City Right to Deny Additional Mural
To the Editor:
I think it was the right thing for the members of the City Council to pass on deciding to sponsor additional murals on either side of the Black Lives Matter mural in front of the Capitol in Montpelier. “Liberty and Justice for All” is supposed to be a given in our country, and the American flag is a symbol for all Americans, though it evokes various sentiments in various parts of the population. The additional murals would be placed one on each side of the BLM mural.
“Black Lives Matter” is a tool to break through the obliviousness and/or complacency that prevails in our country concerning racism, in all its forms, that continues to plague our black population. It needs to stand alone, to stand out, to be addressed on its own worth. It’s a statement about that supposed truth, that there is liberty and justice for all, because it’s not true, and we want it to be true, and it will only be true if indeed, black lives matter enough to stop the racism in our society.
Bob Messing, Montpelier
About the White-clad Protesters…
To the Editor:
Please pardon my irreverence, but I had to chuckle over the photograph of the anti-coal protestors looking ever so righteous and all clad in angelic white.
(“Climate Action,” The Bridge, Aug. 12)
While I share their opposition to air pollution, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the wonderful horror movie “Midsommar,” a Swedish film also featuring an ideologically committed group of people all dressed in white. Besides being gruesome and very scary — all the more so since it didn’t involve anything supernatural or extraterrestrial — the movie was a satire, a very gripping and funny takedown of all those “intentional communities” that glorify a pre-industrial, all-natural programmed lifestyle involving art, music, and ancient-seeming ritual. The Bread and Puppet Theater also came to mind with its white-clad adherents bearing posters with mysterious art or slogans as well as gigantic, iconic puppets, and sharing very chewy, garlicky bread, harking back, perhaps, to the ancient origins of the Communion wafer.
In seeking to replace this cluttered, noisy modern world with a more picturesque pseudo pre-industrial lifestyle, these serious-minded communities may temporarily forget that human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism used to be more than just symbolic. The movie “Midsommar” brilliantly reminds us how lucky we are to not live there anymore.
Andy Leader, North Middlesex
Funeral Director Bids ‘Goodbye’
To the Editor:
Over the past year I have had the honor of serving my community as a funeral director at Guare & Sons Funeral Home. I am leaving Guare’s in order to serve our community more fully than just as a funeral director. One of my first projects is creating the first natural burial cemetery in the state, right here in Central Vermont. Natural (“green”) burial allows the body to return completely to the ecosystem in which it is buried while maintaining the character of the land. Natural burial offers a way to both honor your loved one and the environment.
I want to extend my gratitude to all of the families I was privileged to work with. I will never forget you or the things I learned in working with you to say goodbye to your loved ones.
To learn more about natural burial and all the ways I hope to continue to be of service to you, please visit
www.vermontnaturalburial.org
Sincerely,
Michelle Acciavatti, MS, Funeral Director, End of Life Specialist, Natural Burial Consultant
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