GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Warmer. But also wintry mixier. We start out dry this morning, with air moving in from the south getting us into the 40s today. Even so, there'll be colder air aloft, and the result is that as a warm front comes through, rain that's likely to arrive later this afternoon will probably be mixed with some snow, though it'll change back to all drizzle overnight. Temps will drop a bit toward evening, but remain in the mid-30s through the night before rising toward 60 tomorrow.Crows up close and personal. On Erin Donahue's trail cam. Writes Ted Levin: "Who doesn't know the crow, more common today than when European colonists first debarked along the Eastern Seaboard? So familiar; its size is a reference for any unknown bird. Common but complicated. Crows are members of avian Mensa, capable of at least 27 different caws—short, short-medium, medium, long, harsh, 2-syllable, structured, unstructured (with varying intervals between caws, high-pitched or low). One call described in the literature, the pre-mortality or Death Call, might have caught Edgar Allen Poe's attention."Florida State Police report cites Buddy Teevens' "failure to yield right of way” as contributing to crash; no update yet on his condition. The Valley News's Tris Wykes digs into a crash report released this week, which found the driver of the pickup that hit Dartmouth's football coach was estimated to be doing 50 in a 45-mph zone on busy Route A1A about an hour after sunset March 16 when Teevens, riding home from dinner in St. Augustine with his wife, tried to cross the road. The report says Teevens had “incapacitating” injuries and was taken to a hospital in a medical helicopter in critical condition. The college plans to provide an update on Tuesday, Wykes reports.Chalk up Strafford as another town questioning its policing ties with the Orange County Sheriff. The town has a contract with the beleaguered department, but in the Herald, Darren Marcy reports that relationship is now in the spotlight. In part, that's because the town owes the department money but is questioning its December bill. And in part it's because, as Marcy writes, selectboard members are wondering what they're getting for those services when there's a town constable who can also patrol. They'd like Sheriff George Contois to hash it all out with them at their next meeting.Speaking of beleaguered... Windsor town clerk resigns from three posts. Amy McMullen, who came under fire for standing by the ballot box during school board elections (which she won), has left the clerk's position, the school board, and her newest role as school district clerk, reports Mike Donoghue in the Vermont Standard. In her resignation letter for the school positions, McMullen writes, "My actions created a loss of trust from parents, teachers and staff and other members of the community and I believe that any actions of the board with me serving will be tainted by the outcome of the election."SPONSORED: Join us for Holy Week! The Church of Christ at Dartmouth College, 40 College Street in Hanover (behind the Baker/Berry Library), will hold Palm Sunday worship (4/2) at 10 AM followed by a free, open organ recital at 4 PM by Marek Kudlicki from Poland. Maundy Thursday service (4/6) is at 7 PM in our sanctuary. We are joining the ecumenical Good Friday service (4/7) at noon at St. Thomas Episcopal Church. We hope you will join us for Easter Sunday services (4/9) at 9 and 11 AM, with breakfast served between the services. Sponsored by The Church of Christ at Dartmouth College.In Woodstock, "a battle of words." That's how Standard correspondent Mike Donoghue describes the latest exchange of letters in the ongoing Woodstock Foundation ruckus involving allegations of abuse and mismanagement at Billings Farm and the Woodstock Inn & Resort. Former foundation chair Ellen Pomeroy a couple of weeks ago wrote Billings and then Inn employees challenging what she contends is misinformation from management—who responded in each case by asking her not to write to staff. Donoghue details Pomeroy's contentions and updates the current state of play.Say it ain't so! In a time-warped moment yesterday, I referred to Hartford's Becca White as a state rep, when of course she's now a state senator. So, now, here's a question for you: Does my 'fessing up undercut your trust in Daybreak? Because that's the import of a new study by Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan, who worked with AZ State U's media literacy lab to gauge the impact of journalistic corrections. Nyhan's study found that corrections give readers who see them a more accurate understanding of the facts—but reduce trust in a news outlet's reporting. Dan Gillmor explores the issues at the link.SPONSORED: The Hanover Community Food Pantry hosts Donation Day. For two years, the Pantry has been a reliable source of food for a growing number of individuals and families in the Upper Valley. Partnerships with The Haven and the NH Food Bank have been a vital source for Saturday morning shopping for over 70 people each week. As our visitors increase, the Pantry is seeking additional donations, and tomorrow will host the first monthly Donation Day. The Pantry will be happy to receive donations of non-perishable food and paper goods; we're located at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College.As community power gets set to launch in NH, out-of state energy suppliers bid for consumers' attention. In NH's market, notes Frances Mize in the VN, households can buy from the regulated utilities, unregulated "third-party" vendors, and, starting in May for Enfield, Hanover, Lebanon, Plainfield, and a few other towns, the Community Power Coalition of NH. Several of those third-party providers are offering rates lower than CPCNH's, Mize reports. Consumer advocate Don Kreis tells her, "It wouldn’t shock me if it turned out [they] are offering loss-leader rates...as a way of thwarting competition from community power programs."Hiking Close to Home: Lye Brook Falls, southwest VT. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance recommends this end-of-winter waterfall trek—before the bugs and crowds arrive. It's about 4.5 miles out and back; waterproof boots are helpful, and these days snowshoes or spikes might be, too. Follow the Lye Brook Falls signs and the light blue blazes, and about 2 miles in, stay right at the fork and look for the sign to the falls, which you can enjoy from multiple vantage points. Parking is on Glen Road off of East Manchester Road (you may have to hike in a little farther as access road is not always plowed).Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because Daybreak's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, which Upper Valley town's selectboard just put the town manager on paid leave? And what did Dartmouth's president apologize for this week? And which hall of fame just inducted E. Thetford's Peter Graves? More at the 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, which rising business expense is causing real problems for VT bars, restaurants, and nightclubs?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings in the Granite State—like, what are House budget-writers doing with Gov. Chris Sununu's proposals as they develop their plan?
In Raymond NH, woman ticked off by voting machine allegedly assaults interim town moderator. During voting on Tuesday, reports WMUR's Ross Ketschke, the machine rejected 52-year-old Tina Thomas's paper ballot several times. Frustrated, she folded it and then shoved it in the machine, and when poll worker Jonathan Wood—the interim town moderator—tried to remove it, Thomas reportedly bloodied his nose. Police intervened and arrested her, charging her with assault and disorderly conduct."Helping young kids develop a love for reading and writing can open so many doors for them and for their kids and grandkids too.” For the last quarter-century, Duncan McDougall has run the Children's Literacy Foundation—which over time has has donated $10 million worth of books to more than 350K kids in VT and NH. On the Vermont Conversation podcast, he and David Goodman talk over that history, CliF's work to get books to the kids in prison inmates' lives (often with a hand-written note from the inmate), its work with immigrants and refugees, the pandemic's impact on literacy, and much more.“It takes a special kind of a driver. A Vermont boy isn’t going to go up through there." Hey! We get to start using the word "stuckage" again! That quote's from George McRae, one of the VT State Police's go-to truck wranglers when tractor-trailers get stuck in Smugglers Notch. In the Boston Globe (paywall, but check out the free month here), Shannon Larson dives into the history, the inconvenience, the bewilderment over why it keeps happening, the cost ($6,000 an hour, if you factor in people's delays), the toy collectible... Includes a rogues' gallery of stuck trucks.“It’s been a healing journey for all three of us.” In a new Stuck in Vermont video, Eva Sollberger visits the artist-in-residence at Breckenridge Farm in Plainfield: Pepperoni, a miniature horse, discovered art therapy after an injury, and his unbridled enthusiasm for painting is evident. Judi Whipple, who owns the farm, and Jane Bradley, a former rider with mobility challenges, serve as muses … and artist’s assistants, selecting colors and dipping the brush for the horse, nicknamed PoNeigh, to rhyme with Monet. “We’re hoping that Mr. PoNeigh paints into his old age, along with both of us.” (Thanks, CW!)Couldn’t have said it better myself. No, really, you’ll want to save this for your next letter of complaint, or affection, or apology. Shaun Usher, who publishes Letters of Note and knows a thing or two about great letters, asked ChatGPT to come up with signoffs for a range of correspondence: 50 ways to leave your lover, to sign a job-seeking cover letter, to close a note of apology. He's now got 500 of them, including the positive ("Yours in wanderlust") and the romantic ("With a sultry whisper"). For an angry letter, you probably won’t choose “stewing in my own juices,” but “fuming and frustrated” might be just the ticket. 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. If you'd like that, sign up here.
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Today at 3 pm, the Howe Library in Hanover offers up a free preview of this weekend's Classicopia "Totally Tango" concerts. Pianist Dan Weiser and cellist Diego Carneiro will give a glimpse of the musical story they'll be telling at the concerts about tango's evolution (more below). In the New Books area.
This evening at 6, VINS launches a three-part series of online seminars looking at efforts to save owls in different parts of the US. Tonight's version is about the efforts of Arizona-based Wild at Heart to build artificial habitat for the state's burrowing owls, which are literally losing ground as Arizona develops, and to establish a captive breeding program for the Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, whose range has dwindled thanks in part to highway and road construction.
At 7 this evening, the Thetford Arthouse Cinema (in the Martha Rich Theater at Thetford Academy) screens Last Orders, Fred Schepisi's 2001 film based on the Booker Prize-winning novel by Graham Swift, about four longtime drinking buddies, one of whom has just died, his widow, and his son. It has a stunning cast: Tom Courtenay, David Hemmings, Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, David Winstone. Subtitled thanks to its Cockney accents.
Also at 7, Hop Film screens 2022's Living, which earned Bill Nighy an Oscar nomination for his role as a bureaucrat in post-WWII London who's diagnosed with a terminal illness and sets out to make something of the time he's got left. With a screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro, adapted from Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film Ikiru, or To Live.
At 7:30 this evening, Classicopia presents the first of its two full "Totally Tango" concerts, at the Old South Church in Windsor. Classicopia founder Dan Weiser will join with Brazilian-born cellist Diego Carneiro, who currently leads the Youth Orchestra of Ecuador as well as giving concerts and master classes around the world. The program, with tangos by Carlos Gardel, Ángel Villoldo, Astor Piazzolla, and others, will explore "the history of the Tango from its birth in the brothels of Buenos Aires in the early part of the 20th century to its Golden Age in the 1920s and 1930s and its move to the concert halls of today." Tomorrow's concert is at 2 pm at the home of Andrew Bauman, near the Norwich/Hartford line.
Also at 7:30, the Anonymous Coffeehouse takes over the First Congregational Church of Lebanon, starting with VT-based singer-songwriter Phil Henry at 7:30, followed at 8:15 by Nashville-based folk/Americana duo musicians Goldpine (Benjamin and Kassie Wilson) and at 9 by guitarist, folk musician, and painter Tom Pirozzoli.
And when you're done with all that but still have some fizz to uncap, at 10 tonight the Conniption Fits take over the stage at Hanover's Sawtooth Kitchen (doors at 9). It's their last appearance there before they hit the road for the summer.
Tomorrow (Saturday) from 11 am to 3 pm, Energize Upper Valley will be in two places at once. In the LISTEN Dining Hall at 42 Maple Street in WRJ, you'll find solar companies, Efficiency VT representatives, folks from SEVCA, the collection of VT town energy committees known as VECAN, the Dartmouth Energy Alliance, state Sen. Becca White, state Rep. Esme Cole. They'll be there to talk all you want about renewable energy, going solar, green jobs training, the Inflation Reduction Act, electric vehicles, heat pumps, home weatherization, and more. Meanwhile, next door in the parking lot at Hartford Town Hall, it's a drive-electric showcase, with EVs and e-bikes and a chance to talk them over with their owners.
At 4 pm tomorrow, singer, pianist, guitarist, actor, and consummate entertainer Tommy Crawford kicks off a month of Saturday residencies at Sawtooth Kitchen, offering up a rotating set of original songs with a measure of traditional tunes mixed in. As he writes, "Come out of the wind and the rain, step in for a drink, snack, study break, or early dinner as the light lingers longer -- all month." From time to time, he may have a guest sit in.
Starting tomorrow at 5 pm with a reception and book signing, then a film screening at 6, Pentangle brings in the Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival tour of The Book Keepers and its director, Phil Wall. The film takes off from the breakout success of Carol Wall's memoir, Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart. She died of cancer nine months after it was published; her husband, Dick, determined to keep it in the public eye, crisscrossed the country, speaking at bookstores about his wife and the book. And right there with him: their filmmaker son, Phil. At the Woodstock Town Hall Theater.
Tomorrow evening from 7-9, Seven Stars Arts in Sharon hosts the "Star Radio Hour," followed by a swing dance party. The show—music, stories, poems, skits and sing-a-longs—will be emceed by Jim Rooney (and broadcast live on Royalton Community Radio) with a house band of Chris Rua, Craig Macrae, Thal Aylward and Joe Mulholland, who let loose for the swing dance part after the radio show. Beer by Brocklebank.
And also at 7 tomorrow (how do you choose?), Artistree in S. Pomfret hosts Valley Improv and Burlington's Big Boy Sweater Club for an April Fools show of short and long improv comedy. Valley Improv specializes in the short version, riffing on audience suggestions to create on-the-spot skits. BBSC, on the other hand, likes to do longer sketches built around a theme—unrehearsed. They'll join forces at the end. As Artistree says, "This comedy show has never been seen before, and never will be again."
And at 9 pm tomorrow night, Sawtooth's busy stage will host the Windsor-based indie rock band The Pilgrims (one of the mainstays of What Doth Life), along with singer-songwriter Jake McKelvie and honky-tonk outsiders Western Terrestrials.
Finally, on Sunday at 7:30 pm, Court Street Arts in Haverhill presents the Québecois supergroup Le Vent du Nord. Fiddles, guitar, hurdy gurdy, foot percussion, serious harmonizing, jokes, jigs, reels, Celtic, Bretagne, Quebecois... they've been doing it all for years in rousing style. The Bailiff's Café will have dinner on hand if you want to get there early—order in advance.
Let's head toward the weekend...
...with some wide-eyed admiration for what the human body can do. The Ross Sisters were a three-part harmony trio who in the 1940s made a name for themselves not just as singers and dancers, but as contortionists. Born in West Texas in the '20s, Betsy, Veda, and Dixie Ross made it to Hollywood, where they were cast in 1944's
Broadway Rhythm
(when Betsy would have been 18 and Dixie just 15). Their act in the movie (which, among others, featured Lena Horne and Tommy Dorsey) is "what you might expect if Ellie Mae Clampett had two sisters and the three of them headlined for Cirque du Soleil," blogger Christi Pelt once wrote.
(If you've been to a circus, up to about the 2-minute mark may seem familiar; after that, they go next-level.)Have a fine weekend, and see you Monday 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.
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