WELL HEY THERE, FRIDAY!
Just how much nice weather can a body take, anyway? Probably some fog this morning, but otherwise skies are mostly clear. Temps into the low 80s by mid-afternoon. Tonight'll be nice as well, and tomorrow. There's a chance things will start getting more unsettled starting tomorrow night.Hartford drafts new "Welcoming Hartford" ordinance. A working group of town and school officials has come up with a proposal for how Hartford agencies, including police, should approach questions of immigration status. In short: Don't ask and don't tell unless required by law. Draft is at the link. It'll be taken up by the selectboard at its meeting next Tuesday.Three prominent alum scientists ask Dartmouth to cancel plans for biomass plant. “We don’t want to cut forests and burn them up, dumping carbon into the atmosphere, because it makes a problem that is now desperately serious much worse,” George Woodwell told the VN. He was a founder of the Woods Hole Institute and of the Environmental Defense Fund, and is joined in a letter to the college by William Schlesinger, emeritus dean of Duke’s environmental school, and John Sterman, director of MIT's Sustainability Initiative. (VN, sub reqd)And while we're on the college, its average GPA has risen over the past decade. A report obtained by The Dartmouth found that not only has the average GPA gone from 3.42 to 3.52 since the 2007-8 academic year, but there was a “significant shift” over the previous decade resulting in As becoming more commonly received than all Bs, B minuses and B pluses combined. Grade inflation is “a topic of concern at multiple levels of education," responds faculty dean Elizabeth Smith.Sometimes it takes a visitor to remind you what you've got. The Boston Globe is enraptured by the St. Gaudens site and the Orozco murals. The site, of course, is where Augustus St. Gaudens "worked on some of the most enduring works in bronze and copper ever crafted in the United States," writes Steve Burkholder. And just up the river, at Dartmouth, you'll find "one of the most potent, unquiet masterworks of early-20th-century American art": Orozco's "The Epic of American Civilization.""Pond virtues aren’t trendy ones." That's Lyme novelist WD Wetherell in a lovely little essay on "the Local Pond" in the VN. "Self-containment. Modesty. Self-sufficiency. Tranquility. Reflection. Ponds, the best ones, never have a contemporary feel — they always seem set 30 years in the past …" That's what he's working on now, he says: a celebration of pondness. "All the best ponds are local ponds. Escape — if it is escape — is often closer than you would think."So is Hanover really Molly Ringwald and Lebanon Judd Nelson? There's a scene in The Breakfast Club with its characters perched on stools, each perfectly embodying... well, maybe the character of some towns around here. Elizabeth Bilar posted to FB with them labeled: Leb, Hartford, WRJ, Hanover, Norwich. Much hilarity and debate... and impossible to describe in words.Eversource gives up on Northern Pass. The utility filed notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission late yesterday that it sees no way forward with its plans to build power lines through the Whites to bring Canadian hydropower to southern New England markets. The company spent $318 million and a decade trying to get the project approved, but was rebuffed by NH regulators, whose decision was upheld last week by the state supreme court.Northstar Fireworks wins 2nd place in international competition. If you've seen fireworks around here, you've seen their work. The company, based in E. Montpelier and with a store in Fairlee, was up in Sherbrooke, Quebec last week representing the US. Some serious pyrotechnics in this WCAX story.Marlboro College to merge with CT's U of Bridgeport. In yet another sign of the struggles of small, rural colleges, the tiny (142 students) liberal arts college will join forces with the 5,500-student university 140 miles away. The move comes after Marlboro, facing dire financial numbers, talked with about 20 larger schools about potential partnerships. In 2020, it will become the Marlboro College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Bridgeport.Longtime VT environmental leader missing in Montana's Glacier National Park. Mark Sinclair, who ran the Conservation Law Foundation's Vermont office, disappeared from the Highline Trail after setting out on a hike July 8. Search crews pulled back their efforts to find him last week. Sinclair left his car, his keys, and his dog behind. The area has steep slopes, cliff faces, and grizzlies.Russian hackers tried to access VT voting database last August. This was first revealed last fall, in the runup to the midterm elections, but yesterday's Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian interference in US elections, which found that all 50 states have been targets, revives the issue. There were "multiple attempts to illegally access the State of Vermont's...resident voter registration database," the report notes. Full report text at the link.Hey, if you're a Gmail user, would you do me a favor? If you do email in your web browser and like seeing Daybreak in your Primary tab, would you add it to your Google contacts list? This will keep Google from sending it to spam or your Promotions tab. Easy to do: Just go into your inbox, find and hover over "Daybreak" on the left, and then click "Add to contacts" when the little dialogue box pops up. Of course, if you like it in Promotions, just ignore this. Thanks!SO... WHAT'S UP?Well, Bookstock opens. I know, it's not tonight, it's today, but still: As blogger Susan Apel put it the other day, "If you read books, Bookstock is your home and your tribe." The three-day celebration of the written, spoken, and illustrated word is crammed: with readings, workshops, lectures, discussion, and, as always, a seriously serious book sale. There are writers and poets you know -- Madeleine Kunin, David Macaulay, Ed Koren, Garrett Keizer -- and a passel you don't but should. Sale starts at 9, guest appearances at noon, runs thru Sunday.The Villalobos Brothers will be at Feast and Field in Barnard. The three classically trained, violin-playing brothers from Veracruz, Mexico are fresh off releasing their latest album (as in, Tuesday). "This is killer, modern world beat that's made to get you moving and grooving," one reviewer wrote. Doors open at 6:30 and food sales benefit Migrant Justice and BALE (Building a Local Economy). Migrant Justice will speak at 7 PM and the concert begins at 7:30.Ken and Brad Kolodner in Woodstock. It's been almost 40 years since Ken picked up a fiddle while he was studying to become an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins. He soon shifted over to hammered dulcimer--and, eventually, a touring life that's made him one of the most prominent hammered dulcimer players on the continent. Brad, his son, is a noted clawhammer banjo player in his own right. North Universalist Chapel back lawn at 7:30.Pop-up jazz on the Lebanon Mall tonight. Jazz guitarist Draa Hobbs (pronounced "Dray") and his trio will be set up and swinging between Three Tomatoes and Salt Hill. Link takes you to his website. Starts at 6:15, bring chairs if you plan to linger. Or hey, nice night, not many clouds, you might just want to go look at stars. Dartmouth's Shattuck Observatory holds free public viewing nights during the term, and they'll be set up tonight and the first three Fridays in August. Starts at 9:30 pm, and you can call 603-646-9100 after 6 to confirm it's happening. Who knows, maybe they'll show you DS Tuc A, the host star to that planet Dartmouth researchers just identified.Star quilt, sewn from dawn light by fingersof flint, take away those touchesmeant for noisier skins,anoint us with grass and twilight air,so we may embrace, two bitter rootspushing back into the dust. -- from "Star Quilt" by Roberta J. HillSee you Monday.
If you like Daybreak and would like to help it keep going and evolve, please hit the "Support" button below and I'll tell you more:
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to hit the blue "Subscribe" button below. And thanks! And hey, if you're that friend? So nice to see you! You can subscribe at:
Thank you!