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Town School Board Grapples With Public Outreach Process

by Lise | Education

The Town School Board discussed their public outreach efforts again on Tuesday night and found that even deciding on topics was more complicated than they’d expected.  A small group of citizens attended the meeting to participate in that discussion and what emerged was that the issues raised at the first meeting, held in October at the Brattleboro Co-op, needed to be clarified and expanded on before focus topics could be decided.  In short, the board might have to do more outreach before they can properly do outreach.

After the October meeting, the School Board assigned the outreach issue to a subcommittee consisting of David Schoales and Jill Stahl-Tyler who were tasked with determining an outreach process.  Schoales and Stahl-Tyler looked at issues raised at the first meeting, listed and categorized them, and brought them back to the board to decide on next steps.  After nearly an hour of  discussion, it was decided that the subcommittee would need to be expanded and topics decided.  Public meetings centered around the topics are expected to begin in January.

BCTV Video Calendar: 11/21/13 – Sandglass Theater, Brattleboro Women’s Chorus, and more!

by BrattleboroTV | Media

This week’s edition of the video calendar launches BCTV into the 2013 holiday season with Guilford’s Holiday Art Show, the highly anticipated Fall Concert from the Brattleboro Women’s Chorus, and the acclaimed experimental original production ‘Beyond the Light’ as it makes its way to the Sandglass Theater in Putney.

Attaining The Heavens and The Earth – Latchis Campaign Reaches Goal

by Not Signed In | Arts

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Campaign for The Heavens and The Earth has reached the $550,000 goal!

Recent support from Against the Grain Gourmet, Trust Company of Vermont, and the Cherry Street community – who got together to buy a chair (great idea!) – gave the final push that landed us over the top. Enormous thanks!

What a marvelous accomplishment for our small town, with most of the funding coming from right here at home. And of course, we had help from great friends around the corner in Boston (Thomas Thompson Trust), up the road in Montpelier (State of Vermont, Vermont Arts Council and Vermont Cultural Facilities Coalition), through the woods in Grafton (Windham Foundation)…and a little spur to the south, USDA out of Washington, DC.

Circus Arts and Puppetry Come Together at Sandglass Theater This Weekend!

by SandglassTheater | Entertainment

Sandglass Theater’s New Visions series presents, Leila Ghaznavi with Pantea Productions: Beyond the Light. This new work, a theatrical exploration of dance, aerial acrobatics, light effects, and puppetry, was conceived by Leila Ghaznavi, a 2012 recipient of the Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grant and the 2012 Puffin Grant.  Beyond the Light is an elegant hybridization of dance, puppetry, shadow work, aerial acrobatics, lighting effects, all set to the poetry of Walt Whitman and Emma Lazarus.  Creator Leila Ghaznavi blends these media to create an epic journey of a soul that is torn in two, seeking to reunite itself.

McLean Book Sparks Available

by DonInGuilford | Books

We had a great book publication event in Guilford Nov. 2 for my just-issued Sparks, the collected writing of my mother, Jean Stewart McLean, on the 50th anniversary of her death.  (In fact, BCTV recorded the program and it’s being shown several times this week on the cable station.)

The book came out really nicely; its 368 pages include short stories, poems, four one-act plays and other of my mom’s writings, not to mention extensive editorial commentary and notes by her son (that’s me.)

Old-Time Gospel Hour at Dummerston Community Center

by Dummerston Community Center | Music

An old-time Gospel Hour is planned in West Dummerston on Sunday Dec. 1st.,from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Dummerston Community Center. Guitar and vocals will be by GinMillBill.

There will be no preacher and no preaching, just music and singing. Songbooks will be available. Light refreshments will be available. Donations will be accepted for the Community Center’s heating and maintenance fund.

Learn How To Videoconference at Brooks Memorial Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Education

Brooks Memorial Library is one of fourteen Vermont libraries across the state that now is offering videoconferencing, thanks to a grant from Google. The Library will be offering monthly orientation sessions on the new equipment beginning on Wednesday, November 20, at 7 PM in the Library’s Meeting Room.

It will be taught by the library’s e Vermont computer intern, Justin Polnack. There is no registration necessary and the workshop is free and open to the public. The 90 minute session will demonstrate steps on setting up the equipment and using Google hangout. There is no charge to use the equipment, but people wanting to reserve the equipment must register for a Google+ account, attend a workshop, or schedule a one-on-one session with the trainer.

From the Principal’s Office: Kurn Hattin Gets it Right for Kids

by KurnHattin | Education

Kurn Hattin Homes for Children’s School Principal, Scott Tabachnick, recently wrote an op-ed piece for the local paper, the Brattleboro Reformer (published Friday, November 8), to share a few of the reasons why he feels thankful to be a part of the Kurn Hattin community. In the spirit of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, we thought we’d share Scott’s letter with you!

Kurn Hattin Homes for Children: Getting it Right for Kids

by Scott Tabachnick

Coke-Is-It

by tomaidh | History

“Wealthy eccentric” Fred Koch of Guilford, tired of “cotch” pronunciation, legally changes name to “Coke-is-it.”

I remember this guy getting into the papers every so often for erratic behavior. One time, if I remember correctly, he was arrested for giving away $20 bills on Main Street. When he got before the Judge, the Judge scolded the cop with some pithy remarks.

The Claire Lynch Band w/ Hot Mustard at Next Stage on Friday, November 22

by Not Signed In | Music

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of bluegrass and Americana music with the award-winning Claire Lynch Band and double banjo bluegrass quartet Hot Mustard at Next Stage on Friday, November 22 at 7:30 pm.

The Claire Lynch Band – Claire (guitar, vocals), Matt Wingate (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Mark Schatz (bass, clawhammer banjo, percussive dance) and Bryan McDowell (mandolin, fiddle, vocals) has the innate ability to perfectly interpret the beauty, subtlety and genre-defying sophistication of Claire’s music. By any measure, the quartet is high on the bluegrass world’s A-List, with musicians whose accolades include three International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Female Vocalist of the Year awards and two Grammy nominations for Best Bluegrass Album (Claire), two IBMA Bass Player of the Year awards (Mark), MerleFest Doc Watson Guitar Champion (Matt ) and an unprecedented first-place win in three instrument categories at the Walnut Valley National Flatpicking Championship (Bryan).

5:45 Live: 11/15/13

by BrattleboroTV | Media

5:45 Live goes live to the Rivergarden for the Strolling of the Heifer’s first minutes of official ownership, on a jam-packed edition of BCTV’s weekly media round-up that includes a look at the new structures going up in Harmony as the Brooks House project moves ahead, as well as footage from this week’s pedestrian auto-accident on Western Ave, and much much more.

BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 11/18/13

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV Channel 8 Schedule for the week of 11/18/13

                   Monday November 18

12:00 am      Windham Orchestra: The Social Waltzes – 10/27/13

1:35 am       For the Animals: Ep.127 – Friends of Strays

2:00 am       FSTV Overnight

4:00 am       What Does The End Of Domestic Violence Look Like

5:00 am       Green Mtn. Global Forum – The Future of Nuclear Power

Mary’s Mosaic

by Vidda | Books

At midday Friday, November 22, 1963, my junior high school administration announced the suddenly and immediate closure of the school day – without explanation. Boarding the school buses already idling on the roundabout parking drive all students were taken home. Somehow, by the time we debarked at my rural stop, word had reached us that the President had been shot. Approaching the front lawn of our small farm, I saw my mother holding the front door half open with her head buried in the crook of her elbow sobbing uncontrollably. I knew before I climbed the front porch that our youthful President was dead.

Simple Survival Technology

by tomaidh | Sci-Tech

The “4 Block” Rocket Stove! – DIY Rocket Stove – (Concrete/Cinder Block Rocket Stove)

– Simple DIY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmDYUrVHPWc

Lotsa lynx here.

Weekend Concert Series: David Murray Big Band and Macy Gray

by cgrotke | Entertainment

Let’s visit the Estival Jazz Lugano on July 6, 2012 for a show by David Murray’s Big Band, with guest vocalist Macy Gray.

David Murray has been one of my favorite sax players since his days with the World Saxophone Quartet. He always keeps moving and experimenting, releasing albums with out-jazz trios, quartets, octets, and big bands. he works with great musicians, dabbles in musical styles he’s new to such as music of the Grateful Dead, and has embraced a unique approach to world music through his own style. He reminds me Dolphy and Coltrane, but for this era.

150 Years Ago (1863 11/13)

by BusyMom | History

Brattleboro, Vt. Nov. 13. 1863.

Dearest wife:-

As good fortune will have it, I have plenty of time to write. I was one of the guards and one of the number is detailed to act as orderly for the officer of the day, so that relieved me from all duty, except such as the officer of the day may require of me, and so far it has been but little. I can sleep tonight. Am relieved from guard duty. Have no dirty gun to clean in the morning and no drill tomorrow in the forenoon, and no police duty Sunday morning. It is the first breathing spell I have had since I have been here.

The guards have to keep their guns loaded, and when they are relieved by the new guard in the morning, they are marched out one side of the camp ground and fire off their guns. That leaves them dirty, besides the night air affects them and it takes about two hours work to get them clean. The guns must be so clean that they must not soil the cleanest white glove. The barrel must be so clean that the head of the runner, after taking it from the barrel will not soil the glove, if rubbed upon the glove, so you can see that it is something to keep clean here.

Blowin’ in the Wind – 1945 Newspaper

by tomaidh | History

While walking my dog, I spotted an unusual shard of newspaper floating across the parking lot. Unusual, in that it was sort of pinkish yellow and that it seemed bigger than a modern newspaper.

It turned out to be a section of the “New York Sun” dated Wednesday, August 15, 1945, which is the date that Japan surrendered to the Allies after almost six years of war. (AKA  V – J Day). (The New York Sun was an evening daily newspaper published from 1833 to 1950).  

Brattleboro Women’s Chorus 18th Annual Fall Concerts

by bwchorus | Music

The Brattleboro Women’s Chorus directed by Becky Graber will present its eighteenth annual fall concerts entitled “Where There is Light” on November 23 and 24 at the First Baptist Church in Brattleboro. Seventy local women and girls will perform, accompanied by guest musician Kate Parsons on piano.

Included in the performance will be two of Graber’s compositions, “Travelin’ Light” and “Let Your Light Shine On.” From Minnesota composer Elizabeth Alexander is a Chinese proverb set to music about light, beauty, harmony, honor, and peace, “Where There is Light in the Soul.”  The Zulu song “Thula Sizwe” will be combined with Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.”