Most Likely to Secede
Posted: Monday, April 9, 2012 - 08:29
The first annual Vermont Gear Swap & Sale will be held at the West Monitor Barn in Richmond on Saturday, May 5 (Green Up Day!), from 10am-6pm.
Local and national outdoor companies will provide discounted gear, apparel and other equipment. 20% of all sales will benefit much needed Irene cleanup conducted by the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps and the various charitable efforts of the Burlington Sunrise Rotary Club.
If you’d like to sell or donate your gear, please use the “Sell My Gear” page to create a label, which you should print and affix to the gear that you’re selling. Be sure to read over the “Gear Guidelines” for notes on types of gear that can be sold and the condition guidelines. Then, bring your gear to the Barn at the...
Posted: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - 08:06
Let's be clear: Suzanne Collins' 3 volume "Hunger Games" trilogy is among the most disturbing young adult fiction ever to occupy elementary school library shelves. And?! "Hunger Games" raises more provocative questions about the nature of the human condition at this particular moment in world history than any fiction I've read in a long time. And yes, I am including Harry Potter, the Dragon Tattoo series, and Unbroken in the mix.
I first discovered Collins' "Hunger Games" books 2 years ago, when my daughter's 5th grade teacher (a truly gifted educator we'll call "G") emailed Kate and me to say that Anneka was bringing home a book called "The Hunger Games." "I really recommend that you read this book," G suggested. "It is eye-opening,...
Posted: Wednesday, March 28, 2012 - 12:59
Mindful Carnivore author Tovar Cerulli will be speaking at the Waitsfield public library on Monday, April 2 at 6:30 pm. We interviewed him about his own personal food-focused journey, and his new book.
Q. You went from a practicing vegetarian to being a "mindful carnivore," which is the title of your new book. What do you mean by "mindful?"
A. People have used the phrase "mindful eating" to mean a number of things. What I mean is eating with awareness of where our food comes from and the impacts it has. I mean something similar to what Thich Nhat Hanh means when he writes about mindfulness and "interbeing" -- being aware of the complex interconnections and relationships present in everything we do, see, touch, feel, and eat.
Q. How do you...
Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 - 08:34
Vermont Independence Convention 2008: Rob Williams
Posted: Wednesday, February 15, 2012 - 11:25
The most important question is not whether Vermont Yankee will close; it will certainly do that. The most important question is not even when it will close. The single, overwhelmingly important question is how it will close.
There are two ways a power plant can shut down. One is planned retirement. The other is unplanned failure. Which way depends to some extent on how it is run.
If its operating mode is run-to-retirement, it has a chance of retiring as gracefully as it can. When a plant is retired, the employees, community, and other stakeholders can be prepared for the change.
When a plant is run to failure, however, the specifics of shutting down are almost entirely unpredictable. We know the employees will unexpectedly get pink slips...
Who would possibly want to make a movie about a rogue journalist-turned-murder investigator and a bad-ass goth chick/computer hacker/rape victim who extracts revenge on her assailant by carving epithets into his chest?
If the movie was to be based on Stieg Larsson's wildly popular global smash novel "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo," then the answer is "Hollywood," of course. And interestingly, director David Fincher's version of "Dragon Tattoo" is (already) version #2 of Larsson's story to appear on the silver screen (a capable Swedish rendition of the entire trilogy having already been completed in Norse country and released globally on dvd).
Fincher kicks off the film with a bang, featuring an opening credit sequence that plays like...
Posted: Friday, December 30, 2011 - 11:47
There are so many areas of struggle, inequality and injustice but there is also a growing global community that is standing up to power. Be inspired by Sampat Pal Devin from "Pink Saris" who stands up for herself and others in India, or learn from Harry Belafonte how to never give up hope for a more just world. Travel inside a Vermont prison and learn how incarceration effects our families and communities, or go deep into the jungle of the Congo to find out where the metals for your electronics come from. Fight with the protesters in Iran or live through the story of a Miral, a Palestinian woman who grows up in a country torn apart by conflict.
The MountainTop Film Festival is proud to present you these films but ultimately it is YOU who...
Posted: Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - 08:57
Filed Under:
Common Assets
Common Assets
This inspired blog post from an #OccupyPhilly resident connects the dots between the #OccupyWallStreet movement and the idea of the Commons that we've been championing here are Vermont Commons for close to six years. Give it a read - and share your wisdom. And to get you in the mood - here's a photo of the #OccuptMontreal encampment. Still standing, as far as I know.
Outside the Circle: Occupation in Philly, Day 20 (October 25)
Commons Not Capitalism
This post about “day 20” is less about a specific day and more about the blossoming over the days here of a commons. A commons against capitalism, and if it is allowed to grow, perhaps it will someday become a commons beyond capitalism.
This morning, I awoke to news that another newly...
Our hearts and minds are with #OccupyBurlington and all of our U.S. combat veterans today. As we reflect on the meaning of the "Loss of Josh," and the larger implications of living in the U.S. of Empire, this GOOD magazine article points out that, for two years running, more U.S. combat vetans have died from suicide than in actual combat - a sobering stat for this Veteran's Day. Whether or not Josh meant to take his own life still appears to be an open question, according to VTDigger. Certainly, from eye-witness accounts, the Iraqi War vet was "troubled."
STATEMENT ON LOSS OF JOSH FROM #OCCUPYBURLINGTON, VERMONT.
Today, November 10th at 2pm, Josh, a valued member of Occupy Burlington and the houseless community, took his own life at the...
Posted: Thursday, November 10, 2011 - 10:36
"Until we change the way money works, we change nothing." - Michael Ruppert
We've been championing a publicly-owned Vermont State Bank for years now. The State of Vermont, in other words, could do business as the Bank of Vermont. In this helpful video series, Marilyn Barnewell shows us why and how to make it happen.