GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Clouds south, slight chance of showers, maybe some sun north. There's a system sliding through southern New England that'll have some impact around here, producing mostly cloudy skies south and a mix of sky and clouds to the north. Slight chance of rain for all but northern parts for much of the day. Highs today in the low 60s. But take heart: Things clear up again tomorrow.Looking for inspiration? A moment's reflection?
For reasons we won't try to figure out, Rich Cohen was out with his camera in Thetford at 2 the other morning and captured this stunning view of the Milky Way—after being stymied all summer by rain and clouds.
And Lori Harriman sends along her favorite spot for contemplation, in Sharon, as sunset nears.
In WRJ, Center for Cartoon Studies readies official launch of new Applied Cartooning Lab. Its motto: "Using comics to foster civic engagement and social change"—something CCS has been striving for over the last few years in a series of comic books on democracy, the US health care system, and other topics. The new lab, co-founder James Sturm explains to Mary Ann Lickteig in Seven Days, makes that work more official—and easier to explain. Cartoons, he says, can take "these very intense, complicated...and sometimes even secretive systems" and make them "more easy to understand and digest."With $1.5 million Defense Department contract, VT Manufacturing Collaborative in Randolph boosts effort to help small manufacturers. The collaborative, established last summer on the Vermont State University campus, works with manufacturers in the state—often using advanced 3D printing capabilities—to help them solve specific challenges. Now, writes Tim Calabro in the Herald, it will also help companies qualify for DoD contracts and navigate security requirements and quality controls. Along the way, Calabro also gives a quick tour of the facility and its capabilities.Woodstock snowboard coach gets his day in court. And VT Standard correspondent Mike Donoghue was there to provide a sort of play-by-play as David Bloch, longtime coach at Woodstock Union High, pursued his case against the school district and its superintendent for firing him after a conversation with two team members about a transgender athlete at Hartford High. One of the Woodstock students testified on his behalf; various school officials, for the first time, laid out just what happened before Bloch was fired. Various claims conflicted—and it'll be up to a federal judge to figure it all out.
SPONSORED: Nassim Taleb and Clint Smith to visit Dartmouth. Nassim Taleb, author of The Black Swan, will discuss “Connectivity, Global Fragility & the Added Dangers of AI” in Dartmouth’s Filene Auditorium, Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 5pm. Two days later, Clint Smith, author of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America will discuss “Monuments to the Unthinkable—Remembering Atrocities: Lessons from Germany” at the Hanover Inn, Thursday, Oct. 5 at 5pm. Also online at dartgo.org/clintsmith. Sponsored by the Dickey Center for International Understanding."It's hard to hate people up close." Seven former surgeons general (and an eighth by video) spoke at Dartmouth on the nation's mental health crisis. As Susan Boutwell reports for Dartmouth News, several touched on the personal: Richard Carmona talked about his son, a 21-year Army vet with "crippling PTSD"; Jerome Adams about his brother's struggles with addiction. At the burgundy link, Boutwell recaps what all eight spoke about. At the same time, Paul Cuno-Booth reports for NHPR, the conversation also touched on broader issues: the loneliness epidemic, the need for caregivers themselves to get care, the need to build stronger communities.NH Cold Case Unit, state medical examiner identify remains of Canaan man last seen in 1991. That June, 78-year-old Benjamin Adams, who suffered from dementia, went out for a walk—and disappeared. Six years later, according to a press release from the NH AG's office, a hunter found skeletal remains in a stretch of woods in Hanover. They were "not incompatible" with Adams, a forensic anthropologist said, but couldn't make a positive identity. Now, says the AG's office, new DNA testing pegs the remains with "99.999998%" certainty as Adams'.The "eerie ghost town" at the foot of the Ledyard Bridge. Sometimes, the internet is a wondrous place. The website Sampling America (surfaced yesterday by MSN) has a story, "9 Eerie Ghost Towns to Explore near Vermont," and topping the list is Lewiston, the section of Norwich that lies between the train tracks and the river just north of the bridge. "Once bustling with life, Lewiston stands as a quaint ghost town in the heart of Windsor County," it says, adding, "Today, silence has replaced the hustle..." If, that is, you ignore the traffic coursing over the bridge. Happy exploring!In bid to remain vibrant, Vermont Standard creates nonprofit to operate it. Like local papers all over the country, the Woodstock weekly has been struggling with the disappearance of advertising revenues. Now, publisher Dan Cotter writes in a letter to readers, it's launched the Woodstock Region Journalism Foundation to help build financial sustainability with support from individual donors and foundations. For the moment, Cotter explains in an email, the paper itself will remain for-profit, though the ultimate plan is to "fold the Standard into the foundation so that it will then be a part of the nonprofit."Last year, 26,000 dominoes. This year, even more. At least, that's the hope at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, which a week from Sunday will host world-renowned domino builder (and toppler) Lily Hevesh and her ace crew of colleagues for its 16th annual Domino Toppling Extravaganza. It's one of Susan Apel's favorite events, and in Artful she offers a preview: it'll be in bigger space next door (hence the chance for more dominoes), have a live audience, and be livestreamed. Why does Hevesh like doing it? "We get to do anything we want and...we’re making it up on the spot,” she told VTDigger last year.Hiking Close to Home: Lipfert Forest, Cornish, NH. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance recommends a nice three-mile leaf-peeping loop in Cornish's Lipfert Forest, which has a network of over 15 miles of multi-use trails. Start by turning right onto a logging road until you take the aptly named Waterfall Way on the right. Follow this back onto the logging road to a left onto Overlook Trail and a half-mile hike to a view. Then backtrack on Overlook to take a left on Cross Country Promenade and hike (or ride) another 1.5 miles back to the trailhead. Parking and the trailhead are across from 1134 NH Route 12A.Okay, so how much do you know about what's been going on in the Upper Valley? Because Daybreak's News Quiz has some questions for you. Like... What's that big project Dartmouth has planned on West Wheelock in Hanover? And is it true you can borrow dinner plates from the Kilton Library in West Leb? Those and other questions at the link.But wait! How closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to know if you know why some employees have been leaving Citizen Cider.
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings around the Granite State—like, what has Leb applied for federal funding to build?
It looks clean and restored. So why is the Merrimack River at risk? The river originates not far from the Upper Valley, where the Pemigewasset and the Winnipesaukee come together in Franklin, NH, then flows 117 miles—past Concord and Manchester and Nashua—before emptying into the Gulf of Maine in Massachusetts. In a new film by Concord's Jerry Monkman, the NH Forest Society's Leah Hart explores its history, its place in New Hampshire's ecosystem—and why, with heavy development pressure along its course, progress cleaning it up faces challenges. Link goes to the film and Jenn Jarecki's VT Public interview with Monkman about the issues the film raises.Burlington's mayor announces he won't seek reelection. Miro Weinberger, first elected 12 years ago, will have served the longest continuous mayoral term in the city's history when he steps down next year, reports Seven Days' Courtney Lamdin. He leaves with a raft of accomplishments, including infrastructure improvements and a municipal credit rating several notches higher than when he took over. But he's also faced plenty of controversy; Lamdin dives in.
Meanwhile, one issue sure to dominate next year's election: Public safety. In a publisher's letter put up before Weinberger's announcement, Seven Days' Paula Routly details examples of rising public disorder. "Burlington is so scary right now and the drug crisis is daunting," one correspondent tells her. "Why aren't people talking about this more?"
It's just two minutes, but for that all-too-brief time, German director Marko Roth's film,
Hands of Sicily
, will immerse you in that sunswept island and its culture.
Snout toward the camera, please! The International Pet Photographer of the Year bills itself as the world’s largest professional pet photography competition, and it’s just announced the 2023 winners. If you’re the least bit inclined toward “aww”—or just admire superb photography—scroll the highlights on My Modern Met or check out the top 100 pics at the burgundy link (the full portfolio is behind the "2023 Results" tab at the top). Sanna Sander, from Sweden, won photographer of the year; her portrait of a balletic hound posing on a mountain of logs is one reason, the gleeful pup bounding through snow is another.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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Since all those former surgeons general were in town for yesterday's big Dartmouth conversation on mental health, the Geisel School, DH, and the C. Everett Koop Institute have lined five of them up for a virtual roundtable discussion on the future of healthcare. It will run from 9:30 to 11 am today. Antonia Novello, M. Joycelyn Elders, Kenneth Moritsugu, Regina Benjamin, and Jerome Adams will give their thoughts on how the US healthcare system is evolving and the pressures it faces. Moderated by Pierre Theodore, Stanford U medical school prof and Executive Director of Health Equity and Patient Impact at the Global Pharmaceutical at Roche-Genentech. Program here.
From 5:30 to 7:30 this afternoon and evening, Artistree in S. Pomfret throws an opening reception for its annual fall show, "Local Color." This year's exhibit pulls together work from over 60 artists, all from either VT or NH and the vast majority from the Upper Valley, working in a variety of media, including painting, photography, and sculpture, and all reflecting, in one way or another, autumn.
At 7 this evening, Hop Film screens Passages, NYC filmmaker Ira Sachs's "tempestuous and thrillingly messy new drama", as Fresh Air critic Justin Chang put it last month, about a married gay couple in Paris, one of whom has a fling with and then falls in love with a young woman—though, as Chang writes, "ending a marriage of several years is rarely clean or easy, and Sachs and his longtime co-writer, Mauricio Zacharias, chart the emotional aftermath in all its confusion and resentment." At the Loew.
Tonight at 9, Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover hosts the mostly Boston-based band Billy Wylder—founded by UVM grad Avi Salloway a decade or so ago and touring with material off its new album, Trying to Get Free. The band's influences are wide-ranging—Salloway has done everything from folk music to touring with Tuareg singer Bombino—and as WBUR critic Charley Ruddell put it last month in his review of the album, it's "arty music with a global beat asking globally-sized questions."
Saturday
Tomorrow morning at 10 (registration beings at 8:45, ceremony at 9:30), this year's Walk to End Alzheimer's kicks off from Hanover High School. There are two route options—three-quarters of a mile and 2 miles—that mostly wind around the Dartmouth campus. There'll be food and water available pre- and post-walk. So far, 407 participants have raised $123,000 toward a $147K goal.
And from 10 am to 2 pm tomorrow, Community Care of Lyme's annual health and wellness fair will be set up on the Lyme Common: activities from music therapy to chair yoga to salsa and Cuban dancing; a mobile flu vaccination clinic; and participants from Headrest and Good Neighbor to Upper Valley Ultimate, Northern Stage, and Craft Studies, plus a variety of food vendors.
And also starting at 10 am tomorrow, running until 3 pm, the Lebanon Energy Advisory Committee and Sustainable Hanover are co-hosting an Upper Valley EV Expo behind City Hall in Lebanon. There's a whole set of talks inside City Hall—including EV basics, the ins and outs of home and workplace charging, and "What's Ahead for EVs in the Upper Valley?", all available by livestream if you can't make it in person—plus a variety of activities, raffles, and, of course, a chance to talk to EV owners and check out their vehicles, which range from a variety of Teslas to a Ford F-150 Lightning to a Zero motorbike.
At 10:30 tomorrow morning, the Green Mountain Quilters Guild is giving a presentation on barn quilts—those big, sometimes intricate quilts adorning houses, garages, chicken coops, barns, and other outbuildings—at the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock. Franklin County VT's Sharon Perry and GMQG president Marianne Kotch will talk about the phenomenon, how they've fueled it in Vermont, and how the heck to make quilts that survive a northern New England winter.
And at 11:30 tomorrow morning, the Enfield Public Library is celebrating the opening of the first permanent StoryWalk in the Upper Valley—an illustrated children's book displayed a page at a time around Shaker Recreation Park. Snacks, crafts, activities, and... a book.
Tomorrow evening at 7, Seven Stars Arts in Sharon presents its fourth Four Guitars concert. The series started up in 2019 thanks to Peter Neri, who hosts the show "One Guitar" on Royalton Community Radio, and features four area guitarists with distinctly different styles and repertoires: classical guitarist William Ghezzi; veteran performer and folk guitarist Spencer Lewis; Neri himself, who specializes in alt-folk and alt-rock; and jazz guitarist Steve Ellis.
Also at 7, in case you missed it in movie theaters, Hop Film's got Barbie at the Loew.
Tomorrow evening at 7:30, the Anonymous Coffeehouse takes over the First Congregational Church of Lebanon (that's right, it's on a Saturday night, not Friday). This week it's featuring virtuoso ukulelist Stu Fuchs, with his sophisticated arrangements of pop, jazz, and folk on the ukulele (and maybe some didgeridoo thrown in there, as well); Halley Neal, a young singer-songwriter trained at Berklee who now lives in Nashville and blends classic folk music with bluegrass instrumentation; and the Addison County duo of Richard Ruane and Beth Duquette performing traditional and original folk music and two-part harmonies. One other big departure, too: After the show, you can repair to Salt Hill nearby for "Anonymous After Hours" with a group of local folk musicians playing informal mini-sets from 10 to 11 pm.
And at 9 tomorrow evening, Sawtooth Kitchen hosts Conor Kelly & The Time Warp. "Drawing inspiration from icons like Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and Red Hot Chili Peppers," runs their promo, "the group cultivates a sound that pays tasteful homage to legends of the [rock] genre but not without their own unusual twist."
Sunday
At 9:30 am on Sunday, Plainfield Elementary holds its fourth annual family fun run and 5K trail race. The one-mile run goes first, and the 5K at 10. Food, music, raffles... and you can just walk it if you want.
At 3 pm on Sunday, Artistree in S. Pomfret presents "A Sense of Place: Voices from Prague, Budapest, and Paris"—a concert by flutist Leslie Stroud and pianist Matthew Odell performing chamber works by Fauré, Schulhoff, Dutilleux, Dohnanyi and Martinu. Tickets available at the door.
From 4 to 7 pm on Sunday, Vermont Humanities and Babe's Bar in Bethel are hosting Purple, the seven-piece Prince tribute band led for the last decade by frontman Craig Mitchell—who's also got a following as a club DJ in Burlington. Right now it's sold out, but you can get on the waitlist. In Bethel's White Church.
And let's just blast into the weekend...
It's barely possible that Rodrigo y Gabriela have slowed down a tad since their breakneck earlier days, and there are moments on their first album in four years,
In Between Thoughts... A New World
, that are contemplative and ethereal and not all blistering guitar work. Still, they haven't lost their touch for huge, rich, sweep-you-away sound. As in the title track,
Have a lovely 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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