GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Hey, Daybreak turns six today! Wild, huh? And the list of people to thank for helping that happen only grows with each passing year: those of you who've talked it up with your friends; who've contributed photos and Dear Daybreak items to create a community gathering spot; who report, write, and edit the news stories and posts and Enthusiasms that inform and entertain us; who help behind the scenes; who advertise; and who take it on yourselves to contribute the money that keeps this madcap little venture going. Thank you all!I kept that short because there's some news: Daybreak's got new puzzles for you! Well, one of them's new, anyway: It's called Throughlines, and it owes its existence to the advice and coding creativity of Roy Schmidt. The other is called Wordbreak: It's a re-designed version of the former V**dle (ssshhh, we're not allowed to use that word anymore... NOTHING TO SEE HERE, NEW YORK TIMES!!!) by Hanover's Kevin McCurdy and the team at News Games. More on both games down at the bottom of the news section. The spotlight should be on them today, so Dear Daybreak will be back next week.Now then...Well, yuck. Things start off as snow this morning, could be as much as a few inches, but then warm, dry air nudges into the region, changing it to rain with sleet possible, especially right at the changeover—though what actually happens will depend a lot on where and how high up you are. We'll probably see temps get close to the 40-degree line. But as that low-pressure system exits, it's pulling a cold front behind it: we might see some gusts overnight as the temperature drops to around 30, with a slight chance of snow showers.When snow gets playful.
Like in Bradford, VT, where Gary Moore writes, "It happens several times a year but never has it held together to this extent. It is seven feet from the edge of the roof.
And in Thetford, where Rebecca Lafave writes simply, "Meringue, anyone?"
NH sells historic Monadnock Mill #1 building to Claremont. The former cotton mill, originally built in the 1830s, had housed offices for the state's Health and Human Services department, but the state "has no current need for it," reports InDepthNH's Paula Tracy. Yesterday, the Executive Council voted unanimously to sell it to the city for $700K, "well below its assessed value." The city wants to build housing on the property.On the Thetford town meeting ballot: a social services coordinator. As Rachel Hellman writes in Seven Days, the town has a community nurse and a town services officer, but no one to help people navigate state and federal assistance. "To receive the benefits of Social Security Disability Insurance, for example, applicants must prove they have a serious medical condition and provide an in-depth work history. The average acceptance rate for initial applicants is 22 percent," she writes. So the selectboard's proposing the new position for a year. Hellman explains, and surveys issues in other VT towns.SPONSORED: Celebrate the music in you as Upper Valley Music Center celebrates 30 years of making music in the Upper Valley! You are invited to a Birthday Bash on Sunday, March 16. The party starts at the Lebanon Opera House, followed by cake and festivities next door. There will be special performances, spectacular ensemble numbers, a world premiere, and a few surprises. You won’t want to miss it! Get tickets and learn more at the burgundy link or here. Sponsored by Upper Valley Music Center. Lewiston: Founded in 1765, bulldozed and burned to the ground in 1965 to make way for Exit 13. The name of the Norwich hamlet that used to sit at the foot of the Ledyard Bridge still pops up on online maps, but its history is mostly a footnote, writes Allison Burg in The Dartmouth. It had a long history, though, as a ferry and toll-bridge hub, a rail station for coal and students, and a bustling community with dairy farms, mills, a general store and both a brothel and a speakeasy (scroll down). Burg traces its history and delves into the buildings that remain. And here are some photos, thanks to the Rauner Library.Randolph gets a new used books, clothing, vinyl, antiques, baked goods, pottery... store. Norbert Ender, who owns two Speaking Volumes stores in Burlington, will open his third location on Saturday—in an old grain mill and farm store along the tracks in Randolph, reports Seven Days' Ken Picard. "Over the years I've been accumulating so much inventory, and I've been looking for additional outlets," Ender says. "If I want to retire in the next 20 years, I need to sell some of it." The store will carry records and used books, vintage clothing, local baked goods and stoneware. Ender also expects to host live music.SPONSORED: OUR TOWN opens at the Chandler in Randolph this weekend! It's finally here. You've read about it in Susan Apel's Artful and the Vermont Standard, and just the other day in both the Valley News and the Rutland Herald. Yesterday, it even featured in Seven Days' Arts & Culture. Got your tickets yet for this Friday 7pm, Saturday 7pm, or Sunday 2pm? They're going fast, so learn more and reserve your seats at the burgundy link or here. Sponsored by OUR TOWN.Saskadena Six gets some Ski mag love. "If you call yourself a ski history buff, you deserve a pilgrimage to this mountain town," runs the sub-hed on Jamie Aranoff's article about the S. Pomfret hill. He starts with the name—the Coosuk-Abenaki word "Saskadena", and the fact that "in the region’s early days, the locals kept track of the rumpled peaks by bestowing each mountain with a number." He traces the mountain's lift history—the 1936 rope tow, the 1954 Poma lift—and race history (the Fisk Trophy Race "is now the longest-running ski race in the United States") and "its old-school charm."Several "large skier-triggered avalanches" in the Presidentials—all skiers survive. The Mount Washington Avalanche Center reports (via Facebook) that a solo skier in Hillman's Highway (a ski line in Tuckerman Ravine) yesterday "triggered a large avalanche and was caught, carried, and critically buried"—the skier was rescued by bystanders and mountain crew. Two skiers also triggered an avalanche in Huntington Ravine, but weren't swept up in it. Here's the MWAC's report on that one. "AVALANCHE CONDITIONS ARE DANGEROUS, and we expect this trend to continue," they write.NH winters may be getting "wimpier," but when snow peaks hasn't changed. Looking at all the snow in his yard, David Brooks got to wondering whether it was kind of late in winter to be reaching this kind of snow depth. Turns out, the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest has an answer: Using 56 years of data, researchers have concluded "the date at which the snowpack reaches its annual maximum has not changed," even though the amount and duration of the snow has. As Brooks writes, there's no “action item," but it's "a classic bit of basic research that provides information for potential future study."Granite Staters tell Granite State Poll housing is their top concern. Though as NHPR notes in this piece by Lau Guzmán, they're a bit less likely to mention it than they were back in November. Meanwhile, both education and taxes have risen in importance, though they still lag housing by a wide margin. Guzmán notes that while Gov. Kelly Ayotte's proposed budget maintains the $10 million allotted in the state's current budget for homeless and shelter programs, roughly $40 million in other housing spending that's part of the 2024-25 budget doesn't appear to be in Ayotte's proposal for 2025-26.Some federal funding for NH climate programs comes back online. Millions of dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law had been frozen by the Trump Administration earlier this month, but on Tuesday, reports NHPR's Mara Hoplamazian, a spokesman for the state Dept of Environmental Services said their federal funding accounts had reopened. The state's energy department has not responded to requests for information about $147 million in climate-related funding, though a federal program for solar power in low-income communities is back up.Small plane crashes on VT's Mount Equinox. Rescue crews respond in "difficult conditions." The pilot called 911 around 8:30 yesterday morning, but teams from Manchester's police and fire departments were hampered by waist-deep snow, ice, fog, and the steep terrain near the mountain's peak, where the plane—which originated in Baltimore—went down, report VTDigger's Alan J. Keays and Greta Solsaa. Rescuers reached the crash site around 11:30 am, and helicopters—including a DHART chopper—were able lower paramedics to the ground and ferry the three injured people to safety. “Obviously, the snow helped cushion the fall,” said the Manchester FD's Jamie Greene.VT towns "still swimming in red ink" long after '23-'24 floods. Lyndon, reports VTDigger's Kevin O'Connor, has had to take out a line of credit worth double its annual budget. Moretown saw $9 million in damage, but has gotten only $750K in federal help. Bolton is waiting for $3.3 million in reimbursements. Bridgewater's seen about half the $6 million it sought in FEMA reimbursements, but is seeking to refinance its loans to see it through. Some towns, O'Connor reports, despair they'll never get reimbursed. "We’re worried we can’t count on that money ever coming through," says one town clerk.As Phil Scott's 176-page education bill hits the legislature, some clarity on "school choice schools." The measure, which legislators got their first look at Tuesday, would indeed create an optional school choice lottery system in each of the state's five proposed school districts, reports VTDigger's Ethan Weinstein, but it "proposes more limits on independent schools than previously revealed." Basically, he writes, half of a school’s student body would need to be publicly funded as of this summer, which means "the vast majority of existing private schools would be excluded from public funding." More at the link.Introducing Throughlines! Here's the idea: It starts with a grid of 16 words. Your job is to find three sets of four words that come from individual items in today’s Daybreak. Four extra words are also in the mix, but they're decoys to fake you out, so be careful! Just start by clicking on four words that are linked by belonging to a particular Daybreak item (it's fine to look). This game doesn't exist anywhere else (as far as I know) and it's a light, beta version, so you're a tester: Feel free to send along feedback ([email protected]). It'll appear once a week on Wednesdays from now on.And here's Wordbreak! It's been a long stretch, eh Vordlers? But the folks at News Games have created a version that passes muster with the NYT (in case you're catching up: Daybreak used to have a version of the popular NYT Wordle game provided by Hanover-based News Games, but had to pull it over intellectual property concerns). We've had to change the name, but the idea's the same: The five-letter word is from an item in yesterday's Daybreak. It'll be a daily puzzle—and on weekends, you can just go to the URL you'll see when you hit the link to find a new word; it'll be from a VT or NH publication, but not necessarily from Daybreak. The weekend reminder may come back later.
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Daybreak tote bags! Thanks to a helpful reader's suggestion. Plus, of course, the usual: sweatshirts, head-warming beanies, t-shirts, long-sleeved tees, the Daybreak jigsaw, those perfect hand-fitting coffee/tea mugs, and as always, "We Make Our Own Fun" t-shirts and tote bags for proud Upper Valleyites. Check it all out at the link!
It's part of a national celebration and exploration of "the multifaceted legacy of Latino poetry," with a bunch of heavy humanities hitters behind it, including NH Humanities, UNH, the Center for the Book, and the Library of America. This evening, Upper Valley poet Keysi Montás will lead a reading and discussion, and any Upper Valley resident can check out a copy of the Library of America's anthology. 6:30 pm in the Mayer Room and online.
As they write, "In 2023, Norwich Historical Society received two gifts of Union Village memorabilia, including over 100 photographs. These materials reveal a thriving village serving farmers from Thetford, Strafford, and Norwich. In this talk we will share the story of Union Village from its beginnings as a small mill town to the hamlet it is today." Online at 6:30 pm.
Nisha Ganatra's 2019 film features Emma Thompson and Dartmouth alum Mindy Kaling for its look at "the ever-changing media landscape and the adapt-or-die mentality that comes with it... In between jokes, it also shines a light on age and obsolescence, the dumbing down of the culture, the boys' club of comedy writing and the perils of social media." 7 pm in the Loew Auditorium, free and unticketed.
Foley, who lives on the NH side of the river, will read from two recent collections,
Ice Cream for Lunch
and
Sledding the Valley of the Shadow
. James, a Vermonter, will be reading from her new collection,
A Drift of Swans
. 7 pm.
The Maine native was a key figure in the folk revival of the '90s, a driver of what became known as the Boston school of songwriting: "a literate, provocative, and urbanely romantic folk-pop style." 7:30 pm, reservations required.
A jolt of pure energy, harmony, and joy. 8 pm.
If it's new to you, this is a wildly successful decade-old effort to create a mud season neighbor-learning-from-neighbor opportunity; it can attract over a thousand people to its various courses. The "catalogue" is at the link: Classes start Sunday and will continue for several weeks. There's everything from juggling to "Flood Insurance 101" to how to avoid scams and fraud to wildcrafting in central VT to cooking explorations, books, and a whole lot more.
. It's highlights include Hartford's Budget & Candidates Night, which was held on Monday; Hartland's School Budget Info Night, also held Monday; Lebanon's Candidates Night (held on Tuesday, check the link in the newsletter for the online version); and a slew of public meetings in the towns JAM covers.
Here's a way to start your day right...
The all-woman (11 of them) Irish band Biird has been gestating for a dozen years. “I probably threw it out as a wild drunken idea one night, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to put an all-female trad group together?’" founder Lisa Canny said recently. “In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s where the idea came from." It grew out of her observation, as she put it, that there were "all of these female musicians that are all incredible musicians but who have their own individual style of playing and their own voices, their own things that they stand for. I saw that there was a real disparity between what was in the industry, how they were representing women, and how women were actually representing themselves." They're going on tour this spring, and just released their first official video.
See you tomorrow.
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 Michael
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