GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Reminder: No Daybreak Mon-Wed next week. Back in your inbox Thursday with CoffeeBreak.Rain, maybe some snow, temps dropping. Oh, and maybe thunder. It's a little head-snapping out there after the last few days. Today's high will actually be first thing this morning; we'll be below freezing by mid-afternoon, on the way down to the low teens around dawn tomorrow. Meanwhile, we've got this storm system, which will continue as rain until mid-afternoon, but then may transition to snow. The weather folks are warning about the possibility of slick roads for both morning and evening commutes, and the rivers will bear watching, too.So will the night skies. SpaceWeather.com says a coronal mass ejection from the sun "could spark a good display of auroras when it arrives later today or tomorrow.... First contact is expected to produce a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm, intensifying to moderate G2-class storming on Feb. 18th. During such storms, auroras can spill into the United States as far south as New York."Marking territory. First a bobcat, then a coyote show up on Erin Donahue's trail cam video from E. Thetford. Ted Levin writes, "We live amid an invisible olfactory landscape, mammalian signatures that inform decisions. Contours of scent, overlapping and reeking, trace pathways, mark time. The four 'F' landscapes of scenting are for avoidance—fear (predators and parasites) and fighting (competitors like coyotes and bobcats)—and for attraction—fornication (find a mate) and food (resource acquisition). Try it yourself: Predator Pee—bobcat urine—can keep deer from your garden."Hanover zoning board approves Dartmouth's Lyme Road complex. The decision on the controversial 397-bed development at the north end of the former golf course came last night after 90 minutes of discussion, reports the Valley News's Patrick Adrian. The board directed Dartmouth to develop “architecturally appropriate” safety lighting and to pay attention to traffic safety concerns, "including sidewalk extensions and upgrades on the multi-use path along Lyme Road, which is use by pedestrians and cyclists," Adrian writes. The project now moves on to the town's planning board.SPONSORED: Dining at Canaan's Red Wagon Bakery this weekend—for a good cause! Merhaba! Date night? Family in town? There are still tickets available for this weekend’s Turkish-influenced three-course dinners. The proceeds will benefit Friends of Mascoma, but the food will benefit your palate. Co-chefs are Emelia from Soul Kitchen Bakery and Cody from (future) Camp Little Bud. Full menu at the link. See you there! Sponsored by Emelia & Cody.Short-term shelter for homeless over church office in Randolph sees high demand. The apartment at Bethany Church was initially designed to help people—women escaping an abusive relationship, a family down on its luck—for a few days. Since November, reports Tim Calabro in the Herald, it's been occupied 100 percent of the time, with guests using it for a week or two until they can find services in Barre or WRJ. “We’ve had a number of couples who both work full time and can’t afford housing," says the Rev. Kimberly McKerley.“Good news the old fashioned way.” That's the tagline on The Chelsea Spotlight, a new quarterly print-and-online newsletter in Chelsea, VT. It was dreamed up during the pandemic by Heidi Chapman, writes Liz Sauchelli in the VN, launching last fall with a crew of volunteers. The Spotlight aims to "connect community members and cultivate a shared sense of pride and investment," it says, partly as a corrective to social media, where "people are not always kind or interacting in a way that’s conducive to feeling good about what’s going on in town,” as crew member Lisa Milchman puts it. Current issue here."Working people should not be treated like this.” That's Sal Iannuzzi, one of the two ousted board members of the Woodstock Foundation, talking to Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen about charges of employee mistreatment he and former board chair Ellen Pomeroy have leveled against the Woodstock Inn. “We’re trying to change the management culture,” Iannuzzi tells Cullen. “This is fixable. It’s not rocket science, but you have to be willing to do what has to be done.” A lawyer for trustees sued by the pair says "they went rogue" by investigating the mistreatment charges on their own. (Paywall).Dartmouth student dining workers deciding whether to strike. The Student Worker Collective at Dartmouth has been pushing for a $21 per hour base wage, up from rates of $13-$15 per hour; the college's latest counter-offer proposes base pay of $17.50-$18.50, reports Jackie Wright in The Dartmouth. So, on Tuesday, the SWCD launched a strike authorization vote, which is still ongoing. “A strike is highly likely to occur in the near future if the school does not accept the package that we provided them," SWCD vice chair Sheen Kim tells Wright.At Dartmouth, "optimism and enthusiasm, tinged with caution" about ChatGPT and similar efforts. The possibilities opened up by chatbot technology like ChatGPT (which comes from the company OpenAI, whose tech head is a Thayer grad) have created a buzz on campus, writes Harini Barath for Dartmouth News. Profs and administrators like its potential as a teaching and research tool, but it's also forcing them to confront issues around academic integrity. The college is holding discussions on how to deal with honor code violations that may be driven by generative AI tools like ChatGPT.It's not just on campus. Daybreak reader Ken Schuster taps trees every year, but this year's a conundrum. It's mid-February and the sap's already running. Unsure what to do, he decided to check in with ChatGPT to see if it could offer any guidance—or at least, phrase the question poetically. "Ask an expert if it is better to tap maple trees for syrup now, in February, or wait until next month, in the style of Shakespeare" he typed into the chat field. A few seconds later, back came, "Oh, wondrous expert of the maple tree/I seek your counsel on a sweet decree...." Full poem, plus an exchange with ChatGPT on tapping, at the link.And while we're talking syrup: "We’re trying to tap as fast as we can," says Woodstock sugarer. Given the weather in recent weeks, says Meg Emmons, who works with Don Bourdon at Bourdon Maple Farm, it's been an all-out push to take advantage of the current sap run—she and Bourdon tell the VT Standard's Robert Shumskis that they wouldn't mind some cold and snow to slow things down. Up the road, Reid Richardson of Richardson Family Farm tells him, "This will be an unusually early start for us; maybe a week before our previous earliest start.” Shumskis details the ins and outs of sugaring.Hiking Not Too Far From Home: Icy Arethusa Falls: The Upper Valley Trails Alliance recommends this special winter White Mountains experience to see one of the tallest and most stunning waterfalls in NH. You'll climb about 800 feet and travel three miles out and back. It's a relatively low, protected area, but be well prepared for changing weather and winter hiking. Use your drive for mountain views, since the trail is wooded and the calming winter hike and frozen falls are the primary attractions. The parking area and trailhead for the Arethusa Falls Trail is located just off route 302 in Crawford Notch State Park.Tired of waiting for NH to end psychiatric "boarding" in ERs, hospitals ask judge to order an end to the practice. “What we’re looking for, your honor, is, get us on the road that has an end,” an attorney for a group of hospitals suing the state, told Merrimack County Superior Court Judge Amy Ignatius Wednesay. “That’s what the state has refused to do so far.” State officials, reports Paul Cuno-Booth for NHPR, say they've been hamstrung by staffing issues at New Hampshire Hospital and other facilities.$8 million for the UNH men's hockey team. $15 million for a new legislative parking garage in Concord. There are lots of numbers in Gov. Chris Sununu's budget proposal, and in NH Bulletin, Ethan DeWitt lays out the major ones in easy-to-digest form, from long-term spending like a boost in Medicaid reimbursements to providers and wage increases for state employees to one-time requests like school building aid, money to train educators to teach computer science, and funds to get a new men's prison off the ground. Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because Daybreak's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, what's happening to West Leb Feed & Supply? And which proposed building project just got a little shade thrown at its design? And what's the deal with those lights in the sky this week? You'll find those and other burning questions at the burgundy link.But wait! How closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to know if you know what's been going on around the state this week—like, what is currently soaring at the US-Canada border?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings in the Granite State—like, which world championship competition in Laconia just had to be cancelled because of the weather?
With marquee ski-jump event looming, Brattleboro's Harris Hill stockpiles snow amid a sea of mud. This isn't actually the first time that Vermont's only Olympic-sized jump has had to scramble to put on one of its signature competitions: In 1938, writes Kevin O'Connor in VTDigger, volunteers hauled in snow from outlying areas, and in 1954 they collected it off Brattleboro's streets. These days there are snowmaking guns, and they've been put to work every cold night for the last few weeks, ahead of this weekend's high-profile Presidents Day meet. They've got two feet on the landing hill. Fingers crossed.“I didn’t expect to find someone’s grandma in a corporate kitchen, lovingly scaling a recipe from the old country.” But Noah Galuten did hope to learn what’s in those cartons of chicken broth on grocery shelves. On Eater, he describes weeks-long attempts to get answers. “Initially, their publicists were happy to talk to a food writer about how great their products are. But then I started asking questions.” One food-company spokesman was so forthright “that I assume it did not occur to him to check with whatever department kept telling employees not to answer me.” You might want to pull out your stock pot.Diseased apple or work of art? Both, actually. Starting in the 1860s, Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, father and son glass sculptors from Czechoslovakia, created such realistic, technically perfect glass replicas of sea creatures, flowers, and even diseased apples that the glass treasures were used as models for scientific study. Examples at the burgundy link. In The Scientist, Dan Robitzski gives the backstory: the pair’s commitment to scientific accuracy, why the glass sculptures were so valuable to researchers, and how, more than 150 years later, the glass versions may outlive endangered species. (Thanks, NS!)The Friday Vordle. If you're new to Vordle, you should know that fresh ones appear on weekends using words from the Friday Daybreak, and you can get a reminder email each weekend morning. Next week, the reminder email will also go out Monday-Wednesday—and fair warning, the words on Tuesday and Wednesday will come from non-Daybreak sources. If you'd like to get that email, sign up here.
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it keep going by hitting the maroon button:
Sweatshirts, hats, and, of course, coffee/tea/cocoa mugs. It's all available thanks to Strong Rabbit Designs in Sharon. Check out what's available and wear it or drink from it proudly! Email me ([email protected]) if you've got questions.
This afternoon at 3 pm, the public portion of a symposium on Charles Darwin’s impact on the study of human evolution and biological diversity gets underway at Dartmouth. "Even the very best scientists in the world—in this case, Charles Darwin—err," wrote anthropology prof Jeremy DeSilva in his preface to 2021's A Most Interesting Problem: What Darwin's Descent of Man Got Right and Wrong about Human Evolution. The symposium brings together the scholars who contributed to that book to talk it all over—a chance, DeSilva believes, for "the Upper Valley community to explore scientific advances and unpack evolutionary theories on race and gender with luminaries in the field." In Oopik Auditorium 3-6 pm today and in Filene Auditorium 10:30-1:30 tomorrow.
At 5 pm today, NH Humanities hosts Dartmouth African and African American Studies and Religion prof Vaughn Booker for a Zoomed webinar, "Lift Every Voice and Swing." His 2021 book of that title explores the religious beliefs of jazz musicians like Ella Fitzgerald, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Mary Lou Williams, how their helped reshape African American religious life, and how their beliefs shaped the music we know today.
At 6 this evening, JAM hosts its bi-monthly storytelling circle in its WRJ HQ. This one is centered around the theme of "Love." Anyone in the Upper Valley, seasoned storyteller or outright beginner, is invited to join to share a five-minute true personal story: "No competition, no judgment, no lecturing, no ranting… Just share a story about something that happened to you and listen to other people’s stories," write the moderators.
Also at 6 pm, Rooted Entertainment in Bradford (VT) kicks off its new, six-show Music Matters Concert Series with Mal Maïz, the Latin/Afro-Caribbean dance band led by Costa Rican multi-instrumentalist Maiz “Brujo” Vargas Sandoval—based in Burlington and a favorite at Feast & Field. It's all by donation at the door, with proceeds going to buy musical instruments and equipment for the new “Live Band” curriculum at Waits River Valley School. Tonight is at East Coast Van Builds, 490 Lower Plain in Bradford; after this, the scene shifts to Fairlee Town Hall.
Tonight's 7 pm Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival at the Lebanon Opera House is sold out, but if you're desperate, you can call the box office at 603-448-0400 for waitlist info.
At 7 this evening, Sharon's Seven Stars Arts Center hosts McCaffrey, Coane & Rowell—the vintage, classic country, bluegrass, rockabilly and western swing trio of Colin McCaffrey, Danny Coane, and Dave Rowell, Vermonters all. They'll be joined onstage by McCaffrey's partner in the "McCaffrey & Rooney Present" series, Jim Rooney.
And also at 7, Fairlee Arts screens Northeast Kingdom filmmaker Jay Craven's adaptation of A Stranger in the Kingdom, Howard Frank Mosher's novel set in 1952 about the trial of a small Vermont town's newly arrived black minister for the murder of a French Canadian girl. Craven will be on hand to talk about the making of the film.
And also at 7, Hop Film screens Broker, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda's bittersweet comedy/road-flick, set in South Korea, about two guys who occasionally steal babies from a church's box for unwanted babies to sell on the country's adoption black-market, and the runaway 15-year-old who drops her infant off, discovers the pair—and joins them to make sure her child gets acceptable parents. In the Loew.
This evening at 7:30, the Anonymous Coffeehouse takes over the First Congregational Church of Lebanon with a show that includes singer-songwriters Richard Ruane and Beth Duquette, folk/Americana group and Berklee grads Amber Wilds, and guitar, banjo, and mandolin wizards Marc Shapiro and Billy Corbett.
Tomorrow at 10 am, the 26th VerShare Snowshoe-a-thon takes off from the Vershire Town Center. The fundraiser for the organization's free summer camp for local kids offers three route options (1/4 mile, 1 mile, and 3 mile loops) and all snowshoers will receive a gift for participating. Snowshoeing will be followed by ice skating, kid-friendly activities, and a chili/soup lunch provided by The Mountain School and local community.
Tomorrow at 11 am, the Hop hosts a free show on the Norwich Green by Montreal's Le Patin Libre, the dazzling contemporary ice-dance troupe. They're doing a sold-out show in Brattleboro tonight, but are coming to the Hop in the spring. They'll be previewing their show "Murmurations" and then inviting anyone with skates to join them on the ice for an ice-dancing demo and free skate.
And from 5 to 10 pm tomorrow in Chelsea VT, the new Chelsea Spotlight holds a fundraiser at The Wagon Wheel Bar & Grill in town, with live music by the Pillsbury Slowboys and the Donna Thunder Medicine Show, along with a buffet dinner from 6-9.
On Sunday at 2, Opera North kicks off this winter's three-part online "Always ON Sunday" series with a conversation between scenic designer Nate Bertone and ON's general director, Evans Haile. Bertone's designs will feature in this summer's productions of Carmen and Carousel, and he'll be talking, among other things, about the challenges of designing for opera in the round.
And at 4 pm on Sunday, Hop Film shows All That Breathes, Indian director Shaunak Sen's complex, multi-layered, and often beautiful documentary—winner of awards at both Sundance and Cannes last year, and an Academy Award nominee this year—about a pair of brothers in New Delhi who've devoted the last couple of decades to caring for injured birds in one of the most polluted cities on the planet. In the Loew.
And to take us into the weekend...
Let's turn to bluegrass legend Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway,
Have a fantastic weekend and a fine start to next week! See you Thursday for CoffeeBreak.
The Hiking Close to Home Archives. A list of hikes around the Upper Valley, some easy, some more difficult, compiled by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It grows every week.
The Enthusiasms Archives. A list of book recommendations by Daybreak's rotating crew of local booksellers, writers, and librarians who think you should read. this. book. now!
Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.
Want to catch up on Daybreak music?
Want to catch up on Daybreak itself (or find that item you trashed by mistake the other day)? You can find everything on the Daybreak Facebook page
, or if you're a committed non-FB user,
.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to hit the blue "Subscribe" button below. And thanks! And hey, if you're that friend? So nice to see you! Subscribe at no cost at:
Thank you!