The Free Press  reported (“Dinner at 1600", Feb. 23) that 
as President Barack Obama was offering a toast before a four-course
dinner at the White House,  he acknowledged a tuxedo-clad Governor
Douglas as “an extraordinary partner with this White House.”  He was
referring to the work of the National Governors Association  on the Common Core Standards in math and reading.

In the end, women may not be the sole proprietors of humanity’s
connectedness and caring, but, needless to say, we surely have
something essential to offer the work of healing and survival in
today’s sad, desperate world...Chellis Glendinning is an advisor to the Second
Vermont Republic, a psychotherapist, and the author of five books that
explore the “personalness” of the political.  She lives in Cochabamba,
Bolivia.

Off to Cali for a few days, a work-related trip that promises to be nasty, brutish, and short...‘The Greenneck’ lives and writes in the rusted-out shell of a one-ton Chevy pickup somewhere in Cabot.

A recent column I wrote for the Washington Post received
such positive comment that I decided to expand one of the brief
anecdotes to give a broader picture of how children learn. Honoring
how children learn is a messy endeavor, something no longer allowed in

For 33 years, Sonoma State University's (SSU) Project Censored (PC) has engaged in pioneering research on, and advocacy for, First Amendment issues. Founded by Carl Jensen in 1976, it's now headed by Professor Ben Frymer. On July 1, he took over from Professor Peter Phillips who stepped down after 13 years of distinguished service as Director.

I don't agree with Global Warming.  Most Vermonters seem to.  The Global Warming (GW) theory is simply assumed to be correct.  Strictly speaking, it’s gone from a theory to an axiom.  If your research goals and data collection methodology are aimed at adding to the body of literature ‘proving’ GW, you can feed at the trough! USD 400 million in “stimulus” money just went into the research kitty.  

In his 2000 book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, author Robert Putnam ranked Vermont above all other states on his scale of “tolerance for gender, racial, and civil liberties.” At about the same time, political scientist Tom Rice ranked Vermont first among states on a “civil society” measure published in Publius, the leading professional journal of American federalism.

Even if you are a chronic procrastinator living off the grid without a root cellar, there is still time to preserve some food for this winter and it doesn’t require energy inputs or special equipment.  All you need is some of the least expensive of all local vegetables – cabbage and/or root vegetables – and it is likely that you will find these in ample supply at one of the many winter farmers’ markets throughout the state. 

The season’s first big snow found him on the shed roof by 7 a.m., trying to nail down the last few sheets of tin before the storm begins in earnest. Already, the air is thick with snow. He sees the cows, bent to their feed, broad backs coated with white. He sees the boys, sleds in hand, trudging through the accumulating snow. They are yelling. Maybe they are arguing, maybe they are just yelling to notice how the snow hushes their voices. He yells, too, but they don’t hear or, if they do, don’t acknowledge hearing. They are getting older, learning that he can be ignored.

Schools intent on following the drumbeat of the Business Roundtable, the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and claiming to prepare students to be workers in the 21st Century Global Economy need to update their parent permission slips. Every parent should sign the clip before a child can be subjected to the standardized test prep curriculum that will result from Duncan's Race to the Top scheme.