Seven Days, June 3, 2020

MARKET RESEARCH How new regulations have changed farmers markets

VE RMO NT ’S IN DEPE NDEN T VO IC E JUNE 3-10, 2020 VOL.25 NO.36 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

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OUTRAGE ON TOP OF

LOSS

George Floyd’s death spurs Vermonters to call for police reform PAGE 10

How COVID-19 overwhelmed a Burlington nursing home PAGE 34

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WEEK IN REVIEW MAY 27-JUNE 3, 2020 COMPILED BY GILLIAN ENGLISH, SASHA GOLDSTEIN & MATTHEW ROY Councilor Perri Freeman

FUEL FIRST

After a prolonged court battle, the long-awaited Costco gas station in Colchester opened last week. Cheap gas is finally available — now that no one’s taking road trips.

2

That’s the maximum number of people allowed in a vehicle during a driving exam. The Department of Motor Vehicle road tests resume this week.

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SCALED TO SIZE

Burlington Councilor Perri Freeman’s (P-Central District) bid to protect renters, tax the wealthy and set a minimum wage for Queen City workers drew some criticism during the city council session on Monday night — a likely taste of the debate to come.

To achieve what the resolution calls a “just economy,” Freeman proposed amending the city charter so the council could enact new ordinances: to protect tenants from evictions without cause and workers from wrongful termination; to levy a municipal income tax for people making $125,000 a year or more and a “luxury sales tax” on property sales that exceed $500,000; and to establish worker guarantees, including a city minimum wage.

The measures face a long road to approval.

On Monday, the council put off a decision until June 15 on whether to refer the resolution to the Charter Change Committee for further study. Even if ultimately passed by the council, the changes would be subject to approval by both voters and the Vermont legislature.

“It would be a really good way for Burlington to lead on how to address some of these long-standing structural injustices,” Freeman said in an interview. “What we’re seeing

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now is how much those structural issues have really put people in an extremely vulnerable place.”

A dozen people Zoomed into Monday’s council session to express opposition. Hill Section resident Karen Allen said Freeman’s proposal to levy a luxury tax on property sales exceeding $500,000 had “horrific” timing and was “unwarranted.”

Ward 4 residents T.J. Jemison and Sean Kelly said they’d consider leaving Burlington if the council enacted an income tax on higher earners. Local landlord Donald Slish decried a provision that would protect tenants from no-cause evictions.

“I’m not a rich guy because I make more than $125,000 a year,” he said. “I know you have a bleeding heart to people without money, but please, spare a little bit of sympathy for people who are working hard to maintain these buildings.”

Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District) said a minimum-wage ordinance would drive businesses outside city limits. “We have so many businesses that are teetering on the brink of a cliff because of COVID,” she said. “And it looks like we want to push them over the cliff rather than help them back.”

Read Courtney Lamdin’s full reports — and Freeman’s resolution — at sevendaysvt.com.

FILE: COURTNEY LAMDIN

PROGRESSIVE AGENDA?

Vermont has begun dismantling medical surge sites built in anticipation of a crush of coronavirus patients. A promising sign.

HOME ROOM

Educational nonprofit Democracy Builders plans to buy Marlboro College’s campus for a hybrid online/residential college. Nice to see a college opening.

1. “Burlington Protest Leads to Confrontation With Police Brass” by Matthew Roy. An activist with a bullhorn challenged top cops during a protest against excessive force.

2. “What’s With the Lots Filled With Out-of-State Cars?” by Pamela Polston. Lots packed with cars with out-of-state plates show how the pandemic has dampened travel.

3. “Closed: Outback Steakhouse and Vermont Sandwich Company” by Melissa Pasanen.

Aficionados of Outback Steakhouse in South Burlington and Vermont Sandwich Company in Williston got some bad news.

4. “Medical Center President Stephen Leffler Confronts COVID-19 and Its Aftermath” by Ken Picard. Leffler was appointed president of the University of Vermont Medical Center 10 weeks before the first local case of COVID-19.

5. “Media Note: VTDigger Fires Political Columnist John Walters” by Paul Heintz.

VTDigger.org has fired political columnist John Walters, and its staff union is planning to fight the dismissal.

tweet of the week

SPRING CLEANING

Vermonters fanned out across the state on Saturday to tidy up roadsides for the annual Green Up Day. A tradition tailor-made for social distancing.

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WHAT’S KIND IN VERMONT

GOOD WOOD

From left: Logan, Eric and Devin Axelrod

COURTESY OF ERIC AXELROD

The days might be warming up, but a Jericho dad and his two sons are still in the swing of collecting firewood for next winter.

But it’s not all for them. Since last November, Eric Axelrod and the boys — Devin, 13, and Logan, 10 — have been stacking fuel to give to those in need. It started with a surplus of firewood and morphed into a mission to give back to the community.

Axelrod posted on Front Porch Forum that he had fuel to spare and immediately received three requests.

One of the first recipients was a man

who’d been burning his own furniture in his home to stay warm in the winter, according to Axelrod.

“The boys have really been into it, giving away to different families around, and really found it quite rewarding,” he said.

Thus far, they’ve given away 12 cords of wood. The crew is hoping to collect 20 cords to have on hand ahead of this fall.

While they started collecting at their own house, they’ve also cut wood on neighbors’ properties.

The trio has dubbed the undertaking “Wood for Good,” and its mission is similar to that of organizations such as the Monkton Wood Bank in Addison County.

Axelrod said he eventually wants to

form a nonprofit and hopes to sign up more volunteers to help the cause. He’d consider expanding beyond Chittenden County if it takes off.

The need is there, he said.

“There are going to be a lot of hurting people next year. I can’t imagine, even if things take a turn for the best, that we’re not going to have a lot of people who are in need of help with food and keeping warm,” Axelrod said. “This is just something me and my boys have been able to figure out and help people with.”

To get involved or request wood, email woodforgoodvt@gmail.com.

SASHA GOLDSTEIN

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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FEEDback READER REACTION TO RECENT ARTICLES

RACE TO THE BOTTOM

[Re Off Message: “Protest Leads to Confrontation With Police Brass,” May 31]. The obscene public execution of George Floyd on Monday night, May 25, by Minneapolis police has brought about righteous indignation and protests not only in Minnesota but across the country as the American public has finally had enough of the continuous system of non-accountability and protection from serious prosecution afforded to brutal thugs posing as police officers. We have even seen it here in Vermont, where these systemic patterns have been manifested in similar occurrences.

George Floyd’s murder is part of a racist pattern that permeates both U.S. domestic and foreign policy. And the American police and military have become the repressive agents that enforce this racist system both here against its own citizens and against citizens of foreign lands. People must make it known loud and clear through their words and actions that the insidious economic, cultural and political militarization of American society that establishes the power base for racism both here and abroad must stop and will no longer be allowed to operate.

Ralph Corbo

WALLINGFORD

Corbo is a Democratic candidate for governor and U.S. Congress.

WATCH YOUR WORDS

Dear Seven Days, a newspaper I love and enjoy: Please pay attention to your headlines [Off Message: “Protest Leads to Confrontation With Police Brass,” May 31]. This headline in these times can make it sound as if violent actions occurred.

The article makes clear that this was not the case, but that headline could be very misleading to some, because “confrontation” is a word very easy to misinterpret due to the way it is currently being used in much of the media.

Cinse Bonino

BURLINGTON

LUCKY FOR LEFFLER

Thank you for the article on Dr. Steve Leffler [“Doc Star,” May 27]. It was a joy to read about a “higher-up” who is actually well grounded.

When Steve started practicing in Vermont, he and I worked together for a

WEEK IN REVIEW

TIM NEWCOMB

would like to think of themselves as essential, too, but apparently they do not. If they did, they would be open like hardware stores.

Remember, these restrictions are selfimposed. Other stores are not doing this.

Why are bike shops?

Thomas Bisson

COLCHESTER

Editor’s note: A quick survey of some local bike shops shows that at least some are open (such as the Alpine Shop in South Burlington), while others are scheduling test drives by appointment (Burlington’s Skirack and Old Spokes Home). Policies are subject to change.

EVERY VOTER COUNTS

few years on the admissions committee for the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine. His insight and fairness were well evident then, and in that sense I don’t believe he has changed a bit. The medical center is very lucky to have him here.

Dan Donnelly

WILLISTON

agree with the Burlington City Council’s requirement for all who visit Church Street to wear a mask, we suffer from a lack of places to find them. Could a street station be set up where free, or low-cost, masks would be readily available for all who visit but do not have a face mask? Thanks for considering.

Joe Ryan

COLCHESTER

MORE INFO, PLEASE

After reading your short piece on the local food bank [Bite Club: “Burlington Street Becomes Food Distribution Site,” May 26], I wanted to make a donation. But alas, you gave no information helping me find out where to go. Tsk, tsk. By the way, it is feedingchittenden.org/donate.

Dick Mills

SOUTH BURLINGTON

JUST DOESN’T LOOK RIGHT

[Re Bite Club: “Burlington Street Becomes Food Distribution Site,” May 26]: Some things just do not add up, folks. There’s a photo of a woman and her puppy, for which she drove almost 3,000 miles to pick up the week before, and she has no money for food? In other words, she spent maybe $280 on gas and how much for the puppy — $700 to $1,000? Five hundred cars lined up for upwards of four hours?

Talk about leaving a carbon footprint!

Robert Riegler

WATERVILLE

FACE MASK STORE?

[Re Off Message: “Burlington Council Passes Mask Mandate, Orders Controversial Mural Removed,” May 19]: While I fully

[Re Off Message: “Lawmakers Move to Sideline Scott From Vote-by-Mail Decision,” May 26]: I’m having second thoughts about who to vote for in this next election period. If Gov. Phil Scott doesn’t recognize the importance of this mail-in balloting, then I wonder what else he is missing.

Protection from COVID-19 should be of the highest priority, especially for senior citizens.

When I was voting absentee, my 102-year-old neighbor could not get an absentee ballot unless he came to the town clerk’s office in a previous election.

He was physically unable to do this.

Andrew Crosier

NOT ROLLING WITH IT

[Re Off Message: “As Retailers Tentatively Reopen, Vermonters Shop for Sense of Normalcy,” May 18]: What’s up with the local bike shops? The COVID-19 restrictions for retail have been lifted and bike shops can be open to customers, but most are not. Why? They will provide curbside service and are willing to sell you a bike through an online sale, but you can’t go in the store, look at bikes, touch the bikes or take a test ride. These restrictions are the bike shop’s choice, not any mandate from the state.

Are bike shops more dangerous than other retail stores? I don’t think so. Since the retail restrictions were eased, almost all other stores have opened. Restaurants have opened. You can go to a big-box store and shop for a bike without any restrictions. But if you want to support your local bike shop, you have to do it online or through curbside pickup. Why? Many major biking organizations and advocates, like the League of American Bicyclists, have pushed to have governments declare bike shops essential services, like hardware stores, car repair shops, grocery stores and drug stores. I would assume that our local bike shops

SHAFTSBURY

CORRECTIONS

Last week’s story “Bleak House” misstated the reason Rep. Linda Myers (R-Essex Junction) won’t run for another term in the House of Representatives. After 19 years, she wants to give someone else the chance to serve.

Last week’s Soundbites column named pianist Peter Krag as a member of a band in which he did not play.

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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contents JUNE 3-10, 2020 VOL.25 NO.36

COLUMNS

SECTIONS

27 Hackie

20 Life Lines

28 Retail Therapy

42 Food + Drink

30 Bottom Line

48 Music + Nightlife

45 Side Dishes

51 Classes

48 Soundbites

53 Classifieds + Puzzles

50 Album Reviews 69 Ask the Reverend

FOOD

64 Fun Stuff

Farmers markets navigate new operating guidelines

68 Personals

PAGE 42

Cakes, Cukes and Condoms

George Floyd’s death spurs Vermonters to call for police reform

Seven questions for baker-entrepreneur Ren Weiner

PAGE 10

PAGE 44

How COVID-19 overwhelmed a Burlington nursing home PAGE 34

44

OUTRAGE ON TOP OF

STUCK IN VERMONT

LOSS

NEWS & POLITICS 10

ARTS NEWS 22

FEATURES 32

Justice Served?

Easy to Fathom

Couch Tripping

One Person, One Stamp

Through the Looking Glasses

Virtual shipwreck tours offer fish-eye views of Lake Champlain’s sunken treasures

Pandemic sparks mail-in-voting plan — and a partisan rift

Online Now

YouTube celebrity Morgan Gold documents SUPPORTED BY: animal adventures on Gold Shaw Farm, the Peacham homestead he shares with his wife, Allison. Nearly 100,000 subscribers view Gold’s videos of their guard dog, Toby; barn cats Pablo and Lil; and hissy gander, Justin Finch-Fletchley.

COVER IMAGES JAMES BUCK • COVER DESIGN REV. DIANE SULLIVAN

Vermont considers corrections reforms to shrink its prison population

Culture: A prescription for the pandemic: weed and ’shrooms

We have

Book review: FINNA, Nino Cipri

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

Proxy Pursuit

Socially Distanced Democracy

State of the Market

Couch Cinema: The Half of It

Vermonters and their government adjust to virtual meetings

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VENTS HAVEN’T MADE IT TO VT PAGE 12

PARTY DIVIDE ON MAIL-IN VOTING PAGE 13

ZOOM MEETINGS A DRAG?

JAMES BUCK

news

MORE INSIDE

PAGE 15

CRIME

State Suspends Investigation of Alleged Abuses at Women’s Prison B Y PAU L H EIN T Z

Outraged

Harmony Edosomwan leading the protest

George Floyd’s death spurs Vermonters to call for police reform B Y DER EK B R O UWER , COL IN F L ANDERS, COURT NE Y L AM D I N & M AT T H E W ROY

A

s the crowd swelled and pulsed on Saturday night, the authorities were waiting in the wings. Officers with the Burlington Police Department stood by a heavy-duty emergency response truck in a gravel parking lot on North Avenue. The Vermont State Police stationed a tactical team at the nearby fire station, where another tactical truck held impact rounds, irritant gas and riot shields.

But the police had no need for the specialized equipment.

Well more than 1,000 people, led by members of Vermont’s communities of color, converged in Battery Park to join the raucous, outraged demonstrations that have swept the country since George Floyd, a black man, died at the hands of Minneapolis police during a May 25 arrest.

A day before the Burlington protest, Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis officer who planted his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, had been charged with third-degree murder. His arrest did little to quell the public anger.

10

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Those marching in the streets wanted wholesale reform.

“Is my son next?” one Burlington protester’s sign read. “White Americans are the biggest threat to America,” read another. “Stop giving bigots badges,” demanded a third.

The placards would be left in piles around 1 North Avenue and on the windshields of parked police cruisers, but only after protest leaders confronted local cops directly.

Hundreds chanted for interim Police Chief Jennifer Morrison to come outside.

She and Deputy Chief Jon Murad obliged, then looked up and listened to protest leader Harmony Edosomwan, who stood in the bed of a pickup truck.

“Are you familiar with the person Jason Bellavance?” Edosomwan asked through a megaphone, referring to a Burlington police sergeant who was disciplined for using excessive force in 2018. The incident, which involved Bellavance pushing a black man into a wall, knocking him

unconscious, was captured on video.

It’s currently at the center of an ongoing federal civil rights lawsuit against the city.

Edosomwan also asked about Officer Cory Campbell, who punched a white man during an altercation outside a hospital last year. Douglas Kilburn died days later. Campbell was disciplined for using profanity during the interaction, but police defended his use of force.

Edosomwan and the jeering crowd brushed aside Morrison’s attempts to respond.

Then the protest leader, a prominent student activist at the University of Vermont, held up a clear gallon jug filled with red liquid. She dumped it onto the pavement at the feet of the police leaders.

“Their blood is on your hands,” Edosomwan said, referring to people killed by cops.

NEWS

OUTRAGED

» P.12

An independent investigation into allegations of wrongdoing at Vermont’s only prison for women has been delayed due to safety concerns related to the coronavirus outbreak.

“It has been suspended, and as soon as we have an opportunity to open up our facilities again it will be reestablished,” Secretary of Human Services Mike Smith said Monday. “It hasn’t been forgotten.”

Smith ordered the probe last December after Seven Days reported allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation within the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility. He hired former U.S. attorney Tristram Coffin of the Burlington law firm Downs Rachlin Martin to conduct the review, which was to be completed by late April or early May. According to Smith, that timeline became unrealistic when, in March, the Department of Corrections barred outsiders from visiting the state’s prisons in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. “One of the primary tasks was to be able to interview various people, to see the facilities, to observe, to interview, and obviously we couldn’t do that with the crisis that hit,” the secretary said.

When he ordered the review last December, Smith appointed former Vermont State Police director Jim Baker to serve as interim corrections commissioner until it was completed. At that point, the secretary said at the time, a more permanent commissioner would be named.

Baker replaced former commissioner Mike Touchette, who resigned two weeks after Seven Days published its investigation.

Smith said Monday that he had also suspended the search for a commissioner and had asked Baker to continue in that role as the department navigates the coronavirus crisis and accompanying budget challenges.

Baker, who has also led the Vermont Police Academy and the Rutland City Police Department through crises, said it can be harmful for an interim leader to overstay his or her welcome, but he said he agreed to remain “until the fog clears.”

Contact: paul@sevendaysvt.com

Justice Served?

Vermont considers corrections reforms to shrink its prison population

BY PAUL HEINT Z

W

hen lawmakers returned to to resolve their differences before sendMontpelier in January, one ing it to Gov. Phil Scott. of their top priorities was to Whether Scott would sign it is another reduce the number of people imprisoned question. His interim corrections by the State of Vermont. They succeeded commissioner, Jim Baker, supports much — but not the way they expected. of the bill but viscerally opposes grantThe coronavirus pandemic has ing new due process rights to furloughed prompted prosecutors to avoid locking prisoners, arguing that doing so would up all but the most serious undermine his department suspected offenders, and while failing to rehabilitate it’s led the Department of chronic offenders.

Corrections to release some “I understand why there inmates who have served their minimum may be a level of mistrust with Correcsentences and been deemed low-risk to tions, but the continuing scrutiny is going the community. As a result, Vermont’s to snuff out innovation and creativity,” prison population has dropped nearly 17 Baker said. “All we ever do in Corrections percent since January, from 1,678 to 1,401. is react to the latest oversight coming Now, lawmakers are hoping to lock in from the legislature.” that progress by returning to the criminal Others think the House version of justice reforms they began contemplating the bill doesn’t go far enough in stopin January. “Our numbers ping the cycle of repeated are down, so let’s really returns to prison. Defender put in the effort to keep General Matthew Valerio, those numbers down,” who oversees the state’s said Rep. Alice Emmons Prisoners’ Rights Office, (D-Springfield), who chairs complained that the legislathe House Corrections and tion had been “significantly Institutions Committee. watered down” by House Last week, Emmons’ Corrections. “In its current committee signed off on form, I don’t think you’re legislation that would autogoing to get the savings or matically parole some lowthe results they’re looking RE P. MAX IN E GRAD risk offenders upon serving for,” he said. “But the bill’s their minimum sentences, not done yet, and we hope provide due process rights to those who to make progress going forward.” violate conditions of furlough and reduce The legislation has its roots in a sixthe sentences of those who follow the month, data-intensive study of Vermont’s rules in prison. “We are actually giving prison system conducted by the New York these folks some measure of responsibil- City-based Council of State Governments’ ity for their own actions,” said Rep. Butch Justice Center. Working with repreShaw (R-Pittsford), the committee’s vice sentatives of all three branches of state chair. government, the organization in January The bill, S.338, is one of the few major proposed a slate of recommendations it pieces of legislation not directly related to said could cut the state’s prison populaCOVID-19 that has been given priority in tion by 135 people and save as much as the virtual Statehouse since the building $14 million over five years. (Some of those closed in March. It’s also one of the few savings would be achieved by bringing new initiatives that could receive seri- home many of the 236 Vermont prisoners ous funding. The legislature is consider- held at a private prison in Mississippi.) ing appropriating $2 million to house The initiative, called “Justice Reinrecently released prisoners, provide them vestment II,” was modeled after a simimore programming and address domestic lar process that took place in Vermont violence. in 2007 and 2008. According to the The full House is expected to vote Justice Center, its recommendations to on the bill later this week. Because the improve behavioral health and substance Senate passed a different version in JUSTICE SERVED? » P.18 February, the two chambers would have

CORRECTIONS

IT’S CHECKS AND BALANCES, ESPECIALLY WHERE THERE’S A LIBERTY ISSUE INVOLVED.

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JAMES BUCK

news HEALTH

In Vermont, the Ventilators Never Arrived

BY PAUL H E I N TZ

In late March, as Vermont’s coronavirus infection rate was doubling every five days, state officials projected they might need as many as 565 ventilators to treat an expected surge of COVID-19 patients.

They scrambled to add to an existing collection of 177 critical care ventilators and 69 other units spread throughout the state’s health care system, according to Public Safety Commissioner Mike Schirling. Even Gov. Phil Scott got in on the action, coldcalling contacts within the industry to implore them to help obtain the machines. At one point, Schirling said, the state had ordered as many as 450 — at a cost of roughly $5 million.

To date, only 10 have arrived.

“Because the rest of the world faced the crisis before we did, there was buying going on before the U.S. was even in the game,” Schirling said.

“So we were lucky to be able to get orders in.”

In some cases, the state pared back its requests because its need for ventilators decreased. In others, it canceled orders because anticipated shipping dates were too far in the future. And in one case, according to Schirling, the federal government used the Defense Production Act to swoop in and claim 200 units Vermont had ordered from Philips.

At present, the state still has 95 critical care ventilators on order from four companies, according to a document provided by the Department of Public Safety. Those units, plus the 10 already delivered, are expected to cost the state more than $2.4 million.

The state has also contracted with two homegrown outfits that only recently began manufacturing ventilator-like devices. Officials ordered hundreds of AutoVENTs from Beta Technologies, the South Burlingtonbased electric aircraft developer, and hundreds of Vermontilators from the University of Vermont, according to the Department of Public Safety document.

Those would be used as emergency backups, Schirling said. (The Vermont National Guard also has access to 12 conventional ventilators, he said.)

The state’s procurement problems have not posed any risk to public safety, according to officials. “We don’t need them at the moment,” Secretary of Human Services Mike Smith said.

“We have not come near our ventilator capacity at all.” m Contact: paul@sevendaysvt.com

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Protesters surrounding the Burlington Police Department

Outraged « P.10 And if police kill — or assault — another person in Burlington, Edosomwan warned, protesters would return to burn the police station down.

By the time the crowd peacefully dispersed, a Black Lives Matter flag flew atop the police station; the building’s walls were tagged with graffiti. The minor vandalism may have been more widespread if not for a black organizer who chastised a spraypaint-wielding white man.

“Do not touch this building!” she yelled, according to a Vermont Public Radio reporter who witnessed the scene. “You will give them a reason to hit us black people. They will not see you.”

The intense, widespread activism quickly caught the attention of state officials, who issued rare, direct condemnations of the Minneapolis officers.

“The public needs to know we stand with them,” Capt. Garry Scott, the Vermont State Police director of fair and impartial policing, said in a statement last Friday.

The topic consumed much of Gov. Phil Scott’s Monday press conference, briefings that for months have been dedicated to the state’s coronavirus response. The governor called for prosecutors to charge the three officers who watched Chauvin pin Floyd’s neck to the pavement, as well.

“My heart goes out to all people of color across the nation who, even though they live in different communities, carry this trauma every time something like this happens,” he said.

“In the greatest country in the world, no one should stand for this,” Scott continued. “No one should make excuses for this.

And no one should ignore this. We must all make clear: Enough is enough.”

He also announced that Xusana Davis, the state’s executive director of racial equity, would chair a new task force to tackle systemic racism. The group, Scott said, would “evaluate structures of support for racially diverse populations,” review state laws around hate speech and study ways to encourage more people of color to run for public office.

Smaller but sizable protests have taken place in Rutland, Brattleboro, Montpelier, Derby Line and St. Albans. In the latter city, a couple hundred people on Tuesday chanted “Police the police,” and “Black lives matter” in a downtown park, videos from the event show.

People of color have been prodding Vermont institutions to act for years. In 2016, students at UVM raised a Black Lives Matter flag on campus, but it was swiftly stolen by a white fraternity pledge. In 2018, former state representative Kiah Morris of Bennington resigned her seat after white supremacists harassed her online. Last year, when video emerged of Bellavance injuring Jérémie Meli, Black Lives Matter activists demanded that the City of Burlington fire Bellavance and two other officers who had been on the scene. An online petition they created at the time has circulated again in recent days and now has 36,000 signatures.

Last year’s galvanizing incidents in Burlington resulted in the formation of a special committee on policing, which proposed several revisions to the police department’s use-of-force policy in February.

On Monday, Chief Morrison fasttracked two of the proposed changes by issuing a departmental order that made them effective immediately. Under the new rules, officers must intervene any time they witness misconduct or excessive

force by a fellow officer, and they must prioritize de-escalation whenever feasible.

“Right now, the community needs to know that we are doing everything possible to prevent anything like what we saw in Minneapolis from happening here,” the chief said during a briefing with the mayor.

Later that day, Burlington city councilors passed a resolution condemning racism, police brutality and Floyd’s death. But even that simple gesture proved controversial and required a protracted debate about whether the resolution should include a line thanking Burlington cops for their “non-confrontational and professional response” during the protest on Saturday.

Councilor Perri Freeman (P-Central District) argued passionately — but unsuccessfully — against including the appreciative note.

“With the unbelievable anguish that this nation is experiencing right now over the unbelievable violence and the brutality that communities have been experiencing, I cannot fathom how this is even remotely appropriate,” Freeman said.

Less controversially, the resolution called upon the city to raise the Black Lives Matter flag outside of city hall for the remainder of the COVID-19 state of emergency.

Officials already had such a flag on hand. Morrison said police removed one that belonged to protesters from the station on Sunday morning and replaced it with an American flag. She said she asked organizers whether they wanted it back but “received no reply.”

Instead, she gave the flag to the city parks department. For now, it’s flying over Church Street. m Contact: derek@sevendaysvt.com

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Pandemic sparks mail-in-voting plan — and a partisan rift

Residents compost, plant gardens, use locally grown foods, and work with staff to follow earth-friendly practices.

BY KEVIN MC C ALL UM

N

early every person who arrived at South Burlington Middle School last Thursday wore a mask — a pandemic-imposed requirement for those entering the city’s polling place.

Inside, election worker Tim Barritt sported a mask and a plastic face shield as he checked in voters and handed out ballots. Those in line spaced themselves at least six feet apart.

Poll workers systematically sanitized the pens that voters used to fill out ballots on the school district’s proposed $54 million budget, which would be rejected that day with a 64 percent “no” vote.

After finishing his three-hour shift, Barritt, a 61-year-old city council member and staunch Democrat, said he felt fine

RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT MAIL-IN BALLOTING INCREASED VOTING RATES

BY ABOUT 2 PERCENT

BUT DID NOT FAVOR ONE PARTY OVER ANOTHER. with in-person voting in November if these and other commonsense measures were put in place.

“I think it can be done safely,” Barritt said.

When informed that that is precisely the position many Republicans in Vermont have taken in opposing a voteby-mail proposal, Barritt burst into mortified laughter.

“Oh no!” he cried through his cloth mask.

Such is the muddled state of the debate over mail-in ballots in Vermont, a confounding discussion rife with competing claims, speculative predictions and increasingly partisan crosscurrents.

Secretary of State Jim Condos, a Democrat, wants to mail a ballot to every registered voter for the November 3 general election to limit the number of people who turn up at the polls.

Voters would be able to return the ballots by mail, drop them off at their town clerk’s office or hand-deliver them to a polling place on Election Day. Proponents, including the Vermont Democratic Party, argue that voting by mail does not impede democracy yet will keep down the number of voters physically present at the polls, thus protecting them from spread of the coronavirus during one of the most consequential elections in memory.

The Vermont Republican Party argues that doing so could lead to voter fraud, calling the push for mail-in voting “clearly a power play by the Vermont Democratic Party to boost their vote counts.”

Republican Gov. Phil Scott has also expressed doubts but says he’s merely pining for a “normal” in-person election and believes that Condos is opting for mailed ballots too quickly. Scott has also suggested it is inappropriate for people on the ballot — including Condos and himself — to decide on voting methods.

While everyone involved says the debate shouldn’t be partisan, lawmakers acknowledge it has become exactly that.

After empowering Scott and Condos to decide jointly on voting methods in 2020, lawmakers are now on the verge of breaking the stalemate between the two men by removing the governor from the equation.

On Tuesday the Vermont Senate advanced a bill largely along party lines to give Condos sole authority to make election decisions this year. After a nearly two-hour debate, the Senate voted 21-7 in favor of the bill. All six Republicans in the chamber voted against it, as did Sen. Bobby Starr (D-Essex/Orleans), who said he felt the Senate was “overreacting.”

If passed Wednesday, June 3, as expected, the bill would still need the approval of the House of Representatives.

Scott has signaled he’d be happy to be stripped of the shared power to decide how Vermonters will vote, claiming he never wanted it in the first place.

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to spot fraud, Kinville said. And fraud does happen, she said, recalling the time she caught three members of a household registered in her city voting by absentee in both South Burlington and Burlington.

Vermont’s director of elections and campaign finance, Will Senning, has called instances of absentee ballot fraud in the state “infinitesimal.”

While Kinville acknowledged that the case she cited could have been an innocent mistake, she asserted that mailing ballots to the entire voter roll would dramatically increase the number of ballots sent to the wrong address and increase the chances of mischief.

“It’s going to be mass confusion,” Kinville said.

In the debate Tuesday, Benning implied as much, calling it unwise to mail ballots “willy-nilly” to inaccurate voter checklists instead of requiring people to ask for them.

Instead of a system that works fine now, “we literally let loose potentially 300,000 to 500,000 live ballots and expect it all to work out perfectly fine,” Benning said.

The balance of party power in the Vermont House may make the issue more charged than it would otherwise be, Dickinson said.

Republicans hold just 43 seats in the 150-member chamber, but that has been enough — with the help of independents and breakaway Democrats — to uphold at least one gubernatorial veto this year. The vote highlighted how even a small turnover could have a profound impact on the power dynamic in the Statehouse.

While there is certainly selfinterest in the calculations of politicians, the mail-in-voting debate isn’t strictly about strategic electoral gain, Dickinson said. There are fundamental philosophical differVoting in South Burlington on May 28 ences between the parties on the question of how much onus should be placed on individual citizens to Benning said he knows the “excuse” for the plan is the participate in democracy, he said. pandemic, but he said the state’s existing absentee ballot “Republicans, more than Democrats, say it should be system would appear to be the cure. on the individual, whereas Democrats are saying, no, it “I’m looking at this saying, ‘Why is this necessary?’” should be on the state — the state should facilitate by Benning said. removing barriers and making voting as easy as possible,” There are a few reasons Republicans are fine with he said. boosting the use of the absentee balloting but hesitant to Back in South Burlington, voter Ken Perrotte strode embrace mail-in voting, sometimes referred to as “univer- away from his polling place wearing his mask. He said sal mail-in voting.” he felt completely safe attending in person, even at the One is cost. While federal coronavirus relief funds age of 80. would foot the $3 million price tag of switching to a In November, however, when lines are likely to be mail-in-voting system this year, South Burlington City longer, he and his wife, who has health issues that make it Clerk Donna Kinville said she worries about the practice hard for her to stand for long periods, will almost certainly becoming routine and local jurisdictions being forced to vote by absentee — or mail-in — ballot. pick up the tab in future years.

While the divide between the two parties may be in Kinville acknowledged that many of the 246 town part philosophical, Perrotte, a retired high school teacher, clerks in Vermont may be in favor of switching but said still believes Republican opposition to mail-in voting is most are from small towns where anomalies would be more calculated than that. easier to detect. “There is a definite urban-rural divide “They know that if everybody can vote, and they make on this issue,” she said. it real easy … it’s not going to be very successful for them,” In more heavily populated communities such as South Perrotte said. m Burlington, which has 16,000 registered voters, the large number of ballots would make it more difficult for clerks Contact: kevin@sevendaysvt.com LUKE AWTRY

“This bill simply takes him at his word and simply removes him from the process,” Sen. Jeanette White (D-Windham) said during Tuesday’s debate.

The argument in Vermont is convoluted partly because the divisive national debate is beginning to bleed into the local one, according to Matt Dickinson, a political science professor at Middlebury College.

Conventional political wisdom holds that vote-bymail measures help Democrats and hurt Republicans.

President Donald Trump claimed as much when he opined in April that if such efforts succeeded, “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.”

The Republican National Committee is suing states that have proposed expanded vote-by-mail measures, most recently California.

Sen. Becca Balint (D-Windham) said Tuesday it was unfortunate that what she called Trump’s string of lies and misleading claims had recently turned to a “fear-based argument” of “rampant, widespread voter fraud, which is not actually a thing.”

“The real fraud is this fallacy that there’s rampant voter fraud, and it appears every election like a bad rash,” Balint continued.

But the political calculations behind the mail-in-voting debate may be detached from the facts, Dickinson said.

It is commonly held that even a seemingly small barrier to voting — like being required to physically show up at a polling place — poses more of a hardship for someone working two jobs or who needs to pay a babysitter than it does for a retired person of means. Remove that or similar barriers to voting, and many predict more Democrats will turn out.

“The interesting thing, from the political science perspective, is we don’t have any evidence that’s true, at least not nationally,” Dickinson said.

He pointed to an April 2020 Stanford University study that analyzed three states — California, Utah and Washington —where mail-in balloting had been phased in county by county, allowing researchers to compare the differences between those that had made the change and those that hadn’t. Five states, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Hawaii and Colorado, have mail-in voting, while California gives the option to counties.

The study found that mail-in balloting increased voting rates by about 2 percent but did not favor one party over another, he said. The researchers reported that “vote-by-mail has no apparent effect on either the share of turned-out voters who are Democrats or the share of votes that go to Democratic candidates.”

In fact, when it comes to a state like Vermont, the opposite of the conventional wisdom may be true, Dickinson said. The claim of Democratic advantage is based in part on the notion that barriers to voting disproportionately affect minorities, who tend to vote Democratic. In Vermont, mail-in voting might actually increase turnout among lower-income, less-educated white voters, many of

whom live in rural areas and vote Republican, Dickinson said.

“We don’t have a lot of racial minorities, so here it’s not quite the same logic,” Dickinson said.

Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) made a similar case last week, arguing that he opposed the mail-in voting not because it would harm Republicans, but because it was unnecessary.

“As a Republican from a rural district, a mail-in ballot system is probably going to help my party better than it will other parties,” Benning said.

Benning said he’d been in touch with his town clerk in Lyndon, who was against mail-in voting because the existing absentee ballot system could address people’s health concerns. The clerk, Dawn Dwyer, confirmed that she felt a better system would be to mail all voters a postcard reminding them they can request an absentee ballot if they choose. State elections officials are planning to do just that for the August 11 primary.

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electboard meetings in Canaan can be lively. Residents of the remote northeastern Vermont town — population 972 and literally steps from the Canadian border — congregate every other week to complain about rogue snowmobilers or weigh in on the purchase of a new police cruiser.

The coronavirus, though, put the in-person gatherings on pause. In March, the Canaan Selectboard began holding meetings on Zoom, the popular teleconference platform. But the area’s spotty broadband service made it difficult for many to participate. Those who did told town leaders that public discourse just wasn’t the same. Meeting attendance dropped.

“It’s hard to know what people want if they’re not gonna come,” selectboard chair Frank Sawicki Jr. said. “It’s frustrating. We want them to have a say.”

The rural selectboard isn’t the only body experiencing technical difficulties.

Just last week, the Vermont House delayed committee meetings for a few

hours when a technical snafu killed live video of the sessions. In late April, the Vermont Senate met privately on Zoom for 20 minutes before letting the public view its proceedings. In Hinesburg, the selectboard chair turned off the mic of a resident who spoke with a raised voice during a heated discussion. A Montpelier resident is worried that members of the public can’t properly vet a complex project from afar.

Three months into the Zoom age, socially distanced democracy is hitting some speed bumps. Open-government advocates say officials are doing their best under complicated circumstances, and they’ve cheered the fact that residents

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news Socially Distanced Democracy « P.15 don’t have to travel to observe government at work — they can just turn on the computer. Other Vermonters fear that remote meetings are diluting the state’s tradition of robust participation in local politics.

“I do really want people to get involved, but I’m afraid if it’s all online that people are Zoomed out,” said Catherine Goldsmith, a Hinesburg resident who is wary of the new format. “It just seems like a lesser experience.”

This version of the new normal began in late March, when the legislature passed a bill that allows public meetings to be conducted entirely by telephone or computer connection during the governor’s state of emergency. Previously, at least one member of the public body had to be physically present in a meeting space that was open to the public.

Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos initially balked at the proposal — calling it an “extreme measure” — but successfully lobbied the legislature to include other provisions aimed at transparency.

City council, selectboard and school board meetings, for instance, must be recorded “unless unusual circumstances make it impossible,” and agendas must include instructions for how to attend meetings online, the law says.

The Vermont League of Cities & Towns, which supported waiving the in-person requirement, has since published a “Remote Public Meeting Toolkit” with tips on staying in compliance with the new law.

Among them: Recess the meeting if technical difficulties arise, and assign a staffer to monitor video chat functions.

In Vermont, Zoom isn’t always practical for places with sketchy internet service, said Karen Horn, the league’s public policy and advocacy director. She serves on Moretown’s planning commission, which has opted to use an old-fashioned telephone conference line for meetings, given the area’s unreliable broadband service. Now that the weather is getting nicer, commissioners have considered holding a physically distanced meeting outside.

“You have to figure it out so that it works in your community, and people understand if they want to participate how that happens now,” Horn said. “It definitely is an adjustment.”

Condos said he hasn’t received a barrage of complaints about Zoom meetings, but he acknowledged that it can be harder for the public to hold leaders accountable when officials can simply mute callers or ignore a pointed question that was typed into the Zoom chat.

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

“When you’re managing a meeting, you just have to be careful of the abuse that could occur,” Condos said.

Montpelier resident Sandra Vitzthum thinks the format makes it easier for city officials to tune out criticism on controversial issues. In mid-May, Vitzthum and several other people Zoomed in to a city council meeting to express concerns about a long-debated parking garage project downtown. The council eventually approved a new design proposal.

“I think it was very easy for them to write us off because we were not in the room looking at them,” she said.

In regular meetings, she continued, “you can look at your council member, and they have a certain amount of accountability [to you].”

Vitzthum lamented that it’s difficult to vet complex projects remotely.

Attendees at a traditional meeting would have been provided handouts and graphics showing the project design. They could have traded notes and ideas, she said.

Montpelier Mayor Anne Watson agrees that some of the human element is lost online, but she said Zoom invites a broader audience to participate in meetings. She expects that the council will keep the Zoom option even when in-person meetings resume.

Vitzthum recognizes there’s a certain ease to watching council proceedings from home, but “physically being in that real-time, 3D space is unmatchable,” she said.

Goldsmith, the Hinesburg resident, feels the same way. She serves on the town’s Village Steering Committee, a group that advises elected officials on policies and plans. In early May, committee members asked the Development Review Board to postpone hearings on a big project until in-person meetings could resume. The 76-acre development, known as Haystack Crossing, is the largest ever proposed in town.

Goldsmith worries that residents will struggle to decipher dense planning documents on a laptop screen at home; typically, engineers or consultants would bring large display boards or a PowerPoint to community meetings. The Zoom feeds have previously cut out, Goldsmith said, so watchers could have missed important details.

“This project will have an impact on the town for decades,” she said, adding: “This is technical stuff. The professionals

understand it and citizens don’t, and so that’s always a part of those discussions.”

To Goldsmith, asking clarifying questions is part of a normal meeting’s routine, but it feels disruptive on Zoom to interrupt and ask to be unmuted. She thinks that will deter others from chiming in. After some discussion, the board decided to continue the hearings.

Alex Weinhagen, Hinesburg’s director of planning and zoning, said Goldsmith’s concerns are valid, but he also sees numerous upsides to Zoom technology. The local access television station livestreams municipal meetings, but Zoom lets home viewers call in and participate instead of simply watching from their couch.

Many in-person meetings drew few, if any, audience

THIS COVID THING IS FORCING US

TO DO THINGS A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY. AL E X W E INH AGE N

members, whereas Zoom has encouraged the public to tune in, Weinhagen said.

“It’s not ideal — we like to see each other — but I don’t see it as a stumbling block moving forward in terms of talking about issues that are of concern to the community,” he said, adding that it is outdated to expect people to come to the town hall.

“This COVID thing is forcing us to do things a little differently,” Weinhagen said.

“Maybe that’ll be a good thing in the long term.”

Lia Ernst, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, said her organization has heard from people who appreciate being able to access their government from home. Ernst said the ACLU recommends that meetings be streamed and recorded even after the pandemic ends.

“It doesn’t need to be an either-or,” Ernst said of the meeting formats. She added: “There are many ways that COVID19 has shown us that the way we’ve been doing business as usual doesn’t have to be that way.”

Horn, of the League of Cities & Towns, agrees: In-person meetings should resume when possible, but an e-meeting should remain an option when the pandemic is over, she said. People should be able to

watch from home during a snowstorm, for instance, without an act from the legislature, Horn said.

Burlington activist Lea Terhune doesn’t miss the status quo one bit. For her, driving downtown and finding a parking spot just for the chance to address the city council for three minutes has lost its appeal. Terhune is happy she doesn’t have to wrestle with Burlington City Hall Auditorium’s echoey acoustics. And on Zoom, she can hear and see each councilor’s face clearly — a form of accountability, she says.

Charlie Messing, another city council regular, has mixed feelings about the format. He appreciates being able to Zoom in but misses the camaraderie at city hall.

“You could turn around, and you could hear [the audience] respond, and now you can’t,” Messing said. “You are out in space, talking to Houston.”

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger agrees that the “scenes of democracy in action” don’t translate to Zoom.

“It’s intense and unpredictable,” Weinberger said, referring to times when demonstrators have shown up to city hall with signs and chants. “When a controversial issue comes to the council over Zoom, it will not have that same level of electricity.”

Burlington has hosted more than 50 Zoom meetings since Weinberger declared a state of emergency in midMarch. Between two and 20 people have called in to each virtual council meeting, and hundreds watched the mayor’s State of the City address in April on Zoom and Facebook Live.

Remote meetings have their upsides, but Weinberger thinks in-person meetings are better for gathering public opinion.

Unfortunately, the mayor said, Zoom “may be what we need to do for some significant period of time.”

Sawicki, the Canaan Selectboard chair, hopes that’s not the case. In recent weeks, Canaan has shifted from Zoomonly to a hybrid model: The digital platform is still available for people who can log in from home, but the board has resumed meeting in person. Sawicki and his counterparts sit six feet apart and wear facial coverings; townspeople who want to attend have their temperature taken at the door.

The setup provides a sense of normalcy during an otherwise abnormal time: People can show up at town hall, argue their points and solve problems face-to-face. The Zoom feed is still rolling, but for Sawicki, it’s no replacement for the real thing.

“I want to see their reactions, and it’s hard to do that electronically,” he said. “That human experience is what we need.”

Contact: courtney@sevendaysvt.com

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news abuse treatment programs and to expand access to housing and jobs saved the state millions and prevented its prison population from swelling to 2,800.

The center’s latest study was just wrapping up last December when Seven Days published an investigation exposing allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, the state’s only women’s prison. Several of the alleged victims who described their experiences to Seven Days had been in and out of prison for years — trapped in the system not because they were committing new crimes but because they continued to violate the terms of their release. Such infractions, typically referred to as “technical violations,” can include losing stable housing, failing to find a job, missing curfew, or using drugs or alcohol.

The Justice Center found that their experience was common, particularly for those taking part in Vermont’s idiosyncratic furlough system. In most states, furlough refers to a temporary release from prison to go to work, seek treatment or attend a funeral. In Vermont, it’s broadly applied to those who have served their minimum sentences but aren’t yet eligible for parole.

Originally designed to ease the transition from prison to the community, furlough can have the opposite effect because onerous restrictions often result in released prisoners returning to jail.

Justice Center researchers determined that, over the past three years, 78 percent of admissions to Vermont prisons were the result of furlough, probation or parole violations, while only 20 percent were related to new convictions. During one nine-month period last year, according to the Justice Center, 77 percent of those on furlough who were returned to prison committed only a technical violation — sometimes through no fault of their own — while just 22 percent committed new crimes.

In crafting S.338, legislators adopted several of the Justice Center’s key recommendations, including consolidating some of the state’s 32 legal statuses for those on supervised release, which include various versions of probation, parole, furlough and home detention. They also added a new one: presumptive parole.

Beginning in January 2021, those who commit nonviolent crimes would avoid furlough and instead be paroled as soon as they reached their minimum sentence, as long as they had participated in prison programming and avoided disciplinary action. Parole is more appealing to inmates because it comes with fewer restrictions and is overseen by the Parole Board, not the Department of Corrections.

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Justice Served? « P.11

In January 2023, presumptive parole would be extended to those who committed more serious crimes, except for what are known as “the big 12” offenses, such as sexual assault and murder.

“It’s really moving along those who are playing by the rules,” Emmons said.

The bill also restores and simplifies the state’s “earned good time” program by reducing an offender’s minimum and maximum sentences by seven days for every month he or she avoids major disciplinary action. According to Sen. Dick Sears (D -Bennington), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, previous iterations of the program were so complicated that it took five Corrections staffers to calculate good time, leading the legislature to eliminate it.

“It was called ‘prison math,’ and it was a mess,” he said.

The most contentious section of the bill addresses what happens when a furloughed prisoner violates his or her conditions of release. Under the existing system, Corrections staffers can simply send such offenders back to prison without any kind of hearing, review or legal representation.

“The Department of Corrections even has the ability to abuse their discretion with these decisions,” said Falko Schilling, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. “People need to be able to have their day in court before they’re imprisoned for something that’s not even a crime.”

The Senate version of the bill would do just that by allowing those returned to prison for at least 30 days on a technical violation to appeal the decision to Superior Court. The House Judiciary Committee, which reviewed certain sections of the bill at the request of House Corrections, went even further: It recommended letting offenders testify at such hearings and allowing the court to take new evidence.

“It’s checks and balances, especially where there’s a liberty issue involved.

There needs to be a check on all agencies,” said Rep. Maxine Grad (D-Moretown), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. “It’s accountability. It’s governmental accountability.”

During a meeting of House Corrections last week, Baker took umbrage at the proposal. “The folks that we supervise now are extremely complicated, and to take away our discretion to manage that risk is a path that I’m afraid is not a wise move,” he said. Involving the courts in the process, he argued, would “add another layer of bureaucracy inside our agency” because his staff would have to manage appeals.

“There’s gotta be a line in the sand, and that’s where I’m drawing a line in the sand,” the commissioner said.

In an interview, Baker said he supported many elements of the bill, including the reinstitution of earned good time and the creation of presumptive parole. But he complained that the legislation focuses solely on Corrections and fails to address the systemic challenges

offenders face when they reenter the community — many of which are outside his department’s control.

“So we’re gonna further scrutinize Corrections but not scrutinize the rest of the system that is setting Corrections up for failure,” the commissioner said.

Shaw, the vice chair of House Corrections, said that, in ordinary times, the committee likely would have resolved the furlough appeal dilemma by talking it out in an informal setting. But because the coronavirus pandemic has forced lawmakers to legislate by Zoom, he said, it has been harder to reach consensus.

“If we were in the building, we’d all have cafeteria time,” Shaw said, referring to the Statehouse venue known to host such conversations. “We’d sit around and hammer out a deal between the advocates and agencies and legislators on the panel and come together to make a decision.

Well, we don’t have that luxury right now.”

In the end, House Corrections adopted House Judiciary’s furlough appeal proposal but delayed its implementation from January to July 2021 — a result that pleased nobody. In the meantime, a working group would be charged with studying the plan. If it comes up with a better one, the legislature could revisit the proposal next session. “It gives us a check-in before it goes live,” Emmons explained.

The House committees punted on other controversial elements of the bill.

At the request of county prosecutors, they removed a provision allowing those on probation to reduce their sentences with good behavior, choosing to study the idea instead. They also eliminated a section that would have paroled those over 65 who had served at least five years. And though the Justice Center had called on the state to improve its data collection, particularly around racial disparities within the criminal justice system, the bill merely tasks another group with studying the issue.

“It’s time to stop studying what data we need to collect, and it’s time to start collecting it,” said Schilling of the ACLU. Though some criminal justice reformers think the bill doesn’t go far enough in reforming Vermont’s prison system, the Justice Center supports it as written, according to deputy program director Ellen Whelan-Wuest.

“From our perspective, Vermont’s leadership has been just really incredibly impressive in their ability and their commitment to focusing on these issues in the middle of a pandemic and public health crisis,” she said. m Contact: paul@sevendaysvt.com

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lifelines

OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

OBITUARIES Tennant Glenn Davitian FEBRUARY 5, 1937MAY 20, 2020 BURLINGTON, VT.

Tennant Glenn Davitian, artist, tastemaker, beloved mother and friend, departed to the Pure Land of Great Joy as the sun set and Venus rose on Wednesday, May 20, 2020, near her home in Burlington, Vt. Tenny was born in a snowstorm in Buffalo, N.Y., on February 5, 1937. The Second World War was gearing up, and Britain’s King Edward had just abdicated for the “woman he loved.” Picasso’s “Guernica” hit the world stage, while Kahlo, Miro, Magritte and Dali produced the mindexpanding work that defined the century and, ultimately, the art of Tennant Davitian.

While history marched on, Tenny spent her childhood in nature and imagination, by the falls of the Cazenovia Creek in East Aurora, N.Y. Here she lived and played with her Scotch Irish artist parents, Bob and Bea Glenn, and her beloved older brother, Sturgen.

Bob Glenn was an immensely talented artist who left his career in New York to run the family-owned Emulso Corporation (“makers of fine cleaners, polishes and waxes”) in Buffalo. A Renaissance man, he also built an exquisite home in their aerie over the falls. With the strength of a bull and the softest of hearts, Ten’s dad remained the great influence of her life.

Bea, her fairy mother, cultivated Tenny’s young imagination. Ten loved their “teas” with Midder Bear and many forest visitors. Ten’s abiding curiosity, excitement to improvise and desire to connect were nourished during these early years. Her love of singing, storytelling, dressing up, party planning, making pictures and producing plays never dimmed, making her the most unique of grown-ups.

East Aurora was a

20

close-knit village community.

Tenny grew up next to her grandparents; down the road from her uncle, aunt and cousins; and in the midst of so many remembered friends.

“Heading up town for a milkshake” was a shared family joy, healing all manner of infirmities. Tenny attended the local elementary school and maintained an ever-active social schedule. She went to the progressive Park School of Buffalo with her brother during their high school years (where her mother had been schooled in its first class of 5-year-olds in 1912).

At Park, Ten’s success as Mad Margaret in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore (“I lost my shoe and made them laugh”) turned her head to acting and cemented her love of audiences. During her late teens, Tenny was drawn to Buffalo’s jazz hot spots, where fellow outliers and master musicians welcomed her warmly and invited her to sing. Milt Jackson, Lester Young, King Pleasure, Dave Brubeck. Later, Gilberto and Jobim became the

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

soundtrack of her life and shaped the way she saw and heard the world.

Even at a young age, Ten was aware of the places that “lay beyond.” She would often remember the moment when “I lay in bed at my grandmother’s house in Buffalo and heard the cars going round the circle, thinking, I want to live where the traffic runs all night.”

So it was no surprise when Tennant attended college on the train line to New York City. At Bard College, in the mid 1950s, Ten finally found her tribe of fellow actors, musicians and artists who would soon rule the arts world. She also found her best friend, Corinne McGrady, who has remained a source of constant love.

When Tenny finally did arrive in New York at 19, ready to become an actress, she discovered she’d lost her purse on the train. She called the only person she knew, a

bartender at the Imperial Bar on 30th Street and Second Avenue. While chatting at the bar, she was approached

by Sam Davitian, a neighborhood “guy” who said, “You look thin. I’ll take you out to dinner.” Being short on funds himself, Sam went home to his mother’s to eat, shower and shave. Returning to take Tenny to Chicken Delight, he watched her eat (burger, milkshake, fries) and proposed marriage on the spot.

Sam was, in fact, her dream come true. Armenian. New York. Charming like Frank Sinatra. Funny like Sid Caesar.

Smart like no one else. Sam was the “someone who could help my children do their homework.”

They were finally married on September 5, 1959, at the “Little Church Around the Corner,” a liberal Episcopal church willing to unite Catholics and Presbyterians. A little over a year later, they baptized their first and only child together, Lauren-Glenn (named after the screen beauty of the time, Lauren Bacall).

The 1960s were a period of profound cultural creation, and Tenny and Sam invented themselves. Their friends — designers, performers, agents, mobsters, Wall Street types and horse players — were devoted to them. After an entertaining Saturday night dinner party, this charismatic, funny and unusual couple liked nothing more than a slow Sunday morning reading the New York Times, Jonathan Schwartz on the radio and bagels for breakfast.

Tenny was (and will ever remain) known for her sublime taste. She could rearrange or redecorate in a blink, pick the perfect gift, and dress stars of screen and stage.

One of her friends, Ruth Gordon, remembers: “Before I opened my antique shop on Second Avenue, Tennant came in to take a look. The store had a copper tiled ceiling, and she told me that if the ceiling were to be painted chocolate and the walls apricot, it would be great for showing antiques. I followed this advice and was really pleased with the result.

I also remember visiting your home, where Ten served a carrot soup that was the best soup I ever had in my life.

Whatever she did, she did to perfection. I never met a woman with taste as right on as Tennant’s — and I worked with many in the fashion business.”

Tennant was a prolific artist. In her more entrepreneurial moments, she ran two galleries (San Juan and Montpelier) and a clothing shop (Maine). She favored “outsider art” but would look and talk about any piece as a way to gain insight into the culture, the time and the person she was talking with.

She did not think of herself as a smart woman, but she was deeply insightful and truly brilliant.

Tennant ’s homes were beautiful. From her first apartments on the East Side to her homes in Long Island City, Kennebunkport, Burlington and Lake Worth, Fla., she picked every color, placed every artifact, hung each painting, shelved every book and arranged each implement with careful thought and inspiration. She loved every one of her homes, including the 1938 Burlington bungalow she moved into last October.

In this home, as lovely and spare as the others, she achieved her ultimate vision, inspired by an interview with David Lynch. When asked by a reporter what he planned to do with his living room that held only a chair, he replied, “Remove the chair.”

Ten loved to travel and had so many more places to visit. She traveled to Rome and Greece in 1970, followed by trips to Denmark, Tunisia

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and Portugal. In the early 1980s, she lived in Puerto Rico and Mallorca. She made it to Italy to visit her Roman “family” and accomplished a long-awaited trip to New Mexico in 2014.

The images and people from these trips never ceased to influence her creative work.

Above all, Ten considered her daughter, LaurenGlenn, to be her greatest achievement. Their love for each other was mutual and deep. “My mother is my hero. She endured disappointment and sadness.

But she never gave up. She sought joy every day. She left no heart unturned. Her vision, humor and grace are a gift to us all.”

Tennant was a role model for her daughter’s teenage friends at the Marymount School in the late 1970s. Anne Moore remembers: “She showed us how to be.” Jean Bambury, Ten’s pen pal of 40 years, notes: “Tenny was the first adult to address me without condescension, speaking to me as though I were an adult. She was lithe and angular and had a smile that gave off real warmth. I remember the good feeling I had.”

And Amanda Neal recounts this story: “I don’t know if you remember that Tennant once advocated for me at Marymount when she was heading up the PTA. I’d written a review of hot dogs on the Upper East Side for our school paper and concluded that Sabrett hot dogs were the best — even better than the ones at Nathan’s. One of the parents who was involved in fundraising did not like this, because Nathan’s had made a nice donation to the school, and she asked me to write a retraction. However, Tennant intervened to take a stand on this, and I didn’t have to write the retraction. I think your mom wanted me to learn not to back down from an honest statement and that some things are more important than pleasing donors. This story seems quaint now,

but your mom — with her stand on this small matter — again had an important impact.”

Tennant’s entire life and imagined experience can be found in her collection of 20 black spiraled journals, created over the past 20 years. The journals contain her masterpiece paintings, collages, family histories, postcards from her beloveds, photos of her Jack Russells, political commentary and advice for the ages: “Navigate the uncertain.” “Leave the party when you’re having the best time.” And: “The stories of our lives are what save us.”

Ten is predeceased by her parents; her beloved brother, Sturgen Hawkins Glenn; her former husband, Sam Davitian; and her best friend of the last 30 years, Jo-Ann Golden. She is survived by her daughter, Lauren-Glenn; adored sonin-law, Mark Johnson; and granddaughter, Stella Rose.

Her relations include her devoted friend (since the age of 5) and sister-in-law Judith Glenn and nephew Pepper Hawkins. Ten was also aunt to Jennifer Willison and Andy English, and sister-in-law to Marie Glenn. With regret, she left her many friends in Lake Worth, Burlington and across the world, including Peter Robinson, Diane Gage, Corinne McGrady, Harvey Litwin and Karen Brown.

Special thanks to Dr. Karen Sokol, the many capable caregivers of the Community Health Centers of Vermont, Armistead Home Care and the University of Vermont’s Home Health & Hospice. In particular, we extend our gratitude to the nurses and staff at the McClure Miller Respite House, also known as “the stairway to heaven.”

Please consider contributions to the McClure Miller Respite House or your favored charities that benefit animals, children and veterans. Tennant would be so pleased to know that her caring continues.

Patricia Berry MARCH 16, 1947-MAY 27, 2020 CONCORD, MASS.

Patricia Berry, 73, of Concord, Mass., and formerly of Burlington, Vt., died peacefully at home of metastatic melanoma on Wednesday, May 27, with her loving daughter by her side. She is survived by her daughter, Tian Berry of Burlington, Vt.; twin brother, Peter J. Berry, and his wife, Joan Fischer, of Acton, Mass.; sister Nancy Alston and her husband, Phil, of Williamstown, Vt.; and brother David J. Berry and his wife, Peg, of Canton, Conn.; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. Her parents were Helene Ciglar Berry and Henry Arnold Berry, formerly of Fairfield, Conn.

Born on March 16, 1947, in Bridgeport, Conn., Patricia grew up in Stratford and Fairfield, where she developed an early love of the sea, spending long summer days on Fairfield beach. After graduating from Notre Dame High

School in Bridgeport, she received her BS in nursing from Boston College, worked at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y., and then moved to Vermont, where she began a distinguished 40-year career as a pioneer in public health.

She received her master’s of public health from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., in 1982, and served in the Vermont Department of Public Health as public health planning and policy chief, director of local health services and, ultimately, as the director of public health for the state from 1989 until her retirement in 2007. Patricia’s dedication to improving public health held no bounds. She was a fierce and effective advocate for children and families in Vermont, especially those at risk. Her vision focused on infrastructure, integration and partnerships, and she worked tirelessly to build and strengthen the local district office structure and community services throughout the state. She was also instrumental in obtaining federal funding to support statewide school-age health programs.

Among her many professional accomplishments, Patricia’s legacy includes securing funding for and cofounding the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, where she continued to work following her retirement. She also

received national recognition for her development of Vermont’s WIC/Medicaid prenatal helpline campaign, and earned the March of Dimes Vermont Chapter 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award.

At the age of 52, Patricia traveled to China to adopt her daughter, Tian, whom she loved “to the moon and back.”

As Tian grew up, Patricia enthusiastically joined school PTOs, cheered on the sidelines of countless soccer games and cross-country meets, and applauded at violin recitals and musical theater performances. She brought her leadership to Burlington’s parent community and nurtured in Tian her dedication to equality, justice and advocacy for underserved populations.

Following her retirement, Patricia suffered a tragic accident that rendered her a triplegic, but nevertheless … she persisted. Faced with many physical challenges, Patricia showed her indomitable spirit and resilience during her final years. She relocated to Concord to be closer to family, with the love and assistance of her dedicated personal care attendant, Afua Nikra, without whom she would not have had such independence, joy and laughter.

Patricia was an avid reader — particularly of biographies.

She traveled extensively, and her adventures included circumnavigating the world in a cargo ship as a young woman and visiting China,

India, Thailand, Brazil, Europe and the Panama Canal, in addition to annual trips to visit “Mother Sea,” with a special love for Truro, Mass.

She loved cooking, fine food, and entertaining family and friends, and she always made a mean pesto! Though never vain, Patricia was proud of her beautiful auburn hair that spectacularly never turned gray. She was committed to fitness, competed in triathlons and road races, and annually hosted the Berry family reunion/marathon/ relay at the Vermont City Marathon for many years. In her later years, she became an avid Red Sox fan and never missed a game.

She touched the lives of too many people to count, but none more profoundly than her dear friends and family. She was uniquely able to maintain connections with relatives and friends alike, and those who loved her will miss her more than words can say. We will remember her fondly in quiet moments by the sea, while relaxing on our front porches, listening to Vermont Public Radio, when we catch the fragrant lilacs on a spring breeze, or while strolling the streets of downtown Burlington.

At Patricia’s request, there will be no public services, but a private celebration of her life will be held at a later date. Memorial donations in Patricia’s honor may be made to Spectrum Youth & Family Services in Burlington, Vt. (spectrumvt.org).

ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT

Grigorii Skorupskii and Anastasia Geylenko

Cameron Rylan Ladeau

Grigorii, son of Alexei and Eugenia Skorupskii, and Anastasia, daughter of Dmitry and Svetlana Geylenko, are delighted to announce their engagement.

On May 28, 2020, at Porter Medical Center, Megan Allen Owen and Brian Marshall Ladeau II welcomed a child, Cameron Rylan Ladeau.

Want to memorialize a loved one in Seven Days?

Post your remembrance online and in print at sevendaysvt.com/lifelines.

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

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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arts news COURTESY OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN MARITIME MUSEUM

HISTORY

Easy to Fathom Virtual shipwreck tours offer fish-eye views of Lake Champlain’s sunken treasures B Y KEN PI CA R D

T

he

LAKE CHAMPLAIN MARITIME

in Vergennes made the difficult decision last month to suspend all in-person visits for the 2020 season.

Immediately, CHRIS SABICK began looking for other ways to connect to the museum’s constituencies. As LCMM’s director of research and archaeology, Sabick knew that his visitors couldn’t get more socially distanced than touring the lake’s bottom from the comfort and safety of their own homes.

Lake Champlain is home to one of the world’s largest and most diverse collections of sunken vessels. More than 300 shipwrecks, some dating back to the 1700s, have been identified, and more wrecks and artifacts are still being discovered.

Normally, the museum operates the Escape, a 50-passenger vessel that allows visitors to climb aboard and, without donning scuba suits, explore some of those wrecks via a live video feed from a remotely 22

MUSEUM

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Images of the 1862 canal boat General Butler

operated underwater vehicle. After the pandemic grounded all the museum’s boat tours, those underwater explorations moved online.

Fortuitously, Sabick, who is himself a diver and nautical archaeologist, already had much of the audio and video needed to produce a series of short virtual shipwreck tours. Because the maritime museum manages the Vermont Underwater Historic Preserve on behalf of the state, Sabick and his team regularly shoot video of nine of the preserve’s 10 shipwrecks that lie in Vermont waters. (Most of Lake Champlain’s wrecks aren’t part of the underwater preserve, he explained, only the most historically and archaeologically significant ones.)

In October, at the end of each year’s recreational dive season, Sabick inspects at least three or four of the preserve’s shipwrecks to document how they’re aging, the progression of zebra mussels, and other damage caused by divers, anchors or the environment. Some inspections are

conducted using ROVs, others with dive teams.

Sabick has paired those videos with audio narrations that were originally produced and aired in 2009 by VERMONT PUBLIC RADIO as part of its “History Under the Waves” series. The result is three virtual shipwreck tours, with more expected this summer.

Among those now available is a fourand-a-half-minute tour of the Phoenix, which is considered the world’s oldest known steamship wreck. As narrator ADAM KANE explains, on September 4, 1819, the steamship left Burlington en route to Plattsburgh, N.Y., with 46 passengers and crew aboard.

At 11 p.m., a passenger discovered a fire below deck and alerted the crew. As passengers boarded the first lifeboat, it became apparent that the entire steamship would be completely engulfed in flames. In the chaos, several crew members panicked and launched a second lifeboat too soon,

leaving behind 11 people. After dropping off survivors on nearby Providence Island, the lifeboats returned for the remaining survivors but found only five.

After the vessel washed ashore, the Lake Champlain Steamboat Company stripped it for parts and left behind its burnt hulk; lake ice later pulled it into the shallow waters of Colchester Shoal, where it currently rests. In the underwater video, the vessel’s massive, charred timbers are still discernible.

Thus far, each of the virtual tours involves vessels with known histories. But as Sabick begins producing new ones, he expects that some tours will become more informational than narrative, because the vessels’ names and histories are unknown.

One such example is the Sloop Island canal boat, located near the CharlotteEssex ferry crossing. Resting at a depth of 85 feet, Sabick said, “It’s a deep, dark dive, that’s for sure.

“We know a lot about that boat, but we don’t know its specific name or what its story was,” he added. “We can only tell what we can infer from the archaeological process.”

Sabick envisions that this vessel’s virtual tour will exemplify the forensic nature of nautical archaeology. What’s known is that it’s an 1873 canal boat that probably sank in 1914 or 1915. The timing was determined from a seemingly insignificant finding: a charcoal briquette found in the stern cabin.

As archaeologists learned later, charcoal briquettes weren’t made until the second decade of the 20th century.

IT’S REALLY A CHALLENGING SPACE

TO BE IN RIGHT NOW. CHRIS SABICK

Virtual tours like this one are helping the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum chart a new course through a post-COVID-19 world, Sabick added.

“It’s really a challenging space to be in right now,” he said. “But we can continue to do our work and have new material to present through other means next year.”

Contact: ken@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Find the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s virtual shipwreck tours at lcmm.org. Free.

GOT AN ARTS TIP? ARTNEWS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Essential Art When Jake’s ONE Market opened in February, no one knew the coronavirus would begin to claim lives in Vermont the very next month, or that most businesses would shut down practically overnight. The store on North Winooski Avenue in Burlington is considered essential, because food, and has remained open. Like every other vendor in the area, however, Jake’s has had trouble keeping toilet paper, cleaning supplies and other crucial items in stock.

Where many saw empty shelves, Jake’s manager, MARTIN BROMIRSKI, saw opportunity. The painter, former art blogger and “longtime art freak,” as he described himself, has created a pop-up gallery in the middle of an otherwise fully stocked aisle.

“I thought I could condense the products and put art in this four-foot space,” Bromirski said, pointing to a utilitarian alcove nestled between dog treats and pet toys to the right and protein powder, vitamins and diapers to the left. “I have a history of highlighting artists I think need attention.”

During a visit last week, the exhibition comprised six paintings by Waitsfield artist FRANKIE GARDINER. Her soft palette and dreamy, nebulous images offered shoppers an unexpected visual respite from the buy-me packaging of adjacent merchandise. Each of

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ART

the 14-by-11-inch paintings was priced at $585.

A typed list of titles and a neat stack of the artist’s business cards accompanied them.

The exhibits at Jake’s last just a week — a short shelf life, as it were. The inaugural artist was North Bennington painter MARK BARRY, followed by Gardiner.

This week brings central Vermont artist AXEL STOHLBERG, who is showing mixed-media constructions using paper coffee bags. Their provenance, no doubt, is another grocery store.

Asked how long these mini exhibits will continue, Bromirski replied, “As long as James will let me,” referring to Jake’s owner, JAMES KERRIGAN. (Kerrigan and family also operate Jake’s Quechee Market and other Upper Valley businesses.) “I figured a couple months,” he added.

Bromirski will show his own abstract paintings next month at the VERMONT STUDIO CENTER. Meantime, he’ll keep stocking artwork by fellow Vermonters in the petite gallery he’s dubbed Bromirski Hall.

PA MEL A POLSTON

Contact: pamela@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Jake’s ONE Market, 242 North Winooski Avenue, Burlington, 540-0394. See Martin Bromirski’s work at martinbromirski.com.

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Bromirski Hall art space at Jake’s ONE Market Untitled-25 1

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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arts news

Through the Looking Glasses Book review: FINNA, Nino Cipri B Y AN D R EW LI P TA K

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COURTESY OF KORBIN JONES

S

cience fiction holds the promise of bringing readers to strange new worlds. The past couple of years have introduced a slew of stories about this very trope — portal fiction — in which intrepid heroes jump from one alternate world to another. TV shows such as “Fringe” and “Rick and Morty,” as well as Alix E. Harrow’s Vermont-set novel The Ten Thousand Doors of January and K. Chess’ fabulous Famous Men Who Never Lived, use the device to hold up our world against a fantastical mirror. In the process, they point out our systemic flaws, or at the very least show how differently our lives might have turned out had we made a different decision or two.

Decisions are at the heart of Vermont author Nino Cipri’s novella FINNA. Though a short read, it packs in quite a bit about the nature of queer relationships and box-store capitalism. It also depicts the fantastical monsters that lurk just beyond a portal to another world.

Ava is one of many hourly workers at a big-box store called LitenVärld — the “bastard offspring of more popular big box stores, hanging in the margins between home goods giants and minimalist furniture mavens.” She’s had a rough time recently.

She broke up with her partner, Jules, days before the story begins. She’s rearranged her work schedule to avoid them, only to be summoned to the store when another employee calls in sick. All Ava wants to do is avoid Jules, who also works at LitenVärld, until the end of her shift.

Fate has other plans. A customer tells Ava that her elderly grandmother has gone missing, and the employees proceed to comb the store for her. In the process, Ava and Jules discover something strange: a portal to another world, and another LitenVärld.

It turns out the company is well aware of this. Jules and Ava’s manager plays them a company video explaining that what they’ve witnessed is a maskhål: a wormhole.

A special division of the company, FINNA, has been tasked with tracking down lost customers such as the unfortunate Mrs. Ursula Nouri.

Cipri layers the novella with the absurdity that comes with working for major box retailers: LitenVärld’s managers are bland automatons unwilling to deviate from company instructions. They announce that,

BOOKS

Nino Cipri

Walmart and the rest, LitenVärld is staffed with employees who struggle to get by on minimal wages while petty managers ask them to do the impossible.

By juxtaposing a one-size-fits-all mentality with an infinite number of alternate worlds, Cipri presents two possible extremes: a world dominated by a hive mind and a lone adventurer who realizes she can’t make it alone forever.

Though a relative newcomer to the science-fiction publishing world, Cipri has a growing body of short fiction, appearing in outlets including Fireside Magazine, Pseudopod, Nightmare Magazine, Tor.com and others. FINNA is a breezy, accessible read brimming with sardonic humor. The speculative elements are light but effective: Alternate realities are the perfect way to juxtapose the “normal” world with the fantastical ones.

THE SPECULATIVE ELEMENTS ARE LIGHT

BUT EFFECTIVE.

because of corporate cutbacks, two of the minimum-wage employees must volunteer for FINNA (or be volunteered based on seniority, with the threat of being fired for noncompliance).

Ava and Jules are paired, handed a FINNA device and told to track down their missing customer. In lieu of overtime, their manager promises them a couple of Pasta and Friends gift cards.

What transpires is a hair-raising series of potentially deadly adventures as Ava and Jules track down Ursula. After working out the IKEA-like directions on their FINNA, they jump to another world, where they discover that a giant, fuzzy chair has eaten their quarry. When the FINNA tells them a suitable replacement for Ursula is out there, they go in search of her, encountering a creepy world with a murderous hive mind and an alternate, pulp-adventure-style Ursula.

At its core, FINNA examines how capitalism’s sometimes-ridiculous tendencies filter down into box-store retail politics. Cipri’s description is apt: “the box store stuck out like a giant square pimple on the landscape.” As with Best Buy, JCPenney, IKEA,

INFO FINNA by Nino Cipri, Tor, 144 pages. $14.99 paperback; $3.99 ebook.

FROM FINNA The weirdest part about walking through the maskhål was that it wasn’t weird at all. Ava had expected to feel something; a membrane, a temperature change, her ears to pop. They took half a dozen steps and were in another world. It took Ava a few minutes to notice the subtle differences. The world was warmer, a little more humid. The air was fresher in this LitenVärld than in her own. Pastels and paisley seemed to be in fashion in these showrooms, rather than the muted color palettes and natural prints that had dominated this year’s catalogue. But there was nothing that screamed Alien planet!

You don’t belong here!

“I really thought another universe would look cooler.” Jules sounded disappointed.

“I guess LitenVärld is the same everywhere,” she said. “That’s what people want, right? Familiarity?”

“Some people, sure,” said Jules. They turned to her. “This place seems chill. You should stay here while I go find Ursula.”

Ava rolled her eyes. “I’m coming with you.”

“I told you, I can do this on my own,” Jules said, frustration bleeding into their tone.

“I know you can!” Ava snapped. It was true. Jules was prepared for anything, everything. They could have been a Boy Scout, if the Boy Scouts weren’t transphobic trash. They may have moved in a personal chaos field, but it made them more at ease with the unexpected and strange than anyone. At their best, Jules was good-hearted and calm in emergencies and tended to know what to do. Jules was the person you always, always wanted on your zombie apocalypse team.

“Of everyone in this stupid store,” Ava said, “you’re definitely the most capable of rescuing someone’s grandma from a horde of spider-monsters or whatever were in that video.”

“Then why—” “Because I don’t trust you to come back!” Ava hissed. “You always do this. You ignore inconvenient realities like your girlfriend is fucked up in the head and there are giant spiders in other worlds!

Then when the problems get too big to ignore, you run.” “… You dumped me,” Jules said numbly.

“Because you never would,” Ava answered. “I would have just woken up and you’d be gone.”

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Proxy Pursuit

WU’S FILM PLAYS WITH THE NOTION OF SOUL MATES,

BUT HER CLEVER SCREENPLAY REMAINS A TAD SKEPTICAL.

Streaming video review: The Half of It

COURTESY OF KC BAILEY

B Y MA R GO T HA RRISON

W

here do we find entertainment these days? On our laptops and in our living rooms. The streaming options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. So, in this weekly feature, I review a movie or series that might otherwise be easy to overlook.

Still from The Half of It

But, with her household in dire financial straits, Ellie swallows her pride.

Knowing that she and Aster share a love for books and ideas, Ellie woos her for Paul using letters, chats and, in one memorable sequence, a bare wall ripe

THE MOVIE: The Half of It (2020) WHERE TO SEE IT: Netflix

THE DEAL: Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac offers an irresistible template for romantic comedies. What if the wordsmith who’s been hired to help a tonguetied oaf win the girl of his dreams … is also in love with her?

An award winner at the Tribeca Film Festival, this fresh-faced update from writer-director Alice Wu is set in rural Washington. Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) is a bright, lonely teen who helps support her widowed dad (Collin Chou) by selling term papers to the popular kids. When football player Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) asks her to write a letter to Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire), who’s dating one of his teammates, Ellie initially refuses because she has a crush on Aster herself.

for artwork. By the time Aster and Paul have their first date, she thinks he’s a budding existentialist in shoulder pads.

Sweet as he is, Paul isn’t qualified to discuss much besides his prized culinary creation: sausage tacos.

As Ellie and Paul evolve from business partners into friends, Paul expands his horizons. Complications, both comic and bittersweet, ensue.

WILL YOU LIKE IT? Full disclosure (and a spoiler): I learned about The Half of It from a disgruntled Twitter thread. Some

viewers are unhappy with how the movie ends. Named for Plato’s theory that we’re all searching for our other halves, Wu’s film plays with the notion of soul mates, but her clever screenplay remains a tad skeptical. (For what it’s worth, the original Cyrano doesn’t end up happy with his beloved Roxane, either.)

Much more than a romance, The Half of It is a touching, funny film about a brainy Chinese American lesbian coming into her own in a town where football players are revered like rock stars. While the courtship takes center stage, Ellie’s supportive relationships with Paul and her dad are drawn in loving detail. The factors that give Ellie her outsider status are likewise depicted with a careful hand.

A climactic set piece in a church feels a little broad, given all these nuances.

Overall, though, Wu has pulled off a smart, welcome update of the tropes that folks of a certain age remember from John Hughes movies. The yearning oldies on the soundtrack are the cherry on top.

IF YOU LIKE THIS, TRY...

• Saving Face (rentable on various platforms): In Wu’s debut rom-com,

from 2005, a professional is just embarking on a new romance when she must welcome her widowed mom as a permanent guest. Mom disapproves of her daughter ’s sexuality — and is mysteriously pregnant. Reportedly, this one does have a happily ever after.

• The Miseducation of Cameron Post (Hulu and Kanopy; rentable on other platforms): In this 2018 drama, Chloë Grace Moretz plays a Montana high schooler who’s packed off to a gay conversion center. While its premise is dark, this likable sleeper film highlights the resilience and solidarity of the kids as they find ways to bond and, ultimately, escape.

• “Never Have I Ever” (Netflix): Eager for another smart high school comedy with people of color in the lead roles?

Cocreated by Mindy Kaling, this is the story of 15-year-old Valley girl Devi, who’s determined to transform from nerd to queen bee, but her temper keeps getting in the way. In a stroke of strange brilliance, tennis great and fellow “hothead” John McEnroe narrates her story.

Contact: margot@sevendaysvt.com

NOW PLAYING AT THE SUNSET DRIVE-IN Through Thursday, June 4: Bad Boys for Life & Bloodshot Knives Out & Bombshell Sonic the Hedgehog & Trolls World Tour The Invisible Man & The Hunt Through Thursday, June 11: The Wretched & Bad Boys for Life Jumanji: The Next Level & Sonic the Hedgehog Knives Out & Baby Driver The Invisible Man & The Hunt SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

25

Burlington Resource and Recovery Center (RRC) 802.755.7239

Supportive Quarantine Pilot Program

Calling all college students and other folks just back in Burlington from out of state please do your part to help save the lives of our most vulnerable community members - our seniors, people of color, those with underlying medical conditions. Thank you!

What City assistance includes: • Daily check-in call

• Grocery, prescription, or other deliveries • Move-in care package with local goods, two reusable cloth masks, hand sanitizer, information on local resources • Gift card to local restaurant for delivery (following 4 days of quarantine) • Fletcher Free Library card • Information about accessing testing services

Who Students returning to UVM and Champlain College, people

returning or moving to Burlington for other reasons, and residents asked to quarantine as part of a contact tracing effort

When

14 days, or potentially less with a negative result from a COVID-19 test taken after 7 days of quarantine

Why

To contribute to the physical and economic well-being of the entire Burlington community

Where Within Burlington; quarantine required throughout Vermont How Visit burlingtonvt.gov/quarantine or call 802.755.7239

The RRC is here to help in response to COVID-19 Volunteer services

Unemployment, small business, food, housing, childcare, and property tax information

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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Assistance in completing the 2020 Census questionnaire (it’s more important than ever to be counted!)

burlingtonvt.gov/resources 6/2/20 12:03 PM

HACKIE

A VERMONT CABBIE’S REAR VIEW BY JERNIGAN PONTIAC

Tractor Love

B

utch Hawkes, my fiftysomething customer, and I were driving south on Route 7 en route to his home in the tucked-away Addison County town of West Cornwall. He had come up to Burlington a couple of days earlier for shoulder surgery.

Butch was sitting in what I call the “wayback” seats of my minivan. He was burly and bearded, with calloused hands the size of bear paws. I thought, This is the kind of man I’d want for backup in a bar fight. (I have never actually been in a bar fight, but still.)

It was a sunny, warm spring afternoon, and I had the windows half-cracked. The rush of air was invigorating after the long, cold winter, but the whooshing sound only compounded the auditory difficulties created by the, excuse me, fucking distance.

When the virus hit Vermont, I removed my taxi’s middle seats to create a safe “social distance” and began asking all my customers to sit in the wayback. I always throw in an apology, which is invariably waved off with, “Hey, no problem.

I understand.” Still, I’m a social guy, so this distancing business goes against my nature.

“How you doin’ back there?” I called over my shoulder.

“Not bad, all considering. You?” Butch replied.

“Oh, fuck — I can barely hear you,” I said, my frustration mounting. “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna shut the windows and turn the AC on low. That way at least we can hear each other. I’m willing to sacrifice the fresh air for some decent conversation.”

“I’m right with ya,” Butch agreed with a chuckle.

“OK, that’s much better,” I said. “Now we don’t need to shout. So, Butch, you grow up in Addison County?”

“Yup, on the family farm. We had about 100 cows, milked ’em twice a day.”

“I couldn’t help but notice you are one large unit. You musta played high school football, I bet.”

“I didn’t, but I sure wanted to. When I was a freshman, the JV coach came to me and said, ‘Just say the word, Butchie. You could be dressed and playing this weekend.”

THE PAINT JOBS WERE AMAZING —

ALL HUNTER GREENS, FIRE-ENGINE REDS AND SILVER CHROME. I laughed and said, “They saw this strapping farm boy and could picture you mowing down opposing quarterbacks.”

“Exactly. But, unfortunately, my father wouldn’t let me join the team. They needed me at home to help with the chores. Farm work is, like, never-ending.”

“Jeez, that’s too bad. Did you have anything to do for fun?”

“Oh, yeah,” Butch replied. In the rearview mirror, I saw a wide smile come across his face. “My thing is tractor pulls.

It’s, like, my big passion since I was a kid.”

“Wow, that is something,” I said. “I think I’ve seen that once on some sports channel. It’s a competition to see how heavy a load your tractor can pull, right?”

“Yup, over a specific distance, usually about 100 yards. And then you got your different classes, like antique, farm stock, enhanced farm stock. Anyways, I was actually one of the guys who brought the sport to Vermont. Now you see it at state

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fairs all across the state. Of course, most of the events this year have been canceled on account of the virus.”

“Well, that’s way cool. You were the Vermont tractor pull pioneers.”

“Yup, me and two other guys made it happen. One was an accountant and the other was, like, this genius at marketing and promo. And I kind of brought it all together. Hey, would you like to see some pics of my machines?”

“You mean the tractors? Sure.”

5/26/20 4:08 PM

Like a proud grandparent sharing photos of the beautiful grandkids, Butch stepped forward toward the front of the cab and passed me his cellphone.

“You can scroll through to see a few of ’em,” he said. “They’re all classic models that we restored, both the bodies and mechanically.”

I took the phone and glanced for a moment at a few gleaming tractors parked in front of an old barn. As I passed him back his cell, I said, “I couldn’t look too close while I’m driving, but I can tell these are some gorgeous machines.”

Different strokes for different folks, right? I thought as we motored along. I really couldn’t imagine getting into tractor pulling, either as a participant or a spectator. Then again, I would have said the same thing about demolition derby, until a friend convinced me to go with him to one of those crazy competitions held at the Champlain Valley Fair in August.

It turns out I loved it. I thrilled at the sight of the drivers crashing their beaters into one another; it was like an exercise in the fulfillment of every cabbie’s deepest and darkest id. Who knows? Maybe tractor pulling holds a similar allure just awaiting my discovery.

We hung a left off Route 22A toward Butch’s place in West Cornwall. After another couple of turns, we pulled into his driveway. He explained that the farm was sold off years ago, but he still lives on a piece of the original property.

“Hey, do you want to see some of the tractors up close and personal?” he asked.

“I know you’re working and all.”

“Hell, yeah,” I replied, chuckling. “I’d love to.”

I followed Butch on a path behind the farmhouse to an old barn, the one in his photos. Out in front sat three tractors, each clearly an antique but lovingly restored to factory-showroom quality. The paint jobs were amazing — all hunter greens, fire-engine reds and silver chrome.

“The one in the center, believe it or not, was bought new in ’58 by my granddad.”

“It’s a beauty, man, no doubt,” I offered.

“You have totally restored it to its former glory, and then some.”

As the two of us stood there admiring these machines, I thought, I do believe I just might be getting the pull of the tractor pull. m All these stories are true, though names and locations may be altered to protect privacy.

INFO Hackie is a twice-monthly column. To reach Jernigan, email hackie@sevendaysvt.com.

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5/29/20 2:14 PM

RETAIL THERAPY BY MARGARET GRAYSON

Domestic Harmony Seven items for your home and where to buy them locally

A

re you working from home?

That phrase conjures something different for everyone.

Whether “home” is a house in the country, a shared apartment w i t h ro o m m a t e s i n Bu r l i n g t o n or another arrangement, there are plenty of ways to spruce up your abode and make the most of your personal space.

For Brett Bashaw and Natasha Lawyer, working from home is the norm, because both their ceramics studio and their house sit on an 11-acre piece of land in Fletcher.

The couple sells ceramics online as Sugarhouse Ceramic.

Sales have grown since Bashaw and Lawyer started Sugarhouse nearly two years ago. But when it became apparent that the pandemic was, well, a pandemic, Bashaw said he was concerned. Assuming sales would take a hit, he started looking for information online about whether the couple could qualify for unemployment insurance.

“I was so close to doing that, but I never did. Because literally, over the next few days, our sales started to pick up,” Bashaw said. “Our sales were through the roof … It’s gotten to the point where, as soon as we put it on the site, it sells.”

Bashaw said he’s not entirely sure what’s caused the uptick in interest in handmade ceramics. But he said he notices every Vermont-based order and is grateful for the support.

“If this whole experience has taught us anything, I think it’s emphasizing the power of local communities supporting each other. I do think we need to start valuing handmade things that aren’t just pumped out in a factory thousands of miles away,” Bashaw said. “This has highlighted how important it is to value our local economy.”

Seven Days rounded up some products from local businesses to help turn your home into a sanctuary during trying times and beyond. This list is by no means comprehensive. Check the status of many Vermont sellers by visiting the Register at shoptheregister.com.

This is the last of nine Retail Therapy columns published during Vermont’s shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic.

Visit the archives at sevendaysvt.com for intel on everything from garden goods and outdoor gear to books and self-care.

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Matcha Bowls

It might take a bit of doing to get your hands on a piece of pottery from Sugarhouse Ceramic, but it’s worth it.

The site is restocked every week or so with small batches of new items, but they fly off the (virtual) shelves very quickly.

The best way to stay on top of the new offerings, Bashaw said, is by joining the company’s email list or turning on notifications for its Instagram account, @sugarhouseceramicco. Happy hunting!

Order from sugarhouse ceramicco.com.

ALSO TRY: Pantry Bowl from Farmhouse Pottery in Woodstock (farmhousepottery. com).

HOW TO BUY:

Palm Canyon Birdhouse

Garden Tools Puzzle

Few things are more Zen-like than sitting down to chip away at a puzzle, especially if you’ve been staring at a screen. Woodbury Mountain Toys in Montpelier has dozens of 1,000-piece puzzles to peruse, including this spring-themed option. Owner Karen Williams opened the store to in-person shopping on May 25. In a video on Facebook, she described rugs placed around the store at safe distances from one another as “hot lava safety spots,” referencing the interactive kids’ game The Floor Is Lava. Trust a toy store owner to make social distancing fun.

HOW TO BUY: Visit woodburymountaintoys.

com, call for curbside pickup, or visit the store Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

ALSO TRY: Ideal Bookshelf puzzle from Phoenix Books in Burlington, Essex or Rutland (phoenixbooks.biz).

Bird-watching is on the rise during the pandemic, according to the National Audubon Society, which reports that downloads of its bird identification app have increased dramatically over last spring. If you’re suddenly noticing the feathered friends in your yard, why not give them a snazzy new home? Steve Hadeka (a former Seven Days staffer) makes brightly colored birdhouses in the style of midcentury-modern architecture in his Winooski workshop.

HOW TO BUY: Order at pleasantranch.com.

Recycled Ski Birdhouse from Green Mountain Ski Furniture in Waterbury (recycledskis.com).

ALSO TRY:

Letterpress Coasters

Life is too short for boring coasters. If you’re going to use them to protect your furniture from water rings, why not take the opportunity to spread tiny works of art across your coffee table? These letterpress coasters from Montpelier’s May Day Studio are one of many charming printed products the shop offers. While you’re

browsing, pick up a greeting card and send a note to someone you haven’t seen in a while, or buy a journal to document these crazy times.

HOW TO BUY: Order at maydaystudio.com.

ALSO TRY: Recipe card box from Shelburne

Gift Company in Shelburne (shelburnegift. ivyandanchor.com).

Waxed Canvas Planter

Give your succulents a little love — and a minimalist style upgrade — with this planter from Red House, handmade from waxed canvas. Known for its durability and waterproofing, waxed canvas works well for indoor and outdoor use. The planters, handmade in Shelburne by Matt and Britt Witt, are available in three sizes and colors.

“HomeShare found the right person for me, we are so

downloads are perfect for a pandemic, because you can buy art without leaving your home.”

compatible.”

Buy and download prints at smallequals.com.

ALSO TRY: Mount Mansfield Woodblock Map Print from Tangerine & Olive in Stowe (tangerine-olive.myshopify.com.)

HOW TO BUY:

Echo Bowl HOW TO BUY: Order at redhousevt.com.

Handmade Hanging Planter from SWD Potteryworks in Ludlow (swdpotteryworks.com).

ALSO TRY:

Print-at-Home Handwashing Sign

Everyone could use a little health reminder now and then. And if it’s cute, even better!

South Burlington artist Liza Cowan is offering “Wash Your Hands With Soap & Water” signs for would-be decorators to download and print on their own. They’re bright and friendly, just like all of the art at Liza Cowan Design. Though she sells much of her work as prints, Cowan appreciates digital downloads as “a very democratic way to circulate art because it’s so affordable and customizable,” she writes by email. “Digital

What do you get when the son of renowned glassblower Simon Pearce turns his attention to wood? The graceful lines of a salad bowl from Andrew Pearce. Made from sustainably harvested hardwood, each bowl is hand-cut on a lathe, sanded smooth and dried in a kiln at his Hartland workshop. The artist is also dedicated to essentially replacing every tree used to make his bowls. So far, the company has planted 1,150 trees in the United States through the Shelburnebased nonprofit One Tree Planted.

HOME SHARE Bringing Vermonters together to share homes

Untitled-13 1

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5/29/20 12:19 PM

Order from andrewpearce bowls.com or call for curbside pickup.

ALSO TRY: Cutting board from Vermont Tree Goods in Bristol (vermonttree goods.com).

HOW TO BUY:

LOOKING FOR TIPS ON HOW TO SPEND YOUR SUMMER? The June issue of Kids VT is filled with fun ideas. From exploring streams and ponds to summer reads and a Just For Kids activity section — there is something for everyone.

Check out what other Vermont retailers are up to at shoptheregister.com.

Find the June issue inside next week’s Seven Days.

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6/1/20 6:35 PM

BOTTOM LINE BY KEN PICARD

Without Reservations Ski resort software firm Inntopia carves new tracks through the pandemic

F

or Trevor Crist, founder and CEO of Inntopia, the winter of 2019-20 was on course to be a bluebird season. Hefty snow blanketed much of the country, prompting skiers and snowboarders to hit the slopes in higherthan-average numbers in the Northeast, the Rockies and the West Coast.

That was good news for the Stowebased booking software firm. Normally, 80 percent of Inntopia’s revenue comes from clients that operate ski resorts, such as Alterra Mountain Company, which owns Sugarbush and Stratton, and Vail Resorts, which owns Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow.

“The whole continent was tracking pretty well,” Crist recalled. “And then things fell off a cliff.”

Like most companies involved in travel, tourism and hospitality, Inntopia’s revenues, normal in the first week of March, disappeared virtually overnight, as the coronavirus first struck the Northwest, then erupted in New York and across the country. As Crist noted, some of the earliest COVID-19 hot spots outside of major U.S. cities were luxury ski resort towns, where many wealthier urbanites sought refuge, and where many of Inntopia’s clients are based.

Though some related businesses have since gone under, their numbers haven’t been as high as Crist initially feared — yet.

“In travel and hospitality, you look at the next few months and wonder how long some of these businesses are going to be able to hang on with social-distancing rules in place,” he said. “They’re all going to need to reinvent their businesses — and they’re going to need software to do that.”

Inntopia, which has about 80 employees spread across its offices in Stowe, Burlington, Colorado and Maine, hasn’t furloughed or laid off any of its workers.

But in mid-March, they all switched to working remotely and to a four-day workweek. Crist said that the salaries of the company’s “higher earners” were reduced on a sliding scale, with those paid the most taking the biggest hits.

And as travel all but halted for two months, Inntopia searched for ways to reinvent itself. In an effort to keep staff busy, identify new revenue streams and find ways of giving back to their communities, Crist said, Inntopia repurposed its travel booking software to create TestLink, a platform for scheduling COVID-19 tests.

Despite some early interest among 30

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Stowe-based Inntopia’s staff pre-COVID-19

THEY’RE ALL GOING TO NEED TO REINVENT THEIR BUSINESSES Inntopia’s Edwards, Colo., team

states and municipalities, mostly in the mid-Atlantic region, Crist said, Inntopia has yet to sign any clients for TestLink.

“The [coronavirus] testing hasn’t come online as quickly as I had hoped for to make [the platform] necessary,” he lamented. “It isn’t that hard to schedule testing right now because there isn’t much testing available.”

Far more successful has been Inntopia’s work on the Goggles for Docs campaign. In late March, Crist received an email from John Schaefer, who runs Berkshire East and Catamount ski resorts in Massachusetts. Schaefer had gotten a request from a New York physician seeking donations of old ski goggles that could be repurposed as personal protective equipment for frontline health care workers.

Crist offered to create the software to match donors with recipients — namely, hospitals and health care facilities.

Within two weeks, Inntopia had the platform up and running. The company has

— AND THEY’RE GOING TO NEED SOFTWARE TO DO THAT. TR E VO R C R IS T

since coordinated the donation of nearly 45,000 pairs of goggles, and demand has not let up.

“How many goggles are there to be donated?” Crist said. “Frankly, I’m shocked that we’re this far into it and the PPE manufacturers haven’t caught up.”

But he pointed out that Inntopia didn’t monetize the software; the project was a community service. And, because the company’s majority owner is a private equity firm, Crist noted, Inntopia hasn’t qualified for any state or federal assistance to weather the pandemic, such as the Paycheck Protection Program.

Even as bookings and other travel arrangements have slowly resumed in the last few weeks, Crist said, Inntopia continues to seek new revenue streams. In addition to managing clients’ travel bookings, marketing and customer communications, the company also offers a service that’s suddenly in high demand: business intelligence.

Because the pandemic is unlike any previous crisis the hospitality industry has endured, including 9/11 and the Great Recession of 2008, “There’s a tremendous hunger for data,” he said.

“People are flying blind because, in a lot of ways, the ground rules have all changed for everything.”

Simply put, ski resorts and other hospitality businesses are just coming to grips with the possibility that, next winter, they may need to do business in a socially distanced ski season. That could mean limited or prohibited indoor dining, reduced capacities in lodges and lift lines, and similar restrictions. As Crist put it, “I don’t think anyone really has a handle on what that will look like.”

Inntopia has reaped some unexpected benefits, he said. Some clients have postponed costly infrastructure improvements, such as building new restaurants and renovating lodges, opting instead for more modest projects, such as software improvements.

“It’s a lot easier to look at a $200 million capital budget and say, ‘Let’s get rid of the $20 million chairlift and [go with] the $200,000 software project,’” Crist said.

The opportunities haven’t outweighed the costs of this crisis, he noted, “but every bit helps.” As for Inntopia’s own operations, working remotely has been popular among staff.

“We’ve actually found that it’s broken down barriers that existed geographically,” Crist explained. “We’re finding better collaboration between people in Colorado and Vermont than we previously had.”

Indeed, Inntopia has no plan to require its employees to return to their offices for the remainder of 2020, if ever.

“We managed to pretty seamlessly and effortlessly get everyone working from home,” Crist added. “I have a hard time seeing us going back into office space again.” m Contact: ken@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Learn more at inntopia.com.

Bottom Line is a series on how Vermont businesses are faring during the pandemic.

Got a tip? Email bottomline@sevendaysvt.com.

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In the immediate aftermath of widespread stay-at-home orders, cannabis sales spiked across the country; in Oregon, where recreational use has been legal since 2015, March and April 2020 saw the state’s highest cannabis revenue on record.

On the online forum Reddit, the global psychedelic community has convened to weigh the pros and cons of tripping while quarantining. One user wrote: “Hell no, this isn’t a great time! This is the most anxious that humanity has been since 9/11. Everyone is expecting bad things to happen. Everyone has bad vibes.”

Another disagreed: “There is literally no better time than now to eat a whole friggin sheet.”

For Paul, microdosing became a project, a spiritual exercise regimen.

“Normally, I’d be going to work every day, but instead, I committed to this. My responsibilities had basically gone to nil,” he said. “So I thought, This is my shot.

What better time to microdose than the end of the world?”

Every morning for the next two weeks, Paul took a corner of an acid tab after breakfast and then went about his day. It was early spring, still monochromatic and blossomless, but through the microdose filter, everything seemed warmer, as if someone had turned up the saturation dial on his field of vision.

“It’s not like getting stoned, where your perception can be so far off and you might have anxiety or paranoia,” he said.

“It’s a very gentle, comforting feeling, like putting on a pair of sunglasses that brightens the mood.”

One of Paul’s regular LSD sources, an Old North End resident who goes by the moniker Skiz, has been selling weed and psychedelics since the mid-’90s. Over the last three months, he said, his psilocybin mushroom and LSD sales have quadrupled. In May, Skiz went through a pound of mushrooms, a quantity he typically would move over an entire year.

“People are definitely gravitating toward the unusual,” Skiz said. “I think everyone is trying to get out of their stuck thoughts and experience an altered, creative mindset. It’s the way to travel from home.”

Another Burlington dealer, who asked to be identified only as Dave, has also seen a shift in demand: “The people who would buy a quarter pound of ’shrooms, like a party dose, they’re not doing that anymore, because there are no concerts or festivals happening,” he said. “But my individual-use people are definitely buying more, and I’m going through them faster than I normally do.”

Both Skiz and Dave have noticed an uptick in two kinds of customers: the habitual psychedelic consumers, whose home-centric lives have allowed them to

trip more freely; and skittish newcomers, emboldened by the once-in-a-lifetime nature of a global pandemic.

“These sweet older ladies are asking me, ‘So, what’s this microdosing thing all about?’” said Skiz. Recently, he got a call from a friend who decided he was finally ready to try acid. “He was nervous about it to begin with, and he knows some of my neighbors, so he was freaking out that they’d wonder what he was doing at my place.”

Before the days of social distancing, Skiz would let people into his apartment to hang out and chat while they picked out their product. One of his customers likes to select her pot using a high-contact dowsing method, inadvisable under the current circumstances. “She takes a little taste of each one, and she’ll either be like, ‘I feel a tingle in my nose! I don’t think I want this one,’ or ‘Oh, that tastes nice and herbaceous,’” Skiz explained. “She uses

I THINK EVERYONE IS TRYING TO GET OUT OF THEIR STUCK THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCE AN ALTERED, CREATIVE MINDSET. SKIZ

all of her senses to intuit what she wants, which is definitely something I can’t let her do anymore.”

To keep face-to-face encounters to a minimum, Skiz has been hiding plastic bags around his apartment building.

Some of his clients have had a hard time unlearning the social rituals of the exchange: “There’s always one kid who comes by for weed who never has any money, and I’ll usually just give him some,” he said. “And he always gets all excited and wants to hug me, and but it’s like, ‘No, no, can’t hug me!’”

Other underground purveyors have taken even more rigorous precautions.

A Georgia couple who, pre-pandemic, sold marijuana and homemade edibles out of their home, launched an encrypted virtual store and a contactless delivery system to reduce in-person transactions. One half of the couple, Jamie (not her real name), said that many of their clients are immunocompromised; to protect them, she and her partner wrap all of their products in vacuum-sealed plastic and sanitize the packages with Clorox.

When they make deliveries, they leave the packages in mailboxes or other discreet drop-off nooks. “We don’t go into people’s houses for anything,” Jamie said. Most of their customers send them money via Venmo; when someone pays in cash, Jamie and her partner place a machine-washable cloth sack on the ground and stand at least 10 feet away while the customer dumps the bills into the bag. When they get home, they launder the bag, with the money inside it, in hot water. (Miraculously, the bills survive.)

Over the past few months, according to Jamie, their customer base has doubled — from 50 or so clients, most of whom are word-of-mouth referrals, to nearly 100.

Their buyers rely on cannabis for their physical and mental well-being: “I think some people want their weed more than they want food,” Jamie said. “In a time of stress and anxiety, cannabis makes things a little lighter, makes the time go by faster.” Recently, she embarked on an edible-fueled spring-cleaning spree: “You have some candy, and then you clean that garage with a slightly different perspective.”

Paul, the microdoser, found unexpected beauty in the mutedness of the outdoors in the cold, rainy days of late April. One of his friends, who was microdosing at the same time, told him that he suddenly understood why there were so many colorful houses in Burlington: “‘Otherwise, it’d just be so fucking gray!’”

Since his two-week microdosing spell ended last month, Paul has been feeling nostalgic for his days of introspection. Like so many gig workers, he rarely took vacation time before the pandemic; having no choice but to tend his small bubble — his yard, his relationships — felt like an unexpected gift. “When you lose everything, and all you have to do is take care of yourself and your home,” he said, “it’s almost like being a child again.”

As life slowly begins to return to something masquerading as familiar, Paul’s nostalgia has darkened into sadness. “I really felt like this pandemic was the opportunity to halt our culture’s insane operating system. I think microdosing was a way of teaching myself to be grateful for my health, for the people I love and everything I interact with,” he said. “Now, it feels like the old world is seeping back in, and it’s making me anxious.” m

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‘It’s in the Building’ he order came over the intercom: Managers, meet now in the lobby.

Social worker Tiffany Smith knew what it meant. If the latest test for the coronavirus at Birchwood Terrace Rehab and Healthcare had been negative, she would have heard through a text message, the same way she had previously learned that residents with a cough or fever didn’t have the disease.

The 16 managers gathered near the recently locked double-door entryway so the nursing home’s executive director, Alecia DiMario, could deliver the news.

It was Monday morning, March 30, and Birchwood Terrace had just become the second eldercare facility in Vermont with a confirmed case of COVID-19.

Across the Queen City at Burlington Health & Rehabilitation Center, the virus had already infected dozens and killed eight elderly residents in just two weeks. Birchwood’s caregivers and other staff understood — they thought they understood — how one case could become two, then four, then 16, and keep multiplying until the virus alone would decide who inside the building would live and who would not.

Still, they had reason to hope.

They had been preparing for weeks, even earlier than public health officials were asking. During the anxious two-day wait for a lab to process this resident’s test, they had sealed off the area around his room with plastic sheeting and worn protective gear whenever they entered to care for the man.

After DiMario spoke, the managers put on surgical masks and got to work. They notified families and instructed coworkers and began to lock down every part of the home. Then they inserted long swabs into the nasal cavity of each resident who lived in the hallway where the first case had just been discovered.

DiMario thought those tests would prove that her team’s quick action had prevented the virus from spreading.

Instead, the results revealed an outbreak already out of control.

Over the next six weeks, as others exhaled because Vermont had suppressed new infections, Birchwood Terrace would become fully engulfed. The outbreak at this corner lot in a quiet New North End neighborhood would swell to become the state’s largest.

Sixty-one of the home’s 112 residents, plus 31 employees, would test positive for the 34

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

BY D ER EK B R O U WER & C O L I N F L A N D ER S PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

T

How COVID-19 overwhelmed a Burlington nursing home

Sarah Batten

virus. Other residents would be presumed to have contracted it because of the symptoms they showed; the total estimated number of infected residents would top 80.

One in five residents would die. All told, Birchwood would account for 21 of 55 confirmed coronavirus deaths in Vermont as of June 2. Two other Birchwood residents were presumed to have been killed by the disease, but their infection was never confirmed, according to their death certificates.

Locally, this unthinkable toll was an exception. But similar devastation has played out in thousands of nursing homes across the country, by some tallies killing at least 40,000 elderly residents and caregivers.

To begin to understand how the outbreak at Birchwood advanced, Seven Days spoke to more than 30 health care workers, residents, residents’ families, public officials and others. The people who agreed to be interviewed are only a fraction of those who have been affected.

But they gave detailed accounts of the virus’ asphyxiating grip — and of the long recovery that’s only just begun.

THE OUTBREAK

Two days before the fateful announcement, Sarah Batten stepped into a cool spring night and strolled the same path to work that her grandmother, Joyce, had walked for decades.

Joyce had lived in a small teal house on Starr Farm Road, separated from Birchwood Terrace by a short stretch of woods.

A geriatric nurse, she worked at the nursing home for more than 20 years before her death in 2009.

Sarah Batten later moved into her grandmother’s old house with her three children, ages 8, 10 and 15. The 37-year-old nurse joined Birchwood last fall and recently became the unit manager for its long-termcare wing, working alongside some of her grandmother’s former colleagues.

Nursing homes always boast of offering family-like care, but at Birchwood, ties do run deep. In an industry often defined by staff turnover, some Birchwood employees have worked there for many years.

Employees are proud the home doesn’t use traveling fill-in workers for its staffing needs and that they can count on each

other to run a bake sale for a colleague who falls on hard times.

The home itself, stretching west along Starr Farm Road from the intersection with North Avenue, hasn’t changed much since it was built in 1963. The tired-looking building reflects the old style of nursing homes, long and low, centered on one main hallway, with residents packed densely inside. Air conditioners jut out every nine feet along the brownish exterior, while rooftop units protrude like enormous oxygen tubes.

One of the largest nursing homes in Vermont, Birchwood can house up to 144 residents in its three units — long-term care, rehabilitation and dementia. Each unit extends out both sides of the center corridor. The building’s footprint resembles a plane with three sets of wings, with memory care closest to North Avenue, longterm care in the middle and the rehab unit at the building’s western end.

Residents live in the long-term and memory care units on average for three years, though some have stayed as long as 15 years, supported by the $237 daily rate Medicaid pays Birchwood for their care; for most, it’s their final home.

Former nursing home colossus Kindred Healthcare sold Birchwood to a New York City private equity group in 2018. The new owners, Isaac Rubin, Ariel Erlichman and Milton Ostreicher, acknowledged the home was “extremely dated” and completed a $1.2 million renovation to the interior common spaces earlier this year, regulatory filings show. The upgrades didn’t extend to the former Kindred sign out front, which is still covered with a temporary banner bearing the home’s new logo and “We Are Family” slogan. Nor did they replace the faded green canopy that brackets the front door, under which Batten passed en route to her 11 p.m. shift.

Batten didn’t typically work overnights but was called in because the rehab unit

Alter’s electronic medical chart, desperate to learn the results. When the information finally appeared, it showed that Alter had COVID-19 — the home’s first case.

DiMario called officials at the Vermont Department of Health to inform them and solicit guidance. Then she tried to steady her nervous colleagues at the emergency managers’ meeting. We’re ready for this, she told them. This is what we have been preparing for.

But she knew nothing was certain.

“It was the beginning of the unknown,” she said.

Her immediate priority was to trap the virus in place and keep it from spreading.

Birchwood’s long, arterial layout was a major vulnerability. So they closed the doors between each of the three units,

For weeks, Beauchemin had been walking her unit looking for any signs of respiratory illness. She continued to hope her residents would be spared; Alter’s room in the rehabilitation unit was on the opposite end of the building.

But she also knew the odds weren’t good.

“It’s in the building,” she said. “And if it’s in the building, how can you really expect that it’s not going to come down the hallway?”

Not wanting to take chances, DiMario told the health department she wanted to test the other 15 residents of C wing.

Her employees took the swabs that same day; state officials agreed to fast-track the samples. The devastating results trickled in over the next three days: 11 of Alter’s

By April 3, just four days after Alter’s diagnosis, Birchwood learned that the virus had already spread through all three units and infected 26 residents. The house was ablaze before anyone even smelled smoke.

Now Birchwood needed to figure out how to contain the epidemic. With the health department’s guidance, DiMario designated C wing, at the western end of the building, as the COVID-19 unit, where all infected residents would be quarantined. The strategy of keeping infected patients as far as possible from uninfected ones was intended to give Birchwood its best chance at stopping further transmission.

That meant Philip Fugazzotto, a 73-year-old from Newburgh, N.Y., known

neighbors were infected, although they had no symptoms.

Batten’s mind raced when she learned that all of the rehab patients with whom she had worked on an overnight shift were now infected. She had worn protective gear, but she nevertheless worried, Did I get them sick? Did I get it myself ? Have I already brought it home to my kids? Her fear only grew on April 1, when four residents in her own longterm-care unit also became ill, forcing her team to begin wearing full protective gear, too.

The virus’ stealthy advance prompted DiMario to seek state permission to test everyone in the building — residents first, employees second.

affectionately as “the tall man” because of his six-foot-three stature, had to leave the long-term-care room where he’d lived for more than three years. He’d fallen ill a few days earlier but was feeling better when the nurses told him he’d tested positive.

He could take only a few treasured belongings, so Fugazzotto reached for the portable CD player that an employee had given him long ago, hoping that his Tchaikovsky classics — The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Piano Concerto No. 1 — would get him through the nerve-racking days ahead.

You can’t take a break and cry, and you can’t take a break to go outside to even have a breath of air, because everybody needs you.

R A CH AEL BEAUCHEMIN

was short-staffed. One of the residents Batten cared for that night was a spirited, independent Waitsfield man named Donald Alter. The 81-year-old was lured to Vermont decades ago by the promise of good skiing and small-town life. Recently, though, a string of health problems led him in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation centers, according to his brother, Gary. On March 17, Donald was admitted to Birchwood’s rehabilitation unit, known as the C wing, after being treated for a urinary tract infection at the University of Vermont Medical Center.

Unlike some other nursing homes at the time, Birchwood was still accepting new admissions from area hospitals, even as it took other steps to limit possible coronavirus exposure, such as barring visitors.

Alter had not shown symptoms of the virus when he arrived at the home. But he developed a nasty cough about a week into his stay, and his caregivers, suspecting he might be infected, began monitoring him for COVID-19 on March 26. They tested him on March 28, the same day Batten was called in to help.

The following Monday, DiMario sat at her computer and compulsively refreshed

then stretched caution tape across the interior fire doors to create mini-units within units. The compartmentalization meant that meals and laundry would have to be carted across the back lawn and through an emergency exit.

The atmosphere in the home had already shifted once it banned visitors and stopped most communal dining and group activities.

The first case brought even more dramatic changes. Residents’ doors stayed closed, and they could no longer walk through the hallways. Caregivers in the rehab unit began learning how to work entire days in personal protective equipment.

An air of foreboding set in, said Rachael Beauchemin, longtime nursing manager of Birchwood’s 50-bed dementia unit.

‘IT’S IN THE BUILDING’ SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

» P.36 35

PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

‘It’s in the Building’ « P.35

CRISIS STRATEGIES

Birchwood was burning through its small cache of masks and gowns within 24 hours of the first case. The home had resorted to extreme measures, unsure when vendors could deliver more vital gear that had become hard to procure. Panic set in as managers realized their employees might have little more than ponchos to stop the virus’ spread.

“We were out literally buying raincoats,” DiMario recalled.

But on March 31, a truck pulled up with a trailer in tow as administrative nurse Miriam Berry watched from a window. The delivery people announced that they worked for the Vermont Agency of Transportation. The trailer was full of masks, gowns and face shields from the state’s emergency supply.

Berry stood by, flabbergasted, as the boxes began to fill Birchwood’s lobby.

Some N95 mask sizes weren’t available, meaning the medical-grade facial coverings wouldn’t necessarily work properly for every employee, but they were better than nothing.

“It was like the cavalry had come,” Berry recalled.

Birchwood was facing an even bigger problem. The pandemic had put enormous pressure on its caregivers and service workers, who risked contracting the virus while earning as little as a $13-an-hour starting wage. Schools were closed, and many employees couldn’t find or afford childcare. Others feared infecting a vulnerable family member.

Many of Birchwood’s veteran staffers were at an elevated risk themselves

Birchwood Terrace Rehab and Healthcare

because of their age. Several got an ultimatum from roommates who were afraid they would bring the virus home: Stop working or move out.

At one point before the outbreak, a handful of Birchwood employees slept in a makeshift “clean area” inside the rehab unit to try to minimize the chance of bringing the virus home or, after venturing out, back into the building. Workers were assigned longer, 12-hour shifts to compensate for the drop in available hands. And Birchwood paid for off-site housing for six employees who could not live at home.

Those measures weren’t enough to replace more than 30 employees — onefifth of the nursing home’s workforce — who either couldn’t work or did not feel safe doing so.

The shortage was about to get even worse. Employees lined up outside the building on the night of April 3 so health department workers could swab them

for the first time. Batten had decided to assume that she had the virus to quell the anxiety of not knowing. She tested negative, but nearly two dozen other employees, mostly frontline caregivers and service workers, were infected.

Birchwood was in a full-blown crisis, and not just from the viral spread. The decreased staff was struggling to make sure its residents were fed, received their medications and didn’t fall in the bathroom. Smith, who normally oversaw the team of social workers, helped prep meal trays in the kitchen. Holly Johnston, a licensed practical nurse who trained new hires, covered weekend shifts for a nurse who’d tested positive and fallen ill.

Word of the dire situation had already made its way to Vermont Human Services Secretary Mike Smith. He called UVM Medical Center president Stephen Leffler on April 2 to request emergency reinforcements.

If Birchwood couldn’t find enough health care professionals to work, more than 100 residents would need to be evacuated, either to a hospital or a makeshift COVID-19 treatment site that was still being set up inside UVM’s Patrick Gymnasium. Relocation carried its own risks and would have filled dozens of hospital beds at a time when health officials still feared that hospitals might be overrun. Plus, nearly every Birchwood resident had an advanced directive in place ordering doctors not to provide intubation or other advanced medical care in the case of a grave illness.

“We thought the best thing to do was keep people in their homes,” Leffler said.

The UVM Medical Center had nurses to spare. It routinely uses out-of-state contract workers to augment its staff; now they were standing idle because the hospital had canceled all nonemergency procedures. A few of the “travelers,” as they are known, already had been repurposed as temperature takers at hospital entrances when their new, unexpected assignment came.

For some, working at the COVID-19stricken nursing home was a harrowing prospect. Those who work in hospital settings would typically discard protective equipment such as gowns and gloves between patients. But health care workers around the country were being asked to preserve the gear ahead of a potential surge of COVID-19 patients.

At Birchwood, the travelers would be given a brown bag with just two gowns, two fitted N95 masks, a face shield and scrubs, and then assigned a Birchwood “buddy” who could show them how to perform duties that weren’t covered in a six-page “tips and tricks” document.

We’re not trained for this, Krista Otero thought when she read the April 3 email

How COVID-19 Spread at Birchwood Terrace Nursing Home MARCH 7 Vermont identifies first COVID-19 case, in Bennington County.

MARCH 11 First COVID-19 case identified in Chittenden County Birchwood Terrace bars most outside visitors.

MARCH 13 Gov. Phil Scott restricts nursing home visitation.

36

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

MARCH 30 First positive test of a Birchwood resident.

APRIL 1 Six more residents test positive.

APRIL 9 Short staffing and lack of space force consolidation of Birchwood’s COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 units.

APRIL 2 Birchwood tests all residents.

APRIL 3 First resident dies from COVID-19. First staff member tests positive.

APRIL 10 Health department announces it will test all residents of a group living facility if one person tests positive.

APRIL 14 Birchwood no largest outbr and staff are

telling her to report to Birchwood. The surgical technician from North Carolina wasn’t sure how to properly lift residents, and she was troubled by the idea that she would have to reuse her equipment ration between patients.

Several who refused the assignment, including Otero, said their contracts were terminated. Kristen Claiborne of Florida declined out of concern for herself and her children. “I’m fixing to lose my home here because I’m not working,” she later said on the telephone, through tears.

Those who did go to Birchwood on April 6 were shocked by the conditions.

Still struggling to keep enough caregivers on the floor, Birchwood had received the blessing of state health officials to allow infected employees to continue to work, as long as they didn’t develop a cough or fever and worked only with infected residents. More than half of Birchwood employees who tested positive, at least a dozen, stayed on the job, DiMario said.

The approach ran contrary to guidance that the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living had sent to health care providers on April 3. But health department nurse program coordinator Will Fritch, who worked closely with Birchwood on its outbreak response, said the state turned to “crisis mitigation strategies” put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which advised that infected workers could continue to work with infected patients as a last resort.

One traveling worker, who requested anonymity out of fear of employment retaliation, worked multiple shifts on the C wing alongside a Birchwood caregiver who had tested positive. By the end of one shift, the traveler’s “buddy” was visibly ill.

The caregivers “were doing the best they could,” the traveler said.

For Birchwood employees, time had stopped.

DiMario, the director, spent entire days on the phone with families and health officials. Nurses worked 65 hours a week or more on the floor — in Batten’s case, while her two younger children were home alone because she couldn’t find emergency childcare.

The edges of the caregivers’ masks ground into their skin; sweat trapped by the mask caused painful acne. Residents saw only eyes and name tags taped across

APRIL 22 Last positive test of a resident.

APRIL 21-23 Six residents die within 48 hours.

the upper rims of face shields. Johnston ate lunch alone in her car, aching for the outbreak to end.

“And every day, it seemed like it was going to be longer,” she said.

FIRST LOSS

DiMario was about to begin a phone call with the health department and hospital officials when Batten called to say that Ronald Taft was dying.

Like most workers at the home, Batten

MAY 14 All residents now symptom-free.

and DiMario had a soft spot for the 82-year-old man. He was a well-known character in the long-term-care unit, often found in the day room listening to Johnny Cash or chatting up whichever nurse came his way. “You look pretty,” he’d say. “Don’t I look handsome?”

“He was just like a light for a few minutes,” Batten said. “You know, a personality — someone you just wanted to be around.”

‘IT’S IN THE BUILDING’

31 STAFF CASES

» P.38

MAY 28 Birchwood declared COVID-19-free.

61 RESIDENT CASES

21 DEATHS

DATA SOURCE: VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH/GRAPHIC: ANDREA SUOZZO

ow has Vermont's reak: 68 residents e infected.

Alecia DiMario

Case totals represent staff members and residents who tested positive for COVID-19. The actual total of cases is likely higher.

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

37

‘It’s in the Building’ « P.37

THE VIRUS ADVANCES

During the first 10 days of April, Birchwood employees came to see themselves as fighting an invisible enemy on two fronts.

They cared for a growing group of sick residents, and they tried to prevent the virus from infecting the rest. Even the smallest mistakes, Birchwood’s workers knew, could surrender more ground.

Complicating matters, the home’s only defense system was at risk of being overrun. When the traveling workers arrived on April 6, the 40 beds in the COVID-19 unit were already more than half full.

Inside the unit, Fugazzotto was receiving oxygen and hoping he would survive until his birthday on April 13. Birchwood nurses asked him whether he wanted to try hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug that President Donald Trump was touting as a coronavirus treatment, but he declined after learning of its potential 38

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

resident testing brought a dispiriting revelation: Eight more had the virus.

The following day, DiMario, health officials and UVM Medical Center reps came to a wrenching decision. Birchwood would close down its COVID-19 wing and pack the infected residents back into the remaining two units. There weren’t enough beds in those wings to fit everyone, so the hospital agreed to take five residents. The traveling nurses would stay one more day to help with the moves.

The denser arrangement required fewer total employees. But the plan would also put virus-positive and virus-negative residents in much closer proximity. The

to speak frankly. “We were just going to let the virus take over and do what it was going to do.”

The process was hard on residents, too.

Nursing home rooms are usually personalized with favorite objects and filled with keepsakes. Room changes can be disorienting for someone with dementia. So Batten, the long-term-care unit manager, studied the list of names like a jigsaw puzzle, mapping out new room assignments that would cluster the positive cases and cause as little anxiety as possible. She relayed the instructions using a walkie-talkie to nurses and aides who then escorted the patients through the yard.

home used red bags to mark the doors of rooms known to be contaminated. When those ran out, employees turned to Post-it notes.

DiMario, who ultimately made the call, said she considered many factors, including the limited staff. But underlying the decision was the painful acknowledgment that she had lost the battle to contain the virus to a single group of rooms. Every unit was exposed.

It took a herculean effort to safely relocate more than 30 residents in a single day with little warning, but to many who carried out the order, it was also a discouraging retreat.

“It felt like we were giving up,” said one caregiver who requested anonymity

Some of the managers who had helped mentor Batten when she started work the previous fall were crying in front of her.

She had managed her unit for only four months. Now, her team was counting on her to lead them through a war zone.

“You’re in the trenches, and you’re ducking mortar,” she said. “You just have to go. You can’t question. You just have to do.”

PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

Taft’s caregivers could not use his name when recounting their interactions with him, due to federal privacy rules, but Seven Days discerned his identity using his public death certificate. He had been at Birchwood for nearly five years. He had no family, so his caregivers tried to serve as surrogates. He always let them know how he felt.

“Do you love me?” he would ask. “Do you love me?”

“You know I do,” DiMario would say.

“Because I love you,” he would respond.

After he was diagnosed with COVID19 during the initial testing, Taft’s health declined with shocking speed. Batten and other staff took turns sitting by his side and making sure he was comfortable, while DiMario, who was managing her staffing crisis, asked them to let her know whether it seemed as if his time was running short.

DiMario got that call on April 3, just four days after the first positive case. She unlocked the main door and ran through the front yard to the emergency exit for the B wing hallway, toward where Taft lived.

There, she rushed to put on her protective equipment: the gloves, the gown, the face shield.

For the first moment since the nightmare had begun — since each hour had started to feel like its own day — DiMario wanted more time. If he could just hold on.

If he could just stay a little longer.

But he was gone. The first victim.

DiMario stood by Taft’s bed and started to cry. She rubbed his feet and told him how handsome he would look in heaven.

“And yes,” she said. “We most certainly do love you.”

side effects. He didn’t need any more unknowns.

Meanwhile, Gary Alter began to fear that his big brother might not recover.

Their calls became increasingly stilted.

One day, when Gary asked how Donald was feeling, he replied, “I don’t know.”

“I’m just tired,” he said. “I don’t know what to say.”

Soon David Rines, 78, joined Fugazzotto and Alter in the quarantine unit.

The move proved emotionally difficult for Rines, said his daughter, Andrea Thorpe.

He’d already said goodbye to his roommate in the long-term-care wing, fearing they might never see each other

Joyce and David Rines at Birchwood

again. His new roommate in C wing, who was also ill, appeared to suffer more intensely each day, even as Rines remained in good health. And he could no longer see his wife, Joyce, who was living in the dementia unit and would later become infected.

Birchwood was struggling to hold the line. Each day, more of the infected residents got sick. The traveling workers complained to hospital supervisors about what they saw as dangerously short staffing and inadequate infection control, an email obtained by Seven Days shows, though state regulators who reviewed the home’s practices on April 7 did not find any shortcomings.

Then, on April 8, a second round of

THE PEAK

When the UVM Medical Center’s traveling workers departed on April 10, the hospital left behind a team of nurses and palliative care doctors who specialized in end-of-life care to help ease sick residents’ suffering.

The team’s initial task was to check in with all infected residents and their families to review advanced directives.

Preplanning is important because, as DiMario learned with Taft, the virus can swiftly incapacitate its victims, especially older people.

“It can be a fast decline,” said Colleen Roach, a UVM Medical Center nurse who worked on the team. “Like, they’re good, they’re good, they’re good — and then they’re not.”

Because residents’ advanced directives barred intervention, those who became gravely ill were not sent to the hospital.

Instead, the palliative team came to their room and treated their symptoms, usually with doses of morphine. Initially they administered the pain-control drug by mouth, which can take up to an hour to kick in. They later brought in faster-acting injectables.

The group of seven nurses, three physicians, three nurse practitioners and a chaplain adopted an around-the-clock presence at the home. Each night, at least two people slept in a small camper parked on Birchwood’s lawn, ready to make sure no resident suffered needlessly as death neared.

Just remember me when times get tough.

And don’t be so hard on yourself.

N A O M I M CCUL L OUG H

The team’s first patient, Naomi McCullough, had lived in Birchwood’s memory care unit for a few weeks before getting sick with COVID-19. A former geriatric nurse, she had been in good health despite approaching 90, and her family thought she had a real chance to overcome the illness.

McCullough’s daughter, Tommie Murray of Essex Junction, visited with her by video call shortly after the test results came back.

Though McCullough had been placed on oxygen, Murray thought she seemed her normal self — the same strong-willed woman who had raised her and her four siblings all those years ago.

Unable to sleep much that night, Murray called the nurses’ station around 4 a.m. to check in. The nurse who answered started crying; her mother had become unresponsive. When the nurse put the phone close

to McCullough’s face so that Murray could talk to her, it sounded like her mother was underwater.

“I’ve never heard breathing the way she was breathing,” Murray, who is also a nurse, said.

During one of her more lucid moments in her final days, the elderly woman had turned to Roach and said, “I know this is going to be hard for you guys.”

“Just remember me when times get tough,” she continued. “And don’t be so hard on yourself.”

McCullough died on April 11.

By mid-April, hearses were outside Birchwood nearly every day.

Gary Alter received the call he had been dreading: His brother, Donald, was dead. Next, a 67-year-old former psychologist. Later, a 73-year-old Vietnam vet. The trickle of death turned into a river. The virus took 17 residents in just two weeks.

Birchwood employees learned pandemic protocols for handling the dead.

Caregivers met funeral directors outside, then wheeled a gurney into the room of the deceased. They slid the body into a plastic bag, placed a cloth over the face, zipped up the bag and wheeled the gurney back outside to the hearse. Before the outbreak, loaded gurneys were always covered in a quilt so that residents didn’t see the body bag. The virus took away that small act of comfort, too.

The crisis peaked on April 21, 22 and 23. In those three days, caregivers in the dementia unit repeated the body-removal procedure six times. Beauchemin, the unit manager, watched in horror as the virus decimated her elderly charges. Until then, she had never placed a body in a bag.

No one on her team had. And every shift, they had to do it again.

“Everybody was so sick, so you just had to keep going,” Beauchemin said, choking back tears. “You can’t take a break and cry, and you

can’t take a break to go outside to even have a breath of air, because everybody needs you.”

Roach, the palliative care nurse, witnessed caregivers performing their duties as if they were robots, “like in shell shock.” During one night shift, when the losses still seemed bottomless, she passed by a nursing assistant in a hallway; the two struck up a conversation.

“Birchwood will never be the same,” the aide said.

EXHALING

By early May, after a full month of climbing case numbers and death counts, the outbreak began to subside. No new residents had fallen ill in two weeks, and the palliative care nurses were preparing to end their assignment.

Before leaving, they wanted to show Birchwood’s workers how to inject morphine themselves, in case any more residents took an unexpected turn. So the nurses gathered for a training session in a dayroom in the shuttered rehab unit, where the outbreak was first discovered.

The palliative team’s chaplain, Bronwyn Becker, began by telling the gathered nurses that she wanted to honor their work. She delivered a short reading and led a moment of quiet reflection.

Berry, one of the administrative nurses, welled up during the silence, moistening the N95 mask that encased her nose and mouth.

“Just to really validate what the staff have been through, what they’re going through, what they’re choosing to do … that was just amazing,” she said.

The fevers, coughs and stifled breaths that had haunted Birchwood were finally dissipating. The home was allowed to begin accepting new residents again on May 28, after its remaining infected residents hadn’t shown any symptoms for 14 days.

With the outbreak cleared, residents could walk the hallways for the first time

in months. They could greet their neighbors, like David and Joyce Rines, who had survived their infections, and they could see who was no longer there. Fugazzotto, who credits his rhapsodic Tchaikovsky concertos with helping him pull through, knew many of his neighbors were not so lucky, including Stephen Albright, a musician who lived across the hall.

“I felt real bad,” Fugazzotto said. “He was a friend.”

Smith, the social worker, had already made the sobering walk through the halls.

So had every employee, from the administrators with office jobs to the housekeepers who cleaned the rooms. Smith worked away from the units during lockdown, and as the outbreak eased, she was able to return. Gone were so many residents who always called her name or flashed a smile as she passed.

Today, some of Birchwood’s caregivers say they lie awake at night, plagued by questions that have no clear answers.

Some have taken medication to try to quiet the thoughts. Where did I go wrong? What more could we have done? How could the virus take 21 residents, but none of us?

They can’t not ask such questions, even as the residents’ families, their loved ones and their bosses reassure them that their work has been heroic. Thorpe credited them with saving her parents’ lives. “I have a huge amount of trust in these people,” she said.

Birchwood’s owners provided employees $40-per-shift thank-you bonuses for the first month of the outbreak, but those pay bumps ended in early May, when DiMario said she expected the state would step in to provide hazard pay for essential workers. Lawmakers have yet to approve that money.

Beauchemin recently shopped for groceries and found herself paralyzed by the dozens of little choices the trip entailed.

When the clerk started to put her items in plastic bags, she couldn’t bring herself to speak up and ask for paper.

Ever since the outbreak began, Batten finds herself yearning more and more for a bit of distance between her two lives.

Each day she bids her coworkers farewell after a long shift, steps into the open air and steels herself for the demands of single motherhood.

The one-block walk down Starr Farm Road between work and home has become the only time she has for herself. It is the only time she does not need to be in charge. Some days, when she needs a break, she slows her pace, stretching the commute out a minute or two. And on days when that is still not enough, she stops on her porch with the chipped white paint, sits on the steps and breathes, taking in the silence for as long as she can. m Contact: colin@sevendaysvt.com, derek@sevendaysvt.com SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

39

EVA SOLLBERGER

have reported staffing cuts; some have ceased printing and distributing their papers altogether.

On May 28, the Vermont Press Association sent letters to state leaders urging them to include its members in any marketing campaigns that emerge from the governor’s coronavirus relief package. Many members are working “at a pace never seen before, while at the same time suffering economic losses like never before,” it said.

For local newspapers, the stakes have never been higher.

THE DEADLY DUOPOLY

Mountain Times staff preparing to mail copies to subscribers in 2017

Disappearing Ink

I

“

Our democracy depends on local journalism.

We need to act now to save it. f you don’t survive, we’re all in trouble. Because who’s going to tell this story?”

That’s the question that prompted Ernie Pomerleau to support Seven Days and other Vermont media outlets during the coronavirus pandemic. As many companies and organizations slashed advertising at the end of March, the Pomerleau Real Estate president and CEO increased it.

In addition to sponsoring full-page inspirational messages in Seven Days — as well as “native” or branded content campaigns like the one you’re reading right now — Pomerleau has also been advertising for the past two months in the Burlington Free Press, the Newport Daily News, the Caledonian Record and the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus; in community weeklies in Shelburne, Charlotte, Essex, Colchester and Burlington’s New North End; and on local TV channels 3, 4 and 5.

Meanwhile, the pandemic-related economic shutdown triggered newsroom layoffs, furloughs and closures across the country, affecting outlets from BuzzFeed to the Atlantic Monthly.

Vermont’s four dozen weeklies and 11 daily newspapers were hit hard. Many 40

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Lisa Scagliotti with students last summer

The Middlebury-based Addison County Independent used to appear twice weekly; editor-publisher Angelo Lynn eliminated its Monday edition at the end of March and consolidated that into its larger Thursday edition.

He’d considered the move for years and pulled the trigger because selling papers was difficult when stores closed during the shutdown.

Lynn also owns the Mountain Times in Killington and the Reporter, which covers Brandon, Pittsford, Proctor and West Rutland. Strong local newspapers like his are “kind of a victim of our past successes, in a way,” he said during a phone interview. “People just can’t imagine that their local newspaper isn’t doing well after decades or generations of serving their communities without fail,” he said.

The pandemic has taken a toll on Vermont media outlets that are sustained by local advertising. But the bigger problem predates the coronavirus crisis.

Vermont’s media landscape has been shifting since the advent of Craigslist, the free online forum that replicated much of the “classifieds” in print newspapers. National digital platforms such as Indeed, match.com, and especially Facebook and Google have eroded other once-reliable revenues, too.

“While Google and Facebook have siphoned ad dollars away from all publishers, local news publishers have been the hardest hit,” reads a Wall Street Journal report from May 4, 2019. “The tech giants suck up 77 percent of the digital advertising revenue in local markets, compared to 58 percent on a national level, according to estimates from Borrell Associates and eMarketer.”

Government regulators are now scrutinizing the Google and Facebook

P R O D U C E D B Y 7 D B R A N D S T U D I O — P A I D F O R B Y P O M E R L E A U R E A L E S TAT E

duopoly. The Department of Justice is on the verge of filing antitrust charges against Google, the New York Times reported in May. And authorities in Australia hope to force Google and Facebook to compensate news publishers, since the tech companies have benefited from being able to sell ads around news content without having to pay to produce it.

It’s not that people don’t understand the value of journalism, Lynn explained. They do.

Local politicians and community groups always seek media coverage of their events and campaigns. And their local outlets deliver. Yet when it comes to paying for advertising, those politicians and community groups often turn to global digital platforms, Lynn said. People need to understand the effect this has on local media.

As ad dollars have migrated away from newspapers, many papers have slashed their staffs. A 2020 Pew Research Center study found that, from 2008 until 2019, U.S. newspaper newsroom employment fell by 23 percent.

While the newsrooms at Lynn’s papers have grown over the past decade, he said all newspapers have to find new ways to raise revenue, including seeking donors, offering memberships and charging more for content. But that won’t be enough on its own.

“Those of us who have maintained strong news teams may not be able to support that same effort without local advertising dollars. There’s not enough reader support in a small market to fund all of what we do. It certainly helps, but if the business community also comes through, we’ll continue to be a vibrant force that builds and strengthens our communities.”

FROM RECORD TO ROUNDABOUT The Waterbury Record, owned by the Vermont Community Newspaper Group, was an early casualty of the pandemic; its final issue was published on March 26. In May, one of its writers, Lisa Scagliotti, started an online news site called the Waterbury Roundabout.

A veteran journalist, Scagliotti began her career as a reporter for the Burlington Free Press. She covered Vermont’s largest city while Bernie Sanders was mayor and did a stint in the paper’s now-defunct Montpelier bureau. She’s worked for several daily and weekly newspapers since.

NEWSPAPERS ACCOUNT FOR NEARLY 60 PERCENT OF ALL ORIGINAL LOCAL NEWS. MEANWHILE, TWO COMPANIES CAPTURE THE VAST MAJORITY OF LOCAL ONLINE AD SPENDING: GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK. Fate whispers to the warrior, ‘You can not withstand the The warrior whispers back, ‘I storm.’ am the storm.’

Now More Than Ever alism. for good, local journ There's no substitute those in power shadows. It holds what's hidden in the It shines a light on essential to a healthy democracy. local it's tone of Vermont's issues accountable. And al Days has been a corners or covering critic er century, Seven ns. the Golden Dome For almost a Quart zing politics under s us smarter and more engaged citize make media. Whether analy unity, Seven Days emic, local pand l impacting our comm globa a by ted communities are buffe COVID-19 tracker is updated our as ever, Seven Days' ry and Now more than tial public service. by providing delive rts local businesses reporting is an essen Good To-Go suppo . daily, and Vermont all of us stuck at home formation with inform takeout options for crisis, providing us this gh throu work nue to s.

Their reporters conti impact of the virus on Vermonter fo the need for and stories about cing it is not. As our y print - but produ dramatically. That's why both online and in ed Seven Days is free, ased, advertising revenue has declin ads in Seven Days over the age incre has full-p y news weekl of local purchased a series Ben @ Jerry's has it continues to be next two months. for Seven Days as join us in being there and supporting their e encourage you to that by becoming a Super Reader do ther:e for us. You can adve tisers.

WE’RE IN THIS TOGETH

SUPPORT LOCAL BUSIN cBen@Jerry's Homemade,

Inc. 2020 29662a

ER

This is a moment that will define us. We can string up one set of lights, shining for a few hours each evening, as a symbol of our community solidarity and hope.

Thank you to everyone who is working to keep things going in these trying times.

ESS

Untitled-4 1

4/13/20 2:58 PM 3/30/20 9:05 AM

Untitled-9 1

To advertise in Seven Days, contact Colby Roberts at colby@sevendaysvt.com.

To advertise in the Addison Independent, visit addisonindependent.com or call 802-388-4944.

To make a financial contribution to Seven Days and become a Super Reader, look for the “Give Now” buttons at the top of sevendaysvt.com. Or send a check with your address and contact info to: Seven Days, c/o Super Readers, P.O. Box 1164, Burlington, VT 05402-1164. For more information, email superreaders@sevendaysvt.com or call 802-865-1020, ext. 36.

In addition to her roles as editor and publisher, Scagliotti is also the Roundabout’s lead writer. The other reporters are mostly University of Vermont students who work on the site for college credit; there’s a high schooler, too. “What we’re doing is very bare-bones,” she explained.

Right now, Scagliotti volunteers her time. Between writing stories, she’s been doing research and attending webinars, trying to figure out whether to set up the site as a business or a nonprofit.

Fortunately, she said, local businesses are asking about advertising on her site. Now that they can reopen, they want to start communicating with their customers again. They’re interested in doing that through a

hyperlocal site like hers, which has been covered by both Seven Days and Vermont Public Radio and generated a lot of buzz.

Readers have even asked about a possible print edition. There’s still demand for one.

But Scagliotti said she’s not optimistic about that. If the site could generate enough money to print a newspaper, she said, they’d still have the Waterbury Record.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER The cost of putting out a print newspaper and the advent of mobile digital devices has nudged news outlets online — to eliminate the cost of printing and distribution — and

to not-for-profit governance, which allows them access to money from foundations and other charitable entities. Observe: VPR and VTDigger. org, which both attract reader and advertising or “underwriting” support.

But the rise of successful nonprofit media outlets in the state doesn’t have to signal the demise of small independent newspapers. The fact that VPR and VTDigger have been able to build robust donor networks is an indication that Vermonters are willing to pay for news.

Newspapers can seek support from readers, too, through subscriptions and membership campaigns, as Seven Days, the Addison Independent and the Valley News have done. More than 1,300 Seven Days readers have become contributing Super Readers over the past two months. A plea from the Valley News raised more than $100,000 in a few weeks.

And there are still many business owners, like Ernie Pomerleau, who understand how local media contributes to the vibrancy of a community and are sustaining it with good old-fashioned advertising. Businesses and organizations large and small have run multi-week campaigns in Seven Days during the crisis, including Ben & Jerry’s, Seventh Generation, Old Spokes Home, A Little Something, Girlington Garage, the Automaster, GBIC, Main Street Landing, Hannaford and Sweeney Design Build.

Ben & Jerry’s first ad, on April 15, was headlined: “Local media matters now more than ever.”

“There’s no substitute for good, local journalism,” it reads. “It shines a light on what’s hidden in the shadows.

It holds those in power accountable. And it’s essential to a healthy democracy.”

The message explains that Ben & Jerry’s has purchased a series of full-page ads in Seven Days over the next two months to help the company continue to report on the impact of the virus on Vermont and Vermonters.

“We encourage you to join us in being there for Seven Days as it continues to be there for us,” it concludes.

That goes for your local community newspaper, as well.  THIS ARTICLE WAS COMMISSIONED AND PAID FOR BY:

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

41

food+drink

State of the Market Farmers markets navigate new operating guidelines B Y J O R D AN BAR RY & ME LISSA PASANEN

I

t’s been a whirlwind spring for Vermont’s farmers markets. On April 10, even as the winter season wrapped up and managers and vendors started making their summer plans, markets were temporarily shuttered under Gov. Phil Scott’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order.

The fate of farmers markets during the COVID-19 pandemic remained up in the air for two weeks, while the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets developed guidelines. On May 1, markets were allowed to reopen with strict

operating procedures, social-distancing requirements and sanitary protocols.

For some markets around the state, though, following those guidelines isn’t realistic. According to the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont — the parent organization of the Vermont Farmers Market Association — 10 Vermont markets have confirmed that they will take the season off, including those of Winooski, Shelburne, Burlington’s Old North End, Waterbury, Vergennes and the University of Vermont Medical Center.

It was a tough decision, conceded Meredith Bay-Tyack, executive director of Downtown Winooski, the nonprofit that organizes the Winooski market. “As a smaller market, it may seem like we could pivot. But we did the math, and with our resources of budget and volunteers, we just couldn’t,” Bay-Tyack said. “It still hurts.”

The markets that will forge ahead are changing their procedures and interpreting the state’s guidance for their locations, vendors and communities. This season, farmers markets may not feel quite like the

cultural touchstones we’ve come to know in Vermont. But, as NOFA-VT’s website says, they’ll be “local as usual, safe in new ways.”

We’ll be heading out to markets around the state this summer for a new series called “Market Report” — placing our preorders, following protocol, and checking in with vendors, customers and market managers. This week, we kick things off at Capital City Farmers Market in Montpelier, which has been in full — if altered — swing since May 2.

J.B. & M.P.

Robert Linck, from Fusda Farm, bringing mustard greens to a customer at the Capital City Farmers Market

PHOTOS: JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR

FOOD LOVER?

GET YOUR FILL ONLINE...

42

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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.

GOOD TO-GO VERMONT:

VERMONT RESTAURANTS ARE STILL MAKING DELICIOUS FOOD FOR TAKEOUT, DELIVERY OR CURBSIDE PICKUP. FIND OUT WHAT YOUR FAVORITE EATERIES ARE SERVING UP AT GOODTOGOVERMONT.COM. #GOODTOGOVT

Market Report: Capital City Farmers Market

Wearing a plastic face shield, Schumann brought out my preordered I carefully plotted my approach to Mont- cheese, lamb and thick, Icelandic-style pelier’s Capital City Farmers Market in yogurt. While she is concerned about advance, using a map of vendor booths. the lack of tourists, she said, “Locals are Placing several online preorders worked buying more.” With eating not permitted pretty well, with one phone call and a in the market, she has saved money on couple of emails to iron samples. out details.

A couple of booths Saturday, May 23, away, I overheard was a warm, sunny day, farmer Alan LePand I hoped capacity age say, “This model constraints wouldn’t doesn’t work for all of cause a long wait. (The us.” LePage, who has market has a priority line farmed vegetables in for seniors and high-risk Barre since 1976, helped customers, as well as a found the market 43 AL AN LE PAGE years ago and serves on preorder pickup table option.) But, at around its board. In his signa11 a.m., just one person ture chile pepper shirt, was ahead of me. he is a market fixture.

Volunteer and market LePage was eager board member John to talk about how panSnell clicked me through demic guidelines will as the 254th customer of impact his business, the day after cheerfully now run in partnership briefing me on appropriwith his daughter. “My ate protocol. farm has been depenThe rules, also outdent on this market lined on blackboards, for 90 percent of our sales forever,” he said. boil down to walking in one direction and “The model of social distancing essentially keeping the standard Capital City Farmers six-foot distance from Market map nixes markets as we both customers and know them.” vendors. Vendors place The push for preorpurchases on extra ders and the need to tables positioned six feet in front of each select items for each in-person customer stand, creating a buffer. Face coverings handicap his business, he said. With are required. as many as 100 different items at peak It was the market’s fourth summer season, it’s all “exponentially more work.”

Saturday, and things appeared to run The LePages are considering adding a smoothly. Customers gave each other a roadside stand at the farm for the first wide and respectful berth and generally time. heeded the “Please shop quickly!” request LePage said it seems unfair to him that on a blackboard. supermarkets are not required to restrict The subdued atmosphere was unset- access, although he understands that the tling — but not as much to me as to Tony public perceives farmers markets differNaples, a commercial fisherman and ently, as “social affairs.” He acknowlowner of Burlington-based Starbird Fish. edged, “I don’t have answers.”

The first vendor I visited on Saturday, he Market manager Keri Ryan was buzzlater gave me his recollections of his first ing around keeping an eye on everything.

She said later that the market’s new, Montpelier market of this season.

With so few customers at a time, all more spacious Taylor Street location has masked and seeming nervous, it felt like helped it meet layout requirements, but “the most bizarre, apocalyptic experience the number of vendors will average 40 in my life,” Naples said. this year instead of the normal 60.

On a positive note, he reported that Customer numbers are also down sales have been OK so far. A couple of significantly. And, while many vendors’ other vendors, including farmer and sales are holding steady, those who rely cheesemaker Maria Schumann of Cate on tourists are suffering. “People are Hill Orchard in Greensboro, said sales were on par with previous years.

STATE OF THE MARKET » P.46

SOCIAL DISTANCING ESSENTIALLY NIXES

MARKETS AS WE KNOW THEM.

BURLINGTON FARMER’S MARKET 4T

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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4/14/20 12:48 PM

Cakes, Cukes and Condoms Seven questions for baker-entrepreneur Ren Weiner B Y S A LLY POL L AK

44

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

JAMES BUCK

R

en Weiner, aka Miss Weinerz, imagined being a kindergarten teacher in Vermont, with a pottery studio and maybe a side gig as an EMT. As it turned out, Weiner is a baker in Burlington who approaches their work with the creativity and resourcefulness of the kindergarten teacher we all wish we’d had. (Weiner uses they/them pronouns.)

An old cot set in front of their house is painted red and repurposed as a platform for receiving deliveries at their home-based business. Their yard is a space for growing vegetables and herbs and for constructing structures — a shed, a mini hoop house — from materials on hand. Their fun with written language, especially food words, includes spelling “time” as “thyme” and turning “do not” into “donut” — as in, “Donut give up.”

Weiner will also come to your rescue, but the remedy starts in a kitchen or garden, not an ambulance. With Miss Weinerz retooled for “apocalyptic end times,” the company has an offshoot delivery service, BBz Delivery Collective.

It delivers food and other provisions to homes in Burlington five days a week and has a rotating schedule for neighboring towns. Some weeks it makes 20 deliveries, other weeks about 300, Weiner said.

Products available at the online store include Weiner’s baked goods, local vegetables, face masks, botanicals and free condoms from Vermont Cares. (PPE, the website calls this last item.) BBz has an option that helps people provide groceries to food-insecure neighbors through a “pay-it-forward community-care” program.

“There’s been [similar] little realms of this as a cultural nicety,” Weiner said.

“When things start hitting very hard, people buy gift certificates and [ask], ‘Can you pass it on?’”

Weiner moved to Burlington 10 years ago and cooked at local restaurants, including Bluebird Tavern, ¡Duino! (Duinde) and Misery Loves Co. They launched Miss Weinerz in 2014. In late winter 2019, before the pandemic struck, Weiner was planning to hire people to help with the baking. They had been rolling, cutting, frying and glazing by hand about 2,500 donuts a week.

(Coworkers help Weiner with other aspects of their business, including communications, gardening and delivery.)

Ren Weiner

“We were figuring out ways to fit other people in my kitchen,” Weiner said. “And now nobody can be in the kitchen with me.”

Weiner, 34, has a knack for storytelling: detailing intricate and insightful tales about attending art school in Philadelphia, co-owning the Sunflour Café in Westchester County, N.Y., and other adventures.

They talked about Miss Weinerz and the delivery collective in a phone interview and topped it off with an email to Seven Days.

“Maybe in another world, I would have been a good monk,” Weiner wrote. “I am down with a life of service, not into servitude tho. Ownership is a concept I have trouble grasping.”

SEVEN DAYS: Why’d you move to Burlington?

REN WEINER: I came up to visit some friends, to take a trip. My friends took me to the [City Market, Onion River] Co-op, they took me to American Flatbread, they took me to Radio Bean. And I was, like, I have to live here. So I came back a month later with my résumé, and I walked my résumé around town.

SD: What is it about Miss Weinerz — your home-based baking business — that propelled an expansion during the pandemic?

RW: I lost 90 percent of my accounts, but I didn’t lose 90 percent of customers.

I never had direct access, [so] I had to build the bridge into retail. My staff and I pivoted from wholesale, large-scale production to small-batch direct sales.

We knew that what we were offering was a sense of normalcy. We were very aware from the beginning that it was going to be emotionally difficult. But as long as we could find a way to do it that was going to be safe, we’d all keep going.

I dropped my prices so that more people would be able to afford the product. There isn’t a middle person. We kind of felt like it was a need beforehand: We wanted to offer direct sales to people.

But because of the cumbersomeness, it wasn’t anything we could figure out.

Now that we don’t have the wholesale business taking up so much time, we’re able to put that time and effort into how to be a better distribution system with direct sales.

SD: Your new food delivery service, BBz Delivery Collective, offers products ranging from buckwheat brownies to sour pickles to botanicals. It also has an option for getting food to people in need. How does that work?

RW: We’ve had over 200 requests for free boxes. We received so many donations from our customers to pay it forward. People can add a donation, choose the amount. Some people have thrown in $1, some people have thrown in $500. We were able to get a ton of vegetables and get it out to folks in the community. It’s great.

BBz is a service that I, as a single business purveyor, can utilize. I essentially wholesale to this delivery collective, so I don’t have to do everything, and I can focus on making really good products. And somebody else [on the four-person team] can focus on Google Maps, because that’s what they like to do.

SD: What music do you listen to when you bake?

RW: I listen to a lot of Missy Elliott.

CAKES, CUKES AND CONDOMS

» P.46

food+drink

SIDEdishes SERVING UP FOOD NEWS

The Kids VT team is rounding up resources for parents looking to entertain and educate their children at home. Find inspiration in the Wee-Mail newsletter.

B Y MEL I SSA PASAN E N

Kitchen Confidence NEW INDIAN-HIMALAYAN RESTAURANT OPENS IN BURLINGTON

MELISSA PASANEN

Three Vermonters originally from Nepal were finally able to open their Indian and Himalayan restaurant in Burlington on May 16.

Its name, GBG INDIAN KITCHEN, combines the surname initials of co-owners PRASHANT GHARTI, DAL B. BHUJEL and BINOD GURUNG. The trio rented the building at 471 Riverside Avenue in Burlington on January 1, but the pandemic held up

permits and renovation of the former Dunkin’ Donuts, Gharti said.

The three owners, who are related, have all worked in the hospitality field. “We are family together, and we have experience in the kitchen, in food and beverage management, and in marketing,” Gharti said.

“When we analyzed what was here, we saw that [the] Indian restaurants are outdated,” he continued. The restaurateurs plan to distinguish themselves by preparing “every recipe we know well,” fresh from scratch, Gharti said.

Spending Time RAIL CITY with the Fam? MAKRET Stay healthy, 12V HONEY

The wide-ranging menu includes familiar Indian restaurant staples such as biryani, kebabs, 8 SO. MAIN STREET ST. ALBANS curries and breads.

Subscribe at kidsvt.com Gharti noted that the 524-3769 biryani rice is steamed Wee-Mail sponsored by: Curbside pick-up available with a traditional technique and the breads and R A I LC I T Y M A R K E T V T.CO M kebabs are made in a clay tandoor oven. Himalayan offerings include momos:12v-RailCityMarket060320.indd 1 6/2/20K12V-WeeMail0620.indd 9:47 AM 1 5/28/20 10:47 AM squat dumplings filled with vegetables, chicken or beef.

The restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner for takeout and delivery only, until regulations allow dining in. The building has no outdoor dining space. m

GBG Indian Kitchen in Burlington

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6/2/20 5:25 PM

CURBSIDE PICKUP SATURDAY - MONDAY Dinner only: 4:30- 8:30pm WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY Lunch: 11:30am - 2:30pm Dinner: 4:30 - 8:30PM CLOSED TUESDAYS

Call to place your order and pay via credit card. Thank you for your support! tinythaiwinooski

CONNECT Follow us for the latest food gossip! On Twitter: Sally Pollak: @vtpollak.

On Instagram: Seven Days: @7deatsvt; Jordan Barry: @jordankbarry.

24 Main Street, Downtown Winooski, 655-4888 • tinythairestaurant.net 6h-tinythai060320.indd 1

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

45

5/28/20 11:38 AM

State of the Market « P.43 coming to buy food, which is the point,” Ryan said.

Longtime vendor Laini Fondiller, of Lazy Lady Farm in Westfield, gave Ryan credit for strong leadership while noting wistfully that she misses the regular market vibe. “There was a social piece for me that’s gone now,” she said. “It’s hard.”

By the time I reached Lazy Lady, from which I’d preordered cheeses and steak, my bags were heavy with milk, cheese, vegetables, mushrooms, frozen fish and meats, and one tomato plant I was trying hard not to crush.

Focused on my grocery list, I bypassed

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5/29/20 5/28/20 12:22 3:39 PM

As it prepares to open for its 40th season on Saturday, June 6, the Burlington Farmers Market is encouraging shoppers to practice “the four Ps” — plan, preorder, pick up, prepare.

“We’re trying to shift customer behavior,” market manager Mieko Ozeki told Seven Days.

“If people want to feel secure about being at the market, this is what we have to do.”

The market will host 45 vendors, including several craft vendors, in the parking lot at 345 Pine Street, where it temporarily relocated last summer due to construction in City Hall Park.

The expansive lot is proving a useful location for the pandemic-era version of the market. Vendors will be spaced out in a reconfigured U-shaped layout to maximize social and physical distancing, with one-way traffic between a single entrance and exit. Ozeki estimates that the layout will accommodate 250 people at one time.

Market staff will monitor the spread of shoppers and plan to admit 30 people every 10 minutes.

prepared-food vendors, but later I chatted with a couple.

Grace Holter of Warren-based Gracie’s Tamales has a decade of farmers markets under her belt. She said she’s been gratified to see many of her regulars and has noticed people managing to be social within the limitations. “It’s still a happy place,” she said.

Regular market customer Gwenivere Roolf-Cluett of Montpelier said she actually likes the new format. “I love the farmers market, but the usual market I find overwhelming,” she said. “I find this kind of market much easier to shop at.”

“We’re going to be constantly iterating,” Ozeki said. “We’re trying to make it as efficient and safe as possible for our vendors and for the community.”

Here are a few more “P”s you should know as you pack your tote bags and plan your trip to the market.

• Pick a shopper: The market encourages shoppers to send one person per family to minimize crowding.

• Pets should stay at home if possible.

• Preordering is preferred, but most vendors will also offer on-site shopping.

• Products will be handled by vendors; booths will not be self-serve.

• Place orders online at burlingtonfarmersmarket.org/preorder.

• Pay attention to preorder deadlines — they vary by vendor.

• Payment will be contactless. The market will not offer tokens for credit card payments, but vendors will accept credit cards. EBT/SNAP benefits, Crop Cash and Farm to Family coupons will still be accepted.

• Protective equipment is required: Vendors,

Her friend Michelle J. Rodriguez, on an extended visit from Brooklyn, added, “As we have all had to pivot in our lives, to feel we can safely access high-quality local food is a comfort.”

M.P.

Contact: jbarry@sevendaysvt.com, pasanen@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Capital City Farmers Market, 2 Taylor Street, Montpelier, capitalcityfarmersmarket.com.

Burlington Farmers Market, 345 Pine Street, burlingtonfarmersmarket.org.

•

•

•

•

staff and customers must wear face masks at the market. For shoppers who don’t bring their own, disposable masks will be available at the entrance.

Prepared foods will be sold near the exit to accommodate lines and discourage eating and drinking at the market. On-site consumption is not allowed.

Practice social distancing and shop as quickly as you can. The market will not have its usual lineup of music and entertainment.

Parking will be different. There is no parking along most of Pine Street’s northbound side to allow for a bike path detour. Cars can park in Dealer.com’s north lot (corner of Howard and Pine streets), on South Champlain and Howard streets, and in the Burlington Electric Department lot.

Secure bike parking will not be available.

Priority shopping for elderly and immunocompromised people happens between 9 and 10 a.m.; the market is open to all shoppers from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. If you’re feeling sick or have been exposed to the virus, please stay home.

J.B.

Cakes, Cukes and Condoms « P.44 SD: Can you talk about the networking website Food Fight Vermont you helped organize and what you guys are trying to do?

RW: Food Fight Vermont was put together as a digital platform to incubate conversations around food. In the spring and summer, people are out seeing each other and running around; it allows for creative conversations to happen.

When winter would hit, or a pandemic, and people can’t get out and casually … run into each other, there’s a high level of isolation that happens.

We wanted to have a place where we could bridge those physical barriers and be able to meet with people. If we’re going to really think about the big-picture thing that we need to, we need a commons in which commerce and competition aren’t the center of the gathering.

SD: You’ve previously told me about dumpster diving at your local Dunkin’ Donuts when you were a teenager. What’s the connection between that and becoming a donut maker who specializes in using local ingredients?

RW: It’s social commentary. It’s the original artist’s statement. Why do some people have access to food and other people don’t? The excuse of commerce, the excuse of capitalism, is a laziness within our system, as well as just evil.

We have a cultural tradition of [eating] donuts and ice cream and spaghetti. And I’m bringing more whole-grain, local food into the nostalgia of the industrial food system that myself and others were raised in and now have an emotional attachment to. It helps cross a lot of bridges in accessibility.

SD: Since the pandemic, there’s been a sharp rise in food insecurity in Vermont: a roughly 50 percent increase among adults and 60 percent for kids. If you were in charge, how would you address this?

RW: You have to have figured out at this point that I’m an anarchist at heart and I don’t think anybody should be in charge. m This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

Contact: sally@sevendaysvt.com

INFO BBz Delivery Collective delivers to Burlington Tuesday through Saturday and to surrounding towns on a rotating schedule with curbside partners. Learn more at missweinerz.com, bbzdeliverycollective.com and foodfightvt.com.

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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10/29/19 3:50 PM

currently no

music+nightlife

Robert Randolph and the Family Band performing at the 2015 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival

S UNDbites

News and views on the local music + nightlife scene

BY J O R D A N A D A MS

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRIAN MACDONALD

ReDiscovery Channel

With which cliché phrase should I start this week’s column, the one that’s historically all about what to do and who to see at the annual Burlington Discover Jazz Festival? If you’d like me to begin with, “Under normal circumstances…,” press 1. If you’d rather read the words, “In simpler times…,” press 2. And if you’d prefer, “Before life on Earth became a nightmarish death trap where people had to choose between exercising their right to free speech and staying isolated to avoid infection from a deadly disease that is still very much ravaging all corners of the planet…,” press 3. I guess that last one isn’t really a cliché, just a grim reality.

As you must know by now, the live, in-person version of the BDJF, which typically kicks off the first weekend of June, was canceled back in April. But the enterprising minds behind the cherished music marathon put their heads together to come up with a solution to carry on the tradition: the Burlington ReDiscover Jazz Festival. The mostly online fest — 48

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Statue of Big Joe Burrell

tagline: 11 Days of Virtual Music and Real Food — runs from Thursday, June 4, through Sunday, June 14. (Food and drink specials offered at various local eateries, of course, are the only elements not happening via TV and the web.)

“I feel good about how everything came together, and we’ve got solid

programming coming up,” said BDJF managing director CHELSEA LAFAYETTE. She was specifically referring to a series of shows recorded at the Flynn Space during the 2015 and 2016 festivals that are scheduled to air this week on Vermont PBS and comprise the bulk of the digital offerings. Plus, Ray Vega, host

of Vermont Public Radio’s Friday Night Jazz, lines up several additional days of content centered on artists who have played the festival over the years.

Vermont PBS will air sets from the AARON GOLDBERG TRIO, the MIMI JONES BAND, WADADA LEO SMITH’S GOLDEN QUARTET, COLIN STETSON AND SARAH NEUFELD, MELISSA ALDANA & CRASH TRIO, the CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE TRIO, JOE LOCKE performing his album Love Is a Pendulum, the INGRID JENSEN QUINTET, the MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO, JACOB GARCHIK performing his album Ye Olde, the RODRIGUEZ BROTHERS, the JIMMY GREENE QUARTET, and the JENNY SCHEINMAN AND MYRA MELFORD DUO. Programs are set to air multiple times. Check Facebook and flynncenter.org for a complete schedule.

“I saw every single one of these performances [live],” wrote Flynn artistic director STEVE MACQUEEN in an email.

He emphasized that the Flynn Space, with its modest square footage and low ceilings, frequently has the most palpable energy of the festival’s many venues: “It’s very rare that you’ll see someone phone it in during a Flynn Space show.”

MacQueen will host interviews via Zoom with several of the aforementioned

GOT MUSIC NEWS? JORDAN@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

artists, including McBride, Roberts, Jensen, Scheinman and Aldana. He noted that, because of the format, the live interviews will be “a bit more casual and off-the-cuff than the onstage-infront-of-an-audience version” that festival attendees have come to expect.

Also, when pressed for personal recommendations about which broadcasts to check out, MacQueen highlighted some great things about several of this week’s televised specials: the sense of joy that McBride brings to his music; Roberts’ rendition of the standard “Cherokee”; and Scheinman and Melford’s duet, noting that “they play together so telepathically that it’s practically like eavesdropping on a conversation.”

The festival’s hard pivot to virtual events because of the pandemic has led to some in-depth conversations about accessibility, according to Lafayette.

She pointed out that financial accessibility has long been a concern, given the hefty ticket price for some of the fest’s marquee headliners. That was part of the reason BDJF teamed up with Vermont PBS in 2015 and 2016 to make cost-prohibitive shows available to view via public television. Digital content is also more accessible to people with physical disabilities.

“Accessibility is going to be an interesting topic coming out of this,” said Lafayette.

Lafayette also mentioned that she’d personally been digging through the festival archives and that several VHS tapes containing footage from the original 1984 BDJF, as well as the 1989 and 1990 festivals, are currently being converted to streaming video. Look for those on Facebook later this week.

“It’s been cool to dive through history and hear people’s stories,” she said.

The First One Bites the Dust

Well, shit. The inevitable has happened: Revelry Theater, the scrappy, fringy alternative comedy venue in Burlington’s South End, has closed indefinitely. As Seven Days’ MARGARET GRAYSON reported on Sunday, it’s the first local performing arts venue to fully shutter its doors, as opposed to the temporary closures the pandemic has forced on businesses of all kinds.

I’ve been wondering when the first domino would fall, and I’m sad to say that I expected it to be one of Vermont’s smaller venues. (Revelry can only accommodate 35 heads.) But it’s particularly painful to see the Howard Street theater go, specifically because of

its fearlessly weird and audacious shows.

Pardon the pun, but I reveled in the fact that Burlington’s comedy scene had grown so large that it could support not one but two spaces designated solely to merriment — the other being the Vermont Comedy Club.

I don’t have any suggestions about how to make sure we don’t lose more arts spaces. Give them your money if you can, I guess. I’m just sad.

Strange Folk

Looking for a new quarantine challenge? The Vermont Folklife Center and Middlebury College Special Collections just announced a neat one called the Vermont Folklife Archive Challenge. The ethnographically inclined nonprofit center is asking musicians to delve into its online digital collections of audio recordings to find an inspiring piece. Artists are tasked with re-creating the original in any manner that pleases them. The challenge is based on a similar one spearheaded by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

“We’d love to hear your doom metal versions of ballads like ‘Young Charlotte,’ your EDM takes on old New England fiddle tunes like ‘Crystal Schottische,’ or your straight-up renditions of ‘C’était une bergère,’” the Vermont Folklife Center’s BOB HOOKER wrote in a press release.

Once artists have completed their new works, they’re tasked with posting them online using the hashtag #vtarchiveschallenge. All of the collections, including Middlebury’s Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection, are free to access.

Listening In If I were a superhero, my superpower would be the ability to get songs stuck in other people’s heads. Here are five songs that have been stuck in my head this week. May they also get stuck in yours.

MARK RONSON, “Pretty Green (Featuring Santigold)” LADY GAGA, “Stupid Love” HI-FIVE, “She’s Playing Hard to Get” FROM PETE’S DRAGON, “Brazzle Dazzle Day” QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, “The Way You Used to Do”

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W��� T���� A�� C����������, V��������� T��� �� �� O�� F�����!

We have been listening to WDEV for as long as we can remember, and we wanted to say thank you for always being there and putting on a great show that is informative and entertaining. We listen every day, and always have the radio going in the car and at home. We rely on you to keep us up to speed on the news, and for companionship as well. We love listening to the great music, especially when it comes with an interesting anecdote or fact, as it helps us learn more about our favorite artists. We also love the careful attention and commitment you give to local and international news coverage. It's so comforting to hear a familiar friendly voice talk about issues that matter to us. Your passion never wavers, and it's clear to all who listen that you truly care about the great service you are providing our community. We remember Tropical Storm Irene, and cannot thank you enough for all you did for us then, and continue to do for us now. During these times of great uncertainty, one thing is never in doubt, and that is our local WDEV family always being there for us. We're here for you too.

We're listening, and we love you.

Thank You, Evelyn & Zach

Locally-Owned, Locally-Operated and a Vital Part of the Community For 89 Years!

STREAMING SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

49

GOT MUSIC NEWS? JORDAN@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

REVIEW this Defense, Defense (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

How long does it take for a musical trend to circle back around? Twenty years or more?

Much of current indie rock sounds like it was channeled directly from the mid-’90s.

And chillwave, the darling micro-genre that briefly dominated the indie-tronic world in the late 2000s and early 2010s, recalled some of the darkest, dreamiest stuff the ’80s had to offer.

So is Vermont’s Miles Foy, who makes hypnotic, synth-forward music under the moniker Defense, jumping the gun by only waiting a decade to revive chillwave? On first listen,

Wolfhand, The Devil Arrives (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, CASSETTE)

Burlington rockers Wolfhand specialize in what they call “cinematic heaviness,” and rarely does a band’s own bio nail its sound so perfectly.

Sonically, the quintet hails from the hinterlands, where desert rock, doom metal and good old country music overlap. On paper, that description may come off as contrived. But Wolfhand’s latest album, The Devil Arrives, is simply fantastic — and far more accessible than you might think.

Wolfhand have been honing their unusual musical recipe since 2016, when they dropped a string of scorching singles before unleashing their Plaguelands EP the

perhaps yes. But subsequent trips through his slight, self-titled EP make it clear he has more in mind than a simple rehash.

That’s one of the best and also most frustrating things about Defense. Foy, who also collaborates with locals Nodrums and Lean Tee, has a lot of ambition and seemingly knows exactly what he wants to do. But his tracks feel clipped, meeting their ends just as their elements start to gel. In some ways, the EP sounds as if he’s cycling through a series of ideas more than presenting a fully polished album.

In an email, Foy writes that he was influenced by the textured splendor of synth icons past — artists such as Brian

Eno, Broadcast and Hiroshi Yoshimura. Foy creates a sense of physical movement in his scant tunes exceedingly well. At times, electronic noises flit about in a spinetickling scurry, and at others they froth and foam like thick soup bubbling out of a pot.

He sculpts his sounds effectively, blending rippling waves with industrial clangor. If these concepts coalesced a bit more with his overall structures and songwriting, they might land with more power.

Opener “Never Me” is the closest Foy comes to retreading the territory of chillwave alums like Blackbird Blackbird and Small Black. It’s also Defense’s strongest pop song — though it’s more like anti-pop. Its hammered bass line and clattering drums should get heads bobbing, but Foy’s indifferent delivery of phrases like “I’m hiding everywhere / Between my

words / And I still get found out” puts a deliberate damper on things.

“Fruit” showcases a patchwork of slinky beats and gauzy drones. A sonic void at the center puts an even finer point on these elements as they nearly recede into oblivion.

Final tracks “Wide Motions” and “In Folding Up” are aptly named. The former spreads out in billowing plumes as searing schisms erupt, while the latter quietly contracts, morphing through various forms before evaporating.

Foy’s first solo outing implies future success for the singer-songwriter/ producer. His instincts about sound processing are strong. He just needs to let his ideas mature and ripen a tick longer before harvest.

Stream Defense on Spotify.

next year. 2019’s Live at WKBM offered some previews of the material here, but The Devil Arrives represents the band’s proper debut album, and it’s a knockout.

To make an album of instrumental rock this compelling isn’t easy. These are huge, anthemic songs that deliver both crushingly heavy riffs and moments of real beauty, often at the same time.

For all the distinctly Western flavor, Wolfhand really deliver on the “cinematic” part of their pitch, too. Everything sounds like the backdrop for some unforgettably weird summer blockbuster, like Quentin Tarantino doing Blood Meridian.

Tracks such as “Black Winds” and “Canyon Wizard” show off the band at full strength, and these gentlemen would clearly melt your face off live. Yet

the haunting quiet interludes, such as “Returning,” and the stark album closer “Gallows” hit just as hard. The band can also stretch way out — “Doomed Convoy” gallops past the seven-minute mark — without losing your attention.

While their sound is a million miles away from a prog-rock noodle-fest, Wolfhand are a posse of absolutely smoking musicians. The lonesome howl of lap and pedal steel guitarist Ben Chussid will grab your attention first — his is clearly the lead instrument in this unique lineup. Mike Fried’s work on keyboards and synths is also stellar, especially on the tracks in which he steps into the front, as on the ghostly “Saloon.”

Gorgeous, dynamic compositions really let the rhythm section shine, too. Drummer Adam Wolinsky, a prolific Renaissance man in his own right, regulates with both chops and taste. The team of Dave Mahan on guitar and Nick Wood on bass anchors

every track with downright muscular performances.

The sound quality is equally superb.

Much of that is to the credit of Wolinsky, who engineered and recorded the album himself. The mixing work of Skyhammer Studio head Chris Fielding does great justice to Wolfhound’s infinite horizons.

Thanks to the mastering work of James Plotkin, these songs sound huge at any volume. (But, you know … turn it up.)

The Devil Arrives left me on the floor.

Even if you don’t think this is up your alley, you’ll probably be surprised to learn that you, too, are an instrumental doom country fan. Talent alone is no guarantee of success, but still, I expect this album will garner the band attention far beyond the hills of Vermont. Here’s hoping Wolfhand ride for another 20 years.

The Devil Arrives is available at wolfhandvt.bandcamp.com.

JORDAN ADAMS

JUSTIN BOLAND

Stop by your local store today!

Now Available | Beauty & Wellness Products 50

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Untitled-4 1

www.KinneyDrugs.com

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VERMONT

classes

CLASSES MAY BE CANCELED OR MOVED ONLINE DUE TO THE CORONAVIRUS. PLEASE CHECK WITH ORGANIZERS IN ADVANCE.

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.

drumming

International World Masters Champion and IBJJF World Masters Champion.

Accept no Iimitations! Location: Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, 55 Leroy Rd., Williston. Info: 598-2839, julio@ bjjusa.com, vermontbjj.com.

DJEMBE & TAIKO: JOIN US!: Digital classes! (No classes on-site for now.) Taiko: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Djembe: Wednesday.

Kids and Parents: Tuesday and Wednesday. Private digital conga lessons by appointment. Let’s prepare for a future drum gathering outdoors! Schedule/register online. Location: Taiko Space, 208 Flynn Ave., Suite 3G, Burlington.

Info: 999-4255, burlingtontaiko.org.

massage ASIAN BODYWORK THERAPY PROGRAM: This program teaches two forms of massage: amma and shiatsu. We will explore oriental medicine theory and diagnosis, as well as the body’s meridian system, acupressure points, and yin-yang and five-element theory. Additionally, Western anatomy and physiology are taught.

VSAC nondegree grants are available. FSMTB-approved program. Starts Sep. 2020.

Cost: $6,000/625-hour program. Location: Elements of Healing, 21 Essex Way, Suite 109, Essex Jct.. Info: Scott Moylan, 288-8160, scott@elementsofhealing. net, elementsofhealing.net.

language ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE ONLINE CLASSES: Join us for adult online French classes this summer! Our eight-week session starts on June 15 and offers classes for participants at all levels. Whether you are a true beginner or are comfortable conversing in French, you will find a class for you! Please go to our website at aflcr.org to read all about our offerings, or contact Micheline at education@aflcr.org. Info: Micheline Tremblay, 881-8826, education@aflcr.org, aflcr.org.

SPANISH ZOOM CLASSES STARTING: Learn from a native speaker in lively small classes via online video conferencing. You’ll always be participating and speaking. We still have room in some classes. Private instruction, student tutoring and lessons for children also available. Our 14th year. See our website or contact us for details. Beginning week of Jun. 1. Cost: $270/10 weekly classes of 90+ min. each. Location: Spanish in Waterbury Center, Waterbury Center.

Info: 585-1025, spanishparavos@gmail.com, spanishwaterburycenter.com.

martial arts VERMONT BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU: Brazilian jiujitsu is a martial arts combat style based entirely on leverage and technique. Brazilian jiujitsu self-defense curriculum is taught to Navy SEALs, CIA, FBI, military police and special forces. No training experience required. Easy-to-learn techniques that could save your life! Classes for men, women and children. Students will learn realistic bully-proofing and selfdefense life skills to avoid becoming victims and help them feel safe and secure. Our sole purpose is to help empower people by giving them realistic martial arts training practices they can carry with them throughout life. IBJJF and CBJJ certified black belt sixth-degree instructor under Carlson Gracie Sr.: teaching in Vermont, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A five-time Brazilian National Champion;

Tire & Service

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yoga EVOLUTION YOGA: Now offering live online and recorded classes. Practice yoga with some of the most experienced teachers and therapeutic professionals in Burlington, from the comfort of your home. Sign up on our website and receive a link to join a live class; a class recording will be sent after class. Pay as you go or support us by becoming an unlimited member. Join us outside this summer for Yoga on the Lake and Yoga in the Park.

Registration is open for our 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training for Health and Wellness Professionals. Now offering flexible pricing based on your financial needs. Contact yoga@evolutionvt.com. Single class: $0-15.

10-class pass: $100. $55 student unlimited membership. Summer unlimited pass Jun.Aug.: $195-275. Scholarships avail. for all pricing options. Location: Evolution Yoga, 20 Kilburn St., Burlington. Info: 864-9642, evolutionvt.com.

Cooper Tires Visa Prepaid Card or Virtual Account when you buy a new set of four qualifying tires*. Now

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LAUGHING RIVER YOGA: Increase confidence and decrease stress. Enjoy inspirational teachings, intelligent alignment and focused workshops through daily livestream and ondemand yoga classes. Check out our virtual library and practice with us live at the Burlington Surf Club starting June 15.

All bodies and abilities welcome. Daily classes, workshops, 200- & 300-hour yoga teacher training. Cost: $10/single class; $39 unlimited livestream; $49 unlimited livestream and on-demand classes; a portion of proceeds benefits the Vermont Foodbank. Location: Laughing River Yoga, Chace Mill, Suite 126, Burlington. Info: 343-8119, laughingriveryoga.com.

Not responsible for any typographical errors

CLASS PHOTOS + MORE INFO ONLINE SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSES 2V-VtTire060320 1

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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Sponsored by:

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

2v-NEFCU-crossword060320.indd 1

This new Challenge, open to all K-12 students, will focus on timely topics that will help us all get through the next few months:

70 72

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Looking for something educational — and fun — to do with your kids at home?

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10. Annoy Change, as the 34. Go off script Constitution 36. Civil rights org.

11. Garcon's list 38. Lennon’s widow 41. Old-timer, perhaps 44. A pint, maybe 45. “___ of Two Cities” 46. Care for 47. “A pox on you!”

48. “To ___ is human ...”

50. “Darn!”

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crossword

Frequent fliers?

History

How people got through difficulties in the past

News Literacy

How to tell good info from bad, especially online

Community

Helping others get through the pandemic

HOW IT WORKS

• We’ll be posting a few new activities each week at goodcitizenvt.com.

All of them can be completed at home! We’ll choose a variety of different types of tasks each week; there will be something for everyone, regardless of age.

• Do one activity or do them all! Everyone age 18 or under who submits an activity will be entered to win a weekly prize. We’ll raffle it off — and share the best work we receive — during a weekly video broadcast/virtual meeting.

• The prize drawings take place on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. Watch the Facebook Live broadcast via the Kids VT Facebook page.

The winner will receive a $25 gift card to Phoenix Books!

VIEW ACTIVITIES AT

GOODCITIZENVT.COM With support from:

Powered by:

Evslin Family Foundation

6/1/20 8:13 PM

2V-GoodCitizen042920.indd 1

4/28/20 3:14 PM

Jessica AGE/SEX: 2-year-old spayed female ARRIVAL DATE: March 14, 2020 REASON HERE: She originally came to HSCC via transport from Florida.

SUMMARY: Jessica is a bouncy, playful girl who loves to romp around outside, then crash on the couch. A great mix of energetic and mellow, Jessica could be a great fit for someone who enjoys adventuring just as much as a good Netflix binge. She has a big personality and sometimes gets overexcited while on leash, so she would do best with an owner who is willing to put some time and energy into training. Jessica has made some dog friends here at HSCC, but not all dogs appreciate her exuberant greetings. She typically greets new human friends with a full-body wiggle and maybe some kisses, but she has been more comfortable around adults than children. If you’re looking for a playful, goofy dog who will keep you laughing, Jessica could be the one! Visit hsccvt.org/dogs for more info and to schedule a virtual meeting with an adoption counselor.

housing »

DID YOU KNOW?

We offers a variety of resources for pet owners looking for guidance on caring for their furry friends. Whether you recently adopted a new pet or have had them in your home for many years, our website provides tips on training, general pet care, animal behaviors, information on common medical conditions and much more! Visit hsccvt. org/resources, email helpline@hsccvt.org or call 861-0135, ext.29 if you have questions.

Sponsored by:

DOGS/CATS/KIDS: Jessica has no known experience living with other dogs and no known experience with cats. She needs a home without young children.

NEW STUFF ONLINE EVERY DAY! PLACE YOUR ADS 24-7 AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM.

APARTMENTS, CONDOS & HOMES

on the road »

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 JUNE 3-10, 2020

53

CLASSIFIEDS on the road

CARS/TRUCKS 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)

FOR RENT 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.

KEEN’S CROSSING IS NOW LEASING! 1-BR, $1,054/mo.; 2-BR, $1,266/mo.; 3-BR, $1,397/mo. Spacious interiors, fully applianced kitchen, fi tness center, heat & HW incl.

Income restrictions apply. 802-655-1810, keenscrossing.com.

We Pick Up & Pay For Junk Automobiles!

Route 15, Hardwick

802-472-5100

3842 Dorset Ln., Williston

802-793-9133

Homeshares

TAFT FARM SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY 10 Tyler Way, Williston, independent senior living. Newly remodeled 2-BR unit on 2nd floor avail., $1,390/mo. incl. utils. & cable. NS/pets.

Must be 55+ years of age. cintry@fullcirclevt. com, 802-879-3333.

Share apartment w/ active woman in her 30s who enjoys VPR & farmers markets.

Seeking housemate to assist w/ transportation, cooking & planning. No rent.

Shared BA.

HOUSEMATES OFFICE/ COMMERCIAL 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.

services

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,

EQUAL sm-allmetals060811.indd 7/20/15 1 HOUSING 5:02 PM OPPORTUNITY

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

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

PINECREST AT ESSEX 9 Joshua Way, Essex Jct. Independent senior living for those 55+ years. 1-BR avail. Jun. 15, $1,240/mo. incl. utils. & parking garage. NS/ pets. 802-872-9197 or rae@fullcirclevt.com.

NEED A ROOMMATE? Roommates.com will help you find your perfect match today!

(AAN CAN)

housing

housing ads: $25 (25 words) legals: 52¢/word buy this stuff: free online services: $12 (25 words)

It’s a seller’s market!

BURLINGTON

What is the value of your home?

Contact me for tips to get your home sold.

COLCHESTER Share w/ bright woman in her 90s, seeking housemate for nighttime “just in case” presence and evening meal prep. Private BA, shared kitchen. $200/mo.

Robbi Handy Holmes • 802-951-2128 robbihandyholmes@vtregroup.com Formerly Century 21 Jack Associates

E. MONTPELIER

Making it happen for you!

Artist in her 50s who enjoys gardening, nature & music, seeking a pet-friendly housemate for help with dog-walking. $500/mo. Shared BA.

Finding you just the right housemate for over 35 years!

Call 863-5625 or visit HomeShareVermont.org for an application. Interview, refs, bg check req. EHO motman@ymail.com, Homeshare-temp2.indd 1 802-234-8000 (call or text).

MALE MASSAGES Need to relieve some stress & relax for an hour in these uncertain times? I’m a pre-op transitioning M-to-F who offers professional, safe, Swedish massages in a private, discreet setting for $60/hour.

Hours by appt. 7 days week. Burlington, 802-343-5862, Pascel.

1-STOP SHOP For all your catheter needs. We accept Medicaid, Medicare & insurance. Try before you buy. Quick & easy.

Give us a call: 866-2822506. (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.

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: 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

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

print deadline: Mondays at 4:30 p.m. post ads online 24/7 at: sevendaysvt.com/classifieds questions? classifieds@sevendaysvt.com 865-1020 x10

HOME/GARDEN KINGSBURY SEPTIC SERVICES Local experts are skilled in providing any septic services you may need: tank pumping, hauling, inspection, maintenance, jetting, camera scoping & more.

We are avail. 24-7 for septic emergencies.

We are a locally owned & operated business, serving & employing Vermonters for over 40 years. Our friendly customer service & quick response make us stand out above the rest. Call us for your complete septic solutions. 802-4962205, ext. 44. Email us: septicservice@ kingsburyco.com. Check us out: kingsburyco. com.

SAVE YOUR ASH TREES! Do you have ash trees that are an asset in your landscape? Treat then now! They do not have to be removed.

Call or text: MJ Cullen, 802-752-5596, mcullen883@gmail. com, ashtreemedic.com.

WET BASEMENT? Drainage systems.

Interior or exterior.

Foundation repair or replacement; block, concrete or stone.

Sill replacement, beams, etc. 40 years’ experience. Michael Lyons, North Country Construction and Painting. 802-453-3457.

16t-robbihandyholmes052720.indd 1

Online Public Auto Auction

music but can 12:42 be PM 5/25/20 multipurpose. info@ burlingtonmusicdojo. com, 802-540-0321.

music

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.

STUDIO/ REHEARSAL 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

Bidding Ends Mon., June 8 @ 12PM 298 J Brown Dr., Williston, VT PREVIEW Mon.-Fri. from 8AM-4PM

Consign Yours!

Call

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 “4C0046-9.”

A T F P A

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Automotive Repair Shop Equip.

ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION #4C00469 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6093 On May 19, 2020, the Town of Milton, 43 Bombardier Road, Milton, VT 05468 filed application number 4C0046-9 for a Project generally described as the expansion of sewer service areas.

The Project does not involve any construction of improvements. The Project is located along North Road, Westford Road, Cody Road, Forbes Road, Racine Road, and US 7 in Milton, Vermont.

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T C P

802 878-9200

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.

5/22/20 2:28 PM

Bidding Ends Tues., June 9 @ 12PM 183 Hegeman Ave., Colchester, VT PREVIEW: Wed., June 3 from 10AM-3PM

T N D

S E

S

Secured Creditor Restaurant FF&E Bidding Ends Wed., June 10 @ 12PM Colchester & Williston Locations PREVIEW: Friday, June 5 from 11-2

No hearing will be held and a permit may be issued unless, on or

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THCAuction.com 800-634-7653 5/29/20 12:15 PM

Calcoku

before June 17, 2020, 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.

If you feel that any of the District Commission members listed on the attached Certificate of Service under “For Your Information” may have a 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 June 17, 2020.

The Applicant has requested a partial waiver of notice to adjoining landowners, pursuant to Act 250 Rule 10(F).

The District Commission has granted the waiver request based on the determination that the adjoining landowners whose notice has been waived, reasonably could not be affected by the proposed project and that serving notice on all the adjoining landowners constitutes a significant administrative burden without corresponding public benefit.

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),

LEGALS »

Using the enclosed math operations as a guide, fill the grid using the numbers 1 - 6 only once in each row and column.

13+

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1-

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Sudoku

Complete the following puzzle by using the numbers 1-9 only once in each row, column and 3 x 3 box.

9 5 4 3 9 8 7

12Difficulty - Hard

CALCOKU BY JOSH REYNOLDS

1 4

No. 639

Difficulty: Hard

SUDOKU BY JOSH REYNOLDS

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HHH

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HHH

Fill the grid using the numbers 1-6, only once in each row and column. The numbers in each heavily outlined “cage” must combine to produce the target number in the top corner, using the mathematical operation indicated. A onebox cage should be filled in with the target number in the top corner. A number can be repeated within a cage as long as it is not the same row or column.

6

4

5

2

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1

Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers one to nine. The same numbers cannot be repeated in a row or column.

5

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1

2

ANSWERS ON P.57 H = MODERATE HH = CHALLENGING HHH = HOO, BOY!

2

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1

5

4

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4 »2

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FALL NICKNAME ANSWERS ON P. 57

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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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, x22.

CLASSIC FARMHOUSE

HANCOCK | 2316 VERMONT ROUTE 125 | #4805973

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[CONTINUED]

Planning Commission Term Expires 6/30/23 Two Openings.

Two units tastefully renovated. Live in one and rent the other to help pay the mortgage. Paradise outdoors, fiber optics for telecommuting, very cool Rochester down the road, and close to Middlebury, Rutland, Waitsfield, Randolph. Good rental history, excellent value. $259,000

and a permit may be issued unless, on or Homework-Olson052720.indd 1 before June 23, 2020, Dated at Essex Junction, a person notifies the Vermont this 27th day of Commission of an issue May, 2020. or issues requiring the presentation of evidence By: /s/ Stephanie H. at a hearing, or the Monaghan, Commission sets the District Coordinator, 111 matter for a hearing West Street, on its own motion. Any Essex Junction, VT person as defined in 10 05452.

V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1) may 802-879-5662 request a hearing. Any stephanie.monaghan@ hearing request must be vermont.gov in writing to the address below, must state the criteria or sub-criteria ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR at issue, why a hearing APPLICATION #4C0887is required and what ad1R-K-1 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 ditional evidence will be - 6093 presented at the hearing.

On May 26, 2020, The Any hearing request by an Snyder FC Commercial adjoining property owner Properties, LLC and Rieley or other person eligible Properties, LLC filed for party status under application #4C088710 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1)(E) 1R-K-1 for a project must include a petition generally described as for party status under the modifications to Building Act 250 Rules. Prior to A3 of Finney Crossing submitting a request for including construction a hearing, please contact of two additional one the district coordinator bedroom residential at the telephone number units, construction of listed below for more an enlarged trash and information. Prior to recycling building, and convening a hearing, installation of public art the Commission must on the north facade. The determine that substanproject is located at 664 tive issues requiring a Zephyr Road in Williston, hearing have been raised.

Vermont.

Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law may The District 4 not be prepared unless Environmental the Commission holds a Commission is reviewing public hearing. this application under Act 250 Rule 51 - Minor If you feel that any of Applications. A copy the District Commission of the application and members listed on the proposed permit are attached Certificate of available for review at Service under “For Your the office listed below.

Information” may have a The application and a conflict of interest, or if draft permit may also be there is any other reason viewed on the Natural a member should be Resources Board’s web disqualified from sitting site (http://nrb.vermont. on this case, please gov) by clicking on “Act contact the District 250 Database” and enterCoordinator as soon as ing the project number possible, and by no later “4C0887-1R-K-1.” than June 23, 2020.

56

Board of Health Term Expires 6/30/23 Two Openings.

Parks and Recreation Commission Term Expires 6/30/23 Two Openings.

project under the Act 250 criteria. Non-party participants may also be allowed under 10 V.S.A.Section 6085(c)(5).

No hearing will be held

Green Mountain Transit Term Expires 6/30/23 One Opening.

Housing Board of Review Term Expires 6/30/23 One Opening.

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

– alternate Term Expires 6/30/23 One Opening.

If you have a disability

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Jeff Olson (802) 989-9441 jeff@acrevt.com www.acrevt.com

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 1st day of June, 2020.

By: /s/Rachel Lomonaco, District Coordinator, 111 West Street, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

802-879-5658 Rachel.Lomonaco@ vermont.gov

ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION #4C098318 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6093 On May 19, 2020, Jam Golf, LLC and Rivers Edge Building Development, LLC filed application #4C0983-18 for a project generally described as subdivision of 12 lots consisting of seven lots with single family homes (Lots 1-7) and a common lot with four carriage homes (Lot 12 and Footprint Lots 8-11); construction of a public roadway with sidewalks and other associated site improvements. The project is located at 1227

5000 sq. ft. 12 rooms, 6 bedrooms & 3 1/2 bathrooms. A large family room and fireplace with wood-stove insert. Separate living quarters on the 3rd floor studio with kitchenette & full bath. A 35 x 70 barn with 10 stalls, a heated tack room with hot water, a 1/2 bath. There’s a 2nd barn with 7 stalls, tack/storage area and hayloft. Outdoor & indoor riding arenas! The 113 acres consists of pasture, ponds & woodlands. $439,000

Police Commission Term Expires 6/30/23 Two Openings.

Public Works Commission Term Expires 6/30/23 Two Openings.

Armand Chevrier Cell-802-309-4735 Work-802-933-4707 armand.chevrier@yahoo.com

Dorset Street in South substantive issues Burlington, Vermont. requiring a hearing have 5/22/20 HW-armandc060320.indd 9:08 AM 1 been raised. Findings of The District 4 Fact and Conclusions of Environmental Law may not be prepared Commission is reviewing unless the Commission this application under holds a public hearing.

Act 250 Rule 51-Minor Applications. A copy If you feel that any of of the application and the District Commission proposed permit are members listed on the available for review at attached Certificate of the office listed below.

Service under “For Your The application and a Information” may have a draft permit may also be conflict of interest, or if viewed on the Natural there is any other reason Resources Board’s web a member should be site (http://nrb.vermont. disqualified from sitting gov) by clicking on “Act on this case, please 250 Database” and contact the District entering the project Coordinator as soon as number “4C0983-18.” possible, and by no later than June 19, 2020.

No hearing will be held and a permit may be If you have a disability issued unless, on or for which you need acbefore June 19, 2020, commodation in order to a person notifies the participate in this process Commission of an issue (including participating in or issues requiring the a public hearing, if one is presentation of evidence held), please notify us as at a hearing, or the soon as possible, in order Commission sets the to allow us as much time matter for a hearing as possible to accomon its own motion. Any modate your needs. person as defined in 10 Parties entitled to particiV.S.A. § 6085(c)(1) may pate are the Municipality, request a hearing. Any the Municipal Planning hearing request must be Commission, the Regional in writing to the address Planning Commission, below, must state the affected state agencies, criteria or sub-criteria and adjoining property at issue, why a hearing owners and other persons is required and what adto the extent that they ditional evidence will be have a particularized presented at the hearing.

Any hearing request by an interest that may be affected by the proposed adjoining property owner project under the Act or other person eligible 250 criteria. Non-party for party status under participants may also be 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1)(E) allowed under 10 V.S.A. must include a petition for party status under the Section 6085(c)(5).

Act 250 Rules. Prior to submitting a request for a Dated at Essex Junction, Vermont this 27th day of hearing, please contact May, 2020.

By: /s/Rachel Lomonaco, the district coordinator District Coordinator, at the telephone 111 West Street, Essex number listed below Junction, VT 05452. for more information.

802-879-5658 Prior to convening a Rachel.Lomonaco@ hearing, the Commission vermont.gov must determine that

Retirement Board Term Expires 6/30/23 One Opening.

Board of Tax Appeals Term Expires 6/30/23 OPENINGS: BURLINGTON Three Openings.

5/29/20 12:44 PM CITY COMMISSIONS/ BOARDS **UPDATED Board for Registration of MAY 29, 2020, LO** Voters Airport Commission Term Expires 6/30/22 Term Expires 6/30/23 One Opening.

One Opening.

Board for Registration of Board of Assessors Voters Term Expires 3/31/23 Term Expires 6/30/25 One Opening.

Three Openings.

Cemetery Commission Term Expires 6/30/23 Two Openings.

Chittenden Solid Waste District Term Expires 5/31/22 One Opening.

Chittenden Solid Waste District – alternate Term Expires 5/31/22 One Opening.

Church Street Marketplace Commission Term Expires 6/30/23 Three Openings.

Conservation Board Term Expires 6/30/21 One Opening.

Conservation Board Term Expires 6/30/24 Two Openings.

Design Advisory Board – alternate Term Expires 6/30/23 Two Openings.

Design Advisory Board Term Expires 6/30/23 Two Openings.

Development Review Board Term Expires 6/30/23 One Opening.

Electric Light Commission Term Expires 6/30/23 Two Openings.

Fence Viewers Term Expires 6/30/21 Three Openings.

Fire Commission Term Expires 6/30/23 Two Openings.

Green Mountain Transit

Applications may be submitted to the Clerk/ Treasurer’s Office, 149 Church Street, Burlington, VT 05401 Attn: Lori NO later than Wednesday, June 10, 2020, by 4:30 pm. If you have any questions, please contact Lori at (802) 865-7136 or via email lolberg@ burlingtonvt.gov.

City Council President Tracy will plan for appointments to take place at the June 29, 2020 City Council Meeting/ City Council With Mayor Presiding Meeting.

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT CIVIL DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO. 147-220 CNCV SOUTH BURLINGTON FIRE DISTRICT NO. 2 and CITY OF SOUTH BURLINGTON, Plaintiffs v. HEIRS, SUCCESSORS, ADMINISTRATORS and ASSIGNS of ARTHUR ELSOM, ESTATE OF ARTHUR ELSOM, LAURA J. ELSOM, ESTATE OF LAURA J. ELSOM, GLADYS ELSOM WHITE, MYRTLE ELSOM MEOLA, and ARTHUR CLAUDE ELSOM, and JOHN DOE I-IX and JANE DOE I-IX, Defendants SUMMONS AND ORDER OF PUBLICATION THIS SUMMONS IS DIRECTED TO: HEIRS, SUCCESSORS,

ADMINISTRATORS AND ASSIGNS OF ARTHUR ELSOM, ESTATE OF ARTHUR ELSOM, LAURA J. ELSOM, ESTATE OF LAURA J. ELSOM, GLADYS ELSOM WHITE, MYRTLE ELSOM MEOLA, and ARTHUR CLAUDE ELSOM, and JOHN DOE I-IX AND JANE DOE I-IX 1. YOU ARE BEING SUED. Plaintiffs have started a lawsuit against you.

A copy of Plaintiff’s Complaint is on file and may be obtained at the office of the Clerk of this Court, Vermont Superior Court, Civil Division, 175 Main Street Burlington, Vermont. Do not throw this paper away. It is an official paper that affects your rights.

2. PLAINTIFFS’ CLAIM. Plaintiffs’ claim is for Quiet Title and Declaratory Judgment, relating to deed restrictions contained in a certain Warranty Deed of Arthur Elsom to the South Burlington Fire District No. 2, dated March 14, 1947, and recorded in Volume 20 at Page 480 of the Land Records of the Town of South Burlington, to wit: restricting the property to be used by the Fire District for the purpose of a sewage treatment plant and for any other purpose that may benefit said Fire District, such as a playground or public park, and that said land shall not be sold for any other purpose to any successor or assign of the Fire District, but may be conveyed to the Town of South Burlington, its successors or assigns in event of discontinuance of the Fire District. The Complaint seeks a decree from the Court to declare and adjudge that these restrictions shall be deemed null and void.

3. YOU MUST REPLY WITHIN 42 DAYS TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. You must give or mail the Plaintiffs a written response called an Answer within 42 days after the date on which this Summons was first published, which is June 3, 2020. You must send a copy of your Answer to the Plaintiffs or the Plaintiffs’ attorneys located at: John T. Leddy, Esq., McNeil, Leddy & Sheahan, P.C., 271 South Union Street, Burlington, VT 05401, Attorney for So. Burlington Fire District No. 2. Andrew M. Bolduc, Esq., City Attorney, City of South Burlington, 575 Dorset Street, South Burlington, VT 05403, Attorney for City of South Burlington. You must also give or mail your Answer to the Court located at: Vermont Superior Court, Civil Division, 175 Main Street, P.O. Box 187, Burlington, VT 05402.

4. YOU MUST RESPOND TO EACH CLAIM. The

FOR SALE BY OWNER

List your property here for 2 weeks for only $45! Contact Katie, 865-1020, ext. 10, fsbo@sevendaysvt.com.

HINESBURG - INVESTMENT PROPERTY

Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: June 3, 2020 Address of Court: Chittenden Unit Probate Court, P.O. Box 511, Burlington, VT 05402-0511

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO. 538-5-20 CNPR In re Estate of RICHARD A. HEBERT, late of Essex, Vermont. Notice to Creditors To the Creditors of RICHARD A. HEBERT, late of Essex, 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

Dated at Burlington, Vermont, this 21st day of May, 2020.

Cory Hebert, Administrator, 29 Wheeler Road, Fairfax, VT 05452. coryhebert78@ gmail.com NAME OF PUBLICATION: Seven Days Publication Date: 6/3/20 Name of Probate Court: Chittenden Unit of the Probate Division, Vermont Superior Court, Address of Probate Court: P.O. Box 511, Burlington, Vermont 05402

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO.: 507-4-20 CNPR In re ESTATE of Warren Lee Shepard

FROM P.55

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Dated: May 27, 2020 Signed Theodore J. McGuinness, Executor

Email: ben.luna@lclawvt. com

must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. The claim may be forever barred if it is not presented within the four (4) month period.

1

To The Creditors Of: Betty McGuinness, late of South Burlington, 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 date of the first publication of this notice. The claim must be presented to us at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. The claim will be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month period.

Telephone: 802-862-6511

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NOTICE TO CREDITORS

05402-0907

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STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT DOCKET NO. 1315-10-19 CNPR In re Estate of Betty McGuinness, Late of South Burlington, Vermont.

Address: c/o Little & within300cummingfour (4) months Cicchetti, P.C., P.O. Box of the first publication 3/16/20FBSO-Carpenter052720.indd 5:03 PM 1 srd@gmail 907, Burlington, VT of this notice. The claim

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Calcoku

PUZZLE ANSWERS

/s/ Helen M. Toor Hon. Helen M. Toor Superior Court Judge

Lovingly cared for, fully renovated 3bd 2ba split level less than a 1 mile to Montpelier, near Morse Farm Sugarworks. Beautiful forest setting, 1.3 acres.

Open format kitchen.

RV parking w/hookups. $325,000, 802-2310957, 300CUMMINGS RD@gmail.com

2

5. YOU WILL LOSE YOUR CASE IF YOU DO NOT GIVE YOUR WRITTEN ANSWER TO THE COURT. If you do not send the Plaintiffs your Answer within 42 days after the date on which this Summons was first published and file it with the Court, you ORDER. will lose this case. You fsbo-muroski031820.indd The affidavit of Plaintiff’s 1 will not get to tell your counsel filed in this story, and the Court action shows that service may decide against you cannot be made with and award the Plaintiffs due diligence by any of everything asked for in the methods provided the Complaint. in Rule 4(d-(f), (k), or (l) of the Vermont Rules of Civil 6. YOU MUST MAKE ANY Procedure. Accordingly, CLAIMS AGAINST THE it is ORDERED that PLAINTIFFS IN YOUR service of the Summons REPLY. Your Answer must set forth above shall be state any related legal made upon Defendants, claims you have against Heirs, Successors, the Plaintiffs. Your claims Administrators and against the Plaintiffs are Assigns of Arthur Elsom, called counterclaims. If Estate of Arthur Elsom, you do not make your Laura J. Elsom, Estate of Counterclaims in writing Laura J. Elsom, Gladys in your Answer, you may Elsom White, Myrtle not be able to bring them Elsom Meola, and Arthur up at all. Even if you Claude Elsom, and John have insurance and the Doe I-IX and Jane Doe insurance company will I-IX, by publication as defend you, you must still provided in Rule 4(g) of file any Counterclaims those Rules. you have.

This Order shall be 7. LEGAL ASSISTANCE. published once a week for You may wish to get legal three weeks beginning help from a lawyer. If you on June 3, 2020, in Seven cannot afford a lawyer, Days, a newspaper of you should ask the Court general circulation in Clerk for information Chittenden County, and about places where you a copy of this Summons can get free legal help. and Order shall be mailed Even if you cannot get to the Defendants, if an legal help, you must still address is known. DATED give the Court a written at Burlington, Vermont, Answer to protect your this 29th day of May, rights or you may lose 2020. the case.

MONTPELIER FOREST DWELLING

Duplex: Two large adjacent apartments, upstairs and down.

Four bedroom unit 1,600 sq -ft . Three bedroom unit 1,269 sq-ft. Separate utilities. Strong rental history. Many upgrades. $307,000. Photos: bit.ly/hinesburgduplex Call 802.482.4659

3

Answer is your written response to the Plaintiffs’ Complaint. In your Answer, you must state whether you agree or disagree with each paragraph of the Complaint. If you believe the Plaintiffs should not be given everything asked for in the Complaint, you must say say in your Answer.

the Bid Packet. Anyone interested in receiving a full bid packet or more information, contact Doug Davis, Director of Food Service at 802 864 8416 or vermontfda@ gmail.com or ddavis@ bsdvt.org

TOWN OF ESSEX PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA / PUBLIC HEARING JUNE 11, 2020 -6:30 P.M. COVID-19 UPDATE: Due to the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic, this meeting will be held remotely. Available options to watch or join NOTICE TO CREDITORS the meeting: 5/22/20 8:57 AM To the Creditors of Warren Join via Microsoft Teams at https://tinyurl.com/ Lee Shepard, late of ESSEXPC. Depending on Colchester, Vermont. I your browser, you may have been appointed executor of this estate. All need to call in for audio (below). creditors having claims Join via conference against the decedent or call (audio only): (802) the estate must present 377-3784 | Conference ID: their claims in writing 590 879 654 #. within four (4) months Watch the live stream of the first publication video on Town Meeting of this notice. The claim TV’s YouTube Channel. must be presented to Town Meeting TV, me at the address listed formally Channel 17, will below with a copy sent to be moving to on Comcast the court. The claim may channel 1087. be barred forever if it is 1. Public Comments. not presented within the four (4) month period.

2. CONSENT AGENDA: Minor Site Plan Dated: 5/26/2020 Signature of Fiduciary: /s/ Amendment: Stephenson Properties, LLC: Request Randal L. Shepard for permanent outdoor seating in front of building Executor/Administrator: located at 112 Center Road Randal L. Shepard, c/o in the Center Zone (CTR).

Unsworth LaPlante, Tax Map 58, Parcel 4.

PLLC, 26 Railroad Ave., 3. Minutes: May 28, 2020.

Essex Jct., VT 05452 4. Other Business.

802-879-7133 carisa@ Note: Please visit our unsworthlaplante.com website at www.essex. org to view agendas, Name of Publication: application materials, and Seven Days minutes.

Publication Date: 6/3/2020 Probate Court: Vermont Superior Court, Probate Division, Chittenden Unit, PO Box 511, Burlington, VT 05402

THE BURLINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE FOOD SERVICE DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION OF VERMONT (FDA), WILL RECEIVE SEALED BIDS FOR PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) FROM FULL SERVICE SUPPLY DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES. Bids are due on or before, but no later than 10:00 AM, Monday, June 22nd at Burlington High School, 52 Institute Road, Burlington, VT 05408. Attention Doug Davis, Burlington School Food Project. The sealed proposals will be opened at the same time and address. Notification of the award, if any, will be made no later than 60 days from the date of opening.

Please address proposals to the attention of Doug Davis and follow the submission directions in

WARNING DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD JUNE 23RD – 6:00 P.M. Hearing will be held outside at applicant sites. Please wear mask and observe distance recommendations.

Patterson Park – 489 Main Street 6PM – Site Plan Amendment.

Hearing will then reconvene at: Marty & Tracy Wells- 456 Lookout – Conditional Use Storage Bldg.

Hearing will then reconvene at: Ted Latrell - 1617 Dowsville – Variance for Shed

STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT ENVIRONMENTAL DIVISION In re. VTrans Notice of intent to Discharge Docket No. 40-5-20 Vtec Under State Transportation Separate Storm System (TS4).

this appeal pursuant to 10 V.S.A. §1269 and 10 V.S.A. §8503 and §8504 of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation’s Approval of the Vermont Agency of Transportation’s Notice of Intent to Discharge under State Transportation Separate Storm System (TS4) General Permit 3-9007 dated April 21, 2020. A copy of the approval is attached hereto.

This discharge covers multiple addresses as set forth in the attached approval.

Vallee is an interested person and/or person aggrieved under 10 V.S.A. §8502. Vallee owns a number of properties that discharge to, and receive discharges of pollutants from, the properties over which this discharge applies, including lands which Vallee owns in Colchester, Vermont which receive chloride discharges from lands (Route 2/7) owned or controlled by permittee the Vermont Agency of Transportation. Vallee participated and submitted public comments that the proposed stormwater management plan and chloride management plan submitted by the permittee inadequately controls chloride discharges to Vallee’s property and to Sunnyside Brook which is impaired for Chloride.

The approval has not adequately addressed chloride discharges and therefore Vallee will experience more chloride pollution to its property than is necessary. This is a harm protected by Title 10, Chapter 47 and 10 V.S.A. §8502.

TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: In order to participate in this appeal, you must enter an appearance in the Vermont Environmental Court within twenty-one (21) days of receiving this Notice of Appeal. Notices of Appearance should be mailed to Jennifer Teske, Court Office Manager, Vermont Superior Court—Environmental Division, 32 Cherry Street, Suite 303, Burlington, VT 05401.

DATED at Burlington, Vermont this 20th day of May, 2020 Respectfully submitted, By: MSK ATTORNEYS, /s/ Alexander LaRosa_ Alexander LaRosa, ERN 5814, 275 College Street, P.O. Box 4485, Burlington, VT 05406-4485. Phone: 802-861-7000 (x119), Fax: 802-861-7007, Email: ajlarosa@mskvt.com, Attorneys for Appellants

NOTICE OF APPEAL: NOW COMES Appellant R.L. Vallee Inc. by and through the undersigned counsel and hereby files SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

57

58 JUNE 3-10, 2020

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

Wine Sales Rep

OUTSIDE PLANT FIBER TECHNICIAN

ValleyNet is looking for an experienced Outside Plant Fiber Technician to join our team. This full-time position offers a competitive wage and benefits package including health and dental, 401K, vacation and holidays. This is a great opportunity for someone with a solid work-ethic, who has demonstrated the ability to perform quality work in a cooperative team environment.

To be a team member you must be reliable and self-motivated while meeting ValleyNet’s mission, vision and values by exhibiting the following comportment: excellence, competence, teamwork, respect and accountability.

We are looking for a new team member who is as passionate about wine as we are about craft beer. Wine knowledge and wine sales experience necessary. F/T position servicing accounts across the whole state of VT. ai15904173167_4t-MiddNaturalCoop052720.pdf

WE’RE HIRING!

10:35 AM

5/22/20 2:31 PM

CAREER

Produce Assistant Manager

S

Seeking experienced team leader to: Motivate and supervise Produce team Work closely with Manager to achieve fiscal goals Be passionate about local produce!

• Responding to emergency outages • Reading and understanding design maps and splice charts • Be able to lift 75 lbs

APPLY TODAY AT MIDDLEBURY.COOP

REQUIREMENTS: • Must have at least 2 years’ experience in splicing fiber and construction of OSP • Must have valid driver’s license • Must have high school diploma, GED or industrial school certification • Must have cell phone • Possess excellent written and oral communications skills • Must demonstrate attention to detail • Must pass background check

TOW N OF DU X B U RY

ROAD FOREMAN The Town of Duxbury is accepting applications for the position of Road Foreman. This position is a working supervisor role that plans and oversees all municipal highway operations in order to advance the safe and effective functioning of the highway department, including municipal construction projects and maintenance of municipal roads, vehicles, and equipment.

See the full job description at ecfiber.net/about/jobs

Additional information is available at DuxburyVermont.org under Employment Opportunities.

If this sounds like your kind of work, fill out the online application form and submit it with a cover letter and resume to resumes@ecfiber.net or by mail to Human Resources, ECFiber/ValleyNet, 415 Waterman Road, Royalton, VT 05068.

To apply for this position, please email letter of interest, resume, and references to DuxTC@myfairpoint.net or mail to: Duxbury Selectboard Town of Duxbury 5421 VT Route 100 Duxbury, VT 05676.

ValleyNet is the operating company of ECFiber and LymeFiber. ValleyNet, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

10v-ECFiber060320.indd 1

5/25/20

2h-VTBeerShepherd052720.indd 1

POSITION OVERVIEW RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE: • Making connections for subscribers from pole to house • Mounting network interface device on the premises • Splicing into the active system and into Optical Network Terminal to record light level • Troubleshooting, repairing and maintaining fiber network • Completing necessary paperwork and documenting daily activities • Communicating well between crews and staff • Climbing utilities poles and setting ladders

1

Send resume to indy@vtbeershepherd.com

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

6/1/20 12:14 PM 4t-TownofDuxbury050620.indd 1

5/1/20 12:59 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

FRENCH/SPANISH TEACHER

LANDSCAPER

FULL & PART-TIME, YEAR-ROUND

Waitsfield and Warren Elementary Schools, part of the Harwood Unified Union School District, seek a K-6th French/Spanish teacher. Candidates must love kids and have experience with effective instructional strategies for this age group. The ideal candidate holds a VT teaching license with endorsements in both French and Spanish, but we are flexible to only one language. This is a 4 days/week teaching position, with benefits and competitive pay. To apply, submit letter of interest, resume, transcripts, license and 3 letters of reference to Principal Kaiya Korb or contact her for further information. kkorb@huusd.org

POSITIONS

For full job description and to apply go to: topdoglandscaping.com

Administrative/ Office Manager

We are seeking a skilled and self-motivated office professional 1t-TopDogLandscaping060320.indd 1 5/28/20 1:12 PM as Office Manager for our Lavoie Dental is South Burlington environmental consulting company. The successful applicant will enjoy CUSTOMER working with a dedicated team of Dental Assistant professionals who take our work SERVICE A move south has very seriously (even though we try REPRESENTATIVES opened up a spot not to take ourselves too seriously). to support our Call Center on our team for a As Office Manager, you will juggle in Williston, VT. dental assistant! We a wide variety of daily functions are hoping for an Responsibilities include, including accounts receivable, experienced dental but are not limited to: accounts payable, reception, assistant to join our answer and track incoming receiving incoming calls, and calls, conduct phone interviews, family oriented general clerical support. Administrative/ collect scripted information, practice in Burlington.

Office experience preferred. Must analyze, write reports, and be highly organized and able to Dental Hygienist disseminate information received multi-task effectively. Excellent and provide direct assistance A retirement has written and oral communication as needed, with excellent oral skills needed. Dedicated work opened up a spot and communication skills. Must ethic is a must. Our office is a on our team for Mac computer environment and have a High School Diploma, a hygienist! We applicants should have experience with minimum of 3 years of are hoping for an or be familiar with accounting specialized experience in experienced hygienist software and practices. Our support of a Contact Center, to join our family workplace is friendly and highly answering and responding to oriented general flexible. We will work with the inbound calls. All candidates practice in Burlington. right person to create a work must be a US Citizen and be schedule that meets individual and Send resumes and able to pass background check. organizational needs. Competitive indicate which position Multiple openings with attractive compensation package available. you are applying for: compensation and benefits Send resumes to:

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5/29/20 2:30 PM

Do you want to work for an Agency that positively impacts the lives of over 20,000 individuals?

HIRING!

The Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity (CVOEO) addresses fundamental issues of economic, social, and racial justice and works with people to achieve economic independence by “bridging gaps and building futures” Our Administration programs seek motivated professionals with a passion for our mission to fill the following positions:

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE SPECIALIST Under the direct supervision of the Fiscal Director, the Accounts Payable Specialist will assist the Finance Department by processing incoming invoices; disbursing payments and performing accounting tasks.

If you have an Associate’s degree in Accounting or two to three years’ related work experience or training in accounting/ bookkeeping, or a combination of education and experience from which comparable knowledge and skills are acquired; experience with accounting and payroll systems; and proficient in the use of Microsoft Office we’d like to hear from you! This is a 40 hours/ week position. To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume by e-mail to: acctspayable2020@cvoeo.org.

HUMAN RESOURCES COORDINATOR Working as a member of Administration, the Human Resources Coordinator will provide support in a variety of areas including: employee recruitment, hiring and onboarding, bill processing, maintaining confidential Human Resource files and systems, answering employee questions, and other administrative duties as required. This position works closely with the Human Resource Director and Deputy Director to address agency needs in regards to Human Resources.

lavoiedental@ lavoiedental.com

Interested in working with us? We offer a great working environment and an excellent benefit package including medical, dental and vision insurance, paid holidays, generous vacation and sick leave, a retirement plan and discounted gym membership.

To learn more please visit www.cvoeo.org/careers Review of applications begins immediately and will continue until suitable applicants are found. No phone calls, please.

CVOEO is an Equal Opportunity Employer

packages – apply directly at careers@e2zintegral.com!

T OW N O F J E R I C H O

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If you have an Associate’s degree in Business, Human Services, or a related field (Bachelor’s degree preferred) and three years of office administrative experience, with at least one year in human resources highly desired; excellent verbal and written communication skills required, bilingual abilities are a plus, we’d like to hear from you!

This is a 35 hours/week position. To apply, please submit a cover letter and resume by e-mail to: hrcoord2020@cvoeo.org.

1 5/20/203v-IntegralConsutling021220.indd 4:58 PM

bryan@kdassociatesinc.com

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6/1/20 8:48 PM

Highway Maintenance Worker The Town of Jericho is accepting applications for a Highway Maintenance Worker Level II. This is a full-time position which requires a CDL and the ability to routinely work outside of regular working hours. The ideal candidate will have at least two years of experience in highway maintenance, snow plowing, construction procedures and methods at the municipal level. Equipment operation experience is a plus.

The starting hourly wage is dependent on qualifications. The Town of Jericho offers excellent benefits, including health and dental insurance and a retirement plan.

An application and job description can be downloaded from www.jerichovt.org. They are also available at the Jericho Town Hall, at 67 VT Rt. 15, Jericho, M-F 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Completed applications can be submitted to Paula Carrier in person, via email at pcarrier@jerichovt.gov or via mail to PO Box 39, Jericho, VT 05465.

Position is open until filled.

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59 JUNE 3-10, 2020

6/1/20 2:54 PM

4/24/20 10:59 AM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

60

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

JUNE 3-10, 2020

Commercial Roofers & Laborers

Year round, full time positions.

Good wages & benefits. $16.50 per hour minimum; Pay negotiable with experience.

EOE/M/F/VET/Disability Employer Apply in person at: A.C. Hathorne Co. 252 Avenue C Williston, VT 802-862-6473

6/24/19 Is currently seeking:

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Finance Associate

• Competitive pay • Huge discount on product • Own shares of the company • Amazing culture and the best co-workers

PRODUCTION/WAREHOUSE WORKERS to manufacture our high-quality garden-related products.

Join the team at Gardener’s Supply!

6:28 PM

Through gardening, our customers control their access to safe and affordable food, and grow food to share with their neighbors. At Gardener’s Supply, we are committed to doing everything we can to help our customers keep gardening, but we need your help.

104A Arrowhead Industrial Park, Building 110, Georgia, VT

Part Time

https://bit.ly/2yyGXrW

Our manufacturing facility in Georgia, VT is growing!

We are looking for full-time, seasonal and year-round

Please go to our careers page at gardeners.com/careers and apply online!

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5/19/20 11:00 AM

5/11/20 5/8/20 12:34 1:30 PM

Help Vermonters pursue their education goals!

Outreach Counselor, Talent Search We’re all about mission at Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC). Help us fulfill our mission of providing all Vermont students with information and financial resources to reach their educational goals.

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICE WORKER Sign On Bonus - Up to $2,000 with a starting salary of $14 an hour.

Responsible for the cleaning of all areas of the facility with the exception of the OR. Must know how to handle cleaning issues or know the appropriate resources available to solve the specific problem.

LEARN MORE & APPLY: uvmmed.hn/sevendays 4t-UVMMedCenter051320.indd 1

5/11/20 12:53 PM

Program Director Vermont College of Fine Arts welcomes applications for the director of the MFA in Film Program. The Program Director is a managerial, administrative position reporting to the Academic Dean.

Responsibilities include: working closely with the Faculty Chair, faculty, and administration to manage the strategic direction, organization, and operations of the low-residency program; overseeing and directing the admission application review and enrollment process; overseeing student retention and progress through the program; collaborating with the faculty in the process of faculty hiring and retention; strategizing long term program success; collaborating on outreach and marketing; supervising program staff and program office; designing and managing program budget; and planning and overseeing two seven-day residencies each year.

Do you want to change some lives? Are you energized by the enthusiasm of teenagers?

Then apply for a position with VSAC as an Outreach Counselor in our Educational Talent Search program in Lamoille and Franklin Counties. Outreach Counselors provide career and college readiness services to students at middle and high schools. This position could be fulltime or part-time. The target start time is late August.

Ideal candidate is adept at building relationships and making connections, works well independently, and is flexible with an eagerness to learn.

The successful candidate will create a curriculum plan to cover the full spectrum of career and college planning services, meet with students regularly in groups and one-on-one, offer workshops and presentations to students, parents and professionals and develop rapport with middle and high school students, area school staff and faculty, and agency and college personnel.

Experience and qualifications include a Master’s degree in counseling, education or related field, or equivalent combination of experience and education in the following: experience working with youth in educational settings, an understanding of the socioeconomic and academic needs of first-generation, modest-income students and families, a working knowledge of adolescent development, career development, post-secondary options and financial aid, and familiarity with public school systems.

If you think you might be a good fit, please apply, even if you don’t meet every criteria listed.

Applicants must have a valid driver’s license verified by a Motor Vehicle Record Report, a willingness to travel up to 1,000 miles a month, a properly inspected, registered, and insured motor vehicle for business use, and must provide their own workspace when working away from VSAC offices. Candidate must also successfully complete a criminal background check.

This is a grant funded position that is contingent upon continued grant funds. VSAC offers a dynamic, professional environment with competitive compensation and generous benefits package.

Apply ONLY online at www.vsac.org.

VERMONT STUDENT ASSISTANCE CORPORATION PO Box 2000, Winooski, VT 05404 • www.VSAC.org

For more information and instructions on how to apply, please visit our Careers page: https://vcfa.edu/about/jobs-at-vcfa/

EOE/Minorities/Females/Vet/Disabled

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5/21/20 4:15 PM

5/21/20 3:56 PM

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSJOBS, SUBSCRIBE TO RSS, OR BROWSE POSTS ON YOUR PHONE AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

This position is working one-on-one providing companionship and personal care for a young man in his home. Assisting with food prep/ feeding, showering, socializing and personal care while maintaining respect and dignity. If you are ready to make a difference in someone’s life, this may be the job for you. Offering compatible compensation, and sick time. Must be able to pass a background check.

Call or email Lynda, 802-355-3904, bullynda@aol.com

United States Magistrate Judge

Well established and reputable residential HVAC contractor is looking for qualified individuals to join our installation team. Our installations include heat pump systems, boilers, furnaces, central air conditioning, and water heaters. We offer a four day work week with local travel, competitive pay, paid vacation, paid holidays, medical and dental insurance, retirement plan and a tool & training account.

Send resumes to: BARBARA@VTENERGY.COM

5/25/20 5:50 PM

The Judicial Conference of the United States has authorized the appointment of a full-time United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Vermont upon the retirement of the incumbent in February of 2021. The duty station for the magistrate judge position is located in Burlington. The Public Notice of Vacancy for the Appointment of a United States Magistrate Judge and the application form are available on the court’s website at:

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Guess What?!

WE ARE HIRING!

Inclusive Arts Vermont is looking for a Communications Manager and Development Manager to join our leadership team.

Visit our website to learn more.

Applications due June 10.

To learn more and apply:

inclusiveartsvermont.org

An EOE

5/29/20 2v-InclusiveArtsVT060320.indd 2:21 PM 1

CURRENT JOB OPENINGS: • Assemblers, Material Handler/ Forklift Operator (1st, 2nd and 3rd shifts available) • Heavy Equipment Maintenance Tech • Cleaners (2nd and 3rd shifts) • Maintenance Technician

Apply Online at: msivt.com/careers or Email Resume and Cover Letter to: HR@MSIvt.com.

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Immediate opening

This is a full-time position, for the right person, with great hours and benefits.

5 years of experience is highly suggested.

Must be X-ray certified.

Apply today with a resume directly to Contemporary Dental Arts, P.C., 75 Talcott Road Suite 60, Williston, VT 05495

6/1/202v-ContemporaryDentalArts060320.indd 8:36 PM 1

BASIC FUNCTION:

The Director of IT Infrastructure and User Support of manages day-to-day IT infrastructure operations, monitors performance of networks (LAN, SAN, wireless, etc), and works with the Chief Information Technology Officer on portions of the Strategic IT Plan and Security Policy relating to network improvements. The Director of IT Infrastructure and User Support also schedules and manages end-user support personnel.

For further information please visit: goddard.edu/about-goddard/employmentopportunities.

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.

5/26/20 5v-GoddardCollege052720.indd 12:05 PM 1

6/14/19 3:01 PM

Four day position, with an optional 5th day in the future.

This person will play a very key role in the health of our amazing patients. Must be fun and have a super positive outlook. Focus is on total quality care. Must be a highly-skilled clinician and comfortable managing perio patients.

Must have a local anesthetic certification, and be willing to work under new CDC/Vermont guidelines. This is an extremely safe practice for your profession.

Please apply now. envisionyourperfectteam @gmail.com

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Full Time; Benefits Eligible; $65K Annually

GREAT BENEFITS! COMPETITIVE WAGES! $100 SIGN-ON BONUS!

Located in Beautiful Morrisville, VT Manufacturing Solutions Inc. 153 Stafford Avenue, Morrisville, VT 05661

ASSISTANT

DIRECTOR OF IT INFRASTRUCTURE AND USER SUPPORT

Want your Weekends Free?

MSI has YOUR Solution!

MSI is HIRING!

Dental Hygienist

DENTAL

For additional information and to schedule an interview, call 802-878-9888.

www.vtd.uscourts.gov/position-announcements

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61 JUNE 3-10, 2020

HVAC INSTALLERS

PCA/COMPANION

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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY!

6/1/20 8:30 PM

WE ARE HIRING FACILITIES TECHNICIANS! Technicians work on the continuous operation and maintenance of the following systems: high-temperature hot water, chilled water and glycol chilled water, centralcompressed air, high-pressure compressed air, ultra-pure water, ultrapure gas, and other systems that support manufacturing operations.

Candidates must have a High School diploma and at least one year of relevant experience. Associate’s degree in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering strongly preferred. Eligible for Benefits on Day 1! https://gfoundries. taleo.net/careersection/ gf_ext/jobdetail. ftl?job=20001022&tz= GMT-04%3A00&tzname= Questions? Email: Melinda.Antonucci@ globalfoundries.com

5/22/20 3v-GlobalFoundries060320.indd 11:19 AM 1

6/1/20 8:38 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

62

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

JUNE 3-10, 2020

Head Teacher/School Director Need a blend of knowledge and understanding of early education and state licensing requirements for Act 166 schooling. Applicants should hold a minimum of a Bachelors in ECE or a related field, and and a ECE Certificate.This is a salaried position, compensation based on experience.

Please send letter of interest and resume to accounting@woodstocknurseryschool.org

CONSTRUCTION ENGINEER This position provides construction engineering and management services for the Town. Responsibilities include the management of design, permitting, right-of-way acquisition, bidding, and construction of public improvement projects related to transportation, stormwater, wastewater, water, and buildings.

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Full-time position available for a Highway Equipment Operator/Maintenance Worker.

Responsibilities include snow plowing, road repairs, and maintaining road and related facilities.

Experience in highway maintenance is desirable and applicant must have good working knowledge of heavy equipment. Class B CDL is required.

Excellent benefits.

Position is open until filled and be found at www.town.willisiton.vt.us EOE.

Position is open until filled. Salary range is $62,693-$67,154, depending on qualifications, plus a competitive benefit package.

E.O.E.

FULL CHARGE BOOKKEEPER

5/29/20 4t-TownofWilliston060320.indd 10:17 AM 1

WellBeing RN Nurse Manager

Are You Ready For The Next Step In Your Nursing Career?

As an RN Nurse Manager, working closely with our nursing director, medical director, and other nursing department staff, you are an integral part of a Team dedicated to excellence in nursing care and desired clinical outcomes. A background in long term care preferred and ability to work cooperatively with others is a must!

The Manor is a non-profit corporation and is the recipient of State and National recognition for its achievement in quality care. We offer competitive wages and benefits, including a 403(b) retirement with an employer match.

We are located in one of Vermont’s most beautiful settings and just a short drive to the slopes: (Stowe, Jay Peak, Smugglers Notch), minutes from hiking, biking, kayaking, and other outdoor recreation.

577 Washington Hwy Morrisville, VT 05661 Tel: 802-888-8706 contact:.HR@themanorvt.org www.themanorvt.org/careers

6/2/20 11:06 AM

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

Apply by Friday, June 26, 2020 online at: colchestervt.gov/321/10162/Human-Resources; submit resume and application to Human Resources, 781 Blakely Road Colchester, VT 05446; or email to slabarge@colchestervt.gov.

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TECHNICIAN

TOWN OF WILLISTON

The ideal candidate will have a thorough knowledge of the theory and practices of construction and project management, permitting and right-of-way acquisition, and public communications with property owners. An Associate’s Degree with major course work in civil engineering with five years of progressively responsible construction and project management experience is preferred. Other qualifications may be considered.

Looking for a full charge bookkeeper with extensive bookkeeping experience and a master at QuickBooks! We are looking for an energetic team player to handle the full cycle of accounting duties and other basic tasks as needed. This person will be in charge of vendor and expense invoices, check runs for multiple companies, billing customers and preparing bank deposits, ensuring that the correct general ledger accounts are debited or credited accordingly. We need this full charge bookkeeper to handle all bookkeeping needs for several entities so you MUST be able to multi-task and have strong attention to detail skills.

If you are looking for a fun place to work and become part of an amazing team, please send us your resume!

nfitzcharles@neddere.com

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HVAC SERVICE Established and reputable residential HVAC contractor looking for a well-rounded service technician with excellent technical and customer service skills.

Responsibilities include troubleshooting, repairing, and maintaining a variety of gas and oil furnaces and boilers, AC systems and heat pumps.

Four day work week.

Competitive wages, health insurance, dental, IRA, tool and training account, vacation and holiday pay.

Send resumes to:

BARBARA@VTENERGY.COM

1R Y 11:13 AM 6/2/203v-VTEnergyContracting&Supply060320.indd 2:45 PM T O W N O F D U X B U6/2/20

HIRING EXPERIENCED CARPENTER Red House Building is looking to expand their team of craftspeople with a skilled carpenter.

Applicants must have: » At least 5 years of full-time homebuilding/renovation experience » Maintain a valid driver’s license.

Our ideal candidate would possess the following qualities: » Good communication and sense of teamwork » Professionalism » Attention to detail » Strong organizational skills.

Hourly wage will depend upon the applicant’s skill level/experience.

Generous benefits package.

Please visit our website to learn more about our team at redhousebuilding.com and send resumes to jeremy@redhousebuilding.com

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TRUCK DRIVER/ LABORER Seasonal Opening

The Town of Duxbury is looking for a Truck Driver/Laborer for its 2020 construction season.

Candidates must have Class B CDL with manual endorsement.

Must be able to operate manual tandem truck, loader, and hand tools. Must be a team player.

Main duties are, but not limited to, hauling all materials for town projects, helping with any manual labor task.

Job runs from June 2020 to October 2, 2020.

Position hours are 30 to 40 hours per week.

Applications can be picked up and returned to: Duxbury Town Office 5421 Vermont Route 100 Duxbury, Vermont 05676 Questions call Ben Andrews, Interim Road Foreman at 244-6135.

Position is open until filled.

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6/1/20 10:13 AM

PHOTO: OLIVER PARINI

At a time like this, it is certainly very important for Wake Robin to be fully staffed. We’re really proud of how everything has gone through the pandemic — our staff and residents all responded really well and really quickly. So far, we’re COVID-free. We realize this can change at any time and are working very hard to stay that way. We feel privileged to be in the company of other essential workers.

Across the hospitality industry, many folks have lost their jobs.

But we are open, and it’s business as usual for us. Residents still need support, and people still need to work. So we have been hiring for housekeepers and for waitstaff recently.

We’ve always recruited with Seven Days, and we get quality candidates. We’ve felt like the mission and the values of our Wake Robin community really align with its readers. When we get candidates from Seven Days, they’re a great match for us.

People heard that we had such a good response to COVID-19 and sought us out for a place of employment. We’re really happy with our response and the quality of our applicants. Advertising with Seven Days, the system works. It’s simple and easy. We definitely wouldn’t change anything up at such an important time to be recruiting.

MORGAN EVARTS Recruiter/Workforce Builder Wake Robin, Shelburne

…it works.

CALL MICHELLE: 865-1020, EXT.21 OR VISIT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM 1T-JobsTesti-WakeRobin060320.indd 1

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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6/1/20 1:34 PM

fun stuff

FRAN KRAUSE

Have a deep, dark fear of your own? Submit it to cartoonist Fran Krause at deep-dark-fears.tumblr.com, and you may see your neurosis illustrated in these pages.

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

P I N E D I D O L

D A N A

E B O N

H U G E

H A T E D E L S E R O O D

B S A T S E B E A R D O W S I B P R I A T F I E E D R L A T O E N Y

A L A R M H E N N A T A U

E A L S O M P S S I T C R O E I R A A C P G C H I L E N E R R B A R I N O L K T U I E S A N T

T A T E R K E Y E I N E E N D S

RYAN RIDDLE

E V O K E

CALCOKU & SUDOKU (P.55) CROSSWORDS (P.52, 55)

BONUS CROSSWORD ANSWER FROM P.52

Sponsored by:

M A C E O M A N H E R D A N T E W D E D K O N O C K E N U R S E R A T S

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6/1/20 8:15 PM

EV E N T S O N SA L E N OW BUY ONLINE AT SEVENDAYSTICKETS.COM

Pride Center Live! Talent Show Edition THU., JUN. 4 VIRTUAL EVENT

Finding Your Footing: Shift and Reshape Your Work in the COVID-19 Era THU., JUN. 11 VIRTUAL EVENT

Ethiopian / Eritrean Takeout SAT., JUN. 20 VIRTUAL EVENT

LGBTQ+ Best Practices Training Webinar THU., JUL. 9 VIRTUAL EVENT

The 4th Annual GMSS *NOT* Outdoor Bazaar FRI., AUG. 21—WED., AUG. 26 VIRTUAL EVENT

MORE EVENTS ONLINE AT SEVENDAYSTICKETS.COM

J

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2/25/20 4:00 PM

SELLING TICKETS? • Classes • Webinars • Virtual Events

WE CAN HELP! • No cost to you SELL TIX WITH US! • Local support • Built-in promotion Contact: 865-1020, ext. 10 getstarted@sevendaystickets.com • Custom options

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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6/2/20 4:58 PM

fun stuff JEN SORENSEN

RACHEL LINDSAY

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

HARRY BLISS & STEVE MARTIN

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY REAL JUNE 4-10

thyme, and clover on the wind of dawn.” Regard this as a signal for you to acquire a necessary resource, strengthen connections with key allies and intensify your current quest.

GEMINI (MAY 21-JUNE 20):

“It’s OK to live a life others don’t understand,” writes author Jenna Woginrich. That’s a healthy attitude for an eccentric person like her who taught herself by trial and error how to run a small farm with a meager budget while all alone in the middle of nowhere. But does her advice apply to everyone? I say yes, it does. All of us have quirky behaviors and idiosyncratic ideas and odd feelings that other people find hard to understand, let alone appreciate. I bring this to your attention, Gemini, because the coming weeks will be a time when it’s best for you to emancipate yourself as much as possible from the need to be perfectly understood as you express your raw, pure, unique self.

ARIES

(March 21-April 19): Aries poet Paul Verlaine wrote “Autumn Song” in 1866. It became a well-known French poem and eventually played a role in a historical turning point.

In June 1944, a top-secret British spy organization used the poem as a code to communicate crucial information to the French Resistance, via BBC radio, about the allies’ upcoming DDay invasion of Normandy. In the spirit of poetry being used to accomplish practical actions, I’m now sending out a burst of code to you, Aries. It’s adapted from another poem

by Verlaine: “Delight in good-omened fortune, baptized by the bristling scents of mint,

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus philosopher Bertrand Russell observed, “The best life is the one in which the creative impulses play the largest part and the possessive impulses the smallest.” That is always an important principle for everyone to embrace, in my opinion. But it will be an especially essential truth for you in the coming weeks. Your creative powers will thrive, even soar and generate blessings, to the degree that you downplay and outwit your possessive inclinations.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): I’m one of the lucky people who has never been addicted to alcohol or drugs. What’s the source of my great fortune? Two kinds of grace are key: I suffered no abuse and trauma when I was growing up, and my genetic makeup doesn’t predispose me to self-medicate with intoxicants. But I am indeed a bit addicted to other things, like fearful fantasies, sexual feelings and the urge to win arguments. So I’m blessed in some ways, cursed in others — just like all of us! In honor of our season of introspection, my fellow Cancerian, I invite you to do what I just did: Count your blessings and curses. Doing so will bring you just the right kind of healing.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Jacquemus Mini Le Chiquito is the name of a tiny purse you can buy for $522. It fits into the palm of your hand and won’t hold much — maybe a single-use strand of dental floss, a shoe from a Barbie doll, a snippet of a loved one’s hair, an aspirin, maybe a few crumbs from a potato chip. In any case, I don’t recommend it for you. You should be surrounding yourself with symbols of capaciousness and roominess. You need influences that inspire you to be a spacious container. It’s time for you to welcome and receive an abundance of blessings, inquiries and invitations.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Worry is a way to pretend that you have knowledge or control over what you don’t,” writes author Rebecca Solnit. “And it surprises me, even in myself, how

much we prefer ugly scenarios to the pure unknown.” Your assignment in the coming weeks is to thoroughly incorporate Solnit’s wisdom — and then wield it with tender ferocity as you reshape your relationship with the future. See if you can manage, if only for 10 days, to fight off and dissolve the reflex to worry. Here’s a tip: Any time the agitated fantasy of an ugly scenario rises up in your imagination, remind yourself that it’s not objectively true and immediately replace it with a fantasy of a desirable scenario.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Nobel Prize-winning

Libran author William Faulkner was asked by a cousin if he was drunk when he dreamed up the imaginative stories and characters in his novels. The truth was that on occasion Faulkner did indeed consume alcohol in excessive amounts. However, he rarely indulged while actually writing. His creative ideas mostly came from his fertile imagination, not an unhinged spirit. In the coming weeks, I hope you will be like Faulkner during the inventive phases he enjoyed while sober and disciplined and driven by focused intention. The astrological omens suggest that’s the best recipe for generating original ideas and productive visions.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “What use is this howling tenderness?” wrote eighth-century Tamil mystic poet Andal. My research on Google reveals that no one has answered her question until now. I decided you would benefit from hearing my response, since you are in a chapter of your life story when howling tenderness could work to your benefit. So here’s my counsel: Howling tenderness is useful because it has the power to shatter mysterious barriers that have been at least partially obstructing you from exploring the frontiers of sacred intimacy.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Buddhist

teacher Jack Kornfield articulates the spiritual medicine I think you should seek in the coming weeks. You especially need it, and by happy coincidence it’s likely to be available. Kornfield writes: “When we have for so long been judged by everyone we meet, just to look into the eyes of another who does not judge us can be extraordinarily healing.” I urge you to identify the people who can perform this service for you, and then

ask them point-blank to perform this service, even if it has to happen over FaceTime or via Zoom. To generate the good karma that will ensure this happens in just the right way, offer to perform the same service for others.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “The changes we dread most may contain our salvation,” writes author Barbara Kingsolver. Although I mostly agree with her conclusion, I’ll also suggest that we could come up with less melodramatic versions of it. For example, we might say, “The adjustments we’re resisting may actually be healthy.” Or “The uncomfortable transitions we’re avoiding might ultimately lead to a better version of comfort.” Or “The revelations we’re attempting to ignore and deny could eventually be the source of relief and release.” Do any of these work for you right now, Capricorn? I bet at least one does.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Some people

seem to think of sacredness as pristine and pious — an immaculate and orderly transcendence of earthly concerns. Author and minister Marilyn Sewell has a different perspective.

“Who can order the Holy?” she asks. “It is like a rain forest, dripping, lush, fecund, wild. We enter its abundance at our peril, for here we are called to the wholeness for which we long, but which requires all we are and can hope to be.” I recommend Sewell’s version of holiness to you in the coming weeks, Aquarius. You’re primed to upgrade and deepen your sacred lust for life.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): When Europeans arrived in the New World, the Iroquois Confederacy in what’s now northeastern North American had been practicing participatory democracy for 350 years. The visionary principles of these native people ultimately influenced the formation of the United States and its Constitution. Now would be a good time for you to be inspired by these facts. How? You could draw teachings from the past and use them to create your future. You could study the perspectives of indigenous people and incorporate their wisdom into the way you live your life. You could tune in to and explore the traditions of people you respect and adopt them for your own use.

CHECK OUT ROB BREZSNY’S EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES & DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES: REALASTROLOGY.COM OR 1-877-873-4888

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5/28/20 10:11 AM

Respond to these people online: dating.sevendaysvt.com WOMEN seeking...

COMMUNICATION IS KEY I am looking for good conversations — interesting, deep, edgy. I want to learn from you. Please, make me think. Whether your tradition is Jesus or Gurdjieff, what you get out of a thing is only what you are willing to put into it. This is the beginning.

Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess. Eriol37, 65, seeking: M, l HAPPY IN THE COUNTRY Upbeat, fit, energetic, educated, liberal-leaning woman looking for male friend or maybe partner. Prefer rural lifestyle, farming, livestock, outdoors, exploring, living in a small town.

Like live music, cooking, microbrews, maybe dogs and a cat, also chickens.

I can do hard labor, gardening, light carpentry. Willing to learn more.

Goshengal, 64, seeking: M, l THINKING ABOUT IT...

Probably everyone thinks they’re smart, funny, and reasonably good-looking, so no news there. So, what I hope to find: a reader, thinker — someone who likes movies, theater, museums, travel, music, conversation, and the Oxford comma. Three years into widowhood, I realize I could really use someone to share experiences with. The range of those experiences would have to be explored. ZanninVT, 63, seeking: M, l

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

FAERY QUEEN Tender heart, sensual lover of earth and water, leader in life looking for strong, grounded, passionate love.

FaeryQueen, 50, seeking: M, l REALLY? ME? THANKS! I love to make people laugh, and squirm, and wonder! I carry a six-foot stick to make people wonder ... and squirm. I’m overly fond of punctuation. Widowhood and viruses stink. 2020 was meant to be a year of new beginnings. Wanna suck some coffee through a cotton mask and give it a try? Boodles, 69, seeking: M CREATIVE, FUNNY, GREAT FRIEND Just looking to meet new friends. I am honest and creative and funny.

Enjoy cooking, dancing, hiking, music and museums. Looking for friendship and a fun someone to explore this life with. Artiste, 67, seeking: M COUNTRY GIRL ON THE WATER I’m passionate about being outside.

Walking, hiking, snowshoeing, paddling, horseback riding. I love food, going out or staying in. Wood fires on a snowy night. Family time. Conversation about anything interesting. I’m enjoying renovating my house. I love Vermont but enjoy traveling.

Woodburygirl, 56, seeking: M, l LUCKY IN LOVE AND NICARAGUA I loved being married. Sadly, he died young. I own gorgeous land in Nicaragua and want a partner to develop it with me as an artist/surfer retreat (as soon as we get rid of the small problem of a dictator killing his own people). A perfect life is Vermont in summer and Nica in winter,but only with a terrific man.You? W, 72, seeking: M, l MOUNTAINS, SUNSHINE, COFFEE, CONNECTION I am a fit, caring, down-to-earth person looking to share adventures. I hope to have honest and interesting conversations and maybe learn something in the process. I am also innately curious and will want to learn all about you. I have no interest in small talk — I’m looking for authenticity. I’m happy to chat and would like to meet in person. lovemountains, 55, seeking: M, l ARE YOU SEARCHING, TOO? Seeking kind, adventurous 60ish man who likes camping, fishing, walks, sunsets and Maine. I would like a partner who can surprise me with “Let’s go...” and off we go. I’m a true Vermont gal who needs adventure. Let’s have fun. BoredCat, 57, seeking: M, l CENTERED, SENSUAL, TALL AND FIT If I could spend a day with any two men, they would be Freddie Mercury and Leonard Cohen. Sunday morning in bed — really hot black coffee, the paper and music. If you are a Trump voter, smoker or narcissist, we won’t hit it off.

If you love books, movies and my two favorite men listed above, we probably will. Zenda889, 66, seeking: M, l

ENJOY LIFE TO THE FULLEST I enjoy gardening, animals and reading, and I split my own wood (electric splitter). I love cooking and contra dancing, and I have a new hobby: shape note singing. countrygirl1, 77, seeking: M, l OUTDOORSY, HONEST, HEALTHY MUSIC LOVER Hi there! I’m an optimistic, funny, smart, nature- and animal-loving kind of gal. Spending time together with someone who makes you smile, and has your back, is a gift. I’m a world traveler who has recently returned to Vermont. I am looking for a friend first to enjoy life and Vermont. If it turns into something more, bonus!

Bella2020, 62, seeking: M, l SEEKING OUTDOOR PLAYMATE, FUTURE BFF Fun, flexible and friendly. happyfeet, 62, seeking: M INSIGHTFUL, CREATIVE, ADVENTUROUS Outdoorsy, attractive brunette. Poet, explorer of spirituality and personal growth, lover of nature. I love hiking, paddling, exploring new mountains, towns and ideas with others ... feeling what we’re drawn to along the way, sharing thoughts and impressions.

Fairly flexible and easygoing. Healthy minded; not big into alcohol, not into drugs. Waterpoet, 57, seeking: M, l PREFER BEING OUTDOORS AND ACTIVE Genuine, honest and an active listener. I like to cook and eat real food that is locally produced/raised.

Gardening (veggies, not so much flowers), hiking, biking, running, snowshoeing, eradicating invasive plants — most anything outdoors will do. VTu4ia, 44, seeking: M, l INTERESTED Such a strange, strange trip it is.

How do we attempt to meet & greet new people in our lives, yet social distance all at the same time?

WayToGo, 67, seeking: M, l

MEN seeking...

IT’S BEEN YEARS...

And I still don’t find a connection! nickdoobs20, 30, seeking: W, TW, l LOOKING FOR UNDERSTANDING Recently affected by sudden tragedy. Looking for compassion and total release. Not interested in more talk. I need a compassionate vessel. Mor, 45, seeking: W LET’S HAVE FUN Let’s think about this: We meet up, have a good time, get married and have two children. Five years down the road, we begin to fight, get a divorce and kids are unhappy. Or we meet up, have a good time and hook up. I wear a condom, and one of us does the walk of shame ... Just think about the kids.

Hiprocket69, 49, seeking: W, Gp, l

ACTIVE, AWARE, SMART, SUCCESSFUL, THOUGHTFUL Native Vermonter who lived and worked in NYC for many years, now back in the Green Mountains. Well traveled, curious. Enjoy good food and interesting conversation.

Often listen to music (mainly adult alternative). I have a good sense of humor (Young Frankenstein and Airplane and so on). Avid skier. Enjoy hiking, biking.

Active every day. Also handy; working on my house. DPfromVT, 61, seeking: W, l PURE ADVENTURE Young for my age in so many ways. Let’s enjoy each other’s company and “live this beautiful life.” Sailon, 56, seeking: W, l MELLOW GUY Healthy, safe, sane, drug-free nonsmoker looking for discreet relationship. Rings, 59, seeking: W NUDIST LOOKING FOR NUDIST FRIENDS I’ve been a social nudist for a few years now. I enjoy being naked outdoors in the warm months here in Vermont. I belong to a great club/resort, and I’m looking for other like-minded friends to join me for sunning and funning of the naked “bunnings.” Let’s have a nudist adventure! Jkaye802, 57, seeking: W, l OPEN-MINDED, WITTY AND CHARMING Bisexual male looking for a couple to play with. Would be more interested in a longish-term relationship. Want to get with fun, open people and explore everything in a comfortable and fun environment. I enjoy the look, feel, smell and responsiveness of the human body. If you are looking for a switch-hitter to complete the set, ping me. nnuunn, 45, seeking: Cp, l THE LONG VIEW There are people, passages in books and landscapes that speak to my heart.

I can find two out of three by myself.

I love to cook and eat and garden and read and travel. I am warm and reserved, complicated, honest ... and might just stop it here, lest I overthink.

I’m not sure quite how to do all this...

LongView, 61, seeking: W, l WANT TO MEET FUN FRIENDS I’m in a committed (sexless) relationship.

I’m not looking to change that, just want to explore new friends. I’ve had a couple threesomes before (fun) but would like to try with a bi couple. So drop a line.

Thanks. Tryme143, 57, seeking: Cp GENTLE, HUMOROUS, SENSUAL, MUSICAL Seeking a partner who delights in laughter, helping others and living with a curious mind. I am not into drama, drinking or smoking. You know, a nice person, wishing to share myself with another soul. Me, I enjoy going for walks and I consider myself a nature lover; love being outdoors, making fires, sharing life stories, making more together. otterlove63, 63, seeking: W, l EXPLORE THE WORLD OK, need something here, but I’m much better communicating directly. Summer is almost here, and it’s time to get out from under this gloomy spring and dodgy virus. polarplunge, 47, seeking: W JUST TESTING THE WATERS Ask, and I shall tell. Kidd43, 43, seeking: W, Cp, l TRANSPLANTATIOUS I just returned to Vermont after 40 years in Texas (Houston and Austin). I went to college here and was an alpine ski racer.

So, now I’m combining skiing in winter and boating/sailing in the summer. The beauty of Vermont is revealing itself to me in not-so-subtle ways, but there’s something missing. That’s where you come in! Summerbreeze, 63, seeking: W, l

LIVING ALONE IN A PANDEMIC Kind, thoughtful, honest and empathetic but comfortable in my own skin. Eccentric and deep thinking. Love travel and music, from the Flamingos to G Flip. Hopeless romantic but with mileage. Definitely a long shot but a very good person.

Steady and no drama. Fill my days with biking, long walks, daily visits to the gym, beaches and following/researching my interests. wdw72557, 62, seeking: W HEY Looking for open-minded folks who are not too serious about anything except having a nice time with an educated and nice-looking person.

Men or couples where male is bi.

BBplayer, 67, seeking: M, Cp QUIET WHEN NEEDED, PASSIONATE, VERY HONEST Fun-loving, no-drama type of guy.

Animal lover. Looking for same type of woman. LuckyGuy9, 69, seeking: W, l

GENDERQUEER PEOPLE seeking...

FEISTY FAUN SEEKS FUN I am a fun-loving critter looking for men to play with. I am a transsexual femaleto-male person and love my gendermuddled body. I am looking for some regular playmates, more than a onetime thing. I am passionate, very sexual and know what I like. You should be a hungry giver. Tiger77, 42, seeking: M, l

TRANS WOMEN seeking...

IS THERE ANY HOPE? I’ve been a closeted trans ever since childhood, but just six months into transition now, at 64. So many regrets. Life has not been kind.

Wondering if there’s anyone out there who can love me for who I am, and let me love them for who they are.

I’m legally female now, and never going back. Are you interested?

LaydeeBird, 64, seeking: M, l SUBMISSIVE SEEKING...

Looking to expand my experiences.

I am open to many different scenes and roles. tina1966, 54, seeking: W, TW, Q, NC, NBP, Cp, Gp GENEROUS, OPEN, EASYGOING Warm, giving trans female with an abundance of yum to share (and already sharing it with lovers) seeks ecstatic connection for playtimes, connections, copulations, exploration and generally wonderful occasional times together. Clear communication, a willingness to venture into the whole self of you is wanted. Possibilities are wide-ranging: three, four, explorations, dreaming up an adventure are on the list! DoubleUp, 63, seeking: Cp, l

COUPLES seeking...

ONE NIGHT We are a really fun couple looking for a man to join us for a threesome.

No sex, just oral, but will make it worth your while. Photos available if you’re interested, and will ask the same from you. WEX, 45, seeking: M SWINGER COUPLE Couple in early 50s looking to have fun with a male partner. Husband likes to watch but also join in. Wife is a knockout little hottie who likes to cut loose. Looking for a male between 40 and 50 for some serious adult fun. Only well-hung men need apply — at least nine inches, please. Spaguy, 52, seeking: M, Gp

i SPY

If you’ve been spied, go online to contact your admirer!

dating.sevendaysvt.com

YOU LOVE TO GARDEN… I like cooking it. Waiting in line to get into Middlebury Aubuchon. You showed me pictures of your garden and gave me your address. I forgot it. You are very interesting. Would like to talk again. When: Friday, May 29, 2020. Where: Middlebury.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915058 AUTOMASTER SERVICE BENCH, NOON, THURSDAY You: black Nike hat, white T-shirt, black shorts, tall, killer smile. Liked my silver sports car parked next to your bench while you waited for a ride. Amanda? We chatted about mask protocols, cars, your Civic. You asked where I lived (across the pond) and what my name was. Escape the virus on an ADK convertible tour?

Dogs in the park? When: Thursday, May 28, 2020. Where: Automaster service/parts outside waiting area.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915057 CITY MARKET CRUSH I’m far too shy to ask you out, it seems, so my best bet might just be writing to you instead. I know you’ve seen me in person in line at CM, at Battery Park during sunset and occasionally on the city streets. You’re just too cute for me to ignore. Look for me next wearing a sequined floral hat. When: Tuesday, May 26, 2020. Where: City Market/Battery Park. You: Woman.

Me: Non-binary person. #915056 CUTE GUY, CM PARKING LOT To the guy who locked eyes with me in the parking lot and then said “Cute dog”: I froze in the moment and said thank you, but I wanted to say that you were cute. Grab a coffee from a distance sometime? I had the brown Tacoma; you had a white Silverado. When: Sunday, May 24, 2020. Where: South End City Market. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915055

BERLIN POND DOG CROSSING 7ish. You: blue canoe, fishing pole, Rottweiler, rib tat. I was on my knees on my paddleboard so my dog wouldn’t tip me in the water. You commented that it looked like I had a good companion. I fumbled. Can’t remember the last time someone captivated me like you did. I stood for the rest of the paddle — eff it. When: Thursday, May 21, 2020. Where: Berlin Pond.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915054 JOJO, MONTPELIER RITE-AID It’s been quite a while. A little bird told me you might be looking. I’ve thought of you often. Haven’t met anyone who compares to you. I loved you at first sight and have never stopped loving you. Why don’t we meet up and chat, maybe around the Montpelier Rite-Aid? Drop me a line, please. When: Friday, August 21, 2015. Where: Rite-Aid. You: Man. Me: Man. #915053 RE: AMOR If I told you that a flower bloomed in a dark room, would you trust it? I mean, you need to hear this: Love is not just a verb, it’s you looking in the mirror; love is not just a verb, it’s you looking for it, maybe. Call me crazy. When: Friday, March 20, 2020. Where: across the stars. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915052 PRICE CHOPPER/WALGREENS, HINESBURG RD. You: pretty brunette braids and an even more beautiful soul. Me: sitting in my Jeep in the parking lot. You made my day, week — oh hell! — my 2020 just by your simple act of kindness the other day. Thank you for taking the brief moment you took to tell me I was beautiful! I’m still smiling over it. You rock! When: Thursday, May 14, 2020. Where: Price Chopper parking lot in front of Walgreens.

You: Woman. Me: Woman. #915051

Ask REVEREND 

Irreverent counsel on life’s conundrums

Dear Reverend,

I’m a woman, and I enjoy being identified as such — but I have a lot of hair that grows on my face. I don’t remove it because I’m cool with it.

The other day a young cashier called me “ma’am” but then corrected herself and said, “Sorry, what’s your pronoun?” She was obviously thrown off by my facial hair and seemed to think I was transitioning. I felt embarrassed, and the whole thing ruined my trip to the grocery store.

Hairy-ette

(WOMAN, 31)

RICHMOND MARKET THIRD TRIP IN We were at Richmond Market and crossed paths a few times. I had to go back twice — the third time for beer for my little sister. You parked two away from me and mentioned it when I came out.

I grabbed some cans from Stone Corral instead. Let’s go for a hike or a mountain bike ride. When: Wednesday, May 13, 2020. Where: Richmond Market.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915050 MATTY Matty, I met you last summer while I was walking with my son on Rose Street. Are you still interested? I am single now and would love to see your big smile again. When: Saturday, June 1, 2019. Where: Rose Street.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915049 HOLD HANDS...

You left ... My heart is broken. Best, what happened?! I’m so sorry. No closure. It hurts. I thought that This Must Be the Place. Now I don’t get you, or a job, or a place to live, or a chance. I hope that you love yourself. I’ll never forget you — the Waffles to my Applesauce. Please come back. —Fresh. When: Monday, March 19, 2018. Where: Higher Ground.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915046 EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES You were by the river skipping stones and cursing Disney damsels. I counted one, two, three ... eight cats! I must know more. Fortune favors the bold? When: Sunday, May 3, 2020. Where: Winooski.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915045 W4W LOVE YOUR SHAVED HEAD You were far away from me, but it felt like you were close. I last saw you in a peach fur trench coat. I was the Chubby Muffin in a black jumpsuit. You always hold my attention, but I want you to hold more. Even if you don’t write me back, I hope you hang this ad on your fridge.

When: Friday, April 24, 2020. Where: on Hood Street in Winooski. You: Gender non-conformist. Me: Woman. #915044 FORD MAN, CUMBIES IN RICHMOND Your truck was dead and blocking me in. You had long beautiful hair and the kindest eyes. The two dogs in the front seat were adorable, and you being able to fix your truck in two seconds flat was almost better. You melted my heart. I hope I run into you again soon. When: Sunday, May 3, 2020. Where: Richmond, Vt. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915043

Dear Hairy-ette,

I’ll never understand our society’s consternation over women’s body hair. We’re expected to shave, wax, pluck and laser practically every naturally occurring follicle. It all came about due to a long history of classism, misogyny and advertising agencies, but luckily the tide seems to be turning toward more acceptance of the au naturel look — at least

RUNNER WITH DOG To the runner I met today: I am an animal painter. You asked me if I was going to skateboard down Camel’s Hump. I would like to meet you again sometime. When: Saturday, May 2, 2020. Where: Battery Park. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915042

RE: AMOR Sad to know there’s others out there with crushed hearts. Probably a stretch on my part to hope the one who once briefly owned my heart but then went silent could still have feelings. (I still think about her every day.) She’s a raven-haired beauty with a wolf spirit. When: Sunday, April 19, 2020. Where: in the night sky.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915036

BIKE PATH ROLLERBLADERS This is a letter of appreciation for all the bike path rollerbladers. Thank you for keeping it funky and adding zest to the lakefront experience. I’m particularly talking about the mustard-yellow sweater wearer who glanced back and then nonchalantly spit as I passed you under the old train tracks with my silly bike horn around 5:30 on Saturday, headed south. When: Saturday, May 2, 2020. Where: bike path, Burlington.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915041

RE: CO-OP CUTIE I’d love to meet up sometime! You looked so sexy in your green overalls and Darn Tough socks with sandals. I see you are a Bernie Sanders supporter with your Feel the Bern shirt. I’d love to feel the burn. Maybe we can stare into each other’s eyes from six feet away... No Rona. When: Monday, April 13, 2020. Where: Hunger Mountain Co-op. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915030

‘OH, YOU GOTTA LOVE IT’ Some nights I wish I could go back in life. Not to change it, just to feel a couple things twice. 28 at midnight; wonder what’s next for me? Longevity. Wonder how long to check for me? Probably forever if I stay in my zone. We speak on this generation but can’t change it alone.

When: Friday, May 1, 2015. Where: in the city. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915040

GOODBYE TO ALL THAT Thank you for closing the door behind me and sealing the door where conditional love lives. Can’t own your own stuff; your memory, faulty. It’s not love to demand someone be other than who they are just to please you.

Call me by my name you never would.

Things you had been “holding on to for some time” are released. Goodbye.

When: Wednesday, April 8, 2020.

Where: overlooking the Intervale.

You: Man. Me: Man. #915027

RE: AMOR Your post could apply to so many with squeezed hearts. Can you give a hint that only this person would know? When: Friday, March 20, 2020. Where: central Vermont. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915035

SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK Grim-visaged war hath smooth’d his wrinkled front; / And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds / To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, / He capers nimbly in a lady’s chamber / To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. When: Thursday, September 24, 2015. Where: Calahan. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915025

RE: AMOR A hint, please. So many injured hearts out there. When: Tuesday, March 10, 2020. Where: central Vermont.

You: Man. Me: Woman. #915034 DO YOU KNOW I just love when I’m with you. Yeah, this thing is on 10. We used to be friends, girl, and even back then you would look at me with no hesitation, and you’d tell me, “Baby, it’s yours. Nobody else’s.”

That’s for sure. When: Monday, October 22, 2018. Where: 9 a.m. in Dallas.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915033 RE: AMOR You will never know how much I’ve missed you and how much I want to hold you in my arms. If you really miss me, you know how to find me to let me know. When: Friday, March 20, 2020. Where: in the night sky. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915032

as far as legs, armpits and pubes go. Facial hair still throws people off, but we’ll get there, thanks to people like you.

Another thing I don’t understand is the use of genderspecific greetings for people you don’t know. We should have dropped ma’ams and sirs a long time ago. It seems the cashier was trying to be politically correct, but there’s really no need to ask someone what their pronoun is when you’re ringing them up

BEAUTIFUL BIRD-WATCHER You were on the Burlington bike path with a black coat, binoculars, sweet smile and eyes like a tiger. I was the runner with the black pants and blue shirt. You pointed out the red-winged black bird and told me that was a sign of spring. Look me up, lover, and I’ll fly away with U. When: Saturday, March 28, 2020. Where: Burlington waterfront bike path.

You: Woman. Me: Man. #915024

at a grocery store. Just keep it neutral, and nobody will get their feelings hurt.

A hundred years ago, I was at a graduation party with my high school beau. He was talking to a female friend of his family for a few minutes, and he asked her: “When are you due?” I’ve never seen anyone look as mortified as that woman was at that moment.

She wasn’t pregnant. Right then and there, I learned a very important lesson: Never assume anything about anybody. More importantly, if you do, keep your mouth shut.

Good luck and God bless,

The Reverend

What’s your problem?

Send it to asktherev@sevendaysvt.com.

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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Internet-Free Dating!

I’m a 58-y/o SWM seeking female 50 to 60 years old for companionship and fun! I enjoy hiking, biking, skiing, art and photography, good food and drink. Ideal F would be intelligent, compassionate, able to communicate. #L1409 I’m a 61-y/o woman. Aquarian INFJ Reiki master looking to be part of or create a spiritual, artistic, self-sufficient community further south.

Seeks kind, open-minded, gentle kindred spirits, lightworkers, starseeds to explore life’s mysteries and help each other. Cat lovers very welcome! #L1406

Gay white male looking for hookups, maybe more; see where it goes. 5’10 and a half, dark brown hair, good looking, brown eyes, slender. I clean and do windows for a living and run a rescue for animals and give them a forever home, so you have to be an animal lover.

If you replied already, please contact me again. #L1412 I’m a 38-y/o male seeking a 30to 40-y/o female. I’m looking for love before I turn 40 years.

Could you be the one? I’m into poetry, music, trying new food and drink, deep conversation, and walks by the lake. I hope you’ll give me the chance to be your man. #1410

I’m a 34-y/o simple guy seeking a 30- to 45-y/o male. Good-looking with a good job. Looking for my partner in crime. Must love pets, going out, chilling at home. But have your life in order. Masculine guys preferred. #L1411 I’m a 31-y/o woman seeking a fun and energetic 31- to 38-y/o man.

I’m seeking a God-believing, Christian faith-based man. I don’t drink or smoke. I like to go dancing, listen to music, travel. #L1408 I’m a 59-y/o male seeking a male or female age 40 to 80 who is a nudist. Want company in the woods in northern Vermont. #L1407

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We’ll publish as many messages as we can in the Love Letters section above.

3

Interested readers will send you letters in the mail. No internet required!

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

I’m a GWM seeking GWM. Into everything except anal. Many interests including railroading and astrology. #L1405 Dirty old man seeks dirty old lady. Watching dirty movies.

Dirty in bed. Dirty minded.

Love kissing and oral. Alone and single. Age/race, no problem. #1404 59-y/o submissive GM. Looking for someone to enjoy times with. #L1403 I’m a 79-y/o retired teacher seeking a mature lady who can help operate a guesthouse together and enjoys gardening, nature walks and traveling. Nonsmoker. #L1402

Reply to these messages with real, honest-to-goodness letters. DETAILS BELOW. I’m a 58-y/o woman seeking a mature 30- to 45-y/o male who likes a no-nonsense, worldly life “off the grid” and outside the lower 48. Fast and furious or slow and easy.

Nothing in between. Only honest, fun-loving, industrious and adventurous men need apply. #L1401 Spring has sprung. Looking for guys to enjoy the change of season. I’m fun and intelligent, with varied interests. I like everything; mostly sub, but not always. No text/email. I want to talk with you. Central Vermont. Bears are a plus. #L1400 GWM in late 60s, very friendly, honest, caring and understanding. I’m retired, home alone, and it is very lonesome. It’s been a long winter. Looking for a friend who can help me out once in a while. I don’t look or act my age at all. I have been recouping from surgery. I can tell you more later if you write.

Should have a car. Live in central Vermont. #L1398

A lady in jeans / prefers meat to beans / in the fall of life / not anyone’s wife / locally organic / not into panic / cooks on fire / Computer’s on a wire / well trained in art / a generous heart / spiritually deep / easy to keep. I’m a W, 52, seeking M. #L1399 I am divorced of 34 years.

I am 5’11 and 230 pounds. I am a very positive person, happy, thoughtful. Like good conversation and caring, honest people. I like the outdoors. I work and would enjoy good company. #L1397 I’m a 47-y/o male seeking a woman 33 to 47. I am looking for a long-term relationship leading to marriage. I’m a gentleman, honest, loyal, looking for one woman to spend my life with. #L1395 I’m a 37-y/o man seeking a man. Pretty low-key guy.

Good-looking for my age.

Want to find the man who will complete me. Hope to hear from you! #L1394

Describe yourself and who you’re looking for in 40 words below:

Required confidential info:

(OR, ATTACH A SEPARATE PIECE OF PAPER.)

__________________________________________

I’m a _________________________________________________ __ ____

NAME

AGE + GENDER (OPTIONAL)

seeking a____________________________________________ ___________ AGE + GENDER (OPTIONAL)

_______________________________________________________

__________________________________________ ADDRESS

__________________________________________ ADDRESS (MORE)

_______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________

__________________________________________ CITY/STATE

__________________________________________ ZIP

__________________________________________ PHONE

_______________________________________________________ MAIL TO: SEVEN DAYS LOVE LETTERS • PO BOX 1164, BURLINGTON, VT 05402 OPTIONAL WEB FORM: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/LOVELETTERS HELP: 802-865-1020, EXT. 10, LOVELETTERS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

THIS FORM IS FOR LOVE LETTERS ONLY. Messages for the Personals and I-Spy sections must be submitted online at dating.sevendaysvt.com.

“One could write a book about why shopping local is so important.

When you shop at one of our bookstores, the money keeps recirculating in the local economy, because our staff patronizes farmers markets, restaurants and many other local retailers. National shopping websites don’t employ any local people, nor do they give back to our vital nonprofit organizations.”

MICHAEL DESANTO OWNER, PHOENIX BOOKS

Take a break from the big guys and support local first.

Vermont merchants have faced mandatory store closures and other challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even as some open back up, others operate online only.

All need your support.

Visit the Register for all the info on area shopkeepers who are selling their products online for local delivery or curbside pickup.

Browse by categories ranging from jewelry to electronics, outdoor gear to apparel.

Whether you need something for yourself or that perfect gift for a loved one, shop savvy and keep Vermont strong.

PICTURED: PHOENIX BOOKS, 191 BANK ST., BURLINGTON, PHOENIXBOOKS.BIZ (JAMES BUCK)

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SHOP T HE R EGIS T E R .C OM SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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