Going into the summer before his senior year of college, Drew Junkins still had no idea what he wanted to do. “I applied to some internships and I didn’t like what they were like, one of them that sticks…
Category: Chronicle Classroom
These are pieces created by U-32 students for use in our classrooms.
Facing a 47 Year Sentence
“Otis Loga wrote this story for his social studies class, Democratic Roots, taught by Alan Hefferon.” “In the middle of it we were arrested by dozens and dozens of FBI agents because there was one person in our group…
Fully remote learning before the end of the 2020/21 school year?
2020 has been a year that involved distinct challenges within workplaces and social communities due to the pandemic COVID-19. But also has increasingly been causing considerable disruptions within public school systems. One of the biggest disruptions has been the…
The Driver with the Leatherman
Editor’s Note: This story is describes true events and contains explicit (graphic) detail According to Burke Law VT, in 2016 there were over 2,500 DUI’s processed in the state of Vermont, making them a fairly common occurrence. For many…
A Liberal Evolution
Growing up in Los Angeles, Fred Stapenhorst thought he just might be able to save the world. After hearing John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address to the nation in which he declared, “Ask not what your country can do for…
“Well, who’s wrecking your marriage?”: The Journey to Same-Sex Marriage
In 1997, three same-sex couples, Stan Baker and Peter Harrigan, Holly Puterbaugh and Lois Farnham, and Nina Beck and Stacy Jolles from Chittenden County sued their towns after the state rejected their marriage applications. At the time, the law wasn’t…
Amending Slavery: “A Smiley Face on Vermont’s History”?
In 1777, nearly 250 years ago, in a white clapboard tavern in Windsor, 50 soon-to-be Vermonters debated while a storm raged outside. These delegates, from more than 30 towns, finally agreed on a constitution for the Republic of Vermont. In…
Critical Care Transport: Life and Death
What would you do if you had to save someone from dying? Most people would probably have no idea how to react in those kinds of scenarios. But Alex Jarvis, an emergency service worker, has to deal with those situations…
Mayor Anne Watson on Montpelier’s Potential Smoking Ban
According to the Vermont Department of Health, “smoking costs the state approximately $348 million in medical expenses and results in about 1000 smoking-attributable deaths each year.” Smoking is commonplace in downtown Montpelier and has long been controversial in our community,…
Protest At Tompkins Square Park
On the 6th of August 1988, many newspapers like the New York Times published stories about the previous night at Tompkins Square Park in New York City. As the Times described the events, “[m]any of the officers concealed their badges…
We had to Turn Them Away
It is very very hard to turn away someone in a poor position who may be ill or even dying when you are a privileged person who is being paid to be in their country. Kathy Shapiro’s morals were challenged…
Standing Rock
Alex N. is known to many as a human rights activist, revolutionary, and in this story, a protestor at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation fighting to prevent the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). This pipeline’s route spans nearly…
We Don’t Want Your Dirty War!
They drove down the Pennsylvania turnpike in their flower-painted car. Every car that drove by honked, the flowers a sign of their destination. They were all going to the march. The March Against Vietnam. “You’d be hanging outside the car…
“Nothing more than a teller”: Lillian Olsen’s Experience of Ageism
On December 1, 2011, Lillian drove to Ledyard National Bank in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she had been working for the past 7 years. She did not know it yet, but it would be one of her last days making…
Not Her Neurological Condition
Editor’s Note: the name of the school district is fictitious to protect the Lane family “I started the meeting by saying ‘I’m just going to tell you all right now we are here because we are not going to…