Springfield VT Steampunk Festival

What’s New at the Steampunk Festival This Year
Well, Splendid Teapot Racing for one—and Burlesque for another
Festival Benefits the Springfield Humane Society
Volunteers Still Needed

SPRINGFIELD, VT—The Springfield Steampunk Festival, an official Vermont Arts 2016 event slated for September 23, 24, 25 features new musical performers, more workshops and many more vendors while embracing new intriguing and whimsical ideas from as far away as New Zealand. Splendid Teapot Racing was conceived by Simone Montgomery in Dunedin, New Zealand and premiered for the first time in 2014 at Steampunk NZ Festival in Oamaru. And now it premieres in Springfield, Vt. The Steampunk movement is truly international in scope.


Ukulele Flash Mob Today!

Whoa, here it comes! 
UKUKLE FLASH MOB, TODAY, Thursday the 25th, at 6pm sharp!
Where? Harmony Place smack in the center of Brattleboro.
ALL ARE welcome! (no need to play – just come enjoy the fun!)


Act 46 Meeting Agenda and Minutes

ACT 46 STUDY COMMITTEE

Representing the Brattleboro Town School District, Dummerston Town School District,
Guilford Town School District, Putney Town School District and the Vernon Town School District
http://www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF MEETING

The Act 46 Study Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 25, 2016 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room.

AGENDA

I. CALL TO ORDER – 6:00 p.m. – Alice Laughlin, Committee Chair

II. REVIEW, PRIORITIZE AND ESTABLISH DESIRED OUTCOMES FOR MEETING BY CHAIRPERSON.

III. REVIEW COMMITTEE MEMBER ROLES AND PUBLIC COMMENTS BY CHAIRPERSON


Improve Your Tweets – Actually Write Them

For those who ignore social media, you can ignore this.

For the rest of you, I have a word about laziness. Yes, I’m talking to you, person who has your Facebook feed set to automatically retweet things.

Here is the situation. Twitter allows for 140 characters. It is an art and science to craft messages that fit the space and make sense. Much can be communicated in a good tweet.


Selectboard Crosswalk Drama + NECCA Approval on GMMT

Get the latest headlines with BCTV’s news show created in conjuction with WKVT, the Reformer, and the Commons entitled Green Mtn Mornings Tonight. See short clips as WKVT’s Chris Lenois talks with the Reformer’s Chris Mays about the week’s news, and catch full episodes at brattleborotv.org/green-mtn-mornings-tonight as well as on BCTV Channel 8 weeknights at 6:00 PM.


Swimming with the Fishes

At the far end of our limbs we have the necessary appendages to propel our bodies through the water. We begin our lives floating in an oceanic body of fluids called the amniotic universe in a symbiotic unity with mother and child where we experience a “lack of boundaries and obstructions” akin to how we feel immersed in open waters.

The origin of our aquatic nature is suggested by Charles Darwin when he asked, “What can be more curious than that the hand of a man?” Our fingers typing on a keyboard began their journey over 350 million years ago when some tetrapod held its head high enough above the waterline to catch its prey. That’s when its evolutionary “modification of gene expression” realized there was another world.


BCTV Schedules For Week of 8/22/16

BCTV channel 8 schedule for the week of 8/22/16

Monday, August 22, 2016

12:00 am AgroForestry Forum in Brattleboro 7/16/15

2:15 am Dan and Jeff Play for Dancing

2:30 am Rosie’s Mom – The Forgotten Workers of WW1

3:27 am WWAC: Dr. John Hagen – Violent Extremism in Niger 5/13/16

5:00 am GMMT: Friday (Full Show)


Strolling of the Heifers Presents an Evening of Cosmic Comedy with Swami Beyondananda – “the Mark Twain of our times”

Swami Beyondananda, the comedian also known as Steve Bhaerman, has been called “the Mark Twain of our times” by best-selling author Marianne Williamson — because he is not only hilariously funny but also offers sharp social commentary along with a spiritual perspective.

In his first-ever Brattleboro appearance, the Swami will present his cosmic wisdom at the Robert H. Gibson River Garden on Friday, Sept. 9. The show is a fund raiser for Strolling of the Heifers.

For nearly 30 years, the Swami has been a fount of comedy disguised as wisdom — or is it wisdom disguised as comedy? In any case, this heart-opening, mind-expanding show will help you wake up laughing and leave laughter in your wake.


Weekend Creativity Series – Better Sandcastles

Everyone can make sandcastles, and with a bit of practice and a few simple tools those sandcastles can be quite nice.

One of the best tools to have on hand is a straight edge. They are great for carving, packing, and shaping mounds of sand into walls, stairs, windows and doors.

In this first video, Jenny the Sand Castle Girl, an Australian sand castle making champion, shares some of her tips and tricks for making an enormous beach castle.


Twilight on the Tavern Lawn Presents Planet Zydeco on Sunday, August 21

Twilight Music concludes its 14th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, August 21 with an evening of high energy accordion/guitar driven dance music of Louisiana by Planet Zydeco.

The seventh and final concert of the 2016 series begins at 6:00 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain. The series is sponsored by the Town of Putney, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, Green Mountain Well, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney businesses and organizations. The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available. For more information, call 802-387-5772 or visit www.twilightmusic.org.


Artist Reception for Cai Xi and Her ‘Edge’ Selections 1991-94

You are cordially invited to an artist reception, Friday, August 19, 5-7pm at C.X. Silver Gallery for Selections from ‘Edge.’ Cai’s ‘Edge’ paintings 1991-1994 are on view at C.X. Silver Gallery, Brattleboro, VT, through September 18, open daily by appointment, closed August 20-22 and 27-30. Inquiries: Contact Adam Silver, Operations Manager / Co-Director, (802) 257-7898.

Cai is featured in two exhibitions during August, her 1980s portraits in .

“I returned to my gymnastics and calligraphy experiences as a child, finding myself jumping, stretching, and reaching as I painted. Chinese traditional breathing exercise (Qigong) continued to help me channel energy when I painted. Throughout the nineties, materials, surface and texture were self-renewing areas of exploration. I derived a lot of inspiration from living in New York City. On the street and subway, on the ground in the cement sidewalk, a peeling wall, everywhere I went, I kept discovering: ‘Oh, look. There’s a painting!’ The experience of ‘Edge’ is about stepping into and out of myself. My art-making is characterized by this existential process. For me, Art is about Paradox: appearance-disappearance, life-death, nothingness-wholeness, chaos-groundedness, emptiness-substance, movement-fixity.”


Act 46 Update From Brattleboro Representatives

ACT 46 UPDATE FROM BRATTLEBORO.

The Brattleboro representatives from the Act 46 Study Committee will host a community forum on Wednesday, August 24th from 6-7.30 PM at Oak Grove School. This will be the final presentation of the proposed articles of agreement to the community, before the Study Committee officially votes on whether or not to send them to the Vermont Board of Education for approval.

wsesu.org


Neptune’s Car Duo at Main Street Arts

SAXTONS RIVER, Vt. – The folk duo Neptune’s Car, featuring Holly Hanson and Steve Hayes, will be bringing their watertight harmonies, tasty guitar and solid songs to Main Street Arts for a performance Saturday, Aug. 27 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $15.   

Hanson’s light soprano blends perfectly with Hayes’ warm tenor, while vibrant lyrics and compelling melodies nestle in inviting arrangements, telling stories rich in detail, from a miner’s life in “A Blue Sky Turned to Rust” to “Emily Dickinson,” told with lyrics as beautiful as the poet’s own words.

The duo offers music in a down-to-earth style that has earned the praise of the Great American Song Contest, which called their “Fly Fishing the Big Hole” “…vivid, focused and engaging.”


Brattleboro Union High School Board Meeting Agenda

BRATTLEBORO UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD
53 Green Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETINGS

The BUHS #6 Finance Committee will meet at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, August 22 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room.

NOTICE OF BOARD MEETING

The BUHS #6 Board of Directors will meet at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, August 22 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room. The meeting will start with a Planning Session – the regular business meeting will immediately follow at approximately 7:00.


BCTV Schedules For The Week Of 8/15/2016

BCTV channel 8 schedule for the week of 8/15/16

Monday, August 15, 2016

12:00 am AgroForestry Forum in Brattleboro 7/16/15

2:15 am Dan and Jeff Play for Dancing

2:30 am Rosie’s Mom – The Forgotten Workers of WW1

3:27 am WWAC: Dr. John Hagen – Violent Extremism in Niger 5/13/16


NOLABratts Make Debut at Samirah Evans’s Leo Party, August 21

Staying true to the spirit of her astrological sign, jazz and blues vocalist Samirah Evans has hosted a party that is partconcert, part jam session nearly every year for the past two decades in celebration of her own birthday and that of fellow Leo’s. The 2016 Leo Party takes place at 4:00pm on Sunday, August 21, at the 118 Elliot performance space in downtown Brattleboro. 

This year’s celebration will also serve as the concert debut of her choir, the NOLABratts. Evans says she had been approached many times about directing a local choir over the years, and this summer she recruited a small group of participants with varying levels of experience to perform vocal arrangements of classic New Orleans R&B tunes. 


Weekend Creativity Series: Hat Juggling

was going to treat you to plate spinning this week, but plate spinning requires the use of special plates made for the act, and it is unlikely you have them around the house. But you do probably have a hat nearby, and with it you can begin to learn some cool moves to impress your hat-admiring friends.

This guy has many videos to help jugglers get started (you can watch hom teach you to spin plates, too!). Here he walks through a handful of hat tricks.


Jackie Abrams and Karen Kamenetzky at Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts

Mitchell • Giddings Fine Arts is pleased to introduce Elemental Vessels, an exhibition of recent mixed-media vessels by basket-weaver and fiber artist Jackie Abrams, and Hidden Agenda, new fiber wall hangings by textile artist Karen Kamenetzky, with an artist reception and opening Thursday, August 18, 5-7 pm. The two solo exhibits continue through September 18, with an Artist Talk scheduled for Saturday, September 17, 5pm.

Abrams’ unique pieces showcase  40 years of  basket making experience; new, non-traditional materials reflect the artist’s movement toward more intuitive, abstract sculptural forms.