• Bridging Divides in a Nation at War: A Vermont Conversation on Peace and Power

    Ferrisburgh Town Offices and Community Center 3279 Us Route 7, Ferrisburgh, VT, United States

    The U.S. has been at war, in one form or another, for all but about 18 of the past 250 years of the county’s existence. What does this mean if this is a constant in our lives? How do we invite the conservatives and progressives into the room to talk together?

  • Strange Bedfellows: How Religious Liberties Have Aligned with Nondiscrimination Policies and Can Again

    Dudley H. Davis Center 590 Main Street, Burlington, VT, United States

    The First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion. The Fourteenth Amendment affords all persons equal protection under the law. What happens when those two rights collide, as happened in the in the Masterpiece Cake case? Must protections for religious liberties come at the expense of non-discrimination statutes?

  • Stories from the Vermont Queer Archives

    Brownell Library 6 Lincoln St, Essex Junction, VT, United States

    Objects such as banners, T-shirts, and buttons in the Vermont Queer Archives at the Pride Center of Vermont reflect currents and changes in the lives of Vermont’s LGBTQ+ community. Meg Tamulonis, volunteer curator of the Archives, discusses how these objects mark various milestones, from Pride events to legal rulings, and considers why some parts of the queer community aren’t well-represented in the Archives.

  • Vermont, 1800 and Froze to Death: The Cold Year of 1816

    Brookfield Pond Village Church 49 N. Ridge Road, Brookfield, VT, United States

    1816 has long been known as the year without summer. Vermonters still call it “1800 and Froze to Death,” a year of frosts every month, dark skies, and mysterious lights that caused a widespread belief that a higher power was displeased. In this talk, historian Howard Coffin includes scores of anecdotes on the dark year of failed crops, scarce food, and religious revival.

  • Strange Bedfellows: How Religious Liberties Have Aligned with Nondiscrimination Policies and Can Again

    Springfield Town Library 43 Main St, Springfield, VT, United States

    The First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion. The Fourteenth Amendment affords all persons equal protection under the law. What happens when those two rights collide, as happened in the in the Masterpiece Cake case? Must protections for religious liberties come at the expense of non-discrimination statutes?