“You may ask yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?’”
In our interactions around the state, we have seen “that guy.”
Having been shamed, beaten up, humiliated and bullied by the best Catholicism had to offer, I developed a unique perspective on religion, especially how dangerous it can become in the wrong hands, and it was always in the wrong hands. The nuns, priests and brothers of various orders sects an…
Two hundred forty years ago, a British army found itself engaged in a campaign against a rebel insurgency where it was winning most of the battles but losing the war. Faced with that reality, the British burned all but their most essential supplies and headed for a coastal town to be evacuat…
A recent piece by anti-renewable energy crusader Annette Smith asks, “Is Electrifying Everything a Climate Solution?” For those of us concerned about the changing climate’s increasing number of floods, wildfires, hurricanes and record-breaking temperatures, the answer is yes!
Bad things don’t always happen after 3 p.m.
20 years later
We are fortunate in Vermont to have so many locally owned food co-ops, grocery stores, farm stands and farmers’ markets, which offer fresh produce, meats, milk, cheeses and more throughout the year. But at most supermarkets and convenience stores where the majority of people buy their food, …
The past few weeks have seen the word “unprecedented” beaten like a rented mule. I’ve wielded the whip myself too often to cast aspersions toward others but collectively, we’ve all been habitually categorizing what should have been predictable as a surprise. Not having seen it coming doesn’t…
Ten years ago I was driving home from attending the North River Blues Festival outside Boston. When I left that morning around 10:30, the trees were bending over from the wind. Watching the weather on TV with my friends and producers of the festival, John Hall and Ellie Johnson, it was clear…
No one knows for sure what percentage of the population needs to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity for our nation. However, the figure of at least 80% may be a good estimate. But there are some experts who feel we may never achieve true herd immunity, still your own personal health will…
It is easy to invent lies on the web, since they can come from anyone, anywhere in the world with no fact-checking. Lies can be more creative than the truth, and they attract 10 times more readers; and this brings billions in advertising profits to the websites. The webs of lies about the CO…
As we marked the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we can honor the victims by saving Afghan lives from hunger.
Earlier this week, the State Department reported that more than 23,000 Afghan refugees deemed to be “at risk” have arrived in the United States. By all accounts, that represents more than one-sixth of all the evacuees airlifted out of Kabul in the past two months, a State Department represen…
Perhaps it was during the Former Guy’s macabre inauguration speech that we realized he wouldn’t be able to tie his own shoes without focused assistance; or maybe it was in the aftermath, as a glowering Sean Spicer memorably touted, “The biggest crowd in history ...PERIOD”, despite photograph…
Poor Elijah was returning to his car at the mall when several anonymous youths volunteered unflattering comments about his face and form. Having been schooled in the greatest playground commandment, “Sticks and stones may break my bones,” he pretended not to notice, believing any response wo…
During the 1950s, there was so much I wanted to do that I hated to waste daylight. So I did my traveling at night, in vehicles with little future, and no means of communication, no AAA to call if I could, a few dollars and no credit card for backup, and road maps for guidance. With a tank of…
The robust jobs report recently released by the Department of Labor is more evidence that the U.S. economy is finally putting the pandemic behind it. It also a signals that the competition for talent, a hallmark of the recovery to date, is likely to reach new levels of intensity, even with t…
The end of August marked 10 years since Tropical Storm Irene brought devastating winds and flooding to Vermont. In the decade since, we’ve continued to learn about the impacts of the climate crisis on hurricanes, heat and flooding.
These are unprecedented times for the UVM Health Network. After months of testing for, treating and vaccinating against COVID-19, we are seeing a new surge of cases from the highly contagious delta variant. In recent weeks, we’ve also experienced intense pressures related to abnormally high …
A startling figure emerged recently: 567 percent.
Tribal Conflict, Kabul, NYC, Abdul the Afghan, NYC, rain, political cartoon
For more than a quarter-century, the Emperor Awards have spotlighted achievements in the education world. The emperor, you’ll remember, proudly purchases nonexistent clothing that he’s told only stupid people can’t see. His loyal subjects, also reluctant to appear stupid, tell him how regal …
This week marks the 10-year anniversary of Tropical Storm Irene’s devastating visit to Vermont. Nearly every community was — in one way or another — impacted, whether it was loss of life, property or infrastructure.
Recently, Vermont’s Department of Public Safety issued a response to the state’s Human Rights Commission report concerning a 2017 incident involving the Clemmons Family Farm, a 148-acre, Black-owned, educational and cultural arts landmark of Vermont’s African American Heritage Trail. The com…
Well, hasn’t this been a week! As if all our poor Earth’s travails — environmental, geological and political — weren’t enough, now we’re watching video footage that, except for its scope and suddenness, reprises the United States’ humiliating withdrawal from South Vietnam in 1975.
When recently I heard the weather forecast calling for several days of “good sleeping weather,” I was pleasantly surprised and a bit nostalgic, having not heard in years the once familiar term, now relegated to memory of a distant time and no longer familiar place. When summer heat failed to…
Trillions of dollars, thousands upon thousands of lives, and 20 years of war have not been enough to “succeed” in Afghanistan. The U.S.-trained Afghan army just plain doesn’t work and won’t fight. How could this have happened? The answer can be summed up by one word: tribalism. And one obser…
Last month, in an online report of “America’s Best Places to Live in 2021,” which ranked 10 U.S. states as “America’s most welcoming,” Vermont ranked first. The state’s impressive COVID-19 response and strong public health spending boosted its spot.
During a White House speech amid the Afghanistan evacuation fiasco, President Joe Biden looked into the camera with a cold, steely eye and said, “I am President of the United States of America, and the buck stops with me.”
The Afghan Army consists of about 300,000 troops who have been financed, equipped, supported and trained (poorly, by the accounts of some former American trainers) by the United States military. They are deployed against a Taliban force of about 75,000. Under just about any reasonable circum…
This is the second back-to-school season when students, parents and teachers aren’t sure what they’re heading back to. COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths are spiking almost exclusively among unvaccinated Americans. Those Americans are typically younger and, speaking plainly, predo…
The optics are horrifying but provide clarity to what for most of us has been an abstraction since 2001. A veritable sea of humanity running alongside an Air Force transport as it taxis down a Kabul runway. Several Afghans desperately clinging to the landing gear in one, last futile attempt …
The words used to describe what is happening to Planet Earth have changed over time, and are politically charged for some people. A better description might be Wacky Weather — even better, Weather Extremes. We might be able to agree that the weather is getting more extreme.
For months, businesses and leaders around Montpelier have been pleading with the state to bring state workers back to state offices in the Capital City. The city of about 8,000 residents relies on the 20,000 or so individuals who used to commute to Montpelier and then eat and shop.
”I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or my grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very fe…
After the Bay of Pigs invasion failed, President Kennedy shouldered the blame by recalling the old maxim that “victory has a hundred fathers, but defeat is an orphan.” General Eisenhower prerecorded two communiques for use after D-Day, one in which he announced the invasion’s success and the…
J.D. Vance, author of the best-seller memoir (and subsequent film with Glenn Close) “Hillbilly Elegy,” is now running for a Senate seat in Ohio. While campaigning, he made news a week ago by saying we ought to consider a policy whereby people who have children cast not only their own votes, …
Just “plain” is what the Bread and Puppet aesthetic wished, for the burial yesterday of Elka Schumann, the gifted wife (in song and graphic art) of Peter Schuman … he the grizzled founder and life-long director of the quietly illustrious Bread & Puppet Theater.
Ten years ago, in late August 2011, Tropical Storm Irene crashed into the Green Mountains and shattered the myth Vermont was safe from climate change. The severe weather, fires and droughts we’ve experienced in the decade since remind us Irene was not a one-off event. Climate change is real,…
Does anybody remember Betty Hutton, the singer and movie actress? Here’s something you haven’t known about her until now: She wore 3½-inch heels in size 3½ AAA.
Beginning with arguably the lowest hanging fruit in the orchard: a man who has, in the short time out of his neighbor’s medicine cabinet, apparently fetishized getting his ass handed to him on national television. Of course, we’re talking Mike Lyndell, aka “The Pillow Guy,” a fervent acolyte…
Donald Trump lost the 2020 elections fair and square. The one label this morally bankrupt man cannot handle is loser. He believes that he has to win at everything at all costs. The cost of his defeat might well be our democracy.
For years now, state leaders have been pointing to how valuable a resource Lake Champlain is to our state, not just because of its natural beauty but because of the economy actually derived from it.
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Five Questions With
Just over three months ago we started “Five Questions With ...” to put a human face to this pandemic. Today marks the final installment in this stage of the project, but it will continue with a new set of questions more focused on Vermont’s recovery. Here, Paul Costello, of Montpelier, offer…
Marlee Brunton, of Middlesex, talks about the pandemic and its effects on her family.
Marlee Brunton, of Middlesex, talks about the pandemic and its effects on her family.
Alayna Martel, of Barre Town, is a registered nurse at UVM Medical Center. She talks about how, as a frontline workers, her life has been affected by the pandemic.
Gayle Townsend-Lang, of Rutland, works full time wearing many hats for the Rutland City Public Schools as “Miss Gayle.” Here she talks about how she has been affected by the pandemic.
Stefanie Schaffer, of Rutland, talks about how she has been coping with self-isolation and dealing with the pandemic.
Stefanie Schaffer, of Rutland, talks about how she has been coping with self-isolation and dealing with the pandemic.
Yankee Notebook columnist Willem Lange, of East Montpelier, talks about how he has been affected by self-isolation and the pandemic.
CPA Thomas Lauzon, of Barre, discusses how his life has been affected by the pandemic and self-isolation. Earlier this spring Lauzon was named to the governor’s Economic Mitigation & Recovery Task Force.
Chrispin White, of Rutland, discusses how he has been adapting to self-isolation and how the pandemic has been affecting him.
Christina Sweet, of Rutland, discusses how she and her family have been affected by the pandemic and self-isolation over these months.
Educator and Vermont Mountaineers General Manager Brian Gallagher, of East Montpelier, discusses how the pandemic has affected his life. Earlier this spring, the Mountaineers’ organizers announced they would cancel the 2020 season.
Cat Heatley, of Rutland, talks about how her life has been affected by the pandemic in recent weeks.
Cat Heatley, of Rutland, talks about how her life has been affected by the pandemic in recent weeks.
Salon owner and fitness instructor April Rogers Farnham, of Plainfield, talks about how she has been affected by self-isolation.
Barre Partnership Executive Director Tracie Lewis talks about self-isolation and how the pandemic has been affecting her life.
Montpelier writer Thomas Greene discusses how he has been affected by self-isolation and the pandemic.
Drew Smith, of Rutland, talks about self-isolation and how the pandemic has affected his life.
Jessica Van Orman talks about her experience in self-isolation and how the pandemic has affected her life.
Artist Jen Rondinone, of Rutland, reflects on self-isolation and how the pandemic has affected her and her family.
Mark Breen, the "Eye on the Sky" guy from the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, shares his thoughts in self-isolation and how the pandemic has been affecting his life.
Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe discusses how self-isolation and the pandemic have affected his life.
Executive Director of the Paramount Bruce Bouchard, of Rutland, talks about how his life has been affected by the pandemic and its consequences.
Stay-at-home mom and low-income advocate Roni Lynn Shrout, of Montpelier, discusses how the pandemic has affected her family.
Carrie Allen, of Rutland, explains how she has been coping with self-isolation and what she hopes will come from it after the pandemic is over.
Vermont cartoonist Tim Newcomb provides a bit of levity to his answers about self-isolation and how he is coping.
Recovery Vermont’s Melissa Story, of Montpelier, shares her thoughts on self-isolation and how it has affected her.
Major Jackson is a poet and professor at the University of Vermont. He lives in South Burlington.
Former governor Jim Douglas shared his thoughts on self-isolation.
Danziger: Five Questions With