GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
A look ahead... Just want to let you know that Daybreak will publish Mon-Thurs next week, then take off Friday and all of the following week. Back as usual on Monday, March 21.And one more piece of business... Mailchimp had delivery problems yesterday, so some of you got Daybreak late—or possibly not at all. Lots of things can get in the way of an email, so if you don't see Daybreak when you expect it, feel free to check in ([email protected]), find it on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/daybreakuv) or, if you don't use FB, in the Mailchimp archives.Now then... Sunny, temps rebounding. It'll be a frigid start to the day, at or below 0 depending on where you are, but climbing pretty quickly toward the upper 20s. We'll probably see some clouds in the later afternoon—there's some low pressure coming through, but the air's dry and if there are any flakes they'll be light. Winds from the west, low double digits tonight."I only wish this bobcat had turned and looked right at the camera." Even so, Thetford nature enthusiast Erin Donahue's trail cam still caught a few rare seconds. "Bobcat is an edge-walker, the Greta Garbo of our corrugated world," writes naturalist Ted Levin. "He wanders straight-up (no slinking) on soft, silent feet, a confidant of shadows. Coat the color of the twilight. Softball-size face. Radar ears, taut and tapered. Large, round eyes with vertical pupils, a marble maker's dream. Amber eyeshine like a beast from The Night of the Living Dead. If one crosses your path, take note; the chance may not come again.""Henry says the leaves don't fall if we're not here to rake them." Except, of course, they do, and in Lost Woods, Auk and Eddy make the most of it. As he does every Friday in this spot, Lebanon author and illustrator DB Johnson is chronicling the doings in Lost Woods. Hit the back arrow to catch up on previous weeks or the double back arrow to head back to the beginning if you're a newcomer.SPONSORED: Are you moving? Remodeling your home? Or just ready to do some spring cleaning? Donate to the COVER Store in White River Junction! The COVER Store sells used building materials and household goods to reduce our landfill waste and to encourage re-use. All store profits are used to build ramps and roofs for income-qualifying homeowners with the help of volunteers led by COVER staff. Reduce our landfill waste while also helping your neighbors in need. For donation guidelines, hit the maroon link, or please visit or email pictures to [email protected]. Sponsored by COVER.School bus depot bursts into flame. The fire at the facility in Bradford, NH that houses buses for the Kearsarge Regional School District—serving Newbury, New London, Springfield, Wilmot, and other towns—was called in yesterday morning around 10:30. “I was leaving this morning and I saw massive, billowing smoke,” Pat Draper, who lives near the terminal, told the Boston Herald. “And then a large fire ball from what I would guess was a school bus exploding.” Two employees who'd been working on a propane-powered school bus were rescued by firefighters, reports the Concord Monitor.Dartmouth profs power national effort to bring Ukrainian grad students to US. It began with three professors in the German and Russian comp lit depts—Yuliya Komska, Ainsley Morse and Victoria Somoff, who recognized that grad student programs enjoy the most flexibility and least academic bureaucracy. Now, writes Talia Helsey in VTDigger, they've been joined by colleagues across the country... as well as at Dartmouth. The School of Arts and Sciences will be offering five fully funded positions to Ukrainian grad students, and the Guarini School will accept applications beyond the deadline.Hartford loses its public works director. Hannah Tyler, who kept her house in Guilford, VT after replacing Rich Menge in the top public works job in 2018, is moving to the private sector to be closer to home. "There were a lot of tear-filled nights of lost sleep it took me to make the final decision,” she tells the Valley News's John Lippman. Her tenure saw several major projects, including the completion of the roundabouts at Sykes Mountain Ave., and the ongoing water/sewer upgrade to South Main St. in WRJ. Her last day is March 11.A cartoonist and a photographer walk into a museum... An unusual collaboration between two Upper Valley artists opens at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. next week. A few years ago, New Yorker cartoonist Ed Koren and photographer Stephen Gorman independently began focusing on the impact of climate change and resource overuse—Koren in his drawings, Gorman in photographs of polar bears and residents of an island in the Arctic Ocean. In a Daybreak story, they talk about how their work came to be, what inspired it, and the happenstance that sparked the exhibition.Hiking Close to Home: Mud Season Hikes. There may be snow on the ground right now, but it won't be there that much longer. And then it'll be time to choose some hikes that keep you on trails you won't destroy by walking on them. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance's Kaitie Eddington has put together a guide for the season, from the Mascoma River Greenway in Leb to the Eshqua Bog in Hartland, with plenty in between. (Note: Links work best on mobile and in Chrome; Firefox and Safari, you may need to copy/paste.)Been paying attention this week? The guys who run The News Quiz have some questions for you. Like, what's Hanover High's new mascot going to be again? And is it true that the Leb landfill plans to convert methane to electricity? And who just met up around here for an anti-mandate convoy? You'll find those and others at the maroon link.Could retail cannabis give VT towns an edge in the cross-border duel for consumers' dollars? NH's no-sales-tax advantage has long frustrated nearby VT retailers. But in the wake of decisions Tuesday by at least a dozen VT towns near the NH border to allow retail cannabis, WCAX's Adam Sullivan raises the possibility it could tilt the playing field a bit. “More visitors to town is good for every business and everyone in the town because they are not just going to visit the dispensaries," Stephanie Waterman of WRJ's Growpro tells him. "They’ll have lunch and they will enjoy the downtown." NHPR obtains hacked list of Oath Keeper members, finds 300 NH residents; state Sen. Bob Giuda says “I left that group years ago." You'll be reading and hearing about this, so some background: The list came from a group called DDoSecrets Collective, and the source and date of the hack—and age of the data—are obscure. NHPR's Todd Bookman found law enforcement officers, local officials, and former legislators on the list—several of whom, like Grafton County's Giuda, say they quit a long time ago after the group, as one former police chief puts it, “started to go off the rails.”VT to drop indoor masking recommendation as of March 14. “As our statewide hospitalization rate is low and hospitals are no longer facing the Covid-related strains of the recent surge, we’re ready to plan for the next step,” state epidemiologist Dr. Patsy Kelso told a press conference yesterday. In essence, writes VTDigger's Erin Petenko, the state is now leaving masking decisions up to individuals. In an email to her, health dept spokesperson Ben Truman said that people at higher risk "may want to take additional precautions, such as wearing a mask or having rapid Covid tests on hand."Ukrainian bakers in Barre infuse their bread with a taste of home. Over the past week, Larissa and Jim Haas, who run Barre’s historic Rise Up Bakery, known for its rustic wood-fired breads, have managed in spite of waves of anger, worry, and helplessness. “This is a very traumatic time for us,” says Jim. Melissa Pasanen’s story in Seven Days captures the family’s plight, including that of Larissa’s 82-year-old mother, forced to flee Kyiv for Poland. One thing keeping them tethered to their beloved Ukraine: their sourdough, using a starter created with organic Ukrainian flour and natural spring water.Conquer the heebie-jeebies with these slow-motion insects taking wing. What is it about bugs that sends some of us into fits? It seems less about what they happen to be doing when we encounter them, and more about what they might do—leap or fly toward us at blinding speed. If that sounds like you (or even if it doesn’t), try watching AntLab's very fine video of insects achieving liftoff at 200 times slower than real life. The sheer mechanics of a weevil dividing its armor, unfurling and beating its spectacular wings—it’s almost cool enough to forgive the thing for being a terrible pest to fruit crops.
And the numbers...
Dartmouth cases continue to fall, with 53 active cases reported yesterday, compared to 68 on Monday. The college's dashboard reports 28 active undergrad cases (-10 since Monday), 12 among grad and professional students (-5), and 13 among faculty/staff (no change). There have been 95 combined new cases among students over the previous seven days, as well as 27 among faculty/staff. 23 students are isolating on campus, 17 are isolating off-campus, and 17 faculty/staff are in isolation.
NH continues to drop overall, with some exceptions, with a 7-day average now of 203 new cases a day, compared to 282 earlier in the week. The state reported 191 new cases Tuesday, 141 Wednesday, and 155 yesterday, bringing it to 298,993 in all. There have been 21 deaths reported since Monday; the total now stands at 2,398. Hospitalizations have dropped: 77 people are currently hospitalized (-15 since Monday). The state reports 1,488 active cases statewide (+21) and 175 (+28) active cases in Grafton County, 62 (-14) in Sullivan, and 97 (-1) in Merrimack. In town-by-town numbers, the state says Hanover has 53 (-5 since Monday), Lebanon has 38 (+17), Newport has 18 (no change), Claremont has 14 (-9), New London has 11 (+3), Grantham has 9 (-1), Haverhill has 7 (+1), Canaan has 6 (-2), Charlestown has 5 (-3), and Piermont, Rumney, Orford, Lyme, Grafton, Enfield, Plainfield, Cornish, Sunapee, Wilmot, Unity, and Newbury have 1-4 each.
VT continues to see generally lower numbers, reporting 102 new cases Tuesday, 261 Wednesday, and 177 yesterday, bringing it to 112,906 total. There were 6 new deaths over that time, with 604 all told. Hospitalizations are holding steady: As of yesterday, 32 people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (-3 since Monday), with 4 of them (+2) in the ICU. Windsor County has seen 215 new cases over the past two weeks, while Orange County has seen 133. The counties' totals just changed dramatically—a large number of cases that hadn't been assigned to counties during the Omicron surge were just added in, making specific new case counts tough to calculate for the last three days.
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Throughout February, LISTEN was focused on trying to raise $25,000 to meet an anonymous donor's match for its Heating Helper program. They've just announced that they did it, and in a thank-you to donors, say, "You have helped supply heat to dozens of our neighbors in the Upper Valley who have been struggling to keep their houses warm in addition to all their other monthly bills. The generosity of the residents of the UV throughout the year reminds us all that we are a community, not just a collection of towns."
From 4-5 pm, there's a "Stand with Ukraine" vigil at the south end of the Dartmouth Green, organized by the Dartmouth Ukrainian Student Association and Hanover Friends Meeting.
And it's First Friday in WRJ, of course. Amidst the music and food, you'll also find two interesting art openings. Kishka Gallery is hosting works by Norwich ceramicist Megan Bogonovich, who uses a variety of small botanical forms to cast bits and pieces and then assemble them. "An overgrown natural unpredictable beast mashed into a formal English garden," she writes. And over at what used to be Tourist gallery on S. Main, there's a pop-up show featuring five artists and organized by Hanover native Jared Quinton. Here's Alex Hanson's write-up about it in the VN.
At 7 pm, Hop Film screens Pedro Almodóvar's latest, Parallel Mothers, a complex and swirling drama about friendship and betrayal and romance focused on Penelope Cruz and Milena Smit as the titular moms—with the Spanish Civil War and the decades of dictatorship that followed as both background and mover-and-shaker.
At 7:30, two premier ensembles—the NYC-based Imani Winds quintet and the Catalyst Quartet, which spends its time in both Cleveland and Philadelphia—take the Spaulding stage. Their collaboration explores the Great Migration of African-Americans who left the rural South for urban industrial centers in the North starting a bit over a century ago.
And at 8 pm, also at the Hop, Dartmouth's theater department presents a half fully-staged, half staged-reading production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs. Brooklyn in 1937, a close (as in close-knit and living-on-top-of-one-another) family, and a 15-year-old focused on baseball and girls. In the Bentley Theater.
Tomorrow, starting at 10 am, it's VerShare's Vershire-based Snowshoe-a-Thon, which raises money for Vershire Rec and other local programs. There's a remote snowshoe option, and three in-person: loops of 1/4 mile, a mile, and three miles. Snowshoes will be available to borrow, and once you get back, a winter carnival including races, an obstacle course, a maze, and broomball—and, of course, a lunch of chili and sides offered up by the Mountain School and community members.
Starting at 6 pm tomorrow, BarnArts throws its 10th Annual (well, with a two-year intermission) Masquerade Jazz and Funk Winter Music Carnival in Barnard Town Hall. Jazz saxophonist Michael Zsoldos and guitarist Jason Ennis kick things off at 6, followed by the jazz-fusion quintet Sultans of Saul at 7:15, and then at 8:30, NYC-based Nation Beat, with its Brazilian drumming and New Orleans-style horns. Free taco bar as well.
Tomorrow at 8 pm, the Claremont Opera House puts on its Mardi Gras finest, with food, drink, and the COH Orchestra led by Jerry Grimo and featuring Grimo's East Bay Jazz Ensemble.
And there's more music on Sunday, with two concerts at 3 pm. The first fatures Upper Valley Music Center cello instructor Ben Kulp giving a solo cello recital, "Sound and Silence." Works by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Reena Esmail, Jacob Cooper, John Cage, and John Luther Adams, all part of Kulp's reflection on life during the pandemic. At St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Hanover.
At the same time and just up the street at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth, the Dartmouth Glee Club gives an hour-long choral performance.
Australian singer-songwriter Xavier Rudd grew up in the tiny beach town of Jan Juc, showing his early musical chops on didgeridoo—which was really just a hacked version of his mom's vacuum cleaner. "I’ve never sat down and tried to write a song," he told an interviewer a few years ago. "It just comes, and when it comes I entertain it and it sits with me for a couple of years or whatever, and when I get to a point that it’s time to dump some of that down, I do. That’s kind of how it works for me.” A regular on the worldwide festival circuits, he's long paid close attention to Aboriginal culture.
is a collaboration with dancer Tyrel Dulvarie, a member of the Bangarra Dance Theatre.
See you Monday.
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 and writers who want you to 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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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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