Life Inside: Women in Prison in Vermont

Dana Osmond works for the State of  Vermont in computer graphics, designing  lettering for road and traffic signs. In the past, she has been a nurse’s aide, a college student, and head of her own construction company. Now, she only makes about $1.50 per hour, but she doesn’t worry about rent. Osmond is a convicted felon, serving 13 years to life at the Southeast Correctional Facility in Windsor for second degree murder.

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Jane Beck – Guardian of Vermont’s Folk Art Traditions

In 1978, Ellen McCulloch-Lovell was Executive Director of the Vermont Arts Council, and interviewed Jane Beck for the newly created position of State Folklorist, finding her “just over the hill in Ripton.” Beck was the Founding Director of the Vermont Folk Life Center in Middlebury in 1984, and is the recipient of the 2004 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. McCulloch-Lovell, just inaugurated as president of Marlboro College, recently interviewed her colleague again; not to hire her, but to review Beck’s distinguished career.

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The High Octane Grrrrlzz of Big Heavy World

Burlington’s Big Heavy World is a non-profit organization launched in the 1990’s by Jim Lockridge. A synopsis of its goals are: to preserve the historical record of music originating in Vermont; to create economic opportunity for Vermont’s musicians; to develop community among the state’s musicians and their patrons; and to accomplish this mission in a substance-free environment that empowers and educates youth. Ambitious but impossible?

With smart, hip, energetic young volunteers such as Liz Hart, Nikki Lee, Alyssa Todd, and Jackie Wheel - ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE!

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Splendor on the Water

After four years of foliage exile in California, my husband and I eagerly anticipated our first autumn back in New England. The first weeks of September tantalized with a sudden flush of color in the maples along Mallett’s Bay Avenue. I found myself poring over the state atlas in the evenings, scoping out scenic byways. I scoured the Internet for reports on where the foliage was peaking. Trying to find the perfect weekend get-away to view the fall colors became an obsession.

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