By Cindy Phillips Actually, I have no desire to be President. But last week was Election Day, so the political catch phrase seemed fitting for this column. There really aren’t a lot of positive sides to getting older. Our memory fades, our waist expands, our eyesight blurs and people seem to get on our nerves…

By Dom Cioffi I always chuckle when I see a movie where a grandfather is depicted as an amenable old man who takes his grandson to baseball games and pizza shops and showers him with gifts of love and adoration. I chuckle because I did not have this experience – far from it, in fact.…

By Joe Rankin There’s something in us that can’t help but be impressed by an old tree. Perhaps we’re simply in awe of something that has outlived generations of humans and will outlive us. We acknowledge this when we compare the giant sequoia groves to a cathedral. When we compile state lists of big old…

By Brett Yates I’m asking you, not telling you. This isn’t a fashion advice column. But I do have some views on the subject. The first thing I believe is that, if you live in a cold-weather state, there is no item in your wardrobe more important than your go-to winter coat, in terms of…

By Julia Purdy The 138-mile Scenic Route 100 Byway zigzags up the center of the state, from Massachusetts almost to the Canadian border at Newport, stitching together the two halves of Vermont in a continuous panorama of villages, farmlands, mountains, and streams. The north-south mountain ridges frame a natural corridor for a continuous highway that…

By Julia Purdy In recent years the U.S. Forest Service has made it even easier for visitors with disabilities to experience the forest up close and Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest is no exeption. Initial efforts locally were spearheaded at the grassroots level through partnerships with the Rutland Lions Club and the Rutland office of…

“What (f)lies beneath”—avian blood-suckers By Meghan Oliver When you find a bird feather in the woods and stoop to pick it up, does your mom’s voice echo in your brain? Can you hear her say, “Birds have lice, don’t pick that up!” Mom was mostly right. Birds can have lice (although you won’t catch lice…

By Julia Purdy The Freeman’s Oath—renamed the Voter’s Oath in 1994—is unique to Vermont. Like so much that is exceptional about Vermont, it is traceable to our very beginnings. It may come as a surprise to many that Vermont does not appear in the list of the original 13 colonies, because it was never a…

By Cindy Phillips One of the partners at my firm is on an extended business development trip to China. I received an email from him this week and the last line read, “Please water my plant.” I walked into his office and saw a wilted piece of greenery, leaves drooping almost to the floor. I…

By Dom Cioffi Like most people, I live under the false sense that I’m actually in control of my life. Even though I’ve spent countless hours reading and contemplating the idea that free will and control are illusionary, I still manage to approach my day-to-day life under the perception that I’m directing the show. This…

By Dom Cioffi If you’re a parent and your son or daughter plays a sport, there’s a good chance that you’re going to find yourself involved in practice at some point.  I had already been coaching for years when my son began to enter the world of child athletics. He determined that baseball and basketball…

Look who’s turning 20: it’s Moguls Sports Pub. Come wish them a happy anniversary this weekend as they celebrate 20 years in Killington. Moguls has always been about the locals and building friendships in the community and that’s how they want to celebrate; with their friends. I, DJ Dave will kick off the festivities on…

By Brett Yates The weird, inclusive Vermont gubernatorial debate held on Oct. 9 has managed—at a time when political debates tend to be dispiriting and unpopular—to become something of a national phenomenon. The complete broadcast is available on YouTube. Reddit was responsible for drumming up some of the initial fascination when a user who had…

By Julia Purdy On October 31 in small-town England, fireworks and the fires of Bonfire Night will blend their smoke with the thick autumn mists that drift across a moonlit sky. Families will stream through the dimly-lit streets, energized by the cold air and the excitement of the festival. It’s All Hallows Eve! In ancient…

By Barbara Mackay Autumn is coming to a close. The brilliant fall foliage is past peak, if not already layered in the compost bin. The last geese are honking their way toward winter homes. Predictions are proffered (sometimes cheerfully, mostly not) for how cold and snowy this year’s winter will be. Sources for seasonal predictions…