GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Colder, cloudier, a bit less breezy. There's a chance of a few inches for up in the mountains and the northern edges of the region, but in the core Upper Valley it'll be a mostly cloudy day, highs in the low 20s, with moderate winds from the northwest. Down to the high single digits tonight.Daybreak with or without clouds—it can be stunning either way.
Here's sunrise and moonset on a crystal-clear morning over the Wasatch Range and Park City, Utah, from Peter Weaver;
And a fiery, marbled sky over Corinth, VT, from Marin Haney.
"I'm extinct. Theoretically, I'm not here at all." It's "Lost Woods" Week 14, in which Auk moves in with Henry and both have some adjusting to do. Each Friday, Lebanon author and illustrator D.B. Johnson (Henry Climbs a Mountain and other classics) brings 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.just Those pennies, they add up. In a blog post yesterday, Co-op General Manager Paul Guidone writes that Pennies for Change has passed the million-dollar mark. In fact, since June, 2016, the program in which customers round up grocery bills to the nearest dollar with the extra pennies going to a local nonprofit, has raised $1,008,470.72 for everything from fuel assistance to food pantries to preschool. It replaced the old donation change-boxes at the registers, Guidone says, after "people simply stopped carrying change."Dartmouth sophomore, aiming for student voice in town affairs, runs for Hanover selectboard. The filing period for the May election is weeks away, but David Millman already has a team of 30 volunteers, reports Jacob Strier in The Dartmouth. Millman says he wants to improve communications between the town and students, fix the town's "antiquated" website, and improve access to public transit. One hitch: He won't commit to a full three-year term, which would expire after he graduates, arguing there is no “legal precedent” requiring it.From deep-sixing the town manager position to expanding broadband to buying a new truck... The Valley News has just added a bunch of towns to its previews of town and school district meetings in New Hampshire, including Enfield, Orford, Haverhill, Piermont... Link takes you to your choice of towns. SPONSORED: Downtown Hanover 128-seat restaurant/bar for lease. Includes full build-out for high-volume restaurant, newly refurbished. Across the street from the Hopkins Center and Starbucks Coffee. Generous lease terms and equipment allowance. Free rent until September, when Dartmouth plans full on-campus status. New outdoor dining courtyard. Free customer garage parking next door. Landlord seeks exciting new dining/food concept adding to Upper Valley quality of life. Sponsored by Crotix, LLC (603) 359-3300.“I was walking down these big shelves looking for things when I see this large bone in the New England materials." That's Dartmouth postdoc Nathaniel Kitchel explaining to Granite Geek's David Brooks how he found part of a wooly mammoth rib in the Hood's storage facility. It belonged to a skeleton found in Mt. Holly, VT in 1848. Kitchel sent it off for carbon dating, and he and anthropology prof Jeremy DeSilva have just published a paper concluding the mammoth lived 12,800 years ago, "possibly post-dating" the arrival of the region's first settlers after the Ice Age. Meaning they may have overlapped. Hiking close to home: the Greensboro Ridge Natural Area, owned by the Hanover Conservancy. Its trail network near Hanover, says the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, creates lots of potential loops and connectors. The Greensboro Highlands Trail, recommended by biologists for its biodiversity, traverses easy to moderate wooded terrain. Oli’s Eagle Trail showcases the property’s natural features and dramatic rock faces. Together, these two trails create a loop that connects to the Appalachian Trail. The Silent Brook Trail, where you can mountain bike, connects the Silent Brook and Velvet Rocks neighborhoods.The vernal equinox is a bit over two weeks away, but of course signs of spring are everywhere. In its field guide to March, the VT Center for Ecostudies helps us count the ways: courting saw-whet owls, flying squirrels zeroing in on birdfeeders late at night (and, yeah, courting), some early leafing getting ready to show up, snowbanks infested with winter ticks... and, for the moment, bees that are still riding out the winter and frogs that are still frozen. But soon enough, won't be.Teachers, school staff move up the line in NH. Starting as soon as next Friday, Gov. Chris Sununu announced yesterday, school and childcare workers can begin signing up for Covid vaccines through the state's 13 regional public health networks; in areas where access is tough, they can sign up directly with the state beginning March 17. The move extends to staff in general, including K-12 teachers, bus drivers, childcare workers, and staff of summer camp programs. After this phase, the state will begin vaccinating people 50 and older.NH's new chief justice sworn in. So what to expect? It may be a while before we really know, says NHPR's Josh Rogers, since former Atty Genl Gordon MacDonald is likely to recuse himself from cases before the court that the AG's office was working on while he was there, like school funding and policing reform. Still, given that Sununu has now named three of the court's five justices, MacDonald will likely give conservatives an upper hand on issues such as abortion rights and gerrymandering. At the same time, he will oversee courts administration, and is a believer in expanding legal services for the indigent.NH editorial cartooning legend Mike Marland sets down his pen. He'll keep working on two comic strips and reserves the right to take a jab at a politician from time to time, but Marland—who spent nearly three decades at the Concord Monitor before shifting over to InDepthNH and NH Business Review—says, “I’ve reached a point where I don’t really have much to say that’s new or original.” Says UNH journalism prof Tom Haines, “It used to be that the editorial cartoonists were one of the few people in a city that had that forum, that megaphone, and now they’re competing with memes and every little TikTok.""It certainly wasn't a goal of mine to say, 'I want to focus on one of the most devastating, divisive and stressful topics, all day, every day...'" Xusana Davis is Vermont's first executive director of racial equity—in case you were wondering, it's "Suess-ON-ah"—and she's won fans in the advocacy community as well as in Montpelier, along with some critics, writes Seven Days' Kevin McCallum. He profiles Davis as her backers—led by WRJ Rep. Kevin "Coach" Christie—push the state to boost funding for her office.Trey Anastasio aims to set up substance abuse treatment center. The Phish guitarist and lead vocalist raised $1.2 million last fall performing for a mostly online audience from NYC's Beacon Theater, and now his Divided Sky Foundation has bought the former Fox Run at Okemo property with an eye to turning it into a residential treatment center. “Like so many people in America and so many in Vermont, I became addicted to opiates,” he said in a statement yesterday. “I was extremely lucky to have access to care, and I know how important it is to be part of a recovery community." Mismatched rubbers, weak flippers, dead pop bumpers, and burnt-out bulbs. That, plus decades of grime and mouse droppings, is what greeted Grantham fine art photographer Edward Fielding when he found a 1972 Gottlieb World Series pinball machine that had spent 44 years sitting in various basements, and decided to restore it as a pandemic project. If you've ever wondered what the insides of a vintage pinball machine look like—did you know they contain over half a mile of wire?—and how come-hither the thing can look when it's fully restored and repainted, his photographic essay is for you.So, just what possessed Georgi Tumpalov? He's the Bulgarian businessman and wrestler who, in 1996, started decades of work on what's become the Castle in Love with the Wind, in Ravadinovo. It's... something. So, for that matter, are the Bubble House in Karalee, Australia; Gaudi's House of Bones in Barcelona; the Golestan palace complex in Tehran; Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin, in Wisconsin; and, yeah, Versailles. You can take virtual tours of all these and more, and The Guardian's Phoebi Taplin rounds up how to get there.
Last numbers for the week.
Dartmouth now reports 143 active cases among students (up 4) and 3 among faculty/staff (no change). The quarantine/isolation numbers have shifted, with 130 students and 6 faculty/staff in quarantine because of travel or exposure, while 162 students and 9 faculty/staff are in isolation awaiting results or because they tested positive.
Colby-Sawyer has 2 active cases, both students, with 2 people in isolation and 9 in quarantine.
NH reported 231 new cases yesterday for a cumulative total of 76,178. There were 3 new deaths, bringing the total to 1,178. Meanwhile, 92 people are hospitalized (up 3). The current active caseload stands at 2,191 (down 24). The state reports 211 active cases in Grafton County (down 4), 35 in Sullivan (down 2), and 172 in Merrimack (up 4). In town-by-town numbers, the state says Hanover has 117 active cases, Claremont has 11 (down 2), Newport has 6 (no change), Lebanon has 5 (no change), and Sunapee has 5 (up at least 1). Haverhill, Orford, Enfield, Plainfield, Grantham, Cornish, Charlestown, Grafton, and New London, have 1-4 each. Wilmot is off the list.
VT reported 112 new cases yesterday, bringing it to a total case count of 15,686. It had no new deaths and remains at 207 all told. Meanwhile, 27 people with confirmed cases are hospitalized (up 4). Windsor County gained 1 case to stand at 1,061 for the pandemic, with 58 over the past 14 days. For the second day in a row, Orange County added no new cases and remains at 514 cumulatively, with 33 cases in the past 14 days.
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The Hanover Conservancy is keeping its "Love of Nature trail adventure" going for 10 more days, through March 14. It's celebrating 60 years of existence by inviting people to walk three of its most popular trails—at the Mink Brook Nature Preserve, Balch Hill Natural Area, and Hayes Farm Park—and look for "tree cookies" decorated by kids in Hanover Parks & Rec's after-school program. Each has a number and letter on one side which, together, spell out a message. Maps and acrostics at the link.
At 5 pm, NH Humanities hosts Katherine Gaudet, a scholar of the history of reading at UNH (she also runs their University Honors Program), talking about stories of epidemics. "Are we living through a Biblical plague?" their description reads. "Or are we feeling the wrath of the gods on our society, like Thebes in the time of Oedipus? This talk considers what stories, histories, and legends of epidemics have to tell us about how to understand our own time."
At 7 this evening, you can catch Here in the Valley two ways: They're projecting highlights of their first three shows onto the walls of the Bell Building on Currier St. in WRJ, across from Wolf Tree (where you can grab some to-go cocktails before you watch); or you can watch the highlights online as fiddler Jakob Breitbach hosts live from the Briggswith banter, short fiddle tunes, Q&A with the online audience, and intros to Jes & Jakob, The Route 5 Revival, Save Room For Pie, Ed & Dixie Eastridge, and various other Upper Valley musicians and poets. Free both ways, but if you're watching from home you'll want to sign up at the link.
Tomorrow from 6-9 pm, BarnArts is hosting its 9th annual Masquerade Jazz and Funk Winter Music Carnival via Zoom. It starts out with jazz hour at 6—plus mask prancing from home—then moves on to two hours of DJ Sean spinning a funk dance party. A bunch of area restaurants—Worthy Kitchen, Worthy Burger, Babes, First Branch, Daily Catch, and others—are joining in with New Orleans-inspired takeout.
Also tomorrow, at 7 pm Brattleboro's New England Center for Circus Arts keeps its long tradition of a March circus spectacular going—online. They're bringing together a set of high-caliber circus performers, including actor and Smirkus alum Tristan Cunningham as emcee, 7 Fingers' cigar-box juggler extraordinaire Eric Bates, Cirque Eloize and Cirque du Soleil's Micah Ellinger, Kansas City contortionist (and Smirkus alum) Ariana Ferber-Carter, veteran new-circus clown Jeff Raz, and more. Tix are $15 per device.
Then, Sunday at 2 pm, Opera North's final "Always on Sunday" features stage director Helena Binder talking about her plans to bring a new production of Puccini's La Bohème to Blow Me Down Farm this summer. She'll be laying out her ideas on the score and libretto, along with her collaboration with scenic and costume designers, to fill in a picture of what goes into mounting a full-on operatic production.
And at 4 pm Sunday, Upper Valley Music Center cello instructor Ben Kulp is broadcasting a live solo cello performance, "taking us on a journey through 2020 from a musician’s perspective" with pieces by Morton Feldman, Chinary Ung, Bach, and John Adams. The concert benefits UVMC's tuition assistance program, donate what you can.
Finally, at 7 pm Sunday, CirqueUs—the young troupe that comes through White River Junction each summer—is streaming its second-season show, "DreamCycle", which confirmed it as an inventive, playful presence on the New England circus scene. Troupe members will join in live to talk about the show behind the scenes and answer audience questions. Tix are $5 or $10, and most proceeds go to the Sellam Circus School, the Maine-based school launched by former NECCA and Smirkus coach Sellam Ouahabi.
Kalaban Coura is a neighborhood in Bamako, Mali. Back in 2008, Belgian guitarist and composer Quentin Dujardin met up there with singer and guitarist Kalil Sidy Haïdara, and they spent days just sitting on the street, playing music together. A few years later, they added Moroccan violinist Jalal El Allouli to the mix, and the result was 2011's
recorded in Berkeley but with footage from Bamako.
Have a fine weekend! 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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