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(01/15/14 10:15pm)
Only the few and the lucky end up in Jernigan Pontiac’s cab. And, only the fewer and the even luckier end up in his stories.
Jernigan Pontiac, who requested that only his nom de plume be used, has lived and driven cabs in Burlington for 37 years, documenting 17 of those years in a bi-weekly — or, fortnightly, as he likes to say – column, “Hackie,” in Seven Days, a newspaper in Burlington. Yet, even with nearly 500 columns, two books, loyal followers and a minor-celebrity reputation, Jernigan Pontiac remains elusive and tries to maintain a low profile.
Originally from Brooklyn, Jernigan Pontiac began his career as a cab driver in Manhattan. Although he didn’t write back then he said, “isn’t it true that every writer, from the time that they’re a tyke, is always thinking about the world and observing?”
His sister, an “original hippie,” left the City and went to Goddard College in Plainfield, VT. Jernigan visited her once and fell in love with both Vermont and another hippie, who is now his wife. So, he moved to Vermont and started being a cabbie in Burlington.
He started a company, Morf, which “pioneered the use of vans as cabs in Vermont.” After growing the company, he sold it and went back to his original love — driving cabs. And then, after he kept telling his friends about all the interesting people he met through work, he started writing his column.
“99 percent of the time they’re thrilled to be in the paper,” said Jernigan Pontiac of his subjects. “One time I drove a young man up from Burlington who was breaking up with his UVM girlfriend … and he wrote a letter to the paper saying that I got a bunch of things wrong.”
Normally, though, Jernigan Pontiac and Seven Days don’t receive angry letters.
“My rule of thumb is, except in rare cases, I always change the names and I’ll also change where they’re going,” he said, explaining his writing process. “I’m in an odd dynamic — my purpose is not to invade the privacy of others — and the truth is, every two weeks I invade the privacy of others. The way I justify it, or the way I rationalize it, is that I try to write about whoever I’m writing about with as much compassion as I can muster.”
Along with his determination to write with compassion, Jernigan Pontiac believes that everyone’s life is important and interesting.
“I wrote in one story … ‘every person’s life could be an epic novel,’ and it’s true,” he said. “A lot of people say that’s not true, but they’re wrong. If you survived childhood, you’ve got a novel. I like to find the hidden gems and hidden gold which is in everyone’s life.”
Looking through Pontiac’s second book, “Hackie 2: Perfect Autumn”, a collection of his Seven Days columns, this creed is clear — he writes about everyone from a 91-year-old woman going on vacation to Florida, to Dave Mamet (a famous screen-writer and playwright), to a man whose construction business is going down the drain in the midst of his divorce. All of the people in Jernigan Pontiac’s stories are people all around us every day. They are all fascinating and interesting, yet most people don’t take the time to get to know them. Or, most people don’t open up as they do to Jernigan Pontiac.
“I think the heart of the ‘Hackie’ stories is the beauty or the sadness or the poignancy of everyday people and everyday life … these are really fascinated, interesting, wild people but the vast majority are not people who, if you took a cursory look at their life have a lot going on there.”
(12/05/13 1:41am)
This week our paper looks a little different because we have a few new writers — high school students!
Two weeks ago, middbeat posted a video made by an English class at Middlebury Union High. Although the video was made a few years ago, it is still relevant and highlighted an issue we, as the College community, don’t talk about very often — town-College relations. As an editor for the local section, I wanted to find a positive way to explore town-College relations through The Campus. Rather than an article, we decided on a different method — The Campus has partnered with Middlebury Union High School’s journalism class to bring you this issue and insight into Middlebury Union High.
The partnership, which we hope will be ongoing, is mutually beneficial — the high schoolers will give our readers valuable insights they don’t normally have the privilege to see about the town we live in. We can give them by-lines (good for college applications!) and insight into our lives. I imagine only good can come from something like this, right? In the end, my goal is selfish — I want to learn from these students and see what their lives are like since, in the end, I don’t know very much about the town and people that have generously hosted me for the past four years.
My mom’s side of the family has lived on the same piece of land for nearly a century, so my sense of home and belonging is strong. As a super senior feb, technically I’ve lived in Vermont for four years, but I would never say that — somehow that feels false, especially when I think about my personal feelings regarding my home and my family. Even after being the local section editor on and off for several semesters and making every effort to pop the Middlebury bubble, I got swept up in school, lost touch with Vermont and began obsessively counting the days, hours and minutes before I could go home.
Looking back on my four years here, I’m saddened by this disconnect and by the fact that, by the end of the year I was too frazzled and homesick to stay in Vermont. Hopefully, in my last month and a half here, a little can be salvaged and my sense of place heightened. This is one attempt to do so.
Even though it can be difficult, it is important to make an effort to reach out. The town of Middlebury hosts each college student for four years and then most of us leave without a trace or an idea of this place. Ideally, I would love for this partnership between The Campus and Middlebury Union High School to continue while I’m gone, but it depends on the interest and free time of the high school students — they’re awesome but it’s hard to fit it all in!
Regardless, I hope the Middlebury Union High School students know that they always have a voice in our paper and advocates in our office. It is a small effort to make, but important to me and The Campus.
(11/13/13 11:33pm)
Last Tuesday, Nov. 5 former Middlebury selectboard Chairman John Tenny announced a citizens’ petition drive regarding the future of the Middlebury Town Offices. The petition’s goal is to make sure that the 2014 Town Meeting Day ballot has a bond vote regarding the new buildings, which includes a new town office and recreation center.
As reported in The Campus last Thursday, the future of the Middlebury Town Offices and new recreation center is a big topic in town and is somewhat controversial and divisive within the community.
The current plan for the new municipal buildings includes a land-swap with the College and the town of Middlebury. In addition to the land-swap, the College would also donate $5.5 million to help fund the $7.5 million project.
The new municipal building would be located at 77 Main St. and the new recreation center would be built off Mary Hogan Drive, near the elementary school. The College would then receive the parcel of land on which the Town Offices currently stand and will turn that piece of land into a public park.
The citizen-led petition started by Tenny, which needs to garner the signatures of at least 10 percent of Middlebury’s registered voters, wouldn’t necessarily be questioning, endorsing or derailing the current plan. The goal is merely to open up the issue to the public and create more dialogue and discussion throughout the community in general.
“[The petition] certainly doesn’t take away the work of this board; what it does is make it the work of the whole community,” Tenny said in the Addison Independent.
“The whole community then can have a good discussion,” Tenny said. “I hope that while the petition will be one in support of the issue, it could be supported by those who might oppose the issue because they should have the opportunity to vote.”
Reasons for opposition vary but they are certainly voiced in the community. One concern is that there won’t be enough parking space and that the traffic around Mary Hogan Elementary will become more congested and difficult to manage than it already is.
Another less quotidian concern is that the College is encroaching on the Town of Middlebury. Although the current plan to relocate the municipal buildings is the only one on the table at the moment, some residents still are voicing their preferences to have the new buildings rebuilt on the current town office site.
All of these concerns are difficult to balance, but one that may be mitigated is the worry by some residents that the public wasn’t included in the process from the beginning. This petition gives more voice to the general community, especially with the potential to have a bond placed on the ballot in 2014.
(11/06/13 11:01pm)
In the middle of the town of Middlebury, along Main Street, sits a row of restaurants and bars all within 50 yards of each other: Two Brothers Tavern, Otter Creek Bakery, Samas Café and the Champagne and Sparkling Wine Bar. The Champagne and Sparkling Wine Bar catches the eye, and not just because it advertises alcohol in its title. Who would have thought to place a sophisticated yet peaceful bar in the center of a college town in rural Vermont?
When asked about her unique bar, the first thing owner Nancy Weber-Curth said is, “It’s not the same feel as Two Brothers. It’s another option.”
Options have been a valuable commodity to Weber-Curth throughout her entire life. She has never been afraid to diverge off the mainstream path. Her willingness to explore different options has led her to places as exotic as Baghdad, and yet here she is now, in familiar Middlebury, Vt.
Weber-Curth grew up in Detroit, Michigan in a family of four kids. Her parents strongly encouraged travel in high school, so Weber-Curth elected to spend a summer in France the year before her senior year of high school. That summer ignited an interest in travel that has persisted throughout her entire life.
“That summer made me realize how important it is to go out of the country in high school or college because it gives you a different perspective on life,” she said.
Being immersed in another culture contributed to Weber-Curth’s belief that there is more than just one way of doing things.
After graduating from high school, Weber-Curth went on to St. Mary’s College in Indiana, where, despite a warning from her dad, she majored in chemistry.
“I wanted a challenge, and I knew chemistry was going to be difficult. I loved it though and it wasn’t boring,” Weber-Curth said.
She put her chemist degree to good use after college and got a job working in chemical sales at Sony in Japan. Very few women worked in chemical sales, but once again Weber-Curth embraced the challenge.
While working for Sony, Weber-Curth decided to move from chemical sales to business consulting. She found that business consulting suited her well and allowed her to travel the world. She spent four years on and off in Moscow, training American companies. She then moved to the Middle East where she spent eight years as a business consultant and as Iraq’s country director for a non-governmental organization (NFO).
In Iraq, Weber-Curth lived outside of the green (American) zone because she wanted to immerse herself in the culture.
“There was no air conditioning or heating,” she said. “Twice the windows of my apartment shattered because of car bombs, but I loved learning about how the Iraqi people lived.”
After four years of serving as country director of a NFO in Iraq she stepped down because the NFO wanted the Iraqi to do things the same way as Americans did, and Weber-Curth believes there is more than one way to do something.
“Part of living in the Middle East and training people in the Middle East is that they do things differently than us and they want to do things differently than us,” she said.
Weber-Curth decided to take a break from her job in Iraq and planned on returning, but could not get a return Visa. At this point in her life, she and her husband had moved to Middlebury, Vt. However, she still traveled and spent so much of her time outside of the country that the staff at Burlington airport would call her by her first name. Never one to dwell on the uncontrollable factors, Weber-Curth accepted that she would not be going back to Iraq and began pondering what her next venture would be.
The idea for The Champagne and Sparkling Wine Bar came to her while she was drinking espresso in Vergennes Laundry, a French bakery north of Middlebury in Vergennes. The French bakery reminded her of days in France and the sparkling wine that she used to drink there. Weber-Curth realized that there were no specific restaurants focusing on sparkling wine and champagne in the U.S. because these drinks were saved for special occasions, not used as the main product of a restaurant.
To Weber-Curth, every day is an occasion and therefore a Sparkling Wine and Champagne Bar was the perfect idea for her new business. Weber-Curth created a menu that offers wines from all around the world. She also offers cheese and chocolate from many local markets. The mix of international and local aspects creates a menu that offers a variety of options for all customers.
As you enter the main vessel of the restaurant there is a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt on the wall that says, “Do one thing every day that scares you.”
Running a storefront has kept Weber-Curth in the U.S. for over a year, which is the longest amount of time that she has been in the country since college. However, from the wall decorations to the menu, The Champagne and Sparkling Wine Bar embodies and shares Weber-Curth’s admirable, adventurous and enthusiastic way of life.
(11/06/13 10:57pm)
At first the decision looks simple — Middlebury’s town offices are outdated and something needs to be done. Renovation? Relocation? As it turns out, the problem is not so simple, nor is the solution.
The town offices are currently located across the street from Alexander Twilight Hall and are, essentially, the burned-out remains of the old high school, which raises many complications.
One problem is that the building is drafty and drains money in the winter as the heat seeps through the windows and walls and into the icy Vermont air. A second problem is that the building isn’t entirely wheelchair accessible. There is an elevator but it is faulty and unreliable.
In 2011, the town of Middlebury hired Vermont Integrated Architecture (VIA) to conduct a study estimating how much it would cost to replace the current Town Hall structures. VIA came back with estimates and proposals that ranged in cost from $6 million to $10 million — a high price to pay, especially because it would require the support of a bond and an increase in local property taxes.
Even though the proposed projects were expensive and the funds were not there, leaving the town offices as they are isn’t viewed as a feasible option because of their serious disrepair. Therefore, the town of Middlebury started talking to the College to find a mutually beneficial plan.
After discussing the situation, the current plan stands as such: the town and the College would do a land swap. The new municipal buildings, which would include offices and a recreation center, would be built on a piece of land currently owned by the College, near Mary Hogan Elementary School.
The College would then be given ownership of the strip of land on which the town offices are currently located, demolish the building and create a park — incidentally opening up a sweeping vista of the College that is otherwise obstructed by the current buildings.
Chairman of the Town Center Steering Committee Selectman Victor Nuovo along with Selectboard Chairman Dean George initially requested funding from the College. A press release issued this past June on behalf of the College announced the College’s intent to fund the request.
“We are committed to the view that what is good for the town is good for the college and vice versa,” President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz said.
While the College agreed to assist in this project should it be approved by the steering committee, not all involved share in this exclusively positive response. Some concerns were raised at a public hearing in Middlebury in July, during which more than a dozen local residents introduced worries about handing more land over to the College, as well as the lack of parking that would exist at the new town center.
The most specific-to-date plans, with a totaled budget of $6.5 million, were presented at an ID-4 school board meeting on Oct. 16, as well as at a public gathering on Oct. 17 at the municipal gym.
Attendees expressed many concerns, several of which related to parking space issues. Jason Duquette-Hoffman, an ID-4 board member, spoke out against some reassurance from organizers that there are around 30 spaces available when the recreation center is being used as it currently stands.
“Thirty spaces is your traffic management plan? I’m sorry, I don’t find that convincing, and I don’t think that’s a very thoughtful approach to this plan,” said Duquette-Hoffman.
Others expressed similar concerns, many of which shared the common thread that the plans were not fleshed out well enough. As a result of the many concerns raised with the proposed plan, the steering committee strongly recommended that the town postpone voting on the proposal from December to March.
Their justification was that further time is needed for the projects to be more clearly explained and delivered to community members. Such a delay, however, has the potential to raise expenditures by $350,000.
The Middlebury select board met on Tuesday, Nov. 5 and revisited the proposed project. Look for follow-up coverage in next week’s issue.
ILANA GRATCH contributed to this report.
(10/10/13 12:26am)
Climate change scares Fran Putnam, but it hasn’t paralyzed her. Instead, she leads the Weybridge Energy Coalition and has spearheaded the town’s latest energy related success – becoming the first town in Vermont to complete the Vermont Home Energy Challenge.
The Challenge, which was prompted by a partnership between Efficiency Vermont and the Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network (VECAN), began in January and is a competition between many towns in Vermont. The goal for participating towns is to have three percent of their homes weatherized by the end of the year.
Weatherizing a home - a process which requires steps such as changing windows and sealing cracks - increases its efficiency, thus saving money and reducing green house gas emissions. At the end of the competition, the winning town will be awarded $10,000 that will go towards funding an energy initiative.
Last Sunday, Weybridge celebrated not only the completion of the challenge but also being the first town in Vermont to do so, on their statewide Button Up Day of Action, a day in which towns encourage their residents to make their homes more efficient.
The town of Weybridge hasn’t officially won the competition, but many community members believe that they have a good shot at winning the statewide competition.
“There are only 300 houses in Weybridge and only 800 people, so we only needed ten houses,” said Putnam. “We’ve actually got eleven houses [weatherized] and we’re beyond our goal.”
Weybridge’s small size helped them achieve the three percent they needed. For a comparison, Middlebury, a larger town, needs to weatherize 91 houses to complete the same goal.
When asked what propelled Weybridge to the forefront of this challenge, Gwen Nagy-Benson, whose house was the first to be weatherized, said that the volunteers in the town and Putnam’s energy were key factors.
“Weybridge is a … close-knit community – people care about and trust each other, which makes this kind of community effort easier,” Nagy-Benson said. “And, we have Fran Putnam! She has been an expert leader of this initiative – she has inexhaustible energy for the Home Energy Challenge.”
One of the hurdles to getting a house weatherized is the cost, the pressure of which is put on individual home-owners.
When asked how big of an investment it is to weatherize one’s home, Putnam said, “It depends on how much needs to be done. The average is $6,000 to do a complete weatherization.”
Although there are financial incentives of up to $2,500 if a home reaches at least a 10 percent efficiency improvement, and even though weatherization saves the homeowner money in the long run, cost is, understandably, still an issue for many people.
“We had [a home energy] audit done about two years earlier, but we were never able to go forward with the work because the financing options were complicated or not readily available,” said Nagy-Benson. “By the time the Home Energy Challenge kicked off, we were able to secure a loan from our credit union and begin work.”
Although much of what motivates Putnam is driven by a need to mitigate carbon emissions contributing to climate change, many people are motivated to weatherize their homes because, in addition to being better for the environment, it is simply a practical measure to take.
“We never had any hesitations about weatherizing our home – we endured three winters in a drafty house that guzzled heating oil, and three summers baking in the heat,” said Nagy-Benson. “We knew that insulation and air sealing would help maintain a more even and comfortable temperature.”
Eric Lamy, owner of the tenth house in Webridge to be weatherized, had similar motivations as Nagy-Benson.
“We only moved to Weybridge last winter and the heating bills were pretty substantial,” said Lamy. “We decided to go forward with the renovations so that we could rely more heavily on the fireplace [to heat the house].”
Lamy also has long term financial incentives in mind and thinks that a more efficient home will help the resale value if he and his wife ever decide to sell their home.
When Putnam works to convince people to weatherize their homes, she highlights these financial incentives.
“It is the only home improvement that pays for itself, guaranteed,” said Putnam. “Every year you see more savings.”
Putnam believes that weatherizing one’s home also opens the door for people to consistently make more environmentally friendly changes in their lives in general.
“When people do this work [to their house], they become more sensitive to how they do things,” she said. She thinks that after renovating their houses many people might consider biking rather than driving, or installing low-flow showerheads to conserve water.
Overall, the town of Weybridge seems to have embraced the efforts of the Weybridge Energy Committee, as was evident on Button Up Day. Putnam said that over 100 residents attended Button Up Day and that they served 65 pieces of pie, countless doughnuts, cider and coffee in addition to handing out 35 vouchers for free energy savings kits.
This supports Lamy’s claim that the community is accepting of the program.
“I haven’t heard too much pushback towards the initiatives and that speaks well for the community,” he said. “We’re starting to make a name for ourselves.”
(09/25/13 11:32pm)
The sixth annual Tour de Farms, which took place on Sept. 15, began on what seemed like an idyllic fall Sunday and ended in tragedy. During the cycling event, which the Addison County Relocalization Network (ACORN) and the Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Coalition (VBPC) organized, an alleged drunk driver struck three cyclists, seriously injuring two of them.
Brian Miller, 54, of Shoreham, was driving on Route 74 West when he struck the cyclists around 11:30 a.m. Martin Veit, 35, of Moretown, was thrown onto the hood of Miller’s car and became embedded in the windshield, only to become dislodged after Miller’s car struck an apple tree. Sophie Gerry, 15, of Williamstown, Mass., was thrown an estimated eight to 12 feet when the car struck her and what was initially thought to be a broken pelvis but was later diagnosed as a broken leg.
Miller’s blood alcohol content was 0.095 percent according to court records – in Vermont the legal limit is 0.08 percent. According to the Addison Independent, Miller has also been under an active arrest warrant for the past nine months for driving under the influence. On Monday, Sept. 16, in Addison County Superior Court he pleaded not guilty to the offences.
Both Veit and Gerry were taken to Fletcher Allen Hospital in Burlington immediately after the accident and were both released on Tuesday, Sept. 17, expected to recover well.
Although the incident turned out much better than it could have, for both the driver and the cyclists, it sent shock throughout the cycling community and the reaction has been strong.
Nancy Shulz, the Executive Director of VBPC, sent an email to members of the coalition shortly after the Tour de Farms, in which she took a hard stand and spoke up for cyclist safety.
“The chronic problem of impaired drivers (many of them repeat offenders) demands statewide conversations and commitment that will result in a significant change in driver behavior,” she said in the email to VBPC members. “The VBPC board of directors and I will be discussing what we … can do to end this carnage on our roadways.”
The response to her email has been very supportive of the cycling community and of tackling the issue of impared driving in the state of Vermont.
“My inbox exploded after the crash,” she said. “People said, ‘let us know how we can help. We support you.’”
VBPC is a small non-profit that in the past has initiated small programs to educate people about bicycle and pedestrian safety. They work with some driver education programs in central Vermont to educate new drivers about bicycle and pedestrian safety and also work with law enforcement to educate them about the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians alike.
In addition to VBPC’s educational programs, they lobby Montpelier for new laws that “will offer protections and improve life” for their coalition members and the general community of cyclists and pedestrians.
Although VBPC is concerned with all pedestrian and cyclist safety in Vermont, the accident during the Tour de Farms was particularly close to home for the organization because the event is their largest fundraiser of the year. The organization is very small and the Tour de Farms is central to both their fundraising and their sense community.
“For years, safety has been part of our mission and educating cyclists on what to do to stay safe,” said Shulz of the coalition’s mission. “Someone can be doing all of those things properly but you can’t insulate a cyclist from poor behavior. There is nothing we can do to put airbags around our cyclists.”
Even though the task is daunting as dealing with DUI and cyclist safety is complicated, VBPC is planning on addressing those issues.
“We haven’t focused on impaired driving as an issue before,” said Schulz, regarding what the organizations response to the accident will be. “As a result of [the accident], we will focus on impaired driving. It is in the newspaper every day – DUI violations and repeat DUI violations.”
ACORN had a similar response on their website that said “the safety and well-being of all riders and participants is always our top priority and the precautions taken at the Tour de Farms this year were entirely consistent with those past Tours.”
The randomness of the accident during the event also shocked VBPC and highlights that their response will take into consideration the larger picture of DUI in Vermont as a whole.
“It was a rogue act,” said Schulz. “[Miller] was a loose cannon and it could have happened any time to any one. I don’t see what happened as a flaw in the event or the behavior of the bicyclists.”
(04/24/13 4:34pm)
For three years, I ignored Relay for Life — I never had change to give them when they asked for money, April is a busy time of year to do very much except homework and cancer is scary to think about. Plus, everyone in my family was healthy, so why worry? The big purple cake in Proctor was always a plus, and I made sure to get a piece of it, but other than that, I didn’t think too much about the event.
Then my mom got cancer.
Last September when everyone at Middlebury was starting classes, I was on an airplane to Houston, Texas carrying documents stating that, if my mom were incapacitated, my dad had the legal right to make decisions for her. I sat in the Dallas airport during a layover, skimming a Vanity Fair magazine and trying not to cry, knowing that my mom was in the midst of a five-hour operation to remove tumors from her colon. Although the legal documents were out of sight in my backpack, I felt their presence and wished that I didn’t know about them.
Before boarding my plane to Houston, my dad called: “They finished the operation,” he said and tears began to stream down my face. I sat in a corner, trying to look inconspicuous while everyone politely ignored me as they walked to their gates. “They took out more than they thought they’d have to, but she’ll be okay.”
When I got to the hospital a few hours later, my mom had just woken up.
“It’s not that bad,” she said. Her eyes were foggy from the drugs — she couldn’t feel anything yet. “See?” She lifted up her hands to prove she was mobile then noticed the IVs and drips for the first time, little bruises forming where they went into her skin. “Give me a hug.” So I did, and I sent a prayer up to God even though I don’t believe in Him.
There are a lot of people at this school like my mom. In fact, she used to be one of them: Middlebury class of ’78, geography major, lived in Battell as a first-year, then Hepburn, then Hadley, then the Spanish house. She was on the cross-country team and the nordic ski team, even though she’d never done either of those sports before coming here. She even qualified and ran the Boston Marathon her senior year. Sure, she liked to have a beer at the end of a long day and really good cheese was always her weakness, but she was healthy and still ran everyday. She wasn’t supposed to get cancer.
And then, she did. Apparently genetics overcame health.
Currently, my mom just finished chemotherapy and only has one more operation to go before she is (hopefully) cancer free. Even though her treatment seems to be going well, it is a tightrope walk — each test and scan is like looking over a cliff edge and waiting for a breeze to wreck your balance, sending you to the bottom. This year has been hard for me. Even though my mom is alive, I’ve been having symptoms of grief. When someone you love has cancer, you continue on with your life, but it is as if there is a ringing in your ear all the time, never letting you forget what is actually going on.
That is why I’m doing Relay for Life this year. This whole mess didn’t need to happen — if my grandfather had told his children that polyps were removed from his colon each year, my mom would have gotten a colonoscopy much sooner. We need to work together and be open about cancer — it is a sinister equalizer. Although it is easy to think that only smokers or unhealthy people get it, cancer can happen to anyone and, unfortunately, my mom is proof of that. So, on April 26, I won’t just be walking with my mom in mind — I’ll be selfish and walk for myself, for my dad and sister, for my family, my friends and for my future children.
Every little bit helps, and it is too big a burden to take on alone.
(02/20/13 9:38pm)
Last Wednesday night, Meghan Laslocky ’89 presented her first book, The Little Book of Heartbreak: Love Gone Wrong Through the Ages at 51 Main. At the event, which The Vermont Bookshop touted as “Anti-Valentine,” Laslocky discussed her new book and read from her recent Middlebury Magazine article, “Whither Courtly Love,” in which she explores courtly love and her experience with love (or lack of love) at the College.
“I was really fascinated by why we suffer so when our hearts get broken, from a physiological and bio-evolutionary perspective,” said Laslocky in a phone interview after the event.
The Little Book of Heartbreak is a history of heartbreak in which she explores the phenomenon from 12 Century Paris, Ernest Hemingway, to modern day romances.
“I’m fascinated by breakups,” said Laslocky during her talk. “The texture and complexity of them [is interesting].”
One aspect of her book which she needed to address but which she is skeptical of is courtly love, a subject that comes up frequently in literature and has played a roll in shaping peoples’ ideas of romance. Courtly love is the idea of love based of chivalry and nobility. It is a skepticism that she has harbored ever since her days as an English major at the College.
“I loved being an English major but every time courtly love came up I was like, ‘not again,’” she said. “But, in order to be responsible and talk about heartbreak I had to look back on courtly love.”
One of the reasons for her dislike of courtly love is because she believes it is so far from the reality of life at college as she experienced it.
“No doubt part of the reason why I found courtly love so irksome lay in the fact that it was so at odds with what I was experiencing as a young woman at Middlebury in the 80s — or thought I was experiencing,” Laslocky quoted from her essay in Middlebury Magazine.
As she continued her study of courtly love after college, she discovered that she isn’t the only skeptic of courtly love and that, even though images of Mr. Darcy wooing Elizabeth Bennett are evocative, courtly love may never have been a reality outside of the pages of books like Pride and Prejudice. After this discovery, Laslocky felt vindicated that she seemed to have inherently known that courtly love was “bogus.”
But, the question of why finding love at college is so difficult for so many people — including her — kept nagging her. At the event at 51 Main, she suggested that “tribalism” and “fear of crossing social boundaries” could be one reason. Also, she put forward the idea that “‘hooking up was cool, walks of shame were cool, but unabashed love [was not cool].”
At the event, one audience member — a student at the College — commented on how, even though Laslocky’s experience at Middlebury was in the 80s, in many ways it looks very similar to the dating and “hookup” scene at the College today. The main difference, though, now is the overbearing presence of technology.
“I think that that [technology] is obviously very seductive but very tricky,” said Laslocky. “A real concern [is] communicating face-to-face, that that skill is going to be lost.”
Being able to text and be in constant communication with people as well as smart phone apps like Tinder make options for romance seem endless and can get in the way of more meaningful connections, Lasklocky suggested.
But, really, it could come down to one thing, whether in 12th century Paris or the hyper-connected world of today. When an audience member asked Laslocky if she had any regrets regarding her college experience and love, Laslocky said, “I regret not expressing myself.”
(02/13/13 2:38pm)
With super storms like Hurricane Sandy and winter storm Nemo, it is easy to overlook some of the smallest creatures that are affected by more subtle differences that climate change brings. The Bicknell’s thrush, a medium-sized bird virtually identical to the grey-cheeked thrush, is one such victim, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, which has petitioned the federal government to list the bird as endangered. The Bicknell’s thrush is already listed as endangered at the Vermont state level and is listed as a red watch list bird for the Audubon Society.
“The Bicknell’s thrush is a species that is only found in the Northeast United States and up into eastern Canada,” said Mollie Matteson, a conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity. “It is considered to be one of the most imperiled neo-tropical birds in the world.”
A neo-tropical bird is a bird that breeds in the United States and Canada during the summer and migrates south to Mexico, Central America, South America or the Caribbean to spend the winter in warmer climes. According to the Migratory Bird Center at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, there are about 200 species of neo-tropical birds, many of which are songbirds, such as the Bicknell’s thrush. Birds such as the Bicknell’s thrush, which don’t look incredibly special at first glance, travel thousands of miles each year during their migrations.
One reason the Bicknell’s thrush is so endangered is because it has such a specific breeding habitat in North America.
“Its breeding habitat is very limited up here in the Northeast; it occurs near the tops of mountains,” said Matteson. “It is a vulnerable habitat in a number of ways … as overall temps warm, natural communities across a range of elevations will start to shift … studies [] have shown that northern hardwood communities have been moving up mountains.”
The Bicknell’s thrush lives near the tops of mountains in spruce and fir. But, with climate change, its habitat will continue up the mountains until it can’t go any farther.
Another threat to the Bicknell’s thrush is higher levels of mercury, which have been detected through blood samples, and can be linked to coal power plants in the Midwest. According to Matteson, using the Clean Air Act to help this aspect of the Bicknell’s thrush’s health could be useful.
According to Jim Shallow, conservation and policy director at Audubon Vermont, many coal plants are at the end of their lifecycle and using threatened birds such as the Bicknell’s thrush could be effective reasons for closing them down.
But, why spend all this time saving a bird, especially one that is only distinguishable between the grey-cheeked thrush through genetic testing?
“It is important because birds are indicators of the broader ecosystem health,” said Shallows. “They are, in many cases, the canary in the coal mine.”
Plus, added Shallows, bird health reflects on human’s health: “Mercury deposition is not a good thing for human health – when the bird shows signs of mercury accumulation in blood it isn’t good for us.”
Matteson had another perspective on the importance of saving the Bicknell’s thrush.
“[Protecting them is] important simply because it is a rare species and in danger of being obliterated,” said Matteson.
The current status of the Bicknell’s thrush is up in the air. In 2010, Matteson said, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned under the Endangered Species Act to have the thrush added to the Endangered Species list.
“This past summer the fish and wildlife service issue a 90 day positive finding – initial review of petition – their initial decision was that yes, they warranted further examination,” said Matteson.
This put the thrush in a 12-month status review that should be occurring now but has been stopped – usually funding shortages are the cause. The Center for Biological Diversity will be sending a notice of intent to sue because, according to the Endangered Species Act, they are required to proceed.
Even if the Bicknell’s thrush is added to the Endangered Species List, not too much will change for the bird. According to Matteson, the George W. Bush administration exempted the federal government from acknowledging activities related to climate change.
It is still an important step, however, because it would improve on the ground activities for the bird, such as building wind farms on the ridges important for its breeding. Although it may take some big changes to save the Bicknell’s thrush as a species in the long term, little actions can give the dwindling species the leg up that it needs.
(01/16/13 10:29pm)
On Dec. 29, the Burlington Free Press named Bill McKibben, Schumann distinguished scholar at the College and Ripton resident, Vermonter of the Year for 2012.
“This was the year of growing recognition that a string of weather events, from violent storms to record-breaking droughts, was having a profound impact on the lives of people in this country and around the world,” said the announcement. “Bill McKibben’s message is finally sinking in.”
The Burlington Free Press also said that McKibben, who has traversed the country for his “Do the Math Tour” to build the movement to end fossil fuel use, “has been for years among the most effective voices raising the alarm about the threats of climate change.”
Ultimately, the announcement said, McKibben was given the award “for his tireless and prolific advocacy for the planet on behalf of future generations.”
For McKibben, this award held high importance.
“It was a very, very, very high honor,” said McKibben during a phone interview. “I get more than my fair share of awards and this one meant more than any other because I like Vermont and Vermonters so much.”
“I think that it is also, in a sense, an award to Middlebury College,” said McKibben. “Middlebury has been exceptionally good about being a good neighbor in Vermont and to letting me do all kinds of work here and around the world.”
During his latest campaign, the “Do the Math Tour,” McKibben visited 210 college and university campuses across the country to increase awareness about climate change and gaining followers of his movement to end the use of fossil fuels.
“[The tour] went better than we had any right to expect,” said McKibben. “We managed to sell out every night for 24 nights.”
Although the tour was a success for McKibben, he is hesitantly optimistic about the new year.
“I know one is supposed to be entirely hopeful in the new year,” he said. “I hope that we’re finally building a movement.”
With Hurricane Sandy barreling through the eastern United States last fall, last year being the hottest on record and with Australia currently experiencing a record breaking summer with extreme heat, McKibben isn’t “100 percent hopeful all the time because the science gets darker all the time.”
But, of course, he won’t let go or stop working for a movement he has spent so much time and energy on, especially because the movement seems to be gaining momentum.
“I don’t know if we got started in time but we’re going to do our best,” he said.
The Do the Math Tour will arrive in Mead Chapel Sunday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m.
(01/16/13 10:23pm)
Last Wednesday, Jan. 9 the 2013 Vermont legislation session began in Montpelier.
The Speaker of the House, Shap Smith (D), opened the session with an address outlining several challenges that he would like to tackle in 2013. These include: education reform, universal health care, coping with climate change, drug addiction, infrastructure improvement and budget constraints.
Governor Peter Shumlin (D) chose to focus on one issue, education, rather than give a broad outline about his legislative goals for 2013.
“My goal-and the single objective of my administration-remains to grow jobs and incomes for working Vermonters. Our education system, from pre-kindergarten to higher education, is the state’s greatest economic development tool,” said Shumlin during his speech. “Our kids routinely test above the national average, and excel in a wide range of disciplines. We have a great system that we must make even greater.”
Several Middlebury College students were able to attend the event when the class Organizing for Social Change took a fieldtrip to Montpelier.
Barrett Smith ’13, a member of the class, and Anna Shireman-Grabowski ’15.5, who is auditing, highlighted a few of the issues that stood out to them while observing the proceedings.
Put People First, an initiative by the Vermont Workers’ Center, is working with Migrant Justice to allow migrants to obtain drivers’ license.
“Migrant Justice has been working diligently on this issue for over a year, framing the issue as ... the human right to movement, and telling important stories about the realities of migrant farmworkers in Vermont who have faced the negative consequences of not being able to go to the hospital or the grocery store when they needed to, due to lack of transportation,” Hanna Mahon ’13.5, who interned for Migrant Justice last summer, wrote in an email.
Since Vermont is a rural state without very much public transportation, people without driver’s licenses aren’t able to drive to hospitals for health care or to the grocery store for everyday food items.
The “People’s Budget” is another issue that Put People First is working on in 2013. Shireman-Grabowski highlighted the “People’s Budget,” citing it as a “paradigm shift.”
The “People’s Budget’s” goal is to allow citizen’s to give their input to legislators before the annual budget is made. Rather than deciding on a budget and then allotting the money, citizens would decide what the important issues, what they think can be cut and what shouldn’t be cut, and then the budget would be decided. It is a restructuring that would allow people to “hold up each other’s issues,” said Shireman-Grabowski, because the community would be deciding what is important. It would be a way to identify what a community’s needs are and then appropriate money rather than cut back on important programs.