5:45 Live: 1/29/16

Get footage from the Townshend Gazebo crash, the latest figures on the VT Yankee Decommissioning Trust Fund, a fraud case spanning from Utah to Brattleboro, and much much more.


Weekend Creativity Series – Star Wars Special Effects

This week we take a look at special effects for motion pictures, using the recent Star Wars release as our example.

One of the big lessons of media literacy is that things are not always what they appear. That is, anything can be convincingly faked, and what you think you are looking at may not exist. National Geographic famously moved pyramids to new locations to make a better cover photo, and some news outlets have erased people from images or coverage of events.

So, it is important to know that we are being fooled, and fooled often. Knowing this doesn’t take the fun away when the tricks are used to entertain, but it should help sharpen critical viewing skills.


Youth Services RAMP Program Seeks High School Participants for Career Mentoring

As students get into high gear during their second semester, Youth Services Workforce Development staff are busy seeking referrals of youth, ages 13-17, in need of extra support and career mentoring at Brattleboro Union High School and Bellows Falls Union High.

Now in its fifth year, Youth Services’ Ready-to-Achieve Mentoring Program (RAMP) meets once a week after school to connect students with professionals for career-focused mentoring and to encourage them to remain in school. Adult mentors join students on site tours to businesses and colleges, serve on occasion as guest speakers, and help participants work on their personal career plans, according to Susan Lawson-Kelleher, the organization’s Workforce Development Coordinator.


Space Shuttle Memories

The Challenger disaster. What memories.

I have a long and odd relationship with the Space Shuttle. Living in Florida in the late 70’s and early 80’s, we were often able to see the shuttle go up even though it was hundreds of miles away on the opposite coast. You could see a trail of smoke trailing a tiny sliver of shininess, and watch the plume arc as the shuttle took off over the Atlantic Ocean.

This was pretty neat for me, having been a space-age kid raised on moon launches and Tang.


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 BOARD MEETING

The BUHS #6 Board of Directors will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, February 1 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room.

AGENDA

I. CALL TO ORDER – 6:30 p.m. – Robert Woodworth, Board Chair

II. PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING – FY ’17 PROPOSED BUDGET


Myra Goodwin

According to Wikipedia:  “Myra Goodwin played the leading lady in Sis, an 1885 production of the 14th Street (Manhattan) Theatre.” 


Act 46 Study Committee 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 Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at the Vernon Elementary School, Vernon.

AGENDA

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

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


BCTV Schedules For The Week Of 1/25/2016

BCTV channel 8 schedule for the week of 1/25/16

Monday, January 25, 2016

12:00 am Grafton Woodlands – A Discussion of Vermont’s Current and Future Energy Plan

2:10 am TED Talks: Shai Agassi’s Bold Plan for Electric Cars

2:30 am Donald Trump’s Presidential Rally in Burlington 1/7/16

3:45 am Rally for Love and Unity – Burlington, VT 1/7/16

4:00 am Historically Speaking – Jud Hartmann Gallery


5:45 Live: 1/22/16

Get all the details on this weeks Senate Judiciary Hearing in Brattleboro on legalizing marijuana, survey results and new action plans for the Police/Fire upgrade in town, new details (and drone footage) on the I-91 Bridge construction including a completion date, and much much more on this edition of 5:45 Live.


Weekend Creativity Series: Constructed Languages

This weekend we look at creativity with words. Have you ever thought about inventing your own language? Sometimes children do it, but what about adults?

Here’s a look at three grown-ups who have jobs constructing languages for movies, and how they approach their work. From thinking about who the characters are and where they are from, through grammatical systems and sounds, these folks help elves and Klingons communicate.


The Brattleboro Historical Society Presents: This Week in Brattleboro History Podcast – Wearing Toilets?

It was one 120 years ago this week that a fancy dinner party at the Brooks House was attended by 125 of the most prominent citizens in Brattleboro, and a local paper reported to each attendee wore extremely rich and handsome toilets.

Eh, toilets?

BHS trustee, Joe Rivers, and his history students at the Brattleboro Area Middle School answer this riddle with a story of history and etymology, on this week’s edition of This Week in Brattleboro History.


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 BAMS Committee will meet at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, January 25 in the Middle School Conference Room.

The BUHS #6 Teacher Curriculum Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, January 25 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room.


Lunar New Year of China, Korea and Vietnam

Asian Cultural Center of Vermont (ACCVT) presents Lunar New Year of China, Korea and Vietnam. Sunday, February 7, 1-3 at 118 Elliot Street, downtown Brattleboro (across from the fire station). It’s the 14th annual celebration of its kind in southeastern Vermont.

It’s a potluck.  Dance with the Dragon, do group calligraphy, join in a Korean tug-of-war, make a paper lantern or some origami, and sing a New Year’s song from East Asia. You don’t have to be Asian or know anything about Asia to participate!  We usher in the year of the Red Fire Monkey, a year of change and innovation where risk taking will be rewarded. 


Youth Services Hosting Monthly Group for Parents and Caregivers of LGBTQ Youth

Brattleboro, VT–Youth Services is launching a support group for parents and caregivers of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth in the Windham County region, on Thursday, January 28 from 5:30-7 p.m., in collaboration with Green Mountain Crossroads, a local nonprofit dedicated to connecting rural LGBTQ people. The first meeting of Joining Our Youth (JOY) group, will be at Youth Services at 32 Walnut St. in Brattleboro, VT.

Free and open to the public, the group’s mission is to build community while offering support and resources. For more information about this initial or subsequent meetings contact Rosie Nevins-Alderfer of Youth Services at (802) 257-0361 or email info@youthservicesinc.org


Vermont Jazz Center Presents: Bobby Broom Trio

The Vermont Jazz Center welcomes the Bobby Broom Trio on Saturday January 23rd at 8:00 PM. Broom is Chicago’s leading guitarist and, due to his commitment to teaching and his ability to draw crowds in Chicago’s best listening rooms, it is a rare treat to catch him on the east coast. He will perform with his long-standing trio of Dennis Carroll on bass and Makaya McCraven on drums who have each, respectively, played with Broom for 20 and 5 years. The trio will travel from Chicago to Vermont for this “one-off” concert with no other east coast gigs listed on their itinerary.

Broom stands out as one of the best guitarists in the world and has won the Downbeat Critic’s poll as Best Guitarist for 3 of the last 4 years. His music is both intelligent and soulful at the same time. He is a deep listener and an arranger who understands the power of space. He was “the first guitarist to be asked by Art Blakey to be a part of his group,” he loves standards, and can funk-out with the best of them. He has a beautiful tone, an extensive vocabulary of chordal voicings, a deep connection to the blues and a grooving rhythmical sensibility.


BCTV Schedules For The Week Of 1/18/2016

BCTV channel 8 schedule for the week of 1/18/16

Monday, January 18, 2016

12:00 am Artists in the Berkshires: The Williams College Octet

1:00 am 1st Wednesdays: Roots of Latin Jazz

2:15 am TED Talks: Shai Reshef: An Ultra-Low-Cost College Degree

2:30 am Firefighters Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth

4:30 am Vermont’s Reliance on Incarceration


Weekend Creativity Series: Building Ornamentation

One of the ways we used to be more creative as a culture was in our ornamentation of buildings. Part of the thrill of visits to big cities is to see the highly decorated and elaborate old facades.

While cost-cutting has streamlined buildings of more recent times, the Washington Cathedral in DC is a relatively new structure that stands as an example of what is possible with carved stone ornamentation. Cats, monsters, frogs, birds, snakes, owls, mules, dragons, pigs, and people are represented as gargoyles and water spouts.


The Stockwell Brothers at McNeill’s Brewery on Friday, January 15

McNeill’s Brewery presents contemporary bluegrass and folk music quartet The Stockwell Brothers on Friday, January 15 at 9:00 pm.

Bruce, Barry, Alan and Kelly Stockwell’s music spans traditional and progressive styles, but their trademark acoustic sound features new singer/songwriter material recast with banjo, alternative rhythms and three-part harmonies. They cover straight ahead bluegrass songs, finger picked acoustic guitar ballads, full tilt breakdowns and traditional mandolin tunes mixed in with more unusual fare – Americana melodies riding world beat grooves and Celtic, jazzy, even neo-classical instrumentals.