top story
This column is usually titled “Message From Montpelier,” but I haven’t been to Montpelier since March 25. Better to title it “Broadcasts from the Bunkers.”
I call it engineered chaos with an essential outcome and a timeline that had to be completed before it begins. The outcome is to “flatten the curve” and provide a space for healing and recovery for the homeless, those who have no home to go to safely and are covid positive. They do not need …
This piece was written in response to the prompt: Shelter—where is home for you? What physical or emotional space makes you feel sheltered, safe, “at home?”
Melinda Gates’s Moment of Lift invites us to expand our perspectives and view problems around the world as connected systems to be alleviated. Moment of Lift combines personal stories with research and statistics providing the reader with information that enhances appreciation for the people…
There is a Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” These are they.
Carol Smith, science teacher at Colchester Middle School
Yara Hanna, French and Arabic teacher at Colchester High School
The setting is Britain just after the 2016 Brexit referendum—a divided world. The season is autumn, the time when nature begins to shut down in preparation for its long winter rest. Daniel, 101 years old, drifts in and out of consciousness, lying in his hospice bed, gradually fading from lif…
Jess Deyo is our featured artist for the month of March. Jess is known for the intricate pet portraits she draws, but our main display case in the lobby shows a variety of animals and birds. Come and see how she carefully combines different colored pencils to give each subject life and more …
Nina loves books, cats, trivia, and making lists. She has a few good friends with whom she engages in limited social activities (several book clubs, trivia nights and an occasional movie).
A normal day for Joe Pike, co-owner with Elvis Cole, of a private investigation business: He goes to the bank for his usual transaction and chats with the teller, a young woman named Izzy. Joe leaves the bank and while starting his car he sees Izzy come out and immediately two men run and ab…
Cindy Barnes, Library Assistant at Colchester High School (CHS)
The Farm by Joanne Ramos – Adult Fiction, 2019
Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton by Tilar J. Mazzeo – Adult Non-Fiction, 2018
On Friday, Feb. 28 the Education Committee voted out three bills that we have been working on since the beginning of the 2020 session. The process for moving a proposed bill through a Committee is a long, complex, and time intensive endeavor. The process begins with the first draft of the bi…
Town Meeting week finds the halls of the Capitol strangely empty. We’re back in our districts talking to constituents. And there’s a lot to talk about.
The best way to chase away the winter blues is… with music! Those final weeks of winter always seem to drag on, but now you’ve got something to look forward to: the Parks & Recreation Department will again host a Winter Concert with free entertainment courtesy of 6-piece little big band,…
Ashley Goodrum, Preschool Special Education Teacher at Malletts Bay School
Willy Wonka the Therapy Dog
Linda Kapusta, Preschool Interventionist at Malletts Bay Schoo
Come work for us! Colchester Parks & Recreation is currently looking to hire part-time and seasonal staff for both the A.C.E. After School Program and in the Parks Department.
The legislature has now been in session for five weeks. Committees have been meeting and formulating ideas for bills. At this point most bills have been introduced and assigned to a committee. It appears there may be around 1200 over the two year biennium. That is about 1,000 more than we ne…
Emma Pedrin, Spanish teacher at Colchester High School
Puzzle Palooza
Manager’s Message
Welcome back to Messages From Montpelier.
Sylvia Miller, a young Amish woman, is thinking about her parents’ upcoming twentieth wedding anniversary. She loves her parents but she would like to know more about her father’s life before his marriage, since he was not Amish but a convert to their faith. While she is in his carpenter’s o…
Heather Armstrong is one of the premier mommy bloggers. Her website, dooce.com was created in 2001. In it she shares her thoughts on motherhood, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and her frequent bouts with depression.
Sylvia Miller, a young Amish woman, is thinking about her parents’ upcoming twentieth wedding anniversary. She loves her parents but she would like to know more about her father’s life before his marriage, since he was not Amish but a convert to their faith. While she is in his carpenter’s o…
Heather Armstrong is one of the premier mommy bloggers. Her website, dooce.com was created in 2001. In it she shares her thoughts on motherhood, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and her frequent bouts with depression.
Told over the course of a single night, this novel tells the life story of eighty-four-year-old Maurice Hannigan. In true Irish style, he sits at a bar in his hometown hotel, but this is no ordinary night. Each drink has been carefully planned, and with each he raises his glass in a toast to…
In the quiet town of Painters Mill a peaceful Amish community in Ohio, a grandmother pics nuts from her trees with her granddaughters. She goes back into her house for a minute but is confronted with an intruder who attacks her with a knife. He is so savage in this attack that she only manag…
Are you really crafty or just like creating art? Need something to do after school?
Heidi Kelly, first-grade teacher at Union Memorial School
This first book of the Neapolitan Novel series opens in 2010 with Elena beginning to write the story of her friendship with Lila. Her memory takes her back to Naples during the 1950s when the two young girls first became friends. Their vibrant but impoverished childhood neighborhood is the b…
top story
37th Annual Colchester Winter Carnival: “Through the Years…”All events are at the Colchester High School, unless noted otherwise
Adult Craft Programs
Paul Pecor, Porters Point School Physical Education Teacher
The start of the new year is a great time to focus on your finances and put them into perspective.
Lara Prescott’s debut novel is a page turning dual narrative. During the height of the cold war Sally and Irina start working for the CIA’s secretarial typing pool. Their Intelligence and the ability to keep secrets evolve into other responsibilities and they are ultimately trained as spies.…
Anna Clark, a Detroit journalist whose work has appeared in such publications as The New York Times and The Washington Post, uncovers the complex and unnatural disaster that caused the public health crisis in Flint, Michigan beginning in the spring of 2014. This is when the city’s water sour…
Deb Hamlin, Speech & Language Pathologist at Malletts Bay School (MBS)When did you realize you wanted to teach?
Happy New Year from Colchester Rec! Would you believe that Winter Carnival is only a few weeks away?
After Cinderella marries the prince and lives happily ever after, her younger stepsister, Isabelle, has her own dark tale. Now short a heel, Isabelle’s life is even more tragic than it was when Cinderella lived with her. People cross the street to avoid her, market sellers raise their prices…
‘When the mist rises, and the smiling man comes walking, you must avoid large places at night. Keep to small.’
Funding from OneCare Vermont – the organization leading the state’s “all payer” experiment in health-care reform — is keeping an innovative and proven system of support for vulnerable Vermonters called SASH (Support and Services at Home) operating in all corners of Vermont.
Natalie LaRose, 2nd grade teacher at Porters Point SchoolWhen did you realize you wanted to teach?
Upcoming Winter Programs with Colchester Parks & RecreationNew year, new programs! The Colchester Parks & Recreation 2020 Winter/Spring Activity Guide was released on Dec. 20 and registration is open to all Colchester residents for the next season of programs. Registration is availab…
While sailing on the Mediterranean Sea, a vacationer decides to check on his home in Arizona via his online security-camera and as he scans each room he begins to feel that something is amiss. When he looks at the bedroom he sees a body. He notifies the police and then the FBI is brought int…
An Oedipal myth, a search for identity, a love story, a murder mystery, talking cats, an enchanted forest, music, philosophy…it’s all here.
You may have heard that timing is everything. And in many walks of life, that may be true – but not necessarily when it comes to investing.
