Auditions Wednesday for a Play in Guilford

Guilford Center Stage, a brand-new project of Broad Brook Grange, announces auditions for its first production, Tourists Accommodated, a comedy by noted Vermont author Dorothy Canfield Fisher.  Auditions will be held on Wednesday, July 22, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Grange in Guilford Center.  No reservation is required; just show up anytime during that 2 hour period. Those unable to attend may contact the directors for an audition.

Actors from all towns are welcome!

Grange member Laura Lawson Tucker and I are forming Center Stage in response to community requests for more arts and other events on the building’s small, but chariming stage.


Brattleboro Time Trade Listings – Week of July 19

Brattleboro Time Trade:   Exchanging services, creating connections, strengthening communities, one hour at a time.  See below for more exciting Upcoming Events and learn what Time Trade can do for you!

How Time Trade Works: You do something for someone and earn time credits for your “bank,” which you can then put towards someone else doing something for you! It’s that simple – and amazing!

This week’s fabulous listings, brought to you from a thunderstormy eve:

OFFERS (i.e. things people could do for you):

Free Kodak Printer
Will Weed Your Garden
Remote Reiki
Need a Ride?
Set of Studded Snow Tires for 1998 Nissan Sentra


Dosa Kitchen Food Truck Has Moved to Grafton Village Cheese in Brattleboro

Our South Indian food truck, Dosa Kitchen, has moved to a new home:

400 Linden Street (on Route 30), in front of Grafton Village Cheese in Brattleboro. Check Facebook for our new extended hours and stay posted as we firm up our regular hours. This week we’re open Sunday and Monday, closed Tuesday and Wednesday, then open the rest of the week. We’re at 646-388-2221 if you would like to call ahead.


Jade Helm Is Coming!

Be afraid, very afraid!

Jade Helm 15 is a United States military training exercise, scheduled to take place in multiple U.S. Southwestern states from July 15 to September 15, 2015.Led by Patriot Alex Jones, Texans and other residents are very concerned about the military’s latest intrusion on their freedoms.


BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 7/20/15

BCTV Ch.8 schedule for the week of 7/20/15

Monday, July 20, 2015

12:00 am 30 Minutes with Bill Schmick – Women and Wealth in America Today

12:30 am Sustainable Living Series – Native vs Invasive 5/13/15

1:40 am Windham Orchestra Celebrating Spring ’15: Benefit for Brattleboro Senior Meals

3:00 am Dartmouth College Conference: Charlie Hebdo, Free Speech and Terrorism

5:30 am Poets and Their Craft: Neil Shepard


Did Muslim Murder 4 Marines in Payback for Iraq Libya, Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan?

DESCRIPTION:

Another killing of GIs by a Muslim American. Most Americans will confine their judgement and emotions to this one specific quadruple murder, and this will be helpful to those, who have invested in profitable genocides from Korea onward in their continuing to stay under the radar. Insidious US media will make sure the deaths of the four Marines and Abdulazeez play out well for its ISIS hoax and Christian-Israeli hate Islam campaign.


Weekend Comedy Series: Aziz Ansari

You may know Aziz. He played Tom on “Parks & Recreation,” a kind of manic 20-something impressed by gadgets, technology and always looking to make it big.

Here he is in 2011 or so in Washington D.C. doing a show called “Dangerously Delicious,” featuring his observational style of humor.


The Tree of Life – Whatever Happens To A Leaf

When I wrote the poem “Whatever Happens to a Leaf” in 1999 there lay within it the core of my philosophy of life and death. If the context of the scientific notion that we are but born of dead stars from the ashes and dust of an extreme unbridled supernova, my leaf analogy of what happens to humans when they die simplifies the question so often asked of me, “What happens to us when we die.” My answer, troubling to many, accepting by some, is “What ever happens to a leaf when it falls from the tree is the same thing that happens to you and me.”Our existence is coexistent with the leaves on the trees, as we are with all living things. The evolutionary trek that brought us to the very day you read these words is the same chain from the branches of evolutionary life we clung to from our earliest days and which we cling to still.


SeVWA’s 2015 E. coli Monitoring of Local River Sites Continued July 15th

The Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance (SeVWA) had its third monitoring day for the summer of 2015 on Wednesday, July 15th. The majority of our sites received significant rainfall in the day before sampling and 8 of our 27 sites tested above the recommended “suitability to swim” bacteria level set by Vermont and the EPA. It is generally recommended to wait 24-48 hours after a significant rainfall to resume swimming in lakes and streams, so keep that in mind when making weekend plans on the water.

Even though we keep saying that bacteria levels are heavily dependent on rain, river users, whether they be swimming, boating, paddling, tubing, fishing, or even just hiking by, can help improve water quality by taking care of the rivers and their shores.


Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – July 21, 2015

The Brattleboro Selectboard will discuss next steps for the Police-Fire facility project at their next regular Tuesday meeting at the Municipal Center.

They’ll appoint a screening committee for the NEA Our Town project, accept a number of grants for projects and purchases, continue with retaining wall repairs, and more.

Note: I’m unable to cover this meeting. If anyone cares to step up and write up a few notes from this meeting for others, in any style or format, it would be greatly appreciated.


Longtime Library Director Announces Retirement – Brattleboro’s Public Library to Seek New Leader

Brattleboro VT – The Brattleboro Town Manager and the Brooks Memorial Library Board of Trustees jointly announced today that Jerry Carbone, Library Director of Brooks Memorial Library, has submitted a letter of intention to retire in December 2015.

Carbone, 64, will be stepping down after 37 years at the venerable institution, 22 as director. He is the 13th library professional to hold the post at the library that bears the name of George J. Brooks, who built and gave the original library building to the citizens of his adopted town.


The Will to Grow: Psychosynthesis Life Coach Training

Local residents will have a chance to learn about becoming a nationally Board Certified Coach (BCC) as The Synthesis Center introduces its psychosynthesis classes in Brattleboro this summer. On Wednesday, July 22nd at 6:30 p.m., there will be a free presentation at the The Synthesis Center’s regional office at 73 Main Street in Brattleboro. A follow up session is scheduled for August 23rd.

Psychosynthesis is distinctive for blending Western psychology with Eastern spiritual traditions, and it has long been applied in the fields of counseling, education and the helping professions as a tool for self development. More recently, the Center has introduced this method to the emerging field of life coaching, offering tools and applied practices for creating life change.


As Greece Goes, So Go Debtors All

Don’t mess with the powers that be. That’s the message I got from the Greek crisis currently winding down in Europe. They will wipe you out sooner than look at you if you welch on a bet – or default on a loan.

It was really quite remarkable to behold, this unraveling of Greece. Rumblings of trouble in the financial pages for months, a day of reckoning in June with banks closing country-wide, a stunning public referendum in which 60% of the citizenry voted against more austerity, and the government, just this week, caving all the same, its more idealistic finance minister resigning in, well, resignation.


I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Week of July 19

I-91

Northbound I-91 traffic has been relocated onto the southbound bridge. Traffic will remain reduced to one lane in each direction on I-91 until completion of the new bridge. The new bridge will be 104’ wide and is designed to carry all four lanes of traffic –two northbound and two southbound.

Route 30

Night work adjacent to Route 30 will continue this week, but will not affect traffic.

The speed limit on Route 30 near the work zone has been reduced to 40 mph. Project-related truck activity on Route 30 will continue. Route 30 will be reduced to a single lane intermittently both day and night, with flaggers regulating traffic within the work zone.


Brattleboro NEA Our Town Call For Artists – Addendum 2

BRATTLEBORO PUBLIC ARTS PROJECT(S)
CALL FOR ARTISTS/REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
ADDENDUM # 2
JULY 14, 2015

1. The Budget for the Project(s) has increased.

Additional donations have been received. The total budget for the project(s) is now $56,000.

2. What is/is not a U.S. Artist?


Family First: Brattleboro Savings & Loan Earns Gold Status as a Breastfeeding Friendly Employer

BRATTLEBORO, VT. – Brattleboro Savings & Loan recently took a step toward making the bank a bit more comfortable for new moms and dads on both sides of the teller window.

This June, the bank received ‘Gold Status’ from the Breastfeeding Friendly Employer Project, joining an elite set of businesses across the country that are taking a pledge to create safe, welcoming environments for breastfeeding mothers and their children.


One’s Lure of Choice

It’s peak summer, buzzing abounds. I was recently struck by the correlation between bikes and flies. This article attempts to chase that down. An exercise in vernal observation and kinetic free association, admittedly esoteric.

Sitting by the side of the road, gazing with even a slight degree of critical attention, you’ll see Harleys, BMWs, Ducatis, Triumphs, and a spate of Japanese varieties, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki.  Within each company selections are offered which do specific things optimally. The Touring Bike, the Cruiser, the Racer, the Dirt Bike. Also dotting the landscape, an array of hybrids made to straddle on and off-road use, they do various tasks reasonably well. These are the Enduros, Spyders, Dual Sports, etc. It’s a vast domain, with models for every passion and taste.


Pay As You Throw and the Rising Cost of Recycling

Pay As You Throw wasn’t so bad, now was it? All you have to do is spend a few extra hours (and/or dollars) a week on your trash and voila! It’s trash day and out to the curb it goes, in multiple assorted bins, to be sure, but at least it’s gone and that’s what matters. End of story, right?

Oh, how we wish. Unfortunately, now that we’re all composting, recycling, and reducing our landfill waste to little piles of plastic and metal oddments, we have a new problem. Curbside recycling is not profitable. It doesn’t even pay for itself. In many places, including Brattleboro, the recycling companies have to be propped up financially by the municipalities, costing taxpayers money (again).