HAPPY LEAP DAY, UPPER VALLEY!
Bundle up! So yesterday, temps were well above normal. Today, thanks to the cold front that came through last night and air streaming in today from the northwest, we're a bit below normal for the end of February: low or mid 20s. With gusts into the 30 mph range and higher, we're also looking at wind chills down in the minuses. But hey, it'll be dry and sunny! Mostly clear skies, mid teens again tonight.And yep, there are already outages. They're in the dozens or hundreds for various towns around the region—Hartland, Harford, Randolph, Vershire, Lyme, Canaan...
Here's the Vermont roundup from vtoutages.org
And here's WMUR's page of links to NH providers.
In the sky, in the air, and on the ground thanks to the air.
Okay, sky first. Here's Monday night's moon with the filmiest veil of clouds, from Diahann Tanke.
And here's a photo from Lyme's Cathy Johnson, who was by South Station in Boston on Monday and caught this airborne sign of spring. I'd have thought it was a one-off, but then I heard geese headed north yesterday.
And the wind the last few days "has been knocking loads of cones from the crowns of the white pine trees," writes a Lyme photographer. Here's a cone's-eye view.
Watch those rocks on I-91. A pile of them came down off the cliff face in Fairlee late Tuesday night, blocking the southbound roadway and spilling over onto the northbound side. The northbound lanes have been cleaned up, but VTrans is going to keep southbound lanes closed a week or more between Exits 16 and 15 (Bradford to Fairlee, detour along Route 5). "There’s additional large rocks on the top of the slope that are basically not stable enough for us to have kept the interstate open because of the weather coming,” district administrator Shauna Clifford tells Liz Sauchelli in the Valley News.About that Kyle Fisher guilty plea. The initial version of yesterday's Valley News story about the former LISTEN director's embezzlement plea had the wrong amount, and Daybreak cited it. Plea agreements can be a little confusing: Fisher's plea cited a single fraudulent transaction among many, but as his agreement with the feds stipulates (it's at the burgundy link), those all added up and "the defendant embezzled $239,297.09." Fisher is on the hook to make restitution for the full amount, though since insurance covered much of the loss, the company gets paid first. Corrected VN story here.At W. Fairlee town meeting: Should selectboard members get a raise? Ordinarily, there's no way to link to stories in the Journal Opinion, but thanks to a tech glitch, it's putting some of its town meeting previews—written by student reporters with UVM's Community News Service—into its newsletter. W. Fairlee's up first. Currently, selectboard members get a $1K stipend, and voters are being asked to raise it to $1,200, or $1,400 for the chair. “We noticed on the compensation survey that’s done every year that we were below average,” says chair Delsie Hoyt. "We should at least become average." Plus: more for EMS.SPONSORED: “Everyone’s talking about their injuries, as older people do... And I said, well, let me tell you about this!” Former Olympic alpine skier Kiki Cutter was the first American to win a World Cup event back in 1968. A few decades and even more knee surgeries later, she still spends her time getting out there to explore her home in the Upper Valley. She shares how she does it, her tips to a successful rehab, and the keys to staying active. Sponsored by Cioffredi & Associates Physical Therapy.In the Upper Valley, telling stories, sharing experiences, and bringing audiences together. That's what The Mudroom at AVA and Story JAM at JAM offer, reports Matt Golec in a new Daybreak story. “I think human beings are craving connection, and that room is a group of people who said, ‘I want to hear a story tonight’,” storyteller (and Colby-Sawyer prof) Brandon Arveson tells him. "I think it's the most intimate thing that we can get.” The audiences are warm and supportive, Matt writes, which helps people who don't do that sort of thing for a living get over their jitters. Matt talks to the organizers, and points out that you can go see for yourself, since both have events in March.“There’s something really special about radio audio. It's like [you're] inside of someone else's body." That's Sophie Crane, executive producer at Pushkin, who's teaching the second year of a nonfiction radio and podcasting class at Dartmouth. That experience of going along with someone on a jog or while they're washing the dishes is a "weird and cool thing that no other medium gets to do," she says. In The Dartmouth, Aditi Gupta writes about the class and how students are learning to tell stories with sound. You may remember some of last year's work in Daybreak. Stay tuned for this year.The Hop gets its beam. The performing arts center in Hanover held a "topping off" ceremony yesterday as a final steel beam—festooned with insignias and onlookers' signatures—was hoisted into place by the construction crew working on the $88 million renovation. WCAX's Adam Sullivan was there, along with a camera crew to film the milestone moment. Susan Apel was there, too, and in Artful she describes the afternoon of signatures, ceremony, and speeches.“I am very interested in people not dissing one another, not villainizing one another, not dehumanizing one another." Meg Mott is the town moderator of Putney, but she's not just talking about town meeting here. The political theory prof, writes Kevin O'Connor in a VTDigger profile, "aims to promote common-ground conversations in an increasingly polarized world." And in particular, to promote conversations that have some true ideological diversity and that open people to understanding what motivates the people they disagree with. Democracy "can get kind of nasty," she says, "but I prefer that to the idea that everybody has to think the same way.”Is housing in NH and VT actually more expensive for younger Americans? Yes. The housing site RealtyHop set out to settle that debate nationally by taking a state-by-state look at household median income vs median house prices in 1970 and 2022. They used those numbers to create a "multiplier": a single number that expresses the relationship. The bigger it is, the harder it is to afford a house. You can dig into the details at the link, but in 1970 the NH multiplier was 1.69. In 2022, it was 2.97. VT was only slightly better: 1.84 vs. 2.8. Estimates for 2023 are jaw-dropping: 5.24 and 5.21. (h/t to Granite Geek)Even as court fight over NH school funding continues, legislators try fixes. Why should VT have all the school funding fun? As NH Bulletin's Ethan DeWitt writes, last week Rockingham Superior Court Judge David Ruoff ordered the state to boost per-pupil school funding right away. The state's appealing, but in Concord, legislators are moving several bills. One would increase the base amount the state pays per pupil; it passed on the House floor and is now in committee. Another boosts special ed funding. But as DeWitt points out, neither comes close to meeting Ruoff's ordered per-pupil amount. Here's some eclipse advice from the Green Mountain Club: Don't go hiking. Well, that's not entirely true: Some VT state parks in the "zone of totality" will be okay. But what has the GMC worried is that it will also be mud season, and with throngs of visitors expected, they're seeing trail erosion and people who might not be from around here heading into what could still be wintry conditions in the high-altitude backcountry—at a time when emergency services will already be stretched. VT Public's Corey Dockser fills in the details on crossing a huge outdoor event with mud season.Vermont comedy has arrived. You may have caught Tina Friml on the Tonight Show, and if so, you know she’s happy to make fun of her home state—"I grew up in the '90s in Vermont. Which means I grew up in the '80s." She may be the best-known comedian from the state, but there are plenty of others. The lively comedy scene is a recent development; just a decade ago shows were few and far between. In Seven Days, its writers fan out to profile venues, comics, and why the “inclusive and welcoming" scene as a whole has turned VT into a comedy incubator. It's all available from the link.Sometimes you've just got to see it to believe it, I. With 2.6 seconds left on the clock Tuesday, the Dallas Mavericks are up 119-118 over the Cleveland Cavaliers after Mavericks forward P.J. Washington scores what looks like a game-winning layup. But then the Cavs put the ball in play, it gets to Max Strus, and from behind half-court, he launches it. Man, that hang-time takes forever.Sometimes you've just got to see it to believe it, II. You have to figure the deer that wanders into the frame about 6 seconds into this video from Flagley Beach, Florida, believes this little bitty bobcat just lying there can't be anything to worry about. In the end it was right, but that definitely wasn't what the bobcat—which, remember, usually goes for things like birds and rabbits—had in mind.The Thursday Vordle. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak.
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it stick around by hitting the maroon button:
.
There's that Daybreak jigsaw puzzle, perfect for long nights by the fire. Plus, of course, fleece vests, hoodies, sweatshirts, even a throw blanket. And hats, mugs, and—once you work up a puzzle-piece sweat—tees. Check it all out at the link!
At 4:30 today, Dartmouth's Dickey Center hosts Andrew Miller, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs, for a conversation on "Can the US Lead the Israelis and Palestinians Towards Peace?" Miller will talk over the challenges and the opportunities with Middle Eastern Studies and Jewish Studies prof Ezzedine Fishere. In person in Haldeman 41 as well as livestreamed.
At 5:30 pm today, Upper Valley Music Center and the Kilton Library in W. Leb host a ukulele jam. Open to all ages, types of ukes, styles of music, and—ssshhh—other acoustic instruments, the jam will be led by UVMC faculty member Nathan Sperl. "We will have a limited number of baritone and soprano ukuleles on hand for people to try out, but please bring your instrument if you have one," UVMC says. At the Kilton.
Sure, maybe you've thru-hiked the AT. But did you sketch it? Carolyn Matthews-Daut did, and at 7 this evening, she'll be at the Norwich Bookstore reading from, talking about, and maybe showing Paint, Sweat, and Tears: 150 Days on the Appalachian Trail. The book is a memoir of her hike and of the towns, food, flowers, and mundane annoyances she found along the way told through words, sketches, and watercolors.
At 7:30 this evening, the Flying Goose Pub in New London presents Boston-area folk singer/songwriter Vance Gilbert. Gilbert made his start on the Boston folk/coffeehouse scene in the early ‘80s, and over the course of a career spanning nearly four decades has put out multiple studio albums and toured pretty much every small corner of the country (including Leb last year, where he opened for comedian Paul Reiser).
Just in time to parse yesterday's Supreme Court decision to hear the case involving Donald Trump's immunity claim, this evening at 8, Dartmouth's Rockefeller Center presents a livestreamed conversation between two heavy-hitting Dartmouth classmates: CNN's Jake Tapper and law prof and analyst Neal Katyal. Tapper, both a CNN anchor and the network's chief Washington correspondent, and Katyal, a constitutional scholar and former acting solicitor general of the US who teaches at Georgetown, will focus on the complex issues raised by Trump's legal trials and how they're shaping the 2024 election.
Also at 8 pm, the Dartmouth College Gospel Choir will give its winter concert in Rollins Chapel. Led by guest director and force of nature Knoelle Higginson, the choir offers up a blast of vocal harmony and energy every time it performs. It's sold out, but as always with Hop events like this, it's worth either showing up at the door or calling 603.646.2422 to check for tix.
Finally, you can check out JAM's highlights for the week: this year's performances of the Parish Players' annual Ten-Minute Play Festival; the full story of how the Junction Fiber Mill's Peg Allen and Amanda Kievit met, told during an episode of their regular Millcast; and the Feb. 15 Hartford candidates' night at the Bugbee Center.
"I've been punching bag and bully bait / familiar with how they operate..."When Vance Gilbert, who's at the Flying Goose tonight, went off to college in the '70s, he wound up with no real home to return to: his dad had taken off, his mom was diagnosed with mental illness. So, he recalls, for his four years in school he slept on couches and in tents whenever he wasn't actually in school. But he also picked up a guitar during that time and began writing songs, then going to open mics around Boston, then heard Shawn Colvin perform—"After that," he told the Boston Globe last year, "all I wanted to be in life was a 5-foot-6 white woman"—and next thing he knew, was touring with her. It's been a long road since, and his songs have never shied away from tough subjects. But as the Globe's Lauren Daley wrote after Gilbert's latest album came out last year, "it takes distance, age, and self-confidence to write a song like 'Black Rochelle,'" which recalls a time when Gilbert—nearsighted and chubby and frequently the target of bullying as a kid—joined in with a group of kids to make fun of a girl in school. "It's a confessional," he says. And an apology. With Lori McKenna on backing vocals, Joey Landreth on electric guitar.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.
Want to catch up on Daybreak music?
Want to catch up on Daybreak itself (or find that item you trashed by mistake the other day)? You can find everything on the Daybreak Facebook page
, or if you're a committed non-FB user,
.
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob 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! Subscribe at no cost at:
Thank you!