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Living story sections

The Vermont Community Foundation Awards Vermont Partnership Grant to Support the Vermont African American Heritage Trail

by Not Signed In | Travel

Brattleboro. The Vermont Community Foundation has awarded Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity an $11,000 Innovations and Collaborations grant. The grant will support Vermont Partnership’s development of the nearly three-year old Vermont African American Heritage Trail to be more accessible to Vermont school children and families.

The Vermont African-American Heritage Trail includes nineteen sites of importance to black history in the state and brings visitors to Vermont museums and cultural sites where exhibits, tours, and personal explorations illuminate the lives of African Americans for whom the Green Mountain State was part of their identity.

FYI: Brattleboro Freecycle.org

by Tego | Living

 link.

If , like me and several others, you lost track of freecycle once they quit sending out e mails you can go to the above page and rejoin if you still want to participate. You might have to choose a new user name and password first, as I did, but once you get to the page with the requests and offers, it seems pretty easy to use.

Always a Catch

by spinoza | Recreation & Sports

Skill and perseverance are needed to snare a fish in moving water, even more so if it’s a native variety. Of indigenous locals, brook trout are most prevalent, and arguably the most beautiful. They’re coy and sly creatures, and having had about ten million years to perfect their camouflage only enhances superb stealth. A trout can be underfoot and you might never know it. So, a catch is a delight which brings much satisfaction.

In short, to succeed you need to be a refined stalker and trickster. The trout is the one attuned to and at home in the water, not we terrestrials. Its super-sensitivities must be matched or there’s no chance, one false move and it’s usually game over. Within this critical pursuit, selection and presentation of an artificial fly must so evoke a real morsel, the fish is willing to risk his life chomping it.

Qigong for Healing and Living Fully – Stories from China

by Not Signed In | Health

Thomas Garbarino license acupuncturist and partitioner of qigong and taiji quan just recently returned from an epic pilgrimage to Wu Dang mountain in China. He will be sharing his experiences and stories as well as presenting new material to deepen our understanding of healing through the practice of qigong. All are welcomed.

You are your best healer! Come learn how each and everyone of us is born with the innate gift to heal ourselves. In this half-day intensive, you will experience simple and profound ways to awaken your body’s innate healing ability while deepening your capacity to relax and enjoy your life more completely. Participants will leave with a renewed and empowered sense of health and well-being. All are welcome; no experience required.

Body Farms: What Really Happens When We Die

by Vidda | Nature

All planetary life forms anywhere throughout the universe have an expiration date.

On Earth, the mass production of humans with their built-in obsolescence is no exception, which, akin to our manmade consumer products, the people have a shelf-life of their own. It’s a good thing too. The human population cupboard is full, and, in fact, bursting at the seams.

As a society, the human collective can expect two expiration dates. One is on the daily road of sustainability where individual humans become extinct (aka death). The other is when humans taken as a whole are no longer sustainable on this planet causing the extinction of the species.

Loons Near Brattleboro?

by chriscan | Nature

I know this is a loaded question but where can I find some loons near Bratt?  Has anyone heard their calls in Windham County?  I returned last week from camping in the N.E.K. and fell in love with their haunting calls. Just curious if anyone knows or not.

Brattleboro Area Hospice To Hold a 7 Week Bereavement Volunteer Training

by Not Signed In | Health

Brattleboro, VT. Beginning on Thursday, October 8, 2015 Brattleboro Area Hospice will offer a Bereavement Volunteer Training at its home office at 191 Canal Street in Brattleboro. This 21 hour volunteer training will run on Thursdays from 6:00 – 9:00 PM. The final session will take place on November 19th.

Bereavement Volunteers provide emotional support and companionship to individuals grieving the death loss of a loved one. Applications for the training will be accepted until September 4th, or until the training group has filled. Trained volunteers are asked to commit to one hour per week spent with a bereaved individual.

Dim Sum For Elephants, Sunday Sept. 13

by CXSilverGallery | Activism

Dim Sum for Elephants

You’re invited to Dim Sum for Elephants at 4:00pm, Sunday, September 13, at Cai’s Dim Sum Teahouse, 814 Western Avenue, West Brattleboro, Vermont, a dim sum buffet, with wine and desert. During the evening there will be a silent auction and an informative talk about the current status of African elephants and what is being done. The price to attend the event is $35.

One hundred percent of the proceeds after costs will go to benefit Wild Aid, an organization working to stem the unprecedented spike in illegal poaching of African elephants for ivory. Wild Aids’ campaign to reduce demand for elephant ivory in Asia is the single largest step that can be taken to save African Elephants from the threat of extinction. To find out more about them go to wildaid.org/elephants.

Reliable Volunteers Needed for Playground Installation

by SK-B | Family

DATE:  SATURDAY, AUGUST 29, 2015 (rain date will be Saturday, Sept. 5)

LOCATION: Lower park of the Canal Street School (next to the basketball court)

We need 4 – 5 Volunteers for the morning shift:  8:15 a.m.  – Noon

We need 4 – 5 Volunteers or the afternoon shift: Noon – 3 or 4 (or when complete)

Experience working with tools will be very helpful. 

What Good Did/Does Decriminalization Do?

by Vidda | Activism

When Daryl Pillsbury and I met in March 2010 for the first time the meeting came about after I had seen a photo of him in the Reformer holding a “Legalize Marijuana” sign outside of the polling area during the March town elections. That year I was chafing from the awareness that, while Vermont was surely a significant marijuana consumer state, it was clear that a high percentage of Vermonters were caught up in the criminal justice web.The actual statistics didn’t matter to me. Two consenting Vermont adults being arrested for personal use and possession of marijuana were two too many.

If there was any noteworthy marijuana activism in Vermont at that time it was under the radar. In fact, it seemed as if there was no activism at all, which is why the photo of Daryl holding the legalize sign struck a chord with me.

New ‘Synagogue Outdoors’ Grant Brings BAJC Outside

by BAJC Shir HeHarim | Spiritual

The Brattleboro Area Jewish Community (BAJC)‘Synagogue Outdoors’ Project has won a $3000 grant from the Gendler Grapevine Foundation for innovative work to connect community life with their 12 acres of land. 

 This Gendler Grapevine Grant enables BAJC to add welcoming, interpretive signs, new trails, benches and outdoor gathering spaces for study, prayer, storytelling, meditation and more. The grant builds on the volunteer labor of BAJC members and friends who have already accomplished planting a vegetable garden, a heritage wheat garden, and a small orchard.  They have built stairs and opened views that overlook woods and a stream. The trails on the BAJC grounds will be accessible to the general public as the Town of Brattleboro links their own nature trails to the site.

SeVWA’s 2015 E. coli Monitoring of Local River Sites Continued August 12th

by sevwa.wqmp | Nature

The Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance (SeVWA) had its fifth monitoring day for the summer of 2015 on Wednesday, August 12th. All of our sites, as well as much of the Northeast, received a soaking rain the day prior to sampling and only one of our sites tested below the “suitability for swimming” standard 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.

The Root Social Justice Center Celebrates Two Years with a Party

by Not Signed In | Activism

On Saturday, September 12 at 5:30 p.m., The Root Social Justice Center will be hosting a 2-Year Anniversary Party to celebrate its second year of operation and raise funds to keep its doors open for years to come. The event is open to the public and free, though donations are encouraged.

The Root Social Justice Center, located at 28 Williams Street in the Whetstone Arts Building, provides a physically and financially accessible space to support and bring together communities working for social justice.

Powerful Tools for Caregivers

by SeniorSolutions | Health

Powerful Tools for Caregivers is a class series that provides family caregivers of elders with the tools they need to take care of themselves. Reduce stress, improve communication, balance your life! 

This fall Senior Solutions is offering the six-week series starting in September in both Brattleboro and Windsor, co-sponsored by SASH. RSVP by Sept 3.

Connecticut River Bikeway Routes Map Released

by Not Signed In | Recreation & Sports

Are you looking for suggestions on bike rides in the Tri-State region this summer? The recently-released map of bikeway routes along the Connecticut River Scenic Byway can help you out. The map covers parts of three states and shows bike routes from Putney, VT and Walpole, NH in the north to Easthampton and South Hadley, MA in the south.

The map was prepared by the Franklin Regional Council of Governments in Greenfield, MA in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Windham Regional Commission (WRC) in Brattleboro contributed data for the Vermont portion of the map, which shows easier, intermediate, and advanced bike routes, off-road bike trails, bike shops, picnic areas, ice cream stops, and more.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

by cgrotke | Food

As many people know, I like baking. The one aspect of it that makes me nervous, more than anything, is working with chocolate. It’s a finicky ingredient. It melts when you touch it, is very sensitive to temperature, and water will make it freeze up.

When I find easy ways of using chocolate to get great results, I’m thrilled. Just recently I took a break from summer pie-making to make a yellow cake with a chocolate frosting, and tried something new that I’d like to share.

I’m about to teach you a very simple but dangerously effective recipe for a fudge-like chocolate frosting.