iBrattleboro.com | Lise | Activity

Lise commented on the post, Turn It Up Inc Being Acquired by Longtime Employee Carson Arnold on November 24, 2025

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 19:36:00 +0000

What great news. Carson is a really nice guy and has wide ranging knowledge of music and film. For people who love music and movies, Turn It Up is the spot. I wish them all the luck (and lots of customers). […]

Lise wrote a new post, Taking a Stand on No Kings Day

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 18:38:26 +0000

As did the authors of the Declaration of Independence, we find ourself in rare times. For the first time in our history, democracy itself is under assault by people bent on its destruction and along with it, the […]

Lise wrote a new post, Making Deals With The Mongol Horde

Wed, 14 May 2025 22:18:20 +0000

I’ve been reading about Genghis Khan and the Mongols recently, for no particular reason, and learning about the years of the Mongol invasions. This was the period during the 13th century when the Mongols were s […]

Lise commented on the post, A Moment for John Carnahan

Fri, 09 May 2025 14:51:51 +0000

I was really sad to hear this. As Chris says in his story, John was one of the first people we got to know in Brattleboro, and we loved chatting with him and his wife Mary, who were just lovely people. Fun, […]

Lise wrote a new post, The Game of Government

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 20:46:11 +0000

Just for fun, let’s regard the government as a game.

It is, in a way. There are rules, roles, and regalia, a bank, an army, real estate. You could construct any number of exciting board games from this […]

Lise commented on the post, Declaration of Independence From the Arbitrary Rule of Tyrant Elon Musk

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:41:45 +0000

I was just thinking about “the consent of the governed” today and poking around for a text copy of the Declaration of Independence, when I saw your post. I think you’re on to something! The big question is: are […]

Lise wrote a new post, A Vocabulary of Fascism

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 15:48:15 +0000

Sometimes we have a lot of useful words but have trouble putting them together. In the current case, however, they speak loud and clear. Let’s review the vocabulary and its implications:

Extremely a […]

Lise wrote a new post, Opinion = Emotion | We Are Not Required To Have Opinions

Thu, 14 Nov 2024 20:53:57 +0000

As a person whose political views center around ways to foster peace, harmony, fairness, and nature, I’ve been struggling lately with all the things there are to feel terrible about in our difficult and unpeaceful […]

Lise wrote a new post, Acres of Dead

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 18:00:00 +0000

I wrote today’s date in my date book and suddenly it clicked — 11/11, Veterans Day. I knew that it was Veteran’s Day, but somehow I didn’t know it. I had forgotten what it meant. So I opened a book and then I […]

Lise commented on the post, So, About That Winter

Wed, 20 Mar 2024 18:04:27 +0000

I was glancing through my day book the other morning, and saw noted on Dec 15, 2023 that a NH meteorologist had informed viewers (sadly, bless ’em) that according to projections, it wasn’t going to be much of a […]

Lise commented on the post, Brattleboro's Big Shift To... ???

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 15:30:11 +0000

Since I’m not in the best mood today, here’s my sole comment (pardon my cheerlessness in advance)

– When is downtown for people who live here and when is it for tourists?

And when is it for burglars, t […]

Lise wrote a new post, What Do Tiggers Like?

Fri, 28 Jul 2023 17:18:59 +0000

The Tigger character from Winnie the Pooh is definitely based on life, and here’s how I know. We have these two kittens, you see, and being relatively new to the planet, they’re curious about everything, […]

Lise wrote a new post, Vermont Progressives Take On Climate Change

Mon, 24 Jul 2023 16:54:00 +0000

This is the summer that climate change got real for me, and after reading Richard Davis’ piece a few days ago, I realize I’m not the only one. It may not be possible for us to solve all the problems of climate […]

Lise wrote a new post, Saying Good-bye to McNeill's

Tue, 06 Dec 2022 20:28:02 +0000

One of our favorite places to hang out when we first moved to Brattleboro was McNeill’s on Eliot Street. Having moved up from Boston/Cambridge, home of many gritty, grubby Irish-style pubs that were not then or e […]

Lise wrote a new post, VTrans Issues Traffic Alert For Route 9 Between Brattleboro and Wilmington

Thu, 09 Jun 2022 16:26:27 +0000

TRAFFIC ALERT

Wilmington-Brattleboro VT-9 Resurfacing Project

DATE: Thursday, June 9, 2022

TRAFFIC IMPACT AND DURATION: Due to heavy rain causing unfavorable roadway conditions, motorists are advised to […]

Lise commented on the post, It's The End Of The World As We Know It

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 16:10:38 +0000

I had to think about this again, and I agree, we probably can’t just induce our fearless leaders to change their ways out of the goodness of their hearts. But we can look into our own hearts. In the current […]

Lise wrote a new post, It's The End Of The World As We Know It

Sat, 19 Mar 2022 14:50:51 +0000

There’s a funny skit on the Don’t Crush That Dwarf album by Firesign Theatre in which two tv news anchors banter about the apocalypse. “Last year, Patty, you and the viewers will be interested in noting that the […]

Lise commented on the post, Steve Barrett on "Here We Are"

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 15:17:28 +0000

Steve has been heading up Public Works for all the years we’ve been in Vermont, and in that time, he was always one of the most helpful, amiable people in town government. His good-natured patience at town […]

Lise commented on the post, Finding Common Ground

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 18:13:58 +0000

Thanks, Timmy, for your comments and also the news about Braver Angels!

As for your dad, it’s good that you had other “connections” as you put it.

With my own dad, he knew I loved him and I knew he loved […]

Lise commented on the post, Finding Common Ground

Thu, 03 Feb 2022 18:09:39 +0000

I do remember the Common Ground restaurant very well. It was upstairs from Everyone’s Books, but eventually it fell apart and closed. Food there was tasty, and very cheap or free depending on your circumstances […]

Lise wrote a new post, Finding Common Ground

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 20:03:02 +0000

My father was always conservative. Although never a registered Republican — he preferred to see himself as an Independent — his views were decidedly to the right. For my part, I too saw myself as independent but […]

Lise wrote a new post, How To Unify The Country

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 21:25:37 +0000

Originally written one year ago on January 19, 2021

When divisions reign between the people, and there are sides, and each side hates the other, things can get very heated. Consider the old truism that the […]

Lise wrote a new post, Candide Revisited

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 22:34:38 +0000

While I was reading Candide, the controversial 18th century fable by master satirist and troublemaker Voltaire, I mentioned to some fellow readers that I thought it was very funny. I was met with a chorus of […]

Lise wrote a new post, Autumnal Rites

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 21:43:26 +0000

We got the predicted rain last night. Sometime after midnight, in the darkest hours of the night, the rain began to pour. It was hard not to notice. Even the cat was intrigued, opening the curtains to look ou […]

Lise wrote a new post, Dealing Rationally With Environmental Apocalypse

Mon, 09 Aug 2021 21:09:25 +0000

Unless you’ve really been living in deep media seclusion, you probably already know the planet is in big trouble. The planet’s troubles, expressed as record heat waves, epic wildfires, prolonged droughts, biblical […]

Lise commented on the post, Smart Meters

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 21:14:36 +0000

Just to be clear, my sudden onset tinnitus was not precipitated by high decibel noise exposure. At the time this happened, I had no tinnitus at all, then suddenly I had bad tinnitus. It continues to this day. I […]

Lise wrote a new post, Futility: The Story of a Moth

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 21:08:51 +0000

I was sitting in the window the other day looking out into yet another summer shower when I noticed a moth flapping around between the inner pane and the outer storm window. As is typical for moths trapped in […]

Lise commented on the post, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 21:48:45 +0000

Around 3pm we checked again, and Vermont had been engulfed by a red zone with unhealthy air for the region. But the NWS says it will clear out by 9pm.

Lise wrote a new post, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 18:02:14 +0000

It’s an ill wind that blows no good… Just kidding. As most of us are probably aware, there’s been a lot of smoke in the air recently, although what zephyr it blew in on I have no idea. We noticed it last n […]

Lise commented on the post, The Eve Of Destruction

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 14:55:19 +0000

I was really glad to see this article appear. In fact, had Richard not written it, I was going to! Not that it’s a cheerful topic, but it’s been much on my mind recently, the fate of nature and “the environment” […]

Lise commented on the post, Smart Meters

Mon, 26 Jul 2021 14:40:18 +0000

It’s always to fun to make fun of people we don’t agree with, isn’t it? I remember a few days after smart meters were installed on my street (almost a dozen within a few yards of my house and on my house), I […]

Lise wrote a new post, New Interactive Weather Map for iBrattleboro

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 15:19:21 +0000

As Tropical Storm Elsa wends her way up the coast, it seems as good a time as any to point out our new weather feature — an interactive weather map! We’re very happy with the new functionality, having lost access […]

Lise wrote a new post, Saying Good-Bye To Steve

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 02:23:16 +0000

We were sorry to hear that our buddy Steve, long time resident and “howdy neighbor” of Upper Forest Street, has passed away. He was 80 years old and died of complications of a stroke.

When we lived on Cedar […]

Lise wrote a new post, iBrattleboro Contributor and Local AFL-CIO President David Van Deusen In Hot Water For November General Strike Vote

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 21:00:13 +0000

As a sometime reader of Counterpunch, I occasionally run across items of local interest. This time, it’s an article highlighting a voice iBrattleboro readers know well — Vermont-chapter AFL-CIO President David […]

Lise commented on the post, Brattleboro Unofficial Election Results

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 17:51:17 +0000

The official results are here:

Lise commented on the post, No Hope For Reform

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 15:26:04 +0000

One thing I learned during the 2020 election season was that many people, including some I thought of as “liberal” were actually dead against anything that could be labeled socialism. That very much includes […]

Lise wrote a new post, Keeping Local Arts Alive At The Latchis

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 22:21:20 +0000

Like many of us, I’ve been staying safe during the pandemic and not participating too much in social events. But I still stay in the loop with as many local organizations as I can. Many of us with a connection t […]

Lise wrote a new post, Making Sense of 2020

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 22:19:22 +0000

As 2020 coasts to a close, it feels unusually difficult to write a year-end essay that encapsulates all the things that happened to us this year. Even a personal essay would be too long to write, let alone read. […]

Lise commented on the post, Christmas This Year

Thu, 24 Dec 2020 16:36:02 +0000

Thanks, Annikee! I couldn’t have said it better myself. Maybe with everyone’s multitraditional love and joy, we can lift the planet to a better place. Some say the first step to making something happen is to believe in it.

Lise wrote a new post, Christmas This Year

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 21:42:58 +0000

Every year at Christmastime, our household goes a little crazy with holiday and seasonal preparations. We play Christmas music from Thanksgiving on, make presents, shop, bake cookies, eat cookies, put cookies away […]

Lise wrote a new post, Dealing with High Rental Costs in Brattleboro

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 23:12:49 +0000

I’ve been following the rental debate involving the Brattleboro Selectboard and the Brattleboro Tenants Union, and finding aspects of it perplexing. Brattleboro is gentrifying — it’s a hip little town in an […]

Lise wrote a new post, Reading Defoe's Journal of a Plague Year (So You Don't Have To)

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 18:39:57 +0000

Because I’m a glutton for punishment, I’ve been reading “plague literature,” which is really only interesting if you happen to be going through something comparable as we are now. Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of a […]

Lise commented on the post, What Does The US Flag Stand For?

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 15:10:04 +0000

You nailed it in your last couple sentences — we Americans believe in lots of good, old fashioned American values like fairness and doing the right thing, but our country doesn’t seem to follow any of them. I […]

Lise commented on the post, Governor Scott Did What He Should Have. Is That Exceptional?

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 14:40:09 +0000

This is an odd year, but the middle of a major life-upending pandemic is no time to put on your Republican miser hat. Scott clearly knows that. So, apparently does Donald Trump who now wants the stimulus to go […]

Lise commented on the post, Heat Fund Appeal

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 14:28:34 +0000

The Heat Fund is one of a few groups I donate to every year. No one likes to be cold, but I think the idea that two local guys can help alleviate that is cool. They deserve a lot of kudos for the amount of […]

Lise commented on the post, From COVID-19 To Picket Lines - One Year of Building Progressive Union Power Within The Vermont AFL-CIO

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 14:23:41 +0000

First off, this all sounds great. I continue to be impressed by Vermont’s labor organizations and activism.

Also wanted to mention that I’ve been reading a lot about the turn of the last century (late 1800s […]

Lise wrote a new post, Donald Trump's October Surprise

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 21:04:07 +0000

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, has Covid-19. That this happened on a full moon was weird, almost spooky and very Octoberish.

I noticed no other omens however. Last night, we watched Stella […]

Lise wrote a new post, For the Amusement of Petitioners

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 21:05:38 +0000

Leafing through an old notebook, I found this poem by myself called Petitioning. It was written a long time ago in 2005 but despite the issues being 15 years out of date, it still made me laugh. If you’ve ever […]

Lise commented on the post, How Are You Holding Up?

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 14:51:18 +0000

I looked through my journal recently and noticed that I thought Coronavirus (as we were calling it back then) would last a month or two. This was in early March. Then in May, when I realized that assessment was […]

Lise wrote a new post, On Reading All of The Decameron

Sun, 13 Sep 2020 01:29:00 +0000

There are a number of conundrums about Boccaccio’s Decameron – a collection of bawdy tales set in the Plague year of 1348 – that can’t be solved by reading it. How was it written? Why was it written? For whom was […]