RABBIT RABBIT, UPPER VALLEY!
Mostly cloudy, maybe some drizzle. There's an isolated little weather system passing through that could drop some moisture on us this afternoon, but the chances are slight. It will be mostly cloudy through the morning, with more sky and sun appearing as the day goes on. Mid-60s this afternoon, mid-40s tonight.Composing fall. Well, actually, it pretty much composes itself, but with just the right perspective you can see it in an entirely new way, as Cassidy Metcalf does with these turkey tail mushrooms and fallen beech leaves in S. Pomfret.Now it's the Exit 19 Northbound on-ramp. As you well know, the I-89 Northbound off-ramp at Exit 19 (the Miracle Mile) in Lebanon has been closed while NHDOT works on bridge and other repairs. Starting next Monday, Nov. 7, the on-ramp from the Miracle Mile will also be closed—for an expected seven days. Signs will be put up directing traffic to head south on 89 to Exit 18, then to double back. Meanwhile, crews are finishing bridge demolition on the off-ramp side and will begin concrete work on the off-ramp bridge next week.Dartmouth announces active tuberculosis case. The word came yesterday in an email to the campus community from health service director Mark Reed, reports The Dartmouth. While the individual is now in isolation, state health workers will be getting in touch with close contacts over the next few days so they can be screened—contacts will not be required to quarantine, college spokesperson Diana Lawrence tells the paper. According to Reed, "individuals with active tuberculosis, which can be treated with antibiotics, can spread the disease if they 'cough, speak or sing around others,'" The Dartmouth writes.While Baker's Store owner waits for buyer, community members hatch their own plans. As you may remember, the store in Post Mills is up for sale after owner Cameron Gregory couldn't come to terms with his gasoline supplier. After a recent purchase and sale agreement fell through, writes Li Shen in Sidenote, a group of residents put in a bid below Gregory's asking price, which he rejected. Now they're hoping to devise a fundable plan to turn the non-store part of the building into four housing units—though Gregory "is still hoping to attract a buyer willing to pay the asking price," Shen writes.As Norwich board reshuffles, townspeople talk civility. The selectboard voted last week to name Marcia Calloway its new chair, replacing Roger Arnold, who stepped down from that role but remains on the board. During public comments, reports the Valley News's Patrick Adrian, several longstanding residents decried the "negativity" and turmoil that culminated in a separation agreement between town manager Rod Francis and the selectboard; Francis' last day on the job will be next Monday. DRB chair Arline Rotman defended Francis as one of the most “untiring public servants” she has known.SPONSORED: You can improve someone's life right now! Hearts You Hold is a VT-based nonprofit that supports immigrants, migrants, and refugees in a concrete way. We believe that only the individuals themselves know what they want or need and that it is critical to take the time to ask them. Currently, there are many requests waiting to be funded, including from Ukrainian refugee families who are trying to rebuild their lives in the US. Needs include everything from winter clothing to bedding to a tea kettle. Hit the link above, pick an item (or more) to fund, and make a difference now! Sponsored by Hearts You Hold.Dartmouth housing project goes before Hanover planning board tonight. The proposed "North End" project to create a 397-bed apartment complex, initially for undergrads, will take its first public step in the town planning process at a 7:30 pm hearing at Hanover Town Hall, which will also be carried via Zoom. The complex would sit adjacent to the Hanover police and fire facility, at the northern end of the former golf course; the proposal has drawn opposition from neighborhood residents and from the college's faculty. (VN)Sure, you can set out to play a piano concert in every town in Vermont. But what if there's no piano to be found? That's just one of the challenges pianist and UVM music prof David Feurzeig faces as he pursues his “Play Every Town Project” around the state. He's pulling into the Seven Stars Arts Center in Sharon Nov. 13 (along with fellow pianist Annemieke McLane) and in Artful, Susan Apel describes the project and why Feurzeig launched it (climate change, community, pandemic...). Oh, and if there's no public piano in town, then he'll take a living room... or bring his own electronic keyboard.So, about next Tuesday... If you've so much as blinked at any form of media in recent weeks, you've noticed that there's an election happening Nov. 8. There are intriguing races for US Senate and US House in both NH and VT, as well as for governor and Exec Council in NH and governor, lieutenant governor, and a slew of statewide posts in VT, as well as for state legislature in both. To help you make a little sense of them...
It's the first time in over three decades the county has seen a competitive race for county attorney, and that's pretty much par for the course, reports Paul Cuno-Booth for NHPR. Despite the position's power, contested elections for the post—at least, outside Hillsborough, Rockingham, and to some extent Merrimack counties—are rare. Partly, the pool of candidates (lawyers who live in the county) can be small. And experienced attorneys generally make more in private practice.
That's among the many findings of a broad new survey of 682 political scientists and 2,778 ordinary Americans spearheaded by
Bright Line Watch
, a group that monitors threats to US democracy, whose four co-directors include Dartmouth political scientists John Carey and Brendan Nyhan. Overall, 49 percent of Republicans expressed confidence in the national vote count, seven points higher than a year ago. Both Republicans and Democrats, though, expect a decline in the quality of US democracy in upcoming years.
That's the conclusion of a new study by Dartmouth geography prof Justin Mankin and grad student Christopher Callahan. You may remember that earlier this year, the pair drew international attention for a study assessing the economic damage caused by individual countries through climate warming. This time around, they looked at the effects of heat waves on human health, productivity, and agricultural output, writes Morgan Kelly for
Dartmouth News
, and found an estimated $16 trillion was lost between 1992 and 2013, disproportionately in the poorest countries.
The first thing to know, VTrans' Todd Sears tells
Seven Days
' Anne Wallace Allen, is that there are actually fewer of them than there used to be: They're averaging five a year now, vs 12 back in the 'teens. Still, truckers blow past all the warning signs, convinced their GPS knows better. So tomorrow night, officials are convening a meeting for Vermonters to air their own ideas—maybe roundabouts, maybe some way of limiting truck heights. One thing not in the cards, says Sears: dynamiting the Notch's boulders.
That would be Phat Gus musing about Mark Rober, and yes, people, it's here! Rober's squirrel obstacle course #3 has hit the big time... Only this time, it's a squirrel Olympics — complete with up-close-and-personal back stories. In case you've missed out on this, for the last two years Rober, a former NASA engineer, YouTube sensation, and friend-of-Jimmy-Kimmel (Kimmel helps announce the squirrel Olympics), has created elaborate, antic ways to keep squirrels from bird feeders (
&
). The big lesson: Squirrels
will
take over someday.
With a word straight outta yesterday's Daybreak.
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Today at 1 pm, the Hanover Garden Club hosts former journalist and Glasgow-based gardener Nancy Stevens for a talk on Japanese gardens, their history and lore, and some of the techniques that make them look like living works of art. Stevens, past chair of the Baldernock Gardening Club, will be online, but the event itself will be in the community room of the Montshire Museum.
At 6 this evening, Community Care of Lyme hosts a one-hour training organized by the Connor's Climb Foundation for adults who want to be prepared when a young person comes to them struggling over emotional or mental well-being. The foundation, which offers suicide-prevention education focused on young people in NH, writes, "Research has shown that having just one trusted adult in their corner reduces the risk of suicide for youth." In-person at the Lyme School or online via Zoom.
Also at 6 pm, the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock hosts a writing workshop with writer and teacher Joni Cole as she shares insights from the new re-release of Good Naked: How to Write More, Write Better, and Be Happier. Cole will lead participants in writing from prompts, offering tips on craft and on process.
At 7 pm, the Nugget Theater in Hanover will host the Upper Valley premiere of Nora Jacobson's film, Passion in a Pandemic: Making Opera at Hanover High School. The film follows opera singer and Hanover High music teacher Jennifer Chambers and Dartmouth Symphony conductor Filippo Ciabatti as they introduce a group of high school singers to opera and prepare them for a concert of arias from Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, The Magic Flute, and Lakme—all, as the title suggests, during the pandemic. Email [email protected] or [email protected] to reserve seats. Q&A with Jacobson, Chambers, Ciabatti, and students follows.
Also at 7, the Norwich Bookstore hosts Norwegian novelist Hanne Ørstavik and American writer and translator Tess Lewis, talking about Ørstavik's new novel, Ti Amo. It's an unflinching and at least partly autobiographical look at two lives: the narrator's, a Norwegian novelist, and her husband's, an Italian publisher who is dying of cancer. Ørstavik's Italian publisher husband died two years ago of cancer.
At 7:30 this evening, the Hop presents a remarkable evening of new Latin American music, with renowned Venezuelan trumpet soloist Pacho Flores, Venezuelan cuatro player and Latin Grammy winner Héctor Molina, conductor Luis Manuel Sánchez, along with the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble. They'll be performing new works by the matriarch and patriarch of contemporary Mexican music, Gabriela Ortiz and Arturo Márquez, including the US premiere of Márquez’s Concierto de Otoño para trompeta and the world premiere of Flores' Cantos y Revueltas (version for Wind Ensemble), a piece inspired by old Arab and Venezuelan popular songs.
And the Tuesday poem...
Nobody goes near the lake anymore, becauseit smells acrid and sour. The surface has curdledchewy like spoilt milk, or so we imagine, becausenobody goes near the lake anymore and nobodyfeeds the ducks Budget white bread. Instead theyeat discarded fish and chips outside the shops anddiein the mouths of red-collared pit bulls. So eventhe ducks don’t go near the lake anymorebecausenobody goes near the lake anymore, but people drivepast and remember to lock their doors and warn theirchildren.
—From
by New Zealand poet
.
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 Writer/editor: Tom Haushalter Poetry editor: Michael Lipson About Rob About Tom About Michael
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