Seven Days, March 24, 2021 by Seven Days

APRIL 2021

Kidding Around

Stay on a goat farm in Townshend 8

State of Mind

Insider travel tips from Happy Vermont 12

Inn and Out

Meet the Pitcher Inn’s adventure guide

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V ERM ONT ’S INDEP E NDE NT V O IC E MARCH 24-31, 2021 VOL.26 NO.25 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

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WEEK IN REVIEW MARCH 17-24, 2021 COMPILED BY SASHA GOLDSTEIN & MATTHEW ROY

NO CHILD’S PLAY

CAN WE HELP WITH YOUR BAGS?

The closure of a St. Albans childcare center run by the Greater Burlington YMCA will impact about 40 families. Sure makes it hard for parents to work.

INCOMING?

COURTESY OF KRISTEN BROSNAN

Gov. Phil Scott has asked the feds to triple the number of refugees resettled in Vermont next year. That’s one way to increase the workforce — and cultural diversity.

Kristen Brosnan

It seems like everyone these days has an anecdote about Vermonters returning to their home state or newcomers moving in. But the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs is seeking to make popular move-to-Vermont incentives permanent. The panel has proposed a $1 million program that would reimburse a worker who is new to the state up to $5,000 for moving expenses. That amount would rise to $7,500 for someone who moves to an area with a higher-than-average unemployment rate or lower-than-average annual wages. Vermont’s remote worker program garnered international headlines when it debuted three years ago. Its success shows that these initiatives should continue, said Sen. Randy Brock (R-Franklin). He sees the new measure as similar to the business-incentive programs used to lure companies. “There are some states in the South literally spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per job to bring in auto plants and other things,” said Brock. “These are situations a state like Vermont can’t afford.” The incentive helped a lot when Kristen Brosnan moved her family of six to Colchester last summer.

COURTESY OF WILKINS HARLEY-DAVIDSON

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Brosnan, formerly of Niskayuna, N.Y., was recruited to work as technology director at Superior Technical Ceramics in St. Albans, which makes high-end ceramics for the aerospace, defense, semiconductor and energy industries. “It costs about $10,000 to move a six-person family,” Brosnan said. “It made a big difference to us.” The idea of paying people to move to Vermont started in the same Senate committee in 2018, but the Scott administration quickly jumped on board when the idea drew thousands of queries and hundreds of visits to state-run events. Many other states and municipalities started their own incentive programs after Vermont’s took off. State Auditor Doug Hoffer is not a fan. In late 2019, he noted that early users of the program were reimbursed for expensive amenities, such as high-end computer monitors. Hoffer pointed out that news reports suggest the state is already experiencing an influx of residents. “With this in mind, I question the wisdom of this approach, especially when we have so many other unmet needs for existing Vermont residents,” he said. Read Anne Wallace Allen’s full report and keep up with developments at sevendaysvt.com.

EYES IN THE SKY

Vermont officials blasted a federal plan to install new surveillance towers and cameras along the Canadian border. Big Brother translates to grand frère.

That’s how many days the Vermont Department of Taxes extended this year’s filing deadline. State and federal tax returns are now due on May 17.

TOPFIVE

Online Now

B Y DE REK B R O UW E R & L IAM E L D E R - C O NNO R S PAGE 26 COVER IMAGE DAN FISHEL • COVER DESIGN REV. DIANE SULLIVAN

NEWS & POLITICS 11

ARTS NEWS 22

FEATURES 32

From the Publisher

A Long Conversation

Custom Fit

Red Flags

A sergeant accused of sexual assaults remains in Vermont Guard despite criminal record

Not Out of the Woods

Vaccination strategy and turns of the spigot pose risks in new pandemic phase

Vermont Symphony Orchestra addresses racial reckoning in a multi-genre performance

Wholesome Content

Book Reviews: How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope, anthology; and Bluebird, James Crews

Shapeshifters in Brattleboro revolutionizes the chest binder market

Fantastic Voyager

Cat lover Alexis Dexter helps felines find furever homes through Kitty Korner Café in Barre. Vermont’s only cat café lets customers meet kitties and possibly bring them home: More than 150 have been adopted since the business opened last August.

We have

Musician Alexa Woodward and data visualization artist Jane Adams team up on AI-derived music videos

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Alone Together

COURTESY OF SUZIE MCCOY

FROM THE PUBLISHER

My mother died early in the pandemic, though at the time neither of us had any idea how long the crisis would last. We spent the first four weeks waving at each other through the windows at Burlington’s Converse Home. On April 16, Mom was diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer. Because she was terminal, I was allowed to be with her throughout her rapid decline and death. She was gone before the lilacs were. I’m grateful that she died peacefully in her apartment and also, frankly, that she mostly missed the pandemic. She loved people and, at age 91, found the courage to move from Maryland to be closer to me. She made and cherished friends. I know the social isolation of the past year would have killed her, and I think she knew it, too. In fact, I suspect she might have died to avoid it. Like every reputable assisted living facility in Vermont, the Converse Home had super-strict coronavirus protocols. Residents were confined to their rooms. And in those first few months, staffers were terrified of infecting the elders in their care. But they were also rightly concerned about the ill effects of quarantine on residents. I saw workers go to great lengths to facilitate FaceTime talks with family members, deliver delicious meals and organize hallway bingo games. They came in to sing, chat and help with devices. One day the beleaguered activities director arranged for a concert on Adams Street, with students singing operatic arias and Frank Visiting my mom and her friend Sue Sinatra tunes. Residents, including my dying mom, could at the Converse Home in March 2020 hear the music from their rooms. Things got a lot harder after that. In the summer of 2019, Seven Days and Vermont Public Radio had joined forces to scrutinize the inspection records of the state’s eldercare facilities. We uncovered some alarming violations, and the stories and database in our collaborative Worse for Care series won numerous honors, including a national Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting. Following up this winter, our reporters found a different kind of abuse: the mental and physical ravages of COVID-19 avoidance, which for many elders has amounted to long-term solitary confinement. Because the state’s oldest residents are most likely to die of the coronavirus, health policies have been designed to protect them, at almost all costs. For some, it’s been a terrible tradeoff: life or liberty. Derek Brouwer and VPR’s Liam ElderIf you like what we do and can afford to help Connors found that the pursuit of happiness pay for it, become a Seven Days Super Reader! is a crucial motivator, too. In this week’s cover Look for the “Give Now” buttons at the top of story, “Isolation Wards,” they document how sevendaysvt.com. Or send a check with your residents of these facilities have fared while address and contact info to: the virus kept families — and regulators — SEVEN DAYS, C/O SUPER READERS away. P.O. BOX 1164 BURLINGTON, VT 05402-1164 It’s a reminder that as Vermont emerges from this crisis and we mourn those we’ve For more information on making a financial lost, we should also examine the price of contribution to Seven Days, please contact survival. Corey Grenier:

Paula Routly

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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

FAIR GAME

OPEN SEASON ON VERMONT POLITICS BY DAVE GRAM

The Charlotte Blues

A small-town paper’s editor departs after reporting zoning dustups

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

TIM NEWCOMB

ro tip: If you want a feisty, independent local newspaper covering your small town, don’t let small-town politics infect the paper. Charlotte, an affluent community of nearly 3,800 at the southern edge of Chittenden County, has been an anomaly, bucking the trend of towns becoming news deserts. It is served by two local newspapers, the biweekly Charlotte News and the weekly Citizen. The interest in news may be natural for a town that has become home to a number of national journalists, including New Yorker contributing writer ADAM DAVIDSON and former foreign correspondent CHRISTINA ASQUITH. The Charlotte News is a homegrown nonprofit, supported by local fundraising and governed by a board of directors that has included some of those experienced writers and editors. But recently there’s been trouble in journalistic paradise. It’s come to a head with what some see as the forced resignation of the paper’s widely respected editor and lone paid staffer, followed by the volunteer publisher’s departure and the resignations of four people who shared two seats on the board. CHEA WATERS EVANS, who spent much of her youth in Charlotte, said in an interview that she considered being the Charlotte News’ editor a “dream job.” She said she had gotten excellent feedback and employee reviews from her bosses. But things changed, she said, after she wrote stories in late 2020 that raised questions about conflicts of interest involving town officials. On October 29, Evans reported, “A conflict that crosses board boundaries in town has ignited planning and zoning, personnel, and public meeting conflicts. The issues center around an application considered two weeks ago by the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA).” In a December 3 story, headlined “What’s going on with the zoning administrator? Town officials won’t say,” Evans wrote about her battles to obtain information on a reprimand issued by town officials against Zoning Administrator DANIEL MORGAN, as well as a grievance he filed against the town. In other words, it was tough, no-nonsense journalism, with some of the sharpest scrutiny directed at the ZBA. The last story Evans wrote for the Charlotte News, published March 11, was headlined “It’s inevitable: Conflict of interest in a small town” and contained this nugget:

A GREAT JOURNALIST COVERING CHARLOTTE IS A POSITIVE THING FOR ALL OF US,

AND IT’S VERY CLEARLY WHAT PEOPLE IN THE TOWN ARE SAYING THAT THEY WANT. C H R IS TINA AS Q UITH

“The publisher of this newspaper is the spouse of a member of the ZBA.” She was referring to CLAUDIA MARSHALL, herself a former journalist at ABC News and CBS News and spouse of ZBA member MATT ZUCKER. Marshall met with Evans shortly before her final story was published and told her there was growing dissatisfaction with her on the paper’s board, Evans said. “I was

never explicitly told … ‘Don’t report this’ or ‘Don’t write about this,’” she said. Marshall’s “indications to me was that the board was looking for something that I wasn’t quite providing. I’m unclear exactly what it was … It just seemed like it was time to go … If this isn’t working out, this is a lot of hard work that maybe could be channeled elsewhere.” Did a conflict of interest come into play when Marshall pushed for a change

in direction after critical stories about the ZBA? Marshall — who resigned her unpaid position as publisher shortly after Evans’ departure — told Fair Game that her husband’s position on the ZBA did not influence her handling of Evans’ reporting. “I never pushed for any changes in any of Chea’s articles,” Marshall said in an email, adding that the paper disclosed her marriage to Zucker at the end of each story about the ZBA. Davidson, the New Yorker contributor, was one of the four journalists who resigned from the Charlotte News’ board in protest after Evans submitted her resignation and the board voted not to offer her the job back. Both Davidson and Asquith said Marshall was adamant in the key board meeting that Evans needed to go. “I was in the meetings where the decision was made to get rid of Chea,” Davidson said. “The process was so rushed. It was almost like there was this frenzy to get rid of her.” He added that he and the other journalists on the board strongly disagreed with that decision. “Essentially, she was too independent,” he said of Evans. Asquith had a similar take. “I think there are two visions for the Charlotte News,” she told Fair Game. “One is that there’s a warm body in the editor’s chair who collects contributions from members of the community about the seasons changing or whatever else and attends [public] meetings as a stenographer. And there’s a different version of the Charlotte News … And that is, there’s a journalist in that chair, with more than a decade of experience, who’s deeply sourced, balanced and dogged. And that kind of person can make people uncomfortable. But, ultimately, a great journalist covering Charlotte is a positive thing for all of us, and it’s very clearly what people in the town are saying that they want.” JOHN QUINNEY, a two-year board member who is the paper’s current interim president and publisher, said he could not discuss a personnel matter. But he did say something telling after Fair Game asked whether it might be a conflict of interest for someone overseeing the paper to be romantically involved with or married to a person the paper is covering. “We don’t have a policy for how those things should be handled,” Quinney said. He added, “We have an editorial committee, and that committee is going to work over the next couple of months to look at these issues of conflict of interest,

GOT A TIP FOR DAVE? DAVE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

best practices, roles and responsibilities, the structure of the organization.” Quinney also noted that the paper has hired a new editor, KIM MACQUEEN. Seven Days had a written policy in place while TIM ASHE, the domestic partner of publisher and coeditor PAULA ROUTLY, was president pro tempore of the Vermont Senate. Routly was barred from editing or assigning political stories during his tenure, and the paper disclosed the relationship at the end of articles that included Ashe. He is no longer in public office, and the policy is no longer in place. Working on a conflict-of-interest policy is a good move, but it looks like it comes a bit too late for Evans. And let’s hope there’s at least one lesson taken from all this: If you want tough coverage of town government, you’d better ensure the independence of a newspaper’s journalists to report the news as they see it.

for the remark. “While that word may seem neutral to some, I have learned that, in fact, it is something with very racist origins,” he said. “I am committed to learning, on my own, the origins of our words, to not be defensive, to be accountable and to do better.” Last month, Public Safety Commissioner MICHAEL SCHIRLING also made a public apology after he used the word “uppity” to describe an exchange with a younger, female lawmaker during a legislative committee meeting. Schirling said he did not know the word historically had been used to demean Black people and women. I chastised Schirling in this space, saying that the man who oversees the Vermont State Police should be aware that a word such as “uppity” invokes the power differential too often at the center of police brutality and civil rights violations. The origins of “cakewalk” are also ugly. Black slaves were required to perform the difficult, high-stepping march-dance to entertain their white owners before the Civil War, and the performances continued into the early 20th century. Those declared the best performers were given cake. I was skeptical when Schirling said he did not know the history of “uppity.” Now I’m starting to wonder whether such gaps in knowledge aren’t more common than I suspected. Maybe Benning, a Lyndon State College (now Northern Vermont

POLITICS

Language Lesson II

For the second time in a month, a senior Vermont official has apologized for remarks deemed by some to be tinged with racism or sexism. This time it was Sen. JOE BENNING (R-Caledonia) who used the phrase “difficult cakewalk” during a March 16 Senate debate over vote-by-mail legislation. Benning apologized the following day

University-Lyndon) graduate, was genuinely unfamiliar with the yearslong struggle to rid the University of Vermont of its annual Kake Walk celebration, held as recently as 1969 on the Burlington campus. At UVM, fraternity brothers appeared in blackface and performed the competitive dance to the tune “Cotton Babes.” A 2019 retrospective by Seven Days’ DEREK BROUWER reported that the event, unthinkable today, was so widely accepted that the Friday of Kake Walk weekend was a campus holiday. Local and state officials handed out trophies. Then-governor PHIL HOFF attended more than once, and he was regarded nationally as a champion of civil rights. Fast-forward half a century, and words like “cakewalk” will jump out to bite us every now and then. Take “grandfathered,” for another example, a word often used in Vermont and elsewhere to describe exceptions to current state laws and local ordinances for practices that predate those laws. As NPR reported in 2013, Southern states included such clauses in Reconstruction-era laws that used literacy tests to keep Black people from voting. But if your grandfather voted — in other words, if you were white — you could vote, too. Before anybody runs off calling this woke culture run amok, reflect on the fact that minor changes in our vocabulary are baby steps toward correcting past wrongs.

Media Notes: New Hires at VTDigger, VPR

VTDigger.org is bringing on three new editors and a staff lawyer, while Vermont Public Radio is making two additions to the team behind its “Brave Little State” podcast. ANNE GALLOWAY , VTDigger’s founding editor, announced last week that the nonprofit, online news site had hired MAGGIE CASSIDY, top editor at the Valley News in West Lebanon, N.H., to serve as deputy managing editor. AUDITI GUHA, a Providence, R.I.-based journalist who has worked for Rewire News Group and several Massachusetts papers, will be senior editor. And NATALIE WILLIAMS, visuals coordinator at the Bangor Daily News and a former Seven Days intern, will be news editor at the Montpelier-based news org. In addition, veteran Vermont lawyer and former Vermont Democratic Party chair JAKE PERKINSON is joining VTDigger as general counsel. Over at VPR, singer-songwriter and journalist MYRA FLYNN, a Vermonter just back from working for eight years in the music business in Los Angeles, and JOSH CRANE, a Middlebury College graduate and podcast producer at public radio station WBUR in Boston, will join the team responsible for “Brave Little State,” which asks listeners to suggest topics for inquiry. ANGELA EVANCIE, director of engagement journalism and executive producer of “Brave Little State,” said she hopes Crane and Flynn can help VPR expand its public engagement offerings. m

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MORE INSIDE

AG DONOVAN’S CASE ‘TRIFECTA’ PAGE 16

HEALTH

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Vaccination Push Aimed at Younger Vermonters, NEK Residents

PAGE 19

Red Flags

B Y A N N E WA L L A C E A L L EN anne@sevendaysvt.com

A sergeant accused of sexual assaults remains in Vermont Guard despite criminal record B Y JA SPER CR AV EN

Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of alleged sexual abuse.

Daniel Blodgett

fter a night out in January, Jane Williams woke up disoriented, her rectum and vagina sore. Her new housemate was sleeping naked in bed beside her. She started to piece together the fuzzy details of the previous night. She and Daniel Blodgett, a friend whom she’d let live in her home during a rough patch, had gone out for dinner and drinks. He’d done cocaine and tried to convince her to do some, though she’d declined repeatedly, according to court documents. He’d also propositioned her for sex, something she’d also repeatedly rejected. But when they got home, Blodgett accosted her as she got ready for bed. Williams had taken an Ambien, and after he shoved a finger laden with cocaine in her mouth, she blacked out. Williams, a pseudonym Seven Days is using because she is an alleged victim of sex crimes, later told police that Blodgett said they’d had sex and that he’d taken revealing photos of her. He apologized, then later denied it had happened. That morning, Williams broke down. She went to a hospital for a rape examination. On February 10, Blodgett was charged with voyeurism and sexual assault involving drug impairment. He pleaded not guilty. “The information provided by the victim was credible and, in fact, appears to be part of a pattern,” Det. Sgt. Mark Lauer, a special investigator in the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, told Seven Days. That alleged pattern came into clearer focus last week. Blodgett was charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of aggravated domestic assault stemming from incidents in 2015, 2017 and 2018. According to the sheriff’s office, more than one woman had come forward to accuse Blodgett of physical and sexual abuse.

MILITARY

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

COURTESY OF VERMONT STATE POLICE

One said that he’d forced her to consume alcohol, then burned her with a cigarette and threw a beer can at her face during rough and painful sex that she did not consent to. “It is terrifying having Dan around,” the woman told police. Despite these recent charges and a long rap sheet that includes at least eight misdemeanor criminal convictions, Blodgett remains a soldier in the Vermont National Guard, which he joined about 15 years ago. His lawbreaking started around the same time.

While he’s successfully had felony charges reduced to less serious ones, Blodgett’s been found guilty of crimes that could have led to serious punishment, according to military policy. His guilt in cases involving violent misconduct, for instance, restrict him from possessing a firearm as a civilian — something Guard officials admit should have led to his discharge.

RED FLAGS

» P.16

Vermont will use drive-through clinics, a media campaign and cooperative efforts with New Hampshire in order to get residents vaccinated this spring. The state is now shifting much of its focus to younger Vermonters. Everyone 16 and older will be able to sign up for vaccination appointments by April 19, with smaller “age bands” eligible in the preceding weeks. “Hopefully those age groups will see a variety of messaging campaigns on social media and traditional media,” Health Commissioner Mark Levine said on Tuesday at one of the state’s twice-weekly COVID-19 briefings. Levine said state officials will employ a persuasive, not dictatorial, tone with young people, many of whom might not think COVID-19 could have much impact on them. He said symptoms such as chronic fatigue, brain fog, memory loss and shortness of breath can occur weeks and months after infection with the virus, even in the young. “I don’t wish that on anybody,” Levine said of such symptoms. “These can creep up on them over months and be debilitating.” Also part of the strategy: trying to get young people to promote the shots to their friends. “Us telling them what to do is not going to work,” Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said. “I think you’ll see a strategy that relies on peers talking to peers.” The vaccination campaign for older Vermonters is still in full swing. Those ages 60 and over can begin registering for their vaccines on Thursday. By Friday, Smith said, one in five people in the state will have had both shots. And on Monday, March 29, those 50 and over can begin signing up for their shots. The state’s goal is to have everyone who is willing to accept a shot vaccinated by July 1. Vermont is administering between 3,700 and 7,900 doses per day, seven days a week, for an average of 5,500 daily shots, Smith said. State and local officials met last Thursday in the Northeast Kingdom to talk about ways to raise vaccination levels there. They discussed putting up road signs to advertise existing vaccine clinics, adding more clinics, and partnering with health providers on the other side of the Connecticut River in New Hampshire, where many northeastern Vermonters go for their primary care, Smith said. m

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BY COLIN FL ANDE RS • colin@sevendaysvt.com

ast week brought a flurry of good news in Vermont’s fight against the coronavirus. Gov. Phil Scott announced that the state’s vaccine supply was on the rise and laid out a road map for vaccinating the rest of the population by the end of June. He echoed President Joe Biden’s prediction that life should return to relative normalcy around the Fourth of July, in time to avoid another lost summer. But despite the new optimism, Vermont finds itself in a precarious position heading into what everyone hopes is the final stretch of the pandemic. Most of the state’s population is still unvaccinated, and the emergence of more infectious virus variants threatens to increase already worrisome daily case counts. Meanwhile, some experts fear that Scott’s decision to begin loosening restrictions — or turning the spigot, as he puts it — meant to curb the virus’ spread will instill a false sense of security and encourage risky behaviors. “There’s been this discourse that we’re really focused on death, and once we’re done vaccinating those DR. TIM populations, we’ll be able to relax restrictions and pursue other goals,” said Anne Sosin, a policy fellow at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College. “There’s a real danger in that approach. It’s not in our interest to have more people infected with this illness.” Rates of infection have plummeted nationwide since peaking in January, but the Northeast has been an outlier to that trend, with daily caseloads in a handful of states still stubbornly high. That includes Vermont: After a winter spike, the state’s infection rate has plateaued at a level far higher than what it was most of last year. Some 125 people

HEALTH

have been infected daily on average since January 1 — resulting in more than 10,000 new cases. The state is now reporting that for every 100,000 residents, roughly 19 have been infected daily within the last week, which is higher than the national rate, according to a New York Times database. Health experts offer several possible explanations for this trend, starting with Vermont’s overall success in controlling the virus, especially in the early months. “We have lower natural immunity in Vermont because we’ve had fewer infections and lower infection rates than many other states,” said Dr. Patsy Kelso, the state epidemiologist. “More of our population is still susceptible and needs to get the vaccine so that we can get enough immunity in our communities to stop the spread.” A second contributing factor is Vermont’s population compared to that of other states; smaller outbreaks here represent much larger blips on the radar, according to Dr. Tim Lahey, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Vermont Medical Center. He pointed to the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport, where L AHEY a recent outbreak has led to more than 175 cases. “That can really alter the graph of cases here,” he said, “whereas a couple hundred cases in New York City wouldn’t even be visible.” Neither Kelso nor Lahey thought state decisions have played a major role in the continued prevalence of cases in Vermont. But Sosin feels the Scott administration shoulders some blame. “The more you can put your vaccine into really high-risk groups, the more you bring your overall cases down,” she said. “Because we have not prioritized

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news AG Donovan Refiles Third Major Case That Sarah George Dismissed B Y D EREK BR OUWE R derek@sevendaysvt.com Attorney General T.J. Donovan is pursuing murder charges against a mentally ill transient who is accused of fatally stabbing a man in downtown Burlington in 2017. In refiling the first-degree murder charge against Louis Fortier, Donovan has now overridden Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George in all three of the high-profile cases she dropped in 2019 on the grounds that the state could not prove the defendants were criminally responsible for their violent acts. Fortier was arraigned last Friday in Chittenden Superior Court, where he appeared remotely from the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Berlin. Fortier has been receiving treatment there under a court-issued hospitalization order since June 2017. The state will allow him to continue to reside at the psychiatric hospital pending trial. He entered a plea of not guilty. Fortier, 40, allegedly stabbed Richard Medina, whom police described as a fellow transient, multiple times in the neck at the corner of Church and Cherry streets in broad daylight in March 2017, killing him. A psychiatrist hired by the state later concluded that Fortier, who suffers from schizophrenia, was not able to control his actions at the time of the crime because he was experiencing intense fear due to his untreated condition. His condition later improved, but George felt the state could not rebut Fortier’s insanity defense and dismissed the case. As a result, he remained under the responsibility of the Vermont Department of Mental Health. George’s decision in Fortier’s case and the two others instantly became political. Gov. Phil Scott criticized her moves and asked Donovan to review the cases. Donovan has since refiled charges in each instance. The case against Aita Gurung, who murdered his wife with a meat cleaver, is pending. In the third case, a woman who shot her firearms instructor pleaded guilty last month in state and federal courts as part of a plea deal that could imprison her for 10 years. Fortier’s attorney, David Sleigh, said the state has yet to present any new information that would justify the renewed prosecution nearly two years after the previous case was dropped. “I don’t understand what’s different, other than the attorney general’s desire to have a perfect trifecta in undoing Sarah George’s dismissal of the three mental health cases,” he said. m

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

Red Flags « P.14 In written answers and interviews, Guard officials said privacy statutes prevent them from detailing what punishments, if any, Blodgett has received for his civilian crimes. They further suggested that they never knew the full picture, in large part because the Guard relies on members to self-report their own criminal charges. Yet Blodgett’s misdeeds are publicly available in court documents; a few have been serious enough to warrant substantial media coverage. Additionally, two of the women he allegedly abused have served in the Guard. One is Williams, who is now separating from the military after 12 years of service. In an interview, she described a culture of sexual harassment, an experience shared by other Guard members who spoke to this reporter as part of a 2018 series on misogyny and misconduct in the ranks. Seven Days is identifying the other former Guard member only by her first name, Meredith. She contends that Blodgett’s bad behavior was well-known by his supervisors. “He has a history of abuse. This is a pattern, not a one-off,” Meredith said. “Why did the Guard keep protecting him?” Seven Days reviewed hundreds of police and court documents and spoke to three of Blodgett’s former romantic partners, including Meredith; each has a daughter with him. They all portrayed Blodgett as a reckless individual who uses drugs, violence and fear as tools of control. “I’ve been blown off in court as the jealous ex picking on the poor veteran, and I’ve watched the Guard protect him through multiple charges,” said Amanda Quiser, who fought a lengthy battle to secure sole custody of their daughter despite courtdocumented allegations of Blodgett’s brutality. “It never really felt like anyone was going to be an ally of mine. They were out for Dan’s best interests.” “It really upsets me how much we’ve all struggled to protect our daughters,” said a second former partner, Meghan Halpin. “It’s there on paper, in black and white: This man is dangerous. Why are people telling us he’s not?” In one criminal affidavit, his parole officer told cops that “Blodgett is known to boast that all of his friends are corrections officers, all of whom work at Northwest [State] Correctional Center in St. Albans.” He’s currently being held without bail at that prison. Contacted by phone before his latest arrest, Blodgett declined to comment for this story. In an interview, Adj. Gen. Greg Knight acknowledged a long-standing “gap” between Vermont police and the Guard.

FILE: JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Adj. Gen. Greg Knight

He said that the appointment of two law enforcement officials — Jessica Norris of the Burlington Police Department and Kenneth Hawkins, a part-timer with the Middlebury Police Department, who are respectively a major and a master sergeant in the Guard — in new provost marshal roles would improve communication and accountability. These part-time officials started their work in early March and are aware of Blodgett’s charges; they also know of other Guard members who are either facing charges or were recently convicted. The Guard wouldn’t release data on soldiers discharged for criminal conduct. But Knight vowed to be more transparent in the future. He plans to search the National Crime Information Center database for Guard members and will urge Vermont police chiefs to report soldiers’ arrests, and relevant info, to the provost marshals. While Knight could not speak specifically about Blodgett’s history, he expressed broad concern over “aberrant actors” who’ve escaped notice in “the tall grass.” “My job,” Knight pledged, “is to mow the grass and make sure these people can’t hide anymore.” Blodgett enlisted part time in the Guard in 2006. His Facebook page features photos of him in uniform, including at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. “When I met him, he boasted about being a Guard member and serving his country,” recalled Halpin. “He’s handsome and so good at talking anyone into anything. But it’s all manipulation; you get trapped in it.” He also has a history of being violent with women, usually while intoxicated, law enforcement documents show. Colchester police arrested him in October 2007 and charged him with domestic assault for pushing Meredith, then eight months pregnant, to the ground. She

told police that Blodgett was abusive and showed them numerous bruises on her body. Despite video evidence of the attack, Blodgett was convicted of a relatively minor misdemeanor — disorderly conduct involving a fight — and placed on probation. In 2009, he was promoted to sergeant. That same year, Blodgett filed a legal motion to have the 2007 conviction reduced so it wouldn’t “jeopardize his military career,” the Burlington Free Press reported. Guard policy prohibits anyone convicted of a crime involving violence from carrying a weapon, which would have prevented him from being deployed to Afghanistan. A prosecutor agreed to downgrade the conviction to disorderly conduct involving “noise”; a judge, Geoffrey Crawford, signed off on it. In 2010, Blodgett was deployed to the Middle East. Meredith said the court never contacted her about the motion. “When I found out about it, I was confused about how such a serious charge could be modified without the victim being notified,” she said. Not long after Blodgett returned from Afghanistan, Vermont State Police responded to a call of a citizen’s dispute in Georgia involving Blodgett and Quiser. Quiser told police that they’d been in a quarrel but downplayed its seriousness. She told Seven Days that, in truth, she was afraid to tell the police the full story, as Blodgett had largely isolated her from friends and family. “I knew if I pressed charges, I wouldn’t have anywhere to go, and I didn’t know how he’d react,” she said. Blodgett was hit with a DUI for trying to leave the scene as cops arrived; he later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, was ordered to complete a community reparative program and was fined $200, which he initially paid off with a bad check. He made the front page of the Free Press in 2012, when the Transportation Security Administration found a loaded .22-caliber handgun in his luggage. He was headed to Wisconsin for a Guard training. Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Burlington Police Department investigated, and a Guard spokesperson said the outfit “takes this matter very seriously.” Yet the Guard still sent Blodgett to the training — on a military aircraft this time. A current Guard spokesperson said he was prohibited from discussing the outcome of its investigation. There’s no indication Blodgett was ever criminally charged. Less than two months later, Vermont State Police responded to a violent situation involving Blodgett and Quiser. According to police statements from Quiser and another witness, Blodgett became drunk and jealous during her birthday party, then disappeared. When he returned, he approached Quiser with a knife before another

attendee tackled him. In an affidavit, Quiser said she was afraid for her life and their daughter’s. “[Blodgett] repeatedly pronounced his wish to kill himself, and me,” she told police. Blodgett was initially charged with a felony, first-degree domestic assault involving a weapon. But he was convicted of two lesser misdemeanors, unlawful mischief and disorderly conduct, and put on probation. In early 2014, Blodgett was promoted to staff sergeant. The next year, he pleaded guilty to a DUI charge. Don Christensen, a former military prosecutor and current president of the nonprofit Protect Our Defenders, which works to end military sexual assault, expressed concern but not shock over Blodgett’s record of relative impunity. “It’s disturbing to have our Guard keep someone in with a track record of misconduct like this,” Christensen said after Seven Days described Blodgett’s record.

IT’S THERE ON PAPER, IN BLACK AND WHITE: THIS MAN IS DANGEROUS. WHY ARE PEOPLE TELLING US HE’S NOT? MEGHAN H ALPIN

“At the same time, it’s not surprising. If someone is favored, we know that the military will often bend the rules to keep them in.” Blodgett’s former partners say he was close with numerous Guard officials who protected him, including Sgt. First Class Christopher Cozadd. In an interview, Cozadd, who is still in the Guard, said he met Blodgett in 2009 and served for a short time as his direct supervisor. He said the two shared a few beers together over the years but didn’t regularly socialize. Cozadd repeatedly denied protecting Blodgett from accountability and vaguely suggested that Blodgett may have been punished. Cozadd said he was prohibited from divulging details. “I believe I acted in a professional manner in each situation,” he said. Knight, who’s been in the Guard since 1997, believes he first heard Blodgett’s name in 2019, a few months after Knight was sworn in as adjutant general. That was when he found out that Blodgett was charged with lewd and lascivious conduct after crawling into bed naked with a sleeping 8-year-old girl.

According to court documents, the girl was awoken by his touch. Blodgett said he was intoxicated at the time and believed he was entering the bed of the girl’s aunt, whom he was dating. The charge was eventually downgraded to prohibited conduct, which Blodgett did not contest. He was put on probation and ordered to have a psychosexual evaluation. Cozadd said he was “shocked” when he heard about the 2019 charge, which made the news. Despite the allegations, Cozadd later helped Blodgett find work on a farm, a favor he described as necessary to ensure “readiness” in his unit. Meanwhile, Blodgett has continued to attend weekend drill trainings and other mandated military exercises, though he hasn’t been deployed since 2010. Asked whether Blodgett’s latest charges affect his status in the military, a Guard spokesperson said that the allegations must first be investigated by civilian police. “If the military were a private employer and an employee was arrested and it saw the police affidavit, it could fire them immediately,” Maj. Scott Detweiler said in an email. “The Government cannot do that. Leaders in the Vermont National Guard are all sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution, which requires them to handle bad acting employees differently than a private employer would do by abiding by military regulations and ultimately the Constitution.” Knight acknowledged that the Guard has been “deficient” in arming leaders with the tools and knowledge to punish bad actors. He promised to better educate his staff on how to secure nonjudicial punishments, wage freezes and discharges for lawbreaking members. Williams recently spoke with Knight after she’d been in touch with a representative from the Guard who oversees sexual assault complaints. She said that the adjutant general wanted to make sure she had what she needed; she described him as “very supportive.” Williams hopes other women will come forward in order to reform the organization, and she hopes Blodgett will soon face real punishment. “I find it pretty disgusting that he still gets to put on a uniform and collect a paycheck,” she said. “There’s some days where I can’t even get out of bed, and I haven’t been back to work since this all happened. He goes on living his life without being affected while every day is a new struggle for me.” m

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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

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news Not Out of the Woods « P.15

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

Last updated on March 23, 2021 220 200 180

Includes laboratory-confirmed cases and probable cases. The latter may be detected via rapid test or established based on symptoms and contact with a known COVID-19 case.

160 140 SOURCE: VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, CREATED WITH DATAWRAPPER

those who are at highest risk of infection, we should not expect vaccinations to have a measurable impact on transmission for some time to come.” Eighteen percent of Vermont’s adult population has been fully immunized so far, while 33 percent has received at least one dose of vaccine. State officials have repeatedly said their chief obligation is to preserve life, which is why they have given priority to vaccinating the people most likely to die from the virus: the elderly and those with chronic conditions. Sosin does not dispute the importance of this goal and says she supported the decision to place long-term care facilities — where 60 percent of deaths have occurred — at the front of the line. But she argues that the vaccination strategy has suffered from tunnel vision since that point, with its focus so heavily on preventing death that it failed to stem sources of transmission and therefore allowed the virus to spread more than it otherwise would have. She believes the state should also be vaccinating frontline workers, prison inmates and other high-risk groups that cannot easily isolate themselves. “Infection is primarily driven by needs that are unmet — by people needing to be places, rather than what their desires are,” she said. One incentive for keeping case counts low is that the long-term effects of COVID19 are still largely unknown. Experts are still trying to figure out why certain people suffer from lingering symptoms and in what percentage of cases this occurs. A December workshop held by the National Institutes of Health suggested that anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of infected people go on to become so-called long-haulers. While some have seen their symptoms disappear after they are vaccinated, many haven’t. Based on that estimate, Vermont could have anywhere from 70 to 210 new instances of long-haul COVID-19 over the next week alone should daily infection rates continue at the current level. And if the trajectory held firm for, say, two months, the total could reach as high as 1,800 new long-haul cases. “Time does matter,” Sosin said of vaccinating high-risk groups, “even if it’s just a few weeks.” State officials agree that the faster people get vaccinated, the better. But they maintain that the best way to speed up the process is to keep it simple, using age as a qualifier. They say this system poses the fewest logistical challenges and will cover the entire population quicker than any other approach.

NEW CASES OF COVID-19 IDENTIFIED IN VERMONT

120 100 80

Seven-day average

60 40 20 0

Mar. 2020

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And while they share concerns about daily infection rates, they say this figure alone fails to capture the trajectory of the pandemic in Vermont. They note that deaths and hospitalizations are on the decline and say that infections will drop in the coming weeks as more people get vaccinated. “We’re in good shape,” Scott said last Friday. Yet the race between the virus and the vaccine has taken on added urgency this month after Vermont confirmed the presence of two new, more contagious variants within its borders: B.1.1.7, which originated in the United Kingdom, and B.1.429, which was first identified in California. These and several other variants have scorched the U.S. in recent weeks, stoking fears of an 11th-hour surge and prompting national health experts to caution states against reopening too quickly. Some governors have ignored those pleas and instead revoked mask mandates and blasted open the economy to nearly pre-pandemic levels. Scott has taken a more conservative approach, moving to allow two unvaccinated households to gather at a time and permitting bars and social clubs to reopen. Sosin, the Dartmouth researcher, said even these limited rollbacks will increase transmissions as a result of both the

Jul.

Aug.

Sep.

Oct.

Nov.

activities themselves and the message they send to the population: “that we’re in a better place than we actually are.” She felt the moves were premature and said it was a “critical moment for us to stay the course.” State officials were raising the same alarms when case counts were similarly high late last year. But now that those most likely to die have been vaccinated, Scott seems to believe that the daily infection rate is no longer a sufficient reason to keep the state locked down. “We’re just going to have to get a little bit more accustomed to [the fact that] there’s going to be some positive cases,” he said last Friday. “It’s a fact of life.” For Lahey, the UVM Medical Center infectious disease specialist, the vaccine has thrust the debate over restrictions into a new “gray area.” Not only must officials weigh the risks of transmission against the well-known “toxic” ramifications of isolation, they must also consider people’s willingness to adhere to the rules when lives aren’t hanging in the balance. “How many restrictions would our society tolerate if it was to protect people from having ‘long COVID,’ which is usually not debilitating but can be really uncomfortable for a long time? I don’t know,” Lahey said. “It’s much easier to think

Dec.

Jan. 2021

Feb.

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about death and hospitalization as [what we’re] protecting our neighbors from.” He said he personally wouldn’t engage in any of the recently green-lit behaviors. But he didn’t take issue with them, either, so long as the state keeps a close eye on whether they lead to more hospitalizations or a massive spike in cases. He said he viewed the moves as Scott “feeling out where the risk envelope is.” He then likened Scott’s job to that of an emergency room doctor caring for someone with heart failure. Doctors have no way of knowing exactly what dose or mixture of medicine will work best, Lahey said, so they must try a dose and see how it works, then adjust until the patient feels better. “I think that is the game the governor is playing at the level of the state,” he said. “You try your best to balance the side effects and the good effects of the drug, and then you see what happens.” State officials have made difficult choices throughout the pandemic. The margin of error feels even slimmer now that the end is in sight, with each step carrying the potential to give either the virus or the vaccine the upper hand. “And nobody’s going to know,” said Lahey, “until we’re looking in retrospect, what exactly the right balancing act was.” m

BURLINGTON

Burlington to Receive Millions in Stimulus Cash; Weinberger Is Taken to Task B Y COUR T NEY L A MDIN • courtney@sevendaysvt.com

FIL

Burlington will receive $27.3 million in in February that directed Green, a Black federal stimulus dollars to help recover woman, to execute the contract with the from the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. Rep. study consultants. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) told the city council at Weinberger instead tapped Darren a meeting on Monday. Springer, a white man who serves as The cash comes from the $1.9 trillion general manager of the Burlington American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which Electric Department, to lead the process. President Joe Biden signed into law Springer “has been neutral and separate” earlier this month. Burlington’s piece from debates over proper police staffing of the pie includes a $19 million city levels, the mayor said last week. allocation, plus an $8.3 million After public backlash, Weinberger Z “county allocation,” Welch reinstalled Green and acknowlINT E LH said. Additionally, the edged in a statement that his AU Burlington School decision was a mistake that District will receive “reveals my own bias.” $14.3 million. But Weinberger’s Half the cash reversal wasn’t sufficient should be available for community activist within 60 days, Lea Terhune. She said Welch said, with the Weinberger should either balance to follow in resign or “take some crash six months to a year. courses” on anti-racism. She U.S. Rep. Peter Welch Municipalities have also suggested that the city until 2024 to spend the council have a standing agenda funds. item to update the community on The money must be used its anti-racist work. for COVID-19-related expenses — such About three dozen people had signed as providing financial assistance to small a petition calling for Weinberger to step businesses or replacing lost city revenues down by April 1, the beginning of his — or for water, sewer and broadband fourth term. Weinberger won reelection projects, Welch said. on March 2 by just 129 votes. “You are going to have a consequential Councilor Jane Stromberg (P-Ward job that’s going to be very significant 8) said she hopes Weinberger will better in the long-term future of the City of collaborate during his next term. Burlington,” he told the council. “I wish “I always find myself constantly using you the best of luck in carrying out that the word ‘unilateral’ when it comes to responsibility and that burden.” issues revolving around the mayor’s deciIn anticipation of the federal funds, sions,” she said. “I want to see the mayor the city has lifted its hiring freeze and lean in with [the] intention of listening.” other “austerity measures,” Mayor Miro Councilor Brian Pine (P-Ward 3) Weinberger said. He wants to use the said he hopes the community will allow money to help the city address racial Weinberger to redeem himself. “We need justice, the climate emergency and to acknowledge that we are humans,” housing challenges. Pine said. “We do make mistakes. There The cash will help “lead the way out of has to be room for that.” these dark times,” Weinberger said. “This is Weinberger said he didn’t intend to going to be a major focus over the months disregard the council resolution, which ahead, and we will make you proud.” directed Green to execute a contract but Monday’s meeting was the first since did not directly assign her to oversee the Weinberger came under fire last week for assessment process. He said his initial decihis decision to remove his racial equity sion wasn’t meant to detract from Green’s director, Tyeastia Green, from overseeing “challenging and difficult work” for the city. an assessment of the city police depart“I think she has made us a better ment. Though he ultimately backtracked, administration; she’s made us a better Weinberger was reminded during the community; she’s made me a better meeting that some constituents and city mayor,” Weinberger said. councilors were unhappy with how he Also on Monday, the council unanimanaged the situation. mously approved a resolution that con“You crossed a line,” resident Sharyl demns hate crimes against Asian Americans Green, no relation to Tyeastia, said during and Pacific Islanders, which increased by the meeting’s public forum, reading from a nearly 150 percent in major U.S. cities last letter she’d sent to the mayor. “Reinstating year during the coronavirus pandemic. Tyeastia Green gets her rightful responsibil“It is important for all of us to come ity back in place but does not get you, as together and to show our Asian commayor, back across that line.” munity that we stand with them, behind The council ordered the assessment them in saying no to hate,” said Councilor last summer after voting to trim the Ali Dieng (I-Ward 7), who sponsored the city police force by 30 percent through resolution. “[In] Burlington, to me, we are attrition. Councilors passed a resolution trying to always do better.” m

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OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

OBITUARIES Ruth Henry

OCTOBER 16, 1923MARCH 21, 2021 BURLINGTON, VT. Ruth Ione Parkman Henry passed away peacefully on March 21, 2021, in the care of her loving family. She was born on October 16, 1923, in Buena Vista, Ga., the daughter of Douglas Cleveland Parkman and Beatrice McAllister Parkman. Ruth grew up in Columbus, Ga. She was an active and fun-loving young woman who played basketball and tennis and was voted most athletic girl in her high school class. She loved dancing and big band music and was a prizewinning jitterbugger. She danced in an Atlanta Opera Company production of Marilyn My Marilyn. During World War II, Ruth took an interest in flying, had flight lessons and joined the Civil Air Patrol. She went to work for Bell Aircraft in Marietta, Ga., and later she became an aircraft communicator at the Atlanta Airport. There she met Edwin “Cub” Henry, a captain in the Army Air Corps, and they were married in April 1946. Ruth and Cub built four

houses in their first seven years of marriage, including two on Lake George, where they raised their family. Ruth led Girl Scout troops, learned to sail, taught tennis lessons, did volunteer work in the community, and welcomed children of family and friends for summers at the lake, including hosting her “Austrian daughter,” AFS student Margarete Weitzendorf, for an American year. Ruth most enjoyed all of the celebratory holiday and birthday meals with family and friends around her dining room table throughout the years. Halloween especially captured her imagination, and she made the most

fabulous costumes, including a Santa suit, clown costumes and even a hot dog costume for her little Jack Russell Terrier. She loved all kinds of dance, from ballet to Fosse; going to tennis tournaments and dressage events; and playing bridge and puzzles. She was an avid reader and especially loved the novels of P.D. James. She treasured the many lasting friendships she made wherever she lived and traveled. When they retired in 1980, Ruth and Cub hit the road for more than six years of traveling through every state in the nation and every province in Canada. They then settled in at Redrocks in Burlington, Vt., to be near their children, and Ruth continued to be active in the community. She made close friendships with neighbors and several women at Twin Oaks water aerobics classes. After Cub passed away in 1994, Ruth lived on her own until 2018 , when at age 94 she moved into the loving retirement community at Quarry Hill in South Burlington, before moving home with her family during the 2020 pandemic. Ruth was predeceased by

her beloved Cub; her parents; three brothers, George “Mac” Parkman, Jack Rainey Parkman and Thomas Sidney Parkman; and William Talmage Parkman, who died in infancy. She is survived by her son Thomas Charles Henry and his wife, Jean Martell Henry; her daughter Dixie Henry and son-inlaw William O’Neill; her daughter Susan Parkman Henry and son-in-law Sture Nelson; her granddaughter Amy Jean Henry and her husband, Michael Vincent, and their two children, Benjamin Henry Vincent and Maya Henry Vincent; and her granddaughter Lisa Marie Henry and son-in-law Christopher Gribnau, and their daughter Annabel Marie Gribnau. She is also survived by her beloved nephew Jack Rainey Parkman Jr. and his wife, Jeanne Parkman; her beloved niece Paula Caldwell and her husband, Broughton Caldwell; and many other cherished nieces and nephews. A celebration of Ruth’s life will be planned for later in the spring, when it is safe for family and friends to gather in her honor.

Eileen’s artistic eye for gardening, visitors discovered her nursery as a truly magical place. “In the evenings, the nursery is quiet and reverts to being my home. I wander around accompanied by Freddie, the resident cat, and enjoy the beauty I have created.”

As winter arrived, Eileen laced up her skates, clipped into cross-country skis and challenged her adventure clubber friends to turn on to the darkest of blue squares. Between adventures, Eileen volunteered with the Barnes School kindergarten classes and continued volunteering in the fall, coaching soccer to first and second graders at Charlotte Central School. For 23 years, Eileen’s winter ended in a trip filled with exotic marine fish and creatures, long hikes through jungles to snorkel at faraway beaches, and many foreign tropical adventures with her friend Susan H. Her forever love of the ocean began with childhood at the Jersey Shore. In the summer of 2018, Eileen hosted Catherine’s wedding to Dan in her

garden and Elizabeth’s wedding to Gui in her nursery. Orchestrating these events gave joy to her and all of her friends and family involved. Her husband, Charlie; son Henri and partner Suzanne; daughter Elizabeth and husband Guilherme; and daughter Catherine, husband Dan and granddaughter Penelope Rose will forever love Eileen. Lifelong friend Christine, soul mate Annie, Susan H., Susan K., Naomi and countless others have been graced with her friendship and love. Special to Eileen were her huge Schilling family; dear cousins Elizabeth and Roseann; and her siblings: Margy, Peter, Joe, Andrew, Greg and her beloved predeceased sister Catherine. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that everyone plant flowers of their own in front yards this spring.

Eileen Schilling

APRIL 13, 1958MARCH 19, 2021 CHARLOTTE, VT. Eileen and her beloved husband, Charlie Proutt, proudly nurtured and raised three children: Henri, Catherine and Elizabeth. While a college student majoring in early childhood education, Eileen met longtime friends Naomi, Joe and Jessica. Through her education and work with Jessica, she recognized each of her own children as the individual they were born as, and each ultimately flourished as the unique adult they are today. Each spring for Eileen began with planting, gardening, and running hers and Charlie’s nursery. Around Memorial Day, she planted public gardens of annual flowers for the public to enjoy. Through

Andree Maitland Dean

GREENPORT, N.Y. Andree Maitland Dean passed away peacefully in her sleep on March 15, 2021, at the age of 92 at her apartment in Peconic Landing in Greenport, N.Y. The cause of death was chronic respiratory insufficiency. Born Andree Belden Maitland in Cedarhurst, N.Y., she was the youngest of five children. She attended Choate Rosemary Hall and entered Barnard College at 16. Two years later, in 1947, she left Barnard to marry Howard Dean Jr., who predeceased her in 2001. Together they had four boys, Howard, Charles (who predeceased her in 1974), James and William. She also leaves 10 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; a sister, Helen Corroon; and dozens of adoring nieces and nephews. After her boys left home, Andree returned to Columbia General Studies to get her BA in art history. She embarked on a career as an art appraiser and purchaser for individuals, corporations and museums. One of her noted accomplishments in the art world was the acquisition of J.W.M. Turner’s “Wreckers Off the Coast of Northumberland” for the Yale Museum of British Art in the 1970s. In deference to her Scottish heritage, she had the seven-figure painting crated and drove it from New York City to New Haven in the back of her station wagon. Andree was a force of nature. Her gracious manners and ready laugh concealed a fierce determination. She arranged travel to Africa in the 1960s with extended family and friends, including 14 children ages 10 to 21. In the winters, she put together raucous ski adventures with her children, her sisters, and 10 or 11 nieces and nephews. In later years, she traveled on Overseas Adventures Travel to all corners of the globe.

Born and then married into staunchly Republican families, Andree campaigned in the Midwest for her eldest son Howard’s 2004 Democratic presidential campaign. In 2008, after Hillary Clinton lost in the primaries, she hit the campaign trail for Barack Obama, going door-to-door in Ohio and Pennsylvania. She did so again in the 2012 campaign at the age of 83. Her civic engagement commitments included a long stint on the East 86th Street Block Association in New York City until the 1990s, when she worked with, and sometimes fought, city hall in an effort to make a positive difference for her neighborhood. Andree was a longtime resident of East Hampton following her marriage in 1947. She was an active participant in the LVIS, East Hampton Historical Society, Village Preservation Society and numerous other volunteer projects. She was a parishioner at both the Church of the Holy Trinity in East Hampton and St. Ignatius Loyola in New York. Andree played tennis into her late eighties, despite her chronic respiratory illness. In 2016, she moved from East Hampton, where the Dean family goes back nearly 400 years, to Peconic Landing with a group of friends. Funeral arrangements and interment are pending. Contributions in lieu of flowers may be sent to the Charles M. Dean Scholarship Fund: St. George’s School, 372 Purgatory Rd., Middletown, RI 02842.

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

PHOTOS: LUKE AWTRY

arts news

Ray Vega (center) and members of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra

A Long Conversation Vermont Symphony Orchestra addresses racial reckoning in a multi-genre performance B Y A MY L IL LY • lilly@sevendaysvt.com

n the classical music world, it has been all too customary to characterize phenomenally talented mixed-race composers as lesser versions of white composers. Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) became known as the “Black Mozart”; Samuel ColeridgeTaylor (1875-1912) was dubbed “the African Mahler.” Amazingly, these demeaning monikers live on today. Clearly, a reckoning is needed, and the VERMONT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA is doing its part with a BIPOC-focused program for its final streamed concert of the season, on March 27. The event features compositions by Bologne, Coleridge-Taylor and seven other composers of color. One is Florence Price (1887-1953), whose compositions have seen renewed play since the discovery of a trove of them in an Illinois attic in 2009. Four of the seven composers are living: Dorothy Rudd Moore cofounded

MUSIC

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

the Society of Black Composers in 1968 and lives in New York City; Carlos Simon is an assistant professor at Georgetown University; RAY VEGA is a senior lecturer at the University of Vermont; and MATTHEW EVAN TAYLOR is an assistant professor at Middlebury College. Simon’s and Vega’s pieces are both VSO commissions that will be receiving premieres. Simon used his commission to add a second and third movement to his 2020 work for string quartet about the Great Migration: “Warmth From Other Suns.” Vega, a trumpet player, composed “Buscando Doña Juana Figueroa” for trumpet and string quartet in honor of his Puerto Rican grandmother. There’s much more than music in this final installment of “Music for Days Like This,” the orchestra’s pandemic series. Indeed, the VSO’s official description of the prerecorded and edited video event suggests something of a sprawling beast, combining music, verse and visual art. Former

Vermonter Reuben Jackson, who anchored VERMONT PUBLIC RADIO’s “Friday Night Jazz” from 2012 to 2018, provides audio introductions to each poet, artist or composer. While he narrates, historical portraits and other images will fill the screen. Former U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove has provided audio of herself reading two of her poems. Jackson, who published Scattered Clouds: New & Selected Poems in 2019, will read one of his, as well. Works by three Vermont BIPOC artists — CRYSTAL STOKES of Worcester, ALAN BLACKWELL of Brattleboro and Haitian-born JULIO DESMONT of Burlington — will be projected on a screen behind the musicians as they perform. (The performances were recorded at ESSEX CINEMAS.) “We’ve got so many artists involved — not just the musicians playing,” said VSO executive director ELISE BRUNELLE, who was hired in May 2020. The vision of a concert enhanced with art, poetry and narration is largely hers. Pulitzer Prize-winning Dove is an acquaintance of Brunelle’s father’s;

Brunelle contacted the poet directly to ask her to read poems that “work thematically” with the music and art, she said. VSO creative projects chair MATT LAROCCA curated the music. Also curator of the VSO’s Jukebox series, he regularly includes composers of color there. But he had to research from scratch at least one composer on the March 27 program, he said: Brazilian composer-conductor Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847-1935). “I didn’t really know her music before, but she is so cool,” LaRocca enthused. “She’s just a force of a woman.” Gonzaga, a prolific composer, was Brazil’s first professional female conductor and an early practitioner and popularizer of choro, a style that blends European and North American influences such as polka, waltz and ragtime with AfroBrazilian rhythms. LaRocca arranged two of Gonzaga’s works for violin and piano: “Atraente” (“Attraction”), her best-known work; and “Amor.” He also arranged “The Cascades,” a piece by American composer and pianist Scott Joplin (1868-1917), for string octet. Taylor’s “Antsy,” a 2020 composition for violin and viola, uses a relentless staccato beat to build a mood of twitchy alarm. (Lucia Kobza gives a riveting performance of the three-minute piece on YouTube, playing both instruments on a split screen.) “The title, and the energy behind it, comes from the state of being I was in about two to three months into the pandemic shutdown,” Taylor told Seven Days. “There was this sameness to everything, but something was also off and irritating and frustrating. The rhythms are consistent, but I’m changing the accents, so there’s something that’s not quite gelling about it.” Vega said his piece was born of the pandemic, too: “We’ve been disconnected from the world in so many ways, so you start looking inside.” When his father died last April and Vega was about to turn 60, he began researching his ancestry online. Every search for his maternal grandmother “hit a wall,” he said, leading him to guess that she might have been born out of wedlock. “Buscando [searching for] Doña Juana Figueroa” combines elements of West African percussion music, tango and jazz great John Coltrane, Vega said. During the four-and-a-half-minute piece, he improvises on his trumpet over the strings. “I look at those sections of improv as I’m asking questions and not getting any answers,” Vega explained. With its exclusive focus on Black and brown composers, poets, and artists, the concert runs the risk of being seen as a heavyhanded effort to check the BIPOC box by a largely white organization in a largely white state. (All of the VSO musicians performing

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Ray Vega

the program are white, as are Brunelle and the VSO staff.) Jessie Montgomery is a Black violinistcomposer whose music was performed in last month’s streamed VSO Jukebox concert. Interviewed for an October 2020 New York Times article, she expressed skepticism at the sudden increase over the past year in orchestra programs featuring work by composers of color, including herself. “There’s a real sense of people trying to save face,” she commented. Asked about this concern, Brunelle insisted that the concert is part of a larger effort. “The inclusion of BIPOC composers must be an ongoing part of any orchestra’s repertoire choices,” she said. “It does need to continue beyond the composers, of course; they’re just one part of who we employ.” Brunelle noted that all four concerts VSO streamed from October through January included composers of color. The orchestra is currently hiring a music director to replace soon-to-retire JAIME LAREDO; each of the seven candidates, Brunelle said, has been tasked with programming

BIPOC composers for the concerts they will conduct as part of their audition. (Two candidates will conduct live concerts this year, beginning in October.) “So, for us, it’s not an incidental thing,” Brunelle said. “It’s an ongoing conversation.” Burlington artist Desmont, for one, is happy the conversation is happening. Desmont moved to Vermont from Haiti in 2018. His colorful, dynamic painting “Crescendo,” a clean-lined abstract swirl, will be projected while the Joplin piece is played. “There is good will to put this thing together, and me being part of it [is good],” Desmont said of the whole project. “I may not be able to see the big picture, but already I can feel something positive, that it will bring a positive outcome. It’s all about good will.” m

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INFO The final concert in Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s “Music for Days Like This” series launches on Saturday, March 27, 7:30 p.m., at vso.org and streams through April 3. $5 or pay what you can.

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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

3/22/21 10:50 AM

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Wholesome Content

Book reviews: How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope, anthology; and Bluebird, James Crews B Y B E NJA M I N AL ESHIRE • aleshire@sevendaysvt.com

his January, Amanda Gorman’s reading at the presidential inauguration rocketed her to international fame and put poetry back on the map. Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb” — a poem of steadfast hope, delivered with fierce sincerity — proved to be a message that listeners around the world desperately needed. Shaftsbury poet and editor JAMES CREWS was hip to Gorman’s verses long before the inauguration. Her work appears in his latest anthology, How to Love the World, which features an allstar lineup, including current U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Tracy K. Smith and Naomi Shahib Nye, as well as Vermont poets LAURA FOLEY, MARY ELDER JACOBSON, JUDITH CHALMER, ALICE WOLF GILBORN and GARRET KEIZER. This isn’t Crews’ first rodeo as an anthologist. In 2019, he edited Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness & Connection, a poetry anthology devised specifically to bridge the intensifying negativity that has seized America’s political and cultural landscape. To accomplish this, Crews enlisted poets such as Ross Gay, author of Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude and best-selling essay collection The Book of Delights. Gay’s writing illustrates that poetry isn’t the exclusive domain of the melancholic: His poems celebrate moments of joy large and small, from picking figs with strangers to the “small, needful fact” of how Eric Garner — a Black man strangled by New York City police in 2014 — worked as a horticulturist. How to Love the World, for which Gay wrote the forward, is essentially an entire anthology devoted to this form of witness and gratitude, what he defines as “Our radiant need. Our luminous and mycelial need.” The opening poem, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s “Hope,” sets the tone for the chorus of voices to follow. “Hope has holes / in its pockets. / It leaves little / crumb trails / so that we, / when anxious, / can

BOOKS

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

THIS FLOOD OF GRATITUDE IS RARE TO ENCOUNTER ALL AT ONCE …

AND THE EFFECT IS ALMOST MEDICINAL: POETRY AS ANTIDOTE.

follow it. / Hope’s secret: / it doesn’t know / the destination.” In “The Once Invisible Garden,” Pomfret poet Foley asks, “What luck or fate, instinct, / or grace brought me here?” Heather Swan in “Rabbit” writes of “this unstoppable / excruciating tenderness everywhere.” This flood of gratitude is rare to encounter all at once, all in the same place, and the effect is almost medicinal: poetry as antidote. As editor and guide, Crews employs “Reflective Pauses” as section breaks, an innovative format that provides readers

with a natural place to pause and meditate on what they’ve read so far. It’s more than simply a visual break from the poetry; Crews briefly analyzes the text and offers practical suggestions on how to incorporate the poems’ messages, as in this reflection on page 125. As Andrea Potos’s “Essential Gratitude” points out, the sensation of appreciation can come out of nowhere and pierce our hearts until we find ourselves making a whole list “in the air” of those everyday things we might otherwise look past or ignore. One of the most potent practices we can adopt is including a gratitude list as part of our journaling or writing practice, in the morning or at night before bed. At times, the tendency for poets to enumerate what they’re grateful for might get exhausting for some readers. The sumptuousness makes for a refreshing break from the rather tortured tone of most contemporary poetry, but surely not everyone can relate to a daily cornucopia

of fresh vegetables ready to be cooked, a perfect sun setting over a loving family, a faithful hound at the bedside? Crews is wise to include writers who push back against these materialist aspects of gratitude. Tracy K. Smith, who served as U.S. poet laureate from 2017 to 2019, writes in “The Good Life”: “When some people talk about money / They speak as if it were a mysterious lover / Who went out to buy milk and never / Came back.” Moments like these help ground the anthology by complicating gratitude and hope with the sorts of everyday human struggle that usually gets cropped out of the Instagramready curations of our lives. Fittingly, How to Love the World ends on one of these nuanced notes, with a gorgeous prose poem by Mark Nepo, which concludes: “Like a worm cut in two, the heart only grows another heart. When the cut in my mind heals, I grow another mind […] I fall. I get up. I run from you. I look for you. I am again in love with the world.”

rews’ latest solo book, Bluebird, is an excellent window into the editor’s worldview and aesthetics. Released during last year’s terrifying spring, it’s a slim volume of affirming love poems and spiritual meditations, written well before COVID-19 invaded our lives. Still, Bluebird feels like a determined attempt to counter the terror consuming us then — another desperately needed antidote. Nothing is cryptic in Crews’ refreshingly wholesome love poems. “Heat” begins: “Words can’t capture the sensation / of actually kissing you, the fit / of lips made for each other.” Stripped of any coyness or artifice, sincerity rushes in to take their place. Some readers may interpret this as a lack of complexity, but others will be grateful to encounter a book of poems they can decipher without an advanced degree. Direct and plainspoken, many of these poems feel akin to notes passed between

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“It is the present / of enough time and space / to look into her tired face / and see the eyes of a child / staring back at you / through the fear.” These moments that acknowledge painful aspects of life make the rest of the book feel more earned. The love poems seem to grow in stature after lines such as these in “Kintsugi”: “Anyone who loves someone else / already has a broken heart. / It’s the law: If you want that light / to flood your body, you must / expose the cracks through which / it pours.” Kintsugi refers to the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with metallic lacquer. The fact that we can be shattered and remade, our scars rendered gold, is just about the most anyone could ask for. To be reassured of this in poems is a rare treat. m

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lovers. An early poem, “Tablet,” depicts this very image. Rather than the iPad readers might have expected to encounter, Crews describes ripping out a blank sheet of paper from a notebook on the kitchen counter and finding the palimpsest of a love note his husband had left in his pants pocket for him to find. I’d meant to use the paper for a grocery list but couldn’t force myself to mar the surface of what now seemed an artifact: I held it up to the sunlight and traced the places where the pen-tip had carved his name at the bottom like an ancient stylus pressing into wet clay the oldest love poem ever found. In his song “Anthem,” Leonard Cohen sang, “There is a crack, a crack in everything / that’s how the light gets in” — a poeticism that Crews tends to invert. Here and there among the gratitude and affirmations, glimmers of darkness make their way into the poems, and these make for some of the most satisfying moments. In “The Present” for example, the poet describes various gifts — the rustling of cattails, an old wool blanket — before ending with the image of a friend’s face who will soon begin radiation treatment:

FROM BLUEBIRD: “TIME CAPSULE OF THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY” All the love songs were about finding different ways to talk of the sky, especially at night— that blue before the black— which is to say, we wanted to pray but were too afraid to ask for help, too busy to kneel. We had learned to subsist on so little hope that any scrap was welcome, like ants clamoring for a grain of sugar in a bowl of nothing but salt. If you could still see the constellations through the ever-brightening skyglow of light pollution, you’d notice they were beautiful— the glittering plan and pattern of things not made by humans, bodies not meant to harm. The stars gave even the hardest among us a hint of pleasure as we caught a glimpse of them through a lover’s window or while leaving a nightclub, when we remembered to look up long enough to be amazed.

Reprinted with permission from Green Writers Press.

INFO How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope, edited by James Crews, Storey Publishing, 208 pages. $14.95. Bluebird by James Crews, Green Writers Press, 74 pages. $14.95. James Crews and Diana Whitney read on Thursday, April 15, at Phoenix Books Zoom Channel, 7 p.m. Free. phoenixbooks.biz

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NOW IN sevendaysvt.com SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

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Isolation Wards

COVID-19 kept families and regulators out of eldercare homes. This is what was happening. BY D E R E K BR O UW E R O F S E VE N D AYS & L IAM E L D E R - C O N N O R S O F V ER M O N T P U B L I C R A D I O derek@sevendaysvt.com, lconnors@vpr.org

n late 2019, Seven Days and Vermont Public Radio published a series of stories that revealed Vermont’s state-regulated eldercare facilities often failed their mostly elderly denizens, with medical errors and accidents leading to harm and even deaths. Just a few months later, COVID-19 struck, leaving residents of these assisted living and residential care homes more vulnerable than ever, this time to a virus especially deadly to older people.

DANIEL FISHEL

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

Desperate to keep COVID-19 out of the homes, state and federal officials resorted to extreme measures and instructed the facilities to lock their doors. Residents have been confined inside since then, away from family and even each other. “We had to shut them off from the outside world, which seemed, you know, in some ways cruel, as well,” Gov. Phil Scott recently told VPR. “It’s bothered me ever since, but it was necessary to protect them.” Scott’s executive order may have slowed the spread. But state and federal guidelines also kept out regulators and watchdogs charged with keeping residents safe. The problems that existed before the pandemic continued and sometimes worsened, only largely out of sight. One home operated throughout the last year with lax pandemic precautions — and an expired license. The men and women who live in these facilities suffered in lonely quarters, deprived of social activities, visitors and hugs. At times, they were restricted to their rooms for weeks on end, a sort of solitary confinement. Despite these precautions, COVID-19 swept through close to two dozen of Vermont’s 120-plus assisted living and residential care homes, afflicting tiny group residences and large campuses alike. As of February 23, nearly 350 residents

and caregivers had been infected, and 27 residents had died. That’s about 13 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in Vermont. Now that vaccination clinics have halted new outbreaks, residents and their caregivers aren’t quite so alone. New guidelines allow more contact between residents and their families — but the visits are still subject to numerous, ever-changing conditions. Regulators and watchdogs have yet to return in full force. A single new infection can push residents back into their rooms. Once again, Seven Days and VPR have teamed up. Our stories this time examine how regulators approached the pandemic and what lapses they noted, as well as how the seclusion affected residents. The cost, it is clear, is only beginning to come into view.

Want to search Vermont’s assisted living and residential care home inspection reports? Visit our online Vermont Eldercare Navigator. It’s based on 854 inspection reports created between 2014 and 2020. Seven Days and Vermont Public Radio created the database when we teamed up in 2019 to produce Worse for Care, a series of investigative stories grounded in our joint review of those reports. You can still read that series, and search the updated database, at sevendaysvt.com/eldercare. Listen to radio versions of the eldercare stories published in this issue of Seven Days. They’ll run during VPR’s “Morning Edition” at 7:44 a.m. and “All Things Considered” at 5:44 p.m. on these dates: March 24, 29 and 30. You can also look for them on vpr.org.

Lonely and Adrift Elder Vermonters forced into seclusion face depression and declining health

JAMES BUCK

ansfield Place seemed like the perfect place for Beverly Peters to spend the rest of her life. The 120-bed assisted living facility in Essex Junction was a town over from her daughter, Pam Reith. As one of the largest eldercare homes in Vermont, it offered an abundance of ways for Peters to stay social, while caregivers would be available to help with her weakening physical strength. She and Reith were close, and when Peters moved to Vermont from Southern California, they started spending more time together, shopping and doing crafts. The first few years at Mansfield Place were great, Reith said. Her mother, an extrovert, started a glee club and joined a resident group that lobbied for better food. She played a little electric piano in her room. And she saw her daughter a lot. Every Monday, she’d sleep over at Reith’s house. Reith retired early in 2019 so she could spend even more time with her mom. When COVID-19 hit last March, Peters, then 93, and her daughter thought Mansfield Place would be locked down for a few weeks. They had no idea how quickly it would become a prison. For the first few months, Peters seemed OK. She couldn’t leave her apartment, but she’d smile and laugh and tell her daughter not to worry. The two talked on FaceTime every day. Peters was hard of hearing, so Reith would write messages on her cellphone and hold them up to an iPad camera so her mom could read them. Sometimes their virtual visits were derailed by the apartment’s spotty internet. A few times Reith drove over to Mansfield Place and stood outside the building. Her mom would wave from the window of her thirdfloor apartment. In the summer, as coronavirus cases dropped, the state allowed eldercare homes to arrange outdoor, socially distanced visits between residents and family members. Mansfield Place set up eight-foot-long tables for the visits. But that arrangement proved challenging for Peters. “We would be at opposite ends of that eight feet, but she couldn’t hear me,” Reith said. By last August, Peters’ demeanor was changing. She had no interest in FaceTiming with Reith. She had lost 35 pounds since June and begun to fall more frequently. In Reith’s view, her mom had lost “her will to live.” Her doctor diagnosed her with depression and failure to thrive. Peters stopped reading and playing the little piano in her room. She didn’t watch TV because she couldn’t hear it. “She was just staring out the window, looking at the cars,” Reith said. She told

Pam Reith holding a photo of her mother, Beverly Peters

her daughter an orange car drove by every day. In November, Reith sent a letter to Gov. Scott with two pictures of her mother. One, from February 2020, showed Peters grinning and buoyant. In the second, a FaceTime screenshot from the following June, Peters’ lips were drawn, her eyes distant. “My mother is dying from Covid every bit as much as those who are infected by the virus, and she is not alone,” Pam wrote. “I am truly begging for your assistance to get my mother some personal, loving, family contact before she gives up all hope and passes away due to loneliness.” While Mansfield Place kept COVID-19 out of its building, the restrictions caused her mom’s health to deteriorate, said Reith, who doesn’t blame the facility. And while Reith knew her mother’s health was bound

to fail one day, she thinks the isolation of the past year brought it on much faster. “It’s been a year of hell watching my mother decline like this,” she said. “I feel like that’s the last gift I get to give her, is to help her die gracefully in the way that she wanted. So that’s been hard, to feel like I haven’t been able to do that.” Jessica Rouse has seen firsthand how the pandemic has affected older Vermonters. A physician who runs Village Health, a private family practice in Middlebury, Rouse has continued to visit patients in eldercare homes. Those visits have given her a window into her patients’ well-being over the last year, as they endured isolation and strained caregiving. She believes many have suffered mental and physical health declines as a result. More elderly patients are being diagnosed with depression and prescribed antidepressants. The effects of

isolation have been most pronounced for people who have dementia, she said. “At the beginning of the pandemic, we made the choice that we needed to protect our elders because their risk of dying from COVID was more significant,” Rouse said. “But there absolutely has been these consequences that we weren’t really expecting.” Reith is one of several family members who described the last year as a living “hell.” Carol Blakeley, whose mother lives at the Residence at Shelburne Bay, went further: “It’s been hell on wheels,” she said. Her mother, Florence Winn, 92, has Alzheimer’s disease. According to Carol, Winn entered the Residence at Shelburne Bay in May 2019 with mild dementia: She had a score of 21 on the Mini-Mental State Exam, a test used to measure cognitive function. She declined to 19, or moderate dementia, over the next year. That’s in line with the average decline of someone with Alzheimer’s of “about two to four points each year,” according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Over the course of the pandemic, she dropped from 19 to 10, meaning her disease is now severe. Blakeley’s mom has been stuck in her room on the top floor of the upscale facility, one of three in Vermont owned by Massachusetts-based LCB Senior Living. Her daughters got her a giant stuffed dog to keep her company. “There’s no socialization, no anything,” Blakeley said. “She was just so depressed. She’s happier now that she’s on antidepressants.” Blakeley said her mom can’t work FaceTime on her own, which means the nurses have to help her. But to Blakeley, the nurses seem stressed and overworked: “We feel like we can’t ask them to give us FaceTime with mom even weekly because they’re so stressed. Other than talking with her on the phone, we haven’t been able to communicate with her.” The facility’s activities staff has held “social engagement” events that take place in hallways with residents standing in their doorways, LCB Senior Living spokesperson Ted Doyle said, adding that the company purchased additional iPads for its homes to allow more virtual visits during the pandemic. “Anytime a family member called anywhere and said, ‘I want to talk to my mom or dad,’ we would make that happen,” he said. Blakeley’s family pays $6,700 per month for Winn’s apartment and care. As her condition declined in recent months and she required more services, LONELY AND ADRIFT SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

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JAMES BUCK

Lonely and Adrift « P.27

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

Peters family photos

COURTESY OF PAM REITH

Blakeley said, the home sought to increase the monthly bill to $7,500. Winn caught COVID-19 during a winter outbreak that infected 15 staff and 28 residents, killing three. She survived. Some homes, already strapped for caregivers, didn’t have enough staff to manage all of the new burdens of operating during a pandemic while also tending to residents’ emotional health. Rouse, the Middlebury physician, said that, prior to the pandemic, family members could help fill some of the gaps. “If somebody needs a glass of water or needs help getting up out of a chair to get to the bathroom and a family member is there visiting, that absolutely happens,” Rouse said. “And when you’re talking about a facility that already is understaffed, not having those extra people … has consequences.” There are state regulations to ensure that residents get social and emotional support. The residents’ bill of rights requires that homes have visiting hours and states that residents “shall be allowed to associate, communicate and meet privately with persons of the resident’s own choice.” During the pandemic, advocates say, residents lost those rights due to restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the virus. “Those folks still should have had some choices,” said Alice Harter, a regional longterm care ombudsman in the Northeast Kingdom. “They should have more choices than what they were given.” Some operators acknowledged that their residents missed out on an important part of their care during the last year. Prior to the pandemic, Riverbend Residential Care Home had an “open-revolving door.” Families didn’t even have to call; they could just drop by the Chelsea facility, said owner Jennifer Doyle. Now, families need to schedule visits, and a Riverbend staffer supervises to make sure everyone stays six feet apart. All residents are vaccinated, but the only touching allowed is a brief hug hello or goodbye — no snuggling, Doyle said. It’s not an ideal setup, she admits, but the state directed eldercare homes to “do what we can to protect people from dying.” “Their physical care, their medical needs have been absolutely well met,” Doyle said. “Emotionally, we’re doing our best to meet their needs, but we can’t deny that decreased family access has had an impact on people.” State regulators have signaled that they won’t penalize homes for not providing social stimulation during the pandemic.

Beverly Peters (left) and Pam Reith before the pandemic

The human touch is so important. And she hasn’t had that for so long. PAM RE ITH

Pam Cota, the state’s eldercare home licensing chief in the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, said it would take a “pretty egregious situation” for state regulators to cite a home. “Everyone is really just trying to do their best,” Cota said. The much-heralded arrival of vaccines in December and January hasn’t solved the isolation problem — at least not everywhere.

Julia Gignoux and Leslie LaCroix’s mother, Patricia Hill, has been at Valley Terrace in White River Junction since the fall of 2018. Early in the pandemic, they were impressed by the facility’s “aggressive” stance on COVID-19. “They did a fantastic job,” Gignoux said. Even in early January, when their 92-year-old mother caught COVID-19, they felt that the home was responsive and did a good job taking care of her. But the outbreak, which infected nine people, prompted the home to restrict residents to their rooms. They were allowed to walk the hallway one at a time. On February 16, the home appeared clear of COVID-19. The facility started to allow residents to leave their rooms and eat together. But days later, another employee tested positive and the residents were again restricted to their rooms, even though many of them had recently received their second dose of the vaccine.

LaCroix and her sister were frustrated to learn that not all staff at Valley Terrace were vaccinated; even one new case was having repercussions for their mom. They began pushing the facility to mandate that its workforce get inoculated. The outbreak at Valley Terrace is now over. The facility’s executive director declined to comment on any specifics but in an email said Valley Terrace is “100 percent committed to the safety and wellbeing of its residents and staff.” The months of isolation have added up. Hill doesn’t have dementia and was, LaCroix said, “sharp as a tack” before the past year. Now she has no short-term memory, according to her daughters. “You see that her life is getting shorter,” LaCroix said. “She’s not who she was a year ago.” “This is not what we had ever hoped for the end of her life,” Gignoux added. For Reith, one thing has crystallized: Families must have a way to support their aging loved ones, especially through crises. “We need to do better,” she said. In her November letter to Scott, she urged him to create a designation for “essential caregivers” in hopes that she could get training and permission to participate in her mother’s care as the virus resurged. She didn’t hear back. Advocacy groups have sprouted up around the country in recent months to push states to take up proposals such as Reith’s. Caregivers for Compromise and the Essential Caregivers Coalition want laws allowing each resident to designate one family member as an essential caregiver. The person would follow the same coronavirus protocols as facility staff and be allowed in to provide social and emotional support. In January, Reith’s mom was diagnosed with dementia and went into hospice, which means that, under state protocols, Reith can again visit her in person. She goes every day. On a recent Saturday, Reith stood outside Mansfield Place, preparing to suit up in the required protective equipment: goggles, face shield and mask. Reith stays for as long as she can, usually a couple of hours. They play games, chat and watch cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. But her mom gets tired a lot and sleeps about 20 hours a day now. Reith tries to keep her awake during her visits. “Sometimes she just can’t seem to stay awake, and she’ll lie down on the bed,” Reith said. “So I just curl up behind her and kind of put my arms around her and hug her.” “The human touch is so important,” Reith added. “And she hasn’t had that for so long.” m

DANIEL FISHEL

he focus on COVID-19 last year didn’t mean that the typical problems in Vermont’s eldercare facilities went away. At one home, a resident was rushed to the hospital because of a medication error. At another, a med tech with a drug addiction stole a resident’s pills. One caregiver is accused of grabbing her elderly charge in the groin and leaving him bleeding on the floor. Another resident had to be hospitalized because a home didn’t train aides on how to manage bowel problems. Pandemic-related shortcomings occurred, as well: In at least two homes, managers made no effort to keep residents distanced at mealtimes or to screen visitors for coronavirus-like symptoms. That’s just a sample of what’s been documented during a year of relatively few inspections. As state officials went into overdrive to keep the virus out of long-term care homes, they paid less attention to monitoring how well residents’ daily care needs were being met. The same steps taken to reduce the risk of outbreaks also locked out critical watchdogs for residents’ wellbeing. Most inspections were canceled. Nobody really knows how well, on the whole, people in residential care and assisted living have been cared for. State regulators believe these homes largely rose to the unprecedented challenge posed by the pandemic. Advocates are less sure. “Everyone is focused on COVID,” the state’s long-term care ombudsman, Sean Londergan, told state lawmakers in January. “But other things are still happening. The focus on COVID does trickle down, and it impacts quality of care.” The pandemic exacerbated the chronic understaffing that was widely acknowledged as a crisis before the virus hit. The past year also put financial strain on homes as occupancy rates dropped and operating costs increased. New safety precautions that were less familiar to workers slowed the pace of care, and the common practice of caregivers working jobs at multiple homes became less tenable. “It was just trying to keep our heads above water,” said Barbara Spear, the nurse administrator for Historic Homes of Runnemede in Windsor. A resident there was hospitalized last May with withdrawal from a medication that a nurse forgot to reorder. The residential care home was short-staffed in the pandemic’s early months, which Spear said led to “not as much oversight.” Yet this seemingly perfect storm did not lead to a spike in complaints to the array of state offices and advocacy groups that watch out for residents. Instead, those made to an independently run ombudsman program for eldercare

Behind Closed Doors Lockdowns leave homes unchecked and residents vulnerable

homes dropped by nearly 50 percent. Complaints from all sources to the state’s Adult Protective Services office dropped by 13 percent. They remained flat overall to the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living’s licensing office. That’s likely because families were unable to visit and residents had less access to resources such as ombudsmen, who haven’t been inside homes since the state of emergency began in March 2020. In addition, fewer of the complaints submitted have been investigated. Adult Protective Services’ casework dropped by nearly one-third, while DAIL’s licensing arm visited eldercare homes just 29 times in 2020, compared to nearly 140 visits in a typical year. When COVID-19 struck, the agency worried that eldercare homes wouldn’t be able to cope. While not as densely packed as nursing homes, the residential care and assisted living industry includes a wide spectrum of professionalism and facility types, from large, corporate-run facilities to tiny mom-and-pop homes where managers don’t have clinical — or sometimes any — credentials. “The biggest risks were in those smaller facilities that didn’t have the requirements

for a medical director,” then-DAIL commissioner Monica Hutt told lawmakers in January. Gov. Phil Scott has since promoted her to a new addiction prevention position. Early in the pandemic, Scott used his executive authority to explicitly shield long-term care homes from any civil liability stemming from their COVID-19 response, making it harder for families to sue homes that may have failed to protect residents. DAIL likewise focused more on helping homes stem outbreaks than holding them accountable. The agency offered technical support and resources, eventually funding a pool of emergency workers who could respond in crisis situations. The state applied federal guidance for nursing homes to its state-licensed eldercare homes and halted all but the most urgent inspections. Licensing surveyors instead took to reviewing each home’s COVID-19 precautions with its manager. “They really need a lot of help to understand how to keep their residents safe,” licensing chief Pam Cota said. “So instead of coming in afterwards and just telling them what they did wrong, we just took a very proactive approach.”

The informal infection control reviews, conducted remotely, took months to complete. Only three resulted in formal regulatory violations, which serve as black marks on a home’s record and require that they submit a written plan of correction. Cota said the few problems uncovered showed that the overwhelming majority of homes were taking their responsibilities seriously. One of those cases, however, suggests that the state’s reliance on homes to selfreport their precautions was sometimes misplaced. Following a consultation last August, the state deemed Lakeview Community Care Home, a Howard Center-run residential care home for people with mental illnesses in Burlington, “low risk” for a COVID-19 outbreak. A residential counselor working alone on the overnight shift discovered a copy of the state’s assessment while tidying up a back office. The report, he noticed, was based on a long list of precautions the home’s managers had said they were taking. “I started reading it, and I was outraged,” the counselor, Justin, told Seven Days and VPR. “They were lying about how protected we were.” Justin, who requested that the news outlets withhold his last name so prospective employers would not recognize him as a whistleblower, filed a complaint to the DAIL surveyor listed on the report. By mid-August, a state surveyor inspected Lakeview in person and cited the facility for unsafe practices. Managers had told the state that any resident who stayed at the hospital quarantined at an off-site location before returning to the home. It wasn’t true. Five days earlier, a resident had refused a COVID-19 test at the hospital and been allowed to return without quarantining, the surveyor found. That resident wasn’t the first to do so, Justin said. The home also had initially told DAIL that residents weren’t allowed to leave the property. In fact, “they go into stores, go to the beach, and walk around the city at will,” the surveyor learned when following up. They also ate around the same dining table for every meal. The lapses were especially risky at a home such as Lakeview, which housed 16 or so residents with severe mental illness in a converted building. Its narrow corridors, tiny bedrooms and shared living quarters would make a COVID-19 infection harder to contain. The Howard Center agreed to change some practices as a result of the investigation. Justin quit in October. When surveyors returned to the home in November BEHIND CLOSED DOORS SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

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JAMES BUCK

Locked Down, Masked Up: Working Through a Tiny Group Home’s Outbreak

COURTESY OF PAT MIGNONE

Tina Fede inside Gatling House Group Home

JA M

he stairs reminded Tina Fede that she was sick. The little residential care home she manages in Bennington has just one flight, and she usually trots up and down it without a thought. Now the steps left her short of breath. She trudged them over and over, huffing into her N95 mask by the time she reached the top. There was, in her mind, no other option. All four residents under her care had been infected with the coronavirus in an outbreak that began on December 13. Fede was sick, too, along with nine of her 10 coworkers. One of their residents, Randall McMorris, had been placed in hospice after CK falling ill with COVID-19; he likely BU had just days to live. He was 72 years old and had been living at Gatling House Group Home for more than a decade. Randy, known for his gentle soul, had intensive needs, and the outbreak of a contagious disease was scary and disorienting for him. The house was in crisis. Some caregivers from sister programs were recruited to help, but Fede and three other employees weren’t willing to turn over their residents’ care to strangers in their moment of need. Especially Randy’s. His journey into death, Fede insisted, must be “as dignified as possible.” So they worked. Gatling House, a residential care home, was one of five tiny long-term care facilities in Vermont to experience an outbreak of COVID-19. These homes have fewer than 25 total staff and residents. They’re

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

The features that made Gatling House comfortable for Randy also made it susceptible to the spread of an airborne contagion. Residents all shared a bathroom and living quarters. Their daily care needs required a lot of close contact with staff. “It’s a long-term care facility, but it’s a home,” Fede said. “Inside a home, it’s much [more] difficult to keep everybody safe than it would be in a very structured facility.” The home tried to limit the opportunities for infection, at great cost. Fede said residents regressed in their life skills after staff took over cooking and cleaning, and opportunities for social interaction disappeared. New expectations for employees also scared off would-be and newly hired caregivers. Few people — and sometimes no one — applied for open jobs, for which starting pay can be about $14 per hour. Residents and staff plugged away in relative seclusion for nine months, until cases started rising in Bennington County during the winter. When routine, state-mandated surveillance testing picked up the first employee case on December 13, Bennington County was seeing more new COVID-19 cases each day than at any previous point during the pandemic. By the end of the week, everyone but one staff member had tested positive. Employees’ partners and children were beginning to test positive, too, Fede said. Residents rode out the illness inside their small bedrooms — but because they all were infected, they could at least take trips to the PAT M IGN ON E shared toilet. They relied on sun lamps to try to brighten their rooms. so small that the Vermont Department Fede worked 178 hours in of Health won’t name them as outbreak two weeks. Another staff person Randall McMorris (right) sites, citing federal privacy law. The matched her, she said. Sick state did confirm that, at three of the employees who continued to work homes, the vast majority of people also made arrangements for their were infected, and at two of the homes, families to stay elsewhere, including for Christmas, so one resident died. they wouldn’t be exposed. Gatling House is quite literally a house, Staff did their best to celebrate the holiday during indistinguishable from the surrounding the outbreak. Families watched via FaceTime as single-family residences on a quiet residents unwrapped gifts. They sang carols through street. It’s run by United Counseling their masks. Service, the designated agency Randy, who loved to sing, didn’t get to join in the for community mental health and festivities. He died on Christmas Eve. developmental services in Bennington Telling the remaining residents of his passing was County. Residents have developmental an especially difficult moment for Fede. disabilities in addition to other health “I think there’s still a portion of grief that we haven’t Tina Fede conditions and get support to live as quite touched on with them,” she said. independently as possible. They vary Things are slowly getting better at Gatling House. in age. All the residents are vaccinated, and so is 90 percent Randy, who was blind, nonverbal and had of the staff, Fede said. The state has slowly eased a severe intellectual disability, was happy at restrictions and granted more freedoms for vaccinated Gatling House, his family said. He could easily find his Vermonters. Each incremental change feels like a way around the building. He loved music, and staff at milestone. the house made sure he could listen to his funny and When Fede and her staff told Gatling House sentimental favorites, such as singer Patti Page’s “(How residents recently that they’d be able to eat meals Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?” together without social distancing and go on car rides “At this point in his life, his real family was Gatling again, some of them jumped up and down, she said, House,” said Pat Mignone, his sister. “They were there joyously clapping their hands. m every day for him.”

They were there every day for him.

FILE: CALEB KENNA

Behind Closed Doors « P.29 to follow up on another complaint, they didn’t cite any violations. In an interview, the Howard Center’s director of long-term supports and services, Delaina Norton, attributed the cited violations to a “communication” issue and said they clarified their procedures as a result. “I’m really proud of the work that’s happened in our community and within our residential programs,” she said, “and Lakeview is included in that.” The virus struck Lakeview on January 21 — just after the home had held its first vaccination clinic. Thirteen people got infected, but no one died, according to the Vermont Department of Health. At two other residential care homes, surveyors encountered managers who were seemingly oblivious to the state’s COVID-19 guidelines. At Washington Elms, a 24-bed home in Bennington, the manager claimed to be unaware of state rules for how and when facilities could relax their lockdown measures. Contrary to state guidelines, the home was found to be allowing visitors outside and not screening them for illness. Further, residents continued group activities and meals — unmasked. Staff, too, didn’t always wear mandated masks in the home, and managers weren’t taking employees’ temperatures each day as required, according to an August 12 inspection report. Neither Washington Elms’ owner nor its manager returned requests for comment, but the state report indicates that the home agreed to change its practices. Securing compliance at Owen House, in Fair Haven, proved more difficult. Leanne Towle Ledo was glad to be able to visit with her mother, Flora Jane Towle, before she passed away at the home last September. Beginning in the summer, Towle’s family was initially able to visit with her outside on a veranda, socially distanced and with masks, then inside her room once she was placed in hospice. Ledo said the caregivers seemed diligent about COVID-19 precautions, from her admittedly limited vantage point. “I don’t know what they were doing when I wasn’t there,” she said. The state had a different impression when a surveyor visited the home last October to follow up on its remote infection review — one of the few in-person visits of the year. The surveyor found some maskless staff and residents, no symptom screenings, and no supply of surgical masks or gowns. Employees hadn’t received any structured COVID-19 safety training, according to the state’s report. The home’s owner and manager, Catherine Rooney, claimed she wasn’t aware of state guidelines because,

Our House Too in Rutland

she told Seven Days in an interview, the home doesn’t have internet access. Regulators were well acquainted with Rooney. Owen House has the worst inspection record of any Vermont eldercare home, the 2019 investigation by Seven Days and VPR found. Her other residential care home, Harvey House, had the second-worst track record, according to the analysis, before she converted it into unlicensed rental housing. The news outlets’ investigation scrutinized the most egregious violations at Rooney’s homes and found that, other than one $5,200 fine, she hadn’t faced any professional consequences.

The backlog of investigations and general inspections will take years to clear. More than two months after the state discovered lax precautions, Rooney still hadn’t submitted a written plan of correction. So a surveyor drove to the home in early December and hand-delivered the form. By late January, Rooney still hadn’t submitted it. But surveyors were back at Owen House on January 26, thanks to a new complaint. The problems uncovered during the more thorough January visit ran deep. In the middle of the night on October 23, one of Owen House’s four residents, who had schizophrenia, got into a physical fight with a caregiver, according to a licensing survey and report by Fair Haven police. The caregiver was taken to the hospital by ambulance after, as Rooney

later told surveyors, the resident “beat the shit out of” her employee. The injured caregiver was alleged to have accepted money from the resident to cover her medical costs, which state regulations forbid in order to protect residents’ interests. “I mean, I don’t think I should have to pay for it,” the employee told the inspector. “Do you?” She shouldn’t. But Rooney had let her state-mandated workers’ compensation insurance expire months earlier, claiming that she couldn’t afford the premiums. By January, Rooney told the state, she was still scrounging for money to cover the employee’s ambulance bill. Rooney had not reported the financial exploitation allegation to the state, nor had she investigated it. “What am I gonna investigate?” she explained in an interview for this story. The employee still works at Owen House, though DAIL cited the home for failing to ensure that the resident was free from exploitation. When DAIL investigated in January, the state’s surveyor found a slew of unrelated problems. Owen House’s contracted supervising nurse hadn’t entered the home since February 2020. A majority of the residents hadn’t had their required annual care assessments completed in years. Employees still hadn’t undergone formal COVID-19 training. All of this occurred while Owen House operated under an expired residential care home license. The license lapsed on September 30, 2019, but the state didn’t compel Rooney to renew it until December 2020, when she failed to follow through on the COVID-19 plan of correction. DAIL denied her application on March 5 on technical grounds, because she didn’t have workers’ compensation insurance. Rooney claimed that she recently acquired insurance but has decided to

close the home anyway. She’s fed up with, as she put it, “the whole COVID thing.” “It has not been fun for anybody. And whatever. I’m tired. I’m frustrated,” Rooney said. “It’s like, you don’t see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And all I’ve ever tried to do was make a nice place for people to be happy, healthy and safe.” Asked why the state didn’t intervene sooner at Owen House, Cota said she has to consider how enforcement affects elderly residents. “For me to shut down someone’s home is a really big decision. I don’t take it lightly,” she said. DAIL has yet to receive a formal shutdown plan from Rooney. Homes must submit a plan and inform residents at least 90 days before they are discharged. Now that eldercare home residents are vaccinated, Cota’s office has begun following up on less urgent complaints that it received over the past year. The medication error at Historic Homes of Runnemede occurred in May 2020, but DAIL only followed up to inspect in February. The backlog of investigations and general inspections will take years to clear. Advocates worry that it’s not always possible to get to the bottom of allegations so long after the events occurred. Meanwhile, a rewrite of 20-year-old industry regulations that was nearly drafted before COVID-19 hit remains on indefinite hold. Cota said it would be unfair to saddle homes with new mandates while they’re still reeling from the virus. A case at Our House Too, in Rutland, encapsulates the present state of affairs. The small home for people with dementia is currently defending a civil lawsuit brought by the family of Marilyn Kelly, who died in 2016 following a physical assault by a caregiver. Last August, five months into the pandemic, a similar incident took place at the home: A frustrated caregiver allegedly struck a resident who was leafing through paperwork in the kitchen, and a struggle ensued, according to an affidavit filed in Rutland Superior Court. The 83-year-old man was bleeding when a second caregiver found him. The home reported the alleged assault to authorities and regulators. The caregiver surrendered her nursing assistant license, faces misdemeanor criminal charges and was substantiated for abuse by Adult Protective Services. As of early March, DAIL’s inspectors still hadn’t gone to Our House Too to review the home’s processes or document the abuse violation. Because the employee accused of harming the resident was fired, Cota said, the situation didn’t meet the threshold for immediate follow-up. m SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

Eli Coughlin-Galbraith

Custom Fit Shapeshifters in Brattleboro revolutionizes the chest binder market B Y M AR GAR ET GR AY SON • margaret@sevendaysvt.com

ypically, beginners learning to sew are warned to be careful when choosing fabrics. Anything stretchy, slippery or finicky requires special equipment and knowhow. Stick to cotton, linen or chambray, the advice goes. Beginner patterns are often simple and loose, with room for error. This approach wasn’t going to work for Eli and Krista Coughlin-Galbraith, who began sewing in their New York City apartment about a decade ago. They were making costumes for comic-book conventions; they wanted to use spandex and make corsets. “We wanted to be superheroes,” Eli said. “Superheroes don’t wear flowy cotton.” So the couple jumped straight into the deep end, sewing with difficult fabrics and trying on the clothing repeatedly to ensure a perfect fit. They made costumes

BUSINESS

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

for themselves and took commissions from friends, and Eli took a summer patternmaking intensive at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. At the same time, “a set of gender identity revelations” was inspiring Eli to try out chest binders: compression garments designed to flatten the chest. Binders are often made of thick spandex and nylon. “I bought a chest binder for myself that did not fit. I bought a second one that did not fit,” Eli said. “And then I looked at those and went, ‘This fabric is not scary to me. The pattern is not difficult … I understand this fabric, and I can make it better.’” In 2014, Eli and Krista founded Shapeshifters, making and selling custom binders in lively patterns and colors. Theirs

was the first company to sew binders to the wearer’s specific proportions and offer sizes larger than an XL. Today, the company is based in Brattleboro and has sold thousands of binders. “When we officially opened in 2014, we

that fits, something that makes you feel good.’” Binders are most commonly associated with the trans and nonbinary communities, but the Shapeshifters website lists many reasons a person might wear one: to mitigate “gender dysphoria, to ‘pass’ as a man in day-to-day life, [for] breast reduc-

YOU CAN HAVE SOMETHING THAT FITS, SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD.

E L I C O U G HL I N - G A L B R A I T H

were in that transgender tipping point. Trans people were starting to hit the mainstream,” Eli said. “Before us, the binders available were awful-looking medical devices in white, black and ugly beige. And we showed up and went, ‘You can have color. You can have something

tion and back pain relief, for dancing, for archery, for other sports, because traditional bras are uncomfortable, for sensory reasons, [for] post-surgical recovery, [for] costuming, or simply for the look.” It’s important, said Eli and Krista, to find a binder that fits. If it’s too large, it

PHOTOS: DAVID SHAW

Eli (left) and Krista Coughlin-Galbraith

won’t flatten effectively, but if it’s too small, a binder can interfere with lung function, cause shoulder problems and even deform the chest over time. “There was, at one point, a very long conversation — for years — happening about broken ribs and bruised ribs,” Krista said. But a binder isn’t supposed to hurt, and with a custom fit, Shapeshifters can make a garment that does its job without causing pain or injury. Binder fit is determined by two measurements: one around the rib cage and one around the widest point of the chest. Shapeshifters also offers customization on the neckline, length and strap width. If a binder doesn’t fit, the company will take it back to resize.

Based on years of data from selling and refitting binders, Eli developed a finely graded sizing system. “Imagine if bras [only] came in small, medium and large, and you have an idea of what the binder market was like before we showed up,” Eli said. Since then, the world of binders has expanded a lot, and companies offer options at many price points. Shapeshifters also sells sports bras, designed to support but not flatten the chest. While they lived in New York City, Eli and Krista often visited Eli’s family home in Townshend, and they got married there. Eventually, they moved to nearby Brattleboro permanently.

“At the end of every vacation, it was a joke: ‘Oh, what if we just stayed?’” Krista recalled. “And then it slowly stopped being a joke.” Before the pandemic, Shapeshifters was selling about 2,000 binders annually out of a studio in Brattleboro’s Cotton Mill building. But when COVID-19 hit and it became clear that Eli, Krista and their two part-time staffers couldn’t safely work in the studio at the same time, production came to a grinding halt for a month. They created a production schedule with staggered shifts and downsized into a smaller space. They also stopped accepting new binder orders so they could work through the backlog. “People were super understanding, and that was great,” Eli said. “It was like, ‘Hello, we’re in a hell year. It’s a plague. Your order is on our table, and we’re doing our best.’” Like other clothing makers, Eli and Krista also dedicated a lot of their time to making masks, both to sell and to donate to health care staff and other essential workers. With mask sales, a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan and a state grant, they were able to keep the business afloat. At the end of February, Shapeshifters reopened to binder orders. Eli and Krista are also excited to return to sewing costumes for theater and circus performances. They’ve made dinosaur costumes for the New England Center for Circus Arts, pinstripe spandex tank tops for a performance of Chicago at Saxtons River’s Main Street Arts, and even Elizabethan costuming for a production of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. For now, the couple said, they’re just happy to have kept going this past year. “We figured out how to run a sewing studio” during a pandemic, Eli said, “and I’m really grateful to everyone who was involved in making that happen for us. And I’m also really proud of us.” m

INFO

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Learn more at shapeshifters.co. SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021 4v-CHSLV031021 1

33 2/25/21 10:19 AM

BOTTOM LINE BY KEN PICARD

Sense of Tread How Timely Tire gained traction heading into the pandemic

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

PHOTOS: LUKE AWTRY

hen Ari Moskowitz first thought of creating a mobile tire rotation and repair service a few years ago, the driving motivator was to save people time. Moskowitz and his wife moved to Burlington six years ago from New York City, where installing snow tires on one’s vehicle doesn’t have the same urgency as it does in Vermont. But Moskowitz said he became “totally frustrated” by all the time he spent getting snow tires mounted each fall, then removed each spring, especially because he and his wife both work and share one car. Whether he was sitting in waiting rooms or taking Uber and Lyft rides back and forth to the shop, “I felt there must be a better way,” he said. Moskowitz began researching the feasibility of launching a mobile tire service and discovered that the concept was already popular in Canada. So he reached out to the owner of one Canadian business and offered to pay him for his insights, figuring they’d never compete for customers. For $500, Moskowitz got all his questions answered. In search of someone more mechanically inclined than himself, Moskowitz landed on Michael Carroll-Sherwin. The University of Vermont graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering had once worked for a company that built robotic equipment that detects unexploded land mines. The two, who at the time worked together at a renewable energy firm in Williston, founded Timely Tire in December 2019. Though changing a tire isn’t rocket science, building a system for mounting and balancing them that operates on a trailer and is powered by a generator is more complex than it might seem, Moskowitz said. The partners found a manufacturer of tire-changing equipment in Montréal and invested $100,000, not knowing whether the concept would catch on in Vermont. Timely Tire changed its first tire on April 11, 2020. What began as a service based on convenience quickly capitalized on consumers’ concerns about social distancing and personal safety. After Gov. Phil Scott issued his “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order last March, car dealerships and their service departments closed. Though automotive repair shops qualified as essential services and were allowed to remain open, many saw their traffic dwindle, as some customers didn’t feel safe sitting in a waiting room for extended periods of

The Timely Tire crew at work on location

THE MONEY IS NICE, BUT I’M MORE EXCITED ABOUT

DOING SOMETHING THAT MAKES OTHER PEOPLE’S LIVES EASIER. ARI MOSKO W ITZ

time. Especially in the first few months of the pandemic, Moskowitz recalled, “A lot of people were very specific: They didn’t want us inside their car.” Fortunately, Timely Tire didn’t need to go there. Its crew shows up at a customer’s home or workplace, then uses mobile jacks to lift the vehicle, swap out the snow tires, or fix or replace flats. The company’s service area extends about an hour’s drive from Burlington, which includes all of Chittenden County, as well as Stowe and parts of the Mad River Valley. During the first few weeks after the business opened, Moskowitz and

Ari Moskowitz

Carroll-Sherwin were performing all of the labor themselves, marketing with Facebook posts and advertising on Front Porch Forum. With thousands of Vermonters suddenly working remotely, appointment requests poured in. “I started coming home to 40, 50, 60 emails. It was just insane,” Moskowitz recalled. By October, Timely Tire had so

many inquiries that the company shut down its marketing with the exception of posting classified ads for new employees. “We’re just trying to tame the dragon right now,” he said, noting that appointments for the spring are booked out weeks in advance. In addition to hiring more staff — the company is up to half a dozen employees — it invested in more trucks, jacks and

tire-changing equipment. By next month, the company’s three fully outfitted vehicles should be operational, Moskowitz added. Timely Tire has recently begun offering other automotive services, such as brake jobs, oil changes, wiper replacements and interior detailing. About the only tire work it can’t do are wheel alignments. But for people who normally would drive an hour or more to the Burlington area for auto maintenance, Moskowitz said, “It’s a real game changer.” That’s true in more ways than one. When Timely Tire showed up last fall to install snow tires for elderly clients who live alone, several told Moskowitz that the crew members were the first people they’d spoken to face-to-face in more than six months.

Customers pay more than they would at a brick-and-mortar automotive center, mostly for the convenience. The price is determined by the customer’s location; someone in the Burlington area would pay $125 per vehicle while someone farther afield would pay more, depending on the distance. That’s compared to about $100 at tire shops. As an incentive, the company offers discounted rates for multiple vehicles. Since last year, Timely Tire has inked deals with several corporate clients, including a Chittenden County tech company, an outdoor gear manufacturer and a local trucking firm. Timely Tire either services the companies’ fleet vehicles or offers group discounts for its workers. Because its employees won’t have to spend weekends

or lunch hours sitting in the shop, Moskowitz said, “I think it’s a no-brainer.” “They came in, they professionally changed and balanced my tires, and it gave me the opportunity for freedom to work on my schedule,” said Chaim Lodish of Burlington, in a video posted last spring to the company’s Facebook page. “I didn’t have to go to a shop. I didn’t have to leave my car. I didn’t have to carpool with my wife … It was fantastic.” Though Moskowitz didn’t disclose what he pays employees, most of whom are in their late teens or twenties, he said he offers competitive wages and often buys his staff lunch. And many, he noted, prefer working on a mobile crew because they’re not stuck indoors all day.

The company still faces some unknowns, Moskowitz acknowledged, including whether demand will continue once the pandemic ends. And since the company launched last year, a few other Vermont automotive businesses, including one in Colchester and another in Barre, have launched their own mobile services. Nevertheless, Moskowitz seemed unconcerned by the competition. “The money is nice,” he added, “but I’m more excited about doing something that makes other people’s lives easier.” m

INFO Bottom Line is a series on how Vermont businesses are faring during the pandemic. Got a tip? Email bottomline@sevendaysvt.com.

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SALLY POLLAK

food+drink

Hill Farmstead Brewery

Society and Solitude The world’s top brewer, Vermonter Shaun Hill, reconsiders his business B Y S A LLY POL L AK • sally@sevendaysvt.com

n February, Shaun Hill was in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he spent two weeks in “managed isolation.” The mandatory quarantine, which he experienced across the world from his home in Vermont, offered Hill time to reflect. Usually, he’s brewing beer at Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro, the brewery he founded in 2010 at the farm on Hill Road where he grew up. Rated the No. 1 brewer in the world for seven straight years and eight of the last nine, Hill Farmstead was a subject of Hill’s reflection. (The ranking is by RateBeer, which most recently named Hill Farmstead the best brewer for 2020.) Over a decade, Hill’s beer has trans-

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formed people’s appreciation of the beverage. His brewery has altered the pace and rhythm of life on Hill Road, particularly at 403, where Hill lives, brews and sells beer. With its “beerflavored beer” that’s made to be a pleasure to drink, as Hill describes it, and its beautiful, open setting, Hill Farmstead is a mecca for beer seekers. A mecca and a pandemic are, by nature, at odds. In 2020, the year Hill Farmstead was to celebrate its 10th anniversary, Hill adapted his business for curbside pickup and limited home delivery. Early this year, he closed the brewery for a three-month break, during which he traveled to New Zealand. In early March, after his time in isolaFOOD NEWS SERVED TO YOUR INBOX

tion, Hill answered a set of questions from Seven Days, putting down in writing his thoughts and insights of the previous weeks. Hill Farmstead will reopen for curbside service on April 7. In the email interview that follows, Hill, 41, writes about his family, his plans for 2021 and the state of beer. SEVEN DAYS: When you started the brewery in 2010, Hill Road was a pretty empty place. That changed over the course of a decade, with people arriving from all over the country to buy your beer and see where it’s made. Your 10-year anniversary coincided with a return

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to relative quiet and solitude on Hill Road. Can you talk about that trajectory and, in particular, what the unexpected lull in the action (due to COVID-19) has been like for you? SHAUN HILL: Hill Road really was a quiet place 11 years ago. There was a magnetic and silent quality that was temporarily paused for a decade. A dilapidated white house and a few agricultural relics such as field stone walls, a former barn’s cracked foundation, and hay fields. I created the brewery because I wanted to live in this place, on Hill Road, and connect with the natural world and its divine resonance. I projected that I would net $8,000 in my first year of business — and I saw this as

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a sufficient reward for bootstrapping an idealistic enterprise. The creation of Hill Farmstead Brewery seemed to have coincided with the expanding tentacles (no offense meant toward invertebrates) of social media’s mobile connectedness. Within a short period of time, I allowed the overwhelming and unpredictable crush of consumer demand to guide me toward expansion and compromise after subsequent compromise. Pandemic was a reset. I had been working with business coaches for half a decade in an attempt to improve leadership skills and try to alter the business. What I hadn’t realized, until just a few weeks ago, was that the business itself was my compromise. I was a divided self. Now, the pandemic has provided an alternative narrative to arise. A new pathway emerges.

names that were offensive to gender, race and sexuality). In 2009, I began thinking about the various approaches that I could take for naming the beers. An extension of self, that spoke to my connection to the place and my experience. The first beer brewed in the brewery (on March 30, 2010) was named after Edward (American Pale Ale), and the second batch was named after his father, Abner (Double IPA). It made sense to me then and it still does now. Each of these individuals is now a spirit committed to memory, a name (letters) listed in a genealogical record, and each inhabited the space that I now occupy.

DRINK

SD: Why do you think Greensboro — founded by your ancestors — is and has been home to such interesting and creative people and their work? I’m thinking of you guys, Jasper Hill Farm, [novelist] Wallace Stegner, [gardener/writer] Lewis Hill. What’s your understanding of the greatness in Greensboro? SH: Perhaps Greensboro, like other places on the planet, is host to an energy vortex. It is an ongoing dialogue at the brewery with the staff — past and present. Things happen that no expert, no person, has ever experienced before and is typically unable to explain. Or … perhaps there is a level of awareness, a stark contrast to “business as usual” in everyday life. In order to live in this place, one must be creative while also wanting to live an unconventional lifestyle. There is a certain type of adaptation to the isolation — a detachment from the normatives — that provides the space and opportunity to thrive. SD: When you named a beer for your grandfather, Edward, were you thinking about his 13 siblings and imagining an ancestral line of names to build on? SH: Definitely. This was a theme that was fully thought out in advance. I had worked at brewpubs and breweries that had no naming convention. The creation of new beers became a bit stressful because there were no boundaries or theme. I had generally found embarrassment in how some members of the beer industry approached the naming of its products in such a juvenile, often offensive manner (not uncommon back then to find beer

SD: You’re the eighth generation of your family to live and work in Greensboro — a history dating to the 1780s that people can read about on Hill Farmstead’s website. Can you talk about your immediate family and their involvement in and contributions to the brewery? SH: My brother and I are the eighth generation in Greensboro and seventh in North Greensboro, as we refer to it. I wish I could have a conversation with any one of those early-generation members. It is because of the emotional support and encouragement of my mother, father and brother that I was able to continue onward with conviction despite so many temporary setbacks over the years. My parents always encouraged me to travel, to think big ideas, and I cannot recall ever being discouraged due to their lack of belief in me. In the early days, my dad washed kegs on Saturdays and Sundays, and my mom helped with customers in the retail shop (which was a 3-feet-by-3-feet square in the early days). Even today, most customers would recognize my mom from her summers working in the taproom — filling growlers and pouring glasses of beer. My brother [Darren] was pivotal in the success and workload of those first five or six years. He was my first assistant brewer, really, and was there when I mashed in my first batch. He’s a quick learner (and talented woodworker); the buildings and grounds all reflect his own dedication and sacrifice. Over the years, they each assisted in any manner that they could — from tending to the brewery’s wastewater, siding the building with such profound detail (dovetail cedar window trim with copper drip edge), planting flowers, building rock walls, helping on the package line … unfathomable, really. Even today, my SOCIETY AND SOLITUDE

» P.38

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Society and Solitude « P.37 cousin Tom (Arthur’s son) utilized our spent grain in his farm operations and also hays the fields. SD: It’s a sunny, summer day and you’re drinking a pint of Edward. What do you like to eat with it? How about in front of the woodstove with a snowstorm outside? You’re drinking an Arthur; what’re you eating? SH: I’m quite simple and typically like to just enjoy the beer all by itself. Never in direct sunlight, of course! Edward, Arthur and Damon are my three favorite beers. Each of these is nearest and dearest to my heart. If one is seeking a pairing of sorts, Jasper Hill cheese is a starting point. Edward + Harbison. Arthur + Winnimere. Snowstorm outside? Just a wood fire and a small glass of Damon (bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout). SD: You make a beer called Civil Disobedience. Have you thought about its name in relation to the protests that happened last summer across the country, the call for racial justice? Does Civil Disobedience mean something new or different to you these days? SH: Oh, of course. We released a beer named Civil Disobedience 2020. We 38

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

SALLY POLLAK

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHAUN HILL

Shaun Hill in New Zealand

Hill Farmstead Brewery

donated 100 percent of the proceeds to the NAACP Legal Defense [and Education] Fund, the Innocence Project, [and the] Know Your Rights Camp. The meaning of Civil Disobedience remains the same to me, and I keep with the belief that engaging in violence undermines the intention and greater messaging ability of protest. The beer name came directly from Thoreau’s work — and remains one of my favorite short essays. I do believe that everyone should read this text prior to participating in any form of protest. SD: Hill Farmstead had curbside pickup for most of the past year. When do you think the taproom will open on a regular basis? Are you considering changing your distribution method if things need to stay closed or are open with quarantine regulations in place for a while? SH: I do not envision the taproom reopening in 2021. We will continue with the curbside model throughout the year. The curbside model has proven to be valuable in a manner beyond that of mere efficiency. We have seen the return of former customers and local community members that avoided us for the last eight-plus years because they didn’t want to wait in line. We have experimented (for the sake

of learning) with both home delivery and direct-to-consumer models. We enjoy having our very small and focused team at the moment and want to continue working on self-cultivation prior to hiring taproom staff and altering production. I am exploring ways of creating a reservations system that will allow us to manage our traffic flow and create a more predictable experience for both ourselves and for our customers. SD: Do you find that without people around (customers hanging out), you’re thinking about beer differently and experimenting with new ideas and approaches? Or is it usually an internal (to the brewery) and independent endeavor? SH: I find myself connecting more with the land. The birds. The trees. At some point in the last decade, each and any day that we were open could end up feeling like a festival with an unpredictable amount of traffic. I find myself exploring familiar territory: What do I value most? Have my priorities aligned with my values? How do I find realignment with my now-undivided self? I had set out to revive and diversify (and prolong) the memory of Hill Farmstead and came to realize that I have done nothing other than create yet another form of monoculture on Hill Road: brewery rather than dairy farm.

I have lost my connection with the farmscape, with my original intentions to find peace through my groundedness in my surroundings. The space provided by partial closure has allowed me to explore and embrace the principles of management and leadership, to question and rediscover both my values and my priorities, and to recognize and create a pathway that will (and must) align my formerly divided self (business and economy have a way of coaxing us to compromise) with a different approach to conducting business. The beer industry is in dire need of assessment and introspection. SD: Not so long ago, beer was just beer — not the kind of prized and analyzed drink it’s become in the last decade or so. What do you think of that phenomenon, and how do you see your place in it? SH: Well, I think that to some extent beer can be prized and analyzed — but at the same time it is getting further away from itself. On one side (perhaps the “negative” side), some brewers have gone beyond the beverage formerly known as “beer” to adding oddities such as hamburgers and French fries, Oreos, cereal brands and just about any other food product into their mash tun or fermenter. Brewers

food+drink are now fermenting water and dextrose (100 percent GMO corn sugar), calling it seltzer, and falling under the umbrella license of beer manufacturing. There are collaborations that occur for nothing other than marketing. There are multinational consolidations. There is a wasteful and seemingly unending stream of single-use packaging and aluminum can excess.

THE PANDEMIC HAS PROVIDED AN ALTERNATIVE NARRATIVE TO ARISE.

A NEW PATHWAY EMERGES. S H AU N HI L L

Much of “beer” has succumbed to the capitalist ideal — to infinite boundless growth and the infinite postponement of plenty. Breweries have lost sight of themselves in a sea of wealth and success. The word “sustainable” is manipulated to suit economic interests and is therefore rendered meaningless. On the other side, I think that Hill Farmstead and several other brewers have adhered to the obsessive pursuit of a goal (a sort of classic definition of beer and drinkability) that likely did alter

the course of beer — ripples — and that many of us do love beer that is still beer. Beer-flavored beer. I see my own pursuit and learning as that of blending newworld with old-world traditions. I have wanted to elevate beer beyond silly and pun-focused naming conventions for two decades. I set out to create beer that possessed a formerly unexplored quality of mouthfeel and that was pleasant to drink. Simple. I think that beer, like any intoxicant, is worthy of respect — and that much is lost through both economic exponentialism and a bit of consumer mocking. I believe that beer and fermented alcoholic beverages need to be revered and respected. Ours is a culture of addiction and codependencies, of virtually unconscious and instantaneous desire fulfillment, of confusion and a longing for joy. If some of us can take a leap toward personal responsibility — toward healthier actions and grasping our individual planetary impact, I believe that we can foster a more hopeful environment and generate new ripples of progress and mutual respect. For some reason, an Oreo mocha poblano captain crunch pilsner conditioned on sushi rice and nori doesn’t seem like the vehicle to get us there. But maybe I am too serious! m

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music+nightlife

Jane Adams (left) and Alexa Woodward

Images created by the same models used to create the Voyager videos

Fantastic Voyager Musician Alexa Woodward and data visualization artist Jane Adams team up on AI-derived music videos

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

release show, Woodward was seven months pregnant. “Having a kid was a very intense creative experience,” she explained. “I kind of had, I guess, writer’s block for a few years, putting all of that creative energy into [my] child. There wasn’t space.” But just prior to her melanoma diagnosis, Woodward had begun writing again in short spurts. Bits and pieces of songs lived as voice memos on her phone. With a renewed sense of purpose following her bout with cancer, not to mention the life-altering reality of the pandemic, she reached out to some old collaborators to record remotely. “I was like, ‘All right, I’m feeling it,’” she recalled. “‘I’m gonna let these snippets become songs.’” The resulting EP is an indie-folk exploration called Voyager. But what sets the project apart are its music videos. For those, Woodward teamed up with a work colleague, data visualization artist Jane Adams, to bring her six songs to life through artificial intelligence-derived visuals that enhance the profound,

introspective declarations in her lyrics. The videos incorporate familiar natural elements, such as fire, landscapes and the cosmos. But how they’re presented — some like impressionist oil paintings come to life, for example — is bewildering and beautiful. In the 2000s and early 2010s, Woodward was a full-time, internationally touring musician. She was prolific during that era, releasing four albums between 2008 and 2014. But she eventually transitioned into a more conventional career path, citing exhaustion, a need to pay off student loans and, she said, “feeling like a trucker.” Woodward holds a law degree from the City University of New York, and Adams, 26, graduated with an MFA in Emergent Media from Champlain College. Both currently work at the University of Vermont. The former is the assistant vice president for corporate and foundation relations and principal gifts, and the latter is the data visualization artist-in-residence with UVM’s Vermont Complex Systems Center. Adams is also the lead organizer

COURTESY OF ALEXA WOODWARD AND JANE ADAMS

t started with something small: a suspicious spot so tiny it fit inside a freckle. In late 2019, Burlington singer-songwriter Alexa Woodward noticed the strange mark on her shoulder and sought medical attention. It was quickly diagnosed as a malignant invasive melanoma, one of the most insidious cancers. Emergency surgery followed, then a painful recovery. After the operation, Woodward, now 38, found out she had cleared the margins — meaning the surgery had successfully removed the melanoma. In early March 2020, just as she was feeling well enough to return to the world, the world shut down. “By March, when I was mobile enough to actually hold my ukulele again and my banjo … the pandemic hit, and we were just hunkered down,” she recalled. The pandemic has been a productive time for many artists. But the South Carolina native explained that she had been creatively stagnant for years — her last record, Might Nigh, came out in 2014. Not coincidentally, at the time of that album’s

LUKE AWTRY

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DOWN TO THEIR ESSENCE. JA N E A D A M S

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THE FEARLESS SAV THAT’S FUN TO DRIVE. for Vermont’s chapter of Womxn in Machine Learning and Data Science. The two met through their work with UVM’s MassMutual Center for Excellence in Complex Systems and Data Science. Announced in 2018, the insurance company’s $5 million endowment funds projects and research related to health and wellness trends, employing exploratory visualization tools in an effort to understand population health dynamics over time. After many conversations, working dinners and socializing via Instagram, a friendship blossomed between Woodward and Adams. Woodward soon became intrigued by some original digital artwork that Adams had posted online. “They looked like hand-drawn animations, almost, but had obviously been generated by something else,” Woodward recalled. Adams creates digital art using artificial intelligence machine-learning tools called generative adversarial networks, or GANs. Though popular with artists, GANs can be used broadly in many scientific and technical applications, such as the mapping of dark matter in the universe. “I don’t think that the creators of GANs … really had in mind the applications that people are using them for with art nowadays,” Adams said. Though she cops to a certain level of gross simplicity, Adams explained GANs in the following terms: Two neural networks, called “the generator” and “the discriminator,” engage in a cycle of creation and rejection until the desired outcome is obtained. For instance, let’s say the discriminator asks the generator to draw it a picture of a duck. (It doesn’t ask, exactly. But, again, simplicity.) The discriminator knows what a duck looks like, because it’s been trained on thousands of pictures of ducks. The generator doesn’t know what a duck looks like and attempts to produce images matching the data points of a real duck. The discriminator rejects the generator’s ducks until it succeeds at drawing one. The results of such processes can be seen on websites such as thispersondoesnotexist.com. The site displays headshots of average-looking people. But, as indicated by the URL, these seemingly real faces are complete inventions created by GANs. “My background in design has definitely helped me in terms of how to create something that is compelling and eye-catching and simple,” Adams said. “I have a thing for distilling things down to their essence.” That’s a good way to describe the Voyager music videos.

“We realized we could look lyrically at each of the songs and find image databases that connected to some of the core lyrics,” Woodward explained. For example, “Waiting on You” is about Woodward’s struggle with belief in God as a former Christian. The song catalogs her musings on the ultimately unknowable conundrum. “I’ve been waiting on you / If you’re there / Could you say something?” she sings. The gauzy acoustic tune drips with reverb, as if Woodward were playing it from a cathedral dais. The track features Texas-based singer-songwriter Linky Barmore and Daniel Machado of South Carolina outfit the Restoration, who contribute vocally and instrumentally throughout Voyager. The video features hyperreal images of forests and deserts. They melt, swirl, recede and merge with one another, curling up and spreading out in fluid motion. It seems to consider the vastness of Earth and its extremes — a bit like the difference between heaven and hell. “I’ve always loved how much [Woodward’s] lyrics relate to the natural world,” Barmore wrote in an email. “Those motifs are seen again on Voyager, although here she has focused her lyrics more inward.” The other videos follow suit. “Survival,” the EP’s opening cut, is represented through an elemental force: fire. “This is your one chance to live / The world is a story and you’re writing it,” Woodward sings as flames burst to life and snuff themselves out. Given her recent confrontation with mortality, not to mention the summer of protests that inspired the song, the music and its visual representation work in tandem, enhancing each other. Right now, the videos are all available to view on YouTube. But Woodward and Adams want their work to be viewable in a more traditional artistic space. Barring any pandemic-related delays, they will present in City Hall Park as part of a new Burlington City Arts event series called Flicks in the Park. The film-centric run begins in early June. Woodward and Adams are scheduled for Thursday, June 24. Though Voyager was born out of a terrifying reality, it ultimately realigned Woodward’s creative mojo. “It sets you on a different way of thinking about how much time you have to be here, and be with people, and create things,” Woodward said. m

INFO Voyager is available at alexawoodward. bandcamp.com. Watch the visual album on YouTube. View Adams’ artwork at linktr.ee/nodradek.

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REVIEW this No Showers on Vacation, Aquaband (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

For better or worse, Burlington is known as a beacon for freewheeling, fractal music best classified as “jam.” And even though the University of Vermont group No Showers on Vacation pledged allegiance to Phish in a recent email to this publication, their debut album, 1:43 3:07 PM Aquaband, seems to play by its own rules rather than try to fit some kind of mold. No Showers on Vacation, with its ridiculously debauched moniker, are relatively new on the local scene. They warmed up with last year’s Bath Time: Miami EP, a title that almost contradicts the band’s name. It was a dry run, so to speak, for Aquaband, a much grander and tighter cosmic escape. For me, bad lyrics can tank a jam band — and that seems to happen a lot.

Derek O’Kanos, On the Sleeve (OAK HONEST RECORDS, CD, DIGITAL)

While accepting his band’s recent Grammy Award, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes was asked about the future of rock music. He gave all the cliché answers about there being room for all genres, etc., before adding a cutting addendum: “Not necessarily blues-rock, please. No more of that.” Casablancas’ quote comes to mind while listening to On the Sleeve, the new EP from Derek O’Kanos. I kept thinking to myself, Is this the kind of rock we need in 2021? “Howlin’ Wolf” opens the record with an overdriven, primal guitar riff right out of the garage-rock playbook. O’Kanos tells the age-old tale of feeling the world’s stress and only being able to endure it for love. “Why does that light fade away?” he wonders in a plaintive croon. Then, “Truth be told, I don’t know / I think I just went astray / Luckily for me I can stand on

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It probably has something to do with the genre’s emphasis on feeling over thinking. But No Showers on Vacation eschew lyrics entirely on the new outing, sticking with sprawling instrumentals. Not to cast aspersions on the group’s lyrical chops, but the two worded tracks on Bath Time: Miami knocked the six-song EP off its axis a bit. Aquaband is much more focused. The congas and Latin-tinged piano at the outset of opener “Chestnut” signal a predilection for jazz, which turns out to be a major foundational element for the group. (The same could be said about much of their phorefathers’ music.) The record is streaked with hints of other stylistic ingredients found in a typical jam stew, namely ’70s and ’80s funk. Clavinet and other organ sounds appear frequently amid squealing guitars and heavy percussion. The record is increasingly compelling as it unfolds. Early cuts such as “Space

Trash” and “Powdered Milk” play it fairly safe, not rising above low-key grooves. But the record is back-loaded with some fairly staggering work, such as the rollicking “Theme Song.” With a sense of easygoing confidence, guitarist Emmett Lurssen and keyboardist Alden Nichols layer scalloped riffs over breezy, swinging beats from drummer Sam Lyons. “Amtrakk,” the penultimate song, puts saxophonist Pat Maley up front. The horn player opens the cut with an urgent melody over Nichols’ delirious piano. It drops into half time with Mellotron flutes descending in fluttering waves. The song continues to ramp up its intensity, with Nichols blasting through stuttering, syncopated chords. Despite its chintzy MIDI horns, “Gold” closes the record with a smash. The song rides a rising tide of electric guitar into a wall of snarling sound. No Showers on Vacation distinguish themselves with an ear for precision. Yes, they get wild, but they temper their sense of abandon with a clear sense of theory. Aquaband is available to stream on Spotify.

my own with some help from a woman I know.” Both the track’s sound and the simplicity of its intent stayed with me. “Howlin’ Wolf” is ostensibly a good composition; it just lacks any sense of surprise. Perhaps O’Kanos has grappled with those questions, as well. In his bio, the Brattleboro-via-Connecticut musician labels his music “authentic and familiar; reminiscent of the singers and seekers who came before him.” That’s an accurate statement. O’Kanos’ sound is intensely familiar. However, O’Kanos has a wider range than the opening track suggests. “So It Goes” jumps ahead a few decades and lands squarely in an early ’90s alternative-rock vibe, riding a driving beat and chugging guitar lick. O’Kanos plays every sound on the five-track EP himself, and does so quite well. That’s always an impressive feat, even more so when the record sounds like a band. O’Kanos manages to impart as much character to his drums as to his guitar solos. And the

folk sensibilities in his memorable vocal melodies intersect nicely with his garagerock foundation. Most promising of the EP’s songs is “Shoreline Collision.” It’s a jaunty blast of pop rock, with a bouncing bass line and a guitar figure reminiscent of a Beach Fossils record. The track offers the clearest insight into O’Kanos’ potential. He displays an abundance of talent, as well as the ability to flit between genres with ease. When he marries those qualities with lessregressive songwriting, as he does here, the end result is intriguing. The upside of people gnashing their teeth over the sort of rock that should influence new sounds is that these things tend to sort themselves out, regardless of whether critics or musicians try to dictate what’s cool. If the end result is what O’Kanos does here — crossing through genres as a chameleon — I don’t really see a downside. On the Sleeve sacrifices flow for a sort of variance, but for the most part O’Kanos pulls it off nicely. It will be fascinating to see whether he continues his shapeshifting ways going forward. Find On the Sleeve at derekokanos. bandcamp.com.

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movies Sound of Metal HHHHH

ur streaming entertainment options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. This week, I watched directorcowriter Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, a quiet (literally) little film that snagged six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Find it on Amazon Prime Video.

The deal

Ruben (Riz Ahmed) and Lou (Olivia Cooke) are a heavy metal duo who tour the country in a bitchin’ Airstream. Onstage, his pounding drumbeats complement her shrieking, anguished vocals. Offstage, they cuddle in bed, listen to mellow standards and support each other through various forms of recovery. Then one night, during a show, Ruben’s hearing goes underwater. That’s how it sounds to us, anyway — as if a gently churning ocean has muffled those pounding beats. A doctor tells him most of his hearing is gone, and it isn’t coming back. The stress of this news throws Ruben dangerously off balance. On the advice of his sponsor, Lou brings him to a bucolic addiction center for the deaf overseen by a weathered Vietnam vet named Joe (Paul Raci). Separated from his partner and the outside world, surrounded by people who communicate in American Sign Language, Ruben begins to “learn how to be deaf,” as Joe puts it. But he still hopes that cochlear implants will give him his old life back.

Will you like it?

When I wrote up a brief description of Sound of Metal for this paper last year, during its

NEW IN THEATERS NOBODY: Bob Odenkirk plays a put-upon dad who goes on a Death Wish-style vigilante spree after a home invasion in this action flick from director Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry). With Connie Nielsen and RZA. (92 min, R. Essex Cinemas) SIX MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT: In 1939, a girls’ finishing school in England has become a haven for Nazis in this war drama starring Judi Dench as the headmistress and Eddie Izzard as a teacher trying to do something about it. Andy Goddard directed. (102 min, PG-13. Essex Cinemas)

NOW PLAYING CHAOS WALKINGHH Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley star in this adaptation of Patrick Ness’ dystopian YA trilogy about a boy growing up in a society that is allmale and full of oppressive psychic Noise, much like parts of Reddit. Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity) directed. (109 min, PG-13. Essex Cinemas)

run at the Savoy Theater, I admit my first thought was Why? The experience of a young metalhead struggling with hearing loss seemed so niche that I couldn’t see how the film would appeal to a broader audience. I was wrong. Despite having been conceived and shot well before the pandemic, Sound of Metal meets our current moment with eerie serendipity. It’s a story of how sometimes, when we think our lives are going one way, they veer off in another, and acceptance and adaptation are not the same as defeat. Ruben spends the movie learning that his disability isn’t an obstacle for him to overcome but a new reality with which he must reckon, and that reckoning has its own rewards. At the film’s core is the standoff between Ahmed and Raci, both welldeserved Oscar nominees. While Ruben is a bullet of nervous energy, Joe does his best to slow the younger man down. He finds the “kingdom of God,” he says, in the moments of stillness that Ruben’s restlessness keeps him from experiencing. During the scenes at Joe’s retreat, viewers do experience that stillness, or at least a new relationship to their aural environment. Also Oscar-nominated, the film’s sound design is immersive and transformative. We move from the ear-splitting volume of the metal show to the frustration of trying and failing to hear spoken dialogue, which we experience along with Ruben. (Marder leaves his perspective just often enough to ensure we know what’s going on.) When Ruben enters the deaf community and learns ASL (subtitled for non-fluent

THE COURIERHHH Benedict Cumberbatch plays a businessman who is recruited by MI-6 and the CIA to work with a Soviet agent in this Cold War spy thriller. With Merab Ninidze and Rachel Brosnahan. Dominic Cooke (On Chesil Beach) directed. (111 min, PG-13. Essex Cinemas)

THE SOUND OF SILENCE Ahmed plays a heavy metal drummer losing his hearing in Marder’s Oscar-nominated drama.

viewers), the quiet of his world gradually stops being maddening and isolating and becomes sociable and healing. The nearsilent scenes between Ahmed and actual deaf actors leave a deep imprint, because we’re watching someone develop a new kind of relationship to the world. And isn’t that what recovery, or any form of personal transformation, is about? Deaf critics have rightly pointed out that Sound of Metal presents deaf culture from a hearing person’s perspective, and some take issue with the way the film depicts the fraught choice to use cochlear implants or not. The movie’s structure wobbles in places, too, and Lou’s character could be better fleshed out. Yet Sound of Metal is a unique and powerful film, not just because its message of resilience resonates but because it makes hearing viewers more aware of an element of cinema that they tend to take for granted. Even in this medium where visuals dominate, sound and its absence have an almost subliminal capacity to shape our experience. The movie’s breathtaking last scene could convince us that the still points in our lives are indeed where we find the sacred.

If you like this, try...

NOMADLANDHHHHH Frances McDormand plays a woman set adrift by the Great Recession to travel the country in her beat-up van in this Golden Globe nominee directed by Chloé Zhao. (108 min, R. Savoy Theater)

OLDER FILMS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

THE FATHERHHHH1/2 Anthony Hopkins has been nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a man struggling with dementia in Florian Zeller’s drama, also starring Olivia Colman. (97 min, PG-13. Essex Cinemas, Savoy Theater)

RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGONHHHH A young warrior seeks the help of the last living dragon to save humanity from monsters in this Disney animated fantasy. With the voices of Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina and Gemma Chan. Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada directed. (114 min, PG. Essex Cinemas)

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAHHHHH1/2 Daniel Kaluuya plays Fred Hampton, chair of the Illinois Black Panther Party, in this Golden Globe-winning historical drama about his betrayal by an FBI informant. With LaKeith Stanfield. Shaka King directed. (126 min, R. Savoy Theater)

TOM AND JERRYH1/2 Cartoon cat attempts to catch cartoon mouse, over and over and over. But what is their origin story? This family animation reveals all. With the voices of Chloë Grace Moretz and Michael Peña. Tim Story (Ride Along) directed. (101 min, PG. Essex Cinemas)

MINARIHHHH1/2 In Lee Isaac Chung’s bittersweet autobiographical drama, a Korean immigrant family struggles to make their new Arkansas vegetable farm pay off. Steven Yeun and Yeri Han star in this festival favorite. (115 min, PG-13. Savoy Theater; reviewed by M.H. 2/24)

WOLFWALKERSHHHH1/2 An apprentice wolf hunter in Ireland discovers a different point of view in this family animation from the makers of The Secret of Kells, featuring the voices of Honor Kneafsey, Eva Whittaker and Sean Bean. (103 min, PG. Savoy Theater, Sat only; reviewed by M.H. 1/13)

• “Feeling Through” (2020; watch at feelingthrough.com): Nominated for a 2021 Academy Award, Doug Roland’s 19-minute film about the chance connection between a homeless teen and a deaf and blind man stars Robert Tarango, an actor who is deaf and blind. • In the Land of the Deaf (1992; Kanopy, or rentable on Vudu): Nicolas Philibert’s Peabody Award-winning documentary takes an in-depth look at the culture of the deaf in France. • See What I’m Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary (2010; Tubi, Docurama, rentable): Hilari Scarl’s doc follows several successful deaf performing artists, including a percussionist, a comedian and a singer. • Sound and Fury (2000; Docurama, rentable): Two brothers, each with a deaf child, disagree on the benefits of cochlear implant surgery in Josh Aronson’s documentary. A sequel called Sound and Fury: 6 Years Later follows up on each family’s choices. MARGO T HARRI S O N margot@sevendaysvt.com

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS PRESENTS THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 65TH ANNIVERSARY (Essex Cinemas, Sun only)

OPEN THEATERS ESSEX CINEMAS & T-REX THEATER: 21 Essex Way, Suite 300, Essex, 879-6543, essexcinemas.com. (Note: New listings for this theater were not available at press time.) THE SAVOY THEATER: 26 Main St., Montpelier, 229-0598, savoytheater.com

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classes THE FOLLOWING CLASS LISTINGS ARE PAID ADVERTISEMENTS. ANNOUNCE YOUR CLASS FOR AS LITTLE AS $16.75/WEEK (INCLUDES SIX PHOTOS AND UNLIMITED DESCRIPTION ONLINE). SUBMIT YOUR CLASS AD AT SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTCLASS.

art ONLINE ART CLASSES FOR KIDS: Five stand-alone, high-quality art classes from Middlebury Studio School in painting, draw or crafting, accessible from home via Zoom, with experienced art teachers. A complete materials list is provided for each class. Parents are welcome to attend with their child. Mon. or Wed., Mar. 22-Apr. 7, 3:30 p.m. Cost: $20/per 45-minute to 1-hour class. Location: Online through Middlebury Studio School, 2377 Rte. 7, Middlebury. Info: Kathy Hall, 458-8979, info@ middleburystudioschool.org, middleburystudioschool.org.

BCA Studios

Burlington City Arts spring class registration is now open! Find these classes and many more at burlingtoncityarts.org. HOME STUDIO: DRAWING: Ages 13 and up. Four weeks. 12 students max. Learn a variety of drawing techniques, including basic perspective, compositional layout, and use of dramatic light and shadow — all from your comfortable home. Local artist Ashley Stagner leads students through a variety of drawing exercises and group discussions over Zoom.

Wed., Apr. 7-28, 6-7:30 p.m. Cost: $120. Location: BCA Studios, Zoom class. Info: John Flanagan, 8655355, jflanagan@burlingtoncity arts.org, burlingtoncityarts.org. HOME STUDIO: FAMILY CLAY: All ages. 10 families max. Make art with your family from the comfort of your home! Our clay experts join you live, via Zoom, from the BCA Clay Studio to lead you through a fun, family-friendly hand-building clay project. Includes supplies, an hour-long demonstration, glazing and firing of four pieces. Option 1: Fri., Apr. 9, 5:30-6:30 p.m.; Option 2: Fri., May 14, 5:30-6:30 p.m. Cost: $20/ family. Location: BCA Studios, Zoom class. Info: John Flanagan, 865-5355, jflanagan@burlington cityarts.org, burlingtoncityarts.org. HOME STUDIO: PAINT NIGHT: Ages 13 and up. 12 students max. Get creative at home with Vermont artist Jess Graham, known for her strikingly colorful designs and paintings. Jess shares pro tips and techniques with you as you paint together via Zoom. Includes two hours of instruction plus materials. Tue., Apr. 13, 6-8 p.m. Cost: $40 Location: BCA Studios, Zoom class. Info: John Flanagan, 865-5355, jflanagan@burlingtoncityarts.org, burlingtoncityarts.org. HOME STUDIO: STILL LIFE PAINTING: Ages 13 and up. Four weeks. Six students max. Drawing and oil painting experience recommended. Local artist and master teacher Gail Salzman leads a live Zoom class with painting demos, examples, lots of tips and encouraging feedback.

Using water-soluble oils, students create one or two small paintings on primed panels. Tue., Apr. 6-27, 1-3 p.m. Cost: $160. Location: BCA Studios, Zoom class. Info: John Flanagan, 865-5355, jflanagan@ burlingtoncityarts.org, burlington cityarts.org. STUDIO ART: Six weeks. Explore a variety of art projects, including drawing, painting, printmaking and craft while also getting a lot of time for outdoor activities. All materials provided. Children remain in the same classroom and with the same teachers for the entire six weeks. Option 8: Wed., Mar. 10-Apr. 14, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. (Aftercare is not avail.) Cost: $405. Location: BCA Studios, 405 Pine St., Burlington. Info: John Flanagan, 865-5355, jflanagan@ burlingtoncityarts.org, burlington cityarts.org.

culinary BASIC BREADMAKING WITH CHEF EMERY: Ever thought that a fresh loaf of bread was too much work or too intimidating? Participants follow along as Chef Emery shows how to make a savory cheddar herb and caramelized onion quick bread. She demonstrates the stepby-step process of making your own loaf of delicious crusty bread at home. Sat., Apr. 17, 10-11:30 a.m. Cost: $15/person; $10 for BF&M members. Location: Billings Farm & Museum, Zoom. Info: 457-2355, mwakefield@billingsfarm.org, billingsfarm.org.

drumming DJEMBE & TAIKO DRUMMING: JOIN US!: New hybrid classes (Zoom and in-person) starting! Taiko Tuesday and Wednesday. Djembe Wednesday. Kids and Parents Tuesday and Wednesday. COVID-19-free rental instruments, curbside pickup, too. Private Hybrid Conga lessons by appointment. Let’s prepare for future drumming outdoors. Schedule/register online. Location: Online and in-person at Taiko Space, 208 Flynn Ave., Suite 3G, Burlington. Info: 999-4255, burlingtontaiko.org.

language

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instruction. We cover fundamentals of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with a realistic approach to self-defense training skills in a friendly, safe and positive environment. All are welcome; no experience required. Develop confidence, strength and endurance. Julio Cesar “Foca” Fernandez Nunes was born and raised on the shores of Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Earning his black belt and representing the Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Team, Julio “Foca” went on to become a five-time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu National Champion, three-time Rio de Janeiro State Champion and two-time IBJJF World JiuJitsu Champion! Julio “Foca” is the only CBJJP, USBJJF and IBJJF-certified seventh-degree coral belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and self-defense instructor under late grand master Carlson Gracie Sr. currently teaching in the USA. Accept no Iimitations! Location: Vermont Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, 55 Leroy Rd., Williston. Info: 598-2839, julio@bjjusa.com, vermontbjj.com.

ADULT SPANISH CLASSES: Adult Spanish classes start this week using online Zoom video conferencing. Our 15th year. Learn from a native speaker via small group classes. You’ll always be participating and speaking. Levels from beginning to advanced. You still may be able to register. See our website or contact us for details. Start Mar. 22-25. Cost: $270/10 weekly 90-minute classes. Location: Spanish in Waterbury Center, Waterbury Center. Info: 585-1025, spanishparavos@ gmail.com, spanishwaterbury center.com. JAPAN AMERICA SOCIETY OF VERMONT: Offering beginning and intermediate Japanese language courses for children online with Zoom. Seven classes begin Sat., Apr. 3. Level 1: 9:30-10 a.m. Level 2: 10:15-10:45 a.m. Tuition is very affordable. For more information, please visit jasv.org/v2/ language. For further questions or registration, please contact JASV/Masako (mtcarter77@ gmail.com). Sat., Apr. 3-May 15. Location: Japan America Society of Vermont, Zoom class. Info: mtcarter77@gmail.com, jasv.org/ v2/language.

psychology

ONLINE SPANISH CLASSES FOR ALL AGES: Premier native-speaking Spanish professor Maigualida Rak is giving fun, interactive online lessons to improve comprehension and pronunciation and to achieve fluency. Audiovisual material is used. “I feel proud to say that my students have significantly improved their Spanish with my teaching approach.” -Maigualida Rak. Read reviews on Facebook at facebook.com/spanishonlinevt. Location: Maigualida Rak. Info: Maigualida Rak, spanishtutor. vtfla@gmail.com, facebook.com/ spanishonlinevt.

martial arts VERMONT BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU: This school was developed to communicate the importance of proper, legitimate and complete

And on the seventh day, we do not rest. Instead we bring you...

INTRODUCTION TO ALCHEMY: Learn how you are living alchemy and discover what transformations lie ahead for you in this experiential workshop derived from Carl Jung’s insights and theories. Led by Sue Mehrtens, teacher and author. Zoom class. Register by emailing info@jungiancenter.org. Mar. 31, Apr. 7,14, 21, 7-9 p.m. Cost: $60/via PayPal or check. Location: Jungian Center for the Spiritual Sciences, Zoom class. Info: Sue Mehrtens, 2447909, info@jungiancenter.org, jungiancenter.org.

bodyworkers, nurses, doctors, wellness coaches, herbalists and anyone wanting to improve their own health. Learn seasonal and daily routines, holistic nutrition, stress reduction techniques, and home remedies to slow down, stop and reverse health conditions. VSAC approved. Starts in May, one weekend monthly, Sat. & Sun., 9:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Cost: $2,795/200-hour training. Location: The Ayurvedic Center of Vermont, 34 Oak Hill Rd., Williston. Info: Allison Morse, 8728898, info@ayurvedavermont. com, ayurvedavermont.com.

yoga EVOLUTION YOGA: Bring your body and mind toward balance and find connection in community. All are welcome. Find support you need to awaken your practice. Offering livestream and recorded classes. Give the gift of yoga with a gift card on our website. Flexible pricing based on your needs; scholarships avail. Contact yoga@ evolutionvt.com. Single class: $015. Weekly membership: $10-25. 10-class pass: $140. New student special: $20 for 3 classes.Audiovisual Location: Evolution Yoga, 20 Kilburn St., Burlington. Info: 864-9642, evolutionvt.com.

well-being

FOR RENT FITNESS STUDIO SPACE Bring students or teach for us! Contact 316-7142 or visit shelburneathletic.com.

AYURVEDA INTEGRATION PROGRAM: Virtual program. Join us in learning and immerse yourself in the oldest surviving preventative health care system. Our 200-hour Ayurveda Integration Program is ideal for yoga teachers, counselors, therapists,

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Pauli AGE/SEX: 9-year-old neutered male ARRIVAL DATE: March 5, 2021

COURTESY OF KELLY SCHULZE/MOUNTAIN DOG PHOTOGRAPHY

REASON HERE: He did not get along with the other animals in the home. SUMMARY: Has social distancing left you feeling a little lonely? Pauli is looking for a new purrrson to gaze longingly at and talk about the events of the day with. (He is very chatty!) No need to worry about the bait and switch with Pauli, either — he not only enjoys belly rubs but will even roll over for them! This sweet, snuggly senior boy will surely charm you with his emerald green eyes and warm heart, so be prepared to fall in love when you stop by to meet Pauli at HSCC! CATS/DOGS: Pauli lived with other cats for a short time and might do well with another after a slow introduction. He lived with dogs in his previous home and did not do well.

housing »

DID YOU KNOW?

Lilies are beautiful to look at but cause serious problems for our feline friends. Leaves (both attached and fallen), pollen, and even water the plant is stored in can cause life-threatening problems such as acute kidney failure in cats. If you’re planning to enjoy Easter lilies this year, make sure they are well out of reach of your pets, and wipe down surfaces for pollen that can end up on kitty paws! Sponsored by:

Visit the Humane Society of Chittenden County at 142 Kindness Court, South Burlington, Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 6 p.m., or Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 862-0135 or visit hsccvt.org for more info.

APARTMENTS, CONDOS & HOMES

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CARS, TRUCKS, MOTORCYCLES

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FOR RENT AFFORDABLE 2-BR APT. AVAIL. At Keen’s Crossing. 2-BR: $1,266/mo., heat & HW incl. Open floor plan, fully applianced kitchen, fitness center, pet friendly, garage parking. Income restrictions

CLASSIFIEDS KEY

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appt. appointment apt. apartment BA bathroom BR bedroom DR dining room DW dishwasher HDWD hardwood HW hot water LR living room NS no smoking OBO or best offer refs. references sec. dep. security deposit W/D washer & dryer

EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY All real estate advertising in this newspaper is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 and similar Vermont statutes which make it illegal to advertise any preference, limitations, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, handicap, presence of minor children in the family or receipt of public assistance, or an intention to make any such preference, limitation or a discrimination. The newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate, which is in violation of the law. Our

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HOUSEMATES SEEKING KIND, ACTIVE, CLEAN HOUSEMATE 2-BR, 1-BA apt. overlooking Lake Champlain. Large living room, kitchen, back deck porch, laundry, parking. $1,355/mo. split + utils. Contact Michael at 802922-0198 or mbluto89@ gmail.com.

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readers are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised in this newspaper are available on an equal opportunity basis. Any home seeker who feels he or she has encountered discrimination should contact: HUD Office of Fair Housing 10 Causeway St., Boston, MA 02222-1092 (617) 565-5309 — OR — Vermont Human Rights Commission 14-16 Baldwin St. Montpelier, VT 05633-0633 1-800-416-2010 hrc@vermont.gov

print deadline: Mondays at 4:30 p.m. post ads online 24/7 at: sevendaysvt.com/classifieds questions? classifieds@sevendaysvt.com 865-1020 x10

com, motman@ymail. com, 802-234-8000 (call/text). Milton.

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EDUCATION

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COUPLE HOPING TO ADOPT Kind & fun-loving VT couple can provide a safe & loving home for your baby. If you are pregnant & considering adoption, we would welcome hearing from you. jonandtessa.weebly. com, 802-272-7759.

FINANCIAL/LEGAL HOME/GARDEN

AUTO

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1/8/21 11:12 AM

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LEO’S ROOFING Shingle, metal & slate repair. Standing seam replacement. Roofing repair or replacement. Call for free estimate: 802-503-6064. 30 years’ experience. Good refs. & fully insured. Chittenden County.

Multi-Family Building

Tuesday, April 13 @ 11AM Register from 10AM

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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021 6v-hirchak032421 1

3/22/21 9:17 AM

Calcoku SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS »

Using the enclosed math operations as a guide, fill the grid using the numbers 1 - 6 only once in each row and column.

3÷

36x

3÷

numbers 1-9 only once in each row, column and 3 x 3 box.

6 9 7 5

36x

4 9

13-

9 1 4

14-

3 2 5 1 4 4 8 2

CALCOKU

Difficulty - Hard

BY JOSH REYNOLDS

Open 24/7/365.

View and post up to Post & browse ads Complete the following puzzle by using the 6 photos per ad online. at your convenience.

Show and tell. Sudoku

8 3

5 7 8 Difficulty - Medium

No. 680

SUDOKU

BY JOSH REYNOLDS

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HHH

DIFFICULTY THIS WEEK: HH

Fill the grid using the numbers 1-6, only once in each row and column. The numbers in each heavily outlined “cage” must combine to produce the target number in the top corner, using the mathematical operation indicated. A onebox cage should be filled in with the target number in the top corner. A number can be repeated within a cage as long as it is not the same row or column.

Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers one to nine. The same numbers cannot be repeated in a row or column.

1 6 9 2 3 8 4 7 5 8 4 7 5 6 9 3 1 2 ANSWERS ON P.52 3 5 2 4 1 7 6 9 8 H = MODERATE HH = CHALLENGING HHH = HOO, BOY! 6 7 5 9 4 1 8 2 3 2 1 3 8 7 6 5 4 9 OPENING CUTS 4 9 8 3 2 5 1 6 7 ANSWERS ON P.52 » 9 8 1 7 5 4 2 3 6 7 3 4 6 8 2 9 5 1 5 2 6 1 9 3 7 8 4

crossword 1 2 5 6 3 4

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Fresh. Filtered. Free. What’s that

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Find out what’s percolating today. Sign up to receive our house blend of local news headlines served up in one convenient email by Seven Days.

SEVENDAYSVT.COM/DAILY7 8v-daily7-coffee.indd 1

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

1/13/14 1:45 PM

The Plans may be reviewed at our offices at 83 Barlow Street in Winooski between 8 am and noon and 1 pm and 4:30 Monday through Friday. The

FROM P.51

2 6

The public is encouraged to make comments. Comments will be accepted by email or by phone listed above and will be accepted through May 7 at 4:00 pm.

NORTHSTAR SELF STORAGE WILL BE HAVING A PUBLIC AND ONLINE SALE/AUCTION FOR THE FOLLOWING STORAGE UNITS ON APRIL 12, 2021 AT 9:00AM Northstar Self Storage will be having a public and online sale/auction on April 12, 2021 at 681 Rockingham Road, Rockingham, VT 0505101 (Unit R-33) and at 1124 Charlestown Rd., Springfield, VT 05156 (Unit S-67) and online at www.storagetreasures.com at 9:00 am in accordance with VT Title 9 Commerce and Trade Chapter 098: Storage Units 3905. Enforcement of Lien Unit # - Name - Contents R-55 - Amanda Ellis - Household Goods S-67 - Amanda Ellis - Household Goods

Austin Sherburne: Unit #425 Easy Self storage 46 Swift St South Burlington VT 05403 (802) 863-8300 NOTICE OF SELF STORAGE LIEN SALE EXIT 16 SELF STORAGE 295 RATHE RD COLCHESTER, VT. 05446 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT THE CONTENTS OF THE SELF STORAGE UNITS LISTED BELOW WILL BE SOLD AT AUCTION. TYLER HARRISON 10 X 30 BOB MARTIN 10 X 20 BOB MARTIN 10 X 20 HILLARY DAVIS 10 X 20 WENDELL COLEMAN 5 X 10 DUE TO COVID, 5 UNITS WE WILL SOLD BY SEALED BID VIEWING WILL BE BY APPOINTMENT TO ADHERE TO DISTANCING GUIDELINES. PLEASE CALL US AT 802-497-0404 TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT APPOINTMENTS FOR VIEWING AND SEALED BIDDING WILL SCHEDULED AS FOLLOWS: SATURDAY 4-10-21 FROM 9:00AM – 1:00PM BID WILL BE OPENED ON SATURDAY 4-10-21 AT 1:30 PM WINNING BIDDER WILL BE NOTIFIED BY PHONE. CONTENTS OF THE ENTIRE STORAGE UNIT WILL BE SOLD AS ONE LOT. ALL WINNING BIDDERS WILL BE REQUIRED TO PAY A $100.00 DEPOSIT WHICH WILL BE REFUNDED ONCE UNIT IS LEFT EMPTY AND BROOM SWEPT CLEAN.

1 8 4 3 3÷ 6 2 4 9 7 5

THE WINNING BID MUST REMOVE ALL CONTENTS FROM THE FACILITY WITHIN 48 HOURS OF BID ACCEPTANCE AT NO COST TO EXIT 16 SELF STORAGE. EXIT 16 SELF STORAGE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REJECT ANY BID LOWER THAN THE AMOUNT OWED BY THE OCCUPANT. EXIT 16 SELF STORAGE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REMOVE ANY UNIT FROM THE AUCTION SHOULD CURRENT TENANT BRING HIS OR HER ACCOUNT CURRENT WITH FULL PAYMENT PRIOR TO THE START OF THE AUCTION.

No. 680

6 9 4 2- 7 5 2 7 5 1 3- 3 9 8 8 1 3 4 2 6

5 1 6 12 5 5+ 4 9 8 3 7 6 1 4-

36x

3÷

6 5 2 3 8 6 4- 9 1 7 4 1- 1 7 6 2 5 5 4 8 2 9 3

1 413 6 8 531 2 9 7

3 7 5 1 36x2 9 8 2 3 4 9 6 7 Difficulty - Hard 3 6 5 1 8 4 SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

Difficulty - Medium

using the numbers 1 - 6 only once in each row and column.

7 8

FROM P.51

Summary of the plan is available on our website at https://www.winooskihousing.org/about/fiveyear-plan. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, please call to make an appointment.

NOTICE OF LEGAL SALE View Date: 04/01/2021 Sale Date: 04/02/2021

FIVE YEAR PLAN PUBLIC MEETING The Winooski Housing Authority will hold a public meeting to receive public comments on the Five Year and Annual Plan on May 7 at 1:30 pm. The meeting will be held on Zoom. To attend, please register with our office by calling (802) 655-2360 or emailing daustin@winooskihousing.org for the meeting link.

PUZZLE ANSWERS

By: /s/Rachel Lomonaco Rachel Lomonaco, District Coordinator 111 West Street Essex Junction, VT 05452 802-879-5658 Rachel.Lomonaco@vermont.gov

REHEARSAL SPACE Safe & sanitary music/ creative spaces avail. by the hour in the heart of the South End art district. Monthly arrangements avail., as well. Tailored for music but can be multipurpose. info@ burlingtonmusicdojo. com, 802-540-0321.

Dated at Essex Junction, Vermont this 16th day of March, 2021.

STUDIO/ REHEARSAL

No hearing will be held and a permit may be issued unless, on or before April 8, 2021, a person notifies the Commission of an issue or issues requiring the presentation of evidence at a hearing, or the Commission sets the matter for a hearing on its own motion. Any person as defined in 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1) may request a hearing. Any hearing request must be in writing to the address below, must state the criteria or sub-criteria at issue, why a hearing is required and what additional evidence will be presented at the hearing. Any hearing request by an adjoining property owner or other person eligible for party status under 10 V.S.A. § 6085(c)(1)(E) must include a petition for party status under the Act 250 Rules. Prior to submitting a request for a hearing, please contact the district coordinator at the telephone number listed below for more information. Prior to convening a hearing, the Commission must determine that substantive issues requiring a hearing have been raised. Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law may not be prepared unless the Commission holds a public hearing.

WE BUY LEVIS & USA DENIM We buy your used Levis & USA-made denim at Downtown Threads in Burlington & Camille’s Experienced Clothing in Rutland. james@ downtownthreads.net or 802-773-0971.

Parties entitled to participate are the Municipality, the Municipal Planning Commission, the Regional Planning Commission, affected state agencies, and adjoining property owners and other persons to the extent that they have a particularized interest that may be affected by the proposed project under the Act 250 criteria. Non-party participants may also be allowed under 10 V.S.A. Section 6085(c)(5).

WANT TO BUY

GUITAR INSTRUCTION All styles/levels. Emphasis on building strong technique, thorough musicianship, developing personal style. Paul Asbell (Big Joe Burrell, Kilimanjaro, UVM & Middlebury College faculty, Daysies). 233-7731, pasbell@ paulasbell.com.

The District 4 Environmental Commission is reviewing this application under Act 250 Rule 51—Minor Applications. A copy of the application and proposed permit are available for review at the office listed below. The application and a draft permit may also be viewed on the Natural Resources Board’s web site (http://nrb.vermont. gov) by clicking on “Act 250 Database” and entering the project number “4C0190-7D.”

WARDS: VERMONT PUNK BAND 34-song live CD. 19782018. $10. Proceeds paid to Paul Allison, 33 West St., Bolton, VT 05676. paulbolton9@gmavt. net, 802-434-5459.

If you have a disability for which you need accommodation in order to participate in this process (including participating in a public hearing, if one is held), please notify us as soon as possible, in order to allow us as much time as possible to accommodate your needs.

GUITAR INSTRUCTION Berklee graduate w/ 30 years’ teaching experience offers lessons in guitar, music theory, music technology, ear training. Individualized, step-by-step approach. All ages, styles, levels. Rick Belford, 864-7195, rickb@rickbelford.com.

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INSTRUCTION

[CONTINUED]

If you feel that any of the District Commission members listed on the attached Certificate of Service under “For Your Information” may have a conflict of interest, or if there is any other reason a member should be disqualified from sitting on this case, please contact the District Coordinator as soon as possible, and by no later than April 8, 2021.

ACT 250 NOTICE MINOR APPLICATION #4C01907D 10 V.S.A. §§ 6001 - 6093 On March 10, 2021, South Burlington VT I FGF, LLC, One North Wacker Drive, Suite 4025, Chicago, IL 60606 and 124 Technology Park Way, LLC, 88 Technology Park Way, Suite 2, South Burlington, VT 05403 filed application number 4C0190-7D for a project generally described as a 59 space parking lot expansion for a total of 250 parking spaces on Lot 2 and associated stormwater, landscaping, and lighting improvements. The project is located at 124 Technology Park Way in South Burlington, Vermont.

music

Legal Notices

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PLACE AN AFFORDABLE NOTICE AT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/LEGAL-NOTICES OR CALL 802-865-1020, EXT. 10.

SEVENDAYSVT.COM/CLASSIFIEDS

NOTICE OF SELF STORAGE LIEN SALE BURLINGTON SELF STORAGE, LLC 1825 SHELBURNE ROAD SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT 05403 Notice is hereby given that the contents of the self storage units listed below will be sold at public auction by sealed bid. Name of Occupant Storage Unit Aldrich, Unit #88 Said sales will take place on 04/9/21, beginning at 11:00am at Burlington Self Storage (BSS), 1825 Shelburne Road, South Burlington, VT 05403. Units will be opened for viewing immediately prior to auction. Sale shall be by sealed bid to the highest bidder. Contents of entire storage unit will be sold as one lot. The winning bid must remove all contents from the facility at no cost to BSS, on the day of auction. BSS, reserves the right to reject any bid lower that the amount owed by the occupant or that is not commercially reasonable as defined by statute.

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE Burlington Comprehensive Development Ordinance Amendment ZA-20-05: Short Term Rentals Pursuant to 24 V.S.A. §4441 and §4444, notice is hereby given of a public hearing by the Burlington Planning Commission to hear comments on the following proposed amendments to the City of Burlington’s Comprehensive Development Ordinance (CDO). Per Act 92, Secs. 5 and 6, the public hearing will take place during the Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, April 13, 2021 beginning at 6:45pm. You may access the hearing/ meeting as follows: To join from a Computer, please click this URL to join, and enter the Webinar ID if prompted: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86525320085 To join by phone, dial this number and enter the Webinar ID when prompted: Number: +1 312 626 6799 Webinar ID: 865 2532 0085 Pursuant to the requirements of 24 V.S.A. §4444(b): Statement of purpose: The purpose of the proposed amendments are as follows: - ZA-20-05: Define and enable Short Term Rentals in the Burlington Comprehensive Development Ordinance, and refer to regulatory standards in the City’s Code of Ordinances, Ch. 18 Minimum Housing, and update CDO definitions for Hotel/Motel and Hostel. Geographic areas affected: These amendments apply to the following areas of the city: - ZA-20-05: All areas and zoning districts where residential uses are permitted. List of section headings affected: The proposed amendments modify the following sections of the Burlington Comprehensive Development Ordinance: - ZA-20-05: Modifies Sec.13.1.2 Definitions, Appendix A- Use Table, Table 14.3.4-H- Use Type, and Table 14.3.5-H- Use Type. The full text of the Burlington Comprehensive Development Ordinance is available online at www.burlingtonvt.gov/DPI/CDO. The proposed amendment can be reviewed in hard copy posted

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View and post up to 6 photos per ad online.

on the first floor of City Hall, 149 Church Street, Burlington or on the department’s website at https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/DPI/CDO/ProposedAmendments-Before-the-Planning-Commission PUBLIC TRANSIT PROGRAM 2021 PUBLIC NOTICE Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired gives notice that, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 5311 Non-Urbanized Transportation Program, Preventive Maintenance Program, Rural Technical Assistance Program and Marketing; Vermont State Operating Assistance Program; 49 U.S.C. § 5310 Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Program, the opportunity is offered for a public hearing on a proposed Public Transit Program in the state of Vermont Projects are described as follows: volunteer driving, transit buses, vans, and taxis at an estimated total cost of $90,000 to provide transportation services to blind and visually impaired persons. Persons desiring a hearing to be held should submit written requests to the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired and to the Vermont Agency of Transportation at the addresses below within 14 days of publication of this notice. Upon a receipt of a request, a date will be scheduled and a notice of hearing will be published. A copy of the proposal may be seen at the Project Manager’s Office. Persons desiring to make written comments should forward same to the addresses below within 14 days of publication of this notice.

Post & browse ads at your convenience.

BURLINGTON

Woman in her 70s who enjoys meditation, swimming & PBS, seeking housemate to share her bright, open home near the bike path. $650/mo. all inc. No pets. Furnished bdrm, private BA.

CHARLOTTE Share rural farmhouse w/ senior woman who enjoys literature, gardening & classical music. Seeking housemate to cook 4 meals/wk, assist with yardwork & grocery shopping. $300/mo. all inc. Furnished bdrm, sitting room & private BA. Must be cat-friendly; no add’l pets.

WOLCOTT Share farmhouse with dynamic woman in her ‘90’s. Help w/cooking, laundry, shopping, transportation & feeding cat in exchange for no rent. Furnished bdrm, shared BA. Possible utility share. Internet inc. No smoking/no deposit.

Finding you just the right housemate for over 35 years! Call 863-5625 or visit HomeShareVermont.org for an application. Interview, refs, bg check req. EHO Homeshare-temp2.indd 1

Dated at South Burlington, County of Chittenden, I have been appointed to administer this estate. State of Vermont this 24th day of March, 2021. All creditors having claims against the decedent or the estate must present their claims in writing Steven Pouliot within four (4) months of the first publication of Project Manager this notice. The claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. The claim may be barred forever if it is not STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT FAMILY presented within the four (4) month period. DIVISION WASHINGTON UNIT DOCKET NO. 105-519 WNJV Dated: Friday, March 19, 2021 In re: F.W. Signed: /s/ Alexander Sowa NOTICE OF HEARING Executor/Administrator: Alexander Sowa

to participate by phone, Mr. Weeks may call 802-479-4205. Hon. Timothy B. Tomasi Family Court Judge 3/12/2021

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Homeshares

Transit Provider: STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE State Agency: DIVISION CHITTENDEN UNIT, DOCKET NO.: Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually 21-PR-00571 Impaired Vermont Agency of Transportation In re ESTATE of Bruce M. Bergman 60 Kimball Avenue Public Transit Section NOTICE TO CREDITORS South Burlington, VT 05403 Barre City Place, 219 North Main Street, Barre, VT To the Creditors of Bruce M. Bergman, late of 05641 Burlington, Vermont.

TO: Joshua Weeks The State of Vermont has filed a petition to terminate your residual parental rights to F.W. You are hereby notified that a hearing to determine parentage and a hearing to terminate all of your residual parental rights to F.W. will be held on May 20, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. at the Vermont Superior Court, Washington Family Division, at 255 N. Main St., Barre, Vermont. You are notified to appear in connection with this case. Failure to appear at this hearing will result in the termination of any rights you may have to F.W. as his/her father. The State is represented by the Attorney General’s Office, HC 2 North, 280 State Drive, Waterbury, VT 05671-2080. Other interested parties include Molly Cronin. and F.W.

Extra! Extra!

Dinse PC, 209 Battery Street Burlington, VT 05401 (802) 864-5751 mlangan@dinse.com

Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: March 24, 2021 Vermont Superior Court Chittenden Unit 175 Main St. Burlington, VT 05401 STATE OF VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT PROBATE DIVISION WASHINGTON UNIT, DOCKET NO.: 21-PR-00454 In re ESTATE of Sandra McDowell NOTICE TO CREDITORS To the Creditors of Sandra McDowell, late of Waitsfield, Vermont.

3/12/21 3:58 PM

within four (4) months of the first publication of this notice. The claim must be presented to me at the address listed below with a copy sent to the Court. The claim may be barred forever if it is not presented within the four (4) month period. Dated: March 22, 2021 Signed: /s/ Deborah Wehrlin Executor/Administrator: Deborah Wehrlin Address: 6382 Spear St. Shelburne, VT 05482 Phone: (802) 238-6989 Email: dwherlin@yahoo.com Name of Publication: Seven Days Publication Date: March 24, 2021 Vermont Superior Court Washington Unit 65 State Street Montpelier, VT 05602

VILLAGE OF ESSEX JUNCTION PLANNING COMMISSION PUBLIC MEETING APRIL 1, 2021 6:00 P.M. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this meeting will be held remotely. The meeting will be live-streamed on Town Meeting TV. - JOIN ONLINE: Click here to join the meeting. Visit www.essexjunction.org for meeting connection information. - JOIN CALLING: Join via conference call (audio only): (802) 377-3784 | Conference ID: 871 380 172#. Work Session for updates to the Village of Essex Junction Land Development Code. Discussion on Design Five Corners and design review amendments. This DRAFT agenda may be amended. Any questions re: above please call Robin Pierce or Terry Hass – 878-6950

I have been appointed to administer this estate. All creditors having claims against the decedent or the estate must present their claims in writing

Say you saw it in...

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

54 MARCH 24-31, 2021

ATTENTION RECRUITERS: POST YOUR JOBS AT: JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POST-A-JOB PRINT DEADLINE: 5 P.M. ON MONDAYS (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) FOR RATES & INFO: MICHELLE BROWN, 802-865-1020 X21, MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

YOUR TRUSTED LOCAL SOURCE. JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM COMMERCIAL ROOFERS

NOW HIRING LINE COOKS! $20.00 - $25.00 per hour depending on schedule. Benefits including paid time off, health, dental, vision and life insurance.

• Full time year round employment • Good benefits • Experience in installing Epdm, Tpo, Pvc roofing • EOE/M/F/VET/Disability employer • Pay negotiable with experience

Send your resume to: careers@farmhousegroup.com. or visit farmhousegroup.com/jobs. 3h-FarmHouseGUILDTAVERN032421.indd 1

NOW HIRING LINE COOKS!

Apply in person: 252 Avenue C, Williston, VT 05495 802-862-6473 E.O.E.

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3/23/21 9:45 AM

JOIN THE CITY OF 16 0 B AN K S T , BU R LI NG TO N , V T • FA RM H OUS E T G. COMWINOOSKI TEAM!

$20.00 - $25.00 per hour depending on schedule. Benefits including paid time off, health, dental, vision and life insurance. Send your resume to: careers@farmhousegroup.com. Or visit farmhousegroup.com/jobs.

We are looking for police officers, on-call firefighters, and summer staff in our Recreation and Public Works departments. Many positions offer paid training and excellent benefits. The City of Winooski is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating an inclusive work environment for all employees.

ESSEX WESTFORD 16 0 B AN K S T , BU R LI NG TO N , V T • SCHOOL FA RM HDISTRICT OUS E T G. COM HEALTH & WELLNESS Visit our website at winooskivt.gov/Jobs for IS HIRING! PROGRAM COORDINATOR more information and how to apply. The position would lead USCRI Vermont’s COVID-19 response, including outreach and education activities and the rollout of the vaccine, coordinate USCRI’s Community Health Worker team, and collaborate with the State of Vermont Health Operations Center and other community partners to reach English Language Learners in the state. At such time when the COVID-19 pandemic is a lesser concern, the Health and Wellness Program Coordinator would focus on providing important health and wellness support to refugees and immigrants. This is a grant funded position with opportunity for renewal depending on availability of funding. Bilingual and multilingual candidates encouraged to apply. USCRI is an EOE. Submit applications online: refugees.org.

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Join our team of instructors and support personnel who are committed to providing the highest quality education for our students! EWSD serves approximately 4,500 preschool through 12th grade students in ten schools across the Essex Junction, Essex Town and Westford communities. Come be part of one of the state’s largest and most highlyrespected school districts! We are seeking individuals for the following positions, as well as for other opportunities:

• CROSSING GUARDS

“The City of Winooski: Vermont’s Opportunity City”

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WE’RE HIRING! Claussen’s Florist, Greenhouse & Perennial Farm is hiring for the Spring Season!

• SUMMER FOOD SERVICE WORKERS

Open positions include:

• SPECIAL EDUCATORS & INSTRUCTIONAL ASSISTANTS • SENIOR PAYROLL SPECIALIST • TEACHERS If you want to make a difference in the community, please visit ewsd.org/jobs to learn more and apply today!

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3/22/21 9:07 AM

Delivery Drivers, Floral Department, Retail Sales, Greenhouse & Perennial Production Visit our website WWW.CLAUSSENS.COM for position details & to apply. 187 Main Street ~ Colchester, VT 05446 (802) 878-2361

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3/19/21 11:15 AM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

55 MARCH 24-31, 2021

NOW HIRING Logistics Coordinator

Systems Maintenance Technician

Full Time Position with Benefits

The Systems Maintenance position works throughout the Museum to ensure functionality and safety of electrical, HVAC, and plumbing systems. Education/Experience: • High school diploma or equivalent along with specialized training and education for skills related to climate control, electrical and plumbing work

Do you want to work in a fastpaced, close knit environment, helping manage logistics and track inventory? This position has room for growth and amazing benefits: Medical, Dental, 401k, Paid Time Off, and more! Located in our Williston, VT office, this hourly position will help the team prep for a busy year of keeping Vermont roads safe! Learn More Or Apply Online at www.GMFVT.com/employment

• 7-10 years’ systems maintenance experience For information about the position and how to apply: shelburnemuseum. org/about/employment/

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3/23/21 9:54 AM

NOW HIRING!

Individual wanted to promote Vermont receiving incoming calls and emails (no sales) for contracted small Burlington firm.

Licensed Plumbers, Service Technicians, Sheet Metal Installers & Piping Prefab Specialists

Full time permanent position with some remote work possible. Need quality phone and computer skills, detail orientated and independent a must. Contact Bill@ppdbrochure.com for more information.

WE’RE HIRING! Manager + Entry Level positions

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• Electrical License preferred

CALL & FULFILLMENT CENTER OPERATOR

3/22/212v-PP&D031721.indd 9:29 AM 1

Sara Holbrook Community Center is in search of someone to see to the care and feeding of our beautiful new building.

Full-time, part-time, and substitute openings Excellent benefits package

Go to saraholbrookcc.org/ employment-opportunities to view the full job description.

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Hiring bonuses, competitive pay, on-the-job training, and great benefits combined with an employee-centered culture helps make VMI a great place to work. Apply online at vtmechanical.com or send an email to jobs@vtmechanical.com. Vermont Mechanical is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

3/22/21 4:42 PM

WE’RE GROWING A FEW OF OUR OPENINGS:

MACHINE OPERATORS (1st, 2nd, 3rd Shifts) MACHINE TECHNICIANS (2nd & 3rd Shifts) QUALITY CONTROL OPERATOR (2nd & 3rd Shifts) PACKAGING OPERATORS (2nd Shift) MATERIAL HANDLERS (1st and 2nd Shift) AND MORE

BENEFITS:

Great company culture

APPLY TODAY AT MIDDLEBURY.COOP

EXCELLENT WAGES, DISCOUNT ON SOCKS, 17 PAID PERSONAL & HOLIDAYS PLUS VACATION, FULL MEDICAL, DENTAL, VISION, LIFE & 401K Locations in Northfield and Waterbury, VT

darntough.com/careers or (802) 221-4246

This half-time position will be responsible for maintaining 4t-MiddleburyNaturalFoodCoOp032421 1 Now more than ever building systems including mechanical, electrical, it’s a good time to remember plumbing and HVAC, the value of Community. security and wi-fi systems Thank you to our amazing staff to ensure optimal operating results. and residents as we mark a year They will oversee the company’s facility operations, manage janitorial duties, perform general groundskeeping, manage office/classroom moves all while remaining in compliance with local, state and federal regulations pertaining to child care facilities.

VT Mechanical_10C.indd 2

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Generous store discount MAINTENANCE

Vermont Mechanical is looking for

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We currently seek to fill the following position(s):

of remaining COVID-free. With over 90% of our staff vaccinated, we take a moment to appreciate those who faced this challenge with grace and dedication. Join us and feel what it means to be “essential.” We currently seek:

• Full-time Morning Waitstaff • Full-time Overnight Nurse • Full-time Housekeeper • Full-time Executive Assistant

HEAD TELLER

Openings in Essex and Burlington

TELLER

Openings in Essex, St. Albans, and Middlebury We partner with quality companies offering top notch benefits of the traditional and nontraditional types. We have competitive health care and 401k matches, a local employee assistance program, and other wellness benefits.

Full descriptions and to apply: wakerobin.com/contact-us/employment/

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3/22/21 10:17 AM

Wake Robin is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Qualified candidates apply online:vermontfederal.org. Learn more during Hire Up, March 31, 11am jobs.sevendaysvt.com/hire-up/#.YFj0cZNKiEI

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3/22/21 4:38 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 24-31, 2021

Hiring Super Star CAREGivers Like You!

PRESCHOOL ASSISTANT TEACHER

NOW HIRING:

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT PROGRAM ASSISTANT FOR ART EDUCATION Full Time For more information, visit our website: helenday.com/opportunities

DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR

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3/22/21

Himalayan Cataract Project (HCP | Cureblindness), a VT-based nonprofit, is actively seeking a Development Coordinator. Please visit our website for complete job description, cureblindness.org/careers.

Sara Holbrook Community Center is in search of an experienced child care professional for the Headstart Preschool program serving ages 3-5. This person will work closely with the classroom teachers to develop and implement a program of activities that promote the social, emotional, physical, and academic development of each child. This position requires an associate degree from an accredited college with a major or concentration in Early Childhood, 3:46 PM child or Human Development, Elementary Education, or Child and Family Services or a current Child Development Associate Certification (CDA). Candidates with solid experience will be considered if they are working toward an applicable degree or certification. This is a full-time, benefited position. Please go to saraholbrookcc.org/employment-opportunities to view the full job description.

To apply, please submit resume and cover letter to: jobs@cureblindness.org

MECHANICAL ENGINEER

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3/19/214t-SaraHolbrookPAT032421.indd 1:40 PM 1

Jacobs Engineering, a multinational Engineering firm, is hiring a Mechanical Engineer (ELE00003K) in Essex Junction, VT!

Don’t miss our

MARCH & APRIL GROUP INTERVIEWS! Visit our website:

homeinstead.com/483 Caring for seniors is a labor of love. Home Instead is awaiting your talents. Flexible scheduling. No experience necessary. P/T and F/T positions. Let’s get to know each other. Sign up today! $14-$18.50 per hour. FT starts at $15/hour.

3/19/21 2v-HomeInstead032421.indd 12:41 PM 1

EMPLOYMENT SPECIALIST

Knowledge of sprinkler codes, standards, and design practices is a plus.

Way2Work, a leading developmental service supported employment program, is seeking a creative and outgoing individual to join their dynamic team. The successful candidate will be responsible for supporting individuals in developing career goals, job seeking skills, securing employment, and on-the-job training. In addition, the candidate will collaborate with businesses to build partnerships for long-term community-based employment. Must demonstrate reliability, strong communication skills, and the ability to solve problems effectively and professionally. This full-time position offers a comprehensive benefits package, a great work environment, and the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others.

Please go to jacobs.com/careers to apply for this exciting opportunity.

ccs-vt.org

E.O.E.

BUSINESS MANAGER

3/22/21 4:57 PM

In this role, you will be responsible for production of mechanical and HVAC construction design packages. You will also perform field activities such as surveying existing facilities and witnessing construction activities. The right candidate has a degree in mechanical engineering or engineering technology, and 10 years of experience in related fields. They will also have extensive knowledge of mechanical and HVAC building codes and be proficient with AutoCAD.

ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY

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We are a small general practice firm with an emphasis on civil litigation, insurance defense, and workers’ compensation matters. We seek a candidate who is interested and has high ethical standards, strong skills in research and writing, along with the patience and desire to learn the profession. Competitive pay and benefits offered. Position to remain open until filled. Please send your resume and cover letter electronically to: Penny Webster, Office Manager HAYES, WINDISH & BADGEWICK pwebster@woodstockvtlaw.com

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Submit resume and cover letter to Ashley Dubois, adubois@ccs-vt.org.

1 3/15/214t-ChamplainCommunityServicesWAY2WORK032421.indd 3:30 PM

Hayes, Windish & Badgewick is seeking an associate attorney to join our team. Preference is given to those with 3-5 years’ experience in civil litigation, but those just starting with strong work ethic and motivation will be considered too.

3/19/21 3:55 PM

The Business Manager at Rock Point School is involved with all business aspects of the daily operations of an independent boarding school. This position oversees finances, human resources, Diocesan contractual arrangements, and the physical plant calendar. Join our fun and supportive staff! More information and a full job description can be found at rockpointschool.org/business-manager-employment-2021.

RESIDENTIAL EDUCATOR

The Town of Jericho, VT is seeking the services of a Recording Secretary for the Jericho Selectboard. Services required include attending meetings (1st & 3rd Thursday of each month starting at 7pm for Jericho Selectboard) and furnishing written minutes of each meeting to town staff within five days of each meeting. The expected hourly rate range is $12.00-$15.00. Interested persons may submit a resume for service to Paula Carrier, Administrative Assistant, via email at pcarrier@jerichovt.gov or via mail at P.O. Box 39, Jericho, VT 05465. The town will receive applications until person is selected.

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Rock Point School is looking for Residential Educators to join our team! Our Residential Educators are vital members of our school staff, teaching our students life skills, taking them on adventures, and supporting them to form healthy relationships. We are looking for people who have energy, patience, a sense of humor, and the desire to help guide young people through the challenges of transforming adolescence into adulthood. For a complete job description visit: rockpointschool.org/residential-educatoremployment-2021.

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RECORDING SECRETARY

3/19/21 1:02 PM

3/23/21 11:56 AM

PRESS DIRECTOR AND PRINTSHOP ARTISAN

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

OPEN POSITIONS - ALL SHIFTS

Bread and Puppet Theater is seeking a new Press Director and Printshop Artisan. Visit BREADANDPUPPET.ORG for full job listing.

Marketing & Sales Coordinator HR Coordinator At Vermont Creamery, our employees are our greatest resource. We are a community that empowers our team to engage and live our mission every day. We know that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and here, the whole is powered by a spirit of collaboration & transparency.

Glass Manufacturing Shop Technician

Benefits matter; that’s why we offer a competitive package. Our benefits program includes medical, vision & dental insurance, retirement plans & a total well-being approach. Perks to keep you healthy & happy include a wellness program, time off & tuition assistance. A certified B Corp since 2014, we’re using our business as a force for good.

Full description & apply: https://bit.ly/3cZKiAz

To apply, please call 802-479-9371 or apply online at: careers.landolakesinc.com/vermontcreamery.

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57 MARCH 24-31, 2021

3/12/21 12:05 PM

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Vermont Tent Company is currently accepting applications for immediate employment as well as future summer/fall employment starting in May. We have full time, part time, after school and weekend hours available for each position. Pay rates vary by position with minimum starting wage ranging from $15$20/hour depending on job skills and experience.

Opportunities include: • Tent Installation/Delivery Team • Driver/Warehouse Team – Event Division • Drivers/Delivery • Linen Team • Inventory Maintenance Team – Wash Bay & Warehouse • Load Crew Team Members For job descriptions and application. vttent.com/employment

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3/15/21 4:30 PM

PROGRAM FEATURES: ➢ Dedicated student support

LICENSED NURSING ASSISTANT Come join a winning team with new management and a positive culture to care for our residents/patients. We care about you! We want trusting, self-starter individuals to join our team! Highest wages in the area, $18-$20 base rate plus competitive shift differentials.

PATIENT ACCESS SPECIALISTS/REGISTRATION REPRESENTATIVES Join the UVM Medical Center team and play a fundamental role in patient experience and the financial health of the organization. We are seeking Per Diem, Part-time and Full-time Patient Access Specialists/Registration Representatives to join our registration teams at various locations. Sign on Bonuses are available for select roles.

➢ Starting wage of $15.46 with potential to earn $16.25 after one year

TRAIN TO BE A PHLEBOTOMIST GUARANTEED JOB IN 8 WEEKS* Work for Vermont’s Largest Employer!

Over the past twenty years, Vermont HITEC educated and employed over 1,600 individuals in the healthcare, information technology, To apply, visit us online and search “Registration.” advanced manufacturing, and business services fields. We are accepting applications http://bit.ly/UVMedCtr7d for our latest healthcare program. The program offers eight weeks of Phlebotomy training at no cost and immediate employment and 3/19/214t-UVMMedicalCenter021021.indd 2:44 PM 1 2/5/21 10:34 AM apprenticeship as a Phlebotomist with the UVM Medical Center (up to 12 positions) upon Temple Sinai in S. Burlington VT is hiring: Help lead a growing religious successful completion.

Come join our team and reach out to HR if you are interested! (802) 923-5728. hr@queencityrehab.com

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➢ Guaranteed employment *

INTERIM RELIGIOUS SCHOOL DIRECTOR

school at Temple Sinai.

The City of South Burlington is seeking a qualified candidate for the following position: MECHANIC. This position is responsible for the maintenance and repair on light and heavy equipment, trucks and other City vehicles and equipment.

The Interim Religious School Director will work with the Rabbi and the Education Committee to maintain Temple Sinai’s Religious School Program in person and/or through a web-based program for the 2021-22 school year. This is a one-year part-time position with the possibility of future ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT employment. Temple Sinai’s Religious School aims to help our students experience a joyful, meaningful, Judaism rooted in the principles Seeking a friendly, computer literate, candidateinclusive for support of clergy/Religious school ofadministrative the Reform Movement. We combine hands-on tactile learning, classroom and general office work. Such duties are: editing conversation, tikkun olam and creative projects with a weekly newsletter, maintain database, school Jewishreligious values-centered curriculum.

For further information and job descriptions please use our website: southburlingtonvt.gov. To apply, please send cover letter and resume to Jaimie Held, Human Resource Manager at jheld@sburl.com.

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registration, weekly service announcements.

Experience with Jewish education and virtual platforms required. Master’s in education preferred. Hebrew language familiarity preferred.

The candidate must be able to multi-task, be self-motivated. Candidates must be proficient with Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook. Competitive wages and fringe benefits.

Send inquiry: positions@templesinaivt.org Full Description bit.ly/TempleSinaiSDjob

3Enrollment in a Registered Apprenticeship 3Up to 12 full-time positions available 3Guaranteed starting wages with shift differential (where applicable) 3Performance-based increases 3Full benefits, including health, dental, paid vacation, 401k, and more 3No cost for qualified VT residents * Employment guaranteed upon successful completion of the 8-week program. The ITAR Program (Information Technology Apprenticeship Readiness) is a partnership of:

➢ Performance-based salary increases ➢ National Certification as a Phlebotomy Technician JOB FEATURES: ➢ Work for Vermont’s largest employer ➢ Direct patient care ➢ Team environment ➢ Rewarding work ➢ High-growth occupation ➢ Day shifts available

LEARN MORE APPLY ONLINE

iaahitec.org DEADLINE FOR SUMMER 2021 SESSION: MAY 2, 2021

The ITAR Program is funded in part by a grant from the Vermont and U.S. Dept. of Labor. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetics, political affiliation or belief.

1 3/19/21 6t-VTHiTec120920.i6t-VTHiTec032421ndd.indd 12:59 PM

3/23/21 10:36 AM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 24-31, 2021

REAL ESTATE PARALEGAL Telephone Triage Nurse (RN) We are seeking a full time Telephone Triage Nurse (RN) who is responsible for providing telephone advice and coordinating patient care for women of all ages in a fast pace practice. The Telephone Triage Nurse is responsible for knowing and supporting the practice with providing direction of care, clinical phone advice, patient education, making referrals, coordinating care and providing high quality care to the women they serve. The triage team is the primary point of contact for telephone patients with a variety of pregnancy related or gynecological health concerns. The triage nurse will be collecting subjective data related to the presenting problem and medical history, utilizing critical thinking and problem solving skills, assigning acuity, and ensuring timely disposition of all calls. There is also an opportunity to have some direct patient care in the clinic by monitoring blood pressures, giving injections, obtaining urine samples, and performing fetal monitoring in pregnancy. Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to jobs@maitriobgyn.com.

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Licensed Practical Nurse/ Registered Nurse (LPN/RN) Come join a winning team with new management and a positive culture to care for our residents/patients. We care about you! We want trusting, self-starter individuals to join our team! Highest wages in the area, very competitive rates! Come join our team and reach out to HR if you are interested! (802) 923-5728. hr@queencityrehab.com

1 2/26/21 2v-QueenCityHealth&Rehab032421.indd 11:08 AM

Gravel & Shea PC seeks an experienced paralegal to join our commercial real estate practice in Burlington, VT. The ideal candidate will have at least three to five years of title search and real estate closing experience. Candidates must have the following skills: excellent independent research and analytical skills; willingness to adapt quickly to challenging and stimulating assignments; excellent writing and communication skills; and the ability to meet deadlines. This is a detail oriented position that requires the ability to work with others both inside and outside the firm. Candidate must have a valid driver’s license. Adaptability to technology and advanced experience with Microsoft Office software is also important. We offer a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, 401(k) and Profit Sharing. Interested applicants should submit cover letter, résumé and references to: fmiller@gravelshea.com. All inquiries are held in the strictest confidence. GRAVELSHEA.COM E.O.E.

3/19/214t-GravelSheaREPara030321.indd 2:39 PM 1

The Yellow House Community, LLC LLC is is looking looking for aa Househould Household Head for Headtotojoin joinour ourteam! team!

The Yellow House Community (YHC) (YHC) is a Camphill-inspired Therapeutic Community The Yellow House Community is a State of Vermont licensed Therapeutic Community Residence for adults with intellectual and developmental Residence for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities located in in downtownlocated Middlebury, Vermont. YHC is lookingYHC for that special individual (or couple) who welcomes a who disabilities in downtown Middlebury. is looking for that special individual (or couple) welcomesposition a leadership position andtocould living at YHC. Head leadership and could commit living commit on-site attoYHC. Theon-site Household HeadThe (HH)Household is responsible for(HH) is responsible for the health happiness household andsurrogate is, in many ways, thehouse. surrogate the health and happiness of theand household and of is, the in many ways, the parent in the Our ideal parent in the house. Our ideal candidate is compassionate, patient, flexible, resourceful, comfortable candidate is compassionate, patient, flexible, resourceful, comfortable in a supervisory role, passionate in a supervisory passionate working with individuals with intellectual andplayer. developmental about working withrole, individuals with about intellectual and developmental disabilities, and a team As part of disabilities, and a team player. As part of the YHC leadership team, the HH will collaborate with and staff to the YHC leadership team, the HH will collaborate with staff to care for the physical, emotional, medical, care for the physical, emotional, medical, and programming needs of YHC residents. The Household programming needs of YHC residents. The Household Head is a full-time position. The generous compensation Head is a full-time position. The generous compensation package includes free room and board and package includes ample time off. free room and board and ample time off. For a full job description and how to apply, please visit the “Contact” page of our website: www.yellowhousecommunity.com. Please email questions to: Elise Haydon, Executive Director, at elise@yellowhousecommunity.com

WHERE YOU AND YOUR WORK MATTER...

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3/23/21 3/12/21 10:13 3:16 PM AM

When you work for the State of Vermont, you and your work matter. A career with the State puts you on a rich and rewarding professional path. You’ll find jobs in dozens of fields – not to mention an outstanding total compensation package. VOCREHAB COUNSELOR – BARRE

Seeking a Mission Investing Manager If you have expertise in social impact investing and want to make a difference in VT – join us! We are looking for an experienced and creative social impact and mission investing manager to develop, build, and evaluate our Vermont investments. The goals of our work are to build economic strength and social impact and to close the opportunity gap in Vermont. This position will be responsible for a portfolio of partners and companies, managing product expansion for funders, as well as evaluation and impact tracking. If this sounds like a good fit for you, visit vermontcf.org/careers for a complete job description and instructions for applying by Friday, April 9th.

VocRehab VT is recruiting for a skilled rehabilitation/career counselor with an ability to support ATTENTION RECRUITERS: 5v-VTCommunityFoundation031721.indd 1 consumers with physical, psychological, or cognitive disabilities in their efforts to access careers and gain employment. Job duties include assessment, guidance, and counseling, working with POST YOUR JOBS AT: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/POSTMYJOB employment staff to secure employment and work experiences, case management, documentation, and collaboration with many community providers. Please Note: This position is being recruited at PRINT DEADLINE: NOON ON MONDAYS multiple levels. If you would like to be considered for more than one level, you MUST apply to the specific (INCLUDING HOLIDAYS) Job Requisition. For more information, contact William Sugarman at 802-917-4143 or william.sugarman@ FOR RATES & INFO: MICHELLE BROWN, vermont.gov. Department: Disabilities Aging & Independent Living. Status: Full Time. Job ID #12798 or 802-865-1020 X21, 12902. Application Deadline: March 29, 2021. MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Learn more at: careers.vermont.gov

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2/26/21 12:08 PM

3/15/21 12:26 PM

The State of Vermont is an Equal Opportunity Employer 3/19/21 9:30 AM 2h_contactinfo.indd 1

4/25/16 6:25 PM

NOW HIRING! Current positions include:

DOCKMASTER FACILTIES MANAGER FACILITIES MANAGER NIGHT AUDITOR Please visit our website to apply:

burlingtonharbor marina.com/contact Come join our team!

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NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

EXPERIENCED CARPENTER

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

Seeking an experienced carpenter to join our team. We are custom home builders with a passion for our trade. Come Wake Robin,Vermont’s premier senior living community, seeks an Executive Assistant be a part of an enjoyable and professional building team. to the President/CEO.This individual provides administrative support and project Check out our work at cultivationdesign.com. Must implementation for all initiatives generated from this office.Typical responsibilities have own tools and reliable transportation. Send resume include administrative support for the Board of Directors, calendar management and and cover sheet to adam@cultivationdesign.com. meeting logistics coordination, key document management/archiving, and constant interaction with our residents on behalf of the President.They also collaborate with department directors to coordinate high level administrative initiatives and special 3/16/21 10:25 AM projects. Candidates must have at least 5-years’ experience as a senior support executive, 2h-CultivationDesignBuild031721.indd 1 solid experience using word processing, data management, and interactive IT systems, and a desire to be immersed in the resident community culture at Wake Robin.

WE ARE ARE HIRING HIRING WE

Interested candidates can send their resumes and cover letter to hr@wakerobin.com or fill out an application at wakerobin.com/employment.

Dining Room Service Positions Dining Room Service Servers, Bussers, FoodPositions Runners Servers, Bussers, Food Runners

Wake Robin offers a unique and supportive community-centered work environment.We are proud to have provided a safe and covid-free community throughout the pandemic! Join us for this opportunity to build strong relationships with staff and residents in a dynamic community setting.

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Kitchen Positions Kitchen Positions Production, Pastry, Line Cooks Production, Pastry, Line Cooks Market Positions Market Barista,Positions Cashier Barista, Cashier

3/23/21 10:00 AM

TRAIN TO BE A PHLEBOTOMIST GUARANTEED JOB IN 8 WEEKS*

We’re Growing & Hiring! 2 Full-time positions:

59 MARCH 24-31, 2021

FIND OUT MORE DURING HIRE UP, MARCH 31ST jobs.sevendaysvt.com/hire-up/#.YFirEJNKiEJ Philo Ridge Farm is a regenerative agriculture farm, market and restaurant PhiloinRidge Farm Visit is a regenerative agriculture farm, restaurant 3.83” Charlotte. our website to learn more and market see openand positions: in Charlotte. Visit our website to learn more and see open positions: https://www.philoridgefarm.com/join-our-team https://www.philoridgefarm.com/join-our-team

• Inventory & Purchasing Specialist • Warehouse Associate • Benefits Available

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3/15/21 12:42 PM

an equal opportunity employer

If you have what it takes to be successful, apply today!! Vasa is the worldwide leader in dryland swim training exercise equipment. To learn more about either position: vasatrainer.com/jobs/

Carpenters Wanted! Needed Immediately!

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Finish Carpenters, Carpenters and Carpenters Helpers. Good Pay, Full Time and Long Term! Chittenden County. Call Mike at 802-343-0089 or Morton at 802-862-7602.

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Vermont State Parks is hiring near you!

3/16/21 4t-VTHiTec032421.indd 11:48 AM 1

3/22/21 11:35 AM

Work outside the box! We are hiring for managers, assistant managers, park attendants, maintenance positions and park interpreters. Managerial positions include living and working in a park for the summer (some positions don’t have housing), being responsible for customer experience, cash handling, and management and supervision of staff and park operations. If you live near a state park, we’re also hiring park attendants. Excellent work ethic, customer service skills and/or groundskeeping experience preferred. Great attitudes required! Park Interpreters are responsible for developing, scheduling and delivering natural and cultural history programs, hikes, recreation activities, etc. Additionally, we’re seeking a working couple to manage Knight Island State Park (excellent boating skills and a sense of adventure required). We’re hosting a virtual job fair for all positions on April 6th from 6-7 PM. to learn more or to directly apply, check out vtstateparks.com/jobs!

8/6/18 4t-VTForestsParksRec032421.indd 10:42 AM 1

Now hiring— Full-time Positions

Café Manager

We are seeking a dynamic Café Manager to amaze our customers with life-altering lattes, espressos, chocolate drinks, and award-winning ice cream! Focus is heavily on ice cream in the summer months in our café. Must enjoy working with the public, provide exceptional customer service, and have a passion for making hand-crafted, quality beverages. Prior restaurant, café or food service experience necessary. Role is not limited to the café and will also include retail sales in our flagship store. Year-round, full-time position available at our Pine Street Factory location. Ability to work weekdays, nights, and weekend hours, a must. Competitive pay and generous benefits. Please visit our website for additional job details: http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/about-us/employment

1 3/19/21 5v-LakeChamplainChocolates032421 11:55 AM

3/22/21 1:28 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 24-31, 2021

TRANSACTIONAL PARALEGAL Dinse is seeking to hire a full-time experienced transactional paralegal. Applicant should possess strong analytical skills with the ability to prepare for and assist with closings, perform title searches and draft title documents. Applicant must have a strong knowledge of state and local regulations including Act 250 & subdivision. Position requires communication with title insurance companies, lenders, attorneys and clients, so applicant must be confident in those areas. Duties may also include maintaining corporate books, assist with merger and acquisition, together with private placement transactions and corporate filing with the Vermont Secretary State. If you are detailed-oriented, can work under pressure and have at least three years of real estate law experience, we would like to hear from you. We offer a competitive salary, full benefit package, with 4 weeks of combined time off, and an exceptional work environment. Please e-mail resume to jaustin@dinse.com.

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POSITIONS OPEN!

Vermont College of Fine Arts welcomes applications for the position of Bursar, a FT administrative position reporting to the Controller. Responsibilities include student billing, financial aid processing, student payments, month-end close functions, and annual financial aid audit prep work. Attention to detail and superb organizational and customer service skills are critical. Successful candidates will have a bachelor’s or associate’s degree or comparable work experience, preferably in accounting or business administration. A strong working knowledge of Microsoft Excel & Word, Microsoft Dynamics, PowerCampus, or financial accounting software is highly desirable. Working experience in a student information system database is preferred. Please see full job description here: http://bit.ly/VCFAbursarJOB

3/19/21 3:01 PM

About the Community Sailing Center Our mission is to encourage and celebrate the responsible use and long-term stewardship of Lake Champlain by fostering educational and recreational opportunities for all members of our community.

To apply send the following to vcfajobs@vcfa.edu: • Cover Letter, CV/Resume • Statement on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, outlining your professional skills, accomplishments, experience, and willingness to engage in activities to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion. For full consideration, submit application by April 9, 2021. Position will remain open until filled.

WATERFRONT COORDINATOR

The Waterfront Coordinator will be the first contact that people have with the Sailing Center. They must be friendly, courteous, and possess good organizational skills. The ability to multitask and work in a fun, fast-paced 5v-VTCollegeFineArt032421.indd environment is a plus. Waterfront Coordinators work almost exclusively on evenings and weekends. Pay Rate: $13/hour, full-time and part-time positions available.

AGRICULTURAL LOAN OFFICER

SAILING INSTRUCTOR

Sailing Instructors must be enthusiastic about the sport of sailing and seek to expose students (both youth and adult) to the fundamentals of sailing as well as the importance of the natural environment in which we sail.Instructors must currently possess, or be willing to obtain, their US Sailing Level 1 Certification and have previous power boating experience. Pay Rate: hourly compensation commensurate with experience, full-time, part-time & on-call positions available. Applicants may apply for full-time or part-time positions for any number of the seasons listed below. Please note that Summer employment offers the greatest opportunity for regular work hours. Spring: May 23 – June 7 (limited hours available) Summer: June 8 – September 7 Fall: September 8 – October 12 (limited hours available)

GRANTS AND CAMPAIGN MANAGER

Community Sailing Center (CSC) is seeking a Grants and Campaign Manager to sustain and grow annual philanthropic revenue and aid efforts of our $3.5 million capital campaign for a transformative waterfront infrastructure. The CSC’s mission is to encourage and celebrate the responsible use and long-term stewardship of Lake Champlain by fostering educational and recreational opportunities for all members of our community, regardless of age, gender, race, physical ability, or financial means. Compensation: $50,000-$55,000 annually, Health and Dental, CTO; pay commensurate with experience Job descriptions and to apply: communitysailingcenter.org/about/jobs/

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New, local, scamfree jobs posted every day!

BURSAR

3/19/21 5:24 PM

VEDA is looking for an experienced Agricultural Loan Officer to join our team located in our new building on Exchange Street in Middlebury, Vermont. Due to COVID-19, this position is expected to be remote based for a period of time. VEDA has a strong commitment to the Addison County agricultural community and this position will work with farm and forestry applicants and borrowers in Addison County as well as throughout the state. Responsibilities include analyzing loan requests, preparing loan writeups, servicing a diverse loan portfolio and performing annual financial analyses. In addition, the successful applicant for this position will be able and willing to mentor and teach co-workers with less experience. A high level of agricultural and/or forest industry knowledge; strong written, verbal, and computer skills; excellent customer service; and a proven team approach are required. The preferred, successful applicant will have at least 3-7 years of agricultural lending experience, a bachelor’s degree in a related field, and leadership experience. This position requires travel within the State of Vermont. VEDA offers a very competitive salary and benefits package and is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer. We are interested in increasing staff diversity and welcome job applications from all qualified candidates. To apply, please email resume and cover letter to Cheryl Houchens: chouchens@veda.org.

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jobs.sevendaysvt.com

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6/18/19 1:24 PM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

61 MARCH 24-31, 2021

MULTIPLE POSITIONS OPEN Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital has a variety of open positions including:

Silver Maple Construction is hiring!

• Experienced Carpenters • Project Managers • Assistant Finisher

(Woodworks - training provided)

• Experienced Cabinet-makers

The Town of Waitsfield is seeking a highly-motivated, organized, and engaging individual for the position of Town Administrator. The Town Administrator assists the five-member Selectboard with developing and administering the Town’s operating budget, supervising six employees, and overseeing all other aspects of municipal operations, personnel, finances, and public works.

Full-time, part-time and per diem schedules available. Shift differentials and per diem rates offered.

Waitsfield (pop. 1,719) is a vibrant community located in the heart of the Mad River Valley, surrounded by spectacular natural beauty and host to a wide variety of year-round outdoor amenities and activities.

For details please visit silvermapleconstruction.com. Or email us at drey@silvermapleconstruction.com (802) 989-7677 2v-SilverMapleConstruction031021.indd 1

RNs, LNAs, MT or MLT, Administrative, Information Services and more!

Town Administrator

3/8/21 11:30 AM

Zoning Administrator

Requirements include a Bachelor’s degree in public administration, business management, or a relevant field (Master’s degree preferred); excellent written and interpersonal communication skills; a working knowledge of municipal finance and budgeting; and good computer skills. Three years of experience in municipal government or equivalent experience in business administration is desired. Salary is dependent upon qualifications; the Town also offers a competitive benefits package. A full job description is available on the Town’s website: waitsfieldvt.us.

Food Residuals Manager & Operations/Fulfillment Team Members Vermont Compost Company is looking for a Food Residuals Program Manager and has multiple openings in the Fulfillment and Operations Team. This is a growing organization looking for people that are motivated and eager to learn. For more information, visit: vermontcompost.com/careers

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3/19/21 11:06 AM

Please apply in confidence with a cover letter, resume, and contact information for three professional references via email to csullivan@

TODDLER TEACHER

3/12/21

APPLY TODAY AT NVRH.ORG/CAREERS.

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The Town of Georgia is gmavt.net with “Waitsfield Administrator” as the subject. accepting applications The job is open until filled. Applications may be reviewed for a full time Zoning as they are received. E.O.E. Administrator. This position is responsible for administering the Town’s Zoning Bylaws, 5v-TownofWaitsfield031721.indd 1 3/15/21 assisting the public with permit applications, and supporting the Development Review Board and Planning Commission which includes Sara Holbrook Community Center is in search of an attending evening meetings. experienced child care professional for the Early Head A detailed job description Start Toddler program. This Teacher will work closely can be found on our website at townofgeorgia.com. with their Co-Teacher and Assistant Teacher to plan and

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FT and PT employees are eligible for excellent benefits including student loan repayment, generous paid time off, wellness reimbursement, low cost health insurance and 401k with company match!

1:58 PM

implement Creative Curriculum, utilize the Early MultiTiered System of Support principals, and provide a 12:20 PM program of activities that promote the social, emotional, physical, and academic development of each child.

The ideal candidate holds a current Vermont Agency of Education teaching license with an endorsement in Early Childhood, Early Childhood Special Education, or Elementary Education; or has a minimum of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college with a successful completion of (30) college credits with an early childhood focus: Early Childhood, Child or Human Development, Elementary Education, Special Education with toddler age children, or Child and Family Services and at least twelve (12) months experience working with groups of children from 3 years of age to 5 years of age. This is a full-time, benefited position. Please go to saraholbrookcc.org/employment-opportunities to view the full job description.

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3/19/21 4:56 PM

JOIN THE TEAM AT GARDENER’S SUPPLY! JOIN THE TEAM GARDENER’S SUPPLY! Through gardening, ourAT customers control their access to safe and affordable food, and grow food to share with their Through gardening, our customers their access neighbors. At Gardener’s Supply, wecontrol are committed to to safe and aff ordable food, and grow food to share with doing everything we can to help our customers keep their neighbors. Supply, we are committed to gardening, At butGardener’s we need your help. doing everything we can to help our customers keep gardening, need your help. We’re hiringbut for we SEASONAL POSITIONS AT ALL LOCATIONS: We’re hiring for SEASONAL AT ALL LOCATIONS: • Pick/Pack customer orders • Pick/Pack customer ordersPOSITIONS at our at our DISTRIBUTION CENTER IN MILTON DISTRIBUTION CENTER IN MILTON • Pick/Pack customer orders at our • Provide exceptional customer service our • Provide exceptional customer to our to customers DISTRIBUTION CENTER service IN MILTON customers the phone at our over the phone atover our CALL CENTER • Provide exceptional customer service to our CALL CENTER • Help customers with their gardening needs at our customers over the phone at our • Help customers with their needs at our WILLISTON & BURLINGTON, VT gardening GARDEN CENTERS CALL CENTER WILLISTON & BURLINGTON, VT GARDEN CENTERS • Manufacture high-quality products at our • Help customers with their gardening needs at our PRODUCTION FACILITY IN GEORGIA, VT & BURLINGTON, VT CENTERS WeWILLISTON are 100% employee-owned andGARDEN a Certified B Corporation. We offer strong cultural values, competitive Weand areoutstanding 100% employee-owned and a Certifi ed B wages benefits (including a tremendous Corporation. We off er strong values, competitive discount!). Please go tocultural our careers page at wageswww.gardeners.com/careers and outstanding benefits (including and applya tremendous online! discount!). Please go to our careers page at www.gardeners.com/careers and apply online!

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 24-31, 2021

BUILDING SUCCESS AND HOPE TO THOSE WE SUPPORT

TOWN OF UNDERHILL

The Francis Foundation

TOWN ADMINISTRATOR The Town of Underhill seeks a Town Administrator, who is the principal liaison and support for the Selectboard. He or she works closely with the Selectboard to help them with the general administration of the Town by providing administrative support, policy and decision-making advice, and presenting the Selectboard’s decisions to external audiences when necessary. The Town Administrator works closely with other elected and appointed officials to ensure the efficient and functional operation of the Town and effective communications between departments, with residents, and with other interested parties. The position includes a competitive salary and excellent benefit package.

THE FRANCIS FOUNDATION is expanding our resources by hiring essential people to do rewarding work. We are a small private non-profit agency located in Middlesex VT, serving young adults with intellectual disabilities. We focus on the success of the person, through relationships that are positive and helpful. COMMUNITY SUPPORT SPECIALISTS: Assist young adults to make meaningful connections in their community that foster socialization, wellness, and volunteerism. Safe measures within connections. Training provided. Pay starts at 15.00/hour plus mileage reimbursement. 25 hours a week. Flexible schedules also available.

Please mail your cover letter and resume to: The Town of Underhill, P.O. Box 120, Underhill, VT 05489. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2021.

RESPITE SUPPORTS: Provide a safe break and get away for the Shared Living Provider and the young adult. Scheduled time in your home can be consistently arranged or as needed. Person specific training is provided as well as orientation of self-regulation stage model. Minimum rate for an overnight is $176.64. SHARED LIVING PROVIDERS: Be a mentor within life skills and emotion regulation. Share your home with a young adult who appreciates support, guidance, and connections. Training, clinical support, and a GENEROUS tax free stipend provided.

http://bit.ly/TownUnderhillJob EOE

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3/9/21 9:54 AM

COVID safety measures are respected and in place. PLEASE CONTACT: EILEEN@THEFRANCISFOUNDATION.ORG Equal Opportunity Employer. All employment positions are contingent on results of criminal background checks

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FULL TIME

3/23/21 10:32 AM

ESTATE HOUSEKEEPING MANAGEMENT POSITION Located in the heart of the Green Mountains, a peaceful and inspiring, sprawling estate with the community spirit of “all for one and one for all” seeks an honest and professional individual with excellent communication skills to join our team. The open position is seeking a full time, year round, self motivated and reliable individual for estate level housekeeping. This includes a main house and several guest houses, as well as large garages. Duties include but not limited to maintaining a high level of attention to detail, a high regard for cleanliness and organization. Experience with dust removal, polishing, steam cleaning, laundry service, light kitchen duties, regular ironing, sweeping, glass cleaning, vacuuming, and maintaining the house plants with a regular watering schedule. Candidate must possess the physical ability to lift 50lbs., and be able to stock wood. COMPENSATION: • Yearly salary of 50,000.00 • 15 days of Paid vacation time yearly • 12 days of Personal time/Sick leave • All US Holidays are paid days off. Please send resume and cover letter to mioemployment@gmail.com.

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Join Us! We believe that great people make a great banking experience — and a great company! People’s United Bank welcomes a diverse community of individuals who are ready to bring their “know-how’ to our markets. We are looking for experienced managers to lead our branches in serving our communities and supporting your peers and co-workers.

Branch Manager Managers in our branches are responsible for the overall management of customer relationship building, service and portfolio growth at their assigned branch. They identify and manage profitable relationships with small businesses within the branch market by providing tailored business solutions. Employee development is a key to employee engagement and satisfied customers, and our managers coach and motivate the Banker staff to increase the depth of customer relationships, retention and loyalty and find new People’s United customers! As with any financial institution, managers are expected to adhere to compliance procedures and internal/operational risk controls in accordance with any and all applicable regulatory standards, requirements, and policies.

Looking for a Sweet Job? Our mobile-friendly job board is buzzing with excitement.

Start applying at jobs.sevendaysvt.com

WE OFFER: • Comprehensive Medical, Dental & Vison Benefits • 401K & Employee Stock Ownership • Paid Time off plus 10 paid Holidays • Tuition Reimbursement • Paid Maternity Leave • Adoption Assistance • Commuter Benefits • Long & Short Term Disability Coverage • Employee Assistance Program • Employee Discount Program Branch manager positions available in Southern VT. Apply: www.peoples.com/careers.

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1/28/20 3:38 PM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

63 MARCH 24-31, 2021

Career Opportunity:

Working Bridges Bridges Resource Resource Coordinator Coordinator Working

Join one one of of the the best best places places to to work work in in Vermont! Vermont! United United Way Way of of Northwest Northwest Vermont Vermont is is committed committed to to building building an an Join

inclusive culture—in culture—in our our workplace workplace and and the the community community at at large—that large—that celebrates celebrates the the diverse diverse voices voices of of our our inclusive employees, volunteers, volunteers, donors, donors, community community partners partners and and the the individuals individuals and and families families we we serve. serve. employees,

We invite invite you you to to bring bring your your unique unique experience experience to to our our work work as as our our newest newest Working Working Bridges Bridges Resource Resource Coordinator. Coordinator. We As part of the Working Bridges Team, you will: As part of the Working Bridges Team, you will: Provide on-site on-site resource resource coordination coordination for for employees employees at at their their place place of of work. work. •• Provide Deliver information information and and referrals referrals to to community community resources. resources. •• Deliver Provide listening listening support, support, problem problem solving solving and and financial financial coaching. coaching. •• Provide Develop trusted trusted relationships relationships with with employees employees and and partners. partners. •• Develop United Way Way of of Northwest Northwest Vermont Vermont employees employees enjoy enjoy aa range range of of excellent excellent benefits benefits including including health, health, dental dental and and United vision insurance, insurance, aa generous generous paid paid vacation vacation policy, policy, 403(b) 403(b) contributions, contributions, aa robust robust wellness wellness program program and and more! more! vision United Way Way of of Northwest Northwest Vermont Vermont is is an an Equal Equal Opportunity Opportunity Employer. Employer. We We are are looking looking for for candidates candidates to to join join our our United team who who will will contribute contribute to to the the diversity diversity and and excellence excellence of of the the organization. organization. Interested Interested candidates candidates may may visit visit team www.unitedwaynwvt.org for for the the full full job job description. description. To To apply apply candidates candidates should should send send via via e-mail e-mail aa resume resume and and www.unitedwaynwvt.org cover letter letter by by 03/29/2021: 03/29/2021: Hiring@unitedwaynwvt.org. Hiring@unitedwaynwvt.org. No No phone phone calls calls please. please. cover 5h-UnitedWayNWVT031721.indd 1

Career Opportunity: Construction Project Manager Construction Project Manager

Bread Corporation, Vermont’s integratedintegrated company ofcompany architects, planners, BreadLoaf Loaf Corporation, Vermont’s of architects, plann and builders, is seeking a Project Manager. Our Project Managers are key and builders, is seeking a Project Manager. Our Project Managers are key members of our integrated project management teams – providing support members of our integrated project management teams – providing support through design and taking the lead through construction. Ideal candidates through and taking the leadscheduling, through construction. Ideal candidates will have adesign firm knowledge of construction the ability to balance multiple be a collaborative team player will have a firmprojects, knowledge of construction scheduling, the ability to and have amultiple customer projects, service focus balance beasa well. collaborative team player A Bachelor’s in engineering and have aDegree customer service orfocus as well. construction related field and at least ten years A construction Bachelor’smanagement Degree in experience engineering of are or preferred. Experience projects construction relatedmanaging field and at least ten years ranging from $1-15 million desired.

of construction management experience are

Please visit our website www.breadloaf.com for preferred. Experience managing projects more information about our company. Interested ranging from $1-15 million desired. candidates may send their resume to resumes@breadloaf.com. Please visit our website www.breadloaf.com for

more information about our company. Interested candidates may send their resume to 4t-BreadLoaf032421 1 resumes@breadloaf.com.

3/12/21 4:36 PM

MIDDLESEX, VT

COMPLIANCE OFFICER

WHAT’S ON YOUR WISH LIST FOR THE PERFECT JOB?

Union Bank, a highly successful community bank headquartered in Morrisville, VT, with locations throughout northern Vermont and New Hampshire, is seeking an individual for the position of Compliance Officer.

Does it include the following?

• A livable wage • Health coverage • Paid vacation • Being part of a great team • The opportunity to do work that you can feel proud of at the end of the day • Free bread and pastries (okay, maybe that wasn’t on your list, but would you turn that down?!)

If this list looks like your list, we want to talk to you! Full-time and part-time opportunities for:

• dishwashing/general cleaning • pastry baker • barista • cooks and sandwich makers

Please contact Randy George at randy@redhenbaking.com or (802) 223-5200.

3/19/21 2:32 PM

JOIN OUR TEAM LINE COOKS + DISHWASHERS Experience Preferred But We Are Willing to Train Passionate People

This individual will be responsible for performing various duties related to ensuring compliance with state and Federal rules and regulations, act as the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Officer and the Safe Act Officer, and perform other duties as assigned on behalf of the Senior Risk Officer. An Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Business or related field is preferred. The successful candidate will have a minimum of three to five years of banking experience, with an emphasis in overseeing or performing duties related to all aspects of bank compliance preferred. Salary will be commensurate with experience. Union Bank offers a comprehensive benefits program including three medical and two dental insurance plan options, 401(k) retirement plan with a generous company match, life and disability insurance, and paid vacation and sick leave along with continuing education opportunities.

OFFERING

To be considered for this position, please submit a cover letter, resume and references to:

Human Resources - Union Bank P.O. Box 667 Morrisville, Vermont 05661 – 0667 careers@unionbankvt.com

Competitive Compensation Full & Part-Time Positions Great Work Environment Opportunity to Learn EMAIL EAT@DEEPCITYVT.COM TO APPLY Our Kitchen Has Windows + We Are Located On The Burlington Waterfront

E.O.E. - MEMBER FDIC

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3/23/21 Untitled-23 10:29 AM 1

3/22/21 2:55 PM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 24-31, 2021

New World Tortilla has positions open at our location on Pine Street in Burlington. This is a fast-paced counter service restaurant. Tired of working Sundays and Holidays? You get them all off. We also offer paid time off for full-time employees. Please send your resume to newworldvt@gmail.com, or drop it off at 696 Pine Street.

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3/5/21 12:21 PM

DIRECT BANKING CALL CENTER REPRESENTATIVES COMMUNITY BANKER – TAFT CORNERS

CLERICAL ASSISTANTS

The Vermont Judiciary is recruiting for a full-time, permanent Docket Clerk, will perform specialized clerical duties including data entry and extensive customer service over the phone. Located in Burlington. High School graduate and two years of clerical, or data entry experience required. Starting at $17.11 per hour with excellent benefits, paid holidays and leave time. Job code # 20030 Candidates shall submit a complete and up-to-date Judicial Branch application and resume. An electronic version of the Application may be found at: vermontjudiciary.org/employment-opportunities/staff-openings.

Open until filled. Equal opportunity employer. 5h-OfficeoftheCourtAdministrator032421.indd 1

3/19/21 10:31 AM

There is no better time to join NSB’s team! Northfield Savings Bank, founded in 1867, is the largest banking institution headquartered in Vermont. We are adding to our teams! We are looking for professionals to join our Direct Banking department as Call Center Representatives. Additionally, we are looking for a Community Banker professional to join our team in our Williston, Taft Corners branch. Each position will require a high school diploma or equivalent, excellent customer service skills, and strong written and verbal communication.

CALL CENTER REPRESENTATIVE

The successful candidate will be comfortable with digital and online banking systems and will be eager to provide prompt, accurate, and confidential information to our customers.

COMMUNITY BANKER

The Community Banker will be responsible for receiving and processing customers’ financial transactions, matching customers’ needs with appropriate products and services, protecting customer information, and maintaining customer confidentiality.

OPPORTUNITY FOR GROWTH NSB encourages career development and has a variety of training platforms available. The average years of service for a NSB employee is 9! If you’re looking for a career in the banking industry, this is a great place to start!

WHAT NSB CAN OFFER YOU Competitive compensation based on experience. Well-rounded benefits package. Profit-Sharing opportunity. 401(k) matching retirement program. Professional development. Weekends off!

LEGAL ASSISTANT

RAPID RESPONSE TEAM MEMBER Want to join the growing Health Care IT industry and work in a fantastic team culture? Perhaps, you too, desire the friendly, casual, hardworking, and client-focused environment offered by our 90+ employee company located in the Champlain Mill in Winooski, VT. PCC has designed, developed and supported our awardwinning pediatric software for over 30 years. As our electronic health record solution is driving greater demand for our services, we want to expand our team. As a result, PCC is seeking people to join our Software Solutions Team as a Rapid Response member. Rapid Response Team members work in our customer care center and are responsible for answering client calls, entering and managing their service needs into our help desk software, and helping to solve their questions and problems. They also travel* to our client sites to assist with software configuration and training. This position requires technical aptitude and exceptional customer service and communication skills. Prior experience in the healthcare industry desired, but not required. *In order to keep our employees and families safe PCC employees have been working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Once it is safe to fully open, employees will work onsite at our Winooski office and travel to client offices will resume.

Please send an NSB Application + your resume in confidence to: Careers@nsbvt.com, or mail to:

To learn more about PCC, this role and how to apply, please visit our website at pcc.com/careers. The deadline for submitting your application is April 2, 2021.

Northfield Savings Bank Human Resources P.O. Box 7180, Barre, VT 05641-7180 E.O.E./Member FDIC

As a Benefit Corporation, we place a high value on client, employee and community relationships. Our company offers a friendly, informal, and professional work environment. PCC offers competitive benefits as well as some uncommon perks.

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Sheehey Furlong & Behm, an established, growing law firm located near the Burlington waterfront, is accepting applications for a legal assistant. The successful candidate will be detail-oriented, possess strong written and verbal skills and the ability to work in a fast-paced environment. Proficiency in MS Office applications is required. 1-3 years of legal experience is preferred. Competitive pay and comprehensive benefits package. Forward cover letter and resume to hiring@sheeheyvt.com, subject “Legal Assistant.”

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3/22/21 6:11 PM

No phone calls lease. AA/EOE.

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10/29/19 12:12 PM

This position is responsible for performing a variety of human resource daily functions including interviewing and hiring staff, processing payroll, handling benefit administration, processing workers’ compensation claims, assisting with development of policies and procedures and enforcing company policies and practices.

JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

65 MARCH 24-31, 2021

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT SPECIALIST II

Cathedral Square, a nonprofit organization providing housing and services to seniors throughout Vermont, is currently seeking:

HR GENERALIST

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY!

Full Time; Benefits Eligible; $17/hour

Goddard College seeks a resourceful IT Specialist with IT help desk experience to provide support and instruction for the use of the intranet and technology resources and to work collaboratively with the IT team to ensure the optimal functioning of the Goddard College IT services. This positon also acts as the focal point for managing end-user devices (laptops and PCs) and has primary responsibility for updating and maintaining the IT Asset Tracking system.

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business or related field. Must possess at least one year of Human Resource experience. SHRM-CP/PHR a plus. Must have knowledge of State of Vermont and Federal employment laws. Specialized knowledge in employee benefits, payroll, employee relations, recruiting or training is required. Must possess excellent communication skills, interpersonal skills, facilitation skills, ethics, and cultural awareness. Excellent time management skills with a proven ability to meet deadlines. The ability to understand and resolve complex employee relations and organizational issues is required. Must be able to present information to staff and management in small and large group settings. Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite.

Please visit our website to review the complete position description and apply by submitting a cover letter and resume to: goddard.edu/about-goddard/employment-opportunities Goddard College is committed to creating a college representative of a diverse global community and capable of creating change. To that end, we are actively seeking applications from qualified candidates from groups currently underrepresented in our institution for this position. This institution is an E.O.E. 5h-GoddardCollege031021.indd 1

3/8/21 6:18 PM

Hours and Location: Full-time, South Burlington CSC offers a competitive salary, excellent benefits, wellness program and a friendly working environment. Visit cathedralsquare.org for full job descriptions and apply online today! Submit resume or application to jobs@cathedralsquare.org. E.O.E.

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Secretary

3/23/21 10:24 AM

Office of the Defender General, Montpelier. Previous secretarial experience required. Experience as a secretary in the criminal or juvenile justice system or human services field preferred. Must be able to work independently and as part of a legal team. Requires patience, the ability to work with a wide variety of people, tenacity, a sense of humor, and a can-do attitude. Full-time, exempt PG17 (union) position with State benefits. $17.11/hr. minimum.

RESIDENTIAL SECONDARY MARKET OFFICER Union Bank, a highly successful community bank headquartered in Morrisville, VT, with locations throughout northern Vermont and New Hampshire, is seeking an individual for the position of Residential Secondary Market Officer. This individual will be responsible for secondary market rates, rate locks, the loans held for sale pipeline, loan sales, administration of the bank’s product and pricing engine system, and quality control, within lending policies and procedures as directed by management. Rate setting and quality control responsibilities include portfolio, PMI and government agency loans as well. Additional responsibilities will include being system administrator for secondary market, government agency and PMI systems. An Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Business or related field is preferred. The successful candidate will have a minimum of three to five years of banking experience, with an emphasis in residential and consumer lending, particularly having experience with loan origination systems and loan product and pricing engines is a plus. Salary will be commensurate with experience. Union Bank offers a comprehensive benefits program including three medical and two dental insurance plan options, 401(k) retirement plan with a generous company match, life and disability insurance, and paid vacation and sick leave along with continuing education opportunities. To be considered for this position, please submit a cover letter, resume, references and salary requirements to:

Human Resources-Union Bank, P.O. Box 667 Morrisville, Vermont 05661 – 0667 careers@unionbanknh.com

Email resume and cover letter by Friday, April 9th to: mary.deaett@vermont.gov E.O.E.

E.O.E. - MEMBER FDIC 9t-UnionBank032421.indd 1

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3/23/21 11:47 AM

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ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 24-31, 2021

CENTRAL VERMONT REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION

Assistant Executive Director Turning Points Network, serving Sullivan County, NH ■ Full-time position with benefits. ■ Competitive salary. ■ Administrative position working closely with the executive Director to chart TPN’s future growth and strategic response to an ever-increasing need for the organization’s programs and services.

Job description available at www.turningpointsnetwork.org

FINANCE MANAGER

Send resume and cover letter to deborah@turningpointsnetwork.org

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

3/19/21 11:42 AM

Milton Family Community Center (MFCC), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization providing early childhood and family support programs in northern Chittenden County since 1985, has reopened the search for the position of Executive Director. We are looking for someone who has the skills and knowledge to provide the visionary leadership and guidance that will assure for increased fiscal capacity to provide for the continued delivery of high quality programs, expansion and stabilization of our professional workforce, improve the physical work space, and promote ongoing advocacy and empowerment for families with young children.

The Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission seeks an experienced, part-time Finance Manager to join our team. The Finance Manager performs professional level accounting work in the maintenance, review, and reconciliation of financial records to ensure compliance with accepted accounting principles and standards. This position is responsible for all fiscal operations for the Commission including operation of the Commission’s financial system. This is a permanent position at 24-30 hours per week. Compensation commensurate with demonstrated ability within a salary range of $50,000 - $80,000 annualized. Excellent benefit package may apply depending on hours. Outstanding work environment. Information and application process at centralvtplanning.org. Open until filled; application review begins March 29, 2021. CVRPC is an EOE.

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DO WHAT MATTERS!

Join the senior leadership team of passionate innovators at the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS), a Vermont nonprofit nationally recognized as a model for our successful program outcomes. COTS provides prevention resources, emergency shelter, support services, and housing for those without homes or at risk of becoming homeless.

KEY DUTIES THIS POSITION IS RESPONSIBLE FOR INCLUDE: • • • • • • • • •

Visionary leadership Day-to-day operations Program development, management, & improvement Program performance assessments and outcomes reporting Fiscal management Community partnerships Fund development and grant writing Personnel management Strategic planning

HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR COTS is seeking a Human Resources Director to lead and manage the human resource and staff development functions for 50+ employees. This is an exciting opportunity for a senior human resource professional to join a dynamic agency. Reporting to the Executive Director, the HR Director is a member of the senior leadership team and serves as a partner in developing HR strategies to support the priorities of the organization. The position includes recruiting and onboarding; salary and benefits administration; employee relations and performance management; and ensuring compliance with all state and federal employment laws and regulations.

• Board development Candidates must demonstrate an ability to work with and promote collaborations with diverse populations to achieve shared community goals and outcomes. More information on MFCC is available at miltonfamilycenter.org.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS POSITION: • Bachelor’s degree in human services, psychology, non-profit management, or other equivalent field. • 5+ years’ leadership experience in human services, early childhood, or non-profit organization management • Fiscal management experience to include budget development, expense management, and financial reporting • Fund development experience in grant writing, donor solicitation, and fund raising event planning • Personnel management and supervision experience • Program development, assessment, and performance management experience

Requirements include Bachelor’s Degree and a minimum of five to ten years’ related Human Resources experience, Master’s Degree preferred. Successful candidates will possess a positive track record of implementing strategic initiatives; strong analytical ability; ability to relate to people at all levels of an organization; excellent communication skills; knowledge of federal and state policies affecting human resources; experience with recruitment and hiring processes; demonstrated ability to have difficult conversations; ability to maintain confidentiality; ability to work independently and as a positive member of a collaborative team; and a commitment to the COTS mission.

Interested candidates are to submit a cover letter, resume, and list of references to:

This is a 32-40 hour per week position with benefits. Interested candidates should submit a resume, cover letter to jobs@cotsonline.org.

Attn: Executive Director Search Committee Milton Family Community Center P.O. Box 619, Milton, VT 05468

EOE: We do not discriminate based upon race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

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3/23/21 10:25 AM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Class Operations Coordinator

ADVOCATE/PARALEGAL LONG-TERM CARE OMBUDSMAN PROJECT

LOCATION: Biofield Tuning HEADQUARTERS: Burlington, Vermont HOURS: 40 hours per week The Class Operations Coordinator supports the Training Department by managing all activities associated with student training including but not limited to inquiries, registration, tracking, documentation, venues, training manuals, certificates and database/webstore/system maintenance. This position requires exceptional customer service and organizational skills, as this individual is the first line of contact for people interested in becoming Certified Biofield Practitioners.

Vermont Legal Aid seeks candidates for a full-time position within its Long-Term Care Ombudsman Project to advocate for the rights of individuals receiving long-term care services and supports. This position will be part of a dedicated team that provides person-centered advocacy to people living in long-term care facilities, or who receive Choices for Care long-term care services and supports in the community. The position will be remote initially but will be based out of Legal Aid’s Montpelier or St. Johnsbury offices once the pandemic is over. We encourage applicants from a broad range of backgrounds, and welcome information about how your experience can contribute to serving our diverse client communities. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to a discrimination-and-harassment-free workplace. Responsibilities include advising residents of long-term care and seniors living in the community of their rights, investigating and resolving problems, and working to improve their quality of life. The successful candidate must be able to work independently, as well as on a team, and have excellent communication skills. Experience in advocacy, long-term care, or human services is desirable but not required. Prior legal experience is not required. The position requires travel throughout Northeastern Vermont and the rest of the state in a personal vehicle, with mileage reimbursement provided. Four years’ professional work experience or bachelor’s degree, or a comparable mix of education and experience desired. Base salary is $38,281 with salary credit given for relevant prior work experience. Four weeks paid vacation, retirement, and excellent health benefits. Application deadline is April 9, 2021. Your application should include a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and three references combined into one pdf, sent by e-mail to Betsy Whyte at bwhyte@vtlegalaid.org with “VOP Position” in the subject line. Please tell us how you heard about this position. 7t-VTLegalAid032421.indd 1

67 MARCH 24-31, 2021

SKILLS / QUALIFICATIONS • High school diploma/GED required. Associate degree preferred • Exceptional interpersonal skills; excellent written/oral communication • Proficiency in working with Microsoft Office, G-Suite, Shopify, and project management software • Typing speed of at least 60 wpm • Excellent organizational and time management skills with the ability to prioritize and multitask • Reliable and trustworthy • Strong critical thinking, analytical, and problem resolution skills • Adaptablity to changing situations in a calm and professional manner • Team oriented BENEFITS: Medical, dental, vision, vacation and sick time available after a 90-day probationary period is completed. Apply with resume and cover letter to: hr@biofieldtuning.com.

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3/23/21 10:19 AM

CLERICAL ASSISTANTS (Job code 21001)

Recruiting for temporary Docket Clerk positions lasting up to but not exceeding June 2022. 40 hours a week. The position will specialize in data entry, filing and clerical office work involving one or more docket areas. Locations – Burlington, Montpelier, Barre, St. Johnsbury, Brattleboro, Bennington & Newport. High School graduate and two years of clerical, or data entry experience required. Starting at $17.11 per hour. Go to vermontjudiciary.org/employment-opportunities/staffopenings for more details and to complete application.These positions are open until filled. The Vermont Judiciary is an equal opportunity employer. 10h-OfficeCourtJudiciary032421.indd 1

3/22/21 10:52 AM

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 24-31, 2021

REGIONAL COORDINATOR FOR CHILD ADVOCATES

BAKER/PASTRY CHEF Bohemian Bakery and Cafe is dedicated to serving the communities of central Vermont with the highest quality pastry and coffee in the European tradition. We have remained open for takeout through the duration of the pandemic and consider it our mission to be a gastronomic comfort as well as a social refuge for the community at large.

The Vermont Judiciary is recruiting for a full-time permanent Regional Coordinator to recruit, train and manage Guardian ad Litem (GAL) volunteers. A Guardian ad Litem (GAL) is a court appointed volunteer who advocates for the best interests of children involved in family court proceedings. Position located in St. Johnsbury. These position will require coordinating GAL’s across multiple counties in their specified geographic region. Bachelor’s degree & four years at or above a professional level in social work, psychology, child development, mediation, family counseling, law or related judicial/ legal setting. Substitutions for college allowed. Starting Salary is $23.67 per hour. Positions come with excellent benefits, health care, vacation, holiday and sick leave. Open until filled.

CHAMPLAIN VALLEY HEAD START

Email annie@bohemianbakeryvt.com. Visit our website: bohemianbakeryvt.com. Visit our Instagram page to get an idea of our full product line. Please e-mail us with a brief description of your background and qualifications, along with a PDF of your resume. Indicate when you are available to start.

Go to vermontjudiciary.org/employment-opportunities/staff-openings. 5h-OfficeCourtAdminRCCA032421.indd 1

We are seeking a talented, hard working professional baker/pastry chef with minimum two years’ experience producing laminated doughs and classic viennoiserie. Friendly working environment. Competitive wages for the right individual. Paid overtime. $17-20/hr, E.O.E.

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YOU WILL FIND

SUCCESS

EARLY HEAD START INFANT/TODDLER HOME VISITOR HEAD START DIRECTOR

(Franklin County)Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity’s (CVOEO) Head Start program has an Head Start Director excitingservices opportunity for an individual to lead community-focused, Head Start program!and Provide in home-based settings toaprogram participantshighly-regarded to: support prenatal education

services to promote healthy prenatal outcomes for pregnant women; provide or support the care of Head Start is a federally-funded, national child and family development program which infants and toddlers so as to enhance their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development; provides comprehensive services for pregnant women, children from birth to age five, and their support parents in the care and nurturing of their infants and toddlers; and help parents move families. Services for children promote school readiness, and include early education, health, toward self-sufficiency nutrition, mental health,and andindependent services for living. children with special needs. Services for parents promote family engagement, anddegree include leadership Education and social or service supports. Our RequiRements: Bachelor’s in parent Early Childhood related education field, mission is to provide high quality children and familiesfor thrive andand reach their 40 with demonstrable experience andservices trainingtoinhelp the provision of services infants toddlers. full potential. We52 promote the year. health, safety and of children, maintain strong hours per week, weeks per Starting wagewell-being upon completion of 60and –working day period: collaborative partnerships meetplan the changing needsbenefits. of children, families and communities. $16.30 to 18.36/ per hour. to Health and excellent

CRACK OPEN YOUR FUTURE...

As Head Start Director you willmuSt lead aHavE: team ofexcellent exceptional administrative educational staff. SuCCESSful appliCantS verbal and written and communication You will provide strategic direction and oversee the administration and operation all programs skills; skills in documentation and record-keeping; proficiency in mS Word, e-mailofand internet; and services of Head Start. You will provide leadership to the Governance Team to ensure growth exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail. must be energetic, positive, mature, and long-term sustainability through implementation of federal Head Start regulations. You professional, diplomatic, motivated, and have a can-do, extra-mile attitude. a commitment to will represent Head by working closelywith withlimited a broadfinancial range ofresources community and statewide social justice and toStart working with families is necessary. Clean organizations, government agencies, children, families and human services. As a result of the wide driving record and access to reliable transportation required. must demonstrate physical ability to area of representation travel will be required. carry out required tasks. We are seeking candidates with a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree preferred, Please submit resume and cover letter with three work references via email to pirish@cvoeo.org. in a relevant discipline with proven progressive leadership experience. In addition, candidates No phone calls, please. must have five to seven years of experience in supervision of staff, fiscal management and CVOEO EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER administration; excellent verbal IS andAN written communication skills, bilingual abilities a plus; demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and 7t-ChampVallHeadStart-093015.indd 1 9/24/15 1:13 PM learning environment; experience managing programs including evaluation and most importantly, be of high integrity and character as the representative of Head Start and the children and families it serves. We offer an excellent benefit package including medical, dental and vision insurance, generous time off, a retirement plan and discounted gym membership. We are especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of our Agency. Send a cover letter with salary requirements, resume and a statement explaining your commitment to diversity and inclusion to: HeadStartDirector@cvoeo.org. Deadline to submit applications is close of business Friday, April 2, 2021. To learn more about CVOEO and this position please visit our website by clicking the web link icon above. CVOEO IS AN E.O.E. 9t-ChamplainValleyHeadStart032421.indd 1

3/23/21 9:55 AM

with our mobile-friendly job board.

Job seekers can: • Browse hundreds of current, local positions from Vermont companies. • Search for jobs by keyword, location, category and job type. • Set up job alerts. • Apply for jobs directly through the site. START APPLYING AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

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9/8/20 11:29 AM

NEW JOBS POSTED DAILY! JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Development Officer

Work at CCS and support our mission to build a community where everyone participates and belongs.

https://bit.ly/3eyC5FE

Youth Development Coordinator https://bit.ly/30DYglS

Champlain Community Services is proud to be voted as one of the “Best Places to Work in Vermont” for the third year in a row and we want you to be a part of our team! Our current openings for Service Coordinator, Direct Support Professionals, Respite, Overnight Supports & Shared Living Providers offer opportunities to make a positive impact on someone’s life, and in yours. CCS employees receive a comprehensive benefits package, including paid time off, affordable health insurance, paid holidays and more. Join us and apply today at www.ccs-vt.org. CCS-VT.ORG

E.O.E.

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3/23/21 9:58 AM

Nutrition Outreach

Specialist

30 hours/week, Barre, VT Exciting position in innovative social service agency serving older Vermonters. Be part of a dedicated team of professionals working to support older Vermonters to live with dignity and choice.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: • Provide application assistance for 3SquaresVT. • Assess needs for home delivered meal recipients. • Enter nutrition recipient data and survey responses into database. • Work with agency staff to refer clients to appropriate services. • Help create and distribute nutrition outreach materials We’re looking for a dedicated employee who has an Associate’s degree or equivalent experience in human services, nutrition, or other relevant field, who has great communication and people skills, is well-organized, has experience working with Microsoft office and is willing to learn new database applications, and who is able to maintain confidentiality. Most work will be phonebased but occasional home visits may occur, so access to reliable transportation is necessary. CVCOA offers a family-friendly organization with flexible hours. Paid time off, holidays and health benefits are included with this position as well. Salary is based on experience. Central Vermont Council on Aging is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer. Applications from veterans, mature workers, individuals with disabilities, LGBTQ individuals, and people from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds are encouraged. For more information about Central VT Council on Aging, view our website: cvcoa.org. To apply, please send resume, cover letter and the names of three references to jobs@cvcoa.org by April 12, 2021.

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69 MARCH 24-31, 2021

3/22/21 5:18 PM

Is currently seeking:

Supported Housing Program Staff https://bit.ly/3uFzQWN

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3/12/21 4:08 PM

Human Resources Administrator

Full Time; benefits eligible $43,000 per year Goddard College seeks a resourceful and efficient Human Resources Administrator to perform a variety of Human Resources functions, related to benefits, payroll, recruitment, and compliance administration, and to ensure that the general activities of the Human Resources Department function smoothly. Qualified candidates will hold a BA in human resources management, organizational management, education administration or a closely related field and a minimum of 3 years of Human Resources experience or a BA in any field and 5 years of combined administrative experience in Human Resources and higher education, advanced skills in the Microsoft Office Suite and Google applications; competence in HRIS data management, ADP WorkforceNow preferred; willingness and ability to learn additional applications and programs, a familiarity with general Human Resources laws and principles, an ability to research, interpret, and ensure compliance with all applicable state and federal employment laws; and a familiarity with Collective Bargaining Agreement compliance.

Associate Registrar Full Time; Benefits eligible; $22/ hour

Goddard College seeks an Associate Registrar to coordinate and oversee student record functions and provide enrollment related services and support the Office of the Registrar’s efforts concerning the College’s mission, strategic planning, and social justice and inclusion commitment. Qualified candidates will hold an undergraduate degree and 3 - 5 years of experience in admissions and/or student records or an equivalent combination of education and experience, demonstrated experience and facility with Student Information Systems and Learning Management Systems and databases, Parchment, Google suite, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Microsoft Office. Candidates should also possess good administrative skills, exceptional organizational skills, and attention to detail. Must be able to multitask and work on timesensitive projects with competing deadlines and have the ability to deal effectively with a wide range of individuals and groups inside and outside of the College. To for either of these roles please visit our website to review the complete position description and submit a cover letter and resume: goddard.edu/about-goddard/ employment-opportunities. Goddard College is committed to creating a college representative of a diverse global community and capable of creating change. To that end, we are actively seeking applications from qualified candidates from groups currently underrepresented in our institution for this position. This institution is an equal opportunity provider, and employer.

ATTENTION RECRUITERS:

POST YOUR JOBS AT JOBS.SEVENDAYSVT.COM FOR FAST RESULTS, OR CONTACT MICHELLE BROWN: MICHELLE@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

MARCH 24-31, 2021

Hayward Tyler, a leading manufacturer of industrial pumps and motors in Colchester, is seeking candidates to fill the roles of IT Support Specialist, Inside Sales Representative, Assembly Technician and Quality Control Inspector.

IT Support Specialist

This position is responsible for supporting the Information Technology department at Hayward Tyler Inc. They will primarily be responsible for the company’s helpdesk ticketing system and participate in the on call rotation. The ideal candidate will be highly motivated, friendly, courteous, and willing to work as part of a team The candidate should also have experience supporting a Windows based network system.

Inside Sales Representative

This candidate provides daily customer communication and is the main point of contact for activities such as preparing and maintaining accurate and complete quotes, lead times and pricing. Reviews customer requests, technical specifications, terms and conditions and works with stakeholders in collaboration to identify any exceptions or deviations. Close attention to detail and excellent communication skills are essential.

Assembly Technician

This is an entry level assembly team member who should possess the ability to follow work instructions from his/her supervisor and experienced team members. The candidate must be able to work in all areas of assembly (DCI, Build and Wind) with the ability to understand drawings and work instructions.

Quality Control Inspector

The candidate will be responsible to perform receiving and final inspection of parts and units, verification that all operations are signed off and closed prior to releasing to Manufacturing, responsibility for correct materials and batch numbers being issued to Manufacturing. For complete job descriptions, please visit: haywardtyler.com. We offer a competitive salary and excellent benefits package. If you meet our requirements and are interested in an exciting opportunity, please forward your resume & salary requirements to: Hayward Tyler, Inc - Attn: HR Department 480 Roosevelt Highway - PO Box 680, Colchester, VT 05446 Email: Careers@haywardtyler.com Equal Opportunity Employer.

Mortgage Assistance Application Specialist and Mortgage Assistance Servicer Confirmation Specialist Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA), located in Burlington VT, is recruiting for a Mortgage Assistance Application Specialist and Mortgage Assistance Servicer Confirmation Specialist. These are full time but temporary positions, created to support VHFA’s Mortgage Assistance Program (MAP). Funding for this program is secure through December 2024, at which point these positions will end. Recently named one of the “Best Places to Work in Vermont,” VHFA is committed to advancing racial and social equity through its role financing and promoting affordable, decent housing for low- and moderate-income Vermonters. VHFA is looking for two individuals with strong communication skills who will support VHFA’s MAP, maintain our great reputation, and advance our mission. The focus of the Mortgage Assistance Application Specialist position is to receive and enter applications for mortgage assistance benefits under the Agency’s MAP and follow up with Applicants to obtain information and confirm eligibility. The position will work with non-profit partners and any other partners involved in guiding Applicants for MAP and act as a resource for public requests for information. The focus of the Mortgage Assistance Servicer Confirmation Specialist position is to confirm and arrange for payment to mortgage loan servicers for missed mortgage payments to the extent eligible under the Agency’s MAP. This position acts as the Agency contact for Applicants once their applications have received initial review by the Mortgage Assistance Application Specialist. The position works primarily with mortgage loan servicers and customers, but also with non-profit partners and any other partners involved in guiding applicants through the MAP process. This position acts as a resource for public requests for information. Specific responsibilities of each position are listed in job descriptions which are available in the Careers section of VHFA.org. For both positions, experience in mortgage processing and/or servicing is desirable. Formal coursework or degrees in a related field is highly preferred, as is demonstrated success in providing direct customer service and the ability to record data accurately and with close attention to detail. Familiarity with State Housing Finance ownership programs and local non-profits is desirable but not required. Candidates should also be able to demonstrate their commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Experience promoting a culture which values these qualities is desirable, as is the willingness to speak up in the face of injustice. Candidates must also demonstrate outstanding verbal and written communication skills, possess exceptional customer service and people skills, be able to work in a team environment, be able to balance multiple priorities, and be proficient in Microsoft Office products – Excel, Word and Outlook. Discretion and confidentiality is required, as is the sensitive handling of personally identifiable information. The salary range for these positions is $16.59/hour-$22.69/hour with an excellent benefits package. For a detailed job description and benefits overview, please see the Careers section of VHFA.org. To apply, send cover letter (required; otherwise your application will not be considered; indicate which position is desired or both if applicable), resume, and references to the Human Resources Department at HR@vhfa.org. Please consider including in your cover letter a description of how your unique background and experiences would contribute to the diversity and cultural vitality of VHFA. Position will be open until filled. VHFA is an E.O.E. and is committed to a diverse workplace. We highly encourage women, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ candidates, and people from diverse racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds to apply. 10v-VHFA032421.indd 1

New, local, scam-free jobs posted every day!

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3/22/21 11:51 AM

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APRIL

VIRTUAL ALL NEW PRESENTERS

SATURDAY APRIL 10 10:00 a.m.

LEtGO Your Mind Summer STEM Programs

11:00 a.m. Camp Edge

12:00 p.m.

AND

Common Ground Center - Adventure & Family Camps

1 p.m.

American Precision Museum SPONSORED BY

EXPLORE EVEN MORE OPTIONS FOR SUMMER! Join us for this second virtual event featuring all new presenters. This Zoom-based Q&A series on April 10 is a great way to learn about opportunities for your child from a safe distance. Connect with representatives from summer camps and schools and hear about COVID-19 safety protocols. Ask questions or just listen in. Attend one session or all — for free!

MORE INFORMATION AT KIDSVT.COM/FAIR 1T-CampFair032421.indd 1

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

3/23/21 5:11 PM

fun stuff

RACHEL LINDSAY

SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

CALCOKU & SUDOKU (P.51) CROSSWORD (P.51)

HARRY BLISS & STEVE MARTIN

WHAT’S NEXT FOR “Today the telephone pole, tomorrow the moon.” JEN SORENSEN

YOU? Work it out with Seven Days Jobs.

Find new job postings from trusted, local employers in Seven Days newspaper and online.

163

NEW JOBS THIS WEEK!

See who's hiring at...

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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

3/23/21 4:10 PM

fun stuff RYAN RIDDLE

Making it is not :( Keep this newspaper free for all. Join the Seven Days Super Readers at sevendaysvt.com/super-readers or call us at 802-864-5684.

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7/14/20 3:32 PM

Have a deep, dark fear of your own? Submit it to cartoonist Fran Krause at deep-dark-fears.tumblr.com, and you may see your neurosis illustrated in these pages.

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY REAL MARCH 25 -31

influences are no longer nurturing. I recommend that, sometime soon, you take a personal inventory with these thoughts in mind. I suspect there may be new sources of inspiration headed your way. Get ready for them.

GEMINI

ARIES (MARCH 21-APRIL 19):

In the novel House of Leaves, the hero Johnny Truant describes his friend Lude as wanting “more money, better parties, and prettier girls.” But Johnny wants something different. What is it? He says, “I’m not even sure what to call it except I know it feels roomy and it’s drenched in sunlight and it’s weightless and I know it’s not cheap.” In my opinion, that declaration is far too imprecise! He’ll never get what he wants until he gets clearer about it. But his fantasy is a good start. It shows that he knows what the fulfillment of his yearning feels like. I suggest you get inspired by Johnny Truant’s approximation to conjure up one of your own. Gaze ahead a few years, and see if you can imagine what your best possible future feels like. Then describe it to yourself as precisely as possible.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): How distraught

I was when I discovered that one of my favorite poets, Pablo Neruda, was an admirer of the murderous dictator Joseph Stalin. It broke my heart to know I could never again read his tender, lyrical poetry with unconditional appreciation. But that’s life: Some of our heroes and teachers disappoint us, and then it’s healthy to reevaluate our relationships with them. Or maybe our own maturation leads us to realize that once-nurturing

(May 21-June 20): Self-help author Steve Maraboli has useful advice for you to consider in the coming weeks. I hope you’ll meditate on what he says and take decisive action. He writes, “Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.” To get started, Gemini, make a list of three things you do have power over and three things you wish you did but don’t have power over.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): While he was alive, Cancerian author Franz Kafka burned 90 percent of everything he wrote. In a note to a friend before he died, he gave instructions to burn all the writing he would leave behind. Luckily, his friend disobeyed, and that’s why today we can read Kafka’s last three novels and a lot more of his stuff. Was his attitude toward his creations caused by the self-doubt that so many of us Cancerians are shadowed by? Was he, like a lot of us Crabs, excessively shy about sharing personal details from his life? In accordance with astrological omens, I urge you to at least temporarily transcend any Kafka-like tendencies you have. It’s time to shine brightly and boldly as you summon your full powers of self-expression. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): To create your horoscope, I’ve borrowed ideas from Leo-born author Cassiano Ricardo. He speaks of a longing “for all that is tall like pine trees, and all that is long like rivers, and all that is purple like dusk.” I think yearnings like those will be healthy and wise for you to cultivate in the coming weeks. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you need expansive influences that stretch your imagination and push you beyond your limitations. You will benefit from meditations and experiences that inspire you to outgrow overly small expectations. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo actor and director Jean-Louis Barrault (1910-1994) aspired

to “wake up a virgin each morning.” He wanted “to feel hungry for life,” as if he had been reborn once again. In order to encourage that constant renewal, he regarded going to sleep every night as “a small death.” I recommend his approach to you during the coming weeks. In my astrological opinion, the cosmic rhythms will be conspiring to regularly renew your desires: to render them pure, clean, raw and strong. Cooperate with those cosmic rhythms!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Is there anything more gratifying than being listened to, understood and seen for who you really are? I urge you to seek out that pleasure in abundance during the coming weeks. My reading of the astrological omens tells me you need the nurturing jolt that will come from being received and appreciated with extra potency. I hope you have allies who can provide that for you. If you don’t, search for allies who can. And, in the meantime, consider engaging the services of a skillful psychotherapist or life coach or some other professional listener. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Blobs, spots, specks, smudges, cracks, defects, mistakes, accidents, exceptions, and irregularities are the windows to other worlds,” writes author Bob Miller. I would add that all those things, along with related phenomena such as fissures, blemishes, stains, scars, blotches, muck, smears, dents and imperfections are often windows to very interesting parts of this seemingly regular old ordinary world — parts that might remain closed off from us without the help of those blobs and defects. I suggest you take full advantage of the opportunities they bring your way in the coming weeks. SAGITTARIUS

(Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Innovative psychologist Carl Jung had a nuanced understanding of the energies at work in our deep psyche. He said our unconscious minds are “not only dark but also light; not only bestial, semihuman, and demonic, but also superhuman, spiritual, and, in the classical sense of the word, ‘divine.’” I bring this to your attention, Sagittarius, because now is a favorable time to get better acquainted with and more appreciative of your unconscious mind. For best results, you must not

judge it for being so paradoxical. Don’t be annoyed that it’s so unruly and nonrational. Have fun with its fertility and playfulness and weirdness.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): The fantasy drama “Game of Thrones” appeared on TVs all over the world. But the audience that watched it in China got cheated out of a lot of essential action. Government censorship deleted many scenes that featured nudity and sex, fighting and violence, and appearances by dragons, which play a starring role in the story. As you can imagine, Chinese viewers had trouble following some of the plot points. Telling you about this, Capricorn, is my way of nudging you to make sure you don’t miss any of the developments going on in your own personal drama. Some may be hidden, as in China’s version of “Game of Thrones.” Others might be subtle or disguised or underestimated. Make it your crusade to know about everything. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Words are,

of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind,” wrote author Rudyard Kipling. Yes, they are. I agree. They change minds, rouse passions, build identities, incite social change, inspire irrationality and create worlds. This is always true, but it will be especially important for you to keep in mind during the coming weeks. The ways you use language will be key to your health and success. The language that you hear and read will also be key to your health and success. For best results, summon extra creativity and craftsmanship as you express yourself. Cultivate extra discernment as you choose what you absorb.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Piscean linguist

Anna Wierzbicka says the Russian expression Dusha naraspashku means “unbuttoned soul.” She continues, “The implication is that it is good, indeed wonderful, if a person’s ‘soul,’ which is the seat of emotions, is flung open in a spontaneous, generous, expansive, impetuous gesture, expressing full trust in other people and an innocent readiness for communion with them.” I wouldn’t recommend that you keep your soul unbuttoned 24-7, 365 days a year, but in the coming weeks, I hope you’ll allocate more time than usual to keeping it unbuttoned.

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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

3/23/21 3:35 PM

Respond to these people online: dating.sevendaysvt.com WOMEN seeking... LOOKING FOR THAT SPARK! I’m fun, open-minded and a lover! Looking for someone who is willing to put in the time and effort to see where things go! joyful11, 42, seeking: M, l OUTDOORSY, HONEST, HEALTHY, MUSIC LOVER Vibrant, mature, independent, welltraveled person who is interested in nature, music, culture, arts, travel and enjoying life. Looking for a gent who is positive, kind, honest and enjoys the same. Bella2020, 63, seeking: M, l HAPPY, CARING, SMILEY, UNDERSTANDING, LOVING, I am a believer. I live my life to the fullest. I treat people the way I want to be treated. I enjoy the ocean, playing pickleball, boating, reading, doing my crafts, quilting, photography and more. My family is very important to me. Love animals. katrina44, 76, seeking: M, l LOVELY NATURE ENTHUSIAST Homemade music, stews, animals, color, light and anything handcrafted make me happy. Active, independent, long-haired, short-bodied, outdoorsy, retired. Good at spontaneous poems and watercolor landscapes. I love the old, odd, rare and recycled. I avoid smoke, cities, pretense, arrogance. Prefer Maine coast and back-road, cold-climate travel. Choosy except to an open-minded, openhearted, kind, communicative honest man. Naturelove, 74, seeking: M, l

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SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

CARPE DIEM Ready to get out and grab life after this pandemic! Me: lovely, kind, creative, energetic, adventuresome. I ski, Nordic skate, sail, play tennis. Oh, to bike, garden, read. Strong, independent, dry sense of humor. Warm, passionate, caring, emotionally intact. Healthy! I have my teeth! Seeking emotionally available guy ready to enjoy a relationship! Let’s figure it out. BHS72, 67, seeking: M, l

OPEN MIND, HEART, ACTIVE COMPANION Kind, curious, open-minded, capable, community-oriented, care-full, creative companion for activity, to ski, swim, sail slowly. Let’s meet on the bike path near Burlington sometime — or my favorite, the Colchester Causeway. 62-y/o woman. Please contact me by sending me a message — and I hope we can meet in person sooner rather than later, as companionship comes down to chemistry. openmindheart, 62, seeking: M, l

COMPASSION, HONESTY, EMPATHY Me? Well, I am a very compassionate person. I love to stay active and socialize. I am also a delight to be with because I am a good listener. I desire to find a partner who has at least some of these qualities. Hopeful52, 68, seeking: M, l

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TAKE MY BREATH AWAY At this age, I am interested in someone real, a sweet romantic, somebody all sorted out and yet ready to play, to live for ourselves (not the grandkids). My dog and my children are important but not what my life is about these days. I’m told I’m the least judgmental person others know. So give this old gal a try. Cheers! OH52, 68, seeking: M, l HAPPY. HONEST. KIND. PASSIONATE. This is my first time trying online dating. Not really sure it’s for me, but I’m going to keep an open mind. I do not have time to waste on liars or judgmental people. I’m easygoing, independent and loyal. I love music, singing, painting abstracts and much more! A little mystery is fun! I dare you to figure out the rest! 030303, 64, seeking: M, l CURIOUS, WARM, MATURE I am a curious person by nature and love to explore. I spend a lot of time hiking with my dog Spartacus (Sparky). I love painting and writing and doing home improvement projects indoors and out. I am looking for a mature, confidant man who has it together. Fun and wit are great; chaos and drama are not. LadyL0664, 54, seeking: M, l FRIENDLY, SOCIAL, INDEPENDENT, EASYGOING Very honest, loyal, friendly. Enjoy cooking, traveling, walking, driving with no destination, exploring the beauty of the Green Mountains. Would enjoy finding the same in my partner. dyniska, 79, seeking: M

MILLENNIALS INQUIRE WITHIN. YEEHAW. Looking for a hot, nerdy dude who has an adventurous, sensitive, techie soul. Good with his hands. Must love cuddles. I don’t mind if you prioritize your alone time as long as you don’t mind that I can be an endearing space case. Be warned: I will ask for your natal chart and when your most recent STI test was. starsaligned, 25, seeking: M

MEN seeking... DECENT DUDE/PLEASURE SEEKER Looking for connection, chemistry, pleasure, exploration. We’re only alive once, and meeting people on Seven Days seems like a quintessential Vermont experience. Let’s enjoy ourselves. Hereforsafefun, 30, seeking: M, W, Cp, l WHERE ARE YOU? I like to think of myself as kind and smart, curious and adventurous, athletic and musical, and much more. A “renaissance person” is what I’ve always considered the ideal. Many years ago, I through-hiked the Appalachian Trail, and that experience, and my many adventures since, have shaped my life and my values in profound ways. somethingdifferent, 61, seeking: W, l

COMICMELLOW Love music, outdoors, painting, cooking, building. ComicMellow, 43, seeking: M, W, Q, l

BEWARE OF EMU I am not an emu, nor do I raise emus. If you see an emu, it is best not to make sudden movements. Always stand to one side of an emu and avoid the forward “kill zone” where the emu is most likely to strike. An emu is capable of accelerating up to 31 mph, making them difficult to outrun. BrokenMachine, 53, seeking: W

EDUCATED, SENSITIVE, ADVENTURE SEEKER Adventurous, sensitive, fit, optimistic, independent, divorced woman with two wonderful teenage sons. Enjoy walking, hiking, skiing, kayaking, swimming, biking, exploring new places (cities and ruins), connecting with the locals and learning their language. Seeking someone to share adventures. JoySeeker, 53, seeking: M, l

EDUCATED, HAPPY :) I am considered to be an honest and trustworthy person. I am caring, open-minded, sincere, loving, and well taught from childhood to love and respect elderly and young people. I see myself as a happy and friendly person. I like to put smiles on people’s faces because my goal and aspiration is showing tender love to everyone around you. brianduk, 55, seeking: W, l

JUSTIN THE GENT Laid-back kind of guy with big ambitions and goals. Hard worker with a firm belief that it’s work before play. Very independent and hold my own down, but like to get to know people and have fun! My children come first always, as should they for most people. I don’t plan on changing that. Message me! Cadence0801, 35, seeking: W, l

LIFE IS GOOD I’m interested in people, history, languages (I speak Chinese, French and Spanish), movies, and more. I have eight hens and love dogs. I’d like to meet you on the phone and see if we have common interests. Taking it slow and establishing a friendship comes first. When COVID is over, maybe we can savor all Burlington has to offer. BBClovingguy, 25, seeking: W, l

GENUINE FRIEND AND LOVER Are you female with emotional, independent maturity who wants to share friendship, romance, conversation, curiosity, outdoor activity (no motorcycles, skydiving, MAGA)? I’m friends with my ex-wife of 10-plus years and my ex-romances, and they regard me as having modest brilliance, being an incredible pleaser in bed and a fantastic cook. (My favorite ingredient is not vanilla.). YourHappyJack, 50, seeking: W, l

TRANS WOMEN seeking...

GUY SEEKS LAST FIRST KISS Homeowner, financially secure seeking woman. I’ll love her without end. There is nothing wrong with loving a woman regardless of the age differences. I want to again experience the joys of being a father to new life. Mostly retired, living a relaxed lifestyle. Currently own two businesses. The most important attribute in a relationship is loyalty. SoCal, 57, seeking: W, l LONELY. COVID SUCKS. SUNBATHING NAKED. Looking for fun in the sun. Enjoy being nude. Fires outside. Cut, trimmed and shaving. Woman or a couple. Good times and laughter and sex. Toohorny11, 52, seeking: W, Cp AMAZING, CRAZY, EXCITING, VERY OPEN Just exploring and finding new ways to have fun as a group with others for numerous activities. Bretforfun, 31, seeking: M, W, Cp ROMANTIC, DOMINANT, KINKY GENTLEMAN Looking for the right person to share my life with, enjoying each other’s company with the goal of finding happiness and having fun and adventures together. Will consider marrying the right person. Kids are a possibility but not a deal breaker. I’m pretty flexible and openminded but definitely seeking a longterm relationship. Value good morals. MASTERBLUEKNIGHT, 59, seeking: W, l I LOVE THE FULL MOON Well, I’m 65, a widower (14 years) and live rurally. Interests are music, working on a serialized novel up on Wattpad, and in the summer growing lots of veggies. I’m also a fanatic reader of just about anything, but William Gibson and Joan Didion are favorites of mine. It may sound odd, but I’m into meeting someone Goth or Emo. DrummingMoon, 65, seeking: W, l TRYING TO PAY ATTENTION Moved to Vermont on a whim many years ago. Appreciate nature and animals. I am on a lifelong learning curve. NPR and live music (once upon a time). Find me at the ocean in Wellfleet, driving on Highway 1 in California or in a Chinese restaurant in NYC. I listen more than speak. Hoping to meet a kind, compatible soul. Mindfully, 67, seeking: W TATTOOS, MUSIC, WORK I am a hardworking man who has been to hell and back and is rebuilding successfully. I would like a woman who works hard and wants to build a future with someone. No games. newlife2021, 46, seeking: W, l

FOREVER SEARCHING Still looking for love. Would love to run into a beautiful dominatrix who will, through her grace, help me find the inspiration I need to flourish as a woman. I love to cook, I design board games and Lego sets, and give the best foot and back massages in the world! If this is heaven for you, come claim me! Neneveh, 24, seeking: W, l GENEROUS, OPEN, EASYGOING Active, healthy trans woman w/ partner seeks ecstatic connection for playtimes, connections, copulations, exploration and generally wonderful occasional times together. You should be fit, in good health, and available (not down low). Ideal is another couple for a foursome. But possibilities are wide-ranging: three, four, explorations and adventure. DoubleUp, 63, seeking: M, Cp, l

TRANS MEN seeking... COUNTRY BOY SEEKS FRIENDS Not looking for a sexual relationship. I am very happily taken by a wonderful woman for over 20 years. I am just looking for people to go hunting and fishing with. Kayaking in the summer or hitting the trails. My wife has friends she does her hobbies with. Just looking for someone who shares mine! Islander68, 52, seeking: TM, TW, Q, NC, NBP, l

NONBINARY PEOPLE seeking... SUB MASO FOR DOM SADIST Bio-female, nonbinary gendered, sub/ masochist looking for her Dom/Sadist. Looking for a local sadist who is looking for TPE and to play with the same person! Experienced older men preferred. I have 15 years of experience in BDSM. Looking for that open-minded someone who is OK with some jiggle with their wiggle, looking for full-time TPE and nonmonogamy. CallMeParker, 34, seeking: M, W, TM, TW, Q, NC, NBP, Cp, Gp, l

COUPLES seeking... HAPPY, RELAXED, OPEN TO POSSIBILITIES We’re a couple looking for safe, sexy adventures with like-minded individuals or couples. Bluebird, 38, seeking: M, W, Cp I WANT TO WATCH I’m looking for a guy who’s willing to let my guy go down on him while I watch. I will not be joining, just watching. Please be between 25 and 45 years of age. BJ2021, 46, seeking: M COUPLE SEEKING WOMAN We are very open and honest. Clean, safe and totally discreet. We are looking for a woman who wants to try new adult things with a couple. We want to role-play and try some kink. Newboytoyvt, 51, seeking: W, l ACTIVE AND INTERESTING COUPLE! Hi, we’re a professional couple in our early 50s living a healthier life. We’re in love but have limited friends, and that’s why we’re here! trekkingcouple, 52, seeking: M, l

i SPY

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BARTENDER AT STONE CORRAL Sir. You are amazing. I was here on Saturday. I could not stop staring. ? When: Saturday, March 20, 2021. Where: Stone Corral. You: Man. Me: Man. #915245 COOP KITCHEN DUDE GIVING EYES I see you. Your little looks have become a cute piece of my weekly shopping trip. Am I reading into it too much? Hard to strike up a conversation when you’re across the room — not to mention we both seem a bit shy. Let’s hang out sometime. You: green hat, black shirt. When: Thursday, March 18, 2021. Where: Hunger Mountain Coop. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915244 6 YEARS SINCE FL-FT BP: It’s been six years since our first FaceTime. You are still the first person I think of every morning and the last person when I go to bed. I miss seeing you every day. I miss your gorgeous brown eyes, your sexy voice and your killer smile! iwyrhcimdwc! PP. When: Wednesday, March 23, 2016. Where: FaceTime, Florida. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915243 HEARTTHROB AT HANDY’S Peter — was that your name, or the name I dreamt for you? A gray sweatshirt, dark hair and a jawline that won’t quit. Bellied up to the breakfast bar at Handy’s Lunch. You ordered French toast, or was it eggs? Anyways, let’s French sometime. When: Friday, March 12, 2021. Where: Handy’s Lunch. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915242 FIREWORKS ON THE BIKE PATH It was dusk on the bike path. My dog was freaking out about fireworks at the skate park. You stopped briefly to spare a comforting comment about how your dog does the same thing. Firework-free dog walk? When: Thursday, March 4, 2021. Where: bike path by the skate park (date is approximate). You: Man. Me: Woman. #915241

KNOCKOUT WAITRESS AT ROZZI’S Your name is Devan. We’ve made great eye contact a few times in the restaurant, but you were never my waitress. Wondering if you are single. When: Thursday, January 21, 2021. Where: Rozzi’s Lakeshore Tavern. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915234 SUNSHINE SD Just would like to say I’m sorry, and I miss you terribly. When: Wednesday, February 17, 2021. Where: Montpelier. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915233

BEST BUY BABE We locked eyes from across the customer service desk at Best Buy on March 11. Was it the Canadian tuxedo you were wearing that had me interested? I’m not sure, but I’d love to get to know you and your man bun better. Coffee? When: Thursday, March 11, 2021. Where: Best Buy. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915240

HEY JUNE LETTERPRESS IN RICHMOND I was shopping for some stationery. You were talking to a friend about bullet journals. Wanna meet at Sweet Simone’s for a coffee to-go sometime? When: Saturday, February 13, 2021. Where: Hey June Letterpress Studio. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915232

ALWAYS ALWAYS LAND You’re still in my thoughts ... every day. When: Saturday, March 6, 2021. Where: my dreams. You: Man. Me: Man. #915239

STARBUCKS ON WILLISTON ROAD 1 p.m. You: a lovely blond woman. We exchanged glances. Care to chat? I’ll buy the next round. When: Thursday, February 11, 2021. Where: Starbucks, Williston Road. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915230

CARAMN 52 Dating site you said you wanted to meet. I wanted to meet you, too. I sent you a message and checked the next day. It wasn’t there anymore, and I couldn’t find your profile anywhere. Even after asking them specifically, they consistently screwed things up. But I’d still like to meet. Contact me here. I’ll show a picture of me. When: Wednesday, November 4, 2020. Where: on Zoosk dating site. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915237

GREASY BABE RADICALIZING KIDS Hey, coach. I saw you at the climbing gym explaining to some kids how to undermine the ruling class. You were wearing a sexy yellow tank top, looked like you could kick my ass, and I can tell you don’t wash your hair, but it still looks hot. How about we eat a quesadilla and talk about late capitalism sometime? When: Wednesday, February 3, 2021. Where: climbing gym. You: Woman. Me: Woman. #915229

HOT COP AT CUMBIES UVM officer by St. Mike’s. I don’t know what goes on on campus, but you are definitely prepared for it — from gear to physical fitness. Would be interested in chatting more. Please include the reason you let me go ahead of you in line. When: Saturday, February 27, 2021. Where: Cumbies. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915236 KAREN AT HOME DEPOT I think you know I’m crushing on you. Would enjoy coffee or a walk with you. Actually, anything more than a one-minute conversation on the checkout line. :) When: Sunday, February 21, 2021. Where: Home Depot. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915235

MAPLEFIELDS I saw you around 3:30. You got a 12-pack of Bud, Slim Jim and Doritos. I would like to meet you. I had a black and gray North Face coat. I said hello to you at the beer cooler. When: Thursday, February 4, 2021. Where: Maplefields, Woodstock. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915227 BROWN-EYED SNOW SLIDER Saw you cruising through the hardwoods at Adam’s Solitude. Easy riding with the tan bibs and that fresh purple split, family tree? Popping over that boulder all smooth. Caught your gaze for just a moment, and all I could see were those chocolate brown eyes. Swoon! Catch me at the hill someday, and we can split a hazy. When: Wednesday, February 3, 2021. Where: Bolton. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915226

Trickle Pickle, Ask REVEREND Dear Your wife is lucky to have a husband the

Irreverent counsel on life’s conundrums

Dear Reverend,

My ejaculation is a very weak stream. How do I produce more, as my wife loves semen?

Trickle Pickle

(MALE, 54)

who’s so considerate, not only of her sexual desires, but also of her general well-being. However it makes its way into the bloodstream, semen has many health benefits. It’s full of protein, vitamins and minerals. It contains melatonin, which is a great sleep aid. A study by the State University of New York at Albany found that semen can act as an antidepressant. The list goes on, but I digress. It’s quite possible that your issue is simply caused by pesky ol’ aging. Like a lot of other things about the human body, ejaculation can slow down

NEFCU ESSEX Around 2:20. Exchanged a few glances inside NEFCU. You got into your Highlander and headed toward the center, and then you pulled into Maplefields not too long after you were pulling out of Price Chopper. You smiled and waved. Just wanted to let you know you made my day. Hope to see you around again. When: Friday, January 29, 2021. Where: Essex. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915225

SHAMWOW My dreams are always of you. My thoughts and hopes are of you. My door is always open to you. You know where I am. Come home! —Scoots. When: Thursday, January 21, 2021. Where: in my dreams. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915222 EARLY SKI AT SMUGGS I greeted you as you cruised past me while skinning up Smuggs. At the bottom, we had a convo about being able to make the WFH and early morning laps happen, mountain biking, and our excitement about Cochrans. Looking to reconnect. It’s not every day you connect so immediately. Even if it means just finding another friend who loves the mountains. When: Tuesday, January 19, 2021. Where: Smugglers’ Notch parking lot 3. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915219

SHOPPING AT TJ MAXX ON 1/28 The most beautiful woman I have ever seen, with blond hair past your shoulders and wearing black low-top Converse and black leggings. You were shopping, and I was scrubbing the floor with a machine. We made severe eye contact with each other. Would you like to get a drink or coffee? When: Thursday, January 28, 2021. Where: TJ Maxx. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915224

DOG CONNECTION IN BOMBARDIER PARK Met two days in a row last weekend. First time, I helped return you and your friend’s dog in the field. The second time, on the way into the trails. We talked briefly about our dogs and guarding toys before going separate trails. I should have asked if you wanted company on your walk. Meet up for a walk sometime? When: Sunday, January 17, 2021. Where: Bombardier Park. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915218

HIGHLIGHTER HAT CUTIE I’ve spied you bouncing around Red Rocks (probably to a historical podcast), picking up berries (on sale, of course) at City Market and tapping the hell out of Tapper at the Archives. I’ve loved you ever since you helped me get on the scoreboard. Happy birthday, you golden boy! When: Thursday, January 28, 2021. Where: McDonald’s parking lot. You: Man. Me: Woman. #915223

NORTH AVE. STORE I opened the door leaving a store, and we made eye contact as you were coming in. I was thinking WOW, SWEET! And instead of thinking it, LOL, it came right out of my mouth as I walked by you holding the door open. You stopped in the doorway, looked at me and said, “Thank you!” Interested? When: Sunday, January 17, 2021. Where: North Ave. store. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915217

BBQ GIRL Stunningly beautiful Asian working at Mark BBQ. You were wearing a mask, but somehow your smile lit up the room. I nervously stammered through the transaction, and you were so sweet. The food was the best barbecue I’ve ever had, but I can’t stop thinking about you. When: Saturday, January 16, 2021. Where: Mark BBQ, Essex. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915221 UVMMC NIGHT NURSE AMANDA I was recovering from having fluid drained from around my heart, and you were extra nice, getting me those Tessalon Perles to help with my cough so I could sleep better. I enjoyed chatting with you about TV and your dog and such. On the off chance that you’re single, would you like to chat outside of work sometime? When: Wednesday, January 20, 2021. Where: Miller 4. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915220

over the years. And certain medications can contribute to low ejaculate volume. The best advice I can give you is to talk to your doctor. There’s no need to be shy or embarrassed. Docs have heard everything, and yours may easily be able to suggest a solution for you. In the meantime, there are a few things you can try. Sleep and exercise are important, but take the Goldilocks approach — not too much, not too little. Watch your diet. Avoid trans fats, and make sure you’re

SUNSHINE IN MONTPELIER Sunshine, I haven’t been able to reach you and tell you that you’re the one. Missing my Montpelier girl. When: Friday, September 25, 2020. Where: Montpelier. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915214 XC SKIING SHELBURNE FARMS 2 p.m. You and your two pals were wrapping up your ski while my gang was heading out. I asked if beer was in your future; your friend said, “No, naps.” Want to ski together after you’re rested? When: Sunday, January 10, 2021. Where: Shelburne Farms. You: Woman. Me: Man. #915213

getting enough antioxidants. If you smoke, try to cut down or quit. As the old saying goes, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” Kegel exercises aren’t just for the ladies. They help strengthen the pelvic muscles that are important for strong ejaculations. You can find instructions online, but basically you contract your pelvic muscles (like you’re peeing and you stop midstream) and hold for five seconds. Do that 10 to 20 times, several times a day. Hopefully some combination of these suggestions will have you shooting for the stars again in no time. Good luck and God bless,

The Reverend What’s your problem?

Send it to asktherev@sevendaysvt.com. SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

Wanted: Black women, young or old. Love Black feet and butts. Nice guy. #L1484 Seeking pen pervs and phone freaks who will share their closet kinks. I’m open-minded, nonjudgmental and eager to hear all of your sexy stories. #L1483 66-y/o bi male, 5’4, 150 pounds, brown eyes, salt-and-pepper hair. Very handsome, warm, kind person. Looking for goodlooking bi or gay male. Must be DD-free, 420-friendly. Prefer little body hair, must shave and be circumcised. Would like to meet good-looking gay couple for ongoing thing. Very oral. #L1482

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Interested readers will send you letters in the mail. No internet required! SEVEN DAYS MARCH 24-31, 2021

Do you seek a soul mate who loves music, travel and lively conversation? I’m an active retired woman in Addison County (5’5, slender, nonsmoker) who enjoys the outdoors. Friends consider me smart, funny and caring. My hope: to make a warm, healthy connection, sharing interests and chemistry, with a good man. #L1481 Seeking SWM, 58 to 68, greater Burlington area. Clean-cut, neat appearance, no facial hair, impotent, a bad back a plus. No smoking/drugs. Me: average build, tall, athletic. 38 years with NASA, financially secure. I love beer and burgers. My teepee leans right. Phone number, please. #L1479

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ai161644286339_1T-HireUp032421.pdf

3/22/21

3:54 PM

LOOKING FOR WORK? Meet the area’s top employers at:

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3/22/21 10:46 AM