GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
High pressure moves in. It took forever for the clouds to scatter yesterday, didn't it? Well, today we get mixed sun and clouds, but we also get the brunt of this cold front, with temps topping out in the mid-30s and dropping to around 20 or into the teens tonight. Winds today from the northwest.A little riverine trickery. Glance quickly at this photo of a house in E. Thetford by John Pietkiewicz and it looks like... a photo of a house. But it only takes a moment to see that everything—the house, the lawn, the trees, the sky—is oddly off-kilter. That's because the whole thing is a reflection in the Connecticut.“We are feeling understaffed, overworked, and burnt out": Hartford schools struggling with Covid. That's in a letter several Dothan Brook teachers wrote to the school board, summing up sentiments in the town's elementary schools, reports the Valley News's Nora Doyle-Burr. Teachers report "unusually high" levels of violent and aggressive behavior, exacerbated by a lack of substitutes and para-educators. "Everybody is feeling inadequate, exhausted, and defeated much of the time,” Ottauquechee School teachers wrote. The board is considering shortening the school day.“This is not your grandmother’s furniture collection.” Susan Apel playfully assesses an exhibition now on at BMAC in Brattleboro. In her latest Artful post, she explores pieces handmade by members of the Guild of VT Furniture Makers, some of whom call the Upper Valley home. Desks, chairs, tables, and mirrors—reimagined or simply refined—invite our attention to these objects’ elemental function. A sleek, minimalist walnut desk by Pete Michelinie of South Pomfret, says the artist, “speaks to how little I want paper and computer work to be part of my life...It’s a way of saying what’s important to you.”SPONSORED: Today Only: Your gift to Willing Hands goes twice as far! Celebrate Giving Tuesday with Willing Hands today, Nov. 23, and help us secure a match! If we raise $7,500, a generous donor will provide an additional $7,500 to help us deliver fresh, healthy food to our neighbors facing food insecurity, while also reducing food waste. Don’t miss this opportunity to double your impact for a healthier, well-fed community! Sponsored by Willing Hands.“That wasn’t an error or something that was forced by the mathematics. That was something that was deliberately done.” While the two congressional districts proposed by Republicans in the legislature are getting all the attention, new state legislative districts may become a legal flashpoint, writes Amanda Gokee in NH Bulletin. The GOP-drawn maps that came out of committee last week "deprive" 56 towns of a dedicated representative, even though their populations would warrant it. And Manchester's representatives have been minimized. Warning: Wanton use of "floterial districts."At least Plainfield and Cornish will get to hang out together. The latest version of the House map, reports the VN's John Gregg, keeps the two towns together in their own district. It also gives Grantham its own seat and puts Springfield and Sunapee together in a single-member district. But it strips representation from Claremont, replacing its four current reps with a three-member district that pairs it with Croydon and a large—here's that word again—floterial district that shoehorns a bunch of towns together.About those NH Covid numbers below... The state's 7,966 active cases are an all-time high, more than doubling since the start of the month, reports WMUR's Kirk Enstrom. The state has announced more than 1,000 new cases announced on five of the past 10 days; during the 2020-21 winter surge, there were six days with more than 1,000 new cases announced. Moreover, Enstrom notes, hospitalizations have increased more than 77 percent since November began; those 343 people hospitalized are also a record, beating a previous high of 335 on Jan. 2.About those VT Covid numbers below... Yesterday's 235 reported new cases look low by comparison with the weekend, but as VTDigger's Erin Petenko reports, it's actually the highest number ever reported on a Monday (testing slows on weekends). The seven-day average is tied for highest during the pandemic. And worse news: The state has pulled back on contact tracing because it's been overwhelmed. That, says Dartmouth's Anne Sosin, is a “clear indicator that (the state has) lost control of their epidemic.”VT legislature allows cities and towns to enact mask mandates. The vote in yesterday's special session wasn't close—17-10 in the Senate, 90-41 in the House—but it was "grudging," writes Seven Days' Kevin McCallum. That's because many lawmakers argued that Gov. Phil Scott has abdicated responsibility by not imposing a statewide mandate as VT's case numbers soar. The measure lets towns pass time-limited mandates for facial coverings "at locations that are open to the public" starting next Monday. Decisions for schools are left up to school boards.VT to take more Afghan refugees than originally planned. The state had originally put in a bid for 100 refugees, reports VTDigger's Fred Thys, but is now in line for 135. As of yesterday, says the director of the US Committee on Refugees and Immigrants Vermont, more than 40 have arrived and have been placed with host families—in part because "finding permanent housing is so daunting in Vermont," writes Thys. USCRI Vermont is recruiting Pashto, Dari and Farsi interpreters, and accepting donations of gift cards to grocery stores.
“Please indulge yourself with the dripping and oozing glory of slime.” Writer Susanne Wedlich is well aware how uncomfortable that invitation makes most of us. Generally conditioned to be disgusted by squishy stuff that could be snot, some of us won’t be ready to learn that, according to Wedlich, “We are all creatures of slime.” Granta has an excerpt of her book, a natural history of slime, that gets at the mucus-y core of this mysterious substance’s primordial origins and how it came to be, well, everywhere—including inside each of us. Yes, we contain slimy multitudes that help us fight infection. Not so gross, is it?Not remotely related to slime. With the Natural Landscape Photography Awards, the word "Natural" refers to the photographs, not the landscapes. "Photographers who try to work within the boundaries of the landscape they actually experienced find it difficult to compete with photographs that depart from these constraints" with lots of post-processing, the organizers explain. There's no shortage of work to admire: bare aspens in the eastern Sierra; the moment lightning strikes the Matterhorn; the intricacies of the Australian landscape from above. They could do a better labeling job, but still...
The numbers...Daybreak reports Covid numbers on Tuesdays and Fridays (though only Tuesday this week).
Dartmouth's dashboard reports 29 active undergrad cases (up 17 since Friday), with 1 case among grad and professional students and 14 (up 1) among faculty/staff. The dashboard also reports 52 combined new cases among students over the past seven days, as well as 20 among faculty/staff. 30 students are in isolation, along with 26 faculty/staff.
NH reported 896 new cases Friday, 1,092 Saturday, 1,192 Sunday, and 603 yesterday, bringing its total to 153,934. There were 16 deaths over the last four days, bringing the total to 1,672; the state reports 7,966 active cases (+334) and 343 (+16) hospitalizations. It tallies 442 (-18) active cases in Grafton County, 460 (+79) in Sullivan, and 837 (-21) in Merrimack. In town-by-town numbers, the state says Claremont has 204 (+34 since Friday); Newport 79 (+11); Charlestown 47 (+7); Hanover 46 (+18); Lebanon 43 (-3); Sunapee 37 (+14); Haverhill 34 (-7); New London 23 (+2); Warren 14 (-10); Enfield 13 (-8); Cornish 13 (no change); Rumney 13 (+3); Croydon 11 (-2); Canaan 9 (+3); Plainfield 8 (+2); Grantham 7 (-1); Lyme 6 (no change); Wentworth 5 (+at least 1); and Orford, Dorchester, Grafton, Springfield, Wilmot, Newbury, and Unity 1-4 each. Piermont is off the list.
VT reported 477 new cases Friday, 441 Saturday, 469 on Sunday, and 235 yesterday. The state's total now stands at 47,609. There were 5 deaths over that time, bringing the total to 405. As of yesterday, 53 people with confirmed cases were hospitalized (-9 since Thursday). Windsor County has seen 168 new cases reported over the last four days, for a total of 3,380 for the pandemic, with 419 new cases over the past two weeks; Orange County gained 51 cases, with 176 over the past two weeks for a total of 1,669 for the pandemic.
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it keep going by hitting the maroon button:
If you're an Ann Patchett fan... This evening at 6:30, a group of prominent independent bookstores, including Northshire Books, will host Patchett online, in conversation with NPR's Scott Simon. Patchett, who also owns a bookstore in Nashville, has a new collection of essays out, These Precious Days, part memoir and reflection on her life, part seasoned advice on writing, and, in its title essay, a rumination on mortality. “Death always thinks of us eventually," she writes. "The trick is to find the joy in the interim, and make good use of the days we have left." $5 general admission, more if you order the book.
And anytime, you can check out CATV's highlights for the week. There's "Writing the Land," the UV Land Trust's event earlier this month in which poets Hope Jordan, Christopher Locke, and Jessica Purdy read works inspired by properties it's conserved; five experts in elections and voting rights talk voter suppression as part of White River Indie Films' "Race & Elections" series; and former CNN editor David Mindich talks at Dartmouth about "fake news," news values, and how the media could more truly reflect people and events.
In the deep falldon’t you imagine the leaves thinkhow comfortable it will be to touchthe earth instead of thenothingness of air and the endlessfreshets of wind?
And don’t you hearthe goldenrod whispering goodbye,the everlasting beingcrowned with the firsttuffets of snow?
And the wind pumps itsbellows. And at evening especially,piled firewood shifts a little,longing to be on its way.
—From "
See you tomorrow.
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?
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Writer/editor: 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!