GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Partly sunny, slightly warmer. We've got a quiet day between weather systems, as last night's low moves out and high pressure takes hold for today. Temps will reach the upper 30s today, with a mix of sun and clouds overhead. Winds today from the northwest, lows tonight either side of 20.Liftoff. Anna Megyesi was making her way along Barnard's North Road the other day when she stopped to watch snow buntings "graveling"—that is, congregating on the side of the snowy road to eat sand and gravel, which some birds do to help them digest. "I was lucky enough to see them taking flight," she writes. And so are we. Click the photo to bring up a haiku by her sister, Jenn Megyesi."People get a little frantic when their pipes are bursting." On Monday, J&B Plumbing owner Jeff Balch tells the Valley News's Frances Mize, he found 30 alarmed voicemails waiting for him when he got in (though some were repeats). At the Gates-Briggs in WRJ, JAM's Chico Eastridge tells Mize he found a "deluge, it was just nuts” when he opened the door at the back to find a burst sprinkler system (again). State offices in Claremont, a child care center in Tunbridge, countless houses... the Upper Valley is facing a Niagara of burst pipes. Mize surveys the scene and gets the experts' advice on avoiding them.Should be some interesting elections in Norwich. The town faces several controversies following the turmoil of the past year, from policing to the contention—by its own selectboard—that it's got a "toxic community problem." There are three selectboard seats up for grabs in next month's town elections, and two of them will be contested, reports Chris Katucki on his Norwich Observer blog: Incumbents Marcia Calloway and Rob Gere will face off for a three-year seat, incumbent Aaron Lamperti is being challenged by Priscilla Vincent, and Pam Smith, who ran unsuccessfully last year, is unopposed.“The plan is to do the trip no matter what happens, because that's the story: it's just winter as it is right now.” So … even if there’s no snow and a 300-mile cross-country ski turns into a 300-mile hike, Gabriel Andrus will be filming the journey. He plans to ski from the Canadian border to his hometown of Walpole to explore, as his website states, “how we interact with the season of winter", "its cultural and historical importance in New England,” and how climate change is altering our connection with the season. NHPR’s Rick Ganley talks Andrus about his adventure.SPONSORED: How do Metallica and Debussy fit in one concert? Find out with Upper Valley Music Center this Sunday, February 12. Faculty members Benjamin Kulp, cello, and William Ögmundson, piano, take the audience on an emotional journey through music they have returned to again and again in their musical careers. The program includes Kodály’s Sonata for Solo Cello, Debussy, Gottschalk, and the heavy metal power ballad Nothing Else Matters. Sponsored by Upper Valley Music Center.Just down the highway: Keith Haring's subway drawings. Starting Feb. 18, Susan Apel writes in Artful, the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center will have the first exhibition of the world-renowned artist's guerilla chalk drawings done in NYC's subways well before he was world-renowned. He drew thousands, and most of them, BMAC says, were tossed or papered over by subway authorities. But a building super who made Haring's acquaintance saved some, and they in turn made their way to a collector—who's lending them to the museum, along with other Haring works. Susan gives some of the backstory."I have always been distrustful of fungus." So why, you've gotta wonder, is the Yankee Bookshop's Kari Meutsch going all Enthusiasms over the new HBO series, The Last of Us? Given that it involves, you know, a zombifying fungus? Partly because she likes the burgeoning "Sporror" (you can figure it out) genre. Partly because, she writes, "after a long dry spell for good tv shows, this one is fantastic." And partly because you have to wait a week for each new episode to drop—and savor the joy of anticipation, like the "satisfyingly slow creep of a good gothic novel. Or the..." Oh, never mind.Dartmouth study: Harmful bacteria evade predators by hiding in clusters of other bacteria. The researchers found that the intestinal scourge E. coli was able to find protection from a bacterium that preys on it after it was surrounded by "tightly packed colonies" of the bacterium that causes cholera, reports Dartmouth News's Morgan Kelly. The findings, biology prof Carey Nadell tells Kelly, have implications for disease-fighting strategies using bacteria-killing bacteria or viruses. "A lot of infections are caused by bacteria living with other bacteria," Nadell says. "They’re like a forest—they’re little ecosystems."SPONSORED: Join our team at the Montshire for Science, Sunshine, Imagination and Invention! The Montshire Museum of Science seeks individuals who are passionate about science and science education to serve as Camp Counselors. We are building our next cohort of counselors to help develop and lead camp programs. Employment is seasonal, full-time from mid-June through mid-August. This opportunity is open to new high school graduates (ages 18+), college students, and other educators. Please share! Sponsored by the Montshire Museum of Science.From pink to yellow letters: NH steps it up with Medicaid recipients at risk of losing their benefits. As you may remember, federal pandemic protections for Medicaid recipients are ending soon, and they'll have to re-qualify by March 31 for benefits. Roughly 30,000 Granite Staters have done so, reports Annmarie Timmins in NH Bulletin, but over 72,000 have not, risking an abrupt cutoff. So the state is sending out more urgent reminders: "The bottom line," says its Medicaid director, "is if you should have coverage, we don’t want you to lose it.” Timmins explains how things will work and how recipients can get help.Packed hay truck bursts into flames in downtown Stowe, damages historic building. The spark that ignited yesterday morning's blaze came from a burst wheel, VTDigger's Alan J. Keays reports, and the flames quickly reached the historic Harrison Building, at the corner of Routes 100 and 108. Firefighters were nearby and able to put the blaze out—with the help of the town highway department. WCAX has footage sent in by a viewer.VT's food waste, single-use plastics laws retain public support, but there are issues. The first studies to look at public response to the state's food scrap and single-use plastics laws since they came into effect in 2020 find that overall Vermonters like them, but "some are confused about composting rules, and frustrated with the state's inability to compost biodegradable containers and tableware," reports Basil Waugh of UVM's Gund Institute. The vast majority of Vermonters are composting, one study finds, and a majority "report feeling a 'moral obligation' to keep food scraps out of landfills."VT aims $25 million at fixing water infrastructure in mobile home parks. The money from the federal American Rescue Plan will go to help fix failing wastewater systems, improve drinking water, and other basics, reports WPTZ's John Hawks. Mobile home communities have mostly been left to meet their own needs, says state housing commissioner Josh Hanford. "This is a time for the state and federal government to step up and help.... The last thing we can afford to do is lose housing stocks, especially affordable housing.”At March town meeting, "We are back to business as usual." That's the clerk in Charleston, VT, reflecting this year's big trend: in-person town meeting. Or at least, floor votes. About 70 percent of the state's towns will "return to shoulder-to-shoulder decision making on or around the traditional first Tuesday in March," writes VTDigger's Kevin O'Connor. Some towns will stick with ballots, like Pomfret; others, like Vershire, will postpone. But most will see"some sort" of floor vote next month, including Barnard, Bethel, Chelsea, Fairlee, Hartland, Randolph, Sharon, Strafford, Thetford, Tunbridge, W. Fairlee, W. Windsor, and Woodstock, among others.“One day I want to see a world slinky competition, like they have with yo-yos." Take one obsessed artist/athlete, hand him an ombré neon plastic coil, and stand back. Josh Jacobs, says this Wired video, is “an important member of the burgeoning Slinky manipulation community.” The art—and physics—of his Slinking are dazzling. He doesn’t reveal expert techniques (“trade secrets”) but he does share basic moves and encourages beginners to Slink, travel the world, and meet new people. “The weirdest thing I ever bounced the Slinky off of was Howie Mandel’s bald head.”The Wednesday Vordle. If you're new to Daybreak, this is the Upper Valley version of Wordle, with a five-letter word chosen from an item in the previous day's Daybreak.
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Sweatshirts, hats, and, of course, coffee/tea/cocoa mugs. It's all available thanks to Strong Rabbit Designs in Sharon. Check out what's available and wear it or drink from it proudly! Email me ([email protected]) if you've got questions.
At 12:30 today, the curators of the new Hood Museum exhibition, "¡Printing the Revolution! The Rise and Impact of Chicano Graphics, 1965 to Now" give a guided tour. No registration needed, but there's limited space. Meet in Russo Atrium ten minutes before the start time.
Starting at 6, it's the regular Wednesday acoustic jam session at WRJ's Filling Station. Hosted by Jakob Breitbach and, he writes, "of course, award-winning bartender, Bobby Prior. A match made in, well…only in White River Junction." Maybe with a surprise guest or two. Open to all to sit in or listen.
And at 6:30 this evening, the Dartmouth Political Union, Dickey Center, and Rockefeller Center kick off a year of talks and debates they're labeling the "Democracy Summit" by hosting Iranian-American journalist and women's rights activist Masih Alinejad, who'll be talking about the pro-democracy movement in Iran. In-person registration is closed, but you can follow the livestream via YouTube here. Note: if you did manage to snag a seat, no bags (or signs) will be allowed inside, and they'll be checking ID at the door. Here's more on the yearlong Democracy Summit.
This evening at 7, the Norwich Bookstore hosts four visiting Ukrainian writers and translators who are at Dartmouth these days. Literary translator Hanna Leliv, translation studies prof Lada Kolomiyets, poet and performance artist Daryna Gladun, and literary festival curator Veronika Yadukha will join together for readings and conversation about the literary scene in Ukraine.
Also at 7: If you followed along as the Vermont Historical Society hosted four rounds of state trivia in January, tonight it all culminates in an online championship round.
And at 8 pm, the Hop presents Kings Return in Rollins Chapel (postponed from last week). The Dallas-based a cappella quartet do everything from gospel to jazz to classical to blues; they first made their name with YouTube videos filmed in the stairwell of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, TX (you may remember their 8th century "Ubi Caritas" from a couple of years ago), now have an album out, and are in high demand on tour. There will be a limited number of tickets available at the door.
And to get us going on both feet and with an exclamation point...
Among the winners at Sunday night's Grammys were Aaron Neville and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who took home the award for Best American Roots Performance for their turn in the film
Take Me to the River: New Orleans!
The song was "Stompin' Ground"—cowritten for Neville by longtime Maine musician Dave Gutter.
, with Aaron, Charles, Ivan, and Ian Neville, along with the Dirty Dozen.
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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