Gail Scelza left her East Charleston home at midnight last Friday to be first in line at the Cabot Hosiery sock sale in Northfield on Saturday morning. At 4:30 a.m. — a half hour before the doors opened — she’d already been waiting for two hours at the factory that sells Vermont-made socks at deep discounts over two consecutive weekends during rifle season. It’s the Green Mountain equivalent of queuing up for the latest Apple invention. ... Read more

Many McKenzies missed the fête at the Met — that is, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. So last weekend, the Burlington family known for its meat-packing business welcomed home the clan’s most famous member — Kevin McKenzie — for a local celebration of his accomplishments in the rarified world of ballet.... Read more

Nothing prepares you for the shock of a home invasion. Early last summer, I came downstairs to make coffee in the morning and discovered we’d been robbed: On the pantry floor lay a brand-new bag of IAMS with a huge gash in it; the floor was wet, and the water in the cat’s bowl was cloudy. A mass of muddy little footprints led from the scene of the crime out the door. The cat door.... Read more

When I started dating Tim Ashe nearly a decade ago, I never dreamed we’d be in a disclosure statement together. I’m talking about the by-now-familiar disclaimer that often appears in Seven Days, variations of which have cropped up in columns and news stories since he first ran for Burlington City Council in 2004: “Tim Ashe is the domestic partner of Seven Days publisher and coeditor Paula Routly.”

“It’s complicated” doesn’t begin to describe the potentially problematic relationship between a politician and a journalist. ... Read more

Jerry Manock’s Burlington office is crammed with industrial-design jobs that never saw the light of day: a hockey skate with an adjustable blade; a “Cubic” furniture building block that IKEA almost bought; and a model for the “rumbler,” a bathroom-scale-like device designed to vibrate at a frequency to maintain elder bone density.

Any number of factors — timing, money, patent problems — can kill a great invention. ... Read more

I’ve heard the statistics: More people die in car accidents every six months in the U.S. than have died on commercial planes over the past 20 years worldwide. It’s only logical, given that only about 21,000 people have plunged to their deaths in two decades, that I should want to hop on a plane — or maybe three — to visit sights unseen. Plus, there aren’t too many other ways to get there.... Read more

We keep getting letters about the American Apparel ad that ran on the November 24 “backside” of Seven Days. Some are responding to our explanation in last week’s paper; others appear to be inspired by our original sin: permitting an advertisement for “flannel” that showed a bottomless woman photographed from the side. Readers have weighed in on the prop, too. We thought the model was holding a ski pole, but in fact it was a polo mallet.

Paula Routly & Pamela Polston

Why would a woman-owned newspaper accept an advertisement for “flannel” that shows a half-naked female holding a ski pole? Every time American Apparel runs a racy promotion for its Burlington store, we get a handful of angry letters: Some readers are offended by the partial nudity; others are appalled by the presumed age of the models, or the size and prominence of the ads. Smaller, comparable lingerie ads rarely cause a stir. ... Read more

When we launched Seven Days on September 6, 1995, we persuaded the following businesses and individuals to advertise in a paper they’d never laid eyes on. They took a leap of faith for which we are eternally grateful.

We enticed these advertisers with a three-for-two deal, which guaranteed we’d be able to put out at least three substantial issues. When deadlines for the fourth issue rolled around, we realized with horror that we were going to have to do this every week.

And so we have, 762 times. Today’s paper is the 763rd!... Read more

Inevitably, that’ll sound like a lot of years to some, while 1995 seems like “just yesterday” to others. Either way, we take it as a compliment that so many Vermonters seem unable to remember a time without Seven Days. We’d like to think we’ve become an integral part of life in this state, for the role we play in reflecting our shared community. We hope you learn something new about this place every time you read the paper, check the website or open one of our e-newsletters. ... Read more