GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Partly sunny, warmer, chance of showers and thunderstorms this afternoon. That pretty much sums it up. There'll be more clouds around today than yesterday, but also more heat: The high today will be getting up toward the mid 80s. There's been a lot of uncertainty in the forecast about showers and any possible thunderstorms, but they're now expected—somewhere—as a disturbance passes through the region later today. Lows tonight only around 60.Outside a couple of fox dens... Newbury photographer Ian Clark got turned on to two red fox dens by friends, and he set up blinds, cameras—and then waited. The reward was a remarkable set of photos of moms and kits, with the kids playing, eating, exploring, watching the sky, watching each other...Missing Dartmouth grad student found dead in river. A search for Kexin Cai, 26, had been underway since the weekend, with volunteers, drones, boats and a DHART helicopter all taking part. In a press release sent late last night, Lebanon police report that yesterday afternoon, a fisherman in Windsor alerted authorities to a "sighting" along the Connecticut; around 5:36 pm, rescue workers brought a body, later identified as Kexin Cai, to the shore. Police say no foul play is suspected, and in a Valley News story, John Lippman reports Cai had been in a mental health crisis.Portion of Dartmouth faculty votes to censure Sian Beilock. The vote was 183-163 in a meeting yesterday afternoon involving a bit over half of the college's Arts and Sciences faculty, reports The Dartmouth's Kent Friel; it was in favor of a motion that "condemns the President’s actions on May 1," and followed a discussion, Friel writes, that "demonstrated a divided faculty, with evidence of both strong support for Beilock’s actions and also deep discontent." In a statement afterward, reports the NYT's (gift link) Stephanie Saul, Board chair Liz Lempres backed Beilock's "strong leadership" and wrote, “The board unequivocally and unanimously supports President Beilock.”Hmm. Sometime between May 9th and May 16th, VT State Police say, a person or persons unknown broke into a locked house on Route 5 in Hartland. An investigation, they say, reveals that "the perpetrator(s) entered the home and made a meal, slept on a bed, and left the residence." The owners weren't home but report that no items are missing. The VSP's asking for tips.Four years and $80,000 later, Hartford's new WWI/WWII memorial is ready for prime time. The monument honoring the town's veterans in the two wars will be unveiled this coming Monday. Spearheaded by Hartford resident Mary Kay Brown, a committee formed in 2020 to begin working on the project, got sidelined by the pandemic, then began its work in earnest in 2022, writes Liz Sauchelli in the VN. In addition to the names of 291 residents who served in WWI and 729 who served in WWII, the memorial is surrounding by some 150 bricks honoring veterans, people who work(ed) with veterans, and others.At Thetford's Cedar Circle Farm, a focus on plants with "positive ecological impacts on our local landscape." It's part of a much broader effort called the HomeGrown National Park initiative, writes Li Shen in Sidenote, which aims to boost biodiversity by reintroducing plants that function productively in a given landscape and that support pollinators iand other insects that are key to birds' and animals' lives. Cedar Circle's effort was kickstarted by members of Thetford's conservation commission, who've produced a series of educational pamphlets and are working with other groups on research.Rivendell superintendent resigns. Actually, reports the VN's Christina Dolan, Barrett Williams stepped down last week—he's slated to become principal of Strafford's Newton School this summer. As Dolan writes, Williams' shift comes several months after the February resignation of Rivendell Academy Principal Keri Gelenian and in the midst of budget turmoil and tension over school board plans to consolidate schools and close the Samuel Morey Elementary School in Fairlee over the next three years. “There’s a lot of sadness and loss in the district," says Jennifer Botzojorns, the new interim superintendent.This week in the woods, the bird drama continues. Last week it was a scarlet tanager and a rose breasted grosbeak. This week, Tig Tillinghast caught a male red-winged blackbird attacking a crow moments after the larger bird had landed beside the blackbird nest. Also out there this fourth week of May, Northern Woodlands' Elise Tillinghast writes: a family of wood ducks, red admiral butterflies, American redstarts (highly territorial and "more in-your-face than most warblers," Elise writes, and a tiny bishop's cap, with its "delicately fringed petals reminiscent of lace or snowflakes."A song like "the grating of a rusty hinge.” That was how John James Audubon described the song—"if song I may call it"—of the marsh wren. But even more notable, writes Mary Holland on her Naturally Curious blog, is the fact that male marsh wrens build multiple dummy nests for every breeding nest used by a female. Why? Maybe the dummies "serve as shelter for newly fledged young, as replacement nests if breeding nest is destroyed, as a decoy for predators," or as a signal of the male's strength and vigor.Could it really be that over a tenth of power outages are caused by squirrels? For the third year in a row, writes David Brooks on his Granite Geek blog, the NH (and ME and MA) electric utility Unitil is holding "squirrel week" highlight "the challenges posed by squirrels and other wildlife." In particular, 11 percent of power outages within the utility’s service areas are stem from squirrels. The utility notes that it installs protective equipment to keep animals from taking down infrastructure—but it adds that "some animals are still able to sneak around these safeguards and cause damage.”In NH, bid to give veterans statewide a special criminal justice track moves forward. The state's already got veterans courts in several counties that "incorporate drug and alcohol treatment and mental health services, as needed, into the existing justice system," Steven Porter writes in the Globe's Morning Report newsletter. Now, the state Senate has approved a House measure hat would expand the program to all 10 counties. “It enables judges to have a little more discretion for a unique population," says its prime sponsor. The two chambers still have some work before it heads to the guv's desk.As NH misses court deadline on ER boarding for people in crisis, it's still making progress. By last Friday, reports NHPR's Paul Cuno-Booth, the state was supposed to have eliminated its backlog of people waiting in emergency rooms for psychiatric beds. And though there are no longer dozens of people being held for days or weeks before they can get treatment, as of last week there were about a dozen adults and children waiting. In a new court filing, the state says it expects “to effectively eliminate the current waitlist by the end of this calendar year.” Cuno-Booth details the issues and the challenges.In VT, two high-profile Dems back off governor's race. Former Gov. Howard Dean and former Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger announced yesterday that they won't try to take on incumbent GOP Gov. Phil Scott after all. In a press conference yesterday, Dean told reporters that he was running about 10 points behind Scott in polls, and that the only way to close it would be to run a "scorched-earth negative attack campaign," reports Seven Days' Kevin McCallum. “I don’t know if a campaign like that could get me elected, but I do know it would be really harmful to our state and our values,” he added. Weinberger, meanwhile, issued an email statement saying he wouldn't run.Fifty-six communities down, a mere 196 to go. Odds are good that, at least if you live in VT, you've heard of UVM music prof David Feurzeig's "Play Every Town" climate change project, in which he aims to give a concert in each of VT's 252 municipalities. He's done nine in Upper Valley towns so far, including Sharon, Vershire, and Chelsea, with write-ups and photos for each. Kevin O'Connor profiles Feurzeig and the project in VTDigger, noting the pianos he's played (coming up: Grace Coolidge's Baldwin in Plymouth) and the conditions: "I’ve played on the smokiest day in Vermont history, the wettest day in Vermont history, the hottest November day in Vermont history," Feurzeig says.You know summer's coming when the maple creemee articles start up. And this one's in Food & Wine, no less, where Kelley Ferro calls the "genius combination" of dairy and maple syrup "almost too much goodness to be swirled onto one cone." She singles out four spots in VT, including Scoops in Woodstock—where she grew up. "They use maple syrup from the family-run Bourdon Maple Farm," she writes. "The syrup is beyond delicious. I have it sent across the country to me so I never run out in Los Angeles."I’m not braying at you, I’m braying with you. This year’s Comedy Pet Photo Awards finalists have been announced, and on PetaPixel, Jeremy Gray runs down the contenders. Dogs and cats, sure, but also a charismatic donkey and a headless horse. Flying fur figures prominently with the dogs, and the cats are, predictably, curious. The pets steal the show, but the photography is notable, too. Judges get to choose the competition winner, but you can cast a vote for the People’s Choice Award until June 2.
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it stick around by hitting the maroon button:
. Starting at 5:30 pm, Dartmouth's Dickey Center hosts a panel of four HIV/AIDS care advocates—two physicians, a prominent advocate for women with HIV/AIDS, and a clinical social worker—will talk about "what made them shift from the treatment/disease-focused side of the conversation to be at the frontlines of creating change in the fight again HIV." Moderated by the Dickey Center's Dawn Carey. In Haldeman 41.
Billy Wilder's 1944
noir
film pairs Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck, with Raymond Chandler behind the hard-boiled, cold-eyed script. In the Martha Rich Theater at Thetford Academy.
The most recent in a long career, Bekolo's 2021 film "takes the form of a fake ethnographic documentary about the discovery and history of Colombia's black people," the program notes run. "With a distinct visual style and sly humor, the film explores cultural identity forged around the idea of resistance against slavery and colonialism." Bekolo will be on hand afterward with African and African American Studies prof Ayo Coly and film prof Mark Williams. At the Loew.
And the Tuesday poem:
I want to gather your darknessin my hands, to cup it like waterand drink.I want this in the same wayas I want to touch your cheek—it is the same—the way a moth will cometo the bedroom window in late September,beating and beating its wings against cold glass;the way a horse will lowerits long head to water, and drink,and pause to lift its head and look,and drink again,taking everything in with the water,everything.
— "To Drink" by
. Whose latest collection,
The Asking
, brings together both new poems and selected works from five decades of writing.
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!