Nov 30 – Dec 6, 2016
Vermont Journalist and Former al-Qaeda Captive Reflects on His Ordeal; Straight Out of College, Two New Reps Prepare to Serve; Inmates in the Kitchen for Farm-to-Prison Program
Cover Story
Former al-Qaeda Prisoner Theo Padnos Reflects on His Ordeal
On October 20, 2012, Theo Padnos made a risky decision that nearly killed him: He walked calmly across an olive grove in Turkey with three…
Obituary: Brendan Ward Vittum, 1973-2016
Brendan Ward Vittum, 43, of Byfield Mass., died November 26, 2016, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Death was a result of internal complications from…
The Parmelee Post: Jay Peak Makes Snow From Shredded Financial Documents
Powder researchers at Jay Peak Resort say they have developed new artificial snow-making technology that will revolutionize the winter sports industry and help resorts generate…
Obituary: Erik Stavrand
It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our father, Erik Stavrand, on November 21, 2016. Our father is joining our mother,…
Book Review: Shift by Marylen Grigas
The cover of Marylen Grigas’ first poetry collection is a blurry photo of the open road. It looks as if the driver shot it from…
![The Flying Pig Bookstore Turns 20 [SIV469]](https://sevendaysvt-test.newspackstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/episode469-1200x900.webp)
The Flying Pig Bookstore Turns 20 [SIV469]
11/26/16: For two decades, Elizabeth Bluemle and Josie Leavitt have been sharing their love of reading with customers of the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne….
Kickback Brewery Prepares for Launch
Joshua Smith, 34, homebrewed for almost a decade before deciding to launch a brewery from his garage in Westford*. An Essex native with a degree…
Roots School Adds Permaculture Courses
At Roots School in Corinth, students learn traditional skills such as arrow making, animal tracking, hide tanning, wilderness self-reliance — and, soon, how to feed…
Hatchet Tap & Table Adds Sunday Brunch
On Sunday, November 27, Richmond’s Hatchet Tap and Table added Sunday brunch to its repertoire of seasonal menus, craft cocktails, local pours and housemade creemees….
Resilience
“Will you go to Huntington for 50 bucks?” Having flagged me down, the thirtysomething man was speaking to me through my passenger-side window. On this…
Donny’s New York Pizza, Junior’s Rustico Close
As of mid-November, Chittenden County residents have two fewer places to order a pizza. In Winooski, the Michaelides family shuttered Donny’s New York Pizza &…
Rules Don’t Apply
In March, Warren Beatty will be 80. Eighteen years have passed since he last directed and starred in a film. That was Bulworth (1998), a…
Free Will Astrology (11/30/16)
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): A journalist dared composer John Cage to “summarize himself in a nutshell.” Cage said, “Get yourself out of whatever cage you…
Despite Challenges, More Private Docs Are Treating Opiate Addicts
Vermont officials are encouraging private physicians to treat addicts in an all-hands-on-deck battle against opioid abuse. But state sanctions against some of them illustrate the…
I Can’t Bear My Fiancé’s Family — Should I Get Married?
Dear Athena, My boyfriend proposed recently, and I am so excited to be with him. I love him a lot. But I can’t bear his…
Art Review: ‘Hard-Edge Cool,’ Shelburne Museum
A new exhibit at the Shelburne Museum is a far cry from the folk art for which the museum is famous, and demonstrates the broad…
Soundbites: The Last Mosh
As the old chestnut goes, all good things must come to an end. And this Saturday, December 3, after a 30-plus-year run as the oldest…
SafeArt Publishes a Curriculum for Healing
In the first chapter of A Curriculum of Courage: Making SafeArt, Chelsea artist, educator and advocate Tracy Penfield relates the story of the abusive relationship…
Letters to the Editor (11/30/16)
Bernie’s Next Book [Re “Manual for a Movement?” November 23]: Now that Sen. Bernie Sanders has written a political treatise, Our Revolution, he is ready…
All in a Day Trip: Montréal’s Mile Ex Hood
Montréal’s Mile Ex, a petite neighborhood that borders Little Italy to the west, doesn’t really encourage wandering by eager visitors. Meandering down the streets that…
In the Final Chapter, Keven’s Story Becomes Kay’s
With just weeks to live, 56-year-old Keven Pearce made a decision: He’d spend the rest of his days living as a woman. So it is…
571 Projects: An Art Curator Returns Home From NYC
In October, Sophie Bréchu-West quietly made her debut in the Vermont art scene. Not as an artist, but as a curator. The 36-year-old is originally…
Mitzi in the Middle: How Johnson Prevailed in the House Speaker Contest
As Rep. Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) traveled around the state over the past few weeks, winning over House Democrats in her bid for speaker, she…
Two Film Geeks and a Podcast
If “Siskel & Ebert & the Movies” had been emceed by an improv comedy duo and recorded with beers nursed over a leisurely hour and…
Twin Peaks’ Cadien James Lake on Youth and Maturity
Following the release of Twin Peaks’ 2016 album, Down in Heaven, a judgment began floating around the music-sphere that the Chicago-based DIY rockers had “matured.”…
North End Studios Seeks to Expand Into St. Joseph’s School
Old posters advertising the Vermont International Festival fill a notice board in Ben Bergstein and April Werner’s office in Burlington’s North End Studio A. Rows…
Anachronist, Lost in the Corners
(State and Main Records, CD, digital download) On their first two releases, Montpelier’s Anachronist explored the nooks and crannies of indie rock’s jangly past. The…
In With the New: Two College-to-Statehouse Reps Prepare to Serve
Jay Hooper, a newly elected Democratic state representative from Brookfield, vowed not to wear any green blazers in the Statehouse this January. He doesn’t want…
Eastern Mountain Time, Back Home
(Self-released, digital download) Following their excellent 2015 self-titled debut, Eastern Mountain Time return with a five-song EP, Back Home. Sean Hood and company enlisted Wren…
Meet the Vermonter Who Gets Paid to Analyze Fantasy Sports
Name: Ken Crites Town: Shelburne Job: vice president of business development, fantasy sports analyst, RotoWire If you are one of the estimated 57 million North…
Vermont Inmates Take to the Kitchen With Farm-to-Prison Program
On a spitting-rain November evening, Brian Bertenshaw stood at a stainless steel table trimming beets. With deft movements, he lopped off the roots’ spiny tops…
Old Route Two Spirits Is Coming to Barre
In Barre, a new distillery is coming to town. High in the quarried hills of Websterville, Old Route Two Spirits is slowly taking form in…
