At the end of Maple Street in Derby Line, just before the roadway becomes rue Ball in Québec, stands a set of engraved granite pillars. The 6-foot-tall stanchions loom on either side of the blacktop, spanned by a steel gate with black painted bars spaced wide enough for an adult to squeeze through. The gate looks like something you’d find in a suburban housing development — not exactly high class, but innocuous enough.... Read more

A piece of painted wood in the University of Vermont’s Davis Center bears these words: “I try to remind myself that I am on the outside free looking in at my mother who is trapped in this prison. But in reality I live in a cage as well, a cage without love and affection.”

The words, written by the child of an imprisoned woman in Columbus, Ohio, pop off their makeshift canvas. They bring to mind urban graffiti, only far more poignant.... Read more

Bob Fountain is teaching me to walk the line. It doesn’t involve any actual ambulation. I can walk the line from a sitting position if I choose. What it does involve is clicking this confounding white controller that is leashed to my wrist until my bobble-headed video game avatar moves to the extreme right-hand gutter.

See, Fountain is teaching me how to play Wii Bowling. As I am learning, “walking the line” is bowling speak for tossing the ball down the lane so it flirts with the gutter but doesn’t actually fall in.... Read more

If samurai warriors existed today, Stephanie Shohet would definitely make the cut. She has the swords, the fearless attitude and a pair of ripping biceps that make her seem far more menacing than she is. All she needs is a topknot and an elaborate suit of armor, and she’d be all set.... Read more

It’s 9 a.m. on a recent Friday morning, and Mike Matot and his two-man crew on the Fort Ticonderoga ferry have already downed nearly a dozen cups of coffee and are working their way through a sinful-looking bag of maple-glazed donuts. An hour later, the guys snack on homemade cookies and some Halloween candy, gifts of gracious ferry clientele. While their doctors might cringe at the men’s morning diet, no one could deny they’ve earned it.... Read more

It’s daikon-chopping time at Flack Family Farm, and Katy Bauer and Mary Teuscher are getting into it. With expertly sharpened knives, the women hack off the rotten bits of the Asian radishes and slice the vegetables into chunks the size of cupcakes. Those pieces get tossed in a bucket in the middle of the long cutting table.... Read more

The term “dark arts” may conjure images of cloaked sorcerers casting devious spells, but for Deidre Healy, it’s a great prompt for a gallery exhibit.... Read more

It’s that time of year again, kids — a time when men dress like women and women dress like sluts. On Halloween, we’re encouraged, nay required, to step outside ourselves and be something or someone different.

But the occasion can present a challenge to the pocketbook. Dressing up as a sexy nurse, a superhero or a blood-dripping ghoul ain’t cheap. A wig might set you back $30 or $40. That may not seem like a lot, but when you add the cost of your outfit, you can be looking at a hefty investment for just one night of costumed glory.... Read more

Huge corporations like S.C. Johnson and Clorox have been hopping on the “green” wagon for several years now. That has presented a growing challenge to smaller, authentically earth-friendly companies such as Burlington-based Seventh Generation. Without improving product recognition, and consumer loyalty, companies that have been manufacturing green products for years run the risk of being swallowed up by these multinational giants.... Read more

Lisa Groeneveld will make you question everything you ever thought about people in the high-tech sector. An iPhone-toting geek she is not. Unabashedly, she admits that her phone is the “free one” that came with her mobile plan. She might be the only person in the IT industry who still uses a PDA — the BlackBerry’s redheaded step-cousin.... Read more