Inside the Kingdom

INSIDE THE KINGDOM December 7, 2016 the Chronicle Section B – 20 Pages Review The revolution will be available in hardcover Our Revolution, by Bernie At a meeting of the Liberty Sanders. Published by Thomas Union Party in 1971, he Dunne Books — St. Martin’s Press, volunteered to run for the U.S. New York City, 2016. 450 pages. Senate in a special election held Hardcover. $27. after the death of Senator Winston Prouty. Mr. Sanders says he spent Reviewed by Joseph Gresser a lot of time studying the issues and preparing positions, and then Senator Bernie Sanders’ new went out campaigning. book clearly was written in He pulled in a whopping 2 expectation of a different reality than percent of the vote, a result that the one we are living in. Its encouraged him to run again, this combination of autobiography, time for Governor in the 1972 campaign narrative, and policy General Election. manifesto was meant to push This time his percentage of the President Hillary Clinton to fulfill the vote dropped to 1 percent. pledges embodied in the Democratic Unfazed, Mr. Sanders ran again for Party’s platform, and to nudge her Senate in the 1974 race that sent farther along a path long advocated Senator Patrick Leahy to by Vermont’s junior senator. Washington. He drew 4 percent of For those who agree with the state’s votes. Senator Sanders’ political Two years later, Mr. Sanders’ philosophy, the book may be a hat was back in the ring. This bittersweet suggestion of what time he faced Republican Richard might have been. Alternatively, it Snelling and Democrat Stella could also be seen as a declaration Hackle in a race for Governor. of principles to guide those who During the campaign he took find themselves in stark opposition part in a televised debate, in which to the new direction the country he acquitted himself well. It being will surely take with three a Vermont debate, the two branches of government under the establishment candidates treated control of the Republican Party. their scruffy opponent and his The first third of Mr. Sanders’ radical ideas with respect. book recaps his political career, I still remember Mr. Sanders, including his amazingly successful who by this time had moved to run for the Democratic presidential Burlington, coming back to nomination. Stannard to boast of his 6 percent Mr. Sanders, famously, was showing, the highest, he said, of born in Brooklyn, New York, and any third-party candidate in the moved to Vermont after college. He country. lived in central Vermont for a time, Around this time a couple of spent several years in Stannard, a friends and I were elected to the town even Northeast Kingdom Stannard Select Board. Mr. natives have a hard time finding, Sanders showed up one day and and finally moved to Burlington. tried to persuade us that part of our duties involved finding ways to second term in that body. provide civic employment for people Mr. Sanders only joined the in town. Democratic Party to run for its After a long discussion, we presidential nomination. His concluded that it was impossible to account of the campaign is a nuts- do that in our tiny municipality. and-bolts explanation of how to run The exercise was an early glimpse a true grassroots campaign. into his view of a government’s He operated on the assumption responsibility to its citizens. that by addressing people directly Frankly, I recall thinking that and talking about issues that affect Mr. Sanders’ views were more their lives, he could upset Ms. appropriate to the 1930s than the Clinton, the establishment’s modern world of the 1970s. In preferred candidate. As it light of subsequent events, I think happened, that assumption was not he may have been prescient. that far off the mark. After spending eight years as In the end, Ms. Clinton’s well- mayor of Burlington, Mr. Sanders financed campaign, backed by set his sights on Washington. In almost all of the nation’s elected his first run for the U.S. House of Democratic leaders, prevailed over Representatives, in 1988, he the insurgent. But in view of the narrowly lost to Peter Smith in a results of the recent election it may three-way race. have been a hollow victory. Two years later he won and Many news organizations now took his seat as an independent say the support of ignored white who caucused with the Democrats. working class voters made the He maintained that unusual difference in the election of Donald Senator Bernie Sanders addresses a February gathering in Manchester, New balance through his eight terms in Trump. Those voters, Mr. Sanders’ Hampshire, during his race for the Democratic presidential nomination. the House and most of his time in book points out, were people he Photo by Joseph Gresser the Senate. He is serving his (Continued on page 11B.) IN THIS WEEKLY SECTION, YOU’LL FIND: BIRTHS l WEDDINGS/ENGAGEMENTS l OBITUARIES l KINGDOM CALENDAR l CLASSIFIED ADS l RESTAURANTS & ENTERTAINMENT l REAL ESTATE & AUCTIONS l YOURS FROM THE PERIMETER l RUMINATIONS l AND MORE! Page 2B the Chronicle, December 7, 2016 Ruminations Still looking for those deer? by Tena Starr It’s the kind of fall day that feels and sounds like sugaring weather rather than deer season weather. The sun is shining, the snow is melting, and I can hear the splash and hiss of pickups driving up and down this dirt road, which is turning muddy. Seasons, especially on a dirt road, have a distinct sound. Early morning in sugaring season, passing vehicles crunch on wet roads that turned crusty overnight. And as that ice, or corn snow, melts over the course of an above-freezing day, the sound changes. But in spring I can also hear the sound of vacuum pumps running. This day, it’s road hunters, rather than sugarmakers checking their lines, or their buckets, driving around. My family has always been one of hunters, not sugarmakers. The first time I made maple syrup was after moving to this house, which once had four enormous maples in a line facing the road. There’s one left. In the nineties a vicious windstorm called a downburst knocked down two of them, fortunately across the road away from the house, although that meant they pulled down the power lines. Better than demolishing the house. Faux venison with wild rice pilaf. Photo by Tena Starr A lot of big old trees on this road came down in that storm. I was at a meeting in Barton where rummaged through the garden, eating any 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided there was no storm and had no idea what was remnants of what hasn’t been gleaned. 1 onion, chopped going on at home. I never would have got back They’ve been thwarted this year in that by 1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts that night were it not for the industrious fellows the goats, who are pretty good at rummaging, too, 1 cup cranberries, or 1/4 cup craisins with chainsaws who cleared a path at least wide although they seem to like paper as much as 1/4 cup chopped parsley enough for one vehicle to get through. zucchini and have chewed up a little stack of Black pepper A few years later, a third tree came down, on books on the porch that I was thinking I’d like to 1. Salt the venison and let it sit on the top of my car and the porch, trashing both, keep for sentimental reasons. It’s good for all of cutting board while you make the rice and such. courtesy of the remnants of Hurricane Floyd. us to learn what we don’t, in fact, need, I guess. 2. Cook the wild rice in the beef broth. You One big maple remains, and we’ve tapped it It’s unfortunate that deer season and might need to add a cup of water or so. Also, for years now. It’s a highly productive tree that sugaring season don’t converge since, as food, the real, traditional wild rice cooks in half the time produces enough syrup in a good season to pretty two, complement each other. as typical store-bought, and it requires less much last us the year. The best piece of venison is backstrap, lean as water. If you have the real stuff, use 2 cups For a while, my brother-in-law sugared, but deer meat tends to be, and tender, as deer meat broth and 1 cup water. Cook the rice until tender hunting turned out to be the more enduring often doesn’t tend to be. That trophy buck may and drain. endeavor. have a rack you’d like to save and exhibit, but 3. Put the mushrooms in a large frying pan or My father hunted, and as a girl, I occasionally isn’t necessarily the best eating. saute pan and turn the heat to high. Dry saute went with him. He didn’t seem too serious about I’m not generally in favor of altering the taste the mushrooms, shaking them frequently, until it, and sometimes we just sat on what we called of a good piece of meat by too much seasoning, they sizzle and begin to give up their water. the ledges, on the other side of the Missisquoi, but this is how we cook backstrap: When they do, boil it off. When it’s almost gone, chewed on teaberry leaves, then walked through Mix soy sauce, maple syrup, a bit of olive oil, add 2 tablespoons of the butter and saute until the woods some more, kind of aimlessly, it and finely chopped garlic, to taste, and for the mushrooms begin to brown.

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