GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Clouds and sun, chance of rain, still warm. There are actually two dynamics at play: this morning it's the leftovers of the warm front that came through last night, then this afternoon there's some atmospheric hijinks going on that could bring us rain and maybe some thunder. Regardless, we're looking at more clouds than sun today, highs reaching toward 60, and gusty winds tonight out of the southwest. Lows into the mid 30s as a cold front arrives.Frosty moonset. The just-past-full Pink Moon (named for flowers, not its color) yesterday morning just after dawn in S. Cornish, from Brian Meyette. Talk about spring in northern New England!Dartmouth alum in rape case sentenced to 20 to 40 years. The sentence imposed on Kyle Clampitt by NH Superior Court Judge Jonathan Frizzell, reports John Lippman in the Valley News, was less than prosecutors requested, but more than the defense wanted. At the hearing yesterday, the victim, now a senior at the college, detailed the toll of the 2022 rape and its aftermath. "Standing here today, I want to look him in the eye and say it again, that you do not scare me," she said. In announcing the sentence, Lippman writes, Frizzell said, “It should be clear in no understated terms that ‘no’ means no."Palestinian activist with WRJ, W. Fairlee ties detained by feds. Mohsen Mahdawi, a green card holder since 2014 and an outspoken critic of Israel as a student at Columbia, had been called to a meeting in Colchester yesterday "for what was supposed to be the final step in his citizenship process," VT's members of Congress said in a statement. "Instead, he was arrested and removed in handcuffs by plain-clothed, armed individuals with their faces covered." Seven Days' Kevin McCallum reports that federal Judge William Sessions has ordered that Mahdawi not be moved pending court action.“We take all kids. … We welcome their diversity, and we meet them where they are.” That's Grantham School District Superintendent Lisa Walker talking to the Globe's Steven Porter (no paywall) about her district's approach to inclusion, diversity, and equity for students. Her district is one of two in the state that initially certified compliance with new federal anti-discrimination regs, then backed out after the state made explicit their anti-DEI approach. "I really wanted to make sure that the [school] board was fully knowledgeable about what it is we were going to sign off on," she explains.
The Grantham schools are not among the six NH districts joining an ACLU-led lawsuit challenging the federal government's crackdown on DEI initiatives—but the Hanover and Dresden schools are. In a statement, reports NHPR's Annmarie Timmins, Hanover/Dresden Supt. Jay Badams Friday said the US Dept. of Education's ban "undercuts our ability to adequately meet the needs of our students and overrides our communities’ decision to uphold these values in our public schools." Timmins writes about what lies behind the case.
SPONSORED: When life gets uncertain, neighbors show up. On April 25th, join our Good Neighbor Day of Giving to help provide free care to even more individuals who need it. Each gift will be matched up to $5,000 by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation for a goal of $10,000 to keep care accessible to all, no matter what. Learn more about our Day of Giving raffle and how to enter to win four great prizes here! Sponsored by Good Neighbor Health Clinic.South Woodstock's Vermont Farmstead Cheese buys venerable Grafton Village Cheese. Grafton Village is larger and has been owned since 1967 by the Windham Foundation—whose board, reports Melissa Pasanen in Seven Days, has decided that the foundation isn't "in a position to make necessary investments for long-term sustainability." Enter VT Farmstead, established in 2009, which is buying Grafton for an undisclosed sum. The two companies will keep their own labels, and Grafton will continue making cheese in Grafton VT and running its packing, shipping, and retail operation in Proctorsville.In an age of tariffs, Copeland Furniture gets a national shout-out. The Bradford VT company is right in the mix in NY Mag's sub-pub The Strategist, where Michael Zhao recommends furniture made by smaller-scale US manufacturers. "I like knowing that when buying from these brands, I support a dedicated craftsperson and their employees," Zhao writes. He quotes founder Tim Copeland, who says, "It’s always been about bringing something to life and producing it, working with the wood and machinery.” (h/t to the JO's Alex Nuti-de Biasi; he points out that Copeland also shows up in the WaPo.)SPONSORED: Join COVER—and build hope, community, and connection! Do you love people and spreadsheets? COVER is looking for a detail-savvy, people-loving Volunteer Coordinator to grow our incredible network of volunteers, the driving force behind our mission. At COVER, we bring neighbors together through urgent home repairs and our vibrant reuse store and bookstore. As Volunteer Coordinator, you'll bridge community passion and day-to-day impact as part of a team that believes in rolling up our sleeves and working with heart. Details at the burgundy link. Sponsored by COVER.A glimpse of American Celebration. Ted Degener, who ran Folk in Hanover for nearly 45 years until it closed in 2018, is also a well-traveled and accomplished photographer, and his new collection debuted earlier this month. His photos, writes Susan Apel in Artful, "are addictive. Not only will you view them yourself, you’ll be imploring every human in your vicinity to take a look... Each image is a story, and what stories they are." They're an off-kilter feast for the eyes, as the examples Susan includes illustrate. The book's available at Kishka in WRJ.“I’m an old Marine, I call people 'Sir.'" Larry Hart has begun finding his way in Montpelier after being elected to the state Senate from Orange County last November, writes Emma Roth-Wells. It took the Topsham Republican some adjusting—"I was a little nervous. I just had to chill out and take notes," he tells her—and he had at least one early misstep involving a bill to decriminalize sex work in the state, but the recovery coach and Fairlee building supply salesman has thrown himself into the arena, both opposing and collaborating with Democrats on legislation. Roth-Wells traces his stances.NH AG's office investigating after state trooper shoots woman following high-speed chase. Early Sunday morning, the office says in a press release, troopers tried to make a traffic stop of a car driven by a 28-year-old NH woman who accelerated away. "A police pursuit began during which speeds reached approximately 100 miles per hour. Eventually, State Police troopers deployed a spike strip and the vehicle was stopped. During the subsequent encounter with a trooper after the car was stopped, that trooper used deadly force and fired his weapon." The driver remains in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.In the skilled trades, NH "is at a disadvantage when it comes to our aging workforce." The problem, writes Adam Drapcho in Business NH, is that an entire generation of plumbers, electricians, and other construction trades workers is retiring or on the verge, while migrants to NH tend not to be tradespeople and younger people tend to leave. And crews are working overtime. “They’re tired. They are just worn,” says the CEO of the NH Homebuilders Association. Still, Drapcho writes, there's hope: a November trade fair organized by a Rye nonprofit drew more than 4,000 students.For first-gen VT college grad, early life "was defined by struggle. It felt like you were fighting all the time." Joe Wills grew up in Richford—which people called "Poorford"—and went to UVM, and in a new installment of Erica Heilman's ongoing audio series about class in VT, he talks about what it took. College students on blogs are "all talking about how they built a supercomputer when they were 13, or a nuclear reactor in their garage, or whatever," he says. "So much of that stuff is about money. You have to have some kind of freedom that having economic privilege gives you."It used to be that all you needed to win the lottery was a dollar and a dream. Now, it helps to be a secretive Tasmanian gambler who partners with a former banker, hires a team of number crunchers, and dumps tens of millions of dollars into snagging 99.3 percent of the possible number combos in the Texas lottery in 72 hours. In the WSJ (gift link), Joe Wallace and Katherine Sayre write about how an international gambling team pulled that off and the hoopla that ensued. A lottery official from another state says, “You can take a holier-than-thou attitude” but “it’s not illegal, and it’s probably not a bad business strategy.”"Who would have thought a woodpecker that big would land on your car and take out your mirror?" Anyone living in Rockport, MA would, apparently. Emily Maher of Boston's WCVB5 reports on the "Reign of Terror" by a pileated that's been drilling into sideview mirrors around town, "leaving some cracked and others shattered." Says a resident, "He's getting crazy this year. He's doing some stuff. And he's on the news. He's famous now."The Tuesday Wordbreak. 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:
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!
The bicentennial of the tour by the last surviving major general of the Continental Army spans last year and this—and sponsored by the Alliance Française of the Champlain Region, this online talk in English features NH Lafayette scholar Alan Hoffman and bicentennial-event organizer Peter Reilly talking about Lafayette and the enthusiastic response to his tour of country. Noon via Zoom.
. Kucharczyk is both a poet and the administrative assistant to Dartmouth's English and Creative Writing Department, and her debut collection,
Strange Hymn
, was published earlier this month—and has already won the Juniper Prize for Poetry from the UMass Press. Written in a voice that is "inquisitive and lyrical," the award says, "these poems are both intimate and broadly appealing." 12:30 pm, Berry 180A Library Classroom.
Dartmouth's Dickey Center hosts the Sudanese activist for a discussion of the country's democratic resurgence in 2019 and it's much-less-than-democratic aftermath. In conversation with former diplomat Lizzy Shackelford, whose postings included South Sudan. 4:30 pm in Haldeman 41 as well as livestreamed.
Kuster's lecture as the Perkins Bass Distinguished Visitor will focus on her career, experiences in the US House, and her perspectives on the current political climate and the Democratic Party. 5 pm in Rocky 003, and online.
The Tuesday poem.
blush so pink i saw it on a commercialblush so pink the model dips her finger in the jarand slides it across her cupcake cheeksso pink i save up seven dollarsso pink i walk to the pharmacyso pink the makeup aisle is a soda fountainstrawberry milk in the mini cartonlike raspberry lemonade feather boa blush so pink i wish it was my nameblush so pink i wear it to schoolblush so pink daddy says,
those are some pink cheeks
blush so pink the whole seventh grade staresso pink they call me clownblush so pink my best friendcovers her palm with her sleevewipes it across my face,now her sleeve is fairy road killsleeve so pink like bimbo shameblush so pink like milkshake bloodstainblush so pink like lesson learnedblush so pink like
learn
what your face is good for
everyone is nauseous
blush so pink like rash, infectionso pink like itch and burnblush so pink like
learn
how to love quieter, circus girl
it’s making us all sick.
— From
by
.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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