Editor’s Note: For a few years now, the Norwich Times has been featuring our young people thinking, doing, and living outside the box. Rather than follow the traditional four-years-of-high-school on to four-years-of-college route, these adventurous souls are recognizing that there are many paths, and that some may lead to a whole new world to explore. Read about Abby Dole, Maisie MacMillen, and Cleo Roback as they tell us about their exciting and humbling travels to distant lands.

Abby Dole

I began the fall of 2017 in Boulder, Colorado, working to save up for my travels, hiking, and living with my sister.… Read More

Residents of Norwich: Have you seen a man blowing giant bubbles larger than a five-year-old at Marion Cross School? Or did you notice in the town picture that one of the residents has on a massive Bernie Sanders Puppet head? Perhaps maybe at Dan and Whit’s last year, you noticed an out-of-the-ordinary housing ad? It wasn’t on a white, 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, but a colorful 3D cardboard cut-out featuring bees, ukuleles, chickens, a red Canadian Maple leaf, and individually drawn portraits of a family of four. They were seeking a house in Norwich by July 1st, which was clearly noted as Canada Day.… Read More

Correction: We made an error on Dave’s information last time and wanted to fix it. Enjoy getting to know him!

What brought you to Norwich?
I grew up in Hanover. In 2007, my wife Kate and I relocated back to the area, in part to raise kids, get away from city living, and be close to family.

What’s your favorite hang-out in Norwich?
Norwich Racquet Club… paddle/platform tennis

Favorite way to spend a snowy day in Norwich?
Nothing’s better than enjoying a few hours of snowshoeing or sledding, and snowball fights with Kate, the twins, and our two black labs Carlo and Coco

What fictional place would you like to visit?… Read More

What is your favorite quote?
“When I liberate others, I liberate myself… Nobody is free ‘til everybody is free.” Fanny Lou Hamer (c.1964)

Wine, beer, martini or tea?
Green Earl Grey tea, River Roost IPAs

If you could erase one day in history which would it be?
The day Goodman, Cheney and Schwerner were assassinated in Mississippi, summer 1964.

What song most describes your life right now?
Ella’s Song: Sweet Honey in the Rock. “We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes….”

What do you love most about living in Vermont?
The people, the seasons, the topography, and the accessibility of people here.… Read More

What is your favorite quote?
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food; An Eater’s Manifesto

If you could be invisible for a day, where would you be?
In the kitchens of my CSA members, watching them feed our vegetables to their families, and listening to their memories of gardens and cooking from their childhoods.

Wine, beer, martini or tea?
Morning: Earl Grey. Evening: Long Trail

What Disney character would you be and why?
Alice, from Alice in Wonderland, because she is adventurous and inquisitive, and a little bit accident-prone!

What song most describes your life right now?… Read More

No one who lives in the Upper Valley needs to be told it was a fierce start to the winter. Extreme wind chills, double digit below zero nights, and damp cold days flourished in late December and January. As a result, fuel usage was at a max this winter.

Many area residents depend on firewood as a secondary, and primary heat source, and as those temps go down, so does the firewood pile. For some folks, ordering an extra cord of wood is not a problem. For others, however, the $250 or $300 for a cord is a financial hardship.

To meet the needs of those depending on firewood, and without the means to afford it, Norwich offers a community firewood reserve.… Read More

Norwich Historical Society Shares Skiing Lore

What’s the magic behind Norwich and its Olympic skiers? Is there a secret group of ski coaches hiding in the woods at the top of Elm Street? Are ski jumping classes a requirement at the Marion Cross School? Or is there a magic elixir in the town’s maple syrup? What else could explain the abundance of Olympic athletes who have come from this small Vermont town during the last sixty years?

For starters, if you lived in Norwich in the 1930s, you really weren’t far from the center of a skiing revolution. It all began in 1934 with ‘Bunny’ Bertram, a 1931 Dartmouth graduate who captained the first Dartmouth ski team.… Read More

Imagine having your world slowly shrouded in darkness. Once, you were able to see clearly: the snow, the grass, the faces of your loved ones. But then your eyes, your windows into the world, began to cloud over, and you lost sight of that beauty piece by piece. This is the tragedy inflicted by cataracts in the developing world. And the goal of the Himalayan Cataract Project, whose offices include a team right here in Norwich, is to fix it.

The Himalayan Cataract Project, or HCP, was founded in 1995 by two ophthalmologists, Dr. Geoffrey Tabin and Dr. Sanduk Ruit, who pioneered a low-cost, high-volume surgical technique for removing cataracts.… Read More

In some traditions, it all begins with the Word. In keeping with the power of words, and with the relative rarity of the skill, many ancient cultures revered writing, and honored those who could write and read. Now we’re living through changes that find writing reduced to texting. For words we may substitute acronyms or emojis. Some lament the lack of penmanship training in school, but others say, “Who needs it?” Even keyboarding on a QWERTY typewriter is losing out to double-thumbing on a screen-ette.

And then there’s Laura Di Piazza. An artist with an MFA from Goddard College in Plainfield, Laura has bent her artistic interests and talents primarily towards calligraphy.… Read More

When you live in a small town, it’s all about community – and when you work in a small-town bank, you’d better love the idea of community. That’s what makes the Norwich branch of Mascoma Savings Bank a great match for Jamie Kenyon. “I’ve been in banking for the past seven and a half years, but just came to Mascoma in August.” Jamie explains, “I think my favorite part of my job has been the friendly atmosphere in town, and in our branch. We work as a team here, and I like that.”

Originally from out of state, Jamie moved to Vermont four years ago and has settled in Wilder.… Read More