Thanks to Seven Days, Vermont's liveliest alternative weekly newspaper, for giving Bill McKibben (arguably Vermont's most prominent intellectual) a platform to hold forth on Vermont independence this week. in his "Independence Fray" article.

I could spend time quibbling with some of Bill's observations here. To name but three:

1. His selective re-telling of the winter 2007 SVR/LOS brouhaha and Mr. Odum/GMD's role in it...(no comment - time to move on.)

So he finds himself on the cusp of another July 4th and all its strange customs: Parades built on the back of cheap petroleum, night skies polluted by the small explosions of fireworks, kegs and coolers brimming with pallid domestic beers, grills stacked high with chickens who never set foot on the soft, brown earth during their short and brutish lives. And somewhere in there, perhaps, for some (and especially after a few PBRs), a swell of patriotism.   

by Rick Gordon

BIG TOP REVIEW - Smirkusology: The Science of “Circus Smirkus”

I’ve always liked the circus, and, like many, have considered running away to join it from time to time, as the old adage goes.

For those who haven’t seen Vermont’s very own “Circus Smirkus,” it is a unique one-ring show, featuring teenagers trained at the Greensboro-based circus camp in all kinds of Big Top-related activities – juggling, clowning, tumbling, and hanging by various parts of one’s body from all manner of contraptions suspended from the top of the tent.

An update on an old poem, with apologies to W. H. Auden.

(To JS/07/M/378 In place of a marble mounument, this data is warehoused at the
Business Roundtable and at NEA Headquarters)

She was found by the U. S. Department of Education to be

One against whom there was no official debit side,

And all the reports on her conduct agree

That, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, she was highly qualified,

by Jane Dwinell and Dana Dwinell-Yardley

Worried about high gas prices affecting everything from food to fun? Wondering what to do about your summer vacation? Try having one close to home. There are so many things to do in Vermont — so many reasons people from everywhere else to want to visit here. It’s your turn to discover Vermont.

A longtime educator in Oregon suggested that I mail my book When
Childhood Collides with NCLB to every member of the House and Senate
education committees--and offered $100 to start a fund to pay the costs of
doing this.

I've listed committee members below.

This statement of a Code of Ethics comes from the website of the Vermont State Department of Education:

To Vermont Edition:

I was gratified today to hear
Commissioner Cate affirming that the vast majority of schools labeled
'failures' by the federal government's NCLB (No Child Left Behind)
formulae are "well engaged," doing what they should be doing. In
contrast, the U. S. Department of Education offers a grim picture for
newspaper headline writers to feed from.