GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
The nicest day of the week. And for some time to come. So says the National Weather Service, so you can take it to the bank. High pressure's in place (for today, anyway) and we'll see plenty of sunshine, breezes from the southeast, and temps getting into the mid-60s. Clouds come in tonight, low in the low 40s.A flying squirrel on the ground. And on Erin Donahue's trail cam. Ted Levin writes: "About 30 million years ago, flying squirrels split from tree squirrels and radiated into 44 or 52 species... depending on whose taxonomy you trust. One species lives in Eurasia, three in North America, and the rest ride the tropical zephyrs of Indo-Malaysia. All pack a parasail (the patagium), a skin membrane between the wrist and ankle supported by a wand of cartilage that flares from each wrist. None fly. All glide. Round-headed. Big, dark, soulful eyes. Fur soft as velvet. Gentle creatures of the night—except if you're a baby bird."Movement on Thetford's town manager search. In Sidenote, Nick Clark writes that former town manager Tom Yennerell "may be returning" as interim manager, after a public records request turned up an email from him to a town official in which he wrote, “I look forward to working with you again. I hope it’s for a short while." Meanwhile, selectboard chair Sharon Harkay tells Clark the board has two preferred candidates after its interviews, including Johnson, VT manager Brian Story, who gave notice there at the end of March and was at a farewell gathering for outgoing Thetford manager Bryan Gazda on Wednesday.Tit-for-tat continues in Woodstock Foundation legal battle. On one side, reports Mike Donoghue in the VT Standard, current trustees have filed a detailed rebuttal of the claims made by former board chair Ellen Pomeroy and former vice chair Salvatore Iannuzzi. Pomeroy and Iannuzzi, meanwhile, have asked the judge overseeing their lawsuit to reject defense motions to throw out the case. One key document still under wraps: the report of an investigation by an NYC law firm into allegations of harassment and mismanagement at the Woodstock Inn and Billings Farm. It'll be made public at some point, Foundation attorney Geoffrey Vitt says.At 15, ECFiber looks to change gears. Its operations are under new management, and it's got two major "hiccups" behind it, writes Tim Calabro in the Herald—a lawsuit by a pair of Tunbridge dairy farmers after cables left in a hayfield by a contractor sickened their cows; and the discovery that a part-time bookkeeper had embezzled from the organization. Now, says Tom Cecere, the CEO of GWI Vermont—which oversees ECFiber, Lyme Fiber, and southern VT-based DVFiber—it's moving beyond network buildout to tackle reliability goals, like hooking towns to fiber from multiple directions.A "tangled tale" behind former Hanover High principal's resignation from Middlebury High position. Justin Campbell abruptly left his post as principal of Middlebury Union back in January. In Seven Days, Alison Novak digs into the story behind what happened. The quick version: A school district probe found that Campbell had "fabricated student interviews he supposedly conducted as part of an investigation into teen drinking at a prom-night party...18 months earlier." Novak details the not-quick version, and the dogged crusade by the parents who'd hosted the party.SPONSORED: HACTC Tech Camp coming in June! The Hartford Area Career and Technology Center (HACTC) is holding its annual Summer Tech Camp June 26-30 for students entering grades 7, 8, and 9 in the fall. They will explore 10 hands-on activities in one week! Activities will include: Fun with Photoshop, Basic Welding, the Art of Autobody, Hungry for Harry Potter Culinary Designs, and more. Hit the maroon link for more info and a camp application. Sponsored by the HACTC.More inmates speak out on Southern State Correctional Facility death. You may remember that earlier this month, 46-year-old David Mitchell of Rutland died at the Springfield VT prison after begging for help with breathing problems. Last week, two inmates who were lodged near him told VTDigger's Ethan Weinstein that corrections officers had downplayed Mitchell's complaints, with one officer telling him he'd be sent to solitary confinement if he didn't stop. Now, Weinstein reports, three more inmates have come forward with accounts that largely corroborate the other two.LOH's Joe Clifford, Stateline Sports, Geokon, Mountain View Publishing, COVER all get "...of the year" awards from UV Business Alliance. Clifford was honored as Innovator of the Year, reports Susan Apel in Artful—including for his creation of the Nexus Music & Arts Festival, which for two years has transformed downtown Leb. Geokon, which makes an array of instruments for monitoring bridges and other structures, was named large business of the year, while magazine publisher Mountain View is small business of the year. Stateline is retail/hospitality business, and COVER nonprofit of the year."Nature frightens me. I just lean into my fear." And so poet and Dartmouth prof Vievee Francis has put a lot of nature into her new collection, The Shared World, writes Jim Schley in Seven Days. It's her fourth book of poems and, writes Schley, her readers "hear an exuberant playfulness with syllables, words and clauses, even when a poem is thematically very serious." He and Francis talk about her childhood on the move—her dad was in the military—and her poetic influences, including Polish poets, and why she likes Dartmouth: "They're one of those rare schools that will allow an African American to teach what they know," she says.And speaking of nature's more dramatic moments: That was one heck of a sky over northeast NH last weekend. Seriously. It looked like a surrealist painting of an angry sky—or, as Washington Post meteorologist Matthew Cappucci puts it, "a roaring, angry ocean." The burgundy link takes you to a Facebook post of Crystal Lee's photo of the so-called "asperitas" clouds that swirled overhead as she was driving from Berlin to Gorham. Here's Cappucci's explanation of how the clouds "form at the poetic intersection of chaos and stability." (Gift link, no paywall.) (Thanks, JC!)Hiking Close to Home: Mt. Sunapee's Newbury Trail. This week, the Upper Valley Trails Alliance recommends this somewhat challenging hike with a mountain pond and stunning views. Depending on your choices, the out-and-back distance is 6-8 miles, with 2,000’ elevation gain. Be ready for some steep, rocky climbs as you make your way up from Newbury. At about the 3-mile mark, take a left on the Andrew Brook Trail for a short descent to beautiful Lake Solitude. Continue on to the White Ledge Viewpoint and the summit before you head back. The trailhead is off Lakeview Ave. in Newbury, NH.In NH recommendation for siting youth detention center, maybe some echoes for VT? That's what the Journal Opinion's Alex Nuti de-Biasi suggests in yesterday's newsletter, anyway. He reprints some of the considerations cited by consultants who chose to recommend the grounds of Hampstead Hospital: surroundings conducive to a calm, private environment; near support services like courthouses, emergency services, and medical centers; and close to population centers that can supply staff and where residents' families are most likely to live. You can bet people in Newbury VT are reading the report avidly.VT legislators send climate bill to governor's desk; Scott vows veto. The measure, which is focused on cutting greenhouse gas emissions from heating buildings, has been controversial from the start, with opponents arguing it will raise heating costs and punish small fuel dealers; proponents contend it will give low- and moderate-income households access to heat pumps, home weatherization, and advanced wood heat. As VTDigger's Emma Cotton reports, the two sides disagree on key details, with both Scott and House Speaker Jill Krowinski accusing the other side of spreading misinformation.VT's Senate president says paid family leave bill doesn't have votes to pass in his chamber. Much less to overcome a veto by Scott, Phil Baruth told Vermont Public yesterday. The bill passed the House with a veto-proof majority, but Baruth said his colleagues have little stomach for simultaneously trying to transform child care in the state and create a complex paid leave program. A proposed Senate compromise would guarantee a 12-week parental leave program with some money for new parents, but House members say it's inadequate. Negotiators will huddle."Spring in Vermont is beyond unpredictable." Which is fine if you're hanging around the house, but not so fun if you're doing a gravel bike race in rain, sleet, hail, mud, and temps in the 30s, as happened in the 2019 Rasputitsa, the storied annual race in the Northeast Kingdom. This year's version takes off from E. Burke on Saturday. And in Seven Days, Ken Picard delves into the sport and its growing popularity in a state with 8,579 miles of unpaved roads to its 7,182 paved miles. "It's really just exploring where the paved road ends," says Kip Roberts of Montpelier's Onion River Outdoors.“It was clear upon meeting Miller that he would not be spending what time he had left poolside or playing cards.” Photographer Peter Miller died last week at the age of 89. Before he did, says Colin Flanders in Seven Days, Miller set about finding a home for some six decades’ worth of photographs taken in Europe, across the US, and, most meaningfully, in Vermont. Miller’s love of the state started when he moved there at 13. “My father and mother would fight; I'd be in the woods making friends with the animals."His images are an enduring record of the faces, landscape, and character of Vermont and Vermonters.Been paying attention to Daybreak? Because Daybreak's Upper Valley News Quiz has some questions for you. Like, why has Wing's Market in E. Thetford started to cut its inventory? And what just happened near Sandwich, NH? And why is a Navajo healer from New Mexico on the Dartmouth campus this weekend? 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, who's the most popular governor in the US, according to one recent survey?
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings around the Granite State—like, why are musicians in the Upper Valley navigating an international controversy?
Putting it all in perspective. On Visual Capitalist, data engineer Arijit Gupta pulls together stats from a range of sources into a series of graphics comparing the three highest mountains on each continent. You’ll find elevation, of course, but also profile, lat/long, description, and more. Perhaps most interesting is the comparison of the highest, second-highest, and third-highest from each continent with all the rest. It’s one thing to hear that Asia’s peaks loom above the rest of the world’s in all categories; it’s another to see it.And here's another way of seeing. From the International Space Station as the Earth flows by underneath and above. NASA just went up with a 52-minute, almost hypnotic video of our planet from 250 miles up over time. As they write, it lets you "imagine yourself as a station crew member with an hour off duty and nothing better to do than look out the window as the world, literally, passes by."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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There's more for spring/summer on its way, but in the meantime, t-shirts, mugs, long-sleeved tees, and sweatshirts are there for you. Check out what's available and wear it (or drink from it) proudly! Email me ([email protected]) if you've got questions.
There are no open spots left, but you can get on a waiting list for a visit starting at 2 pm today to the vernal pools in Hanover's Greensboro Ridge Natural Area. The Howe, the Hanover Conservancy, and Northern Woodlands are hosting the VT Center for Ecostudies' Steve Faccio for a tour of the pools and talk about spring-breeding amphibians. It's a moderately strenuous off-trail hike.
Today at 5 pm, JAM in WRJ holds an opening reception with artists (and Dartmouth grad students) Xuedan Zou and Kyle Huang for their exhibition, "Triple Helix." It's an AI-artist-audience collaboration in which, JAM explains, "the artwork reflects the audience’s thoughts and culture, transforming the artist’s exhibition into a personalized experience for the viewer."
This evening at 7, the Norwich Bookstore hosts poets Ewa Chrusciel and Meg Kearney for an evening with their latest books. Yours, Purple Gallinule is Chrusciel's fourth book in English—she grew up in Poland and now teaches at Colby-Sawyer—and it's "a lyrical satire" in which she assigns various diagnoses to an array of birds as a way to reflect on a society "that tends to over-diagnose, misdiagnose, and over-medicate," as her publisher puts it. Kearney also lives in NH and is founding director of the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program at MA's Lasell University. Her most recent collection, All Morning the Crows, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Also at 7, Lebanon High School's Wet Paint Players bring Trial of the Wicked Witch to the Lebanon Opera House. In Craig Sodaro's musical, the Wicked Witch of fairy tale infamy has been caught and hauled into court to stand trial on accusations that she cast a spell on Sleeping Beauty, tried to poison Snow White, kidnapped Rapunzel, and figured Hansel for a meal. Tomorrow at 7, Sunday at 1.
At 7:30 this evening, the Anonymous Coffeehouse returns to the First Congregational Church of Lebanon with, as always, three acts and a table piled with baked goods. First up is Plainfield's Devan Tracy, a young singer-songwriter whose music has encompasses multiple styles (she was a member of the DC-based hip hop band allthebestkids) and instruments (keyboard, drums, guitar, and ukulele). At 8:15, Stu Fuchs takes the stage with his ukulele—and approach to music that combines mindfulness practice and creative play. And at 9 pm, Boston-based Crowes Pasture (Andy Rogovin and Monique Byrne on guitar and banjo) return to the coffeehouse.
And at 9 tonight, the central NH farm-funk band (or maybe it's dirt-grass) (or maybe it's just a mix of country, rock, blues, bluegrass, funk, and americana) The DoBros take over the stage at Sawtooth Kitchen.
Tomorrow and Sunday at 2 pm, Classicopia brings back violinist and Hanover native Roseminna Watson for "Vibrant Violin" with pianist Daniel Weiser. Watson first performed with Classicopia as a young prodigy in 2001; she's now a professional violinist. The program includes works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky, along with Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances and César Franck's Sonata in A Major. Tomorrow's concert is at the home of Clyde Watson in Etna, Sunday's at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon.
For the first time since 2019, roller derby returns to the Upper Valley tomorrow at 4 pm when Twin State Derby hosts Roller Derby Quebec at Woodstock's Union Arena, its home track. Doors open at 3:30.
And also at 4 tomorrow, it's your last chance to hear singer-songwriter-actor-all-around-performer Tommy Crawford in his April residency at Sawtooth Kitchen. He'll perform originals, Shakespeare (set to music), and maybe offer a preview of what he's been working on when he's not on stage.
At 7 tomorrow, Poemtown Randolph closes out its celebration of National Poetry Month with a performance by Los Lorcas, with poets Partridge Boswell and Peter Money, along with guitarist Nat Williams, mashing up poetry and music in unexpected ways. But here, let's let Poemtown tell it: "Los Lorcas blur boundaries between spoken word and song, weaving poetry with Andalusian ballads, blues, rock, folk, reggae, hip hop, Americana and jazz in pursuit of the cante jondo (deep song) Federico Garcia Lorca so ardently championed." At The Underground in Randolph.
Also at 7 tomorrow, at St. Denis Catholic Church in Hanover, and again Sunday at 3 pm at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, Upper Valley Baroque presents the second in its season of Italian Baroque concerts with performances of Monteverdi's Vespers. As Alex Hanson put it in the VN yesterday, "a performance like this offers an opportunity to hear music played on period instruments, so it will sound like what its composer imagined. It’s a form of time travel every bit as potent as going to a Shakespeare play or looking at a Rembrandt."
Meanwhile, tomorrow evening at 7:30 at the Chandler, the Vermont Philharmonic, the state's oldest community orchestra, gives a concert devoted to "German Romantics," with a program of works by Humperdinck, Offenbach, Wagner, and Schumann.
And as we head into the weekend...
We're going to look back. To Hyde Park in London, June 7, 1969, when a new band performed its first concert in front of a crowd of something like 100,000. Called Blind Faith, it had been cobbled together by Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, and Ginger Baker after the break-ups of Cream and Traffic; they added bass guitarist and violinist Ric Grech while still in rehearsals. The band didn't last long, but it sure made an impact. Like,
Stay dry this weekend! Unless, of course, you prefer otherwise. 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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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michae
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