What Brattleboro Really Needs Is A Food Co-op

A real food co-op just like the one we used to know. One where most of the work is done by working members. One where most of the produce is local. One where you can’t select from over 100 varieties of wine or countless designer beers. One where most of the food is nitty-gritty real food, affordable by ordinary people, not high end gourmet stuff.

 What we have now is indistinguishable from a Whole Foods Market or a Trader Joes, except our prices are a little higher.

I’ve been a member of the Co-op since the days on Flat Street. As I’ve watched the “devolution”, I’ve watched the prices go up.


Sharon Myers Presents: The Wedding Gown Project

Sharon Myers is known as a caterer in Brattleboro. She is also an artist who is about to receive her MFA in Fine Arts from Heartwood College of Art in Biddeford, Maine. She works with fabric, mixed media and sculpture. She has drawn on her multiple talents to create a moving installation called “The Wedding Gown Project.” For those who are beyond first (or second or…) marriages there is much in this exhibit that will resonate. Everyone will be drawn in by both the artistry and the execution.

The “Wedding Gown Project” is up for only two days, Saturday, April 11 and Sunday, April 12 at the seventh entrance in the C. F. Church Building at 80 Flat Street. Hours on Saturday are 3:00 – 7:00 PM and on Sunday from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.


Putney School Charitable Work Day

On May 9th, 2015, Putney School students will be hired out into the community to work for a charitable cause. We want you to help!

People from the greater Putney-Brattleboro community can hire students to do yard or housework for $8 an hour, for up to five hours, on Saturday, May 9th. The proceeds from our labor will then go to the Morningside Shelter .

The Morningside Shelter is a local organization dedicated to providing a safe space and ongoing support to families and individuals facing challenges of maintaining stable housing down in Brattleboro. As the only year-round homeless shelter in southeastern Vermont, the Morningside Shelter’s services are in high demand.


Stroll’s 2015 Locavore Index: Vermont Leads The Way Again

Which states are most committed to locally-sourced food? According to the 2015 Locavore Index, the top four locavore states (in order) are Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire and Oregon.

These four states also topped the 2014 Index, which is compiled annually by Strolling of the Heifers, a Vermont-based local food advocacy group.

“The purpose of the Index is to stimulate efforts across the country to use more local food in homes, restaurants, schools and institutions,”said Orly Munzing, founder and executive director of Strolling of the Heifers.


Revenge! A Reading and Discussion Series at Brooks Library

Revenge! What are the causes of revenge? What are the consequences? Is taking revenge ever justified? Explore this most passionate and provocative of human desires through drama, short stories, and novels. Join Vermont Humanities Scholar and long-time Brooks facilitator Richard Wizansky for an evening of engaged discussion on this universal topic. This week! Andre Dubus, Selected Stories, April 15, at 7 PM. Up next! Russell Banks, The Sweet Hereafter on May 27, 7 PM. Books can be borrowed from the Brooks Library. Join us!


Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem at Next Stage on Friday, April 10

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present Americana/roots quartet Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem at Next Stage on Friday, April 10 at 7:30 pm. This album release concert celebrates the brand new CD “Violets Are Blue,” a collection of sugar-free love songs infused with the band’s signature lush vocals, supple grooves, and most of all, joyous and generous spirit.

Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem bring fiddle, guitar, bass and junk percussion to bear on 100 years of American music, from Appalachian ballads to Brue Springsteen covers, songs by contemporary writers, and their own incisive originals. Their sound is “tight, with stylish, unexpected choices” (Acoustic Guitar), a mix of New Orleans grooves, old-time gospel harmonies, bluesy swing fiddle, and fiery electric and acoustic guitars.


Brattleboro Time Trade Listings – Week of April 6

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 the mess:

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

Early Morning Birding Walk
Color Consultation and Design


Dr. McLarney Discusses Shoulder Arthritis

As part of the Wellness in Windham Spring 2015 calendar, BMH orthopaedic surgeon Elizabeth McLarney, MD, will present a program on Monday, April 20 at 6:00 PM in the Brew Barry Conference Center. Her topic of discussion will be shoulder arthritis.

“Almost all people who have arthritis find that it affects their lives in some way. It can affect their everyday activities, their jobs, their financial resources or their relationships with family and friends,” says Dr. McLarney. “Arthritis is not easy to live with, but there is much we can do to change, overcome or cope with the problems it presents.”


BMH Rehab Services Adds New Physical Therapist

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital announced the addition of Angela Thomas, DPT, to its Rehabilitation Services staff.

Thomas just moved to the Brattleboro area after spending 20 years living in the southwestern United States. She holds a Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Northern Arizona University and degrees in Educational Psychology and Physical Education from the University of Arizona. Thomas is also a veteran of the United States Air Force, having served five years as a Command and Control Journeyman.

Most recently, Thomas worked with adult orthopedic patients at a private practice in Tucson, Arizona. Her work experience includes a wide variety of settings, including acute care hospitals and outpatient rehab settings. She will provide both outpatient and inpatient care in her role at BMH.


One-Man Circus in-a-Suitcase, Circus Minimus

Sandglass Theater closes the Winter Sunshine series with Circus Minimus, The One-Man Circus in-a-Suitcase by Kevin O’Keefe

PUTNEY VT- On April 11th at 1 and 3pm Kevin O’Keefe will bring his joyous, playful and raucous good time of a show to the Sandglass stage. Circus Minimus, One-Man Circus in-a-Suitcase gives everyone an opportunity to participate in an enthralling, whimsical celebration of the imagination. From Kevin O’Keefe’s suitcase an entire circus emerges: tent, band, lights, the boisterous ringmaster Steve Fitzpatrick, the officious Mervin Merkle, the incredible Bumbilini Family, the Magician to the Stars Clyde Zerbini, and Keefer–an innocent trying to runaway and join the circus. However, the most important performers emerge from the audience. Each performance becomes a dialogue between the characters and the audience–a light-hearted collaboration.


BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 4/6/15

BCTV ch.8 schedule for the week of 4/6/15

Monday, April 6, 2015

12:00 am Road to Recovery: Substance Abuse Among Youth

1:00 am An Untrodden Route to India

2:30 am DCC: How Nature Models Sustainability, Pt 3 – 2/17/15

4:00 am True North Reports: The Chain of Environmental Command

4:30 am Nuclear Free Future: The Impact of the Nuclear Age on the Earth


Tonight: Safeguarding the Nuclear Waste at VT Yankee

One of the most important topics for the future of Vermont and the Connecticut River Valley is what to do with the radioactive waste generated by the Vermont Yankee nuclear power facility. At 7pm on Monday, April 6, at the Centre Congreation Church on Main Street, Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear will make a presentation on nuclear waste and waste management.


Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast Invitation – Municipal Philanthropy

Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast Invitation

Municipal Philanthropy *
changing the taxation paradigm

* philanthropy –  the disposition or active effort to promote the happiness and well-being of others; practical benevolence, now esp. as expressed by the generous donation of money to good causes.  O.E.D. 

The next Brattleboro Citizens’ Breakfast is planned for Friday, April 17, 2015 at the Gibson Aiken Center, downstairs, hosted by Senior Meals. Doors open at 7:30am.


5:45: 4/3/15

Join 5:45 Live for a special spring Gallery Walk edition live from downtown Brattleboro, with an episode that includes headlines from the Co-ops lawsuit, Bernie’s attempt to restore $90 Billion in Pell Grant cuts, and some notable retirements in the BPD and BFD–plus exclusive footage from this week’s Coffee with a Cop event.


Cai Xi: Reception, Demo, Conversation: The Art-Food Connection – Sunday April 5, 2-4pm

C.X. Silver Gallery (http://cxsilvergallery.com/) is pleased to present ‘In The Box’, a recent series of mixed media abstract paintings by Cai Xi. Please join us for conversation with Cai on the Art-Food Connection and hands-on demonstration. Cai will demo how to make 盒子 (hezi) – or ‘boxes’ – a wheat flour mini-dumpling-based dish. Audience participation will be welcome.

Cai: “I look at my life the way I look at a blank canvas.  In front of the blank canvas, there are millions of opportunities. Putting brush to canvas zeroes in on one opportunity to savor. Each opportunity creates and adds to what I call the whole of the art experience. Each instance of this arrival at one-among-many is a part of my art creation process – eating, working, playing.”


Weekend Comedy Series: Dean Martin Roast of Jackie Gleason

Forget Justin Bieber. Here’s Dean Martin’s celebrity roast of Jackie Gleason, featuring roasters Art Carney, Gene Kelly, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Foster Brooks, Nipsy Russell, and others.

If you were watching NBC in February of 1975, you may have caught this as it originally aired. If not, here’s your chance to watch it anew – a Dean Martin roast from start to finish.


Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – April 7, 2015

The Brattleboro Selectboard begins April with quite a few large projects which will, of course, be discussed at their next regular Tuesday meeting at the Municipal Center on Main Street. You can participate in person, or follow along via you favorite forms of local media.

If you do, you’ll be treated to discussions of a new fire alarm system for the Municipal Center, an overview of newly proposed zoning districts, insight into a comprehensive review of town operations and long term financial planning project, sewer contracts, Selectboard goals and rules of conduct, the probability of a potential PACE program, and more. You can also bring up other itmes not on the agenda during public participation.