1993 • 20 t h A n n i v e r s a r y S u p p l e m e n t • 2013

TDecember 12,h 2013 eBridge

Celebrating 20 Years of

e Community g rid B e h Journalism T 0 2

“We haven’t yet exceeded our capacity to imagine what we are going to become.” – Tom Greene

t a family Christmas gathering been in touch with the editors at Blair & Ketchum’s A in Marlboro, Vermont, in December 1981, my Country Journal in Manchester, Vermont, and they Moving Past cousin Teddy Moore made a proposal that I could not agreed to pay me to write a story about homesteading resist: Would I, the following summer, be willing to drive in the remote Alaska bush. his pickup truck, along with his dog Swarth and a load of I won’t report here on all the details of driving Adversity furniture, from Marlboro, Vermont, to Anchorage, Alaska? that pickup truck from Marlboro into New York State, Harnessing intelligence, Ted, his wife, Ginny, and their two children had been through the Midwest, up into Canada and along the living and working back East for a couple of years, but Alaska Highway. I’ll save that for another time. Instead, imagination and resilience they had a permanent home in Anchorage, and they were let me concentrate here on a side trip I took from as we confront the future. looking for someone to drive that loaded pickup truck my cousin’s home in Anchorage to the little town of back to Alaska. McCarthy, as I pursued my story for the Country Journal My only knowledge of Alaska was from National about homesteading. Geographic, picture books and Jack London’s life-and- I started out by driving north from Anchorage to by Nat Frothingham death stories of survival on the Alaska frontier, and here Wasilla, then on to Glennallen, then found myself in the was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see some of that vast tiny, one-horse town of Chitina. The needle on my gas expanse of rivers, snow, ice, glaciers—and mountain gauge was pointing toward empty when I saw a sign by peaks so numerous some hadn’t even been named. After the side of the road as I was leaving Chitina that said Christmas, I called up Ted and told him I wanted to “No More Gas After This.” I had three choices: I could make the trip. Our deal was this: Ted would pay for gas stop. I could turn back. I could keep going. in exchange for the driving. And one other thing. I had continued on page 2 1993 • T h e B r i d g e 20 t h A n n i v e r s a r y S u p p l e m e n t • 2013

Moving Past Adversity continued from page 1

The Bridge at 20: In the years that followed, I have remembered many times the feeling of dread and paralysis that permeated Two Decades of Community Journalism my being when I saw that sign in Chitina. All the choices looked bad: stop, go back, go forward. My feeling of des- peration was perhaps not unlike what a mountain climber n 1993, I was asking around to see if anyone must feel way up on a narrow rock ledge. You can’t climb might be interested in starting a volunteer I up because it’s too steep. You can’t stay where you are newspaper covering Montpelier. Nat Frothingham because it’s too cold. And with darkness failing, you can’t heard about it and gave me a call. We met for a climb down either. cup of coffee at the old Horn of the Moon Café, As I think about the present moment in this coun- located where the Shoe Horn is now. try and all of what’s facing us in America—north, Before long, we were putting up flyers an- east, south, west—I sometimes feel the same sickening nouncing a meeting. A dozen enthusiastic and paralysis. It could be war or hunger or homelessness or talented people showed up. Those who helped prison populations or looking for work and not finding it, launch The Bridge, in addition to Nat and myself, or personal and collective debt, or drugs, or bought-and- included Jake Brown, Bernie Folta, Nancy sold politicians. It could be anything. The crisis cup is Schulz, Steve Larose, Kate Mueller, Irene Racz, overflowing. Don Pfister, Dan Renfro, Nikki Parker and But back to that forbidding roadside sign as I was Mason Singer. leaving Chitina. I kept going. And the road ended where Today, I am pleased and amazed that the the map said it would—on a high bank overlooking the newspaper is alive and well, covering both Mont- swollen, glacial torrent of the pelier and nearby towns, and publishing twice a Kennicott River. I parked the month. Over the years, there have been hun- truck, set the brakes, gathered dreds of other volunteers, financial contributors, a small bag of belongings and advertisers and paid staff, all of whom helped pulled myself up into a metal keep The Bridge moving forward. triangle attached to a cable Most of us who were involved at the begin- that spanned the rapids of the ning have moved on. The one constant over the slate-gray river below. Seated years has been Nat Frothingham, now the owner, on that triangle, I pulled myself We are all too editor, publisher and guiding force behind the hand-over-hand along the cable aware of the paper. He has devoted an enormous amount of across the river until my feet obstructions that time and energy to a not-so-easy task. I tip my touched the McCarthy side of hat to you, sir. The next cup of coffee is on me. A copy of the first issue ofT he Bridge published block our lives. 20 years ago. the river. But we are less It was July 3. The next day —Phil Dodd, aware of our cofounder of The Bridge was the Fourth of July, and there was a party in McCarthy own resources at the tiny general store. of intelligence, At this party I met a home- imagination steader whose place was on the and persistence. other side of the glacial river. Sponsors/Supporters TheBridge Free, Independent & Local We talked. He had gas. He told me how to find his place. And a few days later, after pursuing my homesteader story P.O. Box 1143, Montpelier, VT 05601 in McCarthy, I went hand-over-hand back across the river, National Life Group Phone: 802-223-5112 Fax: 802-223-7852 got into my cousin’s pickup truck, found the homesteader’s • place, got the gas and drove back to Anchorage. So, the David F. Kelley Editor & Publisher: Nat Frothingham Production Manager: Robert Nuner sign by the side of the road at Chitina was wrong. • Asssistant Production Manager: Jerrry Carter Over the years, my road and hand-over-hand adven- Montpelier Property Management ture from Anchorage to McCarthy and back has become 20th Anniversary Commemorative edition • something of a personal life fable—an advisory. We are Community National Bank Project Coordinator: Joyce Kahn all too aware of the obstructions in our lives. The world is • Project Development Associate: Amy Brooks Thornton often telling us about things that are fixed and immutable, Capitol Copy Project Editor: Kate Mueller as in territorial boundaries, judicial edicts, constitutional • Principal Photographer: Annie Tiberio Cameron law, structures and prohibitions of all kinds. But we are Betsy Frothingham Advertising Sales: Carolyn Grodinsky, Ivan Shadis, less aware of our own resources of intelligence, imagina- • Rick McMahon, Suzannah Mullikin and Liz Dodd tion and persistence and of the help that can come from Hunger Mountain Coop Graphic Design: The Laughing Bear Associates unexpected places as soon as we have the courage to move • toward our objectives. Vermont College of Fine Arts The Bridge acknowledges the valued contributions of writers whose names appear in bylines under their stories. In this 20th anniversary supplement of The Bridge, we are publishing a range of stories about local Vermonters in our midst who give us examples of courage, imagination, persistence, good humor and plain common sense in facing difficulties or adversity or in bringing ingenuity and inven- tion to what they are doing in their lives. Not every one of My note of thanks these stories describes a superhuman act of heroism, as in conquering a mountain or starting a Fortune 500 company. Sometimes heroism shows itself most brightly in just show- It is impossible to remember and thank each together a business plan, deal with uncollected ing up and persisting in doing a good job. Sometimes an one of the many people who have helped debts or reach out to the best person at what act of kindness or generosity can encourage someone else The Bridge in so many ways over the years. we can pay to do critical job. to make a personal breakthrough. Little of what The Bridge has achieved would When we lost money from an embezzle- I very much like what Tom Greene, president of the have been made possible without our ment, the outpouring of help, including Vermont College of Fine Arts, said about the college. loyal advertisers. money, legal advice, accounting, didn’t quit. Looking out on the future, we might do well to embrace Over and over again we have asked our Over and over again, the people at Tom’s courage and optimism: “We haven’t yet exceeded readers to help fill a gap between advertising Upper Valley Press who print our paper— our capacity for imagining what we’re going to become.” revenues and what it costs to produce the in management, prepress, printing and paper, and they have responded generously. shipping—have given us exemplary service. n Some of our very best writing over our The Bridge is located in space made 20 years has been offered to us as that writer’s available to us by the Vermont College of Nat Frothingham is editor and publisher of The Bridge. gift to the paper. Fine Arts. That offer of space was and is Many times a local businessperson has “a saving act of generosity.” offered hard-hitting business advice: how to put —N.F.

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Photo by Annie Tiberio Cameron. Photo by Annie Tiberio alongside. Gradually the side-walkers peeled away, then the leader, and by the end of the session he was riding on his own. Three years later, this veteran owns a horse, volunteers with the program and even sits on the board. “Horses,” he repeatedly says, “literally saved my life.” Some children are born with physical hurdles placed in their way even before their little feet hit the ground. It is one thing to have experienced, then lost, the freedom of independent movement and yet another to have never experienced it at all. One young rider is in this second category. He can get around only if he is carried or uses a stroller or a specialized walker. Because of this child’s unique needs, a lot of accom- modations are necessary before he can safely balance on a horse. In fact Topper needs to carry both him and the instructor working with him, which places an additional physical demand on the elderly Topper. But the first time this child rode, all the challenges paled next to the boy’s excited command after just a few steps on horseback: “Faster!” Topper—and his stablemates—take riders to places they could never otherwise explore. It’s a precious experience. Animals understand more than we think: Topper knows that his riders have special require- ments, and he knows exactly how he needs to move to keep them safe. He and all the other amazing therapy horses at Rhythm of the Rein are friends and confidants to Alexander Donaghy experiences joy while riding on Tangos Topper, accompanied by Dianne Lashoones, proprietor of Rhythm of the Reins, and their riders, listening to those who may feel assisted by (left to right) Mary Cobb, Dick Chase and Alexandria Squiers. more secure talking with a horse than with another person. Horses do not judge or have any expecta- tions other than to be treated with respect— Tangos Topper, a Hero Among Horses something we all wish for ourselves, whatever our challenges.

Rhythm of the Rein riding program caters to riders with special challenges. Carolyn Grodinsky is an animal lover, especially interested in animal behavior. She manages the Capital City Farmers market and sells ads for The Bridge. Dianne Lashoones is a physical therapist who has been When I was asked to write an article recognizing riders can’t control their movements, Topper using hippotherapy in her private practice for 10 years. a special person who helps animals, I began to ignores unintentional cues from spastic limbs, She is also program director and one of three PATH- by Carolyn Grodinsky and think about all the animals who go unrecognized enthusiastic bouncing and leg swinging. He certified riding instructors at Rhythm of the Rein. Dianne Lashoones for helping humans. Why not feature one of them? knows to ignore screams of excitement, too. Several years ago, I volunteered for the Rhythm of He waits patiently for a complicated mount on his back, either from a typical mounting the Rein therapeutic riding program in Marshfield, block, the ramp or the mechanical lift, and Vermont. The therapists required an enormous he knows he’s not supposed to budge until amount from the horses, and the horses showed told it is safe to do so. Topper—and his incredible patience, calmness and generosity. Topper takes good care of his riders, stablemates— Program director Dianne Lashoones chose the from the smallest to the most infirm. The take riders to horse for this story. more disabled riders need a special lift to places they could get on his back, plus two assistants walking angos Topper, a 27-year-old Tennessee along his side to support them. He can also never otherwise Twalker, looks like an ordinary horse: he’s accommodate more independent riders who explore. It’s a got a white blaze on his face and a beauti- do not need support or leaders but are learn- precious experience. ful chestnut coat. But he’s one of a kind. ing to take risks with a safe and predictable Topper started working for Rhythm of the “copilot.” He stands patiently while wheel- Rein when he was 19. Patient, rock solid chairs, walkers and canes supporting clients and personable, he’s perfectly suited for the make their way around him to groom him or job. He works with riders with a range of feed him the expected treat at the end of a special challenges, including autism, learning session. (Mentos mints are Topper’s favor- disabilities, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain ite, although the staff likes riders to bring injuries, posttraumatic stress disorder, devel- healthier treats for the horses.) opmental delays, multiple sclerosis, strokes Topper’s “students” range from 2 to A pleased Alexander Donaghy. and amputations. 60 years old. One 60-year-old rider was During each session, Topper tunes into a troubled veteran. Although he’d never both his rider and his handler and knows ridden a horse before, at the insistence of To learn more about Topper and which of them to listen to. He tolerates his counselor, he gave the program a try. Rhythm of the Rein, go to unbalanced riders, and he shifts his weight He started his first session with a staff rhythmoftherein.org. to support and help balance them. As some member leading and two people walking

As we celebrate 165 years in Montpelier we celebrate your 20th anniversary. Thank you for all you have done. National Life Group

3 1993 • T h e B r i d g e 20 t h A n n i v e r s a r y S u p p l e m e n t • 2013

You Can Fall but You Photo: David Hansen. recover. She goes inward; she may stay in her room, not talk to anyone, even have what she might call “a pity party,” but Must Not Lie Down never for more than two days. Then she comes back strong, usually with a list of all the things she can still do. Adversity visits everyone. Shortly after loss of sight forced her to quit work, she applied for a seeing-eye dog. The seeing-eye organization How we respond makes does not like to accept people over the age of 50 for their the difference. first dog. At 61, Carolyn was 11 years older than the cutoff and not in very good physical shape. She trained for a year and a half before she was able to sustain four, 20-minute, one-mile walks a day and build up sufficient strength in her by Miriam Hansen left arm to work the dog. As if being unable to see Were you to ask hen a friend recently said that she’d stopped read- or breathe were not challeng- Carolyn how she Wing my gardening column, I asked her why. “You’re ing enough, the latest setback bounces back, she too smart for me,” she answered. With a little probing, has been the discovery that might begin by telling a story emerged. She kept planting seeds that never came her back is so compromised you that regardless up. “Maybe you’re planting them too deep,” I offered. she faces severe chronic pain. “Too deep, too shallow,” she said. “I give up! I’m a She realized she would have of how bad the news, bad gardener.” to give up her favorite activi- she never allows Hmmm. I didn’t think she was a bad gardener, and ties—horseback riding and herself more than I hated to think she’d given up. I kept asking questions. self-defense classes. This last two days to recover. How did she do with plants like tomatoes that she bought Carolyn Clapper of West Charleston with her seeing-eye dog “bump in the road” did not and transplanted into her garden? “Oh, they do OK,” Aladdin receiving an award. have her prone for one day let alone two. She immediately she said. Finally she admitted she was going to keep began to investigate which activities—thrilling ones like gardening. The seeds her tenant planted came up, so “Grit is sticking with things over the long-term and sweeping and vacuuming—might still be possible with she’d get him to plant the seeds, and she’d do the weeding. then working very hard at it,” she said. When asked for the specialized, longer handled equipment. Physical therapy I resolved to devote a column to the various challenges best way to build grit in children, she answered, “Teach has been a mixed bag. On the one hand, she’s had to of seeding vegetables outdoors. I forgot to tell her that, them that the ability to learn can change with effort.” confront the loss of much of the strength she has painstak- inspired by the gorgeous calendula in her garden, I’d If children do not believe failure is a permanent ingly built up. On the other, she is learning the correlation planted many calendula seeds in my own. Only one came condition, they are less likely to stop trying and give up. between reducing pain by reducing stress. up. Hers self-seed. Maybe she’ll let me have a half dozen The interview reminded me of the refrain from a Dougie Realizing how much stress contributes to the pain in her seedlings in exchange for some lettuce seedlings of mine. MacLean song, “You can fall but you must not lie down.” back, Carolyn goes to great lengths to identify the source Adversity visits everyone. What seems to distinguish This is the crux of the matter. You can fall and you can of her stress and, by dint of attitude and thought, keep it us is how we respond. fail. In fact, falling and failing are inevitable. But you minimal. She laughs easily, which is lucky. Much of this I recently listened to an interview with psychology can’t lie down. past summer was spent figuring out how to reduce the size professor Angela Duckworth who was awarded a I have a close friend whose attitude embodies this and number of her garden beds so she could continue to MacArthur Genius Grant for her research on what message. A series of very serious health issues have taken enjoy her flowers without the stress of knowing she can’t characteristics are significant predictors of success. They their toll over the 15 years I’ve known Carolyn Clapper. bend over to weed them. This week she learned she’ll need looked at seventh-grade math students, rookie teachers From losing most of her sight to undetected glaucoma to to have the sewage pipe in her backyard dug up to unblock in tough neighborhoods, salespeople at private companies being diagnosed with borderline diabetes, chronic obstruc- a rather necessary piece of equipment. Of course, the area and West Point cadets. The results were always the same. tive pulmonary disorder and, most recently, spinal stenosis of the pipe that needs to be excavated is right under the The characteristic most likely to predict success was not with multiple pinched nerves, she is the most inspiring garden bed she spent the summer redesigning. social intelligence, good looks, physical health or even example of not lying down that I have yet encountered. Discouraging? You betcha! Lie down? Not bloody IQ—it was grit. Duckworth defined grit as “having the Were you to ask Carolyn how she bounces back, she likely. n disposition to pursue very long-term goals with passion might begin by telling you that regardless of how bad and perseverance.” the news, she never allows herself more than two days to Miriam Hansen is a writer and gardener living in East Montpelier.

Requiem for a Schooner The loss of a 36-foot wooden schooner, Ruby, off the coast of Granada.

rtist Ed Epstein built his first boat in 1985, a 17-foot A skiff to fish from with his 7-year-old son. He enjoyed the process so much he immediately started work on another boat, a 12-foot catboat (on which he learned to sail), and then moved on to a still larger boat, a 25-foot skipjack sloop, launched on Lake Champlain in 1989. After spending January 1992 sailing an 18-foot yawl in Florida Bay and the Keys, Ed returned to Vermont and started work on Ruby, a 36-foot wooden schooner. Launched on Lake Champlain in 1998, he sailed it south, down the East Coast, and cruised the Caribbean for the next eight years, single-handed. Based mainly in Trinidad, he played in several steel bands, where practice was a near daily ritual. In the summer of 2006, he was forced to leave Trinidad by a hostile immigration officer, despite the need to haul the boat to make necessary repairs, including resewing badly worn sails. He set sail for an overnight passage to Grenada, during which his boat collided with a submerged shipping container, breaking the motor prop and opening a serious gash in the hull, 20 miles from land. Bailing water continually through the day, eventually the jib blew out, making it near impossible to sail against the wind. He decided to try to make landfall in the dinghy. He was being carried out to sea when a lone fisherman in an 18-foot skiff appeared seemingly out of nowhere and picked him up, 12 miles from land, and so ended his Ruby under sail. Painting by Ed Epstein. Montpelier resident Ed Epstein worked as a granite etcher for 30 years and paints in his eight-year sailing adventure. n Northfield studio. His work may be seen at edepstein-fineart.com.

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Photos: Annie Tiberio Cameron. Photos: Annie Tiberio application for sandblast, etching, clay sculpting from old masters and more. After the Stone Arts School graduation, one of our in- structors, George Kurjanowicz, wrote and asked if I would be interested in working with him to learn the nitty-gritty of memorial carving. The Vermont Folklife Center paid for the rest of my training, and we were off. It was “Jesus, Joseph, and Mary” for six or so years. I carved a few pieces of my own during this time, but when there was work, I was there. Coming from a drawing and theater back- ground (Dragon Dance and Bread and Puppet), the reality of a career in stone seemed like a solid endeavor. This was my dream job. I was about 30 years old, and I was ready. Looking back I realize how many adventures led me to the Barre monument industry. Not only was this my dream job, but it was financially sustaining. I was finally making enough money to begin building a small house for myself, nights and weekends. In the Adams Granite shed, I worked steadily from the beautiful old images found in the famous Prado Museum in Madrid and from classical reference books. As a country we The work became meditative, must reengage and I acquired a lot of physical young and endurance and mental concentra- older people to tion. I believed I had found my work and learn profession and that my career was underway. It was an enormous from each other honor for me to carve these im- to rebuild our Sophie Bettman-Kerson and her sculptures. ages for families across the nation, communities. in homage to their loved ones. During my first year in the shed, George had three assistants. After about a year, one of them decided to go Left Stone Cold into medicine and moved away. Then the other fellow and I were both laid off for lack of work for about a year. I was asked back, which seemed to go well for the next four or Changes in the worldwide granite industry leave a five years. Then in 2010, when I got back from my Christ- local stone carver looking for work. mas break in New York City, the work just wasn’t there. I waited and waited for a call back. During the last few years I had noticed some broken by Sophie Betttman-Kerson Chinese carvings here and there throughout the shed. Every week I’d go to the studio, then every two weeks. The guys at the shed said that the Chinese carvings were now y the end of my freshman year of 1998 and 1999, I went to coming in regularly, in full tractor-trailer loads. After three Bat U-32 High School, in 1990, Pietra Santa, near the famed months of waiting for my work to return, I was flat broke. I was feeling blocked. I needed marble quarries of Car- I couldn’t afford groceries or even gas to get to the studio. something new. My mother agreed rara, Italy. I stayed for three It was then that I realized that my beloved job had been to send in an application to the months at a time in this town wiped out by foreign imports. Putney School, where I was accepted as a sophomore. that is a sculptors’ mecca. I lost 20 pounds. That April, I found a job as a care- While at Putney, I was invited with some of the older The carvers collect in this giver for two infant children within the community as there art students and our teacher, Joe Fichter, to the Carving area of Italy from all over the was a mutual need. The pay was modest, but the humanity Studio, in West Rutland, for a four-day retreat. We were world. I would go to Studio and peanut butter sandwiches were great. The next year I each given a block of stone, a hammer and three chisels. da Sem and work on my little earned my licensed nursing assistant credential. During those four days, I tuned into a certain kind of chunks of rock. This opportu- When I first took stock of what it meant to lose my peace this practice can bring to the soul. After this experi- nity allowed me to watch the job in the stone trade, I felt personally and economically ence, I loved carving marble. Now, 22 years later, I still do. older carvers as they gently shunned. Then I realized that I was not alone. I also real- In the years after high school, I thought constantly applied hammer and chisels After three months ized that industrial work is no longer the backbone of this about how to become a professional carver. During my to reveal delicate classic angels of waiting for my richest of nations. 20s I traveled and worked to follow my dream of working of this perfectly white marble. work to return, Currently there are thousands of skilled workers just like with stone. My studies took me to Mexico, Florida—even There was so much knowledge me, well intentioned, well trained and interested in practic- I was flat broke. to Italy. In 1994, I got to carve a soft cantera with architec- in these playful old men, with ing these skills in the workforce. These people have been tural carvers in Guanajuato, Mexico, for four months. their cigars and wine with I couldn’t afford reduced to mere statistics in our newspapers and are listed This love of beauty and the craft of working with lunch. The visiting artists groceries or even as the unemployed or underemployed. In fact, the loss of sculptural materials quickly led me to work in sunny south would come to ask them for gas to get to the ambition, meaning and dignity in such a hostile economy is Florida with industrial sculpture. I had a contact: I had guidance and discuss solutions studio. the most devastating effect. The need for honesty about our worked in the studio of Niso Maman during my senior for design and craft issues. situation is paramount and our best weapon. As a country year for six weeks and soon after he invited me to appren- Finally in 2005, I got a big break. I was living in my we must reengage young and older people to work and learn tice with him. There I helped make giant, rolled aluminum tree house, on my ma’s back 40. Not super luxurious, but I from each other to rebuild our communities. figures, as well as smaller pieces in steel, coins, alabaster, did have a phone line hooked up. One beautiful afternoon, In the last two years, I have enjoyed carving garden marble, coral and onyx. Also during this time, I became the late and great Tom Bellville, the driving force behind sculptures and other special-order commissions for work in proficient at mold making, wax duplicates and light metal the Stone Arts School, called to invite me to take part in stone, and I am encouraging anyone who wants a garden work for bronze casting. I began to learn how to use tools Barre’s trial run of the Stone Arts School. sculpture or a personalized work in stone to contact me. and materials more efficiently. Learning to work with I was both excited and nervous. Thirteen of us assem- My enduring hope is for love and honesty to create art, intention and process soon gave me the ability to see where bled five days a week for three months. We learned every and that art will continue to document and inform the hu- each sculpture was going. part of how to make a first-class monument. We were in- man experience, inspiring us to new beginnings. n Even with all this study, I wanted more stone tech- troduced to the stone industry skills by the best craftspeople nique and anatomy information. During the summers around. We practiced with drafting and layouts, stencil and Sophie Bettman-Kerson is a sculptor and lives in central Vermont.

We support The Bridge. We support our local merchants. Keep Montpelier vibrant: read and shop locally. David F. Kelley

5 1993 • T h e B r i d g e 20 t h A n n i v e r s a r y S u p p l e m e n t • 2013

Day of the Phoenix at State and Main

A landmark Montpelier building was in flames. The owner knew instantly that his life had changed.

Photo courtesy of Toby Talbot.Photo courtesy It was as if someone had cracked open George, from the Montpelier Historical the door to hell. The solid standing-seam Society, was pressing me to borrow the metal roof held the flames inside the build- money needed to restore the building. My ing, turning it into a huge brick oven with tenants were all relocating to different places, flames and heat scorching the night air. leaving me to wonder how I would pay off The beams and the rafters in the building a new mortgage, but I went to see an archi- were 200-year-old hand-hewn timbers, and tect anyway. He told me he would do me “a they were like tinder. The fire refused to favor.” He said he usually charged 10 percent be subdued. Despite subzero temperatures of the total construction costs, but under the and the thousands of gallons of water being circumstances, he would only charge me 8 poured on the building by fire trucks, the percent—adding roughly another $40,000 to heat from the fire could be felt hundreds of the bill. yards away. And then everything changed. My There were three apartments on the primary clients were ski areas, and they said upper floors. The flames had moved so fast I should stop working and they would keep that one of the tenants couldn’t reach the paying my retainer. I bought a book at Bear fire escape. Using one of the truck ladders, Pond on surviving difficult times. At the back Gowans climbed up to the third floor of the of the book was a questionnaire with sug- burning building and pulled the tenant out gestions. One of the suggestions was to get a through a window. dog. I did. Her name was Tory. She was an A little after 7 a.m., the sun started to English setter. She was with me almost every come up, and except for the cinders and day for the next eight years. ashes, the firefighters had finally doused the Out of the blue another architect named flames. What remained was the smell of the Jay White contacted me and said he thought burned hand-hewn beams, which rose with it was important to the city of Montpelier the steam from the building. Friends of mine that the building be saved. He volunteered began to gather for breakfast at the Coffee his skills and time for free. The fellow who Corner. I stayed, still stunned, talking with was my banker at the time, Chris Turley, police and firemen. People with businesses in said his bank would do whatever it took to the building showed up to discover that their help put the building back together. Folks lives, too, had changed. from the Vermont Division for Historic At first I met with insurance adjusters, Preservation came to see me and explained and they brought in contractors. The bottom how tax credits for restoring buildings on the line, they said, was that if we wanted to National Register could help make up some salvage the building, it would cost, exclud- of the losses. ing architects fees, 50 to 60 thousand dollars So we rebuilt 4 State Street. We saved more than the insurance coverage. everything we could that was old, and we In the meantime, what wasn’t burned made the building new again. White said was waterlogged, and there was a mess that that while the walls were open, we should needed to be cleaned up. I called Casella, put in a sprinkler system, and we did. carpenters I knew and friends who had been Thinking about it today, I am reminded running chairlifts. In the meantime, I began that we are surrounded by heroes. They neglecting my clients. Then an accountant aren’t professional athletes or celebrities. explained to me that, even though I was los- They are usually our neighbors. They are Aftermath of the devastating fire that nearly leveled one of Montpelier’s historic buildings in 1998. ing money as a result of the fire, I would have the people who are willing to climb up a to pay taxes on any insurance proceeds. While ladder to the third floor of a burning build- t 1 a.m. on Tuesday, January 13, 1998, the we were cleaning up the burned-out roof, one ing and save a life, or who are willing to temperature in Montpelier was 15 degrees of the workers was photographed by the local go out of their way to volunteer time and A paper walking along a roof beam without a energy to save a historic building. I am grate- by David Kelley below zero. On Main Street, Charlie-O’s was clos- ing. One of the last people to leave the bar that safety harness. An inspector from the Ver- ful I got to know a few of them in the days night was an outpatient from the state hospital. mont Department of Labor saw the photo in after January 13, 1998. n She had been living in a halfway house on Barre the paper and stopped work at the site. I bought a book at Street, but the entrance door at the halfway house I couldn’t decide if I should just let David Kelley lives in Greensboro, and coaches the the building go or try to restore it. Margot debate team at Hazen Union High School. Bear Pond on surviving was locked at 10 p.m. Around the corner from Charlie-O’s, the front door at 4 State Street was difficult times. At the unlocked. So the shivering outpatient went in. She back of the book was settled down in the second-floor hallway and lit a questionnaire with a cigarette. Scrap paper had been left there to be picked up for recycling on Tuesday morning. She A Brief History of the Hubbard Block suggestions. One of dropped her cigarette butt on the floor. the suggestions was A little after 2 a.m., the phone rang at the Montpelier’s oldest surviving commercial building to get a dog. I did. house in St. Johnsbury where I was staying. The Montpelier police dispatcher was on the The Hubbard Block (2–6 State later his son, operated a dry-goods other end. It was dark. I was half awake. But her Street), on the corner of State and store at 2–6 State, and the Hubbard words were like grabbing a power line. The build- Main, was built by Chester Hubbard family owned the building until the ing on the corner of State and Main was burning. in 1826. It is Montpelier’s oldest mid-1940s. The Hubbards prospered I knew instantly that my life was changed. surviving commercial building. enough to leave us Hubbard Park I got dressed in a daze and drove to Montpe- A couple of buildings on State Street and the Kellogg-Hubbard Library. lier. I arrived to a scene of bedlam on the corner (the old Vermont federal building, Much of the building’s framework of State and Main, the area clotted with fire for example) were built a few years survived the fire, including the trucks, police cars and onlookers. Four men were earlier as residences by the earliest original brickwork, two-thirds of the manning the Montpelier fire station that night: settlers, among them Jacob Davis. hand-hewn beams and all of the Bob Gowans, Alan Perry, Mark Tillinghast and The building’s architecture is simpler stone foundation, all of which bears Bryan Donald. They responded to the fire imme- than the residential buildings that witness to how much of Montpelier diately. Chief Norm Lewis and Deputy Gesualdo predate it. Chester Hubbard, and was originally built by hand. Schneider left their homes and went to the station to organize more help. By the time I arrived, 30 firefighters were there.

6 1993 • T h e B r i d g e 20 t h A n n i v e r s a r y S u p p l e m e n t • 2013

Biking for Life Paul Falcone finds strength and independence through physical challenge.

Photo courtesy of P.Photo courtesy Falcone. World War II, and there she met her husband, August. Much as Paul hated being in hospitals, home was no Born in the Bronx, August was the illegitimate child haven. His father was violent. “He smashed things. Beat on of an unknown mother and a criminal father. August had my sisters, me and my mother,” says Paul. “In my life there spent some of his time in an orphanage, some in a reform was the hospital part and there was this hellhole. I would school, some with a drug-addicted aunt and some on the come to the hospital with bruises. Once I went in with a streets. By age 20, he was serving time in the U.S. peni- broken wrist—but the hospital [staff] never asked. No one tentiary at Lewisburg for armed robbery and attempted bothered to find out what was going on.” murder. Under a then-federal program, he was released, Paul’s sickness kept him at home. “I was never allowed on parole, under the auspices of the Quakers and came to to go to the movies or be in a crowd. I didn’t go to school. live at the home. Months after his release, he and Martha I had a tutor for a bunch of years,” says Paul. “It was a big got married. Martha helped him get a fresh identity: a new thing in Hartford [for me to] be well enough to go out in last name, Falcone, and a new Social Security number. To the car to see the Christmas lights.” this day, Paul does not know August’s original Sicilian last But Paul was gradually getting stronger. When he name. The newlyweds moved to China in 1947, as part could, he rode his bike, which he got when he was about of a UN relief service. Their first three children, all girls, 11. “Once I was on the bike I wasn’t this sick person were born in China. After Mao Tse-tung came to power anymore; I was this other person,” says Paul. “I was going in 1949, the family moved to East Randolph, Vermont, to farther and farther.” a small house with an outhouse. Water came from a creek; After seeing, as Paul puts it, “legions of doctors,” his heat from one small stove. There, Paul was born in 1950. mother finally found a good hematologist, Dr. Baxter. “Within the first day I was sick, and they just called it The doctor told Paul’s mother that if he could survive to colic at first,” says Paul. “I had canker sores right away. adolescence, he would have enough antibodies built up I wouldn’t breastfeed.” Paul’s parents finally took him to that he would be able to live more of a normal life. At age Dartmouth, where he was diagnosed with a rare blood 15, Paul entered public school for the first time, enrolled in diswease, neutropenia, which is a deficiency of neutrophils, the eighth grade. a type of white blood cell. A normal white blood cell count “I was totally out of my element,” says Paul. “Every- is 1,400 to 2,000 per microliter; thing was noisy; I was confused. I was parachuted into this Paul Falcone on his first bike, age 11. Paul’s was at 300 to 500. Suffer- “Once I was on whole other living situation. I didn’t know what TV was. ers are susceptible to bacterial the bike I wasn’t I was socially backward.” Paul did not do well in school. infections. There was, and still is, this sick person Among his other challenges, he was dyslexic and school for by Kate Mueller no cure; the only treatment, at anymore; I was him wasn’t relevant: “They didn’t teach me how to deal that time, was penicillin. with an angry father, how to deal with being sick. It wasn’t this other person,” So began Paul’s repeated valuable to me.” uggie Falcone walked into the hospital room where trips to hospitals. From birth, says Paul. “I was When Paul was about 19, his father abruptly left the A his only son, 10-year-old Fred, lay in a coma. Freddy Paul was sick with a variety of going farther family, much to his children’s relief. Paul’s sisters never saw was often hospitalized, and though Auggie would come to ailments—everything from ear and farther.” him again, but Paul eventually reconnected with his dad, the hospital, he avoided entering the room—choosing to and eye infections to pneumonia. who later mellowed with age. wait in the hall, while his wife tended their son. But this The sickness could come on suddenly: for days he would Bicycling continued to be key in Paul’s life. He bicycled day he walked in, alone, and stood looking at his comatose be healthy, then overnight, he would fall gravely ill and be several times from Boston to Provincetown, and he has biked son. Suddenly, Freddy sat upright, eyes wide and staring, rushed to hospital. He would get well, but eventually he up Mount Washington five times. In the 1990s he began scaring Auggie. “I want to be called Paul,” he declared. returned to the cold house in East Randolph with ques- bicycle road racing and has competed in the Stowe Bike and “Fred is the one getting sick all the time. Fred is dead.” tionable water and got sick all over again. His parents were Lake Sunapee bike races. In 2000, he won a time trial in the And with that, his son fell back and closed his eyes. told not to expect him to live past 1, then 3, then 6, then Senior Olympics for Vermont in biking, bicycling 40 K or Paul Falcone’s mother told him this story; he does not 10. He kept exceeding their expectations, but the mortal 25 miles in an hour. He was also a Nordic ski racer, which remember doing this. He does remember deciding to be threat of the disease never abated. he did for about six years but has stopped. called by Paul, his middle name, thinking that the germs During one of his stays at Dartmouth, his mother “Now I’m doing mountain bike races,” says Paul. that made him sick so often knew him best as Freddy, the brought Paul a photo of him on a bike, head flung back “I’m in the category of 50 and over. So I’m racing with weak and sickly boy, but they would not recognize Paul, with a joyous grin. The photo, stained with disinfectant, people 10 to 13 years younger than me.” the strong new boy, and would finally leave him alone. sprayed on everything brought into his room, was taped The exercising strengthens Paul’s immune system, but he From age 10 on, everyone began calling him Paul. next to his bed—the first thing he saw when he woke up has to be careful, he says. If he overexercises, he can quickly Paul, a Montpelier resident for the past 22 years, is a and the last when he went to sleep. It was a reminder plummet into illness. And his lung capacity is limited. He talented writer, a skilled mechanic and carpenter and an of what he was capable of and would do again—and a has had pneumonia some 20 times in his life, the last bout avid bicyclist. At age 63, Paul is trim and light on his feet. harbinger of where he would be later in life. in 2008, which has left scar tissue. Still, the wonderful irony Looking at him now, you would never guess that he nearly Paul’s father, though a skilled machinist, was frequently is that Paul’s lifetime regime of exercise and careful diet has died numbers of times during his childhood. I’ve known out of work. He had difficulty with authority and was made him healthier than many men his age. Paul for over 20 years and have always enjoyed his playful, always quitting or getting fired. Unable to find any more “The worst thing for me is being sick in a hospital. wry sense of humor and his shrewd observations coupled work in Vermont, his father moved his family to Hartford, I want to be happy and bike. I don’t want to be bitter with a sudden bark of a laugh and a quick grin. I knew Connecticut, where his younger sister was born. Paul’s and angry. I want to keep going. People look at a big hill that he was born with a serious blood disease, but I didn’t repeated and extended stays at hospitals continued— to cycle up, and they say, oh that’s hard, that’s terrible. know until recently how profoundly ill he was as a child Hartford Hospital, Cambridge City Hospital, Brook No, it’s not,” says Paul. “For me, that’s not hard, that’s nor of the other challenges he had growing up. Haven. Paul, who has written about his experiences, wonderful. But winning is not it—the Lance Armstrong Paul’s unique story begins with his parents, who were describes “staring up at the ceiling tiles in too many hospi- thing. That’s not it. I think of the people in the hospitals an unlikely pair. His mother, Martha Isabel Wakefield, tals, looking at the white expanse...counting the little holes that did not get out, little kids lying in the hospital. They’re came from an educated, literary family: she lived the first that seemed to perforate all hospital ceilings everywhere.” with me. When I bicycle, it feels like they’re doing it. 15 years of her life in China, where her father worked as a Four times during his childhood Paul slipped into It’s hard to explain ... I’m doing it for them.” n doctor, and attended Yale Drama School in the 1930s. By a coma and nearly died. Repeated ear infections left the mid-1940s, she was living in Philadelphia at a Quaker him partially deaf, and he has lost many teeth through Kate Mueller, a freelance editor, writer and graphic designer, lives home, which provided shelter to conscientious objectors to gum infections. in Montpelier.

We have been fortunate to offer our services here in Montpelier for the past 18 years and we thank our customers. We also appreciate The Bridge and what it has done. Capitol Copy

7 1993 • T h e B r i d g e 20 t h A n n i v e r s a r y S u p p l e m e n t • 2013

Photo: Cassandra Hemenway. not make it to market or food streams—does not get lost to feeding their community,” Snow said. “In doing so, we are positively impacting farms’ viability. We are educating people with experien- tial opportunities … bridging gaps and breaking down barriers. This perception that local food is not for everyone can be overcome.” One way Snow does that is through Vermont’s Southeast State Correctional Facility (SESCF), where inmates pack and ship gleaned foods. The inmate program has been so successful that Snow has raised $20,000 toward renovating a space to expand the program. She needs to raise another $40,000 by January 1, which she’s been doing through online crowd funding. “In just one year, more than 110,000 pounds, that is 55 tons of potatoes, winter squash, apples, onions and carrots, have been processed at the SESCF into case packs appro- priate for integration into Vermont’s institutional and charitable/emergency food systems,” Snow wrote in a fundraising appeal. It also provides a vocational component for inmates, providing meaningful work experience, training and education. After the projected $40,000 is raised, Snow said Salvation Farms will have half of the total Salvation Farms’ inmate program at the VT Southeast State Correctional Facility processes many tons of gleaned food for local distribution. $120,000 needed to renovate and expand the SESCF facility. The process is complicated by the fact that it exists “inside the fence” of the prison, so it must go through state approvals. Saving Food and Feeding People Once approvals are in place, the first phase of the project can begin. Theresa Snow of Salvation Farms builds a gleaning program.

ne in seven Vermonters struggles to Snow explained. “Some crops … such as kale or Oget food on the table, while perfectly chard are picked for mature leaves and bunches, edible locally grown produce literally lies on but they continue to produce more leaves and by Cassandra Hemenway the ground—unused and uneaten—at many keep growing. A lot [of crops are] dependent on Vermont farms. Theresa Snow, founder and size; … if a carrot’s going to be going through executive director of Salvation Farms in a machine, it needs to be a certain size and Morrisville, has found a way to address both diameter.” issues by helping farmers and simultaneously Thus hundreds of tons of food remain in feeding struggling Vermonters. Vermont fields—unsold and uneaten. Snow has A former farmer herself, Snow founded dedicated her life Hundreds of tons Salvation Farms in 2004 specifically to serve to connecting that food with organizations and of food remain in farms by training citizens and organizations to people who need it. She is in part motivated to Vermont fields— glean unwanted crops, taking the pressure off serve farmers, she said, but also Snow wants to the farmers, and then packing and shipping create an atmosphere where local, farm-fresh unsold and uneaten. those crops to entities throughout the state, foods are available to everyone, not only those Potatoes gleaned for local distribution. Theresa Snow has where the food goes to people who need it. who can afford the going retail prices. Snow first approached SESCF in 2008, “Farmers strive to produce enough food to “All [Salvation Farms’] work is a service to dedicated her life to looking to tap into an affordable labor source. meet the market demand, and sometimes the farmers so the time, energy and dollars that Ultimately, the program has not only provided connecting that food market demand is there and sometimes it’s not,” they’ve put into food —that for some reason did with organizations and training for inmates (and direct oversight of inmate work crews) but has impacted them per- people who need it. sonally as they pack and ship food going directly into their home communities, often serving their own families or people they know. Crowd Funding for Gleaning “[We helped develop] a vocational work opportunity that creates workforce development Salvation Farms has tapped into Razoo—one of many online crowd funding but also a sense of being engaged in the commu- programs. Executive director and founder Theresa Snow said she chose Razoo nity beyond the facility . . . when product is because her organization will be able to keep all donations pledged, even if going to their region of [the] state, and they she doesn’t make her goal of $40,000 by January 1. know [it’s]going directly to their community, that So far Salvation Farms has raised nearly $5,000 toward its goal, which, has had a big impact on them,” Snow said. n when reached, will renovate and expand its facility at the Vermont Southeast State Correctional Facility for packing and shipping produce gleaned from Vermont Farms. The program also educates and trains inmates. For more information visit www.salvation To donate or learn more about the project, go to tinyurl.com/help-sf. farms.org or contact Salvation Farms at Donations are tax deductible. 802-522-3148 or [email protected]. —C.H.

Cassandra Hemenway is an award-winning writer and author of the blog cookingwithcassandra.com.

Congratulations to The Bridge on its 20th Anniversary. A dynamic local paper is critical to a strong local economy. Thank you for all of your hard work through the years. Montpelier Property Management

8 1993 • T h e B r i d g e 20 t h A n n i v e r s a r y S u p p l e m e n t • 2013 Photo: Annie Tiberio Cameron. Photo: Annie Tiberio

Where Is the Trucker Who Saved My Life?

A stranger’s help on a lonely highway rescues the victim of a mysterious, late-night accident.

A conceptualization of the trucker Betsy Frothingham saw through her windshield, walking toward her on that fateful night. No actual photograph exists. by Betsy Frothingham

t was almost midnight on August 1, 2012, and look forward, I clung to the conviction that some- medics, nurses. My head and neck were checked. I I was driving my Toyota Camry on Kansas how my life was going to be saved. Words were spoken that I could not understand. highway 96 about 12 miles from Hutchinson. The midnight horizon spread before me, and Then the medics put me back into the ambu- The weather was clear and calm, and there was no I saw ahead the lights of a truck that had stopped. lance for a journey of 43 miles east to the John traffic in either direction. Just about four miles east An unknown figure appeared at a great distance Wesley Medical Center in Witchita. Dr. Harrison, of Haven, Kansas, a sleepy, little town of 1,200 and seemed to move toward me. Like a matchstick chief general surgeon, assumed command. I lost inhabitants, my car was devastatingly rear-ended, mounted at the all consciousness to time and place. Hours passed Raising my eyes, breaking the stillness of the summer night. highway’s edge, the with no recollection of what had happened. From that first moment of impact, I have always apparition became I peered into the mirror. Worst of all, when I finally woke up, I found felt that this car accident was deliberate. I was an a single line of light It provided a frightening that I had lost all track of the trucker. Never did I independent candidate for federal election and was slowly advancing sight. Rivulets of blood thank him. Never did I tell him how he had saved gathering 1,500 signatures as part of the election toward me. Was it streamed over my face. my life. process in a wheat state where independence was possible that this I am writing this 16 months after the accident, in short supply. vertical line of light separated from the clustered and I am more determined than ever to find that After the horrifying impact, I didn’t lose mass of truck lights in the distance was a truck trucker. n consciousness, and in the first moments after the driver coming to help me? accident, I took stock of my situation. I was strapped The form of a man took shape through the inside the car and, after the impact, trapped. windshield. With a purposeful stride, he reached Only my right arm could move. I fingered the gray my car. He stuck his head inside my open window felt visor above me. Raising my eyes, I peered into and saw the streaks of blood, now dried all over my Help Me Find the Trucker the vanity mirror. It provided a frightening sight. face. “Madame,” he said to me forcefully, “I am go- Who Saved My Life Rivulets of blood streamed all over my face. ing to get you help right away.” And so he did. In an instant, everything had come to a screech- Soon the bright lights of an ambulance flooded If anyone is a trucker or has trucking ing halt. A local Kansas fellow (I found out later the darkness. A wooden stretcher wrapped with red connections or ideas about how this in a newspaper story that he was 29 years old) ropes was shoved inside along the dashboard of my person might be found, please contact walked to my open driver’s window. He took a car. Somehow my body was extricated from the seat, the author in care of The Bridge. casual look at me, ignoring the blood and my many lifted out straight and bound upon the stretcher. other injuries. I wasn’t angry with him. I didn’t First, I was driven to the regional hospital in reproach him. I just knew he wasn’t going to help Hutchinson where I was brought into a series of Elizabeth Frothingham, Ph.D., is a writer and fundraising me. I tried to stay calm. As I turned my face to well-lighted rooms. There was a huddle of doctors, professional currently living in Montpelier.

Any ideas about how I might start to find this trucker who saved my life? Please leave a message for me atThe Bridge, 223-5112, ext 10. I will get back to you as quickly as possible. Betsy Frothingham

9 1993 • T h e B r i d g e 20 t h A n n i v e r s a r y S u p p l e m e n t • 2013

A New Paradigm for an Old Problem John Pepin offers a fresh take on how we govern ourselves. Photo: Carmen Trombley.Photo: Carmen Pepin’s theories reflect a mind on fire, fed by the repulsion we all feel from time to time when we think about government and its failures. by Paul Gillies

he triangle is the foundation of our political system. That structure is the Constitution. It’s not a tray. It TForget the branch metaphor for a minute. Imagine remains fixed on the table. It’s stable, as the various parts are a scale that can balance three separate trays at the same fluid, and it holds everything together. time—a three-dimensional device. Put an equal weight in Americans adopted the triangular scale in 1789, when each tray. Add something to one tray, and the other two the Constitution was adopted. Vermont had committed to it adjust by rising. Take away something from one, and the in 1777. It is such a fundamental piece of architecture that other two fall accordingly. OK, now look at this machine in few have risked challenging the design in two centuries. time-lapse photography. Over a period of years, trays spring Now someone has. John Pepin is a homegrown Political philosopher John Pepin during a kayaking trip on the up and glide down, as others reciprocate, in a wild dance Vermont political philosopher, as ingenious and provoca- Missisquoi River in Swanton. that hasn’t any clear pattern. tive as any of the brilliant minds of the 18th century, One tray is the executive branch, one the legislature, the the thinkers that articulated our fundamental ideas, includ- Rome) that would have the power to regulate the three third the courts. Equilibrium is impossible. The mechanism ing the triangular political scale. He has just published trays. If we can stay with this metaphor for a while longer, is too delicate and was never designed to stay at rest for long The Fourth Branch, a 40-page essay on an idea to reform Pepin’s NUMA would sit atop the structure, with three in any case. Lately, however, the gizmo seems dangerously American governance. long arms constructed to touch each of the ends of overstressed, its movements swinging nearly to the limit of Pepin proposes the creation of a body he calls the the three balance beams. The trays would no longer be the structure that holds the trays. NUMA (named after Numa Pompilius, the lawgiver of Continued on following page Photo courtesy of the author. Photo courtesy And here is where dealing with a crisis 7. You may not have the energy to can become heartbreaking. A lingering cri- complete a large task, but you can nearly sis can produce despair. Despair drains us, always manage to complete a portion makes us hopeless and makes success of that task. When able, do another bit. less likely. Soon, you’ll be surprised at how much I’ve had my share of crises. In 1998, you accomplish. at 15 months old, Ned, our only child, was 8. Allow yourself to feel sorry for yourself. diagnosed with low-functioning nonverbal Wallow in it, but only for a little while. autism. We were living in Louisiana at It can be cathartic, but don’t become the time and soon learned that there were addicted to it. extremely limited resources available there 13Modest Tactics Laurie Morrow. 9. Avoid the Peg Entwhistle syndrome. for Ned. Indeed, educators there urged us to institutionalize him. My husband is a Entwhistle was an actress who, when 13 Tactics for coping Vermonter, and when we discovered that unable to find work in Hollywood, threw herself off the “H” in the iconic Holly- there were better educational opportunities 1. Despair can cause you to slacken your with a major, in Montpelier, we decided to move back. efforts. Make those efforts part of your rou- wood sign. In her mail, the next day, was ongoing crisis I was a tenured university professor and tine. Habit can guide you when you aren’t a job offer. Keep going. You don’t know knew this decision would likely end my thinking clearly. when your fortune will change. career. I couldn’t get similar employment 2. Avoid things that reinforce negativity. 10. Commonly prescribed drugs can in Vermont. The nightly news, for example, is filled worsen depression. Check with your phar- I’ve had to struggle to find work with misfortune. Contemplating bad things macist for this side effect. Combating with mixed results. Financial problems that you can’t correct can deepen your 11. Get a pet. A dog or cat is a tail- compounded the difficulty of raising a despair. Turn it off. wagging or purring companion who needs handicapped child. There were also familial Despair 3. Your thoughts can be overwhelmed you to set aside your troubles for his sake. misfortunes. My mother developed colon by your problem. Try doing something cancer, which metastasized into breast 12. Friends and family can be a comfort distracting, especially something you don’t cancer. She endured a colostomy and a and a source of help. Just don’t burden by Laurie Morrow normally do. double mastectomy. Her condition became them too heavily. They have their own terminal and was made more difficult 4. Dancing, running, swimming and other crises to endure. ven the luckiest of lives includes its when she developed Alzheimer’s. A close physical activities can drive away negativity 13. Keep a sense of humor. Even on share of crises. They can be financial E cousin became injured in a car accident. and improve your health, something that battlefields, there are jokes told. Humor (a lost job), they can be personal (the death The list goes on, and we have done what depression can injure. makes difficulties shrink, at least for the of a loved one) and they can be medical we could to deal with each, but with each moment. (a severe illness). In the midst of crisis, 5. No matter your trouble, there are others crisis, combating despair has compounded we usually are presented with some worse off than you, and you can nearly There are some situations so dire that the issue. straightforward tactics for dealing with always do something to help. This will nothing so simple as these modest tactics While I’m no mental health expert and immediate concerns. If we lose our job, benefit others while lifting your spirits. can make a positive difference. Neverthe- can claim no expertise beyond my own we look at the help wanted ads. If we are 6. Pray or meditate. Faith helps reassure us less, I hope they will be helpful. n hard-knock experience, we’ve learned a few sick, we consult a doctor. Such measures that there is purpose behind our suffering, tactics for dealing with despair. are commonsensical, but they aren’t always while meditation reminds us that we can Laurie Morrow is a freelance writer and development speedy. A crisis can go on and on. exert control over our thoughts. professional who lives in Montpelier.

Vermont College of Fine Arts is committed to creating a more humane world through writing and the arts. We salute The Bridge, a newspaper that shares our goals. Vermont College of Fine Arts

10 1993 • T h e B r i d g e 20 t h A n n i v e r s a r y S u p p l e m e n t • 2013 Photo by Bob Montgomery. A New Paradigm for an Old Problem continued from previous page independent. The NUMA would ensure that each stayed true to the Constitution by correcting decisions and actions it deemed excessive or unauthorized. It would be the parent to the family of the three trays. The NUMA would be organized hierarchically, with a 20-member board of judges, whose decisions would be implemented by a panel of censors. There would be a consumer protection bureau, which would hear citizens’ complaints and take corrective action; a judicial ombudsman, with the power to try judges who repeatedly overturned on appeal, and the board of judges would be authorized to remove them for violations of the Constitu- tion; and a congressional ombudsman, with the power to recommend voiding laws deemed unconstitutional. The effect of the NUMA would be to regulate the rise and fall of the trays. Churning Success These are radical propositions, to be sure. Whether they have a hope of enactment is not the point. The author has dared to look at an old idea anew and suggest Inside the Cellars at Jasper Hill. an alteration. Pepin’s theories reflect a mind on fire, fed by the repulsion we all feel from time to time when we think believe that developing local food systems that meet the about government and its failures. Most of us just shrug Cheesemakers Andy and needs of the local people and are regionally specific offer and pass the cornflakes. Pepin gave it thought and devel- Mateo Kehler innovate tangible solutions to this seemingly daunting problem. oped this new idea, after extensive reading of the classics Andy believes that local efforts like theirs “will be an and political philosophy. He deserves to be read widely, for at Jasper Hill Farm. integral part of the solution. [Industrial] agriculture is the reasons that go well beyond the subject he covers, for he is largest user of energy, water and land of any industry. the rarest of treasures—an independent thinker. Read him, It is the largest polluter. The direction industrial agriculture argue with him, it doesn’t matter. He has an idea, a fresh, by Jerry Carter is moving is unsustainable. If the full cost of industrial agri- interesting idea. culture were included in the sticker price, local agriculture We are too complacent. The revolution is forgotten. would be very competitive, and as energy prices increase, We sit in our recliners at night. What we see and read is he first time I tried the country’s most critically it will become even more so. It comes down to political troubling, but we remain unengaged. We figure that the acclaimed cheese, I was hunkered down in the hidden T decisions on what kinds of economies we want to promote.” die is cast, and this is the system. Thank goodness for depths of the Cellars at Jasper Hill, artisanal cheese makers But the Kehlers are not waiting around for gridlocked those who don’t give up easily. How many of those real in Greensboro. It seems to defy basic instinct that in such Washington to develop fixes. They believe that an “agricul- revolutionary thinkers are out there? Many more than a cold and gray place one could find something so warm tural economy is still possible here” and worth maintaining. you’d expect. and inviting. But to Andy and Mateo Kehler, brothers and “This is what will keep this area from turning into At kitchen tables and workbenches in every town owners of Jasper Hill Farm, this makes perfect sense. Anywhereville, USA. It is what is responsible for the patch- in Vermont, there are those who sit and think beyond Nearly two years after savoring that first bite of cheese work of fields and forests that sets Vermont apart,” says the shackles of conventional ideas. They write down from Jasper Hill, I set out to return on a sunny morning Andy. “It is unique and [an] attractive... place for us to their ideas and revise them in notebooks that may in November a few weeks ago. Hurtling over rolling hills, raise our families. It is this work that goes unrewarded never see the light of publication. They talk about I shot out of Montpelier like a lab rat in a maze, driven by and is what makes this state special, and the Northeast their ideas with anyone who will listen. They may never an instinctual need for cheese. When I arrived, I edged my Kingdom in particular.” n find acolytes and apostles or car around the meticulously kept barn, cheese house and form a movement or a party. John Pepin is a waste digester that the Kehler brothers have fondly named Jerry Carter recently joined The Bridge and lives in Montpelier, where That’s not their ambition or homegrown Vermont the green machine. Hidden underneath the camouflage of he enjoys experiencing and writing about the local culture and landscape. their strength. They don’t political philosopher, a freshly painted red barn, the machine uses manure and whey, two waste products from the cheese-making process, have to answer to anybody, as ingenious and and for that reason, in the to heat a two-story greenhouse. A pinnacle of their devo- as provocative as privacy of a notebook, their tion to environmental sustainability, this machine, designed ideas can soar. any of the brilliant by the brothers, decomposes the waste by mimicking The Center for an If we would look at our minds of the biological processes found in nature. towns as so many Noah’s arks, eighteenth century. The Cellars is a 22,000-square-foot building with seven Agricultural Economy we would find them filled with separate vaults, each with its own specially tuned ecosys- representatives of all types of humanity. In the corner, near tem, crafted to meet the needs of the unique cheese it Rethinking how we farm, process, the poets, are the philosophers; they are a rare breed, rarely houses. Behind each of the seven big, heavy, stainless steel distribute and value food acknowledged in public life. Even the philosophers other sliding doors that seal the vaults, a cheese affineur conducts philosophers recognize as the best of their species are the aging of his or her unique cheese to the roaring of As part of Andy and Mateo Kehler’s plan to unknown to most of us. Philosophy is often turgid and com- music as fine-tuned as the ecosystem built for the cheese. create an environmentally and economically plex and doesn’t come as easily as music or art or literature. The brothers have not always had a staff of affineurs sustainable model for the Northeast Kingdom, It isn’t as accessible. —people trained to oversee the aging or maturing of cheese. they have teamed up with several other But the philosophers are out there, and they’re thinking. Since the brothers started the farm in 2003, much has innovators in the area to form The Center More than once someone has shoved papers into my hand changed. In the beginning, Andy and Mateo shared the du- for an Agricultural Economy. Andy says, “Our and begged me to read them. The ideas I found, in crabbed ties of running the daily operations of the farm. Andy would food system is broken, and the center is handwriting or on well-worn printed pages, always surprised milk the cows twice a day, while Mateo tinkered endlessly to trying to rethink how we farm, process, me in their earnestness, creativity and passion—yes, passion, perfect his now world-renowned cheese recipes. Today, distribute and value food. It works on agri- in a philosophical envelope. Mateo is still crafting cheese, but on a much larger scale. cultural business incubation, food access, You want to find some hope in a world of crisis, recrimi- Andy has taken on the role of the company’s CFO, often consolidation and distribution and networking nation and disappointment? Turn away from the popular making business trips, consulting with dairy farmers and opportunities for value-added agricultural media and enter the world of writers and thinkers who cheese makers in Europe and around the world. The two production. It is a huge asset to Vermont are not bound to the existing memes and structures. Turn still find time to innovate and are always striving to produce farmers and entrepreneurs. It offers business- inward yourself, rub off the greasy residue of politics and new value-added products, such as a high-end mac and planning services through an SBDC position, celebrity and take some quiet time to reflect on what’s im- cheese, soon to hit co-op shelves. product development and the infrastructure portant. The critical ideas that make up our worldview were The Kehler brothers came to Greensboro with a dream to take a concept to scale.” not adopted by majority vote in some legislative assembly. of making a living off the land, and in doing so create The organization’s shiny new facility, They were born in lonely, not-so-well-lit rooms, scribbled a model that is both environmentally and economically located in Hardwick, is a communal with a pencil stub on a lined notebook, where nothing got in sustainable. They hope to celebrate the place’s agricultural entrepreneurial haven, now home to over the way of a new idea. Never underestimate the power of roots, but in a new and innovative way. “In a nutshell what 41 value-added start-ups. For more informa- independent thinking. We are far more resilient, creative and we are working towards is trying to find ways where rural tion on how to take advantage of this space, redeemable than we know. n Vermont can maintain its cultural heritage by creating visit the organization’s website at hardwick opportunities for economically viable small-scale agricul- agriculture.org. Paul Gillies is a Montpelier attorney and historian. ture,” said Andy. And this effort is not limited to Vermont. The Kehlers see real problems with our national food system. They

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Photos: Amy Brooks Thornton. Photos: Amy Brooks a farmer’s field on a hay wagon and covered with canvas. It was missing parts, but they took it anyway. Since they were low on cash but high on logs, they sold the logs and bought mill parts. “Now we had a working mill,” Goodridge says, but no log home. “We put up a pole shed and started mak- ing sawdust. That was the beginning.” A year later she gave birth to their first son. The follow- ing year, in 1974, Goodridge Lumber started officially. Twenty years after their land purchase, when Good- ridge and her husband parted ways, she found herself confronted with running a mother-and-sons business. “Survival allows you to do things that you thought you otherwise couldn’t do. When you looked at those boys and saw determination, there was no question about what you were going to do,” says Goodridge. “The hardest part was trying to figure out how to keep the family together and provide for our needs.” Very often, Goodridge finished a day of sawing, then made deliveries and returned home at 8:30 or 9, well into the evening, to make supper and oversee homework. “We all took turns cooking. The kitchen floor might not have been swept all the time. We looked at it as our glass Meet Colleen Goodridge: was half full instead of half empty...we had tremendous help from family and people in the business. We were blessed with good people around us,” recalls Goodridge. Solo Parent and Entrepreneur The first November she was on her own, Goodridge went to the bank for a loan to help with the winter log pur- chase. Goodridge describes the scene as they walked into the From left to right: Dough, Colleen, Brian and Mark Goodridge take a break at the sawmill. banker’s office: “He’s seeing this woman with the workforce of three boys. He said, ‘How can I help you?’ And I said, ‘We need some money for logs.’ And all he said was: ‘How A woman and her three sons run a successful sawmill. much do you need?’” She laughs and shrugs her shoulders at the simplicity of the meeting. “This was the first big financial decision I had to make . . . In today’s world we probably by Amy Brooks Thornton cedar in winter months when the ground freezes and they wouldn’t have got far.” The banker became a dear friend can minimize damage to the environment. Goodridge waves and financial advisor until his retirement. ou’re the mother of three boys, ages 10, 15 and 18. her arm all around the area between woodpiles, woodsheds Her next big challenge YYou and your husband own a sawmill in the rugged and sawmill. “The yard will be full of logs!” she says. was to buy a bucket loader. Northeast Kingdom and you work all the jobs, along with Working with about 130 landowners, loggers and When she and the boys were the boys and some hired help. You get dinner on the table, truckers, the Goodridges ensure the specialty white cedar, looking at a used one, the take your boys to Little League, soccer and jazz band prac- resistant to insects and an excellent insulator, is harvested salesperson approached and tice and go to church on Sundays. so that it’s “around for future generations,” Goodridge says. was “writing down numbers,” On April 1, 1992, after 20 years of marriage and Out of this cedar, found in a “very local 70- to 75-mile Goodridge remembers. through a divorce settlement, you and your sons become radius,” they make log homes, fencing, decking, tongue and “I said, What’s that number the owners of the mill. V-groove lumber, shiplap, “shorts” (three-foot pieces for you’re writing down because “They say to live Meet Colleen Goodridge. woodworkers), mulch and sawdust. “Everything is used up,” it has a lot of zeroes after it?” Today, Goodridge (with her three, now 30-something says Goodridge. “We don’t have waste products here.” He told her it was the price, is to experience boys) still owns and runs Goodridge Lumber in Albany, Trained as a preschool teacher, Goodridge now holds about $100,000. change.” Vermont. Perched on her couch in her well-used, large log many leadership positions in the forestry industry, a rare It took one night for —Colleen Goodrich home that doubles as the Goodridge Lumber office, Good- occurrence in an industry dominated by men. She was also her to figure out how she ridge reels off impressive knowledge about the business. on “the school board for eight years, chairman for seven” was going to finance it, and she called back the next day. She discusses the Swedish sash saw they’re using, which and “chairman of the trustees of the church.” Wouldn’t “Can you get me a loader like we were talking about,” has 3/32nd-inch thin kerf saw blades. It has a much thin- that be chairwoman? Goodridge recalls asking, “with all those zeroes after it? ner cut than the 1/4-inch circular saw, which they also use, And I would like you to throw a set of tire chains in too.” and often enables them to gain a board for every eight- Challenge overcome. Goodridge nods appreciatively: inch-diameter log. And corporate financials: “We’ve based “I was initiated into the world of six-digit purchases.” our business on [producing] 1 to 1.3 million board feet Goodridge developed her business skills and philosophy rather than thinking we need three times that to provide from every opportunity—both on the job and volunteer— for our needs,” she says. She adds it’s about double the that came her way. “The learning from the service that board footage and gross sales of 1992. you give is invaluable,” she says. “You always receive far As she intensely listens to and succinctly answers my more than you give.” questions with a quick smile and lively eyes, her short dark Her advice? “Treat everyone the same way that I like brown hair bobbing, it would be easy to see her in a suit to be treated. Good customer relationships. Good service at the corporate table—but with a wealth of knowledge relationships. [Be] honest and forthright. Value everyone gained from hands-on work. in the team that makes your business run . . . Without the In fact, she does hold meetings at the Goodridge The Goodrich lumberyard. loggers and the truckers there is no mill; with no market Lumber “corporate desktop”—her kitchen table. The first for the logs, there is no value in the trees they cut. I would one was the family meeting she held with her boys after Maybe. But these distinctions are not that important never ask [my workers] to do anything I wouldn’t do. I am the divorce. The boys’ father kept the logging business; to Goodridge. She was born and raised on a dairy farm out and about. I fill in different spots. I can sweat just as Goodridge got the mill and the house. A decision had to in Irasburg, Vermont, one of five—four girls and one boy. well as anyone else. I can get dirty just as well as anyone be made: keep the mill or sell it. They decided as a team “We all did what needed to be done,” Goodridge says. else. There is no pecking order, no one person more impor- to hold onto the mill. It meant work. A lot of work for all “The girls were my dad’s right-hand people...we milked tant than the other. We’re all here to get the job done. of them. “We didn’t know if we could survive, or not,” cows, we sugared, we did timber harvesting. There were And we all take pride in our work.” Goodridge says. no men’s jobs and women’s jobs.” And as for her boys and their teamwork at the mill, • “The sawmill career is not different,” Goodridge Goodridge says, “We always weigh in together on things As soon as you turn onto East Bayley-Hazen Road, continues. “We’re still working the landscape. [There are] and go forward from there”—even if it’s about leaving the 18 miles north of Hardwick, you are greeted by gigantic no male or female roles. We’re not afraid of working physi- mill. “They say to live is to experience change,” Goodridge piles of neatly stacked logs, like slumbering dinosaurs cally, and we’ve got the mental capacity.” reflects. If any of her sons want to go, she emphasizes that sleeping in perfect parallel. The road curves past the home To get where she is today, Goodridge coupled work they have freedom to do so. But Goodridge herself has no and the sheds, “positioned to take advantage of the valley with tenacity, resourcefulness and community. In 1972, she such intention. breezes,” Goodridge tells me, and filled high with drying and her husband purchased two acres with the intention “If you can work the landscape using a renewable boards. Beyond that, sits the open-air mill, which runs of building a log home. In the meantime, they lived in a resource and do it all together, that’s a blessing.” With a all year-round, and, along the road’s extension, more and trailer. They helped a farmer down the road harvest wood wry smile she adds, “The other blessing is they haven’t more enormous, semicircular mounds of logs. And this is and, in place of payment, took the nine- and 10-inch logs. asked me to retire yet.” n just the beginning of the season. Once they stacked the logs, they had a “brilliant idea,” Because Goodridge and her sons use sustainable prac- Goodridge says with an enigmatic smile: “What if we had Amy Brooks Thornton is a writer, photographer and producer and former tices, they harvest 75 to 80 percent of their swamp-loving a mill to saw our own?” They found a $500 sawmill out in director and founder of Pacem School and Homeschool Center.

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Surprised and Inspired by the Natural World A naturalist examines the dynamic of stability and change.

by Nona Estrin

unny thing, inspiration. For me it comes when I’m surprised by Fsomething. Since I can’t remember when I didn’t have my eye on the natural world, or on the nature of the human world, that’s where my inspiration simmers along and occasionally bubbles up with a solid ah-ha. Almost always, these insights are connected to change. The loss of so many songbirds in my lifetime surprised me. I thought it would take a hundred years for that kind of change. But it inspired me to learn more about conditions that led to the losses. At the same time, turkey, cardinal, vulture, tufted titmouse, red-bellied wood- pecker and others have appeared and are spreading. These changes have kept me wide awake to appreciating and learning about a world marked at its deepest core by constant transience. I never expected to see the return of large wild animals in Vermont in my lifetime. When I was a girl, spending summers with my family in Danby, Vermont, seeing a bear up on the spine of the Taconics was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Fishers were wild, almost mythical creatures, long extirpated from Vermont. I never, ever expected to see them in Vermont—nor moose, nor coyotes. All this change helped me see something new about both the regenerative power and the fragility of our earth and its creatures. I began to Change helped feel a kind of awe in the face of change, me see something confronted by all that I could never know, new, about both would, in fact, never even live to see! It’s the regenerative strange perhaps, but that’s when I started power and the growing in appreciation of transience as a fragility of our basic attribute of life itself. By the time I was 50, I was solidly on earth and its the pulse of change, all kinds of change. creatures. Although I still felt the same inside, I was changing rapidly, growing older, my kids stepping into their young adulthood. A first grandchild was on the way, and my parents had moved into an extended, though vital old age. The change and unpredictability I had learned to appreciate and care about in nature was now clearly even happening to my family and me. Life was all about change. Although, as a human, I still cared passionately about stability, and I worked to ease change, to say to the world, “Not so fast!” To this day, almost 25 years later, I am inspired and excited by the dynamic between stability and change. I was surprised to see the loss of so many farms in East Montpelier in such a short time in the 80s and was inspired to get involved in land conservation and public access to trails. I never expected I’d work on trails, because I’m really a bushwhacker, always seeking out a circuitous path, most likely to expose me to the unexpected. Field Illustrations by Nona Estrin from her book In Season, A Natural History of the New England Year, University Press But it was really fun starting a trail organization, talking to land- of New England, Hanover, NH, 2002. owners and townspeople about recreation, running all over a rugged piece of land, in every season, getting to know where it was wet and how wet it was, and finding the right route for our future trails. There was a period of snowballing inspiration around a number of us forming a group and creating the East Montpelier Trail system through our town. That inspiration, which came about during the loss of so many farms, is still ticking along today. New, permanently protected trail easements on conserved lands are still being added to the trail system. Our most recent will be ready for the public next year. And in a rapidly changing world, walking on these trails through the seasons, returning year after year and knowing that the land will not be devel- oped, that its value as a recreation path is secure for the future—well, that’s inspiring! n

Nona Estrin lives three miles from State and Main in East Montpelier and tries to balance a busy life with a slow, patient eye.

The Bridge helps keep our customers informed and our community vibrant. We’re proud to support this great local resource. Here’s to the next 20!

Hunger Mountain Coop

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Reimagining Where and How We Work Local 64 provides the ability to ask questions, exchange ideas and share a common workplace. by Michelle A. L. Singer

In the past 20 years, the amount of change in every in the areas of film and new media, software and game a nomad membership offers access to the office Monday aspect of our lives has been staggering. How we work is development, advertising and marketing and the arts. through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Local 64 also rents six no exception. MBO Partners (MyBizOffice), a company Torres says, “I ask the question, What kind of support private offices. Three of the private (rented privately but that supports independent consultants, recently published mechanisms are these workers going to want and need often by more than one person) offices are just off the its annual “State of Independence in America” report, to be productive, effective? Coworking is one answer to shared lounge, and three are on another floor. Members revealing that currently 40 percent of workers have that question.” have access to those offices 24/7 and pay more. worked or are working as an independent. They predict In June 2011, just The focus is to grow Linda Setchell, owner of Grow!, a web development by 2020, 50 percent of workers will have been inde- above Delish candy store and attract work and online marketing business, has been a member of pendent at some time. MBO claims on its website that on State Street in Mont- especially in the areas Local 64 since its beginning. She rents a private office “[i]ndependent workers are part of a major structural pelier, Torres, with key of film and new media, and shares the space with one other person. “As more shift in how Americans work.” support from folks who and more people become contractors, it’s nice to have software and game The future MBO is pointing toward is called the were ready to buy into the a space where you can still collaborate. That’s what this creative economy, and the workers who people it are idea, opened Local 64, one development, adver- space provides, the ability to share ideas, ask questions called creatives (a word so new autocorrect won’t allow of a handful of coworking tising and marketing, and interact with other people. You can’t always get that it), independents or creative independents. They are spaces in Vermont. Torres, and the arts. working remotely as a freelancer or a contractor.” self-employed freelancers, contractors, consultants and a creative himself (web Another Local 64 member, an MFA student and entrepreneurs and one of the driving forces of the new designer, artist and community developer), has his finger consultant, spent the summer working on her front porch, Vermont economic landscape. Independent creatives are firmly on the pulse of the creative economy. He describes but recently came back to Local 64 to get out of the house. “knowledge workers,” involved in the production and dis- Local 64 as “a professional work environment for central In addition to being warmer, she gets a charming, funky tribution of intellectual property, and most of their work, Vermont freelancers, independent creatives and start-ups space, flexibility, and in-house networking, where other now that we are in the age of technology, can be done seeking a dynamic downtown presence.” members often become clients. Events like the freelancers remotely. It’s a trend that younger generations are follow- Coworking is an innovative response to the many coffee, pitch kitchen, game night, art exhibits and TED ing, citing flexibility, the ability to do what they love and web designers, video game developers, writers, editors, talks continue to draw people to the space after hours, control of their work as key benefits. Only 8 percent of technology innovators, security providers, artists, re- where they mix with people and ideas. It creates what independents, according to MBO Partners, are freelance searchers, marketers, graphic designers and freelancers of Torres calls an “innovation ecosystem” and is a smart, because they couldn’t find a job. all kinds who need a place to work other than the coffee creative answer to the questions of the changing work Enter Lars Hasselblad Torres, director of the Office shop. Local 64 is shared by members who have access to world. n of the Creative Economy (OCE), created in 2011 by a common lounge with tables, chairs and workbenches, the Vermont Department of Economic Development in a restroom, kitchen, conference area, printer and Wi-Fi. Michelle A. L. Singer is a writer and editor living in East Montpelier response to the growing creative economy in Vermont. Members buy in at daily or monthly rates and have access with her husband, three children, two cats, two rabbits, 10 chickens, The office’s focus is to grow and attract work especially to the space accordingly. For instance, for $75 per month, two frogs, one lizard and a turtle. Photo: Annie Tiberio Cameron. Photo: Annie Tiberio

What’s Old Is New Again

Before Local 64 debuted at 5 State Street, 35-plus years ago, the building also served as an incubator space for what was an eclectic group of young malcontents, dreamers and independent thinkers — today’s so-called creatives. The first floor at that time housed Edson’s Pharmacy, and the upstairs was a rickety warren of small rooms with floors tilting at alarming angles, but the rent was cheap and the owner, pharmacist Bob Edson, rented by the month. A number of fledgling businesses and organizations took root there, including photographers, graphic designers, editors, writers and illustrators. A host of freelancers hoping to simply create a living in Vermont sheltered on those floors. Nascent groups concerned with issues familiar today but alien at the time — uncontrolled mall development, spiraling world population growth, nearby nuclear power plants, abandoned farms, disappearing wild areas — all scraped along together, sharing ideas, space and equipment. Often people working late, or just talking or flirting, slept over on some grungy couch. It wasn’t then a pretty space, but it was interesting — and fertile. —M. Iassogno The author lives near Maple Corner.

Common Workspace at Local 64. For more information, go to local64.com,accd.vemont.gov/business/oce or mbopartners.com.

Congratulations to The Bridge for reaching your 20-year anniversary. We applaud your commitment to reporting news in the Montpelier community and beyond. Community National Bank Equal Housing Lender Member FDIC

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Photos courtesy of John McArdle. Photos courtesy in 2 hours, 40 minutes and 8 seconds. Dexter Emoto, who wrote about John’s participation in this race, characterized John as having courage, persistence and success: the courage to hand cycle those 26.2 miles, climbing all 16 hills; the persistence to to call the mayor’s office and plead his case when told no hand cyclists were allowed in that race; and success in finishing the marathon. A friend of mine defined a hero as someone who faces every day with a commit- ment to do his personal best. That certainly describes John, who told me, “My motto is you never say you can’t. Go for the gold!” John’s enthusiasm for sports and determina- tion to not be left out motivated him to want to ski and more. His parents found a handicapped program at Haystack Mountain Ski Area in southern Vermont, where John used outriggers on crutches, with a ski bra holding the tips of his skis together. John joined the Montpelier Ski Team and later, as a volunteer, taught handi- capped skiing at Bolton. In middle school, John joined the football team, and at his first game, Trudy was amazed to watch her son, playing center, pull down a few players with his power- ful arms. Nor was John content merely watch- ing his brothers play basketball. Coach Lenny Drew at Montpelier High School (“the best coach you can imagine,” said John) asked John if he wanted to be on the team and helped him Going for the Real Gold become a personal trainer. John would help injured players, sometimes holding a player under cold water in the whirlpool, amid protests of pain. But John said the players always came John “Hollywood” McArdle on his hand-cranked bike during the Vermont City Marathon race. back and told him how much he had helped them. John also became a manager of the track and basketball teams, and during his senior hat is a hero? Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate never walk if he didn’t wear them. At the time, year, he became the first handicapped racer WDictionary defines a hero as an illustri- John found it faster to visit a friend on Elm for the high school, using a high-tech hydraulic ous warrior, a man admired for his achieve- Street from his house in the meadow by using sit-down ski. ments and noble qualities and one who shows his brother’s skateboard and pushing it with John underwent hip surgery his junior year by Joyce Kahn great courage. Extending this idea, Carlos his hands in good weather while using a sled with the goal of being able to walk up and Castaneda said, “The ordinary person takes in the winter. Eventually, a lightweight brace get his diploma, which he accomplished with everything as a blessing or a curse. A warrior became available through advancements the help of therapy. So popular was John and takes everything as a challenge.” According in technology, enabling John to walk short such an inspiration to his fellow students that, to these definitions, John McArdle, born in distances without crutches. He uses a wheel- in acknowledgment of his determination and Once an orphan, Vietnam, adopted by a Montpelier family and chair for longer distances. positive attitude, students voted to dedicate the living and working in Barre is a hero. yearbook at Montpelier High School to him John McArdle John McArdle had a rough start in life. rather than to a teacher, as had always been surmounts Born in 1966, at 10 months old he was left at the tradition. a Catholic orphanage in Cantho, Vietnam, After high school, John attended New multiple with multiple handicaps: he was born with Hampshire Vocational Technical College, obstacles with no eardrums, which made hearing almost where he learned to be a woodworker, and impossible and later impaired his speech, and worked at Ethan Allen furniture in Randolph boundless polio had crippled one leg. John propelled for 16 years. From there he went to Trow & energy and himself on his stomach because he could not Holden Company in Barre, where he is a walk, and he shook his head as if pretending machinist and does fabrication welding of enthusiasm. to understand. In addition, John was starving: special tools for the granite industry, some- “If I was lucky, I had rice once a day.” The times welding 100 tools a day. water at the orphanage was terrible, and he John loves his job, but he also loves mentor- suffered from tapeworms, amoebic dysentery ing others in the sports he loves: sled hockey, and protein starvation. wheelchair basketball and hand cycling. Meanwhile in Montpelier, Trudy and Jerry He loves bringing in new people onto the McArdle and their four children had decided teams and teaching them to play. Often a team to adopt a child from Vietnam. Trudy had of disabled will play a nondisabled team, and chosen John from photos in a book of several John told me, “We kick their ass.” hundred children in the orphanage. But why Today John lives in Barre with his wife, John? She had had a dream in which the name Nhi Vo, a nail technician and aesthetician. Viet appeared, and coming from a Catholic John McArdle wins the race. He is also the proud father of son Anthony. Irish family, Trudy paid attention to the mes- The following quote, written on John’s sages in her dreams. John was the only child At age 11, John’s world opened up when behalf by Patrick Standen of the Northeast in the orphanage bearing that name. When his older brother, Michael, an engineering Disabled Athletic Association, is a tribute to he arrived in Vermont at age 6, the McArdles, student at UVM, designed a three-wheeled, John McArdle: “[H]is pure athleticism, infec- the first Vermonters to adopt a Vietnamese hand-powered bike with a cafeteria chair for tious enthusiasm and solid teamwork have child, named him after their favorite priest, a seat. John could now ride all over town. allowed him to succeed with unparalleled John, and Viet became his middle name. This was the beginning of John’s love of bikes success... But it is Johnny’s engaging personality With the help of his supportive family, and racing. John began to train seriously and and boundless enthusiasm that sets him apart John’s medical issues were addressed. He jokes started to compete in marathons in Burlington, from other athletes with disabilities. He’s always that his mom called him “the million-dollar in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washing- got a smile on his face and is right there to help kid.” To deal with his hearing, John had a ton, D.C. and others in New York, California younger, less-experienced players. He’s been total of nine surgeries at Dartmouth, where a and Maine. Over the years, hand-crank bikes a boon to our program and a capable role surgeon grafted John’s skin into an eardrum. have evolved to lighter titanium models, cost- model for young Vermonters with disabilities John was fitted with leg braces and had ing anywhere from two to 10 thousand dollars. ...A gifted athlete who inspires others as he to use crutches as well, but he found the John owns one that was custom made. reaches for the goals he’s set for himself.” braces frustrating and in kindergarten would In 2005, John was the sole hand cyclist in take them off and throw them. Trudy had the San Francisco Marathon, in which 15,000 Joyce Kahn, writer, painter, teacher and organic gardener, to repeatedly explain to him that he would runners and walkers competed. He finished lives in Montpelier.

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MFA in Winter 2014 Writing Events writing Jean Valentine, Distinguished Visiting Faculty in Poetry Tuesday, December 31st, 7:00 p.m. Chapel Valentine won the Yale Younger Poets Award for her first book, Dream Barker, in 1965. Her eleventh book of poetry is Break the Glass (Copper Canyon Press, 2010.) Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems 1965 - 2003 was the winner of the 2004 National Book Award for Poetry. Valentine was the State Poet of New York for two years, starting in the spring of 2008. She received the 2009 Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets, and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and awards from the NEA, The Bunting Institute, The Rockefeller Foundation, The New York Council for the Arts, and The New York Foundation for the Arts, as well as the Maurice English Prize, the Teasdale Poetry Prize, and The Poetry Society of America’s Shelley Memorial Prize in 2000.

Lucinda Roy, Visiting Fiction/CNF Writer & Poet Friday, January 3rd, 7:00 p.m. Chapel Alumni Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing, Roy teaches poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction in the MFA program at Virginia Tech. Her books include the poetry collection The Humming Birds (winner of the Eighth Mountain Poetry Prize), and the novels Lady Moses (a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers selection) and The Hotel Alleluia{)FSMBUFTUCPPLJTBNFNPJSDSJUJRVFFOUJUMFENo Right to Remain Silent: What We’ve Learned from the Tragedy at Virginia Tech (Three Rivers Press/Random House.) Roy’s poetry and prose have appeared in or are forthcoming in numerous journals and newspapers. She has been a guest on many TV and radio shows, including The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, The Today Show, CBS’s Sunday Morning, Oprah, and NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show.

Julianna Baggott, Visiting Fiction Writer/Poet/Essayist Saturday, January 4th, 7:00 p.m. Chapel #FTUTFMMJOHBVUIPS+VMJBOOB#BHHPUUIBTQVCMJTIFECPPLT'JMNSJHIUTGPSIFSOPWFM{Pure B{New York Times{/PUBCMF #PPLPGUIF:FBSBOE"-""MFY"XBSEXJOOFS IBWFCFFOBDRVJSFECZ'PY{5IFTFDPOECPPLJOUIFUSJMPHZ {Fuse, IBTKVTUCFFOSFMFBTFE{4IFQVCMJTIFEIFSGJSTUOPWFM {Girl Talk BOBUJPOBMCFTUTFMMFS BOEXBTRVJDLMZGPMMPXFECZ{5IF{ Boston Globe{CFTUTFMMFS{The Miss America Family, and 5IF{#PTUPO)FSBME#PPL$MVC{TFMFDUJPO {The Madam, an historical OPWFMCBTFEPOUIFMJGFPGIFSHSBOENPUIFS)FS#SJEHFU"TIFSOPWFMTJODMVEF{The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted { The Pretend Wife {BOE{My Husband’s Sweethearts. Her seven novels for younger readers (under the pen name N.E. Bode) include The AnybodiesUSJMPHZ {The Slippery Map {The Ever Breath BOEUIFQSFRVFMUP{Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, a movie starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman.

Visit vcfa.edu/visiting-writers for our full line-up of Visiting Writers.

36 College Street, Montpelier, vt 05602 VCFA.EDU/WRITING

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