GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
A mostly sunny day ahead. It's like, "Rain? What rain?" Winds today are from the southwest and we should see temps getting into the mid-70s. Then the winds shift to come from the north and the cold front that brought us last night's rain starts asserting itself—we'll be in the upper 40s tonight.What draws turkey vultures to West Leb? Is it thermal updraft from the pavement or the smell of greasy food? Those, at least, are two theories put forward by legendary local birder George Clark, writes Jim Block on his most recent blog post. Over the course of August and into early September, Jim ranged throughout the Upper Valley, photographing hummingbirds at flowers, a variety of other birds—including turkey vultures above West Leb—an array of moths and butterflies, and some pretty darn fine daybreaks in the western sky.In six-way Dem primary for Hanover/Lyme NH House seat, incumbents appear set to win. The only preliminary results available are from Hanover, which holds the bulk of the voters in the district, and they show Mary Hakken-Phillips leading the pack with 1,441 votes, Dartmouth government prof Russell Muirhead with 1,368, Sharon Nordgren with 1,328, and James Murphy with 1,195. Dartmouth student Miles Brown drew 949 and fellow student Nicolas Macri 424. In other House contests, John Sellers won the GOP nod in Canaan/Enfield-area Grafton 18, while in Sullivan 7, Democrat Jason Bourne easily outpaced Larry Flint to take on Republican Margaret Drye in November. Link goes to WMUR state House results: Scroll to your district.Meanwhile, Cinde Warmington handily took the Dem Executive Council primary in District 2. The newly redrawn seat put the Concord-area incumbent in the same district as former Democratic councilor Mike Cryans of Hanover; Warmington drew 19,566 votes to Cryans' 3,815 and Bradford Todd's 1,106, with most precincts in. Harold French won the GOP contest. And in the contested GOP race in Senate District 7, which includes Grafton and Orange, Daniel Innis beat Thomas Dunne and will face Democrat Richard Lobban Jr. in November. Link goes to WMUR results homepage, with US Senate and House results at the top. Scroll down to links for local races.CATV no more: It's now Junction Arts & Media, or JAM. In a press release yesterday, the public media organization announced the change to reflect "a significant identity shift" since its origin in 1992 as two public-access cable TV channels focused on government transparency and "local free speech." Its efforts now include a walk-in media arts space at its home in the old Newberry Market in WRJ, podcast production used by an array of community members, a partnership with the Briggs Opera House for arts and multimedia productions, and events "designed to build community through media arts."SPONSORED: Housewright Construction, Inc. is looking for carpenters and finish carpenters for full-time, year-round work. We have been building new homes, additions, and renovations in the Upper Valley for 37 years. We offer a professional and family-oriented work environment, excellent pay, earned time off, holidays, health and dental insurance, HRA, Accident, Short & Long Term Disability Insurance, retirement benefits, and continued learning opportunities. Hit the burgundy link to apply, and learn more about Housewright here. Sponsored by Housewright Construction.Canaan has a new town administrator. Ned Connell, who served as town administrator in Coventry, VT until March and used to live in Canaan, will pick up the role from longtime administrator Mike Samson on Oct. 3, reports Liz Sauchelli in the Valley News. Samson announced his retirement earlier this year. The three-member selectboard announced the hire at its Sept. 6 meeting. Connell was online at that meeting and will likely be at others this month, board member Stephen Freese said, adding, “He’s agreed to jump in as much as possible, so he’s hitting the ground running.”A rollicking road trip "with a poet's eye for vivid details and evocative language." So, what if you were just living your life and suddenly you learn that a long-lost relative has left you a house that walks on chicken legs? Which shows up in a giant shipping container. That's the premise at the start of GennaRose Nethercott's debut novel, Thistlefoot—the name of the house, which also happens to be one of the story's narrators. In this week's Enthusiasms, Emma Nichols writes that Nethercott's update of the classic Baba Yaga fable "stands on a well-trod foundation, but feels wholly unique.""It has taken a village and then some," but Leb's now got an electric trishaw. It's part of a program called Cycling Without Age that started a decade ago in Denmark, writes Susan Apel in Artful, and aims to get the elderly and other people with mobility problems out in the fresh air as passengers, ridden by volunteer "pilots." At a recent orientation, Susan writes, a dozen prospective pilots showed up: "Some were young, others were not so; most seemed to be experienced and enthusiastic cyclists." Once they're chosen, rides on the Mascoma River Greenway and paved part of the Northern Rail Trail are next.They’re called “fatbergs,” and a NH woman found a way to steer clear of them. The home cook’s conundrum: what to do with that pan of used cooking oil. Toss it in the garbage, or pour it down the drain? You really should try to avoid the latter option. As Granite Geek’s David Brooks writes, sending too much grease through sewage pipes risks the buildup of nonbiodegradable gunk, aka fatberg, that can be costly to remove. So Laura Lady of Webster, NH created FryAway, a powder formula that turns cooking oil into a jelly substance that can be composted. After only a year in business, she’s done $1M in sales.Complaints of anti-semitism at UVM bring federal investigation. The complaints, writes Ethan Weinstein in VTDigger, were filed last fall, and involve a range of incidents, from rock-throwing at UVM's Hillel building to a campus sexual abuse survivors' group announcing that students who support Zionism aren't welcome, to a teaching assistant threatening to cut the grades of Zionist students. Students have met with UVM administrators “on multiple occasions,” the complaint states, but "the university has taken no steps to rectify the situation.” The Dept. of Education launched its investigation last month.“THIS. WAS. PREVENTABLE. Please help us.” In a VTDigger investigative piece that you can bet has been lighting up inboxes in Montpelier and at VT National Guard headquarters in Colchester, reporter Jasper Craven dives at length into repeated allegations of sexual misconduct against one of the Guard's star officers, US Army Major Zachariah Fike. "The allegations and the Guard’s response present a stress test of the organization’s accountability mechanisms," Craven writes—then reports that people familiar with the allegations worry the Guard is "slow-walking" its investigation.Vermont regulators play "outsize role" in taking on crypto industry. In a court filing last week, the state's Department of Financial Regulation presented evidence that once high-flying cryptocurrency lender Celsius "had been misleading investors for years in a Ponzi-like scheme," reports Seven Days' Colin Flanders. It's part of an effort by DFR officials to fill a hole created by scant federal regulation of the industry; they've focused on cryptocurrency lenders, "who have been pushing the envelope by acting as banks without being held to the same consumer protection regulations," Flanders writes.Ever dreamed of flying around with your own personal dirigible? Airships may be among the oldest means of achieving liftoff, but the idea of being strapped to a balloon and floating gently upwards still enthralls. YouTuber Tom Scott—who seems determined to try every odd thing at least once in his life—says he’s been wanting to fly like this for years, finally discovering Aéroplume in France, where for a modest fee you can guide a smallish helium-filled balloon around an old hangar. Watch Scott’s face the moment he realizes he’s actually flying. The paddles he uses to steer the balloon are pretty cool, too.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.Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it keep going by hitting the maroon button:
T-shirts, tank tops, 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 6 pm, the World Affairs Council of New Hampshire, Dartmouth's Dickey Center, and a host of NH public affairs organizations present an online conversation with Jake Sullivan, US national security advisor in the Biden administration—who was also, between the Obama and Biden administrations, a teaching fellow at Dartmouth. The conversation, moderated by UNH security studies chair Melinda Negrón-Gonzales, will focus on "revitalizing democracy at home and abroad"—the challenges faced by democracies here and elsewhere, and how they can be addressed. Advance registration required.
Also at 6, the Mascoma Film Society launches its fall season with You Were Never Lovelier, the 1942 romantic comedy starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth—and music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Johnny Mercer, and band by Xavier Cugat. In the Mascoma Regional High School auditorium in Canaan.
At 7 this evening, author GennaRose Nethercott pulls into the Norwich Bookstore with a set of puppets and Thistlefoot, her Vermont-based, modern update on the classic Eastern European legend of Baba Yaga and her house on chicken legs — in this case, a house named Thistlefoot, which is bequeathed to the Yaga sibs: Bellatine, a young woodworker, and Isaac, a restless street performer and con artist. The bookstore's Emma Nichols has a glowing write-up in this week's Enthusiasms, above.
And music to set you up for the day...
Though she took to music young, Amy Speace got her start performing as an actor and director with the National Shakespeare Company. But then she began songwriting as a form of therapy, moved to Nashville, cut some albums... and got discovered by Judy Collins, who signed Speace to her Wildflower label. It didn't take long for Speace, who's also a poet and essayist, to be heralded as the next coming of Collins, Lucinda Williams, and other folk luminaries. In recent years, her songwriting has gotten rawer, as she's struggled with old trauma, the death of her father, and post-partum depression after the birth of her son. But she's also become a grounded, magnetic singer—especially since teaming up with Joshua Britt, Ben Glover, and Neilson Hubbard, who form the core of the Nashville musical community The Orphan Brigade.
off Speace's 2021 album,
There Used to Be Horses Here.
Guess I'll see you tomorrow, since the Aéroplume's closed for early fall.
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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