Daybreak Monday 9/14/20

WELCOME TO THE WEEK, UPPER VALLEY!

Sunny, nice and cool...and then cold tonight. We've got a cold front dropping by, along with cool high pressure from Canada. The result: not much difference from this morning's start to this afternoon's mid-60s high. Winds shifting this afternoon to come from the north, and it'll be gusty at times as temps drop to their coldest since late spring. Down into the high 30s tonight, with widespread frost warnings.One positive case at Hartford High. Superintendent Tom DeBalsi sent a letter alerting the school community Saturday night, reports WCAX. The student was not in class for several days, and the school will open as usual today after it was cleaned over the weekendMore on the Co-op. You'll no doubt remember Don Kreis's blog post last week on the Co-op board. In his writeup, Kreis interpreted acting manager Paul Guidone's statement that he needed a board president "that I can work with" as a rebuke of recently resigned president Allene Swienckowski. Kreis's comment drew several heated rebuttals that, in fact, Guidone and Swienckowski "had an excellent business rapport. They could talk and understand each other," as one letter-writer put it. Kreis responds, "I apologize to her without reservation." The back-and-forth at the link.Effort to help the family of Newport motorcyclists killed in crash; cause may have been a deer. Friends of the family of Jerry Proper and Cody Pillsbury, the grandfather and grandson who disappeared on a Labor Day motorbike ride and whose bodies were found last Thursday, have set up a GoFundMe page (at the maroon link) to help the family deal with funeral and other expenses. Meanwhile, police believe the pair hit a deer before the motorcycle "left the roadway and came to final rest in a dense swamp."“Everyone says bear whisperer, but I don’t care much for that... We're care givers." That's Lyme's Ben Kilham in a Rutland Herald profile. The center handled only one or two bears each year early on, but as Kilham’s reputation as a bear expert grew, "wildlife officials increasingly turned to him when parentless cubs were found," writes Steve Costello. This summer, Kilham, his wife, and his sister cared for 29. "I consider our state...very fortunate to have that resource available,” says NH bear project leader Andrew Timmins. “None of us want to have to make hard decisions on orphaned cubs.""Speed is of the essence here." As you've no doubt read, DHMC researchers are monitoring sewage from eight sites at Dartmouth and from sites in Concord, Nashua, and Manchester, in an effort to refine the method to catch outbreaks early—somewhere between 40 percent and 65 percent of people shed the coronavirus in their stool as much as a week before they get symptoms, writes the VN's Nora Doyle-Burr. Researchers are "building the plane as we fly it,” says one.JAG Productions lands $100K grant, sets up "Ambassadors" program with local businesses. The money is an unrestricted "Covid relief grant" from NYC's Bay & Paul Foundations, which the WRJ-based Black theater company received in July and founder Jarvis Green just announced. In addition, this month Green has started a partnership with local businesses—including Wolf Tree, Abracadabra Coffee, Lucky's, Stitchdown Farm, Silo, Dan & Whit's, and Babes Bar—that will "adopt anti-racist practices and collectively promote marginalized voices."“I don’t think we’ll ever go back to where we were." That's Liza Bernard, co-owner of the Norwich Bookstore, talking to the VN's Alex Hanson about how the store and the literary world in general have pivoted to online events during the pandemic. Hanson talks to her and to a panoply of Upper Valley writers with new books—Makenna Goodman, Sarah Stewart Taylor, master gardener Bill Noble, Matt Hongoltz-Hetling, Gretchen Cherington—about the benefits and regrets of putting out a book during a pandemic.

“It’s only bad when it’s humid.” Hartford High senior Eleanor Hinckley tells local-sports blogger Tris Wykes that wearing a mask during soccer practice turns out to be more bearable than she'd expected. Wykes writes about the team's grin-and-bear-it response to their strict mask requirement—and coach Jeff Acker's insistence that Hartford's girls' soccer team follow it and other Covid-prevention rules. “If we don’t get through a season," Acker says, "it won’t be because of something that went wrong with sports. If we have to back off, it will be because something isn’t working in the community or in the schools.” 

VT movie theaters may be reopening, but not the Woodstock Town Hall Theater...yet. That's because its HVAC unit is 33 years old, Pentangle Arts director Alita Wilson tells VTDigger. “Given the lack of substantial air coming in from outside, it’s really not a safe environment,” she explains. They're working on it for the winter, but in the meantime are showing films outside on Saturdays this month. “Not too many people I know are comfortable being inside, even with masks on,” Wilson says. “And I do not want to be a theater where a Covid case is found to have spread.”Meanwhile, WRIF seeks to broaden its audience with virtual film series. White River Indie Films' "Race & US Elections" series, which began last week, is in part an effort to use film "as a tool to help people find their place in this story,” board member Johanna Evans tells the VN's Liz Sauchelli. It's also a reflection of how the pandemic has given small community arts organizations a chance to rethink what's possible; the shift online has brought WRIF an audience from all over the country and helped it build regional partnerships, says board president Samantha Davidson Green.NH sets state primary turnout record, fewer than half vote absentee. The Monitor's Ethan DeWitt digs into what turnout numbers tell us. The number of Democrats using mail-in ballots was nearly triple that of Republicans—but even among Democrats, a majority voted in person. And despite uncertainty about whether the pandemic would cut into voting in college towns, Hanover, Durham, and Keene all saw jumps over 2018. In all, 304,671 ballots were cast, compared to the previous record, set in 2018, of 228,432. VT gets its first Covid-related school shutdown of the season. Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury, which was using a hybrid model, will go to all-remote learning this week after two students who attended on opening day last Tuesday tested positive, VTDigger's Lola Duffort reports. OneCare, primary-care docs reach agreement. Back in August, you may remember, 14 primary care practices in VT announced they were dropping out of OneCare Vermont, after the organization at the center of the state's health-care reform model said it was re-jiggering its set monthly payment for patients. Now, the two sides have reached a deal—after being urged to do so by the Green Mountain Care Board—that preserves an up-front payment but also puts a portion at risk if OneCare doesn't meet cost-savings goals. "Still waiting for him to come through Chester..." That's a comment on the photo of a Windsor road-grader at work in 1937 that someone just posted to Reddit. The equipment's a little different, but the idea's the same...Dwarf mongoose, langurs on bikes, an elephant face-plant, and one very watchful damsel-fly... The finalists for the 2020 Comedy Wildlife Photography Contest are out. Full gallery at the maroon link, and here are Guardian selections with more details on how the shots came to happen."Every catastrophe has its music. There is always someone who tries to fill the silence..." In March, as Europe went into lockdown, the Russian-born, Berlin-based pianist Igor Levit—one of the most famous pianists in Germany—agreed to let two reporters from Der Spiegel follow him as he recorded a series of house concerts. They've produced a beautifully written portrait of an artist coming to terms with circumstance. "During this period when people aren't allowed to embrace each other, it seems as though music provides one of the few opportunities to experience intimacy," they write. "Something that touches the emotions without any physical touching."

Back to the numbers...

News that connects you. If you like Daybreak and want to help it keep going, here's how:

A few years ago, Del McCoury and his band brought together some of their Nashville musician friends—including Sierra Hull and Dre Anders—to hang out and jam together. One result was this version of Buffalo Springfield's protest classic "For What It's Worth" (if you don't know it by name, you'll recognize it after about three seconds). "None of us were quite sure why we cut the song," McCoury wrote afterward, "but thought we might find a need for it down the road."

Written and published by Rob Gurwitt         Banner by Tom Haushalter    Poetry editor: Michael Lipson  About Rob                                                    About Tom                             About Michael

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!