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(11/21/19 11:01am)
This past Wednesday, many Midd students like myself were likely confused when an email with the subject line “Changing But Not Saying Goodbye” landed in their inboxes. In it, Sugarbush Resort owner Win Smith explained that Summit Ventures NE LLC had agreed to sell the majority of its Sugarbush assets to Alterra Mountain Company. Alterra currently owns 14 ski resort destinations in North America and 27 around the world on their Ikon Pass. The price of the transaction, which should wrap up in early January 2020, was not disclosed, as the company is privately held. “Sugarbush Resort is a premier East Coast mountain destination and we are excited to expand the Alterra Mountain Company family in the Northeast, with Sugarbush joining Stratton in Vermont,” Rusty Gregory, Alterra’s CEO, said in a press release.
Addressing the “Sugarbush Community,” Smith wrote of the considerations and emotions that went into the decision, describing it as walking his daughter down the aisle at her wedding. “I have tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat knowing that I am about to give away someone I have raised and loved. Looking down the aisle, however, I am delighted to see someone waiting who will also love, respect and care for her as I have done,” he wrote.
Smith explained that the Sugarbush team will remain in place, and Alterra will not seek to change the culture or values of Sugarbush. Smith’s family, along with three others, purchased the resort 18 years ago from the American Skiing Company and throughout the years have turned down offers to sell Sugarbush.
Smith cited the challenges arising in the ski industry, including climate change and the cost of doing business in Vermont. He also discussed how the multi-resort season pass has altered the industry, and Sugarbush will have an increasing amount of trouble competing against Vail Resorts, Alterra Mountain Company, and other large corporations. He referenced the acquisition of Peak Resorts by Vail as the tipping point in his decision.
Students expressed their initial reactions to the acquisition. “Growing up skiing on the East Coast, I always felt like each mountain I skied at had a unique almost family-like quality to it,” said Philip Klinck ’20, a member of Middlebury’s ski patrol. “Unfortunately, it’s harder and harder for ski resorts to cut it on the East Coast these days for a number of reasons, and so we are seeing a lot of acquisitions and buyouts.”
In an article published in VT Ski+Ride, Smith stated that he “expects Alterra to bring the sort of resources that fuel innovation,” and increase Sugarbush’s purchasing power and ability to provide substantial resources, including employee healthcare. Ben Arquit ’20, also a member of Middlebury’s Ski Patrol, echoes Smith’s hopes in his reaction to the acquisition. “The positives to these acquisitions are that mountains get proven management and benefits from the big corporations,” he said, citing things like being able to make snow in the early season and thus open earlier. “The downsides are that smaller mountains may lose their small mountain charm that many locals have grown to love. In addition, the management may not be as responsive to complaints/suggestions from skiers as they were before,” Arquit said.
Though such a phenomenon is a common worry when large corporations expand their influence, Smith assured members of the Sugarbush Community that he “[has] no plans to retire to a gated golf community in Florida and still plan[s] to ski at least 100 days this season and in many more years to come.” Gregory also has experience running independent operations with local followings. Prior to his current role as CEO of Alterra, he served as CEO of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in Mammoth Lakes, California for 20 years. According to Gregory, Sugarbush’s “fiercely independent spirit, unique brand and loyal clientele” made it a match for Alterra.
Smith will stay on and manage the resort at a minimum through the transition, which, coupled with Gregory’s past experience with local ski areas, should somewhat mitigate the loss of a local feel. “As someone who grew up skiing at Sugarbush, I really feel like I know the mountain and the culture that they have been trying to create in the Mad River Valley. I hope that Alterra recognizes what is special about Sugarbush and will do their best to shield those things from what I’m sure will be a number of big changes,” Klinck said.
(09/12/19 10:01am)
For many Middlebury students, the summer provides a time for deeper immersion into the Middlebury and greater Vermont community. Leila Markosian ’21 and Imran Ganda ’20 each spent their summers in Middlebury and spoke to the Campus about their experiences. Markosian interned at The New England Review, a literary magazine published by the college. Ganda completed an internship with Middlebury’s Privilege and Poverty program, which connects students with vulnerable populations in Addison County and nationwide.
MIDDLEBURY CAMPUS: Who did you work for this summer?
LEILA MARKOSIAN: I worked for the New England Review, supervised by Carolyn Kuebler, Marcy Pomerance and Eli Sutton.
IMRAN GANDA: I worked for a nonprofit, social services organization called HOPE, which stands for Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects. The organization provides numerous services for low-income residents and families in Addison County. It’s best known for its food surplus area and food shelf, providing fresh produce, bread, desserts, meats, pastas and other goods for no cost, thanks to donations from Hannaford, Shaw’s and other community members and agencies.
There’s a resale store as well that helps clients secure clothes for kids, uniform clothing, appliances, and other household items through HOPE vouchers. They also work with people struggling with chronic homelessness to secure housing, helping pay back rent and bills, as well as working with other local agencies to provide residents with assistance, [working with organizations such as] WomenSafe to help a client relocate for safety reasons, by securing a room at the Sugarhouse Motel.
MC: What was your role and your day-to-day schedule?
LM: I was one of two summer interns, and my tasks for NER varied from day to day. I would update their website with posts announcing new books by authors previously published in the journal; I learned how to format short stories and poems published online; I read fiction submissions and discussed these stories with other readers; and I worked with my amazing fellow intern to produce two episodes of the NER Out Loud Podcast.
IG: There were a variety of tasks that kept me busy this summer. I mainly worked in the front office where I greeted clients, tracked the number of clients coming in to access the food surplus shelf via Excel, help schedule appointments with caseworkers, secure clothing vouchers for the resale store and guiding them through the food shelf. I also kept track of incoming food donations from different agencies and individuals.
MC: What were some of the biggest takeaways from your experience?
LM: One of my biggest takeaways from this internship was how vast the world of literary journalism is. Between all of the writers, editors, publishers, and readers, there is a massive network of people working to cultivate a true love of literature that I definitely took for granted before this summer. It was exciting to see how many people were invested not only in NER, but also in other magazines as well as the individual careers of authors.
IG: As someone who wants to end up working with domestic policy at some point, this internship was a great resource for insight. The way I see it, policy centers and think tanks often times create much of the rules and regulations that get rolled out to agencies like HOPE to provide services to people. Having seen the way things could play out on the ground, I felt like I was working backwards now that I’m equipped with a better understanding of how the agencies that implement policies—which are more often than not created with specific goals in mind—actually function.
Social work is tough, and the people I worked with were not fairly compensated, in my opinion. The internship exposed me to the emotional weight of social service jobs that ultimately seem never-ending. The people I worked with spoke about thinking about clients and certain cases while they were off duty or even on vacation. It’s intimate work that can, to an extent, determine how members of society will blossom or degenerate. Working with low-income communities in particular can be more difficult given the complex nature of poverty. It’s more than just financial capabilities. Whether people came in looking for my boss Kerry to vent to, or even catching me on the ACTR for a chat, an additional component to poverty in rural communities is loneliness.
MC: What were some of the greatest challenges you faced?
LM: One of the greatest challenges I faced was learning how to use podcast and website technology that I’d never used before. This summer was full of trial and error, which was frustrating at times but ultimately allowed me to grow more comfortable with software I hope to use in the future.
IM: There were times where I knew I could have spoken up in a situation but didn’t know how to because we were in the confines of an office space. This was my first internship and dealing with negative situations—especially those where someone needs to be defended—was a learning curve. I understood that there was a professional and more formal way of addressing certain incidences, but I felt I had yet to learn how to go about them. It’s funny because there were workshops in the spring that the Privilege and Poverty cohort held and we did a bias response training one day that required individuals to speak on ways they’d go about handling a difficult scenario. It was the most relevant component to the workshop experience as I found myself in situations where something ignorant was blurted and I was baffled.
MC: What was your favorite and least favorite aspect of the job?
LM: My favorite part of my internship was reading submissions. Even if a story wasn’t going to make it to the publishing stage, it felt so valuable to see what topics, styles, and themes were on contemporary writers’ minds. My least favorite aspect of the job was, unsurprisingly, anything to do with organizing paper files. However, this part felt like a really classic intern activity and it reassured me to know that I was joining a long train of past and future intern by going through the filing cabinets.
IM: Given Addison County’s predominantly white population, I tried to mentally prepare myself for any conversations that would deal with my racial/ethnic/religious makeup. I’ve had a few incidents in town before where the experiences were pretty negative to say the least, and I thought I’d run into similar experiences again. For the most part, just about every conversation, and there were plenty, regarding the subject went smoothly. Though a few ignorant comments were made, I was happy to see that most people were genuinely curious about who I was and wanted to learn more about me. Since this was my first time being truly immersed in a rural town, it was pretty nice to see some of my experiences regarding race contradicted stereotypes and other commonly held beliefs about poor, rural white people.
(01/24/19 10:57am)
Single-digit temperatures couldn’t prevent nearly 1,000 women and allies from crowding the state capital last Saturday, Jan. 19 in support of the Women’s March on Montpelier. In part inspired by the 2018 midterms, which brought throngs of women to Congress, Women’s March Vermont organized the Women’s Rally in Montpelier along with sister marches and rallies in cities throughout the world.
The rally in Montpelier was one of many that took place across the nation on Saturday to commemorate the 2017 Women’s March on Washington. In 2017, on the first full day of Donald Trump’s presidency, thousands protested in the U.S capital against the Trump administration and its threat to reproductive, civil and human rights. According to estimates by the Washington Post, 4.1 million people took part in various marches across the U.S., and thousands marched throughout the world in a show of global support for the resistance movement. President Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton outraged many who objected to his offensive treatment of and statements about women, and prompted the idea of the Women’s March on Facebook the day after the election.
[pullquote speaker="KRISTEN VRANCKEN" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]We’ve been organizing locally to advocate for the policies that matter to us, and those that impact women’s lives...[/pullquote]
The protestors in various Women’s March events voiced support not only for women’s and reproductive rights, but also criminal justice, environmental issues, immigrants, Muslims, the disabled and gay and transgender people — all groups threatened under the Trump administration. Organizers of the Women’s March view the protests as part of a larger resistance movement, in which various organizations and companies can play a role in facilitating the civic participation of women.
On the Women’s March Vermont website, they describe their mission to “harness the political power of diverse women and their communities to create transformative social change. Women’s March is a women-led movement providing intersectional education on a diverse range of issues and creating entry points … through trainings, outreach programs and events. Women’s March is committed to dismantling systems of oppression through nonviolent resistance.”
Women’s March Vermont organizer Kristen Vrancken further stated, “We’ve been organizing locally to advocate for the policies that matter to us, and those that impact women’s lives, and we’re flooding the streets in solidarity with our sisters in D.C. to remind the country that Vermont resists — and this time, we’re coming with an agenda.”
The March featured a series of female speakers ranging from women’s rights to environmental activists. They also announced the Women’s Agenda, which includes progressive federal policy demands in addition to local progressive legislative initiatives for attendees to support. The March was sponsored by Ben & Jerry’s as well as the Vermont Women’s Fund and ACLU Vermont.
Women’s March Vermont describes marching as a means of: protecting women’s bodies, affirming women’s diversity, valuing women’s work, respecting women’s contributions and unifying women’s allies. Aside from fighting for specific rights and facets of society, the protestors sought to project an overall theme of anti-oppression and unity leading up to the 2020 presidential election.
Within the March, various organizations advocated for their causes, including Planned Parenthood, which urged attendees to come to a Jan. 22 action at the Statehouse to secure abortion rights in Vermont, reported the Burlington Free Press. In addition, many representatives from groups such as Members of Migrant Justice, Black Lives Matter and University of Vermont Socialists were present. Students at the college expressed support for the Montpelier Women’s March in addition to the global movement as a whole.
“I think there’s something really powerful in the idea that this is not just one protest and one city, but a truly global movement of unified, powerful women standing up for rights and groups that should and must be defended,” said Mariel Edokwe ’20.
(05/03/18 1:20am)
A local masseur was charged with four counts of voyeurism after he allegedly videotaped four female customers undressing at his business.
The masseur, Roger Schmidt, 53, owner of Roger’s Relaxing Massage Therapy on Court Street in Middlebury, pleaded not guilty in Addison Superior Court on April 16. The investigation began after a customer, who felt they were being videotaped, filed a complaint. Police then searched the business and Schmidt’s home, where they found hidden cameras and digital evidence, including 70 videos and photos.
Police believe the recording occurred without the knowledge or consent of the customers, four of which have been identified thus far. The investigation is ongoing as police attempt to identify more victims.
Students received an email on April 19 from Baishakhi Taylor, the dean of students, announcing the filing of criminal charges against Schmidt.
Taylor described the allegations as “deeply disturbing,” and mentioned that Middlebury employees and their families, in addition to other members of the community, were clients of the business.
A student from Middlebury, who has been identified in the videos and wishes to remain anonymous, commented on the charges.
“I am angry about what he did, but it only makes me angrier that he is not in jail,” the student said. “I’m not a legal expert, but from my research, the maximum sentence for doing what he did to me is either a $1,000 fine or two years in jail. Maximum. There is a good chance I will run into him in town while grocery shopping or getting gas, and I don’t understand why the law doesn’t protect me and the other women from this possibility. He will get to continue to live the rest of his life relatively normally despite having sexually violated dozens of women.”
The student said that the punishment Schmidt would receive if found guilty seemed insufficient.
“White men in particular see how weak the consequences are for them in cases like Brock Turner’s, and while I hate to advocate for supporting this country’s prison system, I do think that more severe sentences for sexual abuse might prevent men like Roger from doing what they did,” the student said. “And at least for me, it would help to feel like at least justice has been served; $1,000 and two years somehow does not feel like justice to me.”
Taylor advised any students who had gone to Schmidt for services to contact the police.
“The Middlebury Police Department is continuing its investigation and we encourage anyone who received a massage or other services from Roger Schmidt in 2017 or 2018 to contact Detective Kris Bowdish at 388-3191 or by email at kbowdish@middleburypolice.org,” the email read.
Taylor also identified potential resources on campus for victims of Schmidt’s business.
“Confidential counseling and referral services are available 24 hours/day, 7 days/week through our counseling center X 5141,” she wrote. “In addition, your Commons Deans, CRDs, and, I are available to you as a resource.”
(03/01/18 12:46am)
MIDDLEBURY — For the past week, students at UVM have been engaged in a series of protests regarding racial justice and the administrators’ lack of support and sensitivity towards students of color on campus.
The movement was largely spearheaded by a group of students who call themselves NoNames For Justice and describe themselves as a faceless movement of students dedicated to ending white supremacy. NoNames includes student leaders from several campus groups including the Black Student Union and Womyn of Color Coalition, among others. The group had presented the administration with a list of demands last spring, in addition to a petition from more than 400 UVM students. In a document posted to its Facebook page, the group said that although the university has made some strides, not all demands have been met, and that the group will continue to advocate until each demand has been met with sincerity.
Last Tuesday, around 200 protesters occupied UVM’s Waterman Building to demand the resignation of President Tom Sullivan in addition to Provost David Rosowsky and Vice Provost Annie Stevens.
NoName’s current demands include: university-wide diversity and inclusion training, increased recruitment and retention of faculty of color and LGBTQA faculty, the renovation of diversity courses, appropriate responses to bias incidents, mandatory fraternity and sorority life training, increased funding for Diversity, Culture, and Religious Student Groups and the Identity Centers, and that the Bailey/Howe Library and the Perkins building be renamed.
UVM student Cat Lawrence ’21 noted that the process of formulating demands was extensive. “We have been working on them for a while, breaking them into further feasible steps and condensed them to 7,” she said. “These demands look very similar to the demands brought forth by students 30 years ago. That’s not a coincidence. We have been in numerous meetings with the President and other executive staff however we (Nonames for Justice, marginalized students and their allies) feel ignored and unseen. I think it was all building up to these protests.”
Students from the group are protesting a culture of white supremacy on campus and the administration’s lack of support. “The students of color at the University of Vermont do not feel safe, welcomed, or included,” NoNames told The Burlington Free Press. They point to a series of incidents as examples of racial injustice on campus, including “it’s okay to be white” and “White Privileged And Proud of It” flyers and posters posted across campus. In addition, the students cited the University’s handling of the theft of the Black Lives Matter flag last spring.
Students also highlighted an incident involving Wesley Richter, a student who was accused of making racist threats, as a “clear case of white supremacy culture.” In the fall, a state judge ruled in favor of Richter, citing a lack of probable cause for charge with a crime. The university also refused to release records that would have provided insight into what Richter said and how the school responded.
Middlebury Sociology professor Linus Owens expressed his support for NoNames for Justice and cited the ongoing nature of the challenges students of color face at UVM. “I went to a teach-in they held during the fall to discuss their work and the demands they were making on the university administration. The recent rash of problems on campus only compound the everyday indignities and issues that students of color face at UVM,” said Owens.
Despite the tireless efforts of many student protestors, many students refrained from protesting alongside their peers. “Some students are jumping into action by supporting NoNames for Justice and attending protests and planning sessions. However, today we faced a lot of irritated students claiming that the University is doing the best they can (ignoring the fact that the Black Student Union put out their original list of demands last spring, and it has dwindled from over 15 demands to a mere 7). It has been both an empowering and tiring environment. […] Many students of color are exhausted but are somehow continuing this incredible fight. Many white students are ignoring social and racial injustice and need to reevaluate their priorities,” said UVM student Soledad Sloan ’21.
In addition, last Tuesday evening, David Daigle, chairman of the Board of Trustees, expressed “unwavering support” for the three administrators and said they should be commended by the entire UVM community. “President Sullivan, Provost Rosowsky, and Vice Provost Annie Stevens each have a deep and steadfast commitment to the principles of diversity, inclusion and equality that are important to our University,” he said in a statement. “Their actions to promote a culture of inclusive excellence have been extensive.”
However, the students have received support from staff members, including John Mejia, the Assistant Director of Student Community Relations. Mejia, who uses the pronouns they and them, began a hunger strike until several demands, including those of NoNames for Justice, are met.
“[My role] is to throw my body into the twin gears of white supremacy and anti-black racism that run this university and city,” Mejia said in an interview with the Burlington Free Press. “It is to force them to grind to a halt.”
Mejia presented their own list of demands in addition to those of NoNames’, including a permanently flying Black Lives Matter flag, for UVM police to be trained every semester in anti-racism and implicit bias, and funding for four full-time positions to offer ongoing anti-racism training among other demands.
“We know that the work around these important issues is far from done,” UVM spokesman Enrique Corredera wrote in an email on Wednesday, Feb. 21,“We take the concerns our students are raising very seriously, and we will continue to work diligently to continue to make progress.”
During Tuesday’s rally, student organizer Harmony Edosomwan said the group was just getting started with on-campus activism. She added that the advocacy work happening at UVM was part of a nationwide movement. “Every single campus across the nation needs to join in this movement of destroying white supremacist culture on their campuses,” she said.
This past Tuesday, NoNames began to see progress. In a statement they released, they described how students from every college left class on a march to the Waterman administrative building and their respective Deans’ offices. Groups marching to meet deans came with a letter outlining two demands: mandatory professor training and increased recruitment and retention of faculty and staff of color. Students asked deans to make a commitment by signing the letter to come up with an action plan to address demands 1 and 2 by noon on Friday, March 2.
They also met with President Tom Sullivan at noon and arranged a negotiation meeting to meet their demands for 5 pm. From noon until just before 10 pm, students occupied the building to demonstrate the support this campus has for these demands.
“We were welcomed by faculty and staff in the building as they offered up their offices for us to have meetings in; […] we were welcomed with dignity and respect. During this process, we have formed working respectful relationships with many staff, faculty and community members by engaging in a process to a better this community,” said NoNames.
They described the environment of the communal spaces students gathered in as “healing spaces for all students and for students of color specifically, a meeting hall for Intervarsity, study hall spaces for students doing homework and tutoring spaces so students could continue their learning,” said NoNames. They also held a teach-in for over 100 students where they discussed their demands, the issues they were addressing and their experiences at UVM.
Lawrence echoed such sentiments of unity and community in describing the protests, “Protests really reveal the compassion and togetherness within the community of our large university. It is really beautiful I don’t even know how to describe it. It is healing. Protests are honestly one of the only times on campus where I, a queer person of color, feel safe and acknowledged. We have people from all walks of life present [...] We are united together fighting the same cause. Each person uses their talents in this movement to be the change we want to see. It is truly beautiful. People I have never met before will offer food, water, a ride home, a coat or a shoulder to cry on,” said Lawrence.
NoNames concluded their statement with a call to action to the community, “Our campaign uses direct action and disruption as an effective means of increasing power and voice […]. While inconveniences like a canceled class or a traffic jam have impacts on people in the widespread community, when the impacts of systemic racism, systemic marginalization of populations and white supremacy are considered in the larger context of people and community, it is clear that those issues need to be addressed immediately. It is the hope of NoNames For Justice to move forward with the community by exposing and ending white supremacy and by implementing action plans to meet our demands.”
(01/17/18 10:56pm)
Over winter break and into New Year’s, the country as a whole and New England in particular experienced severely cold temperatures. Vermont saw many days of below zero degree weather with temperatures in Burlington dipping to 28 below during the day and as low as 40 below at night. The cold weather even forced Jay Peak Resort to close down its upper mountain lifts; temperatures came in at 31 below zero without windchill for areas higher than 2,500 feet above sea level. Forecasters warned people to be wary of hypothermia and frostbite from the arctic blast in Vermont and large areas of the Midwest and Northeast.
The severe temperatures negatively affected many local ski areas in Vermont. According to Candice White at Sugarbush Resort, “The cold temperatures certainly had a negative impact on lift ticket purchases over the Christmas holiday. We were down in revenue.” Peter Mackey at the Snow Bowl offered a similar insight stating, “[the cold weather] impacted us negatively for sure; our busiest day was the day after Christmas, which was the only day during the holiday week above zero.”
Ben Arquit ’20, who skied in Vermont over break and explained how the cold temperatures had a big impact on skiing in Vermont: “Many people, especially families, chose to stay home on days where the wind chill resulted in temperatures of 40 below zero. One day was so cold (55 below with wind chill) that Killington, the biggest ski area in the east, had to close for a whole day for the first time in recent memory. The mountains were definitely less crowded than usual during the winter break.”
Towards the end of break, the country experienced another round of drastic weather in the form of a ‘bomb cyclone.’ ‘Bombing’ occurs when a low pressure system’s central pressure falls 24 millibars in 24 hours or less. The country saw the effects of the bomb cyclone on a large scale. The storm’s path through some of the busiest air travel corridors in the country also prompted airlines to cancel more than 4,000 flights and delay 2,000 more. Boston’s Long Wharf was impacted by a three-foot tidal surge that pushed floodwaters into buildings and down the steps of the Aquarium mass transit station.
According to White, “The recent bomb cyclone brought us Winter Storm Grayson, which delivered some terrific snow, driving skier visits, also brought cold temperatures, which typically negatively impact skier visits.”
“Following break, the bomb cyclone was awesome for the ski areas. More than a foot of snow was welcome news to many of the resorts after a cold, icy break,” Arquit said. “The Snow Bowl especially benefited and was fully open by the beginning of J-Term.”
“The bomb cyclone affected us very positively but, unfortunately, only for a short time. We were in full operation for a few days with great conditions even where we don’t make snow,” said Mackey.
In the next phase of dramatic weather, Vermont saw unusually warm temperatures in early January that negatively affected skiing. “The warm temperatures were accompanied by almost two inches of rain, which hits our natural snow trails fairly hard. Our man made snow trails, which make up 70 percent of the mountain, can withstand the rain much better. On Jan. 13, we closed many of our natural trails for the day. The changeover from rain to cold temperatures also caused some icing on our lifts, which caused delayed openings on some lifts. And the winds were strong, which caused wind-hold on some upper-mountain lifts,” said White.
Mackey explained how, “We’re only operating the Sheehan Chair presently while we make snow on the Worth Mt. Chair to make those snowmaking trails safe. Two to three feet of natural snow that we accumulated over the course of a month basically disappeared within 36 hours!”
Arquit further described the impact on the snow bowl stating, “Unfortunately, the recent warm weather dealt a blow to the Bowl. Even as temps dropped this weekend, only one lift at the Bowl was open. Luckily, they are blowing lots of snow and should be back fully open within a few days.”
“We’re experiencing extreme weather and extreme swings in the weather,” Mackey described, “going from 10 degrees and full operation on Wednesday (Jan. 10) to 53 degrees with one lift open two days later and back to 13 degrees the next – that’s a 73 temperature swing over the course of 3 days!”
“This business is fickle - we’ve certainly had better years. It’s tough when any holiday period is impacted by the weather, because they are critical to our success,” White said.
(11/08/17 5:48pm)
VERGENNES — On Oct. 31, Christian Kruse became the new owner of local eatery Vergennes Laundry. Back in 2010, previous owners Didier and Julianne Murat created a French-inspired bakery out of the original laundromat that had a home at 257 Main Street in Vergennes. This year, Didier and Julianne are moving on from their restaurant, creating an opportunity for acclaimed chef Christian Kruse.
After attending the New England Culinary Institute, Chef Kruse completed two internships at Basin Harbor, a resort in Vergennes. He has since worked in Seattle and Salt Lake City and for the last 13 years he was back at Basin Harbor, totaling over 15 years in the industry. In 2012, the Beach family, who own the resort, offered him the opportunity to be their next executive chef, and he was more recently promoted to food and beverage director/executive chef.
He was also invited to cook at the James Beard House on January 2016 in New York City and was awarded Chef of the Year for 2016 by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. Just recently, Kruse won the Culinary Cup hosted by the Cancer Patient Support Foundation at the University of Vermont’s Davis Center.
Now, he will take his talents to the popular Vergennes eatery. Vergennes Laundry is known for its pastries, coffee and seasonal dinners that use fresh, local ingredients.
“I had seen that they were for sale on a website and had reached out to them. I had been in talks with them for the past year but nothing serious until Basin Harbor and [I] mutually decided that it was time for me to open my own place,” Kruse said. “With the years of experience and confidence, it was an easy decision at this point in my career. I didn’t want to look back five years from now and regret not pursuing my dream.”
Vergennes Laundry will see some changes, though Kruse will keep a few local favorites on the menu. He plans to keep “some of the coffee, pastries and breads.”
“I will be train[ing] for the next two weeks with them and hopefully getting a good sense of what I will be offering my guests,” Kruse said. “My expertise and passion is for fine dining, so I will be expanding on that in the restaurant. I will be introducing fine food in a welcoming and casual vibe without sacrificing quality and creativity.”
Kruse will definitely bring some additional options to customers, including the “Chef’s Table” dining experience, a classic brunch and wine-paired dinners. Vergennes Laundry closed its doors temporarily on Oct. 31. After a few weeks of transition and some minor renovations, they are planning a soft opening the week of Nov. 27 and will officially open on Dec. 6.
In terms of his goals for the restaurant as a whole, Kruse said, “First and foremost, serving [a high-]quality product that my guests can say as they walk out of my restaurant/bakery … was one of their best meals, is my first goal. Providing an amazing work environment for my employees is another. And lastly, to share my love, drive and passion for cooking and showcasing my creativity with the wonderful produce and meats that Addison County has to offer. I have had the honor to helm the position as food and beverage director of a resort but now am ready to carry that under my own name. I am truly excited about my future and can’t wait to share it with the rest of the world.”
(11/01/17 5:17pm)
VERGENNES — In the past year, the Greater Vergennes Boys and Girls Club has received funding and undergone extensive renovations to improve the overall attendance and quality of its after-school program. At the beginning of the 2016-2017 school year, daily club attendance ran between 15 and 18 students ranging from fifth to 12th grade, and total membership was 75. This fall, around two dozen of the club’s 109 members stop in after school on any given day. Students can finish their homework on one of a half-dozen new computers; play table soccer, pool and video games; hang out with their friends; make block prints; or enjoy full meals in a new kitchen.
The existing space for the club was finally renovated in 2016. The board voted in 2015 to provide more opportunities for programs, service and outreach. Grants and donations funded the project and brought together local businesses in their support for the renovation. “We celebrated our grand opening in October 2016 with the unveiling of a fully functional kitchen [and] shower and laundry facilities,” said board chair Jeff Fritz.
Vermont is home to nine Boys and Girls Clubs locations. In addition to greater Vergennes, Burlington, Rutland, and Brattleboro all feature their own clubs. Burlington has three locations and serves more than 250 children daily. Their programs highlight their three core areas, which are Art & Technology, Health & Athletics and Career Readiness & Life Skills. Programs include “Reading Buddies,” where volunteers read one-on-one with a child during after-school hours, and arts-and-crafts programs. The Brattleboro location features a “power hour” Monday through Thursday from 3 to 4 p.m. for homework, in addition to many activities such as an open weight room, a climbing wall, an open music room, and a book/teen group. They also have teen night every Friday from 6 to 11 p.m.
The three Rutland locations each offer after-school programs with homework support, a home-cooked meal every day, a physical fitness/wellness program and an evidence-based program called “Positive Action,” an early-age prevention program. They also have a new teen program, which gives teens a safe and fun place to go on Friday and Saturday evenings. They offer academic support, job training, resume writing, and a program called PREP, which focuses on building healthy relationships. Teens can play basketball and video games and go on weekly field trips.
Prior to the renovations in Vergennes, the club was capable of serving only snacks, but the renovations allow the club to provide 400 full meals a month. It also has its own bathrooms with showers, rather than having to share facilities with other tenants of the building on the corner of School and Green streets. The club now houses a washer and dryer, which are used not only for club kitchen linens but also for members who need help cleaning clothes. The space itself is also much more inviting and has undergone improvements in terms of smell and lighting. Newly hired executive director Jill Strube has had an instrumental role in the improvement. Using her experience as an after-school program head, Strube was able to help provide programming, write grants, and oversee the general day-to-day functioning of the club.
In the past year, the club has received many grants that have allowed them to add new programs. The club recently hosted four printmaking workshops after it and the city’s Creative Space Gallery were jointly awarded a $1,182 Vermont Arts Council grant to have a steamroller press prints in the Kennedy Brothers parking lot on Oct. 14. Some club members’ work will be on display and for sale at the gallery through Friday, along with that of professional artists and Vergennes Union Elementary School students. Another arts class led by Middlebury artist Norma Rollette is routinely held for nine young members and is supported by Elaine Raphael Arts Foundation grant. A bus now brings a half-dozen new Ferrisburgh Central School members to the club, courtesy of a three-year, $2,400 Children’s Trust Fund Grant.
“We are working to expand our STEAM programs. We just received a Best Buy grant to buy tablets so we can teach an App Lab class to our teens, and we are hoping to get funding for some Lego Robotics,” Fritz said. This $7,300 grant from the Williston Best Buy funded eight Samsung tablets that the club will use for a class to teach older members to write code for installing Android apps. Another $5,000 came from the TJ Maxx Foundation to support the club’s ongoing efforts to assist members in completing their homework. Strube also arranged a donation from local schools of three desktop computers and three Chromebooks for the same purpose.
The club has been very fortunate with finances that have enabled such renovations and improvements. Many investments have paid off, including those in renovations. In addition, a year ago the club decided to stop applying for a $40,000 state tobacco-cessation grant it had earned annually in recent years, as the board decided the application and reporting process was placing too much of a burden on club employees. Even without that source of money, Strube and the board’s fundraising efforts exceeded the club’s annual budget of $178,000 by about $25,000.
In addition to grant-writing, board members have helped increase the total quantity of funds at the club’s disposal. For example, the board joined with local food professionals and the boards of the Bixby Library, Vergennes Partnership and Vergennes Opera House in staging a successful “Eat on the Green” event on Sept. 30, with proceeds benefitting all four nonprofits. Summarizing the renovations and improvements as a whole, Fritz commented, “The club has never before experienced this level of community involvement and support. We consider this an extraordinary accomplishment.”
(10/18/17 11:46pm)
MIDDLEBURY — Leading up to their production of The Crucible from Nov. 2 through 5 at Town Hall Theater, the Middlebury Community Players are organizing a penny-collecting fundraiser for WomenSafe in order to raise awareness about violence against women.
Christopher Ross, director of the production, was inspired by Arthur Miller’s production of “The Crucible” (1953), which recounts the Salem Witch trials.
“I knew immediately that I wanted to stage it in a contemporary setting, but that turned out to be something quite different from what I expected,” Ross said. “Basic questions like ‘Why did these girls accuse their neighbors?’ and ‘Why did anyone believe them?’ and ‘Why didn’t anyone stop them?’ evolved really quickly into questions like ‘What am I supposed to do with all the misogyny in this play?’
“Miller distorted real-life ages, motivations, and relationships in a way that transformed this (until then relatively obscure) historical event into compelling drama, but these distortions flattened and oversimplified the female characters.”
For months, Ross has attempted to modernize the play and make it relevant to current times. He said that “making a conscious choice about who gets to tell the story, no matter how it was first written, was what would make it feel twenty-first-century.” Many aspects of Ross’s modernization process speak to the autonomy and power of women.
Ross was also inspired by the gender issues that stemmed from the 2016 election.
“I cast a woman in one of the major male roles, turning the Madonna-whore dichotomy into a triangle that included ‘Pantsuit Nation,’ ” Ross said. “I doubled the number of girls in the cast and limited their ages to the mid-teens; I started a publicity campaign that paired provocative (and mostly male) lines from the play with images of the girls in leather jackets and dark makeup; and, of course, the 50,000 Pennies campaign.”
While estimates vary, approximately 60,000 people were executed for being “witches” in the centuries preceding the Salem Witch trials, 85 percent of whom were women. Witches were not identified by wearing pointy hats or flying on brooms, but by various forms of independence, power and possession. Thus, the goal of the Middlebury Community Players is to collect one penny for every woman who lost her life for practicing “witchcraft.”
“People still think like this”, Ross stated, “This isn’t just something the people of Salem, Massachusetts, inherited from their British forebearers but that we ourselves, as Americans in the twenty-first-century, have somehow ‘outgrown.’ Update its diction and that statement could have passed for ‘commentary’ during last year’s U.S. election. We still reduce, flatten and objectify women like this, which makes it easier for us to commit violence against them.”
Ross explained how he proposed “50,000 Pennies for 50,000 “Witches” to Kerri Duquette-Hoffman, executive director of WomenSafe, and to Doug Anderson, the executive director of Town Hall Theater. Beginning in 1980 as the Addison County Battered Women’s Project in September 1980, WomenSafe, has evolved through the hard work of community members dedicated to preventing domestic violence in Addison County. The staff, volunteers and board members of WomenSafe ensure services for victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence and their children. The office provides a safe, comfortable setting for support groups and individual meetings with trained staff.
Ross thought of the penny fundraiser as an innovative way to fundraise for Womensafe.
“I wanted to find a way to “show” what 50,000 of something might look like. And I wanted to spark more conversations about violence against women — patterns of that violence, attitudes about that violence . . . the whole complicated line that broadens the context for this play and connects to Donald Trump and beyond,” Ross said.
Ross hopes the project will meet the fundraising goal in addition to helping spread awareness about gender violence in the community.
“We built a box for the pennies, created a crowd-funding site, sent out a press release, told all our friends, and kind of, you know, hoped for the best. Hopefully some of this thinking and this work will bear out in the production, itself. Hopefully some of it will help people like me become better husbands and fathers and citizens,” Ross said.
(10/04/17 11:52pm)
The Crest Room in McCullough Student Center has been redesigned into a lounge space, reserved for faculty and staff during weekdays and accessible to students on weekday evenings and weekends.
The renovations began in August and lasted one month. Changes include new furniture, carpeting, and the addition of a transparent railing system for the stairs and loft, intended to make the space more open and inviting.
The renovations grew out of an ongoing conversation that began last fall concerning the role of McCullough, said Karina Toy ’17, who served last year as President of the Student Government Association (SGA) and was at the center of the discussions.
“We originally pursued this to make the McCullough Student Center feel more like a student center,” Toy said. “It started with SGA’s resolution in the fall around creating a wall for free self expression, grew with the idea of retaking McCullough for students and ended with proposals about redesigning McCullough in general.” Since renovating the room into a student lounge was the simplest and most cost-effective change to make, Toy said, the administration endorsed the change.
The space evolved into a faculty lounge following a compromise between the SGA and the faculty, Toy explained.
“At the same time we were planning this, the Faculty Council was asking [the administration] for a faculty lounge,” she said. “The Crest Room was one of the rooms they were proposing, so we came to a compromise. The idea was that students wouldn’t be using the Crest Room anyway during the day on weekdays, and would use it during the evenings/weekends.”
SGA Senator Rae Aaron ’19.5 defended the arrangement as a temporary fix.
“The SGA is pushing really hard to make McCullough a student-focused center, but the reality is that we need to be flexible with spaces on campus and recognize that faculty and staff also need work spaces and lounges,” she said. “Sharing the Crest Room between faculty and students is a great short-term compromise, but ideally we will be able to find a new location for a faculty lounge and give students full access to the Crest Room.”
Toy noted that the renovations could improve the atmosphere of the student center.
“A lot of the feedback we got from students was that McCullough didn’t feel like a student space because the moment you entered you saw staff or students having formal meetings,” she said. “Hopefully, this change will make McCullough more welcoming to students, at least until a new student center can be built or completely renovated.”
Some students have expressed concern about the shared nature of the space.
“While it’s a brilliant idea that the Crest Room is opening its doors for both faculty and students, I think it might be a challenge to regulate who uses the space at which times,” Ayesha Bhalla ’20 said.
Others expressed optimism about the arrangement. “While the student center may be meant for students, I don’t think that it’s a problem that it’s meant for faculty during the day,” Sarah Schmid ’20 said. “I think that the newly designed space is a great compromise and makes a lot of sense.”
(09/27/17 11:44pm)
Education Studies will be offered as a double major for the first time this semester, after the faculty voted to approve the new degree program last spring. Previously, Education Studies was only offered as a minor.
The double major is available only to students who are pursuing the coursework required for a Vermont state teacher licensure. In the past, students pursuing the licensure were obligated to take 12 to 13 courses, depending on their desired field of education. Such requirements exceeded those of most other programs at Middlebury, prompting administrators to conclude that the level of demand did not fit the program’s status as a minor.
Education Studies faculty first devised the double major in 2015.
“It was a marvelous affirmation from the faculty to receive that vote in favor of the double major. It was no small thing, and we in education studies will never take it for granted,” said Jonathan Miller-Lane, the program’s director, in a news release.
While the double major can be pursued for teaching at both the elementary and secondary levels, all students must complete four state-mandated requirements for licensure, including part-time teaching and passage of the Praxis national exam. Like the old program, students must still enroll in a “professional semester” of full-time teaching in a local school, either during their senior year or after their graduation.
Education studies double majors are also required to take three foundational courses: Education in the USA, Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Models of Inclusive Education. The minor in education studies is also still available, and is intended for students who are interested in the field but do not aspire to teach.
“We want our students’ field experiences to be school-centered, not college-centered. That’s why our students in methods classes spend the majority of their time in the schools, and not here on campus,” Miller-Lane said.
People involved with the program share the hope that the double major could draw more interest to education studies, and to teaching itself.
“I hope that more Middlebury students become aware of and seriously consider committing to the double major through our licensure program to engage in the thoughtful, deliberate work that is required to be a well-prepared teacher,” said Tracy Weston, an assistant professor in the program. “I hope the move to a double major makes it clear that, as an institution, we stand for quality teacher education and recognize teaching as a serious intellectual pursuit.”
Jack Parker ’19, who majors in education studies and math, agreed.
“Minor just wasn’t an appropriate way to phrase the work that had been done,” he said. “I think one of the main reasons to make it a double major was to recognize that people put in a lot of work, and to attract students to the program.”
Parker stressed the importance of the program’s mission. “We’re studying the craft of education so that we can go do good, thoughtful, informed, effective social justice work,” he said.