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VE RMO NT ’S IN DEPE NDEN T VO IC E JUNE 3-10, 2020 VOL.25 NO.36 SEVENDAYSVT.COM

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OUTRAGE ON TOP OF

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George Floyd’s death spurs Vermonters to call for police reform PAGE 10

How COVID-19 overwhelmed a Burlington nursing home PAGE 34

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WEEK IN REVIEW MAY 27-JUNE 3, 2020 COMPILED BY GILLIAN ENGLISH, SASHA GOLDSTEIN & MATTHEW ROY Councilor Perri Freeman

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Vermont considers corrections reforms to shrink its prison population

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MORE INSIDE

PAGE 15

CRIME

State Suspends Investigation of Alleged Abuses at Women’s Prison B Y PAU L H EIN T Z

Outraged

Harmony Edosomwan leading the protest

George Floyd’s death spurs Vermonters to call for police reform B Y DER EK B R O UWER , COL IN F L ANDERS, COURT NE Y L AM D I N & M AT T H E W ROY

s the crowd swelled and pulsed on Saturday night, the authorities were waiting in the wings. Officers with the Burlington Police Department stood by a heavy-duty emergency response truck in a gravel parking lot on North Avenue. The Vermont State Police stationed a tactical team at the nearby fire station, where another tactical truck held impact rounds, irritant gas and riot shields. But the police had no need for the specialized equipment. Well more than 1,000 people, led by members of Vermont’s communities of color, converged in Battery Park to join the raucous, outraged demonstrations that have swept the country since George Floyd, a black man, died at the hands of Minneapolis police during a May 25 arrest. A day before the Burlington protest, Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis officer who planted his knee into Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, had been charged with third-degree murder. His arrest did little to quell the public anger. 10

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Those marching in the streets wanted wholesale reform. “Is my son next?” one Burlington protester’s sign read. “White Americans are the biggest threat to America,” read another. “Stop giving bigots badges,” demanded a third. The placards would be left in piles around 1 North Avenue and on the windshields of parked police cruisers, but only after protest leaders confronted local cops directly. Hundreds chanted for interim Police Chief Jennifer Morrison to come outside. She and Deputy Chief Jon Murad obliged, then looked up and listened to protest leader Harmony Edosomwan, who stood in the bed of a pickup truck. “Are you familiar with the person Jason Bellavance?” Edosomwan asked through a megaphone, referring to a Burlington police sergeant who was disciplined for using excessive force in 2018. The incident, which involved Bellavance pushing a black man into a wall, knocking him

unconscious, was captured on video. It’s currently at the center of an ongoing federal civil rights lawsuit against the city. Edosomwan also asked about Officer Cory Campbell, who punched a white man during an altercation outside a hospital last year. Douglas Kilburn died days later. Campbell was disciplined for using profanity during the interaction, but police defended his use of force. Edosomwan and the jeering crowd brushed aside Morrison’s attempts to respond. Then the protest leader, a prominent student activist at the University of Vermont, held up a clear gallon jug filled with red liquid. She dumped it onto the pavement at the feet of the police leaders. “Their blood is on your hands,” Edosomwan said, referring to people killed by cops.

NEWS

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An independent investigation into allegations of wrongdoing at Vermont’s only prison for women has been delayed due to safety concerns related to the coronavirus outbreak. “It has been suspended, and as soon as we have an opportunity to open up our facilities again it will be reestablished,” Secretary of Human Services Mike Smith said Monday. “It hasn’t been forgotten.” Smith ordered the probe last December after Seven Days reported allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation within the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility. He hired former U.S. attorney Tristram Coffin of the Burlington law firm Downs Rachlin Martin to conduct the review, which was to be completed by late April or early May. According to Smith, that timeline became unrealistic when, in March, the Department of Corrections barred outsiders from visiting the state’s prisons in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. “One of the primary tasks was to be able to interview various people, to see the facilities, to observe, to interview, and obviously we couldn’t do that with the crisis that hit,” the secretary said. When he ordered the review last December, Smith appointed former Vermont State Police director Jim Baker to serve as interim corrections commissioner until it was completed. At that point, the secretary said at the time, a more permanent commissioner would be named. Baker replaced former commissioner Mike Touchette, who resigned two weeks after Seven Days published its investigation. Smith said Monday that he had also suspended the search for a commissioner and had asked Baker to continue in that role as the department navigates the coronavirus crisis and accompanying budget challenges. Baker, who has also led the Vermont Police Academy and the Rutland City Police Department through crises, said it can be harmful for an interim leader to overstay his or her welcome, but he said he agreed to remain “until the fog clears.” Contact: paul@sevendaysvt.com

Justice Served? Vermont considers corrections reforms to shrink its prison population BY PAUL HEINT Z

hen lawmakers returned to to resolve their differences before sendMontpelier in January, one ing it to Gov. Phil Scott. of their top priorities was to Whether Scott would sign it is another reduce the number of people imprisoned question. His interim corrections by the State of Vermont. They succeeded commissioner, Jim Baker, supports much — but not the way they expected. of the bill but viscerally opposes grantThe coronavirus pandemic has ing new due process rights to furloughed prompted prosecutors to avoid locking prisoners, arguing that doing so would up all but the most serious undermine his department suspected offenders, and while failing to rehabilitate it’s led the Department of chronic offenders. Corrections to release some “I understand why there inmates who have served their minimum may be a level of mistrust with Correcsentences and been deemed low-risk to tions, but the continuing scrutiny is going the community. As a result, Vermont’s to snuff out innovation and creativity,” prison population has dropped nearly 17 Baker said. “All we ever do in Corrections percent since January, from 1,678 to 1,401. is react to the latest oversight coming Now, lawmakers are hoping to lock in from the legislature.” that progress by returning to the criminal Others think the House version of justice reforms they began contemplating the bill doesn’t go far enough in stopin January. “Our numbers ping the cycle of repeated are down, so let’s really returns to prison. Defender put in the effort to keep General Matthew Valerio, those numbers down,” who oversees the state’s said Rep. Alice Emmons Prisoners’ Rights Office, (D-Springfield), who chairs complained that the legislathe House Corrections and tion had been “significantly Institutions Committee. watered down” by House Last week, Emmons’ Corrections. “In its current committee signed off on form, I don’t think you’re legislation that would autogoing to get the savings or matically parole some lowthe results they’re looking RE P. MAX IN E GRAD risk offenders upon serving for,” he said. “But the bill’s their minimum sentences, not done yet, and we hope provide due process rights to those who to make progress going forward.” violate conditions of furlough and reduce The legislation has its roots in a sixthe sentences of those who follow the month, data-intensive study of Vermont’s rules in prison. “We are actually giving prison system conducted by the New York these folks some measure of responsibil- City-based Council of State Governments’ ity for their own actions,” said Rep. Butch Justice Center. Working with repreShaw (R-Pittsford), the committee’s vice sentatives of all three branches of state chair. government, the organization in January The bill, S.338, is one of the few major proposed a slate of recommendations it pieces of legislation not directly related to said could cut the state’s prison populaCOVID-19 that has been given priority in tion by 135 people and save as much as the virtual Statehouse since the building $14 million over five years. (Some of those closed in March. It’s also one of the few savings would be achieved by bringing new initiatives that could receive seri- home many of the 236 Vermont prisoners ous funding. The legislature is consider- held at a private prison in Mississippi.) ing appropriating $2 million to house The initiative, called “Justice Reinrecently released prisoners, provide them vestment II,” was modeled after a simimore programming and address domestic lar process that took place in Vermont violence. in 2007 and 2008. According to the The full House is expected to vote Justice Center, its recommendations to on the bill later this week. Because the improve behavioral health and substance Senate passed a different version in JUSTICE SERVED? » P.18 February, the two chambers would have

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JAMES BUCK

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In Vermont, the Ventilators Never Arrived BY PAUL H E I N TZ

In late March, as Vermont’s coronavirus infection rate was doubling every five days, state officials projected they might need as many as 565 ventilators to treat an expected surge of COVID-19 patients. They scrambled to add to an existing collection of 177 critical care ventilators and 69 other units spread throughout the state’s health care system, according to Public Safety Commissioner Mike Schirling. Even Gov. Phil Scott got in on the action, coldcalling contacts within the industry to implore them to help obtain the machines. At one point, Schirling said, the state had ordered as many as 450 — at a cost of roughly $5 million. To date, only 10 have arrived. “Because the rest of the world faced the crisis before we did, there was buying going on before the U.S. was even in the game,” Schirling said. “So we were lucky to be able to get orders in.” In some cases, the state pared back its requests because its need for ventilators decreased. In others, it canceled orders because anticipated shipping dates were too far in the future. And in one case, according to Schirling, the federal government used the Defense Production Act to swoop in and claim 200 units Vermont had ordered from Philips. At present, the state still has 95 critical care ventilators on order from four companies, according to a document provided by the Department of Public Safety. Those units, plus the 10 already delivered, are expected to cost the state more than $2.4 million. The state has also contracted with two homegrown outfits that only recently began manufacturing ventilator-like devices. Officials ordered hundreds of AutoVENTs from Beta Technologies, the South Burlingtonbased electric aircraft developer, and hundreds of Vermontilators from the University of Vermont, according to the Department of Public Safety document. Those would be used as emergency backups, Schirling said. (The Vermont National Guard also has access to 12 conventional ventilators, he said.) The state’s procurement problems have not posed any risk to public safety, according to officials. “We don’t need them at the moment,” Secretary of Human Services Mike Smith said. “We have not come near our ventilator capacity at all.” m Contact: paul@sevendaysvt.com

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Protesters surrounding the Burlington Police Department

Outraged « P.10 And if police kill — or assault — another person in Burlington, Edosomwan warned, protesters would return to burn the police station down. By the time the crowd peacefully dispersed, a Black Lives Matter flag flew atop the police station; the building’s walls were tagged with graffiti. The minor vandalism may have been more widespread if not for a black organizer who chastised a spraypaint-wielding white man. “Do not touch this building!” she yelled, according to a Vermont Public Radio reporter who witnessed the scene. “You will give them a reason to hit us black people. They will not see you.” The intense, widespread activism quickly caught the attention of state officials, who issued rare, direct condemnations of the Minneapolis officers. “The public needs to know we stand with them,” Capt. Garry Scott, the Vermont State Police director of fair and impartial policing, said in a statement last Friday. The topic consumed much of Gov. Phil Scott’s Monday press conference, briefings that for months have been dedicated to the state’s coronavirus response. The governor called for prosecutors to charge the three officers who watched Chauvin pin Floyd’s neck to the pavement, as well. “My heart goes out to all people of color across the nation who, even though they live in different communities, carry this trauma every time something like this happens,” he said. “In the greatest country in the world, no one should stand for this,” Scott continued. “No one should make excuses for this. And no one should ignore this. We must all make clear: Enough is enough.”

He also announced that Xusana Davis, the state’s executive director of racial equity, would chair a new task force to tackle systemic racism. The group, Scott said, would “evaluate structures of support for racially diverse populations,” review state laws around hate speech and study ways to encourage more people of color to run for public office. Smaller but sizable protests have taken place in Rutland, Brattleboro, Montpelier, Derby Line and St. Albans. In the latter city, a couple hundred people on Tuesday chanted “Police the police,” and “Black lives matter” in a downtown park, videos from the event show. People of color have been prodding Vermont institutions to act for years. In 2016, students at UVM raised a Black Lives Matter flag on campus, but it was swiftly stolen by a white fraternity pledge. In 2018, former state representative Kiah Morris of Bennington resigned her seat after white supremacists harassed her online. Last year, when video emerged of Bellavance injuring Jérémie Meli, Black Lives Matter activists demanded that the City of Burlington fire Bellavance and two other officers who had been on the scene. An online petition they created at the time has circulated again in recent days and now has 36,000 signatures. Last year’s galvanizing incidents in Burlington resulted in the formation of a special committee on policing, which proposed several revisions to the police department’s use-of-force policy in February. On Monday, Chief Morrison fasttracked two of the proposed changes by issuing a departmental order that made them effective immediately. Under the new rules, officers must intervene any time they witness misconduct or excessive

force by a fellow officer, and they must prioritize de-escalation whenever feasible. “Right now, the community needs to know that we are doing everything possible to prevent anything like what we saw in Minneapolis from happening here,” the chief said during a briefing with the mayor. Later that day, Burlington city councilors passed a resolution condemning racism, police brutality and Floyd’s death. But even that simple gesture proved controversial and required a protracted debate about whether the resolution should include a line thanking Burlington cops for their “non-confrontational and professional response” during the protest on Saturday. Councilor Perri Freeman (P-Central District) argued passionately — but unsuccessfully — against including the appreciative note. “With the unbelievable anguish that this nation is experiencing right now over the unbelievable violence and the brutality that communities have been experiencing, I cannot fathom how this is even remotely appropriate,” Freeman said. Less controversially, the resolution called upon the city to raise the Black Lives Matter flag outside of city hall for the remainder of the COVID-19 state of emergency. Officials already had such a flag on hand. Morrison said police removed one that belonged to protesters from the station on Sunday morning and replaced it with an American flag. She said she asked organizers whether they wanted it back but “received no reply.” Instead, she gave the flag to the city parks department. For now, it’s flying over Church Street. m Contact: derek@sevendaysvt.com

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Pandemic sparks mail-in-voting plan — and a partisan rift

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BY KEVIN MC C ALL UM

early every person who arrived at South Burlington Middle School last Thursday wore a mask — a pandemic-imposed requirement for those entering the city’s polling place. Inside, election worker Tim Barritt sported a mask and a plastic face shield as he checked in voters and handed out ballots. Those in line spaced themselves at least six feet apart. Poll workers systematically sanitized the pens that voters used to fill out ballots on the school district’s proposed $54 million budget, which would be rejected that day with a 64 percent “no” vote. After finishing his three-hour shift, Barritt, a 61-year-old city council member and staunch Democrat, said he felt fine

RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT MAIL-IN BALLOTING INCREASED VOTING RATES BY ABOUT 2 PERCENT

BUT DID NOT FAVOR ONE PARTY OVER ANOTHER. with in-person voting in November if these and other commonsense measures were put in place. “I think it can be done safely,” Barritt said. When informed that that is precisely the position many Republicans in Vermont have taken in opposing a voteby-mail proposal, Barritt burst into mortified laughter. “Oh no!” he cried through his cloth mask. Such is the muddled state of the debate over mail-in ballots in Vermont, a confounding discussion rife with competing claims, speculative predictions and increasingly partisan crosscurrents. Secretary of State Jim Condos, a Democrat, wants to mail a ballot to every registered voter for the November 3 general election to limit the number of people who turn up at the polls.

Voters would be able to return the ballots by mail, drop them off at their town clerk’s office or hand-deliver them to a polling place on Election Day. Proponents, including the Vermont Democratic Party, argue that voting by mail does not impede democracy yet will keep down the number of voters physically present at the polls, thus protecting them from spread of the coronavirus during one of the most consequential elections in memory. The Vermont Republican Party argues that doing so could lead to voter fraud, calling the push for mail-in voting “clearly a power play by the Vermont Democratic Party to boost their vote counts.” Republican Gov. Phil Scott has also expressed doubts but says he’s merely pining for a “normal” in-person election and believes that Condos is opting for mailed ballots too quickly. Scott has also suggested it is inappropriate for people on the ballot — including Condos and himself — to decide on voting methods. While everyone involved says the debate shouldn’t be partisan, lawmakers acknowledge it has become exactly that. After empowering Scott and Condos to decide jointly on voting methods in 2020, lawmakers are now on the verge of breaking the stalemate between the two men by removing the governor from the equation. On Tuesday the Vermont Senate advanced a bill largely along party lines to give Condos sole authority to make election decisions this year. After a nearly two-hour debate, the Senate voted 21-7 in favor of the bill. All six Republicans in the chamber voted against it, as did Sen. Bobby Starr (D-Essex/Orleans), who said he felt the Senate was “overreacting.” If passed Wednesday, June 3, as expected, the bill would still need the approval of the House of Representatives. Scott has signaled he’d be happy to be stripped of the shared power to decide how Vermonters will vote, claiming he never wanted it in the first place.

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

to spot fraud, Kinville said. And fraud does happen, she said, recalling the time she caught three members of a household registered in her city voting by absentee in both South Burlington and Burlington. Vermont’s director of elections and campaign finance, Will Senning, has called instances of absentee ballot fraud in the state “infinitesimal.” While Kinville acknowledged that the case she cited could have been an innocent mistake, she asserted that mailing ballots to the entire voter roll would dramatically increase the number of ballots sent to the wrong address and increase the chances of mischief. “It’s going to be mass confusion,” Kinville said. In the debate Tuesday, Benning implied as much, calling it unwise to mail ballots “willy-nilly” to inaccurate voter checklists instead of requiring people to ask for them. Instead of a system that works fine now, “we literally let loose potentially 300,000 to 500,000 live ballots and expect it all to work out perfectly fine,” Benning said. The balance of party power in the Vermont House may make the issue more charged than it would otherwise be, Dickinson said. Republicans hold just 43 seats in the 150-member chamber, but that has been enough — with the help of independents and breakaway Democrats — to uphold at least one gubernatorial veto this year. The vote highlighted how even a small turnover could have a profound impact on the power dynamic in the Statehouse. While there is certainly selfinterest in the calculations of politicians, the mail-in-voting debate isn’t strictly about strategic electoral gain, Dickinson said. There are fundamental philosophical differVoting in South Burlington on May 28 ences between the parties on the question of how much onus should be placed on individual citizens to Benning said he knows the “excuse” for the plan is the participate in democracy, he said. pandemic, but he said the state’s existing absentee ballot “Republicans, more than Democrats, say it should be system would appear to be the cure. on the individual, whereas Democrats are saying, no, it “I’m looking at this saying, ‘Why is this necessary?’” should be on the state — the state should facilitate by Benning said. removing barriers and making voting as easy as possible,” There are a few reasons Republicans are fine with he said. boosting the use of the absentee balloting but hesitant to Back in South Burlington, voter Ken Perrotte strode embrace mail-in voting, sometimes referred to as “univer- away from his polling place wearing his mask. He said sal mail-in voting.” he felt completely safe attending in person, even at the One is cost. While federal coronavirus relief funds age of 80. would foot the $3 million price tag of switching to a In November, however, when lines are likely to be mail-in-voting system this year, South Burlington City longer, he and his wife, who has health issues that make it Clerk Donna Kinville said she worries about the practice hard for her to stand for long periods, will almost certainly becoming routine and local jurisdictions being forced to vote by absentee — or mail-in — ballot. pick up the tab in future years. While the divide between the two parties may be in Kinville acknowledged that many of the 246 town part philosophical, Perrotte, a retired high school teacher, clerks in Vermont may be in favor of switching but said still believes Republican opposition to mail-in voting is most are from small towns where anomalies would be more calculated than that. easier to detect. “There is a definite urban-rural divide “They know that if everybody can vote, and they make on this issue,” she said. it real easy … it’s not going to be very successful for them,” In more heavily populated communities such as South Perrotte said. m Burlington, which has 16,000 registered voters, the large number of ballots would make it more difficult for clerks Contact: kevin@sevendaysvt.com LUKE AWTRY

“This bill simply takes him at his word and simply removes him from the process,” Sen. Jeanette White (D-Windham) said during Tuesday’s debate. The argument in Vermont is convoluted partly because the divisive national debate is beginning to bleed into the local one, according to Matt Dickinson, a political science professor at Middlebury College. Conventional political wisdom holds that vote-bymail measures help Democrats and hurt Republicans. President Donald Trump claimed as much when he opined in April that if such efforts succeeded, “you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” The Republican National Committee is suing states that have proposed expanded vote-by-mail measures, most recently California. Sen. Becca Balint (D-Windham) said Tuesday it was unfortunate that what she called Trump’s string of lies and misleading claims had recently turned to a “fear-based argument” of “rampant, widespread voter fraud, which is not actually a thing.” “The real fraud is this fallacy that there’s rampant voter fraud, and it appears every election like a bad rash,” Balint continued. But the political calculations behind the mail-in-voting debate may be detached from the facts, Dickinson said. It is commonly held that even a seemingly small barrier to voting — like being required to physically show up at a polling place — poses more of a hardship for someone working two jobs or who needs to pay a babysitter than it does for a retired person of means. Remove that or similar barriers to voting, and many predict more Democrats will turn out. “The interesting thing, from the political science perspective, is we don’t have any evidence that’s true, at least not nationally,” Dickinson said. He pointed to an April 2020 Stanford University study that analyzed three states — California, Utah and Washington —where mail-in balloting had been phased in county by county, allowing researchers to compare the differences between those that had made the change and those that hadn’t. Five states, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Hawaii and Colorado, have mail-in voting, while California gives the option to counties. The study found that mail-in balloting increased voting rates by about 2 percent but did not favor one party over another, he said. The researchers reported that “vote-by-mail has no apparent effect on either the share of turned-out voters who are Democrats or the share of votes that go to Democratic candidates.” In fact, when it comes to a state like Vermont, the opposite of the conventional wisdom may be true, Dickinson said. The claim of Democratic advantage is based in part on the notion that barriers to voting disproportionately affect minorities, who tend to vote Democratic. In Vermont, mail-in voting might actually increase turnout among lower-income, less-educated white voters, many of

whom live in rural areas and vote Republican, Dickinson said. “We don’t have a lot of racial minorities, so here it’s not quite the same logic,” Dickinson said. Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) made a similar case last week, arguing that he opposed the mail-in voting not because it would harm Republicans, but because it was unnecessary. “As a Republican from a rural district, a mail-in ballot system is probably going to help my party better than it will other parties,” Benning said. Benning said he’d been in touch with his town clerk in Lyndon, who was against mail-in voting because the existing absentee ballot system could address people’s health concerns. The clerk, Dawn Dwyer, confirmed that she felt a better system would be to mail all voters a postcard reminding them they can request an absentee ballot if they choose. State elections officials are planning to do just that for the August 11 primary.

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Vermonters and their government adjust to virtual meetings BY C OURT NEY L AMDIN

TIM NEWCOMB

electboard meetings in Canaan can be lively. Residents of the remote northeastern Vermont town — population 972 and literally steps from the Canadian border — congregate every other week to complain about rogue snowmobilers or weigh in on the purchase of a new police cruiser. The coronavirus, though, put the in-person gatherings on pause. In March, the Canaan Selectboard began holding meetings on Zoom, the popular teleconference platform. But the area’s spotty broadband service made it difficult for many to participate. Those who did told town leaders that public discourse just wasn’t the same. Meeting attendance dropped. “It’s hard to know what people want if they’re not gonna come,” selectboard chair Frank Sawicki Jr. said. “It’s frustrating. We want them to have a say.” The rural selectboard isn’t the only body experiencing technical difficulties. Just last week, the Vermont House delayed committee meetings for a few

hours when a technical snafu killed live video of the sessions. In late April, the Vermont Senate met privately on Zoom for 20 minutes before letting the public view its proceedings. In Hinesburg, the selectboard chair turned off the mic of a resident who spoke with a raised voice during a heated discussion. A Montpelier resident is worried that members of the public can’t properly vet a complex project from afar. Three months into the Zoom age, socially distanced democracy is hitting some speed bumps. Open-government advocates say officials are doing their best under complicated circumstances, and they’ve cheered the fact that residents

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SOCIALLY DISTANCED DEMOCRACY

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news Socially Distanced Democracy « P.15 don’t have to travel to observe government at work — they can just turn on the computer. Other Vermonters fear that remote meetings are diluting the state’s tradition of robust participation in local politics. “I do really want people to get involved, but I’m afraid if it’s all online that people are Zoomed out,” said Catherine Goldsmith, a Hinesburg resident who is wary of the new format. “It just seems like a lesser experience.” This version of the new normal began in late March, when the legislature passed a bill that allows public meetings to be conducted entirely by telephone or computer connection during the governor’s state of emergency. Previously, at least one member of the public body had to be physically present in a meeting space that was open to the public. Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos initially balked at the proposal — calling it an “extreme measure” — but successfully lobbied the legislature to include other provisions aimed at transparency. City council, selectboard and school board meetings, for instance, must be recorded “unless unusual circumstances make it impossible,” and agendas must include instructions for how to attend meetings online, the law says. The Vermont League of Cities & Towns, which supported waiving the in-person requirement, has since published a “Remote Public Meeting Toolkit” with tips on staying in compliance with the new law. Among them: Recess the meeting if technical difficulties arise, and assign a staffer to monitor video chat functions. In Vermont, Zoom isn’t always practical for places with sketchy internet service, said Karen Horn, the league’s public policy and advocacy director. She serves on Moretown’s planning commission, which has opted to use an old-fashioned telephone conference line for meetings, given the area’s unreliable broadband service. Now that the weather is getting nicer, commissioners have considered holding a physically distanced meeting outside. “You have to figure it out so that it works in your community, and people understand if they want to participate how that happens now,” Horn said. “It definitely is an adjustment.” Condos said he hasn’t received a barrage of complaints about Zoom meetings, but he acknowledged that it can be harder for the public to hold leaders accountable when officials can simply mute callers or ignore a pointed question that was typed into the Zoom chat. 16

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“When you’re managing a meeting, you just have to be careful of the abuse that could occur,” Condos said. Montpelier resident Sandra Vitzthum thinks the format makes it easier for city officials to tune out criticism on controversial issues. In mid-May, Vitzthum and several other people Zoomed in to a city council meeting to express concerns about a long-debated parking garage project downtown. The council eventually approved a new design proposal. “I think it was very easy for them to write us off because we were not in the room looking at them,” she said. In regular meetings, she continued, “you can look at your council member, and they have a certain amount of accountability [to you].” Vitzthum lamented that it’s difficult to vet complex projects remotely. Attendees at a traditional meeting would have been provided handouts and graphics showing the project design. They could have traded notes and ideas, she said. Montpelier Mayor Anne Watson agrees that some of the human element is lost online, but she said Zoom invites a broader audience to participate in meetings. She expects that the council will keep the Zoom option even when in-person meetings resume. Vitzthum recognizes there’s a certain ease to watching council proceedings from home, but “physically being in that real-time, 3D space is unmatchable,” she said. Goldsmith, the Hinesburg resident, feels the same way. She serves on the town’s Village Steering Committee, a group that advises elected officials on policies and plans. In early May, committee members asked the Development Review Board to postpone hearings on a big project until in-person meetings could resume. The 76-acre development, known as Haystack Crossing, is the largest ever proposed in town. Goldsmith worries that residents will struggle to decipher dense planning documents on a laptop screen at home; typically, engineers or consultants would bring large display boards or a PowerPoint to community meetings. The Zoom feeds have previously cut out, Goldsmith said, so watchers could have missed important details. “This project will have an impact on the town for decades,” she said, adding: “This is technical stuff. The professionals

understand it and citizens don’t, and so that’s always a part of those discussions.” To Goldsmith, asking clarifying questions is part of a normal meeting’s routine, but it feels disruptive on Zoom to interrupt and ask to be unmuted. She thinks that will deter others from chiming in. After some discussion, the board decided to continue the hearings. Alex Weinhagen, Hinesburg’s director of planning and zoning, said Goldsmith’s concerns are valid, but he also sees numerous upsides to Zoom technology. The local access television station livestreams municipal meetings, but Zoom lets home viewers call in and participate instead of simply watching from their couch. Many in-person meetings drew few, if any, audience

THIS COVID THING IS FORCING US

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members, whereas Zoom has encouraged the public to tune in, Weinhagen said. “It’s not ideal — we like to see each other — but I don’t see it as a stumbling block moving forward in terms of talking about issues that are of concern to the community,” he said, adding that it is outdated to expect people to come to the town hall. “This COVID thing is forcing us to do things a little differently,” Weinhagen said. “Maybe that’ll be a good thing in the long term.” Lia Ernst, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, said her organization has heard from people who appreciate being able to access their government from home. Ernst said the ACLU recommends that meetings be streamed and recorded even after the pandemic ends. “It doesn’t need to be an either-or,” Ernst said of the meeting formats. She added: “There are many ways that COVID19 has shown us that the way we’ve been doing business as usual doesn’t have to be that way.” Horn, of the League of Cities & Towns, agrees: In-person meetings should resume when possible, but an e-meeting should remain an option when the pandemic is over, she said. People should be able to

watch from home during a snowstorm, for instance, without an act from the legislature, Horn said. Burlington activist Lea Terhune doesn’t miss the status quo one bit. For her, driving downtown and finding a parking spot just for the chance to address the city council for three minutes has lost its appeal. Terhune is happy she doesn’t have to wrestle with Burlington City Hall Auditorium’s echoey acoustics. And on Zoom, she can hear and see each councilor’s face clearly — a form of accountability, she says. Charlie Messing, another city council regular, has mixed feelings about the format. He appreciates being able to Zoom in but misses the camaraderie at city hall. “You could turn around, and you could hear [the audience] respond, and now you can’t,” Messing said. “You are out in space, talking to Houston.” Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger agrees that the “scenes of democracy in action” don’t translate to Zoom. “It’s intense and unpredictable,” Weinberger said, referring to times when demonstrators have shown up to city hall with signs and chants. “When a controversial issue comes to the council over Zoom, it will not have that same level of electricity.” Burlington has hosted more than 50 Zoom meetings since Weinberger declared a state of emergency in midMarch. Between two and 20 people have called in to each virtual council meeting, and hundreds watched the mayor’s State of the City address in April on Zoom and Facebook Live. Remote meetings have their upsides, but Weinberger thinks in-person meetings are better for gathering public opinion. Unfortunately, the mayor said, Zoom “may be what we need to do for some significant period of time.” Sawicki, the Canaan Selectboard chair, hopes that’s not the case. In recent weeks, Canaan has shifted from Zoomonly to a hybrid model: The digital platform is still available for people who can log in from home, but the board has resumed meeting in person. Sawicki and his counterparts sit six feet apart and wear facial coverings; townspeople who want to attend have their temperature taken at the door. The setup provides a sense of normalcy during an otherwise abnormal time: People can show up at town hall, argue their points and solve problems face-to-face. The Zoom feed is still rolling, but for Sawicki, it’s no replacement for the real thing. “I want to see their reactions, and it’s hard to do that electronically,” he said. “That human experience is what we need.” Contact: courtney@sevendaysvt.com

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news abuse treatment programs and to expand access to housing and jobs saved the state millions and prevented its prison population from swelling to 2,800. The center’s latest study was just wrapping up last December when Seven Days published an investigation exposing allegations of sexual misconduct, drug use and retaliation at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, the state’s only women’s prison. Several of the alleged victims who described their experiences to Seven Days had been in and out of prison for years — trapped in the system not because they were committing new crimes but because they continued to violate the terms of their release. Such infractions, typically referred to as “technical violations,” can include losing stable housing, failing to find a job, missing curfew, or using drugs or alcohol. The Justice Center found that their experience was common, particularly for those taking part in Vermont’s idiosyncratic furlough system. In most states, furlough refers to a temporary release from prison to go to work, seek treatment or attend a funeral. In Vermont, it’s broadly applied to those who have served their minimum sentences but aren’t yet eligible for parole. Originally designed to ease the transition from prison to the community, furlough can have the opposite effect because onerous restrictions often result in released prisoners returning to jail. Justice Center researchers determined that, over the past three years, 78 percent of admissions to Vermont prisons were the result of furlough, probation or parole violations, while only 20 percent were related to new convictions. During one nine-month period last year, according to the Justice Center, 77 percent of those on furlough who were returned to prison committed only a technical violation — sometimes through no fault of their own — while just 22 percent committed new crimes. In crafting S.338, legislators adopted several of the Justice Center’s key recommendations, including consolidating some of the state’s 32 legal statuses for those on supervised release, which include various versions of probation, parole, furlough and home detention. They also added a new one: presumptive parole. Beginning in January 2021, those who commit nonviolent crimes would avoid furlough and instead be paroled as soon as they reached their minimum sentence, as long as they had participated in prison programming and avoided disciplinary action. Parole is more appealing to inmates because it comes with fewer restrictions and is overseen by the Parole Board, not the Department of Corrections. 18

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In January 2023, presumptive parole would be extended to those who committed more serious crimes, except for what are known as “the big 12” offenses, such as sexual assault and murder. “It’s really moving along those who are playing by the rules,” Emmons said. The bill also restores and simplifies the state’s “earned good time” program by reducing an offender’s minimum and maximum sentences by seven days for every month he or she avoids major disciplinary action. According to Sen. Dick Sears (D -Bennington), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, previous iterations of the program were so complicated that it took five Corrections staffers to calculate good time, leading the legislature to eliminate it. “It was called ‘prison math,’ and it was a mess,” he said. The most contentious section of the bill addresses what happens when a furloughed prisoner violates his or her conditions of release. Under the existing system, Corrections staffers can simply send such offenders back to prison without any kind of hearing, review or legal representation. “The Department of Corrections even has the ability to abuse their discretion with these decisions,” said Falko Schilling, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. “People need to be able to have their day in court before they’re imprisoned for something that’s not even a crime.”

The Senate version of the bill would do just that by allowing those returned to prison for at least 30 days on a technical violation to appeal the decision to Superior Court. The House Judiciary Committee, which reviewed certain sections of the bill at the request of House Corrections, went even further: It recommended letting offenders testify at such hearings and allowing the court to take new evidence. “It’s checks and balances, especially where there’s a liberty issue involved. There needs to be a check on all agencies,” said Rep. Maxine Grad (D-Moretown), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee. “It’s accountability. It’s governmental accountability.” During a meeting of House Corrections last week, Baker took umbrage at the proposal. “The folks that we supervise now are extremely complicated, and to take away our discretion to manage that risk is a path that I’m afraid is not a wise move,” he said. Involving the courts in the process, he argued, would “add another layer of bureaucracy inside our agency” because his staff would have to manage appeals. “There’s gotta be a line in the sand, and that’s where I’m drawing a line in the sand,” the commissioner said. In an interview, Baker said he supported many elements of the bill, including the reinstitution of earned good time and the creation of presumptive parole. But he complained that the legislation focuses solely on Corrections and fails to address the systemic challenges

offenders face when they reenter the community — many of which are outside his department’s control. “So we’re gonna further scrutinize Corrections but not scrutinize the rest of the system that is setting Corrections up for failure,” the commissioner said. Shaw, the vice chair of House Corrections, said that, in ordinary times, the committee likely would have resolved the furlough appeal dilemma by talking it out in an informal setting. But because the coronavirus pandemic has forced lawmakers to legislate by Zoom, he said, it has been harder to reach consensus. “If we were in the building, we’d all have cafeteria time,” Shaw said, referring to the Statehouse venue known to host such conversations. “We’d sit around and hammer out a deal between the advocates and agencies and legislators on the panel and come together to make a decision. Well, we don’t have that luxury right now.” In the end, House Corrections adopted House Judiciary’s furlough appeal proposal but delayed its implementation from January to July 2021 — a result that pleased nobody. In the meantime, a working group would be charged with studying the plan. If it comes up with a better one, the legislature could revisit the proposal next session. “It gives us a check-in before it goes live,” Emmons explained. The House committees punted on other controversial elements of the bill. At the request of county prosecutors, they removed a provision allowing those on probation to reduce their sentences with good behavior, choosing to study the idea instead. They also eliminated a section that would have paroled those over 65 who had served at least five years. And though the Justice Center had called on the state to improve its data collection, particularly around racial disparities within the criminal justice system, the bill merely tasks another group with studying the issue. “It’s time to stop studying what data we need to collect, and it’s time to start collecting it,” said Schilling of the ACLU. Though some criminal justice reformers think the bill doesn’t go far enough in reforming Vermont’s prison system, the Justice Center supports it as written, according to deputy program director Ellen Whelan-Wuest. “From our perspective, Vermont’s leadership has been just really incredibly impressive in their ability and their commitment to focusing on these issues in the middle of a pandemic and public health crisis,” she said. m Contact: paul@sevendaysvt.com

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OBITUARIES, VOWS, CELEBRATIONS

OBITUARIES Tennant Glenn Davitian FEBRUARY 5, 1937MAY 20, 2020 BURLINGTON, VT.

Tennant Glenn Davitian, artist, tastemaker, beloved mother and friend, departed to the Pure Land of Great Joy as the sun set and Venus rose on Wednesday, May 20, 2020, near her home in Burlington, Vt. Tenny was born in a snowstorm in Buffalo, N.Y., on February 5, 1937. The Second World War was gearing up, and Britain’s King Edward had just abdicated for the “woman he loved.” Picasso’s “Guernica” hit the world stage, while Kahlo, Miro, Magritte and Dali produced the mindexpanding work that defined the century and, ultimately, the art of Tennant Davitian. While history marched on, Tenny spent her childhood in nature and imagination, by the falls of the Cazenovia Creek in East Aurora, N.Y. Here she lived and played with her Scotch Irish artist parents, Bob and Bea Glenn, and her beloved older brother, Sturgen. Bob Glenn was an immensely talented artist who left his career in New York to run the family-owned Emulso Corporation (“makers of fine cleaners, polishes and waxes”) in Buffalo. A Renaissance man, he also built an exquisite home in their aerie over the falls. With the strength of a bull and the softest of hearts, Ten’s dad remained the great influence of her life. Bea, her fairy mother, cultivated Tenny’s young imagination. Ten loved their “teas” with Midder Bear and many forest visitors. Ten’s abiding curiosity, excitement to improvise and desire to connect were nourished during these early years. Her love of singing, storytelling, dressing up, party planning, making pictures and producing plays never dimmed, making her the most unique of grown-ups. East Aurora was a

close-knit village community. Tenny grew up next to her grandparents; down the road from her uncle, aunt and cousins; and in the midst of so many remembered friends. “Heading up town for a milkshake” was a shared family joy, healing all manner of infirmities. Tenny attended the local elementary school and maintained an ever-active social schedule. She went to the progressive Park School of Buffalo with her brother during their high school years (where her mother had been schooled in its first class of 5-year-olds in 1912). At Park, Ten’s success as Mad Margaret in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore (“I lost my shoe and made them laugh”) turned her head to acting and cemented her love of audiences. During her late teens, Tenny was drawn to Buffalo’s jazz hot spots, where fellow outliers and master musicians welcomed her warmly and invited her to sing. Milt Jackson, Lester Young, King Pleasure, Dave Brubeck. Later, Gilberto and Jobim became the

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soundtrack of her life and shaped the way she saw and heard the world. Even at a young age, Ten was aware of the places that “lay beyond.” She would often remember the moment when “I lay in bed at my grandmother’s house in Buffalo and heard the cars going round the circle, thinking, I want to live where the traffic runs all night.” So it was no surprise when Tennant attended college on the train line to New York City. At Bard College, in the mid 1950s, Ten finally found her tribe of fellow actors, musicians and artists who would soon rule the arts world. She also found her best friend, Corinne McGrady, who has remained a source of constant love. When Tenny finally did arrive in New York at 19, ready to become an actress, she discovered she’d lost her purse on the train. She called the only person she knew, a

bartender at the Imperial Bar on 30th Street and Second Avenue. While chatting at the bar, she was approached by Sam Davitian, a neighborhood “guy” who said, “You look thin. I’ll take you out to dinner.” Being short on funds himself, Sam went home to his mother’s to eat, shower and shave. Returning to take Tenny to Chicken Delight, he watched her eat (burger, milkshake, fries) and proposed marriage on the spot. Sam was, in fact, her dream come true. Armenian. New York. Charming like Frank Sinatra. Funny like Sid Caesar. Smart like no one else. Sam was the “someone who could help my children do their homework.” They were finally married on September 5, 1959, at the “Little Church Around the Corner,” a liberal Episcopal church willing to unite Catholics and Presbyterians. A little over a year later, they baptized their first and only child together, Lauren-Glenn (named after the screen beauty of the time, Lauren Bacall).

The 1960s were a period of profound cultural creation, and Tenny and Sam invented themselves. Their friends — designers, performers, agents, mobsters, Wall Street types and horse players — were devoted to them. After an entertaining Saturday night dinner party, this charismatic, funny and unusual couple liked nothing more than a slow Sunday morning reading the New York Times, Jonathan Schwartz on the radio and bagels for breakfast. Tenny was (and will ever remain) known for her sublime taste. She could rearrange or redecorate in a blink, pick the perfect gift, and dress stars of screen and stage. One of her friends, Ruth Gordon, remembers: “Before I opened my antique shop on Second Avenue, Tennant came in to take a look. The store had a copper tiled ceiling, and she told me that if the ceiling were to be painted chocolate and the walls apricot, it would be great for showing antiques. I followed this advice and was really pleased with the result. I also remember visiting your home, where Ten served a carrot soup that was the best soup I ever had in my life. Whatever she did, she did to perfection. I never met a woman with taste as right on as Tennant’s — and I worked with many in the fashion business.”

Tennant was a prolific artist. In her more entrepreneurial moments, she ran two galleries (San Juan and Montpelier) and a clothing shop (Maine). She favored “outsider art” but would look and talk about any piece as a way to gain insight into the culture, the time and the person she was talking with. She did not think of herself as a smart woman, but she was deeply insightful and truly brilliant. Tennant ’s homes were beautiful. From her first apartments on the East Side to her homes in Long Island City, Kennebunkport, Burlington and Lake Worth, Fla., she picked every color, placed every artifact, hung each painting, shelved every book and arranged each implement with careful thought and inspiration. She loved every one of her homes, including the 1938 Burlington bungalow she moved into last October. In this home, as lovely and spare as the others, she achieved her ultimate vision, inspired by an interview with David Lynch. When asked by a reporter what he planned to do with his living room that held only a chair, he replied, “Remove the chair.” Ten loved to travel and had so many more places to visit. She traveled to Rome and Greece in 1970, followed by trips to Denmark, Tunisia

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and Portugal. In the early 1980s, she lived in Puerto Rico and Mallorca. She made it to Italy to visit her Roman “family” and accomplished a long-awaited trip to New Mexico in 2014. The images and people from these trips never ceased to influence her creative work. Above all, Ten considered her daughter, LaurenGlenn, to be her greatest achievement. Their love for each other was mutual and deep. “My mother is my hero. She endured disappointment and sadness. But she never gave up. She sought joy every day. She left no heart unturned. Her vision, humor and grace are a gift to us all.” Tennant was a role model for her daughter’s teenage friends at the Marymount School in the late 1970s. Anne Moore remembers: “She showed us how to be.” Jean Bambury, Ten’s pen pal of 40 years, notes: “Tenny was the first adult to address me without condescension, speaking to me as though I were an adult. She was lithe and angular and had a smile that gave off real warmth. I remember the good feeling I had.” And Amanda Neal recounts this story: “I don’t know if you remember that Tennant once advocated for me at Marymount when she was heading up the PTA. I’d written a review of hot dogs on the Upper East Side for our school paper and concluded that Sabrett hot dogs were the best — even better than the ones at Nathan’s. One of the parents who was involved in fundraising did not like this, because Nathan’s had made a nice donation to the school, and she asked me to write a retraction. However, Tennant intervened to take a stand on this, and I didn’t have to write the retraction. I think your mom wanted me to learn not to back down from an honest statement and that some things are more important than pleasing donors. This story seems quaint now,

but your mom — with her stand on this small matter — again had an important impact.” Tennant’s entire life and imagined experience can be found in her collection of 20 black spiraled journals, created over the past 20 years. The journals contain her masterpiece paintings, collages, family histories, postcards from her beloveds, photos of her Jack Russells, political commentary and advice for the ages: “Navigate the uncertain.” “Leave the party when you’re having the best time.” And: “The stories of our lives are what save us.” Ten is predeceased by her parents; her beloved brother, Sturgen Hawkins Glenn; her former husband, Sam Davitian; and her best friend of the last 30 years, Jo-Ann Golden. She is survived by her daughter, Lauren-Glenn; adored sonin-law, Mark Johnson; and granddaughter, Stella Rose. Her relations include her devoted friend (since the age of 5) and sister-in-law Judith Glenn and nephew Pepper Hawkins. Ten was also aunt to Jennifer Willison and Andy English, and sister-in-law to Marie Glenn. With regret, she left her many friends in Lake Worth, Burlington and across the world, including Peter Robinson, Diane Gage, Corinne McGrady, Harvey Litwin and Karen Brown. Special thanks to Dr. Karen Sokol, the many capable caregivers of the Community Health Centers of Vermont, Armistead Home Care and the University of Vermont’s Home Health & Hospice. In particular, we extend our gratitude to the nurses and staff at the McClure Miller Respite House, also known as “the stairway to heaven.” Please consider contributions to the McClure Miller Respite House or your favored charities that benefit animals, children and veterans. Tennant would be so pleased to know that her caring continues.

Patricia Berry MARCH 16, 1947-MAY 27, 2020 CONCORD, MASS.

Patricia Berry, 73, of Concord, Mass., and formerly of Burlington, Vt., died peacefully at home of metastatic melanoma on Wednesday, May 27, with her loving daughter by her side. She is survived by her daughter, Tian Berry of Burlington, Vt.; twin brother, Peter J. Berry, and his wife, Joan Fischer, of Acton, Mass.; sister Nancy Alston and her husband, Phil, of Williamstown, Vt.; and brother David J. Berry and his wife, Peg, of Canton, Conn.; as well as numerous nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. Her parents were Helene Ciglar Berry and Henry Arnold Berry, formerly of Fairfield, Conn. Born on March 16, 1947, in Bridgeport, Conn., Patricia grew up in Stratford and Fairfield, where she developed an early love of the sea, spending long summer days on Fairfield beach. After graduating from Notre Dame High

School in Bridgeport, she received her BS in nursing from Boston College, worked at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y., and then moved to Vermont, where she began a distinguished 40-year career as a pioneer in public health. She received her master’s of public health from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., in 1982, and served in the Vermont Department of Public Health as public health planning and policy chief, director of local health services and, ultimately, as the director of public health for the state from 1989 until her retirement in 2007. Patricia’s dedication to improving public health held no bounds. She was a fierce and effective advocate for children and families in Vermont, especially those at risk. Her vision focused on infrastructure, integration and partnerships, and she worked tirelessly to build and strengthen the local district office structure and community services throughout the state. She was also instrumental in obtaining federal funding to support statewide school-age health programs. Among her many professional accomplishments, Patricia’s legacy includes securing funding for and cofounding the Vermont Child Health Improvement Program at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, where she continued to work following her retirement. She also

received national recognition for her development of Vermont’s WIC/Medicaid prenatal helpline campaign, and earned the March of Dimes Vermont Chapter 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award. At the age of 52, Patricia traveled to China to adopt her daughter, Tian, whom she loved “to the moon and back.” As Tian grew up, Patricia enthusiastically joined school PTOs, cheered on the sidelines of countless soccer games and cross-country meets, and applauded at violin recitals and musical theater performances. She brought her leadership to Burlington’s parent community and nurtured in Tian her dedication to equality, justice and advocacy for underserved populations. Following her retirement, Patricia suffered a tragic accident that rendered her a triplegic, but nevertheless … she persisted. Faced with many physical challenges, Patricia showed her indomitable spirit and resilience during her final years. She relocated to Concord to be closer to family, with the love and assistance of her dedicated personal care attendant, Afua Nikra, without whom she would not have had such independence, joy and laughter. Patricia was an avid reader — particularly of biographies. She traveled extensively, and her adventures included circumnavigating the world in a cargo ship as a young woman and visiting China,

India, Thailand, Brazil, Europe and the Panama Canal, in addition to annual trips to visit “Mother Sea,” with a special love for Truro, Mass. She loved cooking, fine food, and entertaining family and friends, and she always made a mean pesto! Though never vain, Patricia was proud of her beautiful auburn hair that spectacularly never turned gray. She was committed to fitness, competed in triathlons and road races, and annually hosted the Berry family reunion/marathon/ relay at the Vermont City Marathon for many years. In her later years, she became an avid Red Sox fan and never missed a game. She touched the lives of too many people to count, but none more profoundly than her dear friends and family. She was uniquely able to maintain connections with relatives and friends alike, and those who loved her will miss her more than words can say. We will remember her fondly in quiet moments by the sea, while relaxing on our front porches, listening to Vermont Public Radio, when we catch the fragrant lilacs on a spring breeze, or while strolling the streets of downtown Burlington. At Patricia’s request, there will be no public services, but a private celebration of her life will be held at a later date. Memorial donations in Patricia’s honor may be made to Spectrum Youth & Family Services in Burlington, Vt. (spectrumvt.org).

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Grigorii Skorupskii and Anastasia Geylenko

Cameron Rylan Ladeau

Grigorii, son of Alexei and Eugenia Skorupskii, and Anastasia, daughter of Dmitry and Svetlana Geylenko, are delighted to announce their engagement.

On May 28, 2020, at Porter Medical Center, Megan Allen Owen and Brian Marshall Ladeau II welcomed a child, Cameron Rylan Ladeau.

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. SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

arts news COURTESY OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN MARITIME MUSEUM

HISTORY

Easy to Fathom Virtual shipwreck tours offer fish-eye views of Lake Champlain’s sunken treasures B Y KEN PI CA R D

LAKE CHAMPLAIN MARITIME

in Vergennes made the difficult decision last month to suspend all in-person visits for the 2020 season. Immediately, CHRIS SABICK began looking for other ways to connect to the museum’s constituencies. As LCMM’s director of research and archaeology, Sabick knew that his visitors couldn’t get more socially distanced than touring the lake’s bottom from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Lake Champlain is home to one of the world’s largest and most diverse collections of sunken vessels. More than 300 shipwrecks, some dating back to the 1700s, have been identified, and more wrecks and artifacts are still being discovered. Normally, the museum operates the Escape, a 50-passenger vessel that allows visitors to climb aboard and, without donning scuba suits, explore some of those wrecks via a live video feed from a remotely 22

MUSEUM

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Images of the 1862 canal boat General Butler

operated underwater vehicle. After the pandemic grounded all the museum’s boat tours, those underwater explorations moved online. Fortuitously, Sabick, who is himself a diver and nautical archaeologist, already had much of the audio and video needed to produce a series of short virtual shipwreck tours. Because the maritime museum manages the Vermont Underwater Historic Preserve on behalf of the state, Sabick and his team regularly shoot video of nine of the preserve’s 10 shipwrecks that lie in Vermont waters. (Most of Lake Champlain’s wrecks aren’t part of the underwater preserve, he explained, only the most historically and archaeologically significant ones.) In October, at the end of each year’s recreational dive season, Sabick inspects at least three or four of the preserve’s shipwrecks to document how they’re aging, the progression of zebra mussels, and other damage caused by divers, anchors or the environment. Some inspections are

conducted using ROVs, others with dive teams. Sabick has paired those videos with audio narrations that were originally produced and aired in 2009 by VERMONT PUBLIC RADIO as part of its “History Under the Waves” series. The result is three virtual shipwreck tours, with more expected this summer. Among those now available is a fourand-a-half-minute tour of the Phoenix, which is considered the world’s oldest known steamship wreck. As narrator ADAM KANE explains, on September 4, 1819, the steamship left Burlington en route to Plattsburgh, N.Y., with 46 passengers and crew aboard. At 11 p.m., a passenger discovered a fire below deck and alerted the crew. As passengers boarded the first lifeboat, it became apparent that the entire steamship would be completely engulfed in flames. In the chaos, several crew members panicked and launched a second lifeboat too soon,

leaving behind 11 people. After dropping off survivors on nearby Providence Island, the lifeboats returned for the remaining survivors but found only five. After the vessel washed ashore, the Lake Champlain Steamboat Company stripped it for parts and left behind its burnt hulk; lake ice later pulled it into the shallow waters of Colchester Shoal, where it currently rests. In the underwater video, the vessel’s massive, charred timbers are still discernible. Thus far, each of the virtual tours involves vessels with known histories. But as Sabick begins producing new ones, he expects that some tours will become more informational than narrative, because the vessels’ names and histories are unknown. One such example is the Sloop Island canal boat, located near the CharlotteEssex ferry crossing. Resting at a depth of 85 feet, Sabick said, “It’s a deep, dark dive, that’s for sure. “We know a lot about that boat, but we don’t know its specific name or what its story was,” he added. “We can only tell what we can infer from the archaeological process.” Sabick envisions that this vessel’s virtual tour will exemplify the forensic nature of nautical archaeology. What’s known is that it’s an 1873 canal boat that probably sank in 1914 or 1915. The timing was determined from a seemingly insignificant finding: a charcoal briquette found in the stern cabin. As archaeologists learned later, charcoal briquettes weren’t made until the second decade of the 20th century.

IT’S REALLY A CHALLENGING SPACE

TO BE IN RIGHT NOW. CHRIS SABICK

Virtual tours like this one are helping the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum chart a new course through a post-COVID-19 world, Sabick added. “It’s really a challenging space to be in right now,” he said. “But we can continue to do our work and have new material to present through other means next year.” Contact: ken@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Find the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s virtual shipwreck tours at lcmm.org. Free.

GOT AN ARTS TIP? ARTNEWS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Essential Art When Jake’s ONE Market opened in February, no one knew the coronavirus would begin to claim lives in Vermont the very next month, or that most businesses would shut down practically overnight. The store on North Winooski Avenue in Burlington is considered essential, because food, and has remained open. Like every other vendor in the area, however, Jake’s has had trouble keeping toilet paper, cleaning supplies and other crucial items in stock. Where many saw empty shelves, Jake’s manager, MARTIN BROMIRSKI, saw opportunity. The painter, former art blogger and “longtime art freak,” as he described himself, has created a pop-up gallery in the middle of an otherwise fully stocked aisle. “I thought I could condense the products and put art in this four-foot space,” Bromirski said, pointing to a utilitarian alcove nestled between dog treats and pet toys to the right and protein powder, vitamins and diapers to the left. “I have a history of highlighting artists I think need attention.” During a visit last week, the exhibition comprised six paintings by Waitsfield artist FRANKIE GARDINER. Her soft palette and dreamy, nebulous images offered shoppers an unexpected visual respite from the buy-me packaging of adjacent merchandise. Each of

Clearly Organic.

ART

the 14-by-11-inch paintings was priced at $585. A typed list of titles and a neat stack of the artist’s business cards accompanied them. The exhibits at Jake’s last just a week — a short shelf life, as it were. The inaugural artist was North Bennington painter MARK BARRY, followed by Gardiner. This week brings central Vermont artist AXEL STOHLBERG, who is showing mixed-media constructions using paper coffee bags. Their provenance, no doubt, is another grocery store. Asked how long these mini exhibits will continue, Bromirski replied, “As long as James will let me,” referring to Jake’s owner, JAMES KERRIGAN. (Kerrigan and family also operate Jake’s Quechee Market and other Upper Valley businesses.) “I figured a couple months,” he added. Bromirski will show his own abstract paintings next month at the VERMONT STUDIO CENTER. Meantime, he’ll keep stocking artwork by fellow Vermonters in the petite gallery he’s dubbed Bromirski Hall. PA MEL A POLSTON

Contact: pamela@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Jake’s ONE Market, 242 North Winooski Avenue, Burlington, 540-0394. See Martin Bromirski’s work at martinbromirski.com.

What matters to you, matters to us.

PAMELA POLSTON

Crafted in America's heartland, Grainger's Deluxe Organic Vodka is made from 100% organic, non-GMO, gluten free corn, and is distilled 7 times to deliver a clean, smooth taste. P L E A S E E N J OY R E S P O N S I B LY. P R O D U C E D A N D B OT T L E D B Y G R A I N G E R ’ S D E L U X E . B O S TO N , M A . © 2 0 2 0 .

Bromirski Hall art space at Jake’s ONE Market Untitled-25 1

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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arts news

Through the Looking Glasses Book review: FINNA, Nino Cipri B Y AN D R EW LI P TA K

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

COURTESY OF KORBIN JONES

cience fiction holds the promise of bringing readers to strange new worlds. The past couple of years have introduced a slew of stories about this very trope — portal fiction — in which intrepid heroes jump from one alternate world to another. TV shows such as “Fringe” and “Rick and Morty,” as well as Alix E. Harrow’s Vermont-set novel The Ten Thousand Doors of January and K. Chess’ fabulous Famous Men Who Never Lived, use the device to hold up our world against a fantastical mirror. In the process, they point out our systemic flaws, or at the very least show how differently our lives might have turned out had we made a different decision or two. Decisions are at the heart of Vermont author Nino Cipri’s novella FINNA. Though a short read, it packs in quite a bit about the nature of queer relationships and box-store capitalism. It also depicts the fantastical monsters that lurk just beyond a portal to another world. Ava is one of many hourly workers at a big-box store called LitenVärld — the “bastard offspring of more popular big box stores, hanging in the margins between home goods giants and minimalist furniture mavens.” She’s had a rough time recently. She broke up with her partner, Jules, days before the story begins. She’s rearranged her work schedule to avoid them, only to be summoned to the store when another employee calls in sick. All Ava wants to do is avoid Jules, who also works at LitenVärld, until the end of her shift. Fate has other plans. A customer tells Ava that her elderly grandmother has gone missing, and the employees proceed to comb the store for her. In the process, Ava and Jules discover something strange: a portal to another world, and another LitenVärld. It turns out the company is well aware of this. Jules and Ava’s manager plays them a company video explaining that what they’ve witnessed is a maskhål: a wormhole. A special division of the company, FINNA, has been tasked with tracking down lost customers such as the unfortunate Mrs. Ursula Nouri. Cipri layers the novella with the absurdity that comes with working for major box retailers: LitenVärld’s managers are bland automatons unwilling to deviate from company instructions. They announce that,

BOOKS

Nino Cipri

Walmart and the rest, LitenVärld is staffed with employees who struggle to get by on minimal wages while petty managers ask them to do the impossible. By juxtaposing a one-size-fits-all mentality with an infinite number of alternate worlds, Cipri presents two possible extremes: a world dominated by a hive mind and a lone adventurer who realizes she can’t make it alone forever. Though a relative newcomer to the science-fiction publishing world, Cipri has a growing body of short fiction, appearing in outlets including Fireside Magazine, Pseudopod, Nightmare Magazine, Tor.com and others. FINNA is a breezy, accessible read brimming with sardonic humor. The speculative elements are light but effective: Alternate realities are the perfect way to juxtapose the “normal” world with the fantastical ones.

THE SPECULATIVE ELEMENTS ARE LIGHT

BUT EFFECTIVE.

because of corporate cutbacks, two of the minimum-wage employees must volunteer for FINNA (or be volunteered based on seniority, with the threat of being fired for noncompliance). Ava and Jules are paired, handed a FINNA device and told to track down their missing customer. In lieu of overtime, their manager promises them a couple of Pasta and Friends gift cards. What transpires is a hair-raising series of potentially deadly adventures as Ava and Jules track down Ursula. After working out the IKEA-like directions on their FINNA, they jump to another world, where they discover that a giant, fuzzy chair has eaten their quarry. When the FINNA tells them a suitable replacement for Ursula is out there, they go in search of her, encountering a creepy world with a murderous hive mind and an alternate, pulp-adventure-style Ursula. At its core, FINNA examines how capitalism’s sometimes-ridiculous tendencies filter down into box-store retail politics. Cipri’s description is apt: “the box store stuck out like a giant square pimple on the landscape.” As with Best Buy, JCPenney, IKEA,

INFO FINNA by Nino Cipri, Tor, 144 pages. $14.99 paperback; $3.99 ebook.

FROM FINNA The weirdest part about walking through the maskhål was that it wasn’t weird at all. Ava had expected to feel something; a membrane, a temperature change, her ears to pop. They took half a dozen steps and were in another world. It took Ava a few minutes to notice the subtle differences. The world was warmer, a little more humid. The air was fresher in this LitenVärld than in her own. Pastels and paisley seemed to be in fashion in these showrooms, rather than the muted color palettes and natural prints that had dominated this year’s catalogue. But there was nothing that screamed Alien planet! You don’t belong here! “I really thought another universe would look cooler.” Jules sounded disappointed. “I guess LitenVärld is the same everywhere,” she said. “That’s what people want, right? Familiarity?” “Some people, sure,” said Jules. They turned to her. “This place seems chill. You should stay here while I go find Ursula.” Ava rolled her eyes. “I’m coming with you.” “I told you, I can do this on my own,” Jules said, frustration bleeding into their tone. “I know you can!” Ava snapped. It was true. Jules was prepared for anything, everything. They could have been a Boy Scout, if the Boy Scouts weren’t transphobic trash. They may have moved in a personal chaos field, but it made them more at ease with the unexpected and strange than anyone. At their best, Jules was good-hearted and calm in emergencies and tended to know what to do. Jules was the person you always, always wanted on your zombie apocalypse team. “Of everyone in this stupid store,” Ava said, “you’re definitely the most capable of rescuing someone’s grandma from a horde of spider-monsters or whatever were in that video.” “Then why—” “Because I don’t trust you to come back!” Ava hissed. “You always do this. You ignore inconvenient realities like your girlfriend is fucked up in the head and there are giant spiders in other worlds! Then when the problems get too big to ignore, you run.” “… You dumped me,” Jules said numbly. “Because you never would,” Ava answered. “I would have just woken up and you’d be gone.”

GOT AN ARTS TIP? ARTNEWS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

Proxy Pursuit

WU’S FILM PLAYS WITH THE NOTION OF SOUL MATES,

BUT HER CLEVER SCREENPLAY REMAINS A TAD SKEPTICAL.

Streaming video review: The Half of It

COURTESY OF KC BAILEY

B Y MA R GO T HA RRISON

here do we find entertainment these days? On our laptops and in our living rooms. The streaming options are overwhelming — and not always easy to sort through. So, in this weekly feature, I review a movie or series that might otherwise be easy to overlook.

Still from The Half of It

But, with her household in dire financial straits, Ellie swallows her pride. Knowing that she and Aster share a love for books and ideas, Ellie woos her for Paul using letters, chats and, in one memorable sequence, a bare wall ripe

THE MOVIE: The Half of It (2020) WHERE TO SEE IT: Netflix

THE DEAL: Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac offers an irresistible template for romantic comedies. What if the wordsmith who’s been hired to help a tonguetied oaf win the girl of his dreams … is also in love with her? An award winner at the Tribeca Film Festival, this fresh-faced update from writer-director Alice Wu is set in rural Washington. Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis) is a bright, lonely teen who helps support her widowed dad (Collin Chou) by selling term papers to the popular kids. When football player Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer) asks her to write a letter to Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire), who’s dating one of his teammates, Ellie initially refuses because she has a crush on Aster herself.

for artwork. By the time Aster and Paul have their first date, she thinks he’s a budding existentialist in shoulder pads. Sweet as he is, Paul isn’t qualified to discuss much besides his prized culinary creation: sausage tacos. As Ellie and Paul evolve from business partners into friends, Paul expands his horizons. Complications, both comic and bittersweet, ensue. WILL YOU LIKE IT? Full disclosure (and a spoiler): I learned about The Half of It from a disgruntled Twitter thread. Some

viewers are unhappy with how the movie ends. Named for Plato’s theory that we’re all searching for our other halves, Wu’s film plays with the notion of soul mates, but her clever screenplay remains a tad skeptical. (For what it’s worth, the original Cyrano doesn’t end up happy with his beloved Roxane, either.) Much more than a romance, The Half of It is a touching, funny film about a brainy Chinese American lesbian coming into her own in a town where football players are revered like rock stars. While the courtship takes center stage, Ellie’s supportive relationships with Paul and her dad are drawn in loving detail. The factors that give Ellie her outsider status are likewise depicted with a careful hand. A climactic set piece in a church feels a little broad, given all these nuances. Overall, though, Wu has pulled off a smart, welcome update of the tropes that folks of a certain age remember from John Hughes movies. The yearning oldies on the soundtrack are the cherry on top. IF YOU LIKE THIS, TRY...

• Saving Face (rentable on various platforms): In Wu’s debut rom-com,

from 2005, a professional is just embarking on a new romance when she must welcome her widowed mom as a permanent guest. Mom disapproves of her daughter ’s sexuality — and is mysteriously pregnant. Reportedly, this one does have a happily ever after. • The Miseducation of Cameron Post (Hulu and Kanopy; rentable on other platforms): In this 2018 drama, Chloë Grace Moretz plays a Montana high schooler who’s packed off to a gay conversion center. While its premise is dark, this likable sleeper film highlights the resilience and solidarity of the kids as they find ways to bond and, ultimately, escape. • “Never Have I Ever” (Netflix): Eager for another smart high school comedy with people of color in the lead roles? Cocreated by Mindy Kaling, this is the story of 15-year-old Valley girl Devi, who’s determined to transform from nerd to queen bee, but her temper keeps getting in the way. In a stroke of strange brilliance, tennis great and fellow “hothead” John McEnroe narrates her story. Contact: margot@sevendaysvt.com

NOW PLAYING AT THE SUNSET DRIVE-IN Through Thursday, June 4: Bad Boys for Life & Bloodshot Knives Out & Bombshell Sonic the Hedgehog & Trolls World Tour The Invisible Man & The Hunt Through Thursday, June 11: The Wretched & Bad Boys for Life Jumanji: The Next Level & Sonic the Hedgehog Knives Out & Baby Driver The Invisible Man & The Hunt SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Burlington Resource and Recovery Center (RRC) 802.755.7239

Supportive Quarantine Pilot Program

Calling all college students and other folks just back in Burlington from out of state please do your part to help save the lives of our most vulnerable community members - our seniors, people of color, those with underlying medical conditions. Thank you!

What City assistance includes: • Daily check-in call

• Grocery, prescription, or other deliveries • Move-in care package with local goods, two reusable cloth masks, hand sanitizer, information on local resources • Gift card to local restaurant for delivery (following 4 days of quarantine) • Fletcher Free Library card • Information about accessing testing services

Who Students returning to UVM and Champlain College, people

returning or moving to Burlington for other reasons, and residents asked to quarantine as part of a contact tracing effort

When

14 days, or potentially less with a negative result from a COVID-19 test taken after 7 days of quarantine

Why

To contribute to the physical and economic well-being of the entire Burlington community

Where Within Burlington; quarantine required throughout Vermont How Visit burlingtonvt.gov/quarantine or call 802.755.7239

The RRC is here to help in response to COVID-19 Volunteer services

Unemployment, small business, food, housing, childcare, and property tax information

recovery@burlingtonvt.gov 26

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

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802.755.7239

Assistance in completing the 2020 Census questionnaire (it’s more important than ever to be counted!)

burlingtonvt.gov/resources 6/2/20 12:03 PM

HACKIE

A VERMONT CABBIE’S REAR VIEW BY JERNIGAN PONTIAC

Tractor Love

utch Hawkes, my fiftysomething customer, and I were driving south on Route 7 en route to his home in the tucked-away Addison County town of West Cornwall. He had come up to Burlington a couple of days earlier for shoulder surgery. Butch was sitting in what I call the “wayback” seats of my minivan. He was burly and bearded, with calloused hands the size of bear paws. I thought, This is the kind of man I’d want for backup in a bar fight. (I have never actually been in a bar fight, but still.) It was a sunny, warm spring afternoon, and I had the windows half-cracked. The rush of air was invigorating after the long, cold winter, but the whooshing sound only compounded the auditory difficulties created by the, excuse me, fucking distance. When the virus hit Vermont, I removed my taxi’s middle seats to create a safe “social distance” and began asking all my customers to sit in the wayback. I always throw in an apology, which is invariably waved off with, “Hey, no problem. I understand.” Still, I’m a social guy, so this distancing business goes against my nature. “How you doin’ back there?” I called over my shoulder. “Not bad, all considering. You?” Butch replied. “Oh, fuck — I can barely hear you,” I said, my frustration mounting. “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna shut the windows and turn the AC on low. That way at least we can hear each other. I’m willing to sacrifice the fresh air for some decent conversation.” “I’m right with ya,” Butch agreed with a chuckle.

“OK, that’s much better,” I said. “Now we don’t need to shout. So, Butch, you grow up in Addison County?” “Yup, on the family farm. We had about 100 cows, milked ’em twice a day.” “I couldn’t help but notice you are one large unit. You musta played high school football, I bet.” “I didn’t, but I sure wanted to. When I was a freshman, the JV coach came to me and said, ‘Just say the word, Butchie. You could be dressed and playing this weekend.”

THE PAINT JOBS WERE AMAZING —

ALL HUNTER GREENS, FIRE-ENGINE REDS AND SILVER CHROME. I laughed and said, “They saw this strapping farm boy and could picture you mowing down opposing quarterbacks.” “Exactly. But, unfortunately, my father wouldn’t let me join the team. They needed me at home to help with the chores. Farm work is, like, never-ending.” “Jeez, that’s too bad. Did you have anything to do for fun?” “Oh, yeah,” Butch replied. In the rearview mirror, I saw a wide smile come across his face. “My thing is tractor pulls. It’s, like, my big passion since I was a kid.” “Wow, that is something,” I said. “I think I’ve seen that once on some sports channel. It’s a competition to see how heavy a load your tractor can pull, right?” “Yup, over a specific distance, usually about 100 yards. And then you got your different classes, like antique, farm stock, enhanced farm stock. Anyways, I was actually one of the guys who brought the sport to Vermont. Now you see it at state

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fairs all across the state. Of course, most of the events this year have been canceled on account of the virus.” “Well, that’s way cool. You were the Vermont tractor pull pioneers.” “Yup, me and two other guys made it happen. One was an accountant and the other was, like, this genius at marketing and promo. And I kind of brought it all together. Hey, would you like to see some pics of my machines?” “You mean the tractors? Sure.”

5/26/20 4:08 PM

Like a proud grandparent sharing photos of the beautiful grandkids, Butch stepped forward toward the front of the cab and passed me his cellphone. “You can scroll through to see a few of ’em,” he said. “They’re all classic models that we restored, both the bodies and mechanically.” I took the phone and glanced for a moment at a few gleaming tractors parked in front of an old barn. As I passed him back his cell, I said, “I couldn’t look too close while I’m driving, but I can tell these are some gorgeous machines.” Different strokes for different folks, right? I thought as we motored along. I really couldn’t imagine getting into tractor pulling, either as a participant or a spectator. Then again, I would have said the same thing about demolition derby, until a friend convinced me to go with him to one of those crazy competitions held at the Champlain Valley Fair in August.

It turns out I loved it. I thrilled at the sight of the drivers crashing their beaters into one another; it was like an exercise in the fulfillment of every cabbie’s deepest and darkest id. Who knows? Maybe tractor pulling holds a similar allure just awaiting my discovery. We hung a left off Route 22A toward Butch’s place in West Cornwall. After another couple of turns, we pulled into his driveway. He explained that the farm was sold off years ago, but he still lives on a piece of the original property. “Hey, do you want to see some of the tractors up close and personal?” he asked. “I know you’re working and all.” “Hell, yeah,” I replied, chuckling. “I’d love to.” I followed Butch on a path behind the farmhouse to an old barn, the one in his photos. Out in front sat three tractors, each clearly an antique but lovingly restored to factory-showroom quality. The paint jobs were amazing — all hunter greens, fire-engine reds and silver chrome. “The one in the center, believe it or not, was bought new in ’58 by my granddad.” “It’s a beauty, man, no doubt,” I offered. “You have totally restored it to its former glory, and then some.” As the two of us stood there admiring these machines, I thought, I do believe I just might be getting the pull of the tractor pull. m All these stories are true, though names and locations may be altered to protect privacy.

INFO Hackie is a twice-monthly column. To reach Jernigan, email hackie@sevendaysvt.com.

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RETAIL THERAPY BY MARGARET GRAYSON

Domestic Harmony Seven items for your home and where to buy them locally

re you working from home? That phrase conjures something different for everyone. Whether “home” is a house in the country, a shared apartment w i t h ro o m m a t e s i n Bu r l i n g t o n or another arrangement, there are plenty of ways to spruce up your abode and make the most of your personal space. For Brett Bashaw and Natasha Lawyer, working from home is the norm, because both their ceramics studio and their house sit on an 11-acre piece of land in Fletcher. The couple sells ceramics online as Sugarhouse Ceramic. Sales have grown since Bashaw and Lawyer started Sugarhouse nearly two years ago. But when it became apparent that the pandemic was, well, a pandemic, Bashaw said he was concerned. Assuming sales would take a hit, he started looking for information online about whether the couple could qualify for unemployment insurance. “I was so close to doing that, but I never did. Because literally, over the next few days, our sales started to pick up,” Bashaw said. “Our sales were through the roof … It’s gotten to the point where, as soon as we put it on the site, it sells.” Bashaw said he’s not entirely sure what’s caused the uptick in interest in handmade ceramics. But he said he notices every Vermont-based order and is grateful for the support. “If this whole experience has taught us anything, I think it’s emphasizing the power of local communities supporting each other. I do think we need to start valuing handmade things that aren’t just pumped out in a factory thousands of miles away,” Bashaw said. “This has highlighted how important it is to value our local economy.” Seven Days rounded up some products from local businesses to help turn your home into a sanctuary during trying times and beyond. This list is by no means comprehensive. Check the status of many Vermont sellers by visiting the Register at shoptheregister.com. This is the last of nine Retail Therapy columns published during Vermont’s shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic. Visit the archives at sevendaysvt.com for intel on everything from garden goods and outdoor gear to books and self-care. 28

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Matcha Bowls

It might take a bit of doing to get your hands on a piece of pottery from Sugarhouse Ceramic, but it’s worth it. The site is restocked every week or so with small batches of new items, but they fly off the (virtual) shelves very quickly. The best way to stay on top of the new offerings, Bashaw said, is by joining the company’s email list or turning on notifications for its Instagram account, @sugarhouseceramicco. Happy hunting! Order from sugarhouse ceramicco.com. ALSO TRY: Pantry Bowl from Farmhouse Pottery in Woodstock (farmhousepottery. com). HOW TO BUY:

Palm Canyon Birdhouse

Garden Tools Puzzle

Few things are more Zen-like than sitting down to chip away at a puzzle, especially if you’ve been staring at a screen. Woodbury Mountain Toys in Montpelier has dozens of 1,000-piece puzzles to peruse, including this spring-themed option. Owner Karen Williams opened the store to in-person shopping on May 25. In a video on Facebook, she described rugs placed around the store at safe distances from one another as “hot lava safety spots,” referencing the interactive kids’ game The Floor Is Lava. Trust a toy store owner to make social distancing fun. HOW TO BUY: Visit woodburymountaintoys.

com, call for curbside pickup, or visit the store Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. ALSO TRY: Ideal Bookshelf puzzle from Phoenix Books in Burlington, Essex or Rutland (phoenixbooks.biz).

Bird-watching is on the rise during the pandemic, according to the National Audubon Society, which reports that downloads of its bird identification app have increased dramatically over last spring. If you’re suddenly noticing the feathered friends in your yard, why not give them a snazzy new home? Steve Hadeka (a former Seven Days staffer) makes brightly colored birdhouses in the style of midcentury-modern architecture in his Winooski workshop. HOW TO BUY: Order at pleasantranch.com.

Recycled Ski Birdhouse from Green Mountain Ski Furniture in Waterbury (recycledskis.com). ALSO TRY:

Letterpress Coasters

Life is too short for boring coasters. If you’re going to use them to protect your furniture from water rings, why not take the opportunity to spread tiny works of art across your coffee table? These letterpress coasters from Montpelier’s May Day Studio are one of many charming printed products the shop offers. While you’re

browsing, pick up a greeting card and send a note to someone you haven’t seen in a while, or buy a journal to document these crazy times. HOW TO BUY: Order at maydaystudio.com.

ALSO TRY: Recipe card box from Shelburne

Gift Company in Shelburne (shelburnegift. ivyandanchor.com).

Waxed Canvas Planter

Give your succulents a little love — and a minimalist style upgrade — with this planter from Red House, handmade from waxed canvas. Known for its durability and waterproofing, waxed canvas works well for indoor and outdoor use. The planters, handmade in Shelburne by Matt and Britt Witt, are available in three sizes and colors.

“HomeShare found the right person for me, we are so

downloads are perfect for a pandemic, because you can buy art without leaving your home.”

compatible.”

Buy and download prints at smallequals.com. ALSO TRY: Mount Mansfield Woodblock Map Print from Tangerine & Olive in Stowe (tangerine-olive.myshopify.com.) HOW TO BUY:

Echo Bowl HOW TO BUY: Order at redhousevt.com.

Handmade Hanging Planter from SWD Potteryworks in Ludlow (swdpotteryworks.com). ALSO TRY:

Print-at-Home Handwashing Sign

Everyone could use a little health reminder now and then. And if it’s cute, even better! South Burlington artist Liza Cowan is offering “Wash Your Hands With Soap & Water” signs for would-be decorators to download and print on their own. They’re bright and friendly, just like all of the art at Liza Cowan Design. Though she sells much of her work as prints, Cowan appreciates digital downloads as “a very democratic way to circulate art because it’s so affordable and customizable,” she writes by email. “Digital

What do you get when the son of renowned glassblower Simon Pearce turns his attention to wood? The graceful lines of a salad bowl from Andrew Pearce. Made from sustainably harvested hardwood, each bowl is hand-cut on a lathe, sanded smooth and dried in a kiln at his Hartland workshop. The artist is also dedicated to essentially replacing every tree used to make his bowls. So far, the company has planted 1,150 trees in the United States through the Shelburnebased nonprofit One Tree Planted.

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Order from andrewpearce bowls.com or call for curbside pickup. ALSO TRY: Cutting board from Vermont Tree Goods in Bristol (vermonttree goods.com). HOW TO BUY:

LOOKING FOR TIPS ON HOW TO SPEND YOUR SUMMER? The June issue of Kids VT is filled with fun ideas. From exploring streams and ponds to summer reads and a Just For Kids activity section — there is something for everyone.

Check out what other Vermont retailers are up to at shoptheregister.com.

Find the June issue inside next week’s Seven Days. 4T-KidsVTTeaser060320.indd 1

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

6/1/20 6:35 PM

BOTTOM LINE BY KEN PICARD

Without Reservations Ski resort software firm Inntopia carves new tracks through the pandemic

or Trevor Crist, founder and CEO of Inntopia, the winter of 2019-20 was on course to be a bluebird season. Hefty snow blanketed much of the country, prompting skiers and snowboarders to hit the slopes in higherthan-average numbers in the Northeast, the Rockies and the West Coast. That was good news for the Stowebased booking software firm. Normally, 80 percent of Inntopia’s revenue comes from clients that operate ski resorts, such as Alterra Mountain Company, which owns Sugarbush and Stratton, and Vail Resorts, which owns Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow. “The whole continent was tracking pretty well,” Crist recalled. “And then things fell off a cliff.” Like most companies involved in travel, tourism and hospitality, Inntopia’s revenues, normal in the first week of March, disappeared virtually overnight, as the coronavirus first struck the Northwest, then erupted in New York and across the country. As Crist noted, some of the earliest COVID-19 hot spots outside of major U.S. cities were luxury ski resort towns, where many wealthier urbanites sought refuge, and where many of Inntopia’s clients are based. Though some related businesses have since gone under, their numbers haven’t been as high as Crist initially feared — yet. “In travel and hospitality, you look at the next few months and wonder how long some of these businesses are going to be able to hang on with social-distancing rules in place,” he said. “They’re all going to need to reinvent their businesses — and they’re going to need software to do that.” Inntopia, which has about 80 employees spread across its offices in Stowe, Burlington, Colorado and Maine, hasn’t furloughed or laid off any of its workers. But in mid-March, they all switched to working remotely and to a four-day workweek. Crist said that the salaries of the company’s “higher earners” were reduced on a sliding scale, with those paid the most taking the biggest hits. And as travel all but halted for two months, Inntopia searched for ways to reinvent itself. In an effort to keep staff busy, identify new revenue streams and find ways of giving back to their communities, Crist said, Inntopia repurposed its travel booking software to create TestLink, a platform for scheduling COVID-19 tests. Despite some early interest among 30

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Stowe-based Inntopia’s staff pre-COVID-19

THEY’RE ALL GOING TO NEED TO REINVENT THEIR BUSINESSES Inntopia’s Edwards, Colo., team

states and municipalities, mostly in the mid-Atlantic region, Crist said, Inntopia has yet to sign any clients for TestLink. “The [coronavirus] testing hasn’t come online as quickly as I had hoped for to make [the platform] necessary,” he lamented. “It isn’t that hard to schedule testing right now because there isn’t much testing available.” Far more successful has been Inntopia’s work on the Goggles for Docs campaign. In late March, Crist received an email from John Schaefer, who runs Berkshire East and Catamount ski resorts in Massachusetts. Schaefer had gotten a request from a New York physician seeking donations of old ski goggles that could be repurposed as personal protective equipment for frontline health care workers. Crist offered to create the software to match donors with recipients — namely, hospitals and health care facilities. Within two weeks, Inntopia had the platform up and running. The company has

— AND THEY’RE GOING TO NEED SOFTWARE TO DO THAT. TR E VO R C R IS T

since coordinated the donation of nearly 45,000 pairs of goggles, and demand has not let up. “How many goggles are there to be donated?” Crist said. “Frankly, I’m shocked that we’re this far into it and the PPE manufacturers haven’t caught up.” But he pointed out that Inntopia didn’t monetize the software; the project was a community service. And, because the company’s majority owner is a private equity firm, Crist noted, Inntopia hasn’t qualified for any state or federal assistance to weather the pandemic, such as the Paycheck Protection Program. Even as bookings and other travel arrangements have slowly resumed in the last few weeks, Crist said, Inntopia continues to seek new revenue streams. In addition to managing clients’ travel bookings, marketing and customer communications, the company also offers a service that’s suddenly in high demand: business intelligence.

Because the pandemic is unlike any previous crisis the hospitality industry has endured, including 9/11 and the Great Recession of 2008, “There’s a tremendous hunger for data,” he said. “People are flying blind because, in a lot of ways, the ground rules have all changed for everything.” Simply put, ski resorts and other hospitality businesses are just coming to grips with the possibility that, next winter, they may need to do business in a socially distanced ski season. That could mean limited or prohibited indoor dining, reduced capacities in lodges and lift lines, and similar restrictions. As Crist put it, “I don’t think anyone really has a handle on what that will look like.” Inntopia has reaped some unexpected benefits, he said. Some clients have postponed costly infrastructure improvements, such as building new restaurants and renovating lodges, opting instead for more modest projects, such as software improvements. “It’s a lot easier to look at a $200 million capital budget and say, ‘Let’s get rid of the $20 million chairlift and [go with] the $200,000 software project,’” Crist said. The opportunities haven’t outweighed the costs of this crisis, he noted, “but every bit helps.” As for Inntopia’s own operations, working remotely has been popular among staff. “We’ve actually found that it’s broken down barriers that existed geographically,” Crist explained. “We’re finding better collaboration between people in Colorado and Vermont than we previously had.” Indeed, Inntopia has no plan to require its employees to return to their offices for the remainder of 2020, if ever. “We managed to pretty seamlessly and effortlessly get everyone working from home,” Crist added. “I have a hard time seeing us going back into office space again.” m Contact: ken@sevendaysvt.com

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

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hen the pandemic brought Vermont to a halt in midUntitled-16 1 6/1/20 7:32 PM March, Paul lost most of his freelance work and found himself marooned at home in Burlington. He and his roommates diligently whiled away their days: They took five Zoom Canoe, Kayak & Paddleboard Rentals yoga classes a week, worked in the yard & Guided Tours on the Lamoille River and processed their feelings. As the sameness of self-isolation reached its apex, Paul, who requested anonymity for this story, decided to start microdosing — consuming small quantities of psychedelics to achieve a subtle sensory lift. He had microdosed before — “not for enjoyment, but to work through something,” Paul explained — but this sudden windfall of time, unaccompanied by guilt over shirking any obligations, had created the ideal conditions for a spelunk into his psyche. The pandemic has given rise to a tense monotony, a stillness enveloped in ambient dread. At a time when once-pedestrian thrills — mass gatherings, casual sex, nonessential travel — are fraught with Located right behind public health perils, consciousnessthe Cupboard Deli. altering substances can provide a psychic escape, a means of disorienting ourselves Grab a lunch, relax in familiar environments. This April, and soak in the scenery 802-644-2069 and nature! liquor sales in Vermont rose 16 percent over last April, which seems to be a sign of the times in terms of coping mechanisms. “I would be inclined to say that personal consumption has increased,” Liquor and Lottery Commissioner Patrick Delaney

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told members of the Senate Appropriations Committee last month. In the immediate aftermath of widespread stay-at-home orders, cannabis sales spiked across the country; in Oregon, where recreational use has been legal since 2015, March and April 2020 saw the state’s highest cannabis revenue on record. On the online forum Reddit, the global psychedelic community has convened to weigh the pros and cons of tripping while quarantining. One user wrote: “Hell no, this isn’t a great time! This is the most anxious that humanity has been since 9/11. Everyone is expecting bad things to happen. Everyone has bad vibes.” Another disagreed: “There is literally no better time than now to eat a whole friggin sheet.” For Paul, microdosing became a project, a spiritual exercise regimen. “Normally, I’d be going to work every day, but instead, I committed to this. My responsibilities had basically gone to nil,” he said. “So I thought, This is my shot. What better time to microdose than the end of the world?” Every morning for the next two weeks, Paul took a corner of an acid tab after breakfast and then went about his day. It was early spring, still monochromatic and blossomless, but through the microdose filter, everything seemed warmer, as if someone had turned up the saturation dial on his field of vision.

“It’s not like getting stoned, where your perception can be so far off and you might have anxiety or paranoia,” he said. “It’s a very gentle, comforting feeling, like putting on a pair of sunglasses that brightens the mood.” One of Paul’s regular LSD sources, an Old North End resident who goes by the moniker Skiz, has been selling weed and psychedelics since the mid-’90s. Over the last three months, he said, his psilocybin mushroom and LSD sales have quadrupled. In May, Skiz went through a pound of mushrooms, a quantity he typically would move over an entire year. “People are definitely gravitating toward the unusual,” Skiz said. “I think everyone is trying to get out of their stuck thoughts and experience an altered, creative mindset. It’s the way to travel from home.” Another Burlington dealer, who asked to be identified only as Dave, has also seen a shift in demand: “The people who would buy a quarter pound of ’shrooms, like a party dose, they’re not doing that anymore, because there are no concerts or festivals happening,” he said. “But my individual-use people are definitely buying more, and I’m going through them faster than I normally do.” Both Skiz and Dave have noticed an uptick in two kinds of customers: the habitual psychedelic consumers, whose home-centric lives have allowed them to

trip more freely; and skittish newcomers, emboldened by the once-in-a-lifetime nature of a global pandemic. “These sweet older ladies are asking me, ‘So, what’s this microdosing thing all about?’” said Skiz. Recently, he got a call from a friend who decided he was finally ready to try acid. “He was nervous about it to begin with, and he knows some of my neighbors, so he was freaking out that they’d wonder what he was doing at my place.” Before the days of social distancing, Skiz would let people into his apartment to hang out and chat while they picked out their product. One of his customers likes to select her pot using a high-contact dowsing method, inadvisable under the current circumstances. “She takes a little taste of each one, and she’ll either be like, ‘I feel a tingle in my nose! I don’t think I want this one,’ or ‘Oh, that tastes nice and herbaceous,’” Skiz explained. “She uses

I THINK EVERYONE IS TRYING TO GET OUT OF THEIR STUCK THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCE AN ALTERED, CREATIVE MINDSET. SKIZ

all of her senses to intuit what she wants, which is definitely something I can’t let her do anymore.” To keep face-to-face encounters to a minimum, Skiz has been hiding plastic bags around his apartment building. Some of his clients have had a hard time unlearning the social rituals of the exchange: “There’s always one kid who comes by for weed who never has any money, and I’ll usually just give him some,” he said. “And he always gets all excited and wants to hug me, and but it’s like, ‘No, no, can’t hug me!’” Other underground purveyors have taken even more rigorous precautions. A Georgia couple who, pre-pandemic, sold marijuana and homemade edibles out of their home, launched an encrypted virtual store and a contactless delivery system to reduce in-person transactions. One half of the couple, Jamie (not her real name), said that many of their clients are immunocompromised; to protect them, she and her partner wrap all of their products in vacuum-sealed plastic and sanitize the packages with Clorox.

When they make deliveries, they leave the packages in mailboxes or other discreet drop-off nooks. “We don’t go into people’s houses for anything,” Jamie said. Most of their customers send them money via Venmo; when someone pays in cash, Jamie and her partner place a machine-washable cloth sack on the ground and stand at least 10 feet away while the customer dumps the bills into the bag. When they get home, they launder the bag, with the money inside it, in hot water. (Miraculously, the bills survive.) Over the past few months, according to Jamie, their customer base has doubled — from 50 or so clients, most of whom are word-of-mouth referrals, to nearly 100. Their buyers rely on cannabis for their physical and mental well-being: “I think some people want their weed more than they want food,” Jamie said. “In a time of stress and anxiety, cannabis makes things a little lighter, makes the time go by faster.” Recently, she embarked on an edible-fueled spring-cleaning spree: “You have some candy, and then you clean that garage with a slightly different perspective.” Paul, the microdoser, found unexpected beauty in the mutedness of the outdoors in the cold, rainy days of late April. One of his friends, who was microdosing at the same time, told him that he suddenly understood why there were so many colorful houses in Burlington: “‘Otherwise, it’d just be so fucking gray!’” Since his two-week microdosing spell ended last month, Paul has been feeling nostalgic for his days of introspection. Like so many gig workers, he rarely took vacation time before the pandemic; having no choice but to tend his small bubble — his yard, his relationships — felt like an unexpected gift. “When you lose everything, and all you have to do is take care of yourself and your home,” he said, “it’s almost like being a child again.” As life slowly begins to return to something masquerading as familiar, Paul’s nostalgia has darkened into sadness. “I really felt like this pandemic was the opportunity to halt our culture’s insane operating system. I think microdosing was a way of teaching myself to be grateful for my health, for the people I love and everything I interact with,” he said. “Now, it feels like the old world is seeping back in, and it’s making me anxious.” m

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‘It’s in the Building’ he order came over the intercom: Managers, meet now in the lobby. Social worker Tiffany Smith knew what it meant. If the latest test for the coronavirus at Birchwood Terrace Rehab and Healthcare had been negative, she would have heard through a text message, the same way she had previously learned that residents with a cough or fever didn’t have the disease. The 16 managers gathered near the recently locked double-door entryway so the nursing home’s executive director, Alecia DiMario, could deliver the news. It was Monday morning, March 30, and Birchwood Terrace had just become the second eldercare facility in Vermont with a confirmed case of COVID-19. Across the Queen City at Burlington Health & Rehabilitation Center, the virus had already infected dozens and killed eight elderly residents in just two weeks. Birchwood’s caregivers and other staff understood — they thought they understood — how one case could become two, then four, then 16, and keep multiplying until the virus alone would decide who inside the building would live and who would not. Still, they had reason to hope. They had been preparing for weeks, even earlier than public health officials were asking. During the anxious two-day wait for a lab to process this resident’s test, they had sealed off the area around his room with plastic sheeting and worn protective gear whenever they entered to care for the man. After DiMario spoke, the managers put on surgical masks and got to work. They notified families and instructed coworkers and began to lock down every part of the home. Then they inserted long swabs into the nasal cavity of each resident who lived in the hallway where the first case had just been discovered. DiMario thought those tests would prove that her team’s quick action had prevented the virus from spreading. Instead, the results revealed an outbreak already out of control. Over the next six weeks, as others exhaled because Vermont had suppressed new infections, Birchwood Terrace would become fully engulfed. The outbreak at this corner lot in a quiet New North End neighborhood would swell to become the state’s largest. Sixty-one of the home’s 112 residents, plus 31 employees, would test positive for the 34

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

BY D ER EK B R O U WER & C O L I N F L A N D ER S PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

How COVID-19 overwhelmed a Burlington nursing home

Sarah Batten

virus. Other residents would be presumed to have contracted it because of the symptoms they showed; the total estimated number of infected residents would top 80. One in five residents would die. All told, Birchwood would account for 21 of 55 confirmed coronavirus deaths in Vermont as of June 2. Two other Birchwood residents were presumed to have been killed by the disease, but their infection was never confirmed, according to their death certificates. Locally, this unthinkable toll was an exception. But similar devastation has played out in thousands of nursing homes across the country, by some tallies killing at least 40,000 elderly residents and caregivers. To begin to understand how the outbreak at Birchwood advanced, Seven Days spoke to more than 30 health care workers, residents, residents’ families, public officials and others. The people who agreed to be interviewed are only a fraction of those who have been affected. But they gave detailed accounts of the virus’ asphyxiating grip — and of the long recovery that’s only just begun.

THE OUTBREAK

Two days before the fateful announcement, Sarah Batten stepped into a cool spring night and strolled the same path to work that her grandmother, Joyce, had walked for decades. Joyce had lived in a small teal house on Starr Farm Road, separated from Birchwood Terrace by a short stretch of woods. A geriatric nurse, she worked at the nursing home for more than 20 years before her death in 2009. Sarah Batten later moved into her grandmother’s old house with her three children, ages 8, 10 and 15. The 37-year-old nurse joined Birchwood last fall and recently became the unit manager for its long-termcare wing, working alongside some of her grandmother’s former colleagues. Nursing homes always boast of offering family-like care, but at Birchwood, ties do run deep. In an industry often defined by staff turnover, some Birchwood employees have worked there for many years. Employees are proud the home doesn’t use traveling fill-in workers for its staffing needs and that they can count on each

other to run a bake sale for a colleague who falls on hard times. The home itself, stretching west along Starr Farm Road from the intersection with North Avenue, hasn’t changed much since it was built in 1963. The tired-looking building reflects the old style of nursing homes, long and low, centered on one main hallway, with residents packed densely inside. Air conditioners jut out every nine feet along the brownish exterior, while rooftop units protrude like enormous oxygen tubes. One of the largest nursing homes in Vermont, Birchwood can house up to 144 residents in its three units — long-term care, rehabilitation and dementia. Each unit extends out both sides of the center corridor. The building’s footprint resembles a plane with three sets of wings, with memory care closest to North Avenue, longterm care in the middle and the rehab unit at the building’s western end. Residents live in the long-term and memory care units on average for three years, though some have stayed as long as 15 years, supported by the $237 daily rate Medicaid pays Birchwood for their care; for most, it’s their final home.

Former nursing home colossus Kindred Healthcare sold Birchwood to a New York City private equity group in 2018. The new owners, Isaac Rubin, Ariel Erlichman and Milton Ostreicher, acknowledged the home was “extremely dated” and completed a $1.2 million renovation to the interior common spaces earlier this year, regulatory filings show. The upgrades didn’t extend to the former Kindred sign out front, which is still covered with a temporary banner bearing the home’s new logo and “We Are Family” slogan. Nor did they replace the faded green canopy that brackets the front door, under which Batten passed en route to her 11 p.m. shift. Batten didn’t typically work overnights but was called in because the rehab unit

Alter’s electronic medical chart, desperate to learn the results. When the information finally appeared, it showed that Alter had COVID-19 — the home’s first case. DiMario called officials at the Vermont Department of Health to inform them and solicit guidance. Then she tried to steady her nervous colleagues at the emergency managers’ meeting. We’re ready for this, she told them. This is what we have been preparing for. But she knew nothing was certain. “It was the beginning of the unknown,” she said. Her immediate priority was to trap the virus in place and keep it from spreading. Birchwood’s long, arterial layout was a major vulnerability. So they closed the doors between each of the three units,

For weeks, Beauchemin had been walking her unit looking for any signs of respiratory illness. She continued to hope her residents would be spared; Alter’s room in the rehabilitation unit was on the opposite end of the building. But she also knew the odds weren’t good. “It’s in the building,” she said. “And if it’s in the building, how can you really expect that it’s not going to come down the hallway?” Not wanting to take chances, DiMario told the health department she wanted to test the other 15 residents of C wing. Her employees took the swabs that same day; state officials agreed to fast-track the samples. The devastating results trickled in over the next three days: 11 of Alter’s

By April 3, just four days after Alter’s diagnosis, Birchwood learned that the virus had already spread through all three units and infected 26 residents. The house was ablaze before anyone even smelled smoke. Now Birchwood needed to figure out how to contain the epidemic. With the health department’s guidance, DiMario designated C wing, at the western end of the building, as the COVID-19 unit, where all infected residents would be quarantined. The strategy of keeping infected patients as far as possible from uninfected ones was intended to give Birchwood its best chance at stopping further transmission. That meant Philip Fugazzotto, a 73-year-old from Newburgh, N.Y., known

neighbors were infected, although they had no symptoms. Batten’s mind raced when she learned that all of the rehab patients with whom she had worked on an overnight shift were now infected. She had worn protective gear, but she nevertheless worried, Did I get them sick? Did I get it myself ? Have I already brought it home to my kids? Her fear only grew on April 1, when four residents in her own longterm-care unit also became ill, forcing her team to begin wearing full protective gear, too. The virus’ stealthy advance prompted DiMario to seek state permission to test everyone in the building — residents first, employees second.

affectionately as “the tall man” because of his six-foot-three stature, had to leave the long-term-care room where he’d lived for more than three years. He’d fallen ill a few days earlier but was feeling better when the nurses told him he’d tested positive. He could take only a few treasured belongings, so Fugazzotto reached for the portable CD player that an employee had given him long ago, hoping that his Tchaikovsky classics — The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Piano Concerto No. 1 — would get him through the nerve-racking days ahead.

You can’t take a break and cry, and you can’t take a break to go outside to even have a breath of air, because everybody needs you. R A CH AEL BEAUCHEMIN

was short-staffed. One of the residents Batten cared for that night was a spirited, independent Waitsfield man named Donald Alter. The 81-year-old was lured to Vermont decades ago by the promise of good skiing and small-town life. Recently, though, a string of health problems led him in and out of hospitals and rehabilitation centers, according to his brother, Gary. On March 17, Donald was admitted to Birchwood’s rehabilitation unit, known as the C wing, after being treated for a urinary tract infection at the University of Vermont Medical Center. Unlike some other nursing homes at the time, Birchwood was still accepting new admissions from area hospitals, even as it took other steps to limit possible coronavirus exposure, such as barring visitors. Alter had not shown symptoms of the virus when he arrived at the home. But he developed a nasty cough about a week into his stay, and his caregivers, suspecting he might be infected, began monitoring him for COVID-19 on March 26. They tested him on March 28, the same day Batten was called in to help. The following Monday, DiMario sat at her computer and compulsively refreshed

then stretched caution tape across the interior fire doors to create mini-units within units. The compartmentalization meant that meals and laundry would have to be carted across the back lawn and through an emergency exit. The atmosphere in the home had already shifted once it banned visitors and stopped most communal dining and group activities. The first case brought even more dramatic changes. Residents’ doors stayed closed, and they could no longer walk through the hallways. Caregivers in the rehab unit began learning how to work entire days in personal protective equipment. An air of foreboding set in, said Rachael Beauchemin, longtime nursing manager of Birchwood’s 50-bed dementia unit.

‘IT’S IN THE BUILDING’ SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

» P.36 35

PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

‘It’s in the Building’ « P.35

CRISIS STRATEGIES

Birchwood was burning through its small cache of masks and gowns within 24 hours of the first case. The home had resorted to extreme measures, unsure when vendors could deliver more vital gear that had become hard to procure. Panic set in as managers realized their employees might have little more than ponchos to stop the virus’ spread. “We were out literally buying raincoats,” DiMario recalled. But on March 31, a truck pulled up with a trailer in tow as administrative nurse Miriam Berry watched from a window. The delivery people announced that they worked for the Vermont Agency of Transportation. The trailer was full of masks, gowns and face shields from the state’s emergency supply. Berry stood by, flabbergasted, as the boxes began to fill Birchwood’s lobby. Some N95 mask sizes weren’t available, meaning the medical-grade facial coverings wouldn’t necessarily work properly for every employee, but they were better than nothing. “It was like the cavalry had come,” Berry recalled. Birchwood was facing an even bigger problem. The pandemic had put enormous pressure on its caregivers and service workers, who risked contracting the virus while earning as little as a $13-an-hour starting wage. Schools were closed, and many employees couldn’t find or afford childcare. Others feared infecting a vulnerable family member. Many of Birchwood’s veteran staffers were at an elevated risk themselves

Birchwood Terrace Rehab and Healthcare

because of their age. Several got an ultimatum from roommates who were afraid they would bring the virus home: Stop working or move out. At one point before the outbreak, a handful of Birchwood employees slept in a makeshift “clean area” inside the rehab unit to try to minimize the chance of bringing the virus home or, after venturing out, back into the building. Workers were assigned longer, 12-hour shifts to compensate for the drop in available hands. And Birchwood paid for off-site housing for six employees who could not live at home. Those measures weren’t enough to replace more than 30 employees — onefifth of the nursing home’s workforce — who either couldn’t work or did not feel safe doing so. The shortage was about to get even worse. Employees lined up outside the building on the night of April 3 so health department workers could swab them

for the first time. Batten had decided to assume that she had the virus to quell the anxiety of not knowing. She tested negative, but nearly two dozen other employees, mostly frontline caregivers and service workers, were infected. Birchwood was in a full-blown crisis, and not just from the viral spread. The decreased staff was struggling to make sure its residents were fed, received their medications and didn’t fall in the bathroom. Smith, who normally oversaw the team of social workers, helped prep meal trays in the kitchen. Holly Johnston, a licensed practical nurse who trained new hires, covered weekend shifts for a nurse who’d tested positive and fallen ill. Word of the dire situation had already made its way to Vermont Human Services Secretary Mike Smith. He called UVM Medical Center president Stephen Leffler on April 2 to request emergency reinforcements.

If Birchwood couldn’t find enough health care professionals to work, more than 100 residents would need to be evacuated, either to a hospital or a makeshift COVID-19 treatment site that was still being set up inside UVM’s Patrick Gymnasium. Relocation carried its own risks and would have filled dozens of hospital beds at a time when health officials still feared that hospitals might be overrun. Plus, nearly every Birchwood resident had an advanced directive in place ordering doctors not to provide intubation or other advanced medical care in the case of a grave illness. “We thought the best thing to do was keep people in their homes,” Leffler said. The UVM Medical Center had nurses to spare. It routinely uses out-of-state contract workers to augment its staff; now they were standing idle because the hospital had canceled all nonemergency procedures. A few of the “travelers,” as they are known, already had been repurposed as temperature takers at hospital entrances when their new, unexpected assignment came. For some, working at the COVID-19stricken nursing home was a harrowing prospect. Those who work in hospital settings would typically discard protective equipment such as gowns and gloves between patients. But health care workers around the country were being asked to preserve the gear ahead of a potential surge of COVID-19 patients. At Birchwood, the travelers would be given a brown bag with just two gowns, two fitted N95 masks, a face shield and scrubs, and then assigned a Birchwood “buddy” who could show them how to perform duties that weren’t covered in a six-page “tips and tricks” document. We’re not trained for this, Krista Otero thought when she read the April 3 email

How COVID-19 Spread at Birchwood Terrace Nursing Home MARCH 7 Vermont identifies first COVID-19 case, in Bennington County.

MARCH 11 First COVID-19 case identified in Chittenden County Birchwood Terrace bars most outside visitors.

MARCH 13 Gov. Phil Scott restricts nursing home visitation.

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

MARCH 30 First positive test of a Birchwood resident.

APRIL 1 Six more residents test positive.

APRIL 9 Short staffing and lack of space force consolidation of Birchwood’s COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 units.

APRIL 2 Birchwood tests all residents. APRIL 3 First resident dies from COVID-19. First staff member tests positive.

APRIL 10 Health department announces it will test all residents of a group living facility if one person tests positive.

APRIL 14 Birchwood no largest outbr and staff are

telling her to report to Birchwood. The surgical technician from North Carolina wasn’t sure how to properly lift residents, and she was troubled by the idea that she would have to reuse her equipment ration between patients. Several who refused the assignment, including Otero, said their contracts were terminated. Kristen Claiborne of Florida declined out of concern for herself and her children. “I’m fixing to lose my home here because I’m not working,” she later said on the telephone, through tears. Those who did go to Birchwood on April 6 were shocked by the conditions. Still struggling to keep enough caregivers on the floor, Birchwood had received the blessing of state health officials to allow infected employees to continue to work, as long as they didn’t develop a cough or fever and worked only with infected residents. More than half of Birchwood employees who tested positive, at least a dozen, stayed on the job, DiMario said. The approach ran contrary to guidance that the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living had sent to health care providers on April 3. But health department nurse program coordinator Will Fritch, who worked closely with Birchwood on its outbreak response, said the state turned to “crisis mitigation strategies” put forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which advised that infected workers could continue to work with infected patients as a last resort. One traveling worker, who requested anonymity out of fear of employment retaliation, worked multiple shifts on the C wing alongside a Birchwood caregiver who had tested positive. By the end of one shift, the traveler’s “buddy” was visibly ill. The caregivers “were doing the best they could,” the traveler said.

For Birchwood employees, time had stopped. DiMario, the director, spent entire days on the phone with families and health officials. Nurses worked 65 hours a week or more on the floor — in Batten’s case, while her two younger children were home alone because she couldn’t find emergency childcare. The edges of the caregivers’ masks ground into their skin; sweat trapped by the mask caused painful acne. Residents saw only eyes and name tags taped across

APRIL 22 Last positive test of a resident. APRIL 21-23 Six residents die within 48 hours.

the upper rims of face shields. Johnston ate lunch alone in her car, aching for the outbreak to end. “And every day, it seemed like it was going to be longer,” she said.

FIRST LOSS

DiMario was about to begin a phone call with the health department and hospital officials when Batten called to say that Ronald Taft was dying. Like most workers at the home, Batten

MAY 14 All residents now symptom-free.

and DiMario had a soft spot for the 82-year-old man. He was a well-known character in the long-term-care unit, often found in the day room listening to Johnny Cash or chatting up whichever nurse came his way. “You look pretty,” he’d say. “Don’t I look handsome?” “He was just like a light for a few minutes,” Batten said. “You know, a personality — someone you just wanted to be around.” ‘IT’S IN THE BUILDING’

31 STAFF CASES

» P.38

MAY 28 Birchwood declared COVID-19-free.

61 RESIDENT CASES

21 DEATHS

DATA SOURCE: VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH/GRAPHIC: ANDREA SUOZZO

ow has Vermont's reak: 68 residents e infected.

Alecia DiMario

Case totals represent staff members and residents who tested positive for COVID-19. The actual total of cases is likely higher. SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

‘It’s in the Building’ « P.37

THE VIRUS ADVANCES

During the first 10 days of April, Birchwood employees came to see themselves as fighting an invisible enemy on two fronts. They cared for a growing group of sick residents, and they tried to prevent the virus from infecting the rest. Even the smallest mistakes, Birchwood’s workers knew, could surrender more ground. Complicating matters, the home’s only defense system was at risk of being overrun. When the traveling workers arrived on April 6, the 40 beds in the COVID-19 unit were already more than half full. Inside the unit, Fugazzotto was receiving oxygen and hoping he would survive until his birthday on April 13. Birchwood nurses asked him whether he wanted to try hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug that President Donald Trump was touting as a coronavirus treatment, but he declined after learning of its potential 38

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

resident testing brought a dispiriting revelation: Eight more had the virus. The following day, DiMario, health officials and UVM Medical Center reps came to a wrenching decision. Birchwood would close down its COVID-19 wing and pack the infected residents back into the remaining two units. There weren’t enough beds in those wings to fit everyone, so the hospital agreed to take five residents. The traveling nurses would stay one more day to help with the moves. The denser arrangement required fewer total employees. But the plan would also put virus-positive and virus-negative residents in much closer proximity. The

to speak frankly. “We were just going to let the virus take over and do what it was going to do.” The process was hard on residents, too. Nursing home rooms are usually personalized with favorite objects and filled with keepsakes. Room changes can be disorienting for someone with dementia. So Batten, the long-term-care unit manager, studied the list of names like a jigsaw puzzle, mapping out new room assignments that would cluster the positive cases and cause as little anxiety as possible. She relayed the instructions using a walkie-talkie to nurses and aides who then escorted the patients through the yard.

home used red bags to mark the doors of rooms known to be contaminated. When those ran out, employees turned to Post-it notes. DiMario, who ultimately made the call, said she considered many factors, including the limited staff. But underlying the decision was the painful acknowledgment that she had lost the battle to contain the virus to a single group of rooms. Every unit was exposed. It took a herculean effort to safely relocate more than 30 residents in a single day with little warning, but to many who carried out the order, it was also a discouraging retreat. “It felt like we were giving up,” said one caregiver who requested anonymity

Some of the managers who had helped mentor Batten when she started work the previous fall were crying in front of her. She had managed her unit for only four months. Now, her team was counting on her to lead them through a war zone. “You’re in the trenches, and you’re ducking mortar,” she said. “You just have to go. You can’t question. You just have to do.”

PHOTOS: JAMES BUCK

Taft’s caregivers could not use his name when recounting their interactions with him, due to federal privacy rules, but Seven Days discerned his identity using his public death certificate. He had been at Birchwood for nearly five years. He had no family, so his caregivers tried to serve as surrogates. He always let them know how he felt. “Do you love me?” he would ask. “Do you love me?” “You know I do,” DiMario would say. “Because I love you,” he would respond. After he was diagnosed with COVID19 during the initial testing, Taft’s health declined with shocking speed. Batten and other staff took turns sitting by his side and making sure he was comfortable, while DiMario, who was managing her staffing crisis, asked them to let her know whether it seemed as if his time was running short. DiMario got that call on April 3, just four days after the first positive case. She unlocked the main door and ran through the front yard to the emergency exit for the B wing hallway, toward where Taft lived. There, she rushed to put on her protective equipment: the gloves, the gown, the face shield. For the first moment since the nightmare had begun — since each hour had started to feel like its own day — DiMario wanted more time. If he could just hold on. If he could just stay a little longer. But he was gone. The first victim. DiMario stood by Taft’s bed and started to cry. She rubbed his feet and told him how handsome he would look in heaven. “And yes,” she said. “We most certainly do love you.”

side effects. He didn’t need any more unknowns. Meanwhile, Gary Alter began to fear that his big brother might not recover. Their calls became increasingly stilted. One day, when Gary asked how Donald was feeling, he replied, “I don’t know.” “I’m just tired,” he said. “I don’t know what to say.” Soon David Rines, 78, joined Fugazzotto and Alter in the quarantine unit. The move proved emotionally difficult for Rines, said his daughter, Andrea Thorpe. He’d already said goodbye to his roommate in the long-term-care wing, fearing they might never see each other

Joyce and David Rines at Birchwood

again. His new roommate in C wing, who was also ill, appeared to suffer more intensely each day, even as Rines remained in good health. And he could no longer see his wife, Joyce, who was living in the dementia unit and would later become infected. Birchwood was struggling to hold the line. Each day, more of the infected residents got sick. The traveling workers complained to hospital supervisors about what they saw as dangerously short staffing and inadequate infection control, an email obtained by Seven Days shows, though state regulators who reviewed the home’s practices on April 7 did not find any shortcomings. Then, on April 8, a second round of

THE PEAK

When the UVM Medical Center’s traveling workers departed on April 10, the hospital left behind a team of nurses and palliative care doctors who specialized in end-of-life care to help ease sick residents’ suffering.

The team’s initial task was to check in with all infected residents and their families to review advanced directives. Preplanning is important because, as DiMario learned with Taft, the virus can swiftly incapacitate its victims, especially older people. “It can be a fast decline,” said Colleen Roach, a UVM Medical Center nurse who worked on the team. “Like, they’re good, they’re good, they’re good — and then they’re not.” Because residents’ advanced directives barred intervention, those who became gravely ill were not sent to the hospital. Instead, the palliative team came to their room and treated their symptoms, usually with doses of morphine. Initially they administered the pain-control drug by mouth, which can take up to an hour to kick in. They later brought in faster-acting injectables. The group of seven nurses, three physicians, three nurse practitioners and a chaplain adopted an around-the-clock presence at the home. Each night, at least two people slept in a small camper parked on Birchwood’s lawn, ready to make sure no resident suffered needlessly as death neared.

Just remember me when times get tough. And don’t be so hard on yourself. N A O M I M CCUL L OUG H

The team’s first patient, Naomi McCullough, had lived in Birchwood’s memory care unit for a few weeks before getting sick with COVID-19. A former geriatric nurse, she had been in good health despite approaching 90, and her family thought she had a real chance to overcome the illness. McCullough’s daughter, Tommie Murray of Essex Junction, visited with her by video call shortly after the test results came back. Though McCullough had been placed on oxygen, Murray thought she seemed her normal self — the same strong-willed woman who had raised her and her four siblings all those years ago. Unable to sleep much that night, Murray called the nurses’ station around 4 a.m. to check in. The nurse who answered started crying; her mother had become unresponsive. When the nurse put the phone close

to McCullough’s face so that Murray could talk to her, it sounded like her mother was underwater. “I’ve never heard breathing the way she was breathing,” Murray, who is also a nurse, said. During one of her more lucid moments in her final days, the elderly woman had turned to Roach and said, “I know this is going to be hard for you guys.” “Just remember me when times get tough,” she continued. “And don’t be so hard on yourself.” McCullough died on April 11. By mid-April, hearses were outside Birchwood nearly every day. Gary Alter received the call he had been dreading: His brother, Donald, was dead. Next, a 67-year-old former psychologist. Later, a 73-year-old Vietnam vet. The trickle of death turned into a river. The virus took 17 residents in just two weeks. Birchwood employees learned pandemic protocols for handling the dead. Caregivers met funeral directors outside, then wheeled a gurney into the room of the deceased. They slid the body into a plastic bag, placed a cloth over the face, zipped up the bag and wheeled the gurney back outside to the hearse. Before the outbreak, loaded gurneys were always covered in a quilt so that residents didn’t see the body bag. The virus took away that small act of comfort, too. The crisis peaked on April 21, 22 and 23. In those three days, caregivers in the dementia unit repeated the body-removal procedure six times. Beauchemin, the unit manager, watched in horror as the virus decimated her elderly charges. Until then, she had never placed a body in a bag. No one on her team had. And every shift, they had to do it again. “Everybody was so sick, so you just had to keep going,” Beauchemin said, choking back tears. “You can’t take a break and cry, and you

can’t take a break to go outside to even have a breath of air, because everybody needs you.” Roach, the palliative care nurse, witnessed caregivers performing their duties as if they were robots, “like in shell shock.” During one night shift, when the losses still seemed bottomless, she passed by a nursing assistant in a hallway; the two struck up a conversation. “Birchwood will never be the same,” the aide said.

EXHALING

By early May, after a full month of climbing case numbers and death counts, the outbreak began to subside. No new residents had fallen ill in two weeks, and the palliative care nurses were preparing to end their assignment. Before leaving, they wanted to show Birchwood’s workers how to inject morphine themselves, in case any more residents took an unexpected turn. So the nurses gathered for a training session in a dayroom in the shuttered rehab unit, where the outbreak was first discovered. The palliative team’s chaplain, Bronwyn Becker, began by telling the gathered nurses that she wanted to honor their work. She delivered a short reading and led a moment of quiet reflection. Berry, one of the administrative nurses, welled up during the silence, moistening the N95 mask that encased her nose and mouth. “Just to really validate what the staff have been through, what they’re going through, what they’re choosing to do … that was just amazing,” she said. The fevers, coughs and stifled breaths that had haunted Birchwood were finally dissipating. The home was allowed to begin accepting new residents again on May 28, after its remaining infected residents hadn’t shown any symptoms for 14 days. With the outbreak cleared, residents could walk the hallways for the first time

in months. They could greet their neighbors, like David and Joyce Rines, who had survived their infections, and they could see who was no longer there. Fugazzotto, who credits his rhapsodic Tchaikovsky concertos with helping him pull through, knew many of his neighbors were not so lucky, including Stephen Albright, a musician who lived across the hall. “I felt real bad,” Fugazzotto said. “He was a friend.” Smith, the social worker, had already made the sobering walk through the halls. So had every employee, from the administrators with office jobs to the housekeepers who cleaned the rooms. Smith worked away from the units during lockdown, and as the outbreak eased, she was able to return. Gone were so many residents who always called her name or flashed a smile as she passed. Today, some of Birchwood’s caregivers say they lie awake at night, plagued by questions that have no clear answers. Some have taken medication to try to quiet the thoughts. Where did I go wrong? What more could we have done? How could the virus take 21 residents, but none of us? They can’t not ask such questions, even as the residents’ families, their loved ones and their bosses reassure them that their work has been heroic. Thorpe credited them with saving her parents’ lives. “I have a huge amount of trust in these people,” she said. Birchwood’s owners provided employees $40-per-shift thank-you bonuses for the first month of the outbreak, but those pay bumps ended in early May, when DiMario said she expected the state would step in to provide hazard pay for essential workers. Lawmakers have yet to approve that money. Beauchemin recently shopped for groceries and found herself paralyzed by the dozens of little choices the trip entailed. When the clerk started to put her items in plastic bags, she couldn’t bring herself to speak up and ask for paper. Ever since the outbreak began, Batten finds herself yearning more and more for a bit of distance between her two lives. Each day she bids her coworkers farewell after a long shift, steps into the open air and steels herself for the demands of single motherhood. The one-block walk down Starr Farm Road between work and home has become the only time she has for herself. It is the only time she does not need to be in charge. Some days, when she needs a break, she slows her pace, stretching the commute out a minute or two. And on days when that is still not enough, she stops on her porch with the chipped white paint, sits on the steps and breathes, taking in the silence for as long as she can. m Contact: colin@sevendaysvt.com, derek@sevendaysvt.com SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

EVA SOLLBERGER

have reported staffing cuts; some have ceased printing and distributing their papers altogether. On May 28, the Vermont Press Association sent letters to state leaders urging them to include its members in any marketing campaigns that emerge from the governor’s coronavirus relief package. Many members are working “at a pace never seen before, while at the same time suffering economic losses like never before,” it said. For local newspapers, the stakes have never been higher.

THE DEADLY DUOPOLY

Mountain Times staff preparing to mail copies to subscribers in 2017

Disappearing Ink

“

Our democracy depends on local journalism. We need to act now to save it. f you don’t survive, we’re all in trouble. Because who’s going to tell this story?” That’s the question that prompted Ernie Pomerleau to support Seven Days and other Vermont media outlets during the coronavirus pandemic. As many companies and organizations slashed advertising at the end of March, the Pomerleau Real Estate president and CEO increased it.

In addition to sponsoring full-page inspirational messages in Seven Days — as well as “native” or branded content campaigns like the one you’re reading right now — Pomerleau has also been advertising for the past two months in the Burlington Free Press, the Newport Daily News, the Caledonian Record and the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus; in community weeklies in Shelburne, Charlotte, Essex, Colchester and Burlington’s New North End; and on local TV channels 3, 4 and 5. Meanwhile, the pandemic-related economic shutdown triggered newsroom layoffs, furloughs and closures across the country, affecting outlets from BuzzFeed to the Atlantic Monthly. Vermont’s four dozen weeklies and 11 daily newspapers were hit hard. Many 40

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Lisa Scagliotti with students last summer

The Middlebury-based Addison County Independent used to appear twice weekly; editor-publisher Angelo Lynn eliminated its Monday edition at the end of March and consolidated that into its larger Thursday edition. He’d considered the move for years and pulled the trigger because selling papers was difficult when stores closed during the shutdown. Lynn also owns the Mountain Times in Killington and the Reporter, which covers Brandon, Pittsford, Proctor and West Rutland. Strong local newspapers like his are “kind of a victim of our past successes, in a way,” he said during a phone interview. “People just can’t imagine that their local newspaper isn’t doing well after decades or generations of serving their communities without fail,” he said. The pandemic has taken a toll on Vermont media outlets that are sustained by local advertising. But the bigger problem predates the coronavirus crisis. Vermont’s media landscape has been shifting since the advent of Craigslist, the free online forum that replicated much of the “classifieds” in print newspapers. National digital platforms such as Indeed, match.com, and especially Facebook and Google have eroded other once-reliable revenues, too. “While Google and Facebook have siphoned ad dollars away from all publishers, local news publishers have been the hardest hit,” reads a Wall Street Journal report from May 4, 2019. “The tech giants suck up 77 percent of the digital advertising revenue in local markets, compared to 58 percent on a national level, according to estimates from Borrell Associates and eMarketer.” Government regulators are now scrutinizing the Google and Facebook

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

duopoly. The Department of Justice is on the verge of filing antitrust charges against Google, the New York Times reported in May. And authorities in Australia hope to force Google and Facebook to compensate news publishers, since the tech companies have benefited from being able to sell ads around news content without having to pay to produce it. It’s not that people don’t understand the value of journalism, Lynn explained. They do. Local politicians and community groups always seek media coverage of their events and campaigns. And their local outlets deliver. Yet when it comes to paying for advertising, those politicians and community groups often turn to global digital platforms, Lynn said. People need to understand the effect this has on local media. As ad dollars have migrated away from newspapers, many papers have slashed their staffs. A 2020 Pew Research Center study found that, from 2008 until 2019, U.S. newspaper newsroom employment fell by 23 percent. While the newsrooms at Lynn’s papers have grown over the past decade, he said all newspapers have to find new ways to raise revenue, including seeking donors, offering memberships and charging more for content. But that won’t be enough on its own. “Those of us who have maintained strong news teams may not be able to support that same effort without local advertising dollars. There’s not enough reader support in a small market to fund all of what we do. It certainly helps, but if the business community also comes through, we’ll continue to be a vibrant force that builds and strengthens our communities.”

FROM RECORD TO ROUNDABOUT The Waterbury Record, owned by the Vermont Community Newspaper Group, was an early casualty of the pandemic; its ﬁnal issue was published on March 26. In May, one of its writers, Lisa Scagliotti, started an online news site called the Waterbury Roundabout. A veteran journalist, Scagliotti began her career as a reporter for the Burlington Free Press. She covered Vermont’s largest city while Bernie Sanders was mayor and did a stint in the paper’s now-defunct Montpelier bureau. She’s worked for several daily and weekly newspapers since.

NEWSPAPERS ACCOUNT FOR NEARLY 60 PERCENT OF ALL ORIGINAL LOCAL NEWS. MEANWHILE, TWO COMPANIES CAPTURE THE VAST MAJORITY OF LOCAL ONLINE AD SPENDING: GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK. Fate whispers to the warrior, ‘You can not withstand the The warrior whispers back, ‘I storm.’ am the storm.’

Now More Than Ever alism. for good, local journ There's no substitute those in power shadows. It holds what's hidden in the It shines a light on essential to a healthy democracy. local it's tone of Vermont's issues accountable. And al Days has been a corners or covering critic er century, Seven ns. the Golden Dome For almost a Quart zing politics under s us smarter and more engaged citize make media. Whether analy unity, Seven Days emic, local pand l impacting our comm globa a by ted communities are buffe COVID-19 tracker is updated our as ever, Seven Days' ry and Now more than tial public service. by providing delive rts local businesses reporting is an essen Good To-Go suppo . daily, and Vermont all of us stuck at home formation with inform takeout options for crisis, providing us this gh throu work nue to s. Their reporters conti impact of the virus on Vermonter fo the need for and stories about cing it is not. As our y print - but produ dramatically. That's why both online and in ed Seven Days is free, ased, advertising revenue has declin ads in Seven Days over the age incre has full-p y news weekl of local purchased a series Ben @ Jerry's has it continues to be next two months. for Seven Days as join us in being there and supporting their e encourage you to that by becoming a Super Reader do ther:e for us. You can adve tisers.

WE’RE IN THIS TOGETH

SUPPORT LOCAL BUSIN cBen@Jerry's Homemade,

Inc. 2020 29662a

This is a moment that will define us. We can string up one set of lights, shining for a few hours each evening, as a symbol of our community solidarity and hope. Thank you to everyone who is working to keep things going in these trying times.

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To advertise in Seven Days, contact Colby Roberts at colby@sevendaysvt.com. To advertise in the Addison Independent, visit addisonindependent.com or call 802-388-4944. To make a financial contribution to Seven Days and become a Super Reader, look for the “Give Now” buttons at the top of sevendaysvt.com. Or send a check with your address and contact info to: Seven Days, c/o Super Readers, P.O. Box 1164, Burlington, VT 05402-1164. For more information, email superreaders@sevendaysvt.com or call 802-865-1020, ext. 36. In addition to her roles as editor and publisher, Scagliotti is also the Roundabout’s lead writer. The other reporters are mostly University of Vermont students who work on the site for college credit; there’s a high schooler, too. “What we’re doing is very bare-bones,” she explained. Right now, Scagliotti volunteers her time. Between writing stories, she’s been doing research and attending webinars, trying to ﬁgure out whether to set up the site as a business or a nonproﬁt. Fortunately, she said, local businesses are asking about advertising on her site. Now that they can reopen, they want to start communicating with their customers again. They’re interested in doing that through a

hyperlocal site like hers, which has been covered by both Seven Days and Vermont Public Radio and generated a lot of buzz. Readers have even asked about a possible print edition. There’s still demand for one. But Scagliotti said she’s not optimistic about that. If the site could generate enough money to print a newspaper, she said, they’d still have the Waterbury Record.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER The cost of putting out a print newspaper and the advent of mobile digital devices has nudged news outlets online — to eliminate the cost of printing and distribution — and

to not-for-profit governance, which allows them access to money from foundations and other charitable entities. Observe: VPR and VTDigger. org, which both attract reader and advertising or “underwriting” support. But the rise of successful nonprofit media outlets in the state doesn’t have to signal the demise of small independent newspapers. The fact that VPR and VTDigger have been able to build robust donor networks is an indication that Vermonters are willing to pay for news. Newspapers can seek support from readers, too, through subscriptions and membership campaigns, as Seven Days, the Addison Independent and the Valley News have done. More than 1,300 Seven Days readers have become contributing Super Readers over the past two months. A plea from the Valley News raised more than $100,000 in a few weeks. And there are still many business owners, like Ernie Pomerleau, who understand how local media contributes to the vibrancy of a community and are sustaining it with good old-fashioned advertising. Businesses and organizations large and small have run multi-week campaigns in Seven Days during the crisis, including Ben & Jerry’s, Seventh Generation, Old Spokes Home, A Little Something, Girlington Garage, the Automaster, GBIC, Main Street Landing, Hannaford and Sweeney Design Build. Ben & Jerry’s first ad, on April 15, was headlined: “Local media matters now more than ever.” “There’s no substitute for good, local journalism,” it reads. “It shines a light on what’s hidden in the shadows. It holds those in power accountable. And it’s essential to a healthy democracy.” The message explains that Ben & Jerry’s has purchased a series of full-page ads in Seven Days over the next two months to help the company continue to report on the impact of the virus on Vermont and Vermonters. “We encourage you to join us in being there for Seven Days as it continues to be there for us,” it concludes. That goes for your local community newspaper, as well.  THIS ARTICLE WAS COMMISSIONED AND PAID FOR BY:

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

food+drink

State of the Market Farmers markets navigate new operating guidelines B Y J O R D AN BAR RY & ME LISSA PASANEN

t’s been a whirlwind spring for Vermont’s farmers markets. On April 10, even as the winter season wrapped up and managers and vendors started making their summer plans, markets were temporarily shuttered under Gov. Phil Scott’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order. The fate of farmers markets during the COVID-19 pandemic remained up in the air for two weeks, while the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets developed guidelines. On May 1, markets were allowed to reopen with strict

operating procedures, social-distancing requirements and sanitary protocols. For some markets around the state, though, following those guidelines isn’t realistic. According to the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont — the parent organization of the Vermont Farmers Market Association — 10 Vermont markets have confirmed that they will take the season off, including those of Winooski, Shelburne, Burlington’s Old North End, Waterbury, Vergennes and the University of Vermont Medical Center.

It was a tough decision, conceded Meredith Bay-Tyack, executive director of Downtown Winooski, the nonprofit that organizes the Winooski market. “As a smaller market, it may seem like we could pivot. But we did the math, and with our resources of budget and volunteers, we just couldn’t,” Bay-Tyack said. “It still hurts.” The markets that will forge ahead are changing their procedures and interpreting the state’s guidance for their locations, vendors and communities. This season, farmers markets may not feel quite like the

cultural touchstones we’ve come to know in Vermont. But, as NOFA-VT’s website says, they’ll be “local as usual, safe in new ways.” We’ll be heading out to markets around the state this summer for a new series called “Market Report” — placing our preorders, following protocol, and checking in with vendors, customers and market managers. This week, we kick things off at Capital City Farmers Market in Montpelier, which has been in full — if altered — swing since May 2. J.B. & M.P.

Robert Linck, from Fusda Farm, bringing mustard greens to a customer at the Capital City Farmers Market

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Market Report: Capital City Farmers Market

Wearing a plastic face shield, Schumann brought out my preordered I carefully plotted my approach to Mont- cheese, lamb and thick, Icelandic-style pelier’s Capital City Farmers Market in yogurt. While she is concerned about advance, using a map of vendor booths. the lack of tourists, she said, “Locals are Placing several online preorders worked buying more.” With eating not permitted pretty well, with one phone call and a in the market, she has saved money on couple of emails to iron samples. out details. A couple of booths Saturday, May 23, away, I overheard was a warm, sunny day, farmer Alan LePand I hoped capacity age say, “This model constraints wouldn’t doesn’t work for all of cause a long wait. (The us.” LePage, who has market has a priority line farmed vegetables in for seniors and high-risk Barre since 1976, helped customers, as well as a found the market 43 AL AN LE PAGE years ago and serves on preorder pickup table option.) But, at around its board. In his signa11 a.m., just one person ture chile pepper shirt, was ahead of me. he is a market fixture. Volunteer and market LePage was eager board member John to talk about how panSnell clicked me through demic guidelines will as the 254th customer of impact his business, the day after cheerfully now run in partnership briefing me on appropriwith his daughter. “My ate protocol. farm has been depenThe rules, also outdent on this market lined on blackboards, for 90 percent of our sales forever,” he said. boil down to walking in one direction and “The model of social distancing essentially keeping the standard Capital City Farmers six-foot distance from Market map nixes markets as we both customers and know them.” vendors. Vendors place The push for preorpurchases on extra ders and the need to tables positioned six feet in front of each select items for each in-person customer stand, creating a buffer. Face coverings handicap his business, he said. With are required. as many as 100 different items at peak It was the market’s fourth summer season, it’s all “exponentially more work.” Saturday, and things appeared to run The LePages are considering adding a smoothly. Customers gave each other a roadside stand at the farm for the first wide and respectful berth and generally time. heeded the “Please shop quickly!” request LePage said it seems unfair to him that on a blackboard. supermarkets are not required to restrict The subdued atmosphere was unset- access, although he understands that the tling — but not as much to me as to Tony public perceives farmers markets differNaples, a commercial fisherman and ently, as “social affairs.” He acknowlowner of Burlington-based Starbird Fish. edged, “I don’t have answers.” The first vendor I visited on Saturday, he Market manager Keri Ryan was buzzlater gave me his recollections of his first ing around keeping an eye on everything. She said later that the market’s new, Montpelier market of this season. With so few customers at a time, all more spacious Taylor Street location has masked and seeming nervous, it felt like helped it meet layout requirements, but “the most bizarre, apocalyptic experience the number of vendors will average 40 in my life,” Naples said. this year instead of the normal 60. On a positive note, he reported that Customer numbers are also down sales have been OK so far. A couple of significantly. And, while many vendors’ other vendors, including farmer and sales are holding steady, those who rely cheesemaker Maria Schumann of Cate on tourists are suffering. “People are Hill Orchard in Greensboro, said sales were on par with previous years. STATE OF THE MARKET » P.46

SOCIAL DISTANCING ESSENTIALLY NIXES

MARKETS AS WE KNOW THEM.

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Cakes, Cukes and Condoms Seven questions for baker-entrepreneur Ren Weiner B Y S A LLY POL L AK

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

JAMES BUCK

en Weiner, aka Miss Weinerz, imagined being a kindergarten teacher in Vermont, with a pottery studio and maybe a side gig as an EMT. As it turned out, Weiner is a baker in Burlington who approaches their work with the creativity and resourcefulness of the kindergarten teacher we all wish we’d had. (Weiner uses they/them pronouns.) An old cot set in front of their house is painted red and repurposed as a platform for receiving deliveries at their home-based business. Their yard is a space for growing vegetables and herbs and for constructing structures — a shed, a mini hoop house — from materials on hand. Their fun with written language, especially food words, includes spelling “time” as “thyme” and turning “do not” into “donut” — as in, “Donut give up.” Weiner will also come to your rescue, but the remedy starts in a kitchen or garden, not an ambulance. With Miss Weinerz retooled for “apocalyptic end times,” the company has an offshoot delivery service, BBz Delivery Collective. It delivers food and other provisions to homes in Burlington five days a week and has a rotating schedule for neighboring towns. Some weeks it makes 20 deliveries, other weeks about 300, Weiner said. Products available at the online store include Weiner’s baked goods, local vegetables, face masks, botanicals and free condoms from Vermont Cares. (PPE, the website calls this last item.) BBz has an option that helps people provide groceries to food-insecure neighbors through a “pay-it-forward community-care” program. “There’s been [similar] little realms of this as a cultural nicety,” Weiner said. “When things start hitting very hard, people buy gift certificates and [ask], ‘Can you pass it on?’” Weiner moved to Burlington 10 years ago and cooked at local restaurants, including Bluebird Tavern, ¡Duino! (Duinde) and Misery Loves Co. They launched Miss Weinerz in 2014. In late winter 2019, before the pandemic struck, Weiner was planning to hire people to help with the baking. They had been rolling, cutting, frying and glazing by hand about 2,500 donuts a week. (Coworkers help Weiner with other aspects of their business, including communications, gardening and delivery.)

Ren Weiner

“We were figuring out ways to fit other people in my kitchen,” Weiner said. “And now nobody can be in the kitchen with me.” Weiner, 34, has a knack for storytelling: detailing intricate and insightful tales about attending art school in Philadelphia, co-owning the Sunflour Café in Westchester County, N.Y., and other adventures. They talked about Miss Weinerz and the delivery collective in a phone interview and topped it off with an email to Seven Days. “Maybe in another world, I would have been a good monk,” Weiner wrote. “I am down with a life of service, not into servitude tho. Ownership is a concept I have trouble grasping.” SEVEN DAYS: Why’d you move to Burlington? REN WEINER: I came up to visit some friends, to take a trip. My friends took me to the [City Market, Onion River] Co-op, they took me to American Flatbread, they took me to Radio Bean. And I was, like, I have to live here. So I came back a month later with my résumé, and I walked my résumé around town.

SD: What is it about Miss Weinerz — your home-based baking business — that propelled an expansion during the pandemic? RW: I lost 90 percent of my accounts, but I didn’t lose 90 percent of customers. I never had direct access, [so] I had to build the bridge into retail. My staff and I pivoted from wholesale, large-scale production to small-batch direct sales. We knew that what we were offering was a sense of normalcy. We were very aware from the beginning that it was going to be emotionally difficult. But as long as we could find a way to do it that was going to be safe, we’d all keep going. I dropped my prices so that more people would be able to afford the product. There isn’t a middle person. We kind of felt like it was a need beforehand: We wanted to offer direct sales to people. But because of the cumbersomeness, it wasn’t anything we could figure out. Now that we don’t have the wholesale business taking up so much time, we’re able to put that time and effort into how to be a better distribution system with direct sales.

SD: Your new food delivery service, BBz Delivery Collective, offers products ranging from buckwheat brownies to sour pickles to botanicals. It also has an option for getting food to people in need. How does that work? RW: We’ve had over 200 requests for free boxes. We received so many donations from our customers to pay it forward. People can add a donation, choose the amount. Some people have thrown in $1, some people have thrown in $500. We were able to get a ton of vegetables and get it out to folks in the community. It’s great. BBz is a service that I, as a single business purveyor, can utilize. I essentially wholesale to this delivery collective, so I don’t have to do everything, and I can focus on making really good products. And somebody else [on the four-person team] can focus on Google Maps, because that’s what they like to do. SD: What music do you listen to when you bake? RW: I listen to a lot of Missy Elliott.

CAKES, CUKES AND CONDOMS

» P.46

food+drink

SIDEdishes SERVING UP FOOD NEWS

The Kids VT team is rounding up resources for parents looking to entertain and educate their children at home. Find inspiration in the Wee-Mail newsletter.

B Y MEL I SSA PASAN E N

Kitchen Confidence NEW INDIAN-HIMALAYAN RESTAURANT OPENS IN BURLINGTON

MELISSA PASANEN

Three Vermonters originally from Nepal were finally able to open their Indian and Himalayan restaurant in Burlington on May 16. Its name, GBG INDIAN KITCHEN, combines the surname initials of co-owners PRASHANT GHARTI, DAL B. BHUJEL and BINOD GURUNG. The trio rented the building at 471 Riverside Avenue in Burlington on January 1, but the pandemic held up

permits and renovation of the former Dunkin’ Donuts, Gharti said. The three owners, who are related, have all worked in the hospitality field. “We are family together, and we have experience in the kitchen, in food and beverage management, and in marketing,” Gharti said. “When we analyzed what was here, we saw that [the] Indian restaurants are outdated,” he continued. The restaurateurs plan to distinguish themselves by preparing “every recipe we know well,” fresh from scratch, Gharti said.

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The wide-ranging menu includes familiar Indian restaurant staples such as biryani, kebabs, 8 SO. MAIN STREET ST. ALBANS curries and breads. Subscribe at kidsvt.com Gharti noted that the 524-3769 biryani rice is steamed Wee-Mail sponsored by: Curbside pick-up available with a traditional technique and the breads and R A I LC I T Y M A R K E T V T.CO M kebabs are made in a clay tandoor oven. Himalayan offerings include momos:12v-RailCityMarket060320.indd 1 6/2/20K12V-WeeMail0620.indd 9:47 AM 1 5/28/20 10:47 AM squat dumplings filled with vegetables, chicken or beef. The restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner for takeout and delivery only, until regulations allow dining in. The building has no outdoor dining space. m

GBG Indian Kitchen in Burlington

Untitled-29 1

6/2/20 5:25 PM

CURBSIDE PICKUP SATURDAY - MONDAY Dinner only: 4:30- 8:30pm WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY Lunch: 11:30am - 2:30pm Dinner: 4:30 - 8:30PM CLOSED TUESDAYS

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CONNECT Follow us for the latest food gossip! On Twitter: Sally Pollak: @vtpollak. On Instagram: Seven Days: @7deatsvt; Jordan Barry: @jordankbarry.

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

5/28/20 11:38 AM

State of the Market « P.43 coming to buy food, which is the point,” Ryan said. Longtime vendor Laini Fondiller, of Lazy Lady Farm in Westfield, gave Ryan credit for strong leadership while noting wistfully that she misses the regular market vibe. “There was a social piece for me that’s gone now,” she said. “It’s hard.” By the time I reached Lazy Lady, from which I’d preordered cheeses and steak, my bags were heavy with milk, cheese, vegetables, mushrooms, frozen fish and meats, and one tomato plant I was trying hard not to crush. Focused on my grocery list, I bypassed

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As it prepares to open for its 40th season on Saturday, June 6, the Burlington Farmers Market is encouraging shoppers to practice “the four Ps” — plan, preorder, pick up, prepare. “We’re trying to shift customer behavior,” market manager Mieko Ozeki told Seven Days. “If people want to feel secure about being at the market, this is what we have to do.” The market will host 45 vendors, including several craft vendors, in the parking lot at 345 Pine Street, where it temporarily relocated last summer due to construction in City Hall Park. The expansive lot is proving a useful location for the pandemic-era version of the market. Vendors will be spaced out in a reconfigured U-shaped layout to maximize social and physical distancing, with one-way traffic between a single entrance and exit. Ozeki estimates that the layout will accommodate 250 people at one time. Market staff will monitor the spread of shoppers and plan to admit 30 people every 10 minutes.

prepared-food vendors, but later I chatted with a couple. Grace Holter of Warren-based Gracie’s Tamales has a decade of farmers markets under her belt. She said she’s been gratified to see many of her regulars and has noticed people managing to be social within the limitations. “It’s still a happy place,” she said. Regular market customer Gwenivere Roolf-Cluett of Montpelier said she actually likes the new format. “I love the farmers market, but the usual market I find overwhelming,” she said. “I find this kind of market much easier to shop at.” “We’re going to be constantly iterating,” Ozeki said. “We’re trying to make it as efficient and safe as possible for our vendors and for the community.” Here are a few more “P”s you should know as you pack your tote bags and plan your trip to the market. • Pick a shopper: The market encourages shoppers to send one person per family to minimize crowding. • Pets should stay at home if possible. • Preordering is preferred, but most vendors will also offer on-site shopping. • Products will be handled by vendors; booths will not be self-serve. • Place orders online at burlingtonfarmersmarket.org/preorder. • Pay attention to preorder deadlines — they vary by vendor. • Payment will be contactless. The market will not offer tokens for credit card payments, but vendors will accept credit cards. EBT/SNAP benefits, Crop Cash and Farm to Family coupons will still be accepted. • Protective equipment is required: Vendors,

Her friend Michelle J. Rodriguez, on an extended visit from Brooklyn, added, “As we have all had to pivot in our lives, to feel we can safely access high-quality local food is a comfort.” M.P.

Contact: jbarry@sevendaysvt.com, pasanen@sevendaysvt.com

INFO Capital City Farmers Market, 2 Taylor Street, Montpelier, capitalcityfarmersmarket.com. Burlington Farmers Market, 345 Pine Street, burlingtonfarmersmarket.org.

•

staff and customers must wear face masks at the market. For shoppers who don’t bring their own, disposable masks will be available at the entrance. Prepared foods will be sold near the exit to accommodate lines and discourage eating and drinking at the market. On-site consumption is not allowed. Practice social distancing and shop as quickly as you can. The market will not have its usual lineup of music and entertainment. Parking will be different. There is no parking along most of Pine Street’s northbound side to allow for a bike path detour. Cars can park in Dealer.com’s north lot (corner of Howard and Pine streets), on South Champlain and Howard streets, and in the Burlington Electric Department lot. Secure bike parking will not be available. Priority shopping for elderly and immunocompromised people happens between 9 and 10 a.m.; the market is open to all shoppers from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. If you’re feeling sick or have been exposed to the virus, please stay home.

J.B.

Cakes, Cukes and Condoms « P.44 SD: Can you talk about the networking website Food Fight Vermont you helped organize and what you guys are trying to do? RW: Food Fight Vermont was put together as a digital platform to incubate conversations around food. In the spring and summer, people are out seeing each other and running around; it allows for creative conversations to happen. When winter would hit, or a pandemic, and people can’t get out and casually … run into each other, there’s a high level of isolation that happens. We wanted to have a place where we could bridge those physical barriers and be able to meet with people. If we’re going to really think about the big-picture thing that we need to, we need a commons in which commerce and competition aren’t the center of the gathering.

SD: You’ve previously told me about dumpster diving at your local Dunkin’ Donuts when you were a teenager. What’s the connection between that and becoming a donut maker who specializes in using local ingredients? RW: It’s social commentary. It’s the original artist’s statement. Why do some people have access to food and other people don’t? The excuse of commerce, the excuse of capitalism, is a laziness within our system, as well as just evil. We have a cultural tradition of [eating] donuts and ice cream and spaghetti. And I’m bringing more whole-grain, local food into the nostalgia of the industrial food system that myself and others were raised in and now have an emotional attachment to. It helps cross a lot of bridges in accessibility.

SD: Since the pandemic, there’s been a sharp rise in food insecurity in Vermont: a roughly 50 percent increase among adults and 60 percent for kids. If you were in charge, how would you address this? RW: You have to have figured out at this point that I’m an anarchist at heart and I don’t think anybody should be in charge. m This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length. Contact: sally@sevendaysvt.com

INFO BBz Delivery Collective delivers to Burlington Tuesday through Saturday and to surrounding towns on a rotating schedule with curbside partners. Learn more at missweinerz.com, bbzdeliverycollective.com and foodfightvt.com.

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SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

10/29/19 3:50 PM

currently no

music+nightlife

Robert Randolph and the Family Band performing at the 2015 Burlington Discover Jazz Festival

S UNDbites

News and views on the local music + nightlife scene BY J O R D A N A D A MS

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BRIAN MACDONALD

ReDiscovery Channel

With which cliché phrase should I start this week’s column, the one that’s historically all about what to do and who to see at the annual Burlington Discover Jazz Festival? If you’d like me to begin with, “Under normal circumstances…,” press 1. If you’d rather read the words, “In simpler times…,” press 2. And if you’d prefer, “Before life on Earth became a nightmarish death trap where people had to choose between exercising their right to free speech and staying isolated to avoid infection from a deadly disease that is still very much ravaging all corners of the planet…,” press 3. I guess that last one isn’t really a cliché, just a grim reality. As you must know by now, the live, in-person version of the BDJF, which typically kicks off the first weekend of June, was canceled back in April. But the enterprising minds behind the cherished music marathon put their heads together to come up with a solution to carry on the tradition: the Burlington ReDiscover Jazz Festival. The mostly online fest — 48

SEVEN DAYS JUNE 3-10, 2020

Statue of Big Joe Burrell

tagline: 11 Days of Virtual Music and Real Food — runs from Thursday, June 4, through Sunday, June 14. (Food and drink specials offered at various local eateries, of course, are the only elements not happening via TV and the web.) “I feel good about how everything came together, and we’ve got solid

programming coming up,” said BDJF managing director CHELSEA LAFAYETTE. She was specifically referring to a series of shows recorded at the Flynn Space during the 2015 and 2016 festivals that are scheduled to air this week on Vermont PBS and comprise the bulk of the digital offerings. Plus, Ray Vega, host

of Vermont Public Radio’s Friday Night Jazz, lines up several additional days of content centered on artists who have played the festival over the years. Vermont PBS will air sets from the AARON GOLDBERG TRIO, the MIMI JONES BAND, WADADA LEO SMITH’S GOLDEN QUARTET, COLIN STETSON AND SARAH NEUFELD, MELISSA ALDANA & CRASH TRIO, the CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE TRIO, JOE LOCKE performing his album Love Is a Pendulum, the INGRID JENSEN QUINTET, the MARCUS ROBERTS TRIO, JACOB GARCHIK performing his album Ye Olde, the RODRIGUEZ BROTHERS, the JIMMY GREENE QUARTET, and the JENNY SCHEINMAN AND MYRA MELFORD DUO. Programs are set to air multiple times. Check Facebook and flynncenter.org for a complete schedule. “I saw every single one of these performances [live],” wrote Flynn artistic director STEVE MACQUEEN in an email. He emphasized that the Flynn Space, with its modest square footage and low ceilings, frequently has the most palpable energy of the festival’s many venues: “It’s very rare that you’ll see someone phone it in during a Flynn Space show.” MacQueen will host interviews via Zoom with several of the aforementioned

GOT MUSIC NEWS? JORDAN@SEVENDAYSVT.COM

artists, including McBride, Roberts, Jensen, Scheinman and Aldana. He noted that, because of the format, the live interviews will be “a bit more casual and off-the-cuff than the onstage-infront-of-an-audience version” that festival attendees have come to expect. Also, when pressed for personal recommendations about which broadcasts to check out, MacQueen highlighted some great things about several of this week’s televised specials: the sense of joy that McBride brings to his music; Roberts’ rendition of the standard “Cherokee”; and Scheinman and Melford’s duet, noting that “they play together so telepathically that it’s practically like eavesdropping on a conversation.” The festival’s hard pivot to virtual events because of the pandemic has led to some in-depth conversations about accessibility, according to Lafayette. She pointed out that financial accessibility has long been a concern, given the hefty ticket price for some of the fest’s marquee headliners. That was part of the reason BDJF teamed up with Vermont PBS in 2015 and 2016 to make cost-prohibitive shows available to view via public television. Digital content is also more accessible to people with physical disabilities. “Accessibility is going to be an interesting topic coming out of this,” said Lafayette. Lafayette also mentioned that she’d personally been digging through the festival archives and that several VHS tapes containing footage from the original 1984 BDJF, as well as the 1989 and 1990 festivals, are currently being converted to streaming video. Look for those on Facebook later this week. “It’s been cool to dive through history and hear people’s stories,” she said.

The First One Bites the Dust

Well, shit. The inevitable has happened: Revelry Theater, the scrappy, fringy alternative comedy venue in Burlington’s South End, has closed indefinitely. As Seven Days’ MARGARET GRAYSON reported on Sunday, it’s the first local performing arts venue to fully shutter its doors, as opposed to the temporary closures the pandemic has forced on businesses of all kinds. I’ve been wondering when the first domino would fall, and I’m sad to say that I expected it to be one of Vermont’s smaller venues. (Revelry can only accommodate 35 heads.) But it’s particularly painful to see the Howard Street theater go, specifically because of

its fearlessly weird and audacious shows. Pardon the pun, but I reveled in the fact that Burlington’s comedy scene had grown so large that it could support not one but two spaces designated solely to merriment — the other being the Vermont Comedy Club. I don’t have any suggestions about how to make sure we don’t lose more arts spaces. Give them your money if you can, I guess. I’m just sad.

Strange Folk

Looking for a new quarantine challenge? The Vermont Folklife Center and Middlebury College Special Collections just announced a neat one called the Vermont Folklife Archive Challenge. The ethnographically inclined nonprofit center is asking musicians to delve into its online digital collections of audio recordings to find an inspiring piece. Artists are tasked with re-creating the original in any manner that pleases them. The challenge is based on a similar one spearheaded by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. “We’d love to hear your doom metal versions of ballads like ‘Young Charlotte,’ your EDM takes on old New England fiddle tunes like ‘Crystal Schottische,’ or your straight-up renditions of ‘C’était une bergère,’” the Vermont Folklife Center’s BOB HOOKER wrote in a press release. Once artists have completed their new works, they’re tasked with posting them online using the hashtag #vtarchiveschallenge. All of the collections, including Middlebury’s Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection, are free to access.

Listening In If I were a superhero, my superpower would be the ability to get songs stuck in other people’s heads. Here are five songs that have been stuck in my head this week. May they also get stuck in yours. MARK RONSON, “Pretty Green (Featuring Santigold)” LADY GAGA, “Stupid Love” HI-FIVE, “She’s Playing Hard to Get” FROM PETE’S DRAGON, “Brazzle Dazzle Day” QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, “The Way You Used to Do”

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W�� T�� A�� C��, V�� T�� O�� F��! We have been listening to WDEV for as long as we can remember, and we wanted to say thank you for always being there and putting on a great show that is informative and entertaining. We listen every day, and always have the radio going in the car and at home. We rely on you to keep us up to speed on the news, and for companionship as well. We love listening to the great music, especially when it comes with an interesting anecdote or fact, as it helps us learn more about our favorite artists. We also love the careful attention and commitment you give to local and international news coverage. It's so comforting to hear a familiar friendly voice talk about issues that matter to us. Your passion never wavers, and it's clear to all who listen that you truly care about the great service you are providing our community. We remember Tropical Storm Irene, and cannot thank you enough for all you did for us then, and continue to do for us now. During these times of great uncertainty, one thing is never in doubt, and that is our local WDEV family always being there for us. We're here for you too. We're listening, and we love you. Thank You, Evelyn & Zach

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REVIEW this Defense, Defense (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL)

How long does it take for a musical trend to circle back around? Twenty years or more? Much of current indie rock sounds like it was channeled directly from the mid-’90s. And chillwave, the darling micro-genre that briefly dominated the indie-tronic world in the late 2000s and early 2010s, recalled some of the darkest, dreamiest stuff the ’80s had to offer. So is Vermont’s Miles Foy, who makes hypnotic, synth-forward music under the moniker Defense, jumping the gun by only waiting a decade to revive chillwave? On first listen,

Wolfhand, The Devil Arrives (SELF-RELEASED, DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, CASSETTE)

Burlington rockers Wolfhand specialize in what they call “cinematic heaviness,” and rarely does a band’s own bio nail its sound so perfectly. Sonically, the quintet hails from the hinterlands, where desert rock, doom metal and good old country music overlap. On paper, that description may come off as contrived. But Wolfhand’s latest album, The Devil Arrives, is simply fantastic — and far more accessible than you might think. Wolfhand have been honing their unusual musical recipe since 2016, when they dropped a string of scorching singles before unleashing their Plaguelands EP the

perhaps yes. But subsequent trips through his slight, self-titled EP make it clear he has more in mind than a simple rehash. That’s one of the best and also most frustrating things about Defense. Foy, who also collaborates with locals Nodrums and Lean Tee, has a lot of ambition and seemingly knows exactly what he wants to do. But his tracks feel clipped, meeting their ends just as their elements start to gel. In some ways, the EP sounds as if he’s cycling through a series of ideas more than presenting a fully polished album. In an email, Foy writes that he was influenced by the textured splendor of synth icons past — artists such as Brian

Eno, Broadcast and Hiroshi Yoshimura. Foy creates a sense of physical movement in his scant tunes exceedingly well. At times, electronic noises flit about in a spinetickling scurry, and at others they froth and foam like thick soup bubbling out of a pot. He sculpts his sounds effectively, blending rippling waves with industrial clangor. If these concepts coalesced a bit more with his overall structures and songwriting, they might land with more power. Opener “Never Me” is the closest Foy comes to retreading the territory of chillwave alums like Blackbird Blackbird and Small Black. It’s also Defense’s strongest pop song — though it’s more like anti-pop. Its hammered bass line and clattering drums should get heads bobbing, but Foy’s indifferent delivery of phrases like “I’m hiding everywhere / Between my

words / And I still get found out” puts a deliberate damper on things. “Fruit” showcases a patchwork of slinky beats and gauzy drones. A sonic void at the center puts an even finer point on these elements as they nearly recede into oblivion. Final tracks “Wide Motions” and “In Folding Up” are aptly named. The former spreads out in billowing plumes as searing schisms erupt, while the latter quietly contracts, morphing through various forms before evaporating. Foy’s first solo outing implies future success for the singer-songwriter/ producer. His instincts about sound processing are strong. He just needs to let his ideas mature and ripen a tick longer before harvest. Stream Defense on Spotify.

next year. 2019’s Live at WKBM offered some previews of the material here, but The Devil Arrives represents the band’s proper debut album, and it’s a knockout. To make an album of instrumental rock this compelling isn’t easy. These are huge, anthemic songs that deliver both crushingly heavy riffs and moments of real beauty, often at the same time. For all the distinctly Western flavor, Wolfhand really deliver on the “cinematic” part of their pitch, too. Everything sounds like the backdrop for some unforgettably weird summer blockbuster, like Quentin Tarantino doing Blood Meridian. Tracks such as “Black Winds” and “Canyon Wizard” show off the band at full strength, and these gentlemen would clearly melt your face off live. Yet

the haunting quiet interludes, such as “Returning,” and the stark album closer “Gallows” hit just as hard. The band can also stretch way out — “Doomed Convoy” gallops past the seven-minute mark — without losing your attention. While their sound is a million miles away from a prog-rock noodle-fest, Wolfhand are a posse of absolutely smoking musicians. The lonesome howl of lap and pedal steel guitarist Ben Chussid will grab your attention first — his is clearly the lead instrument in this unique lineup. Mike Fried’s work on keyboards and synths is also stellar, especially on the tracks in which he steps into the front, as on the ghostly “Saloon.” Gorgeous, dynamic compositions really let the rhythm section shine, too. Drummer Adam Wolinsky, a prolific Renaissance man in his own right, regulates with both chops and taste. The team of Dave Mahan on guitar and Nick Wood on bass anchors

every track with downright muscular performances. The sound quality is equally superb. Much of that is to the credit of Wolinsky, who engineered and recorded the album himself. The mixing work of Skyhammer Studio head Chris Fielding does great justice to Wolfhound’s infinite horizons. Thanks to the mastering work of James Plotkin, these songs sound huge at any volume. (But, you know … turn it up.) The Devil Arrives left me on the floor. Even if you don’t think this is up your alley, you’ll probably be surprised to learn that you, too, are an instrumental doom country fan. Talent alone is no guarantee of success, but still, I expect this album will garner the band attention far beyond the hills of Vermont. Here’s hoping Wolfhand ride for another 20 years. The Devil Arrives is available at wolfhandvt.bandcamp.com.

JORDAN ADAMS

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DJEMBE & TAIKO: JOIN US!: Digital classes! (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.

massage ASIAN BODYWORK THERAPY PROGRAM: This program teaches two forms of massage: amma and shiatsu. We will explore oriental medicine theory and diagnosis, as well as the body’s meridian system, acupressure points, and yin-yang and five-element theory. Additionally, Western anatomy and physiology are taught. VSAC nondegree grants are available. FSMTB-approved program. Starts Sep. 2020. Cost: $6,000/625-hour program. Location: Elements of Healing, 21 Essex Way, Suite 109, Essex Jct.. Info: Scott Moylan, 288-8160, scott@elementsofhealing. net, elementsofhealing.net.

language ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE ONLINE CLASSES: Join us for adult online French classes this summer! Our eight-week session starts on June 15 and offers classes for participants at all levels. Whether you are a true beginner or are comfortable conversing in French, you will find a class for you! Please go to our website at aflcr.org to read all about our offerings, or contact Micheline at education@aflcr.org. Info: Micheline Tremblay, 881-8826, education@aflcr.org, aflcr.org. SPANISH ZOOM CLASSES STARTING: Learn from a native speaker in lively small classes via online video conferencing. You’ll always be participating and speaking. We still have room in some classes. Private instruction, student tutoring and lessons for children also available. Our 14th year. See our website or contact us for details. Beginning week of Jun. 1. Cost: $270/10 weekly classes of 90+ min. each. Location: Spanish in Waterbury Center, Waterbury Center. Info: 585-1025, spanishparavos@gmail.com, spanishwaterburycenter.com.

martial arts VERMONT BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU: Brazilian jiujitsu is a martial arts combat style based entirely on leverage and technique. Brazilian jiujitsu self-defense curriculum is taught to Navy SEALs, CIA, FBI, military police and special forces. No training experience required. Easy-to-learn techniques that could save your life! Classes for men, women and children. Students will learn realistic bully-proofing and selfdefense life skills to avoid becoming victims and help them feel safe and secure. Our sole purpose is to help empower people by giving them realistic martial arts training practices they can carry with them throughout life. IBJJF and CBJJ certified black belt sixth-degree instructor under Carlson Gracie Sr.: teaching in Vermont, born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A five-time Brazilian National Champion;

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