Culture story sections
The Board of Library Trustees of Brooks Memorial Library seeks enthusiastic and dedicated library lovers to fill three upcoming vacancies on the Board. One candidate will be elected at the March 2014 representative town meeting to complete one year of an unexpired term. Two others will be elected at town meeting to fill three-year terms.
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Brattleboro, Oct. 28th, 1863
Mr. Cole, Sir:
My opportunity for writing is not very good, but I will take my pencil and make the best of it. With regard to that house I wish you and my wife to do what you think is best. I do not know how cold it is up there and I do not know the cost of moving the house and should think that it was too late to undertake moving and digging a new cellar. We shall probably be mustered for pay next Saturday and shall be paid next week or week after.
Vocalist and Composer, Kavita Shah to appear in VJC’s Emerging Artist Series, November 2nd, 2013 at 8:00 PM
The Vermont Jazz Center launches its new Emerging Artist season with a choice that perfectly fits their concept. The goal of the series is to present young musicians who deserve to be heard, individuals who are on the cutting edge, performing original, fresh, high quality music; artists with unfamiliar names whose personal statements are moving the music forward. Kavita Shah is all of the above and more. A talented singer, she is a tireless organizer with a vision and a body of work that challenges the definition of jazz while at the same time paying deep respect to its lineage.
Guilford, Vt. — The life and works of Jean Stewart McLean will be celebrated on Saturday, November 2, at Guilford Community Church. The date marks the publication of the author’s collected writing in book form, edited by her son, Don McLean, of Guilford. The 7:30 pm program combines a publication party with performances of her work, presented by Friends of Music at Guilford.
“Sparks” is the title of the new book, the evening’s program, and a musical setting of eleven of the author’s poems, set to music by Don McLean, to be premiered by mezzo-soprano Evelyn McLean.
Here’s a band that seems largely forgotten now.
Back in ’85 when this concert was recorded, REM was becoming one of the biggest bands in America – even if nobody could understand Michael Stipe’s mumbled lyrics.
From Germany, REM, in 1985.
Powerhouse poet, theatre artist and dynamic speaker Lenelle Moise will be in residence in Putney the week of Oct 27- Nov 3. Lenelle is nationally renowned and celebrated for her writings, performances, and workshops on race, class, feminism, LGBTQ identities, new theater aesthetics, immigration and Haitian-American culture. She has taught and performed at colleges, theaters and conferences across the United States.
As part of her time here in Putney, Lenelle Moïse will conduct two workshops open to the community, at Next Stage Arts Project, 15 Kimball Hill in Putney.
As part of the opening of the Windham Orchestra’s 44th season, Maestro Hugh Keelan and the Windham Orchestra, along with musicians and singers present Resounding Hills: A Transformative Musical Collaboration. This concert takes place at 7:30 PM November 1 at Kurn Hattin Homes’ Higbie auditorium and is open to the public. Admission is by donation at the door.
Brattleboro, Oct. 24th, 1863
Dear wife –
I received your most welcome letter last night, and night before last I received Mr. Martin’s letter. It is strange that letters are so much delayed on the way. I have not much time tonight, but I will improve the time I have in writing to you. I do not mean to let you get the start of me. I am on guard tomorrow. I shall come off Sunday morning at nine o’clock and shall then try and get a pass to go over and see Susan and Mary Ann. I had a letter from Mary Ann tonight. Susan’s youngest child is very sick with the dysentery. I will enclose Mary Ann’s letter and let her tell her own story. I guess that she is homesick, she felt very well when I was over there.
Escuelita Spanish School is offering a weekend Spanish Immersion Course November 9th-10th at Hilltop Montessori School in Brattleboro. These courses make learning Spanish feel effortless, fun, and truly effective. Many of us have had frustrating experiences learning a second language. The way we were taught in school might have taught us the rules of the language but, in most cases, we did not learn how to speak the language.
Escuelita’s approach is based on brain and language acquisition research and it gets students understanding and speaking the language quickly and with a lot of laughter and fun along the way. After our weekend immersion course last June, one of our students wrote:
This year, the Brattleboro Film Festival has chosen two examples of film-noir that explore greed and the psychology of dependency in abusive relationships for free daytime screenings and discussions presented in collaboration with and at Brooks Memorial Library:
On Monday, November 4, beginning at 3 PM, “The Strange Love of Martha Ivers” (US, 1946, 116 minutes) directed by Lewis Milestone will be screened.
The Green Mountain Mummers, Windham County’s men’s sword dance troupe, will be performing on Halloween weekend for the 39th consecutive year! On Saturday, October 26 and Sunday, October 27, the group will present its symbolic death-and-resurrection “street theater” rain or shine in seven locations in Windham County, Vermont (see full schedule below).
The group of 12 men (mostly Windham County residents) is the oldest continuing sword dance and mumming troupe in the United States. Founded in 1975 and with only one of the original members still performing, the group has added many younger members over the last several years. However, it still operates in the manner of the traditional English morris and sword dancers from which the dances were originally collected: they meet to practice and perform only once a year. A favorite every year at election season is the group’s mummers play which has been characterized as a “live political cartoon,” drawing on current events and providing social commentary through humor.
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present roots music quartet Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem at Next Stage on Saturday, October 26 at 7:30 pm.
One of “America’s most inventive string bands” (The Boston Herald), Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem mix traditional, original and contemporary sounds on fiddle, guitar, bass and recycled percussion, and top that with joyous harmonies from four skilled lead singers. Hailed as “one of the most song- and arrangement-oriented bands in a field overgrown with pyrotechnic, jam- and solo-conscious virtuosos” (San Francisco Guardian), the band tackles the human condition with playfulness, courage and heart.
Over 30 people crammed into a tiny conference room at the Brattleboro Food Co-op Tuesday night with another 25 or so out in the hall outside to participate in a School Board planning session for future “public outreach” meetings that the board plans to hold. The meeting began with an hour long open session during which people were allowed to speak for two minutes each.
A number of parents and teachers spoke with criticism of the schools including over-reliance on data and standardized tests, changes in teaching methods and management style, treatment of experienced teachers, and other issues.
Lenelle Moïse in Womb-Words, Thirsting
November 2-3, 7:30pm
$16 General, $13 students and seniors
For reservations email info@sandglasstheater.org or call (802)387-4051
Sandglass Theater’s Voices of Community Series kicks off on Saturday, November 2nd and Sunday, November 3rd, with poet/theater artist Lenelle Moïse and her one-woman show Womb-Words, Thirsting at Sandglass Theater in Putney, VT.
is an anonymous statewide survey of licensed school-based educators. This includes full and part-time teachers, administrators, media coordinators, counselors, classroom assistants, and clerical support staff. Sponsored by the Vermont Agency of Education and Vermont NEA, the goal is to assess teaching conditions at the school, district and state level.
The 2013 survey was taken in March and April. A VEA representative in each school was to receive instructions to work with administrators to set up a faculty meeting to distribute letters with anonymous survey access codes. Teachers were allowed to switch letters in the same school to further randomize their response codes. Anyone not in attendance was to have been met with personally to explain the process.
On Friday, October 25th, Kurn Hattin Homes for Children will hold its 22nd Annual Mental Health Conference, Treating Trauma and Attachment Issues in Children and Families. This full-day workshop offers support, practical training, and continuing education credits for counselors and therapists, social workers, educators, medical and legal professionals, caregivers, therapeutic parents, and anyone involved in the field of child welfare or family services.
Over 30 people, many of them teachers, turned out to observe a special Town School Board meeting this week, which was held to hear a grievance from Academy School teacher Lauren Ashley. Ashley, a veteran of 27 years, filed the grievance after a disputed process involving her performance evaluations earlier this year. Usually hearings that involve personnel matters are held behind closed doors, but Ashley opted to have hers in open session.
School Board Chair Margaret Atkinson acted quickly to quell any off-topic discussion by members of the public, saying that due to open meeting law, no comment from the public would be accepted. “These are perilous times for public schools,” she said, but that the time to talk about it was not this hearing. “Please remain respectful,” she warned the audience.
Hi Brattleboro writers! I want to thank those of you who have participated in Montpelier’s PoemCity (aka POETRY Alive!) event these past four years AND to invite you and your friends to do so once again. The submissions window is currently open until the end of the year. This is a little earlier, so we can have enough time to read your work.
So, basically same rules as last year. If you forget, you can visit our blog here: . We’ll continue to update as we are planning the 2014 event.
I look forward to reading your work, and seeing a few of you as you visit us in April for the full program. Thanks. -p
BCTV Ch.8 Schedule for the week of 10/21/13
Monday October 21
12:00 am The Outfitting of Revolutionary Armies in the Champlain Valley
1:30 am Words of Peace: Your True Nature
2:00 am FSTV Overnight
4:00 am Dr. Maura Cullen on Diversity and Inclusion
5:30 am Green Mountain Vets For Peace – Ep.125
6:30 am Empty Bowls: May 2008
