The Vermont cynicnewspaper layout 08-09

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

F18 FEATURE

As a Vermonter, I appreciate the beauty that surrounds us every day. However, most people are only interested in the time of year when Vermont’s true colors show: yellow, orange and red.

Of course, I am talking about the fall. Although we students may dread this time of year for obvious reasons, many flock to our gorgeous state to take it all in. As residents of this beautiful place, I suggest we take a closer look as well. Having grown up in Burlington, my family and I

have taken many a trip during this popular leaf peeping season. Excursions from the Ben and Jerry’s factory, to the Cider Mill in Stowe allow you to escape the hustle and bustle of Burlington and get lost in the beauty of the rural landscapes of Vermont. As a student, I know that during the year it’s nice to get off campus and do something other than bio quizzes. So make plans with your friends and check out what Vermont’s most popular season has to offer. Sit back and let me be your VTour guide.

vermontfalling in love with

You may have already visited this historic ice cream factory.

Millions of people �ock their way for delicious ice cream sampling and a factory tour. But after you

accomplish both of these very important things, take your ice

cream and walk through the �avor “graveyard,” taking time to mourn

the old �avors’ passing. Don’t forget to look around at the beautiful

scenery afterward, only found in the countryside of Vermont.

If you can’t pull yourself away from Bailey/Howe for a few hours to pick your own, make a visit to one of the �nest cider mills in Vermont. Here you can purchase multitudes of items such as applesauce, fudge, cider and other homemade treats. All are invited to watch their cider made the old-fashioned way. You are also invited to wine and hard cider tasting.

For the more active bunch, a day trip to Stowe for a bike ride through the small mountain town is

attractive. The historic bike path is 5.3 miles long, and goes in out of the town and the countryside.

Look for swimming holes, which are frequented more in the summer, but available if you choose to go on a warm fall day. A variety of restaurants and shops sell Vermont-made products. As most

of us know, it is di�cult to get any time in for exercise or enjoying the outdoors, but taking one

day for this trip would allow you to do both at once and have a great time doing it.

Finally, don’t miss Apple Fest, the celebration of the 400 years that Champlain islands have been growing apples. Featuring a craft show, �ea market, farm animals, loads of apples, local bands and general VT fun, you’re sure to return full of good food and a sense of what Vermont is really all about.

Apple picking is about as fall as these activities come. Although there are many places to pick apples, I have always gone to Boyers. Boyers is a top pick for locals – they o�er many kinds of apples and sell cider, cider doughnuts and any other apple goodies. You can also enjoy the free hayride, taking you from the orchard back up to the barn. This is a great time to pick some fresh fruit and see Vermont in all its glory.

(Lake Champlain Apple Fest)

After the Ben and Jerry’s visit, you should take a short trip (15 minutes) to our state’s capital in Montpelier - the nation’s smallest capital city. Here you can visit Hubbard Park, which o�ers 175 acres of hiking and skiing trails that can be used by all. During the fall, the best way to get into the foliage is to take a hike deep into the Adirondack Mountains.

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(Sam Maza’s Corn Maze)

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Every fall, Sam Mazza puts on a giant corn maze for all ages. This 2.5-mile maze allows for fun and excitement, as you try not to get lost in the corn�eld. Although this seems as though it would only be appealing to young children, I have gone the past couple years and always had a great time, as I’m sure you and your friends would. Though this is the main attraction during the fall, their normal farm stand (store) is still open where they sell fresh vegetables and fruit. They also have a bakery and sell other Vermont-made goods, such as maple syrup and maple candy.

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South Hero

by Jessica Sanders

Cider Mill

ILLUSTRATION AND PHOTOS BY CASEY MANNING

!

The Vermont Cynic

THELIFEof

UNIVERSITYthe

September 16, 2008

Vol. 125, Issue 3

INSIDE“Barn Ball” at Fleming [16]

Short Film Fest comes to Roxy [17]Woody’s new film hits the mark [15]

musicartentertainmentstylestudent lifeculturefeatures

[Page 19]

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

F19FEATURE

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Any student on campus can feel the history that radiates from the buildings that line University Row. Each building, statue and

line of brick has its own significance and its own mostly forgotten story. As we skate, bike or shuffle past the exte-rior of our campus, how often do we take the time to wonder about the legacy that it repre-sents? Old Mill stands today as the symbol of our historic campus; few may know that it was ac-tually the first, and for a time only, building on campus. A wooden version of the building was in place to greet that campus’s first admitted students in 1801. It was devastating to the young Univer-sity when, in 1824, this wooden construction burned down. At that point, Old Mill housed all the classrooms on campus, dining halls and both student and professor dormitories. After the original burned, a second Old Mill was constructed out of brick in 1825. Revolu-tionary War hero, the French General Marquis de Lafayette laid the corner stone to it. This corner stone has been preserved and remains with an imprint stating its historical signifi-cance. Though the front of Old Mill has been ren-ovated a number of times since its con-struction, if you walk around to the back of the building, you can still see the original brick. In the front of the building, one can see a naturally formed, perfectly rounded boulder. This boulder stands as “a metaphor for intellectual and spiri-tual growth as well as beauty and is the symbol for the Boulder Honor Society,” UVM emeritus professor Dr. William Averyt said. Around the corner and mounted on a barely noticeable, southward facing sidewall of Old Mill is a unique sundial. Not only does this sundial show the time, but it also shows pre-cise daylight savings time. It was dedicated in 1970. Two buildings down the Row from Old Mill is Billings Library. While Billings is now function-ing as the center for Holocaust Studies, it was originally built as the University’s library. Billings is significant as a quintessential ex-ample of the popular 19th century architectural

style, Romanesque Revival. It was designed by famous architect, Henry Richardson and opened to the public in 1885, according to UVM’s web site. Richardson designed many buildings in Ro-manesque Revival that echo the look of Billings — most notably, Trinity Church in Boston. “[The Romanesque Revival style] is solid and stately, and has a firm presence on campus,” Art History professor Allison Moore said. “It shows that America carries the European tradition.” Fredrick Billings funded the building proj-ect. Billings made his fortune as a developer of railroad lines to the Pacific Northwest, Av-eryt said. Billings, Montana is also named after him. Tucked behind Ira Allen Chapel on the northern side lies one of the University’s great-est legacies. And no, it has nothing to do with Phish. One mid-sized headstone marks the grave of both philosopher John Dewey and his wife Roberta. Dewey felt such a strong connection to the University that he felt the need to lit-erally become one with its grounds. According to Averyt, the Deweys are the only two people buried on campus. Dewey is one of UVM’s most distinguished

alumni. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1879 spe-cializing in philosophy. His philosophy included foundational ideas such as learning through do-ing, and he is an im-portant figure in a vein of philosophy known as “pragmatism,” which stresses community ide-als.

UVM’s classes and professors are only a frag-ment of the institution worth learning from. History has literally been built into, or buried under this campus. Most of this information is available on plaques next to the sights and can be found by any curious passerby. But for more information than a plaque has to offer, Professor William Averyt has been conducting historic tours of campus every Saturday morning from 9 a.m.-11 a.m. through the end of October. Walk with open eyes around the venerable greens and dark reds on campus — they have stories to tell yet for anyone who cares to lis-ten.

by Michelle Gertz and Henry Bond

Learning amongst the relicshistoric UVM

ILLUSTRATION BY CASEY ALEXANDRA BRENNAN MANNINGPHOTOS BY BROOKE MORRISON

UVM’s classes and professors are only a fragment of the institution worth learning from. History has literally been built into, or buried under this campus.

musicartentertainmentstylestudent lifeculturefeatures

This week in Cynic history [15]Religulous is ridiculous [16]

The Philistine: presidental cinema [17]Silent Mind begins residency at Nectar’s [18]

The Vermont Cynic

THELIFEof

UNIVERSITYthe

October 14, 2008

Vol. 125, Issue 7

Church Street: a quaint little lane where people come to meet and greet, dine and buy and to see and hear the live performances that add life to the thoroughfare.

Throughout the summer, visitors catch glimpses of a delightfully vibrant world that, like the chlorophyll in

Vermont’s celebrated foliage, winds down at the end of the season, only to return after the frost.

The one-man-band, who has near-legendary status on Church Street, has left, venturing back on the road until next season.

The tuba and violin duo from New Orleans that so many in-terviewees recalled fondly has gone back home. Will they, like the greenery, return next season?

They have in the past and Church Street’s performance artists will again – the question is, what brings them back with the rhythm of the seasons?

The reasons are numerous. To say it is simply nostalgia would be unfair (despite the ubiquity of Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie songs).

Many musicians hold onto the dream of making something of the whole music thing, continuing to cut independently produced CDs and promoting them through gigs at coffee houses or on the radio.

Some performers support themselves through their work on Church Street. John Holland, a 58-year old singer and staple Church Street musician, is a carpenter by trade, but is currently out of work.

As a folk singer, Holland has a lot to say about social and eco-nomic issues. “I haven’t had a raise in 25 years … Age discrimina-

tion is rampant in our country,” he said. “I’m proof of it.” Church Street has produced

notable musicians. K.T. Tunstall, a famous Scottish singer who visited Burlington in the `80s, “learned her chops” from performing

on Church Street, according to Ron Redman of the

Church Street Market Place, the organization in charge of issuing per-

mits to street performers.Redman has worked for the

Church Street Market Place for 10 years, and said that they began requir-ing auditions five to seven years ago.

“ S e v e r a l years ago the

quality of perfor-mance wasn’t what

we would have liked it to be, so we started having auditions and the number of perform-ers has actually gone up,” he said.

After the audi-tion, one must purchase a $5

day pass, Red-man said. From

there the busker (an originally British

term for a public performer) must complete this four more times (bringing the total to $25 dol-lars), before they may purchase a year pass, at $25 dollars, bringing to total to $50.

“Pan-handling is a First Amendment right, it’s a type of freedom of speech,” Redman said.

Most buskers encountered along the

street are musicians, so Tony Brief-

case, a Renaissance man of performance who has done a juggling show for two years, is a bit of an exciting oddity.

“I have a day job but for a while this is what kept me going,” Briefcase said. “I’ve been to Western Europe … I performed at Bonnaroo music festival this summer, did rope walking (and) ma-chete juggling,” he said.

“I paid my $25 for my free speech,” he said.Performance, though a supplement, no longer pays Mr. Brief-

case’s bills.

“I think the main thing is that I’m out here because I like to be out here and performing is what I like to do,” he said.

Some buskers use performance to serve immediate goals. Trew Krew, a young five-member break-dancing troupe featuring mem-bers aged 11-13, raised money to visit a hip-hop convention in Worcester, Massachusetts, according to the group.

“We dance to mostly hip-hop … we have some b-boy music, which means you dance to the break in the music, when there’s nothing but instruments going on” said Nathan Burton, an eleven year old who has performed with Trew Krew for two years, with the type of confidence one would expect from a B-boy.

Nathan’s teammates echo his swagger. “I’m pretty sure we’re the youngest performers out here ever,” Luke, his older brother, said proudly.

Many buskers view street performance as an opportunity to im-prove at their instruments. Eric LaFave, a street musician for five years with a steady nine-to-five, didn’t leave his guitar case open for any would-be donors.

“Any money I get goes to charity … this is hobby for me and I’m just trying to get better at the instrument,” he said.

LaFave didn’t appear comfortable accepting money next to per-formers who do this sort of thing as a vocation.

“I see guys roll in from out of state and they have a unique act, and those guys do well; they tour the country doing street perfor-mance. It is their full-time job,” LaFave said.

There is a deep undercurrent of Bob Dylan’s music among street musicians; nearly all have at least one of his in their repertoire.

“Everybody bows down to Bob Dylan,” Holland said. Jae C. Steele, a Church Street blues singer, does an instrumen-

tal version of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” forgoing Dylan’s familiar po-etry, for the song’s less cerebral beauty: the perfectly crafted anodic melody.

Steele plays a handful of her 200-plus copy written originals, but performs mostly covers, she said. One of her proudest covers is a version of the Jimmy Buffett’s “Margarittaville,” but her version is far from the drunken, carefree anthem of the original.

“It’s a blues song. If you play the song in a minor key, it changes the whole meaning of the song, all of a sudden it’s a song about a drunk … it becomes a totally different thing,” she said.

Nathan Harrison, a senior at UVM who founded the Old-Time Music Club, doesn’t play any Dylan, but he does do a mean version of the old fiddle tune “Shove That Pig’s Foot a Little Further into the Fire.”

For Harrison, busking is a way to hone his craft, and make a little money on the side. “[Street performing] is really fun. The more you get into it, the more money you make because it sounds better,” he said.

There is an atmosphere of camaraderie among street perform-ers. Most regulars knew each other and had a good rapport.

“We have a common respect among musicians. If there are too many musicians out I’ll go home and come back later.” One musi-cian, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “It’s like a farmer overgrowing his field, you can’t grow anymore.”

Tony Briefcase sees himself as belonging to a tradition that started long before him. “It’s a very old tradition that stems from traveling performance,” he said.

“It’s a community where entertainers pass the hat to the next. There is nothing new under the sun.”

Briefcase said that the end of August is the end of street per-formance season. “As soon as the college students enter Burlington then that’s when the old pros leave, off to another pitch,” he said.

But if one ventures out this weekend they’re sure to find a few more entertainers out there.

by John McMillin

Street performers are the soul of downtown Burlington

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

FFEATURE 19

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layin’

ILLUSTRATION BY CASEY ALEXANDRA BRENNAN MANNINGPHOTOS BY BROOKE MORRISON/Vermont Cynic

in the streets

John Holland cradles his guitar as he plays politically-charged songs on Church Street.

P“[Street performing] is really fun. The more you get into it, the more money you make because it sounds better.”

NATHAN HARRISONUVM senior

T H E musicartentertainmentstylestudent lifeculturefeatures

Bite Me Review [11]Post Secret [12]

Anita Diamant’s “Red Tent” [13]Eurydice [15]

The Vermont Cynic

THELIFEof

UNIVERSITYthe

October 7, 2008

Vol. 125, Issue 6

?!Wall Street to Pearl StreetHow the financial situation is affecting life at UVM

9TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2009

“Vermont could govern

itself better.” In making this statement, Frank

Bryan, a UVM political science professor, speaks not just for himself, but voices the

opinion of the growing Vermont indepen-dence movement.

Vermont secessionists believe the federal government is corrupt and wish to make Vermont

an independent republic, according to Bryan. From 1777 to 1791, before Vermont became the

fourteenth state, the federal government was dif-ferent, freshman Tyler Wilkinson-Ray said.

“The makeup of the U.S. government at that time was a lot different than it is now – it was re-

ally the United States,” he said. “Now we see a very different federal government, where the

federal government has a lot of power and designates certain tasks to the states.”

Thomas Naylor, founder of Second Vermont Republic, a think tank pro-

moting Vermont independence based in Charlotte, Vt., said that “over 75

percent of Vermonters said the U.S. government has lost its moral re-

gard.”“A big part of it for me is not

just wanting more power,” he said. “The United States govern-ment is morally corrupt.”

Rob Williams, editor and pub-lisher of Vermont Commons, a

multimedia independent statewide news jour-nal, said, “The federal government, we believe, has overstepped its constitutional authority in

so many different ways. It’s corrupt to the core. It’s too centralized, too bloated, too unresponsive to the needs of most citizens in this country.”

Williams hopes to spread the word about Ver-mont independence through Vermont Commons, which publishes a newspaper six times a year, along with blogs, video and radio updates daily.

“We founded Vermont Commons in part because a number of us felt like, how are we going to get from here to there? How are we going to get from Vermont in the United States to Vermont as an independent republic?” he said.

UVM political science professor Frank Bryan agrees with the common opinion that Vermont seces-sion is a radical movement.

“I think they [my views] are radical! There’s noth-ing wrong with that,” he said. “But we’re talking peaceful, we [Vermonters] are a very peaceful bunch. And we’re very safe, because we know [secession] probably isn’t going to happen.”

Wilkinson-Ray said he struggled with the notion of agreeing with a radical view.

“It is a radical idea, but I’m not a very radical person, so I was very hesitant with the whole seces-sion idea,” he said. “It took me a lot of time to think through it and decide that I do support it.”

“I really think it is the best option for Vermont. Vermonters know their own needs. To be honest, Obama might be doing great things down in Wash-ington, but how often do you think he thinks about Vermont?”

“I was amazed to find that I didn’t see any objec-tive criteria that suggested we couldn’t go it alone just fine – if the country were to let us go,” he said.

Williams, who is also a professor at Champlain College, wants people to overcome the connotation of the word “secession.”

“Secession is as American as apple pie,” he said, wearing a hat with the Vermont Republic flag on it. “We’re fond of pointing out that this country was founded on the principle of secession.

“The very first action word in the Declaration of Independence is ‘dissolve,’ which is what secession means. So it’s when a smaller political group decides to leave a larger political group,” he said.

“New Englanders actually were the first group of people in the country to champion secession as an op-tion. One of our jobs at Vermont Commons is to re-mind New Englanders, and Vermonters, of their own history,” Williams said.

He believes that a real discussion of an indepen-dent Vermont can begin after people realize this.

“The first question everyone would ask us once they got over the hurdle of independence is, what’s an independent Vermont going to look like in terms of energy, in terms of food, in terms of politics, in terms of education? So what we’re doing in the newspaper is exploring all of those questions.”

State representative David Zuckerman said he finds the Vermont independence movement to be “appealing.”

“In general, I think it’s an interesting discussion,” he said. “It’s certainly very complicated. In many ways, I disagree with our federal government recent-ly. At the same time, I don’t think certain folks are fully comprehending the challenges we would face financially if we were to secede today.”

“Politically, maybe it could work, but economi-cally, it didn’t seem feasible.” Thomas Martin, presi-dent of the College Republicans, said. “We’d have to be too dependent on the U.S. and Canada. I don’t see the point in doing it.”

Bryan agrees that Vermont is not ready to secede at this point in time and Naylor has said that “Frank

Bryan is not a secessionist” because of this belief.“If you said Vermont could secede tomorrow, I

would say to you, we’re not ready to secede tomor-row. I’m glad I’m not going to see Vermont secede from the union because I’d be desperately lonely. I don’t think I even want my kids to [see it happen],” Bryan said.

Williams is on Naylor’s side.“There’s no more critical time than now,” Wil-

liams said.Wilkinson-Ray, who organized a Vermont Inde-

pendence forum on campus, said he would support other states’ secessions as well.

“If you look at the U.S. – if you look at the people in Vermont, to people in Georgia, to people in Texas, to the Midwest, to the Northeast, to Florida – we’re so different. We all have different ideas of things that we want out of the government.”

Junior Ian Eshelman said that he thinks the Ver-mont Independence is “absolutely ridiculous.”

“I think it’s stupid,” he said. “I think the people are looking for attention. If you don’t want to be part of the U.S., then move out. There’s a reason it’s the United States, it’s not the United States minus one state.”

No one is forcing the idea of secession on Ver-monters, Naylor said.

“We don’t participate in the Second Vermont Re-public and the Vermont independence movement to persuade Vermont to secede,” he said. “They’ll have to decide that for themselves.”

Secessionists don’t see any big difference between the Democratic and Republican parties, Naylor add-ed.

“The great thing about secession is that it’s every American’s birthright,” Williams said. “The conversa-tion about secession just drives a bus through all that liberal-conservative, blue state-red state dichotomy that I think is so absurd.”

For Vermont to secede, two-thirds of the state must pass the vote in a referendum, Wilkinson-Ray said.

“It’s like leaving a marriage,” Bryan said. “You love your kids, and, at a certain level, you love and re-spect your spouse or your partner. But for the good of us all, divorce might need to occur – but it shouldn’t be a divorce based on hate. There should be tears.”

Vermont’s need to secede

“If you said Vermont could secede tomorrow, I would say to you, we’re

not ready to secede tomorrow. I’m glad I’m not going to see

Vermont secede from the union because I’d be desperately lonely. I

don’t think I even want my kids to [see it happen]”

Frank BryanUVM Political Science professor

The move toward independence

Illustration by Andrew Beckerby Katie Gioia

FEATURE

Tuesday, February 17, 2009Tuesday, February 17, 2009

FFEATURE 11

*

by sarah doubledaylove in the time of tenure Interdepartmental romance

blossoms for UVM professorsFor some, Feb. 14 is the best day of the year and for others,

a depressing or disgustingly commercial occasion. For many, it’s just another day.

Rather than take a side on this debate, The Cynic has chosen to celebrate the relationships that students, perhaps inclined towards a Charlie Brown view of their teachers, hardly notice.

There are many married couples among the faculty at UVM. The Cynic caught up with just a few to see what it’s like to be married to the person in the next office, their plans for Valentines Day, and why going to graduate school seems like a wise romantic choice.

How did you meet?Annika Ljung-Baruth: When I came here on a scholarship to complete my dissertation in 1998. I came here from Sweden.Philip Baruth: We met in the copy room.

What’s it like to be here in an academic and professional setting and then go home? Is it the same relationship?PB: Because we have kids we tend to stagger our schedules so one is with the kids and the other one is teaching that day. So we don’t see each other at school all that often. So when we do go home we compare notes.

What’s dinner conversation like?PB: It’s mostly about the kids.ALB: And ideology. We’re always debating. PB: Anika is from Sweden, which has, according to her, the best system of government in the world. So we talk U.S. and Sweden — U.S. versus Sweden — all the time.

Who wears the pants in the relationship?ALB: Oh, we both do, which has to do with the debating thing. PB: We’re equals and we’re strong-willed people who want their way.

What was the worst Valentines Day gift you’ve gotten or given each other?ALB: I gave him this Grateful Dead CD, and he likes the Grateful Dead, but I don’t think he’s opened it. PB: Originally we used to give each other poems when we �rst got together, then it moved to presents and the presents just aren’t as satisfying.ALB: Back to poems!

FFEATURE10

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Annika L

jung-

Baru

th &

Ph

ilip Baruth

A + L

Andrew Barnaby & Lisa Schnell

So what is dinner conversation like?LS: Well Andrew’s written a play and our daughter is very into that, so there’s been a lot of talk about that. There’s some singing involved with the play too, but I’ve put the kibosh on that. My rule is you cannot sing at the dinner table.

How did you meet? Andrew Barnaby: We met in graduate school in the graduate study lounge of Princeton University library. Each department had graduate study lounges. Lisa Schnell: It was my �rst day there, and I came in and Andrew was already a third year student and I came in to get a book. All our reading was on a reserve shelf in there and he was in there all alone, working on his dissertation or something and I had my back to him and he said, “are you Lisa Schnell?” AB: I knew that because the person who was our thesis advisor had met Lisa somewhere else. He was on sabbatical and he said before he left, “we have a graduate student coming, you should meet her” because we share some academic interests. And it wasn’t the �rst day, because we had had a picnic, and I had been looking for [her] but I had forgotten [her] name, and I was thinking, ‘okay I remember it was a woman, and I don’t know which one.’ So I guessed it was her.

What’s it like to be here in an academic and professional setting and then go home? Is it the same relationship?LS: Our kids would say that we don’t stop talking about that kind of stu� at home. AB: We are sensitive to that, we don’t talk about that at the dinner table. LS: It’s a rule. No shop talk at the dinner table, and they’ll always call us on it. So we usually talk about it when one of us is making dinner.

Any Valentine’s Day plans?LS: We always make a nice dinner on Valentine’s, and we always ski on Saturdays, so we’ll go skiing.

What was the worst Valentine’s Day gift you’ve gotten from each other?AB: I’ve never given her any bad Valentine’s gifts.LS: We actually got together on Valentine’s, it was right around then ... so we’re not really big Valentine’s Day people, but it’s sort of our anniversary, so we do something. Last year I got him the “New York Review of Books.” We always get each other useful presents. AB: I’ve got something good this year, but I can’t tell you. LS: If you got me a vacuum, I’d be really happy.

Andrew Barnaby and Lisa Schnell are both Associate professors of English at UVM. They share many of the same academic interests such as seventeenth century British literature, the Bible as literature and Shakespeare. They have been

married 18 years.

You were a professor?RR: Yes, it was a major no-no. BSR: Well, not when the semester started, and it wasn’t as big a deal then. I was a graduate student.

How did you meet?Barbara Saylor-Rodgers: I’d cut Latin class and went to give [my professor] Charles Murgia a bogus excuse — this is at Berkeley — and he was about to have lunch with Robert. So I went along, but I knew better than to eat anywhere Charles chose. So that’s how I met him; that was in 1971.Robert Rodgers: Then she took a course with me next semester.

What’s it like to be here in an academic and professional set-ting and then go home? Is it the same relationship?RR: It’s pretty much the same. That’s both good and bad because we over-talk about things.BSR: If things are not going well at the Uni-versity, it tends to get a little tedious and the kids hated it. We weren’t very grown up about it. But we do a lot of other things, of course.

So dinner conversation isn’t about Latin?BSR: Oh no, ick.

So do you have any Valentine’s Day plans?RR: Oh, that’s next week, isn’t it?BSR: No, we actually don’t do anything. It’s really weird. But then we never do anything on time. One Christmas we sent out Groundhog Day cards in Feb. because we forgot to send out Christmas cards. So we might celebrate in April.

Robert Rodgers and Barbara Saylor-Rodgers

What’s the worst Valentine’s Day gift you’ve gotten or given each other?RR: We don’t give them, but we eat a lot of chocolate.

Robert Rodgers and Barbara Saylor-Rodgers are both professors in the Classics department. They have been married 35 years.

ELLIOT DODGE DEBRUYN/The Vermont Cynic

BAILEY CUMMINGS/The Vermont Cynic

ELLIOT DODGE DEBRUYN/The Vermont Cynic

Annika Ljung-Baruth is a lecturer and Philip Baruth is a professor in the English department at UVM. They have been together for 10 years.

Naked ladies on Burton boards [15]Pride and Glory [16]New Ethic Cafe [17]

Calle 13’s new album [18]

The Vermont Cynic

THELIFEof

UNIVERSITYthe

October 14, 2008

Vol. 125, Issue 7

musicartentertainmentstylestudent lifeculturefeatures

[p. 19]

Women, RIghts and GodPro-Lifers Pray for the Unborn

The Vermont Cynic

THELIFEof

UNIVERSITYthe

November 4, 2008

Vol. 125, Issue 10

+Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Thirty-five years after the 1973 Roe

v Wade court decision legalized abortion, protesters still take up their

signs in dispute.On Tuesday, Oct. 28 five middle-aged

women stood in the freezing cold, bundled and shivering, presenting their signs of protest.

Standing across from Planned Parenthood on Mansfield Ave., these women pray and protest on behalf

of 40 Days for Life, a nationwide campaign to end abortion that boasts 150,000 participants.

Bridget Mount, a St. Albans resident explained her pro-life views.

“There are more children, completely innocent children, being killed than there were being killed in the war,” Mount said.

The Planned Parenthood across from the UVM campus is one of four in the entire state that performs abortions. Dawn Touzin, Vice

President of Public Policy and Government Affairs at Planned Parent-hood of New England made it clear that this is not their main objective.

“They ignore the fact that we are a primary care facility. They choose only to focus on the one thing they disagree with,” Touzin said. “Our main

concern is our patients.” Kathleen Stutzman, a senior at UVM, has had first hand experience

with protesters outside an abortion clinic.“Last winter, I helped my best friend get an abortion by driving her to

her appointments. It was really difficult for me sitting in the car with her when she was crying, seeing pictures of the baby,” Stutzman said.

“Everyone is free to express their opinion. But I wish [abortion protest-ers] did it in a more constructive way, instead of condemning people who do use it,” she said. “Their actions don’t do anything but further their own sense of morality.”

Michelle Morin of Burlington said that most people who are actively pro-life are “people who have dealt with life and death issues. Dealt with very intense issues. Have adopted a child, couldn’t have a child.”

Morin continued, “They understand just how precious the life is — what the difference is between having a living baby and a dead baby.”

“I don’t know what I would do [if pregnant], but everyone should be able to choose,” Stutzman, as a pro-choice student, said.

Michelle Morin of Burlington furthered the point. “The mother still knows, her body knows, her emotions know, her heart

knows,” she said.Jean Osborne of Colchester explained why she protests.

“That baby is a baby from the time it is conceived,” she said.

The emotional scars of killing a child are incredibly detrimental to the woman, and many of the ladies

expressed concern about this. “The woman is totally destroyed,” Osborne said.

Planned Parenthood spokesman Dawn Touzin said that her views are

“most certainly” pro-choice. Touzin, like Stutzman,

sees the issue as

one of women’s rights.

“Having fought for many years for civil justice, for women’s rights issues, the ability to protect women’s right to decide goes right to my core,” Touzin said.

“We need to protect and trust women in making their own decision,” she said.

When Mount was faced with the argument that, for many young women there are circumstances in which abortion may seem necessary, even the only choice, she responded with understanding.

“I think God understands that, for sure,” Morin said and recalled that she was pro-choice in college as well.

However, this understanding does not hinder Morin’s pro-life philosophy.

“Even in ... grueling circumstances life can come out of those situ-ations,” Morin said. She referenced the Virgin Mary and the immacu-late conception, saying, “She wasn’t planning on that.”

Whether pro-choice or not, hard economic times are affecting every-one, including UVM’s health services, in some cases making it difficult to provide students with birth control.

“Our main use to UVM women is our prevention services and access to birth control. Many colleges have been hit hard by prices of birth con-trol,” Touzin said.

Their assistance is appreciated by students, even if only as a last resort. Amelia Schumacher, a freshman at UVM, expressed appreciation for

Planned Parenthood’s proximity to the campus. “It’s good to have Planned Parenthood, especially for college students,

to have it that close to campus,” Shumacher said.Morin expressed that college students are actually one of her main

concerns. She is currently pulling for the Pregnant and Parenting Col-lege Student grant program legislation, which is a way for students to get grants, in conjunction with the school, who are pregnant or have a child.

The grant program requires the school to reserve the best housing for expecting mother/father students who already do, or plan on having their child living with them, as well as provide affordable childcare.

“There are good public policy reasons for making sure our students are attending school and accomplishing their goals because that’s better for us as an economy; stable relationships benefit all of society. Everything about our public policy is improved if college students don’t have to interrupt their education,” Morin said.

According to Morin, UVM is ill-equipped to handle stu-dents with children, and it’s an issue that is rarely addressed.

Morin said of UVM, and many other schools, “It’s a failure of the college itself. It’s impossible to have a baby in a room with a roommate. That’s impos-sible.”

The battle over regulation of abortion has only gained steam since its legalization in 1973, and the future seems to hold more of the same volatility.

40 Days of Pro-Life PicketingBy JESSICA SANDERS

Cynic Correspondent

V ELLIOT DODGE DEBRUYN/The Vermont Cynic

*FFEATURE 19

Prote

sting the choic

e

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

FFEATURE 19

*

It is no secret that the people of Burlington love beer. Anyone happening to take a stroll down Pearl Street at 9 p.m. on a Friday can see the happy hordes exiting the beverage store, six, 12 and, yes, 30-packs in hand.

However, this scene is common in college towns across the country. What makes Burlington unique is the abundance of the local beer selection and the abiding passion residents have for craft brewing.

In 2006, Sherman’s Travel magazine rated Burlington the fourth best city in the world for beer lovers. This little hamlet beat out the likes of Portland, Prague and Dublin.

The online travel guide cited the popularity of hometown brewing favorite Magic Hat, along with Otter Creek and Long Trail as justification for the ranking.

While it’s true that population-challenged Vermont boasts an incredible 18 microbreweries, the site fails to include perhaps the most important aspect of Burlington’s beer culture: the brew pub.

Until the 1980s, American beer was in a sorry state, in-deed. According to www.EH.net, an economic history Web site, 75 percent of the brewing market was controlled by only five companies.

These companies were pumping out the familiar pale yellow lager that came to be known as “American Beer.”

With no selection and nowhere to find a decent pint, the American Beer-lover was forced to look within. What came out was an explosion both in quality and quantity.

From the end of the 1970s to the end of the 1990s the number of breweries in America skyrocketed from 44 to 1,392, according to the Brewer’s Association of-ficial Web site.

These new small-scale microbreweries brought tra-dition, passion and experimentation to the American brewing industry, and the driving forces behind this were the home brewers and brew pub proprietors.

Vermont has always had a love affair with cottage industry, especially when it comes to food.

Whether it be cheese, maple syrup, apples or anything else, Vermonters are avid consumers of the products that come from their own soil.

This, coupled with an intense passion for quality and a fiercely independent streak, made Vermont a perfect cradle for the fledgling craft-brewing industry.

One of the pioneer home brewers at this time was Anne Whyte, owner of Vermont Homebrew Supply in Winooski. She learned the trade at a community education center in Burlington, which offered courses in home brewing.

After over 12 years of brewing experience, Whyte now offers all the supplies necessary for the prospective brewer as well as a vast knowl-edge of all things fermented.

The benefits of home brewing are numer-ous. When brewing at home, one can control almost all of the aspects of the process — nature decides the rest. The home brewer can decide what kind of beer to make based on ingredients, temperature and fermentation style.

Whyte maintains that a good ale or lager is best enjoyed as close to the source as pos-sible. “Beer is something that doesn’t usually age well,” she said. “Brew-ing and drinking on premises is definitely the kindest treatment any beer can expect.”

While home brewing is the closest you

can get to the source, “a brew pub,” Whyte said, “is the closest thing you can get to having a home-brewed beer.”

Through the ages, brewing and enjoying beer has always been a communal activity.

A brew pub provides a synthesis of individual brewing and communal enjoyment and Burlington is blessed with three of them, each with a unique character.

The Vermont Pub and Brewery, located on the corner of St. Paul and College Street, is a Burlington beer institution.

The establishment will celebrate its 20-year anniversary this November.

Two decades of experience have created a sense of com-fort both within the city and in its products.

Under the guidance of head brewer Greg Noonan, the Pub and Brewery has responded to expanding customer knowl-edge and sophistication by offering increasingly playful and challenging new tastes.

The VPB offers beers flavored with such unusual ingredi-ents as lotus flowers and chile peppers.

As founder Steve Polewacyk put it, “we allow our brew-ers creative license to experiment,” to match the palates of the Burlington community, which he described as “col-lectively eclectic.”

However, the Pub and Brewery strives not only to match their beer to the tastes of its customers but also to the flavors of their food.

The fare, Polewacyk said, is “loosely designed to fol-low the beer.” In February, the VPB will host a beer and cheese pairing to allow its patrons to see the full range of flavor possibilities offered by a hand-crafted brew.

Just yards away from the Pub and Brewery is Ameri-can Flatbread, which houses Zero Gravity Craft Brewery.

Considering Flatbread’s commitment to using local and organic ingredients in its food whenever possible, it is not surprising that this spirit would carry over to the liquid portion of the meal.

The brewery offers seven beers, spanning a range of styles to suit the drinking needs of any pizza lover who walks in the door.

The Three Needs, located on College Street, might look like one of many typical college town bars, covered in well-worn wood and beer advertisements dating from the early ’50s, but it serves up its own unique beer brewed just downstairs.

The different types, made by brewer Jon Mc-Cracken, change based on customer consumption. The batches are made small, and usually last for three to four weeks.

McCracken has free reign to decide which styles of beers to brew but keeps an open dialogue with the customers. “It’s whatever I feel that week,” he said.

“But I try to talk with people drinking the beer here and make decisions based on that. I’m pretty open to suggestions.”

McCracken is a firm believer in the communal power of beer. All of the brew pubs around town communicate openly and try to help each other out whenever possible, whether it be with equip-ment or brewing advice.

Despite this laidback atmosphere, brewers in Burlington care passionately for the quality of their products and their shared profession.

“I’ve finally found a job I love,” McCracken said. “When you brew beer it just brings people out to enjoy it.”

ILLUSTRATION BY CASEY ALEXANDRA BRENNAN MANNINGPHOTO BY JOSH LEE/Vermont Cynic

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Found Footage Film Festival comes to town [15]Aether Everywhere’s label of love[16]

A-broader View [17]36 hours in Burlington [18]

The Vermont Cynic

THELIFEof

UNIVERSITYthe

November 18, 2008

Vol. 125, Issue 12

hot water

teadone to a

[p. 19]

Dobra Tea and UVM both work to make tea more than just a drink

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

In Burlington, a land of coffee shops and microbreweries, an overlooked culture of tea is gaining presence.

Dobrå Tea, a bohemian tea shop on Bank Street, travels each spring in hopes of bringing back more of these teas, these stories, from different cultures.

Each tea has its own story or narrative that allows the drinker to put off work or exams and experience another culture, from Indian to English.

In the past, Dobrå has gone everywhere from Africa to China and has accumulated around 85 teas which are offered at the tearoom. This year, the tea connoisseurs of Dobrå will travel to Japan, Andrew Snavely, the owner of Dobrå Tea, said.

While traveling, Dobrå searches for tea based on seasonality, taste, production and the fermentation process, Snavely said. When in Japan this spring, Dobrå will be searching for green teas and researching the Japanese tea ceremony.

Dobrå imports all of its own tea and chooses the best tea that is affordable. Though some teas can run up to $100 per ounce, Dobrå’s goal is to provide tea that is affordable to people everyday, Snavely said.

The majority of the tea available at Dobra comes from China. With so many different teas, Snavely referred to the nation as “the motherland of tea.”

Dobrå also has some of its own blends of tea, such as Chai Chai Chai. The menu entry tells exactly when a customer should drink this particular tea: “Memories of India. A black Indian Assam tea simmered

in milk and strongly sweetened. It is served in a 6.4 ounce glass with an uninterrupted shout of Chai, Chai, Chai, just as it is served in India. A good tea for reminiscing about glorious journeys.”

Teas are available to drink in single servings at the tearoom or to buy in bulk and take home.

The tearoom was originally designed in Czech decorations, Snavely said, but over the years has come to envelop the decorative schemes of many different cultures.

When dining at Dobrå, a customer is given a novel-length menu and a small brass bell to ring when ready to order.

The menu reads more similarly to a travel log or a history textbook than something from which to order. It contains myths and legends involved with each tea, a background for the tea’s native culture, religious affiliations, and even healing properties of the teas.

Dobrå’s menu is, in fact, more of a novel than a menu; it tells the story of the tea. The menu, the ceremony, and the atmosphere all create an experience, which, when discussing natives of tea cultures, Snavely said “brings them back home.”

Snavely said cultural involvement and authenticity in the tea ceremony is crucial to the experience of drinking a particular tea.

He recalled an anecdote of Dobrå’s authentic chai bringing a woman to tears, “because our tea was so authentic the woman got very emotional,” Snavely said.

When asked the amount of influence the native culture of a tea

has on any particular tea, Snavely replied,

“Oh, its huge.” “We strive to serve

everything traditionally as it would be served in different

countries,” Snavely said. The employees learn everything from brewing to elaborate Gong Fu ceremonies.

“Our goal is to have you experience that culture through tea,” Snavely said. “Come with the intention to relax, you know, and put the rest of the world behind you.”

Tea drinking culture is filtering through the University of Vermont campus as well. This year the Living and Learning Global Village introduced a new learning community, Exploring Culture Through Tea.

“The tea program is a new development for Global Village, which until this year included, for the most part, programs devoted to a particular language or cultural group,” Professor Joseph Aquisto, Interim Director of the Global Village, said. “Exploring Culture Through Tea allows students to make links among a wide variety of different cultures, from India and China to England and beyond.”

The Exploring Culture Through Tea program objectives include their statement: “We will explore the ways in which tea is experienced, the purpose behind its uses, and how different cultural values and histories are reflected in those practices.”

The program includes 13 members living together and has sponsored a number of events this year.

“So far this semester we’ve had an International Tea Tasting in September. We served six different teas and provided some background information on them and the countries they were from,” Abby Johnsen, Student Director of the Program, said.

“This was a big social gathering set up for mingling and a casually informative atmosphere,” Johnsen said.

Events involving tea-drinking coming up include Chinese Tea and Conversation Hours, Global Tea Parties, and even a Moroccan-themed dinner with traditional Moroccan tea to accompany an “EqualiTea” conversation and discussion hour with InGEAR, Integrating Gender Equality and Reform, Johnsen said.

Included in their mission statement are plans for future events: “We’d like to team up with Mind, Body and Soul to host a Finals De-Stress Tea Session during finals week, presenting information on the benefits of tea.”

Trying out a new form of the classic coffee and doughnuts for casual get-togethers, Christian Barron recently organized a Global Tea Party that incorporated a sex talk/discussion.

From sex talks to Gong Fu, Burlington’s residents are being exposed to the many sides of the classic beverage. For the cold months ahead, replacing the coffee bean for the tea leaf is an option not to be tossed away with last week’s tea bags.

Atypic

al cup

of tea

by KATIE IDA

V IAN THOMAS JANSEN LONNQUIST/The Vermont Cynic

*FFEATURE

19

musicartentertainmentstylestudent lifeculturefeatures

Baroque House of Fur Opening [p. 15]Interview with Leunig’s Head Chef [p. 16]

Kanye West Review [p. 17]Dark Star Orchestra at Higher Ground [p. 18]

The Vermont Cynic

THELIFEof

UNIVERSITYthe

December 9, 2008

Vol. 125, Issue 14

[p. 19]

salvia’s hazy statusWhere one

of the last

remaining legal

highs stands in

Vermont and

the nation

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

FFEATURE 19

*

salvia

A hit. A puff. Some smoke fills a room in an apartment downtown with the smell of salvia. It’s legal, but what’s next for the substance and its us-ers is currently up in the air.

Salvia, the legal hallucinogen previously considered by some as under-the-radar, has come under the scrutiny of the media and state legisla-tion. This surge in awareness has led former sup-pliers to reconsider.

“Purple Sticky Salvia” is a brand of salvia commonly sold in head shops and online, and was available at Northern Lights for people over 18 on Main Street in Burlington.

Recently, however, Northern Lights decided to sell off the remainder of what they have and cease further sale. “Its just not worth the trouble,” a shop sales associate said.

Salvia divinorum is a legal hallucinogen of the mint family, according to an article published by the Office of Diversion Control of the Drug Enforcement Administration in June 2008.

In an article in the Hartford Advocate, Chris Harris called salvia, “one of the drug world’s best kept secrets.”

However, salvia’s secret status is dwindling.“There is a growing understanding of the

effects (of salvia) and of its use as a recreational drug, and its prevalence,” Andrew Golub, UVM Professor of Sociology, said.

This public awareness has grown via the Inter-net, Golub said.

“Youtube videos presenting an understand-ing of salvia’s effects and context of its being used” are at least partially to blame for the drug’s current status in the public consciousness, Golub said.

“Given the videos on Youtube … it was just a matter of time until people became upset about the uses of salvia,” he said.

Indeed, the media is beginning to pick up on salvia’s scent.

A Nov 26 story from Fox News in Vermont refers to Salvia as “a hallucinogenic ... being sold on the streets of your community,”

“You would likely want to protect your chil-dren from such a danger,” the Fox News piece said, going on to equate salvia’s effects to that of an acid trip.

Texas State Representative Charles “Doc” Anderson appeared on the Dr. Phil Show on Nov 11 that focused on risky teen behavior. He shared his expertise on salvia and warned parents of the alleged life-altering effects of its usage.

In many states, salvia is on the table for being banned. According to the Office of Diversion, as of June 2008, legislative bills proposing regulatory controls on Salvinorin A, the active component of Salvia divinorum or salvia itself were pending in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Michi-gan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.

“Banning salvia is consistent with much of our drug law and the world view it represents,” Golub said.

Vermont, however, does not seem eager to restrict Salvia.

“I checked with the Legislative Council and there has not been any legislation introduced regarding the substance,” Kesha Ram, who won one of the Chittenden 3-4 House of Representa-tives seats in the Nov 4 election, said.

“From communication with the legal counsel of the Department of Health, my understanding is that the agency is up to speed on the various facets of the issue and is poised to lend expertise, however there is currently no documentation or research specific to Vermont,” Ram said.

Even on the UVM campus, administrative awareness of salvia is limited at best.

“I do not know anything whatsoever about Salvia Divinorum or its use on campus or else-where in Vermont,” UVM President Daniel Mark Fogel said.

Golub, who will be teaching a class next term on Contemporary Drug Issues, said he “strongly suspects that many legislators know nothing of salvia as an issue” and that “most people over 30 know nothing about salvia.”

Yet, this apparent lack of knowledge and action by both the UVM administration and the Vermont Statehouse is not due to a lack of use within the state.

In a survey done in the Dudley H. Davis Cen-ter on Nov 19, 100 University of Vermont students were anonymously questioned about their usage of salvia.

Thirty-three percent of students surveyed have tried salvia in their lifetime. Of those thirty-three percent, fifty-seven percent have used salvia multiple times.

When University of Vermont student Chris Mullan had his dorm room searched by Police Services on November 9th, there was a container of Salvia on the desk. Campus Police took note of the substance and inquired about it. “They don’t even know what it is,” Mullan said.

UVM’s students are well aware of salvia and the general public is catching up. Across the country, the substance’s legal status is up in the air and even in Burlington the drug is growing harder to find.

There is a growing possibility that future dealings with this under-the-radar drug may have to be done under the table instead of over the counter.

jOSH LEE/ The Vermont Cynic

From legal head shop mainstay to a questionable future, the status of salvia looks ready to go up in smoke