Tag Archives: Vermont

Best News

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Sure I’m in a rage about the 157 House Republicans whose narrow opinion clouds them from seeing the changed world of marriage which has flourished with same-sex couples, or the 195 House Republicans who voted against birth control protections, say wtf?!?!?, or the equally damaging climate setback Joe Manchin decided, upending efforts to save our one small planet currently on fire, or the U.S. Secret Service who accidentally deleted texts from, yes, you guessed it, January 6th. Did your brain just explode???? What a week. Clearly these media headlines are gut-grabbers, but the best news, often the small news, is worth our full attention if only we’d allow it to be. As we endure these July heat-waves, calmer is cooler, so hear me out. Let’s go straight to some good news.

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Radical Joy

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There is an abundance of sorrow on this small Earth, of that we might all agree, but there is also, at least here in northern Vermont, the ability to find joy quite easily in May. In the buds and flowers and leaves and warming temps and that fabulous blue sky hovering like sapphires above each and everyone. I am not ignoring the staggering horrors dropping like thick fog, but I am asking that mess to push aside for this day to feel a joy so big it overpowers. This week joy seems to be what lots of people reminded me to feel too: an unfiltered, possibly even a radical joy.

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Rose for the Occasion

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Since forever I have overheard colleagues chatting about their sunrise hikes. Most of October I thought I’d join them, and even suggested a few mornings that might be possible. But the thought of racing to work afterwards, in all that sweat and dirt, and still command a room of teens with confidence, halted me. This morning, an in-service teacher-only day, the week after the time change, plus our unseasonably mild weather, yeah, because of all of that, today the Elmore Mountain hike happened. Started with headlamps under a starry sky but as dawn does, she came fast with tangerine and pink to overcome the black. We enthusiastically tried to make it to the lookout before the sun.

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