Seven Days, April 29, 2020 by Seven Days

HOUSE CALLS

Home nurses face pandemic challenges

V ER MON T’S INDE P ENDE NT V O IC E APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020 VOL.25 NO.31 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

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Coping with death in the age of a pandemic BY CHEL SEA EDGAR, PAGE 32

SOLE’S CALLING

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Local shoemaker pivots to PPE

FULL SERVICE

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Virtual programs for at-risk youth

HEALTH FOOD

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VT restaurants feed docs

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BLACK TERN (ENDANGERED)

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WEEK IN REVIEW

APRIL 22-29, 2020 COMPILED BY GILLIAN ENGLISH, SASHA GOLDSTEIN & MATTHEW ROY

CURBSIDE DEMOCRACY

Weekly F-35 Flights From BTV

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SOURCE: VERMONT AIR NATIONAL GUARD

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VTANG FLIGHTS TOOK OFF IN APRIL The Vermont Air National Guard dramatically increased F-35 flights in the first week of April, despite initial claims that there had been “no change” in operations. The 158th Fighter Wing flew five times as many flights from March 29 to April 4 as it did the previous week — an increase many Burlington-area residents noted with dismay. In the week beginning March 22, Guard pilots participated in just eight flights from the runway that the Guard shares with the Burlington International Airport. In the previous two weeks, there had been six and eight flights, respectively. But that changed noticeably the following week, when the powerful F-35s not-so-stealthily roared into the skies 42 times, according to limited flight counts the Guard provided to Seven Days. The five-fold increase was the most significant weekly spike since the first two F-35 Lightning II jets arrived in September. Since then, 13 more aircraft have been added to the flight line for a total of 15. Twenty are expected to be in service by this summer, according to the Guard. When asked on April 3 why the number of flights was soaring, Capt. Mike Arcovitch, a Guard spokesperson, told Seven Days that there was “no change in daily operations.” After a formal request last week, however, the Guard provided Seven Days with weekly flight data that clearly showed a sharp increase. Col. Dave Shevchik explained that

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was due largely to six planes returning from eight weeks of training in Florida. Asked to clarify his previous answers, Arcovitch wrote, “What we have said is accurate — there is no change to operations.” By that, Arcovitch said, he meant that there was no change in the Tuesday-to-Friday schedule of morning and afternoon takeoffs, weather and other factors permitting. “Our operations during the week in question remained within those parameters, which is why from my perspective I said no increase,” Arcovitch wrote. The spike came at an inopportune time, when many Vermonters are working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. The increase in activity fired up longtime critics — and some new ones. Jimmy Leas had created an online complaint form back in February, but the numbers filed were modest until April, when they began flooding in, he said. Richard Olmstead said he and his wife have been laid off and are trying to homeschool three kids in what sounds like a war zone. The Winooski family can’t conduct a lesson or have a conversation with the jets overhead. “We live in a brick house that shakes when they go over,” Olmstead said. “I’m just infuriated by it.” Read Kevin McCallum’s complete story at sevendaysvt.com.

COURTESY OF JB BARNA

That’s how many University of Vermont students and alumni earned Fulbright U.S. Student Awards this year — the most ever for UVM.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

MOST POPULAR ITEMS ON SEVENDAYSVT.COM

TOPFIVE

Last week the Vermont National Guard handed out more than 150,000 boxed, ready-to-eat meals. Astonishing.

1. “Amid Backlash, VSC Chancellor Withdraws Plan to Close Three Campuses” by Colin Flanders. The decision marks a huge win for Vermonters who advocated against the proposal.

FRESH START

3. “Six People in a Burlington Duplex Battled the Coronavirus — and Lived to Tell the Tale” by Courtney Lamdin. All five members of the family and a roommate contracted the virus, turning their germ-free fortress into a coronavirus hotbed.

The City of Burlington will go ahead with its annual street sweeping, beginning Wednesday, April 29. Everyone should be home to move their cars, at least.

PAW PATROL

Homebound seniors at two eldercare facilities in Rutland watched a parade of therapy dogs through the windows. Air pats for some good pups.

2. “‘Dark Cloud’ Over St. Albans PD After Officer Charged With Rape” by Derek Brouwer. Zachary Pigeon, 29, was accused of assaulting a family member and threatening her to keep her silent.

4. “A Small Lockdown Protest Features Sweeping Conspiracy Theories” by Derek Brouwer. The few rally-goers who headed to the Statehouse to demand an end to coronavirus lockdowns were outnumbered by journalists. 5. “Scott Further Loosens Business Restrictions as Spread of Virus Slows” by Colin Flanders. Certain businesses can now have five people working at a time.

tweet of the week @DarnTough Our sock care instructions say not to use bleach, so we kinda figured we didn’t need to make an official statement about not drinking it. We believe in you. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @SEVENDAYSVT OUR TWEEPLE: SEVENDAYSVT.COM/TWITTER

WHAT’S KIND IN VERMONT

LITTLE FREE EVERYTHING

The stand

Residents in Barre Town will drive-through vote for municipal elections in June. It’s a whole new world.

Celia Cuddy and her wife, JB Barna, have created a sensation on their block in Burlington’s South End with their daily outdoor display of free items to borrow or keep. Puzzles? Check. Books? Plenty. All six seasons of “Glee” on DVD? You bet. “It’s just become this neighborhood project, and we just feel like we’re tending it,” Cuddy said. As the lockdown took hold in late March, Cuddy decided she’d expand the offerings of her little free library to help keep homebound kids — and adults — occupied.

She set up a bench and put out bins full of stuff for passersby to peruse. Word quickly spread, and neighbors began to contribute items of their own. “The generosity of the neighborhood is just astonishing,” Cuddy said. Several people browse the offerings each day, taking what they want and leaving what they can. Cuddy’s even put out shopping bags and disinfectant wipes for those pawing through the piles. The whole operation hit a speed bump early on when someone made off with the bench and the umbrella that shielded the stuff from the weather. The couple had given themselves the bench as a wedding anniversary gift some years ago, so the theft was especially biting.

They posted on Front Porch Forum about the missing furniture, hoping someone had mistaken it for a freebie. So far, no dice. But the next day, someone donated a new umbrella. And a group of neighbors dropped off a check so that the couple can replace the bench. “I just started crying when I saw that beautiful little note,” Cuddy said. For now, a table will have to do. One day last week, it held a bounty that included a basketball, a kids’ book about Thomas Jefferson and a DVD of Hotel for Dogs. A box below offered free food. A regular Burlington bodega. “It’s given us a lot of joy to be able to offer this space for the neighborhood,” Cuddy said. SASHA GOLDSTEIN SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

Time to Take Out!

TAKEOUT maintains social distancing and reduces touchpoints.

THANK YOU for Feeding Vermonters

TOGETHER APART. founders/Coeditors Pamela Polston, Paula Routly publisher Paula Routly deputy publisher Cathy Resmer AssoCiAte publishers

Don Eggert, Pamela Polston, Colby Roberts

NEWS & POLITICS editor Matthew Roy deputy editor Sasha Goldstein Consulting editor Candace Page stAff writers Derek Brouwer, Colin Flanders,

Paul Heintz, Courtney Lamdin, Kevin McCallum, Molly Walsh

ARTS & LIFE editor Pamela Polston AssoCiAte editor Margot Harrison AssistAnt editors Dan Bolles, Elizabeth M. Seyler MusiC editor Jordan Adams CAlendAr writer Kristen Ravin speCiAlty publiCAtions MAnAger Carolyn Fox stAff writers Jordan Barry, Chelsea Edgar,

Margaret Grayson, Ken Picard, Sally Pollak

FEEDback READER REACTION TO RECENT ARTICLES

TECH CHECK

How many times have we heard about computer failure and crashes in state government [“Mainframe of Shame,” April 22]? Isn’t it way past time for the legislature to find some money to replace the old mainframe with new, up-to-date technology?

proofreAders Carolyn Fox, Elizabeth M. Seyler AssistAnt proofreAders Katherine Isaacs,

Paul Hoffman

FERRISBURGH

Marisa Keller

Check GoodToGoVermont.com to see what your favorite eatery is serving up in containers.

DESIGN CreAtive direCtor Don Eggert Art direCtor Rev. Diane Sullivan produCtion MAnAger John James designers Jeff Baron, Kirsten Thompson, Mollie Coons

Pho

Hong

SALES & MARKETING direCtor of sAles Colby Roberts senior ACCount exeCutive Michael Bradshaw ACCount exeCutives Robyn Birgisson,

Food safety & public health authorities worldwide agree that the risk of transmitting COVID-19 via any food is very low, if present at all. 4t-kcmechanical042920.indd 1

Erin Dupuis

4/22/20 1:07 PM

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Luke Baynes, Justin Boland, Alex Brown, Chris Farnsworth, Rick Kisonak, Jacqueline Lawler, Amy Lilly, Bryan Parmelee, Melissa Pasanen, Jernigan Pontiac, Jim Schley, Julia Shipley, Molly Zapp

Dependable, valued experience and integrity. A Realtor you can trust. ®

During this difficult time, know I am here to answer any questions you may have. Stay healthy, stay strong.

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CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Luke Awtry, Rob Donnelly, Harry Bliss, Luke Eastman, Caleb Kenna, Marc Nadel, Tim Newcomb, Oliver Parini, Sarah Priestap, Jeb Wallace-Brodeur C I R C U L AT I O N : 3 5 , 0 0 0 Seven Days is published by Da Capo Publishing Inc. every Wednesday. It is distributed free of charge in greater Burlington, Middlebury, Montpelier, Northeast Kingdom, Stowe, the Mad River Valley, Rutland, St. Albans, St. Johnsbury, White River Junction and Plattsburgh, N.Y.

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DOES NOT COMPUTE

[Re “Mainframe of Shame,” April 22]: If the State of Vermont had done the necessary upkeep on the mainframe over the years and upgraded to the necessary software releases for COBOL, the “aging” infrastructure would not have been overwhelmed. Cloud computing is not the savior. This is a dishonest article that has little basis in reality. Megan Williams

CHESTER

Michelle Brown, Kristen Hutter, Logan Pintka MArketing & events direCtor Corey Grenier sAles & MArketing CoordinAtor Katie Hodges A D M I N I S T R AT I O N business MAnAger Marcy Carton direCtor of CirCulAtion Matt Weiner CirCulAtion deputy Jeff Baron

VERMONT REAL ESTATE COMPANY

D I G I TA L & V I D E O dAtA editor Andrea Suozzo digitAl produCtion speCiAlist Bryan Parmelee senior MultiMediA produCer Eva Sollberger MultiMediA journAlist James Buck AudienCe engAgeMent speCiAlist Gillian English All our heArts CoordinAtor Mary Hamilton

MISSING MARGOT AND RICK

While I don’t always agree with your movie reviewers, I always value their opinions. I’ve been reading Rick Kisonak’s reviews seemingly forever and love both his opinions and his writing style. Margot Harrison is also excellent. Why not have them continue reviewing content from streaming and other video providers? It would be appreciated. Richard Guttman KIRKLAND, QUÉBEC

Editor’s note: Margot Harrison will be back at Seven Days — and writing about movies — next week.

‘ACT OF SUPREME PROVOCATION’

[Re Off Message: “Amid Backlash, VSC Chancellor Withdraws Plan to Close Three Campuses,” April 22, and related stories]: Hats off to Jeb Spaulding for an act of supreme provocation. No more kicking Vermont’s shameful underfunding of higher education under the rug. Unless the legislature, the governor and all Vermonters reevaluate our commitment to education — and also to medical care for middle-class and low-income people — we will become more and more a playground for the wealthy supported by a service economy of native Vermonters and immigrants.

WEEK IN REVIEW

I also enjoyed the supportive letter from Cathy Chamberlain [Feedback: “Hear Them Roar,” April 22]. The noise warms her heart and makes her feel good. She says it’s “the sound of freedom,” and if that had not become a cliché, I might have believed she meant it. My question is: Don’t the birds in the trees or a summer breeze also sound like freedom? Why must it be a really loud jet? Her hearing may be impaired — and if she’s in the flight path, that’s a perfect place for her. However, she cannot advise us all to hear it that way. If someone yells in your face, it might reach 105 decibels. I have a decibel meter. If I yell at it from six inches away, loud enough to reach someone across the street, or loud enough to get the attention of a truck that’s about to back into your car, it’s 105 decibels. That’s about as loud as a modern car horn — but for minutes at a time. That’s the sound of freedom. Pardon?

TIM NEWCOMB

Charlie Messing

I don’t have much, but I am willing to pay more taxes and tighten my belt to live in a more equitable society. If we as a state became the model American experiment in social democracy, the immigration of talent that would move into our state would more than make up for the exit of those who do not want to share their individual wealth for the benefit of the whole. So come on, all of us who are painting Spaulding as the devil incarnate for suggesting an intolerable solution to an impossible situation; we should instead thank him for forcing us to finally consider how we must pay the cost of what we seek to preserve. David Schein

BURLINGTON

‘LESS STUDENTS = LESS MONEY = TOUGH DECISIONS’

[Re Off Message: “Amid Backlash, VSC Chancellor Withdraws Plan to Close Three Campuses,” April 22, and related stories]: The chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges System dropped a bomb last week when he proposed closing three state colleges to address the ongoing budget crisis. The fact that many reacted with alarm is understandable. But the tone of indignation and “kill the messenger” responses are not helpful. The original version of the article noted that “the board delayed action for at least a week in light of widespread opposition, including from lawmakers who have raced to buy the state time to consider alternatives.” Without chancellor Jeb Spaulding’s dramatic proposal, do you

really think the state would be “racing” to find a better solution right now, especially while in the midst of a historic public health and economic crisis? Sometimes this is what it takes to get people’s full attention. This is not a new problem, as three Vermont colleges demonstrated vividly just last year. And addressing it will require bold changes. The basic math here is: Less Students = Less Money = Tough Decisions. The key takeaway is, yes, it’s much worse than you thought. We have to be willing to consider solutions that would be disruptive and painful. The best we can do is to be open to considering unconventional ideas while looking for ways to minimize the damage to students, employees and college communities. Come to think of it, we could use that same shift in thinking to address our local school budget situations, too. The basic math is exactly the same. Peter Straube

MONKTON

SOUND BARRIER

It was interesting to read the quotes from Col. Dave Shevchik in [Off Message: “Data Show Vermont Air Guard F-35 Flights Spiked in April,” April 24]. Can national security and transparency ever be compatible? I sort of doubt it. The planes are alarmingly loud, and unless the Guard can place them elsewhere, people cannot stop complaining — and they shouldn’t. It has been established that the noise is harmful and children are suffering. No one can tell them to ignore it six times a day. They can’t ignore it.

BURLINGTON

SOUND OF WASTE

[Re Feedback: “Hear Them Roar,” April 22]: ‘The sound of freedom’? Nah, that’s the sound of our tax dollars being rung up in the private coffers of the megacorporations termed the “military-industrial complex.” Truth is, the U.S. spends more money on war than the next 13 highest-spending countries combined. The F-35 is exhibit No. 1 in the argument for why we don’t have adequate universal health care, affordable higher education for our children and similar nice things enjoyed by people in other economically developed countries. FEEDBACK

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CORRECTION

Last week’s news story “Mainframe of Shame” inaccurately described John Quinn’s role in state government. He is the chief information officer.

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contents

LOOKING FORWARD

APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020 VOL.25 NO.31 13

NEWS & POLITICS 11

From the Publisher

BY PAULA ROUTLY

The Front Line Next Door

Home health care workers tread carefully during lockdown visits BY DEREK BROUWER

After Officer’s Arrest, St. Albans to Examine Police Hiring, Training

‘Damage Control’

State college system charts a difficult course after public crisis BY COLIN FLANDERS

Saint Michael’s College Discounts Tuition for Vermont Students

BY DEREK BROUWER

At Your Service

City hall workers take on new tasks as COVID-19 disrupts life in Burlington

Scott Administration, Legislature Clash Over Coronavirus Spending

FEATURES 32

BY PAUL HEINTZ

Judge Orders Williston Man to Stop Selling Overpriced Masks

ARTS NEWS 22

BY COURTNEY LAMDIN

Online Thursday

Culture: Coping with death in the age of a pandemic

Lost to COVID-19

Culture: Remembering Vermonters who died of the coronavirus BY DAN BOLLES & PAUL HEINTZ

Keep Moving

Dance studios, students and artists improvise through the pandemic

Staying Connected

Health: As therapy moves online, counselors and clients adjust BY MARGARET GRAYSON

BY ELIZABETH M. SEYLER

VIDEO SERIES

At a Loss

BY CHELSEA EDGAR

BY DEREK BROUWER

BY COLIN FLANDERS

Gearing Up

Matt Renna makes items for health care workers and the housebound

Supportive Systems

Culture: Two Vermont nonprofits find new ways to serve at-risk youth

COLUMNS + REVIEWS 28 30 48 50 52 69

WTF Retail Therapy Side Dishes FOOD Soundbites MUSIC Album Reviews Ask the Reverend ADVICE

SECTIONS 21 46 54 55 50 64 68

Life Lines Food + Drink Classes Classifieds + Puzzles Music + Nightlife Fun Stuff Personals HOUSE CALLS

BY KRISTEN RAVIN

BY MARGARET GRAYSON

Home nurses face pandemic challenges PAGE 12

Pandemic Pastimes 2

A weekly roundup of virtual ventures from Vermonters BY PAMELA POLSTON

Essential Meals

Food: Local restaurants deliver food to the front lines BY SALLY POLLAK

BY CHELS EA EDGAR, PAGE 32

PAGE 24

Local shoemaker pivots to PPE

FULL SERVICE

PAGE 44

Virtual programs for at-risk youth

HEALTH FOOD

PAGE 46

VT restaurants feed docs

COVER IMAGE JIM DUVAL COVER DESIGN REV. DIANE SULLIVAN

SHOP

Be strong Vermont

LOCAL

Let's work together and help those in need.

CHANNEL 15

VICTORY FOR YOU WEDNESDAYS > 2:00 P.M. GET MORE INFO OR WATCH ONLINE AT VERMONTCAM.ORG

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Coping with death in the age of a pandemic

SOLE’S CALLING

SUPPORTED BY: Stuck in Vermont: While many Vermonters are staying home to stop the spread of COVID-19, essential workers remain on theWORD job. Eva spoke THE ARTFUL to some of them about what it’s like WEDNESDAYS > 9:00 p.m. delivering mail, taking care of patients and stocking grocery store shelves during a pandemic.

and say you saw it in...

V E RM O N T ’S IN DE P E N D E NT VO I CE APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020 VOL.25 NO.31 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

‘A Proper Goodbye’

While Chelsea Edgar has been reporting this week’s cover story about death and grieving during the coronavirus pandemic, my 93-year-old mother and I have been living it. On April 16, three days after my 60th birthday, my mom, Angie, was scheduled to have a CT scan at the hospital. A staffer at the Converse Home brought her up to the University of Vermont Medical Center, where I met her at the front entrance. We both were looking forward to spending some time together, even in a waiting room; we hadn’t been face-to-face since early March, when Converse banned visitors to protect its residents from the coronavirus. A few weeks later, residents were Paula Routly, Angie Routly and Tim Ashe confined to their rooms. Masked and gloved, I wheeled my mom inside, where I was quickly disabused of my motherdaughter fantasy. Hospital protocols had changed overnight because of heightened concern about COVID-19. I could not go in with my mom, nor could I wait in the lobby while she had the test. She was scared and confused. When they took her away, I noticed she was hugging her purse. I spent the next hour peering in the windows, worrying she might never emerge. Later that day, I got the news: My mom has late-stage ovarian cancer. She’s too old and frail for treatment, so it’s a terminal diagnosis. Would she have to spend her dying days on lockdown? I was fully prepared to bring her to my home when I got the word from Converse, where she has lived happily and safely for almost two and a half years: My mom could stay where she is, and my boyfriend and I would be allowed to visit, with precautions. The facility is making case-bycase exceptions for end-of-life care. Although the rule restricts others from seeing my mom, this arrangement is the best we could hope for in the middle of a pandemic. I know the families of people dying in the hospital — of COVID-19 and other maladies — don’t have that. For the past week, I’ve spent most of every day in my mom’s apartment, lurching between the high-wire act of producing Seven Days during a time of crisis and tending to her needs: trying to get her to eat, monitoring her meds, helping her in the bathroom, facilitating phone calls with friends and finding words to tell her how much she means to me. As painful as it is, I’m grateful for this opportunity to say a proper goodbye. Other things I’m grateful for: spring; my friends and neighbors; and Seven Days’ Want to help Seven Days and local journalism? incredible team of reporters, editors, Become a Super Reader. designers, account executives and circulation Look for the “Give Now” buttons at the top drivers who are going above and beyond to help of sevendaysvt.com. Or send a check with me, help each other, and report on and deliver your address and contact info to: the news. SEVEN DAYS Watching Super Reader contributions C/O SUPER READERS come in — at all times of day and night — keeps P.O. BOX 1164 BURLINGTON, VT 05402-1164 me going, too. They’re reassurance that the community sees and appreciates our efforts. For more information on making a financial Many, many thanks,

Paula Routly

contribution to Seven Days, please contact Corey Grenier: VOICEMAIL: 802-865-1020, EXT. 36 EMAIL: SUPERREADERS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

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news

MORE INSIDE

QUEEN CITY WORKERS CHANGE HATS PAGE 16

LAW ENFORCEMENT

CORONAVIRUS CASH CLASH PAGE 17

JUDGE TO PRICE GOUGER: STOP! PAGE 18

CALEB KENNA

Sarah Frisch

The Front Line Next Door Home health care workers tread carefully during lockdown visits B Y DER EK B R O UWER

ach time she treated her patient, a man recovering from the new coronavirus, Addison County nurse Sarah Frisch suited up in full personal protective equipment. She donned a surgical head covering and gown, slipped on booties and gloves, and strapped on an N95 respirator and a homemade face shield. Then she walked up his driveway and knocked on his front door. Frisch, 37, is among hundreds of nurses and personal care aides in Vermont who have been working on an invisible front line against the COVID-19 pandemic. Six days a week, she drives around the county to visit patients in their homes. Some are dying from terminal illnesses, some need help to continue living on their own and, lately, some are fending off the virus. Home health services are playing a crucial, if sometimes overlooked, role in a state health care system that is being put to the test. Home health workers provide care that frees up hospital beds, as well as shortand long-term support that keeps people out of outbreak-prone nursing homes. 12

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

Their work also carries special hazards. Nurses who hop between several homes a day, working in environments they can’t control, risk becoming vectors for community spread of the disease. “My two biggest fears are somehow bringing this into a patient’s home myself or bringing it home to my kids,” said Frisch, mother to a 6-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. “Look at all the health care workers who are getting sick. You can do everything right, and we’re still only human.” Frisch and her home health colleagues are caring for dozens of patients infected by the coronavirus, and thousands who aren’t. According to the industry’s trade organization, 40 COVID-19 patients were receiving services from one of Vermont’s 10 home health agencies as of April 27 — compared to 11 patients who were at hospitals around the state. While residential facilities may refuse to accept a patient with potential or known coronavirus exposure, Addison County Home Health & Hospice, where Frisch has worked for four years, takes all patients.

The agency’s nurses look after more than 1,400 patients, including six who were diagnosed with COVID-19. Frisch took over care for the first patient after he was discharged from the hospital, a responsibility she said she views as a “privilege.” That man was one of 20 or so patients whose care she manages at any given time. Most of Frisch’s work can’t be done remotely, but she has adapted as much as she can. She does an over-the-phone symptom screening with patients each day before driving to their homes. She keeps a spare set of personal protective equipment in her car, which she also sanitizes regularly. She washes her hands incessantly. The steps haven’t allayed all of her patients’ fears. Some of those without COVID-19 have chosen to forgo the care they need rather than take a perceived risk. “We have a lot of patients who are totally, understandably, scared,” Frisch

HEALTH

THE FRONT LINE NEXT DOOR

» P.14

After Officer’s Arrest, St. Albans to Examine Police Hiring, Training B Y DER EK B R OU WER

City officials in St. Albans will review its beleaguered police department’s hiring practices in light of an officer’s arrest last week. In a lengthy statement last Thursday, Mayor Tim Smith continued to defend the department and longtime Chief Gary Taylor, who he said has “transformed” the force in recent years. Smith also detailed the existing “recruitment gauntlet” that would-be cops must pass. But the April 19 arrest of officer Zachary Pigeon Zachary Pigeon for sexual assault, kidnapping and other charges suggested that further changes are needed, Smith wrote. “The Pigeon allegations indicate that we also need to increase the effectiveness of our recruitment and selection programs and ensure we are providing the training that reflects our values,” the statement said. City Manager Dominic Cloud will convene a task force charged with soliciting “help from outside experts,” according to the statement. The announcement is the most public intervention by city leaders into a department scarred by scandal since Seven Days published video last summer showing former sergeant Jason Lawton punch a handcuffed woman inside a holding cell. Pigeon, 29, is accused of molesting a family member over a period of years in the mid-2000s. He and his father, Allen, are also accused of assaulting and threatening the woman at her home this month after learning that she’d told others about the sexual assaults. Zachary Pigeon had originally applied to work at the department in 2018, but he was turned away after a background check revealed allegations that he’d sent his ex-wife an “inappropriate picture” during their divorce. Taylor hired him a year later. The County Courier reported last week that Pigeon began dating Taylor’s niece sometime after the department turned him away and before he was hired. In an email to Seven Days, Taylor confirmed “Pigeon’s social fraternization” with his niece but said the relationship “played no role whatsoever” in Pigeon’s hiring. Pigeon was placed on unpaid administrative leave following his arrest. Contact: derek@sevendaysvt.com

‘Damage Control’ State college system charts difficult course after public crisis

hancellor Jeb Spaulding said he will resign from the Vermont State Colleges System at a board of trustees meeting on Wednesday, April 29, after his failed attempt to close three campuses catapulted the ailing schools into a state of uncertainty. Spaulding, who has led the system for the last five years, declared his intentions in a press release Tuesday morning, saying he will step down with a “heavy heart” but “firm resolve.” “I realize that a fresh perspective and new leadership is necessary to move the VSCS forward in its mission,” Spaulding said in the release. “I will continue to do all I can to provide support in the transition and champion the System’s leaders as they work through the challenges ahead.” Spaulding’s announcement bookmarks a tumultuous two-week period that began when he proposed closing down three of the college system’s five campuses to address financial losses brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Spaulding withdrew his proposal after hitting immediate resistance last week. But by then, he’d already lost the confidence of his faculty and provoked a growing chorus of calls for his resignation. Spaulding’s departure may please critics, but some fear that his decision to broadcast the system’s instability to the world could turn the colleges’ demise into a self-fulfilling prophecy, since potential students may view the system as a sinking ship. “We’ve got some serious damage control to do,” Dan Daley, a mathematics and computer science associate professor who leads the faculty assembly at Northern Vermont University in Lyndon, said after Spaulding withdrew his proposal last week. Spaulding’s proposal would have closed NVU’s campuses in Lyndon and Johnson, shifting some programs to Castleton University. It also would have closed the Vermont Technical College campus in Randolph Center, moving operations to that school’s Williston premises. About 500 people would have lost their jobs. “Most of our students are still with us, but there are current students who are saying, ‘I don’t know if I want to come back. How long is Lyndon going to be there? A year? Five years?’” Daley said. Science professor Joan RichmondHall, who leads the technical college faculty assembly, said news of Spaulding’s proposal dropped while she was teaching

COURTESY OF KRYSTAL WOODWARD

BY C OL I N FL AN D E RS

EDUCATION

Protesters in Johnson

an organic chemistry class, prompting students to ask her whether their agriculture program was going to close. “We are very concerned that we’re going to lose students that we already have,” she said. Some students are already considering their options. Taylor Charland, a 20-yearold early education major who transferred from the Community College of Vermont to NVU-Johnson last fall, had planned to finish her degree there. But she has since applied to Champlain College and the University of Vermont out of concern that the Johnson campus might not survive the next six months. “It’s a worrying factor that I’m not confident in my school to stay open,” she said. “I don’t really want to be a senior next year and be closed out of the school.” Professors have started reaching out to students with this issue in mind. NVU faculty members, for example, have written a letter and produced a video meant to assure students that they remain committed to the campuses. “We’re not going anywhere,” said Tyrone Shaw, a writing and literature professor who heads up the Johnson campus’ faculty assembly. “We’re going to be here for our students.” That may have been a hard message to send with Spaulding still calling the shots. Even after withdrawing his proposal, the chancellor continued to insist that the system needs a “disruptive” restructuring

if it expects to address a deficit that could easily top $28 million this year. “The current configuration of the Vermont State Colleges is not sustainable,” Spaulding said in a press release last week. “It cannot continue for long.” Faculty of the affected schools, meantime, maintained that the system would be better off without Spaulding. On Tuesday, they applauded his decision to step down.

WE’VE GOT SOME

SERIOUS DAMAGE CONTROL TO DO. D AN D AL E Y

“I think it was the right thing to do,” Daley said. “Faculty and staff in the system felt that we didn’t have any faith in him anymore.” Richmond-Hall agreed, saying new leadership is “welcome.” But she feared that the damage was already done. “Chancellor Spaulding’s departure adds to the pandemonium,” Richmond-Hall wrote in an email. “I worry that Vermont won’t have the time, focus or money to take a holistic look” at the system. It’s unclear what finally forced Spaulding’s hand. Through his assistant, he declined an interview request on Tuesday. But speaking to Seven Days on Sunday,

Spaulding asserted that he had no plans to quit and would stay on as long as he could be “effective.” “I can’t put a timeline on that. Things are progressing day by day,” he said. “If I become more of a liability than an asset, that will be the time for me to step down.” Not everyone agrees that Spaulding has damaged the college system’s prospects. Board of trustees chair J. Churchill Hindes, one of the chancellor’s allies, told Seven Days last week that he had no intention of asking Spaulding to leave. In fact, Hindes praised the chancellor for having the guts to propose the closures, knowing they were a potential powder keg. “I don’t want a shy and retiring leader who disappears when times are tough,” Hindes said last week. “I want a leader who steps up.” Hindes then argued that Spaulding succeeded in alerting the public to the state college system’s plight, a necessary first step if its financial problems are ever to be resolved. So while the proposal may have been difficult to hear, Spaulding’s actions will eventually pay off, Hindes said. The chair stood by those comments on Tuesday and said he had nothing to do with Spaulding’s decision to quit. “This is Jeb’s business,” Hindes said. “This is his decision, and I respect that.” Mike Smith, Vermont’s Agency of Human Services secretary, agreed that Spaulding’s SOS could prove useful in the long run. Among Smith’s previous jobs was the interim presidency of financially ailing Burlington College in 2015. Although the school ultimately closed after Smith’s tenure ended, he said making the college’s money problems public provided breathing space to at least try a rescue plan. “Once people understand the situation, and if you’re very public with some of the solutions that you’re doing, I think it works the best for you,” Smith said last week. Where Spaulding went wrong in Smith’s eyes was taking too firm a stance. Instead of laying out “a plan that could be altered if there was a better alternative,” the chancellor was adamant his proposal was the best path forward. Still, Smith didn’t fault Spaulding for advocating drastic action, calling it a “double-edged sword.” Sure, discussion of closing campuses may make the system less ‘DAMAGE CONTROL’ SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

» P.15 13

news « P.12

Saint Michael’s College Discounts Tuition for Vermont Students

said. “They are not wanting people to come into their homes. It’s affected how well I can manage symptoms.” Agencies that perform in-home services, like all health care providers, have struggled to secure respirators and masks that reduce the risk of transmission, according to Jill Olson, executive director of the VNAs of Vermont. Her trade association represents nine agencies, all of which have required that workers wear face coverings during patient visits since early April. Those coverings have not necessarily been surgical-grade masks. “Probably the biggest challenge has been making sure that we have the equipment we need,” Olson said. Addison County Home Health & Hospice has enough supplies that Frisch can wear an N95 to every visit, as well as a reusable plastic face shield that agency managers manufactured in the office basement. To treat COVID-19 patients, Frisch wears the full suite of equipment. The Vermont Department of Health has not tracked how many health care workers have become infected with COVID-19, though Seven Days has tallied more than 90 cases disclosed by various organizations. Olson said she isn’t collecting employee infection data from her member agencies, either. Weeks ago, University of Vermont Home Health & Hospice revealed that four of its employees had tested positive at a time when the agency was caring for two COVID-19 patients. No nurses at Frisch’s agency have been diagnosed, director of development Maureen Conrad said. While some vulnerable patients have grown wary of receiving home care, others with physical and intellectual disabilities have struggled with what advocates say is reduced availability of support. “It really felt like, for those folks, the rug had been pulled out from underneath them,” said Karen Topper, administrative director for Green Mountain Self-Advocates. Kirsten Murphy, executive director of the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council, said one of her council members had his service hours cut in half, leaving him without help to do laundry or dishes. The man, who lives alone and uses a wheelchair, later hurt himself in the shower and was forced to sleep in a chair nightly. He didn’t have someone to transfer him to his bed, Murphy said. Most of the community supports for people with intellectual disabilities and autism have moved online, but a small number of the 125 people receiving assistance through Champlain Community Services still require direct care from

BY C O L I N F L A N D E R S

Saint Michael’s College is offering tuition discounts for new students from Vermont this fall in an appeal to those wary of leaving the state amid the coronavirus pandemic. The program, called the Home State Promise, guarantees that first-year and transfer students who are new to the Colchester college would receive at least $25,000 in annual financial aid. The offer comes as high school graduates and college students forced home early by the pandemic consider remaining in Vermont during this time of uncertainty, said Michael Stefanowicz, the college’s director of admission. “As students are deciding right now, this definitely gives them some opportunity to reflect on where they want to be,” Stefanowicz said. “We’re hearing from many of them: The appeal of home is strong.” St. Mike’s tuition and housing costs currently top off at about $61,800 annually. The private liberal arts college does not provide an instate tuition rate but says that about 90 percent of its 1,600 undergrads receive some form of financial aid. Vermonters who enroll in the new program would receive between $25,000 and $35,000 in scholarships and grants based on their financial needs. They would still have to file a federal student aid application and would remain eligible for state grants. They could also still receive other forms of aid, which means some students may receive more than $35,000, Stefanowicz said. Current students from Vermont — who typically represent about 20 percent of the school’s student body — don’t qualify for the new program. But Stefanowicz said that the college has offered to work with families who lose income due to the pandemic. Stefanowicz confirmed that Vermont students already attending a different school in the Green Mountain State would qualify for the discount program. But he said that St. Mike’s usually does not try to recruit students away from other schools unless they express interest, and he sought to dismiss any notion that the college intends to undercut the Vermont State Colleges System. “We want them to be successful,” he said. m Contact: colin@sevendaysvt.com

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

CALEB KENNA

The Front Line Next Door EDUCATION

Sarah Frisch

aides, executive director Beth Sightler said. Most are in the care of families or contracted “shared living providers,” many of whom are now providing roundthe-clock care during the state lockdown. Securing protective equipment for the

WE HAVE A LOT OF PATIENTS

WHO ARE TOTALLY, UNDERSTANDABLY, SCARED. S AR AH F R IS C H

aides and living providers has been especially difficult, Sightler said, because the nonprofit agency is “not naturally seen as part of the health care system.” Sightler broke her sewing machine making cloth masks for her providers and bought some protective equipment “off the back of trucks.” One person receiving services through a Champlain Community Servicescontracted shared-living provider died from the coronavirus, though Sightler said the source of the client’s exposure was unclear. “The devastation to the staff and the additional fear that it brings out in them is incredibly acute,” Sightler told a state Senate

committee earlier this month. “There’s a lot of worry for our staff. They’ve never really worked under these circumstances.” Frisch said that Addison County Home Health & Hospice has provided a bonus for her work during the pandemic. But the pay bump is more than offset by the cost of the nanny Frisch was forced to hire to watch over her kids during the day. There aren’t enough slots in the childcare programs available to essential workers, she said. Nonetheless, Frisch said she “wouldn’t feel right” if she didn’t continue working. During her first visit to her COVID-19 patient’s home, Frisch said, they had a “good, long conversation.” The illness was so bad, he told her, that he was sure it was going to kill him. In the weeks since, Frisch cared for the man in his recliner, helping him wean his lungs off supplemental oxygen. Sometimes she simply listened as he described his physical and emotional journey. Frisch, a hospice specialist, isn’t used to providing comfort through so many layers of personal protective equipment. But it paid off: She was able to discharge the man from her care last week. m Contact: derek@sevendaysvt.com

‘Damage Control’ « P.13

FILE: JEB WALLACE-BRODEUR

attractive to students in the short run. But it also makes it easier to come to a consensus on a plan, Smith said, because more people recognize that the situation is dire. Hindes, the trustees chair, had the same read. “I’m sure when we look back at this a year from now, we might say, ‘Couldn’t this have been done a little more elegantly?’” he said last week. “But that’ll be then, and this is now.” It’s true that proposing to close three campuses may result in a temporary financial bailout by state government. With the system quickly running out of money, lawmakers who opposed Spaulding’s plan

her future at the university. Informed on April 14 that she was effectively “out of a job” as Spaulding prepared to go public with his proposal, Scolforo said she was swiftly removed from email lists and excluded from meetings of the college presidents. “I was devastated,” she said. “I literally put my heart and soul into Castleton University. I’ve lived and breathed it since I got here.” The college has appeared to do well under her leadership. It has posted rising enrollment for three straight years, in part by accepting students from three private colleges in southern Vermont that closed. Scolforo submitted two balanced budgets

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Jeb Spaulding in 2016

are cobbling together a life raft, signaling last week that the legislature might appropriate $25 million from Vermont’s federal stimulus package to get the colleges through the next academic year. Spaulding has said that lawmakers must clarify their intentions in the “coming days” to give students confidence that the campuses will be there in the fall. Prolonging the uncertainty is “not helpful at all,” he said on Sunday. But students aren’t the only ones wondering whether they would be better off elsewhere in the wake of Spaulding’s proposal, with two college presidents considering moves. NVU president Elaine Collins announced in an email to both campuses on Monday that she is in the running to become the next president at a community college in Lansing, Mich. Collins wrote that she was approached about the post in late February, before the pandemic had tightened its grip, and said she remains “fully committed” to NVU while she awaits a decision. At the same time, Castleton University may need to search for a new leader. Karen Scolforo, who has led that school for three years, told Seven Days that the last few weeks have left her unsure about

and expected to deliver a third before the coronavirus hit — a notable achievement at a time when many small colleges are struggling. Spaulding confirmed with Seven Days that he had planned to replace Scolforo with NVU’s Collins if his proposal had been accepted. Though he praised Scolforo’s performance, he said Collins was the right choice because she had seniority and experience overseeing a campus in transition. But when his campus-closure plan ran into a wall, Spaulding changed his mind. Two days after the proposal went public, he asked Scolforo to stay on. She accepted, hoping that she would be able to move on from the near-firing. A week later, she said she’s still reeling. “I feel like I’m going through the stages of grief,” she said. “That’s how I’ve been. Even after the shift back, it was just traumatic for me.” Asked whether she planned to stay after being shown that the chancellor considered her expendable, she struggled for an answer. Finally, she said, “I don’t know if I can.” m Contact: colin@sevendaysvt.com

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At Your Service

City hall workers take on new tasks as COVID-19 disrupts life in Burlington

illian Nanton typically spends her workdays behind a desk. As an assistant director of Burlington’s Community Economic Development Office, Nanton oversees the slice of city government that offers job training programs and helps to support womenowned businesses. That was before the coronavirus crisis hit. Now Nanton works from home and spends most of her days helping people file for unemployment benefits. But on one call three weeks ago, a Burlington woman told Nanton that her daughter had just fled an abusive relationship in California and needed diapers for her 1-week-old baby. At the end of the workday, Nanton drove to a Hannaford supermarket, bought some Huggies and groceries, and delivered them to the caller’s Pine Street apartment. It was Nanton’s first time buying diapers, on the job or off. “It’s been an enormous privilege to provide some measure of support to folks through these tumultuous times,” she said. “To me, this is just a little itsy-bitsy something I could do.” With day-to-day government operations interrupted by the pandemic, the City of Burlington is facing a conundrum about what to do with its 700-person workforce. Some employees may be furloughed or even laid off as the mayor writes next year’s budget, which has been wrecked by the economic slowdown. In the meantime, the city has placed 45 employees with little to do — including school crossing guards, parking enforcement officers, and some parks and recreation staff — on paid leave. About 50 others have been reassigned to other city jobs . City planners, for example, are researching how to set up quarantine sites for coronavirus patients. Burlington City Arts employees are coordinating a facemask-making initiative. CEDO workers are helping small-business owners apply for loans. Most, including Nanton, are working for the city’s new COVID-19 Resource and Recovery Center, where their job is to help Burlingtonians find information about free meals and childcare, to answer questions about evictions and deferred tax payments, and to address other pandemicrelated needs that emerge. Mayor Miro Weinberger says the employee shuffle shifts city resources from 16

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

BURLINGTON

Zach Williamson

INFO

To reach Burlington’s COVID-19 Resource and Recovery Center, call 755-7239, visit burlingtonvt.gov/resources or email recovery@burlingtonvt.gov.

places where they’re not currently needed to where they are. “I think it’s going to be a long emergency,” he said. “There really are scenarios where the safety net breaks down and the city has to step in.” Weinberger announced the creation of the recovery center on March 23, the day before Gov. Phil Scott issued his “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order. It is led by CEDO Director Luke McGowan and staffed primarily by CEDO employees, but it also borrows from seven other city departments. The recovery center isn’t a “center” at all. The 39 city employees assigned there

BY C O U R TNE Y L A M D I N

work from their homes and communicate frequently by email, phone and, of course, Zoom. “The way people are working has changed almost for everybody,” McGowan said. “This is very new for a lot of city employees.” That’s an understatement for Zach Williamson, the festival and event director at Burlington City Arts. This time of year, Williamson is typically planning a summer concert series and street performances for the Festival of Fools on the Church Street Marketplace. Now, he’s heading up the city’s Community Mask Initiative, which distributes cloth face masks to Burlingtonians. When BCA Executive Director Doreen Kraft asked Williamson to help, he didn’t hesitate to say yes. “If you think of this as an event, I have some logistics skills and planning and managerial skills that I thought would be useful,” he said. “I certainly didn’t know exactly what I was getting into.” The mask initiative has taken off: More than 150 sewers from the Lyric Theatre, Vermont Teddy Bear and the Milton Artists’ Guild have crafted 11,000 facial coverings to date. Nearly 40 percent of some 760 calls to the recovery center have been requests for masks or offers to make them. Williamson and his team also sought out people and places that might need the coverings. He said they used Seven Days’ Vermont Eldercare Navigator, a database of the state’s senior living facilities, and the newspaper’s Good To-Go Vermont website, which lists restaurants offering food takeout and delivery, to make a list of essential workers who may need masks. Williamson also cold-called convenience stores to make sure those workers were covered, too. “They’re like, ‘Really? It doesn’t cost money?’” Williamson said of the workers’ typical reaction. “There’s a lot of surprise just that you’re calling and offering and that it’s a service we’re providing. It shows we ultimately just want everyone to be healthy and get through this.” Once the masks are made, they’re professionally cleaned and then distributed by Burlington International Airport staff and Burlington police officers. Rachel Jolly, who runs CEDO’s Community Justice Center, also has a completely different gig during the crisis.

Gillian Nanton AT YOUR SERVICE

» P.18

STATEHOUSE

DISH SWE The PIT

Scott Administration, Legislature Clash Over Coronavirus Spending

Volvo Specialists

BY PAUL H E I N TZ

FILE: JOHN WALTERS

Since the novel coronavirus arrived in Vermont last month, Gov. Phil Scott and legislative leaders have generally avoided public disagreement. But during a meeting of the legislature’s Joint Fiscal Committee on Monday, that spirit of collaboration began to fray. At issue was how to spend the $1.25 billion Vermont has received in federal coronavirus relief funding — and who has the authority to spend it. Lawmakers expressed alarm at how much money the administration has already doled out in response to the public health crisis. Finance Commissioner Adam Greshin told the committee that he had signed checks worth $86 million — and that state agencies expected to spend more than $165 million on immediate needs within weeks.

Finance Commissioner Adam Greshin and Gov. Phil Scott

“I’m quite surprised at the $80 million figure you rolled out, because last I knew, we were talking about $23 million that had been paid,” Sen. Jane Kitchel (D-Caledonia), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, told Greshin. Since the state received $1.25 billion early last week from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund, the Joint Fiscal Committee has been debating how it should be appropriated. The committee includes chairs of the legislature’s four taxing and spending panels, along with several other leading lawmakers. Last last week, the committee proposed to the administration that the executive branch could spend up to $60 million of the money on “health and safety and other emergency response needs” without legislative approval. That amount could be increased by a vote of the committee. The proposal would also allow the executive branch to spend another $150 million on “time-sensitive critical needs” with the Joint Fiscal Committee’s signoff. The committee would vote on such requests within a week — or sooner, if necessary. The remaining $1.04 billion would have to be allocated through the traditional appropriations process, with full votes of the House and Senate and the signature of the governor.

During Monday’s meeting, Greshin told lawmakers that those parameters “give us pause.” He added, “I’m just worried that $60 million — I would argue that’s already spent, or damn close to it.” “Well, commissioner, the reason you’re here is to actually work with us to come up with something that you think works,” Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) snapped. “This is the first we’re hearing that you think the numbers should be different. So if you want to propose something that you think would work and give you flexibility without handing over $1.25 billion to the administration to unilaterally decide how to spend, we’re all ears.” Greshin suggested that the Joint Fiscal Committee allow the executive branch to spend the $60 million and the $150 million without legislative approval. “We’re just trying to have flexibility for a rapid response,” he said. But legislators were cool to the idea. “Part of the problem is, I get a call from one of my constituents who might have heard this, saying, ‘What did they do with the [money]?’ And, frankly, I don’t have a clue,” said Sen. Dick Sears (D-Bennington). Greshin explained that $27 million of the $86 million already spent had gone to Vermonters seeking unemployment benefits — money he expected the federal government to replace. That included $10 million worth of $1,200 checks the administration mailed last week to those whose claims had yet to be processed. “People saw the governor, among others, carrying boxes of checks,” Greshin told Sears. “So $10 million went right out the door right away — and there’s a deserving case we need to do that again.” The committee ultimately voted unanimously in favor of its own proposal, but it held out the possibility of increasing the amount of money the administration could spend without approval. Greshin, in turn, pledged to provide a full accounting of the money already spent by the beginning of next week. Later Monday morning, Scott himself echoed Greshin’s call for “some flexibility” to spend money as the administration saw fit, but he downplayed the differences between the two branches. “We want to work together, and we’re in this crisis together, and we’ll work our way out of it together, and that means having some dialogue about how we spend the money,” Scott said. “I welcome their involvement.” m Disclosure: Tim Ashe is the domestic partner of Seven Days publisher and coeditor Paula Routly. Find our conflict-of-interest policy at sevendaysvt.com/disclosure.

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news Judge Orders Williston Man to Stop Selling Overpriced Masks BY D E RE K B R O UW E R

Contact: derek@sevendaysvt.com

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

In normal times, her outfit operates programs focused on crime and conflict — court diversion, victims’ services and others. Now, as operations director for the recovery center, Jolly starts every morning by setting up a standing desk at her family’s dining room table and logging on to SeeClickFix. The web app is typically used to catalog citizen-reported zoning violations and graffiti, but during the pandemic the city retooled the program to assign job tickets to coronavirus-related calls. Jolly, who once used the app to report illegal dumping in her neighborhood, analyzes the tickets to determine what Burlingtonians need and how the recovery center can respond during the crisis. Most calls — whether they’re about food assistance or unemployment benefits or offers to volunteer — are addressed within 24 hours, she said. “I’ve never done emergency management in any way,” Jolly said. “That was what was hard in the first few weeks, for sure: Reading these individual tickets that are coming through, there’s a lot of pain and suffering right now, and a lot of anxiety.” Among the anxious are small-business owners, who have been hit particularly hard by the governor’s stay-at-home order. Church Street Marketplace Executive Director Kara Alnasrawi had only been on the job for four months — and was in the midst of planning a maple festival to boost traffic during the winter doldrums — when Weinberger asked her to take on a new role. At the recovery center, Alnasrawi is tasked with helping all Burlington businesses survive, not just those on the city’s downtown pedestrian mall. Instead of planning the now-postponed Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, she’s been organizing webinars, helping merchants advertise curbside or delivery services, and assisting businesses cut through the red tape of the federal Paycheck Protection Program. So far, 67 businesses have contacted the recovery center. “No one is doing the same amount of business they were doing before,” Alnasrawi said. “And that’s obviously the main concern: how to stay afloat long enough until the doors can be reopened.” Weinberger thinks the recovery center might be needed for a year or longer. Last week, he requested some of the state’s $1.25 billion in federal relief funds to help sustain it. “Even if it costs $1 million to run this for a year, I think that would be money well spent if it’s providing real help to people in need,” Weinberger said. “So far, I think that’s what it’s been doing.” The mayor may be faced with some hard decisions the longer the crisis continues. At

Kara Alnasrawi and Mayor Miro Weinberger

COURTESY OF GENE RICHARDS

A Vermont businessman must stop selling surgical masks at “outrageously inflated” prices, according to a searing court order issued Monday. Vermont Superior Court Judge Helen Toor granted the state’s request for an injunction against Shelley Palmer and his company, Big Brother Security Programs. Palmer, of Williston, is accused of violating the Vermont Consumer Protection Act by selling thousands of 10-cent surgical masks to Central Vermont Medical Center for $2.50 each, exploiting the pandemic-induced shortage of personal protective equipment to earn exorbitant profits. He’s also accused of trying to market the masks as N95 respirators. Attorney General T.J. Donovan sued Palmer earlier this month. Palmer runs a transportation service. In numerous media interviews, he has strenuously denied selling the masks as N95s and defended his pricing scheme as fair. He repeated those defenses, along with what Toor called “skeleton” legal arguments, during a hearing last week, but the judge was having none of it. “The court rejects much of Palmer’s testimony,” she wrote in a 17-page order, “because some was just not believable, some was contradicted by other more credible witnesses, he changed his own testimony from moment to moment, he lied to his customers, and he blatantly lied under oath.” The dispute about Palmer’s marketing tactics was apparently settled by surveillance video from a South Burlington urgent care clinic where Palmer tried to sell the masks. Palmer can be heard describing his products as N95s and arguing with a clerk who corrected him, Toor wrote. Palmer also tried to sell them to the state’s Department of Public Safety, again passing them off as N95s, according to testimony by Commissioner Michael Schirling described in the judge’s order. After the state sent him a ceaseand-desist order in late March, Palmer sold another batch of masks to his office manager’s husband. The employee, Richard Morrell, then sold them at the same $2.50 price to Central Vermont Medical Center, Toor found. Toor determined that the prices Palmer charged were “grossly excessive and unconscionably high.” The civil case against Palmer will proceed. m

At Your Service « P.16

FILE: COURTNEY LAMDIN

HEALTH

Airport aviation director Gene Richards and Lyric Theatre members making masks

THERE REALLY ARE SCENARIOS WHERE THE SAFETY NET BREAKS DOWN AND

THE CITY HAS TO STEP IN. MAYO R MIR O W E INBE R G ER

a Zoom meeting on Monday, Weinberger told the city council that Burlington could lose up to $15 million in revenue between now and June 30, 2021. There are only a few ways to fill the gap, the mayor said: borrowing money, spending down reserve funds, securing federal cash or cutting costs. And because employee salaries and benefits account for 60 percent of the city’s $79 million general fund budget, “the great majority” of cuts could be labor-related, Weinberger told Seven Days in an earlier interview. The mayor had pledged not to lay off any city workers in the early days of the crisis, but the looming budget shortfall has forced him to reconsider. Weinberger

and the council went into a closed-door meeting to discuss the issue. “We have no choice but to consider significant cuts,” Weinberger said, adding: “It’s impossible to be confronting an economic impact of this magnitude [without] discussing what the options are.” The prospect of losing government employees — especially when so many of them have taken on new roles literally overnight — weighs heavily on Weinberger. He praised the parks employees who helped turn the North Beach Campground into a low-barrier shelter for homeless folks and the staff who cooked up online programs once the Fletcher Free Library’s doors closed. And he gave a nod to Nanton, the CEDO worker who delivered diapers to a mom in need. “I’ve been issuing a lot of directives asking people to do a lot of challenging things,” Weinberger said. “It’s a time when government matters more than ever, and I think the team has been rising to that challenge.” m Contact: courtney@sevendaysvt.com

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Feedback « P.7

FOREIGN POLICY, ANYONE?

Keeping us safe? We already have more COVID-19 cases and deaths than any other country on the planet, and we’re teetering on the verge of economic catastrophe without the safeguards provided by most European nations, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. In case anyone’s unaware, the U.S. is the wealthiest but most unequal of comparable countries. I don’t see F-35s protecting “We the People” from these very real threats. Guess I don’t share the same enthusiasm for these hideously expensive killing machines as some of my neighbors. Brian J. Walsh

JERICHO

RAPE IS RAPE

I want to thank you for using the correct term, “rape,” in this article [Off Message: “‘Dark Cloud’ Over St. Albans PD After Officer Charged With Rape,” April 21]. You are setting a good example. I’m so very tired of seeing media downplay sex crimes through euphemisms.

[Re Last 7: “Bernie’s New Bro,” April 15]: I was disappointed that there was no mention of foreign policy in the list of six policies that vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders agree on. This stands in the face of our country recently walking out of a nuclear treaty with Russia, implementing a program to militarize space, having more than 7,000 punitive sanctions on countries around the world, placing a bounty on the head of the elected president of Venezuela, fostering regime change, and promulgating misinformation to incite suspicion of China, Russia, Venezuela … etc., etc. All this is based on the idea of “U.S. über alles.” This isolationist policy has caused us to lose standing in international affairs, and it will leave us in the dust. Yet American voters, fed by biased and terribly superficial news coverage, accept the above and continue to pay for their more than $700 billion price tag for “defense.” Does it not concern you that the middle class is decreasing in our country and increasing in China? I grieve for my country. Brenda Waters

HUNTINGTON

Julia Curry

BURLINGTON

WHAT ABOUT CHURCH STREET?

Recently the bus stop shelters on Burlington’s Cherry Street, across from the “hole,” were dismantled and taken away. That made sense since no buses stopped there. More importantly, though, it prevented the homeless from hanging out, often blocking the sidewalk and spewing endless cigarette smoke that pedestrians had to go through. In addition, the police don’t have to be called for the regular fights in that area anymore. But that’s Cherry Street. What about Church Street? This is an attractive thoroughfare for both residents and tourists, but there’s a caveat: no enforcement of rules. When you do see “patrols,” they’re always in pairs, chatting with their eyes on the ground. They never say, “Hey, can’t you read the signs: No smoking, cycling or skateboarding?!” Fines? One resident said that since these things usually get thrown out in court, nobody will lift a finger. “Hey, man, don’t you know Burlington’s a do-yourown-thing place?!” Freedumb. Yeah, I dig it. Tom MacDonald

BURLINGTON

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

HOME DISADVANTAGE

[Re Off Message: “In First Turn of ‘Spigot,’ Scott to Allow Some Vermont Businesses to Reopen,” April 17]: The governor’s decision to allow face-to-face real estate showings during the stay-at-home order reflects a lack of understanding of the realities of the real estate industry and undermines public health recommendations. Going into homes at this time endangers not only Realtors but also our communities. Our job involves significant contact that is challenging to avoid. We go into homes and touch all sorts of things, including doorknobs and light switches. To get in, we use a lockbox accessed by other Realtors. For a popular listing, that lockbox will likely be touched more than a dozen times in a day by different people. Realtors then touch the same doors, the same light switches and breathe the same air. For occupied properties, owners come home to a confined space that has been visited by up to several dozen people over the course of the day. There are other, safer ways our business can continue to operate during this time — such as allowing us to do pre-listing work like taking photos and virtual tours and to service pending transactions. However, permitting us to go into occupied properties with clients poses unnecessary risk. Even though it is optional, it forces Realtors to choose between their

livelihood and their — and the community’s — health. It also disadvantages real estate professionals who are parents of young children who have no current childcare option, and those with preexisting health conditions. The governor should revisit his decision and create a policy in line with public health recommendations. Pallas Ziporyn

SOUTH BURLINGTON

Ziporyn is a Realtor with Element Real Estate.

NOTHING ‘NORMAL’ ABOUT IT

[Re Off Message: “Scott Further Loosens Business Restrictions as Spread of Virus Slows,” April 24, and related stories]: The old propaganda machine is cranking away at full bore. And, unfortunately, we’re all buying into it. The nonstop chatter is: “We need to get back to normal; we can’t wait to get back to normal; normal is the new goal.” Perhaps the most prudent choice would be to not go back to normal. The normalcy of an inadequate and poorly run health care system and an inept government, and the normalcy of income inequality, which is way out of balance; the normalcy of people who are now receiving our praise and admiration slipping back into the shadows — people like grocery store workers, garbage collectors, janitors, housekeepers, truck drivers, delivery people, nurses, nurses’ aides, doctors, EMTs and factory workers. Instead of slipping back into normalcy, we now have the opportunity to make changes that will better allow us to deal with future episodes like this — episodes which will need to be faced by not only our country but the world at large. Robert Varga ISLE LA MOTTE

HUMANE BEINGS

There are massive moral risks when a system as brutal and fragile as incarceration is the primary solution to problems in our state and country [“Freedom Fighters,” April 15]. Societies and bureaucracies decide to take away people’s freedom, and now that there is a pandemic, we cannot shy away from a central question: Do we admit that incarceration was not as critical as claimed — and ethically release as many people as possible — or do we double down and sentence some incarcerated people to extrajudicial maiming or death by virus? Northwest State Correctional Facility is only one very visible example of how punitive sentencing can mutate into something

even more horrific. I don’t see why the incarcerated should bear the burden of an inadequate health response during a crisis. These times are extraordinary, but the state made the health of incarcerated people its responsibility when it took those people’s independence away. This should be an opportunity to reduce the prison population and adapt to the reality that such systems are rarely just. Furthermore, what is being done about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and facilities in Vermont? Notoriously cruel immigration forces continue to act like secret police, hunting human beings and increasing viral risk for many. ICE is being sued across the country due to its negligence regarding COVID-19 and confirmed cases inside its facilities, yet it continues to operate with far less transparency and few protections for the detained. Evolving beyond incarceration is the only humane option. Dan Quigley

WINOOSKI

BURN THIS

Kevin McCallum’s article [“Carbon Quandary,” October 9, 2019] and Brian Forrest’s letter [Feedback: “No Burn,” March 4] remind us that there is no such thing as “carbon neutral” — a selfdeception that has polluted Vermont’s politics for years. McCallum presents accounting for biomass carbon emissions as “new thinking.” He is being too polite. Just as we were aware of our unpreparedness for pandemics, and our awareness of global warming is now measurable in centuries (one since Svante Arrhenius, 1.5 since Eunice Newton Foote and nearly two since Joseph Fourier), everyone has known that burning trees is a bad idea. Everyone? Certainly everyone who should know: regulators, utilities, environmentalists, power producers, legislators. In Vermont Public Service Board Docket 5611 (circa 1992), biomass was one of many forms of electrical generation examined for environmental externalities. Everyone knew that burning wood emits at least as much carbon dioxide as burning coal. A point made by both McCallum and Forrest is spot-on: A district heating system based on the McNeil Generating Station would keep that plant in operation, something that cannot be allowed to happen. Obsolete and standing in the way of climate progress, McNeil deserves prompt closure. Peter Duval

UNDERHILL

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lifelines

OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

OBITUARIES

IN MEMORIAM

Amelia Evelyn Voicy Baggs

1980-2020 BURLINGTON, VT. Amelia Evelyn Voicy Baggs — disability rights advocate and a pioneer in the disability rights movement — lost her fight to live on April 11 at age 39. A prolific blogger, writer, artist, lecturer and poet, she made her home in Burlington, Vt. She loved friends, cats,

redwoods, books, crocheting and life! In summer you may have seen her in her wheelchair at the farmers market, or in winter seen her crocheted gloves, hats and scarves left in plastic bags on park benches with the note, “If you are cold please take these, I made them for

you.” You may have read her words online or in books, or seen her art in a local gallery. Many knew of Mel from her video “In My Language,” which she created as an act of developmental disability solidarity, illustrating how nonstandard ways of being in the world were as deep, rich and as valid

and Surgeons (MD) in 1945. He did his residency at City Hospital in Fall River, Mass., where he met his future wife, Lucile (Rondeau), who was a registered nurse at St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River. He began his private medical practice in 1946 in Derby, Vt., and always said it was the view from Baxter Park in Derby Line that sold him on Vermont. His wife, Lucile, helped him with his practice in the early years. Frank practiced in Derby for 40 years and was known throughout the Northeast Kingdom simply as “Doc.” Frank was a true “country doctor.” He made house calls

daily and was willing to see his patients at all hours and in all seasons. His office was in his home on Main Street in Derby, where patients came during office hours, no appointment necessary. As stated in an October 20, 2015, Congressional Record entry by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), “We would do well to learn from people like Dr. Frank Fiermonte. Motivated by the desire to serve his community and deliver the best care possible, for Dr. Fiermonte it was all about the patient.” He loved the people of the Northeast Kingdom and was a fixture in the local community for all the years he lived there — golfing at Newport Country Club, an original member of the Derby Lions Club, a member of the Elks Club, and the public health officer for the Town of Derby for many years. He was a very good bridge player (but not as good as his wife, she often reminded him). Dr. Fiermonte received anesthesia training under the tutelage of Dr. John Mazuzan Jr. at the Mary Fletcher

Dr. Frank Philip Fiermonte 1921-2020 SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT.

Dr. Frank Philip Fiermonte passed away peacefully at the age of 99 on April 21, 2020, in South Burlington, Vt. Born January 7, 1921, in Malden, Mass., Frank was the son of Italian immigrants Carmine Antonio Fierimonte and Marinetta (Bevilacqua) Fierimonte. Survivors include his two children, Paula of San Rafael, Calif., and her husband, Bill Hartman; and Philip of Burlington, Vt., and his wife, Irene Jednak. He was predeceased by his wife of 55 years, Lucile (Rondeau), in 2001, as well as by his daughter Judith Ann in June 2019 and his brother Stanley in 2013. He graduated from Malden Catholic High School, where he played third base for the legendary baseball coach Brother Gilbert. Frank graduated from the Massachusetts College of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) in 1944 and from the Kansas City University of Physicians

as those experienced by nondisabled people. Mel fought ableism for her very survival. She worked hard to live independently in her own apartment with support services. She was in an escalating battle to convince a failing local support system that her life had value. It became more difficult to attain adequate services and, without them, she weakened after having a regular flu. Mel’s untimely death is a heartbreaking loss to the disability community, where her writing became a gateway to self-understanding, acceptance and new perspectives on disability. You taught us so much, Mel! We mourn the life you did not get to finish. May the world grow into your wisdom. Rest in power and love. The family requests that remembrances in her name go to the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (autisticadvocacy.org).

Hospital in Burlington and provided anesthesia for the Newport surgeons for many years, in addition to his family practice. Frank and his wife, Lucile, retired to Venice, Fla., in 1986 but always came back to Orleans County during the summers, where they rented a camp on Lake Memphremagog in Newport. Frank’s family would like to thank the caregivers from the Residence at Quarry Hill for their loving care, as well as the compassionate caregivers from Bayada Hospice. A memorial gathering will be held in Newport, Vt., later this summer (COVID-19 restrictions permitting). Memorial contributions may be made to the Dailey Memorial Library, 101 Junior High Drive, Derby, VT 05829. Online condolences at curtisbritch.com. Arrangements are entrusted to the care of CurtisBritch & Bouffard Funeral Home, locally family owned and operated.

In Loving Remembrance of Pamela “Pia” Gale MAY 1, 1949-OCTOBER 10, 2019 You’d be 71 today. Friends and family are invited to celebrate you on Saturday, August 29, at 12:30 p.m. at our home in South Burlington. Bring a bottle of red wine to share! I miss you all the time, Pam. With love, Lynn

IN MEMORIAM

Ida McNamara 1956-2020

The celebration of life for Ida McNamara, scheduled for May 1, 2020, has been postponed until August 21, 2020, at the All Souls Interfaith Gathering, 291 Bostwick Farm Rd., Shelburne, VT at 1 p.m. Her full obituary is available in the Seven Days archive, February 11, 2020.

Want to memorialize a loved one in Seven Days? Post your remembrance online and in print at sevendaysvt.com/lifelines. Or contact us at lifelines@sevendaysvt.com or 865-1020, ext. 10.

Mark your family’s milestones in lifelines.

sevendaysvt.com/lifelines SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

arts news

Megan Stearns deep-cleaning Lines Studio

teaching multiple classes a day. Instructors must also adapt lesson plans for students dancing at home on hard surfaces or in small rooms. Lines Vermont opened last May and had just built “great momentum with our customer base” when the coronavirus hit, Stearns said. Catering to adults, it had been offering drop-in dance and fitness classes daily, as well as workshops and master classes by professional artists from companies such as the American Ballet Theatre. Online, the studio is offering fewer classes, and students pay by donation, starting at $5 per class, “so our daily revenue is a trickle,” Stearns said. But she and co-owner JUNE BUECHNER CARNEY wanted to make classes affordable to help people keep moving. They estimate that 20 percent of their patrons have shifted to online classes; the rest may not be able to dance at home or may not like the online experience. But dancers throughout New England — and as far-flung as Alaska, Florida and the UK — are taking the studio’s classes. Stearns and Carney hope those who live within driving distance will come to master classes once the studio reopens. They also wonder whether the pandemic is ushering in a “new era” of online dance instruction. Since the stay-at-home order, MARTHA MCAULIFFE, a South Burlington nurse, has continued taking at least two classes weekly, in hip-hop and ballet, at Lines Vermont. She finds it hard to get uninterrupted time in her house and misses the energy of dancing with others. But she appreciates the time she saves by not driving to the studio and the chance to try new dance styles. “I registered for a jazz funk class this week, and I am so thankful to be able to take the class at home with the camera option off, just in case I’m a disaster,” McAuliffe wrote by email. ABBEY SNOW, who has competed in Irish dance for most of her life, began learning ballet at Lines Vermont in January. The Milton college student has found that dancing in her family’s small living room invites her to move in new ways and that her appreciation of dance has intensified. “Dance has always been a part of my life … a stress relief, but now it’s a lifeline,” Snow realized. She calls her weekly dance class “a moving meditation. It grounds me mentally and pushes me physically. After this, I will never take an in-person class for granted.”

DANCE

Dance studios, students and artists improvise through the pandemic B Y E LI ZA B ETH M. SEYL ER

f necessity is the mother of invention, the pandemic is the mother of improvisation. While many Vermonters are finding creative ways to cope during the stay-at-home order, artists who depend on human interaction are being extra resourceful. Dancers, in particular, face unique challenges because they typically teach, create and perform in kinesthetic interaction with each other. Seven Days reached out to dance studio owners, instructors, students and artists to ask how they’re responding to the coronavirus era. Most dance studios “rose to the occasion,” said HANNA SATTERLEE, executive director of the VERMONT DANCE ALLIANCE, a nonprofit organization that supports dance in the state. At many studios, students of all ages enroll by the term (fall, spring and summer) and pay in advance, or monthly, for classes in everything from ballet and modern to yoga and Pilates. 22

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

The stay-at-home order fell smack in the middle of the spring term, so studio owners sprang into action to honor their obligations to students — and staff — by providing online instruction. CONTEMPORARY DANCE AND FITNESS STUDIO

in Montpelier offers 50 weekly classes and employs 12 instructors, said director ALLISON MANN. Since mid-March, she and her team have been teaching via Zoom and using cellphones and cameras to record instructional videos for their YouTube channel. “We are keeping them moving, which is just so crucial,” Mann said. “So many of these kids are sitting in front of computers to do their schoolwork.” SPOTLIGHT VERMONT serves nearly 400 students per week at its studios in South Burlington, Vergennes and Middlebury, said director JEN BARDEN. She and her 13 instructors have also been teaching via Zoom and videos.

“I’m teaching my 14 classes downstairs in the basement,” Barden said. She has reduced tuition rates because “they’re not getting the same experience as they would in the classroom.” Although some patrons have insisted on paying full fare, the business is taking a financial hit. Barden, like other studio owners, applied for and received federal coronavirus relief loans. But if her business faltered, “I would feel good because I went … above and beyond,” she said. “It’s so much more work to do a Zoom class than to go into the classroom and teach, but it’s so worth it.” MEGAN STEARNS, co-owner of LINES VERMONT studio and store in South Burlington, explained why teaching online is hard. In person, she demonstrates a few things, and then watches students execute them, calling out encouragement. But online, brief demonstrations don’t provide enough information. She has to dance “full out” along with her students, which is exhausting when

COURTESY OF JUNE BUECHNER CARNEY

Keep Moving

GOT AN ARTS TIP? ARTNEWS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Limits on in-person interaction can be for August, have been postponed until particularly hard for dance artists. “Indi- summer 2021. In development since vidual artists are at a total halt,” Satterlee 2016, the work is sited on the water at the said, “because you can’t rehearse, you Wells-Lamson Quarry in Barre. Dennican’t plan, you definitely can’t fundraise.” son marveled in an email that “one of the Burlington’s TOBY MACNUTT postponed roots of this piece was the question, ‘How the preview performance of their first-ever do you create intimacy in such a vast solo show, A Singular space?’ That question They, due to the applied to the six-acre quarry and now applies pandemic. MacNutt to our reality under the (who prefers they/ Plague.” them pronouns) had been about to conclude Dennison and many a New England in her ensemble are Center for Circus Arts trained “in the art of improvisation,” which residency. Stuck in a small apartment with “is all about inhabiting limited movement the unknown, learnAB B E Y S N OW options, MacNutt ing to trust in self and improvises weekly with a colleague online others, honing our ability to respond, but wrote by email, “My art is in a confused, opening to something bigger than planned grieving, anxious and tapped-out place … paying attention,” she wrote. along with the rest of me.” Since March, the group has improvised ERIKA SENFT MILLER, who creates large, to remain “together apart,” and this intipublic, site-specific events, has added macy has altered the dancers and the work. writing and drawing to her movement “We now really know how interconnected practice. “Art is what I do when every- we are, how dependent on each other,” thing else falls away,” she said. She’s Dennison wrote, calling these discoveries grateful for a home life that allows her “a gift — for the project, for the ensemble, to make art and is finding new “multi- for the individuals involved, for the future sensory inspiration in my immediate audience … We are changed.” m environment.” But like other dancers contacted for this story, she misses the Contact: elizabeth@sevendaysvt.com physicality of dancing with others. “You can only roll around on the floor or lean INFO against a tree for so long.” Learn about financial and other resources Performances of HANNAH DENNISON’s for dancers at vermontdance.org and Smart The Quarry Project, originally scheduled Artist Vermont on Facebook.

Virtual art and activities curated by Burlington City Arts, keeping our community together through the arts.

Navigate virtual gallery tours from current and past exhibitions and download art-making activity guides

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AFTER THIS,

I WILL NEVER TAKE AN IN-PERSON CLASS FOR GRANTED.

Jen Barden teaching an online dance class from her basement

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COURTESY OF TIM BARDEN

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arts news

Gearing Up

Matt Renna makes items for health care workers and the housebound B Y MA R GA R ET GR AYSON

and therefore more vulnerable to the spread of illness. Highly contagious patients, including those with the coronavirus, are sometimes placed in negative-pressure rooms. These rooms have ventilation that allows air to flow into the room but not out of it, preventing pathogens from escaping through the air. VIVEK CHITTENINI, a UVM Medical Center anesthesiology resident, had seen smaller versions of these negative-pressure chambers used to encapsulate stretchers so that patients could be moved without risk to medical staff. The medical center reached out to Renna, who took the design a step further. His pods contain only the patient’s torso and have protected glove inserts so that hospital staff can perform tasks close to the patient’s face without risking exposure. The design is a mash-up of materials, including HEPA filters designed for ash vacuums and fans originally made for indoor gardening. The pod is undergoing rigorous testing at the medical center to make sure it’s airtight and will meet standards set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If all goes as planned, Renna said he’ll make 10 of them this week for the medical center. He also plans to make the designs and instructions available via open-source software to help anyone with the right equipment make them. Handmade shoes and hospital equipment might seem to represent opposite ends of the manufacturing spectrum. But Renna has made a career of finding ways to efficiently make high-end goods; in 2018 he launched Queen City MFG to provide design, development and manufacturing to others. If someone has an idea for a shoe — or a backpack or, in one case, a rehabilitative ankle brace for horses — Renna can turn the idea into a prototype and help figure out where and how it can be manufactured. “I basically just kind of adapted to being a product developer, [answering questions such as] ‘How can we make things in larger quantities?’ and specializing in doing development as a service,” he said. “Not just for my own products but for other companies.” Renna said he loves the design phase: tinkering with and adjusting a product until it’s just right. And the machinery he has is an efficient resource in a pandemic. Beyond the

BUSINESS

Vermont House Shoes by Queen City Dry Goods

extubation pods, he’s also cutting elastic bands for face shields made at the GENERATOR maker space. The bands are disposable for sanitation reasons, so Renna has been cutting 4,000 new ones per day. He hopes that, once the pod design is finalized, he can direct some of his attention back to shoemaking. “I know I can make the house shoes by myself. At least to start, I can probably make 10 or 15 pairs a week,” he said. “But if more people want these extubation pods, I’m trying to figure out how we’re going to scale that up … There are a lot of questions.” But, Renna said, he’s just happy to be able to help. Contact: margaret@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Learn more at queencitydrygoods.com, qcitymfg.com or on Instagram. COURTESY OF JEFF BARON

t’s a lucky coincidence that MATT RENNA, founder of Queen City Dry Goods, is releasing a line of house shoes at a time when an unprecedented number of people are staying home. Renna has had a passion for footwear since he first taught himself to make shoes more than 20 years ago, and the house shoe has been in the works for a while. “We thought it was a great place to start to build a factory in Vermont making footwear — to come out with our own take on a house shoe that’s a little more stylish and fitted and fun to wear than your typical slipper,” Renna said. The shoes are made from locally sourced leather, with a design honed through years of trial and error. “Every year, I make a slipper or a house shoe, so it’s something I’ve been working on for my whole career,” Renna said. “I’m always working on developing new shoes for myself, for whatever I’m doing … It’s something that serves my own lifestyle in that way. Every year I like to revisit it with new materials and apply my new knowledge.” Though the house shoe design is finalized, the actual making will have to wait a few more days, because Renna is currently wrapping up a different project: a portable negativepressure pod, developed in collaboration with the University of Vermont Medical Center, to protect hospital staff when they’re performing procedures such as extubations. When a doctor puts a tube down a patient’s airway to help them breathe, or removes it — an intubation or an extubation, respectively — the doctor is close to the patient’s face

Negative pressure extubation pod

RENNA HAS MADE A CAREER OF

FINDING WAYS TO EFFICIENTLY MAKE HIGH-END GOODS.

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

Matt Renna and Jezebel

GOT AN ARTS TIP? ARTNEWS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Pandemic Pastimes 2

ARTS

A weekly roundup of virtual ventures from Vermonters B Y PAMEL A PO LSTO N

he online offerings from Vermont’s incessantly creative sector continue unabated. Seven Days has reported on many virtual activities, both in print and on our Live Culture blog, since the coronavirus pandemic began and everyone hunkered down. Even with a crack of light in the “reopening” of Vermont, most of us are still keeping our social distance and settling in to month two of staying at home. And by “settling,” we mean “going stir-crazy.” So we continue to count the ways to keep you occupied and maybe sane. This week we’re sticking with the categories “Watch” and “Do.” m

WATCH

vtiff.org

The visual arts offer oh-so-many alluring rabbit holes, from virtual tours of 2,500 museums around the globe to the many wee and witty homemade pet museums. (A Yayoi Kusama-inspired room for a cosseted

graphic (along with activity suggestions), then do your arty thing and share it on social; Helen Day is collecting the results online. For instance, you could paint a rock, chalk your sidewalk, decorate your children/ partner/roommate’s face, try folding your clothes in interesting new ways or, oh, design a museum for your chickens. If your current mood skews darker than rainbow hues, just go ahead and make your star in black. No judgment.

highlandartsvt.org

helenday.com/online

Helen Day Art Center color wheel

COURTESY OF PAMELA POLSTON

The VERMONT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL has been branding itself “the only theater in town” and, until we can pile into movie houses again, that is entirely accurate. VTIFF recently launched its Virtual Cinema program, which offers films online for a limited time period. Fifty percent of the purchase price ($12) supports the nonprofit film fest. One film available for viewing through April 30 is the 2019 documentary Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint, about the turnof-the-(20th)-century artist and mystic. The long-delayed discovery of her abstract works — created before male artists got all the credit for abstraction — upended some long-held assumptions in the canon. A 201819 retrospective of af Klint’s paintings at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City set the art world abuzz. Other films available this month include Erde (Earth), also a 2019 documentary, that explores locations where humans have significantly altered the physical terrain; Thousand Pieces of Gold (1990), about a young Chinese woman sold into servitude in an American mining town in the 1880s; and Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band (2019), which is pretty much what it sounds like. See the website for upcoming films.

lizard? Oh, yes.) Vermonters are no slouches in the quarantine-era viewing department. This week we bring you Pigment & Paper, from the HIGHLAND CENTER FOR THE ARTS in Greensboro, which abundantly manifests the center’s declaration, “The show must go online.” The crowdsourced gallery shows work submitted by artists, along with their statements, and an opportunity for viewers to comment. It’s not exactly a “talkback,” but hey. Click on a work — say, a varnished watercolor of a forest scene by SUSAN WAHLRAB — to find a carousel-style presentation of four paintings. “I have found this pandemic has enhanced my awareness of how grateful I am to live in Vermont,” Wahlrab writes, “and have a studio deep in the woods to paint images of the spirit of nature.” The call to artists for Pigment & Paper is ongoing; send “poems, painting, sketches, short stories — all forms of expression.” See the website for submission details.

Installation view of Hilma af Klint paintings at the Guggenheim Museum, 2018

The HELEN DAY ART CENTER in Stowe recently launched a public art challenge accompanied by, of course, a hashtag: #helendaycreates. Its spiffy logo, combining an eight-pointed color wheel inside a black-line graphic of the same shape, is also its “prompt” for creative expression. Helen Day’s website calls it “a new symbol of gratitude, hope and unity.” To participate, download the printable

Look, this one has nothing to do with the coronavirus! Remember the climate crisis? Remember Earth Day? Yeah, that was last Wednesday. And that’s when the SUSTAINABLE MONTPELIER COALITION announced What Comes Next? A Writers Competition for Creative People. Offering cash prizes for short stories, essays and graphic stories, the competition asks entrants to “imagine what Central Vermont will be like in the year 2047.” And forget dystopian fantasies; the organization is looking for innovative solutions to the effects of climate change and the aftereffects of COVID-19. In 2017, Sustainable Montpelier split off from Net Zero Vermont and established its mission “to inspire and empower the Montpelier community to develop a plan for a climate-resilient, economically sustainable and socially just future that models successful innovation.” In the ensuing years the nonprofit has given presentations and sponsored roundtables and community projects, in cooperation with local officials, to address such issues as transit and parking, water quality, housing, and more. Pretty much everyone on the planet noticed a sharp decline in carbon emissions since we’ve been staying at home in the pandemic — a fact that underscores

the impact of human behavior and wanton use of fossil fuels. While mindful of global phenomena, Sustainable Montpelier is focused on changes that can be made in Vermont’s capital city. That’s where the writers competition comes in. “We’re in the interesting position that people know there will be climate disruptions, and now we know [because of the pandemic] there will be economic disruptions,” said cofounder and executive director DAN JONES. “What we’re seeing with the quarantine is, maybe we need to think differently [about] how to adapt. How do we get the best ideas?” Why establish the year 2047? “Because it’s not 2030,” development strategist ELIZABETH COURTNEY said in a phone interview, referring to the multiple-of-10 dates typically used when envisioning the future. “We want people to be as specific as possible … If the writers are really specific, we think we’ll get better ideas.” Besides, Courtney quipped, “2047 just happens to be when I turn 100.” The contest is open to youth (up to age 20) and adults, and the deadline is June 23. “We have a very impressive list of judges, who will come up with the best five [entries] in each category,” Jones explained. “Then we’ll offer those to the public online; the public can read and vote on the winners. “This is an opportunity to imagine the future we want,” Jones continued, “rather than the one we fear.” See the website for competition details. sustainablemontpelier.org

Contact: pamela@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Got a virtual venture of your own? Email artnews@sevendaysvt.com. SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

Fuel the Fight Against COVID-19 Our army of volunteers raises funds from the community to support local restaurants and feed heroes working on the front lines.

t started with a simple question: How can we help? As it turns out, there were people all over the country asking the same question. And what began as independent efforts with a shared vision have now become a uniﬁed movement with a shared mission: Save local restaurants who have been impacted by shelter-in-place orders while supporting those doing battle on the front lines. Frontline Foods is a grassroots organization that raises money from the community to pay local restaurants to prepare meals for the heroes responding

to the COVID-19 crisis. Fueled by a growing army of more than 500 volunteers across the U.S., 51 chapters of Frontline Foods have together raised over $4.1 million and delivered more than 190,000 meals to frontline workers in over 275 hospitals nationwide — so far. And we’re not doing it alone. We’ve recently partnered with World Central Kitchen — an international nonproﬁt relief program led by chef José Andrés — to scale the reach of our program. World Central Kitchen is a 501c3, so all donations to Frontline Foods are 100 percent tax deductible.

P R O D U C E D B Y 7 D B R A N D S T U D I O — P A I D F O R B Y P O M E R L E A U R E A L E S TAT E 26

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Frontline Foods Vermont Frontline Foods Vermont is a grassroots effort with a local team of eight volunteers working together. Sher Tsai is the founder and also a registered nurse. 100 percent of funds donated to Frontline Foods Vermont goes right back into our local restaurants! In three weeks, Frontline Foods Vermont has raised $88,100. This is absolutely incredible, and we are humbled by the support of our Vermont community. While this is a great amount raised, we are spending it quickly. As of April 24, 2020, we have served 917 meals to various units in the hospital (the ER, ICUs, the labs, and three medical ﬂoors serving COVID-19 patients), as well as to South Burlington ﬁrst responders and Birchwood Terrace Rehab and Healthcare. And we have worked with 12 restaurants: the Great Northern, Pucinella’s, Poco, El Cortijo, Agave, Grazers, Drifters, Dedalus, Waterworks, the Scale, Blank Page Café, and the Shelburne Tap House.

Gratitude for Frontline Foods Vermont How You Can Help 100 percent of donations* go directly to local restaurants feeding frontline workers:

$50

“Words cannot express how grateful our staff is here in the Medical Intensive Care Unit for your generosity and for the delicious meals you delivered. Having people in our community take care of us, so we can take care of our community, means so much to each of us. We are so thankful for the love and support from our families, neighbors, friends and community. It truly does take a village and we are grateful to all of you for being part of ours!” DEBORAH HEBERT, MSN, RN, CNML Nurse Manager, Medical Intensive Care Unit, University of Vermont Medical Center

“Time with each other away from the stress of the department is one of the healthiest ways we can stay sane and connected to one another, even when there’s not a pandemic going on. That’s the real gift you gave them tonight.” KRISTIN BAKER, Emergency Department Manager, University of Vermont Medical Center

Feeds three to ﬁve frontline workers

$100 Feeds a team of ﬁve to 10

$500 Feeds a small ER/ICU department

$1,000 Feeds a large ER/ICU department

$5,000 Provides a daily meal for roughly 50 frontline workers for one week *Excluding credit card processing and Classy's fees. For donation questions or other ways to give, please email Frontline Foods or visit our website.

Together, we can thank our brave health care heroes and others on the front lines, and keep our restaurant community strong.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Making a Donation The easiest and fastest way to help is by making a donation online through Frontline Foods at frontlinefoods.org/vermont. However, if you need to send a check, make it out to World Central Kitchen (our 501c3 nonproﬁt sponsor) and send it to World Central Kitchen, 1342 Florida Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. 20009. IMPORTANT: Please put Frontline Foods Vermont in the memo line in order for funds to stay in Vermont.

Attention, restaurants and frontline workers Want to participate in this program? Sign up to make meals — or to receive them — at

frontlinefoods.org/vermont.

CO M M ISSIO NED A ND PAI D FOR BY SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT BY KEN PICARD

“

he time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining,” said president John F. Kennedy during his 1962 State of the Union address. His aphorism applies equally well to filling potholes, upgrading storm drains and repaving streets, especially since the coronavirus shutdown has cleared the roads of most vehicles. As of last week, traffic counts on state highways and interstates were down 65 percent from pre-pandemic levels, according to the Vermont Agency of Transportation. This is despite gasoline prices that haven’t been so low since Vermonters were sweating the potential impacts of Y2K. With most people spending more time in web traffic than in highway traffic, are public works departments and VTrans capitalizing on this collective lull? If only. Even as Vermont’s most reliable indicators of spring — crocuses, robins, deer ticks — reemerged, road crews did not. On March 24, Gov. Phil Scott signed Addendum 6 to his March 13 state of emergency declaration, idling any construction projects not deemed essential to public health and safety. Ordinarily, VTrans would have 65 to 80 projects ramping up for the season, and 30 to 40 percent would have started by April 15, according to Jeremy Reed, a state construction engineer. That didn’t happen.

With So Few Cars Out There, When Will Roadwork Begin? “We shut down the majority of our projects with the exception of the ones deemed an emergency,” he added. Those include a tunnel project in Middlebury and the replacement of a drawbridge in North Hero. Jeff Wennberg, commissioner of public works for the City of Rutland, said his crews are ready to hit the roads once they get the green light. “We’ve got quite a bit of work backed up. We’ve always got a long list after the winter,” Wennberg said. On top of the routine spring work of filling potholes and repairing snowplow damage that ordinarily would be done by now, he noted, in March Rutland passed a $45 million bond issue to catch up on years of deferred road maintenance. However, due to the delayed start and the amount of new construction scheduled for this year, which Wennberg estimated will be double or even triple the normal volume, “We’re going to be burning a lot of overtime, and we’re going to be very busy through this summer. It’s going to be a ton of work.” Likewise, Chapin Spencer, Burlington’s director of public works, said he’s still expecting “an ambitious construction season”; bids for sidewalk replacements and street paving came in last week. About the only major project he believes will be

delayed is the relining of city water mains. That project, which involves hooking up homes to temporary water supplies, won’t be feasible with residents still under a stay-at-home order. Otherwise, he said, his crews are healthy and ready to return. Matt Musgrave, government affairs director of the Associated General Contractors of Vermont, said he’s eager to see roadwork resume. AGC represents nearly 200 companies doing residential, commercial and civil construction, which collectively employ 15,000 to 16,000 workers. Musgrave likened the last month to “the seven stages of coping” with grief. For a time, he said, Vermont was the only state in the country that didn’t allow outdoor construction during its stay-at-home order. Though his people were champing at the bit, especially during a milder-thannormal spring, Musgrave said his organization rejected the idea of demanding the right to return to work, calling it “a failing strategy. “There are protests occurring at construction sites in other states” to reopen early, Musgrave continued. “We don’t want to do that. We want to show the public that when we go back out there, it’s going to be [done] responsibly.” That was more than a mere publicrelations decision. As Musgrave pointed out, the median age of AGC-affiliated

MSTIME.C PT | DREA © IQONCE

workers is 55, and Vermont already had a workforce shortage before the pandemic struck. The last thing they need right now, he said, is to make it worse by having employees out sick with COVID-19. But last week, Scott’s “spigot” turned on again, if only at a trickle. As of April 20, the governor allowed “micro-crews” of no more than two people to perform construction work outdoors and in unoccupied structures. Employees must wear masks over their noses and mouths at all times and maintain six-foot social distancing while on job sites. While two-person crews can easily fill potholes, what does that restriction mean for major infrastructure projects? There’s a lot of nuance to the twoperson rule, said Reed at VTrans. Flaggers 150 feet away on either end of a two-person crew won’t count toward the crew size. Likewise, because many state highway projects are “long and linear,” meaning they span several miles, crews aren’t necessarily sharing tools or coming into close contact with one another and hence wouldn’t violate the two-person limit. “Obviously, washing your hands with soap and water on a construction site is not the easiest thing to do,” he added. “We’re using a lot of hand sanitizer.” But even as the state further loosens its worksite restrictions, Musgrave said he expects that certain protective measures will remain in place. For example, if he has, say, 40 people working on a job site, they may be divided into groups of five, with staggered shifts and lunch breaks and no intermingling among groups. The reason: If one worker shows up with COVID symptoms, all 40 employees won’t have to be quarantined. What does all this mean for motorists once Vermont’s stay-at-home order is relaxed? Notwithstanding this month’s vacant roads, expect to see traffic cones and reduced lanes into the summer and fall. And while most of us will be eager to return to our pre-pandemic lives, slowing down and maintaining good social distancing from construction crews while driving through work zones will, in another way, protect lives. m Contact: ken@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Got a Vermont head-scratcher that has you stumped? Ask us! wtf@sevendaysvt.com.

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

Fabulous Feline Foto Contest

WINNERS!

HSCC’s 2nd Annual Fabulous Feline Foto Contest was a big success & a whole lot of fun! We received a total of 87 photo submissions and over 7,500 votes, and we raised $10,162! Thank you to everyone who participated & supported HSCC with their donations. Since 1901, HSCC has been providing services for animals & humans alike in our community. Funds raised will help fulfill our mission, strengthen our programs, & care for the more than 1,000 animals that come through our doors each year.

Humane

Society of Chittenden County

SPONSORED BY:

People’s Choice

PIPER & SIMON

“Mi nombre es Simon! I was adopted by my parents when they lived in Indiana three years ago. I was in rough shape when I was adopted. I had asthma and stomatitis (gum inflammation), but my parents were able to treat those conditions so I can live my best life! I may have no teeth, but I will never turn down a meal or treats. It’s no big deal, because without teeth the food can get to my stomach faster! My name is Piper! My mom and dad adopted me from HSCC in 2019 after traveling all the way from Florida. As you can see, I only have one eye. I also was born without eyelids, so HSCC teamed with an awesome veterinarian to provide me with at least one eyelid! Now, sporting my new eyelid, I can play with my brother without the fear of eye irritation!”

Judges’ Pick

CHARLIE

“Charlie was rescued at the Humane Society of Chittenden County 2 months ago. She enjoys her catnip toys and snuggling in the sun with her older brother, Brody. She loves to beg at the table and steal food off your plate. Her eyes are hard to say no to.” 1T-HSCC042920.indd 1

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

4/28/20 5:52 PM

RETAIL THERAPY BY DAN BOLLES & KRISTEN RAVIN

Eyes and Ears

Seven items for reading and listening, and where to buy them locally COURTESY OF LUKE AWTRY

n April 6, Forbes published a piece with an eye-catching — and stomach-turning — headline: “Americans Are Excessively Eating, Drinking, Smoking Pot, Playing Video Games and Watching Porn While Quarantined.” Though one could argue that each of those activities is fine in moderation, binging can quickly lead to burnout. So what else is there to do while Vermonters are encouraged to stay home and stay safe? Thankfully, local businesses offer plenty of options in the reading and listening departments. From record and bookstores to live music venues and electronics sellers, many of the state’s small businesses are ready and waiting to serve customers, even though their doors are closed to slow the spread of COVID-19. According to Burlington Records owner Ian Doerner, area businesses are prepared to go above and beyond for shoppers. “Everybody who’s local — you want something, you want a record, you want a new rug or something — we’re all here for you, and we all really appreciate the support, so that means you’re gonna get what you want real quick,” he said in a phone interview with Seven Days. “Someone can just order an LP … on the website or give me a call, and you can come down to the shop and pick it up in an hour.” In this week’s installment of our weekly series spotlighting local shopping options, we’ve compiled some items for your eyes and ears — think headphones, Mad Libs and even a personal livestream concert. Whether you’re looking to learn something or simply escape reality for an hour or two, these Vermont retailers can set you on the right path. If you don’t see your favorite retailers here, seek them out; this list is by no means comprehensive.

Travel may not be an option these days, but lit lovers know that books can transport readers to faraway 30

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

HOW TO BUY: Visit phoenixbooks.biz to order

from Phoenix Books, with locations in Essex Junction, Burlington and Rutland. ALSO TRY: Magnetic Poetry Kits from Common Deer in Burlington (commondeer.com). K.R.

BUSINESS

AFTERLIFE BY JULIA ALVAREZ

a little harmless fun while, as the book’s description puts it, “celebrating the crazy drama that all families experience, including your own!”

TOTE BAG Harrison Hsiang of the Couchsleepers

places — and provide a view of the world through another’s eyes. Published on April 7, We y b r i d g e a u t h o r Ju l i a Alvarez’s novel Afterlife follows Antonia Vega, a recently retired college English instructor navigating big changes — namely, her husband’s unexpected death and the arrival of a pregnant, undocumented teen at her home. The latest book from the bestselling author of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents considers a timely question: “How do we live in a broken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves?” Order from the Vermont Book Shop in Middlebury. Visit vermontbookshop.com, call 388-2061 or email becky@vermontbookshop.com. ALSO TRY: The Red Lotus by fellow Weybridge author Chris Bohjalian from Next Chapter Bookstore in Barre (nextchapterbooksvt.indielite.org). HOW TO BUY:

K.R.

VINYL SUBSCRIPTION

A package arriving at your doorstep can provide a glimmer of excitement amid the tediousness of quarantine. For music lovers, Buch Spieler Records, a downtown Montpelier staple dealing in new and used

What better time for a deep dive into an artist’s catalog than a government-mandated lockdown period? Though Burlington Records is closed to in-person shoppers, its website is brimming with merch for music

records and audio equipment, continues its ongoing vinyl subscription service. For one month, six months or a year, subscribers receive one new and one used record delivered by bike or post. Not a big fan of this old-school playback format? A CD subscription is also available. HOW TO BUY: Subscribe at buchspielerrecords.com. ALSO TRY: Hard-to-find records sold in Burlington book and music store Speaking Volumes’ online Discogs shop (speakingvolumesvt.com).

K.R.

‘MY BLEEPING FAMILY MAD LIBS’

Choose a noun, an adjective and an expletive. Geared toward adults, the “My Bleeping Family Mad Libs” paperback challenges relatives to put their vocabularies to use filling in the blanks in stories about everything from holidays gone awry to challenging kin. Quarantined clans have

lovers. Amid new and used albums, record collectors will find the shop’s branded tote bags. Available in black or cream, these screen-printed sacks are the perfect size for carrying your Burlington Records haul after a curbside purchase. HOW TO BUY: Order at burlingtonrecords.com

for shipping, local delivery or curbside pickup. ALSO TRY: Logo T-shirt from Autumn Records in Winooski (autumnrecordsvt.com). K.R.

GIFT CARD

Burlington restaurant and live music venue Nectar’s recently launched its first online store, offering hoodies, trucker hats and other gear bearing the iconic club’s logo. The Queen City establishment known as the

Blooming Flower Pendants Available at elmharris.com

This Mother’s Day

WE HAVE YOUR

place where Phish got their start is also selling gift cards redeemable as soon as the venue’s doors swing open. Cards are available in denominations of $10, $25 and $50. Snag one and keep it in your wallet as a little reminder of concerts to come. HOW TO BUY: Order at liveatnectars.com for

shipping. ALSO TRY: A gift card from the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro (highlandartsvt.org). K. R.

SONY MDR-XB550AP WIRED 3.5MM ON-EAR HEADPHONES

Is your roommate driving you mad by blasting true crime podcasts or their favorite nu metal albums at full volume? Consider sending them a passiveaggressive message with a pair of Sony MDR-XB550AP Wired 3.5mm On-Ear Headphones from Small Dog Electronics in Burlington. With cushioned earpads, extra bass and a built-in mic for phone calls, this sonic accessory should help you and your quarantine companion keep your sounds to yourselves. at shop.smalldog.com or call 800-511-6227 for shipping or curbside pickup. ALSO TRY: Prism Vermont Bluetooth Speaker from the University of Vermont Bookstore in Burlington (uvmbookstore. uvm.edu).

“We wanted to do something to help relieve the actual coronavirus,” explained front person Harrison Hsiang.

give her blooms that never fade

BAKING NEEDS COVERED! Stocking flour, yeast and more

Donate $10 or more to 8 SO. MAIN STREET directrelief.org. Then email your receipt ST. ALBANS to Couchsleepers at somnogram@ 524-3769 couchsleepers.com to set up a personal elmharris.com Curbside pick-up available 225-6584 • c f mini concert. ALSO TRY: Couchsleepers’ latest album R A I LC I T Y M A R K E T V T.CO M Only When It’s Dark from couchsleepers. bandcamp.com. The band is donating proceeds from Bandcamp sales to the12v-RailCityMarket041520.indd 1 4/13/2012v-elmharris042920indd.indd 5:27 PM 1 We are thrilled Vermont Foodbank. HOW TO BUY:

4/27/20 12:51 PM to welcome Dr. Morika Ogawa, DVM to our practice.

D.B.

INFO

Dr Morika grew up in Middlebury where she developed a strong connection to the mountains, woods & fields of her childhood home. Although she first approached veterinary medicine through her love of horses, she decided to focus on companion animal medicine for her career. Outside of work her interests include skiing, hiking, ceramics, reading and cooking. She is so excited to be joining the team at Ark!

Retail Therapy is a column about shopping local in the coronavirus era. Got a product or store suggestion? Email carolyn@sevendaysvt.com.

5070 Shelburne Rd, Shelburne

802-985-5233

8H-ArkVetHosp042920.indd 1

arkvet.vet 4/27/20 2:11 PM

HOW TO BUY: Order

K. R.

COUCHSLEEPERS’ DONATION JUKEBOX

Countless Vermont bands have turned to livestreaming concerts in place of in-person gigs. A few, such as Burlington’s Couchsleepers, are using such platforms for altruistic ends. The local indie band has launched a unique series called Donation Jukebox, which treats fans to personal mini shows if they donate to Direct Relief, a national organization that provides personal protective equipment for medical professionals.

IF YOU NEED TO KEEP ROLLING ... WE'VE GOT YOUR BACK Here at GG we are committed to safety first and have in place comprehensive distancing and disinfection protocols to protect our customers and employees. 660-0055

girlingtongarage.com

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Say you saw it in...

QUALITY CAR CARE, DELIVERED WITH RESPECT. 3/23/20 1:31 PM

NOW IN sevendaysvt.com SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

3D!

At a Loss Coping with death in the age of a pandemic B Y C HEL SEA ED GAR

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

Since the burial, Marguerite has immersed herself in the business of settling her brother’s affairs, but in the midst of a pandemic, even the most mundane acts of closure are fraught with difficulty. Recently, she spent an entire afternoon trying to disconnect Roger’s cellphone number, to no avail. The Verizon store in South Burlington is closed to walk-in customers, and she couldn’t get a human being on the line to help her through the process. “It’s so strange,” said Marguerite. “It’s like it’s not finished, like he’s not gone.”

JIM DUVAL

arguerite Meunier’s brother, Roger Guillemette, died of COVID -19 at Birchwood Terrace Rehab and Healthcare in Burlington on April 14. He was 68. A few hours before he passed away, Marguerite said her last words to him over the phone — that she loved him, that he had been a good brother, that he wasn’t alone. He was silent, but the nurse who propped the phone against his ear told Marguerite that he seemed to be listening. Marguerite’s mother, Cecile Guillemette, still lives on the dairy farm in Shelburne where she raised her seven children, two of whom she had buried before Roger. Marguerite, the eldest, lives nearby; her other siblings all settled within 20 miles of the homestead. Their family has always been an inseparable unit, pragmatic and spontaneous in their displays of affection. Before the days of social distancing, they would drop by each other’s houses unannounced for coffee or to borrow each other’s trucks for random hauling jobs. The morning after Roger died, Marguerite went to the farm to tell her mother the news. They sat in her kitchen and cried, six feet apart and unable to hug one another. “My mother is 98 years old,” said Marguerite. “I didn’t want it to be the last hug.” Roger worked for 32 years as a custodian at Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School in South Burlington. He never married or had children; the farm was the center of his universe. “He loved farming. He loved being around machinery, being around animals, around family,” Marguerite said. Roger, who had diabetes, had prearranged his memorial service in 2016 and selected his plot at Resurrection Park, a Catholic cemetery behind St. John Vianney Church in South Burlington. He had wanted a large gathering for his family, which spans five generations. But his funeral, held in the cemetery on the cold, overcast morning of April 16 — “a typical funeral day, where it’s just bleak,” as Marguerite put it — was limited to 10 people. Marguerite and her siblings made sure Cecile was warm and comfortable in her folding chair at Roger’s graveside, and then everyone kept their distance.

‘A death unlike any other death’

As of press time, 47 people in Vermont have died of COVID-19, well below the fatality rate of the worst-casescenario projections. But in this moment, a death for any reason presents its own set of unprecedented complications. One of the pandemic’s cruelest ironies is that it has marooned people in illness and grief, separating loved ones when they most need one another’s physical presence. Across the state and the country, visits to hospitals and nursing homes have been banned or severely restricted. Memorial services have been postponed indefinitely, replaced by burials at which no more than 10 people can be present, and only then while standing six feet apart. Making funeral arrangements has become a touchless transaction, which poses a significant challenge for older generations. “We’re doing almost everything by phone and email, and, for the most part, we’re dealing with a generation that’s used to coming in and making arrangements in person,” said Michele Ready Ambrosino, director of Ready Funeral & Cremation Services in Burlington, with whom Roger planned his memorial. “Some of them don’t have access to email.” In hospitals and nursing facilities where patients are being treated for the coronavirus, death has become a strangely

You just want to know that someone was there to sit vigil. F R ANC E S C A AR NO L D Y

cloistered event, sometimes witnessed only by one or two caregivers who are cloaked in protective gear. That kind of abrupt, unseen loss can have profound psychological consequences for the bereaved, according to Francesca Arnoldy, program director of the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine’s end-of-life doula certification program. Like birth doulas, who

provide emotional and tactical support during pregnancy, end-of-life doulas help the dying and their families ease into the spiritual and physical reality of death. “Often, when there’s an impending loss, people can incrementally integrate what’s happening,” said Arnoldy. “And now, there’s this chasm. When the loss occurs and the loved one hasn’t been able to watch the decline, see the last breath, say their goodbyes, it can be really surreal, and there can be significant shock and guilt for not being able to care for the person. You just want to know that someone was there to sit vigil, and that’s something that’s missing for a lot of people right now.” Before the pandemic, hospice chaplains could enter homes and hospital

rooms and hold the hands of the dying and their loved ones. Now, said Joan Newton O’Gorman, a chaplain in the UVM Health Network’s Home Health & Hospice division, she can only comfort them over the phone. “People are asking me, ‘Am I dying alone?’ And I don’t have any antidote to that,” she said. “The only thing I can do is affirm what they’re feeling — to say, ‘This is a death unlike any other death.’” Recently, O’Gorman said, she got a call from a woman caring for her dying mother at home. The woman put her on speaker and placed the phone on her mother’s bed. For the next few minutes, O’Gorman sat on the line in silence, listening to their sobs. The virtual goodbyes, when they’re even possible, feel surreal, incomprehensible. A week and a half ago, Jody Albright saw her brother, Stephen, for the last time on Zoom. Stephen, 70, was dying of COVID-19 at Birchwood Terrace; the nursing home had made an exception to its embargo on visitors for patients in their final hours, but Jody, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, didn’t feel safe entering a nursing home where 49 people had tested positive for the coronavirus. Her other two brothers, both of whom are in their late sixties, were concerned about their own health. And the prospect of sheathing themselves in protective gear to sit at their brother’s bedside seemed darkly absurd, almost comical. “I was picturing hazmat suits, Ghostbusters,” said Jody. “Stephen wouldn’t even have been able to see our faces.” Instead, one of Stephen’s caregivers at Birchwood set him up on a Zoom call with his family on a Saturday afternoon. Jody said he was barely awake but cheerful; for no apparent reason, he wore a pair of sunglasses on his forehead, a tiny glimmer of the provocatively dressed musician he once was. Stephen and Jody had been in a rock band together in the ’80s, and she sang a song to him that she’d found on one of their old practice tapes. He mouthed the lyrics along with her. Then he told her that she should visit him, that he’d take his walker into the hallway to meet her. Jody, not knowing what else to say, promised him that she would try. Stephen died the next morning. Jody doesn’t know if anyone was with him at the end.

‘Only the good die young’

A recent New York Times investigation found that nearly 10,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. — one-fifth of the country’s fatalities — have been connected to long-term-care facilities. The pandemic has exacted a disproportionate toll on AT A LOSS

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Lost to COVID-19 Remembering Vermonters who died of the coronavirus BY D AN BO L L E S & PAU L HEI N T Z

ince the novel coronavirus was first detected in Vermont on March 7, more than 860 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the state Department of Health. Of those, at least 47 have died. Among Vermont ’s coronavirus victims thus far are a roofer, a

musician, a general store owner, a psychologist, a switchboard operator, two custodians, two truck drivers and a pair of brothers who groomed ski trails at Mount Snow. All but three were 60 or older, and all but five were white. At least 27 lived in Chittenden County, and at least

24 were residents of two Burlington long-term-care facilities: Birchwood Terrace Rehab and Healthcare, and Burlington Health & Rehabilitation Center. Each left behind family and friends. Each had a story. Here are four of them.

‘He lived life to the fullest.’ ROBERT FRANCIS BURDO SR., APRIL 4, 1942-MARCH 30, 2020

Steve Richer and Bob Burdo became friends when the two were barely 5 years old, living around the corner from one another in Burlington’s Old North End. Richer recalls Bob helping him string wire from his home to a neighbor’s house to construct a makeshift telephone line. “We had a lot of fun,” he said. “And we’ve remained friends for all of these years. I guess you would say we were more brothers than friends.” According to Richer, who was exactly six months older than Bob, the two never failed to call one another on their birthdays — until this year. Bob, who had been recovering from an illness at Burlington Health & Rehab, contracted the coronavirus and died on March 30, five days shy of his 78th birthday. Bob was born in Burlington in 1942, the oldest son in a family of six boys and girls. His father, Francis, worked long hours at the Burlington Fire Department, so Bob often cared for his younger siblings. “He was like a second dad,” recalled the youngest brother, Steve, who is 14 years his junior. After graduating from high school, Bob joined the Air Force. Eventually he returned to Burlington and worked for a time at Farrell Distributing, delivering beer to restaurants and stores. “I knew him as Bob the truck driver,” Steve recalled. “He was a tough guy. He didn’t complain.” Bob had four children: the late Robert Jr. and Dawn with his first wife, Mary Ranck; and Tina and Eric with his second wife, Valerie Wilford.

“He was the best dad ever,” Dawn said. “He liked getting together with the family, cookouts. He liked having fun with all of us.” Bob eventually became a custodian at Burlington’s Integrated Arts Academy, then known as the H.O. Wheeler School, and worked there for nearly 25 years. For much of that time, Dawn worked down the hall in the school’s cafeteria. When her shift ended, he would just be showing up, and the two would spend time in his office. “We would just talk — about my life, his life, the kids,” Dawn said.

“Bob was a very hard worker, a very honest person,” said Herb Chamberlain, who was the head custodian at H.O. Wheeler. “You could always count on Bob to have your back.” You could also count on him to needle the school’s Red Sox fans. “There was no other team for him except the Yankees,” Chamberlain said. Even after he retired, Bob would return to H.O. Wheeler to bring the custodians pizza. “He’d sit down and have a little talk with us,” Chamberlain recalled. “He wasn’t very rich, but he lived life to the fullest.” According to Dawn, her father was “old-fashioned and set in his ways.” Said Richer, “He had his opinions, and he was the type of guy who stuck to whatever he thought.” But, according to his youngest brother, Bob did have the capacity to change. “He was raised in a time when a lot of people wouldn’t say, ‘I love you.’ And as he got older, and as he probably got to feel his softer side, he learned to say that,” said Steve, who lives in California. “And he did.” Steve spoke with his brother one last time days before Bob died at Burlington Health & Rehab. “I said, ‘Hey, Bob, I understand you came down with the coronavirus.’ He says to me, ‘You know what, Steve, if you want some, come out and visit me,’” Steve recalled. “It’s amazing he had that sense of humor up to the time he was passing away.” P.H.

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PHOTOS: LUKE AWTRY

elderly residents of nursing homes, who may already have few surviving family members or friends to care for them. To date, 10 deaths have occurred at Burlington Health & Rehabilitation Center, the nursing home that became the first epicenter of the outbreak in Vermont. One of the facility’s early casualties was 80-year-old Bob Poulin, who moved there in December 2019 after a period of declining health. His wife, Barbara, had died in 2012, and he had no children. A few months before he was admitted to the nursing home, Bob granted power of attorney to his friend of more than a decade, Peter Lavallee, a retired South Burlington police lieutenant whom he’d met through his Knights of Columbus council in Milton. The two were an odd couple. Peter, 15 years Bob’s junior, is an indefatigable archivist of life’s paperwork, meticulous in both his speech and his recall of dates; Bob, who ran a roofing and siding business, had a habit of stretching the truth and blurting out whatever was on his mind, for which Peter would gently reproach him. “I used to tell him, ‘Bob, only the good die young,’” Peter recalled. “‘That’s why you’re still alive.’” They were both born on July 12, which Peter discovered when he went to visit Bob’s wife’s grave at Resurrection Park in South Burlington. Next to her burial plot, he saw Bob’s future headstone, chiseled with his date of birth. From then on, Peter sent him cards that said, “It’s Your Birthday!” with the Y in “Your” crossed out. In the early years of their friendship, Bob lived in an apartment in Holy Cross Senior Housing in Colchester. He was blind in one eye and had trouble driving, so Peter often chauffeured him to Essex Junction to run his errands. Their excursions usually began with a trip to the allyou-can-eat Grand Buffet on Pearl Street, followed by a stop for groceries at Mac’s Market, where Peter knew by heart Bob’s route through the aisles. “He was kind of a different guy, so people didn’t always think he was very friendly,” Peter said. “And, in a lot of ways, he wasn’t. But I got along with him.” Bob wasn’t close to his extended family, and he often told Peter how lucky he was to have met him. They often discussed Bob’s end-of-life wishes. According to Peter, Bob had no interest in being placed on life support; not long before moving into Burlington Health & Rehab, he had purchased a funeral policy with A.W. Rich Funeral Home in Essex Junction that

Dick and Marguerite Meunier

Peter Lavallee at Bob Poulin’s grave

included cremation, a Catholic service and burial in the plot next to his wife. The two friends saw each other for the last time on March 2. A week and a half later, Peter got a call from Burlington Health & Rehab that Bob had fallen while trying to get out of bed and that his overall health was deteriorating. When Peter called his friend to check on him, he hardly recognized his voice. “I had to verify that it was actually Bob,” he said. “It didn’t sound like him. He sounded weak, different.” It was the last time they spoke. The nursing home announced its first case of COVID-19 on March 16. Three days later, Bob tested positive for the coronavirus. The following day, Peter received another call from his nurse, who asked Peter to confirm Bob’s instructions not to be placed on life support. He said that his friend didn’t want to be kept alive. Peter talked to his priest, Father John Feltz at St. Ann Catholic Church in Milton, about whether a pastor should perform last rites for his friend. Given the escalation of the outbreak at the nursing home, Peter decided he didn’t want to jeopardize the health of a clergy member; to date, more than 100 priests have died in Italy, one of the hardest-hit countries in the coronavirus pandemic. Bob died two days later, on March 22. Peter wanted to see his body at the funeral home, but they wouldn’t allow him inside. A few days later, when he went to pick up Bob’s ashes, Peter had to sign for the urn on the funeral home’s front porch. On April 6, there was a small memorial service at Resurrection Park. Eight people attended, including Peter, his wife and some of Bob’s fellow Knights of Columbus members. They stood scattered around his grave in a 50-foot radius. Bob had been a member of the Vermont Air National Guard, but no honor guard could be present to perform taps; the funeral home played a recorded version from a speaker. A Catholic priest offered short prayers. Bob’s final moments rack Peter. “I fear that Bob was probably alone, without any staff members being there to accompany him, console him or attend to him in those final hours, or to pray for him,” he said. “I will never know if anyone was there for him.”

‘There’s no sense of closure’

With the majority of the country under stay-at-home orders, virtual memorial services have become the new normal. Many of these take place on Zoom; the videoconferencing app has become the default platform for a spectrum of human encounters, from staff meetings AT A LOSS

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‘He was a very strong man.’ FRANKLIN DELANO BRAY, DECEMBER 11, 1932-APRIL 4, 2020

In his day, Frank Bray was one big, burly Irishman. “He was pretty ‘swole,’ as they say now,” said his son, Jim. “When he was younger, he was a very strong man.” Even in his later years, the former railway worker and hardware store manager cut a robust figure. “He was one of these oldfashioned guys,” Jim recalled. “He smelled of Old Spice. One of those typical, postKorean War tough guys.” In February, Frank started showing signs of illness — fever, a dry cough, fatigue. In March, he tested positive for COVID-19. Jim’s family shared Frank’s home, and soon the entire household was sick — Jim; his wife, Jodi; and their two adult children. Frank was hospitalized briefly, then Jim. While both were recovering at home in late March, Frank fell and injured himself. “I was trying like hell to take care of Dad, but I was so weak,” recalled Jim, who had lost 25 pounds during his illness. “I could barely carry a cup of coffee.” EMTs took Frank to the Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans, where he suffered a stroke two days later. A few days after that, on April 4, Frank died without seeing his family again. “The really hard part of it … was that I couldn’t be there when he passed away,” his son said. Because of the coronavirus, the hospital did not allow visitors — and Jim himself was still in quarantine at home. Frank was born on December 11, 1932, to Shirley and Madeline Bray. (And, yes, they were big supporters of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was elected president a month before Frank was born.) Both parents lived and worked at Highgate Manor, where Frank was born. He would spend his

entire life within spitting distance of the inn that, legend has it, was once a stop on the Underground Railroad. “He didn’t move very far beyond his doorstep, I’ll tell you that,” Jim said. Not that he didn’t try. As the Korean War raged in the early 1950s, Frank tried to enlist, several times, with every branch of the armed forces. A head injury from his youth meant he was listed as 4F, medically unable to join. “He tried like hell to serve,” Jim said, explaining that Frank wanted so desperately to enlist that he tried to hoodwink several doctors, but none would sign off. “So he just stayed home and worked hard,” said Jim.

Fresh out of high school, Frank put his strength to good use moving freight for Central Vermont Railroad in St. Albans. Later, he took a job at Aubuchon Hardware in Swanton. He was soon sent to manage the Aubuchon store in Rouses Point, N.Y., and, thanks to a knack for solving problems, he eventually became the guy the company dispatched to help open new franchise locations. “He was a big-time tinkerer,” explained Jim, who tinkered himself for 20 years building sets and props for major movie studios. “You should see his shop in the basement. We’ve got tools to fix tools.” Frank met Marilyn Guay in the 1950s. She was a chef who trained in Boston under James Beard and was working at a local resort where Frank liked to go dancing. “He saw her, and that was it,” Jim said, describing his mother at the time as “a young Sigourney Weaver.” One night, Frank, who had taken dancing lessons in Montréal, asked Marilyn to dance and “swept her off her feet,” Jim said. They were soon married and had Jim, their only child, not long after. They enjoyed a long and happy life together until Marilyn died in 2006. Frank built the house in Highgate Falls where Jim grew up and now lives with his own family. “There’s little bits of his handiwork all around the house,” Jim said. “His hand is everywhere in this house, so in that sense he’s still with us.” Jim described his father as “very old-fashioned, patriotic” and a man who took great pride in his work and his family. “He was very proud to have done what he could: to build a home, have a wife and a kid, and just build a life,” Jim said. D.B.

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to funerals, with no atmospheric differentiation. Judy Alexander watched her mother’s funeral on Zoom. The ceremony, restricted to 10 people, was held at a cemetery in Lindenhurst, N.Y., on a rainy afternoon in early April. Judy, tuning in from the desk of her home office in South Burlington, could barely make out the rabbi’s words over the rankling whoosh of wind against her nephew’s iPhone, from which he was streaming the memorial service to her and 20 or so others who had joined the call. Some of the virtual participants had forgotten to mute themselves; occasionally, an unseen dog barked. Leila Alexander passed away on April 1 at a nursing home on Long Island. She was 88 and had some physical and cognitive problems, but Judy said her death hadn’t seemed imminent. That morning, Judy’s sister had a routine conference call with Leila’s care team; a few hours later, Leila went to sleep and never woke up. Judy had planned to visit her mother in March, but the widespread lockdown of nursing and eldercare facilities made that impossible. The last words Judy said to her mother, over FaceTime on March 27, were “I love you.” A Jewish burial is a participatory ceremony: The family and friends of the deceased take turns heaping mounds of dirt on the casket, a gesture of finality and devotion. But because a communal digging implement could become a vector of the coronavirus, the funeral home requested that the family bring their own shovel, which they used to pile on a few symbolic clods. Afterward, Judy’s sister dropped the shovel into the grave, a memento for Leila from her pandemic funeral. For Judy, not being physically present at the burial has created a bizarre skip in her reality. “It feels like we don’t even know for sure whether it’s Mom in there,” Judy said in mid-April, two weeks after the funeral. “It’s like I’m in this fourth dimension, where she could pop up at any moment. There’s no sense of closure.” When the service ended, nobody could hug. The handful of people who had attended in real life went home to their computers, and everyone convened on Zoom again later that day. Mostly, Judy said, they talked about how much Leila would have hated the whole thing. “My mother wanted certain poems, a march from Verdi’s Nabucco,” Judy explained. Leila had also wanted Judy to sing a psalm, but, given the circumstances — and the notorious unreliability of Zoom’s audio — her performance was scuttled. 36

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Judy and Leila Alexander

Leila herself loved to sing, much to her children’s torment. “She was a terrible singer, just terrible, and she loved to make up stupid songs,” said Judy. When Judy and her siblings were growing up on Long Island, Leila would take them on walks to the beach and lead them in a dirge-like chorus: “Marching, marching, Mommy’s children are marching.” Leila

I think that the process of grief is becoming elongated. RABB I AM Y S MAL L

had wanted to have her grandchildren sing their own version, substituting “Nanny” for “Mommy,” as they escorted her casket to the cemetery. That wasn’t possible, either. “The whole thing was kind of awful,” Judy reflected. The virtual shiva that followed, she said, was also less than satisfying. Under normal circumstances, shiva

is a seven-day period of mourning that commences after the funeral, in which family and friends congregate in the home of the deceased, eating and reminiscing. Shiva is a time of intense togetherness, designed to ensure that the bereaved are never alone in the delicate early stages of mourning. “When you have shiva, people are constantly coming in, telling stories — it’s a very cathartic process,” Judy said. “We couldn’t have that this time. Nobody could even bring food.” At a time of compulsory social isolation, Zoom can offer a much-needed glimpse of loved ones’ faces. But the virtual format also strips the occasion of its essential shiva-ness — the deeply physical camaraderie of grief. “Because we can’t get together in the way that we usually do, I think that the process of grief is becoming elongated,” said Rabbi Amy Small, who leads Ohavi Zedek Synagogue on North Prospect Street in Burlington, where Judy attends services. Small believes that the mourning practices of Judaism are its most psychologically astute contributions to the world:

“It’s about enabling grief to flow, not saying, ‘You’re done, move on,’” she said. Small has been organizing daily prayer sessions on Zoom so that Judy can say the kaddish, a prayer of mourning, in the presence of a quorum of 10 Jewish adults, called a minyan. In accordance with Jewish custom, Judy will say the kaddish once a day for the next 11 months. “This has all been an incredibly surreal experience, a very lonely experience,” she said. Lately, she’s been reading articles about the strangeness of adapting Jewish mourning traditions to a world transformed by a pandemic, which brings her some indescribable feeling of validation. “‘Comfort’ isn’t the word for it, I don’t think,” Judy mused. “I’m not sure what the word is, really. My mother would know.”

‘What am I leaving them with?’

Marc Kamhi knew he was going to leave the world in the middle of a pandemic. At 62, he had been living with two types of cancer for several years. In early April, he moved into the McClure Miller Respite House in Colchester, an inpatient hospice AT A LOSS

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‘She had a big, big, big heart.’ HELEN THERESA WITHERS, MARCH 19, 1942-MARCH 24, 2020

Helen Withers grew up poor in a small house across from Burlington International Airport, one of six siblings. When she had her own kids, according to son Eric Turnbaugh, she did everything she could to provide them with more than she had. “She came from nothing and built her way up,” Eric said. “She definitely had an appreciation for what a dollar was.” Following the dissolution of her first marriage, Helen raised three kids — Eric, Shawn Turnbaugh and the late Heidi Ziemba — by herself. She worked as a secretary at Burlington’s Integrated Arts Academy, then called the H.O. Wheeler School, and attended Trinity College at night. In the weeks before Christmas, according to Eric, she would take a part-time job at Service Merchandise to pay for presents. “She had a full plate at the time,” recalled her longtime friend Ernestine Pratt, who worked with her at H.O. Wheeler. “I don’t know how she did it.” Helen graduated from Trinity in 1981 and took a job at IBM, where she learned computer programing. A few years later, she met another IBMer, Garland Withers, in a square-dancing group, according to Pratt, who was also a member of the Green Mountain Steppers. Helen and Garland married in 1990 — and took part in square-dancing competitions throughout the Eastern Seaboard. Helen’s granddaughter, Krystal Turnbaugh, moved in with them when she was 7 years old. “She raised me,” Krystal said. “I never missed out, even though I didn’t have my own

parents around. I didn’t miss out on anything.” According to Krystal, Helen loved gardening, animals and basketball great Larry Bird, a poster of whom hung in her office at IBM. She could never have just one cat or dog at a time, because she feared the animal would be lonely. When she and Garland moved from Burlington to Jericho, she cultivated an enormous garden. “She would plant tomatoes to the point where she would have so many that she would have to give them away,” Eric said. “She wouldn’t waste a thing.” According to Pratt, “She had a big, big, big heart — and she was always willing to give and to trust.” Not long after Garland died in August 2 0 1 8, He l e n began to develop aphasia and dementia. She eventually landed at Burlington Health & Rehab. In early March, Krystal visited her there and took her out shopping. “It was great,” Krystal said. “She was just herself again.” They went to T.J.Maxx, where Krystal bought her grandmother a blanket with dogs on it and a stuffed dog and cat. A week later, Helen was diagnosed with COVID-19. On March 24, a nurse urged Krystal to visit her grandmother. But by the time she made it to Burlington Health & Rehab and suited up in protective gear, Helen had died. She was 78 years old. When Krystal entered her grandmother’s room, she saw Helen holding the stuffed animals. “I was a couple minutes too late,” she said.

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Marc Kamhi and his daughter, Joanna

‘He just knew everybody.’ THOMAS LEE CHRISTIAN, APRIL 25, 1938-APRIL 10, 2020

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facility for people with six months or fewer to live. On a recent Saturday morning in mid-April, Marc said he felt like he was on a boat, pitching at sea. “You think you’ve grabbed on to a handrail, and then you get the news that your cancer has gotten worse, and then it’s not just the boat rocking all over, it’s you — your pain, your capabilities, everything else that’s happening in the world right now,” he said. “And there’s so much to be sad about, but I feel like this really isn’t the time to be abandoning the planet, you know? I just want to get out there and fight that sadness, not sit in here like, ‘Gee, sorry, I’m not feeling well!’” That day was his son’s 23rd birthday, but Marc couldn’t see him in person. In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, visitors are a strictly regulated luxury, even for the terminally ill. Respite House residents are allowed two designated guests; Marc chose his wife and his 26-year-old daughter, Joanna, who had been more involved in his treatment. Every time Joanna entered the building, she had to fill out a symptom questionnaire and undergo a temperature screening. Joanna was two months away from graduating from law school at the University of Pennsylvania when her father’s condition took a turn for the worse. She booked a one-way rental car from Philadelphia; once Marc was admitted to the Respite House, she began spending most nights on the pullout couch in his room. She recorded their conversations on her 38

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phone so that her future children would be able to hear his voice. That Saturday, Marc was worried about what the world would look like for his family in the next few months — whether the stock market would implode and plunge them into financial turmoil, how they would be able to support each other in their grief when they can’t physically be together. “The whole funeral thing is really hard for me,” he said. “Who knows what will be allowed, what won’t be allowed? What am I leaving them with?” Marc wanted a Zoom memorial service, he explained, something unadorned and practical. “My dad is a really humble person,” said Joanna. “I don’t think he wanted to be an inconvenience or mess up anyone’s plans. He’s always thinking about how to make life easier for people.” In the early 2000s, Marc worked on the luggage ramp at United Airlines at Burlington International Airport, and he got into the habit of waving to the planes as they taxied away from the gate. He loved watching passengers wave back at him, framed by their tiny oval windows. “Those people are about to go 32,000 feet in the air, where they have no business being,” Marc said. “That moment of connection is so important for humanity. It’s not a casual farewell. You’ve got to send them off properly.” One week later, on Saturday, April 24, Marc passed away. Joanna was with him at his bedside; his son said goodbye from the other side of his window. Contact: chelsea@sevendaysvt.com

Thomas Christian and Cynthia Severy started dating shortly before they graduated from Brandon High School in 1956, but they didn’t tie the knot for another three years. “I told him I wouldn’t get married ’til I was 21,” Cynthia recalled. “I wasn’t going to have my parents sign my marriage certificate!” “If I had told him 31, he woulda probably still waited,” she said with a chuckle. “I didn’t know until afterwards how much of a crush he had on me.” The couple spent the next 60 years together, living in Thomas’ hometown of Orwell and raising four children: Julie, Michael, Brian and Todd. They would eventually have three grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. “If he lasted ’til June, it would’ve been 61,” Cynthia said of her husband. He did not. After contracting the coronavirus from a family member, 81-year-old Thomas died from complications of COVID-19 at the University of Vermont Medical Center on April 10. Only a family friend who worked at the hospital was with him. “I think the hardest part was that we couldn’t be with him to say goodbye,” his daughter Julie said. Born in Rutland in 1938, Thomas spent most of his career driving trucks. He got his start on a local dairy route and eventually worked for Cumberland Farms, hauling milk from Addison and Rutland counties to Boston. Gary Arnold of West Haven worked with Thomas at Cumberland Farms and later joined him at Carris Reels in Rutland. “We had a lot of miles together, a lot of conversations,” Arnold said. The men typically delivered the company’s wooden reels to factories east of the Mississippi, but they once drove together to California — the first time either had made it to the West Coast.

“Probably every place we stopped, he’d have the waitresses laughing before we left,” Arnold said. “He just loved people.” Seemingly everywhere Thomas went, according to Cynthia, he would run into somebody he knew. “I wouldn’t know them, but he would. He’d worked so many places and been in and out of the farmers’ yards,” she said. “He just knew everybody, and he was one that made friends very easily.” According to Arnold, Thomas was also quick to lend a hand. “You could be on one side of the interstate and, if you broke down, he’d turn around and help you out,” Arnold said. Thomas’ work often kept him on the road all week, Cynthia said, and sometimes he struggled to adjust to the family’s routine when he came home. But according to Julie, he tried to make it to his kids’ sporting events — sometimes showing up in an 18-wheeler. In the summer, he would take them camping or to the Addison County Fair & Field Days, where every year he would help family friends show their cattle. “He pretty much did what he could for us kids growing up,” Julie said. Later in life, Thomas became a Freemason and a Shriner. A veteran of the Vermont National Guard, he also joined the American Legion. According to Arnold, a fellow Shriner, Thomas particularly enjoyed driving the organization’s mini cars in local parades. “He loved the kids and was always messing with them during the parade,” Arnold said. “If he’d see somebody he knew, which was a lot of people, he’d just set and visit with them for a while.” In his final days, according to Julie, her father downplayed the severity of his condition. “He didn’t want to let us in on how scared he was,” she said. “I think he had a good life. He made the most of it.” P.H.

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Give Until It Hurts

To survive this crisis, Vermont needs more Bobby Millers Bobby Miller at the 1994 Soapbox Derby

COURTESY OF STEPHANIE MILLER TAYLOR

ebruary 4, 2020, will go down in Vermont history as the day Commissioner of Health Dr. Mark Levine first briefed the governor’s cabinet about the threat posed by COVID-19. But it marked another sad milestone: Robert “Bobby” Miller died of a heart attack at age 84. Miller was a real estate developer. He was also one of the state’s “most generous — and most colorful — philanthropists,” wrote Paula Routly in a story published the following day on the Seven Days website. “A selfmade man who grew up dirt poor in Rutland, Miller gave away millions to Vermont nonprofits in cash donations and in-kind work through his company, REM Development.” In a recent interview, his daughter, Stephanie Miller Taylor, speculated that her father “probably gave more of his time than his money.” Indeed, the program for his memorial service included a saying of his: “To truly live life to the fullest, you must share the three Ts — Time, Talent and Treasure.” Bobby Miller shared them all, and he helped shape his home state — its leaders, institutions, built environment and people. As Vermonters face unprecedented economic hardships resulting from the novel coronavirus pandemic, Miller’s philosophy of giving back to the community has become especially relevant. Said Stephanie: “I think that’s what we’re going to need going forward as a society.”

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES Bobby Miller didn’t have an easy childhood. His left arm was amputated at the elbow at birth, which set him apart as a kid but didn’t slow him down. Growing up with one arm meant that overcoming obstacles was “baked into his DNA,” said Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Tom Torti. And there were many obstacles. In a 2000 profile in Seven Days, Miller described his family as “very dysfunctional.” His obituary noted that his mother held three jobs and his father struggled to find work. In high school, Miller moved in with his grandparents. The third of six siblings, Miller was hardworking and resourceful. As a teenager, he made money by renting 40

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

Bobby and Holly receiving the 2018 Lifetime Achievement in Philanthropy Award from the UVM Alumni Association

a garage, working on cars at night and returning them to their owners in the morning on his way to school. Miller never went to college. He worked for an engineering firm in Connecticut before moving back

to Vermont in 1959 and getting a job with a firm in Burlington. He started New England Air Systems in 1972. Twelve years later, he sold the company to his employees and founded REM.

MORE THAN JUST MONEY As a commercial real estate developer, Miller worked on projects in Rutland, Newport and Burlington. He found creative ways to spur economic development. “Nobody could put together a deal like him,” remembered Stephanie, who is the vice president and marketing director at REM. In January of 1986, Miller married his second wife, Holly. Like him, she had grown up in Rutland and hadn’t attended college. The couple became committed philanthropists focused on helping women and children, promoting education, and supporting end-of-life care. They made generous donations to many causes and entities — including the King Street Center, the Boys & Girls Club, Champlain College, the Visiting Nurse Association, the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts and the VNA Respite House. Their 2013 gift to the University of Vermont Medical Center was valued at $13 million. In addition to money, Miller donated in-kind support. He would help structure a real estate deal, then make it happen as cheaply as possible, paying contractors for their work but not taking a cut for himself. “He was going to buy all the materials, and they would be at cost,” said Torti. “That was Bobby Miller.” For example, he built the Miller Center at Champlain College’s Lakeside Campus for roughly $150 a square foot, according to David Provost, who was at the time the college’s senior vice president of finance and administration. The building, which houses Champlain’s Emergent Media Center and the Senator Patrick Leahy Center for Digital Forensics & Cybersecurity, could easily have cost three times as much, Provost said. Miller didn’t do the project just to help Champlain; the building jump-started development along that part of the Pine Street corridor in the South End. Shortly after it opened, Feldman’s Bagels launched nearby. The Cumberland Farms gas station got a makeover. The Great Northern restaurant arrived, as did Generator maker space and City Market, Onion River Co-op's South End store. Hula,

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Bobby and Holly in 2000

a new tech campus on the site of the former Blodgett Oven factory, is under construction. Miller anticipated that helping Champlain would help Burlington, Provost said. “That was the spirit of how he saw things.”

INVESTING IN PEOPLE Miller also leveraged relationships to help others whenever he could. When Champlain was building a residential hall in 2006, Miller asked Provost whether the school would consider hiring a woodworking shop he knew of in the Northeast Kingdom, to keep them employed. The school ended up contracting with that company to make more than 100 beds and dressers. Provost noted that Bobby “treated everyone the same.” He and Holly would sometimes eat in the dining hall. “All the employees in that dining

hall knew the Millers,” he said, “and he knew them.” Executive chef Sandi Earle befriended Miller while catering trustee dinners at the President’s House. She recalls that he would tell her, “Sandi, one day you’re going to want to do something and need a little help with it. When you do, please come see me.” In 2017, Earle went to him with a request to fund a cookbook she’d been working on, as well as a book release party that would benefit the Vermont Family Network. She had intended to ask Miller for a $10,000 loan, but before she could ask, he offered that amount as a contribution. It helped Earle produce My 30-Year Love Affair With Food in Vermont. “He never expected anything in return except a copy of the cookbook once it was published,” she said. “I will forever be grateful for his generosity.”

Miller also helped Provost, becoming a mentor to him, teaching him about construction and navigating governmental systems. Like Miller, Provost grew up in a working-class family and had ﬁve siblings. “He really helped guide me on a daily basis,” said Provost, who now serves as the executive vice president for ﬁnance and administration at Middlebury College. “He helped shape me into the leader that I am.”

GIVING BACK FEELS GOOD Bobby and Holly Miller were public about their philanthropy, mainly to encourage others with the means to give. As a result, many Vermont buildings bear the Millers’ names: In addition to the Miller buildings at Champlain College, there’s also Robert Miller Community and Recreation Center in Burlington’s

New North End and the McClure Miller VNA Respite House in Colchester. Bobby died in the Robert E. and Holly D. Miller Building at the UVM Medical Center; his memorial service took place in the Robert E. Miller Center at the Champlain Valley Exposition. But Bobby Miller didn’t give just to see his name on buildings, said daughter Stephanie. “It made him feel good to give back,” she said. Torti has more than one story of Miller whipping out a checkbook or a wallet full of cash to give a contribution on the spot. He and Miller were having breakfast at a diner in 2019 when a crowd of Vermont Air National Guard members arrived. Before leaving, Miller beckoned the diner's owner over and gave him a few hundred dollars in cash to pay the Guard members’ bill. The owner said it was too much; Miller told him to give whatever was left to the waitstaff. Torti asked him why he paid the bill. “He said, ‘They’re taking a lot of grief in the press, and nobody does anything nice for ’em,’” Torti explained, adding, “They didn’t know he was Bobby Miller.” After witnessing one of these random acts of generosity, Torti said, “You know, Miller, I wish I could do that.’” He said Miller told him to forget the dollar amount. The important thing is to give a little bit more than is comfortable. He said when he and Holly would sit down to go over their contributions, “‘We know we’ve given enough when we feel the pain a little bit.’” It’s a good lesson to reflect on during this crisis, when tens of thousands of Vermonters are out of work and going hungry, when businesses, nonprofits and the state government are struggling. To get through this, Torti said, “everybody who can should try to stretch and feel a little bit of pain. That’s what Bobby would have done.” ■

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Staying Connected

As therapy moves online, counselors and clients adjust B Y M ARG A RET G RAYSON

y latest quarantine routine is a FaceTime with my therapist every other week. I sit on my bed or couch with my phone propped on my knees, and she sits in her house wearing earbuds. We talk about how I’m going to get through this pandemic without losing my mind. I describe the maddening nature of spending 24-7 with my partner in a onebedroom apartment; she tells me to set aside quality time to spend together, as well as designated time apart. I tell her how I’m compulsively scrolling Twitter; she advises me to take more walks or try some gentle yoga. I tell her how recently I got so stir-crazy that I spent an evening looking at Zillow properties in Arkansas. She says it’s normal that I’m using this time of uncertainty to contemplate future plans. I’m used to meeting her in a downtown office in Burlington. I’ve memorized the art on her walls. There’s a certain rhythm to those appointments, when I walk from work and spend a few minutes sitting quietly in the waiting room. Meeting virtually is a completely different experience. For one thing, I’m often in sweatpants. The encounter feels much more casual, and I answer the call with “What’s up?” It feels like catching up with a friend, albeit one with unusually good advice whom I pay to listen to me. “There’s certainly a formality about the office,” said counselor Mark Nash, who lives in Charlotte and has an office in Burlington. With virtual sessions, he said, “We are visiting with each other in each other’s homes, essentially. And it’s also the case that we’re both going through the same thing. We are both being affected by the pandemic.” Nash said he always tries to appear on the same power level as his clients, but the pandemic has also spurred a new level of camaraderie. “Sometimes a client will ask me, ‘How are you?’ at the beginning of a session. It’s common practice for a therapist to say something relatively innocuous and brief,” Nash said. “But under these circumstances, if they ask, I’m going to give them a little more … just to let them know that I am managing this challenging situation just as they are.” Therapy is built on ritual. It takes time to build a rapport with a therapist and get comfortable in a new setting. Equally 42

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

important is the time between appointments in which you can reflect and, ideally, make progress toward better habits and ways of thinking. Therapy is just one of many aspects of life that’s been forced to adapt to a virtual setting. For those of us fortunate enough to be social distancing, our computers and phones are lifelines not only to schools, jobs and friends but to health services. Teletherapy, like other telehealth services, isn’t new. The American Psychological Association offers guidelines for it, including practical and ethical considerations. Some therapists had established it as an option for their clients well before the pandemic arrived. Online services such as Talkspace and BetterHelp were created to connect people to licensed therapists via video and even text messaging. For some people, telehealth was a part of their routine before social distancing became a necessity. Keilani Lime of South Burlington has a health issue that kept her from regularly attending appointments outside of the house. “It’s kind of been this weird ‘welcome to my world’ situation,” Lime said of the collective move to virtual interactions.

Being stuck at home with no choice can be stressful, she said, even for people who’ve experienced it before. “You can feel boxed in,” Lime said. “Being able to talk to a therapist who is frequently reminding me to make contact with the outside world via Zoom right now is helpful.”

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TO TAKE MORE WALKS OR TRY SOME GENTLE YOGA. In fact, Lime wonders whether computer-based options might make it easier for people who’ve never been to therapy to try it out. “Talking to a stranger about your feelings is not an easy thing to do. With the virtual world that we’re in right now, that kind of barrier is helpful,” she said. “You

can just close your computer if you’re feeling awkward.” For Burlington’s Sarah Quintal, videochatting with her therapist took some getting used to. And it wasn’t easy to find space in her house to talk openly so that her roommate couldn’t hear her. “It was definitely a lot of low, hushed words and whispering at first,” she said. But after three sessions, Quintal adjusted to the new platform. “I think it’s a really positive appointment to have. It’s definitely helped me with my routine a little bit,” Quintal observed. “If anything, it’s nice to see a familiar face that I’ve connected with for a while.” Of course, not all therapy is just talk, and not all types translate easily to a screen. Charlotte-based social worker Tanya Vyhovsky works with children and teens. With kids, therapy often looks a lot like play — and that’s hard to replicate virtually. But Vyhovsky has found websites that allow her to play board games online with clients. Sometimes she’ll do a scavenger hunt, asking a child to find items at home with prompts such as, “Can you find me something in your house that makes you feel really safe?”

“In that sense, we’re digging into a deeper place. I get to meet cats and siblings,” Vyhovsky said. “In that home space, kids can actually translate out the stuff that we’re doing in my office.” The coronavirus pandemic has reduced some of the normal legal hurdles for telehealth. The U.S. Office for Civil Rights, which enforces the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, has said it won’t penalize health care providers for using non-HIPAA-compliant technologies, including the standard version of Zoom and Apple’s FaceTime. (My therapist has a HIPAA-compliant platform, but it’s glitchy, so we’ve resorted to FaceTime.) Most insurers, including Blue Cross Blue Shield and Medicaid, have been billing telehealth appointments like standard in-person appointments, according to Nash. Lisa Carton, a Bennington-based social worker and therapist, said she’d been thinking about moving her practice entirely online for a while, and the pandemic has forced a trial by fire. But she said clients have been contacting her far less often since the pandemic hit. She thinks that when people are facing immediate stressors, they don’t feel like they have the energy to work though their feelings in therapy. “They get overwhelmed,” Carton said, “and they think about going [to therapy], and sometimes they think that they should. But that shame doesn’t help.” Carton believes undergoing a difficult time actually presents a good opportunity to delve into one’s emotional reactions to struggle. Her clients, she said, “are feeling traumatized. So then we have the opportunity to look at what that actually means.” I can understand the impulse to think a pandemic is not the time to dive into the psyche. When has someone treading water ever thought that was a perfect time to examine their fear of drowning? For me right now, it’s just nice to have someone to talk to — someone whose job is never to get bored of my fretting. My therapist holds me accountable for taking better care of myself, in big ways and small. During times of uncertainty, that’s something I think we can all use. Some days, I go for a walk so I can tell my therapist I took a walk. And then I’ve gone for a walk, which does make me feel better. Sometimes it’s that simple. m

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Supportive Systems Two Vermont nonprofits find new ways to serve at-risk youth B Y K R IST EN R AV I N

Mark Redmond

FILE: JAMES BUCK

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

Leslie Ferrer

COURTESY OF ERIN BARNABY

Dana Kaplan

FILE: JAMES BUCK

hat’s a social service organization to do when everyone has to stay at home? Ask Outright Vermont and Spectrum Youth & Family Services. Both are in the business of supporting at-risk young people: Outright serves the state’s LGBTQ youth; Spectrum provides services for teens, young adults and families in need of shelter, life skills, counseling and more. And during the coronavirus pandemic, the Burlington-based nonprofits have been finding creative solutions for continuing to assist local youth. Founded in 1989, Outright’s mission, as stated on its website, is “to build safe, healthy and supportive environments for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth ages 13-22.” To that end, the organization offers a wide range of programming, including support groups for youth and adults, a drop-in space, a summer camp, and annual fundraising events such as the Gayla celebration and September’s Fire Truck Pull on Church Street. Outright also provides education and does outreach work throughout the state. March 13 marked Outright’s last in-person youth event, but it’s staying connected to those it serves. “We’ve just been trying to focus on this idea that physical distance does not have to mean social disconnection,” executive director Dana Kaplan said by phone, “so what can we do to continue to be that source of connection for folks who were already struggling?” Results from the 2019 Vermont Department of Health-sponsored Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey show that LGBTQ youth are more likely to experience bullying, unwanted sexual contact and attempted suicide than their heterosexual peers. Throw a global health crisis and government-ordered lockdown into the mix, and risk factors can be amplified, Kaplan said. “It’s not creating isolation for LGBTQ youth, but it’s exacerbating the dynamics and the injustice that already is there.” Outright is assessing community needs with an online survey accessible through its website and is responding in part by creating digital spaces for youth and adults to stay in touch and feel supported. For example, Queer Youth Leadership Day — an annual opportunity for queer and allied youth to visit the Vermont Statehouse for education and advocacy — was

scheduled for March 31. It morphed into a week of virtual events. Panorama Group and Trans Parent Group, ongoing meetings for adult caregivers and family members of LGBTQ youth, are now meeting online. The Youth DropIn Space and the Friday Night Group, a social support group for self-identified queer and questioning youth, are also going strong on the video communication platform Zoom. The annual Queer & Allied Youth Summit, cohosted with a Vermont school Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network club, will play out on the web on May 9 with workshops, affinity spaces and maybe even a dance party. Jasmine Reagle, a 19-year-old University of Vermont student who participates in Outright programs, expressed her gratitude for the organization’s uninterrupted presence. Speaking with Seven Days by phone, Reagle said, “Outright kind of provides some sense of normalcy to this whole situation. It’s very comforting to know they’ll always be there; they’ll always be supporting us.” Though, as Reagle expressed, there’s no substitute for connecting in person, onlineonly programming has had its bright spots. One example? “People are not limited by geography,” said Reagle, who hopes Friday Night Group can continue online after the pandemic to provide greater access to youth in all parts of the state. With Vermont’s spotty internet service and cell reception, connectivity could pose the greatest challenge in these digital endeavors. While it’s certainly an issue for some, Kaplan said a bigger hurdle for youth is to find a private space to make calls or go online. Spectrum’s youth are facing a similar challenge, said director of clinical programs Leslie Ferrer. “It’s more that they don’t have the private spaces to have those conversations,” she told Seven Days in a video interview. “For counseling and case management, a lot of our youth are being referred because they’re experiencing mental health, or they’re having family issues or difficulty communicating with their parents. If your parents are in the same space, it’s really hard to talk frankly about that.” Spectrum has been deemed essential and remains open with changes to available services. “All of our programs that can go remote have gone remote,” Ferrer said.

Temporarily located at 191 Bank Street in Burlington, Spectrum’s Drop-In Center usually provides a space for youth needing to do laundry, take a shower, use a computer or eat a meal. It’s now mostly used for to-go meal pickup and handing off necessary items such as coats and socks. Through virtual drop-in hours, youth can receive case management and emotional support. For the health and safety of current residents, Spectrum is not accepting new intakes into its short-term and transitional housing units. Existing residents are allowed to remain in place and receive case-management services but must wear masks in common areas and adhere to restrictions on leaving and reentering the facilities. Notably, Spectrum has committed to paying youth staff of Detail Works, the organization’s car-detailing enterprise, despite the business’ temporary closure. Executive director Mark Redmond said that Spectrum is prepared to pay these workers for months to come; Ferrer noted that, while no work is available in the car-detailing shop, its employees are still participating in Zoom calls every other day to build soft skills related to attitude, appearance, attendance and more. Thanks to donor and community support, both Kaplan and Redmond are optimistic about the future of their respective organizations. Spectrum held its largest fundraiser of the year, the Spectrum Sleep Out, virtually on March 26 and raised approximately $274,000 — not far from its typical $300,000 goal. A sleep out in St. Albans is scheduled for November. Additionally, Redmond said Spectrum was approved for a Paycheck Protection Program loan — although as of April 22 it hadn’t yet received the funds. As for Outright, Kaplan said the Fire Truck Pull is still a go, and he is ready and willing to adapt to whatever circumstances September may bring. As Kaplan put it in an email, “You’re not alone. We’re right here by your long-distance side!”

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Andrew Ryan preparing meals at Drifters

Local restaurants deliver food to the front lines B Y S A LLY POL L AK

ristin Baker, nurse manager in the emergency department at the University of Vermont Medical Center, opted to skip dinner one recent evening. She wanted to make sure the hands-on emergency crew got plenty to eat from the menu of chicken and rice with sesame and slaw, and rice bowls with hoisin-glazed tofu and vegetables. “They’re the ones running around in all the rooms, and putting on PPE and taking

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SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

it off all day,” Baker said. “The staff raved about it. People were really excited.” The dinner for 75 people, made and delivered by the Great Northern restaurant in Burlington, provided both sustenance and a morale boost for the doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, technicians and other workers in the emergency department. The April 9 event was also the inaugural meal courtesy of Frontline Foods Vermont, the local chapter of a national LISTEN IN ON LOCAL FOODIES...

nonprofit that provides restaurant meals to frontline workers in the coronavirus pandemic. “This was a treat because it was not only great food, it pulled a whole bunch of the staff together in one place at the same time,” said Baker, who’s worked in the emergency department for 16 years. “It was a moment of decompression. This has been very stressful for people. This [situation] is not normal.” Frontline Foods has a dual mission: to

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give business to restaurants that are closed during the pandemic (but open for takeout orders) and to feed health care workers, emergency responders and others providing essential services. Sheramy Tsai spearheaded the founding of Frontline Foods’ local branch. Now a school nurse in South Burlington, she formerly worked in the post-anesthesia care unit at the UVM Medical Center. Tsai said she read about the organization in late March and contacted its California founders with an interest in replicating the model in Vermont. The national group works in partnership with World Central Kitchen, a hunger-relief nonprofit founded 10 years ago by chef José Andrés. In Vermont, Tsai worked with marketing specialist Kyla Paul to build a team of volunteers who would launch the local initiative. The core group of seven women and one man includes medical students who work on marketing and social media,

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has a vested interest in keeping our favorite local restaurants alive and thriving.” Last week, Sugarsnap, a catering business in South Burlington with an affiliated farm at the Intervale, made and delivered meals for the staff at Birchwood Terrace. The nursing home in Burlington’s New North End was the site of a coronavirus outbreak in early April. Becoming a Frontline Foods participating business was a simple and wellorganized process, said Abbey Duke, owner/ founder of Sugarsnap. She was talking to a volunteer organizer within days of filling out an online form, and soon Sugarsnap received its first order. Duke delivered a lunch of roasted chicken thighs with lemon-rosemary sauce, spring vegetable risotto, roasted cauliflower and broccoli, and cookies B AKER to the Birchwood staff. Later, Sugarsnap returned with dinner for the night crew: braised brisket au jus, mashed potatoes, asparagus and brownies. The food handoff, made with safety precautions in place — masks and gloves — occurred outside the facility. “It’s one of those circular things,” Duke said. “It’s spending money in the local economy, which is great, and supporting small businesses and our frontline workers when having something comforting is a wonderful thing.” A resident of the New North End, Duke said she was “thrilled to have some kind of bright light” for people in her neighborhood who are working hard in a tough

THIS WAS A TREAT BECAUSE IT WAS NOT ONLY GREAT FOOD,

IT PULLED A WHOLE BUNCH OF THE STAFF TOGETHER.

LUKE AWTRY

ESSENTIAL MEALS

Andrew Ryan and Maddy McKenna delivering meals to Joanne Wallis (right) at the Community Health Centers of Burlington

» P.48

Pizza delivered via Meal Train at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital

COURTESY OF NORTHEASTERN VERMONT REGIONAL HOSPITAL

as well as Anna Marie Gewirtz, former executive director of the Flynn, who is managing the fundraising effort. “If you’re from Vermont, you know that our community is just amazing,” Tsai said. “Vermont just steps up.” By April 24, two weeks after the Great Northern’s delivery to the emergency department, Frontline Foods Vermont had served 918 meals in the Burlington area and raised $88,100, according to Gewirtz. This amount includes pledged donations. “We’ve had some amazing responses from Vermonters who are excited about this effort,” Gewirtz said, adding that in her fundraising career “this is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” The organization had received donations from 266 people around the state by April 24, and the KRISTIN average gift was roughly $200. In addition, a Vermont family foundation contributed $25,000, Gewirtz said. All of the money goes to the restaurants that are preparing and delivering the meals at an average price of $18 per meal, she said. “I think people in this moment are all asking themselves how they can help,” Gewirtz said. “Knowing what our frontline workers are putting themselves through every day — risking their lives to help the rest of us stay safe — is an extraordinary thing, and they absolutely deserve every piece of recognition and thanks we can give them.” Gewirtz praised local restaurants, too. “We have such a vibrant restaurant community,” she said. “And each one of us

MEAL TRAIN COMING Shane Switser had no idea Meal Train was based in Vermont when he first used the online platform to organize food deliveries to Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital. The owner of Pizza Man in Lyndonville was further surprised, and delighted, to learn that Meal Train president Michael Laramee is from Lyndonville and a 1994 graduate of the Lyndon Institute. In an email last week, Laramee told Switser that whenever he returns to his hometown to visit his parents, he eats at Pizza Man. It was a neat twist to a Meal Train experience that had already wowed the restaurateur. “It’s a cool community thing that we’re doing,” Switser said, referring to using Meal Train to arrange food deliveries to the frontline health care workers in St. Johnsbury. “This was a no-brainer,” he continued. “It’s a win for the hospital. It’s a win for the restaurants because people are calling restaurants and giving them business. And it’s a win for the community that wants to give back to the frontline workers.” This use of Meal Train — restaurant deliveries to frontline workers — is a new way to employ the platform. But local communities around the country and world have used Meal Train more than 1.5 million times to organize meals for friends and neighbors since Laramee and Stephen DePasquale founded the company a decade ago. The two are 1998 graduates of the University of Vermont. Meal Train has facilitated the delivery of some 42 million meals, Laramee said, averaging 10 meals per recipient. Common uses of the platform are organizing meal deliveries for people after childbirth or during an illness, he noted. “It’s innate to want to help people out after they’ve been through a significant life event,” Laramee said. “It’s human nature.” The idea for Meal Train grew out of a custom in Burlington’s Five Sisters neighborhood, where Laramee lives with

his wife and two kids. A group of neighbors would each make a meal for a family after the birth of a baby, he explained. “That process became difficult to organize each time someone had a baby,” Laramee said. “I thought there had to be a better way.” Meal Train was born of his “desire to solve this problem with technology,” he said. When the coronavirus pandemic first emerged, Meal Train experienced a decline in traffic, according to Laramee. He attributes the dip to people’s uncertainty about how to use the platform safely before contact-free delivery became a common practice. “People were nervous,” Laramee said, “and they didn’t know if this act that they wanted to participate in made sense.” Soon, he added, “insightful Meal Train users” started to use the service to bring together frontline workers, whom communities want to support, and restaurants that need business. “That has been truly amazing over the past five weeks,” Laramee said last week. “We’ve organized over 1,050 Meal Trains for different frontline employees all over the country.” By April 24, that number had increased to 1,152, with 25 to 30 new Meal Trains created per day for frontline employees, according to Laramee. In the ongoing Meal Train for the St. Johnsbury hospital, nine restaurants in Lyndonville and St. Johnsbury provide meals on the weekends, when the hospital cafeteria is closed. The business is made possible through $3,000 in donations from community members, Switser explained. “I called a bunch of my competitors and said, ‘Hey, let’s do this,’” he said. “It’s not about any one place; it’s about getting these people fed.” m

INFO Learn more or make a donation at mealtrain.com.

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SIDEdishes

Essential Meals « P.47

Contact: sally@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Learn more or make a donation at frontlinefoods.org.

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

SERVING UP FOOD NEWS BY JORDAN BARRY

FILE: JAMES BUCK

situation. As a catering company, she noted, Sugarsnap is set up for this kind of job. “We know the drill,” Duke said. “I’ll do it as often as they want us to.” In the Old North End, Andrew Ryan, chef-owner of Drifters café and bar, was preparing late last week to make lunch for a neighboring organization, the Community Health Centers of Burlington. The open-faced meatloaf sandwich was offered with Vermont beef or in a vegan version (housemade seitan with white beans and mushrooms), served on house focaccia with roasted carrot gravy, crispy shallots, roasted potato wedges and a side salad. Born and raised in Burlington, Ryan said he opened his small café on North Winooski Avenue to be part of the community and to feed it. Frontline Foods is an extension of that mission, he said. “The community we live in supports and helps each other out,” Ryan said. “I think Vermonters are more about community and spending locally than other places.” Nationally, Frontline Foods’ network of 51 chapters has collectively raised $4.3 million and delivered 215,000 restaurant meals to people working on the front lines of the pandemic, according to the organization’s website. In Vermont, due to “extraordinary response,” Frontline Foods raised its fundraising goal last week from $100,000 to $150,000 by May 15, Gewirtz said. “A few days ago [$100,000] seemed like a lofty goal,” she added. Phish is helping to reach that target. Last Friday, the band announced that the April 28 version of its weekly online event “Dinner and a Movie” will benefit Frontline Foods. “If people feel compelled to give,” Tsai said, “we will continue this organization as long as everybody wants to give and we have food.”

Does’ Leap farm at the 2019 Burlington Farmers Market

Open Market STATE ISSUES GUIDANCE FOR FARMERS MARKETS TO OPEN MAY 1

The VERMONT AGENCY OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD

& MARKETS issued detailed guidance for

the state’s farmers markets last Friday, allowing them to open on May 1. They were previously shuttered under Gov. PHIL SCOTT’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order. In a press conference earlier in the day, Scott emphasized that the guidance would “focus on food distribution, not a social gathering.” Market managers, advisory boards and farmers have anxiously awaited guidelines from the state on how they can adapt their operations for the summer season. Originally expected a week prior, last Friday’s guidance specifies general operations procedures, social distancing requirements, proper cleaning and sanitary protocols, and increased communication strategies that markets must follow while the stay-at-home order remains in effect. Details of the guidance — which can be found on the agriculture agency’s website — are in line with the recommendations outlined by the NORTHEAST ORGANIC FARMING ASSOCIATION OF

VERMONT and the VERMONT FARMERS MARKET

ASSOCIATION.

They include measures such as moving all indoor markets outdoors, suspending entertainment activities to prevent congregating, limiting vendors

to those who sell food (raw or valueadded agricultural products or edible plant starts only, no craft or jewelry vendors), requiring vendors to offer online or phone preorder options, and discouraging in-person shopping. The guidance notes that it is “intended to help farmers markets serve communities and provide direct access to healthy, nutritious foods, while also supporting local farmers and food businesses.” In a post sharing the guidance on social media, NOFA-VT thanked Scott and the Agency of Agriculture “for issuing clear, thoughtful guidance for farmers markets to operate safely, while enabling customer[s] to spend 3SquaresVT/SNAP benefits to buy food from their local farmers.” In order to operate safely during the COVID-19 pandemic, farmers markets will need to redesign their layouts and operating procedures to enforce social distancing and limit person-to-person contact. These measures will create an increased need for sanitizing and protective equipment and will require extra staff. Markets across the state are working to cover those costs without passing the burden on to farmers and vendors. The BURLINGTON FARMERS MARKET, going into its 40th season, has launched a fundraising campaign to offset those costs and ensure that it can operate in accordance with the new guidelines.

Farmers markets provide centralized access to local food; they’ve also traditionally served as cultural hubs. While things like live music, cooking demonstrations and children’s activities are now off-limits, the agriculture agency’s guidance allows the markets to continue safely connecting farmers and consumers, albeit at a six-foot distance. Scott also announced further loosening of business restrictions last Friday, allowing outdoor retail facilities such as garden centers and greenhouses to start providing in-person service on April 27. As the weather warms and food truck season approaches, Seven Days reached out to the AGENCY OF COMMERCE AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT to seek clarification on how the guidance around bar, restaurant and food service applies to food trucks. An email response from the agency clarified that since most food trucks, snack stands and food carts have takeout and curbside capabilities built into their business models, they are permitted to operate under the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order, as long as they are not part of a festival or large food truck gathering. As with other food businesses offering food to go, food truck operators are also required to follow mandatory health and safety requirements, such as proper distancing, face coverings, handwashing and sanitizing.

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Vermont restaurants are off-limits to dine-in customers for the foreseeable future, but they are still making delicious food — for TAKEOUT, DELIVERY or CURBSIDE PICKUP. Adult beverage with that? Liquor-license-holding Vermont restaurants can also sell take-out wine, beer and spirit-based drinks for off-site consumption. Drink up! And don’t forget to buy GIFT CARDS! Check GoodToGoVermont.com to see what your favorite eatery is serving up.

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FILE: LUKE AWTRY

currently no

music+nightlife

From left: Nick Mavodones, Matt Rogers, Ali Fogel, Paddy Reagan and Brian Nagle in 2019

Broken Windows

Among the more bittersweet aspects of life in isolation has been how we’ve adapted in order to observe certain yearly landmarks and milestones. For example, raise your hand if you have celebrated birthdays in the last sixish weeks by, say, standing outside a loved one’s house and singing “Happy Birthday” or eating cake together over Zoom. In a way, it’s kinda neat, right? Like, the indomitable human spirit finds a way even against the grimmest backdrops … or something. But it’s also surreal. While I got a kick out of serenading my brother from the street on his 40th birthday — probably more than he did … sorry, Ty — and watching my newly 1-year-old nephew in Chicago gleefully mashing his first bites of carrot cake, there was an inescapable feeling that something was missing. And, of course, there was. I’ve discovered an eeriness about those days that, in more normal times, would mark something important or fun. Like birthdays, or what would have been the opening day of the baseball season, or any number of smaller occasions that help to mark time. I expect that 50

SEVEN DAYS APRIL 29-MAY 6, 2020

S UNDbites

News and views on the local music + nightlife scene BY D A N BOLLES

“Twilight Zone” feeling will be especially strong this weekend. That’s because, somewhere in an alternate universe that isn’t beset by a global pandemic, from Friday through Sunday, May 1 through 3, the city of Winooski will be feasting on the threeday indie-rock smorgasbord that is Waking Windows. Alas, we live in this universe, where the guy in charge of running the country is apt to suggest anything from leeches to antifreeze colonics as a cure for the coronavirus. Someone, please pass the bleach. For close to a decade, Waking Windows — held the first weekend in May for most of its history — has heralded the beginning of not just festival season but idyllic warmer days ahead, which Vermonters look forward to all winter. It’s the weekend when the entire music scene,

performers and fans alike, comes out of hibernation to rock and/or roll — and also to high-five Waking Windows organizers ALI FOGEL, BRIAN NAGLE, PADDY REAGAN, MATT ROGERS and NICK MAVODONES at various points around the Onion City traffic circle. It’s just one of the best weekends of the entire year in Vermont. This year would have been especially epic, as the festival was set to celebrate its 10th anniversary. FUTURE ISLANDS, who headlined the first Waking Windows in 2011 — a 10-day event held at the Monkey House in June opposite the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival — were scheduled to headline again, along with JAPANESE BREAKFAST, the NUDE PARTY, VUNDABAR and many more of your future favorite bands. Oh, and pretty much every band, singer-songwriter and DJ in the greater Burlington area.

On March 18, the Waking Windows crew announced that this year’s festival wasn’t happening. While the organizers for many other major Vermont events slated for the spring and summer have expressed optimism about moving further down the calendar, Waking Windows’ organizers simply pulled the plug on the 2020 fest. They discussed rescheduling for the fall, but given the logistics involved in hosting more than 250 acts at dozens of locations, postponing was never really an option, even for a slimmed-down version of the festival. “We started planning 2020 before the festival last year,” explained Fogel in a Zoom call with the entire Waking Windows brass. On top of the planning challenges, retooling for the fall would have meant competing against every other local event trying to squeeze into September or October weekends, as well as competing for talent with major national festivals such as Coachella and Bonnaroo, which are hoping to resume in the fall. That’s if large public gatherings are even allowed by then, which is hardly a given. “We didn’t want to do a lesser version of Waking Windows, especially for our 10th year,” said Nagle.

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Francesca Blanchard

S E V E N D AY S T I C K E T S . C O M

COURTESY OF KAYHL COOPER

“We were upset about it not happening,” added Fogel, “but in the grand scheme of things, so many people are dying and are in worse situations than we’re in, so you can’t really dwell on it.” Ticket presales for this year’s fest were the highest they’d ever been. But if there is a silver lining for Waking Windows, it’s that the financial fallout from canceling shouldn’t be terribly severe. That’s partly because the festival was canceled before deposits were sent out. But it’s also because the Waking Windows crew, all of whom have fulltime jobs, at least in non-pandemic times, don’t rely on income from the fest. There isn’t much of it. “I think the fact that we don’t make money on the festival is our saving grace,” said Reagan. “It’s so funny, because we always complain that we don’t make anything. But that has insulated us a little bit.” That’s not to say canceling the festival doesn’t leave a financial void. For one thing, Waking Windows is a major boon for restaurants and bars in Winooski. Fogel, who manages the Monkey House, noted that her bartenders make much more during the festival every year than she or the rest of the Waking Windows crew do. “That’s the biggest bummer,” said Rogers, lamenting “the servers, bartenders and everyone else who relies on the festival to make money.” And so the Waking Windows crew will turn their attention to May 7 through 9, 2021, when the festival is scheduled to resume. “Waking Windows is always a great lead-in to spring, and people are excited to get out of their houses,” noted Reagan. “Who knows what it will look like next year, but it’s fun to think that Waking

Windows could be the post-COVID kickoff.” We don’t actually have to wait that long for a taste of Waking Windows. While the streets of Winooski — and the rotary you love to hate — will indeed be eerily quiet this weekend, the Waking Windows crew has been hard at work organizing a virtual stand-in, of sorts, for the festival, called Waking Windows at Home. Details were still coming together as of press time, but a slew of livestream Waking Windows events are scheduled to begin on Friday and continue through Sunday. And, much like the analog festival, the digital version promises to be a diverse and eclectic mix of music and other events. Among the performance highlights are Burlington’s sons of DEATH, ROUGH FRANCIS, releasing their long-awaited new album, Urgent Care, as well as live sets by BTV expat songwriter MARYSE SMITH, locals MATTHEW MERCURY and

FRANCESCA BLANCHARD, and a dance party

from DJ DISCO PHANTOM — aka Nagle. Also, there’s a Drag Queen Story Hour, and expat comedian ANNIE RUSSELL will host an online version of her popular “Arguments & Grievances” show. Additionally, Waking Windows will host several how-to livestreams, including record maintenance with Autumn Records, a photography workshop with LUKE AWTRY and BRIAN LASKY, bike maintenance with TED OLSON, a lighting seminar with lighting designer JASON LIGGETT, yoga with Sangha Studio and, not least, a home cocktail-making workshop. And because some things are just sacred — and tradition — Waking Windows will wrap up on Sunday with a (virtual) pizza party. Keep an eye on Waking Windows’ website and social media feeds for more performance announcements and streaming details — and, of course, for info on Waking Windows 2021. I already can’t wait.

FILE: LUKE AWTRY

Listening In

Rough Francis at Waking Windows 2018

Here’s a peek at what’s been on my bunker hi-fi lately. FUTURE ISLANDS, The Far Field JAPANESE BREAKFAST, Soft Sounds From Another Planet FRANCESCA BLANCHARD, Happy for You EP VUNDABAR, Either Light ROSEMARY CAINE, Foolisher Than Pride

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The Beerworth Sisters, Another Year

The two are family, mind you: Beerworth is married to Pepin’s brother, and the two singers have been close for 21 years and bandmates for 10. So those complementary vocal timbres are a product of friendship and practice — which brings up a thorny nature-versusnurture argument we don’t have time for here. However, the women’s songwriting does share DNA, even if these sisters

from other misters don’t. And their voices really do seem made for one another, genetics be damned. Those qualities converge for a number of small musical miracles throughout Another Year. The album’s second cut, “Lord Take My Sorrow Away,” is one such moment. With eddying acoustic guitars, churning strings, blooming harmonies and a simple, hopeful message, the song is pure comfort given musical form. Since it was penned long before the pandemic, Pepin couldn’t have intended the song as respite from our current sorrows, specifically. But it works that way nonetheless. In an email, Beerworth writes that some songs on Another Year were five years in the making but that all were “shaped by our personal experiences as mothers, daughters, sisters and life itself.” That influence is evident throughout the record, but perhaps nowhere more than in the title track. Penned by Beerworth, the song plays

like flipping through a yellowing family photo album, its nostalgia and homey imagery brought to life through stirring harmonies. The Beerworth Sisters recorded the album with Colin McCaffrey at the Greenroom, his East Montpelier studio. The producer’s delicate fingerprints are evident all over, from pristine production to immaculate playing. McCaffrey contributes guitars, dobro, mandolin, piano and strings. He also harmonizes like he’s part of the family — or at least the band. McCaffrey’s aesthetic contributions are indispensible, but Another Year succeeds on the elegance and charm of Beerworth and Pepin. As songwriters, the two explore life, love and family in a way that’s heartfelt and thoughtful but never cloying. As vocalists, they harmonize as though they were born to sing together. Perhaps they were. Another Year is available at thebeerworthsisters.bandcamp.com.

accents and paint-by-numbers songwriting that plague modern commercial country music. Crowley and company have produced a record that simultaneously leans traditional in its sonic approach and feels like a fresh take. “To Be Absorbed” is a perfect

example. The song itself is an easygoing romp, not unlike a good Sunday drive away from the city. Reilly Graham’s pedal steel guitar licks flash like the sun glinting off the hood of a car. His tasteful playing leaves splashes of color throughout the EP. Crowley’s vocal approach, in both his melodic choices and his timbre, suggests a clear respect for the genre that never turns to cliché or parody. Similarly, when the whole band drops in about halfway through “Village Green Motel,” QVB — which includes guitarist Rick Frauton, drummer Stevie Van Houten and bassist Josh Tyack — truly show the source of their magic. Free of the dogmatic production styles that plague much of modern country, QVB achieve a sound somewhere between Sturgill Simpson and the great sheen found on late-1970s folk-rock records. David William Ross’ ace production

deserves special attention. The Englishborn producer and virtuoso guitarist also worked with Crowley on the excellent Deep River Saints album For Posterity. The two clearly get each other. The result of their latest collaboration is a unique sound — at least up here in these northern parts. Yes, QVB EP is a country record, but it’s candy-coated with classic pop catchiness. Each of QVB EP’s six tracks contains a multitude. Crowley’s songwriting is as sophisticated as it is inventive, and there isn’t a misstep or repetition on the record. It is lean, mean and ready to soundtrack a nice early-evening drink — maybe contemplating life’s bigger questions or just thinking about some good times in the past. Either way, QVB have you covered. QVB EP is available at quasarvalleyband.bandcamp.com.

(SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

Digging into Another Year, the latest album from indie-folk duo the Beerworth Sisters, it would be tempting to muse on the mysteries of “blood harmony” — the ear-tingling phenomenon that sometimes occurs when family members sing together. Think of the close, twining harmonies of the Everly Brothers or the Carter Family. Indeed, you’ll find no shortage of opportunities throughout the album’s eight songs to marvel at the beauty of Anna Pepin and Julia Beerworth’s delicate, interweaving vocal work. From the Beerworth-penned opener, “Burning Light,” through Pepin’s loving benediction and ode to motherhood, “A Song for Jack,” the record exudes just the sort of rustic, familial warmth that causes blood-harmony mystics to swoon. Except for one thing: Pepin and Beerworth aren’t blood relatives.

Quasar Valley Band, QVB EP (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

“It’s the last night of July, and I’m on a bender,” sings Patrick Crowley on “Wined and Dined,” a standout track on Quasar Valley Band’s new release, QVP EP. “Someone wrote their number on my hand, but I can’t remember,” he later confesses. Forget pickup trucks and American pie; to me, country is pain and regret with a wry grin at the end. Crowley is better known around the Vermont scene for his work with Deep River Saints, an Americana project that tantalizingly dipped into psychedelia and indie rock. With Quasar Valley Band, the formerly California-based singersongwriter has moved squarely into country music. Again, forget all the fake southern

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drumming DJEMBE & TAIKO: JOIN US!: Digital classes starting March 30! (No classes on-site for now.) Taiko: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Djembe: Wednesday. Kids and Parents: Tuesday and Wednesday. Private digital conga lessons by appointment. Let’s prepare for a future drum gathering outdoors! Schedule/register online. Location: Taiko Space, 208 Flynn Ave., Suite 3G, Burlington. Info: 999-4255, burlingtontaiko.org.

Feldenkrais

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MOVE OUT OF PAIN: ONLINE CLASS: Uwe Mester, a German certified Feldenkrais practitioner with 15+ years of teaching experience, is now offering online Feldenkrais classes via Zoom. Classes are offered on a donation basis. Find out how you can improve your movement and physical awareness from your living room! For more information, including class schedule, testimonials and registration, please visit Uwe’s website at vermontfeldenkrais.com. Turner Osler, MD, a retired UVMMC trauma surgeon with over 300 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, has come to Uwe’s classes for the past nine years. Dr. Osler holds a Q&A following Uwe’s Tuesday and Saturday online classes to answer any medical questions regarding the current pandemic. 5 weekly classes. 1-hour class; contact Uwe Mester to register. Location: Online, Charlotte. Info: Vermont Feldenkrais, Uwe Mester, 735-3770, movevt@ gmail.com, vermontfeldenkrais.com.

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