportunities. Key competencies include project management, analytical and critical thinking; high- level organizational skills with attention to detail; interpersonal skills and promoting the mission of Evernorth to its partners and the public. This position may be in either office location.

Director, Underwriting

We are adding to the Community Investments team a Director of Underwriting. This position is primarily responsible for overseeing and leading the underwriting of Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) investments and the critical role in the adherence to investor driven expectations. A vital function of the position is to direct and advise underwriting of complex transactions and coordinates with the Capital Management and Asset Management teams to meet organizational objectives and mission impacts related to project investments.

Key competencies include real estate finance and underwriting; staff mentoring; outstanding interpersonal skills and promoting the mission of Evernorth to its partners and the public through a variety of means. This position may be in either office.

To apply, please send a cover letter with salary requirements and a resume to Beth Boutin, VP Community Investments at HR@evernorthus.org. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer.

IT Support Specialist Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA), located in Burlington VT, is recruiting for an IT Support Specialist. Recently named one of the “Best Places to Work in Vermont,” VHFA is committed to advancing racial and social equity through its role financing and promoting affordable, decent housing for low- and moderate-income Vermonters . The Agency’s Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee is open to all staff and charged with advancing organizational, programmatic and leadership initiatives to further shared racial and social equity goals within our community (https://www.vhfa.org/partners/justice-equity-diversity-inclusion), including addressing the needs of Vermonters who have been historically marginalized. VHFA is looking for an individual with strong communication skills who will support current IT needs while helping to build the Agency’s future IT infrastructure, maintain our great reputation, and advance our mission.

The focus of this position is to assist with support of a Windows-based client/server network, maintain VHFA workstations, and set up hardware and software. They will also work with IT staff to source, select and implement the Agency’s hardware, software or other systems needs, and assist with providing support for web issues related to Drupal websites, HTML/JavaScript/PHP/MySQL websites, Google Analytics, MailChimp, Social Media, and other software.

Demonstrated success in a Windows client/virtual server environment is required. Formal coursework or degrees in computer science is highly preferred. Success in providing direct user support (help desk), specifically in the Microsoft Office Suite, advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 products, particularly Word and Excel, and familiarity with programming languages, such as PHP, HTML, SQL (MS SQL, MySQL), JavaScript, is required. Basic knowledge of web software including but not limited to Drupal CMS, Google Analytics, MailChimp, Social Media, proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite (PhotoShop, InDesign, Illustrator), and a demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and their application in the workplace, is desirable. A demonstrated willingness and ability to speak up in the face of injustice and experience promoting a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion, is preferred.

Candidates must be able to identify, isolate and resolve network and PC (hardware and software) problems, exhibit an understanding of how technology can exacerbate inequities and how it can be used to support inclusivity, work effectively with end users and vendors, which includes the ability to explain technical information clearly in non-technical terms, and work well independently and as a team member. In addition, candidates must demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills, the ability to resolve problems in a systematic, efficient manner, manage multiple priorities, and be able to lift up to 50 pounds.

The salary range for this position is $44,000-$52,000 with an excellent benefits package. For a detailed job description and benefits overview, please see the Careers section of VHFA.org. To apply, send cover letter (required; otherwise your application will not be considered), resume, and references to the Human Resources Department at HR@vhfa.org. Please consider including in your cover letter a description of how your unique background and experiences would contribute to the diversity and cultural vitality of VHFA. Position will be open until filled.

VHFA is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to a diverse workplace. We highly encourage women, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ candidates, and people from diverse racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds to apply.

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2/22/21 12:16 PM

3/2/21 2:05 PM

CRACK OPEN YOUR FUTURE... with our mobile-friendly job board.

YOU WILL FIND

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Job seekers can: • Browse hundreds of current, local positions from Vermont companies.

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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

69 MARCH 3-10, 2021

Telephone Triage Nurse (RN) We are seeking a full time Telephone Triage Nurse (RN) who is responsible for providing telephone advice and coordinating patient care for women of all ages in a fast pace practice. The Telephone Triage Nurse is responsible for knowing and supporting the practice with providing direction of care, clinical phone advice, patient education, making referrals, coordinating care and providing high quality care to the women they serve.

Human Resources Administrator

The triage team is the primary point of contact for telephone patients with a variety of pregnancy related or gynecological health concerns. The triage nurse will be collecting subjective data related to the presenting problem and medical history, utilizing critical thinking and problem solving skills, assigning acuity, and ensuring timely disposition of all calls. There is also an opportunity to have some direct patient care in the clinic by monitoring blood pressures, giving injections, obtaining urine samples, and performing fetal monitoring in pregnancy.

Full Time; benefits eligible $43,000 per year

Goddard College seeks a resourceful and efficient Human Resources Administrator to perform a variety of Human Resources functions, related to benefits, payroll, recruitment, and compliance administration, and to ensure that the general activities of the Human Resources Department function smoothly. Qualified candidates will hold a BA in human resources management, organizational management, education administration or a closely related field Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to jobs@maitriobgyn.com. and a minimum of 3 years of Human Resources experience or a BA in any field and 5 years of combined administrative experience in Human Resources and higher education, advanced skills in the Microsoft Office Suite and Google applications; competence in HRIS data management, 4t-MaitriHealthCare030321.indd 1 ADP WorkforceNow preferred; willingness and ability to learn additional applications and programs, a familiarity with general Human Resources laws and principles, an ability to research, interpret, and ensure compliance with all applicable state and federal employment laws; and a familiarity with Collective Bargaining Agreement compliance.

Associate Registrar Full Time; Benefits eligible; $22/ hour

Goddard College seeks an Associate Registrar to coordinate and oversee student record functions and provide enrollment related services and support the Office of the Registrar’s efforts concerning the College’s mission, strategic planning, and social justice and inclusion commitment. Qualified candidates will hold an undergraduate degree and 3 - 5 years of experience in admissions and/or student records or an equivalent combination of education and experience, demonstrated experience and facility with Student Information Systems and Learning Management Systems and databases, Parchment, Google suite, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Microsoft Office. Candidates should also possess good administrative skills, exceptional organizational skills, and attention to detail. Must be able to multitask and work on timesensitive projects with competing deadlines and have the ability to deal effectively with a wide range of individuals and groups inside and outside of the College.

To for either of these roles please visit our website to review the complete position description and submit a cover letter and resume: goddard.edu/about-goddard/ employment-opportunities.

Goddard College is committed to creating a college representative of a diverse global community and capable of creating change. To that end, we are actively seeking applications from qualified candidates from groups currently underrepresented in our institution for this position. This institution is an equal opportunity provider, and employer.

2/26/21 11:08 AM

Hayward Tyler, a leading manufacturer of industrial pumps and motors in Colchester, is seeking candidates to fill the roles of Assembly Technician and Quality Control Inspector.

Assembly Technician

This is an entry level assembly team member who should possess the ability to follow work instructions from his/her supervisor and experienced team members. The candidate must be able to work in all areas of assembly (DCI, Build and Wind) with the ability to understand drawings and work instructions.

Quality Control Inspector

The candidate will be responsible to perform receiving and final inspection of parts and units, verification that all operations are signed off and closed prior to releasing to Manufacturing, responsibility for correct materials and batch numbers being issued to Manufacturing.

For complete job descriptions, please visit our website haywardtyler.com.

We offer a competitive salary and excellent benefits package.

If you meet our requirements and are interested in an exciting opportunity, please forward your resume & salary requirements to: Hayward Tyler, Inc - Attn: HR Department 480 Roosevelt Highway - PO Box 680 Colchester, VT 05446 Email: Careers@haywardtyler.com Equal Opportunity Employer.

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3/2/21 3:14 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

70

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 3-10, 2021

CUSTODIAN - BURLINGTON

Green Mountain Transit is seeking individuals who may be interested in helping us provide safe and reliable transportation to our fellow Vermonters!

Position Summary: GMT Custodians are expected to maintain the GMT fleet by: • Cleaning the inside and outsides of vehicles • Maintenance of the Bus Shelters • Performing light maintenance tasks and refueling of the buses We are looking for: • We are seeking applicants who have clean driving record, a high school diploma (or equivalent) • Ability to get Commercial Driver’s License (within 90 days of employment).

• Ability to use maintenance equipment (lawn mower, snow blower etc) Minimum age requirement is 21 years old Benefits • Amazing CTO plan • Paid CDL Training • Heath, dental and vision benefits Apply online: http://bit.ly/GMTcustodianBTV

PART-TIME NON-CDL DRIVER – BERLIN & ST. ALBANS

Green Mountain Transit is seeking individuals with clean driving records and excellent customer service skills for this exciting Part-time Driver position. No CDL required!

Position Summary: As a GMT Driver, you will be expected to transport passengers to and from appointments, all while: • Providing excellent customer service, assistance to passengers when requested • Adhering to traffic regulations • Following GMT driver policies and procedures We are seeking applicants who have clean driving record, a high school diploma (or equivalent) and excellent customer service skills.

Apply online: http://bit.ly/nonCDLBerlin http://bit.ly/nonCDLStAlbans

PART-TIME BUS OPERATOR - BERLIN Green Mountain Transit is seeking individuals with with driving experience and excellent customer service skills who may be interested in becoming a Part-time Bus Operator.

Position Summary: GMT Bus Operators are expected to provide excellent customer service while: • Conduct pre-trip inspections to GMT vehicles • Operating various GMT vehicles in a safe and efficient manner.

• Provide physical assistance to disabled riders when requested • Obeying all traffic laws and GMT driver policies • Ability to maintain a Class B CDL with a passenger endorsement • Fill in incident reports as needed We are looking for: We are seeking applicants who have clean driving record, a high school diploma (or equivalent), excellent customer service skills and a Commercial Driver's License with a passenger endorsement (by first day of employment).

Minimum age requirement is 21 years old and familiarity with transportation systems is a big plus Apply online: http://bit.ly/PTbusOperatorBerlin

SEASONAL BUS OPERATOR – STOWE & WARREN GMT provides transportation services every ski season for the Stowe and Sugarbush ski resorts and are actively hiring Seasonal Bus Operators for the 2020-21 Ski Season. The service begins in November and runs through early April, with up to 40 hours a week available.

A Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) with Passenger and Air Brake endorsements are preferred but GMT is willing to train the right candidate with their permit, a clean driving record, the ability to pass standard background checks, a DOT medical physical and a pre-employment drug screen are required.

These positions can develop into year round part-time work in our Berlin location.

Benefits of this position are: All Seasonal drivers receive a free season ski pass to either Stowe Mountain or Sugarbush resort, so when you’re not trucking up the mountain you can be carving down it. With the legendary front four in Stowe, or Sugarbush’s three mountains, there is something for all levels. Did we mention the back country skiing? It’s some of the best around!

• Competitive Hourly Rate • Free CDL License Training (over $3,000 savings) • Free Season Ski Pass • End of Season Bonus - based on hours worked Apply online: http://bit.ly/Seasonaldriver

GMT provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, GMT complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

GMT is committed to providing a workplace that includes people of diverse backgrounds and fully utilizes their talents to achieve its mission. GMT believes that an inclusive and diverse workplace culture enhances the performance of our organization and our ability to fulfill the agency's mission.

GMT IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER AND COMMITTED TO A DIVERSE WORKFORCE. 15t-GreenMtnTransit022421.indd 1

2/22/21 4:40 PM

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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

71 MARCH 3-10, 2021

MILTON TOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT DIRECTOR OF EQUITY AND EDUCATION SUPPORT SYSTEMS DEADLINE: MARCH 10, 2021 Milton Town School District is seeking a student-centered educator with the ability to effectively support the district’s equity, diversity, and inclusion goals. The candidate will be a systems thinker who also possesses exemplary communication and interpersonal skills, is strongly committed to the success of all students and understands the value of collaborative relationships. Candidates must be knowledgeable in the VTmtss Framework and Critical Race Theory or similar frameworks with experience in the effective use of data as well as planning and leading professional learning. This position will begin on July 1, 2021.

Welcome to Milton Town School District We are focused on continuous improvement of learning and teaching, offering ample opportunities for professional growth. Just 25 minutes from Burlington, the urban center of Vermont, Milton is an easy commute from Chittenden and Franklin Counties.

Milton’s location provides access to numerous cultural venues, including Flynn Theater, The University of Vermont, Shelburne Museum, and Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. Milton has excellent recreational facilities, such as Sand Bar State Park, Arrowhead Public Golf course, and Eagle Mountain Hiking trails.

GO HIRE.

Position Requirements • Valid Vermont Professional Educator’s License • Master’s Degree in Education or Related Field • Five years of relevant teaching or education-related leadership experience, or a combination of education and experience with comparable knowledge and skills.

• Citizenship, residency, or work visa

Position Responsibilities

Job Seekers:

Job Recruiters: • Post jobs using a form that includes key info about your company and open positions (location, application deadlines, video, images, etc.).

• Accept applications and manage the hiring process via our applicant tracking tool.

• Easily manage your open job listings from your recruiter dashboard.

• Search for jobs by keyword, location, category and job type.

• Set up job alert emails using custom search criteria.

• Save jobs to a custom list with your own notes on the positions.

• Apply for jobs directly through the site.

1. Provide leadership and coaching support to schools and central departments to ensure the effective implementation of an equitable education support system that emphasizes diversity, personalization, and inclusion.

2. Responsible for planning in collaboration with District and Building Leaders coordinated systems that assess, interrupt, and remediate opportunity gaps and predict student achievement outcomes based on social and cultural factors.

3. Responsible for planning, developing, and delivering equity, antiracism, and diversity-focused professional learning experiences for district employees and providing personalized leadership support to administrators to advance equity, antiracism, and diversity initiatives at the school and classroom level.

4. Collaborate with other school and district staff members to achieve the district’s vision of learning.

5. Communicate effectively with all stakeholders as applicable.

6. Implement district policies; follow school practices/procedures.

7. Demonstrate a commitment to continuous professional development.

8. Model professional and ethical behavior.

9. Perform other responsibilities as assigned by the Superintendent or designee.

Application Question What skills and attributes will you bring to this position that will allow you to lead and guide our school community to eliminate the systems, structures, beliefs, and practices that create barriers, and rebuild them so that as an organization, the primary focus is on Equity, Access and Opportunity for all?

Get a quote when you post online or contact Michelle Brown: 865-1020, ext. 21, michelle@sevendaysvt.com.

Submit all materials and resume electronically via schoolspring.com/job.cfm?jid=3448072 Applications submitted in any other format will not be considered.

jobs.sevendaysvt.com

Milton Town School District: Terry Mazza, H.R. Director 12 Bradley St., Milton, VT 05468 802-893-5304 FAX: 802-893-3020 12t-MiltonSchoolDistrict030321.indd 1 9v-jobsgohire-snowboarder21.indd 1

3/2/21 3:08 PM

E.O.E.

3/2/21 10:04 AM

fun stuff

RACHEL LINDSAY

72

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 3-10, 2021

CALCOKU & SUDOKU (P.55) CROSSWORD (P.55)

EV E N T S O N SA L E N OW

HARRY BLISS

BUY ONLINE AT SEVENDAYSTICKETS.COM

Living with Loss: A Gathering for the Grieving THU., MAR. 4 VIRTUAL EVENT

Bosnian Takeout

SAT., MAR. 6 NORTH END STUDIOS AT THE O’BRIEN COMMUNITY CENTER, WINOOSKI

Embodying Awareness: Movement-based Workshops for Well being SUN., MAR. 7 VIRTUAL EVENT

Finding Hope: Healing from Trauma MON., MAR. 8 VIRTUAL EVENT

VCET Lunch & Learn: Intellectual Property TUE., MAR. 9 VIRTUAL EVENT

Online Scene Study Class with Joanne Greenberg TUE., MAR. 9, 16, 23 VIRTUAL EVENT

“He’s just doing that to get attention.”

VCET Lunch & Learn: Selling on Amazon

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY REAL MARCH 4 -10

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author Leo Buscaglia told us that, among ancient Egyptians, two specific questions were key in evaluating whether a human life was well lived. They were “Did you bring joy?” and “Did you find joy?” In accordance with your current astrological potentials, I’m inviting you to meditate on those queries. And if you discover there’s anything lacking in the joy you bring and the joy you find, now is a very favorable time to make corrections.

PISCES

GEMINI

(FEB. 19-MARCH 20):

For you Pisceans, March is Love Yourself Bigger and Better and Bolder Month. To prepare you for this festival, I’m providing two inspirational quotes. 1. “If you aren’t good at loving yourself, you will have a difficult time loving anyone, since you’ll resent the time and energy you give another person that you aren’t even giving to yourself.” —Barbara De Angelis. 2. “Loving yourself does not mean being self-absorbed or narcissistic, or disregarding others. Rather it means welcoming yourself as the most honored guest in your own heart, a guest worthy of respect, a lovable companion.”

—Margo Anand.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In late April of 1969, Cambridgeshire, UK hosted the firstever Thriplow Daffodil Weekend: a flower show highlighting 80 varieties of narcissus.

In the intervening years, climate change has raised the average temperature 3.24 degrees Fahrenheit. So the flowers have been blooming progressively earlier each year, which has necessitated moving the festival back.

The last pre-COVID-19 show in 2019 was on March 23 and 24, a month earlier than the original. Let’s use this as a metaphor for shifting conditions in your world. I invite you to take an inventory of how your environment has been changing and what you could do to ensure you’re adapting to new conditions.

(May 21-June 20): At age 11, the future first president of the United States, George Washington, became the “owner” of 10 slaves. A few years later he “bought” 15 more. By the time he was president, 123 men, women and children were struggling in miserable bondage under his control. Finally, in his will, he authorized them to be freed after he and his wife died. Magnanimous? Hell, no.

He should have freed those people decades earlier — or better yet, never “owned” them in the first place. Another founding father, Benjamin Franklin, not only freed his slaves but became an abolitionist. By my count, at least 11 of the other founding fathers never owned slaves. Now here’s the lesson I’d like us to apply to your life right now: Don’t procrastinate on doing the right thing. Do it now.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): During World War II, the Japanese island of Okunoshima housed a factory that manufactured poison gas for use in chemical warfare against China. These days it is a tourist attraction famous for its thousands of feral but friendly bunnies. I’d love to see you initiate a comparable transmutation in the coming months, dear Cancerian: changing bad news into good news, twisted darkness into interesting light, soullessness into soulfulness.

Now is a good time to ramp up your efforts.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Scars speak for you,” writes author Gena Showalter. “They say you’re strong, and you’ve survived something that might have killed others.” In that spirit, dear Leo, and in accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to authorize your scars to express interesting truths about you in the coming weeks. Allow them to demonstrate how resilient you’ve been and how well you’ve

mastered the lessons that your past suffering has made available. Give your scars permission to be wildly eloquent about the transformations you’ve been so courageous in achieving.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): According to novelist Doris Lessing, “Everybody in the world is thinking: I wish there was just one other person I could really talk to, who could really understand me, who’d be kind to me.” She implied that hardly anyone ever gets such an experience — or that it’s so rare as to be always tugging on our minds, forever a source of unquenched longing. But I’m more optimistic than Lessing. In my view, the treasured exchange she describes is not so impossible. And I think it will be especially possible for you in the coming weeks. I suspect you’re entering a grace period of being listened to, understood and treated kindly. Here’s the catch: For best results, you should be forthright in seeking it out.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “How much has to be explored and discarded before reaching the naked flesh of feeling,” wrote composer Claude Debussy. In the coming weeks, I hope you’ll regard his words as an incitement to do everything you can to reach the naked flesh of your feelings. Your ideas are fine. Your rational mind is a blessing. But for the foreseeable future, what you need most is to deepen your relationship with your emotions. Study them, please. Encourage them to express themselves. Respect their messages as gifts, even if you don’t necessarily act upon them.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): You may never wander out alone into a dark forest or camp all night on a remote beach or encounter a mountain lion as you climb to a glacier near the peak of a rugged mountain. But there will always be a primeval wilderness within you — uncivilized lands and untamed creatures and elemental forces that are beyond your rational understanding. That’s mostly a good thing! To be healthy and wise, you need to be in regular contact with raw nature, even if it’s just the kind that’s inside you. The only time it may be a hindrance is if you try to deny its existence, whereupon it may turn unruly and inimical. So don’t deny it! Especially now. (PS: To help carry out this assignment, try to

remember the dreams you have at night. Keep a recorder or notebook and pen near your bed.)

SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “What damages a person most,” wrote philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “is to work, think, and feel without inner necessity, without any deep personal desire, without pleasure — as a mere automaton of duty.” Once a year, I think every one of us, including me, should meditate on that quote. Once a year, we should evaluate whether we are living according to our soul’s code, whether we’re following the path with heart, whether we’re doing what we came to earth to accomplish. In my astrological opinion, the next two weeks will be your special time to engage in this exploration.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): What are your edges, Capricorn? What aspects of your identity straddle two different categories?

Which of your beliefs embraces seemingly opposed positions? In your relations with other people, what are the taboo subjects? Where are the boundaries that you can sometimes cross and other times can’t cross? I hope you’ll meditate on these questions in the coming weeks.

In my astrological opinion, you’re primed to explore edges, deepen your relationship with your edges, and use your edges for healing and education and cultivating intimacy with your allies. As author Ali Smith says, “Edges are magic; there’s a kind of forbidden magic on the borders of things, always a ceremony of crossing over, even if we ignore it or are unaware of it.”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): According to

intermedia artist Sidney Pink, “The idea of divine inspiration and an aha moment is largely a fantasy.” What the hell is he talking about?!

That’s fake news, in my view. In the course of my creative career, I’ve been blessed with thousands of divine inspirations and aha moments. But I do acknowledge that my breakthroughs have been made possible by “hard work and unwavering dedication,” which Pink extols. Now here’s the climax of your oracle: You Aquarians are in a phase when you should be doing the hard work and unwavering dedication that will pave the way for divine inspirations and aha moments later this year.

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MEN seeking...

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I am on a lifelong learning curve. NPR and live music (once upon a time). Find me at the ocean in Wellfleet, driving on Highway 1 in California or in a Chinese restaurant in NYC. I listen more than speak. Hoping to meet a kind, compatible soul. Mindfully, 67, seeking: W

LOVE OR SETTLE FOR FRIENDS Now is the time, or settle. Allow your fears to control your life, or seek a good person with nourishing love and growth! We have all been hurt! Love is the best nourishment for growth and removing the fears and becoming strong again, maybe even stronger but at least healthy in mind and body!

Or settle! Philodave, 73, seeking: W

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TRANS WOMEN seeking...

FOREVER SEARCHING Still looking for love. Would love to run into a beautiful dominatrix who will, through her grace, help me find the inspiration I need to flourish as a woman. I love to cook, I design board games and Lego sets, and give the best foot and back massages in the world!

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I will not be joining, just watching.

Please be between 25 and 45 years of age. BJ2021, 46, seeking: M SKI COUPLE SEEKING FUN Attractive, hardworking couple seeking a professional couple or female for fun and new adventures. We enjoy the outdoors.

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HOT COP AT CUMBIES UVM officer by St. Mike’s. I don’t know what goes on on campus, but you are definitely prepared for it — from gear to physical fitness. Would be interested in chatting more. Please include the reason you let me go ahead of you in line. When: Saturday, February 27, 2021. Where: Cumbies.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915236 KAREN AT HOME DEPOT I think you know I’m crushing on you. Would enjoy coffee or a walk with you. Actually, anything more than a one-minute conversation on the checkout line. When: Sunday, February 21, 2021. Where: Home Depot.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915235 KNOCKOUT WAITRESS AT ROZZI’S Your name is Devan. We’ve made great eye contact a few times in the restaurant, but you were never my waitress. Wondering if you are single.

When: Thursday, January 21, 2021.

Where: Rozzi’s Lakeshore Tavern.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915234

SUNSHINE SD Just would like to say I’m sorry, and I miss you terribly. When: Wednesday, February 17, 2021. Where: Montpelier.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915233 GREASY BABE RADICALIZING KIDS Hey, coach. I saw you at the climbing gym explaining to some kids how to undermine the ruling class. You were wearing a sexy yellow tank top, looked like you could kick my ass, and I can tell you don’t wash your hair, but it still looks hot. How about we eat a quesadilla and talk about late capitalism sometime? When: Wednesday, February 3, 2021. Where: climbing gym.

You: Woman. Me: Woman. #915229 MAPLEFIELDS I saw you around 3:30. You got a 12-pack of Bud, Slim Jim and Doritos. I would like to meet you. I had a black and gray North Face coat. I said hello to you at the beer cooler. When: Thursday, February 4, 2021. Where: Maplefields, Woodstock.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915227

HEY JUNE LETTERPRESS IN RICHMOND I was shopping for some stationery.

You were talking to a friend about bullet journals. Wanna meet at Sweet Simone’s for a coffee to-go sometime?

When: Saturday, February 13, 2021.

Where: Hey June Letterpress Studio.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915232

BROWN-EYED SNOW SLIDER Saw you cruising through the hardwoods at Adam’s Solitude. Easy riding with the tan bibs and that fresh purple split, family tree? Popping over that boulder all smooth.

Caught your gaze for just a moment, and all I could see were those chocolate brown eyes. Swoon! Catch me at the hill someday, and we can split a hazy. When: Wednesday, February 3, 2021. Where: Bolton. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915226

STARBUCKS ON WILLISTON ROAD 1 p.m. You: a lovely blond woman.

We exchanged glances. Care to chat? I’ll buy the next round. When: Thursday, February 11, 2021. Where: Starbucks, Williston Road. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915230

SHAMWOW My dreams are always of you. My thoughts and hopes are of you. My door is always open to you. You know where I am.

Come home! —Scoots. When: Thursday, January 21, 2021. Where: in my dreams.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915222

NEFCU ESSEX Around 2:20. Exchanged a few glances inside NEFCU. You got into your Highlander and headed toward the center, and then you pulled into Maplefields not too long after you were pulling out of Price Chopper. You smiled and waved.

Just wanted to let you know you made my day. Hope to see you around again.

When: Friday, January 29, 2021. Where: Essex. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915225 SHOPPING AT TJ MAXX ON 1/28 The most beautiful woman I have ever seen, with blond hair past your shoulders and wearing black low-top Converse and black leggings. You were shopping, and I was scrubbing the floor with a machine. We made severe eye contact with each other. Would you like to get a drink or coffee? When: Thursday, January 28, 2021. Where: TJ Maxx.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915224 HIGHLIGHTER HAT CUTIE I’ve spied you bouncing around Red Rocks (probably to a historical podcast), picking up berries (on sale, of course) at City Market and tapping the hell out of Tapper at the Archives. I’ve loved you ever since you helped me get on the scoreboard. Happy birthday, you golden boy! When: Thursday, January 28, 2021. Where: McDonald’s parking lot. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915223 BBQ GIRL Stunningly beautiful Asian working at Mark BBQ. You were wearing a mask, but somehow your smile lit up the room.

I nervously stammered through the transaction, and you were so sweet.

The food was the best barbecue I’ve ever had, but I can’t stop thinking about you. When: Saturday, January 16, 2021. Where: Mark BBQ, Essex.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915221 UVMMC NIGHT NURSE AMANDA I was recovering from having fluid drained from around my heart, and you were extra nice, getting me those Tessalon Perles to help with my cough so I could sleep better. I enjoyed chatting with you about TV and your dog and such. On the off chance that you’re single, would you like to chat outside of work sometime? When: Wednesday, January 20, 2021. Where: Miller 4.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915220

Ask REVEREND 

Irreverent counsel on life’s conundrums

Dear Reverend,

My boyfriend of eight years has a serious dilemma. Fred and his ex-wife, Sarah, had a son 40 years ago. Fred believes the boy, now a grown man I’ll call “Charlie,” is not biologically his. Fred and Sarah had been split up for a bit before she got pregnant.

Fred really wants to know the truth through a DNA test. The man he believes could be the real father is his enemy. Fred can’t bring himself to ask Charlie to participate. It would tear the

family apart, as Fred and Charlie are very close. But the possibility of deceit is killing Fred. He raised Charlie, who is now an upstanding member of the community, as well as a loving and caring father.

Fred doesn’t know whether his grandkids are biologically his.

Should Fred ask Charlie for DNA test or take this dilemma to his grave? How would Fred even go about explaining this to Charlie?

Advice, please!

Sick of Hearing About It

(FEMALE, AGE UNDISCLOSED)

EARLY SKI AT SMUGGS I greeted you as you cruised past me while skinning up Smuggs. At the bottom, we had a convo about being able to make the WFH and early morning laps happen, mountain biking, and our excitement about Cochrans.

Looking to reconnect. It’s not every day you connect so immediately. Even if it means just finding another friend who loves the mountains. When: Tuesday, January 19, 2021. Where: Smugglers’ Notch parking lot 3. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915219 DOG CONNECTION IN BOMBARDIER PARK Met two days in a row last weekend.

First time, I helped return you and your friend’s dog in the field. The second time, on the way into the trails. We talked briefly about our dogs and guarding toys before going separate trails. I should have asked if you wanted company on your walk. Meet up for a walk sometime? When: Sunday, January 17, 2021. Where: Bombardier Park. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915218 THE RIGHT SWIPE. Touch my butt, take me on a date.

No particular order. Happy birthday, sweet boy, you are the lightest and brightest. Sending you my love and every free pamphlet I can get my hands on. XOXOXO. When: Sunday, November 22, 2020. Where: Tinder.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915209 KIA BACKING OUT AT HANNAFORD I stopped to let you back out, only to be thanked by the cutest, tiniest lil peace sign ever! Thank you for making me smile and laugh. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that! When: Thursday, January 14, 2021. Where: Hannaford, Barre.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915215

XC SKIING SHELBURNE FARMS 2 p.m. You and your two pals were wrapping up your ski while my gang was heading out. I asked if beer was in your future; your friend said, “No, naps.” Want to ski together after you’re rested? When: Sunday, January 10, 2021. Where: Shelburne Farms. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915213

The time for honesty is long past due.

I don’t understand why a paternity test wasn’t done decades ago, but there’s no turning back the clock. Fred could just give 23andMe DNA kits to the whole family and see what happens, but that would be pretty shady.

There’s a big difference between a dad and a sperm donor. Biology aside, Charlie is Fred’s son. He raised him as his own, and it sounds like they’ve had a solid relationship for 40 years. I’d like to think that getting this out in the open could bring them closer in the end. Sometimes the family that you choose is even more special.

It may be wise to seek help from a professional family counselor, since

LIKE-MINDED IN BARNES & NOBLE We briefly met in Barnes & Noble. You overheard the book I was looking for and came to check the version. I have never posted one of these before, but how often do you meet people in Barnes over books like that?! If you are the guy I met and felt the same, I would love to meet you! When: Tuesday, December 29, 2020. Where: Barnes & Noble.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915212 DOUBLE TAKE: OAK & MANHATTAN CORNER RUN Midday, driving my gold Tacoma, pink jacket, yellow hat. You were wearing red shorts and on a run. I turned to look at you, and you did, too. Stopped at the corner to turn and looked back, and you were looking back again! Wish I had looped back around to say hi and get your name. When: Sunday, January 3, 2021.

Where: corner of Oak St. and Manhattan Dr. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915211 MY KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR! Molly! You stopped to help me out after I slid off the road. I was flustered, and you were kind and patient. Thank you!

When I saw you waiting at the bottom of the hill, I realized that I should have asked for your number. Can I buy you a drink? Or perhaps a new set of ratchet straps? When: Sunday, January 3, 2021. Where: Stone Rd., Brookfield.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915210

SUNSHINE IN MONTPELIER Sunshine, I haven’t been able to reach you and tell you that you’re the one.

Missing my Montpelier girl. When: Friday, September 25, 2020. Where: Montpelier.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915214

Dear Sick of Hearing About It,

NORTH AVE. STORE I opened the door leaving a store, and we made eye contact as you were coming in. I was thinking WOW, SWEET! And instead of thinking it, LOL, it came right out of my mouth as I walked by you holding the door open. You stopped in the doorway, looked at me and said, “Thank you!” Interested? When: Sunday, January 17, 2021. Where: North Ave. store. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915217

NEW YEAR’S ON MOUNT ABE We both hiked up Mount Abraham on New Year’s Day and chatted briefly at the summit before you headed back down. You have a good smile and good taste in mountains — get in touch if you’d want to go for a hike together sometime! When: Friday, January 1, 2021. Where: Mount Abraham.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915208

there’s a lot to navigate here. The fact that the possible biological father is Fred’s “enemy” is Fred’s problem. He needs to get over that. Charlie deserves to know the truth, not just for the sake of knowing, but because there may be genetic implications for him. He should know his biological family’s health history.

If Fred keeps this secret, it’s just going to eat him up inside until he keels over. What if Charlie were to find out after Fred’s passing?

Would Fred want to leave that kind of tainted legacy behind? I doubt it.

Good luck and God bless,

The Reverend What’s your problem?

Send it to asktherev@sevendaysvt.com.

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