Vermont Workers’ Center Get Involved Meeting

Join us on September 25, 1-2:30 PM at Brooks Memorial Library Meeting Room, 224 Main St.
to learn more about the Workers’ Center, the Healthcare Is A Human Right campaign, and ways to be involved. We’ll share basic information about the Workers’ Center, a grassroots member-run organization that organizes for a more just and democratic (small ‘d’) Vermont.


Strength of the Storm Film & Discussion

As part of the week of climate action, the Vermont Workers’ Center and Extinction Rebellion of Southern VT are sponsoring a screening of the film, “Strength of the Storm,” directed by Rob Koier. The screening will take place on Thursday, September 26th, 2019 at 118 Elliot Gallery (118 Elliot Street, Brattleboro) from 7:30pm-9:30pm, and will be followed by a discussion.

This film shows Vermont residents who were directly impacted by climate change during the flooding from Tropical Storm Irene, as they realized that they were all in this together and organized after the destruction of much of their mobile home community.


VFW $6.50 Lunch Specials Open to the Public 8-23 to 8-27

The Brattleboro VFW located at 40 Black Mountain Road is open to the public for lunch. Lunch is served Mon-Fri from 11:30 – 1:30. Specials listed below are only $6.50 a plate. Hand made burger, fries, sweet potato fries, wings, onion rings, soups and sandwiches are also available. Take outs available by calling 257-0438

Mon – chicken fried steak, mashed potato, gravy & veg


Some Thoughts On Climate Strike Day

Today there is a world Climate Strike. It is amazing, and amazing that it took this long.

As kids almost 50 years ago, we were already concerned about the environment. Earth Day got started, we read Ranger Rick and National Geographic World, and we knew that littering made an old Native American by the side of the road cry. We knew about animals going extinct from hunting and pollution. We used to plant trees on Arbor Day each June. We read the Lorax.


Disability Justice Advocate Lydia X.Z. Brown Speaks at Landmark College, October 1

The Fall 2019 Landmark College Academic Speaker Series opens with disability justice advocate Lydia X.Z. Brown on Tuesday, October 1 at 7 p.m. in the Brooks M. O’Brien Auditorium, located in the East Academic Building.

The talk, entitled “Cripping Intersectionality: Neurodiversity and Disability Justice” will focus on how disabled people’s cultural work, community building, and leadership offer necessary interventions for liberation work everywhere, from the streets to the ivory tower, grounded in intersectional theory and practice.


VT AFL-CIO Turns Left: Van Deusen Elected President, Adie Vice President

South Burlington, VT— This weekend, in its largest convention in two decades, the Vermont AFL-CIO elected a progressive reform leadership for its approximately 10,000 members statewide. The fourteen newly elected members of the slate aim to revitalize Vermont’s labor movement through organizing new unions, promoting activism among rank-and-file workers, and championing a Green New Deal to combat environmental crisis and economic inequality.

Said Liz Medina of UAW Local 2322 and new District Vice President for Washington/Orange Counties, “I am excited to be part of a rank-and-file slate that has a bold vision for the future of the labor movement.”
Asserting that they are not afraid of strikes, the newly elected members to the AFL-CIO state leadership pledge not to support political candidates in Montpelier who do not fight for union and social-justice interests.


Brattleboro Conservation Commission hosts Source to Sea Cleanup in the West River Park on September 24

Join the Brattleboro Conservation Commission on Tuesday, September 24 from 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. to clean up trash along the West River as part of the annual Source to Sea Cleanup of the Connecticut River system. Volunteers of all ages are welcome and should meet in the West River Park at the entrance of the trail to down to the West River.


VFW $6.50 Lunch Specials Open to the Public 9-16 to 9-20

The Brattleboro VFW located at 40 Black Mountain Road is open to the public for lunch. Lunch is served Mon-Fri from 11:30 – 1:30. Specials listed below are only $6.50 a plate. Hand made burger, fries, sweet potato fries, wings, onion rings, soups and sandwiches are also available. Take outs available by calling 257-0438

Mon – liver & onions, mashed potato, gravy & veg


Puppets in Paradise, Performances, Music, Food and Animals!

Puppets in Paradise, Sandglass Theater’s most beloved community event and biennial fundraiser, returns for its 8th edition. Now in partnership with Retreat Farm in Brattleboro, this year welcomes an exciting roster of first-time and returning performers including Joshua Holden, Chad Williams, Finn Campman, Liz Joyce, Faye Dupras, Rose Friedman and Justin Lander, Honey Goodenough, Cynthia Parker-Houghton, Eva Lansberry, Elena Day, Julia J. Slone and Sandglass co-founders Eric Bass and Ines Zeller Bass. Each company will perform four times and the puppet parade will process three times throughout each day. Please allow 2 hours to experience all of the shows.


Butterfly Season

Cabbage Butterfly on Zinnias

One of the consolations of the late summer season is the abundance of butterflies who flock to the open fields and gardens to enjoy the sunshine, sip the dew, and drink the nectar from the last of the summer flowers. We’ve had butterflies all summer long, but not in the numbers or variety that we have now. Earlier, Tiger Swallowtails prevailed, fluttering on their exotic yellow wings to the daisies and phlox where they made a long zig-zagging circuit of every promising flower. We saw at least one Zebra Swallowtail, bigger than its cousin the Tiger, out browsing red clover in the field next door. Silver Spotted Skippers were ubiquitous in midsummer. And later, I was happy to see a few Monarchs, with whom I have a long friendship going back to when I raised one from an egg as a child.


VFW $6.50 Lunch Specials open to the Public 9-9 to 9-13

The Brattleboro VFW located at 40 Black Mountain Road is open to the public for lunch. Lunch is served Mon-Fri from 11:30 – 1:30. Specials listed below are only $6.50 a plate. Hand made burger, fries, sweet potato fries, wings, onion rings, soups and sandwiches are also available. Take outs available by calling 257-0438

Mon – homemade meatball grinder w/ salad


Martha O’Connor Memories

I once had a discussion with Martha O’Connor about fence viewing. I had applied and been appointed to the position, and ran into Martha at the grocery store (a frequent spot for us to run into one another). The topic was always related to Brattleboro or governing, and today it was Fence Viewing.


A Shooting a Day!

Thus far, there has been more than a mass shooting somewhere in the USA every day.
September 1, the 244th day of the year, marks the 283rd such shooting.

The nonprofit Gun Violence Archive tracks every mass shooting in the country. They define a mass shooting as any incident in which at least four people were shot, excluding the shooter. The GVA said there have been 37,662 total shooting incidents, resulting in 9,932 gun deaths and 19,868 injuries as of yesterday. 37 thousand incidents! That’s not self-defense, folks.


VFW $6 Lunch Specials Open to the Public 9-2 to 9-6

The Brattleboro VFW located at 40 Black Mountain Road is open to the public for lunch. Lunch is served Mon-Fri from 11:30 – 1:30. Specials listed below are only $6.50 a plate. Hand made burger, fries, sweet potato fries, wings, onion rings, soups and sandwiches are also available. Take outs available by calling 257-0438


Oak Street Tree Removal

 On Wednesday, September 4th, the Highway Division will be working with Green Mountain Power to remove a tree near the corner of Oak St. and Chapin St. 

In preparation of an upcoming paving project, this tree was inspected by the tree warden to consider trimming. Upon inspection, it was determined that the tree is in poor health with significant rot. Due to the concern for nearby utilities, buildings, and traffic it was determined that the tree should be removed. 


No News is Good News? — On Going News-Free

After the latest round of shootings earlier this month, I had a moment of nausea that led me to think it might be a good time for a news hiatus. The weather was gorgeous — high summer in Vermont — and an array of family were due to visit. So rather than read depressing headlines all summer, I decided to take a couple weeks off from the news. Maybe, I thought, it will make me happier and less anxious if I just don’t hear any of it.