Participatory Democracy Today is Town Meeting day in Vermont. For the uninitiated, this is the day when Vermonters pack themselves into school gyms and various meeting halls to vote on town governance for the upcoming year. Officials are elected. Laws are debated and passed. Budgets are assigned. If there are complaints or disturbances, these are… Continue reading The Daily: 7 March 2023
Tag: Vermont
The Daily: 2 January 2023
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Nine ladies dancing... Have you noticed that, after what is largely food on the wing, the gifts given on the last several days of the song take a decidedly musical bent? Nine ladies dancing, ten lords a-leaping, eleven pipers piping, twelve drummers drumming.… Continue reading The Daily: 2 January 2023
Summer Solstice
Today is the solstice; today, the sun stands still. Well, actually, it's been standing still for a few days now, and it will continue to do so for a few more days. From 17 June to 24 June day length is 15 hours, 30 minutes and a handful of seconds. The longest day of 2022… Continue reading Summer Solstice
A Return to Roots
Well, April was an adventure! I changed jobs — so that I wouldn’t have to go on furlough for the whole first quarter of the year ever again — and had to deal with over two weeks of COVID, my second round of the virus. (Vaccines keep me alive and generally out of the hospital,… Continue reading A Return to Roots
Participatory Democracy
Today is Town Meeting day in Vermont. For the uninitiated, this is the day when Vermonters pack themselves into school gyms and various meeting halls to vote on town governance for the upcoming year. Officials are elected. Laws are debated and passed. Budgets are assigned. If there are complaints or disturbances, these are given voice… Continue reading Participatory Democracy
Balanced Time
All around the globe, these are days of balance. For much of the planet’s midsection, this is not a big change, but it is a shift, usually between rainy and dry seasons. For the South, summer is approaching and it is finally getting warm again, while up North, we’re heading into winter. But South or… Continue reading Balanced Time
On a Deficiency of Ice Cream Makers
I live in a rural place, a rural place that is known for its cows. There are cheeses that are named specifically for Vermont (though in rather clueless and ambivalent American fashion, there is often a European geographic appellation attached to “Vermont”, as in “Vermont cheddar”). There are dairies up and down all the hills… Continue reading On a Deficiency of Ice Cream Makers
Putting Down Roots
Moving house is hard on a body. It’s hard on the planet’s body as well as mine, maybe more so. I have never seen statistics on this sort of thing, other than a passing reference claiming divorced couples create over twice the waste they generated when married — which I sincerely believe is true. I… Continue reading Putting Down Roots
Of the People in Vermont (now with more goats)
Today is Town Meeting day in Vermont. For the uninitiated, this is the day when Vermonters pack themselves into school gyms and various meeting halls to vote on town governance for the upcoming year. Officials are elected. Laws are debated and passed. Budgets are assigned. If there are complaints or disturbances, these are given voice… Continue reading Of the People in Vermont (now with more goats)