Archive
Besides his books, Bill has written a variety of poems, short stories, opinion pieces, and more.
The Price of Milk
Vermont agriculture is on a collision course with Vermonters’ expressed values. On July 24th , it was reported that the UVM extension service has set up a hotline for Vermont farmers...
Vermont’s Two Electoral Systems
Vermont has two electoral systems. The traditional one we all know and a shadow cabinet of older men who, over the years, have provided many great services to Vermont, but...
Governor Douglas Attacks Non-profit Salaries?
Burlington Free Press: My Turn Jan 31, 2009 So now we begin feeding on ourselves. Rep. Patty O’Donnell’s recent press conference calling for those in the non-profit sector earning over $60,000...
Did He Pass or Did He Die?
The father of a dear friend died last month. In relaying the news to me, he said his father had “passed.” My mind immediately sought a grammatical object, knowing full...
Fannie Fancher and Crazy Chase
It was his second day in first grade and his first time walking home from school. Maple Street was a half-mile long, one of several streets in Morrisville beautifully canopied...
Media Narcosis
To talk or to listen, that is the question. The shrill chaos of a million tweets, blogs and call-in cable and radio shows has entranced us with the sounds of...
To talk or to listen, that is the question.
To talk or to listen, that is the question. The shrill chaos of a million tweets, blogs and call-in cable and radio shows has entranced us with the sounds of...
Progress and Change
I’m having breakfast with a friend who has just returned from yet another country where he routinely explains to presidents and kings how to establish functioning telecommunications networks, or to...
Economic Development Speech Green Mtn. Business Expo
I’d like to talk with you today about the new reality of economic development in Vermont. Historically, I don’t believe we’ve been very strategic in our business development initiatives, choosing...
Photographic Memory, excerpt
When he awakes, the train is winding slowly north through the White River Valley. Among the trees, he spots the remains of an abandoned marble quarry. The wide-mesh game fence...
Fat People, Baybie Denton, excerpt
Baybie Denton lives in a trailer behind the dump. Her stepbrother Floyd lives in a nearby trailer perpendicular to hers so he can’t look in her windows, least that’s what...
Dike Blair and his Vermont Book Shop
I learned with sadness this week that my former employer, Dike Blair, had died. I had visited him on his 90th birthday several months earlier at his home in Middlebury where,...
