Monthly Archives: May 2012
More Garbage
So let’s forget about how every recipient of this mailing has definitely won something (a 2012 wallet calendar? A pickup truck?) Point is: I’ve never been to this place, I live nowhere near it, and that means a whole mess of people received by mail the glued-on, totally useless, piece-of-garbage key that will go straight to landfill. Shame on you, Capitol City, for your eco-costly gimmick! The Footprint Warriors are on your tail.
Mother’s Day 2012
My favorite line in Mother is when Debbie Reynolds says, “I’m not gonna fall for that.” She’s talking about Baskin Robbins ice cream; she thinks “New Taste” ice cream is perfectly adequate. I know too few people who’ve seen this gem…here’s where vegetarian Albert Brooks moves home for The Experiment, and his mother goes about getting him something to eat. Won the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay–rent it.
And here’s a comically awful 1980s tribute to mothers, courtesy of Mr. T.
No Fracking Way
We’re cracking down on fracking. When our bill converts to law, Vermont will be the first state to can hydraulic fracturing entirely. Let the other states proceed with that earth-quaking idiocy; we’re out. And kudos to Gov. Shumlin for tryna not tax the Cloud to promote biz in VT. He was shot down. This time.
Vermont’s been first in major issues, including the first state to outlaw slavery and the first (of only four) to ban billboards—and let’s not forget the first ski tow. The first American private military college, Norwich University, was also the first to admit women and “minorities.” As for lasts, until 1996, ours was the only state without a Wal-Mart, and Montpelier (the smallest U.S. capital, btw) remains the only capital without a McDonald’s.
As my Dad used to say when we drove across the border in the Oldsmobile…
“Yea, ‘mont!”
Earth Day = “Green Up Day” in Vermont
This is a sacred day when hardy volunteers pick up trash from roadside, riverside, and whatever else man pollutes. I was assigned to a remote dirt road where I collected in my bags a wide—and disgusting—array of items (shell casings, beer and wine bottles, 175 cig butts, rusty saw blade….) But I came across lovelier man-made items as well: a stack of rocks, Royal LaRoque’s farm, and a fairy house, photos to be posted in upcoming column on garbage.