One day in June 2003, Kirsten Hoving hopped a flight from Burlington to Washington, D.C. She planned to spend a few days picking through a dead guy’s junk.... Read more

Every reporter dreams of being the publisher — after all, the “suits” responsible for a newspaper’s bottom line are notorious for rankling the writing staff. But Ed Shamy didn’t think he would actually become one — certainly not at a small-town weekly paper in a far-flung corner of Vermont.... Read more

Nothing warms the cockles of a conservative’s heart like the anguished wail of a union employee.

There was plenty of joy in conservative circles last week when Gov. Jim Douglas announced that we needed to cut 600 jobs from the state workforce. It would save $17 million, and help to right-size a bloated government that has grown too big for its britches. And our wallets.... Read more

Lake Champlain is so picturesque that its effect on viewers can defy description. But that doesn’t stop any number of writers from trying. To that number add Daniel Lusk. Since last spring, the poet and University of Vermont English lecturer has been reading maritime lit and visiting shipwrecks with guides from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum in Vergennes.... Read more

The Burlington Free Press is in the news business, but it’s not giving readers an in-depth analysis of its own story.... Read more

“Can a book be a weapon? And if so, should it be removed from society?”... Read more

New literary magazines sprout in college towns like mushrooms. But Burlington College’s Queen City Review, whose inaugural issue appeared in December, is more than a forum for students and the folks who put it out.... Read more

Most salads don’t look sexy, but this one does: Plump, glistening edamame and a tumble of steak slices recline on a bed of greens as dark as a shady forest. Rich brown on the outside and vulnerable pink in the middle, the heap of meat is surrounded by snow pea slivers and bits of red bell pepper.... Read more

At this point in the 21st century, it is impossible to imagine life without television. The controversial box has weathered all arguments against it, from research showing that rapidly changing colors in cartoons cause seizures in children to the cultural perception that TV dulls the imagination. Now our federal government has already blown through $1.34 billion to make sure no screen goes dark on February 17, when broadcast format switches from analog to digital. The boob tube is clearly here to stay.... Read more

A town with four independent bookstores, but no Borders or B&N? At a time when each week brings news of indie page purveyors closing around the nation — including such institutions as Berkeley’s Cody’s Books — Vermont’s well-read capital city is worth noting. Sure enough, last Sunday, Janet Mendelsohn gave the city’s book scene a write-up in The Boston Globe. “Montpelier is America the way it used to be,” the owner of Rivendell Books told her.... Read more