Putney- East meets West in a shadow world where forbidden love and poetry collide. A Chance Shadow is a poetic play inspired by the Chinese poet Xu Zhimo (1897~1931) and the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca (1898~1936) who changed society with their passion for literature, social reform and true love. Two poets who had never met living on opposite sides of the earth, during
I hadn’t heard of this before today:
In 2008, Vermont senator Patrick Leahy was traveling in a car 125 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border in the state of New York.
They came to a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, which stopped the U.S. senior senator, and an agent ordered him to get out of the car.
Six miles from Leesburgh, on the road to
Snicker’s Gap, July 17, 1864.
Dear Wife,
Here we are on our march. I wrote to you last from Poolsville. Sent the letter to Washington by Bill Dwyer to be mailed. The day I wrote we laid still. The men were very badly used up by being up nights and the march. We left yesterday morning, followed the river up to White’s Ford. The Ford was held by a few rebels. They were quickly shelled out. The cavalry crossed and took a few prisoners. The main force of the rebels crossed there, the day we came to Poolsville. We crossed about noon, forded the river. It was fun, then we came here by a rapid march.
1864.
I picked this up at Washington. Man who had it will never see friends nor loved ones more, as he laid dead on the rebel skirmish line.
Charles E. Blake.
….
Rocky Mount, N.C., May 31, 1864.
Dear Husband, –
Tom Franks’ recent Open Letter explained why we resigned from the Brattleboro Food Co-op Board, so I won’t repeat what he said. But I do want to thank those shareholders who voted for me, apologize to you for not serving out my full term, and further explain my actions.
It seems like the Wednesday Farmers Market located on the Whetstone Path near the co-op is slowly disappearing. Of course it has always been a smaller market that the big Saturday one but today it was really surprising. There were only 2 small farms there-both selling very limited types of produce. No berries to be found anywhere. There was the flower man; a bakery with a few tasty looking morsels. the always popular Thai food truck (with a very long line); there may have been someone selling honey but that was it. Definitely not worth the trip if you weren’t planning on going to the co -op (where I was able to find local blueberries).
The Walpole Wild Blue and the Claremont Cardinals kept their hopes alive for for a first place regular season finish in the Connecticut River Valley Baseball League with victories in their most recent games. The team they are chasing, the undefeated Putney Fossils, return to CRVBL action this weekend.
The defending champion Claremont Cardinals beat a shorthanded Walpole Maples team, 13-1 at Barnes Park in Claremont. Veteran pitcher Mike Wells, kept the Maples off balance all day with an assortment of scuffed fastballs and doctored curves. Wells threw 6 strong innings, allowing one run on three hits, with 6 strikeouts. He also helped himself by starting a nifty double play to stop a possible rally in the 4th inning. The offense was paced by the four hit and five RBI performance of Mr. Nate Duford. Todd Bersaglieri raked three hits and Andrew Sullivan had two more.
Property taxes are way too high in Chester, Vermont. How high are your property taxes in Brattleboro?
The teachers need to go back to chalk and black boards. Student test scores have only gone down since they’ve been using calculators and the internet.
I was so shocked at my property tax bill I called the State 802-828-6848 and left a message for the Taxpayer Advocate, but I have not received a return call yet. My property tax bill for my home in Chester, VT 05143 was 10% higher than last year, and I have to pay 6.2% of my annual income. I think their arithmetic might be in error. There are no codes and statutes printed out with the property tax bill to prove they have a valid claim for such high amounts. Anything that comes from the State with a demand for our money should include a code and/or statute that they are basing their demand on.
A portion of Green Street will be closed on Monday, July 21 through Wednesday, July 23, 2014 for the demolition of a building located at 72 Green Street that was destroyed by fire last winter. The closure is as follows:
• Green Street from the intersections of Church Street to Bullock Street will be closed Monday, July 21 – Wednesday, July 23 from 6:30am – 4:30pm. No through traffic will be allowed.
• Traffic from High Street onto Bullock Street will be permitted to turn right onto Green Street. No left-hand turns will be allowed.
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.
Route 30
The speed limit on Route 30 near the work zone has been reduced to 40 mph. This reduction will remain in effect through the Spring of 2016. 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.
WASHINGTON, July 16 – The Department of Veterans Affairs needs $17.6 billion to hire 10,000 doctors, nurses and other health care providers and make other reforms in order to meet the needs of a growing number of veterans and reduce long waiting times for health care, Acting Secretary Sloan Gibson told the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs today.
Gibson was responding to a question by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the committee chairman, about what the VA needs to address a large influx of veterans needing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other health care needs.
Without the resources to deal with veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Gibson said, “the wait times just get longer.”
The Brattleboro Selectboard has decided to again attempt a search for a new Town Manager after the second search process resulted in two qualified applicants finding other jobs closer to their homes. The process was also harmed, in some unnamed but serious manner, by confidential information being published by the Reformer newspaper last week, according to Chair David Gartenstein, who was not pleased.
Brattleboro will see a new brewery open in town, new equipment for town departments, a new committee tasked with identifying Brattleboro’s share of Entergy funds, new parking spaces, new no parking spaces, and more.
An open letter to the shareholders of the Brattleboro Food Cooperative and the general community:
Last week I and another individual resigned from the Board of Directors of the Brattleboro Food Cooperative. It was made clear to us that seven of the nine other board members believed that we had violated the board code of conduct and their trust. While we disagreed with the majority of the board, we did not believe we would be able to change their minds.
July 15th. Poolsville, Md.
Came here yesterday about 4 o’clock P.M. Left Washington just after dinner. Came about one half mile and waited for the division and trains to pass. Our brigade brought up the rear. Our company was detailed as flankers for our brigade train, and on we came, not knowing where we were going, so one we came, up hill and down, over one of the roughest rough roads I ever saw, men lying down at every step. At about one o’clock we had orders to stop ten minutes then long enough to make coffee, after that to lie down. So we did and slept soundly until about day light, then on and on until we reached here.
Might you be able to help a 15-year old boy from Nigeria who has been accepted at BUHS for the coming school year? Oche is the recipient of a prestigious Kennedy-Lugar YES scholarship from the U.S. State Department for future leaders of countries with significant Muslim populations and will be attending BUHS this fall.
We are looking for a family who could welcome Oche for about 6 weeks, from August 8 to September 20 or so. Host families provide room and board for the student, as well as support and guidance as he adjusts to life in Vermont. He does not need a separate bedroom, as long as you can provide a bed in a room with a host brother and a place to study. As a YES student, Oche will have a monthly stipend for personal expenses and school lunches, as well as medical insurance.
In an unusual move for public school teachers, the members of the National Education Association, the teachers union representing many of the nation’s teachers, voted on July 4 to approve a resolution calling for Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan to resign. This appears to have been a bit of an over-my-dead-body affair with regard to NEA leadership which has been accused of being overly cozy with the Department of Education and Big Ed corporations such as Microsoft and Pearson. Calling the federal policy “a failed education agenda,” a majority of the 9,000 rank and file delegates at this year’s convention declared independence from their own compromised leadership with a yes vote on the controversial measure.
Life is hard. Hope is good. To honor both of these facts of life, Write Action is sponsoring a Flash Fiction writing contest.
The winning entry will be a work of fiction no longer than 820 words. Writers can choose which of three possible themes are most inspiring.
1) “Planting seeds the day before the end” OR
2) “Hope in the dark” OR
3) “Fixing what can be fixed”
BCTV Ch.8 Schedule for the week of 7-14-14
Monday July 14
12:00 am Common Good VT: Educational Leaders – Making a Difference
1:00 am Yestermorrow Summer Lectures: Charles Eisenstein – New Design Paradigm
2:00 am FSTV Overnight
4:00 am Energy Week Extra: SolarFest – 6/26/14
5:00 am Living and Dying with Brattleboro Area Hospice: Ep. #17 – One Client’s Story
I was raised on a small rural farm between two rushing rivers not far from the western shore of the Chesapeake with luxuriant greenery and cultivated fields not even topped by the best of Vermont’s prolific shades of green.
After leaving home and hitchhiking 6000 miles in a Summer of Love east-west-east roundtrip, I ended up in New York City, where I spent most of my adult life.
Now, after seven years as a Vermonter I can indulge myself locally in the greenacres and only look back to recall or revisit my storied life in the concrete canyons.
Climate Change: Fear or Hope?
In July, the “Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast” will again take place on the fourth Friday of the month, Friday, July 25, 2014 at the Gibson Aiken Center, downstairs, hosted by Senior Meals. Doors open at 7:30am.
The Topic for this month will be: Climate Change: Should we be Fearful? Or Hopeful? A discussion of some positive trends in energy use..
The presenter will be George Harvey, the General Factotum of the Green Energy Times – http://greenenergytimes.org/
