She’s had standout roles in films ranging from I Shot Andy Warhol to Say Anything . . . plus a regular one on “Six Feet Under.” He’s an acclaimed poet who wrote a memoir about his relationship with his homeless father called Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, soon to be a film.... Read more

In the whir and blur of the YouTube era, the magnetic intrigue of historical photographs can be forgotten. Montpelier: Images of Vermont’s Capital City is an informative and enjoyable new volume on the flinty town that serves as the country’s smallest seat of government. The compact paperback contains mostly black-and-white photographs, with a small selection of color photos and postcards — 245 pictures in total.... Read more

On a typical day, Vermont dairy farmer Ruth Willmarth milks her cows, fries up a warm batch of honey-dipped doughnuts, and chugs several mugs of strong coffee. But some of her days aren’t so typical. When the single mom isn’t busy mucking out the barn, she’s putting bad guys behind bars.... Read more

When Jesse Mattson crashed his car in an alcohol-induced blackout in August 2007, his father pulled him out of Norwich University to get sober at home in Essex. In between attending support meetings for his alcoholism and biking to work at the Polo outlet, Mattson did something one might not expect from a former prep-school lacrosse player. He wrote a novel.... Read more

Author, musician and “stuntologist” Sam Bartlett recalls the first time he was thrown out of a restaurant. It was nearly 20 years ago, and he and some friends were eating breakfast in Amherst, Massachusetts, while experimenting with bending and folding straws. “I found that if I chewed one end of a straw and bit the very end into a kind of point, I could form a sort of double reed,” he says. “I blew into it, and the most astonishingly loud noise came out. We just couldn’t believe it, and neither could the staff. They asked us to stop, but we . . .... Read more

In a mild autumn like this one, it’s easy to forget — for a moment, at least — the affronts that other seasons deliver. Spring’s muddy slop and stubborn chill. Winter’s icy grip. Summer’s meager sunshine. In this sense, autumn’s gentle embrace is a comforting fiction — an ephemeral diversion, like a story, to buoy the spirit while we subconsciously brace for the inevitable.... Read more

Frank Warren, 44, lives in a nice brick house in Germantown, Maryland. Most days, like the rest of his neighbors in the Washington, D.C., suburb, he walks out his front door to see what the mail carrier left for him. But unlike his neighbors, Warren consistently pulls out a fat stack of postcards from all over the world. He gets about 1000 per week . . . from strangers.... Read more

Visiting a museum can be inspiring, but it doesn’t cause most people to launch a magazine. However, just over a year ago, Vermonters Adam DeMartino, a.k.a. Demo, a Burlington DJ, and graphic designer Guy Derry were at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City when “Guy saw this piece of metal that kind of looked like a claw,” recalls Demo. “So we decided to call it ‘futureclaw.’” That enigmatic name soon became the catalyst for creativity.... Read more

Ever wonder what Belle & Sebastian eat after a show?... Read more

Robert Schlesinger is his father’s son; he’s got the bow ties to prove it. More importantly, he also inherited Arthur Schlesinger’s insight into American presidents and how they govern.

Robert was born nine years after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the president for whom his father was an advisor, speechwriter and “court historian.” The elder Schlesinger, who died last year at age 89, was himself the son of a prominent social historian and Harvard professor.... Read more