Seven Days Blogs: 802 Online

Tuesday Deadline Linkdump: the secessionists strike back edition

Lots of links for you today from Vermont blogs writing about the connection between the secessionists at the Second Vermont Republic and white supremecist groups.

• The altercation between the liberal bloggers and the Second Vermont Republic has claimed its first casualty — John Odum, founder of Green Mountain Daily, has decided to quit blogging. SVR founder Thomas Naylor called him out recently in a press release announcing that Odum works for the Vermont Natural Resources Council. I think people knew that before, but Odum has never mixed his work and his blogging, because he was afraid it might jeopardize his job. Guess he'd rather work than blog. I'm sorry to see him go, especially in this way. He says GMD will continue without him.

• The response from Philip Baruth at Vermont Daily Briefing: "Some losses you shrug off, and others disturb your sleep, like phantom pain in place of an amputated limb."

• From Julie Waters, the gal that broke the Rainville plagiarism scandal, at Reason and Brimstone: "This is beyond acceptable. I have no problem with a heated, even occasionally derogatory and personal, debate, but to instead to go after someone's employer is absolutely reprehensible."

• From J.D. Ryan at Five Before Chaos: "My point is, don't gloat over this too much, SVR guys... payback truly is a nasty muthah. And there were other forces at work here that had absolutely nothing to do with you. And don't be deluded into thinking that now that Odum's quiet for now that this story is going to disappear. You've just given yourself even more bad press (as if you needed any)."

• And from conservative Charity Tensel at She's Right, who  has a soft spot for Odum: "Today the blogosphere weeps."

• On a lighter but still political note, Steve Benen of the Carpetbagger Report celebrated his 4th blogiversary last week. Says Steve:

"To borrow a presidential cliche, the State of the Blog is strong. Over the last year, traffic has grown considerably, and the comments section has flourished. The relative success of the blog has led to a variety of other terrific opportunities for me over the last year, including writing articles for the Washington Monthly, The American Prospect, and The Guardian, becoming an editor for a blog at Salon.com, guest blogging for Kevin Drum and John Amato, contributing to the Huffington Post, and even participating in a bloggers’ meeting with Bill Clinton at his New York office. It was, to put it mildly, an incredibly exciting year."

He forgot to mention that I wrote that stellar profile of him in October. Guess I can't compare with Bill Clinton...

Stuck in Vermont at Seven Days

Yay! Seven Days added a vlog this week. From now on, Eva Sollberger's smart and fun Stuck in Vermont vlog will be brought to you by Seven Days.

Eva filmed her first "official" 7D episode at the Sonic Youth show last Sunday. Then she called about a million people in L.A. to try to get permission to use a Sonic Youth song in the video, and wonder of wonders, she got the OK. It would have been such a bummer to pull the song — it works really well.

I've been a fan of Eva's public access show, The Deadbeat Club for some time, and I'm really excited to be working with her.

Correction

Hey, I did something dumb. I wrote a short item for our arts news section this week about Ben Van Buren, the Burlington High School kid who posted that great musical college application video on YouTube.

The dumb part is that I unintentionally misquoted him. In the song, he sings, "My home life is tops / got a brother at home, two moms and no pops."

I thought he said his home life was "tough."

He emailed today and said thanks for mentioning the video, but he was surprised to read about my misinterpretation of his domestic situation. Ooops.

The distinction is kind of a big deal, because I pointed out that his moms are the lesbians who sued the state in 1993 to legalize same-sex adoption. Coincidentally, one of his moms is my lawyer, who helped us draw up the legal paperwork for me and my lesbian partner to have our son. So on one hand, I'm glad I was wrong, and on the other hand, I feel like a big shmuck.

What does it say about me, that I would misinterpret Ben's song this way? I guess I have some internalized homophobia kicking around or something. Or else it really does sound like he's saying "tough." Take a listen and weigh in if you want.

I also misidentified the Boston Conservatory as the Boston Observatory. Tough week for me, man.

Tuesday. Deadline. Linkdump.

This week's Vermont blog roundup:

• UVM English prof Richard Parent poses some interesting ethical questions re: online writing. Like, should graduate schools take applicants' contributions to blogs and message boards into account when selecting who will or will not matriculate?

• Haik Bedrosian at BurlingtonPol continues his coverage of B-town's local races in the run-up to Town Meeting Day.

Ooops, that's all I have time for. Deadlines!

Amanda Congdon in Vermont?

It's true — the former star of Rocketboom visited a dairy farm in Richford recently for ABC News. Weird. Does she look like a fish out of water, or what? What's with calling cow shit "cow doo doo?"

Honestly, I liked her better behind the desk.

Vermont YouTubes of the Day

More blizzard vids!

Skiing off the roof:

Jumping off the roof:

Jumping off the porch:

Dog Toss:

Digging out the Subaru:

The Snowbaru:

Snowed in in Hinesbury:

Another Valentine's Day Blizzard YouTube

This guy has a season pass to Stratton but he's stuck in New York City. He's pissed.

Vermont YouTubes of the Day

Blizzard videos!

Students at Johnson State College celebrate their snowday:

Timelapse video of snowstorm:

Hunt Street in Fairfax:

Middlebury in the snow:

A snowy VT Valentine:

Petite pooch goes pee:

 

And Lyndonville...

Tuesday Deadline Linkdump

Sorry I missed my linkdump last week. Jeez, I'm trying to do so many things at once! Here's a short one for this week.

My weekly roundup of what's up on Vermont blogs:

• Lots of discussion at Green Mountain Daily this week on this thread, about connections between the Second Vermont Republic and white supremacists.

• Chris Fells showed up to the last Vermont Frost Heaves game thinking he'd sit in the stands, but he ended up running the shot clock. 

• A highly humorous hibernation tale, from Outrageouschaos.

• What does the U.S. have in common with Lesotho, Liberia and Swaziland? No guaranteed maternity leave for new mothers! Now a group of business leaders is fighting to weaken the Family Medical Leave Act. Find out more at The Prog Blog.

Vermont YouTube of the Day

Ben Van Buren's a senior at Burlington High School; next year, he'd like to enroll at The New School in New York. Instead of writing one of those hum drum college essays, he made a delightful little musical movie and posted it on YouTube. Just found it there and thought I'd share it. Check out those dance moves!

Burlington theatre-goers will recognize Ben from local productions such as The Bus.