Columns

Killington’s Spartan office was a concrete block structure above the maintenance area. I had a tiny office adjacent to the lower maintenance area. Preston Smith’s cousin, Barry Leete, was assigned to me, and he shared my small office with no other place to put him. At his request, I gave him the task of redesigning…

Several weeks and many baths ago, my dog discovered a black-and-white stranger crossing our lawn. Wagging vigorously and ignoring my frantic shouts, she ran up and offered her canine greeting: a nose-to-tail sniff. The encounter ended predictably, with the skunk waddling off into the dark, the dog staggering in circles, and me searching desperately through…

Many, many moons ago, someone told me that relationships end the way they begin. At the time, I remember thinking that was such a cynical attitude. It was like predicting the bitter end at the beginning when things should feel magical. I’m much older and wiser now, and I do have to admit there was…

“Wicked,” the global musical sensation based on author Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, arrives in theaters some 20 years after its Broadway debut. Even if you haven’t seen the musical, you know about it, and chances are, you knew this movie was coming out around Thanksgiving. It would be near impossible not to know because the…

The Town Hall theater in Middlebury was the happening scene for ski and snowboard enthusiasts of all ages on Wednesday, Nov. 20, for a special roadshow screening of “Warren Miller’s 75.” Now, if you’re like me-a person who gets queasy the moment I step off a ski lift, or if  the mere mention of the…

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about “The Apprentice,” where actor Sebastian Stan had to put on the mask of an egomaniac for two hours. Here I am, a couple of weeks later, reviewing another film where Sebastian Stan has to wear a mask of sorts. This time around, the film, "A Different Man,"…

Every now and then, there is a moment in time that defines an era. Those moments are rare. When they do happen, we tend to look back saying, “Where were you when…”  Where were you when heard about the planes crashing into the Twin Towers? Where were you when Kurt Cobain died? How about John…

My friend Terry Gulick, who passed away earlier this year, used to tease me about my favorite yard tree. Terry did a lot of gardening jobs when he wasn’t mentoring kids, and he was amused and a little offended by what I’d allowed to grow up in my former vegetable patch. It was bad enough…

Killington was in the town of Sherburne in 1965. I remember going to the Sherburne Town Meeting in March of 1966. The ski area shut down until noon as the men all attended the morning portion of the meeting. It was mainly devoted to the highway department. A lengthy debate occurred about whether the town…

It feels like we waited forever, but now I can barely remember the time before the mountain opened. We stared at the weather report for weeks, trying to figure out when the wet bulb would match the requirements for the guns to turn on. It felt like Mother Nature had abandoned us, the Killington faithful,…

The more things change I’d like to say that I don’t mind change (simply because it’s the one constant in life, so there’s no sense fighting it), but the reality is that I’m not a big fan. I’ve constructed my life so that I’m very comfortable with how things unfold on a day-to-day basis. Therefore,…

As I wake up much earlier than I was supposed to, much earlier than my alarm, I am greeted with the rays of a brand new day. I get myself together and start going through the pile of messages from friends, looking to spend time with me or go to the show together that night.…

I’ve spent years interviewing candidates for various jobs. I’ve done it so much that I can generally tell within minutes of meeting someone whether or not they are going to fit in. In my profession, you have to be able to “talk the talk,” and if you’re not keeping up with my questions and observations,…

For 12 summers, my Vermont colleagues and I guided high school student and teacher teams researching streams as part of a National Science Foundation EPSCoR program. These teams received training in July and employed their new skills for the rest of the summer and early autumn by taking water samples and flow measurements and observing…

There are many things that we do in life because of the memories that are associated with them. When I watch garden shows on PBS or CREATE, people often say that they got into gardening when they were kids by planting and caring for gardens along with their parents. It’s fascinating for children to plant…