Seven Days, December 23, 2020 by Seven Days

CULT FOLLOWING Vermonter can’t shake NXIVM

VE RMO NT ’S IN DEPE NDEN T VO IC E DECEMBER 23-30, 2020 VOL.26 NO.13 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

PAGE 13

DETECTIVE COMICS

PAGE 38

Howard Norman writes graphic series

PEPPERY PAEANS

PAGE 42

Stephen Cramer’s hot sauce poetry

COZY CUISINE

PAGE 48

Classic comfort food recipes

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WEEK IN REVIEW DECEMBER 16-23, 2020

COURTESY OF THE VERMONT FOODBANK

COMPILED BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN, MATTHEW ROY & ANDREA SUOZZO

Andrea Solazzo packing produce for food shelf delivery

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Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger is quarantining after a possible exposure to COVID-19. Practicing what he preaches.

NEW NEIGHBOR

‘TRANSFORMATIONAL’ GIFT FOR FOODBANK The Vermont Foodbank has received what is by far the largest gift in its history — $9 million — as part of a $4.2 billion blast of charitable giving announced last week by MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The unsolicited gift surprised the organization and was kept quiet until Scott made it public last week in a blog. “It was a little bit of a shock,” Vermont Foodbank CEO John Sayles said. In a Medium post titled “384 Ways to Help” — a reference to the number of organizations that received gifts — Scott wrote that she and her advisers looked at nonprofits “with strong leadership teams and results, with special attention to those operating in communities facing high projected food insecurity, high measures of racial inequity, high local poverty rates, and low access to philanthropic capital.” Scott is one of the richest women in the world. She received 4 percent of the outstanding shares in Amazon when she and Bezos divorced last year, worth about $38.4 billion at the time. The value of Amazon’s stock has surged since, and some estimates put her fortune at $62 billion. In 2019, she signed the Giving Pledge, committing to give away most of her wealth during her lifetime.

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Sayles told Seven Days that he doesn’t know how Scott arrived at the figure of $9 million, the rough equivalent of the nonprofit’s entire 2019 operating budget. The gift, he said, “will give the organization the opportunity to do things that certainly we would dream about doing but really wouldn’t have realistic expectations of executing.” The Vermont Foodbank is the largest hunger-relief organization in the state, collecting food donations from producers and retailers and distributing the goods through 300 partners to food shelves, senior centers, schools and hospitals. The organization plans to work with its partners to best determine how to use the gift — not just to expand its programs, Sayles said, but to leverage the cash to have a long-term impact on social issues at the root of hunger. “If we thought about this gift as just replacing funds that we would otherwise raise, that would be a real loss for people in Vermont,” he said. “I think we should think about this in transformational ways.” Read Kevin McCallum’s full story on sevendaysvt.com.

A snowy owl is attracting onlookers after taking up residence at Rice Lumber in Shelburne. Nest improvement project on its to-do list?

That’s how many inches of snow blanketed parts of southern Vermont during last week’s massive storm.

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COVER IMAGE SARAH CRONIN • COVER DESIGN REV. DIANE SULLIVAN

NEWS & POLITICS 11

ARTS NEWS 28

From the Publisher

Page 32

Short takes on 10 Vermont books

Weeded Out?

Racial justice advocates favor minority ownership of pot businesses

FEATURES 27 Turning the Page

‘Maybe I’m Brainwashed’

How the NXIVM cult followed Damon Brink to Vermont

The Winter Reading Issue

Policing the Police

Essay: An application to join Vermont

Breaking In

Finding the Words

Voters in Burlington will consider a major overhaul to departmental oversight

College student Devyn Thompson’s first book of poems

Into the Mystic

Book review: In My Unknowing, Chard deNiord

Detective Duet

Vermont writer and artist partner on noir graphic novel

Love Letters

Seven Days reviewers share some favorite Vermont reads from 2020 Burlington writer pays homage to chiles and hot sauce

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Hear Them Sing

The outgoing president has called the press the “enemy of the people.” So naturally that became the name of the Seven Days house band — an occasional ensemble composed of musical employees plucked from the paper’s production department. Pre-COVID-19, our designers worked together in a pod, surrounded by dogs and great music. They’re already a creative bunch, tested by deadline pressure and the frustration of bringing up the end of an assembly process dependent on writers, editors and account executives. At some point, they started transforming our workplace shenanigans into songs that capture some of the craziness of creating a weekly newspaper. Then they started practicing for real, at the home of art director Diane Sullivan, the band’s lead singer and the instigator of all things wild and wacky at Seven Days. The lineup includes guitarist Jeff Baron, a professional musician who splits his work hours between design and circulation duties. The multitalented web whiz Bryan Parmelee plays drums, but he can also tickle the ivories. Production manager John James learned bass because the group needed a steady and reliable timekeeper — and that’s J.J. through and through. Enemy of the People made their much-anticipated debut at last year’s Seven Days holiday party. After our traditional Secret Santa gift exchange — Diane also plays a very outgoing St. Nick — they took the stage at the Skinny Pancake. To the delight and astonishment of us all, the band belted out a set of original tunes, including “Sasha’s Getting Drunk,” an unfounded allegation about our deputy news editor, and the crowd-pleasing “Where’s Fu%#&ing Paul?” The latter was a playful reference to the collective frustration when writer Paul Heintz is late wrapping up a big story on deadline night. In a good week, we finish up on Tuesday around 7 p.m. In a bad week, it might be Wednesday at 1 a.m. The set list from that first gig is still taped to the Seven Days bathroom door — a testament to the power of the performance and also, quite frankly, because the pandemic froze our office in time, as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius did Pompeii. It changed the future, too, at least for Enemy of the People. The band was booked to play at the Waking Windows music festival in Winooski, but the May event was canceled, like nearly everything else this year. Our virtual holiday party last Friday was a lot less raucous and sweaty than the one we shared in 2019, but it was still pretty fun. It was great to see our beloved colleagues gathered on-screen, some with bells on, and the Secret Santa tradition survived; we dropped off and picked up our gifts at the office and opened them on Zoom. In fact, the digital format put a spotlight on each person: Everyone revealed what they got and their best guess at who might have given it. For every wrong answer, the recipient had to take a sip of whatever they were drinking. Everyone noted plenty of wine, beer and whiskey among the presents. It’s just that kind of year. One wholly unexpected gift: video highlights of Enemy of the People in action last year, including a snippet of writer Ken Picard and account executive Kaitlin Montgomery joining in on the band’s cover of “The Weight.” It was so fun to remember that night and how our staff came together to celebrate a year that seemed untoppable in terms of effort and productivity — or so we thought. Earlier this year, I jokingly asked Diane if she’d write a song about our Super Readers — the people who have been contributing financially to keep Seven Days afloat during this crazy time.

FILE: LUKE AWTRY

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Shockingly, the band embraced the idea. Diane and Jeff cowrote a fast-paced punk-rock tune that pays tribute to our supporters and this strangely satisfying biz. It goes like this: We’ve got issues (Pass it on) Local Matters (Pass it on) We’ve got features (Pass it on) Super Readers (Pass it on)

Enemy of the People, from left: John James, Bryan Parmelee, Diane Sullivan and Jeff Baron

I read the I Spys, I read the Funnies, I read the Classes and the Jobs ’cause I gotta make some money We got Soundbites, we got Letters We’ve got the Reverend laying down ’cause she’s gonna make it better Super Readers! After 25 years, well you know we really need Super Readers! ’Cause making this newspaper, yeah it takes a lot of grease From the front to the back to the back to the front The front to the back to the back to the front When this is said and done we’re gonna have a lot of fun You know we’re gonna meet and then we’ll share a margarita Super Readers! We really need ya!

Couldn’t have said it better myself. You can hear the Super Readers song on our website, in the online version of this note. Happy holidays,

Paula Routly Want to help Seven Days through the pandemic? 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 on making a financial contribution to Seven Days, please contact Corey Grenier: VOICEMAIL: 802-865-1020, EXT. 36 EMAIL: SUPERREADERS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

news

MORE INSIDE

FERRY BAD NEWS PAGE 14

HEALTH

MAN TURNS OVER MASKS PAGE 15

NEW BOARD WOULD WATCH COPS PAGE 16

Weeded Out?

B Y D ER EK B R O U WER & A N D R EA S U O Z Z O

Racial justice advocates favor minority ownership of pot businesses B Y CO L I N FL A ND ER S • colin@sevendaysvt.com

ermont’s new law establishing a retail marijuana market does too little to recruit people of color to the legal cannabis industry, racial justice advocates say. They are calling for changes to ensure that members of groups disproportionately targeted by past enforcement of cannabis laws would be poised to benefit when the legal market comes online in May 2022. “For those seriously and genuinely interested in justice who look at this [law], it is clear that i t needs work,” said Mark Hughes, coordinator of the Vermont Racial Justice Alliance, one of the groups pushing for changes. He added, “We’re here trying to dismantle systemic racism,

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which, at the core, is economics. All this [law] does is pile on to that.” Black people nationwide are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for cannabis offenses than white people, despite similar usage rates, according to a recent report from the American Civil Liberties Union. Vermont’s disparity has been even greater: Between 2010 and 2018, Black people were six times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession. Hughes’ organization was among several that lobbied Gov. Phil Scott to veto the retail pot bill earlier this year, arguing that it lacked adequate reparative measures. Scott ultimately allowed the bill to become law

without his signature. But he urged lawmakers to improve upon it in the coming legislative session with an eye toward racial justice, citing several of the alliance’s proposals. “Justice should be foundational to our work,” he wrote in a letter to lawmakers, “not an add-on to be figured out secondary to commercial or other interests.” Some lawmakers appear to be listening. Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington) and several of his colleagues met with Hughes and other advocates this week to hear their feedback. The senators plan to introduce a bill at the start of the session to amend the law. While Sears did not know whether any racial justice initiatives would make it into the first draft, he said it could easily be altered in committee. “There’s plenty of room to make improvements on the racial justice front,” Sears said. Others, meanwhile, question whether there is time — or a need — to take up the issue this session. “The reality is, I don’t think there’s anything that we have to do at this moment,” Rep. Sarah Copeland Hanzas (D-Bradford), whose House Government Operations Committee helped shepherd the bill through the chamber last session, told Seven Days. “I think it could wait until next legislative session, because we are going to be almost universally focused on COVID recovery.” Growing and selling marijuana has become a billion-dollar legal industry — one that is overwhelmingly white. In Massachusetts, where a legal retail market began in late 2018, less than 2 percent of all cannabis businesses were minority-owned as of last year. Figures in other states aren’t much better. Vermont doesn’t track minority ownership of businesses in its cannabis market, according to the WEEDED OUT?

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

Vermont Nursing Home Residents Begin Getting Vaccines

» P.14

A team of pharmacists jabbed more than a hundred residents and staff of Helen Porter Rehabilitation & Nursing on Monday morning, making the Middlebury home among the first long-term-care facilities in the country to begin receiving doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. More than two-thirds of residents received their first shots in their rooms, while half of the home’s workers took turns getting inoculated in a common area. The effort marked a milestone in the fight against a virus that has proven especially devastating to nursing homes. “It feels hopeful,” the home’s medical director, Dr. Karen Fromhold, said. Vermont began receiving shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week. Distribution is ramping up this week in hospitals and long-term-care facilities. Health Commissioner Mark Levine said on Tuesday that 3,141 Vermonters had gotten their first dose as of last week. That number doesn’t include the clinics at long-term-care facilities such as Helen Porter, which began on Monday. Levine said the state will begin reporting totals from those vaccination clinics this week. By the end of the week, officials expect to have received 22,125 total vaccine doses — including 11,400 doses of the Moderna vaccine, which the U.S. Food & Drug Administration authorized last Friday. Of those, 3,400 are allocated to long-term care. After a November surge, case growth rates in Vermont have stabilized and begun to decline. But the state is still tracking outbreaks in 11 long-term-care facilities, with a combined 485 cases. Residents of such homes account for more than 70 percent of the state’s COVID-19 deaths since March, according to state officials. The federal government is managing the vaccination drive at nursing homes through a partnership with CVS, Walgreens and HealthDirect pharmacies. A portion of the state’s weekly vaccine allotment is shipped directly to the pharmacies, which are scheduling clinics at homes. Helen Porter has not had a COVID-19 outbreak, but its residents have endured lockdowns and isolation for more than nine months. “The thought that this is kind of a first step toward moving us eventually to a place where we could be more open again,” Fromhold said, “is really exciting.”

‘Maybe I’m Brainwashed’

Stay healthy at the Y

How the NXIVM cult followed Damon Brink to Vermont BY PAU L HEIN TZ • paul@sevendaysvt.com

has been denied rental housing due to his association with the group and has received threatening messages from neighbors. One note called him “pathetic” and “a despicable human being.” The writer added, “Don’t worry. Damon Brink We’re already making sure the entire town knows who you are. No one will want you around their children.” Last week, it appears, NXIVM also cost Brink his job. “I feel vulnerable. I feel scared. I feel sad,” he said. “Sometimes I feel angry.” Since leaving the Albany area with his family in 2018, Brink has sought to establish B RIN K himself as a mentor and coach in north-central Vermont. He serves as president of Stowe Youth Baseball and Lamoille County Little League. He founded an indoor batting cage center called Go Baseball and is a DJ for Top Hat Entertainment. In August 2019, he was hired to run an afterschool program at Everyone Equals Morristown Community Center, or E=MC2. There, he helped secure a contract with the state Department for Children and Families to host supervised visits between noncustodial parents and their children. Earlier this month, however, a community member brought Brink’s past to the department’s attention. “We became aware of a connection between Mr. Brink and NXIVM,” said DCF general counsel Jennifer Myka. Last Thursday, the department gave notice that it was exercising its right to cancel the $8,200 contract for no cause. Myka declined to say whether the decision was prompted by the tip. “We’re in the middle of a budget process, and we’re doing constant monitoring,” said DCF spokesperson Luciana DiRuocco. “When flags come up during the monitoring process, they get responded to.” JE B

WA L

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amon Brink believed he had found a path to spiritual fulfillment, self-awareness and financial success. Days into his initial training with a mysterious group outside of Albany, N.Y., he had become captivated by its teachings. “I didn’t really want to leave,” Brink recalled. “At the end of the day, I was exhausted but happy — happy in a way I hadn’t been in years or maybe decades.” That happiness would not last. Twelve years later, the Morrisville resident has found himself trapped in the SALLY undertow of the group, known as NXIVM (pronounced NEXee-um) and widely described as a cult. Since 2017, when former members went public with lurid allegations of sexual slavery and branding, it has become the subject of tabloid headlines and the HBO documentary series “The Vow.” In October, NXIVM’s charismatic leader, Keith Raniere — addressed by his followers as “Vanguard” — was sentenced to 120 years in prison for forced labor, sex trafficking and the sexual exploitation of a minor, among other charges. Members of Raniere’s inner circle, including Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman and “Smallville” actress Allison Mack, have pleaded guilty to racketeering and related crimes. Though Brink, 50, maintains he was unaware of NXIVM’s darkest secrets, suspicion and scorn have followed him back to Vermont, where he was once known as a standout first baseman for the University of Vermont Catamounts, co-owner of the Burlington nightclub Nectar’s and candidate for the state House of Representatives. According to Brink, he remains estranged from friends and family members he once sought to recruit. He

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news Commuters Unhappy About Plans to Again Suspend CharlotteEssex Ferry Route B Y A L I SON NOVAK alison@kidsvt.com Five days a week, Tara Smith and her two sons take the 8 a.m. ferry from Charlotte to Essex, N.Y., for work and school. The North Ferrisburgh mom is vice president for programs at an educational nonprofit based on Main Street in Essex; her job sometimes requires that she work in person with students at North Country schools. Her boys, ages 3 and 6, attend the Lakeside School at Black Kettle Farm, just a few minutes from the Essex ferry dock. Smith has been commuting to work on the ferry for about eight years. But starting January 4, she’ll have to figure out an alternative option — as will others who rely on the route for professional, educational and medical reasons. That’s the day the Burlington-based Lake Champlain Transportation Company will indefinitely suspend CharlotteEssex ferry service. In a statement, the company cited a “significant decrease in ridership as a result of the pandemic.” The Grand Isle-Plattsburgh, N.Y., ferry crossing will remain open. This isn’t the first time this year the company has halted the southern route. In the early days of the pandemic, it shuttered the service from March 19 until May 1. During that closure, the company received nearly $1.4 million through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, records show. Regular riders say that this impending suspension is different. In the wintertime, alternate routes on often-slippery smaller roads are an unappealing and possibly dangerous option. And some question the validity of the company’s statement that ridership is down. Essex, N.Y., town supervisor Ken Hughes plans to present a resolution to the Essex town board on December 29 asking them to request continuation of ferry service; he is also appealing to county and state legislators for help. Essex residents have told him how dismayed they are that a decision like this can be made without any discussion with the ferry users. “I question whether those human situations are actually thought of when the decision is made to close the ferry down,” Hughes said. m

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

Weeded Out? « P.12 Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, which oversees the state’s hemp registry. But anecdotally, the state’s cannabis industry is “very nondiverse,” said Arantha Farrow, 29, owner of Caledonia Cannabis. Farrow founded her company in 2018 to market cannabidiol (CBD) products grown by organic farms in the Northeast Kingdom. “If I go to hemp events or anything like that, I will be one of the only — if not the only — people of color in the room,” she said. Marlena Tucker-Fishman is co-owner of Waterbury’s Zenbarn Farms, which has grown hemp for the last three years and recently began selling CBD wellness products. She said she realized the extent to which Vermont’s cannabis industry is white-owned while looking for other BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) CBD businesses to support. “That was a struggle,” she said, recalling that only a few turned up in her online searches. She hypothesized that some people who otherwise would be interested in starting a business have been hindered by the startup costs of training, marketing and licensure. Vermont legislators were well aware of the cannabis industry’s racial disparities when drafting the retail weed law, Copeland Hanzas said. She pointed to several measures that she asserted do enough to steer the state in the “right direction at this moment.” First, the three-member Cannabis Control Board, which will be responsible for regulating and licensing all stages of the supply chain, cannot keep people from receiving licenses based solely on a past cannabis conviction. That, Copeland Hanzas said, will prevent the biases of the justice system from seeping into the cannabis industry. (A separate law passed last session automatically expunges low-level cannabis convictions.) “Some of the most gifted cannabis growers are going to be among that group of people who have been dinged for a cannabis violation during the prohibition era,” Copeland Hanzas said. “We want to bring those people out of the shadows.” Second, the law calls on the board to adopt a licensing system that gives preference to minority- and women-owned businesses, as well as those that plan to hire and promote people who were disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition. And third, the law directs the House speaker to appoint someone with expertise in social justice and equity issues to the 12-seat advisory committee that will help the control board come up with its rules. The advisory panel will ensure that the board is “treating everyone fairly,” Copeland Hanzas said.

FILE: LUKE EASTMAN

TRANSPORTATION

POT OR NOT? TOWNS CONSIDER THE OPTION Residents of some Vermont towns are set to vote on Town Meeting Day in March on whether to allow recreational cannabis shops to operate in their communities once sales become legal in 2022. Middlebury and Windsor residents will cast ballots on the question; elected officials in Brattleboro, Burlington, Montpelier and Waterbury, among others, are contemplating similar votes. Act 164, which sets the framework for taxed and regulated cannabis sales in Vermont, requires such an “opt-in” vote. Approval does not mean a cannabis store would open in town, but it does allow a business to set up within city limits after going through the proper permitting processes. Municipalities would likely hash out zoning and other regulations later on. Given the expected regulatory hurdles and planning that go into opening a business, especially one in a new, controversial industry, the sooner a municipality makes the decision, the better, said Dave Silberman, a cannabis advocate and Middlebury resident who prompted his local selectboard to put the issue on the ballot. “For a business like this to be successful in Vermont, it really needs to be welcome in town and woven into the fabric of the town and accepted broadly in the town,” Silberman said. “That’s what we’re trying to do here: create a long runway for these entrepreneurs to gain that acceptance.” In most municipalities, getting a question on the ballot requires a vote by the selectboard or a petition signed by 5 percent of registered voters; ballots must be finalized by the end of January. Cannabis attorney Tim Fair said he’s got clients in “15 or 16” towns, including several in Lamoille, Essex and Orleans counties, working to arrange opt-in votes. He and his clients have encountered “a lot more hesitation than we expected” from selectboards, Fair said. Unlike host communities in some states, Vermont towns could not collect a cannabis sales tax, aside from the local options tax that about 16 municipalities — including Burlington, Brattleboro and Montpelier — have already enacted. But a pot shop could increase property taxes, and its local licensing fees would go to the host community, among other benefits, said Conor Casey, a Montpelier city councilor. He’s asked his colleagues to discuss putting an opt-in vote on the March 2 ballot. “I think it probably has a good chance of passing,” he said, referring both to the council vote and a citywide one. Casey noted that Montpelier has long been progressive on weed: Voters passed a marijuana decriminalization measure in 2010, well before such decisions were the norm. For the last seven years, the city of 8,000 has also been home to a medical cannabis dispensary, the Vermont Patients Alliance, without any serious incidents, Casey added.

SASHA GOLDSTEIN

Hughes doesn’t buy it. He said the law’s purported protections “don’t even begin to start a conversation on equity.” “They fall woefully short of truly addressing the economic disparities in entry to market,” he said. “And at the root of that lies the fact that most Black and brown folks do not have capital access, and they do not have land.” That’s why the Racial Justice Alliance wants state lawmakers to go a step further and establish a so-called cannabis equity program, which would give people who have been harmed by prohibition a leg up in the new market. After sending lawmakers a framework last session — one that was not

incorporated into the final bill — the alliance is now working with several growing and farming groups to come up with another formal proposal. That’s still a work in progress, but Hughes said the vast majority of the alliance’s initial requests remain in play. They include the creation of a “social equity applicant” licensing category for people who live in areas disproportionately impacted by poverty or cannabis enforcement. People who have been arrested for or convicted of low-level cannabis crimes would also be eligible, as would their family members. These applicants would then qualify for a 50 percent waiver of cannabis licensing

fees, and they could seek low-interest loans and grants from a proposed Cannabis Business Development Fund, which would be started with money from existing medical marijuana revenues and maintained through a share of retail weed taxes. Responding to the alliance’s proposals, Copeland Hanzas said she could envision some legislative appetite for fee waivers once the control board returns with its recommendation in early 2022. A business fund, though? Not so much. “We don’t have any money for that,” she said. There might be an opportunity to create such a fund once cannabis tax revenues start rolling in a few years from now, she said. But if the idea is that the state would launch one beforehand, “then I’d like to see the governor put his money where his mouth is when it comes to racial justice and put that into his budget proposal.” Lawmakers have some breathing room before the market’s launch. The Cannabis Control Board hasn’t been created yet; Scott’s office put out a call for applicants last week and is accepting candidates until the end of the month. A nominating committee will vet the field and send recommendations for his approval. Scott has not committed to appointing any people of color to the board, but his spokesperson, Rebecca Kelly, said diversity will be factored into his decision. “We have promoted the application process from our office and asked the Racial Equity Task Force members to share the application through their networks in hopes we can draw a broader, more diverse pool of interested applicants,” Kelly wrote in an email. Once established, the control board will then spend the next year compiling recommendations for the legislature on a number of issues — including how many licenses will be available and how much they will cost — before it adopts final rules and starts issuing licenses in spring 2022. And lawmakers could always delay the rollout if they decide they need more time. Still, advocates say the time to act is now. “We all know that justice delayed is justice denied,” Hughes said. “If we know that we’ve done something wrong or that we didn’t get something right, then, in principle, we ought to fix it as quickly as we can, lest those with political and economic power forget.” m

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LAW ENFORCEMENT

Attorney General Settles With Man Who Sold Masks at Huge Markup B Y DE R E K BR O UW E R derek@sevendaysvt.com A Williston businessman delivered nearly 80,000 masks to Central Vermont Medical Center earlier this month to settle claims that he’d gouged the hospital during the early, desperate days of the pandemic. Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan announced the settlement with Shelley Palmer on Monday. Palmer was accused of selling surgical masks at an exorbitant markup in March, when personal protective equipment was difficult for health care providers to procure. As part of the settlement, Palmer also dropped off 10,000 KN95 masks to the Vermont Department of Public Safety for distribution to schools, health care organizations and other eligible groups. The “face value” of the goods is approximately $80,000, said Christopher Curtis, the AG’s public protection division chief. The office had accused Palmer of reaping roughly $100,000 profit on his earlier sales to the hospital. Palmer, meanwhile, continues to insist that he never ripped off anyone. He told Seven Days on Monday that he has been “legally lynched” and that he agreed to hand over his stockpile of personal protective equipment because publicity around the state’s civil lawsuit had ruined his business. He referred to the state’s lead attorney on the case as the “dragon lady” because “she’ll breathe her fiery breath all over you.” Palmer’s primary business is transporting physically disabled people to and from the hospital, a service known as non-emergent transport. He started a side hustle selling PPE last spring, purchasing tens of thousands of masks through the Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba to resell locally. The state accused him of selling 10cent surgical masks for $2.50 each and labeling them as more protective N95s. Palmer denied misrepresenting them and said he actually paid 60 cents per mask, which would put his profit from the Central Vermont Medical Center transactions at roughly $80,000. Once Donovan sued in April, Palmer said his transportation company’s main client, the University of Vermont Medical Center, stopped doing business with him. Palmer claimed the fallout has put him more than $250,000 in debt. He has surrendered his vehicle fleet and laid off his employees. m

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Policing the Police

TOWN MEETING DAY

Voters in Burlington will consider a major overhaul to departmental oversight B Y CO UR T NEY L A M DIN • courtney@sevendaysvt.com

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

FILE: LUKE AWTRY

n March, voters in Burlington will consider a ballot measure that would set up a powerful police oversight board with the authority to directly punish city officers for misconduct. The seven-member “independent community control board” could suspend, demote and even fire cops accused of wrongdoing, including the chief of police. The new model would require changing the city’s charter and must ultimately be approved by city voters, the legislature and the governor. “We heard just tons and tons and tons of testimony from the public,” Councilor Perri Freeman (P-Central District), who spearheaded the effort, said at the council’s December 14 meeting. “It’s just really amazing to see us getting to this point where we’re really moving this proposal forward.” The 7-5 council vote to put the measure on the ballot caps off a year of nationwide reckoning with racial justice and violence in policing. In Burlington, activists occupied Battery Park for about a month to demand greater citizen oversight of police after several instances of excessive force came to light. They’ve called in to public meetings by the hundreds to demand that the council act, and quickly. But not everyone is sold on the proposed model, and it could be modified before voters have their say on March 2. Mayor Miro Weinberger, for one, has introduced a counterproposal that would beef up the existing police commission but give it only a fraction of the powers found in the councilapproved plan. The mayor said he worries that, as written, the charter change would drive cops out of the department, as officials say recent council actions have already. Council Democrats appeared to agree last week; all five voted against the plan. They urged Progressives to consider hashing out the control board’s powers in an ordinance, which could be modified more easily than the city charter. “We have a proud tradition of being on the cutting edge of many issues,” Councilor Karen Paul (D-Ward 6) said, but a charter change is “not something that easily goes away if we find that it doesn’t work.” Council Progressives, however, say that it’s time to give the power to the people. All six Progs, along with Councilor Ali Dieng (I-Ward 7), voted for Freeman’s proposal. “This is an opportunity for real change in Burlington,” City Council President Max Tracy (P-Ward 2) said in a recent

Mayor Miro Weinberger (left) and acting Chief Jon Murad

interview. “To not do something that’s bold, that’s responsive to those calls for change, would be really wrong.” This summer, activists took to the streets to demand that three Burlington cops be fired for using excessive force. They argued that former chief Brandon del Pozo hadn’t sufficiently punished the officers: One was suspended for about three weeks for knocking a Black man unconscious; another, who was involved in a similar incident, wasn’t disciplined at all. And an officer who punched a white man during a scuffle was reprimanded for swearing, not for the blows that the state’s chief medical examiner said contributed to the man’s death days later. Soon after the nightly protests began, racial justice advocate Mark Hughes resigned from the city’s police commission, saying the citizen-led body has no real oversight power. In its current form as an advisory group, the panel can only recommend discipline to the police chief, who has the final say. In response to the protests, the city council in September unanimously passed a resolution asking its Charter Change Committee to review other options for oversight. About 160 U.S. cities and towns have some form of a police oversight board, according to the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, a nonprofit that promotes transparency and accountability in policing. No two models are alike. Late last month, the Charter Change

Committee passed its proposal, and the council passed a very similar version last week. It would allow the control board to hold disciplinary hearings, subpoena witnesses and mete out punishments without the chief’s approval. The board would consist of people of color; those who have experienced homelessness, substance abuse and other challenges; and employees of organizations focused on social justice. Current and former police officers would be barred from serving, as would people with cops in their immediate family. The board would have an investigative office staffed by a paid director. That person and their staff would be able to access police records, report to crime scenes and question officers who use deadly force. The director could consult with an independent attorney and would publicly issue quarterly reports that detail the office’s investigations. In a memo to councilors on December 6, police commissioners questioned whether Burlington needs such a robust oversight system for a department that, according to acting Chief Jon Murad, received an average of roughly 30 citizen complaints each of the last three years and conducted, at most, six internal investigations annually during that time. They suggested giving their panel investigative authority rather than creating an entirely new board. But in a recent interview with Seven Days, Freeman argued that the commission is already swamped with its other duties,

which include evaluating department policies on body cameras, use of force and others. Freeman said some Burlingtonians don’t trust the commission to hold cops accountable, a sentiment that was palpable during a recent public forum on the proposal. Callers said the commission is part of a broken system that let the three Burlington cops at the center of the protests skate by with light punishments. “It was not that every single member of the commission stood idle; they just weren’t given the authority to hold these officers accountable for their actions,” Burlington resident Oskar Flemer said. “There’s zero recourse for the community.” Others suggested that the police commission is inherently political because the partisan city council appoints its members. Under the council-approved model, seven social justice organizations would submit applications to the city council and mayor for approval. Once it’s set up, the board would have the first crack at investigating complaints. The police chief could make recommendations during that process but would only have control over the investigation if the board first declined to initiate one. Even then, the chief wouldn’t have the final say, as the board could vacate the chief’s decision. Weinberger’s plan would work in the reverse order: The chief would follow up on a complaint and consult with police commissioners, who could perform their own investigation if they were unsatisfied with the chief’s recommended discipline. The seven-person panel would need five votes to overturn the chief’s decision. The discussion comes at a politically fraught moment for Weinberger. Just last week, Seven Days revealed that he knew his former police chief had created a fake Twitter account to mock a critic. Some city councilors have since said that the mayor has lost credibility on police oversight matters in light of the revelation. “The chief on their own, or the mayor on their own, is not a good way to ensure accountability,” Councilor Brian Pine (P-Ward 3) told Seven Days last week. “It’s an example of why we need [more] sets of eyes looking at these types of issues.” The American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont has also endorsed the councilpassed plan. Jay Diaz, a senior staff attorney with the organization, said Weinberger’s proposal sounds too much like the status quo.

FILE: JAMES BUCK

“If the police department continues to be the entity that has almost total authority to police itself,” there is no accountability, he said. “To do it the way Mayor Weinberger has proposed, it really cuts the community out.” Weinberger, however, said he thinks the council’s model cuts the chief out of the equation. He agrees that the top cop shouldn’t have unchecked power but said that giving the control board so much say would be “untested” and “risky.” Weinberger was pleased that the council accepted some amendments to the proposal — such as one that would allow the police chief to give input during investigations — but said the changes didn’t go far enough. As passed, the language will make it more difficult to recruit a new chief and retain current officers, the mayor said.

people,” the statement reads. “Public safety, more than any other issue, including civilian oversight, is our primary concern.” Councilor Franklin Paulino (D-North District) said that the new charter language would “over-police the police” and put undue pressure on cops, who are often forced to make split-second decisions. Officers who make mistakes would be disciplined by a board with no firsthand policing experience, and “I cannot support that,” Paulino said at last week’s council meeting. Councilor Joan Shannon (D-South District) lamented that her colleagues didn’t take more time to review police oversight boards in other cities. She said the council completely dismissed concerns from the police commission, which is majority nonwhite. A rally on Church Street

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“[Officers] will be very concerned about working under a system where their careers are being decided not by a chief that has been trained” but by a citizen board, Weinberger said in a recent interview. “We are losing officers quickly,” he said. “The charter change worsens that problem.” Nine officers have left 1 North Avenue since June, when the council voted to cut the police force from 90 to 74 through attrition. Five of those departing cops mentioned the council’s efforts to “defund the police” in exit interviews, according to Murad. Tyler Badeau, president of the Burlington Police Officers’ Association, declined to comment on the charter change proposal and instead authorized union attorney Rich Cassidy to issue Seven Days a statement about the shrinking roster. “This reduction in force … has seriously eroded officer morale, which will make it more difficult to retain good

“I’m actually quite sad … that we are passing something that is so divisive when I don’t think that it needed to be this way,” Shannon said during the meeting. The council still has some time to find common ground. The control board proposal will be discussed at two public hearings in January, before the March 2 vote. The ballot language can be altered until January 25. Freeman, who uses they/them pronouns, said they were inspired by the sheer number of people who have already voiced support for the charter change. To Freeman, it indicates that Burlingtonians are ready for a new form of accountability. “Regardless of what happens, the civic participation, the people raising their voice and calling for what they need — it’s just been incredible,” Freeman said. But ultimately, they continued, creating a control board “is not only appropriate, but necessary and essential.” m

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

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NXIVM « P.13 By Friday, Brink was no longer employed by E=MC2, according to Billi Dunham, president of the nonprofit’s board of directors. “The conditions of us separating are considered confidential by both parties,” said Dunham, whose partner, Sunny Brink, is Damon’s brother.

‘ODD COUPLE’

Brink’s supporters — and even some of his detractors — say there is no reason to believe he has hurt anybody but himself. He has been charged with no crimes and publicly accused of no wrongdoing. Frank Parlato, a former NXIVM employee who became one of its chief critics, has mercilessly mocked Brink as a dupe on his blog, the Frank Report, which has for years documented the organization’s alleged misdeeds. But even Parlato argues that Brink’s association with NXIVM should not cost him his career. “I do not think Damon Brink is a threat to any children whatsoever. Just the opposite. I think he’s probably a good kind of role model for kids,” Parlato said in an interview. “He might be brainwashed about Keith. He might be blind to Keith’s scenario. But he’s no threat to children.” Gerette Buglion, a Vermont-based cult awareness educator, says it’s important to draw a distinction between those who have used their power to harm others and those who have merely fallen under the sway of such people. “There’s an assumption that if you were part of a cult or a controlling group, there’s something wrong with you in one way or another,” said Buglion, who spent 18 years in a different cult. “Anyone can be drawn into a group — and anyone can be hoodwinked.” Brink says he understands his neighbors’ fear and trepidation, given the way NXIVM has been portrayed in the media. Stories referring to it as a “sex cult” largely focus on a small subgroup called Dominus Obsequious Sororium, or DOS, which Raniere created in 2015 and allegedly used to pressure women into sex — and whose female members were branded with his initials. But the vast majority of those who belonged to NXIVM, also known as Executive Success Programs or ESP, had no idea DOS existed. “What’s happened is that DOS has become the story, and so everybody that’s associated with ESP or NXIVM is now associated with what everybody thinks that is, which is this crazy sex cult/branding/awful thing,” Brink said. “I didn’t know about DOS until after. Nobody did … But I don’t know how the genie goes back into the bottle.” Among Brink’s fiercest supporters is his 18

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

I DON’T KNOW HOW

THE GENIE GOES BACK INTO THE BOTTLE. D AMO N BR INK

wife, Sally, who also belonged to NXIVM. “People are trying to destroy my husband,” she said. “They don’t want to know what’s right or wrong. People just want to punish and hate.” The Brinks have a complicated marriage. Sally severed ties with NXIVM years before her husband did. And, according to her allies, she played a leading role in bringing down the organization — apparently providing key documentation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. “I gave them 30 gigs’ worth of information on possible money laundering, possible visa fraud, racketeering,” she said. Damon Brink, meanwhile, remained loyal to Raniere and, until recently, continued to meet weekly with a group of men he knew through the Society of Protectors, another NXIVM subgroup. “I basically told those guys in the last couple weeks that I wasn’t going to be doing that anymore,” he said last week.

If Brink has fully separated himself from NXIVM, it isn’t always apparent. During more than five hours of interviews, he toggled between defending, condemning, embracing and distancing himself from Raniere and the organization he founded. Brink sounded like a man who was still trying to figure it out. Parlato, who has chronicled Damon Brink’s and Sally Brink’s respective journeys, finds their marriage confusing and compelling. “You got an odd couple there, right?” he said.

‘MAN OF HONOR’?

If Brink’s goal is to prove to his neighbors that he has moved on from NXIVM, he has done more than anyone to sabotage that attempt. In the days before and after Raniere’s October 27 sentencing, Brink implored Seven Days to uncover what he described as an overzealous prosecution. “I’m taking a great risk to my reputation and even my safety because of the mob like mentality and I’m concerned about this,” he wrote in an October 15 email to the newspaper. “But the bottom line is there has been an incredible injustice in [Raniere’s] trial. It’s not that he’s innocent but he’s been denied, on many levels, the chance at a fair trial

and we have evidence of this, dramatic evidence.” Brink repeated the claims on social media and went so far as to defend Raniere in a sentencing letter to Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. “I have experienced Keith as a man of honor and principle,” Brink wrote. “I experience him as a most compassionate human who cares about people and works tirelessly at something he feels is good and important for the world. I have known him for eight years and I have never witnessed or heard of him raising his voice in anger.” Sally Brink, meanwhile, took the other side in court. Speaking at Bronfman’s sentencing in September, she urged the heiress to renounce Raniere. “The damage and the destruction that you caused in my life can only be healed if you can disavow him and see him for what he is,” she said, referring to Bronfman’s bankrolling of NXIVM. Damon Brink says he remained in touch with Raniere until mid-October. “He did ask for help,” Brink said. “But he didn’t ask me to do anything specifically.” The most damning moments of Raniere’s prosecution came at his sentencing later that month. A young woman who belonged to NXIVM publicly alleged for

experiences that had impaired his relationship with his father. “I had this very uplifting internal experience and feeling of love for my dad and for myself,” he said. “It was very powerful. I cried, and I felt light and different and more joyful about everything.” In 2009, the Brinks sold their stake in Nectar’s and, after Sally became pregnant, moved to the Albany area, in part to take advantage of NXIVM’s childcare center, known as Rainbow Cultural Garden. The couple immersed themselves in NXIVM’s courses, which cost thousands of dollars, and the organization’s never-ending projects, subgroups and companies — few of which paid. “There was always something going on,” Brink said. “Your day was spent bouncing from thing to thing — unless you were taking classes, in which case everything stopped.”

was to recruit more and more paying members, a task that Brink embraced. “For those of you that don’t know, our founder, Keith Raniere, has built more than 1,000 millionaires in his life,” Brink said in a promotional video unearthed by Parlato. “He has built multimillion-dollar businesses in a short amount of time and at one point was making more than $100,000 per hour coaching the highest-level business executives in the world.” None of that, it turned out, was true.

‘MIND-FUCKED’

Sally Brink has a different recollection of their time in upstate New York. “We moved to Albany, and everything started to fall apart,” she said. According to Sally, the director of Rainbow Cultural Garden pressured the new KEITH RANIERE CONVERSATIONS, YOUTUBE

the first time that Raniere began grooming her for sex when she was 13 years old and committed statutory rape two years later. “I felt like I would never be free,” the young woman said. “There was no way out.” Brink, a family friend of Raniere’s alleged victim, says he had no reason to suspect that she was being abused — and that if the allegations were true, they would be indefensible. But he also said it was “hard to reconcile” the woman’s story with what he referred to as Raniere’s “gentleness.” “I don’t know if I’m willing to go and say that I believe without a doubt in my heart that he’s a sexual predator,” Brink said. Even now, Brink stands by some of NXIVM’s teachings and resists calling the organization a cult. “Maybe I’m completely deluded,” he said. “Maybe I’m brainwashed.”

Keith Raniere

‘THIS KIND OF AURA’

Born in California, Brink moved with his family to Vermont before he turned 1. His father, Arthur “Rusty” Brink, had been a star football player for UVM. His maternal grandfather, Hastings “Hasty” Keith, represented the South Shore of Massachusetts in Congress. Damon Brink, who grew up in Jericho and Burlington, excelled at baseball — first at Mount Mansfield Union High School and later at UVM. Upon graduating, he became a DJ and founded the company that would become Top Hat. He became a co-owner of Rasputin’s Bar in Burlington before decamping for Jamaica, where he and his girlfriend, Sally, ran a couple of Margaritaville restaurants and bars. The couple, now married, returned to Burlington in 2002 to buy a stake in Nectar’s — made famous as Phish’s first home base — from founder Nectar Rorris. It was then that a college roommate of Sally’s reconnected with her and persuaded her to fly to Los Angeles in July 2004 for a five-day NXIVM course, or “intensive.” “It was amazing,” she said. “It helped me so much.” The effect on their marriage was immediate and positive, prompting Brink to travel to NXIVM’s headquarters in Colonie, N.Y., for his first intensive. “I walk in, and it was weird,” he said. Members wore colored sashes that denoted their rank, had a secret handshake, and regularly saluted Raniere and his No. 2, Nancy Salzman, a former psychiatric nurse whom members addressed as “Prefect.” But by day two, Brink was sold. The group’s “exploration of meaning” curriculum helped him reconsider childhood

For several years, the family lived on Bronfman’s compound, where Brink served as a caretaker. He recalls finally meeting Raniere during “Vanguard Week,” an annual event during which the reclusive leader would emerge. “There was this kind of aura around him,” Brink said. He recalled introducing himself to Raniere and being surprised by how normal he seemed. Raniere eventually asked Brink and three others to cofound the Society of Protectors, a men’s group that would focus on honor, compassion and power. After 30 days of late-night meetings with Raniere, SOP launched in late 2012 with a weekend gathering of more than 100 men. “The idea was that it was to become a movement,” Brink recalled. Like most NXIVM projects, the goal

mother to become more and more engaged with NXIVM through paid courses and unpaid work. She became deeply involved in the organization’s finances, having balanced the books at restaurants in Jamaica and Burlington. “I started seeing things from a business owner perspective that just didn’t make sense to me,” she said, adding that at one point, she had $80,000 in cash in an office drawer. “And any time I questioned anything, I got, ‘Well, Keith is the most ethical person in the entire world.’” Sally recalls years of gaslighting. “It’s really hard to explain the kind of mindfuck that you go through in these types of organizations, but I was really mindfucked with.” She added, “When I left ESP, I said, ‘Oh, my god. I get why battered women stay.’”

Though Sally said she did not learn about DOS until leaving NXIVM, she felt uncomfortable around Raniere from the moment she met him. “When you get a creepy, strange feeling about men, you just stay away,” she said. “And I knew at that point I could never be alone with him ever in my life.” Raniere’s teachings were often quite dark, Sally said. At one point, the Society of Protectors established a curriculum for women designed to teach them what it’s like to be a boy and a man. Sally enrolled. “I have never been so afraid in my entire life,” she said of the hazing ritual she endured. “They were screaming at me. I was frozen in fear … The punishment was so intense I couldn’t even think.” At trial, another SOP cofounder, Mark Vicente, described forcing women to hold weights for an extended period of time and wear humiliating costumes, such as jockstraps and fairy wings. Vicente called the program “horribly demeaning.” In 2016, Sally decided to leave and took her husband and their child with her. Within months, she was diagnosed with stage III and then stage IV breast cancer. By then, the family’s finances had been depleted. Sally estimates that she had spent close to $200,000 on NXIVM coursework and lost out on hundreds of thousands more in unpaid work. (In January, Sally was one of 80 plaintiffs who sued NXIVM and its leaders, calling the group “both a Ponzi scheme and a coercive community,” though she later withdrew from the suit.) After raising more than $42,000 for her cancer treatment through a GoFundMe campaign, Sally said, a NXIVM member told her, “‘The ethical thing to do would be to die instead of taking the GoFundMe money.’” In June 2017, three days after she was declared cancer-free, Sally walked into the Albany FBI office to share what she knew about NXIVM. “I was still feeling the effects of chemo,” she said. “I was sick as a dog, and I was in the FBI.” Kristin Keeffe, who had a child with Raniere before leaving NXIVM in 2014, is considered one of the leading forces in bringing down the organization. She credits Sally as “a key corroborator” who provided the feds with the evidence they needed to file charges. “We were like lone warriors,” Keeffe said. “It was really going against the tide.”

‘OUTSIDE LOOKING IN’

Since returning to Vermont, the Brinks have been trying to rebuild their lives and

NXIVM SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

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depicted him as a cult leader. And a 2012 series by Albany’s Times Union newspaper their family — but NXIVM will not leave described him as a manipulative sex addict them be. who had preyed upon underage girls. “It’s been a struggle for me these past But the Brinks and other former three years to be at the other end of this NXIVM members say they were taught narrative,” Damon Brink said. “There’s by Raniere to distrust the news media this tremendous reach and power of this — and they found that what journalists narrative of this evil thing that I was a reported about their group simply did not part of and I support … In a sense, it’s not square with their observations. true. In a sense, it is true.” “It’s hard to understand for people For her part, Sally is on the outside looking in,” terrified that the publicity said Keeffe, Sally’s fellow her husband sought — and whistleblower. “It seems the tip DCF received — like the issues are so blackcould cost their family even and-white. How could you more than they’ve already not be unilaterally against lost, despite the fact that, this guy?” in her view, she has done Even now, she said, everything in her power many former members are to bring Raniere and his struggling to reconcile their associates to justice. own experiences with what “My life for the past four they have recently learned. F R A N K PA R L AT O years has been cancer, ESP, “It takes a lot of compassion and I just want it to be over to understand that perspecwith,” she said through tears. “I’m finally tive,” Keeffe said. “Many people had a happy for the first time in four years, and really positive experience with NXIVM now this is happening.” and didn’t know some of the things that Brink says he realizes it may be diffi- were happening in secret. And I think cult for his neighbors to understand it’s been hard for people in that category what his family has endured. “I think to process the evidence that came out in it’s reasonable to ask questions and try prosecution.” to figure that out,” he said. “I guess what Asked again whether he may have I think part of the story also is, is how we been — and may still be — brainwashed, handle things that we don’t understand Brink said, “I mean, yeah. It’s possible. or that we disagree with.” I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, Brink concedes that there were and it’s a rabbit hole.” plenty of warning signs he looked right But, he suggested, perhaps he’s not past. Raniere had a checkered past long the only one. “There’s an argument to before founding NXIVM in 1998. New be made that that’s what we do to each York State called an earlier business he other,” he said. “We brainwash each other founded, Consumers’ Buyline, a pyramid and create our own realities. That’s what scheme and shut it down in 1993. Forbes society does, and that’s what culture featured him in a 2003 cover story that does.” m

NXIVM « P.19

I DO NOT THINK DAMON BRINK IS A THREAT TO ANY CHILDREN WHATSOEVER.

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

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OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

OBITUARIES William McHenry Keyser

AUGUST 2, 1952DECEMBER 15, 2020 LAKE WALES, FLA. After struggling with aggressive pneumonia and complications from lifelong diabetes, William McHenry Keyser died peacefully on December 15 with his wife, Virginia, by his side near their new home in Lake Wales, Fla. Mac was born on August 2, 1952, in New Bedford, Mass., near Marion, a treasured place where he spent time every summer with his family. The son of R. Brent Keyser and Helen Angier Keyser, Mac spent his youngest years in his father’s native Baltimore. He attended the Gilman School and the Harvey School and later graduated from Middlesex School, where he was known as a hardworking student and a steady competitor in sports, including soccer, ice hockey and lacrosse. He graduated from New England College in New Hampshire, majoring in business. While attending NEC, his love of music and skiing led to his moonlighting as a disc jockey at the local radio station and working on the ski patrol at nearby Pat’s Peak Mountain. Upon graduating, he moved to Vermont, where he resided for more than 40 years. At an early age, he contracted juvenile diabetes, to which he responded with discipline and fortitude for the rest of his life. He did not allow this disease to slow him down and responded by living his life by his famous motto: “Go fast, take chances.” During summers in Marion, he became an accomplished sailboat racer at the Beverly Yacht Club with a natural hand on the helm and a knack for the preparation and maintenance of his Tempest class boat. Mac loved to tinker, take things apart and make them whole again, usually while helping a friend in need. He seemed to have every tool.

If something needed to be fixed, Mac knew how. He was able to repair his favorite Porsche and his many Saabs, as well as help many friends with their vehicles. He was best known for his ability to work on bikes. Whether you called him “Uncle Mac,” “Mac-a-tack,” “Mackie” or “the Macker,” you knew a bike dropped off for a simple tuneup would be returned spanking clean and perhaps with one or more parts completely rebuilt. The Shelburne Bike Club, established by Mac in the 1980s, continues to this day as the Wednesday Night Riders. For many years, his house was the starting and finishing point for these after-work evening rides, and as friends brought friends, they too became part of the fabric of his life. The long, spectacular Vermont summer evenings provided a memorable backdrop for easy times — rides, food and cold beer. Biking was also a path for exploration for Mac. He led many trips throughout New England, Québec, Canada, and in the U.S., and he helped form the Vermont Iowa Pedalist (VIP) group, which participated in the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI), riding across Iowa on a dozen different Julys. Mac’s biking trips introduced many nieces and nephews to biking, and he made permanent friends along the way. A bachelor for much of his early life, Mac finally gave his heart to Virginia Keyser. Introduced by mutual friends

at an Easter lunch, their courtship included Virginia’s indoctrination to biking, and they were married in August 1996. Mac will be remembered for his love of puzzles and his competitiveness playing backgammon — best played with a mai tai in hand. He looked equally at ease wearing bow ties, cycling spandex or suspenders with his Carhartts. His nieces and nephews fondly recall visits from Uncle Mac, never knowing if he would show up in a sports car or a pickup truck. He was always willing to help another in need. His humor and good nature kindled many loyal friends. His strength and ability to meet his many health challenges stoically and without complaint never wavered, and amazed us all. Over the course of time, however, the wear and tear from his medical conditions presented greater and greater hardships. Virginia was his partner in facing the daily challenges, and they strived to live life to the fullest, doing the things they loved together. Mac always lived his life on his terms, and when his body finally ebbed, he was ready with courage to say goodbye, and he slipped away from us into a calm sleep, perhaps sharing a hint of his smile. He was a remarkable soul and will be remembered and profoundly missed by so many who were fortunate enough to know him. Mac is survived by his wife, Virginia Bartholomew Keyser; his mother, Helen A. Trumbull, and stepfather, Walter H. Trumbull; his sister, Leigh Keyser Phillips (Peter); his brothers, Donald A. Keyser (Anne) and Peter S. Adamson (Mary); and numerous nieces, nephews and godchildren. He was predeceased by his father and his sister, Elizabeth H. Keyser Evans. Given current COVID-19 restrictions, a memorial service will be held in the future. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mac’s memory to his boyhood summer camp, Kieve Wavus Education, P.O. Box 169, Nobleboro, ME 04555 or Local Motion, 1 Steele St., Suite 103, Burlington, VT 05401.

Emerson Frank Blaisdell

NOVEMBER 3, 1935-DECEMBER 19, 2020 ENOSBURG FALLS, VT. Emerson Frank Blaisdell, age 85, passed away on Saturday, December 19, 2020, at the Brownway Residence in Enosburg Falls of natural causes. He was born on November 3, 1935, in Fairfax, Vt., to the late Willard Henry and Izola Ethelyn (Spaulding) Blaisdell. He was the oldest child of six. He attended schools in Enosburg Falls. His working years were spent helping Tom and Eva Lancaster on their farm, which he found was suitable to him and his abilities and which he enjoyed. Emerson is survived by his siblings: Sandra and Robert Lemnah, Kermit and Lois Blaisdell, Patricia Ross, and Deborah and Alan Grandshaw; seven nieces and one nephew: Elizabeth and Stephen Hu, Alisha and Michael Adams, Anissa and Christopher Seguin, Alexa Ross, Aneda Ross, Jesse Grandshaw, Rebekah and Christopher Simays, and Sarah Blaisdell; 10 great-nieces and 11 great-nephews; and three greatgreat-nieces and three great-great-nephews. He is also survived by his special cousin Eva Lancaster. Besides his parents, he was predeceased by his brother Dean Willard Blaisdell in 1959, brother-in-law Ernest Eugene Ross in 2011, and nieces Jennifer Jean Lemnah in 1966 and April Dawn Ross in 1968. He was also predeceased by his cousin Eva’s husband, Tom Lancaster, in 2015. In the last five-plus years, Emerson has

been at Brownway in Enosburg Falls. His family appreciates the wonderful care and interest all the caregivers took involving Emerson. He was very, very happy there, and the caregivers were very attentive. We, his family, cannot say enough good about the care that we experienced for Emerson. Emerson enjoyed and was very pleased with all the cards he received on his 85th birthday in November. He appreciated knowing that people thought about him. Emerson’s family will be holding his life celebration in the spring of 2021. For those who wish, contributions in Emerson’s memory may be made to the Enosburgh Ambulance Service, 83 Sampsonville Rd., Enosburg Falls, VT 05450. Goss Life Celebration Homes is the area’s exclusive provider of life celebration events. Please visit our website to share condolences, photos and favorite memories at gossfs.com.

IN MEMORIAM April Lynn Moore

APRIL 8, 1968-DECEMBER 19, 2019, HINESBURG, VT. We are still reeling from the reality that you are gone. The pain and loss are unimaginable. We are trying to learn how to live without you by our side. Sometimes we are able to soothe the rawness of our pain with memories of you. Your light, love, and laughter live on within each of us, but there are no words to describe the heartache of being without you. We love you. David, Stephen & Nick, Mom & Dad, Darcey, Lisa, Ryan & Coleby

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OBITUARIES Virginia L. Sweetser

KANSAS CITY, MO. (FORMERLY OF ESSEX JUNCTION, VT.) JUNE 29, 1981DECEMBER 11, 2020

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

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OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

9/12/19 3:05 PM

On December 11, 2020, heaven gained an angel when our beautiful Ginny lost her battle with PTSD. Virginia L. Sweetser was born in Berlin, Vt., in 1981 to Susan and Gene Sweetser and was raised in Worcester and Essex, Vt. She was a 1999 graduate of Essex High School and the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid, N.Y., where she was the fiercest of hockey players, skating every day in the Herb Brooks Olympic Arena. She served as a legislative page in the Vermont legislature and was invited to attend Girls’ State. She attended the University of Vermont and Saint Michael’s College before transferring to University of Missouri - Kansas City, where she received her BA and then her master’s in social work. She was also a graduate of the Police Academy. As a licensed clinical social worker in Missouri and Kansas, she worked with sexual assault victims and children. She was a mentor and counselor to many. She volunteered thousands of hours at the Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault while in college and then joined them professionally as a counselor after earning her degree. She also taught Master of Social Work students at the University of Missouri - KC. Virginia specialized in sand tray therapy and wrote her master’s thesis on it. She made a difference in the lives of countless people. Ginny was also a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, having served with the 443rd Transportation Co., Fort Riley and deployed to Iraq, stationed in Tikrit at FOB Speicher. Sgt. Ginny, or “Sweets,” as she was known, drove the HETs

for the Army and traveled in or led many convoys in Iraq during the early phase of OIF 2003 to 2005. She witnessed war, and it rarely left her. She was later a member of the Vermont Army National Guard Headquarters 1/86th FA. Ginny built many dollhouses, most of which she donated to needy children. She loved her Jeep and her off-roading friends. She recently took up sky-diving and found serenity in that. And she was continuing the Vermont Sweetser family tradition as a basketmaking apprentice with her dad. She was a world traveler who visited many global locations with her family and her friends. She was proud of the internship she secured at Mediamark Research that took her to New York City for six months as a St. Mike’s student and provided her with a little apartment in Gramercy Park. She skied on the Smugglers’ Notch Racing Team and then became a snowboarder. She loved to dance and hike, and she was an accomplished equestrian and tennis player. She loved critters. She had 17,000 followers on TikTok. Virginia was a friend to many and a fighter for those without a voice. She stood up for her beliefs and helped those who did not have the strength to stand. As a child, she would spend hours on the phone with crime victims, just listening to them when they phoned her parents’ home. She loved her family and friends beyond words. She helped her Pop-pop when he battled cancer and helped

her Nunu when that battle was lost. She was the best sister Francesca and Caitria Sands could ask for — surprising them at their rugby games and graduations. She was their best friend and their protector. They looked up to her for everything and had a special bond that only true sisters could have. Left to remember her beautiful soul are her parents, Susan and Gene; her beloved Nunu Crete Williams; her sisters Francesca Sands and Caitria Sands; her sister Analei Campbell; her former spouse, Monica Wheeler, and her in-laws, Joni and Mike Wheeler; her soul sister Nicole Murray; her stepfather David Sands; her aunt Cathy and uncle Bob Lahm; her uncle Bobby Williams; her many cousins, including Bill and Kelli Ogden and Michael Ogden; her four cats; and many more family, friends, mentees and people whose lives she made a difference in. A memorial service was held in Kansas City, Mo. In lieu of flowers, we request that you consider a contribution to a scholarship fund for women veterans that will be established in Ginny’s name. Contributions may be made online at everloved.com/lifeof/virginia-sweetser. Since Stargazer lilies were Ginny’s favorite, please plant some Stargazer bulbs in the spring in your garden and think of Ginny every year they bloom. A celebration of life will occur in Ginny’s home state of Vermont in the spring, and she will be buried in the Vermont Veterans Cemetery in Randolph. Our hearts are broken.

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Bruce Scott Campbell

OBITUARIES

NOVEMBER 17, 1957-DECEMBER 17, 2020 SHELBURNE, VT.

Joseph Edward Hasazi DECEMBER 18,1943-DECEMBER 8, 2020 SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT.

Joseph Edward Hasazi, 76, of South Burlington passed away on December 8, 2020, after a yearlong battle with cancer. Even as the disease and treatment wreaked their havoc and the pandemic required Joe to quarantine, he remained positive and was a source of joy and connection for his family and many friends. This was consistent with who Joe was throughout his life: a beloved father, husband, brother, cousin, uncle, mentor, colleague and friend who invested in relationships the way others do in stocks or gold. Friends and family were the most valued currency in his life, and those of us who were beneficiaries of his love and support are devastated by his death. Joe grew up in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., an only child until his parents surprised him with a little sister, Kris, whom he adored and shared a special bond with despite their 22-year age difference. He received his higher education at the University of Miami, where he earned his PhD in psychology and met his soul mate Susan who predeceased him 19 months ago after 51 years of marriage. In 1970, he was hired by the University of Vermont psychology department, and he and Susan moved to Vermont, where they built a community of friends who became family and excelled in their respective careers. In 1986, when Joe was 43, their daughter Sarah was born, and Joe had a second soul mate. An attentive, proud father, Joe ensured that Sarah grew up surrounded by love and had a life full of opportunity. Loyalty and steadfastness were among Joe’s defining qualities and what made him a role model for so many who knew him. When Susan was diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease 37 years into their marriage, he devoted himself to her care until the day she died, with him by her side. When Sarah moved away from Vermont at 18, they talked on the phone every day, and Joe visited her frequently in the different cities where she lived to do the things he loved best: attend jazz shows, see plays, eat at the best restaurants and spend time with his beloved daughter. For much of his career, Joe was an educator, but he was both a teacher and a student outside of academia, as well — curious about the world and the people he met, asking questions about our lives, and generously sharing his knowledge and advice, which were abundant and uncomplicated but never unsolicited. And he taught us through example how to live a full life. With Susan and later Sarah, too, he traveled the world, living abroad in Portugal and Italy at different points. He could be counted on to find the hot new restaurant in any city he visited but was also known by first name at his favorite

spots in Vermont. He celebrated all the holidays, from Easter to Passover to Hanukkah to Christmas, as well as nearly half a century of Thanksgivings spent with his and Susan’s dear friends the Floods. Joe loved both good food and music and enjoyed nothing more than playing for friends an album he’d discovered over a classic cocktail and wheel of Harbison. In the last month of his life, he curated a playlist of his 100 favorite songs, which range from Chance the Rapper to Chet Baker and reflect both Joe’s taste and how cool he was, as loved by his daughter’s young friends as he was by colleagues and contemporaries. Joe was a highly successful psychologist, advocate and educator whose career was not driven by ambition nor defined by money. As in life, at work Joe followed his interests and made the world a better place — by connecting with individuals, educating communities and helping improve the systems that scaffold our lives. His professional accomplishments are too long to list here, but highlights include the 30 years he spent at the University of Vermont, where, over the course of his tenure, he was able to secure millions of dollars in funding for his work on developmental-disability research and practice. He dedicated much of his career to the deinstitutionalization of people with developmental disabilities, which he viewed as a social justice issue. A gifted mentor, he served as the primary adviser for dozens of UVM graduate students, including Al Vecchione, who was not only Joe’s student but also his colleague and among his closest friends. Together the two worked for decades to ensure that people who previously had been viewed as unable to live in the community were provided the support, evidence-based services and love they needed to do so. Also while at UVM, Joe helped create a multidisciplinary child development center that offered services never before seen in the state and ultimately became the Vermont model for preschools. He advocated for the state’s first licensing law for psychologists, which was passed in 1976, and served as chair of the licensing board formed as part of the law, the Board of Psychological Examiners, from 1980 to 1985. He also served as the first

chair of the American Psychological Association’s Continuing Education Program, a subject dear to his heart. To support the continuing education of Vermont practitioners and provide them access to world-renowned experts, in 1996 he cofounded the Vermont Trauma Institute with his colleague and dear friend Elliott Benay, with whom Joe spoke almost daily for the 45 years of their friendship. Upon his retirement from UVM in 2000, Joe went into private practice with a specialty in forensic psychology. In this role, he continued to strive for justice as an expert witness who connected deeply with those on whose behalf he was testifying, as well as jurors, lawyers and judges. Joe received many accolades and awards throughout his 50-year career, but he was most proud of the Fulbright Scholarship he won in 1985, which allowed him to teach and conduct research in Lisbon, Portugal, and a 2007 award he co-earned from the Vermont Psychological Association for outstanding contributions to the field of psychology in Vermont. Joe believed the world could and should be a better and more equitable place. His favorite sport was politics, and he was not shy about sharing his views, whether in Facebook posts, the comments section of news articles or conversations around the dinner table. The universe’s parting gift to him was the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, which he witnessed with joy and relief a month before his death and celebrated with a glass of good Burgundy. Two months before Joe died, Sarah and her husband, CJ, moved in to care for him. Relieved from the side effects of treatment, he spent this time making political donations; adding songs to his playlist; enjoying elaborate meals prepared by his best friend and next-door neighbor, Chrysanne Chotas; and lovingly ribbing the family he’d been forced by the pandemic to live apart from for seven months. Just as Joe demonstrated for his beloveds how to live well, he showed us how to die, too — with dignity, grace and a sense of humor, surrounded by the people we love. Joe is survived by his daughter, Sarah, and her husband, CJ Walsh; his sister, Kris Morrison, and her husband, Jeff; numerous cousins and nieces; as well as the many friends he counted as family. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Joe’s name to the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization doing great work on issues important to him, including disability rights, racial justice and immigration. His family plans to throw a party next summer to celebrate Joe the way he would have wanted: eating delicious food and drinking great wine, sharing stories and dancing, and listening to his playlist.

Bruce died peacefully at home after having been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a terminal brain tumor, 14 months earlier. Like the sand irritant that creates the pearl, Bruce’s journey through the relentlessly challenging universe of terminal illness clarified the dignity of this inherently noble yet humble man. Bruce was born and raised in Indianapolis — an Eagle Scout, a National Merit Scholar — but felt like he really came home when he made his way to Manhattan as a young adult. He had a gift for finding the really good-quality things, whether it was a piece of music, a theatrical performance or an eccentric friend. Although he made his living in corporate communications and had a fulfilling, rich career at Ciba Geigi, Ernst & Young, Keurig Green Mountain, and Tesaro, he was, at heart, an artist. He produced radio programs for public radio, wrote plays that were produced in Manhattan and Indiana, played piano beautifully, produced an independent feature film, was a wonderful singer (who surprised his wife at their wedding reception by singing two love songs, which he had secretly been rehearsing for weeks), and was a gifted actor who loved the theater through and through and performed widely, especially after moving to his beloved Vermont 14 years ago. Bruce had this exceptional ability to clarify things. He would be silent in the midst of a prolonged debate, and then say something that was stunningly precise and clarifying, using only as many words as necessary. He was utterly trustworthy and, though gifted in so many ways, never arrogant or dismissive of his plainspoken Midwestern roots. He was a steady, strong, wise and witty father to his beloved two sons and a treasure to his wife of 30 years. At 61, he learned he had about a year to live. In the ensuing months, he never complained but did say he was sad that he wasn’t going to get more of the life he wholeheartedly loved. He was a deeply spiritual man who found great comfort and wisdom in the Christian mystical tradition and Buddhist teachings. When asked how he felt knowing he would die soon, he responded, “I am astonished and alert.” His last coherent statement, as the tumor was just about done ravishing his brain and body, was, “I have always wanted to immerse myself in glorious faraway places, but I feel constrained.” Now, though we miss him beyond words, he is free. He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; sons Ian and Jesse; and sister Bari, who are all deeply grateful for the kind and competent care given him by Dr. Alissa Thomas, Dr. Bruce Tranmer and the gifted University of Vermont hospice staff. Donations in Bruce’s memory may be made to Special Olympics Vermont (specialolympicsvermont.org) or Heartbeet Life Sharing, a community for adults with intellectual abilities (heartbeet.org). A celebration of Bruce’s life will be held at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, via Zoom, on Saturday, January 2, at 1 p.m. See Zoom invitation below. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85735603992?pwd=SWx OUjI5NzYwenZLNjlGUkFERXRYQT09 SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

FEED back « P.7

and Services at Home noted, these times are especially tough for older folks, who disproportionately struggle with loneliness and isolation. I do want to offer one correction, though: The writer described SASH as a program that helps “the elderly” and adults with special needs who live independently. In fact, SASH is available to anyone who receives Medicare — most often, people age 65 and up. Well, that covers me, and thank you, but I am not “elderly.” This vague, catchall term is overused and, frankly, meaningless. I have friends and relatives in their seventies and eighties — and even nineties! — who are active and involved in more things than I was in my fifties. I suggest it is time to toss this term in the trash as one small step in combating the “ism” that people have yet to rally against: ageism. Deborah Bouton

BURLINGTON

Bouton is director of communications and outreach at Cathedral Square, which administers the Support and Services at Home program.

CHOOSE WISELY

[Re “The Big Jab,” December 9]: Dr. Mark Levine, Vermont’s health commissioner, offered good advice in his COVID-19 update on June 17: “Armed with information, and weighing the risks against the benefits, make your choices wisely,” Levine said. This is appropriate and sound advice. A certain level of risk in our lives is accepted as necessary to achieve benefits, such as driving a car — a risk most of us have accepted. Taking medicine to help with our health is something we are also used to doing. We understand that the risk of taking an aspirin for a headache, or blood pressure medication to help control hypertension, is small but worth the benefit. Do not make your choices out of fear or haste. Rick Levey

NORTH FAYSTON

DIVISIVE COMMENTS

[Re Off Message: “At Caucus, Burlington Democrats Offer Counter to Progressives’ ‘Extreme Ideologies,’” December 6]: Holy Dem-o-Crap, Weinberger! Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger seems to think that “Progressive” equals “nut job” with a comment like, “As the Democratic Party 24

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

TOBACCO ADS — NOW?

My parents have read Seven Days since I was little, and even though I just graduated from college, I am also quite fond of the paper. I think Seven Days has a reputation for thorough investigative journalism and does a great job of capturing Vermont’s outdoorsy and adventurous spirit. However, when I was reading the December 16 issue, I saw something disappointing: on page 59, a full-page cigarette ad. Not only that, but a fullpage ad during a pandemic. Considering the skyrocketing number of deaths in the United States due to COVID-19, a virus that impacts the respiratory tract, I do not understand the thought behind including this advertisement. I find it very upsetting that Seven Days would accept an advertisement promoting smoking cigarettes, knowing how detrimental smoking is to one’s health. This advertisement leads me to believe that Seven Days does not have Vermonters’ best interests at heart and also makes me question the thought process behind including this ad. I expect more from Seven Days and hope to see a change in the future. Leah McCleary BURLINGTON

LOCAL LUCKY STRIKE?

Does Seven Days have guidelines around advertising — size, verbiage, location, company? The recent full-page ad for cigarettes from a national brand, Lucky Strike, was very unexpected when flipping through the paper. I am sending this because I think Seven Days holds itself to a higher standard and that allowing this

has been establishing itself both locally and nationally as a party committed to helping people through policy and progress that are based in science, data and expertise, today’s Burlington Progressive Party has been moving in a different, rigid, ideological direction.” He certainly has not learned to tone down the rhetoric and reach across to Progressives who may vote for him. Comments like that are divisive and beyond insulting. Boy, could I compile a long list of his misguided directions that Weinberger’s “science, experience and data” have landed us in! Come on, Mayor, don’t sink to that level. We expect more from a mayor and any city official! Patrick Johnson

BURLINGTON

full-page national ad with no mention of where to buy locally was an oversight. Before sending this, I tried finding company values online, but I could not find them. Maybe I am off base thinking Seven Days deeply values local? As a reader, I am not sure what Seven Days values other than what I can infer, and that is muddied with this ad. Caitlin Pascucci

BURLINGTON

Editor’s note: Seven Days has championed all things local since our first issue on September 6, 1995. National advertising, although welcome, has been a rarity in our pages; generally speaking, media buyers at large advertising agencies view Vermont as a very small market. Wherever the ads come from, they help support our award-winning, community-based journalism and all of the local businesses and nonprofits with which we routinely partner. We do not censor ad content — unless the client is promoting hate, violence or an illegal product. Nor do we dictate what businesses can say in their paid advertisements — unless it’s blatant misinformation. We recently rejected a full-page ad that discouraged mask wearing. Seven Days targets an 18-plus audience, and the average age of our readers is 41 — old enough to make informed decisions about consuming regulated products such as tobacco, beer, wine and spirits. The paper is a forum for free speech and a reflection of the diversity of desires and beliefs in our community. We’ve recently put our advertising policy online at sevendaysvt.com/advertising-policy.

NO VACCINE FOR ME

The great thing about the current medical crisis is the wealth of real science available online. In the letter titled “Pseudo-Science Lesson” [Feedback, December 9], the writer questions people’s sources and reasons for refusing vaccination. The World Health Organization recently published a peerreviewed study by Stanford professor John Ioannidis based on eight months of data showing the death rate and hospitalization rate for COVID-19 to be nearly identical to the seasonal flu. Ioannidis is Harvard University-trained in infectious disease and epidemiology. COVID-19 has killed only 100 children under 18, and people under 65 have a 99.86 percent survival rate.

The No. 3 cause of death in the U.S. is from prescription medicine. Pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer have paid billions of dollars to settle lawsuits for fraud, wrongful death and bribery. Big Pharma is currently twice as big a lobbying presence in Washington, D.C., as the military-industrial complex. Standards and methods for testing new medicines have been diluted constantly over the past 20 years, thanks to the lobbying of Big Pharma. In 2009, during testing for an H1N1 vaccine, labs were unable to kill a mouse, a ferret or a monkey with swine flu, so animal testing was bypassed. The swine flu vaccine was a disaster, causing irreparable harm to over 1,000 people. Vaccine compliance by health care workers has been between 50 and 80 percent over the last 10 years. I will not be taking a vaccine based on this science, and forced medication should not be part of any democratic government’s plan. Peter Garritano

CHARLOTTE

HOLY COVID

I must respond to the self-satisfied comments made by Todd Callahan and George Lawson in the article regarding their decisions to disregard the health and safety of their congregations and communities [“When State Meets Church,” December 2]. Their churches “don’t do masks”? I am wondering if Lawson and Callahan would implore their congregants to stay and pray in a church in which there was a gas leak, or to continue assembling as saints in a church flooded with raw sewage. The spread of COVID-19 is a reality, more than 100 people dead in Vermont is a reality, and more than 300,000 dead nationwide is a reality, and I don’t think anyone’s Jesus would have them spread disease and death for the sake of sticking with comfortable routines and conveniences. No one is going to end up “standing in hell” for trying to keep others and themselves safe from disease. Wearing a mask doesn’t make you a sinner. I get the sense from my understanding of Christianity that easing the suffering of others is central to its belief system — not making people ill and putting them in the hospital. I thought that giving of yourself, making sacrifices in a time of need for the sake of others, was part of this belief system. These churches are creating health and safety problems not only for their own congregations, but for everyone in their communities. “Laying hands on the sick” is about easing suffering, not creating it. Rachel Daley

CHARLOTTE

TEACHER’S RECOMMENDATION

examine your privilege when putting the onus of dealing with the said anti-masker on the low-wage worker standing behind the counter. You decided to leave. That worker didn’t have that privilege. Across the nation, low-wage workers have been putting their health and the health of their loved ones at risk to provide “essential” services like vanilla lattes. We cannot ask them to also risk their safety and enforce the law. That is not their job. They are doing enough already. Meg Hoffmann

BURLINGTON

NEXT TIME, DISCLOSE

home design real estate

[Re “After Public Health Crisis, Vermont State Colleges System Charts a Difficult Course,” April 29]: Since the Vermont State Colleges System, the Vermont legislature and Gov. Phil Scott’s administration seem unlikely to find an alternative solution to shuttering Northern Vermont University and Vermont Technical College, perhaps this plan would work. The plan is based largely on my experiences within the VSC and continuing concern about its viability. I taught at VTC for 20 years and earned a master of studies in natural sciences at Lyndon State College, took education courses at Castleton before it became a university, and pursued one or two peripheral credits at the Community College of Vermont over my 47 years in Vermont. My vision involves close cooperation with another major, taxpayer-supported Vermont educational institution: the University of Vermont. The vision: Move some or all of the agricultural programs from UVM to VTC’s rural and fully equipped, but relatively unused, Randolph Center campus. Tie the VTC technology programs in Williston to UVM, thereby allowing students the option of earning a VTC associate of applied science degree or continuing on in a UVM engineering program for a bachelor’s. Transfer all or most nursing programs from VTC in Randolph Center to Castleton University. Designate NVU in Lyndon for specialization in science and science-teaching programs and NVU in Johnson for specializations such as journalism, literature, music and fine arts. Define CCV’s role as preparatory and remedial education for Vermont high school graduates who are motivated but not fully ready for undergraduate rigors. The CCV mission could also include that of VTC’s former pre-tech discipline. WINTER 2020-21

Nice piece on Vermont architects [Nest: “Sustainable by Design,” December 16]! Regarding the inclusion of politics in your story, I was intimately involved in the bill last year and Gov. Phil Scott’s subsequent veto. It was a bit more complicated than indicated in the piece, mostly because the legislation being pushed by Rep. Amy Sheldon (D-Middlebury) — who is the spouse of the featured firm’s principal in the story — created exemptions for developers and architects that would have further degraded water quality and impaired high elevation habitat. The story would have been improved had it noted Sheldon’s relationship to Vermont Inte grated Architecture, her spouse’s firm. Of course, I would be happy to speak at greater length with you or refer you to others who had front-row seats to the corporate corruption being passed off as environmental protection. There are many who challenge the notion that the problem created by growth can be solved with yet more growth and consumption.

widespread voter fraud occurred, especially in swing states, during the November presidential election. If the election has been intentionally subverted, then this is very scary news, as it means that any very-well-funded minority interest could literally overthrow our country’s Constitution. Today, polls show that half of the country’s voters do not trust our voting systems or the election results and that even 30 percent of Democrats nationwide think the election was stolen. This is a horrible situation for a democracy, especially one that claims to hold the worldwide standard. At this time in our nation’s history, we need to do whatever it takes to make our election systems robust and trustworthy to the vast majority of citizens. To do otherwise supports a future in which whoever wins can care less about engendering the people’s trust and care more about increasing their own power and control.

James Ehlers

Robert Fireovid

Inside a Winooski man cave of wonders

Hi, refi! Vermonters act on low interest rates

Plant swappers spread joy during the pandemic

Architects design with the climate in mind

A lockdowninspired apartment makeover

Getting fired up about kachelöfens

WINOOSKI

Joseph Whelan

MONTPELIER

‘NOT THEIR JOB’

I sympathize with Barbara Zucker’s recent encounter with an anti-masker in Dunkin’ Donuts [Feedback: “Follow the Law,” December 2]. These people are at best infuriating and at worst dangerous. However, I would kindly ask you to

KEVIN MCCALLUM

WEEK IN REVIEW

ELECTION FRAUD?

Why did your December 14 article [Off Message: “Vermont Casts Its Three Electoral College Votes for Biden and Harris”] include the statement “President Donald Trump continued his attempt to subvert results of the election”? There is credible evidence that

State senator-elect Kesha Ram casting an Electoral College vote

SOUTH HERO

Editor’s note: President Donald Trump’s claims of widespread voter fraud have been rejected by dozens of judges, as well as election officials of both political stripes.

ANOTHER KACHELÖFEN LOVER

[Re Nest: “Feeling the Heat,” December 16]: Sometimes it’s really important to

focus on the simple practicalities of daily life and the impacts those items or actions have on a grander scale. Heating one’s home is one of those, especially here in the Northeast. How we choose to do this daily cold-season task has repercussions on a global scale. I was thrilled to see Dan Bolles’ piece about the kachelöfen, or masonry stove. They are indeed wonderful. We actually have two in our home. They were built in 1985 by Canadian Norbert Senf, who developed his unique formula for putting together components and building on-site. His motivation was to find an environmentally friendly heating system. And they are just about the best — but that’s another story that I’ll write someday. At the time, construction of our stove was said to be the first in Vermont. Who knows? Now 35 years old, with only one repair of a couple cracked bricks a decade ago, these stoves still serve. I wish there were many more, but, as Bolles points out, they can be expensive. Although, like anything, there are various styles and models, from the fancy kachelöfen to the Tulikivi to our more “homemade” version made with local materials. But considering there’s only been the one $200 repair in 35 years, what’s really expensive? I wouldn’t have any other system. Kimberly Hagen

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TURNING THE PAGE Welcome to the Winter Reading Issue

CULT FOLLOWING

FORMER VERMONT POET LAUREATE CHARD DENIORD,

but also exhibits “a great deal of Black joy,” according to reviewer Melanie Goodreaux.

PAGE 13

BURLINGTON POET STEPHEN CRAMER

knows precisely where to find joy of his own: in a bottle of hot sauce. His latest collection, The Hot Sauce Madness Love Burn Suite (page 42), is “informative, laugh-out-loud funny in places and more thoughtprovoking than one might expect from a food-themed collection of verse,” Melissa Pasanen writes. Cramer’s book isn’t the only food-related read worth indulging in this year. Pasanen also grilled five local foodies on their GO-TO

SEVEN DAYS VT.CO M 23-30 , 2020 VOL.2 6 NO.13 NT VOICE DECEM BER VERM ONT’S INDEP ENDE

othing beats curling up with a good book somewhere cozy in the winter. That should be especially true this winter as we collectively hunker down and wait our turn for the coronavirus vaccines and for warmer, hopefully pandemic-free days ahead. But many of us have already plowed though our nightstand stacks over the past nine months of isolation, leaving us with a pressing question: What to read? Fortunately, Vermont authors have not stopped churning out fresh tales to keep us entertained, informed and enlightened this year. If anything, pandemic downtime appears to have delivered an abundance of new offerings. You’ll find evidence of that productivity in the following pages. With author interviews, profiles and reviews, Seven Days covers a broad swath of literary terrain all year. We’ve highlighted a selection of STAFF PICKS OF 2020 (page 40), and that list could have been much longer. For still more suggestions, check out our SHORT TAKES ON 10 BOOKS (page 28). Poetry was especially vital in 2020. One of the state’s greats,

Vermonter can’t shake NXIVM

released In My Unknowing (page 36), a collection of and for the times. Reviewer Benjamin Aleshire, a poet himself, says the book “confronts the terror, confusion and grace of mortality

COOKBOOKS TO READ, NOT JUST COOK WITH (page 46). Food writer Jordan

DETECTIVE COMICS

PAGE 38

hic series Howard Norman writes grap

PEPPERY PAEANS

PAGE 42

e poetry

Stephen Cramer’s hot sauc

COZY CUISINE

PAGE 48

Classic comfort food recip

Barry and veteran cookbook editor Rux Martin dished on the COMFORT FOOD COOKBOOKS AND RECIPES that bring back poignant memories for them (page 48). You may have heard that Vermont has seen a modest influx of new residents in recent months. Newly Middlebury-based writer, comedian and palindromist MARK SALTVEIT OFFERS HIS OBSERVATIONS as a Portland, Ore., transplant in a lively essay (page 32). Finally, veteran Vermont AUTHOR HOWARD NORMAN AND

have collaborated on a graphic novel series called Detective Levy Detects (page 38). The noir-style mystery is set in Montpelier and should satisfy Norman fans wishing he’d write another novel. ILLUSTRATOR ANNIE BAKST

— but rather than prescribe answers, the poems ruminate on possible meanings, searching for signs.” Dynamic new poetic voices emerged this year, as well. Northern Vermont

University-Johnson student and basketball player DEVYN THOMPSON RELEASED HER DEBUT BOOK, Soul (page 34), in which the young Baltimore, Md., native “explores the struggle and pain of Black existence”

DAN BO LLE S

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

arts news

The Inland Sea Sam Clark, Rootstock Publishing, 290 pages. $16.95.

[H]e had taken to the water, to boats, fishing, and every other activity that can be done on a big lake.

Short Takes on 10 Vermont Books B Y D A N B O LLES, C HEL SEA E DG A R , MA R GA R ET G RAYSON, M AR GO T HA R R I SO N, KEN P I C AR D , PA MEL A POLST ON & K RI S TEN R AV I N

even Days writers can’t possibly read, much less review, all the books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a team of jingling reindeer pulling a sleigh. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize each book just a little and quote a single representative sentence from, yes, page 32. Inclusion here implies neither approval nor derision on our part, but simply: Here are a bunch of books, arranged alphabetically by authors’ names, that Seven Days readers might like to know about. And this month, because Santa brought us so many books, we’re giving you a double helping.

Take It on Faith Bradley A.F., self-published, 337 pages. $12.99.

Noting multiple ear piercings and black fingernails as a sign that Jexe had a non-conformist streak, Valerie leaned in. When Jexe, a transgender woman and lifelong metal fan, moves to small-town Vermont to teach troubled kids, she hopes to find an environment more accepting than her ultra-religious Midwestern origins. To her surprise, the publicly funded school is steeped in conservative Catholicism. Jexe’s use of death metal lyrics in the classroom soon has her colleagues calling her a demonic influence, even as a figure from the past threatens her new life. The psychological acuity and wit of this novel propelled me past page 32 and all the way to the end. In addition to sensitively portraying Jexe’s search for love and self-acceptance, Lamoille County-based BRADLEY A.F. creates antagonists who aren’t “Church Lady”-style stereotypes. Especially memorable is Father Donnelly, who drowns his genuine soul searching in a daily bottle or three of vino and “didn’t think he had an age-related cognitive decline. Rather he had more of an age-related giving a shit decline.” Faith has many forms in this nuanced take on the coming-out story. M . H.

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

Builder and cabinetmaker SAM CLARK is based in Plainfield, but his intimate knowledge of northwestern Vermont — specifically its waters — prevails like a central character in The Inland Sea. Though Clark has penned several books on design, this is his first mystery novel. Make that mysteries: Clark’s plot — and Detective Fred Davis’ conundrum — centers on a missing man who is presumed to have drowned 18 years earlier. That is, until he turns up freshly murdered on Lake Champlain’s Osprey Island. Why did Paul Brearley walk out on his wife and son, what was he doing for all those years, and why did he return to the family camp in the winter? Moreover, who killed him and why? (Oddly, Clark reveals much of this in early chapters, but a crew of Vermont detectives still has to figure it out.) Like fellow Vermont author ARCHER MAYOR, Clark dives deeply into his characters’ psyches and employs rich observations of place. The Inland Sea is a promising debut, and this reader hopes for a return of Det. Davis. P.P.

The Last Summer of Flossie Underoak Gary D. Hillard, self-published, 127 pages. $9.95.

I found the story unsettling, hinting as it did at a darkness inside the marmot race. Flossie Underoak has led a simple yet full marmot life. She has been a good mother to her 31 pups, passing down the folklore by which all marmots are raised, and she keeps a tidy burrow under a very old oak tree. But as she approaches the twilight of her marmot years, she finds herself wrestling with some big questions, such as: What is the meaning of marmot existence? According to his bio, retired teacher and prolific author GARY D. HILLARD “loves marmots,” which seems like an understatement. The Last Summer of Flossie Underoak imagines an entire marmot universe, complete with marmot gender politics (“I don’t know what it is about male Marmots that makes them feel like king of the castle,” Flossie muses) and a marmot literary canon that serves to uphold a (spoiler alert: tenuous!) marmot status quo. C .E

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If Ever I Find You…If I Ever Find You! Robert Karp, self-published, 286 pages. $13.95.

He wasn’t sure why, but her aggressive affect encouraged Dark to want to try to find a way to remind her of the risks of over confidence. Lt. Donald Dark of the Vermont State Police is leading the investigation of a fellow trooper gunned down on a Lamoille County road. A former narcotics officer who came to doubt his efficacy against Vermont’s drug epidemic, Dark can’t shake the feeling that something about this case isn’t right. Worse, he’s obsessed with the attractive, mysterious lawyer who bailed out his suspect — whose only crime, she argues, was driving the wounded officer to the hospital. It’s unclear whether the Williston-based author, an emeritus faculty member at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine, saw Donnie Darko before choosing his protagonist’s name. But Karp, author of three previous books, clearly enjoys colorful monikers: His combative defense attorney is Alice Madstern. Readers of gritty crime novels will spot some obvious flaws in Karp’s latest — notably, that no accused cop killer would be released on bail, let alone permitted to leave the state. Nevertheless, it’s encouraging to see the good doctor, a retired geriatrician, keeping both his mind and ours active by spinning local whodunits. K. P.

The Death of Faefolk Anne-Marie Keppel, self-published, 172 pages. $7.99.

We’ve been keeping her body cool as best we can in this heat so we can bury her in the morning. Billed as an “Irish American Faerie Tale,” The Death of Faefolk is death doula ANNE-MARIE KEPPEL’s latest effort to help people come to terms with and even find beauty in death. Following the Northeast Kingdom-based author’s first book, which was a more straightforward guide to caring for dying people, this novel introduces five young people who come together after the untimely demise of a stray dog they all cared for. The story is set in some kind of parallel present, where there are SUVs but no cellphones, and includes forays into a magical land called Lantern Leaf. It’s packed with unsubtle social justice messages (“The whole town has done racial sensitivity training … We’re safe,” a young girl reassures her mother in the first chapter) and mentions of sustainable products, reiki and meditation. Keppel demonstrates considerable creativity in advancing her goals of death education and normalization. M.G.

PAGE 32

» P.30

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arts news I’m Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen

Page 32 « P.29

Ray Padgett, Bloomsbury Academic, 168 pages. $14.95.

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Trojan Horse S. Lee Manning, Encircle Publications, 330 pages. $17.99

“He was born in Russia, but he’s very much an American.”

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In Trojan Horse by S. LEE MANNING, Kolya Petrov, the Russian-born American described in the page 32 quotation, is tracking a bad man: Mihai Cuza. We know Cuza is bad because he’s suspected of plotting meltdowns of nuclear power plants around the world. And, he’s a direct descendant of Vlad the Impaler. Why more international espionage thrillers don’t invoke Dracula remains a mystery, because it’s a nifty device in this briskly paced and explosive novel. The first in a series starring Pe t r o v, M a n n i n g ’s d e b u t announces the Elmore author as a creative new voice in the genre. D.B.

It’s a neat gig, covering cover songs. And Burlington-based RAY PADGETT has made it into an art form and mission. In 2007, he launched the blog Cover Me. That led to his 2017 book Cover Me: The Stories Behind the Greatest Cover Songs of All Time Time; each of its 19 chapters explores the backstory of an iconic remake (e.g., Joe Cocker’s “With a Little Help From My Friends”). So Padgett was a natural to tackle the landmark tribute album I’m Your Fan: The Songs of Leonard Cohen. Rolling Stone declared Bloomsbury Academic’s 33 1/3 series “ideal for the rock geek who thinks liner notes just aren’t enough.” Indeed. For a book that measures less than five by seven inches, I’m Your Fan is a formidable trove of deeply researched facts. Padgett explains the emergence and evolution of the tribute album before diving into the 1991 French-produced record featuring popular artists of the time. Its laudatory treatment of Cohen’s songs resuscitated his career and elevated “Hallelujah” to standard status (John Cale performs it on the album). Cohen fans will want to jump down this rabbit hole. P.P.

Concrete and Culture Robby Porter, Bar Nothing Books, 461 pages. $16.

The blues didn’t save me but music did, in a way. is very Vermont. He’s a furniture maker and renewable energy entrepreneur. He contributes essays and op-eds to VTDigger. org on topics from hunting to the failings of capitalism. In writing Concrete and Culture, an essay collection and his second book, he set out on a mission to record everything he knew. Porter writes the introduction in the form of a letter to his children: “Stories are perhaps the most enduring human creations … After 53 trips around the sun, this is what I’ve got.” In the essay that includes our page 32 sentence, he explores his attempts to make music with various instruments and the freedom he found thereby to make mistakes. Other topics include “How to Split Wood,” “Vegetarianism,” “The Purpose of Life” and “What Food Will You Bring to the Potluck?” If you need more dad advice in your life, this book is for you. ROBBY PORTER

M.G.

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The Lion Queens of India Jan Reynolds, Lee & Low Books, 32 pages. $18.95.

When we can save any wild species, we sustain the entire beautiful web of life on our planet, which in turn supports us all. has been around the world documenting her experiences for publications such as National Geographic, as well as her own books for kids and adults. In her new children’s book The Lion Queens of India, the Stowe-based author, photographer and mountaineer takes young readers to Gir National Park, a wildlife sanctuary in western India. Geared toward kiddos ages 6 to 8, The Lion Queens of India is chock-full of color photos of people, animals and scenery snapped by Reynolds and others. The globetrotting writer describes efforts to preserve the endangered Asiatic lion — a species once abundant in southern Europe and southwest Asia — through the eyes of real-life forest ranger and “Lion Queen” Rashila Vadher. The short book gives a name and a face to the conservation effort and offers age-appropriate lessons in geography, ecology and culture. Educators: Check out the teacher’s guide on the publisher’s website for discussion questions and activities. JAN REYNOLDS

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A covered bridge with the roadway supported by steel or timber beams (stringers) underneath the roadway that go in the same direction as the roadway is not an authentic covered bridge. Woe be to the flatlander who dares label a covered bridge authentic when its stringers are strung in the wrong direction. Here in Vermont, we have rules about that sort of thing — literally, as it turns out. These and other nifty revelations fill historian RICHARD B. SMITH’s latest book, Vermont Firsts and Other Claims to Fame. A current Vermont Historical Society trustee and former Manchester Historical Society president explores the myriad ways in which Vermont is historically unique, with an eye toward Green Mountain innovation. From Ethan Allen’s capture of Fort Ticonderoga (America’s first victory); to Vermont’s abolition of slavery before any other state in the Union; to Grace Coolidge’s status as the first (and only, barring a surprise from Dr. Jill Biden) first lady to own a pet raccoon, Smith’s facts surprise and inform.

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warming, it never goes 30 below for a solid month anymore.” Still, seeing 200 bags of salt piled up at Aubuchon Hardware in August was a bit sobering. I’m actually excited to live in a place with real storms, lots of wind, cold, sunny days and even the odd remnant of a tropical storm. And whatever the sky brews up, I’m sure our neighbors will help us get through it (even if they’re laughing

at us as they do). Maybe they’ll even tell me what the birds want to eat. My new neighbors have given me tons of good advice about drainage, firewood, and the surprising controversy over whether or not to have gutters (because snow and ice might tear them down). In Oregon, where it rains at least a little bit on roughly 270 days per year, not having gutters would be absurd, like knocking out all your windowpanes because you want more fresh air. I’m amusing the guys at R.K. Miles, a building materials supplier, with my attempt at laying in a French drain. (“You still working on that thing? O-oo-kay. See you tomorrow!”) Folks are great about clueing me in to the essentials (Outdoor Gear Exchange, layers, roof rakes) as I prepare for my first real winter. “You should buy your wife some Darn Tough lingerie!” one guy

e will always be flatlanders. I get that. But nevertheless, we’d like to join your Vermont. My wife and I moved to Middlebury this summer, and not because of COVID-19. It was just a coincidence that the pandemic hit and, three months later, we found ourselves in the safest state in the land. She was hired as an assistant professor at the college, and I found a job at the library. To be honest, I was a little apprehensive about moving here. In case you didn’t know, Vermonters have a bit of a reputation for being stubborn, direct, aloof, smart and knowledgeable (which can mean formidable). I expected some squawking, or hazing, or a cold shoulder, and, sure enough, we got all three — from the birds, who won’t touch the cracked corn and black oil sunflower seeds we put out. They just don’t trust us yet. What do we have to do? People, on the other hand, have been friendly, or at least chatty. Always, within the first 25 words or so, I am asked, “So, where are you from?” I think that’s friendly. Or is it scrutinizing? We moved here from Portland, Ore. And, no, contrary to what you might have heard, there weren’t “riots” all over town this year. Not a single building has burned down. The media — Fox in particular — has wildly exaggerated the situation. Most Portlanders wouldn’t know there were protests if they didn’t see them on the news. As for the people, Oregon is full of underpaid, overeducated, non-churchy people with strong opinions. It has lots of bitter ex-hippies and whimsical atheists who spend all winter making artisanal beers and handicrafts, as well as an underpublicized but vocal minority of BIG TRUCK DUDES who work in construction. So, I could be wrong, but I don’t think Vermonters are going to be that hard to figure out. The weather will be interesting, because Oregon doesn’t have any. No lightning, no blizzards, no humidity and no bugs (that last part’s cool); just relentless overcast and drizzle. There’s not even wind. You can’t fly a kite in Portland without running, which is probably why Nike is headquartered there. We’re getting ready for our first real winter, but, honestly, I’m not too worried. Old-timers keep telling me, “Ah, global

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told me. “It’s hard to find, so you’ll have to ask at a lot of stores.” He also taught me how to pronounce local towns, always a key to fitting in. I was so grateful to find out that Montpelier is not pronounced with a French accent (it’s “Mount Pliers”), but Brattleboro is Frenchified (“Brought Le Borough”). He even made me repeat them several times while he filmed me, until I got them right. But then I wondered if he was yanking my chain when he told me that Barre is pronounced “Barry,” like Barry Manilow. I mean, how stupid do I look? Now I’m suspicious about his advice to tie turnips to my shoelaces when it gets below zero. It’s a big adjustment, moving across a country. I thought I was a pretty relaxed guy in Portland, but in the Champlain Valley I’ve had to downshift a couple more gears. Literally. I’ve driven around the U.S. a lot, and everywhere else the question is, “How many miles over the speed limit can you go? Is it a plus nine or a plus four?” In Idaho, Montana and Wyoming there are long stretches of interstate where the speed limit is 80 — and it’s still a plus four. In Vermont, though, at least on Route 7, the speed limit is 50 at best, and I was stunned to see people driving at or below that limit. For a month I wanted to yell, “GO! Just … GO!!” Now it feels normal, just like the quarantine rules. But when we were stuck inside those first two weeks, it was really slow. You’d be amazed how many times a day the mail doesn’t come. Almost every time I checked. Sometimes people here seem a little defensive. Vermont Public Radio has a listener-generated series called “Brave Little State.” Seriously? This state punches way above its weight, and public broadcasting here is kicking ass. I think they oughta get cocky, like a heavy metal station: “This is VPR — THE VIPER.” The really striking difference between Oregon and Vermont is the tight weave of personal relationships here — inevitable, I suppose, in a kingdom of small villages where the fierce climate requires cooperation. This is the first time I’ve lived in a

place smaller than Portland (2.4 million in the metro area), and the connections can border on creepy. I bought a rug from a guy in the Champlain Islands, 60 miles away, and it turns out he’s a close friend of my boss. Everybody seems to know everybody, and I’m a smart-ass standup comedian with a big mouth. What could go wrong? It’s not just the people, either. Those small-town church bells sound magical at first — until the day you’re a little bit late getting to work, kind of fast-walking with only a block to go, and suddenly, BONG BONKLE BLANGALANG, right on the hour. I’m like, “Hey, ding-dong! Snitches get stitches.” But these connections also keep you honest. I’m frankly astonished at the culture of sharing, especially on Front Porch Forum: people helping each other out and just giving away things they don’t need. In a sometimes harsh environment, it’s a model of mutual abundance, and it’s intoxicating. This is going to sound weird, but I’ve never lived in a place with more interesting obituaries, and I’ve never seen regular obits in an altweekly like Seven Days. Every issue, I read about some warm, wise, funny person, a real “character” who led an interesting, off-kilter life, had lots of friends and contributed to the community. Their passing is news because readers know them and will miss them. May memories of their best moments flutter down like snowflakes on these ancient hills. I’ve never been that drawn by money (as my wife will sadly tell you). Fame and celebrity? Clearly that ship has sailed without me, and just as well. It looks annoying at best. Now I have a new life goal: to spend the rest of my days earning, in the end, one of those wonderful obituaries that makes friends bite their lip and brings a fond smile or head shake to acquaintances. To be remembered as a “character,” a good guy without any operatic moral flaws, who took care of his responsibilities. That would be a life well spent, even if I have to call my soft-serve cone a creemee.

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Finding the Words

In her first book of poems, college student Devyn Thompson faces fear and embraces freedom BY ME L ANIE GO O D R E AUX

he 19-year-old woman whose poetry I’ve been reading alternately rages with political protest and coos with genderbending sensuality and self-discovery. On 12h-papafranks122320.indd 1 12/4/20 3:11 PM the first page of her book, titled simply Soul, Devyn Thompson is photographed in black and white and is shockingly posed to look like she’s hanging herself. On page 21, she wears a slinky red dress and looks over her shoulder; the continent of Africa is tattooed on her back. The page delivers one word: “Desire.” Along with the daring chameleon depicted in Jeron Hagler’s photographs, I see my favorite kind of artist. Thompson is an unpretentious art maverick with a lot of nerve and earned self-reliance. In 2020, while many of us hunkered down with lots to grieve over, she took her own grief, wrote a book and published it herself. Thompson is a sophomore at Northern Vermont University-Johnson and the point guard for the women’s basketball team. The Baltimore, Md., native never expected to live in Vermont, but one of the school’s assistant athletics directors, Greg Eckman, recruited her. In a Zoom interview, I asked Thompson whether she’s more writer than athlete or more athlete than writer. “I’m a basketball player that’s good with a pen, as well,” she replied. “Basketball I like to think of as ‘poetry in motion’ because it’s so precise and it’s so free flowing.” Thompson grew up the only child of a single mother who made sure her Shirt sales have supported daughter got good grades so she could over 4300 meals at the play basketball. Thompson got serious Vermont Foodbank. about the sport and used it as a ticket to For the next 200 shirts sold, her future. we will double our donation “From day one, it was just me and my to the Vermont Foodbank. mom,” Thompson said. “I felt like it was me against the world. I did all my recruiting myself. Most of my teammates had the privilege and connections and resources to attend training and recruiting camps. I was training myself. I was putting myself on all the recruiting websites. I even had to make my own highlight videos.”

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Soul book cover

She felt drawn to Eckman’s invitation to NVU, was awarded an academic scholarship and moved to Vermont. But it did not turn out to be the dream year she had expected.

As one of just 25 Black students on campus, Thompson said, “I was prepared to be the super minority. You get all the jokes — the pepper in a whole bunch of salt. Vermont is a whole different world.

GOT WINTER BLUES? EXCERPT OF POEM IN “SURVIVAL” CHAPTER

“Back home in Maryland, all my friends look like me,” she continued. “Once you’re here in Vermont, everybody doesn’t understand your slang, everybody doesn’t understand what you do. It’s a whole culture shock.” Thompson used poetry to address the racism she experiences and also to articulate the emotions of an especially difficult year: a disappointing basketball season, the anxiety of the pandemic, the police killings of Black people, the haunting of a sexual assault in middle school, and simply growing up in a complicated world. As she puts it in her introductory remarks, “This book is my personal journey to liberation as being black, and being a woman.” Thompson said she pushed beyond the fears she had while writing Soul. “What if it doesn’t do well? What if it doesn’t get the reaction I want? What if it’s just a waste of time?” she remembered thinking. Though initially interested in finding a more mainstream publisher, Thompson was turned off by the waiting period to see whether her work would be accepted. She decided to publish with Amazon on a platform that put the book’s creation in her hands. Soul employs a simple table of contents that designates each chapter’s theme: The Intro, Survival, Desire, Will, Air, Sound, Light and Thought. Each chapter offers a photograph of the poet taken by Hagler, her collaborator and friend from middle school. The chapter “Sound” pictures Thompson being muffled by a hand over her mouth. “Thought” shows a sullen Thompson in front of a boarded-up church. A poem in “The Intro” section repeats the phrase “Fear is nonexistent.” Thompson acknowledges that it comes from an interview with late Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in January. Thompson admitted she was greatly affected by his death. “Kobe Bryant was one of my role models when I was younger because of his work ethic. So when he passed, my heart hurt,” she said. And she wondered what he meant by “Fear is nonexistent.” “I feel fear all the time — from goals in sports, or in the classroom. Fear about, am I going to make it? Am I going to be alive tomorrow?” Thompson said. Then she explained what she got from

The same cornrows sported for style kept food out of sight It was the escape map at night Locs Were a symbol of royalty from Egypt to Ethiopia don’t you dare call them dreadful Black athletes Black activists Black artists Why are black people so loud? Because we’re done being silenced. Free form or micro My hair was never ugly The sight of hair thicker than wool defying gravity So triggering it’s deemed unprofessional to be ourselves Elders meet me in each strand tightly coiled and bound together in my scalp Why would I be ashamed of my strength? Black children Black politicians Black liberation Why are black people so loud? Cause we raising Hell till we reach heaven’s doors.

Bryant’s words: “If you prepare for everything in your life that you are afraid of, and you know what you need to do, you won’t be afraid. If you know that something is inevitable, why be afraid of it?” Fear certainly didn’t stop Thompson from finishing her book, flaunting her natural hair and finding “Black joy” in

BLACK JOY IS NOT HAVING ANY FEAR

ABOUT BEING OURSELVES.

DE VYN TH O MP S O N

a place where other Black people are scarce. Though Soul explores the struggle and pain of Black existence, it also exhibits a great deal of Black joy. I asked her what she thinks of the term, because some readers might not be familiar with it or understand the importance of putting those words together. “You have to say the words ‘Black joy,’” Thompson said. “The best way I can explain Black joy is by the example of Creole women in the South being told they

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had to hide their hair. They were like, ‘bet,’ and they put jewels all up on that shit. “Black joy is turning nothing into something,” she continued. “It’s us being able to come together in this election and get that man out of office. That’s Black joy. Black joy is not having any fear about being Compensation up to $530 ourselves.” for qualified participants. So, how has she harnessed that joy Call 802-656-9890. on a predominantly white campus? “Trust. In Vermont, in my first year of college, the majority of students12v-UvmDeptOfPsych(WInterblues)082620.indd 1 8/21/20 2:43 PM of color were on the basketball team,” she said. “We all trusted each other; that’s how we were just able to be our authentic selves.” Thompson referenced a special bond she had with fellow basketballer Mamadou N’Diaye, whom she met in Vermont but who was also from Maryland. “I could speak my slang to Mamadou. He could be his regular self towards me,” she said. “We didn’t have to pretend to be a certain way like we do around white people; we didn’t have to talk a certain way or act a certain way to not come off as threatening … We could be joyful, just being ourselves.” Thompson was devastated by N’Diaye’s sudden death in July, in an accident on Lake Koocanusa in Montana. Soul had come out two weeks prior. She wished she could have dedicated the book to him. During our interview, Thompson’s Zoom room captured an orange-painted ceiling that looked like a glowing halo beyond her hair. She peered through our virtual exchange wearing squarerimmed glasses. Simultaneously, she was squinting up at me from the cover of Soul in my lap. In the photo, Thompson wears a protective face mask and holds a handpainted protest sign in front of the U.S. Capitol Building. “SOUL” is painted on the sign, which also bears George Floyd’s name and a pastiche of magazine clippings with inspirational messages: “Raise your Voice.” “Open minds, open doors.” “Days of Anguish.” “Days of Hope.” The sign, like its bearer, is complicated, filled with anguish and hope.

INFO Soul by Devyn Thompson, Lulu Publishing, 110 pages. $16. SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

Into the Mystic Book review: In My Unknowing, Chard deNiord B Y B E NJA M I N AL ESHIRE

Still, though more cryptic, these poems fit remarkably well within the book’s aesthetic and are deftly woven in using the recurring motif of cloud divination: “The clouds were empty pages he couldn’t read / then could as they turned in the wind,” he writes in “Dumuzi in Bliss.” While the poems are mostly composed in free verse, internal and slant rhymes lend them a lush musicality. DeNiord also includes an excellent sonnet (“Swimming Hole”), and one of the most daring poems in the book, “Sex Is,” is a rhyming villanelle, slyly alternating between iambic pentameter and a driving trochaic rhythm. It begins, “Sex is the nail that only drives part way.” (You’ll have to buy the book to see where it leads from there!) Many of the poems are in conversation with other poets — which is fitting, because deNiord has published two collections of interviews with poets, usually near the end of their lives: Sad Friends, Drowned Lovers, Stapled Songs: Conversations and Reflections on 20th Century American Poets (Marick Press, 2011) and I Would Lie to You If I Could: Interviews With Ten American Poets (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018). Dialogues with some of these poets find their way into his poems, particularly the late Goshen poet Ruth Stone. In deNiord’s “The Widow,” Stone and the narrator elaborate on the question of heaven’s existence that opens the book. It also delves into another theme: poetic “transmission” — that is, the phenomenon of poets acting as receivers of sorts, listening for a voice speaking from the ether and faithfully writing it down. “The poems just come to me now from out of the blue / while I’m hanging laundry or planting flowers,” Stone tells him. Clearly, deNiord is cut from the same mystical cloth: “All morning the air whispered things I might forget,” he says a page earlier in “Dispatch from Putney,” when a voice instructs him to “Put down your pen and pick up a stick. / See how clearly it writes in the dirt.” “The Widow” is a gorgeous piece that straddles the genres of poetry, interview, necromancy and theology: “You get what you get when you get it,” Stone tells the narrator. “Not heaven, but the unity of knowing and feeling.” It’s fitting somehow that the most assured statement in the book comes from a voice other than deNiord’s. We don’t get to hear his response; he’s not interested in deciding whether she’s “right” or “wrong.” Her answer is just one more variable factored into the calculus of seeking — of unknowing.

MORE THAN SIMPLY A POET DAYDREAMING,

DENIORD’S SPEAKER IS ENGAGED IN A DEAD-SERIOUS ACT OF DIVINATION.

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

INFO In My Unknowing, by Chard deNiord, University of Pittsburgh Press, 86 pages. $17.

GRIEF IS THE RIVER WITH A FOREIGN NAME My grief hath need of all the watery things… —George Herbert Grief is the river with a foreign name that floods your heart with sodden things that float away but then return, pulling you in with a musical force you can’t resist for the songs inside the things that mean everything to you but nothing to anyone else—the ring, the wig, the scarf: transformers each in a current that runs between live and dead, shock and numb, which is why you imagine Earth as Heaven when you see her face on the river’s surface and think it’s real, although you know you’re singing the same old chorus Orpheus sang as he floated down to Lesbos, although you weep the same dark tears Gilgamesh wept at the gate of the sacred forest, although you swear at Kronos who leads you by the hand into the water and squeezes your chest, then threatens to drown you if you can’t say, “tomorrow.” COURTESY OF LIZ DENIORD

hat happens as we reach closer to the veil and cross over? This question has tortured poets, philosophers and spiritual seekers for millennia. And while great thinkers and faithful devotees tend to use logical systems and religion to answer this eternal question, the poets revel in doubt and speculation. Chard deNiord, Vermont’s poet laureate from 2015 to 2019, is a writer whose poetic talents come with a healthy dose of philosophy and religious mysticism. A professor at Providence College and cofounder of New England College’s MFA program in poetry, he also earned a master of divinity degree from Yale Divinity School. DeNiord’s latest collection, In My Unknowing, confronts the terror, confusion and grace of mortality — but rather than prescribe answers, the poems ruminate on possible meanings, searching for signs. At first, the book seems preoccupied with death and the possibility of an afterlife: “I was driving through the fields of Heaven when I realized I was still on Earth, because Earth was all I had ever known of Heaven and no other place would do for living forever,” the title poem says as the book opens. “I / had reached so far beyond the pale and was reaching / still,” he writes in “Then There” a few pages later. Divided into seven sections, these wrenching and exquisitely wrought earlier poems show us a narrator visiting his father at his hospital deathbed, a husband who plants his wife’s hair in the garden, a necromantic conversation with a deceased widow, and an encounter with a dying friend in which the narrator nearly greets him by saying, noli timere, the Irish poet Seamus Heaney’s last words (“Don’t be afraid”). During this “reaching beyond the pale,” the narrator is also in constant search of signs and omens: “A cloud spelled out a rune I couldn’t read / fast enough before it morphed into / another form that changed again,” he writes in “Weatherman.” More than simply a poet daydreaming, deNiord’s speaker is engaged in a deadserious act of divination. “The clouds are codes for reading / the blues,” he tells us. In the next poem, “Night Walk,” the narrator’s ruminations get dialed up to the level of a medieval Sufi mystic, praying nude in the wilderness and speaking to animals: “I prayed for luck with so little on the animals thought / I was one of them and talked to me in their fricative tongues.” Several of these motifs recur throughout the collection: shifting clouds that provide an ambiguous sign, the image of words being scratched into the dirt with a stick, and a hermit thrush announcing the twilight. Occasionally, deNiord’s gorgeous lyricism gets bogged down in mythological references. One section of the book uses the Epic of Gilgamesh as a framework, which may puzzle readers without a working knowledge of ancient Sumerian literature.

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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

A STAG E Highlight House Party FO R EVE RYO N E Reasons to Celebrate New Year’s at the

Seeing Vermont artists perform on New Year’s Eve has been a Burlington tradition for nearly four decades. It started with First Night Burlington and continues with Highlight, a festival organized by Burlington City Arts, with help from Signal Kitchen. Yes, Highlight is happening this year, but in 2020, it’s all about staying in. The Highlight House Party kicks oﬀ at 1 p.m. on December 31 and winds up at 1 a.m. on January 1, 2021. The lineup includes marquee acts such as Myra Flynn

and Swale, along with storyteller Ferene Paris Meyer, family-friendly performers Circus Smirkus and Mister Chris & Friends, and 12-year-old troubadour Charlie Schramm, who recently appeared on WCAXTV as part of Kids VT’s Spectacular Spectacular. The serendipity of what’s available is part of the charm. To join the fun, purchase a $10 ticket at HIGHLIGHTBTV.ORG and tune in on December 31. Organizers say that, using the viewing platform Run the World, you’ll be able to choose from a group of “virtual stages” like ﬂipping channels on your TV.

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Fireworks! This year there will be one show, at 8 p.m. on the Burlington waterfront — sponsored by the Pomerleau Family Foundation — and through Highlight you can watch it live on-screen from home. Highlight will replay the pyrotechnics show at midnight.

You can probably aﬀord it. Tickets are $10 a pop — cheaper than a craft cocktail at pretty much any bar in town.

You’ll be supporting local performers. All the acts get paid. You can even leave 12/14/20 4:09 PM donations for them through the streaming platform, like virtually passing the hat.

You’ll get to celebrate with other people, even if only on-screen. The number of attendees and user names will be visible, and, if you choose, you can take part in the online chat. It should at least feel like a crowd. Hopefully next year it will be safe to be part of one again.

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BY ME L IS S A PAS ANE N • pasanen@sevendaysvt.com

t first, novelist Howard Norman was simply a devoted customer of Bohemian Bakery, first at its original location close to his home in Calais and then after it moved to Montpelier in 2016. Norman became friendly over the years with the bakery’s married co-owners, Robert Hunt and Annie Bakst. “He was the first customer almost every Sunday,” Bakst recalled of the days the couple offered a weekly pastry pop-up from their East Calais farmhouse. “We developed a light friendship,” is how Bakst put it. “I had heard he was an author. I liked him as a person.” Then one day a couple years ago in the Montpelier bakery, Bakst recalls Norman asking her, “Annie, you illustrate, right?” Norman published his most recent book, The Ghost Clause, in 2019. At the time, he announced that it would be his

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final novel; he is currently working on a memoir about friendship. The writer had also been percolating another project based on an unpublished radio play, Detective Levy Detects, penned about 10 years ago. Readers of Norman’s 2017 novel that pays homage to film noir, My Darling Detective, will recognize Detective Levy Detects as the radio drama to which that book’s main characters are devoted. Norman had heard that Bakst was an accomplished illustrator and designer. He hoped she might be interested in working with him to transform the material into

a film-noir-style graphic novel series set in Montpelier. Writing a graphic novel was a new endeavor for the writer. The format was also new for Bakst, though she had illustrated books before. The first volume in the series, titled Detective Levy Detects, was published this fall. Several scenes take place at Bohemian Bakery in Montpelier, and Bakst herself plays a small supporting role. “Bakeries have always been very romantic places for me,” Norman said. Through the bookmaking process, the two have become good friends and successful creative partners. That was not a given, both agreed. “This was based on a large volume of trust,” Bakst said. “I would say collaboration didn’t come naturally to me, as it doesn’t for many people who work alone,” Norman admitted. “But we now have a common sensibility. It’s like a duet of some sort.” “I adore him, and I adore working on it,” Bakst said. “There’s tons of back-andforth, but all in good humor.” Both are happy with the resulting work, and Norman recently delivered the manuscript for their second book to Bakst. “It has a different kind of presence in the world than what I have usually written,” Norman said. “It’s a personal interpretation of the term ‘noir.’” “He says there are going to be 10 episodes,” Bakst said with a laugh. “I hope we live that long.”

INFO Detective Levy Detects, written by Howard Norman, illustrated by Annie Bakst, Overcaffeinated Press, 84 pages. $12. The book is currently available at Bohemian Bakery and Bear Pond Books in Montpelier.

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

Love Letters

Seven Days reviewers share some favorite Vermont reads from 2020 B Y B E N A L ESHIR E, DAN B OLLE S, MARGARE T GRAYS O N, MAR GO T H AR R IS O N, PAME L A P O L S TO N & J IM S C H L EY

he dozens of books that arrive at the Seven Days offices over the course of a year span a wide range of genres, topics and moods. We get tiny poetry chapbooks bound with thread stitches, as well as critically acclaimed novels, meandering memoirs and folksy self-help guides. We acknowledge as many as space allows — as long as the author lives in or very near Vermont. And since you can scarcely throw a stick in this state without hitting a writer, this is a pretty great place to be a reader. If 2020 was a detestable year in many ways, it was not one in which writers stopped writing. What follows are seven of our reviewers’ picks of recent books. This is not a best-of list or a ranking — just a window into some of what we read, enjoyed and wholeheartedly recommend.

the fury, humor and horror in American faces from Washington, D.C., to Bennington. As this cursed year of 2020 comes to a close, indelibly marked by mass uprisings and protests in cities across the nation, Bubriski’s book is almost like a map of how we got here. Told through images of the contested 2000 election, 9/11, the start of the forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Occupy Wall Street in 2011, Bubriski’s keen eye isn’t limited to antiwar sentiment — he also records astonishing moments of tenderness as the Vermont National Guard deploys, saying their farewells.

But not everyone’s dad was basically a real-life Jack Ryan, as was Dennett’s father, the famed diplomat and master spy Daniel Dennett. Likewise, not everyone’s daughter is an acclaimed investigative journalist. The combination makes for a painstakingly researched nonfictional read that moves with the tension and intrigue of a John le Carré novel and offers profound insight on loss, family and geopolitics.

D.B.

B.A.

The Orphan’s Guilt: A Joe Gunther Novel Archer Mayor, Minotaur Books, 288 pages. $27.99.

The Absurd Man Major Jackson, W.W. Norton, 112 pages. $26.95.

Our Voices, Our Streets: American Protests 2001-2011

The Crash of Flight 3804: A Lost Spy, a Daughter’s Quest, and the Deadly Politics of the Great Game for Oil

Kevin Bubriski, powerHouse Books, 164 pages. $50.

Charlotte Dennett, Chelsea Green Publishing, 368 pages. $27.95.

This fall I nearly overdosed on Vermont’s embarrassment of poetry riches, so I thought I’d call attention to a photography book that was released in the spring: Our Voices, Our Streets: American Protests 2001-2011, by Shaftsbury documentary photographer Kevin Bubriski. A Guggenheim Fellow whose work resides in museums around the world, Bubriski is both a consummate portraitist and a savvy street photographer, capturing

I’m a sucker for a good spy story. The Crash of Flight 3804: A Lost Spy, a Daughter’s Quest, and the Deadly Politics of the Great Game for Oil by Cambridge-based writer Charlotte Dennett isn’t a good spy story — it’s a great one. But it’s also a moving personal memoir about a daughter’s quest to understand her father and the mysterious circumstances around his death in 1947. Reconciling with who our parents really are (or were) is a universal theme.

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

When I heard that one of Vermont’s most illustrious poets, Major Jackson, was leaving his post at the University of Vermont to join the faculty at Vanderbilt University, I had to return to his latest book, The Absurd Man, which was released just a few weeks before the pandemic hit the U.S. The book was my first introduction to Jackson’s lyricism and gift for rhythm, and to the propulsive delight of wondering what he’ll do next. I want to go swimming in his poems. I want to roll the words around in my mouth like cherry pits. In the book’s final poem, “Double Major,” he describes his writing moves as “a smooth shimmy and a hop.” No matter how serious the topic, reading Major Jackson always feels like dancing.

M.G.

Vermont might seem all progressive politics and quaint villages, but we can count on Archer Mayor to find the state’s dark side. The Newfane-based author has turned out an annual Joe Gunther novel for decades — The Orphan’s Guilt is No. 31 — and I’ve eagerly devoured them all. Gunther, a former Brattleboro cop who now heads the fictional Vermont Bureau of Investigation, is the series’ linchpin. But over the years Mayor has developed rich backstories for his loyal team members and, more recently, introduced two young women — a journalist and a private investigator. They play strong roles in a story that starts with a routine traffic stop and ends with solving a byzantine, 30-year-old cold case. In between, this crew uncovers old grievances, betrayals, child abuse and a cast of ne’er-do-wells. Once again, Mayor delivers page-turner detective fiction with psychological depth and locales you might recognize.

P.P.

Turn an uncertain time for college, into a transformational time for you.

Chirp Kate Messner, Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 240 pages. $16.99.

Until recently, sexual abuse and harassment were topics considered too explosive for tween fiction. As a June 2020 New York Times article put it, “middle-grade writers have largely steered clear because of resistant parents and publishers wary of scaring them off.” That changed this year with the publication of Plattsburgh, N.Y., author Kate Messner’s Chirp, one of a handful of new books for ages 10 to 14 that broach the forbidden topic in thoughtful, supportive ways. Using an artful structure, Messner somehow manages to fold her unequivocal message about speaking up against abuse into a story that’s upbeat and fun — a celebration of, among other things, Vermont’s maker spaces and cricket farms and female entrepreneurs. Throughout, the author shows ample respect for her target readers’ intelligence and resilience.

M.H.

Atomizer Elizabeth Powell, Louisiana State University Press, 112 pages. $19.95.

I spend time with poems every day, crisscrossing among poets newer and older and interspersing the concentrated intensities of poetry with whatever novel or collection of essays I’m in the midst of. Among the books that have held me

most powerfully this year is Atomizer by Elizabeth Powell of Underhill. Formally resourceful and sensually ferocious, Powell’s book is virtuosic in its verbal momentum. While mining metaphors from the arcane traditions and terminologies of perfumery (an industry, but also a form of alchemy), this poet plumbs the distances between immediate sensory or carnal experience and the weird new ways we now “relate” with others virtually and cybernetically. From the madcap ruefulness of “When the Insemination Man Comes to the Farm” to the epic ardor of “Guerlain: Imperiale (Bedroom), 1853,” Powell’s dramatic and emotional range is wide and varied. And of all the books I’ve read in 2020, Atomizer, with its acutely adult sense of love risked and time lost, was the most fun.

J. S .

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I’ve long admired the work of Jeff Sharlet, a journalist who lives in Norwich and teaches at Dartmouth College. But it was particularly powerful to read his latest work, This Brilliant Darkness: A Book of Strangers, in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. Though the book ranges widely, following Sharlet’s reporting and road-tripping all over the U.S. and beyond, its centerpiece is a portrait of Charly Keunang, a Cameroonian immigrant who was killed by police on Los Angeles’ Skid Row in 2015. We talk a lot about the power of good journalism to get people to think beyond stereotypes. But Sharlet is walking the talk, whether he’s writing an in-depth story or a piece short enough to be an Instagram caption — which is how much of this book began. Blending text and photography, reporting and memoir, lyricism and merciless fact, This Brilliant Darkness is easy to dip into and hard to shake.

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

12/20/20 7:00 PM

Pepper Poetry Burlington writer pays homage to chiles and hot sauce B Y M E L I SSA PASANEN • pasanen@sevendaysvt.com

tephen Cramer’s affinity for hot sauce goes back to his years in graduate school. The awardwinning poet and senior lecturer in the University of Vermont English department was living in Harlem, N.Y., “cooking my first meals in my life,” he said in a recent phone conversation. “I made a lot of rice,” he continued. “One side of the bowl seasoned with soy sauce, one side of the bowl seasoned with hot sauce.” His choice of hot sauce at the time was essentially a default to Goya, which he described as “Louisianastyle, vinegar-forward; just vinegar, peppers and salt.” These days, the fridge in Cramer’s Burlington home contains a wider array of hot sauces. “I have 10 to 12 open at any time,” he said. “There’s one kind for rice and beans, one kind for Asian dishes.” Cramer said he’s always been a collector. When he was young, he amassed minerals and Star Wars figures. “Collecting flavors was something new,” he said. He also collects information. Once hot sauce hooked him, Cramer started digging and discovered “a surprisingly rich hot sauce literature out there.” Though it’s not that surprising, he added, when you think about hot sauce’s star ingredient: “The story of the pepper is the story of global exploration.” Cramer’s latest volume of poetry, The Hot Sauce Madness Love Burn Suite, delves into that topic and more in “814 couplets about hot sauce.” It is informative, laugh-out-loud funny in places and more thought-provoking than one might expect from a food-themed collection of verse. The opening poem, “Chili,” sets the scene with gems both educational and amusing. The reader learns that the word comes from the Aztecs. During periods of 42

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

spiritual fasting, they “abstained from sex // & chilies, & only conjecture / can tell us which was harder // to renounce.” In “You’ll Always Remember Your First,” Cramer shares the story of his initial foray into hot sauce during graduate school. Toward the end, he vibrantly articulates the experience of imbibing the spicy condiment as “the Death Valley // of the throat, my / mouth caught between two high // noons.” If the Eskimo really do have more than 50 words to describe snow, Cramer possesses a similar abundance of ways to describe the “heat” of peppers on the other end of the temperature range. Though, as he explains in “The Scoville Scale,” “there’s no // actual heat in this / equation, just spiciness, // which hoodwinks / our bodies into thinking // physical flames are / licking our // tongues, throats, lips).” Cramer’s words elicit frequent chuckles, but I was literally laughing out loud a few stanzas later in the Scoville poem when he reveals a true, personal tale testifying vividly to the oft-repeated warning not to touch your eyes (or other sensitive body parts) after working barehanded with hot peppers. Spoiler alert: The tale involves a container of sour cream and might evoke for some a certain scene in the 1999 movie American Pie. It illustrates that fat, rather than snow or ice, is the best remedy for a body part inflamed with chile spiciness, as Cramer explains in a later poem, “Antidote.” That poem is among many that impart useful information, including one that details how Cramer makes and bottles his own hot sauce. Then there’s the series of poems that helpfully describes more than two dozen chile peppers, labeling them with their “heat” rating by Scoville unit. They range from the cherry bomb (3,000 to 5,000 Scoville units), which Cramer describes as a “little bin / of little capsaicin”; to

Mistakes

Jalapeño

Columbus mistook, we all know, the natives he

2,500-8,000 Scoville units

found when he landed for “Indians,” though where he landed in Venezuela is 9,439 miles from India. Then he called the spice the natives used pimiento (black pepper) though it’s never been even closely related to the peppercorn that he had hoped to find (piper nigrum, black pepper, the so-called black gold, the most prized spice of the day). What he found instead was capsicum. We all make mistakes, dousing food with sauce before first tasting it, only to find that it turned the plate of piled nachos almost inevitably inedibly molten. Proverb: don’t test the river’s depth with both feet. Be cautious, it means, but do we listen? No. Like early explorers, we survive by jumping to conclusions. We dive.

The Nahuatl word Xalapa— From the roots xālli (sand) & āpan (water place) — is the source of the name of Veracruz’s capitol, which became the source of this pepper. Some call it chili gordo (the fat chili), & it’s often picked green before it’s fully ripe. Corking: those grey lightning-like lines you might find on a jalapeño, those thin streaks formed because the skin can’t keep up with the pepper’s growth. Some call them scarring or stretch-marks, & many in the U.S. see them as flaws, but south of the border they’re considered tokens of excellence — the more corking the more heat. They like their peppers the way I like my people: scarred but still fiery.

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Pepper X (3,100,000 Scoville units), after a taste of which “you see your own // panicked look multiplied / a thousand // times in / a broken // mirror that you’d / inadvertently swallowed.” The Hot Sauce Madness Love Burn Suite is Cramer’s eighth volume of poetry, including an anthology he edited and a

THE STORY OF THE PEPPER

IS THE STORY OF GLOBAL EXPLORATION. S TE P HEN CRAMER

translation. It is one of his “project books,” he said. These provide respite from work on “more intimate books” such as his 2016 Bone Music, a Louise Bogan Award winner that writer David Jauss described as “elegant and gut-wrenching.”

The project books are fun to research and write — and, Cramer hopes, to read. “They require less emotional bandwidth,” he explained. “I can’t always live with daily introspection.” But even when he’s spinning poetry out of hot peppers, Cramer’s talent for introspection is evident. In a poem titled “Pain,” Cramer writes: “Most of us mess with pain / in the most secure ways: // roller coaster, bungee / jump, horror movie, // because suffering so often links arms / with pleasure.” One of the pleasures of this slim, spicy volume of verse is its blend of utility, humor and flashes of insight into how the allure of hot sauce and chile peppers illuminates the human condition. m

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

12/21/20 4:41 PM

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT BY KEN PICARD

f ever there were a year that called for a stiff drink, it would be 2020. Make it a double for John Dubie, owner of Pearl Street Beverage in Burlington. This year he suffered the one-two punch of a revenuedecimating pandemic followed by a July 1 building fire that gutted the liquor store he founded 37 years ago. More than five months after the last embers were extinguished, the store, which was consistently one of the top-five liquor sellers in the state, has yet to reopen. Given that the winter holiday season is one of the most lucrative times of year for beer, wine and booze retailers — according to Dubie, New Year’s Eve alone typically accounts for 60 to 70 percent of his December sales — many people are asking when, or even if, Pearl Street Beverage will reopen. And, if Dubie plans to reopen, why the long delay? He declined to answer that last question publicly, saying only, “My team and I are working very hard to come back, hopefully [by] spring.” Here’s what we know: In March, when Gov. Phil Scott issued his “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order shuttering many Vermont businesses, Pearl Street Beverage was allowed to remain open. For the first few months, the store permitted no more than five customers inside at a time. As Vermonters began doing most or all of their alcohol consumption at home, many liquor stores around the state saw a spike in sales. Not Pearl Street Beverage. In pre-pandemic days, much of its booze biz came from college students who attend nearby University of Vermont or Champlain College, as well as from Burlington’s downtown labor force. When local colleges switched to remote learning and many students left town, sales dwindled. By May, as many downtown workers stopped commuting to the Queen City, they began purchasing liquor from retailers closer to their homes. Sales during the early days of the pandemic weren’t down across the board, Dubie said. Notably, Pearl Street Beverage saw an uptick in business in its new pipe, bong, vape and CBD department, which Dubie’s son launched about a year earlier to replace the store’s growler bar. And, because many downtown smoke shops were closed and the store’s prices were competitive with those that remained open, revenues from that part of the business offered a glimmer of hope in an otherwise dismal spring. “We lost a ton of money,” Dubie said, “but June was coming back nicely.” 44

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

But then, in the early morning hours of July 1 — 1:57 a.m., to be exact — an electrical fire erupted alongside some shelves of alcohol. Dubie likened the flash to “throwing a Molotov cocktail.” At 2:07 a.m. he got a phone call from his security company that one of the store’s motion detectors had tripped; Burlington police were on the scene by 2:12 a.m. The Burlington Fire Department arrived by 2:16 a.m. and had the fire under control by 2:30 a.m. How is Dubie able to describe the blaze and its time sequence in such detail? “We have, on our video system, pretty much the whole fire from start to finish,” he explained. The inferno eviscerated the building but left its structure largely intact. It was originally built in 1941 and served as a neighborhood grocery store until the 1960s. Later, it was home to a state-run liquor outlet that Dubie, who grew up on Henry Street just a couple of blocks away, remembers from his childhood. After he got out of the Army at age 23, Dubie took over the space and founded Pearl Street Beverage in 1983. As if the fire weren’t bad enough, in the days and weeks that followed, Dubie and his staff had to squelch some “nasty rumors” about its cause, including one, he noted, that claimed the store had been

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JOHN DUBIE

Will Pearl Street Beverage Reopen?

Pearl Street Beverage exterior after the fire Harriet the Sasquatch amid the fire damage

firebombed for refusing to fly a Black Lives Matter flag. “That was one of the meaner ones,” he said. “That wasn’t the case at all.” But even amid all the devastation and loss, Dubie salvaged a few moments of levity. He learned later that when Burlington firefighters entered the burning store, several were startled at the sight

of “Harriet,” a six-and-a-half-foot-tall model Sasquatch that’s been on display in Pearl Street Beverage for about five years. Ultimately, Harriet survived the blaze; a state fire investigator even took a selfie with the bigfoot, which he later posted to Facebook. A scorched Harriet now resides in front of Dubie’s house in South

Hero, chained to a tree, where passersby continue to snap selfies with her. Dubie said he’s now more than 90 percent sure the business will come back stronger than ever — and under a new name: Pearl Street Pipe and Beverage. The new store, which will be energy efficient and handicap accessible, will expand its offerings of pipes, bongs, rolling papers, vape and CBD products. He’s also planning a new wine club to complement the store’s tasting and education area. Despite this year’s disaster, if a fire had to occur, Dubie added, he’s glad it happened during the pandemic. Though nearly all his staff had to be laid off a month after the fire, for now at least, “Going to work won’t kill them.” Hey, we’ll drink to that. m

INFO Got a Vermont mystery that has you flummoxed? Ask us! wtf@sevendaysvt.com.

Burlington Resource and Recovery Center (RRC)

Thank you for keeping Vermont safe! Keep Up the Great Work Enjoy Safe Activities Vaccines have arrived and will be available to healthcare workers and the most vulnerable Vermonters in the coming months. Please remain vigilant and protect family and neighbors by wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding gatherings, and taking other life-saving precautions.

Bundle up and enjoy the great outdoors by taking a walk or run with one member of another household (w/ masks). Stay cozy and warm on NYE by enjoying Highlight House Party (highlight.community) or viewing our holiday lights contest (enjoyburlington.com/holiday-lights).

Please consider supporting our community’s economic recovery by safely visiting local shops and restaurants for curbside pickup, takeout, and home delivery. Visit loveburlington.org and filter by delivery options BIPOC-owned, and more.

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

12/21/20 3:18 PM

food+drink

Cookbooks to Curl Up With Ten tomes that inspire Vermont chefs and food experts

B Y MEL I SSA PASANEN • pasanen@sevendaysvt.com

Cara Chigazola Tobin, chef/co-owner, Honey Road, Burlington

PA RIN I

cook something first, then I can adapt it to our region and the American palate. Istanbul and Beyond was kind of a groundbreaking book in that Robyn EckThe Georgian Feast: The Vibrant Culture and Savory Food of the Republic of Georgia hardt really went deep into the difby Darra Goldstein (HarperCollins 1993/ ferent regions of Turkey. A updated edition, University of lot of Turkish cookbooks California Press, 2013) have the same reciIstanbul and Beyond: Exploring pes over and over. the Diverse Cuisines of Turkey by Robyn Eckhardt (Rux Eckhardt goes into Martin/Houghton Mifflin regions that are not Harcourt, 2017) written about much These are books that, and explains why although they have recipes, certain dishes came really are more about the culfrom certain regions ture and cuisine. My philosbased on landscape V I ophy with cooking has always Cara Chigazola Tobin OL E: and culture. FIL been to learn the traditional way to

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When The Georgian Feast USKEE overwhelming, it also sounds HO A like an amazingly good time came out in 1993, no one — especially right now in was talking about Georthe time of COVID-19 gian food. It’s still a and social distancing. fairly unknown cuisine to Americans; when Chris I say Georgian food, Hechanova, most people think I’m executive chef, talking about the state Sugarsnap of Georgia, not the counCatering, South try. For me, I like studyChris Hechanova Burlington ing it because you can see the The Perfect Egg and Other Secrets clear connection between Turkish by Aldo Buzzi (Bloomsbury Publishing, food and Georgian food. You can see how 2005) certain dishes migrated into Turkey and The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson (Ecco, 2004) were adapted. There are a few dishes that are quite similar, Turkish pide and Georgian khacha- The Perfect Egg is tiny. You can easily put puri, for example. [Both are canoe-shaped, it in your pocket or purse. It has a jacket, filled flatbreads.] I also have a profound which is strange for such a small book. If infatuation with the Georgian tradi- you take the jacket off, it looks like a diary. It’s a short read but really interesting. tion of the supra, a large feast that has set Buzzi was born in the early 1900s, and he rules and traditions built into the flow of was an interesting guy: an architect and the meal. Although it sounds completely CO U

hefs rarely follow recipes, but many of them find plenty to savor in cookbooks, nonetheless. They read for inspiration, education, context and community. They earmark pages that reveal fresh approaches to technique. They scribble down notes of promising flavor combinations. We asked three chefs, one cookbook author and one plant nursery owner to share the cookbooks or other food books they pore over.

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Christian Kruse, executive chef, Edelweiss Mountain Deli, Stowe All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking by Molly Stevens (W.W. Norton, 2004)

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All About Braising is a cookbook I feel that every chef or cook should have in their collection. I’ve used this book as a foundation for my braising techniques — simple yet powerful. The flavors, ingredients and techniques are made very approachable for the home cook, but Molly also brings a unique perspective. I really like how involved in film. It was written in Christian Kruse she uses brisket Italian and translated. instead of chuck in SE RU COU NK Reading it is kind of like watching R TE S Y O F C H R IS TIA a pot roast. Chuck has a movie that’s a series of vignettes. Buzzi always been the preferred is all over the place; it’s a very anecdotal classic cut to use. The fat content, tenderbook. He’ll reference the pope and then ness and bold flavor of brisket make pot Paul Bocuse, one of the old-school chefs. roast so much more. Then he’ll go to James Fenimore Cooper, I have always been fascinated by who wrote The Last of the Mohicans, and Californian cuisine because it’s similar what he was eating when he read the to what we do here in Vermont when it book. He also talks about fish sauce and comes to farm-to-table. The simplicity a Mafia chef he knew who made the best and powerful flavors are what inspire BLT. me in Coi, chef Daniel Patterson’s cookFergus Henderson’s Whole Beast book. I had the luxury of eating at his influenced me a lot. The book is really amazing restaurant in 2016. He uses easy to follow. It’s a rudimentary book seasonal ingredients thoughtfully and for young cooks. Everybody should have concentrates on the true flavor of each it, not just aspiring cooks. ingredient without overshadowing He and his restaurant [St. John them with unnecessary ingredients or Restaurant in London] kind of built a sauces. cult following. He was the guy who put Patterson’s spot prawn recipe with marrow, all offal, really, back on the menu cipollini onions and sorrel is a prime exam— and it blew up. Henderson was instru- ple. He brines the prawns and simply grills mental in the whole format of the gastro- them to perfection and keeps the purity pub. He wanted to express his English of flavor. To complement, he serves them roots. And at the height of his success, he with clarified butter and juiced sorrel, was dealing with Parkinson’s. again clear and simple flavors. The best thing about him, I think, is that he unintentionally flipped a COOKBOOKS TO CURL UP WITH » P.50

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

11/10/20 10:32 AM

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The Comfort of Classics

Mincemeat ingredients

When well-worn cookbooks offer what the web doesn’t BY J ORDAN BAR RY & R UX MAR TIN

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ookbooks, at their simplest, are collections of pages filled with ingredients and instructions. But if we return to them often enough, they transform from prescriptive steps and grocery lists into something special. Sure, it’s easy to google a recipe and pick the one touting its “quick, easy steps” — especially this year, when cooking can feel like drudgery. But there’s something deeply grounding about cracking a cookbook’s spine and working from print: deciphering a recipe without the chorus of online comments, or returning to a process that’s tried and true. Here are two essays about the power that cookbooks hold — beyond offering accurate results and delicious desserts — and their ability to comfort, provoke memories and connect people with those they’ve loved and lost. J.B.

The Balm of Baking

More than any other author I’ve worked with, RICHARD SAX appreciated the power of desserts to soothe and fortify. He 48

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

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9/21/20 9:40 AM

understood that when things are going well, we brag about our high-protein diets and the latest bean dish, but during the apocalypse, the urge to bake is primal. He also knew a thing or two about fighting an invisible international killer. When I began working with him on Classic Home Desserts in 1993, Richard was one of the best-known food writers in America. He had been the former director of the test kitchen at Food & Wine, where he excelled at turning chef creations into dishes easily made at home. He was a teacher par excellence. It was the golden age of magazines, and he was one of its princes. Richard wrote for Bon Appétit, Yankee, the New York Times and Out, to name a few. For more than a decade, Richard had searched out the best desserts he could get his hands on. To make it into the book, each one had to be tops in its category, whether it was a yeasted German coffee cake or an apple crumble from a 1744 cookbook. Each dessert must have, as he put it, “a spirit of unadorned frankness.” He wasn’t impressed by the complicated creations of pastry chefs. Instead, he was drawn to the

homey recipes of mothers, grandmothers and other humble cooks — or those of chefs who cooked like them — recipes that had proved themselves around family tables for generations. Richard had unerring radar for the best. Testing and perfecting them, he created a gargantuan work of more than 350 recipes. For months, we frantically wrestled the thousands of manuscript pages into a book. Then, suddenly, Richard began to fall behind. He was mysterious about what was wrong and warned me not to tell anyone he was sick. His friends knew, though. Often he worked from a hospital bed. Shortly after the book was miraculously finished, it won a JAMES BEARD Award for best dessert cookbook. A few months later, Richard died of AIDS. He was 46. Richard’s masterpiece remains as timeless as ever. It’s the book I go to most often during the holidays and for every other occasion when I want something effortlessly perfect. A bread pudding with a whiskey sauce so potent you need a liquor license to serve it. A silky crème brûlée with a crackling top that tells why the dessert became a

food+drink Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax and his fudgy chocolate layer cake

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Happy Holidays!

11/24/20 2:57 PM

TESY OF B RET T S

IM IS

MELISSA PASANEN

Thank you for your kind support this year.

CO UR

sensation. Lemon icebox cookies that are “ferociously addictive.” Recently, a friend told me that she has baked a different chocolate cake for her boyfriend’s birthday every year. This year, she made the Fudgy Chocolate Layer Cake from Classic Home Desserts. It was the best of all, she reported. Richard’s chocolate cake isn’t tricked out with frou-frou ingredients. It doesn’t call for fancy chocolate — just ordinary cocoa powder, with unsweetened chocolate for the frosting. All his recipes are that way: They taste like something your mom would have made if she were the best cook in the world. They are simple goodness. Nearly 25 years after Richard’s death, as we find ourselves sequestered from an invisible plague, his recipes beckon. R.M.

Rux Martin is a Ferrisburgh-based independent editor specializing in cookbooks. From 1997 to 2019, she edited food-world luminaries such as Jacques Pépin, Dorie Greenspan, Pati Jinich, Mollie Katzen and Marcus Samuelsson at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Martin’s essay is excerpted and adapted from a longer piece that was published on April 16, 2020, on ckbk.com.

A Proper Mince

Mincemeat is one of those English holiday traditions that adults observe out of obligation and children overlook in favor of vibrantly frosted sugar cookies. Its only hope of future popularity rests on an appearance as a technical challenge on “The Great British Baking Show.” I happen actually to like the festive flavors of mincemeat, especially in the form of mini tarts. But when I set out to make a batch this year, I couldn’t figure out

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which recipe would produce the version I’d eaten growing up. I could picture myself pouring raisins and dried currants into a bowl — the biggest bowl we had — and cutting wonky little stars out of dough to top the tarts. I heard my mother’s voice as she poured a little more brandy than the recipe called for into the bowl and reached in to mix it all together, telling me stories about her English grandmother. As the memories flooded in, I remembered Mum on her tiptoes, reaching above the stove to open the creaky barn-board cupboard that held her cookbooks. She pulled down her once-gold copy of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, 1965 edition. It was Christmastime, and we were making mincemeat. That Fannie Farmer now sits on my shelf — khaki-greenish and precariously held together with strips of duct tape that have lost their stick. My mom passed away in February 2019; the cookbook was one of the first things I packed when I cleared out my childhood home in fall 2020. THE COMFORT OF CLASSICS

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Choose from a wide variety of civics-related activities in:

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In Bibi’s Kitchen: The Recipes and Stories of Grandmothers From the Eight African Countries That Touch the Indian Ocean by Hawa Hassan and Julia Turshen (Ten Speed Press, 2020)

Mastering Spice: Recipes and Techniques to Transform Your Everyday Cooking by Lior Lev Sercarz with Genevieve Ko (Clarkson Potter, 2019)

Tender: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch by Nigel Slater (Ten Speed Press, 2011)

The extended warm autumn created per- What moved me most about the powerfect conditions for the radicchio, chicory ful new cookbook In Bibi’s Kitchen is and escarole in my garden, and I found the personal connection the authors myself looking for new things to do with establish with the 16 admirable Afrithem. A friend recommended the book can grandmothers (or bibis, the Swahili word for grandmother) who welcome Bitter, and I have been divthem into their kitchens. ing into this flavor as a In Somalia, we meet Ma concept. Sahra, who teaches us to make As we all turn her crispy spiced chicken to comfort foods and onion samosas. Then this year, I realthere’s Ma Kauthar, from a ize that one of port city in Kenya, with her my most satissweet cardamom-scented fying childhood basboosa (semolina cake). food memories Later, we meet Ma Vicky, a realis the dandelion LM life Tanzanian princess who now salad my French Julie Rubaud PA H A NN HA lives in suburban New York and mom used to make — FILE: shares her recipe for matoke (stewed wild harvested dandelion greens, a garlicky Dijon vinaigrette, plantain with beef and beans). Much more than a cookbook, this croutons and lardons. I am so curious about why bitter flavors speak to me so book depicts a rich tapestry of the comloudly, and McLagan’s book helps ex- plicated history, diverse legacies, cultures, communities and, plain it. of course, the food The book is full of insight about of a too often conthe role of bitter taste, and her flated part of recipes literally make my mouth the world. In water. Her caramelized oranges Bibi’s Kitchen are going to make an appearis about susance on top of the pavlova I tenance and usually make at Christmas, connection and my wife, Uli, is making — multigenergrapefruit jelly for filling ational, crosswindowpane cookies we are RI c u ltural and making later this week. A Molly Stevens D E: FIL global. The other book I have been readI pretty much devour ing is all about blending spices. While I already use lots of spice and herbs in my any book by British food writer Nigel cooking, I do generally stick to the same Slater, but the one that brings the most things over and over. To get out of that joy and inspiration is this paean to rut, I decided to experiment with vari- his vegetable garden. I read Tender as ous spice blends and dried herbs from much for Slater’s sumptuous prose as our herb farm. Lior Lev Sercarz owns a for his extensive garden and kitchen spice company called La Boîte, and his knowledge. The recipes are charmbook provides good guidance for anyone ingly conceived and titled: “A Rich Dish who wants to approach spice from a of Sprouts and Cheese for a Very Cold Night,” “A Lentil Stuffing for a Cheap somewhat disciplined perspective. While it might be intimidating to the Supper,” or “Prawns, Leaves and Limes.” beginner cook — amounts are given in And he includes as many ideas for grams, toasting instructions are very improvisation as prescribed formulas. precise — he provides a basic framework Slater’s exuberance makes this a book that allows for creativity within bounds. that rarely sits on my shelf for long. The It is a perfect project book that can lead lavish photographs alone can brighten any kitchen doldrums. to more interesting weeknight meals. A

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

Bitter: A Taste of the World’s Most Dangerous Flavor, With Recipes by Jennifer McLagan (Ten Speed Press, 2014)

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Complete one activity for a chance to win a $50 GIFT CARD to a locally owned independent bookstore or a ONE-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION to THE WEEK or THE WEEK JR. in prize drawings on DECEMBER 30, JANUARY 27 and FEBRUARY 17.

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Keep the whole family busy this winter — take the

Cookbooks to Curl Up With « P.47

12/22/20 5:22 PM

food+drink The Comfort of Classics « P.49 Last Christmas, I didn’t tackle the lengthy process of chopping and mixing that mincemeat requires. It was too hard to do it without her, and I still had a jar we’d made together the Christmas before. After this year of communal grief and despair, though, I sought the comfort of the slow, repetitive combining of ingredients. I found the mince pie recipe on page 417, with several variants of mincemeat on the following pages. Figuring out which we’d made was easy: The first recipe, Mincemeat I, called for four pounds of lean chopped beef. Nope, not that one. Turning the page to Mincemeat II (without meat), I noticed the page was bookmarked with an old receipt (and plenty of spatters). The ingredients were familiar, and one pound of suet seemed like a reasonable — and traditionally British — inclusion. When I looked more closely at the receipt, I noticed it was from Cullinan Store, the tiny grocery store in Arlington, Vt., with a top-notch butcher — probably where Mum got her suet. Cullinan Store has long since closed, but I lucked into several pounds of suet from Stony Pond Farm in Enosburg Falls. I dusted off Mum’s old-fashioned, handcrank metal meat grinder, which I’d recently clamped onto the counter just for looks. Running chunks of the suet through it, I thought about how she used it only twice a year: once for mincemeat

and once to grind up leftover Easter ham (which she didn’t really like). Each step of the recipe brought little flashes of the past. I made a few guesses when it came to the size of the coarse chop for the apples and the citrus — which I’d gone through the unnecessary effort of candying myself. I wasn’t sure where we’d ever found citron, which I ended up leaving out. We made the recipe together so many times, but I was always the assistant; I’d never earned the muscle memory of accomplishing the steps myself. As I dug my hands into the biggest bowl I had and slowly mixed the sticky fruit, the greasy suet and the aromatic spices, the mixture started looking like what Mum would have called “a proper mince,” channeling her Nanny Waine. They both would have told me it needed a touch more brandy.

FIDDLEHEAD BREWERY 4T

J.B.

INFO Classic Home Desserts: A Treasury of Heirloom and Contemporary Recipes by Richard Sax, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 648 pages. $35. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Eleventh Edition, by Fannie Merritt Farmer, revised by Wilma Lord Perkins, Little, Brown, 624 pages. Prices vary.

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12/21/20 11:34 AM

MINCEMEAT II (WITHOUT MEAT) BA RR Y

From The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Eleventh Edition, by Fannie Merritt Farmer, revised by Wilma Lord Perkins

Makes about 4 pints.

A RD JO BY O T O H P

Mincemeat tarts INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound suet • 1 1/2 pounds apples, pared, cored and chopped coarsely • 1 pound dried currants • 1 pound sultana raisins • 1 pound seedless raisins • 4 ounces candied lemon peel, diced • 4 ounces candied orange peel, diced • 4 ounces citron, diced

• • • • • • •

Rind of 2 lemons, grated Juice of 3 lemons 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon mace 1 teaspoon allspice Brandy to taste

DIRECTIONS

Put suet through a meat grinder. Add all remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly with your hands. Add enough brandy to moisten well. Pack into jars or a crock and store in a cool place. As you use the mincemeat in pies or tarts, add more brandy to taste.

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

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REBA PORTER • BRUCE POST • ERIK POST • LORI POTTER • STEPHEN POUX • CARL POWDEN • SEAN PRENTISS • SUE PRESS • ELIZABETH PRESTON • MONIQUE PRIESTLEY • BARB PRINE • ALISON PRINE • NANCY PRUITT • TIM PUET • SARA PULS • LOUI PULVER • ALAN QUACKENBUSH • MARIAH QUINN • JOHN QUINNEY • KELSY RAAP • SUE RAATIKAINEN • LAURA RABINOVITZ • CLIFF RADER • ANN RAGO • DONALD RAMEY • LAURA RAMIREZ • REBECCA RAMOS • CONSTANCE RAMSEY • ROBERT RANCOURT • JEREMY RAUCH • JUDITH RAVEN • NICOLE RAVLIN • TONY REDINGTON • ELODIE REED • DEB REED • JOHN REESE • VIRGINIA RENFREW • REBECCA RENO • JAMES & JOANNE RESMER • LINDA RETCHIN • DAVID REYNOLDS • CRAIG REYNOLDS • MELISSA RHODES-GOSS • ZOE RICHARDS • LACEY RICHARDS • BARBARA RICHARDSON • MARILYN RICHARDSON • DOUGLAS & PATRICIA RICHMOND • BILL RIDER • NELSON RILEY • LISA RITTER • DONNA RIVAS • PATRICIA RIVERS • ROBERT RIVET • LEEEZA ROBBINS • KATHLEEN ROBBINS • LORI ROBERTS • DEBORAH ROBERTS • HARRIET ROBERTSON • JOAN ROBINSON • ANDY ROBINSON • FRANCES ROBINSON • HARVEY ROBITALLE • DAVID ROBY • LORETTA ROBY • LAURA ROCHAT • PAUL ROCHELEAU • DARIN MALONEY & NORMAN RODD • DAVID RODGERS • ETHAN ROGATI • VALERIE ROHY • ANNE ROLAND • FRANK ROMARY • JEAN ROOK • MILTON ROSA-ORTIZ • HENRY ROSARIO • EMILY ROSE • MICHAEL ROSEN • ANDREA ROSEN • STEVEN ROSEN • GAIL ROSENBERG • BETSY ROSENBLUTH • DIANE & PETER ROSENFELD • LYNNEA ROSNER • MARY ROSS • MICHAEL ROY • JULIE RUBAUD • YEPETH RUBIN • DEBORAH RUBIN • LARRY RUDIGER • JUDY RUEL • ANA RUESINK • PAUL RUESS • RICHARD RUSHLOW • JANICE LARA & KENNETH RUSSACK • GEORGE RUSSELL • JENNY RUSSELL • JOSEPH RYAN • REBECCA & TERRY RYAN • ALLISON RYDER • RICHARD RYDER • PETER RYERSBACH • MARIE SADLER • KARLO SALMINEN • MATT SALTUS • REBECCA SAMEROFF • LISA SAMMET • PATRICIA SAMPSON • MARY SAMUELS • LISA SANTOR • PEGGY SAPPHIRE • ANNE SARCKA • DANA SARDET • CARLY SARGENT • CARMINE SARGENT • LINDY SARGENT • RANDALL SARGENT • KYME SARI • KATHLEEN SCACCIAFERRO • LISA SCAGLIOTTI • DENNIS SCANNELL • ALICE SCANNELL • RYAN SCELZA • ELISE SCHADLER • PAT ROBINS & LISA SCHAMBERG • DAVID SCHEIN • JANINE SCHEINER • ROBYN SCHENCK • ROBERT SCHERMER • DAVID SCHERR • LYNN ELLEN SCHIMOLER • MAX SCHINDLER • JORDAN SCHLEEWEIS • JIM SCHLEY • KATHRYN & MERLE SCHLOFF • AMELIA SCHLOSSBERG • KIM SCHMITT • JOHN SCHNADER • DAWN SCHNEIDERMAN • MARDA SCHROPP • BILL SCHUBART • KATE SCHUBART • KARIN SCHUMANN • ELIZABETH HUNT SCHWARTZ • ANYA SCHWARTZ • NADINE SCIBEK • D WENDY SCOTT • CHARLOTTE SCOTT • JAMES & LINDA SCOTT • PHIL SCOTT • CHRIS SCOTT • JOHN SCOTT • WENDY WHAPLES SCULLY • JANNGRACE SEALE • GEEDA SEARFOORCE • DEBORAH SEATON • MICHAEL SEAVER • PHILLIP SEILER • DINA SENESAC • STEFANIE SENG • WAYNE SENVILLE • GREG SEVERANCE • JEFFREY SEVERSON • CYNTHIA SEYBOLT • MARTHA SEYLER S EYLER • CHIKAKO SGINOME • LILA SHAPERO • ROBERT SHAPIRO • CAROLYN C AROLYN SHAPIRO • JOHN & SUSAN SHARP • MARYLOU SHARP • JJANET ANET RUTKOWSKI AND JOHN SHARPLESS • ELIZABETH SHAYNE • PETER P ETER & CHRISTINE SHEIL • LAWRENCE SHELTON • STEVEN SHEPARD • MAGGIE SHERMAN • SARAH SHERRILL • JULIA SHIPLEY • JOHN SHULLENBERGER S HULLENBERGER • LAURA SIBILIA • CHARLES AND JEAN SIEGCHRIST • RACHEL SIEGEL • GUNNAR SIEVERT • DAVE SILBERMAN • ANDREW SILVA SILVA • LAURA SILVERSTEIN • BASAK SIMAL • TOM SIMON • ANDREW SIMON • KATE SIMONE • CAROL SIMONEAU • WENDY SIMPERS • ANGELA SIMPSON • BARBARA SIRVIS • RUTH SKIFF • JILL SKILLIN • JUIA SKONICKI • SEQUANA SKYE • ALEC SLATER • ERIC SLEEPER • KAREN SLOWINSKI • ANN SMALLWOOD • JOE SMILLIE • MARK SMITH • MATTHEW SMITH • JOHN SMITH • DENNIS SMITH • TRACY SMITH • MEG SMITH • WILLARD SMITH • DONNA SMITH • ELEANOR & FRED SMITH • OAKLEY SMITH • MARILYN SMITH • JULIAN SMITH • FRANK SMITH • EMMA SMITHAYER • WALTER SMORGANS • JACKIE SNIDER • PENNY SNOW • CYNTHIA SNYDER • RAQUEL SOBEL • LARRY SOMMERS • JENNA SONNEBORN • SUSAN SPAFFORD • JOE SPEIDEL • NATALIE SPENCE • ERIC SPENCER • CHAPIN SPENCER • ERICA SPIEGEL • BRIAN SPRAGUE • NAOMI GRAHAM & EVELYN SPRAGUE • JENNIFER SPRAGUE • SCOTT SPRINGER • JAMES SQUIRES • CHARLES W. 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LINDA AND MARTIN TIERNEY • LEEANN TIFFAULT • CHARLIE TIPPER • KATIE TITTERTON • SUSAN TITTERTON • JAN TOBIAS • DOROTHY TOD • ANDREA TODD • ROBERT TOMS • SHAY TOTTEN • NANCY TRACY • ZYLPHA TRASK • BENJAMIN TRAVERSE • ANNE TREADWELL • TRACY TREADWELL • JESSICA TRITES • JOAN STEPENSKE & ROBERT TROESTER • JO ANN & LAWRENCE P TROIANO • F JEFFREY & SHAYNE TRUBISZ • JERRY TRUDELL • BENNETT TRUMAN • THE ALISON WILLIAMS TRUST • SUSAN GRAY REVOCABLE TRUST • ELIZABETH CAIN REVOCABLE TRUST • ALLEN SHEPHERD REVOCABLE TRUST • ELISE R SKOLFIELD TRUST • SUSAN TUCKER • AMANDA TUCKER • SAGE TUCKER-KETCHAM • DANIEL TUHUS-DUBROW • MICHELE TULIS • ERIN TUNNICLIFFE • ROBIN TURNAU • YENY TURPIN • NAOMI TWERY • MARK TWERY • ALICE URBAN • ELLEN URMAN • JONATHAN URSPRUNG • BLYTHE USHER • K VALLOCH • TESSA VALYOU • BILLY VANN • CHRISTINA E VELADOTA • GRETCHEN VERPLANCK • ALICE VEZINA • JULIE VIGDOR • ROBIN VILLANUEVA • KARL VINSON • ROMAN VOGEL • NORBERT & JOAN VOGL • TIM VOLK • ALLISON BELISLE AND DAVID VONHOLDEN • SALLY WADHAMS • SALISSA WAHLERS • SARAH & DAYTON WAKEFIELD • SHARI WALCOTT • ETHAN WALDMAN • BECCA WALDO • TOM WALES • PETER WALKE • MARGARET & PETER WALKER • BARBARA WALKER • LISA & KEVIN WALKER • STEVE WALKERMAN • KATY WALLACE • RUTH WALLMAN • DANA WALRATH • JUDY WALSER • BENJAMIN WANG • JAMES WANNER • KATE WANNER • KIMBERLY WARD • STAN WARD • GARY WARING • GARVIN WARNER • KARINA WARSHAW • MARK WASKOW • DEBORAH WATERMAN • LAURA WATERS • LAWRENCE WATERS • THOMAS WATKIN • KRISTEN WATROUS • JOAN WATSON • RICHARD WATTS • MICHAEL WAYMAN • MATTHEW WEBB • KATHRYN WEBB • SHARON WEBSTER • JUDITH WEBSTER • DAVE & SHARON CAVANAGH & WEBSTER • ERIC WEEBER • MIRO WEINBERGER • MARLA WEINER • JACQUELINE WEINSTOCK • RUSS WEIS • MICHAEL & PATRICIA WEISEL • DEBORAH WEIZENEGGER • JAMES WELCH • JOYCE WELDON • REBECCA WELLS • MICHAEL WELLS • CARL WERMER • ELYSE WERTH • BOB WESCOTT • GARY WEST • LEONA WETHERBEE • LISE WEXLER • DAVID WHEEL • KIMBERLY WHEELER • DARELL WHITAKER • NETAKA WHITE • SARAH WHITE • GREGORY WHITE • SHERYL WHITE • MAUREEN WHITE • DANA WHITEHEAD • KEN & SHARON WHITEHEAD • JAMES WHITING • CLAY WHITNEY • JAMES WICK • ELZY WICK • MARGARET WIENER • KEITH WIGHT • BURTON WILCKE • HERBERT WILCOX • VALERIE WILKINS • MALCOLM WILLARD • JAN WILLEY • WILL WILLIAMS • LEE WILLIAMS • BRIAN WILLIAMS • JERRY WILLIAMS • ZACHARY WILLIAMSON • AMY WILLIAMSON • DIETER & DOROTHY WILLNER • JOSEPH WILLS • CATHERINE WILLSON • JOHN WILSON • NANC WILSON • JENNIFER WILSON • PAULA WILSON • HEATHER WINKLER • LINDA WINSLOW • STEVEN WISBAUM • MATTHEW WITTEN • LINDA WITTENBERG • BOB WOLF • ALEXANDER WOLFF • MEGAN EPLER WOOD • SUSAN AND STEVE WOOD • ELIZABETH WOOD • VALERIE AND MICHAEL WOOD-LEWIS • MARTHA WOODMAN • JJENNIFER ENNIFER WOOL • MATT WORMSER • TERRANCE BOYLE & ROBIN WORN W ORN • IRENE WRENNER • DANIEL WRIGHT • ROBERT WRIGHT • SARAH S ARAH WRIGHT • SEBASTIAN WU • TORREY AND CHRISTINE WUESTHOFF • DENNIS WYGMANS • RANDY WYNN • BARBARA WYNROTH • LISA YAEGER Y AEGER • CINDY YAGER • KAREN YAGGY • ALAN YANDOW • JOHN YANULAVICH Y ANULAVICH • JOY YONAN-RENOLD • PAUL YOON • MARGARET YORK • BARBARA B ARBARA YORK • RICHELE YOUNG • ELAINE YOUNG • ELLEN YOUNT • SANDY SANDY YUSEN • PATRICK ZACHARY • NANCY ZAHNISER • MOLLY ZAPP • GEORGIA ZAVESON • MICHAEL ZEBROWSKI • BOB ZELIFF • STEPHEN ZEOLI • ARNOLD ZIEGEL • JENNIFER ZOLLNER • LESLIE ZUCKER • BARBARA ZUCKER • DAVID ZUCKERMAN • ERIC ZUESSE • DYLAN ZWICKY

NK S T

he silver lining for Seven Days during these difficult nine months has been the love we've received from more than 2,000 Super Readers. We are truly humbled by the support from our community. Donations from readers like you have created a new way to fund our award-winning journalism into the future, and for that we are sincerely grateful. Let's keep it going strong in 2021! — Your pals at Seven Days Do these look like your kinda people? Join the Super Readers at: sevendaysvt.com/super-readers

Or send a note (and a check) to: Seven Days c/o Super Readers, P.O. Box 1164, Burlington, VT 05402. Need more info? Contact Corey Grenier at 865-1020, ext. 36 or superreaders@sevendaysvt.com. SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

COURTESY OF SHERVIN LAINEZ

music+nightlife

carpet and say ‘welcome’ to the world, right here, live from Burlington, Vt.” Performances start at 1 p.m. and go straight through to 1 a.m. on Friday, January 1. Read on for some must-see performances.

Everyone’s Your Friend in New York City

S UNDbites

News and views on the local music + nightlife scene B Y J O R D A N A D A MS

Who Run the World?

Here we are, on the precipice of a New Year’s Eve like none we’ve ever experienced. I know I’m getting ahead of myself a smidge, because the big night isn’t until next week. But next week’s music section will be dedicated solely to recapping the year’s best local albums. I’m particularly pleased with this year’s crop of local music — not only because of the adversity musicians worldwide have overcome, having had their livelihoods taken away, but because y’all made some exceptional work this year. Anyway, back to NYE. Aside from the fact that huge ragers and the like just aren’t feasible under pandemic restrictions, even little things are all messed up. For instance, COVID-19 makes a simple midnight kiss potentially lethal if the person isn’t part of your quarantine bubble. (Jeez, 54

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

could I have picked a darker, more downer way to start my final column of 2020?) Most folks ’round these parts will likely spend next Thursday, December 31, at home. At least, I hope so. Please, for the love of all that is holy (specifically: concerts, dance parties and music festivals), stay home — and experience the virtual Burlington NYE festival Highlight. Highlight debuted two years ago as a replacement for First Night Burlington, which ended its 35-year run in 2018. Whereas First Night was a wholly curated event, Highlight is based in part on community-sourced pitches for entertainment. That’s the case again this year for the fest’s virtual incarnation: Highlight House Party. But this ain’t no wonky, buffering, hitor-miss Facebook Live streaming event. Highlight’s presenters, Burlington City Arts and Signal Kitchen, worked hard

Rubblebucket’s Alex Toth and Kalmia Traver

to find a premium, professional-grade platform from which to stream a massive number of eclectic performances. The site is called Run the World, and it’s your one-stop shop for all things Highlight. Get all of the info, including a full list of performances and the ticketing link, at highlight.community. During a virtual press conference on December 18, reporters and other community members were given early access to see how the site functions. Essentially, ticket holders will be able to channel surf between “stages” all day without having to leave the site. Hot tip: If you have an actual TV, cast performances from your computer or a mobile device for a better viewing experience. “For those who have Zoom fatigue — this will not happen with this platform,” said BCA executive director DOREEN KRAFT. “What I love about [Run the World] is that Burlington is able to roll out the red

More than 100 people will be playing music, dancing, teaching yoga, offering cooking lessons and who the hell knows what else during Highlight’s 12-hour run. According to the event’s organizers, some bigger, exciting announcements may still await us, to be announced after press time for this column, unfortunately. Keep your eye on Highlight’s site and socials for more updates. One pretty cool major event that has been announced is a mini festival from RUBBLEBUCKET’s ALEX TOTH and KALMIA TRAVER. The former Burlingtonians, now based in New York City, are pulling together a small group of musicians to put on a multi-hour showcase, set time TBA. During a recent phone call with Seven Days, Toth said he was initially unsure whether to do any kind of December 31 performance. “A solo livestream on New Year’s Eve — that sounds terrible to me,” he said. But the more he thought about it, Toth said, the more possible it seemed. The core members of Rubblebucket were miraculously all available, and Toth said that everyone would be getting coronavirus tests before putting it all together. Rubblebucket will stream from a “huge, fancy apartment” in Manhattan owned by renowned songwriter JESSE HARRIS — he wrote NORAH JONES’ “Don’t Know Why.” In addition to a set from Rubblebucket, Toth will perform some music from his side-project, TOTH, and Traver will play selections from her other gig, KALBELLS. Traver will also serve as the event’s MC, conducting interviews with the musicians and spinning records. Both Tōth and Kalbells have new albums out this spring. Also, Toth said that he and Traver have been penning some new Rubblebucket material. He hinted that a new record could be out late next year and that it’s possible viewers might get a sneak peek during their Highlight House Party. “Kal and I are in love with the new songs,” Toth said. But since they haven’t

GOT MUSIC NEWS? JORDAN@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

played a live show for a long time, he added, “Fans will appreciate hearing songs they know.”

What’s on Tap?

Since every Highlight House Party is BYOB by design, I asked a bunch of performers what food and beverage pairs best with their sets. I also asked them about their hopes, wishes and predictions for 2021. See the list in this column’s sidebar. HAMMYDOWN’s ABBIE MORIN went above and beyond and sent us an actual recipe that sounded too delicious not to share. In addition to a locally sourced charcuterie board, Morin suggested Big Abbie’s Hot Buttered Rum. You’ll need two ounces of blackstrap rum, one tablespoon of cultured butter, one teaspoon of maple syrup, pinches of cinnamon and flaky salt, grated nutmeg, and hot water. “In a small bowl, mix roomtemperature butter, spices and maple together. Spoon a dollop into a warm mug, along with your rum. Top with hot water from the kettle and stir well. Finish with finely grated nutmeg, and a slice of orange zest if you wish!” Morin, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, wrote in an email. Morin also mentioned that they’ve been hard at work on a new record and are “halfway through recording.” Morin plays keys in Vermont expat CAROLINE ROSE’s band, and they tapped Rose to produce the as-yet-untitled new record. Expect to hear some of the new tunes during Morin’s Highlight set.

IT’S THEIR PARTY, AND YOU’LL DRINK WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO Among the best things about New Year’s Eve parties are decadent food and drink spreads. But since everyone will be watching the event’s offerings from their own homes, Highlight House Party is essentially BYOB. So we asked a few of this year’s performers what food and drink viewers should “bring” to their show. As of press time, set times had yet to be announced, but keep an eye on Highlight House Party at highlight.community and on social media for updates. PETE SUTHERLAND (PETE’S POSSE): We’d like to see singing and dancing 24-7, especially by people who’ve never sung or danced. Let’s jig, reel and rock! BYOB: Veggie gyozas and Thai iced tea.

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MARCIE HERNANDEZ: My prediction for

2021 is that we will eventually be able to take off our masks and hug our friends. But I’m not sure if handshakes will ever come back. Do they really need to? (I’ve never been a big fan.) BYOB: Fried plantains and a glass of coquito.

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. LÅPSELY, “First” BEYONCÉ, “Black Parade” LA PRIEST, “What Moves” WHEN SAINTS GO MACHINE,

2020 leaves behind enough ash for us all to make soap with. I have so much unreleased music that just needs one more bath to be ready for the ball. BYOB: Gin and tonic with a sprig of rosemary, and a deviled egg. WILL KEEPER: I’m looking forward to watching season two of “Euphoria” (whenever it comes out). My hope is that everyone actively invests in their own happiness as much as they can. BYOB: Thai food (drunken noodles from East West Café is my favorite dish) and cheap pinot noir. Shirley Temple for the wee ones.

1 convenient email

“MVL - Club Edit” POLIÇA, “Forget Me Now”

wanting my loved ones to survive the pandemic, I want a new era of true equity, justice and thriving for people of color worldwide. BYOB: Herbal tea (rose petals, rose hips, lemon balm and raspberry leaf) and local, raw honey. Also, apple cider vinegar shots. MYRA FLYNN: I hope that 2021 is full of

less resolutions and more reflection. I feel like we have been in survival mode for so long. What art, new love, change and transformation can come out of looking at it all through a lens of hindsight? What can we do with all of this pain? BYOB: FLYNN Wine from Shelburne Vineyard. DJ LLU: My hope for 2021 is that we return to having many joyful, fun and connective happenings to look forward to: concerts, movies, festivals, gatherings and hugs. BYOB: A hot cup of tea and some cookies.

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

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REVIEW this Jenny Jaron, Up and Down (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

In 2017, music critic Ann Powers published an essay introducing “Turning the Tables,” an NPR series honoring influential women in American popular music. Powers noted in her piece that “the general history of popular music is told through the great works of men, and that without a serious revision of the canon, women will always remain on the margins.” Given the long-standing sidelining of women and nonbinary individuals in music, it’s heartening that at just 17, Colchester singer-songwriter Jenny

Western Terrestrials, Back in the Saddle of a Fever Dream (SELF RELEASED, DIGITAL)

I love when a record has a big mood. And if the two overriding themes driving that mood are outer space and the lonesome West? Yippee ki-yay, parental fornicator! Vermont’s oddball alt-country outfit Western Terrestrials deliver the peanut butter and jelly of genre tropes on their newest album, Back in the Saddle of a Fever Dream. Recording partly in Nashville, Tenn., the Terrestrials shook off natural disasters and a pandemic to deliver a record that feels as consistent as it is stylized.

Jaron knows that she deserves a seat at the local music table. Certain elements of Jaron’s writing and performance on her debut album, Up and Down, reveal her youth and inexperience. (I’ll get to those in a bit.) But the topics she writes about — love, liars, haters, breakups and the desire for emotional intimacy — are ageless. Jaron, whose surname is actually Martel, pulled preset beats and loops from the online production program Soundtrap to build the minimalist, hiphop-influenced instrumentals for her 10 indie-pop tracks. Though the Colchester High School junior’s voice has a pleasant, pop-friendly tone, listening to it over several songs is a bit of a roller-coaster ride. She seems to run out of breath — and

out of tune — on her more wordy, uptempo numbers, such as the tropical house-tinged “H.A.P.P.Y.” On the slow ballad “Fixing You,” however, Jaron — who told the Colchester Sun that she’s had no vocal training — settles into her voice and lets it soar, hitting literal and figurative high notes. (BTW, is there a term for a voice doppelgänger? I ask because, in a couple of instances, Jaron sounds uncannily like Linn Berggren of Ace of Base.) Jaron’s cleverest lyrics come on “Accumulate.” Half singing and half rapping, she puts a bad liar on blast: “You’re a sloppy two timer, three timer, prob’ly four / You’re never satisfied with just one girl, always need more.” There’s also this empowering declaration: “Hate to leak the news but you just missed out on a queen.” Tell ’em, Jenny!

From the styling in the cover photo to production elements, ’90s and ’00s trends and allusions crop up all over Up and Down. The stuttering beat and techy sounds in “Don’t Wear It Out” channel a 2000s version of futuristic — imagine if Darkchild remixed an Ace of Base song. (Side note: If you’ve never listened to the Spice Girls’ 2000 LP Forever, do it for the delightfully dated Darkchild production.) Whether listeners experienced the aughts firsthand — JNCO jeans, wallet chains and all — or were just born when George W. Bush was president, they’ll likely relate to some of the experiences propelling Jaron’s music. With more time and polishing, Jaron could strike a chord with her cool vibe, confessional writing style and unabashed point of view. Stream Up and Down at jennyjaron.com.

Opener “Space Cowboy’s Got the Blues” ushers the listener right into the album’s vibe: loneliness, paranoia and tongue-incheek humor. “When that cosmic wind starts whipping around the astral plains / E.T. can’t phone home from the range / Like an old coyote howling at the moon,” croons bandleader Nick Charyk. Then, “Yeah, this space cowboy’s got the blues.” Western Terrestrials exist as an outsider sort of country band, sound-wise. Not so much outlaw country as retro-futurism country, with a wink and a laugh to go along with it. In the press release for the new record, Charyk describes the band’s last record, The Clearlake Conspiracy, as somewhat antagonistic toward Nashville. With Back in the Saddle, he wrote, the band wanted to display its bona fides and showcase its deep country roots.

Never let it be said that the Western Terrestrials half-ass anything. If your band is looking to connect with the DNA of country music, it’s hard to beat scoring the daughter of George Jones and Tammy Wynette as a collaborator. When Georgette Jones takes a verse on “Who’s Gonna Fill These Boots?” and sings — rather gloriously, at that — of her reverence for the tradition she’s stepping into whenever she takes the stage, it’s hard not to imagine the band feeling the same. “Roger Miller Time” further cements the Terrestrials’ tweed cred. Produced by and featuring Roger Miller’s son, Dean Miller, on vocals, the track serves as an ode to playing the country legend’s songs when feeling down in the dumps. “My baby hates when I play Roger Miller songs,” Charyk admits. Next up is a songwriting duet with Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show fame — aka the dude who finished writing a Bob Dylan song, “Wagon Wheel,” and subsequently got huge. Turns out Secor

is a big fan of the Green Mountain State, as he and Charyk out a variety of famous Vermonters as extraterrestrials in “Ethan Alien.” (Bernie Sanders and the Dos Equis dude are aliens, but not Calvin Coolidge, if you were wondering.) The band goes to great lengths to display its beating country heart, but it really doesn’t have anything to prove. Charyk’s songwriting is quirky and esoteric at times, but it is unmistakably rooted in a love for the Grand Ole Opry sound. Charyk also handles vocals and guitar and is joined by two members of his old outfit, Pariah Beat: Jason Pappas on bass and Jared Croteau on drums. With Alex Kelley on keys and Asa Brosius providing the all-important pedal steel, Western Terrestrials sound exactly how they want to. For a record that is obsessed with the past, Back in the Saddle of a Fever Dream still gazes upward into space, searching for UFOs. Download it at westernterrestrials. bandcamp.com.

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COURTESY OF JEONG PARK/NETFLIX

movies The Forty-Year-Old Version ★★★★★

ur streaming entertainment options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. This week, I caught up with playwright and TV writer Radha Blank’s The Forty-Year-Old Version, a Netflix original that is popping up on some 2020 “best of” lists.

The deal

When she appeared on a prestigious “30 under 30” list, playwright Radha (Blank) thought her star was ascending. Now, as the lifelong New Yorker approaches her 40th birthday, even the high school kids she teaches rib her about her stalled career. Her love life? Also a nonstarter, as the smartmouthed guy who lives on her neighbor’s stoop is all too eager to remind her. Radha’s best friend and agent, Archie (Peter Kim), pulls strings to get her new play produced on Broadway, but the deal comes with strings of its own. In the throes of a midlife crisis, Radha tries something new: expressing her frustrations in ferocious raps. When she enlists the help of hip young producer D (Oswin Benjamin) to put her work to a beat and starts performing as RadhaMUS Prime, Archie thinks she’s taken leave of her senses. But could she finally be finding her voice?

Will you like it?

Shot in beautiful black-and-white, The Forty-Year-Old Version recalls Woody Allen in its neuroses, Spike Lee in its punchiness and its “woman on the street” bits in which Radha’s neighbors act as a Greek chorus, and both of those filmmakers in its loving eye for New York

City. Despite those obvious influences, the film is primarily a showcase for writer, director and star Blank. Her jokes fly fast and furious, some broad and others stiletto-pointed; while not every one of them lands, more than enough do. On the broader side, there are the antics of Radha’s students, who compete for her attention as they craft dramatic works that are inevitably all about their raging hormones. On the more pointed side, theatergoers will appreciate the offhand running joke about companies that attempt to push the envelope by producing travesties such as “an all-male Steel Magnolias” and “an integrated Fences.” Funniest and most insightful, though, are RadhaMUS Prime’s raps. They range from the uproariously random “White Man With a Black Woman’s Butt” to the cuttingly satirical “Poverty Porn,” in which Radha lists the elements that white producers expect to see in Black film and theater: “No happy Blacks in the plotlines, please / But a crane shot of Big Momma crying on her knees.” Those are the expectations Radha grapples with as a writer, pressured by her fancy new producer to turn her slice-oflife tale of business owners in Harlem into a gentrification drama with a prominent white character. Blank makes viewers painfully (and hilariously) aware of the pandering stereotypes that too many take for granted. She elegantly poses a question often asked these days but rarely answered, at least by Hollywood: Why do the awards tend to go to stories about

REVIEW

PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST Blank plays a onetime wunderkind hitting middle age in her fresh, funny comedy.

racial oppression rather than about Black people just living? “Just living” is a lot of what Radha does in the movie, yet it always has forward momentum. In addition to the many absurdities of the theater world and the aging process, the film explores tenderness — between Radha and D, Radha and Archie and, perhaps most centrally, Radha and her late mother, who was a visual artist. The struggle to accept a parent’s death is a staple of midlife dramas, but in this case, Radha’s fear that she’ll suffer the same obscurity as her mom gives the theme a special poignancy. The Forty-Year-Old Version is like a semi-inebriated brunch with your funniest, least inhibited friend; while it’s long for a comedy at 124 minutes, I never paused it to check the run time. Blank’s vibrant portrait of urban living may not be grim or gritty enough to snag an Oscar, but as a panacea to the pangs of pandemic midwinter, it’s more than worth your while.

If you like this, try...

• “She’s Gotta Have It” (2017-19; Netflix): Blank has writer and producer credits on this comedy series created by Spike Lee, based on his breakout 1986 film about a young woman juggling three lovers in New York City. • Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020; Netflix): Generations separate Blank from blues legend Ma Rainey (18861939). But, in this adaptation of August Wilson’s play, Rainey also has plenty to say about what it means to be a Black female artist in a white-dominated culture. Viola Davis plays her in a fierce, award-worthy performance. • Girls Trip (2017; Hulu, Sling TV, rentable): Four middle-aged friends rediscover their sense of fun and their sisterhood at a music festival in the hit comedy that gave Tiffany Haddish her breakout role. MARGO T HARRI S O N

NEW IN THEATERS

NOW PLAYING

OLDER FILMS

BILLIE: James Erskine’s documentary about the life of Billie Holiday draws on 200 hours of interviews with people who knew the jazz great, taped for a never-finished biography in the 1970s. (96 min, NR. Savoy Theater)

THE CROODS: A NEW AGE★★★ In this sequel to the animated comedy hit, a prehistoric family finds itself forced to cohabit with its more evolved neighbors. With the voice talents of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds; Joel Crawford directed. (95 min, PG. Essex Cinemas, Sunset Drive-In)

CLUELESS: A 25TH ANNIVERSARY EVENT (Essex Cinemas, Sun only)

FATALE★★ In the latest twist on Fatal Attraction, Hilary Swank plays a detective who won’t leave a married man (Michael Ealy) alone after they have a one-night stand. Deon Taylor (The Intruder) directed the thriller. (102 min, R. Essex Cinemas)

NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION (Sunset Drive-In)

NEWS OF THE WORLD: In this western from director Paul Greengrass (22 July), Tom Hanks plays a Civil War vet who travels hundreds of miles to return a girl raised by the Kiowa to her family. With Elizabeth Marvel, Ray McKinnon and Helena Zengel. (118 min, PG-13. Essex Cinemas, Stowe Cinema) PINOCCHIO: Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah) directed this new, darkly fantastical version of the children’s classic about a puppet who just wants to be a real boy, starring Federico Ielapi and Roberto Benigni. (125 min, PG-13. Essex Cinemas) PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN: Carey Mulligan plays a med school dropout who has a few lessons to teach men about the concept of consent in this dark satirical thriller from writer-director Emerald Fennell, also starring Bo Burnham and Alison Brie. (114 min, R. Essex Cinemas)

MONSTER HUNTER★★ The Capcom video game becomes an action adventure in which a team of U.S. Army Rangers find themselves in another dimension fighting terrifying monsters. Milla Jovovich and Tony Jaa star. Paul W.S. Anderson, the auteur behind the Resident Evil movies, directed. (99 min, PG-13. Essex Cinemas, Stowe Cinema, Sunset Drive-In)

WONDER WOMAN 1984: She’s back! Sixty-odd years after her first film showcase — but no older, of course — the Amazon princess (Gal Gadot) faces Max Lord and the Cheetah in the latest DC Comics adventure. With Chris Pine and Kristen Wiig. Patty Jenkins again directed. (151 min, PG-13. Essex Cinemas, Savoy Theater, Stowe Cinema, Sunset Drive-In)

WOLFWALKERS★★★★1/2 An apprentice wolf hunter in Ireland discovers a different point of view in this family animation from the makers of The Secret of Kells, featuring the voices of Honor Kneafsey, Eva Whittaker and Sean Bean. (103 min, PG. Savoy Theater)

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

THE DARK KNIGHT (Sunset Drive-In) ELF (Sunset Drive-In) THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (Sunset Drive-In) THE POLAR EXPRESS (Sunset Drive-In)

OPEN THEATERS ESSEX CINEMAS & T-REX THEATER: 21 Essex Way, Suite 300, Essex, 879-6543, essexcinemas.com THE SAVOY THEATER: 26 Main St., Montpelier, 229-0598, savoytheater.com STOWE CINEMA 3PLEX: 454 Mountain Rd., Stowe, 253-4678, stowecinema.com SUNSET DRIVE-IN: 155 Porters Point Rd., Colchester, 862-1800, sunsetdrivein.com

THANK YOU FOR EATING LOCAL SUPPORT YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. LOCAL CUISINE AVAILABLE BY GIFT CARD, TAKEOUT, OR DINING IN.

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WILLISTON 121 Connor Way | In Maple Tree Place ESSEX JUNCTION 101B Pearl Street | Next to Mac’s BURLINGTON 580 Shelburne Road | Burlington Plaza Shopping Center

SOUTH BURLINGTON 344 Dorset Street | 2 blocks from Healthy Living University Mall Next to Pictures with Santa Claus, Near Target

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

12/17/20 11:57 AM

CLASS PHOTOS + MORE INFO ONLINE SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSES

classes

EXPERIENCED NATIVE PROFESSOR OFFERING ONLINE SPANISH CLASSES: Premier native-speaking Spanish professor Maigualida Rak is giving fun, interactive online lessons to improve comprehension and pronunciation and to achieve fluency. Audio-visual material is used. “I feel proud to say that my students have significantly improved their Spanish with my teaching approach.” -Maigualida Rak. Read reviews on Facebook at facebook.com/spanishonlinevt. Location: Maigualida Rak, Online. Info: Maigualida Rak, spanish tutor.vtfla@gmail.com, facebook. com/spanishonlinevt.

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 DJEMBE & TAIKO DRUMMING: JOIN US!: Hybrid classes (Zoom and in-person) starting Jan 4, 5, 6! Taiko Tuesday and Wednesday. Djembe Wednesday. Kids and Parents Tuesday & Wednesday. COVID-19-free rental instruments, curbside pickup, too. Private Hybrid Conga lessons by appointment. Let’s prepare for future drumming outdoors. Schedule/register online. Location: Online and in-person at Taiko Space, 208 Flynn Ave., Suite 3G, Burlington. Info: 999-4255, burlingtontaiko.org.

family ONLINE MUSIC CLASSES FOR TODDLERS & PRESCHOOLERS: Join Musical Munchkins for 10 weeks of interactive, familycentered fun at home this winter.

Go for a sleigh ride, dance with a bear, drum with a snow mouse! Embark on make-believe adventures like these while your kids sing, dance, drum and play with instruments and puppets. Agespecific for toddlers, preschoolers. Beginning Jan. 8, Fri., Sat., & Sun. Cost: $125/10-weeks ($100 before 12/20). Free demo classes avail. Location: Online. Info: 845-2311, musicalmunchkinswith andrea@gmail.com, musical munchkins.net.

language ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE WINTER SESSION: Our six-week winter session starts on January 11, offering online French classes for adults. We also offer private lessons for those who are more comfortable with one-on-one instruction. We serve the entire

range of students, from true beginners to those who are already comfortable conversing in French. Six weeks beginning Mon., Jan. 11. Location: Online. Info: Alliance Française of the Lake Champlain Region, Micheline Tremblay, 881-8826, education@aflcr.org, aflcr.org.

SPANISH ZOOM CLASSES STARTING: Join us for adult Spanish classes this winter using online video conferencing. Learn from a native speaker via small group classes, individual instruction or student tutoring. You’ll always be participating and speaking. Lesson packages for travelers, lessons for children. Our 15th year. See our website or contact us for details. Beginning week of Jan. 4. Cost: $270/10 weekly classes of 90+ min. each. Location: Spanish in Waterbury Center, Waterbury Center. Info: 585-1025, spanishparavos@ gmail.com, spanishwaterbury center.com.

LIVESTREAM YOGA AT THE YOGA BARN: Bring movement back into your life with livestream yoga. The Yoga Barn offers daily group and private classes online. Organize a private class and practice with friends from afar. Peruse our schedule at theyoga barnstowe.com. Sliding-scale rates for those experiencing financial hardship. Questions? Email us at: theyogabarnstowe@gmail. com. Location: The Yoga Barn, Online classes. Info: The Yoga Barn, Erica Sussman, 825-5851356, theyogabarnstowe@gmail. com, theyogabarnstowe.com.

yoga EVOLUTION YOGA: Come as you are and open your heart! Whether you’re new or have practiced for years, find support you need to awaken your practice. Offering livestream and recorded classes. Give the gift of yoga with a gift card on our website. Flexible pricing based on your needs; scholarships avail. Contact yoga@ evolutionvt.com. Single class: $0-15. Weekly membership: $10-25. 10-class pass: $140. New student special: $20 for 3 classes. Location: Evolution Yoga, 20 Kilburn St., Burlington. Info: 8649642, evolutionvt.com.

Happy Holidays! Help us empty the Pop-Up Store this Saturday 11-2 ArtsRiot 400 Pine St.

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

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Humane

Society of Chittenden County

Scoot AGE/SEX: 4-year-old neutered male ARRIVAL DATE: December 2, 2020 REASON HERE: He was not doing well with the other animals in his home. SUMMARY: Meet Scoot! He’s a goofy, laid-back kind of guy who can really work those puppy dog eyes. He can often be found hanging out with our shelter staff during lunch hour, and we can attest that it’s pretty impossible to resist giving him a treat or two. Scoot prefers the company of people over other pets, but he’s got plenty of love to give. He walks nicely on a leash and isn’t bothered by lots of activity going on nearby. He’s content just to stick by your side. Scoot already knows “sit” and is eager to learn more tricks, especially if they earn him a tasty snack — peanut butter is his favorite! So if you’re looking for a canine sidekick who’s up for whatever, make an appointment to meet Scoot at hsccvt.org/dogs!

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Despite what your pet may try to tell you, pets and holiday food don’t mix well! Fatty foods are hard for pets to digest and can lead to stomach upset, while turkey can even cause life-threatening pancreatitis. Many foods that are healthy for people are poisonous to pets, including onions, raisins and grapes. Be sure to keep your holiday spread away from prying paws and stick to their regular treats if you just can’t resist those begging eyes! Sponsored by:

DOGS/CATS/KIDS: Scoot would prefer to be the only pet in his new home. He has lived with children and done well with them.

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CLASSIFIEDS KEY BA bathroom BR bedroom DR dining room DW dishwasher HDWD hardwood HW hot water LR living room NS no smoking OBO or best offer refs. references sec. dep. security deposit W/D washer & dryer

EQUAL HOUSING 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

TAFT FARM SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY 10 Tyler Way, Williston, independent senior living. Newly remodeled 2-BR unit on 2nd floor avail., $1,410/mo. inc. utils. & cable. NS/pets. Must be 55+ years of age. cintry@fullcirclevt. com or 802-879-3333. TAFT FARM SENIOR LIVING COMMUNITY 10 Tyler Way, Williston, independent senior living. Newly remodeled 1-BR unit on the main floor avail., $1,200/ mo. incl. utils. & cable. NS/pets. Must be 55+ years of age. cintry@

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

Homeshares SOUTH BURLINGTON

Active woman in her 40s with Down syndrome who enjoys sports, crafts & family time. Pay no rent (small utils. share) in exchange for cooking 1-2 x/week, sharing housekeeping & companionship. Shared BA.

FLETCHER Delightful, travelled senior gentleman with rural home to share in exchange for help w/ errands, laundry & property maintenance. Private BA. $200/mo.

WESTFORD Share beautiful home w/ easy-going, outdoorsy man in his 50s. Large property to enjoy. $500/mo. (all inc.). 10 miles to Essex Jct. No pets.

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

fullcirclevt.com or Homeshare-temp2.indd 1 802-879-3333.

HOUSEMATES SMALL ROOM DOWNTOWN, NOW In stylishly Clorox-clean, remodeled house. Respectful living w/ others in this new normal (wash hands prior to entering building; disinfect BA, kitchen & common areas after use). Wi-Fi, cable, W/D on-site, back porch, garden. Tobacco outside only. Inside: 420-friendly. Mo.-tomo., $600/mo. + $100 dep. Incl. all utils. Dennis Ailor: 520-203-5487.

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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 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; OR â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Vermont Human Rights Commission 14-16 Baldwin St. Montpelier, VT 05633-0633 1-800-416-2010 hrc@vermont.gov

print deadline: Mondays at 4:30 p.m. post ads online 24/7 at: sevendaysvt.com/classifieds questions? classifieds@sevendaysvt.com 865-1020 x10

services

ADOPTION COUPLE HOPING TO ADOPT Kind & fun-loving VT couple can provide a safe & loving home for your baby. If you are pregnant & considering adoption, we would welcome hearing from you. jonandtessa.weebly. com, 802-272-7759.

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EDUCATION

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HOME/GARDEN IB COMPOSTIN REMOVAL We provide everything you need, incl. starter kits, biodegradable bags & a selection of containers that we come & pick up at your home or business. Call us today to set up your membership. 802-595-9942. LEOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ROOFING Shingle, metal & slate repair. Standing seam replacement. Roofing repair or replacement. Call for free estimate: 802-503-6064. 30 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; experience. Good refs. & fully insured. Chittenden County. MORE FOR LESS CLEANING SERVICES Schedule weekly, biweekly or a one-time clean for your home. Before/after parties, moving, holiday or seasonal cleaning. Located in Chittenden County. Contact Ashley at vt.clean.organize. chittenden4@gmail. com.

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FREE STUFF FREE FURNITURE ITEMS Vintage vanity dresser, 7 drawers, w/ mirror & bench; top surface fair condition, drawers good. Solid wood bed headboard, for 3/4-size bed. 802-879-6206.

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View and post up to SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS Complete the Post & browse ads following puzzle by using theconvenience. 6 photos per ad online. at your

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SUDOKU

BY JOSH REYNOLDS

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HH

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BY JOSH REYNOLDS

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HH

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.

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SEVENDAYSVT.COM/DAILY7 8v-daily7-coffee.indd 1

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

1/13/14 1:45 PM

FROM P.63

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020 Difficulty: Medium

6/12/12 3:25 PM

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No. 668

FROM P.63

PUZZLE ANSWERS

Notice is hereby given

Pursuant to Act 250 Notice of Emergency

Unit 015 ~ Lynda J Moureau 2345 N Craycroft Rd. Apt. # 23 Tucson AZ 85712

GUITAR LESSONS All ages/levels. Jazz, rock, funk, classical, Indian classical. Technique, theory, learn your favorite songs, express your unique voice. Student-centered lessons. 20 years’ teaching experience. Xander Naylor, 318-5365, contact@xandernaylor. com.

NOTICE OF SELFSTORAGE LIEN SALE LYMAN STORAGE 10438 Route 116 Hinesburg VT 05461 802-482-2379

for all.

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@burlington musicdojo.com.

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

By: _/s/ Stephanie H. Monaghan Stephanie H. Monaghan, District Coordinator 111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 802-879-5662 stephanie.monaghan@ vermont.gov

Contents of each unit may be viewed on Saturday 01/09/2021, commencing at 10:00 a.m. Sealed bids are to be submitted on the entire contents of each self-storage unit. Bids will be opened one-quarter of an hour after the last unit has been viewed on Saturday 01/09/2021. The highest bidder on the storage unit must remove the entire contents of the unit within 48 hours after notification of their successful bid. Purchase must be made in cash and paid in advance of the removal of the contents of the unit. A $50.00 cash deposit shall be made and will be refunded if the unit is broom cleaned. Lyman Storage reserves the right to accept or reject bids.

INSTRUCTION

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 “4C0696-12G.”

The entire contents of each self-storage unit listed below will be sold, with the proceeds to be distributed to Lyman Storage for all accrued occupancy fees (rent charges), attorney’s fees, sale expenses, and all other expenses in relation to the unit and its sale. Any proceeds beyond the foregoing shall be returned to the unit holder.

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REHEARSAL SPACE Safe & sanitary music/ creative spaces avail. by the hour in the heart of the South End art district. Monthly arrangements avail., as well. Tailored for music but can be multipurpose. info@ burlingtonmusicdojo. com, 802-540-0321.

Dated at Essex Junction, Vermont this 16th day of December, 2020.

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HARMONICA LESSONS W/ ARI Online harmonica lessons! All ages & skill levels welcome. First lesson just $20. Avail. for workshops, too. Pocketmusic. musicteachershelper. com, 201-565-4793, ari.erlbaum@gmail.com.

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).

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On December 11, 2020, New England Federal Credit Union, PO Box 527, Williston, VT 05495 filed application number 4C0696-12G for a project generally described as temporary emergency site improvements including the widening of an existing drive-thru lane from one to two lanes and removal of two existing light poles. The proposed changes will be removed when the COVID-19 State of Emergency order is lifted and the site will be returned to previously approved specifications. The Project is located at 141 Harvest Lane in Williston, Vermont.

If you have a disability for which you need accommodation in order to participate in this process (including participating in a public hearing, if one is held), please notify us as soon as possible, in order to allow us as much time as possible to accommodate your needs.

that the contents of the self-storage units listed below will be sold at public auction by sealed bid at the Lyman Storage facility. This sale is being held to collect unpaid storage unit occupancy fees, charges and expenses of the sale.

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ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION #4C0696-12G 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6093

on this case, please contact the District Coordinator as soon as possible, and by no later than December 30, 2020.

MISCELLANEOUS

GUITAR INSTRUCTION All styles/levels. Emphasis on building strong technique, thorough musicianship, developing personal style. Paul Asbell (Big Joe Burrell, Kilimanjaro, UVM & Middlebury College faculty, Daysies). 233-7731, pasbell@ paulasbell.com.

Response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (COVID-19: NRB Statement #7 - September 15, 2020), no hearing will be held and a permit may be issued unless, on or before December 30, 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.

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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.

SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS STATE OF VERMONT VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT FRANKLIN UNIT, CIVIL DIVISION DOCKET NO: 7-1-20 FRCV LAKEVIEW LOAN SERVICING, LLC. v. ANDREW H. MONTROLL, ESQ., ADMINISTRATOR OF THE ESTATE OF MARLENE L. SHAPPY OCCUPANTS OF: 519 Sand Hill Road, Enosburg Falls VT MORTGAGEE’S NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE SALE OF REAL PROPERTY UNDER 12 V.S.A. sec 4952 et seq. In accordance with the Judgment Order and Decree of Foreclosure entered October 12, 2020 in the above captioned action brought to foreclose that certain mortgage given by James J. Shappy Jr. and Marlene L. Shappy to Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. as nominee for PHH Mortgage Services, dated April 6, 2007 and recorded in Book 109 Page 642 of the land records of the Town of Enosburg Falls, of which mortgage the Plaintiff is the present holder, by virtue of an Assignment of Mortgage from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. as nominee for PHH Mortgage Services to Lakeview Loan Servicing, LLC dated March 19, 2019 and recorded in Book 136 Page 181 of the land records of the Town of Enosburg Falls, for breach of the conditions of said mortgage and for the purpose of foreclosing the same will be sold at Public Auction at 519 Sand Hill Road, Enosburg Falls, Vermont on January 12, 2021 at 12:00PM all and singular the premises described in said mortgage, To wit: Being all and the same lands and premises conveyed to James J. Shappy and Marlene L. Shappy by Deed of Darlene Fowler of approximate even date herewith and to be recorded in the Town of Enosburgh Land Records. Said lands and premises being more particularly described as follows: Being all and the same lands and premises conveyed to Darlene Fowler, Thomas Fowler, and Michael Greenwood, by Quit Claim Deed of Darlene Fowler and Thomas Fowler dated August 28, 2002 and recorded September 19, 2002 at Book 94, Pages 94-95 of the Town of Enosburg Land Records.

Darlene Fowler and Thomas Fowler took title as husband and wife, as tenants by the entirety and Michael Greenwood took title as joint tenant as between himself and Darlene and Thomas Fowler. The interest of Michael Greenwood was conveyed to Darlene Fowler by Quit Claim Deed dated January 5, 2008 and recorded January 28, 2008 at Book 106, Pages 358-359 of said Land Records. Thomas Fowler is deceased with death certificate dated February 8, 2003 at Book 22, Page 61 of said Land Records, vesting title solely in the name of Darlene Fowler. Said lands and premises being more particularly described as follows: Being all and the same lands and premises conveyed to Darlene Fowler and Thomas Fowler by the following two Deeds: Parcel One: Warranty Deed of Timothy Hayes and Lori Hayes dated July 12, 1999 and recorded at Book 85, Page 27 of said land records. This parcel is subject to State of Vermont Homestead Exemption Determination HE-60267 recorded at Book 85, Page 26 of said Land Records. Parcel Two: Warranty Deed of Timothy Hayes and Lori Hayes dated September 29, 1999 and

recorded at Book 85, Page 373 of said Land Records. This parcel is subject to State of Vermont Deferral of Permit number DE-6-2511 recorded at Book 85, Page 24-25 of said Land Records. Reference is made to a survey prepared by Harvey W. Chaffee dated June 22, 1999 and recorded at Map Book 3, Page 56 of said Land Records. Reference is hereby made to the above instruments and to the records and references contained therein in further aid of this description. Terms of sale: Said premises will be sold and conveyed subject to all liens, encumbrances, unpaid taxes, tax titles, municipal liens and assessments, if any, which take precedence over the said mortgage above described. TEN THOUSAND ($10,000.00) Dollars of the purchase price must be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check at the time and place of the sale by the purchaser. The balance of the purchase price shall be paid by a certified check, bank treasurer’s or cashier’s check within sixty (60) days after the date of sale. The mortgagor is entitled

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to redeem the premises at any time prior to the sale by paying the full amount due under the mortgage, including the costs and expenses of the sale. Other terms to be announced at the sale. DATED: November 19, 2020 By: /S/Loraine L. Hite, Esq. Loraine L. Hite, Esq. Bendett and McHugh, PC 270 Farmington Ave., Ste. 151 Farmington, CT 06032

THE CONTENTS OF STORAGE UNIT 01-03519 LOCATED AT 28 ADAMS DRIVE, WILLISTON VT, 05495 WILL BE SOLD ON OR ABOUT THE OF DECEMBER 31ST 2020 TO SATISFY THE DEBT OF DANIEL P WEST. Any person claiming a right to the goods may pay the amount claimed due and reasonable expenses before the sale, in which case the sale may not occur.

THE CONTENTS OF STORAGE UNIT 0104902 LOCATED AT 28 ADAMS DRIVE, WILLISTON VT, 05495 WILL BE SOLD ON OR ABOUT THE 7TH OF JANUARY 2021 TO SATISFY THE DEBT OF ABDI DHERE. Any person claiming a right to the goods may pay the amount claimed due and reasonable

expenses before the sale, in which case the sale may not occur.

TOWN OF DUXBURY WARNING Development Review Board, January 12th – 7:00 p.m. Hearing will be held at town office Please wear mask and observe distance recommendations Randy & Joann Berno – Ryan/Berno Road Subdivision Don & Mary Ethel Welch – Main Street - Preexisting small lot Sam & Kerry Jackson – Ward Hill Road – reconsider decision Sam & Kerry Jackson – Ward Hill Road – setback variance

TOWN OF ESSEX PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA/PUBLIC HEARING JANUARY 14, 2021 - 6:30 P.M. COVID-19 UPDATE: Due to the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic, this meeting will be held remotely and recorded via Microsoft Stream. Available options to watch or join the meeting:

Open 24/7/365. Post & browse ads at your convenience. call in for audio (below). Join via conference call (audio only): (802) 377-3784 | Conference ID: 590879654# Watch the live stream video on Town Meeting TV’s YouTube Channel. Town Meeting TV is aired on Comcast channel 1087 (channel 17 for other cable providers). Public wifi is available at the Essex municipal offices, libraries, and hotspots listed here: https://publicservice. vermont.gov/content/ public-wifi-hotspotsvermont 1. Public Comments 2. CONSENT AGENDA: Boundary Line Adjustment: Andrew Pitrowiski: Proposal to redraw a boundary line toaccommodate a SFH on the undeveloped lot located at 306 &amp; 314 Lost Nation Road in the AR Zone. Tax Map 13, Parcels 15 & 15-1. 3. Minutes: December 10, 2020 4. Other Business Note: Please visit our website at www.essex. org to view agendas, application materials, and minutes.

TOWN OF RICHMOND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD JANUARY 13, 2021 7:00 PM Due to precautions being taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in accordance with Bill H.681 this DRB meeting will be held via login online or conference call only. Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom. us/j/81115438175?pwd=K 1JOVjhRNWJlNkVOSTBM WnZWbitxZz09 Meeting ID: 81115438175 Passcode: 376237 Call-in: +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) Public HearingTown of Richmond Application 2020-162 for Major Site Plan Amendment to install a gate. Property located at 1129 East Main Street, Richmond, and within the Agricultural/Residential Zoning District. Application materials may be viewed at http:// www.richmondvt. gov/boards-minutes/ development-reviewboard/ one week before meeting. Please call 802-434-2430 if you have any questions.

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TOWN OF WESTFORD DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Pursuant to 24 V.S.A. Chapter 117 and the Westford Land Use & Development Regulations, the Development Review Board will hold a public hearing at 7:15 p.m. via ZOOM on Monday, January 11, 2021 in reference to the following: Final Plat Public Hearing for 3 Lot, 2 Unit Subdivision – Reynolds Family Trust Property Applicant: Larry & Julie Reynolds (approx. 85 acres) located on Woods Hollow Road in the Rural 10 & Water Resource Overlay Zoning Districts. The applicant proposes two building lots and one deferred development lot. Join the Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom. us/j/83056914601?pw d=Y1k2RElteDI0ZHNTQ m0wTEhsa3B0QT09 Or dial: +16465588656 US (New York) Meeting ID: 83056914601 Passcode: 0111 For information call the Town Offices at 878-4587 Monday–Friday 8:30am– 4:30pm. Matt Wamsganz, Chairman Dated December 15, 2020

List your properties here and online for only $45/week. Submit your listings by Mondays at noon. Call or email Katie Hodges today to get started: 865-1020 x10, homeworks@sevendaysvt.com Untitled-25 1

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

6/6/16 4:30 PM

66 DECEMBER 23-30, 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

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HEMATOLOGIST/ONCOLOGISTS The University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group, Inc. seeks Hematologist / Oncologists (mult. openings) to work at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, VT, and provide medical care to patients with hematologic disorders and/or cancer (oncology) care in the inpatient and outpatient settings. Send CV/cover letter with references and salary requirements to Allen Mead, Director, Medicine Healthcare Service, Allen.Mead@UVMHealth.org with “Hematologist/Oncologist Opportunity” in the Subject Line. 3h-UVMspecAd.indd 1

12/15/20 11:30 AM

ADMINISTRATION,

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EQUIPMENT COORDINATOR Vermont Energy Education Program (VEEP) and its New Hampshire Energy Education Project (NHEEP) are searching for their veep.org/aboutnext Executive Director Visit responsible for planning, budgeting, us/join-our-team/ fundraising, administration, oversight of AdminCommKitsCoord for educationalallprograms, management of the details. staff, and public relations.

VEEP and NHEEP support energy and climate education in schools throughout the two state region.

SHARED LIVING PROVIDER Howard Center is seeking a Shared Living Provider to provide a fulltime home to a social 16-year-old girl who likes animals and dancing. Ideal provider would be an excellent collaborator and have strong observation, interpersonal, and communication skills. This role requires a provider who is able to be engaging and compassionate while being able to establish routine/structure, provide consistent supervision, and follow a detailed support plan. Ideal applicant would have knowledge or experience related to mental health, developmental disabilities, and/or supporting teens.

MAINTENANCE OPERATOR/ ROLL-OFF TRUCK DRIVER

a provider of personal care

Theservices Chittenden Solid in Waste to seniors their District, a leader in municipal homes, is seeking friendly solid waste management, and dependable people. isCAREGivers seeking an assist energetic, seniors articulate, well-organized with daily living activities. P/T & F/T positions available. 12 waste reduction advocate. The CSWD is seeking a full-time ideal hours/week flexible candidateminimum, is a self-starter Maintenance Operator/ scheduling, available. with excellentcurrently communication Roll-Off Truck Driver to $13-$17.50/hour on skills that willdepending assist perform skilled technical experience. No heavy lifting. residents, community groups and manual work in and institutions in reducing Apply online at: maintaining facilities and homeinstead.com/483 and managing solid waste, driving a roll-off truck. Or call: 802.860.4663 recyclables, food residuals, Experience in routine and hazardous and special maintenance, repair of wastes.

vehicles and equipment, Full-time position. $22.20/hour. and two years driving experience with a Class B Excellent benefit package. For more information, visit cswd. CDL required. Competitive net/about-cswd/job-openings. 2/24/20 salary and excellent 2v-HomeInstead022620.indd 1 Submit cover letter and resume benefit package.

For more information on the position and CSWD, visit cswd.net/about-cswd/ job-openings. Submit cover letter and resume to Amy Jewell, ajewell@cswd.net by 1/4/2021.

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to Amy Jewell, ajewell@cswd BEHAVIORAL HEALTH net, by 3/27/2020.

& WELLNESS CLINICIAN

The Behavioral Health and Wellness Clinician promotes and Compensation: $35,000 tax-free annual stipend and access to a See all the details at offers integrated care services generous respite budget. Interested applicants contact veep.org/about-us/join-our-team/ related to screening, diagnopatfraser@howardcenter.org or call (802)871-2902. executive-director-job. sis, prevention, and treatment of mental and substance use disorders, co-occurring physical 2v-VEEP121620.indd 1 12/15/204t-HowardCenterSLP16yroldgirl112520.indd 9:30 AM 1 11/24/203v-CSWD1223ONLY.indd 12:04 PM 1 12/18/20 12:14 PMhealth conditions and chronic diseases to children and youth with, or at risk for, serious emotional disturbance. The Behavioral Health and Wellness EXPERIENCED DIESEL TECHS WANTED Clinician will work as part of an interdisciplinary team, which • RATE OF PAY: $23-$33/HR includes medical, clinical, case • 2+ years of experience as Diesel Tech, management and in-home supwith CDL License portive services to the children • Diagnosing & repairing medium and heavy and families served.

REGISTERED NURSE II NEUROLOGY

duty vehicles • Writing up accurate & descriptive work performed details • Verifying vehicle performance by conducting test-drives

Full Time, Days, 8 Hour Shifts

Join a team of Neurology nurses to support the neuromuscular patient population through phone triage, coordination of care, collaboration with physicians, and participation in a weekly multidisciplinary clinic.

LEARN MORE & APPLY: uvmmed.hn/sevendays 4t-UVMMedCenter121620.indd 1

Competitive hourly wages and benefits including PTO and Kenworth sponsored training. Email resume, cover letter and salary requirements to: resume@newenglandkw.com or call 802.985.2521 and ask for Parker Shenk.

12/14/20 10:12 AM

Master's degree in Psychology, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Social Work or other related field required. Experience within a clinical setting providing children, adolescent and family behavioral health services required. $2,000 sign on bonus available. Send resumes to: kmckeighan@rmhsccn.org

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G! N I R HI

Youth Outreach Specialist

an AmeriCorps position Our AmeriCorps Outreach Specialist will use their passion for young people, learning and social justice to help give all bright Vermont students access to life-changing GIV programs. Organized, articulate and a great writer? Read more at giv.org/jobs!

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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

FINANCIAL SERVICES ADVISOR

67 DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

Administrative Assistant Join the friendly hard working team at VT Beer Shepherd! Skills needed- tech savvy, attention to detail, experience with QuickBooks and bookkeeping, communication, flexibility and a sense of humor. Job responsibilities will include data entry, purchase orders, reconciliation, customer service and a variety of other staff support tasks for this fast growing company. P/T to start and growing into F/T for the right person.

Are you committed to helping your clients achieve their financial goals, interested in a path to partnership in a fastgrowing firm, and have a track record of building trusted relationships? Consider joining our entrepreneurial and tight-knit team offering comprehensive financial services from Middlebury, VT. We seek candidates with at least three Send resume to indy@vtbeershepherd.com years’ experience working in an advisory capacity, and a commitment to always putting clients first. CFP designation and a master’s degree would be pluses. We offer an attractive 2h-VTBeerShepard1223&3020.indd 1 12/18/20 total compensation package, including paid parental leave, and additional comp for candidates bringing a book of business. Northeastern Vermont Regional Consideration given to candidates needing to start on a remote Hospital (NVRH) has a variety of basis. Equal Opportunity Employer. openings available, including RNs, LNAs, Ultrasound To learn more and apply, visit our Technologist, Radiologic search consultant’s website at Technologist, Sr. Multi-Modality bethgilpin.com/current-openings. Technologist and Medical Lab Technician or Medical Technologist.

MULTIPLE POSITIONS OPEN

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Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice

12/21/20 1:15 PM

12:02 PM

NVRH also has Administrative Positions, Information Services and Environmental Services openings. Shift differentials & per diem rates offered! Full-time, part-time and per diem positions available. Excellent benefits including student loan repayment, wellness reimbursement, low cost health plan choice and more! For information to apply, visit nvrh.org/careers.

Hematologist/Oncologists The University of Vermont Health Network Medical Group, Inc. seeks Hematologist/Oncologists (mult. openings) to work at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, VT, and provide medical care to patients with hematologic disorders in inpatient and outpatient settings.

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12/11/20 10:46 AM

Engagement Producer

Send CV/cover letter with references and salary requirements to Allen Mead, Director, Medicine Healthcare Service, Allen.Mead@UVMHealth.org with “Hematologist/Oncologist Opportunity” in the Subject Line.

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Vermont Public Radio is seeking an innovative, collaborative producer to be a core member of our growing engagement journalism team. In this new position, you’ll help make Brave Little State, VPR’s award-winning, people-powered journalism project. You’ll engage with our audience and champion their experience, and help us maintain the highest standards of quality in our work. As VPR expands 12/22/204t-CentralVTHomeHealthHospice121620.indd 12:32 PM 1 12/11/20 2:04 PM its engagement journalism offerings, you’ll also have the opportunity to shape listener-driven news The Business and Advancement Associate reports to the Director of projects across platforms. If you’re passionate Advancement and the Business Manager and is responsible for providing about sound, story and public service journalism, then this is the job for you. administrative assistance in both departments. He/she will work closely with

Business & Advancement Associate

Looking for a Sweet Job? Our mobile-friendly job board is buzzing with excitement.

the Business Manager to manage accounts receivable and deposits and to manage the integration of our fundraising software with QuickBooks. He/ she will manage the donor database and provide additional administrative support for the Advancement and Business offices as needed. Proficiency in QuickBooks and advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office (especially Excel) required. Basic mapping knowledge a plus. * Hours: 20-30 hours/week.

Start applying at jobs.sevendaysvt.com

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* Flexibility to work from home part time. Send resumes to: tmacguffie@gmvs.org.

Read the full job descriptions at vpr.org/careers. *VPR is also looking for a News Fellow and for a Host/Senior Producer for Vermont Edition. Applicants are required to fill out the VPR Job Application form and send it with a cover letter and resume by email to careers@vpr.net. Vermont Public Radio provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment, and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type, without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

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12/18/20 11:30 AM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

Municipal Bookkeeper

SCHOOL BASED SOCIAL WORKER OR THERAPIST

The Town of Middlesex seeks a qualified bookkeeper to work 24-30 hours per week processing accounts receivable and accounts payable and preparing timely and accurate financial reports. The bookkeeper will be responsible for the administration and reconciliation of the Town’s budget and all the Town’s accounts through the G/L, A/P, A/R, P/R, in addition to some tax administration and employee-benefits oversite. The bookkeeper reports to the elected Town Treasurer.

We have several positions available within our contracted schools. Hours may include some evenings. The School Based Social Worker/Therapist is responsible for providing Diagnosis and Evaluation, Psychotherapy, Community Supports and Service Planning & Coordination to children/families to meet overall mental health service goals. Role will develop and maintain close working relationships with internal and external staff to provide coordinated, quality services. Master's Degree in Psychology, Counseling or Social Work required. Experience providing services for diverse range of school-aged children living with serious emotional disorders required. Able to support clients in crisis. Possess valid driver's license, reliable transportation with personal automobile liability insurance coverage. $2,000 end of school year incentive bonus available. Send resumes to: kmckeighan@rmhsccn.org.

Essential responsibilities: Provide monthly financial reports, all mandatory state and federal reporting, manage state & federal grant documentation and financial administration, plan and oversee the annual audit, depreciation schedules and budgeting process. Experience with governmental and/or fund/ modified accrual accounting required and knowledge of NEMRC a plus, along with proficiency in spreadsheets & Word documents. This job has the potential to become a full-time financial position with excellent health-insurance and retirement benefits. Expected start date: March 2021. Please submit a letter of interest, resume and contacts for references to middlesxtreas@comcast.net or mail to Town of Middlesex, 5 Church Street, Middlesex, VT 05602. 5h-TownofMiddlesex1223&3020.indd 1

12/18/20 11:48 AM

HELP DESK OPERATOR

Champlain Community Services is a 12/22/20 12:25 PM distinguished developmental services provider agency with a strong emphasis on Bank, self-determination values in andMorrisville, Vermont and with offices throughout northern Union headquartered employee and consumer satisfaction.

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Hampshire, is seeking a Help Desk Operator for our Information Technology department.

Direct Support Professional

The Join Helpour Desk Operator a key member ofwork our one-on-one IT team whose Direct SupportisProfessional team to with primary respons technical support approximately 200 Essential tasks include excel individuals with for intellectual disabilities andend-users. autism. Feel good about what skills, a do, keen ability troubleshoot and resolve benefits technical problems, you enjoy yourto job, receive a comprehensive package and and providing a LAN/WAN environment. Additional responsibilities feel a deep sense of appreciation from your employer.include This is anmaintaining excellent the help knowledgebase creation, computer training, and assisting with job for applicants entering human services or for those looking to ongoing network othercontinue Information Technology operations needed.available. Send your their work in this field. Variety ofaspositions

NETWORK SYSTEMS ENGINEER Union Bank, a highly successful commercial bank headquartered in Morrisville, Vermont and with offices throughout northern Vermont and New Hampshire, is seeking an experienced Network Systems Engineer. With this position comes the possibility for remote work for the right candidate living within our market territory.

coverrequirements letter and application Karen Ciechanowicz at staff@ccs-vt.org. Position include to proficiency in Windows, MS Office, and a basic underst networks and the ability to learn additional software and hardware is required. E Overnight Supports iSeries operating systems is a plus. Computer certification and/or one to three years o Be a part of a team working with a considerate, resourceful, wheelchairis preferred. Excellent written and oral communication skills, the ability to work in using man with a budding talent for photography and political activism. highYou degree of trusthim andinintegrity essential. will support his homeisand a variety of community activities

Responsibilities for this IT professional level position will include providing proactive and reactive support and administration of the LAN/WAN infrastructure. This includes firewalls, routers, and multilayer switching, overall network design, corporate servers, PC maintenance, and VoIP telecommunications equipment. Individual must be proficient with high end routers, switches, and firewalls. Individual must also be proficient with current VMware ESX and SAN infrastructure. Must have a detailed understanding of Active Directory in a Windows domain, and Windows PC and server operating systems, and be knowledgeable in Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL, and other Microsoft enterprise environments including other client-server based applications.

on his interests.atCandidates must corporate be able to office. lift fifty pounds Thisbased position is located our Morrisville

and be comfortable providing personal care. Experience is helpful but

Salary will tobetrain commensurate with experience. Unioncover Bankletter, offers a comprehensiv willing the right candidate. Submit a resume, and including 3 medical plan and 2 to dental plan options, 401(k) retirement plan with a three professional references fmiller@ccs-vt.org. match, fully paid life and disability insurance, paid vacation and sick leave, and te Respite Opportunity opportunities.

Requirements include a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent, a high level of security configuration knowledge of Cisco and Checkpoint firewalls, routers and switches as well as IP protocols and standards. Proven CISSP, CCIE, CCSP, CCDP certification with a security focus is preferred. Proven experience in a Windows LAN/WAN environment. A working knowledge of SQL and Exchange design and administration. Support and/or programming of an IBM iSeries system is a plus.

Provide support to a humorous gentleman with autism who enjoys getting out and about, creating puns and To berelaxing. considered for this position, please submitinformation a cover letter, resume, Contact Brook Lockwood for more blockwood@ccs-vt.org. references and salary requirements to:

Salary will be commensurate with experience. Union Bank offers a comprehensive benefits program including 3 medical and 2 dental insurance plan options, 401(k) retirement plan with a generous company match, life and disability insurance, and paid vacation and sick leave along with continuing education opportunities.

To be considered for this position, please submit a cover letter, resume, references and salary requirements to:

Human Resources-Union Bank P.O. Box 667 Morrisville, Vermont 05661 – 0667 careers@unionbanknh.com

Come work for a place where, true to our mission, we are ‘Building a Community Where Everyone Participates and Belongs’ both within Human the Resources workplace and out in the community. Visit ccs-vt.org, click on ‘BeBank a Part of It’ and apply today! E.O.E. Union

P.O. Box 667 Morrisville, Vermont 05661 – 0667

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careers@unionbankvt.com EOE ~ Member FDIC

E.O.E. - MEMBER FDIC 9t-UnionBank121620.indd 1

12/11/20 12:46 PM

12/15/20 9:52 AM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

69 DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

TOWN OF CHARLOTTE

ASSESSOR

The Town of Charlotte is accepting applications for a parttime Assessor. The primary responsibilities of this position are to maintain and update values and corresponding tax status, use, category and title for all properties in the town; the position is also responsible for preserving the integrity of the townâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grand list by ensuring accuracy and equity. The position also provides assistance to the public, property owners and real estate professionals. A job description can be viewed at charlottevt.org; see right-hand sidebar.

CITY MANAGER South Burlington, Vermont

The City of South Burlington is seeking a collaborative, energetic, experienced and professional City Manager. South Burlington is a growing and dynamic community in Vermont of almost 20,000 people with a strong tradition of civic engagement. The Manager reports to a five-member City Council in a traditional council-manager form of government. The Manager supervises over 170 employees, develops and administers a $26 million operating budget with expenditures of over $57 million including special funds and enterprise funds. The Manager also oversees all personnel, financial, departmental, and labor-relations matters.

This is a permanent position currently approved for 22 hours/week, paid hourly. Compensation is in accordance with the Town of Charlotte Salary Administration Policy. The starting wage rate is between $17.29 and $19.57, based on qualifications and experience. Generous health, dental, vision and retirement benefits are offered. To apply, please send a resumĂŠ and cover letter to Dean Bloch, Town Administrator at dean@townofcharlotte.com. Questions can be sent to the same address, or please call 425-3071 ext. 5. The deadline for submitting an application is January 13, 2021. E.O.E. 5h-TownofCharlotte1223&3020.indd 1

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The salary range is $128-$138,000 and is commensurate with experience, and includes an excellent benefits package. Candidates for the position of South Burlington City Manager must have worked and/or lived in Vermont in a prior position, have experience as a City/Town manager, plus five years of work in municipal government and be demonstrably familiar with municipal development and working with private developers. For further information and a job description, please visit our website at southburlingtonvt.gov. Deadline for applications to be received is 4:30 pm Monday, January 4, 2021. To apply, please send a confidential cover letter, resume, and three references to: Jaimie Held, Human Resource Manager Attn: City Manager Search 575 Dorset Street South Burlington, VT 05403 Applications also accepted via email: jheld@sburl.com with City Manager Search in the subject line.

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

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12/14/20 2:07 PM

POST YOUR JOBS AT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTMYJOB PRINT DEADLINE: NOON ON MONDAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) FOR RATES & INFO: MICHELLE BROWN, 802-865-1020 X21, MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

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ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

RECRUITMENT UNDERWAY FOR TWO POSITIONS

OPENINGS FOR CLINICIANS Counseling Service of Addison County is seeing clinicians in several departments within the agency. Work with a creative approach to crisis work in homes, communities and schools with children, adolescents and families with emotional and behavioral challenges and developmental disorders or with adults to treat, understand and alleviate symptoms related to improvement of mental health, substance use, behavioral, and relationship distress. We believe in a team of supportive colleagues and the importance of high-quality supervision. Master’s degree required, licensed preferred and/or license eligible after rostering. Full time positions with comprehensive benefits or part time available. Send resumes to: hcamara@csac-vt.org

Do you have passion for supporting students’ school success? Are you seeking competitive compensation and a flexible work schedule? Lamoille Restorative Center is looking for an individual interested in a half-time position as a School Engagement Specialist (SES). Responsibilities include providing outreach and support to Lamoille Valley students ages five to 15, and their families, struggling with school attendance. The SES helps students re-engage with school by collaborating with their families and their school to identify root causes of school absences and address barriers. This position is ideal for someone with a strong understanding of Vermont’s education and human services systems, excellent communication and collaboration skills, and the ability to work both independently and as a team player.

JOBS AND POST-EMPLOYMENT CASE MANAGER

Equal opportunity employer

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PART-TIME SCHOOL ENGAGEMENT SPECIALIST

12/4/20 1:27 PM

Early Childhood Educator Head Teacher

The Greater Burlington YMCA provides a diverse organization of people of all ages joined together by a shared commitment to nurturing the potential of youth, healthy living and fostering a sense of social responsibility. As a Y employee, you’ll be inspired to make a difference each day in a position that matters.With a strong mission and core values, we offer a cause you can believe in. Y Early Childhood Programs offer developmentally appropriate activities in nurturing, respectful environments, while meeting the needs of our families. As an accredited organization by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and a 5 Stars rating from the State of Vermont Quality Rating and Improvement Scale, you’ll be a part of a team that values structure, consistency, and development of both children and staff. Our expanding Early Childhood Program is expanding with new spots for infants and toddlers. We are seeking a full-time Head Teacher to lead and teach our children between the ages of 6 weeks to age 2, in our newly furnished program space located on College Street in Burlington. Requirements: At least twenty (20) years of age and meets one of the following criteria: • Vermont Early Childhood Career Ladder Level 4 A or B • A Bachelor Degree in Early Childhood, Child or Human Development, Elementary or Special Education, or Child Family Services and at least one year of experience working with children birth to age 8 • A Bachelor Degree with the completion of at least 30 college credits with an early education or school age focus and at least one year of experience working with groups of children ages 8 or younger • Hold a current Vermont Agency of Education Teaching License with an endorsement in Early Childhood, Early Childhood Special Education or Elementary Education

Are you looking for employment that will allow you to put your skills and talents with youth and young adults to use? The Jump On Board for Success (JOBS) and Post-Employment Case Manager position is fulltime and ideal for someone with strong communication skills, knowledge of adolescent development, and an understanding of Vermont’s education, vocational training, and human services systems. Responsibilities include providing flexible and participant-centered case management services for teens and young adults. The case manager helps program participants develop the skills needed to live independently while focusing on their employment and education goals. Preference will be given to applicants with a relevant degree and work experience with individuals with emotional or behavioral disabilities. LRC is a team-oriented, non-profit organization based in Hyde Park. Consider joining the LRC team if you’re interested in a workplace that promotes employee well-being and is known for its inclusive and collaborative work environment. Each of these positions come with a competitive salary. The full time Case Manager position includes a comprehensive benefit package that includes health, dental, and life insurance, paid sick and vacation leave, 15 paid holidays, and a retirement plan. To be considered for either position, applicants must send a cover letter that describes the candidate’s interest in the position and relevant skills and experience, along with a resume, to this email address: info@lrcvt.org. Applications will be accepted until the positions are filled. LRC is an E.O.E. More information is available at: lrcvt.org. 9t-LamoilleRestorativeCenter1223&30209t-LamoilleRestorativeCenter1223&3020.indd 1

12/21/20 11:36 AM

New, local, scam-free jobs posted every day! jobs@sevendaysvt.com

Send your cover letter and resume to HR@gbymca.org for employment consideration. The Greater Burlington YMCA is an E.O.E. 5H new.indd 1 6t-YMCA121620.indd 1

12/15/20 9:18 AM

2/11/20 1:14 PM

Knowledge is a gift.

Support local journalism this holiday season. The economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic present an existential challenge for Seven Days. Operating with a fraction of the advertising revenue, we have been scrambling since March to continue to produce and distribute the award-winning newspaper you have come to rely on. Fortunately, more than 2,000 loyal readers have helped us get through this challenging time by joining our Seven Days Super Reader program. Their donations have created a new revenue stream that we can count on into the future.

FILE: SEAN METCALF

Know someone who loves and depends on Seven Days? Make a Super Reader contribution on their behalf. Your gift will help to keep Seven Days on the beat and our communities connected during these challenging times.

Join the Super Readers at sevendaysvt.com/super-readers. Or send a note (and a check) to: Seven Days c/o Super Readers, P.O. Box 1164, Burlington, VT 05402. Need info? Contact Corey Grenier at 865-1020, ext. 36 or superreaders@sevendaysvt.com.

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

11/24/20 6:44 PM

fun stuff

RACHEL LINDSAY

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

CALCOKU & SUDOKU (P.63) CROSSWORD (P.63)

FEBRUARY

5-6

HARRY BLISS & STEVE MARTIN

VIRTUAL!

SAVE THE DATE

AND

“All I have is tofu.” JEN SORENSEN

EXPLORE YOUR OPTIONS FOR SUMMER... DURING THIS LIVE VIDEO Q&A SESSION! Learn about opportunities for your child Connect with representatives from local summer camps and schools Hear about new safety protocols regarding COVID-19 You can ask questions or just listen in. Attend one session or all — for free!

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT KIDSVT.COM/FAIR SPONSORED BY

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SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

12/22/20 1:32 PM

fun stuff RYAN RIDDLE

Making it is not :( Keep this newspaper free for all. Join the Seven Days Super Readers at sevendaysvt.com/super-readers or call us at 802-864-5684.

74SR-Comics-filler071520.indd SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020 1

7/14/20 3:32 PM

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.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY REAL DECEMBER 24-30

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22-JAN. 19):

The birds known as red knots breed every year in the Arctic regions. Then they fly south — way south — down to the southern edge of South America, more than 9,000 miles away. A few months later they make the return trip to the far north. In 1995, ornithologists managed to put a monitoring band on one red knot’s leg, making it possible to periodically get a read on his adventures over the subsequent years. The bird’s nickname is Moonbird, because he has traveled so many miles in the course of his life that it’s equivalent to a jaunt to the moon. He’s known as “the toughest four ounces on the planet.” I nominate him to be your magical creature in 2021. I suspect you will have stamina, hardiness, persistence and determination like his.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your capacity for pioneering feats and impressive accomplishments will be at a peak in 2021. So you could become the best human ever at balancing a ladder on your chin or typing with your nose or running long-distance while holding an egg on a spoon with your mouth. But I’d prefer it if you channeled your triumphal energy into more useful innovations and victories. How about making dramatic strides in fulfilling your most important goal? Or ascending to an unprecedented new level of inspiring people with your passionate idealism? Or setting a record for most illusions shed?

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Ark Encounter is a fundamentalist Christian theme park in Kentucky. Its main attraction is a giant replica of Noah’s Ark. Constructed mostly from spruce and pine trees, it’s one of the world’s largest wooden structures. Even though I don’t believe that there was in fact such a boat in ancient times, I do admire how its builder, Ken Ham, has been so fiercely devoted to making his fantasies real. I encourage you to cultivate an equally zealous commitment to manifesting your own visions and dreams in 2021. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): From 1961 until

1989, a concrete barrier divided the city of Berlin. Communist East Berlin lay on the east side of the Berlin Wall, and capitalist West Berlin on the west. It was an iconic symbol of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. More than 100,000 people tried to escape from east to west, but just 5,000 succeeded. The standoff ended in 1989 during the peaceful revolutions that swept through Eastern Europe. In subsequent months, the Berlin Wall was slowly demolished. Today, tiny fragments of the wall are marketed as medicines for asthma, headaches, narcolepsy and ulcers. Now I will propose that in 2021 you adopt the demolished Berlin Wall as your metaphor of power. May it inspire you to be gleeful and forceful as you dismantle psychological obstacles and impediments.

CANCER

(June 21-July 22): The year 2021 will contain 525,600 minutes. But I suspect you might enjoy the subjective sensation of having far more than 525,600 minutes at your disposal. That’s because I think you’ll be living a fuller life than usual, with greater intensity and more focus. It may sometimes seem to you as if you were drawing greater riches out of the daily rhythm — accomplishing more, seeing further, diving down deeper to capitalize on the privilege of being here on planet earth. Be grateful for this blessing — which is also a big responsibility!

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Our lives are filled with puzzles and enigmas and riddles. We all harbor aspects of ourselves that we don’t understand. I hope that in 2021 you will be on a mission to

learn more about these parts of yourself. One of your superpowers will be a capacity to uncover secrets and solve mysteries. Bonus: I suspect you’ll be able to make exceptional progress in getting to the root of confusing quandaries that have undermined you — and then fixing the problems so they no longer undermine you.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): When actor Gene Wilder was 8 years old, his mother began to have heart-related health issues. The doctor who treated her suggested he could help her out if he tried to make her laugh. From then on, Wilder cultivated an ability to tell jokes and got interested in becoming an actor. Ultimately, he appeared in 22 films and was nominated for two Oscars and two Golden Globe Awards. I foresee a comparable development in your life in 2021: A challenging situation will inspire you in ways that generate a major blessing. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In my astrological opinion, love won’t be predictable in 2021. It won’t be easily definable or comparable to what you’ve experienced before. But I also suspect that love will be delightfully enigmatic. It will be unexpectedly educational and fervently fertile and oddly comfortable. Your assignment, as I understand it, will be to shed your certainties about what love is and is not so that the wild, fresh challenges and opportunities of love can stream into your life in their wildest, freshest state. SCORPIO

(Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Until 1893, Hawaii was a sovereign nation. In January of that year, a group of wealthy foreigners, mostly Americans, overthrew the existing government with the help of the U.S. military. They established a fake temporary “republic” that excluded native Hawaiians from positions of power. Their goal, which was to be annexed by the United States, was fulfilled in July 1898. I propose that you use this sad series of events as a motivational story in 2021. Make it your goal to resist all efforts to be colonized and occupied. Commit yourself passionately to preserving your sovereignty and independence. Be a tower of power that can’t be owned.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov.

22-Dec. 21): In 2021, you may be smarter than you have ever been. Not necessarily wiser, too, although I have reason to hope that you will leverage your smartness to also deepen your wisdom. But as I was saying, your intelligence could very well soar beyond its previous heights. Your ability to speak articulately, stir up original thoughts and solve knotty riddles should be at a peak. Is there any potential downside to this outbreak of brilliance? Only one that I can imagine: It’s possible that your brain will be working with such dominant efficiency that it will drown out messages from your heart. And that would be a shame. In order to do what I referred to earlier — leverage your smartness to deepen your wisdom — you’ll need to be receptive to your heart’s messages.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): An Aquarian

park ranger named Roy Sullivan was struck by lightning seven times in the course of his 71 years on the planet. (That’s a world record.) None of the electrostatic surges killed him, although they did leave a few burns. After studying your astrological potentials for 2021, I’ve concluded that you may be the recipient, on a regular basis, of a much more pleasurable and rewarding kind of lightning strike: the metaphorical kind. I advise you to prepare yourself to be alert for more epiphanies than usual: exciting insights, inspiring revelations and useful ideas.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Coral reefs are in danger all over the world. These “rainforests of the sea” are being decimated by ocean acidification, toxic runoff from rivers, rising temperatures and careless tourists. Why should we care? Because they’re beautiful! And also because they’re hotbeds of biodiversity, providing homes for 25 percent of all marine species. They also furnish protection for shorelines from erosion and storm damage and are prime spots to harvest seafood. So I’m pleased that people are finding ways to help reefs survive and recover. For example, a group in Thailand is having success using superglue to reattach broken-off pieces to the main reefs. I hope this vignette inspires you to engage in metaphorically similar restorative and rejuvenating activities, Pisces. In 2021, you will have an enhanced power to heal.

CHECK OUT ROB BREZSNY’S EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES & DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES: REALASTROLOGY.COM OR 1-877-873-4888

L ATEST VIDEO! Eva Sollberger’s

Watch at sevendaysvt.com 4H-Stuck122330.indd 1

supported by: the river, The mills on mployed e which once workers, hundreds of e defining are one of th inooski. features of W the it at A new exhib ooski in W e g Herita features Mill Museum from artist illustrations ulay from his David Maca ILL, which 1983 book M . iliar to locals may look fam SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

12/18/20 12:41 PM

SWEET, SALTY AND SPICY I consider myself fun, charming, creative and an interestingly varied individual. BKind, 29, seeking: W, Cp, l

Respond to these people online: dating.sevendaysvt.com WOMEN seeking... EARNEST AND AGREEABLE IDEALIST My best friendships have little to do with geography. I’m obsessed with “The West Wing.” I love my students, and I still read young adult novels. ckg802, 31, seeking: M, l JOYFUL, HONEST, KIND, HARDWORKING MOMMA I decided a year ago to choose happiness, left my job of 12 years in education to follow my dream of learning to weld. I start school full time in March and cannot wait! In the meantime, I am working security for a local company, walking a lot and enjoying life! Just want to share the joy with someone! Sara82, 38, seeking: M, W, l MEANINGFUL AND PURPOSEFUL Seeking one man for an intimate relationship/friendship. Books, puzzles, long walks, biking, snowshoeing, cooking, dancing, games and letters. LadyDee, 33, seeking: M SWEET, ADORABLE, SENSUAL, SPIRITUAL, YOUTHFUL I try to listen from the heart and speak from the heart and seek the same from my partner. I love to dance and hope to find a good dance leader. I enjoy taking hikes to be in the forest, not just to get to the destination. I enjoy light and playful as well as stimulating conversation. Garwood, 59, seeking: M, l

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LET’S PRETEND Let’s pretend the world is healing, and we can celebrate together. I love comedy improv, swimming, my family and great food, reading and being read to, travel and adventures. Looking for a healthy, funny, intelligent guy who likes jazz and world music, cooking, travel, and the outdoors. Are you comfortable with yourself and with me, a strong and independent gal? Mangosmom, 60, seeking: M, l JOYFUL Looking for a funny person ’cause I’m funny, too! Creative type! I love going to galleries and museums. Kind, compassionate, like to travel, go boating and be on beaches. I see life through optimistic eyes. Scout, 67, seeking: M, l ADORABLE, WITTY AND UNIQUE! Ah, the beginning of another season in Vermont. The one made for playing in the snow, hot chocolate, popcorn and movies, a warm fire. The one I seek is mellow yet full of life. Stories to share, being silly and looking at life positively. Arms to hold me, kisses at a whim. Meet and see where it goes? Pollyanna, 59, seeking: M, l OPTIMIST RETIREE SEEKS COMPANY A bit crazy even thinking of trying to get together with someone right now, but why not? Hope to travel as soon as humanly possible to a warm place in the spring. Spring training? Golf? Beach? I feel we are all in a transformative time now. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine! ihappy2, 67, seeking: M, l COUNTRY GIRL LOVES MOTORCYCLE RIDES Affectionate country girl looking for a man who knows how to treat a lady. I have a great sense of humor, and you should, too! Love to horseback ride, take walks, bike ride, hike and enjoy each other’s company. I can also make a mean cheesecake! CURIOSITY22, 62, seeking: M, l FLAVORFUL, SPIRITED. I CONTAIN MULTITUDES. It’s virtually impossible to condense a personality into such a small container. I happily contradict myself, if the spirit moves me. I say “yes” to life while remaining grounded. I value connection, honesty and personal insight. I’m looking for someone courageous enough to also say “yes” to life. katya, 54, seeking: M, l YUP, I’M A DREAMER... Are you into conscious living? Spirituality? Nature? Honesty? Compassion? Laughing? Maybe you’re a hopeless romantic? I am seeking a lasting relationship with a likeminded man. Looking for my best friend to share adventures, love and life’s ups and downs. I like to hike, ski, relax, talk, ponder especially with you. naturgirl, 67, seeking: M, l LOYAL, KIND AND HONEST I’m a very gentle person, drama free. I love to cook, and I keep myself busy doing all kinds of art. I like to walk (with a partner will be better). I’m living my dream, and I want to share it with my partner. Pepita13, 70, seeking: M, l

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

STRONG, INDEPENDENT, INTELLECTUAL Ski? Dinner? Speak any foreign languages? No rednecks or men who will break under heavy use. Must be well educated, well traveled and cultured. 420-friendly, and no man-babies looking for a mama! pip, 56, seeking: M, l MILLENNIALS INQUIRE WITHIN. YEEHAW. Looking for a hot, nerdy dude who has an adventurous, sensitive, techie soul. Good with his hands. Must love cuddles. I don’t mind if you prioritize your alone time as long as you don’t mind that I can be an endearing space case. Be warned: I will ask for your natal chart and when your most recent STI test was. starsaligned, 25, seeking: M FUNNY, ACTIVE ACTIVIST AND ADVENTURIST Recently moved to Vermont from D.C. Would like to meet people for social/ political activism, hiking, hanging out and socializing. Always up for new adventures, like discussing world events. Am compassionate, enjoy outdoor activities. I’m nonjudgmental and appreciate the same in others. I’ve been involved in activism around racial equity, health care and disability rights ... but don’t take myself too seriously! AnnieCA, 67, seeking: M, l INTUITIVE, CREATIVE, A GOOD LISTENER! I’m a good person who enjoys good food to eat, good wine to drink, good books to read, good stories to share and good friends to spend time with. I have been called the “Quick of Wit.” My friends say that I am funny, caring, creative, sometimes edgy, and that I not only tell good stories, I write them! Sentient, 66, seeking: M, l SUNNY, HAPPY AND FUN I love sharing fun things with a partner. I love sailing and the beach in the summer and skiing and skating in the winter. I love playing almost all sports except hunting. I also love theater, dance and music. Looking for someone who enjoys the same and is laid-back and not too serious. snowflake123, 49, seeking: M, l OUTDOORSY AND ACTIVE I enjoy being active in all of Vermont’s seasons, adventurous and spontaneous travel, gardening, home projects, outdoor recreation, good food, and small concerts. Am also content with museums or the New Yorker and a front porch. Raise animals for my freezer. Am a loyal friend. NEK. I am looking for a close companion and am open to all that entails. NEK026, 59, seeking: M, l

MEN seeking... EXCESS IN MODERATION Too many years in school, just about long enough in architecture, divorced with three adult children nearby. Recently retired, into design and build projects, gardening, outdoor adventure, health and fitness. Grateful for milk fat, animal fat, veggies born in rich soil, grandchildren, children and their partners, woods, water, and sky. More when we meet. Tell me about yourself... GoldnGreen, 64, seeking: W, l

THOUGHTFUL, KIND AND CONSIDERATE I’m currently retired and looking for someone local who takes care of her physical appearance and isn’t a couch potato. One activity I enjoy is cooking with my partner, although I’m not a true chef. Are you financially secure? I also like to travel and enjoy live theater when it’s available. I’m also a dog lover. callisto, 67, seeking: W SILVER FOX ARTIST I’m creative, passionate, a problem solver, an adventurist, a respected business owner (30 years), well traveled, educated, secure. Now open to a fit, energetic, passionate female to share adventures and intimacy with. Must love animals, laughing, affection. I’m an artist who has spent the past 30 years creating custom artwork for thousands of clients around the world. Pleasant surprises in many ways! hawaiiartistinvt, 61, seeking: W, l I LIKE TO HAVE FUN Looking for friends with benefits, love, sex. Male/female/transgender. Dishpit5811, 62, seeking: M, W, TM, TW BACKCOUNTRY SKIER, HIKER, LEFT ACTIVIST Looking to share recreation, deep friendship and love. About myself: cerebral, intense and passionate. Crave touching, sharing affection. Enjoy sharing hiking, backcountry skiing, mountain biking with peers or a lover. Enjoy the company of big dogs, most music and love to dance. Active for my age. “Retired” into an engaged life doing progressive-socialist organizing, a radio show and outdoor activities. SkiDog, 73, seeking: W, l LOOKING FOR HER Looking for her with a flashlight in the daytime. Is it you? Kinglondon, 36, seeking: W, l SEEKING COMPANIONSHIP Would like to find someone to hang out with. Matthew5618, 43, seeking: W, l NEED SOMEONE IN THE EVENING? Male, 70s, Mad River Valley, recently widowed, wishes to have Zoom meetings with women 55 and up. Hopefully we want to meet in person after the vaccine becomes available. Looking for someone to relax with, talk in the afternoon, or the evening, get to know each other. I want someone to know me and remember who I am, don’t you? jemd, 77, seeking: W, l THE SIXTH EXTINCTION I have been arrested twice, closing down Vermont Yankee and organized a counterrecruiting group to go into school and convince the youth that maybe going to another country and killing folks is not something they want to do. We are now in a pandemic. Lost my girlfriend to it, so maybe talk and write for now. Memyselfandi, 73, seeking: W, l

LIFE IS A BANQUET Hello, world. I’m a father, engineer, musician, handyman, Vermonter. I’m a far better conversationalist than writer. MusicAndPancakes, 45, seeking: W, l NEW TO THIS I have a poetic nature and an adventurous spirit. I’m seeking a woman to share conversation and take walks with. Let’s get together for a cup of tea. Chapter2, 67, seeking: W, l CHAOSFACTORINCARNATE I’m just looking for anything. Strength: making funny. Wekness: spelin. CollyRog, 21, seeking: W BOND ... JAMES BOND Man of mystery, ethically polyamorous, creative. Nerdy scientist, but not usually the smartest guy in the room. My quietude belies my depth. 1109sm, 58, seeking: W, Cp, l THOUGHTFUL, EVOLVING MAN I am the quintessential optimist, a realist and young at heart. My interests include listening to music, traveling both near and far, reading fiction and nonfiction, cooking, various forms of working out, spending time with a few close friends. I would like to meet someone who enjoys good conversation, who is passionate, playful, sensual and curious. not2complicated, 64, seeking: W, l

GENDERQUEER PEOPLE seeking... LONELY AND WAITING FOR YOU Lonely Carolina immigrant looking for an amazing woman. I love to cook, clean and generally make my partner as happy as possible. I’m comfortable both with my full beard and burly coat, or with my pretty pink lacy dresses and blond curls, whichever makes you happiest. I value trust above all else. Oh, and I give killer foot rubs! Neneveh, 24, seeking: W, l

TRANS WOMEN seeking... 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: M, Cp, l

COUPLES seeking... LOOKING FOR COUPLE OR PERSON We want to meet others in the mood to open themselves to another couple for whatever happens. Cpl4fun, 32, seeking: Cp, Gp

GRATEFUL, HUMBLE AND HAPPY I’m not gonna bore you here; I’ll keep it short. I’m first and foremost a skier; I could ski every day of the year and not get tired of it. Also am really into biking and now running, along with hiking. Looking for someone I can share a few similar interests mentioned above. Jbvt, 32, seeking: W, l

HELP US BRANCH OUT We are a couple of over 30 years. We love to spend time together, enjoying good food, good beer/wine and good company. We enjoy the outdoors, camping, hiking, skiing. Looking for other couples to become friends with that can help us explore and branch out. We love each other very deeply and want to share that love with others. CentralVTCpl, 54, seeking: Cp, Gp

LIFE IS TOO COMPLICATED Nature is the path to peace and salvation. I am tired of game players. If you are one, don’t waste my time. I am kind, and you will find me to be fair and fun to be with. I like adventures, road trips, Maine seacoast. thoreau1, 64, seeking: W

COUPLE SEEKING WOMAN We are very open and honest. Clean, safe and totally discreet. We are looking for a woman who wants to try new adult things with a couple. We want to role-play and try some kink. Newboytoyvt, 50, seeking: W, l

i SPY

If you’ve been spied, go online to contact your admirer!

dating.sevendaysvt.com

WERE YOU SERIOUS? BOOH Just want to find out if the flirt that you sent me was sincere! What is the next step? When: Monday, December 14, 2020. Where: Seven Days. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915204 EAVES, SMILE IN THE EYES! You were checking out with wine and a wreath. I was making coffee. We said hello! I miss seeing the smile in your eyes more regularly. I wanted to tell you about the Côtes du Rhône in my car and ask if we could share, but my confidence eluded me. Share a bottle and a walk sometime? When: Saturday, December 12, 2020. Where: City Market South End. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915203 SWEET CLOVER LOVE Hey. You checked me out at Sweet Clover Market — and, wow, did you catch my eye. The SpongeBob mask made me know that it was love at first sight, because I, too, love SpongeBob. I couldn’t see under the mask, but your smile lit up the room. I think this could be the one ... but I don’t know your name. When: Saturday, December 12, 2020. Where: Sweet Clover Market. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915202 DUTTON BROOK DRIVE-BY You: rugged and courteous in a pickup truck. Me: fit but flustered runner with music playing too loud. Us: hiking together next weekend? When: Tuesday, December 8, 2020. Where: Addison County. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915201 SILVER FOX IN SILVER YARIS I saw you pulling out of the skate park in your silver two-door Yaris. Driving all slow. So laid-back you don’t even use your blinkers. I just thought to myself, Damn, he’s fine. Let’s grab a taco? And fries? When: Saturday, December 5, 2020. Where: A_Dog Skatepark. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915200

‘DO I DARE?’ A question on your plate; time for you and time for me? And time yet for a hundred indecisions, and for a hundred visions and revisions before the taking of a toast and tea. In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo. And indeed there will be time to wonder... When: Saturday, November 2, 2019. Where: on our feet. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915199 PUMPING GAS AT VALERO You: black hair wearing a mask in your zippy Nissan Titan. Me: sitting in my tastefully stickered Kia while my gas pumped. Shot in the dark, but you look fun; meet up over a drink? When: Wednesday, December 2, 2020. Where: Barre-Montpelier Rd. Valero station. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915198 HEY, SMOKING IN THE RAIN It was Center Rd., not Hardwick St. I should have said something while we were moving that tree out of the road in the rain. Your dark eyes struck me. Still thinking about them. We did wave to one another as I drove past you in your truck. Wanted to say hello. Curious. When: Monday, November 30, 2020. Where: Greensboro. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915197 SMOKING IN THE RAIN You jumped out of your truck to help me and a few others move a tree out of the road in the pouring rain. Your eyes were deep and dark. Hope to see them again. When: Monday, November 30, 2020. Where: Hardwick Street. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915196 SHAMWOW Not a moment passes that I don’t think of you. —Scoots. When: Friday, May 18, 2018. Where: in my dreams. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915195

KELLEE ON OKCUPID It’s been a while since we chatted on OKCupid. We corresponded about winter and a new snow blower you bought. I hope you’re well. —Chris. When: Friday, February 5, 2016. Where: OKCupid. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915194

NORTHFIELD SEPTUM RING GIRL You complimented my septum ring, and I think yours is perfect. Maybe we can do the coffee thing outside of me buying it from you? When: Friday, November 20, 2020. Where: Northfield. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915188

LISA ON BURROWS TRAIL SUNDAY We leapfrogged and stumbled down the Burrows Trail. I’m still feeling your warmth. Wondering all sorts of things. Walk in beauty, dear one. When: Sunday, November 22, 2020. Where: Camel’s Hump. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915193

MIKE B. OF NYC/BUMBLE MISS? Perhaps you were home for a short time, or COVID restrictions made you leave? I saw your match, but my right swipes are rare and can be painstakingly slow. When I finally decided, alas, you were gone. If you return to Colchester sometime soon, try again! Or reach out here. Me: 53, happily independent and active. When: Tuesday, November 10, 2020. Where: Bumble. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915186

THANKS FOR THE SMILE Thanks to the Goodwill worker in Williston who appreciated my mother’s antique lantern. Even small interactions can turn a bad day right around. I really appreciate it! You asked for my name and said it was great meeting me. I wish I had asked for yours. I’ll have to find more things to donate. When: Saturday, November 21, 2020. Where: Goodwill. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915192 TO MY MARILYN MONROE To my forever love, MM. Every lifetime we are drawn to each other. I am so grateful to keep finding you. Our connection is everlasting and worth everything to me. This life and the next, I love you always. Your James Dean. When: Sunday, October 9, 2016. Where: Jericho barn. You: Woman. Me: Nonbinary person. #915191 MISSING BEAN-DIP DAYS To the woman who needs fancy leggings and cozy at-home leggings: I miss the carefree days of 2019 when we could sit and laugh right next to each other, even high-five if compelled. Hopefully soon we can study and make an epic bean dip, just like old times; until then, wash your hands, wear your mask and stay home. When: Wednesday, November 20, 2019. Where: buck hunter at Akes. You: Woman. Me: Woman. #915190

I’ve got the hots for Santa Claus, and I don’t understand why. I really want to get it on with my husband while he wears a Santa suit, but I don’t want to tell him because I’m afraid he’ll think I’m messed up.

Chris Tingle (FEMALE, 38)

KINNEY DRUGS, BARRE-MONTPELIER ROAD We chatted while waiting. You liked my dreads, and I liked your black T shirt that said something about “good people on earth.” We spoke again, but I should have asked for your name. Care to chat again, maybe exchange names? When: Wednesday, November 11, 2020. Where: Kinney Drugs, Barre-Montpelier Road. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915183 BREAK LIGHTS, BREAK LIGHTS Break lights near the barn you have spied. It’s too bad it’s still dark out. Be nice to see your smile. When: Friday, November 6, 2020. Where: ???. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915179

COLCHESTER AVE. Kelly, I am sorry. Please forgive me. —David. When: Thursday, November 19, 2020. Where: Burlington. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915187

HOPEFULHEART You have been spied! Tag, you’re it! When: Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Where: Seven Days. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915178



Dear Reverend,

SUSAN Saw your profile on Match.com. I found it quite intriguing, to say the least. You are around 70. Let’s chat. Oh, you live in the Burlington area. When: Thursday, November 12, 2020. Where: Match. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915184

GREG, WE MATCHED ON MATCH Not sure how to connect with you. We have a lot in common, and you seem very fun! When: Friday, November 20, 2020. Where: Match. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915189

Ask REVEREND Dear Chris Tingle, Irreverent counsel on life’s conundrums

HANNAFORD-UPON-ESSEX You were shopping with your daughter, and we made eye contact a couple times. Was it a coincidence or something more? If you would be up for meeting from a distance, I would, too! When: Monday, November 16, 2020. Where: Hannaford, Essex. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915185

So much about Santa is ripe with innuendo. He’s got a sack full of goodies; he comes down your chimney at night; he knows if you’ve been naughty. You sit on his lap and tell him what you want, for goodness’ sake. He’s also a father figure, a man in a uniform and the ultimate sugar daddy. It’s no wonder he gets your Yule log fired up. And you’re not alone. A website called Be Naughty ran a survey that found 20 percent of women had Santa fantasies. It also found that one in 16 men had dressed up as Santa in the bedroom at least once. Search for “Santa” on Pornhub, and you’ll get

more than 1,200 results. Santaphilia also abounds outside of the X-rated world. There are racy Christmas carols about Santa, as well as scantily clad buff Santas on greeting cards.

BERLIN POND I thought I’d lost my keys (but didn’t). You offered to lend us your car. I appreciate your very kind gesture. It’s people like you who bring light into the world, and it’s my hope our paths will converge again soon. Thank you. When: Monday, November 9, 2020. Where: near Berlin Pond. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915181 LOOKING GOOD IN THOSE JEANS Looking right. Hella tight. Would love to take you out for a night. As long as you wear those jeans, anything is possible. K, if you’re waiting for a sign, this is it. Just give me the signal, and I will send her to the airport with a one-way ticket to Santa Fe. With us, we could be magic. When: Wednesday, November 4, 2020. Where: Main St. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915177 COLLIN AT COSTCO Saw you this morning in passing while running errands. Curious what’s under the mask. Caught a glimpse of your name badge as you passed by me a second time: Collin. Figured I’d take a shot in the dark here. When: Saturday, October 31, 2020. Where: Costco. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915175 BLUE TOYOTA TACOMA To the Blue Toyota Tacoma: Almost every morning I’m heading south and you are heading north. Would be nice to catch up sometime. You have been spied back. When: Saturday, October 31, 2020. Where: Route ???. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915174 BOBBIE I found your profile very interesting, and I am looking for a way to communicate with you. Here works for me. When: Thursday, October 29, 2020. Where: Match. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915172 BIRTHDAY GIRL AT GUILTY PLATE 1:45 p.m. Birthday girl with an amazing smile. You were with a friend with black hair. You smiled when I walked in, and we waved to each other as you drove away in your white Subaru. I would love to see you again. Maybe meet for a coffee? Me: black down jacket. When: Wednesday, October 28, 2020. Where: Guilty Plate restaurant, Colchester. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915171

Fun fact: St. Nicholas was a bishop in Turkey in the fourth century AD and is considered the patron saint of sex workers. He gave three sisters dowries so they were able to get married and avoid going into the “oldest profession.” I say make your Christmas wish come true. Get your husband the Santa suit of your dreams and have at it. But if you have young children — for the love of God — do it when there’s no chance of them being around. Walking in on your parents having sex can be traumatic, but walking in on one of them banging Santa is enough to mess a kid up for life. Good luck and God bless,

The Reverend What’s your problem?

Send it to asktherev@sevendaysvt.com. SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

I’m a mid-aged male seeking a male or female in these reclusive, masked times. I’m a long-distance runner, walker and aerobic distance-goer looking to share runs in the spirit of Joy Johnstone, Ed Whitlock, Larry Legend, George Sheehan — connecting to that endorphined tranquility and making sense of our lives. Any age. #L1462 I’m here now, and you knew me as Yourdaddy921, etc. and Boomer2012, etc. Contact me via mail, please. #L1458

SWF, 59 y/o, seeking “playmate” (M or F) for companionship and increased joy! Prefer my age, but open. “Old souls” seeking to expand their worlds. Avid reader, writer and news junkie. Love animals, music, food and adventures. I follow the golden rule and expect the same. 420-friendly. Let’s have coffee. Chemistry would be a miracle, but who knows. #L1464 I am a 68-y/o male seeking an advanced lady skier between 45 and 58. Jay and Smuggs pass. 19 countries + ALK. Five years Beirut. Zero Druidic. Last reads: Candide, How Fascism Works, Story of O. Adventures best shared. #L1463

I’m a gay male seeking a gay male, 65+. Inexperienced but learning. Virgin. Love giving and receiving oral. #L1465 49-y/o SWM seeking female for friendship with benefits. I am feminine, fit, mostly vegan. I enjoy yoga, hiking and biking, books, some cooking, and cuddling to a good movie. Seeking romantic lady for friendship. #L1457 I’m a 71-and-a-half-y/o male from Rutland County seeking a female. Netflix, cable junkie. Hope to dine again post-COVID. Love the Maine coast a couple times a year. Sedate lifestyle. Retired law enforcement. #L1461

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Interested readers will send you letters in the mail. No internet required! SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

I’m a 34-y/o male seeking 18- to 45-y/o female. I’m smart, artistic, funny and open-minded. Love music, books, movies and looking at the cosmos. A cat guy, but like all animals. Looking for love and friendship. #L1456 I’m a male (65) seeking a female (50 to 65). Fit, friendly, frolicsome fella favors fanciful female for fabulous fall friendship. I’m vegetarian, healthy, humorous, reflective and highly educated. Interests are hiking, gardening, dogs, creativity, Scrabble and pillowtalk. #L1455 I don’t live in Vermont anymore, but I’m here semiregularly. I’m a 39-y/o lady friend seeking men, but anyone for friends to write to, maybe more. Hike, ski, lounge, eat, drink, converse. It’s COVID; I’m bored/lonely. What about you? #L1454

Internet-Free Dating!

Reply to these messages with real, honest-to-goodness letters. DETAILS BELOW. SWM, 60s, seeking woman around 58 to 68. Handyman. Enjoy skiing, cooking, weekend getaways. Tired of quarantine. Are you? NEK. #L1453 SF, 42, living in Chittenden County seeks SM for potential LTR. I’m a nerdy gamer, morning person, coffee drinker, nonsmoker. Kind, industrious. Seeking similar. The world is our opportunity! #L1452 53-y/o discreet SWM, 5’10, 156 pounds. Brown and blue. Seeking any guys 18 to 60 who like to receive oral and who are a good top. Well hung guys a plus. Chittenden County and around. No computer. Phone only, but can text or call. #L1451 SWF seeks conservative male age 62 to 72, Addison/ Burlington area only. Turnons: har cut, shave, outdoorsy, hunter, camper. Turn-offs: smoker, drugs, tattoos. Me: 5’8, average build, blue/brown, glasses, enjoy nature, have a Shelty, birds, old Jeep, farm raised. Need phone number, please. #L1450

I’m a bicurious 41-y/o male seeking bicurious married or single men, 18 to 45, for some very discreet fun. Good hygiene, hung and H&W proportional a must. Let’s text discreetly and have some DL NSA fun. #L1449 Attractive SWM, 51, living around the Burlington area. Seeking a curvaceous female for some casual fun with no strings attached. All it takes is some good chemistry... #L1447 I’m a mid-aged male seeking a M or F any age or gender. Wonderful youth, caring person. Male, 5’9, 147. Older mid-aged loves long-distance running, writing, literature, poetry, drawing, folk and jazz. Looking for a great friendship for hikes, walks, talks. Best to all. #L1446 I’m a single female, mid60s, seeking a male for companionship and adventure. Retired educator who loves kayaking, swimming, skiing and travel. Well read. Life is short; let’s have fun. #L1445

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ai160624835155_1T-GiftGuide112520.pdf

11/24/20

3:05 PM

Making a Holiday Shopping List? CHECK IT TWICE — FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO GIFT LOCAL! We need to support and sustain our local economy, our friends and neighbors. Gifting local keeps folks here in business. So many small businesses have been impacted by COVID-19, I feel that there has never been a better time to buy as local as you can whenever possible! Kat Patterson

For every dollar you spend at a local business,

67¢

stays in the local community.

When you gift local, you are supporting your community in more ways than one, and you are purchasing gifts that are thoughtful, unique and well made. Erin Bombard

(SoUrCe: BuSiNeSsWiRe)

Shop smart and shop small — your choices will impact us all. Vermont merchants have faced many challenges this year and need your support — especially this holiday season. Visit shoptheregister.com for all the info on 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. Remember, when you buy a gift locally, the recipient isn’t the only one who benefits. The entire community does!

ThE ReGiStEr Is GeNeRoUsLy SuPpOrTeD By:

Check out our...

Holiday Gift Guide for a curated roundup of local gift ideas for your friends and family. sevendaysvt.com/gift-guide-2020

SEVEN DAYS DECEMBER 23-30, 2020

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12/21/20 9:50 AM