The Outside Story By Elise Tillinghast This is such a disorienting time, when all our lives have been turned upside down and shaken. One of the ways my own family is coping is by spending time outside every day. We stage nature treasure hunts in the woods behind our house. The kids work as a…

By DJ Dave Hoffenberg In Don McLean’s “American Pie” he sang about “The day the music died.” When Governor Phil Scott ordered all bars and restaurants to close, the music around here kind of did. This region has such a great variety of live music you can go see, well could go. Musicians now are…

By Dom Cioffi When I was a very young child, my mother took me to see the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. It was an event that had a profound influence on me for many years. My mother used to vacation with her parents in Florida each February, and for several years I accompanied…

By Kevin Theissen Most children stop being “and-a-half” somewhere around age 12. Kids add “and-a-half“ to make sure everyone knows they’re closer to the next age than the last. When you are older, “and-a-half” birthdays start making a comeback. In fact, starting at age 50, several birthdays and “half-birthdays” are critical to understand because they…

By Cal Garrison a.k.a. Mother of the Skye This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Gemini Moon, that will turn Void-of-Course on March 30, and remain in that mode until it crosses the Cancer Cusp on the last day of the month. We could talk about the virus and the world-wide…

By Merisa Sherman When I was young, my mom used to feed us breakfast and send us out the door with instructions not to return home until 5 p.m. to get ready for dinner. I didn’t have a backpack or money or anything except the complete and utter feeling of freedom to create and imagine and…

The Outside Story By Meghan McCarthy McPhaul Around the middle of March, I begin to feel that springtime urge to hit the road, to lace up the winter-neglected running shoes and start slogging through some miles. My early-season jogs take me past a wetland area that stubbornly spans both sides of a road near my…

Looking Back By Mary Ellen Shaw Yes, it is I…looking “forward” instead of “back” in my column. Why? Because we all need something to look forward to in a world that has changed in what seems like a “New York minute!” So, for as long as these difficult days last I will attempt to brighten…

by DJ Dave Hoffenberg In this Covid-19 world we’re living in, sadly there are no music shows you can go to. But, you can catch many performers doing Facebook shows live with Venmo tipping so please support them when you can. One of those performers, Jim Yeager, has his second solo record coming out on…

By Cal Garrison This week’s Horoscopes are coming out under the light of a Pisces Moon. In the astrological community, this week’s ‘big news’ surrounds the upcoming Jupiter-Pluto conjunction. This aspect will be exact on the 4th of April, but will be within orb of exactitude by the 29th of March. Jupiter and Pluto form conjunctions every…

Brave New World? Part two By Dom Cioffi Well, I can’t say that I’ve ever experienced a week quite like this past one. In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, I’ve seen and experienced some interesting things. First of all, I am dumbfounded by the amount of people I’ve seen outside walking, running, and playing.…

By Kevin Theissen In recent weeks, we’ve seen several major stories in the news. On the political front, in addition to the arrival of the presidential election through the 2020 caucuses and primaries, we have just experienced the third presidential impeachment in American history. In international news, the latest coronavirus outbreak has hit China, now…

By Merisa Sherman There’s a bench on Kent Pond, where I like to go and sit. It’s not the world’s most comfortable or beautiful bench, just some old 2x4s bolted together and cemented into the ground. But it’s there just the same, beckoning one to come and sit and stare out across the water and out toward…

Brave new world? Well, this has been interesting. Like everyone else, I’ve been trying to navigate the strange environment brought on by COVID-19, the acute respiratory disease that originated out of China in recent months. I don’t ever remember a time in my life when the social atmosphere was quite like this; when there was…

BY Kevin Theissen It is amazing how predictably irrational we humans are. There are certain things we cannot predict, but there are others that we are spot on, near 100% of the time. One of those is that when times are bad, “experts” start downgrading and cutting estimates. It’s as reliable as a sunrise. I…