END OF THE WEEK, UPPER VALLEY!
Sunnier but colder this moring. There's high pressure across the Northeast now, and after a cold start to the day, temps will warm up into the mid-30s. Skies should be more clear than not, with plenty of sun and winds from the northwest switching to the west in the afternoon. Lower 20s tonight.Daybreak Where You Are...
Looks out over the far hills at dawn in Sugar Hill, NH, from Katherine Cote;
Looks down the valley of the wintry White River toward the brightening sky, from Sharon Comeau;
And, well, it's nothing to do with daybreak, but... looks closely at ice formations on Mink Brook, from Amanda DeRoy.
"What do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do you want to do?" It's "Lost Woods" Week 13, and Eddy and Auk have time on their hands, plus a suitcase, a rock, and... As you know by now, each Friday Lebanon author and illustrator D.B. Johnson (Magritte's Marvelous Hat and other classics) lends his new comic strip to this spot, a week's worth at a time. Scroll right to see what happens, left to catch up on previous weeks."Sometimes it’s the quiet, steady work in the right direction that makes the difference." Last year, Courtney Cook joined Hartford's Climate Advisory Committee, she writes in Junction mag. The often tedious, painstaking evenings were eye-opening. For one thing, she noticed, "the other people on the committee were extraordinary." For another, "I now know that the big, bold, exciting, zeitgeisty moments that give me my beloved dopamine hit are built in moments and mediums that are not necessarily thrilling, but are essential." A lovely essay on what the hard work of self-government looks like.
And looking ahead to town and school meetings... The Valley News continues its town-by-town review for both VT and NH, laying out major topics for debate, noteworthy warrant articles, contested races, logistics, etc. Here are their previews for:
SPONSORED: Get the best discount on a Crossroad Farm CSA through this Sunday, Feb. 28th! Farm shares are available through discounted, pre-purchased credit in increments of $100. Sign up or renew before the month's end to take full advantage of their 7 percent discount. You can purchase as many shares as you like and redeem them all season at the home farm and greenhouses in Post Mills and at the Norwich farmstand. Your shares won't expire and can be used for what you'd like whenever you'd like! More details here. Sponsored by Crossroad Farm.As cases continue to rise, Dartmouth closes indoor spaces. In addition to the gym and dining halls, which it closed down on Wednesday (except for grab-and-go), the college yesterday shut libraries, the Hop, and other indoor gathering spaces at least through Tuesday. In addition, reports The Dartmouth, college officials have identified three clusters of at least three students with Covid, and is investigating whether they're related.Covered Bridges Half Marathon opts to go virtual for 2021. In a press release yesterday, the popular race's organizers, Nancy Nutile-McMenemy and Mike Silverman, said, "While statewide vaccinations have begun, our race directors and race committee members do not feel that enough people will be vaccinated in time to hold the race safely the first Sunday in June." So this year, you don't have to hover anxiously over your computer in early March as registration opens and hope you get a slot in the roughly ten minutes it takes to fill up. Deferred runners from last year can sign up Sunday; everyone else, 3/8.Hiking close to home: Union Village Dam in Thetford, VT. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance checks in with a great, easy hike for snowy weather—or, in fact, most kinds of weather. Trail users can walk the road across the dam and enjoy a beautiful view up and down the Ompompanoosuc, or take the trails connected to the dam for snowshoeing, cross country skiing, mountain-bike riding, or just plain hiking. Even if the gate's closed at the foot of the dam road, it's still open for foot traffic.
New England ahead of US averages on most vaccine measures. NHPR's Casey McDermott looks at the most recent data on vaccination rates, and while she points out that NH lags its neighbors on some scores, overall it, VT, ME and the others are ahead of the curve. A higher percentage of their residents have received at least one shot, while CT and VT are in the top 10 for the percentage who've received two. On the other hand, both NH and VT lag a bit on percentage of available vaccine doses used. Good charts at the link. After locking out Democrats, Packard calls for end to partisan hostility. Ahead of yesterday's session, the NH House speaker reflected on his actions the day before in keeping some Democrats who'd walked out from returning to vote. “Was I wrong, or was I right?” he asked, InDepthNH's Garry Rayno reports. “What happened should never happen again.” Partisan rancor is as great as he's ever seen it, Packard added. “Legislation is going to get passed that the Democratic caucus hates. Last session, legislation was passed that the Republican caucus hated. That’s just the way it works.” Should NH require towns to allow tiny houses? Ordinarily, Daybreak doesn't do items on bills that haven't even taken a step beyond being introduced, since most are never heard from again. But this piece from Citizens Count on a measure requiring towns to make way for tiny houses wherever they allow single-family homes—and on some of the ins and outs in a state struggling with affordable housing—shot to the top of the Monitor's most-read list when they reprinted it Wednesday. Clearly, there's interest. So here's the original.“I am a bit of a Luddite, a technophobe." Should be an interesting set of town meetings this year. That's Jerry Schwarz, town moderator for Monkton, VT, talking to VPR's Nina Keck about the prospect of carrying on town meeting via Zoom. Last weekend, Monkton held a session for townspeople and officials to practice. Elsewhere, officials accustomed to townspeople voting from the floor are wondering whether they'll turn out to cast Australian ballots. In a lot of ways, Keck notes, the real question is whether—and how—a hybrid approach evolves post-pandemic, since Zoom has made public participation easier.VPR has a replacement for Jane Lindholm on "Vermont Edition." Two, actually. Lindholm, as you may remember, is stepping down in March to focus on her kids' program, "But Why?" To take her place, the station announced yesterday, it's wooed back two reporters who both went to college in VT: Conor Cyrus, currently at WJAR in Providence, who went to Lyndon State; and Mikaela Lefrak, a reporter and host at WAMU in DC, who went to Middlebury. They'll start this summer. VPR is "developing an interim plan" for before then.VT Covid relief package moves forward. The House yesterday quickly approved the $79 million bill, which gets a second vote today and then moves to the Senate. Among its provisions, it provides $15 million to help schools improve air quality, $10 million for businesses that have not yet received aid from the state or feds, $10 million for infrastructure for the states' outdoor recreation industry, and $20 million toward the state's pension liabilities—after a recent projection by state Treasurer Beth Pearce that unfunded liability will grow by about $600 million, notes VTDigger's Xander Landen.Working with others to address poverty. And making it possible to order from a food bank online. Those are two ways that Vermont Foodbank would like to put some of its $9 million windfall from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott to use, reports Ambreen Ali in The Counter, an online food and food politics mag. She looks at some of the 42 food banks that got a slice of the $4.2 billion Scott handed out at the end of 2020. The gifts, she writes, may "usher in a wave of new infrastructure and innovation as food banks seek to use the massive amounts of funding not just to end hunger, but also its root causes."There is mind-stopping beauty in the ordinary. The World Photography Organisation (yep, British spelling) has named the national and regional winners of its 2021 awards, and if nothing else they're a reminder of how the photographer's art transforms the way we look at things. A father and son out fishing in the early-morning fog in Myanmar, a mountain road in Japan from above in autumn, an ice forest in Croatia, men at prayer on a soccer field in Turkey... Maroon link takes you to a selection with explanations, and this takes you to the full set, which is inexplicably without explanations. Nuns 'caught breaking lockdown to exorcise.' Surely the best headline of the year so far, right?
Last numbers for the week.
Dartmouth now reports 37 active cases among students (up 12), and still none among faculty/staff. There are 65 students and 4 faculty/staff in quarantine because of travel or exposure, while 37 students and 6 faculty/staff are in isolation awaiting results or because they tested positive.
NH reported 355 new cases yesterday for a cumulative total of 74,568. There were 6 new deaths, bringing the total to 1,163. Meanwhile, 97 people are hospitalized (down 6). The current active caseload stands at 2,858 (up 75). The state reports 280 active cases in Grafton County (up 1), 54 in Sullivan (down 2), and 215 in Merrimack (down 10). In town-by-town numbers, the state says Claremont has 33 active cases (down 3), Hanover has 22 (up 12 but still behind on the Dartmouth cases), Enfield has 11 (no change), Lebanon has 7 (no change), Newport has 7 (no change), New London has 7 (up 2), Canaan has 6 (no change), Sunapee has 5 (up at least 1). Haverhill, Piermont, Warren, Orford, Lyme, Grantham, Springfield, Charlestown, Newbury, and Wilmot have 1-4 each.
VT reported 66 new cases yesterday, bringing it to a total case count of 14,840. It added 2 deaths to reach 203 all told. Meanwhile, 28 people with confirmed cases are hospitalized (no change). Windsor County gained 6 cases to stand at 1,029 for the pandemic, with 74 over the past 14 days. Orange County had 4 additional cases and stands at 503 cumulatively, with 37 cases over the past 14 days.
News that connects you. If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:
At noon today, Dismas House hosts Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan in the second of its free series of talks on restorative justice. In "The Power of the Prosecutor in the Criminal Justice System," Donovan will talk about efforts to expand access to alternative justice programs in the state, which has doubled the referrals to diversion programs over the past two years; about programs specifically for people with mental health challenges and substance abuse disorder; and about changing the culture of the criminal justice system.
Today is your last chance to order ahead for the chili fundraiser being hosted by Sharon's Baxter Memorial Library next Friday. Put in your order (three types of chili, plus cornbread), pick it up and pay next week, and relax knowing that your Friday-night takeout splurge is going to a good cause.
This evening at 7, the Green Mountain Audubon Society and North Branch Nature Center host birder and naturalist Zac Cota on the owls of Vermont—"fearsome nocturnal predators, iconic visitors from the high arctic, and stealthy migrants who pass through our backyards by the hundreds." Free via Zoom.
And the Hop's Film on Demand series is on to its next two: a repeat of Coded Bias, the documentary by Shalini Kantayya looking at the inequities often embedded in machine-learning algorithms, running through March 3; and Exhibition on Screen: Frida Kahlo, featuring her work and, through interviews with curators and others, a close look at how her life and cultural evolution showed up on canvas, running through March 10.
Tomorrow, it's definitely not too soon to be thinking ahead to warmer days, plunging your hands into the soil, and getting a garden going. Billings Farm hosts the Woodstock Inn's master gardener, Ben Pauly, for a live Zoom discussion on how to plan gardens, attract pollinators and beneficial insects, how and when to start seeds and seedlings, and other pressing questions. $10 for Billings members, $15 otherwise.
And tomorrow at 7:30 pm, the VSO's Jukebox Quartet will stream live from ArtsRiot in Burlington with singer Kat Wright and Ryan Miller, lead singer and guitarist with Guster. They'll be putting a classical spin on Dylan, Hendrix, Tool, and Radiohead, as well as doing works by Jessie Montgomery and Henry Purcell. Pay what you can starting at $5.
On Sunday at 2 pm: Have you ever wondered about how an opera singer prepares a role and how a singer, pianist, and conductor collaborate to bring a character to life on the stage? Louis Burkot, Opera North's artistic director, will explore Puccini's dramatic fireworks with soprano Arianna Rodriguez in a virtual edition of "The Coach’s Corner." You'll see Rodriguez this summer in La Bohème. Tix are $15 per link.
Finally, on Sunday at 7 pm, two prominent Vermont poets and longtime friends—former VT poet-laureate Sydney Lea and E. Thetford's Cleopatra Mathis, founder of Dartmouth's creative writing program—sit down together online for a poetry reading, conversation, and Q&A, hosted by the Sundog Poetry Center in St. Albans. Free, though they wouldn't turn away a contribution.
The Blind Boys of Alabama have been around, in one iteration or another, since 1939, so they probably need no introduction. Their 2001 Grammy-winning album,
Spirit of the Century
, included several tracks recorded live at NYC's Bottom Line with a Who's Who of hard-working musicians. Here they are with
featuring the work of British double bassist Danny Thompson and, quietly on the side, blues guitarist John Hammond.
That
should get your weekend started right! See you Monday.
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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Banner by Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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